Tag Archives: Operation Desert Storm

News, Politics, Government

West Point gets a new commander in Gen. Caslen

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The top command position at West Point was to be assumed by Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr. during a ceremony on the campus overlooking the Hudson River.

Caslen was set to officially become the 59th superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy on Wednesday morning. He replaces Lt. Gen. David Huntoon Jr., who is retiring from the U.S. Army after 40 years.

Caslen is a 1975 West Point graduate who has commanded at every level from company through division. Most recently, he was the Chief of the Office of Security Cooperation for Iraq. Caslen had previously served as West Point’s commandant, a top academy position in charge of day-to-day operations of the cadets.

Huntoon has been superintendent since 2010. The 1973 West Point graduate was involved in Operation Desert Storm and was commandant of the U.S. Army War College.

Huntoon was admonished last year after a Department of Defense inspector general report concluded he misused his position, government resources and personnel. The report said he improperly allowed subordinates to give driving lessons, didn’t properly compensate those who worked at a charity dinner and misused his position to obtain cat care.

The report said Huntoon took full responsibility and repaid the affected parties $1,815 based on prevailing labor rates.

Army officials have said Huntoon’s retirement is not related to the investigation.

The change in command also comes after a series of negative stories about the 211-year-old military academy whose graduates include Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur and George Patton.

An Army sergeant assigned to West Point was charged in May with secretly photographing and videotaping at least a dozen women at the academy, including in a bathroom. And West Point’s men’s rugby team was temporarily disbanded after cadets forwarded emails that were derogatory to women.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Nearly $18G in disabled vets' hunting gear reportedly stolen in Michigan

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Nearly $18,000 in equipment used to transport disabled veterans into the woods to hunt was reportedly stolen from a trailer in Michigan.

The Detroit Free Press reports that an unmarked, $4,000 black custom trailer carrying a $13,800 Polaris six-person utility vehicle used by Operation Injured Soldiers volunteers was stolen sometime between July 3 and 5 in South Lyon.

Loran Symonds, 44, who served in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, said the theft was like “walking up and spitting in someone’s face.”

“(Soldiers) who are returning now who had it a lot worse than what I did — with all the IEDs — they’re coming home with missing limbs,” Symonds told the newspaper. “So this thing was like a lifeline. For someone to steal that, it’s unbelievable.”

Pamela Bijansky, one of the founders of Operation Injured Soldiers, said the trailer disappeared from outside the group’s office in South Lyon. Bijansky hopes guilt brings those responsible for the theft to return or abandon the equipment.

“We need to replace them, but personally I’d rather just see someone dump it somewhere,” Bijansky said. “People are out there looking. Keep your eyes open. Somebody has seen a new trailer appear next door or a new Ranger. Or it could be in Mississippi right now. But it’s a 50-50 shot it’s still in Michigan.”

Operation Injured Soldiers, which connects soldiers with fellow veterans, raises money through donations golf outings and other events for roughly 400 vets in Michigan and another 400 nationwide.

The theft remains under investigation by the South Lyon Police Department, a spokeswoman told the newspaper.

Click for more from the Detroit Free Press.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

'Stormin' Norman' Gen. Schwarzkopf to be buried at West Point

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Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the no-nonsense Desert Storm commander famously nicknamed “Stormin’ Norman,” will be buried at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

A memorial service for Schwarzkopf will be held at the academy’s chapel Thursday afternoon and his remains will be buried afterward at the cemetery on the grounds of the storied military institution.

Schwarzkopf commanded the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein‘s forces out of Kuwait in 1991. He was 78 when he died in Tampa on Dec. 27 of complications from pneumonia.

Schwarzkopf graduated from West Point in 1956 and later served two tours in Vietnam, first as an adviser to South Vietnamese paratroops and later as a battalion commander in the U.S. Army’s Americal Division. While many disillusioned career officers left the military after the war, Schwarzkopf stayed to helped usher in institutional reforms. He was named commander in chief of U.S. Central Command at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base in 1988.

The general’s “Stormin’ Norman” nickname became popular in the lead-up to Operation Desert Storm, the six-week aerial campaign that climaxed with a massive ground offensive Feb. 24-28, 1991. Iraqis were routed from Kuwait in 100 hours before U.S. officials called a halt.

Schwarzkopf spent his retirement years in Tampa. While he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000, Schwarzkopf maintained a low profile in the public debate over the second Gulf War against Iraq.

Schwarzkopf will be buried near his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police. The academy cemetery also holds the remains of such notable military figures as Gen. William Westmoreland, Lt. Col. George Custer and 1st Lt. Laura Walker, who became the first female graduate killed in action when she died in 2005 in Afghanistan.

Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, had three children: Cynthia, Jessica and Christian.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News