The most misused word in the English language is “we.”
“We” have military bases in more than 100 foreign countries. The base in Jordan where last week three US troops were killed and more than 34 injured is called “Tower 22.” John Gambrell of the Associated Press describes it as “a little-discussed U.S. military desert outpost” in a region called Rukban near Jordan’s border with Syria and Iraq. Less than a decade ago more than 100,000 people trying to escape the Islamic State’s “caliphate” were held in a refugee camp on the Syrian side. Jordan wouldn’t let them in and the United Nations failed to provide adequate supplies. The population of the Rukban camp is now down to about 7,500.
According to Gambrell, Tower 22 “saw an increased US presence after American forces entered Syria in late 2015. The small installation includes U.S. engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops with about 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel deployed there. The base’s location offers a site for American forces to infiltrate and quietly leave Syria. A small American garrison at al-Tanf in Syria is just 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tower 22. That base is along a Syrian highway leading into Iraq and ultimately Mosul, once a prominent base of the Islamic State group. It’s also a potential weapons shipment route over the road for Iran.”
Jordan’s population of 11.5 million includes some three million Palestinians. Israel’s slaughter of their kinfolk has led to mass protests in Jordan. Gambrell warns that “Widespread unrest could threaten the rule of King Abdullah II, a key American ally.”
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Anchors Away
As of January, young people seeking to enlist in the US Navy no longer need a high school diploma or a GED. (A year ago the Navy lowered the grade required to pass the Armed Services Qualification Test.) But President Biden is not wavering when it comes to marijuana use by sailors or any other service members.
A few days before Christmas, for the second year in a row, our pathetic ol’ prez garnered some headlines by formally pardoning 6,500 US citizens charged with mere possession under federal law. But members of the military who had been charged with possession under the Uniform Code of Military Justice only got a lump of coal.
As noted by Thomas Novelly on the site Miltary.com, “President Joe Biden issued a new proclamation late last month pardoning Americans federally charged with simple possession, attempted possession and use of marijuana — but none of it applies to service members. No one was freed from federal prison due to the 2022 or 2023 measures.” (Conviction for marijuana possession under the UCMJ could cost a service member an honorable discharge and eligibility for certain benefits.)
The Navy and other branches are “workshopping” a more lenient approach to marijuana use because recruitment has been so difficult. (They are not having trouble retaining personnel.) According to a 2022 Pentagon study, 77% of 17-to-24-year-olds could not meet enlistment standards. Only 8% were disqualified due solely to drug and alcohol abuse, but 44% were turned down for “multiple reasons.” Eleven percent were deemed overweight, 7% otherwise impaired physically, 4% mentally unfit.
Last year the Air Force began allowing applicants who tested positive for THC a second chance to be tested. The brass expected 50 success stories, but they had 165.
PS: The under-reported story re military personnel is “our” increasing reliance on mercenaries – I mean contractors.
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