38 Censored Military History

1996-0930, Quartermaster, MOBIFLEX Tents.
DRMO (Junk Yard) was full of these things, Space and Strategic Defense Command approves a new MOBIFLEX frame dome tent the size of a GP-small, the tent is made of a nylon camouflage material and has an internal skeleton erection system. The new tent proves to be one of the worst designed items the Army ever purchased. DRMO begins receiving broken tents immediately.
Author’s Note: 2000-0110, 6th Cav Commander ordered one of the tents for $1,100 (1,971-2022.) I warned the drivers of the fragility of the tents. The tent broke the second time it was used, and we went back to a GP Small for the COL

1996-1015, Harassment, MG Tries to Kiss a MG.
MG Larry G Smith a bachelor is alone in MG Claudia Kennedy’s office she is also unmarried; he attempts to kiss her on the lips. His advances were rebuked. MG Kennedy says, “No!” and pushes him away.
In 1997, MG Smith is chosen to head an Army investigation of systemic sexual harassment in the Army following the SMA Gene McKinney scandal.
ABC news interviews MG Claudia Kennedy where she tells of past sexual harassment, "and later in my career in fact within the last, just in the last, within the last 10-years, my approach was to turn it over to my boss. and I was very impressed with the way it was handled. In other worlds, it was investigated carefully and there was a very positive response on the part of the Army."
MG Kennedy in an interview with USA Weekend magazine spoke at length about how women should report harassment promptly and how she was assaulted once but handled it in an "individual manner, I said “no” in a way I needed to say no."
In 1999, the now LTG Larry Smith is selected to be the Army Inspector GEN the now LTG Kennedy feels this position would make LTG Smith a hypocrite since he would be in charge of many sex related investigations. LTG Kennedy, who has never been married, files a sexual harassment formal complaint concerning the attempted kiss that occurred 3.5-years earlier. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY applauded Kennedy for making the belated allegations and called her courageous.
In March of 2000, the NYT, and the Washington post commit page-one to the story of an attempted kiss that occurred 3.5-years ago.
Army investigators substantiate a charge by LTG Kennedy against MG Smith, the inspectors found that Smith did try to kiss Kennedy, but Army lawyers do not view this as actionable under the UCMJ. She said stop and he stopped. He did not threaten her, he did not try to kiss her ever again. He was the same rank as MG Kennedy and in no position to affect her career.
MG Smith receives a letter of reprimand; Smith denies any wrongdoing. He requests retirement, request approved.

1996-1231, Rape, Statistics for the year 1996:
6,200 Calls received in five-weeks to the 1-800-hotline set up to report sexual harassment.
A study reports that women in the AF are more than twice as likely as civilians to have suffered one or more rapes. The research reveals that most of those rapes took place before the women joined the AF.
The report, funded by a Defense Department woman ’s health program, questioned AF women in detail about their relationship to the perpetrator, their age during the first and most recent rape and whether drugs and alcohol were involved.
Results of the survey:
13 Percent of randomly selected American women reported having been raped at some point.
28 Percent of active-duty AF women reported being raped.
75 Percent of the AF victims were pre-Military civilians during the first or only rape, as were their perpetrators.
86 Percent of rapes reported the perpetrator was not drinking or using drugs.
20 Percent of first-time rapes were raped by a Military member.
30 Percent of most recent rapes were raped by a Military member.
23 Percent of the women who reported sexual harassment from a Military supervisor,
32 Percent had been raped previously.
19 Percent reported sexual harassment at some point from a Military co-worker.
28 Percent of AF women surveyed said they had been raped once at some point in their lives.
23 Percent of AF women said their first sexual assault occurred prior to joining the Military.
487,900 Total number of Soldiers.
278 Test positive for AIDS in 1996.
01 Out of every 1,755 Soldiers test positive for AIDS.
Number of women in the Military:
70,300 Total Active-Duty women in the Military.
6.4 Percent of warrant officers.
14.4 Percent of officers.
15.1 Percent of enlisted.
In 1996, the following number of troops by service were court-martialed for adultery:
Army 79 men 2 women.
AF 60 men 7 women.
Navy 15 men 0 women.

1997-0615, Race, Folk Nation Gang at Ft Bragg.
Three black paratroopers were playing 3-on-3 basketball with three-black civilians. They were playing in a gym on post. An argument over the game resulted in a fight and the civilians pulled guns on the Soldiers.
The next day one of the Soldiers went to a civilian Black Folk Nation leader in Spring Lake, NC and asked for a gun.
That night the three-Soldiers ambushed the same three-civilians as they left the gym and shot them in the back. The civilians lived; one was paralyzed. The Soldiers were sentenced to 8-years in prison.
The 3-Soldiers were all cooks in 82D Airborne who joined the Army together from Chicago. The 3-joined to get Military training and planned to return to Chicago as leaders of the Black Folk Nation gang.
Author’s note: I was a juror on this court martial.

1997-0715, Fraternization, Army Afraid of Trainees Having Sex.
Basic Training units adopt a no talk, no touch, no-look policy in which male trainees are not allowed to talk to, touch or look at female recruits for more than three seconds.

1997-0715, Aviation, Blackhawk Crash at Ft Bragg Kills Eight
Eight Fort Bragg soldiers killed in a helicopter crash. The soldiers died, not as a direct result of the crash, but from fire and smoke inhalation during the resulting fire. In fact, the army concluded that the crash itself was survivable, except for the fire, which was fueled by ruptured external fuel tanks. The torpedo-shaped tanks were not crashworthy.
COL Jim Rabon of Fort Bragg's 82nd Avn Brigade tells said that the July crash was survivable. When the helicopter crashed, everybody was alive. The doors were all jammed shut. The external fuel tanks leaked and caught fire. The eight Soldiers burned to death.
The Blackhawk that crashed at Fort Bragg clipped a pine tree as it was banking into a turn. Blackhawks have been in their fair share of training accidents over the years, but they have had more flight time than any other Army aircraft since they were put into service. at Fort Bragg, there have been seven in-air accidents since 1980. In those crashes, 26 soldiers died.
Author’s Note: the accident report was kept secret but was blamed on leadership failures at the brigade level. The Avn leaders in the 82D Abn were preoccupied with equal opportunity issues, not training. COL Rabon took command right after this crash and he did a great job getting the 82D Avn Bde back on track. Karma

1997-0717, Race, Murderous Black Gangs of Ft Hood.
SPC Jacqueline Billings murders two bartenders in Harker Heights, TX. She was the "Governor" of the local of the Gangster Disciples, AKA, GD; the gang takes Soldiers and turns them into criminals. She is sentenced to 27-years in the Brig. She was mad at the bar for tossing her out for being drunk. She did not testify in her courts-martial adhering to the first law of the GD, "silence and secrecy.”
New gang laws allow members the option to join the Military to be initiated instead of being "beat-in or sexed-in.” After one tour in the Military gang, members are to return and teach others the skills learned. The gang members also steal as much Military gear as possible while on Active-Duty, to include bulletproof jackets, weapons, NVGs and weapons supplies such as spare parts and cleaning supplies.
They also recruit new members while in the Army. Cory Godwin heads the Florida prison system anti-gang unit says he routinely intercepts communication between gang members and the Army, but Army officials refuse to cooperate in anyway. Based on his experience the Army is not concerned with gang activity in the ranks. Members of the Ft Hood of the GD are always beat in, the gang initiates new members by six gangsters jumping the new member, the new member had to love “his nation” the nation is the Gangster Disciples. The gang marked Ft Hood as their territory by painting graffiti on all the entrances to the fort.

1997-0728, Secret, Psychic Friends Network.
Army spends $20,000,000 (35,034,000-2022) on a secret research program. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon report DA spent the money on official 1-900-calls to the "Psychic Friends Network," to see if it has any Military value.
Author’s note: In the late 1990’s there were TV crime-documentary shows pretending psychics could solve crime. In fact, psychics have never solved a crime.

1997-0924, Accident, Ft Lewis Tear Gas Range Goes Up in Smoke.
High winds blew a large cloud of CS gas into the nearby town of Spanaway, WA. at 0045-hours, 516-civilians were roused from their sleep by the gas and needed medical care at area hospitals. The 66th MP Bde was conducting an NBC training exercise; the Bde used 36-CS grenades all at once to contaminate the Bde TAA. LTG George Crocker, the I Corps Commander said he was sorry.