Articles by Herschel Smith

You are doubtless all aware of the courage on display by Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller.  I embedded the video.  There is a follow up to this, but before we get there I should mention a few things.

First, as to the individual he mentions in the video who questioned his honor.  My first impression was “What sort of prick would do that?”  It was answered in the video.  Lt. Col. Scheller was very respectful, but it appears that it’s some staff officer still bitching about race relations.

If you’re a staff or flag officer bitching about race relations, listen up.  What you should have been doing is getting on your knees every night and begging God for mercy – mercy on you, and mercy on your Marines.  You should be praying nightly that you are an inspiration to them, that you are faithful to your wife (unlike some of the drama queens in the flag ranks recently), that God helps you to meet His demands for leadership, for the spiritual and physical well-being of your boys, and that they would return home safely after accomplishing your mission.  And just like Stu Scheller, you should be questioning your command structure for accountability.

If you cannot do that, resign, today.  I would do everything in my power to keep my son from following a man who is bitching about race relations in the military (or anywhere else), and I don’t consider that individual any man at all.  You can tell him that a Marine father said these words.  I stand by them, and I would meet him face to face and tell him he’s no man at all. What – you didn’t think the Marine Corps makes Marines, did you? Marines are made at home. They’re just refined in the Corps.

Speaking of which, I reminded my son a couple of days ago as we watched the debacle unfold in Kabul that I talked him out of reenlisting in the Marine Corps by saying to him, “If you reenlist, chances are that you will lose your legs or arms or hearing or brain function in some forgotten mission that some corrupt CiC sent you on, and then forgotten by the VA and ignored and disrespected by the rest of the world.”

He told me a few days ago he appreciated my words.  But if he was still in the Marine Corps, I would be proud and honored for him to serve under Stuart Scheller.

Finally, a true leader doesn’t say “go.”  A true leader says “follow me.”

I found this to be a useful and very practical video.

Conservative Treehouse.

According to a Politico report, using leaked classified intelligence from the U.S. intel community, the Pentagon knew well in advance that a suicide bomber was coming to the Abbey Gate long before the explosion.  According to the leak, the military knew where and when the attack was coming; and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned allies to avoid the area.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chief’s Chariman Mark Milley, and CentCom Commander General Kenneth McKenzie all knew in advance the Abbey Gate was going to be bombed on Thursday, yet they kept the gate open.

(Politico) – Just 24 hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, senior military leaders gathered for the Pentagon’s daily morning update on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

Speaking from a secure video conference room on the third floor of the Pentagon at 8 a.m. Wednesday — or 4:30 p.m. in Kabul — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin instructed more than a dozen of the department’s top leaders around the world to make preparations for an imminent “mass casualty event,” according to classified detailed notes of the gathering shared with POLITICO.

During the meeting, Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of “significant” intelligence indicating that the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, ISIS-K, was planning a “complex attack,” the notes quoted him as saying.  Commanders calling in from Kabul relayed that the Abbey Gate, where American citizens had been told to gather in order to gain entrance to the airport, was “highest risk,” and detailed their plans to protect the airport.

“I don’t believe people get the incredible amount of risk on the ground,” Austin said, according to the classified notes.

On a separate call at 4 that afternoon, or 12:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kabul, the commanders detailed a plan to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon Kabul time. But the Americans decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted in order to allow their British allies, who had accelerated their withdrawal timeline, to continue evacuating their personnel, based at the nearby Baron Hotel.

American troops were still processing entrants to the airport at Abbey Gate at roughly 6 p.m. in Kabul on Thursday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest there, killing nearly 200 people, including 13 U.S. service members. (read more)

Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby was furious about the intelligence leak when questioned earlier today.

If you were trying to demoralize the U.S. military and disgrace America, what would you have done any differently than what you’ve witnessed in the past couple of weeks?  That’s what I thought.

Here is the thing about this report.  The interesting thing isn’t that we knew beforehand, or that we knew beforehand and did absolutely nothing.  I don’t ascribe this to incompetence.  I think there’s more at play.

The interesting thing is that an intel report was leaked.  I suspect this isn’t from the CIA, but rather, DIA.

What this means is that departments are at war with each other within the administration.  This administration is coming apart at the seams.

Michael Yon.

The United States military is part of the problem. They knowingly and willingly left Americans at the airport gate within the last few hours. I and others worked hard and personally to get American troops to come to the gate or call their Taliban counterparts to let them in. TALIBAN WERE WILLING TO LET THEM IN.

I contacted all the right people. They all failed. Including Lieutenant General Erik Kurilla. Courageous in battle. Morally corrupt. All failed. Don’t call me. Don’t contact me ever again.

We will work with Afghans and veterans and private real Americans and others to get people out. We don’t need you. We don’t want you.

America is disgraced and under God’s judgment.

Almost 90 retired flag officers demand that Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin resign after the Afghanistan debacle.  It won’t happen.

They’re proud of what they’ve done, which is to demoralize the military and weaken a nation.  America is disgraced.

News from North Carolina.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill Monday that would do away with the Jim Crow era permit someone must obtain from a county sheriff before buying a pistol, turning back a key agenda item of conservative gun-rights activists.

Cooper’s veto was expected, and an override will be difficult for Republicans who control the General Assembly since they lack veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate. Only two Democrats – both in the House – voted for doing away with the pistol purchase permitting system, which goes back more than 100 years.

Most North Carolinians know nothing about this requirement until they attempt to go purchase a firearm for the first time.  That happened a lot this past year.

People become incensed when they learn about it.

But there are enough progs in Mecklenburg and Wake Counties that we can’t seem to rid ourselves of the controllers.

So there you have it.  If you voted for the Goober and his Goober wife, are you proud?

⁦@washingtonpost⁩ reports that Taliban offered to stay out of Kabul and let US forces secure the city. We told them we only needed the airport. We could have controlled the airport and Kabul and evacuated everyone but chose not to. The incompetence is stunning. pic.twitter.com/5MbW6K81n3

— Marc Thiessen (@marcthiessen) August 29, 2021

This is the WaPo article to which he refers.

It’s as if this was a calculated attempt to demoralize U.S. forces and make the U.S. military look weak.

News from Alaska.

The gun of an Alaska state trooper shot while trying to serve an arrest warrant malfunctioned during the encounter, charging documents said.

The trooper underwent several surgeries after Monday’s shooting, according to an affidavit signed by an investigator for the agency, Timothy Cronin, the Anchorage Daily News reported on Wednesday.

The shooting happened outside of a general store in Anchor Point when trooper Bruce Brueggeman attempted to serve an arrest warrant to Bret Herrick, 60.

Herrick was arrested a day later near his home. He has been charged with attempted murder and first-degree assault in the shooting, and was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.

Alaska State Troopers are issued Glock 22s.  Too bad he wasn’t using a 1911.  My 1911s have never failed to function, not even once in thousands and thousands of rounds.

I know.  8 + 1.  Well, his Glock 22 gave him 0 + 0.

Lessons from history.