Master blogger, master sergeant told to shut up by the Army
The 12/14/09 Army Times says active-duty Master Sergeant C.J. Grisham (his parents were too poor to afford actual first and middle names) has been running a popular blog about the military for six years.
The Times said in the first paragraph that he is also controversial.
Oooops! Game over.
“Active duty” and “controversial” do not work in the same sentence. The U.S. military invented the phrase “boot licking.”
In my 45 years since high school, I have been in a number of organizations. The biggest bunch of ass-kissing, kiss-up, boot-licking, suck-up, brown-nosing, sycophants I have ever seen were military officers. The reason is their superiors have way too much power over them.
Many entry-level officers (lieutenants) and enlisted men (E-1 to E-4) are good guys. Unfortunately for America and its military, they get the hell out of the military as fast as they can leaving the boot lickers to run the U.S. military. It has been said that the meek shall inherit the earth, but not the mineral rights. It should also be noted that the meek have already inherited the U.S. military—decades ago. Men with self-respect do not let either themselves or their wives get pushed around the way the brass pushes subordinates and their wives around in the U.S. military. See my reviews of the books In a Time of War and I Love a Man in Uniform.
Like agricultural animal breeders, the U.S. military constantly rewards the boot lickers and punishes those who speak truth to power. Over time, the percentage of boot lickers goes up. Those with moral courage say, “I’m out of here.” More and more double-military marriages are now occurring because of the co-ed-ization of the military, so we are now literally breeding more and more obsequious “warriors”—a separate tribe of people who are born, raised, and die in the military and never know anything else. Witness Chief of Staff General George Casey setting the example by reacting to the Fort Hood massacre by saying the death of diversity in the military would be worse than the deaths of the 13 victims.
The only war we are going to win with moral wimps like Casey and the hundreds of thousands of Casey wannabes in the military is the politically-correct olympics.
‘The land of the free and the home of the brave’
As you know from the National Anthem, America is the land of the free and the home of the brave.
But what you did not know, and what Grisham was apparently previously not aware of, was the the land of the free and the home of the brave are mutually exclusive.
You have to pick one or the other. If you choose brave, by joining the military, you must give up your freedom. You see it’s the land of the free and the home of the physically brave but there will be absolutely no persons of moral courage among the brave men and woman in uniform. You are required to risk your life, but your ass is grass if you risk your superior’s career.
U.S. military personnel who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan complain, “We went to war, but American went to the mall.”
That’s correct. It’s an all-volunteer military, and evidently an all-chump military. The military sucks shit day in and day out, ducks RPGs, gets blown up by IEDs, wears bent metal strips where their legs and feet used to be, and loses the freedom of speech and freedom of the press they had before they joined.
The mall is the land of the free. Iraq and Afghanistan are the home of the brave as long as they remember there will be no moral bravery. Only physical bravery will be tolerated. Follow me. Pass the Ammunition. Let’s Move. Charge! But remember to keep your mouths shut if you know what’s good for you.
Grisham having second thoughts
| Grisham says | I say |
|---|---|
| Blogging is no longer worth the trouble | I agree—IF you’re on active duty |
| he cannot continue blogging under the restrictions placed on him | So check with an attorney and ignore the restrictions that are unconstitutional—too many military people quit without a fight. When the military tried to push me around, I refused. They thought about court martialing me be always chickened out. They finally did an administrative hearing. My JAG lawyer wanted to try to “win.” “Win!?” I told him. “You’re nuts. We have no prayer. I’m not fighting to win. There is no justice to this process. I’m fighting to retain my self-respect. The win comes from leaving the Army with the dignity and integrity with which you entered it. No OVUM. No OPUM. But there’s no winning against this system.” Grisham needs to comply with the Constitution he swore to uphold and defend, but so do his superiors. He should fight, not just let them unconstitutionally bully him out of his freedom of speech and press |
| The Army does NOT want honest bloggers. | That ain’t the half of it, sergeant. The U.S. Army does not want honest anything. See my Pat Tillman articles. |
| They want sheep | Like I said, non-bootlickers need not apply to be “warriors” in the U.S. military |
| If I can’t be honest and open, I won’t write at all. | Hey, Grisham, you CAN be honest and open. This is America. But freedom isn’t free. You have to pay the price. You have to sacrifice. You have to stand up to moral coward bullies like Colonel Robert Pastorelli and Command Sergeant Major Rickey Cooper, who, surprise, surprise, declined to comment to Army Times. Make them prove their case out in the open. He who behaves badly hates the light. Drag these cockroaches out into the light. Make them present their evidence. Make them answer your attorney’s questions. Make them produce exculpatory documents, internal memos, testify about conversations they have had about you with their superiors. Check everything they say for false statements. Put every word of every legal document in the case on the Internet and ask the public and the military to help you find evidence against these guys. They say they are warriors. They trained you to be a warrior. So be a moral warrior and find out what the Constitution you swore to uphold and defend really means for those who swear to, and risk their lives to, uphold and defend it. |
His wife Emily took over, to protect her husband, and they attacked him because of her posts
Here is a paragraph from the Army Times story:
“Since he gets in trouble every time he writes something, I’m going to write what’s going on. They can’t do anything to me,” she wrote. The next day, Grisham said he was yelled at for his wife’s posts.
Memo to Grisham:
Don’t hide behind your wife because it doesn’t work. The Army has been bullying the wives of their soldiers since the beginning of time. They will punish her by punishing you. They can kill her retirement pension, medical and other benefits by forcing you out of the Army before you vest your benefits—and they sure as hell will. They are two-bit scum thugs.
Don’t hide behind your wife because it’s unseemly. In Iraq, you earned the bronze star with a V for valor by charging through enemy fire armed only with a pistol and a grenade. It’s time to do the moral equivalent with regard to the “fire” you are receiving from Pastorelli and Cooper. Figuratively speaking, Grisham, you need to “fix bayonets.” These ass holes want a fight. They picked a fight. They started a fight. Now let’s see how good they are at finishing the fight. In my experience, bullies run the other way when you stand up to them.
Stand up to them.
| Grisham says | I say |
|---|---|
| I feel frustrated and betrayed | Welcome to the SNAFU, FUBAR, U.S. Army |
| Moral integrity means something to me. | Well, it means nothing to your colleagues and especially your superiors. It’s nothing but public relations eyewash to them. |
| I am surrounded by heroic Americans who would give their lives if needed, | like I said |
| but this whole thing has really soured me and made me second guess what I’m doing here. Why am I in an organization that would throw you to the fish like this? | You’re a slow learner, sergeant. It took me 10 days to see this when I arrived at the 101st Airborne, my first real Army assignment. Better late than never. By the way, the answer to your question about why you’re there is inertia, your buddies, and the bennies you get if you hold your nose, and your integrity and dignity, until 20. The key question is what’s more important to you: 1. your integrity and dignity—or 2. your retirement bennies. The National Association of Those Who Chose #1 could have their annual convention in a phone booth. Good luck deciding which you are. |
| All it takes is one command[er] who doesn’t get it [or want to get it, to] turn your life upside down. | Yeah, I wrote about that in the following Web articles: • Should you go to, or stay at, West Point? (my alma mater) |
John T. Reed