Random News and Notes 11 April
On this day in 1945 troopers from the 6th Armored Division liberated the Nazi extermination camp at Buchenwald. They found some 21,000 people interned in the camp, many near death.
Earlier in the day, 3rd Armored with elements of the 104th Infantry Division liberated the Buchenwald sub-camp of Dora-Mittelbau, though most of the prisoners there had already been eliminated. Only 250 were still alive when the camp was liberated.
Today in 1951 in the midst of the Korean War, President Truman fired General Douglass MacArthur. With the benefit of hindsight (and we all know the saw about hindsight being 20/20) I can tell you that the relief was not only necessary, but overdue. Not only was MacArthur an insubordinate tool bag, he – or more correctly his G2 (joint staff Intelligence officer) MG Charles Willoughby – ignored solid intelligence about Chinese intervention in Korea. MacArthur had his moments of brilliance, the administration of post war Japan and the landings at Incheon are examples, but he also had huge blindspots and a monstrous ego.
Anyway, Truman appointed Matt Ridgway, the famed commander of the 82nd Airborne during WWII as MacArthur’s replacement. Ol’ iron tits – so-called because of his habit of wearing two grenades on his load bearing gear suspenders – was already in Korea as 8th Army commander. The rest is as they say History.
The news starts in the Gulf region today. It is being reported that several US warships including DDG 112 USS Michael P Murphy have transited the strait of Hormuz without any coordination with the Iranians.
This may or may not mean anything. The Iranians claimed to have mined the main channel of the Strait and ‘require’ all transiting ships to use an alternate channel that is much closer to mainland Iran. I don’t see how the Iranians could have mined the strait, and more, according to folks I trust on maritime matters, mining the strait is not an easy task because of the currents.
It’s worth mentioning that VP Vance is in Pakistan working on negotiations as we speak. I have no expectations that anything will come from them. Frankly, Vance is a non-entity to me.
In case you missed it, Artemis II returned safely last night. The 10 day mission was the first Lunar flyby since the last Apollo mission. All four astronauts are in good health and are doing mission debrief as we speak.
Marco Rubio is killing it as SecState. This morning he announced the deportation of the family of Masoumeh Ebtekar. She was the spokeswoman for the Islamic terrorists who stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Her son and his family were given status in 2014 under the Kenyan.
I told you about some other deportations of high ranking Iranian family members just the other day.
It was Infantry Week at the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Ft. Benning this week. The week includes competitions to determine the best Jumpmaster team, Mortar team, Sniper team, the Staff Sgt. Pedro Lacerda Cup for Army Combatives and the David E Grange Best Ranger competition. The results are in for Jumpmaster, Mortar team, Sniper team and the Lacerda Cup.
The Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade team won the Best Jumpmaster, the Mortar team from the 2nd Cav won the best Mortar team and a team from the USMC won the International Sniper competition. I should note that it is the first time a team from the Corps won. Believe it or not, the Coasties are generally the odds on favorites for that one.
I also need to point out that the rolled sleeves on the Marine cammies is a giant flex on the Army. Big Army disallowed rolled sleeves when the BDU went away.
The David E Grange Best Ranger competition kicked off yesterday with 60 teams and will conclude tomorrow with the awards ceremony taking place Monday 13 April at 1000 EDT.