Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Navy Veteran Ming Chang, who was the first naturalized Asian American to reach flag rank in the Navy.
Ming Chang was born in Shanghai in 1932. His father was in the U.S. Navy. At the age of 14, he emigrated to the United States with his mother, eventually becoming a citizen. He worked hard and attended William and Mary College in Virginia, where he was among a small group of Asian American students.
At William and Mary, Chang earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and a minor in mathematics. After graduating in 1955, he followed in his father’s footsteps and enlisted in the Naval Reserve, eventually joining the active Navy in 1960.
During his service, Chang filled assignments in the Navy cruiser and destroyer commands. These assignments included being a commanding officer of USS Rathburne, commander of USS Reeves, commander of carrier group Three, commander of the Third fleet and commander of the cruiser destroyer Two, among many more positions. Chang also earned an additional bachelor’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in electrical engineering. He received many awards and honors including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with combat V denotation and the distinguished lifetime achievement award from the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.
He served for 34 years, retiring in 1990 as a rear admiral and was the first naturalized Asian American to reach flag rank in the Navy in 1980. Charlotte Chang, Ming’s wife of 61 years, said he “would approach everything by trying to be the best he could be. He felt confident he would be recognized for his ability, and he was.”
After retirement, he was the vice president and corporate director of the Pacific region at Raytheon. President Clinton later appointed him to the advisory board for the World War II Memorial. He also served on the board of trustees for the College of William and Mary and as the chairman of the U.S. Merchant Marines Academy advisory board, among many other post-retirement commitments.
Chang died in 2017 after battling Parkinson’s disease.
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Veterans History Project
This #VeteranOfTheDay profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Find out more at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.
Episode 25 – Law Talk on KHVH Radio in Hawaii with Marc Victor and Rick Hamada.
Rick Hamada talks with attorney Marc J. Victor, host of “Law Talk” Saturday mornings at 8 AM on NewsRadio 830 KHVH. Marc has some exciting news about the guest on Law Talk this weekend — find out who is stopping by! Marc will be talking with BJ Penn Candidate for Governor in Hawaii.
The Law Talk Radio Show (Hawaii) is presented by The Attorneys for Freedom Law Firm and hosted by Rick Hamada and Attorney Marc J. Victor.
If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visits Taiwan to show support for the island nation, she would likely fly in a U.S. military plane at a time when China is increasingly challenging U.S. aircraft and ships in the Pacific region.
The Financial Times has reported that Pelosi plans to travel to Taiwan in August, but Pelosi has not yet confirmed whether she expects to make such a trip, citing security concerns.
Lawmakers typically fly on military aircraft when they visit Taiwan, which China views as a renegade province, and the Defense Department is considering whether to also move ships and aircraft into the region to protect Pelosi’s delegation if the trip happens, according to the Washington Post.
Army Lt. Col. Martin Meiners, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to say if the U.S. military might fly Pelosi to Taiwan. “It wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on any congressional travel possibilities,” Meiners told Task & Purpose on Monday.
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The Air Force’s 89th Airlift Wing transports the president, cabinet members, senior combatant commanders, and other distinguished visitors all over the world. Based out of Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, the wing’s aircraft includes Air Force One as well as military planes based on Gulfstream and Boeing jets.
It is normal for senior members of any administration to use military aircraft during overseas trips because those planes have the communications equipment needed to keep in constant contact with Washington, D.C., and they afford privacy so that officials can work with their staff during long flights to prepare for their visits, a retired senior government official told Task & Purpose. For trips to combat zones and other high-threat areas, it is also common for U.S. government officials to fly in Air Force C-17s because those planes have defensive systems, and their crews are trained to fly in dangerous conditions.
However, President Joe Biden recently said the military has reservations about Pelosi traveling to Taiwan.
“I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now, but I don’t know what the status of it is,” Biden said on July 20 in response to a question from a reporter about whether he thought it was a good idea for Pelosi to visit Taiwan this summer.
Biden did not elaborate on exactly why the military has concerns about Pelosi traveling to Taiwan.
“The administration routinely provides members of Congress with information and context for potential travel, including geopolitical and security considerations,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council told Task & Purpose on Monday. “Members of Congress will make their own decisions.”
If Pelosi arrives in Taiwan, she would be the highest-ranking member of Congress to visit the country since former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) met with Taiwan’s president in April 1997, shortly before China assumed control of Hong Kong, a former British colony.
China has become much more wealthy and powerful in the ensuing 25 years. It is now the second-largest economy in the world, and it also boasts the largest navy of any military. Retired Navy Adm. Phil Davidson, who led U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at the time, warned Congress last year that China could attempt to invade Taiwan by 2027.
The spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry has recently indicated that China could retaliate if Pelosi went to Taiwan. “If the U.S. were to insist on going down the wrong path, China will take resolute and strong measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zhao Lijiang told reporters at a July 19 news briefing.
Zhao did not specify what types of actions the Chinese government might take under such a scenario.
Separately, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned that the number of potentially dangerous encounters between Chinese and U.S. ships and aircraft has risen over the past five years.
“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” Milley told reporters on Sunday.
In one such incident, a U.S. special operations C-130 aircraft had an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” encounter with a Chinese SU-30 fighter over the South China Sea in June, Politico first reported.
Washington Examiner online editor Tom Rogan argued in a recent commentary that Pelosi should fly commercially to Taiwan because it is likely that China’s President Xi Jinping would order his fighters to fly close to any U.S. and Taiwanese military aircraft used to get Pelosi safely to the island nation.
“The very threat of this possibility would make it necessary for Pelosi’s aircraft to receive either a U.S. or a Taiwanese fighter escort,” wrote Rogan, who is also the Washington Examiner’s national security writer. “That would only increase Xi’s sense of needing to make a public show of confronting the visit. The risks of escalation and miscalculation would be high.”
Pelosi’s office did not provide a statement for this story.
Respected China expert Bonnie Glaser noted that all members of Congress who visit Taiwan fly on aircraft provided by the military.
Currently, the risk of an incident between China and the United States is growing in the runup to the Aug. 1 anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army’s founding and other events later this year, such as China’s 20th Party Congress, said Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] would certainly not simply repeat what they did in 1995-96 by firing missiles near Taiwan,” Glaser told Task & Purpose. “It is certainly possible that a PLA aircraft could ‘escort’ Pelosi’s plane and fly directly over Taiwan or at least into the territorial airspace. That would be unprecedented and dangerous. I think it is unlikely that they would shoot down the aircraft.”
UPDATE: This story was updated on July 25 with comments from Bonnie Glaser.
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Coast Guard Veteran Eugene “Gene” Gerrard is today’s Veteran of the Day.
Eugene “Gene” Gerrard wanted to begin his military career at age 17 during the summer of 1941. He worked as a printer by day and attended trade school by night in Brooklyn, New York, and upon being convinced by Navy officers to join, he chose to enlist in the Navy. After he was told he would either be assigned to serve on a battleship, an aircraft carrier, or the base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, his mother refused to sign his papers. However, due to a family friend influencing his mother’s opinion, he finally enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942.
Gerrard served in the Coast Guard until 1945, where he attained the rank of quartermaster 1st class. For his service, he earned an American Campaign Medal, an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, a Good Conduct Medal, a World War II Victory Medal and a Philippine Liberation Medal.
Following his service, Gerrard applied his printing knowledge to owning and operating two printing businesses for 61 years: Gerrard Printing in Elmont, New York, from 1951 to 1965, and St. Gerrard Printing in Port Jefferson Station, New York, from 1965 to 2013. Gerrard simultaneously served as a Brookhaven town councilman for 22 years starting in 1981.
In addition to the aforementioned community involvement, Gerrard was an active member of the Mt. Sinai Fire Department for 50 years and he served as its chief, chaplain and fire police captain. He founded the Mt. Sinai Fire Department Benevolent Association and the Brookhaven Volunteer Firefighters Museum.
At age 94, Gerrard began volunteering at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center as a Red Coat Ambassador, serving Veterans of the Finger Lakes. Red Coat Ambassadors are named for their easily recognizable red coats or vests. They are volunteer greeters, positioned near front entrances of VA buildings. They offer information and assistance, provide directions to important locations, escort Veterans to their appointments when requested, contact escorts or wheelchair services when necessary, and offer listening ears to those in need.
Gerrard was named the New York 27th Congressional District Veteran of the Month in June 2021, and was presented with a New York State Senate Proclamation by Senator Pamela Helming that year on his 99th birthday.
In May 2022, Gerrard celebrated his 100th birthday at American Legion Canandaigua Post 256 with VA Center for Development and Civic Engagement (CDCE) staff, Canandaigua Rotary members, Kiwanis Club of Canandaigua members, and other community members. A few days later, he was honored at a gubernatorial rally by Lee Zeldin.
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Even as there are political fights over what to do about climate change, militaries have been very clear in their acceptance of climate science, and open about planning to adapt their capabilities to a changing world. In the United States, the Pentagon has been preparing for warmer seas and worsening natural disasters, making plans for everything from protecting or moving bases to potential geostrategic conflicts.
Meanwhile some recent technological moves from European nations will military adapt to the climate reality. This week the Netherlands unveiled the first batch of a total of 134 electric vehicles it will use for moving supplies and maintenance pieces around bases to help maintain operational readiness. The full fleet will be delivered by year’s end, and there is a potential for further expansion.
Defensie heeft vandaag de eerste 4 van in totaal 134 elektrische bedrijfsvoertuigen ontvangen. De rest volgt gefaseerd tot het eind van het jaar. Hiermee levert de krijgsmacht een bijdrage aan de maatschappelijke opgave om klimaatverandering tegen te gaan. https://t.co/ZqtjVDH6NR pic.twitter.com/qowmLfYrax
The Dutch Ministry of Defense noted in its announcement that the new vehicles not only reduce emissions but can be easily charged at any base, rather than having to rely on specific fossil fuel setups. It’s not a full replacement of existing vehicles, but it points to a shift in how the Netherlands wants to update its logistics in the time of climate change. After all, combat units are maintained and fueled by what is delivered to the front lines.
Just off of the continent, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force hit a new stage in its effort to run off of synthetic fuel. After a successful fully synthetic flight in November of last year, the RAF is expanding production of this new fuel to use in further test flights. The expanded research and testing will allow the air force to develop wider fueling technology to help squadrons and air wings.
“It has the potential to improve operational resilience while eliminating fossil carbon emissions in flight,” Defense Minister Jeremy Quin said in a statement on the expanded testing.
The RAF is working on hitting net zero in its emissions, but there are strategic elements at play. Beyond just being an alternative to the currently very expensive petroleum fuel, this synthetic fuel, if widely adopted, could provide a way for the United Kingdom to ease off dependence on foreign oil. As Europe has seen with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reliance on a hostile or difficult actor for energy sufficiency can put nations in tricky situations when it comes to diplomacy and security.
There is legitimate concern for immediate adaptation. The same heat wave sparking fires in Europe recently melted a runway used by the Royal Air Force. Militaries are joining firefighters in combating wildfires in multiple countries (and in the case of Slovenia, having to deal with unexploded ordnance from World War I that’s now being set off). Even rising temperatures and sea levels are endangering training spaces, such as the Marine Recruit Depot at Parris Island, which is looking into modifying the base for higher water levels.
The latest developments from the Netherlands and U.K. aren’t a full green overhaul of their armed forces, but they do mark investments and seriousness in building a more eco-resilient military. If both attempts prove successful, it’s possible to see these strategies more widely adopted across Europe and other nations.
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For years the Pentagon has catalogued and paid attention to unidentified phenomena. These are the kind of things that “do not have an explanation,” as the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence said earlier this year. Recently the Department of Defense has been setting up official bodies to look into UFOs. Now, the Pentagon wants to do more: It wants to resolve the mysteries of these phenomena. This week it officially set up a new body, formally known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, to look at unidentified objects in all fields, including “transmedium” ones.
“The AARO will serve as the authoritative office of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) and UAP-related activities for the DoD,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in her memo.
The new AARO was created through a provision in the 2022 fiscal year National Defense Authorization Act. It is an expansion of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, itself the successor to the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. The AARO has an expanded mission compared to the AOIMSG. It will look into “anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged and transmedium objects,” per the Department of Defense. Before the Fox Mulders of the world get excited, the AARO is not explicitly looking for alien life, but simply unidentified objects–which the Pentagon generally theorizes could be unknown foreign technology, atmospheric conditions or similar matters. But the brief doesn’t explicitly rule out extraterrestrial elements. And given the “submerged” aspect, it also doesn’t rule out kaiju a la Godzilla (but don’t expect that).
The AARO’s full mission brief calls for six areas of focus: “Surveillance, Collection and Recording, System Capabilities and Design, Intelligence Operations and Analysis, Mitigation and Defeat, Governance Science, and Technology.” The fourth point, mitigation and defeat, is interesting as it suggests that the Pentagon wants to counter these phenomena. The office’s name as well adds to that, but what a “resolution” means is unclear. It could be simply identifying something in a photo or video as a foreign plane, or something more intensive, depending on what the office finds.
May 17, 2022 HPSCI UAP Hearing Videos/Stills (U.S. Navy)
There are some legitimate reasons for setting this up, beyond jokes about aliens. Unidentified objects, flying or otherwise, are real. In May, Politico reported that intelligence agencies and the Pentagon were debating what to reveal about this to Congress, ahead of hearings in Congress. The Pentagon has released images and video of UFOs, or “unidentified aerial phenomena,” before, in 2019. In 2021 the Director of National Intelligence released a report on the matter. The establishment of this office and its expanded mandate suggests that the Pentagon wants to take this seriously.
Another sign of the Pentagon’s serious approach here is who they put in charge of the office. The first director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office is Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick, who most recently was Chief Scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center. His scientific credentials are strong—per his DoD bio, he got his PhD studying “nonlinear and nonequilibrium phonon dynamics of rare earth doped fluoride crystals.” He’s also worked in defense and scientific fields for more than two decades.
So will the new department actually resolve some of these anomalies? That remains to be seen. But clearly the Pentagon wants to believe that it can. Keep an eye out for any other aerial mysteries and what results the AARO reports. The truth is out there, or at least that’s what the AARO hopes.
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Army Air Forces Veteran Ralph Parr is today’s Veteran of the Day.
Ralph Parr loved to fly. At five years old, his father, a Navy squadron commander, took him flying on his birthday. From that point forward, Parr’s fascination with flying grew. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1942 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1944. During World War II, Parr served in the Pacific Theater, piloting the P-38 Lightning during the last eight weeks of the war.
During the Korean War, Parr flew the F-86 Sabre jet and faced many intimidating missions. One such mission occurred on June 7, 1953, when Parr was flying near the Yalu River. While descending, he spotted four enemy MiG-15 aircraft nearby. Deciding to pursue them, he succeeded in downing one aircraft. However, as he descended further, he discovered the enemy aircraft contingent was 16 strong. Realizing he was outmatched, Parr downed two aircraft and damaged a third before retreating to safety.
On June 30, Parr was attacked by 10 enemy aircraft during another mission and took down two aircraft when the fight unfolded. Despite being low on fuel, he also helped his besieged wing commander fight off other enemies before they returned to safety. Parr was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his action that day. He was an ace when the war ended in July.
Between the Korean War and Vietnam War, Parr served as a leading flight instructor and was also an F-4 squadron commander. When the Vietnam War started, Parr served two combat tours there. In 1968, he was with the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing as deputy commander of operations. He took part in the Battle of Khe Sanh when the North Vietnamese attacked a Marine garrison in Khe Sanh. During the battle, he flew eight passes against six enemy mortar and gun positions, helping the Americans secure their supply line and disrupt the North Vietnamese attack. For his actions, he received an Air Force Cross. Parr became the only person to receive both an Air Force Cross and a Distinguished Service Cross.
After the Vietnam War, Parr served in Iran with the Military Assistance Advisory Group. His final assignment took him to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. He retired in 1976 at the rank of colonel.
During his 32-year career, Parr flew over 6,000 hours, took part in 641 missions in three wars and earned over 60 decorations, including a Distinguished Service Cross, Air Force Cross, 10 Distinguished Flying Crosses, Silver Star, Bronze Star and 41 Air Medals.
Parr died in 2012 at the age of 88. He is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
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Perhaps it’s easier to tell you upfront what this article won’t do rather than what it will. It won’t tell you how to feel about the war in Afghanistan. It won’t tell you how to feel about VET TV, a military and veterans-focused production company that has been strongly criticized for its content. And it won’t tell you how to feel about their documentary series, Let’s Talk About the War.
That’s mostly because I’m still figuring out how I feel about it.
Let’s Talk About the War was released in January. The longest of the six episodes is only 30 minutes, each combining in-person interviews with real combat footage and scenes from VET TV’s own series, A Grunt’s Life. The intent of the series, as director Nick Betts says at the beginning of each episode, is to give veterans a final say in the war in Afghanistan, which came to a crashing halt almost one year ago.
“After this 21-year war has ended, and seeing the fall of Kabul, it made me angry. I think it made all of us angry,” Betts, a U.S. Army sniper veteran who wrote, directed, and produced the series, says in the introduction. “But no one wanted to listen to us. No one gave a fuck about the sacrifice that we made for this country, and for the government, and the people of Afghanistan. It’s time for us now to hear from our veterans and what their thoughts are on the war.”
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From the moment the first episode starts, the series pulls you in with combat footage of cars driving down a highway only to be engulfed by smoke and debris after an explosion. Contemplative music plays in the background as a clip from inside a vehicle shows gravel exploding in front of it as it rolls over. Viewers then meet Betts, who interviews veterans of Afghanistan with a wide range of experiences.
The series features clips of conversations between Betts and different interviewees — Army and Marine Corps, enlisted and officer. The conversations range from humorous to contemplative, emotional, and serious. The first interviewee featured is Austin Mandelbaum, a veteran of the Army’s 75th Ranger Battalion, who says people with a “certain mental profile” gravitate towards special operations units.
“It’s essentially sociopaths with homicidal tendencies,” Mandelbaum says.
The entire series is like this: assessments that are so blunt you almost wonder if the interviewees knew it would be shown on camera. It covers a lot of ground, talking about the friction between enlisted troops and the officers above them, the mistrust between U.S. service members and their Afghan counterparts; civilian casualties; and the challenge of reassimilating into civilian society after going to war. And it doesn’t just hint at controversy, it relishes in it. It doesn’t push the limits; it blows right past them.
But just as you’re nearing your limit, thinking maybe this isn’t for you, it offers a raw quote or bit of analysis that stops you from exiting out of the browser just long enough to start the next episode.
Nick Betts (right) sits with Austin Mandelbaum (left) in “Let’s Talk About the War.” (Screenshot of VET TV)
Throughout episode one, for example, infantrymen are painted as “animals” who are not only comfortable with killing but eager to do it, driven by rage and hatred. In one moment, Marine Corps veteran and VET TV founder Donny O’Malley — a stage name — recalls being told downrange that a machine gunner was scared to get in trouble for shooting a child after seeing the kid pick up a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). O’Malley said he told the Marine that if it was a matter of not wanting to shoot a child, he needed to tell someone else who “isn’t as fearful of doing that and let them fucking waste ‘em.”
“He goes, ‘Oh no, fuck that sir, I’ll fuckin’ smoke all these fucking kids, I don’t give a fuck. Fuck ‘em!’ And he just went on about wanting to gun down all these kids and I’m just like okay, chill out on that shit,” O’Malley recalled, laughing. “I’m like, chill on that, you don’t want to go doing that. But if someone’s shooting an RPG at you, doesn’t matter who they are, fucking waste ‘em.”
It’s not the clean, easily-digestible version of the military that is often sold by Hollywood. Take American Sniper for instance, in which a scene reminiscent of the one O’Malley describes plays out.
In the film, Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle (played by Bradley Cooper) watches as a kid runs toward a dead or dying insurgent who was carrying an RPG as Kyle shot him. As the boy struggles to shift the weight of the RPG onto his shoulder, Cooper looks through his scope, quietly urging the boy to drop the weapon but inching his finger towards the trigger of his sniper rifle nonetheless, appearing internally tortured by what he may have to do next. The boy finally drops the RPG and Cooper releases a shaky exhale, visibly relieved.
O’Malley’s story is a far cry from that. But taking a step back, you can’t help but ask: How did it get this way? I asked Betts about that moment and the first episode. He said he wanted to ensure he wasn’t reinforcing a narrative that veterans are “hyper-aggressive” “blood-thirsty animals” who can’t successfully rejoin civilian society after their service. But he also said the “war animal” mentality was something that was almost inevitable for some service members downrange, a survival tactic that ensured you and those next to you would make it home.
“If you look back in time, I mean the U.S. Army went from circle targets to human-shaped silhouettes,” he said. “Then they went from human-shaped silhouettes to, now let’s give the guy a mustache and an [AK-47]. So there’s this level of conditioning that the military is hyper-aware of.”
He recalled reading two books from retired Army Lt. Col. Dave Grossman — On Combat and On Killing — during his last year in Afghanistan. They made him feel validated and gave him feelings of “complete animosity” towards “anybody that stood in our way.” That’s what he wanted his series to do: validate service members’ experiences and feelings, and let them know that it’s not just them who felt that way. They weren’t the only ones who struggled with it afterward.
In a gutting moment of self-reflection near the end of the first episode of the series, Betts reads a November 2006 entry from his journal when he was 19 years old. He’d watched the enemy “take direct hits” from various firearms and weapon systems, all while having “a smile on my face.”
“Am I sick? Am I a bad person?” Betts wondered in 2006. “And with all of this said, I’m the same person receiving standing ovations in airports for a job well done. And I look at these people’s faces with such pain, confusement, and anguish. Is this what I was meant to do? Should I take pride in taking the lives of people? I never would have thought that I’d be praised for being a murderer. Am I a murderer? Or am I a soldier?”
Nick Betts reading from his journal in “Let’s Talk About the War.” (Screenshot of VET TV)
‘We don’t owe anyone shit’
That stark difference between what O’Malley recalled during his service, and the way Hollywood portrays similar situations, is exactly the point of VET TV. The brazen content they produce, which up until Let’s Talk About the War has been primarily focused on the “dark humor” found within the ranks, to reflect the real U.S. military, not the one civilians believe exists.
“Don’t expect us to represent the US military the way the commercials want us to, or the way you think we should,” read a 2016 Kickstarter campaign for the nascent streaming service. . “We made our sacrifice; we don’t owe anyone shit.”
Civilians “don’t like seeing us [veterans] the way that we really are,” according to O’Malley, who says civilians often misunderstand and take offense to the content VET TV creates. But even service members have been upset by some of the things VET TV has created over the years.
The content produced by VET TV has been criticized as racist, misogynistic, and transphobic — labels that CEO Waco Hoover, a Marine veteran, doesn’t necessarily agree with. There’s “actually a deeper story for each one of those stories,” he told Task & Purpose. He pointed specifically to one skit that featured O’Malley as a transgender Marine — there’s “actually a huge amount of celebration” in that episode, Hoover said. “We’ve gotten some incredible feedback from transgender people who serve, who talk about ‘Oh my God, that episode inspired me so much.’”
On military-related Reddit pages, the platform has been disparaged as having “a bit too much of a [bro-vet] vibe,” being “really fucking boot and cringey [sp],” “disgusting,” and “fucking weird.” Many critics take issue with the use of tired stereotypes and reliance on edgy, dark humor that is “played out.” But among those critiques are comments praising Let’s Talk About the War for standing out among VET TV’s other videos. And that’s kind of the point.
The comedy piece of VET TV is just one part of it, Hoover said. They’re looking to build a television network, and like every network, they want to have a diverse array of content for viewers to choose from. Eventually, he said, they want to serve the whole military community, including spouses and families. But they’re “very young in that journey,” Hoover said.
In an interview with L.A. Times in 2020, O’Malley expressed regret over some of his decisions, namely using brownface while “parodying terrorists,” and misogynistic content. One video mentioned by the Times advertises a “Night Terror Neck Brace” to keep women safe from their “nocturnally abusive husband,” as the video puts it.
“Your husband can squeeze as hard as he wants, and you won’t feel a thing,” the video says, showing a man choking his wife in bed.
As he was starting the business, O’Malley was focused almost exclusively on fundraising from men and never expected “a single woman to give us a dollar,” he told The Times. It was a “mistake,” he said, and he “didn’t think about a bigger picture.” He said he later realized that people watching his skit featuring brownface “didn’t just perceive it as us parodying terrorists — it was us parodying Middle Easterners,” adding that it’s not something he’d do again.
In the future, VET TV hopes to do more shows like Let’s Talk About the War, which Hoover said brought in a noticeable amount of subscribers. They’re even in talks with what Hoover described as several “mainstream Hollywood” groups who have expressed interest in working with VET TV to turn the series “into a bigger production.” That would be a significant shift: Amazon rejected carrying VET TV’s movie, A Grunt’s Life, for “being too offensive” the Times reported in 2020.
But it seems Let’s Talk About the War is different. Betts said he’s received thousands of comments from people who have watched, praising it as validating their feelings, calling it cathartic, and thanking him for the work he did. Some have told him that after showing it to their spouse, they have “a whole different understanding of one another.” Comments left on the episodes say the series is full of “hard truths” and something they “can’t turn away from.”
“The overall response made absolutely all of the tears, all the sleepless nights, well worth it,” Betts said.
Nick Betts (left) talks with Army veteran Jamie Goldstein (right) in “Let’s Talk About the War.” (Screenshot of VET TV)
‘I was really mad for a long time’
The first five episodes of the series are admittedly “mildly negative” and accusatory, Betts said. In episode four, for instance, the interviewees discuss in detail Afghan authorities’ sexual abuse of young boys that they were told to ignore. And while each episode explores difficult topics, to put it mildly, Betts said the hardest episode to work on was the last.
The sixth episode, titled “Re-assimilation,” is the longest of the series. It asks the question of how service members went “from the battlefield in the Middle East back to a world they didn’t understand anymore, and which didn’t understand them.” Betts said he wanted to showcase veterans who successfully transitioned to civilian life, despite facing no shortage of challenges.
During episode six, Betts and his interviewees discuss their lowest moments, from the minutes after catastrophic injuries to the days and weeks afterward, wrought with anger, resentment, and depression. They talk about suicide and post-traumatic stress, including a conversation with a Gold Star spouse, Jennifer Travis, whose husband Sgt. 1st Class Bryce Travis died by suicide in September 2018. He thought “nobody gave a fuck,” Jennifer says, and that he was expendable. “At the end of the day, the government proved him right.”
In one particularly emotional moment, Betts listens with tears in his eyes as Army veteran Jose Martinez recalled making a deal with God after he stepped on a 60-pound improvised explosive device (IED). He ultimately lost both legs and his right arm from the incident.
“If anything I was just more disappointed in myself,” he said, his voice breaking. “I was really mad for a long time. Not because of how it happened to me, but because I didn’t die. I was ready to die — I was ready to die before that, I was ready to die after that. I remember just talking to God when I was out there and saying, ‘If I make it out of this mess, I promise you I won’t be an asshole no more. I’m going to try to help those that need help.’”
While the episode is likely the most emotional, it also shows the hope that exists in abundance, Betts recalled his own turning point, when a friend gave him a loan and he was so set on not letting him down that it was the first small push he needed to get better. That forward momentum led him to a job, which helped him rediscover his passions and re-center on who he was. Soon, he said he started making phone calls, apologizing to those close to him for the person he’d become. Those conversations and their forgiveness gave him another push, and step by step by step, he got “a lot better.”
“The Taliban, they win if we don’t get back out there and continue on with the rest of our lives,” said Marine Corps veteran Brandon Rumbaugh, who also lost his legs after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan. “That’s what they want. They want us to be miserable, and we’re not going to let that happen.”
There’s no way you can watch this series and not feel bothered by it at the end of the day. And frankly, you should be. What these veterans experienced during America’s longest war is important and meaningful. Yet as I watched each episode I found myself wondering what I was more bothered by — what they were saying, or the situation that made it their reality.
Betts acknowledges that the experience reflected in the series isn’t everyone’s. There’s no way it could be, with veterans having deployed at different times, in different theaters, with different jobs. “I wouldn’t tell them that they were wrong, but they can’t tell me that I’m wrong either in my feelings,” he said. And really, that isn’t the point.
“I hope the military personnel that watch this feel validated in their feelings,” he said. “And feel like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and it wasn’t all for nothing.”
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Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Air Forces Veteran Neel E. Kearby, who served as a fighter pilot during World War II.
To a generation of young Americans, the flying aces of World War I inspired many to follow in their footsteps to become fighter pilots. Neel Earnest Kearby was one of those who grew up captivated by the aces. He joined the Army Air Corps—later renamed the Army Air Forces—after earning a degree in business administration from the University of Texas in Austin in 1937. He completed flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio. Afterward, he served with two flight squadrons at Selfridge Field, Michigan, before receiving command of the 14th Pursuit Squadron in the Panama Canal Zone.
After Panama, Kearby returned to the U.S. to command the 348th Fighter Group and deployed to the Pacific Theater. In this position, Kearby earned his reputation as a fighter pilot and an aggressive tactician. The 348th Fighter Group was the first unit in the Pacific Theater to fly P-47 Thunderbolts. While many dismissed the P-47 as an unsuitable aircraft to fly against the Japanese, Kearby exploited the P-47’s high altitude and diving capabilities to tremendous success.
On Oct. 11, 1943, the same day he was promoted to colonel, Kearby led a mission to scout enemy bases near Wewak, New Guinea. After his group completed its objective, they spotted a contingent of enemy aircraft and engaged with them despite being outnumbered. Amid the ensuing fight, Kearby shot down three enemy aircraft and two more who were pursuing another pilot in his group. He destroyed another enemy aircraft before finally retreating into the safety of the clouds. Kearby received a Medal of Honor for his actions and for destroying the most enemy aircraft in a single mission. By November, he had 12 aerial victories.
In the same month, Kearby was set to assume an administrative role at the Fifth Air Force Fighter Command. Never one to give up flying, he made sure he could still fly combat missions in his new role. True to his goals, he continued to fly combat missions and accumulated 22 aerial victories.
On March 5, 1944, Kearby led a fighter sweeper mission near Wewak, New Guinea. He engaged with several Japanese bombers preparing to land. However, he was hit by machine-gun fire during the fight, causing him to crash. His remains were not recovered until 1949. He was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery with full military honors.
During his service, Col. Kearby received a Medal of Honor, two Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Purple Heart and five Air Medals.
Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? VA’s #VeteranOfTheDay social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service.
It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.
Veterans History Project
This #VeteranOfTheDay profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Find out more at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.
The families of Army Special Forces soldiers at a small camp in the Florida panhandle are at their breaking point after years of not having adequate child care within a reasonable distance of their base, according to Special Forces advocates and lawmakers.
To make things worse, families and advocates say that the commanders of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, which oversees Camp Bull Simons, will not give the camp permission to build a daycare facility on the compound for what advocates consider to be bogus reasons. The situation has caught the attention of members of Congress who are now pushing the secretaries of the Air Force and the Army to explain themselves at a briefing to be held no later than Dec. 1.
“The stories are heart-wrenching, and the impact this is having on both families and readiness is unacceptable,” wrote Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott in a July 12 letter to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. “The lack of urgency and failure to understand the depth of the impact this is having on our operators is growing increasingly frustrating for us and our constituents.”
Like many Special Forces Groups, the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) deployed “nonstop” to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since 2002, according to an Army press release. In 2011, the group moved from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Camp Bull Simons, which is located on the Florida panhandle about 20 miles north of Eglin Air Force Base. Though Eglin and Bull Simons are two separate facilities, Eglin oversees its smaller cousin, which includes about 50 structures and employs more than 3,000 service members and civilians, according to the Senate report for the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
Most of those service members live in the city of Crestview, which is about 15 to 20 minutes north of Camp Simons and is the “only affordable off-post housing option” for many enlisted troops, according to a white paper written by the CDC Action Group, which advocates for a childcare center at the installation. There are more than 450 children in that area up to four years old who do not have access to a CDC, or child development center, said retired Col. Stu Bradin, president and CEO of the Global SOF Foundation.
Green Berets from the 7th Special Forces Group salute during the National Anthem at the 7th Special Forces Group’s ribbon cutting ceremony and open house, Oct. 14, 2011. The open house concluded a six-year journey for the group who left Fort Bragg, N.C., as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process. (Samuel King, Jr./U.S. Air Force)
Unfortunately for service members at Camp Bull Simons, there is no child development center. The nearest CDC is at Eglin, about 45 minutes south of Crestview, advocates say. The waitlist for that center is years long, and the few families who make it into the center have a hell of a drive to deal with every day — as much as two hours a day there and back — which often means they have to leave work early and run up a huge gas bill along the way. There are also few private childcare centers in Crestview that qualify for the Army’s subsidized childcare program, the white paper read.
“Families are effectively denied the ability to use a CDC given the distance and length of time it takes to reach those on Eglin’s main base,” retired Special Forces officers wrote to Rubio, Scott, and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz in June. Apparently, this has been a concern since the 7th Special Forces Group moved to Camp Simons roughly a decade ago.
“I clearly remember leadership representatives from [Eglin] highlighting the services offered to our families,” retired Col. Robert Connell, a former deputy commander of the 7th Special Forces Group, wrote in the letter. “Critical amongst these was CDC access – a key concern of many that were considering the move.”
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In 2016, Connell was shocked when he learned that CDC access remained a problem, considering that the Air Force guaranteed CDC support no matter where the soldiers lived, he said in the letter. Though Green Beret families have repeatedly raised the issue to Eglin, the base’s “leadership has responded with repeated promises and inadequate solutions,” Connell said. “One recently consisted of building a third CDC on the main base.”
With no other options, Connell turned to Congress in the hopes that legislation can fix the issue, and he seems to have found a sympathetic audience.
“When we fail to deliver for our service members, lethality declines, quality of life drops, morale plummets, and retention rates fall,” Rubio and Scott wrote. “Further, we have recently learned of the alarming decline in recruitment, which is to be expected when the Department of Defense continues to fail our service members and their families.”
Lt. Col. Mark Hanson and Lt. Col. Joe McGill with the 96th Test Wing practice tactical low-level flight in an F-16 Fighting Falcon over rural Southern Alabama, Jan. 6, 2021. (Master Sgt. Tristan McIntire/U.S. Air Force)
The leaders of Eglin say that there’s a good reason why they refuse to allow a CDC to be built at Camp Simons: There’s a bombing range near the installation where the 96th Test Wing experiments with advanced munitions.
“The 96th Test Wing commander has been in consultation with 7th SFG leadership over several years,” Andy Bourland, director of public affairs for the 96th Test Wing, told Task & Purpose. “There are several options that have been and are currently being considered. However, we do not believe that putting a CDC on an active bombing range at Eglin Air Force Base is an acceptable risk that commanders are willing to accept.”
Indeed, there is a bombing range near Camp Simons, but one of the retired Special Forces officers, Col. Stu Bradin, said the range is rarely used. He also pointed out that Camp Simons already has a barracks, a chapel and a shopette where soldiers regularly gather with their families. He and other advocates argue that Eglin’s claims of safety concerns due to the bombing range have no meat to them, and members of Congress seem to share those concerns. The Senate Armed Service Committee’s report on the 2023 NDAA directs the secretaries of the Army and the Air Force “to provide a briefing not later than December 1, 2022” on the process for requesting and approving military construction; a review “of what constitutes public safety in relation to training range space” at Camp Simons; copies of whatever paperwork allows the Air Force to build barracks at the camp despite it being near an active bombing range; a description of the risks to children and a review of how the services are working towards a solution.
“While the committee shares the public safety concern, no evidence has been provided to the committee showing that such a concern exists and how the Air Force applies said concern equally to all public activities surrounding the range,” senators wrote in their report. Bradin was even more direct in his assessment.
“It is complete bullshit about not allowing anything in the ‘range’ area,” he said. “The Air Force has no risk mitigation and that is why Congress wants to hear their briefing.”
The Army seemed to take a similar stance in a January briefing Bradin provided to Task & Purpose.
“There are no hazard areas overlapping Camp Bull Simons,” wrote an Air Force employee summarizing the Army’s position in the briefing. “In over 10 years, CBS has never had to evacuate.”
Members of the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) conduct casualty evacuation training on Camp Bull Simons, Fla., Feb. 25, 2021. (Spc. Aaron Schaeper/U.S. Army)
The Air Force has proposed solutions to the lack of a CDC at Camp Simons, including a “Wellplex” campus in Crestview which the Air Force said in a January briefing will include a “KinderCare Education Center” for 250 children and which they believe could be opened by spring, 2023. Another solution is to partner with nearby private child care facilities.
“We believe that the civilian options being considered nearby are acceptable and can easily accommodate the number of children that would require the services of a CDC to support the 7th Special Forces Group,” Bourland, the spokesperson for the 96th Test Wing, told Task & Purpose.
But advocates and lawmakers have raised concerns about whether those options are viable.
“While we are grateful for the temporary solution of partnering with two private childcare facilities in Okaloosa and Santa Rosa Counties, one of these facilities will not be operational for some time,” read their letter to service secretaries. “The other is nearly an hour drive, each way, from the 7th SFG compound.” Neither facility can meet the community’s demand, they wrote.
It’s a tough spot for families at Camp Simons, as evidenced by the more than 500 service members and family members who showed up to a video teleconference held by the CDC Action Group earlier this year.
“I have met with and heard hundreds of stories about these younger enlisted having to make financial and career decisions due to a lack of a CDC,” Bradin said in the June letter to Rubio, Scott and Gaetz.
One woman who knows the frustration felt by people stationed at Camp Simons best is Molly Tobin, a family advocate for the 7th SFG. As the leader of the soldier/family readiness group for the unit’s 3rd Battalion and as a Special Forces spouse, Tobin has helped care for families for the past five years, and she said one of the most “dreaded” concerns families face when assigned to the unit is childcare.
“As a critical resource for the families, childcare is a subject that is met with frustration and sadness as we are unable to confirm that it will be provided for these families who sacrifice so much with a career consisting of a high [operational tempo] and long hours,” she said in the letter to Rubio, Scott and Gaetz. “Securing childcare for our [special operations forces] families is a responsibility that cannot be ignored or delayed any further as it is directly tied to the mental and emotional health of our service members.”
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