VeteranHub

Tap the send button to start a conversation!

Semper Fidelis?

As I ponder our 246 years of existence, I am extremely troubled by those that would dishonor their oath of office and the US Constitution. If that is you, you are not worthy of the title US Marine. If you are affiliated with a Marine that has dishonored their oath and the US Constitution and you did not reprimand them...you are not worthy of the title US Marine. However, if you are one that continues to keeps the oath of office and honors the US Constitution you are worthy of the title US Marine and my brother or sister for life.

Happy Birthday 246th

Happy Veterans Day 2020! A big thanks to veterans the serving at home and abroad. Your faithfulness to our Constitution and Country are principles we all admire. May God continue to bless our great nation!

Bob Parsons’ Marine Corps Birthday & Veterans Day Salute 2020 To pay tribute to the 245th birthday of the United States Marine Corps and Veterans Day, we are once again partnering with The Semper Fi and America’s Fund. ...

'I don't get it': Trump said to have questioned why retired Gen. John Kelly's son fought in Afghanistan — during a Memorial Day visit to his grave

Summary List PlacementPresident Donald Trump openly questioned the point of a young Marine's sacrifice during a Memorial Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery with his father, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, The Atlantic reported Thursday, citing multiple sources.
Kelly's son 1st Lt. Robert Kelly was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010. "Robert was killed in action protecting our country, its people, and its values from a terrible and relentless enemy," Kelly wrote after his son's death.
When Trump and Kelly, who served as secretary of homeland security before becoming the White House chief of staff, visited Arlington on Memorial Day in 2017, the two men stopped at Robert Kelly's grave. Standing there, Trump reportedly turned to Kelly and said: "I don't get it. What was in it for them?"
Kelly declined to comment on the story to The Atlantic, but people close to the retired general said that he first thought the president was awkwardly commenting on the selflessness of America's service members, particularly those who laid down their lives, but later came to believe that Trump did not understand sacrificing for others.
One of Kelly's friends who is a retired four-star general told The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg that the president "can't fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself."
"He just thinks that anyone who does anything when there's no direct personal gain to be had is a sucker," the unnamed general said. "There's no money in serving the nation."
"Trump can't imagine anyone else's pain," the person said. "That's why he would say this to the father of a fallen Marine on Memorial Day in the cemetery where he's buried."
Phillip Carter, a professor who is a US Army veteran, responded to the Atlantic article on Twitter, writing that a president who asked what Trump was said to have asked in a place like Arlington was not suited to be commander in chief.


A president who asks a Gold Star parent, while standing on the hallowed ground of 's , “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” is unsuited for the Constitutional role of "commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States." https://t.co/FP1pKGBj4e — Phillip Carter () September 3, 2020



The Atlantic also reported that Trump objected to visiting the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018 because he did not see the point in honoring the fallen. He reportedly asked: "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." He was also said to be worried about his hair getting messed up in the rain.
On that trip, he also was said to have called the Marines who died at Belleau Wood, one of the toughest battles for the Marines in World War I, "suckers" because they were killed in combat.
That same year, as Trump made plans for a military parade, The Atlantic said, he also asked his staff to keep wounded veterans out of any possible event, reportedly telling them "nobody wants to see that."
The White House immediately criticized the article in The Atlantic.
"Not a soul brave enough to put their name on any of these accusations," the White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere tweeted in response. "That's because they are false. Just another anonymously sourced story meant to tear down a Commander-in-Chief who loves our military and has delivered on the promises he's made. What a disgrace!"Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 7 secrets about Washington, DC landmarks you probably didn't know

'I don't get it': Trump said to have questioned why retired Gen. John Kelly's son fought in Afghanistan — during a Memorial Day visit to his grave President Donald Trump "can't fathom the idea of doing something for someone other than himself," a friend of Kelly's told The Atlantic.

Trump didn't want wounded veterans to attend a military parade because 'nobody wants to see that,' report says
Summary List Placement

President Donald Trump did not want injured veterans to be present at a military parade because he believed it would make spectators uneasy, The Atlantic reported Thursday.
"Nobody wants to see that," Trump said during a White House meeting ahead of a planned military parade in 2018, sources told The Atlantic's editor in chief. The president was widely reported to have wanted to hold a massive military parade in Washington, DC, that year to coincide with Veterans Day weekend and the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
Cost estimates for such a parade reached $92 million, according to multiple reports, and the parade was eventually delayed.
On July 4, 2019, Trump held a "Salute to America" parade in the nation's capital. The display infuriated local officials and Democratic lawmakers who said it was a costly and unnecessary display of American military might.
"Our July 4th Salute to America at the Lincoln Memorial is looking to be really big," Trump said on Twitter. "It will be the show of a lifetime!"
"The cost of our great Salute to America tomorrow will be very little compared to what it is worth," the president added, ahead of the parade.
The president has repeatedly demanded military parades throughout his tenure at the White House, in a move that national security experts say mirrors the actions of authoritarian regimes like North Korea's.
Laurence Tribe, a constitutional-law professor who is frequently critical of the president, wrote of the July 4 parade, "The resemblance to days before Tiananmen Square is chilling."
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a former Marine Corps officer who is also an outspoken Trump critic, mocked the president's demands for the military parade.
"Trump's military parade is such a great idea that it's hard to imagine it coming from anyone who better understands the truths about what our troops want than a man who took five deferments to avoid serving himself," Moulton tweeted at the time.
The president frequently touts his support for US veterans and their families and has falsely taken credit more than 150 times for the passage of the Veterans Choice Act of 2014. Trump was not president at the time, and his predecessor, Barack Obama, signed the bill into law.
The White House issued several statements disputing The Atlantic's story — which included other claims detailing inflammatory remarks by Trump about US troops — on Thursday.
"This report is patently false," the White House representative Alyssa Farah said. "President Trump holds the military in the highest regard. He's demonstrated his commitment to them at every turn: delivering on his promise to give our troops a much needed pay raise, increasing military spending, signing critical veterans reforms, and supporting military spouses. These nameless anecdotes have no basis in fact and are offensive fiction."
Judd Deere, another White House representative, also put out a statement sharply denying the report's claims, writing on Twitter: "Not a soul brave enough to put their name on any of these accusations. That's because they are false. Just another anonymously sourced story meant to tear down a Commander-in-Chief who loves our military and has delivered on the promises he's made. What a disgrace!"Join the conversation about this story »

Trump didn't want wounded veterans to attend a military parade because 'nobody wants to see that,' report says President Donald Trump is said to have believed that the presence of amputees at a military parade would make spectators uncomfortable.

ISIS captured a journalist and sentenced him to death by beheading. He hasn't been seen for more than 5 years.
Summary List Placement

A freelance journalist in Syria who was captured by ISIS and sentenced to a beheading hasn't been seen since he was taken away from a prison five and a half years ago.
Even though ISIS no longer holds physical territory, and has greatly diminished in prominence, many of its victims are still unaccounted for.
Farhad Hamo was abducted by ISIS members in December 2014 while on his way to interview a local politician for the Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw TV.
He was abducted while with Massoud Aqeel, a 23-year-old English literature student that was working as a cameraman on the same job.
Aqeel told The Independent in a 2016 interview that they were driving down a highway when they saw it was blocked.
He said six militants armed with M16 rifles, grenades, and su***de vests forced the vehicle to stop.
"ISIS were waiting on the highway," he said. "I don't know if they were waiting for us or if they were there to catch anyone."
He said they lied and said they were oil workers, but the militants saw media equipment in the car. He said that one man sat in the car and told them to drive into ISIS territory, or else he would blow up himself and the vehicle.
Aqeel was imprisoned for nine months, and he said he was tortured and threatened with ex*****on for being a Kurdish journalist.
"They tortured us and interrogated us," he said. "They beat us with iron bars, cables or wood, tying us to the ceiling by our hands.
"Every two or three hours one of the guards would come in and tell us 'we will cut off your heads, we will bury you alive.'"
Aqeel was released in September 2015, returning to a war zone and later coming to Germany as a refugee.
But Hamo has not been seen Aqeel saw him taken from prison in Raqqa, Syria, in March 2015, he told the One Free Press Coalition, a collection of news organizations that covers media freedom.
What happened to Hamo next is not known.

An ISIS court sentenced both Hamo and Aqil to death by beheading in December 2014, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
They were put in a jail for 40 days before Abu Ayoub, a senior ISIS figure, requested that they be put in solitary confinement in Raqqa's jail, Aqeel told Rudaw in July 2016, according to the committee.
The ISIS prison in Raqqa was able to hold thousands of people, Sky News reported in 2017, after the group's hold on the region diminished.
It reported that the prison had "a tiny box for extreme punishment," metal beds where people were strapped down and executed, a room where people were hung on hooks and flogged, and weight machines that bent people's bodies.
But in 2019, Aqeel's brother said he believed Hamo may still have been be alive.
Rudaw had reported in 2016 that Hamo was released in October 2015, but in an update in 2018 said that he was still missing.
"Despite multiple calls for his release by Rudaw Media Network and other outlets, his fate remains unknown. Neither his family nor colleagues have new information on his whereabouts," it reported.
Aras Hamo told the Committee to Protect Journalists in February 2019 that he was searching for Farhad near Baghouz, a village in eastern Syria that was the last ISIS enclave in the country.
"Everything seems to suggest that Farhad is alive, but we don't have evidence or real confirmation," he said.

He said that Syrian Democratic Forces soldiers, who were backed by the US, said that there were 400 hostages, including journalists, being held there.
He said in April that authorities were trying to find Hamo and other hostages in Baghouz.
Hamo is still missing now.
Insider is covering Hamo's case as part of The One Free Press Coalition, which raises awareness of the world's persecuted journalists.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Leslie Odom, Jr.'s $500,000 gamble that led to a starring role in 'Hamilton'

ISIS captured a journalist and sentenced him to death by beheading. He hasn't been seen for more than 5 years. Farhad Hamo was imprisoned by ISIS alongside fellow freelance journalist Massoud Aqeel in Syria in 2014. He was last seen in March 2015.

Preparing for future wars means getting ready for World War II-level losses, the US Air Force's top officer says
Summary List Placement

The superiority the US Air Force has enjoyed in skies around the world for the past three decades is coming to an end, the service's new top officer said in his first major strategic document, published this week.
In a paper titled "Accelerate Change or Lose," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles C.Q. Brown Jr., who took over in August, wrote that the window of opportunity to adapt to future challenges is closing and that changes are needed in how the service develops, acquires, and uses its manpower and technology.
The Air Force has enjoyed "a historically-anomalous period of dominance" since the Gulf War in late 1990, Brown wrote.
"For decades, American, allied and partner warfighters have felt safe with the top cover and strategic deterrence our air forces have provided; and for much of our existence as a country our Homeland has served as a sanctuary. These assumptions no longer hold true today," Brown added.

Brown wrote that during the decades in which the US focused on fighting violent extremism, adversaries studied the Air Force with the aim of developing means to counter it.
Brown echoed many officials in cautioning about "great power competition," which primarily refers to Russia and China. Those countries have developed advanced air-defense systems and other long-range weapons, and the Air Force needs to "build deep institutional understanding" of them, Brown wrote.
"Future warfare will not remain far from our shores," Brown added. "Overseas, our Airmen will have to fight to achieve localized air superiority."
Those changes mean a future fight against a peer or near-peer competitor could come with losses comparable to some of the most intense combat the US military has faced.
"Tomorrow's Airmen are more likely to fight in highly contested environments, and must be prepared to fight through combat attrition rates and risks to the Nation that are more akin to the World War II era than the uncontested environment to which we have since become accustomed," Brown wrote.
A manned-unmanned fight

Some of World War II's most brutal fighting was in the air. Over Europe between 1942 and 1945, for instance, the Eighth Air Force suffered about half of the US Army Air Force's casualties, with more than 26,000 killed.
In the latter half of the 20th century, US aircraft largely controlled the skies. For decades after the Korean War, no US ground troops were killed by enemy air attack, and US aircraft were rarely shot down. (Brown's predecessor was one of the few pilots downed by enemy fire after the Cold War.)
Brown isn't the only Air Force official to acknowledge that planes and pilots won't go unscathed in a future conflict.
"If we're going to start thinking about a peer competitor seriously, we can't be an Air Force where everything that takes off needs to come back and land. It's just too hard to imagine with all the technology in the world that you can design invincible airplanes," Will Roper, the Air Force's acquisition chief, said at a think-tank event late last year.

Roper's comment came in response to a question about whether the Air Force could in the future have more unmanned than manned aircraft. That will "probably" be the case, Roper said.
Roper has touted his "Century Series" concept to speed up aircraft development through shorter programs that share components. "I definitely think many of those systems will be unmanned," Roper said at the event.
Through its "Skyborg" program, the Air Force is working on unmanned aircraft that use artificial intelligence to adjust to the battlefield. The Air Force intends for those aircraft to be attritable — which means reusable but cheap enough to discard — and be capable of acting as a wingman to manned aircraft.
Roper said the hope was the F-35 and the new F-15EX could be "trailblazers" in that manned-unmanned concept.
"The thing I so dearly want our pilots to have is if they have to fly into uncertain airspace, that they've got the option to push their attritable scout, or their forward-based jammer or forward-based sensor, so they're either confusing the enemy first, seeing the enemy first, [or] disrupting the enemy first," Roper said. "If we have to lose systems in the fight, shame on us if they're not those attritable systems."

The Air Force has lost unmanned aircraft. At least three drones were downed over the Middle East in recent years, and the service has said it believes a Russian anti-aircraft system was used to shoot down a drone over Libya last year.
Other military officials have noted the benefits of using unmanned platforms in place of manned aircraft, but whether and how to employ those platforms is a decision for humans. Like other senior leaders, Brown said preparing for future conflicts requires getting the right people.
"Successful operations and combat support in a contested environment demand maximum delegation, trust, and empowerment of Airmen before conflict starts," Brown wrote, with emphasis. "We must empower Airmen at all levels, delegating to the lowest capable and competent level possible, mindful that with empowerment and trust comes accountability."
"We must develop the Airmen we need for the high-end fight" starting during recruitment and throughout their career, Brown added. "The US Air Force must ... reward and retain those Airmen who foster the personal attributes necessary for success in the challenging future ahead."SEE ALSO: The Navy is putting 'the proper equipment' back on its ships to operate in harsh Arctic conditions
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This is how pilots train to fly the F-35 — America’s most expensive fighter jet

Preparing for future wars means getting ready for World War II-level losses, the US Air Force's top officer says The Air Force's "historically-anomalous period of dominance" after the Gulf War is coming to an end, the service's chief of staff says.

Report says Trump called John McCain a 'f---ing loser' and said 'we're not going to support that loser's funeral'
Summary List Placement

President Donald Trump is said to have referred to the 41st US president and the 2008 Republican presidential nominee as "losers" because they were shot down in battle while serving in the military.
Several sources told The Atlantic that Trump made the comments about Sen. John McCain of Arizona and President George H.W. Bush, who served in the US Navy as fighter pilots.
McCain died in 2018 after a months-long fight with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He and Trump remained political foes after McCain criticized Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
After McCain's death, Trump was said to be angry when the late senator received half-staff flag honors, The Atlantic reported. Trump also told his staff of McCain, "We're not going to support that loser's funeral," sources with knowledge of the conversations told the outlet.
"What the f--- are we doing that for? Guy was a f---ing loser," Trump reportedly added.
The McCain family did not invite Trump or his family members to McCain's funeral, but Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, still attended. McCain's eldest daughter, Meghan McCain, later told the late-night host Stephen Colbert that she did not know the two would be there and wished they hadn't come.
Trump has drawn sharp backlash for his denigration during the 2016 campaign of McCain's military service. McCain's plane was shot down during the Vietnam War, and he was tortured in captivity by North Vietnamese forces for more than five years. He received the Silver Star for his heroism.
"He's not a war hero," Trump said in July 2015. "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured. OK? I hate to tell you."
During an appearance at the Faith and Freedom Coalition last year, Trump appeared to imply that McCain was in hell.
"We needed 60 votes" to repeal the Affordable Care Act, "and we had 51 votes," Trump said. "And sometimes, you know, we had a little hard time with a couple of them, right? Fortunately, they're gone now. They've gone on to greener pastures — or perhaps far less green pastures. But they're gone. I'm very happy they're gone."
Seven months after McCain's death, Trump complained that no one thanked him after he "had to" give McCain "the kind of funeral that he wanted" in Washington, DC.
"I don't care about this — I didn't get 'thank you.' That's OK," Trump reportedly said during a speech in Ohio. "We sent him on the way, but I wasn't a fan of John McCain."
Three sources also told The Atlantic that Trump described Bush as a "loser" because his plane was shot down during World War II. Bush became the youngest naval pilot at the time and went on to fly a total of 58 combat missions, including the one when he was shot down by Japanese forces.
The White House communications director, Alyssa Farah, described the report — which included other inflammatory remarks Trump was said to have made about US troops — as "offensive and patently false."
Trump "holds the military in the highest regard," Farah tweeted Thursday evening. "He's demonstrated his commitment to the force: delivering a pay raise to our troops, increasing military $$, signing vets reform & supporting military spouses."
"I've watched solemnly sign letters to the families of fallen heroes," she added. "He's honored their memories by doing more than any modern president to get us OUT of endless wars."Join the conversation about this story »

Report says Trump called John McCain a 'f---ing loser' and said 'we're not going to support that loser's funeral' "We're not going to support that loser's funeral," President Donald Trump once said of John McCain, according to a report from The Atlantic.

'This is who he is': Founder of veterans group blasts Trump over report he called dead US troops 'losers'

Summary List PlacementA report that President Donald Trump said US troops who died in World War I were "losers" has gone over about as well as one might think it would among liberal military veterans.
While veterans groups such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars have thus far stayed out of it, others more openly critical of Trump's leadership have reacted angrily to Thursday's story in The Atlantic, which reported that the US president didn't see a need to honor 1,800 Marines who died fighting in France.
"Why should I go to that cemetery?" Trump was said to have told senior staff, canceling a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery outside Paris in 2018 (the White House at the time blamed the cancellation on weather). "It's filled with losers," he reportedly said, later referring to the dead as "suckers."
The comments, relayed by unnamed sources, are reminiscent of Trump's 2015 mockery of Sen. John McCain. "He's not a war hero," Trump said publicly of McCain, a fighter pilot who was held captive and tortured for over five years in Vietnam after being shot down. "I like people that weren't captured."
Indeed, The Atlantic also reported that Trump referred to McCain in private as a "f---ing loser." He also was said to have called President George H.W. Bush a "loser" for being shot down while serving as a Navy pilot in World War II.
The White House has denied the story. A senior Defense Department official later confirmed it in "its entirety," according to an Associated Press reporter.
"Who is really surprised by this?" tweeted Paul Rieckhoff, a combat veteran who founded Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "This is who he is," said Rieckhoff, who supports the Democrat Joe Biden's presidential campaign, arguing Trump "has no respect for anyone."
The Atlantic's report also said Trump disrespected the loss of his chief of staff John Kelly, whose son Robert died fighting in Afghanistan.
"I don't get it," Trump reportedly said during a 2017 trip to Arlington National Cemetery. "What was in it for them?"


Who is really surprised by this? This is who he is. has no respect for anyone. https://t.co/DXVsGMyR2F — Paul Rieckhoff () September 3, 2020



"This story doesn't just make me angry. It makes me feel sick," tweeted Will Goodwin, a graduate of West Point who now serves as director of government relations at VoteVets, a progressive political action committee. "It's disgusting. It's an unthinkable betrayal."
Wall of Vets, a group of veterans that has organized to defend Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, posted that "words fail."
"This is the Commander in Chief and this is how he views our fallen brothers and sisters," the group said on Twitter.

Read more:
Trump called US Marines who died during World War I 'losers' and 'suckers,' report says
Trump didn't want wounded veterans to attend a military parade because 'nobody wants to see that,' report says
Trump reportedly called John McCain a 'f---ing loser' and said 'we're not going to support that loser's funeral'
'I don't get it': Trump questioned why retired Gen. John Kelly's son gave his life fighting in Afghanistan on a Memorial Day visit to his grave
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid

'This is who he is': Founder of veterans group blasts Trump over report he called dead US troops 'losers' Some veterans groups reacted angrily to a report in The Atlantic that President Donald Trump said US troops who died in World War I were "losers."

Pete Buttigieg says Trump disrespected US military since the day he let a 'sucker' serve in Vietnam in his place

Summary List PlacementPete Buttigieg, the former candidate for president and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, blasted President Donald Trump on Friday over his recently reported remarks about American soldiers who died in combat.
On Thursday, The Atlantic reported that President Donald Trump in 2018 described American Marines who lost their lives during a World War I battle as "suckers" and "losers" in canceling a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris that November. He also reportedly canceled the trip due to his fears that inclement weather would disturb his hair, according to The Atlantic.
The White House and several people connected to it have since denied the accuracy of The Atlantic report, though Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin said in a Twitter thread she was able to confirm some of The Atlantic's reporting, which was based on reports from sources it granted anonymity. In response, Trump called on the cable news network to fire Griffin.
Other outlets, including The Associated Press and The Washington Post, also reported the comments first published by The Atlantic on Thursday.
As Business Insider reported noted, Trump has had a noted history of making disparaging comments about US veterans — most notably, the late 2012 GOP presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was held as a prisoner of war by North Vietnamese forces for more than five years during the Vietnam War.
On Twitter, Trump denied ever calling McCain a loser, despite a video of him calling him doing so during a 2015 event.


I was never a big fan of John McCain, disagreed with him on many things including ridiculous endless wars and the lack of success he had in dealing with the VA and our great Vets, but the lowering of our Nations American Flags, and the first class funeral he was given by our.... — Donald J. Trump () September 4, 2020




Buttigieg said Friday he wasn't buying the president's denials.
"I mean, look, the president today lied on Twitter about never calling John McCain a loser," said Buttigieg, who served as a US Navy Reserve officer from 2009 to 2017, which included a seven-month tour as a counterintelligence officer in Afghanistan.
"Now, he's asking us to believe that, OK, he's lying about that today, because we can check and see the footage, but he's not lying about the other stuff?" Buttigieg, who dropped out of the Democratic Party's primary race in March, added.
He continued: "He must think we're all suckers, and the amazing thing to me is how little respect he has for the intelligence of his own supporters."




According to a previous Business Insider report, President Donald Trump avoided the military draft five times during the Vietnam war — four times for being enrolled and college and once for having bone spurs.
"This president has been disrespecting the military from the day that he let some sucker — in his view — go in his place to serve in Vietnam because he didn't want to," Buttigieg said.SEE ALSO: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said the president 'would start a war' to stop himself from being removed from office
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

Pete Buttigieg says Trump disrespected US military since the day he let a 'sucker' serve in Vietnam in his place "He must think we're all suckers, and the amazing thing to me is how little respect he has for the intelligence of his own supporters," Buttigieg said.