#U.S. Transportation Command

[deadpresidents]

What is the closest military base to the white house?

The White House IS a military installation.

It is the home and workplace of the Commander-in-Chief of United States military forces, so that alone makes it an important command and control headquarters. The various branches of the military have an active role in the everyday logistics of running the White House campus and supporting the Executive Office of the President. The White House's complex and extensive communications agency is staffed by members of each individual branch of the military. The U.S. Navy is responsible for the White House Mess and providing food services to the President, the First Family, any potential guests, and the President's staff. The White House Medical Unit is staffed by military doctors who have a round-the-clock presence in the White House and the official Physician to the President is usually an active-duty military officer.

While the Secret Service -- which includes the traditional plainclothes agents and the more visible uniformed division -- is responsible for protecting the President, his family, and the White House itself, the military also has a protective footprint in and around the White House complex. It's believed that amongst the White House's protective measures -- most of which are highly classified -- are anti-aircraft defenses, which are almost certainly manned by the military rather than the Secret Service. Marine Corps guards also are stationed at the White House (often seen opening and closing doors while manning the entry and exit points around the West Wing) as sentries and sometimes act as military valets during events hosted by the President in the White House. The role of the Marine sentries is purely ceremonial as opposed to protective.

And one of the most important White House responsibilities of the military is transportation. The White House Transportation Agency is responsible for all aspects of the President's travel, and the military works in tandem with the Secret Service on planning and carrying out the immense logistical challenges of transporting the President anywhere in the world -- a challenge magnified by the sheer size of Presidential traveling parties. A Presidential motorcade consists of, on average, 50-60 vehicles. And the majority of those vehicles actually have to be transported from the United States to wherever the President is traveling -- even if it is to several different foreign countries or continents. The Air Force is, obviously, responsible for the President's plane, along with any other aircraft making the trip which are usually carrying White House staff, members of the press, or cargo. For short distances that can be made by helicopter, the Marine Corps takes the lead. And any ground travel by motor vehicles is handled by the Army.

Security and the President's personal protective detail is always led by the Secret Service, but the military is responsible for many of the day-to-day logistics of the institution of the Presidency, which illustrates why the White House is an important military command and control base.

[stone-cold-groove]

Air transport Cannonball. Douglas Aircraft - 1944.

[afloweroutofstone]

By all accounts, the Americans virtually ensured their own defeat [in the Waygal Valley of Afghanistan]: They repeatedly bombed their closest supporters here, showing just how little the United States understood about the war it was fighting… The Americans killed and maimed the very people who supported them most, swelling the Taliban’s ranks by turning allies into enemies. Convinced that Nuristan would become a transport hub and hide-out for Al Qaeda and its allies, the Americans built bases and aggressively patrolled an area that, for the better part of a century, had been granted autonomy from its own government… Only the Americans dared to encroach into the region, and in doing so created the very insurgent stronghold they feared most. The United States dropped more than 1,000 bombs in a place it never needed to be. Instead of winning hearts and minds, the Americans unwittingly sowed the seeds of their own demise here in the Waygal Valley — just as it did in much of Afghanistan — then stayed for years to reap the harvest. “You have to know when you are the problem,” said retired Col. William Ostlund, the commanding officer of the men who fought the battle in Want (sometimes referred to as Wanat)... In October 2003, the C.I.A. launched an attack against a suspected terrorist in a mountaintop village, sending a trail of fire and smoke into the ink black sky. Gunships strafed the forests where residents had run for safety. A cluster of wood-frame homes and a mosque were decimated; seven people were killed, some while fleeing. The Americans declared the strike a success, a refrain that would become so common it would lose meaning. In reality, the attacks had failed. Not only was their target not there, but the homes and mosque they struck belonged to a staunch American ally, a former governor of Nuristan named Mawlawi Ghulam Rabbani. Mr. Rabbani’s political party, Jamiat-e-Islami, detested the Taliban — so much so that it had partnered with the Americans to overthrow them. In fact, that very night, Mr. Rabbani was in Kabul as part of a delegation of pro-American forces. The only people sheltering in the mountainside home were his family and friends. Of the seven killed, most were women and children, and they included Mr. Rabbani’s son and daughter… Though the attack barely resonated in Kabul, much less in Washington, it changed the dynamic in the Waygal Valley. If people were not yet ready to give up on the Americans, they no longer saw them as infallible liberators. A creeping sense of resentment, and injustice, opened a crack for the Taliban’s message to grow… Perhaps the only person who stuck by the Americans was [Afghan villager] Rafiullah [Arif]. But his loyalty was growing untenable, and even the money his family was getting increasingly wasn’t worth it. Rafiullah and his family couldn’t even go to their local market without worrying that [Taliban fighter] Mullah Osman’s men would kill them. Now, with the Americans preparing to leave his village, he and his family would be completely unprotected. The Americans were coming under mortar fire for the second day in a row. Rafiullah and his family decided to leave for good. They packed up their belongings and fled in a pair of trucks with other civilians, including several doctors who worked at the local clinic. The fleeing vehicles caught the eye of the Americans, who mistakenly believed the Taliban were marshaling forces for another attack. U.S. officers called in an airstrike, sending a hail of gunfire from two Apache helicopters at the convoy, destroying them and nearly everyone inside. Rafiullah lost his father, mother, brother and nephew, along with his arm, an eye and any semblance of support for the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The Americans, once again, declared the strike a success… “They say they came here to help us, but they wound up killing us,” [Rafiullah] said, squinting into the sun with his good eye. “We supported their mission, and they betrayed us.”

[secular-jew]

I’m a Palestinian American. Here’s Why I Can’t Support the Anti-Israel Protesters. By Elizabeth Gillanders. August 16, 2024

Walking past Union Station in the nation’s capital, I recently was met with a heartbreaking sight. Vandals had defaced the Columbus Memorial Fountain with spray paint, writing the words “Hamas is coming” in big red letters.

Trash and signs discarded by anti-Israel protesters littered the ground. A burnt shopping cart stood off to one side with piles of ash beneath it.

Most depressing, however, were the three bare flag poles that had been robbed of their American flags. Protesters had burned the flags, the only remnant a charred piece of fabric atop another pile of ash.

This was the aftermath of the July 24 “pro-Palestinian” protests in Washington, D.C., organized in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address that day to a joint meeting of Congress.

As an American of Palestinian heritage, some expect me to cheer on these people. They expect me to condemn the U.S., hate Israel, and support Hamas, a terrorist organization dedicated to wiping out the Jewish state.

But these expectations don’t represent me, nor my family.

I inherit my Palestinian background from my mother’s side of the family; her parents emigrated to America from the Middle East. My grandma was born in Israel and later moved to Ramallah in the West Bank and eventually to Jordan.

After arriving in America in her 20s, my grandma worked hard to become a U.S. citizen. She learned the English language while raising my mother and uncle. She opened a restaurant with my grandpa, lovingly named the Chicken Pantry, in Hamtramck, Michigan. When that business closed, my grandma worked as a real estate agent before eventually retiring in the land of prosperity.

America brought my family prosperity. My grandparents taught my mother to “kiss the ground you walk on” because they knew what a blessing America is.

They passed this lesson on to me.

Although many seem to think that my Palestinian heritage should cause me to align with protests that supposedly are “pro-Palestinian,” it’s precisely because of my heritage that I cannot do that.

Israel went to war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip only after Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 and kidnapped about 250 in a rampage of rape, torture, and murder Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

About 10 months later, as pro-Hamas protesters march in this country to “free Palestine,” they call for the death of America. As they burn the American flag, they burn all that my family has worked to achieve.

As the protesters pledge their allegiance to Hamas, they encourage a group that my grandmother wouldn’t hesitate to call a terrorist organization that operates with a strategy of human sacrifice.

Think about it. Why are there no Hamas military bases in the Gaza Strip adjoining Israel? Because the terrorists hide behind their own people.

They dress like noncombatants in Gaza. They establish bunkers in hospitals. They commandeer ambulances for transportation.

These actions are all in direct violation of Article 18 of the Geneva Conventions, the international pacts that set minimum standards during armed conflict for the treatment of civilians, soldiers, and prisoners of war.

One example is Hamas’ use of Gaza’s most important hospital, Al-Shifa. According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Hamas uses a bunker under the hospital as a base for military operations. This not only makes the hospital a target, but takes medical resources needed for the sick.

In contrast, the Israel Defense Forces have given civilians in Gaza opportunities to evacuate and warned of impending attacks. No other nation goes this far to protect enemy civilians.

How can I support pro-Hamas demonstrators who wish to end the nation that brought my family so much? How can I back a terrorist group that uses its own people as human shields? How can I hate Israel, when the IDF has worked to keep Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way?

I believe it’s important to point out that, contrary to popular belief, not all Arabs think the same. Some of us do see this conflict differently. And our thoughts and beliefs should not be snuffed out because they go against the “narrative.”

To some, perhaps our stance makes us walking oxymorons. But we are proud ones, nonetheless.

[uss-edsall]

On 9 November, 1942, flying off the coast of Casablanca, French Morrocco in support of the Operation TORCH landings, the Piper Cub (under the name L-4 Grasshopper) made her official combat debut in the Second World War. This once-civilian plane had been bought by the U.S. Army to function as "air observation posts," flown by pilots in the U.S. Army Field Artillery, attached directly to battalions. Her concept, proven in training maneuvers, was as aerial reconnaissance; aerial photography; single-person transport; air ambulance; and in particular, reconnaissance and artillery observation. She would prove to be perfect for all of these roles. She would go on to have an incredible record during the Second World War, one of the best planes built for her particular role, with over six thousand of them bought by the U.S. Army. She was small, she could handle landing tiny fields, she was stealthy, she was dead simple to repair and reliable in the air.

But on that day? For that mission? There were only three Grasshoppers, and it was an absolute disaster.

The three planes were attached to the 3rd Infantry Division. Their pilots were hurriedly brought to USS Ranger (CV-4), aboard which were three L-4 Grasshoppers in bad condition. All their efforts were getting the planes ready for flight. What the pilots did not know was that their commanders, from colonels to generals alike, did not prepare properly for their debut.

On 8 November American troops stormed ashore at Safi, Casablanca and Point Lyautey. The next day, Ranger turned into the wind, the pilots got aboard the planes. In the 35-knot wind the instant the ship's crew let go of their tails, the planes hopped off the deck and were in the air, sixty miles from shore.

Three miles from the beach, the allied invasion force appeared. Transports, destroyers, the light cruiser USS Brooklyn. Aboard the Brooklyn alert officers and anti-air gun crews spotted the L-4 Grasshoppers.

There was nothing in the allied aviation recognition books that resembled the L-4 Grasshopper. None of the artillery pilots' superiors had properly distributed warnings that the Army had procured the civilian planes, and were using them for the first time.

The Brooklyn's anti-air weaponry opened up. 5" shells, 40mm bofors, 20mm Oerlikons reached out to lick at the Grasshoppers. In the first flak burst the quartet of little planes scattered, diving for the deck. Captain Ford Allcorn leveled off at twenty feet and started juking like mad, gamely going for the beach leading his flight. Every other ship, seeing the Brooklyn open up on the unfamiliar planes, joined in.

The artillery pilots had not the fuel to return to the ship, even if they'd been trained in carrier landings, which they weren't. Land was their only option for salvation. Shellfire blew out Allcorn's windshield, shot off one of the doors. As the Grasshoppers juked and weaved, bullets splashed into the water all around them. A hundred feet from shore, they levelled off and gunned their throttles to the maximum - 80 mph - for the safety of the shoreline.

At which point the pintle mount machineguns on tanks ashore opened fire on them. For nobody had told the Army troops of the 2nd Armored Division either about the Piper Cubs, and seeing the Navy so enthusiastically shooting at them, they joined in. .50-calibre bullets ripped into the Grasshoppers, betrayed by their own.

Captain Allcorn's engine cut out after several tanks' machineguns stitched bullets across the frame, and five bullets tore into his leg.

The wounded planes got to the shoreline. They flew over the armor, guns straining to shoot at them, desperately trying to get to the safety of the Fedala Racetrack, where they were supposed to go. Allcorn spotted a relatively flat area and pancaked in, crawling out of the mortally wounded flaming bird before the fuel exploded.

And then the Vichy French opened up.

Lieutenants Butler, Shell, and Captain Devol (one L-4 having carried two of them) were taken prisoner after crash landing behind Vichy French lines, but were released when the French in Casablanca surrendered two days later on 11 November.

Amazingly, despite all this, nobody had been killed.

Captain Allcorn was the first Army aviator in the ETO to fly off a carrier, the first in combat, and the dubious distinction of the first to be shot down and the first to be wounded. Captain Allcorn, from his hospital bed back in the States, wrote a report about it all that even reached the Chief of Staff General Marshall's desk. He argued that this disastrous beginning was not the death knell of the Grasshopper. He concluded, perhaps rather dryly, that there was seemingly a failure to communicate between the Army and the Navy. His report helped the Piper Cub / L-4 Grasshopper survive the event, to go on to become one of the most produced aircraft of the war, and most widely used.

Even today, almost four thousand of the nearly twenty thousand Piper Cubs built are still in the FAA registry.

[askarsjustsoswedish]

GENERATION KILL - MILITARY TERMINOLOGY AND SLANG USED IN THE MINISERIES (Part 1, A-M)

// I've been reorganising my files I thought this may be useful for some GenKill fans. //

All rights HBO

For Immediate Release                                                          June 25, 2008

.50 Caliber:  the standard heavy, vehicle-mounted machine gun used by U.S. forces since World War Two; aka “Fifty cal,” “the Fifty,” “M-2” and “Ma Deuce.”

5.56 Machine Gun Rounds:  the diameter of bullets in millimeters used by US forces in all rifles and light machine guns; aka “NATO rounds.”  Distinguished from Iraq’s Soviet standard military, which uses 7.62mm rounds in their weapons.

507 Maintenance:  U.S. Army unit that took a wrong turn into Nasariyah and was ambushed.  Note: This is best known as the unit to which Jessica Lynch belonged, though the platoon will not learn of Lynch by name, or her status as the most famous U.S. prisoner of war, until Part 3.

Alpha Company:  Bravo’s sister company in First Recon Battalion, commanded by the highly popular and respected Captain Patterson, the polar opposite of Bravo’s commander “Encino Man.”

America’s Shock Troops:  a catchphrase invoking Donald Rumsfeld’s plans of a lean, stripped-down invasion force modeled after German forces of WWII.  This is a deliberate reference to the German Shock Troops, the SS, used to spearhead blitzkriegs across France and Poland.  Ferrando takes pride in knowing his battalion will be the premiere shock-troop unit of the entire Marine Corps.

Amtrac:  a loud, ungainly amphibious vehicle used to transport Marines on the ground in Iraq; also used as a mobile fighting platform.

A-O (Area of Operations):  an A-O can be as large as all of Iraq or as small as the area around a Marines encampment.

Ass:  Marine slang for any weapon system or unit that packs a lot of fire power.  “We’re rolling with a lot of ass today” means “We will be accompanied by tanks or attack helicopters today.”

Assassin:  radio call sign for First Recon’s Alpha Company.  “Assassin Actual” is Alpha’s Company Commander, Captain Patterson.

Assault Through:  primary Marine tactic when encountering a close ambush, linked to the mantra drilled into every Marine since day one of boot camp when every Marine must repeat, “I am a Marine, and every Marine is a rifleman and a rifleman’s duty is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire...”  This is, in a nutshell, the doctrine of the entire U.S. Marine Corps.

AT4 Rocket:  the ubiquitous anti-tank rocket carried by Marine ground forces.  Fired from a self-contained plastic tube about a meter long and weighing just a few kilos, it can destroy a heavy tank.  During the Iraq invasion most AT4s are fired into Iraqi homes to clear out potential enemy forces.

Atropine injector:  atropine is a chemical that counteracts certain nerve agents.  Atropine injectors are issued to troops who expect to be preparing or receiving chemical attacks, and in this instance, Iraqis.

Attriting:  to wear down; verb version of “attrition,” peculiar to the military.

B.R.C. (Basic Reconnaissance Course):  the school a Marine must attend and graduate from to become a Recon Marine; the most sought-after training course in the Corps.  Only about one percent of all Marines qualify to enter B.R.C. and half of those who enter fail to complete it.

Battalion Commander:  Lt. Colonel Stephen Ferrando, commander of the 370-man strong First Recon Battalion, call sign “Godfather.”

Beanies:  black-knitted watch caps typically worn by sailors.  A powerful status symbol; only Recon Marines are allowed to wear them within the First Division.

Belt-fed:  excited; refers to linked rounds fed through a machine gun.  Can also be used an intensifier, as in, “That guy is a belt-fed son of a bitch,” i.e., a real son of a bitch.

Blouse his boots:  to tuck pants-legs into the tops of one’s boots and keep them in place by wrapping a metal spring around the fabric just below the boot-top; part of Ferrando’s hated Grooming Standard.  Not only are the springs used in the boot blousing uncomfortable, blousing one’s boot ensures that all the ambient sand will pour directly into the wearer’s boot.

Blue Force Tracking Antenna:  an antenna for the Blue Force Tracker, a new computerized mapping system that – when it occasionally works properly – identifies the locations of all “blue,” or friendly, forces and the locations of all known “red,” or enemy. forces.  Locations of such forces across the entire Middle East are updated every 30 seconds.  Sgt. Colbert possesses one of only a handful Blue Force Trackers in the entire battalion.

Boonie Cap:  a standard issue floppy field hat, like a camouflaged version of the hat worn by Gilligan on “Gilligan’s Island”;  aka soft cover.

Bound past:  “bounding” is a specific form of maneuver favored by the Marine Corps, employed by two-man fire teams or the entire division.

Buck Fever:  too quick to identify threats; a hunting term that comes from the expression to “put buck’s horns on a doe,” i.e., seeing a valid target when there is none.

Butterfly Trigger:  a safety trigger that requires two thumbs to actuate.

C.G. (Commanding General):  always means General Mattis, Commanding General of the First Marine Division, when these Marines use the phrase.

C.O. (Commanding Officer):  usually applied to the Battalion Commander (Maj. or Lt. Col.), or less frequently the Company Commander (Capt.), but never to a Platoon Commander (Lieut.).

C.O.I., freqs covered, freqs plain:  Encryption lingo necessary to operate radios.

“Captain America”:  derisive nickname for Capt. Dave McGraw, commander of Bravo’s Third Platoon, sister platoon to the heroes in Second Platoon.  Note:  Although Captain America is a rank above Lt. Fick, as commanders of respective sister platoons they are peers with one another.

Cas-evac:  casualty evacuation; similar to the older phrase med-evac.  Cas-evac technically means an evacuation in a combat zone of a patient who has not yet been stabilized, but it’s become the cool way to say any form of medical evacuation.

“Casey Kasem”:  a mocking nickname applied to Gunnery Sgt. Ray Griego, Encino Man’s aide de camp, based on the smarmy host of the Top 40 radio show and the voice of Shaggy in the original “Scooby Doo!” cartoon series.

Charms:  brand name of a hard candy provided to U.S. troops in the meal rations, but seldom consumed due to the belief that they produce bad luck.

Cleared hot:  given permission to fire your weapon by a superior.

Cobra Gunship:  armored helicopter used only by U.S. Marines,  unique because Cobras work in extremely close proximity to Marine ground forces.

Col. Joe Dowdy:  Commander of Regimental Combat Team One, popular among his troops for his reputation of caring about their welfare.  Later relieved of his command by General Mattis for not being aggressive enough and risking his troops to achieve battlefield goals.

Command Vehicle:  Lt. Fick’s Humvee, configured like a pick-up truck with a canvas covering.

Completely outside of what First Recon does:  this battalion is trained to swim or parachute behind enemy lines, not to drive into attacks in Humvees.  Their motto is “Swift Silent Deadly.”

Condition One:  a verb that means to put one’s weapon on red con one; rack a round into your chamber.

Contact:  a visual or physical encounter with enemy forces, said when you either see them or they start shooting at you.

Cyclone:  fierce swirls of dust common to Iraq, which dance across landscape and in some cases will collide with a person, tent or vehicle.  They range in height from a few meters to several hundred meters; aka dust devils.

D.C.U. (Desert Camouflage Uniform):  any field garment with desert camouflage.

DASC and DASC-A:  Direct Air Support Communications headquarters, with one based on the ground and one based in an AWACs plane.

Deck:  keeping with their nautical tradition, anything Marines stand on is the deck, be it on a ship, the desert or the floor of a tent.

Delta Company:  a company of reservist Recon Marines expected to be attached to First Recon Battalion.  Delta will prove to be a bunch of under-trained, overzealous, poorly equipped cops-on-leave and office guys who know nothing about war.

Deuce Gear:  a web of straps and hooks worn as an outer garment, to which one affixes extra gear such as ammo packs and canteens; aka Load Bearing Vest or L.B.V.

Devil Dog:  a Marine.

Dip:  smokeless tobacco used by American fighting forces; a dip is a quantity of tobacco placed between one’s lips and gums.  To dip is the habit of consuming smokeless tobacco.

Donkey Dicks:  venerable Marine Corps term for a variety of phallic-shaped implements from engine hoses, to gas can funnels, to cleaning brushes for large mortar tubes.

“Echo Four Lima”:  refers to Corporal Lilley, whose pay-grade is “E-4” and whose last name begins with “L.”  In radio code phonetics, he becomes “Echo Four Lima.”  Sergeant Colbert, whose pay grade is “E-5,” would become “Echo Five Charlie” over the radio.

“Encino Man”:  Captain Craig Schwetje, Commander of Bravo Company, Lt. Fick’s immediate superior officer; the nickname is a reference to the dim-witted Neanderthal hero of the film “Encino Man.”  This Encino Man is a former football star, none too bright, with an ape-like face:  he is also referred to in phonetic alphabet code, in which “Encino Man” is changed to “Echo Mike.”

Enlisted Tent: Area where privates through to sergeants sleep.  The senior non-commissioned officers such as Staff Sergeants, Gunnery Sergeants, Master Sergeants and the Sergeant Major are technically of the enlisted ranks, and occupy an elite position somewhere between sergeants and officers.

Ephedra:  over-the-counter diet pills, now banned by Marines as a speed-like stimulant.

E-tool:  a collapsible shovel carried by all Marines; short for “Excavation-tool.”

F.O.:  Forward Observer; anyone spotting targets for Iraqi or insurgent forces.

Fedayeen:  a Baathist paramilitary unit trained in guerrilla tactics and established by Saddam Hussein’s son in the 1990s to infiltrate and terrorize the Shia populace, but in the current conflict, arrayed against the American invasion, they are also referred to generically as “insurgents.”

Fiddies:  fifties, i.e., .50 cal. machine guns; former ghetto car repo man Espera uses the gangsta counting system in which “fiddie” equals 50, a “buck” or a “hundo” equals a hundred, a “deuce” equals either two or two-hundred, a “grand” equals a thousand, etc.

Flak jacket:  a heavy yet flexible shrapnel-resistant vest.

Foot-mobile:  a person on foot.

Forty Mike-Mike:  40 millimeter; refers to either an individual 40mm self-propelled grenade round or the weapon that launches them, such as the M-19.

Foshizzle…Hajizzle:  a goof on Snoop Dogg’s hip-hop lingo to mean “for sure” and “Haji.”

Free-balling:  not wearing underpants.

Fucking Sixta:  Sgt. Maj. John Sixta, Sergeant Major for this battalion;  aka “The Fucking Retard,” “Mister Potato Head,” “The Coward of Khafji.”  His role and actions both dictate that he is despised by enlisted men.

Get some:  to “get some” means to do any thing really cool like run a fast mile or kill someone.  [Mo here: I’ve removed one extremely graphic sentence here, which basically says that the term can also apply to sexual conquest.] [O]ften used as an exclamation or cheer.  Latino Marines use the Spanish “Chingaso” and whites have adopted it, so “Get some!” and “Chingaso!” are interchangeable.

Godfather:  call sign of Lt. Col. Ferrando, as well as his battalion.  Ferrando earned the call sign because his vocal chords were removed after a bout with cancer, causing him to speak like Marlon Brando in the noted film.  Note:  Godfather often speaks of himself in the third person:  instead of saying, “I think…,” he will say, “Godfather thinks…”

Grape Beverage Base:  grape juice powder; the name printed on the packaging in the military rations.  Used by Marines rather than the more familiar civilian term.

The Grooming Standard:  not to be confused with Marine Corps standard grooming regulations, the Grooming Standard is Battalion Commander Ferrando’s much more exacting dress and grooming code for those who serve under him.

 G-Shock Wristwatch:  the popular xtreme sports watch, as essential to Marine fashion as Oakley sunglasses.

H & S Company:  the Headquarters and Supply company.  More than half the 370 men in the battalion belong to H & S, responsible for supporting the “line companies” or combat units, made up of Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Companies.

Habudabi:  a nickname for Arabs.

Haji:   an Iraqi or Arab or Muslim of any ethnicity, from the Arabic “Haji,” which is the honorific term for anyone who has made the trip to Mecca, the Haj.  Most Americans who use the term Haji are probably not referring to that pilgrimage, but to the once-popular children’s cartoon show “Johnny Quest,” in which the white boy hero’s turban-wearing sidekick was named Haji.  Not necessarily a pejorative term, Haji may be used as an adjective to describe anything Middle Eastern, e.g., Iraq’s customary flat bread is referred to as “Haji bread” or “Haji tortillas.”

Hardball:  paved road, as opposed to unpaved.

Herringbone:  to halt a convoy of vehicles at a 45-degree angle to the axis of a highway, much like the pattern of fishbones.  Herringbone can be used as a noun or verb.

Hitman Two:  “Hitman” is the radio call sign for Bravo Company and “Two” refers to second platoon, one of three platoons in the company.  “Hitman” can refer to the actual company commander of Bravo or the company itself.  All units have call-signs, rather like official nicknames, which are used in radio communications.  For example, General Mattis, commander of all Marine ground forces in Iraq, is “Chaos.”

Hitman Two One Actual:  Bravo Company’s Second Platoon Team One Leader, Sergeant Colbert.  While “Hitman Two One” refers to the entire team, “Actual” means the actual commander.  “Hitman Two” refers to all of Bravo Second Platoon, but “Hitman Two Actual” is the platoon commander, Lt. Fick.  In addition, “The Actual,” or commander, is also referred to as “The Zero.”

“I glassed it:”  “I viewed the object through binoculars or a rifle scope.”

“I got your six”:  “I’ve got your back”; from the clock point in which the hour of six is at the bottom of the dial, if you were oriented toward the 12 hour.  “On your three” would indicate something or someone on your immediate right.  “On your four” would indicate something or something on your right and slightly behind you.

I.A. (Immediate Action):  whatever you train to do when the shit hits the fan.

Javelin Team:  two Marines who carry and operate a powerful anti-tank missile called a “Javelin.”

K-bar:  a knife carried by Marines.

Kevlar:  a helmet; while civilians know Kevlar as the brand-name of a bullet resistant material, Marines refer to their Kevlar helmets simply as Kevlars.  Note:  Even though flak jackets are also made of Kevlar, they are never referred to as such.

Kill Zone, Kill Box:  the area where the enemy hopes to direct, channel and trap you in order to kill you, or where you hope to do the same to him.

L.A.V.’s (Light Armored Vehicle):  used only by the Marine Corps;  amphibious, eight-wheeled machines that look like upside-down bathtubs painted black.

L.O.D. (Line of Departure):  the border between Kuwait and Iraq.

Leatherman:  the all-in-one pliers, screwdriver and knife tool carried by Marines.

The L.T.:  nickname for a Lieutenant.  Note:  A specific lieutenant or other commanding officer is often also referred to as “The Sir.”

M.R.E.:  Meal Ready to Eat; standard military fare, food manufactured a decade ago and served as a complete, self-heating meal in a plastic bag.

M.S.R. Eight:  Main Supply Route Eight; any paved road is typically referred to as an “M.S.R.”

M.S.R. Tampa:  Main Supply Route Tampa.  Not only are roads designated M.S.R.s,  but American military planners have also given them names that will be easier for U.S. troops to pronounce than Arabic ones.

M-19:  a heavy, vehicle-mounted machine gun that fires armor-penetrating grenades instead of bullets; AKA MK-19, Mark-19, and Forty Mike-Mike.

M-249 SAW:  hand-held or bipod-mountable machine gun common to U.S. forces.  “SAW” stands for Squad Automatic Weapon and fires at a rate of 750 rounds per minute.  Notoriously easy to discharge by accident, hence Marine folklore:  “The SAW’s got a mind of its own, it wants to kill a motherfucker.”

M-4:  rifle carried by most recon Marines; similar to the standard U.S.-military M-16, but with a shortened barrel and collapsible stock.  Note:  Officers and POGs carry M-16s.  (2-3)

M-40:  standard, bolt action Marine sniper rifle.

Mathilda:  Northern Kuwait camp where these Marines stayed, with about 5,000 others, in the weeks before the invasion.

MOPP:  a nuclear, biological chemical protection suit; stands for Mission Oriented Protective Posture.  Can be an adjective, as in “we were MOPPED-up,” or “wearing our MOPP suits.”

Moto:  from motivational, anything that expresses the highly-motivated spirit of Marines.  Shouting “Get Some!” is a moto thing to do.  Moto films are the small movies and slide shows Marines make documenting the crazy things they see in this war.

Mud:  the white supremacist term for a non-white individual.

[klbmsw]

Contempt of Service

By MARY L TRUMP - (She doesn't hold back..)

Four US soldiers who went missing on Tuesday, 25 March during a #NATO training mission near the Belarus border have been confirmed dead. When Donald Trump, the ostensible commander-in-chief, was asked about the incident on Tuesday afternoon, he claimed he hasn't been briefed. While the families waited in agony for any word of what happened, the man who is supposed to be in charge of the United States military couldn’t be bothered to ask a single question about the soldiers’ status.

All four were from #FortStewart in #Georgia and belonged to the first brigade, third infantry division. They were riding in a 70-ton Hercules M 88 armored vehicle to assist a broken-down transport.

Their vehicle was found submerged less than 10 kilometers from the #Belarusian border, an area of heightened sensitivity because of the Russian military influence in the area.

When asked about the missing soldiers, Donald's response revealed a lack of awareness of the situation. It’s also possible he was briefed, but had forgotten because such things are unimportant to him despite the fact that this incident involved US troops abroad, something he's supposed to pretend to care about. It should go without saying that a response from the Commander-in-Chief, even this one, during such a crisis is something people look to.

As for his not having been told anything about the missing soldiers, that is simply not believable. There is no universe in which the person sitting behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office has no knowledge of the fate of four U.S. serving in hostile foreign territory.

It should offend us that Donald can sit there and claim that he doesn’t know anything—especially since the training exercise during which the missing soldiers went missing took place in a region where NATO's presence is crucial in countering Russian aggression. Lithuania is a vocal Ukrainian ally and it sits on the front lines of NATO's deterrent strategy against Russia and its ally Belarus. Any military mishap in this context could be deeply consequential.

We know how this may go, especially now that the United States has almost entirely withdrawn its vital support of #Ukraine while bolstering the agenda of our enemy, #Russia:

If Ukraine if it falls, that is the first domino. Then Russia will encroach upon the other countries that are currently holding the line. That includes #Lithuania and #Poland.

Donald has made his loyalties, if you can even call them that, very, very clear since the 1980s. But let's start with the 2016 election during which he made it very obvious that he has no respect for Gold Star families. He has no use for the concept of “service.” He doesn't care about active duty troops, he doesn't care about veterans, he doesn't care about those who have fallen.

The question, why? Why is this person incapable of even going through the motions and, even in a time of crisis, standing up and at the very least, pretending that this is a matter of utmost importance to him?

In order to understand this, we have to put his ostensibly unfathomable behavior in its historical context. My grandfather, Fred, cared about one thing—his business which ultimately meant making money. That was it. My grandfather knew real estate, he was good at it and because that was the most expeditious way for him to make his fortune, being a success in that realm became for him the only viable, respectable, valued way to be a “success” at all. And this extended to his sons—especially, at first, his oldest son (my dad), Freddy.

Despite the fact that my grandfather’s vast fortune was built on and with hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts, he hated paying taxes. He passed that attitude on to at least three of his children—including Donald.

The end result was that the only thing that matters to Donald is money. It is, indeed, the only currency he understands. My father was the exception. His priorities were completely different. During his freshman year at Lehigh University he enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). After he graduated, he became a second lieutenant in the National Guard. He served with a great deal of pride and valued the experiences and camaraderie as much as any he ever had. This was in the early 1960s, so he and my mother were concerned he might be called to serve in Vietnam. He never was, but he was prepared to go.

All of this, however, was considered frivolous and even selfish by Fred, just as his father considered being a professional pilot for TWA at the dawn of the jet age frivolous, selfish, somehow unmanly.

Having any ambitions separate from making money for his empire were beyond his consideration. He called my father, who flew 707s from Logan to LAX in 1964 for the second biggest airline on the planet, a “glorified chauffeur” and a “bus driver in the sky.” His National Guard training weekends at the armory in Manhattan and the the weeks spent at Fort Drum in upstate New York were valuable time spent away from the real work of further enriching him.

My father couldn’t withstand the assaults and quit flying in August of 1964, eventually going back to Trump Management where things went downhill from there. He internalized this shame so deeply that I didn’t even know he was in the National Guard until I stumbled across the medals he kept hidden in a shoe box that he put in the corner of his closet. He could barely talk about it.

That's the attitude Donald, who was almost eight years younger, grew up with. The other lesson Donald learned was not to be anything like Freddy. Why? Because being like Freddy would get him killed. So, he bought in to the selfishness. He bought in to the idea that the only thing that mattered was money—even if the only way to make himself richer was at the expense of everybody else.

Defending your country? Sacrifice and service? Who the fuck needs that? That's not real men's work. No, in the Trump family, real men's work was collecting rent from middle-class tenants so the Trump family-or at least Fred and Donald—could continue to get richer. Now, even veterans who supported Donald are waking up to the betrayal.

I'm not going to throw any stones here, but I do wonder why it's taken so long. There has been so much evidence, after all, of Donald’s contempt for them, their service, and their sacrifices.

Is it that veterans and active service members get their information from outlets like Fox that do not tell them the truth about their Commander-in-Chief? Or are they, like many people in the United States, so deeply identified with their politics they reject all evidence that contradicts their beliefs?

While Donald can't be bothered keeping track of active duty troops overseas, regardless of what kind of danger they may be in, here the Trump regimes is gutting support for veterans. Elon Musk is leading a draconian cost-cutting initiative at the Department of Veterans Affairs and has fired 25,000 probationary federal employees, including nearly 1,700 from the VA alone. These cuts disproportionately affect veterans who make up nearly 30% of the VA workforce.

The VA has already announced plans to cut as many as #Veteran Affairs 72,000 workers. About 15%. Appointment wait times can already be up to four months long.

More than 9 million veterans get physical or mental healthcare from the VA. The nonprofit Grace after Fire handles overflow from the VA, specifically connecting women to alternative resources.

Anthony Murro and other VA employees warned that these cuts are severely damaging morale and reducing the agency's ability to provide care for veterans. The Trump regime has tried to reassure veterans that VA services won't deteriorate and VA secretary Doug Collins, a former #GOP Congressman, has insisted no “mission critical” positions were eliminated, though Murro begs to differ. He believes his own job made a difference for veterans, and he's certain the upheaval and hit to morale wrought by the administration's firings will dog the agency for years. He said,

“You walk down the hall and you could see it. You can hear people whisper about it, and now you get these people that are scared, that are worried, and they're thinking about all this other stuff, and they're trying to care for the veterans. You cannot tell me it's not having an impact on veteran healthcare.”

A leaked memo suggests further deep staffing reductions could bring the VA workforce back to 2019 levels when fewer veterans were eligible for care. Murro continues,

“Everybody can admit that we need to look at efficiency. It's been a problem for decades, but when you're dealing with veterans, you have to be more intentional with your actions. You have to be more surgical. It's almost like he's trying to tear the VA down.”

Many veterans, including Murro, voted for Donald but now regret their decision as they witness his reckless cuts to the very institution that serves them. Concerns grow over the long-term impact on #healthcare access for millions of veterans. Carlin Nelson, a marine veteran and office manager at Wyoming, Virginia Center, was fired on February 24th, 2025. Despite a glowing performance review.

NBC reports,

“The veteran suicide rate in Wyoming is 50% higher than the rest of the country. In Cheyenne. There's a small VA center dedicated just to mental health. On February 24th, the office manager was fired. She was one of the thousands of probationary federal employees fired by email for their performance. But a recent review obtained by NBC News was glowing. Her manager writing, ‘As a veteran herself. She listens with empathy. She's the first person our clients come into contact with.’”

Many rural veterans, especially those with lower incomes, rely on VA services because of long travel distances to medical facilities. Staff cuts could further limit access to essential mental health services and some warn that cutting front line staff will harm veterans seeking immediate help.

Other #VA employees fear speaking out, particularly in Republican-dominated states like Wyoming, where 70% of the electorate voted for Donald. I think it’s important to pause for a second and emphasize that our veterans are afraid to speak about not getting the services they need in districts that are heavily Republican. These are the Americans who sacrificed a lot to serve our country, to protect our rights and our freedoms. And yet they are afraid to speak out in districts that are overwhelmingly support the so-called Commander-in-Chief, even though he's the one preventing them from getting the services that were promised to them before they signed up to serve in the first place.

But Donald Trump knows nothing about service. In fact, he has contempt for it. He claims ownership of “his generals” in order to puff him up and make him feel better about his miserable, pathetic, unaccomplished self. He deferred his service in Vietnam five times using a fictional injury as an excuse because he is and always has been a coward.

But he is incapable of owning that. Instead, he looks down upon those who dare to serve their country and have done what he is incapable of doing. Now in this most petty and cruel act of vengeance, because believe me, he recognizes their superiority, just as he recognized my father’s, he's trying to make their lives unbearable by taking away everything this country owes to them. Because that’s who he is.

[sayruq]

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Sunday that it had dispatched a ship carrying the necessary materials to build a temporary port off the coast of the Gaza Strip, Anadolu news agency reported. “On March 9, 2024, U.S. Army Vessel (USAV) General Frank S. Besson (LSV-1) from the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, XVIII Airborne Corps, departed Joint Base Langley-Eustis en route to the Eastern Mediterranean,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

[countesspetofi]

Today in the Department of Before They Were Star Trek Stars, Leonard Nimoy guest stars in "A Quality of Mercy," episode 15 of the third season of The Twilight Zone (original air date December 29, 1961). Nimoy plays the radio operator of a U.S. Infantry unit in the Philippines, in the final days of WWII.

The unit is put under the command of an inexperienced, glory-hungry young Lieutenant (Dean Stockwell) who wants to take them on a pointless, dangerous raid while there's still time to make a name for himself. Instead, he finds himself transported, Quantum Leap-style, into the body of a Japanese officer. When he comes back to his own body, his newfound sense of perspective leads him to call off the raid just before they get the news from Hiroshima.

Bonus Dean Stockwell:

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

The Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist organization Hezbollah has already begun rebuilding its military capabilities and financial operations, just over a week since a ceasefire with Israel went into effect after 13 and a half months of war.

While the IDF’s aerial and ground offensives severely degraded the Iranian proxy’s terrorist infrastructure and forces, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, Hezbollah has started recruiting new fighters, boosting domestic weapons production and looking for ways to continue smuggling arms in via Syria.

Reuters cited a senior American official, an Israeli official, and two U.S. lawmakers briefed on the intelligence in its reporting published on Wednesday.

According to the terms of the Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah is prohibited from rearming.

Hezbollah lost more than half of its weapons stockpiles and thousands of fighters during the war with Israel, according to American assessments. However, it has not been destroyed, with the sources saying that it still has thousands of short-range rockets and will try to rebuild using weapons factories in neighboring countries with transportation routes into Lebanon.

One of the lawmakers told Reuters that Hezbollah has been “temporarily weakened” and its command-and-control capabilities diminished. However, the lawmaker notes, “This organization is built to withstand disruption.”

Washington is particularly concerned about Syria, where Turkish-backed jihadist terrorist groups recently launched offensives in Aleppo and Hama, in a major challenge to the Assad regime and its Iranian and Russian backers. Israel continues to target Hezbollah smuggling routes in Syria and at the Syrian-Lebanon border and to disrupt Iranian weapons shipments via Syria.

A senior U.S. official revealed that Washington is urging Syrian President Bashar Assad to restrict Hezbollah’s activities, with other regional countries being enlisted to assist in this effort. Reuters reported earlier this week that the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates discussed the possibility of lifting sanctions on the Assad regime, provided, among other conditions, he halts the weapons supply routes to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah officials assert that the group will maintain its “resistance” against Israel. However, sources in Lebanon indicate that Hezbollah’s primary focus at the moment is on rebuilding and restoring homes damaged by Israeli airstrikes in Southern Lebanon and Beirut.

Hezbollah’s financial system

Meanwhile, Saudi-owned, London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Hezbollah has begun assessing repairs to its financial arm, Al-Qard al-Hassan, which was heavily damaged by Israeli attacks during the war.

The Iranian proxy plans to pay housing grants through the bank to repair the homes of families impacted by the war. Each family may receive $12,000 for rent and home repairs.

Despite, suffering severe blows in an Israeli aerial operation on Oct. 21, the bank resumed operations a week after the ceasefire.

The Saudi newspaper highlighted that “the announcement of the bank’s resumed operations contradicts Israeli claims of its destruction.” However, a source close to Hezbollah confirmed that the group had suffered significant financial losses during the war. The source further explained that the funds for rehabilitation will not come from Al-Qard al-Hassan’s resources, but from recent financial transfers from Iran to Hezbollah.

Iran transferred $1 billion via a regional intermediate on the first day of the ceasefire, which Hezbollah plans to use for its rehabilitation efforts.

[lonestarflight]

Launch of STS-61-C Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-61-C, the 24th shuttle mission.

"Early morning launch at Florida's Kennedy Space Center of the space shuttle Columbia and the STS-61-C crew. Onboard were the following crew members: Mission Commander Robert L. Gibson and Pilot Charles F. Bolden, along with Mission Specialists Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, Steven A. Hawley and George D. Nelson and Payload Specialists Robert J. Cenker of RCA and U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson.

"Columbia, which opened the era of the Space Transportation System with four orbital flight tests, is featured in re-entry in the emblem designed by the STS-61C crew representing the seven team members who manned the vehicle for its seventh STS mission. Gold lettering against black background honors the astronaut crewmembers on the delta pattern surrounding colorful re-entry shock waves, and the payload specialists are honored similarly below the sphere."

Date: January 12, 1986

NASA ID: STS61C-S-047, STS61C-S-048, KSC-86PC-0012, STS61C-S-046, MSFC-8662886

[stone-cold-groove]

United States Air Force Dover Air Force Base vintage matchbook cover.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jim Acosta at The Jim Acosta Show:

Trump’s disastrous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was just the latest “in case of emergency, stroke POTUS” moment. Cabinet members jumped into “dear leader” mode, blasting out what were clearly choreographed posts on X. Just in case the president started checking his notifications. Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before. Thank you for putting America First. America is with you!” “Thank you @POTUS for standing up for the United States. The American people will not stand for disrespect of our President, Oval Office, or our generous taxpayers. Peace is only accomplished through strength and our allies need to understand that,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy gushed. “I am so proud of our Commander-in-Chief. Thank you President @RealDonaldTrump and @VP for standing up for America. We will not tolerate the political games and disrespect of America. America is back,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cheered. The Kremlineque antics didn’t stop there. Earlier in the day, reporter Andrew Feinberg of “The Independent” noted White House aides had initially permitted a member of the Russian state media outlet, TASS, to join the press pool for the Zelensky photo op, even in the midst of their Oval Office blockade of the AP and other reputable news organizations. The Russian “reporter” was later denied access, according to Feinberg. Still, one sycophantic propaganda reporter managed to make his way into the meeting and pressed Zelensky on why he declined to wear a suit to the occasion. If only Zelensky had borrowed Elon Musk’s “Dark MAGA” hat. Trump’s shameful repudiation of Zelensky was much more than an embarrassing moment in American diplomacy, on par with the president’s disgraceful embrace of Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. It was not just a televised excommunication of a key U.S. ally, fighting for its survival. This was a signal across the oceans that the United States of America, proud home of “The Greatest Generation” that stormed the beaches of Normandy to defeat the Nazis, was no longer in the business of saving the world. Instead, Trump will trade vague offers of security for the natural resources of vulnerable, weaker nations - rare earth minerals in the case of Ukraine.

[...] If only Trump’s treatment of Zelensky were the sole moment of his betrayal of American values since his return to the White House. The U.S. commitment to the rule of law? Tarnished, of course, by the president’s pardons of January 6th insurrectionists. A non-political military? The current purge of senior leaders at the Pentagon drew a stinging rebuke from five former Defense Secretaries, including Trump’s first SecDef, retired general James Mattis. The Secretaries blasted the firings as “partisan” and warned of the consequences of politicizing our armed forces. The rule of law? The administration has attempted to reveal the identities of FBI agents who investigated both the Capitol attack and Trump’s alleged crimes that never made it to trial. The FBI has apparently given back to Trump the materials he once stored at Mar-a-Lago that were at the center of the classified documents case. Trump’s rejection of Ukraine threatens to unravel a security structure that has brought decades of relative peace to Europe. It is a diplomatic coup for Moscow, where such prominent Russian figures as former president Dmitry Medvedev celebrated Trump’s performance. “The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And @realDonaldTrump is right: The Kiev regime is "gambling with WWIII," Medvedev posted on X.

Love this brilliant piece from former CNN host Jim Acosta calling out the shameful scene in the White House yesterday where two Russian assets (47 and Couch-Humper) bullied a champion of freedom (Zelensky).

See Also:

Thinking About... (Timothy Synder): The War Trump Chooses

[cursedreverie1945]

I don't normally add trigger warnings to my posts because talking about nazis you kind of assume there will horrible information.

This, however, is one of the worst, so TW.

Otto Moll

SS Hauptscharführer Moll held the position of SS Rapportführer a senior SS position within the SS Guard Units the "Totenkopfverbände" sanctioned within the camps.

Moll is said personally to have killed hundreds at Birkenau, and oversaw the deaths of hundreds of thousands while at the camp, such as of the Hungarian Jews in 1944. He served as the chief of the crematorium/extermination zone at Birkenau from 1943 to 1945, a role that he carried out with immense cruelty.

Moll never stood trial for what he did at Auschwitz, having left shortly before its liberation and instead surrendering to the U.S. Army at Dachau in April 1945. However, in November 1945, he was charged as a war criminal at the U.S.-run Dachau camp trial. A month later, Moll was found guilty and sentenced by hanging. He was executed in 1946.

Otto Moll has been described as "the ultimate example of the cruel 'nazi spirit'", while doctor Miklós Nyiszli described Moll as "the most insane murderer of the World War". Moll has also been described as "the sadistic and cruel executor of the 'Final Solution,' a man who was the terror of both the Jews and the SS men", and as one of the "most sadistic and evil figures in the history of Auschwitz".

Moll joined the SS-Totenkopfverbände, the SS Death's Head Units responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps for Nazi Germany. One of his earliest jobs was as a Kommandoführer in charge of the camp's gardeners' work detail. In May 1941, Moll was transferred from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp to Auschwitz where he was put in charge of digging mass graves. Over the next three and half years, Moll served in several staff roles at the camp. He soon became the director of employment services at the men's camp in Auschwitz II (Birkenau). In 1944, Moll oversaw all the crematoria in Birkenau. He also was a Lagerführer of the Auschwitz sub-camps of Fürstengrube in Wesola and Gleiwitz I. According to Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, he and Moll were both decorated by Adolf Hitler with the War Merit Cross, First Class with Swords. He appears several times in the photo album belonging to Auschwitz commandant Karl-Friedrich Höcker that showed SS camp staff on leave at the retreat called Solahütte. From 11 to 25 September 1943, the wife of one of Otto Moll's friends, Hans Anhalt stayed at a garrison near Auschwitz with his permission.

Moll would say to his personnel: "Befehl ist Befehl!" ("An order is an order!") to justify his actions. This was an attitude that other defendants at the Nuremberg Trials also cited as a defence.

In 1944, after realizing that the crematoria were not sufficient to burn the number of Jewish people arriving at the camp, Moll forced prisoners to dig large open-air pits to incinerate excess bodies. He also reopened a farmhouse which had been previously used as a makeshift gas chamber.

Alter Feinsilber, a member of the Sonderkommando at Birkenau who worked for Moll, later recounted:

"At that time, on average around 18,000 Hungarians were murdered daily at Birkenau. Transports would come from dawn till dusk, one after another, and around 20% of those arriving were sent to the camp. They were recorded in series A and B. The rest were gassed and incinerated in the crematorium furnaces. In cases where there were not enough prisoners, they were executed by shooting and burned in pits. As a rule, a gas chamber was only utilized for groups bigger than 200 people because it was uneconomical to use it for smaller groups. It sometimes happened that during executions by shooting some prisoners put up a fight or children cried, and then Oberscharführer Moll would throw these people into the burning pits alive. I personally witnessed the following scenes. Moll ordered a naked woman to sit on the corpses near a pit, while he shot at prisoners and threw them to the burning pit, ordering the woman to jump and sing. Of course she did so, in hopes of saving her life. After executing everybody, Moll shot this woman and she was then incinerated. On another occasion, Moll found a few rings and a watch on a boy from our group. He halted him at the crematory, had him thrown into a furnace, started a fire using paper, and then they got him out, hanged him by his arms, tortured and interrogated him to find out where he had gotten the items found on him. Of course, he told them everything, identified the prisoner who had given these items to him, and then he was set on fire from the waist down and was ordered to run toward the wires, where he was executed."

In the book We Wept Without Tears, which features testimony from camp survivors, including many who describe Moll, survivor Shlomo Dragon said "Once we found a baby who'd been stuffed into a pillow and was still alive. The baby's head was also buried in the pillow. After we removed the pillow, the baby opened his eyes. Meaning he was still alive. We took the bundle to Moll and told him he was alive. Moll took the kid to the edge of the pit, put him on the ground, stepped on his neck, and threw him into the fire." Another former prisoner said, "Moll...was so zealous and crazy that he personally took part in the cremations. Once he was overheard saying that if Eichmann ordered him to cremate his family, he'd do it. Moll revealed his sadism at times when he circulated among mothers who were about to be gassed and chatted with a boy whom they carried. He did it with a chuckle. He'd hug the boy, give him some candy, and try to talk the mother into handing the boy over. Then he'd take the kid to the pit and throw him into the fire alive." Other times, Moll would lure the child way entirely on his own.

Moll would also place naked women at the edge of the pits, shoot them in the stomach so they would fall over, and watch them burn to death, beat people with clubs and iron bars, douse people with petrol and set them on fire, set dogs on them, throw them against electric fences, and smash children into concrete walls in front of their mothers.

In November 1945, Moll was put on trial by an American military court during the Dachau trials. He was only tried for what he did at Dachau. Moll was sentenced to death after being found guilty of fatally shooting prisoners who had collapsed from exhaustion. According to Kapo Wilhelm Metzler, Moll had shot 26 people. After Moll's conviction, Major Draper, a British military prosecutor, sent an urgent request for an interview to the commandant of Landsberg Prison, where Moll was awaiting execution. He requested an interview with him, saying the world needed to know what he had done in Auschwitz. It is not known whether the interview ever took place. However, Moll was interviewed during the Nuremberg trials. Unlike his superior Rudolf Höss, he largely denied involvement in the killing of Jews at Auschwitz. After his case was reviewed, a panel recommended that Moll's sentence be carried out. He was executed by hanging at Landsberg Prison on 28 May 1946.

"One of the most sadistic figures of Auschwitz." Think of how terrible people were at Auschwitz. Mengele, Heß, etc.