A top woman West Point graduate was buried this week in New York. Over 60 women soldiers/sailors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. At this point, the nation barely notices. I remember just three years ago, debates raging about women in combat. Now, it is not only accepted, it is ignored.
This case puzzles me and I think this death shows how useless this war is.
By Joshua Partlow and Lonnae O'Neal Parker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 27, 2006; Page A01Emily J.T. Perez, a determined 23-year-old from Prince George's County, rose to the top of her high school class and then became the first minority female command sergeant in the history of the U.S. Military Academy.
Now she has another distinction. The second lieutenant was buried Tuesday at the academy, the first female graduate of West Point to die in Iraq. Perez, a platoon leader, was killed while patrolling southern Iraq near Najaf on Sept. 12 when a roadside bomb exploded under her Humvee.
*snip*
She was the 64th female member of the U.S. military to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan and the 40th West Point graduate killed since Sept. 11, 2001. Another female West Point graduate, Laura M. Walker of the Class of 2003, was killed in Afghanistan last year.
This story puzzled me because this young woman, so full of promise, died while driving aimlessly around Najaf on 'patrol'. Normally, driving about the place is what the lowest soldiers do. Just as one doesn't see the police brass on patrol, top graduates of West Point are supposed to be hyper-trained officers who have special duties.
During Vietnam, they were so leery of being sent into the field, by 1969, virtually none of them saw combat. These men are now all over the Pentagon (and nearly all GOP leadership positions are filled by men who weaseled out of serving in combat) and they are frantic to find bodies to do simple chores on the ever-expanding battlefield.
So I am assuming they sent this very intelligent, motivated, very expensively-trained woman on daily run abouts, 'patrolling' because they didn't have anyone else to do the job. So all the money invested in making her a future leader was flushed down the drain just so the military could claim they control the ground. It is obvious we don't control anything. The 'patrols' sent out are like the ducks in a carny shooting gallery: they go round and round and round until they are nailed by insurgents.
This is what a command seargeant is supposed to be doing.
Enlisted soldiers who attain the distinction of being selected by the Department of the Army for participation in the command sergeants major program are the epitome of success in their chosen field, in this profession of arms. There is no higher grade of rank, except Sergeant Major of the Army, for enlisted soldiers and there is no greater honor.The command sergeant major carries out policies and standards of the performance, training, appearance, and conduct of enlisted personnel. The command sergeant major advises and initiates recommendations to the commander and staff in matters pertaining to the local NCO support channel.
Perhaps slightly wiser and more experienced than the first sergeant, the command sergeant major is expected to function completely without supervision. Like the old sage of times past, the command sergeant major’s counsel is expected to be calm, settled and unequivocally accurate, but with an energy and enthusiasm that never wanes, even in the worst of times.
Assignable to any billet in the Army, the command sergeant major is all those things, and more, of each of the preceding grades of rank.
The sergeant major is generally the key enlisted member of staff elements at levels higher than battalion. The sergeant major’s experience and ability are equal to that of the command sergeant major, but the sphere of influence regarding leadership is generally limited to those directly under his charge.
She wasn't organizing anything, she was doing the equivelent of KP duties. This is the way our Pentagon works: wasting expensive rockets shooting tents, chasing children then being blown up, falling into every snare and trap set by peasants, and all this for what? There is no possibility of victory here. Even if we 'win' we lose.
What is also puzzling is, she was in Iraq for nearly a year and yet, all she was doing at this point was driving about on 'patrols'. What the hell is going on there?
Here is the website of her division which was, for many years, a medical unit, not a patrol unit.
As of January, 2006, the 204th Support Battalion of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division was deployed to Forward Operating Base Duke, located in Najaf, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was the second deployment of the 204th Support Battalion fulfilling the mission of maintaining war fighting readiness while providing combat service support to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized).
Units
HDC 204th FSB - "Hurricanes"
A FSC 204th FSB - "Assassins"
B FSC 204th FSB - "Bounty Hunters"
C FSC 204th FSB - "Crusaders"
D BSC 204th FSB - "Dawgs"
E MED 204th FSB - "Enforcers"
Do note the juvenile names each group is given. Assassins? I bet the Iraqis laugh about that one every time they knock off members of this unit! 'Bounty Hunters' is equally pathetic. 'Crusaders' is dangerous. Why the Pentagon allowed a unit stationed in Iraq to carry that name is exactly why this poor young woman was blown up. This is beyond fool-hardy, this is insanity. This fills me with despair. One would expect adults to be more careful about the image they are projecting! Part of the military's supposed goals is to be mature and responsible. Yet the names of these units scream 'little children playing games'.
The irresponsible, infantile, 'we are really a gang out to bust heads and show off' mentality has no place in a military trying to win hearts and minds in Muslim lands. In this monstrous macho world, we are the losers. Our side just wants to pocket their pay and run back home while the real macho men want to kill us.
Just as the military should halt the stenciling of skulls on military vehicles and indeed, recall all the insignias on uniforms that show skulls and other demonic devices, we have to take into hand the whole system of designing and naming things replacing it all with appropriate symbols if we want to pretend to be bringing democracy and freedom to people.
As it stands, the way it is now is like the Hell's Angels showing up to do traffic guard duty at school crossings.
Peretz wasn't the only woman to get blown up this month.
1st Lt. Ashley L. (Henderson) Huff
Age: 23
Hometown: Belle Mead, N.J.
Unit: Army's 549th Military Police Company, 385th Military Police Battalion, Fort Stewart, Ga.
Circumstances: Died Sept. 19 of injuries suffered in Mosul, Iraq, when a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near her mounted patrol during combat operations.Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman
Age: 21
Hometown: New Ringgold, Pa.
Unit: Army's 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Circumstances: Died Sept. 14 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in the vicinity of a west Baghdad substation.
These two women died, unnamed and unmorned by the nation, they were certainly not in the major news services nor highlighted or what-not. Their deaths were pretty much ignored. Both were driving aimlessly about, playing sitting ducks to whoever could nail them and they got nailed along with 64+ others which in less than 25 days is nearly 3 a day.
A lot of people are throwing away their lives on this fraudulent war. Not one daughter of any GOP pro-war, pro-Bush representatives or leaders are joining. The Bush twins are invisible right now probably because they are lying drunk in a pool of piss somewhere.
I just happened upon your blog. If Emily Perez graduated from West Point, she was a Second Lieutenant, not a Command Sergeant Major. Command Sergeant Major is an enlisted rank, while Second Lieutenant is an officer rank. A Second Lieutenant outranks a Command Sergeant Major, although a Command Sergeant Major has been in the Army for much longer, usually about 20 years.
http://www.army.mil/symbols/armyranks.html
I'd venture to say that Emily Perez was on patrol because she wanted to be with her soldiers. She sounds like a wonderful patriot.
Posted by: Liz Wilson | September 07, 2008 at 01:14 AM
To clarify what a Command Sergeant Major cadet position at West Point means:
Unlike virtually all other bachelor-degree granting institutions in the United States (but like the other military academies), the Academy does not refer to its students as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors; they are instead officially called "fourth class", "third class", "second class", and "first class".
Within the classes, cadets can hold positions of increasing responsibility with a cadet rank:
Fourth Class (Plebe): Cadet Private (Member of Squad).
Third Class (Yearling or Yuk): Cadet Corporal (Team Leader).
Second Class (Cow): Cadet Sergeant (Squad Leader); Platoon Sgt, various staff positions at the Company and Battalion level; Cadet First Sergeant (First Sergeant); Cadet Color Sergeant (Color Guard member), Cadet Sergeant Major (Sergeant Major of a Battalion).
First Class (Firstie): Cadet Lieutenant (Platoon Leader), various staff positions within a Company; Cadet Captain (Company Commander, Battalion Commander, Regimental Commander), various staff positions at the Battalion level up to Brigade level; Cadet First Captain (Brigade Commander), highest position in the Corps of Cadets; Command Sergeant Major, at the Regimental and Brigade level.
CSM in the Corps is a symbolic cadet rank given during college. Upon graduation, the rank of 2LT is awarded.
Posted by: Liz Wilson | September 07, 2008 at 01:32 AM
She had one of our most beloved songs, "The Corps" recited at her funeral. The Corps is a poem, sometimes sung, which espouses the feelings all cadets and graduates feel towards the Long Gray Line and has remained unchanged since its creation in 1902. After her death, "The Corps" was changed, removing all solely male references from it and replacing them with gender neutral terms. That probably doesn't sound like much, but for West Point, an institution rooted in tradition and history it was a huge change.
West Point officers are not just given special assignments; we all serve the same as any officer commissioned from any other source such as ROTC. We lead platoons and later companies into battle just as any officer. The most sought after branch since the War on Terror began has been Infantry. You now have to be in the top of the class to even have a chance at getting it. Infantry is the branch that does the most up close fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
We want to lead soldiers, we will lead from the front and we will do our very best to make sure they all come alive. 2LT Perez's service and sacrifice to her nation will not be forgotten.
Posted by: Brandon | September 12, 2008 at 03:29 PM
Take this comment from a soldier who was there and brought her off of the war zone.
"this article and it's information is complete bullshit. And the author is a disgrace to any type of journalism - that should only tell the truth especially when it comes to the death of a soldier, a citizen, a Hero.
The media will never know the truth and even if they did they wouldn't portray it.
If you want to print a proper informative release do more research and look up soldiers who were there. You will find the truth and the reasons behind such a tragedy."
Posted by: Former Rough Rider NCO | August 22, 2009 at 01:44 PM
Formerly SGT Joel Welsh-
I was an "ASSASSIN" as part of the A FSC (forward support company)that you speak of. I was a heavy wheeled vehicle operator in the army. Yup, a truck driver. We had mechanics, cooks, truckers, tankers, infantry, you name it doing "patrols" because the job needed to be done.
My Lt rode out on many a mission with me. I was glad of it, because he was a hell of a shooter.
So you need to think before you speak...
Tragic is the loss of any life. But the LT that died knew what she was doing, just as I did... when she joined. Enlisted, officer, civilian. A bullet knows no difference.
And as for the jab at our assassins that I am damned proud to have served, and survived with????
Anytime you think you want to try me on...
Just jump out in front of my M2 .50 caliber machine gun which was mounted on my truck.
I fired expert - and zeroed out to 2500 Meters.
How fast can you run?
joel
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