More on The New Republic Fiasco

Bob Owens takes the fight to the man.

Michael Tanji offers to subscribe if TNR can present the evidence.

And Mike Goldfarb continues the mission.

Meanwhile, I received this email from a VMI Army Captain who routinely runs into IEDs on patrol:

John,

IEDs do not have a melting effect upon contact with human skin. Some are configured to expel more fire than shrapnel, but those are rare and I have never heard of one melting skin as if you were holding a lighter to the face of a GI Joe action figure.

I emailed a PAO to dig further into this story, she said she will look into it. I’ll let you know what I find out.

Don’t mess with the VMI network!

Our military-heavy comments section has also been calling shenanigans:

Commenter Old Tanker:

“As he marched around with the skull on his head, people dropped shovels and sandbags, folding in half with laughter. No one thought to tell him to stop. No one was disgusted. Me included.

The private wore the skull for the rest of the day and night.”

Sorry, as a former NCO and combat veteran I call BS. No one told him told him to stop!! Not one NCO or officer??

There was also his story of he and his buddies picking on a female that was an IED victim and scarred. He says they were loud enough for her and several other tables to hear them. And a severe beat down didn’t occur?? No NCO’s or officers around to snatch them up by the short hairs????

The whole piece really smells….

Yup. And here’s a more salty take from Echo Six Oscar:

This story is BULLSHIT!!! I just finished up a year+ deployment, 75% of which was spent in or around Falcon. The chow hall ain’t exactly huge. A woman like that would have been noticed. Oh and excuse me, but I’ve seen my share of IED injuries and I’ve yet to come across one that “melts faces.” IEDs don’t do that, even the gas ones. Even if they did, soldier’s don’t make fun of that shit especially at Falcon where everyone has a buddy who was hit by an IED. This story wouldn’t even be believable if it were a bunch of us sitting around drinking beer and shooting the shit, so why the hell would a newspaper print it?

And from commenter Mike, who -like Greyhawk- takes issue with the term “chow hall.” (although Echo Six Oscar used it above? I still hear it used to refer to our base dining facility):

Story 1 – It ain’t a ’chow hall’ in the Army. It’s a D-Fac (dining facility) or for old farts like me a mess hall. Poser.

Story 2 – The word Helmet isn’t used much any more. The common term today is Kevlar. If you have worn one, you know there ain’t nothing fitting on top of your head. The Kevlar has a crown web inside to support and spread the weight of the helmet over your entire head. Anything in it, especially pointy things like teeth, would focus the entire weight onto one point of your cranium. Painful for long time wear. Poser.

Story 3 – The bad guys hide IEDs in dead animals. How, exactly, does a sleeping dog look different than a dead one? Running over one, stupid – and does not lead to a long life. I have chased coyotes in a Hummer (non-armored) and you ain’t catching one, let alone getting close enough to run one over. Heck, I chased Jackrabbits on a motorcycle and ain’t nobody running one over. Poser.

And another VMI man makes the same point about the skull-cap. From Joel:

I’d call bullshit on him wearing it under his helmet. Even with those “swedish foam” helmet pads inside the MICH helmet, it’s still a damn tight fit. Ten hours on patrol in the Iraqi heat and the thing’s about unbearable. Trying to fit bone under there as well? Impossible.

I think TNR owes its readers, and the military, an explanation.