National Security Council official Alex Vindman, who also is a Lt. Colonel in the Army but does not wear a uniform to his NSC job, decided to show up for the Democrats' star chamber impeachment hustle for the purpose of testifying against the President decked out like a Guatemalan field marshal.
Don't know anything about this guy's service record; he may be a genuine war hero for all I know. But he's not above criticism just because he's a veteran.
Update: This gentleman seems to have an even lower opinion of Col. Vindman.
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He's wearing a Class A uniform -- which is indeed odd for testifying in Congress, given his normal duties with the NSC. I presume his commander knows about it, which may not be surprising.
There's a better picture here, still not stellar, but they do list his awards (which matches my own read):
According to the Army, Vindman's awards include the Purple Heart, Defense Meritorious Service Medal (2nd award), Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal (4th award), Army Achievement Medal (3rd award), National Defense Service Medal , Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (4th award), Valorous Unit Award, National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Presidential Service Badge, Joint Chiefs of Staff identification Badge, and Navy Unit Commendation.
You can read about the various awards here.
My two bits on the awards ... ... for a light colonel, that's an impressive rack. The Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge shows that he has been in combat and saw the elephant (maybe with the 25th ID). Certainly that's more than I did.
But the others .... .... about half the awards (on the lower two rows, left breast) are for "perfect attendance", you have to work to not get them.
The top two racks include the "Meritorious Service Awards" (both Army and Defense), and are usually awarded in lieu of a Bronze Star. Most often (in my possibly outdated experience) to what used to be called REMFs (Rear Echelon M***** F*****), and now known as "Fobbitts". There was quite an inflation of awards back when, and I have to wonder if his rack reflects that -- Army Commendation and Army Achievement Awards get handed out for passing inspections, and he's got quite a few. Maybe he did more than good paperwork, I don't know. But it's something that I don't see as positive -- no more than a "Meh!"
My overall impression, especially considering that Vindman is currently assigned to the NSC, is that after he recovered from his wounds, he had a lot of flag officer staff time, which means a lot of face time with generals and admirals. Whether he got to the NSC because he does good work, or because he knows how to work the system I can't say.
But, aside from the Purple Heart and CIB, everything on his ribbon racks could be from talking smooth to generals. Given his appearance in Congress, I would not ignore the probability of that being true.
Good information, Jeff. Thanks.
He's got his own Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Vindman
???
With some professionally written paragraph detailing the recent testimony, already neatly in place.
Sure looks like a setup to me. Blassey-Ford style but more polished.
Vindman’s opening statement, which was leaked to the New York Times the night before his testimony...
Okay, I admit I'm stupid, but how & why was his opening statement "leaked to the New York Times the night before his testimony"? I assume he had to submit a written "opening statement" to his interrogators, but why would they leak it to the NYT?
Oh, wait, nevermind. Adam Schiff.
The Deep State is also very broad.
Following up on the other post ... ... oh, yeah, he's a Deep State minion. I tried to keep my earlier post open minded, but the WIki page? Yeah, somebody wants his testimony out there.
Maybe the DOJ investigation into Russiagate and other intelligence agancy activities is not only rattling the cages, it's scaring the bejesus out of the deep state members.
One can hope.
I do believe, Jeff, that some of the Deep Staters are indeed beginning to sweat a little bit.
I find it pretty...interesting...that Vindman would have a wiki page. As Bruce says, looks like a set-up.
Is the Democrat mole Lt Col. Vindman still on active duty, or is he a Reservist?
Or does he only wear his bedecked uniform for dramatic effect?
Fobbits? I'd heard "REMF" from various friends who'd served from Vietnam up to the Iraq War, but that's a new one.
(How many typos can I make in a single sentence? I won't tell ya, but it was there just now.)
Is the Democrat mole Lt Col. Vindman still on active duty, or is he a Reservist?
He appears to be on active duty, Spiny, but his duties permit (require?) him to wear civilian dress to work. Regulations allow for that, but if he wanted to maintain a low profile, wearing his uniform for Congressional testimony would be, ahem, "counterproductive".
Fobbit:
A term used to describe soldiers in Iraq that rarely if ever leave the relative safety of the Forward Operating Base (FOB). This is a perjoritive term used by soldiers that spend a lot of time outside the wire beaing shot at and dodging road-side bombs, for those soldiers that live a safer and more comfortable life.
The damn fobbits all seem to be getting the new armor before we do, and they don't even need it.
"FUFB!" A chalk message on my platoons vehicles that loosely translates to "F#@k yoU FoBbits!
Damn, that's good.
If I ever run into an acquaintance (friend of a friend) from high school I'll ask him about that.
He's former Delta Force who seen combat in virtually every operation the US Army has been engaged in since 1983 (Grenada), including Panama, the 1st Gulf War, Somalia, 2 tours in Afghanistan and 3 in Iraq. He's been in the middle of so much gunfire, that if they made a movie about his career, no one would believe it. He's still in the Army, as far as I know, a 1st Sgt in the 101st, last I heard, but that was 7 years ago. I kinda wish I knew him better, especially since our mutual friend has passed away (I spoke to his parents at our friend's memorial service in 2012, but he was in Iraq at the time, in the combat zone again after 30 years in the service.)
(fixed more lame typos)
Still missed another typo. I can't seem to be able to type correctly today.
I feel your typo pain. I wonder, in my case, if it isn't just advancing age. I make a lot more spelling mistakes than I used to.
Well, of courese it's my keyboard's fault!
I wonder, in my case, if it isn't just advancing age
At 57, I suspect that's my case, too.
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