Back in July I was given punishement by Morrill for wearing headphones while I was jogging. This punsihment was basically hard labor. I was to fill over three hundred fifty-pound sandbags in full combat gear in over 130 degree heat. I did file a complaint and spoke to the commanding officer, at which time I was told I would face a general court martial or field grade article 15, two very severe punishments. In December of last year another member of TF Konohiki attacked two Iraqi Iterpreters choking one and throwing him into a bonfire, when one of his fellow Iraqis came to his aid he was also punched. This man was a convicted felon for assault and had been brought up on assault charges during training at Fort Bliss, Texas. This man recieved no more punishment then confinment to quarters for three days.Now comes the big picture.

On July 4th we held an Hawaiian style PORK bbq I wrote about in my blog, I was soon criticized by Morrills friends in the comments section for being critical of him not respecting Islam and our twelve Muslim team members.

On July 6th at just about 2pm while preparing to leave the FOB for a combat patrol with the 128th the crew from Konohiki 51 arrived. the gunner for this team, a specialist from the 81st out of Washington, asked me if I remembered the Intel team that went by the nickname of "Peanut and Butter", I told him I met them just once. He then said quite bluntly, as was his style, "Well they're both dead now. They got hit a few hours ago over on Heather near the old checkpoint 69. And they got it bad, as matter of fact their vehicle is still burning with them still in it!".. (Checkpoint 69 was a recently deserted Iraqi Army checkpoint)

As he said this I paused for a few seconds because we had passed by that very spot several times and would continue to do so. I remember thinking that if my number came up I hoped that my body wouldn't be so horribly disfigured that my family would have to keep the casket closed. I don't mean to be overly morbid or grafic but it is important one understands the state of mind at this time. And like everyone else in my posistion I went out and did my job and just wondered if this would be the day.

Five days later on the 11th of July we were on the move towards the Boa bridge, it had just been cleared as safe to cross by elements of the Iraqi Army. For reasons unknown the lead vehicle from the 128th decided not to cross over and made a right. As we got close to the bridge an IED exploded directly in front of us, it was meant to kill us. I wrote about this in "Anxiety on th Bridge". I realized then, I still had a long way to go before I would see my family again.

Two days later I decided to take a long run and listen too some music. So about seven in the morning while it was still relativly cool I strapped on my headset and took a long slow run, it helps with dealing with issues. Several vehicles passed by me and I always run into traffic with my headphones low enough to hear every thing around me, especially the very loud diesel engines of military vehicles. One of the vehicles that passed me was driven by Lankey Morrill.

At about 8pm that same evening Morrill got up to run his mouth, as usual, and this time reminded everyone in TF Konohiki that the FOB Seargeant Major had published a directive dated 1 July, reminding soldiers not to run with headphones on, Immediatly after he approached me with a counsling statement in his hand and told me he didn't want to put me on the spot but that he was referring to my morning run. I then said "is there something you want me to sign?" I was referring to the counsling statement in his hand which I knew was for me. He then said " Let's just forget about this for now. What I was hoping was that if you could help out one of the men being punished by supervising his building a parking lot?". I said I would help out and would get with this soldier later.

I learned from the soldier that Morrill had decided it would be constructive for him to build a sandbag parking lot in our gravel lot, this was a result of him failing to report a minor fender bender with one of the new HUMVEES. Another soldier from Hawaii did something very similar resulting in the loss of a front bumper and only recieved a warning. Morrill was very blatent in his bias.

Three days later Morrill got up in front of the unit and asked me why I hadn't finished building his parking lot, this was a flat out lie on his part and I could not control my reaction. I then said very clearly "You never said a word about filling any sandbags! all you said was to supervise and that was it!" Of course Morrill denied it and said he would talk talk to me after the meeting. I felt like running across the room and kicking the crap out of this pathetic loser As soon as the meeting was over I walked over to him and said something to this effect "What is wrong with you any way ? We've got people getting blown to pieces and risking their lives everyday and all you can do is sit around here and think of ways to abuse your authority? You never said a word about filling any sandbags and if that's what you want you better put it in writing like you are supposed to." I said a few more things and will admit I was out of line, I was disrespectful to a senior NCO and should have put the NCO corps ahead of my disgust.

Later that evening Morrill came to my quarters with his write-up, and I then told him I wished to speak with the commanding officer and later the office of the Inspector General. I was told a few days later I was clear to talk to the Commander. The Commander would come for me.

Maybe two days later Konohoki six, the commander, told me to meet him in MSG Morrills room. I got to the room and the Commander told me he was not going to wait around until I felt like talking to him and he wanted to hear what I wanted to say before Morrill left on his R&R that day.

I asked for permission to speak freely and was granted it so long as I remained respectful. I basically unloaded on Morrill for everything from the loss of money for the Internet to calling privates Seargeant to getting his picture taken with a woman that has a child dying. There was alot said between me and Konohiki six and I will say for the most part I was very proud of his posistion, supporting his NCO. I know this sounds hypocritical but I believe that certain things must be maintained for the greater good and one of those is Officers supporting their NCOs. I could only hope that Konohiki six would end up doing the right thing and getting rid of Morrill, he wouldn't.

Two things came out very clear to me during this meeting. It was here that I was told by the Commanding Officer that every person in TF Konohiki that paid any money for Internet service authorized by Morrill could "just forget about it, the money is gone and it's not coming back so just deal with it", those are pretty close to the exact words. Perhaps the most important thing said to me was that as a result of my conduct, telling Morrill about soldiers getting killed and risking their lives just to get back here and have him give them write-ups and hard labor for jogging, I had three choices. One, fill the sandbags, two face a general court martial or three recieve a field grade article 15. The last two options really were not options since I could very easily lose all my retirement and leave Iraq as a private. I chose to fill the sandbags.

The commander made three minor comments to me that I found amusing. One was that our group was just like the HBO series "Band of Brothers" another was that I didn't seem to want to "join the family" at dinner time ( whenever he showed up we could eat ) and tended to eat alone, the last was that I seemed to think Morrill had to live up to my personal expectations. I was really dissapointed that the commanding Officer didn't seem to realize that all any of the men wanted was for Morrill to follow Army regulations and guidelines like FM22-100 leadership and Army regulation 600-20.

The next day I went to the office of the FOB Command Seargeant Major and asked him for some guidance enforcing his rule of jogging and listening to headphones. He was really suprised I would ask such a stupid question and said "It's a no brainer, you just do an on the spot correction. Stop the soldier and correct the situation like a good Seargeant." I then said "At what point should I consider giving out a counseling statement?' He then said "after maybe the third verbal warning." I had to ask one last thing, I asked "and at what point should I recommend punishment.?" He then laughed and said "Are you an asshole or something? that's ridiculus he's just jogging."

All this is just to really drive home the petty behavior of one person giving the responsability of caring for the welfare of many. The lack of competance in this man was and is unbelievable, overshadowed only by the willingous of the Officers to allow it. As I write this I want to remind all readers that at this moment there are quite a few enlisted soldiers serving prison time for things getting out of hand at "Abhu Grahib" prison and not one officer served a day.

Because the second part of this "Crime and punishment" entry will be so long I will publish a part one first. But I will say this before I publish part two. The man that assaulted the two Iraqi's is a good man and, the truth be known, I am personally glad he did not get punished. But this is about people doing what they are supposed to do and following Army regulations and guidlines. The man comes from Samoa and they tend to handle things with their fists and really don't see any wrong in it, but the Army does. I want the truth to be known and do not feel like this is sharing my dirty laundry with the world. Because the people are giving authority they must also be held accountable to someone when they do not act responsibly.

PS. I did not wear all my gear when I filled the bags and brought my music with me along with ice cold drinks, to hell with Morrill. And I took my time, rememebering what it's like to be a grunt as I filled each bag, I made it fun.

I do not edit or screen any comments unless they are extremly offensve, like the couple making sexual comments months ago. I welcome and encourage opposition to my views, it is important for the readers not in the military to understand that guys like Morrill are not alone. I will also say that everything I have written has happened just the way it was written, I consider myself a person of integrity and as long as I can help future and current soldiers I will. The strength of my convictions lies in one simple fact, other than my Mother, all my heroes have been Seargeants.

I am still working on my last Morrill entry, it will be long, so I will just tell folks about adjusting to civillian life again. Some of the frustrations I've experienced as far as getting the benefits I've earned have come to be not as bad as originally thought.

I went to one of the websites suggested and was able to get alot of answers regarding tuition assistance for continueing my education, it seems most of the veteran counslers at school just didn't have current answers.

On the medical issues I went to the local navy base and recieved good information on exactly how to use my current doctors ( prior to deployment I had full coverage thru work ).
However, I went to my doctors office and was told I couldn't see anyone until March 29th. I had injured my left foot back in September back in Iraq and am sure I could have recieved treatment there but probably would have missed duty and still believe in " Mission First". I also had surgery during my first 9/11 deployment back in 2002 and feared I may have reinjured it, abdominal hernia. One of the first things I've done is join a gym and started trying to get back in good physical condition, except everytime I try to do any core work I get muscle convulsions and cramps.

I called the Triwest people and found out that I could just walk into an Urgent Care unit and recieve immediate care, I did so and found out I have a spur on my left foot and recieved treatment for that and the muscle issue, it didn't cost a dime.

I have also scheduled a dental exam and ordered some new eye glass's, so everything is well as far as medical goes.

The Army manged to foul up my last few paychecks and still owes me between $1,400.00 and $12,000.00 I can't get an answer and my phone call aren't getting returned. I assume that this is a problem for most of us "Cross Levelers". The men sent from all over America to help out with the manpower shortages in the Island units, we have to rely on their professionalism to get us taking care of. The best thing is we are finally home and it feels great!!

Part of the NCO creed requires that we all vow to be technically and tactically profecient, soldiers lives depend on it. What this basically means is that as military leaders we can combine the technical knowledge of weapons systems and their capabilities with tactical know how and give the men in our command the maximum oppurtunity to survive and win.

For example, a soldier might understand the range of a particular machine gun used for the defense can be bipod or tripod fired. The maximume effective range for a bipod fired weapon is generally about half that of a tripod fired weapon. He may also know that this particular weapon has three rates of fire, sustained, rapid and cyclic. The rates of fire a weapon is used at will determine the length the weapon can be fired and how much ammunition will be needed. He might also understand the trajectory of the rounds through the air at different ranges, and the pattern of impact on the selected target ( The Beaten Zone ) . A soldier will then take this knowledge and apply it to the tactical situation. Knowing the best position to emplace the weapon and how to use it, this is tactical and technical knowledge.

MSG Morrill was almost completly void of both tactics and technical know how. His insistance on doing what he felt was best instead of listening to those that actually knew what to do placed many soldiers lives at risk, I will give just few more examples of this mans incompetance.

While going through weapons firing drills prior to coming home one of the men firing the machine gun was clearly firing at the cyclic rate, holding down the trigger and just firing away at over 800 rounds a minute. Morrill jumped up on the turrett of the vehicle and started screaming about how the weapon should never be fired at more than three to five rounds a burst or squeeze of the trigger, not true at all. Most machine guns will be fired at the basic rate of six to nine rounds per burst, gunners say "Six to nine everytime". This is the sustained rate of fire allowing ten minutes of firing befor a barrell change. The rapid rate of fire is ten to twenty rounds a burst before a barrell change at five minutes. The cyclic rate is just holding down the trigger for one minute, then changing the barrell or it will malfunction and possibly melt. There is a time and place for each rate of fire," tactics". Morrill was just faking knowledge knowing that he would not be openly challenged. The man was so arrogant he would have people follow his direction even though it was wrong and men could get hurt. A three to five round burst would not be enough to effectivly cover a small area target like another crew served weapon emplacement and the " Beaten Zone " lacked area, of course he wouldn't know this.

Here's another example of him not wanting to learn the proper way of doing something and insisting on what he had decided on, right or wrong.

It is a common belief that speed is one of the biggest defense factors to be considered when traveling on the MSRs ( Main Supply Routes ) the faster a vehicle can move the harder it will be for the trigger man to set of the IED and inflict damage on the target. Well Morrill took this as an absolute and would make us drive as fast as possible at all times and never considered using one of the Armys mandated tools, the "Risk Assessment". This is just what it sounds like, pior to taking a course of action or begining training, leaders should consider all variables that may effect the mission and decide if the risk is a minimal as possible. To lower the risk, some things must be altered or simply left out. Don't take a risk you don't have too.

Early in our deplyment we had run a six vehicle convoy about fifty miles north to Tikrit. As we were leaving FOB O'Ryan we came to an MP checkpoint, I was in the lead vehicle and was ordered to stop by the MPs. At this point none of us knew thew reason for the stop but did know on the main road we were safe and abviosly the MP's had secured the immediate area. Morrill, like the egomaniacal person he is, called foward on the radio and instructed us to go around the MP's. To do this we would have to leave the security of the hard packed road and travel on the shoulder were most all IED's are placed, he was ready to risk getting us in the lead vehicle blown to pieces just to show his authority over us and bypass an MP roadblock. My driver who had been there a year already and was from th 81st out of Washington couldn't believe what he had heard, he had already seen members of his unit killed doing just that. Luckily the MP's waved us through before we exposed our under bellies to a possible IED. But this was just the begining of Morrills exposing the men to death.

On the way back from Tikrit later that day we were on MSR Tampa southbound. We were a convoy of six HUMVEES and were moving at about sixty-five miles an hour when we came up on the rear of a much larger convoy alomost one mile long, they were moving a little faster than fifty miles an hour. From past guidance from Morrill it was decided we would pass this convoy and, therefore, reduce the risk of getting hit by an IED, at least that was his theory.

We could clearly see it was far too large a convoy to pass on the same road and many of the bigger heavier vehicles couldn't see us from the rear and might run into us. So it was decided we would cross over the center median, jump into the northbound lane and drive head-on into oncoming traffic. What this meant was that top heavy vehicles prone to overturning and some modified with metal plates would cross over at different points in the median. This would first expose us to explosions from underneath, secondly we would do so at a high rate of speed and risk flipping over in the loose soil, next we possibly crash head first into on coming traffic and lastly we would now have to possible engage unsuspecting oncoming Iraqi traffic.( I must point out that 25% of all deaths in Iraq are from accidents and most of those are vehicle accidents )

As we crossed over into the oncoming lanes we encountered a oncoming coalition convoy almost exactly like the one we just passed, big, heavy and fast. It was coming right at us and kicking up alot of dust and debris. Often times we came within inches of a headon collision. I will say that was one of the most dangerous exposures I had seen in Iraq. I lost sight of our vehicle to the front many times and know we suprised many of the drivers coming towards us, communiction between us and both convoys was not feasable although possible with some effort.

As we cleared the end of the first convoy after a solid five minutes of dust and near accidents we again exposed ourselves to IED's by crossing the dirt median. Even if we had been able to cross at the exact same point we just gave an insurgent six chances to kill Americans.

Was it worth the risk ? I will just say that when I got hit by an IED on MSR Tampa in May we were going over sixty miles an hour. The only thing that spared us from death was the lack of training on timing on the part of the trigger man that day. Does speed help ? Yes, of course it does but prudent thinking dictates that one not assume a dozen more risks just to got five MPH faster.

Guys like Morrill are all over the Reserve and Gaurd system and really need to go away. I will say also that Major Harris was our Executive Officer and only acting commander. I liked him and found him rational and amiable and can not understand why Morrill was given the power of life and death over so many good men. I have a theory on that I will share soon and it has to do with politics and numbers.

My next entry will be the last to focus on Morrill simply because I think most readers have a good picture of this guy. I could make dozens more entires on the poor performance of this guy and end up not mentioning some of the great men of Konohiki that really held things together. Even though most of them did not recieve a "Bronze Star" for meritorious conduct on the 19th of December 2005.

There are those reading this blog that will ask and the question has been brought fourth, exactly what did SSG Banales and his fellow NCO's do to take corrective action. The answer is all that we could,but to no avail.

When MSG Morrill went on leave in July of 2005 we held an NCO meeting.and did what NCO's are supposed to do, duscussed collectvly what we could to to help the soldiers and complete the mission. We knew that the lead NCO would never have called a meeting that did not revolve around him. One of the things we decided was needed was a "Day Off" for a least one soldier at a time. This would just be a 24hr emotional break for men risking their lives for their country. We also made sure that the completion of our mission was always the first order of duty, nothing would be done to sacrafice mission ability. After we drafted a proposal and all signed of on ( literally ) we sent it to the commander to be signed off on also, we never even got a response. this showed all of us just how much regard the commander had for his NCO's as a group.

We held several meetings revolving around issues such as mission readiness and soldier welfare, they were very well recieved but dicontinued as soon as Morrill returned. It is important to note that any lead NCO worth his salt has regular meetings with his fellow NCO's, this is the way the U.S. Army wants it. But remember it is the duty of the leadership and individuals to ensure these things are done, we never had a single meeting for NCO's that was called by Morrill, this is a contemptable act and shows little regard for the " Backbone of the Army ". As a matter of fact Morrill had a habit of calling every singe person not an NCO Seargeant, this is again disrepectful to the NCO Corps, the title "Seargeant" should come with respect.

When Specialist Hall was killed back by an suicide attack on FOB O'Ryan Morrill kept referring to him as Seargeant Hall, Please tell me how not properly referring to a man that has been killed by his proper title is anything less then incensitve and distasteful. But morrill plain and simple did not repect the NCO Corps, It's about power and ego for people like this and these are the people in posistion to get our loved ones killed and maimed.

Now to the recent comments on releasing the names of the officers that allowed this, the names of all the officers in Task Force Konohiki by doing a "Google " search or looking up the "Honolulu Advertisor" there are plenty of article there about them. I will not name them simply because they really don't matter. Good men have been killed on battlefields through out history as a rsult of arrogence and the right of officers, and that's just the way it is. Most of the officers there were very good and I respected each and everyone, their officers, but I don't have to like it. And I stated once before that only one officer is in command.

I have seen good officers and bad ones and they are generally so because of the NCO's they served with. I can recall vividly the day I reported to the 82d Airborne division as a nineteen year old paratrooper. The commanding General showed up to greet us, Major General James Lindsey, and the meat of what he said was this " Troopers, this is the most feared and respected division in the world today and has a history of high Honor. It is so not because of the officers, we come and go, it is because we have the finest NCO's in the Army and you will soon meet and be trained by the very best. I hope that some day each of you will earn the title and strpes of the Seargeant.!".

Furthermore I want to say that the exection of the orders off officers generally cover two things COMMAND and CONTROL. The planinng and general idea is handled by the officers and is called Command. The actual physical exection of the orders from A to Z to handle by the NCO's and this is called Control. The Army will always have officers in Command but the NCO's will always Control the Army, that's the way the Army wants it. For this reason I hold Morrill accountable for his lack of performance as a basic NCO and have no problem naming him. I will also say that he has published sevral articles about the TF revolving around himself. One of the first was with the picture of him with an Iraqi woman whos child was dying.

I want to close by reinding the readers that this blog was started by me out of concern for my last days on earth. If I was killed over there I wanted my loved ones to know what was in my heart and soul and understand the life I had lived. Now I want people to know that the quality of the people I had the HONOR of serving with was remarkable and some of them were put in situations a competent leader would not have done. Plain and simple we have got some pretty sad individuals in posistions they shouldn't be in. But because of BS politcs and head games they are, I just giving factual examples, Morrill was there because the system broke down and individuals lacked the integrity to fix it.

One last thing when I discussed the situation with our commander one on one I was threatened with a court martial. I'll share this story at a later time.

Thank God the men of TF Konohiki all came home alive..

When we eventually packed up and left LSA Anaconda for FOB O'Ryan we learned that we would no longer have the access to Hot meals four times a day with things like lobster, shrimp, sandwiches and burgers to order and "Baskin Robbinns" ice cream. At O'Ryan we would now recieve two hot meals a day breakfast and dinner. breakfast would arrive at 0630 hours and dinner 1630 hours everyday. (that's 6:30 am and 4:30 pm) We were told that all soldiers were to be fed within three hours of arrival time, the sooner the better for health reasons. As a matter of fact we were not allowed to eat anything that was prepared outside of three hours. Again, the Dept of the Army has policys set up to ensure the welfare, training and safety of it's soldiers and relies on "individuals" to execute those policys. This was not done at TF Konohiki thanks to the presence of MSG Lankey Morrrill.

Every single unit at FOB O'Ryan allowed their men to have supper as soon as it arrived. It was usually serve yourself and be sanitary, this made sense since the food was freshest on arrival. We at TF Konohiki had to wait until everyone from the Headquarters section was back in our bunker to eat. The usual time for us to eat was roughly seven pm, but we had eaten as late as 9pm on rare occassions.

Under the idea of "Welfare of the troops" men are fed as soon as possible and never made to go hungry, we never went hungry because we ended up paying for and cooking our own food. The theory behind MSG Morrill decesion to hold our meals from us is that we were one big happy Hawaiin family and families should always wait until "Daddys Home". I used that term because I overheard him telling his friends on the satellite phone about his managment of the family, it was insulting.

To the credit of the men of TF Konohiki they complained about it but knew there was nothing we could do about it since the unit commander allowed this policy. I had never in 24 years of service ever seen a commander that allowed his men to go hungry just so he could sit at the head of the table. Again, these were and are men and just went ahead and cooked their own food. We were also provived frozen food to eat for lunch not MRE's, things like corn dogs, mini pizzas, burgers and sandwiche stuff.

I was scolded for not wanting to eat with the group when we, grown men, were finally allowed to eat. I was simply insulted and sickened by the site of Morrill doing this to men that were risking their lives each and every day. I also want to say that I do not believe the officers didn't know this was wrong, they did and said so many times. However these were not the officers in command, only one officer commands. Perhaps the biggest let down was that the commander allowed it. These were his men and he really should have taken care of them but chose not to. I firmly believe that a commander must support his senior NCO and vice versa, but there is a point where enough is enough and failure to do the right thing for the unit will only result in lack of unity and brotherhood.

In the month of November something happened that was impossible to believe and it happened over the course of fifteen hours. During the evening briefing Morrill was always given the last word and on this occasion he decided to insult the 100th BN. ( TF Konohiki was a composite with men from the 81st out of Washington, the 100th Bn from the Pacific Islands, the 29th BCT from Hawaii and about ten Iraqi nationals serving as intrepreters) About nine of us were from the 100th Bn. The 100th is the most decorated unit in the history of the U.S. Army and to this is one of the proudest to wear the patch. I would encourage people to google it and I think you'd be impressed. It is the only unit in Iraq to have been allowed to wear the batallion patch while assinged to a sperate brigade, this caused some resentment from people like Morrill.

During his comments he said things like the leadership in that Bn needs to learn how things are done in the Army and stop just showing up here to check on its men. And he also informed us that the following morning the 100th Bn might be on FOB O'Ryan and instructed us that we were not to cooperate with the leadership in any way. I will simply say that his conduct and ongoing belittling statements were way out of line and it was obvious he was simply using this meeting as a chance to insult all members of TF Konohiki. As I looked around the room I could see and feel tempers rising. I had had enough, I stopped him in the middle of his comments and told him that this was a matter between people at his level and ought not to be aired out infront of the unit, I also told him his conduct was unprofessional. he then said "SSG Banales I am telling you not to assist them in any way tomorrow, is that clear?". I said "Yes" and sat back down. This ended his antics.

The next morning at 10 am my patrol element and one other were about to leave the area when members of the 100th Bn arrived, it was my very own platoon and I was overjoyed to see their faces and realize they were all doing well. Of course we completly ignored Morrill instruction and helped them with everything we could. they had been on patrol all night and had not been given breakfast and asked us if we had any spare food since they were hungry. All of us from the 100th Bn told our brothers to go into our dining area and help themselves since the food was going to be thrown in the garbage, as a matter of fact this was supposed to have been done at 0930 hrs. We wished them well and went on our patrol.

Soon there after Morrill showed up and seeing the 100th Bn men eating ordered them to get out of our dining facility because the food was for TF Konohiki personel and we had yet to eat. This was straight out BULL, we had all eaten and everyone there knew that after 0900 hrs chow time was done. This was just one more chance for Morrill to harm soldiers and exploit his authority. The U.S. Army does it's very best to see to it that all it men and women are cared for regardless of assinged unit and relies on individuals to do this, but people like Morrill just don't get the concept. He did have an officer with him just encase there might be a problem with his abuse of authority. The officer with him backed him up on this issue because officers should back up and support their NCO chain. The Officer, Captain P, was and is one of the finest officers I have ever met and is a credit to the Army, the officer corp and his country, he just got taken advantage of by Morrill.

This action only further polarized the unit and all of us reported this to the 100th Bn and some of us asked if we could be sent back to the 100th Bn, this was of course denied and more of a gesture of discontent. I really felt bad for the members of the 29th and 81st because they had to be associated with that action, they were also upset over the treatment of the men of the 100th Bn.

About one week later we had a meeting with Morrill where he tried to explain his actions that day. I will just say that nothing was accomplished other then us venting our disgust. We tried in vain to make this idiot understand that NCO's exist for the good of the Army and to ensure the welfare of the troops and that it was inconcievable that an NCO would ever do that to men coming out of a patrol and risking their lives.

What was the result of this mans actions that day after our commander found out? On December 19th of 2005 Lankey Morrill was given a "Bronze Star" for meritorious conduct.

I want to start off buy saying that what is about to follow will be a series of things MSG Morrill did while in the posistion of Task Force Konohikis "Lead NCO" that were detrimental to the welfare of just about every soldier there and , for the most part demoralizing. It is not my intention to fulfill a personal vendetta against this man, although it may seem like it too many readers. What I want to show, and help the average person understand, is that one person can make a huge difference in the performance of a unit, whether it be good or bad.Because so many lives are at risk and the welfare of their families it is essential that our military put the best people possible in posistions of authority and rsponsiblity, this was NOT the case for TF Konohiki. I will only make about four entries dealing with what this "Lead NCO" did and failed too do, I really don't want this to be the "Lankey Morrill story'.

The function of the "Lead NCO" is to serve the commander first and foremost, at least that's what the book says, and he or she is also the standard setter for all other enlisted personel, regardless of rank or title. The training and welfare of the whole unit is dependent on this persons compentency, and when people are trying to kill members of that unit every person in that unit is evauluating the "Lead NCO".

One of the first things considered by subordinates is the character of their leaders. A good indicator of MSG Morrills character happened early in our forming of TF Konohiki. We had only been together a matter of days when of of the Iraqi soldiers we would be working with had his house fire-bombed wounding his wife and two daughters. ( I wrote of this early on this site, one child was two years the other eight months) MSG Morrill had his picture taken with the soldiers wife holding the eight month old baby girl after treatment for burns over their bodies. The purpose of this picture was to highlight his new posistion on TF Konohiki and be promptly posted on the Internet. While this picture was taken the second child was just yards away dying of her burns, in fact she died about three days later.AlI we could say about that when we found out was "What an insensitive Jackass". This guy showed us early on the world would revolve around him. The picture is on Yahoo under "TF Konohiki".

Another thing this guy did was cost the men of TF Konohiki between six and ten thousand dollars, I've heard many different numbers. We held a formation were he, MSG Morrill, stated that we would soon be recieving internet service from a private company and essentially ordered every person that wished to use this service to pay up in cash within one week, the last day was 8 April. I learned my amount was $320.00 most members of the unit paid something. I was the first person to pay my "required" fee and even paid $1,200.00 for a laptop in anticipation of Internet service.

It is the duty of the "Lead NCO" to ensure soldiers are not defrauding by orginizations like used car dealers, loan companys and so forth. To make a long story short the service was never provided and every person there lost money. When I pursued reimbursment I was told by the commanding officer in July "Tough, you are not getting a penny back. Your money is gone and so is everyone elses so deal with it!".

Had MSG Morrill been doing his job our unit would not have been defrauded as it was. Any decent clear thinking NCO/leader would have been looking out for the welfare of the troops. Morrill should have been court martialed but was instead decorated with a "Bronze Star" for meritorius conduct. As General Colin Powell feared we may be in the process of becoming a "Shameless society".

Stay tuned for the next few entries because it gets much better. I

It is true that I have anger issues when I write about what I saw in Iraq. and it is for a variety of reasons. The primary being my respect and love for the Army of which I have been a part of since 1980. The U.S. Army has secured and provided our freedom since 1774 and deserves nonthing less then my full measure of respect and admiration. Todays Army has a sysytem in place to gaurentee our future freedoms, the problem is that that the enforcment of that system is dependent on "Indivivuals". and when indivivduals fail to support and enforce that sytstem and its policys people die. I am going to detail some of the flat out "Wrong" things that happened while I was there and my personal opinion. If the indivivduals that have been given the authority and responsibilty to maintain Army standards, policys,customs and regulations I wouldn't have issues. I will try to explain in a few new entries.

As far as continuing to adjust to civilian life I am getting a few suprises that I am sure other vets a getting. We were told when we left Hawaii that all of us would get six more months of full medical coverage, it's called Tri-care. When I went to the local military post to check in I also asked that since I am now in my home town is it possible to use my MD, Optometrist and Dentist I was told "No". It seems to make the most sense to be able too since these same three people cared for me before I was activated but this is not the case. I must go through a long process and drive out of town if they feel it is needed. I was hoping to just maintain a steady flow with my own doctors but will not be allowed. What makes it even more frustrating is that I will be back on my own cicilian coverage as soon as I return to work. I was never given dental care in my last twelve months thanks to MSG Morrill not knowing his duty and it doesn't seem the Army will have to provide me that benefit. I really do not want to play "Musical doctors".

I aslo payed a visit to the local VA office and was told that the "VA Mortgage" people left my county since it was now pretty much impossible for the average veteran to buy an average $750,000.00 home in this county.

I went to the local college and found out there would be no veterans counslers available for one week. It is still one heck of alot better than being in Iraq. I will finish my schooling and try to enjoy each day home.

Pictures will be posted soon and I will follow up on some of the worst leadership I've ever seen but want to say one more time that the fast majority of those that I served with were and are some of the best this countries got and it was an honor to serve with them. The truth has to be known.

I would first like to respond to the recent comments. As I have said before everything that I put in this blog is true and what I personally saw, if I heard this from fellow soldiers I will say so. I know about the Bronze star give away because in a briefing from our commanding officer, an LTC, about six months ago we were told that all officers would recieve a Bronze Star for merit. He went on to explain the difference between one for "merit" and one for "valor". "Valor" is in response to actions in battle or contact with the enemy, generally sustained contact. "Merit" is just the opinion of the Officer giving the award. And our Brigade commander decided all officers would get one, that is the fact and I challenge any person to disprove it. Furthermore, when i first arrived in Iraq numerous articles were written in the "Stars and Stripes" over people sitting in Kuwait and getting Bronze Stars for sending convoys into Iraq, meritorius conduct ? Yeah, right.

Peggy has asked me to coment on what it's like to be home now, so I will. At the risk of sounding like a wimp I will say that it's a little difficult. It is great to be home and know I have been given a second chance at life. As I look out my bedroom window to the moutains of Ventura I feel very lucky. Just today I was riding the train to Los Angeles to notify my employer, AMTRAK, I would soon be ready to start, I watched all the hills and woodlines and saw people riding horses and just generally living, then for some reason I thought of those that did not live through Iraq and I choked up. I thought of the guy from my unit here in Calfornia, (three of us were sent to the 442D) and why he had to have both his legs blown off, and now he is in therepy trying to learn how to walk again, it's really quite odd. I do not miss Iraq or the danger at all.

I've also recieved hugs and prayers from so many people it's almost overwhelming to know so many people were thinking of me and really caring, so sad for those that did not come home. I may have to seek out a veterens group to get these thoughts off my mind, it a terrible clash. On one hand I am overjoyed with being home and living a happy life and on the other I am so very sad for those that paid the price for me to live this life".There but for the grace of God go I"

One more thing on my last blog entry, I will follow it up with the "Purple Heart" the awards given for wounds recieved for action in contact with the enemy. I will also be mentioning the NCO that made things so difficult in Iraq, MSG Lankey Morrill. And there will also be an entry on what happened when a convicted felon in my unit was brought up on charges for assaulting an NCO in 2004 and when this same guy in December of 2005, threw an Iraqi intrepreter into a raging bonfire and later kicked and choked him, as he did the other Iraqi that came to his aid. It I will note at this time that the guy doing the punching and choking was covicted of assault. And this is all documented FACT!!!