Government Secrets Final Project

This is my final project. I took one of my very first posts and expanded upon the subject matter. Enjoy and please share your opinions.
Link to Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Government-Secrets-Exposed/374998329301143

The Bold Escape

Pierre Borghi was a French photographer that was abducted on his second week of his trip to Afghanistan.

 

 

 

Once abducted, Borghi was forced to live with an Afghan family for ten days. After those ten days, he was moved to a small hole in a barn under a trapdoor.  Borghi was held there in that spot for three and half months. Borghi was not able or allowed to lay down flat or sit up. Borghi was only granted permission to leave his hole when they forced him to make ransom videos for the Taliban.

 

 

If Borghi was claustrophobic he was pretty much screwed. I would not be able to sanely keep myself together while being held in a hole for three and half months without the ability to lie down and sleep. To make matters worse, Borghi only had a three liter bucket to use for a toilet. I commend this man for enduring all that he suffered throughout his capture.

 

 

Borghi was brought out of his hole to make ransom videos for the Taliban. These videos consisted of the demands of the Taliban and its main purpose was to show that Borghi was still alive. These videos were sent to the U.S. and his family in order for the Taliban to get what they wanted. On March 28, the last video Borghi would make, he received letters from that were sent from his family to him from the secret service. He was also told that he would be killed because the French were not meeting the demands of the Taliban.

 

After hearing about his possible death, Borghi wrote his final letter as proof of his life to his family and the authorities. After the letter he kept a piece of paper and pen and wrote out a wish list for his life once freed. I believe his note is taken in multiple meanings. I believe this note was his way of keeping himself positive about being free. Others researchers have said that this note was written more out of desperation than motivation. How do you view Borghi's wish list?

 

 

On the night of April 7th, Borghi began his escape from the Taliban. Borghi describes the night, "Outside, I saw lights shimmering away on the right hand side, in the far distance. There's not much street lighting in Afghanistan, so I figured this was a military base of some sort." Once Borghi was out of the holding facility he mentions encountering various checkpoints. He was unsure if these checkpoints were ran by the US Army or the Taliban. To ensure his safety he had crawl and hide behind rocks.

 

 

 

A man faced with death decided to make an escape for his life. Knowing that he was in the midst of death by the Taliban, I believe Borghi decided that if he were going to die, then he should go out trying to free his life. I think this is a testament to Borghi's character and willingness to survive. Do you think that Borghi was brave or stupid for mounting his escape at the risk of his own life? 

Minority Disrespect Part 2 (Women)

In case you missed my last post here is a short recap. Hollywood producers have found a way to make a living of off a scary and dangerous situation. Hollywood does not display the soldier image equally. Black soldiers are among the minority soldier group. Where is the respect our Black soldiers deserve?

Black soldiers are not the only minority in the military. Female soldiers also do not receive a lot of recognition for their military achievements in Hollywood movies.

Hollywood has refused to make movies about our female soldiers. My question is why? According to an article written by Alyssa Rosenberg, “The movie and television industries do not want to portray the experiences that female service members encounter. Many of them endure sexual assault and rape while on their term of service.” I believe that if this is the reason producers do not show the female soldier image in all aspects, then it is because they are afraid to taint the image of the military.

If these acts are happening then that is more reason to show and expose this. Show the horrid things that happen behind the action in war and it could accomplish so much. Things could be fixed and help our soldiers who risk their lives so that we may continue to live our lives the same. Hollywood creates these movies because they want the audience to feel sympathy for the figure in the movie. This feeling could be accomplished while doing some good. All it takes is one person to make a difference. Hollywood could get their monetary value out of these war stories, but expose to the people the atrocities that occur in these stories.

Minority Disrespect

Every Hollywood war movie you may have seen or heard of uses the same type of soldier. The typical Hollywood story is about a white male and the problems they are faced with, whether it be overseas or adjusting to civilian life. According to a 2011 Pew Research Report, “29% of men in service were non-white.” Where are the stories about what these soldiers endure? Are their stories not as important because they do not fit the common soldier image?



War is far from entertaining, but Hollywood producers found a way to make a living off of a scary and dangerous situation. These producers turn war into something interesting and engaging. To keep the audiences attention producers have to add the right amount of excitement to keep them on the edge of their seats. Do you think that the producers are wrong for being creative? I think it is a smart and profitable idea.  The place where I do not agree is the fact these same producers who are profiting off of war stories do not equally display the soldier image among the minority groups.


Where is respect that our black soldiers deserve? Can the spotlight not be shared equally? There is a line of tolerance that I believe exists and Hollywood crosses this line. The handful of movies that have been created around black soldiers have had tragic endings. There should be a wide variety of scenarios just as there are in white-soldier war movies. Hollywood producers have lost a little of my respect after I have researched more into this topic.

Down But Not Out

At some point in our lives we all go through hardships, and we have to make tough decisions. A prime example of this in our own history is the Battle of Mogadishu. As I watched the movie *Black Hawk Down* I began to see more and more of how leaders in the military are faced with difficult decisions almost daily. In particular I was impressed with STAFF SGT. Matt Eversmann.

 

 

 

As stated in the book, Reliving a Firefight by Mark Bowden," Inside Super 67, Eversmann was anxious about being in charge. He'd won the distinction by default. His platoon sergeant had been summoned home by an illness in his family, and the guy who replaced him had suffered an epileptic seizure." Eversmann did not intend to be in charge nor did he ever expect it, but yet here he was minutes away from the start of this mission with the codename Irene with a dozen men under his authority. He was not asked to take this position. He was told how things were and he made the decision to obey orders and accept. Little did Eversmann know that his day of difficulties had only begun.



As Eversmann's helicopter arrived to the drop site, the pilot told Eversmann that they were going to be about 100 meters short. SGT Eversmann gave the pilot a thumbs up and waited to be the last man out to ensure his men made it down the ropes safely. Quoted from the chapter *"Reliving a Firefight"* from the book *Black Hawk Down* "It was such a long descent that the thick nylon rope burned right through the palms of his leather gloves. The rest of his Chalk, had roped in. Nearing the street, through the swirling dust below his feet, Eversmann saw one of his men stretched out on his back at the bottom of the rope. He felt a stab of despair. Somebody's been shot already! He gripped the rope hard to keep from landing on top of the guy. It was Pvt. Todd Blackburn, at 18 the youngest Ranger in his Chalk, a kid just months out of a Florida high school. He was unconscious and bleeding from the nose and ears." This quotation paints a very clear picture of what Evermann had experienced.

This quote from Reliving a Firefight describes how already a few minutes into the mission STAFF SGT Eversmann is faced with a major problem. Despite being under fire, Eversmann makes it a priority to get Pvt. Blackburn out of gunfire and to medical attention. Ignoring the risk of being shot, 6'4" Matt Eversmann along with two medics carried unconscious and severely injured Pvt. Blackburn to safety.



I admire STAFF SGT. Eversmann for multiple reasons. One reason is the loyalty of Eversmann. He did not leave a man behind. Instead of just assuming that Blackburn was shot or was to badly injured to continue, he took the time to check over his fallen soldier in the midst of enemy gunfire.


The second reason I admire Eversmann is his bravery. Bravery is a common word used to describe our soldiers, but in my opinion the will to risk your life not only for the soldiers fighting with you, but also the soldiers who have fallen serving shows a greater deal of bravery.



The last reason my admiration goes to the STAFF SGT is for his decision-making skills. From the very beginning he is nervous about leading his chalk. That nervousness does not effect Eversmann one bit in his decisions. Once the pilot told him they would be short of their destination, Eversmann ensures all members of his chalk make it to the ground while staying in the giant Black Hawk like a sitting duck. The next problem occurs when Blackburn falls from the Black Hawk to the ground because he missed the rope. While there is no doubt Eversmann is worried about his fellow comrade, he safely makes it to the ground and immediately calls for the medic of his chalk to assist him in checking over Blackburn's condition.

 

These are the signs of a good soldier and an even better leader, and for these reasons STAFF SGT. Matt Eversmann receives my admiration and respect. I feel like we could all learn from his experience. Just because he was down, he showed through his decisions he was still not out.

Gross Governmental Secrets Exposed

While doing a reading assignment,  in English 101, I was not only interested by what I read, but also horrified in the realization of the things our government keep from us. I have always heard things about how bad the government is and how bad the military is, but I never fully understood and believed it. This was until my partners and I completed are reading project. After watching an interview about the book "Kill Anything That Moves" by Nick Turse. The book explains some of the things that happened during the Vietnam War. The tragedies and atrocities that I discovered seemed to be easily believed, but just to ensure that I was reading fact and truth I researched further into the things I read.

Let me stop right there for a minute. Yes I know what you are thinking, a college kid doing voluntary research? Unthinkable right?

Well let me put it to you this way, everyone hears things on the news or on the internet right? When you listen to these news reports or you click on the web article that has an interesting topic you are doing research.

So throughout my investigation on this information I discovered that what I was hearing and reading was actually true. In the duration of the Vietnam War, the government often hid and still to this day hide things that happened outside of the actual fighting. American soldiers killed many Vietnamese people during the war. There were actually contests and prizes in the different camps for those who killed the most, civilian or soldier did not matter. There were box scores and tallies to keep up with the body count daily.

Another Vietnam secret that our government conceals was the misconduct of the soldiers that took place. Anything you can think of from molestations to tortures occurred during the war. In Turse's book, he explains how he finally found a Vietnam veteran, Jamie Henry, that would speak about the things that happened. Henry states that on his first day out he saw a soldier stop a young girl on the trail and molested her. Henry also mentions several people that were tortured either by being used as target practice, or thrown off cliffs, or even ran over by tanks.

Can we really blame our veterans for not speaking about the war? Whether they participated in some of these outrageous acts or just witnessed them, would you want to tell on the guys who saved your life at one point? I respect our soldiers just as much as the rest of the country.

However I feel it takes a great deal of bravery and integrity to open up and admit the horrors that happened that the government does not want us to find out about. Our government would rather cover up what happened instead of acting and putting a stop to things like this.

This reading assignment really opened my eyes and gave me a more realistic view of how the government works. I am not alone when saying that I believe the government hid these atrocities to cover themselves rather than trying to protect the country.
    

Welcome to The Combat Chronicle!

Thank you for following The Combat Chronicle. My name is Branden Gariety and I am the author of this blog. This introduction post is just to let all of my readers know a little about who I am and what I like.

As I stated in the above passage, my name is Branden Gariety and I am a Freshman at Jacksonville State University. Go Gamecocks! My three favorite things to do are cook, write poetry, and play sports. In short I am a poetry writing chef that loves to be active.


Cooking is one of my passions. I inspire to one day open and own my very own restaurant. I have been in several culinary competitions in high school. High school is where my love for cooking was explored. Thanks to the support of my parents, the inspiration from my grandmother, and the aid of my amazing instructor Chef Jessica Henry I developed a love for cooking and discovered a new way for self expression. Through my experiences while cooking and competing in high school I learned that it is not always doing what will make you the most money or the most profitable, but it is about doing what will make you the happiest. Facing adversity is a hard thing to do but if you are able to push through and carry on then you will become something much stronger and better you were before.




I'm far from perfect but I will always be awesome. My poetry is just another way for me to express my thoughts and views. This saying has been in many of my poems and it describes me perfectly.



My favorite NFL team is the falcons and thanks to English 101 I found a new blog to follow. The Falcoholic is an Atlanta Falcons blog and I find it truly amazing.