The Land of Ozz

The Air Force has dismissed charges filed against two of its own lieutenant colonels that could have ended their careers and landed them in jail.

Charges against Lt. Col. Gary W. Brown and Lt. Col. Christopher R. Hall were dropped “after careful consideration of all the evidence in the case, to include the Article 32 report,” according to a statement. The officers, who faced lengthy jail terms and abrupt ends to their military careers, were accused of assaulting Blackwater USA contractor Jimmy Bergeron on Sept. 19 during an altercation outside the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul. Source: Air Force Times

This was taken from an article in the Air Force Times reported earlier this week stating that Lt. Gen. Gary North did dismiss the official charges against the two officers, but the article failed to mention that Lt. Col. Brown, a C-17 pilot stationed at Charleston Air Force Base was issued a letter of reprimand (LOR). A letter of reprimand on a lieutenant colonel’s record can be loosely compared to a bankruptcy on the average American’s credit record. Brown’s hope for advancement in the ranks of the U.S. Air Force are basically over as a result of the LOR. Lt. Col. Brown’s wife Stacey said in an email to friends and family “that at any point North can change his mind and proceed with another article 32 or court martial.” This administrative action by the general was not taken lightly by Brown’s Attorney.

“Brown’s attorney, Charles Gittins, expressed shock at the reprimand. In a letter to North Wednesday, he said, I can only assume that you failed to read the detailed, fact-filled, and thorough report prepared by Lt. Col. Leslea Pickle as her report is directly contrary to your conclusions. Frankly, if anyone is a discredit to the Armed Forces, I am constrained to conclude it is you.” Source: Examiner.com

The Examiner story goes on to point out a statement made by the investigating officer Lt. Col. Leslea Pickle that sheds light on the seriousness of the events that took place on September 19, 2006 in Afghanistan. Pickle says that Lt. Col. Brown, “demonstrated a calm, collected demeanor during the whole incident. Another person might have been ‘trigger-happy’ and shot Mr. Bergeron.” The alleged victim in this case, Mr. Jimmy Bergeron was serving a civilian “in Afghanistan under a Blackwater drug-interdiction training contract with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration” according to Hamptonroads.com. The Hammptonroads.com article includes a picture of Bergeron and along the two lieutenant colonels involved in this case.

Mr. Bergeron was not present at the article 32 hearing for the two lieutenant colonels despite the fact that he was the star witness and alleged victim in this case. Other suspicious activity noted throughout this case was highlighted in the Investigating Officer’s Report: Lt. Col. Gary Brown (***WARNING: THIS PDF REPORT CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE***). This report was provided to General North led to the dismissal of the charges and contains several allegations of evidence manipulation and witness tampering. Blackwater USA and Brown’s attorney are exchanging blows over over who might be behind this alleged frame job that was exposed during this case.

Lt. Col. Christopher Hall received a letter of counseling as a result of this case. This is a milder administrative action than what Brown got. Hall was the second Air Force officer involved in this case. There are no reports of administrative action or charges being filed against the Blackwater USA employee Jimmy Bergeron.

Air Force case in Afghanistan involving Blackwater and local Charleston Lt. Col Gary Brown may have evidence tampering. Lt. Col. Brown is still waiting to hear whether his career will continue or end with a court-martial.Peanut Butter Cookies - Riley in the kitchen

Caden the Candyland Champ

Spring Picnic - Growing Families International Charleston Alumni. If you have taken Growing Kids God’s Way or one of the other classes offered through GFI and are looking to connect with other families in the Charleston area who are implementing these biblical principles, then you will want to join the local GFI alumni picnic in April.

Goobers - A day in our life with goobers. It can be exhausting and Sherry and I both found ourselves tearing up while discussing Caden’s feeding issues during a date last Saturday night.

A post on Ramona Rae yesterday reminded me of how we have found ourselves wondering if Caden would ever even make it through some of the medical issues he has faced. I think Ramona’s mom hits the nail on the head when referring to Romans 8:28.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” NKJV

How about this verse of the day for today from Bible Gateway:

“With God is my salvation and my glory: The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.” Psalm 43:7 ASV

That’s a little from God’s Word for Ramona’s parents and for me today. Happy four months Ramona!

Local Charleston, SC USAF officer on the front page of the Air Force Times

Lt. Col. Gary Brown was involved in an incident back in September 2006 where he and a fellow USAF officer pulled weapons on a Blackwater employee Jimmy Bergeron. Today Lt. Col. Brown is waiting to hear if his case will go to a court-martial after an Article 32 hearing has come to a close. The Article 32 hearing seems to have produced more questions than answers regarding this case. The investigating officer reporting on Lt. Col. Brown says:

“I recommend that all the charges and specifications against Lt Col Brown be dismissed. After reviewing all the evidence in this case, I find that Lt Col Brown followed the rules of engagement (ROE) when he confronted Mr. Bergeron on 19 Sep 06. After being rammed by the vehicle that Mr. Bergeron was driving and then having Mr. Bergeron approach his vehicle at the Delta gate, Lt Col Brown stated that he feared for his life and he believed, at the time, that Mr. Bergeron was a threat.“

The recommendation for dismissal of charges is no surprise. The alarming information coming out of the Article 32 hearing is related to allegations of evidence tapering, witness bribing and falsifying evidence just to name a few. A video tape offered by the prosecution as actual footage of the events of 19 September 2006 is suspected to be a re-enactment. One primary example of inconsistency in the video is that the first element of the first charge against Lt. Col. Brown states that he did “throw Jimmy Bergeron’s keys away from his vehicle.” Lt. Col. Brown does not dispute this allegation. The evidence shown in the video contradicts this charge is reported to have shown Bergeron departing the scene in his vehicle without ever searching for his keys. Brown’s defense attorney pointed out at least four other discrepancies in the video tape. The investigating officer agreed with the defense concerning the video by saying:

“There is no chain of custody for the videotape. I concur that the videotape provided, that is purported to be from 19 Sep 2006, does not match the sequence of events as they have been described by the witnesses. Therefore, I did not consider it for purposes of this report.”

Bergeron is reported as the victim of the actions by the two Air Force lieutenant colonels but was not presented for in-person testimony and defense cross examination during the Article 32 proceedings. At least one witness who did take the stand during the Article 32 hearing requested an attorney in response to questions concerning document tampering.

The official results of the Article 32 have not been released for Lt. Col. Brown and Lt. Col Hall. They are still waiting on Lt. Gen. Gary North to decide if they will face a court-martial.

Quotes found in this post have been taken from the 25 page report titled Investigating Officer’s Report: Lt. Col. Gary Brown (***WARNING: THIS PDF REPORT CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGAGE***). The link to this detailed report was found in an Air Force Times article titled Report: Evidence falsified in Kabul case.

The Air Force Times article brings attention to some very important questions that Lt. Col. Brown’s wife Stacey is asking. She and her husband have spent an estimated $24,000 for a civilian attorney to represent him in this case. Very few military members can scrap together this level of cash for legal defense. A couple the questions that Stacey asks on her web site titled BLACKWATER WRONGLY JEOPARDIZES MILITARY OFFICERS’ CAREERS help shed some light on the fact that her heart is not only concerned with keeping her husband out of jail.

“What if this would have been an E-4 in this situation? Would he/she been able to fork over the $12,000 - $25,000 that it took to hire a civilian attorney to represent our accused?”

Read Air Force Officers vs Blackwater - Round I for more information on this story.

Local Charleston Air Force officer charged in Afghanistan.

Two U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonels are facing an Article 32 investigation this week after being charged with assault and conduct unbecoming an officer. The Air Force Reserve officers involved are Lt. Col. Christopher R. Hall and Lt. Col. Gary W. Brown. The charges were filed as a result of reports related to a roadside run in with a Blackwater employee in Afghanistan back in the fall of 2006. The facts of the case are disputed and the two officers are facing charges that could result in a court-martial. A court-martial could lead to their discharge from the Air Force and possibly confinement. The news of this story out of Afghanistan has been overshadowed this week by the suicide bombing during Vice President Cheney’s visit to Afghanistan. Ironically this week’s suicide bombing is a perfect example of what can put military members and contractors into the frame of mind that can lead to a roadside stand off like this one. The charges filed against Hall and Brown are based on reports that say the incident began when the SUV driven by Lt. Col. Brown rammed an SUV driven by a Blackwater employee near the gate of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Lt. Col. Hall’s wife Mary Kathryn Hall and Lt. Col.Brown’s wife Stacey Brown have been very outspoken about this case. There has been little media attention given so far, but the wives are working to get the word out about their husband’s case. Mary Katheryn Hall was quoted by the Air Force Time this week as she told her husband’s point side of the story:

A dark blue SUV with darkened windows attempted to rapidly pass them on the right and squeeze in between the Air Force SUV and a taxi. But there wasn’t enough room, and the dark SUV’s left rear quarter panel struck the Air Force vehicle, both wives said.

The blue SUV then dropped to the rear, sped up and rammed the Air Force vehicle, the wives said.

The officers, concerned the dark SUV was a vehicle bomb or other attack, took evasive action, stomping on the accelerator and weaving through traffic to get away. They were concerned that firing on the other vehicle which was authorized under the rules of engagement for such an attack could trigger any explosive that may have been onboard, Hall said. Source: Air Force Times

In another news reported:

Brown’s civilian attorney, Charles Gittins of Virginia, said that the accusations are backward and that the Blackwater worker rammed the officers’ truck, then got out of his SUV and began acting strangely. In a war zone, the two officers had no choice but to pull their weapons, Gittins said. Source: The News & Observer

The Air Force Times coverage of this story yesterday went on to describe a similar incident that led to the deaths of two American soldiers just weeks before this incident with Brown and Hall.

On Sept. 8, two soldiers from the Army Reserve’s 405th Civil Affairs Battalion, Sgt. 1st Class Merideth L. Howard and Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul, were killed by a vehicle-borne IED along the same stretch of road.

On a personal note, Lt. Col. Brown is a U.S. Air Force Reserve officer from right here in Summerville, SC. He took a military leave from his job as an airline pilot a few years ago to serve his country as a C-17 pilot. He was deployed to Afghanistan in June of last year. Gary’s wife Stacey is a friend our family and my former co-worker. Gary and Stacey have been very supportive of our family since our son Caden was born even while they faced complications associated with Stacey’s pregnancy that led to the birth of twins.

I sent the following email to Lt. Col. Brown after I learned of his deployment to Afghanistan.

Gary,

You are a man of steel. I had a chance to take a civil service job recently where I would have had to spend a good amount of time in Afghanistan and Iraq. I tried to imagine what it might be like. I am sure that a man’s imagination can come close to realizing the sacrifice that you are making for your family and our country. Thank God we have you and the hundreds of thousands of others who are willing to make the sacrifice to defend our country. Stay strong and know that you and your family are in our prayers. Please do not hesitate to call on us if we can assist you and your family in any way.

Lt. Col. Brown’s wife Stacey sent me an email this week saying, “I think right now what we need most is to pray for a positive outcome…” She has stood up a web site called www.wrongedbyblackwater.com to report on this story as it develops.

Please keep these men and their families in your prayers.

There has been much buzz about the possibility of Google building a data center right here in Goose Creek, SC. This has become a subject of frequent conversations among the engineers where I work. Some have dreams of a better life through Google’s corporate culture. I first heard the story during one of those water cooler style talks in the lab at SPAWAR. Later that say I saw a post on Trace Pupke’s blog. Trace dug up some numbers that say, “…they plan to make a $750 million investment there, employing at least 400 workers who will earn an average of $90,000 a year.” The Post and Courier ran a story last week to give us a taste of what Google might be looking for when filling these 400 positions. Here are my answers to a few questions found in the P&C article:

What programming languages are you familiar with? C, C++, Basic, Fortran, several markup languages…Does it really matter if I am applying for the Network Engineer position?
Is your work space messy or neat? Neat, on the surface
Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Depends on caffeine level
What magazines do you subscribe to? AOPA Pilot and what ever techie journals I can get for free
What pets do you have? None, but I wish I had a Cheeah Pet. Oh, my back yard provides plenty of birds, squirrels, rabbits, and a raccoon from time to time. If that is not enough there are plenty of roadside whitetail deer and opossums in the local area that I have to dodge when driving at night.

The article goes on to say, “As things turned out, there was no single factor that seemed to find the top workers for every single job title. (And pet ownership did not seem to be a useful predictor of anything.)” Whew! I threw in the backyard and roadside stuff just in case the pet thing was a deal breaker.

The official word is not yet in on this mysterious Google data center, but you can pretty much bet that if it does come to Goose Creek (affectionately known as Duck Ditch by some natives) then it will likely be planted in the Mt Holly industrial park just off of Highway 52 about half way between Goose Creek and Monk’s Corner.

The local media has covered this story and a few bloggers. One commenter from the Charleston area by the name of Lynwood Hines (hines1957) did a great job of hammering out some criticisms by others leaving comments on a Valleywag post about Google’s consideration of Goose Creek for one of its new data centers. The biggest beef in those comments seemed to center around the possibility of hurricanes hitting the coast of SC and disabling data centers. Hines said, “Keep in mind that other areas of the country are not immune to nature’s energetic tantrums. Google’s headquarters is located in Mountain View CA, which is at considerable risk from earthquakes.”

A story published by The State newspaper’s web site gave some information about yet another possible data center site in South Carolina. And there is always the Si-Fi version of the story found in the comments of a Slashdot post. My favorite comment on the Slashdot article can be paraphrased as “Google ain’t stupid”. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story from Google Creek, SC.

UPDATE: In December a company by the “named Maguro Enterprises paid nearly $17 million for about 520 acres in Mount Holly Commerce Park…”
Source

These property purchases in mid-December by Maguro Enterprises can be verified by sifting through the Berkeley Country property cards at: http://gis.co.berkeley.sc.us/

An article by Data Center Knowledge helps sort out whether Goose Creek is still in the running or not.

There is a new virtual venue at Seacoast Church. A couple of staff members from Seacoast have posted plugs for this beta campus. Shawn Wood is the Creative Pastor and my friend Trace Pupke is the IT Director for Seacoast. I have not seen the new service in action, but I plan to check it out in the next few weeks. You can check out the Internet Campus for yourself at Seacoast.org. Pastor Shawn gives credit to LifeChurch.tv for inspiring this project at Seacoast.

This new Internet Campus is not the only place where Seacoast is making move regarding technology. Our Seacoast Summerville Campus will be getting a behind the scenes technical upgrade this weekend. I also found an article on Light Cast Media featuring an interview with Pastor Shawn where he talked about how Seacoast has moved to outsourcing the streaming video for the church instead of doing it all in house.

These upgrades may not sound like that big of a deal, but you would have to see a Seacoast satellite campus in production mode to appreciate these changes. I have been a part of some very fragile and nerve racking moments as a Seacoast Summerville tech team volunteer. The delivery process of a Sunday morning message at Seacoast Summerville has some single points of failure which have been tested a time or two. I remember one Sunday morning when the equipment trailer was MIA. This particular trailer held the sound board (affectionately named “The Ark”), the video switching gear, the lighting system, along with most of the items used to stock the information and small group tables. The Ark and everything else was finally delivered and the service was went on without a hitch. I remember a conversation I had with Pastor Phil after that service where I asked him what the back up plan was if our technical team was unable to deliver the recorded message using the overhead projectors and the sound system. As I expected, there was a good plan.  He said that he would deliver a live message. He did say that having to deliver a complete message was nowhere near his greatest concern when it comes to equipment failure. Pastor Phil said that it would be way more difficult to pick up in the middle of a message that had already begun playing from a recording of another pastor.

I have to say that Seacoast has come a long way in technology, and it still amazes me how so many people can be reached in a rented space with a week old video taped message. I have heard our senior pastor say that we have more people attending Seacoast via satellite campuses than we have attending the original Mount Pleasant campus where many of the sermons are still delivered live. I think we are averaging somewhere around 600 people between two services at Summerville and we are nowhere near the largest satellite campus. I am pretty sure that the West Ashley Campus tips the four digit mark on their attendance numbers on a regular basis. The big difference between the Summerville Campus and most of the other large campuses is that we are in a rented space that we can only occupy between on Sunday mornings. We walk into an empty room at 7am to set up and deliver two services at 9:30 and 11:15. Then we tear it all down and load it into trailers. Tomorrow is a big day for Seacoast Summerville because we will be coming together as a church to pray for God’s direction and provision for a more permanent building to have worship services.

One place where technology is being implemented is at the heart of the leadership and personal spiritual growth training for the church.  A web site called MyNextSteps plays a key role in providing tools and lessons to disciple small group leaders and help all Seacoast members become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
I expect the new Internet Campus to be a huge success.  This new venue and the technical upgrades to Summerville and other areas of Seacoast are testimonies to the commitment of the Seacoast staff to deliver the highest quality worship experience to every single person who attends a Seacoast service.

You don’t read about stories like this very often in the media. Thank God for soldiers like Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor who make the ultimate sacrifice. He saved his fellow Navy Seals by throwing himself on a grenade while fighting in Iraq.

Other SEALS described the Garden Grove, Calif., native as a modest and humble man who drew strength from his family and his faith.

Source

We must not forget the sacrifices made to protect our country. Pray for our military members. Pray for their safety and protection. Thank God for their dedication to protecting the freedoms that we enjoy.

One of my favorite faith teachers is coming to Goose Creek, South Carolina this Friday evening September 15, 2006. The New Life Christian Fellowship Church is hosting a Faith Conference in their new worship center this week. Charles Capps will be a guest speaker on Friday night at 7:00 pm.

New Life Christian Fellowship Church
402 Liberty Hall Rd.
Goose Creek, South Carolina
843-764-0418
Dr. Dexter Easley, Pastor

Join me for what is sure to be a spirit filled teaching by best selling author and pastor Charles Capps.

Check out Charles Capps’ Itinerary if you are not a low country resident. He will be in the Atlanta, GA area on Sunday September 17th.

That’s right folks, it looks like eBible has lite up the open for business sign. The beta images are gone and the invitation only access restrictions have been removed. The eBible online Bible study site is now open to the public. Anyone can now create an account. The eBible Blog has some more specific information on what has happened building up to the grand opening.