Who said MI personnel weren't Warriors???

[Field_Sailor]

Major General John F. Kimmons is the Commanding General, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, Fort Belvoir , Virginia .

General Kimmons was commissioned as an Intelligence Corps Second Lieutenant in 1974 upon graduation from The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina. Initially detailed to Armor Branch, he started his career as a Tank Platoon Leader and Battalion S2 in the 1 st Battalion, 77 th Armor, 4 th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Carson, Colorado. He subsequently served the Second Brigade S2.

Later command and staff assignments include serving as an Analyst at the Intelligence Center Pacific, Camp Smith, Hawaii, Company Commander and S3 in the 313 th Military Intelligence Battalion, 82d Airborne Division and Deputy G2, 8 th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Bad Kreuznach, Germany. He has served in a number of Special Operations assignments, to include J2, Joint Special Operations Command. He commanded the U.S. Army Security Coordination Detachment, Fort Belvoir, Virginia and served as Deputy Director for Operations (NMCC) on the Joint Staff/J3. He served as the Director of Intelligence/J2, United States Central Command from Feb 01 through Jul 03.

His military education includes the Armor Basic and MI Advanced Courses, Post Graduate Intelligence Program, Army Command & General Staff College and the Army War College . He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma .

General Kimmons' awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Defense Meritorious Service medals. He wears the Master Parachutist and Joint Chiefs of Staff badges.

[Field_Sailor]

Even The Navy...

Rear Admiral Joseph D. Burns
Commander, Naval Security Group Command
Rear Admiral Joseph D. Burns, USN, is a native of Philadelphia, Penn. A 1968 graduate of St. Joseph's College, he received his commission through Officer Candidate School. He began his cryptologic career at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, Calif., where he studied Chinese Mandarin.

Rear Adm. Burns has held a variety of assignments in the United States, overseas, and at sea. His assignments include the Naval Communications Station, Philippines, where he served as a Communications Evaluator with VQ-1 in Danang, South Vietnam; Naval Security Group Headquarters; Stuttgart, Germany; Naval Technical Training Center, Pensacola, Fla.; Naval Military Personnel Command as the Cryptologic Officer Detailer; Naval Communications Station, Rota, Spain, as the Naval Security Group Department Head and on the Staff of Commander, Sixth Fleet.

In September 1987, Rear Adm. Burns assumed command of Naval Technical Training Center, Corry Station, Pensacola, Fla., followed by a tour to the Staff of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet/Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command as the Director for Cryptology. He also served as the Director, Naval Security Group Atlantic; Officer in Charge, Cryptologic Support Group; Officer in Charge, Naval Security Group Detachment, Norfolk; and as the NSA/CSS Representative to the Atlantic Command. He was selected to Rear Adm. while at his next assignment as Deputy Commander, Naval Security Group Command.

In July 1998, Rear Adm. Burns became the National Security Agency's Deputy Director for Plans, Policy and Programs before transitioning to Chief of Staff in November 2000.

Rear Adm. Burns is the 14th flag officer to assume the duties of Commander, Naval Security Group Command. On 18 April 2003, Rear Adm. Burns assumed the additional duty as Director, Information Operations, N39 on the Chief of Naval Operations Staff.

Rear Adm. Burns' military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two Gold Stars, Meritorious Service Medal with Gold Star, the Air Medal with one Flight Strike award, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal with Gold Star, and the Navy Achievement Medal with two Gold Stars and the Combat "V".

[RR691983]

Sorry, sure he may be hooah... but I disagree with using the word warrior. Has he braved fire to aid in the defense of his men? Has he fought in close proximity to an armed enemy? Has he been the target of indirect fire?

I don't care if I see someone with a BSM, LOM, etc. All that means to me is that he or someone else can fill out DA 638.

Schools, Medals...They don't make the man. I know E-1 privates that are warriors, I know E-8's that are soldiers. There IS a difference.

[Field_Sailor]

Well make the change. You ahve the admin powers. Make it say, Fighters. I think I will give him the benefit of the doubt considering he's been with the SpecOps community.

[USMC Chuter]

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because he's a major general in the US Army. I'm not going to readily shit on someone who has served to that extent. However..

Upon closer reading of the text AROUND the bold type, you'll see that he commanded an MI company in the 82nd. Not everyone in the 82nd is a steely-eyed warrior. There are cooks, mechanics, admin types, etc who wear the raspberry beret, but are otherwise no different from their leg peers. And J2 of JSOC is a staff MI position. Not exactly snake-eating. General Kimmons does not display any tabs or other bells and whistles that usually accompany an army specops career. Last but not least, master parachute wings are merely a symbol of time spent and responsibilities undertaken in, an airborne unit. Admirable, yes, as are all of Gen Kimmons' accomplishments. But badges and units do not a warrior make.

[Field_Sailor]

True I'll buy that.

[Boardmaster]

Some of the most cold and hard core Soldiers that I have ever met have been MI. I'm not talking the standard, run of the mill, sit in a building, doing analysis MI Soldiers...I'm talking about the guys who go undercover to infiltrate insurgent and organized crime rings. Due to the sensitivity and nature of the work that they do, they are obviously not publicly recognized. They don't get the "glory" that the front-line Infantry guys get--because doing so would compromise the mission (ironically a lot of the glory that the Infantry gets, is as a result of an MI Soldier's work, who was actually "out front" well before the Infantry and Cav Scouts are even in place). They can't even use the "bragging rights" that they have earned, because even after the mission is complete, their work is still classified.

I'll give all due credit to the Infantry--they are hard core Warriors. But, I really don't think that it is a fair assessment of the MI field to assume that they aren't Warriors.

SGT Steele
www.mastertheboard.com

[Grimmy]

There's also this. The MI field is going under rather radical reformation in an effort to bring consistant, real time, in depth, on demand intell to the the trigger pullers.

I think I understand the process, now, is in place to have MI folk, with satcom link and database processor in hand, running with the deep penetrators while having access to photint, elint, humint and possibly even NSA quality databases right at their finger tips.