A**-Hole Of The Week Award
Mayor of Toledo, Ohio - Carty Finkbeiner

WARNING!! If you haven't noticed yet, this posting contains harsh language. I'm unbelievable pissed-off right now. If such language offends, I suggest you skip this posting.

Even though the City Council of Berkeley, California officially looks upon the Marine Corps Recruiters as "unwelcome and uninvited guests", those communist loving dip-shits never actually placed a Marine's life in jeopardy.

The same can't be said for that dumb son-of-a-bitch running the show in Toledo. Because of this idiot jerking a Marine Corps Reserve unit around, these Leathernecks are losing valuable combat training time.

1/24's brother battalion, 2/24, is already slated for another deployment to Iraq. It ain't that hard to figure out that 1/24 will be tapped again real, real soon. How damn hard is that to figure out, Finkbeiner? But obviously... you don't give a shit about these Marines being prepared for war.

This moron better hope to God that none of these Marines get killed in Iraq, Afghanistan (or any other CZ) due to lack of training. If any do, I'm of the opinion that Finkbeiner will be indirectly responsibile for their deaths.

It's real damn simple... you DON'T withhold combat training from combat Marines who could deploy to a combat zone at a moments notice. As I've already pointed out, they've served in combat once already, no doubt... they'll serve again.

Here's some of the article from the Toledo Blade; (emphasis mine)


Mayor to Marines: Leave downtown
He says urban exercises scare people
By JC REINDL
BLADE STAFF WRITER

A company of Marine Corps Reservists received a cold send-off from downtown Toledo yesterday by order of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. The 200 members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., planned to spend their weekend engaged in urban patrol exercises on the streets of downtown as well as inside the mostly vacant Madison Building, 607 Madison Ave.

Toledo police knew days in advance about their plans for a three-day exercise. Yet somehow the memo never made it to Mayor Finkbeiner, who ordered the Marines out yesterday afternoon just minutes before their buses were to arrive. "The mayor asked them to leave because they frighten people," said Brian Schwartz, the mayor's spokesman. (No shit, they frighten people... THEY'RE MARINES!!!)"He did not want them practicing and drilling in a highly visible area." So after a brief stop at a friendly base in Perrysburg Township, the Marines by early evening were back on their way home to Grand Rapids. ("...at a friendly base..."? Does that mean Toledo is enemy territory? It would seem so.)

Members of the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines have trained periodically in downtown Toledo since at least 2004 and most recently in May, 2006. Past exercises have involved mock gun fights, ambushes, and the firing of blank ammunition. The Reservists' visit was no surprise to Toledo police, who Tuesday issued a news release to media outlets on behalf of the Marines that asked Toledoans not to be startled by the sight of camouflaged soldiers toting M16 rifles. (ARRRRGH! The Cardinal Sin of referring to Marines as "soldiers". Sheesh, would you call someone in the Air Force a sailor?)

Maj. Jeffrey O'Neill, the company's commanding officer, said he was disappointed by how events played out yesterday, especially because Toledo had been a gracious host for Marine exercises in the past. "You can go to military ranges for live fire [exercises], but there's no way to duplicate the urban jungle unless you actually train inside a city," Major O'Neill said.

Lance Cpl. Brandon Bukrey-McCarty, 22, recalled taking part in the company's 2006 urban patrol exercise in downtown Toledo. He said he learned skills during that exercise that proved useful during the unit's deployment to Fallujah, Iraq, in 2006-2007. "It was extremely helpful," Corporal Bukrey-McCarty said. The training "got me used to looking up on rooftops, looking around every alley, every open door." (Combat training is a degradable skill. Marines DIE in combat if not sufficiently trained for such. Thanks for nothing Finkbeiner... you sorry-ass)

Sergeant Davis and other company leaders estimated the total cost of the aborted training exercise, including travel, at roughly $10,000 (The federal government should forward to bill to the City of Toledo). Before he left downtown for Perrysburg Township, Major O'Neill said he was not sure what type of training, if any, his unit could undertake without access to downtown Toledo. "But we're Marines," Major O'Neill said. "We'll adapt and overcome." (Damn straight, Major. May God bless you and your Marines, and protect you from all enemies... foreign and domestic.)