Posted on Jan 28, 2016
CPT Military Police
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Occasions happen when higher ranking officers may ask you to not share information. Reasons may include containment, politics, ongoing investigations...
Posted in these groups: American flag soldiers Soldiers
Edited 10 y ago
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Responses: 14
SSG Avenger Crew Member
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My General asked me not to answer this question!
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LTC Paul Labrador
LTC Paul Labrador
10 y
I see what you did there.... ;o)
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SSG Avenger Crew Member
SSG (Join to see)
10 y
LTC Paul Labrador - I really couldn't help myself! LOL!
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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Yes. Directly too.
In Civil Affairs, we find out lots of inconvenient facts. During the Surge year in Iraq, the push was to hand off battle space to Iraqi Army units. As we were making capability assessments, it became very clear that Iraqi commanders were overstating their capabilities and manning in order to look good to their superiors.
My frank assessments were valued, but kept close hold. There was some pretty embarrassing stuff in there. "Patrols" that never happened. Consumption reports for fuel that could not possibly be true. Manning levels that were not borne out by any objective observation - sometimes varying by over half. It was pretty clear that many would simply sit on their base, feeling important, collecting their paycheck, and skimming fuel money (and I didn't know it then, but later found out that ghost Soldiers in these units got paid, too - also lining the officers' pockets).

But the momentum was to start reducing our footprint, so this information was only briefed by me once.
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CPT Military Police
CPT (Join to see)
10 y
1SG (Join to see) Thanks for sharing.
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SN Greg Wright
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CPT (Join to see) Of course. With a TS/SCI clearance you get that a lot, lol.

I'll say this, though: anybody that thinks the government can't control what the media gets is fooling themselves.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
10 y
Some of those "confidential" sources, or "convenient" leaks?
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SN Greg Wright
SN Greg Wright
10 y
SSG Warren Swan - That and more. Without going into specifics, I saw many occasions where what was reported wasn't what I was seeing at work.
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SPC David S.
SPC David S.
10 y
The old smoke and mirrors -
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
10 y
SN Greg Wright - The only way to keep a secret in DC is to tell someone then kill em. Works in the political thrillers at least. I've seen it in reports that are to go up the chain. It starts off as one thing, and by the time it's briefed, you had five folks doing something, now it's 500. How did it jump like that....."he likes to see results and big numbers".....so we lie to him to make him feel good. This is a situation close to what I've seen.
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Have you ever been asked by a General Officer to not share information?
SGM Erik Marquez
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Yes, but ahh, I cant tell you about it..Kind of the point
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SPC David S.
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I think this one might be a bit tricky to respond to as if someone has been asked to keep something hush-hush should or would they attest to it in such a open forum.
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MAJ Contracting Officer
MAJ (Join to see)
10 y
Yep and you should probably follow that lawful order and not share the information.
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Capt Mark Strobl
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I was standing watch in the "G" Shop, reviewing message traffic, about to be relieved when the OpO asked me to report to BGen "Benotz" --Here's a summary of the debrief:
BGen: "You will not speak of this to anyone about this."
Me: "Aye-aye, sir."
I felt pretty good about that --mostly 'cause I really had no idea to what he was referring.
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SGT William Howell
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Edited 10 y ago
No, but I once had a PFC ask me not to tell his mom that he got married.
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Capt Mark Strobl
Capt Mark Strobl
10 y
Oh boy... mine was a Lance Corporal! That stuff is funny... when it happens to someone else.
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SGT William Howell
SGT William Howell
10 y
They are much more scared of their mom than any general.
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LTC Bink Romanick
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CPT (Join to see) When I was Comptroller and had close contact with the three GOs in the Hqs I was frequently given info that was close hold. Once, perhaps the worst was knowing that a close friend was being deployed and I couldn't and didn't tell him. Sometimes honor makes you sick.
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SGT Ronald Bacon
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Yes, but only until officially released. Some positions overhear things they may not need to know. As a driver I overheard many things. Also working in communications I hear things. This is why we have security clearances. Personally I was never asked to width-hold information indefinitely.
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SFC Combat Engineer
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Absolutely
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