A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
I need to add my 2 cents here. CJ and I have been friends for a very long time. He knows I will tell it like it is. So here I go.
Way back when, CJ blogged under the radar. Not really anonymously, but more circumspect. And he was extremely meticulous about never putting out ANY identifiers on himself. As a matter of fact, I remember asking him once what his MOS was and he specifically told me he wouldn’t tell me and not to ask again. Over the years and through duty stations, he got promoted and got to a point where being super secret squirrel wasn’t as much of a necessity. He wasn’t doing things that needed for him to be a total unknown. That’s not to say he totally relaxed, but he would at least post a picture or two, maybe a video, where you could see his face. Seriously, that’s how anal he was about protecting his soldiers and units from being identified.
I have only known he was in MI about 3 years. Maybe slightly more. And I have not known which unit he was assigned to until I received a screen shot of Michael Yon’s facebook posting. If you know my relationship to CJ, that will indicate to you how seriously he takes security. Hell, he’s had dinner with my dad, met my kids (and gone fishing with us all), I’ve even met his in-laws and nieces and nephews, ok? He’s like a brother. And yet, he rarely, if ever speaks of what he does and he has never, EVER, LET ME REPEAT NEVER identified his units or what he really does (until way past any usefulness point) on this blog or any other website.
After saying all of that, I have been riding his hindquarters to stay away from certain psychotic and evil people online and he would not listen to me. I know the toll it has taken on him and his family. He is very much about honor and duty, and he has this thing that he MUST right wrongs and Fight the Good Fight. It is a respectable and noble character trait. I love him for that. But there are some things that just can’t be fixed. Stupid is one of them and he cannot fix Yon’s stupid in any way, shape, or form. But bless his heart, he sure did try over and over again.
I am glad he is walking away from this particular battle. It is a non-starter and as he said below, certain people don’t care about the safety of his troops (or any others, for that matter), and although there have been some pretty scurrilous accusations, CJ knows the truth, his command knows the truth, and all of us who read him, believe in him, and love him…we know the truth also.
I am lucky in the fact that I will still hear from CJ occasionally because of our friendship. And we might still bicker about things, but they will be better things like the finer points of libertarianism, how evil we should be to our kids (in a good, funny way), and how crappy the news is. It won’t be bickering about tilting at windmills and how knowing you’re right in your heart and deeds count more than the opinion of some craptacularly idiotic people.
His Army and his family deserves this reprieve from the online onslaught of bullshit, and I for one, am very glad he has come to his senses.
CJ, I love ya man, and I’m glad you’re focusing on those things that give you hope, smiles, and happiness.
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to Anonn, thank you. i thought so. i just want a clear picture of his
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Anatomy of a Military Dating Scam
New Scam to be aware of……….I am 2LT. Anderson Darrell Clinton , an off
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New Scam to be aware of……….I am 2LT. Anderson Darrell Clinton , an off
MamaKat in GA
Very, very well-said, LL. Bravo!
Miss Ladybug
Well said, LL. CJ has more integrity in his pinkie toe than Yon has in his entire body.
And, I was just saying to him this weekend that I didn’t get the way he would get into a fight with the likes of Yon when he (Yon) isn’t worth it. Yon won’t have CJ to use to stroke his own ego and get all the Yonbots in a frenzy anymore.
MissBirdlegs in AL
+100, LL!!
Carol Steward
Good writing LL! I have been hoping all along that CJ would just ignore the problem even though I realize CJ finds it hard to ignore idiots. The “idiot” isn’t worth the time or effort so needless to say; I am so happy for an end to it all.
CJ
Thanks, LL. I’ll tell CJ next time I see him to straighten up.
Midas Welby
Can’t believe y’all are fine with it and just walkin’ away from this without getting to WHO is at the heart of it. Whoever egged on this whole pissing match, they’re still out there. Whoever had the hard on for Yon and created this garbage implicated CJ. CJ’s response (right or wrong) could have been to take the higher ground initially, but, that didn’t happen and this is the outcome. One of Yon’s haters, and who is very likely one of CJ’s fans, took CJ out. I’d be pissed.
LL
Dude, that’s paranoia. It started with Yon getting all hater on the military (personally, I think Yon has his own PTS issues from all the images he’s seen through his camera lens and his own experiences from being in the middle of firefights that the units he was embedded with found themselves, but that’s neither here nor there) and the milbloggers called him out publicly. CJ said something to Yon in comments on another blog and it took on a life of its own over the past year or more. There was no secret cabal to throw CJ under the Yon bus and/or attempt to paint Yon as a CJ attacker until Yon took issue with what CJ said. It is what it is and now it is done. There’s no secret birth certificate to be found in this fight. Two prideful personalities took issue with each other and it went to hell in a handbasket. CJ is walking away and in my opinion, I’m glad. Regardless of how it happened or all the mud slung hither and yon, in the end, CJ is gearing up for a deployment and his command and his family need him to focus on the here and now, not on some tool halfway around the world.
Midas Welby
LL, I didn’t say it was some cabal designed to throw CJ under the bus or some hidden birth certificate. Quite the opposite. “Someone” made the fake slam sites against Yon. I merely stated I believe that person is a fan of CJ’s and indirectly fanned the flames of this latest pissing match. They incited all the Yonions. That is all. I know all about the history between these two.
To CJ, be safe. People who claim to have your back apparently don’t.
LL
Ohhhhhhhhhh, that. Yeah, I know who it is and it is not that person’s fault Yon got his panties in a wad. Look, I told CJ that he can only control his own reaction. Same goes for Yon. If one of Yon’s “confidential informants” tells him they think it’s CJ, whatevs. It’s on Yon to care or not. Spoof and satirical sites exist all over the world wide web. Yon’s rope is wound too tightly when it comes to CJ and the same is true for CJ. They have issues with each other that will never be resolved and it is done now with CJ moving on from the BS.
Terri
Very well said LL. I too will keep in contact with CJ, he’s my friend and always will be. Love ya CJ! You and your wonderful family don’t deserve the crap that Yon seems to want to send your way. Keep your head held high my friend. In the end you’ve proved you’re a man of much more integrity than Yon will ever have.
1SG H
I love CJ, and everything he has done for our troops. He’s a Soldier’s Soldier, and I have nothing but admiration for him. I’d take one CJ over a thousand self-serving Yons any day. Really, what has Yon done for Soldiers in a real, tangible way? Nothing. It’s the CJ’s of this world that actually send Soldiers stuff, raises funds for them, gets them the small comforts they love and require in the field. God bless ya, CJ. You’re a great NCO.