Bishop Boykin
Herein I am going on record in support of Senator George Allen’s demand that Lieutenant General William “Jerry” Boykin be given the to soon-to-be-vacant post of Special Operations Commander now held by General Bryan “Doug” Brown.
Boykin has already met the first requirement, that his nickname have absolutely no perceptible relation to his real name.
This demonstrates a finely tuned tradecraft intuition, developed from early childhood, when their parents and friends had already recognized that these guys needed code-names. Special Operations needs special people in charge. And Jerry Boykin is as special as they come.
There are times when a stroll down memory lane is like a walk in the park during daffodil season; other times it is a house of horrors; my memory of Jerry is from the time we spent together from early 1983 until late 1986 as members of the US Army’s highest priority unit, one modified by the adjectives “elite” and “counter-terrorist,” and one iconographed onto the militarized American psyche by mystique-bearing rumors and by the cinema — Delta Force. This memory is rather like a funhouse after a peyote milkshake.
For Jerry, this was probably not a happy time. We were, by and large, a venal bunch who drank like piranha and were as adulterous as bull sea lions. Jerry is a deeply committed theocrat, convinced not only of the literal doctrines of Biblical inerrancy, virgin birth, and substitutionary atonement. He was the personal designate of a muscular, martial Christ who had commanded us to put as many Muslim heathens as possible to the sword. Had it not been for the two other devoted fundamentalists at Delta Force in those days — Lance Finnick and Marshall Brown — I’m sure Jerry might have risen up in righteous anger and smitten many of us, his colleagues in the true American Army of Jesus.
Lance and Marshall, and a few others who didn’t care to miss breakfast and wanted to be nice to Jerry, used to attend the occasional prayer breakfasts Jerry organized in the Delta Force mess hall. Marshall, alas, who unlike Lance had seen the light only part-way through his tenure at Delta Force, fell. Marshall’s rebirth held fast for only a couple of years, and he went on to become an infamous serial rapist. Marshall may have crawled back into the cosmic womb in prison for another crack at naissance. I don’t know.
Jerry, however, moved right up. How can one not, after all, who is the direct subject of divine providence? And how can we not at least suspect that the deracinated nicknames of Jerry and Doug are not “a sign?” FULL COMMENTARY
francis:
I remember reading in your books about the virulent racism entrenched in the SF, with soldiers displaying SS symbols and all. Out of curiosity, did you ever have an encounter with this guy? http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=322
(apparantly one of his newsletters found its way into Tim McVeighs hands).
To say the absolute least, its disturbing as hell to think these guys are some of the most highly trained warriors in this country.
11 April 2006, 5:57 pmR.S. Morris:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Ooh! HA! Jesus Stan! I thought they lobotomized the humor part of you “Delta” types during selection.
And I love the Photoshop touch-up.
Thanks for the laugh!
11 April 2006, 8:49 pmR.S. Morris:
Gah…I’m such a geek.
12 April 2006, 1:19 amHubris Sonic:
This memory is rather like a funhouse after a peyote milkshake
hey! dont knock the peyote, that was the only fun part.
The occasional prayer breakfasts Jerry organized in the Delta Force mess hall.
you have to be shitting me.
15 April 2006, 7:05 amR.S. Morris:
Time for me to cut my comedy act and ask a serious question.
Just read this at Buzzflash “…Mutiny. It’s Not An Armed One, Not Yet.”
( http://www.buzzflash.com/index.php?story=Story2 )
My head is spinning right now. The retired generals are “speaking out” against Rumsfeld and thus, according to some pundit/analysts, against the entire administration. At this point, I just feel like I’m impatiently waiting for the fuze to burn down it’s last few millimeters–hell, it feels like it’s already burning inside the casing, and now we get to see how exact the fuse REALLY was or even whether or not the sucker is a dud.
Bah! These people really piss me off…
Randy
17 April 2006, 12:53 amR.S. Morris:
…and then I just re-read the last page of your book, Stan, and I fell a bit more centered.
Thanks, Brother.
Gonna keep it together.
17 April 2006, 1:10 amk. gannon:
I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to roast that putrid excuse for a leader in the fashion he deserves. Oh, there have been others before you with lame attempts to expose him as the fundamentalist freak he is, but none have come close to the truth… until now!
Thanks Stan
BTW I’ve been reading your site for over a year, don’t stop what you’re doing please!
Kevin
25 April 2006, 2:44 amJosh "Maury" Narins:
Seriously, if you’d support some random theocrat, why not support a seriously unexperienced person?
I’m not too busy…
2 May 2006, 8:12 pmR.S. Morris:
Here’s another brick in this wall:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060513_battlecry_philadelphia/
“Throughout the three and a half hours of BattleCry’s first session, I thought of only one analogy that fit the experience: This must have been what it felt like to watch the Hitler Youth, filled with self-righteous pride, proclaim the supremacy of their beliefs and their willingness to shed blood for them. And lest you think this is idle paranoia, BattleCry founder Ron Luce told the crowds the next morning (May 13) that he plans to launch a “blitzkrieg†in the communities, schools, malls, etc. against those who don’t share his theocratic vision of society.
Blitzkrieg. “
15 May 2006, 12:22 am