December 18, 2011
Last U.S.Soldiers Leave Iraq
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A United States military officer gestures upon entering Kuwait during their withdrawl from Iraq
December 18, 2011
The last American troops crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait early Sunday, ending the U.S. military presence there after nearly nine years.
As the last convoy left Iraq at daybreak Sunday, soldiers whooped, bumped fists and embraced each other in a burst of joy and relief, The Associated Press reported.
The Iraq War began on March 20, 2003, at a time when national defense was a top priority for Americans still shocked by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. It continued with the invasion and ouster of Saddam Hussein, then ground through years of war against an insurgency that left tens of thousands dead.
The final column of around 100 mostly U.S. military MRAP armored vehicles carrying 500 U.S. troops trundled across the southern Iraq desert through the night along an empty highway to the Kuwaiti border
"It's good to see this thing coming to a close. I was here when it started," Staff Sgt. Christian Schultz said just before leaving Contingency Operating Base Adder, 185 miles south of Baghdad, for the border. "I saw a lot of good changes, a lot of progress, and a lot of bad things too
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In a final tactical road march, the last U.S. troops in Iraq crossed the border into Kuwait on Sunday morning, ending almost nine years of a deadly and divisive war.
About 500 Fort Hood, Texas-based soldiers and 110 military vehicles made the journey south from Camp Adder, near Nasiriya, to the Khabari border crossing, from where they will head to Camp Virginia in Kuwait before flying home.
They were the last soldiers in what amounted to the largest U.S. troop drawdown since the war in Vietnam.
Brigade Commander Col. Doug Crissman said his soldiers used the cover of night for security and timed the troop movements so as to avoid a traffic jam on the main north-south highway, which the Americans called Main Supply Route Tampa.
Staff Sgt. Daniel Gaumer, 37, recalled his first tour of Iraq, in August 2003, when he drove in on this very same road. He had never been in a combat zone before.
He was driving an unarmored Humvee -- something that is unimaginable now. He was frightened.
There was not a lot of traffic at that time, he recalled. He remembered a lot of cheering by Iraqis, even though the situation was tense.
Sunday morning, the air was decidedly different.
"It's pretty historic," he said about the drive south, hoping he will not ever have to come back through this unforgiving desert again.
"The biggest thing about going home is just that it's home," he said. "It's civilization as I know it -- the Western world, not sand and dust and the occasional rain here and there."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
WELCOME HOME !!!!
God Bless our returning troops!
Happy sight, but also a sad time for many. My prayers and wishes go out to all of those who lost loved ones, husbands, wives, brothers, sons, daughters in this war, and in Afghanistan. We will never forget the sacrifices made — never ever forget.
It’s hell to be one of those who does NOT have a loved one returning when the troops come back. I’ve watched widows having to do this — although they bravely chose to stand with the rest of the families at these welcome home ceremonies.
Am praying for them at this time.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (2)
December 13, 2011
Soldier Surprises His Children This Christmas Season
"Chris's kids think they're going to see Santa to tell him what they want for Christmas, they don't know that their present is already here"
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Wild Thing's comment.......
I love this, what a wonderful suprise.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:45 AM | Comments (4)
November 26, 2011
U.S. troops in Afghanistan celebrate Thanksgiving
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Pfc. Cuyler Slocum explains his idea for a Turkey Day parade at COP Garcia in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
LOVE our troops.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:55 AM | Comments (2)
October 31, 2011
Iraq Can't Defend Itself Fully Before 2020 - Says Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari
Iraq Can't Defend Itself Fully Before 2020 -General
Iraq's defense chief has said his military will not be fully ready to defend Iraq from external threats until 2020 to 2024, according to a U.S. inspector's report released on Sunday.
Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari has repeatedly warned that Iraq's security forces, rebuilt after the 2003 invasion that ousted strongman Saddam Hussein, would not be ready for years.
President Barack Obama announced on October 21 that American troops would fully withdraw from Iraq by year-end, as scheduled under a 2008 security pact between the two countries.
Both Iraqi and U.S. military leaders have said the army and police are capable of containing internal threats from Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militias that launch scores of attacks monthly, but that they lag in external defense.
"General Zebari suggested that the Ministry of Defense will be unable to execute the full spectrum of external-defense missions until sometime between 2020 and 2024, citing ... funding shortfalls as the main reason for the delay," said the report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)
Zebari said the air force would not be able to defend Iraqi airspace until 2020 and is not capable of supporting ground combat operations, citing a long-delayed deal to buy F-16 warplanes from the United States, the SIGIR report said.
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Wild Thing's comment...........
This whole thing is a mess. It will be wonderful for our troops to be home for Christmas but everything else about this is troubling and upsetting.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (3)
October 25, 2011
Speaking Out About Obama's DANGEROUS Iraq Troop Pullout Decision
"We Are Sending a Signal To Iran That is A Green Light To Them..It May Prove to Be a Major Political Blunder in the Middle East For the United States"
Lt. General Tom McInerny on Fox News blasts Obama's troop pullout decision as "very dangerous" saying "it may prove to be major political blunder in coming years"..."It may look good now for the election but it could prove to be a major political blunder in the coming years for the Unites States." McInerny also says "If Iraq becomes aligned with Iran, then you have a clear path directly into Israel." I'll take a career military Lt. General's opinion on the Iraq pullout over a community organizer in-over-his-head President with a blank resume anyday of the week. Here's McInerny of Fox News this morning
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Rush: Obama's Far-Left Base Would Love It If We Ended Up Losing in Iraq
Rush: "Damn straight"..."We're not dealing with a rational bunch of people on the left"
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Wild Thing's comment........
Iran is the big winner here.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (2)
October 22, 2011
Obama on Ending War in Iraq
As a candidate Barack Obama consistently called Iraq the wrong war, a failed mission. Obama opposed the surge. He refused to admit that the Bush Surge was a massive success of historical proportions.
Now that the mission is over Barack Obama announced today that he will withdraw troops from Iraq. He spoke for six minutes. The troops will be home for the holidays. Obama told America the war in Iraq was over.
But, he refused to say it was a victory for America.
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Wild Thing's comment.....
How about after we get our troops out of Iraq we send Obama there for good and don't let him back into our country.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (8)
August 07, 2011
25 U.S. Navy SEALs Among the 31 U.S. Forces Killed in Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan; Taliban Takes Credit
Afghan president Hamid Karzai said 31 U.S. Special Forces and 7 Afghan soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest single attacks for U.S. troops in nearly 10 years of war in Afghanistan.
U.S. Special Forces Chinook Helicopter crashed after being hit by a Taliban-fired RPG. CNN reports the Pentagon says they were on a rescue mission to assist U.S. Forces who were pinned down in a firefight. Twenty-two of the Special Forces were Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 6 – the same unit that killed Osama Bin Laden.
From FOX News: Fox News said they were told by Defense Department Officials that the SEALs killed in the Helicopter Crash were NOT the same soldiers who actually raided Osama Bin Laden’s compound and killed him. They were members of the same SEAL team – SEAL Team 6.
Wild Thing's comment......
I am sick about this.
Obama issued a statement saying “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families”. Big deal. He should be saying we will make those responsible pay. I hate that man more than I ever imagined I could hate someone.
God bless the fallen and their families. This is awful.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (6)
June 14, 2011
Happy Birthday United States Army!!
Happy Birthday United States Army!!
Two hundred and thirty-six years ago, the United States Army was established to defend our Nation. From the Revolutionary War to the current operations taking place around the world, our Soldiers remain Army Strong with a deep commitment to our core values and beliefs.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Happy birthday Army & a resounding thank you to all who serve!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (2)
June 09, 2011
Delta Airlines Charges Soldiers for "Exta Baggage"
Delta Airlines charged troops returning from Afghanistan $2800 baggage fee for their own weapons
PHONE: 1-404-773-0305
Hours: Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm ET
Flight 1625 from Baltimore to Atlanta June 7
HERE IS AN ADDED LINK IN CASE THE VIDEO ABOVE IS TAKEN DOWN.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9DpSBU0gM4
CBS
Delta Airlines is apologizing to 34 U.S. Army troops who just returned from Afghanistan.
The reason? They had to pay some $2,800 in baggage fees, reports Steve Higgins of CBS affiliate WGCL in Atlanta. In a video posted on YouTube, one solider says, "Not happy, not happy at all. We had a little issue with the bags this morning."
Most of the GIs, it seems, had four bags.
Another soldier said in the video, "Delta only allows three for free in coach, "and anything over three bags, you have to pay for, even though there's a contract between the U.S. government and Delta Airlines."
The soldiers say their orders allow them to bring four bags on board -- for free.
A military spokeswoman told WGCL any extra baggage fees assessed by an airline will be reimbursed by the government, depending on the troops' orders.
Delta later issued a statement saying,
"We would like to publicly apologize for any miscommunication ... as well as any inconvenience we may have caused." The carrier promises to "reach out" to the soldiers involved to "address their concerns."
Delta's statement also said active duty military personnel are allowed to check three bags for free in coach and four in first or business class, but the posted policy on the Delta website clearly states they are allowed to check four free bags in coach and five in first or business:
In the YouTube video, one of the soldiers says his fourth bag had "a weapons case holding my grenade launcher and a 9 millimeter, the tools that I used to protect myself and the Afghan citizens while I was deployed in the country."
Wild Thing's comment........
No matter what the troops were told about what they could take. Delta should not have charged them at all. I am so tired of our troops and Veterans getting treated badly in any way.
Hello Delta, give our Heroes they money back.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:45 AM | Comments (4)
May 28, 2011
Fleet Week New York 2011, Parade of Ships
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Wild Thing's comment......
Love seeing the ships during Fleet Week.
And the other video of the Marine Band is so great. LOL I love seeing them have fun and what a great day!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:47 AM | Comments (2)
March 20, 2011
U.S., British Ships Launch more than 110 Tomahawk Missiles at 20 Targets in Libya
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This video is a report from Tripoli by Fox News’ Steve Harrigan. He said it is very tense there. Civilians have reportedly gathered around the Presidential Palace to be human shields for Gadhafi.
U.S., British Ships Launch more than 110 Tomahawk Missiles at 20 Targets in Libya
The U.S. military launched its first airstrikes on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's air defenses, officials said Saturday.
U.S. Tomahawk missiles landed in the area around Tripoli and Misrata, a senior military official said, adding that the action was taken after Gadhafi failed to comply with a cease-fire.
"He's clearly been on the offensive," the official said of Gadhafi. "He said that he was going to do a cease-fire and he continued to move his forces into Benghazi."
U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed that he had authorized "limited military action in Libya" and that "that action has now begun."
The attacks on Gadhafi's forces will be part of a multiphase approach in a sequential and deliberate manner, according to the official.
"The U.S. will be at the front end of this, providing the unique capabilities that the U.S. has," the official said.
Bombs dropped near Kadhafi’s Tripoli bunker: AFP
TRIPOLI (AFP) – Bombs were dropped near the Tripoli headquarters of strongman Moamer Kadhafi early Sunday, prompting barrages of anti-aircraft fire from Libyan forces, an AFP reporter said
The bombs exploded as an aircraft overflew the Bab al-Aziziyah headquarters in the south of Tripoli.
It was not immediately clear what targets had been hit.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
How odd is this: a half-American, non natural-born citizen, posing as President, launches a war without Congress’ approval, while on vacation?
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (9)
March 16, 2011
Heroic Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter Honored
Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, gets support from his fiance Jordan Gleaton, in the state senate chambers, where Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, presented a proclamation honoring Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter
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Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, flanked by his parents, Robert and Robin Carpenter of Gilbert, recounts his experience of being injured in a combat zone in Afghanistan during a press conference Wednesday at the statehouse.
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Jordan Gleaton helps her fiance, Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter with a sip of water after a press conference
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Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, flanked by his parents, Robert and Robin Carpenter of Gilbert, laughs during a press conference
Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, his face missing an eye and crisscrossed with deep scars, stood on the floor of the S.C. Senate on Wednesday to receive the thanks of his state.
Carpenter, 21, of Gilbert lost the eye, most of his teeth and use of his right arm from a grenade blast Nov. 21 near Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Friends and family say he threw himself in front of the grenade to protect his best friend in Afghanistan, Cpl. Nick Eufrazio.
Carpenter just remembers seeing the grenade. Then a white flash. Then a fellow Marine telling him he would be fine.
Then, four weeks later, he woke up in a hospital in Germany.
“The second I woke up, I saw my family by my bedside,” he said.
The Senate resolution noted Carpenter “suffered catastrophic wounds in the cause of freedom” and “has shown himself worthy of the name Marine.”
Carpenter shook almost every senator’s hand — with his left hand — after the reading.
He said his experience was nothing unusual in war. People back home, worried about the economy and gas prices, he said, should remember Marines and soldiers are still being maimed and killed.
“The light is on me right now,” he said. “But I’m hoping what happened to me will help remind people that things like this happen every day and people don’t see it. I’m proud of what my fellow Marines have done there and are doing there now.”
Helmand Province is one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Carpenter and a 12-man squad from his 9th Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, were on patrol outside Marjah. They were in the fifth month of a seven-month deployment.
They were in a village they called Shadier, between two other villages they named Shady and Shadiest.
They had been in hard combat, he said, as the Marines were pushing out farther from their base, expanding the territory they controlled.
“For two days we had been hit pretty hard,” he said. “We moved into (enemy) territory, and they didn’t like it.”
He was fighting on a rooftop when the grenade hit.
“I took 99 percent of the blast,” he said. “But one little piece of shrapnel got by me and went into (Eufrazio’s) brain.”
According to Sen. Jake Knotts, who sponsored and read the proclamation, Eufrazio suffered a serious brain injury and is recovering in Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. He is now speaking and talking.
Carpenter also spent most of his recovery time — which so far has included 25 surgeries and more than 100 hours of physical therapy — at Bethesda.
There, he said, he was inspired by the other patients, many of whom had no legs or no eyes or no arms.
“I’m lucky,” he said.
Knotts said that Carpenter has been nominated for the Medal of Honor, adding, “And I think this kid deserves it.”
But Carpenter said that “people saying they are proud of me is enough.”
That doesn’t surprise his 20-year-old fiancee, Jordan Gleaton.
“I haven’t heard him complain one time,” Gleaton said. “I would be a mess.”
“It’s been a tough three months,” she added. “I don’t feel like I’m 20 anymore.”
Carpenter’s parents, Robert and Robin Carpenter of Gilbert, say they are proud of the way their son has handled his horrific injuries.
They call him “our miracle.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
God bless Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, and may he always know how much his sacrifices mean to all of us, that we will never forget. He has serious injuries but an amazing strength. A true hero. With all my heart I truely thank you Marine Lance Col William Kyle Carpenter.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (10)
March 09, 2011
Arlington A Tribute
The music is Trace Adkin's "Arlington".
I never thought that this is where I'd settle down,
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown,
They gave me this plot of land, me and some other men,
for a job well done.
There's a big white house sits on a hill just up the road,
The man inside he cried the day they brought me home,
They folded up a flag, and told my mom and dad, 'We're proud of your son'.
And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property,
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company,
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done,
I can rest in peace, I'm one of the chosen ones,
I made it to Arlington.
I remember daddy brought me here when I was eight,
We searched all day to find out where my granddad lay,
And when we finally found that cross,
He said, 'Son this is what it cost, to keep us free'.
Now here I am a thousand stones away from him,
He recognized me on the first day I came in,
And it gave me a chill, when he clicked his heels, and saluted me.
And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property,
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company,
And I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done,
I can rest in peace, I'm one of the chosen ones,
I made it to Arlington.
And every time I hear, twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home, to us.
We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done,
We can rest in peace, 'cause we were the chosen ones,
We made it to Arlington, yea, dust to dust
Don't cry for us, we made it to Arlington.
Wild Thing's comment.........
This is a great song and a wonderful tribute to America's warriors and Heroes. Thank you!!!!!
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (3)
March 01, 2011
American Combat Troops To Get Gay Sensitivity Training Directly On The Battlefield
In the heat of battle: Marines fighting the Taliban in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
Combat troops to get gay sensitivity training New policy OK’d for battlefield
American combat troops will get sensitivity training directly on the battlefield about the military’s new policy on gays instead of waiting until they return to home base in the United States, the senior enlisted man in Afghanistan said Thursday.
The Pentagon is launching an extensive force-wide program to ease the process of integrating open homosexuals into the ranks, including into close-knit fighting units.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill, the top enlisted man in Afghanistan where 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed, said that the sessions on respecting gays’ rights will go right down to the forward operating bases, where troops fight Taliban militants.
“I have heard about the training that will be forthcoming to the battlefield,” Sgt. Hill told Pentagon reporters via a teleconference from Kabul.
“We will take our directions from the Department of Defense, from the secretary of defense, the chairman, as well as the service chiefs of each service. Our plan is to take their direction, and we’re going to execute that training right here on the battlefield.”
No unit is exempted, he said.
“Our goal is to not allow a unit to return to home station and have the unit responsible for that,” he said. “While we own those soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, we’re going to execute that training on the ground. We hope that it will have little impact on their combat and security operations here.”
Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military Readiness, said it is “ridiculous” to train combat Army soldiers and Marines as they are engage in daily combat with tenacious insurgents.
“It’s absurd because the military has more important things to think about in that dangerous part of the world,” she said. “For the administration to say this is more important than even with the troops we’re trying to train in that part of the world, I think it shows flawed priorities at best. It is ridiculous.”
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Wild Thing's comment.........
I sure never thought we would see this happening to our military.
The real enemy of our country is not the terrorists, not number one enemy anyway. The most dangerous destroyer to our country is sitting in the Oval office and all the rest of the Progressives. Where was OUR vote about all of this. Why didn't we have a say in this repeal of DADT. And dear God WHY DO WE IN OUR COUNTRY GIVE IN TO THE MINORITIES OVER AND OVER AGAIN !!!
So now we have our troops being shot at, IED's around them, and they are being told they also have to add gay sensitivity training in the mix.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (9)
February 26, 2011
Capt. D.J. Skelton, the Army's Most Seriously Wounded Commander, Returns to Combat
Army Capt. D.J. Skelton, commander of Company E, 229th Military Intelligence Battalion, stands in front of his company with his first sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class James O. Bishop. Skelton was seriously wounded in Iraq and chose to stay on active duty.
Sources:
DOD...
By Fred W. Baker III.....American Forces Press Service
Captain D. J. Skelton was wounded in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. He is considered America’s “most wounded soldier,” and has been learning to live with his disabilities for seven long and painful years. Today he is readying to take charge of the same unit he fought with in Iraq, this time stationed in Afghanistan.
Skelton, who was then a lieutenant, and his platoon had just arrived in Fallujah at a time when the city was the hottest battlefield in Iraq.
Around 11 p.m., Skelton received a radio report from a patrol that had spotted something suspicious. After reports of explosions, Skelton told the team to wait where it was until he and another squad could get there in a Stryker armored vehicle.
As they moved closer to the location, Skelton and his team exited the Stryker. They heard gunshots, but kept on going with Skelton and radio operator Lt. Roy Rangel in the rear. Suddenly, the team was blitzed with bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.
An explosion knocked Rangel momentarily unconscious and shrapnel pierced his legs, but he resumed fighting.
Skelton, however, was badly wounded.
"I remember all my vision went out. I was completely blind. I felt no pain. It felt as if I was floating through the air on my back. My audio was still intact. ... I could hear the firefight and voices in the distance screaming, but could not make out the words. ... Then all of a sudden, I felt the most intense pain I have ever felt in my life," Skelton said.
Skelton was a Lieutenant on that November day in 2004. He says now of his injuries, it was like being a real-life Mr. Potato Head:
Skelton had dismounted the vehicle when the RPG struck. Instead of exploding, it shattered, sending shards of shrapnel into his face and body.
Before his body even hit the ground, Skelton was sprayed with rounds from an enemy AK-47 assault rifle. He doesn’t know how many bullets hit him – he didn’t count them, he jokes now.
His injuries were horrific. Shrapnel had gone through his right cheek and torn apart his jaw and the roof of his mouth.
He had also been shot in the chest and had a ‘shrapnel tunnel’ through his body.
"I wanted to die right then. I hear a voice yelling, 'Lieutenant ... Lieutenant ... oh my God ... I think the lieutenant is dead. ...' I remember being drug and put into a vehicle. ... I was screaming the whole time ... but with most of my face blown off and my mouth destroyed ... it came out as this ghostlike hollow sound ... not even human. The next thing I remember was waking up weeks later at Walter Reed Army Hospital in D.C."
A piece of shrapnel had entered Skelton's right cheek and exited his left eye socket, destroying his upper jaw and the roof of his mouth. He had taken an AK-47 round through his upper left arm and had a "shrapnel tunnel" through his left chest.
"My left arm was destroyed, but my hand was intact. I have no bone between my hand and elbow. My stomach and chest were split open where shrapnel and AK-47 rounds had shredded. My right leg had a fist-sized hole through the lower portion. All the bone was missing from my foot to my knee."
It has taken six years and more than 60 surgeries for him to recover but he still has a missing left eye, only has partial use of his left arm and limited use of his left ankle.
The roof of his mouth has gone and he cannot eat or drink without a custom prosthetic, but the Warrior said his men never quit on him, and he wasn’t going to quit his fight to heal.
‘I can’t control what happens to my body or how my body heals. ‘I can either dwell on what happened and be miserable and pissy and complain or I can look at what I do have left and figure out how to make the most of my new life… how to make what I have work while always looking for creative ways to make up the difference.’
Skelton credits his life to the medic of 1st platoon of Charlie Rock. Listen to this – the character of the magnificent men serving our country:
Skelton said he owed his life to the “amazing training and skills of my young medic, the audacity, competence, and cool under fire of the men of 1st platoon of Charlie Rock [company] who under extreme fire drug me off the battle field, administered medical aid and got me to a hospital.”
“They did it in a manner that was not because it was their job but because we cared about each other. … We loved each other. … We were family, and we would die for one another,” he said.
“I remember seeing the RTO and Lt. Skelton fly through the air,” said Alejandro Rodriguez, the platoon’s medic. An RPG had exploded a concrete pylon, blasting Skelton’s face and body with shrapnel and rock.
“Next thing I remember, I was completely blind,” Skelton recalled. “I had no feeling whatsoever. My radio guy said he’d been shot, and then I heard a voice say, ‘Oh, my God, the lieutenant’s been hit! I think he’s dead!’ All of a sudden, there was a rush of feeling, which was probably the most intense pain I will ever in my entire life feel.”
Skelton was then sprayed with several enemy AK-47 rounds as he was dragged out of the kill zone, his body armor stopping at least one bullet to the chest. But it was the shrapnel that did the most damage. He begged his men to leave him behind.
The Army did not want to retain Skelton. He found a commander in Missile Defense who accepted him for duty at Camp Greeley, Alaska. It wasn’t the infantry, but it bought him some time. He used that time to learn everything he could about the way the Army worked:
He started studying policy and regulations and the relationship between the Defense Department and the Army. He also studied congressional procedures and how they relate to the military.
Skelton started writing recommendations on how to keep soldiers on active duty and how to improve wounded warrior care, and began e-mailing them to everyone he had met during his recovery. He also was becoming well versed on the medical board process, the relationship between unit commanders and hospitals and the transition between active-duty care and the Department of Veterans Affairs care system, Skelton said.
Then a huge opportunity came his way, and Skelton had a meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld:
After the meeting, Skelton was offered a job in Rumsfeld’s office as the first person at his level to look hard at the gaps in care. Skelton sat on multiple committees and served as a military advisor to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.
Skelton had a front-row seat to history-making changes in wounded warrior care that swept across the Defense Department and, to an extent, the Veterans Administration. He regularly spoke with top DoD and congressional leaders, and even the president.
It was now 2007, and Skelton said he knew his active duty time was borrowed time. He felt he would be forced to resign because of his physical limitations:
He was a former enlisted interrogator and had a passion for American-Chinese relations, so he decided he wanted to return to the Army in the foreign area officer program. He could continue his education and learn advanced Chinese.
When Skelton approached Army leadership about staying on active duty this time, he received a different response. The request was granted almost overnight.
Skelton went on to command Company E, 229th Military Intelligence Battalion, at the Defense Language Institute’s Foreign Language Center.
General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, says not all wounded soldiers who are able to go back to service, are fit for combat:
Not all of the soldiers returned to duty are deemed fit for combat duty, and at first Skelton fell into this category. But with determination, and the right qualifications, he was granted an exception to not only return to active duty but active duty combat command.
Seeing Clearly - Through One Eye
The Army's new attitude of care is more reflective of its values, Skelton said.
"The Army ethos is to never leave a fallen comrade behind. What better way to live that ethos than to show the force out there in the fight that, God forbid, if something happens to you … we will not leave you?" he said.
Skelton said he still feels the pain of his injuries every day. He has to have a neighbor or a friend button his sleeve, because his left hand will never improve. He doesn't wear an eye patch, he said, because he wants people to see the scars of war.
"I'm having fun. I'm being challenged intellectually. I'm being challenged physically and mentally," he said. "I look forward every morning to putting on the uniform and coming to work."
Also, Skelton said, he has found that fellow soldiers are inspired by his continued service and are more inclined to come to him with their problems, knowing he has had to work through his own.
"We all go through struggles in life," he said. "And none are more severe or bigger than others. They're just different."
Despite his positive outlook, Skelton said he is not sure he would want to go through the experience again. But, then again, he wouldn't rule it out. It has given him a perspective that promises hope and contentment in life, he said.
"Someone once said to me, 'You see things more clearly with one eye than I do with two,'" Skelton said. "I believe that each and every one of us should do what we love to do. And if you wake up one day and you don't love what you're doing, think about changing."
The Captain runs 5 miles a day in northern California. He runs marathons. He is learning to surf. He’s fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has a tour in China as a foreign area officer already on his resume. Skelton is a long-time rock climber, and he is back at it these days. Since his injuries, he has held classes to teach amputees how to climb. He kayaks, ice climbs, and he co-founded, and is President of Paradox Sports, a nonprofit dedicated to helping wounded service members learn new sports or get back to the sports they loved before being wounded. He graduated West Point! He is one of the youngest grads of Harvard’s Senior Executive Fellowship program. He is a Military Fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
In a few weeks, Captain D. J. Skelton will command the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment in southern Afghanistan.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Remarkable! This is the story of the Warrior spirit. I thank you and America thanks you Capt. D.J. Skelton. God bless you and protect you.
This is also an excellent video of an interview of the Capt. :
http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2008/1108_warriorcare/army_personality_video.html
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:50 AM | Comments (3)
February 21, 2011
Wounded Iraq Vet Heckled at Columbia University
Veteran Anthony Maschek (above, with fiancée Angela O'Neill) faced heckling from fellow Columbia students over ROTC
"Racist!" some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.
Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.
Wounded Iraq Vet Heckled at Columbia University
by Bruce McQuain
Apparently civility and free speech only apply to one side at Columbia University - the anti-military side. Woe be unto you if you have the temerity to stand up in an open forum as a member of the Columbia University community and voice an opinion in opposition to that which is prevalent there.
A wounded Iraq war veteran found that out recently as he stood up - something he had to learn to do again after his wounds - and gave what the NY Post describes as an "impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military." It occurred during the second of three meetings the University has scheduled to talk about ROTC and the possibility of bringing it back on campus.
Speaking truth to ignorance, Anthony Maschek said to his fellow students:
“It doesn’t matter how you feel about the war. It doesn’t matter how you feel about fighting,” said Maschek. “There are bad men out there plotting to kill you.”
One student shouted “racist” at the former soldier, awarded the Purple Heart for somehow surviving being shot 11 times .
Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds.
Maschek, who is studying economics, miraculously survived the insurgent attack in Kirkuk. In the hail of gunfire, he broke both legs and suffered wounds to his abdomen, arm and chest.
Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds.
Opinions of the military like that aren’t unheard of among some members of our colleges and universities. But this is 2011, not 1971 and the vast majority of Americans decided early on in this century that it isn’t at all acceptable anymore.
Behavior like that of Columbia’s anti-military crowd toward Mascheck is rude, crass, childish, and demonstrates a cosseted ignorance that they, for some reason, seem eager to display. It speaks to the fact that differing opinions are not welcome. And civil debate? Why bother with that when you can bravely stand up and call a wounded warrior a “racist” for simply expressing himself in an open forum?
This sort of bratty behavior toward a man who literally bled on their behalf only demonstrates for all the the emptiness of words like “tolerance”, “civility”, “acceptance” and “equality” for the Columbia anti-war students who jeered and laughed at this man. They should be mortally ashamed of themselves.
The incident also demonstrates that there is no real desire to engage and discuss – instead the emotional argument hold’s sway and any who oppose it are shouted down. Their minds are made up and they have no desire to hear dissenting opinions – their preconceived notions based in a totally naive outlook on the world have formed their unchangable opinion about the military. And ROTC.
“Universities should not be involved in military activities,” Sociology Professor Emeritus Herbert Gans told The Post. “Columbia should come out against spending $300 billion a year on unnecessary wars.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
Thank you for your service, Anthony Maschek. We are proud of you!
This really boils my blood. This soldier is a hero, and he is being heckled by a bunch of spoiled commie punks.
Why do these things always seem to happen 500 plus or whatever miles away? I would welcome the chance to be present when things like this happen. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM | Comments (10)
February 16, 2011
Obama Planning To Replace General Petraeus as Commander of US and NATO Forces in Afghanistan
REPORT: General Petraeus To Quit As US Commander In Afghanistan
The Times of London is reporting from exclusive sources that General David Petraeus, the commander of the US-led international coalition in Afghanistan, is to be replaced.
“General David Petraeus, the most celebrated American soldier of his generation, is to leave his post as commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan. The Times can reveal that the Pentagon aims to replace General Petraeus, who was appointed less than eight months ago, by the end of the year. Sources have confirmed that the search for a new commander in Kabul is under way,” reported The Times.
The report said the US is seeking sweeping changes of top US leadership in Afghanistan with the aim of establishing a view the efforts were not dependent on Petraeus’ reputation. The goal is to replace him by the end of the year.
Petraeus was installed as the commanding general only eight months ago, replacing General Stanley McChrystal who was pushed out over remarks made to a Rolling Stone magazine reporter.
“General Petraeus is doing a brilliant job but he’s been going virtually non-stop since 9/11 [and] he can’t do it forever,” Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, told The Times.
Afghanistan: Petraeus, personalities and policy
Petraeus, more than anyone else, has been identified with the intensified military campaign in Afghanistan which, according to critics of the policy, has reduced prospects of a political settlement by alienating Taliban leaders who might otherwise be coaxed into peace talks.
Petraeus has been a towering figure in Washington and difficult to challenge politically. He had what was seen in the United States as a good track record in Iraq. And he was backed by Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — making it very hard for those within the U.S. administration who disagreed with his assessment to win President Barack Obama over to their point of view.
Moreover, Obama had already sacked two generals — Generals David McKiernan and Stanley McChrystal — and could hardly dismiss a third. (If I remember rightly — and no doubt someone will correct me if I am wrong — no president since Abraham Lincoln has changed his generals so frequently in wartime.) Promoting Petraeus would be far easier.
His departure, especially with Gates on his way out, could create the space for Obama to recalibrate Afghan strategy, backing away from the military surge and focusing more on a political settlement - if he wants to do so.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Petreaus is a good military man, waging a war he’s not ALLOWED to win, seeing good men being killed and injured. No way he leaves a war un-won after only eight months in charge. That’s not his history; that’s not his style. Petraeus is not being given the freedom to implement his strategy, but instead is being ordered to follow a plan that has no hope of success. So I really think this is all on Obama and his campaign for 2012, his wanting to make the war more like tea time with the taliban then bombing the hell out of the place. To do that he would have to remove or promote Petraeus to clear the way for someone more akin to how obama thinks. Just a guess on my part, I could be wrong.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (6)
The 1st Marine Division Marines of "The Old Breed" Celebrate 70 Years ~ Awesome Video Tribute!
The 1st Marine Division was activated aboard the battleship Texas February 1, 1941. It is the oldest, largest, and most decorated division in the United States Marine Corps. Marines with 1st Marine Division Combat Camera pay tribute to "The Old Breed" on its 70th anniversary.
Wild Thing's comment........
Please know that we are all so grateful for your sacrfice!! You are our heros!!!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM
February 09, 2011
Pvt. Stefan Villareal and His Canine Partner Toki Never Far Apart, A working K9 team in Afghanistan
Pvt. Stefan Villareal and his partner Toki have been joined at the hip almost as long as they have been in the Army. Spc. Adam Ross introduces us to a duo who are learning to work as a team for Task Force Strike, based in Zhari Province, Afghanistan. Includes sound bites from PV2 Stefan ZVillareal, Dog Handler, 101st Airborne Division, 2nd Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
Wild Thing's comment.....
I love these special relationships our troops have with their caninei partners. There are some awesome stories about them from every war we have had this.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:47 AM | Comments (2)
February 08, 2011
Special Ops Marines and Connecticut National Guard Detachment To Be Deployed To Egypt
Senior US Marine Says "Multiple Platoons" Are Headed To Egypt
A senior member of the US Marine corps is telling people "multiple platoons" are deploying to Egypt, a source tells us.
There is a system within the US Marines that alerts the immediate families of high-ranking marines when their marine will soon be deployed to an emergency situation where they will not be able to talk to their spouses or families.
That alert just went out, says our source.
This senior Marine told our source that the Pentagon will deploy "multiple platoons" to Egypt over the next few days and that the official reason will be ‘to assist in the evacuation of US citizens."
Our source was told that "the chances they were going over there went from 70% yesterday to 100% today."
We're keeping these people anonymous because both would get in trouble for sharing this information with the press.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced it would move "U.S. warships and other military assets to make sure it is prepared in case evacuation of U.S. citizens from Egypt becomes necessary," according the the LA Times.
And it appears quite evident that it’s not just special ops Marines on the move.
According to a report in The Day newspaper in Connecticut:
“Connecticut National Guard Detachment 2, Company I, 185th Aviation Regiment of Groton has mobilized and will deploy to the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, to support the Multinational Force and Observers.
The unit left Connecticut Jan. 15 for Fort Benning, Ga., for further training and validation. The unit operates C-23C Sherpa aircraft and has deployed three times in the last seven years in support of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The unit will provide an on-demand aviation asset to the Multinational Force and Observers commander to support its mission of supervising the security provisions of the Egypt/ Israel Peace Treaty.
Chief Warrant Officer Four James Smith of Ivoryton, CT., commands the aviation unit.”
The key statement there being the “supervising the security provisions of the Egypt/Israel Peace Treaty”. It’s highly doubtful that mission would include any military activity in Cairo. It would seem far more likely these troops and their aircraft would be utilized elsewhere.
EGYPT: Pentagon moving warships, preparing for possible evacuations
Pentagon officials emphasized that military intervention in Egypt was not being contemplated and that the warships were being moved only for contingency purposes in case evacuations became necessary.
In addition to the Marines, the Kearsarge normally carries around four dozen helicopters and harrier jets that would permit evacuations and other humanitarian operations, the officials said. More than 1,000 Marines from the Kearsarge were sent to Afghanistan last month on a temporary deployment, leaving roughly one-third still aboard, officials said.”
As noted by the L.A. Times, the Kearsarge is an “amphibious assault ship” that’s normally equipped and manned for offensive military action.
Wild Thing's comment........
God bless our Marines and the National Guard that will be going to Egypt. I had not heard if they got the Americans out of there, maybe they are being sent too to protect Americans. The Embassy that will need protecting and eventually evacuating. Or maybe Obama wants to give Mubarak a secure way out of the country at a time when he can’t necessarily trust his own people to not kill him while trying to leave.
I sure hope obama is not sending these brave warriors there to protect his Muslim brotherhood, gosh I hate thinking that way . I would not feel comfortable being an American stuck in the Middle East right now with Obama as president.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (8)
January 30, 2011
Pentagon: Training On 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Starts In Feb. For Troops, Commanders
Pentagon: Training on 'don't ask, don't tell' starts in Feb. for troops, commanders
Using lectures, videos and PowerPoint slides, the Pentagon plans to start training commanders, chaplains and troops next month on how to adjust to a military that will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in uniform, a critical step in ending the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, officials said Friday.
The new guidelines come as President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates vowed this week to lift the ban this year, a promise in line with the expectations of gay rights groups who are seeking a swift end to the policy.
Each of the military services will be responsible for the specifics of training, which will occur in three phases. Military chaplains, lawyers and civilian personnel will go first, followed by commanding officers and the rank-and-file. The services will focus on training troops before they deploy, but some training may take place on the battlefront, officials said.
"Moving along expeditiously is better than dragging it out," Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James E. Cartwright said Friday in a briefing with reporters.
The services must submit detailed training plans to Gates by next Friday. Training should focus on reminding troops to treat one another with respect, that no policy will be established solely based on sexual orientation and that harassment or unlawful discrimination of any service member is prohibited, he said in a memo instructing the changes.
Training is likely to be led by instructors, and may include written materials, videos, vignettes describing different elements of military life and PowerPoint slides outlining the changes. Each individual will need to certify that he or she completed the training, Cartwright said.
Obama, Gates and Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen should be able to certify that the military is ready to end the ban before every service member has been trained, Cartwright said, but neither he nor Clifford L. Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, would say how long they thought individual training sessions would last.
"When you're dealing with 2.5 million people, we're probably going to have some discoveries as we go," Cartwright said. Military leaders will meet every two weeks to review potential concerns or delays.
"We do take it seriously. It won't be a 'Here, read this' and move on," Cartwright said later.
Stanley said few, if any changes to military personnel policy and benefits programs are required, because the Defense of Marriage Act prohibits extending most medical, housing and travel benefits to same-sex partners. The Pentagon will continue to explore whether gay troops could designate same-sex partners as beneficiaries, he said in a memo outlining changes.
Once the ban is lifted, the military will no longer be able to remove troops for being gay and will cease investigations of troops who allegedly violated the policy, the memo said. Current military policy on free speech, religious expression and equal opportunity is also adequate, he said.
Service members discharged for violating "don't ask, don't tell" will be eligible to reenlist, but "there will be no preferential treatment" for them. Troops dismissed for violating the ban will not be eligible for retroactive pay, Stanley said.
There will be no new policy for releasing service members opposed to repealing the gay ban, but those in opposition may request voluntary discharges. Service members may already seek voluntary discharges if they wish to go to school or refuse to be transferred to a different location. Service secretaries could grant a discharge based on opposition to ending the ban if it's in the best interest of the service, Stanley said.
Officials did not know the expected costs of the training programs, but Gates promised to provide "adequate funding."
Gay rights groups hailed the Pentagon's plans.
"A brief training period for administrators and commanders is reasonable if it means that we will be done with this law forever immediately afterward," said Alexander Nicholson, president of Servicemembers United, one of several groups that pushed last year for an end to the ban.
Critics warned Friday that the Pentagon is rushing too quickly to end the ban. Elaine Donnelly, founder of the Center for Military Readiness and a vocal opponent of changing the policy, said "scores of complicated issues and problems involving human sexuality" remain unresolved. "All of these problems will be loaded on the backs of trainers and field commanders, who will be expected to divert valuable time to deal with all of the negative consequences in the midst of ongoing wars," she said.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday however, Obama said he expects to end the policy sooner rather than later. "Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love," he said.
The next day, Gates said in an interview: "We will move as fast as we responsibly can."
But he has warned troops that enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy remains in effect until official certification is approved. Stanley would not directly say Friday whether the military is currently considering the removal of troops in violation of the policy and added that he would consider removing someone, "if the case merits."
"We are obligated to follow that law, and to say anything other than that at this time would be inappropriate," Stanley said.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Officials did not know the expected costs of the training programs, but Gates promised to provide "adequate funding."
They’re cutting out weapons systems, yet they have money for this crap.
Time spent in sensitivity training and dispute management is time stolen from real training in the ways and means of warfare. This stupidity will cost dearly in many ways. We have Iran building nucs, Eygpt going nuts and China launching missiles off the west coast. And we are wasting money on this crap when we need to train more troops to use weapons.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:47 AM | Comments (6)
January 03, 2011
An Ex-Con Finally Realizes How Much Our Troops and Veterans Have Done For Him and For America
A moment between an ex-con and an Army veteran friend is captured on film. You can see the two of them walking together at the beginning of the film.
An Ex-Con who has realized the error of his ways comes face to face with the fact that while he was committing crimes there are others who were defending his freedoms.
Wild Thing's comment........
Students should see things like this. Many of them could use a reality check like this to help change their perspectives!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (3)
January 01, 2011
Family Of Fallen Soldier Warmed By Letters, Stung By Politicians
Retired Lt. Col. Patrick Collins places his hand on his son Cpl. Sean Collins' coffin before the memorial service
Family of fallen soldier warmed by letters, stung by politicians ( OBAMA and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.)
The parents of a Yelm soldier killed in Afghanistan earlier this month have received cards from friends and strangers expressing condolences, and they’re grateful for the support. “As a father of someone killed, it is overwhelming,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Collins (Ret.).
His son, Sgt. Sean Collins, was buried Wednesday at the Tahoma National Cemetery.
Among that outpouring of empathy, two politicians inadvertently stung the family.
One slight came in a letter of condolences the family received from the office of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
At first, the Collins family appreciated that Cantwell had taken the time to send a letter acknowledging their son’s sacrifice. But the letter misidentified the slain soldier in its last paragraph, which reads:
“Again, please accept my warmest condolences. May your memories of Bryn and the knowledge that he made a positive impact on the lives of so many serve as a source of comfort to you during this time of sorrow.”
The letter was dated Dec. 20 and delivered to Sean Collins’ mother, Linda Collins of Yelm. The error conveyed to the family that Cantwell had sent a form letter.
“They couldn’t even proofread it,” she said. “I’m sure if her son had died, she would’ve at least wanted his name spelled correctly. That’s just sloppy staff work, that’s an embarrassment,” Patrick Collins said. He has not yet called Cantwell’s office to ask for an apology.
Cantwell’s office is on short staffing for the holiday week and has not replied to an email to its press staff. The Collins family was in touch with Cantwell’s office in the capital Thursday, and was told Cantwell’s staffers were looking into the mistake.
The other slight came when Patrick Collins called the White House and asked to have President Obama call his ex-wife, Linda, to talk about their son. He was told that Obama did not regularly make phone calls to the families of fallen soldiers.
Later, Patrick Collins read a story about Obama’s phone call to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie. Obama reportedly praised Lurie for giving quarterback Michael Vick a second chance to play football after serving time in prison for running a dog fighting ring.
“That burns,” Patrick Collins said Thursday. “Any soldier that gets killed in action, you’d think the president would be calling someone in the family. There’s no politics in it. His predecessor did it,” Collins said
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Sgt. Collins died with 5 of his fellow soldiers on December 12 in a suicide attack on their Kandahar province combat outpost.
Muffled sobbing quickly followed the first melancholy notes of music as they rang out for Sgt. Sean M. Collins. The fallen soldier’s father, Lt. Col. Patrick Collins (Ret.), grimaced as he fought back his own tears. He stood at attention by a casket while the bugle played taps, holding a final salute to the son he called a hero.
The 2004 Yelm High School graduate volunteered for his last tour with the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky. It was his third combat deployment in five years.
“My son was a hero,” said Patrick Collins, who served in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2005. “He could have stayed at Campbell. He had dwell time. He was a team leader and he wanted to go with his team.”
“Sean wanted to be in the Army since he was 3,” said his brother, Travis.
The day the soldiers died, Dec. 12, 2010, “will be a day no soldier in Bravo Company will ever forget,” said Capt. David Yu, according to a report from the memorial that appeared in Stars and Stripes. Yu was the commander of Collins’ company in the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
Brig. Gen. Kurt Story presided over Sgt. Collins funeral today. A seven-soldier honor guard handles the services with precision. It fired a 21-gun salute, stood by while the bugler played Taps and folded the flag over Collins’ casket with sharp, tight angles.
Story handed the flag to Linda Collins, as well as a separate flag to Patrick Collins.
“Your son will be missed, but he will never be forgotten,” Story told them.
After the military honors, Collins’ family talked with guests while the cemetery prepared a grave for his ashes. The mourners made one more caravan to the site and gathered in a circle around the grave while his urn was laid into the ground.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
First honestly I would not want to hear from either of these to democrat freaks if I had a son that was killed in the war. But I DO understand the point, it is supposed to be done or should be by their local politician and also if Obama was like Bush did there would be a phone call.
These dems in power are the worst form of humanity.
It is not an excuse if her staff made a misake or not it is still UNACCETABLE!
Remember the Ft Hood shooting, where GW Bush and his wife Laura drove to Hood to see the wounded. Several hours later, the White House called and asked the Bushes to leave. A couple of days later, Obama showed up for a speech which began with shout outs.
Posted by Wild Thing at 08:48 AM | Comments (2)
December 27, 2010
The Last Six Seconds
Speech by Marine Lt. General Kelly as he spoke.
On Nov 13, 2010, Lt General John Kelly, USMC gave a speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis , MO. This was 4 days after his son, Lt Robert Kelly, USMC was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat tour. During his speech, General Kelly spoke about the dedication and valor of our young men and women who step forward each and every day to protect us.
During the speech, he never mentioned the loss of his own son. He closed the speech with the moving account of the last 6 seconds in the lives of 2 young Marines who died with rifles blazing to protect their brother Marines.
This is that speech:
Nine years ago two of the four commercial aircraft took off from Boston, Newark, and Washington. Took off fully loaded with men, women and children—all innocent, and all soon to die. These aircraft were targeted at the World Trade Towers in New York, the Pentagon, and likely the Capitol in Washington, D.C… Three found their mark. No American alive old enough to remember will ever forget exactly where they were, exactly what they were doing, and exactly who they were with at the moment they watched the aircraft dive into the World Trade Towers on what was, until then, a beautiful morning in New York City. Within the hour 3,000 blameless human beings would be vaporized, incinerated, or crushed in the most agonizing ways imaginable. The most wretched among them—over 200—driven mad by heat, hopelessness, and utter desperation leapt to their deaths from 1,000 feet above Lower Manhattan. We soon learned hundreds more were murdered at the Pentagon, and in a Pennsylvania farmer’s field.
Once the buildings had collapsed and the immensity of the attack began to register most of us had no idea of what to do, or where to turn. As a nation, we were scared like we had not been scared for generations. Parents hugged their children to gain as much as to give comfort. Strangers embraced in the streets stunned and crying on one another’s shoulders seeking solace, as much as to give it. Instantaneously, American patriotism soared not “as the last refuge” as our national-cynical class would say, but in the darkest times Americans seek refuge in family, and in country, remembering that strong men and women have always stepped forward to protect the nation when the need was dire—and it was so God awful dire that day—and remains so today.
There was, however, a small segment of America that made very different choices that day…actions the rest of America stood in awe of on 9/11 and every day since. The first were our firefighters and police, their ranks decimated that day as they ran towards—not away from—danger and certain death. They were doing what they’d sworn to do—“protect and serve”—and went to their graves having fulfilled their sacred oath. Then there was your Armed Forces, and I know I am a little biased in my opinion here, but the best of them are Marines. Most wearing the Eagle, Globe and Anchor today joined the unbroken ranks of American heroes after that fateful day not for money, or promises of bonuses or travel to exotic liberty ports, but for one reason and one reason alone; because of the terrible assault on our way of life by men they knew must be killed and extremist ideology that must be destroyed. A plastic flag in their car window was not their response to the murderous assault on our country. No, their response was a commitment to protect the nation swearing an oath to their God to do so, to their deaths. When future generations ask why America is still free and the heyday of Al Qaeda and their terrorist allies was counted in days rather than in centuries as the extremists themselves predicted, our hometown heroes—soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines—can say, “because of me and people like me who risked all to protect millions who will never know my name.”
As we sit here right now, we should not lose sight of the fact that America is at risk in a way it has never been before. Our enemy fights for an ideology based on an irrational hatred of who we are. Make no mistake about that no matter what certain elements of the “chattering class” relentlessly churn out. We did not start this fight, and it will not end until the extremists understand that we as a people will never lose our faith or our courage. If they persist, these terrorists and extremists and the nations that provide them sanctuary, they must know they will continue to be tracked down and captured or killed. America’s civilian and military protectors both here at home and overseas have for nearly nine years fought this enemy to a standstill and have never for a second “wondered why.” They know, and are not afraid. Their struggle is your struggle. They hold in disdain those who claim to support them but not the cause that takes their innocence, their limbs, and even their lives. As a democracy—“We the People”—and that by definition is every one of us—sent them away from home and hearth to fight our enemies. We are all responsible. I know it doesn’t apply to those of us here tonight but if anyone thinks you can somehow thank them for their service, and not support the cause for which they fight—America’s survival—then they are lying to themselves and rationalizing away something in their lives, but, more importantly, they are slighting our warriors and mocking their commitment to the nation.
Since this generation’s “day of infamy” the American military has handed our ruthless enemy defeat-after-defeat but it will go on for years, if not decades, before this curse has been eradicated. We have done this by unceasing pursuit day and night into whatever miserable lair Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their allies, might slither into to lay in wait for future opportunities to strike a blow at freedom. America’s warriors have never lost faith in their mission, or doubted the correctness of their cause. They face dangers everyday that their countrymen safe and comfortable this night cannot imagine. But this has always been the case in all the wars our military have been sent to fight. Not to build empires, or enslave peoples, but to free those held in the grip of tyrants while at the same time protecting our nation, its citizens, and our shared values. And, ladies and gentlemen, think about this, the only territory we as a people have ever asked for from any nation we have fought alongside, or against, since our founding, the entire extent of our overseas empire, as a few hundred acres of land for the 24 American cemeteries scattered around the globe. It is in these cemeteries where 220,000 of our sons and daughters rest in glory for eternity, or are memorialized forever because their earthly remains are lost forever in the deepest depths of the oceans, or never recovered from far flung and nameless battlefields. As a people, we can be proud because billions across the planet today live free, and billions yet unborn will also enjoy the same freedom and a chance at prosperity because America sent its sons and daughters out to fight and die for them, as much as for us.
Yes, we are at war, and are winning, but you wouldn’t know it because successes go unreported, and only when something does go sufficiently or is sufficiently controversial, it is highlighted by the media elite that then sets up the “know it all” chattering class to offer their endless criticism. These self-proclaimed experts always seem to know better—but have never themselves been in the arena. We are at war and like it or not, that is a fact. It is not Bush’s war, and it is not Obama’s war, it is our war and we can’t run away from it. Even if we wanted to surrender, there is no one to surrender to. Our enemy is savage, offers absolutely no quarter, and has a single focus and that is either kill every one of us here at home, or enslave us with a sick form of extremism that serves no God or purpose that decent men and women could ever grasp. St Louis is as much at risk as is New York and Washington, D.C… Given the opportunity to do another 9/11, our merciless enemy would do it today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter. If, and most in the know predict that it is only a matter of time, he acquires nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, these extremists will use these weapons of mass murder against us without a moment’s hesitation. These butchers we fight killed more than 3,000 innocents on 9/11. As horrible as that death toll was, consider for a moment that the monsters that organized those strikes against New York and Washington, D.C. killed only 3,000 not because that was enough to make their sick and demented point, but because he couldn’t figure out how to kill 30,000, or 300,000, or 30 million of us that terrible day. I don’t know why they hate us, and I don’t care. We have a saying in the Marine Corps and that is “no better friend, no worse enemy, than a U.S. Marine.” We always hope for the first, friendship, but are certainly more than ready for the second. If its death they want, its death they will get, and the Marines will continue showing them the way to hell if that’s what will make them happy.
Because our America hasn’t been successfully attacked since 9/11 many forget because we want to forget…to move on. As Americans we all dream and hope for peace, but we must be realistic and acknowledge that hope is never an option or course of action when the stakes are so high. Others are less realistic or less committed, or are working their own agendas, and look for ways to blame past presidents or in some other way to rationalize a way out of this war. The problem is our enemy is not willing to let us go. Regardless of how much we wish this nightmare would go away, our enemy will stay forever on the offensive until he hurts us so badly we surrender, or we kill him first. To him, this is not about our friendship with Israel, or about territory, resources, jobs, or economic opportunity in the Middle East. No, it is about us as a people. About our freedom to worship any God we please in any way we want. It is about the worth of every man, and the worth of every woman, and their equality in the eyes of God and the law; of how we live our lives with our families, inside the privacy of our own homes. It’s about the God-given rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable right.” As Americans we hold these truths to be self-evident. He doesn’t. We love what we have; he despises who we are. Our positions can never be reconciled. He cannot be deterred…only defeated. Compromise is out of the question.
It is a fact that our country today is in a life and death struggle against an evil enemy, but America as a whole is certainly not at war. Not as a country. Not as a people. Today, only a tiny fraction—less than a percent—shoulder the burden of fear and sacrifice, and they shoulder it for the rest of us. Their sons and daughters who serve are men and women of character who continue to believe in this country enough to put life and limb on the line without qualification, and without thought of personal gain, and they serve so that the sons and daughters of the other 99% don’t have to. No big deal, though, as Marines have always been “the first to fight” paying in full the bill that comes with being free…for everyone else.
The comforting news for every American is that our men and women in uniform, and every Marine, is as good today as any in our history. As good as what their heroic, under-appreciated, and largely abandoned fathers and uncles were in Vietnam, and their grandfathers were in Korea and World War II. They have the same steel in their backs and have made their own mark etching forever places like Ramadi, Fallujah, and Baghdad, Iraq, and Helmand and Sagin, Afghanistan that are now part of the legend and stand just as proudly alongside Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, Inchon, Hue City, Khe Sanh, and Ashau Valley, Vietnam. None of them have every asked what their country could do for them, but always and with their lives asked what they could do for America. While some might think we have produced yet another generation of materialistic, consumeristic and self-absorbed young people, those who serve today have broken the mold and stepped out as real men, and real women, who are already making their own way in life while protecting ours. They know the real strength of a platoon, a battalion, or a country that is not worshiping at the altar of diversity, but in a melting point that stitches and strengthens by a sense of shared history, values, customs, hopes and dreams all of which unifies a people making them stronger, as opposed to an unruly gaggle of “hyphenated” or “multi-cultural individuals.”
And what are they like in combat in this war? Like Marines have been throughout our history. In my three tours in combat as an infantry officer and commanding general, I never saw one of them hesitate, or do anything other than lean into the fire and with no apparent fear of death or injury take the fight to our enemies. As anyone who has ever experienced combat knows, when it starts, when the explosions and tracers are everywhere and the calls for the Corpsman are screamed from the throats of men who know they are dying—when seconds seem like hours and it all becomes slow motion and fast forward at the same time—and the only rational act is to stop, get down, save yourself—they don’t. When no one would call them coward for cowering behind a wall or in a hole, slave to the most basic of all human instincts—survival—none of them do. It doesn’t matter if it’s an IED, a suicide bomber, mortar attack, sniper, fighting in the upstairs room of a house, or all of it at once; they talk, swagger, and, most importantly, fight today in the same way America’s Marines have since the Tun Tavern. They also know whose shoulders they stand on, and they will never shame any Marine living or dead.
We can also take comfort in the fact that these young Americans are not born killers, but are good and decent young men and women who for going on ten years have performed remarkable acts of bravery and selflessness to a cause they have decided is bigger and more important than themselves. Only a few months ago they were delivering your paper, stocking shelves in the local grocery store, worshiping in church on Sunday, or playing hockey on local ice. Like my own two sons who are Marines and have fought in Iraq, and today in Sagin, Afghanistan, they are also the same kids that drove their cars too fast for your liking, and played the God-awful music of their generation too loud, but have no doubt they are the finest of their generation. Like those who went before them in uniform, we owe them everything. We owe them our safety. We owe them our prosperity. We owe them our freedom. We owe them our lives. Any one of them could have done something more self-serving with their lives as the vast majority of their age group elected to do after high school and college, but no, they chose to serve knowing full well a brutal war was in their future. They did not avoid the basic and cherished responsibility of a citizen—the defense of country—they welcomed it. They are the very best this country produces, and have put every one of us ahead of themselves. All are heroes for simply stepping forward, and we as a people owe a debt we can never fully pay. Their legacy will be of selfless valor, the country we live in, the way we live our lives, and the freedoms the rest of their countrymen take for granted.
Over 5,000 have died thus far in this war; 8,000 if you include the innocents murdered on 9/11. They are overwhelmingly working class kids, the children of cops and firefighters, city and factory workers, school teachers and small business owners. With some exceptions they are from families short on stock portfolios and futures, but long on love of country and service to the nation. Just yesterday, too many were lost and a knock on the door late last night brought their families to their knees in a grief that will never-ever go away. Thousands more have suffered wounds since it all started, but like anyone who loses life or limb while serving others—including our firefighters and law enforcement personnel who on 9/11 were the first casualties of this war—they are not victims as they knew what they were about, and were doing what they wanted to do. The chattering class and all those who doubt America’s intentions, and resolve, endeavor to make them and their families out to be victims, but they are wrong. We who have served and are serving refuse their sympathy. Those of us who have lived in the dirt, sweat and struggle of the arena are not victims and will have none of that. Those with less of a sense of service to the nation never understand it when men and women of character step forward to look danger and adversity straight in the eye, refusing to blink, or give ground, even to their own deaths. The protected can’t begin to understand the price paid so they and their families can sleep safe and free at night. No, they are not victims, but are warriors, your warriors, and warriors are never victims regardless of how and where they fall. Death, or fear of death, has no power over them. Their paths are paved by sacrifice, sacrifices they gladly make…for you. They prove themselves everyday on the field of battle…for you. They fight in every corner of the globe…for you. They live to fight…for you, and they never rest because there is always another battle to be won in the defense of America.
I will leave you with a story about the kind of people they are. About the quality of the steel in their backs. About the kind of dedication they bring to our country while they serve in uniform and forever after as veterans.
Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 “The Walking Dead,” and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour. Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda.
Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island . They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America ’s exist simultaneously depending on one’s race, education level, economic status, and where you might have been born.
But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.
The mission orders they received from the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like: “Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” “You clear?” I am also sure Yale and Haerter then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like: “Yes Sergeant,” with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, “No kidding sweetheart, we know what we’re doing.”
They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, Al Anbar, Iraq .
A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way-perhaps 60-70 yards in length-and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically.
Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck’s engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it stopped. Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000 pounds of explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen didn’t have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms.
When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event-just Iraqi police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I’d have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer.
I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down into the alley and immediately sped up as it made its way through the serpentine. They all said, “We knew immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing.” The Iraqi police then related that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously.
One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears welling up said, “They’d run like any normal man would to save his life.” “What he didn’t know until then,” he said, “and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not normal.” Choking past the emotion he said, “Sir, in the name of God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did.” “No sane man.” “They saved us all.”
What we didn’t know at the time, and only learned a couple of days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated.
You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: “.let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass.” The two Marines had about five seconds left to live.
It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were-some running right past the Marines.
They had three seconds left to live.
For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines’ weapons firing non-stop.the truck’s windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the SOB who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers-American and Iraqi-bedded down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground. If they had been aware, they would have known they were safe, because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live.
The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty, into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight-for you.
We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow to man while he lived on this earth-freedom.
We also believe he gave us another gift nearly as precious-our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines-to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can every steal it away.
It has been my distinct honor to have been with you here today. Rest assured our America, this experiment in democracy started over two centuries ago, will forever remain the “land of the free and home of the brave” so long as we never run out of tough young Americans who are willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down, and kill, those who would do us harm.
God Bless America , and..SEMPER FIDELIS!”
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Wild Thing's comment........
WHEW wow, there is no way I could read this without crying. I am in awe of our Veterans and our men and women serving today. Awe because of their spirit, their hearts and their sacrifices they have made and continue to make for our country and for all of us to keep us free and safe. Our country has been so blessed to have such warriors.
Thank you, General Kelly for telling their story while in mourning for your son.
My condolences to General Kelly.May his son, Lt. Kelly Rest In Peace. And also the two heroes cited by General Kelly, Marines, forever young, and to whom we owe so much.
"We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow to man while he lived on this earth-freedom. We also believe he gave us another gift nearly as precious-our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines-to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can every steal it away."
God I wish I could do something more for our warriors and Veterans.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (8)
December 26, 2010
Officer Won't Sign Order For Troop Indoctrination
Officer won't sign order for troop indoctrination
Obama's repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is already damaging the U.S. military.
An Army lieutenant colonel has asked to be relieved of command rather than order his troops to go through pro-homosexual indoctrination following the repeal of the policy, which required homosexuals to keep silent about their sexual preference.
Currently the commander of a battalion-sized unit in the Army National Guard, the officer also has threatened to resign his commission rather than undergo "behavior modification" training intended to counter his religious convictions about homosexuality.
The soldier sent the following letter to his commanding officer:
Subject: Request for Relief from Command due to Personal Moral Conflict with New Homosexual Policy
1. I respectfully request to be relieved of Command of XXX Squadron, XXX Cavalry prior to new policy implementation subsequent to the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." My personal religious beliefs and moral convictions do not permit me to treat homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, compatible with military service, any more than adultery, illicit drug use, or criminal activity. I believe this lifestyle runs counter to good order and discipline in military units, and I refuse to sacrifice my belief system, protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, in order to fall in line with the command policy that will logically follow. This new policy will undoubtedly include mandatory sensitivity training as well as same-sex partner inclusion in Family Readiness Group activities and integration into the full spectrum of other military benefits, as well as a whole new category of discrimination standards and investigative procedures. I will not, as a commander, put my signature on a training schedule or other document recognizing or legitimizing any of these things that contradict my personal beliefs.
2. I would like to remain in the XXX Army National Guard until I am eligible for retirement (at 20 years and 0 days), which would be in the late summer of 2012, but on grounds of my religious beliefs, I will not attend sensitivity or behavior modification training consequential to this policy change, even if it means disciplinary action. I regret that I cannot continue to serve in the military further, but feel that my efforts would be insincere because my heart will no longer be in it."
"I will not be the person who forces this training on my soldiers," the officer, whose identity was being protected, told WND. He plans to go on the record as soon as he discusses his request with his chain of command.
The officer said he's aware of other officers who intend to resign their commissions.
"These people want to serve. I want to serve. I love my job, but I can't do this job once they begin to implement this policy," he told WND.
Under the terms of the DADT repeal, the armed forces will not be permitted to allow open homosexuality in the service until the president, secretary of defense and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff can certify that terminating DADT will not impair military readiness. During the transition period that will precede certification, the military plans to require servicemen to attend mandatory training sessions intended to change their attitudes toward homosexuality.
"Very few soldiers are fine with open homosexuals in the service," said the officer. "I cannot believe the numbers jibe with what was published in the previous survey," referring to a study commissioned by the Pentagon to assess whether the military could safely repeal DADT.
"I did not give up my constitutional rights and freedom of religion when I joined the military. I don't believe in subjecting myself to all of the behavior modification and sensitivity training. They're going to try to push the position that this is an acceptable lifestyle."
Beyond concerns about violating his own conscience and the beliefs of his soldiers, the officer predicts several additional adverse consequences to repealing the military's ban on open homosexuality.
"I don't believe the steps they're taking allow a commander to maintain good order and discipline in a military unit," the officer told WND. "DADT was a compromise to allow homosexuals to serve as long as they kept it to themselves. Now they'll be able to throw their lifestyle in everybody's face and commanders won't be able to do anything about it."
The officer also predicted problems with retention and recruitment:
"I think it might not have an immediate, huge impact, but as enlistments expire you'll get people who vote with their feet and leave the service, and I don't believe the recruiting effort is going to offset the amount of people that leave. The military historically attracts a more conservative group of people who have certain principles and beliefs and swear an oath to the Constitution."
Some experts predict as many as a quarter of Americans in military service will resign or leave earlier than planned because of the advent of open homosexuality. Nearly half of the Marine Corps respondents to the Pentagon survey said they would consider leaving the service earlier than planned.
The officer also predicted growing security problems as homosexuals become more prevalent in the service.
"One of the Army values is selfless service. Placing the good of the nation above personal desires is an essential trait of a good soldier, who may be called upon to give his or her life in the nation's defense. When you start trying to attract people who are so self-centered that they put living their lifestyle out in the open above the needs of their country and national defense, then you have a really dangerous combination. That's when you get instances like PFC Bradley Manning, who is a homosexual. Because of his personal beliefs and bitterness toward the military he decided to leak 150,000 sensitive wires that have done irreparable damage to our nation."
Manning, an openly gay soldier, reportedly sent many thousands of sensitive documents to the Wikileaks website out of anger over the military's ban on open homosexuality.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
An Army lieutenant colonel has asked to be relieved of command rather than order his troops to go through pro-homosexual indoctrination following the repeal of the policy, which required homosexuals to keep silent about their sexual preference.
Incredible. They already have the “training programs” in place? I guess they (the US govt under Dictator Obama were pretty sure this was going to go through.
This was the primary objective of the homosexual agenda in general and the repeal of DADT specifically: Demoralize and compromise the United States military.
The Left is using our Military, which they hate so much, as a mechanism by which their agenda is inflicted upon society and culture and anyone who dares to disagree will have the full force of military justice turned upon them and they will risk having their lives destroyed if they don't "get their mind right"
Never forget the names of these worthless so called Republicans that voted Yes along with the Democrats on this:
Brown (R-MA)
Burr (R-NC)
Collins (R-ME)
Ensign (R-NV)
Kirk (R-IL)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Snowe (R-ME)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Republicans Not Voting:
Bunning (R-KY)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (10)
Vets Protest Plan Opening Military To Homosexuals
Vets protest plan opening military to homosexuals
Officer requests command relief over scheduled 'behavior modifications'
Veterans and active duty personnel alike are reacting harshly to the news that Barack Obama has signed the repeal of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, and one much-needed leader already could be lost to the military.
A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army has confirmed to WND that he is asking to be relieved of the command of his squadron because of the new policy. And former combat personnel are telling WND that they are continuing to keep the pressure on Congress to reverse itself.
"I have already requested through my chain of command that I be relieved of command of my squadron prior to new policy implementation on grounds that my personal beliefs don't permit me to force the coming 'behavior modifications' training and other inevitable policies on my soldiers," the officer, whose name has been withheld, wrote to WND.
The statement highlights the question of whether soldiers themselves are ready to go along with the controversial social experiment imposed by Congress, or whether they'll carefully withdraw from command positions and troop ranks, pack their bags and leave the military.
Earlier, during congressional debate over the radical Obama plan to make the military more "gay"-friendly, officials reported that 12.6 percent of the personnel, some 264,600 soldiers, said they would leave sooner than planned because of the change. Another quarter of a million said that would be among their options when considering their careers.
The survey, done by the military itself, said nearly one-third of Marines would leave sooner than planned and another 16.2 percent would consider that – hitting possibly half of the members of the corps.
Another member of the military, whose name also is being withheld, warned that group showers, lack of doors on bathroom stalls and no doors in dressing areas now become issues.
"Who do I sue if I feel harassed? The drill instructor? His commanding officer? The post/base commander? Or does my harasser suffer a fall going down the stairs? Or from a high point in the obstacle course? How many harassment complaints until the pervert is washed out? How many witnesses to the event are required?" he asked.
"I presume our military are no longer welcome in Saudi Arabia where homosexuality is a capital crime," he suggested.
With Obama's signature today on the law that had been approved earlier by Congress, the protests are surging. America's leading veterans groups are helping lead the charge.
"The members are making their sentiments known," Marty Callaghan, a spokesman for the American Legion in Washington. D.C., said. "They are making comments."
Sometimes the comments appeared to go into a black hole.
"I just wrote my Republican Sen. Richard Burr, who voted for this bill," William R. Bridgeman, who served in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division, said.
He also served in the first Gulf War.
"I suppose a decadent society with decadent politicians is more than comfortable with a decadent military," he added.
But Burr was not responding.
His office declined to respond to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment for the WND story.
Callaghan said the veterans organization had urged patience and a thorough review.
"We sent a letter asking them not to rush through repeal of DADT," he said.
The policy was created about 17 years ago when the nation's law read that it is illegal for homosexuals to be in the military. The accommodation to those who choose an alternative sexual lifestyle was that if they did not publicize their choice, the military would not inquire.
A wide range of combat veterans say the law simply substitutes political correctness for military readiness, and that already is harming U.S. national security and morale.
"This further increases the political correctness syndrome within the military," said Brian McDowell, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 and is now a chief investment officer with FBR Wealth Management Group.
"Loss of attention equals mission failure."
McDowell, who earned 18 awards and medals in the military and graduated from a number of leadership and command programs, warned soldiers need to concentrate on "weapons cleaning, physical fitness, strategy, tactics, potential threat responses, and operational multipliers, to name a few. Anything that takes attention away from these things increases the chance of not succeeding."
Social experimentation and political correctness were not among the priorities he cited.
"While our combat troops continue to focus on their mission on the war-front throughout the world, Congress can't focus on funding those very service members," said Tim Tetz, director of the Legion's legislative division.
He said Congress clearly didn't "take whatever time is necessary to understand the nuances a repeal of 'Don't ask, don't tell' would have on our nation's fighting forces."
The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, and the leaders of the Army and Air Force have voiced similar analysis. They agreed in testimony earlier this month before the Senate Armed Services Committee that repeal would be a distraction upon those in combat now.
Robert W. Spanogle, a past national commander of The American Legion, is taken aback by the lame-duck session's actions.
"Count me in with the commandant and those soldiers and Marines in the mud on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq, the tip of the spear," said Spanogle. "Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed said they believed there would be a negative impact on their unit's effectiveness with a repeal of 'Don't ask, don't tell.'"
While advocates for promoting homosexuality are awash in good cheer over their work, people with military experience fear the harm that is developing.
"This is a volunteer force with honorable men and women volunteering to give up their lives if needed in order to achieve the objectives of their country," McDowell said.
"If this attitude of valor is not respected by our policy makers we will see a degrading in the general order and discipline of our forces, by both soldier and commander," he said.
The soldier who raised concerns about privacy suggested to WND the military course of action now is filled with pitfalls that have yet to be considered.
"I presume now that all public bathrooms in America are unisex and all doors on the stalls will be removed? What's great for the military is great for society right? Isn't that what the lefties are telling us? So women using the toilet will have men watching them. Hey, we are all adults right? We won't peek and pedophiles won't sneak cameras into public bathrooms," he wrote.
"The real issue will be unequal treatment of men if you stop them from showering with women. Isn't the very nature of sexual attraction and the normalcy of it the point here?
"Why let one class of people shower with their muses while denying the majority the very same privilege? Otherwise won't we have to make lesbians shower with hetero men?
"So they aren't making the women in the shower uncomfortable? Ditto for gay guys. Will gay men only shower with hetero women? What do we do with the transgendered or bisexuals?" he said.
The reaction was moving far beyond the ranks, too. Leading traditionalist civil rights attorneys were dismayed by the law's enactment, but vowed to join veterans and active duty servicemen in the fight.
Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan, said the military now will be under the microscope by those who watch for rights violations.
"The Thomas More Law Center will review cases of discrimination against Christian service members as a result of this repeal, and where appropriate, defend at no charge those service members penalized for resisting this abhorrent new 'morality' being forced upon them."
He noted during George Washington's command of the Continental Army, he approved the sentence dismissing an officer from the service for attempted sodomy in 1778.
Washington ordered the officer drummed out of camp and never be allowed to return.
"Service in the United States military is not a right," Thompson explained. "The fact that someone wants to serve in the military has never been the sole standard by which to allow service. The military has historically been selective about who can join, imposing restrictions based on age, weight, physical fitness, health, drug usage, and more. "
He charged that Obama and Congress had no thoughts other than to "curry favor with homosexual groups.
"It betrays our combat troops who overwhelming spoke out against it. And in time, it will destroy the religious foundations and the high moral standards that are characteristic of our military. It was those religious and moral standards, and not the sophistication of our military hardware, that made the American soldier the best in the world," he said.
WND previously reported that under the specification of the language in the law, the policy must remain in force until the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff can certify that the change will not impair combat readiness.
Before that happens the military must rewrite laws and regulations that could affect same-sex relationships, such as the Uniform Code of Military Justice ban on sodomy and also indoctrinate soldiers, sailors and airmen to tolerate open homosexuality. The transition period is expected to take a year.
"It's important for people to know that this is not over," said Robert Knight, a leading opponent of the homosexual political agenda. "There are no permanent victories or defeats in politics. And this can be reversed at some point, in a more conservative Congress."
Demonstrating that the repeal will not adversely affect the military could prove a great challenge for the president.
"We think it's going to be very damaging to readiness and recruiting," said Tommy Sears, executive director of the Center for Military Readiness. "You're going to have people currently serving, valuable, experienced individuals, refusing to continue. On the flip side, people who would have considered serving will not because this policy is going to say you must accept this open homosexuality policy. The military will not do things halfway. They will impose a zero tolerance policy for the full range of preferences and rights for homosexuals."
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Wild Thing's comment........
Making the Army bleed to death without fighting back in Afghanistan wasn't enough for Obama.
The military is no place for social engineering, and this policy is clearly causing problems with morale.
This isn't about freedoms and civil rights -- this is about changing the moral code. And what a way to do it -- forcing it upon the traditionally conservative institution of our US Military.
There is something we have been seeing much to much of in our country. The number of homosexuals in our country is very small compared to the total population, yet our government gives in to them. The number of Muslims in our country is small ( so far) again compared to the masses that are not Muslim. The comparison can go on with other issues and topics as well. So why in the hell does this kind of thing continue, why can't those we elect take a stand and even mention the small minority demanding things that are only destructive to our country and like this is to our Military. I could speak up easily and darn well would, and I know all of you here at this blog would as well if we were elected officials. Maybe the Tea Party movement will have given those elected more backbone to do just that......... speak up and stop the insanity and treason against what our country has stood for in so many areas.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:47 AM | Comments (4)
Tacoma Native Awarded Silver Star in Afghanistan
Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey pins a Silver Star Medal on U.S. Army Spc. Nicholas Robinson of Tacoma, WA, Company D, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, during a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Salerno Dec. 23rd. (Photo by U.S. Army Pfc. Christopher McKenna, Task Force Rakkasan Public Affairs)
Tacoma native awarded Silver Star in Afghanistan
It was a typical morning in Afghanistan and Spc. Nicholas Robinson was just about finished with a six-hour guard duty shift at an Afghan police compound near his combat outpost.
Then all hell broke loose.
A mortar round landed roughly 20 meters in front of his guard tower.
“It knocked me back and when I got up I saw an explosion like nothing I had ever seen before going off,” the Tacoma native told a public affairs writer with the 101st Airborne Division’s Task Force Leader Rakkasan. “Then gunfire erupted from every possible side you could imagine.”
Over the next seven minutes in the first combat action he had seen, Robinson killed one insurgent carrying a rocket launcher and then held off 15 to 20 insurgents, killing two of them. One of them was a suicide bomber who got to within 50 feet of Robinson.
For his heroism and bravery, Army Chief of Staff George Casey presented Robinson Thursday with a Silver Star, the Army’s third highest award for valor in combat.
During the brief award ceremony at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Casey said Robinson’s actions were in keeping with the finest tradition of heroism and courage under fire, according to an Army press release.
Noting that soldiers always remember the first time they saw action and pointing out that this attack was Robinson’s baptism under fire, Casey asked them if they all responded “the same way Spc. Robinson did.”
Robinson, a machine gunner with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, recalled that when the bullets started flying he grabbed a Russian PKM machine gun and fired back. He killed one insurgent 35 yard away who was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
More insurgents followed firing all kinds of weapons, Robinson said.
“So I just shot up all the ammo I could at them,” he said. “Then an (American) 240 machine gun was brought up because more people were coming up so I used that.”
Another mortar round went off in front of him about the same time as he ran out of ammunition on the M240. He then grabbed an AK-47 (automatic rifle) from one of the border policemen and began shooting the remaining insurgents including the suicide bomber.
At the ceremony, Casey told the assembled troops stories of recent Medal of Honor awardees and said Robinson’s actions were an example of the courage that is spoken of when talking about heroes.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Outstanding! Spc. Robinson!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:45 AM | Comments (3)
December 19, 2010
Straight Troops Must Shower With Gays, Says DOD Working Group
Straight Troops Must Shower With Gays, Says DOD Working Group--‘Gay Men Have Learned to Avoid Making Heterosexuals Feel Uncomfortable or Threatened in Situations Such as This’
Saturday, December 18, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey
A special Defense Department working group appointed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recommended that the military should “expressly prohibit” heterosexuals from using separate showers, bathrooms and bunking facilities from homosexuals when the repeal of the law banning homosexuals from the military goes into effect.
The working group has also recommended that commanding officers be left with the authority to exempt individuals from using the same showers, bathrooms and living facilities as homosexuals, but only on a “case-by-case” basis.
The House voted earlier this week and the Senate voted this afternoon to repeal the military ban on homosexuals, which has often been referred to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
The working group’s Nov. 30 report—“Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’”–concluded that permitting heterosexuals to use separate showers, bathrooms and bunking facilities from homosexuals of the same gender would “stigmatize” homosexuals and be “reminiscent of ‘separate but equal’ facilities for blacks prior to the 1960s.”
“In the course of our review we heard from a very large number of Service members about their discomfort with sharing bathroom facilities or living quarters with those they know to be gay or lesbian,” said the report. “Some went so far to suggest that a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell may even require separate bathroom and shower facilities for gay men and lesbians. We disagree, and recommend against separate facilities. Though many regard the very discussion of this topic as offensive, given the number of Service members who raised it, we are obliged to address it.”
The working group was co-chaired by Jeh Charles Johnson, the Defense Department’s general counsel, and U.S. Army Gen. Carter F. Ham.
“The creation of a third and possibly fourth category of bathroom facilities and living quarters, whether at bases or forward deployed areas, would be a logistical nightmare, expensive, and impossible to administer,” said the report.
“And, even if it could be achieved and administered, separate facilities would, in our view, stigmatize gay and lesbian Service members in a manner reminiscent of ‘separate but equal' facilities for blacks prior to the 1960s,” said the report.
“Accordingly,” the report concluded, “we recommend that the Department of Defense expressly prohibit berthing or billeting assignments or the designation of bathroom facilities based on sexual orientation. At the same time, commanders would retain the authority they currently have to alter berthing or billeting assignments or accommodate privacy concerns on an individualized, case-by-case basis, in the interests of morale, good order and discipline, and consistent with performance of mission. It should also be recognized that commanders already have the tools—from counseling, to non-judicial punishment, to UCMJ prosecution—to deal with misbehavior in either living quarters or showers, whether the person who engages in the misconduct is gay or straight.”
The report quoted the adverse sentiments of a number of service members who participated in focus groups where they indicated they did not want to have to shower, use the bathroom or roommate with homosexuals.
“I live in the barracks and I don’t think that it would go over well in that kind of environment,” one service member told a DOD focus group. “I’m concerned about how people would treat that individual.”
“In the privacy side of the thing, they’ll have to make some changes to the current infrastructure, [for example] privacy stalls in the bathrooms,” said another service member.
“I do not have to shower or sleep in a room with men so I do not want to shower or sleep in the same room as a woman who is homosexual,” said a female service member. “I would feel uncomfortable changing and sleeping as I would if it was a man in the room. I should not have to accept this.”
“Tell him if he hits on me I will kick his - - -!” said another service member who participated in a DOD focus group.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This has everything to do with weakening our military by lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, and creating discomfortable situations within our uniformed services, and inviting good Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines to leave and be replaced by...(use your imagination).
It also has to do with destroying the military traditions and culture.
What is next? Sensitivity training and indoctrination seminars?
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:55 AM | Comments (14)
Senate Passes Bill to Lift Military Gay Ban ~ Not A Good Day For America and Our Troops!!!
The final vote was 65-31, with eight Republicans crossing the aisle to support the measure.
Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and Sen. John Ensign (R., Nev.) both voted to repeal the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on homosexuality. The measure passed by a 65–31 margin this afternoon. Other Republicans voting in favor of repeal: Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.), Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.), Sen. George Voinovich (Ohio), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and the Maine ladies, Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins.
Burr said it was not a difficult vote to cast, despite his state’s being home to Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast. Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, had been one of the most high-profile opponents of repeal.
“Even though this bill has now passed, it should never be enacted immediately,” he said, expressing concern over how and when the bill would go into effect. Burr said he hoped the implementation process would address his concerns and those of military officials, like General Amos, who had come out against repeal. “The speed with which this was done ignores their input and their concerns,” he said.
With this repeal, the process is set in motion to, for the first time in U.S. history, allow gays to serve openly in the military without having to hide their sexual orientation. Under President Bill Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, men and women in service were required to stay silent about their sexuality, and since 1993 more than 13,500 service members were dismissed for failing to do so.
Earlier this week the House approved the bill by a 250-174 vote. The next step is for President Obama and his top military advisers to certify to Congress that ending the repeal of this policy would not hurt the ability of troops to fight. Thereafter, there will be a 60-day waiting period before the passed bill becomes law.
New Hampshire Senator Shaheen says this move will strengthen our national security.
NO it won't~ ~ Wild Thing
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Marine general suggests repeal of 'don't ask' could result in casualties
The Marine Corps' top general suggested Tuesday that allowing gays to serve openly in the military could result in more casualties because their presence on the battlefield would pose "a distraction."
"When your life hangs on the line," said Gen. James F. Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps, "you don't want anything distracting. . . . Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines' lives."
He cited a recent Defense Department survey in which a large percentage of Marine combat veterans predicted that repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" law would harm "unit cohesion" and their tight-knit training for war.
"So the Marines came back and they said, 'Look, anything that's going to break or potentially break that focus and cause any kind of distraction may have an effect on cohesion,' " he said. "I don't want to permit that opportunity to happen. And I'll tell you why. If you go up to Bethesda [Naval] Hospital . . . Marines are up there with no legs, none. We've got Marines at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] with no limbs."
Amos had said previously that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly could cause "distractions" and "risks" for combat units. But his remarks Tuesday were the first time that he or any other senior military leader has suggested that repealing the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law could directly endanger troops and cost lives.
The Marine Corps leaders have been more resistant to overturning the law than other branches of the armed forces.
The Defense Department survey, released last month, found that 58 percent of those in Marine combat arms units predicted that repeal would negatively affect their ability to "work together to get the job done." In comparison, 48 percent of those in Army combat units felt the same way.
Amos, the first Marine commandant with a background as a jet pilot, has been outspoken on the subject since he was confirmed by the Senate in September. In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Dec. 3, he was more critical of efforts to overturn the law than the other military branch chiefs, saying that changing the rules during wartime would be disruptive and ill-advised.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Obama Nation = ABOMINATION!
Marine Commandant General James Amos has stated several times that openly practicing homosexualism will get Marines killed. The top guy in the Marine Corps says so. He has been in the trenches. He knows.
As I said earlier, any senator that voted in support of DADT has knowingly and quite purposefully gone about destroying and weakening America's military .
Damn them, for making the already super deadly and tough lives of our brave troops, especially SpecialOps and troops at the tip of the spear on the frontlines, have to even think about dealing with these distractions. Damn them all.
May the blood of the lost who tragically die needlessly from such an insane circus and dangerous distraction stain their hands unto eternity.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:50 AM | Comments (3)
Families Welcome Marines Home At Camp Pendleton
Wild Thing's comment.......
This is a feel good video to see this. WELCOME HOME!!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:45 AM | Comments (2)
December 18, 2010
Our Troops At Camp Mike Spann Say Thank You for your Support
Video provided by: Sandra Arnold, APR Public Affairs Advisory Team Director Department of Defense Civilian ISAF Joint Command
Michael Spann was a paramilitary operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. Spann was the first American killed in combat during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Merry Christmas and THANK YOU to our troops! You are in our prayers each day and our grateful hearts.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (2)
Obama Reaches Out (AGAIN) To Taliban ~ Taliban Release Their Response
Our troops on foot patrol in Afghanistan
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Barack Obama once again reached out to the Taliban terrorist organization.
The White House ...for complete text.
Over the past year, we’ve dramatically increased our civilian presence, with more diplomats and development experts working alongside our troops, risking their lives and partnering with Afghans. Going forward, there must be a continued focus on the delivery of basic services, as well as transparency and accountability. We will also fully support an Afghan political process that includes reconciliation with those Taliban who break ties with al Qaeda, renounce violence and accept the Afghan constitution.
The Taliban released a statement in response to the former community organizer’s speech.
The Taliban dismissed President Obama's Afghan/Pakistan Strategy as a failed strategy, stating it has failed both militarily and on the civilian administration fronts.
Zabiullah Mujahid said, in an e-mail, the last nine years of war have proven that increased troop levels have no effect on the outcome.
"It is a failed strategy, not only on the military side but also in civilian and administrative affairs," he said. "Public services in Afghanistan have failed. Corruption, insecurity and also the civilian casualties are a result of failed American strategy."
"President Obama is also talking about progress, but it is clear for everyone that the reality is completely the opposite of what he says," he added.
President Obama unveiled his Afghan/Pakistan Strategy Review yesterday. He said that some progress had been made and that the Taliban and Al Quaeda momentum has been halted and that the insurgents had suffered grievous losses.
Obama emphasized that further progress will not come easily. Success is largely dependent on Pakistan's effectiveness of eliminating insurgents and the training of the Afghan National Security Forces.
The President also said that the transition phase would commence in 2011, with a complete handover to Afganistan's Security Forces by 2014.
In their response, the Taliban claimed that the exit or withdrawal of U.S. troops is not the result of success but rather an effect of increased U.S. casualties and the cost of the Afghan war, which the U.S. can no longer afford.
Mujahid vowed that the Taliban would continue the fight agains coalition forces. He said that "with the presence of foreign forces in our country there will be no peace and security. The interference of foreign forces in the affairs of Afghanistan ... will only increase casualties."
While NATO officials believe they have weakend the Taliban, it must also be pointed out that, as a rule, the Taliban do not fight during the winter months. The proof will be in the pudding, sort to speak, when the fighting season restarts this spring.
The transition phase, which is to start next July, is also contingent on conditions on the ground. The Taliban will certainly look to exploit NATO's public perception of this war and continue its strategy of IEDs, car bombs and infiltration of Afghans Security Forces.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Good grief, Obama should just go over there and join the Taliban.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (4)
December 16, 2010
House of Representatives Passes Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Mike Pence Opposes Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal
House of Representatives Passes Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
House lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday to end the "don't ask, don't tell" law, giving new momentum to an effort backed by President Obama, Pentagon leaders and gay rights activists to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military this year.
The House voted 250 to 175 to repeal the 17-year Defense Department law that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in uniform. The 75-vote margin was wider than a similar vote in May. Fifteen Republicans voted for the bill while 15 Democrats opposed it.
Wednesday's vote sends the bill back to the Senate, where a vote will not occur until next week at the earliest, if at all, according to Senate aides.
The bill's language originally appeared in an 800-page defense authorization bill passed by the House in May. But the bill failed a procedural vote in the Senate last week, requiring the House to vote again on a new measure to end the ban.
Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the new bill last week, believing it will earn broader Republican support after the Senate completes consideration of the New START Treaty and government spending.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Wednesday she would join Republican colleagues Scott Brown (Mass.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) in voting to end the ban if the Senate votes again on the bill
Most House Republicans opposed Wednesday's vote
In a conversation with reporters before the vote, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif), who is slated to chair the House Armed Services Committee in the next Congress, said Democrats "were more concerned about 'don't ask don't tell,' I believe, than about the military and about carrying out our responsibilities for those who are laying their lives on the line every day to protect us. That's a bad system."
House Votes to Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell; Loretta Sanchez Says Gay Soldiers Can Bolster National Security
The endless screaming you hear is from a rural Virginia estate, the home of former Orange County Congressman Robert K. Dornan, who must be quite aroused by today's events.
Loretta Sanchez, the woman who ended his notable political career in 1996, today did what Dornan, long a vocal opponent of gay rights, would have never done even with a gun to his head: She voted to allow gay and lesbian citizens to serve openly in the U.S. military.
Sanchez took the vote, which passed 250-175, in stride.
"Repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is the right thing to do," the Santa Ana congresswoman said in a prepared statement. "Everyone who is willing and able to serve their country should be able to do so, regardless of sexual orientation. This is an issue of national security as well as fairness that affects every single American."
According to wire service reports, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-San Diego), the son of an old Dornan pal, said it's wrong to treat the U.S. military like "the YMCA" and argued that "a liberal crusade to create a utopia" must end.
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House Republicans who votes for DADT repeal
Biggert(IL)
Bono Mack (CA)
Campbell (CA)
Cao (LA)
Castle (DE)
Diaz-Balart, L (FL)
Djou (HI)
Dreier (CA)
Ehlers (MI)
Flake (AZ)
Paul (TX)
Platts (PA)
Reichert (WA)
Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
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Oliver North: Repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Could Be 'Very Detrimental' to Military
and also notes take from :
FOX News
"Stunning assault on the all-volunteer military, the very best in the world. Barack Obama now intents to treat them like lab rats in a radical social experiment, and it can be very, very detrimental. This guy is in so far over his head you can't find him with sonar. And proof of that is the comment he made by the Navy Corpsman, in calling him a "corpse" man."
From Ollie North's Op Editorial he writes:
An old axiom, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," has been replaced by the Obama White House with one of its own: "If it ain't broke, fix it till it is."
That's certainly what the O-Team is doing to the U.S. military.
Congressional testimony, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, Adm. Gary Roughead, who is the chief of naval operations, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway all urged that the law remain unchanged while American troops are at war. Conway, who retires next week after more than 40 years of service, was blunt: "My best military advice to this committee, to the secretary and to the president would be to keep the law such as it is."
That advice was ignored by the O-Team.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a startling statement in congressional testimony last week. When asked if allowing open homosexuals into the U.S. military would lead to a mass exodus of troops from active service, he boldly declared that they can “find another place to work.”
67 percent of all Marines, more than 60 percent of special-operations personnel, and 57 percent of soldiers in Army combat units believe changing the law would hurt military efficiency, unit cohesion, readiness, and retention. Overall, 35 percent of service members deployed overseas said that changing the law in current circumstances would have a negative impact on combat effectiveness. And, perhaps most telling, nearly one-third of all those who are now part of the best-educated, best-trained, and most-combat-experienced military in history will consider “getting out” rather than serve side by side with openly homosexual men or lesbians.
Our all-volunteer military, particularly the Marines, Army combat arms, and special-operations forces — and their families at home — are making extraordinary sacrifices to protect us from an implacable enemy. The young Americans I see on the battlefields of Mesopotamia and in the shadow of the Hindu Kush are warriors in the crucible of mortal combat. They deserve better than to be treated like lab rats in Mr. Obama’s radical social experiment.
— Lt. Col. Oliver North, USMC (Ret.), is the host of War Stories on the Fox News Channel, author of the New York Times–bestselling American Heroes in Special Operations, and the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.
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Wild Thing's comment.........
Some names I am familiar with are no surprise like Cao and Castle. Or even Ron Paul. Djou being touted as the Republican version of Barack Obama. Djou was defeated in the last election and is being replaced by an uber progressive labor attorney who will make Nancy Pelosi look like a moderate.
Marine Corps General James Amos immediately condemned the vote as costing lives: "When your life hangs on a line on the intuitive behavior of the young man that sits to your right and your left, you don’t want anything distracting that."
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (8)
December 12, 2010
Little Marines Say Goodbye to Their Father
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Little Marines Say Goodbye to Their Father
Rochester, N.Y.- Staff Sergeant Javier Ortiz-Rivera called his boys his little Marines. He loved playing with them and teaching them how to salute and stand tall.
The youngsters used those lessons to bid their father farewell. Wearing tiny Marine uniforms made especially for them, they saluted their father as he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Seventy family members and friends attended the service to honor Sergeant Ortiz-Rivera. It was his wish to be buried there.
Family members say Javier sensed he was in danger weeks before he was killed in Afghanistan.
In a letter dated the week before he was killed, Javier's brother Orlando says, Javier told his wife Veronica, he was exhausted and was tired of being shot at. Ortiz says he thinks his brother sensed he was in danger. At one point, Javier told his wife, "time seems to be slipping away."
Veronica Ortiz-Rivera received that letter yesterday.
Orlando Ortiz says his brother never questioned his service to his country and loved what he did.
Though his family is devastated, Orlando says they are very proud of Javier and know his children will be so proud, once they understand who their father was and that he died fighting for his country.
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Staff Sgt. Javier O. Ortiz Rivera, 26, of Rochester, N.Y., died Nov. 16 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
26-year-old Staff Sgt. Javier Ortiz-Rivera, was killed Tuesday in an explosion in Afghanistan. Sgt. Ortiz-Rivera apparently was killed while on patrol in a remote region of the country.
Staff Sgt. Ortiz-Rivera, 26, joined the Marines after graduating from Edison Tech in 2002. He served three tours of duty overseas, in Iraq in 2003 and in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2010.
"He was dedicated to his Marines and was proud of them," said wife, Veronica Ortiz. "He told me he was extremely blessed to be out there with the guys he was out there with. He started a Bible study with his guys, and his faith was stronger than ever."
Ortiz-Rivera lived with his wife and three children, Alyssa Jade, 8, Andrew Joshua, 5, and Anthony Javier, 3, in married housing at Camp Lejeune. Veronica said in an e-mail that her husband was a wonderful father.
“They are devastated,” Veronica Ortiz said in an e-mail. “Andrew says ‘Papi died, but it’s OK. He’s an angel that lives in my heart.’ Anthony asked, ‘Why did my dad die?’ I told him he died because he’s our hero and he was protecting us. His response was, ‘He was fighting the dragons and the bears, Mommy.’ Our daughter Alyssa is old enough to understand but the reality is slowly setting in. She is taking it the hardest and wears her dad’s dog tags and will be writing a letter to put in her dad’s casket.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
Rest in peace brave Marine Staff Sergeant Javier Ortiz-Rivera. You will not be forgotten.
My heart aches for this family. May God give them comfort.
I can’t help but contrast the high ideals and clear direction of our troopsan with the sleaziness and greasy corruption of our politicians. Looking at the amoral human waste in this government makes me ill when I read about these American patriots!
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:45 AM | Comments (7)
December 11, 2010
Awesome AH-64 Apache Longbow II - In Action In Iraq\Afghanistan
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Wild Thing's comment......
LOVE it! We have such fantastic people in our military!!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:45 AM | Comments (2)
December 08, 2010
Catch-and-release of Taliban in Afghanistan Angers Troops ~ You Can Thank Dem.Obama and President Hamid Karzai
Catch-and-release of Taliban in Afghanistan Angers Troops
More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.
And those numbers understate the problem, military officials say. They do not include suspected Taliban fighters held in small combat outposts or other forward operating bases throughout the region who are released before they ever become part of the official detainee population.
An Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that President Hamid Karzai's government has personally sought the release of as many as 700 suspected Taliban fighters since July, including some mid-level leaders. "Corruption is not just based on the amount of money that is wasted but wasted lives when Taliban return only to kill more NATO forces and civilians," said the official, who opposes what he considers corruption in the Karzai administration.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Karen Davis, a spokeswoman in Kabul, told The Washington Examiner "nearly 500 detainees held in the [detention facility in Parwan] have been released outright or transferred to the [Afghan government] for disposition under Afghan law" so far this year.
She did not comment on detainees held at other facilities throughout the country, dozens of whom have been released, according to U.S. military officials in Afghanistan. Parwan is the main prison facility located at Bagram Airfield, just north of the capital of Kabul.
Davis added "nearly 200 of those 500 [at Bagram] have been released" since July.
The criteria for detention is not based upon a particular affiliation, such as the Taliban, "but rather is an assessment based upon a preponderance of evidence that an individual participated in the conflict as an enemy combatant and, if so, detention is necessary to mitigate the threat posed to the government and people of Afghanistan, the U.S. and its coalition partners," Davis said.
The Detainee Review Board, made up of three U.S. commissioned officers with a rank of major or above, determines when a prisoner is eligible for release and whether a detainee is likely to be rehabilitated.
Prisoners held at the Bagram facility are not considered guilty or innocent but rather a determination is made "based upon evidence that detention is necessary to mitigate the threat the detainee poses to the government and people of Afghanistan, the U.S. and its coalition partners," states a document provided by the International Security Assistance Force.
Earlier this year, The Examiner reported that numerous insurgents captured in Pakistan, including some members of al Qaeda, were returned to Afghanistan upon the request of the Karzai government, and then, according to a senior Pakistani official, "released back to the Taliban as bargaining chips in negotiations."
A Marine stationed in southern Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province told The Examiner that efforts to detain insurgent fighters are "worthless."
Earlier this year, his unit held a man known to be working with the Taliban. The Marines had gathered evidence that the man was transporting hundreds of pounds of bomb-making equipment and explosives for the Taliban. But, shortly after they captured him, he was set free.
"Less than two weeks later, we saw the same guy walking through the bazaar," said the Marine, who spoke on condition that he not be named. "He recognized us. I wanted to shoot him right then and there. We got the guy, and yet there he was, walking around planning to kill again, and we couldn't do a thing about it."
For American combat troops in Afghanistan, the release of suspect Taliban is seen as a symptom of the corruption of the Karzai government.
"Back-room dealings between Karzai officials and local government connected to the Taliban make NATO's work almost impossible," said a military official stationed in Afghanistan. "They call the shots, and we've got to release the bad guys."
The release of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks last week provided a rare glimpse into what the State Department considers official corruption in the Karzai government.
That was the opinion of Afghan officials interviewed recently. "Afghanistan is a corrupt mess populated by citizens who are far more comfortable thinking and acting locally and tribally than nationally," one official said. "Karzai takes advantage of that for his own benefit," he added. "The U.S. turns a blind eye because they don't know how to stop it."
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Wild Thing's comment.........
More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials.
Then what in HELL are we DOING there?????????????????????????????????
Just say it Obama you want to KILL our troops!!!!
Then there is also how our US troops are being prosecuted for killing the Muslim enemy.
If Obama will not let us win it with his rules of engagement and this shit going on in this latest article, then lets get out. Obama will not speak up for our troops, no way, he favors his precious freaking Muslims even if they are terrorists.
In war you kill the enemy and destroy their means of making war, but not with Obama at the helm.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (5)
December 07, 2010
December 7th ....A Day That Will Live In Infamy
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On December 7th 1941, on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning on a beautiful Hawaiian island, the first wave of Japanese airplanes left 6 aircraft carriers and struck Pearl Harbor a few minutes before 8 AM local time.
In two waves of terror lasting two long hours, they killed or wounded over 3,500 Americans and sank or badly damaged 18 ships - including all 8 battleships of the Pacific Fleet - and over 350 destroyed or damaged aircraft. At least 1,177 lives were lost when the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona exploded and subsequently sank.
Wild Thing's comment........
May God rest those we lost....we shall never forget.
Americans remembered Pearl Harbor for four years during WWII. We are at war right now and most Americans forgot why. 9/11 was a momentous event just like Pearl Harbor. However, the War on Terror has been turned into a political event by the media and by much of Congress. That has divided America and we don't have the solidarity we had during WWII.
Anyone that goes to the Arizona Memorial simply MUST walk across the parking lot and also tour the USS Bowfin submarine and museum.......highly under-publicized, but well worth the extra hour or so.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:50 AM | Comments (5)
December 06, 2010
Santa Clause is a Paratrooper! Elves gear up for Operation Toy Drop
A paratrooper at Fort Bragg waits in line December 4, 2009 with toys to donate at last year's Operation Toy Drop. This year's event takes place December 10th and 11th at Fort Bragg.
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Paratrooper Mulhall waits with his bear for an opportunity to jump at Operation Toy Drop last year. The annual event takes place December 10th and 11th at Fort Bragg and will raise more than 6,000 toys for area families.
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Santa Clause is a Paratrooper! Elves gear up for Operation Toy Drop
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, NC - As the paratroopers of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) gear up for what will be the biggest airborne operation held by the U.S. Army, one thing remains first on their minds, it's for the kids.
"For me, Toy Drop means that for Christmas morning, a child who doesn't usually get any sort of presents will be able to open one and play with that toy all day long," said Hipenbecker. "That child wouldn't have gotten that toy if it wasn't for these caring paratroopers."
The annual Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop has become the largest combined airborne operation held by the U.S. Army Reserve's USACAPOC(A) with the help of Pope Air Force Base's 43rd and 440th Airlift Wings, the participation of Soldiers from Fort Bragg's XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division and Special Operations Command. This year's event takes place December 10th and 11th at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and hopes to raise more than 6,000 toys for families in need.
Here's how it works. Paratroopers bring an unwrapped toy to donate in exchange for the opportunity to earn foreign jump wings from allied soldiers from around the world.
What is OTD 13?
Operation Toy Drop is a week-long, philanthropic project where Fort Bragg's paratroopers (or visiting paratroopers from across the nation) individually contribute new, unwrapped toys to be distributed to local children's homes and social service agencies. Despite the project's name, these toys are not "dropped" anywhere except into the arms of deserving children throughout.
This year's event will host allied jumpmasters from 10 different countries. Joining the returning allied jumpmaster favorites from Germany, Canada, Poland, Ireland, and Chile, are jumpmasters from Botswana, Thailand, Estonia, Israel, and Latvia.
Elves, including Hipenbecker, collect and sort the toys by age and gender, wrap the toys, and deliver them to wherever they are needed.
The event incorporates airborne training, foreign military jumpmasters and local charities into one event. Toys are distributed to social service organizations and children's homes throughout central and Eastern North Carolina as well as the Pediatrics section of Womack Army Medical Center, and military Families in need.
The first Operation Toy Drop in 1998, with the help of Marine pilots, was very small and collected around 200 toys, but in the years to follow the operation continued to grow, grossing up to about 35,000 toy donations since the beginning of Operation Toy Drop.
Last year, the event drew more than 2,000 paratroopers, 2,900 toys, and 24 allied jumpmasters. Started by then Staff Sgt. Randy Oler, a jumpmaster for USACAPOC(A), the event has become a tradition for Fort Bragg's paratroopers. The operation was renamed in Oler's honor after his sudden death from a heart attack in 2004.
This year's event is promised to be even bigger, allowing more toys to be given to Families in need. USACAPOC(A) has reached out to the communities surrounding Fort Bragg and toy collection boxes have been placed in area businesses. In addition, the local hockey team, the FireAntz, will be collecting toys during their military appreciation games, Dec. 3 and 4.
"Families should come out and see the airborne operation, see what their paratrooper does, and join in on all the activities that will be available," explained Hipenbecker. "It's a great opportunity to get the community involved and join in on the holiday spirit."
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Wild Thing's comment........
We have such awesome Americans in our military. God bless each one of them and their loved ones and keep them safe.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:50 AM | Comments (4)
America's Best in Afghanistan
from WeaselZippers
Wild Thing's comment......
Wonderful video of our troops!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:45 AM | Comments (3)
December 02, 2010
"Smart" Grenade Launcher Deployed in Afghanistan
The Pentagon has rolled out prototypes of its first-ever programmable "smart" grenade launcher, a shoulder-fired weapon that uses microchipped ammunition to target and kill the enemy, even when the enemy is hidden behind walls or other cover.
The gun's stats are formidable: it fires 25mm air-bursting shells up to 2,300 feet (700 meters), well past the range of most rifles used by today's soldiers, and programs them to explode at a precise distance, allowing troops to neutralize insurgents hiding behind walls, rocks or trenches or inside buildings.
CNN reported on the weapon almost a year ago, when the Pentagon still had it in tests. Watch this video report from former CNN reporter Rick Sanchez to get an idea of what this weapon can do, both for US forces and for innocent civilians in the immediate area of gunfire:
And now it's being deployed to the Middle East to take out the enemy:
The Academy Award-winning film The Hurt Locker has a particularly memorable scene involving a standoff between an American sharpshooter and an Iraqi insurgent, where both have each other pinned down behind cover. The American sharpshooter wins the standoff — but doesn’t realize it for hours, only moving after it becomes clear that the insurgent died from a well-aimed shot earlier in the day. Imagine the same scene, but with a weapon that can actually find a target behind cover and detonate without air or artillery support, and what that would mean for US forces engaged in urban or guerilla warfare.
Actually, we don’t have to imagine it. The XM-25 has been deployed to Afghanistan, where infantry units call it a “gamechanger“:
It looks and acts like something best left in the hands of Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo,” but this latest dream weapon is real — and the US Army sees it becoming the Taliban’s worst nightmare.
The Pentagon has rolled out prototypes of its first-ever programmable “smart” grenade launcher, a shoulder-fired weapon that uses microchipped ammunition to target and kill the enemy, even when the enemy is hidden behind walls or other cover.
After years of development, the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, about the size of a regular rifle, has now been deployed to US units on the battlefields of Afghanistan, where the Army expects it to be a “game-changer” in its counterinsurgencyoperations.
“For well over a week, it’s been actively on patrols, and in various combat outposts in areas that are hot,” said Lieutenant Colonel Chris Lehner, program manager for the XM25.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Love our troops getting as many goodies as possible.
AWESOME!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (1)
November 29, 2010
Lex The Purple Heart Dog - Semper Fi "Always Faithful"
Lex is not the average dog. He's a Marine Corps bomb sniffing dog that was previously stationed in Fallujah. He has won a Purple Heart for his service. In March of 2007, Lex was injured in a granade explosion that took the life of his handler, Corporal Dustin J. Lee. Since then, Lex has suffered a variety of problems related to his injury, including chronic arthritis.
From 2008
Lex will be given a commemorative Purple Heart next month at the Working Dog and Fallen K-9 Handler Tribute.
Eight-year-old Lex was working with Lee when the Marine was killed during a bombing in Iraq last year. The German shepherd was also injured. He has since been retired and lives with Lee’s family in Clarke County, Miss. Lee and Lex had been assigned to the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Ga.
The tribute will be Feb. 16 at the Air Armament Museum, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Lee’s family is scheduled to be on hand for the event.
In December, the Marine Corps announced Lex could go home to Lee’s family. It is the first time the military has granted a dog early retirement to be adopted by someone other than a former handler.
The military has more than 1,700 dogs that work alongside American troops, including about 260 in the Marines. Their bomb-sniffing skills have been in high demand in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Working Dog Association said dogs have worked with the military beginning with World War II.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This is such a great story, it is sad because Corporal Dustin J. Lee was killed. But the good part is that Lex gets to be with the family of Corporal Dustin J. Lee. And they are taking such good care of him and giving him a loving home right where he belongs.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:48 AM | Comments (5)
Checking In With Our Troops ~ They ROCK!
More M1A1 Tanks Arrive in Afghanistan
M1A1 Abrams tanks are staged at the Initial Issue Provisioning lot at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. Five tanks have arrived so far and another dozen or so are expected to arrive over the coming weeks. Marines and contractors will inspect and up-armor the tanks before they are issued to infantry Marines throughout Helmand province. The Tanks will provide coalition forces with superior optics, maneuverability and precision fire power to be used during counter insurgency operations. Produced by Staff Sgt. Jennifer Brofer.
Tanks were last used by the Marine Corps in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
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Army Spc. Kathryn Fish coaches a fellow soldier during a leader development program at Camp Taji, Iraq
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Chief Warrant Officer Jose Martinez performs dumbbell chest presses in the gymnasium aboard the amphibious dock landing ship Pearl Harbor on Nov. 22. Pearl Harbor is part of the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group, which is transiting the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility.
MC2 Michael Russell / Navy
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Members of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, fire mortar rounds from their forward operating base at Mian Poshteh, Helmand province, on Tuesday.
Manpreet Romana/Agence France Presse
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U.S Army Soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division patrol through the bazaar in Charkh, Afghanistan.
Fresh artillery blasts near a South Korean Island attacked earlier this week apparently came during drill today by North Korea. (Nov. 26)
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Wild Thing's comment.......
THANK YOU!!! for all that you do!! For serving our country and for the sacrfices you make every day,
I Pray each day God will keep you safe, and that he will bring you home, VERY, VERY, SOON!!!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!! AWESOME JOB GUYS!! YOU are what makes are Country so Great!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:47 AM | Comments (4)
November 26, 2010
Thanksgiving Day Meal Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan
Thanksgiving Day Meal Aboard Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan (HiDef!)
Marines try to make the most of Thanksgiving in Afghanistan
Afghanistan — If he were back home Thursday, Marine Lance Cpl. Chad Berry would have eaten turkey and ham at the home of one of his sets of grandparents in Tennessee. If it was his father’s side of the family, they’d go deer hunting after dinner, then come home and eat some more.
Back home, Pfc. Ysnardy Torres, 21, would be in New York City, visiting family in three boroughs, eating a lot of shredded turkey and his aunt’s flan, a type of custard dessert.
“I’d be going from house to house, getting food,” he said Thursday morning while training Afghan police recruits at the Adraskan National Training Center in western Afghanistan. “It starts in Brooklyn, to the Bronx, to Queens and then back to Brooklyn. I’d be tearing that (expletive) up.”
If he wasn’t deployed here with 14 other Marines, Lance Cpl. Gordon Sherburne would be at his Uncle Wade’s house in Mesick, Mich., chowing down with 50 other members of the Sherburne clan.
“I’d be watching the Dallas Cowboys play — that’s my wife’s team — and eating some green beans with bacon, ham and stuffing,” 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Mark McCart said of his holiday plans were he back in Fountain, Colo. “And just chill.”
Thoughts inevitably turned to home Thursday for these Marines and the thousands of other U.S. troops overseas on such a family-focused holiday. It’s a day for which it’s difficult to be away.
“It’s even harder than Christmas,” said Berry, 21, of Dunlap, Tenn.
“It (expletive) sucks,” Torres said of holidays far from home, adding that the Internet only makes him realize the good times his loved ones are having back home. “I don’t even go on my Facebook.”
Still, Marines make do. Thursday is a half-day of work here, and everyone’s off Friday, so Thanksgiving synched well with the training schedule.
The contractors in charge of the chow hall pulled out all the stops, and the Marines, Italian and Polish troops were treated to a gut-busting lunch and dinner. There was turkey, discs of a pre-formed sausage and stuffing concoction, as well as mashed potatoes, but there was also grilled lobster and steaks.
Before supper, Army Lt. Col. Mike King, who oversees the base, reiterated the story of the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving in 1621 for the non-Americans in attendance.
“Today we don’t have the venison or the wild fowl, but we do have turkey,” he said before everyone dug in.
Many of the Marines were thankful for the things most people appreciate: family, friends and good health.
Sherburne said he was thankful to be at Adraskan, because, “I’m lucky I got a good deployment.”
And though he was missing the honeyed ham at his grandparents’ house in Alabama, Lance Cpl. Bryant Mitchell, 25, also appreciated Adraskan on this day of giving thanks.
“I’m thankful to be here, actually,” he said. “Just for the experience, doing something most people don’t do.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
Fantasitc! God bless our troops!!
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (7)
We're Americans
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Wild Thing's comment......
Great video! God bless America and thank you to all our Veterans and our troops serving.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:50 AM
Giving Thanks In Afghanistan ~ Thank You Troops!
U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visits with Glendon E. Bentley and other members of the Lone Star Paralyzed Veterans of America Honor Guard at the World Congress and Exposition on Disabilities in Dallas, Nov. 19, 2010. DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley
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Capt. Woowon Chung dishes out stuffing and mashed potatoes at FOB Tarnek in the Dand district of Kandahar on Thursday for troops with 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, New York. Some of the officers rocked their Stetsons as they served the meal to the enlisted soldiers
U.S. troops in Afghanistan got a little taste of Thanksgiving festivities on Thursday as some leaders dished out the holiday feast for the deployed troops. Like Capt. Woowon Chung, who dishes out stuffing and mashed potatoes at FOB Tarnek in the Dand district of Kandahar on Thursday for troops with 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, New York. Some of the officers rocked their Stetsons as they served the meal to the enlisted soldiers. Meanwhile, with calls of "cup or cone" before soldiers were even through the line getting their Thanksgiving meal, 1st Sgt. Philip Harrison eagerly scooped cookies-and-cream ice cream for the soldiers of 1/71 Cav. The troops walked away with their plates piled high with yams, turkey and mashed potatoes and ice cream dripping down their hands.
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Wild Thing's comment.....
No Obama today, let's pretend he does not exist for the day. Poof! OH how I wish. haha
Have a wonderful Friday everyone.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (4)
More With Our Troops In Iraq and Afghanistan
Soldiers of the 1BCT 4ID Raider Brigade take a moment to wish their families and friends a Happy Thanksgiving all the way from Afghanistan. Video provided by 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
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B-roll of Thanksgiving Day celebration at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Chief Master Sgt. Dean Roberts volunteered to serve turkey and ham to the troops during the lunch hour.
The 10th Mountain Division band was also on hand to provide music....towards the end of the video
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Baghdad.........US soldiers stationed in Baghdad celebrated Thanksgiving Day on Thursday with a meal in a hall of one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.
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Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (2)
November 22, 2010
'Smart Weapon' Rifle Debuts On Afghanistan's Battlefields
'Smart weapon' rifle debuts on Afghanistan's battlefields
Some U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan are using a “smart weapon” rifle that the Army hopes will be a “gamechanger” on the battlefield.
About the size of a regular rifle, the XM25 Counter Defilade Targeting Engagement System has the potential to neutralize an enemy, even when the enemy is hidden behind buildings or other barriers, said Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner, project manager for the XM25 with Program Executive Office Soldier.
The weapon can be set so that bullets will explode either on impact, in front or behind an object, depending on the way the weapon is programmed, said Lehner.
A soldier can use it to target and kill an enemy hiding behind walls, in a home, or other barrier from nearly 2,300 feet away, he said.
“In the hands of a soldier trained for only a few minutes, he was able to adjust the systems, get the range of a target, launch it and hit them dead-on,” he said.
“They were hitting a steel target silhouette at 503 meters away. They didn’t even have to be that precise, but the weapon was that precise. And we found they were hitting right center mass, time after time after time.”
The weapon also makes allowances for different outside conditions.
“One of the biggest challenges our soldiers face with our current weapons, at the squad level – they have a hard time determining range with their naked eye and adjusting their aim point off of the range and the wind and atmosphere,” Lehner said.
“Whether it’s cold or hot that day it will fly different. But this fire control system on the XM, takes into consideration all of these things and gives you a crosshair of where to aim.”
The military hopes the precise nature of the weapon will mean less civilian casualties.
“It’s not going to accidentally go to the next house down and mistakenly explode,” Lehner said.
“There are times within the history of small arms and even large arms, that there’s a revolutionary step, there’s a leap ahead,” he said. “When the British premiered their first tanks in World War I the Germans didn’t even know how to defend against them.”
That kind of leap can sometimes be the thing that swings the battle, Lehner said.
“That’s what we’re hoping to do with this weapon.”
Wild Thing's comment........
God bless our troops! I want them to have anything they need, so this is great news.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:55 AM | Comments (6)
U.S. Sending Tanks To Afghanistan For First Time
M1A1 Abrams tank during a March training session. The U.S. is bringing the tanks to Afghanistan.
U.S. sending tanks to Afghanistan for first time
The United States is beefing up its firepower in Afghanistan by employing heavily armored tanks in Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, a military spokesman said Friday.
The U.S. Marine Corps plans to use a company of M1A1 Abrams tanks in restive Helmand province by early spring, said Marine Maj. Gabrielle Chapin.
The M1A1 tank is the fastest and most deadly ground combat weapons system available. It will allow for more aggressive missions while mitigating risks to U.S. forces, the military said.
U.S. forces used the tanks to battle insurgents successfully in Iraq's Anbar province, Chapin said.
"They bring superior optics, maneuverability and precision firepower that will enable us to isolate insurgent forces from key population centers and provide the ability to project power into insurgent safe havens," he said.
Other coalition forces, including those from Canada, already have used tanks in Afghanistan.
The decision comes as Afghanistan tops the agenda at the NATO summit that starts Friday in Lisbon, Portugal, and amid a public dispute between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO leaders over military strategy.
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Wild Thing's comment........
This surprises me, I thought we had tanks there now. So this is news to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:48 AM | Comments (5)
November 21, 2010
Marjah Marine Meets Miley Cyrus
A Marine dancing on a roof in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
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Wild Thing's comment......
I love to see things like this with our troops. They truly are awesome and I love their spirit.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:46 AM
November 20, 2010
Army Sergeant Peter Damon
Damon poses for a photograph while bowling with his two kids. Danny (left) is now 8 years old, and his daughter, Allura (right) is now 13. Courtesy photo.
“The blast severed both my arms and killed my buddy,” said Army Sergeant Peter Damon of a horrific accident in Iraq a little over seven years ago. “At least that’s what I was told when I woke up in the hospital.”
In June of 2003, Damon left his wife and newborn son in Massachusetts to deploy to Iraq with his National Guard unit. He was doing his dream job – performing maintenance on UH-80 Black Hawk helicopters. But one day during a routine inspection of the landing gear, there was an explosion.
I remember being in the back of a humvee, racing to the Combat Support Hospital (21stCSH) in Iraq,begging Sgt Alvini not to let me die .I had lost a lot of blood and I could feel myself slipping away. I prayed to God like never before ,asking him to let me live, to get me back to my wife and kids. But I was dying.
I later learned that when I arrived at the CSH they were going to pronounce me DOA , but for the efforts of some tenacious doctor, I was resuscitated. When I awoke I was informed that my work partner and buddy ,Spc Paul J Beuche was dead. I resolved from that moment on that I would do what ever I could to recover quickly and to live my life to its fullest potential. Paul was very young,only 19, and he had his whole life ahead of him. I wasnt about to squander mine with self pity. It would dishonor him to do so.
So now I look at life from a whole new perspective, and I seek to freeze those everyday magic moments in time through painting, and if I can evoke some small emotional response in someone through art, then I have accomplished something to me that is very worthwhile.
“I don’t remember any of the details from the accident,” said Damon. “I just remember the first thing that really bummed me out was learning that I lost my arms. Strangely, my first thought was how much of a shame it was because I was just getting good at drawing.”
To pass the time in Kuwait, Damon had rekindled and interest in an old hobby – drawing -- and became quite passionate about it. But now he would have to re-learn even the most basic elements of writing from scratch.
After 15 months of recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Damon was fitted with a prosthetic on his left arm first because he still had the elbow on that arm. Unfortunately, he was a righty, which only added to his frustration.
“It was just like elementary school all over again,” said Damon, “where you had to write out a big ‘A’ then a little ‘a’ on the thick-lined paper.
“It took a while to get good, but once I started picking up the pace, I just kept going,” he said. “I realized at that point that if I could write letters, there’s no reason why I can’t still draw.”
The hospital recognized that by then Damon could pretty much take care of himself. So to make room for the influx of new amputees coming in from the battlefield, he was moved into the Malone House, separate quarters in the back of Walter Reed. It was there that drawing and painting quickly became a source of therapy.
“It made me feel like a whole person again,” he said. “It gave me a huge boost of self-confidence and helped me to realize that even though I lost my arms, I could accomplish amazing things if I set my mind to them.”
Damon’s artwork became more than just a morale-booster. It grew into a full-time career. The more he admired the works of Ray Ellis, Edward Hopper, Robert Henri, and local artist Nancy Colella, he began to realize how much talent it takes even an able-bodied artist to paint well.
As he focused day-in and day-out on his art, his works began to attract the attention of local art critics and it wasn’t long before he received his first offer to sell his work.
“One of my favorite pieces that I’m really not even sure I want to sell is called Fishing with Mom,” said Damon. “Sometimes I do ‘open-air’ art, and that day at the park was the day I taught my son how to fish. It was such a great day, that I had to sit right down on the tailgate of my truck and capture the moment.”
In 2006, Damon and his wife, Jenn, opened The Middleborough Art Gallery, where he could display and sell his artwork. Sadly, however, a downturn in the economy forced the Damons to close the doors after three years.
Recently, as an inexpensive alternative to a brick and mortar gallery, he began displaying his artwork online using a blog to interact with fans and critics.
“The blog gives me a reason to keep painting,” said Damon. “I still have pain, depression, and anxiety on occasion, and the painting gives me a reason to get up every day – it drives me to keep moving.
“Maybe I’ll do the gallery thing again some day,” he added, “but the blog is actually more interactive. People from all over the world have the opportunity to weigh in and perhaps even purchase my work.”
Many of his featured pieces have already been sold, but he has been revealing new pieces on his blog every few weeks. And while he may not be able to paint a clear picture of the moment that caused him so much pain, he is more than able to capture on canvas the things that bring him happiness.
View Damon’s gallery on his blog, titled Sgt. Damon’s Art.
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“It gave me a huge boost of self-confidence and helped me to realize that even though I lost my arms, I could accomplish amazing things if I set my mind to them.” -Sgt. Damon
"I am an artist and a severely wounded Iraq war veteran. In October of 2003 I lost parts of both my arms while serving in Iraq as a helicopter mechanic in the military. The accident killed my buddy, SPC. Paul J Bueche 19, of Daphne AL. Since then, art has become a huge source of therapy for me, both physically and mentally. Painting has given me a new perspective on life. I've made a promise to Paul to make the most of it. This website is dedicated to him. "
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Army Sergeant Peter Damon (Ret.) stands with his wife and his biggest inspiration, artist Ray Ellis, in front of Edgartown Art Gallery in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Courtesy photo
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Wild Thing's comment.......
God bless Peter Damon and his family. His story is inspiring and it is an honor to post about him and his art work.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:45 AM
November 18, 2010
Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta First Living Recipient To Receive the Medal of Honor from Iraq and Afghanistan
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Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta will become the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
GI to be first living Afghan war Medal of Honor winner
Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta, 25, has become the first living recipient to receive the Medal of Honor from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that can be given to an individual in the U.S. Army. Although there have been six other Medals of Honor awarded from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, their awards were posthumous.
Sgt. Giunta received the award for his actions in response to an ambush in Afghanistan’s dangerous Korengal Valley on Oct. 25, 2007. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in the ambush and several others were wounded.
Salvatore Giunta was working nights at Subway in Iowa when he saw a commercial on television for the Army. He decided to join. His first posting was in Zabul, Afghanistan with the 173rd and Battle Company. He had signed up for four years. When his tour was up he was stationed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, located south of the Pech River in the Pech District of Kunar Province in northeastern Afghanistan. He was unable to leave the Army even though his tour was up because of the military’s Stop-Loss policy. Stop-Loss is a term used by the military. It is the involuntary extension of a service member’s active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service (ETS) date and up to their contractually agreed end of obligated service (EOS).
Sgt. Giunta was serving at the time as a team leader in Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment when his squad was ambushed by insurgents, according to an account provided by the Army. His rank was specialist at the time. His squad was involved with Operation Rock Avalanche, a multiple-company mission that ran Oct. 19-25 in the Chapa Dara, Korengal, Shuryak and Pech river valleys.
Intense enemy fire from insurgents split Giunta’s team from the rest of his squad. Giunta was knocked down when a bullet hit him in his armored chest plate. He immediately charged straight into enemy fire in order to pull a comrade back to cover. As he attempted to link his team with the rest of the squad, he saw insurgents drag a badly wounded colleague off the battlefield. Tossing hand grenades, Giunta charged the enemy, killing one insurgent and wounding another. He recovered the colleague and immediately began providing first aid. The soldier later died from his wounds.
It was Giunta’s second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He had previously been awarded the Bronze Star.
On Tuesday, November 16, President Obama formally presented Sgt. Giunta with the Medal of Honor. In brief comments after the ceremony, Giunta said that as much of an honor as the medal was, he would give it back in an instant in exchange for the lives of friends who died fighting in Afghanistan.
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Wild Thing's comment........
No love greater...... God bless this soldier.
He was on "60 Minutes" last Sunday night.
Staff Sgt. Giunta please CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:47 AM | Comments (6)
November 09, 2010
Residents of Missouri Town Block Protesters From Picketing Soldier's Funeral
** There is a Video at this link with FOX news
Residents of Missouri Town Block Protesters From Picketing Soldier's Funeral
Members of a small Missouri town banded together Saturday to block a controversial pastor and members of his Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funeral of a fallen U.S. soldier, Fox4kc.com reports.
Hundreds of residents in Weston, Mo. -- as well as people as far away as California and Australia -- rallied in support of Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell, who died from injuries suffered during a surprise attack in Afghanistan.
The residents sought to block Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and his followers from picketing Sadell’s funeral, according to the station.
Phelps' church has been the subject of intense criticism for holding more than 44,000 pickets at funerals and other events – including the services of fallen service members.
Citing their First Amendment right to protest, Phelps' followers say they use funerals as an “available public platform” to “deliver the message that there is a consequence for sin.” Phelps is openly opposed to homosexuality and all government policies they he says supports homosexuals.
"We got everybody here early so we could take up all the parking spots," Rebecca Rooney of Weston, Mo., told Fox4kc.com. "We did that so Mr. Phelps wouldn't have a contingency that was really close."
"I'm glad they left, but I'm sad they came," she said.
Sadell, who leaves behind a wife and two sons, was stationed in the Arif Kala region of Afghanistan when his unit was ambushed on Oct. 5. Five soldiers were killed in the attack and Sadell was badly injured.
The 34-year-old died from his injuries on Oct. 24.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
This is what should be done all the time. They claim to have a first amendment right to protest, well, the rest of America has a first amendment right to protest THEM.
We all need to do this when these creeps come to our towns. The Patriot Guard Riders do this and it is so good to see when the citizens of the town join in.
God rest the souls of our Fallen Hereos .
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (9)
October 20, 2010
Our Awesome and Frustrated American Troops :“They ( Obama) Won’t Let us Fight – War is War and This is No War, I Don’t Know What This is"
KAJAKI, AFGHANISTAN – Lyrics from a Misfits song, “Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?” decorate the helmet of Marine Cpl. Jonathan Eckert of Oak Lawn, IL attached to India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment while on patrol near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Zeebrugge on October 15, 2010 in Kajaki, Afghanistan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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KAJAKI, AFGHANISTAN – U.S. Marine Cpl William Simpson of York Beach, ME with the Police Advisory Team attached to India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment fire n an enemy position during a firefight near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Zeebrugge on October 11, 2010 in Kajaki, Afghanistan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Troops chafe at restrictive rules of engagement, talks with Taliban
Afghanistan: American Troop Morale Plummets as ROE Continue to Tighten, “They Won’t Let us Fight – War is War and This is No War, I Don’t Know What This is
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN
To the U.S. Army soldiers and Marines serving here, some things seem so obviously true that they are beyond debate. Among those perceived truths: The restrictive rules of engagement that they have to fight under have made serving in combat far more dangerous for them, while allowing the Taliban to return to a position of strength.
“If they use rockets to hit the [forward operating base] we can’t shoot back because they were within 500 meters of the village. If they shoot at us and drop their weapon in the process we can’t shoot back,” said Spc. Charles Brooks, 26, a U.S. Army medic with 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, in Zabul province.
Word had come down the morning Brooks spoke to this reporter that watch towers surrounding the base were going to be dismantled because Afghan village elders, some sympathetic to the Taliban, complained they were invading their village privacy. “We have to take down our towers because it offends them and now the Taliban can set up mortars and we can’t see them,” Brooks added, with disgust.
In June, Gen. David Petraeus, who took command here after the self-inflicted demise of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told Congress that he was weighing a major change with rules for engaging enemy fighters in Afghanistan. That has not yet happened, troops say. Soldiers and Marines continue to be held back by what they believe to be strict rules imposed by the government of President Hamid Karzai designed with one objective: limit Afghan civilian casualties.
“I don’t think the military leaders, president or anybody really cares about what we’re going through,” said Spc. Matthew “Silver” Fuhrken, 25, from Watertown, N.Y. “I’m sick of people trying to cover up what’s really going on over here. They won’t let us do our job. I don’t care if they try to kick me out for what I’m saying — war is war and this is no war. I don’t know what this is.”
To the soldiers and Marines risking their lives in Afghanistan, restrictions on their ability to aggressively attack the Taliban have led to another enormous frustration stalking morale: the fear that the Karzai government, with the prodding of the administration of President Obama, will negotiate a peace with the Taliban that wastes all the sacrifices by the U.S. here.
Those fears intensified when news reached the enlisted ranks that the Karzai government, with the backing of senior Obama officials, was entering a new round of negotiations with the Taliban.
“If we walk away, cut a deal with the Taliban, desert the people who needed us most, then this war was pointless,” said Pvt. Jeffrey Ward, with 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, who is stationed at Forward Operating Base Bullard in southern Afghanistan.
"Everyone dies for their own reasons but it's sad to think that our friends, the troops, have given their lives for something we're not going to see through."
Other soldiers agreed. They said they feared few officials in the Pentagon understand the reality on the ground.
From the front lines, the U.S. backing of the Karzai government, widely seen as riddled with corruption by the Afghans living in local villages, has given the Taliban a position of power in villages while undercutting U.S. moral authority.
Corrupt government officials have made "it impossible for us to trust anyone," said elder Sha Barar, from the village of Sha Joy. The people of that village and many others profess fear of the Taliban, and recount tales of brutality and wanton killings by the Taliban and their sympathizers. But they don't see the Karzai government as a positive force in their lives.
Karzai said that talks need to continue with the Taliban "at a fixed address and with a more open agenda to tell us how to bring peace to Afghanistan and Pakistan."
But U.S. troops and Marines interviewed during the past month in Afghanistan question what negotiations would really mean, to both them and the Afghan people. And they almost universally believe that negotiating would be a mistake before achieving decisive gains they believe are attainable once oppressive rules of engagement are relaxed.
"What does it mean if we give in to the Taliban? They are the enemy," Brooks said. "This place is going to be a safe haven for terrorists again. The government doesn't care about the sacrifices already made. As far as the mission goes, I want to see these kids go to school and have a future but not at the expense of my friends -- not anymore."
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Wild Thing's comment........
DAMN Obama striaght to hell!!!
More and more of our guys are going to die over these senseless ROE's.
All politicians who aid and abet these rules, and who support talks with the taliban, deserve to be run out of office.
The taliban wants nothing out of these talks except time. Time to regroup, resupply, and refit. How can our dumb leaders not see this???
Barak Hussaine Obama should be tried for treason....absolutel TREASON by Obama.
And to think that he is preventing our soldiers from voting is enough to make my eyes bleed.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:50 AM | Comments (10)
October 18, 2010
95-Year-Old NYC Man Gets Medal for WWII Rescue
Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y, right, presented 95-year-old George Vujnovich, left, with the U.S. Bronze Star Medal at a ceremony in New York City on Sunday. Vujnovich is credited with leading the Halyard Mission to rescue more than 500 U.S. bomber fliers shot down over Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia
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This Dec. 28, 1944 photo shows OSS Capt. George Vujnovich, right, in Bari, Italy with a group of airmen he helped rescue after they were downed over Nazi-occupied Serbia. It was the largest air rescue of Americans behind enemy lines in any war
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95-Year-Old NYC Man Gets Medal for WWII Rescue
NEW YORK (Oct. 17)
The U.S. government has recognized the World War II architect of a mission to rescue more than 500 U.S. bomber fliers shot down over Nazi-occupied Serbia - the largest air rescue of Americans behind enemy lines in any war.
George Vujnovich, a 95-year-old New Yorker, is credited with leading the so-called Halyard Mission in what was then Yugoslavia.
On Sunday, he was awarded the U.S. Bronze Star Medal, presented by Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., at Manhattan's St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral. Vujnovich received a standing ovation from a crowd of several hundred church members, supporters, friends and officials.
"Better now than never," says Vujnovich, a retired salesman who lives in Queens.
He was an officer of the OSS, the precursor of today's CIA, when about 500 pilots and other airmen were downed over Serbia in the summer of 1944 while on bombing runs targeting Hitler's oil fields in Romania, according to U.S. government field station files, stored in the National Archives.
The airmen were hidden in villages by Serbian guerrilla fighter Draza Mihailovich, leader of the Chetniks, whom Yugoslav communist officials considered to be Germany's collaborators.
"This mission would not have succeeded without the great courage of Draza Mihailovich and his brave men," said Vujnovich, a Serbian-American and a Pittsburgh native who was stationed in Bari, Italy.
It was no small feat to convince American officials to allow him to work with Mihailovich on the clandestine mission, dubbed Halyard, meaning a rope used to hoist sails. By then, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had decided to follow British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's lead, abandoning support for Mihailovich in favor of the Yugoslav communists, the strongest grass-roots guerrilla force fighting the invading Nazis and Italian fascists.
Mihailovich had been a prewar military officer who launched the first Balkan resistance to the Nazis in 1941, before also turning against the communists led by Marshal Josip Broz Tito.
"Vujnovich is the one who sold the mission to U.S. officials, he pushed hard," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steven Oluic, a former West Point professor who prepared the award submission for the Department of the Army.
On Aug. 2, 1944, three OSS agents strapped with radio transmitters were airdropped near Mihailovich's headquarters to set up the operation.
Dozens of U.S. military cargo planes flew in over the months to pick up the airmen as they were downed. Serbian villagers had helped them build an airstrip by the village of Pranjani.
"We owe Vujnovich big time," says Charles L. Davis III, 91, of Church Falls, Va., a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who was rescued.
As a bombardier navigator, he was part of a crew of 10 on a B-24 Liberator plane crippled after losing three of its four engines.
The fliers parachuted into a mountainous region where local farmers brought them to their houses and barns. During the next 66 days, the Americans moved each night to a different location so as not to be captured by the occupying Germans.
Yugoslavia's postwar communist authorities convicted Mihailovich of collaborating with the Nazis in a hasty trial in 1946, and he was executed.
In 1948, U.S. President Harry Truman posthumously bestowed the Legion of Merit on the Serb for the rescue - an honor classified secret by the U.S. State Department for decades, so as not to disrupt the rather friendly U.S. policy toward Yugoslavia.
The secrecy underscores long-lasting divisions in Serbia stemming from World War II; some Serbs still believe Mihailovich was a victim of communist repression, while others view him as a traitor.
The story is told in a 2007 book titled "The Forgotten 500," by Gregory Freeman.
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HONORING CAPTAIN GEORGE M. VUJNOVICH
Extension of Remarks Submitted by Rep. Dan Burton
September 28, 2010
Dan Burton Member of Congress
Madame Speaker, as co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Serbian Caucus, I rise tonight to honor an outstanding Serbian-American, Captain (Ret.) George M. Vujnovich, who was recently awarded the Bronze Star Medal, for his heroic actions during World War II.
The Bronze Star is awarded to military service personnel for bravery, acts of merit or meritorious service. When awarded for bravery, it is the fourth-highest combat award of the United States Armed Forces. Captain Vujnovich’s participation in the planning and execution of Operation Halyard – one of the most successful air force rescue missions in history; and an operation so secret that the records were only declassified in 1997 – certainly exemplifies the heroism required to receive this prestigious military honor.
Captain Vujnovich served with the Office of Strategic Services; the predecessor of the modern Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the wartime organization charged with coordinating activities behind enemy lines for the branches of the United States military. Operation Halyard evolved in wake of the Allied bombing campaign to destroy Nazi Germany's vast network of petroleum resources in occupied Eastern Europe. The most vital target of bombing was the facilities located in Ploesti, Romania, which supplied 35 percent of Germany's wartime petroleum. Beginning in April 1944, bombers of the Fifteenth Allied Air Force began a relentless campaign to blast the heavily guarded facilities in Ploesti in an attempt to halt petroleum production altogether. By August, Ploesti was virtually destroyed — but at the cost of 350 bombers lost, with their crews either killed, captured, or missing in action.
The assault on Ploesti forced hundreds of Allied airmen to bail out over Nazi-occupied eastern Serbia, an area patrolled by the Allied-friendly Chetnik guerrilla army. When the Chetnik commander, General Draza Mihailovich, realized that Allied airmen were parachuting into his territory, he ordered his troops, as well as the local peasantry, to aid the aviators by taking them to Chetnik headquarters in Pranjani, Serbia for evacuation.
General Mihailovich's attempts to alert American authorities to the situation regrettably initially failed to produce action. Fortunately, fate would have it that when Mirjana Vujnovich, a Serb employee of the Yugoslav embassy in Washington, D.C., heard of the trapped airmen, and immediately wrote to her husband, Captain Vujnovich, stationed in Bari, Italy. As an American, descending from Serb parents, Vujnovich knew the region intimately and also knew how to escape from Nazi-occupied territory: he had been a medical student in Belgrade when Yugoslavia fell to the Axis powers in 1941, and he and his wife spent months sneaking through minefields and begging for visas before they finally escaped from Nazi-occupied Europe.
Captain Vujnovich made it his personally crusade to get the airmen home. From the outset though, Operation Halyard encountered opposition from Allied leaders — from the U.S. State Department, from communist sympathizers in the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), even from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself. It was an operation that seemed condemned from the start, but Captain Vujnovich’s persevered rather than let the mission die. His persistence not to be in vain, eventually he won out. Even thought the operation endured from August 9, 1944 through December 27, 1944, within only the first two days, Operation Halyard successfully retrieved 241 American and Allied airmen. By the time the Operation was officially ended, Vujnovich's team had airlifted 512 downed Allied airmen to safety without the loss of a single life or aircraft — a truly impressive accomplishment.
Captain George Vujnovich’s recognition as a hero and valued asset to this country and the United States Air Force is long over due. Frankly, had the records of the operation not remained sealed until 1997, I feel certain Captain Vujnovich would have received this honor years ago. Nevertheless, the decades do not and cannot diminish the valor and patriotism of this extraordinary man. I ask all my colleagues to join me now to honor this Serbian-American hero, to thank him for his dedicated service to our country and to congratulate him for winning the Bronze Star. Captain Vujnovich, I salute you.
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Wild Thing's comment........
Great story about a great man Major George Vujnovich. Thank you for all you did. Congratulations and God Bless You.
A long overdue award.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:48 AM | Comments (4)
October 10, 2010
Valor Has No Boundaries; Three Marines Help Save Wounded Police Officer, Apprehend Suspect
Pfcs. Anthony S. Roldan, Christopher M. Smith and Ryan J. Shuey, combat engineers with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, stand at parade rest in front of 1st CEB's headquarters building at the San Mateo training area Oct. 8. The Marines were presented with 1st CEB Sapper Coins by Lt. Col. Andrew Niebel, commanding officer of 1st CEB, for their actions Oct. 6 when they assisted a police officer with the Long Beach Police Department who was violently attacked by a suspect yielding a knife. Roldan, is an 18-year-old from Long Beach, Calif., Smith is a 20-year-old from Lemoore, Calif., and Shuey is a 20-year-old from Huntingdon County, Pa.,
Valor has no boundaries; Three Marines help save wounded police officer, apprehend suspect
By Pfc. Evan Santy, 1st Marine Division
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.
While sitting on the porch waiting for a home cooked meal in Long Beach, Calif. Oct. 6, Pfc. Anthony Rolden and his two friends and brothers in arms, Pfcs. Ryan Shuey and Christopher Smith, hear a gun fire in the distance. Without hesitation the three Marines spring into action, with nothing but raw instincts and Marine Corps training leading them. They race down an alley behind the house where they find a police officer fighting for his weapon and his life.
“It’s rewarding to know he’s alright,” said Pfc. Ryan Shuey, 20, from Huntingdon County, Pa. and a combat engineer, with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division. “I’m glad we were there to potentially save his life.”
The three Marines were taking a break from the mess hall, and having a relaxing night with family and friends before their deployment to Afghanistan in the next few days. That night had different plans for the young engineers and they had to show the true valor of the title United States Marine.
“It looked like David verses Goliath,” said Pfc. Anthony Rolden, 18, from Long Beach, Calif. a combat engineer, with 1st CEB, 1st Marine Division. “It all happened so fast.”
“He was a big guy,” said Pfc. Christopher Smith, 20, from Lemoore, Calif. a combat engineer, with 1st CEB, 1st Marine Division. “I don’t think I could have taken him down myself, so I’m glad all three of us were there.”
When they heard the gun shot the Marines reacted instantly. The Marines rushed to get Rolden’s younger brothers and sisters inside the house, then making their way to the noise. What they found was beyond belief. A police officer, who had been stabbed in the ear and was fighting for his life and his fire arm with another man, and struggling to hold on.
“They saw what was going on and didn’t stand by, they jumped in and assisted,” said Jim McDonnell, Long Beach Police Department chief of police. “Had this intervention not been done, it’s anybody’s guess how it would have turned out.”
The Marines immediately proceeded in helping the officer. Using their skills in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and detainee handling; the three quickly subdued the suspect. They then proceeded to administering first aid on the officer by checking for bullet wounds and stopped the bleeding from the officer’s stab wound.
“We knew what we had to do,” said Rolden. “When we heard the gun shot we did what we were trained to do; which was to run toward the fight, not from it.”
For many people a work day is from nine to five, but for service members the job isn’t over just because you take off the uniform. For these Marines that reputation was put to the test by having to go above the call of duty by literally running into the face of danger to save the life of a fellow defender of freedom.
“This is a perfect example of Marines being Marines 24/7,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Niebel, 43, from Silver Spring, Md., battalion commander of 1st CEB, 1st Marine Division. “Even after the uniform is taken off they are still living up to Marine Corps standards.”
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Wild Thing's comment.......
God bless each one of them.......Taking out the trash - foreign and domestic.
Current and former military trained Americans are our greatest assets.
And did you all see -- they're about to be deployed.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:50 AM | Comments (7)
October 03, 2010
Colonel Michael Steele Captivates Audience
powerful video showing Col. Michael Steele speaking to an audience in Atlanta on the “Cost of Freedom.” Col. Steele’s audience included many wounded soldiers. Steele answers to main questions: Who is paying the cost of Freedom? What is the primary commodity with which it is purchased?
Here’s the description of the video posted at YouTube:
Powerful Speech-”Patriotism without Action is Counterfeit!”. Colonel Steele moved, inspired, challenged, and captivated the audience at a recent dinner to honor our heroes. Within the audience were many “wounded warriors” being treated in Atlanta area facilities. The speech included other stories of sacrifice and valor not included here for the sake of time. Herman Cain attended the event, as well as many political candidates, all there to honor those who risk and give their lives for us. Commenting later, on his radio program, Herman Cain said that as he reflected on this powerful speech he got so angry and sick, thinking of the political games played with our military in Washington. It is stunning to think of the slander, abuse, and neglect many Leftist politicians have perpetrated on our heroes over the years, from the John Kerry’s slander after Vietnam to the recent DADT and “Dream Act” shenanigans in the recent Defense Appropriations Bill. These “leaders” are shameless, and are not worthy to look men such as Colonel Steele in the eyes.
Wild Thing's comment..........
Fantastic!
It is just a little hard hear but I turned up the volume and it helped.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:48 AM
September 27, 2010
Adopting a Soldier: Wisconsin couple gives Soldier a new Family
Spc. Christopher Sandri, an infantryman with Company A, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, United States Division
Adopting a Soldier: Wisconsin couple gives Soldier a new Family
By Sgt. Mary S. Katzenberger
BAGHDAD
When Spc. Christopher Sandri travels home for leave this month, he plans on enjoying home-cooked meals and fishing for bass.
Sandri, an infantryman with Company A, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, United States Division – Center, said the best moments of leave, however, will be those spent with his parents, John and Dorean Sandri of Green Bay, Wis.
Chris said he feels strongly about this because until two years ago, he didn’t have parents to visit while on leave. Nor did he have parents to send him care packages while he was deployed to Anbar province from October 2007 to April 2008.
Chris said what was even more painful was standing on the parade field alone after redeploying April 2008 to Fort Stewart, Ga., while other soldiers went home with their families.
“I pretty much sucked it up and went to the barracks,” Chris said.
Chris, a Laurel, Md., native, was born Christopher Kroll on October 14, 1983, and was practically raised by his grandparents because his biological mother was unable to do so.
While Chris had maintained a strained relationship with his mother since joining the military and leaving Maryland, the relationship worsened after he left the U.S. for an assignment in Germany.
“She wasn’t happy I couldn’t contact her all the time,” Chris said. “The longer and longer I was over in Germany, the more and more she just grew away from me.”
After three years and a 6-month deployment to Afghanistan, Chris moved to Fort Stewart, Ga. It was then, over a phone call, that Chris’s biological mother ended all contact with her son.
“Her exact words that day when I called her were, ‘I have no son anymore,’” Chris said. “At the time, it didn’t bother me because we were in the middle of training; it didn’t click.”
Chris said two “rough” years later—by chance—he met his future adoptive mother, Dorean, through an online chat server.
Dorean, an executive secretary for the not-for-profit organization, Adopt a U.S. Soldier, read Chris’ profile and upon realizing he was a soldier, suggested Chris meet her husband, a Vietnam War veteran. Once Chris conversed with the man, the three adults became very close and talked frequently.
Through months of communication the Sandris heard about Chris’ Family history. Knowing Chris had nowhere to go over the holidays, the couple invited him to spend Christmas of 2008 with them in Green Bay; Chris accepted.
The visit was a meaningful experience for Chris, especially when one evening, while sitting in the garage, John Sandri asked the soldier if he would consider becoming his and Dorean’s son. The question caught Chris off guard at first, and he said he needed to think about it. It only took Chris two days to decide.
“It was like alright, I’m going to do it—I don’t have anybody else to trace back to.” Chris said. “I actually found out [part of the reason] behind it was because [John and Dorean] can’t have children.”
Chris Kroll and his soon-to-be parents submitted the necessary paperwork to the courthouse. In early 2009, the Soldier officially became known as Christopher Sandri.
Chris said since the adoption, it has been easy fitting in with the family.
“If there’s one thing I’ve got to admit about John and [Dorean], their whole family—every last one of them—is nuts,” Chris said with a laugh.
Chris said he has especially appreciated being able to talk to his adoptive father about things that have happened during his deployments. On the soldier’s last visit to the Sandri household prior to his current deployment, he said his adoptive father broke down into tears when sharing some of his memories from the Vietnam War, in which he served as a medevac pilot.
“It brought me to tears,” Chris said. “He sat down and he looked at me, and figured it’s only fair that if he spilled it all out to me then it won’t make me feel awkward if for some reason during my career I need to talk to somebody.”
Chris said Dorean always lets him know he’s wanted and that she loves him completely.
“It makes a difference knowing that if I have a hard day at work, I can get online and gripe to my parents,” he said. “My father will take it like a champ and find a way to make me laugh and my mother will be not too far behind with a promise of fresh made cookies coming in the mail.”
“All in all, John and Dorean are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Chris said.
Wild Thing's comment.........
Wonderful story! I love to learn about all the ways people care and support our troops. So many times too the friendships become lifelong.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:47 AM | Comments (4)
Obama's R.O.E. Called 'Courageous restraint' Is Putting Troops Lives At Risk
'Courageous restraint' putting troops lives at risk
Restrictive rules on firing upon the Taliban are putting soldiers' lives in danger, troops serving on the front line in Afghanistan have said.
Soldiers in Helmand claim that the policy of "courageous restraint" is forcing them to fight with "one hand tied behind our backs".
The doctrine was introduced by Gen Stanley McChrystal, the former American commander, to reduce the number of civilian casualties, which are mainly caused by aircraft bombs or artillery missiles.
However, with their own casualties mounting, troops say there is an urgent need for a change and for more flexibility in using lethal force to defend themselves.
Gen David Petraeus, who has taken over from Mr McChrystal after he was sacked last month by Barack Obama for insubordination, is said to be reviewing the policy as a result of the increase in casualties. June was the bloodiest month since fighting began in 2001.
A senior Non-Commissioned Officer, on his third tour of Afghanistan, said the rules of engagement had "gone too far one way" in favour of the insurgents.
"Our hands are tied the way we are asked to do courageous restraint. I agree with it to the extent that previously too many civilians were killed but we have got people shooting us and we are not allowed to shoot back.Outrageous restraint is a lot easier to say than to implement."
In guidance issued last August Mr McChrystal stated that "destroying a home or property jeopardises the livelihood of an entire family – and creates more insurgents" and that "large scale operations to kill or capture militants carry a significant risk of causing civilian casualties and collateral damage".
A 21-year-old Royal Marine said the policy was making troops "think twice before pulling the trigger" which "endangers them." "A couple of times I've hesitated in shooting someone when I should have done. Some lads have put themselves in danger by allowing a possible suicide bomber too close."
In one incident an insurgent fired single shots at a base for 15 minutes but was not taken out by a missile as after every shot he put down his rifle knowing he could not be hit if he was unarmed.
A junior officer commanding a small fort in Sangin said: "It's a major bugbear for the British Army, it affects us massively. Thank God we have the ANA (Afghan National Army) here because they have different rules of engagement to us and can smash the enemy." The policy has eroded confidence in opening fire to the point that officers have to remind the men that they are entitled to shoot.
"If you can PID (positively identify) an insurgent acting with hostile intent then you are cleared to engage, there's no grey area here," a troop commander told his men before they started a patrol.
Some locals in Sangin have criticised the troops for "not taking out" the Taliban who intimidate and harm them.
"We have our hands tied behind our backs when we want to take the enemy out of the equation," said a Royal Marine corporal. "This was (Gen Stanley) McChrystal's idea but he's been sacked hasn't he."
However, there have been many occasions when exercising courageous restraint has saved civilian lives.
Lt Col Paul James, commanding officer of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, last month ruled out launching an air strike on 15 locals digging in an IED (improvised explosive device).
"I chose not to strike them because that would have been 15 fathers of 15 sons who would almost certainly have been driven into the insurgents' arms.
You could also not rule out who was foe or who was curious onlooker."
Major Ed Moorhouse, a Royal Marine company commander, said: "The men will question courageous restraint but it doesn't mean you don't shoot. If you see a terrorist you ruthlessly prosecute the opportunity to shoot him and I remind them of that daily."
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Wild Thing's comment........
Its insane to favor the enemy - when our troops mission should be to destroy the enemy.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:45 AM | Comments (3)
September 26, 2010
Double Amputee Soldier Deploys to Afghanistan
Army Capt. Dan Luckett, 27, of Norcross, Ga........ takes a seat at Combat Outpost Ashoqeh, Afghanistan. Luckett lost his left leg and part of his right foot in a bomb blast in Iraq in 2008. The Pentagon says 41 American amputee veterans are now serving in combat zones worldwide.
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Army Capt. Dan Luckett, standing at right, preps fellow soldiers at Combat Outpost Ashoqeh on operations during a Sept. 14 meeting.
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Double amputee soldier deploys to Afghanistan
ASHOQEH, Afghanistan
When a bomb exploded under Dan Luckett’s Army Humvee in Iraq two years ago — blowing off one of his legs and part of his foot — the first thing he thought was: “That’s it. You’re done. No more Army for you.”
But two years later, the 27-year-old Norcross, Ga., native is back on duty — a double-amputee fighting on the front lines of America’s Afghan surge in one of the most dangerous parts of this volatile country.
Luckett’s remarkable recovery can be attributed in part to dogged self-determination. But technological advances have been crucial: Artificial limbs today are so effective, some war-wounded like Luckett are not only able to do intensive sports like snow skiing, they can return to active duty as fully operational soldiers. The Pentagon says 41 American amputee veterans are now serving in combat zones worldwide.
Luckett was a young platoon leader on his first tour in Iraq when an explosively formed penetrator — a bomb that hurls an armor-piercing lump of molten copper — ripped through his vehicle on a Baghdad street on Mother’s Day 2008.
His Humvee cabin instantly filled with heavy gray smoke and the smell of burning diesel and molten metal. Luckett felt an excruciating pain and a “liquid” — his blood — pouring out of his legs. He looked down and saw a shocking site: his own left foot sheered off above the ankle and his right boot a bloody mangle of flesh and dust.
Still conscious, he took deep breaths and made a deliberate effort to calm down.
A voice rang out over the radio — his squad leader checking in.
“1-6, is everybody all right?” the soldier asked, referring to Luckett’s call-sign.
“Negative,” Luckett responded. “My feet are gone.”
He was evacuated by helicopter to a Baghdad emergency room, flown to Germany, and six days after the blast, he was back in the U.S.
As his plane touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., he made a determined decision. He was going to rejoin the 101st Airborne Division any way he could.
For the first month at Washington’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Luckett was bound to a wheelchair. He hated the dependence that came with it, the way people changed their voice when they spoke to him — soft and sympathetic.
He wondered: how long is THIS going to last? Will I be dependent on others for the rest of my life? At night, he dreamed of walking on two legs.
When he woke, only the stump of his left leg was there, painfully tender and swollen.
His family wanted to know, is this going to be the same Dan? He assured them he was.
Luckett was fortunate in one sense. His wounds had been caused not by shrapnel, but the projectile itself, which made a relatively clean cut. That meant no complications — no joint or nerve damage or bone fractures.
His right foot was sheared across his metatarsals, the five long bones before the toes. Doctors fitted it with a removable carbon fiber plate that runs under the foot and fills the space where toes should be with hardened foam.
His left leg was a far bigger challenge.
In early July 2008, Luckett strapped into a harness, leaned on a set of parallel bars, and tried out his first prosthetic leg.
It felt awkward, but he was able to balance and walk.
The next day, Luckett tried the leg on crutches — and tried to walk out the door.
“They were like, ‘You gotta’ give the leg back,’ ” Luckett said of his therapists. After a brief argument, they grudgingly gave in. “They said, ‘If you’re gonna be that hard-headed about it, do it smart, don’t wear it all the time.’ ”
By February 2009, he had progressed so far, he could run a mile in eight minutes.
He rejoined his unit at Fort Campbell, Ky., and told his battalion commander he wanted to return to duty “only if I could be an asset, not a liability,” he recalled.
Months later, he passed a physical fitness test to attain the Expert Infantryman’s Badge. It required running 12 miles in under three hours with a 35-pound backpack. It was a crucial moment, Luckett said, “because I knew if I can get this badge, then there’s nothing they can say that I’m not capable of doing.”
The Army agreed, and promoted him to captain.
In May, he deployed to Afghanistan.
On his first patrol, wearing 50 pounds of gear and body armor, Luckett slipped and fell down. But when he looked around, everybody else was falling, too.
The region around his outpost at Ashoqeh, just west of the provincial capital of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, is surrounded by irrigation trenches and 4-foot-high mud walls that grapes grow over. Troops must traverse the treacherous terrain to avoid bombs on footpaths.
Capt. Brant Auge, Luckett’s company commander, said Luckett was as capable as every soldier in his company, and treated no different.
“He’s a soldier who just happens to be missing a leg,” said Auge, 30, who is from Ocean Springs, Miss. “He tries to play it down as much as possible, he doesn’t like to bring a lot of attention to it.”
On one of those early patrols, Luckett took to a knee and his pants leg rode up a little bit, revealing the prosthetic limb to a shocked group of Afghan soldiers nearby, Auge said. One gave him the nickname, the “One-legged Warrior of Ashoqeh.”
Beside his cramped bunk-bed, the 185-pound, 5-foot-11 Luckett keeps prosthetic legs for different tasks, each with a carbon fiber socket that attaches to his thigh.
One is fitted with a tennis shoe for running, another a boot. One, made of aluminum so it won’t rust, has a waterproof black Croc for showering. The most important leg though, he saves for patrols. It is made with a high-tech axle that allows him to move smoothly over uneven terrain. His squad leader painted its toenails purple.
Luckett’s prothesis is often a source of good humor — most often generated by Luckett himself.
Some joke of his advantage of having little to lose if he steps on a mine. “That’s always a big one,” he said, “but the reality is, you don’t want to step on an IED because you enjoy living and you want stay living. The fear is no different than any other soldier.”
Before heading to Afghanistan, Auge said Luckett had an as-yet-untried “master plan” to upset the insurgents.
Troops would have Luckett step on a mine and blow his fake leg off. He’d then look up at the trigger man while whipping a replacement leg over his shoulder and slipping it on.
“Then he would flip them off,” Auge said, “and keep on walking.”
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Wild Thing's comment.......
America is blessed to have the most awesome warriors. Thank you Capt. Dan Luckett and you are in our thoughts and prayers, we owe you so much.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:49 AM | Comments (6)
US Marines Commercial - Devil Dogs
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Love this! God bless our Marines and all those serving now in all the branches and keep them safe.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:45 AM | Comments (2)
September 19, 2010
Happy 63rd Birthday, United States Air Force
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God Bless the U.S. Air Force!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:30 AM | Comments (5)
September 14, 2010
Checking In With Our Troops
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Anthony Patris reflects a scene in his sunglasses as his interpreter speaks with Afghan boys after an improvised explosive device detonated in Pinjadoo in Afghanistan's Helmand province, Sept. 6, 2010. The explosion did not injure any Marines or Afghans. Patris is a vehicle commander assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Mark Fayloga
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Troops from nearly 50 lands dine on combat meals in Afghanistan — each reminding them of where they’d rather be.
You can CLICK here to click on each one to read about them.
A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder
EARLY in the war in Afghanistan, among the international troops who mingle at Bagram Air Base, a single French combat ration (cassoulet, perhaps, with deer pâté and nougat) could be traded for at least five American Meals Ready to Eat, better known as M.R.E.’s.
Recently though, the barter values have changed.
A fellow journalist who just got back from an embed with the French told me that today they look forward to visiting the Americans for a meal. American rations — hamburgers, chili, peanut butter, candy — they say, are “fun.”
Each year, among the countries with troops in Afghanistan — the current number is 47 — tens of millions of dollars are spent researching how to fit the most calories, nutrition and either comfort or fun into a small, light package. The menus and accompaniments are intended not just to nourish but also to remind the soldier of home. Some include branded comfort foods — Australians get a dark-brown spreadable yeast-paste treat called Vegemite, for example — while others get national staples like liverwurst (Germany), or lamb curry (Britain’s current culinary obsession).
Some of the contents are practical. Italians get three disposable toothbrushes per day of combat. Americans get pound cake, which military folklore says reduces the need for toilet breaks.
Other items are just, well, quirky. For nine years now, I’ve been travelling mostly with the Americans when I’m in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one item they’re known for is the Assorted Charms that are one of several hard candies randomly distributed with M.R.E.’s.
Never eat the Charms, the troops say; they’re unlucky. It’s just a superstition, of course — I’ve never met a soldier who could tell me why they were unlucky — but the G.I.’s take it seriously. I sometimes think that if I ever got separated from my unit in the field, I’d just follow a trail of discarded unopened Assorted Charms to find them again.
Among the soldiers I have known, the peanut M&Ms are the hands down favorite item (it used to be Skittles), and they’re currency. Want to swap out your shift pulling guard duty? A packet might well buy you the favor.
The soldiers like to mix and match some of the ingredients to create their own drinks and meals. Army Rangers have been taught at least as far back as the Vietnam War how to make Ranger Pudding — roughly, it’s water mixed with cocoa powder, instant coffee, melted chocolate, Tootsie Roll, sugar and coffee creamer.
“Combat espresso,” on the other hand, is brutal. The creamer, instant coffee and sugar are poured directly into one’s mouth and then washed down with water. In 2004, I survived on those things for two weeks with a Marine company during the battle for Falluja.
In combat, eating is often the only good thing about a day. When a soldier or marine sits down to warm up his M.R.E., he’s not being shot at, he’s not losing friends. It’s almost a ritual, and the very act of opening one of these packages suggests safety, however brief it may be.
Wild Thing's comment........
Interesting write up about the food swaps and from the NY Times, that surprised me too.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:44 AM | Comments (3)
September 12, 2010
Army Rebuilding a Jeep Under 4 Minutes
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Amazing!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (4)
September 11, 2010
U.S. Lifts Ban On Fast-Food Restaurants and Retail Stores at American Bases in Afghanistan
Fast food making comeback on U.S. bases in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan
The U.S. military has lifted a seven-month ban on fast-food restaurants and retail stores at American bases in Afghanistan.
The shops, ranging from Burger Kings to Oakley sunglasses stores and Military Car Sales outlets, were ordered closed in February by former U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who cited space issues. At the time, McChrystal’s senior enlisted adviser said the profusion of such shops was contributing to an “amusement park” atmosphere at some of the largest U.S. bases.
But Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill — who took over as the senior noncommissioned officer in Afghanistan this month — decided to reverse the ban after consulting with other top noncommissioned officers, he said in an interview Thursday.
“For troops to be able to go and grab a burger or a piece of chicken or whatever, I don’t really think it’s that bad,” he said.
The ban on shops and fast-food restaurants mainly affected a handful of the largest U.S. bases in Afghanistan such as Bagram Air Field that are primarily home to headquarters and support troops
In part, Hill said, the change in policy reflects an easing of the logistical challenges posed by the arrival of some 30,000 additional U.S. troops and their equipment. When the ban was announced, those troops were still on their way, straining tenuous NATO supply routes and filling bases beyond capacity.
Hill said he would leave it to individual base commanders to decide what to bring back, but cautioned that the food courts and shopping areas should be kept within reason.
“It needs to be right-sized,” he said. “We need to keep in mind that everything we bring into the country has to come through the same supply chain, whether it’s fast food or ammunition.”
The ban on shops and fast-food restaurants mainly affected a handful of the largest U.S. bases in Afghanistan such as Bagram Air Field that are primarily home to headquarters and support troops.
Most combat troops remain at smaller bases, often with only the most basic amenities, contributing to something of a quality-of-life dichotomy in Afghanistan, typified by a faux motivational poster that has made the rounds among U.S. troops. The poster shows a picture of two smiling servicemembers holding trays of fast food next to a group of dust-covered troops on patrol. Beneath, it reads: “Afghanistan: individual experiences may vary.”
Spokesman Judd Anstey said Thursday that AAFES had yet to receive official word of the policy change.
“If we receive an official request, AAFES is ready to support fast food concessions in Afghanistan,” he said.
Gen. David Petraeus, who took over command in Afghanistan in July, said he had left the decision about base amenities to Hill but said he believed the shops contributed to morale without creating resentment.
“The feedback I’ve received from the squad and platoon level, if you will, is that they don’t begrudge the occupants of big bases having Burger Kings because they actually like to go to them when they get the chance to go to the big bases,” he said.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Good news! They never should have taken them away in the first place. It isn't as though they are scattered across the country of Afghanistan, they were located at specific bases.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:48 AM | Comments (4)
September 07, 2010
Push to Release Marines at Leavenworth and Lt. Colonel Allen West Talks About The Leavenworth 10
Lt. Colonel Allen West Talks About The Leavenworth 10
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People gathered outside of the Leavenworth prison to bring attention to 10 former soldiers who they say should be released.
Wild Thing's comment.......
And please don't forget the Stryker Brigrade soldiers being held at McCord AFB near Seattle, Wa. They are in the same position.
For this to be happening to our warriors, our heroes is beyond horrible. It is unforgivable.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:40 AM | Comments (8)
September 03, 2010
Afghan Outrage: U.S. Troops Scrounge for Blankets, Bullets
Afghan outrage: U.S. troops scrounge for blankets, bullets
'One of my soldiers went without ammo for 5 weeks'
The parents of an American soldier in Afghanistan have accused the U.S. government of leaving defenders of its freedoms without basics such as blankets, food, feminine hygiene supplies and even bullets, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
"One of my soldiers went without ammo for five weeks once they got to Afghanistan because of shortages. I can't reveal the name, because they are frightened of reprisals. If they can do what they did to a four star general like [Gen. Stanley A.] McChrystal, what would they do to a buck private?"
That comes from a woman who, with her husband, has taken it upon herself to adopt soldiers and provide them with many of the needed basics.
The woman, assigned a pseudonym of "Beth," insisted her name not be used because of the possibility of reprisals against her or the soldiers.
But she told WND she received a report that a U.S. soldier bought a $15 knife "and slept with their hand on the handle in the waist of their pants because it was all they had for the moment to protect themselves."
The woman confirmed she and her husband are involved in supplying the basic necessities for some 50 soldiers – because the military isn't.
"If the military doesn't supply what they need, they must depend on family or people like me," Beth said. "Many of these families are struggling on low wages, some parents are on disabilities and unable to help. Sending a box once a month during their deployment is not only good for their morale, but they need (to be) resupplied with many items."
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations. But one soldier told Beth the work days are 18 hours long, and they have few "real meals."
Wild Thing's comment........
This is extremely disturbing.
The election of this administration, in addition to both houses of Congress being in the hands of the Democrats, was the worst thing the Americans could have done to our military.
We have GOT to get Kenya Boy out of the WH. We have got to take our country back at all costs.
Obama is more concerned with taxing us to death, playing golf, control over all of us, and that freaking Mosque in NY.
....Thank you JohnE, U.S. Army for sending this to me.
Soldier/Generator Mechanic
Companies: 288TH Q.M. Co
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:47 AM | Comments (9)
September 02, 2010
22 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan in Four Days
22 US troops killed in Afghanistan in four days
Twenty two American troops have been killed in Afghanistan in four days, making it one of the bloodiest periods of the summer.
A series of bomb attacks have badly hit US troops in eastern and southern Afghanistan in the past 48 hours, contributing to the toll.
Violence is predicted to rise towards the September 18 parliamentary elections and as American troops begin operations west of Kandahar after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Deaths among the Nato-led coalition have reached 485 this year and are predicted to surpass 2009’s total of 521.
In one of the worst recent attacks five American soldiers died in Kandahar on Monday. Witnesses said their Humvee armoured vehicle was destroyed by a bomb. Three more died in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday.
The coalition blames the rise in troop deaths partly on the influx of reinforcements, which is allowing commanders to target previously untouched insurgent safe havens where rebels are mounting stiff resistance.
Afghan police and civilians have suffered far higher casualties. The interior ministry has said 229 civilians and 124 policemen were killed in the month to August 22.
Mr Karzai’s frustration at the death toll led him this week to say Nato strategy must change as “fighting (Taliban) in Afghan villages has been ineffective and is not achieving anything but killing civilians".
Gen David Petraeus, senior US and Nato commander in the country, warned fighting would get “harder before it gets easier”.
Homemade bombs using old shells or homemade explosives and hidden in roads, tracks, walls, streams and buildings have become the Taliban’s favoured weapon.
Their use has sparked an arms race with foreign troops evolving tactics, or relying on more heavily armed vehicles and mine detectors to try and avoid them.
Wild Thing's comment........
Obama gave the taliban the green flag.
This is awful, every village near that Bomb/IED should be ankle high.. God Protect our troops from their two enemies ,obama and the taliban. Our troops are being restrained by Obama and his administration!
STOP these insane R.O.E.'s !!!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:50 AM | Comments (3)
September 01, 2010
1st Battalion 6th Marines: Marjah Afghanistan
From the person that did ithe video:
Not your normal "Mot Video" but this video will make you think twice about the men and women in the Marine Corps. Against GySgt Wallgreens request I recorded his speach in secret..... the result is this awesome video with the last words we heard before boarding helos and heading into the heart of Marjeh. Have you ever wondered how Marines get pumped up? This video will show you how true leaders inspire their Marines to do the unthinkable.
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Wild Thing's comment........
God bless our Marines and all our troops!!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:47 AM | Comments (3)
August 28, 2010
Military Dog Helps Service Member with PTSD
Military Dog Helps Service Member with PTSD
Video about how a joint study by several health organizations revealed 82 percent of people diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder partnered with a trained psychiatric service dog will have fewer symptoms. Provided by American Forces Network Afghanistan.
Service dogs help heal military veterans
The wounds of war are not always physical. Battle anxiety leaves many soldiers emotionally scarred with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can lead to lifelong disability if inadequately treated.
Coming to the rescue is the Paws for Purple Hearts program, with dogs trained to assist veterans with emotional and physical disabilities.
The concept of service dogs, trained to assist people with mobility or other impairments, originated in 1975 at the Bergin University of Canine Studies, Santa Rosa, Calif. The concept has now been expanded for an innovative program designed for wounded veterans.
In January the first group of dogs selected from the pilot program of Paws for Purple Hearts will report for duty at the Walter Reed Warrior Transition Unit in Washington, D.C. Veterans suffering from PTSD will train these dogs to become companions for other soldiers returning home with physical disabilities.
"The experience of losing a close friend and feeling helpless leaves a scar,'' said Rick Yount, director of Paws for Purple Hearts. "It's very important to address it and come to some type of understanding of what they could and couldn't do in the situation.''
Unconditional love
In the first part of the program, the unconditional love of the golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers in the program is part of a trauma-recovery team for incoming veterans suffering from PTSD.
Emotional affection is needed to praise the service dog, an empathic quality needed for veterans to recover. "Dogs won't let you isolate,'' Yount said, adding that they serve as grounding and help the veterans develop patience.
During a three-month training period, the service dog is taught vital skills to aid physically disabled soldiers, including the ability to retrieve items, turn on lights, open and close doors, and push wheelchairs. Once trained, the service dogs can accomplish many tasks typically performed by family members and attendants.
Second phase
In the second part of the program, the service dog moves to the next level, leaving the PTSD-afflicted trainer for a new human companion. The difficulty of saying goodbye to a new friend often brings up feelings of lost comrades, but with a significant difference: A sacrifice is being made for the good of another comrade returning from combat.
"Maybe they couldn't help their friend hit by an IED (improvised explosive device), but helping another veteran helps them to deal with the loss,'' Yount said.
Combat veterans usually have a difficult time expressing feelings about severe wartime trauma, and initial results are positive. "The vet can be more relaxed and less hypervigilant,'' he said.
According to the Army Surgeon General’s special assistant for mental health, Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, M.D., the Army is using dogs “much more” to help soldiers recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“Animals are not just cute,” Ritchie said. “They provide support.”
The observation came at a 2010 NAMI Convention symposium on “Veterans and Military Mental Health,” focusing on the needs of returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other veterans.
Ritchie’s statement was consistent with the findings of a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) report released last year, Depression: Gaps and Guideposts, which found that about 20 percent of people living with depression have used animal therapy in treatment, with 54 percent finding it “extremely” or “quite a bit” helpful.
The dogs, provided by the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, are trained to help jolt a soldier from a flashback, dial 911 on the phone, and even sense a panic attack before it starts.
The dog also provides emotional comfort, and can help a veteran with a sense of responsibility, optimism, and self-awareness.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
I love animals and I can see how having a dog or a cat to be with one of our troops when they come back would help a lot. It is a special relationship that a person has with these gifts from God.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (4)
August 25, 2010
God Bless Our Marines
....."My husband, Cpl Jason Pinkston and our new son Ryder born July 19, 2010" from Allison Brooke Pinkston
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Wild Thing's comment.......
The photo says it all.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:47 AM
August 20, 2010
Sniper in Afghan Town
Sniper in Afghan Town Puts Marines on Edge
SANGIN, Afghanistan
Somewhere in this dusty town, concealed among the cornfields, irrigation canals and mud-walled compounds, is a man the Marines particularly want to kill.
They don't know what he looks like. But they know he is a very good shot with a long rifle, and, every day he remains alive, he is drawing Marine blood.
In the seven days since the men of Lima Company, Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment arrived in town, the Sangin sniper has persecuted them with methodical, well-aimed shots, fired one at a time. His toll so far: two men killed—one American and one British—and one man wounded.
Two Marines have survived hits they say came from a second shooter, believed to be less proficient and careful than the first.
Sangin has for years been a hotbed of insurgent activity in volatile Helmand province, and, in its first days here, Lima Company has pressed through a belt of farmland between the Helmand River and a main road, Route 611. The Marines have been met with hidden explosives and ambushes.
But the sniper has caused the most damage—a deadly reminder that the Taliban insurgency has its share of well-trained fighters capable of frustrating the allied mission.
"He's hitting people—that's very disruptive," said 1st Sgt. John Calhoun, 41 years old, from Konawa, Okla. "But it's not interfering with what we're trying to do here."
The sniper struck first on Aug. 13, the day after Lima Company arrived. A Marine stepped out of his armored vehicle just 100 yards or so from a secure U.S.-British patrol base. He threw away some trash and exchanged a few words with another Marine. The sniper fired a single, lethal shot.
On the same day, a British army engineer—20-year-old Darren Foster from Carlisle, England—was in a guard post in front of the same patrol base. British troops have built a covered, bunkered pathway so the guards aren't exposed to enemy fire as they walk down from the hilltop base. The post is protected by bulletproof glass, except for small gaps through which the guards fire their weapons. The sniper timed his single shot and killed the engineer as he walked past the opening.
"He hit a moving target in a space this big," said Capt. Jim Nolan, Lima Company's commander, holding his hands about nine inches apart.
On Aug. 14, a U.S. tank mechanic took a round in the torso as he carried sandbags across a small bridge. The protective plate in his body armor stopped the round.
"We think it's the same guy," said Gunnery Sgt. Edward Rivera, 39, of Poway, Calif.
Other Marines believe the evidence suggests a second shooter, less accurate and armed with a smaller-caliber weapon.
Then on Sunday, the snipers hit twice. First, Lance Cpl. Derek Simpson took a round to the head.
One of the Marines' tank-like mine-clearing vehicles had slipped off of a dirt bridge, knocking the track off the sprocket wheel. The Marines hitched it to a tow-tank and pulled until the track came completely free, then set to work putting it back in place. Lance Cpl. Simpson, of Third Combat Engineer Battalion, was working on the project and talking to some other Marines when he felt a hard blow to his head.
The sniper's bullet had apparently hit the tank and ricocheted into the front right side of Lance Cpl. Simpson's helmet. It punched into the Kevlar shell, but didn't penetrate all the way.
Lance Cpl. Simpson, who was raised in Gary, Texas, can't recall if he was knocked to the ground or threw himself there to avoid another shot. Another Marine dragged him to cover. He lay on his back as a friend pulled off his helmet to reveal a bloody welt on the right side of his forehead. Two Navy corpsmen, the Marine equivalent of Army medics, decided against stitches.
"I feel blessed," he said. But he also felt guilty for leaving his comrades. "I want to be out there with everyone else," he said. "It's not fair that I'm alive and in here, and they're still out there."
Fifteen minutes after Lance Cpl. Simpson arrived at the patrol base, another Marine went down near the same spot. Again, just one shot.
The other Marines pulled him, too, behind an armored vehicle, where a corpsman treated his wounded leg. The men called frantically for an armored ambulance, but were relieved that the corpsman found the bullet had missed the femoral artery. The wound wasn't life-threatening.
Back at the patrol base, Sgt. Johnny Bailey watched a live video feed of the scene at the bridge and tried to find out which way the Marine had fallen. "That way I'll know the direction of the shot," he said.
The Marines send their own snipers out hunting. The Marine scout-snipers, who go through extensive training, are reluctant to grant that title to the insurgent gunman. They might allow him "marksman," a lesser honorific.
"He's a decent shot—not a great shot," one Marine sniper said as he headed out the patrol base to try to kill the insurgent.
He had heard the thump and crack of each of the sniper's shots. He estimates from the sound that the Sangin sniper is less than 600 yards away from his targets. Still, the Sangin sniper appears careful and clever.
During the U.S.-led offensive earlier this year in Marjah, another Helmand province hot spot, one insurgent sniper positioned himself two or three rooms deep inside a building, concealed well enough to hide the flash of his rifle's muzzle. His shots would travel room-to-room through the building, exit through a small hole in the exterior wall and hit Marines on a rooftop outpost. It took Marine snipers days to locate and kill him.
Wild Thing's comment...........
This place SANGIN, Afghanista is less than cooperative. Because that is the case then the BS and the R.O.E.'s and the “winning them over” should be declared null and void and they should lay waste to the whole dang area. They’re all the enemy in a city such as that one.
Some article titles from the past about this place:
Afghanistan: British troops to hand over northern Helmand to US
Marines to replace British troops in Sangin - Marine Corps News
I LOVE snipers — when they’re ours!!!!!! Send in two counter-sniper teams. There’s no way this sniper will survive.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:50 AM | Comments (4)
August 16, 2010
First National Guard Special Forces Soldier Successfully Jumps with Prosthetic
SSG Andre Murnane, 28, of Salisbury, Md., entered Green Beret lore this month when he became the first Army National Guard Special Forces soldier to jump out of an aircraft. Army doctors cleared him to jump in June. While several Special Forces soldiers with prosthetics have completed airborne operations, Murnane is the first National Guardsman to do so.
Faced with a long recovery and the reality that he might not ever run, surf or return to his Special Forces team, Staff Sgt. Andre Murnane made the decision last year to have his right leg amputated below the knee after it was shattered by an improvised explosive device that detonated in eastern Afghanistan.
“My dreams and ambitions didn’t end that day. It simply started a new chapter,” he said.
And a new breakthrough.
Murnane, 28, of Salisbury, Md., entered Green Beret lore this month when he became the first Army National Guard Special Forces soldier to jump out of an aircraft. Army doctors cleared him to jump in June. While several Special Forces soldiers with prosthetics have completed airborne operations, Murnane is the first National Guardsman to do so.
Murnane admitted he felt nervous about the historic jump that took place Aug. 1 in Grenada, about 90 miles north of Jackson. And he was a bit worried about the prosthetic shifting from the opening shock of the parachute and how it would hold up when he landed.
“It held just fine with new prosthetic technology and some good old fashion duct tape,” he said. “Once I was under canopy my thoughts shifted to the two runways that were on the drop zone, I barely cleared one of them by 15 or 20 meters. Just before landing I wondered what it was going to feel like, but I just kept telling myself, feet and knees together and relax.”
Last October, the communications sergeant from the Maryland-based Bravo Company of 2nd Battalion 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was out on a combat operation on a mountain when a pressure plate IED detonated while clearing an area after his team was ambushed. He was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, where he underwent several surgeries to repair his right foot and ankle. It was there where he realized the surgeries would never completely restore his leg.
He’s taken it all in stride, though.
“Life is a journey, and the journey is the destination. You have to accept change in your life and continue to live it like you did before,” he said. “It takes some extra work, but if you train hard and stay motivated you can do anything you want to.”
SSG Andre Murnane, 28, of Salisbury, Md., entered Green Beret lore this month when he became the first Army National Guard Special Forces soldier to jump out of an aircraft. Army doctors cleared him to jump in June. While several Special Forces soldiers with prosthetics have completed airborne operations, Murnane is the first National Guardsman to do so.
SSG Andre Murnane, 28, of Salisbury, Md., entered Green Beret lore this month when he became the first Army National Guard Special Forces soldier to jump out of an aircraft. Army doctors cleared him to jump in June. While several Special Forces soldiers with prosthetics have completed airborne operations, Murnane is the first National Guardsman to do so.
SSG Andre Murnane, 28, of Salisbury, Md., entered Green Beret lore this month when he became the first Army National Guard Special Forces soldier to jump out of an aircraft. Army doctors cleared him to jump in June. While several Special Forces soldiers with prosthetics have completed airborne operations, Murnane is the first National Guardsman to do so.
SSG Andre Murnane, 28, of Salisbury, Md., entered Green Beret lore this month when he became the first Army National Guard Special Forces soldier to jump out of an aircraft. Army doctors cleared him to jump in June. While several Special Forces soldiers with prosthetics have completed airborne operations, Murnane is the first National Guardsman to do so.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
WOW Fantastic!
All The Way....Good Job Staff Sergeant Andre Mumane. I love our warrirors, our country has such truly awesome men and women serving our country, and we always have.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 AM | Comments (2)
August 14, 2010
VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945
V-J Day (Victory over Japan day) is on August 15th in memory of the announcement of the surrender of Japan on that day in 1945 to end World War II.
VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.
This is footage found after sitting for 65 years. It's video taken of VJ day in Honolulu. August 14, 1945.
"65 Years Ago my Dad (Richard Sullivan ) shot this film along Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
One of my Uncles was stationed in Hawaii when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. My Aunt ( his wife) said she looked out the window and she could see one of the planes go by and the Kamikaze pilots face so close looking toward their house.
Another Aunt took a troop train from NY to SF when she joined the WAVES. She also said at every town they stopped in the townspeople were there cheering them on and providing coffee and treats.
Another of my Uncles was sitting on Okinawa waiting to go in. He took part in the Solomon, Siapan, Iwo Jima, always said he figured he wouldn't of survived Japan he'd used up all his luck.
One other of my Uncles was on a troop train when a man got on the train yelling that the "JAPS QUIT"! NOBODY paid him any mind & the party went ON & ON. But later when the train got to El Paso, another man got on the train with a copy of the EP Daily Sun newspaper stating what happened and then my Uncle said the party abruptly ended and "it was quiet as a mouse for several hours as though it was sinking in. He said everyone sat there looking out the window and no sound was heard. Then loud cheers began to fill the train.
Uncle Sven would have been in the second wave; they expected 95% casualties, that is what they pretty much were told. Till the day he passed away he celebrated August 15, 1945 and was very much in favor that they dropped the bomb.
All the men in my family served in the military in each branch, also three of my Aunts. I wish they all were alive today they would love to see this video. They would love to know each one of you on here as well.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:55 AM | Comments (4)
August 10, 2010
Virginia Lawmakers Blast Gates Plan to Cut Major Military Command
Virginia Lawmakers Blast Gates Plan to Cut Major Military Command
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday announced a plan to shed a major military command in Virginia as part of his effort to strip billions from the Pentagon budget, drawing heated objections from state lawmakers who call the center essential.
Gates, in a lengthy press conference Monday afternoon, outlined his plan to eliminate Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., and seek deep cuts elsewhere in the budget. He acknowledged the economic impact the closure could have for thousands of workers in the Norfolk region, but stood by his decision as a critical step in bringing defense spending under control.
"I am determined to change the way this department has done business for a long time," Gates said.
Gates estimated that the Virginia command accounts for 2,800 military and civilian positions, as well as 3,000 contractors, at an annual cost of at least $240 million. Though some employees could be reassigned elsewhere, Gates said a "substantial number" of full-time workers would have to find other positions or leave the Defense Department.
Virginia lawmakers slammed the decision, condemning the move with a steady stream of written statements while assembling for a press conference Monday afternoon in Norfolk. Aside from concerns over jobs, they argued that the command could actually help the Pentagon save money.
"I can see no rational basis for dismantling JFCOM since its sole mission is to look for efficiencies and greater cost-savings by forcing more cooperation among sometimes competing military services," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a written statement. "In the business world, you sometimes have to spend money in order to save money."
He vowed to work with the congressional delegation to retain as many jobs connected to the command as possible. Norfolk is one of 10 major U.S. military commands.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., also called the move a "step backward" and one that could hurt military capability. "I will carefully examine the justifications for this decision as well as its implications for the greater Norfolk community," he said.
Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., pledged to do the same, ripping the announcement as "short-sighted and without merit."
"I appreciate the department's attempt to rein in spending, but I have yet to see any substantive analysis to support the assertion that closing JFCOM will yield large savings," he said.
Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim agreed with Warner that the command could save money. He told FoxNews.com that the station is "valuable" and the congressional delegation has the "leverage" to negotiate with the Pentagon.
"I think we want to resist this," Fraim said. He said the simulations and other exercises conducted at Joint Forces Command are critical and must be performed somewhere.
The mayor said the other installations that have made Norfolk a national military hub will stay regardless of the Joint Forces Command decision.
Gates on Monday also detailed other efforts to reduce waste and duplication, including a plan to cut the Pentagon's use of outside contractors by 10 percent next year and rein in the growth of senior leadership positions. Gates called for a freeze on the number of employees working for his office, defense agencies and combatant commands for the next three years and a cut of at least 50 general and flag officer positions and 150 senior civilian executive positions over the next two years.
Gates declined to say how much money would be saved by shutting down the command, which holds more than a million square feet of real estate in Suffolk and Norfolk. Some savings will be offset by the cost of shifting some jobs and roles elsewhere, he said.
Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement saying Gates' proposals "appear to efficiently find savings" in the Pentagon budget. He said he would hold a hearing when Congress returns from its August recess.
The Virginia-based command trains troops from different services to fight together.
Joint Forces Command was the largest single cut announced Monday.
Six Virginia lawmakers issued a written statement opposing the cut last month after a board of advisers first proposed the idea. The lawmakers, including Webb and Warner, called the proposal "illogical" and potentially "harmful" to military capability.
The Pentagon has already announced a target of cutting $100 billion over five years. And earlier this year Gates ordered a top-to-bottom paring of the military bureaucracy in search of at least $10 billion in annual savings needed to prevent an erosion of U.S. combat power.
Gates took aim at what he called wasteful business practices and too many generals and admirals, and noted that "overhead" costs chew up as much as 40 percent of the Pentagon's budget.
Big cuts are essential considering the recession and the likelihood that Congress no longer will give the Pentagon the sizable budget increases it has enjoyed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Gates and other defense leaders have said.
The current defense budget, not counting the cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is $535 billion; the administration is asking for $549 billion for 2011.
Most full combatant commands correspond to regions of the world, such as Pacific Command, but others are organized around a concept or mission rather than geography.
JFCOM lists its mission as training troops from all services to work together for specific missions. It tries to make sure equipment used by different services works together, and looks for gaps in capabilities within military services that could be filled by a specially trained joint force.
The command is headed by a four-star military officer, the highest grade currently in use. Marine Gen. James Mattis was its commander until named last month to replace Army Gen. David Petraeus as head of U.S. Central Command. His replacement will be Gen. Ray Odierno, now the war commander in Iraq. Odierno's job will be to eliminate his own office, officials said.
The plan Gates outlined is similar to one suggested last month by the Defense Business Board, a panel of company executives who advise the Pentagon. The board said Gates should cut the number of civilian employees by at least 15 percent. The panel also identified Joint Forces Command as contributing to much of the contractor bloat because it had more contractors than government employees on its payroll.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Sheesh! The only spending that this bunch of bozos can cut is in the military! ??!! The Kenyan Clown is determined to destroy our military.
Defense is constitutional mandated. It should be the last thing cut.
The ONLY federal employees facing the possibility of job cuts under this administration are Defense Department employees. And Robert Gates, ass-kissing flunky extraordinaire is right out there cutting jobs in the middle of the worst recession in decades. Cutting jobs of the only competent federal workforce there is. Closing the base will mean not just re-assigning the personnel but thousands of civilian jobs will be lost in the community.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (7)
August 09, 2010
Obama Administration’s DOJ Denying Our Troops Their Right To Vote ~ Update
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This story discounting the value of overseas military votes fits the Eric Holder-geist profile of *subverting* likely non-DEMO voters.
Further confirmation that Libs, Dems, and Obama HATE the military.
I can remember too how Algore did all he could to disqualify Florida military ballots in 2000.
America's enemies are here, and they are in Washington D.C. And Obama and Holder's DOJ are blatantly leading the parade. They are the lowest of the low if they are denying our people in uniform their voting rights. Disgraceful.
Holder and Obama don’t care that the country is watching this Justice Department ignore or flat out break our laws.
To deliberately disenfranchise our troops, who are being killed and maimed while defending America, is so low that it defies description.
The military is the heart of our country and should have every single one of their votes counted!
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:47 AM | Comments (4)
August 08, 2010
General Petraeus Reloads Rules of Engagement
Petraeus Issues Updated Tactical Directive: Emphasizes “Disciplined Use of Force”
The directive was issued on August 1, 2010, replacing the July 1, 2009 version.
Headquarters
International Security Assistance Force - Afghanistan
2010-08-CA-004
KABUL, Afghanistan (Aug. 4) – International Security Assistance Force Commander, General David Petraeus has issued his updated Tactical Directive, providing guidance and intent for the use of force by ISAF and USFOR-A units operating in Afghanistan.
The Tactical Directive reinforces the concept of “disciplined use of force” in our partnership with Afghan Security Forces to defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan.
The updated directive is classified; unclassified portions of the document are included below.
“This directive applies to all ISAF and US Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) forces operating under operational or tactical control ... Subordinate commanders are not authorized to further restrict this guidance without my approval.
Our counterinsurgency strategy is achieving progress in the face of tough enemies and a number of other challenges. Concentrating our efforts on protecting the population is having a significant effect. We have increased security in some key areas, and we have reduced the number of civilian casualties caused by coalition forces.
The Afghan population is, in a number of areas, increasingly supportive of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and of coalition forces. We have also seen support for the insurgency decrease in various areas as the number of insurgent-caused civilian casualties has risen dramatically. We must build on this momentum.
This effort is a contest of wills. Our enemies will do all that they can to shake our confidence and the confidence of the Afghan people. In turn, we must continue to demonstrate our resolve to the enemy. We will do so through our relentless pursuit of the Taliban and others who mean Afghanistan harm, through our compassion for the Afghan people, and through the example we provide to our Afghan partners.
We must continue – indeed, redouble – our efforts to reduce the loss of innocent civilian life to an absolute minimum. Every Afghan civilian death diminishes our cause. If we use excessive force or operate contrary to our counterinsurgency principles, tactical victories may prove to be strategic setbacks.
We must never forget that the center of gravity in this struggle is the Afghan people; it is they who will ultimately determine the future of Afghanistan ...
Prior to the use of fires, the commander approving the strike must determine that no civilians are present. If unable to assess the risk of civilian presence, fires are prohibited, except under of the following two conditions (specific conditions deleted due to operational security; however, they have to do with the risk to ISAF and Afghan forces).
(NOTE) This directive, as with the previous version, does not prevent commanders from protecting the lives of their men and women as a matter of self-defense where it is determined no other options are available to effectively counter the threat.
... Protecting the Afghan people does require killing, capturing, or turning the insurgents. Indeed, as I noted earlier, we must pursue the Taliban tenaciously. But we must fight with great discipline and tactical patience.
We must balance our pursuit of the enemy with our efforts to minimize loss of innocent civilian life, and with our obligation to protect our troops. Our forces have been striving to do that, and we will continue to do so.
In so doing, however, we must remember that it is a moral imperative both to protect Afghan civilians and to bring all assets to bear to protect our men and women in uniform and the Afghan security forces with whom we are fighting shoulder-to-shoulder when they are in a tough spot.
We must be consistent throughout the force in our application of this directive and our rules of engagement. All commanders must reinforce the right and obligation of self-defense of coalition forces, of our Afghan partners, and of others as authorized by the rules of engagement.
We must train our forces to know and understand the rules of engagement and the intent of the tactical directive. We must give our troopers the confidence to take all necessary actions when it matters most, while understanding the strategic consequences of civilian casualties. Indeed, I expect our troopers to exert their best judgment according to the situation on the ground. Beyond that, every Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine has my full support as we take the fight to the enemy.
... Partnering is how we operate. Some civilian casualties result from a misunderstanding or ignorance of local customs and behaviors. No individuals are more attuned to the Afghan culture than our Afghan partners. Accordingly, it is essential that all operations be partnered with an ANSF unit and that our Afghan partners be part of the planning and execution phases. Their presence will ensure greater situational awareness. It will also serve to alleviate anxiety on the part of the local population and build confidence in Afghan security forces.
I expect every operation and patrol to be partnered. If there are operational reasons why partnership is not possible for a particular operation, the CONOP approval authority must be informed ...
Partnership is an essential aspect of our counterinsurgency strategy. It is also an indispensible element of the transition of security responsibility to ANSF.
Again, we need to build on the momentum we are achieving. I expect every trooper and commander to use force judiciously, especially in situations where civilians may be present. At the same time, we must employ all assets to ensure our troopers’ safety, keeping in mind the importance of protecting the Afghan people as we do.
This is a critical challenge at a critical time; but we must and will succeed. I expect that everyone under my command, operational and tactical, will not only adhere to the letter of this directive, but – more importantly – to its intent.
Strategic and operational commanders cannot anticipate every engagement. We have no desire to undermine the judgment of tactical commanders. However, that judgment should always be guided by my intent. Take the fight to the enemy. And protect the Afghan people and help our Afghan partners defeat the insurgency.”
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U.S. Army General David H. Petraeus, Commander, International Security Assistance Force, talks with troops of the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Dvision at Combat Outpost Monti, Aug. 5, 2010, in Eastern Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force Photo By Staff Sgt. Bradley Lail) (released)
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Wild Thing's comment........
Victory is more important than pandering to the Taliban's supporters and appeasers. We didn't win World Wars one and two by worrying about how many of the enemy's civillians were killed.
Bin Laden famously said that people will always follow the strong horse. We are that steed. Unfortunately we seem to think that cutting off three of its legs will have no effect.
God bless our country and our awesome warriors, they are in my prayers every day.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:49 AM | Comments (11)
Iraqi forces officially take over from U.S.
BAGHDAD, Aug. 7
UPI
Iraqi security forces officially took over control of combat operations from U.S. military forces Saturday, with the top U.S. commander promising ongoing help.
U.S. Gen. Raymond Odierno and Iraq's defense minister watched as the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division passed its responsibilities to the 6th Iraqi Army Division, CNN reported.
"We're still very committed to Iraq," Odierno said.
"I think we've come a long way, having been here through the very bad times, the progress that we made is encouraging; the fact that we're getting down to 50,000 [U.S. troops] -- how we've executed that, I think we've executed that extremely well. I think we're set up now to finish the mission here. But for me it's not final, there is still work that has to be done here by those that are to follow me."
President Barack Obama has directed that the current 64,000-strong U.S. presence be reduced to
50,000 by Sept. 1.
Wild Thing's comment.......
I suppose Obama will keep taking credit for Iraq when that is a complete lie. Actually the credit should go to our troops, and to Bush for doing the surge which made such a huge difference too.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (6)
August 07, 2010
Injured Marine Returns Home To Tell Remarkable Story
Brian Johnson/AFN Ahwatukee resident and Mountain Pointe graduate Garrett Zeigler, 23, was shot twice - once in the neck - and nearly killed in an ambush on June 12 in Afghanistan. After being treated initially in Germany, Zeigler, a Marine, returned to the U.S. July 19 and is now recovering from his wounds at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. In a recent interview with the AFN, Zeigler said he misses Dixie, his trained Labrador that he worked with in detecting road-side bombs in Afghanistan.
Injured Marine Returns Home To Tell Remarkable Story
By Erica Tiffany Special to AFN
Lance Cpl. Garrett Zeigler has returned home after sustaining injuries during a clash with the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan June 12.
Prior to the gunfight Zeigler had spent three months in a town called Laki in Helmand, Afghanistan, sniffing out Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) with his black Labrador retriever Dixie.
IEDs are embedded everywhere by the Taliban and Zeigler said that they are a towering threat to the Marines' safety. According to the CBS news video "The Hunt for Roadside Bombs" - which features Zeigler and his dog Dixie - 8,159 IEDs were detonated or found in Afghanistan last year.
IEDs are often linked in "daisy chains" to go off at the same time, making them even more dangerous.
Dixie is one of 13 explosive canines keeping soldiers safe from the homemade bombs in Afghanistan.
"Dogs work 300 to 400 yards ahead of their handler so if they find an IED they can alert the Marines before they get in the danger zone," Terry McCarthy said in the CBS news video.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives website, Dixie had to train for 10 weeks and successfully identify 20 different explosive odors in a blind test before becoming certified.
Zeigler interviewed three times before becoming Dixie's handler and has now formed an inseparable bond with the dog.
"Once your dog saves a Marine's life, everyone loves her," Zeigler said.
Zeigler spent the rest of his time eating meatball marinara MREs (Meal Ready to Eat), laying on his cot watching DVDs on a portable player and fending off ambush attacks at his forward operating base "Karma."
Zeigler was composed, comfortable and even paradoxically charming as he spoke of the day his life almost ended. Using military jargon that was almost indecipherable, Zeigler dove into an unbelievable story of patriotism and valor.
After hearing of a Taliban attack on the police scanner, Zeigler and another soldier quickly discussed what they would do if the other was hit while setting up a defensive gun position on the roof.
The Marines were hit with an L-shape ambush, and after killing six enemies with a SAW (belt-fed machine gun), Zeigler was shot twice, one bullet landing millimeters away from his carotid artery.
Not being able to use his right arm because his humerus was fractured, Zeigler picked up his M4 rifle with his left arm and continued fighting while blood flowed down his flak jacket.
The other soldier picked him up and fled from the roof while still taking fire. Zeigler has nominated him for a Bronze Star, a medal awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement or service.
"Your life is all about the guy next to you, so you have to bond. You have to have a unit cohesion or it will all fall apart," Zeigler said.
Zeigler, with Dixie by his side, was evacuated by medical transport to Germany.
He returned to the states on July 19 and estimates that he has had 30 to 40 doctor appointments over the last month.
Zeigler is currently stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego where he will soon start physical therapy.
A Purple Heart ceremony will be hosted in his honor once he is off convalescent leave.
Dixie and the rest of his Marine unit are scheduled to return in November. "I'm going through withdrawals because my dog is still over there," Zeigler said.
Many of Zeigler's stories about the war involve Taliban manipulation and genocide on its own people to spread hatred of America. He said that most of the people in Afghanistan are merely trying to feed their families, and they join sides with whoever provides for them.
"What makes this war so hard is that you don't know who your enemy is because the Taliban wears no uniform. You could have a farmer right next to a member of the Taliban and you wouldn't even know," Zeigler said, adding that he believes there is no negotiating with the Taliban and that the United States should remain in the war to prevent another attack like 9/11.
His mother, on the other hand, feels differently.
"We have told the leadership in Afghanistan that we are pulling out in 2011, and I hope we are true to that time frame as we have had so many ... casualties in this war," Karen Gladstone said.
The 23-year-old Mountain Point High School alumnus is positive about his future, but reminders of his time in Afghanistan will forever cover his upper body. The Marine-core emblem along with a skull and rifles are tattooed on his arm next to the words "U.S. Marines Anti-Terrorist Operations" and he has healing scars on his jaw and shoulder at the points where the bullets entered and exited.
"I'm going to build a bridge and move on. I'm not going to dwell on it for the rest of my life," Zeigler said.
"The night we talked to Garrett he was happy and jovial. He looks great and is well on his way to recovery. Semper Fi to Garrett, Dixie and all their comrades and family," family friend Pat King said.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
Great story and I am so glad he will be OK and also that he will be able to be with Dixie again too.
Prayers for his healing and steady and recovery.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (4)
August 03, 2010
Heroism in Ambush May Yield Top Valor Awards
From left to right: Gunnery Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Cpl. Dakota Meyer and Hospitalman 3rd Class James Layton
Heroism in ambush may yield top valor awards
By Dan Lamothe
With no air or artillery support, the Marines of Embedded Training Team 2-8 were trapped deep in a kill zone in eastern Afghanistan. Their radios worked only sporadically, and dozens of insurgents fired on them repeatedly from three sides.
“We’re surrounded!” Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson yelled into his radio in the early-morning hours of Sept. 8, 2009. “They’re moving in on us!”
At least twice, a two-man team attempted to rescue their buddies, using an armored vehicle mounted with a .50-caliber machine gun to fight their way toward them. They were forced back each time by a hail of bullets, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. An enemy bullet hit the vehicle’s gun turret, piercing then-Cpl. Dakota Meyer’s elbow with shrapnel. He shook it off, refusing to tell the staff sergeant with him because he didn’t want to make the situation worse, according to U.S. Army documents outlining a military investigation of the ambush.
What he did next will live on in Marine Corps lore — and, some say, should earn him consideration for the Medal of Honor.
After helicopter pilots called on to respond said fighting was too fierce for them to land, Meyer, then 21, charged into the kill zone on foot to find his friends. Under heavy fire, he reached a trench where the pilots had spotted the Marines, by then considered missing.
He found Johnson, 31; Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 30; 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, 25; Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class James Layton, 22; and an Afghan soldier they were training — all dead and bloody from gunshot wounds. They were spread out in the ditch, their weapons and radios stolen.
“I checked them all for a pulse. There [sic] bodies were already stiff,” Meyer said in a sworn statement he was asked to provide military investigators. “I found SSgt Kenefick facedown in the trench w/ his GPS in his hand. His face appeared as if he was screaming. He had been shot in the head.”
Rather than give up, Meyer, of Greensburg, Ky., fought to bring his buddies back home. Bleeding from his shrapnel wound and still under fire, he carried their bodies back to a Humvee with the help of Afghan troops, and escorted them to nearby Forward Operating Base Joyce, about a mile to the northeast of Ganjgal.
Meyer’s five-page, handwritten statement to investigators is part of a 300-plus page report compiled by Combined Joint Task Force 82, then based at Bagram Air Base, in the days following the ambush. The military has declined repeatedly to release the full report, but Marine Corps Times obtained a declassified version that not only outlines heroism on the battlefield by numerous troops, but raises new questions about the mission’s failure, the Army officers in charge and why repeated, frantic pleas for air and artillery support from troops on the ground were ignored.
Meyer’s name was redacted from the report, but parents of the fallen Marines said he is responsible for retrieving their sons from the battlefield. Reached for comment July 15, Meyer declined to discuss the battle, and said he has avoided reading media coverage of it.
Then an infantry rifleman with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, he worked closely with Layton, Lt. Johnson and Kenefick, who was posthumously promoted to gunnery sergeant, in a four-man training team based at FOB Monti in Kunar province. He considered them close friends, he said. He left the Corps in June, after his four-year active-duty commitment expired.
“The main thing that we need to get from that day is that those guys died heroes, and they are greatly missed,” he said. “This isn’t about me. If anything comes out of it for me, it’s for those guys.”
A Medal of Honor?
The Marines weren’t the only ones killed that day. Some of the Afghan soldiers present fought alongside U.S. forces bravely, but nearly a dozen of them were cut down by gunfire, many after failing to heed the instruction of U.S. forces to keep down, according to witness statements. A 10-man squad working with the pinned down Marine trainers was initially identified as missing, but it was later determined that it was due to a scattering of Afghan forces after their leadership took heavy losses.
Thirteen U.S. military trainers, 60 Afghan soldiers and 20 Afghan border police officers were outside the wire that day to meet with village elders, according to a report by a McClatchy News journalist traveling with the unit when it was ambushed. At least eight Afghan troops and an Afghan interpreter were killed while fighting about 150 insurgents, and a U.S. soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook, died Oct. 7 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington from wounds sustained in the attack.
Army officials announced in February that “negligent” leadership at the battalion level contributed “directly to the loss of life which ensued” by refusing repeated pleas for artillery support from U.S. forces on the ground and failing to notify higher commands that they had troops in trouble. Three unidentified officers — likely captains or majors — were recommended for letters of reprimand, potential career killers, but no additional punishment is expected.
Two investigations were conducted, with the first headed by an Army major in the first few days after the ambush and the second, focusing primarily on command post failure, overseen by Army Col. Richard Hooker and Marine Col. James Werth in November, said Marine Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Central Command, out of Tampa, Fla.
In February, the military released a five-page summary report of its investigation, void of many details, including which units were involved. With first-person statements from more than 35 U.S. troops, the full report covers much more ground, and describes in grisly detail chaos on the battlefield and in the operations center, based at FOB Joyce and overseen by Task Force Chosin, an Army unit comprising soldiers from 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, out of Fort Drum, N.Y.
The battalion, then commanded by Army Lt. Col. Mark O’Donnell, was not disclosed in the summary report. It said an acting battalion commander was in charge at the time of the attack.
The full report describes in great detail Meyer’s heroism and that of several other U.S. troops trapped in the middle of a violent maelstrom.
Investigating officers said at least two service members in the field that day “stand out as extraordinary examples of heroism worthy of the highest recognition.” The names of the troops cited for bravery were redacted from the report, and it is unclear if Meyer or another service member may be under consideration for the Medal of Honor or another high-level award.
Susan Price, Kenefick’s mother, said Marine officials have told her it is likely her son and the other casualties will receive at least a Bronze Star with V device for their bravery under fire. No Marine has received an award for valor related to the battle yet, and the process has been stalled while the Corps researches possible high-level awards, Price said she believes. She can handle that: Meyer deserves consideration for the nation’s highest honor, she said.
“He risked his life to bring back the bodies of our heroes,” she said. “In my heart of hearts, I believe he deserves it. He had to have said, ‘I have to go in and get them, and whatever happens, happens.’ ”
Another possible contender for a high-level award could be Layton. He rushed to the lieutenant’s side to provide medical treatment to a gunshot wound in the right shoulder, putting himself in harm’s way in the process, according to several witness statements. Layton was shot in the face with an AK47 burst, while Gunnery Sgt. Johnson was hit in the right side, face and chest, Meyer said in his statement.
“His arms were up as if he had seen the enemy there,” Meyer said of the gunny. The body armor and gear for the five troops was “spread out through the trench,” although it is believed they all kept their protective equipment on, suggesting the enemy removed it. Investigators also determined it is unlikely they were executed at close range.
Doug Sterner, a Vietnam veteran consulted frequently by Congress as an expert on combat valor issues, said Meyer’s actions sound worthy of Medal of Honor consideration, while Layton’s sounds worthy of consideration for the Navy Cross or Silver Star, the nation’s second- and third-highest awards for valor.
“I would think this action is certainly something where his commander should consider submitting him for the Medal of Honor,” he said of Meyer’s actions. Sterner said he is hopeful they will consider him for it despite the fact that when he found his buddies, they were already dead.
“To me, that’s a moot point,” Sterner said. “We don’t leave anybody behind, and we go to extreme lengths to recover their remains.”
Neither the commandant’s office nor the Marine Corps Awards Branch comments on possible combat awards, spokespersons for each said. MARCENT is reviewing Meyer’s actions for possible awards, Kloppel said. A recommendation will eventually be made to Marine Corps headquarters, which can either authorize an award or push it up to a higher command — which would be necessary for the Medal of Honor or the Navy Cross.
‘They knew we were coming’
The full report reveals a variety of other details not previously disclosed by the military in its five-page summary — including actions that potentially contributed directly to U.S. deaths.
One example: In the five-page summary released early this year, investigating officers said the mission called for a meeting with Ganjgal village elders. That’s true, but the situation was far more complicated than acknowledged publicly.
In fact, the mission in Ganjgal was a follow-up to another operation in the region, and included not only meeting with village elders, but clearing the area of the enemy, according to witness statements. On Sept. 3, a joint force composed of Afghan National Army soldiers, Afghan border police, and U.S. embedded trainers and mentoring teams conducted a mission in Dam Dara village, about a mile from Ganjgal. The troops were met “with a cordial response” from the villagers, but ambushed by a three- to five-man insurgent team wielding small arms on a ridge south of Ganjgal while leaving the area.
Following the attack, tribal elders in Ganjgal met with Afghan troops and renounced the Taliban. The elders invited the Afghan troops to return to discuss renovation plans for a mosque and conduct a census of military-age males. Afghan forces began planning their return to Ganjgal for Sept. 7, but decided to delay it a day due to “competing mission requirements” for the border police, the investigative report says.
No designated air support was available for the Ganjgal mission on Sept. 8, but Afghan military leadership, in conjunction with U.S. trainers, decided artillery support would be sufficient, especially because they were promised that helicopter gunships designated for another Sept. 8 operation in the nearby Shuryak Valley by a sister Army battalion — Task Force Lethal, comprising soldiers in Kunar province with 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th BCT, 4th ID, out of Fort Carson, Colo. — could be redirected to assist Chosin in Ganjgal, if necessary.
Before the mission, military leadership learned that Taliban leaders met in Ganjgal on Sept. 7 to plan an ambush of U.S. forces. Twenty fighters were in Ganjgal that day, with at least 20 more expected to come.
Despite the potential danger, U.S. and Afghan forces didn’t wave off on the mission the following day. Leadership decided that delaying the mission “would be perceived as stifling” the Afghan troops’ initiative. In a witness statement, an intelligence and operations officer for the Marine training team said they didn’t want to delay the mission out of concern for the village elders’ lives.
In retrospect, it backfired.
“The mission was definitely compromised,” an Army staff sergeant and scout squad leader on the battlefield with Task Force Chosin said in a sworn statement. “The elders/police could have easily tipped the enemy off. They knew what day we were coming. All I know is that they were already in position and waiting and they had a ton of ammo.”
The incident has been used as an example for officers in Afghanistan on how things can go wrong. It also has resulted in tightened requirements meant to ensure leadership stays involved in an operation from pre-mission planning through execution — a downfall in Ganjgal, where senior battalion leadership was not fully involved.
Army and Marine officials said investigations into what went wrong are now complete. It is unclear if the Army officers cited in the five U.S. deaths ever received the letters of reprimand.
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Wild Thing's comment..........
What really burns me is a piece of garbage like Kerry gets himself a Silver Star, no less, for doing nothing. Yet these real heroes still have not been awarded anything yet, while they try to determine what awards to hand out.
I also found this to go with this write up, it is from the same author as above and a blog for notes from those that were there:
More comments from grunts in the infamous Ganjgal ambush
Marine Times
Posted by Dan Lamothe
Today, Marine Corps Times published online my story outlining the heroism of Cpl. Dakota Meyer, a rifleman and scout sniper who found himself in the middle of horrific ambush in eastern Afghanistan last year that ultimately claimed the life of five U.S. troops.
To get that story, I relied heavily on more than 300 pages of sworn witness statements and other documents compiled by Combined Joint Task Force 82, which conducted the investigation in Afghanistan in the days following the Sept. 8, 2009, attack in Ganjgal, a remote village in Kunar province. Even though the documents were already redacted when I received them from an outside source, the military has repeatedly declined to release them despite a Freedom of Information Act request that has been pending for months.
The statements of Meyer and a few other troops made it into the story, but given the gravity of the situation, it seemed relevant to share additional comments from some of the other troops who survived here. All names were redacted from the documents I obtained. The statements here are published with acronyms spelled out in brackets on first reference for our civilian readers. I’ve left spelling and punctuation as it was in the reports.
From an Army sergeant sniper with 10th Mountain Division who watched the ambush from an observation position above the valley:
"… Multiple requests for air [support] were made and it kept getting pushed back. We were told multiple times through an hour that air will be there in [redacted] min. Fire missions were repeatedly called up by ground troops and ourselves and many were denied… Repeatedly assets were requested for support but no asset urgency was shown."
From an Army staff sergeant scout squad leader with 10th Mountain Division, on how officers back at the tactical operations center responded to repeated requests for support from artillery, helicopters or a ground quick reaction force:
"They ask for indirect [fire] and in return get 20 questions. The people in the TOC need to let the [redacted] do his thing and trust what he is asking for. Also when [redacted] asked for help to retrieve bodies nobody helped. They called [redacted]. Why should you have to call [redacted] in a situation like that. It should be just go. There was U.S. out there. It doesn’t matter if its [redacted] or Marine. … Also, they wanted a plan of action to find the missing Marines. Well, they were looking for them. That’s all you can do. All in all just butt out and the information will get passed up when it does. So many times [redacted] asked crazy questions. The fight was long and heavy and I assure anyone, he was doing everything he could. My feeling is that the Marines and [redacted], [Afghan National Army], [Afghan Border Police] were left out to dry. It’s a horrible feeling but that’s how I feel about it. QRF? Air? Nothing but endless questions."
From an intelligence officer with the Marine training team, on the carnage he saw:
"I don’t think [personal protective equipment] really matter around there because everybody was getting shot. It had to be at least an hour since they were missing, since we lost them on the radio… Everything was soaked, my book was soaked in blood. Like my notepad that I was writing stuff on everything would fallout of my pockets. I had magazines in my cargo pocket, like empty magazines. I had to grab magazines from the [major] so I could get more ammo."
Compare the details in those remarks to the five-page summary report released in February by the International Security Assistance Force on behalf of Combined Joint Task Force 82 in February. A bit sanitized, perhaps?
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (6)
Disgrace: DOJ Fails to Protect Military Voting Rights
Disgrace: DOJ Fails to Protect Military Voting Rights
In 2008, some 17,000 servicemen and servicewomen mailed home completed ballots that were never counted. The DOJ barely lifted a finger to prevent or prosecute this travesty. What will happen in 2010?
In the 2008 presidential election, 17,000 soldiers, sailors, and Marines mailed home completed ballots that were never counted.
Usually these ballots didn’t get home in time, mostly because they weren’t sent overseas early enough. One cause of this catastrophe is the Keystone Cops routine the Department of Justice Voting Section uses to enforce federal laws protecting the rights of military voters. Unfortunately, all signs point to a comic sequel in the upcoming November elections.
Congress tried to fix the problem last year by mandating that all ballots must be sent overseas at least 45 days before the election. But Military Voter Protection Project Director M. Eric Eversole has accused Justice Department officials of encouraging states to seek an exemption to the law. The law indeed grants states the right to ask the Pentagon to opt out of the law. Even worse, Eversole says the Department is telegraphing to states that it doesn’t want to pursue litigation to enforce the law.
Some voting rights are more important than others, it seems. Where have we heard this before?
Exemptions to the 45-day mailing mandate were supposed to be rare, and granted only for the most extreme emergencies. States had plenty of time to amend their laws to comply with the new 45-day window. Many states did nothing. Instead of aggressively enforcing the new protections, Justice has told states that the waiver provisions are ambiguous and encouraged waivers in numerous ways.
Senator John Cornyn, upon learning of the DOJ’s wobbly view of the new law, made it clear to the Pentagon in a recent meeting with Undersecretary Clifford Stanley that the Pentagon — which has the power to grant waivers — calls the shots. Cornyn’s message was the Pentagon should ignore any milquetoast attitudes emanating out of the Voting Section at Justice. Expect Senator Cornyn’s office to watch this issue like a hawk, which thankfully he is when it comes to military voting.
But Senator Cornyn has more reasons to worry than he knows. The investigative methods used by Justice in military voting matters are wholly inadequate. And even when the bureaucracy stumbles across violations, the Voting Section is timorous, and reluctant to aggressively litigate disenfranchisement of military voting rights.
One need only look at 2008 for proof. That year the Justice Department set up no telephone hotline for military voters to complain if they didn’t receive their ballot in time. No email address for the armed services was in use either. No outreach via military email, such as the daily “Early Bird,” took place. In fact, on the DOJ webpage devoted to military voting, all complaints are referred to the Pentagon. Naturally, after being detoured to the Pentagon, the aggrieved solider will learn the Pentagon has no enforcement power at all! Justice does.
DOJ should set up a well-publicized telephone hotline and email inbox to funnel complaints directly to litigation attorneys familiar with overseas voting. One Justice Voting Section attorney formerly served in Iraq and as a naval voting assistance officer. Others attorneys there are vets, or in the reserves. When someone in uniform from Iraq or Korea or Germany calls DOJ for help getting their ballot in time, the phones should ring on the desks of these specific military veterans at the Voting Section. It is a disgrace that DOJ refers them to the Pentagon, a bureaucracy without enforcement teeth.
But the problems at DOJ are even worse. Despite the fact we know that 17,000 uniformed personnel had their votes essentially thrown away in 2008, the DOJ didn’t bring a single case during the entire election season. Not one. Obviously there were problems with compliance with federal law. Seventeen thousand wasted votes scream that something is wrong. But apparently the DOJ didn’t have the imagination or investigative acumen to detect problems before the catastrophe had come to pass.
Bureaucracies tend to atrophy. Doing things the way you always do leads to 17,000 soldiers, sailors, and Marines losing their voice.
In 2008, the McCain campaign learned that the Commonwealth of Virginia was sending ballots out far too late for them to ever be successfully returned before the election. The campaign responded by immediately commencing a lawsuit.
Think about that: the very day before a historic election, a presidential campaign — with the distracting whirlwind of activity and bustle — was able to do what the bureaucrats at DOJ are paid to do, and didn’t: figure out Virginia was breaking federal law and file a lawsuit.
An affidavit of Voting Section attorney Lema Bashir in the case tells you all you need to know about how ineffective the DOJ investigative methods are during election season. It can be read here.
I must note that Ms. Bashir is not at fault, and she is a dedicated and committed lawyer. She didn’t develop this inept investigative methodology; her superiors did. It is the same plan used every two years at DOJ. In 2008 we know it cost our nation about 17,000 wasted military votes. There is no way to calculate how many thousands of military votes were wasted in previous elections because of the investigative shortcomings.
“On September 30, 2008,” Bashir notes, “I spoke with Vickie Williams” at the Virginia State Board of Elections. Williams was in charge of monitoring the mailing of military ballots. You’ll note this conversation occurred only 35 days before the election.
Until Congress stepped in last year, the statute set no mailing deadline, and DOJ was only requiring ballots to be mailed 30 days in advance. The Military Postal Service Agency had recommended 60 days, but bureaucrats inside DOJ were stuck in their ways and refused to budge from the 30-day tradition despite calls from all quarters to do so. In a rebuke to the bureaucrats, the new law now requires 45 days.
And what was the extent of the DOJ’s efforts to figure out if the thousands of Virginians serving overseas had their ballots mailed in time? On September 30, “Ms. Williams assured me that all of Virginia’s localities had sent absentee ballots to all UOCAVA voters who had requested an absentee ballot up until that date. She told me that she would send a follow-up email to [the Pentagon] with the specific dates when each locality had mailed such ballots,” the affidavit states.
Ms. Williams assured that all was well. Except it wasn’t. Actually, many ballots in Virginia were mailed overseas just a couple of weeks before the election. There was no chance they would ever be returned in time to be counted.
On Halloween 2008, the DOJ learned they had gotten a trick courtesy of the Virginia State Board of Elections when Ms. Williams called back with some bad news. She told the DOJ that her system never really could “provide the information requested” such as “the specific dates when each locality in Virginia had mailed such ballots.” Nobody actually knew what was going on — not Virginia, and obviously not the Justice Department either. The election was just four days away and the witches brew of electoral catastrophe was boiling.
One wonders what was happening from September 30 until October 31. Will the DOJ use this same broken system again in 2010? I’d suggest the DOJ look outside the bureaucracy, to the private sector, where experts on systems management exist that can fix this mess and prevent it from happening again. Turning inward to the bureaucracy for answers is likely to yield the same sorry results. But I’ll bet virtually nothing changes because a bureaucrat’s first instinct is to deny that a problem exists.
On November 3, the day before the election, the McCain campaign — unable to convince the DOJ it needed to act, and fast — filed a lawsuit to protect military voters. And not until November 14, 2008, did the DOJ do what it should have done weeks before — file papers in court to protect Virginia voters serving overseas in the military. Eventually the United States took the place of the McCain campaign and litigated the case.
Remember, this same mess played out all over the country, but the whip-smart investigative methods of the DOJ never could detect it. Seventeen thousand trashed military ballots prove it.
Amazingly, the Virginia State Board of Elections (SBE) is continuing to advocate positions in the ongoing (yes, ongoing) litigation which are hostile to military voting rights. Those responsible for these disgraceful positions should be removed, or Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli should be allowed to assume management of the defense. Cuccinelli does not suffer fools gladly, particularly ones seeking to make it harder for soldiers and sailors to vote. No doubt he would settle the case immediately and agree to protect our servicemembers fully.
But the single Bashir affidavit, filed in the single military voting case arising out of the 2008 election where 17,000 military votes were trashed, tells you everything you need to know.
While our soldiers patrol dangerous frontiers in Korea and south Asia, looking hard for any signs of danger, the DOJ has a very different approach when it comes to detecting compliance by states with federal law. Airmen glued to radar screens and sailors listening hard to the sounds from towed sonar arrays have a right to expect better from bureaucrats in Washington. They put their lives on the line for us. The DOJ should do more than take the word of Vickie Williams at the Virginia SBE that all is well, all is quiet, no problems to report. And the DOJ should respond with overwhelming force when signs appear that states aren’t ready to comply with the new federal 45-day mailing mandate. Requests for waivers from the 45-day mandate should be denied. In fact, requests for waivers should trigger a DOJ investigation.
We owe these heroes no less.
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Holder puts felons over soldiers--The Justice Department obstructs military voting rights
Obama Justice Department outrages never cease. The politically charged gang led by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is more interested in helping felons vote than in helping the military to vote. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, has put a legislative hold on the already troubled nomination of James M. Cole to be deputy attorney general until the attorney general ensures full protection for voting rights of our military (and associated civilian personnel) stationed abroad. The senator is right to raise a ruckus.
Mr. Cornyn co-authored a 2009 law mandating that states mail absentee ballots to military voters at least 45 days before the election. Yet, as former Justice Department lawyer Eric Eversole first reported in The Washington Times last week, the department seems to be encouraging states to apply for waivers so they won't have to follow that law. More than 17,000 Americans serving overseas were denied the vote in 2008 - but, presumably because military personnel are thought to lean conservative, the liberal Obama administration is in no hurry to correct the situation.
The Justice Department is so unenthusiastic about military voting that its website still lists the old requirement for a shorter 30-day military voting window, rather than the current law mandating 45 days. On the other hand, the Justice Department has no legislative mandate whatsoever to involve itself with helping felons to vote, but its website devotes a large section - 2,314 words - to advising felons how to regain voting privileges.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
What is especially revolting about this is that in some states (Minnesota), it was proven that a number of felons voted in 2008. So felons get to vote (and illegals, if Libs had their way), but men and women putting their lives on the line protecting us are disenfranchised.
Never forget the concerted effort by the Democrats in Florida in 2000 to throw out military absentee ballots—that nearly caused Gore to win the election.
It’s just one thing after another with this bunch. All they care about is controlling everyone and everything and they literally do no care how many lives or nations are destroyed in order to get absolute power.
Holder hates American soldiers but loves communist terrorists (FALN, Weather Underground/May19th Communist Organization).
Urge anyone you know that is stationed overseas or who will be gone during this voting season to go to this website:
It’s fairly good at explaining the process, though it assumes you’ll receive the state absentee ballot in time to mail it back, so it requires some thinking ahead (ie, register for the absentee ballot, then send in the FWAB in a timely manner).
This is a national disgrace! Especially in view of the DOJ’s herculean efforts to bestow unearned rights to illegal aliens!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:45 AM | Comments (2)
July 28, 2010
Defense Officials Identified Two Sailors who Went Missing
Defense officials identified two Sailors who went missing after a 23 July incident in Afghanistan. Petty Officer Second Class Justin McNeley died following the incident. Petty Officer Third Class Jarod Newlove is still missing.
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Missing U.S. sailor's remains found in Afghanistan
The remains of one of two U.S. sailors who went missing in Afghanistan last week have been found in the east of the country, the NATO-led force said on Tuesday, and troops were still searching for the second man.
The two men, serving with the U.S. Navy, went missing on Friday after failing to return in a vehicle they had taken from their compound in Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Taliban said they were holding prisoner one of the two sailors who had strayed into territory controlled by the insurgents just south of the capital, and that the other had been killed.
For the first time on Tuesday, ISAF confirmed that one of the sailors was dead.
“Afghan and coalition forces recovered the remains of a missing ISAF service member Sunday in eastern Afghanistan after an extensive search,” the alliance said in a statement.
Wild Thing's comment.......
I hate this, I hate that any of our troops would have this happen to them.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (2)
1/6 & 3/6 Marines in Afghanistan
1/6 & 3/6 Marines in Afghanistan ~ Part 1
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1/6 & 3/6 Marines in Afghanistan ~ Part 2
Wild Thing's comment.......
Love these! God bless our troops!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:46 AM | Comments (3)
July 26, 2010
Chopper Pilot - Army Helicopter Pilot Training Film
Department of Defense
CHOPPER PILOT
PIN 30196
TRAINING OF HELICOPTER PILOTS: PREFLIGHT AND FLIGHT TRAINING PROVIDED BY THE WARRANT OFFICER CANDIDATE PROGRAM AT FT WOLTERS, TEXAS; AND ADVANCED TRAINING AT THE ARMY AVIATION CENTER, FT RUCKER, ALABAMA.
Wild Thing's comment........
If you get a chance the comments at YouTube are worth reading as well. A lot of sharing of experiences being done by some of our Heroes.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:55 AM | Comments (2)
July 25, 2010
Taliban Says It Captured 2 U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
U.S. Troops Missing in Kabul
Washington Post Foreign Service
KABUL -- Two U.S. service members went missing after driving off their base in Kabul on Friday, and the Taliban later claimed to have captured them in eastern Afghanistan, NATO officials said Saturday, the same day five U.S. troops were killed in the south.
Coalition forces launched a manhunt by ground and air for the two missing troops but did not immediately release information about their identities or what is known of their whereabouts. The Associated Press reported that the two were Navy personnel, citing a NATO official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"Every available asset is being brought to bear" to find them, said Lt. Col. Joseph T. Breasseale, a NATO spokesman in Kabul.
Afghan officials in Logar province, which borders Kabul to the south, said the two service members were driving an armored sport-utility vehicle when they were captured in Matinai, a village in the Charkh district. A spokesman for Logar's governor, Din Mohammad Darwish, said the area is "totally under control of the enemy."
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, called Afghan reporters in Logar on Saturday and told them that the militant movement had captured the two Americans and killed one of them, according to an Afghan reporter and the governor's spokesman. NATO officials said they could not confirm the statements of the Afghan officials or the Taliban.
The announcement of the two service members' disappearance came on a difficult day for NATO forces, as five U.S. troops were killed in bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, the volatile region where the Taliban is strongest. Four of the troops died in one bomb blast, and one died in a separate attack, NATO officials said.
The deaths pushed NATO's death toll in July to 75 troops, including 56 Americans. Last month was the deadliest of the war for NATO troops, with more than 100 killed.
President Obama has sent 30,000 new U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and commanders attribute the growing violence to the push into Taliban strongholds where the coalition previously had a minimal presence. Others say that the Taliban has grown stronger by the year and that it now controls wide swaths of the country.
Kidnappings of U.S. troops in Afghanistan are rare. One American soldier, Spec. Bowe Bergdahl, from Idaho, has been held captive since June 2009.
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More details here:
2 US Navy service members missing in eastern Afghanistan
Samer Gul, district chief of Charkh district in Logar province, said that a four-wheel drive armored vehicle was seen Friday night by a guard working for the district chief’s office. The guard tried to flag down the vehicle, carrying a driver and a passenger, but it kept going, Gul said.
“They stopped in the main bazaar of Charkh district. The Taliban saw them in the bazaar,” Gul said. “They didn’t touch them in the bazaar, but notified other Taliban that a four-wheel vehicle was coming their way.”
The second group of Taliban tried to stop the vehicle, but when it didn’t, insurgents opened fire and the two occupants in the vehicle shot back, he said.
NATO said a search is under way for the missing service members. According to Gul, one may have been killed and the other taken hostage by the Taliban.
“Maybe they wanted to go to Paktia province or to the American base, but they came down the wrong road toward Charkh,” Gul said. “They didn’t pay any attention to the police. Otherwise we could have kept them from going into an insecure area and now this unfortunate incident has happened.”
Military officials could not confirm the district chief’s account.
Wild Thing's comment.......
This is awful. Prayers for these men that they are still alive and somehow can get free.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (3)
July 22, 2010
Face of Defense: Marine Miraculously Survives Enemy Bomb Blast
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Matt Garst absorbed the direct blast of an improvised explosive device in Shorsurak, Afghanistan, June 23, 2010. Fortunately for Garst, the bomb’s explosives didn’t completely detonate. After spending a day to rest and attend to some aches and pains, Garst continued his mission.
SOUTHERN SHORSURAK, Afghanistan,
July 21, 2010
Marine Corps Cpl. Matt Garst continues to do his job here, thanks to an enemy-emplaced roadside bomb that malfunctioned.
Few people survive stepping on an improvised explosive device. Even fewer walk away the same day after directly absorbing the force of the blast, but on June 23, Garst did just that.
A squad leader with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Garst was leading his troops that day on a patrol in Southern Shorsurak, Afghanistan, to establish a vehicle checkpoint in support of Operation New Dawn.
The group was four miles from Lima Company’s newly established observation post when they approached an abandoned compound close to where they needed to set up their checkpoint. The compound would serve well as an operating base — a place for the squad to set up communications and rotate Marines in and out of. But first, it had to be secured.
As they swept the area with a metal detector, the buried IED registered no metallic signature – it was too deep under the soil. Two men walked over it without it detonating.
At 6 feet 2 inches tall and 260 pounds with all his gear on, Garst is easily the largest man in his squad by 30 or 40 pounds — just enough extra weight to trigger the IED buried deep in hard-packed soil.
Lance Cpl. Edgar Jones, a combat engineer with the squad, found a pressure plate inside the compound and hollered to Garst, asking what he should do with it. Garst turned around to answer and he stepped on the bomb.
“I can just barely remember the boom,” Garst recalled. “I remember the start of a loud noise and then I blacked out.”
Since Garst's encounter with the IED, his tale has spread through the rest of the battalion, and as often happens in combat units, the story mutates and becomes more and more extraordinary.
What really happened even eludes Garst. When he came to, he was standing on his feet holding his weapon, turning to see the remnants of the blast and wondering why his squad had a look on their faces as if they’d seen a ghost.
Marines in Lima Company think Garst is the luckiest guy in the battalion, and while that may seem a fair assessment, it actually was the enemy’s shoddy work that left Garst alive and relatively uninjured. The three-liters of homemade explosive had only partially detonated.
Marines who witnessed the event from inside the compound caught glimpses of Garst’s feet flailing through the air just above the other side of the building’s eight-foot-high walls. The explosion knocked him at least fifteen feet away, where he landed on his limp head and shoulders before immediately standing back up.
Not quite sure of what had just happened, Garst turned back toward the blast, now nothing but a column of dirt and smoke rising toward the sun.
Garst said he’d immediately realized that he’d encountered an IED.
“Then I thought, ‘Well I’m standing. That’s good,’” he recalled.
Garst then directed his troops to establish a security perimeter while letting them know that he was OK. Garst also radioed back to base, calling for an explosive ordnance disposal team and a quick-reaction force.
“I called them and said, ‘Hey, I just got blown up. Get ready,’” Garst recalled. “The guy thought I was joking at first. ‘You got blown up? You’re not calling me. Get out of here!’”
Once the area was cleared, Garst led his squad the four miles back to their observation post — just hours after he’d been buffeted by the IED blast.
“I wasn’t going to let anybody else take my squad back after they’d been there for me,” he said. “That’s my job.”
Garst awakened the next day with a pounding headache, he recalled, and felt as sore as he’d ever been in his life.
“Just getting up from trying to sleep was painful,” he said.
But he saw no reason being sore should slow him down. After a day of rest, Garst was back out on patrol, showing his Marines and the enemy that just like his resolve, he is unbreakable.
Wild Thing's Comment.......
Wow what a story. Thank God he is OK.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (2)
July 19, 2010
Unions Holding Up Cash for the Troops
Unions Holding Up Cash for the Troops
( Bill will also nationalize our first responders, policemen, and firemen )
Last week the Washington Times had a story that should enrage every true American. The Democrat Congress is allowing Big Labor’s needs to come before the needs of our troops. The supplemental budget that Congress is considering is supposed to be about funding the troops and their efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Democrats are more interested in how many payoffs for Big Labor they can stuff into the thing then in funding the troops.
Like most supplementals, this bill began with a singular purpose: paying war expenses. It since has been larded with billions in wasteful projects and programs designed to attract the vote of the left-of-center members with no fondness for the military. Among the House-approved giveaways are a $10 billion bailout for big-spending local governments, loan guarantees worth $9 billion for purported renewable energy, $3 billion for black farmers and American Indians who sued the government and $1 billion for summertime “youth activities.”
There is also language to nationalize our first responders, policemen, and firemen.
This outrageous action would force all police and firefighter’s work rules under federal control and prevent all local governments from being able to make their own local rules and regulations for their own police and fire departments. This bill would essentially cause all state and local governments to have to deal with Washington-based union regulations when setting budgets, hiring and firing, and writing work rules for first responders.
These new rules would wildly inflate state and local budgets and eliminate all local control. Voters would be unable to affect their own police and firefighters, local politicians would be looking to Washington to guide them, and union leaders would see their power and personal wealth skyrocket.
And all of this is being stuffed into the bill to fund our troops. Obviously Democrats care more about unions than they do our troops. Even terrorism seems to be less important to Democrats than the needs of union thugs. It is an outrage.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Unions are so anti-American that it is sickening.
Damn these people and anyone, that would hold anything back from our troops.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (6)
July 14, 2010
Update On Army Ranger 1st Lieutenant Michael Behenna and The “Leavenworth 10"
On March 20th, 2009, Army Ranger 1st Lieutenant Michael Behenna was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing Ali Mansur, a known Al Qaeda operative while serving in Iraq.
Past article in case anyone is not aware of what happened. ~ Wild Thing
Withheld Evidence Could Free Soldier Convicted of Iraqi Insurgent Murder
14 Jan 2010
Vicki Behenna, a federal prosecutor appeared at a clemency hearing in Washington on Dec. 7, seeking to have her son freed or have his sentence reduced.
There is something seriously wrong with the execution of this nation's code of military justice — it is being used against the very people it is meant to protect.
Case in point: the imprisonment of a heroic Army officer for killing a murderous Iraqi insurgent who had killed two of his men in a cowardly attack that wounded two others.
This case is reminiscent of the disgraceful prosecution of officers and enlisted United States Marines for having killed 24 Iraqis, among them armed terrorists, in a confrontation in Haditha which resulted in all charges being dropped in eight of the cases.
Only two defendants remain under the gun wielded by the fanatics of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Bush Secretary of the Navy and only Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, already cleared of serious charges but punished anyway and Sgt. Frank Wuterich remain under the federal guns.
Last March, Army Ranger 1st Lt. Michael Behenna was socked with a 25-year prison sentence later reduced to 20 years for having allegedly murdered a known al-Qaida operative Ali Mansur, who was operating an al-Qaida cell inside Behenna's area of operations.
It was alleged that Mansur organized an attack on Behenna’s platoon in April 2008 which left two of Behenna's soldiers dead and another two wounded.
Mansur was first taken into custody and then later ordered released and Behenna was instructed to escort him to his home.
En route there Behenna questioned Mansur, seeking to obtain information about his terrorist confederates and the identity of those financially backing them.
Up until then there is no dispute about the facts of the matter. It was what happened then that created the controversy. During this interrogation, Behenna said that Mansur suddenly lunged at him, and he shot him in self-defense.
The government, however charged Behenna with premeditated murder. Shockingly, in the trial that followed, expert testimony that would have fully exonerated Behenna was withheld from the court.
The prosecution insisted that Behenna stripped Mansur naked, seated him on a rock and executed him.
One of the government’s expert witnesses, a highly respected Forensic expert, Dr. Herbert Leon MacDonell, Director of the Laboratory of Forensic Science in Corning, N.Y, insisted Behenna was innocent and he could prove it.
His testimony would have proven that the angle of the gun shots and the blood spatter were consistent with self-defense not premeditated murder.
But after telling prosecutors what the forensic evidence showed — that Behenna was guiltless — this expert witness was sent packing.
Dr. MacDonnell told Behenna's lawyer Jack Zimmerman, who had successfully represented one of the Haditha Marines, that he fully agreed with Behenna's account of what happened, essentially destroying the government’s case he had been called to support.
Incredibly, the key witness in the case was not called to testify in the case and was sent home.
Before he retrieved his coat from the prosecution room he told the three prosecutors that, "The explanation that Lt. Behenna just testified to was the exact same scenario I told you yesterday. Lt Behenna is telling the truth."
Behenna, he said, was not guilty, dropping a bombshell on the government's case.
Despite the fact that prosecutors must disclose any exculpatory evidence they have to the defense, they denied having any such evidence despite having been told by their own expert witness that Behenna’s explanation was the only logical explanation.
Prosecutors withholding of this evidence allowed them to argue that Behenna executed Mansur while seated when the forensic experts, including MacDonnell, agree that Mansur was standing with his arms outstretched when shot.
In a sworn affidavit, dated April 21, MacDonnell explained how knowledge he acquired while waiting to testify in the case could have changed dramatically its outcome.
"When I heard Lt. Behenna describe what happened, I did not say other witnesses were lying, or that my conclusion was based on my opinion of the lieutenant’s credibility. My expert opinion was based on the fact that the lieutenant’s description as to how the shooting occurred fit the physical evidence."
Lt. Behenna was convicted of unpremeditated murder and assault by a military panel of seven officers, none of whom had ever seen a minute of combat or ever heard a word of MacDonald's suppressed testimony.
He was sentenced and now remains confined at the U.S. Army garrison in central of Kansas, largely due to the fact the evidence that would have proved he was not guilty was never allowed to be heard during the court-martial.
What happened here was a gross miscarriage of justice — a frightening example of government prosecutors running amok as they had in the shameful Haditha cases. The government's blatant suppression of evidence that proved Behenna's innocence must not go unpunished and Behenna must be freed.
His mother Vicki Behenna is a widely acclaimed assistant United States attorney who helped prosecute Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and his father, Scott Behenna, a retired special agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, who now works with the FBI as an FBI intelligence analyst, charge that prosecutors appear to have committed a Brady Act violation by failing to disclose such information to defense lawyers as MacDonell's crucial sworn affidavit that proves that 1st Lt. Behenna is not guilty.
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UPDATE on the latest on Michael's appeal.
Michael’s appellate brief was filed on December 22, 2009 and the military’s response brief was due January 21, 2010. The military asked for and was granted a three-month extension to April 21, 2010.
Then sometime in early April the military filed for and received yet another three-month extension making their response brief not due until July 22, 2010!
But most amazing of all was that the extension was granted without notice being provided to Michael’s attorneys to argue against it. From the start of this hell we have tried to put our trust in the military justice system. But time and time again this ‘justice’ system has failed this young man who defended our liberties in the face of a ruthless enemy. First it was the withholding of evidence in Michael’s trial and now this. The government will have had seven months to respond to Michael’s appellate brief when it should have taken only seven weeks. It appears to us that the Army is deliberately doing everything it can to delay Michael’s appeal process. And for what end you ask? We may never know, just as we may never know what was really behind the Army prosecuting Michael in the first place. But in the face of these delay tactics we have become even more convinced of the strength of Michael’s appeal (which the military is struggling to counter.)
As Thomas Paine wrote, 'Tyranny is not easily conquered, but our consolation is that the harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.'
Despite everything Michael is faring well. He draws strength from the many letters he receives and your continued correspondence will help him leave Leavenworth the way he arrived – with his head held high. Michael ‘celebrates’ his 27th birthday behind bars on May 18th. This will be his second birthday in Leavenworth Prison and is yet another reminder of how long he has been away from family and friends.
Please consider sending Michael a birthday card to let him know he is not forgotten and to encourage him to keep the faith. You can send your cards and letters to:
Letters from you are the only real way to convey to Michael that we care and are fighting on his behalf to right this injustice. He has no access to the internet so he will not see the comments posted on this website and he can not receive email. Thank you for taking the time to let Michael know that you appreciate him putting his life on the line in Iraq for our freedom and that you are now fighting for him!
Send your letters to:
Michael Behenna #87503
1300 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304
Bless each of you for supporting all of our troops,
Sincerely,
Scott and Vicki Behenna Proud Parents of 1LT Michael Behenna
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From their website: ( there is also a breakdown with dates of what has happened at the website)
MILITARY PROSECUTORS WITHHOLD EVIDENCE; ARMY RANGER GOES TO PRISON FOR 25 YEARS (recently reduced to 15 years) FOR SHOOTING AL QAEDA OPERATIVE
On March 20th, 2009, Army Ranger 1st Lieutenant Michael Behenna was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing Ali Mansur, a known Al Qaeda operative while serving in Iraq. Mansur was known to be a member of an Al Qaeda cell operating in the lieutenant’s area of operation and was suspected to have organized an attack on Lt. Behenna’s platoon in April 2008 which killed two U.S. soldiers and injured two more. Army intelligence ordered the release of Mansur and Lt. Behenna was ordered to return the terrorist to his home.
During the return of Mansur, Lt. Behenna again questioned the Al Qaeda member for information about other members of the terrorist cell, and financial supporters. During this interrogation, Mansur attacked Lt. Behenna, who killed the terrorist in self-defense. The government subsequently prosecuted Lt. Behenna for premeditated murder.
Not only is this a miscarriage of justice on the behalf of Lt. Behenna, who was acting to prevent further loss of life in his platoon, it is demoralizing to the U.S. troops who continue to fight on behalf of the freedom and security of our nation. Whether it is U.S. border patrol agents, members of the armed forces, or FBI agents, no individual who is serving on the frontlines in the War on Terror should be so blatantly mistreated.
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July 10, 2010 UPDATE
To all Lt Michael Behenna supporters,the Freedom Ride for the Leavenworth 10 is on
The Ride is on!!! FREEDOM RIDE FOR THE LEAVENWORTH 10 is set for September 4, 2010 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Motorcycles and vehicles of all kinds are welcome. A new website has been created to keep you updated on this important and exciting event as well as to tell the stories of each of the Leavenworth 10 soldiers (www.L10freedomride.com.) We already have a commitment from Congressional candidate Lt. Colonel Allen West (Florida) to speak, in addition to the families of the Leavenworth 10. We have received many responses from the media and people who want to participate in this event so we know it is going to be very successful.
The intent of the Freedom Ride is to bring awareness to how our soldiers are being imprisoned for killing the enemy during a time of war which one news commentator compared to ‘giving speeding tickets at a NASCAR race’. These soldiers, serving multiple deployments, are provided complex and ever changing Rules of Engagement and then have to deal with untenable “Catch and Release” policies against an enemy the US military General’s have yet to figure out how to defeat. An enemy that these same General’s have recently decided to release back to the battlefield on a ‘pledge’ that they won’t rejoin the Taliban. This while our soldiers who took actions to protect themselves and their fellow soldiers are imprisoned from 10 to 40 years in Leavenworth and receive no clemency whatsoever.
The FREEDOM RIDE will originate in many states across this nation and culminate in Leavenworth on the morning of September 4th. We will assemble south of Leavenworth on HWY 73 and move in a procession north through the city of Leavenworth and then past the Leavenworth Base and Disciplinary Barracks where our soldiers are being held. We know that traveling long distances on a holiday weekend to participate in this event is not without its challenges; but I want you to know how much this ride means to these soldiers who are imprisoned at Leavenworth. By your show of support each of these soldiers will feel some hope in the knowledge that they have not been forgotten and that you have their back. They have become casualties of war by their own government. We need to show them that ‘we the people’ are fighting to get them exonerated. If you are not able to attend the Freedom Ride then please consider making a donation at www.L10freedomride.com to help underwrite this important event.
As you think about this Independence Day consider that these 10 soldiers love the United States of America and chose to volunteer their service to this country. They put themselves in harm’s way to protect the freedoms we all cherish. Despite the fact that our military has construed their activities to be that of a criminal please know that each of them took action in a war zone because they thought it was the right thing to do and that their actions were not for personal gain. The military’s second-guessing of their actions does not erase the many years of honorable and distinguished service of these soldiers. Please remember each of these 10 soldiers and all our military on this FREEDOM holiday.
It’s Time to Stand Up For the Leavenworth 10!!!
Scott and Vicki Behenna
Defendmichael.com
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Lt Colonel Allen West will be speaking at the L10 Freedom Ride 2010.
The Leavenworth 10, a group of soldiers/Marines incarcerated at Ft. Leavenworth for killing members of Al-Qaeda or Iraqi insurgents. These decorated and committed soldiers/Marines who honorably served their country—achieving a significant number of combat medals over multiple deployments—are now serving sentences ranging between 10 and 40 years. They and their families have fallen victim to the untenable Rules of Engagement, demoralizing “Catch and Release” policies, and climate of political correctness that govern our troops’ actions while trying to survive a combat zone.
While these soldiers/Marines have been judged very harshly by the military, our military leadership is currently releasing imprisoned enemy combatants back to the battlefield. We request the same mercy for these troops, many of whom have been denied clemency time and again. The Leavenworth 10 do not pose any threat and deserve to be returned to their families.
OMG read about these men at the site below!
These soldiers are the “Leavenworth 10”.
1LT Michael Behenna
SGT Evan Vela Carnahan
PFC Corey Clagett
Msg John E Hatley
SPC William B Hunsaker
SGT Michael Leahy
SFC Joseph Mayo
SGT Michael P Williams
SGT Larry Hutchins
SSG Raymond Girouard
Details on who they are and what they have been convicted of doing can be read here:
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:48 AM | Comments (5)
God Bless Sgt. James ‘Eddie’ Wright for Protecting Our Country!!!
GLENN: We have an amazing Marine Corps sergeant with us, Eddie Wright. He's retired and he is here with Cody, his fiancé, and we want to tell you his story here in a second but first I want to put the camera on him and — what a greedy — how many medals do you need?
PAT: I mean, that's more than you need right there.
GLENN: Can you turn his microphone on, please?
PAT: Eddie, that's more — what about redistribution of medals? There are people cowering somewhere in a corner that don't have any, they don't have any medals.
GLENN: How many medals do you need?
PAT: Wow.
SGT. WRIGHT: Well, I don't need any.
GLENN: How many do you have? Tell me what they are. There's the bronze star, I recognize that, the Purple Heart. Then I'm lost on my medals.
SGT. WRIGHT: And some of these are — well, the one next to the Purple Heart is the good conduct. I barely squeaked by with that one.
GLENN: Yeah. Good conduct, that just means you didn't screw up anything, right?
SGT. WRIGHT: Well, I didn't get caught, yes, sir.
GLENN: Right, okay. I mean, everybody gets that. That's like the — that's like the — that's like the participation award, isn't it?
SGT. WRIGHT: Well, yes, sir. I mean, you know, you earn them all, but —
GLENN: Right.
PAT: Now, what is a bronze star with V device? Because I understand you have a bronze star with V device? Is that right? Or —
SGT. WRIGHT: Yes, sir, yes, sir.
PAT: What does that mean?
SGT. WRIGHT: Well, I got that April 7, 2004, for doing my job. That was the day that we were ambushed and that's the day that I lost my hands and, you know, we were all just doing what we do and trying to stay alive. And the Marine Corps showed their appreciation and gave that to me.
GLENN: How did you lose your hands?
SGT. WRIGHT: We were working in Fallujah. I was serving as the assistant team leader with the first recon battalion and we came under heavy enemy fire. We were ambushed by small arms, heavy machine guns, mortars and rockets, and in the course of the ambush, I was struck by a rocket propelled grenade which instantly blew off my hands.
GLENN: Jeez. Do you ever regret it? Do you ever regret signing up?
SGT. WRIGHT: No, I don't regret it at all. In fact —
GLENN: May I? May I predict? You're kind of pissed because you want to go back and be with your buddies.
SGT. WRIGHT: Yes, sir, that's a common theme. I really — you know, one of the things that motivated me in my recovery was the fact that I wanted to return back and serve again, and I did get that chance and I did, did get that chance to serve again, and my last year in the Marine Corps before I retired, I was able to instruct at the martial arts center of excellence at the basic school in Quantico, Virginia which is, you know, quite an experience for me.
GLENN: There was never a time, never a time that you thought, "I don't have hands. What am I going to do?" I mean, was there a time where you were quite honestly pissed off or, why me?
SGT. WRIGHT: No, I don't think so. I don't think I let myself get complacent or — you know, we don't really have an attitude, we don't foster the attitude of "I can't" or "I quit." And when you have an obstacle in front of you, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other and focus on what you can.
GLENN: America, let me tell you something. This is exactly, exactly why we're doing 8/28. Here's a guy with incredible honor. Here's a guy who has sacrificed more than I will ever sacrifice. Here is a guy who has an American attitude of, "What? We just do it." This is why our country is struggling right now. Because there's not enough of us that are just like, "Do the damn job," and it's an honor to do the job. I am deeply humbled by not only you but all of the brothers that you serve with. It is remarkable what you guys accomplish, and we can never thank you enough, although I do believe you have far too many medals. It's a showoff kind of thing. It's really — all right. Now, you're here for a reason. You are in New York for a reason and I want to get to some happy news here. There's two pieces of happiness. First, with you is Meredith. Meredith, how do you say your last name? I'm sorry.
ILER: It's actually Iler.
GLENN: Iler, okay. So Meredith, you are with helpingahero.org?
ILER: Yes.
GLENN: And tell me about Helping a Hero.
ILER: Helpingahero.org is actually a national 501(c)(3) and we build homes for specially adapted specially adapted homes for our wounded heroes who have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
GLENN: So in other words, like the cabinets, you don't have to — you can just hit them and they open, they pop up?
VOICE: Correct. Eddie was actually our very first double arm amputee and so to date we've done paraplegic, quadriplegic, a triple amputee who's missing both legs and an arm, a blind hero, another hero who's blind in one eye and is an amputee. So we have all kinds of challenges that we've been tackling over the last few years, and this was a wonderful challenge to look at ways we could improve Eddie's life, and you are right. The pop out cabinets were a great thing, but the two things that I think are even bigger highlights is Toto donated an automatic toilet that, once again, someone with no hands, it does everything for you. And then we also —
GLENN: This is — hold on just a second. Hold on just a second because I think there's —
PAT: I don't know that we need to delve into that.
GLENN: Okay, all right.
ILER: I was trying to be diplomatic, Glenn.
GLENN: How's that working out for you, Eddie? Is that working out well?
SGT. WRIGHT: Well, I'll let you know when I try it out.
GLENN: Okay, all right. And how are you — how do you raise funds or what do you do?
ILER: Well, you know, it's great. People who are listening to your show can go to helpingahero.org and make a donation this morning. My cellphone has already been going off a ton with people making online donations. And it's real exciting because we've had lots of families, lots of individual donors who are stepped up over the last few years. We haven't really delved into the large corporate support like a lot of other 501(c)(3)s. And the other thing that's unique about Helping a Hero is we don't have any paid staff.
GLENN: That's good.
ILER: I even pay my assistant personally and then, you know, she spends about 60% of her time on Helping a Hero, as do I.
GLENN: That's great.
PAT: And so what you guys do is donate homes to badly injured veterans. And has it — is it 20 so far that you've —
ILER: We've completed 20 and we've awarded 26.
PAT: Wow.
ILER: And then we actually will give away another 15 on November 12th and we'll accept applications through August 31st for other severely wounded heroes that might be listening to this show or people who know those who need adaptive housing.
PAT: And so Eddie was one of the recipients yesterday at a ceremony in Conroe, Texas, which is probably one of the northernmost suburbs of Houston, and at this ceremony something pretty special happened. What was that?
SGT. WRIGHT: Yes, sir.
GLENN: This is so cool.
SGT. WRIGHT: As soon as I got done saying thank you to all the sponsors and the Montgomery County community and the families that helped out, I had the opportunity to do something to make the day even more special and more meaningful, and I proposed to my girlfriend Cody Fife.
PAT: And did she politely decline?
GLENN: She was like, I don't know, man.
SGT. WRIGHT: She did not.
GLENN: It's the medals. I mean, you wear them to bed. You sound like you are walking around with keys all the time. Did you hear him move a second ago?
PAT: Sounds like he's got spurs.
GLENN: You can hear the medals clink and you're like, okay.
PAT: Got spurs on his chest.
GLENN: So Cody —
PAT: Sorry to wreck the story, go ahead. What did you say to him?
GLENN: We don't mean to cheapen the story at all but that's what they pay us very well to do. So Cody, did you know it was coming?
FIFE: I did not. And by the way, the medals, they don't bother me too much. I did not — I was very surprised, very surprised.
PAT: So no inkling at all that it was coming?
FIFE: No. I mean, you know, when you're a girl and in love, you always hope. I was hoping it would happen soon but I didn't know.
GLENN: Did he ask your father?
FIFE: He did.
GLENN: Good.
FIFE: He did.
GLENN: You can marry that man then.
FIFE: Yeah, he asked my father.
GLENN: Dad said — what did dad say?
FIFE: What did Dad say?
SGT. WRIGHT: He said — he said — well —
PAT: You better treat her right or I'll be coming for you?
SGT. WRIGHT: Well, no, he didn't go that far.
GLENN: Here's what my —
SGT. WRIGHT: He approved and in a roundabout way he said hell yes.
GLENN: That's great.
SGT. WRIGHT: Pardon my French.
GLENN: It's not French technically. They keep saying that. I know, it's not. May be Spanish but it's not French. My father in law was like, oh, jeez, oh, dear God. That's what my father in law said.
PAT: (Laughing).
GLENN: But anyway, thank you so much.
SGT. WRIGHT: You're welcome.
GLENN: Sincerely thank you for your service. Thank you for everything you've done. We've asked you a few minutes ago if you will join at 8/28 and stand with Marcus Luttrell and Greg Stube, a good friend of mine and Sarah Palin and I at the opening of 8/28, and we'd love to have you there.
SGT. WRIGHT: It would be an honor, sir. Thank you very much.
GLENN: Thank you. Thank you for your service. Congratulations, Cody. And Meredith, you are just, you are doing great, great work. Great work. And thank you for your service to our —
PAT: helpingahero.org.
GLENN: Yeah. Thank you for everything that you do.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Thank you Sgt. James ‘Eddie’ Wright !!!
Wow! Our country is so blessed and we WILL get our country back. We have to and we have to because men and women like James Eddie Wright, all our troops and our Veterans don't deserve an America that obama wants. They deserve an America that our Founding Fathers, our Constitution and freedom loving Americans all want.
Posted by Wild Thing at 07:45 AM | Comments (2)
July 12, 2010
US Forces Fighting The Taliban
By Paul McNamara, Defence Correspondent
THE red cross-hairs of the sniper’s scope rest upon the Taliban gunman’s head.
Over the intercepted radio transmissions the interpreter translates every word the sniper sees across a river 450m away.
“The Ghost Patrol haven’t seen me,” he tells his insurgent comrades.
“I’ve got my gun, I’m coming to join you now.”
At the last minute Sgt Jonathan Holmes lowers his sight to the Taliban’s leg.
“HAVE I GOT CLEARANCE TO SHOOT?” he screams to his commanding officer, Lt Eric Fitzgerald.
“AM I CLEAR?” he repeats.
With a quick nod, the humid plum orchard we are crouched in behind a three foot wall, sweltering in 50 degree heat, turns silent.
Suddenly, three shots ring out and the Afghan gunman is on the ground.
Minutes later he’s picked up by a different team of NATO troops to be interrogated and given medical assistance.
A year ago he would be dead by now, but US forces are being forced to change their tactics to win over a hostile local population.
The News of the World is on patrol with the troops of America’s elite 82nd Airborne deep inside Afghanistan’s deadliest region – the Arghandab district of Kandahar.
Their, and our, lives are in the hands of one Brit, Major General Nick Carter.
He's the commander of all troops in Southern Afghanistan, and the military mastermind behind "the biggest offensive of the Afghan war so far".
And this week our reporting staff joined the troops on the ground to see how preparation for the imminent mission to secure Kandahar - the birthplace of the Taliban - is going.
But on the ground it is hard to believe security is close at hand in this region.
While dozens of Taliban fighters are being killed every day, reinforcements are constantly trickling in to replace them.
So, can the war be won before President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron lose patience and start to pull their troops out?
If victory is possible, it will be won by men like those from Delta Company, the 2nd Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry regiment.
Taliban commanders have dubbed them 'The Ghost Patrol' because they've killed so many insurgents without ever being seen.
Sgt Holmes has personally killed 20 Taliban - the furthest from 950m, and he once killed four in the space of ten minutes.
Today, Holmes explains why his tally is not even higher: "He wasn't shooting at me, he was just carrying his gun.
"But given half the chance he'd have turned it on all of us pretty damn quick," he adds explaining why he maimed the gunman.
This is the doctrine introduced by the now-disgraced ISAF commander General Stanley McChrystal - 'courageous restraint'.
In essence, no force until there is proof beyond any doubt the target is an insurgent.
And no lethal force unless it is unavoidable.
Holmes is quietly furious.
"All I know is this whole war would be a lot easier if they wore uniforms.
"But they don't so I'll soldier according to the rules before me, and they'll carry on with no rules whatsoever."
More of his comrades have been killed here in the Arghandab than anywhere else in Afghanistan, sometimes in firefights, but most often by IEDs.
Patrolling in this heat wearing 70lbs of equipment, making sure you cast your eye over every square inch of land for tell-tale signs of a homemade bomb is exhausting.
On average every man loses up to 4lbs in sweat on each patrol.
We walk through a mix of dusty dirt track roads through Afghan villages talking to local elders, yomping slowly through the fertile fruit orchards of plums and pomegranates, and jumping over six foot walls.
You never return by the same route you came - it's far too tempting for would-be bomb makers.
The background noise is a constant hum of gun fire and homemade bombs going off.
In the two days before we arrived in the Arghandab two more soldiers were killed here.
That evening Lieutenant Colonel Guy Jones explains why this area is so important to Kandahar.
But he is constantly stopped mid sentence by status reports of yet another one of his men blown up by an IED.
"This is a very important thoroughfare into Kandahar for trade, so the Taliban are fighting fiercely to maintain their grip," he said.
Again another update - his soldier is out of theatre, but the surgeons are not hopeful.
How many times had he heard that since arriving here a year ago?
"Too many times."
The soldier died the next morning, leaving behind a widow and four fatherless children.
Over the coming months the death count here is set to rise.
Maj Gen Nick Carter, is realistic about the difficulties he faces over the coming months, but optimistic some security can be brought to Afghanistan's most lawless and Taliban loyal province.
But a couple of days on the ground in the Arghandab however highlights just how monumental the challenge he faces is.
Exact percentages of secure villages are not available, but walking around with Delta Company it's evident for every one secure there are multiples under the control of the insurgents.
"Today was easy," explains sharp-shooter Holmes.
"But there are plenty of places around here it's a lot more difficult.
"Just a couple of miles north are a whole load of villages completely under Taliban control and we don't really have any presence there.
"Four village elders in the villages we do have a strong presence have been executed in the past couple of weeks.
"And last week a child suicide bomber killed 40 dignitaries at the wedding of an ANP officer a few villages over."
How long does Holmes think peace around here will take?
"That's way beyond the thinking of a sniper," he says.
"But the only thing I do know is that nothing happens quickly in this country."
The very next morning a huge bang wakes everyone just before dawn.
A Taliban member has blown himself up trying to set a mine. It's just 400m from our base.
Over the past six months the troops have constantly found IEDs, and even captured a homemade mortar.
"It was surprisingly accurate," said Sgt Holmes, 25.
"Like everything about the Taliban, it's very simply made, but tough as anything and capable of real damage."
It looks like a ten-year-old's home-made telescope; a black metal tube welded to a tri-pod, the front end attached to a car jack to elevate for perfect aiming.
Just two weeks ago the hugely successful and pro-West district governor Haji Abdul Jabbar was assassinated with an IED.
And Kandahar has problems that are much bigger than just harbouring the Taliban.
Before he can even attempt to eradicate insurgents, he has to address warlord-owned militias terrorising the local population with protection rackets.
Their cast iron grip on the country's south is so tight that even NATO forces have to pay to guarantee safe passage of military supplies from Pakistan.
And staggeringly, many of the hired thugs are former Afghan National Police officers that UK money has helped train.
Maj Gen Carter said: "The ANP and militias are big problems that need to be solved.
"A lot of our supplies come by land - such as food, fuel, basic military supplies.
"For safe passage we have to pay local 'private security firms' - militias, who owe their allegiances to local warlords and power brokers."
Many of the rent-a-thugs running the protection rackets have been trained by NATO forces.
He said: "The private security firms poach many of the good ANP and ANA soldiers we've trained over the last two to three years."
Militias pay Afghan employees $500 (£342) a month, well above the rate for Afghan soldiers or police of around $250 (£171) per month.
These militias are one of the first things Carter wants to address.
He said: "They thrive of the fact it's an insecure environment and if they can keep the environment unstable then that's good for business - they're creating their own demand."
He said: "We recruited police officers locally, assigned locally, if we were lucky they were eventually trained and they were deployed back into where they were initially assigned.
"The problem with this level of insurgency is that clan, neighbour, tribe is likely to get after them to make them work more in support of clan tribe, rather than the general population."
The system has just changed, but it will be some time before the ANP is able to ably police its own land.
Kandahar is a very different beast to rural Helmand - to put it in context, the village outskirts have the same problems as Helmand, while the city centre is more hostile than the darkest days in Northern Ireland.
But securing Afghanistan's second city is the key to bringing our troops home.
Maj Gen Carter added: "Speak to any Afghan and they'll tell you if you have a peaceful Kandahar, you will have a peaceful Afghanistan."
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Wild Thing's comment.......
God bless our warriors and keep them safe.
Side note:
"Sgt. Holmes is a very brave soldier, his Dad fought in Vietnam as a Special Forces soldier. God Bless Sgt. Holmes and his family and a special thanks for Sgt. Holmes' sacrifice to our country, and his sacrifice to us for keeping this country safe from those who are bent on the destruction of our way of life."
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:54 AM | Comments (1)
July 10, 2010
Barack Hussein Obama The Worst CIC In History of USA
Barack Hussein Obama The Worst CIC In History of USA
Today we have a commander-in-chief who would prefer not to talk about actually winning:
“I’m always worried about using the word ‘victory,’ because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur.”
In order to avoid the potential for some kind of awkward “victory,” our soldiers and Marines are literally unable to shoot when every element of common sense and the entire history of warfare tell them to shoot:
Troops: Strict war rules slow Marjah offensive
By Alfred de Montesquiou and Deb Riechmann – The Army Times
Monday Feb 15, 2010 15:08:51 EST
MARJAH, Afghanistan — Some American and Afghan troops say they’re fighting the latest offensive in Afghanistan with a handicap — strict rules that routinely force them to hold their fire.
Although details of the new guidelines are classified to keep insurgents from reading them, U.S. troops say the Taliban are keenly aware of the restrictions.
“I understand the reason behind it, but it’s so hard to fight a war like this,” said Marine Lance Cpl. Travis Anderson, 20, of Altoona, Iowa. “They’re using our rules of engagement against us,” he said, adding that his platoon had repeatedly seen men drop their guns into ditches and walk away to blend in with civilians.
If a man emerges from a Taliban hideout after shooting erupts, U.S. troops say they cannot fire at him if he is not seen carrying a weapon — or if they did not personally watch him drop one.
What this means, some contend, is that a militant can fire at them, then set aside his weapon and walk freely out of a compound, possibly toward a weapons cache in another location. It was unclear how often this has happened. In another example, Marines pinned down by a barrage of insurgent bullets say they can’t count on quick air support because it takes time to positively identify shooters.
“This is difficult,” Lance Cpl. Michael Andrejczuk, 20, of Knoxville, Tenn., said Monday. “We are trained like when we see something, we obliterate it. But here, we have to see them and when we do, they don’t have guns.”
That mindset doesn’t just apply to our fighting men on the ground, who are put in a position in which they can’t defend themselves if their enemy flouts Obama’s miserable rules of engagement. The pilots flying overhead and the artillerymen on surrounding positions are prevented from supporting our soldiers if they get pinned down, too:
Family calls U.S. military goals ‘fuzzy’Parents of soldier killed last week criticize firepower restrictions
By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer
First published in print: Thursday, June 24, 2010
QUEENSBURY — The parents of a Lake George soldier killed in Afghanistan attacked the Obama administration Wednesday for “flower children leadership,” and said they would work to change U.S. rules of military engagement in the nine-year conflict.
Hours before holding a wake for their 27-year-old son in Glens Falls, Bill and Beverly Osborn heavily criticized a military policy implemented last year that places some restrictions on when American troops can use firepower in Afghanistan. The new rules were set when Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal assumed command of the Afghanistan effort, and have reportedly made it harder for troops to call in for or initiate air power, artillery and mortars against the Taliban.
The counterinsurgency policy is intended to reduce civilian casualties and win the allegiance of Afghans, McChrystal had said. But echoing criticisms from the Vietnam era, Bill Osborn said Wednesday that it’s tied the hands of service members on the ground.
“We send our young men and women to spill their blood and we won’t let them do their job,” he said from his Queensbury home. “Winning hearts and minds is wonderful, but first we have to defeat the enemy."
Obama doubled the American body count from Bush in 2009, and is now on pace to double his own total (which means four times the Bush 2008 Americans KIA).
We just suffered the highest number of American causalities for a single month in the history of the war. Mind you, EVERY month becomes the new “deadliest month” under Obama.
America firebombed Tokyo and Dresden in World War II. We didn’t make sure that every single person who could possibly get killed during an attack was a 100%-confirmed “militant” before we sent a wave of death at our enemies. If we’d resorted to that form of liberal moral stupidity, we would have lost – and the only question would have been how many of us would have ended up speaking German, and how many of us would have ended up speaking Japanese.
Thank God we didn’t have Obama leading us back then.
But our rules of engagement still weren’t getting enough American soldiers killed, so Team Obama came up with a better idea: how about ordering soldiers to go into battle with unloaded weapons? That’s right. Soldiers are now told to wait until they actually start falling down on the ground dead before they can actually be allowed to fumble a round into the chamber.
Fighting a War without Bullets?
by Chris Carter
Human Events
05/25/2010
Commanders have ordered a U.S. military unit in Afghanistan to patrol with unloaded weapons, according to a source in Afghanistan.
American soldiers in at least one unit have been ordered to conduct patrols without a round chambered in their weapons, an anonymous source stationed at a forward operating base in Afghanistan said in an interview. The source was unsure where the order originated or how many other units were affected.
When a weapon has a loaded magazine, but the safety is on and no round is chambered, the military refers to this condition as “amber status.” Weapons on “red status” are ready to fire—they have a round in the chamber and the safety is off.
The source stated that he had been stationed at the base for only a month, but the amber weapons order was in place since before he arrived. A NATO spokesman could not confirm the information, stating that levels of force are classified.
In other words, our guys can’t prepare their weapons to actually fire until they are already under attack.
Imagine sending our police into a building filled with armed gang members like that.
And you want to know how to win a medal in Obama’s army? Don’t do anything. Certainly don’t actually shoot at the enemy.
Hold fire, earn a medal
By William H. McMichael – Staff writer
Wednesday May 12, 2010 15:51:31 EDT
U.S. troops in Afghanistan could soon be awarded a medal for not doing something, a precedent-setting award that would be given for “courageous restraint” for holding fire to save civilian lives.
The proposal is now circulating in the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force, a command spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
“The idea is consistent with our approach,” explained Air Force Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis. “Our young men and women display remarkable courage every day, including situations where they refrain from using lethal force, even at risk to themselves, in order to prevent possible harm to civilians. In some situations our forces face in Afghanistan, that restraint is an act of discipline and courage not much different than those seen in combat actions.”
Soldiers are often recognized for non-combat achievement with decorations such as their service’s commendation medal. But most of the highest U.S. military decorations are for valor in combat. A medal to recognize a conscious effort to avoid a combat action would be unique.
It used to be that the hero was the guy who took on the enemy. Now it’s the guy who crawls into the fetal position and walks away from a battle with an unfired weapon.
And then there is Obama’s timetable for a cut-and-run had nothing whatsoever about satisfying military issues and everything about satisfying political ones within Obama’s radical leftwing base. The military wasn’t even consulted, according to General David Petraeus:
McCain: “General, at any time during the deliberations that the military shared with the President when he went through the decision-making process, was there a recommendation from you or anyone in the military that we set a date of July 2011?”
Petraeus: “Uh, there was not.”
McCain: “There was not – by any military person that you know of?”
Petraeus: “Not that I’m aware of.”
Nobody knows what the hell is going on over there. Are we going to stay and fight? Or cut and run? Most of the Obama administration is saying that we are most definitely going to cut and run in July 2011. Take Vice President Biden, who says, “In July of 2011 you’re going to see a whole lot of people moving out. Bet on it.” All Obama will say is that “We didn’t say we’d be switching off the lights and closing the door behind us.” which isn’t really saying anything.
All the money is on a pullout, as Obama cuts and runs. The Afghan people know that, know that the Taliban will soon be their landlords, and aren’t about to risk any kind of meaningful alliance with America that would be necessary to actually winning over there.
Do you remember FDR telling Churchill, “I’ll give you a year, and then we’re running with our tail between our legs where it belongs”???
If it’s a war worth fighting, it is a war worth sticking around to fight.
We will win when we allow our fighting men to fight. And not until then.
If you wonder whether Afghanistan is going to become like Vietnam, stop wondering: it already has. Because we’re fighting Afghanistan the same way we fought Vietnam – with the mindset of putting our troops in danger while simultaneously preventing them from securing victory.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:55 AM | Comments (4)
July 09, 2010
Marine Killed While Rescuing Hurt Comrade
Marine Killed While Rescuing Hurt Comrade
FORT COLLINS, Colo.
When Stacia Harris worried about her husband fighting in Afghanistan, he would remind her that the Marines never leave anyone behind. So she's not surprised he made the ultimate sacrifice.
Cpl. Larry Harris Jr., 24, was killed while carrying a wounded comrade to safety.
"He wouldn't have been OK without his junior Marines coming home," Stacia Harris told AOL News in a telephone interview today from her parents' home in the Denver suburb of Parker.
Two squads were on patrol July 1 in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand, a Taliban stronghold, when Lance Cpl. Jake Henry was shot in the leg. Harris, a squad leader, was carrying Henry to safety when he tripped a roadside bomb, taking the brunt of it, said Ralph Montgomery, Harris' father-in-law.
"Larry threw my brother out of the way" during the explosion, Lacie Poley said in a phone interview from Casper, Wyo. She said others in the squad had told them of Harris' quick action.
Henry, 21, is in Germany undergoing a sixth surgery tonight to repair the gunshot wound to his leg and shrapnel injuries to his leg, hand and back, Poley said.
For Stacia Harris, her husband's act of heroism was part of his character. In addition to the Purple Heart he was awarded posthumously, he had also received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal -- for helping civilians involved in a serious car accident near Camp Pendleton, Calif., where he had been based.
"He always put someone else before himself," she recalled.
His deployment to Afghanistan was Harris' second tour, having previously served in Iraq. Had he not re-enlisted he would have been home two months ago.
"He loved that he was in the infantry. He loved that he was on the front line," his widow said. "He loved, loved, loved the Marine Corps."Harris had also received a Combat Action Ribbon, a National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal and the sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Speaking via his sister's cell phone from the hospital in Germany, Henry said that Harris had high expectations for his squad, but taught him to be a better Marine.
"He was a really, really good friend; a great brother, a mentor, and I really miss him," an emotional Henry said via his sister. "He was a great guy all around."
Henry is scheduled to be transferred to Bethesda, Md., this week for more treatment, before being allowed to return to Wyoming. He is expected to make a full recovery, Poley said.
When Stacia Harris felt unsettled about her husband's service, he would tell her, "If it's God's will, I'll be home, and if it's my purpose to give my life for my country, it's going to be OK and you'll be fine," she recalled.
Harris, who played high school football and ran track and field, also loved to dance, especially to Michael Jackson. He and some friends had a hip-hop group, 2 Real 4 Da Mind, that performed in Boulder, where he attended high school.
But mostly, friends and family remembered him as someone who was confident and determined and made those around him laugh.
"He was so full of life and light and always the center of attention. Everyone was always fighting over who got to sit by Larry," his widow recalled.
For Stacia Harris, a 22-year-old Yale graduate, the future is uncertain. The couple, who had known each other since middle school, wed in March. Harris was deployed April 22.
Although Harris had several more months in Afghanistan, he would talk with his wife of their plans when he returned. They were going to move to California to be near Camp Pendleton.
Stacia Harris last spoke with her husband in the week before his death.
"He called me to let me know he had decided what his first meal would be when he got home," she said. "He wanted steak and mashed potatoes and asparagus. And he said, 'We can even have a bottle of wine if you want. I think we'll have a reason to celebrate.' "
Harris was the 10th Marine from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to be killed in Afghanistan in the past two months.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Prayers for his family. Our country is fortunate to be blessed with warriors like this. I pray too that they know how much they are appreciated.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (6)
July 03, 2010
RNC Chairman Michael Steele Opposing the Troops in Afghanistan
Michael Steele speaking at an RNC fundraising event in Noank, Connecticut, where he actually said that the War in Afghanistan is a “War of Obama’s choosing.”
The audio is difficult to hear, so here is a transcript of the key portion of what Steele said:
Transcript via YouTube posting of video:
“The [General] McChrystal incident, to me, was very comical. I think it’s a reflection of the frustration that a lot of our military leaders has with this Administration and their prosecution of the war in Afghanistan. Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama’s choosing. This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in. It was one of those areas of the total board of foreign policy [that was at least?] that we would be in the background sort of shaping the changes that were necessary in Afghanistan as opposed to directly engaging troops. But it was the President who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should in Afghanistan. Well, if he is such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? Alright, because everyone who has tried over a thousand years of history has failed, and there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan…”
Bill Kristol has pointed out that what Steele says here is absolutely false, and he has called on Steele to resign in the wake of this:
The Weekly Standard: Needless to say, the war in Afghanistan was not “a war of Obama’s choosing.” It has been prosecuted by the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama. Republicans have consistently supported the effort. Indeed, as the DNC Communications Director (of all people) has said, your statement “puts [you] at odds with about 100 percent of the Republican Party.” .
Obama can be criticized for a lot of things, but the War in Afghanistan is not a “war of Obama’s choosing.” We moved into Afghanistan just months after the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed 3,000 of our citizens. We did it to go after Al-Qaeda for planning and carrying out the attacks, and The Taliban for harboring and assisting them. That is exactly what we should have done, and we now need to finish the job. The last thing our men and women in uniform need is a leader of the Republican Party who is publicly saying we cannot win there, and questioning the necessity of their mission there. It is time for Michael Steele to resign.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
Steele should be landing easy shots on the Dems. Not this crap!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (7)
July 01, 2010
Oliver North, US Troops Veterans Day ~ A Must See Video!
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Wild Thing's comment........
WOW this is such an awesome video. I love it and have watched it twice in a row with tears in my eyes. I am so proud of our troops I could burst. We are so blessed to have such people serving our country now and in the past. Truly blessed and so very grateful with all our hearts.
With all my heart I wish I could thank each person that has served and is serving now in person.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (1)
Gen. David Petraeus To Senate Hearing: "Training Afghans During Insurgency Like “Building Advanced Aircraft While in Flight”
Gen. David Petraeus told a Senate Hearing yesterday that “it will be years” before Afghan Forces can fully take over the fight against The Taliban in Afghanistan.
Petraeus provided a striking analogy for what we are trying to do in Afghanistan:
“Indeed, trying to train and equip host nation forces in the midst of an insurgency is akin to building an advanced aircraft while it is in flight, while it is being designed, and while it is being shot at.”
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Family of Fallen Soldier Petitions Top General for War Policy Changes (Petraeus Responds ASAP)
Details of the fallen soldier's parents' exchange with Gen. Petraeus here.
The father of a slain local soldier has taken public a message about the war's rules of engagement.
William Osborn, the father of Spc. Benjamin Osborn, who was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 15, sent a letter to Gen. David Petraeus on Sunday asking him to change rules which he said tie soldiers' hands.
"Our son, SPC 4 Benjamin D. Osborn, volunteered to man the one heavy gun his unit had mounted on top of an MRAP vehicle," the e-mail states. "Finally, ordered to fire, Ben was able to get off 10 rounds before falling silent."
Four minutes after Osborn sent the e-mail, Petraeus responded with condolences for the parents and asked them to listen to remarks he'll make at a Senate confirmation hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, where he planned to address the issue.
SNIPET
On Monday morning, William Osborn appeared on the Fox News cable channel to deliver the same message and said troops need to be empowered to use force when they deem it necessary.
The current rules of engagement call for firing only after being fired upon, Osborn said, and that rule is what led to the death of his son.
SNIPET
Cyndie Wade, a friend of the Osborn family who said a contact she knows helped Osborn get on the national cable network, sent an e-mail to NBC on Monday and said she is working to get the parents to appear on MSNBC and the Today Show.
"For whatever reason, my feelings seem to have caught on with some people," Osborn said. "It's too late for my son, but if this could help the men and women out there now, this is Ben's legacy. It's about Ben and the men that he fought with over there. They just deserve a lot better than what they're getting."
E-mail by Mr. & Mrs. Osborne to Gen. Petraeus:
Our son, SPC 4 Benjamin D. Osborn was killed in action June 15, 2010 in Kunar Province Afghanistan, on a mission. On that day, his unit of 20 was ambushed, coming under heavy fire from a Taliban force of between 70 to 100 strong. Due to the "Rules of Engagement," our soldiers could not return fire to protect themselves until ordered to do so.
Our son, SPC 4 Benjamin D. Osborn volunteered to man the one heavy gun his unit had mounted on top of an MRAP vehicle. Finally, ordered to fire, Ben was able to get off 10 rounds before falling silent.
This illustrates to us that there is a very basic flaw in our "Rules of Engagement." We believe that it led to the demise of our son, SPC 4 Benjamin D. Osborn and other warriors like him. We have the greatest fighting force in the world with the most technologically advanced weapons known to man. We spend enormous resources to teach, train and prepare our fighting men and women for battle; then send them out with one hand tied behind their backs.
It appears that our current administration is anti-military because of the limits placed on field personnel. The "Rules of Engagement" are such that we allow our enemies one break after another: we can not fire unless fired upon, if enemy combatants are around civilians we must retreat, before we can enter buildings we must consult with Afghan National Security Forces. Such "Rules of Engagement" allow these terrorists to escape to come back stronger and fight another day.
SNIPET
Immediate reply by Gen. David Petraeus:
SNIPET
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Osborn, please accept my condolences on the loss of your son.
And please listen to my opening statement at the confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning at 0930. I will address the ROE issue. I will note that commanders have a moral imperative to ensure that we provide every possible element of support to our troopers when they get into a tight spot. And I will ensure that we meet that imperative if I am confirmed to command ISAF in Afghanistan.
Sincerely, and with sympathy
- General Dave Petraeus
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Petraeus Confirmed By Senate as Commander in Afghanistan, 99-0
The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to confirm Gen. David Petraeus as the commander of American forces in Afghanistan.
Petraeus — heralded for his time as commander of operations in Iraq — leaves his post as the head of U.S. Central Command and is expected to be in Kabul as soon as Friday.
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You got to love a Heavy bomber that can out-run a concorde. ~ Wild Thing
Petraeus Gives Shout-Out to B-1B Lancer Fleet
Last week, we wrote that the Air Force Council, the blue suiters board of directors that advises the air chief, was considering deep cuts to force structure to meet aggressive savings targets laid out by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. One option they are reportedly considering is early retirement of all 66 B-1B Lancer bombers, last delivered in the late 1980s.
Yesterday, the Lancer fleet got a hearty shout-out from new installed Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus. “It is a great platform,” he told senators at his confirmation hearing. “It carries a heck of a lot of bombs… and it has very good intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.”
It can loiter for long periods of time in a combat-air patrol, using its Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod which contains a laser designator, 3rd Gen. FLIR and digital cameras that function well both day and night to search out insurgent movements or IED emplacers. “It is almost like having another unmanned aerial vehicle in terms of full motion video and so forth,” he said.
“So it’s not just a case of a very, very capable bomber just boring holes in the sky waiting to open the bomb-bay doors, it is also the case of a platform that’s very capable even as it is just flying around in circles.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
Petraeus talking about ROEs now. Says he will “look very hard” at the complaints from troopers. Says he has talked with Karzai and other Afghan leaders on the past few days about need to bring full fight to the enemy. Says we still need to minimize civilian casualties and collateral damage. That’s about all he said on that.
99-0. Robert Byrd had a prior engagement and did not vote.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:49 AM | Comments (1)
June 28, 2010
General Faces Unease Among His Own Troops, Too
A soldier shielded himself from dust as an Army helicopter took off after picking up wounded Afghan National Army soldiers near Kandahar, Afghanistan
General Faces Unease Among His Own Troops, Too
By C. J. CHIVERS
Riding shotgun in an armored vehicle as it passed through the heat and confusion of southern Afghanistan this month, an Army sergeant spoke into his headset, summarizing a sentiment often heard in the field this year.
“I wish we had generals who remembered what it was like when they were down in a platoon,” he said to a reporter in the back. “Either they never have been in real fighting, or they forgot what it’s like.”
The sergeant was speaking of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and the circle of counterinsurgents who since last year have been running the Afghan war, and who have, as a matter of both policy and practice, made it much more difficult for troops to use airstrikes and artillery in the fight against the Taliban.
No matter the outcome of his meeting on Wednesday in Washington over caustic comments he and his staff made about President Obama and his national security team, the general, or his successor, faces problems from a constituency as important as his bosses and that no commander wants to lose: his own troops.
As levels of violence in Afghanistan climb, there is a palpable and building sense of unease among troops surrounding one of the most confounding questions about how to wage the war: when and how lethal force should be used.
Since last year, the counterinsurgency doctrine championed by those now leading the campaign has assumed an almost unchallenged supremacy in the ranks of the American military’s career officers. The doctrine, which has been supported by both the Bush and Obama administrations, rests on core assumptions, including that using lethal force against an insurgency intermingled with a civilian population is often counterproductive.
Since General McChrystal assumed command, he has been a central face and salesman of this idea, and he has applied it to warfare in a tangible way: by further tightening rules guiding the use of Western firepower — airstrikes and guided rocket attacks, artillery barrages and even mortar fire — to support troops on the ground.
“Winning hearts and minds in COIN is a coldblooded thing,” General McChrystal was quoted as telling an upset American soldier in the Rolling Stone profile that has landed him in trouble. “The Russians killed 1 million Afghans, and that didn’t work.” COIN is the often used abbreviation for counterinsurgency.
The rules have shifted risks from Afghan civilians to Western combatants. They have earned praise in many circles, hailed as a much needed corrective to looser practices that since 2001 killed or maimed many Afghan civilians and undermined support for the American-led war.
But the new rules have also come with costs, including a perception now frequently heard among troops that the effort to limit risks to civilians has swung too far, and endangers the lives of Afghan and Western soldiers caught in firefights with insurgents who need not observe any rules at all.
Young officers and enlisted soldiers and Marines, typically speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect their jobs, speak of “being handcuffed,” of not being trusted by their bosses and of being asked to battle a canny and vicious insurgency “in a fair fight.”
Some rules meant to enshrine counterinsurgency principles into daily practices, they say, do not merely transfer risks away from civilians. They transfer risks away from the Taliban.
Before the rules were tightened, one Army major who had commanded an infantry company said, “firefights in Afghanistan had a half-life.” By this he meant that skirmishes often were brief, lasting roughly a half-hour. The Taliban would ambush patrols and typically break contact and slip away as patrol leaders organized and escalated Western firepower in response.
Now, with fire support often restricted, or even idled, Taliban fighters seem noticeably less worried about an American response, many soldiers and Marines say. Firefights often drag on, sometimes lasting hours, and costing lives. The United States’ material advantages are not robustly applied; troops are engaged in rifle-on-rifle fights on their enemy’s turf.
One Marine infantry lieutenant, during fighting in Marja this year, said he had all but stopped seeking air support while engaged in firefights. He spent too much time on the radio trying to justify its need, he said, and the aircraft never arrived or they arrived too late or the pilots were reluctant to drop their ordnance.
“I’m better off just trying to fight my fight, and maneuver the squads, and not waste the time or focus trying to get air,” he said.
Several infantrymen have also said that the rules are so restrictive that pilots are often not allowed to attack fixed targets — say, a building or tree line from which troops are taking fire — unless they can personally see the insurgents doing the firing.
This has led to situations many soldiers describe as absurd, including decisions by patrol leaders to have fellow soldiers move briefly out into the open to draw fire once aircraft arrive, so the pilots might be cleared to participate in the fight.
Moments like those bring into sharp relief the grand puzzle faced by any outside general trying to wage war in Afghanistan. An American counterinsurgency campaign seeks support from at least two publics — the Afghan and the American. Efforts to satisfy one can undermine support in the other.
The restrictions on using fire support are part of a larger bundle of instructions, known as rules of engagement, that guide decisions on how troops can interact with Afghans, and how they can fight. The rules have shifted frequently over the years, becoming tighter and tighter.
Each change, often at the urging of the government of President Hamid Karzai, has shown the delicacy of the balance.
NATO needs the Afghan government’s support. But restrictions that are popular in Kabul have often alienated soldiers and Marines whose lives are at stake, including rules that limit when Western troops can enter Afghan homes. Such rules, soldiers and Marines say, concede advantages to insurgents, making it easier for them to hide, to fight, to meet and to store their weapons or assemble their makeshift bombs.
It is an axiom of military service that troops gripe; venting is part of barracks and battlefield life. Troops complain about food, equipment, lack of sleep, delays in their transportation and the weather where they work.
Complaints about how they are allowed to fight are another matter and can be read as a sign of deeper disaffection and strains within the military over policy choices. One Army colonel, in a conversation this month, said the discomfort and anger about the rules had reached a high pitch.
“The troops hate it,” he said. “Right now we’re losing the tactical-level fight in the chase for a strategic victory. How long can that be sustained?”
Whatever the fate of General McChrystal, the Pentagon’s Afghan conundrum remains. No one wants to advocate loosening rules that might see more civilians killed. But no one wants to explain whether the restrictions are increasing the number of coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base, and seeding disillusionment among those sent to fight.
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Wild Thing's comment.......
This article is from the NY Times, and it is about Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and our troops.
I hope and pray there will be some big changes in the R.O.E.'s!!!
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:49 AM | Comments (4)
June 27, 2010
Petraeus to Modify Afghanistan Rules of Engagement, Source Says
Petraeus to Modify Afghanistan Rules of Engagement, Source Says
A military source close to Gen. David Petraeus told Fox News that one of the first things the general will do when he takes over in Afghanistan is to modify the rules of engagement to make it easier for U.S. troops to engage in combat with the enemy, though a Petraeus spokesman pushed back on the claim.
Troops on the ground and some military commanders have said the strict rules -- aimed at preventing civilian casualties -- have effectively forced the troops to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.
The military source who has talked with Petraeus said the general will make those changes. Other sources were not so sure, but said they wouldn't be surprised to see that happen once Petraeus takes command.
The rules, put in place by outgoing Gen. Stanley McChrystal, are classified but generally aim to limit civilian casualties by prohibiting troops from firing unless they're shot at -- or from launching bomb or artillery attacks when civilians are near the target.
Petraeus spokesman Col. Erik Gunhus disputed the claim that those rules will be revised, telling Fox News it's too soon to tell whether Petraeus would change the current rules. But he said it is one of many issues the general will take under consideration during his assessment after he's confirmed and after he takes over command in Afghanistan.
Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales Jr., a Fox News military analyst, said there's no question Petraeus will have to make the changes.
"First of all, to reinforce his commitment to take care of the troops and secondly, because he realizes as does virtually everyone in Afghanistan that these rules are getting soldiers killed," he said.
Any adjustment to the rules of engagement does not mean the counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan will change. President Obama stressed Wednesday -- after he accepted McChrystal's resignation in the wake of a magazine article in which he and his staff were critical of the administration -- that the change-up does not represent a shift in war policy.
Rather, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that Petraeus, currently head of U.S. Central Command and the former U.S. commander in Iraq, will have the flexibility to reconsider "the campaign plan and the approach."
At the same news conference at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said Petraeus will be able to make tactical changes. But he said that does not necessarily mean changes will be made and echoed the president's insistence that the strategy stays as he prepared for a visit to the war zone.
"My message will be clear: Nothing changes about our strategy, nothing changes about the mission," Mullen said.
The issue is likely to be front and center in Senate confirmation hearings for Petraeus next week.
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Wild Thing's comment........
I don't think obama will allow normal ROE's. Obama wants terrorists read rights. He is responsible imo for the added deaths of our troops. The current ROE’s are one of the reasons why more of our troops have been killed.
Current ROE are ridiculous and make it impossible to actually win a war. If we are going to fight, we should fight to win. Kill the enemy, wherever they are. If they hold their weapons caches and safehouses in churches and hospitals then they must be destroyed.
By putting the gloves of “no attack zones” on our soldiers we virtually guarantee the war will never end. If we’re not going to fight to win, we should not fight. All that accomplishes is to get our troops killed.
We must always remember that the CINC is a Marxist Muslim who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about our national security and achieving victory in Afghanistan. He won’t even allow his adminstration to use terms like Radical Islam or the War on Terror. He is ONE OF THEM.
What has happened to us as a nation since WWII? We no longer fight to pacify the enemy, we don't even fight to win, but rather we bend over backwards to win their 'hearts & minds'!! IMHO that is a losing strategy and nothing more than a death wish on our part. Even worse, we're trying to win hearts and minds that CANNOT be won. Islam simply is not compatible with western ideals and values, and it never will be.
Of course there always is this:
Orchides Forum Trahite
Cordes Et Mentes Veniant
Praying it is changed for the better and not the worse.
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....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:49 AM | Comments (5)
June 26, 2010
General David Petraeus Honoring Purple Heart Veterans
NEW WINDSOR
Gen. David Petraeus returned to his native Hudson Valley on Friday to honor roughly 130 veterans who were wounded in battles dating back to the 1940s.
His visit comes only days before congressional hearings at which Petraeus will be confirmed to lead an increasingly violent war in Afghanistan.
Petraeus, a son of Cornwall, delivered the keynote speech Thursday afternoon at a tribute to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New Windsor. About 1,200 people — and a cavalcade of national media — filled the ballroom at Anthony's Pier 9 catering hall for the tribute.
The most honored guests were the Purple Heart recipients spanning seven decades, all of them wounded in wartime. They were joined by Gold Star mothers and families who had lost relatives in battle. Petraeus assured all of the veterans and military families that their service and sacrifice was for a grateful nation.
"Thank you for what you did to earn the badge of honor that is sought by none but respected by all," he said. "The depth of our gratitude is inexpressible."
Veterans and friends of Petraeus returned the appreciation. They gave Petraeus his father's Bible, which had been kept at the Cornwall Presbyterian Church. And his classmates presented a stained glass window depicting the Purple Heart medal, which will hang in the museum in Petraeus' honor.
The ceremony also honored the four men known as the "Genesis Group," who steered the dream of having a Purple Heart museum in New Windsor. They included:
*Joseph R. Farina, a Newburgh native and World War II veteran who gained fame for bringing his love of bowling to the country of Australia
* Lt. Gen. James D. Hughes, a West Point alumnus and decorated fighter pilot who served as military assistant to President Richard Nixon. Hughes is a New Windsor resident
* State Sen. Bill Larkin, R-C-Cornwall-on-Hudson, who served in the U.S. Army for 23 years before starting his ongoing 30-year run as a state lawmaker
* Everett Smith, a veteran of the Army National Guard, who founded the Sentinel, a twice-weekly newspaper in Orange County, and became vice president of the Purple Heart Hall of Honor.
The crowd also lauded Daniel Sheehan, a 14-year-old from Texas. For his project to become an Eagle Scout, Sheehan tracked down 55 Purple Heart recipients who were not registered in the Hall of Honor. The teenager got the idea after his grandfather, Andy Komonchak of Bloomingburg, brought him to the hall in 2007.
"I was overwhelmed," Sheehan told the crowd. "It made me think that every Purple Heart recipient has a story to tell."
That includes veterans like Andy Barone of Monroe, whose knuckle was torn off by shrapnel in France during World War II. Or Jose Baez of the Bronx, who earned two Purple Hearts in Vietnam, including one for a bullet that ripped through his cheek while he was carrying a pregnant Vietnamese woman.
"To see a top general come out here — he knows what we went through," Baez said of Petraeus. "It means so much for him just to come and be with us."
And Petraeus, a 40-year military man, made it clear that he was honored, too. He shook hands with every Purple Heart recipient and Gold Star family in attendance, offering each an honorary medal. And on the eve of his next mission in Afghanistan, Petraeus spoke words that described himself as much as any other man or woman in the room.
" Today's troopers stand on the shoulders of those who came before them and because of your service, they stand very tall indeed," he said. . "Whatever the endeavor, whatever the mission, our troopers have always said, 'Send me.'"
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Wild Thing's comment........
I have the utmost respect for General Petraeus and I can’t think of another person better equipped to honor those who have lost so much while giving their all to defend this nation.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:55 AM | Comments (3)
June 25, 2010
'You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?' by Andy McCarthy
'You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here?'
Why would General Stanley McChrystal give that kind of access to a lefty rock-n-roll magazine? Maybe because he's a kindred spirit who felt the need to assure Rolling Stone's Michael Hastings that he voted for Obama — even against McCain, a military legend who shares McChrystal's transnational progressive outlook.
"Now it can be told," elaborates Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic "The story about [McChrystal] voting for Obama is not contrived. He is a political liberal. He is a social liberal. He banned Fox News from the television sets in his headquarters. Yes, really."
Yes, really. The revealing Rolling Stone profile also tells us that the general "banned alcohol on base [and] kicked out Burger King and other symbols of American excess." (Recall the very similar Obama edict that American forces not fly the Stars and Stripes at their base during their humanitarian mission in Haiti — a self-loathing trend that has also taken hold on college campuses.) Even McChrystal's undoing here — ironically, by Rolling Stone, not Fox News — is, as VDH suggested yesterday, attributable to a disturbing contempt for authority and decorum that McChrystal and his top aides made little effort to conceal from Hastings. (Byron has more on that, here.)
I got in some hot water here last year for arguing that Gen. McChrystal, for all his undeniable valor, is a progressive big-thinker who has been conducting a sociology experiment in Islamic nation-building. It's a flawed experiment that assumes Afghan Muslims will side with us — i.e., the Westerners their clerical authorities tell them are infidel invaders and occupiers — against their fellow Afghan Muslims.
Nothing in the ensuing months changes my mind. To the contrary, what I've seen lately indicates that, while our troops are imperiled under strait-jacketing rules of engagement imposed by Gen. McChrystal to avoid offending Afghans, Christian missionaries have been suspended for p