US Marines in a Fight (finally) in Southern Afghanistan

Posted By Deebow

And in other news, water is wet....

I am certain that these Marines are violating some long standing NATO rule on not endlessly negotiating with these butt-monkeys before convening a meeting to decide when to give the Taliban their exact battle plan so that every one feels all "even" and stuff when they kick it off.

Now don't get me wrong, the Danes, the Poles, and the British (certain units) I have fought with are doing a bang up job down there, but they just don't have the same issues with these guys that we Americans have.  And for the Brits at least, they are hamstrung by a crazy, socialist, leftist, elitist media that demonizes their every move, good or bad.  But we all know what I am talking about when I talk about negotiations with these guys.

But anyway, I watched Fox News today while spending my last day healing from my gall bladder surgery and found out some interesting facts from the reporting that I would like to share with everyone.

Many of the 2,300-member unit who conducted the operation are Iraq war veterans.

Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once the stronghold of Al Qaeda in Iraq before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.

(Capt. John) Moder said that experience would affect how his men fight in Afghanistan.  "These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (fighting) but it's reconstruction and economic development."

Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and Senator Murtha; I hope you had your pencils out.... 

Continue reading "US Marines in a Fight (finally) in Southern Afghanistan"

MKH and JDJ

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Mary Katharine is dishing out political advice, kinda.

JD Johannes has some thoughts on IEDs and the idea of bait.

And they wonder why 73 plus percent of military members are registered as Republicans

Posted By Deebow

I want them to defend this...

I want them to defend using the video of the apparent death of American Soldiers while serving in Iraq to the religious zealot, gun nut, under-employed working class folk that probably have either served before, serve currently or have a family member who faces danger every day in the ITO.

I want them to defend using this video to make the misleading statement that we are "losing in Iraq."

Of course, the cowards respond according to the script:

Calls to the DNC for comment and for information about the footage went unreturned.

I don't want to hear anymore from the pompous gas-bags in the Old Media and the Code Pink turd-burglars about how they "Hate the war but support the troops"....  Where I come from, we say "that dog won't hunt."

But, since the media outlets are not showing it, out of respect for our comrades in arms, I would like to encourage everyone to tell everyone you know to go and see the ad and tell their friends too.

That way, whichever candidate is chosen by the Democrats, the American voters can ensure that the Democrats are headed for a McGovern style beat-down in November....

A beat-down that will sting for a couple generations....

Leadership: Rumbles from Below

Posted By Grim

We had a Roundtable call with Army Colonel Bruce J. Reider on the subject of the Army's new Muti-Source Assessment and Feedback system.  The concept here is, for the first time, to mandate that officers and NCOs -- as well as Department of the Army civilians, interestingly enough -- get formal feedback on how they do as leaders from their subordinates and peers as well as from their command.  While it won't be part of their performance evaluation, every single person in a leadership position will have to receive these comments.  COL Reider feels this has the opportunity to fundamentally improve Army culture by letting people know exactly where they are weakest in terms of the Army's leadership values.

Furthermore, everyone participating in the system will be submitting their comments on you anonymously.

One of the things that bloggers have a lot of experience with is the effect of granting anonymity to commenters.  The natural question, then, is:  Will you be editing out the profanity?

The Colonel says, "Actually, yes."  The concern for anonymity is such, however, that they will be doing so with an automated filter -- so that no human except the person being evaluated sees the comments.

Quite a bit more on this after the jump.

Continue reading "Leadership: Rumbles from Below"

What Did You Do For The Troops Saturday?

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

Well, I spent the day out at a friend's home helping bake (and putting/hiding a funny here that most seemed to miss). The son of some friends of my friend is on his second deployment to Iraq, and she wanted to try to top her previous 30 or so pound box of treats she sent last time. So, between us we alternated mixing and baking two different types of brownies, three different types of mini-cupcakes, almond shortbread, two different types of chocolate chip cookies, two different types of oatmeal cookies, homemade granola bars, and homemade protein bars. Net take was that when all was done, she mailed a 37-pound box of treats for him (and his buddies). In August, we are planning to do this again.

LW

Thousands Honor Matt Maupin

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

Soldier's Mom wrote me this weekend about the funeral of SSG Matt Maupin, letting me know that more than 4,000 people filled the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati for his funeral. He is home, he is honored, and his family knows that people truly care about him and -- most of all -- about them.

WLWT has a story and video here, the Enquirer an article here (and actually notes why the missing are important) and coverage of the funeral here, and WCPO has stories here.

Godspeed Matt. May the light shine down on your family, and they are blessed to know how many people truly care.

LW

Obama & Jeremiah Wright on foreign policy

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Here is a video like many we will see that are going to cause Obama some serious problems with an awful lot of Americans. Bitter, gun-fetishing, religious non-poseurs actually love this country, the actual one they live in.

Blackfive TV- Taking Counter-Insurgency Global

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Preview of a campaign we will be working on to educate people about how to capitalize on the success changing to a Counter-Insurgency strategy has brought us.

Different But Important: Testicular Cancer

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

UPDATED & BUMPED

MaryAnn asked me if I would do this post, and I am glad to copy her post here so that the information can get downrange to the troops. Her site is often blocked (Blogspot), and while Blackfive is in some places as well, the thought is that it will reach places her's can't. If anyone else wants to copy this, please feel free to do so as caught early this is a very treatable cancer -- just ask Lance Armstrong. Copy for post, copy to mail, just help get the word downrange.

LW

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008

Important information about testicular cancer and self-exams

Ok, this is an unusual post. But it's really important because we see quite a few cases of testicular cancer at Landstuhl due to the gender/age group of the patients.

Please help raise awareness about the importance of deployed men doing testicular self-exams.

There's very high awareness for breast cancer and the need for women to carry out self-exams.

However, there's much less awareness about testicular cancer (TC), which is the most common type of cancer affecting guys between the ages of 15 and 35.

Most often, TC is found by men themselves. The thing with being deployed is that you don't want to look like you're playing with yourself in the shower or whatever while checking yourself out. Also, back home, it's often found by wives/girlfriends.

But a monthly self-exam of the testicles is the best way of becoming familiar with your body and thus enabling detection of TC at an early - and highly curable - stage.

Information about self-exams. [http://tcrc.acor.org/tcexam.html]

General information about TC. [http://tcrc.acor.org/index.html]

Important to Know:
- TC has a VERY high cure rate.
- Treatment usually involves removal of the affected testicle and follow up.
- Having one testicle is almost always sufficient to keep everything "working".

Finally, embarassment is a poor excuse for not having things checked out. If you think there is something wrong or something has changed, get your butt to sick call!

Please help by passing this information on to those you know in the sandbox. Thanks.

Update: In the comments Mrs. G shares this cancer prevention tip ;-)

UPDATE: An example is given below the fold, may not be family friendly (especially if you are this idiot & his moronic co-sponsors), can cause Aunt Minnie to blush, palpitations in the susceptible, etc.

Continue reading "Different But Important: Testicular Cancer"

On Waivers

Posted By Grim

I also attended the Blogger's Roundtable that Armed Liberal at Winds of Change mentioned today.  These waivers are characterized this way:

The vast majority of the conduct waivers are misdemeanors and a litany of three-or-more traffic offenses. And with that, there are some felony arrests and a few felony convictions. Together they total to about a half of one percent of the intake.

In the past year, the Army increased its numbers, almost doubled them.  But they are so small that it equates just for scale to fewer than one per congressional district, insofar as felons that were waivered in.

The kind of person that we're talking about is someone who doesn't appear to be morally corrupt. Rather it was perhaps a prank gone terribly wrong, a grotesque error in judgment.

But in every case, if their community has joined behind them and said, this is really a good kid, and offered their support, then the recruiter might, if we've got a strong candidate in terms of their other attributes, send it up for a waiver.

A two-star will look at it. And let me say a general officer. I'm not sure if it's always two-star. But a general officer or flag officer will look at it, look at what they read about this person, what their parents, teachers, coaches have to say, and then make a judgment.

Is there any one of us who doesn't know someone who started off on the wrong track -- or made a mistake as a young man -- and ended up better because the military gave them a few years of structure, discipline, and a chance to move into adulthood?  It used to be that judges gave young men a choice between the military and jail in these circumstances.

Armed Liberal makes the point that labeling someone as a "criminal" at this age is destructive to their entire lives, whereas the military may be just what they need to begin a long and productive citizenship.  One of my closest friends as a boy was in just this category.  He made a bad decision, although a clever one -- he figured out a way to steal from his employer and work the paperwork to cover it so as to get free money.  At the age of seventeen you are the very next thing to amoral:  between hormones, young male pride, and lack of experience, you neither understand the harm you are causing nor can resist a clever scam.

They caught him, and the Marine Corps recruiter he'd been working with said:  "Well, hang on.  Let us have him."  They produced proof that he was a Boy Scout and had risen to the rank of Life Scout; that he had been a good student; and other things.  The local DA didn't press charges (a felony arrest, not a conviction, as this man says) and he went into the Marines.

A few years ago, he was Honorably Discharged after more than a decade's service.  He now lives as a good husband and reliable employee to a local manufacturer, and is the father of several daughters -- he described his home to me not long ago by saying, "If it's pink, we've got it."

Prison doesn't rehabilitate.  Very often, the Marine Corps does. 

Read the whole transcript, though, and make up your own mind.

UPDATE:  SFC B, in the comments, adds some perspective:

Since 2003 the Army (the only service which I've bothered to get the full details on, however the other services are similar) has allowed anywhere between .2% and .6% of all enlistees to enlist with a waiver for a felony conviction. Two years ago, 2006, was by far the lowest percentage of felony waivers in a long, long time. The .439% of waivers that were allowed in last year (2007) was right in line with the .4% that has been the average since 2003. Basically, the AP story casts an ominous light on the subject by pointing out that the number of felony waivers doubled from last year, but they fail to provide any context to that by 1) not mentioing how many people were enlisted last year (116,141) and 2) not mentioning that 2006 was abnormal in that only 249 felony waivers were enlisted.

ANZAC Day!

Posted By Grim

Just the other day, thanks to this letter from Australia, we were talking about how much we appreciate the folks from Down Under.  Well, today is ANZAC Day, which is similar in many respects to our Memorial Day. 

We'd like to join in the salute to our comrades.  I see that the Castle got started without us:  if anyone else has an appropriate post, add it in the comments here.

Advance Australia Fair!  This rendition begins with a phrase that I've only heard British and Commonwealth units use:  "Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding."  It's a fine way of putting it, joining both the physical and the moral actions that are requested to show due honor to nation and service.

In the Crosshairs- Not Moqtada Sadr

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Mookie Sadr is the media's favorite boogeyman in Iraq and they simply will not let him slink off and hide in Iran. A fair look at the past few months would conclude that Sadr got his ass handed to him by Maliki and the Iraqi government. About the only folks still propping up Sadr are the media and his handlers in Iran. Al Qaeda in Iraq is more scared than scary so as the press look for ways to keep the hope of defeat alive we get pieces like the AP report that Mookie is going to go all out against the US and carve out an Iranian shadow state just like Hezbollah has in Lebanon.

I hate to harsh the APs latest defeatist propaganda party but Mookie and his boys just got thumped pretty hard in Basra and it wasn't even US troops it was Iraqi Army forces making mounds of dead tangos. He has never had the guts and incredibly bad judgment to go head to head with us and now taking a stand against the Iraqi government could prove just as terminal. Things are looking pretty good for the Iraqis as the main Sunni group agreed to return to the government and Mookie may have served his purpose in the question of whether the Shia-dominated government and Army had the will and the ability to move against the Mahdi Army's Shia militias. Well, yes and yes are the resounding answers and all those new Iranian weapons and radios the Mahdi hotshots were bragging about a few weeks ago didn't matter much against the Iraqi troops. Mookie ran up the white flag soon after the Government troops started stacking his thugs like cord wood.

Mookie's time has passed and while he will still be an aggravation his power is broken and he is discredited. But that won't stop the media from trotting his carcass out to keep those defeat fires burning.

For the smahty, ahts, fahty crowd I offer an existensialist interpretation of this ITC.

A Better Use of Iwo Jima

Posted By Grim

Here's something that turned up at the local grocery store:  a wine called "Jarhead Red."  It also comes in a bottle with the Marine Corps Emblem, but in honor of Time magazine I got this one:

Why is this acceptable, and the Time cover bad?  Two reasons:

1)  This uses the Iwo Jima image in its proper context:  to honor and celebrate a hard-won victory by the United States Marine Corps.

2)  According to the back:  "The net proceeds from the sale of this wine benefit the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation who provide educational assistance to the children of fallen Marines.  Please consider directly supporting the Foundation at www.mcsf.org."

If you live in one of those states (unlike mine) that lets you order wine through the mail, it appears you can buy it from here.

So is it any good?  Heck if I know -- if it was a beer, I'd hazard a guess, but wine isn't one of my usual interests.  So I'll stick to what I know, and leave writing about wine to wine critics.  Maybe they'll return the favor.

Can I Beat the Hippies Now????

Posted By Deebow

I am starting to get "tired" again....

I think I am really going to have to start punching hippie "peace" fascists when I find them, because this is something that deserves a firm response...

This is from the New York Chapter of a Gathering of Eagles where an Iraq War Veteran and his family were attacked while staging a counter protest in Edinboro PA.  Their 14 year old son went across the street to videotape some of the protest that was going on.

This is a little piece of what happened...

Seeing the escalating tension across the street, the veteran and his wife crossed over, leaving their three youngest children on the other side for safety while they went to retrieve their eldest son. Two of the female ‘peace’ protesters then attacked the veteran’s wife. When the veteran pulled one of those attackers off his wife he was jumped by four or five of the ‘peace’ people and knocked to the ground where they held him while beating him and smashing his eyeglasses.

The son pulled the remaining attacker off his mother, but the attacker managed to get in one last kick to his mother’s head with her boot. She then punched the son in his face while his mother called the police.

But the fun didn't stop there....

Continue reading "Can I Beat the Hippies Now????"

Global Counter-Insurgency (COIN) -Petraeus to head CENTCOM

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

UPDATE: This seems like very good news in building a Global COIN strategy. Congratulations Gen. Petraeus and good luck.

Almost seven years into our active fight against al Qaeda and Islamic extremism, we still have difficulty characterizing exactly who and what we are fighting. We have twisted ourselves around in verbal gymnastics to avoid using the word Islam in the description of this war and I actually agree that is a good thing. Although our enemy is comprised almost entirely of Muslims, everyone knows that and consequently calling it a battle against Islamic anything doesn't add anything.

Our enemy is a stateless, amorphous, ad hoc group of Islamic religious extremists who are conducting a global insurgency of opportunity against us and all free societies. The one area of the world where we have had major success against them is Iraq of all places, and the reason for that was a complete change of strategy from top-down nation-building to bottom-up, grass roots counter-insurgency. We aren't fighting Islamic warriors who march into battle against the Great Satan flying the flag of jihad. No, we battle cowards who brainwash children with hate and strap explosives to mentally disabled women sending them to kill other innocents. Sadly they enjoy the support of far too many other Muslims and that is where we must fight them. If we only focus on sending jihadis to their hellish paradise, we will play an endless game of whack-a-mole. While killing terrorists must be part of our game plan, we must also use the strategy and tactics required to defeat this enemy on the battlefield of ideas.

America needs a Global Counter-Insurgency (COIN) plan to expand on the gains we have made in Iraq. It is not the current generation of Iraqis who will create the final defeat of al Qaeda there. It will be the youngsters who we have been giving medical care to, and building schools for, and at the most basic level, playing soccer with. They have known the evil of Saddam and the horrors of sectarian violence and terrorism. They have also seen that our forces now have shared their sacrifices and stood  back to back with them securing their own neighborhoods. Once the Iraqis believed we were on the front lines with them, their pride kicked in and they began to volunteer in droves to protect their families and friends. Now political progress is being made and the idea of victory is no longer foreign.

Those opposed to the war have often claimed that Iraq was a distraction from the greater fight and also that we have no comprehensive plan to fight Islamic extremism. It is valid to argue the efficacy of invading Iraq in 2003, it is folly to ignore the current state where al Qaeda consistently calls it the central front in their war on us. I again would agree that we have no coherent foreign and national security policy that addresses the enemy we face and that is why building a program that focuses all our resources in a Global Counter-Insurgency is vital. This effort must include our military, especially the Special Forces and Civil Affairs units trained for this mission, but also the State Department, USAID and other humanitarian organizations. Too often institutional differences have led to poor coordination and even working at cross-purposes. These same problems made it difficult for our Armed Forces to operate well together as recently as the first Gulf War in 1991. Since then virtually all missions are joint combining the best of all services in a common goal. The same integration is necessary between military and civilian agencies if a Global COIN strategy is to succeed.

This will require the abandonment of some pre-conceived notions. The left must understand that when dealing with bad actors, effective diplomacy happens best when the threat of military force backs up the words, and the right must accept that we will parley with our enemies and even make deals with them. Those efforts must be combined with humanitarian, civil and entrepreneurial assistance that shows our commitment to helping people live free, productive lives. Get all of those plates spinning and we just might win this.

Mike Yon, Professor, The Proof of the Unmentioned American Strategy

Posted By Subsunk

As my Differential Equations Prof used to say, "the proof of this theorem is left to the student, as the result is obvious to those with the knowledge to seek it".

Michael Yon's new book, Moment of Truth in Iraq, has been reviewed by the New York Post. In that review, the quotes selected echo the theme which has played itself out throughout the War on Terror and is the True underlying strategy behind the War on Terror, wherever it is fought by Americans today.

Those who visit Blackfive occasionally may find it vindicates certain points of view.

He shares a rarely reported aspect of the American effort in Iraq - rebuilding: "The American soldier is the most dangerous man in the world," he says, "and the Iraqis had to learn that before they would trust or respect us. But it was when they understood that these great-hearted warriors, who so enjoyed killing the enemy, are even happier building a school or making a neighborhood safe that we really got their attention."

Heard that somewhere before?

Press on. To Victory.

Subsunk

LA Times Staying Classy

Posted By Deebow

Evidently, the LAT ran out of material to run on Hillary lying about sniper fire and Obama and his association with Jeremiah Wright and have stumbled across this HUGE scandal with the McCain Campaign.

Seems that the LAT believes that McCain, as a result of being shot down, severely injured during ejection, and then held prisoner for 5 years, as well as tortured while in captivity is unfit to be the Commander in Chief because he receives a VA Disability Pension.  And it is tax free!!!

Oooohhh!  The Humanity!

Evidently, the big question the LAT thinks this raises is:

The fact that he is legally designated with a disability pension may raise further questions.

And then this waste of skin piped in...

"It is a legitimate question to ask about the commander in chief: Is he fit to serve," said Robert Schriebman, a senior Pentagon tax advisor and tax attorney who recently retired as a judge advocate for a unit of the California National Guard.

I want this lawyer (Shakespeare was right) to come down here and tell me, a disabled veteran who continues to serve that I am not fit to serve, or Captain David Roselle is not fit to serve.  I would put my foot in his, well, you get the picture....

We all know that Senator McCain is entitled to that benefit, regardless of whether or not he is Senator McCain, or Principal McCain at Abraham Lincoln High School, or CEO McCain of ABC MegaCorp. or Janitor McCain.  He receives that as a benefit of his honorable service to this country.  Any man who can survive the situation he found himself in is not only fit to be the CinC, but someone that would bring a unique perspective to the job.

As far as I am concerned these oxygen thieves at the LAT deserve to burn in, after watching their reserve cigar roll, for questioning whether or not McCain's disability pension takes away from his abilities.

But they may have gotten pwned and not even know it....

Paul Galanti, another former POW in the group, said that while McCain's injuries were serious enough to qualify him for disability, it would not affect his performance as president.

"I don't know of any physical requirements to be commander in chief," Galanti said. "He would have a nice car to drive around in and a nice airplane to fly in."

I think next they should check into whether or not Hillary's bad vision would keep her from reading the launch codes properly.  I mean, have you seen those glasses?

Like I said, what a bunch of oxygen thieves....

This just in...

Posted By The Wolf

I came across this wonderful blog the other morning while checking my Google News feeds- The full text is below the fold.  Its a wonderful support piece that deserves wide dissemination.  She obviously loves her soldier- even if she disagrees with the politics behind everything...

I also just returned from Kuwait/Iraq where I was on a quick trip to check up on things; I had a chance to talk with one of the Soldier's favorite morning DJ's- Linda, who's STILL on every morning in Kuwait on 99.7 FM.  She's still doing her show, and tells me she misses the calls from Soldier's who were ''all over Kuwait'' in 2003.  She relayed some stories of US troops, heading north to the border, listening to her show all the way.  She says you can hear her show nearly all the way to Najaf.  I won't comment on her music selection, but what a perky voice to be hearing out in the middle of the desert!

She asked that I relay a 'hello' to all those that listened to her over the years, and for all to stay safe...

Linda, better words never spoken...

-Wolf

Continue reading "This just in... "

A Few Good Women, II

Posted By Grim

Since we're on the subject, meet the Daughters of Iraq and the Sisters of Fallujah.

Did anyone think, in November of 2004, that there would be a group of native Fallujah women who  volunteered to help the Marines find terrorists?  There is, and the movement is spreading across Iraq, to Sunni and to Shia areas.

And the White Horse Looked On

Posted By Grim

Lieutenant G, a scout cavalryman who enjoys great respect here for his literary skill as well as his work, writes from Iraq:

Augustly, it shoots out of the Babylonian dust to defy the sandstone skyline. Surrounded by a haphazard maze of tiny homes and shops lacquered in grime, a sea green minaret sits on top of the building like a crown. It has overseen more easy wars and more fragile peaces than any human being could ever fathom, even in this post- oral history era. The mosque stands as proudly today as the day it first became a place of worship, many dawns ago.

The sound of a loudspeaker’s hollow echo rolls over Anu al-Verona from the mosque. It is the early morning prayers of the Salah. My interpreter, Biggie Smalls, often translates these words for me while we’re out in sector and sometimes joins in to pray for us himself; admittedly, it has taken some time to not feel threatened by these austere, foreign chants unleashed in Arabic. I justify this visceral reaction by comparing the prayers to certain passionate sermons I remember from back home, spoken in words I understood, but emotions that I did not. Spiritual cadences from the heart uttered in any language will sound menacing to a stranger. With my terp’s help however, I’ve come to appreciate the tranquility offered in the simple repetitiveness of some Muslim prayers.

Meanwhile, the literary editor of The New Republic -- a publication whose reporting section has enjoyed scant praise from BlackFive.net -- writes from America:

For a long time I did not hear the beauty of church bells; or more accurately, I did not wish to hear it. They sounded only like Christianity, which in my early years was a vexing triumphalist sound--the pealing of history, from which my honor as a Jew required me to recoil. When the tintinnabulations of the Church of St. Francis Xavier on Avenue O reached my ears, they brought the message that I was a member of a minority....

I was loitering in the magnificent little cloister at Magdalen College. It was a late afternoon in an Oxford autumn, and the yellow spears of the waning sun were landing in the severe stone geometries of the place and striking the walls like friendly lightning. Suddenly I heard the harmonies of a choir rehearsing evensong--a piece by Byrd, I later learned--in an adjoining chapel. Fixed by the lights and the sounds, I was overcome[.]

According to the story, St. Vladimir converted Russia to Christianity because of his emissaries' reports of their visit to the Hagia Sophia.  He is said to have consulted with Muslims and Jews as well, but it was that "Christian beauty" that convinced him.

I have my own -- strong -- opinions on the relative values of the various religions, and am a partisan:  but I understand what these two men are saying.  I've also heard the calls to prayer, and wondered at them.  For a while, last autumn, we were getting mortars shortly after the end of the curfew on a regular basis.  The morning call to prayer, just after the curfew was lifted so that people could get to those prayers, was like a warning.  Yet, if to me they were a warning, and to the insurgent a signal, there were thousands in Baghdad for whom that same mosque's song was only what Lt. G. describes: a soothing moment in a hard life, a time to welcome the dawn and pray that today will not be terrible.

Lt. G says, "How did I help the counterinsurgency today? God only knows." 

Perhaps.

A Few Good Women

Posted By Subsunk

This article in the NY Times is pretty full of misconceptions and falsehoods about Marine recruiting. If you read between the "long unpopular war" lines, you'll see a Marine Corps that is using a more targeted strategy of advertising to find young Women to join the one of the finest services there is in the world today. Getting more bang for their buck.

The young Lady mentioned as a recruit is also just the type to make good Marines. Yet the reporter doesn't quite recognize that the Marine Corps is more than "parachuting from airplanes, wielding big guns, driving heavy tanks and stampeding across the ground". In fact it appears that's the only thing he thinks male Marines are good for. (I can almost hear the bewilderment in his voice over why such "big strong Men would have the smarts to do anything else"????? Wielding big guns??? Stampeding across the ground???? Where did this guy learn about the Marine Corps? In a gay bar?)

Code Pink shows up too, as some sort of experts in why this is Marine Propaganda. As Bugs Bunny said, "It is to laugh". What else is wrong with the article? Read on.

Continue reading "A Few Good Women"

Want Soldier's Angels To Win More?

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

UPDATED AND BUMPED

As I noted here, Patti Patton-Bader has been nominated as part of the Most Popular Mom competition. It has entered a new phase, and you can still vote for her. Yes, the site is intrusive, but no law that I know requires you to provide marketers with legitimate information. So, please, go vote early and often!

LW

UPDATE: Per a comment, I want to add that the $5,000.00 won in the previous phase of the contest was used to buy 1,000 sweats for use by medevaced service members and veterans. To quote MaryAnn (who I should have linked to in the first place):

The America's Favorite Mom Contest continues in April, and this time the prize money is $25,000.

In the world of Soldiers' Angels, $25,000 can buy 425 Valour-IT laptops for our wounded hereos. It can buy 500 wounded hero backpacks to send to those most in need. It can buy 50 airline tickets for families and soldiers in need to get back and forth in emergency situations.

The money IS going to Soldier's Angels, and your help is needed. Please, continue to vote, vote early, vote often (Hey, we are based in Chicago after all) so that this next prize, the grand prize, can do some very good things for those who serve or have served.

National Heroes Tour- Coast to coast

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

After a chance to reflect I can say the Heroes Tour was one of the more amazing experiences of my life. I met more great people than I can even count and we definitely got the message out. Enjoy the video and know that plans are underway for another round of this later this Summer. More info to follow.

Ohh.... You think that YOU!! are the people out saving the planet....

Posted By Deebow

OOPS!!  My Bad.....

It looks like the Marines (or at least some Marines) have a battle plan...

Another Afghan Success Story....

Posted By Deebow

"The Americans are doing this"--Unnamed Taliban Butt-monkey

This is something that took awhile to report.  As with all success stories that paint what we are doing in a good light, it doesn't fit the template.

I was in country for the beginning of this project and the Washington Post is reporting on it now.  The WaPo gives it a surprisingly fair and equitable write up.

They make it look like I Jumped the Shark on this one a touch, but I have been following this story for awhile, if only to assuage my own skepticism.  I served in the 203rd Corps and when they told us about this plan and about how the Afghans were going to get American equipment and (it really did frighten me) American night vision equipment, I had a lot of very negative things to say about it.  I was not really shy about it.

I can tell you that I was having a hard time getting my Afghan guys to understand some basic maintenance concepts and the application of them.  I thought that if we gave the Afghans this equipment, that it was going to be broken, sold in the bazaar by noon, or generally inoperable before any major operation.

But, in the interest of full disclosure, I am glad that I turned out to be wrong about it.  I am glad that they are working out well.

In fact, I got an e-mail from MSG Ness from CJTF-82 and he had this to say about the Commandos...

The Commandos are working out very well.  They have been partnered with CJSOTF and outfitted like a US Infantry Company.  They are executing Counter Terror missions and have been very successful.  The Commandos are a success story we would like to spread more word about.  One of the challenges here is when US forces conduct CT missions they are met with dislike and derision by the locals.  Breaches of customs, accusations of civilian casualties and other situations seized upon by the AQ/TB IO Operations.  The Commandos seem to be immune from that.  Much like the grup-i-mutaharek, Massoud's "Mobile Group", they are seen by the Afghan citizens as an elite military force and are gaining great popularity with the Afghan people.

But the good stuff isn't just from CJTF-82....

Continue reading "Another Afghan Success Story...."

Kev's first video

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

I don't know how to characterize this, as Kev is the King of Subtlety, so defeatist politicians, explosions, protest rock, but my favorite element is the white dog that survives the blast and skitters off the corpse he was nibbling on, oh and in the first explosions of the van watch the two helicopters way too close.

Tibet v. China- Olympic Skirmish in Madison

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

There were dual demonstrations in Madison yesterday with pro-China and pro-Tibet groups doing their things. It was fairly lively and went true to form. The pro-China troops were regimented and all sang the songs they learned in school in unison. My sympathies were with the Tibetans to start with and nothing at this event changed that, but it was fun anyhow.

Another Grim Milestone

Posted By Grim

Let's hold a press conference!  Ibrahim Al-Shammari, spokesman for the Islamic Army of Iraq, did just that with Al Jazeera.

"Dr. Al-Shammari, what does it mean to you that 4,000 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq?" a moderator on Al Jazeera asked Al- Shammari during a March 24 broadcast translated by the BBC.

"This figure means a lot to us because it is the first time the number of U.S. deaths amounts to 4,000. This means a lot to the American people," said Al-Shammari. "The figure we have is 4,000 plus 40,000, and not 4,000 as they claim. This shows the deep trouble the U.S. Administration engaged-"

At this point, according to the BBC translation, the moderator interrupted Al-Shammari. "Excuse me, the figure you have is 44,000?" the moderator asked.

"The Americans do not count those who have Green Cards," explained Al-Shammari....

"Do you have an accurate calculation and a clear follow-up on this issue that allows you to announce the figure 44,000?" asked the moderator.

Al Jazeera:  setting the record straight!

As odd as it may seem, Al Jazeera's English language broadcasts are some of the best stuff coming out of Iraq.  I used to watch their stuff while over there, and while it wasn't accurate, it was consistently better than what CNN or FOX could put together.  Partially it's because they have better contacts, but it's not only that.  They're willing to engage our enemy and hear their side of the story -- but they're not willing to accept it without critical analysis.  They're therefore providing two useful services:  giving us some OSINT insight into our enemies' minds, and calling their statements into question.

If you're attempting the very difficult task of understanding the war from over here, Al Jazeera English can be a useful tool.  That's not what we'd have expected earlier in the war, when their reporters sometimes referred to US warplanes over Afghanistan as "enemy" planes...  but expected or not, I think it's proving to be so.

Face of America Bicycle Ride 2008: Surrender

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

As some of you may remember, I am going to be at the Face of America Bicycle Ride 2008 in a few weeks in DC. I was scheduled to take part but several things have come up. Not only is it bad enough that my own blog-brother Jimbo has thrown his full support behind another, but I must admit I did not reach some milestones on my own. For me to ride the entire distance meant that two weeks ago I needed to be able to do 15 (or more) miles in an hour, plus meet some speed and other goals. I didn't, and also discovered that seats that didn't bother me 35 years ago now make me walk funny after 30 minutes. Add in issues on getting either my bike there or a bike there, that while not insurmountable were more pain that I can deal with right now, and...

Being able to read the writing on the wall, I elected not to ride but to volunteer and support as a part of the Soldier's Angels team. I have also decided to support harass Chuck Z. This had already been decided before the traitor Uncle J jumped in, and it is a true pleasure to do so.

This is something important and fun, so go do what you can. Also, if you are a reader in the DC area, and want to try to meet up, drop me an e-mail and we will see what can happen.

LW

Dead Tangos- Ready for your close up

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Another test of Terms of Use and LiveLeak. Bad guys and 30mm from an Apache.

The Continued disrespect of our Armed Forces...

Posted By Deebow

and the perpetuation of a hoax to boot...

The best part of this story may be some of the quotes from some of the veterans of that battle...

Donald Mates, an Iwo Jima veteran, told the Business & Media Institute on April 17 that using that photograph for that cause was a “disgrace.”

“It’s an absolute disgrace,” Mates said. “Whoever did it is going to hell. That’s a mortal sin. God forbid he runs into a Marine that was an Iwo Jima survivor.”

Mates also said making the comparison of World War II to global warming was erroneous and disrespectful.

“The second world war we knew was there,” Mates said. “There’s a big discussion. Some say there is global warming, some say there isn’t. And to stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is just sacrilegious.”

But the trifecta for this little journey into libtardedness is the quote from Time managing editor Richard Stengel about what he believes the reporters and the news-room of Time Magazine need to do to be most effective in their jobs;

“I think since I’ve been back at the magazine, I have felt that one of the things that’s needed in journalism is that you have to have a point of view about things,” Stengel said. “You can’t always just say ‘on the one hand, on the other’ and you decide. People trust us to make decisions. We’re experts in what we do. So I thought, you know what, if we really feel strongly about something let's just say so.”

I believe that alcoholics call this "a moment of clarity."  Thanks Richard for admitting what we already knew was there...

And great job on that cover....

UAVs & Hellfire missiles- Remote control dead tangos

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

I believe I am within LiveLeak's terms of use here with this educational presentation about US military precision strike weaponry.

DoD Press Release Reports What MSM Won't

Posted By Subsunk

Your free press at work: Reporting the news that supports their own agenda, and ignoring important news from DoD...... because everyone knows the DoD press releases are a lie? Don't they?

You be the judge......

Intercepted al-Qaida Letter Reveals Tactics, Strategy

By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 16, 2008 – Use silenced guns to kill coalition forces at Iraqi security checkpoints, smuggle weapons in gradual shipments to reduce the risk of detection, and poison Iraq’s water supply with nitric acid to spread disease and death.

Coalition forces found a chart showing senior al-Qaida leaders recently killed or captured and several pages of a letter found on the body of a terrorist. The items were released April 16, 2008, in Baghdad, Iraq, during a media briefing by U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman.  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Such tactics were fleshed out in a terrorist letter intended for Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the foreign-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. But the document never reached Masri. Instead, coalition forces lifted it from the body of a terrorist they killed last month during an operation 30 miles northwest of Baghdad.

The slain terrorist and author of the 11-page missive was Abu Safyan, from Diyala, Iraq, according to military officials who made available all but two pages deemed “not releasable” on the Multinational Force Iraq Web site.

Providing a glimpse into the proposed inner workings of al-Qaida in Iraq, the author discusses the need to split jihadists into three groups: snipers, assassination experts and martyrs. Each well-trained group should have an emir, or unit commander, at the lead. Through a series of coordinated surprise attacks, groups should work in unison to “bring down the city or the area,” he wrote.

<>

Continue reading "DoD Press Release Reports What MSM Won't"

Confirmation on Mullah Ismail's ventilation

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

As I said it was tentative until the Long War Journal says so and they do, complete with a picture of the dirty buzzard.

A senior leader of a Taliban splinter group known as the Bara bin Malek Front, one of the most dangerous insurgent groups operating in northeastern Afghanistan, was killed during a blazing shootout with Pakistani police in the North Western Frontier Province earlier this week. Security forces opened fire on Mullah Ahmad Shah, better known as his nom de guerre Commander Ismail, after he failed to stop at a police check point near the Afghan border. Ismail was attempting to smuggle a kidnapped Afghan day laborer back to an insurgent hideout on the Afghan side of the border, according to Pakistani security officials who spoke with CBS. Taliban spokesman Zabibullah Mujahid also confirmed the killing of a top Taliban commander in the area according to the same report.

In addition to the righteous joy we can feel as an evil man bites it, read all of Bill's analysis about the blow this strikes to one of the more militant border gangs .

Drawings from German readers

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Niels and Matt emailed after seeing the Little Bird helicopter footage with some pictures they made featuring just such operations. The style reminds me of the "How it sucks series" by branch with Aviators saying " Man it must suck down there", Infantry "I love how it sucks down here"etc. Very cool stuff though, they will email when they have a website for their work.

Chivalry and Women

Posted By Grim

(I rarely post both here and at Grim's Hall:  but today I will.  The "recent discussion" mentioned is in two posts, here and here.)

Two citations today, to inform our recent discussion. The first one is from the invaluable book The Archaelogy of Weapons: Arms and Armor from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry by Ewart Oakeshott. The quote is from pp 186-7.

The inevitable development of what we might call the official knightly attitude towards women began to take hold in the middle of the twelfth century. It was given impetus by the poets of southern France, particularly after Eleanor of Aquitaine (one of the most glamorous women of the Middle Ages, who later married Henry II of England and became the mother of Richard Lion-Heart and John) came from Provence to Paris to become for a while the Queen of Louis VII of France. The mingling of the tongues of "oc" and "oui" in overseas expeditions strengthened it.

["Oc" and "oui" here refers to two major dialects of Middle French, in which the word for "yes" was pronounced one of two different ways. This was not the only difference, of course, just the one chosen as an easy symbol. In Ivanhoe, Richard the Lionheart offers to sing "a 'sirvente' in the language of 'oc,' or a 'lai' in the language of 'oui,'" but ends up singing a ballad in the English at the request of the Holy Clerk of Copmanhurst, that is, Friar Tuck. -Grim]

Henceforth the influence of women dominates chivalry, and religion and feudal loyalty take second place. Only war, a glorious and exciting pastime and a stimulating way of winning wealth, kept its high place as a gentleman's most cherished occupation; but the influence of love as the mainspring of warlike aspiration gave a much lighter rhythm to it, and to literature and life itself. Poets sing now only of their ladies' perfections, crave their pity and strive to merit their grace. The knight fights as hard as he ever did (he was not to be deprived of his business or his fun) but it is to win his lady's favors, and the word amoureux comes to mean more than it does today, for it covers the entire range of knightly virtue. The idea has prevailed that:

Hee never were a good werryoure
That cowde not love aryghte

"He who loves not is but half a man" and "pour l'amour des dames devient li vilains courtois."

The "influence of women" which "dominates" chivalry is not an oppressive influence. It liberated women and gave them a powerful voice in society, without either demeaning men or making them resentful of feminine power. Just the opposite: It is one embraced cheerfully by men of the sort who can tame horses and ride them to war.

Unlike the culture war sparked by the feminists of today, the situation provoked by Eleanor's court was a genuine improvement of the relationship between men and women -- one that, from the distance of the twelfth century, still inspires us, and seems almost to glow across the ages. It may mark the high point of the relations between the sexes in all human history.

That said, Eric is not wrong to say that the 19th century made a great deal out of this period, and a lot of our understanding has to do with what we inherited from them. Here is something you probably have not seen before: Sir Baden Powell's likening of life to the task, familiar to Scouts, of paddling a canoe in rough waters. Women represent a rock in the river: not a bad thing, as it adds to the beauty of the river and the glory of navigating it, but a hazard that has to be considered with a clear mind:

You will, I hope, have gathered from what I have said about this Rock "Women," that it has dangers for the woman as well as for the man. But it has also its very bright side if you only manoeuvre your canoe aright.

The paddle to use for this job is CHIVALRY.

Most of the points which I have suggested as being part of the right path are comprised under chivalry.

The knights of old were bound by their oath to be chivalrous, that is to be protective and helpful to women and children. This means on the part of the man a deep respect and tender sympathy for them, coupled with a manly strength of mind and strength of body with which to stand up for them against scandal, cruelty or ridicule, and even, on occasion, to help them against their own failings.

A man without chivalry is no man.

I would strongly suggest that "sexism" is a false star. Navigating by it leads us into errors and anger with one another that are needless and pointless. What is wanted is equality of opportunity, but not that men and women should be treated as if they were exactly the same: