The Knife Fighter - US Navy Petty Officer Snake Blocker trains the troops

Posted By Blackfive

In light of the recent training/humiliation that senior Army NCOs are undergoing, here is something that might interet you.  Here is a video of US Navy Petty Officer Snake Blocker who uses his native culture and experience to give a set of unique skills to the troops while deployed.

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Apaches In Flight

Posted By Blackfive

Well, if you ever wondered what it looked like to be protected by an Apache escort, here is some b-roll shot from the side of a Black Hawk (UH60) being escorted by apaches of the "Wolfpack" - Task Force Wolfpack (82nd Combat Aviation Brigade) flying near Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan.

 

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Is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs a Liar?

Posted By Blackfive

"Before impugning an opponent's motives, even when they legitimately may be impugned, answer his arguments." - Sidney Hook

RE:  Mike Yon is totally wrong about the Geneva Conventions

First, see the above link to see that we are not in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Next, there is a huge propaganda push to arm Army MEDEVAC helicopters remove the red crosses that identify them as such.  The idea being that in arming the helicopters and removing the red crosses, these assets can get to our wounded much faster.  The movement has even gained the attention of 17 (out of 535) Congressmen and forced both the Army and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to respond.

Photo by Spc. Austin Berner, Afghanistan

The latest story comes out of the Washington Post and I’d like to take a few moments to respond to this particular story since it incorporates many of the inaccuracies of the others. 

But the rescue aircraft was unarmed, as are all Army medevacs. And the pre-dawn pickup zone in the Zhari district of Kandahar province was considered “hot,” or dangerous, meaning the medevac could not swoop in for the pickup until another chopper with firepower arrived to provide cover.

What the story doesn’t mention is that few, if any, choppers will land in a “hot” LZ.  The reality of war is that troops are trained in lifesaving measures because during combat, it won’t always be possible to extract the patient right away.  Even if the MEDEVAC bird was armed, it wouldn’t have “swooped in for the pickup” until the LZ was cleared.  The theory, I suppose, is that the armed MEDEVAC bird would seek out and destroy the enemy prior to landing to pick up its patients.

This, for those of us with military backgrounds, is obviously nonsense (as Medevac armament would most likely only be good enough for defense). 

Continue reading "Is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs a Liar?"

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"Twenty-one years ago tonight"

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

Go Read

LW

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In the Event of My Death, Open This Letter...

Posted By Blackfive

We all have written them - letters to your loved ones in the case you don't come home.   It's where you try to make sure that they will be at peace with your decisions and sacrifice, let them know how much you love them, and, sometimes, try to make them smile.  It's a way to continue to defend them, even after death...

We've posted some of them before here.

So fast forward to a friend of mine, Dan Gade, who we've featured here before.  I think this idea has a lot of merit.

...Before I was deployed to Iraq in 2004, I wrote a letter to my wife, Wendy, to be opened only ‘In the Event of My Death’.  In it, I expressed my love and admiration for her, my gratitude for our life together, and my fondest hopes for her future with our daughter.  In the summer of 2011, while we were moving to West Point, I discovered the letter in a binder and allowed her to read it- her reaction to the letter is where this book idea came from...

Well, that letter came awfully close to being opened as Dan almost didn't come back and was the first full leg amputee of the wars.  He now teaches at West Point when he's not competing in Iron Man races (for the full story of the ReneGade click here).  Dan is reaching out to all of you military men and women who wrote these letters or might know someone who wrote them.  As Dan says, it's about honoring them:

The idea is to honor military families by publishing a series of the kinds of letters that they write to their loved ones for delivery after their death.  These love letters- in various degrees of eloquence- capture the military family's sacrifice in service.  The book will be nothing BUT these letters- no spin, no editing, and no commentary.  I'm soliciting both Gold Star families and military families whose letters were never needed for the project.

Please take a look-
www.intheeventofmydeath.wordpress.com

So take a look and contact Dan if you would like to be included in this honorable project.

~BlackFive

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The Women That We Love - The Blackfive Edition

Posted By Blackfive

Seven years ago, the wonderful Kathryn Jean Lopez of NRO asked me to write about the women that we love.  I wrote about a different kind of love story about Patti Patton Bader and Soldier's Angels, and that older post still holds true today.  Soldiers' Angels continues to support deployed military, their families, and the families of the ones who don't come home.  Please support SA today.

So Patti is the first lady that we love, and there's a few ladies out there that we simply could not do without...

First, there is the Parachute Cutie over at From Cow Pastures to Kosovo who has "adopted" paratroopers and cavalry troopers alike (and having been both in my career, I appreciate that)!  She has provided care and comfort - not to mention the best brisket ever - to "her guys."  You can probably count me and Jimbo in that category as well.

 

(Photo Credit)
Then, there is this lovely lady in Texas that runs the Defenders of Freedom - Donna Cranston - who provides a ton of support for our troops including financial assistance for our wounded troops.  We absolutely adore and admire Donna!

 

SpouseBuzz - the better halves of our military men and women who blog and speak about topics like reintegrations, marriage and family, PCSing, moving, and of course, military life.  Worth your time to read or to see live, some of it's humorous and some of it tugs at your heart.

 

Soldiers' Angels Germany's MaryAnn is one of our favorite people on the planet. For the last 7 or 8 years, MaryAnn has been our biggest crush around here - but were not the only ones who recognize her deterimination and heart. 

Karen Guenther, the President, CEO and Founder of the Semper Fi Injured Marine Fund leads one of the best veteran care organizations out there.  A military spouse, Karen began her quest to help injured Marines much in the same way that we began Soldiers' Angels.  She saw a gap in care for her wounded Marines and their families and filled it.  I can't say enough about this lady's strength, integrity, tenacity and love. 

 

And, saving the best for last, there's the USO Girls who always support our troops.  They are so awesome that TSO at This Ain't Hell actually married one of them!  Beautiful, wonderful, amazing, and they love America!

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The Women That We Love - Warriors

Posted By Grim

Iraq provided a challenge to the US military that had a special place for female soldiers.  I had the honor and pleasure of knowing some excellent women in my time there.  While I think that they would be embarrassed by being singled out by name, I want to tell you about some of them.

We had an excellent female PSYOP sergeant first class.  She had a boss who, though not a bad guy, needed a strong NCO to keep him on track.  She always did that, and forced the rest of us to acknowledge the Phase VII results even when we'd prefer to trust our gut about what ought to work.  We benefitted from her discipline a great deal.

I knew an Army surgeon, a female LTC, who did tremendous things for womens' health in rural Iraq.  In places where a male doctor could simply not have gone, she ensured sometimes the first access to medical care that women or their children had ever known.  

She also came by and redecorated my boss' desk right before he came back from EML:

I won't reproduce the "To Do List" she left for him.

The best Army PAO I ever met was a female officer, a Major, who was there during the height of the Surge fighting.  She understood the importance of communicating to the home front that we were turning the war around.  At a time when political opponents of the war were telling the American people that the war was lost, she was helping get the soldiers' true stories out to the homefront.  

One of my good friends was a Civil Affairs soldier, a female reservist who was an emergency medical technician back home.  I had the pleasure of seeing her promoted laterally from specialist to corporal, in recognition of her constant leadership and strong work.  Later, in the same deployment, I got to see her promoted to Sergeant.  She was an outstanding NCO, and a good Civil Affairs soldier as well, outside the wire helping people rebuild their lives.

Finally I want to recognize a woman who was not soldier, but a civilian military advisor there present as the social scientist for one of our Human Terrain Teams.  She produced some tremendous insight into what had been a hidden world -- how the wives of some of the tribal figures we worked with saw the conflict, and their husbands' relationships with other tribal figures.  This often provided a depth that I could use to check bearings on what we were hearing about those relationships from intelligence, the TPTs, or the CATs.  

Iraq was that kind of war.  We were lucky to have these women out there with us.

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Silver Star Awarded to Marine Sergeant Phillip McCulloch - Someone You Should Know

Posted By Blackfive

It's not often that we have the video of an award ceremony for the Silver Star so here you go:

U.S Marine Sgt. Phillip McCulloch of Mike Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battallion, Recruit Training Regiment, Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego, is awarded the Silver Star medal aboard MCRD San Diego, Calif, February 10, 2012. Sgt. McCulloch was awarded for actions in Sangin, Afghanistan with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. (U.S. Corps Motion Imagery by LCpl Cameron Royer and Mr. Canaan Brumley)

 

More here.

 

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How to get a job, Part 2

Posted By Blackfive

RE:  How to Get a Job Part 1

Ranger Up CEO Nick Palmisciano talks more about tactics to employ in order to secure your objective, a job.

I received a lot of positive feedback on the first video that Nick and the guys put together. The only complaints were that it's not humorous. It's designed to help veterans focus and get a job. Nick's advice works for anyone.

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Semper Fi Willy Pete!

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

Sharon Rice-Weber, the better half of David Weber, sent me a link to a wonderful story about a special Marine in Afghanistan.  Read it here.  To a true Teufel Hunden, I say "Get Some!" 

LW

UPDATE:  Just found out about the comments to the story indicated the dog had been killed on orders from higher.  Am trying to get info, but if anyone has hard information to confirm or deny, please post it here or if you don't want to go public, drop me a line at wolf1 at laughingwolf dot net.  Looking for more than heresay. 

UPDATE II:  DC PAO couldn't find anything on Willy Pete's current status, has put me in contact with Marine PAO in Afghanistan.  E-mail sent, will update when/if I get anything. 

UPDATE III:  No go on contact with USMC PAO Afghanistan.  E-mails are bouncing (tried different addys/servers for me, to make sure wasn't something on my end), and don't have a commercial number to call them (I don'thave DSN access currently).  Anyone who can get to them, would love to talk with them and get good info. 

UPDATE IV:  Updating and bumping post, as I have received a report from an involved party that Willy Pete was indeed killed/executed on orders from higher (report states company commander).  If anyone can help put me in touch with local/unit PAO, it would be appreciated. 

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