Warrior Legacy Foundation adapts new 'Fight Song' -

Posted By Mr Wolf

Blackfive posted up a few weeks ago a song and video that is just too HOOAH! not to listen to.  You can find that post here for The Warrior Song.

Since then, the Warrior Legacy Foundation has worked with the song's creator, Sean, and his team to 'adopt' the song for the Warrior Legacy Foundation.  Now, the WLF and The Warrior Song are one and the same in promoting its use for our Warriors!  The WLF has 'adopted' the song as its 'fight song'.

It's such a perfect fit.  If you haven't seen it, take a look at it now.  Be sure to pick up a copy of it and spread it around! 

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Blood Pressure Check of the Day

Posted By Mr Wolf

While doing my usual perusal of the internets while working (loosely defined) I headed over to JALOPNIK to see what the latest auto news was.

And came upon this entry, which at first I thought was awesome.  Seems the USAF has built some wondercars to showcase for recruiting efforts.  Some super-hi-tech stuff, which I doubt someone could pilot out of their garage, let alone drive down the freeway.

A peek:

Now, these are awesome.  But then I started looking at the comments-

Triborough
1:05 PM on Wed Jun 3 2009

If anyone is dumb enough to join the military, they'll love this car!

Then, some troll named 'Elwood' chimed in:

elwood
1:46 PM on Wed Jun 3 2009

@pauljones: Cheesy awesome is only awesome for about 5 minutes. Then you realize that it's just stupid. Like these cars.

@Alfisted: Or they coulda skipped the military, put the maximum contribution to their 401k, and been better off overall. If you really are highly intelligent and college educated, you're probably too smart for the armed forces.

And it goes on.  One of the longer chain of comments I've seen on the blog.  Its hideous.

Mr Wolf

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Cowboy Colonels and Imperial Stormtroopers

Posted By Grim

Our friend COL David Maxwell sends a piece from The Times of London:

...The American commander in Iraq has made history already. Which is why I'm in such a hurry to see him write it. On his watch, Iraq has turned a corner, with a dramatic decrease in violence, the pacification of provinces where al-Qaeda once held sway and the retreat of foreign-backed militias before a newly resurgent Iraqi national Army. Iraq is now on course to join Turkey and Israel as one of the Middle East's few functioning democracies.

Petraeus is an intellectual in battledress, a standing rebuke to the caricature of the American military as dumb Cowboy Colonels and dumber Imperial Storm Troopers. There's a proud tradition of scholars in the British Army, from Basil Liddell Hart to Rupert Smith, distinguished authors both. But a tradition of condescension towards America has blinded many Britons to the intellectual quality of the US military.

The British shouldn't feel bad -- this is a blind side shared by many, even in Amerca.  I've met a few "cowboy Colonels," but no dumb ones.

One of the great secrets of the US military is just how much time its officers and enlisted spend in school, both internal, professional schools and traditional academia.  An intellectual bent is often found among combat commanders, like Marine Corps General Mattis.  I happen to know the aforementioned Colonel Maxwell, a Special Forces officer, is another who loves to read and think as well as to command men in the field.  I value the readings he sends, and our occasional discussions.

Because it is knowledge put to practical purpose in the world, military officers less often have time to write the monographs that are the meat of academia.  They often are focused on passing problems of the moment, the business of keeping the world together, and cannot spend the time they would prefer on examining a question of history.  They are nevertheless keenly aware of our history. 

America is fortunate that citizens who are both intelligent and courageous choose to serve her in this way.  They, more than any technology, are the strength of the military -- and the country.

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"From Baghdad With Love"

Posted By Grim

Al Mahaba radio -- "Love," in Arabic -- is Baghdad's first radio station that is by women, for women.  It reaches across the city, and into the northern and eastern provinces.  It has been around for a while, but remains struggling, and often unable to pay its staff.

I mention it both to draw it to your attention, and also because it is supported by the kind of peace group we could use more of in the West.  These are people whose first concern is with the people of Iraq.  While not supporting the war, neither do they call for the reckless abandonment of the Iraqi people.  Rather, their concern is partnership with and support for the women and children of Iraq -- a goal that many in the US military heartily share.  Their first interest is with the people of Iraq, not themselves.

Opposition to war, even this war, can be honorable.  That requires, however, a clear-eyed focus on the fate of the millions of noncombatants whose lives hang in the balance. 

For that matter, so does support for the war.  Those of us who supported the war did so out of a hatred of tyranny and mass murder, and concern for the use of terrorists as an instrument of the state -- a weapon that undermines the distinction between civilian and combatant, and puts innocents at risk worldwide.  We are right to demand of the peace movement that it not forget the people who might be left behind, and their fate in the chaos that could follow a hasty withdrawal.  We must also remember those people ourselves, defend them and raise them up.

That is what counterinsurgency is:  pulling a society out of the grasp of tyranny or the chaos of war, and connecting it to the broader human society of freedom and prosperity.  It takes patience and honor.  This was the Surge, as Greyhawk says -- with ample evidence, though only the barest slice of what could be said.  There will come a day when we are proud, as a nation, of what we have done for the people of Iraq. 

But proud or worried, for now, the proper focus is on her innocents.  We must defend them, and fight those who would use them as pawns, or weapons, or shields.  We must help their fighting men as they establish control of their cities, and defy those same groups.  If you watch that slideshow you will see women and children free, again, to move on the streets of Basra.  They are free because of the Iraqi Security Forces, who fought for them -- for now, still needing our support.

That is the Iraq we want to flourish.  It is worth keeping the eye focused on that goal.  It will justify all sacrifices, repay all costs, if we reach it. 

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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.

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In Praise of the Lady Greyhawk

Posted By Grim

...whose brownies are really very good.

I had dinner with Greyhawk, International Man of Mystery last night.  We ate at the 1st Cav DFAC over on Liberty (where they make civilians enter through the side door).  Hawk, BlackFive and I served together in Easy Company, as you all know, so it's good to reconnect with old friends.

For dessert, he let me share the brownies his dear wife had sent him all the way over the ocean.  We had that with some of the DFAC ice cream.  Best meal I've had in a little while, which we followed up with cigars sent by Some Soldier's Mom.  I understand Bill Roggio got one of them, too, when he was over here.

Francis Marion and I met up about a week ago.  I hear there are a few more of you out here too.  If you're part of the rolling MilBlogs Conference, Baghdad (MBC-B), let me know.  We may have to put something together some evening.  Not like there's a lot else to do here during the two hours a day you're not working or sleeping. :)

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Reconciliation: Praising Juan Cole

Posted By Grim

I often praise the work of David Kilcullen, so the last post from me is probably no surprise to anyone.  On the other hand, I don't think I've ever befored praised the work of Juan Cole -- but I shall do so today.  His defense of Prime Minister Maliki in Salon today is the best thing I have ever seen from him.

Maliki has been unafraid to mount his own defense against his American critics. On Sunday, he slammed Sens. Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton for calling for the Iraqi parliament to oust him. He accused the senators of acting as if Iraq were "the feudal estate of this person or that," a metaphor that went over the head of most American observers. Modern Iraqi political parties such as the Islamic Call were formed in part as a reaction against the landlord class that dominated Iraq under the British-installed monarchy. Maliki was saying the senators were bringing back colonialism and disregarding the Iraqi political process. "They are Democrats," he quipped of Clinton and Levin, "so they should respect democracy and its results."

There are things in the piece to disagree with, but there is also quite a bit there that is valuable and insightful.  The general idea is correct:  the Iraqi government is far from perfect, but is operating under tremendous strains and difficult conditions.  It is important to build Iraqi trust in the process by respecting it, and being seen to respect it:  attempting to play puppeteer undermines what we seek to accomplish in the long term.

Meanwhile, the reconciliation package that Maliki is pushing offers some genuine reasons for hope -- if he can actually enact it at the parliament, which is far from certain.  Cole offers a good explanation both of what the package contains and why it is important, as well as why it may still face difficulties in coming about.

Reconciliation is difficult, for the Iraqis and for us.  Perhaps for us, it can start with recognizing good work from people we've disagreed with vehemently in the past.  This is a piece of good work of that kind:  though we may disagree with parts of it, it makes for informative reading. 

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Medal of Honor - Airborne!

Posted By Blackfive

Available on September 4th and tested by Paratrooper.net (along with members of the Chicago Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Association).  The PC Demo release which is about Operation Husky (invasion of Sicily) is available today or tomorrow for PC (and XBox360?).

Trailer 1:

Trailer 2:

The first step is everything....

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Uncle Reeker Wants You!

Posted By Grim

We've had a couple of unusual Roundtables lately, in that we've had non-military officers show up for them.  I suspect this means Jack Holt is getting results, and other people want on board.  Well, good. 

One fellow who joined us was Mr. Phil Reeker, of the US State Department (transcript here).  He came on to talk about the PRTs and EPRTs, which are being run by State.  Now, you've heard these things praised time and again by our military men.  They're making a difference on the ground.

Only problem is, they're having trouble finding people with the right skills.  Maybe they need you.

MR. REEKER:  [O]ne of the tricks has been to get the right people, the right skills sets, in right away. You'll recall that early on there was some criticism -- I think more from misunderstanding than anything else -- that while the State Department itself wasn't able to stand up and send these people -- and it's true the State Department doesn't have, necessarily, the types of skill sets -- civil engineers or veterinary scientists -- that meet the needs of what that particular region and that provincial reconstruction team are doing towards the development and capacity building in that particular location.

And so while they go out and look for these people, we have been able to tap into the vast resources of the U.S. military -- particularly the Reserve Corps -- and so you can find the specialists and bring them out. And I think that's worked quite well. And slowly, as those people finish their rotation, then we find the others. They're filling that out and more and State Department people, but others -- contractors -- are coming at the same time and they're exploring, you know, looking at who are the best people. They may be third country nationals, in some cases, to bring these guys out, not just a veterinary scientist. You need -- the ambassador says you need a guy that really knows sheep husbandry. And you want to get the right person with the right skills and willing to take on what in some cases is not an easy living situation. There's still a lot of security issues in some of these places....

GRIM:  I would like to ask you a bit about your recruiting process for getting people with the specialized skills you need. We have an interested readership. A lot of the people on the call do. How is State reaching out to find Americans with the skills they need? Is there somewhere that we can direct people to to see what your recruiting needs are for these PRTs, which seem like an important part of the overall effort. And of course, we'd like to help you hook up with the folks you're looking for.

MR. REEKER: You know, that's actually a great idea. And I have to admit, I should have thought of that beforehand. I will get in touch and get back to you with the contacts in Washington that are spearheading that. I know there's various channels through the federal government and the existing workforce that they've used to try to identify people, but also advertising and other ways of recruiting. And I want to get you a real answer, because I don't -- that's not something I've been involved with from this end out here in Iraq.

Let's see if we can get you something, because I think you're right. You guys have the audience and the readers that are the types of people that may be exactly what we're looking for.

GRIM: They may be. I know a bit about horses, for example, but I don't remember seeing in any of the trade publications an ad saying, "Come work for the State Department."

MR. REEKER: Yeah, well, exactly. You know, there are still regulations in the State Department Foreign Affairs Manual that tell you how you can you can bring your horse to post. (Chuckles.)

I still haven't gotten that answer on the recruiting process, although I've pinged them a time or two.  State is, as MountainRunner noticed, lagging a bit behind DOD in outreach to new media.  That said, Small Wars Journal has a post up with a lot of supporting links. 

Based on that post, I think this is the site for recruitment.  I field questions just occasionally from readers thinking about a career as a military contractor, or in the military itself.  Well, here's another option for those of you wanting to serve -- especially older readers who may have some of the advanced skills that are more common in the Reserves.

We've got to pull together to win this thing.  The PRTs and EPRTs are an important part.  They need good people.  If you think you are interested, or you know someone who might be, give it a try.  Drop me an email if you have questions the website doesn't answer.

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OGA Alert: "Violence Ebbing, Wealth Returning. Can This Be Iraq?"

Posted By Grim

Peter Beaumont, writing from Iraq, produces an article that -- after a seven-paragraph, lurid description of a suicide bombing -- describes the ways in which Iraq is improving.  No complaints; as 'Nixon going to China,' there are places where you can only have the discussion if you first set up your credentials.

It's an important article, because it appears in a journal widely read in certain circles.  Now that The Economist has noticed, it will become respectable to talk about it.  Or, even, to think about it.

UPDATE:  A reader notices that I'm entirely mistaken in pointing to the Economist here; the piece is from the Observer, and I've linked to the Guardian (UK).  As I mentioned in the comments, I have a very clear memory of having read it in the Economist; a memory that is plainly wrong.  Another reason I usually wait for the transcripts to be up before posting about these Blogger Roundtables -- my memory isn't quite what it once was, I am forced to admit.

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