BlackFive

How's this for a Christmas blog present?

Rachel Lucas might start blogging again...Cool!

Merry Christmas everybody!

A message from Blackfive:

Please have a safe and Merry Christmas! Remember to keep all of those defending this great nation (our military and our first responders) in your thoughts and prayers tonight. Because some Americans are standing watch tonight, we will get to experience the comforts and joys that this Christmas will bring.

Below is another poem (this one's anonymous) that was forwarded to me by Chief Steve. You might have seen it already, It sums up my thoughts about their service to us very well and serves as a reminder to why I started blogging in the first place:

A Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, my daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe, completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, secure and surrounded by love I would sleep

in perfect contentment, or so it would seem. So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, but I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, and I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, perhaps a young man, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear. "Come in for a moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, you should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,

to the window that danced with a warm fire's light, then he sighed and he said, "Its really all right."

"I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.

Its my duty to stand at the front of the line, that separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December," then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.

" My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam. And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while, but my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, the red white and blue... an American flag.

"I can live through the cold and the being alone, away from my family, my house and my home,

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,

I can carry the weight of killing another, or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers

who stand at the front against any and all, to insure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright. Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least. Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done, for being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone. To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead, to know you remember we fought and we bled

is payment enough, and with that we will trust. That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

Please remember our military men and women and our first responders (and all of their families) tonight!

"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen."

Merry Christmas!

The Bejus Pundit has more on Wesley Clark and, of course, tells him to shut the hell up!

Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette has a great post on some of the possible embellishment of the Saddam capture story. I am reasonably sure that, with 600 soldiers around, an Special Operations soldier did not punch Saddam in the face, no matter how justified.

Civilization Calls has a post about the raising of the terror alert and some things that you can to do be ready.

First, Stephen Den Beste posts about the French being left out of the Libya deal on WMD. Poor, poor, French guys...

Tom the Friendly Ghost has a post about it too and looks at the disconnects with French policy-makers.

You can take the Right Wing News Liberalism Quiz. Hey, Michael Moore, since I am sure that you are a HUGE fan of this blog and probably reading it right now, you should take this quiz for a spin.

Kelly the Patriette has a post on sending the troops a message for the holidays.

Mr. Green has what is probably the final round of email exchanges with that Nigerian spammer/scammer.

Go visit Velicoman now...every hit helps.

More to follow later...

The Bejus Pundit just got his blood wings - and graduated from the Basic Airborne Course. Now, he's an Airborne Ranger Major...

But what if the Bejust Pundit wanted a killer suffix or tag like "The Paratrooper of Love"? What do you think he would choose?

Let's hear your suggestions.

I saw on Fox & Friends this morning that a French lawyer is offering to defend Saddam Hussein. How...French.

I hadn't seen this one before, but go to The Common Virtue and see Howard Dean's Christmas Wish List.

John Hawkins has an interview with G. Gordon Liddy up over at Right Wing News.

John Donovan of Argghhh! has a post on the Top Ten Reasons Why the 4th ID Knew That The Capture of Saddam Knew the 4ID Was Imminent.

Speaking of the Donovan, Jennifer has his interview posted at her site.

Kate (with some posting by Kevin) has a post on the Muslim world's feelings about the capture of Saddam by the Americans...again, it has to do with humiliation. I wrote about this subject before: The Cost of Humiliation

I had saw the news clip on CNN's Headline News that the American Soldier was Time's Person of the Year. Casey sent me the links. If you read anything today, you ought to take a look at the link from Time's 1950 Person of the Year - it makes for very interesting reading. Here's Casey's message:

Believe it or not, Time magazine has selected The American Soldier as "Person of the Year."

Who'da thunk it? As an added bonus, there' s a link to the 1950 Man of the Year....

There are so many stories in the 1950 link that would seem applicable today. However, they point out the commander of the 4th Infantry Division (the same unit that caught Saddam) as a story worth noting:

MAY. GEN. WILLIAM F. DEAN, trapped with his 4th Infantry Division in Taejon, sent his men out of the besieged, burning city while he went after Red tanks with a bazooka; he is listed as missing in action.

Then, there's the quote from the British:

"In Our Time..." A British officer who has seen much of the U.S. fighting-man in Korea last week gave this shrewd, balanced appraisal:

"Your chaps have everything it takes to make great soldiers—intelligence, physique, doggedness and an amazing ability to endure adversity with grace. The thing they lack is proper discipline. They also would be better off with a little more training in the art of retreat. I know they like to say that the American soldier is taught only offensive tactics, but if Korea has proved nothing else it has proved the absolute necessity of knowing how to retreat in order. Your marines know how, but your Army men just don't...

You should read the whole article.

Update: Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette has a response to Time's decision...

The following is a letter from the Commanding General for spouses and family members of the (Iraq) deployed soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division. It was forwarded to me by Brian and it does have some rotation dates for the brigades.

Mike the Marine has an interesting, if not biased, post about military terminology...and, of course, why the Marines are better than everyone else.

If you want to read one of the best legal explanations on the Padilla decision and why it is not correct, go check out Darren Kaplan's post - here.