BlackFive

Equally freaking worthless to anyone looking for intelligent, informed commentary. Up next Will on sub-machine guns and Uncle J on bow ties. Also for free, and worth the money Matthew Yglesias on anything.

"It's very real when I teach ... I take this extremely seriously. I realize what can happen. I always thought I had left something unfinished." - Captain Darby Boudreaux, severely wounded in Iraq in 2005, about his role during this tour in Iraq teaching others about IEDs.

Captain Darby Boudreaux (Baton Rouge, LA, US), 225th Engineer Brigade, is interviewed by a WAFB TV reporter about his reasons for going back to Iraq after being injured by an improvised explosive device. His current job is training Soldiers how to recognize and handle an IED.

More below on Captain Boudreaux's mission:

Soldier Returns for Unfinished Mission
225th Engineer Brigade]
Story by Lt. Col. Pat Simon
Posted: 08.19.2009 04:43

BAGHDAD – May 25, 2005, is a date that is burned in the memory of Capt. Darby Boudreaux, 225th Engineer Brigade.

On that afternoon, his platoon was conducting a route clearance mission near Ghazaliya in western Baghdad. The site was supposed to be clear, but wasn't. Chaos suddenly broke out.

"I got blown up by an [improvised explosive device] while we were dismounted, and we started taking direct fire ... getting shot at immediately after," said Boudreaux. "I knew that I was hurt really bad because of the amount of blood that I was putting out."

A minor artery in his right leg was severed. In just 30 seconds in back of medical Humvee, Boudreaux remembered a shocking site. He was lying in a two inch puddle of his own blood. His blood pressure dropped to 60 over 30. He was close to death and losing consciousness...

Man it would be nice to read McChrystal's report and have the brain trust here at Blackfive looking at it rather than just reading about it in leaks to MSM outlets. Ya' know? I'm just sayin', man it would be nice. jimbo at unclejimbo.com

Or we can just trust the NY Times and the BBC to accurately characterize it.

Last night on Pundit Review Radio (Boston's ABC WRKO), Jared Monti's father Paul, along with two of his best friends, in studio with Kevin Whalen and a liberal blogger from Blue Mass Group by the name of David Kravitz. 

For the past two weeks, they have rallied local bloggers to put politics aside and raise money for Jared's scholarship fund. They were able to generate 35 donations totaling $3000.

U.S. Army soldiers ride in an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft for the air-drop portion of a joint forcible entry exercise over Fort Bragg, N.C., Aug. 26, 2009. The soldiers are assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Robertson

This is why grunts love medics...we also know that they pay a big price for what they do.

This is something that I think everyone should watch (warning: the descriptions are graphic), but it's not easy.

It's not easy at all...

After the jump, I'll post a piece that I think is from LTC (ret) Grossman's book "On Combat" that might allow some context.  It's not a military story, though...

The TankerBabe went to see Kev off back to Iraq after his mid-tour leave. How sweet. I on the other hand maintain my strong disdain for the troops.

Show a little love to Billy Clinton and you ought to be able to proliferate a little weaponry and make some scratch, eh? Apparently not.

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean-manufactured munitions, detonators, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades bound for Iran in violation of United Nations sanctions, diplomats said.

The UAE two weeks ago notified the UN Security Council of the seizure, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition they aren’t named because the communication hasn’t been made public. They said the ship, owned by an Australian subsidiary of a French company and sailing under a Bahamian flag, was carrying 10 containers of arms disguised as oil equipment.

Now this brings up all kinds of questions. How did the UAE find out? Did we know? Did we tell them? Inquiring minds want to know. Also how does this affect our global tyrant outreach project? Clenched? Unclenched? Hmmmm.

h/t Mrs. G. I know all of you read the Dawn Patrol, right?

from DVIDS

Yesterday, at approximately 8:00 a.m. local time, Somali pirates aboard Motor Vessel Win Far, fired what appeared to be a large caliber weapon at a U.S. Navy SH-60B Helicopter from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 49, embarked aboard USS Chancellorsville. 

No rounds of ammunition struck the SH-60B. The SH-60 crew did not return fire. No personnel injuries resulted from the incident.

OK, I'll bite. Why the hell didn't the crew return fire? Why isn't this boat now an artificial reef? If it's crew is still on board as hostages, why aren't we rescuing them? Why do we allow these jackasses to get away with the shit they are? What in the world is the point in having a Navy if we allow these clowns to openly operate a pirate mothership? WTF? over.