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Today we honor the unsung heroes who truly make our military strong ... Military Spouses.

In honor of the day, Francis Marion - fresh back in the US after a dally in the P.I. - shares the tale of When God Created the Military Wife. Now there's a tough set of specs. Feel free to leave him a comment when you visit, although he won't get to read them until he finally reaches home, and the comfort of his own family.

A report from boots on the ground in Iraq - report #13 from the perspective of an Army officer on his third deployment. He knows the affect of the politics of defeat on the troops.

These men walk a fine tight rope. And why shouldn’t they, they read a steady diet of defeatism in the press.
I can’t help but wonder about the huge amount of relief the enemy must feel after years of climbing, knowing that they are no longer looking at a false peak. There it is! The summit, right in front of them! I have climbed enough mountains to know how easy that final ascent is. The burst of enthusiasm at knowing the end is in sight. After years of constant conflict, in a brutal strategy of pure attrition, this must be a huge relief. They had no measurable way of marking success. No march across Europe. No castles to siege, no flags to raise. Only an endless series of explosions and ethnic killings with no real way of knowing when victory might be in sight. But now, completely inexplicably we have told them where the finish line is. Foes that thought they were in a marathon know that they only have several hundred more meters to run. Those on the fence have renewed hope. Victory is in sight.

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General Announcement: the Middle Ground and Soldiers' Angels KC are under forced renovation. Apparently, our graphics host decided to clean up his server and wiped out all our graphics, thus, forcing me to recreate them. Which, due to work (drat that work), is not happening until this weekend. So please excuse the mess when you go to any links. Thank you.

Well, I missed the regular posting day, so I hope folks will forgive me. It's time for Wednesday Heroes. I know, it's Friday. But Everyday is a good day to learn about our heroes and, as penitence (sp? see how often I use that word) I've put extra effort into finding stories of our heroes (yes, for those who know, it's long, but if you're challenged, there are pictures).

Since it's military spouse appreciation time, I wanted to remind you that Soldiers' Angels and Spa Emergency have teamed up to support the troops. Didn't remember it was "spouse appreciation day"? Get over to Spa Emergency and print off a gift certificate, grab some flowers from the store and you're all set. She'll think you've been planning it all week (or at least more than 30 seconds).

Don't forget Mother's Day this Sunday. I know you did, but this is your friendly reminder. Spa Emergency.

My little video of the flooding Missouri River right down the street.
-kat

Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.

*Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*

The UAVs (oops, can't call 'em UAVs anymore - they're now Unmanned Aerial Systems... some Colonel got his Legion of Merit for that change...), er, um UAS's we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.

I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".