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H&I Fires May 24, 2007

By Denizens on May 24, 2007 | | Comments (16)

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread...since I'm both, I'm stealing the march on the rest of the Denizens.

First, Godspeed PFC Anzack, may God comfort your family.

Now, lets not forget the Heroes of the War on Terror: Wednesday Heroes. We've got Silver Stars and Flying Crosses. Nope, this ain't your daddy's Lucky Charms.

Second, Outside the Wire talks about Cellular Battle Space and it sets off another post about "information war" in counterinsurgencies: Cellular Battle Space and Legend Killers

Third, for the morning, The Crime Against Kansas. Guess which party has been trying to take our guns away for over 150 years in the name of "Law and Order"?
-Kat
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Military Medicine - in some respects, re-discovering old skills and organization, and in many key respects, advancing the tactics, techniques, and procedures of emergency medicine. In ways that in the end may benefit us all. In and of itself not a reason to go to war, but we'll take whatever we can out of it that is positive.

Living your Faith while in the US Army. Now I know I'm projecting, but I'm guessing discussions like this probably wouldn't happen in a Sharia-governed military service. Just guessin'. -the Armorer

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Much ink has been spilled and hot air released over the Canadian airwaves about recent polls showing public support for the Afghan mission dropping north of the 49th, and many bits and pixels too. But I recently received an e-mail from a serving soldier that I believe clarifies the terms of a somewhat scattered national discussion. That soldier is about to be posted away from the Afghan mission, and I find it telling that he said to me "I don't need a break, I need for people to do the right thing." - Damian

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Sure, it’s funny, but stuff like this is what makes me a bit more amenable to blogging and social networking site bans by DoD. Funny, but in terms of the 24/7 media driven world with a media savvy enemy is it smart? The ‘strategic corporal’ is a double edged sword.
--ry(Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m anti-fun, and according to some elitist too. Whatever.)
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Actually, Ry, on this one, I'm with you.

Heh. Wonder if it is an age thing in some respects (referring to the discussion in comments over at John's place). I chose to not post this last week because I didn't think it advanced the cause in any useful form, and just provided fodder for the anti's, with no real useful upside.

But, William B. makes a case:

The thing that got me reading military blogs was the uncensored, unbiased accuracy delivered by bloggers. This may not be a politically correct photo, but it does shine a little more light into the lives of our warriors in Afghanistan and what they are thinking and feeling

However, I believe the form that William B. extols is better served via email and sitting around the bar, as in the way we used to, methinks.

But, we have to exist in the current environment, which is where things like this are going to be out there.

So, I won't knock John for posting it - but I won't pat him on the back for it, either.

Simply because we *can* doesn't mean it's a net good to do so.

Obviously, mileage varies on this issue. -the Armorer

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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.

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".

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16 Comments

By Oldloadr on May 24, 2007 12:48 PM
How do you know the person on the right in the photo doesn't read English? Many in that part of the world see no problem with dating outside their species... As far as what the "public" thinks of the photo/sentiment, maybe it's time we start our own cognitive dissonance. Everytime some civilian says that was wrong; we say, well, why don't you join up and show us how you would do it?
 
By John of Argghhh! on May 24, 2007 1:23 PM
Oldloadr - because they might, and then fraggings would start...?
 
By MajMike on May 24, 2007 1:30 PM
heh. it's a sheep farger joke. i don't care who ya are, that right there is funny. (doesn't help the "cause", but it is funny)
 
By John of Argghhh! on May 24, 2007 1:33 PM
Aren't you supposed to ask the Lord for forgiveness now, and mumble something about the pygmies in New Guinea?
 
By Oldloadr on May 24, 2007 2:29 PM
John, forgot aboout the fraggings. Thanks for bringing me back to reality. You got to admit though, it would be fun to watch them sputter and cough if you called them on all the crap they spew forth...
 
By MajMike on May 24, 2007 4:12 PM
...and for that little kid i sponsor named {click}{bop}.
 
By Total Assault on May 24, 2007 4:14 PM
Dear Webmaster, We’re working with the band Drowning Pool and have just received a letter written by the band directing the attention of the American people toward the care of our troops upon their return home. Please take a moment to read it and if you feel compelled by the same cause as they do, please pass it on to your audience. It’s time that we stand together on this issue and prevent neglect for the voices of those that risk their lives for our freedom to go unheard. It doesn’t matter if you are a democrat, republican, or independent – this is an issue that deserves to be in the forefront of the American conscious. The following link will take you to their petition for Congress: (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/DrowningPool2007/). If you have any further questions or requests for Drowning Pool, please feel free to contact me and I can assist you with your needs. Please Contact! Johnny@totalassault.com
 
By AW1 Tim on May 24, 2007 5:05 PM
John, I'm enjoy reading about how the military medical field works. As I mentioned to you at the conference, my hobby is Civil War period medicine. As you collect firearms, I collect instruments, manuals, etc. What's really interesting is watching how technology changres the approach and understanding to battlefield medicine. yet, some things don't change that much. It was, after all, Jonathan Letterman, ACW Army Surgeon, who devised triage. He also started to implement the procedures we use today for layered treatment starting near the battleline, and proceeding through evacuation to the division hospitals, and then on to General Hospitals at various cities. Under Letterman, by the end of the war, the system in place for identifying, stabilising, evacuating and treating wounded of all classes. I would venture to say that a modern Military Surgeon, stepping back in time, could easily identify all of the various components of the system and see their counterparts in today's military. We know more about disease roday. In the CW, germs were unknown as carriers of pathogens. Infection was thought of as a normal course of healing. Lister and Pasteur were just then beginning to publish their findings. Absent the concept of sterilisation, however, the modern military medical system was in place, from injectable morphine to chloroform and ether for surgery, to purpose-built railway hospital cars and horse-drawn ambulances, to field packs specially designed for field medical equipment,(think medical molle bag)the foundations were all in place. It a neat and often overlooked part of the whole, and I am glad that, from time to time, it gets some well-deserved recognition. Respects,
 
By mullah cimoc on May 24, 2007 8:27 PM
mullah cimoc say iraki having the two gonad. just for this never to stop fighting. also, all iraki woman tell him husband: 'omar, you needing for to kill three ameriki for be influence and position in new iraq". in new irak only one kind vote them counting. this the body bag. no body bag credits equal no for vote in new irak. ameriki obedient slave of israeli masters. for this ameriki society so destroy. remember the vietnam. what am punishment for vietnam war. you remember: the lesbian, the homosexual, the woman power, the man degrade, the children cry, the grandparent not have in usa for so many baby him killing. now aztec and maya take land for punish. ameriki to lose all him land and be destroy jut like the ancient time. before the fall, goeth the pride. this from bible. someday ameriki waking up and learn true. then israeli spy and neocon (same thing) he receive the true punish.
 
By AW1 Tim on May 24, 2007 9:59 PM
John, Looks like someone forgot to set out the roach motel last night..... heh. Of course, I think that the "iraki men" are just terrified that one day the womefolk will burn their burkhas and start dealing with their several issues that have been repressed for quite some time now. THAT should be fun to watch. Heh.
 
By Justthisguy on May 25, 2007 3:18 AM
I thought that people who looked like the guy on the right were more into goats, and that Oz was the place where the men were men, and the sheep knew it? Jtg, who assures you all that his knowledge about these things comes entirely from nasty stories on websites like this one, and not personal experience.
 
By ry on May 25, 2007 5:48 AM
What people don't get isn't that I'm saying 'Don't ever do this'. I'm saying keep it out of general circulation. Take all the s3x with goats pics you want. Use your AKO account to send it to all your friends, and tell your friends to enjoy it but not post it on a web site. Likely the same number of people who would enjoy it would still see it, given exponential expansion(if each person who received it sent it to another two...) method of distrubution that is email, without playing straight into the hands of propagandists for the other side. You can do honest and gritty and real without slagging the mission. That's it. I don't think the Troop is dumb for taking the foto. He's just not, well, being very judicious in distribution.
 
By John of Argghhh! on May 25, 2007 5:56 AM
What people don't get isn't that I'm saying 'Don't ever do this'. I'm saying keep it out of general circulation. Which is generally what I said in support. Of course, the troops who took the pic may have done just that. *I* got the picture in email. And chose not to post it. I don't think John should have, either. That would be John Noonan of Op-For, in case anyone is confused. Of course, you can point to that and say, "See? The auld phart senior officer has been completely co-opted by the system and just doesn't get it - while the Lieutenant understands!" And, maybe not be wrong. Maybe.
 
By Murray on May 25, 2007 6:12 AM
Actually its New Zealand. Sex with sheep is a national pass time. When they're full we export them and you lot eat them.
 
By John of Argghhh! on May 25, 2007 6:28 AM
"You lot" would be Ozzies. Well, that and people who eat the lamb chops at Outback...
 
By Murray on May 25, 2007 6:40 AM
Actually "you lot" would be #1 Australia, #2 US ahead of Japan and China. We get a free trade deal and its greasy mutton three times a week. You're pretty safe though, Klark just can't keep her mouth shut when there's Yank bashing to be done and for some reason W just doesn't seem to be falling over himself to help her out.