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Well, they say the early bird gets the worm, but so does the bird that stays up until the sun rises (common name "night owl"). Just working on a few things as we continue to support our troops every way we can.
Two days ago I posted about Sen. Reid's inability to support our troops and the 1200 Marines submitted to Soldiers' Angels looking for support. By Thursday afternoon, that number had risen to 3000. Thanks to the support of this blog and many others like it, we are working on getting that support. But, we still have a long way to go, so we continue to ask for your support and to spread the word as far and wide as you can.
But, we did have a genuine T.I.N.S. moment. At our Friday Send Off the KS Army National Guard for their Democrat Approved mission to quail genocide and nation building in newly independent European countries, we were invited in to the auditorium for the ceremony. After handing over a "We Support Our Troops" flag signed from our volunteers, the commander thanked us for our continuing support of our troops, "no matter what the mission". Then everyone in the auditorium, including two star generals and other officers/NCOs on the podium, gave us a standing ovation. Made us very proud to have given that support.
Eat that, Sen. Reid! Probably a good thing he didn't show up. He would have pouted.
Supporting our troops is probably the coolest thing you'll ever do (maybe even kewler than jumping out of planes, crashing helicopters and firing very large artillery; but I'll leave that up to the blog owner and pals to verify). Join us at Soldiers' Angels and show your pride by adopting a Marine!
-Kat(Per previous disclaimer, all views of Congressional Democrats and Sen. Reid in particular are my own and do not represent nor should reflect upon Soldiers' Angels or the Patriot Guard, both non-partisan, non-profit organizations whose sole mission is to support our troops)
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Send over 7.62mm, we'll send back a Hellfire.
-the Armorer
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Sitting on my keester in Memphis, pulling the airline pilot’s version of alert (it’s called “reserve”) and cruising the blogosphere.
Lots of interesting stuff but one of the most refreshing was this little clip that has bounced around the YouTube universe. In short, Infantry to defeatists all across this great nation:
“Bite me.”
The muffled bang off in the distance was Charlie Rangel’s head exploding. Heh.
Then there’s this from Grim at Blackfive. Another muffled bang detected, this time William Arkin’s alimentary terminus slamming shut in mortal fear of another uppity military guy speaking his mind. Wishful thinking, but what the heck.
I can barely watch the news any more and wonder to what depths the Dems will go to undermine the Executive’s war effort. The full-court press to destroy any popular support for the war on Islamofascism—you know, the guys how killed more American (non-combatants no less) and on American soil to boot than was experienced at Pearl Harbor—is a sight to behold.
Petraeus could bring bin Laden’s head mounted on a spike, held up by the skulls of children murdered by al Qaeda, into the Senate chamber and it still wouldn’t make a dent in Harry Reid’s worldview. Barbara Boxer would probably excoriate him for traumatizing “the children” watching from the gallery on their summer field trip. God knows what Andrew Sullivan’s reaction would be.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, had our previous wars been “examined” and “critiqued” as closely and as inaccurately as this one has, the world would be a much different place today. When the sitting majority in your national legislature isn’t confident enough in, or proud enough of the society it represents, fighting a war (costly in blood and treasure, difficult and best executed by adults) becomes problematic. Then there’re the consequences those we leave behind will face when we bug out. The embarrassment I feel is acute. I am ashamed of these people.
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, this. Maybe nothing will come of this, but if another “flying Imam” incident occurs and the poor sap who waves the BS flag before the airplane pushes back is successfully sued by the bad guys, we got issues. Boy, have we got issues.
*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"
I was thinking more like, when you don't land well or otherwise have difficulty, you might need to jump out of the plane. LOL
Actually, my "pals" was aiming at the rather larger group of "pals" that attend here and comment which I believe includes some plane jumping airborne types.
" ... wonder to what depths the Dems will go to undermine the Executive’s war effort ... "
It's not the Praetorian Guard who are fighting and dying in this war ..... it is America's military.
This is an American war effort. Those individuals "undermining" the war are giving aid and comfort to America's enemies. They are thus traitors.
Enough of this mealy-mouthed "how dare you question the patriotism of us heroic dissenters on the Left who merely have a different view of how the war should be waged" BS.
These are the colors that fly from the Castle staffs this day.
On the 21st of July beneath a burning sun, McDowell met the Southern troops in battle at Bull Run.
Above the Union vanguard was proudly dancing seen,
Beside the starry banner, old Erin's flag of green!
In the hottest of the fire there rode along the line,
A captain of the Zouave band, crying "Now, boys, is your time!"
Ah, who is he so proudly rides with bold and dauntless mien?
'Tis Thomas Francis Meagher of Erin's isle of green.
The colors of the 69th, I say it without shame,
Were taken in the struggle to swell the victor's fame!
But Farnham's dashing Zouaves, that run with the machine Retook them in a moment with the boys that wore the green.
Being overpowered by numbers our troops were forced to flee,
The Southern Black Horse Cavalry on them charged furiously!
But in that hour of peril the flying mass to screen,
Stood the gallant New York firemen with the boys that wore the green!
Oh, the boys of the 69th, they are a gallant band.
Bolder never drew a sword for their adopted land!
Amongst the fallen heroes a braver had not been Than you, lamented Haggerty of Erin's isle of green!
Farewell, my gallant countrymen who fell that fatal day.
Farewell, ye noble firemen, now mould'ring in the clay.
While blooms the leafy shamrock, whilst runs the old machine
Your deeds will live bold Red Shirts and boys that wore the green!
Hey! Just a minute,now! We had valiant Irishmen on *our* side, too! Ours had been here longer, had a stake in the polity, weren't recently-arrived deluded mercenary cannon-fodder!
Pppffbbt!
(Yes the guys of whom you write were valiant; that goes without saying, and goes far to explain why The War was so bloody. We Celts are good at teh fightin.)
Justthisguy -- Scots-Irish aren't Irish. They are colonists brought in by the English as part of one of their historic jokes. Irish Irish were overwhelmingly in the North.
posted by Jim C on July 21, 2007 9:49 PM
Jim, we're cousins, with an intra-family fight. Now, the Saxons...
And, yes, we were both badly used by the Saxons, playing us off against each other.
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...
Saw the latest Harry Potter movie last weekend. It was fine, but like the one before it, I didn't enjoy it near as much as I had the first movies. Thinking about it over the week, I've come to realize why - the later books in the series are so long, with the little sub-plots, that they'd make 4 hour movies to do a thorough job of them.
So, what's the beef? The beef is that in the movies, we get the self-absorbed, angst-ridden, angry impulsive teenager Harry (mind you, he's earned it!) and all the darkness of the books - but cutting out all the subplots (S.P.E.W. anyone? Sirius' House Elf and the whole Black family mudblood thing - heck, they cut Sirius' mother's portrait completely out of the movie) that made the books fun for me. In other words, for me, to keep the movies of a manageable length, they're cutting out exactly the parts that drew me to the series, while keeping the part (grappling with his demons like a teenager will Harry) that usually has me grinding my teeth.
The point is - with the books it works. With the movies, it leaves me disappointed. I'll be getting the book tomorrow, mind you - I like the books. But I may skip the rest of the movies.
Your mileage may vary. -the Armorer
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The Air Force makes a bold move. It shouldn't be a bold move, but in our current Military/Civil Leadership/Grievance Industry/Self-absorbed national mood it is. From Jim Dunnigan over at Strategy Page:
The U.S. Air Force has rebelled against the annoying late 20th century custom of creating many annual training courses to deal with persistent social or organizational problems. From now on, instead of spending nine hours a year attending training for things like suicide prevention, anti-terrorism awareness, handling classified data, sex related issues, and so on, only 90 minutes a year would be used for all these reminders. This move is very popular among those who have to sit through these sessions, and those who have to give them. The troops are also encouraged by such a bold move. In the past, every time another of these annual classes was added, there was grumbling about "spineless and clueless generals," and "damn politicians."
*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"
Loader- load beehive, muzzle-action! Gunner! Battlesight! Woodchuck! FIRE!
How many flechettes could a woodchuck duck, if a woodchuck had duck luck?
Sorry...
posted by Neffi on July 20, 2007 2:37 PM
Yet not a peep from you about the "Strange things go into tanks" post...?
um well... it's a perfect fit in the "Funny But True" category and I *will* be printing it, though I spent my time in the gunner and TC seats.
Kinda sad to see all that Russki armor mouldering away when we had plenty APDS to go around...
posted by Neffi on July 20, 2007 4:07 PM
The CLUs and I saw it last week. Kreacher wasn't nearly as 'fun' as he was in the book and Bellatrix was okay...and somehow, Umbridge wasn't nearly as nasty as I would have expected. She is a piece of work, but I was thinking along the lines of the actress who played the medium from Poltergeist.
Yeah, we will be standing in line for our copy.
This November I have a meeting in Utah.
posted by Cricket on July 20, 2007 4:17 PM
I decided a couple of movies back that they just should accept the reality of larger and more complex books and issue TWO movies for each book. Get all the sub-plots and other great stuff, feed us Potter nuts even more and, and (wait for it) MAKE MORE MONEY FROM THE MOVIES (and popcorn, etc.).
I know, it's too logical and reasonable for the entertainment folks to understand. Oh, well.
Walter
posted by Walter M. Clark on July 20, 2007 10:15 PM
Cmon Walter, Harry would be 82 before he finished Hogwarts Jr High if they did that.
I think it would work better as a television series...good grief they could keep it going for
twenty years.
Heh.
Just finished DH at noon.
We took the CLUs to the party and the youngest one crashed on one of the camp chairs. We saw lotsa friends and just out of curiosity; does crime go down for a bit after the release of the HP books?
posted by Cricket on July 21, 2007 3:09 PM
When were those Soviet tanks used but to fight the Nazis and the Islamic loonies in Afghanistan?
America should be ashamed for pussy-footing around while the Soviets were attacked by the Krauts. Then we supplied arms and aid to the very same people that flew planes into our buildings and killed 3000 innocent people.
I don't see much to cheer about. Don't break your arms patting yourselves on the back.
posted by Young Pioneer on July 22, 2007 7:49 AM
Snerk, YP, you aren't a long time reader 'round here, that's obvious enough.
I give the Soviets credit here and there, at the soldier/individual citizen level, for their performance in WWII.
But if you're expecting a paean to Stalin as well, your pissing up a rope.
And as a "Cold Warrior" with brief flashes of hot over a 24 year span, yeah, the sight of rusting soviet armor doesn't bother me that much.
Much better than the sight of burned out hulks of soviet armor littering the North German Plain - not to mention the German, Brit, US, and other allied armor joining it.
As for Afghanistan - and the Soviet involvement there, hey, sometimes they weren't always on the wrong side of things.
Another window into aviators looking out for each other.
And a morale check. Seems pretty good in this unit...
10 Ways Camp Striker is better than Las Vegas.
1. Less chance of getting shot.
2. The weather (Give me 115 degree weather over 119 any day)
3. The food: have you actually been to the buffet at The Tropicana? Yuck.
4. Money (I will probably walk away with more money in my pocket after 15 months here than I would in the same time from L.V.)
5. There are no bums/vagrants/prostitutes at Camp Striker...at least that I've seen.
6. Physical Fitness. I've lost ten pounds since being here. I'd gain that in a weekend in L.V.
7. Better Entertainment. We got Toby Keith. They have Carrot Top.
8. The non-skilled laborers speak better English.
9. The Mob doesn't have unilateral control of the infrastructure. Unless you consider Halliburton organized crime.
10. Nevada has Harry Reid. We don't.
I hope all is well wherever you may be. Another week down, countless to go. I guess I could count the weeks, but no one can say with certainty how long we are going to be here. 15 Months? More? Less? I can't wait for the rumors to start flying around this time next year, whenever everyone and their brother will have "inside knowledge" on when we are actually re-deploying. I choose not to dwell on exact dates. We are going to be here for a while. "Well I guess we'll get back on the horse and get back out there" That was a quote from an OH-58D pilot who intereviewed with the press after being shot down this week. You may or may not have heard about this amazing story because everyone survived and no one's civil rights were violated. Our "if it bleeds, it leads" media is more interested in fatalities but I'm not telling you anything new.
For those of you who don't know, my battalion is in an aviation brigade. The aviation brigade has the following aircraft in it: UH-60s: carry stuff CH-47s: carry a lot of stuff AH-64Ds: shoot stuff OH-58Ds: look at stuff
One of the OH-58Ds was engaged by enemy fire earlier last week. The OH-58D is the smallest aircraft we have and the most vulnerable. Add the fact that they typically fly at the tree top level and that they're made out of empty cans of "New Coke", you've got yourself a hairy situation if enaged. The Apache is heavily armored and if engaged in the same fashion as the OH-58D was, would just sneer back and unleash the Kraken on the poor mislead Sunni/ Shia/Kurd/Al Qaida/Irani/Syrian/Lebanese/Egyptian/Saudi (I can't keep track who hates us) who dared to annoy it.
So the OH-58D was shot multiple times and miraculously the pilots were not hit despite the fact that they fly with their doors off. Nonetheless, the aircraft could no longer fly and they had to make a crash landing whereby the aircraft ended up on its side. Again, no noticeable injuries. Well the pilots' wingman was also hit and had to come back home leaving them alone in Indian country. Normally, if your wingman is shot, you stay with him. Remember Viper's quote in Top Gun? "You never leave your wingman, Maverick." Side note: this is every military aviator's favorite pilot movie; be it Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. Nobody likes Firebirds. Nobody.
So these guys were on the ground in the vicinity of the very dudes that shot them down. So they hightail into a canal thinking they would be able to make a quick get away. They get stuck in the canal because it it too deep and muddy. So the bad guys start shooting into the canal. The bad guys couldn't see them in the canal because of the dense reeds, but they knew they were there. For 15 minutes or so the bad guys were aimlessly shooting hoping to hit the pilots. They never did. The bad guys started moving down the canal to find them when an Apache who was aware of the incident came on seen. The bad guys knowing they didn't stand a chance with an Apache in the area decided it was time to go home.
The Apache landed near the downed aviators. They were able to communicate with them through a radio all pilots carry on them for these types of occasions. Knowing they couldn't wait for a rescue helicopter to come pick them up (My battalion had a team ready to take off) because of the bad guys in the immediate area, the Apache took them home. For those of you who don't know, there's is no room in the Apache to take anyone home. The only thing Apaches transport are ammunition to expedite the none-democracy-wanting insurgents' rendezvous with Allah.
So the front seater of the Apache got out and put one of the OH-58D pilots in the front seat. While not hurt, the guy was pretty shook up, hence the decision to give him a little more comfortable ride. The Apache guy strapped himself to the right side of the aircraft, and the other OH-58D guy strapped himself to the left side. Again, on the outside of the aircraft. The back- seater flew them all the way back to Baghdad. This was about a 10 minute flight at 120 knots (about a 135 miles per hour). I've actually done this drill before. We did this training in Germany once, but I think we only went about 45 miles an hour. Imagine going 135 miles an hour on a motorcycle without a windshield or helmet. The noise alone is deafening. The OH-58D guy didn't have his helmet or ear protection. One might forgive him for not collecting all his valuables before leaving his crashed aircraft when people were trying to kill him.
The Apache guys were not even from our brigade, but from another brigade in theater who just happened to be in the area at the time of the shoot down. The OH-58D pilots had some cuts and bruises despite being shot at in the air, crashing, being shot at at on the ground, and riding the side of an aircraft out of badguyland with zero protection. I don't know if they are believers, but Providence brought them home that day.
It brings a tear to my eye to think of the extraordinary things done by ordinary people on a daily basis in Iraq. When asked by the interviewer what they were going to do now, the younger pilot said "Well I guess we'll get back on the horse and get back out there" in a couple of days. Amazing. Tiger Woods isn't a hero. These guys are.
I was glad to see that this rescue made the MSM radar screen- but this more first-hand account is a MUCH better read!
Thanks Bob!
posted by AFSister on July 20, 2007 11:02 AM
Agreed with the 'much better account'.
And #'s 7 & 10 on that list are wicked funny!
posted by KCSteve on July 20, 2007 1:13 PM
Funny thing is, Tiger would agree with that assessment, I think. I was really pleased with his creation of a golf tournament to honor his father and all US troops. He has class, and puts his money where his mouth is.
We find SWWBO practicing for driving her newly ordered compact tractor (an AG King 3540)... and the Lawn Tractor of Argghhh! finally has a challenge worthy of his abilities.
Are you getting the auger that will drill a hole (holds hands shoulder width apart) about so big? You know, in cawe you need to plant a tree some night to settle down after unsociable visitors.
Just wondering - it's not like I lie awake at night and plot things. I just don't sleep much is all.
I don't know John, with a 9-inch auger you either have to drill 3 or 4 holes right together or get messy with the uh... fertilizer when you plant those trees.
posted by KCSteve on July 20, 2007 10:48 PM
Well, as I said, where possible, I will leave pest control to the appropriate agencies - along with disposal.
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You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...
Haven't been around for awhile because I am extremely busy supporting our troops and telling others how they can do it, too. Tonight, I'll be at the Bonner Springs, KS Kelly Murphy Park for Music in the Park where I'll get a few minutes to talk to the crowd and then mingle for some chat and chew at the ice cream social. If you're around town and you want to come out and show your support, join us there.
One thousand two hundred marines from the 13th MEU were submitted to Soldiers' Angels on Wednesday. The Marines are looking for a few good men and women, but Soldiers' Angels are looking for a lot of good, patriotic citizens who would like to support some marines. Some of these marines are on their 5th tour.
Right after I posted that massive alert, I read thatHarry Reid sent care packages to the Republican Senators including toiletries with a yellow ribbon and a note that said, "bring our troops home." To say that irritated me is an understatement. Sen. Reid was making a mockery of our real support for our troops. I have 1200 marines that could have used those care packages.
Hey, Harry! Why don't you support our troops and send some of that our way? Suggestion to Republican Senators that received Harry's generous gift, go to Soldiers' Angels Donate and send them to the Marines!
-Kat (disclaimer: the opinions expressed above regarding Sen. Reid are solely mine and do not represent an official position nor should reflect upon Soldiers' Angels which is a non-partisan, non-profit organization solely dedicated to supporting our troops - frankly, I just thought we could put congress' political shenanigans to good use)
Faux-Farmer lesson #2: Hay get's "stickier" as it dries after being cut. As in, the 120 bales I schlepped yesterday produced a lot more "stick" wounds than the 50 we brought in the night before. And no, I wasn't wearing a long sleeve shirt in 95(F) degree weather.
Lesson #1? When hauling hay - plan for a party, to sucker other people into tossing bales with promises of booze and bullets! -the Armorer
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Google and eBay - two juggernauts that have dramatically altered the 'net. In this case... well, read about Voldemort-on-eBay here (no spoilers, Scholastic - you don't need to try to figure out my office number). [Link fixed - and wait! There's more!] -the Armorer
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Hey, Bill! Mebbe you should pick this up before you leave - give you something to tinker with when you get back from all the NVG training... start your own traffic reporting service or something. -the Armorer
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If you haven't read the NIE for yourself, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do so. Of course the Washington Post has joined its peers in reporting that completely distorts it. Powerline has the details here and here.
Blackfive and The Weekly Standard have a mission for the Milblogsophere. They are asking for input from those with contacts in Iraq to either verify or debunk anonymous "reporting" in the New Republic about what (if true) is despicable behavior by our American troops. - FbL
*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"
Kat,
What are you wanting to put in the care packages?
posted by Carrie on July 19, 2007 6:57 AM
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Kat regarding Harry Reid are much nicer than anything I would say (he's a weasel) and much nicer than anything he deserves.
"...hay gets sticker..", there's a reason why farmers wear jeans, denim shirts and denim jackets, heh.
posted by emdfl on July 19, 2007 8:32 AM
Oh, I had the denim pants - but fat boy doesn't wear long sleeved shirts (since all the ones I own aside from dress shirts are winter-weight) when it's hot and humid. I'd rather look like a cross-eyed junkie who poked himself with a needle 57 times before finally getting it where he wanted it.
John - that story on the HP book cracks me up. Thanks for sharing.
On the long sleeves versus short with the moving of the bales - it wouldn't make much difference unless you were wearing neoprene or heavy canvas - a typical shirt won't save you from the stickies you get from hay bales ;-)
Carrie...anything and everything. shampoo, soap, toothpaste (not made in China), snacks (dried fruit, trail mix, nuts, jerky, etc) anything you can think of really.
drop me an email and I'll send you a suggested list: kehenry1@hotmail.com
I just got off the phone with Sen Reid's office and the young staffer when asked if this was done without his approval, said that "Senator Reid's staff would not take an action like this without his consent".
I told her that as a combat veteran, I felt that the Senator's action was nothing more than a cheap political play that was out of line and insulting to servicemen and women who believed in the current course in Iraq.
... start your own traffic reporting service or something.
Right. A G-model with timed-out main blades (and tail rotor, too, I'll betcha), a lunched engine, a possible crunched sprague clutch on the tranny, no logbook, and unspecified hard landing damage would be just the toy to occupy my declining years.
How about we just weld the skids to the turret of an M3 and make a nice lawn decoration for the local VFW Post?
Yeah, but think of the look on Carborundum's face!
Has it grown back?
Last time I saw him, he was still lookin' all Revenge of the Mummy from sticking his head into the exhaust stack so he could "see how the start fuel goes into the combustor"...
actually 3,000 new soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors needing angels landed on Soldiers' Angels this week. We certainly could use a lot of people who are sincerely interested in supporting our troops by adopting one or two of them for the duration of their deployment and sending weekly letters and monthly care packages. If anyone is interested go to www.soldiersangels.org and sign up for a hero or two. It is an experience you will never forget.
Sometimes, it's just embarrassing to pick up your pay.
ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 15, 2007) - Aviation Systems Warfare Operator 2nd Class Johnny Garcia fires an M-240 machine gun from the cabin of an SH-60F Seahawk, attached to the "Dusty Dogs" of Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron (HS) 7, while flying plane guard for Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Truman is underway in the Atlantic Ocean participating in the Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMTUEX) in preparation for deployment to the Persian Gulf. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Matthew D. Williams
Of course, that's balanced by those moments during combat when you're seriously underpaid...
Dogs - they truly do like us, don't they? I'm trying to think what it would take to get one of the Castle Cats to do this without me looking like a scourged medieval monk...
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. David Hornsby and his special security dog Liza are hoisted into a helicopter during a canine-hoist training mission outside of Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, on July 15, 2007. Hornsby and Liza are attached to the101st Air Assault Division. DoD photo by Spc. Aubree Rundle, U.S. Army. (Released)
Heh. You youngsters missed the fun that was "Pay Officer."
Strap on your rattletrap Union Switch and Signal .45 pistol (now worth thousands) and a magazine with 5 rounds (never gonna get robbed by more than 5 guys, donchaknow), grab your jeep and driver, head to Finance in the dark of early morning, count out $250K in new frickin' $20s, and another $2K of german specie, then head off to a day of driving around the fog-shrouded, rain-bogged, windy blizzard-in-the-making, to cash troop's paychecks and do deutsche-mark conversions on the hood of your jeep, in the MKT, at the 1SG's table in his hex, etc, at battery positions, the FOs out at Bleidorn, down to Hohenfels to catch the battery supporting down there... etc.
And don't be $20 short, or you'll be treated like Dillinger. And if you're $20 over (never happened to me) you'll get your butt removed by the battalion commander for shorting a soldier.
We only received pay from the Pay Officer when we were in Basic (I went in the summer of '93). I remember it was very formal, with lots of salutes and such. Two years later (I think) Direct Deposit was mandatory, but when I first went in the Army still let soldiers "pick up" their pay. :D
posted by Justin on July 19, 2007 12:13 PM
Of our two cats I think one (HairyCat) would not claw me to pieces during a pick up like that.
Of course that's because he'd have his claws too deeply sunk into my flesh to move them.
BuddyCat would, like most cats, being trying to get away and quite probably taking large chunks of me with him.
Of course, I'm not sure I could even get the ever-indulgent wife to go through this without some blood loss on my part, so who could blame the cats.
posted by KCSteve on July 19, 2007 12:14 PM
Civilian S&R dogs and their partners practice helo pickups as well. I'll have to dig up the picture I have of one of the dogs bred by my MIL in harness with his handler/owner. Topper and his owner were on the ground at both the Murrah building in OK City, and at ground zero in NYC.
The really fun part was explaining to female LTC Hospital Administrators that I really *would* like to remove my helmet liner while bringing a paper bag containing thirty grand into their nice, antiseptic hospital, but The Regs required me to remain covered while Under Arms.
The rest of the fun was explaning the phrase Under Arms meant (pointing to ye olde M1911) that I had introduced a -- *eeek!* -- pistol into their sanctum and informing them that, yes, it was loaded. With "real bullets."
I was never embarssed a to collect my pay. Most weeks it was more like a SAR mission anyway.
The pitiful amount we got was hardly enough to keep a man blind stinking drunk for a full weekend and half of Monday.
We had to budget very carefully to make it happen.
posted by Murray on July 19, 2007 6:20 PM
Ah, Yes, payday. Pay chit in one hand and ID card in other for the for the supply JG you just stood watch with.
Followed by.... Change your dollars to pesos at Carmen's Money Exchange. Authorized by the Central Bank of the Phillipines.
Followed by change your pesos to .... as you wandered down Magsaysay.
Old Sailors and Jar Heads know.
posted by BC on July 20, 2007 12:52 AM
Ol' Major Unger, with whom I used to drink, once upon many times, was an officer back in the fifties, when the Army still paid the troops in cash. It was all done with due ceremony and correct ritual, with weapons.
I do think that if there's one group of folks who should be paid in cash, it's sojers. I mean, think about it. Who guards Fort Knox? Do we pay soldiers by direct deposit, or check, because we're afraid someone will steal their cash?
They are the guys who protect all of our money, among other things.
The interesting thing occuring in the interesting place I am at present is the happy discovery (to me, anyway) that not *all* the FMC AH-1Fs that the Army dumped withdrew from its inventory years ago either wound up as assets in a foreign military service or as instant condos for sushi-on-the-hoof.
And I already knew about the few flying de-mils in civil hands (FMC = decidedly *not* demilitarized).
[insert huge grin]
If tomorrow today goes as well as the last couple of days have, I head back to Jersey, get a day and a half to clean up the last items on the honeydew list (which has been growing since I've been here, naturally) and split. If everything goes as planned, I'll be several time zones east of the Prime Meridian by Tuesday morning and sufficiently jetlagged that NVG flying will be v-e-r-r-r-y interesting.
And I've been poring through the vocabulary chapter of the handy-dandy Handbook they gave me and not having any luck at all finding the phrase "Crew Rest."
Heh. "Hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror." Hope you've got the newbies all trained up, Carborundum, ol' chum. Ummmmm, and speaking of the newbies, why don't you assign one of 'em to fly with me? They're all short enough to sit on my lap without obstructing my view of the instrument panel. I'm thinking Callie-whatever-her-name-is would be perfect for the job. Callie Pigeon or -- oh, yeah, that's it.
The old guy's still got it, kids -- I'm outta here at 0430 in the mornin'.
And I do believe I'll have a beer with supper. I caught the news last night and the next interesting place I'm going is getting really, *really* interesting...
Now I gotta get back to the newbies. They've got a busy schedule today. Brisk 20 mile jog through Darfur, evasion and survival training (disguised as tourists in Bangkok), Airplane Entropy Action Plans (courtesy of TAM Airlines), and we'll stand downrange at a few artillery ranges and practice interception and deflection of Large Kinetic Objects. If they give me any lip I'll add a detour to Filene's Basement 50% off sale. THAT ought to do it ...
posted by carborundum on July 19, 2007 10:12 AM
Bill - I'm not sure that you really want a B-24 sitting on your lap.
The obverse of the seat having more ... controls ... than the seat itself, of course.
Speaking of beers, you'd better drink more than one. I'm betting they're frowned on in the next Really Interesting Place, although that may only apply to mil, not contractors :-)
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers who have led the drive to bring troops home from Iraq have not devised a strategy to deal with the widespread killings that could follow a pullout, recent interviews with more than two dozen Democrats and Republicans show.
Many of them acknowledge that Iraq may plunge into vicious sectarian fighting much like the ethnic cleansing that consumed Bosnia a decade ago. However, they said they would reject the use of U.S. troops to stop the killing.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it's horrendous," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.), who has helped spearhead efforts against the war. "The only hope for the Iraqis is their own damned government, and there's slim hope for that."
Emphasis mine. I'll keep this in mind when the next Dem wants to send the troops somewhere like Bosnia or Kosovo. Refreshing honesty, though.
"Some proponents of a withdrawal declined to discuss what the United States should do if the violence increases."
" 'That's a hypothetical. I'm not going to get into it,' " Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said."
As I recall, Dems like Reid raised all kinds of hypothetical questions like this when arguing against the war, and kept raising Powell's Pottery Barn-esque "If you break it, then you must fix it" rule.
And now, they want to cut and run before Bush can finish "fixing" it, and they don't care about the dangerous mess that's left behind.
posted by fdcol63 on July 18, 2007 10:40 AM
At least Pontius Pilate had some conscience about it. And secretly his wife became was dabbling in the Christian subculture.
There is a comparison one should be looking for. Who is Pontius' wife?
Why do I get the feeling Democrats and other lefties are so gung ho on getting out of Iraq is that,unlike Vietnam,in several years they won't be morally bothered(snicker) by the news telling them about Iraqian Boat People.....There being a wee bit of difference in the amount of coast line and ports available.
posted by big al on July 18, 2007 9:49 PM
Where are all the "Save Darfur" people and where's the Congressional Black Caucus on "Never Again" to a Rwanda-style genocide. Seems to me, this would be a bad precedent for their prefered causes. They need to speak out.
posted by JabbaTheTutt on July 18, 2007 9:57 PM
Where are all the "Save Darfur" people and where's the Congressional Black Caucus on "Never Again" to a Rwanda-style genocide.
Waiting for the killing to start so they can demonstrate their moral superiority by decrying it. There's no political capital to be made denouncing massacres until they've been featured on the Six O'Clock News.
There were quite a few reports in the foreign press when Darfur boiled over in early 2002 and the deliberate killing of civilians began about a year later.
There *are* signs of progress at the new Castle. Evidence of occupancy are beginning to pop up, but this *is* the Castle...
While we may have minimalist taste in furnishings...
...there *is* a stack of firearms in the family room!
And yesterday, while out checking the hilltop hayfield, I *did* find Werekitty's Pole.
We are now officially farmers. In a technical sense, anyway, I wouldn't make that claim to my neighbors, just the taxing authorities. Our neighbors would just look at us and go, "Yeah, right."
Our sea of grass (brome) has been cut and, less the keep-back for the horses, sold. And I sold a token cord of wood from our woods to my neighbor for $1.00 (he'll get it himself). I'll actually make wood available to friends and neighbors who want or need it - the last few years before he died, the previous owner didn't keep up his own wood-cutting, which has resulted in a build-up of deadfall and other fuel in my little mini-forest.
Besides, if we didn't do that, the county would class all the land as decorative/recreational and triple our taxes. We're going to get some angora goats (easy keepers and Beth can sell or use the wool) so that we justify the pond as a stock tank - else the county would call it recreational, too. And given that around here, house prices are falling, the county is going to be looking for ways to make up the property tax shortfall.
With the agricultural designation, we don't have to pay sales tax on the ATV and tractor, and can depreciate both as farm equipment. We can at least partially depreciate the new truck (which I'm using to move the hay with, among other things) and deduct the mileage for the trips to TSC and Orscheln's for fencing gear, critter feed, etc.
And, yes, I've engaged the services of an accountant - I didn't know all this stuff, and we don't intend to get creative... but we do intend to use the tax code to our advantage where we can.
I am very sore. And if I've lost any volume via weight loss, it's more than made up for from all the swelling due to straining muscles that haven't been doing anything approaching manual labor for a long while.
Speaking of which, mebbe we *are* farmers, just a tiny bit. Keen observers with access to satellite imagery last night would have seen SWWBO and myself, using the truck and trailer into the hours of darkness... hauling hay.
I haven't done that since the summer of '74. And I've got 90 bales to go, and have to get it in before it rains. My arms are vewy, vewy, tiwed. Because every bale gets handled twice... and there are 170 of 'em to deal with. It's good hay, though. The horses will be happy this winter to gnosh on it.
SWWBO and I have already decided how we're going to handle this next year.
Get a keg, have a shooting party. And if ya want beer and targets and permission to shoot (um, *not* in that order, thinking abouit it), yer gonna hafta schlep some hay.
We're not planning on tapping the oil here (there are producing wells on property all around us), nor are we going to jump on the ethanol bandwagon. That whole biofuels plan is simply stunningly wrongheaded in the impact that it's going to have on the economy - national and international. Food is going to get more expensive (all that livestock that feeds on... corn) which will hit the poor hardest. And since we're talking numbers that would essentially divert the entire export crop of the US to biofuel production - well, there will be a worldwide impact when you consider the US produces over half the corn in the world.
Heh. One of the changes that quadrupled US agricultural productivity came about with mechanization - prior to that, fully half our in-production arable land was used to feed the horses and mules and oxen that powered domestic agriculture and the retail transportation system - and with the biofuel plan, we might well find ourselves once again using half our agricultural production to fuel transportation, as well as taking marginal lands now forested and putting them back into low-productivity cropland.
I just don't get it.
We're not going to put any acreage into the Crop Reserve. I don't feel like giving the government any more power to tell me how to manage my dirt than they already have, though we're busy leveraging the extension service and USDA about forest management - so I can get rid of the built-up wildfire fuel in our woods without ruining habitat or causing erosion problems.
Heh again. Being a "gentleman farmer" has certainly changed some of my reading and research topics.
But we're starting to attract the hummingbirds to the deck, and when we get the other bird feeders going, we'll get the songbirds, too. And since we're in an open area away from the woods, I don't think I'm going to have the squirrel problem Dad does. Of course, we won't have their entertainment value, either.
But with at least two nesting pairs of hawks, the squirrels don't venture out into the open very much. The rabbits don't either. I saw an unlucky one get snagged by a diving hawk yesterday.
I forget how the joke goes precisely but someone once told me that snakes are non-political. The difference being the snake warns you before biting, the politician not.
And they never bite lawyers, citing professional courtesy.
That being said, Hay prices down here have skyrocketed. Some of the locals are importing hay from s far as Texas.
Fortunately our tax system doesn't work like ya'll's or I'd be in a world of hurt.
But if you need a hand mending fences, you know who to call ;)
I think the green empty beer bottle makes the weapons picture. Guns and alcohol together woo-hoo. BTW, green beer bottles means your an upscale or have upscale pretensions family. Green being the color of money, at least it was, beer companies going for the well heeled aim their advertising at the upscale discrimating drinker and use green bottles to attract them. At least that's the theory I heard.
posted by JimC on July 18, 2007 10:02 AM
Heh, I dunno. SWWBO, the brewer's daughter, bought the beer.
Well, there are lawyers that are snakes, and lawyers that are land sharks that walk upright.
*gathers up tomatoes to compost and uses the good ones for marinara*
I prefer the land sharks. Snakes are bottom feeders.
That said, congratulations on the digs. The wool of angora goats? If she makes contact with a local spinner's or weaver's guild, she will never have to worry about keeping the cash flow steady.
Feed em right to keep the hair soft and lustrous
and you will command a good price. Don't get into the intensity of processing them beyond shearing or combing. Let the 'end user' do that.
They will skirt the fleece or pick through the combings...helk, you might even get a few to comb your property for the hair they shed in the spring! Fiber people are...interesting. Of course, I should know...I have been buying Spin Off magazine for over ten years now...
posted by Cricket on July 18, 2007 10:20 AM
Cricket,
We have a fiber person in our Lions Club. She is "hair" brained. An aging hippie (her own description of herself) she not only raises the goats and shears them she processes the wool, dyes it, spins it then knits afghans, wool socks and the like from it.
Gee, I just wander down the aisle at Wal-Mart and pick me up a pair of socks whenever my toes start showing through my old ones.
The thing that gets me is how she gets time to do all this. She takes frequent trips. Last year alone she went to Thailand, Germany and a cruise to Alaska, not to mention the many trips to fiber festivals all over the lower 48. I get jet lag just thinking about it.
LOL. Yep. I don't go to many fiber festivals, but I do have spindles and a spinning wheel and love to prep the fleece and spin it.
I knit socks and sweaters and well, after you have worn a pair of socks hand made for your tootsies with all natural fiber, you will never go back to mass produced. It reduces the price, but there is something intensely satisfying to me to be able to carry on a tradition as well as knowing the nuts and bolts of how textiles used to be made.
Sort of like John knowing how the barrels of guns
are rifled and the metal content and all the fiddly bits in the Whatsis challenge.
And the trade off is that she most likely knits on long flights as well as gives up other things
to do this.
posted by Cricket on July 18, 2007 10:56 AM
Thanks. Great photos. Y'all have a truly beautiful farm there.
One minor point: "biofuel" isn't just ethanol. It also refers to all kinds of fats and stuff which diesel engines can burn. For instance, some folks go down to Micky D's, dip out the french fry oil from the grease dump, take it home and filter it, then put it in their diesel engines (some work without added diesel, some need diesel) and do their thing. 'Course, when they drive by, everyone gets hungry...
All kinds of technological possibilities there, without interfering with the animal and human food chains.
Unfortunately, our guvmint has chosen the one really stupid one -- ethanol.
posted by MAJ Arkay on July 18, 2007 11:25 AM
So that looks like a Mauser or Ariska, an SKS, an AK Variant, but whats the one on the far right that sorta looks like a Sten?
posted by Brad on July 18, 2007 12:59 PM
John,
Some clever folks up in South Dakota (If I recall correctly) have come up with a slight twist on the ethanol business. Their process works with the 'waste' from the corn (cobs, stalks, pretty much anything from a plant). If their system works out you could see an increase in corn production.
Of course the Gov't being what it is I'm sure they'll get singled out in the funding race - to make sure they don't get any.
posted by KCSteve on July 18, 2007 1:04 PM
The gun on the far right is a suppressed M3 'greasegun,' or at least a mockup of one.
Is that one of the Valkyrie Arms (made right here in Thurston County, WA) jobs with the mocked up suppressor/barrel extension (so as not to be an SBR) John?
WHHOOO HOOOOO!
I've got a POLE! And a very nice one too, with plenty of swingin' branches.
posted by Were-Kitten on July 18, 2007 10:56 PM
Reading this blog keeps getting more interesting.
As I passed the phrase "fencing supplies", there was a momentary tilt while I considered the possibilities; foils, epees, sabres, or barbed-wire.
Back in college, a girl I knew complained that her parents wanted her to take a fencing class. When I asked if she thought it would take her a full semester to learn how to get the wire tight, she hit me.
...the things stay the same. Nanny-minded politicians never learn.
A potential tax of $10... per cigar. And, btw, it would apply to current inventory as well - which is one thing if it were to be collected at the point of sale... a pessimistic reading of the bill would have it be paid up front by the merchant.
All for the children, of course. To fund their health care, we'll use sin taxes which, if they have the desired effects, will be a self-defeating tax (i.e., people will quit smoking cigars) leaving us with an unfunded program... which means we'll have to fund it somehow - sorry 'bout that tax increase for the program we sold you as only being a tax increase on people with bad habits or who are rich, anyway! It's for the kids, donchaknow.
Heh. Memo for the political class: Can you say "Overnight expansion of gangs and organized crime into cigar smuggling?"
I knew you could. This is just dumb and not well thought out. You can't do this with a sin tax and *not* increase crime. How many teenagers and 20-somethings will we kill (via law enforcement activity) and will kill each other due to gang turf wars to fund children's health care?
You strip out crimes of passion and suicides, and the vast bulk of gun violence in this country is gang/crime related, and mostly has revolved around attempts to ban or heavily tax perceived sin. That *big* spikes in that kind of violence (not counting the splashy political killings of the civil rights era that gave us the Gun Control Act of 1968) can be measured by the laws created to control gang violence... such as the National Firearms Act of 1934, in response to the turf wars being fought over distribution rights during... Prohibition, and the McClure-Volkmer Act of 1986 and the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, in response to violence mostly related to.... the "Drug War." In other words, arguably, the big, sustained surges in gun violence are usually related to crime, and most often criminal activities that have become more lucrative because of political action.
If we don't do silly things like try to effectively ban sin (vice control it and regulate it)... we really don't have a huge gun problem in this country.
But on this subject, we seem to... shoot ourselves in the foot, time and time again.
BTW, I don't smoke. And I lost my mother (who did smoke, like a chimney) to lung cancer this year, and it was ugly to watch. And yes, I think this law, as written, is just dumb.
As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply .. most usually provided by violent criminals in the black market, aided and abetted by authority elements in the political and law enforcement class who profit from corruption and kickbacks.
The best way to reduce these types of "sins" is to come up with better ways to reduce the demand for them. We need to stop glorifying and promoting their use/abuse in media and entertainment, better educate people on the negative consequences of using them, offer alternative "escapes from reality" that aren't as harmful, and address those issues and needs that compel people to "escape from reality" in the first place.
posted by fdcol63 on July 18, 2007 7:48 AM
Yes, how to fund health programs through the sin tax...discourage the sin but don't outlaw it to keep revenue going...but don't be seen as promoting it.
posted by Cricket on July 18, 2007 10:24 AM
I was having this dicussion with the CLU#1 about three weeks ago, and raised the first half of the issue which was if you discourage a vice through a tax, and do it well enough that the money drops off, then you have an unfunded program and either have to promote the vice or find another source of revenue. He asked me about the black market then...so he took it to your conclusion and well, I am so proud of the lad!
We were talking about Richard Mayberry's excellent economics primer 'Whatever Happened To Penny Candy?' I highly recommend that one as
an introduction to government meddling and taxes.
Thanks again John for having a blog with high quality content. I hope you don't mind, but I do
use yours and Cass's blog to teach writing. No, I don't even dare print it out, but they have to read it and look up the relevant sources used to sustain cause and effect in lawmaking and politics.
WOO HOO!!!!
posted by Cricket on July 18, 2007 10:39 AM
Like John I'm a non-smoker who lost his mother to smoking induced lung cancer.
And like John I think this manages to be one of the stupider ideas I've heard out of Gov't - and that's not an easy mark to hit.
posted by KCSteve on July 18, 2007 1:09 PM
You need help with hay baling and removal?
I am currently available on certain days of the weeks and weekend, barring angeling activities, particularly in the evening or early morning hours when it is cool.
Ah, clever woman! Your offer of assistance arrived... (well, was read) after the last bale was stacked.
Next time, we'll make a party of it.
This time, I'm kinda glad we did it ourselves - to prove to myself that those things which cause the VA to pay me can be worked through doing this sort of thing, and I have a much better appreciation of what needs doing for next time.
Like the amount of beer/Powerade/water per person we'll have to lay in, based on my personal consumption rates. And we'll have a bigger trailer.
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...
*************************** BLACKFIVE ON THE RADIO. It's the Laura Ingraham show, sometime this morning. Listen here [posted 7:30 a.m. Pacific]. - FbL
Local government officials in Washington, D.C., announced Monday they will appeal to the Supreme Court in a major test case on the meaning of the Second Amendment. The key issue in the coming petition will be whether the Amendment protects an individual right to have guns in one's home -- an issue on which there is now a clear conflict among federal Circuit Courts. The city will be defending the constitutionality of a local handgun control law that is regarded as the strictest in the nation.
Moving on - you simply *must* read this. A reporter *truly* embeds with the Canadian forces. The long-service professionals among us will have many smiles reading this bit by Mark (and the embedded links, you *must* read the embedded links!) over at The Torch. H/t, CAPT H, natch. -the Armorer
*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".
Cry me a river, Sir, at the first of my total of eleven sport parachute jumps, they were singing "Blood Upon the Risers" just to get on my fragile nerves.
What the heck is a Langenator, anyway, and why do you keep teasing us with pics of yer very goodlooking wife?
"Mother, how will you keep them down on the farm now that they've seen Paree?"
By Gary Skidmore 1st Brigade
What do you do with 55 Afghanistan army and policemen after they've completed their training exercise with the U.S. Army at Fort Riley? That's easy, you take them to Kansas City's Bass Pro Shop, Wal-Mart and the local Chipotle Mexican Grill. "We gave them a taste of American culture," said Maj. Dan Palmer, plans officer for the Directorate for Cultural Influence and Counter Insurgency.
[Heh. When I was at Fort Riley, we din't have no fancy-pantsed sounding directorates! I see they finally told Custer "No". Inside joke - if you were stationed at Riley long enough, you know the joke... -the Armorer]
By taking them to the Bass Pro Shop, they were experiencing a unique American store that you can only see in America, Palmer said "And you can't come to America and not at least visit a Wal-Mart." Palmer said he thought the group was impressed with their tour. "I think they were overwhelmed," Palmer said. "They saw Americana at its finest."
One Afghan National Army soldier said his experience with the trip was very rewarding and he loved what he saw. "We bought items to take home as gifts," said Aziz Ahmad Azizi, an E-6
in the Afghanistan National Army. "The quality of items we're buying is much better than we can buy in our country." Azizi, like everybody on the tour, received a free hat as he entered the
Bass Pro Shop. As they came through the door, they immediately stopped and gazed at the enormous facility.
"It is very large," said Shah Hosain Mandori. "I've never seen so many stuffed animals, so many boats and so many different things for camping anywhere before." Mandori bought a collapsible chair with red, white and blue material. "I will display this with pride when I go home," he said. "This is a great gift for me to remember my trip to America."
Gifts weren't the only thing the soldiers took back to Afghanistan. Flashes from their cameras were going off at every opportunity. One check out lady at the Bass Pro Shop had her picture taken individually with six soldiers and a mother and daughter strolling the store gladly posed with several Afghan National Police. "It's fun," said Angie Pruitt of Olathe, Kan. "You can tell they're having a great time here and we want their experience in America to be a good one."
When the visitors got to the Bonner Springs, Kan. Wal-Mart, they were full after having eaten at the Legends Mall Chipotle. At Wal-Mart, it was a shopping free-for-all. One shopper, Capt. Ahmadudin Ahmadi, with the Afghanistan National Police bought six bottles of shampoo in various fragrances. "At home we can't get this," Ahmadi said. "My wife will like this very
much." However, the trip to the United States was more than just a shopping trip, said Col. Ghulam Wahid Neekzai, from the Afghanistan National Army.
"We trained with the American military. We learned advanced military tactics that we will use when we go back to Afghanistan to fight the enemy," Neekzai said. "This is a good nation-building program. We come here to train and American Soldiers come to our country to help us fight for our country. We all benefit from this."
By taking them to the Bass Pro Shop, they were experiencing a unique American store that you can only see in America...
I beg to differ. My son and I wandered through the Bass Pro Shop in Vaughan, ON (one of the 'burbs north of Toronto) just this past weekend. Only in North America, perhaps...
Yes please clarify, the claim is in fact that "Wallmart is America at its finest" please.
I would have picked many many things not Wallmart as being finest.
I merely seek information here. Evidently I'm going to have a learn a new "culture" as well as language before I visit.
posted by Murray on July 17, 2007 5:37 PM
And what, pray tell, is wrong with Walmart? I love that place; I'm not some kind of shopping snob.
Look... it's a matter of convenience, and fair prices. I can get all the family shopping done in a single trip, including everything from pharmacy items, insecticide for my lawn, food, etc. Yes, the night-time crowd can get a little weird when you do the shopping at 2AM (hail, my fellow night-shifters), but most of them keep to themselves.
Guarantee they've got nothing even remotely resembling a WalMart in Afghanistan, and we'd do well not to take our modern consumer conveniences for granted. Very few people in the world live like we do.
posted by TheNewGuy on July 17, 2007 7:12 PM
Yes...the point is, you can get anything you want at any time from walmart. You can furnish your home, feed your family, fix your car, clothe your body and get entertainment all at one convenient place, any time, any day at a fairly reasonable price with a fairly large selection with money back guarantees.
You can't get that at many places around the world.
Also, I think the real point is that freedom of thought and freedom of movement and freedom of capitalism means employment, money and prosperity. Where else can a backwoods self employed man become a millionaire selling the AMerican dream?
That is what Walmart represents. However kitschy and tacky you think it is.
