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...
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From MNF-I:
Iraqi people, Coalition join against al-Qaeda
Model neighborhood, active government keeps Qadisiyah thriving
Police recruiting drive a major attraction
Karkh holds first-ever job fair
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Damian Brooks, writing at the Canadian milblog, The Torch:
Pincer movementRichard Johnson, in his latest blog entry at the National Post's "A Kandahar Journal," lays out two threats to our Afghan mission in an emotionally wrenching way.
One gets the sense from this passage that Johnson was simply too exhausted couch his thoughts in more diplomatic language, and I'm glad:
The remaining journalists had been pretty much stuck here at KAF after the six soldiers were killed. Trapped here partly by the logistics of finding space on a convoy as we near the handover to the Quebec Regiment, but mostly held here by a media monster back in Canada. A monster with a gaping maw for bad news, waiting to be fed every detail on the tragedy. Who, when, what, where and why? Then, how did this happen? Then, who is to blame? Then, the panel of experts, and the death toll statistics. The story fills the papers and news segments for days before finally waning after the ramp ceremony when the bodies of the fallen arrive home to their families. The repetitive sameness of the formula irks me, and yet it is right and fitting that we should pay homage to the fallen as the nation they represent. I just feel as a nation we should pay them a little more homage when they are alive. [Damian added the emphasis to the original - I would have started at "The repetitive sameness" were it me!]As always, sketches litter his posts; after all, that's why he embedded with the CF in the first place. But in this post, Johnson visits the base hospital, and discovers Aziz, a six-year-old boy, lying in a bed there:
Go here to read the rest. H/t to CAPT H.
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Sometimes, it's a crime we get *paid* to do things like this:
JOLO, Philippines (July 11, 2007) - Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) 14, assigned to the "Swift Intruders" of Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 5, comes ashore to pick up Seabees with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 7 and Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 1 at the completion of their mission in the Philippines. Members of NMCB-7 and ACB-1, with medical support from the Third Medical Battalion, worked together with Filipino Seabees from the First Construction Battalion in support of Pacific Partnership 2007. The mission, a four-month humanitarian assistance mission to Southeast Asia and Oceania includes specialized medical care and various construction and engineering projects. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Paul D. Williams-the Armorer
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Sign me up for this view on ethanol. Let's slow down this rush! -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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