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

***********************************

Hmmm. Pretty somber day here today. Let's lighten this load up a bit.

With this photo and accompanying commentary from Joe, Our Man in the 'Stan:

Saw this in the CJ5 conference room. I’ve been staring at the box for two months without reading it.

I hope it fits the arms room.

Joe

First, -10 for spelling! Second, keep dreaming, Joe. Though if you bring me something cool back from the 'Stan, I'll let you *in* the Arms Room of Argghhh! Either way, Paolo's got some 'splainin' to do! -the Armorer

***********************************

I know I already posted something lengthy today, but this is also special. Back in July, Soldiers' Angels received a huge influx of 3000 Marines from the 13th Fighting Marine Expeditionary Unit. Milbloggers like Castle Arrgghhh! responded by posting a link and putting the call out to their many readers. We're proud to say that, thanks to the help of many people, these Marines have been adopted.

They sent Soldiers' Angels a special picture and message, thanking us for their support. Of course, it wasn't possible without all of you and great bloggers like John.

Please check it out: Semper Fi! 3000 Marines

Hundreds of men and women sign up every day looking for support for themselves, their friends or their family back home. If you didn't get a chance to adopt a Marine, there are many more who still need great people like the readers of this blog. Please join Soldiers' Angels in continuing to support our troops. If you don't have time to adopt, please consider making a donation. The holidays are almost upon us and we are committed to sending a Christmas package to every deployed service member. We can't do it without the continuing support of people like you.

Thank you all again for your help in showing our Marines that there are many great Americans who live by the Marine motto: Semper Fi! Always Faithful!

-Kat

***********************************

Scotsman James Smeaton, hero of the Glasgow airport bombing, will be at the World Trade Center site for the 9-11 memorial this week. - FbL

***********************************

BTW - SWWBO has been posting updates from the Demesne. -the Armorer

***********************************

A little Denizen Humor: The Mean Kitty Song- Kat

***********************************

Proof that Tailhook includes more than just the traditional partying... Lex returns from Reno with a thoughtful dissection and commentary on Iraq. - FbL

***********************************

Biden on the "surge" report... Powerline sums it up well: My mind is mind is made up, please don't confuse me with the facts. - FbL

***********************************

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"