November 10, 2007
H&I Fires 10 NOV 2007
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...
Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want to flame someone in email please - if it doesn't say "The Armorer" or "John" then I didn't write it! And honestly - if you don't like something said or posted... leave a comment, and hash it out (within the context of The Rulez which are clearly posted on the comment form, I would add).
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Heh. Random observations about Las Vegas...
I haven't been in Las Vegas for two years, and almost didn't recognize the place. The town has no past, they keep imploding it - only a fantasy future.
Just how much slush *is there* in the global economy that keeps a place like Las Vegas going and growing?
You'll know the water shortage is being taken seriously around here when the casinos turn the fountains off. The water shortage is what will do the most to finally slow growth here, methinks. Then they'll spend casino money on figuring out how to save water.
I miss the coins. Banging into the tray. I heard that from a *lot* of people. Oddly enough, the casinos are too quiet. I'm sure the younger generation won't care, they never heard the coins. I only spent $40 on the slots - not just because I'm simply unable to spend that much time in front of the one-armed (heh, push-button) bandit, but because the feedback is so muted, what little fun there was... was gone. This constititutes a single data point, but it struck me, even on Friday night, the slots weren't being played that much. But the table games were packed.
The food wasn't as good. The Monte Carlo breakfast buffet is a workmanlike effort, but no pizazz. The MGM Grand Studio cafe was as I remember it (by which I mean good!).
I love the Cirque du Soleil. I got cheap tickets to Ka at the MGM Grand.. I love the music, and I am always impressed by the melding of engineering, art, and athleticism that characterizes the Cirque. And the whimsy. Especially the whimsy.
Everybody thinks they're the center of the political spectrum. Well, except for Steve. He proudly asserts that he's an extreme right winger... (Hi, Steve). That's the only way I can explain lefty bloggers asserting the Washington Post is a right-wing rag, reliably in the pocket of the administration.
I apparently don't look like a right-wing drooling knuckle-dragging gun nut. Which is kinda funny, because the person who thought I was nice and reliably leftish actually mentioned my blog in those terms. And I was wearing an embroidered Castle Argghhh! shirt. Then they admitted they'd only visited it that morning, once, and had made that assumption based on my graphics. Fair enough. She wasn't really in my target demographic.
There are a number of, oh, call 'em second tier progressive bloggers who sneak into the Castle via the postern gate as a guilty pleasure. They're uncomfortable with my politics (partially because I am both a bad liberal *and* a bad conservative - evidenced by being a sycophantic toady of the Bush Administration invited to the White House, and holding a seat on the Veteran's and Military Affairs Advisory Council for Democrat Nancy Boyda... anyway - they come for the Gun Pr0n. Because I usually offer it in mostly apolitical terms. But they'll never admit it publicly, because they'd take a raft of gaff from their own side.
Echo chambers and blinkers abound. On both sides.
Doing Hugh Hewitt is fun. He's very adept at saving your from yourself, and feeding you what you need. Musta been the deer in the headlights look.
Eric Egland for Congress! Replace a corrupt long-time Republican with a fresh, veteran face who actually knows something about military affairs - as evidenced when Eric and I decoded Austin Bay's broken and garbled transmission about getting a chance to put a message on a JDAM. I don't know what it sounded like to you guys who were listening - but to us, it was just as Hugh described it - about every third syllable came through.
Casinos that are really popular with smokers... stink. Badly. I don't mind smoking, go for it. But I don't like the effects of a lot of smokers in one place for a long time.
Okay, they're boarding. I guess I need to post this and go!
Oh, and I like the new boarding process for Southwest. -the Armorer
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Now that I'm at the KC airport awaiting the end of SWWBO's appointment with her massage therapist (I went to Vegas, the penalty was I waited until she was done to get picked up, good deal) I'll finish off the random thoughts bit - Provincial Reconstruction Teams... put the people who manage construction projects on the Strip in charge. Those are monumental projects, with a bazillion moving parts. Just a stray neuron firing. -the Armorer
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Valour-IT Saves Lives?!
[FbL here. Title shamelessly stolen from Noah Shachtman. Imitation and sincerity and all that...]
That's what Chuck Z says, and he would know. As Noah Shachtman of Wired puts it,
Suddenly, he [Chuck] was able to connect to the outside world. He was able to take up his blog again, too. And from that, he was able to muster the self-esteem and internal strength to begin his recovery.
From the reports of family and friends of a triple amputee:
The laptop was the first step to the road to recovery. It proved that he was going to be able to do all the things that he did before.
From the CO of a wounded soldier:
He expressed to me today in an email how much that [laptop] helped him. So thank you. Very much. For taking care of my Soldiers when I no longer could.
From a laptop recipient:
I can't begin to tell how much [the laptop] has changed my stay at WRAMC; I am able to correspond with my Soldiers, and my family. My Soldiers are still down range in Iraq. They are coming home soon, and I look forward to being back at my post to receive them. Again, thank you so much.
From the mother of a wounded soldier:
Buzz reports having the laptop has made staying at the hospital more tolerable. It turns out that the laptop is also becoming an important factor in his treatment because besides using it to stay in contact with friends and loved ones while he's hospitalized, he and his wife are using it to gather information on the latest research about spinal cord injuries.
From Chuck Z himself:
It was the first time I felt whole since I’d woken up wounded in Landstuhl.
As Veterans Day approaches, you can "support the troops" in a powerful and life-changing way. As Chuck says, "I can't wait to give that feeling to another wounded soldier." Please help him do that. Donate here.
Project Valour-IT update.
Fuzzybear Lioness put on her comms helmet and flogged us all again.
Okay, the Marines are doing okay - heh, which is amazing, considering who their enticer enforcer is.
Team Navy? Last year's winners? Well they showed up anyway. All the people they mugged in the alleys of San Diego musta caught wind of the fund-raiser and skipped town to not get caught up in the press gangs.
Then there's team Air Force, down the hill in the ville spending the flight pay and claiming crew rest... but fulla snark. Lotta snark for the people in last place...
But whatta ya expect - Mrs. Greyhawk got all tarted up to get a rise outta the Zoomies... well, I think the results speak for themselves...
Mrs. G - don't point a gun at the Amorer's brothers-in-arms...
Cuz' the Armorer will give it back to you looking like this.
Now, the rest of you - hit the Auctions, and click the button below.
C'mon, gimme the money you were gonna spend on a sixpack of beer. It all helps, and you'll look less like Alfred Hitchcock (or me) in profile... Donate via the Army Team.
Happy Birthday, Devil Dogs!
New Providence Raid, March 1776
Oil painting on canvas by V. Zveg, 1973, depicting Continental Sailors and Marines landing on New Providence Island, Bahamas, on 3 March 1776. Their initial objective, Fort Montagu, is in the left distance. Close off shore are the small vessels used to transport the landing force to the vicinity of the beach. They are (from left to right): two captured sloops, schooner Wasp and sloop Providence. The other ships of the American squadron are visible in the distance. The operation was commanded by Commodore Esek Hopkins.
Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.
You were born in a bar, and you're a buncha ill-mannered louts. But yer our ill-mannered louts, and I freely admit, yer good to have on my side in a fight.
And heck, the Commandant pretty much podcasts...
November 9, 2007
A story you might have missed, as the regular press doesn't cover good news much.
This post will be up top all day. New stuff will come in below.
The BlogWorld Expo has been fun and useful. And today's big post was going to be about that.
But not now. I'll probably get an Expo post up later in the day - but since my time is limited this morning, well, I think this bit of news is more important than just another blogger bloviating about bloggers at a blogging convention, a topic pretty much only of interest to bloggers.
Meet First Lieutenant Walter Jackson - someone you should know. So should your kids.
This is one tough Redleg. I was up late last night, planning todays posts, harvesting from my usual sources, when I came across this story I'd overlooked because I've been so busy of late.
From the Army News Service:
First Lt. Walter Bryan Jackson is the seventh Soldier to receive the Distinguished Service Cross since 1975. He is flanked by Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and his former commander, Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves. Photo by J.D. Leipold (ARNEWS)
Nov. 2, 2007: First Lt. Walter B. Jackson [Oak Harbor, Washington] became the seventh Soldier since the Vietnam War ended in 1975 to receive the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action.Secretary of the Army Pete Geren presented the DSC, which is second in precedence to only the Medal of Honor for valor in battle, at a ceremony held in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes this afternoon.
A second lieutenant at the time of his heroic action on Sept. 27, 2006, Lt. Jackson was cited for selfless courage under extreme enemy fire while serving as a company fire support officer with company A, Task Force 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
Lt. Jackson was engaged in combat operations with his unit against insurgents and while he attempted to recover a disabled vehicle, his unit came under heavy machine gun fire, which resulted in several Soldiers being wounded. As he applied first aid to a severely wounded comrade, he too was shot in the thigh.
Lt. Jackson’s citation in part reads: “Upon regaining consciousness after being shot, second lieutenant alternated between returning fire and administering first aid to the Soldier. Second Lt. Jackson was hit again with machine gun fire as he helped carry his wounded comrade to safety, but he never faltered in his aid. Although his own severe wounds required immediate evacuation and surgical care, 2nd Lt. Jackson refused medical assistance until his wounded comrade could be treated. Second Lt. Jackson’s selfless courage under extreme enemy fire was essential to saving another Soldier’s life and is in keeping with the finest traditions of military service…”
Before the presentation, Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves, former Task Force commander, recounted part of that September 2006 day when he arrived at the medical aid station to see his wounded Soldiers and the first words to come from 2nd Lt. Jackson were of concern for the wounded captain he’d rescued.
“All the leadership schools, classes and years of experience never really prepare you for that moment in time when you are standing among heroes who have given their all, where their first concerns still remain with their fellow Soldiers,” he said. “It reinforces duty and commitment unlike any other experience.”
After Secretary Geren made the award presentation, 1st Lt. Jackson spoke to the packed room, humbly thanking his family, his West Point classmates and the Soldiers he’s served with in his short two-year career and saying simply, “I believe I just had to do what I had to do in that situation… I think many Soldiers would have done the same thing.”
1st Lt. Jackson has been recovering from his wounds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, having undergone more than a dozen surgeries. While recovering at WRAMC, he volunteered as an intern with the Judge Advocate General’s office. He is awaiting orders to take over a multiple launch rocket system platoon in Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division Fires Brigade.
Well done, Lieutenant. Well done.
As I was writing this, I see that Chuck Simmins, of America's Northshore Journal picked up on it too (he's made a specialty of this) - you other bloggers should pick up on it, as well. Let's do a Veteran's Day blogburst - and push this story up and around.
Blogworld Expo
I'm sitting in the "Right vs Left: Who's Winning the Battle of the Blogosphere?" which is, interestingly, not well attended. Many of the people here at the Expo are in the "How to do it, and how to make money at it" sessions. Good for them.
I'm looking over Markos Moulitsa's shoulder as he is either live-blogging things, or, more likely, answering email. He's also reading, reading, reading...
Hugh Hewitt just asked Markos about what the Progressive side of the 'sphere was doing to grow their own bloggers... and Markos said, "We've got something working - but I'm not going to tell you what it is... " which is a fair enough answer.
I even stood next to Markos last night as he was hanging with his posse at the party at the Hard Rock last night - and I didn't feel any urge to spontaneously combust...
We managed to mix last night with no fireworks. This isn't to say we *truly* mixed, like any large group we were clustered in friendly clan-septs, but there was nobody out trying to provoke, proselytize, or pander to anyone, either. We were all just crashing the open bar, gnoshing on the prime rib, the exotic potato dishes (hey, Peruvian Purple mashed potatoes topped with carmelized onions with apple-smoked bacon stuck in it... or the new potatoes with caviar. *That* was an acquired taste, and I'm not managed to find it. Did I mention the chocolate fountain?
The political panels have been pretty good, too, with people mostly managing to stay on topic and not get into politics. It's really been a civil gathering, with people just here to have a convention, network, catch up on tech, and catch up with friends.
The military panels have been excellent - and while also sparsely attended - are at least as well attended as the political sessions. Again - most of the people here seem to be interested in the tech stuff.
I've been asked to do some name-dropping. Okay. People I've met, renewed acquaintances, swapped stories and cards with...
Matty O'Blackfive, Uncle Jimbo, Hugh Hewitt, LaShawn Barber, Markos Moulitsas (okay, I met him, we didn't chat - hey, the only thing we have in common aside from we love our children is that we were both artillerymen), Jerome Armstrong, Rachelle Jones, Andi Hurley, Carla Lois, Ward Carroll, Tim Boggs, Thomas Nichols, Chuck Ziegenfuss, John Hinderaker, Dean Barnett, Mary Ham, Ravi Singh, Steven Schippert, Michael Medved just to name a few, and I'll drop other names later.... Gina I mentioned yesterday...
For me, this was worth the expense of getting here (I booked *late* because I wasn't sure I could here at all...) and I plan to come again next year.
Update: Interesting, Hugh just asked the panel if they thought that bloggers would find themselves in appointed political positions after the next election?
Most of the panel doesn't think so. Hugh brought up the possiblity that one reason why there won't be many is that many young bloggers have written with such passion, and sometimes lack of judgement, that they'll be anathema for appointed positions - and several panelists brought up that it might not be what they wrote, but what others wrote... both in terms honest comments/writings, and "black ops" commenting designed to get the blogger in hot water.
Update: Politics finally showed up with Markos joining in from the floor. The subject that triggered it- Iraq. We're no longer on the topic of the impact and effect of the left and right blogs, but... simply politics.
The Progressives posited that the only definition of success in Iraq is - troops home. No other definition is possible.
I asked the question of Afghanistan, how did that fit into that frame - and I clearly wasn't clear - no one answered my question on the substance, and took it instead as an accusation of isolationism on the part of Democrats.
I just wanted them to state a position in re the war on terror, vice the Iraq campaign in the war. But the political filters were to strong for me to get through. Heh.
Jeralyn Merrit did state that if someone attacks us, we should fight back. But she doesn't believe in preventative war, regime change, much less societal change. As she see's it - there's more than enough societal change she wants to effect in the US that we don't need to be spending that effort elsewhere.
Joe Sudbay said something interesting - the Progressive bloggers see themselves, just as we on the Conservative side do - a conduit *around* the MSM and a way to get stories out that the MSM won't carry. And they have the same problem interacting with their side of political power structure as we do.
Interesting indeed.
Updating again, this time with more name-dropping. Lessee, NZBear, some guy named Instapundit (okay, I simply basked in his passing glow, he was talking to some very serious looking woman and it didn't look like a good time to play groupie), Steve Eggleston, Ano Kohnsen, Sarah Walters, Jill Army...
...and last, but not least, I really do know Kos' last name is Zuniga, but for whatever reason, it wasn't reaching my fingers when I was typing during the panel. My inexplicable bad.
Valour-IT: New Auctions
Most-importantly, the Pinups for Vets items are now up (click to bid):
There have also been a number of new items added, and older items that might catch your eye. For example, the chance to blog on Drunken Wisdom, handmade glass-bead necklaces, an out-of-print book about the B-17, a high-quality model of an F/A-18, and an offer to design and host your website. There are also a number of autographed books spread throughout the auction pages. And I did some Googling and couldn't find a GEN Pace Challenge Coin for sale outside the Valour-IT auction.
I've included pics of more new (and old) items in "Flash Traffic" below, to spare the Luddites among us [click photos to bid].
H&I Fires 9 NOV 2007
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...
Some additional thoughts on Pakistan's "emergency" laws. Did the Supreme Court ruling effectively leave Pakistan without a constitutional government when Musharraf's re-election was invalidated? Isn't the possibility that an on-going constitutional crisis in 2001 between Gore and Bush one of the reasons that Gore finally backed down and stopped pressing the problem after the Supremes did not rule in his favor?
China claims that the reason they are looking at aircraft carriers is because their public demands it. Do we buy equipment based on public demand? Probably. That's why defense contractors make a point of putting on nifty shows and releasing them to the media. The public gets interested and it plays a part in pressuring congress and others to approve systems. The only part I didn't buy from the article was that China's military was "balking" at adding it.
I love the "cover up" that wasn't headlines. Headlines like this one: Buried evidence revealed in Guantanamo trial:
The U.S. government has for years had secret evidence that could help a young Canadian prisoner defend himself in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals, a military defense lawyer said on Thursday.
After trying for the impression that the government was railroading the guy, they let this one in half way down:
"This is something that was buried because nobody ever looked."
Okay. It was accidentally on purpose. Got it.
History Channel will have an interesting program on tonight: Band of Bloggers. The story of military blogging from the front lines with some appearances by well known bloggers and assisted by JD Johannes from Outside the Wire. Here I thought I had coined the phrase. ;)
-Kat
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This just in - Federal Magistrate says it's okay to stomp on a flag. Wait - before you go, 'D-uh, what's new?" This is a 'man bites dog' story from the boys at Stop The ACLU. -the Armorer
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Be sure to check out Thunder Run. He's got a round up of interesting reports from Iraq. In particular, this one where the people point out a terrorist leader at the police recruitment program. In the past, no one would have said anything and the police would have been infiltrated. The fact they pointed him out in the middle of a recruitment drive tells you that "fear" is losing its power in Iraq.
-Kat
A message for Congress. From Congress.
Congresswoman Thelma Drake (VA-02)FLOOR SPEECH
Mr. Speaker, this is day 40. That is 40 days, so far, that our veterans have not had the use of the increased funding for their benefits and health care. That is $18.5 million a day not able to be used.
One thing our Veterans have always asked for is that we pass their bill by October 1. This bill has been done for months.
With Veteran’s Day quickly approaching, the Democratic Leadership put our veterans aside to consider billions in bloated domestic spending instead of bringing a clean Veterans bill to the floor.
I’m standing with our Veterans and I call on all Americans to contact their Representatives to tell the Democratic Leadership to send a clean Veterans Appropriations bill to the President now.
Oh yes indeedy! And none of those unreadable, impractical, and should be outlawed Omnibus bills, either.
Do your jobs, people.
Al Qaida Threats: It's the Economy Stupid
[Denizen Commentary - Kat]
Update: John Bolton discusses the terror alert on video
The FBI released declassified memo warning of a possible Al Qaida attack on US malls though they also caution against it's credibility. This type of threat has been made almost annually. The purpose is very apparent. The US economy is strong because consumers spend. If Al Qaida can damage the US economy, it believes it can damage our ability to project military and political power. Damaging our economy has been a primary objective of Al Qaida and like minded terrorists for almost two decades or more.
(continued in flash traffic)
November 8, 2007
A quick BlogWorld Expo post.
I got orders from PVIT 6 this morning before I left regarding PVIT - PUSH PUSH PUSH!
So, I won't talk about the blog panel hosted by my buddy Dave Perlmutter that had a scad of big name bloggers that span the spectrum where it became apparent my blogging approach isn't as bad as I sometimes think. Nope. I won't talk about the undercover White House types, or the not-so-undercover DoD types I ran into. Or running into Mary Katherine Ham and finding out she knows me on sight. Or, I might be on Hugh Hewitt's show this afternoon... Or discovering I have fans (no groupies, SWWBO, I'm behavin')
Nope I'll get to the important stuff. That might get me in trouble with SWWBO. Okay, maybe I'm misbehavin' a *little.*
Gina! Gina of Pinups For Vets has endorsed Project Valour-IT and the Army Team!
And she has provided a personalized poster and calendar that will be available on a PVIT auction website near you, probably this evening.
Yep - that very one - with that lipstick mark there that is real, and I watched it be put in place! But I'm behavin' SWWBO - I didn't collect any personal marks - just some hugs from Carla of One Soldier's Mom and Andi of Spouse Buzz.
The Armorer is having a good time - but it would be much better if SWWBO was here.
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Speaking of innovative ways to donate... organize the Power of Many.
John,I don't know how it may be entered, but on my motion at an American Legion meeting, the post (AK Dept, Ketchikan Post 3) has agreed to sponsor a troop with a $600 donation. During discussion, we may be doing this quarterly.
Maybe a mention to all your readers to approach their Post (Legion, VFW, SAMS, etc.) and set up the same thing. If ever there is a group that understands what our men and women are going through right now, it is those of us who have been there.
Hunter
Ketchikan
Thanks, Hunter. Thank you very much.
H&I Fires 8 NOV 2007
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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Don't miss the Valour-IT News Roundup.
Look who's making promises. (h/t Trias, in comments). Wonder if all that aid dangling in front of him had anything to do with it...
Closer to home, that evil computer corporation (just kidding, Bill; we love you!) has enough sense to recognize a hero among us. And it's someone very close to the heart of many Castle Denizens. - FbL
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There is wonderful news coming out of Iraq these days. Charts show IEDs are down, attacks on Coalition bases are down, engagements with terrorists and insurgents are down, civilian deaths are down. Down, down, down. And all while there are more soldiers walking and living among the locals.But there's something hidden going on here that doesn't make the headlines...
What is it? Answer here. - FbL
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Josie Salzman celebrates her husband's latest prosthetic. No wife jokes, please. Oh, and the embedded video is pretty awesome, too. Gotta say it... I love these guys. - FbL
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Speaking of our veterans, a recent report indicates that, while over all homelessness is down across the country, veterans still represent 25% (1/4) of homeless, including new disturbing numbers of vets from the recent war.
Carrying on from above, Yon talks about the good news coming out of Iraq. What's completely amazing is how many people are simply ignoring the info and still insisting Iraq is lost. Just remember, you heard "we won" here first (I think).
One other thing that is still being bruted about is that this year was the highest year for US casualties over all in Iraq, regardless of the recent down turn. As I told a lefty commenter several months ago who was complaining about "Bush' escalation of war" with the troop surge and the increasing casualties, historically, before war ends there is usually a big increase in kinetic activity and casualties as one side tries to take advantage of the other's weaknesses and as the other side tries to stave off total destruction. That is how all wars generally end.
Continuing on with the issues at State, one of the FSOs wrote an open letter to his colleagues regarding their behavior. However, the more I read and listen, the more I believe that the problem with State over all is that the department has failed to accept the over all change in its mission.
Not Iraq per se, but that small, unstable third world nations where terrorists organize and use the internal unrest to mask their activities are the major issue for US security. We need State to be very strong point people in these nations. Not just to report, but to establish necessary programs to help stabilize the areas and keep the terrorists out. It's these posts that should be the "career making" posts. It's these posts that should be sought out by State employees. But , I don't blame FSOs completely for their own lack of acknowledging this new paradigm. Obvious, the director and her subordinates need to actively project this message to the staff (though, after six years, you'd think the staff would get this. Failure to recognize it goes up and down the ranks.
-Kat
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One more bit about the Salzmans (see above). Those who have followed J.R. and Josie since J.R. was wounded have marveled at Josie's poise, strength and sense of humor. What they may not have known is that Josie was barely 20 years old when he was wounded last December. - FbL
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Update: Link fixed for the FSO letter to his colleagues above. Sorry for being so late. - Kat
The Whatzis, coda.
Okay - what's the whatzis?
Meet the Black Knight, a semi-autonomous robot combat vehicle built as a corporate venture by BAE, and currently being evaluated as a technology demonstrator by the Army.
A larger version is available here.
Here's a little context for you:
Smaller than a Bradley, bigger than a HMMWV. And unmanned. It's controlled by a guy inside that Bradley. And has the ability to operate on it's own, in a limited fashion, for navigation. It does use many Bradley components.
Both of those elements are why that muzzle brake is bunged. It's hard to control a remote control vehicle using a TV screen.
Speaking of the gun... those of you, like Pat, who were zeroing in on 30/40mm chain guns, especially the Alliant TechSystems ones, were sniffing very close. ATK did indeed make that muzzle brake, out of aluminum, as a one-off for BAE.
The gun isn't real. It's decorative. Because the Army isn't quite ready yet for armed semi-autonomous robots that are armed and armored like that. What's that you say? SWORDS, the armed robots currently in Iraq? There's no autonomy there. They do what human controllers tell them to do - not what a software algorithm thinks might be a good idea.
Oh - and yeah, it was too out there in the wild for you to find. But now it's out there much more clearly, from a photographic standpoint.
And all you fellas should walk with your heads hanging in shame.
Because Homefront Six GOT IT!
Yew rawk, gurl!
Valour-IT Today
The best news of all is that Valour-IT has received over $30,000 in donations unaffiliated with a particular fundraising team! That means that our current total is around $85,000, not including donations mailed in.
But we have quite a ways to go, and so Soldiers' Angels is offering a beautiful donation incentive beginning today.
Due to constant bugs, the Valour-IT auction site had to be rebuilt. Participant accounts, bids, and items all transferred. If you activated your account for the old version, you should've received an automatic email telling you to click a link to activate in the new system (same name/password). If not, please email Holly (Soldiers' Angels webmistress).
And on the subject of auctions, there are some extraordinary items up for bid:
- Pentagon Challenge Coin from General Peter Pace
- Autographed Chris Muir print
- "Gone, But Not Forgotten" quilt
- Autographed custom caricature by John Cox
- A number of autographed/rare books
And please, keep spreading the word about Valour-IT to your friends and family. We have just a handful of days left!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And you don't have to get caught up in a bidding war for these. Just be one of the top two of the donors who drop their receipts on John. And, since the entire known world *doesn't* bother to stop here (or follow all of the links), your chances are purty durn good... --Bill
Blogger's Roundtable Interview with Colonel Robert Abrams, Deputy Commander, CAC.
That would be the Combined Arms Center - which is at Fort Leavenworth, so this was interviewing close to home. Of course, I was in Georgia at the time...
The Combined Arms Center is the epicenter of Army Doctrine and Training.
I'll wait for you to finish all the jokes.
Colonel Abrams' particular topic of interest this day was the Combat Training Center Program - the huge training operations we run at Fort Irwin, California, Fort Polk, Louisiana, Hohenfels, Germany, and the Battle Command Training Program, which trains JTF HQ's and higher, and is sim-driven. That group is run out of Fort Leavenworth, but travel world-wide in support of those training events.
Colonel Abrams is new to the job, having been on-board at Leavenworth for about two months. He made an observation that is a truism for many of us - prior to getting that job, he had no real idea what the job was. After I left command as a Captain, every job I had thereafter except for Small Group Leader was essentially undiscovered country.
It means he's the primary agent for supervising policies and procedures for collective training on behalf of the TRADOC commander (General Wallace, who as a Corps commander commanded the March Upcountry) and the commander at the Combined Arms Center (LTG Caldwell, who just came out of Division command in Iraq). As the Colonel put it, "...all things involving training, involving more than one person, somehow it gets back to something under my
direct control."
Speaking of quotes - this is a blog, so I have the luxury - let's just let him speak for himself:
"There's three things I really kind of just want to mention briefly and then I will talk about whatever you want to talk about. And there are three things that most of you are probably familiar with. The first one is our combat training center program, specifically our Combat Training Center Program. And my point to you is is that I'm two years removed from brigade command, but for the majority of my career I've been operational. And so I've had an opportunity
to go back out to the National Training Center and visit with both -- and the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. And I can tell you that the transformation that has gone on since 9/11 -- but really since 2003 -- is fairly significant and I'm prepared to talk about whatever detail you want. But it's not your father's National Training Center or JMRC.It is a fullspectrum, capable training center that is as close a replication of today's fight that we're in and is certainly postured for future fights and I'll talk about that as much as you want.
The second one is our constructive battle -- CTC -- and that's the battle command training program who works directly for me. And as you know, that is the agency that for a little over 20 years now has had the mantle of training our divisions, corps, Army service component commands and battle command. And we do it using a constructive simulation as the driver, CBS or BBS or you name your constructive simulation. But they too have dramatically transformed and are prepared in the near future to support more of our modular brigades and brigade combat teams out in the force.The simulation -- the first thing that struck me is the simulation. I did participate in a division MRE four years ago before we went to OIF-2 and it was basically the Cold War version of the corps battle simulation system -- not much had changed. And everything that we did with regards to the counterinsurgency fight and the full-spectrum fight that we were going to face
in Baghdad was really replicated using handwritten MSELs [Master Scenario Event List - a list of actions or info that is inserted into play to ensure training objectives are met - the Armorer], as we call them, to help drive certain actions and orders within the division and decisions for the division commander. All of that has now since then been replaced with a joint, non-kinetic effects module that actually feeds in joint non-kinetic effects right into the simulation. And so the challenge now is much, much higher in terms of the constructive simulations supporting our divisions and corps fights. [In this respect, non-kinetic is referring to non-combat, i.e., shooting events, but rather all the other stuff, media, factions, water/electricity outages, public opinion, and so on - the Armorer]And then the third one is -- I'll talk about is the National Simulation Center. The National Simulation Center is here at Fort Leavenworth and it is the architectural backbone for all constructive simulations in the Army. And in the future, our goal is -- as we're working on a system to effectively link live, virtual and constructive simulations all in one network so that you could -- and we can kind of do it in small circumstances today, but our goal is worldwide anywhere to be about to build a training environment that can actually link seamlessly for the training force, units that are training live, units that are training virtual and simulators, and units that are training in a constructive environment. So pretty exciting times as we look to the future in terms of maximizing our training capability."
I'll put the Q&A below the fold, in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry.
November 7, 2007
H&I Fires November 7, 2007
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...
Throwing up a quick post to get the day started and insure no overlapping, multiple H&I's that might result in friendly casualties...
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Blogging, 95 year old Granny a hit with the younger crowd.
Cookie torture - Drug deal gone wrong leads to hot cookies on the torso and other twisted tortures.
What Al Qaeda fears the most is the eradication of Muslim culture by western ideas and culture and they were right: Cannabis and Bikers a big splash in Afghanistan. They even have their own movement to legalize drugs.
Speaking of "legal" issues: robotic espionage.
Harry Potter star to star in a Brit Drama: My Boy Jack, a story about Rudyard Kipling and his son Jack Kipling who went missing in WWI and is the subject of some of Kipling's later prose on serving in the military.
-Kat
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Literally, one of the dumbest things I've ever seen suggested to stop drug seekers from getting your left over pills: Put drugs in poop! Pharmacists will start handing out fliers urging people to put their left over medicines, particularly pain meds, into the kitty litter. Hopefully, not your kitty's actual litter since they might try to eat the pills any way and die. This is to keep people from abusing the left over drugs most folks have hanging out in their medicine cabinet. Also to reduce the amount of pharmaceuticals being flushed into our drinking water.
Sounds good - keep drugs from people by making them too nasty to contemplate being taken. Just a couple of problems with that:
1) If you've ever known a drug seeking, addicted person, you know that they will pick burnt roaches out of a full ash tray, get down on their hands and knees searching for little pieces of "rock" they might have dropped on the carpet in the past and any number of other truly gross behaviors when they are "tweaking". I don't think popping the pills in poop will stop a really desperate person from getting them if they know and want it.
2) Most people who get their prescription meds from "friends and family", as pointed out in this article, don't steal it from their medicine closet with the "friend or family" "unknowing", though it happens. Nope. most people are complicit in the drug habits of others and committing illegal acts by simply giving their pain meds to a friend or family member who asks or, hoping to be a good samaritan, offer it out of hand. Most of the time never realizing they are facilitating abuse.
So, "throw your pills in poop" is just one of those cute ideas that will most likely result in your cat or dog getting a buzz.
-Kat
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Herr Flea delivers the goods, as usual. Why not take a look at the Afghanistan Campaign from our Brit Cousin's perspective? Go! Watch!
--ry
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The Whatzis, day 4, the pain continues.
In the brief bit of time between finishing my expense voucher and heading back to the airport to head for Vegas and the Blogworld Expo, I better put up another installation of the Whatzis saga before HomeFront Six crawls through the digital pipe and grabs me by the neck and shakes me like a puppy.
Okay. We'll change tack here. Yesterday I gave hints as to the *mount* this thing was in. Let's take a look at the running gear of what this thing is mounted *on*.
Mebbe that will help.
Mebbe.
Dear Hollywood...
[Erudite, quasi-intellectual, semi-coherent commentary - Kat]
Hollywood is still trying to figure out why they aren't making money with their current batch of anti-"war" movies.
'People out here are nervous,'' a top studio exec told me Monday. ''It seems very clear that the public simply is not interested in going to the movies to watch stories similar to what they see every night on the [TV] news or read in the paper every morning.''
True, but let's finish that thought out: they don't care to see the same BS, "war is not the answer", "America is the bad guy" story. Mainly because they weren't buying it from the Main Stream Media and they aren't buying it from Hollywood either.
It's very simple: Heroes
The latest "war" movies (all seven of them) follow the same genre and it's all "America Bad, All the time". Seven of them. Not one funny or heroic among them.
(continued in flash traffic)
Our S.O.B. In Pakistan
[Erudite, quasi-intellectual, semi-coherent commentary - Kat]
What do we do about Pakistan? Musharraf has put us in a bad position. A calculation on his part that was probably a foregone conclusion after the Pakistan Supreme Court ruling that said he had to resign as head of the military forces if he wanted to continue campaigning for president. Bhutto decided to take the opportunity to press for her return. Musharraf was being pressured politically and militarily as his forces continued to take beatings in the Tribal areas of Waziristan. He may have felt he had no other recourse, but to declare martial law.
Then again, Musharraf is either supported by the US or his government collapses which means either an Islamic government comes to power or even a "moderate" government, taking in consideration other internal issues, that would force the government to reduce cooperation with the US against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Waziristan. Thus, giving Al Qaeda and the Taliban the truly protected space they require to refit and re-organize.
Leaving us with the prospect of a deposed Musharef in a truly unstable state with nuclear weapons or backing Musharraf after disbanding Democracy and hope we can pressure him into re-establishing it and allowing elections. Even then, the damage may be too extreme since the electoral backlash (or military coup) is likely to be Musharraf's demise.
Are we forced to re-track to "realist" politics and simply back Musharraf as a long term, oppressive dictator, for-going any moral stand on democracy?
Or, do we stand on democracy and hope Bhutto can pull something together to maintain a government that can bring the non-Al Qaeda fundamentalist, Islamists and the more "liberal" urban democrats into a government that can share power?
Or, are we prepared for a total chaotic state where the nuclear weapons may be up for grabs?
This possibility was probably what has had Adm. Fallon talking about re-deployments of troops to counter "other" threats.
November 6, 2007
Meet the Wounded Warriors at Fort Riley.
[Armorer's note - since this post was a tribute post to the fortitude of a wounded soldier, and the comments got hijacked for a political discussion, I have moved the post to this space. Kindly keep the politics out of it. -the Armorer]
The only comment I have to add - the medics know their patients. You'll see what I mean when you get to it. This is the first of a 5 part series. -the Armorer
By Anna Staatz Staff writerStaff Sgt. Joshua Sands, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, joined the Army mostly just to see what it was like. The 24-year-old Nashville, Tenn., native left Fort Riley in early February with the 4th IBCT on his first combat tour.
After five years in the Army, Sands said he was ready to go to combat. "I wasn't too worried (before I left) about something happening," Sands said. "I felt really calm about going. I'd been in for five years and never been deployed, so I just felt it was my time to go." May 25, Sands was part of a seven-man patrol through a Baghdad neighborhood. The day before, an improvised explosive device had gone off and Soldiers apprehended someone they thought might be responsible.
Now, Sands and his patrol were going door-to-door talking with residents and looking for witnesses. "The day we went out, I didn't feel good about going out and neither did Seth (Danylko) - mostly because we were on foot," Sands said. Sands was at the front of the patrol headed towards an intersection, while other Soldiers stopped at a door. "I was standing in the middle of the road and there was an open area between the two roads. I thought to myself that this wasn't a good place to stand," Sands said.
He turned to take a step back and then the IED detonated. "It wasn't real loud," Sands said. "Dust just came off everything." In seconds the shock disappeared as his first sergeant started shouting directions and Soldiers began to return fire. Sands said the device was likely detonated when enemy forces saw him turn to leave the vicinity. "I guess they figured that was the closest any of us was going to get," he said. Others out on the patrol with him told him the explosion was about 30 feet behind him. As Sands took a step forward, he felt like his leg was asleep. When he felt the blood running down his arm and leg, he realized he was hurt.
"I was able to walk to a covered area," Sands said. "I didn't think I was bleeding bad, but the Soldier who opened up my uniform - I saw the look on his face. I just told him to bandage me up and let's go ... The thought of dying never really crossed my mind. There was a lot of adrenaline and stuff going on."
Danylko had also been injured in the blast. The pair was taken to the nearest hospital and both went through surgery. Doctors removed shrapnel from Sands' arm and performed a fasciotomy procedure on both his left leg and arm to alleviate the pressure and swelling from bleeding in those areas. Sands ended up with more than 100 staples and 20 stitches between the two wounds.
"It hit me on the way to the hospital that 'man, I'd just gotten hurt,'" Sands said. "But it really sunk in when I woke up after surgery and there was a cup with the shrapnel from my arm taped to my chest." During the next eight days, Sands was flown from Baghdad to Balad and then on to Landstuhl, Germany. From there he went to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and finally back to Fort Riley. He underwent a second surgery at Fort Riley to install a plate in his arm to stabilize a shattered bone.
Sands has significant nerve damage in his arm and leg, but said he is slowly regaining feeling, even though at times it is frustrating. "Nerves take so long to heal," he said. "But there's been good signs that my nerves are healing. It's not perfect healing, sometimes it's pins and needles, but I can feel."
Sands said it is expected that he will make a full recovery, but he doubts it will be in time to rejoin his unit in Baghdad. "In a lot of ways, I miss my guys and I worry about them, but I know I'm not very useful to them," Sands said. Sands said the most important thing for Soldiers to remember if they are injured is to be patient.
"Just be patient. It's hard sometimes," he said. "You have to find other ways to look at the situation. But the biggest thing is to be patient." In the five years Sands has been in the Army, he has re-upped his time twice. While he said he joined to gain experience and maturity, he had started to look at making the Army a career. Now, he said he doesn't know. "I'd like to stay in," he said. "But I really want to go to flight school. If I can't, I'm not sure what my plans will be."
Meet the wounded warriors of Fort Riley. Cliff.
This post was originally a tribute to a wounded soldier at Fort Riley. If you read the comments, it got, being charitable, hijacked to a political purpose. Accordingly, I have removed the original post and reposted it elsewhere.
If you guys wish to continue the thread in the comments, fine. But keep it here. Do *not* move into the other post. Or any other post not intended for political threads. That is exactly the purpose of an H&I post. I should have put one up today, obviously.
My place, my Rulez. Play by them or go play elsewhere. It's that simple.
Whatzis... day the third.
Okay, let's help Home Front Six out a bit.
Here's a more full context.
Ah-ah-ah! You're leaping to conclusions, those of you with a little knowledge.
It is *not* one of these, however much you may wish it so.
And tomorrow, in the reveal, I'll explain why that muzzle brake is bunged up, too.
You may continue.
Oh, you are going to be sooooo annoyed with me. More than you are already. Rod - I really *am* going all "De Sade" on you with this one.
By the way - have you been to the Project Valour-IT auction site yet? C'mon - bid against people you know and like, instead of faceless strangers on eBay! Someone already skunked me out of the Chris Muir cartoon - but I bid the weasel up to $1001 dollars, so s/he hadda want it, eh? And Maggie - that only helps the AF Team, so I needed your $500 to help offset that...
Oh, and while you're at it - skip lunch today at that over-priced restaurant and donate that money instead to Project Valour-IT. You know you want to.
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The Windup -- A-A-A-A-nd the Pitch!
Ah, the mystique of the flight suit!
When one of us steely-eyed, lantern-jawed stalwarts clad in a sage green one-piece (with 27-inch zipper) appears on-scene, male groundlings cringe in jealous awe, females of the feminine persuasion *swoon* from the onrush of multiple heady fantasies, children glow with instant hero-worship and junkyard dogs become fawning sycophants.
Ummmmm, that's the way it's *supposed* to work, anyway.
The reality is that the guys turn and start muttering imprecations about deity-condemned aviators into their beers, the gurlz walk up and ask if velcro holds up under repeated washings (nope), kids want you to give them the official US Gummint pen stuck in your shoulder pocket and household pets view you as a large, self-propelled squeaky toy.
But eventually, all conversations *do* zero in on that 27-inch zipper.
And *you* can find out First Hand -- as long as you can fit into a Coveralls, Flyers, Men, Summer, Fire-Resistant 27/P, Size 40R. Otherwise, you'll just have to put it on display.
Yup. A gen-you-wine Cold War relic worn by a Cold War relic flying Cold War relic aircraft during the Cold War, complete with CW4 sew-on insignia and a gen-you-wine NJARNG Aviation Safety patch -- which makes it a real one-of-a-kind, because I designed the patch in 1978 and the design changed in 1998.
And it's up for bids. The usual deal -- send proof of your Valour-IT donation(s) to John (*not* to me -- sorry, but KtLW has the annoying habit of screaming in my remaining ear if I'm online for any reason other than downloading recipes from FoodTV).
Runner-up gets a Vietnam-era poncho, only worn during the '71-'72 monsoon season at Fort Dix.
Certificates of authenticity included (as soon as I can think of something suitably off the wall recall the proper verbage).
And just to keep John from going all grumbly about handling the extra correspondence -- if any -- I'll throw him a bone in a knick-nack for the Castle Bar...
November 5, 2007
H&I Fires November 5, 2007
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...
Throwing up a quick post to get the day started and insure no overlapping, multiple H&I's that might result in friendly casualties...
In response to the post the other day on why men like guns better than women, my own "Top 12 Why Guns Are Better Than Men":
#12 A gun doesn't mind if you take it out and look at it and then put it away without firing it
#11 A gun can be fired more than once, often for hours if you have enough ammunition
#10 A gun can be reloaded and ready to go again in seconds
#9 Guns can fire both blanks and live ammunition as needed
#8 A gun does not get offended if you apply scientifically enhanced lubrication to improve the motion of the slide or reduce wear and tear to other moving parts.
#7 You don't have to introduce your gun to your parents
#6 If you do introduce your gun to your parents, it won't complain on the drive home because your dad suggested a better model
#5 You can put your gun in your purse and it won't worry other guns question its masculinity
#4 A gun won't leave you unless you sell it, give it away or its pried from your cold, dead hand
#3 A gun won't be offended if you discuss its performance with your girlfriends
#2 A gun won't complain if you adjust its sites to improve accuracy
#1 A gun doesn't question its ability to perform if you have a spare gun in your night stand
ooh....oooh...and since it seems like it is Project Valour IT all day today, a bonus:
A gun won't complain if you give all your money to a really great cause instead of buying ammunition and taking it to the firing range.
Okay...if you don't want to read anymore "why guns are better than men", you better pony up. A little light in the wallet is much better than a decimated ego ;)
- Kat
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Since there's been a posting frenzy today, I've pulled this from it's separate post and put it in the H&I, just to reduce some of the overhead...
Since the others have all atrophied.
Chuck Ziegenfuss, who blogs at From My Position, On The Way! is a finalist in the Weblog Awards. He's a combat-wounded serving soldier who, with Fuzzybear Lioness founded Project Valour-IT.
Since we weren't finalists, I've been studiously ignoring the whole thing, pretending my tender ego was not savaged brutally by the slight. Sniff, sniff. (discreetly dabs at moisture in corner of eye)
Anyway, Chuck, being much more savvy at this whole marketing thing that we are, sent a blast out to the larger milbloggers shamelessly begging for support, so he can stand on the mound of bodies of his competitors for best of the top 2501-3500 Ecosystem Blogs. So, click that link, and vote everyday between now and the 8th of November when the polls close.
What's the point of Internet polls if you can't skew them?
Besides - of the ones who are finalists in that category the only other one I read is Boots and Sabers. -the Armorer
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Valour-IT - so, some liberals have stepped up.
Heh. It was a hard-won $250 that I wrested from Cliff at OneUtah (and Cliff, gimme something rather less political than VoteVets and I'll still match your donation to Valour-IT - in addition to the one I sent to PVIT matching yours - and no military connection is required.)
Nonetheless, we've an ambitious goal for Team Army, $60K, and, well, frankly, we're lagging. Oh sure, we're ahead of the slackers in the other services (at least when I hit post) but we're lagging from the pace.
Accordingly, I'm going to have to resort to some, well, tough love.
So - if you don't click on the link below and pony up some dough, I'm going to send around these guys around to visit your blog and sit on your visitors. They're all former Sailors down on their luck, willing to do anything for a buck. Sailors are like that.
So, click here and donate....
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...or get a visit from these guys.
Your choice. Choose wisely.
Valour-IT: Liberals Step Up
[FbL here]
UPDATE II: I've debated whether to include One Utah, since putting up a button in comments on one's own blog doesn't seem to quite meet the standards of actually blogging it. However, I sent the link in my latest email to Malkin and we'll see what she does with it. Btw, she says she will wait until the afternoon/evening then put up an new post/update of all the lib blogs we've found so far. The commenters at her site are now offering the following for each liberal blogger who signs up and posts, in addition to MM's $50 challenge (thanks to stevegg for kindly creating the compilation at my request):
F15mech - $50 to Team Air Force
trinitytim - $25 to Team Army
swj719AWG - $5 to each team ($20 total per left-wing blog)
SirKnob - $5 to Team Navy/USCG
steveegg - $5 (divided as equally as possible among the teams)
UPDATE: We have another one--Lawyers, Guns, and Money--which isn't going to appeal to most of the readership as much as one might think. ;) And I haven't heard from Malkin yet, but her readers are ponying up. Three cheers for following through; let's hope we end up emptying their wallets for Valour-IT!
I had some time to do some snooping in our blogger team lists this morning (scroll down), and am very happy to report my findings: at least four liberal bloggers have stepped up to Michelle Malkin's challenge to blog Valour-IT.**
Greg from the Left
Online Lunchpail (see sidebar)
Springbored's Springboard
And last, but certainly not least, our very own Trias at Insanity Blog.
Thanks to all of you who responded to Malkin in a polite and rational manner and threw the gauntlet right back down at her feet. Her commenters have issued their own challenges, and Valour-IT is looking forward to the donations your blogging will inspire.
Way to go, friends across the aisle! Let's keep lightening those wallets for Valour-IT!
**As mentioned before, the challenge is to just blog in support of Valour-IT, as we know that people on both left and right have generously donated to Valour-IT from the very beginning.
First Do No Harm: Medicine, Psychology and Anthropology At War
[Denizen Psuedo-Intellectual, Semi-Socratic Commentary - Kat]
Commenting last week, I noted a Law And Order episode where the psychiatrist's participation in developing an interrogation program had the Medical Examiner (also a physician) equating the psychiatrists to Dr. Mengele. In that episode, the psychiatrist had her license revoked. This is not a trumped up television theme nor is it necessarily restricted to psychiatry or the field of medicine as a whole.
The idea of medicine at war, beyond treating the wounded or psychologically damaged victims, has been a fearful specter since the liberation of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Possibly even longer such as the terrible conditions of Union prisoners at Antitiem during the Civil War where confederate doctors at the prison were later charged with what is now referred to as "War Crimes" and sentenced for their part. Most of that stemmed from the inability or lack of effort to treat some of the worst afflicted, to demand care for their "patients" who were disease ridden and sometimes starving. Images of emaciated prisoners were not first introduced to society during World War II, but have long been associated with the worst evils of war.
Add to that years of horror movies and books featuring crazed doctors who experimented on their patients or otherwise performed bizarre surgeries for no other reason but inflicting pain and we are programmed to believe that physicians who are not in the usual settings of medicine, such as hospitals v. prison camps, are likely committing unspeakable acts against their Hippocratic Oath: First Do No Harm.
[continued in flash traffic]
Whatzis, Day 2.
Snerk. Really made HFS wait. Hey, I slept in - I'm on the night mission schedule.
Okay, here's a bit more context.
So, yeah, it's a muzzle brake. And yes, it's kinda bunged up - which is usually not characteristic of muzzle brakes, since they aren't a component of digging tools.
But what's the system it's a component of? And yes, it's out there.
Gollum’s Three Friends Challenge.
Well, since people are so big on challenges and what not I think I’d like to jump in with one too. Does anyone remember the old commercial that ended with ‘and they told three friends, and they told three friends’ and the exponential progression on screen (3 photos becomes nine becomes 27 become 81 become 243...)? Well, that’s what I’m challenging to do. Get three friends to donate to VALOR-IT and charge them with getting three more. We want exponential growth here people! (Or is that technically geometric progression? I forgets me maths definitions.)
Look, I got my father-in-law to donate, and regular readers know that I(ry/Gollum) do not get along with the man well at all. Matter of fact, I’m certain he’d shoot me dead if he wasn’t a staunch Brady bill kinda-guy who can’t abide the thought of someone having a firearm. If I can do that you can guilt trip, badger, heckle, sing Henry the 8th I am I am, or whatever until they break down and donate too. It isn't about the war. It isn't about you and your political views (or ours for that matter). It's about the people and their lives. Period.
And if the fact that men and women who put their lives on the line and deserve this isn’t incentive enough, well, if you don’t do this I’ll be forced to ankle bite John. If you do, well, I’m sure we might be able to come up with a pic of John standing on my head or giving me the treatment with the Big Boot or with the Hairy Eyeball or something in the near future for your viewing pleasure
--ry
FOUO: Service Branch Football Playbooks
Poking through the old Boz Dufflebag O' Stuff from 2002, I discovered my copy of the Consolidated Comparative Analysis of the Service Branch Playbooks (Abridged) -- and, since Football Season snuck in through the back door while I was engaged in teaching Gaby the Junior Scruple that tunneling in the compost heap is frowned upon in these here parts, I figure it's time for it to see the light of day once again...
Recently, the Pentagon announced new rules for the Fall 2002 Army-Navy-Air Force-Marine Corps football tournament. It is now known that the gender-integrated teams will take to the gridiron only after negotiating the following:1. Only flag football will be played. The Joint Chiefs of Staff rated both tackle and touch football Extreme High Risk: first, due to the CNN factor, the public will no longer tolerate even one field casualty, and second, touching another player today--even the congratulatory pat on the butt--is asking for a court-martial.
2. The phrase "making a pass" will be changed to the less inflammatory "throwing the ball."
3. The Army, Navy and Marines will be prohibited from attempting throws beyond 5 yards because of Air Force protests that it alone owns the long-range aerial attack mission.
4. The Marine Corps may run with the ball, but no more than 25 yards per quarter, the Pentagon ruled. It was prompted by Army objections to long-range naval ground operations.
5. The Navy may not use tailbacks. The term is entirely too close to one denoting the arresting gear of an aircraft and we all know how well *that* term plays in certain circles.
6. To promote Jointness, all teams were ordered to use the same game plan.
After receiving suggestions from all four services--
· The Army's plan, called "The Game After Next," called for handoffs of a digitized football to the fullback, up the middle, on every play. The Army plan's last chapter, titled "Exit Strategy," was oddly blank, which would leave players with no choice but to set up bunkers, Port-a-Pots and temporary housing on the 50-yard line.
· The Navy's "Forward...From the Bench" plan called for players--each called a ball "carrier"--to be surrounded by other Navy football players in a pack called "carrier groups." These units would establish a “roaming presence" all over the playing field. Less important than crossing the goal line is the Navy strategy of being able to protect the carrier group wherever it patrols the gridiron. So threatening are these “carrier groups,” the Navy strategy suggests, that no one would be foolish enough to even mount a defense.
· The Marine's "Three-Yard War" plan was predictable: seize ground, every down, no matter how, regardless of the price, but preferably while on the playing field. The linchpin of the Marine game plan called for packing the audience with members of Congress to ensure that the Marines' performance did not go unrecognized.
· The Air Force's "Fieldwide Engagement" plan kept calling for very long, accurate throws on every down, during huddles, timeouts, halftime, between games, in the parking lot and even in the showers. So fast and accurate would these throws be, went the Air Force strategy, no other team would even bother to take the field.
After examining each team's playbook, the Secretary of Defense ruled that none could be used, and that each service was to be left to its own devices.
The Navy decided victory could be had by not taking the field. Instead, its players patrolled up and down the sidelines in breathtaking formation, hoping that would sufficiently deter the other teams from leaving their benches.
Likewise, the Army decided against taking the field, at least until several conditions were met:
1. that vital U.S. national interests were declared to be at stake,
2. that conditions for victory were concrete and easily defined and
3. that the President would activate 550,000 Reserve and National Guard Army football players if the game actually were to be played.
The Air Force also felt victory could be achieved by not showing up. Secret plans were later leaked to the press that the Air Force had spent $38.7 billion on a Space Shuttle-launched system able to fire the football into the end zone from a low geosynchronous orbit.
Bolstered by congressional resolution to be the "most-ready football team when others are the least," the Marines stormed the playing field two days before the game was to be played and declared themselves the winners.
And there was great joy in Mudville.
To muddle a metaphor...
Sic transit -- Military-dot-com used to have a *great* Joke-of-the-Day section until it started taking itself too seriously...
November 4, 2007
General Hawley's words.
Twice of late, I've received the latest wave of emails concerning what General Hawley, a retired AF general who commanded Air Combat Command last century, putatively said regarding 9/11.
Here's how it usually starts:
For those who don't know General Hawley, he's a newly retired USAF 4-Star general. He commanded the USAF Air Combat Command [our front- line fighters and bombers]. The Command headquarters is at Langley AFB, VA. General Hawley is now retired and no longer required to be politically correct. His short speech is very much to the point.The following are excerpts:'
'Since the attack [9-11], I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too.
Except - General Hawley never said it. The guy who actually wrote it was Larry Miller at The Daily Standard. Poor fellow deserves the credit. Interesting that someone felt the need to stick a general's name on it to give it heft. Heh. Info Ops at work.
Here's what General Hawley has to say on the subject of what he putatively said:
There is a piece zooming around the internet that attributes some pretty forceful statements to me, Dick Hawley - one time fighter pilot, General, thoughtful consultant, neophyte strategist, master of the artful compromise. The words did not flow from my pen, but if the e-mails mean anything, those words are now indelibly linked to my name. So do me a favor - if you receive this, please send it on to the same people to whom you forwarded the one that I did not write. It's not that I don't share many, if not most, of the sentiments attributed to me, but the piece is just not my style.Here's what I would have said if I'd been asked to comment on those five important issues.
1) Goodness, Evil and Relativity: There are some really good people in this world. They volunteer to help those who need it, and ask nothing in return. There are also some really bad people in this world. They exploit those who need help, or who have less wit or "charisma", and motivate them to join in committing unspeakable acts of cruelty against people they don't even know. Then there are the rest of us. Average people who try each day to do no harm, to provide for their families, to do an occasional act of kindness. The evil that was perpetrated against our land on 9/11 was the product of Mullahs who see our prosperity and power as a threat to their control over the uneducated Muslim masses on whose shoulders they ride through life. And so they preach hate. They are evil.
2) Violence begets violence: It's true. Violence does beget violence. But sometimes there is no alternative but to confront those who would perpetrate evil acts against us. This is one of those times. We are blessed to have courageous men and women willing to put their lives on the line to track down and annihilate those who have been so imbued with evil as to be beyond redemption. But violence is not a strategy. It is a necessary and fully justified reaction to an unimaginable threat. But it is not a strategy. If we are to win this war, we must defeat the Mullahs. And to defeat the Mullahs, we must find ways to separate them from their uneducated flocks. We cannot kill all those who have been taught to hate us, nor should we wish to. Far better to change their minds than to change their state of being.
3) The intelligence community let us down: Well, maybe just a little. Lots of senior and not so senior intelligence people became just as enamored of high tech gadgets as their political masters. The protests over our evisceration of the human intelligence component of the agency were not very loud or forceful. Keeping spies on the ground is a high risk and often dirty business, and it wasn't just liberal politicians who didn't have much stomach for it.
4) Poverty is the breeding ground for terrorists: No, it isn't; but religious extremism is. The Mullahs fear our wealth and power because it shows that a secular society with democratic institutions and a free market economy can do a better job of taking care of its peoples' needs, both spiritual and physical, than the oppressive Islamic regimes that they aspire to lead. The Mullahs are the problem, not poverty, but poverty does make it easier for the Mullahs to spread their evil - as do governments that tolerate and even reinforce their hateful message.
5) Profiling: We are at war here! We are not talking about traffic stops. If we were at war with Iceland, I would expect those charged with our defense to pay very close attention to any Icelander who ventured near our shores. In this war I expect them to pay very close attention to Muslims with ties to the places that spew hatred against us. Random checks when there are no such obvious targets available are a good way to keep the evil ones guessing, but let's not make small children and grandmothers take their shoes off while we watch far more likely candidates walk aboard unchecked.
6) Resolutions:
a. Never forget that what happened on September the 11th of 2001 was an act of war.
b. Never sit silently by while someone tries to justify what happened on that day as an understandable reaction to U.S. policies in the Middle East or elsewhere.
c. Fly our nation's flag proudly - it represents this world's greatest hope to move beyond the pain and suffering that inflict so many across the globe.
Richard E. Hawley
General, USAF, Retired
Former Commander, Air Combat Command
Just sayin'.
Valour-IT: A Message to Our Lefty Blogging Friends
UPDATE: Liberals Step Up!
Though very pro-military by definition, Valour-IT prides itself in being non-partisan at a time when the military is being pulled in partisan directions. If you think "we shouldn't be in Iraq or Afghanistan, it's Bush's fault they're wounded, and besides, the government should be taking care of the wounded (that's what taxes are for)," we won't argue with you. We might even cheer that third point.
We simply have a question: What are you going to do about it? They are wounded today, and nothing we do is going to change that reality. But we can support them as they make the first step in recovery, by helping them reclaim their connection to the rest of us, by giving them a laptop.
Sure, the government should be doing it and it's important to take the issue to Congress. But that takes years, and we're talking about someone in a hospital bed today. Hell, it took a year for the DoD to catch up with Valour-IT and realize their CAP program should be providing the voice software instead of us--which they now do (we provide the laptop to the wounded warfighter).
Now, Michelle Malkin has accused liberal bloggers of not truly caring about the troops, and she's put her money where her mouth is. She's already given a donation, but for every liberal blog that signs up with and blogs in support of Valour-IT, she's going to donate an extra $50 (up to 10 blogs).
She's now pointing out that she hasn't had to pony up a dime on this challenge. Prove her wrong, fellow bloggers. Not only do you get to donate your time/money to a great (tax-deductible) cause and support the troops in an immediate and direct manner, but you can "put MM in her place," too. ;)
--FbL
[Update: I am compelled to note that the closest thing to a resident lefty here at the Castle is Alan of GenX@40 - who has given several generous donations over the years, and that in our first year, at least, we had several stealth donations from second tier lefty bloggers - who still wish to remain nameless. One of them is still a well-known lefty blogger, who still wishes to remain anonymous - I checked. Which, sadly, is a reflection on the state of how the puritans of either side treat their own (I know, I work with a Dem politician, believe me, I know the perils of apostasy) who openly stray from the orthodoxy. Michelle can contribute another $50 if she'd like (but it will have to be on the basis of my word - and I'd like her to give it to the AF Team) - the lefty blogger did their donation via my good offices - which means they won't get to take the tax deduction, either. BTW - if Michelle gives another $50, that's only *half* the donation we got from the lefty blogger. -the Armorer.
FbL sez: Well said, John. Our resident lefties were definitely on my mind when I wrote that, and I know they have donated to Valour-IT in the past. My intention was not to slight them in any way or particularly call on them for donations. Rather, my hope was to draw them out to actually blogging for Valour-IT. Good (sad) point about reasons for wishing to remain anonymous... I'll check, but I think the stipulation was that they blog Valour-IT.]
[Heh. Princess Crabby dropped in on Cliff and left a challenge - which Cliff responded to in comments here, which I will edit to bring into compliance with the Rulez regarding personal attacks. I've issued a counter-challenge to Cliff - I'll match his *donation* - he doesn't have to blog a thing - up to $500, and I won't take the tax deduction, making it revenue-neutral, which should please a progressive blogger... I would note, though, that Cliff points out at least one lefty blogger who has blogged Valour-IT, if not perhaps in the way we intended. And he did leave Princess Crabby's comment up, with the Army donate button. - the Armorer]
Okay - let's have a Whatzis today.
I've received a complaint that there has been too much toothsome chewy faux-intellectual discourse (or maudlin self-pity) 'round here of late, so here's a Whatzis for you today.
You may begin.
Ten Reasons Men Prefer Guns Over Women
(Mind you, this is *NOT* the Armorer's Official Position®! We provide this only to be, um, Fair and Balanced.® Yep, that's it! [The Armorer's Official Position® is in the brackets.]
#10. You can trade an old 44 for a new 22. [This is utterly false. The Armorer never lets go of a weapon once it enters the books. That's why he has a *Collectors* license, not a *Dealer* license. I gather, not disperse.]
#9. You can keep one gun at home and have another for when you're on the road. [Only two? Pikers.]
#8. If you admire a friend's gun and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times. [True. I cultivate those kinds of relationships. It is true for the Armorer, as well.]
#7. Your primary gun doesn't mind if you keep another gun for a backup. [The Armorer doesn't carry. That's what the tank is for. Okay, we don't have a tank. Yet.]
#6. Your gun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo. [True. That's why we get the bayonets. Hate to damage a stock, especially some of the antique stocks in which the wood is a little dry and might snap at the wrist when buttstroking your antagonist.]
#5. A gun doesn't take up a lot of closet space. [Well, one might not, but, well, 30 do.]
#4. Guns function normally every day of the month. [Heh. As long as they've been lovingly cared for, properly lubed, and you feed them right, otherwise they can have... issues. Especially semi-autos.]
#3. A gun doesn't ask, "Do these new grips make me look fat?" [No, in fact many of us like fatter grips. Easier to control the motion of recoil.]
#2. A gun doesn't mind if you go to sleep after you use it. [As long as you cleaned it, anyway.]
#1. YOU CAN BUY A SILENCER FOR A GUN [Heh. Not in Kansas you can't. Legally, anyway. And no, I have no idea where to get one illegally. Nor do I intend to make one.]
.
Mebbe it's just Clobbering Time.
.
Just sayin'
.
"The Iraqis don't want Saddam back - they want the stability. But they want the stability without being fed into industrial chippers."
. -The Armorer, on Hugh Hewitt, 27 December 2006.
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First Do No Harm: Medicine, Psychology and Anthropology At War
Whatzis, Day 2.
Gollum’s Three Friends Challenge.
FOUO: Service Branch Football Playbooks
General Hawley's words.
Valour-IT: A Message to Our Lefty Blogging Friends
Okay - let's have a Whatzis today.
Ten Reasons Men Prefer Guns Over Women
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Remember What It Looked Like
Voices: Stories from 9/11 and Beyond
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