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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For those who think the state of U.S. politics is disgraceful, just try on another country's politicians for size - on the topic of Afghanistan. The editorial writers at the National Post get my vote for Line of the Day with this one:
Say what you want about the [virulently socialist and pacifist] NDP, they are at least ramrod-straight-up about their total lack of spine.
The quality of political thought and debate in Canada on the issue of the Afghan mission is simply deplorable. We have one party (forming the current government) that says it's for the mission, but is willing to put a firm end-date on it no matter whether the Afghans are ready or not, and is willing to make our continued participation beyond February 2009 contingent upon the help of another 1,000 fighting troops from another nation. We have the official opposition (the Liberals showcased in the editorial linked above) all over the map. And we have two other opposition parties who want to pull our troops out of Kandahar yesterday, alliances and commitments be damned. It's enough to make me gag. - Damian
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Once a Marine, always a Marine. "The only problem was I run out of bullets," Picket said. H/t, Roachman.
Changing subjects, since Congress is getting all interested in Baseball... the Umpires are getting interested in National Policy! H/t, Toluca Nole
Oh! Meet "Nubs" and his Jarhead. Nubs walked 70 miles through a war zone to find his Marine. H/t, Kevin. -the Armorer
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Chuck Simmins, on Life In Iraq Today. -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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