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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This is why I won't go back to coaching youth sports. Setting a bad example there, with the slamming of clipboards and then physically assaulting(legal term, not literal) a minor acting as referee for the game. Sports should be fun(and, boy howdy, is winning fun), but at the below HS level being that worked up isn't ensuring winning or making it fun.
So, coaches, remember that to care about winning, and thereby not destroying the fun of competition by making it all namby-pamby no-scoring affairs, doesn't mean you need to be all Bobby Knight. Sports is supposed to be fun. It's also a life lesson teaching activity when below the professional/semi-pro level.
I'd weep for the future of the profession but I think I'll cough up a lung first.
--ry
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Thanks for the image, Ry. From MoveAmericaForward.org: Gold Star Mother Debbie Lee, whose son was the first Navy Seal killed in Iraq, delivered a powerful short speech to the Berkeley City Council last Tuesday.
-the Armorer
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Heh. I got a letter with phrasing like this once:
Now I know that the Army has told you that this assignment won’t hurt your career, and so long as you’re not too interested in an OER or an end-of-tour equivalent to what you would have got in a maneuver unit, you have been told the truth.
Go read the rest of Charlie's post at Abu Muqawama. If you've ever served as an officer, this will just resonate. Remember those guys at PERSCOM/HRC - they're just here to help! H/t, Adrian T. -the Armorer
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He hesitated just a bit as he rounded a corner inside Dulles International Airport yesterday and spotted the flock of television cameras and cooing journalists awaiting him. Then, with posture erect like a soldier's, he trotted straight toward the action -- he was used to bomb blasts and gunfire, after all, so this was nothing.
Meet another Iraq vet coming home from the war. Click the link, you know you want to. H/t, Kevin. -the Armorer
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Hmmmm. Once again, I'll be voting against people/policies rather than for them. I'm not a fan of Senator Clinton, but I prefer her to Senator Obama, who thus far had been a skilled demagogic orator but otherwise a rather empty suit to be pinning a Presidential lapel pin on. Apparently Chris Mathews of MSNBC agrees:
MSNBC's Chris Matthews: "You are a big Barack supporter, right, Senator?"State Sen. Watson: "I am. Yes, I am."
Matthews: "Well, name some of his legislative accomplishments. No, Senator, I want you to name some of Barack Obama's legislative accomplishments tonight if you can."
State Sen. Watson: "Well, you know, what I will talk about is more about what he is offering the American people right now."
Matthews: "No. No. What has he accomplished, sir? You say you support him. Sir, you have to give me his accomplishments. You've supported him for president. You are on national television. Name his legislative accomplishments, Barack Obama, sir."
State Sen. Watson: "Well, I'm not going to be able to name you specific items of legislative accomplishments."
Matthews: "Can you name any? Can you name anything he's accomplished as a Congressman?"
State Sen. Watson: "No, I'm not going to be able to do that tonight."
Matthews: "Well, that is a problem isn't it?"
(MSNBC's "MSNBC Live," 2/19/08)
Heh. -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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