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H&I FIRES* 30 NOV 2009

By Denizens on November 30, 2009 | | Comments (4)
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.

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In today's From the Front: (Click on link to read stories highlighted below)

Sour Swinger: Photos From Mission Part 3
Bouhammer: Another example that Afghanistan is not Iraq
Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief
Free Range International: The Cost of Risk Aversion
In Iraq Now (at 56): Life Here Seems to be on Hold, but Life Goes on Back Home
Noah Shachtman: More Troops to Afghanistan, But What Will They Do?
Greyhawk: More Over Tora Bora

Benchmarks in Wartime: As Reliable as Promises
Lord Goldsmith Warned Tony Blair Over Legality of the Iraq War

Afghan police are weak link in security force
Obama’s West Point Speech Must Explain Why Afganistan is Not His Vietnam

READ MORE...
- David M
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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 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. Of course, now I have to call them UAS's, because someone got a Legion of Merit for the name change. Anyway, I call the post H&I Fires because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. Another term of art that might be appropriate is Free Fire Zone.

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4 Comments

By Cricket on November 30, 2009 11:52 AM
Just thought I'd let y'all know:  We had our first Family Day at a Public Range near here.   The Young Man is a sharpshooter.  He is serious about a career as a gunsmith.  Any advice?
 
By Cortillaen on November 30, 2009 12:42 PM
Found here, original source here.  Just a letter I think is worth a read:
Subject:
Do Your Job

To:
President Barack Obama
Rep. F. Allen Boyd
Sen. Bill Nelson
Sen. George LeMieux

November 20, 2009

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can't figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:

"We're no longer a Christian nation"

"America is arrogant" - (Your wife even announced to the world, "America is mean-spirited." Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)

I'd say shame on the both of you but I don't think you like America nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said, "America hasn't lived up to her ideals."

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn't mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around because we stand for freedom.

I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man. Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts who was putting up a fight? You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life but you're the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president. You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.


Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes
 
By Fishmugger on November 30, 2009 12:55 PM
Start small. The 50 cal sniper rifle may be a little much in the beginning.

There are lots of guns in America in need of repair, refurb, upgrade, etc. The very excellent gun smith at my local sport shop is in his 70"s with no one on the horizon to fill in.

If his mom will feed him regular, he may want to apprentice with a good smithy as a summer job. Then he can go off to college for engineering and metalurgy.
 
By Cricket on December 1, 2009 6:18 PM
If his mom will feed him regular...I can do that as Castle Chef!  It is about the one thing I do pretty well.  Heh.  There are colleges that offer gunsmithing in the curriculum, but I like the idea of him being able to make a custom weapon as well as repairing them.  Too bad your local gun shop isn't here in Georgia.  He wants to apprentice to someone here.  Our local shoppe has access to a few smiths, but I haven't asked them if they are taking apprentices.  The Engineer has talked to him about enlisting and learning through the Army or the Marine Corps.  He hasn't ruled it out, but he would like to do something more diversified.