NSN-No **** News

[thedrifter]

June 03, 2008
NSN-No **** News
http://www.onemarinesview.com/
Posted by Maj Pain

Good comments left by readers like YOU!

· "Eighteen American soldiers died in May, the lowest total of the war and an 86 percent drop from the 126 who died in May 2007."

· It will be an interesting campaign if the Dems continue to pull the get out of

Iraq because we are losing schpeel - - just wonder if any journalist will have the guts to say, "Um, excuse me, last we checked, we're winning."

· The surge didn’t work in Iraq …………….no really, they said that, or should I say continue to say that.

Local Sheiks in our area have continued to tell of stories about how life was with Al-Qaida present. The evil that existed and now, its not a new way of life, it’s a new era. Economy growing, shops opening, insurgents are now the outcast, not the shop owner, not the Iraqi Policeman, the insurgents. I remember how it was on my previous deployments; it was not a good way of life for any of the above, except for the enemy. Now things are back in the peoples hands. Why can’t some Americans see this? Why can’t they see the growth of the Iraq’s, their leadership taking steps, their cohesion? May be those that deny it see it but ignore it. The insurgents see this, and they hate it. Maybe a letter from one insurgent to another would read like this.
Dear fellow scumbag, how is your mother? Oh yes that’s right you killed her. Any ways I was looking to find that prime spot to plant that IED in the city yesterday you know that hole your cousin dug last week just before he pre-detonated?? Any way I couldn’t help but notice those dang Marines are everywhere, what is an insurgent to do? I can’t even go get my insurgent unemployment card because they are in all of the streets. Arrrghh!! I was trying to intimidate the local sheik but he told me to come by this afternoon to see him and when I got near his village. AArrrgghhh more Marines. You don’t think he was trying to trick me do you? No of course not I am too intimidating for that…right? I remember the old times when we could scare the silly Americans with threats, but those days are gone my fellow scumbag. AArrgghh! Now I have this silly IED vest on that your brother made, you know I have to tell you he isn’t all that smart, there is no kidding explosives in this thing. I mean I could be getting out of my car smoking a cigarette looking at the new line of sheep in the area and boom dang detonator gets hung on the seat belt. Did I mention its cumbersome, how do I tend your funeral wearing this? It doesn’t go with my latest attire. AAArrgghh. Well I must go my fiend, those pesky Marines are approaching and I have to run before they come here and I snag my fashionable detonator on the door handle on the way out. It will ruin the carpet…..AArrrgghh..



Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 02, 2008
IRAQ IN THE NEWS........NAAAAA C'MON

Iraq in the news? Cant be, no say it isn’t so, are we still in Iraq , Is there a war on??? WAKE UP PEOPLE!! The Washington Post has actually done a story about success. I bet they are all looking at one another going crap, were gonna get fired for doing this…..Washington Post Sunday, June 1, 2008; Page B06
The Iraqi Upturn
Don't look now, but the U.S.-backed government and army may be winning the war.

THERE'S BEEN a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war. While Washington's attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran. At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda. So many of its leaders have now been captured or killed that U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have "never been closer to defeat than they are now."

Iraq passed a turning point last fall when the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign launched in early 2007 produced a dramatic drop in violence and quelled the incipient sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites. Now, another tipping point may be near, one that sees the Iraqi government and army restoring order in almost all of the country, dispersing both rival militias and the Iranian-trained "special groups" that have used them as cover to wage war against Americans. It is -- of course -- too early to celebrate; though now in disarray, the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr could still regroup, and Iran will almost certainly seek to stir up new violence before the U.S. and Iraqi elections this fall. Still, the rapidly improving conditions should allow U.S. commanders to make some welcome adjustments -- and it ought to mandate an already-overdue rethinking by the "this-war-is-lost" caucus in Washington, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).


Gen. David H. Petraeus signaled one adjustment in recent testimony to Congress, saying that he would probably recommend troop reductions in the fall going beyond the ongoing pullback of the five "surge" brigades deployed last year. Gen. Petraeus pointed out that attacks in Iraq hit a four-year low in mid-May and that Iraqi forces were finally taking the lead in combat and on multiple fronts at once -- something that was inconceivable a year ago. As a result the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki now has "unparalleled" public support, as Gen. Petraeus put it, and U.S. casualties are dropping sharply. Eighteen American soldiers died in May, the lowest total of the war and an 86 percent drop from the 126 who died in May 2007.

If the positive trends continue, proponents of withdrawing most U.S. troops, such as Mr. Obama, might be able to responsibly carry out further pullouts next year. Still, the likely Democratic nominee needs a plan for Iraq based on sustaining an improving situation, rather than abandoning a failed enterprise. That will mean tying withdrawals to the evolution of the Iraqi army and government, rather than an arbitrary timetable; Iraq's 2009 elections will be crucial. It also should mean providing enough troops and air power to continue backing up Iraqi army operations such as those in Basra and Sadr City. When Mr. Obama floated his strategy for Iraq last year, the United States appeared doomed to defeat. Now he needs a plan for success.

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 06, 2008
Magnificent Seven!


We have been conducting several operations in the area. Badguys, unm you should find a new profession because your days are numbered, no really you should head for the mountains. Maybe Afghanistan?? They have mountains there. I’ll put in a good word for you with a couple hundred of my close Marine buddies there.

Last week there we were on a patrol, following some warm foot prints on the trail, sweat salt in the eyes, body armor pulling at your muscles in your back, thin layer of dirt covering all of your exposed skin and we got a nice calling card from Mr Scumbag. A nice IED that scratched our truck. OK maybe a bit more than scratched but every one was good to go but ****ed. Not the kind of ****ed when you step in a pile dog **** that your neighbors dog left but the “I’m gonna enjoy gutting you boy” (From the Movie - The Rock) kind of ****ed, with an evil smile. I’m sure Mr Scum bag got a cheap ass chuckle from watching a black cloud engulf the armored truck but I bet he wasn’t laughing when the attack helos showed up. What? Ahhhh you didn’t like that so much my little scumbag buddy? Meet Mr Hellfire rocket. That’s right you got a couple thousand dollars of hate and discontent filled with military grade explosive pointed at you. Oh look at that we have 8 rockets in the air today. Yes, those are the really big ones that are laser guided and very distinctive when hauling through the sky at you. Now you have met the “dirt people”, some call us Marines. Choose whatever word you like, just remember we look good in our uniform and we’ll kick you ass too! A couple of my Marines shoot the **** with me as the normal duties of the day pass as we bare the 112 temps. You know the kind of guys that would wreck their dads car and try to fix it themselves or the ones that think everyone has gun racks in their truck at home. (What, you don’t?)Yes and of course the ones who you glance at real quick and they hit you with this **** eating grin that says , “I didn’t do it” You know they are up to something but its probably better if you don’t know. These are the early 20 year olds I would take a bullet for, no doubt. Here in Iraq they are the glue that holds the villages together, the kindness that brings medical attention and the ones that breathe fire when you try to blow them up. Back in the states they are the kid that you know that lived next door but lost track of, “little billy?” that use to bag your groceries and the brother or dad you know like the back of your hand. Yes, where do we get these guys I ask myself as we clear/search 15 football size blocks of potential bad guys in overflowing sewer areas, mount up and conduct vehicle check points with a smile. Don’t worry for a second about them getting attacked. Are they protected, yes, are they trained, hell yes, do they take the fight to the enemy, well I wish you could ask the enemy on that one. We often do the job of several with only seven, but they are a magnificent seven! Semper Fidelis.

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 07, 2008
YOU DESERVE BETTER!!

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

Where are the reporters now? Is it blood and guts they want to see? Iraq is a brutal country. But perhaps we need to inform reporters and “News” stations that “its’ not about gore, its about progress and success. How come we don’t have embedded reporters here now in Iraq? Has anyone else noticed their absence? Where are the “Special Reports” on Iraq during prime time TV? Are our service members lives any less important now compared to when the embeds were here? Does the news agency think this is a less important time in Iraq or for that matter in Afghanistan? The actions of the news station says yes. Sex and gore sell, US service members winning, kids getting fed and democracy doesn’t.

My last two deployments here we were taking one step forward and three steps back but now we are progressing with one step at a time to the front, partnered with the Iraq people. Everyday I work with sheiks, Iraqi Police and Iraqi Soldiers and I see they are making a difference and doing what we have taught them a year ago. Recently, in an Iraqi community, they established a city council. They elected members to be apart of the council, then they elected a council leader. Last time I checked this is that thing called democracy, but hey who are we kidding, US soldier deaths are better headlines. Yet again, I guess its better to put a story about Paris Hilton on the network instead an altering event like democracy being established and peoples life being changed, forever, yes, I would much rather know how many time Paris Hiltons dog takes a crap. (That was sarcasm for you tree huggers trying to hack my blog.) The local Iraqi people are making it happen. From locals surrendering as former insurgent sympathizers, because they are tired of being intimidated to the Iraqi police man working for free to make a difference. Fox news, CNN and many others are so worried about not competing as well with its rivalry news station that they have become more of an entertainment show than a news and information broadcast. Consequently they are missing the entire picture and major events like the growth and changes in Iraq. Sure, they have I-report, and the like but this is exactly what I’m talking about. They are more concerned about a sexy logo on their screen to peek interest than actually reporting the news. How about taking the money invested in one week of “I-report” and fly a reporter to Iraq, where the rubber meets the road. Wouldn’t you rather know about the growth and success in a war torn region by your military or would you rather see some mediocre You-tube video of ducks crossing the street. The news station would say ducks, or should I say ARE saying ducks. Don’t get me wrong here, I wanted this post to focus on Iraq, the successful surge and the great things its people are doing for their country. Its just you, the ”world” doesn’t get the word about it or if you do its skewed bits and pieces from CNN & Fox then you have been entertained and not really “informed”. Don’t be one of the sheep and be fixated on the “only source of news”, be a sheep dog and know that there are other sources out there like blogs, radio etc. This way you will be in the know and not just entertained. Fox and CNN spread so quickly because they are convenient and we are so busy and most of all people believe it all. This is why you should demand they report accurately and give the news. I challenge other blogs to post this as this is the backbone of blogs, hell; it was the backbone of the newspaper before blogs. I get irate, when I hear the half assed comments from home. “Iraq is in turmoil”, “We haven’t really made a difference for the time we have had troops in Iraq”, or one of my favorites when they approached me when I was home, “Let me tell you about Iraq”. Are they ****ting me? Here is a key factor, listen, unless you have been here or in Afghanistan, and I’m not talking about one of their 3 day adventures you read about then hear them say “I just got back from Iraq” bull**** in Newsweek magazine, or you have dedicated a very significant time researching this area in its “current” situation, then really, you are basing your internal decision and opinions about Iraq on merely on what news agencies have told you. Yes, I know you have a life in America, I don’t expect everyone to go to Iraq. I would expect you to demand that your news bring you the un-political unbiased truth or listen to those who have been there. You deserve better! Iraq isn’t about democrats or republicans; it’s about freeing a country from evil tyrants and assisting it to grow from our help. American politics have not been largely affected by a series of small villages becoming one and growing free of evil but the Iraqi politics have been affected by this. Just think what kind of great messages could be sent if our politicians did capitalize on the military’s above and beyond accomplishments here. Perhaps that’s why the news entertainment reporters haven’t been here lately, perhaps they don’t want to admit and show all the good that has been completed and ultimately admit that President Bush did it right. I think you deserve better but that’s just One Marine’s View.

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

NSN (No **** News) RESULTS


I could of guessed the results would have turned out like this. It’s kinda NO**** obvious that Iraq has gotten better so let’s talk about those votes last and why the rest of the window lickers voted the way they did!

My poor Bambi, Disney World voters that voted “Iraq is worse off” (3.5%) For the love of all that is good, do you live under a rock? Do you not know any servicemembers? Ohh I know you watch CNN. I get it. Of course you would vote Iraq is worse off. Because that’s what the Communist News Network want you to believe. Sure the infidels have occupied the land that doesn’t want help. Sure, we haven’t rid the country of thousands of insurgent scumbags, sure we havent restored democracy where a higher arch wants you to do what they say or you die. Lets forget the old regime likes to gas their own but your right, Iraq is worse off now. Here is an idea, you get your little but over here, talk to a few locals, and then when they look at you like you just fell of the stupid branch, perhaps you might begin to distrust the CNN. But, hey I know, Iraq is worse off. Good call….sheep! But when I looked at the map where the vote came from(California) I figured oh, man Paris Hilton was ****ed at me for dogging her in a different post and decided to vote. Good call Paris, way to show Britney who the boss it.GAG….puke.

This next group who voted “Not Sure” (1.2 %) is another lonesome sheep. Baaaaa. How can you actually vote as “Not sure”?? I wasn’t even going to put this on the poll but a buddy said, I should give them a side bet…..You should get off the internet and look into the mirror and really asses your contribution to society. The vote was from AAAAALA BAMA! Forest Gump would kick you ass for voting that way…….Jeeenny

So now we breach into the voters who are meat eaters and who apparently actually read blogs (if I offended any vegetarians, I could give a rats ass). Good on ya for seeing straight. Stay as far away as possible from the two groups above. (95.3%) voted Iraq has gotten better. No, say it isn’t so. CNN won’t. Fox barely will, as they squat around it. YOU have said it. Print this post out, roll it up and beat anyone from the news agency with it. I know it wont help but C’mon, why don’t hey get it?? The American people get it, at least a good percentage does, they see it so why does the press keep using it as the drone music to beat you down saying “the waaaaaaar is lost……Marines baaaaaad, get ooooouuutt of IIIIRRRAAQQ, were goonnnnnaaaa loooosse?? Booogie boogie !! They are trying to convince you that the President didn’t stop ****bags from attacking America following 9/11, they are trying to TELL YOU what they want you to believe. Well, I would like to be the first to tell the news agency to pound sand (yes, I put that nice…kids read this blog…smart kids at least do). I’m glad you all “get it”, its scary that there is even one percentage that doesn’t or should I say almost 4%......YIKES. Trolls, swing by, I have the sheep grain laid out leading to Troll grinder……….I’ll be the one next to it with the cigar.

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Do we still have troops in Iraq?
http://www.onemarinesview.com/

ARTICLE BY RALPH PETERS
May 20, 2008 -- DO we still have troops in Iraq? Is there still a conflict over there?

If you rely on the so-called mainstream media, you may have difficulty answering those questions these days. As Iraqi and Coalition forces pile up one success after another, Iraq has magically vanished from the headlines.

Want a real "inconvenient truth?" Progress in Iraq is powerful and accelerating.

But that fact isn't helpful to elite media commissars and cadres determined to decide the presidential race over our heads. How dare our troops win? Even worse, Iraqi troops are winning. Daily.

You won't see that above the fold in The New York Times. And forget the Obama-intoxicated news networks - they've adopted his story line that the clock stopped back in 2003.

To be fair to the quit-Iraq-and-save-the-terrorists media, they have covered a few recent stories from Iraq:

* When a rogue US soldier used a Koran for target practice, journalists pulled out all the stops to turn it into "Abu Ghraib, The Sequel."

Unforgivably, the Army handled the situation well. The "atrocity" didn't get the traction the *****spondents hoped for.

* When a battered, bleeding al Qaeda managed to set off a few bombs targeting Sunni Arabs who'd turned against terror, that, too, received delighted media play.

* As long as Baghdad-based journalists could hope that the joint US-Iraqi move into Sadr City would end disastrously, we were treated to a brief flurry of headlines.

* A few weeks back, we heard about another Iraqi company - 100 or so men - who declined to fight. The story was just delicious, as far as the media were concerned.

Then tragedy struck: As in Basra the month before, absent-without-leave (and hiding in Iran) Muqtada al Sadr quit under pressure from Iraqi and US troops. The missile and mortar attacks on the Green Zone stopped. There's peace in the streets.

Today, Iraqi soldiers, not militia thugs, patrol the lanes of Sadr City, where waste has replaced roadside bombs as the greatest danger to careless footsteps. US advisers and troops support the effort, but Iraq's government has taken another giant step forward in establishing law and order.

My fellow Americans, have you read or seen a single interview with any of the millions of Iraqis in Sadr City or Basra who are thrilled that the gangster militias are gone from their neighborhoods?

Didn't think so. The basic mission of the American media between now and November is to convince you, the voter, that Iraq's still a hopeless mess.

Meanwhile, they've performed yet another amazing magic trick - making Kurdistan disappear.

Remember the Kurds? Our allies in northern Iraq? When last sighted, they were living in peace and building a robust economy with regular elections, burgeoning universities and municipal services that worked.

After Israel, the most livable, decent place in the greater Middle East is Iraqi Kurdistan. Wouldn't want that news getting out.

If the Kurds would only start slaughtering their neighbors and bombing Coalition troops, they might get some attention. Unfortunately, there are no US or allied combat units in Kurdistan for Kurds to bomb. They weren't needed. And (benighted people that they are) the Kurds are pro-American - despite the virulent anti-Kurdish prejudices prevalent in our Saudi-smooching State Department.

Developments just keep getting grimmer for the MoveOn.org fan base in the media. Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who had supported al Qaeda and homegrown insurgents, now support their government and welcome US troops. And, in southern Iraq, the Iranians lost their bid for control to Iraq's government.

Bury those stories on Page 36.

Our troops deserve better. The Iraqis deserve better. You deserve better. The forces of freedom are winning.

Here in the Land of the Free, of course, freedom of the press means the freedom to boycott good news from Iraq. But the truth does have a way of coming out.

The surge worked. Incontestably. Iraqis grew disenchanted with extremism. Our military performed magnificently. More and more Iraqis have stepped up to fight for their own country. The Iraqi economy's taking off. And, for all its faults, the Iraqi legislature has accomplished far more than our own lobbyist-run Congress over the last 18 months.

When Iraq seemed destined to become a huge American embarrassment, our media couldn't get enough of it. Now that Iraq looks like a success in the making, there's a virtual news blackout.

Of course, the front pages need copy. So you can read all you want about the heroic efforts of the Chinese People's Army in the wake of the earthquake.

Tells you all you really need to know about our media: American soldiers bad, Red Chinese troops good.

Is Jane Fonda on her way to the earthquake zone yet?

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 17, 2008
Another fear for the enemy...

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

The flying beast came into the world of the dirt people. The Osprey (V-22). Although we weren’t use to seeing controlled flying objects, we welcomed its arrival. It brought me back to the early 2000s where I was at the command that conducted “exiting” research for the Osprey. Fast roping, rappelling and other “exiting” techniques had to be tested and with experimental apparatuses’ that fastened onto the aircraft. Yes, they are paying me to do this as well. The first step is the worst. Talk about power, this beast has it all. Sit down, shut up and hang on. Coming to a bad guy neighborhood near you...if you live in Iraq!

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 22, 2008
LETTERS FROM HOME-WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

OMV Letters From Home....Support YOUR Marines!!What would you say to the warrior in the picture above if you could chat with him? You might say "Thanks for protecting us", or "We support you", if you were somewhere in passing. But what if you were sitting down, sharing your feelings over dinner? Then what would you say to him? Think about it, because you now have that opportunity.

We have a large group of Marines currently located in a remote area of Iraq. Mail might arrive once a week if the fates are with them, and water is obtained from a well on site. These are your Marines, living on the edge of the empire, alone and determined to succeed. They don't live in Fallujah, they don't have a PX or a store. They operate with the bare bones and a can do attitude. Adapt and overcome are the pillars of their structure, while rebuilding in an insurgent filled area. Police stations are built and governed by Lt's, and life and death decisions are made by 20 something year olds.

They sleep in WWII era wooden huts and sleeping bags, as the constant blowing dirt finds its way into everything they own. They cherish the basic things most take for granted in the states. Operating flawlessly in the 100+ weather is not the exception, it's the expected. They are a tight group that redefines the phrase, "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy".

While deployed, I've heard about others who have asked you, our awesome supporters, to step up to the plate. You've been asked to help keep morale high and to show your men how much you appreciate them. And you have! Well, I'm asking again. Through our blog www.OneMarinesView.com (OMV) "Letters From Home", you can send your warriors in Iraq an email to show them how much you care. You may have sent a letter in the past where one or two servicemen got to read it. This time, sending in an email will give OMV the right to publish it in any format, thereby allowing me to publicly post them all. This way many will benefit from your support, instead of just a couple. Please take just a few minutes to let your Marines know how proud you are of their outstanding service, and incredible spirit.

Your servicemembers are making a difference regardless of the small amount of press showing their great achievements. YOU know they are doing great, make a difference yourself and email them your thoughts at dirtpeople@gmail.com !

One Team One Fight-Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 24, 2008
What's for dinner?

Gang-
First and most important, thank all of you for our support. Mail has been hit or miss with air delivery but hey, some is better than none. Don’t be discouraged, it will all get here eventually (2 days before I go home…kidding). We have been making a nice meal out of the care package we do get. Our diets of Doritos, trail mix and open cans of chief boy R Dee are pretty good when you’re hungry, heat not required, you have the almighty sun two inches away from you blaring in your face (it was only 117 today). I’ve lost 30 pounds as none of my clothes fit anymore. GRAND…..not. Trying to pack on the calories, I’ve resorted to full on attack diet of MREs. You supposable get around 2000 calories from each of these things but its all in the delivery of the meal. Hey, don’t knock it until you try it, or are so freaking hungry you can eat a dead cat in the road…….here kitty.

It was a tough decision today as I looked into the dirt filled leftovers in the cardboard MRE box, chicken vegetables and noodles in some kind of really funky smelling sauce with mushrooms, or the ever not so favorite Cajun meat (do they want me to explode?) or Jambalaya…….yes the stuff with seafood…….in a bag……for a year or so. OK, looks like its chicken and veggies.

As the chicken heated up in the almighty chemical heater pouch that took off a layer of skin it was so hot, I inhaled a small bag of pretzels. Tasty I thought then thought Damn! Should have washed my hands, as the post thought goes through my head after I’ve shook about 30 Iraqis hands recently. Grab the cracker packet that came in the pouch of chow and pummeled them into crumbs “BAM”, this is key to be mixed with the chicken and then finally mash the cheese spread packet “BAM” because everyone knows you can choke down anything with cheese on it………and maybe ketchup, salt, pepper……oh anyway its all good. So now everything is in place as you cut the envelope holding the hotter than sun chicken and smell the omniscient fresh chicken smell fill the room. That’s not chicken I smell though as the Marine in the next room just did a “crop dusting” butt gassing. For the love of God man, did he crap himself? Take that outside and burn your clothes and bleach your body over and over until that dead animal smell goes away. This is the part where the women really love us fellas! Boooya!

Crackers smashed and poured into chicken”BAM”, eyes still burning a bit from recent gas attack but no need for gas mask just yet as I tell my self “I’m tuff, I can take it” in a high pitched voice. More like I can taste it. Gag, puke. Wait, I can’t find my dang spoon now. No, its not because of the continuous eye watering, I have misplaced it. Never leave your spoon around while eating, often you best buddy while accidently pick it up (because he lost his) or you may set it in mice poo or something (never good). This is bad, no spoon means I have to eat this like a dog eating food out of a bowl, yes I’ve done it, no I’m not proud of it but will do it again. Wait found it; it was in my pocket, swhoo. Chemicals now continue to rise out of the MRE heater pouch combined with recent gas attack, we might have a problem. First bite is little off, perhaps dumping the small bag of highly melted M&Ms into it will be the trick, nope that didn’t work well and now the heat has caused a very bad looking chicken to turn worse with cheese, crackers and yet M&M syrup sprinkled on it. To bad, its “what’s for dinner” as the commercial says. Second bite is delayed due to the two fly’s that thought they rated the chow more than me as they did a drive by spoon pooping on the bite. Death to all flys, I say to myself. YUM.

The meal has now hit my stomach and began its 3x expansion in size completely attracting all water out of other parts of my body. Why does my head hurt? Wipe hands off with sanitize napkin next to the quarter size “toilet paper” pkg which is only enough TP to really see a grown man make a complete mess of himself. Begin to pick up the several shredded empty envelopes of chow that will most likely stick to your butt if you don’t pick them up. Not a real symbol of authority (insert visual here). Stuff everything back into the jumbo bullet stopping plastic bag this heart attack meal came in and encourage with a manly size 12 foot to flatten …..again “BAM”. Tell your kids to eat their dinner tonight or they get “what’s for dinner” from Maj Pain. Thanks again for the support and chow. BAM!

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

June 27, 2008
“Its HOT, you don’t understand!!!"
http://www.onemarinesview.com/

This picture is what 117 degrees looks like when you glance straight up at the sun (kids, dont try this at home). It reminds me back in Afghanistan when a Lt and I were talking about a particular tactic on a mountain side and he knelt down on one knee in the heat, donning full battle gear as we shot the ****. He began to wipe his sweat covered head. You ok Lt. I asked as he scrunched down and folded up like a bug. He said, yes Sir, I’m just trying to get into my own shade. We laughed but in all reality, that’s what he was really trying to do. That’s what 117 degrees is like. “Its HOT, you don’t understand!!!"

We departed our friendly lines early. It was still warm. Those in Arizona know how we feel in the morning and it’s in the high 90s. Its warm, you are a bit uncomfortable but like we all have been “warm” before, you ignore it until you make a comment like “For the love of God it’s hot” and you go inside to get cooled off with a nice cold drink. You’re cramped up into a Hummer (for us over six foot), battle gear is tight fitting, a small bit of anxiety is inside you but you’ve done this many times before. Go through your operating procedures, go to condition one on your weapon systems. A simple click off safe and you bring a big can of whoop ass to the fight in a second. The systematic checks and procedures continue, you all work together and don’t have to say a word, you know it by heart. You raise a shoulder to let the body armor rubbing your waist move position to stop the already developed rubbed area on your hip. This is usually when the fine moon dirt much like flour swoops up from the crack in the door and coats your body and you make one of those bpuuff noises from your mouth to try to stop it from coating your lungs. Too late. “ I got the black lung, POPs” one of my Marine says the line from the movie “Zoolander” and we all get a chuckle. The drive is relatively short as you scan for some signs of some a waste of air that planted a little surprise for you in the road. Now you’re in the realm, good layer of dirt on you as you get out to search an assigned area. Before it was warm, ok now it’s hot as you feel the heat bounce off the dirt back up at you and burn you retinas. Stooooopid dinosaurs, no wonder they died, its as hot as the surface of the inferno sun out here. Sweat on your cheeks, back and in that previous rubbed spot that is just the icing to really **** you off. Scumbags were here, you see signs that show they just left or left and are watching you look for them. We have a bigger margin of error, they can’t mess up once, or they are dead. You finish off your first bottle of water and grab another, warm bottle of water after searching a house. You get into the hummer and see the seat soaked with sweat, swell, my kidneys are probably just about to shut down in 3-2-1 you think as the drips of sweat go down your shins. Fold legs back into the origami position and you’re off.

You take your helmet off during a debrief after the mission and you can feel the fresh air hit your skin although it’s a nice ultra violet sun burning wind hitting you, it still is a wind, with really fine sand filling your ears. Damn fine sand has been giving us hell as the wind picks it up, along with everything else in the sand, mummy poo, DNA, and the most recent sand flea eggs. Yes, we have had fly larva in Marines eyes and now sand fleas crapping their eggs in Marines ears. Brings a new meaning to the title “Dirt People”.

Its 1400 and every bit still well over 110. This is one of the only times of the day that flys say screw this and go hide somewhere nasty. Everything is hot, the wind, the fire retardant clothes you wear, I bet if we dug ten feet down there would be lava. There is always a chance of another mission later in the day so you maximize your time. If you’re not doing laundry in some sorry excuse of a trashcan filled with water, you “PT” (physical train/exercise). I got this damn rocket scientist idea to go for a perimeter run. The heat hits your back as you stretch and you feel the heat release your muscles,ahhh that feels good. What the hell am I doing, this doesn’t feel good you think as you begin to pick up speed as you take the first few steps. The first half mile is always the worst for me as usually I’m trying to keep my heart from exploding and wipe the sweat out of my eyes at the same time. Then as I loosen up, the sun crazy, rabies infested dogs begin to bark at you. This is your signal to step it up because they are saying, “George, look, another Marine is running for it, get jake, its lunch time” and before you know it you have 2-3 four legged butt lickers chasing you growling. Jake he’s the shepherd for the devil and the three legged one is the ring leader. Ya, try to play tuff guy and shout at them, they like the rough talk. Stumble and you’re a jeky stick to them. You could have a patch over your eye and have a broken leg and son, your gonna run!“Its HOT, you don’t understand!!!"

I loose the dogs, this time and my tongue is swelling up in my cotton dry mouth as I have my head cocked to the side and think I look like Ricky Bobbie from Talladega Nights, screaming “Help me Tom Cruise, I’m on fire” arms flaying around and dogs just sitting looking at me saying “He bad white meat, don’t eat him, you’ll die”.“Its HOT, you don’t understand!!!"

Light headed and feeling my pulse pounding away I finish the couple mile run, and think, well that was stupid. As you gulp some water you can feel the pores in your mouth expand back to their original size. Air out your feet and try to kill that fungus that has a mind of its own and begin to aid your breathing with a nice cigar.

Word of another mission comes down. You have enough time to through on a dry t-shirt and throw down some chow and suit back up. Your clothes are still wet from the previous mission but the sweat rings are hardening up on the sleeves. Just sitting in the hummer makes you sweat as you feel the rivers of perspiration flow into regions where for the love of god nothing should go. Your clothes are now like a wet towel on you under your armor. Your on your fourth bottle of water and haven’t had to pee, notsogood. Gatorade taste like heaven as you try not to completely wash all of the minerals out of your body and have a heart attack. You try to shift your butt in the sweat soaked seat but it doesn’t matter you’re a big pile of nastiness, the flies have given up on you or died when they landed on you and did I mention there is little air circulation inside the vehicle even though there is a big hole for the turret? “Its HOT , you don’t understand!!!"

Just one cloud, is that too much to ask for, one cloud? No such luck as you talk into the radio and forget to get ready for the moon dirt shooting into the door. “Nice dirt covered teeth” taste like chicken……or not. Is it a bad sign when it’s so hot the birds don’t even fly, they just run on the ground with their mouths open trying to keep their hearts from exploding…………went for a perimeters run huh? I ask the vulture looking thing starring at us. We get back after the mission and peel ourselves out of our vehicles. Sweat covered from head to toe and gear covered with sweat rings. You could shower later but you have to remember“Its HOT, you don’t understand!!!"

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 02, 2008
Independence Day 08

In most branches of the military, the first of the month is when service members get promoted if they have met the requirements. On July 1st, Marines here in Iraq were no different. As blowing sand came across the landscape, their promotion would be done in a combat zone instead of some nice clean meeting room, Marines gathered in formation as they had accomplished the requirements and met guidelines to be promoted to the next rank. No family members, no high attention, just fellow Marines ready to be promoted and fellow Marines ready to congratulate them.

“In 1778, General George Washington marked Independence Day with a double ration of rum for his soldiers and an artillery salute.” Wikipedia

Wide eyed, covered in dirt, Marines in their early 20s stood as symbols of America’s finest. Brave, disciplined and eager to fight any sort of insurgency that showed its face on the drop of a hat, they positioned themselves to be promoted. When promoted, a warrant is read and they are asked who they would like to pin on their new rank. It is an honor to recognize the new Sergeants, Corporals and Lance Corporals as the selected fellow Marine actually pins on their new rank onto the collar of the Marine and welcomes them to the new challenges.

These are the young leaders of America. The ones typical Americans may think had no other choice but to join the military, or looked upon as kids. I can assure you that the days of resorting to the military as a last choice are gone and these “kids” not only maintain million dollar military equipment perfectly, but can make a life and death decisions in a blink of an eye and are tuff as nails. These are the warriors who get tasked to serve the thankless jobs of several patrol, standing guard and small unit leaders. However when on guard, they could be and usually are faced with that one situation of a suicide borne vehicle that attacks a front gate and they make the conscious decisions to fight back and kill the attacker. These are the service members who then return back to the states only to resume mundane jobs when they get out of the military and are considered ”kids”.

America, you got to know your young Marines are on the cutting edge of it all. Maturity, discipline, education and health. They truly are the epitome of America and those who found this country, would still be proud of their Marines today as they were in 1776.

During this 4th of July holiday, when we celebrate the independence of our great country, take a second during the picnics, BBQs, patriotic music and fireworks and pay a few seconds of honor to those keeping our independence free. Because as you enjoy your holiday, newly promoted warriors stand guard and keep the wolf at bay.

“In 1778, General George Washington marked Independence Day with a double ration of rum for his soldiers and an artillery salute.” Wikipedia)</p></blockquote><p>
Have one for us during your holiday and keep the other shot of rum until we can get home and share it with you!!
Semper Fidelis – Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 04, 2008
PRICE OF FREEDOM

TODAY, the 232nd anniversary of the day our Declaration of Independence rang out in

Philadelphia
, we rightly honor the men who debated and signed the document: Jefferson, Adams,

Franklin
and their colleagues. Yet, after that glorious declaration was signed in ink, it had to be counter-signed in blood.

Without men willing to take up arms and fight for the freedoms the Founding Fathers asserted, the words themselves would have secured us nothing.

It took courage to affix a signature to the Declaration. But it had taken another kind of courage entirely to stand at

Lexington
and

Concord
the year before. Our Founding Fathers would have become hopeless fugitives, had determined soldiers not stood by Gen.

Washington
- from the disaster on Long Island, through the misery of Valley Forge and on to

Yorktown
.

Then what would our Constitution have availed us, had another generation of patriots not filled the ranks at Chippewa,

Ft.

McHenry
and

New Orleans
? What good would Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation have done without an army in Union blue?

FDR's "Four Freedoms" would have been laughable, had 10 million American men and women refused to put on their uniforms. President Ronald Reagan's call, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" would've been absurd, had still more generations of our soldiers not stood watch on the

Rhine
.

Unless etched in the blood of patriots, noble words evaporate. Yet, for all too many Americans today, words have become a substitute for sacrifice. We vow that our fallen heroes shall not be forgotten. Then we forget them.

A painful illustration of how skewed our values have grown was last month's orgy of media self-adoration commemorating a good, but hardly courageous, journalist, Tim Russert.

I'm sorry for Russert's family, but it was appalling to witness the media's we-love-us carnival. Not since President Reagan's funeral had

Washington
so honored one of our citizens.

Was Russert's passing truly more deserving of commemoration than the loss of service members awarded posthumous Medals of Honor? Had he sacrificed more than those, living and dead, who earned Navy Crosses, Distinguished Service Crosses or Silver Stars in combat?

The only recent instances when the media devoted remotely as much attention to individuals in uniform were the investigation into Spec. Pat Tillman's death, a military botch-up, and the media-amplified Abu Ghraib affair, when journalists gleefully maligned all those who serve over the misdeeds of six reservists.

Newspapers run rows of photographs of fallen service members, pretending to honor their sacrifices, but really to make

Iraq
seem a costly failure. The images of our dead are used and then discarded by editors whose vanity and ambition would've shamed a decadent Roman emperor.

So, on this Fourth of July, let me briefly honor just one of those who fell so journalists would remain free to belittle his sacrifice:

Second Lt. Peter Burks graduated from Texas A&M, then chose to join the US Army. Commissioned through

Officer

Candidate

School
and sent to

Iraq
as a combat platoon leader, he told his parents his goal was to bring his soldiers safely home. Quietly religious and dutiful, Burks was proud to serve.

On Nov. 14, 2007, as the lieutenant led his men back to their base at the end of a patrol in

Baghdad
, a massive Iranian-made bomb struck his vehicle. Two of his soldiers were wounded. Standing upright in a hatch to direct his unit, Burks was struck in the head by shrapnel and died.

His story was one of many, notched down as just one more casualty by the press. But the Burks family lives in

Texas
, a long way from DC (in more ways than just distance). Instead of blaming our government, they honored their son's service even as they mourned him.

His relatives remembered how Lt. Burks kept asking them to send goodies for his troops - not all of whom had a strong family supporting them. In his honor, they set up the Peter Burks Unsung Heroes Fund, literally a mom-and-pop effort to support those who serve.

What did their homespun effort accomplish? Nothing that would impress prize-hunting journalists. But they shipped over three tons of snack food and recreational materials to their son's comrades.

So many donations flooded in that the unit chaplain in

Iraq
set up "Burks Country Store." Everything on the shelves is free for soldiers.

Remember how much we heard about Cindy Sheehan a few years ago, as she cursed the government for the loss of her volunteer son in

Iraq
? Why haven't we heard about the Burks? Or about the many other families and friends of our troops who donate their time, goods and hard-earned money to say Thank you! to those who serve?

This Fourth of July, two nations will take a holiday: an intelligentsia that despises, mocks or pities the "losers" in uniform - and the other

America
, which didn't go to Harvard, but whose sons and daughters insure that We, the People, continue to live in freedom.

I don't think Lt. Burks would want you to mourn him at your holiday barbecue. I'd bet he'd rather have you enjoy everything his sacrifice preserved.

By Ralph Peters'

his new book, "Looking For Trouble," was published today.


Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 04, 2008
How did you spend the 4th of July?

http://www.onemarinesview.com/


Your Marines continued kicking ass while completing long convoys today among other patrols and missions. No marching bands, no, fireworks. In fact the men were pretty much happy to hit the rack when they arrived back at our out post late in the evening. Covered in dirt with that “I’ve been in that damn hummer too long” look. Conducting effective missions that do more good than most will realize well after they have returned home. No fancy napkins donned the tables at chow as a few Marines cook some steaks “acquired” out side on a 55 gal grill.

It’s not about the “holiday” as I’m sure most probably took a few minutes to think what was being conducted back home with their families. But like I have been in Iraq during other holidays, Easter, Christmas and the like, its not about the actual “holiday” its about what the holiday stands for. I know every one of these warriors would love to be back home have a nice cold one but when you work your ass off for a no **** honest days work…….it feels pretty good. When you are doing it for your country, it feels damn good. Forget the pretty napkins and watermelon, there will be next years 4th and I bet when they are sitting with their friends and family, I bet they talk of the fourth of July they spent in Iraq, with brothers. That’s how they spent, their 4th of July.

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 08, 2008
A broken heart mending

Sounds of joy and laughter resonate through a police station’s narrow hallways. A young boy slowly enters through a doorway at the end to greet the boisterous group of Marines, but the sounds of excitement quickly diminish as they see him gasping for air after walking just a short distance.

The boy, five-year-old Ahmed, is the son of Warrant Officer Othman Mallouki, an Iraqi policeman with Fallujah Headquarters District. Since his birth, Ahmed has suffered from a rare but fatal heart condition that if left untreated, will eventually kill him at an unthinkable, young age.
Ahmed’s parents first noticed there was something wrong with their son when he was a year old. The medical condition present in Ahmed’s cardiac system keeps needed oxygen from reaching organs like a normal person’s circulatory system would, causing a bluish coloring around the eyes and on the face.
Tasks such as walking up a set of stairs are very tedious for the young boy because of his medical condition. Ahmed runs completely out of breath performing the simplest of daily activities.
“I was extremely worried all these years, that I might not be able to get the help my son needs,” said Mallouki. “In our culture, the first born is very important and this is our first son.”
Only recently did the light begin to peak through at the end of a dark tunnel for Ahmed and his family when Marines from Company B, Police Transition Team 8, Regimental Combat Team 1, and a charitable organization called “Gift of Life,” based in Tampa, Fla. intervened.
Ahmed’s condition was diagnosed at Fallujah Surgical when Marines took him in for an examination, said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Craig W. Pasanen, a corpsmen with the team. Doctors discovered a hole in the septum of his heart that causes oxygen and deoxygenated blood to pass through the heart and not the lungs.
Mallouki and his son have been working with Coalition forces for the past year in attempts to get the money and medical attention that they so desperately need to help Ahmed.
The operation to mend Ahmed’s heart will be extensive and will require a specialist to stitch the hole inside his heart that is causing his condition.
But medical expenses for the family soon became too much. The nearest qualified specialist who can perform the surgery locates at a surgical clinic in Jordan. The family had no way of earning the money they need to travel and pay for Ahmed’s medical expenses.
Several months ago, members of the team contacted representatives at “Gift of Life,” who began sponsoring Mallouki and Ahmed. In June, Mallouki was able to apply for Visas that would allow the father and son access into Jordan. Their travel expenses were also covered by the charitable organization, and Transition Team members organized several convoys to Baghdad, Iraq, to assist.
Ahmed will finally undergo the surgery he’s needed sometime this month.

“Before I could not hope for anything at all and I was depressed all the time,” said Mallouki. “Now I feel in my heart a sense of hope that my son will grow up normal. I would not have this hope in my life if it weren’t for the Marines here.”
By Cpl. Chris T. Mann
FALLUJAH, Iraq (July 1, 2008)

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

By the end of the day......
Posted By Maj Pain

It's not bad when its 113 degrees. Its hot, ya and the salt from the pores of your skin stain your clothes as you continue to become dehydrated. But that's one of the acceptable factors here. Just like sharing a head (toilet) with a couple hundred Marines, except it and get over it. You have an issue with toilet paper being on the ground of a port-a-john and not so clean, you don't like sharing the "shower" almost as fast as a revolving door, you have never had to burn poop? You put those "discomforts" on the side because whining about them here will only get you an ass chewing. "Its hot"…No kidding Captain Obvious…..Go ahead and take you mind off the enemy and let the heat, cramped quarters, long days or any other discomfort beat your focus, that's precisely when the enemy will reach up and smack you in the face. Suck it up cup cake, its gonna be a long ride, even longer if you aren't mentally tuff. By the end of the day, you'll get over it.

The enemy here is like the "Wack -A-Mole" game at a carnival. They pop up here and you smack em, they pop up over there and you hammer them harder, sometimes you miss, but even if you nick them it hurts them because you bring a big punch. Today we have the sandstorm and high temps…………bonus. Usually you get the sandstorms and it cools off as the sun is blocked out, not today, no, today we get the a-la carte today. You'll get over it.
Operations here are continuous (notice I don't talk about operation details? Notice I don't like to violate Op Sec and let the scumbags get one inch on us? That's why. We'll have a beer and I'll bore ya to death with this and with that as the ladies sitting with us remain only out of politeness.) Operations are continuous and trust me you can be proud to be an American as your Marines kick butt!
We travel and cover a lot of ground, especially lately as we have what's left of a sparse enemy trapped. Long days in the austere desert conditions, builds bonds between brothers. You sitting there going what is this talking about, I know. But, go get a few dozen of your closest friends, move to the desert and have a common goal to help rebuild a nation at the same time be ready to kill the enemy at the drop of the hat. That builds a bond. While your doing that for umm lets say a year, you can also deal with the "other" things that get thrown in your face like missed birthdays, divorces, 1st born learning to walk and events back home that continue to happen, without you there. That builds a bond between brothers. By the end of the day, you'll get over it.
Your favorite MRE has already been taken, your pack has sand fleas in it and no matter how still you remain at night in your sleeping bag you can still feel the little bugs crawling on you and you try to swap them. I do have to say I get a chuckle the first time some one jumps out of their sleeping bag because they felt a critter on them. The third and fourth time you just ask, was it bigger than your fist, meaning was whatever was crawling on them bigger than your fist, otherwise you don't worry about it, by the end of the day, you'll get over it.
You didn't get to send a letter to your family, you didn't catch the scumbags you wanted, you smell like the monkey cage in the zoo but you know you did good if you don't know it, by the end of the day, you'll get over it.
(Photo is of the Euphrates river at sundown as yet another sandstorm resides)www.onemarinesview.com


Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 12, 2008
I've Been Everywhere

Before some 2nd Lt intel weenie goes ”Marines weren’t there”, let me say, it’s only a blog post. I jotted it down real late or early depending how you look at it while listening and agreeing as a good song played and I finished my coffee, in piece, get a life. Hello,I'm Maj Pain.

"I've Been Everywhere"

I was totin' my pack along the long dusty Iraqi road,
When along came a 7-ton with a high an' canvas-covered load.
"If you're goin' to Iraq or Afghanistan, Mack, with me you can ride."
And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside.
He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand.
And I said, "Listen Devil Dog (DD), I've traveled every road in this here land!"

(start tapping foot here)

I've been everywhere, man.
I've been everywhere, man.
Crossed the deserts bare, man.
I've breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I've had my share, man.
Even seen the dirt people there man.
I've been everywhere.

I've been to:
Barsra, Sammara, Diyala, almost one waya, Haditha, watch out for Murtha, Al Qadisiyah, Al Amara, Al Hillah, Al Sulaymaniyah, Ninawa, Irbil, Kikirk, Najef, Najjaf, Im a grunt, here we go.

I've been everywhere, man.
I've been everywhere, man.
Crossed the deserts bare, man.
I've had a cigar or two there man.
Kicked some butt here and there man.
I've been everywhere.

I've been to:
Kabul, Sari Pul, Ghazni, Sheberghan, Afghanistan, Talugan, Kandahar, Charikar, a top the biggest Ghar, Herat, Jalalabad, Tarin Kowt without a doubt, Echo lake, Saline lake, even to Zarkol lake for the Twin Towers sssssssssake.

I've been everywhere, man.
I've been everywhere, man.
Crossed the deserts bare, man.
Look at those fly boys over there man.
I've borrowed a couple of their cigars man.
Of travel I've had my share, man.
I've been everywhere.

I've been to:
Al Qaim, Fallujah, Ar Rutbah, hey I can see Jordan, Sammarra, Karbala, Najaf, its no laugh, Kuwait City, Baghdad City, Ramadi City, Barsara City, What a pity.

I've been everywhere, man.
I've been everywhere, man.
Crossed the deserts bare, man.
I've change a country here and there man.
Got some support packages there man.
Shared some Copenhagen in there man.
I've beeeeeeeen everyyyyyyyyywhere.

Hat Tip to the Man in Black & the warriors that came before us………………

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 17, 2008
A Plan to kill everyone.

An interesting story on Fox News:

FALLUJAH -- A sign on the door leading out of India Company’s Combat Operations Center says “Have a Plan to Kill Everyone You Meet.” For a fraction of second I thought it might be some kind of joke. But I was with the Marine Corps in Fallujah, and it wasn’t a joke.

I asked Captain Stewart Glenn if he could explain and perhaps elaborate a bit on what, exactly, that sign is about. “It’s pretty straightforward,” he said rather bluntly. “It means exactly what it says.” Welcome to counterinsurgency.


A sign outside Lieutenant Nathan Bibler’s Joint Security Station in the slums of Fallujah makes the point a little more clearly, and delicately. “Look at everyone as though they are trying to kill you, but you cannot treat them that way.”

“The threat's always there,” Sergeant Chuck Balley told me as he looked blankly at nothing in particular. “Everybody is sketchy.”

Maybe they are. But very few people in Fallujah try to kill Americans – or other Iraqis – anymore. It has been months since a single Marine in Fallujah has been even wounded, let alone killed. But at least a handful of disorganized insurgents still lurk in the city. Once a week or so somebody takes a shot at the Americans.

“Do you have plates in that Kevlar?” one Marine sergeant said to me as I donned my body armor on our way into the city. He was referring to steel SAPI plates that fit inside Kevlar vests that can stop even a sniper round.

“No,” I said, and I didn't care. The odds that I, personally, would be the first person shot in Fallujah for months were microscopic.

“Look,” he said. “You are not gonna get shot. But you should still carry some plates.”

One lieutenant forced me to wear Marine-issue body armor – which weighs almost 80 pounds – before he would let me go out on patrol with him. I felt like Godzilla lumbering around with all the extra bulk and weight, and I didn’t really feel safer. Running while carrying those extra pounds all of a sudden wasn’t much of an option. Sacrificing most of my speed and agility to make myself a little more bullet-proof might not be worth it. But perhaps that’s just what I told myself so I could justify wearing lighter and more comfortable armor. It’s hard to say. What I do know for certain is that Fallujah at the end of 2007 was neither scary nor stressful. No one can go there right now without feeling what is perhaps a dangerous sense of complacency.

But complacency kills. The Marines are reminded of this fact every day, as was I when I traveled and worked with them.

The day I arrived at India Company's Forward Operating Base, which had been converted from an old train station, all the Marines had to attend readiness training classes designed to offset complacency.

“Too many Marines are getting complacent and lax,” Captain Glenn said. “Complacency is as potentially deadly as an IED at this point.”

Posted by Michael J. Totten at January 2, 2008

Full story herehttp://www.michaeltotten.com/

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 20, 2008
Should I stay or should I go?

http://www.onemarinesview.com/


From a OMV visitor:
Hello, I looked at your web site and I need answers, so who better to ask but a Marine. My son who is 17 whats to join, I say NO, I have heard they are the worst of all branches. My father was a Naval Officer for 30 years, I would rather him join that. What are you thoughts?
(Should I stay or should I go-The Clash)

Well let me tell you a story. While I finished High School my senior year, I received a Scholarship to go into the Air Force Academy , enlist into the Air Force in order to play football for them. That being said, my mother didn’t want me to join the military out of my safety and showed it to me at the last minute just before the date on it expired. I chose not to go to the Air Force Academy for one single reason. I wanted to be a Marine.

When you say the ”worst of all branches” I’m going to assume you personally don’t know many Marines. That is something as “a very worried mom” you should fix. Your son is probably already talking to a Marine recruiter. Have you introduced yourself to him? We take new Marines very preciously as the American people are giving their country their prize possession. That is something we never take for granted. “Worst of all branches”, I will again assume you mean as in the enemy thinks of us as their worse group of people to show up n their front porch after they have attacked America. It isn’t uncommon for a few Navy ships to park off the coast of a foreign country and have the fear and intimidation overwhelm them as they know those ships are filled with Marines.

If everyone could be a Marine, then we wouldn’t be the Marine Corps we are today. You should be proud that your son is considering it is as it is continuously the absolutely most challenging branch in the US military. We take pride in being selected to protect this country. We take pride in protecting the White House, Embassy’s around the world as only Marines protect these specific symbols of America. We take very serious pride in being a Marine.

Some state it’s almost like a cult or a club, perhaps a gun club. We seem to be audacious and over confident even some say arrogant. Perhaps. Back in the early 1940s, some even said we don’t need a Marine Corps any more as it was tethering on being disbanded, several times, until America was attacked. Then the world cried out for America to “Send in the Marines”.

My friend, there is simply one and will always be only one reason we have a Marine Corps.


Because the American people want a Marine Corps and what it represents.
"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a MARINE CORPS for the next 500 years."
JAMES FORRESTAL, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY

We worship our customs and courtesies and we force our new Marines to learn about our history. Why? Because that is blood that runs through the Marine Corps. We don’t buy this phrase you may hear from other branches like “former “ Soldier or I use to be a Marine. Once a Marine, Always a Marine. Ask any Marines you meet about this. After you ask them “Are you a former Marines” most likely they will come back with the previous phrase.

Joining the Marine Corps has to be a decision made by the individual, because when the training is hard, the temps are high and nobody really seems to like you very much, you will have to find it in yourself to complete the training and eventually the mission and meet the mark set so high like so many before you have done to become Marines. Nobody will promise you a rose garden.

Should your son join the Marine Corps? I think you should ask your son, he’s a man now.

Semper Fidelis-Maj Pain
"

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, 1985

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

July 25, 2008 <br />
SOMETIMES YOU GOT TO CHEW SOME ASS <br />
<br />
The lion. He is the king of the jungle. He sits in the shade as little cubs taunt him and pull at his tail. The hyenas’ watch the lion all the...

[thedrifter]

July 25, 2008 <br />
SOMETIMES YOU GOT TO CHEW SOME ASS <br />
http://www.onemarinesview.com/ <br />
<br />
The lion. He is the king of the jungle. He sits in the shade as little cubs taunt him and pull at his tail. The...

[thedrifter]

August 01, 2008
The “Hoofs” dept.


Ways to keep both fronts happy



As you battle the daily contingencies while being deployed, not much sleep, sharing the heads with 100 of your closest buds, and dinning in the swahut of food, you still have to balance that juggling act back home.



Although you miss birthdays, wedding anniversary’s and moments that will never be brought back except for pictures and stories from you kids you know your mission deployed is important and so does your spouse. However, without divulging all the Op Sec in the world, your spouse doesn’t really “get” what you’re doing, and if they do, you probably peaked over the Op Sec rules. So you try to tell and explain to them all the little corks about being deployed, the funny stories of people getting locked in the port a johns, sun crazy dogs chasing you as you try to PT, having all sorts of bugs crawl up you leg at night and finding dirt in every crease of your body, good times!! You try to minimize the bad because, well they are bad and you don’t need to stress out the home front when there isn’t anything they can do about it anyway.



You have to be creative. Before you deploy, write down the important dates (mainly for the deployed men, cause wimins are way ahead of us on this fellas) and have a plan to celebrate them, even if it’s only with a phone call from you. There were plenty of special dates that I celebrated with a remote phone call to that special loved one and that was that. I was lucky to do that at times. But, when you can I have found that giving someone you trust back in the states, envelopes with dates on them. One date is a week before the wife’s b-day. Your friend opens it and it has instructions in it and cash to order flowers, a dinner certificate or a confirmation slip to get one of those smelly girlie manicure things that smelly wimins like….sheesh.



Anyway you get the jest of it. Trust me gents this can be done during half time of a foot ball game (unless Jessica Simpson is performing, then all bets are off) and it will make you a super star. I had to go to plan “B” and call a certain manicure/massage/smelly girlie salon pot puri sneezing place from

Iraq
. Urgh, (yes, Id rather be tortured with bamboo strips under the finger nails but I had to make the call) the lady on the other end of the phone was helpful, got me all set up after I explained what it was for and where I was calling from (middle of the night standing like a big target in the desert) and then I was disconnected. Called back, got a different receptionist, started over, went through it all again with the static phone……….got disconnected again due to the high blowing winds on the satellite connection. A few deep breaths………whostafsa, whoooostafa (Anger management) and made the call again. This time although I could still almost smell the burning candles and pot puri crap. They were able to help me quickly before I got cut off again. Booya, set for another year.



It ended up being a success and a good tactic from a deployed service members stand point. I thought well, I think I will attend my own spa here in

Iraq
. I peeled off the smelly socks that would make any Rottweiler cry like a puppy off my stanky hoofs and watched the small animals scurry from the area,(One Marine fainted, no ****) and threw my clothes that probably should have been burnt into a trash can to wash in later. Took a nice 120 degree heated bottle of water and poured it on my feet and as the Chenoble temperature water scorched the fungi in between my toes I imagined my self in that pot puri filled salon, began to sneeze as a dust devil about blew me over. I tell ya if it weren’t for the diesel fuel exhaust from the local generator or the stank of the dead rodent under our hooch, I could have believed I was really in one of those $100 saloons.



Lighting up a big stoag and cranking up some tunes on the MP3 player the sun continued to kill off the toxins on my hoofs and air reached places that hadn’t felt it in days. It’s all in perspective I spose. Why have to go make a reservation, go sneeze your head off in some fufu office and all, when you can sit in the middle of the desert surrounded by a couple hundred of your Haji locals, remained armed to the teeth, smoke a big cigar and air the dogs out? Perhaps I can incorporate this into the Hadees weight loss club, it will have a “hoofs” department where guys can go get treated like kings, smoke cigars with the game on the TV, velvet pictures of Elvis on the wall and an occasional not so far off shout of “Cold beer here” from “female college interns”. Playboys on the counter top and a friendly bookie that cuts hair while you wait. If I can only figure how to factor in a nice Steak served with all the fixings it will be perfect……….Ya, that sounds good.



Sandstorm from hell & my email is in the ****ter so I will respond when I can. Launching the currier pigeon as we speak………

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

August 13, 2008
A time with warriors
http://www.onemarinesview.com/

Although we are continuing to do great work in country our time here is limited. We continue to disrupt the enemy and keep the area safe. At some point we will begin the hurry up and wait procedure out of country and make the transition towards home. We ran into a few Georgian soldiers that were making their way back home due to the situations in their country. With broken english, Marines talked with them about what was happening in their home land. Organized and ready, they departed Iraq, making only small talk heading back home to do their work there.


That night, I sat and enjoyed a nice Padron 1929 vintage cigar sent by a great supporter. A couple Marines came by and asked what I was smoking as I handed them one to enjoy. The Marine Corps is an unique organization where young Marines can sit and talk with seniors at times. We talked about the daily events and how things were going. What they planned on doing when they got home and what was next for them. The temps were nice and as the night continued. As time passed I realized I was spending time with warriors. There are many great times I recall throughout my short military career, but times like this will always remain up front. Semper Fi

Email is down so I will reply when I can.

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

August 24, 2008
I'M HOME

After a long trip I’m home. Beginning on the 8th, we departed our company out post and headed south. Traveling from northern Iraq, to Baghdad, to Kuwait, then to Ireland, then to Maine in the US then to California and finally back across to the east coast.

It was a long trip but it doesn’t really matter when you are headed home though. My frequent flyer miles should be off the charts!! Its awesome to be home and the things that I see the most is green trees, the smell of green fresh cut grass,clouds (since we never saw any) and the several other things I immediately see we have as Americans that we so easily take for granted. That will be another post.

This weekend, look for the guy with no hair enjoying a nice non- boiled steak, cold beer and several cigars, that’s me.

The large effort by all of you supporting us while in Hades is nothing but exemplified now as we are home. I can’t thank you all enough. I will be “resting” and getting to know the entire family again. Will write soon!
Semper Fidelis and God Bless.

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

A look into the possible future.
Posted By Maj Pain

Team “O” completes their DNC and wraps things up…….but one thing they didn’t properly take care of apparently are a few thousand American flags from the convention.

I guess it’s easy to get wrapped up in the interviews with Oprah Winfrey and the like but hold the campaign crapper! Even if you haven’t stood one day in uniform, have a relative that has or ever care to, for the love of God, respect the flag. How hard would have been to give one of those pesky interns the job of properly managing the unused American flags from you convention? I won’t even address why they weren’t used but that could be another story all together. Here is an idea, you could have shipped them to troops in Iraq for free to show your support and been a hero. But then again Heroes are not voted to become heroes.

Fron the Denver Post. This morning, Republicans tell me that a worker at Invesco Field in Denver saved thousands of unused flags from the Democratic National Convention that were headed for the garbage. Guerrilla campaigning. They will use these flags at their own event today in Colorado Springs with John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Before McCain speaks today, veterans will haul these garbage bags filled with flags out onto the stage — with dramatic effect, no doubt — and tell the story.

“What you see in the picture I sent you is less than half of total flags,” a Republican official emailed. “We estimate the total number to be around 12,000 small flags and one full size 3×5 flag.”

I’m not sure what the DNC was supposed to do with unused hand-flags, frankly. But the Republicans are obviously questioning someone’s patriotism here.

Seee the full story here: http://blogs.denverpost.com/opinion/2008/09/06/republican-recycling/

Ellie

[thedrifter]

September 07, 2008
What is your major malfuntion?

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

What is your problem? I swear, some people need to be smacked. They just don’t get it! Being my first post back from deployment, I’ve had a nice steak, a cold beer and smoked a couple hundred cigars……..sorry mom.

Things I noticed, my own **** paper (toilet paper) is nice. Sheets are awesome and rain is interesting. (We didn’t have any rain or clouds where we were)… America, what the hell is going on with everyone overweight?? Sweet lord, back away from the damn table. I guess It took me a bit to be away to notice but we are some fat bastards (git in my belly)………more reason to open club hades in Arizona or Nevada somewhere…I’ll be gentle…not.
For all that is all holy, please gang, look around, we have things great, seriously. I had Iraqis damn near wanting me to walk on water for them and get them things for the only reason because I was an American. I did all but the water walking thing…no one is perfect but many smoke cigars now. Yes, we have it so nice we don’t even realize it; we have surrounded ourselves with lard and the numbers of sheep (followers) for those new readers are quickly multiplying. Where are my fellow sheep dogs? Where are those that are like those who came back from WWII building a strong country?
Maybe it’s because I’m not in a serious dog eat dog atmosphere but I tell ya gang, WTF? I guess a year from family was a blessing as I don’t have the fog in my eyes and taking **** for granted. Don’t take it wrong, but look, we have it great. Your kids go to school without issues, you have clean water, your husband isn’t being killed because he is a farmer and helps Marines………. I could go on and I’m preaching to the choir here. But on Monday, when your fat ass work companion begins his weekly ***** rant, you have my permission to walk into his cubicle and kick him square in the ass and tell him to go get a cup of shut the hell up. The send him to my site, I’ll take it from there.

I’m back
It’s time for a cigar-Semper Fi

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

10 Popular Iraq & War Military Blogs

http://www.blogs.com/topten/10-popular-iraq-war-military-blogs/


Ellie

[thedrifter]

September 11, 2008
The Pentagon Memorial Dedication Sept 11 2008

Getting up at 0400 started Sept 11, 2008. After a short preparation, we departed for the Pentagon to be early and arrive as the gates for our section open at 0600.

We were seated with the family member’s guests that were killed on American Airlines flight 77 or at the Pentagon.
Still dark as we arrived it wasn’t long before the ceremony began. Several speakers were included Deputy Secretary of Defense, Chairmen and Joint Chiefs of Staff, flight attendants and chaplains.
A great song that was played live by Kitty Donohoe “There are no words” really set the tone along with a bag piper that played as he walks independently through the memorial and several choirs. Along with speeches from Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates and especially the President, the overwhelming moment was as each name of heroes killed in the Pentagon was read; a pause was taken to participate in the nationwide moment of silence.
At 0846, over 15 thousand became totally silent. No cars moved in the area, no one made a peep. The awe of that was monumental by itself. The silence marks the exact time 8:46 a.m. (1246 GMT) when the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center in New York. If you were able to sit there and watch the pictures of the heroes in the silent city of Washington DC and not feel the impact, you don’t have a heart.
The memorial concluded with the President completing the dedication of the memorial and unavailing the individual memorial unit.

Posted by Maj Pain

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/interactives/pentagonmemorial/index.html

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Do you really know what is happening in Iraq? <br />
Posted By Maj Pain <br />
<br />
If you read the local paper that may or may not be skewed in one way or another, you may question yourself if you really know...

[thedrifter]

September 23, 2008
Do you really know what is happening in Iraq? Part II

The area I was in this tour was a decentralized isolated area that had gypsies in it. They couldn’t go into Fallujah or Baghdad because they were perhaps wanted or some other reason kept them away so they lived near us. We didn’t locate our base at this are by chance, it needed Coalition Force support and now.

The area had no law in the area and was outside the city. Many people were poor and just wanted a good life and this was perhaps their only chance. We began by building water wells and providing basic life support structure. Then we turned on their economy once we help them survive. Think about that for a second, they were just trying to survive before we helped them. As time continued we brought in water purification systems to help them obtain clean water, then we taught people to use and maintain them and helped fund them to hire more people to the same to grow. One we did that, a police station was built to help the serve and protect their own. This allowed us to help them again by training their police men and training their trainers to again, grow.
The policemen began to snuff out crime and work for an honest paycheck. Now we hired and build a building for a mechanic to work on cars and especially police vehicles. See how this grows?
To help in another direction, we brought veterinarians to the area to treat their livestock. This not only educated the farmers but helped them eat better and refuse possibly diseases. Then we taught them to do the same. Brilliant!!
Guess hominy IEDs we got attacked from while we did this? ZERO. Guess how many bad guys were ratted out to us by the local people? Half a dozen, which is a huge signal that the Iraqi people are sick and tired of thugs and will risk their lives to inform us about them. How can you be an insurgent, hide and hide while the locals are telling Coalition Forces where you are? You can’t for very long.

Just the tip of the ice burg and I bet you won’t hear this in the paper……………..
Semper Fi

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

September 24, 2008
Rock, Paper Scissors.....

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

Not sure if this is true but hell, who cares, it sounds great, fun too!

In addition to communicating with the local air traffic control
facility, aircraft are required to give the Iranian Air Defense Radar
(military) a ten minute "heads up" that they will be transiting Iranian airspace. This is a common procedure for commercial aircraft
and involves giving them your call sign, transponder code, type
aircraft, and points of origin and destination.

I just flew with a guy who overheard this conversation on the
emergency frequency 121.5 Mhz while flying from Europe to Dubai.
It's too good not to pass along. The conversation went something like
this ...

Air Defense Radar: "Unknown aircraft at (location unknown), you are
in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself."
Aircraft: "This a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace."

Air Defense Radar: "You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not
depart our airspace we will launch interceptor aircraft!"

Aircraft: "This is a United States fighter. Send 'em up!"

Air Defense Radar: (no response ... total silence)

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

A letter from Afghanistan, from a hero
Posted By Maj Pain

How do we really know what is going on in Iraq or Afghanistan? This solder gives his thoughts, in a letter that was recently published in the Crescent City (California) Triplicate, and I quote:

Letter from Afghanistan
Published: September 22, 2008
Editor's note: This is the unedited version of the letter emailed to Triplicate reporter Adam Madison on Sept. 11 from Afghanistan by Capt. Bruno de Solenni of Crescent City.
Hi Adam, my name is Capt. Bruno de Solenni and I am writing you in regards to your article that I finally was able to read online.
I really wasn't sure what to expect, especially nowadays with some of the crap that you read in the news. I will say that I was surprised and pleased that it wasn't over-sensationalized and you kept a good theme on the topic.
0A

I guess the main reason I am writing you is to thank you for your support and the point of view that you took on the article. I know that sometimes it is difficult to actually print something without being biased and taking just one side. But I will tell you the truth and give you an honest opinion about my life in the National Guard, about the war over here and many of the decisions leading to my third tour in the Middle East.

First off, when I first joined the National Guard, back in 1996, I had no idea that I would be here today. I do remember making the decision on Christmas Day when I was about 20 years old and felt like I was going nowhere with my life and needed to take a new direction. As my father and mother had stated earlie r, I was always fascinated with history and the military, and was amazed at some of the hardships my grandfather endured in both WWI and WWII.

So the following Monday on the 26th I called a recruiter, and took the asvab test on the 27th in Eureka. Three days later I was down at the Oakland Meps station getting sworn in as a 62E (heavy equipment operator). When they asked when I wanted to go to Basic, I told them, "how about next week?" and they kind of laughed at me and explained that the soonest they could get me in was 30 days. On the 29 th I boarded a plane and my life was forever changed, without me even knowing what lay ahead.

Eventually, a few years after joining, I did decided to go back to college at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Ore., where there was a GOLD (Guard Officer Leadership Development) program that allowed me to earn a federal commission as an Army officer while I continued to work toward my degree (which the National Guard also paid for).
In a sense, I was doing e xactly what the National Guard said I could do if I joined … Finally, on May 11, 2001, I received my commission as a young, immature, 2nd lieutenant full of **** and vinegar still not knowing exactly what I was getting into.

When Sept. 11 happened, it was then that I realized that things were going to be very different for me and the rest of this country. One month later our battalion received the alert order that we would mobilize the following year to fill in on the current MFO (Multi National Force and Observers) mission in Sinai, Egypt. After returning from Egypt, I was home for eight months before volunteering again to go to Iraq for OIF II. It was there I truly (became) an infantry officer and learned a lot about myself and people in general.

Upon my return from Iraq, I was positive about what was=2 0going on there but very resentful at the way the media was covering the war over there. In my own view, I personally feel that some of the media deliberately fueled that w ar based on their own biased political views and I still hold them accountable for their actions.
Something that still upsets me is the fact that they exploited some of the crimes soldiers committed over there as a reflective view to the rest of the world of what our armies stood for. I am not saying that we didn't make mistakes, we did make them and we have painfully corrected them.

After returning from Iraq I took a break and just stuck to the one weekend a month traditional Guard and used my experiences from Iraq to lead a recon/sniper platoon out of the Grants Pass Armory for about 2.5 years. Then I received the opportunity to come to Afghanistan and work as an Embedded Trainer with the Afghanistan Army.

Some of the biggest dilemmas that I think we have faced here are mostly the fact that Afghanistan seems to have been put on the back burner up until a few months ago when the casualties here began to exceed those in Iraq where there are four times a s many soldiers. Ou r true problems here are definitely reflective of the Pakistani border and the lack of troops covering it, which has been20an issue for years and is being exploited by the Taliban as they train freely in Pakistan, unopposed by anyone.
In my opinion, Afghanistan does need a troop surge of American soldiers as well, otherwise we will only be able to sustain combat operations with minimal effect of containing Taliban insurgents. As I speak about this, these are only my views and opinions based on my experiences.

Even though I am now recuperating in the rear and doing fine, much of my time along with other teammates has been spent in the Helmand Province working with a handful of British soldiers in small isolated FOBs conducting offensive operations with the Afghan National Army. Our task is to mentor them during combat operations and to provide both air support and indirect fire support, which seems to sometimes be a daily necessity over here.
The good days over here are when we are truly sticking it to the Taliban in a firefight that is in our favor and you just drop ped 130 105mm rounds on their position. Or when a ... hot F-15 pilot flies over your head strafing the Taliban with his Vulcan cannons.
The (bad) days are whe n you are covering up your your sergeant major from being exposed to the dust-out of a Chinook helicopter that is landing to medivac him out. At the same time he cries because he doesn't want to leave his team as he lies there half paralyzed with shrapnel in him, while fluids are coming out of his eyes and ears signifying severe brain trauma, (meaning we cant give him morphine).

The bad days are when you put your buddy in a body bag and you don't even recognize him because his limbs are missing and there holes in him everywhere. The miracles are when his last words are, "tell my wife and kids I love them," before he dies in his best friend's arms after struggling for several agonizing minutes to get the words out because there is a fist-size hole in his head.

And last20but not least, the best days are when an Afghan comes up to you thanking you for everything that you have done to help them and for making their (home) a better place now that the Taliban are gone.

If anything, this is probably the biggest reason why I proudly enjoy being over here. I can't explain it to anyone and there is no description of what it feels like, but it was the same feeling I got when I was in Iraq as well. And I am sure it's the same feeling that generations of American soldiers before me have gotten as they fought and sacrificed their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy today.
Perhaps the biggest thing that has made being over here much more bearable, is the amount of public support that we have received from people. Getting a care package or a letter of support when you are out in the middle of nowhere from a complete stranger, thanking you, does make the day seem a little better.

I would especially like to thank my Aunt J an Martin, and The local Troop Support organization who have provided care packages to soldiers serving overseas and have volunteered endless hours of their time and energy making our lives easier. The British soldiers (who don't get anything) are extremely grateful as well.

Along with this, I would especially like to thank the members of the VFW who donated several hundred dollars of G.I. shirts to the company of Afghans that I have been mentoring. You have all truly made my life and my job easier. Without your support, life would not be as pleasant.

Last but not least I would truly like to thank everyone who has supported the soldiers and the eff orts toward supporting these wars even when there wasn't an end in sight. Until about 6 months ago there wasn't a news outlet that was saying that the Iraq war was winnable and that this was another vietnam in the making. Had we let the politicians get ahold of this war it would have been.

Fortunately our president (who is not perfect) has stood his ground against the naysayers who deliberately exploited the death of American soldiers for their own political gain, showing no regard to their families and loved ones who are still mourning them to this day.
I can understand what it was like for Vietnam veterans who returned from the war and were spat upon for wearing their uniform and standing up for what they believed in. Unfortunately this is still all-too-true for many of the British soldiers returning home to their own country. There are even certain ethnic religious neighborhoods where they cannot even wear their uniforms because they will be beat up in their own country.

I pray to God we never come to that and thank the fact that what has changed drastically between Vietnam and now is that even if the public doesn't support the w ar, they still support troops which makes a huge difference. This is especially comforting if you are one of20those soldiers walking through the airport wearing your uniform and coming home on leave or returning from a deployment.

Once again, I cannot thank everyone enough for their support and all that they have done …
Sincerely,
Capt. Bruno de Solenni


I am glad that is the way Captain Bruno felt about his service to our country. Because on
September 21, the Crescent City Triplicate ran this story about Captain Bruno de Solenni:


scroll down:



Crescent City loses one of its own

Published: September 21, 2008

Capt. Bruno de Solenni of Crescent City has been killed in Afghanistan, his father said Sunday.
de Solenni, a 1994 graduate of Del Norte High School, was apparently killed Saturday by an improvised explosive device, said his father, local attorney Mario de Solenni.

Bruno de Solenni was helping train Afghan soldiers while engaged in frequent firefights with Taliban forces in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

He had been expected home before Christmas.
As a member of the Oregon National Guard, he had also served in Egypt and Iraq.
Bruno de Solenni and his family were the subjects of a front-page feature story in The Triplicate on Sept. 6, and his letter from Afghanistan was reprinted with photos he sent on The Triplicate's features cover Sept. 13.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

September 28, 2008
“I’ve got a bracelet too”

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

I’ve attended political events where MCain has held his hand up and without mentioning it I’ve noticed that he was wearing a veteran’s bracelet. But, now during the first debate on Friday, I have to think why Obama has decided to wear one.

Of course you guys are smart enough to know why he is wearing it and mainly for the fact to counter the statements he knew McCain was going to say about the one he was wearing during the debate.

bHowever, ask any vet about their bracelet they wear and I promise you, all of them either know the service member or at a minimum know the full story behind it and for the love of God, they know his name.

Plain and simple, if you’re going to play the “I’ve got a bracelet too” game, your better freaking know the warriors name behind it and so help all that is holy you better not let us catch you not wearing it now. Semper

From the Associated Press
Soldier's mother 'ecstatic' about Obama's bracelet

By DINESH RAMDE –

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The mother of a Wisconsin soldier who died in Iraq says she was "ecstatic" when Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama mentioned during Friday's debate the bracelet she gave him in honor of her son.

Tracy Jopek of Merrill told The Associated Press on Sunday she was honored that Obama remembered Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, who was killed in 2006 by a roadside bomb.

Jopek criticized Internet reports suggesting Obama, D-Ill., exploited her son for political purposes.

"I don't understand how people can take that and turn it into some garbage on the Internet," she said.

Jopek acknowledged e-mailing the Obama campaign in February asking that the presidential candidate not mention her son in speeches or debates. But she said Obama's mention on Friday was appropriate because he was responding after Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, said a soldier's mother gave him a bracelet.

"I've got a bracelet, too, from Sergeant — from the mother of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek, given to me in Green Bay," Obama said during the debate. "She asked me, 'Can you please make sure another mother is not going through what I'm going through?' No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided."

Jopek says Obama's comment rightfully suggested there's more than one viewpoint on the war.

She wouldn't directly say whether she wanted Obama to refrain from mentioning the bracelet again, but said she hopes the issue will just go away.

"I think these bracelets should be looked upon as an honor that both candidates wear them to respect the troops," Jopek said. "My request to both of them is that they honor the troops by lifting the conversation to the issues, and that they continue to live up to the standards our military deserves."

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 02, 2008
Tough life.

It’s a hot afternoon. One hundred and twenty something and I’m soaked to death from a previous mission. I have to admit I didn’t worry about traffic during rush hour (hummers prevent that) nor did I worry about what to wear….it was pretty determined for the next oh, 7 months.

Now, as I drive the streets of Washington DC, I wonder how some of these people got their drivers license. I guess I will chalk it up to one other thing I will get use to again. The sight of green grass, bushes and the feel of rain. It’s been rainy here lately and I finished a nice cigar standing outside as it began to sprinkle and the pour. The neighbors thought “what is that nut job doing?” but if you go a year or so without seeing clouds or rain, then you begin to understand.

As Dirt people, your skin was tattooed with the dirt from the area. Crow feet on the corners of 20 year old Marines eyes and characters to match. Talking with them now after our return I laugh as we all share the same opinions of the states and how people take it for granted. The same feelings I had after every other deployment.

With everything going on in our world these days, remember, yes congress is getting a self alignment, banks are scared to loan, but know that that steely eyed warrior out in northern Iraq is ready to keep the wolf at bay.

You have running water, you probably had a starbucks this morning and your paper is still in your driveway for the love of god. You will have a good dinner tonight and after watching the biggest looser or some other feel good show you will hit your rack and get a solid 8hrs of rest.

Tough life.

Although the week is almost over, remember it can always be worse……so stop your *****ing and kick some ass. Have you really made a difference this week? If you haven’t, shame on you. If you have, then you can look at your self in that 100watt lit up bathroom mirror that your Mrs loves and say, I can do better.

Tough times don’t last, tough people do!

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 02, 2008
A timeline.


After watching the VP debate, one major issue I paid attention to because, I’ve lived in it was the Iraq AND Afghanistan issues. Granted I think the candidates did a great job. However, you cannot establish a black and white time line to a troop withdrawal. That’s like saying I can see into the future and I know my time line will be accurate.

You don’t know how fast or slow Iraqi Army development will continue although it has grown so much with the assistance of our dedicated service members. When Coalition Forces rolled into Kuwait, we were greeted as liberators. You won’t ever be greeted as liberators in an insurgency and that was never said.

Many think Iraq is done and we should be out and in Afghanistan. Have a seat and light a cigar because we are in the “red zone” (football speak) with Iraq and to pull out before its time is a certain sentence of failure including all of the professional work recently completed. Al-Qaida was the focus in Iraq and there are very small trails of them still present but to set a time line would only mean the insurgent power would hide and wait, which was their initial plan to outlast the American will in Iraq in the first place but a surge destroyed that idea, and them. We need to push through the red zone in Iraq where it could be violent if we don’t and continue the course with Afghanistan. Watch, after a short time Afghanistan will slow down. Why? Because at this time of year is the harvesting period for opium and they are very protective of their opium. We will continue to succeed in Iraq as long as we continue making gains and the Iraqi’s continue to take issues into their own hands. When is it time to leave, soon, but not defined enough to build a definitive time line.

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 10, 2008
IS IT OVER?

S o we finish another week in the “normal” life without IEDs and Hummers and eating goats. Between dealing with idiots who drive 30 in a 45mph, snot nosed morons who don’t know the meaning of “customer service” that work at the customer service counter, I forge on dealing with people who lack the principle of sense of urgency and I tend to have one way conversations with them. Perhaps it’s the hair cut……..

Although, I have mastered enjoying a nice cigar on the drive home and trying to get one in with my morning coffee (rare) but I still attempt it. Thought I would shoot a couple rounds across your bow before the weekend:

-The election-you probably are already know who you are going to vote for-can we end the brain numbing commercials? If you need more info, go here: http://www.rockthevote.com/home.html
- The Dow plunging-sucks doesn’t it? But if I see one more bag of bones ticket trader with his face in his hands in the news, I’m going to drop my couch on him!

-Sports- I don't really know what to say to Cubs fans. Epic Carnival has some advice on what not to say, but that isn't going to make the pain of another playoff loss go away. So instead we'll bring you a pic of Chicago native, die-hard Cubs fan and House star Jennifer Morrison. If anyone can distract North Siders from their misery, it's Jennifer.

-Pirates-Arrrgh!

-Marines kicking Ass-Marine, Corpsman Pay Homage to Fallen Brother-http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=51448
Have a craptastic weekend and try the CAO Mx2, as I thoroughly enjoyed one during this post.

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 11, 2008
If I were President!

http://www.onemarinesview.com/


If I were President, there would be a few things I would “adjust”. First, all senators would have to re-apply for their jobs. If they didn’t cut the interview process, then perhaps they could get a job training interns or something (senator elections are over). Did I mention the interview would be done in front of Ted Nugent, who has this for doctrine.

High School students, get ready, you’re going into the military.....

for at least two years after graduation. Lord knows you need to grow up and get a “real life” clue, if you survive that then maybe we will talk about college grants and letting you work while you attend classes. Sports would be put back into schools to help teach snot nosed kids about respect, dedication, team and responsibility. Their coach would be the honorable President Eisenhower and “Terry Tate” would be the assistant coach. Teachers would get max pay, but if your ass is sleeping in class the teacher has a new line of credit for disciplining students and can open what ever size can of whoop ass desired on you. If students choose not to cooperate, then the new head of the Dept of Education, Arnold Schwarzenegger would help out. “Get to da chaawper, do it neeow” “If you bleed, you can learn”. He would be augmented and reinforced by a rotating group of UFC cage fighters. The new 2008 education slogan is “Something for something, nothing for nothing”.



One of many concerns is homeland security and boarder control. Thus, we would do away with “boarder control” and upgrade all to become full fledged Texas Rangers and engage a Chuck Norris, “Chuctatorship” law. Simple, you cross our boarder and you’re not suppose to you have to meet chuck. It will be known as the “leave or die policy.” If you want to become a US citizen, then you go thru the proper procedures and add to society, however, if you don’t think you have to contribute to society, see “Ted Nugents link” above.



The Dept of defense will be overseen by John Wayne. Wait, he’s dead right? No, because we cloned his DNA before putting him in the ground and now he will be backing Chuck Norris on the boarder patrol and will be supreme allied Texas Ranger. (Nato falls under that as well).



All prisons will be officially known as “Hard knocks” and will be located in all of our major deserts. No TVs, only 1970s era military cotton tents and cots. No weights, no fun, just hot temps and a lot of manual labor that sucks really bad. Oh ya, it will be tobacco free as well, sorry, not even cigars! ( I have a friend that worked at a cable company that actually received a phone call from a prison regarding their cable outage…..are you ****ting me?) Done, no more cable outage problems. While on this topic, if you smart off to a cop, your going to a “Hard knock”, if you try to out run a cop, deal drugs or any of the other things your mom told you not to do …….send a post car cause you are going to the desert.



Speaking of cigars, this BS tax to pay “billy” for doing nothing crap and paying for it by taxing cigars……yip it’s gone. New smoking law in affect immediately, if you don’t like the cigar smoke, don’t go to restaurants that allow smoking. I don’t think we will have any problems in the political field on this one because Marisa Miller will be the new White House spokes woman. Elvis (see DNA reasoning above with John Wayne) will sing most NFL National Anthems. For that matter all of the Fox and ESPN “on the field” female reporters will be mandated to be replaced with Sport Illustrated models. Are the ones we have now really the best out there???? If that doesn’t rest well with you, there is always soccer or Dr Phil to watch. Waaa. Take your ball and go home.



I’m not sure what the hell happened to the good old

USA
, where we had guys that worked for NASA and made it a personal mission to get our boys to the moon. Those kind of guys were what made us “

America
!” The ones that kicked the crap out of the Germans and Japenese during the great World Wars. Where, military guys were heroes back in the 40s and the country wasn’t afraid to go kick the crap out of the Russians or anyone else that wanted a piece of us. Castro, you’re lucky we don’t own

cuba
my friend. Muscle cars would be reproduced from the factory stamps, not like these damn match box cars I see now that can fit in my huge gas burning club cab truck. Yes, I don’t mind spending $100 to fill my gigantazilla truck up with gas! No, I will not back off of your bumper just because you car is soo small my headlights pierce your soul. I’m not too sure what generation gap fell out of the spittoon of life and screwed it up, but the whole touch feely care bear days are gone my friend. Regardless who is elected President, McCain, the other guy or someone after that it doesn’t matter because we as Americans can have a say and stand for something. You think you can run a corrupt business and escape penalties if you foreclose? Wrong! If you think you don’t owe your country a civil service or even an honest day of work? Wrong! If you think you can get something for nothing……..bada bing,………Wrong!

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 15, 2008
PERIMETER WALL
Posted by Maj Pain

Local Afghan workers perform maintenance on the perimeter wall at International Security Assistance Force Forward Operating Base Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, Oct. 2, 2008. ISAF is assisting the Afghan government in extending and exercising its authority and influence across the country, creating the conditions for stabilization and reconstruction.

U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Laura K. Smith


Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 15, 2008
QUICK CLASS - Marines deploy?

Yip, Marines deploy and if you are thinking about joining the Marines, you better like to travel. But, before you go anywhere we are crazy sick in making sure you are thoroughly trained. Not kinda, but very thoroughly and professionally.
Usually infantry Marines will do a six month work up prior to doing a 6-7 month deployment. Like these Marines in 29 Palms, an easy going comfortable, plush work up is being conducted…….plush, ya sure that’s what it is, Not!

Being a unique organization by itself, Marines have what are called Marine Expeditionary Units (Grunt speak: they are units of Navy ships loaded with an Infantry BN and a wing asset that does a 6 mo float). A MEU will be a float the full deployment. Then if anything “pops” up you have a MEU from the East Coast, Left Coast and Japan afloat at all times to be on the door steps of some smuck in a couple days. “Nothing worse that waking up and seeing US ships off your coast knowing they are full of Marines”.

Regardless of the future for Iraq and Afghanistan, Marines will always have these MEUs afloat as a no kidding “911” force. These ships can go ashore and remain self sustained for up to 30 days without any (that’s zero) help from anyone. They do this by coordinating up with Maritime prepositioned ships holding logistics in the ships hulls to mesh with the Marines. Great concept, Brilliant!!!! So brilliant, the US Army is now beginning to do it.

Class dismissed!

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Last One Turn Out the Lights
Posted By Maj Pain

We knew during my 2nd deployment to Iraq that we were making a huge difference as we departed basses and turned them over to the Iraqi’s. Now fast forward to 2008 and we haven’t changed anything and continue to improve the overall situation and area which results in more basses turned over.

A surge? Brilliant! Go figure, its working so good now I wonder what the ***** & moan will be next?

We are training the Iraqi’s too well now? I knew that we would turn over Fallujah this month upon our departure in Aug and that base won’t be the last. All of the Coalition Forces are following the same plan and are able to execute it because of the steadfast operations the young warriors are doing on the ground.


Enjoy the weekend, because the Marines have landed and everything is well in hand!


WASHINGTON — When Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly deployed to Iraq in February, the violence had fallen so low in Anbar province that he began figuring out how to start closing bases and prepare to go home.

In the last 10 months the Marines in Fallujah have done what was unthinkable before the surge began — they have quietly transferred out of one of Anbar province's largest cities. FOX News has learned in an exclusive interview with Kelly from Fallujah that 80 percent of the move is complete. In February there were 8,000 Marines living at Fallujah base. Now there are about 3,000 left. By Nov. 14 there will be none.

"We will shut down the command function here and I will move; my staff has already started to move," Kelly, the commander of Multinational Force-West, told FOX News in an exclusive interview via satellite. "We will turn the lights off here."


www.onemarinesview.com


Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 19, 2008
The 12th man for the enemy

Its 2002, I have 180 fire eating Marines with me crawling through the mountains of Afghanistan looking for dirt bags with a lot of hate and anger in our guts as we look for payback from the 9/11 attacks. A platoon has been attacked, with WIA and we are the Quick Reaction Force (QRF). I have a million things being thrown at me and between my 1stSgt and Plt Cdrs we are multi tasking at the cyclic rate and at a the same time keeping emotions out of it although Marines are in trouble as we wait in the LZ for C53s to pick us up and insert us into the spicy area of insert.


Two, CH-53s bank around a mountain and begin final approach as the first stick I’m on gets ready, the battalion SgtMaj brings a civilian running up to me. Dressed in jeans with a polo shirt and a backpack with a sleeping bag and lord only knows what else hanging out of it. Four cameras around his neck, I get the word this nut-job is suppose to come into a potentially hot zone where Marines are hit with us. The 1st of the stick of 2 helos flares and lands less than 30 yards from us evacuating everything with its huge rotor, its freezing at the 9,000 forward operating base in the wet winter. My 1stSgt and I look at one another as if we have seen it all now and tell our newly joined embedded reporter to leave his sleeping bag, pack and pick 1 camera he wants to take and we give him a pistol to protect himself and put him in the #2 place on the second stick where a savy Sgt has him under his care.


I agree with you--the ap is so disappointing. Our media today is so liberal--and so are all the celebrities on tv and movies brainwashing the public. Everywhere you look on tv, you are bombarded with these illuminati thoughts, view points, and opinions! MNotaro


My Company was inserted into a frisky zone, secured it, tended and evacd the wounded, and began a village wide cordon and search that lasted for 3 days with the 12th man imbedded. The Marines did a great job and detained the enemy hiding with in the local populace that tried to blend in after ambushing a quad on patrol. But, the 12th man didn’t see it like that. A couple weeks later he wrote how he wasn’t briefed thoroughly on the situation to begin with and continued to paint the picture that we were the war mongrels that bullied a village. He never mentioned the wounded or for that matter the friendly KIA or how the enemy blended into the populace dangering women and children.


That’s when I had to learn about the media the hard way. As I stood in front of my battalion commander, he read the article and my quotes about wanting to “kill or capture the sons of *****es that shot at my fellow Marines”. Granted that was very true, but the 12th man painted a picture in the article that I’m sure mad my mother think “is that my son?” A distorted and liberal point of view made the 12th man unpopular after we read the article. Some piece of work writer that I haven’t ever even seen his name pop up in the news again was probably trying to make a name for himself and join the “we should be kicking the **** out of the Taliban” naysayers. That goes for all the touchy feely so called movie “stars” out there that have now all of a sudden became CNN military analysis and singers of Kumbaya! (ack…. choke.. vomit). This goes back to a favorite ***** I have with numb nuts that come from left field with their opinions about Iraq and Afghanistan and use their so called “stardom” to visit colleges and speak against our gains in those countries. The first thing I like to ask them is “ so….Mr movie star, how long have you studied these countries and the events within? Ans: Since the war started (which is BS) Q: And where do you base your facts off of? Ans: the news and I form my own opinions. Q: So you’re nothing more than a regurgitator for the liberal news station? Ans: silence.


I have several examples similar to this where the news and so called “stars” have painted the streets red with their words as Coalition Forces try to push ahead. Regardless that its already hard enough over there conducting combat operations, we don’t need our own Americans making us take two steps forward and three back with their meaningless news articles and “opinions”. Fortunately the Coalition Forces hard work and dedication combined with the surge has squashed 90% of this. During the my last deployment in Iraq , the was somewhat of a void of embedded reporters, I guess good news isn’t that good to report on.


Keep kicking ass warriors and watch the 12th man closely if he comes near your pos.

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Winning
Posted By Maj Pain

If hockey fights were fake, you would see me in more of them.
-- Rod Gilbert

I got to tell you, after this deployment, I’ve broken the code on getting “back” to normal. You never appreciate how green trees are or how nice a cold beer is especially when you have you own bathroom to use as well.

However, there is one thing that has really jumped out at me this time more than other deployment returns and it has to do with the kidos soccer program. Yes, I understand it’s about learning skills and techniques at this period……but let me digress.

It’s a Monday afternoon and my favorite football team is playing that night. The Mrs (House-Cinc) tells me that she is taking the chitlins to one event that night and I have to attend another during the same time. “Roger”, got it……or do I? I print out the yahoo directions to a parent/coach meeting. Ok sounds fair enough, the lord knows these coaches dedicate a lot of their time to do this stuff, I will do my part.

Hold the BS train and have a seat. We spend two and half hours doing “work shop” programs on how we can make our children feel better about themselves……..WTF? This was something you would expect after some lune of a dad blew his cool and Terry Tated the soccer ref or something and we needed to do this to set things right, but nothing like that happened. No, we spent every pain staking minute working through this brain washing packet that kept moaning, “tell your kids they are always winners” and “Points and scoring don’t matter” and additional psychological crap with suggestions that included me not even watching my own kid play but pick another player on the team and root for them so I don’t get stressed out………… Did these people eat lead paint chips when they were young? One parent even asked this total stranger (another parent) “How should I speak to my kid?” Oh man are you screwed if you don’t know how to talk to your kids….but maybe that begins to explain some of this.

Further background- I played midget football and baseball when I was eight, wrestled and played football in Jr High throughout College where I learned that a 260lb pulling offensive guard will eat your linebacker’s lunch if he isn’t ready, practices are harder when you play bad and I also learned that LOOSING SUCKS!

I swear, if I have to hear another “preacher” tell me that the score doesn’t matter, I’m going to have to go sign up as a coach myself and then develop a team name like “Clown punchers” or “our kids are better than yours” or something. A lot can be achieved by winning and by loosing. Again kids, loosing sucks.

This makes you practice harder so you can feel like the top of the world at the end of the game and everything is left on the field. If you got beat and you gave it your all, then good on the other team, we suck, you guys are better until we meet again. Notice I say team because with all this touchy feely BS, I’m seeing, it’s not doing a damn thing to promote a team cohesive unit. Another thing, hey dads, if your son isn’t getting a lot of playing time in what ever sport he is playing………….he’s probably not good at it. I know, it’s a shocker but 99% of the coaches out there wont bench their good players***News Flash*** Deal with it and stop blaming the coach or trying to have your son be something you couldn’t be either because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Its called life, get over it.

If you think by protecting billy and telling him points don’t matter nor does winning will somehow “save” him from disappointment when he grows a pair, you are wrong. I would like to see ”Billy” when he is (35yrs old) trying to get an adult job and the employer tells him he isn’t competitive enough and he should look else where, like McDonalds.

This goes back to another post of mine about WTF is going on with kids these days. We need to teach our kids about being a good sport. Cheap shots will get your butt kicked and also how to deal with defeat and loosing with dignity. Poor sportsmanship sucks too.

Do you think those warriors back in WW1 & 2 cared about winning? You bet they did, and I can tell you their kids turned out pretty damn good. Do you think it mattered in Ramadi or Fallujah to win? You bet your sweet ass it did. Marines don’t go into a city to “tie”! Do you think any of the Olympic contestants cared how the losers felt, nope they didn’t. If you go out on the filed to play, you better be at 100% and be there to win. Fair and square, we are going to play harder and longer than you in your face sports, winning. If you beat us, then good on ya!

Are you getting the idea now?

Plus kids, it’s awesome to ride the bus home after a High School football game and know you just kicked the crap out of the rivalry schools team, especially during “Home Coming”. Trust me, if you loose a game like that, points will matter and your mama wont be there telling you “its ok, billy”.

No, I think I wont be attending anymore sing along coach /parenting meetings, I will use that time to be teaching my kids how to run wind sprints, passing and teamwork, leadership principles so they can suck it up in the fourth quarter and have some heart to keep trying to score when they are down and there is only 30 seconds left on the clock.

Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.

Martina Navratilova, American Tennis Player

Ellie

[thedrifter]

October 23, 2008
PILOTS INTERNET BLOG

'We have H. R. on this flight', she said. (H. R. stands for human remains.)

'Are they military', I asked.
'
Yes', she said.
'
Is there an escort', I asked.

'Yes, I already assigned him a seat'.

'Would you please tell him to come to the flight deck, you can board him early', I said.

A short while later, a young army sergeant entered the flight deck. He was the image of the perfectly dressed soldier. He introduced himself and I asked him about his soldier. The escorts of these fallen soldiers talk about them as if they are still alive and with us.
'My
soldier is on his way back to Virginia ', he said. He proceeded to answer my questions, but offered no words on his own. I asked him If there was anything I could do for him and he said 'no.' I told him that he has the toughest job in the military and that I appreciated the work that he does for the families of our fallen soldiers. The first officer and I got up out of our seats to shake his hand. He left the flight deck to find his seat.

We completed our preflight checks, pushed back and performed an uneventful departure. About 30 minutes into our flight I received a call from the lead flight attendant in the cabin. 'I just found out the family of the soldier we are carrying, is onboard', he said.
He
then proceeded to tell me that the father, mother, wife and 2-year-old daughter were escorting their son, husband, and father home. The family was upset because they were unable to see the container that the soldier was in before we left.

We were on our way to a major hub at which the family was going to wait 4 hours for the connecting flight home to Virginia . The father of the soldier told the flight attendant that knowing his son was below him in the cargo compartment and being unable to see him was too much for him and the family to bear. He had asked the flight attendant if there was anything that could be done to allow them to see him upon our arrival. The family wanted to be outside by the cargo door to watch the soldier being taken off the airplane. I could hear the desperation in the flight attendants voice when he asked me if there was anything I could do. 'I'm on it', I said. I told him that I would get back to him.

Airborne communication with my company normally occurs in the form of e-mail like messages. I decided to bypass this system and contact my flight dispatcher directly on a secondary radio.
There is a
radio operator in the operations control center who connects you to the telephone of the dispatcher. I was in direct contact with the dispatcher. I explained the situation I had onboard with the family and what it was the family wanted. He said he understood and that he would get back to me.

Two hours went by and I had not heard from the dispatcher. We were going to get busy soon and I needed to know what to tell the family. I sent a text message asking for an update. I saved the return message from the dispatcher and this following is the text.
'Captain, sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. There is policy on this now and I had to check on a few things. Upon your arrival a dedicated escort team will meet the aircraft. The team will escort the family to the ramp and plane side. A van will be used to load the remains with a secondary van for the family. The family will be taken to their departure area and escorted into the terminal where the remains can be seen on the ramp. It is a private area for the family only. When the connecting aircraft arrives, the family will be escorted onto the ramp and plane side to watch the remains being loaded for the final leg home. Captain, most of us here in flight control are veterans. Please pass our condolences on to the family, thanks.' I sent a message back telling flight control thanks for a good job.

I printed out the message and gave it to the lead flight attendant to pass on to the father. The lead flight attendant was very thankful and told me, 'You have no idea how much this will mean to them.' Things started getting busy for the descent, approach and landing.
After landing, we cleared the runway and taxied to the ramp area. The ramp is huge with 15 gates on either side of the alleyway.
It is always a busy area with aircraft maneuvering every which way to enter and exit. When we entered the ramp and checked in with the ramp controller, we were told that all traffic was being held for us.
'There is a team in place to meet the aircraft', we were told.
It
looked like it was all coming together, then I realized that once we turned the seat belt sign off, everyone would stand up at once and delay the family from getting off the airplane.

As we approached our gate, I asked the copilot to tell the ramp controller we were going to stop short of the gate to make an announcement to the passengers. He did that and the ramp controller said, 'Take your time.' I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. I pushed the public address button and said, 'Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. I have stopped short of our gate to make a special announcement.

We have a passenger on board who deserves our honor and respect. His name is private XXXXXX, a soldier who recently lost his life. Private XXXXXX is under your feet in the cargo hold.
Escorting
him today is army sergeant XXXXXXX. Also onboard are his father, mother, wife, and daughter. Your entire flight crew is asking for all passengers to remain in their seats to allow the family to exit the aircraft first. Thank you.'

We continued the turn to the gate, came to a stop and started our shutdown procedures. A couple of minutes later I opened the cockpit door. I found the two forward flight attendants crying, something you just do not see. I was told that after we came to a stop, every passenger on the aircraft stayed in their seats, waiting for the family to exit the aircraft. When the family got up and gathered their things, a passenger slowly started to clap their hands.
Moments later more passengers joined in and soon the entire aircraft was clapping. Words of 'God Bless You, I'm sorry, Thank you, Be proud, and other kind words were uttered to the family as they made their way down the aisle and out of the airplane. They were escorted down to the ramp to finally be with the loved one lost.

I never did see the family. Another soldier died, another family grieved and we did what we could. That is the way it works sometimes. I get a call from the cabin; we work as a team to do what we can. That day everybody from the flight crew, to the operations center, to the 184 passengers onboard, we did what we could.
Many of
the passengers disembarking thanked me for the announcement I made.
They were just words, I could say them over and over again, but nothing I say will bring that soldier back.

I respectfully ask that all of you reflect on this day and the sacrifices that millions of men and women have made to ensure our freedom, safety, and the right to live a good life.

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Something cool that Xerox is doing

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second.

THEN, get yer butt over to www.AnySoldier.com to pick out a warrior of your choice to support. C'mon gang, they are in the freaking desert!

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

You have to honor them!
Posted By Maj Pain


In the below you will read of a Marine who served his country honorably, did his combat tour and began the track home when tragedy struck. The article focuses on if the Marines names should be added to the Virginia War memorial. The currently regulations state that memorial additions have to have died in “Hostile Combat”. Perhaps the state officials should review the memorials of the Civil War. These names on the several hundred memorials throughout Gettysburg hold names of all that died including disease and old age during the civil war. Perhaps the state officials should review the federal stipulations of being awarded the Iraqi Campaign Medal for the armed forces as it only requires servicemembers to be in Iraq to receive the award. I think the Mr Schumann could have a valid argument if his son or his sons unit received the combat action ribbon during the deployment that would validate the current memorial stipulations. Otherwise the state officials should review the term “Memorial” and “War Memorial” and perhaps change the name of their structure because by all means those Marines died for their country, regardless if they died in an IED ambush or Helo accident. The VA statesmen should ask themselves what should we do then tear down Gen Lee's house in Arlington, because he didnt die from the enemy direct bullets? Perhaps the VA statesmen should ask themselves the hard question, would the Marine be alive if he wasnt in Iraq fighting bad guys? Honor their service, they are heroes!

Marine Lance Cpl. Darrell Schumann, a 25-year-old from Hampton, fought bloody door-to-door battles for three months in Fallujah in late 2004. A few weeks later, he boarded a helicopter for the first leg of his trip home.

The helicopter, carrying Schumann and 30 comrades, flew into a sandstorm and crashed in the Iraqi desert, killing everyone on board. It remains the greatest single loss of U.S. troops in the Iraq war.

President Bush praised Schumann by name for his valor. But his name will not be found on the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond.

State officials have deemed that only the names of service members killed in hostile combat in the Middle East will be added to the stone-and-glass walls, which bear the names of 11,600 Virginians killed since World War II.

Recent veterans who died under other circumstances, such as aircraft accidents, are excluded.

The policy has changed since the memorial was erected, and the names of many service members who were killed in accidents are found on the wall.

Rick Schumann, Darrell's father, wants the policy changed again.

The memorial will soon undergo an $8 million expansion, funded mostly by taxpayers.

"We want them to do it right," Schumann said.

The state relies on the Defense Department's classification of deaths: killed in action, hostile casualty or nonhostile casualty. To be included on the Virginia memorial, a service member must fall into one of the first two categories.

According to a Virginian-Pilot review of Department of Defense records, at least two dozen service members with Virginia roots died in accidents or other noncombat scenarios related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. About 140 Virginians have died in the two conflicts since 2003.

"Our policy is that you must die from hostile action," said Del. Frank Hargrove, chairman of the Virginia War Memorial board of trustees.

The policy was tightened after the first Gulf War, Hargrove said. Both Hargrove and Schumann agree that the names of several veterans who died in accidents are found on the memorial.

Hargrove said he is sympathetic to Schumann's case. He suggested that Schumann ask the Defense Department to change the cause of the Marine's death.

"It's a damn tragedy," said Hargrove, a veteran who served in Japan immediately after World War II. "But I'm going to stick to our guidelines."

The Virginia War Memorial was established by the General Assembly after World War II. Set on a hill overlooking the James River less than two miles from the Capitol, it includes a flag display and an education area.

State officials expect to break ground next month on an expansion to the monument and a center to display artifacts and accommodate school and veterans groups.

The General Assembly earmarked $6 million for the expansion, to be released when private donations reach $2 million. The memorial is close to reaching that goal, said executive director Jon Hatfield.

New names will be added to the wall within the next two years, he said.

Rick Schumann visited the memorial in April for a ceremonial bill-signing. During the event, he spotted a sign listing Virginians killed in action in the two ongoing wars and the bombing of the Norfolk-based destroyer Cole. Their names would be added to the Virginia War Memorial.

He noticed that his son's name and several others were missing from the list. Memorial staff members told him about the policy.

Schumann, a retired Air Force chief master sergeant with 29 years of service, called the policy unfair to many men and women who have died in combat zones while on active duty.

"They all should be recognized, regardless of the conflict," he said.

Schumann returned to the monument a few days later with his laptop. He copied several names and checked them against a list of war dead on the Library of Virginia Web site.

In his small sample, he found several names of men killed accidentally, some even on U.S. soil.

He found one veteran killed in an accident in Miami Beach, Fla., in 1944. Several Vietnam veterans on the memorial died as a result of nonhostile actions, according to his research. He said he believes there are many more.

Del. Vivian Watts met Rick Schumann at the bill-signing ceremony. She said it's time to consider changing the memorial policy, even if that means the General Assembly has to pass new legislation.

"When we vote on something like that, we're not voting with a narrow, bureaucratic definition of 'veteran,' " she said, adding, "You want to make sure nobody suffers."

On Tuesday, Rick Schumann visited one permanent memorial in Virginia that bears the name of his son.

It is a white headstone, set in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery.

By Louis Hansen
The Virginian-Pilot
November 12, 2008

[thedrifter]

We will find you!
Posted By Maj Pain


Below refers to yet another great example of why we are currently still in Iraq and finishing up professionally. There are few but obvious evil people still in Iraq.

This scumbag and his followers got what was coming to him as both of his noted attacks occurred on separate deployments of mine. I remember them all very clearly, knew the Battalion command as he was one time my neighbor and had SSgt Maupin’s cousin in my unit.

Tell me it doesn’t strike close to home. Its one thing to read about these events, it’s another to know the individuals involved. A note to this guy, others that emulate him and their followers, good riddance dirtbag, we are coming for you.





US raid kills Iraqi blamed in 2004 reservist death

By RYAN LUCAS, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD
–

An al-Qaida in Iraq leader blamed in the 2004 abduction and murder of an Army reservist and other deadly attacks over several years was killed in an American raid in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday.

U.S. forces acting on a tip carried out the raid Nov. 11 in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, killing Hajji Hammadi and another armed insurgent, the military statement.

The Iraqi was accused in the abduction and killing of Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin, a 20-year-old private first class who was seized when his fuel convoy was attacked by insurgents in Iraq on April 19, 2004, as the insurgency was gaining strength. Al-Jazeera aired a videotape later that month showing the Batavia, Ohio, native wearing camouflage and a floppy desert hat, sitting on a floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.

Maupin's remains were found in March on the outskirts of Baghdad, about 12 miles from where the convoy was ambushed.

The military statement said Hammadi, also known as Hammadi Awdah Abd Farhan and Abd-al-Salam Ahmad Abdallah al-Janabi, led a group of fighters against U.S. forces in the second battle of Fallujah in the fall of 2004.

Hammadi also was the mastermind of a June 26 suicide bombing against a meeting of pro-government Sunni sheiks in Karmah, west of Baghdad, the military said. The attacker was dressed as an Iraqi policeman and killed three U.S. Marines, two interpreters and more than 20 Iraqis.

"Hammadi escorted the suicide bomber to the location and videotaped the attack," the military said.

Five other suspected insurgents were detained in the raid that killed Hammadi, it added. The military said it was announcing the death after Hammadi was positively identified.

It was the latest in a series of high-profile killings as the U.S. military targets the al-Qaida in Iraq leadership to shore up recent security gains.

It said the insurgent leader became al-Qaida's emir in a volatile area west of Baghdad in 2004 and had links to slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his successor Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.

He also was linked to the assassinations of many U.S.-allied Sunni leaders who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, one of the key factors in a sharp drop in violence over the past year.

"The removal of Hajji Hammadi from the AQI (al-Qaida in Iraq) network is yet another significant blow to the terrorist organization," Brig. Gen. David Perkins said.

[thedrifter]

November 24, 2008
THANKSGIVING!

I KNOW AS I DIG INTO THAT BIRD ON Thanksgiving, I will be remembering the warriors in this video. Know they have the guard force up and ready. God Bless them all!

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b2_1227138086

Ellie

[mcvet57103]

November 24, 2008
THANKSGIVING!

I KNOW AS I DIG INTO THAT BIRD ON Thanksgiving, I will be remembering the warriors in this video. Know they have the guard force up and ready. God Bless them all!

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1b2_1227138086

Ellie
OooooRaaaaah and Semper Fi

[thedrifter]

November 28, 2008
What do the troops need now?

What do troops need now? Although many are going nuts getting up at zero dark thirty to go shopping (not me…I’ll be snoozing) the troops are still keeping the wolf at bay! Although every day seems like the exact same day, day after day, as Americans, they know it was Thanksgiving and they know Christmas is 4 weeks away. How you can help. You need to send them support letters and care packages. I had a couple supporters send support stuff wrapped, very cool. Although it was shampoo and stuff, it didn’t matter because it was like we got our Christmas. Every day is the exact as the one before without maybe an extra convoy or perhaps an attack, otherwise its ground hog day. You can change that up by sending care packages or support letters. For all that is holy, throw them a bone and let them know you care for them. Seriously, it takes a big 45 minutes to put something together and send it off. The pay off, priceless for those kicking ass and taking names! Check out www.anysoldier.com to pick from a couple thousand service members to choose from. Throw em a bone!

Posted by Maj Pain

[mcvet57103]

November 28, 2008
What do the troops need now?

What do troops need now? Although many are going nuts getting up at zero dark thirty to go shopping (not me…I’ll be snoozing) the troops are still keeping the wolf at bay! Although every day seems like the exact same day, day after day, as Americans, they know it was Thanksgiving and they know Christmas is 4 weeks away. How you can help. You need to send them support letters and care packages. I had a couple supporters send support stuff wrapped, very cool. Although it was shampoo and stuff, it didn’t matter because it was like we got our Christmas. Every day is the exact as the one before without maybe an extra convoy or perhaps an attack, otherwise its ground hog day. You can change that up by sending care packages or support letters. For all that is holy, throw them a bone and let them know you care for them. Seriously, it takes a big 45 minutes to put something together and send it off. The pay off, priceless for those kicking ass and taking names! Check out www.anysoldier.com (http://www.anysoldier.com) to pick from a couple thousand service members to choose from. Throw em a bone!

Posted by Maj Pain http://www.grunt.com/ Has a special care package you can purchase and have sent to a Marine serving in combat. Look for the "Adopt a Marine" symbol on the home page. For as little as $25 you can let a Marine know you care. SF

[thedrifter]

December 11, 2008
I am in total agreement with this guy.

Urine Test -- This guy has a point! This was written by a construction worker in Fort McMurray . Read on . . .
>
I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes, and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to earn that pay check, I work on a rig site for a Fort McMurray construction project. At any time I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem. HOWEVER, what I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Understand - I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their ass, drink beer and smoke dope. Could you imagine how much money this country would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

Posted by Maj Pain

[thedrifter]

December 11, 2008
Outnumbered 8-1: 'A good day for the Corps'

By Peter Bronson

"Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our humvees was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast." That's not from an episode of The Unit or 24. It's not from an anti-war movie. It's not from any newspaper or TV news reports I could find.

The quote comes from a "designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified." He was reporting what happened recently in the city of Shewan, Afghanistan. The story was told in a Marine Corps News report by Cpl. James M. Mercure. It will give you goose bumps and make you want to stand up and salute the nearest flag. Here's more, because it's a lot better than anything I could write today:

"The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat," the marksman said. Mercure reported, "Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines' deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area."

"The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.

'"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they're given the opportunity to fight,'" the sniper said. '"A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong."'

"During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position." '"I was in my own little world,"' the young corporal said. '"I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target."'

"After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.

'"I didn't realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies' lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,"' the corporal said. '"It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured."'

Such an amazing story of heroism and victory would have been on Page One in every paper in the country during World War II. Just 30 Marines giving eight hours of hell to 250 insurgents is the kind of story that would make a good movie - if that kind of movie still could be made. But these days, it did not even make Page 10. I couldn't find a story about
it anywhere. The only mentions were on conservative blogs and military Web sites. The soldiers who are fighting for their lives and our country might as well be in another dimension. News from the battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan is apparently not important.
It reminds the jaded anti-war crowd that they were wrong. We're winning. It reminds a self-centered nation that some Americans are making sacrifices much bigger than a loss in their 401(k)s. So we don't hear about it. But we need to hear news like that, because a good day for the Marine Corps is a good day for freedom. And that's a good day for Americ

Posted by Maj Pain

[mcvet57103]

December 11, 2008
Outnumbered 8-1: 'A good day for the Corps'

By Peter Bronson

"Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our humvees was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast." That's not from an episode of The Unit or 24. It's not from an anti-war movie. It's not from any newspaper or TV news reports I could find.

The quote comes from a "designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified." He was reporting what happened recently in the city of Shewan, Afghanistan. The story was told in a Marine Corps News report by Cpl. James M. Mercure. It will give you goose bumps and make you want to stand up and salute the nearest flag. Here's more, because it's a lot better than anything I could write today:

"The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat," the marksman said. Mercure reported, "Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines' deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area."

"The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.

'"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they're given the opportunity to fight,'" the sniper said. '"A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong."'

"During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position." '"I was in my own little world,"' the young corporal said. '"I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target."'

"After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.

'"I didn't realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies' lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,"' the corporal said. '"It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured."'

Such an amazing story of heroism and victory would have been on Page One in every paper in the country during World War II. Just 30 Marines giving eight hours of hell to 250 insurgents is the kind of story that would make a good movie - if that kind of movie still could be made. But these days, it did not even make Page 10. I couldn't find a story about
it anywhere. The only mentions were on conservative blogs and military Web sites. The soldiers who are fighting for their lives and our country might as well be in another dimension. News from the battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan is apparently not important.
It reminds the jaded anti-war crowd that they were wrong. We're winning. It reminds a self-centered nation that some Americans are making sacrifices much bigger than a loss in their 401(k)s. So we don't hear about it. But we need to hear news like that, because a good day for the Marine Corps is a good day for freedom. And that's a good day for Americ

Posted by Maj PainOoooRaaah!!! Awesome post!! The designated marksman should get a medal for this.

[thedrifter]

December 17, 2008
Enough of Radical Islam

Enough with the pseudonyms. Western civilization isn't at war with terrorism
any more than it is at war with grenades. Western civilization is at war
with militant Islam, which dominates Muslim communities all over the world.
Militant Islam isn't a tiny minority of otherwise goodhearted Muslims. It's
a dominant strain of evil that runs rampant in a population of well over 1
billion.


Enough with the psychoanalysis. They don't hate us because of Israel. They
don't hate us because of Kashmir. They don't hate us because we have troops
in Saudi Arabia or because we deposed Saddam Hussein. They don't hate us
because of Britney Spears. They hate us because we are infidels, and because
we don't plan on surrendering or providing them material aid in their war of
aggressive expansion.

Enough with the niceties. We don't lose our souls when we treat our enemies
as enemies. We don't undermine our principles when we post more police
officers in vulnerable areas, or when we send Marines to kill bad guys, or
when we torture terrorists for information. And we don't redeem ourselves
when we close Guantanamo Bay or try terrorists in civilian courts or censor
anti-Islam comics. When it comes to war, extremism in the defense of liberty
is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Enough with the words. Talking with Iran without wielding the threat of
force, either economic or military, won't help. Appealing to the United
Nations, run by thugs and dictators ranging from Putin to Chavez to
Ahmadinejad, is an exercise in pathetic futility. Evil countries don't
suddenly decide to abandon their evil goals - they are forced to do so by
pressure and circumstance.

Enough with the faux allies. We don't gain anything by pretending that Saudi
Arabia and Pakistan are true allies. They aren't. At best, they are playing
both sides of the table. We ought to be drilling now in order to break OPEC.
Building windmills isn't going to cut it. We should also be backing India to
the hilt in its current conflict with Pakistan - unless Pakistan can destroy
its terrorist element, India should be given full leeway to do what it needs
to do. Russia and China, meanwhile, are facilitating anti-Western terrorism.
Treating them as friends in this global war is simply begging for a
backstabbing.

Enough with the myths.
Not everyone on earth is crying out for freedom. There are plenty of people
who are happy in their misery, believing that their suffering is part and
parcel of a correct religious system. Those people direct their anger
outward, targeting unbelievers. We cannot simply knock off dictators and
expect indoctrinated populations to rise to the liberal democratic
challenge. The election of Hamas in the Gaza Strip is more a rule than an
exception in the Islamic world.

Enough with the lies. Stop telling us that Islam is a religion of peace. If
it is, prove it through action. Stop telling us that President-elect Barack
Obama will fix our broken relationship with the Muslim world. They hate
Obama just as much as they hated President George W. Bush, although they
think Obama is more of a patsy than Bush was. Stop telling us that we
shouldn't worry about the Islamic infiltration of our economy. If the Saudis
own a large chunk of our banking institutions and control the oil market,
they can certainly leverage their influence in dangerous ways.

Enough. After the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the plane downed in
Pennsylvania, the endless suicide bombings, shootings and rocket attacks in
Israel, the Bali bombings, the synagogue bombing in Tunisia, the LAX
shootings, the Kenyan hotel bombing, the Casablanca attacks, the Turkey
synagogue attacks, the Madrid bombings, the London bombings, and the
repeated attacks in India culminating in the Mumbai massacres - among
literally thousands of others - it's about time that the West got the point:
we're in a war. Our enemies are determined. They will not quit just because
we offer them Big Macs, Christina Aguilera CDs, or even the freedom to vote.
They will not quit just because we ensure that they have Korans in their
Guantanamo cells, or because we offer to ban "The Satanic Verses" (as India
did). They will only quit when they are dead. It is our job to make them so,
and to eliminate every obstacle to their destruction.

So enough. No more empty talk. No more idle promises. No more happy
ignorance, half measures, or appeasement-minded platitudes. The time for
hard-nosed, uncompromising action hasn't merely come - it's been overdue by
seven years. The voice of our brothers' blood cries out from the ground.

Ben Shapiro, 24, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. He is the
author of the new book "Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to
the White House," as well as the national bestseller "Brainwashed: How
Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth." To find out more about Ben
Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and
cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.




Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

December 24, 2008
Forces in place for Operation "SC"

http://www.onemarinesview.com/.a/6a00d83452137a69e201053690d2fe970b-pi



All forces are in place and have commenced patrols for Operation “SC” to begin. A small interaction of bad guys was distinguished recently but that’s why we have these forces abroad to take care of the light work before the raider fly.

In this rare photo we can see SC & Mrs “C” moving into a prepositioned strike force position “unknown” but suitable for conducting the annual gift distribution.

All is quiet on the home front thanks to our warriors keeping the wolf at bay. SC’s flight plan has been cleared. Semper Fi & Merry Christmas to all………

[thedrifter]

January 06, 2009
KNOCK IT OFF!

By Paul French
September 22, 1943
At Sea, forty-four Nautical Miles north of Manus, Admiralty Islands
Three Amphibious Assault Ships (APA’s) are in the convoy. Each carries 800 to a 1,000 Marines, plus tanks and equipment. Several Destroyers are seen on the horizon from time to time. Aboard all three APA’s a similar meeting is starting. Navy Coxswains and Boson mates, Marine Corps NCOs gather aft of a Higgins LCVP Landing Craft lashed into its cradle on the deck. Marines and sailors try for casual conversations: “You know where we’re going?” One response is, “Another Jap invested island.”


A Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sergeant and a Navy Chief Boatswains Mate arrive at 09:00. Next, a Marine Colonel and a Captain along with the ships Executive Officer join the group. They spread charts and photographs on a table. As they do, conversations resume among the enlisted men. The conversations stop when the Master Gunnery Sergeant quietly says; “OK. KNOCK IT OFF!”
Now they are somber; ready to hear final instructions on invading a Japanese held island. The Marine Major names a Pacific Island no one has heard of. “We go ashore there tomorrow morning.” We have three landing beaches; red, green and yellow.” Information on which marines will land where and what boats will take them there follow. Marines and sailors have questions. One question; should the boat carrying the underwater demolition team be an LCVP or the LCP? An argument ensues.
The Red Headed Coxswain of the LCP speaks up; “My LCP is faster. I can get us away quicker.” Other Coxswains loudly challenge the assertion. The ships Executive Officer speaks up. “KNOCK IT OFF, we all have the same goal. Namely take this damn island and live to tell about it. Put the demo guys in the LCP, it is a faster boat.”
A Chief Boatswains Mates asks; “Sir, I guess that’s all the questions. Can we KNOCK IT OFF now?” The Bird Colonel looks to his peers, they nod agreement. The Chief says; “But any of you guys that’s got a question, come see one of us. And; there’s Baptisms at 14:00, today.”
A buck sergeant asks; “Sarg, about the Baptisms? I got a kid in my squad who don’t know if he’s been Baptized or not. He wants to know, can he get baptized?” Many of the NCOs and Officers respond with affirmatives; including a MGySgt who proclaims; “My Savior, Jesus Christ will be glad the kid came. Tell him to get his butt up to that service; even if it is for seconds.”
-TODAY-
Today, the USS Germantown, one of our Navy’s newer Amphibious Assault Ships continues this WWII tradition of offering Baptisms before an assault landing. The USS Germantown’s ship’s bell is now and in the future will continue to be engraved with the names of the men baptized before an assault landing.
Today, “KNOCK IT OFF” continues as part of the Navy and Marine Corps common vocabulary.
Today, “KNOCK IT OFF” can become our Nation’s Anti-Political Partisanship war cry. We can force the leaders of every Political party to KNOCK IT OFF; stop the inane, partisan motivated criticism of the ‘other’ party.
Today the devastating results of strictly partisan legislative votes are all too evident. Today, rather than vocally supporting suspicion and distrust, we all get on our knees and each of us pray to our God, pray for our county and the success of our President Elect. The ideology of any political party is neither relevant nor does any one party have a patent on the only way to save our nation.
If we don’t make both parties stop the strictly partisan slander; stop it today; then that Star Spangled Banner may no longer wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave. Today, will you KNOCK IT OFF and start praying every day for the USA? Hundreds of thousands have died to give you that right to pray.

Posted by Maj Pain

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 07, 2009
What about the public Elvis?

What about the public Elvis? Jan 8th 2009 he will be 73. You say he is dead right? Well if he was alive or just “in” the public the following are a few items he would be involved with and doing.



He would have been the one next to President Reagan during his last moments, he would have sang a tribute to the loss of the shuttle disasters. Today’s Elvis would be involved in politics without a doubt. Perhaps a senator or governor……..home land security?
He might have been recalled for Operation Desert Storm back into the Army and could have held a high rank. (poor Iraqi’s). If he wasn’t in the service he would have surely performed with Dick Clark and Bob Hope over seas. Nonetheless, he knows how to fight terrorism!
Today’s Elvis would have been the other republican nominee for this year presidency….and would have won.
Although everyone is going “green”, Elvis would be going “gold”…..again.
He wouldn’t allow Marie to marry Michael Jackson……yuk.
He would probably own the Dallas Cowboys football team and also spice up the cheerleaders outfits with more sequins.
Latest hits would include….
Viva Las Baghdad and you’ve lost that Afghani feeling……
Ya, Elvis is still taking care of business, even on his birthday.
Here is to the legend and we burned a king CAO for the King of Rock & Roll.
Keep your eyes peeled and you too may catch Elvis in your town next……
http://www.elvis.com/

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 08, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009, 7:49 AM Ed Freeman... A True Hero

You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the
jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965. LZ Xray, Vietnam Your infantry
unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200
yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac
helicopters to stop coming in.


You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're
not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away,
and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you
know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a
helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem
real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but
he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs
were ordered not to come.

He's coming anyway.

And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load
2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.

And, he kept coming back...... 13 more times..... and took about 30 of you
and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in
Boise , ID ......May God rest his soul.....

(Oh yeah, Paul Newman died that day too. I guess you knew that --

He got a lot more press than Ed Freeman.)

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

January 12, 2009
The Donkey

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.00.

The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.


The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the
donkey died.'

Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'

The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'

Chuck said, 'OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'

The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?

Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'

The farmer said, You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'

Chuck said, 'Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, 'What happened with
that dead donkey?'

Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece
and made a profit of $898.00.'

The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'

Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'

Chuck now works for Fannie Mae.

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Freedom at Work! USS George Bush



Gang-

Below are a few personal photos from the commissioning of the USS George HW Bush CVN 77 Aircraft Carrier. If you didn’t know it was recently commissioned and a great American was kind enough to send me the pictures…..of her sons new ship. Semper Fidelis to the USS George Bush, Freedom at Work!

USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) is the tenth and last Nimitz class supercarrier of the United States Navy.[1] She is named for former President George H. W. Bush, who was a naval aviator during World War II.

She is the second United States aircraft carrier to be named after a naval aviator (Forrestal was the first). Other naval vessels named for aviators include frigates McClusky and Thach, and destroyer Massey, all named for aviators who commanded formations in the Battle of Midway. George H.W. Bush is also the second aircraft carrier, following Ronald Reagan, to be named after a living former President. While still a Nimitz class ship, George H. W. Bush differs significantly from her predecessors, even more so than the differences between CVN 68–70 and CVN 71–76.

Construction began in 2001 by the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard, at a cost of $6.2 billion.[2] The aircraft carrier was christened on 7 October 2006, and delivery was set for late 2008[1]. She left Northrup Grumman Ship Building for the first time on 23 December 2008 and was commissioned 10 January 2009 at Norfolk Naval Station.[5]

George H. W. Bush is the final Nimitz class aircraft carrier constructed; the next carrier built will be Gerald R. Ford, the first of the Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carriers. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Posted by Maj Pain

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=189g8uw1.9b7pf5x5&x=0&y=-w8q6hg&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button

[thedrifter]

January 18, 2009
Gran Torino...A Marine's review
Posted by Maj Pain



So ….last night “House Cinc” (the Ms) and I went and saw Gran Torino the movie. Although we went to the 7:230 showing, on Sat night made for a fantastic freak show of the paint chip licking teenagers I got to see while standing in line. Do they own mirrors? For all that is holy, do their parents let them go out like that because they hate them? I saw proof of why some parents eat their young…..

Anyway, the movie is about 2rhs long. The theater was full (pretty sure I was one of the youngest guys there) as I had chit chat with two retired Army dogs in the concessions line. Good talk!


Gran Torino is directed by Clint Eastwood as well and portrays a Korean vet that has lost his spouse ans is now living by himself in an overpopulated and growing neighborhood. He adopts the neighborhood kid by default as a friend (not by law). Basically teaches this kid to be a man and not a damn cry baby who has to have the “im a winner” complex crammed down his neck. While facing some demons of his own, Eastwood makes it perfectly clear what it means to stand for something and not fall by intimidation and demonstrates the meanining of life and death.

After the movie there were a few moist eyes in the crowed and followed by applause by those watching as the credits rolled. (not sure this is normal where you are and it’s the first for me to have people applaud in the theater) but hell, it was a good flick and perhaps will help my Ms understand why I mumble and scowl at some kids these days. Go see it, it’s a good movie…..wish I could have smoked a stoag during it….seemed fitting.

See the movie trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/grantorino/large.html


Ellie

[DocGreek]

Ellie.....I see that you're on this site. That article, about TBI, and effects of PTSD, being treated by the Military.....I'd like some more info, that's more specific, about HOW the Military, is going to treat these problems. Got any other info??.....Doc Greek

[thedrifter]

Inauguration from space picture (no reallyit is)

This photo was taken from a "security" platform published tofday to the media. The other pictures of people doing improper things will be published tomorrow!

Posted by Maj Pain


Ellie

http://www.onemarinesview.com/.a/6a00d83452137a69e2010536e2da2a970b-pi

[thedrifter]

PATRIOTIC RAPPEL


http://www.onemarinesview.com/.a/6a00d83452137a69e2010536f8cbf5970c-pi

U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Robbie Bean and Senior Airman John Ostrowske rappel with the American flag during the opening ceremony of an Arenacross 2009 series dirt bike race event in Dayton, Ohio, Jan. 17, 2009. Both airmen are pararescuemen assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Libby Stevenson

Ellie

[DocGreek]

DRIFTER.....I foolishly thought that you are a Moderator. You post so much, how do you have time to work? Do you really read any of the posts, here at Leatherneck? If you DO read the posts, as a moderator, why don't you discipline members, who DO NOT fill out their Profiles, completely?? When I signed up, as a Platinum Member, I don't remember ANY strict rules about filling out my profile....WHY?? I do not care if you don't like me, I'm an azzhole, but should be the same rules for ALL MEMBERS. YES???.......DISCOURAGED...Doc Greek

[PaidinBlood]

You're not an a$shole, DOC just a pain in ours! :D

[DocGreek]

Sorry, I got pizzed, but I tried to put my point across, as nicely, as any old fu**er would. If I offended Ellie, I'm sorry, BUT everyone knows, that what I bit**ed about......is true!! The pain, in my knee has gotten so bad, that when I sit on the POT, it's a bear to get back up!!! SORRY, Ellie!.......Doc Greek

[thedrifter]

DRIFTER.....I foolishly thought that you are a Moderator. You post so much, how do you have time to work? Do you really read any of the posts, here at Leatherneck? If you DO read the posts, as a moderator, why don't you discipline members, who DO NOT fill out their Profiles, completely?? When I signed up, as a Platinum Member, I don't remember ANY strict rules about filling out my profile....WHY?? I do not care if you don't like me, I'm an azzhole, but should be the same rules for ALL MEMBERS. YES???.......DISCOURAGED...Doc Greek

Doc

We try to inforce the rule as much as we can....We have our methods...

We always weed out the phonies;)

Ellie

[thedrifter]

February 03, 2009 <br />
Team improves future prospects for Afghan village <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 21, 2009) – Members of the provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province...

[thedrifter]

A message from an appalled observer....a lesson in history

"SHALL WE HIRE A MONUMENT ENGRAVER TO GO TO ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY AND ADD THE MISSING WORDS ?
A MESSAGE FROM AN APPALLED OBSERVER:

Today I went to visit the new World War II Memorial in Washington , DC . I got an unexpected history lesson.


Because I'm a baby boomer, I was one of the youngest in the crowd. Most were the age of my parents, Veterans of 'the greatest war,' with their families. It was a beautiful day, and people were smiling and happy to be there. Hundreds of us milled around the memorial, reading the inspiring words of Eisenhower and Truman that are engraved there.

On the Pacific side of the memorial, a group of us gathered to read the words President Roosevelt used to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor:

Yesterday, December 7, 1941-- a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked.

One elderly woman read the words aloud:

'With confidence in our armed forces, with the abounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph.'

But as she read, she suddenly turned angry. 'Wait a minute,' she said, 'they left out the end of the quote. They left out the most important part. Roosevelt ended the message with 'so help us God.'


Her husband said, 'You are probably right. We're not supposed to say things like that now.'

'I know I'm right,' she insisted. 'I remember the speech.' The two looked dismayed, shook their heads sadly and walked away.

Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself, 'Well, it has been over 50 years; she's probably forgotten.'

But she had not forgotten. She was right.

I went home and pulled out the book my book club is reading ---

'Flags of Our Fathers' by James Bradley. It's all about the battle at Iwo Jima .

I haven't gotten too far in the book. It's tough to read because it's a graphic description of the WWII battles in the Pacific.
But right there it was on page 58, Roosevelt 's speech to the nation ends in ' so help us God.'

The people who edited out that part of the speech when they engraved it on the memorial could have fooled me. I was born after the war! But they couldn't fool the people who were there. Roosevelt 's words are engraved on their hearts.

Now I ask: 'WHO GAVE THEM THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE WORDS OF
HISTORY?????????'

Send this around to your friends. People need to know before everyone forgets.

People today are trying to change the history of America by leaving God out of it, but the truth is, God has been a part of this nation, since the beginning. He still wants to be .... and He always will be!

If you agree, pass this on and God Bless YOU!

If not, May God Forgive You!"

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Happy Valentines you meat heads!

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

http://www.onemarinesview.com/.a/6a00d83452137a69e2011278d8531b28a4-pi

Repeatedly courtmartialed for breaches of etiquette and deportment, Jiggs (always soon reinstated) led a pampered and overfed existence in the glow of publicity and stardom as the first Marine Corps mascot in 1922. Happy Valentines from "Jiggs"....What a life, we will have a cigar for ya jiggs!

Posted by Maj Pain

[thedrifter]

February 14, 2009
Posted by Maj Pain
An encouraging letter from a commander in Iraq!

Below is a letter from one commander in Iraq. This just goes to show how much we are pulling out of the city area of Iraq and have turned it over to the Iraqi's. But you dont hear that in the news!

These are the final newsletter comments that I will send while deployed with our Marines and Sailors to Iraq,


and what a deployment it has been! From Habbaniyah, Saqlawiyah, and Lake Thar Thar, to Rawah and Anah and Rutbah, to the Sahl Sinjar Airfield and the expansive western Ninewa Province, this battalion has covered an extraordinary amount of ground over the past months and our Marines and Sailors have approached every mission, assignment, and operating area with resolve, dedication and spirit. I have been consistently impressed with everything - absolutely everything - they have done for this battalion and for our mission in Iraq. Our success rests on the sturdy shoulders of the hundreds of Marines and Sailors throughout this great battalion - and they have never failed.

Fittingly, at this time, one word comes to mind - thanks! Thanks to all of our wonderful families, our wonderful wives, our great friends, and our superb support networks for everything, they have done for all of the Marines and Sailors in 1st Battalion, 2d Marines, particularly over the past seven months. Your love and support for our Marines and Sailors has been consistent, easily noticeable, and heartfelt, and I owe you my personal thanks and gratitude. It has certainly been my pleasure to command these extraordinary men during our tenure in Iraq, as it has been throughout my tenure in command, and your love and support has enabled them to focus intently on their mission and achieve so much for the citizens of Iraq, our Marine Corps, and our United States. As I have often told them, there is no more honorable thing that a man can do in his lifetime than what they have done in preparing for and executing this highly important mission in Iraq. When you see your Marine or Sailor when he gets home, thank him for being an honorable man and for being so faithful and loyal to a cause much bigger than himself. Clearly, not every man is of this ilk - our men are.

Regarding those who are so selfless, who sacrifice so often, and who accomplish so much, the question is often asked: where do we find such men? My answer is simple - we find them throughout the ranks of 1st Battalion, 2d Marines!

Long live 1st Battalion, 2d Marines, and success to our Corps!

God Bless and Semper Fidelis,

LtCol Winand
Commanding Officer
1st Battalion, 2d Marine

Ellie

[thedrifter]

February 17, 2009
The Fairness Doctrine-Read This

Legislation currently is before Congress that would reinstate a federal communications policy known as the "fairness doctrine." The legislation, entitled the "Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1993," is sponsored in the Senate (S. 333) by Ernest Hollings, the South Carolina Democrat, and in the House (H.R. 1985) by Bill Hefner, the North Carolina Democrat.

It would codify a 1949 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation that once required broadcasters to "afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of public importance."

The fairness doctrine was overturned by the FCC in 1987. The FCC discarded the rule because, contrary to its purpose, it failed to encourage the discussion of more controversial issues. There were also concerns that it was in violation of First Amendment free speech principles. The legislation now before Congress would enshrine the fairness doctrine into law.

What does it mean to you and I?
It means that the FCC would determine what is “fair” & “balanced”. This means in their opinion they would review your broadcast show and determine if it was fair. If they deemed it not to be fair, they would revoke your broadcasting license. "Fairness" or "fair access" is best determined by FCC authorities???? FCC bureaucrats can neither determine what is "fair" nor enforce it.

Thus, the result of the fairness doctrine in many cases would be to stifle the growth of disseminating views and, in effect, make free speech less free. This is exactly what led the FCC to repeal the rule in 1987. FCC officials found that the doctrine "had the net effect of reducing, rather than enhancing, the discussion of controversial issues of public importance," and therefore was in violation of constitutional principles.

You have to ask why is attention only going to radio broadcasters? Why isn’t it going to one sided business loosing newspapers as well? Think about it!

You think radio broadcasts are the only thing that will be shutdown? Guess again. Every military blog or (one sided view from the front) will be assessed…ok, shut down. Almost all milbloggers are already facing tough manipulation through the DOD let alone the FCC weighing in on the fact. I’m sure all the moonbats out there would differ but have they served in the military? Have they done a blog while they were in the military? No, they haven’t. Why do so many milblogs have alternate names instead of the actual authors name? Think about it.

The last time I checked the Constitution said “We the People……….”

Simple Solution
If the fairness standard is reinstituted, the result will not be easier access for controversial views. It will instead be self-censorship, as stations seek to avoid requirements that they broadcast specific opposing views. With the wide diversity of views available today in the expanding broadcast system, there is a simple solution for any family seeking an alternative viewpoint or for any lawmaker irritated by a pugnacious talk-show host. Turn the dial.

Some points/facts taken from the Heritage Foundation
CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSMAN HERE: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

An example letter to your congressman: (feel free to use at will)
17 February 2009
Congressman XXXXXX XXXXXXXX
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Congressman XXXXXXXX:
Currently there is legislation before Congress that would reinstate a federal communications policy known as the "fairness doctrine.” The doctrine's supporters seem not to appreciate just how much the broadcast world has changed since 1949. With the proliferation of informational resources and technology, the number of broadcast outlets available to the public has increased steadily. In such an environment, it is hard to understand why the federal government must police the airwaves to ensure that differing views are heard. The result of a reinstituted fairness doctrine would not be fair at all. In practice, much controversial speech heard today would be stifled as the threat of random investigations and warnings discouraged broadcasters from airing what FCC bureaucrats might refer to as "unbalanced" views.
The fallacy upon which the doctrine rests concerns the idea of "fairness" itself. As defined by proponents of the doctrine, "fairness" apparently means that each broadcaster must offer air time to anyone with a controversial view. Since it is impossible for every station to be monitored constantly, FCC regulators would arbitrarily determine what "fair access" is, and who is entitled to it, through selective enforcement. This, of course, puts immense power into the hands of federal regulators.
I do not feel the freedom of our country should include the restriction of what I can or cannot listen to. Additionally, I especially do not need a specific organization restricting the very freedom nor the freedom of speech.
While I fully expect you to support this legislation, I ask you not to climb onto this particular bandwagon.
Sincerely,
XXXX X XXXX

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

February 23, 2009
No chance taken.

There was no chance taken in the HBO premier of “Taking Chance”. A story about a wounded warrior coming home after giving his all in Iraq. Another warrior realizing some pain and feeling guilty for not being deployed.

There is a scene where a Colonel in a briefing is figuring the correct number of replacement troops to send to Iraq to replace fallen warriors and most of his advisors in the conference room hadn’t deployed yet. He asks their advice and they recommend a lower number to send. He ends up siding with what the deployed commanders were requesting vise what his non deployed Marines were recommending. My better half hates watching any sort of military movie with me because I will call out mistakes and discrepancies. I found myself saying yip, that’s exactly how it is, looks, sounds. I have had the honor to meet the airplanes at Dover to escort the heroes off and coordinate them with . They are heavy. Ice melts but the very first thing we do when we walk up to the flag draped coffins on the plane is pull out and replace the American flags that have been tainted or has flaws. The movie was exactly how it goes. Being one of the last escorts to depart is heart wrenching because you get mentally worked honoring warriors time and again only to wait for yours. The movie wasn’t melodramatic; I would have been the first to call it out. The movie tried to capture the overwhelming awe of honor displayed when these warriors are on the move. There is nothing you can say when being an escort that will show the honor due, the casket usually does it all.
If you didn’t get to see the movie it is coming out on CD soon. Semper Fi & God Bless all of those who gave all.

Posted by Maj Pain

[thedrifter]

February 27, 2009
Another Battle on the housing front (Military)

http://www.onemarinesview.com/

This is actually getting alot of attention from congress and throughout the military services. I hear alot about it here in Washington DC. We wiill see the outcome it produces. Maj Pain

The orders came while Navy Lt. Adam Diaz was winding down a one-year stint in Baghdad: Report to the Navy Annex in Arlington for a new assignment in April. -- Given the military lifestyle, the prospect of a move came as no surprise to Diaz, 31, who has spent his adult life in the Navy.

The shock came when he spoke with his wife, Stephanie Diaz, about the value of the Jacksonville, Fla., home they bought in June 2006, near the height of the housing bubble. -- "Hey, by the way," she recalls telling him. "The house has been valued for about 50 grand less than when we bought it."

The housing crisis is hitting military families particularly hard, according to real estate agents and service member advocacy groups. Many who bought during the boom and must now relocate because of fresh orders are faced with selling their homes at a big loss. They are finding few buyers, or even renters, particularly in the hardest-hit markets. That is leaving some families facing options including renting at a loss, separation from their loved ones or, in some cases, foreclosure.

The issue has caught the attention of Congress, which included language in the economic stimulus package to compensate service members who sell their home at a loss or have been foreclosed upon because they were forced to move after a base closure, reassignment or a combat wound required them to be relocated near a health facility. The program also covers surviving spouses of those killed in combat.

Under the new provision, the government will cover 95 percent of a loss if a service member is forced to sell. The government can also choose to acquire the title of a home by paying off the balance of a service member's mortgage or paying the owner up to 90 percent of the home's previous value. No dollar ceiling has been set.

The $555 million undertaking expands the Defense Department's Homeowners Assistance Program, which helps military and federal personnel whose homes have lost value because of a base closure. The new measure would likely help the Diazes, and would expand the homeowner assistance program to as many as 17,000 claims, according to the office of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), who sponsored the measure.

The program does not cover all military members facing a loss because of a home sale.

In an attempt to limit the number of claims, the program applies only to a service member's primary residence, and only to homes purchased before July 1, 2006, roughly the time the market began its free-fall. The Army Corps of Engineers said it has not determined what proportion of families will be eligible.

The prospect of foreclosure is particularly daunting for career service members, as credit checks are required to gain security clearances. The increased financial stress comes at a time when many active service members have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, military advocates said.

"We have an all-volunteer force, and we are asking them to deploy overseas to fight the global war on terror," said Michael Hayden, deputy director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America, one of the largest military advocacy groups in the country. "And yet we are also in the midst of all this crisis, and the one thing we shouldn't have to burden our service members with is trying to manage their mortgages."

That argument resonated with legislators who sought to help people such as the Diazes, who thought that buying their four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in a new Jacksonville subdivision for $252,000 made sense. With the real estate market booming, Diaz figured they would at least be able to break even when they moved.

Today the home is worth about $50,000 less, according to information the couple found on home valuation Web site Zillow.com. A nearly identical house across the street sold for about $185,000, the couple said. They still owe about $217,000 on their mortgage, so selling now would mean taking a loss. Renting would probably leave them $400 to $500 short of covering their monthly mortgage payments.

During the years of easy credit, use of the Department of Veterans Affairs' guaranteed home loan program fell considerably. Mike Frueh, an assistant director of the program, said higher-risk products such as adjustable-rate mortgages and no-down-payment loans became popular with military members.

Thus the origination of government-backed mortgages for veterans and active-duty members plummeted 73 percent from fiscal year 2003 to 2007, before ticking up again in 2008. During those housing boom years, the VA program offered fixed rates for 30 years and did not change its underwriting practices, which required financial evaluations and credit checks, Frueh said.

Last fall, new legislation allowed service members who were struggling with subprime loans or other types of mortgages to refinance into a VA loan.

R. Joe Gladden, a retired Navy captain and Gainesville real estate agent who caters to military clients, said subprime or other high-risk loans were not necessarily the problem for military members. Gladden and Susan Wallace, a Chantilly mortgage broker who works with him, said generally military families make good clients because they maintain excellent credit and are decisive when it comes time to buy.

Wallace said that many of her military clients asked for adjustable-rate mortgages and no-down-payment loans because their investment was often intended to be temporary. "If you were a military person and moved to the D.C. area, but you are moving again in three to five years, it made sense," Wallace said.

Both now are inundated with calls and e-mails with tales of woe from families who are stuck in homes that have fallen in value. On his business Web site, Gladden has sponsored a forum for people to post such stories.

One who did was 30-year-old Christina Messer of Arlington. Her husband is stationed at Fort Myer as an honor guard. The couple bought a $438,000 condominium in a new low-rise complex in Arlington in the summer of 2007. They used a no-money-down loan, with interest-only payments for the first five years. They anticipated moving in a few years, and thus saw no point in paying down the balance, said Messer, who spoke on the condition that she be identified by her maiden name so as not to affect her husband's career.

The problem now is that they cannot sell the home for the value of the mortgage, nor can they find a renter. Messer's husband has orders to relocate to Texas in April. She fears they will face foreclosure or bankruptcy.

"We are talking to a few real estate agents about a possible short sale, but that is just like filing for a foreclosure," she said, referring to a sale when a property is sold for less than the balance on the mortgage. "It stays on your credit record for the same amount of time and affects your credit very harshly -- he could lose his rank."

Because they bought their home in 2007, the couple would not be helped by the provisions in the stimulus measure.

The Diazes, meanwhile, watched the stimulus debate with deep interest and are hopeful the new program will help them. They spent Presidents' Day weekend in Northern Virginia, looking at homes in Lorton and Woodbridge, as well as some Alexandria apartments.

"We are going to be looking at everything, just about everything, just because we are not sure," Stephanie Diaz said. She said that once they are certain they are covered by the new plan, they will immediately put their house up for sale.

By Alejandro Lazo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 25, 2009; D01

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)
Posted By Maj Pain

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)

I love MRAPs. You have to teach your warriors to slow the hell down on turns because they get a bit filled with adrenalin when the **** hits the fan and can roll the beasts.


I had several MRAPs under my command this last tour and yes, they are awesome and save lives. They are designed to decentagrate as they are attacked with an explosion to disperse the energy with their “V” style hull. They can go just about anywhere except under water….not so good there. Everyone in this MRAP survived the 500lb IED.So take that you scumbags trying to kill us, you failed,again. Although my Command & Control truck in the convoy was a Hummer, we liked to lead with the MRAP. Hell of a blunt object to attack the enemy with. Semper Fi

[thedrifter]

March 04, 2009
"What happened to that America Dad?"

I can totally relate to the below article. WHY? Where? What happened to that America that made it what it is? This country wasn’t on making secret deals under the table to our enemies. It wasn’t made on being coward or settling for the status quo. No, no it was built on kicking ass and taking names.

We are America, we set the freaking pace, we stand up for the weak. We don’t know the term failure. We know the terms freedom, liberty and justice. Furthermore, if you are one of the extreamist countrys out there that would like to do us harm, again we say bring it on. Remember, this is your country and no one or organization can ever take that away from “We the people”. Semper Fidelis.

"What happened to that America Dad?"

I am “Old School”. In a previous era I may have been considered macho. I prefer combat sports (boxing and mixed martial arts) to team sports (baseball and basketball). I prefer outdoor activities (rock climbing, whitewater rafting and camping) to video games. I prefer competition to cooperation, and may the best man win. All too often today, macho self-confidence is confused with “a*shole”, “arrogant”, or “pig-headed” particularly when it entails any interface with the gentler gender.

I believe that in this era of feminized, emasculated, gender-neutral, neutered, politically-correct, “my right to not be offended, trumps your freedom of speech” era, many men who would otherwise voice their opinions have chosen instead to be quiet and pine for a better yesterday.

Yet, straight shooters who opt to solve problems rather than wring their hands over them, is exactly what we need.

One method of compensation I have adopted is to collect movies of a John Wayne, Chuck Norris variety. I prefer a simple life where problems can be dealt with head on. The other night, my family was deciding on a movie to watch, and I suggested, that because my son was studying American history and WWII that we watch Patton.



The monologue at the beginning is famous and parts bear repeating. “Americans traditionally love to fight…” “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser…” Within five minutes, of the beginning of the movie, my son turned to me with wonder and admiration in his voice and asked, “Dad, what happened to that America”?

I suddenly got tears in my eyes, I hadn’t realized how far off the path we had gotten. My response was as accurate as it was politically incorrect, “Son, the last two generations in power have ****ed away that America and I fear that if my generation doesn’t do something to reverse the slide, there won’t be anyone who remembers what was once noble and admired about cowboys and firemen and soldiers”.



It has become common in business literature and B School classes to deride the “charismatic leader”. To portray the team as paramount and the lone wolf as dangerous, this in the face of all of the facts.

Some things to consider, Steve Jobs has saved Apple not once but twice.

Microsoft has gone nowhere since Bill Gates backed away from his day to day responsibilities.

When Dell got into trouble several years ago, the first thing they did was bring Michael Dell back.

In Organizational Behavior they stress the fact that group decisions are often better than what an individual leader will come up with. This is after discussing “sub-optimization” and “group think” and failing to discuss at all, the time cost associated with group dynamics.

Give me a decisive, informed, engaged, ethical visionary to a group anytime.

It is interesting to note the difference between Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address and Barak Obama’s. Both inherited an America on the ropes. In each case unemployment was high and getting higher. Arguably in Reagan’s case the scenario was worse, interest rates were MUCH higher, and inflation was higher. I don’t know for sure, but is suspect in Reagan’s first thirty days he never claimed that they were in the worst economy since the Great Depression and I suspect he never used the terms "catastrophic", "crisis" or any other similar panty-waste, hand-wringing, pussy whipped, "I feel your pain", BS for what he saw, as a job that needed doing with an outcome measured in the quality of people's lives, NOT in how many poll percentage points a certain stance was worth.



What we need in America today is more Patton’s and fewer Powell’s, more Apple‘s and fewer Lehman Brothers, more leadership and fewer focus groups.

"What happened to that America Dad?"Posted here and at The Right is Wrong and The Left is Wronger by guest blogger Tom Flake.

Posted by Maj Pain

[thedrifter]

March 09, 2009
Because kicking your ass with the F-15 & F16 for 30 yrs got boring

A catch 22 for Obama.
A cut in weapons like the F-22 jet fighter will also cut jobs. But that's not really the point.
By the Monitor's Editorial Board

from the March 4, 2009 edition


The most advanced warplane in history, the F-22 Raptor, is on Barack Obama's chopping block. Yet the president faces a no-win situation. If somehow he gets Congress to stop paying for more of the stealthy jets – whose full cost is $354 million a plane – thousands of defense workers will quickly lose their jobs in a recession.

As a Democrat more interested in spending money on butter than guns, Mr. Obama does not see guns as butter. His priorities are healthcare, energy, and education. Some Democrats even want a 25 percent cut in defense spending.

But Obama may not win the coming political dogfight with Congress over reducing production of the F-22, which the Air Force sees as its crown jewel in commanding the skies in a conflict. The plane is manufactured by some 1,000 companies in 44 states. That's created a powerful lobby.

But this debate should go beyond the question of where and whether government should create jobs. The military's whole future is wrapped up in the F-22 question and shouldn't be hijacked by short-term interests.

Originally designed to fight Soviet jets, the F-22 is seen by its critics as a relic of a bygone era. Or as Obama put it, the US should not keep "paying for cold war-era weapons systems we don't use."

Not so fast, say F-22 defenders. Yes, the military's tasks in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are not traditional warfare and do reflect a new era of nonstate fighters. But how will the US win a war with, say, China over Taiwan, or with Russia if it again invades a neighbor like Georgia? Who's to say what war might look like in 20 years? And some weapons, like the F-22, may do their job simply by deterrence rather than actual use.

Obama's proposed spending for the Pentagon won't be public until April, when he delivers a full budget to Capitol Hill. But his preliminary budget issued last month warns of "scarce resources" for defense. In inflation-adjusted dollars, he wants only a 2 percent increase for the Pentagon, much less than his overall budget increase.

High-priced weapons, often burdened with cost overruns and technical problems, will receive serious scrutiny. Their usefulness will be weighed against a coming Defense Review that will reflect Obama's ideas on security and potential threats.

Those ideas include using "soft power" to resolve possible conflicts, such as with Iran. (The US has more members of military bands than it does diplomats.) Obama is asking allies to spend more on defense. He may put more money into building up faltering states that may harbor terrorists than, say, the US Navy.

Obama appears to want military spending to fall as a percentage of the economy, perhaps down from 4.2 percent to 3 percent, even as he expands the number of troops.

Such shifts would redefine the US as a superpower. "The categories of warfare are blurring and no longer fit into neat, tidy boxes," Defense Secretary Roberts Gates wrote in a January article. He says "the spigot of defense funding opened by 9/11 is closing."

Congress will need to look beyond the issue of jobs and recession if it is to properly judge Obama's military agenda with the perspective of safeguarding the US – and the world – for an unknown future with unknown enemies.

Ellie

http://www.onemarinesview.com/.a/6a00d83452137a69e2011279445b8a28a4-pi

[thedrifter]

Pat McGee Come Back Home a tribute to the troops

From The Artist: Come Back Home was written in the wake of me losing my longtime drummer and former Army soldier John C. Williams. But the song started off as a reflection of how a military couple deals with separation. After the release of Come Back Home, Johns little brother was killed by an IED in Iraq. His name was Blake Williams. His platoon used this track as the audio to a memorial slide show presentation they did in March of 2008. It was for all the courageous men and women they had lost in the month of March. I am humbled by their service to our great country and I hope this song brings them some peace. My father served in Vietnam and I truly appreciate their dedication and bravery."

Pat McGee - "Come Back Home", a tribute to the troops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ANfzrKmQYY&eurl=http://www.onemarinesview.com/


Ellie

[thedrifter]

March 23, 2009
Incoming troops likely to see initial rise in violence in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (March 20, 2009) – The number of attacks in Afghanistan is likely to rise with the influx of additional U.S. forces there, an International Security Assistance Force commander said Friday.


An increased U.S. presence in the region will spur NATO-led pressure on insurgents and improve efforts to counter narcotics and makeshift bombings, Netherlands Army Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif, commander of the ISAF’s Regional Command South in Afghanistan, said.


But the overall addition of 17,000 U.S. troops to the American contingent in Afghanistan will be met with increased violence at the outset of the plus-up, including a possible uptick in insurgents’ growing use of homemade bombings, the commander said.


“That will lead in the first couple of months after the influx of U.S. forces to what I think is going to be a significant spike in incidents,” de Kruif told reporters at the Pentagon.


The United States has roughly 38,000 forces in Afghanistan with the deployment of additional troops to begin in late spring. NATO has some 32,000 forces there.


De Kruif expressed optimism that security would improve following a round of Afghan elections slated for August, adding that there’s no current evidence suggesting insurgents are focused on disturbing the balloting process.


“I think that what we are doing now is actually planting the seeds, and that we will view a significant increase in the security situation across southern Afghanistan next year,” he said.


The area covered by Regional Command South comprises a restive section of Afghanistan that has been the scene of heavy insurgent activity. Under de Kruif’s command is a roughly 22,000-strong composite force with troops from the United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Canada, among other contributors.


The command’s focus centers on security and stabilization operations and building government institutions, including a national Afghan security force, de Kruif said. He added that he hopes ISAF will be able to assume a mentor role to the Afghan National Army and Police in three to five years.


Meanwhile, one of the multinational force’s major security concerns is the “nexus” of the narcotics trade and networks responsible for launching attacks involving improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which account for 70 percent of the region’s casualties, according to the general. Over the past two years, such attacks have increasingly targeted the civilian population, de Kruif said.


“The insurgents changed their overall strategy from attacking our strength, being ISAF, towards focusing on terrorizing the local nationals, the Afghan people,” he said. “For ISAF, that means that we have to deliver a 24/7 security in the focus areas where we are placed. It's no use of getting into a village at 8 in the morning and then leave that village at 5 in the evening.”


De Kruif noted that the higher frequency of attacks has not been matched by an increase in the IEDs’ sophistication, nor is there evidence suggesting materiel from Iran is being used in the assembly of the explosives. The most common IED is detonated by a pressure-plate mechanism triggered by the victim, about 70 percent of whom are Afghan nationals, he said.


“Based on the fact that these IEDs are relatively easy to produce, we don't see any real signs of influence by other countries like Iran with the fabrication and the use of these IEDs,” he said. “So I would not say that IEDs are sophisticated yet.”


Emerging technology in the field of IED detection and equipment like the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, which deflects the impact of explosions, are helping stem the threat of IEDs, de Kruif said. But the key in defeating the tactic also demands that a basic counterinsurgency objective be achieved.


“The first step is having an approach in which you win the hearts and minds of the people. So that means that every day, although we have an IED threat, our forces will go out and have a 24/7 presence amongst the Afghan people,” he said. “Because by the end of the day, it is the Afghan people who will deny the use of IEDs by the insurgency.”

Posted by Maj Pain

Ellie