Petty Officer Wetmore – Navy Hero

We hear a lot about heroes, especially in a time of war. It is often an overused word, diluted by those that exaggerate all things. There are heroes to be found outside the area of direct combat, and I would argue there are more to be found in our neighborhoods and friends.

In a disposable society: where we dispose of everything from out-of-fashion clothes early to unwanted children, Aviation Ordnanceman First Class (AW) Wetmore his wife Tami and daughter Kendra deserve our respect, support, and acknowledgement of doing great things.



Their daughter Juliana was born with Treacher Collins syndrome. In summary, those born with this syndrome are born without a face. The written word does not do this justice, neither does my limited prose.

Take some time to follow the links and learn more about the strength we can find in our Shipmates and their families.

Especially if you have kids of your own,
watch the video. Look past Juliana’s obvious “challenges”, and watch her just be a kid. She acts just like my girls at that age, and that is how we should all look at her, just a girl. Made me think a lot.

As is always a good thing to do when we see everyday people rise to the challenges brought their way, think how you would react, how you would cope. I have found such reflection gives one plenty of things to add to the supper blessing.

BZ. Oh, for my little part, I will withhold my AO jokes for a day or two.

If you are interested in helping the Wetmore family, a savings account has been set up for donations at the VyStar Credit Union in Middleburg, Fla. Donations can be made to Juliana Wetmore at member number 2102465.

Keeping an Eye on the Long Game: Part VII

Here’s a money quote:

"Should the Taiwan authorities go so far as to make a reckless attempt that constitutes a major incident of 'Taiwan independence', the Chinese people and armed forces will resolutely and thoroughly crush it at any cost," (a PLAN defense white paper) said.

Well, isn’t that sweet.

The policy paper criticized the United States for continuing to increase, both qualitatively and quantitatively, its arms sales to Taiwan, saying this sent the wrong signal.
"The U.S. action does not serve a stable situation across the Taiwan Straits," it said.

That is very true if you consider stability everyone you deem less worthy than yourself kow-towing before you. Wait, that is the traditional Han belief. No surprise here.

Then again; this wouldn’t be our problem if we just stated,

“We don’t care what anyone does as long as it doesn’t impact the territorial integrity of the United States or interferes with the free flow of goods and raw materials at market prices."

That worked well throughout history for the Belgians, Dutch, Danes, and Norwegians in the mid 1900s. Yep, good thing that they, others, and the United States ignored everything as Germany consolidated all “Historically German lands and peoples.” Good thing everyone wasn’t confrontational and possibly caused the loss of life in the 1930s. After all, once he gets all the Germans under one roof, why would he want to mess with anyone else?

Read it all here.

Secretary Rumsfeld – Leadership

Not much needs to be said here but Bravo Zulu.

Ignore what you read and hear from the MSM. In the Fleet and with the Soldiers, Marines and Airmen who work for the man, Secretary Rumsfeld is a highly respected, honored, and appreciated Secretary of Defense.


CAPT Ed summarizes well an angle from the SECDEF’s trip to Mosul for Christmas Eve:

“But Rummy goes one step further. Rather than spew facile bon mots, Rumsfeld leveled with the warriors, allowing them to feel all right about their moments of doubt. He spoke from the heart, it appears, and didn't just come out there to blow smoke. He also apparently refused to cancel the trip even after investigators have determined that the Mosul explosion came from an infiltrator, highlighting the personal risk Rumsfeld took on making this trip.”

He is tough, demanding, direct, but most of all blindingly honest. I know folks who have worked for him. My favorite quote from a guy about to get orders to SECDEF’s office:

“If you are one of those folks that like to be told all the time what a great job you are doing and how much you are appreciated, well, wake your wife up a 0500 before you leave for the Pentagon so she can tell you. When you get home at 2300 she will be asleep and won’t be able to.”

He took the job without looking back.

Hat tip Captain’s Quarters.

UPDATE: The Banty Rooster has a GREAT post from Rummy's hospital visit. A must read.

Christmas Leave - Heading to New York City

Hope all have an outstanding Christmas.

I'm heading to NYC: Sailors always have good luck there.



Will blog away soon.....I have a datum on another member of the "Wall of Shame."

Canada wakes up?

Like many who dearly love our neighbor Canada, in the Chretien years I felt like an old friend watching someone very close to me drift ever further into self destructive behavior; knowing there was little I could do because my friend did not see his affliction and whenever you tried to point out the problem, he would simply deny the problem and go buy another bottle.

Well, he may be from the same party, but Prime Minister Martin seems to have his act together. I will wait for the proof, but I think we owe him time to bring Canada back to where it belongs – at the forefront at the fight for Western Civilization.

Lots of points in the 12-step program can be seen in this article:

Canada's security net is full of holes, with most border crossings guarded by a lone staffer and airport security so lax that missing security badges and uniforms recently turned up for sale on eBay.
A new Senate security report calls for reform, a boost in defense spending and improved cooperation with the United States. Canadians have relied too long on luck to avoid a terrorist attack, it says, scolding: "Unfortunately, luck is notoriously untrustworthy."

Acknowledge the problem. Work towards a solution. Nice.

“The report, which some are calling alarmist and ineffectual as it comes from the politically appointed upper house of parliament, noted Canadian forces have been hit with budget cuts of about 30 percent between 1988 and 2000.”

The past is the past. What is important is where you are going.

“The coast guard, meanwhile, is a "toothless" agency which is unarmed and reports to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the report said. "Despite its name, the coast guard doesn't play a serious role in guarding our coasts," the senators said, recommending the agency answer to the Department of National Defense for security assignments. ”

Well, the US Dept. of Education doesn’t educate anyone either. But, you have acknowledged the problem. Good.

"They need to paint things in slightly alarmist hues in order to grab the Canadian public," Wark said. "With the growing criticism of the Bush White House foreign policy and the increasing sense that the whole policy of the war on terror is misguided and in error, it becomes increasingly difficult for Canadians to understand the need for national security spending."

Yep, the Canadian public has been subject to propaganda from a bunch of self-hating bed wetters for quite awhile. Though a lot of Canadians were killed on 9/11, Canada thinks that if they are nice “Perhaps they will kill me last.” Looks like that mindset may change.

I have worked with the Canadian military throughout the better part of a decade and a half, from shore duty to forward deployed in OEF. They are great professionals, there are just too few with too little equipment.

To the future! (I hope. Deeds not words my friends. Deeds.)

Strategic Vision Honor Roll: The Honorable JAMES A. YOUNG, Administrative Judge

Read the whole thing here, but here are a couple quotes from his decision.

For background, this guy was applying for a security clearance,

“Applicant is a 36-year-old senior database administrator for a defense contractor. …Applicant was born in the PRC. He graduated from a university in the PRC with a Ph. D. in biochemistry. He came to the U.S. in 1992 as a visiting scholar. In 2000, he received a master's degree in computer science from a U.S. university. Since arriving in the U.S. in 1992, Applicant has returned to the PRC on eight occasions: Twice in 1997, three times in 1998, once in 2000 and twice in 2002. Applicant traveled on his PRC passport until he became a U.S. citizen in 2002. He surrendered his PRC passport to the PRC Embassy in Washington, DC. …In 1997, Applicant went to the PRC to meet his wife. His wife was born in the PRC to citizen residents of the PRC. She received a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering from a Chinese university in 1997. After her marriage to Applicant, she emigrated from the PRC to the U.S. in 1998. Tr. 145. She received a master's degree in computer science from a U.S. university in 2000. Applicant and his wife have two children, both born in the U.S. Tr. 147. Applicant's wife became a permanent U.S. resident alien in 2003, but will apply for U.S. citizenship as soon as she is eligible. She has a PRC passport. She is currently working as a software developer…..One of Applicant's older brothers is a doctor who graduated from medical school in the PRC. That brother is married to a Chinese woman and they have two sons, one born in the PRC, the other in the U.S. Applicant's brother and his wife are both U.S. permanent resident aliens. They intend to apply for U.S. citizenship as soon as they are eligible. They both possess PRC passports. The wife's family still lives in the PRC. Applicant's brother has returned to the PRC three times since 2000 when he became a U.S. permanent resident alien. Tr. 117. Applicant's parents are 73 and 65. They are retired and live in the countryside. Applicant's father was a construction laborer and then became an independent contractor delivering supplies to construction sites. Applicant's mother has not worked outside the home. Applicant's oldest brother is a citizen and resident of the PRC. He does work similar to that done by his father. ….. Applicant's wife used to talk by telephone to her family once a week, but since Applicant's security clearance has become an issue, she has reduced the number of calls. ”

It was denied. Duh. He appealed. Duh.

Hey, great American and all that, but as ma’h Dadd’ah used to say, “No one owes you a living there pal.”

Well, the Judge kind of puts it the same way.

“"[N]o one has a 'right' to a security clearance." Department of the Navy v. Egan, 484 U.S. 518, 528 (1988). As Commander in Chief, the President has "the authority to . . . control access to information bearing on national security and to determine whether an individual is sufficiently trustworthy to occupy a position . . . that will give that person access to such information." Id. at 527. The President has restricted eligibility for access to classified information to United States citizens "whose personal and professional history affirmatively indicates loyalty to the United States, strength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment, as well as freedom from conflicting allegiances and potential for coercion, and willingness and ability to abide by regulations governing the use, handling, and protection of classified information." Exec. Or. 12968, Access to Classified Information § 3.1(b) (Aug. 4, 1995). Eligibility for a security clearance is predicated upon the applicant meeting the security guidelines contained in the Directive.”

The folks at “Inside the Ring” do a good synopsis of the high points on 10 DEC 04 roundup.

"Countries such as Canada, Great Britain, and Italy, for example, are representative democracies that pride themselves on the protection of civil liberties," he stated.
"An applicant's foreign associates in those countries would face considerably less risk of exploitation than those in the [People's Republic of China], which is known as a repressive regime in which individual rights of citizens are not honored."
He stated that China is "hostile, and has interests inimical, to those of the U.S." It is also "a totalitarian state that depends on the suppression of its people."
"The PRC has been involved in espionage against the U.S., both military and economic," he stated.
Judge Young noted that the clearance applicant's relatives in China are not foreign agents. But their presence in China means they are "subject to the pressures of the communist regime" and makes the applicant vulnerable to compromising U.S. secrets.
Despite increased U.S.-Chinese cooperation since September 11, China "is still a totalitarian state with a human rights record of abuses that 'have been among the most visible and constant points of contention in Sino-U.S. relations since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown,' " he said.
Also, China remains one of the most aggressive collectors of U.S. defense information and technology, he said.
It is good to see that a good man is in the right place at the right time. There are many great Americans, like the person in question, that do not qualify for a security clearance. Nothing bad towards them, but a nation at war with many enemies must err on the side of caution.

Oh, and before you cry racism, read this. Actions have consequences. That is life. If people at the State Department and the folks that issue driver’s licenses took their responsibilities more seriously, 9/11 would not have taken place like it did. Fact.

Judge Young, congrats on being the Plank Owner of the Honor Roll.

Hat tip to Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough.

Puss-n-Boots

I really didn’t want to spend any time on this bucket of FOD, but it is kind of in my AOR. I will avoid blovating too much on Petty Officer Pablo Paredes, his Chain of Command will handle him just fine.

Citizen Smash has done a great job putting this scupper trout in his place, but the summary is that he decided to miss a ship's movement in order to make a point.

A point about what, I’m not sure. Maybe that no one should live in California because they have wack-job people with wack-job ideas to convince others to screw up their future?

While his shipmates were saying goodbye to loved ones, Pablo was walking around the pier with a t-shirt that said “Like a cabinet member, I resign” on it, trying to get arrested. No joy. Everyone ignored him. The dumb thing about the t-shirt is that if he was like the children of a cabinet member, he would have just returned from deployment. That bugaboo of the left, outgoing Attorney General Ashcroft, his son just returned to Norfolk from a 6 month deployment. Try again Paredes.

Cowardice in the face of the enemy? What? This guy controls anti-aircraft defense missiles. He will be as close to Iraq as I am on shore duty. Maybe cowardice in the face of the 1MC? Cowardice in the face of “Asparagus Night” every Wednesday in the Galley? Cowardice in the face of liberty in Thailand?

What a looser. He has ruined his life for nothing. If he is lucky, he will come to his senses and take NJP or find some mental route to an Admin. Board and an OTH (Other than Honorable) discharge. Better yet, let’s get this guy a Big Chicken Dinner (Bad Conduct Discharge – AKA BCD) at Courts Martial.

The sad thing is that someone else is going to have to fill his billet TAD or his shipmates will have to pull extra duty. That is the real crime; he is feeding his own narcissism with the hard work and family life of his shipmates. What a horrid human being.

War artist on our side

Steve Mumford

This guy is doing some great work in his "Baghdad Journal".

Black and white, color, military, civilian; he covers it all. He is not a "war monger" or a "peacenik". He just reports the scenes as he sees them. Nice work, and worth your support.

Here are just a couple of examples; there are dozens at the site linked above.





UPDATE: John over at The Castle Argghhh!! gives and outstanding perspective on how the artist works, and how Mr. Mumford keeps the focus where it should be, the Soldier.

Hat tip to The Commissar.

Keeping an Eye on the Long Game: Part VI

Note it on your calendar: Today is PLAN Day!!! Now, everyone knows that CDR Salamander considers every day People’s Liberation Army Navy Day (NB: my friends from the Middle Kingdom, we REALLY need a new game there shipmate), but it seems that 13 DEC 04 the MSM ran out of “US not up-armoring field latrines in Iraq” stories and have all of a sudden noticed a billion or so Chinese getting in shape and thinking about returning from a few hundred years of sleep to regain their seat at the big table.

No small fish in the MSM, Mark Helprin at Opinion Journal gets a direct hit with secondaries, with supporting fire from our British allies at (!)The Guardian via Ian Black.

WOW. Nice to see. Read the whole thing, but here are some of the Executive Summary quotes:

Helprin:

“….China is now powerful and influential enough, at least as a "fleet-in-being," to make American world dominance inconceivable. And in the longer term, China is bent upon and will achieve gross military and economic parity with the United States.”

Exactly. They want “their” Asia back under their petticoat, or whatever the Han Chinese version of that is. As long as we stay out of their backyard and don’t fiddle with their lifeline, they will leave us alone. The problem will be agreeing on the survey lines.

“China is methodically following the example of Meiji Japan in moving from a position of inferiority to one of military equality with far superior rivals, by deliberate application of a striking phenomenon of economics that is to the military relation between states what the golden section is to architecture. Consider a hypothetical country of 10 million people, and a $1 billion GNP, that devotes 10% of its $100 per capita GNP to defense. The people are left with $90/year, suffering one day in 10 to support a $100 million military outlay. But after 18 years of 8% economic growth and 2% population increase per annum, it becomes a hypothetical country of 14 million souls, a GNP of $4 billion, and a per capita GNP of $285. If the people retain only three-quarters of this, they are still almost two and a half times richer than they were before, and the military budget can safely rise to $1 billion. Thus, the GNP increases by a factor of four, per capita GNP more than doubles, and defense outlays swell by a factor of 10.”

Second semester Macro Economics, but again he nails it. Mmmmmm. Meiji Japan. Nice parallel……and we know how that ended up.

“China, however, moves with great deliberation, and many signs suggest that it is aiming for parity in 20 or more years time and in synchrony with advances in technology and military doctrine.”

….and you ignore this at your own peril.

“When China was great, it sent out military expeditions by land and sea into a large part of what was for it the known world, and despite robotic protestations to the contrary it will do so again. It has already begun what it itself might at one time have called imperial expansion, driven not by ideology but the need for markets and raw materials.”

Don’t say it. Don’t say it. Oh, I can’t help myself. THEY CAN CALL IT THE “GREATER EAST ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE”! Oh, wait. The Japanese already did that one. Hit the history replay please.

“This and a persistent blindness in regard to China's probable trajectory are wounds gratuitously self-inflicted, for no country, ever, has had both the mass and income at the margin that the United States has now, but rather than anticipate, meet, and discourage China's military development, as it easily could, the U.S. has chosen to ignore it………when China does develop the powerful expeditionary forces that it will need to protect its far- flung interests, the U.S. will probably have successfully completed transforming its military into a force designed mainly to fight terrorism and insurgencies. ….Though the dangers of epidemics and terrorist nuclear attacks are now obviously pre-eminent, rising behind them is a newer world yet. This century will be not just the century of terrorism: terrorism will fade. It will be a naval century, with the Pacific its center, and challenges in the remotest places of the world offered not by dervishes and crazy-men but by a great power that is at last and at least America's equal. Unfortunately, it is in our nature neither to foresee nor prepare for what lies beyond the rim.”

Remember in Lord of the Rings in the mines when you heard that slow, distant beating of the drums? The future is here. Now.

Black

“An Atlanta company that manufactures yellow ribbon magnets - to display on cars to show solidarity with American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan - is in trouble because a Chinese firm is now making them for half the price; when the symbols of American patriotism are being shipped from Jiangsu province, you know that the sleeping giant is awake and busy.”

Just try to buy a US Flag pin for your lapel that doesn’t say “China” on the back. Try buying a US Flag for the front of your house from “PLANMart”, I mean WalMart, that does not have “Made in China” on it. Try.

“….the EU demonstrated last week when it announced it would not - yet - lift the arms embargo imposed after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989. Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder both made clear they wanted to do just that, arguing that the ban was an anachronism that put China on a par with pariahs such as North Korea and Zimbabwe.”

You mean, they’re not? (OK, they are better, but Fascist Italy was better than Fascist Germany too). Oh, yes. The morally superior whores, I mean politicians, at the EU demonstrated that they are feckless, money grubbing schmucks. Shocking.

“In the background is Chirac's big idea of a "multipolar" world that is not dominated by an unassailably powerful America. But big, booming, business is the main reason for the kowtow instinct.”

Read here, “Desire someone that can kill lots of Americans because we don’t have the balls to. Oh, and we would like to make money from it as well because we will do anything to prop up our unsustainable Nanny State.”

“….the EU wants to upgrade its relations with China to a "strategic partnership" - but no surprise, either, that there is a real problem about squaring that with China's commitment to human rights.”

Not that the EU has had problems “squaring” when needed.

“The French line is that "discretion" is needed for effective human rights advocacy.”

The French were very discrete in Algeria, Rwanda, Chad, Ivory Coast, Iraq, etc, etc…

Every day should be PLAN day. Until then, keep an eye on the long game.

In 2047 as I hug my Grandson goodbye as he gets underway with what is left of the SEVENTH Fleet to engage the Chinese fleet moving into blocking positions off the remains of Indonesia, I don’t want to tell him, “Sorry we didn’t do more to prepare son. We just didn’t see it coming.”

Keeping an Eye on the Long Game: Part V

Who here misses the “Yankee Box”? Who longs for the days of NAS Bermuda. Well, you may not get Bermuda back, but Guam and Wake Island.....maybe.

Well, as is their want, our friends in the PLAN have taken the next step.



Bill Gertz, as usual, gets the story first and right.

Of note, the Type-094 SSBN when it goes operational next few years will be outfitted with the DF-31 SLBM missile, being that the new JL-2 SLBM is having some developmental difficulties. Once outfitted with 16 JL-2 (MIRV’d I am sure thanks to the Clinton Administration), the Type 094 will be able to reach out an touch someone from ~7,500 miles.

Nice. Longer spines for the porcupine.

Job security for the old Cold Warriors. Buoy away!!!!

20 Minutes in Falluja

This video from the BBC is a must see.

It is the best I have seen so far. I usually look a bit askance at anything by the BBC, but this is an exception.

1% of the reporter’s comments aside; simply outstanding.

Hat Tip: BLACKFIVE

Update: The Commissar over at "The Politburo Diktat" makes a great point.

This is what I think of when I think of "war reporting," but somehow, in this conflict, we are offered Abu Ghraib, Kevin Sites, and unarmored-Humvee-Q&A as "war reporting." A welcome, and informative, piece.

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UPDATE II - Electric Boogaloo:Man, this entry has legs. Here it is mid-JUL 05 and this one post itself still gets ~20 hits a day. Hat tip to Jaybob you can now download this movie and another here. The BBC on is on the right.

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Left2Right2Clueless2Know

Left2Right is trying to be an upfront, calm, honest, and direct blog that,

“…Left must learn how to speak more effectively to ears attuned to the Right.
How can we better express our values?”

Geeeee wizzz people, try by not talking down to the Right and being so, so, well Moonbatty.

The entry Supporting Our Troops is a case in point.

Oh….. lets Fisk this thing.

“Vehicles in New Jersey are covered with decals representing little ribbons inscribed with the legend: “Support Our Troops.” I have done a lot of driving recently and have noticed geographical disparities in the distribution of these symbols. There are fewer in the Midwest and very few at all in the LA area.”

Mmmmm, unsophistaced Rubes in Red America again? Thinking of this?

“They are also disproportionately displayed on SUVs and vans, which isn’t surprising given that the owners are disproportionately reliant on the oil supplies that our soldiers are in Iraq to protect (among their other purposes).”

Oh, that’s right. We only serve so our friends and family can swill petrol like water. That shows such a depth of understanding of why people serve, and it is obvious that you spend lots of time with service members.

Wait, what was that quote we read a bit ago..

“I have done a lot of driving recently…..”

Shouldn’t you have one of those stickers?

“What is it exactly that these decals exhort us to do? How can I, or anyone, support the troops themselves? What can we possibly do for them?”

I will give you the benefit of the doubt on this one. The decals are what the placer wants them to be. A thank you. A memory of a friend or family member, or a way to piss of the Deaniac next door. What can you do for them? Well, you can try here, or here, or here, or just do a Google search.

“The aim of such an effort is to make it seem that to criticize the war is to criticize our young soldiers and perhaps to increase their peril by weakening the war effort.”

Sure nothing like this:

“Moore Compared Iraqi Terrorists To American Revolutionary War Heroes.
”As for the current situation in Iraq, Moore has written: 'The Iraqis
who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or
”terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen,
and their numbers will grow - and they will win.'" (Michael Barone,
Op-Ed, "The Company They Keep," U.S. News & World Report, 7/12/04)”

Isn’t Michael Moore considered good enough by the Left to sit in the Presidential Box at the DNC?

“I recall that in the late stages of the presidential campaign Bush tried – successfully, it seems – to score points by claiming that to say the war in Iraq was wrong was tantamount to saying that those of our troops who had died there had died in vain. And of course no one wanted to be accused of saying that.”

Of course not…..

“But of course if the war is unjust they have died largely in vain…”

Arrrghhh…. You just said it!!!!

“If they have been sent to die for a misconceived political agenda, that should be a source of remorse, not something to be exploited for further advantage in political debate.”

Kind of like this?

Yep, the Left in the Bay Area really know how to reach out…..

“If the war is unjust, as I believe it is…”

Arrrghh…. You said it again!!!!!!!

“….Bush’s remarks exploit the sacrifices of the dead while the ribbon decals further exploit those young soldiers still stationed in Iraq by invoking their peril to stifle opposition to a war in which they will remain embroiled. The decals don’t support our troops but unnecessarily endanger them by seeking to prolong an unjust war.”

OK. Tell that to those who serve. To their face. Instead of burning up gasoline in your driving, take a plane ride with a long layover in Atlanta. Walk around the concourses. See those guys in the Desert Camouflage? They are on their mid-deployment break. Go over and buy them a sandwich and talk. Reach out. You might be surprised.

I have written about the "Military-to-Left" cultural divide here and here. It is real. It is there. It is not good for our country nor healthy for our culture. There are exceptions of course (I have served with a VERY Left wing Admiral of the Senator Bradley stripe – an outstanding Admiral BTW), but the Military does not understand the Left because there are very few onboard the ship, in the squadron, or leading the division. The Left doesn’t understand the Military because they don’t serve, their parents didn’t serve, and their children will unquestionably not serve. A shame, but they need to remember - the Left abandoned the Military. The Military did not abandon the Left.

UPDATE: Looks like Left2Right closed comments to the above link. BAAAWAAAHAA. I guess they didn't like it when those they "reached out" to reached back and grabbed them by the neck. Note to the Cacooned Left: don't talk down to others; even lesser beings than yourself have pride, conviction, and maybe a wee bit of backbone.
UPDATE II-Electric Boogaloo: Welcome aboard Arrghhhh! readers!!! Come across the Quarterdeck early and often. I am honored by the visit. Now lets walk over to the Royal Navy ship across the pier. They have booze in their wardroom.......

Pearl Harbor Day – A day all should remember

Almost all remember Pearl Harbor. Those that don’t are fools. I think one of the best ways to remember this lesson, is to hear what President Roosevelt said that day. Rarely have so few words carried so much weight

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Hat Tip: Power Line. Also a nice overview from Argghhhh!

INVADE CANADA!!!!

Take their beer and aggressive Newfoundland women!!!!!

Jonah’s military guys over at Castle Argghhh have a great pic and story about our troops heading from New England into Canada to engage Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.



I am sure that invading Canada sounds like lots of fun and all, but I can’t help of thinking of our first and second time we tried, it didn’t work out too well.

Now that I read further, I now see that this is just the Canadians letting us come play in their back yard. Cool.

However there Arghhh guys, this is real artillery - and we give guest front row seats.

The death of Europe as we know it

Everyone loves the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Iroquois Nation…..except that they no longer exist. Through a combination of a lack of will, a host of enemies, politics, and demographics, these societies now lie in the dustbin of history. Their culture and people have either been scattered, absorbed, diluted, or destroyed.

Europe, from Spain to Russia, you're next.

Not a new subject, but the British political analyst David Pryce-Jones does a great job breaking it down for us in Commentary Magazine.

What, pray tell, does this have to do with a Navy centered blog? Well, lets review.

NATO, or the concept at least, is about 50 years old now, to use a nice round number. Stop. Ponder. Think. Review.

In 50 years it will be 2054. Think about the demographics of Europe. Review the demographics of Muslims both in Europe and North Africa.

Basically, hundreds of years of fratricide have led the Europeans to the point they hate themselves and their culture so much that they are willing to let both die. In Holland they euthanize less than fully viable people. Why not euthanize an entire culture? The question is moot.

Europe. The walking dead.

Who will be America’s great ally in 2054 that can fight? That will fight? And they wonder why Americans insist that they can do things alone if need be?

If America withdrawals across the Atlantic because it has to put all its energy to the Pacific, who will defend Europe from Islamic oil-blackmail or civil war following overwhelming immigration-invasion of a non-Western foreign culture?

Europe? Defend itself? Where is their will? Where are their forces? How will they fight when Belgian troops will not stay in the field in tents? When they cannot even manage the weak, relatively secular Bosnia or more radical Kosovo?

France et al, be careful what you say about the Bosnian Serbs. Their present is your future.

Unless Europe starts moving its politics towards the Dutch and Danish right, and starts having a non-Muslim population demographic like Utah, Europe is done. A sad loss.

I have spent way too much of my life living in Islam culture dominated societies. I would not wish this on my worst enemies, which is why Muslims are moving out of Dar Al-Islam to Dar al-Harb. Though I ping on their lilly-livered politics, I love Europe and Europeans (expecially those few that are in the military), which is why this pisses me off so much.

OK, Europe gave us Fascism, Communism, and Techno-pop; they also gave us The Enlightenment, Christian global evangelism, and soccer. Europe is a keeper. Here is a little tough love.

Europeans, start having more babies or learn how to be a Dhimmi. Again.


Hat Tip Powerline blog

Hey Powerline fans. Welcome! I am honored and humbled by your visit. Come by and visit again!!!


UPDATE: A trend starting here in the United States may hold the key to Europe's future - Natalism. David Brooks in The New York Times (free subscription required) has a great overview. ABC News is starting to get on the hunt as well.
UPDATE II - Electric Boogaloo: The incredible Victor Davis Hanson builds on this theme in "The Ents of Europe" in a way only he can. A MUST READ (especially of you are a LOTR fan)
UPDATE III: The Jawa Report brings up another angle on this. Add to bed death; the death of freedom of speech.
Another take on the death of free speech in the UK at Samizdata.

The Navy Times: Mouthpiece for a Known Vietnam Fraud

Email, I love email. A little birdie sent this my way. I couldn't write it better myself. As a matter of fact, he wants to remain anon and told me to claim as my own. With the traffic this blog sees, his secret is safe.

With minor editing.....

I know something sounded wrong as I started reading Wayne Smith’s piece in the Opinion Back Talk section of Navy Times September 27, 2004 issue. Besides the obviously twisted prose and alarmist tone, I noticed something old, putrid, and discredited. His name rang a bell.

Right after Vietnam, an entire army of poseurs, fakers, and professional victim pimps began a process of smearing and mal-defining an entire generation of men that served their country with distinction and honor; the Vietnam Generation. The whole “We are creating monsters” theme of the article brought me back to a book that every military professional should read as part of their professional education; Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History, by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley; Verity Press, INC., 1998. Burkett and Glenna produced a detailed and meticulously documented work. All of the following information is easily found in the index pages and is where I gathered the information on Mr. Smith’s background.

There is a reason that Mr. Smith is trying to smear today’s war veterans with the same filth he spread over the honor of those men 30 years ago, he has made a career of it.

He is not, however, someone that any reputable publication, much less Navy Times, should expend paper and ink to send out to their readers.

In the early 1990’s many veterans’ organizations were having a problem with fake vets in their organizations, from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). While the VFW and other organizations made a solid effort to purge their rolls of these poseurs and fakes, the Membership Director for VVA at the time, Wayne Smith, fearing loosing so many members perhaps, elected not to. Then again, Mr. Smith is not the type who wants records reviewed in any detail.

Mr. Smith is a Vietnam veteran, but not the kind of person you want speaking to your High School age child’s history class. According to Mr. Smith’s military record pulled via a Freedom of Information Act request by Mr. Burkett in 1992, while in the service Mr. Smith was sentenced to hard labor for going AWOL. Additionally, once he left the service he expanded his record of honor. In 1971 Mr. Smith was indicted for the 1971 murder of Kenneth Donnelly, finally convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years on 03 January 1973 (State of Rhode Island vs. Wayne Smith, Case #72-288).

As reported in the 06 August 1993 edition of The Washington Post, these facts finally caught up with Mr. Smith’s career when he was disqualified as a candidate for President of the VVA after loosing his previous job at the VVA. He then moved on the National Vietnam Memorial Fund. Doing a quick Google search, it appears that after spending time with far-left organizations such as “The Justice Project”, he is now with another far-left organization, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, an organization that seems mostly concerned with landmines.

Perhaps he sees another growth opportunity for his Victim Industry coming out of the Global War on Terrorism. The space in Navy Times almost seems like his first advertisement. I see his field of specialty has changed little.

Just the fact that Mr. Smith has such a history with the VVA should have raised the alert at Navy Times. As described in Stolen Valor,

“The VVA, while claiming to be the spokesman and friend of Vietnam veterans, has actually done more damage to their public image than any other group in America. They’ve made patriotic and honorable men appear to be whining welfare cases, men who have no pride in their service, and men who can find nothing better to do with their lives than bellyache about what an immoral government did to them.”

Mr. Smith does not have an opinion, he has an agenda.

Let a thousand voices sing, from the left to the right, but as a publication that purports to serve the Navy team, The Navy Times owes it to their subscribers to show judgment and due diligence on your choices. They owe their subscribers an apology for putting such a charlatan, criminal, and disgraced peddler from the professional Victim Industry on the Opinion Back Page.

European Appeasement: Why do we keep going there?

The “E3” of France, Germany, and Britain are trying to not get slapped around by the Iranians. Geeeezzzzeeee, have any of these people shopped at a Souk?

Lets review the wonderful history of European “Pre-emptive Diplomacy.” Let’s stick to the 25 year high-water mark roughly 80 years ago, I do have a job here.

- Treaty of Versailles: How many more centuries will we be paying for this nightmare?

- Sykes-Picot Agreement: The blood. The nightmare. The horror.

- League of Nations: Do we really need to say more?

- The Stresa Front: OK, everyone say it for the first time in their life, “Mussolini was right. Britain and France should have followed his lead.” Now go take a shower and pray for forgiveness.

- Munich: Prime Minister Chamberlain. Do we need to say more? The self-delusion of the European diplomat is best summed up by this lovely man, “ ‘Oh dear,’ said Mr. Chamberlain, thunderstruck. ‘He has betrayed my trust.’ ”

OK, the US has dorked up a lot of stuff over the last few centuries (See the Korean Nuke Deal in the 1990’s). But, as Europeans like to say, “The Americans are unsophisticated compared to Europeans.”

UPDATE: Dusty at Argghhh! is on the appeasement watch as well. This time with some good news. A couple wiffs of clue coming out of Germany. Germany. Always watch the Germans. Nuff said.

Ivory Tower vs. The Solomon Amendment

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional. For those who don’t know the background, the Solomon Amendment basically tells universities, “If you take Federal money, you have to let military recruiters and ROTC on your campus.”

I hope the Bush Administration appeals this decision. Funny, in a way. The Left in this country is always in high-warble about the civilian-military cultural divide where the predominately Southern and Western military has such different views than the culture AS DEFINED by the elites.

The hypocrisy of the Left here is just dumbfounding. They want a more “balanced” military, but won’t let the military recruit in the fertile Lefty grounds of the Ivy League and other Ivory Tower bastions of the Moonbat Left.

You can read the whole thing here, but the summary is the same.

The Left hates the U.S. Military. They will let all the pro-Islamofascist and anti-Israel speakers in the world through their Politically Correct gates, but representatives of those that guarantee their ability to live in their glass house? VERBOTEN!!!

Keeping an Eye on the Long Game: Part IV

My bust, I should have been posting on this for the last few weeks, but couldn’t. Anyway, looks like our targets, errrr, friends at the PLAN have been doing a little Out-of-Area OPS as of late with their bucket-of-FOD Han SSN.

Don’t get me wrong, I hope they build scores of these buckets, but the PLAN has better boats on the way. Job security, but remember the PLAN mindset: long-term growth. They are stretching and learning.

Good to get the pro’s at the JMSDF a workout. They need the practice; the PLAN will be out there more and more often. We are living in very interesting times.

Here is why. Peter Brookes at the NYPost knocks the ball out of the park.

Oil, and rising living standards. This crisis will come first, then the demographic challenge. (Hat tip to The Corner).

Captain Speicher, shipmate, I Hope it’s You: Time to Take You Home

It looks like we may have found Captain Scott Speicher.



I was but a pup Ensign onsta a few hundred miles away when then LCDR Speicher was lost. Throughout my career, mostly when the stories came out in the mid-90’s over the Clinton Administration not wanting to “go hunting over old bones”, as the shameful Chairman
General Shalikashvili said. A man of much honor, Admiral Stan Arthur, had a plan to get him. But as we saw many times in the ‘90’s, our lions were being led by donkeys.

My prayers are with Captain Speicher’s family, friends, and loved ones. May his body be brought home, and his soul rest in peace.

UPDATE: Well, my bust. That is what I get for trusting my hometown news source. The Navy states this story is FOD. Too bad. Whoever made this up should be beaten, and those that passed on the rumor................

Draft Madness and the Election

Hat-tip to the Kerry Spot.

This draft stupidity has gotten just silly. As discussed before here, this just isn’t going to happen.

Why is a sitting Senator passing out this stupid internet rumor seeping out of the democraticunderground.com cesspool?

Oh, election year. I guess I can’t talk about it then ……

McPeak Speaks IV: Zoomie weighs in

An Air Force pro nails it, and Merrill to the wall. I couldn’t put it better.

Merrill McPeak is officially a Moonbat.

McPeak Speaks III – Retired Attack Poodle

To paraphrase the good General (ret.),

“Who the hell is Merrill McPeak to give Karl Rove advice on politics!!”

Merrill, get back in your hole. Rove’s comments had nothing to do with Senator Kerry’s service, only his behavior once Stateside. You know that. Jerk.

You are quickly, if not already, getting the reputation as a political “step-and-fetch-it” (yes, I know that is a loaded phrase, I meant it to) for the Kerry campaign.

You know, Admiral Crowe at least showes some class when he is political, as does General Franks, but you are just a hack. It really does a disservice to those still on active duty to see this immature, amateur, transparent behavior.

How long have you been waiting, practicing your mission plan of indignant defense of Senator Kerry? Putz.

TO THE WALL OF SHAME WITH YOU…..AGAIN!!!!!

Nothing wrong with prior military getting involved in politics, as a matter of fact, we need more in congress. You however, are just sad.

McPeak Speaks II – Electric Boogaloo

Congrats Bucket-o-FOD, you are a first return visitor to The Wall of Shame!!!!

Can this guy get any worse? So, really General-of-the-Easter-Airlines-Uniform, what job are you selling your soul for? SECDEF? AirFarce Secretary? Or are you looking more at the historical buy off of Admiral Crowe to the Court of St. James.

Yep, that sounds more like it. It would fit that pompous-ass attitude of yours.

Europe: Time to Start Paying Your Own Tab

Great article in the UK Telegraph about the 170,000 Americans in the Occupation Army, family, and support staff heading home. For way too long the Europeans have been living off the American defense dole. It will be better for both of us.

Maybe in the future the leaders of many of their political class will quit acting like a bunch of cuckolds.

A spoiled child becomes a much better family member once they are forced out of the house and lean to stand on their own two feet, earn a living, and be their own man.

Oh, and don’t even get me started with Canada.

Iraq War and Re-enlistments

Can we all agree that another “myth” from the anti-military types is just plain wrong:

THE IRAQ WAR HAS NOT BEEN BAD FOR RE-ENLISTMENTS.

There, don’t you feel better?

Re-enlistments in the Army as well as the Navy, Marines and Air Force are all up and on target.

We know what we are doing is important and we are successful at it. Why doesn’t the mainstream press know it as well?

You know why. If you need help, you can start reading here and here. Then do a Google search.

(mis)RULE (of) BRITANNIA(s armed forces)

The ever thin red line thins, and thins.


If the clueless folks at the Treasury in London don’t review their stilted sense of history soon, the only waves Britain will be ruling will the trout steams in Scotland where they will make their last stand from the conquering horde that will come their way. Power abhors a vacuum. Aggression is attracted to weakness.

My dear British mother, you rely on the military might of America for your freedom at your own peril. Continental Europeans hate you only second to Americans, and will never fight to defend you. We Americans are often a few thousand votes away from a path towards the isolation of the early 1900’s. Never forget that.

In spite of the fact that the British armed forces AS A WHOLE are little bigger than the US Marine Corps, and their 100,000 man (and woman) army is ½ the size it was 25 years ago, they are about to cut it even further.

This is important is the era where everyone wants a “coalition”. The British are the only other country besides the US that can project power to any extent: even now they can barely do it alone, and cannot sustain operations for any length of time.

After these cuts, they will be of little major use anywhere. They will shortly become an adjunct to OUR Marine Corp as auxiliary troops. And remember, THEY ARE OUR MOST CAPABLE ALLY.

What a shame. The cancerous tumor of the welfare state has caused a once great nation to forfeit any chance it could stand alone.

The UK is truly the last bastion of European strength, and it appears they have caught the Dutch disease.

Everyone stop and look around - you are at a turning point in history. Demographically and culturally Europe is on its deathbed. Our grandchildren will not recognize what even now is becoming little more than a collection of “museum states” populated with aged slaves to the state and a rapidly growing sub-culture from Arabia and North Africa that will not wait long for their turn at power.

EU, take good notes of your time in Bosnia and be careful how you judge Serbia. Starting with France, in the next century, that is your future.

As always, you have to go back to the music to finish off a proper post with a thin layer of cheese. That crusty old Marxist, and exceptionally talented musician, Bob Geldof put it down right in the 1980’s with the Boomtown Rats:

Boomtown Rats
» Another Piece Of Red

I was reading in New Zealand
about Ian Smith
I was thinking they were lucky to be rid of that shit.
The people here can still believe in stiff lips and stiff collars
They're speaking deals in English
But they're making deals in dollars.
They're breaking up an empire
Nobody's buying British
They're calling for an umpire
Nobody's playing cricket
The flags are coming down
everybody stands saluting
But somewhere in the distance, I can hear somebody
shooting.
And another piece of red left my atlas today.
It's so long Hong Kong and no more Singapore
Those steaming nights of Malta
Goodbye Gibraltar
I'll give you arms for Africa
I'm hungry for India
The sun's set on Australia
And vive le Canada
They’re breaking up an empire
Nobody's buying British
Calling for an umpire
It really isn't cricket
The flags are coming down
There's a minimum of looting
Somewhere in the distance I can see somebody shooting
And another piece of red left my atlas today.........

Marines voice opinions of Michael Moore

Strategypage gets all the good stuff from Iraq.

Just reporting......

Lieutenant General Gard, US Army, (ret) "America Sux"

General, congratulations!!! You have made it to the Wall of Shame.



What happens when you take bitterness, disappointment, excessive self-esteem, a blovating ego, and stir it up in a soup of Ivy League self-importance?

Looks like you get retired Lieutenant General Robert Gard who, it seems, is making a living being the “House General” for the hate-America-blame-America-first crowd.

The latest anti-American steamer coming out of the good general is to join in on the anti-AMB crowd, talking bad about his country and its military on foreign ground.

Here is a beaut from his addled mind,

"Any country that launched such a missile would run the risk of a retaliatory attack that would be tantamount to annihilation."

OK General, so what you are saying is that is that North Korean crackpot decides to launch 5 of his missiles at the West Coast for whatever reason; we can assume that 3 will malfunction and 2 will head to California unmolested. Instead of having a good chance to bring them down and prevent loss of US and Korean lives, it is better to allow a few million Californians to die and to follow up by killing millions of Koreans? What????

Anyway, I have already spend enough time with this Harvard PhD, but here is a list of his other projects:

- Wanting to be nice to Milosevic and admit that we are bad for doing what we did in Kosovo (the poorly run campaign is a valid argument, just General Gard is off center in his analysis).
- Hanging out with Senator Harkin about landmines.
- Second guessing our pilots in Iraq and calling them murderers.
- Accusing the US on not giving a damn about civilian casualties (that’s right General, we paint dead babies on our aircraft).
- Investing time with the poorly named wingnuts in the Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation as their “Senior Military Advisor”.
- Chilling with the guys at anti-Iraq Veterans for Common Sense

Gee wiz General, next thing you know you will be hanging out with those classic hate-America Fifth Columnist retired Flags at the Center for Defense Information. At least you aren’t a leader for Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation. Oh, wait, YOU ARE!!!!

You know General, if you invested half the time worrying about minimizing the deaths of American soldiers as you did about the deaths of non-combatants, I might have more respect for you. As it stands right now, you seem to get a high out of proving to everyone how CONCERNED, how CARING, how SELF-HATING you are. I am sure you feel quite happy being the pet war criminal at the parties you attend in LA, San Francisco, Boston, Cambridge, New York City, and The Hamptons. Just remember, deep down, behind your back; not only do they loath you, they have no respect for you because you not only turned your back on your fellow Soldiers, you stabbed them in the back.

Then again, being that you learned your trade on the knee of that butcher McNamara, I guess that explains a lot.

Unfrozen Caveman Anti-war Philosophy

Senator Kerry, as a possible future Commander in Chief; STOP THIS MADNESS.

Hey, lets all go home and turn it over to NATO and make friends with France and Germany is great, but lets do it after VICTORY. In any event, NATO can barely support Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan as it is. Nice idea, but the facts on the ground make your proposal a dead letter. These are not the European armies of the first half of the 20th century. Most of them cannot transport themselves off the European continent.

If the enemy knows we will stay in large numbers until they are defeated, they will either quit, or fight and die. Both are good outcomes.

If they know we want out based on a calendar, they will attack to get us to leave earlier, or just sit tight, rest, rearm, and resume the attack when we leave.

This isn’t War College PhD stuff, any Marine Option ROTC type can tell you that. There is plenty or room here to make proposals, but this isn’t it.

Please tell me your foreign policy crew can do better. A lot of us see the pointy end of a dagger pointed in our back, again. Show us is it isn’t true. You may very well win in November. Let us know you have a plan for victory; to do otherwise is to spit on the graves of those who have fallen.

LT Kerry's Shipmates Tell Sea Stories

OK, all Sailors love to tell sea stories. "Hey John, remember that time we took the Skipper across the "Shit River" after the Change of Command and ended up at that "Off Limits" bar outside Olongapo!!!! What a hoot that place was." Bla, bla bla.

Anyway, they can go on for hours. I don't think Senator Kerry expected his shipmates to pass on these memories. Ouch.

They have a book out. I'll report, you decide. Could be my next Commander in Chief, so let me add some balance as well.





Hopefully, I haven't left enough evidence in my past to write a book. Makes me glad I burned all those photos .........

Keeping an Eye on the Long Game: Part III

Coming soon to and island near you: if you live in the Formosa Strait.



This is the view Sunday from Hong Kong. A classic case of boiling the frog. Bit by bit their "freedom" "granted" to them starts to go.

The smart ones moved to Vancouver.

In the words of the great American poet, Trent Reznor

Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get
What you deserve
- Head Like a Hole

Keeping an Eye on the Long Game: Part II

James Joyner over at Tech Central Station blasts it out of the ball park. China is the Long Game. They know it.

The French, the British, and the Tripolitans "misunderestimated" our young Navy. We should be wise not to do the same to a rising power.

Listen carefully; the leaves are making noise behind you again.

McPeak Speaks: babbling blame-America first: “The Emergence of the Manly Man” in the campaign, again.

Congrats General McPeak, you are #2 on the Wall of Shame!



From the man that was mostly concerned with outfitting AirFarce officers with “Eastern Airlines” surplus uniforms, making sure everyone’s chest hair showed, and generally thought fighter pilots were the only truly perfect beings, we now have more idiotic “Wall of Shame” worthy garbage coming out of his overly inflated melon.

To wit:

At the DNC in Boston he stated during an interview that the United States policy is responsible for terrorism. That by attacking terrorists we are just making more.

What a plain old idiotic statement. Everything is our fault. I guess if we just turned everything over to the UN and came home terrorism would end, right Tony?

Well, General Tony McPeak (USAF Ret) was one of Dean’s advisors before he signed on with Senator Kerry’s campaign.

BTW: The AirFarce’s new “Tiger Stripe” uniforms in comforting “Ocean Blue” and “Sunset Turquoise” are a bust with the troops. I love to make fun of the AirFarce, but there are some true 100# balls warfighters in the U.S. Air Force (props to my A-10 bubbas), hopefully they will win this one.

Stand-by Shipmate, We're Coming to Take You Home

For over 40 years, they have been on the Kronborg glacier in Greenland waiting for their country to come and take them home. While flying on a very cold North Atlantic day on 12 JAN 62, these 12 men perished during the a Cold War mission our of Iceland.

In 1966, we managed to bring some remains of 7 out of the 12 home. After that, the other 5 have sat on that glacier, waiting. As early as 1995, human remains could be seen. A great summary here of the men, the mission, the plane, and the efforts, however few, to do the right thing. Another solid summary here with pictures of the 1966 "recovery" and some graphic descriptions of what was seen then, and 1995. For the perspective of the family members, this says it all.




For those of my generation, the young men who lost their lives on that JAN day were our fathers, and uncles. The national shame is that we have allowed so much time go by, letting the dishonor of leaving our dead on the field continue.

Well, cheer-up. This AUG, CAPT Tom Sparks USCG is leading a solid effort to bring everyone home. After 38 years, we are making another attempt to bring LA-8, and the VP-5 crew of P-2V 131521 home. Godspeed and good luck.



Thanks to VPNAVY for all the hard work keeping this on the front burner. If you are interested in seeing who is still waiting, this link outlines who is at Arlington National Cemetery, who is buried at home, and who is still waiting on the Kronborg glacier.

60 Minutes: We’re waiting for the retraction:

We know that Joe Wilson is a liar, thanks to the 9/11 report.


Now we have MORE information from GEN Franks on the value of Richard “Bin Laden Family Transportation Coordinator” Clarks intel to CENTCOM while at NSC.

Franks singles out White House Counter-terrorism Czar Richard Clarke as
never providing him with "a single page of actionable intelligence" and
of engaging in mostly wishful thinking. Franks also believes the U.S.
invested too much in electronic spy surveillance and not enough in
spies. "We can't send a Princeton-educated New York lawyer to
infiltrate al-Qaeda. To get information, we have to marry the devil or
at least employ him. You have to deal."

After so many hours supporting Wilson and Clark, should we wait long for CBS to do the right thing…..hello……hello……..

Convoy Attack in Baghdad

Not a gore-fest, not a bunch of body parts all over the place.

What it does show is how a simple drive to work in Iraq isn't. Turn up the volume, and think hard when someone says, "Oh Fred. He is just in a support job over there."

And no, I have no idea where they guys in the Humvee are shooting. And I bet they aren't 100% either.

..... coming soon to a town near you, if we don't do this right.

Lieutenant John Forbes Kerry's FITREPs

There is something for everyone here. No commentary required, if you know how to read FITREPS. Though I don't think they are as bad as they say, the Swiftboats Vets link has a good FITREP brief for those that do not know how to "read the tea leaves".

Ignore the pundits and politicians in an election year. Talk to the Warriors.

In a change from some of the FOD published by GEN Zinni over the last couple of years, The Naval Institute's magazine Proceedings has a great article from a Marine about Iraq and the National Command Authority's decision to go in. This from the perspective of a trigger puller. A must read.

Ask the Warriors about Iraq
Lieutenant Colonel (select) Stanton S. Coerr, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve

Proceedings, August 2004  


President George W. Bush gathered U.S. support for invading Iraq by using two arguments: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein supported al Qaida terrorism. Now, vicious words and gratuitous finger pointing keep coming from people who insist they were misled. Politicians and TV experts sharply critique the Bush administration. Yet, I have not heard a word from anyone who actually carried a rifle or flew an aircraft in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and its ugly aftermath. What about consulting the guys who had, and still have, the most to lose?

As a Marine Corps reserve major, I was the senior U.S. officer attached to the 1 Royal Irish Battlegroup (a reinforced British rifle battalion). I commanded five Marine air-naval gunfire liaison teams and was the liaison officer between the U.S. Marines and the battlegroup. Seventeen days after activation on 14 January 2003, my Marines and I were in Kuwait, ready to go to war.

Having studied political science at Duke University and government at Harvard University, I understand realpolitik, geopolitical jujitsu, economics, and the realities of the Arab world. I am not a blind follower. But the war made sense then, and our presence there makes sense now.

At dawn on 22 March, we crossed the border in trace of the 5th Marine Regiment's sweep through the Ramaylah oil fields. We were the guys you saw on TV every night: filthy, hot, exhausted. Although the National Rifle Association's right-to-bear-arms mantra is a joke to me, I carried a loaded rifle, a loaded pistol, and a knife at all times. I pointed a loaded weapon at another human for the first time in my life. We killed numerous Iraqi soldiers. I directed air and artillery strikes in concert with my British artillery officer counterpart. Close up, we saw dead bodies, helmets with bullet holes in them, handcuffed prisoners, and oil well fires with flames leaping 100 feet in the air. In short, I did what I had spent 14 years training to do.

Apart from the violence, a number of things lifted our hearts. Thousands of Iraqis ran into the streets at the sight of us, screaming, waving, and cheering. They ran from their homes when our vehicles roared in from the south, bringing us bread, tea, cigarettes, and photos of their children. Much was lost in language differences, although my clear impression was: "Thank God, someone has arrived with bigger men and bigger guns to be on our side at last." We saw in the eyes of the people how a generation of fear reflects in the human soul.

For those who oppose the war, let there be no mistake: the Ba'ath regime was the Nazi Party of the second half of the 20th century. Saddam Hussein's brutal dictatorship raped, tortured, murdered, extorted, and terrorized the Iraqis for 35 years. Mass graves bear testimony to countless crimes. One U.S. Marine battalion liberated a prison populated entirely by children, where the jailers had brutalized the weakest of them and killed the strongest.

The Ba'ath Party retained power by placing officials in every city and village to keep the people under its boot. We found munitions and weapons everywhere. In Ramaylah, the local Ba'ath leader's desk contained brass knuckles and a handgun. These are the people who are in prison, where they belong.

Consider this analogy. For years, you watched the same large man come home at night. You listened to his yelling and the screams of children and the noise of breaking glass. You and everyone on the block knew he was beating his family. On behalf of the neighborhood, you asked him to stop. Then you begged; finally, you threatened him. Nothing worked. So, after 13 years, you muster the meanest guys you can find. You kick his door down, punch him in the face, and drag him away. The house is a mess, the family poor and abused. But now there is hope. You did the right thing.

I can speak with authority on the opinions of British and American infantrymen: at no time did anyone say, or imply, to any of us that we were invading Iraq to rid the country of weapons of mass destruction and avenge the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. We were there to oust a tyrant and return Iraq to its people. Marines carry out policy decisions, not make them, and none of us had the slightest doubt about the righteousness of our actions.

Take it from someone who was there and stood to lose everything. We must stay the course in Iraq. We owe it to the Iraqis and to the world.

Lieutenant Colonel (select) Coerr, a Marine reservist activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an attack helicopter pilot and forward air controller. He is in the Home Depot Store Leadership Program in San Diego, California.