Fullbore Friday

Your leaders can deny you, because they value your mission.

Your press can ignore you, because they are lazy and politically compromised.

Your politicians ignore you because what you need to do embarrasses them, though they order you to do it.

In the end, it does not matter. You do your job, you do it well, and you do it for the guys to the left and right of you. The fact that you might get to work with one of those Kurdish all female battalions? Just a bonus.

To our Shipmates and fellow Americans doing what they do best - Fullbore to you today. If you can get one of those patches to me, I'll trade it for a bottle of the Catoctin Creek product of your choosing.

Ever since U.S. President Barack Obama decided to send 250 more Special Forces to the Syrian battlefield against the so-called Islamic State, they’ve been easy to spot on the front lines in Hasakah, Tisreen Dam, and near Raqqa, the capital of the “caliphate” that’s also called ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh.

In a base close to the town of Ayn al-Issa, U.S. soldiers are not only advising, they are also assisting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) very closely in targeting ISIS positions with mortars and laser guided air strikes.

Now photographs have surfaced of some of the American soldiers wearing the bright red, yellow, and green patches of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that have proved some of the most committed and effective fighters on the ground against ISIS.