Another Dead Tango, or four… Thursday, Feb 9 2012 

Afghanistan and Comarade Obama and Islam and Military and Muslims and Obama and SCOAMF and Terrorism , , , , , 1IDVET 10:21

I like it when there’s another dead tango to report. At least Obama is getting this one right. Credit where it’s due, I suppose. He’s still a SCOAMF, but at least he’s still letting the sheepdogs kill the wolves.

US drone-fired missiles suspected to have killed Al Qaeda’s Pakistani leader, 3 others

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A US drone strike on a house in northern Pakistan killed at least four suspected militants, and is suspected to have killed Al Qaeda’s Pakistani leader Badar Mansoor, Fox News reports.

The attack is the second in 24 hours. A strike Wednesday in the same area killed at least 10 and several others were injured.

The back-to-back strikes could be an indication the drone program is picking up steam again after a slowdown caused by tensions with Pakistan over accidental American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year.

The U.S. held off on carrying out drone strikes for over six weeks after the deadly accident on Nov. 26. There have been a handful of attacks since they resumed in January, but the last two are the first consecutive strikes since the border incident.

The house hit before dawn on Thursday was located in the main bazaar in Miran Shah, the biggest town in the North Waziristan tribal area, the country’s main sanctuary for Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, said Pakistani intelligence officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

via Report: US Drone-fired Missiles Suspected To Have Killed Al Qaeda’s Pakistani Leader, 3 Others | Fox News.

 

Truth, lies and Afghanistan… Wednesday, Feb 8 2012 

Afghanistan and Lies and Military and Politics and Terrorism and Truth and US Army , , , 1IDVET 10:23

With this title, how could I not post it? Good read.

Truth, lies and Afghanistan

How military leaders have let us down

By LT. COL. DANIEL L. DAVIS

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.

What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.

Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.

My arrival in country in late 2010 marked the start of my fourth combat deployment, and my second in Afghanistan. A Regular Army officer in the Armor Branch, I served in Operation Desert Storm, in Afghanistan in 2005-06 and in Iraq in 2008-09. In the middle of my career, I spent eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and held a number of civilian jobs — among them, legislative correspondent for defense and foreign affairs for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

As a representative for the Rapid Equipping Force, I set out to talk to our troops about their needs and their circumstances. Along the way, I conducted mounted and dismounted combat patrols, spending time with conventional and Special Forces troops. I interviewed or had conversations with more than 250 soldiers in the field, from the lowest-ranking 19-year-old private to division commanders and staff members at every echelon. I spoke at length with Afghan security officials, Afghan civilians and a few village elders.

I saw the incredible difficulties any military force would have to pacify even a single area of any of those provinces; I heard many stories of how insurgents controlled virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a U.S. or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base.

I saw little to no evidence the local governments were able to provide for the basic needs of the people. Some of the Afghan civilians I talked with said the people didn’t want to be connected to a predatory or incapable local government.

From time to time, I observed Afghan Security forces collude with the insurgency.

via Truth, lies and Afghanistan – February 2012 – Armed Forces Journal – Military Strategy, Global Defense Strategy.

 

USAF’s Big Penetrator Needs to Be Harder… Wednesday, Feb 1 2012 

Humor and Military and US Air Force , , , 1IDVET 08:01

H/T Ace.

The headline is just too funny not to post this.

USAF’s Big Penetrator Needs to Be Harder

Yup, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator MOP needs to be harder, according to anonymous Pentagon sources cited in a Wall Street Journal article.A series of recent tests found that the Air Force’s 30,000-pound tool for penetrating 32 stories of reinforced concrete might not have enough penetrating power to take out Iran’s most heavily protected nuclear facilities, reports the WSJ. This has prompted the Pentagon to secretly ask lawmakers for $82 million to improve the bomb’s penetrating power. The MOP is getting Viagra.

Remember, the Pentagon just spent about $60 million for 16 MOPs that are designed to be carried by B-2 stealth bombers.

via USAF’s Big Penetrator Needs to Be Harder | Defense Tech.

 

31 January 1968: Tet Offensive began in South Vietnam Tuesday, Jan 31 2012 

Hero and History and Military and Truth and US Air Force and US Army and US Marines and US Navy and Veterans , , , 1IDVET 14:34

Let’s not forget our brothers-in-arms from Vietnam. To those that served thank you. To those that died, rest in peace. All gave some, some gave all.

This day in history:

On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year holiday called Tet), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap, leader of the Communist People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), planned the offensive in an attempt both to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its support of the Saigon regime. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks, news coverage of the offensive (including the lengthy Battle of Hue) shocked and dismayed the American public and further eroded support for the war effort. Despite heavy casualties, North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow, painful American withdrawal from the region.

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Obama’s Martial Language… Saturday, Jan 28 2012 

Buyers' Remorse and Comarade Obama and Democrats and Government and History and Lies and Military and Neo-Marxists and Obama and Police State and Politics and SCOAMF and Socialism , , , , , , , , , 1IDVET 11:58

Normally I don’t post on the weekends, but I find that this is an important read. It definitely gets one thinking.

It is a good explanation for what Obama and the Democrats are trying to do.

Obama to the nation: Onward civilian soldiers

By George F. Will,

War, said James Madison, is “the true nurse of executive aggrandizement.” Randolph Bourne, the radical essayist killed by the influenza unleashed by World War I, warned, “War is the health of the state.” Hence Barack Obama’s State of the Unionhymn: Onward civilian soldiers, marching as to war.Obama, an unfettered executive wielding a swollen state, began and ended his address by celebrating the armed forces. They are not “consumed with personal ambition,” they “work together” and “focus on the mission at hand” and do not “obsess over their differences.” Americans should emulate troops “marching into battle,” who “rise or fall as one unit.”Well. The armed services’ ethos, although noble, is not a template for civilian society, unless the aspiration is to extinguish politics. People marching in serried ranks, fused into a solid mass by the heat of martial ardor, proceeding in lock step, shoulder to shoulder, obedient to orders from a commanding officer — this is a recurring dream of progressives eager to dispense with tiresome persuasion and untidy dissension in a free, tumultuous society.

Progressive presidents use martial language as a way of encouraging Americans to confuse civilian politics with military exertions, thereby circumventing an impediment to progressive aspirations — the Constitution and the patience it demands. As a young professor, Woodrow Wilson had lamented that America’s political parties “are like armies without officers.” The most theoretically inclined of progressive politicians, Wilson was the first president to criticize America’s founding. This he did thoroughly, rejecting the Madisonian system of checks and balances — the separation of powers, a crucial component of limited government — because it makes a government that cannot be wielded efficiently by a strong executive.

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Airborne! Check this out… Thursday, Jan 26 2012 

Military and US Army and Video , , , 1IDVET 13:49

Excellent video of a paratrooper’s 800th jump. Good way to remember it!

 

A Victory for Free Speech… Wednesday, Jan 25 2012 

First Amendment and Government and Military and Political Correctness and Politics and US Marines , , , , 1IDVET 13:15

Too bad it took a federal judge to tell the Marine Corps that they can’t stifle free speech. Funny thing is, they are sworn to defend the Constitution, yet violate it at all in the name of not offending the enemy.
At least this one was overturned for the stupidity that it really was. Diversity and political correctness will be the end of this nation. Even the French, German and Italians realized that diversity has ruined their countries. Too bad we can’t learn from their mistakes.

Marine base can’t censor criticism of Muhammad

A federal judge has permanently banned officials at Camp LeJeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina from censoring bumper stickers and window decals critical of Islam and its prophet, Muhammad.

The ruling came in the case of a civilian employee who had served 25 years in the Marines including two combat tours in Vietnam before he retired.

Jesse Nieto lost his youngest son, Marc, in the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole by Islamic terrorists and subsequently carried bumper stickers and decals critical of the violence of Islam, including “We died, they rejoiced,” “Islam = Terrorism” and a picture of Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes cartoon fame, urinating on a cartoon illustration of Muhammad.

The camp base ordered the criticisms of Islam censored, and when Nieto refused, brought court action against him.

Yesterday’s ruling from Senior U.S. District Judge Malcom J. Howard reversed the order.

via Marine base can’t censor criticism of Muhammad.

 

Army Sets Example for Federal Agencies… Wednesday, Jan 18 2012 

Defense Technology and Military and US Army , , 1IDVET 06:21

Looks like the Army is stepping up to the plate with the Android. I like my Android. I think this is a step in the right direction. Go Army!

Army sets tone for government’s mobile enterprise with Android

By Henry Kenyon Jan 11, 2012

The Defense Department is taking the point in the federal government’s campaign to deploy mobile devices. But in its role as trail blazer, DOD must also wrestle with a number of issues key to a successful rollout of approved smart phones and tablets.

Among those issues are security, authentication and the logistics of managing many devices with varying degrees of access across the DOD enterprise.

Recent developments make government officials confident that high levels of security can be achieved for devices running on the Android operating system, but verifying who is using a particular piece of equipment remains a challenge. The department is looking at a range of identity verification techniques, from biometrics to physical and software user certificates to ensure that person sending that text or phone call is who they say they are.

via Army sets example for federal agencies with mobile device efforts — Defense Systems.

 

U.S. Military Rescues Distressed Iranians At Sea Again! Tuesday, Jan 10 2012 

Humor and Military and Politics and US Navy , , , , 1IDVET 12:08

Twice in one week. Wow.

Despite Iranian threats warning the U.S. Navy to keep its distance from the Strait of Hormuz, for the second time in a week the U.S. military has rescued distressed Iranian mariners in the Gulf waters.

In the early morning hours of January 10th the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy responded to flares fired from the Iranian cargo dhow, Ya-Hussayn, which was experiencing engine troubles 50 miles off the coast of Iraq.

Monomoy launched their small boat and rescued two men off the dhow and four others tied to a life raft off the stern.

In all, six Iranians were taken off the boat, one of whom is being treated for severe burns he suffered in the engine room, according to Pentagon Spokesman George Little. All of the men were provided water, blankets, and halal meals and were later transferred to the Iranian Coast Guard vessel Naji 7.

via U.S. Military Rescues Distressed Iranians At Sea For Second Time | Fox News.

 

PTSD and the Media… Friday, Jan 6 2012 

Lies and Media and Media Bias and Military and Veterans , , , , 1IDVET 13:45

PTSD and the lying ass media. Read this excellent article from VAntage Point…

The Mt. Rainier Shooting and PTSD: How the Media Got It Wrong

The massacre at Ft. Hood two years ago stunned the nation in its cold-blooded calculation. The high body count was just as shocking as the fact soldiers were killed not in combat, but on the grounds of a military installation. Before the slain soldiers were buried, many in the media speculated on a link between combat stress and the shooting, the correlation being that war trauma had driven a soldier to commit those crimes.

When news reports finally explained that Nidal Hasan hadn’t deployed during his Army career, the narrative shifted to secondary PTSD. The thought was that his work as a psychiatrist could have caused it. The reality, however, was that Hasan’s personal beliefs about the United States and the military were among the chief motivations behind the killings. Taken together, the prevailing narrative from those early reports—intentional or not—was this: Post-traumatic stress is a strong factor in violent crimes, and anyone who has deployed to a combat zone is capable of the same.

That narrative—fairly common since John Rambo hit movie screens in 1982—bubbled to the surface once again with the killing of Park Ranger Margaret Anderson on January 1st by Benjamin Colton Barnes, a 24 year-old Iraq Veteran. Within hours of the Rainier shooting, journalists and writers clamored to mention Barnes’ war record, combat stress, and even his duty station in a dizzying effort to find a connection:

via The Mt. Rainier Shooting and PTSD: How the Media Got It Wrong | VAntage Point.

 

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