opfor: february 2007 archives

opfor: february 2007 archives about us resources support the troops podcasts pda contact us home february 2007 archives « previous · home · next » picture of the day: boys in blue do peru by john not a bad tdy. not bad at all. two f-16 fighting falcons form up with a peruvian mig-29 and mirage 2000 during dissimilar air combat training feb. 15 as part of falcon and condor 2007, a joint exercise between the u.s. and peruvian air forces. the exercise allows the u.s. military to build relationships with military and civilian leaders of peru. the f-16s are from the 34th fighter squadron at hill air force base, utah. photo courtesy of the us air force february 28, 2007 02:28 am   link    picture of the day     comments (0)     trackback (1) marine field historian: a single digit midget by lt col p i just gave ltcol kurt wheeler at marine historian another virtual reach-around, since the comm gremlins are in his loop again as he prepares to withdraw from mesopotamia. he has some parting words of encouragement. go give 'em a read. february 27, 2007 05:24 pm   link    history ~ supporting the troops     comments (0)     trackback (0) walking out the door by bull nav walking across the brow of the ship that has been your home for the last 4 years for the last time. leaving that base that owns so much of your blood, sweat, and tears for the last time. landing that aircraft for the last time on land after so many landings at sea, knowing that part of your life is done. these are all experiences those in the military have experienced to one degree or another and will continue to experience at 2 year, 3 year, 5 year, or maybe longer intervals. change is constant. a new duty station, a new job, a new set of folks with whom you will live and work. i always remember that saying that if you don’t like your boss, don’t worry because you will have another one in a year or two. there was always that slight tinge of fear of the unknown as you began the transition and especially when you reported aboard that new submarine. am i ready? have i done everything i can possibly do to prepare myself to be where i am right now? how long will it take to earn these folks’ respect? do i really want to be here? which you answer with a “hell yeah!“ i always looked forward to the challenge, but hey, that was part of it. with each new duty station, you learn and grow. civilians don’t necessarily know this feeling. mainly the old guard. the professionals who grew up in the 50s and 60s and who entered the work force in the 70s. they went to college, got a good job with good benefits, and gave their loyalty to that company. they say that those of us in the 30-40 age range can expect to change jobs an average of 3 times over a career. not these guys. they stayed with it for the long haul, experiencing ups and downs, the good times and the bad. knowing that they were part of a great company that not only allowed them to perform to their utmost, but a company that was also a part of the fabric of america, about which they cared deeply. just as it is necessary to have those who stand on the walls to guard freedom, it is also necessary to have those who create industry, those who develop miracle drugs, those who trudge to work day in and day out, performing jobs for which they may never receive recognition. about 200 of these guys i have come to know and with whom i have worked over the last 7 years will walk out the door for the last time tomorrow from a great company (my area of the company numbers around 900, and a lot more are leaving across the company; if you live in se michigan, you know what i am talking about). a company that has lost its way and is slowly digging its way out. most have at least 28 years with the company and some well over 30. this is all they have known their entire adult lives. some are moving on to other jobs, some are just retiring. they helped make a great company great, a company that has helped make america great, and they will be missed. no, most of them never put on a uniform and stood out on the walls. not everyone can. nevertheless, they performed a necessary and vital part of what america is. and today i salute them as they experience that feeling of the unknown, that feeling of change. as we say when one leaves a navy command, "fair winds and following seas." update: for some more information on the goings-on this week, go here and here. february 27, 2007 04:31 pm   link    general interest     comments (5)     trackback (0) fourth generation warfare by john congressman jim saxon: yes, it is true: house speaker nancy pelosi and many other western decisionmakers and political leaders have been influenced about iraq. this has been done intentionally through a brand of conflict called "fourth generation" warfare. the al-qaeda led coalition recognized from the start they had no hope of defeating us on the conventional battlefield. all they had to do was to look at the results of the first iraq war in 1991 or the short conventional war in iraq in 2003. the al qaeda-led coalition had to ask itself this: how can we, a relatively weak conventional military force, outgunned and outmanned by a technologically superior giant, hope to win a military and political victory in iraq? their answer: by making it so costly in terms of bad news, too many dollars, and loss of life that their superior enemy, the united states, would decide the toll was too high and would leave. retired marine col. tom hammes best describes this in his book "the sling and the stone": "fourth generation warfare uses all available networks -- political, economic, social and military -- to convince the enemies' political decisionmakers that their strategic goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived benefit." i've said it over and over. this is a tough truth that simply must be faced by any and all americans who advocate a hasty retreat. this is their strategic calculus, this is how the bad guys work. i'm reminded of it every day, when i receive emails from some clown who writes in poor english "leave the iraq!" an example: an iraqi resistance bomb exploded by us patrol in eastern baghdad at about 8am local time thursday morning. reported a puppet police source as saying that a bomb that had been planted by a road in the ur neighborhood of eastern baghdad wnt off by a us patrol, totally destroying a humvee and killing three us troops. a fourth american soldier was also wounded in the blast. afterwards, us troops surrounded the entire area and were still there at the time of reporting! !!!!!!! leave the iraq leave the iraq !!!! his advice would seem silly, if certain elected officials weren't actually considering it. hotel tango: greyhawk. february 26, 2007 10:16 pm   link    the long war     comments (0)     trackback (0) someone you should know: doc kirby by john this week on pundit review radio, blackfive profiled doc kirby, a navy corpsman who was severely injured by a sniper while serving his marines. during one of his deployments, our own lightning served as doc's commanding officer. you can read lightning's profile of this amazing young man here, and listen to matt burden's someone you should know segment on him here. as usual, special thanks to kevin and greg of wrko boston for lending this phenomenal series some air time. february 26, 2007 09:55 pm   link    the long war     comments (0)     trackback (0) israeli air force in action by john i'm not sure what to make of this...i think that it's a video game intro? either way, once they switch to actual footage, the clip is a fine summary of the israeli air force's distinguished history. course it's like moshe dayan said, "in war, it always helps if one can arrange to fight arabs." not to take away from the iaf's accomplishments...just sayin', is all. february 26, 2007 03:01 pm   link    air assault     comments (10)     trackback (0) appeal for redress courage by john shame on me for not posting greyhawk's thorough, precise, and devastating deconstruction of the phony military grassroots movement, the appeal for redress. read it before you read this post. the reason that i'm visiting the subject this late in the game is, simple enough, cbs gave me a reason to. two nights ago the network aired a segment, a puff piece really, on the appeal that made the campaign appear precisely how its socialist creators wanted it to appear....like a strong upswelling of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who are fighting this unjust war from the inside. read more »shenanigans, i call. nothing could be further from the truth. look i'm not one to start questioning authenticity or fairness without some solid evidence. but like i said, shenanigans. from the same type of people that brought us jim massey and jesse macbeth, i simply refuse to believe these guys have 1400 legitimate signatures until i see names, emails, ranks, and service... i filled out all of the above when i signed the appeal for courage, more on that later. credibility you know. it counts. and everything that i've seen regarding the anti-war movement, particularly when they manipulate servicemembers, is that they are completely and utterly reliant on fabrications. see massey and macbeth. it's experience, really. from my time on active duty, i've met a grand total of two service members who want us out of iraq. the military understands iraq, and they understand that just uprooting and pulling out of the place is would be nothing short of disaster. that's why the grassroots support that redress so desperately wants doesn't exist, which is precisely why you see so many of us milbloggers getting our collective panties in a wad over this farce. that, and the fact that we hate people playing politics with this war. it's so...petty. petty and silly and stupid and all of the other adjectives that i'd use to describe a spat on an elementary school playground. so here's the counterbalance. the appeal for courage. if you're active, reserves, national guard, sign it. if nothing else it effectively negates what the appeal for redress is designed to do. and it exposes the supposed grassroots movement as bogus. now it's doubtful that you'll see cbs or any other network running a story on courage when it passes redress in signatures (which should happen shortly), but that doesn't matter. what's important is that we effectively bodycheck this thing back into socialist obscurity, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. visit the appeal for courage website for more.« close it february 26, 2007 10:17 am   link    the long war     comments (11)     trackback (0) sad by john the radio patriots send word of a blogging pal in need of prayers, thirdwavedave. dave is class act, and has been a great friend to opfor and milbloggers in general. read mark and andrea's post. february 26, 2007 10:12 am   link    general interest ding! one million hits!! by john not a bad 15 months work, eh!? charlie and i started this little blogging project in october of '05 as a method and means to keep our writing up to snuff. back then, i barely knew what a blog was, and my god did the blogosphere seem a bit....well, overwhelming. so much i didn't know. what the hell is an ecosystem? a sock puppet? a troll? (ugh, found out about those the hard way). it's almost like learning a new language, you know? today i'm fluent. and what a privilege it is to speak in that web dialect with all the phenomenal readers and bloggers that make up this wonderfully complex 'sphere we call home. and privilege is the key word here folks. be thankful that we live in a country where blogging is allowed...no, damn near encouraged. because there are places out there that throw people in jail for this little exercise in free speech. that we can sit down in our pajamas (or a pair of sweats and a redskins tee :] ) and plug ourselves into the political discourse, hey...that's special. don't take it for granted. now there are three things that i'm incredibly thankful for. the first is our bloggers: charlie, lightning, ltcol p, and bull nav. not only do they bring an incredible amount of depth and experience to opfor, they all wear the vmi ring. brothers all of them, and i mean that literally. second is our heartless slavemasters at military.com. thanks for dedicating your brainy techies to keeping this site running smooth, and saving us from the purgatory of blogspot. who would've thunk that being a corporate tool would be so much fun!? third and most important is you guys, the readers. thankful for each and every one of you, and i mean that. i can't tell you what a high it is for people to visit you every day, read your thoughts, and respond. positive, negative...don't care. it's a total rush, and i've got you all to thank for it. to the other bloggers who helped us along the way: steve green, matt burden, michelle malkin, glenn reynolds, greyhawk, john donovan, hugh hewitt, mike yon, smash, schippert, noah shachtman, the er girls, murdoc, andi, roggio, mary katharine ham and the many, many others who sent us traffic.....a big fat sloppy thank you from all of us at opfor! here's to another cool mil! february 26, 2007 08:34 am   link    general interest     comments (5)     trackback (0) gun day sunday: we, the militia by lt col p for general interest i posted a nice civics lesson back at rule 308-- the first in four months-- which you can use to educate people on the real meaning of the militia, the people, and the right to keep and bear arms. if you're on the right side of the argument, it might provide you with some more ammunition in your arguments. if you're on the other side, go take a look; it might open your mind. that is all. carry on. february 25, 2007 10:30 am   link    general interest ~ homeland security the home front by bull nav family separation. probably the hardest part of being in the military. the ney york times has some real heartbreaking stories here. how do you deal with it? what prepares you to deal with it? nothing. no one. maybe you will get some training in the pre-deployment family services brief on how your loved ones should do things when you are away. maybe, just maybe, you have someone you look up to who has been there, been through the homecomings and the day after, someone to tell you not to get your hopes up. especially if you are young and just starting to realize that this relationship/marriage thing is a whole lot different than you thought it was going to be. combat, visible and invisible scars, and missing body parts make it an order of magnitude harder. out there, you have your "family" to keep you strong: your fire team, your platoon, your shipmates. your real family back home, wife/children/mother/father, likely have no way to understand what you are doing or what you have done. they most likely have no frame of reference for what you are doing, for how intense your life is on a minute-by-minute basis. in the ideal world, you would have some time to come back to earth to relearn how to be a human after being out on the front lines. usually that never happens. you are home and 'poof' it's back to normal. except its not. now you have to deal with being a husband/wife/mother/father. the parenting thing may be new, something that occurred when you were gone. your loved ones may wonder where you are after you get back, because this is not the same person that left 6/12/18/24 months ago. my submarine deployments taught me that you need to work at your relationships when you are gone. writing letters every day, even if that means you only get 2 hours of sleep before the next watch instead of 3. it means calling every chance you get, which can be difficult if you only have 3 port calls (for a total of 21 days over a 180 day deployment-the other 159 days you are at sea, submerged, out of contact). you have to work at keeping your family first, and that is not easy. you must rely on your faith, your judgement, and your brothers to help you through. most of all you must rely on the ones you love most, the ones you are closest to, for trust and understanding. nobody said it would be easy... february 23, 2007 05:17 pm   link    the long war     comments (9)     trackback (0) mookie on a spit by lt col p mark steyn skewers mookie al-fatty in the washington times, in "our loss, their gain." it's classic steyn, as this excerpt reveals: "meanwhile, the punk cleric sheikh moqtada al-sadr has decided discretion is the better part of mullahs and has temporarily relocated to iran. that's right: the biggest troublemaker in iraq is no longer in iraq. "it may be that his persian vacation is only to marry a cousin or two and consult with the a-list ayatollahs, but the mookster has always had highly sensitive antennae when it comes to his own physical security -- he likes being the guy who urges martyrdom on others rather than being just another schmuck who takes one for the team." wouldn't have happened without the surge. you know you have these pigs on the ropes when they start to squeal. if they're just blustering and posturing, it's a hint that they haven't taken enough hits. but when they scream and shout about something "unfair" or "inhumane," such as fallujah's elders circa april 2004 throwing a fit about marine snipers, (which were not just snipers, but every marine who knew how to shoot and that was pretty much all of them). so, when this creature hauls his big ass to teheran, you know you've hit the x ring. out-stan-ding. february 23, 2007 05:10 pm   link    the long war     comments (3)     trackback (0) the battle for baghdad by john richard s. lowry continues his guest blogging series: battle for baghdad the battle for baghdad has been enjoined. the iraqi army is in the process of moving three additional brigades into the city for operation operation fard al-qanun. “these iraqi forces are deploying throughout the city and working also in the joint security stations, where they're living and patrolling jointly with iraqi police and with coalition forces.”1 this battle will have a very small military component, as this will be an operation to bring peace and prosperity to the neighborhoods of this war-torn city. the iraqi ministry of finance is already planning to provide vital services to the people and there are even plans to open local bank branches. read more »within the last week, the 82nd airborne’s historic 325th parachute infantry regiment has started “cordon and search” operations on the streets of baghdad. they have taken up residence at combat outpost callahan, inside the city. they have begun to reach out to local leaders to establish relationships and to learn the community’s needs. they are telling all that will listen that they are there to stay. on one of thursday’s foot patrols spc michael benusa, one of the regiment’s medics, returned to visit civilians that he had treated on his first patrol. he checked in on a family with a teenage daughter who was suffering from eczema and an elderly man who was trying to recover from a recent stroke. beneusa provided topical medicine to the teenage girl and gave the elderly man’s family instructions on how to help him regain some mobility in the limbs affected.2 in their first week of fard al-qanun, there has been a significant reduction in sectarian incidents and in extrajudicial killings in baghdad because the iraqi people have chose restraint rather than retribution. however, while this is in fact very encouraging, we cannot stress strongly enough that it would be premature to declare fard al-qanun a success. success will require a sustained effort and a comprehensive approach that complements progress and security with political, economic, legal and social initiatives. the effects of the operation will not be seen in days or weeks, but over the course of months.3 if general petraeus’s plan runs smoothly, there will be very little for the traditional media to report. i will continue to monitor the “real” news and provide it to this blog. richard s. lowry “marines in the garden of eden”« close it february 22, 2007 08:45 pm   link    the long war     comments (2)     trackback (0) "america is not at war...." by john uh, yeah. big hotel tango to murdoc for the pic. he also dug up the photo credit: i had been forwarded the pic without any source, but i've since learned that it was in the kansas city star and is a getty images photo taken by john moore. dead horse, i think lightning has put his size 13s up the rear of this topic before. february 22, 2007 07:08 pm   link    the long war     comments (67)     trackback (0) pt: the soundtrack by john my gym playlist is getting kind of stale. so what are your favorite workout songs? here are my top five, according to my ipod nano, which never telleth a lie: 1. metallica - whiskey in a jar 2. outkast - bombs over baghdad 3. dropkick murphys - i'm shipping up to boston 4. the cure - pictures of you 5. guns n' roses - sweet child 'o mine a word on the dropkick murphys. perhaps it's the irish in me, and i'm somehow genetically predisposed to digging their stuff, but i think these guys are great. don't like punk. don't like bagpipes. don't even really like boston all that much. but i dare you to crank up fields of athenry and tell me that you can't see yourself singing along, sloshing your oversized beer mug side to side in drunken rhythm, with your arms around a complete stranger in a dirty pub whose name starts with an o apostrophe. heh, now that i think about it, mebbe it is the irish in me. read more »i'm just kidding about boston. i swear. yeesh. blogging on songs about the irish potato famine. feel free to stop reading this blog. seriously. « close it february 22, 2007 06:27 pm   link    general interest     comments (21)     trackback (0) the marines by bull nav pbs had this on last night, and i thought it was very well done. they will run it again, i am sure, and for the die hards, you can buy the dvd. it reminded me of this coverage the detroit free press has of michigan's band of brothers, the marine corps reservists of 1st battalion 24th marines. two of the local reporters embedded late last fall for an excellent series and have continued coverage. lots to read, lots to watch, but well worth the time. february 22, 2007 04:10 am   link    the long war     comments (6)     trackback (0) be prepared by lt col p i’ve been enjoying laughing wolf's “preparedness week” series at the oft-visited b5. another good series on the same subject can be found at our favorite beefy afrikaner’s place, and in various elements of farnam's quips. also, there is the incomparable hurricane katrina aar at father frog's pad, which i strongly recommend to all. i blogged about disaster prep almost two years ago, based on my experiences traveling in and out of dc on the metro. i am pleased to reprint an updated version below the fold, specifically addressing what the well-prepared commuter needs to have with him, especially if he works in a major city that can expect a terror attack. the bottom line is this: prepare now, execute on demand. your task is first to be part of the solution by not being a compounding part of the problem, and then to be able to bear a hand in helping others. read more »here is the short list of things you might need in your commute: - some sort of flashlight, or even better a headlamp, with fresh batteries. a headlamp keeps your hands free for other tasks. - a leatherman. - a first aid kit with several bandages, dressings, tape, emt shears and latex gloves for starters. the best choice would be a couple “israeli battle dressings” which combine the bandage and the dressing in one item that can used with one hand. (i’d say stick in some tourniquets too, though one must be very careful about their use.) the idea is to have the capability to cover multiple injuries or be able to provide equipment to trained personnel who don’t have their own equipment, such as an off-duty nurse or emt who’s riding the train (or bus) with you. - the training to use your first aid kit effectively and recognize what injuries are the most serious. training comes first, gear comes second. - something durable (like rite-in the-rain pads) to write on and with, to record facts for the authorities. laughing wolf has a good suggestion-- pencils, not pens. - good stout walking shoes, if you’re not already wearing them. you will probably have to walk out of the tunnel or building, and might have to assist (or even carry) someone else out. kinda bulky, i know, but worth a look. - baby wipes and a small plastic bag to dispose of soiled or bloody items. toss in a small bottle of hand sanitizer. and a dust mask. - a plan to get to out of the area and get home. a small stash of cash and any transit tickets you need will be a help. you should know how far you will have to walk out until you can get someplace where the transit system is running—think of what happened in london on 07/07—and where you have some family or friends to hole up in case you can’t get home right away. - a good recollection of the events, which you then must write down for the authorities. what happened, when and where. did you notice anything or anyone out of the ordinary on that day or any day before it? - your cell phone, even though it might not work for a while. make sure your primary contact is filed under "ice" for "in case of emergency" or something like that, so if you're a victim the first responders know who to call. - a bag to carry it all in. clearly, a small pack is better than a briefcase, but if all you have is a briefcase then slap a shoulder strap on it. - finally, a clear head and good sense of humor. at an incident scene before the authorities get there, what people want is for someone to take charge and get a solution going. what else? i’d be interested to hear your comments. « close it february 21, 2007 04:24 pm   link    general interest ~ homeland security     comments (7)     trackback (1) training nco's in iraq by bull nav ...is not easy work. this article describes what csm payne and the folks in the 108th training division are going through while training the iraqi army. other than the fact that they are making progress, albeit slow progress, the biggest take-away from the article is that there is a cultural change which must occur in order to be successful as the iraqi army is trained. the iraqi army is one that historically has had few nco's, and most work was done by the officers. our guys are changing that mindset and creating the new army in the image of the us army, which is run by the nco's (just as the chiefs are the backbone of the navy). cultural change, whether in a corporation in the us or whether in a country which in being rebuilt, does not come quickly, nor does it come easily. as the story shows, our trainers are dedicated and the iraqis want to learn...but it is going to take time. february 21, 2007 08:38 am   link    the long war     comments (14)     trackback (0) the danger room by john oh hell. this is going to be good. february 20, 2007 06:42 pm   link    tech almost famous by john who wants to help one of our dearly beloved fellow vmi men on an epic quest towards stardom? wes tatum (formerly mr. tatum or 1st corporal tatum to me), is lead singer of a band called against grace. wes is currently in a competition sponsored by music nation for a record deal with the mega-label epic records. against grace is in 16th out of 600+ bands right now...so close. here's the video: vote now at musicnation.com don't let his disarming good looks fool you, that dude had me power-straining and cranking through endless push up sets when i was a hapless vmi rat. however, once i finished up with that nasty ratline business, i found him to be a rather pleasant fella. you can vote for wes by clicking the vote link on the vid (short registration required) or by texting v740 to nation (628466). and if you're wondering what bearing this has on the military....the answer is absolutely none. february 20, 2007 01:47 pm   link    vmi     comments (1)     trackback (0) russia redux by john poland and the czech republic piss off moscow-- the conversation turned cold war today when poland and the czech republic said they would gladly host two installations -- the first foreign bases -- for america's spectacular, and long-time-coming, missile shield. within hours of the two centre-right governments announcing their intention to help the us ward off the threat of iran and other rogue nations in the middle east -- "it is in the interests of our countries to host the anti-missile shield,” said mirek topolanek, the new czech prime minister -- the kremlin said it would have to start dusting off some of its old hardware. “if the governments of poland and the czech republic take such a step... the strategic missile forces will be capable of targeting these facilities if a relevant decision is made,” said general nikolai solovtsov, a senior officer in russia's missile agency. whoa. so will the russians telling the poles and czechs that they are liable to be nuked be more of an incentive to base interceptors on their home soil, or less? so lemme see if this makes sense. general solovtsov says that russia ditched all their medium-range and short-range ballistic missiles, which -back in the day- were used to hold western europe at risk. now he's saying that they are going to bring them back simply to knock out defense shield bases that pose zero threat to russian long-range sorties in the first place? yeah, it confused me too. ruskies always take news of the shield being deployed/upgraded personally, even though there isn't a snowball's chance in hell it could deter against a massive icbm attack from over the pole. and the thing isn't even postured against a pole attack, right now it's exclusive to the west coast and alaska, to defend against north korea...and soon enough, iran from these new eastern european bases. doesn't really give you that warm, fuzzy "russia is still our ally" hallmark-vibe does it? quoting our shiny new blogger bull nav: "cold war? as a submariner, i would say 'when did it end'?" heh, yup. february 20, 2007 02:13 am   link    strategery     comments (5)     trackback (0) 19 feb... by lt col p 1945. marines hit the beaches on iwo jima. photo courtesy of usmc history division. (hotel tango to brother rat bullnav, who didn't jolt my memory, he punk-slapped it.) february 19, 2007 05:21 pm   link    history     comments (4)     trackback (0) washington the great by lt col p today we honor one of history's greatest figures, george washington. although his name and face are everywhere, on items both sublime and ridiculous, i'm not certain we fully appreciate what a great man he was, what a singular figure it was that graced the stage of momentous events. i find him-- the real gw, not the legend-- endlessly fascinating. whenever i'm asked who i think is the greatest american president, i always reply that washington is the greatest, but that he was so much in a class by himself that the real question is, who is the greatest american president other than george washington? i have a short list. (so does our favorite burly afrikaner.) in no particular order: roosevelt. (that's t. roosevelt, not the other one, the socialist.) jackson. lincoln. (honorable mentions: jefferson, reagan.) what say you? february 19, 2007 02:37 pm   link    history     comments (11)     trackback (0) more perspective from a mercenary hardware fastener by slab it's been a busy couple of weeks here at the basic airborne course. after standing outside for an average of 10-12 hours a day, i find it pretty tough to summon enough interest to keep track of the latest happenings in the blogosphere. however, this weekend i was able to find a few spare minutes to see if there had been any response to "a mercenary perspective". after discovering from john that o'meara responded to lil' old me, i must confess i was intrigued to see how kev would debate the subject. imagine my disappointment to find a petulant temper tantrum instead: update: talking to these people is like talking to my dog... they look and probably turn their head a little but cannot understand anything. here one of the wingnuts tries to prove i was wrong by saying the soldiers work for the "populace" by showing how brilliant he is. he says, "no, i do not work for you, i work for the elected officials". well, duh, no shit. but the key word in this statement is "elected". who the f do you think elects them? the populace.. therefore, you work for the populace. geez.. is this guy really trusted with guns? i guess o'meara will be a bit dismayed to find out that not only am i entrusted with a rifle, but i also have the authority to clear aircraft to drop high explosive ordnance into crowded urban environments. not bad for a wingnut, eh? apparently, due to the demands of our current operational tempo, i somehow missed the point where a "nut with flared sides for turning with the thumb and forefinger" (unless they meant the tree) became a pejorative, but i digress. o'meara and company actually serve to highlight a disturbing habit that i have seen on both sides of the political spectrum. rather than attempt some sort of discourse, o'meara simply tries to marginalize my view by labeling me a "wingnut" and comparing me to a dog. similarly, steve tries to dismiss my rebuttal by labeling me a "little fly". with such terms are the opinions and experiences of a man who has led marines on four separate deployments to the centcom aor casually dismissed by those who disagree. while there are guilty parties on the right as well as the left, it does not excuse the intellectual laziness. i admit that the tone of "a mercenary perspective" was a tad condescending, but i never tried to apply over-simplified pejoratives to kev or his pals. since i have an adequate grasp of constitutional roles and responsibilities, why reduce my argument to such a childish level? let's get back to kev's original point here: "the military's place is to do the bidding of the united states citizenry .. period!" kevin o'meara can scream instructions to me until he is blue in the face (he's more than welcome to do so, since i am stuck at ft benning and could use the amusement), but i am not required to do his bidding. as a citizen of the united states, he has entrusted the duly elected president of the united states with that authority. whether that president is bill clinton, george bush, barack obama, or hillary clinton, i am required to follow his/her orders, regardless of my feelings for the actual person. see how that works? it is an important distinction to make. it is what separates a representative government from "mobocracy". thus endeth the lesson. february 19, 2007 10:00 am   link    general interest     comments (10)     trackback (0) uniform administrivia by bull nav after lurking around the blogosphere, reading, commenting, and occasionally emailing authors, i am now part of this great communications platform. my brother rat, ltcol p, sent me an invite and john was kind enough to allow me a forum here. i will try to stay focused on navy stuff, but i may digress (ever so slightly) into hunting, shooting, or perhaps nascar. enjoy. comment. i have thick skin. anyway... i guess that too many navy folks on ia assignments have not been following the rules when it comes to wearing the acu, which navy personnel are allowed to wear when attached to an army unit. if that was not the case, then this navadmin guidance would not have come out, guidelines which explains what you can and can't wear on your (n)army uniform. essentially this means that you can't wear your warfare pin on the army uniform, nor can you wear any of your patches from a past unit. only what the army permits can go onto the uniform. if we are going to be in the navy, then we should wear navy uniforms. if in combat, this means the dcu or the bdu. if embedded with an army unit, the navy folks should still wear the navy uniform because they are in the navy. there is a certain pride that comes with each of the service's uniforms (yes, even the air force blue uniform) and once you take that away, you are taking away a part of the individual's motivation. i did not join the (n)army, i joined the navy and i have always worn navy uniforms. do the marines wear army uniforms when they are working with army folks? no. admittedly, the dcu is somewhat outdated and the acu is more functional. hell, it was designed to be functional in the current combat environment. perhaps a compromise could be reached in which the navy folks can personalize their acu's with the proper insignia (i.e., us navy, warfare qualification pins, etc.). yeah, i know we are all supposed to be "joint" and all but we are still separate services, with our own traditions and customs. the uniform should reflect that uniqueness. february 18, 2007 06:49 pm   link    navy     comments (32)     trackback (0) we must remain always faithful by john "we must not repeat the mistakes of the past, instead learn from them. we must not cut funding for our troops, we must stick by them, we must support them all the way." wow. sometimes it takes a fighter pilot.... hotel tango: powerline february 17, 2007 09:37 pm   link    the long war     comments (3)     trackback (0) with friends like these.... by john nasty business: february 14, 2007: european opposition to american efforts in iraq is expressed in many little ways. for example, american transports flying badly wounded u.s. troops back to the united states, often ask european air controllers for a more direct flight path through european air space. this is in order to get the wounded soldier or marine to the american hospital more quickly. this is particularly useful when the aircraft have been turned into a flying ecu (emergency care unit), and doctors are actually treating the seriously wounded in flight. the european air controllers rarely allow the direct flight. it would mean some more work for them, but saying "no" is another way to stick it to those bastards who removed saddam hussein from power, and continue to fight iraqis who want to destroy democracy in iraq. when the american medical flight reaches american air space, air controllers are quick to give the transports the shortest possible route to its destination. some of these medical flights are non-stop from iraq to texas, where there are several major military hospitals. hotel tango to robert averch, who quipped: this should come as no great surprise. when french foreign minister dominique de villepin was asked at a press conference in london whether he wished for the united states to win in iraq, the dapper frenchman refused to answer. yup. we've got em here, too. february 17, 2007 09:11 pm   link    strategery     comments (5)     trackback (1) prince harry to the front by john mirror uk: prince harry will be serving on the front line in iraq by the end of the month. the 22-year-old prince will head for basra with comrades from the blues and royals regiment within days and will then probably be deployed along the border with iran. a senior military source said: "the final details are being sorted, but he is definitely going. naturally, his royal status has to be taken into account - but he will see action." second lieutenant harry, who insisted on going, is likely to be in charge of a troop of 12 soldiers in light armoured vehicles. they are expected to be sent on reconnaissance missions, spending days or even weeks out in the desert. defence secretary des browne is expected to announce the news on february 26. he'll be a huge target for al qaeda iraq, and he knows it. the thought of harry, abandoning his life of incredible luxury, to stand up and defend the crown gives me goosebumps. that's leadership, folks. there's simply no other word to describe it. february 17, 2007 01:20 pm   link    leadership     comments (16)     trackback (1) paper tigers by john michelle malkin is hitting on a topic that is near and dear to my heart, elected officials invoking the well-being of the military for better political posturing. michelle's post really focused on senator clinton's body-armor initiatives of last year, a plan that most troops found fairly amusing. take this great post from tf boggs, for example: dear mrs. clinton, could you please get the bush administration to send me some more body armor. my hamstrings are still unprotected and i can still move a little. sincerely, your secret admirer when you are constantly supporting policies that undercut the war on terror, i can almost understand why certain elected officials throw themselves at the opportunity to appear muscular on defense. but these initiatives almost always flop. consider: john kerry, and how he wanted to "double the size of the special forces." voters unfamiliar with the ins-and-outs of the military heard that and thought "great! john kerry really understands this war!" military guys and gals heard it and thought: "since only a small percentage of the force can make the rigorous cut for special forces, does that mean john kerry will be doubling the size of the armed forces as a whole?" john murtha recently said that he wanted legislature passed that would give deployed troops a guaranteed one-year rest before sending them back into iraq. voters unfamiliar with the ins-and-outs of the military heard this and thought "hey, this john murtha guy is really looking out for our soldiers. how could anyone in their right mind vote against such an initiative?" military guys and gals heard it and thought: "is this guy nuts? he wants to use our well-being as an excuse to pass legislature that will make him more popular with his base, and tamper with the sensitive rotation schedule? is he trying to prolong our fight here? our leadership has said we need to be putting troops in theater, not taking them out! why isn't he listening?" and then there's mrs. clinton with her "armor soldiers up like a crusader sieging jerusalem" initiative. voters unfamiliar with the ins-and-outs of the military heard this and thought: "hey, senator clinton is doing a job that president bush and secretary rumsfeld should be doing. those troops need armor, good for her!" military guys and gals heard it and thought: "sheesh, yeah we could use some armor upgrades, but let's not go overboard here. the military logistics equation is so complex and sensitive, that disrupting it just a fraction can negatively affect the supply train force-wide. let's let the experts figure out a solution here." logistics, manpower, strategy. this is a holy trinity that should never be tampered with by politicians. never. especially politicians who seem to have no clue as to how the military operates. you can't just wave a magic wand and double the size of the special forces, nor can you interject yourself into the troop rotation schedules. and it's fantasy to think that a politician jumping himherself into the incredibly detailed military logistics infastructure is going to somehow boost our ability to effectively prosecute a war. my dad was a navy logistics guy, he finished up his career with 3 masters degrees and 26 years of service, and i'm not sure that even he had all the subtleties down. we should leave the warfighting to the warriors. if politicians want to support the troops, they can support the troops' mission, and bring them home victorious. february 17, 2007 06:14 am   link    leadership ~ the long war     comments (8)     trackback (0) air force nco "stripped" of rank by lt col p ok, there's a "discharge" joke in here somewhere... february 15, 2007 04:50 pm   link    humor ~ supporting the troops     comments (11)     trackback (0) the strategist and the protestor by john via the first lady: i told this man that although security has been tightened, i was surprised there hasn't been a major attack in the united states since september 11. why? because it seems that it would be easy to pull off. how so? how hard would it be to plan a coordinated attack on a subway system in new york or washington? why would they want to do that? because they can. how would they benefit from pissing off the american people right now? they live to piss off the american people. their mission is to kill us. terrorists don't have the support of the american people in the sense that we generally define support, but the american people are giving them what they want by clamoring for retreat. it's not in the terrorists interest to hit the united states right now. game, set, match. of course that by that logic, staying on the offense in iraq (and afghanistan) would be the best defense for the homeland. not exactly a bolt-from-the-blue revelation for us military types, but it might be tough medicine to swallow for some. reminds me of a recent conversation with an anti-victory friend: so you support withdrawal? of course, i was against this little adventure from the git-go. that's 2003's debate buddy, we're in 07 now. what happens if we leave? well.....we let the iraqis work it out. do you even understand what you're proposing? iraq will tear itself apart, turn into a terror-friendly vacuum, or..worse..a satellite of iran, and al-qaeda will turn their eyeballs west towards america again. and that's to say nothing of the thousands of iraqis that we can except to die in the turmoil. do you accept responsibility for what happens when we leave? no of course not. this was bush's war, not mine. president bush is not advocating for premature retreat, you are. ......yeah, but it's bush's -- right. oil, halliburton, profit...fill in your theory. let's go get some beers, and let's try not to mix them with politics alright? k. and such was the conversation. we've got a dangerous crossing of brain patterns in the craniums of our domestic anti-warriors. no concept of strategic consquences coupled with a complete unwillingness to accept responsibility for their political positions. not the type of pundits that we should be listening to, particularly when we're talking about something as important as our defense. february 15, 2007 02:54 pm   link    homeland security ~ strategery     comments (9)     trackback (0) better late than never by john in come the grassroots, and not a moment too soon. victory caucus we support victory in the war against radical islamists. we supported the invasions of afghanistan and iraq, and we believe victory is necessary in both countries for america's self-defense. we believe that the radical regime in iran, while not representative of the iranian people, is a menace and that it cannot be allowed to obtain or build nuclear weapons. we believe that hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has killed hundreds of americans and which waged war against israel in violation of every law of war this past summer, and will do so again in the future. we believe israel is our ally and friend and deserves the full assistance of the united states in its battle with radical islamists. we believe that israel has repeatedly shown its willingness to negotiate a just and lasting peace, but that its enemies do not want peace, but the destruction of israel. we believe that the american military is the finest in the world and indeed in history, well led and superbly trained, and populated at every level by america's best and brightest. we support the troops, and those organizations which assist the wounded in their recoveries and support the families of those who sacrificed everything. we support leaders who support victory. victory, victory. that's our cry. visit these guys daily, and support them in every which way you can. february 14, 2007 09:38 pm   link    the long war fairweather friends by john another opfor op-ed from our favorite guest blogger, richard s. lowry. fairweather friend in our recent history we have abandoned the kurds, shiites and afghanis, not to mention our shameless withdrawal of support of the mountainyards and our friends and allies in saigon. lord help the somalis that befriended america in the 90s, for we deserted them, too. the world knows that we will turn tail and walk away from what was a noble cause in iraq because the american people are weak and are so self-centered that we withdraw when the situation gets complicated. after twelve generations, i am ashamed at what america has become. most americans are so self-centered in their daily lives that they can’t take the time to learn about what is really happening in the middle east. they can’t tell you who muqtada al-sadr is, or even if he is shia or sunni. they are more interested in learning who is the father of anna nichole’s baby rather than finding a way to win in iraq. we are at war and it is time for the american people (including the members of congress) to back our troops. it is time to drop the political mumbo-jumbo of “i support the troops, but i don’t support the war.” what the hell does that mean anyway? does that mean that you have a yellow magnetic bumper sticker, but you don’t want to give our brave men and women the reinforcements they badly need to succeed? read more »three times that i can easily recall, the american military moved into a volatile area and cleared out the insurgents. on all three occasions, once in fallujah and twice in baghdad neighborhoods, our forces were stretched too thin to hold these liberated areas. so, our forces withdrew. president bush wants a completely new strategy. he wants our military to move into baghdad, clear the neighborhoods of all the violent factions and then hold so that children can safely go to school and fathers can work to support their families in peace. no one is talking about the biggest part of the new plan. everyone is focusing on 21,000 more troops for iraq. the biggest part of the plan is non-military. the most important part of the plan is to bring vital services back to baghdad’s neighborhoods. we will bring reliable electricity, clean drinking water, workable sewer systems and garbage collection to baghdad communities. but, before we can accomplish these improvements, we must bring security to the people and our military needs 21,000 fresh troops to accomplish this task. and what will happen to the people of iraq, if we maintain the status quo? defeat will be certain as the country spirals into a civil war which most analysts believe will spread throughout the region. if we prematurely withdraw, this civil war will be accelerated and millions of people will die. the world will face a catastrophe as never seen in our lifetime. if we withdraw, or do nothing, the 2008 elections will be won on the platform that the current administration bungled the war in iraq. what these fair-weather politicians will not speak of is that they caused our defeat by withdrawing their support at the most critical point of the war. and the people of the world will not be surprised. america will have left another job undone and abandoned their friends and allies to a fate worse than death. richard s. lowry is the award winning author of the best selling book, “marines in the garden of eden,” berkley, new york, 2006. he is an internationally recognized military historian and author. richard served in the u.s. navy submarine service from 1967-1975 and spent the time from 1975 to 2002 designing sophisticated integrated circuits for everything from aircraft avionics to home computers. richard turned to serious writing after 9/11 and published “the gulf war chronicles,” iuniverse, new york, in 2002. for more information on richard and his work, visit www.marinesinthegardenofeden.com or www.gwchronicles.com. « close it february 14, 2007 09:33 pm   link    the long war     comments (5)     trackback (0) 2007 milbloggies by john nominate and vote here. opfor is nominated in the air force category, heh...even though we are one of the jointiest of joint service blogs. which, by the way, is a circle that is nearing completion...more on that this weekend. you all have been great over the past few months, helping us find a decent spot in the weblog awards, and with the soldier's angels drive....so i'm perfectly content stepping back from this one and maybe letting some other milblogs bask in the spotlight. milblogging.com is an awesome resource, one with hundreds of untapped milblogs worth checking out. so head on over to jp's, find a new must-read milblog (like one of my new favorites acute politics), and help click it to milbloggie glory! february 14, 2007 09:17 pm   link    general interest guns, the citizen, and the citizen-soldier by lt col p a couple of items in the news are worth discussing. although this is a milblog, the subject of firearms, and the right of americans to keep and bear them (and love them like their children), is closely related to military matters. item 1: the salt lake city shooter. details are still coming in but from all reports one thing seems clear, and that is that the off-duty officer having dinner with his spousal unit was able to engage and delay the shooter (at the very least), allowing other officers responding to the incident to apply deadly force. two things enabled him to respond. one was his outstanding combat mindset, which prepared him to act decisively. the second was his pistol, which allowed him to engage the adversary effectively. what's the functional difference between an armed off-duty cop and an armed citizen? not much, i'd say. not every cop, unfortunately, is dialed in and prepared when he's not on the clock, but chances are the armed citizen *is*. in either case, he is performing a militia function: armed response in defense of his fellow citizens against an armed attack where no organized government agents are on hand. and the essential piece of gear to have is a gun. we americans retain that right, and we should guard against all attempts to take it away. item 2: related to 1 above, see this new documentary coming out on the 2nd amendment. from the trailer, it looks pretty good. as mm said on hotair, "it's the amendment that guards all the others." long may it reign. item 3: steyr-mannlicher .50 cal boarhoggery. b5 picked it up, as well as k du t. i like some of kim's reasoning-- the best remedy is to kill every m-f'er found with one in iraq-- but i also think that steyr needs to lie in the bed it made. i'd say they can kiss any u.s. military and police contract good bye, or at least i'd like to think so. they ought to be lucky that we're not the israelis, and we won't do what the mossad would probably do. and by the way, i own a steyr scout rifle, which is a truly outstanding piece of gear, and which i bought long before this incident. if you've got one, good for you. if not, i don't know what to tell you except maybe try to find one used so you don't buy direct from steyr. if i didn't have one, i probably wouldn't buy one now. february 14, 2007 04:40 pm   link    homeland security     comments (19)     trackback (0) "long before the united states sent troops to iraq" by lt col p i'd like to call your attention to a revealing little window into the minds and methods of our adversaries, "al-qaeda's hand in istanbul plot," in today's washington post. of the many telling and damning passages, none is more worthy of mention than this one: "the aim of this organization is to take action against american and israeli targets and to break their dominance over islamic countries," said one suspect, explaining a conspiracy conceived long before the united states sent troops to iraq. straight from the mouth of the enemy. the. war. did. not. begin. with. the. invasion. of. iraq. nor, indeed, with the attacks of 9/11. the war began many years before, and if you want to slap a date on it, go for the day in 1993 that the first world trade center bombing took place. then, and for years after until we were hit much harder, we were fat dumb and happy, enjoying an illusory peace dividend while they waged war. if we were late in recognizing the threat, we can make up for it by the alacrity and ferocity with which we prosecute it. that is, if we have the will. any on capitol hill listening? february 13, 2007 05:23 pm   link    the long war     comments (12)     trackback (0) jimbo brings the funny by john a commentary on barack obama's spat with aussie pm john howard turns into one of the best collection of drinking stories that i've ever read. february 13, 2007 08:07 am   link    humor the road to hell by john acute politics: the next four hours are glacial- slower and colder than i could have thought. the 1st sergeant comes out to the tower to update us: it's not just one guy, it's three, and another in bad shape. the news is like a punch in the stomach.the lead truck took a hit from a massive bomb. two of my friends died instantaneously. a third passed away on the helicopter flight back to the base medical center, and a fourth man lies badly wounded but stable at the fsc. the guard shift change comes with directions to go find the 1st sgt again- something has changed. i make my way to the company operations center, and find the entire staff and the few members of my platoon who stayed behind gathered around the big screen that shows the positions of vehicles on the ground. another truck has taken a hit, and they've medevaced another wounded soldier by helicopter. i learn that the mission they were on was clearing the route to the site of an american helicopter that crashed the day before. the previous night they had cleared a path out so that the bodies of the crew could be recovered. today, they had gone back to clear a path home for the marines left to guard the airframe until arrangements could be made for its recovery and/or destruction. after the the first truck had been hit, they had pressed on to reach the marines at the crash site, only to turn back when the second truck was hit. a marine route clearance unit is diverted to the site, and eventually clears through. meanwhile, we all sit and watch the screen track our platoons slow and painful progress back towards safety. i take my leave again, and go with a few friends. we sit, and begin to speak of the dead. heartbreaking. badgers forward also speaks of the dead. and jules crittenden remembers marine capt. jennifer harris, a boston local and marine pilot who was shot down the day before. same site. “the hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by.” ~felix adler sgt. holtom, sgt. clevenger, and pfc werner....thank you for keeping the torches burning. february 13, 2007 07:29 am   link    the long war     comments (2)     trackback (0) site maintenance by john guys and gals, one of military.com's kickass techies is currently working on a scode feature to kill spam comments. so the comment section of each posts might be a little...weird, for a bit. once we're fully installed, you'll have to punch in a small security code before posting. nice, easy fix...i hope! february 13, 2007 05:30 am   link    general interest snakeshit gets the medal of honor by john forty years after the fact: washington (army news service, feb. 9, 2007) - the white house announced today that president bush will present the medal of honor to bruce p. crandall in recognition of his actions at landing zone x-ray during the battle of ia drang, vietnam, in november 1965. crandall will receive the medal during a feb. 26 white house ceremony for repeatedly flying into a landing zone under intense enemy fire to rescue and resupply 1st cavalry ground troops - even after the lz had been closed. .... witnesses said the actions taken by crandall and freeman on the first day of the battle, nov. 14, kept the 1st battalion, 7th cavalry regiment, resupplied and reinforced, and gave wounded soldiers a chance at life. ..... a grateful ground commander, retired lt. gen. harold moore, who was a lieutenant colonel leading the ia drang battle, said that without crandall's "extraordinarily heroic effort" that day, "we on that field would have gone down." crandall's love for low-flying earned him the callsign "snakeshit." if the name sounds familiar, it might be because you caught greg kinear play crandall in the movie we were soldiers. here's his medal of honor citation. very cool story. hotel tango: crittenden february 12, 2007 07:50 pm   link    history     comments (6)     trackback (0) a hero passes.... by john ....and an angel spreads her wings. it is with great sadness that soldiers' angels announces the passing of its dearest and oldest member, aunt mary. mary irvin roun was born on april 13, 1905 in turnersville, nj and died peacefully in her sleep on february 8,2007. sad. hotel tango: greyhawk february 12, 2007 07:26 pm   link    supporting the troops too late to stop iran bomb by john so sez the european union: iran will be able to develop enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb and there is little that can be done to prevent it, an internal european union document has concluded. "little that can be done?" au contraire, mes amis... read more » just sayin', is all. « close it february 12, 2007 06:11 pm   link    iran     comments (9)     trackback (0) mutual blog support: marine field historian by lt col p got an email this morning from my good friend, fellow marine historian and all-around upstanding citizen, ltcol kurt wheeler. seems he's having some connectivity issues right now, and while he's working diligently to solve them-- he is a commo after all-- op-for is happy to give him a reach around by proxy posting for him. go check out his latest, yet more ammo in the struggle against the naysayers. february 12, 2007 05:17 pm   link    supporting the troops ~ the long war     comments (1)     trackback (0) throwing down by john kevin o'meara, the same guy who launched a one-man campaign to hate on the blog of war, has come after our own beloved lightning. responding to lightning's "a mercenary's perspective" post, o'meara writes: talking to these people is like talking to my dog... they look and probably turn their head a little but cannot understand anything. here one of the wingnuts tries to prove i was wrong by saying the soldiers work for the "populace" by showing how brilliant he is. he says, "no, i do not work for you, i work for the elected officials". well, duh, no shit. but the key word in this statement is "elected". who the f do you think elects them? the populace.. therefore, you work for the populace. geez.. is this guy really trusted with guns? i guess lightning's comments on the ins-and-outs of how a federal republic operates was lost on kevin. you know, like the oh-so-small detail that officials elected by the populace chose to send our troops into iraq. o'meara's contention is that since the troops are mandated to do the bidding of the american public, and opinion polls show disapproval with the war in iraq, the troops should just up and come home. or at the very least keep their traps shut. lightning's contention was, in short, "not till congress tells them to," a point that o'meara seems to have a tough time wrapping his head around. this guy has given matt at blackfive all kinds of grief for some time now. i actually think he's a pretty smart guy, but he's an interesting case study in how doctrinal adherence to an ideology can make you stupid. read his blog, and his comments at amazon under the blog of war, to see what i'm talking about. february 12, 2007 06:48 am   link    moonbattery     comments (8)     trackback (0) ever seen one of these? by john may john donovan forgive me for harping off of his "whatzis?" series. mike yon emailed a couple of us with this picture.... ....asking "ever seen one of these?" nope! so, does anyone know what the hell i'm looking at here? february 12, 2007 06:37 am   link    tech     comments (11)     trackback (0) the claws come out by john aussie pm blasts obama on withdrawal: mr. howard, a conservative leader who is a close ally of the white house, denounced mr. obama’s proposal to withdraw american combat troops from iraq by march 31, 2008. in a television interview in australia, mr. howard said the senator’s redeployment plan would simply inspire insurgent violence in iraq. “if i were running al qaeda in iraq,” mr. howard said, “i would put a circle around march 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for obama but also for the democrats.” hey, it's a tough pill to swallow for many-a-dem, but it's the truth. i've said it many, many times here on opfor. the soviet pullout of afghanistan taught guys like bin laden that low-level warfare can topple superpowers. that withdrawal got us a decade plus of escalating terrorism, culminating in 9/11. now some american lawmakers want to repeat that mistake, seemingly without any thought of the consequences. that frustrates guys like john howard, and it frustrates guys like me. obama, by the way, really showed his true colors in his response to pm howard. in a news conference here, mr. obama dismissed the remarks, saying it was “flattering that one of george bush’s allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after i announced.” mr. obama said australia had sent 1,400 troops to iraq, a fraction of the american force. “if he’s ginned up to fight the good fight in iraq, i would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 australians and send them to iraq,” mr. obama said. “otherwise, it’s just a bunch of empty rhetoric.” yikes, is that a modified "chickenhawk" line? thrown at one of our most stalwart allies' chief-of-state? so he supports an australian "surge" but not an american one? another concern. obama's lack of military know-how. australia is fighting alongside americans in many other places besides iraq (like afghanistan, for one). they have a fraction of our military resources, yet dedicate them selflessly to the war on terror. obama saying that they should just snap their fingers and call up 20,000 troops is completely unrealistic, and it means that the senator either 1) didn't know any better or 2) knew better, but wanted a snappy sound bite. both bad. god bless the aussies. that's a friendship, an alliance, that we need to fight like hell to protect. and any candidate, on either side of the aisle, who opts to play political games with something so precious to our strategic interests needs to seriously reevaluate his capacity to be an effective commander-in-chief. february 12, 2007 06:11 am   link    strategery ~ the long war     comments (22)     trackback (0) well....duh by john pentagon planning for strike on iran: us preparations for an air strike against iran are at an advanced stage, in spite of repeated public denials by the bush administration, according to informed sources in washington. the present military build-up in the gulf would allow the us to mount an attack by the spring. but the sources said that if there was an attack, it was more likely next year, just before mr bush leaves office. neo-conservatives, particularly at the washington-based american enterprise institute, are urging mr bush to open a new front against iran. so too is the vice-president, dick cheney. the state department and the pentagon are opposed, as are democratic congressmen and the overwhelming majority of republicans. the sources said mr bush had not yet made a decision. the bush administration insists the military build-up is not offensive but aimed at containing iran and forcing it to make diplomatic concessions. the aim is to persuade tehran to curb its suspect nuclear weapons programme and abandon ambitions for regional expansion. i love this byline: despite denials, pentagon plans for possible attack on nuclear sites are well advanced. translated: lying liars!! course we call it 'military deception' in the service. just sayin'... although i'm not too terribly sure that the guardian has this right. my understanding is that we've said we have no plans to attack iran at the present. what i have heard is plenty of "all options are on the table" chatter. and the pentagon plans for everything (like invading canada!), just because we plan for a contingency doesn't mean it's going to happen. otherwise we would have conquered the moon years ago (why else would the marines need a 'space plane')? i'm not too sure why the guardian is so skeptical of our 'diplomatic pressure' line. carrier battle groups send a very strong message, which is why we responded to chinese chest-thumping by sending two of 'em sailing around taiwan back in the 1990s. and if you were wondering, yes... i'm ignoring the not-so-subtle "bushco is a lying killing killer warmonger!!" narrative. one, it's the guardian....two, aren't we all used to it by now? february 10, 2007 07:11 am   link    iran     comments (11)     trackback (0) resurgent russia by john it's happening: moscow -- russia's defense minister yesterday laid out an ambitious plan for building new intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines and possibly aircraft carriers, and set the goal of exceeding the soviet army in combat readiness. .......... russia's defense budget, which stood at $8.1 billion in 2001, nearly quadrupled to $31 billion this year, mr. ivanov said. while this year's military spending is russia's largest since the soviet collapse, it is still about 20 times less than the u.s. defense budget. mr. ivanov said the military now has enough money to intensify combat training. "combat readiness of the army and the navy is currently the highest in the post-soviet history," he said, adding the task now is to "exceed soviet-era levels." mr. ivanov said the military now has about 1.13 million servicemen, compared with 1.34 million in 2001. as always, it's all about oil. russia's got it, and that means they've got the money to start buying the toys they want. and their defense tech sector still remains strong, particularly in the field of surface-to-air missiles and combat aircraft. the lines on the icbm force is pure politics. while russia's post-soviet strategic capabilities have been questionable, it is still widely believed that they are capable enough to launch a devastating nuclear strike on the us mainland. upgrading their ballistic missile force is more of a political message to the world, and russian citizens, that our missile defense shield doesn't have much of a chance of knocking down their birds. which is fine, since that was never the missile defense shield's purpose anyway..... on another note, i had a thought as i was reading through the times column. would the reemergence of a bipolar world be such a bad thing? it's nice to be on top and all, but sheesh....all this sole superpower with a myriad of smaller actors squabbling at us and each other crap is getting old. bring back mutually assured destruction and proxy wars! read more »ps - yes, i was being facetious. i think.....« close it february 9, 2007 04:44 pm   link    strategery     comments (10)     trackback (0) giddy up by john the dawn patrol is back. we've missed you mrs. g! **update** another reason why mudville is one of the best. read the day anna died.... february 9, 2007 01:25 pm   link    general interest downfall by john was watching starz the other night and caught an excellent foreign film called downfall. hands down one of the best world war ii films i've ever seen. downfall superbly captures the final days of the third reich, with hitler cowered in his bunker, germany crumbling, and the soviets posturing for one final push into berlin. fascinating how the dreams of the ultra-loyal ss elites collapsed just as quickly as berlin did. and the guy who played joseph goebbels should have won an academy award, what a creep. highly recommend checking this flick out if you have the opportunity. might be tough to find at blockbuster, but if you have netflicks you might stand a chance of finding it. february 8, 2007 11:04 am   link    history ~ hollywood     comments (12)     trackback (0) if you're looking for a unique perspective on iraq by john i suppose a combat rabbi would be a good place to start. climbing over the rotting garbage, i realized i was the first jew to enter this holy place in over 50 years. i am writing to you from nineveh, the city of the prophet jonah. its present name is mosul. i have had the privilege of seeing its ancient walls, of touching its stones, of going to the grave. islamic tradition says is the prophet jonah’s. there is a mosque at the site; but hundreds of years ago, the iraqis we work with tell me, it was a synagogue. they tell me the reason the site is so sacred is because of the sacredness in which the jews held it. presently, there are no signs of this ancient synagogue. sometimes i think that it takes a jew to really understand the historical significance of a place like iraq. it's easy to forget how far back into the books the hebrew culture reaches, or that most jewish rabbis wear the historian hat as well as the religious one. fascinating perspective. hotel tango: robert averch february 8, 2007 10:22 am   link    history when you set out to take vienna... by lt col p by god, sir, take vienna! napoleon's famous advice is as worthy today as it was 200 years ago. not to make light of the poor intended victim (and a bit of free advice to you, my dear captain shipman-- don't get a restraining order, get a gun) or the moon-loon's unfortunate blameless family, but what military lessons can we learn from capt nowak's incontinental transcontinental movement to contact? why, as napoleon would have pointed out, it's ruthless single-minded concentration on the objective, once you've set your sights on it. or her, as the case may be. objective is, has been and always will be the most important of the nine principles of war, commonly abbreviated as m-o-o-s-e-m-u-s-s. if only our body politic and our some of our elected officials were as ruthlessly single-minded. we'd have a lot fewer problems. they would do well to remember that when you set out to take vienna, don't settle for salzburg. take the damn place and be done with it. napoleon and nowak; they'd have made quite a pair. february 6, 2007 04:50 pm   link    humor ~ strategery     comments (11)     trackback (2) does terrorism work? by charlie terrorism is often used to accomplish political objectives (politics by other means…) –but does it work? is terrorism effective enough of a tactic to endure beyond our generation? let’s take a case study and see where it goes: read more »i will link a historical terrorist attack to a present day attack and then tack on some thoughtful and interesting analysis is one that is familiar to most students of american history: the assassination of archduke franz ferdinand. in june, 1914, sarajevo, a serbian, by committing a single murder, plunged europe into the “great war.” soon austria-hungary declared war on serbia, which then caused the central powers (germany, austro-hungarian empire, ottoman empire) to go to war with the entente (france, belgium, england, russia, serbia, italy). about 20 million people died in wwi, which was ignited by a single act of terror (i know there were underlying nationalistic tensions, but the assassination was the match dropped on the gasoline.) in february, 2005, the former prime minister of lebanon, rafik hariri was assassinated by a 1,000 pound bomb detonated under his motorcade in beirut. a well-liked leader, respected philanthropist, and outspoken critic of syria, hariri’s death was seen by the public to be tied to his disapproval of the continual occupation of lebanon by the baathist dictatorship of bashar assad. initially, his death provoked a surge of lebanese nationalism, which stoked syria to withdraw most of its forces from lebanon. peace for the country would be (very) short-lived, as tensions between iran and israel heated up, with iran’s proxy hizballah turning southern lebanon into a war-torn wasteland during its rocket war with israel in the summer of 2006. the connection? while something akin to wwi has not broken out in the middle east yet, there is definitely a parallel in the underlying nationalistic, cultural, and religious tensions in the area. state boundaries seem to matter less and less, and a fervent shia crescent, based in iran and extending through iraq into lebanon, is emerging that transcends national boundaries. opposing it is an equally fervent sunni crescent based in saudi arabia that extends from egypt and the gaza strip, through syria, iraq, and into the arabian peninsula. caught in between are the americans in iraq and the israelis. in other words, the great powers of this century are aligning as they did during wwi. lest you think i am a doomsayer, let us just analyze 2005 lebanon and 1914 serbia on a micro level: small country, multiple foreign-power interests, elite assassinated, problems result from said elites’ assassination that re-align the region’s balance of power. that is using terrorism to obtain a political and a social objective. so i pose a simple question: did/has terrorism worked? have the employment of its tactics achieved their planner’s objectives? « close it february 6, 2007 01:56 pm   link    strategery     comments (10)     trackback (0) muir: outside the wire by john february 5, 2007 08:29 pm   link    humor la times: war costs hitting "historic" proportions by john costs to "surpass" vietnam next year: washington — by the time the vietnam war ended in 1975, it had become america's longest war, shadowed the legacies of four presidents, killed 58,000 americans along with many thousands more vietnamese, and cost the u.s. more than $660 billion in today's dollars. by the time the bill for world war ii passed the $600-billion mark, in mid-1943, the united states had driven german forces out of north africa, devastated the japanese fleet in the battle of midway, and launched the vast offensives that would liberate europe and the south pacific. here's my problem with this article. joel havemann stopped reporting after he got the "iraq is expensive!" narrative out of the way. he didn't ask the all important "why?" why are costs so expensive? it is because we're simultaneously engaged in a reconstruction and occupation? in which case, perhaps the marshall plan should have been included in the historic cost calculus? or perhaps that warfighting technology is vastly more expensive than it was in 1945 and 1975? i need a little more information here than "high costs are bad, mmmkay." i'm willing to give havemann the benefit of the doubt, because -quite frankly- this story is certainly newsworthy. so perhaps i'm overreacting when i suspect him of playing to a certain base here: in the broad landscape of federal spending, those are not huge numbers, though $6.6 billion is more than enough to cover the budgets for all the country's national parks, national forests, historic monuments, protected wetlands and wildlife refuges for a year. or perhaps not. february 5, 2007 01:45 pm   link    the long war     comments (9)     trackback (0) the next terror attack: big or small? by charlie i believe that the largest (and softest) target available to terrorists is the us economy. the economy was the target of influence for the wtc attacks in 1993 and 2001, and the stretch and influence of the us economy in the middle east, related to the export of petroleum, was a likely target of influence for the us embassy bombings in africa and the khobar towers attacks in the 1990s. read more »globalization has given our economy unprecedented reach, but the flattening of the world caused by the internet, 24/7 news coverage, and the ability of tribal and ethnic concerns to influence great-power politics has caused a direct impact on the economy (and by extension) the national security of the united states. in other words, 100 years ago, ethnic tension on the coast of nigeria meant nothing to wall street and the average america. now, an african warlord can execute a thousand people, get covered by the global media, and decrease oil futures overnight –causing the gas price to rise on the average street corner of the united states. therefore, i think that while the wtc was a very symbolic target, the us economy has other targets that are more local –and could have a greater psychological impact on the minds of the average us consumer. let us consider the average shopping mall: throngs of people frequent the place on an average weekend, there is little local security, and there is one in every medium-sized town in america. taking the average shop-worn islamic terrorist profile, here is how i believe a debilitating attack on the us economy could be executed with little outside state-support and maximum “bang for the buck.” let us assume a terrorist cell of 20 “true believer” fanatics, who would gladly martyr themselves for the cause of global jihad. we’ll assume this structure is a network -19 operatives residing in 19 american cities, with one leader directing the group. the training and experience of the 20 operatives is negligible. now lets assume 19 “support troops” to compliment the 19 martyrs –these would facilitate the operation, but not participate directly in the attack. the leader directs the 19 operatives to set up free internet mail accounts from different websites (google, yahoo, hotmail, etc) and sets up a central distribution list from which he can give orders from a single location, and configures the network so as to limit the damage to the group should one of the 19 be compromised. the leader then tasks each operative to scout their area and pick one local mall. they are to recon the mall extensively, identifying patterns of the guards, entrances and exits, and the mall schedule to determine when the maximum amount of people are there. while the reconnaissance phase is going on, the “support” element acquires an assault rifle, and some additional small arms, and ammunition. this is done in a dispersed manner, in order to not arouse suspicion. other items to be added to the “martyr’s kit” are a video camera, and a saw. once the time is right, the leader orders the attack to begin, probably on a date of significance to the global islamist movement. each of the 19 operatives goes to the local mall with his kit at the time on “d-day” when he has determined the maximum amount of people will be there. his orders are simple: kill as many people as possible, and then take the head of an infidel on camera. the supporting jihadist will slip in and acquire the video camera before the carnage is over, and escape –in order to upload the video to a popular internet site such as youtube, so that the american populace can quickly see the results of the attack. the police will likely storm the mall soon after the attack and shoot the operative –but that was his goal: martyrdom in holy combat. the effect of 19 instantaneous massacres in local shopping malls would be catastrophic to the economy of the united states, driving consumer confidence down, and demonstrating to the average american that they are not safe in their own neighborhoods. with 19 martyrs, this attack could be pulled off using simple, easily available technology, little infrastructure other than laptop computers, and weapons easily acquired at local gun shows, and ammunition available at your local wal-mart. even if each terrorist kills 10 people, the death toll would only be 190 –but the odds of achieving a higher body count against unarmed civilians in a confined space seem to be higher. let’s give the terrorist the advantage of surprise, tactics, and individual weapons skills and give each a body count of 100: 1900 casualties –not an insignificant number. most of the scenarios i have read involve an organized terror cell and a weapon of mass destruction, but i believe that a decentralized approach using a networked group could be just as dangerous. « close it february 5, 2007 01:13 pm   link    strategery     comments (20)     trackback (0) petraeus' soldier scholars by john phenomenal article from the washington post's thomas ricks on petraeus guys: gen. david h. petraeus, the new u.s. commander in iraq, is assembling a small band of warrior-intellectuals -- including a quirky australian anthropologist, a princeton economist who is the son of a former u.s. attorney general and a military expert on the vietnam war sharply critical of its top commanders -- in an eleventh-hour effort to reverse the downward trend in the iraq war. army officers tend to refer to the group as "petraeus guys." they are smart colonels who have been noticed by petraeus, and who make up one of the most selective clubs in the world: military officers with doctorates from top-flight universities and combat experience in iraq. general petraeus' main brain is, surprisingly enough, an aussie: petraeus, who along with the group's members declined to be interviewed for this article, has chosen as his chief adviser on counterinsurgency operations an outspoken officer in the australian army. lt. col. david kilcullen holds a phd in anthropology, for which he studied islamic extremism in indonesia. kilcullen has served in cyprus, papua new guinea and east timor and most recently was chief strategist for the state department's counterterrorism office, lent by the australian government. his 2006 essay "twenty-eight articles: fundamentals of company-level counterinsurgency" was read by petraeus, who sent it rocketing around the army via e-mail. among kilcullen's dictums: "rank is nothing: talent is everything" -- a subversive thought in an organization as hierarchical as the u.s. military. not a subversive thought in the special forces, however, where the round-table concept is more doctrine than tradition. i like ricks. making the corps was outstanding. and while he was terribly harsh on rumsfeld in fiasco, seemed to have a high opinion of general petraeus. you can catch that vibe in the article, he referred to petraeus' leadership in mosul as "one of the few notable success stories of the war." straight shooter who isn't afraid to embed. i wish ricks would take over as the washington post's national security columnist.... february 5, 2007 11:51 am   link    strategery     comments (4)     trackback (0) a "mercenary" perspective by slab i've been a bit remiss in my posting over the past few weeks. i hope you'll excuse my absence. i have dropped in from time to time to read some of the topics and try to keep abreast on some of the issues. i've finally decided that william arkin's piece "early warning" deserved some commentary. so, arkin called me a mercenary? *yawn* what's his point? if you haven't figured it out yet, arkin used the word simply to generate more of a reaction. he claims it was done, "to incite and call into question their presumption that the public had a duty to support them". hogwash. as tanker brothers so astutely mentions, folks like arkin are in the business of generating readership. the kind of outcry that he generated by calling us mercenaries simply reassures the editorial staff that they are being read. nevermind the fact that i don't really consider "mercenary" an insult or pejorative. i'm actually a bit amused by some of the outrage. yeah, i get paid more when i am "downrange" than when i am sitting comfortably back here in conus. hell, my second deployment enabled me to pay off my car. savings from my third deployment helped me to buy a house. if that makes me a "mercenary", so what? the negative connotations associated with the word "mercenary" are actually a somewhat new phenomenon. employment of highly specialized bands of mercenaries, such as the condottieri of italy, used to be a widely accepted facet of warfare. personally, i think that the widespread use of pmcs in today's conflict zones is a signal of times to come, of a return to smaller state armies supplemented by professional mercenaries. doesn't bother me a bit. after all, do a bit of research on executive outcomes in angola and sierra leone and you will see just how much of an effect a small band of mercenaries can have on nasty little backwater conflicts that most nation-state militaries would prefer to avoid. the other thing that amuses me is the fact that some would praise ehren watada for "practicing first amendment freedoms of speech, press and conscience" on the one hand, yet condemn servicemen who voice frustration with the media and public on the other. so, you want it both ways? let's get a few things straight. i swore to support and defend the constitution of the united states, and to obey the orders of the president and the officers appointed over me. at no time did i swear to do the bidding of the american citizenry, as one of the writers on daily kos would have us believe. no, i am obligated to obey your elected representatives. it's called a consitutional republic, ladies and gents. go back and retake 9th grade civics, please. you want my first amendment rights abrogated when i try to counter the anti-war bias that i see creeping into news reports, but you'll proudly champion my rights if i choose to speak out against a war that was initiated by the duly elected president of the united states, with the support of your elected representatives in congress? tell me, who is really out to limit my rights? the u.s. government, who says that a marine officer can not openly criticize elected officials, or the daily kos, who says that all servicemen should not be allowed to criticize the american public at all? february 4, 2007 10:25 am   link    the long war     comments (22)     trackback (0) did the mossad assassinate an iranian scientist? by john you betcha: a prize-winning iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to radio farda, which is funded by the us state department and broadcasts to iran. an intelligence source suggested that ardeshire hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by mossad, the israeli security service. hassanpour worked at a plant in isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is produced. the gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at natanz which has become the focus of concerns that iran may be developing nuclear weapons. i'm speculating, of course. i'm inclined to think that this was a mossad job simply because scientist assassination was one of the tremors felt prior to operation opera back in '81. history repeats itself, no? february 4, 2007 09:55 am   link         comments (2)     trackback (0) kos kids: arkin was right! by john kos poster n00161: all hell has broken loose on the right wing milblogs concerning an article william arkin wrote at the washington post. in this article, arkin dared to cross the line and say that the military is out of line when it criticizes the american public for being against the war. the military's place is to do the bidding of the united states citizenry .. period! it is not for them to criticize the american population for deciding they no longer want to fund a war. let's nip this in the bud before this "military owes us" line turns into another chickenhawk or "send jenna and barbara" embarrassment. this commenter, along with arkin, seem to have forgotten one simple, underlying fact: the american public voted into office elected officials who in turn voted to send us troops into harm's way. which, roughly translated, means that the troops are already doing the "bidding" of the american people. there hasn't been a vote to cut funding and there hasn't been a vote to pull forces out of theater. as long as our troops are there, responsibility dictates that they are wholeheartedly supported by the very people who choose to send them to war. however, since the core ideology that drives the anti-war movement naturally repulses personal responsibility as a guiding value, it's unsurprisingly that many of them find arkin's argument compelling. that aside, this just another empty soundbite, absent from any sort of factual grounding, that will no doubt become another stupid rallying call for the anti-war movement. put that in your pipe and smoke it, chickenhawks. february 4, 2007 09:29 am   link    the long war     comments (4)     trackback (0) arkin's response by john ugh -- well, one thing's abundantly clear about who will actually defend our rights to say what we believe: it isn't the hundreds who have written me saying they are soldiers or veterans or war supporters or real americans -- who also advise me to move to another country, to get f@##d, or to die a painful, violent death. don't even try to play that game arkin. don't use the handful of hateful emails you received as a means of distracting people from the fact that you wrote this: but it is the united states, and the recent nbc report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work....i'll accept that the soldiers, in order to soldier on, have to believe that they are manning the parapet, and that's where their frustrations come in. i'll accept as well that they are young and naïve and are frustrated with their own lack of progress and the never changing situation in iraq. cut off from society and constantly told that everyone supports them, no wonder the debate back home confuses them. usually when someone hits rock bottom, they don't start digging. usually. these men and women are not fighting for money with little regard for the nation. the situation might be much worse than that: evidently, far too many in uniform believe that they are the one true nation. they hide behind the constitution and the flag and then spew an anti-democrat, anti-liberal, anti-journalism, anti-dissent, and anti-citizen message that reflects a certain contempt for the american people. no, we just don't like being called cheap, uneducated soldiers-for-hire. or having to entertain smug lectures on how we're junior mcfascists. i don't recall anyone to tell this guy to shut up, and why would they? he's destroyed his credibility and turned himself into a punchline. on the contrary, the more this guy writes, the more pro-victory votes he draws out of the woodwork. keep it up arkin! february 2, 2007 02:54 pm   link    the long war     comments (6)     trackback (0) military mercenary potpourri by john was away from email and the internet for roughly two days, so it was nice to come back and find this piece making the blogosphere rounds. got a ton of email in response, thousand pardons if i didn't reply, was just too overwhelmed to get everyone. wanted to link a few military related items before i kicked off the weekend, starting chris muir's most excellent response to the wapo's resident douchebag. (and if you've never heard me call anyone a douchebag before, well....i've never been called a "mercenary" before. so there.) second is mary katharine ham's phenomenal tribute to kia army captain travis patriquin. i'm linking this even though, despite her position on undocumented laborers, she used an unpaid intern to do her dirty work. probably to dodge the irs. last but not least is michael yon's latest dispatch, titled the hands of god, is up. read it. now. this weekend is the holiest of holidays in my calendar, super bowl sunday, so i'll be out till monday. have deep, deep roots in chicago, so go bears! february 2, 2007 02:30 pm   link    general interest     comments (2)     trackback (0) waste products: why hippies aren't just harmless pranksters by lt col p these two fine young citizens cost the city of boston a considerable amount of trouble from a so-called "guerrilla marketing" campaign. the estimate of the cost is at $500k, not to mention time and effort spent by emergency services that could have been used elsewhere, and the inconvenience to thousands of normal (and normal-looking) people going about their business. the real cost these waste products just hit us with is allowing the adversary to observe a multi-site emergency response in a major us city-- routes, reaction times, procedures, equipment and personnel. think about it. it's like what we used to do to iraq, prior to 2003-- launch air sorties that looked like a real attack, then have the planes turn aside at the last moment, just so we could gather the intel on how the iraqis reacted. somehow i don't think these two yahoos will understand that. hell, i don't even think they know what day of the week it is. turds. february 2, 2007 04:45 am   link    moonbattery     comments (19)     trackback (0) awards feedback military.com headlines the passdown warfighter's forum early brief shock & awe radio america discussion board friends of opfor andi's world awtm a swift kick bill roggio blackfive the captain's journal castle argghhh defense tech euphoric reality huntress instapinch kosovo dad maj p michael yon milblogging.com milblogs mudville gazette lt smash murdoc pundit review radio seraphic secret shachtman's danger room threats watch uncle jimbo vets for freedom vodkapundit blogroll authors john's archives charlie's archives lightning's archives lt col p's archives categories anglico air assault airborne close air support deployed evening quote falklands war firearms general interest history hollywood homeland security humor iran leadership moonbattery navy news from iraq one team one fight our beloved corps picture of the day podcasts question of the day sea stories strategery submarine warfare supporting the troops taps tech the long war vmi veterans archives november 2007 october 2007 september 2007 august 2007 july 2007 june 2007 may 2007 april 2007 march 2007 february 2007 january 2007 december 2006 november 2006 october 2006 september 2006 august 2006 july 2006 june 2006 may 2006 april 2006 blogspot archives 2005.10 2005.11 2005.12 2006.01 2006.02 2006.03 2006.04 search subscribe atom rss 2.0 rss 2.0 full post opfor for your pda link to opfor blogger alliances data credits powered by movable type 3.2 hosted by military.com site design by sekimori

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