The Mad Medic serves up a dose of whoop ass

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 03, 2012]

A picture of Breanna Bradley Manning on it's own is lame. A picture of him photoshopped to look like he is receiving the Medal of Honor is disgraceful and anyone associated with it should be ashamed. The ass-clown who posted this is not self-aware or decent enough to know this, so a can of medical grade whoop ass is applied by Doc Bailey. I met the Mad Medic at Milblog conf, good dude well putting aside his association with a certain Jonn Lilyea of course.

I'm not even sure where to begin at the level of retardation at this picture.  I'm not even sure where to begin at the level of retardation at this picture. Photoshopping a piss ant Traitor's face onto Leon Petroy as he received the Medal of Honor, is beyond disrespectful it is just plain stupefying. The Nation's highest award for courage "given" to a whiny mopey kid who put nearly all soldiers in the CENTCOM AO in danger, and potentially set back our efforts by months or years. . . That's not to mention all the informants that were named by name. . . Are you S***TING ME?!?!?! People have literally died because of Manning's actions. Not because of direct action, not because he was being attacked, but because he was pissed off that his boyfriend left him. What lives has he saved? Even though the War has gone one, his leaks haven't made anything better if anything his leaks have made things worse. It did not showing us anything we didn't already know. So why is this "heroic"? More than that, this photo shows a complete lack of respect for real life heroes. shoping a piss ant Traitor's face onto Leon Petroy as he received the Medal of Honor, is beyond disrespectful it is just plain stupefying.  The Nation's highest award for courage "given" to a whiny mopey kid who put nearly all soldiers in the CENTCOM AO in danger, and potentially set back our efforts by months or years. . . That's not to mention all the informants that were named by name. . . Are you S***TING ME?!?!?!  People have literally died because of Manning's actions.  Not because of direct action, not because he was being attacked, but because he was pissed off that his boyfriend left him.  What lives has he saved?  Even though the War has gone one, his leaks haven't made anything better if anything his leaks have made things worse.  It did not showing us anything we didn't already know.  So why is this "heroic"?  More than that, this photo shows a complete lack of respect for real life heroes.  

Amen Brother.

Spirit of America still helping the cause

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 02, 2012]

One of the most effective groups helping our troops is Spirit of America. They provide vital assistance right at the pointy edge of the spear, getting our warriors the non-war material they need to fight for hearts and minds.

A US Army team told our field rep about two Afghan men that needed help. These men have been going from school to school teaching Afghan children about the threats from IEDs. These men started doing this on their own initiative, without any pay, because they don't want Afghan children to be killed or maimed from IEDs. They are especially effective teachers because both men have lost limbs, finger and toes to IEDs they encountered fighting the soviets. They tell children what these bombs could look like, and that if they see one they have to tell the Afghan police or an American. We have learned that American lives have already been saved due to their efforts. An Afghan child who they spoke to spotted an IED planted at a bridge that US troops used, and reported it to the military. They were able to disable the bomb without loss of life.

These men needed our help because once the Taliban learned of their efforts they immediately targeted them. These two amputees had been traveling around the region by motorbike, which meant they were traveling in the open, and were highly recognizable due to their missing limbs. They didn't want protection, they didn't want someone else to do the job for them, they didn't want to be paid, they just wanted to be able to keep protecting Afghan children. So all they asked for was a car that looked like a taxi so that they could travel anonymously. Using contributions from our donors we purchased it for them. Our field rep Mike Press explains why this project is so important, especially as the U.S. looks to withdraw from Afghanistan.

"They were doing good before but now they can continue doing good. I think that's the best kind of project Spirit of America can do. We helped them but they did it on their own. We're just the catalyst, making sure it continues".

The full story is here.

 

The Leak of the Day

Posted By Grim • [June 02, 2012]

This has really got to stop.

I understand this is an election year.  Once again, though, we have "participants in the program" giving an account to the New York Times of the conditions of the Presidential situation room.  Once again we are left exposed, so that the President can look strong and decisive.

Do you understand what you are doing?  Have you thought this through?  Do you not care about the cost, or have you simply never stopped to consider it?

Medevac Crew Gets Dangerous Surprise

Posted By Blackfive • [June 01, 2012]

Medevac crew reacts to dangerous call
June 1, 2012

By Capt. Richard Barker, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs , and SGT Daniel Schroeder, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs. Photo Credit: Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Summer M. Anderson (Photo from 2007)

CAMP DWYER, Afghanistan (June 1, 2012) -- In the midst of combat, acts of valor and bravery are performed so often they are sometimes overlooked. This was almost the case with the story of the Soldiers who rescued Marine Lance Cpl. Winder Perez.

On Jan. 12, 2012, a call was passed over the radios to a medical evacuation, or medevac, crew to rescue a 3-year-old Afghan girl who had suffered from a gunshot wound and shrapnel to the back. After dropping off personnel and equipment from their current mission, they headed back out to the location for pick-up.

Upon contacting the ground crew on the directed frequency, the pick-up location had moved. After verifying the medevac request and landing safely to retrieve the patient, the landing zone controller came over the radio with a loud, frantic voice, "the patient has (unintelligible) unexploded ordnance!"

The patient was no longer the girl, but Perez who had a rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his leg extending to his lower abdomen. The RPG had not detonated yet, meaning the slightest wrong move could set it off.

"That call will be in my mind all my life," said Sgt. Robert Hardisty, a crew chief with C Company, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment, New Mexico National Guard, who was attached to 25th Combat Aviation Brigade. "First you land thinking it's a little girl and the next thing it is a Marine with an unexploded RPG embedded in his body."

Spc. Mark Edens, a flight medic with C/1-171, was the first to see the RPG round visible in Perez. At this point the crew had to make a decision.

"Because of the level of danger, if the crew left Perez on the ground and decided not to take him, no one would have ever blamed them. We all would have understood," said Maj. Christopher Holland, C/1-171 commander.

Capt. Kevin Doo, the pilot-in-command for this mission, the pilot of the crew decided they would only take Perez if the entire crew agreed.

"There was no doubt to anyone that we were going to take this Marine and get him the medical attention needed to save his life," said Doo. "When dealing with this, not knowing that any moment could be your last. Eighteen inches from the patient's legs was about 360 gallons of aviation fuel."

The crew transported Perez as quickly as they safely could, landing at Forward Operating Base Edinburgh only 24 minutes from the time the RPG hit Perez.

"After Lance Corporal Perez was loaded on the Black Hawk, it was a total of 11.2 minutes of flight time where every minute felt like an hour," Doo said. "During that time, we were on the radio coordinating with our escorts, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, and medical personnel who were going to treat Perez."

The crew's coordination paid off. The coordination included telling the armed escorts of the medevac helicopter to stay a good distance away for their safety, calling the EOD team to handle the disposal of the RPG, and ensuring medical personnel were aware of and prepared for the situation they were about to handle.

Upon hearing the news of the RPG, the medical team set a plan in motion to properly remove the round as they gathered necessary supplies and met the medevac at the landing zone. When Perez arrived at FOB Edinburgh, he was transported to a safe area to extract the round with only the necessary personnel present.

Lt. Cmdr. James Gennari, department head, Surgical Company B, 2nd Supply Battalion, noticed the wounds Perez received were life threatening. If he had not been transported by the speed of medevac, then he would have died of those wounds.

After removing the round and closing up the wounds, Perez was transported to Bastion Hospital for further care. The same crew who evacuated him from the battlefield were the ones who transported him to the next higher medical facility.

Although the RPG round was now miles away from Perez, other issues arose for him and the crew. His ventilator failed during the flight prohibiting his oxygen flow. At this moment, Edens and Hardisty acted rapidly manually giving oxygen and bringing the Marine back to a stable condition.

"After stabilization, I witnessed Specialist Edens and Sergeant Hardisty work in a calm, cool and professional manner ensuring the safety of this patient who suffered a second near catastrophic event with the loss of the oxygen ventilation machine," said Gennari. "I distinctly remember thinking that if Dustoff could risk their lives to bring this patient to us, the least I can do is take some risk and get that thing out of his leg."

How the Border Between India and Pakistan is Closed (Every Day)

Posted By LongTabSigO • [June 01, 2012]

Gentle readers:  I'm really not sure what to make of this... for those of you that have been on the South/North Korean Border, I"m going to guess it is not quite this ornate.

Border Closing Ceremony

It's a whole-lotta...um...something.

 

Enjoy. 

Me, Me, Me, Me-morial Day

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 01, 2012]

h/t Hot Air

The official White House photo of the day for Memorial Day was:

A. a tasteful shot of Arlington Cemetery

B. A pic of a Gold Star Mom at her son's grave

C. An image of an inverted rifle and empty boots signifying the death of a soldier.

NOPE! None of those pay homage to the true hero of the day.

The answer and an F- for the Campaigner in Chief was:

A picture of Barry O reflected in the Vietnam Memorial with a halo around his noble warrior, gutsy-call-making head.

In addition to the F-, he gets a D for Disgrace. The entire purpose of Memorial day is to honor those who laid down their lives in defense of our freedom. Obama didn't serve and since his coronation has used the military as a tool to obfuscate the fact that he is the weakest leader we have had since Jimmy Carter. His gutless, politically-driven policies have put in peril a victory in Iraq won by those who should be remembered on this day. And his sorry, election-driven, faux surge into Afghanistan has added many hundreds of names to the list of those this holiday memorializes.

But who does he think the day is about? You guessed it, BHO. He ought to be on his knees begging forgiveness for the lives he spent like they were so many campaign contributions.

UPDATE: Jonn Lilyea of the badass blog This Ain't Hell sends another beauty of the AF Academy cadets celebrating Obama deigning to visit them by sending their sombreros skyward.

A warrior that defines the word "Fighter"

Posted By Maj Pain • [June 01, 2012]

Gang-

As a continuation of the new "Category" "Every Day is Memorial Day, I bring you the story of Taylor Morris. A warrior that defines the word "Fighter."

 

Taylor Morris learned at an early age he was hooked on the outdoors, adventurous, the middle of 4 children and always the last one inside for dinner at his home in Cedar Falls, Iowa. His mother Juli recalled, "Our family took a camping trip from Niagra Falls down the East Coast one summer. Taylor set up the tents every night, started the fires, cooked the meals. Taylor was only 8 years old." As Taylor grew older and took to extreme water sports and rock climbing, Taylor discovered he was also very calm under extreme pressure. This quality would later make him the perfect candidate for the Navy's EOD, Explosive Ordinance Disposal.

 

Continue reading "A warrior that defines the word "Fighter""

Dog Days

Posted By Blackfive • [June 01, 2012]

U.S. Army Pfc. Chris Kunze, right, relaxes with his military working dog in Khoni Ghar in Afghanistan's Khost province, May 27, 2012. Kunze, a cannon crewmember, is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Kimberly Trumbull

Fast Rope

Posted By Blackfive • [May 31, 2012]

A Marine fast ropes from a UH-1Y Huey onto USS Makin Island in the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet area of responsibility, May 31, 2012. The Marine is assigned to the 3rd Battallion, 1st Marine Regiment, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is deployed as part of the Makin Island Ready Group, a U.S. Central Command theater reserve force. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Gene Allen Ainsworth III

"We are what happens when Gold Star Children grow up."

Posted By Blackfive • [May 31, 2012]

Over at Command Posts (St Martin's Press's blog for military history, current events, and fiction), Gold Star child of the Viet Nam era, Tony Cordero, writes about Sons and Daughters in Touch:

...June 22, 1965, my father became missing in Vietnam. There were pocket communities in the Washington, D.C., area that offered some support, but for most of us, the support came later, in the form of helping other generations...

There's a lot of information there about how the group started to fill the void after Viet Nam. 

Now, as you all are aware, there are more children to support: 

...In the past ten years, SDIT has provided support to Gold Star families that have lost a parent since September 11, 2001, and has reached back through earlier generations to embrace sons and daughters of WWII and Korea, too.

Our message to other Gold Star children is:

This will be with you your entire life. If you want this to be an anchor, it will weigh you down. If you use it as a springboard to inspire you, to empower you, you will be ok.

Go check it out and see how you can support the message and mission of SDIT.

Obama's political tool attends terror targeting meetings

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [May 30, 2012]

Matty O highlighted the NY Times puff piece about President O and his "Kill List" previously. It really is a nauseating read. But there are a couple of things that just jump off the page and show the true colors of the gutsy caller. The first is this tid bit about the fact that O personally approves all the extra-judicial killings.

But the control he exercises also appears to reflect Mr. Obama’s striking self-confidence: he believes, according to several people who have worked closely with him, that his own judgment should be brought to bear on strikes.

That is not particularly difficult to believe. Although there are other ways than "striking self-confidence", to describe that like oh, maybe narcissistic arrogance. But here is the real peach

David Axelrod, the president’s closest political adviser, began showing up at the “Terror Tuesday” meetings, his unspeaking presence a visible reminder of what everyone understood: a successful attack would overwhelm the president’s other aspirations and achievements.

Again not tough to believe, but sad nonetheless. Axelrod is a disgusting, reprehensible example of all that is foul about the political process. He is in that room because politics is what runs that operation and that is a shame. Men live or die based on the benefit or danger to the reelection prospects of Barack Obama.That is so far from right you couldn't see it from there. Sadder yet is the fact that we have stopped even attempting to capture and interrogate terrorists, again that could be messy for the Campaigner in Chief. We need to move this guy out to pasture this November. I hear Jimmy Carter is hiring at the Disgraced Ex-Presidents Society.

Frank Gaffney Show- Last offensive in Afghanistan

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [May 30, 2012]

On my weekly segment on Frank's radio show we talk about announcing the last offensive in Afghanistan. The last offensive, really? Is that because we won? or lost? or what? Then we discuss sequestration and the defense budget and a chip is used on military systems that turns to have a back door engineered into it.

You can listen to today's show here and on our Podbean [ 53:00 ] Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download (7)

Sangin Security

Posted By Blackfive • [May 30, 2012]

U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Larry Thompson with Police Advisor Team 3-2, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6 takes part in a patrol in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 21, 2012. The team patrolled to maintain security in the area.  Photo by Lance Corporal Sean Searfus.

Support Our Troops (Las Vegas) video

Posted By McQ • [May 30, 2012]

Made by the Palazzo hotel which hosted the event.  Again, just my opinion, but I vote with my dollars and if in Vegas anytime in the future, I intend to do my best to stay at this hotel.  They host this every year, have been doing it for 7 times in the last 6 years and are the only major hotel/casino that does this sort of thing.  That’s worth something in my book.

Thank you to the Palazzo for this great event.

~McQ

Twitter: @McQandO

The N.Y.T.'s Scott Shane Still Shilling

Posted By Blackfive • [May 30, 2012]

Saw this OBVIOUSLY biased report in the New York Times on how the President is taking the use of a kill list very seriously.  Really?  What President doesn't?  Probably ours.  That is, unless it's an election year and he needs to seem, well, more decisive, presidential and "gutsy."

Back in 2008, we took Shane to task for releasing the names of intelligence operatives and interrogators. 

This reads like a vendetta against the personnel doing time for blowing Valerie Plame's cover.  But Valerie Plame gets more protection while serving canapes to political hatchetmen and has a lot less to lose than this interrogator who questioned the most vile and evil men in the history of the world...[for our opinions on the Plame issue, Google Blackfive and Plame - suffice it to say we were for severe punishment for revealing a covert CIA person].

So what is the Shill Scott Shane up to about the kill list?

...Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret “nominations” process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical...

That's not an overtly bad thing at all, even if you pull Shane's lips off of the President's ass.  But how did this become a major piece in the NYT?

...In interviews with The New York Times, three dozen of his current and former advisers described Mr. Obama’s evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally overseeing the shadow war with Al Qaeda...

Three dozen?

THREE DOZEN?!

Look, one advisor is a leak.  But, as one of the Blackfive authors stated in a conversation about this piece, three dozen is an organized campaign effort to make the President look more, well, presidential in his conduct of the war.  This campaign ad HAD to have had the President's approval.  Those 36+ advisors ought to be worried that Shane might out them as he has done before...oh wait, those were agency employees, not political appointees...Good on the NYT for resisting that effort. /sarc

In my book, if President Obama wants to be more presidential, then he should set out to win the war, rather than hold staff meetings about how to wordsmith "defeat."