This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Tyrone Krause joins the Navy

    Tyrone Krause joins the Navy

    Tyrone Krause was sworn into the Navy by his daughter, Laura, an ensign on board USS Ramage in Norfolk, Virginia, according to the Virginian-Pilot;

    At 63, the heart surgeon from Skillman, N.J., joined the Navy after receiving a waiver that permitted him to enter the Reserves a year past the typical age limit because people with his skills are in demand.

    “Sometimes I say to myself, ‘How did I get into this? Why don’t I just relax and sit in my backyard and drink some beer?’ But that’s not my style. I’ve always been on the move. And hopefully I’ll always be on the move,” Krause said.

    “I feel, surgically, I’m in my prime. I could still operate very well, and if I can give back and help some of our young men and women in the military, that’s what I want to do.”

    Krause was commissioned as a commander [pay grade O-5] Friday aboard the destroyer USS Ramage, where his 27-year-old daughter, Laura, is an ensign and performed the ceremony.

    Thanks to Mick for the link.

  • Mount Hood rescue

    Mount Hood rescue

    A climber was stranded on Mount Hood and the team sent to rescue him also got stranded. So, the Oregon National Guard got involved. When a Blackhawk helicopter coudn’t make the rescue, they called for a Chinook according to KOMO;

    By Friday morning, snow had firmed up overnight and a six-person rescue team climbed to the 11,250-foot summit. Unfortunately, by the time the team reached the climber, conditions were too dangerous to climb back down.

    Chris Ingersoll, a civilian spokesperson for the Guard, says a Black Hawk helicopter that initially arrived at the scene was not able to get up to the summit, which is why the Chinook from Pendleton was called in.

    “Most helicopters really struggle to even get up to that altitude, as the air gets really thin. So we have to use the Chinook, which is one of our aircraft that’s powerful enough to get up to that altitude. It also gets difficult because at summit rescues the winds change direction and intensity fairly rapidly,” said Ingersoll.

    Instead of lowering down a rope to hoist the climber and rescuers up, the Chinook did a two-wheel land and lowered a ramp to get all seven people on board.

    There’s a video of the rescue at the link above.

    Thanks to CK for the link.

  • Saturday morning feel good stories

    Saturday morning feel good stories

    From St Louis, Missouri;

    A St. Clair County man fired shots at a truck thief who drove at the owner in his driveway early Tuesday morning.

    Melvin C. Benson, of East St. Louis, was charged with burglary after allegedly attempting to steal a truck near Belleville early on July 10, 2018.

    No one was injured in the shooting, and the thief ran off after crashing the truck into another vehicle, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department.

    An East St. Louis man, Melvin C. Benson, was later arrested and charged with burglary in the incident, police say. Benson, 52, was being held in the county jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.

    From Charlotte, North Carolina;

    The incident happened just after 1:00 Friday morning.

    Police said the male suspect entered the gas station and robbed the store. They said the suspect threatened to shoot the employee during the course of the robbery, but a gun was not seen.

    Witnesses said a customer in the store ran outside. When the suspect came outside, police said the customer fired at the suspect.

    The suspect took off on foot toward West 10th street, according to police.

    From Joplin, Missouri;

    Jeremy J. Angel, 24, told police that he heard someone breaking into the back of his home about 6 a.m. and grabbed his rifle.

    Police Capt. Trevor Duncan said Angel told police that he fired a single shot in an effort to ward off any intruder. Since he was uncertain if anyone was still in his home or not, police performed a sweep of the residence without finding anyone still there, Duncan said.

    Officers subsequently determined that the shot Angel fired traveled out of his house and passed through the foundation of the house next door into a crawlspace. Nothing was reported stolen from the residence, Duncan said.

  • Weekend open thread

    Weekend open thread

    July 13, 2018

    Sea Bound

    Every year, millions of tiny, baby olive ridley sea turtles hatch on Rushikulya Beach in India. It’s a treacherous journey—experts estimate that only 1 in every 1,000 baby sea turtles will make it to the water before being killed by a predator.

  • SFC Christopher Andrew Celiz died in Afghanistan

    SFC Christopher Andrew Celiz died in Afghanistan

    AZtoVA sends us a link to the Department of Defense announcement that Sergeant First Class Christopher Andrew Celiz was killed during combat operations in Afghanistan yesterday;

    Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Andrew Celiz, 32, from Summerville, South Carolina, died, July 12, in Afghanistan, of wounds sustained as a result of enemy small arms fire while conducting operations in support of a medical evacuation landing zone in Zurmat district, Paktiya province. The incident is under investigation.

    Celiz was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia.

  • Army Combat Fitness Test

    The Army is changing it’s fitness requirements – even the name is changing from the Army Physical Fitness Test to the Army Combat Fitness Test, according to United Press International;

    The new standards call for deadlift tests, throwing ten-pound balls for distance backwards, and hand-release pushups that require hands to be taken off the ground for greater muscle tension. It also includes sled drags to simulate casualties, sprints with 40-pound kettle bells, hanging from a pull-up bar with legs up and the standard 2-mile run.

    “Throughout that research and testing, the goal was to provide our leaders with a tough, realistic, field-expedient assessment of the physical component of their soldiers’ individual readiness,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel A. Dailey said in a press release. “The ACFT is scientifically validated and will help better prepare our soldiers to deploy, fight and win on any future battlefield.”

    More than 2,000 soldiers have already taken the new test.

    “This is a generational, cultural change in fitness for the United States Army, and will be a cornerstone of individual soldier combat readiness,” Army Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, commander of the Army’s Center of Initial Military Training, told the Military Times. “That’s how big this is for the Army.”

    Thanks to David for the link.

  • Cohen to Strzok: If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would

    Cohen to Strzok: If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would

    NHSparky sends us a link to Fox News which reports an exchange yesterday between Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen as he gave FBI agent Peter Strzok a handy in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Law hearings yesterday;

    “Mr. Strzok, I don’t know where to start,” Cohen said as he started his allotted five minutes. “If I could give you a Purple Heart, I would. You deserve one.”

    A Purple Heart for getting yelled at. I guess that is why Congressmen can’t award Purple Hearts – they would be throwing them from a parade route, if they could.

    From the Tennessean;

    Strzok was subpoenaed last week by the House Judiciary Committee to testify publicly about the text messages he exchanged with Page.

    In a report to Congress released last month, Horowitz said Page wrote to Strzok in a text message, “(Trump’s) not ever going to become president, right?” In response, Strzok wrote, “No. No he’s not. We’ll stop it.”

    Another thing that the FBI can’t do.

    Strzok faced hostile Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who pointed to his text messages with Page in 2015 and 2016 as evidence of bias in the Russia and Clinton investigations. Strzok and Page were having an extramarital affair at the time they were texting.

    Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, brought up the affair during one of the most heated parts of the hearing, asking Strzok whether he gave his wife the same “innocent” look he was giving Congress members.

    Democrats shouted Gohmert down as Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., yelled “you need your medication.”

    Strzok angrily replied that Gohmert’s question “goes more to a discussion about your character.”

  • Rafael Jesus Pons; phony SEAL

    Rafael Jesus Pons; phony SEAL

    Our partners at Military Phonies share their work on this goofy-looking, mangy turd, Rafael Jesus Pons also known as Lee Pons who claims that he’s a Navy SEAL.

    Nice try, goof-nuts. The National Personnel Center responds “Who?”