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

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Héctor E. Colón passes

    Héctor E. Colón passes

    One of our friends send us the sad news that Héctor E. Colón has passed;

    Héctor graduated from Officer Candidate School, Ft. Benning, Georgia, and went on to proudly serve his country in Viet Nam. On January 5, 1968, his platoon of 32 men came under attack from 400 enemy fighters. Héctor led his brave men in battle in which seven of them were killed and many were wounded. For his bravery and dedication to duty, Héctor received the Distinguished Service Cross, the United States Army’s second highest award for valor. He was inducted into the Office Candidate School Hall of Fame on May 8, 2017.

    The citation for his Distinguished Service Cross reads;

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Second Lieutenant (Infantry) Hector E. Colon (ASN: 0-5338231), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Company B, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Second Lieutenant Colon distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 5 January 1968 as a platoon leader of an infantry company during a helicopter extraction operation in War Zone C. Lieutenant Colon’s platoon had just completed a reconnaissance-in-force mission and was awaiting extraction when it came under heavy rocket, mortar, automatic weapons and small arms fire from an estimated four hundred Viet Cong. He quickly positioned his men to repel the advancing enemy. His radio operator was wounded and the radio damaged. Lieutenant Colon secured another set and directed artillery fire and air strikes on the insurgents, sometimes to within five meters of the friendly positions. He personally killed five enemy soldiers who tried to overrun the platoon’s perimeter. As the firing subsided, he supervised the evacuation of the casualties, saw that the remainder of his men were extracted, and insured that all weapons and equipment were recovered. His exemplary leadership was directly responsible for routing the numerically superior and determined Viet Cong. Second Lieutenant Colon’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

  • Tuesday morning feel good stories

    Tuesday morning feel good stories

    From Trinity, Alabama;

    Officers with the Trinity Police Department rushed to the scene. However, Decatur Police detectives are handling the investigation. “The Decatur Police Department was asked to take over the investigation due to a family conflict,” according to Decatur Police spokeswoman Emily Long.

    Police say the intruder got his hands on a knife once he made his way inside. He hurt two people.

    Someone who lives there was able to shoot the man. Police say that happened during a struggle. At the crime scene, the coroner pronounced the intruder dead.

    Morgan County coroner Jeff Chunn is working to identify the dead man. Decatur Police investigators are also trying to determine the man’s ID.

    The two people injured at the home were treated at Huntsville Hospital. Their injuries were not a threat to their lives.

    From Atlanta, Georgia;

    Police say an off-duty officer has fatally shot a man in suburban Atlanta.

    Clayton County Police spokeswoman Sgt. Ashanti Marbury told news outlets the officer saw someone firing shots toward another person near a restaurant Sunday afternoon. The officer was working an approved security job at a nearby church.

    Police say the initial shooting erupted after a man made an inappropriate comment toward a woman with two other men in the restaurant. An argument ensued outside as the suspect followed them before firing shots, police say.

    Marbury says the officer went to confront the suspect, who fired at shot and missed. She says the officer then shot him.

    The suspect, whose name wasn’t immediately released, died en route to a hospital.

  • Marines beef-up security at embassies

    Marines beef-up security at embassies

    Stars & Stripes reports that the US Marine Corps is strengthening presence of embassy guards at “several U.S. embassies” in reaction to President Trump’s decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

    The controversial move Monday of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem sparked bloody clashes between Palestinian protestors and Israeli forces along Gaza’s border. Israelis and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital. The Associated Press reported more than 50 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli soldiers and some 2,400 others were wounded in the exchanges, which included firebombs lobbed at Israeli troops by protestors.

    Rebarich said the Pentagon could not say how many Marines were deployed or to which embassies, citing security concerns. The Marines were deployed from the Marine Security Guard Augmentation Unit from Quantico, Va., a unit designed specifically to respond to such security threats worldwide at the State Department’s request, a Marine official said.

    NBC News reported the additional Marines were sent to embassies in Israel, Jordan and Turkey, citing five unnamed defense officials. They reported only modest increases of more than 10 but less than several dozen Marines at each location, according to three of the unnamed officials.

    I hope Hillary is taking notes.

  • Muqtada al-Sadr’s coalition leading in Iraq elections

    Muqtada al-Sadr’s coalition leading in Iraq elections

    Reinforcing my belief that they should have killed him when they had the chance, Muqtada al-Sadr’s coalition is taking an early lead in Iraq’s election, according to Stars & Stripes. al-Sadr encouraged his followers to kill US troops while he resided safely in Iran with his Shi’ite benefactors.

    If the results hold, al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood and southern Iraq, could be in a position to determine Iraq’s next leader. Al-Sadr has repeatedly called for the complete withdrawal of all American troops from Iraqi soil.

    Al-Sadr is a nationalist opposed to all foreign influence, including both U.S. and Iranian. He campaigned on a platform that criticized Iraq’s current political leadership as deeply corrupt.

    Al-Sadr did not run for election but commands a coalition, known as Sairoon, which won by a large margin in Baghdad, which accounts for the largest number of seats in Iraq’s 329-member parliament that in turn selects the prime minister. A ticket led by the commander of a Shiite militia close to Iran came in second, according to preliminary results release Sunday night.

    Yeah, I’m pretty sure that Iran’s support of al-Sadr while he “bravely” urged his followers to fight US troops to their deaths from his apartment in Tehran will count for something if he gets a hold of the reins of power in Iraq.

    He surprised Iraqis by forming a cross-sectarian, non-Islamist electoral coalition for Saturday’s vote that includes Iraq’s communist party.

    Everything old is new again.

  • Nuclear Electrician’s Mate Second Class Jeremiah Adams died on hike

    Nuclear Electrician’s Mate Second Class Jeremiah Adams died on hike

    The Navy Times reports that Bremerton-based Nuclear Electrician’s Mate Second Class Jeremiah Adams’ body was found on the Gray Wolf Trail in the Olympics;

    Authorities believe Adams was following a primitive trail when he fell over the edge.

    Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Brian King said Adams’ body was found 300 feet (91 meters) below the trail in a ravine after a group of hikers reported glimpsing something that looked like clothing on Saturday.

    He had only traveled about six miles before he had the accident. Officials don’t believe anything nefarious caused the tragedy.

  • Air Force to adopt Army’s OCP uniform

    Air Force to adopt Army’s OCP uniform

    The Air Force announced today that they are adopting the Army’s Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) uniform, according to the Air Force Times;

    The Air Force announced Monday that it is adopting the Army’s OCP as its official utility uniform. The uniform will roll out across the force over the next three years.

    While some airmen already wear the OCP ? such as airmen in the Middle East and Air Force Global Strike Command security forces ? the Air Force will start rolling it out to others beginning Oct. 1.

    By April 1, 2021, all airmen will be required to wear the OCP, and the current airman battle uniform, or ABU, will be no more.

    “Our airmen have made it clear, with a resounding, ‘Hey, we want to get into this uniform as soon as we possibly can,’” Maj. Gen. Robert LaBrutta, the Air Force’s director of military force management policy, said in a May 9 interview at the Pentagon.

    Well, it was probably cheaper than coming up with their own pattern, too. There will be military fashionista designers who are unemployed as a result. AMFers.

  • Mk19 grenade rounds missing

    Mk19 grenade rounds missing

    Andy11M sends us a link to the news that the 91st Missile Wing Security Forces team from the Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota are missing a box of Mk19 machine gun rounds;

    The team was traveling on rough gravel roads about four miles west of Parshall when the back hatch of the vehicle opened, and an ammunition container fell out, the Air Force said.

    I hope the Air Force is more cautious with aircraft cargo doors.

    The explosives were lost on 76th Avenue Northwest, somewhere between 33rd Street Northwest and Highway 23, the sheriff’s office said. The missing explosives were reported to the sheriff’s office about 4:15 p.m. on May 4, Sheriff Ken Halvorson said in a news release.

    More than 100 airmen walked the entire six-mile route several times on Friday to search for the explosives but were unsuccessful, Halvorson said.

    The Air Force Office of Special Investigations is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the munitions. The Air Force issued its first public statement on the lost ammunition about 7:30 p.m. Friday, 10 days after the explosives went missing and hours after Halvorson first issued a press release.

    Lemme see, 100 Airmen walk six miles at a pace of 10 complaints per foot per Airman. I guess the Army is lucky that they don’t have any units near Minot. When I was in Panama, the Air Force used to task us for everything that might get their uniforms dirty.

  • Anthony Gradi; phony Marine

    Anthony Gradi; phony Marine

    Our partners at Military Phonies sent us their work on this Anthony Gradi fellow who claims to be a Marine;

    The Marines responded “Who?”

    The National Personnel Records Center, which would hold Gradi’s records based on the time frame he would have served on active duty, could find no records indicating that Gradi served in the Armed Forces. It is possible that he could have served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, but active duty would have shown up if he went to boot camp and certainly any specialized MOS training.

    Oddly, the NPRC seemed to point to service in the Merchant Marines, so a request was made to the Department of Homeland Security for Merchant Marine service.