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

Author: Hondo

  • Seems Apropos For Today

    Today is National Beer Day.  April 7 is the day when Prohibition ended in 1933.

    Somehow, this repeat from close to a year ago seems apropos.  Enjoy. (smile)

     

     

    WARNING: Drinking too much of this stuff can lead to your doing some truly stupid sh!t, followed by waking up hung-over and naked next to someone who is absolutely FUGLY.  Use in moderation.

    And if you do manage to overindulge . . . be nice to your friends, family, and colleagues.  Make sure you spend the next day in a well-ventilated area. (smile)

  • Guest Article: Digital Media Access for Military, Civilians and DOD

    TAH regular reader and commenter H1 sent this, and thought some of our regular readers and commenters might find it of value.  I think that’s correct, so I’m posting it as a guest article.  What follows is H1’s work.

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    Friends, family and strap hangers of TAH.

    One of the perks of having a CAC many years ago was the ability to remotely check books out of the AKO library.  It made “hurry up and wait” a little more tolerable and the audio books became mission essential for long drives to Battle Assembly.  Even after the “AKO for Life” banner fell off the store front, the digital media program continued to march.  It has even expanded into additional offerings. Below is a write-up provided for an FRG newsletter.  The process has been validated and the library POC’s are most helpful.  The only caveat is this particular procedure is Army-centric.  I have reached out to the other branches and will compile a Joint version if there is interest.

    Free e-Books, Audio Books, Movies, Music, Magazines and More!

    Military Members, Retirees, Family Members, Veterans and DOD employees.

    Register for an Army MWR Library “My Account” with your local Post Library and have access to both onsite resources and online resources such as Overdrive and Zinio magazines.

    • To find your nearest Post library or log in go to:  http://mylibraryus.armybiznet.com
    • If you live farther than 3 hours from a Post Library, you can register for a library My Account online at:  Self Registration.
    • If you try to register and get an error contact us at mwr.library@mail.mil

    Apps for checking out books and other media are on the left side of the mylibrary home page.

     

     

    The Download Now gateway has instructions for using the numerous resources.  You will need to create an Overdrive account which will work on browsers, mobile devices and desktops.

    Overdrive on mobile devices allows you to always have something to read no matter where you are.

    To check out magazines for reading on mobile devices in native format, the Zinio for Libraries app needs to be installed (and an account created).

    Remote accounts are valid for one year, at which point you need to contact the Army MWR Library Program at usarmy.mwr.library@mail.mil to confirm your eligibility and retain access.  Registering at a local Army MWR Library extends the privileges for a longer period and allows access to computers and local book and media collections.

    If you have a civilian library card it also can be leveraged in Overdrive for digital media.  Just search for your libraries name and enter your library card number to login.  Adding libraries is a little easier in a web browser rather than the mobile app which tends to lag.  Once added, it will show up anywhere you log into Overdrive.  Books can be checked out and read in EPUB or Kindle/Nook format.

    I have found the Overdrive/Kindle combo to be the most transparent.

    —————

    Again, thanks to regular reader and commenter H1 for the article above.  It certainly seems to me to be something those eligible will find useful.

     

  • Wonder If They Have A Suspect?

    Ran across this perusing the news.

    $7 million cheese heist

    Turns out it was in Italy.  So it probably wasn’t anyone we know.

    (smile)

  • “Get On Board!”

    Well, it seems a couple of CENTCOM employees found out the hard way that telling the Emperor the truth as they saw it can be hazardous.

    Recently, a couple of CENTCOM intel analysists were shuttled aside. They may or may not have been forced out of their positions, but if not they definitely appear to have been marginalized.

    Their “crime”? Telling the CENTCOM CG that the US program supporting “moderate” Syrian rebels simply wasn’t working.

    One of the analysts alleging reprisals is the top analyst in charge of Syria issues at CENTCOM. He and a colleague doubted rebels’ capabilities and their commitment to U.S. objectives in the region. The analysts have been effectively sidelined from their positions and will no longer be working at CENTCOM, according to two individuals familiar with the dispute, and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Anyone who’s studied military history should find this unsurprising. USMAC-V famously ignored all but but rosiest intel analysis/reports concerning the situation in Vietnam prior to Tet 1968. And check out the scene described (in an account apparently based on the recollections of an eyewitness) on pages 3-5 of this document.

    The Daily Beast today has a longer article on the subject. IMO it’s worth reading – and it also says that CENTCOM is currently being investigated by the DoD IG for what appears to be a pattern of having deliberately skewed ISIS-related intel analysis and reports to present a rosier-than-real picture.

    “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” Or, if you prefer Yogi Berra’s version: “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

  • “Lucky Thirteen”? Hardly.

    Well, my friend “Birdie” came to see me again.  Yeah, you guessed it: A gUy We “KnOw AnD lOvE” has been at it again – maybe with help.

    This time, however, he/they managed to surprise me.

    No, they still don’t have a freaking clue regarding who I am.  It’s who El Numbnutz in Purple Tiger Stripes misidentified as me this time around that was the surprising part.

    In a way, they’ve reverted to form.  Once again, they misidentified a true, certified BAMF as being me.

    The gentleman they wrongfully identified as me this time is a recipient of more than one high award for valor – and here, high means “higher in precedence than the Bronze Star w/V Device”.  While it’s an honor to be thought a no-sh!t, honest-to-God badass war hero – even by El Numbnutz and/or his pals – it’s simply not the truth.

    Yep,      Fapping Fowl      Blunder Chicken:  you (and whoever might have helped you) screwed up.  Once again, you identified someone I’ve never even met as being me.

    In a way, this is sorta like “Groundhog Day”.  Except with these guys we get some odd variations on “teh stoopid” each time vice a verbatim replay of the previous.

    It’s nice to see that they’re back to using the DRC Ouija Board Method to come up with their bogus identifications –  e.g., viewing pix of true badasses while fapping furiously until they decide which one must be me.  That’s OK, though.  It means they’re more-or-less still “playing in their sandbox”, so to speak, and harmless.  Lord knows logic has nothing to do with it.

    . . .

    OK, obligatory recap time.  This is at least the thirteenth time this drove of dummkopfs (or a member/subgroup thereof) has falsely identified someone else as me.

    Last time, it was a retired SF Major.  And before that, a laundry list of others – including 4 Navy SEALs, a Navy Diver, a retired law professor, a serving Army officer, a retired SF SGM, a deceased Army GO, and several others.  This linked article contains links to details regarding most of those prior DRG flights of fancy.

    And, hell – I’ve almost certainly missed at least one or two of these toolboxes’ brain farts concerning who they think I am.  So thirteen is the lower limit for how many times they’ve Fornicated Fido here.

    But at least they seem to have a cool theme song for their version of Groundhog Day.  (smile)

    Give it up, dipsticks.  You’re clueless – and you’re also incapable of either finding or buying a clue.

  • The Official Bottled Water of the UC-Berkeley, Maybe?

     

    No, the photo isn’t a joke. It’s bottled by Polar Seltzer, and the flavor is called “Unicorn Kisses”. The stuff really exists.

    I’m guessing it will be very popular among “Progressive” fans of Bernie the Commie, though. It’s based on fantasy – sorta like Bernie the Commie’s view of how things “should be”.

  • Two More Belatedly Return

    DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US military personnel.

    From World War II

    • FM3 John H. Lindsley, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, US Navy, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor, HI.  He was accounted for on 25 March 2016.

    From Korea

    • CPL Dennis D. Buckley, A Battery, 15th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 13 February 1951 in South Korea.  He was accounted for on 21 March 2016.

    Welcome home, elder brothers-in-arms.  You’re home now.  Rest in peace.

    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA).  Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

    DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page.  The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves.  If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.

    If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one.  By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant.  Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial.  That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.

  • Tell Me Again Why We’re Involved?

    During the last two months, there have been armed clashes between two Syrian rebel factions on the northern outskirts of Aleppo.  The area is contested territory, and apparently both factions want to possess it.

    One of the groups is called Fursan al Haq, or “Knights of Righteousness”. They previously controlled the territory, but in February were displaced by “Syrian Democratic Forces” that moved into the area from the east.

    This wasn’t an isolated occurrence, either.  Similar clashes have been reported earlier this month in the town of Azaz, and in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood.

    Here’s the “punch line”:  Fursan al Haq is backed – an armed – by the CIA.  The Syrian Democratic Forces?  They’re backed and armed by the Pentagon.

    Yeah, you read that correctly.  Two of the Syrian rebel groups the US has backed to oppose Assad are currently fighting each other instead.

    Sheesh.  When the factions we back start fighting each other, you really have to wonder if we’re backing the right groups – or if we even have a freaking clue about what’s really going on in Syria.

    As I’ve said repeatedly:  perhaps Syria is indeed a case of, “Better the Devil you know . . . than the Devil you don’t.”  IMO, other than countering Da’esh and its allies we have “no dog in the fight” in the Syrian Civil War.  And had we not involved ourselves in Syria, I suspect Assad’s regime would have done a much better job taking care of Da’esh and its allies than we’ve done so far – at least in Syrian territory.

    This article from The Virginian-Pilot gives more details.  IMO it’s worth a read.