Category: Administrative

The above chart is our traffic report for yesterday – it was a fairly average day and it’s up about 100% from January. I’m proud that this blog has become a part of so many people’s day. But, never one to be satisfied, I’m adding another blogger here. It’s not someone regular readers don’t know – it’s Thus Spake Ortner from The Sniper who has been a big part of our growth here. He’ll continue posting at The Sniper, but he’ll also treat us to his musings here occasionally.

He’s a little reticent about posting on this WordPress platform, however he promised me that he’ll start tomorrow. So if you come by tomorrow and get an error message, it’s because TSO drove my blog over a cliff.

But rest assured that the blog is now in the hands of three Combat Infantry Badge wearers.

Also please notice in the sidebar I’ve added the Blog Net News/Moronosphere widget (under the typing monkey logo) so you can keep track of what’s being written in the other blogs that have derived from Ace of Spades. The intrepid DPUD put it together – be sure you use it often and thank him when you get over there.

Some of you may have noticed that some spam has been sneaking through my filters. I usually catch it in a timely manner, but I’m afraid someone might click on a miscreant’s link. I’ve added a couple of filter parameters in the form of some common words I’ve seen spammers use – the downside is that one of you might use the word in your comments. I can’t tell you what the words are, because it’d be like telling the spammers. If your comment doesn’t appear immediately, it may have been filtered and I go through the spam comments a few times everyday, so don’t take it personally.

I like the way anyone can comment here and I really don’t want to change it. But, ultimately, the increased spam activity is only an indication of our larger presence in the blog world.

Thanks for understanding.

First, a huge thank you to Jonn for letting me post here. I hope that I can occasionally offer something of value in the dialogue.

Jonn’s introduction was typical of him, very understated. The following is an excerpt from a Valorous Unit Award that Jonn and I helped to secure:

The 41st Infantry was called upon to deploy to Southwest Asia to prepare for the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi hands. On 15 February 1991, Task Force 1-41 IN began firing on the enemy. TF 1-41 was the first coalition force to breach the Saudi Arabian border and conduct ground combat operations in Iraq. For six hours the task force engaged a brigade sized element. A tenacious and determined enemy occupied extremely well prepared and heavily fortified bunkers. Task force elements dismounted and engaged the Iraqis in numerous short range fire fights while methodically clearing the extensive bunker complex. By morning, the Task Force had systematically reduced the entrenched enemy position in zone.

More to Jonn specifically. He was one of the best NCOs I ever worked with and believe me, that is high praise considering some of the icons of the Infantry community that I have worked with.

I also bring a perspective of having a son in the 82nd Airborne Division that just returned from his third tour and a daughter in the 4th Infantry Division. She’s a 2LT and has not yet deployed and obviously she’s not Infantry.

So, I hope to post things that are relevant and hopefully make us all think a bit deeper.

I will also post some complete nonsense because I have been known for years as a wise cracking smart-ass.

Jonn wrote: I’ll be busy this morning at the IVAW Congressional hearings, so ya’all have fun welcoming Danny.  And a big thanks to Danny for joining our discussions. We’ve got some pretty experienced wise-cracking smartasses, too.

My only son, Paul, the Air Force Sergeant, turns thirty years old today. Thanks for making your mom and I so proud, son.

For about 5 weeks, the ever-patient Dino at E.Webscapes Design Studio has been slaving away to create this new look for the blog. We’re still shaking out some of the bugs today. I just figured my small, but dedicated band of readers and authors deserved a better visual experience – and I’m told once I learn how to drive this thing, it’ll be a better experience for us all.

So if everything you’re looking for isn’t here yet, not to worry it’ll arrive shortly. At this point nothing is working off of the front page, including comments. Dino was working feverishly all night to get it running so I’m sure when he stirs this morning, he’ll get the archives and comments working.

Thanks for your patience.

Updated: The tireless and ever-patient Dino has fixed the Comments and the Archives. So have at it!

One odd thing I noticed is that in Windows XP (with a Foxfire browser), the background is sand colored, but in Vista (with a Foxfire browser) it looks pink.