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

Category: Military issues

  • Operation Toy Drop 2010 gets 5,000 toys for kids

    Operation Toy Drop 2010

    This weekend, paratroopers at Fort Bragg donated more than 5,000 toys this weekend to needy children for the opportunity to earn jump wings from foreign allies Botswana, Canada, Chile, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Poland and Thailand.

    “We’re having a great airborne day today, and paratroopers just love jumping,” said Maj. Gen. David Blackledge, commanding general of U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) from Sicily drop zone Saturday. “This is a great opportunity for us to give back to the communities that have supported us so well through all the deployments the last ten years.”

    Rain and sleet in the freezing morning temperatures didn’t scare away U.S. and allied nation paratroopers from donating toys and earning foreign airborne wings during the 13th annual Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop. The annual event got underway Friday with toy collection and sustained airborne training, and the first 1,300 paratroopers jumped onto Sicily drop zone, where large crowds gathered despite the near freezing temperatures.

    By mid-day, rain and at times sleet blanketed the area, forcing planners to reschedule the day’s remaining jumps to next week.


    You can find photos at Flickr and videos at DVIDS

  • 20 soldiers become citizens

    The Press-Enterprise reports that 20 legal immigrants in uniform became citizens at Fort Irwin, CA;

    Forcado and nearly half of the others are veterans of the Iraq war. She worked in supply there and helped search females when soldiers went into Iraqis’ houses. She has served in the Army five years, expects to be deployed again in the future and wants to make the military a career.

    College was never really an option for her, she said.

    “I decided to make the best of it and join the Army to support my country.”

    Sgt. 1st Class Dorothy Jarman, 37, a veteran of two Iraq deployments providing security for truck convoys, took the oath as a citizen to the surprise of some of the comrades she invited to the ceremony.

    Unlike many immigrants who think they are owed citizenship, and whom Harry Reid is more than happy to help, these folks have earned their right to be called citizens and I welcome them.

  • Operation Toy Drop 2010 II

    The actual drop is supposed to start this morning and the links at yesterday’s post should take you to the live feed from Fort Bragg on what looks like Sicily Drop Zone at about 9AM.

    6,000 toys were donated and 4,000 paratroopers will jump this week. This is the thirteenth year of Operation Toy Drop.

  • We’re finally ready for Godzilla

    Finally, after 50 years of development the Navy has developed a weapon that fires a bullet powerful enough to take out Godzilla according to Fox News. Here’s the video;

    Rather than relying on a explosion to fire a projectile, the technology uses an electomagnetic current to accelerate a non-explosive bullet at several times the speed of sound. The conductive projectile zips along a set of electrically charged parallel rails and out of the barrel at speeds up to Mach 7.

    The result: a weapon that can hit a target 100 miles or more away within minutes.

    Now if we can just get Godzilla to stand in front of the building, we’ll be all set.

    Thanks to Old Trooper for the link.

  • Joy and sorrow

    BooRadley sent this link, and I’ve been holding off trying to think what I could add, to no avail. So here’s the link.

  • Operation Toy Drop 2010

    The annual Operation Toy Drop is scheduled to star at 9AM Eastern Today. There’s supposed to be a live feed at this webcast;

    If it doesn’t work, go here. ADDED: Yeah, I can’t get the embed to work so you’ll have to go to the link.

    Here’s some background on the event;

    As the paratroopers of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) gear up for what will be the biggest airborne operation held by the U.S. Army, one thing remains first on their minds, it’s for the kids.

    “For me, Toy Drop means that for Christmas morning, a child who doesn’t usually get any sort of presents will be able to open one and play with that toy all day long,” said Hipenbecker. “That child wouldn’t have gotten that toy if it wasn’t for these caring paratroopers.”

    The annual Randy Oler Memorial Operation Toy Drop has become the largest combined airborne operation held by the U.S. Army Reserve’s USACAPOC(A) with the help of Pope Air Force Base’s 43rd and 440th Airlift Wings, the participation of Soldiers from Fort Bragg’s XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division and Special Operations Command. This year’s event takes place December 10th and 11th at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and hopes to raise more than 6,000 toys for families in need.

    Here’s how it works. Paratroopers bring an unwrapped toy to donate in exchange for the opportunity to earn foreign jump wings from allied soldiers from around the world. This year’s event will host allied jumpmasters from 10 different countries. Joining the returning allied jumpmaster favorites from Germany, Canada, Poland, Ireland, and Chile, are jumpmasters from Botswana, Thailand, Estonia, Israel, and Latvia.

    Sorry to be so brief, I’m just trying to get up in time.

  • 8 sets of remains found in grave at Arlington

    The Washington Post reports that in October the Army found 8 sets of remains buried in the same grave marked “Unknown” at Arlington National Cemetery. It wasn’t announced until yesterday;

    The investigation began in October after Kathryn Condon, director of the Army’s National Cemeteries Program, became “aware of questionable practices,” she said in a statement. Condon said eight sets of remains were buried under a headstone that read “Unknown,” and cemetery records showed that only one set of remains was to be buried there.

    Grey would not discuss how the remains might have ended up in a single plot or what particular laws could have been violated, saying “that will be determined as we move forward with the investigation.”

    So the Army has started a real criminal investigation this time instead of just punishing the decedents’ families.

    The latest discovery follows a series of revelations in August, in which one grave site at Arlington was found empty, another contained the wrong remains and a third had two sets of remains, only one of which matched the headstone’s name.

    Those problems were likely caused by human error, officials said. But the burial of eight remains in a single site “is very suspect,” Grey said.

    Human error? Really? It’s incompetence and unrestrained boobery.

  • Mullen plans to institute a Reverse Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

    Admiral Mike Mullen told the Senate Arms Committee today that when DADT is repealed, all of you POS servicemembers who’ve served faithfully over the years, adhering to every DoD and Executive policy to the letter of those policies, well, you can just get the fuck out of his military (Fox News link);

    Mullen told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the military is based on meritocracy, “what you do, not who you are.” He said if Congress changes the don’t ask, don’t tell policy then the U.S. military will comply.

    And if some people have a problem with that, they may not want to join the service.

    While some troops may ask for a separate berth or different showers, “some may even quit the service,” Mullen said. “We’ll deal with that.”

    Shouldn’t that be “Who you do, not who you are”? Because apparently assholes like Dan Choi who’ve made a pest of themselves by NOT following an established policy…hell, demonstrated an inability to comply with ANY policy…get a pass.

    Now you fucking breeders know where you stand with the CJCS.

    I never thought I’d see the day that a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs would make such an blatant threat to his troops in front of the Senate Arms Committee.

    I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not invited to this toad’s birthday party this weekend.