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

Category: Support the troops

  • SGT Dan Powers is a Lucky Man

    CNN/DOD pic
    CNN has the fascinating story of Sgt Dan Powers of Fort Bragg’s 118th MP Company, who while investigating an explosion in a Baghdad neighborhood was stabbed in the head with a NINE INCH KNIFE. His fellow soldiers rushed him back to their base from where he was rushed to a top notch hospital in Balad. LTC Dr Teff an Army neurosurgeon, operated on Powers with a long LONG distance assist from vascular surgeon LTC Rocco Armonda who watched the procedure in real time on his laptop while pulled over to the side of a highway.
    SGT Powers was flown to Bethesda where further surgery was performed, leaving him in a drug induced coma for four long days, with doctors concerned he would awaken blind or with brain damage. Remarkably, he only had a little difficulty with balance. Now at home in North Carolina

    Powers says he still gets pretty bad headaches, but that a couple of aspirin makes them go away.

    Doctors will perform another surgery in January, Powers says he hopes to return to his job as squad leader in the spring.

    Wow! SGT Powers is a VERY lucky man.

  • Father of Slain Marine Wins $11MILLION from Westboro Loons

    Albert Snyder, father of slain Marine LCPL Matthew Snyder won every count of his lawsuit against the Westboro Baptist Church loons who protest at his son’s funeral in 2006. The jury awarded Mr Snyder $2.9 million for compensatory damages and a staggering $8 million in punitive damages.
    The Westboro Church is headed by Fred Phelps, who also runs the WWW.godhatesfags.com website. Some thirty thousand protests are claimed by the, largely Phelps family group.

    U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, who had sealed the church’s financial documents, said from the bench that the compensatory damage award would already eclipse Westboro’s assets.

    Good! Hopefully these jackals will be forced into poverty, then they won’t be able to disrupt any more funerals of servicemen.

    The Baltimore Sun has the story

  • Beauchamp and second chances

    Like everyone else, I piled on Scott Thomas Beauchamp. His fables sounded like latrine humor to me, and it turned out that I was right. That post still gets a couple of hits every week – mostly from dot-mil addresses. I’ve taken pot-shots at Beauchamp every chance I got, but those days ended last week.

    I read Michael Yon’s “Beauchamp and the Rule of Second Chances: Pass it Along” last week and I felt a little guilty;

    Beauchamp is young; under pressure he made a dumb mistake. In fact, he has not always been an ideal soldier. But to his credit, the young soldier decided to stay, and he is serving tonight in a dangerous part of Baghdad. He might well be seriously injured or killed here, and he knows it. He could have quit, but he did not. He faced his peers. I can only imagine the cold shoulders, and worse, he must have gotten. He could have left the unit, but LTC Glaze told me that Beauchamp wanted to stay and make it right. Whatever price he has to pay, he is paying it.

    Just like when I drew on my platoon sergeant experience when I refuted Beauchamp’s stories, that same experience tells me to forgive him his transgressions, for the moment.

    Yon’s conversation with Beauchamp’s former commander reminded me of my infantry platoon sergeant days. I’d occasionally get guys for whom my platoon was their their last chance in the Army. Out of all of them, in my twelve years of pushing platoons, I only chaptered one of them. The rest soldiered their asses off.  If Beauchamp’s leadership has that kind of confidence in his rehabilitation, I do, too.

    But, as I commented at one blog, if Beauchamp has his sights set on being a writer, he should get down on his knees and kiss Michael Yon’s feet for that great post Yon put up in his defense that’ll rehabilitate his image in the blogosphere.

    I’ll also concur with Yon as far as the fate of The New Republic’s staff;

    As for The New Republic, some on the staff may feel like they’ve been hounded and treed, but it’s hard to feel the same sympathy for a group of cowards who won’t “fess up and can’t face the scorn of American combat soldiers who were injured by their collective lapse of judgment. It’s up to their readers to decide the ultimate fate.

    The New Republic treed like a bandit . . . personally, I think they would make a nice Daniel Boone hat.

    Beauchamp’s redemption will come after personal sacrifice, TNR staff will never understand the concept.

    Confederate Yankee takes apart a poorly-researched LA Times /Tim Rutten attack on the military disguised as a defense of TNR (h/t The Jawa Report).

    Glenn Greenwald, sock-puppet extraordinaire, claims the Army is becoming an appendage of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy;

    But there is a secondary issue in this story that is being ignored — how the U.S. military, like everything else, is becoming rapidly politicized, fully incorporated into and following the model of the Republican right-wing noise machine.

    Or, maybe, you goofy, goofy man, the Army decided they’d rather release information for public consumption through sources that would release the primary documents instead of sources that are famous for releasing bits and pieces accompanied by talking points and saturated with misinformed opinions.

    How ’bout that?

  • Violence in Iraq Down by 70% (Seventy Percent)

    According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, and they ought to know, since the surge was completed in June, violence in Iraq is down a staggering SEVENTY PERCENT!

    In Baghdad, considered the epicenter of the violence because of its mix of Shi’ites and Sunni Arabs, car bombs had decreased by 67 percent and roadside bombs by 40 percent, he said. There had also been a 28 percent decline in the number of bodies found dumped in the capital’s streets.

    In Anbar, a former insurgent hotbed where Sunni Arab tribes have joined U.S. forces against al Qaeda, there has been an 82 percent drop in violent deaths.

    “These figures show a gradual improvement in controlling the security situation,” Khalaf said.

    Reuters Story

    Jonn added: Greyhawk catches Newsweek accusing the Bush Administration of covering up the good news. Don Surber reports Democrat leadership meetings to head off the impending crisis of success in Iraq.

  • First in, first out

    Crotchety Old Bastard reports that the ‘troopers of the 82nd are their way back from Iraq;

    FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) – The homecomings for the paratroopers of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division start later this month.

    More than 100 soldiers from division’s 3rd Brigade have already returned to Fort Bragg and are preparing for the more than 3,200 paratroopers who will follow.

    Among them is COB’s son. Congrats, buddy.

    I also got this .pdf from the 82d Division Association announcing the expansion of the Global War on Terror Memorial at Fort Bragg – so stop by COB’s blog and join in his and his wife’s joy (and buy his new book) and drop off a coupla bucks for the GWOT memorial using the attached form.

    Hey, I don’t ask for your money often.  

  • Washington Post; Al-Qaeda In Iraq Reported Crippled

    I know, it’s almost paralyzing, isn’t it? After a week of publishing old news on the front page of their newspaper, in the form of an expose on IEDs merely two weeks ago so they could avoid reporting the good news pouring out of Iraq, the Washington Post finally admits that the US-led coalition has made substantial headway;

    The U.S. military believes it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over the group, which the Bush administration has long described as the most lethal U.S. adversary in Iraq.

    It doesn’t take long for the other shoe to drop, however;

    “I think it would be premature at this point,” a senior intelligence official said of a victory declaration over AQI, as the group is known. Despite recent U.S. gains, he said, AQI retains “the ability for surprise and for catastrophic attacks.” Earlier periods of optimism, such as immediately following the June 2006 death of AQI founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. air raid, not only proved unfounded but were followed by expanded operations by the militant organization.

    The article is also followed on the front page with the story of the Washington Post reporter, Salih Saif Aldin’s, death in Baghdad.

    The 32-year-old Iraqi reporter in The Washington Post’s Baghdad bureau was shot once in the forehead in the southwestern neighborhood of Sadiyah. He was the latest in a long line of reporters, most of them Iraqis, to be killed while covering the Iraq war. He was the first for The Washington Post.
     
    “The death of Salih Saif Aldin in the service of our readers is a tragedy for everyone at The Washington Post. He was a brave and valuable reporter who contributed much to our coverage of Iraq,” said Leonard Downie Jr., executive editor of The Post. “We are in his debt. We grieve with his family, friends, fellow journalists and everyone in our Baghdad bureau.

    Yes, it’s indeed sad, but if the Post had put even one article about a single soldier or sailor or marine or airman that had died on the front page, I wouldn’t be rolling my eyes this morning. In fact, did they run a front page story of Medal of Horor recipient SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy last week? Nope. Here’s the Post’s reportage on the page 11A column “Nation in Brief“;

    Navy Seal to Be Given Posthumous Honor

         

    GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — A Navy Seal who was killed while leading a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan will be given the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. Lt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue on Long Island is the first Medal of Honor recipient for combat in Afghanistan, the Navy said in a statement.

    That’s it – the whole thing. It’s not even the first item in the series. Yet a 32-year-old reporter gets the front page. So my excitement at a front page story of success in Iraq is tempered by my disdain for the elitist retards at the Washington Post.

    Deebow at Blackfive noticed the same poor reportage from NYT on Lt. Murphy. Linda SoG at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy goes off on the Associated Press for ignoring our heroes and naming several they should get to know.

    I’ll continue to get my news from the internet – like this news from Iraq and this from Afghanistan, both by RTO Trainer at Protein Wisdom (h/t Ace of Spades). And Victor Davis Hanson (by way of Curt at Flopping Aces and Michele Malkin). And from Gateway Pundit who has the numbers as well as the good news.

  • Sorry state of the Left; the politics of bad taste

    I’m tired of the “phony soldiers” story and that seems all that’s on the blogs this weekend. Even EJ Dionne at the Washington Post blogs that (surprise!) he’d take the word of Media Matters over that of the cacophonous opposition of those of us who’ve listened to Rush for decades.

    Wes Clark (h/t Hot Air) has decided that Rush shouldn’t be on Armed Forces Radio – but it was because of the popular demand of the troops that Rush was added to AFRTS broadcasts back in 1994 (when they were abandoned by the then-current administration). Shouldn’t it be by popular demand that Rush is removed by the line-up or is Wes Clarke the sole arbiter of what the troops should have for entertainment?

    But regardless, Kos diarist dlawbailey has taken Rush’s “phony soldier” controversy as a signal that the Left can bash troops at will now (h/t to LGF, Uncle Jimbo and Sparta. dlawbailey even takes potshots at Pete Hegseth’s wife’s appearance in an attempt to undermine the good works of Vets for Freedom. And spouting off about stuff he doesn’t understand (like ROTC training and military service) including the one glaring point that Uncle Jimbo caught the weasel on – the 101st hasn’t been a parachute unit since the early 70s. When I was stationed in Panama, they used to show up for the unit training at Jungle Operations Training Center in their blue berets instead of the maroon berets of every parachute unit in the Army. I was stationed there 1976-1978, so it’s been that long that the 101st has been “dopes on a rope” (a derisive phrase used only by paratroopers when referring to the 101st and their special training requiring them to slide down a rope to arrive at the cutting of battle by air. I’ll add that it’s not acceptable for non-airborne personnel to use the term and my use of the phrase is not a signal for Leftist diarists to begin referring to the noble troopers of the 101st Airborne Division as “dopes”).

    Since I also spent a few years teaching ROTC (at the University of Vermont), I can also add that not every cadet gets to go to Airborne School – the detachment is assigned a number of slots and there aren’t ever enough slots for everyone. Participation in political organizations while in an ROTC detachment isn’t limited by Army regulations – so cadets can join any organization to which they are drawn just like any other college student. Cadets aren’t confined by the UCMJ – dlawbailey should do a little research before wrapping himself/herself in minutae he/she doesn’t understand.

    Peckerwood dlawbailey complains about Hogseth’s lack of training – anyone who has spent a month in a TO&E unit knows that a bright and shiney new El-Tee has already had a few years of training at whatever college they attended, six weeks at Advanced Camp (if they’re ROTC), six months of their Basic Officers’ Course and ancillary training (Ranger School, Airborne, etc.).

    It’s not unusual for someone in a National Guard unit (like Hegseth) to not be Airborne or Ranger because of the rare times those particular officers get a slot at school. Unlike the idiots at Kos, the Army puts more stock in experience than schooling. The Basic Airborne Course – although it’s a great honor to be among the finest soldiers in the history of the world – isn’t a leadership school. Aside from being physically and mentally rigorous, the main prerequisite for the course is the student’s ability to obey the Law of Gravity at varying heights – nothing about leading troops in combat. I’ve even had leg Ranger LTs; they’d graduated from Ranger School, but not the Basic Airborne Course. Just the luck of getting school slots – that’s all.

    It seems that the “phony soldier” phony signal has turned loose the moonbats everywhere. Newsbusters reports that one-in-five Democrats thinks it’s a good thing if the US loses the war in Iraq. Wha??? Unless one-in-five Democrats are al Qaeda sleeper operatives, that should make the DNC think whether they want the votes of that constituency or not.

    Newsbusters also reports that members of the mis-named “Think Progress” have taken to praying – that the President and Vice-President die. In the words of a member named ‘Uncle Ho’ (clearly a misinformed person just for chosing that nom de plum); “I pray for Bush, and Cheney too. I pray that both die suddenly to free us from their neo-Nazi rule”. Yep, neo-nazi rule. Even after viewing the repression of the monks in Burma, the Left still thinks we’re ruled by nazis here.

    Speaking of which, Kate took pics of the latest Buddist protests in DC at the Myanmar, Chinese and Indian embassies yesterday. Why aren’t more of the Left getting involved against REAL injustice instead of this manufactured phony soldiers crap?

    But that’s not it. Crotchety Old Bastard (who tells us his son is still kickin’ ass in Iraq as a member of the Red Falcons – best wishes to him from this old trooper, too) writes that Medea Benjamin, the head shriveled up, barren old bag of Code Pink has made the brave decision to forego the protections she recieves from the Constitution. Who does she think she’s kidding? Does she think we’re going to put her on a raft in the Pacific Ocean and tie it off with a 12-mile rope on the Santa Monica pier? Dumbass.

    And Code Pink has taken to bravely assaulting recruiters who, generally can’t defend themselves the way they’ve been trained according to Marooned in Marin. And those goofballs in front of Walter Reed every Friday night protesting the war? Well, it turns out that because we’re winning the war in Iraq, their voluntary participation has waned and according to Chickenhawk Express, Michele Malkin and the Free Republic, protesters are being drafted by the unions and forced to participate – even though they’re not exactly sure why they’re there.

    As I predicted three months ago, the Left and their anti-war politics are failing and they’ve succumbed to the same tactics of al Qaeda – attacking innocent people who can’t defend themselves (apparently, according to Crotchety Old Bastard, al Qaeda is even adopting the tactics of Democrats and attacking the dead, too). Just like the tactic isn’t working for al Qaeda, it’ll bring a ugly end to the anti-war screwballs, too, but not before there are a bunch more casualties – on both sides.

    UPDATED: It seems Uncle Jimbo, a retired special warfare operator of some reknown, started a diary on Kos and has been banned for – get this – being a pedophile. All he did was bust on the Koskommies for the aforementioned diarist’s post busting on an honest-to-goodness bronze star awardee’s career (and wife, by the way). The comments on Jimbo’s diary post are really beyond the pale. The closest comment to anything supporting the troops is when one commenter called Markos a “a f*king veteran”. Like I said – the politics of bad taste.

  • Robert Kaplan: Modern Heroes

    The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by Robert Kaplan this morning entitled “Modern Heroes” that attempts to repair the disconnect between the American public and the US’ volunteer military;

    The cult of victimhood in American history first flourished in the aftermath of the 1960s youth rebellion, in which, as University of Chicago Prof. Peter Novick writes, women, blacks, Jews, Native Americans and others fortified their identities with public references to past oppressions. The process was tied to Vietnam, a war in which the photographs of civilian victims “displaced traditional images of heroism.” It appears that our troops have been made into the latest victims.

    Oh, I agree – Michael Moore used them in his so-called documentaries, every night on the news is a clip of a legless or armless veteran trying to learn how to walk or eat again. I’ve met these “victims” still dirty from their encounters with the enemy and they’re ready and willing to return to their units – they don’t want to be pitied, they just want to do their jobs.

    Kaplan continues;

    The first Medal of Honor in the global war on terror was awarded posthumously to Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith of Tampa, Fla., who was killed under withering gunfire protecting his wounded comrades outside Baghdad airport in April 2003.

    According to LexisNexis, by June 2005, two months after his posthumous award, his stirring story had drawn only 90 media mentions, compared to 4,677 for the supposed Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay, and 5,159 for the court-martialed Abu Ghraib guard Lynndie England. While the exposure of wrongdoing by American troops is of the highest importance, it can become a tyranny of its own when taken to an extreme.

    Although Kaplan gives the media a pass in the first few paragraphs, I don’t. The aging editors decide that the American public needs to only see the ugly side of war and not the side that rescues children from death and injury, the side that valiantly crashes through a door, not knowing what’s on the other side and drags wounded comrades out of the line of fire.

    In particular, there is Fox News’s occasional series on war heroes, whose apparent strangeness is a manifestation of the distance the media has traveled away from the nation-state in the intervening decades. Fox’s war coverage is less right-wing than it is simply old-fashioned, antediluvian almost. Fox’s commercial success may be less a factor of its ideological base than of something more primal: a yearning among a large segment of the public for a real national media once again — as opposed to an international one. Nationalism means patriotism, and patriotism requires heroes, not victims.

    But, see, recognizing that there are heroes means recognizing that there is something greater than Man worth fighting and dieing – something beyond this existence here on this planet. Recognizing heroes means you have to admit that there are better people than yourself – that we’re not really all equal in all things, and there’s no government program that can level that particular playing field.

    That’s why the Left raises up it’s own heroes like Cindy Sheehan and Ramsey Clarke – two people when combined couldn’t make a pimple on the lowliest recruit’s ass. What the Left does isn’t at all heroic – the worst thing that could happen to them for the choices they make is a couple of hours in a sanitary holding cell waiting for arraignment in a society that forbids that anyone in authority even raise their voices at them. That’s not heroism – it’s gradeschool playground rules for the weak of spirit.

    Kaplan warns;

    The media is but one example of the slow crumbling of the nation-state at the upper layers of the social crust — a process that because it is so gradual, is also deniable by those in the midst of it. It will take another event on the order of 9/11 or greater to change the direction we are headed. Contrary to popular belief, the events of 9/11 — which are perceived as an isolated incident — did not fundamentally change our nation. They merely interrupted an ongoing trend toward the decay of nationalism and the devaluation of heroism.

    When that second event happens, there’d better not be leftists at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.