Random Military Information

Here, let me introduce you to some fine folks:

The real news in Iraq

Meet:

David Bellavia is a former U.S. Army staff sergeant who served in the First Infantry Division for six years. He has been recommended for the Medal of Honor by his leadership, and has been nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross. He has received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York state's highest combat valor award) and was recently inducted into the New York State Veteran's Hall of Fame. His Task Force 2-2 Infantry has fought on such battlefields as Al Muqdadiyah, An Najaf, Al Fallujah, Mosul, and Baqubah. His actions in Fallujah, Iraq, were documented in the Nov. 22, 2004, cover story "Into the Hot Zone" by award-winning journalist Michael Ware. He is 30 years old.

Rep. Murtha is causing casualties

This is part of the effort to provide safe, secure, healthy and professional law enforcement facilities for police officers so they can protect Iraqi citizens, secure their country from terrorists and apprehend criminals.

Celebrating with Iraqi Policemen

These children are fortunate enough to be attending a newly renovated school that the US Army Corps of Engineers finished renovating in December in Diwnaiyah Province. The school was previously called Saddam Hussein School and was in such deplorable condition that engineers thought the building should be condemned.

The community said no, they wanted to keep their school and I call this a phoenix project, almost like rising from the ashes. After new electrical wiring, ceiling fan fixtures, bathrooms, clean water, tiles on the floor and tiles in the courtyard for a playground, new plaster and lots of paint, the transformation is amazing.

The schools has 1600 children, it is in a poor area of the city and we attended the afternoon session that day which has all girls. Some schools have mixed boys and girls and some have separate classes. I'm told some have classes together until a certain age.

We delivered about 30 boxes of school supplies and backpacks to this school and we are trying to find donations to buy desks. More children could attend school if there were more desks. The desks they are using now are broken, sliverd, corners missing and I even saw one desk with the top missing so the children had nothing to write on. Yet these children sit three to one desk and smiled gleefully at getting one crayon out of a box, one colored pencil and one piece of candy. It is hard for us to imagine such gratitude when our children have boxes of crayons and more candy than they can consume.

Read the rest here



Meet Lieutenant K

I about died laughing at this one:

If I get waxed because I can’t move out of the way of oncoming bullets someone please find out who was behind it all and punch them in the balls for me.

Friendly Fire - With Friends like these...

And here is someone who GETS IT!

I was sitting in my backyard this weekend -enjoying a six pack and unwinding- and I started thinking about blogging and how it has shaken my old ideologies to the core. I once self-identified as a conservative, in the Reagan-esque definition of the word "conservative." No big government, few taxes, guide the nation according to the concrete Constitution (as opposed to those silly "living Constitutionalists," and a strong national defense.

I still believe in all that, but I realized that blogging day in and day out about our new enemy, the war in Iraq, and the rise of the new anti-war movement has given me tunnel vision. Today I could care less about stem cell research and gay marriage, abortion and taxes. I don't give a damn about the petty squables of the pre-9/11 world. All I care about is winning this war.

Thus my new ideology is that of victory. I'm not conservative or liberal or liberatarian or Green or Republican or Democrat. I'm pro-victory. Once upon a time my vote would have gone to a Republican 99.999% of the time. Today my votes will go to the candidates who prove themselves as committed to fighting this fight to the end, even if it takes years, decades, or centuries.

I hate cowardice more than I hate high taxes. I despise weakness more than I despise abortion. I'm more intolerant of lack of resolve than I am of campaign finance reform. And all I see out of this new anti-war movement is weakness, cowardice, and gutlessness.

A self identified anti-war type wrote in our comments section earlier:

Read the rest here
This person gets it. He understands.
It should not matter what political affiliation you are, you should be PRO-VICTORY!

"The Army met 103 percent of its goal with 8,337 recruits; the Navy got 101 percent of its goal with 2,726 new sailors; the Marine Corps met 106 percent of its goal with 3,234 Marine recruits; and the Air Force got 101 percent of its goal with 2,195 new airmen, according to the DOD.

The Army National Guard also got 113 percent of its goal with 6,341 recruits, while the Marine Corps Reserve and Air Force Reserve each met 100 percent of their goal with 854 and 2,362 recruits respectively."

Stars and Stripes

Oh those Evil Republicans will DRAFT you, but..but...but....
Look who is renewing the call for a DRAFT for the 3rd time:

WASHINGTON — A New York congressman has once again proposed reinstating the draft, not just to boost the ranks of U.S. fighters but also to discourage what he sees as some politicians’ cavalier attitude toward military action.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has introduced the legislation twice before, each time with no success. Two years ago the House rejected his idea by a 402-2 vote.

Stars and Stripes
Where is the media reports on this?
A 3rd time!

Hollywood wants to make a movie about Iraq called "Over There". The Soldiers who have seen it say it complete bull**** and hollywood has no clue.

"Thank God that's over," said a master sergeant as the credits rolled.

But some camo-clad critics at Camp Murray were left wondering just what the message was in "Over There." One said a young soldier who brags about slitting the throat of a child sentry "makes us look like murderers."

Master Sgt. Jeff Clayton complained that cameras deliberately dragged out the death scenes of Iraqi insurgents after a firefight, lingering unnecessarily on the carnage. "It made me sick."

And where, soldiers asked, were the scenes of soldiers building schools, Iraqi kids waving American flags?

Soldiers say 'Over There' is 'bogus'

Also, I was appalled reading this report on the LA Times front page smear on Michael Yon. As you are aware, I am a huge fan of Michael Yon and feel he speaks from a soldiers perspective rather than the elitist, ignorant perspective of the vast majority of journalist. The LA Times is a great example of this type of reporting, and anyone wishing to get a very negative view on things here in Iraq or Afghanistan (or Pres. Bush) can find it in either the LA or the NY Times.

Soldiers Diary

With the Kaiserslautern military community home to more than 50,000 Americans with military ties, Sheehan could face a rough welcome. When asked for comment Wednesday on Sheehan’s upcoming visit, several soldiers in Kaiserslautern asked if they could be quoted anonymously.

One soldier, who recently returned from Iraq, did give his name but didn’t have much to say about Sheehan.

“Anything I would have to say about her, you couldn’t print,” Army Staff Sgt. Mark Genthner said.

Stars and Stripes

After a year of rounding up bad guys, destroying Saddam's weapons caches and rebuilding Iraq, why would a veteran want to pay for information from the MSM? Those stories don't make the news, except for the aforementioned smaller newspapers and TV stations following their home units. Drop a Koran in Gitmo 8 and you're on the front page for two weeks 9, but pass out thousands of them in Iraq to needy worshipers and the press won't give you the time of day, unless of course you happen to accidentally drop one.

I've heard this a thousand times from soldiers of many races, creeds and colors. If I had a dollar for every time a grunt asked me if the media "covered the same war that I fought," I'd be a rich man. Simply put, soldiers think more than the rest of the populace that the press selectively covers stories, and with that mindset, I doubt they will ever be convinced to pay for the privilege of reading them. And I think it's safe to say that soldiers' families aren't going to be inclined to subsidize slander libel of their loved ones via a newspaper subscription (oops -- slander is spoken, libel is written).

Media Slander

Today Show: US Soldier in Iraq Zaps Media - "I'd Be Depressed Too If I Got my News from the Newspapers"

"For those of us who have actually had a chance to get out and meet the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police and go on patrols with them, we are very satisfied with the way things are going here and we are confident that if we are allowed to finish the job we started we'll be very proud of it and our country will be proud of us for doing it!"

Today Show Suprise


Why do I have to read British newspapers to learn about the heroic actions of our troops?

Ack! Sorry got carried away lol.


"Freedom is the natural condition of the human race, in which the Almighty intended men to live. Those who fight the purpose of the Almighty will not succeed. They always have been, they always will be, beaten." - Abraham Lincoln (Feb 23, 1861)