Things You Need To Know To Survive Combat

Good advice. Some examples ...

... in peacetime troops are taught to drive carefully, in order to avoid accidents. But in combat the safest form of driving is fast and, to peacetime sensibilities, reckless. Even if commanders seek to practice “combat driving” in peacetime they do so in the knowledge that after a few bad accidents orders will come down to not drive like that because it causes bad publicity.

...

Then you must learn how Mister Grenade can be your friend, even on the crowded streets of a city like Baghdad or Kandahar. If your vehicle has a glove compartment, re-label it as the “grenade compartment.” Carry one smoke, one fragmentation and one tear gas grenade. If you’re stuck in traffic and the situation outside it starting to look dicey, then drop a smoke grenade out the window and try to get moving. You MUST be moving if you drop the tear gas grenade, because you cannot drive through the tears. Most other drivers will give you a wide berth when they see the smoke or tear gas grenade go off. For those who keep coming, with evil intent, the fragmentation grenade may come in handy (it is good for getting at bad people hiding behind something.) Remember, when using grenades, do not touch the pin until the grenade is outside the window. Accidents happen, and having a smoke grenade go off in your vehicle will ruin your day, at the very least ....

If you are in a firefight and you wound one of the enemy, don’t let him crawl or limp away to safety. Kill him. These guys are doing holy war and will keep shooting even if wounded. They cannot hurt you if they are dead.

Defining "adequate" down

Female Marines Not Required To Do 1 Pull-Up

Here's something you won't see on NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC.

(CNSNews.com) -- Females in the Marine Corps currently are not required to do even a single pull-up, and a deadline mandating that by Jan. 1, 2014, they be able to do at least 3 pull-ups as part of their training has been delayed for at least a year, the Corps quietly announced on social media.

Unlike their female counterparts, male Marines have long been required to do at least 3 pullups as part of the Physical Fitness Test (PFT). That's the minimum requirement for males.

Female Marines are required, however, to do a flexed-arm hang from a bar, and their PFT score is calculated based upon how long they can properly hang on the bar.

Currently, “women aren’t able to make the minimum standard of three pull-ups,” Marine spokesman Capt. Eric Flanagan told CNSNews.com. Fifty-five percent of female recruits tested at the end of boot camp were unable to do three pull-ups (1 percent of male recruits also failed).

Marine officers told NPR off-the-record that, given the three-pull-ups rule, they were afraid of losing “not only new recruits, but also current female Marines who can’t pass the test.”

Why does it matter?

Pull-ups have been used to test Marines’ upper body strength for over 40 years. The ability to pull-up one’s own body weight over a bar shows the upper body strength that, in combat, is needed to lift fallen comrades, pull one’s self over a wall, and carry heavy munitions. Combat Marines also carry a pack that weighs around 90 pounds, with gunners carrying an additional 50 or 60 pounds.

Well, you can always leave fallen comrades behind, give you a boost and get the guy to carry the packages. Oh, is that sexist?

Political correctness is killing  people, but not the feminists who are getting their victims killed.

Rescue of Roger Locher

An incredible story of the American military.

At least 4 dead after train crashes into trailer during Texas veterans parade

That's just sad.

A freight train slammed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 17 others as the float tried to get through a West Texas railroad crossing on its way to an honorary banquet, authorities said.

The train was sounding its horn and people were jumping off the decorated flatbed truck before the collision around 4:40 p.m. in Midland, according to witnesses and Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange. A preliminary investigation indicates the crossing gate and lights were working, Lange said, though he didn't know if the train crew saw the float approaching.

Coward

Obama speech to soldiers met with silence

Via the Daily Caller:

President Barack Obama was greeted with fleeting applause and extended periods of silence as he offered profuse praise to soldiers and their families during an Aug. 31 speech in Fort Bliss, Texas.
His praise for the soldiers — and for his own national-security policies — won cheers from only a small proportion of the soldiers and families in the cavernous aircraft-hangar.
The audience remains quiet even when the commander-in-chief thanked the soldiers’ families, and cited the 198 deaths of their comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The audience’s reaction was so flat that the president tried twice to elicit a reaction from the crowd.
“Hey, I hear you,” he said amid silence.
The selected soldiers who were arrayed behind the president sat quietly throughout the speech.
CNN and MSNBC ended their coverage of the speech before it was half-over.

The Marines Made a Bed for Her



The night before the burial of her husband, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the coffin, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her.

Are American troops fighting for their king?

DRUDGE Headline:

Obama: Troops 'Fighting on My Behalf'...

The Weekly Standard expands: ‘On My Behalf’ In a column ridiculing Obama's so-called "evolution" on gay marriage they commented:

Mr. Obama actually did bare his soul unintentionally today (perhaps the Biden disease is catching) with his astonishing characterization of American fighting men and women, whom he referred to as “those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf.” Really? Most Americans thought they were fighting for the country, not on Barack Obama’s behalf.

When kings and emperors ruled, the troops were told they were fighting for their rulers. Apparently America's Ruling Class has adopted the royal attitude and once again soldiers are fighting for "king and country."

Note: Headline spelling error corrected.

I've always been a physical coward

Gerard Vander Leun knows one when he sees one: 

Gutsy? Really? Let's review. Here's the "guts" it takes.

You knock off from a round of golf and make your way -- surrounded by armed guards -- into a building that sits at the center of a concentric series of defensive rings involving armor, artillery, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines of the United States of America. Did I mention that your house, among many other things known and unknown, has a Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System installed on the roof?

Going from the golf course to your home, you exist in a bubble of protection formed by some of the finest, most highly trained and heavily armed whoremongers in the history of the world. Your personal automobile is nicknamed "The Beast" and cannot be penetrated by an anti-tank missile. In addition it "is perfectly sealed against biochemical attacks and has its own oxygen supply and firefighting system built into the trunk. Unseen at a glance are two holes hidden inside the lower part of the vehicle's front bumper, which are able to emit tear gas."

Once "at home" -- in what is risibly called "The People's House" -- you take a little stroll surrounded by your guards down to the Situation Room in the basement. There a bunch of people will keep tabs on "your" take-down of Bin Laden through one of the most sophisticated global communications systems in the world. You take your seat in the corner like Little Jack Horner, and sort of hunch over while an admiral of the US Navy turns on a large screen TV and you watch whatever happens to come over the net.

When the TV show put on for you is over you knock off for the rest of the day and go upstairs for some refreshments. Then it's time to make an announcement and to begin to preen around the world. Your acolytes will abase themselves without shame. You will brag without shame.

On the far side of the world, Seal Team Six -- the men that got aboard the helicopters, rode them into a hostile nation at night, crashed one, ran into a building and shot the world's most wanted man dead and then got out -- will be, I trust, relaxing with a beer or two. The guy who pulled the trigger on the Islamic animal will have Seal bragging rights for the rest of his life. But guess what? He'll probably never use them. You, you yellow coward, you'll bring up your meaningless little time spent watch Pentagon TV whenever you think you can find someone to stroke your eunuch's unit for you. Why? Because you've always been a physical coward and you are used to the lies that go with the role.

I can relate.

Two more soldiers killed in Afghanistan by government officers.

Two Nato [American]officers have been killed in the interior ministry in the Afghan capital Kabul, coalition officials say.

This will lead to another apology by Team Obama.  So far we have had the top general apologize, the President apologize and a Pentagon Official Apologize[s] at Virginia Mosque for Koran Burnings in Afghanistan.

But worry not, there are more apologies on the way. There may even be an Obama bow.

What happened?  I thought that after that dastardly Bush left office, the world was supposed to love us because we were now led by Obama, the uniter.

Wasn't this supposed to be the "good war?"  Why yes!  But it has an expiration date, like everything that Obama says.

Take Your "Outrage" and SHOVE IT!

On the PissGate "outrage."

News from around the world.

Turkey discovers weapons in Iran plane.

Turkish media reports plane forced to land in southeast Turkey carried rocket launchers, mortars, rifles and explosive materials

Syria Protests Spread

Unrest spread in southern Syria on Monday with hundreds of people demonstrating against the government in three towns near the main city of Deraa, but authorities did not use force to quell the latest protests.

U.S. Says Libyan Campaign to Ease as No-Fly Zone Is Secured

The fighting “should recede in the next few days,” Gates said at a press conference in Moscow today. Opposition fighters advanced on the central gateway city of Ajdabiya, which is held by loyalist troops, according to the Associated Press. Qaddafi’s army units continued to shell the western, rebel-held city of Misrata for a second day, residents said.

Who's in charge? Germans pull forces out of NATO as Libyan coalition falls apart

Deep divisions between allied forces currently bombing Libya worsened today as the German military announced it was pulling forces out of NATO over continued disagreement on who will lead the campaign.


A German military spokesman said it was recalling two frigates and AWACS surveillance plane crews from the Mediterranean, after fears they would be drawn into the conflict if NATO takes over control from the U.S.
The infighting comes as a heated meeting of NATO ambassadors yesterday failed to resolve whether the 28-nation alliance should run the operation to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, diplomats said.

'We are not at war,’

Opening the debate on French involvement in Libya, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon reiterated that the intervention was intended to stop attacks against Libyan civilians, and nothing more.

“We are not at war with Libya, we are protecting the civilian population,” said Fillon and added, “Our objectives are very specific... to protect the civilian population, excluding explicitly any occupation forces.”

Libya action 'impeachable'

President Barack Obama should be impeached for approving air strikes against Libya, Rep. Dennis Kucinich said in an interview Monday.

Obama’s Abu Ghraib: The Stuff Hits the Fan

When the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in 2003, the mainstream media and liberal blogosphere couldn’t find enough column inches to express adequately their shock and revulsion. The New York Times alone published 56 stories on the hideous revelation that members of the U.S. Army Reserve had tortured prisoners of war and posed for “trophy pictures”—inexcusable acts that the Times placed squarely at the feet of then-president George W. Bush.
What a difference a president makes. Until you flash forward to today’s bombshell, dropped by the British newspaper The Guardian, noting that members of a self-styled U.S. Army “kill team” posed for photos not with tortured prisoners but with corpses. Of civilians. Whom they had killed.
So far, the White House has released no statement regarding the images or accounts. Neither, surprisingly, has the New York Times.

Chavez says capitalism may have ended life on Mars
The Liberal ruler of Venezuela said

..."I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day.

Sexually assaulted and told 'You'll die tonight'... but spared as she's American: Female journalist's horror at the hands of Gaddafi's men

A female war photographer from the New York Times revealed tonight how she was repeatedly sexually assaulted during her nightmare hostage ordeal in Libya.

See how those photos of fighting are actually staged.

Extreme Special Forces Extraction Afghanistan

Those "no big deal" Wickileaks

Via Belmont Club

CBS News reports that Times of London reporters “scanning the [Wikileaks] reports for just a couple hours found hundreds of Afghan names mentioned as aiding the U.S.-led war effort.”

Recently Radio Netherlands described what Afghans who are suspected by the Taliban can expect to endure. The Taliban have cut off the hands of construction workers who build government-funded projects; sent a suicide car bomb against a district chief believed to have been working with US special forces. Death in many forms will be their lot. One informant Radio Netherlands described “holds a thick yellow sheet tightly around his face” to preserve his anonymity. Now it turns out he shouldn’t have bothered. If the London Times is right, his name might be one of the several hundred the British reporter has found in just a few hours.

Yet the dead are the lucky ones. The more unfortunate may wind up in a torture chamber similar to one found by Coldstream Guards. It features such amenities as chains to hang prisoners from walls. Not that the inmates would want to walk on the floor: that features broken glass. And there is limb amputation, kneecapping with an electric drill, eye gouging, bone-breaking or ritual rape to smash the will. Where the offender is not himself available punishment will be visited on his relatives.

It would be cosmic justice if a son or daughter of one of those Afghans who dies as a result of Julian Assange's self absorbed obsession were to hunt down and kill this little bastard, slowly and painfully.  I, for one, would not mourn.

General David Petraeus Decorations

U.S. military decorations
Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
Legion of Merit (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Bronze Star (with V Device)
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Joint Service Achievement Medal
Army Achievement Medal
U.S. unit awards
Joint Meritorious Unit Award (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Army Meritorious Unit Commendation
Army Superior Unit Award
U.S. non-military decorations
State Department Secretary's Distinguished Service Award[153]
State Department Superior Honor Award
U.S. service (campaign) medals and service and training ribbons
National Defense Service Medal (with 2 Service Stars)
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with 2 Service Stars)
Iraq Campaign Medal (with 4 Service Stars)
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Armed Forces Service Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal
Army Service Ribbon
Army Overseas Service Ribbon (with award numeral 3)
Foreign military decorations
Gold Award of the Iraqi Order of the Date Palm
French Military Campaign Medal
National Defence Cross of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic
Polish Iraq Star
Foreign civil decorations
French Officer Order of the Legion of Honor
Honorary Officer Order of Australia
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (Grade of Commander)
Non-U.S. service medals and ribbons
United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) Medal[154]
NATO Meritorious Service Medal
NATO Medal for Yugoslavia (with Service Star)

Things to Be Learned from the Gaza Flotilla Operation

PRIVET HEDGES

This is so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.  Written by Rachel Peepers at Eternity Road

PRIVET HEDGES

(verses)
The first brigade was standing in formation
One goodbye away from flying off to war
While the CO spoke of duty and dedication
Their family’s tears fell like they never did before

A little girl walked up as they stood at attention
She reached up to hold a Marine Sergeant’s hand
He didn’t recognize her, she didn’t look familiar
Why she picked him he did not understand

CHORUS

She smelled of privet hedges in the springtime
The kind that he grew up with in his hometown
Her hair was gold the color of cornfields
And eyes a deep shade of chestnut brown

(verses)
His third patrol started out like the others
Down a dusty road though a quiet town
Three Humvees and forty men advancing
It seemed like no one knew they were around

When suddenly the smell of privet hedges
And the golden hue of the sun shown down
and on a Humvee somebody’d written the name Sarah
The Sergeant quickly gave the order to slow down

The first barrage landed short by 30 meters
Then small arms fire came in like pelting rain
No one was hit and he called in the copters
And 16 attackers were not heard from again

There were many more patrols for that young sergeant
Who had a reputation for smelling trouble a mile away
And after their tour of duty ended
His entire unit they came home to stay

His hometown they all came out to greet them
A reserve detachment all hundred forty four
Somewhere in between all the hugs and kisses
He thought he saw the girl he’d seen before

CHORUS

She smelled of privet hedges in the springtime
The kind that he grew up with in his hometown
Her hair was gold the color of cornfields
And eyes a deep shade of chestnut brown

(verses)
The years past and he worked his farmland
His kids grew up, he and his wife their hair turned gray
At 89 he developed some heart problems
And in his hospital room there was a spray

That smelled of privet hedges in the springtime
Wrapped in pretty paper that had a golden tone
The note said simply, “Much love, Sarah”
After one last kiss, his loving wife went home

It was almost dawn when he awoke and felt much better
Breathing deep like he was young once more
Then he noticed sitting in the corner
Was the little girl that he’d seen before.

He smiled and said you must be Sarah
And she said, you’re my Marine so brave and strong
He took the hand of his little guardian angel
In the blink of an eye the both of them were gone

She smelled of privet hedges in the springtime
The kind that he grew up with in his hometown
Her hair was gold the color of cornfields
And eyes a deep shade of chestnut brown

Something Wonderful: Sunday Piano Meditation for Memorial Day Weekend

Dear Mr. Obama, Thank You for Doing the Right Thing on Memorial Day.

Thank you for not going to Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day. There is something sacred about that place and about that day. Those who bled and died for this country deserve to be honored and saluted by people who love their country and honor their sacrifice.

You don’t belong there. Thank you for realizing that and going to Chicago.

Mission Accomplished

The elections in Iraq and the ongoing development of representative institutions in that country are what we who supported George Bush throughout his Presidency were hoping and praying for.

Bush's opponents were declaring the war lost. Even more despicable they were calling the war wrong, the rationale for the war a lie, the conduct of the war immoral and the soldiers who fought in it criminals.

Now that Iraq is a success, the critics, the opponents and the liars who smeared the Bush administration are claiming the success as theirs.

No. You. Don't.

Mission accomplished, indeed
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / March 10, 2010

RONALD REAGAN liked to say that there was no limit to what a man could accomplish if he didn’t mind who got the credit. The transformation of Iraq from a hellish tyranny into a functioning democracy will be recorded as a signal accomplishment of George W. Bush’s presidency, and he probably doesn’t mind in the least that the Obama administration would like to take the credit....

In 2006 and 2007, few Americans expected to ever see such a magazine cover. Over and over they were told that the war in Iraq was lost, that there was no military solution to the carnage there, and that invading Iraq had been the biggest mistake in US history. Bush’s decision in January 2007 to change strategy and “surge’’ an additional 20,000 additional troops into Iraq was scathingly denounced. Such a “fantasy-based escalation of the war,’’ wrote The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, “could only make sense in some parallel universe where pigs fly and fish commute on bicycles.’’ Senator John Kerry called the surge “a senseless decision.’’ Barack Obama, gearing up to run for president, warned that doubling down in Iraq was not “going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.’’

But the critics were wrong. The surge turned the war around, giving Iraq a new lease on life. Where Saddam once ruled a ghastly “republic of fear,’’ Iraqis live today in democratic freedom and relative peace, dispelling daily the canard that democracy and Arab culture cannot co-exist.

Thanks to the global web spun by the Internet, the Left and its bootlickers in the state-run-media can no longer get away with the "Big Lie." They will be forever branded by their shameful words and deeds.