Falling Down?

Anyone ever see the movie Falling Down?

Does this sound familiar...

...A picture of a product for sale is like that. It is a promise that what you get will look like the photo. If it doesn't, the business broke that contract with the customer. In this case, B@#^r K!*g clearly did not live up to it's picture. What they have pictured on their outside wall is corporate deceit. They just lost a customer. Fast food is too competitive a business for lies.

ROFASIX wasn't talking about a Whammy Burger, he was describing his dissatisfaction with his Chicken Crisp Sandwich at the BK Lounge. It says on his webpage that he's "away" for the weekend. Let's hope he isn't knocking back prices in some convenience store ala Michael Douglas in "Falling Down".

I had the same sort of letdown when I saw my first M-16, it looked nothing like what was in those sales brochures. Hang in there man!

USAF Peeved About Drone Debate

Of course this isn't about Drones...it's about UAVs, but there's no alliteration if I had said UAV Debate...oh decisions, decisions. Anyway, some USAF generals have their panties in a bunch...AGAIN.

Christian Lowe has an article describing the whole thing HERE

...The Pentagon's number two official tried to throw cold water on this cat fight, but it seems that the fur is still flying.

On Sept. 13, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England forwarded a memorandum to the service chiefs and top Pentagon officials rejecting a recommendation that the Air Force be the central authority for high and medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles.

Air Force brass figured since they do most of the flying these days, the atmosphere - and most everything in it - should be their domain.

But over the last several years the Army has expanded its use of UAVs - particularly medium altitude ones - and they were dead-set against letting their sister service tear control of those assets out of their hands.

What England did was to shift oversight responsibility to the Pentagon, convening a task force that will examine UAV issues and map out a coherent strategy for all the services to develop drone needs, missions and systems, so resources aren't wasted and there's better coordination.

But that doesn't sit well with some top Air Force commanders who see this as more of the same...

Best quote of the whole thing by GEN "Buzz" Mosely (never trust anyone who calls himself "Buzz")...

"This is a recognition of the environment that we have identified as Airmen because this battlespace is something we are very familiar with,"

Is that even English? I trust this reporter to have taken the entire statement as spoken and transcribed it correctly...I know this is a great leap of faith, but it's all I've got, work with me.

It also reeks of a line that a pompous ass character actor from a movie out of the thirties might have said, complete with dramatic throat clearing and harrumphs for good measure. (Pompous British accent on) (dramatic throat clearing) Yes, you see young man, we alone can understand the full nature of operating in the air because as airmen we travel through the air and understand it perfectly, something non airmen will never be able to figure out because as you can see we are airmen...HARRUMPH...(Pompus British accent off).

Yeah, whatever. If you (USAF) did your frickin jobs and gave people (ARMY) what they needed, they wouldn't be spending money, money that could easily be used elsewhere, to buy stuff (UAV) that you have...but that would require serious self critique...and we can't be the ones with the problem...it's THEM...it's always someone else isn't it?

As those twelve step people like to say, the first step to recovery is to admit that you have a problem.

Girl Friday, 28 SEP 07

Well, September is just about gone.

Today also marks another Friday down and one year in the AOR for me this time over. When we first came over last year we expected to be home by now...well, things don't always go as we'd like them to and our little trip to the middle east got extended 3 months. We don't have to like it, we just have to do it.

Hope y'all have a great weekend.

Kelly Monaco, Actress, Playboy Playmate (APR 97), winner of one of those dancing with the stars things and all around hot chick is our Girl Friday for this Friday, the 28th of September, 2007.

Be safe...it's a jungle out there!

Iran Supplies MANPADS to Insurgents

In a story that has some concern to me personally...

US military spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox told reporters in Baghdad that Iran was shifting sophisticated arms such as "RPG-29s, explosively-formed penetrators (EFPs), 240 mm rockets and Misagh-1 surface-to-air missiles" across its borders into Iraq.

The Misagh 1 is an Iranian man-portable infrared guided surface to air missile. It was developed by the Shahid Kazemi Industrial Complex in Tehran and is an all-aspect passive infrared homing system. It is a variant of the Chinese QW-1 Vanguard missile system.

Here's some info about the QW-1...

The missile reportedly is the Chinese version of 9K310 (SA-16 Gimlet) Igla-1 missile systems incorporating some features of FIM-92 Stinger. According to many domestic Chinese media sources and some sources outside China, Chinese obtained the Soviet samples via Zaire from UNITA captured 9K310 (SA-16) Igla-1 missile from Angola governmental forces.

Meanwhile back home, people are having discussions over tea with the leader of a nation(the same nation that is giving arms to people who are trying to kill me) that would kill all of them in a heartbeat if he could get away with it.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

Of course there are those that view this story with a skeptical eye, which is easy to do if someone is not shooting these things at you.

Mr. David Axe at the blog Danger Room points out that knockoffs of knockoffs are rarely effective (which is true enough in and of itself), claiming that the Misagh 1 is effectively a knockoff of a QW-1 which is in turn a knockoff of a SA-16. Not really so, without getting into too much detail...the QW-1 as I posted above is a blend of STINGER and FSU MANPADS. The QW-1 was then exported to and built by Iran as the Misagh 1...it's not really clear if that was done as an export license deal, or if the Iranians just ripped off the Chinese design. But I would say characterizing this weapon system as a rip off of a rip off deliberately underplays the seriousness of this threat. But you can do that when you think you know more than everyone else and you write about things rather than do them.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Happy Anniversary to Skye over at Midnight Blue...one year of blogging.



She's OK...for a yankee.

MOH Recipient To Be Honored by the NFL

Normally I haven't got much use for Baylor University...but in this case I'll make an exception.

W. Thomas Smith Jr. of "The Tank" writes about a former Baylor University football player, NY Giants star and United States Marine...

Lummus, as I wrote, was "a 29-year-old former defensive lineman with the New York Giants and an All-American at Baylor University who – in addition to football – had once signed a minor league baseball contract." But one month after Pearl Harbor, he left the Giants to become a Marine infantry officer.

During heavy fighting on Iwo, Lummus ordered an attack against an enemy gun emplacement:

...As the Marines charged, Lummus stepped on a landmine. The enormous blast that followed could be heard across the entire island.

Numbed and with ears ringing, Lummus’ Marines could still make out the familiar Texas drawl of their platoon commander shouting, “Forward! Keep moving!” They could hear him, but they couldn’t see him. Not until the blast’s smoke and dust cleared. Then they saw the blackened figure of a man bent over and trying to push himself up on one of his elbows.

The Marines initially thought their lieutenant was standing in a hole. Then there was the horror of what they were looking at: Lummus was upright on two bloody stumps: His legs had been blown off, and much of his lower trunk was missing.

Several of the younger Marines, weeping like children, ran to his side. Some of the older Marines briefly considered a mercy shooting. But Lummus kept urging them forward: “Dammit, keep moving!,” he uttered. “You can't stop now!”

Read the rest here


1st Lieutenant Andrew Jackson “Jack” Lummus Jr will be honored by the NY Giants during the game between the Giants and the Dallas Cowboys on Veterans Day.

Simper Fi.

Faces of Valor

I honestly don't go around to news sites and the like looking for things to bitch about. In fact I really wish there wasn't anything to complain about with these places...but it leaps out at you without trying.

Case in point...today, I was going through the Military Times site looking for stories I hadn't heard or just general news. I found a story about the Safety Nazis at Fort Rucker winning a unit award and the article I posted about below. I also saw a link for "faces of valor". Now I don't know about you, but I would expect "faces of valor" to be about people who have done valorous things, things that you get awarded things like Silver Stars and stuff for...well, not so much.

It appears that "Faces of Valor" is something else. According to the website...

Faces of Valor was created in 2003 as a photographic tribute to the men and women of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Included in this site are a collection of the best images from our daily Frontline Photos galleries, our Frontline Voices and our Honor the fallen memorial to those who died in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Contact us with any questions or comments at onlineeditors@atpco.com.

Fair enough.

Look over on the right side of this page and we have the running casualty counter. And we see this photo in the middle top.





Along with this photo credit...

Scott Olson / Getty Images A picture of a fallen soldier rests against a wall as names of fallen servicemen are read at a memorial service honoring the 3,000 who have been killed since the start of the Iraq War on Jan. 1 in Chicago. The grim milestone was reached following the deaths of at least 112 servicemen in December, the deadliest month in Iraq for Americans in more than two years.

I guess photos submitted by readers aren't striking enough, or show enough sorrow for the "Faces of Valor" page. At least they are straight up about it and say what this page is about, so I guess my complaint is about disappointment about what I expected to find versus what is actually there. I've got no complaint about honoring the fallen...more people should. I guess I just expected more.

How can you win a war without heroes? There have been many many soldiers sailors airmen and Marines who have done great things for this country during this war. Some have made the ultimate sacrifice. How many can you name? How many stories come to mind about the incredible sacrifice and courage that is displayed on an almost minute by minute basis around the globe? Yes there are MILBLOGS that chronicle these stories...but actually how many people read them?

A newspaper chain that calls themselves "Military Times" owes the people they make a dime off the backs of at least a little more than what they are doing. Mixed in with all the "National Enquirer" type stories about drill sergeants beating up trainees or the latest scandal, they could try to have a roll-up of awards presented to soldiers during this war and a selection of people and events that caused them to be presented their citation. But that might detract from the maudlin, depressing tone of their "Faces of Valor" section.

Hell, I don't know...of course I'm not the editor of the "Army Times" and as I have told other folks, If you don't like it don't buy it. SO maybe I should take my own advise.

Unfortunately this problem is much greater than the "Military Times" it stretches across all of the traditional media, who for whatever reason concentrate on the negative and rarely if ever report the positive or heroic. I'm not even going to get into ideologies or the why they do it...but I do know that they are not telling the whole story and the country is worse off for not knowing these stories or hearing about their bravest of citizens.

God bless all those valiant young men and women who have given their lives in service to this nation. But this cause is so much more than that...and people need to be reminded of that as well.

I Saw This On An Episode of EMERGENCY Once

An incredible story of how far soldeirs will go to save the life of one of their own...

From the Military Times chain of fish wrap comes an actual story...

March 16, 2006. Southeastern Afghanistan. A fierce ambush and bloody firefight. It was over in a flash and Moss was left on the verge of death.

He was impaled through the abdomen with a rocket-propelled grenade, and an aluminum rod with one tail fin protruded from the left side of his torso.

His fellow soldiers worried: Could he blow up and take them with him? For all anyone knew, the answer was yes.

Still, over the course of the next couple of hours, his buddies, a helicopter crew and a medical team would risk their own lives to save his.

Ashley Force is HOT

Yeah, tell me something I didn't already know.

Via Ace of Spades

There's a story about some kind of poll or survey thing HERE...where we are told that she beat out an NFL quarterback for the title...duh...this is the INTERNET. Next thing you're going to tell me is the shocking news that most democrats oppose actually fighting the war on terror.

Geek Alert

From the, "it takes all kinds" department:

Available soon the perfect gift for that lonely Star Wars fan...a lifesize Princess Leia statue...

From the website where it's available...

Star Wars Animated Life Size Princess Leia Monument Description:
She's larger than life! Really, she's just actual size-- which is pretty big. This 5-foot tall fiberglass statue from GENTLE GIANT takes the design of everybody's favorite space princess and expands her to the biggest Leia collectible ever created. Based on the design of the hugely popular animated maquette, this statue will give your home or office a sense of fun that few sci-fi icons can hope to offer. Be the envy of all your friends, and your enemies too. You've seen her at conventions, now you can bring her home! Limited edition.

You can bring her home if your willing to spend $799.99. With a price like that, these things will be flying out of the warehouse. It's a bargan at twice the price, I tell you. I'm shocked that it isn't the gold bikini slave girl version...now that would be totally worth it.

Actually, that's available too...although it's not available in a size large enough that you can actually take to a party and call your "date".

Inspirational Speech

A General Officer gave a speech to a civic group in San Deigo, CA, the results were inspirational.

Here's a small part...

Since our Declaration of Independence 42 million Americans have claimed the honor of having served the nation in its military forces. Since that time over a million have lost their lives serving the colors, with millions more wounded. Since George Washington first took command of the Continentals besieging Boston, America's warriors have stepped forward and endured horrors unimaginable to most Americans, and saw it all with their young eyes so those safe at home would never have to. With all this service and loss of life, we as Americans can be proud of the kind of people we are as we have never retained a square foot of any country we have defeated. We possess no empire. No man or woman call us master, as we have never subjugated any society. On the contrary, billions across the planet -and billions more yet unborn-are today free and increasingly prosperous because America took a stand; but it has always fallen on the shoulders of our soldiers, sailors, airmen Coast Guardsmen, and Marines that the task fell to...and they have never wavered. Never, with the exception of World War II, has it been particularly crowded at the recruiting offices, and in recent years it's an increasingly slim slice of the American public who believe in this country enough to put life and limb on the line particularly in the Army and Marine Corps to serve without qualification, and without personal gain. Yet still for whatever reason they come-even though there is great pressure from our society to sit it out and not get involved.

The reality was that when many in this room grew up, and I know I am showing my age here, we were surrounded by men, real men, who had gladly worn the country's cloth in wars against fascism and communism. The earliest memories we had as kids back then were of comic books and paper backs that honored the sacrifices of the super heroes of those conflicts. It was a time when little boys could play guns, and weren't considered at risk to be psychopaths. To stand up when the national anthem was played or say the pledge of allegiance and a prayer to any God you worshiped before school, wasn't considered offensive to the sensitivities of the nation's selfproclaimed intellectual elite. Places like Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, Normandy, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, and Hue City, were real to us then, and we knew without thinking that we owed the nation a debt.

If you care about this nation you owe it to yourself to read all of this speech over at BLACKFIVE.

Rock the Casbah

Courtesy of The Jawa Report, I was reminded of this little video today. Filmed in Austin, TX with a cameo appearance by a pair of F-4 Phantom IIs flying into Bergstrom AFB, from the LP, Combat Rock...here are The Clash, performing Rock the Casbah! Put your hands together!



Yeah, they don't make them like that anymore.

Hey, aren't I at the Casbah?

Girl Friday, 21 SEP 07

Happy Friday...another week gone, and one week closer to going home.

If I were so inclined and able to in accordance with local regulations (GO #1) I would post a picture of a woman, ala the movie "Major League" and every day that passed we would pull off a piece of clothing till on the last day, we get the big prize, metaphorically speaking of course...but we can't, so I won't...might offend someone...and we can't have that.

But what I do have to celebrate the arrival of the weekend is former Playboy Playmate, Jennifer Allen...yea!

Have a great weekend!

January 28, An Najaf, Iraq

The 1st Cavalry Division PAO, made this presentation that it inserts in it's Cav Country presentations. To see Cav Country go HERE.

A little background on this story, CW4 Judd's team responded to a troops in contact in An Najaf. After arriving on scene and while attempting to engage enemy forces that were in contact with coalition forces on the ground Mr. Judd's wingman was hit with multiple weapons systems causing the aircraft to crash. CW4 Judd's aircraft remained on station after being hit multiple times, losing aircraft operating systems, still engaging the enemy until he was relieved by a follow on attack weapons team. The nearest friendly forces other than the special operations team that was in enemy contact was around 60 miles away.

Multiple attack weapons teams and USAF aircraft engaged the enemy elements in the area around the crash site. At the end of the fight more than 600 enemy KIA were found on the battlefield. Many more were taken prisioner.

Teams of 2 AH-64D helicopters, USAF aircraft and a small band of SF troopers and their IA cohorts took on a BN sized enemy element and decimated them. Unfortunately we lost two CAV troopers that day, CW3 Cornell Chao and CPT Mark Resh. Nothing anyone did that day will ever replace the loss of those soldiers. But our enemy paid that day and they paid dearly.

It should also be noted that Mr. Judd's crew was submitted for a Distinguished Flying Cross and 1st Cavalry Division downgraded the award to an Air Medal with "V" for valor.

Aside from the announcement of the deaths of CW3 Chao and CPT Resh, I'm quite sure none of this ever made the news...so now you know the rest of the story...as some guy on the radio once said.

Danger Room=Classless Jackasses

First of all I recognize that everyone has the right to an opinion. As I stated when I commented about the blog of a deployed soldier, who had soured against the war, he has that right...it doesn't mean however that I have to agree with it. Or sit by while people use pictures of dead/injured soldiers to illustrate their point. Which brings me to these clowns and their story, "2 of 7 Soldier-Critics Dead".

The story links an ARTICLE from Editor and Publisher which details the unfortunate deaths of 2 soldiers who had been some of the authors of the editorial critical of the conduct of the war featured in the New York Times. The soldiers died in a vehicle accident in Baghdad earlier this week. This is the picture Danger Room chose to illustrate the story with...

This picture is not from the accident in question. I suppose they couldn't bring themselves to post a more gory picture of dead Americans, perhaps there is a limit to what they will do.

They are still assholes,and they have no honor and they disgust me more than words can possibly say. I expect this from our enemies, but citizens of our country who bask in the protection we provide who see fit to spread this around and USE this scene...I guess that's their right. But it's my right to call them out as the trash that they really are.

Red Rover, Red Rover let the BOMBERS come OVER!

Well, I guess the LA Times is good for something other than fish wrap and bird cage liner.

At this link you will find a story about Greg Harbin, the guy they credit with getting a device known as Rover to be able to receive data from targeting pods mounted on attack aircraft.

What is interesting to note...to me anyway... in the article, at the bottom of the wood pile is of course, a Warrant Officer.

...The Rover, or the Remote Operations Video Enhanced Receiver, was born in 2002, shortly after the Afghanistan war began.

Christopher Manuel, an Army Special Forces chief warrant officer, had long wanted ground units to see, in real time, the video footage shot by Predators. After serving in Afghanistan, he traveled to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio to make his case. Engineers quickly developed a prototype of the Rover system.

Over the next year, it was used exclusively by special operations forces...

Also interesting to me was that when some of us common folk Army aviators brought up the subject of adapting Rover to attack helicopters before we arrived in theater last year we were shouted down, abruptly. Yeah, none of us really have any idea of what we are talking about.

For more of the article GO HERE!

Girl Friday, 14 SEP 07

Happy Friday!

Today, I take you back to a simpler time...1986, the year I joined the Army. Our Girl Friday was but a beautiful wild flower running free in the fields of North Texas, posing for Playboy...etc. Who knows what she does now, I had seen that she was hanging with the Hollywood crowd for a while after having appeared on a couple of TV shows. Regardless, I hope she's doing well!

Julie McCullough is our "Girl Friday" for this friday, the 14th of September, 2007.

Have a great weekend!

From The Military Motivator

I have it on good authority that it beats walking...but it helps to have your helmet on...the one with the visor that works.

Someone didn't turn their TADS on!

And Now It's Time For A Cartoon!

Business As Usual...

While generals testified before congress we flew, business as usual.

While "statesmen" called generals liars, we flew, business as usual.

While newspapers slandered the troops, we flew, business as usual.

We fly every day, all day, 24/7/365 weather permitting. We don't have "organizational days". Because we fly, business as usual.

We take crap, because we fly. But if we don't fly, we take crap, business as usual.

Sometimes when we shoot, we take crap. If we don't shoot, sometimes we take crap, business as usual.

We will continue business as usual, until the next guy takes over and then he will be business as usual.

Just When I Thought I'd Seen Everything

From LEX

From a school district in North Carolina,

On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American flag.

Then there was the part about the school district saying that they couldn't decide which flags were OK for kids to wear on their clothes so they banned all of them...because they are idiots.

This reminds me of the Team America quote:

Now I've seen everything...

Have you ever seen a man eat his own head?

NO!

Then you haven't seen everything, and neither have I.

An Army of...Dude Give Me A Break

I was surfing around the internets the other day and noticed on the Danger Room a little post that said Army of Dude was leaving Iraq. For those who don't know Danger Room is a little skeptical of our efforts over here in the cradle of civilization, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the soldier who's blog they link would feel similarly...but what the hell...

So to see what was up with this guy, I clicked on over there.

If you go yourself, you'll find one disillusioned soldier. After his fifteen months here he feels all we have done, all the lives lost, money spent is for naught. That is of course his right, he's earned it...in blood. I assume from his comments that some have opined that he doesn't exist or that he isn't what he reports to be. That is of course ridiculous in and of itself, because anyone who has been in the Army for more than a day knows that if one looks hard enough you can find soldiers that believe just about anything under the sun.

Of course people who believe that this war is a lost cause or a total waste will latch on to Mr. Horton's comments as their proof of the folly of this endeavor.

Someone who is a lot better with words than myself once said there are three sides to every story, yours mine and the truth.

I've been doing this Army thing for about 20 years now, and I can see in Mr. Horton's comments some of the things I've seen in my junior enlisted soldiers. They are at the absolute end of the information chain, they don't always understand or see the things that are readily apparent to even the newest LT...not because the LT is smarter, it's because we (the ARMY) are terrible at pushing information down to the lowest level. Soldiers want to know, and need to know why things are being done the way they are. Soldiers need to know the big picture. Leaders are failing their Soldiers if they don't keep them informed.

Does that mean I feel Mr. Horton is misinformed? Not necessarily, I wasn't in his unit. I don't know anything he experienced other than by reading what he wrote, and from what briefings I have been given about his AO. He is entitled to his feelings about the war and about it's conduct. But don't be fooled into believing that everyone feels that way...just like everyone doesn't feel the way I do.

It's unfortunate that he feels his service was a waste and his friends laid down their lives for a cause that was worthless.

I know my friends died trying to protect their buddies from the scum that shot up their aircraft. Scum, that align themselves with AQI, that if we weren't fighting them here, we'd be dealing with elsewhere.

When I returned to this place a year ago, it was rather depressing to say the least, it was if nothing had changed in the year and a half since I had been here last. I was disgusted not with the cause, but with the people who were running it.

My leaders had failed me...not the leaders you may think either. From what I've seen the Commander in Chief has given the military a free rein in running this show how they've seen necessary and in that regard there were some people who've done less than a stellar job. The end result, more money spent, lives and treasure lost...that didn't need to be. That's truly a shame...a crying shame. But does that mean our cause is lost? Does that mean it is wrong? Not at all...but it does mean that we are lead by human beings that are fallible and make mistakes. It would also be instructive to realize that our enemies are in this to win as well, they get a vote and they aren't going to go down easy.

To fly around the big city now is to see a totally different picture that when we arrived a year ago. It's much more calm. It isn't unusual to fly a whole mission without a troops in contact call...unheard of a year ago. In 2004 it was nearly impossible to fly at night without spotting some type of gunfire just about every minute if one looked hard enough. There were in fact engagements I was involved with that looked like something out of the final scene of Star Wars and we were in the X-Wings attacking the Death Star. Now it's possible to fly hours without seeing it. Let me get this straight, it doesn't mean the war is won, but it does mean that I can see that things ARE changing. It will be up to the Iraqis finish the job...but for what it's worth progress is being made...it's just a shame for everyone that it's taken this long.

I wish Mr. Horton the best of luck outside the Army and thank him for his service...maybe one day we will all be able to say that his and his comrades sacrifice was worth it.

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll Are the Key To Defeating the Socialist Hegemony

From an article posted at The International Herald Tribune website comes this shocking news:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has ordered soldiers to stay away from drinking, sex and money, calling them "poison" that spoils socialist faith, a South Korea-based group of defectors from North Korea claimed Thursday.

Kim issued the order in March, saying alcohol, sex and money would make soldiers more vulnerable to the "psychological warfare of enemies," according to the Committee for Democratization of North Korea.

The committee, which consists of North Koreans who defected to South Korea, cited an 18-page North Korean internal military document prepared for rank-and-file troops and noncommissioned officers.

On its Web site, the group said it obtained the paper from a source, which it did not identify, in the region along the North Korea-China border.

"Drinking, sex and money are like a poison that harms ideology and conviction," it said

So there you have it...import whiskey, hookers and blow to North Korea and we'll have the run of the place in no time. Not that anyone except Koreans would really want to have control of North Korea.

So memo to Seoul, if it's re-unification you desire, then start rounding up troops from those special hotels you guys have over there. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about either.

H/T Danger Room

So I guess our little friend pictured below is out of the question in the RNK?

Girl Friday, 7 SEP 07

Welcome to the first Friday in September!

Fall's just around the corner, dust is in the air and there's the festive sound of rotor baldes beating the air into submission.

This week's "Girl Friday" is the lovely Playboy playmate, Penelope Jimenez.

Have a great weekend!

The State of Texas Just Paid $490,000 For A Piece of Paper

OK...It WAS Davy Crockett's last letter before he bought it at the Alamo.

The whole story is HERE.

By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer
Tue Sep 4, 11:12 PM ET



AUSTIN - Just two months before he perished defending the Alamo, Davy Crockett described to his daughter and son-in-law the land he treasured enough to die for its independence.

"I must say as to what I have seen of Texas it is the garden spot of the world," the famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee wrote. "The best land and the best prospect for health. ..."

The Texas Historical Commission announced Tuesday it bought the letter, which is believed to be the last that Crockett penned before he and about 200 other Alamo defenders were killed by Mexican forces led by Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Gov. Rick Perry accepted the letter on behalf of the state during a brief ceremony Tuesday at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.

"He stood tall against overwhelming odds and he refused to run away," Perry said of Crockett.

"It's clear that he cherished his principles above his life and died nobly in their defense," he said.

The state bought the letter for $490,000 from Simpson Galleries, a Houston fine arts auctioneer.

"I must say as to what I have seen of Texas it is the garden spot of the world,"

From where I sit I couldn't agree more.

Hi I'm "Keith"

and I'm your Southwest Airlines fashion policia!

And according to an article from the San Diego Paper the young lady pictured below is dressed too provocatively to fly on their airline.

Southwest explained its treatment of Ebbert in a letter to her mother, saying it could remove any passenger “whose clothing is lewd, obscene or patently offensive” to ensure the comfort of children and “adults with heightened sensitivities.”...

...After the plane filled, and the flight attendants began their safety spiel, Ebbert was asked to step off the plane by a customer service supervisor, identified by the airline only as “Keith.”


They walked out onto the jet bridge, where Keith told Ebbert her clothing was inappropriate and asked her to change. She explained she was flying to Tucson for only a few hours and had brought no luggage.
“I asked him what part of my outfit was offensive,” she said. “The shirt? The skirt? And he said, 'The whole thing.' ”

Keith asked her to go home, change and take a later flight. She refused, citing her appointment. The plane was ready to leave, so Keith relented. He had her pull up her tank top a bit, pull down her skirt a bit, and return to her seat.

Ebbert says several flight attendants overheard the conversation and, after an embarrassing walk down the aisle, she took her seat and spread a blanket over her lap. She kept her composure until the plane landed, when she called her mother and broke down.

She took a photo of herself with her cell phone so her mother could see her clothes. That's when mom became livid.

Ironic isn't it? Given that Southwest is the airline that clad stewardesses in hot pants and advertised the company as the "LUV" airline, a pun on its home base at Love Field.

I'll bet that "Keith" would have no problem wearing a pair of "hot pants".

H/T Texican Tattler

Nothing To See Here...

Move along...


I mean who hasn't accidentally loaded live nuclear weapons on a B-52 and then flown them cross country?

Yeah, me neither.

For the whole thing, plus some comments from the gathering crowd go HERE

A B-52 bomber mistakenly loaded with five nuclear warheads flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, resulting in an Air Force-wide investigation, according to three officers who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.

The B-52 was loaded with Advanced Cruise Missiles, part of a Defense Department effort to decommission 400 of the ACMs. But the nuclear warheads should have been removed at Minot before being transported to Barksdale, the officers said. The missiles were mounted onto the pylons of the bomber’s wings.

The Air Force...no one comes close.

Yeah, I'll say.

and a hearty hat tip and snappy salute to Lex for this picture...



...and quote!

“When you instituted the human reliability tests, you *assured* me there was *no* possibility of such a thing *ever* occurring!”

“Well, I, uh, don’t think it’s quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up, sir”

Now They Are After The UAVs

Courtesy of former Marine, W. Thomas Smith Jr. over at The Tank comes a link to an article published in the "Army Enquirer" the "Military Times" chain of news papers that includes The Marine Corps Times. Written by a 32 year USAF veteran Charles Sutherland, the article entitled "Function Comes First" details why the author believes that blue suiters should control all UAV operations. He says in part...

Following the Vietnam War, there was a debate in Congress about attack helicopters and whether the Army’s procurement of them represented a duplication of the Air Force’s requirement to organize, train, equip and provide forces for close-air support...

...the Army’s argument for acquiring a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles and a bank of operators to control them is going strong. The Air Force’s counter-argument, which uses an altitude restriction as a defining point, has missed the target.

Suggesting that UAVs operating above 3,500 feet should be organized, trained, equipped and provided by the Air Force implies that UAVs operating below 3,500 feet are open for any service wanting to make the investment. Jones and Weyand did not mention altitude in their 1975 debate. Instead, they concentrated on the function of the platform as they reached resolution. Likewise, the Air Force’s UAV argument needs to be based on functionality and requirements...

He then details that the US Army has 1 Billion US dollars to spend on UAVs and how this money should be given over to the USAF, who should control all UAVs based on their charter to provide TAC reece etc.

Having served in Army aviation for over 20 years now I can assure Mr. Sutherland that if the USAF would have fullfiled it's role as a provider of TAC recon and other things CAS over the years there wouldn't have been the need for the Key West agreement or a fight over UAV. I can assure you that the powers that be in the head shed in Washington than run the Green Machine would much rather spend their money on new rifles, MRAPs and tanks than they would on UAVs and/or helicopters. They spend it on UAVs and helicopters because they aren't getting what they need from the USAF.

The altitude of 3500 feet that the author harps about is roughly equivilant to the coordinating altitude. You see the airspace above the battlefield is divided up so we can keep things that fly though the air from running into one another. the coordinating altitude is the altitude that essentially divides the owning ground unit from the USAF and other "fast movers"...although there are exceptions like MLRS that cross the coordinating altitude, that is generally the cut off between things that beat the air into submission and things that fly really fast. It's called doctrine...look it up.

So does the author suggest that we do away with coordinating altitudes altogether? I doubt it...I think he just believes that the USAF should control all UAVs. In a shrinking USAF, I don't see how if they took control of all UAS that they (the USAF) would be able to meet demand, but if you look at the way they handle CAS that's not their problem it's the Army's problem...and that's why we have attack helicopters. The USAF can't provide enough TACP's to control CAS for every unit in the field...and that's not their problem it just means the Army doesn't get CAS when and where it needs it. Especially since they won't let Army aviators clear CAS platforms hot on a target. Where are the operators going to come from if they (USAF) took control of every Raven, Shadow and I-Gnat that the Army currently operates? They don't care they just want control...not results. And over here I can assure you it's the results that matter not the color of the suit one wears at the party at the O-Club.

Yeah, function does come first...and that is exactly why the USAF doesn't need to control all UAS.

Workers of the World Unite!

There's a really interesting/funny website I'd like to direct your attention to...

The People's Cube

Upon your arrival there you will be entertained by the likes of Latka, The Space Dog and other members of the socialist collective.

If you can stand a few extremely gross pictures of naked hippies and dead jihadists, check out the video by Mr. Snuggle Bunny HERE

It Takes All Kinds...

I suppose this person could have had an ironic sense of humor, but I found it extremely odd when I spotted a contractor sporting a Che Guevara t-shirt in the DFAC the other day. I don't know this particular person, and it really wasn't worth the time and effort to run across the crowded DFAC to find out his reasons for wearing a shirt with the image of a socialist murderer on it...but it was interesting.

What was almost as troubling was the fact that a West Point educated officer sitting next to me had no idea who Che was...other than a fashion statement. The fact of the matter is most of the people wearing images of this murdering thug on their chests have no clue what this person was all about. He most certainly was no friend of freedom and justice...but he does sell a lot of t-shirts.

Christmas is coming!

It's A Sad, Sad Situation

Watching movies is one of my favorite pastimes. My trailer here in the sandbox has a rather sizable collection of DVDs after spending 12 months here. Even back home, I try to see movies quite often. Which brings me to this disappointing piece of news:

Hollywood Hates the Troops
The slanders of Tim Robbins and Brian DePalma.
by The Scrapbook
08/31/2007 6:23:00 PM

"We've killed over 400,000 of their citizens." That's what actor Tim Robbins thinks U.S. troops have been doing in Iraq. He made the claim last week in an appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

He's wrong, of course. American soldiers have not been slaughtering 300 Iraqis a day for the last four years. Even for one of Hollywood's most feculent personalities, this is an appalling slander of U.S. troops...

... Just as we were inclined to dismiss Robbins as a lonely voice of idiocy, news came of director Brian DePalma's Redacted, one of eight new movies about the Iraq War due out in the coming months, according to Reuters. "Inspired by one of the most serious crimes committed by American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, it is a harrowing indictment of the conflict and spares the audience no brutality to get its message across."

While it's not really news that there are idiots running about in Hollywood (the newspaper's full of their stories), it is rather surprising that the people that fund the making of motion pictures would believe that the American movie going public would pay good money to go and watch this dreck. Of course I haven't seen it yet, so the acting may be superb, the cinematography breathtaking, but trash is trash. I could put my garbage inside a pretty box with a big beautiful bow on it and inside would still be filthy stinking rotten tripe. Unfortunately, that is how I view motion pictures that aim to portray our nations efforts and mine and my fellow soldiers actions as basically evil, as garbage, and the people who make these things are slanderers.

Could the movie be based on a true story? Of course they can and are. But isn't it interesting how when someone decides to make a film based on a true story, it's always the slimy worms and the worst of the military that they choose to show? That's why you'll never see a movie about Paul K. Smith...at least not anytime soon. And the real sad and stupid thing at least as far as the movie industry is concerned, a movie about a soldier earning the Medal of Honor (done right), would make much more money than any of these vile anti-war propaganda pieces that are coming out...but it appears they don't even care about money. I guess that's how you can tell when someone is both rich and stupid.

H/T Libertas