Gulf Daily News reports that Syria has begun withdrawing troops from Northern Lebanon as a result of international pressure led by the United States, France (yes France), and others. This should be heralded as a good thing but over at the Democratic Underground they are frantic to paint in any light that would avoid giving President Bush any credit for this let alone giving any credence to the Democratic Domino theory (Afghanistan then Iraq and so on..) ...
Note : None of the figures here attempt to adjust for inflation so I used some very low estimates for earnings and returns to shoot for the low end of the spectrum) Note: All calculations done using these tools . Note : I didn’t start this as a bash of Social Security but it ended up that way. I am going to start at very low rates of contribution and work up from there. Had I started contributing to the TSP (or any savings program) over the course of my 14 year career: V...
Update : Thanks to Michelle Malkin and OutsideTheBeltway for the links. The military has a problem. The problem is that the incentives being offered for military service are too low for the venture to be considered a business and the standards that the military holds their soldiers to are far too low for the venture to be considered as a function of elitism. The pe...
Look folks if the U.S. Army wants someone dead as Sgrena insists we did, there would be no story here. Why? Because there would be no body leftover that’s why. No one would ever know she had been killed by anyone because the car she was in would have been reduced to nothing more than smoking rubble. The Army would have targeted the car with a lot bigger weapons than a couple of soldiers with M-16’s. They would have used something like this: or this: or this. ...
An excerpt from A Short History of the Non-Commissioned Officer … “In the early days of the American Revolution, little standardization of NCO ditties or responsibilities existed. In 1778, during the long, hard winter at Valley Forge, Inspector General Friedrich von Steuben standardized NCO duties and responsibilities in his Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States (printed in 1779). Among other things this work (commonly called the Blue Book) set do...
What happens when you are done with your honorable service in the military? Will you receive an honorable discharge? Certainly. Will you be eligible for veterans benefits? Of course you will be. Will you receive severance pay or a retirement parachute? Nope. Unless you are fat or out of shape that is. Sound stupid? You bet your ass it does. This might come as a shock to t...
Update : Commenters have yet to answer this question : Can you give me a good reason for a 9 year old to be in an Internet chat room? Can you? While there is still some confusion as to who Jessica's primary caregiver was (father or grandparents) I still find this distubing: The sheriff says a computer in the girl's home is being examined for possible clues. She'd recently taken a computer safety class about the danger of meeting strange...
For those who don't know there is an Amber alert issued for 9 year old Jessica Lunsford of Florida. All of the relevant information can be found here. This case appears to be an aquaintance abduction since there are no signs of forced entry or a struggle. Only time will tell but hope for the best. Fox News just broadcast an update to the case revealing that the police are now scanning through email on Jessica's PC in her room. For the h...
Guest Normal Guest 1 6 2005-02-25T07:34:00Z 2005-02-25T07:40:00Z 1 US ARMY 1 1 9.3821 Weare currently watching an in depth report from some media outfit (Frontline itturns out) traveling with a 1 st Cav unit in Baghdad. It is a greatshow and shows the good points of the unit and it’s operation along with thewarts. Good reporting, good editing, and great footage. Wetravel along with the unit as thy conduct foot ...
One man stands ready on the center of the arena, he is alone with his thoughts and his thoughts rage . His muscles bulge and ripple with barely contained power. Will they carry the day for him? Will he bask in the adulation of the crowd and claim the purse for one more day or will he be carried broken and possibly dead from the field of honor? H...
1 week in school = 1 point, but 1 week in Kuwait or Iraq = Zilch. – ParaTed2k in the comment section of this article by Hyperborean Wanderer . (see Wanderer? thats how links work (they teach that in college I think)) I have never seen this problem stated so baldly or so well. Col Hackworth often rages against the “Perfumed Princes” who have come to r...
Here in the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) we have 3 huge plasma screens showing various intelligence products at any given time. We track aircraft flying live collection missions. We are actually doing work for most of the day. Tere are 3 radios that we are required to respond to 24 hours a day. Ignoring all this is LTC Hajj sitting here watching a DVD on one of our other TV at ear bleeding volume. He has his own TV in his own private room. Does he use it? Nope...
Money quote of the day from an O-5 (Lieutenant Colonel) who has been in country for 6 months: "What's the Hajj?" Arrrgh!
When is enough enough? Honestly I thought I had seen the bottom of the retardation barrel already in my 14 year tour through the Military Intelligence kingdom of loathing but I was wrong. Our illustrious unit has decreed that all members of the unit who are deployed here in Iraq will get an award when we go home. Furthermore the minimum award will be an Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM) . Of course since it is a combat zone administrati...
Note : (While attempting to get this to post, ForeverSerenity also posted her thoughts here .) Over here the Super Bowl is a pretty big deal (us being a bit starved for entertainment) so nearly everyone gathered around the various TV screens in offices and MWR tents across our little post to watch the Eagles waste a lot of opportunities against the Pats. I watched alongside SFC Calangelo and a group of his stormtroopers/kool-aid slupring cultists and had a high ...