Category: Military

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Taking Chance

Over a year ago, I volunteered to escort the remains of Marines killed in Iraq should the need arise. The military provides a uniformed escort for all casualties to ensure they are delivered safely to the next of kin and are treated with dignity and respect along the way.
Thankfully, I hadn’t been called on to be an escort since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. The first few weeks of April, however, had been a tough month for the Marines. On the Monday after Easter I was reviewing Department of Defense press releases when I saw that a Private First Class Chance Phelps was killed in action outside of Baghdad. The press release listed his hometown—the same town I’m from. I notified our Battalion adjutant and told him that, should the duty to escort PFC Phelps fall to our Battalion, I would take him.

Four years ago, Blackfive posted Marine Lt. Colonel Strobl’s accountof his accompanying the remains of a Marine Lance Corporal, LCpl. Chance Phelps, from Dover AFB to Phelps’ home town. It’s an incredibly moving account of the final honor accorded to our bravest and finest that die in service of our country and I found myself getting choked up at several points in reading Lt. Col. Strobl’s story.
Well, HBO has decided to make a film about Strobl and Phelps entitled Taking Chance. It stars Kevin Bacon as Strobl and is due to air February 21st. Here’s the trailer:

Looks like a must-watch. I get choked up watching the trailer too. God bless our men and women in uniform.

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This Browser Is… So HEAVY!

…Heavy with links! It’s time, folks, for another massive download of Links Of Interest that I’ve managed to pack-ratsave for your enjoyment, so here goes.
Near-zero-G Mentos & Diet Coke! Yay, science!

I’ve run into some funny automated censorship software in the past (the old America’s Army forums had a particularly aggressive one, so much so that there was constant talk of “making bad rearumptions” and “rearaulting the base”), but I didn’t realize that it was a well-known phenomenon known as The Clbuttic Mistake. It’s entirely juvenile of me, I know, but I can’t help laughing at phrases like “President Abraham Lincoln was buttbuttinated by an armed buttailant after a life devoted to the reform of the US consbreastution.” (See also: Medireview and Swear Filters.) I wonder if frak slips by anyone’s filters?
Continue reading “This Browser Is… So HEAVY!”

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No Respect

I was going to refrain from posting today, out of respect for the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and those that died that day, but I simply can’t let the disgraceful vandalization of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the eve of 9/11 go unremarked upon.
I do believe that, should the perpetrators be caught, the Inverse Golden Rule ought to be applied: they should be slathered in an unidentified staining agent and left for the public to mock and ridicule, perhaps even in stocks on the Mall in D.C. I can’t even describe how disgusted I am that one of my fellow countrymen (or women) would stoop so low as to desecrate a memorial dedicated to those willing to give their lives in defense of our country.
Scumbags.

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Don’t Call It A Condiment

…Cause I’m only playing catch-up.
See, because it’s a homonym with… Bah, never mind. On with the Friday Link Dump!
Hollywood is definitely out to retroactively destroy my childhood. How else can one explain their insistence on changing G.I. Joe from hard-charging defenders of America into a namby-pamby “international” strike force under the auspices of the U.N.? Gah! At least TNR has a funny take on the liberal NERFing of Jack Bauer Fox has planned for this next season.
The Top 10 Stadium Anthems That Must Be Retired. I could not agree more with the selections, although the suggested alternatives simply have to be jokes.
Sad news: Madeline L’Engle died yesterday. Funny resultant referential/reverential Fark headline: Tessa-wrecked: Madeline L’engle dies at 88.
Continue reading “Don’t Call It A Condiment”

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A Tab Dump Of Stunning Depth And Ferocity

It’s that time again — time to free myself of a bit of mental clutter expressly for your edification. That’s a win/win situation if I’ve ever heard of one.
Chinese-manufactured sedans: deathtraps on wheels and headed to a dealer near you, ‘twould seem.
It seems as though prior to the British-hostage-sailors incident, the Iranians tried it once before on some Australians. It seems the Aussies reacted a bit differently:

The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be “highly colourful language”.

I bet they did. Wonderful cussers, the Aussies.
Scientific validation of my place in the birth order, at long last. 1st born rule, all others drool!
Pro-abortionists are puzzled by the fact that calling pro-lifers nasty names and insulting their humanity remains a horrendous way to win votes for the Democratic cause. Go figure.
If architects had to work like web designers, would the blink tag still be seeing use in Las Vegas?
Brits call for the return of creative invective to public life, you excrement, you whining hypocritical toadies.
MNF-I is taking the fight to the enemy in Iraq. Good. ‘Bout time. Now witness the power of this fully-armed and operational battle stationSurge.
Democratic Senators’ solution to speech they don’t agree with: raw censorship. Hooray for the First Amendment!
The Team Fortress 2 preview over at Shacknews? Breathtaking. I cannot wait for HL2:Ep. 2 to drop.
I salute our brave NASA astronauts who complete daring missions even when pursued by T.I.E. fighters.
Three celebs tell multi-culti victim hounds where they can shove their victimhood. Good.
Could this mean the end of Toucan Sam, Snap, Crackle and Pop?
RIAA asks for legal recourse against Bush twins for creating Prez. mix CD for Father’s Day. Slashdotter’s collective head explodes from decision on which side they hate more — Bush or the hated RIAA.

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The Surge Is Working And Even The MSM Can’t Ignore It Any Longer

ABC News is carrying a report from Baghdad that has more candy and kites than I’ve seen since Fahrenheit 9/11. We will obviously need sustained coverage on these developments in order for the general public to start realizing that Iraq is headed in the right direction, but every little bit counts.
Now if only more news organs would begin referring to Ahmadinejad as a figurehead for the mad mullahs, we’d really be getting somewhere…

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I’m Too Young To Feel This Old

I turned the ripe old age of 29 today, meaning that in a little less than 366 days, I will officially be 30, a fact that makes me Officially Old, the import of which my blushing bride has reminded me of several times throughout the course of the day.
That’s not what makes me feel the oldest, though. I found out today that one of the kids placed in my charge while I was a counselor at Camp Brookwoods just got back from a tour of duty in Iraq. He joined the service and ended up in the Rangers and was finishing up his first tour a couple of weeks ago. According to second-hand information, on the second-to-last day of his tour, his convoy was hit by an IED. He was first on the scene to the Hummer struck by the blast and thus was first to see that he had lost three of his buddies to the explosion.
I can’t even comprehend what that does to a person; nearest I can figure it, to see comrades and friends die must age one significantly in a mere instant. My heart goes out to the families of those three brave soldiers. And Stu, if you ever read this, know that I’m about as proud a counselor as any could ever possibly be. You’re a certified hero and there’s no way for those of us that remain Stateside to truly signify our thanks.

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A Turning Of The Tables May Be In Order

CNN disgusts me. Their sickening justification for posting blatant jihadi propaganda snuff films of snipers shooting American troops in Iraq is simply appalling. “We know it’s propaganda, but, well, it serves our political ends of making the war in Iraq seem bloody, senseless and hopeless. Anything to drop the Rethuglicans a few more points before Election Day!”
I wonder, would CNN be so blithe about the “public’s right to know” if the insurgents decided to provide the US military with footage of snipers targeting reporters with the intention of the military broadcasting the footage world-wide?
A pox upon the House of Turner.
Blackfive and Confederate Yankee have further thoughts.