Terri Schiavo PostThe last several decades of the encroachment of human habitation in the West has meant a reduction in the range of feral equines. As of the most recent census, there are not enough wild horses in the whole United States to drag me out from cover on this topic. That is all, carry on.
Kentucky National Guard MP's Kick Ass, Take Names… Defending the convoys carrying the goods to fight the war is hard, thankless, and critical work. Yesterday a unit of Kentucky Guard Military Police did the
job magnificently.
At approximately noon on March 20, 26 terrorists were killed, seven wounded, and one captured when they attacked a coalition force convoy on the outskirts of Baghdad in the Salman Pak area. Seven soldiers were injured during the attack. A U.S. military convoy and its security element from the 617 Military Police Company was patrolling when the convoy was ambushed by approximately 40 – 50 terrorists with rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire. The convoy became disabled and the 617 MP’s maneuvered to flank the terrorists. Apache air support was called in but didn’t participate in the engagement. The Apache remained in the area to provide additional support if needed.
Military personnel recovered six RPG launchers, 16 RPG rockets, 13 RPK (machine guns), 22 AKMs (assault rifle), more than 2900 rounds of ammunition, and 40 hand grenades from the terrorists.
Every day soldiers guard convoys across Iraq’s most dangerous roads. In recent days, this road has had increased attacks on coalition forces. On March 18, there was another complex attack at almost the same location. The attack consisted of RPGs, mortars, and small arms fire from both sides of the road. No U.S. soldiers were injured in this attack.
To keep the hundred and thirty thousand troops supplied requires us to move millions of ton-miles every day and this is utterly critical to doing the job right. Responding to an ambush is hard, and requires great skill and coordination to do right.
Yesterday, a bunch of Bluegrass State MP's woke up, put on their boots, and said, "I'm gonna rip the ass off the next sumbitch who takes a shot at me." They then proceeded to do that very thing. Kentucky Guard: HOOAH!
If you are not reading Free Iraqi, you should now.
Ali is doing a lot to put things into perspective for the wildly mixed fight we find ourselves in the middle of. His latest is a long post, but his has been a long journey.
Open Letter to the Navy Exchange To Whom It May Concern:
I recently returned to the Naval Reserve after leaving the Navy almost ten years ago. A health issue which has recently cleared up kept me from rejoining. This weekend I attended my first (indoctrination) drill and got my ID card. It feels like I have been on the bench for three and a half years and now I can actually contribute. Today was my first chance to make up for lost time and expedite my acquisition of uniforms so I can start training with my unit. My wife and I got up at four this morning in Portland to make the trek up to the Puget Sound area in what I expected to be a grueling day of searching all the exchanges in the area for the uniform items I would need to drill.
The first base we went to had a pass office so crowded that I was sure we would be hours waiting to go to the exchange, so we diverted to the Bangor, Washington Naval Station. The pass office at Bangor was polite and after we were passed through their excellent security, we made our way to the uniform store on that base. What we found was the friendliest, most professional and efficient uniform store I have ever had the privilege to shop in.
After wandering around the store for a bit to get my bearings, I found some of the items I needed for my camouflage uniform, and then I went to look for the hard to find accessories. To my complete surprise, everything I needed was there! To my complete delight, I was found by the store manager, Sandy. She asked me what I needed and I explained my situation. I was especially concerned about the amount of time it would take to get name tapes made for my uniform, since your web site had indicated it would take 10 business days plus shipping time for me to get them online. That seemed to cause her some concern for her organization's ability to provide support to their customers. She appeared to decide to demonstrate exactly how efficiently a well run Navy Exchange uniform store can be. Instead of two weeks, my wife and I were out the door with the uniform I needed to participate in my unit training in two hours.
I have been away from the service for quite some time, and my wife has never been a part of the military community before. Sandy and Shelly, the uniform store supervisor, took care of us. My previous experience with the treatment of reservists in the distant past was that we were not full participants in the defense of the nation. Sandy, Shelly, and the tailoring staff made my wife and I feel like we were contributors to our nation's defense, worthy of the full measure of the Navy Exchange's support. More than that, they made me feel like my family was coming home to the Navy.
Thank you for your excellent service,
Patrick S Lasswell, STG2(SW), USNR
The Demise of the Tantrum Tyranny The ink-stained heroes of Iraq have shown the Middle East the way to courageous liberty. It remains to be seen how far and how well their example will be matched, but initial signs are that the Arab peoples have a tremendous hunger for freedom. At the same time, other despots are getting overthrown. For far too long, the politically correct in the west have used victim psychology to extort results. As long as they were willing to throw a tantrum, they could never be wrong. Ideas could be denounced by the simple expedient of screaming in emotional distress over how unfair it was to be shown as wrong. I first noticed this behavior in college more than twenty years ago.
By investing so totally in opposing the war, the politically correct burned their bridges behind them. Now they have been repudiated by millions of people accept the role of powerless victim. The Iraqi voters who risked so much more than emotional meltdown have utterly shamed the useless extortionists. The failure of the union of obstructionist whiners to deliver results was explainable only as long as they could block anyone else from accomplishing anything. Now that some thing real has been done and results can clearly be seen, we can let them cry all they want. No longer will intellectuals be bound by the strictures of the tantrum tyranny.
H/T:
Who Knew
