May angels lead you in brother,
We’ll take it from here 🇺🇸 o7
Give em hell @realDonaldTrump #ThankYouForYourService #SemperFidelis #PatriotsFight#Marines #WWG1WGA #MAGA pic.twitter.com/54aQtGtyUo— Qanon Obiwan (@qanon_obiwan) July 17, 2020
By the time Task Force Ranger had been launched, Aidid’s network of drug-addled, Khat-dealing gun runners had taken over Mogadishu and were doing everything they could to oppress any and all rival clans, including that of Omar, the Majeerteen. In other words, we were sent halfway across the world to help protect people just like Omar and her family. Nineteen incredible men gave their lives defending her country while serving ours. They deserve to be lauded for their service, not attacked for it.
I am thankful Omar and her family and countless others were able to escape to neighboring Kenya while we fought to protect those left behind, but I simply cannot comprehend her attitude towards those of us who fought to protect her country and countrymen from warlords who plunged Somalia only further into violence and starvation. I am glad that Omar can now enjoy the very freedoms we fought to protect, like the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion affirmed in the U.S. Constitution, but I don’t understand why she uses those freedoms to slur the men and women of the U.S. military who made her security and liberty a reality.
I question our ongoing military presence in Afghanistan but I defer my skepticism to people who have much to lose yet back the war regardless of the potential personal price.
I have seen the devastation of war. I have witnessed the final moments of young men in distant lands, far from all they love and hold dear. I have watched my daughter deploy to combat in Afghanistan and soon might my son. I recognize the personal courage required to make difficult decisions. I know the cost of war. More importantly, I know the price of freedom._ National security advisor retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg
The general and I have something in common: We’ve got skin in the game. His son the lieutenant, like my son the sergeant, is on the “point of the spear,” and our sons actually know each other. When the general talks about “the price of freedom,” it’s not idle rhetoric. Here…
Gen. Kellogg’s description of Trump’s policy deserves quoting:
We do not seek territorial conquest or occupation. We do not intend to create a government after our own image. We will not set arbitrary timelines. We will use our integrated military, political, and economic efforts to promote stability in the region. We will demand that nations ultimately provide for their own security. Those that harbor terrorist networks must eliminate them.
We will fight those that threaten us wherever they may be. We will fight them at night, in the day, in their supposed sanctuaries. We will give them no rest nor will we grow weary.
The saber rattling is getting intense with North Korea, stories coming out of the media about nuke capabilities seem to be painting Trump into a corner and forcing him to take action. I have no doubt that our military capability is vastly superior to the Norks, that being said we are currently at war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and whatever ghost maneuvers our special forces are involved in. Toss in our tense relationship with Iran, China, and Russia and we are stretched pretty thin.
As an American, nothing would please me more than bringing hell fire down on the chubby little dictator just to shut him up. Putting out threats and shabby videos showing North Korea blowing up America is rude, (of course Iran has been doing it for decades). He seems like a spoiled child who doesn’t like being scolded and can’t play with the other kids because….well…..nobody likes him. He needs to have his toys taken away.
But we can’t fight everyone.
If I had to pick one I would get the hell out of Afghanistan. To this day I don’t know what we have gained but I have a good idea of what we have lost. The war on terror has been a perpetual war, the first American attack in Afghanistan happened October 7, 2001, you can do the math but fighting in one country for almost 16 years seems like a long time. We had the Gulf War in 1990-91 but that was a major ass kickin’ when Bush the Elder was running the show, unfortunately W. thought it a good idea to head back in 2003 and finish what his old man had started, been there ever since. Thanks to Obama and his troop withdrawal from Iraq we are now in Syria. Sad.
I don’t know what the current state of political and tribal factions are in Afghanistan, but I don’t think that we are on the cusp of bringing the Taliban to it’s knees. It’s time to let the chips fall where they may, we have given away billions of dollars to corrupt politicians and tribal leaders and it seems nothing has changed. I fear the blood and treasure was wasted in a senseless war that America has nothing to show for.
It’s past time to leave Afghanistan, I wouldn’t let any grass grow under our feet getting out of Iraq and Syria also but I understand the urgency in eliminating ISIS. I don’t know that Afghanistan would become a haven for terrorists or not, and frankly at this point, I don’t care.
“Every recent war has been counterproductive at best. At worst, they have been meat-grinders for our bravest young men.
If we’re ever attacked, we should be prepared to unload our full arsenal. But it’s not our job to create functioning democracies in primitive rape-based societies around the globe.
Apart from an attack on U.S. soil by a foreign country, we are going to live our lives, go to work, celebrate the Fourth of July, and never bother learning the difference in Sunni and Shia Arabs. Once a decade, when we fleetingly remember Yemen or Saudi Arabia, we will hope they’re doing well, then get back to our lives — surrounded by a wall and living in a constitutional democracy, where our greatest young men aren’t continually sacrificed in pointless wars.”
Robert Maginnis, a retired Army officer, said: “There is no genetic markers for homosexual proclivities while skin color is dictated by our DNA. In recent years the homosexual lobby used political pressure and bigoted intimidation to cower the medical community into declaring their proclivities ‘normal,’ whereas forever until the last few years it was considered a disorder. Declaring such behavior ‘normal’ may work for the political cowards in Washington and Hollywood but fails the straight-face test in middle America.”
Retired Army officer Robert Maginnis rejecting liberal Navy Secretary Ray Mabus contention that pro-military activists who opposed lifting the ban on gays serving openly in the ranks are just like the bigots who fought against racial desegregation decades ago.
h/t Weasel Zippers for the story
The Marine Corps in 2013 studied how proficient females were at pull ups. The results were embarrassing. A total of 55 percent of females couldn’t meet the standard of three pull ups. In fact, out of 318 female Marines, the average pull ups they could complete was 1.63. And 20 percent of the total who could actually achieve three pull ups did so by cheating with an extra lower body motion, called “kipping.”
But all of a sudden, the Marine Corps decided to give females yet another year to get their act together. They were allowed the entirety of 2014, as well, to prepare themselves for the pull up requirement.
Then 2015 hit and for some reason females were still allowed to skip pull ups.
Marine Corps Plan Says Women Won’t Have To Do Any Pull ups
While female Marines will strongly be incentivized to do those pull ups to achieve a high score, they can opt for the “flexed-arm hang” instead. For example, females can’t score higher than 50 points for a flexed-arm hang, but just one pull up will net them 51 points, Marine Corps Times reports.
“I think this is a great way to implement the change as it gives an incentive to increase a score without the fear of failing the PFT,” Col. Robin Gallant told Marine Corps Times. “As women work on them to increase their score, they can be confident that they won’t fail a PFT. I think this is a huge benefit and I’m glad it might become a reality.”
What the military is facing is a Lunatic Tax. They can still drive off the dangerously stupid, but they have to accommodate the the whims of the lunatics. That means re-engineering their combat units so they can have a sprinkling of girls in them. When the angry bull-dyke Senator visits, they can show her how enthusiastic they are for girls in combat. This also requires a catalog of euphemisms and esoteric rules to game the theocrats. Everyone in the military now speaks in tongues.
This will not end well. Here…..
Two high end Riverine boats, 10 sailors, and no tow rope?
Depending on the mission, it can bristle with weapons from six different mounts. Wood said the boat on order has a remote-controlled weapon mount for a .50-caliber machine gun — or other weapon — on a mast behind the cockpit. It will also have a twin weapon mount on the bow that is controlled from the cockpit, as well as four mounts for crew-served weapons elsewhere on the boat. The mounts include electrical power supply to allow the use of mini-guns.
So we are to believe that two of these boats broke down at the same time? They couldn’t communicate with their command ship? No tow rope?
The ship has cabin space that can be configured to carry more than 20 troops or serve as a floating command post with extra communication gear.
Sorry, something is terribly wrong here. I think this was done on purpose.
I don’t understand this at all. Two attack vessels loaded with enough firepower to decimate the dingys the Iranians showed up in, yet our people are forced to surrender. The boats were in the area for a reason, they were apparently told to go where they went, why would they not defend themselves? More Obama “rules of engagement”?
Is it just me or does something seem a bit sketchy here. Would Obama order these men into harms way for political gain in an attempt to prove the Iranians are reasonable in returning the sailors? 
h/t weasel zippers for images.
Today is the anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, General Eisenhower committed thousands of men to battle to retake Europe from the Nazis. If the worst case scenario were to have happened, General Eisenhower was prepared to take complete and full responsibility for the invasions failure.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower sounded confident before the Normandy Invasion. “This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it, and we’re going to make it a success,” he said.
Operation Overlord was a massive campaign—an invasion of 4,000 ships, 11,000 planes, and nearly three million men—that was launched on June 6, 1944. Despite a year of strategizing and a boatload of confidence, Eisenhower had a quiet plan in case his mission failed. If the armada couldn’t cross the English Channel, he’d order a full retreat. One day before the invasion, he prepared a brief statement just in case:
“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
Let that sink in, and compare to the leadership we now have. This man was prepared to shoulder the blame for failure on a global scale.
Obama won’t take blame for anything and credit for everything. The contrast between now and then is stark, and should remind you of why those men are considered “The Greatest Generation” because they were. What we have now is a bunch of selfish people more concerned with their political agenda and lining their own pockets, nary a worry about what they are doing to America and a disrespect for a generation of men who bled and died for love of country.
It has been oft spoken that America will not be destroyed by an invading army, but will eventually be destroyed from within. I fear our best days are behind us, when people like Barack Obama and John Kerry are our current best hope….I weep for our country and am embarrassed for the legacy of the men of D-Day for what we have become.
Most of us by now understand that the Mainstream Media are not in the business of the reporting of facts but rather in the shaping of public opinion.
Across America, 24 hours a day, the media enters our homes and lives not to inform us…… but rather to tell us how we should think.
Whether the issue is Global Warming, marriage equality or civil unrest in American cities………..coverage is less determined by the facts than by what networks and reporters believe the story should be.
Journalism has become a profession peopled by social activists masquerading as impartial reporters of facts.
This however is not a new phenomena…………
In fact a study of papers and periodicals of the 18th and 19th century show wildly inflammatory and misleading opinion being presented as news.
The newspaper business of that day was a wild free for all, where anyone with the resources, could set up a newspaper or periodical and publish virtually anything that they liked.
Not much different from the internet of today.
However…..in the early part of the 20th century journalism took on the mantle of a profession. Reporters and the media were now accorded an increasing respect. Schools of journalism were set up, guidelines and codes of conduct outlined and the media took up its self-appointed role as the “fourth estate, the gate-keeper of western democracy assuring Americans that truth was their highest ideal.
Walter Cronkite changed all that.
Touted as the “most trusted man in America” Cronkite’s role as CBS’s news anchorman took him into American living rooms nightly, to tell the families gathered there, the events of the day, signing off with the assurance “And that’s the way it is”.
The public trust in Walter Cronkite cannot be underestimated.
Which is why his betrayal of that trust and its ongoing consequences is so particularly egregious.
In 1968 Cronkite traveled to Vietnam to report on the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.
America had already endured 7 years of involvement in the Vietnam War. Though Americans were tired of the conflict and there was rising concern about the initial decision to send armed forces, only 10% of those in public polls advocated for a withdrawal from the conflict.
American overwhelmingly wanted the United States to finish the job. The “anti-war movement” despite the modern day presentation was still largely regarded as a fringe movement led by student activists and hippies. Not unlike the present day Occupy crowd.
Tet……. or rather the reporting of Tet, changed all that.
In the early morning hours of January 31, during the traditional Tet holiday truce, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces launched a massive countrywide attack on the cities and towns of South Vietnam.
For the Viet Cong the Tet Offensive was a last roll of the dice.
Having sustained increasing casualties and loss of strategic areas over the last two years, General General No Nguyen Giap, the Supreme Commander of the NVA and Hoàng Văn Thái leader of the Viet Cong, gambled everything on one last major offensive. They believed that the people of South Vietnam in the face of such overwhelming odds would rise up in and join the insurgent forces in defeating the Americans and the South Vietnamese government.
Their gamble not only failed……..but failed spectacularly.
Not only did the South Vietnamese fail to rise up but they fought ferociously in villages and towns to defeat them.
The North Vietnamese suffered horrific losses with an estimated 80,000 killed or wounded. American casualties by contrast were less than 2500.
Not one of the strategic objectives envisioned by Giap or Thai was achieved and in fact the massive loss of life proved a blow the Viet Cong never fully recovered from and to all intents they ceased to be an effective fighting force.
Into all this strode Walter Cronkite…………
Having commissioned himself to do a “special report” from Vietnam. Cronkite took his cameraman to one of the only areas significantly damaged during the offensive.
With the rubble smoking in the background Cronkite famously declared “It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.”.
This was a massive blow to the American psyche already reeling from the sheer magnitude of the attacks.
Here was the most trusted man in America, telling his fellow Americans that the war was basically lost.
Cronkite did this in full knowledge that Tet was a stunning defeat for the North Vietnamese. Cronkite had decided, perhaps over a period of time, that the facts by necessity must become subservient to his own belief and desire for an American withdrawal.
Whether or not the story of Lyndon B. Johnston’s response “If I’ve lost Cronkite……..I’ve lost America” is true or not…….what is undeniable was the erosion of public confidence in the outcome of the war.
Cronkite’s straying from reportage into advocacy had repercussions far beyond the removal of American forces in South Vietnam.
The journalistic profession sat up and took notice. Here was one of their own not just reporting the news but actively remoulding public opinion.
No longer would they be just reporters of world events now they would be the active shapers of those events.
A role they gleefully embraced.
The legacy of Walter Cronkite continues to this day. The media once the collators and promulgators of facts have become in the space of one human lifetime…………The gatekeepers of inconvenient truths. Only allowing outside that which serves their beliefs and desires.
Thus is our democracy weakened and the public trust made poorer by the day. Here…..
