 |  |
 
October 2012
August 2012 July 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003
     |
 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! February 16, 2004 The "ahhh" moment...By GreyhawkAWOL: "It only becomes an issue when the guy dresses up in a flight suit, struts around on an arcraft carrier, calls himself a war president, and gets a lot of people killed." Ahhhh... so the carrier landing, in which the CinC "dressed up in a flight suit and paraded around" is what's got the kollektiv lefty panties in a knot? From Front Page Magazine, here's USN (Ret) CDR Lewis F. McIntyre's letter to Senator Byrd about that visit. (Helpful note for you leftys out there, USN is United States Navy, CDR is Commander - his rank, and ret is retired. Look anything else up yourselves.) Senator Byrd, One last helpful note: Don't look up "look them up in your Funk & Wagnalls!" in your Funk & Wagnalls. Posted by Greyhawk / February 16, 2004 3:31 AM | Permalink 5 TrackBacks...If you ever come to Chicago, I would like to shake your hand and buy you a few rounds and say, "Thank you." CDR (ret.) McIntyre's letter is at Greyhawk. Read More No, not here. Matt is offering to buy Commander (ret.) McIntyre a few rounds if he ever comes to Chicago. I'll extend the same offer to Commander McIntyre should he ever find himself in the Big Apple. The author of... Read More Matt is offering to buy a few rounds for CMD(ret.) McIntyre. I told him to let me know and I'd come add a few myself. Darren is offering to stand him drinks in New York. Why? Because of this. A Read More Clearly I need to revisit my opinion of the Navy after this brilliant assessment of Robert Byrd's reaction to President Bush's visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln. Hat tip: Blackfive.... Read More Frontpage Mag. has a letter from USN (Ret) CDR Lewis F. McIntyre to Senator Robert Byrd, (D) W.V., regarding Bush's visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln. Excerpts: Senator Byrd, As a retired Naval Officer, with two Gulf carrier deployments under Read More 16 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
Comments (0) |
|
The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
Nice work, G, another example of the non-military left "not getting it" about the boss.
The posers always reveal themselves when they start whining about this one. Dub should show clips of it in every campaign commercial he does.
Byrd is some piece of work. This is a man who's had his name plastered on just about everything above ground level, and a lot below, in West Virginia to honor him for his pork barrel prowess. I gues we have to forgive him for not understanding a gesture that shows genuine respect, since he's never had such a thought in his life.
Greyhawk—
Reread my posts. I'm a righty. Ahhh…
Jody
My sincere apologies then. I'm a centrist/ moderate/independent myself.(And I add that I don't see anything inherently wrong in being a lefty.) But the issue with the Carrier Landing is being trumpeted all over by the leftys, and also misunderstood - he is the CinC. And it's rather deftly explained by Cdr McIntyre.
Kudos! The left doesn't want to get it and their willing media lapdogs reinforce their viewpoint by distorting and lying by omission.
That they embrace Kerry's "Vet hero" act while hating the military is more than slighty disengenious...they will do and say anthing to regain the WH, except protect us.
Everytime I see Kerry's hound dog countenance I can't help but think of the old adage about the car chasing dog who finally caught one.
Maybe the Commander-in-Chief would get more respect took time out of his schedule (which is basically 9-5 SHEESH) to go to a funeral of the war dead instead of parading around like some kid on Halloween.
We can add "Lefty Beerzie" to the list of those who just don't get it, but aren't afraid to show it.
Woo Hah! You go, Commander.
If you had spent some time in the service, instead of the Klan,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Best takedown ever. Bye bye Byrdie.
Lefty Beerzie,
Perhaps you like micro-crisis-managers who base their value on the intensity of their insomnia, but I always preferred commanders who trusted me enough to let me find my own solutions. Given that George W. Bush is fighting two wars with minimal casualties to our side and crushing defeat on their side, perhaps you could find it in your heart to give some credit for the methods that have brought about the greatest military successes in the history of the world.
As it stands, your grasp of management methods rivals your awareness of the grief recovery process for utter insignificance.
Please keep your cheap shots out of discussions of the honored war dead.
What a great post! I'm from WV, and I think every public building in the state is a "Robert Byrd This or That." That old coot probably has outhouses named after him.
As for Lefty Beerzie, presidential grandstanding at a funeral (such as Paul Wellstone's)is better left to the Clintons of this world.
Ah, Lew, I guess I'm an older ex-Naval officer, so I'm not blaming you for not being aware of the facts. LBJ actually did visit the troops in Viet Nam. He also flew onto the USS Constellation (CVA-64) and spent several days aboard her. (Credibility notes: I was a LT in Operations on Connie. Also did way more time on destroyers, Market Time duty, yaddayadda, been there, got the tee shirts, war stories, medals, P.U.C., and Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club patches to prove it.)
My opinion? All of this Viet Nam discussion is just a smoke screen, for both sides. Viet Nam and Iraq are not equivalent situations, and there's no point trying to make them so. Kerry's service and Bush's service are not equivalent, and there's no point trying to make them so. Who cares today? Neither of them ran off to Canada or hid out behind bogus deferments, and shame on politicians and pundits that did no matter which party they belong to today.
If we Americans don't focus on what matters (the economy, our position in the world, and dealing effectively with terrorists), we are going to get a President none of us deserves and a future none of us wants. Right now, I am not sure that any of the candidates in either party deserves my vote. In my opinion, we all need to wake the f--- up. The house is on fire and the politicians and media are real busy trying to keep us from noticing.
Bill, I'm inclined to agree with you. And given that we are currently living President Bush's policies and need no further info I eagerly await Senator Kerry to establish 1)his stance on something and 2)the actions he will take. I'm not kidding, I want to know. (Beyond the "world peace" answers we get from Miss America pageant contestants.)
Great article. As a former naval aviator I have had to explain several times to people why Bush's carrier visit was a fine example of leadership rather than just a cheap political stunt. The Commander explains it far better than I ever did.
Bush is a member of our fraternity, the fraternity of military airmen. The crew of the carrier knew that. They understood that the man in a flight suit had worn one many times before, and that he was there to honor their work.
And like it or not, Vietnam does count, because to this day it affects the attitudes of our political class, our media elites and our chattering classes (many of whom are, like myself, from that era), and it informs the calculations of our enemies.
Kerry served honorably in Vietnam. Bush served honorably in the Guard. Both took risks they didn't have to take. Kerry served in combat, Bush did not. These serve as guides to their character - not as absolute judgements, but as guides.
However, I and many other Vietnam veterans consider Kerry's post-service behavior to be relevant and reprehensible, and , consistent with his character as it appears today. His activities contributed to the loss of Vietnam, a loss that happened in the Capitol of the United States, not in combat. He took part in a propaganda campaign that included telling lies to the U.S. Senate, lies that slandered America and her fighting men.
And that counts. There is no moral statute of limitations on those actions.
Greyhawk,
Heard you on Hewitt's show. By coincidence I had this window open on my desktop from earlier in the day because I planned to link.
It's a blog world after all!
Greyhawk,
Just found your site and have spent the last hour and a half catching up. Great comments all around.
One thing. And I'm just an old sub sailor, (diesels) so I'm not too familiar with aircraft. But isn't anyone flying in a military jet fighter required to wear a flight suit? I kinda thought that would be a safety thing, 'specially for the CiC. Funny, I've never heard anyone mention it.
Later...............
Al