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 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! November 13, 2005 Bruce Willis, Michael Yon, and the Deuce-Four in IraqBy GreyhawkFrom The Corner, Bruce Willis and Michael Yon on Iraq, the media, and a possible movie version of the Deuce-Four story. The two appeared on MSNBC's "Rita Cosby: Live and Direct" - I've added hyperlinks to the transcript below. COSBY: Getting stories out of Iraq is not easy. Bruce Willis found that out firsthand when he went over to visit U.S. troops serving in Armed Forces.Willis spoke at the Deuce-Four's redeployment, an event Yon has promised will be covered soon on his blog. Posted by Greyhawk / November 13, 2005 12:57 PM | Permalink 4 TrackBacksAs Reported in the NY Post's Page Six Bruce Willis is putting his money where his mouth is. Bruce is offering 1Million dollars for the capture of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi offered up by any civilian. Willis is a true p... Read More Greyhawk has an annotated transcript here. Read More A refreshing departure from the typical Hollywood political hobbyist's playbook was observed on MSNBC's "Rita Cosby: Live and Direct" recently. Action hero Bruce Willis pledged on-air to offer $1 million to any civilian who turns in Osama Bin Laden, Ay... Read More Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure. (George W. Bush) Finally, a movie ... Read More 5 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 |
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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 |
Bruce's script is already done; just comile Yon's postings and you have it. It would be nice to see a movie that is not 'based on a true story' but 'this IS a true story'.
I think Bruce would be extremely nervous playing Kurilla, though; Kurilla has more guts and toughness in real-life than all the fictional role Bruce has ever played combined. DEFINITELY has more smarts as well :)
Other than Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson (WE WERE SOLDIERS) Donald Bellasario (JAG, NCIS) Hollywood is completely out of touch with what the American public wants to see on its film and TV screens. We LOVE heroes!
What are you doing after the war, guys? Why not team up with the best storytellers among you and the most visually gifted and start telling true tales that we the American people are dying to see?
Money? Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY, DESPERADO) who made his first film for $9,000. wrote a book called "REBEL WITHOUT A CREW" which will teach you more than I learned in a year at a prestigious film school.
Hollywood so drove RR nuts that he finally said he'd do business with anyone who let him work from home (Austin, Texas). Free from expensive Hollywood union rules, RR makes movies cheaply, expertly and entertainingly.
After World War I, lots of former warriors went into the film business. Time to do so again.
Please email me if I can help with any further suggestions.
Love you guys,
Sandra ;-)
Super post. Super that Bruce Willis and Rita (now, at least) have a clue.
But, jeeeeez, I wonder up what bodily cavity these MSM/Hollywood types have had their crania inserted to be able to be so GOD-AWFULLY IGNORANT of some of the good things going on over in Iraq.
The acknowledgement that many good things are happening in Iraq IN NO WAY negates my justified criticisms of the many things that the Bush/Dumbsfeld team is doing wrong -- some of which (e.g., the absurd catch-and-release of terrorists, the ludicrous prohibition that prevents our troops from turning capture terrorists over to the Iraqi police for "serious" questioning, to name two issues) are clearly spelled out in Yon's blog.
The amazing thing is that so much good going on over their despite Dumbsfeld's gross mismangement of Iraq post-invasion.
By the way: Dummy needs to go: NOW! And we need to QUIT charging soldiers every time they rough up a detainee or pull a weapon on one.
And we need to pressure Pres. Bush PRE-EMPTIVELY to pardon the five Rangers just charged with "being mean" to detainess!
We didn't win WWII by micromanaging how our troops treated prisoners: We are not going to win this (wider) war against Islamokazifascism that way either.
I wish more people in here would get their backs up agains the politically correct BS that the Pentagon has been foisting on the troops!
Gunjam,
Yes, I certainly think it is healthy to find ways to criticise the government, even if you're relatively happy with the way important policies (like Iraq) are going. They're probably never going to get everything right at the same time.
However, I suggest calling them names like "Dumsfeld" doesn't do much for your credibility. I think you have to respect Rumsfeld, even if you think he's made bad decisions. However many bad decisions he may have made, he's made some good ones too.
WWII was more than 60 years ago. Times have changed. (Although with the "Death to the Jews and Death to America" schtick, you would never be able to tell, it's as if the Nazis are still around except they're in power in Iran now).
I think if someone's done something really bad, they should be charged, but there needs to be some leeway. I definitely think there is mismanagement, but I wouldn't place all the blame on Rummy.
They probably hate playing this PC game, too, but they realize that it's important to keep certain people on our side, at least for now. I guess it's called "Realpolitick".
Personally, I see serious issues which are not being addressed, but neither are they getting any real attention. All the attention is on stupid stuff. Well, that's the fault of the idiots in political opposition and the media I suppose - they're playing for political gain, rather than actually attempting to do anything moral or constructive. Until they stop doing that, we'll probably be spending all our energy fighting their ridiculous accusations rather than bringing attention to issues where it belongs.
Which brings us back to the topic of this post. I think it's a good thing that these straight talking guys are getting some attention. Let's hear more about the REAL issues! Let's have constructive debate, and not cloud the issues with distortions, lies and people who are "stuck on stupid".
Oh well, it will probably never happen, but we can hope...