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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! June 9, 2006
10 TrackBacksCarlos Mencia does a very funny bit on how he imagines the call went. A slide show accompanies the monologue. Read More Jack Murtha clearly places his short term political gains ahead our national security on his priority list. He is a disgrace to those he represents in congress and a disgrace to all who have worn our nations uniform past and present. Read More Protein Wisdom scored the exclusive interview with Zarqawi, post death. Check it out. Cross-posted at Read More All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players:...And one man in his time plays many parts, said Shakespeare. Leaders, like the Alert Readers of this humble blog, have a part to play. Lines to read,... Read More I've previously dabbled with producing military themed music videos, but after seeing a "remix" put out by HotAir I was inspired to produce my own. Read More Today's winner is Kathleen Ensz. Read More Front Page Magazine explains perfectly why Canada ended up coming close to having a terrorist attack on their hands: they're less strict about asking immigrants to respect their new nationality, and more willing to accept multiculturalism. Read More Today's winner is Lennar Corp. Read More It's kind of a surprise that a journalist as PC as Bill Radford of the Colorado Gazette would have a blog of his own, knowing how most MSM reporters like him would surely despise the blogosphere, because of its ability to compete with the newspapers, a... Read More Today's winner is Annika Sorenstam. 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 |
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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 |
I posted this in another thread, but I wanted to repost it here so it will not get lost. Main point: keep up the great work that all of you milbloggers do. Your message is getting out to the American public and we are all grateful for your hard work and insight.
*****
Greyhawk - You are reaching a lot more than just military people with your blog as well as with the new Milblogs site. I have been following milblogs since I discovered Blackfive a year or so ago and then came upon SMASH's site and Mudville Gazette after that (not to mention Michael Yon, Michael Totten and many other embedded journalists that have been highlighted by milblogs). I'm not in the military, but I am a big supporter of the war effort and the military in general. I also have introduced my co-workers to milblogs and send them articles from your sites every day. We all are big supporters of the war effort and share a disgust of the media coverage of all things related to the war effort. As the months have gone by and I have been more open to discuss politics and the war with my coworkers, I have found that there are a lot more people than I realized who were supporters of the war effort. I have added more and more people to my distribution lists and have noticed that they are all forwarding on my e-mails to their family and friends as well. So the network is growing and milblogs are reaching a greater audience each day.
Also, in the past year, I have started my own blog, granted, only on MySpace for now until I figure out a good name for my own personal blog site, and have introduced many of my friends to milblogs and post numerous articles in bulletin posts as well as blog posts for all to see. I have gotten a great response from people who have told me they have been frustrated with the media coverage and have been looking for other sources of news to find out about all the progress they hear about from their family or friends serving overseas. I have gotten many a "thank you" from people for telling them about milblogs and passing on good stories of progress and success. Many have told me that they now visit the milblogs every day to get the latest updates.
The point of my post is to let you and all other milbloggers know that you are reaching a far greater audience than just other military members. Your posts and insight, as well as those of all the other milbloggers, have been a breath of fresh air for those of us who completely support the war effort and the military and have been wanting to gain more insight into the military and hear from those who have been there and are military experts. And I am only one person. I can imagine there are many, many more people such as myself who have also introduced their families, friends and coworkers to the work of milblogs and your message is getting out to a very large audience, and not just those in the military.
So keep up the great work that you and your fellow milbloggers do. You are an invaluable service to the American public.
Michael, do your knees hurt?
Did you guys know that Murtha is "strongly pro-military"?
Come on, Michael, why don't you go all the way and do what the wingnuts did and piss on Murtha's two Purple Hearts and his Bronze Star?
http://w3t.org/u/rdk
Readers here can think for themselves, but I gave this advice for responding to that attack on Murtha by a fellow Democrat.
Another twisted, disingenuous response from the doyen of the so-called "milblogosphere," which is actually little but a far-right-wing propaganda 'n disinformation operation.
Murtha's military record has been attacked over the years by this or that opponent. As soon as he spoke against the Iraq War, the Republican attack machine sprang into action and launched another smear job.
It's what you people do. It's all you know.
I see that three inmates have killed themselves at Guantanamo Bay. I'm sure the so-called "milblogosphere" will cheer this development, given that they condone torture and murder either directly or through the thinnest of veils.
I think that, by making torture S.O.P. for the U.S. military, the Bush administration has given into the terrorists. It has decided to let them dictate their values to us. Two hundred years after declaring the rights of individuals, the U.S. government kidnaps people, often at random, and takes them to various prisons where they are so severely tortured that death is their only solace.
Congratulations. Oh what a country.
http://mindprod.com/politics/iraqtortures.html#TORTURES
Of course, one way to justify torture is to simply define it out of existence.
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/us/doc/doj.pdf
Damn, WW is on to us, I guess he's discovered that secret torture school in the Arizona desert. You know, the one where we teach young Soldiers how to yank out fingernails and beat the political prisoners with rubber hoses. We had to scale back waterboarding due to continuing drought conditions.
Murtha's military record has been attacked over the years by this or that opponent. As soon as he spoke against the Iraq War, the Republican attack machine sprang into action and launched another smear job.
For the record, here's what I said in the link above:
If you can find any milbloggers (or even any major "right wing" political blogs) who jumped on the WaPo's coverage, please link them here.Good luck.
If you can find any milbloggers (or even any major "right wing" political blogs) who jumped on the WaPo's coverage, please link them here.
Greyhawk your software limits the number of links in a single post so there may well be multiple posts from me on this. The Conservative News Service slimed Murtha's war record thusly:
http://w3t.org/u/re3
Damn, WW is on to us, I guess he's discovered that secret torture school in the Arizona desert. You know, the one where we teach young Soldiers how to yank out fingernails and beat the political prisoners with rubber hoses. We had to scale back waterboarding due to continuing drought conditions.
The secret torture school was the U.S. Army's School of the Americas, located in Ft. Benning, GA. Not sure about the fingernails 'n rubber hoses, but the link I posted has plenty of example of torture committed by U.S. troops that I'm sure you'd approve of.
Willy,
Don't bother with the links to your fiction laden website. We don't plan to give you the traffic.
We also think you have shown yourself to be pretty much an ignorant liar, so don't count on any credibility co-existing with your posts. (I'm leaving out rude and shrill because even morons have the right to be rude and shrill --- and you fit the description).
Of course none of the torture you claim was taught at the Ft Benning school was ever carried out by US soldiers, but by the soldiers from Latin American countries who were taught there. And they didn't need the School of the Americas to give them new ideas. They were already well versed in torture techniques before they ever showed up to the school.
And besides the only folks we approve of torturing is YOU because you are such a pissant here. We'll just have to hold our noses and adjust our earplugs, I guess.
Have fun under your rock, Willy. It is probably the only friend you'll find over the next several months.
Subsunk
So subby wants me tortured. Okay, I understand. But tell me, what did you do under the water all those years other than drink from your secret vodka stash, fail to brush your teeth and learn the 46 ways a man can scratch his balls? I've written that I don't begrudge anyone their military pay, but I am having second thoughts.
"So subby wants me tortured. Okay, I understand. But tell me, what did you do under the water all those years other than drink from your secret vodka stash, fail to brush your teeth and learn the 46 ways a man can scratch his balls? I've written that I don't begrudge anyone their military pay, but I am having second thoughts."
Posted by WW at June 11, 2006 11:24 PM
As a matter of fact, Willy, I want you tortured in the exact way you are torturing us, and that I put up with for 20 years underway. Sleep deprivation (20 waking hours every day for 75 days straight and only four hours sleep), stress positions (standing up for over 10 hrs solid a day 5 days a week), humiliating and degrading treatment (being stuffed in a 12 by 4 box with 10 other people for over 6 hrs a day, frequently without air conditioning or lights, loud noises (alarms) played frequently to keep us awake and alert, hostile environments (living with 157 other guys who hated my guts because I was the boss and they couldn't be home with mama in their own beds), insufficient personal time (a trip to the head between meals before grabbing a sandwich because the drills I ran cut off the electricity to the ovens, so no hot food was available), and in some cases the certain knowledge that truly hostile personnel were outside the ship listening for us and waiting to launch real weapons against us should they ever find us.
And finally, listening to some fat lazy slob who wouldn't recognize real sacrifice and sweat if it bit him in the ass, whine, squeal, and complain endlessly about how no one listens to him and he has to repeat the same stupid story over, and over, and over again, because he thinks he's hot snot, but he's really cold boogers.
Abu Ghraib was a picnic compared to that. And my Marine Corps gets handed much worse conditions than I ever had EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES. They sleep in a hole on the ground -- I had a foam mattress. They deal with heat of 120 degrees in Iraq every day. I had 120 degrees for 4 hrs daily. They eat MREs, I had real sandwiches. I had a semi private stateroom. They sleep with 20 other guys in their clothes without showers.
Torture for terrorists? Terrorists are pussies! [Sorry, Mrs. G] My Men get worse treatment than those jerks every day. And they do their jobs without real complaint. What is your excuse, nimrod? Is the candy store too far to drive? Are the bar hours unsatisfactory for you? Does your banker pay too low an interest rate? Does your mistress cost you too much?
Go home to your fat ass nursery room and go to sleep or count your money while Real Men do their Real Jobs. And it's more than a small amount more dangerous than Alaskan fisherman, twit.
Subsunk
By the way there are over 460 ways to scratch your balls. But who's counting? Just you!
You're such whiners. No wonder you spent 20 years in a submarine. It was either that or a drunk tank in East Dogshit, Nebraska.
Actually, I am kind of fond of that drunk tank in East DogS***. Nebraska is full of such nice people. And they all treat me so much better than you do!
Subsunk