Dawn Patrol, A bit Differently From Now On

I've decided that the Dawn Patrol should be of our MilBlogs and not of the MSM. I'd rather promote Free Speech from those who help make it possible than those who take it for granted. I know alot of you liked the Dawn Patrol before, but let's give this a whirl.

It has proved to be a daunting task since we now have 211 members in the MilBlog Ring and 40 perspective ones in the Queue waiting to get their code up, so bear with me. If you know a milblogger with a story who's not in the ring, send me the title, top paragragh and a link and I'll happily post it (keep in mind lewd offensive ones will not be) If your in the Ring and I've missed you, send me the same.

This is the first run, there is no special order. I'll be tweaking as I go.

• Ansar al-Sunna Rot in hell, you bastards. [From My Position... On the way!]

  No, not our boys. These boys. This morning, a very, very early morning, the Fighting Aces were kicking in doors with the IA and raiding houses. Our target was a cell of Ansar al-Sunna operating in my Nahiya. I was pretty nervous about this one, given the targets and their location. The town that they were in is a maze of family blocks, narrows streets and alleys, and only has one way in or out. Potentially, it could have become a hornet?s nest, with us surrounded and bad guys running amok. Luckily, the town is supportive of the ISF and Coalition Forces. The town?s Sheikh is a really good guy, and his son led the raid on one of the objectives.

• Remembering A Friend This Memorial Day [Parrot Check]
  On this Memorial Day, I am not only remembering and honoring all of the brave soldiers and patriots who have sacrficied for this country, but I am thinking about a specific one. A man I knew in college. A man who was no better a friend. A man of strong faith. A man who personally touched my life. A man that everyone liked. Capt. Ernie Blanco. I could write alot about him, but I am going to let the men who served with him directly in Iraq talk.

• Memorial Day, 2005 - It?s Not All About the Numbers [Chaotic Synaptic Activity]
  We take a moment to consider those who have sacrificed their lives, so we may have our freedoms. It is difficult, however, to grasp being without such things as the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, and so many other things we enjoy every moment of our lives in the United States.

• The Straight Word...Straight from an Iraqi Citizen [Ma Deuce Gunner]
  In response to some of the comments of my previous interviews, I bring you another installment of interpreter interviews. This interview was conducted with "Bob," another of our terps. "Bob" is actually "Steve's" (from the previous series) brother. These questions are from readers and fellow bloggers Dymphna and Leigh Blackall.

• CIA Air Operation Details Exposed by New York Times [The Word Unheard]
  A logical person must stretch reason to its limits to understand why The New York Times decided to publish with frightening specificity about the CIA's contracted air services used to shuttle captured terror suspects in the War on Terror.

• Chasing security with dollars [Law and Terrorism]
  "Overflowing with Department of Homeland Security anti-terrorism money, and with broad authority to spend, the state has had trouble managing the cash.

• High New York Times: Prisoner Transports Revealed [Winds of Change]
  If you are al Qaeda, and you are interested in interdicting or attacking CIA air services that transport captured high value targets, how would you go about finding out how the CIA is moving these prisoners around? Would you:

• "Pop that thing" [RaMrOd's Blog]
  ...Holy shit.

  An IED just went off about 20 meters to our left on the median, throwing a big mushroom cloud of sand and dust in the air. It went off 3 bobtails in front of us.

• Bodies [Hurls Blog]
  A few nights ago things got real ugly again just after dark. A convoy of contractors and Iraqi security personnel was ambushed just to the South of a town not far from us called Hit. One fellow got away and another was captured. The rest ? about 15 or so ? were slaughtered by the side of the road. We showed up right after the ambush and found burning vehicles and bodies strewn around the area ? a very gruesome sight.

• A walk through the valley of the shadow of death [Kokasexton]
  Thoughts of daily roadside bombs or IEDs as the military called them were killing soldiers more often than enemy gunfire. Memories of the explosion that rocked the truck like an imaginary monster had swatted the humvee like it was a small insect flooded into sight. The initial drive north was hit by two, luckily with no causalities. The explosions flew through sections of the truck like a hot knife through butter but other than a few more air vents nothing was damaged. Taking a deep breath he looked up in the sky and thanked God for sparing him one more time.

• Nice of you to notice [Major K]
  When I first got here almost 4 months ago, Haifa Street was the worst area in all of Baghdad. Casualties had piled up there and the unit that we replaced had earned over 50 Purple Hearts there. It was considered a "no go" area because if you went in, you went in with no less than a Company of Soldiers. (100-120) Between daily bombing and body count reports, that are considered the only things newsworthy here, someone in the media actually noticed that Haifa Street is no longer arhabi turf.

• We are in the news again. [Edward's Blog]
  Well, I was waiting for this to come out in the news before I wrote about it. We were in the news once before over here for slingloading a blackhawk. Video on CNN and everything. Anyways, the helicopter that went down last night (May 21,05) was my 'Chalk 2' during my PC ride. Chalk 2 means that it was the second helicopter in the flight. In this case, we only had 2.

• I'm Not Gonna Make It, Go On Without Me [Irr Soldier]
  I got my first combat wound and had minor surgery yesterday. Before you get too concerned read this entire blog and then decide if you should be concerned or not. There are two versions to this story. The first is ?The War version? that I?ll probably tell for the rest of my life, and the second is a much less interesting version I like to call ?The actual truth?. Here goes.

• New at the CGA: The Institute for Leadership and Ethics [Tidewater Musing]
  Well, here's what I've found...
  On the Coast Guard Academy's own website:

• Outsourcing [Steven Kiel]
  There have been a lot or arguments lately about whether the military is big enough or not, and whether the fighting force here in Iraq should be increased or decreased. I think many of the articles are missing the point though, especially the ones calling for a larger military (leave aside the point that, with decreasing enlistment numbers, dramatically increasing the size of the military would be cost prohibitive).

• A Soldier's Story [Alumni.ucsd.edu/magazine]
  When you watch Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld orchestrate a press conference on CNN, you get one impression of the American presence in Iraq, and when you watch the hair-raising documentary Gunner Palace, you get another. The devastating press reports of prison abuse by American soldiers or insurgent car bombings can leave you with a sick feeling, and the uplifting accounts of the January elections have a completely different effect.

• Can Anybody Tell Me This? [An Atheist Soldier]
  I know the count of US casualties in Iraq, but can anyone tell me how many have died of wounds received there once they were no longer in country? What I am asking, really, is how many US servicemembers have died as a direct result of wounds sustained in Iraq?

• Guard vs Active [Confessions of a Caffinated Zoomie]
  Well, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away........ hey wait a sec. Lets break it down. First off folks the differences between Guard and Active Duty are so gargatuan that I am surprised our military works at all. I mean, the Guard has no sense of rank structure.

• What George Lucas Did Wrong: The (Semi-)Definitive Post [Brain Fertilizer]
  He did a great job (apparently with help) on these issues in Episodes IV-VI. Sort of. Star Wars: A New Hope was nearly perfect in and of itself, in that the story started with "The Princess is in Peril", and ended when the threat to her was defeated. And the whole trilogy did a fairly good job, in that the problem established at the beginning of the trilogy was that the Emperor had dissolved the Senate and begun ruling directly and ruthlessly, and the trilogy ended when the Emperor was killed.

• NMPS Movie List Review [The Yankee Sailor]
  The Phibian memed (is that a word?) me the other day, and made an aside that he thought those of you surfing the sphere should have an idea of what's on the Navy Motion Picture Service's movie list. There are over 600 movies currently on the list, so I won't innundate you with the whole thing, but here are some highlights (and lowlights).

• Big Windy Flight Video [The Siegrist Blogs]
  Cockpit video taken in Afghanistan

• Operation Homelink? Homepage- [A Soldiers' Angel - Holly Aho]
  "Operation Homelink? provides free refurbished computers to either parents or spouses of deployed service men and women in the ranks of E-1 through E-5. Our program enables email communications between families and their loved ones deployed outside of the continental United States."

• Houston, We Have a Problem: Exploring the Impact of Nuclear Terrorism (Part 1) [Alexander the Average]
  Recently, the Washington Post ran an article stating that the US was unprepared for nuclear terrorism:

• Dusk till dawn [Blog Machine City]
  At dusk last night I stood on the roof of our building, looking around, still trying to process this idea: this is Iraq. June 6 will mark our eighth month in theater, and for all that it's sometimes still hard for me to believe I'm here. Being at Justice hasn't helped, where I basically never leave the area of the building that we call home; most of our efforts are to make the environment as home-like as possible, so it's easy to forget it's Mesopotamia and not Minneapolis

• Mohammed Monaf Indicted for Involvement in Romanian Journalist Hostage Taking [Conservative Thinking]
  Dr. Rusty Shackleford sends:
  "No (nada, zilcho, none) US MSM outlet has picked up the story of the naturalized US citizen Mohammed Monaf. It seems like big news to me."

• My Opinion of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith [Our Life]
  I saw Star Wars Episode III this morning and I have to say that while it is the finale in a backwardly composed series, it is anything but grand.

• Memorial Day [Courage Without Fear]
  ...Last week these three soldiers were killed when an IED on the side of the road exploded as their humvee passed by. These soldiers lived in the same FOB as us, ate at the same chow hall as us, and wore the same uniform as us. Their jobs we like ours; make the country safer for the fledgling Iraqi government to be able to run things on their own. I didn't know these three soldiers.

• Memorial Day [Lt Smash]
  THOMAS MULLEN ADAMS was my brother?s Navy buddy ? they were stationed together in Japan, until Tom got a prized assignment as an exchange officer with the Royal Navy. A descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Tom loved soccer, beer, cars, and flying.

• Wendell Fertig, American Hero [Stacking Swivel]
  Beginning in late 1941, Japanese Imperial forces began their invasion of the Philippine Islands. For American forces, cut off from supplies and reinforcements by overwhelming Japanese forces employed throughout the South Pacific, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese would achieve a victory.

• Death [Hollywood Marine]
  I got a phone call today and I must admit it really shook me up; one of my best friends who I worked with virtually every single day was killed not in Iraq or Afghanistan but rather right here in San Diego two days before he was scheduled to be honorably discharged.

• Ole Sarge Career Day Tour [Hunter Herald]
  The kids got a kick out of Ole Sarge however there was a Drill Sergeant there who tried to steal my thunder. I ceded to him for the sheer fact he out ranked me. But Ole Sarge passed out a pocket US Constitutions to the kids, and told them ?This is why we fight.

• The "Combat Action" Badge [Airborne Hog Society]
  The Army is on the verge of issuing yet another award for serving in harm's way. It is not so much due to a new demand for recognizing excellence as it is due to the watering-down of the other awards. The Army is still debating the official criteria for the badge. Does it really matter?

• Laura Bush Versus Hillary Clinton in 2008 [Outside the Beltway]
  Vice President Cheney's dry sense of humor was on display in a Larry King Live appearance, in which he suggested Laura Bush would beat Hillary Clinton in a presidential match.

• Bought The Farm [Eric's Grumbles before the Grave]
  A last post to close out Memorial Day, 2005. This is a bit of trivia, for those who may be interested, on the origin of US Army slang for being killed in action, "bought the farm". The term originated, in the modern era, with the US Army after the Civil War. Long service sergeants were given, depending on when their service was, either the chance to purchase land at very low prices, or actually received land gratis, when they retired from service.

• Memorial Day Address [Daisy Cutter]
  The following are my Memorial Day remarks delivered on Sunday, May 29, 2005:
  ...In the Spring and Summer of 1990, I was a one of a class of a couple of hundred Marine lieutenants trying to find my way through The Basic School -- a six-month-long indoctrination of Marine lieutenants learning the "basics" of leading an infantry platoon before being sent to our respective duty stations and jobs in the fleet.

• ON THE LIGHTER SIDE [Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum]
  Today was Memorial Day, uneventful and without serious incident. It was only about 112 as the sun set so, once it did set we all scurried from our buildings and grabbed miscellaneous items from the exchange. I received an email from Jordan from Poland. He is a photographer, and his work is simply incredible. Take a look and let him know what you think.

• The Non-Issue of Armor, Garry Trudeau [A Day in Iraq]
  Some of you may have seen Garry Trudeau?s comic strip a couple of weeks ago. Its focus was on our supposed lack of armored vehicles. I?m a little late in commenting on this, but unlike Mr. Trudeau, I?m actually over here in Iraq working. That?s what always amazes me about people like Trudeau. They?re so vigorous in their attempt to criticize everything about this war, yet they have no idea what they?re talking about because they?re not actually here.

• Reflections... [Reverse Retna from the Sandlot ]
  While I've only just crossed the 4 month mark here in Iraq I am going on my mid-tour leave. So this seems to be as good a time as any to sum up some general thoughts from the last several months.