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Most of us are fully aware of the allergic reaction the mainstream media have to heroism, but when you read it in terms such as this...
While ABC, CBS and NBC have chosen to highlight this potential scandal [Haditha], a new Media Research Center study finds those same networks have given far less attention to the heroic deeds of the 20 members of the U.S. military who have received the highest recognition for bravery since the war on terror began. In fact, 14 of the country's top 20 medal recipients have gone unmentioned by ABC, CBS and NBC.***
ABC, CBS and NBC have yet to mention the heroism of Marine Captain Brian Chontosh, who led his men out of an ambush during the drive to Baghdad in March 2003. "I never wanted a medal. I just wanted to save my Marines," Chontosh told the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle in 2004. Nor have they reported on Marine Sergeant Scott Montoya, who ran into a hail of gunfire to save five wounded Marines. Later, Montoya told the Orange County Register that all he could think of was the Bible verse: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
...it's apparent that a cure is badly needed.
Nearly every surviving medal recipient has told their story publicly, and many are recounted in Home of the Brave, the last book by former Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, just published. There's no question the media must not hide bad news from the public. But can't they balance the portrait with true stories of America's newest heroes?
Read it and weep. Absolutely shameful.
A NK missile launch may be an excellent time for us to run a test of one of our Alaska/California based missile interceptors.
Imagine the message it would send for us to knock one of North Korea's test missiles right out of the sky.
Conversely, imagine the message it would send if we missed.
This time, it may be a missile launch, as noted here based on this.
Kim J Il is so "ronery."
Update: More news here and more info on the TDP-2 here with this wonderful quote:
The Taep’o-dong 2’s major use is as a weapon of international blackmail. Easily equipped with a nuclear weapon, it is the first direct threat to the United States from North Korea. It will likely be used as a threat of nuclear escalation in response to any American intervention during a second Korean war. Just as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Lt. Gen. Xiong Guang Kai stated that Americans “care more about Los Angeles than they do Tai Pei,” North Korea will likely rely on American unwillingness to lose cities rather than withdraw from Korea. In addition, it will likely be used to blackmail wealthier countries for energy and food, similar to how the North Korean nuclear program has been used. It is also a major income generator as an item for export.
The Los Angeles Times (consider the source) is reporting that an Iraqi/MNF offensive to expel insurgents from Ramadi may be imminent.
I'm skeptical, myself. Not sure why, just doesn't smell right to me.
McCaffrey said on NBC's "Today" program that the United States has 17 brigades in Iraq now but that "in my view, we can't sustain more than about 10 brigades in the long term. So we've got to start coming out."
If I count a rotational overlap in Ramadi I can only find 16 brigades, actually 15 brigades + 3 battalions of Call Forward Force, unless a unit gets extended, it will be 14 Brigades + 3 battalions of Call Forward Force shortly. It really would be nice if the "Experts" would actually update their notes.
Eric Blair and I had a long debate about this one day. I think we decided that Shane was the quintessential Western, but that High Noon might be the greatest. The two films were made at roughly the same time. Shane captured everything that had gone before in the Western film, and distilled it into its classic forms.
High Noon then took those same forms and shattered them against each other which -- like atoms splitting -- released a tremendous energy. Because of High Noon, we got The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and even Rio Bravo, which its director made because he rejected the premise of High Noon. John Wayne also hated it.
That list of things inspired by High Noon is also a short list of competitors for the title of "Greatest Western of All," I'd have to say. Eric would want me to mention the John Wayne cavalry films, too, which I'm glad to do. Still -- in terms not only of the film's power, but also its ability to inspire, High Noon would have to remain my choice.
We need a hook for this to get donors excited, some sort of challenge.
The inter-service rivalry thing has already been done, to great effect. Maybe this time, we could each sponsor one or more individuals requesting computers, so for every $660 raised we would have a success story to share.
Thoughts?
Is "The Searchers" the greatest Western of all or am I just getting sentimental because it finally got the majestic DVD treatment it richly deserves (along with the buildup from waiting 2-3 weeks for it to work through the maze of US military mail)?
The question I've had with the HUMVEE for quite some time is not whether the Up Armoring etc was worth the tradeoffs, but whether it is the right vehicle for the job to begin with?
Would it not be a wiser decision to double or triple production of Strykers(or other vehicle)rather than having endless upgrades and add ons for the HUMVEE?
IMHO - The Humvee was never envisaged as an Urban Combat Vehicle.
The Dayton Daily News over the weekend published a lugubrious hit piece about the US Military’s up-armored HUMVEE. (I reach for the million dollar word if only because you will rarely find a better example in print of what the word means.)
They center the product of their “six-month Dayton Daily News examination” on grieving military families that lost loved ones in HUMVEE roll-overs. More on the overall tone of the DDN piece later.
CNN clamors atop the HUMVEE story, publishing an Associated Press wire story, evidently based on the DDN report, and involving the same sources:
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Thousands of pounds of armor added to military Humvees, intended to protect U.S. troops, have made the vehicles more likely to roll over, killing and injuring soldiers in Iraq, a newspaper reported.Whatever kind of “vehicle dynamics expert” Badenoch might be, he’s no statistician – but then neither are the reporters at the DDN, AP, or CNN, who never attempt to offer any supporting data (about vehicle accident rates, or death or injury rates in Iraq). You know, to provide appropriate context."I believe the up-armoring has caused more deaths than it has saved," said Scott Badenoch, a former Delphi Corp. vehicle dynamics expert told the Dayton Daily News for Sunday editions.
Simon Jenkins is primarily discussing the ineptitude of British politics and government officials, but he might as well be describing American homeland security efforts as well.
Ministers should say openly that the public must accept some danger so as to maintain freedom of speech, movement and civil liberty in Britain. They should take the public into their confidence by speaking the language of proportionality.Better safe than sorry is a cliché, not a guide to policy. Carried to its present conclusion, it means that nobody will believe what politicians say and people will stop trusting the police. The only winner is the terrorist. .
An interesting new counterinsurgency strategy is appearing in Thailand, which has been facing a stiff insurgency in its southern, Muslim-majority provinces. Short form: the government, long attached to the idea of gun control, has decided instead that citizens should protect themselves -- and that they may pay cash rewards to anyone who does so successfully.
We'd like you to type, too.
In a comment thread over at Greyhawk's place, Milbloggers got hammered because we were perceived as not being authentic "milbloggers", because we weren't properly spouting off about every bad thing that was going on in and around the military. Leaving aside the fact most of us exist to *counter* all the bad news, which is more than adequately covered elsewhere, I made another point - that instead of just bloviating, we *act*.
The time has come, ladies and gentlemen, to *act*.
The Arsenal of Argghhh! will give a "Cluebat of Argghhh!" to the first 10 people who produce a receipt for a donation of $100 or more to Project Valour-IT.*
Now I'll let Fuzzybear Lioness run with the tale.
Valour-IT has run out of funds again. Right now we have a waiting list of eleven wounded warriors who need our help, and the list is still growing.Marine Lt. Gen. Amos recently said:
When we send them off to do the nation's bidding in a place like Afghanistan or Iraq and they're wounded, we're not returning the same individual... When we send them back wounded there is a piece of me that says I haven't kept my bargain. What's left for me to do is to continue taking care of them. [source]It's left to more than generals to continue taking care of them. It's left to all of us. And part of how we take care of the wounded is by helping them reconnect and rediscover their self-sufficiency in a way that supports their recovery. A voice-activated Valour-IT laptop is a huge part of that support.
When I shared the article about Lt. Gen. Amos with someone who has a great deal of expertise in leadership and management, her instant reply was, "What a leader!" Yes. And like any good leader, Amos is leading by example. Will you follow?
"It's a function of loyalty," the 59-year-old general said. "In Marine speak, it means fidelity. It's a wonderful word not used very often - except in the Marine Corps. It means faithful. It implies faithful almost to a fault...So do we."I owe it to them."
-- FbL
Put him in charge of this.
(Via email, apparently from EHOWA, a site way not safe for work)
Said the guy on watch, this one time, at band camp: "Nothing good ever happens at three o'clock in the morning."
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