Meet Ahmard Hall: Texas FB, USMC Sgt., NFL Player?

[Eddie]

Let's hope so. The man would be an asset to any club he joins.

The Million Militant March?

[Andi]

Might be a good idea to have that "Most Wanted" list at the ready.

Masculinity.

[John of Argghhh!]

Blue Star Chronicles takes on Ethan Hawke. BSC wins, hands down, in my book.

How to use old guys

[Eagle1]

Navy uses Vietnam river rats to train its new Riverine Force as reported here:

Thomas Cutler's combat experience on a patrol boat in Vietnam is more than 30 years old, yet it couldn't be more relevant to today's Navy.

Cutler, 58, is among a group of Vietnam vets informally advising the Navy as it reconstitutes river patrols. The Navy wants to extend its reach into the shallow brown waters of deltas and rivers, often the frontline in the war against terrorists and insurgents. Next spring, the first sailors since the days of the Vietnam-era swift boats will relieve Marines on river patrols protecting Haditha dam in Iraq.

"It is dangerous," says Cutler, an author and former naval officer. "But you don't go into the military to knit socks."

I nominate this program for the "Best Use of Old Guys" award.

Help a brother out...

[John of Argghhh!]

...there are times when I will transcend service rivalry - even for graduates of the Severn Yachting Club.

Family, Navy team up to find marrow donor Navy SEAL from Spotswood was recently diagnosed with leukemia BY MARY ANNE ROSS Correspondent SPOTSWOOD - A young man who fought for his country is now battling for his life.

And on July 15, local residents will have the opportunity to help him do just that.

Justin, whose last name is not being disclosed at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense, is a Navy SEAL and former Spotswood resident who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. The Navy is turning to Justin's hometown community to help him find a bone marrow stem cell donor who could save his life.

The whole article is here. If you're in the area and blog - get the word out. If you don't blog, spam your friends with the article. A very little effort on your part by going into the registry (I'm in the DoD Database mentioned, so I've *already* done my bit - and obviously can't help Justin) can make yoiu someone's angel of mercy.

H/t, Dr. Zubov of Banter in Atlanter.

The Management of Savagery

[Greyhawk]

O people! The viciousness of the Russian soldier is twice that of the American soldier. If the Americans suffer one tenth of the casualties the Russians suffered in Afghanistan and Chechnya, they will flee and never look back. That is because the current structure of the American and Western armies is not the same as their structure during the colonial era. They have reached a stage of effeminacy that makes them unable to sustain battles for a long period of time, a weakness they compensate for with a deceptive media halo.

Essential milblogger reading: The Management of Savagery (also translated as The Management of Barbarism) is an "al Qaeda handbook" authored in 2004 by Abu Bakr Naji and found on al Qaeda web sites. It's been translated by William McCants of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. McCants' work was commissioned by the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard, and is available here.

You may want to first read "Stealing Al-Qa’ida’s Playbook" at the same link. If it's after 1000 ET when you read this, a better place to start might be this NPR interview with McCants - but its not available until then.

I've put the translated table of contents in the extended section.

Update: Here's the drect link to the NPR piece, Jihadi Thinker Emphasizes the Media's Importance. That pubic relations angle is just one of the themes of Savagery, there are numerous other topics of note.

James “Bumper Sticker” Rubin

[CDR Salamander]

Adopting a line from William M. Arkins on James Rubin's latest "A War the Democrats Can Win." He doesn't like JR's ideas,

The bumper-sticker thin anti-Bush national security policy offered by Rubin is only immediate, only political.

and neither do I. Here is a sample:

Democrats can justifiably argue their goal is to reverse the Bush administration's premature diversion to Iraq. If nothing else, such a debate would focus attention on the Bush administration's failure to finish the job in Afghanistan.

By marrying good policy with good politics in this way, the Democrats can help win the war on terrorism and help themselves at the same time.

Next time, the Democrats should try a different strategy. Instead of calling for troop cuts in Iraq, they should call for transferring forces and resources from Iraq to Afghanistan.

By forcing a debate on transferring American forces back to Afghanistan, the Democrats can avoid the trap of allowing Republicans to claim they are weak. They can argue that their proposal is not a withdrawal from the front, but rather a deployment to an equally important front where American leadership can make the difference in securing a long-term victory.

I hope a more powerful Democrat comes up front and offers something better - soon. They must have an "A Team" working this issue, because JR's ideas are strictly "B Team" spin.

Re: Anti-Regime Activities

[Grim]

Given North Korea's affinity for violating agreements and telling the rest of the world to screw off, perhaps Pres. Bush's example ( I loathe Kim Jong Il! ) should inspire us to bring the full bear of our soft power, our moral outrage and our ingenuity in doing everything we can to break his regime down and foster and support resistance in North Korea.

Now you're talking. :)