LEATHERNECKM31

Do as we say... not as we do

I'd venture to say that the modern day Air Force comes in for more inter-service jibes, jokes and criticism than any other branch.

Zoomies have a rep for being a more militarily "relaxed" than their sister services, cleaner and perhaps less physical and more refined as a group. 

No long ago they had that little problem of a B-52 flying around with six nukes that the crew wasn't aware of; as the top AF four-stars and SecAF were summarily sacked by SecDef Gates.

And this doesn't help the image of the Boys in Blue:

What you're looking at is a "luxury pod" which is designed to provide AF brass with rock-star accommodations when flying here and there.

These "comfort units" are to ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. Uh-huh.... Air Farce top brass demanded that the self-contained units be "aesthetically pleasing and furnished to reflect the rank of the senior leaders using the capsule," with beds, a couch, a table, a 37-inch flat-screen monitor with stereo speakers, and a full-length mirror.

Somehow, the mirror bothers me the most; oh, and by the way... the Air Force is fighting to use "counter-terrorism" funds to pay for the $7-16 million price tag.

The WaPo has more details.

By contrast, 24th MEU Marines (left) were forced to relocate their "comfort pods" in Afghanistan recently due to the slight inconvenience of incoming Taliban rockets.

A Mind is a terrible thing when it's wasted:

The Gore family must be in seclusion after learning that the former vice president has had a psychotic break during an speech the other day. The poor man insisted that the US could "end its dependence on carbon-based fuels and replace every kilowatt of electricity in the country through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within the next 10 years.

Is there anything the man can't do?

The drive-by news media continues its MessiahFest, being absolutely giddy over the fact the Obamanation spent "188 minutes in the gym yesterday – making three separate stops to Chicago gyms over the course of one day."

And they ridiculed Bush for crashing his mountain bike and going on "vacations".....

With all the athletic ability I'm shocked... shocked I tell you, that he never served a day in the military. 

No. 2 on The Obama Watch:

From his pandering speech to his amigos in the National Council of La Raza (The Race):

“The system isn’t working when 12 million people live in hiding, and hundreds of thousands cross our borders illegally each year; when communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies; when children come home from school to find their parents missing; when people are detained without access to legal counsel.”

Presumably his remarks were delivered in English.

No. 3

Looks like the Krauts bitch slapped His Holiness after he informed them he would be speaking at the Brandenburg Gate during his little international tour designed to show how presidential he is.

Reejeected.... ain't happenin'.

Nien! Du bist nicht! (or thereabouts).

Yo, Barry... that sorta thing isn't for callow, deficient candidates, you have to earn that spot after accomplishing something major, and after you've been elected president.

You may recall that he cited all his superior foreign policy experience with the following:

Obama: "[M]y experience in foreign policy is probably more diverse than most others in the field. ... You know, I majored in international relations." (ABC's "Good Morning America," 1/24/07)

But... his official MySpace page lists his major as "Political Science." (MySpace Website, http://www.myspace.com, Accessed 4/10/08)

And just to reassure you that the Associated Press is maintaining its reputation as an objective news source:

McCain gets Social Security but criticizes system

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security "a disgrace," he still cashes his own retirement check every month.

McCain's 2007 tax return shows Social Security benefits of $23,157 for the year, an average of $1,929.75 a month. He said he started receiving the payments "whenever I was eligible."

Spoils of War

Spring, 1969--Just weeks before departing for Vietnam, I was walking through LAX and passed a Marine in dress greens--obviously just back from the war--with an a Chi-Com SKS rifle at sling arms.

There was an official-looking tag wired to the front sight. Some civilians noticed; most did not. After all... a military man with a weapon?

The Marine was participating in a time-honored ritual of war--bringing home a  trophy after surviving combat with his nation's enemies. The tradition began when a pre-history combatant picked up an enemy clansman's pointed stick on the battlefield.

The airport Marine wasn't an uncommon sight in those days, back before the socialists established near total ownership of the United States.

I couldn't wait to bring back my own.

Once in the bush, I learned that the chances of me getting an enemy firearm home through the Marine Crops/MACV web of regulations and rear echelon theft were remote.

You were to turn in your war trophy which (they promised) would be registered to you and sent to division where (they promised) it would be held for you until you picked it up on the way home. Un-huh.

If you really wanted a war trophy the best chance was with a Chinese Type-54 or the Soviet TT33 Tokarev 7.62 pistol, or more commonly, the nifty 9mm Makarov (right); field strip it and mail the individual parts back home to Mom over time. Your odds were much better.

Most of those weapons today hang on the den walls of retired officers whose tours in Vietnam involved water sanitation, accounting, warehousing and you get the idea. They had a much better chance of working the system from their desks.

As bad as that was compared to Korea and WWII... read on:

Dateline Camp Pendleton:

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — It might not get you into as much trouble, but that little Tabasco bottle filled with Iraqi sand is as illegal as a fully automatic AK47. (Editor: "Little" here means about a quarter of a teaspoon.)

Both items violate federal rules for bringing stuff back from the war zone. Sure, the feds don’t routinely raid houses in the middle of the night looking for tiny bottles of dirt, but U.S. Customs officials are serious about keeping foreign soil from leaving foreign soil, fearful that bugs and germs could be spread from overseas.

Riiight... bugs and germs.

Our returning servicemen--instead of being welcomed as returning war heroes--are often investigated, arrest and jailed for bringing home their trophies.

According to a lengthy story in Marine Times,  the Corps' standing order on “Control and Registration of War Trophies and War Trophy Firearms” — MCO 5800.6A — dates back to 1969 (see?), when the rules began to tighten as Vietnam began winding down.

Dirt and rocks are prohibited, as are artwork and rugs taken from a house. Some knives and bayonets are allowed, but not all. Some captured weapons are allowed but must be rendered unserviceable in accordance with federal firearms laws. ("Unserviceable" means essentially destroying a working firearm by drilling out the chamber).

Retired Col. Gary Wilson had to get approval to bring home two fragments from a rocket that exploded in a 2005 roadside bomb, wounding him and others, and damaging his vehicle.

The paperwork drill “wasn’t so bad,” Wilson said. “I had to take it down to the [staff judge advocate] and I had to get the CO to sign it.” The shrapnel now sits in a closet in his California house.

Customs agents in 2002 confiscated sheep skulls carried by some Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C, upon their beach return from Afghanistan, according to a 2003 Pentagon news release.

The reason for such stringency here is two main reasons: 1). the fundamental mistrust and disrespect of the American serviceman...

While in-country these young men are trusted with their own rifles, pistols, C-4 plastic explosive, hand grenades, bayonets, knives, claymore mines and million-dollar weapons systems unknown to liberals.  Kids not long out of high school are routinely entrusted with the very lives of their comrades and commanding officers.

Men yet to have voted for president, direct deadly air strikes by gun-ships and jets, but cannot be trusted to bring a rusty, semi-automatic pistol back home.

... and 2). America no longer acts like a world power possessing the most powerful military in the history of the world; in the Middle East especially, the military is forced to bend over backward for Muslims--even enemy Muslims.

Gawd forbid we offend butchering ragheads and their religion by taking some of worthless sand home.

... it's unthinkable in this War on radical Islam Terror that our best and brightest who are often maimed and killed for Iraqis and Afghanis should be allowed to liberate one of Saddam's dinner plates and risk offending anyone.

Time has come today... young hearts will go their way

We talked with Allen for the first since Don heard his last breath and placed him in a body bag, 39 years ago.

Our first stop in his hometown of  Kingsport, Tenn.; he has a quiet resting place in Roselawn Cemetery's Vietnam Memorial Garden. The sextant gave us a fresh American flag to replace the tattered ones that stood vigil over his grave for far too long.

Don left some money at the cemetery office to replace the flowers, and we left our calling cards in case some future visitor might want to connect.

It's difficult to convey the parallel emotions of youthful hope we had then and the wisdom of six decades now.

All I know is we had this time and Allen did not.

"Fair" just don't figure in war.

The next morning we drove a short distance to Sulphur Springs to visit Pauline Williams for Lynette. Her aunt "Polly", like Allen, was shortchanged by fate; she also died in '69... a young mother cruelly taken by cancer at age 40. 

Death was a constant companion on this trip. We spent three days in one of America history's worst charnel houses... Gettysburg. Then Jack Lucas died early Thursday; we amended our return route through Hattiesburg, Miss., where we paid our respects to him and Ruby on Sunday. 

Ruby, right, is comforted by a family member after receiving Jack's buriual flag. 

An estimated 600 attended Jack's funeral on the Southern Mississippi University campus, inclduing fellow Medal of Honor Recipients Woody Williams (Iwo), MGen James Livingston, USMC-Ret, James Fleming, Harvey Barnum Jr. and Leonard Keller.

Lt. Gen. James Amos, soon to be confirmed as the Assistant Commandant of the Marines Corps, addressed the gathering as did Livington.

For more about Jack's life and passing go to our Host City Program site.

I have more thoughts about Gettysburg, the trip and death and dying, but I'm a little burned out from nine days on the road.

More later. 

At least it's a (slight) improvement over "betray us"....

When limp-wristed men (sic) on the left find themselves bereft of anything other than ad Hominem attacks to justify their existence on this planet, they turn into "Gay Eyes for the Straight General."

Some despicable fagot named Matthew DeBord, writing in the LA Times the other day, is this post's exhibit #1 of my reasons to hate a large number of my countrymen:

"Gen. David H. Petraeus may be as fabulous a military professional as the United States has developed in recent years, but let's face it, girlfriend - when it comes to the Fashion Theater, this showy soldier needs to call in the Makeover Marines. Oh snap!" DeBord writes.

I'll not be driven to defend the general's decorations to someone who used to dress up in his mother's bra and panties... suffice to say Petraeus' awards are typical of someone of his rank, assignment and long service.

And if you remember, Lt. Col. Ollie North was ridiculed during the Iran-Contra hearings for wearing his uniform including the ribbons for the Silver Star, Bronze Star w/"V" device, and two Purple Hearts. Egregiously distant from the real America, his detractors did not understand that when you're on active duty, you wear the uniform and the ribbons... not a sport coat.

More from Miss Priss' "Petraeus' 'ribbon creep'" column:

• "...he sits in gaudy Army regalia, four stars glistening and glittering on each shoulder, nine camp rows of chintzy ribbons on his left breast, and various other brooches, patches and appliques scattered across the rest of the available real estate on his uniform."
• He goes on:" That's a lot of martial bling, especially for an officer who hadn't seen combat until five years ago. Girlfriend, I've seen more violent hand-to-hand action during a Jimmy Choo clearance sale on Rodeo Drive."
• He equates Gen. Petraeus with "G.I. Joe" and "Buck Turgidson" (the mad general in movie 'Dr. Strangelove".)
• He refers to Gen. George Patton as the "Elton John of the 2nd Armored Division."
• Here's what he thinks of our young troops now fight to save his sorry ass which ironically contains his head: "My guess is that most Iraq war veterans end up returning their medals to H&M for cash credit or gift cards, or bring them out at dinner parties as ironic conversation pieces."
• "Memo to Petraeus: When you're making the case for more patriotic gore, go easy on the glitter."

DeBord signs off the lengthy column with: "Matthew DeBord covers military strategy, wine, fashion, interior decorating, geopolitics, and Barbie collecting for the Los Angeles Times."

It's easy to pick out the two subjects about which he's lying.

And just to prove the reports of his death are only born of optimism.... Dick Cavette, in Friday's edition of The East Coast Pravda--the slowly sinking NY Times-ridicules Petraeus.

Cavette channels the late Mort Sahl's comment about Gen. William Westmoreland's military decorations... "Finishing the detailed list, Mort observed, “Very impressive!” Adding, “If you’re twelve.”

Best known for his work with scientists researching SMS (Small Man Syndrome), Cavette takes on the general's vocabulary and intellect: "Petraeus commits a different assault on the listener. And on the language. In addition to his own pedantic delivery, there is his turgid vocabulary. It reminds you of Copspeak, a language spoken nowhere on earth except by cops and firemen when talking to 'Eyewitness News'.”

The Fiery Filipina, Michelle Malkin, observes: "Yes indeedy, Dick, where does this Petraeus fellow get off pretending like he’s some sort of intellectual? Poor clod only has a Ph.D. in International Relations from Princeton University."

Meanwhile dozens of lesser known traitors continue to aid and comfort our enemies by attacking Marine recruiters in the streets of Baghdad by the Bay.

Sweet Baby Jesus, is there no way, legal or extra, to exchange millions of Americans-in-name-only for others of my choosing?... like the little guy who stopped a column of Chi-Com tanks in Tienanmen Square with two shopping bags, (unless he was executed), the tribesmen who protected and saved Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell in Afghanistan, or the Iraqi who risked his life and his family's by contacting our Marines with the location of Pvt. Jessica Lynch?

I'll see your Barbara Streisand and raise you one tough Tibetan monk.   

Like Medal of Honor Recipient Franklin "Coleslaw" Miller once wrote to me: " You and I know it's the little people who were the real heroes." He was talking about the Mongs, Montagnards and indigenous Chinese who fought and died with us in Vietnam, while tens of thousands of young Americans, including a future President, were pathetic, draft-dodging cowards.

Yeah, gimme those people any day.