Oh, Yes

Semper Fi…Dad.

Military Aircraft Crashes Are SO Gutwrenchingly Tragic

…it makes your blood boil when you sort of already knew one DIDN’T HAVE TO HAPPEN at all.

What a WASTE.

Pilot Error Caused Black Hawk Crash in Santa Rosa Sound

The Louisiana National Guard has confirmed that pilot error led to the tragic crash of a Black Hawk helicopter in the Santa Rosa Sound, killing 11 servicemen during the failed training exercise in March.

The investigation determined that the direct cause of the accident was “spatial disorientation” of both pilots, which caused them to lose control of the aircraft.

…07:35 (P2) — “Gee, it’s dark as (expletive). That don’t help none.”

07:52 (CE1) — “Wow, it’s really dark.”

08:05 (P2) — “We’re gonna take it real slow guys.”

10:05 (P1) — “Yeah, it’s too dark to see the (expletive) water.”

11:36 (P1) — ” Ah, ah, you take the controls Dave.”

11:49 (P2) — “Watch out, we’re in a bad right turn.”

11:55 (P2) — “Watch your altitude, attitude G-Wayne attitude, level.”

11:58 (P2) — “Level.”

12:00 (P2) — “Level.”

12:00 (P2) — “Climb, climb.”

12:03 — END AUDIO

When your lead helo TURNS BACK almost immediately into the TRAINING flight because of socked in conditions, guess what, Gonzo?

YOU don’t stay out.

You turn right around and follow him back in. Everybody lives.

Averaging an Hour From Sighting a Target

…to (PERHAPS/MAYBE/SCHMAYBE) a clearance to fire. Doesn’t sound like ‘micro-management’ to me. You?

US military pilots complain hands tied in ‘frustrating’ fight against ISIS

U.S. military pilots carrying out the air war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are voicing growing discontent over what they say are heavy-handed rules of engagement hindering them from striking targets.

They blame a bureaucracy that does not allow for quick decision-making. One Navy F-18 pilot who has flown missions against ISIS voiced his frustration to Fox News, saying: “There were times I had groups of ISIS fighters in my sights, but couldn’t get clearance to engage.”

He added, “They probably killed innocent people and spread evil because of my inability to kill them. It was frustrating.”

Sources close to the air war against ISIS told Fox News that strike missions take, on average, just under an hour, from a pilot requesting permission to strike an ISIS target to a weapon leaving the wing.

O-bomb-a. NOT.

I Missed This At Ace’s Yesterday

An amazing, and incredibly humbling, collection of stories of incredible sacrifices made on our behalf.

Especially this

One of the Iraqis elaborated, and with tears welling up, said, “They’d run like any normal man would to save his life. ”What he didn’t know until then, and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not normal. Choking past the emotion, he said, “Sir, in the name of God, no sane man would have stood there and done what they did. They saved us all.”

Read the whole thing.

Damn my allergies are acting up.

6:30 And The Butts Are On

  
Take a moment to remember and thank all those who have given so much so that we can enjoy so much.

Thoughts from Ebola

…in regards to what our elected betters have planned for the commissary system NEXT YEAR, especially considering the impact on members/families stationed overseas.

Nothing says thank you for your sacrifices and service like making service members spend more money, especially if they’re overseas. That’s right, as a reward to service members, within weeks of Memorial Day remembrance of our fallen, the Senate Armed Services Committee has decided to propose every service member spend more money for less return, in the name of “savings” that are minimal at best, at the behest of the Executive branch.

If you’re unfamiliar with the commissary and exchange systems, the US military maintains a series of stores on virtually every base, both in the continental United States and at bases overseas. These stores ensure that service members can get food at a rational price, which is handled by base commissaries. You can think of the base or post exchange, commonly called the BX or PX, as the base Walmart selling consumer goods. There’s a running joke that the only savings you can get in an AAFES, the Army/Air Force BX, is not going…which should give you some indication of what increasing removal of subsidies for shipping and further press for profit margin in the exchange system has already been doing. The sole benefit to the exchange is now the fact that it is tax free; it is almost invariably cheaper, even with overseas shipping, to order goods from Amazon, Home Depot, or Lowes.

What has Congress done? Well, the basic exchange and commissary system used to work like this: the government purchased, shipped and then sold goods at just above their net price to service members. Over the last fifty years or so, due to complaints from domestic and foreign businesses surrounding bases about being undercut and not getting “their fair share” of money from military members, the individuals on this same commission decided to get things changed so that there was a significant profit margin in these systems. This raised costs for service members, which in turn required increasing pay to make up for the deficit. The only benefit that remained at that point was not having to pay taxes, which quite often does not balance out. That’s important to remember, because every time we’ve adjusted this system, we’ve hosed service members for a few years and then wound up paying them more to compensate, because no one is going to willingly do 4 years, much less 20, while having their family live off of ramen noodles like starving college students.

What is Congress doing? There’s been a consistent and increasing push to privatize the commissary and exchange systems. Since they haven’t been able to pull this off, they’ve effectively aimed towards removing the primary stumbling blocks to the objective of privatization: the subsidies that pay for shipping goods. The effect of this is that service members outside the United States, Hawaii and Alaska included, will see prices for anything from fresh produce to dog food skyrocket. Fresh produce, sensitive electronics and other products requiring temperature control will quite likely simply stop being available.

This means that service members overseas could quite likely be looking forward to being dependent on local stores for access to goods, as they will be able to undercut base prices. Furthermore, this becomes an operational hazard if natural disaster or conventional conflict breaks out. For example, Guam, Okinawa and Japan see regular typhoons through most of the year and service members would be largely reliant on local markets to secure goods at a reasonable rate. The Senate committee would cut $322M/year from the budget by removing these subsidies, but will economically see more cost in having to adjust COLA and even basic pay to make up for the impacts to service members. In other words, the country will save nothing, destabilize its overseas operations reliability and effectively make the lives of service members hell for at least a few years. This also doesn’t simply affect active duty members, but also family members of the fallen, retirees and medical retirees that have earned their benefits through service.

Keep in mind, this is the same government that approves of spending $50,000/yr on investigating if sea monkeys’ churning water changes how the ocean flows. Happy Memorial Day.

Bean counters.

Remember

And we do.

It's not about BBQs. #MemorialDay #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/EQiyaCgFvP

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) May 24, 2015

Our Missing Marines ~ I Hope They Find Them Quickly

Here’s the wonderful report the CBS Evening News did when the Marines originally arrived in Nepal to help.

Courage

…Ly was the daring pilot who landed his single seat cessna with his wife and five children on the USS Midway.

The flight deck was crowded with U.S. sailors and Vietnamese people, just like that day 35 years ago. High in the sky above their upturned faces, a Cessna circled the aircraft carrier Midway, symbolizing the pilot’s desperate plea to land.

Bung Ly was surrounded by San Diego Bay this time instead of the South China Sea, telling the story of how he crammed his wife and five children into the two-seater Bird Dog plane, fleeing over the waters ahead of the advancing Viet Cong.

Extraordinary means to save those things that mean the most to you in extraordinary circumstances.

Would I Lie to You?

Would I lie to you, honey?

Obama Kept Iran’s Short Breakout Time a Secret

The Barack Obama administration has estimated for years that Iran was at most three months away from enriching enough nuclear fuel for an atomic bomb. But the administration only declassified this estimate at the beginning of the month, just in time for the White House to make the case for its Iran deal to Congress and the public.

Speaking to reporters and editors at our Washington bureau on Monday, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz acknowledged that the U.S. has assessed for several years that Iran has been two to three months away from producing enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon. When asked how long the administration has held this assessment, Moniz said: “Oh quite some time.” He added: “They are now, they are right now spinning, I mean enriching with 9,400 centrifuges out of their roughly 19,000. Plus all the . . . . R&D work. If you put that together it’s very, very little time to go forward. That’s the 2-3 months.”

Brian Hale, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, confirmed to me Monday that the two-to-three-month estimate for fissile material was declassified on April 1.

Here is the puzzling thing: When Obama began his second term in 2013, he sang a different tune…

Would I tell you something that wasn’t true…?*

Apologies to Annie Lennox

ths update: Lemme get this straight. So it sounds like we’re NOT slowing them down at ALL, bomb-wise.

To the unwashed and uneducated, THIS SOUNDS like we want to BUT IT FOR THEM.

State Department Won’t Rule Out $50 Billion ‘Signing Bonus’ For Iran
Largest cash infusion to terror regime in recent memory, experts say

The State Department on Monday would not rule out giving Iran up to $50 billion as a so-called “signing bonus” for agreeing to a nuclear deal later this year, according to comments made to journalists following reports that the Obama administration had formulated a plan to release tens of billions of frozen Iranian funds.

Experts have said this multi-billion dollar “signing bonus” option, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, could be the largest cash infusion to a terror-backing regime in recent memory.

A cash release of $30 to $50 billion upon reaching a final nuclear agreement would come in addition to the more than $11 billion in unfrozen assets that Iran will already have received under an interim nuclear accord reached in 2013.

“I Will Never Compromise When It Comes To Israel’s Security”

I tell you, I regret every day that this guy didn’t become President

I want you to know that today I’ll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of Israel. And I know that when I visit with AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), I am among friends. Good friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow and forever.

…We know that the establishment of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle and decades of patient work. But 60 years later, we know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security.

Not when there are still voices that deny the Holocaust. Not when there are terrorist groups and political leaders committed to Israel’s destruction. Not when there are maps across the Middle East that don’t even acknowledge Israel’s existence, and government-funded textbooks filled with hatred toward Jews. Not when there are rockets raining down on Sderot, and Israeli children have to take a deep breath and summon uncommon courage every time they board a bus or walk to school.

…Because of the war in Iraq, Iran — which always posed a greater threat to Israel than Iraq — is emboldened and poses the greatest strategic challenge to the United States and Israel in the Middle East in a generation.

…And then there are those who would lay all of the problems of the Middle East at the doorstep of Israel and its supporters, as if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root of all trouble in the region. These voices blame the Middle East’s only democracy for the region’s extremism. They offer the false promise that abandoning a stalwart ally is somehow the path to strength. It is not, it never has been, and it never will be.

…Those who threaten Israel threaten us. Israel has always faced these threats on the front lines. And I will bring to the White House an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.

That starts with ensuring Israel’s qualitative military advantage. I will ensure that Israel can defend itself from any threat — from Gaza to Tehran.

…We must isolate Hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist, and abide by past agreements. There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations.

…Let me be clear. Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper — but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.

…Syria continues its support for terror and meddling in Lebanon. And Syria has taken dangerous steps in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, which is why Israeli action was justified to end that threat.

…We must never force Israel to the negotiating table, but neither should we ever block negotiations when Israel’s leaders decide that they may serve Israeli interests.

…There is no greater threat to Israel — or to the peace and stability of the region — than Iran. Now this audience is made up of both Republicans and Democrats, and the enemies of Israel should have no doubt that, regardless of party, Americans stand shoulder to shoulder in our commitment to Israel’s security.

…The Iranian regime supports violent extremists and challenges us across the region. It pursues a nuclear capability that could spark a dangerous arms race and raise the prospect of a transfer of nuclear know-how to terrorists. Its president denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe Israel off the map. The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat.

…He criticizes my willingness to use strong diplomacy but offers only an alternate reality — one where the war in Iraq has somehow put Iran on its heels. The truth is the opposite. Iran has strengthened its position. Iran is now enriching uranium and has reportedly stockpiled 150 kilos of low enriched uranium. Its support for terrorism and threats toward Israel have increased. Those are the facts, they cannot be denied, and I refuse to continue a policy that has made the United States and Israel less secure.

…We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran. I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That starts with aggressive, principled diplomacy without self-defeating preconditions, but with a cleareyed understanding of our interests. We have no time to waste. We cannot unconditionally rule out an approach that could prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. We have tried limited, piecemeal talks while we outsource the sustained work to our European allies. It is time for the United States to lead.

…We will pursue this diplomacy with no illusions about the Iranian regime. Instead, we will present a clear choice. If you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to Israel, there will be meaningful incentives — including the lifting of sanctions, and political and economic integration with the international community. If you refuse, we will ratchet up the pressure.

…Finally, let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel. Sometimes there are no alternatives to confrontation. But that only makes diplomacy more important. If we must use military force, we are more likely to succeed, and will have far greater support at home and abroad, if we have exhausted our diplomatic efforts.

Ah, what could have been, what could have been had President Obama governed in any way similar to the way Candidate Obama quoted above promised. As Ace so poignantly put it yesterday: “So, Jewish Democrats who voted for Obama: How’s Obama’s ass taste?”

U.S. Caves to Key Iranian Demands as Nuke Deal Comes Together
Limited options for Congress as Obama seeks to bypass lawmakers

LAUSSANE, Switzerland—The Obama administration is giving in to Iranian demands about the scope of its nuclear program as negotiators work to finalize a framework agreement in the coming days, according to sources familiar with the administration’s position in the negotiations.

U.S. negotiators are said to have given up ground on demands that Iran be forced to disclose the full range of its nuclear activities at the outset of a nuclear deal, a concession experts say would gut the verification the Obama administration has vowed would stand as the crux of a deal with Iran.

…“Once again, in the face of Iran’s intransigence, the U.S. is leading an effort to cave even more toward Iran—this time by whitewashing Tehran’s decades of lying about nuclear weapons work and current lack of cooperation with the [International Atomic Energy Agency],” said one Western source briefed on the talks but who was not permitted to speak on record.

…“Instead of ensuring that Iran answers all the outstanding questions about the past and current military dimensions of their nuclear work in order to obtain sanctions relief, the U.S. is now revising down what they need to do,” said the source. “That is a terrible mistake—if we don’t have a baseline to judge their past work, we can’t tell if they are cheating in the future, and if they won’t answer now, before getting rewarded, why would they come clean in the future?”

The United States is now willing to let Iran keep many of its most controversial military sites closed to inspectors until international sanctions pressure has been lifted, according to sources.

The White House has decided that a nuclear Iran is a good thing.

Hillary Talking “Our Values” in Itself Is a HOOT

But listen to the echoes of #WhatDifferenceDoesItMake

Yup

The left called Bowe Bergdahl a hero and Chris Kyle a racist murderer. Let that sink in, folks.

— RB (@RBPundit) March 25, 2015

So BFD ~ SoCom and State Told Them to Surrender Their Weapons

After all, what difference would it make?

The commandant of the Marine Corps told lawmakers that Marines who disarmed before departing Sanaa, Yemen during an embassy evacuation last month did so on the orders of U.S. Central Command and State Department officials.

Gen. Joseph Dunford fielded hard-edged questions on the mission Tuesday morning from Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. Kline, a retired Marine officer, is the author of a letter to the State and Defense departments demanding detailed answers about a controversial order to Marines to destroy their weapons and depart the country unarmed.

Contrary to Our Over-educated President’s Opinion

…The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior. Its rise to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a group whose leaders the Islamic State considers apostates) than like the realization of a dystopian alternate reality in which David Koresh or Jim Jones survived to wield absolute power over not just a few hundred people, but some 8 million.

Read “What ISIS Really Wants” and be truly educated.

It Started 70 Years Ago Today

Iwo Jima.

Our Marines, with Navy, Army and Coast Gaurd elements alongside (including Ebola’s grandfather with the SeaBees) waded ashore on that ghastly, black hellhole.

By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully.

Among the Americans serving on Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

~ Adm. Chester A. Nimitz

Semper Fi.

Happy Birthday

…General BadAss.

#HappyBday to Chuck Yeager! The "fastest man alive" turns 92 today. #AirForce pic.twitter.com/xysBXJVlcu

— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) February 13, 2015

WHAT a man.

Is There A Nobel Prize For Emasculating A Nation?

I mean, really, what kind of a wimp needs a AUMF to fight the JV team?

President Obama’s request that Congress authorize military action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was met with skepticism from both parties on Wednesday, raising questions about Capitol Hill’s ability to pass a war measure.

The divide is largely centered on language prohibiting the use of “enduring offensive ground combat operations” against ISIS.

Democrats say this does too little to limit the White House from committing ground troops to the fight, while Republicans say the restrictions could handcuff the military.

How those views can possibly be reconciled isn’t clear, even with Obama using his bully pulpit to call on Washington to unify against what he said was a “barbaric” terrorist network.

Just pathetic.

I Mean It

So. The world's on fire and three guys are center stage. I've never been more proud to be an Ameri… #JustShootMe pic.twitter.com/3UEAQp73Og

— tree hugging sister (@treehuggingsis) February 6, 2015

Between Bibi and Abdullah

…there’s quite a set of huevos in the Middle East. Abdullah’s pissed and, as we say in the Corps when things’re fixin’ to blow: ISIS better stand the f*ck by…

After ISIS execution, angry King Abdullah quotes Clint Eastwood to U.S. lawmakers

…”He said there is going to be retribution like ISIS hasn’t seen,” said Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., a Marine Corps veteran of two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, who was in the meeting with the king. “He mentioned ‘Unforgiven’ and he mentioned Clint Eastwood, and he actually quoted a part of the movie.”

Hunter would not say which part of “Unforgiven” the king quoted, but noted it was where Eastwood’s character describes how he is going to deliver his retribution. There is a scene in the picture in which Eastwood’s character, William Munny, says,

“Any man I see out there, I’m gonna kill him. Any son of a bitch takes a shot at me, I’m not only going to kill him, I’m going to kill his wife and all his friends and burn his damn house down.”

I remember when we had people that felt like that in charge…

RIP, Warrior

Let us remember Moaz Al-Kasasbeh as he would have wished. Daesh be damned. God Bless you, Sir. As-salamu Alaykum. pic.twitter.com/n4pGcBKXEE

— Chris Keniston (@NoFear3136) February 3, 2015

And never, EVER forget: We are flying combat routes over these assholes.

One lucky shot and that brave young lad could easily be one of our own.

Here’s A Few “Cowards” For Michael Moore

I mean, just look at this guy

Between 10 November and 17 December 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, he killed 225 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht and other Axis armies, including 11 enemy snipers.

Prior to 10 November, he killed 32 Axis soldiers with the standard-issue Mosin–Nagant rifle (effective range of 900 metres). Between October 1942 and January 1943, Zaytsev made an estimated 400 kills, some at distances of more than 1,000 metres.

What a chickenshit.

And don’t even get me started on the biggest coward of all time: Simo Häyhä

Hayha’s involvement in the Winter War was very extraordinary. With his Mosin-Nagant M91 rifle, he would dress in white winter camouflage, and carry with him only a day’s worth of supplies and ammunition. While hiding out in the snow, he would then take out any Russian who entered his killing zone. Hayha preferred to use iron sights on his gun instead of scopes, as scopes had a tendency to glare in the sunlight and reveal his position. While he may sound like an ordinary sniper, this was far from the case: over the course of 100 days during the winter he racked up over 500 kills, earning him the nickname “The White Death”. The Soviets feared him so much that they mounted numerous counter sniper and artillery attacks to get rid of him, all of which failed miserably. However, on March 6th, 1940, he was hit in the jaw by an explosive round from a counter sniper. He fell into an 11-day coma, awakening on the day that the war ended.

In the -20 to -40C weather he would lie all day in the snow, and always kept snow in his mouth so that his breath would not steam and give away his position.

And no scope.

The Ultimate Coward.

Second Look…

…at Bob Menendez?????

Barack Obama: Puttin’ the “Lame” back in “Lame Duck.”

American Sniper

See it.

For a Guy Who “Doesn’t Do” Photo-Ops

…he sure acts like an emperor when it comes to gathering the photogenic about him at his command.

My head EXPLODED when I read this. He’s already BEEN in Hawaii HOW long? You know what THIS tells me? That this SELF CENTERED prima dona wanted a CONVENIENT podium on HIS vacay, so GUESS WHO PAID THE PRICE?! How happy would any of YOU had been to be told you had a mandatory-dog-and-pony-show, WITH YOUR FAMILIES, on CHRISTMAS DAY? Kaneohe ain’t Afghanistan, Skippy. And I’m sure everyone was thrilled to have THEIR holiday destroyed, or, at the very least, completely up-ended, to make it easy for YOUR “Mission Accomplished” moment. What a worthless, selfish, narcissistic POS.

On Christmas, Obama marks end of Afghan combat

President Barack Obama, with first lady Michelle Obama, speaks to troops and their families on Christmas Day, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii during the Obama family…

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii — President Barack Obama marked the end of more than a decade of combat in Afghanistan by paying tribute to America’s military, telling troops on Christmas Day that their sacrifices have allowed for a more peaceful, prosperous world to emerge out of the ashes of 9/11.

At an oceanfront Marine Corps base in Hawaii, Obama told troops that while tough challenges remain for the U.S. military in hotspots like Iraq and West Africa, the world as a whole is better off because American troops put country first and served with distinction. He said Americans and their president could not be more thankful.

…so let me TOTALLY BONE your holiday so I can mouth that platitude, mmkay?