This happened in 1999, and is the story of the Marines going back to Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands to recover the 19 Marines from the Second Marine Raider Battalion that were killed and buried on the island after the failed raid in 1942. This was one of the first raids against the Japanese conducted by the Marines. I have never seen ANY coverage of this anywhere. All 19 bodies were returned and buried at Arlington.
A friend sent me this…
Imagine my surprise recently when I picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal here in Japan, to find a photo of two Vietnamese former army personnel standing in front of a sculpture in Hanoi, made from parts of American aircraft shot down during the Vietnam War on the front page. This was the method the Journal used to remind their readers that it was 34 years ago that America ended it's involvement in Vietnam, the war had come to an end, and the evacuation of Saigon was completed. I'm not sure why that photo drew my attention, nor do I know why I instinctively purchased this particular copy of the Journal. The one thing that has been roaming around in the back of my brain recently is the fact that it WAS 34 years ago when this all happened. These "memories" started while trying to get out of Travis AFB Space A recently. While waiting to do so, I visited their base museum. I hadn't been to Travis since early 1975 when I too, had gotten on one of those USAF C-141's headed back to Vietnam for my third tour. It was this trip through the Travis museum that probably made me more "aware" of the time line. I'm also not sure why all of this has "come back" with the viewing of this Wall Street Journal photo. But it did, and I just "needed" to write about it and forward the attached "item" that I saw while at Travis, which drove home the reality that this was a "long" time ago and we lived it, fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be.
It is also a hellva comparison between our treatment and the treatment of the kids coming home today…
Thankfully, John Q. Public is PROUD of the kids today!!! Here is the item he sent…
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 20,000 Vietnam veterans have committed suicide in the wars aftermath. This figure will always bear repeating.
The greatest defeat that the United States has suffered in any war was the failure to overcome the attitude of coldness, and indifference, with which Americans shunned most of those returning veterans. Let us never forget the men and women who served our country so valiantly and at such cost in the difficult, much repudiated and unforgettable Vietnam War.
Let us now continue our journey from the center of Vietnam to back home where your country awaits you.
Some may have seen this, some may not have…
This is one of the recovery methods for the SEAL teams use… Chinook water hover (note Chinooks DO NOT have flotation)
Pretty good helo driver and pretty good boat driver too! Did you notice the crew chief taking the high road and getting out of the way? 🙂
He’d done that before!
On a more prosaic front-
It appears the Obamabots tried to basically threatened one of the Chrysler investors to take twenty-nine cents on the dollar while giving the unions seventy plus cents on the dollar. It appears those investors as a whole grew some balls and told the Obamabots to pound sand. The investors are pushing for Chrysler to go into bankruptcy so they (the investors) will have a chance of getting 50-70 cents on the dollar in bankruptcy proceedings.
I hope it works… Somebody needs to stand up to them, once that happens, I believe others will do so and stop the administration from pulling this crap.
Oklahoma IS okay!!!
An update from Oklahoma.
The state law passed , 37 to 9 (had a few liberals in the mix), an amendment to place the Ten Commandments on the front entrance to the state capitol. The feds in D.C., along with the ACLU, said it would be a mistake. Hey this is a conservative state, based on Christian values…!
Guess what……….We did it anyway.
We recently passed a law in the state to incarcerate all illegal immigrants, and ship them back to where they came from, unless they want to get a green card and become an American citizen. They all scattered. Hope we didn’t send any of them to your state. This was against the advice of the Federal Government, and the ACLU, they said it would be a mistake.
Guess what……….we did it anyway..
Yesterday we passed a law to include DNA samples from any and all illegals to the Oklahoma database, for criminal investigative purposes. Pelosi said it was unconstitutional.
Guess what……..We did it anyway.
Several weeks ago, we passed a law, declaring Oklahoma as a Sovereign state, not under the Federal Government directives. That, for your information, makes Oklahoma and Texas the only states to do so. Guess what………More states are likely to follow. Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolina’s, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia, just to name a few. Should Mississippi act, so will Florida. Save your confederate money, it appears the South is about to rise up once again.
The federal Government has made bold steps to take away our guns. Oklahoma, a week ago, passed a law confirming people in this state have the right to bear arms and transport them in their vehicles. I’m sure that was a set back for the Kennedys and Ms Pelosi.
Guess what……….We did it anyway.
By the way, Obama does not like any of this.
Guess what….who cares…were doing it anyway!
And I’d LOVE to see Perez Hilton or what ever his REAL name is take on THIS young lady…
Since I fly a lot, a friend sent me this compilation that was done for one day of flights…
Everybody is used to seeing the US covered with aircraft everyday, but what about the rest of the world???
Enjoy 24 hours of flights world-wide! Note: It is cued to the sun as it moves around the globe. This is also why it will be extremely hard to impossible to close any borders anywhere…
Here is a pic from another friend at NASA. There are currently two shuttles in prep on adjacent pads at the Cape. All the airplanes in the picture are being flown by Astronauts and the Gulfstream G-3 Shuttle Training Acft (STA) in the center is the “practice” airplane for the shuttle pilots. It has a fly by wire capability that allows it to mimic the shuttle and do power off approaches and powered waveoffs for landing practice. 
And last but not least, a democrat poster for your “enjoyment” Please do NOT throw things at the screen, it may damage the screen and or the computer… 🙂
Now I’m not gonna say I’m a little skeptical, but…
The Administration has fired the CEO of GM, are they now telling GM to dump Pontiac and fire 21,000 people? What is going on behind the scenes that we are NOT being told, what level of control is the Administration REALLY exerting?
GM said that it will ask the government to take more than 50 per cent of its common stock in exchange for cancelling half the government loans to the company as of June 1. The swap would cancel about $10 billion in government debt.
In addition, GM is offering stock to the United Auto Workers for at least 50 per cent of the $20 billion the company must pay into a union run trust that will take over retiree health-care expenses starting next year.
If both are successful, the government and UAW health-care trust would own 89 per cent of GM stock, with the government holding more than a 50 per cent stake, CEO Fritz Henderson said in a news conference at GM’s Detroit headquarters.
Now I’m just a dumb ol’ country boy, but that math ONLY leaves 11% for all the current stockholders.
What are they supposed to do now???
And what happens to all the money they invested? And how much say will the shareholders have (looks like not a damn bit to me)???
Oh yeah, and the Lightbringer is trying to “force” a deal for Chrysler- Like Fiat is going to bow to him… NOT!!!
———–
And the rest of the story is coming out on the Air Force One flyover- There is now an issue with the White House Military Office, run by Caldera who did graduate from West Point, but only served five years (all at Ft. Dix) instead of the normal seven years after commissioning. He then went into law and politics, and climbed the democrat ladder until he was Secretary of the Army 98-01 under Clinton.
Now if you believe the media, NO ONE ELSE in the administration knew this overflight was planned… Hmmm, lemme see POTUS was not notified his plane was going to be unavailable? I don’t think so…
And oh yeah, nobody was notified, except… well…
The FAA, NYPD, Bloomburg’s office (gee, guess they forgot to tell him) and ‘supposedly’ the FAA told NYPD not to broadcast what was going on…
But Caldera has been told to fall on the sword, so it will be interesting to see what plum position he gets after “resigning”!
Oh yeah, why a new picture? Because the Lightbringer didn’t want to use the one of Air Force One over Mt. Rushmore, because that was ‘representative’ of the Bush administration!
Is it really any wonder the Lightbringer is at 56% popularity and is only more popular than Clinton at 55% at the end of the 1st 100 days?
I mean, really, what campaign promise has he NOT broken yet??? sigh… Or better yet, what campaign promise has he kept???
soap box back to the corner… again!!!
From a friend on the pointy end, from LSA Anaconda, Iraq…
For those unaware, the National Anthem is played before every showing in a military motion picture theater.
At a recent movie, in the large auditorium, we stood up and snapped to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. About 3/4 of the way through, the music stopped…
Now what would have happened in the States with about 1000 18-22 year olds? Hoots, catcalls, laughter, etc; and everyone would sit down and call for a movie; assuming they had stood in the first place.
Here, the 1000 soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward as the music started again. They continued at attention; and again, at the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect to happen? Even here I would have imagined laughter, as everyone finally sat down and expected the movie to start.
But here, you could have heard a pin drop. Every Soldier continued to stand at attention; suddenly there was a lone voice, then a dozen, and quickly the room filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, finishing where the recording left off:
“And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave”.
It was the most inspiring moment I have had here in Iraq. I wanted you to know what kind of Soldiers are serving you here. Remember them as they fight for you!
Folks, please take a moment and remember those Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen who are on the front lines in our war against TERROR. I am NOT going to be PC about it, they ARE out to kill us…
This also brings to mind a conversation from the range today- Four old military guys (1 WWII, 1 Korea, 2 of us youngsters) and a retired Judge. In between firing, we were discussing the 2nd Amendment (gee, we are ALL for it..), and the so called torture (three of us have been waterboarded as part of our military training) and an interesting point was raised…
Lets have those hearings! Lets get ALL the info out on the table- Declassify the results now that the procedures have been declassified. Lets get a TRUE definition of torture. Lets get ALL those House and Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committee members to testify under oath, lets get the last 4-5 heads of the CIA up there, lets get the lawyers up there that drafted the memos! Lets have a REAL hearing, open to the public!
THEN, let the AMERICAN PEOPLE decide who was right and who was wrong…
I did not hear a single good word said about any of the Congresscritters today- In my opinion, they no longer care about the people they are supposed to represent, all they care about is getting re-elected by hook, crook, lies or pork- What ever will put their fat asses back on the Hill.
*blink, blink*
Even the Judge was down on them, and he actually said term limits are something whose time has come.
Kicking the soapbox back in the corner now… sigh…
Oh yeah, fun was had at the range- I got minute-of-angle on the barn, since I was inside it 🙂
Well, I think we skipped straight from winter to summer… 92 in Northern Virginia today, and I’m finally getting around to the spring house cleaning. I KNEW I should have paid for a maid service… I HATE doing windows! sigh…
On the news front, Pelosi has been caught in a flat out lie on the “torture briefs”, and is squirming like a large mouth bass on a hook! Hmmm, come to think of it, she DOES kinda resemble one… I wanna see how she gets out of this one 🙂
And this also popped up after the Globull Warming hearings on Friday! I guess this is just going to be par for the course…
Washington, DC — UK’s Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, claimed House Democrats have refused to allow him to appear alongside former Vice President Al Gore at a high profile global warming hearing on Friday April 24, 2009 at 10am in Washington. . . . . . . . the Democrats rescinded his scheduled joint appearance at the House Energy and Commerce hearing on Friday. Monckton said he was informed that he would not be allowed to testify alongside Gore when his plane landed from England Thursday afternoon.
“The House Democrats don’t want Gore humiliated, so they slammed the door of the Capitol in my face,”
The entire article is HERE
If nothing else, between this and Pelosi, it should provide at least ‘some’ entertainment!!!
And I got this pic from a friend that works in the Pentagon… Kinda says it all…
And this from an entrepreneur, you just ‘knew’ it was coming…
Since I was a good little boy today, I think tomorrow will be a range day! Get a few frustrations out, and try out some new ammo. Yea Me!!! 🙂
I had a frothing at the mouth post ready to go over the crap going on in DC, but it didn’t save, and I’ve calmed down considerably since I vented on it…
Instead, a little light stuff for your enjoyment…
The unexpected virgins, the original bitter clinging gun owners…
Gotta love the Aussies, and their beer, even if it IS the Navy beer (in the RAN they call VB the Navy beer, since it’s cheap, that’s what gets bought)…
And a preview of the new Chrysler after they come out of bankruptcy. When you exceed 60 mph, strange things happen… 🙂
I’m hearing a lot of rumbling about more tea parties July Fourth, find one and attend!!! THIS IS OUR COUNTRY and we need to take it back from the politicians!
This was waiting in my inbox at work this morning, from a source I know well, and is pretty damning. It also proves I was wrong on my post on Easter that the Lightbringer actually made a decision… sigh…
1. BHO wouldn’t authorize the DEVGRU/NSWC SEAL teams to the scene for 36 hours going against OSC (on scene commander) recommendation.
Hence the required parachute drop…
2. Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn’t do anything unless the hostage’s life was in “imminent” danger
3. The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction
4. When the Navy RIB came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions. As the raggies were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in.
5. BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge CO and SEAL teams
6. Bainbridge CO and SEAL team CDR finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage. 4 hours later, 3 dead raggies.
Editoral note- Commanding Officers in the Navy are NOT shrinking violets…
7. BHO immediately claims credit for his “daring and decisive” behaviour.
A commenter on the email chain said the following…
As usual with him, it’s BS.
So per our last email thread, I’m downgrading Oohbaby’s performance to D-. Only reason it’s not an F is that the hostage survived.
Read the following ACCURATE account.
Philips first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn’t worked out as well. With the Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country’s Navy possible, Philips threw himself off of his lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors and none was taken.
The guidance from National Command Authority ” the president of the United States, Barack Obama ” had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostages life was in clear, extreme danger.
The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates and again no fire was returned and no pirates killed. This was again due to the cautious stance assumed by Navy personnel thanks to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington and a mandate from the commander in chief’s staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a peaceful solution would be acceptable.
After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the onscene commander decided he had enough. Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostages life and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer unnamed in all media reports to date decided the AK47 one captor had leveled at Philips back was a threat to the hostages life and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots.
Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Philips was safe.There is upside, downside, and spinside to the series of events over the last week that culminated in yesterdays dramatic rescue of an American hostage.
Almost immediately following word of the rescue, the Obama administration and its supporters claimed victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean and declared that the dramatic end to the standoff put to rest questions of the inexperienced presidents toughness and decisiveness.
Despite the Obama administrations (and its sycophants) attempt to spin yesterdays success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort.
What should have been a standoff lasting only hours as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location became an embarrassing four day and counting standoff between a ragtag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.
Sadly, I’m betting there will be lawyers reviewing this for end to end and probably changes to ROE to disallow OSC discretion in action…
I snuck home for the weekend, and managed to grab lunch today with a friend in law enforcement in East Texas. We were discussing the DHS memo and out of the blue he told me something that really concerned me-
I don’t have any independent confirmation of this, and it’s second hand, but I believe its possible…
It was that the folks from ICE had been tasked to conduct surveillence Tea Parties held on Apr 15, using available security cameras, still and video, and undercover officers in the crowd. It was not only to monitor the speakers, but the crowds and assess who the “specific” leaders were.
He did not know how widespread this was; but in thinking about it, since most of the Tea Parties were held at court houses, state houses, etc. There definitely are security camera systems available, and video from upper floors would have been unnoticed in the general hubbub of people taking pictures…
Not local LEOs, not state LEOs, ICE… Since the change over, ICE now works for DHS. When you think about the memo, the “reaction” of the MSM, and the “lack” of reaction from the Administration it’s enough to make one wonder…
Oh yeah, one other thing- There are numerous ICE agents working the Southern parts of the US… Gee…um… two plus two equals…
Now the other thing is the Lightbringer supposedly backing off on the AWB, stating, “there was not enough support in Congress.” Does anyone else believe this is just a delaying tactic until the Dems can strong arm enough votes to push it through?
That’s the direction I’m leaning, this assault on 2A is NOT over…
And via Crucis, THIS guest editorial (called Resistance is Futile) from David Codreas website The War on Guns, which talks to that issue.
And a little “humor” … Kinda reminds me about the comments a few years ago about paper hats and $9000 communications systems at McDonald’s…
Recently, when I went to McDonald’s I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets.
“We don’t have half dozen nuggets” said the teenager at the counter.
“You don’t?” I replied.
“We only have six, nine, or twelve” came the reply.
“So I can’t order a half dozen nuggets but I can order six?”
“That’s right.”
I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.
Sigh… Y’all have a good weekend!