This is a hybrid blog, online notebook, and scrapbook that will evolve over time. I collect items of interest covering History, Philosophy, Current Events, Politics, and whatever else captures my fancy.
"The chair is against the wall," seems more applicable today that it did last year.
Events are happening so quickly it is hard to keep up with it all.
We seem closer to a civil war in this country than before the civil war of 1861-1865.
COL Cooper's Color Code of White, Yellow, Orange, and Red are more and more applicable today.
You are your own first responder. No one else.
The ideological divide is growing bigger every day. The opposing view to freedom is just about ready to brand us all as "terrorists." This will not end well. This will not end well at all.
Will we look back at our "good ole days" and wonder if we will remake those days at all?
Beans, Bullets, and Bandaids. You can never have enough.
As a bit of a gear guy, I am constantly trying to figure out what will work better.
Above is my version 2.1 of my Battle Belt. If you compare it with this, you will see some changes. First I went with some of the HSGI Taco Pouches. These are great for the person who has different caliber types of ARs. In the picture above you can see the FDE 5.56 mag and the black 7.62 NATO mag. Both are in the same type of Taco Pouch. I love this universal capability.
Next I changed out the spec ops inner belt for a standard USGI pistol belt. I wanted to try something that would fasten quickly. Next, I removed all the other pouches and mounted a smaller, though thicker, medical pouch. I have a feeling that I will migrate back to the 2.0 version eventually, but I wanted to try something lighter.
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A couple of posts ago I was talking about an universal chest rig idea. I decided to try something out using my old 5.11 MOLLE chest panel as the base.
I was able to pick up three similar MOLLE pouches from a local surplus store. They looked like that they would meet my requirement. All they needed was some krylon spray paint.
Here they are mounted and empty.
Here they are loaded with mags and medical stuff.
Remember I wanted to be able to place either 5.56 NATO or 7.62 NATO magazines into the chest rig without swapping out pouches. I also wanted to be able to carry 4 magazines as well. As you can see above I have two 7.62 NATO mags in the right chest pouch, two 5.56 NATO magazines in the left chest pouch and in the center pouch I have medical sheers, an Israeli bandage, and a tourniquet.
In this picture I left only one magazine in each pouch and cinched the straps down. The profile is smaller, but not much.
The Lizard Farmer is back to blogging after a very long hiatus. I have added him to the blog roll on the right. I have included direct links to posts and categories of his that I found most interesting.
There is a removable molle panel that can become a lightweight chest rig or drop leg sub load. Also, their own chest rigs can be clipped to the plate carrier itself. It is an interesting rig available in a multitude of colors.
They are offering an Ultimate Pack set for both the D3CR and the D3CR-H which includes what you see in the picture. While it will set you back some coin of the realm, Haley Strategic's quality is well known.
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What I have been looking for personally is a smaller chest rig that will be able to carry both 5.56 and 7.62 NATO magazines (minimum of 4 each) with no down time. An universal chest rig so to speak. Then the ability to be able to clip it to a plate carrier or run the chest rig solo would be beneficial. I have though about running HSGI taco pouches on a molle chest rig, but the QASM buckles range in size for attaching it to a plate carrier.
What have some of you done if you are looking for a similar solution?
The item missing was "found." So lockdown was finished by noon last Saturday. I raced home to change and go to my oldest boy's 6 man football game. His team earned their first win for the season. Two small miracles in one day.
Work. Not going to talk about it. Suffice to say that I spend far too long there during the work week. Even the Chaplain is expecting bad things to happen by Thanksgiving.
Getting ready to go out to the field for a week and a half. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Figure out the movie reference there.
Life goes on. People come and go. We continue to trudge down life's path. Sometimes we dance. Sometimes we cry. Yet, life goes on.
I have less than ten months left in the military. So much to do. So little time to get ready for the post military life. It is going to be different.
The stupidity of the leadership of the military never ceases to amaze me. Friday has been a double whammy. The President nominates his replacement for Secretary of the Army. No comment. I am tired of "hope and change." It has been nothing but "despair and the shaft."
My unit gets back from a 3 day training exercise. ONE piece of equipment is not found. We were given an amount of time to find. It is not found. So, the whole unit, including those of us who did not even go, are now on lockdown.
Morale, which barely existed in my unit to begin with, just absolutely cratered. I am sitting here typing this post deep within the bowels of the unit's locker room. New and strange restrictions have been put on us. We can use our phones, but no streaming video. That is not even apples to oranges. That is apples to concrete.
What really hurts me is how this will effect my oldest boy later today for his football game. My oldest boy has Aspergers. He is also in his senior year. One of the things that he wanted to do was go out for football. He is on a Christian Homeschool team for six man football. He was actually sidelined before the season started due to a concussion that he sustained during practice.
Last Saturday was his first game. Ever. This was big. Today is his second game. I do not know how this unexpected turn of events is going to affect him.
My second youngest is also on the spectrum. His biggest issue is anxiety. I know that this turn of events is going to hit him hard as well.
By the way, I am currently taking meds for a knee injury. Those meds are at my house. They are talking lockdown until next week. Somebody is going to snap.
I feel bad for my wife. She is stuck trying to do even more than what she needs to do. There are soldiers here with pregnant wifes that are at full term. What are they going to do about them.
By the way, the item missing is not some super secret item. It can be purchased publically from such companies as TNVC.
I apologize for the rant. Its been a 20 hour day. And I am angry beyond belief, but holding it all in.
We seem to like a ship tossed on the sea without a rudder. We are going where ever the winds and sea want to take us. We have forgotten who we were, what we are, what we could have become. Our leaders do not lead. Those screaming for tolerance and acceptance are themselves intolerant of differing ideas and beliefs. I fear it may be too late for this country, this culture, this civilization. What will our children and grandchildren think of us?
Now, for sheer world and character building, I actually do rank Babylon 5 as a better series that Star Trek. The story arc for Babylon 5 was designed for five years. It was fun to see answers finally given to questions asked in season 1 all the way in season 5.
I agree with American Catholic, the final paragraph is an excellent distillation of thought:
"Over nearly 50 years, Star Trek tracked the devolution of liberalism from the philosophy of the New Frontier into a preference for non-judgmental diversity and reactionary hostility to innovation, and finally into an almost nihilistic collection of divergent urges. At its best, Star Trek talked about big ideas, in a big way. Its decline reflects a culture-wide change in how Americans have thought about the biggest idea of all: mankind’s place in the universe."
When I returned to the table, my father was sitting down looking at the old picture of his family. It was faded, creased, and worn. A corner had been torn off. His hands were folded together in prayer, his lips moving but no sound came from them. When he was done, he crossed himself and saw me standing there.
"Em, come sit."
I rooted for a moment. Did I really dare dig into my father's worst memories? Still, I moved forward and set up the recorder and microphone. I inserted a blank cassette, closed it, and pressed the play and record buttons. The tape wheels began to turn. I consulted my list of questions and spoke into the microphone, "Interview 256. Date is June 4th, 2045."
My father cleared his throat and then began to speak. "My name is Theodore McBride. I was born on September 4th, 2002 in Branson, Missouri. I am 42 years old.
"It came hurtling out of the blackness of space until it smashed into the atmosphere of the third planet from Sol. Only a few other recorded natural disasters marked close in it's destruction. The CA-CRV-5 asteroid impacted into the vast empty expanses of eastern Russia. Large enough to hold its mass together as it burned its way through the dense air, it was the size of the old Twin Towers of New York City before they fell on September 11, 2001. Around the world seismograph needles jumped and danced as the earth literally rang like a harshly struck bell. It would be over a decade before the first organized expedition set off the find the crater. The astronauts and cosmonauts stationed on the ISS in low earth orbit were able to film the impact and the after effects. Their bravery and sacrifice helped the shattered remnants of their governments move survivors towards areas where survival would be more achievable." Excerpt from "Rang Like A Bell: A Survivors' Memoir of the CA-CRV-5 Asteroid Impact, by C. Thomas Unger, Published 2056
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My father never talked much of the early years after "the Day." The more I find out, the less I blame him. Civilization, most of it, collapsed with days of the impact. Whole regions, inflamed by fear, panic, and looking for some one to blame, ignited into a frenzy of war and slaughter. People survived anyway they could.
There were small lights of humanity in the enveloping darkness. My father was fortunate enough to stumble through one of its gates one evening in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. More dead
I have added The Iron Legion to the blog roll. I like his straight forward thought process. I may not always agree with him, but I do understand his point of view. He has an intriguing idea in his Spanish Mission post. I really like his Separation in Place article as well.
Big Boy Rules here folks.
I have found that it is not always wise to surround yourself with the choir. Let yourself be challenged by other viewpoints. Grow from that.
John Mosby from Mountain Guerrilla published an article recently that I believe needed more push than just being on the blog roll. His article on The Way of the Hero is one of the finest pieces that I have read. He does not know it, but part of the inspiration for this blog and it's title come from a series of articles that he first wrote on the concept of the tribe. John Mosby's writing style is enjoyable and earthy. He calls a spade a spade in no uncertain terms.
I found this the other day. There is potential here. Mistakes? Sure. The issue is when people do not understand that concessions sometime have to be made for putting things onto video. Check it out.
Since July 5th I have work 21 days straight, then a "normal" 4 day stretch, and right now I am 12 days into another 14 day straight stretch. I am not complaining. Simply an explanation as to the dirth of posts. However, Monday night I sign out for 18 days of leave. I should have some time for some new posts.
- Another version of my battle belt.
- Range impressions of a new rifle.
- General comments about history, current events, and the like.
Atomic and nuclear weapons are still largely misunderstood by the average person.
There are several films available on youtube concerning nuclear weapons. Many are thinly veiled works of peace propaganda. Never the less, they are educational to watch. Search for The War Game 1965, QED - A Guide to Armageddon, The Day After, Testament, The Atomic Cafe, and others.
1007 views for the month of July! It is the first time for hitting the over 1000 mark.
Wow. Thank you. Again, this little blog was just a little thing that I started a year and half ago just as place where I could have a central point for writing thoughts and ideas. Thank you for your continued readership.
I have more writing to do. I keep a list things that I find interesting and want to share here. There is more coming soon.
2015 marks the 36th anniversary of the publication of the book Farmer At War. This work details the struggles of the farmers, both white and black, in what was Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. The communist insurgents were responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, again both black and white.
I believe that there is much to learn from the experience of the farmers of Rhodesia. Below are a couple of links for the complete work.
For further study on Rhodesian Farmer Defensive Arrangements, please click the links to see some interesting discussion on home hardening techniques that were used. There is application for these today. Again Big Boy Rules apply here.
The VERSA rig is now available. It was a collaborative design with Max Velocity and UW Gear.
It comes with both the 5.56 and 7.62 inserts. It is available for order here.
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Reid Henrichs, owner/lead instructor at Valor Ridge put out a great video on a budget option piece of gear. He recommends using the Type 63 Chicom chest rig.
“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.” Robert Heinlein. Something to consider. I have been watching it decay for the last thirty years. Beans, Bullets, and Band aids. Have you been stocking up? The Balkanization(a pejorative geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with one another) of the United States is nearly complete. Have you been building your tribe?
This post will be the first in a series concerning The Grey Man Concept.
Most firearm owners, especially tactical gun owners, can be “gear-dos.” However, this can present an issue when one needs to maintain a low profile. Even when labeled “Covert” most tactical rifle cases scream Black Gun, Tactical, or Military.
Granted, this is probably due to the burgeoning unpleasantness brewing around the shooter in the Charleston, NC church. That shooting was a clear case of racism and the over prescribing of anti-psychotic and anti-depressant drugs.
It is my fervent hope that the curious readers will find out more about Rhodesia and what went on in that country as a history lesson.
Racism is racism. Racism is not just white on black. I am going to link to some documents at a site that I have used in the past for some of my research. I hope that you find it enlightening.
History is never clean. The written word will always be flavored by the opinions of the writer regardless of how objective they claim to be. There are lessons to be learned from history. The challenge is picking the wheat from the chaff.
The SCOTUS really stepped in it this week. Everyone is focusing on the decisions. Nobody is really taking the time to understand the second, third, and fourth order of effects these decisions are going to have.
This has never truly been about rights. Follow the money. Always follow the money. This is really about, again, the fundamental transformation of this society and civilization. There is going to be persecution of not just Christians, but of ALL faiths that take issue with this week's decisions.
This country's faith populations have not had to really deal with the day to day struggle of practicing their faith. This week is going to change that. What will the histories written in another 100 or 500 years say about this week in this nation's history?
All civilizations fall. They fall for a myriad of reasons. What will be ours?
While I was at NTC AR15.com's Gunstruction had an update. They added AR10s to the mix. I downloaded the update for the app immediately and began building. I have shown this app and online program to several people I know. It is great for planning the next build (or four).
Here are some of the AR10s that I have built so far. Yes, I know. I have a thing for Rhodesian camo. It works really well in the desert environment that I currently reside in.
Cohort One Five is the brainchild of a series of conversations between some
friends in the military. They all have experience, training, and ideas that they
want to share with each other and with whoever is interested. Here is some
idea of future content on this webpage:
Gear Reviews, Products We Like and Recommend.
Weapon Builds.
Discussion of Core Shooting Concepts: The Whole Shooter.
Simple Ideas. The KISS Method.
Budget Minded Ideas. We are not rich guys. The struggle is real.
Many Ideas Have Merit. We are all different. There is no “one way.”
This will take time. We are more interested in putting out quality material
rather than a high volume of material. We want the solid foundation built well.
We believe in the concept of “one technique practiced one hundred times,
rather than one hundred moves practiced only once.”
We are not current/former SF types. We ARE current active duty servicemen
and LEO types.
We do have plans for the future. Stick around. We think you might be interested.
We got out of the Box here at NTC this last Saturday morning. We spent a total 17 days in the Box. Most units only spend 14 days. Thank God it remained relatively cool. Averaged about 3-4 hours of sleep a night, mostly achieved while sitting inside the vehicle.
The best part of the whole exercise was the formation of a new enterprise that I will be announcing very soon. This blog will remain. I have a special afinity for it. But a new possibility has opened up and it is worth pursuing.
I did some writing while in the box. I will be sharing that as well. Please indulge me a little time with the family first.
- Unleash the creative potential of American Soldiers and they can achieve the impossible. Hamstring them with stupid rules, thoughtless crap, and trying to cram seven days of work into three with no incentive kills morale and motivation.
- Why are "American Interests" in the most inhospitable 3rd world cesspools?
- Politicians, policy, and some senior leaders are absolutely failing the average Soldier. The force is not breaking. I would argue that it is broken. Yet, it soldiers on.
- Just because the daily list of jobs is done, DO NOT make new tasks up just because "the CSM/CDR does not want Soldiers just lying around." They are in so many meetings a day, they are out of touch with what is really being achieved. They are going to focus on what has not been achieved anyway.
- The desert starts to get hot this time of year. I am just glad I am not training here in August. It feels like you are two feet from Hell.
- Every place changes. There have been changes since I left NTC back in July of 2010. Yet, some things do not change. There are still civilians working here that I worked with that will probably never leave.
- We are not properly training soldiers. Yet, they say "we are ready to go!" I know Soldiers who have spent more time in the last year in classes about sexual harassment than training to actually do the jobs they signed up for.
- Pray and assist the families of military folks. They have the real hard jobs of the military.
So, I leave for the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California tomorrow. This is the first time for me to be on the training unit side. I spent nearly 4 1/2 years there as permanent party. I have to say that I am not looking forward to the time spent away from family.
I know that there will be a lot of changes in the world while I will be out of communication. I am really looking forward to seeing what new products and ideas will put forth.
So, unless I can post from phone, there will be no new posts for about a month. Please continue to visit the blogs on my blog roll. I know that many of them could use your support and readership.
The rig is a collaboration between Max Velocity and UW Gear.
The video is worth the time as well. There is also discussion here.
BLUF: I like the ability to switch between making this a 5.56 or 7.62 rig just by changing out the magazine inserts. 5 magazine capacity for the 7.62 insert, or a 6 magazine capacity for the 5.56 insert. Yet, all of the other pockets remain the same.
UW Gear is made here in America by hand. They do have a bit of lead time for their products, but I have yet to hear of any negative comments about their workmanship. Max Velocity brings an authentic touch of a guy who has been there and done that. Granted, it will not be everyone's piece of cake, yet, I think the idea has a lot of merit.
I have been looking at the Haley Strategic chest rig for some time now. But, I am quite taken with this design and its capabilities. Max Velocity has stated that he will be publishing an update very soon about the rig.
I based my battle belt design off ideas that Max Velocity had shared a couple of years ago. There are a lot of people out there with different ideas of what gear should look like. You have to decide what works best for you.
Right now there is so much anger and frustration in my reactions to what I am seeing and experiencing both in my professional life and in my worldly observational life that it is spilling over into my personal and family life.
Professional life: In my 13 years in the military I have never experience such disregard for the soldiers in a unit. Honestly it has become breathtaking in regards to the lack of planning and consideration by "leaders." Morale in the unit is absolutely below ground level. We already spend way too much time at work. Then, when there is a unit function, those who chose not to purchase a ticket to said function, especially those who would prefer to spend just a few more hours with their families are labeled as "disloyal." Disloyal?
Michael Shaara wrote in the book Killer Angels“There's nothing so much like a god on earth as a General on a battlefield.” I would contend that the same attitude can and will exist at lower levels of command. In many respects, the military system is extremely feudal in its day to day function. Please do not misunderstand me, there are plenty of good men and women in the military today. It has been my pleasure, honor, and privilege to serve alongside some of them. But there are more and more moments where all of that good is completely and utterly drowned out by the sheer stupidity of it all. I try to maintain a sense of humor ("We have gone from ludicrous to PLAID!"), but even that does little to help. Here are two things I would love to see in my lifetime: 1) A 4-star general walk into the Oval Office and lay his stars down on the desk and say "No more sir." Then walk out to the bank of microphones and lay it out for the American public. 2) For a majority of an unit to form up unexpectedly outside of their higher headquarters, the senior member walk in to the lobby and request to see the Inspector General. The American public needs to understand that THEIR military is by and large broken. There are many reasons for this and the guilty parties are too numerous to list here. Observational life: I am tired of the normalcy bias that is running rampant throughout this country. I was going to say society or culture, but that would be redundant. I am tired of the average person not realizing that this great experiment is circling the drain and just about to drop in. The freedoms and liberties that we take for granted are being regulated out of existence by unelected bureaucrats that are not accountable to no one. I am tired of the unrecognized and unanswered treason against and betrayal of the people who still work and try to make a proper life in this country. And it goes on. +++++ So all of this stuff begins to spill over and affect my personal and family life. It affects my personal relationships. It colors my faith experience. All of this is a big problem. I am not seeking the perfect life. I seek the life were I can raise and educate my children free from government intrusion and cultural political correctness. I seek the life where I can earn and keep my money as I see fit. I seek even more. I understand that many would consider this a pipe dream. That may be so. It will always be another source of anger. If I let it.
In light of what is going on in Baltimore, I offer this repost.
A Review Of "A Failure Of Civility"
I had read about this book in passing about a year ago and had downloaded the excerpt of it to read at length. I remember about how impressed I was about the length of the excerpt. Most free excerpts from authors only contain a chapter or two at most. The excerpt for A Failure of Civility (AFOC) was right around 80 pages in length. The two authors care that their information and knowledge is shared with as many people as possible.
A while back the Defensive Training Group had some copies available for purchase. I snapped one up right away.
Immediately I noticed the larger sized font and short paragraphs. The short paragraphs allow for concise, focused thoughts and ideas and the large font can be read under a flashlight or by firelight if necessary. For even more focus, there are gray stand out boxes that will explore a thought or define a term in more depth.
However, the items that really stuck out to me is the use of stories, both real and imagined, of what life is like under the conditions of AFOC. Stories from the Balkans (Selco's account fromSHTFSchool.com), cities in the grip of rioting here in the states, and then imagined scenarios to drive home a point were perfect in grabbing the reader's attention and impart necessary knowledge.
Underlying it all was the idea that "bugging out" is not going to work for the vast majority of people. Instead, to tactically understand your neighborhood and develop the relationships to create an underpinning for the creation of Neighborhood Protection Plans (NPPs) and Neighborhood Protection Teams (NPTs) is the key to surviving. These are not "militias" or civilian "SWAT" teams, these are the grouping of neighbors who take upon themselves the responsibility of protecting their neighborhood.
The authors are unblinking in their portrayal of that possible reality. They list 22 possible Catastrophic Events that would change life as we know it that they believe could happen in our lifetime: financial collapse, war, EMP, cyber warfare, natural disasters, and so forth. No zombie apocalypse here. Yet the effects on everyday life for the survivors of such are listed. Common diseases that are minor today could be fatal in a AFOC situation. Many of things that happen behind closed doors today would be done in possible full view of others. The mental and psychological planning and preparing for these kinds of events is just as important as the physical preparations.
The book is really focused more on the suburban survivor of these kinds of events. There are interesting chapters on surviving in a multi-storied buildings. Having lived on an edge of a large city for the last several years, I can really appreciate the direction the authors have taken with this book.
Right now the Defensive Training Group is out of copies, but keep checking back on the link above to check for availability.
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Matt Bracken posted this article back in September of 2012. It has stuck with me since then. The skirmishing in Baltimore brought back to the forefront of my mind.
The illustration above is utilized by Mr. Bracken to map the meta-terrain of a 2nd civil war in America. Again, study the modern examples of the Spanish Civil War and the unpleasantness in the Balkans. Throw in a dash of Rhodesia, shake and bake and see what you get.
I fear that it is going to be a long, hot, and dangerous summer.
I had this MRE since 1988 or 1989. My father brought it home with several others while working at Fort Riley during the 1980's. It was part of my bugout bag during my college days in the early 1990s. Then it was relegated to the bottom of other bags for far too long. I was recently moving some stuff around and came across this old MRE and thought it would be interesting to find out what happened to the items inside of it.
I opened it up last weekend and took the two pictures seen here in this post.
At first look it is evident to see that the main entree is very puffy. This is a tell tale sign of spoilage. The peanut butter package was still kneadable. The beverage powder package was as hard as a rock. The dehydrated pears and chocolate covered cookie packages looked fine. The ubiquitous cracker looked the same as they do today, color difference of the package not withstanding. I did not open anything else. I was waiting for a more suitable time to do a complete review. Then fate stepped in.
My wife (Household 6) saw the items setting on my workbench. Concerned that either one of our youngest children was going to try to sample it, or that one of the neighbor boys would try to eat it, she threw everything away.
I was not planning to try to eat anything. But I was disappointed that I did not get to open any of the packages to actually go eyes on the various food items. My guess that the actually nutritional value of the food was probably long gone, except for maybe the dehydrated pears.
However, just the picture showing the food items layed out gives us a good idea of how long a MRE can last when stored in various conditions.
Having just come off of a two week intense military field training exercise, I had a personal experience that is relevant to a SHTF and WROL situation.
During most of the FTX, we were going for 24-36 hours consistently without sleep. Then when we would sleep, it was very little (3-4 hrs at most) and very uncomfortable (sitting up or leaning over or even standing up). However, there was a period that we were awake and moving in vehicles for over 40 hours. At about 0200 in the morning, I was using night vision monocular in order to help our vehicle's driver move in and around the desert terrain. All of a sudden I started noticing human faces in the sand. Realizing that many shapes and forms can be seen in nature, I initially thought nothing of it. However, very quickly I noticed that everywhere I looked I was seeing faces everywhere. The exhaustion hallucinations had started!
Looking through NVDs many natural objects take different colors and shapes than what they normally exhibit. There is a desert plant that takes the form and color of large boulders when viewed through NVDs. What was the next kicker was that these boulders began to morph and change shape into unnatural mythological creatures! The next stage of hallucinations was occurring. Finally, these same creatures just started to come up out of the ground and moving all over the place.
There are many causes of hallucinations, however, for this discussion, we are looking at the issue of hallucinations caused by exhaustion. Going for long periods of time with little to no sleep are a common stress item with many military training exercises. Knowing your body's and mind's limitations helps you plan for future operations. Consider this with your own preps in mind. You must be able to know when your mind and body hit the wall and it possible, move beyond it.
I knew that what I was experiencing was not real. Therefore, I was able to push through it and keep going. But how many of us know people who would not be able to move past those kind of experiences?
Add to this poor food intake, close quarters, poor hygiene, inadequate bathroom facilities, and the list goes on. Knowing your limits, knowing the limits of your family, extended family, and other group members will aid you in planning the every day activities of your NPT or retreat location. Most people can go without a single nights sleep and recover fairly quickly. However, when there is no real end in sight, and the sleep cycle is completely broken, there will be noticeable changes in the attitudes and capabilities of everyone involved.
The Division level training exercise is over. 11 days in the field. Constant sleep deprivation. Constant movement. Standing in a gunner's hatch for hours on end. There are physiological consequences for such things.
The BATFE needs to go away. Much like 98% of labor unions, they have outlived their usefulness and purpose. There needs to be a serious discussion on how the senior leadership of most governmental agencies are selected and maintained. Also, they should only be allowed to ENFORCE not MAKE regulation.
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Came across an interesting quote from Cardinal Francis George from 2010: "I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history."
When I read this quote, I was immediately reminded of the excellent novel by Walter Miller, "A Canticle for Leibowitz." I first encountered this novel after reading some of the behind the scene notes for the Babylon 5 episode "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", in which J. Michael Straczynski included an homage to the novel with a scene in the episode. Regardless of many people's opinions on the Catholic Church, more often than not, it has been the one institution that kept the light of civilization lit during dark times.
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I have been watching the TNT 2005 mini-series "Into the West" on Youtube. In scope it reminds me a bit of the earlier longer mini-series Centennial. One of the things that has stood out to me was the character who started a school for native american children, to make them "civilized." Certain pieces of dialogue were said that could have been said today in the progressive arguments concerning conservative thought. Progressivism has been around a long time under other names and guises.
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Again, there will be light to no posting between now and right before Easter. My unit is still doing major field time and training. Needless to say there are some very tired soldiers running around.
Net Neutrality approved by the FCC, EO on ammo, and Keystone Pipeline Veto all in one week. Communication outage in Arizona. Putin critic killed at the Kremlin.
What the Hell is going on? I go to the field for 5 days and all this s&!t happens? I do not recognize my country any more. You are getting the fundamental change that he talked about in 2008-2009. And we still have 23 months to go.
The GOP has publicly castrated itself. The Tea Party has lost a lot of its steam. And the dumb, pliable public is still distracted by bread and circus.
Maybe my rantings are due to lack of sleep (6 hrs of sleep total from Tuesday to Friday night. Yeah, it was one of THOSE field problems. The hallucinations were AWESOME!). Folks, they are setting the chessboard and the numbers of moves left are running out.
DoomerDoug is making some very interesting interesting observations about some recent news events. With the US now officially out of Yemen (wait a second, I thought that was a success story for this administration?), the Russo-Iranian alliance now could control total access to the Suez Canal.
What does that mean? The Suez Canal allows for shipping to move from the Med to the Indian Ocean without having to sail around the bottom of Africa. The ability to use the Suez has played an important to American military planning. How fast can we project and support military power of we lose the ability to utilize the canal?
The chess board is being played very well right now by Russia. Remember, the object of chess is to corner your opponent and limit his movement, forcing his capitulation.
Whew. Another field rotation down, how many more to go? Lots more. Posts are going to be not as frequent. There is a lot happening in the world. Syria, ISIS being attacked by Jordan (The King is a BOSS!), very large explosions in Ukraine, etc.
My sole surviving Grandparent passed away last night. Truly an end of era. One of the finest men I have ever known. Truly a privilege to call him my Grandpa. Rest easy.
Wright makes a lot of the same points that I have shared with people I know. The Left-Islamic "connection" is one of the greatest philosophical paradoxes of our age.
"Something rotten, very rotten has happened to the Left just in my lifetime.
They used to be champions of free speech; and now they are its most vehement opponents.
They use to be able to give some sort of argument or logical reason for their position, even if an incorrect argument; now they have no argument, none of them, aside from wild and insincere accusations delivered in a mechanical fashion without any hope of being believed, phony as a three-dollar bill.
They used to be firmly on the side of the workingman; now they hate the workingman as a white racist oppressor.
They used to be in favor of free love and the sexual liberation; now they object to rocket scientists wearing shirts with cartoon women printed on them, they object to science fiction magazines showing a scantily clad warrior princess slaying a monster, and they call all sex rape, and demand strict segregation of women and men. On the same day as these protests, they appear in front of the Pope, writhing on the ground naked with crosses and crucifixes inserted into their vaginas. So the Puritan rules apply arbitrarily, without sense or order, to anyone or no one.
They used to be in favor of Blacks and other minorities; now their disgust for all the impoverished and dispossessed is plain to see. All they want is to keep the Blacks on the plantation, addicted to welfare, addicted to crack, their children aborted, their parents unwed.
They used to be in favor of the Jews, and other minorities; now they kneel to Islamic Jihad at every opportunity, vowing that those who slander the prophet of Islam will no be in the future, and ergo the Left now curse the Jews, and pray daily for the destruction of Israel, and a new Holocaust in the warhead of a Muslim nuke.
What? You say that his the not what the Left says? That they say they are creatures of purity, goodness, and sweetness, who live only to help others out of the depth of their hearts and the depth of your wallet? No, that was the old Left, back when the Left still had some scraps of sanity and intelligence.
They serve Sauron and have forgotten their own names. (emphasis added)
They do not say what they are, because, if you listen to them, they say that words mean nothing, that truth is relative, that all civilizations are no better than savagery, that no religion is better than another, and that anything which is not illegal is allowed. So of course they say they are perfect angels: because the word has no meaning to them, no words have meaning, and telling the truth is not correct. Only political correctness is correct.
Now they have gone fullbore barking moonbat mouthfoaming evil. The last traces of decency were scraped away with an exacto knife the day the Feminists publicly defended Bill Clinton abusing an underling, and no one on the Left rebuked them: and that was decades ago. Now they defend and make common cause with the Jihadists, who use power tools to drill holes in the legs or skulls of small children whose parents they wish to impress.
You see, it does not matter if the Jihadists act like the mass murderer from the movie SAW combined with Freddy Kruger combined with Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Che. Che is a hero of theirs. Mao is a darling of theirs.
Point out any barbaric act by any Jihadist, and the Leftist will say two things: (1) Christians are just as bad, and therefore cannot make the moral judgement that Jihadists have done bad things; (2) Not all Muslims actively support the Jihad; it has nothing to do with their religions, which is noble and peaceful.
Point number might be confusing to you, like hearing a man over and over saying he can eat the Sun for lunch. It is so far removed from reality that their is no normal explanation for it. It is not the kind of lie one says in order to deceive someone, and certainly no one with an IQ number higher than his shoe size would deceive himself with such a comically unbelievable statement. What does it mean?
The Leftists know it is a lie, but they are afraid that if the Christians discover that Islam is a violent and dishonorable religion, our Christian bigotry, Christian hatred, Christian violence, and Christian loathing of all dark-skinned people will boil to the surface so suddenly, that cities will be in flames, mobs in peaked white hoods will slay all the Negroes, and innocent Muslims be marched into gulags and concentration camps, slaughtered in the same astronomical numbers the Mao slaughtered people, Stalin slaughtered people, and the Muslims slaughter people now.
Is that clear? Every time some Leftist says “But not all Muslims are terrorists” he is accusing you, Christian man or woman, of being a hate-filled bigot one half-inch away from a berserk killing spree, not to mention a theocratic totalitarianism as bad as … well, as bad as any Muslim nation.
They would rather die at the hands of a mad bomber than be accused of being like you. They think you are a racist, a bigot, a theocrat. They hate you more than they hate the Devil. The devil they salute as a rebel and freethinkers. To him they dedicate books.
Leftism is hatred. Everything that is normal, sane, healthy, holy, rational, or good, they hate. They hate the death penalty for murderers and love suicide and euthanasia. They have daydreams about the human race being wiped off the globe, in order to preserve the Guatemalan water snake or the Puritan stink bug. They hate marriage and love sodomy. They hate wealth and success. They hate population; they hate people. They are fearless when it comes to Jihad and fearful when it comes to the weather. They love abortion most of all: nothing gives a Leftist hearts in his eyes faster than contemplating a score or a hundred dismembered dead babies piled up in a heap outside an abortion mill, and denied a Christian burial.
There is truth in what Wright is saying here. I share most, if not all, of his conclusions. It is time we wake up and realize this is for the species.
To the Left the end justifies the means. We have to understand fully what that means to them, and us. We have seen the fruit of this thinking with the mounds of bodies it leaves in its wake.
What are we willing to do to counter the Left? What steps may become necessary? I pray that we never reach that precipice, that decision point.
This is a 1964 BBC film. It is one of the best I have seen. This is the same time frame that the BBC put out a film called "War Game" which discuss the impact of a small nuclear war on Britain. That film was banned and was not viewed for nearly two decades.
The Battle of Culloden snapped the back of the Highland Clans. There are lessons to be learned here.
Americans going to battle ISIS is a throwback to post-Vietnam brush wars.
The ongoing conflict between the terrorist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and various other groups within the region have begun to attract veterans from both the United States and its allies. There are now ongoing online recruitment efforts, such as those by the Lions of Rojava, which is actively seeking foreign fighters. Lions of Rojava itself is partly run by a former Army soldier named Jordan Matson, who lives among Kurdish fighters. Many of these foreign volunteers see combating ISIS as simply an extension of the missions they were tasked with in Iraq and Afghanistan. But this isn’t the first time American veterans left their country to fight outside the purview of the military. Decades ago, after the end of the Vietnam War, a few American servicemen found themselves on the battlefields of a tiny former African nation: Rhodesia.
As Vietnamization took hold and American involvement dwindled, many Vietnam veterans found themselves uncertain about what their future held. The American military was at a cultural low point, and the inflation-based economic woes of the late 1970s presented many vets with an unfavorable employment market. But for some men, like John Alan Coey and Ken Gaudet, it went deeper than that. Coey, who was an ardent anti-communist, was set to become a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps when the U.S. began drawing down in Vietnam. Coey viewed the American withdrawal from Vietnam as a betrayal of the United States’ commitment to fight communism. Gaudet, who had served two tours in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, found he missed the military life, and wanted to get back to professional soldiering. Dubbed the “The Crippled Eagles” by author Robin Moore, Coey and Gaudet were among roughly 300 Americans who decided to travel to Rhodesia and fight.
This map shows the 1965-1980 borders of Rhodesia, as well as the operational areas of the Bush War.
A forgotten battleground of the Cold War, Rhodesia was a small nation that had fought communist-backed insurgencies and condemnation for the international community since its Universal Declaration of Independence in 1965. The intensity of the conflict, known as the Rhodesian Bush War, grew in 1975 when settlement talks between the white-minority Rhodesian government and black paramilitary political groups broke down. Portuguese colonial power in Mozambique collapsed that same year; at this point, Rhodesia was essentially surrounded, its only ally being the trepidatious apartheid regime in South Africa.
Rhodesian security forces were extraordinarily effective, but small. In an effort to boost manpower, Rhodesia started recruiting to foreign nationals indirectly, most notably through ads in the infamous “Soldier of Fortune” magazine. For Americans like Coey and Gaudet, the conflict in Rhodesia seemed to be the next front in the fight to contain communism.
Many of the foreign nationals who fought for Rhodesia were characterized as mercenaries, but the military required a three-year minimum term of service, and most were paid the same as any other Rhodesian trooper. They also mainly joined existing units like the Rhodesian Light Infantry, Special Air Service, and the Selous Scouts; there wasn’t a foreign “volunteer” unit that could be characterized as a mercenary force. But while U.S. law did not explicitly prohibit American citizens from fighting in Rhodesia, it was a thorny issue for policymakers. The United States supported the economic sanctions levied against Rhodesia, mindful of supporting a white-minority regime in the era of the Civil Rights Movement. The Rhodesian Bush War ended in 1980; with elections ousting the regime, and the establishment of the nation of Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. Most of the Americans left soon after; a few, like Ken Gaudet, were folded into South African special operations units. Seven Americans, including John Alan Coey, died in service of the Rhodesian armed forces.
The service of Americans in Rhodesia presented a complicated problem for the United States government’s foreign policy. In the case of Rhodesia, the communist-backed organizations the fledgling nation was fighting against often had support from the Soviet Union, in the form of military advisors and material.There was a possibility, however likely or unlikely, of an American fighting under Rhodesia’s flag being captured by groups supported by the Soviets. Such a situation would have put the United States government in a difficult position, both in regards to their policy on Rhodesia, and the Cold War implications of an American found fighting forces supported by Soviets in a war that the U.S had condemned.
Now, all these decades later, the emerging conflict with ISIS has present similar issues with Americans serving in foreign military formations. The main difference here is the U.S. is officially involved in the fight against ISIS with Operation Inherent Resolve, providing air and logistical support for the Iraqi government, as well as establishing training programs for moderate Syrian opposition groups. But Americans going abroad to fight ISIS in direct combat could complicate things.
Rhodesia, while condemned by the international community, was still the de-facto government; Americans who fought for them were part of an organized national military chain of command. In Iraq and Syria, there are variety of semi-organized groups committed to fighting ISIS, but their status can be questionable; the Kurdistan Workers Party has begun attacks against ISIS fighters, but the group has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States since 1997, due to Turkey’s place in NATO. Conversely, Iraqi Kurds are considered more legitimate by the United States than their Syrian brethren. Determining who is is a part of what group, or even differentiating between different rebel organizations has been difficult. Eric Harroun, a former Army soldier, was arrested after fighting in Syria for al-Nusra Front, a group classified as a terrorist organization by the State Department. Harroun had intended to fight for the moderate Free Syrian Army, and after getting separated during battle, accidently linked up with al-Nusra Front members.
The shifting allegiances and unclear depositions of many groups make it dicey for anyone looking to fight ISIS as a volunteer. And in the same way as Rhodesia, the question remains: How will the United States respond if an American volunteer is captured fighting for another entity?
