A Warrior Falls

Like every day before, the officer wasn't late for duty. He sat in the Squad room, paying attention when he needed to, joking with his fellows when he didn't. He climbed into the seat of the car, and settled in for the morning patrol.
Sometime after breakfast, (coffee and a McMuffin for his partner, just a McMuffin for him,) and before lunch (he will wonder, later and only once, if it might have been good), the call comes in. Man with a gun, wife and children in the house. His partner flips an otherwise illegal U-turn he calls flipping a bitch, and puts the V8 Interceptor to work.
The scene is the chaos that finds its home in the heart of every warrior, its meaning and pattern apparent only in his mind. Shots are fired out the window. Tear gas is fired back in. The wife and kids come out. The gunman doesn't. The officer wonders how people can be so cruel to one another at times, doing that to their women, and their little ones. He thinks maybe he'd like to have a pup or two of his own someday, but doesn't have time for deeper contemplation. They're lining up, going in, he's got to go - All thoughts are on the door, the monster behind it, the monster with the gun.
They put flash-bangs through the windows as the great big man in-front slams the backdoor into a thousand splinters, a million motes of dust - Each one lit up for an instant by the flash of the 'bangs.
They're in, dust and smoke clouding the already hazy unlit room. The gunfire comes from within that haze, muzzle flashes - A cheap nine-millimeter, something that any other time might not have even fired. Call it fate, call it irony, call it tragedy, call it life. Gunfire in response, the solider, more reliable, fire of forty-five's and five-point-five-sixes, all well made, well maintained, as ready for action as he. But he's not acting anymore, he doesn't hear the return gunfire - One round, just the wrong side of the edge on his vest, has torn through flesh and bone and gone deep inside.
The Earth trembles when he falls.
He hurts when he breathes, but knows he must keep trying. He doesn't know where his partner is. Where the bad man is. He fights - To breath, to be loyal, to serve. It hurts, deep inside where it hasn't hurt since his heart broke once, when he was young, the last time he saw his mother.
His partner is there then, looking down at him, saying soft, soothing things, calling him "buddy". He likes it when his partner does that. The bad man is there too, but he's not standing up, or fighting. The officer relaxes a little now, but its still so hard to breathe and he has to breathe to make sure there are no more badmen.
His vision falters, he's going to sleep. Somewhere out in the growing blackness what might be a green field, and old friends, are visible. He blinks. The dust is settling in the room, but its all light and shadow.
They take his vest off, he feels them placing something over the wound. A needle sticks him between the ribs. Its easier to breathe now, but he's still so tired. He cant fight sleep anymore. He hears his friends calling him into the soft grass of the field.

I see him as they bring him out of the ambulance. One paramedic just picks him up off the gurney, and steps out into the harsh midday light. His blood runs down the front of the 'medics white uniform shirt, but that's okay. He's one of them, a compatriot, a force against the destruction they all feel chasing them - Chasing the world - a brother, a Warrior.
The other paramedic is holding the door open. Right of the door there is wall of his fellow warriors folding in behind the one carrying him as they go through the door. Tears are in their eyes. I can feel the reverberations in the Earth now, as I see them disappear within, and the Veterinary clinic doors close behind them.

9/11 Generation - No Other Option

I was just over a month shy of my 16th birthday on the morning of Tuesday, September 11th 2001. I was a boy then, a mature, strong, well educated (I finished high school the following spring) boy, but still a boy. Today, I consider myself a man. The events of September 11th 2001 are a great part of the influences and experiences that helped to shape me in those formative years.
I said last year that 9/11 is, for a great many of us, what the Kennedy assassination was for our parents, in that its the new "What were you doing when..." question. I think it was a more fundamental event, for everyone, than the assassination of a president - It shook foundations harder, deeper, and changed more. Everything is now Before 9/11 or After 9/11.

After 9/11 I became an EMT. After 9/11 I decided the military was in my future - Elite Light Infantry, come hell or high water. There is simply no other option.
I'm stuck in that day - I was angry, I was shocked, I was hurt, and as a teenager 3000 miles away there was nothing I could do. I heard about the deeds of the passengers of Flight 93. I watched fire-fighters and police strive, and die, and survive, and help others, and lose friends, and go back again - I felt proud that these men and women were of my nation, my species. I felt sad I wasn't among them. I was angry that I could not partake in retribution against those responsible.
As these few short years have passed from that awful day, as I have gotten older my desire, my drive, my belief in the necessity of being a strong hand, a helping hand, in times of need and disaster and chaos has only gotten stronger. It will happen again - The "front line" will again come to our home, our cities and we will need to bring another front line to their homes, their cities, to match the flexibility of the non-nation state warriors of our enemy. There will need to be people ready to meet those challenges head on, with heart, and with strength. I don't know if I have it - All I know is that I have to try. There is no other option.

Warriors: The Shit on the Boots of the Progressive and Intellectual Elite

Victoria Cross Winner Branded War Criminal

A ruse that helped to win a soldier the Victoria Cross during the Second World War was a "war crime" and New Zealand should apologise to the families of the snipers he killed, it was claimed yesterday.

Alfred Clive Hulme, the father of Denny Hulme, the late world motor racing champion, was awarded the VC for bravery in killing 33 German snipers over eight days during the Battle of Crete in 1941. He returned home a hero to the town of Nelson.

But a new book by two military historians says that, in winning his VC, Sgt Hulme committed "acts of perfidy" under international law.

Lt Col Glyn Harper, a professor at the New Zealand army's Military Studies Institute, who co-authored the book, In the Face of the Enemy, said that on one occasion Sgt Hulme donned a German paratrooper's smock, climbed up behind a nest of enemy snipers, and pretended to be part of their group.

"He shot the leader first, and as the other four snipers looked around to see where the shot had come from, Hulme also turned his head as if searching for the shooter," the book says.

"Then he shot and killed two more." He shot the other two as they tried to leave.

"Hulme deserved the VC for his outstanding bravery, but he shouldn't have done what he did in disguising himself."

Other academics have supported the book's claims. Peter Wills, the deputy director of the Centre for Peace Studies at Auckland University, said Sgt Hulme's actions were "unsanctioned murder".

He told the Sunday Star-Times that the New Zealand government should apologise to the families of the Germans he killed. Bill Hodge, associate professor of law at Auckland University, said killing enemy soldiers while wearing their uniform was "prima facie a war crime".

Sgt Hulme died in 1982. His daughter, Anita, said accusing him of war crimes was "a terrible thing to bring up".

His VC is on display in the army's national museum at its headquarters in Waiouru.

War is a nasty business - It is a dirty, ugly, pursuit in which dirty, ugly, horrible things are done. But war is a constant of human kind. We have always, and will always, make war. No amount of wishing otherwise will make it so.
It is easy for people ten, twenty, sixty years on to look back at our ancestors and pretend that we, as a species, have advanced so much in that time, have achieved a "higher mind" about violence and such nastiness. But the truth is? We havent. The people who seek to classify individuals such as Hulme as "war criminals" or similarly horrible adjectives are simply trying to reject a fundamental part of human nature, out of their desperate need to prove otherwise.

It disgusts me that a supposed warrior, the Light Colonel, would display such a tasteless, un-soldierly, attitude towards a man who went before, fought before and killed before. The desperate need of the intellectuals to prove the assertion that we have progressed past such base natures as killing and violence has left us, as a species, with the ranks of our true warriors muddied with warriors in name only.
To some, this is the ideal solution - The image, the look, of a warrior with the attitude of a non-violent protestor.
And they wont learn. There will still be enough true warriors in the world to hold the line between the enemy and the elite, and when the threat is driven back under its rock the nattering, nannying, morons will simply continue to blather about how awful violence is.

Bless the warriors - They are the sane.

BlackWater: Buy Stock, Now!

Blackwater USA, perhaps the most infamous private security/private military company in the United States today, is rapidly expanding its scope and mission. Other firms have tried to do things like this before - Blackwater may be the most likely of any of them to succeed.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=102251&ran=202519&tref=po

Blackwater USA says it can supply forces for conflicts
Stepping into a potential political minefield, Blackwater USA is offering itself up as an army for hire to police the world's trouble spots.

Cofer Black, vice chairman of the Moyock, N.C.-based private military company, told an international conference in Amman, Jordan, this week that Blackwater stands ready to help keep or restore the peace anywhere it is needed.
Such a role would be a quantum leap for Blackwater and raises a host of policy questions.

Until now, the eight-year-old company has confined itself to training military and police personnel and providing security guards for government and private clients. Under Black's proposal, it would take on an overt combat role.

"We're low-cost and fast," Black was quoted as saying. "The issue is, who's going to let us play on their team?"
Unlike national and multinational armies, which tend to get bogged down by political and logistical limitations, Black said, Blackwater could have a small, nimble, brigade-size force ready to move into a troubled region on short notice.

Black's remarks were reported by Defense News, a military publisher that sponsored the conference where he spoke, the Special Operations Forces Exhibition.

Chris Taylor, a vice president at Blackwater's Moyock headquarters, confirmed the account.

"A year ago or so, we realized that we could have a significant positive impact with a small, professional force in stability operations and peacekeeping operations," Taylor said.

Blackwater is no stranger to volatile situations. As a security subcontractor escorting a convoy in Iraq in 2004, the company attracted worldwide attention when four of its workers were killed, mutilated and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

Blackwater, most of whose workers are former members of elite military units such as the Navy SEALs, now provides security for the U.S. ambassador to Iraq under a contract with the State Department.

The reconstruction of Iraq has been hampered by insurgent activity, Taylor said, and Blackwater has the expertise to quell insurgent attacks if invited by the Iraqi government.

"We clearly couldn't go into the whole country of Iraq," Taylor said. "But we might be able to go into a region or a city."

Another place where Blackwater could help restore order, Taylor said, is the Darfur region of Sudan, where millions have been killed or displaced by civil strife. The company could send troops under the control of the United Nations, NATO or the African Union, he said.

Taylor and Black said the company would undertake such a mission only with the approval of the U.S. government.

Peter Singer, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who has written a book on private military companies, said the concept of private armies engaging in counter-insurgency missions raises myriad questions about staffing standards, rules of engagement and accountability.

"No matter how you slice it, it's a private entity making decisions of a political nature," he said.

"It gets dicey."

I encourage everyone reading here to go to www.BlackwaterUSA.com and look at their capabilities and services. BlackWater has in the past year developed a fairly impressive Air division, that is capable of providing multiple types of support, and their man-power and logistics abilities are nothing to scoff at either.
Considering the people directing the company, and their experience in the political field (not just the warfighting field, a mistake seen in African debacles in the last half century) Blackwater may very well be the first company in recent, modern, history to make a success out of private military services. The current political climate, the privatization of many services and the nature of globalization, and simply the pay difference between government militiaries and private militaries are all factors that create a ripe environment for Blackwater to be successful at this venture.
I dont know if Blackwater has made an IPO - I dont think they have. When they do, buy stock.

Its the second oldest profession - Someone will make a go of it as just that, a paying profession, sooner or later. My bet for the moment is on Blackwater to at least pave the road.

Vivre la mort!
Vivre la guerre!
Vivre la sacre mercenaire!

That Others May Live

I believe, in my heart, that every man and woman who believes in, or hopes for, their nation has a duty to serve it somehow. In the community, in the state or at the national level it does not matter so long as it is done: Volunteer librarians and fire-fighters to combat hardened Marines.
I am also a strong believer in fighting - Not that I want to glorify violence or propose it as the solution to every problem, it is most certainly not that, but I think it is a poor sort of person who will not fight for something, who does not believe in something enough to fight for it if necessary.
Show me a conscientious objector and I will claim to show you a cowardly and weak human being. Most of the time my claim will be right - Today I would be wrong.
On Thursday 87 year old Desmond T. Doss Sr. passed away surrounded by family and his pastor in Piedmont, Alabama. He was a Medal of Honor winner and a conscientious objector.
Doss won the MoH for his actions under fire as a medic on Okinawa during World War II. His Medal of Honor Citation is as follows:

The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to

DOSS, DESMOND T.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April-21 May 1945. Entered service at: Lynchburg, Va. Birth: Lynchburg, Va. G.O. No.: 97, 1 November 1945.
Citation: He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.

What that doesnt say is that Doss was, in his words, a "conscientious cooperator" because of his faith. As a Seventh-Day Adventist Doss did not believe in killing or harming others, but he still felt the duty to serve his country and the fighting men of the United States Armed Forces.
I do not agree with Mr. Doss's morals, and I have much evidence against them, but unlike many people who are pacifist Desmond Doss did not cower in fear, did not stay at home and fire cheap shots in the press, did not use pacifism as a reason to avoid doing what was right. He stood up and took pride in his nation and his belief at the same time.
For a pacifist he did one hell of a job of fighting, in his own way, for what he believed in and what he knew was right. For that he has my infinite respect.

When I was younger I saw a custom knife made for a member of the United States AirForce elite ParaRescue - It was a deeply hot-blued blade, with an engraving of a pararescueman and the pararescue creed "That Others May Live". It was the most profound of small experiences, and moved me very deeply.
I am not a "people person", I do not like people on whole (the great collected teeming and screaming mass) and I find very little redeeming about them, however in my mind every individual has the chance to prove themselves and to be a positive contribution to their species. The individuals who choose to hold strongly to their goals and dreams, who find something to believe in strong enough to fight for it, who live the human experience for the pleasure of the journey, those individuals are worth putting up with the whole damn lot of people. Everyone has that chance, and that chance, above all else, is worth preserving. That chance, that opportunity, must be given its due in all people. That is a fight all its own, a thread through every battle and every war that has ever been fought.
There is no greater calling in life than that of helping others, working to preserve and encourage that opportunity under the harshest of conditions in the face of the most brutal of failures.
"No greater gift hath a man than this, that he would lay down his life for his brother." John 15:13

To Desmond T. Doss, A Healer, A Warrior - My respect.

Disrespect

I just read an article from WorldNetDaily that greatly dissapointed me in my fellow human beings, particularly my "peer" group.
The article can be found here - http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48808 but for the sake of preservation I'll copy it as well.

The University of Washington's student senate rejected a memorial for alumnus Gregory "Pappy" Boyington of "Black Sheep Squadron" fame amid concerns a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the right kind of person to represent the school.

Student senator Jill Edwards, according to minutes of the student government's meeting last week, said she "didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce."
Ashley Miller, another senator, argued "many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men."

Senate member Karl Smith amended the resolution to eliminate a clause that said Boyington "was credited with destroying 26 enemy aircraft, tying the record for most aircraft destroyed by a pilot in American Uniform," for which he was awarded the Navy Cross.

Smith, according to the minutes, said "the resolution should commend Colonel Boyington's service, not his killing of others."

The senate's decision was reported first by Seattle radio talk-host Kirby Wilbur of KVI, whose listeners were "absolutely incensed," according to producer Matt Haver.

Brent Ludeman, president of the university's College Republicans, told WND in an e-mail the decision "reflects poorly on the university."

"Pappy Boyington went beyond the call of duty to serve and protect this country – he simply deserves better," Ludeman said. "Just last year, the university erected a memorial to diversity. Why can't we do the same for Pappy Boyington and others who have defended our country?"

The resolution points out Boyington, a student at the UW from 1930-34, served as a combat pilot in the 1st Squadron, American Volunteer Group – the "Flying Tigers of China" – and later as a Marine Corps combat pilot in charge of Marine Fighting Squadron 214, "The Black Sheep Squadron."

Along with the Navy Cross, Boyington was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his heroism. He was shot down and spent 20 months in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

The resolution says, "Be it resolved … [t]hat we consider Col. Gregory Boyington, United States Marine Corps, to be a prime example of the excellence that this university represents and strives to impart upon its students, and, That we desire for a memorial for Col. Boyington be commenced by the University of Washington by 11 January 2008, the twentieth anniversary of his death, which will be publicly displayed, so that all who come here in future years will know that the University of Washington produced one of this country's bravest men, and that we as a community hold this fact in the highest esteem."

Commenting on the decision, a blogger who says he met Boyington on numerous occasions at a museum and air show over the years noted the famous flyer "was no rich boy," having grown up in a struggling family in which he was forced to work hard to make it through school. The blogger, who hosts the website Paradosis, also pointed out Boyington was part Sioux.

Boyington was open about his marital problems and alcohol abuse, saying notably, "Just name a hero and I'll prove he's a bum."

The blogger wondered, "have our Washington youth revised history so much as this? To compare Boyington – or for that matter any of our WW2 vets – to murderers? What are these kids being taught today? They don't deserve those 20 months Pappy spent being tortured and beaten in a Japanese prison camp ... they don't deserve any of what our grandfathers and grandmothers sacrificed to free Europe and the Pacific."

Boyington wrote a book in 1958 that reached the best-seller list, "Baa Baa, Black Sheep." In 1976, he sold rights to Universal, which aired a TV series for two seasons of the same name.

Boyington, who died Jan. 11, 1988, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Two particular segments from the above stand out to me:

Student senator Jill Edwards, according to minutes of the student government's meeting last week, said she "didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce."
Ashley Miller, another senator, argued "many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men."

The idea that Marines (or any other fighting man/woman) do not represent "ideals" of society is disgusting. Its nothing new, but it remains as disgusting as the day Kipling penned "Tommy". I can think of few things as noble as believing in something enough to fight, mayhap die, for it. That is a kind of strength most people do not have.
Someone who is not willing to fight, for anything, is not the sort of person any institution should take pride in "producing". Spineless, fearful, cowering people do not build strong nations, strong companies, strong communities or strong families. Everyone has to fight for something in their life, whether its equality, their education or providing for their family, life is full of little fights and struggles. No one who turned from fighting, no one who told themselves that avoiding conflict was the “higher road” to excuse their own fear, ever amounted to anything worth note, not as the leader of a family, not as a hero of business, industry or even war.
And the cold hard truth is that without people who were willing to take that strength and will to fight and carry it into battle, none of the rest of it would matter. In this history of this nation there have been great threats to the security, safety and freedom of her people and it was not a force of collegiate debaters who broke and defeated those threats – It was fighters, who were willing to kill and be killed to protect the very ability of people like Ms. Edwards to slander and disrespect their efforts.
There exist soldiers so that everyone who isn’t a soldier can, if they desire, live weak and fearful lives safe inside well-protected borders. For as long as there have been people there have been those who would take by force what wasn’t theirs, and demand fealty from people at the point of a sword or a gun. And in the course of history there has only been one thing that could turn back a determined tyrant or robber – Force. The truth is most people, except in the direst of circumstances, lack the ability to do violence and that ability has been rejected and cultured out by many societies. Most people do not have the ability to make good soldiers and their place is not on the battlefield even if they are needed there – There are true soldiers, born soldiers and they do hard things, brutal things, so that the folks at home don’t have to, or don’t have to suffer those things done to them. It may not be the most pleasant thing, and it may not be the most beautiful thing, but it is something that deserves respect, and gratitude.
And, in response to Ms. Miller’s comments, most soldiers are not rich men, many of them are not white (many are Native American, as was Boyington), and most of them lead undistinguished, often impoverished, lives after their tours of duty. Rich White Men are the fools running the country – Not those subjected to their miserable whims and thrown onto the teeth of battle without mercy. It seems that Ms. Miller and Ms. Edwards have forgotten this, or wish to confuse the two in order to find someone they can more easily and personally blame and punish for the sins of our fathers.

Also take note that "Just last year, the university erected a memorial to diversity”. This highlights one of the dirty, ugly, truths of “Diversity” – Promoting diversity, instead of unity, allow people like Miller and Edwards to segregate themselves from elements of society they find distasteful. There is no unity in diversity, and it allows for disrespect and ostracizing of “unclean” elements of society – so long as “Diversity” is trumpeted it allows for lines to be drawn through our society, and for those culture, class, and yes, race barriers to be continually reinforced.
Unity scares people like Misses Edwards and Miller – If the world had unity, they would have to stand shoulder to shoulder on the same level with Marines and others who do work they find “distasteful”.

It is unfortunate that people have found causes and positions of power that allow them to make decisions such as this, and create seats above the “distasteful”. It is to an extent a manipulation of reality, for those doing it. Although reality truly is that which, when ignored, does not go away, people in positions of power can pretend, at least to themselves, that they can have a society, a world, without the unclean, distasteful or difficult elements and in that pretending they can use their positions, authority and influence to strike blows against those they find distasteful, no matter how much those very people may have worked to guarantee the ability of slanderers to attack them.

These people who make these attacks love to use terms that will put a bad taste in others mouths, terms like “killers”, so I’m going to close this bluntly.
Some people need killed – Before they can kill the innocent – and it takes killers to stop killers. Anyone who doesn’t “approve” of those people needs to ask him or her self a very serious question, “Would I rather be the one who had to do it?”

A few more...

Well, shit, I've just been up all night trying to beat my sleep cycle back into some sort of normalcy (been staying up till three our four AM and sleeping till noon most of the time for the last two weeks, figure if I stay up all night and today I'll konk out around ten PM and get back into it like a sane person) I'm going to give in to being a little shallower than I usually am here, and post some more Izzy chicks...

So, is it just me or wouldnt it just be hella cool to see beautiful young women walking around with M-4's slung all the time, here in the US?

IDF Chicks...

If life were fair, one would be my wife.
If life were good, the other would be my mistress.

I love IDF (Israeli Defense Force) chicks... there is something amazingly appealing about an already good looking woman, who's got some muscle tone like she does a little work and is well armed.
That "capable" look really gets my motor runnin'. Yes'sir, the woman for me has to be able to change her own tires, and do immediate action drills if her rifle jams.
Fuckin' hard thing to find here though. A nation of airheaded princesses... at least my generation.