Are we a nation at war or not?

"We are not at war," a veteran who served in the Army for eight years told me Wednesday in Maryland. "Only some of us are."
I wasn't initially sure how to feel about that statement. The painful events of the next 48 hours showed that he was on to something.

So begins today’s post on The Unknown Soldiers, a blog by columnist Tom Sileo. Tom gives a brief bio of six 101st Airborne soldiers killed in Afghanistan on March 30 and asks why we didn’t hear about this on the news. It’s a good question. Seems like a couple years ago we heard lengthy reporting about every US casualty and a constant running count of our total losses in Iraq and Afghanistan – but no more.

For older people who think of war through the prism of Vietnam, it is important to make the point that these are different times. These are not wide-eyed 19 year old draftees, or men who are out of options. These are professional soldiers who could do other things if they chose to do so. These are men who have enlisted or re-enlisted, sometimes several times, since the war in Afghanistan began in the aftermath of 9/11 almost 10 years ago. 

Staff Sgt. Bryan A. Burgess, 29
Pfc. Dustin J. Feldhaus, 20
Sgt. 1st Class Ofren Arrechaga, 28
Staff Sgt. Frank E. Adamski III, 26
Spc. Jameson L. Lindskog, 23
Pvt. Jeremy P. Faulkner, 23

They had parents, wives and girlfriends, some of them had children. Spc Lindskog was a combat medic, a 68-Whiskey (Army MOS 68W), who was caring for his wounded comrades when he was killed. I wonder if we’ll see any politicians or pundits up-in-arms about this violation of the Geneva Conventions? I’m guessing not.

While I don’t know the circumstances of these soldiers, I do know personally many soldiers who have volunteered to go to Afghanistan and Iraq. In my reserve unit, we recently had one of our officers who transferred to another unit just so he could go back and keep doing his job. It’s not bloodlust or crazed desire for the ugliness of war. It’s quiet professionalism and a sense that there is a burden that needs to continue to be carried, even when their friends and neighbors seem to have lost interest. I’m reminded of my own post from October 2010 about Medal of Honor recipient Robert Miller, where I quoted George Orwell speaking of “rough men ready to do violence” on our behalf.

I’ll end with Tom’s closing words from his post:

Are we a nation at war? I still believe the answer is yes. Yet we are also a nation at a crossroads. We cannot think about war only when it's convenient or when someone from our town is killed. To stand by as this pattern develops not only dishonors the brave men and women volunteering to fight, but puts at risk everything they fight for.
To me, being a nation at war means uniting behind our troops and paying attention to their sacrifices. The time for America to do both is now.

Target: Libya

The news lately from Libya and hearing the names of important places in the conflict like Ras Lanuf, Sirte, Brega, Benghazi stirred my memory to a past military career - not my current one, my old one. I thought back to 1987 and my memories of anxious hours spent in missions over some of these exact same locations that occupy the news coverage right now.

I dug out one of my old target maps of the AO (Area of Operations) and memories came flooding back.

Missions start with a target briefing. In this case, you can see the target is the oil terminal at Ras Lanuf – so much discussed of late. Get ready for some $5 gas, people. We all have to sacrifice!

 

 

The next step is to select the proper armament for the mission. In this case, I will be taking one stick of Sidewinders – for self-defense against Libya’s still capable air force. I’ve got a couple Mavericks for stand off attacks on patrol boats or surface to air missile sites. For the actual target run, I’ve selected a mix of laser guided GBU-12 bombs and incendiary cluster bombs. How about a little fire there, Scarecrow?  Perfect for attacking an oil facility.

Sitting in the dark, my palms began to sweat. I review the map and mission brief. Then I kick the tires, light the fires and take off into the dark. 
My eyes wander between my various displays and controls and out the cockpit to see the inky blackness of the Gulf of Sirte. An alarm sounds – stealth or no, a patrol boat has a radar lock on me.

It’s already dawn as I approach Ras Lanuf. One of the things I remember about Libya in the 1980s was the startling lack of dimensionality in the structures.

I hit the target, drop down to Angels 2 and book it out of the air defense envelope.

Yes, I remember those many hours sitting in the dark office room of our Japanese apartment flying mission after mission over Libya, Iran and eastern Europe. Good old Microprose Project Stealth Fighter on the Commodore 64. So intense and yet so educational. I feel well prepared to watch the news now.
And I’m very glad that I still have my original C-64 (and several others). I also have my original copy of Project Stealth Fighter that I waited excitedly to be released back in 1987 (along with two other pristine copies I bought in case anything happens to the original).

 

On the other hand, maybe I should have spent more of those nighttime hours with my lonely newly married wife instead.

Chemicals, Iraq, and WikiLeaks

Interestingly, the largest ever unauthorized disclosure of military documents has yielded this:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/10/chemical-weapons-were-found-in-iraq.html

And rebutting the last paragraph in that article about these chemicals not being used against US troops, we have this: http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3448.html and this: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=47b_1190686351

And of course, going back to this report from 2006 about post-invasion chemical finds in Iraq: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200499,00.html

And as a little red meat, here’s an interesting American Thinker piece that asks some thought provoking questions about why Saddam played this game of high stakes WMD poker: http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/07/dont_be_so_sure_there_were_no.html

Sleep peacefully…

Just read a story about a 24 year old Green Beret, Robert Miller, who is being posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the lives of 7 of his SF team and 15 Afghan soldiers in an ambush in 2008.

The article says that Miller was motivated to serve because of 9-11. I’ve often said that I think there is an older generation in our country that gravely underestimates the impact of 9-11 as a transformative event on those who saw it as children. I can’t think of a better illustration of that than stories like this. And while we are sad for the loss of men like this, we have to be thankful that we are still a country that can produce them.

One of the comments on this story used a quote that I haven't thought about for years. It is certainly appropriate.

"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night, only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."  -- George Orwell 

Rough men ready to do violence on your behalf

Thanks to all who serve!

(more pictures of Robert Miller)

Earth Hour – Saturday, March 27, 2010

Tomorrow night at 8:30pm, in whatever time zone you are in, you have a chance to participate in Earth Hour. According to the site, China will lead the way in starting Earth Hour this year. That’s just great. Nee-How!

The traditional – that is, “traditional” in the same air-quote sense as “Kwanzaa” is a traditional African holiday that is, as traditional as an African holiday can be when it is created by an American socialist in 1966 – way to celebrate Earth Hour is to turn off all your lights and live like a non-tool-using animal for an hour. I encourage you all to celebrate a neo reformation Earth Hour by turning all your lights on.

All your lights – your closets, your garage, your mud room, great room, entry way, back porch, etc. This works even better when you have complete lefties nearby, like we do across the street.

When you participate, take some video or pictures. Tweet out loud in the midst of the brightness (using #earthhour). And make sure you upload it all to the sites listed at www.EarthHour.org (video: http://www.youtube.com/group/earthhourglobal photos: http://flickr.com/groups/eh2010).

Also, is it just me, or is it interesting to see what they chose to cover up in this map?

I mean, the planet is 70% covered by water and they had to put their little info box over the United States? I mean even just placing it by chance, they could have hit the ocean.

Here’s wishing you and yours a very happy and incandescently bright Earth Hour!

Three men and a Biden

The AP story on Obama having Sgt Crowley and Professor Gates over for a beer and peer mediation session contained this portion that just struck me as pretty funny. (I’m including a screenshot of the story in case they change it later.)

That put me in mind of this great Hollywood production…

(Barack has just learned that NO ONE messes with Joe!)

If it is free, is it really stealing?

Ah, KING 5 News, you never let me down!

Tonight I was treated to the story of dastardly thieves who made off with over hundreds of pounds of pet food from a charity in Yelm, Washington.
This group provides pet food for the poor to feed to their pets. I was pondering the notion of why poor people should have pets if they can’t afford them. After all, speaking as a reluctant dog owner, pets are a bit of a luxury – expensive in both time and treasure. I like my little doggy well enough, but make no mistake, if I ever had to wonder where my next meal was coming from we would by then have sold (or eaten) the dog.

Then, mid-ponder, this quote from 80 year old Wanda Bittner leapt from my fully HD enabled flat screen speakers in glorious 5.1 Dolby:

"I'm in shock... I can't believe it... Our food is free, no questions asked," she said. "Why would anyone take our pet food?"

Ummm…now I’m scratching my head. She has a charity operation where you come in and take the food you need - “no questions asked” – for free.

Sooooooooo…is this a crime or just someone availing themselves of this groups raison d'être?

I mean, this woman is 80 years old. Her house looks like what you would think someone’s house would look like if they spent their time collecting food for the pets of the poor. Maybe she just forgot where she put it.

“Next on KING 5, we confront a man who has always taken a penny, but never left a penny.”

And, just sayin’, does that tubby little pup on the right have an alibi?