How to Say Thank You

Gratitude Campaign

Salute to LC 0311 crunchie I.M.H. , Anti-Idiotarian
Thanks for sharing this!

Happy Birthday, National Guard

What is a few years younger than the Mayflower Compact (1620)?

What is a lot older than the Declaration of Independence (1776) and U.S. Constitution (1787)?

What predates the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps by 139 years?

What is 311 years older than the Air Force?

The National Guard

Now celebrating 371 years –
or 19 generations of lifers

Happy Birthday and Thank you, Guardsmen and Ladies

The Fur Flies in Portland

Portland Winter Hawks fans threw what was reportedly a world record 20,372 stuffed animals on the ice after their team's first goal of the season.




According to Wikipedia:

A Teddy bear toss is a popular Christmas season promotion at many minor and junior hockey arenas throughout North America.

Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears to the game, and to throw them onto the ice when the home team scores its first goal.

The toys are then gathered up to be donated as Christmas presents to hospitals and charities.

In many cases, the players themselves personally donate some of the bears to children at area hospitals.

The tradition is said to have started in Kitchener, Ontario at Kitchener Rangers games.

What a great tradition!

Poetry in Motion

Cannon Cockers at Camp Lejeune

Genesis of the Field Artillery - MOS 0802

In the beginning, there was chaos, and the chaos was the infantry, the queen of battle. However, the queen was alone. And fear was with the infantry, so she cried out unto the Lord saying, "Lord save me for I am afraid!"

And the Lord heard her grunts and set some of the infantry on beasts of burden, and these he called the cavalry, and the cavalry became armor. And when the Lord saw what he had done, he laughed saying, "Well, you can't win them all!"

As time passed, the infantry and the armor again cried out unto the Lord saying, "Lord save us, for we are afraid." The Lord heard their cries and decided to end their weepings.

The Lord said unto them, "I shall send unto you a race of men noble in heart and spirit."

And the Lord created the Field Artillery, and named them the King of Battle.

And the Lord said unto the infantry and armor, "When it is dark, the King shall light your way. And when you need smoke, there shall be smoke, and when you need it to rain down death and destruction upon the enemy, you shall have it."

And the Lord gave the King big guns and big bullets. And the infantry and armor were jealous, for they had not. And the Lord gave the artillery rockets and missiles and nukes.

And when the infantry and armor saw this, they fell to their knees in awesome wonder, saying surely the Lord is on the side of the artillery, the King of Battle.

And the Lord said, "CHECK!"

Yes, I married one.

Not Forgotten: Pearl Harbor

On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
By planning the attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet at Pearl Harbor, but as luck would have it, the aircraft carriers and one of the battleships were not in port.

When it was over, the U.S. losses were:

US Navy: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA
US Army: 218 KIA, 364 WIA
USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA

the USS Shaw, Destroyer, exploding

The USS Arizona

1,177 service members perished on the USS Arizona, making it the greatest loss of life on any U.S. warship in American history.
The majority of the USS Arizona’s crew members went down with the ship; 337 service members survived.

The USS Arizona sank in nine minutes and burned for over two days.
There were 1.4 million gallons of fuel on the USS Arizona when she sank.

Over 60 years later, approximately two quarts of oil a day still surface from the ship which Pearl Harbor survivors refer to as “black tears.”
The bond between USS Arizona shipmates went beyond being comrades; there were 37 sets of brothers assigned to the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941.
Today, interments for deceased USS Arizona survivors are conducted on the ship.

An interesting site: The Sacred Relics of Pearl Harbor

Patriotism: Sea-Tac Style

Last month at Seattle-Tacoma airport, an honor guard of Fort Lewis soldiers was escorting a fallen colleague back to his family in Virginia.

After a ceremony on the tarmac, the soldiers went into the terminal to board the plane, presented their ID, and walked through the metal detectors, which were set off by their combat ribbons and medals.

What to do, if you’re the Transportation Security Administration screener on duty?

What this inept and insensitive idiot did is unbelievable.

The two soldiers were told to put down the American flag they were carrying - the flag that had draped the fallen soldier's coffin.

The TSA screener then had the soldiers strip to their t-shirts, pants and socks in full view of everyone in line.

Is the humiliation of passengers part of the TSA job description?
How about disrespect?
Total absence of good sense?
None of those things are listed as a requirement for employment.

UPDATE:

Congressman Norm Dicks of Washington's 6th Congressional District read the commentary on-line and had detailed conversations with TSA and The Department of Homeland Security officials back in D.C.

The TSA says that protocols and training will be updated to assure nothing like this happens again; military personnel escorting a body for burial will go from the airport tarmac directly to the boarding area. All other military travelers in uniform will, if necessary, be taken to a private area if a more detailed search is required.

The two Fort Lewis soldiers will be getting a formal apology from TSA officials for what they were made to endure out at Sea-Tac.

It has yet to be decided what, if any, disciplinary action will be taken against the screener at Sea-Tac.

How about sending the asshole back to Somalia or whatever shithole he crawled out of?

Hell Has Only Frosted Over!

Apparently Hell Hath No Fury like a Pelosi crossed:

"Following a headline-grabbing uproar, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, moved swiftly Friday to clarify earlier remarks that seemed to suggest the Iraq surge policy was working.

The surge, he said in a statement, “has created a window of opportunity for the Iraqi government,’’ but so far the Iraqi government has “failed to capitalize on the political and diplomatic steps that the surge was designed to provide.”

“The fact remains that the war in Iraq cannot be won militarily, and that we must begin an orderly redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as practicable,” said the chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee." -- The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review