One Marine's View

US reportedly considers leaving thousands of troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016

Amazing, your warriors have been restricted so much that they haven't been taking the fight to the enemy but staying on their bases due to rules of engagement by this administration. Now, especially after the news of the "Retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who was picked by President Barack Obama last year to lead a coalition fight against the Islamic State, will step down from his post in early November"  because,Allen's frustration with the way the White House is micromanaging the war effort".

How can it be anymore clear that this administration is simply putting this war on hold while your warriors pay the sacrifice? Now they are saying that we need to stay there well after 2016. Well of course we do, if we want to win because we haven't done dick since this president took over and that boys and girls is how the enemy gets stronger and organizations like isis are built.  Read more here Time for a C-Gar

 

Coffey Anderson - Mr Red White and Blue

UNSUNG HEROES: The Soldier Who Destroyed An Enemy Mortar Position With A Jammed M-16

You may have heard of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, well this article inst about her, although she was apart of this, this story is about the heroic actions that transpired during that event and that no one paid attention to.....until now. Time for a C-Gar

The March 23, 2003, ambush of 507th Maintenance Company in Nasiriyah, Iraq, was both a military and public relations disaster. Of 31 soldiers who made a wrong turn into the city during the chaos of the invasion, accompanied by two soldiers belonging to the Army’s 3rd Forward Support Battalion, 11 were killed, seven captured, and nine wounded, according to the U.S. Army’s official report of the ambush. Pfc. Jessica Lynch, initially hailed as a hero by the Bush administration and the news media, testified before Congress that she lost consciousness early in the attack and never actually fired a shot. Read more here

Ladies....... (Hump Day Quote)

The US Marines tested all-male squads against mixed-gender ones, and the results were pretty bleak

Its not even funny, the Marine Corps has told congress, mixed gender infantry units is a bad idea, the facts prove its a bad idea, however, we still have a congress (who by the way are less than a 5% veteran congress) say its still a good idea. Again, you have some making the decisions on something they know nothing about. You want "equality"? You want women to me required to serve in the infantry? Then you better not complain when female fatalities skyrocket the next time they go to war with men in the infantry. Because they will. Those that have passed the Ranger school and almost passed the Marine Corps Infantry school, were set on it in their heart, did everything they could to pass, were determined. What happens if congress mandates females in the infantry which will include some not so determined females in battle? You can draw the conclusion, and it will include allot of body bags. Time for a C-Gar

All-male squads, teams and crews and gender-integrated squads, teams, and crews had a noticeable difference in their performance of the basic combat tasks of negotiating obstacles and evacuating casualties. For example, when negotiating the wall obstacle, male Marines threw their packs to the top of the wall, whereas female Marines required regular assistance in getting their packs to the top. During casualty evacuation assessments, there were notable differences in execution times between all-male and gender-integrated groups, except in the case where teams conducted a casualty evacuation as a one-Marine fireman’s carry of another (in which case it was most often a male Marine who “evacuated” the casualty)

The report also says that female Marines had higher rates of injury throughout the experiment. Read more here

 

What It Was Like To Be Hit By A 40lb IED - Motto Monday

Its easy to not know what your warriors go through, its easy as out of sight out of mind. However, know, one thing for sure, someone has to go and fight the enemy, go toe to toe with them and kill them, that's what your Marines do. Time for a Cigar

 

In the first three and a half months of our deployment to Sangin, Afghanistan it seemed like every day you heard about someone else getting shot or blown up. The IED (Improvised explosive device) situation in Sangin was a phenomenon in the worst way imaginable, not only physically but psychologically as well. I couldn’t believe how many IEDs were with us in that town, we literally had to watch every single step we took.

There were a few different types of IEDs that we ran into typically but usually they were either command-wire or pressure plates IEDs. Put simply, command wire IEDs are remotely detonated by a trigger-man watching a patrol and pressure plate IEDs are victim detonated when someone steps on a plate completing a circuit attached to the explosive charge.

After the first time I was blown up all I could think was, “Wow, they finally got me.” Read full story here 

No fear - Hump Day Quote

Angels in the air - Motto Monday

"the second thing I realized was that these MEDEVAC bird crews were absolutely nuts, and were willing to put themselves at extreme risk to save dudes they didn’t even know. Based on that I decided, just might make it back." Read more here- (and you thought your Monday was bad)Time for a C-Gar

Sept 11 how do you describe it in words?

September 11th. The day that changed America. It was one of America’s worse days and one of our best days. Now, 14 years later what words describe Sept 11 to you and what image do you remember the most?

 

I was conducting military training near Virginia and heard the news of the first plane hit. The image I remember the most is watching live tv and seeing the second plane hit. I knew the Marine Corps was about to get a lot busier.

To me the three words would be Vulnerability, Selflessness, and Patriotism.

Vulnerability because America was riding pretty high on our horse and didn’t see the warning or think something like this would or could happen. We became complacent as a country. Guess we forgot the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

Selflessness because on that day in a city that is diverse as America is big, hundreds of different nationalities, races and people in general put all of their indifferences aside and came together. Not only at the site of the attack but around the US. It was one of our worse days and one of our greatest days.

The following days after that attack I have never seen such Patriotism in this country not even on the Fourth of July. American flags lined the streets, houses and businesses and America was very united. Why did we let this patriotism fade?

Those that witnessed a similar attack (Pearl Harbor) could relate to the feeling experienced on Sept 11th. They knew that feeling and witnessed the country coming together. America is not bullet proof. We are strong but only as strong as our weakest link and we have to get “ourselves” together as a country to set the parameters up for our continued success in the future. After the Sept 11 attacks America flashed back to that time when we were “America” when we moved with a purpose as an entire country. Stocktraders, tradesmen, NFL players with successful jobs and substantial incomes joined the military to “make a difference”.

Something within them drove them to put their country before themselves, before their personnel gains and contribute to a greater cause, one that might cost them their lives. That type of action can’t be created, if it could recruiters would have an easy job. It comes from within a person to put their individual gain aside and focus on the greater good. Why has this faded over the years? We are America! The home of the free and land of the brave. Ask anyone that doesn’t live in the United States if they want to come to the US, the answer is always Yes!

You know that feeling in your gut after the attacks? The feeling you had as you watched the country come together? I have that feeling in my gut 24/7. It’s what makes America what it is. It’s what makes us different because we aren’t afraid to strive to be the best, help those that are less fortunate, and to go take care of those that threaten what we believe in especially those that threaten America. With every deployment I make I see Americas best making a difference, living in austere conditions, dealing with unimaginable circumstances and routinely leaving an area better than it was when they arrived and making a difference. By the way they do volunteer to do this. They live that captured post 9/11 feeling day in and day out.

We were attacked ten years ago because of our vulnerability, our selfless acts and patriotism by those that hate all of those things. They hate America and everything it stands for. Guess what, they still hate America. I call it like I see it and we need that spirit following the attacks of 9/11 back to let the world know that even after ten years we don’t forgret! The terrorist failed. they wanted to terrify America, what they did was just the opposite.

What words describe Sept 11 to you and what image do you remember the most?

Time for a CGar!

This sums up the short week - Hump day