What Gun for Ocean?

I remember this.

Fun times......

True too. So many non-shooters in the Canoe Club.

And yet, all we were allowed to use on brow watch, in port, was an unloaded, ancient .45. The magazines each carried 5 rounds. We had two.

But then, considering the marksmanship of some of my shipmates........

Those of us who cared envied the Brits, French, and Germans who were armed with automatic weapons.

Well, that, and the fact that THEY were allowed booze on the ship.


h/t Broadside Blog

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Naming of Navy ships returns to tradition - Washington Times

Naming of Navy ships returns to tradition - Washington Times

Mabus is an idiot. How the hell he's survived as Navy Secretary this long is a mystery.

Note the last paragraphs:

He named a San Diego-class amphibious docking ship, one used principally by Marines, after the late Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat. The previous nine ships in that class had been named after U.S. cities, a park and a county. The naming angered members of the Marine community, who noted that Mr. Murtha had declared that Marines killed civilians “in cold blood” in the Iraqi village of Haditha in 2005. At the time, the Marines involved in the raid had not been put on trial. Only one Marine was convicted - on a charge of dereliction of duty.The Navy noted Mr. Murtha’s service as a Marine in Vietnam and his support in the House to fund the armed forces.

Until that point, the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships had been named for famous explorers or people who made significant contributions to the armed forces. Chavez served briefly in the Navy after World War II. A biographer wrote that he considered it the worst time of his life. Critics said there were better choices if the Navy wanted to honor a Hispanic.

“The one that got the most attention from people who couldn’t really quite figure out whether that was the appropriate thing to do or even related much to the military was the Cesar Chavez and the Jack Murtha,” Mr. Blunt told reporters. “People in the Chavez case could not figure out the linkage.”

Last week, Mr. Mabus named a littoral combat ship after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat.

Until the Giffords naming, all Freedom- and Independence-class littoral combat ships had been named after U.S. cities.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

The USS Forrest Sherman, a Burke Class Destroyer, transits the Intracoastal Waterway on its way out to sea today 30 September 2011. Good hunting, Gentlemen. Pictures by Steve Pond.

New Mixed Drink In Honor of SEAL Team 6

Shamelessly stolen from Blackfive commenter Sea_Dog52:

2 shots and a splash of water.

My Bud McQ has an image from the funeral service held for USAma Bin Laden.

After Osama's funeral - Caption time!

"Attention, this is the Captain. Funeral services for Osama Bin Laden on the fantail have concluded.

Conning officer...all stop. Full speed astern. Blow sewage tanks and deploy chum.

Carry on."


If you have a better caption, put it in the comments.

Furthermore, have you noticed anything....there's no "easing" anything into the sea from a carrier. More like a "chuck it" or a "drop", but there's no "easing" from 50 feet up......



Now THIS I can believe.... and its in a traditional Muslim coffin so widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan:

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Mark Wills "Crazy Being Home"

Country music star Mark Wills entertains at the 2011 Milblog Conference.

Crazy Being Home

I Was At Naval Station Norfolk Today

MH-60S Knighthawk
MH-53E Seadragon My brother-in-law retired from the Navy, after 30 years of service to our Nation, as a Master Chief. It was a big deal. I was fine until they started reading "The Watch". That one gets me every time.

Thank you, Master Chief for the privilege of attending your Retirement Service. Thank you for your service to our Nation.

The Watch For thirty years This sailor has stood the watch While some of us were in our bunks at night This sailor stood the watch While some of us were in school learning our trade This shipmate stood the watch Yes..even before some of us were born into this world This shipmate stood the watch In those years when the storm clouds of war were seen brewing on the horizon of history This shipmate stood the watch Many times he would cast an eye ashore and see his family standing there Needing his guidance and help Needing that hand to hold during those hard times But he still stood the watch He stood the watch for thirty years He stood the watch so that we, our families and Our fellow countrymen could sleep soundly in safety, Each and every night Knowing that a sailor stood the watch Today we are here to say 'Shipmate... the watch stands relieved Relieved by those You have trained ,Guided, and Lead Shipmate you stand relieved.. we have the watch..." "Boatswain..Standby to pipe the side...Shipmate's going Ashore.."

If the Navy PC Police Fire This Commander...

It will simply be further evidnce that Naval burrowcrats belong in the French Foreign Legion.
I've taken the entire post from Blackfive and put it here. There are additional informative links embedded in the post.

Videos from the XO, now CO, of the USS Enterprise are "Raunchy"?
Posted: 03 Jan 2011 07:57 AM PST
This has been all over the military back channels and the media this weekend...the former XO of the USS Enterprise, Captain Owen Honors, made stupid videos for the ship's movie night back in 2006. Some of the content of the videos may be offensive. The Virginian-Pilot broke the story (with no real explanation why). Here's what the AP is reporting:
The star of the videos, made in 2006 and 2007, is a former Top Gun pilot who now commands the same ship, the Norfolk-based USS Enterprise, which was deployed in the Middle East at the time and is weeks from deploying again.<...>Capt. Owen Honors appeared in the videos while he was the USS Enterprise's executive officer — the second in command — and they aired on the ship's closed-circuit television. Honors took over as the ship's commander in May...
I thought I would check on this with the Navy Mil-Bloggers. The first stop you should make is to see the video (which I have watched twice now) over at Commander Salamander's blog. Commander Salamander adds this to the discussion:
...A couple of things to keep in mind. CAPT Honors was Big XO on one of my old ships - the USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65). That was roughly four years ago when these videos were seen - by thousands.Now, almost a half decade later - people who have seen and probably done much worse things on deployment are calling for their Yeoman to bring them smelling salts.Don't forget that he is now the Commanding Officer of "The Big E."...
Be sure to read his whole post. I pretty much agree with everything he's trying to get across.
Other Navy mil-bloggers are sounding off too.
Neptunus Lex has this to say:
...Carrier CO, Navy captain, fighter guy, TOPGUN grad, graduate of the Power School, veteran commanding officer: Now being finger wagged by an O-5 public affairs officer, who knows what is, and is not acceptable in today’s Navy.
It will no longer do, old shoe.
Information Dissemination also has an excellent must-read post on the topic - starting with this:
It is only a matter of time before this video represents visual and irrefutable evidence by someone that Captain Owen Honors is a homophobic, sexist, F-Bomb flamethrower who needs to be hung from the highest mountain top as some example of being out of step with the political correct police, after all something like this would supposedly never be tolerated in Corporate America and must mean the Navy is an institution of minimum standards...
I.D. really lays out all of the issues to include the service record of the Big E, it's crew, it's chain of command and what may or may not happen.
My opinion? I think the videos are lame. In poor taste, certainly. Totally from an aviator. But not a reason to fire the Captain of the USS Enterprise five years later...

Congratulations To Bill Janis

Full disclosure: I like Bill Janis. He's a good man, he served his country honorably and continues to serve the Commonwealth and the citizens of the 56th District. I'd like to cast a vote for him for Governor some day, or maybe Senator. Seriously.

He is now the Majority Whip in the Virginia House of Delegates. If that's not a match made in Heaven, I don't know what is. Go get 'em, Brother. We got your six.

Thunder Run - From the Front

In today's From the Front: (Click on link to read stories highlighted below) This post is courtesy of The Thunder Run.
Dispatches:
Michael Yon: Big Guns
Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief: Taliban attack Peshawar police
ANNA BADKHEN: Afghanistan's Little Men
Army Blogger Wife: Deployment Question #15--Can I go too?
Army Live: (VIDEO) Sledgehammer Soldiers 6 months in
TIM HSIA: America’s Multiethnic Military
Corey Mindlin USArmy: Why is it?
David Bellavia: Veterans Take the Fight to Westboro Whackos <--(Bellavia is gonna get us in trouble)
the semi-normal, day-to-day life of a female marine: PTSD and Military Sexual Trauma
Bruce R: Afghan army marksmanship: quality vs quantity
Sargeant Stewart McCrone, Quick Reaction Force Commander, 16 Signals Unit at Camp Souter, Kabul: QRF
Bill Roggio: US-born cleric Awlaki 'proud' to have taught al Qaeda operatives
Loving A Soldier Blog: Allergies and more
LTC John: Good works, and good music
New Girl on Post: Back In The Boot
Ramblings from a painter: Skip Has Left The Building
LTC Rich Phillips: More Photos
Sic Semper Tyrannis: Iraqi election Aftermath: Sectarian Bombings
Terry Galvin: Ending Afghanistan's Agony: "Our Afghan Comrades Speak Out." Unambiguously Ambidextrous: Robert Semrau On Trial For Murdering “Soldier”?
The Unknown Soldiers: Quiet patriotism, out of the spotlight
Wings Over Iraq: The Difference
War, the military, COIN and stuff: Can Banning Ammonium Nitrate Help Curb IEDs in Afghanistan?
American Ranger: Big Problems in Afghanistan
The Captain's Journal: Chasing the Enemy
This Ain't Hell: Stop pretending that you care, at least it will make you honest.
News from the Home Front:
Local families still waiting for their soldiers to come home
DoD Agrees to Submit Some Fort Hood Documents to Senate
Administration continues to defy Senate subpoena for Fort Hood documents -
Pace of Changes Clouds Future, Mullen Says
Slain Nevada deputy had just returned from Afghanistan

News from the Front:
Iraq:
Report Details Torture at Secret Baghdad Prison
Sunni - Backed Vote Winner Seeks Caretaker Government -
Former PM Urges Interim Government in Iraq
Clinton urges Iraq to 'speedily' form government
Obama Sticks to a Deadline in Iraq

Afghanistan:
Military Disputes Taliban on Korangal Valley Outpost
Would-be Pakistan suicide bomber tells all
Five Policemen Killed In Pakistan Car Bomb Attack
UAE Jails Six For Funnelling Money to Taliban
Roadside Bomb Kills 12 Civilians In Afghanistan
Pentagon taking closer look at Afghan intel unit
U.S. Begins Inquiry on Spy Network in Pakistan
Case of teenage militant moves toward tribunal trial
Afghanistan denies police role in killing of U.N. staffers
Transfer of Authority in Helmand Province
Afghan Victory Day Celebrated in Kabul
IJC Operational Update, April 28
Terrorist attacks spike in Pakistan, Afghanistan -
Four policemen killed, six injured in suicide attack on check post in NWFP
Taliban "Ready for the Assault" in Kandahar
Afghan deputy trade minister calls for Iran’s cooperation in investment
Rocket hits Kabul City
U.S. plan to arm Afghan militia founders on tribal rivalries
Taliban protection payoffs denied by contractor
Afghans Mark Anniversary Of Mujahedin Victory
Roadside bomb kills 12 civilians in Afghanistan

The Thunder Run's From the Front is a daily series that highlights news and personal dispatches from the front and the home front.

SEAL 3 Update

SEAL CHARGED IN ASSAULT CASE WINS FAVORABLE IMMUNITY RULING
3-13-10
By Kate Wiltrout
The Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK - The case against a Navy SEAL accused of not protecting an alleged Iraqi terrorist took a major turn Friday when a military judge ordered that five key defense witnesses be granted immunity to testify on his behalf. If not, he warned, the case will be halted.


Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas is one of three SEALs accused in the controversial case, which has led to protests and calls from members of Congress for the charges to be dropped. Huertas faces court-martial on charges of dereliction of duty, impeding an investigation and making a false official statement. A member of SEAL Team 10 at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, he was one of the commandos who captured Ahmed Hashim Abed in Fallujah in early September. A sailor guarding the detainee in the hours after his capture claimed to see one SEAL punch Abed while Huertas and a third SEAL watched.

Four other SEALs, including the detachment commander, and a Navy corpsman who were present on the day of the alleged incident dispute the guard’s claims. But weeks into the investigation, they were told they, too, could face prosecution. As a result, the five hired a lawyer and requested immunity before testifying in the three cases that have gone forward. In February, without giving a reason, Army Maj. Gen. C.T. Cleveland, the head of Special Operations Command Central, denied those requests.

The military judge hearing the case against Huertas, Cmdr. Tierney Carlos, said Friday he didn’t understand that decision.

According to court documents, Carlos said, the five witnesses’ testimony would shed doubt on the guard’s allegations. Not granting them immunity, he ruled, is either an attempt to gain tactical advantage over the defense or evidence the government is overreaching. Just as important, Carlos noted, is that the expected testimony would be exculpatory.

Documents the men submitted about what happened between 5 and 8 a.m. the day after Abed’s capture make clear that the guard was occasionally left alone with the detainee, Carlos said.

He also said that the detachment commander noticed blood on the detainee’s shirt, and asked the guard what had happened. According to documents, Carlos said, the guard responded, “I don’t know.” Asked who was in the holding cell with Abed, the guard answered, “A lot of guys were in there.” Did anyone do anything to Abed? “No. I don’t know,” the guard answered.

The five men’s refusal to testify under their Fifth Amendment right doesn’t mean they have anything to hide. Citing Supreme Court rulings, Carlos noted that one of the Fifth Amendment’s basic functions “is to protect innocent men … ‘who otherwise might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances.’ ”

Carlos gave Cleveland until March 24 to provide immunity to the witnesses. If that doesn’t happen, Huertas’ court-martial will be abated – a legal term for postponing it indefinitely.

This is the second time Carlos has made a significant ruling in the defense’s favor. In January, after the government indicated it would not bring Abed to the United States to testify in the court-martial, Carlos moved the trial to Baghdad, saying Huertas deserves to face his accuser.

His court-martial is set for April 22. Carlos also is presiding over the case against Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe, a SEAL accused of dereliction of duty. That trial, also in Iraq, will follow Huertas’ court-martial.

The SEAL accused of punching Abed, Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Mc-Cabe, faces trial in Norfolk in May. A different judge is overseeing that case.

Monica Lombardi, Huertas’ civilian defense counsel, said her client was very pleased with the ruling. She said she was glad that Carlos “picked up on the fact that these witnesses … place the government’s ‘star witness’ alone with the detainee.” Perhaps the guard punched Abed, or the detainee, who is accused of masterminding the murder of four Blackwater contractors in 2004, injured himself when he was briefly left alone. “It doesn’t really matter,” Lombardi said. “The point is Petty Officer Huertas was not in on any sort of abuse of the detainee.”

The "John Murtha Navy Shipyard??"

Whats next? The Rahm Emanuel School of Ballet and Exotic Dance? (Not that that wouldn't work, you understand.)

“Friendly Fire”
BY CHRIS FREIND, For The Bulletin
Monday, March 08, 2010

Reports have surfaced that Pennsylvania Democrats are in favor of naming the iconic Philadelphia Navy Shipyard after the recently-deceased Congressman Jack Murtha.

I have just one question for those who favor of such a preposterous idea --- such as Congressman Bob Brady: “Hi. I’m Earth. Have we met?”

On what planet are these people living?

Yes, naming the venerable shipyard ---one that played a decisive role in the Allies’ victory in World War II --- after a man who flagrantly disregarded that old document called The Constitution for his own political benefit seems like a swell idea.

A Vietnam veteran, Murtha knew firsthand how difficult fighting could be on both the battlefield and homefront. One would think a war as controversial as Vietnam, in which soldiers became targets of venomous slurs and unfair accusations by the public and elected officials, would have taught Big Jack the lessons of patience, humility and honor.

One would be wrong.

Murtha was one of the leading critics of the Iraq War, advocating a complete withdrawal. Fine.

We should have no problem with that, as America is still (nominally) a free country, and Murtha is entitled to his opinion.But he inexcusably crossed the line when he accused U.S. Marines of war crimes, referring to them as “murderers” engaged in “cold blooded” killing after an incident in the Iraqi town of Haditha.

Making the sin mortal was that Jack didn’t care about due process, completely ignoring the “innocent until proven guilty” tenet we hold so sacred in this country. Last time I checked, you don’t give up your rights as an American when you put on a military uniform. In fact, you deserve those protections more than ever.

In addition to accusing those Marines of such a heinous crime, Murtha also stated that the military was complicit in the murder, stating, “There has to have been a cover-up. … There's no question about it.”

During a national television interview, Murtha stated that he would, “not excuse murder and that what's happened.” This, of course, was well before the investigation was completed, let alone the courts-martial that exonerated them.

Well Jack, I’ve got news for you and your still-living morally-corrupt cronies:We are not going to let the stellar reputation of the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard be disgraced with your nefarious name.

More important, we aren’t going to excuse you for your unforgivable behavior, which hopefully hasn’t caused an American soldier to die because he hesitated about defending himself in the face of brutal enemy fire.

If that be the case, you’d better run to God for protection from the Marines you might meet in Heaven --- assuming you ever get there.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist and investigative reporter whose work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe." Freind also serves as a weekly guest commentator on a Philadelphia-area talk radio show, WCHE, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances. He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

Scott Taylor For Congress VA-02

My Promises to You
Scott Taylor: Fighting for Our Future
Virginia Beach, VIRGINIA - 2/26/2010 - I would like to take some time to voice my commitment to this district and each and every one of the voters here. I have outlined several promises that I will keep to you; This is my contract with the voters of Virginia's 2nd District. I worked until I had blisters when I was employed on a farm at age 11, I worked until I had blisters in the Navy SEAL teams, I will work until I have blisters earning your support and vote on June 8th.

My Contract with you

1. I will spend my weekends and my Congressional recess time here in the district, meeting and listening to local citizens and their concerns.

2. I will never vote for or accept any pay raise. If I do recieve a pay raise, every new penny will go to a deserving local charity.

3. I will hold listening sessions in every precinct each year I am in office.

4. I will hire all of my Congressional and district staffers from this district or with a background from this district.

5. I will never support any tax increase.

6. I will make myself personally available to any person who wants to get to know me and my policies.

7. I will make increasing our domestic exports and decreasing our dependence on foreign imports a top priority. The key to success is in our nation's small businesses.

8. I will work with state and other Federal transportation officials to help fix our ailing roadways and future infrastructure. I will submit and fight for legislation to include a 37.5% royalty sharing agreement with the Federal and state government from responsible offshore drilling.

9. My constituent service offices will be open until 7:00 PM, our work schedule does not end when yours does.

10. I, or a staff member, will respond to every phone message or e-mail from my constituents within 48 hours.

God Bless,
Scott Taylor

It's Official-We Have A Good Man for VA-03

I have a unique perspective. I know this young man personally.

I can honestly say to you that Coby Dillard is the right choice to challenge Bobby Scott. VA-03 has been under dhimmi control for far too long. Scott votes the dhimmi party line consistently. Its time to take VA-03 back. Coby will be a voice for the people, not the party.

An excerpt from Coby's website is below. Here's the link. Go sign up and help begin the return to the Founders vision of America.

I believe that we must use every tool in our arsenal to keep our country’s enemies from our shores. I support electronic screening of calls and other forms of communication that originate/terminate in this country, so long as that tool is not used illegally on our own citizens.

To quote a good friend, “I believe that no one owes me anything just because I live and breathe.” I don’t support any system, program, or entitlement that gives preference to one over another.

People should succeed-and experience failure-on their own. I believe the government has provided me what they’re required to: protection of my life, liberty, and right to pursue happiness. They should provide nothing more.

I do not consider myself a staunch social conservative. I think abortion is terrible, but understand and could support it under a very few circumstances (namely, rape, incest and the inability to care for a child with extreme defects). I do not support it as a method of birth control or to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Believing all this, though, I also acknowledge the political reality that-for now-makes the right of choice the law of the land. With that, I choose to focus my efforts on increasing awareness of alternatives to abortion.

I believe that parents know where their child can get the best education, and should be allowed to choose the best school for their child. I believe that our children should be taught in the language of our country-English-and that they should be taught the concepts of citizenship, patriotism, and service to country. I support testing in schools to ensure that they perform up to government standards, and support the firing of substandard teachers/school administrators if their schools fail to meet those standards.

Virginia Board of Elections Should Be Ashamed

Judge: Va. violated absentee voters' rights

RICHMOND A federal judge ruled Friday that Virginia violated the voting rights of military service members and other Americans living overseas when electoral officials failed to send them ballots for last year's presidential election on time.

U.S. District Judge Richard Williams also ordered the Virginia Board of Elections to count and certify valid absentee ballots for the election after it reaches an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on how the process will be conducted. The count won't change the outcome of the election, which President Obama won in Virginia by nearly 233,000 votes.

The ballots from military service members and others living outside Virginia were the focus of a lawsuit filed by Republican candidate John McCain's campaign, which alleged that they weren't mailed in time for voters to cast their ballots before the polls closed on Nov. 4, 2008. The Justice Department replaced the campaign as the plaintiff after Judge Williams ruled that the Republican ticket lacked standing to sue.

Judge Williams said in an opinion Thursday that Virginia's failure to mail more than 2,100 absentee ballots at least 30 days before the election violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. At least 96 of the ballots were received by local registrars after the polls closed and were not counted.

Solar Powered Chain Saws

Solar-powered chain saws??? Preventing fire roads from being used??? Have people lost their minds? Oh wait, YES!!!


David Freddoso: Big green machine feeds off you
By: David Freddoso Commentary Staff Writer
October 1, 2009

Lawmakers have made it abundantly clear to bailed-out banks and automakers that federal money comes with strings attached. New rules on executive compensation are only the tip of the iceberg for TARP-funded banks. For bailed out automakers, Congress has inserted itself into decisions about plant closings and dealerships. The President of the United States even fired GM's CEO.

But environmental groups face few such restrictions, which is how they can victimize
the taxpayer two- or even three-fold. They freely sue dozens of federal government agencies even as they take federal money. Sometimes they take the money and spend equivalent amounts lobbying Congress to restrict consumers' freedom. Some of them even pay their executives large six-figure salaries.

The taxpayer finds himself in triple jeopardy. He funds these groups with grants and contracts, he can be on the hook for both sides' legal costs, and he risks the loss of freedoms to new laws and lawsuits -- his property rights, and his ability to buy affordable appliances, or even his livelihood.

Defenders of Wildlife, whose president makes more than $300,000 a year, has taken about $190,000 in federal grants since 2004. They are now suing the government to
protect aggressive wolves that were recently introduced into the Mountain West and have since ravaged game and impoverished shepherds and ranchers. The group also spent nearly $150,000 in the first half of 2009 lobbying Congress -- among other things, to fight against a law allowing for wolf control. They have also received more than $80,000 in web development work since 2006 from the Agriculture and Interior Departments.

Not all of the groups cause so much damage with your money, but they take it anyway. The Nature Conservancy (CEO compensation: $349,000), best known for purchasing land to prevent its development, is a billion-dollar organization. That hasn't stopped it from taking $14.4 million in grants from the Department of the Interior and received $50 million in federal contracts.

The more radical Forest Guardians are true green believers who certainly do not overpay themselves - their top employee makes only $46,000 per year. During the western forest fires of 2002, they steadfastly opposed the reopening of fire roads and the thinning of at-risk forests unless "solar powered chainsaws" were used. Even a small group like this can find itself a piece of the pie. Government grants accounted for 10 percent of their revenues in 2006, according to the IRS.

And just this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has put a leg aboard the federal gravy train. The famous public interest group, whose president made a modest $433,000 in 2007, has received a $750,000 government grant from the State Department to encourage the Chinese to use less energy. In addition to suing at least seven government agencies, including recently the Navy, the group also spent more than $400,000 in the first six months of 2009 lobbying Congress to require higher efficiency standards - and thus higher prices - for all appliances.

There's nothing wrong with a gadfly - someone has to hold government accountable. But should you be forced to pay for it, especially when it comes from an ideology
that could hurt your livelihood or even your life?

Gadflies might be parasites in nature, but the human ones don't usually double as leeches.

David Freddoso is a Commentary staff writer who can be reached at dfreddoso@washingtonexaminer.com

Bet You Didn't Know About This

A Heroic Death, Without the Headlines
By Scene And Heard

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Marine Capt. Matthew Freeman made his last trip across the U.S. Naval Academy in the company of friends the other day.

Yes, there were admirals and generals, colonels and majors, captains of the Navy and the Marines among the hundreds who joined him. But there are moments when the strictures of rank are loosened by the greater bond of brotherhood. This was one of them.

Four thousand and seventy-four days had passed since Matt arrived here as a kid, had his head shaved and was sworn in as a Navy midshipman. Two thousand six hundred and fifty-one days had gone by since he hurled his hat into the air at graduation and became a Marine. It had been 47 days since he married Theresa, his high school sweetheart, and 34 days since he headed to Afghanistan.

And it was just 19 days after he led his men onto a rooftop that provided the only high ground in a nasty firefight with the Taliban in a hamlet in a rugged, desolate northeastern province.
The morning he came back to the Naval Academy was a Wednesday, but it will stick in your memory as the day you heard that Ted Kennedy had died and the week when you learned that someone might have killed Michael Jackson. The politician and the entertainer of their generations, they were lionized by many and scorned by some. One pleaded guilty, the other was found innocent. But they each died with an indelible asterisk, a footnote to their legacies that time will not erase.

Matt Freeman died clean.

His life and death played out that sunny morning in the chapel at the Academy and as the long cortege made its way on foot across the Yard to what would be his final resting place. The words they found for him were devotion to his Maker, loyalty beyond what most men possess and grim courage in the end. Marine sentries in dress blue snapped into salute as he passed. There was a band. Flags flew.

Nine days earlier, when his body came home to a small town in Georgia , three creeks south of Savannah , people lined the route, waving paper flags. Children drew signs of tribute on cardboard. Mothers cried. You can find it all on the Internet, of course. All that, and a lot more about how he lived and how he died. You will discover, most of all, why people loved him.
It is the business of generals to calibrate the magnitude of a man's courage. They are not to be envied the task, and many of them learned its measure by testing their own guts on the battlefield.

Theresa rose from her pew in the chapel to accept Matt's Bronze Star, the fifth in the hierarchy of combat medals awarded Marines. He died on a mission for which he volunteered, in a province far from home, leading men into battle. Pinned down and receiving a "heavy volume" of enemy fire, the medal citation says, he rose up and led his men into a mud-brick house, cleared it of the enemy, "was the first to reach the rooftop" where he "spotted an enemy rocket-propelled grenade gunman and immediately killed him . . . and began to engage while under fire."

His best friend told the mourners, "He would want you to know that he went down swinging."

There were a dozen Marine captains in dress blue in the overflowing pews of the chapel. Marines may blink hard a few times, but they don't cry. Their mothers and widows cry for them.
In the week when they laid a young Marine captain to rest, the news was dominated by the death of a politician and the echo from an entertainer's death. The flag-draped coffin on the front page was not his, but if you look carefully in the paper this week you will see a small picture of Matt Freeman among the faces of those who have fallen recently in battle.

He did not live long enough to become an the icon of Kennedy or Jackson, but he died the greater hero.

New Site for Military Videos

New site just up. Full disclosure, the webmaster is a good friend.

5th Marines Taking Care of Refugees

Doctors visit Sudanese refugees

by Cpl. Ryan Tomlinson, RCT-5

AL-ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq – A large group of Sudanese refugees living in
tents here were visited by a group of friendly faces Aug. 25.

Marines and sailors with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 visited the community of Sudanese refugees near Al Waleed, Iraq, which is on the Iraq-Jordan border, to provide them with healthcare Aug. 25.

"It was a rewarding feeling to provide care to people who have gone through so much,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class George C. Fricke, a corpsman with Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd LAR Bn. “They are good people, but they’re in a bad predicament right now, so they need someone like us to help them.”

During the visit, the service members cared for more than 200 patients in the community. One by one, the people saw a doctor to be treated for sicknesses ranging from eye infections to the flu.

Metal Storm

This is JUST FREAKING COOL. I want one. Please? Pretty Please... The company has prototype handguns and rifles.

Actually the Navy is testing some of Metal Storm's toys. My mind's eye is drooling about Metal Storm 16 inch guns......yeah, yeah, I know.... But I can dream.

Made in Australia.