Thank God for Men Like These - SEMPER FI!

No greater love hath a man than to lay down his own life for his brothers.

This is what SEMPER FIDELIS means.

These two heroes exemplify the military tradition of STANDING YOUR POST.
They did that and saved dozens of fellow Marines and Iraqi police.

Fallen Marines to be awarded the Navy Cross.

Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 21, grew up poor in rural Virginia. He had joined the Marine Corps to put structure in his life and to help support his mother and sister. He was within a few days of heading home.

Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 19, was from a comfortably middle-class suburb on Long Island. As a boy, he had worn military garb, and he had felt the pull of adventure and patriotism. He had just arrived in Iraq.

Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in Iraq, wanted to know how the attack happened.
He went to Ramadi to interview Iraqi witnesses -- a task generals usually delegate to subordinates.

Some Iraqis told him they were incredulous that the two Marines had not fled.

When Marine technicians restored a damaged security camera, the images were undeniable.

While Iraqi police fled, Haerter and Yale had never flinched and never stopped firing as the Mercedes truck -- the same model used in the Beirut bombing -- sped directly toward them.

Without their steadfastness, the truck would probably have penetrated the compound before it exploded, and 50 or more Marines and Iraqis would have been killed. The incident happened in just six seconds.

"No time to talk it over; no time to call the lieutenant; no time to think about their own lives or even the American and Iraqi lives they were protecting," Kelly said. "More than enough time, however, to do their duty. They never hesitated or tried to escape."

h/t Neptunus Lex

New Poll Numbers Out

All I can say is IT'S ABOUT TIME:

"Hard is not hopeless." - Gen. David Petraeus, 2007
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has a new survey out. It was conducted in association with the Council on Foreign Relations. Though the headline on the poll is Declining Public Support for Global Engagement, it contains sections on energy and Iraq that provide some interesting information that isn’t breaking through in the current news environment.

Section 2, Views of Iraq and Afghanistan contains poll data that, a few months ago, would have been given considerable coverage. For example:

58 percent of respondents now say the war in Iraq is going well or very well. This is a 14 percent increase since June, and the highest rating on this question in more than four years.
Positive perceptions of the war increased since June by 15 percent among women, and by 17 percent among independents.
58 percent also now say that the U.S. will definitely or probably succeed in Iraq. A year ago, 47 percent predicted failure.

Section 3, Opinions About Energy Policy, also has interesting data. For example:

A solid majority (55 percent) now support drilling in ANWR. That’s an increase of 13 percent—just since February—including 52 percent of independents. As the report puts it, “Support for ANWR drilling has increased across demographic groups.”
Respondents overwhelming support an “all of the above” approach to energy independence, with more than two thirds of respondents supporting everything from drilling in coastal waters to greater fuel efficiency, development of renewable fuels and increased fuel efficiency.
Support for offshore exploration “garners the same level of support in coastal states as it does elsewhere.”

Respondents were evenly split on the nation’s overall energy priorities:
“45% say that expanding exploration, mining, and drilling, and the construction of new power plants should be the more important priority, while 47% say the priority should be on more energy conservation and regulation on energy use and prices.”
That’s a sharp change from February, when 35 percent favored increased exploration, etc., and 55 percent conservation and regulation as the priority.

The heroes of 1776 still exist

God Bless America!
1215 military members Re-Enlist!
Largest re-enlistment ceremony in the history of the USA.

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

If you don't get chills when you pledge this, you don't understand what you are saying or doing.


From Bob Krumm:

BAGHDAD – How are you spending your 4th of July holiday? While most Americans probably slept, 1,215 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines raised their right hands and committed to a combined 5,500 years of additional service during the largest reenlistment ceremony in the history of the American military. Beneath a large American flag which dwarfed even the enormous chandelier that Saddam Hussein had built for the Al Faw Palace, members of all services, representing all 50 states took the oath administered by Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq.

h/t Instapundit.com

Trouble's answer.....

via Military Motivator