Found over at Knowledge is Power.

I just can't argue with this. 

The worst part: she, too, gets a vote.
That's why I am so vehemently opposed to a direct democracy instead of a republic.

You Served Blog and Radio show are extremely honored to announce that we will have a very special guest on the show the evening of 9/13. Former Secretary of Defense, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld will be joining us on You Served Radio to talk about the anniversary, reflect on his very long career of public service and I am sure we will talk a little about his book also.


Read more at YouServed: http://www.vamortgagecenter.com/blog/2011/08/27/special-guest-for-a-special-show-on-sept-13th/#ixzz1WOE4bzyh

Specialist Michael J. Stokely was born on 6 June 1980 to Robert E. Stokely and Melissa Gardner.  Specialist Stokely enlisted in the United States Army on 13 March 2000.  He completed Initial Active Duty Training and Advanced Individual Training as 31U Signal Support Systems Specialist at Fort Gordon, Georgia and later awarded 19D Cavalry Scout.

Specialist Stokely was assigned to Echo Troop 108th Cavalry in Griffin, Georgia.  Specialist Stokely was assigned to Truck E26 as a Dismount Scout.  Specialist Stokely deployed with the Echo Troop 108th Cavalry on 17 May 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Specialist Stokely’s awards include: Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Combat Action Badge.

Specialist Stokely is survived by his wife Niki.

What good can come from tragedy?  This.

Labels: Soldier's Angels, Support the troops and their mission

I've received several emails from people slamming the President for not ordering flags to be flown at 1/2 staff to honor the members of DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6 to you proles).

Look, I'm certainly not going to vote for him, but I agree with Captain Gutsycall.com on this.  You wanna know why we shouldn't fly our flags at 1/2 staff for them, but we do when a sufficiently high-ranking officer, politician, or other national tragedy occurs?

Because we already do: 
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May.  Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated among black and Northern white communities after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. By the 20th century it had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.  

In the end, the 30 men killed in Afghanistan, while a tragedy, and a huge loss to the Special Operations Community, do not warrant the rendering of any greater, or any fewer, honors than what is rendered to any other servicemember of equivalent rank who is killed in action.  Those 30 are but 30 of 6205 servicemembers who've died in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Should we fly the flag at half-mast every time a servicemember is killed in action? 
We fly the flag at half-staff every memorial day, from sunrise to noon, to honor those who've fallen.  To honor ALL of those who've fallen. 

There are customary days to fly the flag at half-staff: 

• Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15th (Unless that day is also Armed Forces Day.) (sunrise to sunset)
• Memorial Day, last Monday in May (sunrise to noon)
• Patriot Day, September 11th (sunrise to sunset)
• Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, December 7th (sunrise to sunset)

• Thirty days after the death of a president or former president
• Ten days after the death of a vice president, the chief of justice or a retired chief of justice or the speaker of the house of representatives.
• Until the burial of an associate justice of the Supreme Court, secretary of a military department, a former vice president, or the governor of a state, territory, or possession.
• On the day of and the day after the death of a (sitting) member of Congress.

And get bitten squarely on the ass.

Maybe it's because I read a lot of fiction.  Maybe it's because I enjoyed reading Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo.  Maybe it's because I wanted it to be true, and in the absence of truth, people tend to listen to whoever is talking.

Whatever the reason, I pointed you to this article in the New Yorker, which has rasied questions from various sources as to its authenticity. 

And I should have known better.  SF-Types are a tight-knit bunch, and notoriously closed-lipped about operations they've been on... especially in operations like this one, where Mr. Jihad will always be looking for revenge.  Nobody is really looking to avenge Pablo Escobar--but plenty on IHateAmericas would love the opportunity to exact revenge on the guys who killed bin-laden.

The details were good--pretty accurate from my experience--but the things that weren't right weren't completely out of my scope of experience--a little common sense and a little more questioning on my part would've likely led me to the same conclusion:  this douchebag wrote fanfic war porn, and I linked to it as though it were gospel.  The article reads as if the author rode along with the operation or had direct access to a number of the operatives. To not acknowledge if indeed he did not is misleading at best.

My Bad.  I'm off to get my bullshit meter re-gauged.

--Chuck

These are all the programs that the Republican House proposed cutting.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Year My question, what the Devil is all this doing in the budget in the first place? Is there anything listed you cannot do without…?

The United States Secret Service uses code names for U.S. presidents, first ladies, and other prominent persons and locations.  The use of such names was originally for security purposes and dates to a time when sensitive electronic communications were not routinely encrypted; today, the names simply serve for purposes of brevity, clarity, and tradition.  The Secret Service does not choose these names, however. The White House Communications Agency assigns them.

Recently, Iowahawk came up with an idea after the Vice President likened dealing with the tea-party members of Congress to "terrorists."  Knowing that similar comments are often made by the VP, and his many other gaffes and blunders are so well highlighted in the press,  Iowahawk wondered: what is the secret service code name for the VP?

From Twitter: (#JoeBidenSecretServiceCodeNames)

Delaware Dingus
Paste Eater
Runs with scissors
Greek Accountant
Stuck Plunger
Stuck Zipper
Prince Albert
Prince Phillip
Awesomesauce
Lite Beer
No, the other idiot
Corky
One Last Synapse
Naptime
Nattering Nabob of Negatism
Plugsy McRailroad
Slumlord Millionaire

These names are demeaning to an elected official of the United States Government and are demeaning as well as just plain insulting.  It does not matter how accurate or fitting they are, it is absolutely wrong to talk about the Vice President this way.  In fact, as Ace points out, it may be illegal.

For the record, I would *never* (again) publically insult the Vice President of the United States, even though as VP he is neither in my chain of command nor is he an elected US Representative or Senator.  His office is in a weird gray area between the Executive and Legislative branches, with all duties outlined in the constitution as Legislative (President of the Senate) and the only Executive duty (succession of the President.)  Still, he is pretty high up on the food chain for a lowly dog-face to piss on his leg.  So I won't.  Under the 24-7 microscope of the press, I imagine its easy for anyone to appear to be a well-documented buffoon, ignoramus, or general jackass, and I am certain that no one who graduated from Scranton Law School could  ever be as big a dolt as he is portrayed by an unfriendly press, that seems to enjoy making vice presidents look like caracitures.

//UPDATE:  Somehow, in writing this post, some of the code names developed for the VP have become associated with my account.  I have no idea how this happened, and have contacted Twitter support to try to fix the error.  They assured me they have top men working on the problem.  Top. Men.//
--Chuck

Charlie Sheen isn't #winning Jack Shit.  This is the story of true badassery of epic proportions.  These operators are made of win. 

From The New Yorker:
Excerpted from

Getting Bin Laden

What happened that night in Abbottabad.

by Nicholas Schmidle August 8, 2011

“Eternity is defined as the time be tween when you see something go awry and
that first voice report,” the special-operations officer said. The officials
in Washington viewed the aerial footage and waited anxiously to hear a
military communication. The senior adviser to the President compared the
experience to watching “the climax of a movie.”

After a few minutes, the twelve SEALs inside helo one recovered their
bearings and calmly relayed on the radio that they were proceeding with the
raid. They had conducted so many operations over the past nine years that
few things caught them off guard. In the months after the raid, the media
have frequently suggested that the Abbottabad operation was as challenging
as Operation Eagle Claw and the “Black Hawk Down” incident, but the senior
Defense Department official told me that “this was not one of three
missions. This was one of almost two thousand missions that have been
conducted over the last couple of years, night after night.” He likened the
routine of evening raids to “mowing the lawn.” On the night of May 1st
alone, special-operations forces based in Afghanistan conducted twelve other
missions; according to the official, those operations captured or killed
between fifteen and twenty targets. “Most of the missions take off and go
left,” he said. “This one took off and went right.”

Minutes after hitting the ground, Mark and the other team members began
streaming out the side doors of helo one. Mud sucked at their boots as they
ran alongside a ten-foot-high wall that enclosed the animal pen. A three-man
demolition unit hustled ahead to the pen’s closed metal gate, reached into
bags containing explosives, and placed C-4 charges on the hinges. After a
loud bang, the door fell open. The nine other SEALs rushed forward, ending
up in an alleylike driveway with their backs to the house’s main entrance.
They moved down the alley, silenced rifles pressed against their shoulders.
Mark hung toward the rear as he established radio communications with the
other team. At the end of the driveway, the Americans blew through yet
another locked gate and stepped into a courtyard facing the guesthouse,
where Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, bin Laden’s courier, lived with his wife and
four children.

Go RTWT.

--Chuck