Labels: 101stABN, Petraeus, screaming eagles, This Ain't Hell, TSO
From Blackfive, courtesey of Uncle Jimbo
OK, I have some pictures in my photo section.
A few pictures from Walter Reed are here.
No, no one came out of the closet. I mean we went out on the town, (Washington, DC), with some very fine young men from Chosen Company, Second 503 173DABN.
We were accompanied by Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive, Jonn Lilyea, from ThisAIntHell, (but you can see it from here) and Tankerbabe.
Jonn has a post up already about last night. It features yours truly in a supporting role alongside the irrepressible Uncle Jimbo, as we try to join the pinkos/union thugs down the street from the Main Gate at Walter Reed and call for the immediate withdrawl of Russian troops from Georgia. (The country, not the state)
We all want peace, right?
We all had our 173D Sky Angels t-shirts on. (Well, except Jonn, who does have one, but refused to dis-robe in public, in spite of several car bombs, and Harps) You can get yours by going to the 173rdSky Angels Fund website and placing your order. Do it now, before they sell out.
I have met hundreds of soldiers and Marines over the course of the past 3 years. Most of them I met at Walter Reed. I am still awestruck by these young men (and women) who volunteer to serve our country. They never claim heroic acts, never take credit for actions above and beyond, preferring instead to state emphatically, "It was THAT guy that did it", "I just did my job", "HE deserves the medal, not me".
Young, dedicated, Warriors. These are the survivors of ambushes and firefights by sadistic militants from muslim countries fixated on one goal, killing innocents in the name of some twisted belief that they are superior.
These young men are heroes. Their stories will be told. Their sacrifices and honor will be made public and when the history books are written, we will call these Warriors, our Greatest Generation.
You can take that to the bank.
Winter-Soldier Again
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An organization calling itself Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) convened a conference in Silver Spring, Maryland, entitled Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan — Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations, this month. Modeling itself on the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI), which provided the text for John Kerry’s infamous testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee later that year, the event claimed to “feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in [the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan], giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.” But in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it was like déjà vu all over again./snip
While many in the press are still predisposed to believe the worst about the American solider, claims of “supporting the troops” notwithstanding, today’s GI in Iraq and Afghanistan can rely on those who suffered through the post-Vietnam War era — assisted by the internet and the blogosphere — to give them the benefit of the doubt, and to hold accountable those who make outrageous claims about their conduct. This is the biggest difference between now and 1971. For instance, the blog site Obiter Dictum put together a useful “Reporters’ Guide” for WSI II that reveals some interesting facts about IVAW. For example, in spite of the organizations name, a large percentage of its members have not in fact deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan. The resource draws attention to the questionable veracity of some IVAW members — the infamous Jesse MacBeth and IVAW co-founder Jimmy Massy to name only a couple.
Jonn Lilyea, a blogger who attended the festivities (and provides a useful summary of the proceedings here) demonstrates that as in 1971, many of the “witnesses” during the WSI II event were REMFs who recounted stories often based on rumor, but not on first-hand observation. As the late Harry Summer once remarked, the more grisly the atrocity story, the further removed from the battlefield the storyteller most likely was.
Let us stipulate that war sucks, but context matters, and those who cover it have to know what questions to ask when confronted by sensational claims. The press failed to do precisely this in the wake of Vietnam. Will it be better this time around? I don’t know, but at least some members of the press seem to attempt fairness.
For instance, in late February, I was contacted by a reporter from the Syracuse Post-Standard who wanted to interview me about the upcoming WSI II. I tried to impress upon him the importance of taking the sort of statements he was likely to hear at WSI II with a substantial grain of salt. It was important, I stressed, for reporters covering this story to “dig deep,” asking for details and ensuring that those making the claims were credible.
I told him that the Vietnam generation of journalists who bought the WSI political theater hook, line, and sinker, had merely enabled the dissemination of political propaganda and were complicit in defaming a generation of decent men, most of whom did their duty in Vietnam with honor and restraint. I told him how Jug Burkett had done what journalists should have been doing — asking for documentation and insisting on details — when he unmasked numerous phony Vietnam “veterans,” as recounted in Stolen Valor. I told him that if reporters were truly interested in the truth, they should do what Burkett did: get the name and service number of every one who testified during the WSI II, use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to gain access to their real records, and then check to see if that individual was in a position to have committed or witnessed atrocities.
I haven’t seen much in the way of mainstream reporting on the WSI II event, so I can’t yet tell if today’s reporters are less credulous than their Vietnam-era predecessors. I can only hope they are.
— Mackubin Thomas Owens is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. and editor of Orbis, the journal of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He led a Marine infantry platoon in Vietnam in 1968-69.
Jonn at This Ain't Hell has some words of wisdom.
(1000yardwadcutter this is especially for you and pay particular attention the bodfaced type.)
........since modern day berserkers haven’t got the testicular fortitude to actually battle bears or wolves, or even people, they seek to shock the most docile creatures they can find - in this case, church-going families on Easter - the holiest day in Christendom.
Berserkers also assaulted my buddy Skye from Midnight Blue and Flopping Aces (the account of her assault is at Free Republic). Apparently one of the little sissies thought it was OK to slap Skye - twice.
This blog stands firmly with Skye and firmly against any little punkass sissie who thinks it’s ever OK to strike any woman - veteran or not.
Skye also left comments here yesterday in regards to the attack on her.
Obviously modern berserkers can’t protest much anymore since Free Republic, Gathering of Eagles, Eagles Up, Move America Forward, et al. have made them look more like insolent children than serious political activists these days. The result - attacking the weaker links of society.
I recounted my own experiences last week when a crowd of “Veterans for Peace” and IVAW members suddenly realized who I was and tried to goad me into a physical confrontation. I was forced to leave the protest in order to avoid violence.
Given the reaction of the DC Metro police last week when they were assaulted by anarchists in front of the Recruiting Station in downtown DC, it doesn’t look like we can count on the police to protect society from these people, either.
According to the Wikipedia entry, berserkers were eventually outlawed in Iceland and Norway and disappeared during the first century of the last millenium. Maybe if these imbeciles faced actual jail time for their antics, they’d disappear as well.
Are you beginning to understand, Sparky? I stand with Jonn, TSO, Skye and everyone else on this as well.
Maybe you should just stay home.
