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Jun 30, 2008

1 

Everybody remember this guy?
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Well now he's THIS guy!
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And today he turns 1! Happy Birthday, Little D! Daddy will be home soon.
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 00:01
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Jun 25, 2008

Star Trek tech once again comes true 

Easily my favorite Trek film in the series is IV, which is the "Save the Whales" movie. I know... you're shocked.

But it was also by far the funniest of the bunch, which is what I like about it. Especially the part where Scotty, after attempting to speak to a Mac ("Hellloo, computer..."), realizes that he will have to break down and do things the old fashioned way with a keyboard. And then, in 20 seconds, with a barrage of key strokes, he invents Transparent Aluminum.

And behold, 22 years later, we've done it: Metallic Glass.

Aside from being a wicked awesome band name, this is something that has a ridiculous amount of potential for both civil and military applications. Very cool.
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 12:28
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Jun 19, 2008

And there it is 

Obama advisers say bin Laden can appeal to U.S. civilian courts

Thereby granting the leader of al Qaeda greater legal protections than those afforded to the Nazis after World War II.

Quothe the Messiah hisself -
"In previous terrorist attacks - for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center - we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial," he told ABC. "They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated."
Yep. A whole 6 out of the 24 indicted. Way to go, law enforcement! By the way, wasn't Khalid Sheikh Mohammed one of those charged for the '93 WTC attack? Hey, good job rolling him up before he was able to mastermind the whole 9/11 thing.

I would like to thank the good Senator from Illinois, however, for ensuring that if he DOES become President, bin Laden will most certainly be shot on sight. Ain't no soldier or Marine gonna take a chance on the US Court system with the likes of that freakin' tool. And by "freakin' tool" I mean OSama, natch...

After all, as Mr. Peters puts it, "a dead terrorist is dead, but an imprisoned terrorist is a cause (and not just for his fellow radicals). Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is forgotten, but our Guantanamo prisoners are pop stars."

Oh, and uh, by the way... 7 out of 8. So far...

Their careers are undoubtedly shot to hell and/or they'll be plenty ready to get out at the end of their present contracts, I'm sure. But THANK GOD they weren't left in the hands of a MILITARY COURT, huh? I mean if a civil trial is good enough for enemies, it should be good enough for friendlies, right?
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 11:34
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Jun 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day! 

It's my first!

And to Dad, a little recycled posting, but I figure you'll like it. I had to hurry... the MWR is kicking me off the computer so somebody else can use it!
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 09:01
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'Raqstar 

New posts will appear below this one until the above date... mostly because it took me awhile to put this together and I don't want it to get buried...



UPDATE: For those who asked, we are now YouTubed.
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 09:00
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Jun 14, 2008

Send in the Marines police 

A lot of people are up in arms about the fact that the US Supreme Court has effectively told the US military that we have to read Miranda Rights to any person on the battlefield who we might take prisoner.

As Ed Morrisey puts it -
The 5-4 decision reverses over 200 years of American war precedent, as well as turn the Geneva Convention on its head. Unlawful combatants now have more rights than POWs, whom the GC forbids access to civilian courts. POWs facing war-crimes charges have to be tried in military tribunals, not civil courts, but terrorists somehow now have better standing than those captured in uniform.
Combine this with career-ending witch hunts like the Haditha case (which have produced NOTHING, except for the ruin of good Marines) and you have effectively detoothed the guard dogs. Why should good soldiers fight when they can be prosecuted for attacking the enemy or watch their newly captured prisoner be set free when some paper hanging son of a bitch back in the rear decides they didn't do a thorough enough job at playing CSI?

If this decision stands, every battlefield becomes a crime scene - every combat action a criminal action. Our only option for the conduct of actual war will be to try kill everything that moves but do it in such a way that the taking of prisoners is rendered impossible. Meaning we'll go back to crowd pleasers like Operation Infinite Reach and Operation Desert Fox... the latter of which was SO successful, that I'm here in Baghdad only because I enjoy the climate, obviously...

Either that, or we go with Operation Hicks: we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

And thusly, I quote from a man who is presently spinning is his grave like an electric dynamo - Gen George Patton - who once said, "May God deliver us from our friends; we can handle the enemy."
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 12:04
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Jun 10, 2008

Remember, this is not a political blog 

It's a military and, at present, Iraq blog.

Political Picture - Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it...
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 13:50
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Jun 7, 2008

Tougher than leather 

Take your pick: throw yourself on a grenade - OR - jump out of a plane and have both your parachutes fail.

Now imagine doing both. And living.

Fair winds and following seas to Jack Lucas, Marine/Airborne, and one tough S.O.B.

WWII vet who earned Medal of Honor at 17 dies
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 11:27
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Jun 5, 2008

"And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking." 

Between midnight and dawn they came. Thousands of them. Some by air and some by sea. To look at the plan in retrospect, one gets the impression that the idea was to simply put more men ashore than the enemy had bullets. Somehow it worked. But it was never a certain thing.
Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air, and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.
That note sat in Eisenhower's pocket waiting to be read to an American public (and British and Canadian and more) that did not have the benefit/curse of a 24 hour news cycle. Blessedly, he never read it aloud to anyone but maybe himself. 150,000 men landed in the Normandy region of western France 64 years ago today. They would be the first wave to crash into Hitler's "Atlantikwall" and push into Fortress Europe, and many of them would never leave. Through the brilliant planning of the Allied leaders, the valorous conduct of the Allied armies, and the infighting between elements of the German command structure that kept them from mounting a truly effective defense - and by the grace of God - they won. We won. And we are obligated to never forget and never squander what was given to us by those men.

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Without getting into very technical, very dry, field manual-like presentations, here's some recommended media:
- For the assault at Omaha Beach - the first half hour of "Saving Private Ryan"
- For the fight faced by the airborne - the first disc (specifically episode 2) of "Band of Brothers"
- For a look at the entire scope of the invasion, including some German perspectives - The Longest Day (a classic that stars pretty much God and everyone)
- For damn near every aspect of the plan and the day - The Steel Wave, the just released novel by Jeff Shaara, and part two of a yet to be completed trilogy (that I'm presently halfway through, thanks to Mom for the first book and the wonderful Wif for the second!)
- And of course, what was originally the D-Day Museum, the National WWII Museum
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 22:00
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Jun 1, 2008

Need a laugh? 

As a Board Certified PowerPoint Ranger (much to my own chagrin), GraphJam is simply the funniest damn thing I've seen in months. It's like the Immovable Object of "Office Space" colliding with the Unstoppable Force of pop culture. I'm cryin' over here...

funny graphs
Posted by: Mike the Marine / 13:13
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