Friday - March 19, 2010
One hell of brave Battling Brit, kept on defying Taliban death traps
One hell of a brave soldier! Just another fine example of Brit training and bravery in the field. There’s so many articles about the useless scum in the streets that sometimes we lose site of guys like this cos they do not alway get the spotlight. (gee, I hope he likes poetry cos according to one would be expert, those who don’t are lesser beings. )
George Cross heroes: The bomb experts who kept on defying Taliban death trapsBy Ian Drury and Fay Schlesinger
Last updated at 4:30 PM on 19th March 2010After booby-trap bombs killed two of his comrades and left four maimed and stranded in the middle of a minefield, Staff Sergeant Kim Hughes knew he had no time to consider his own safety.
The bomb disposal expert had to clear a path across the dusty open ground so the wounded could be evacuated and the dead men retrieved - and he had to do it fast.
Shunning protective clothing to save time, the 30-year-old picked his way across the field dotted with more of the booby-trap bombs.
And all the time he knew the field was being watched by the Taliban fanatics who had planted the bombs. Indeed, even as he inched nearer the injured men, bullets were flying overhead as other soldiers tried to keep the gunmen at bay.
But, keeping his cool beneath the Afghan sun, he managed to dismantle seven of the improvised explosive devices - three by simply using his hands. There was no time to place charges and retreat to a safe distance.
His actions were described as ‘extraordinary’ by senior Army officers and yesterday Staff Sgt Hughes was awarded the George Cross for carrying out ‘the single most outstanding act’ of bomb disposal in Afghanistan.
It was one of two GCs - the UK’s highest accolade for gallantry not in the face of the enemy - to be conferred. The other was awarded posthumously to his friend and fellow bomb disposal expert Staff Sgt Olaf Schmid, 30
Posted by peiper
on 03/19/2010 at 01:45 PM
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Permalink • Monday - March 15, 2010
BATTLING BRITS IN AFGHANISTAN ….
Nothing for me to add here except to say these fellows are damn good and uphold a long and proud military tradition. They are better and braver then many who are representing them.
Inside Afghanistan: the sniper’s tale
Heathcliff O’Malley (camera) and David Ferrarotto
Published: 12:30PM GMT 15 Mar 2010
As part of The Telegraph’s series of videos looking at life for the British Army in Afghanistan, we hear from a sniper whose daily challenge is to kill before he is killed.
Telegraph photojournalist Heathcliff O’Malley spent two weeks embedded with British troops in Helmand, Afghanistan.
In this exclusive series, he shows what life is really like on the ground for the 10,000 soldiers serving in the country.
Posted by peiper
on 03/15/2010 at 01:22 PM
Filed Under: • Battling Brits • Guns and Gun Control • Military • Muslims • UK • War-Stories •
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Permalink • Tuesday - March 09, 2010
ANOTHER VERY BAD IDEA BUT THEN, SOME WOMEN WILL BE MACHO. OH BOY. WANNA SEE THIS
OK. No long rant as I’ve said whatever I need to on the subject. But this might be taking equality very far. How good for morale can this be?
So near yet so legally far. I guess we’ll see in time. I think however that any sex scandal will be the least of the problems with this decision.
Navy sex scandal fears as women are set to be allowed to serve in submarines
By Daily Mail Reporter
Under plans due to be implemented later this year, five women officers will be deployed with all four Vanquish-class nuclear submarines. Each vessel carries 135 crew.
‘There is concern over what might happen,’ a naval source told The Sun. ‘If there was a sex scandal it would be impossible for anyone to be taken off until the sub returned from its four-month patrol.
‘The Navy will go to great lengths to make sure that the first women are officers with impeccable credentials.’
It emerged last month that the U.S. is axing its policy barring females from serving in submarines.
Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary in Washington, announced that he intended to repeal the rule possibly within weeks.
The Ministry of Defence in London is expected to follow suit - allowing the Navy’s 3,700 women sailors from taking jobs beneath the waves.
The review was ordered by the Government following pressure from senior Labour figures eager to introduce full equal opportunities for females in the Armed Forces.
Women have served on board Royal Navy surface ships for about 20 years but they remain outlawed from submarines.
The original refusal was justified on the basis of the cramped living conditions on board and concerns over the dangers posed by fumes inside the submarine to a foetus if a woman is pregnant.
If they discovered they were pregnant after going to sea, the commander could be forced to return home and abandon a secret mission.
The Vanguard-class submarines which carry the UK’s Trident nuclear missiles typically put to sea on patrols lasting four months or more without resurfacing, while ‘hunter-killer’ submarines remain submerged for months gathering intelligence or shadowing suspect ships.
The Royal Navy’s new Astute attack submarines could easily be adapted to accommodate females, while the design of the new Trident nuclear subs will also give ‘consideration to the possibility of women serving in the future’.
The Australian, Canadian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian navies already allow women to serve on their submarines.
If the Royal Navy allows the move, only mine-clearance diving units and the Royal Marines would be closed to women in the Armed Forces.
However, an internal review conducted by the MoD two years ago supported the current policy.
The wide-ranging review of the role of women in the military was launched last year. It is also looking at whether women should be permitted to serve in infantry units or in tank crews.
Women have operated on the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan - as medics, intelligence officers and with the artillery. The RAF also has female pilots and navigators.
Posted by peiper
on 03/09/2010 at 11:32 AM
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Permalink • Friday - March 05, 2010
Our Captain Bligh is a Lady
Horry Clap, just what kind of a sewer mouthed monster does it take to get busted from command in the Navy? After all “swearing like a sailor” is part of our lexicon. And being tough is part of the job description. But apparently that kind of behavior has it’s own place and time, and just being angry and vindictive is no substitute for qualified leadership. Thus we see real equal opportunity means not just being promoted, but being demoted as well. This is not a happy post.
Women are so common in the upper ranks of the U.S. military these days that it’s no longer news when they break through another barrier. Unfortunately, the latest benchmark isn’t one to brag about: being booted as captain of a billion-dollar warship for “cruelty and maltreatment” of her 400-member crew. According to the Navy inspector general’s report that triggered her removal — and the accounts of officers who served with her — Captain Holly Graf was the closest thing the U.S. Navy had to a female Captain Bligh.
A Navy admiral stripped Graf of her command of the Japan-based guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Cowpens in January. The just-released IG report concludes that Graf “repeatedly verbally abused her crew and committed assault” and accuses her of using her position as commander of the Cowpens “for personal gain.” But old Navy hands tell TIME that those charges, substantiated in the IG report, came about because of the poisonous atmosphere she created aboard her ship.
A Navy captain was demoted because she berated and assaulted her crew, not because she led her guided missile cruiser on a drag-race with another U.S. warship in the Pacific, an investigation shows.
...
A Navy inspector general report said investigators had substantiated that Graf assaulted subordinates (pushing one, grabbing another and once throwing wadded up paper at another sailor) and that she regularly verbally abused subordinates by publicly berating them, belittling them and using profane language.
...
Graf once ordered a subordinate to stand in a “timeout” in a corner in front of the full watch team, which he complained to investigators was demeaning to him, according to the report.
The report also found she used her office for personal gain — that is, asked junior officers to play piano at her private Christmas party and to walk her dogs.
Among allegations not substantiated was one that she endangered the ship while allowing a drag-race between the Cowpens and the destroyer USS John S. McCain in February 2009.
The Cowpens lost the race too.
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Wednesday - March 03, 2010
rotorhead II
Since Vilmar put up a post today on a new helicopter rotor design, I figured I’d add to the mix with a link and a small bit of science.
If you rub an amber rod with a cat you get static electricity. If you touch that cat to a grounded water pipe in a dark room you get sparks. Then you get your face clawed off as the cat discharges the room at near light speed. Don’t try this experiment at home kiddies, unless you have bandages at the ready and it’s someone else’s cat.
The old amber rod thing is an example of the triboelectric effect. In very dry and dusty environments you can get a similar thing with helicopter rotors. The blade builds up a static charge as it moves through the air, and when the hard metal of the blades impact the dry sand or dust in the air, they discharge a small spark as the sand etches away a tiny little bit of their surface. Perhaps a bit similar to Saint Elmo’s Fire on ships, the effect is very unpredictable, quite beautiful, and can be very dangerous. And it just goes to show that helicopters are high maintenance machines in a desert environment.
You’re thinking, “Oh, Ok, a little spark. No big deal.” But it isn’t just one or two. It’s millions of them at a time. Enough so that the rotors can create a shimmering halo that can be visible for miles. Not what you want when you’re flying in a combat zone at night. The phenomena is nothing new; it’s been known about for years.
A secondary concern with the erosion of metal abrasion strips pertains to the visible signature that occurs when microscopic metallic pieces are eroded away. In the erosion process, they often oxidize, giving off a visible spark and causing a corona effect in sandy environments
Although both Ni and Ti are hard metals, their hardness values are significantly lower than that of sand, which is primarily made up of quartz. This hardness differential results in the excessive erosion/degradation of rotor blades in desert environments. An equally important problem with Ti protection is that a visible corona or halo is generated around the rotor blades at night from the sand impacting the Ti leading edge and causing Ti to spark and oxidize.
To everyone’s surprise, Science, which lives to pin names on things, has not given this variation of the triboelectric effect it’s own name. And it is a variation, since erosion is involved.
Half a year or so ago Michael Yon took some fantastic photos of this effect in action, and after much research decided that it should be called the Kopp-Etchells Effect. I think it’s a good name, and his reasons for it are just as good or better than some beaker shaker’s attempt at immortality. I’ll respect his copyright even though hundreds of other sites haven’t, and instead send you over to take a look. Sure, it’s “only” “a plasma phenomena of ionized particles”, but all cool and rare things deserve a decent name.
This little update link implies that The Powers That Be may be agreeing that he coined a new phrase. Very cool.
Yeah, I’m six months late to this party. So what? It’s the neatest bit of helicopter news I could find on just one cup of coffee.
Posted by Drew458
on 03/03/2010 at 09:51 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - February 24, 2010
Good Dog!
The life-saving skills of a black Labrador have earned him a top medal in the British Army, Sky News reported Wednesday.
Nine-year-old Treo’s job is to sniff out roadside bombs in Afghanistan for soldiers, and he has proved rather good at it.
In August, 2008, while working as a forward detection dog in Sangin, Treo found a “daisy chain” improvised explosive device (IED) - made of two or more explosives wired together - that had been carefully modified and concealed by the Taliban at the side of a path.
A month later, his actions saved another platoon from guaranteed casualties, again by finding a daisy chain IED.
Now he is being rewarded with the Dickin Medal - the animal equivalent of a Victoria Cross - the highest accolade for a military animal.
Treo retired and is now enjoying life with handler Sergeant Dave Heyhoe back at 104 Military Working Dogs Support Unit, in North Luffenham, Rutland.
The search dog twice saved soldiers and civilians from catastrophe while out on patrol in Helmand province by sniffing out explosives which had been wired together in a daisy chain and hidden in the path.
Princess Alexandra will award the dog with the Dickin Medal at a ceremony at the Imperial War Museum on February 24. [ although another ceremony seems to have been held on January 2nd ]
The medal was created by leading veterinary charity the PDSA and is recognised as the highest award an animal can receive for conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving in military conflict.
And muzzies think dogs are yucky and unclean. That shows you right there that their culture is bereft.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/24/2010 at 11:42 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - February 18, 2010
Taps
The Prime Minister’s Office says Canada’s last known First World War veteran, John Babcock, has died at age 109.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement in Ottawa Thursday night announcing Babcock’s death.
“As a nation, we honour his service and mourn his passing,” Harper said. “The passing of Mr. Babcock marks the end of an era.”
Babcock was the last link to the 650,000 Canadian men and women who served in the First World War, Harper noted.
“His family mourns the passing of a great man. Canada mourns the passing of the generation that asserted our independence on the world stage and established our international reputation as an unwavering champion of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
Babcock joined the military at age 16, but because of his age wasn’t allowed on the front lines.
This news was just released 20 minutes ago. I think 2010 will be the last year for all of these old gents. There are only a very few left the world over, 3 or 4 I think.
Rest in peace old soldier.
From Wiki:
John Henry Foster “Jack” Babcock (July 23, 1900 – February 18, 2010) was, at age 109, the last known surviving veteran of the Canadian military to have served in the First World War and, since the death of Harry Patch, the conflict’s oldest surviving participant. Babcock first attempted to join the army at the age of fifteen, but was turned down and sent to work in Halifax until he was placed in the Young Soldiers Battalion in August 1917. Babcock was then transferred to Britain, where he continued his training until the end of the war.
Having never seen combat, Babcock never considered himself a veteran and moved to the United States in the 1920s, where he joined the United States Army and eventually became an electrician. In May 2007, following the death of Dwight Wilson, he became the last surviving veteran of the First World War who served with the Canadian forces.[1] From that point he received international attention, including 109th birthday greetings from the Queen of Canada, the Governor General of Canada and the Canadian Prime Minister[2] until his death on February 18, 2010.
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Friday - February 12, 2010
Zapper zaps, but is still zapped
Missile Defense Agency news release
10-NEWS-0002
February 11, 2010
Airborne Laser Testbed Successful in Lethal Intercept ExperimentThe Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile. The experiment, conducted at Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off the central California coast, serves as a proof-of-concept demonstration for directed energy technology. The ALTB is a pathfinder for the nation’s directed energy program and its potential application for missile defense technology.
At 8:44 p.m. (PST), February 11, 2010, a short-range threat-representative ballistic missile was launched from an at-sea mobile launch platform. Within seconds, the ALTB used onboard sensors to detect the boosting missile and used a low-energy laser to track the target. The ALTB then fired a second low-energy laser to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbance. Finally, the ALTB fired its megawatt-class High Energy Laser, heating the boosting ballistic missile to critical structural failure. The entire engagement occurred within two minutes of the target missile launch, while its rocket motors were still thrusting.
This was the first directed energy lethal intercept demonstration against a liquid-fuel boosting ballistic missile target from an airborne platform. The revolutionary use of directed energy is very attractive for missile defense, with the potential to attack multiple targets at the speed of light, at a range of hundreds of kilometers, and at a low cost per intercept attempt compared to current technologies.Less than one hour later, a second solid fuel short-range missile was launched from a ground location on San Nicolas Island, Calif. and the ALTB successfully engaged the boosting target with its High Energy Laser, met all its test criteria, and terminated lasing prior to destroying the second target. The ALTB destroyed a solid fuel missile, identical to the second target, in flight on February 3, 2010.
Hey, isn’t this one of the “Star Wars” ideas of Reagan that every Dem in America thought was such a waste of money? Like that missile shield thingy, that turned out to work pretty well too.
This one has been under development for quite a few years, and had survived budget battle after battle.
h/t to Rich K, who pointed me to this blog, which has thermal video. And another article that shows this isn’t the first successful test either. That blog also reminds us, alas, that this is the ONE AND ONLY airborne laser system, because Obama cut the budget for it and several other functional SDI systems. Just as Iran develops ICBMs and is this close to admitting they’ve got nukes.
I have no idea what the range on this thing is. A couple miles? A couple of hundred miles? That is seriously classified. Sure would be nice to fly around in the western Pacific, or the northern Indian ocean, and be able to silently, invisibly knock down missiles as they launch.
And it’s nice that this one works, because the other anti-missile missile system is having a few teething problems right now.
It’s a damn shame this project was aborted in the 3rd trimester. And I had such a bitchin’ colloquial name for the thing too ...
Posted by Drew458
on 02/12/2010 at 04:56 PM
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Permalink • Tuesday - February 02, 2010
Letters From Littleton
Those sails that strained so full bent into the battle -
that broad bow that struck the surf aside, enlarging silently in steadfast haste, full front to the shot -
resistless and without reply -
those triple ports whose choirs of flame rang forth in their courses, into the fierce revenging monotone,
which, when it died away,
left no answering voice to rise any more upon the sea against the strength of England -
those sides that were wet with the long runlets of English life-blood,
like press-planks at vintage, gleaming goodly crimson down to the cast and clash of the washing foam -
those pale masts that stayed themselves up against the war-ruin, shaking out their ensigns through the thunder, till sail and ensign drooped -
steep in the death-stilled pause of Andalusian air,
burning with its witness-cloud of human souls at rest, -
surely, for these some sacred care might have been left in our thoughts -
some quiet space amidst the lapse of English waters?
Nay, not so.
We have stern keepers to trust her glory to - the fire and the worm.
Never more shall sunset lay golden robe on her, nor starlight tremble on the waves that part at her gliding.
Perhaps, where the low gate opens to some cottage-garden, the tired traveller may ask, idly, why the moss grows so green on its rugged wood;
and even the sailor’s child may not answer, nor know, that the night-dew lies deep in the war-rents of the wood of the old Téméraire.
a poet for an art critic
a look inside a lost world
Posted by Drew458
on 02/02/2010 at 02:04 PM
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Permalink • a reason to cheer
This story was first published by McClatchy May 23, 2007. A week before that it had appeared on Eric Alterman’s blog at MediaMatters.org. It makes the rounds every few years. So the ceremony has been going on since 2003 at least. And, of course, the casualty numbers are much much higher now.
PLEASE BE AWARE that the “Did you know that? The media haven’t yet told the story.” was added later by someone downstream. Those are not the words of LTC Bateman, nor does “The media haven’t yet told the story” make a whole lot of sense, since author Galloway writes for a newspaper ... ipso facto, he IS the media. But to be fair, this is not something widely known. Of course, there are those that deny that this event even exists.
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Monday - January 18, 2010
Boom Boom
Michael Yon spends a bit of time with an artillery crew at FOB Frontenac in Afghanistan, and posts a whole bunch of nighttime pics of a 155mm battery in action. Bravo!
Quite a while ago I put up a post on the new and expensive Excalibur guided artillery shell and then a detailed update on it half a year later. At the time the shell was accurate to “less than 10 meters at ranges out to 14 miles”, but the upcoming new and improved 1b version would be good for “an accuracy requirement of less than 10 meters out to 24 miles”.
Looks like the 1b shells are in theater and working out just fine, maybe even better than expected.
There is no exaggeration saying that an Excalibur round could destroy a parked car twenty miles away on the first shot.
But it gets even better. The ancient game of battery/counter battery has been taken beyond the next level. Our troops have devices that can spot incoming short range missiles, artillery rounds, and even mortar shells and plot their trajectories back to the source even before the incoming fire has impacted. And not only can they get off a couple of magically accurate shots in response, terrain analysis and historic route analysis have enabled them to shoot back at the places that “shoot and run” enemies are likely to run to. Before they run to them. Plus we’ve got other systems that can reliably knock the incoming shit right out of the air. Outstanding. ( I do not know if such systems are fully deployed yet. I’ve heard some have it, some don’t, and that Israel has an even better system just out )
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Monday - January 04, 2010
muslims plan march thru city of fallen Brits. Strong word from #10 is, “inappropriate.”
A “former lawyer” and so I guess he knows what his group rights are. This wasn’t a planned post BUT again, it is so damn frustrating to witness this crap while the powers that be do nothing. Well, as yet they haven’t.
The PM, Gordon Brown says, the march planned by the muslims is “completely inappropriate” Hey, how’s that for really strong I’ll show the bastards wording.
The scum organizing the march through the town openly says he can’t be sensitive to the feeling of the townsfolk. Interesting that the Brits are ALWAYS expected to show the same toward others.
Make no mistake about these turds, these filthy lice infested sub humans with food in beards collecting bugs, these scum do want to take over the west and through breeding like the insects they are, and through force and terrorism, they eventually will succeed because the west will continue to treat them as tho they are civilized equals worthy of respect. The west will continue to pass laws that make talking about them in a negative way, a crime. Good grief, it already is that in some places.
Here are the faces of a few of the lower life forms demonstrating against the western and Christian “crusade” against islam. Brits once interned folks less dangerous then these rats while fighting another war. But then again, that was a different generation. They didn’t do everything right, but they did what they felt they had to do at the time, in order to defend their country. Nowadays all sorts of ppl makes excuses and find way to “understand” the enemy and see things the way he does. Yeah. That’ll help. The other side.
Where are the Thatchers and Churchills. Wish the country would produce another one of those and maybe a Bismark too. Wishful thinking.
If you have never seen it before, here’s what rat droppings look like when appearing as humans.
Choudary compares British troops to Nazi stormtroopers as 210,000 sign Facebook bid to stop his Islamic extremist marchBy Ian Drury and Andy Dolan
Last updated at 3:43 PM on 04th January 2010
The hate preacher organising a march of Islamic extremists through the streets of Wootton Bassett sparked outrage today by comparing British troops fighting in Afghanistan to Nazi stormtroopers.
As more than 210,000 people signed an internet petition objecting to the march, Anjem Choudary said he had chosen to protest in the town - renowned for honouring soldiers killed in Afghanistan - because it would attract ‘maximum attention’.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today such a march would be ‘completely inappropriate’.
But in remarks designed to cause maximum offence, Choudary compared fallen British heroes to Nazi stormtroopers and the September 11 and July 7 terrorists. He even claimed his plan was backed by families of servicemen and women.
Admitting a march through the town would be ‘provocative’, he launched into a bizarre explanation of why he opposed crowds honouring fallen British soldiers.
‘The same could be said about the Germans fighting for Nazism in the Second World War,’ he said. ‘Those involved in 7/7 and 9/11 considered themselves to be soldiers.
‘How would the British people feel if there was a parade for those who carried out 9/11 or 7/7?’
Choudary said 500 of his radical group Islam4UK would carry ‘symbolic coffins’ in memory of the Muslim civilians ‘murdered by merciless’ coalition forces.
The firebrand cleric this morning tried to defend the march in an open letter published on his website, entitled ‘To the families of British soldiers who have fallen’.
Choudary, a former lawyer, said today: ‘The procession is not actually about the people of Wootton Bassett and it never was about them.
‘We are having a procession, it’s in Wootton Bassett but it’s not about the people there and it’s not against them personally - rather it’s to highlight the real cost of war in Afghanistan.
‘The sad reality of the situation is that if I were to hold it somewhere else it would not have the media attention that it has now.
‘If I am to balance between the sensitivity of having it in Wootton Bassett and the possibility of continuing the quagmire and cycle of death in Afghanistan, then quite honestly I’m going to balance in favour of the latter.
NO LINK available. Sorry. Having weird problems with FireFox I have never seen before.
For the rest of the article go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk
JUST SOME OF THE BRITS THE muzzies ARE PROTESTING AGAINST.
Posted by peiper
on 01/04/2010 at 11:20 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - December 31, 2009
Mr. President, Bring Our Troops Home
After a 3 month bombing campaign that supported the muslim fighters in Albania, President Clinton sent thousands of US troops to the former Yugoslavia. Remember Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo? The Serbs and the Croats? Heck, remember the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo years before that?
The first US troops were sent over there June 12, 1999. 35,000 at one point I recall. Thousands are still serving there, in Camp Bondsteel, in Kosovo. Not really doing anything, but keeping the locals from killing each other counts for something I guess. Helping out where they can, I’m sure. Last I heard we had 7,000 troops there.
Mr. President, it’s time. 10 and 1/2 years is long enough. Bring them home.
Happy New Year!
h/t to Vilmar, who posted about an “ethnic Albanian” who just killed a bunch of folks, then himself, in Finland. Part of the great islamic diaspora no doubt.
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Sunday - December 13, 2009
A Different Christmas Poem
Some of you might recall that I’ve joined a Toastmasters club that is affiliated with the local Republican Party. This was sent to us by… frankly, I forget her title, not chairwoman, but maybe executive secretary of the local GOP? I can’t remember. She does show up occasionally to update us, and ask for speakers to support this-or-that local campaign.
I don’t know who wrote it. Maybe it’s the LCDR who appears at the end of the poem. The picture was also included in the email. I don’t know who it is, or even if it is the LCDR. But it made nice copy.
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall..”“ So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”
Followed up with this request:
PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq
Yeah, a good reminder that we are indeed fighting a war on two fronts—on the battlefield, and at home against our own potential Reids, Pelosis, Obamas Quislings. Let’s resolve to do our best to fight FOR our troops against the Democrat enemy.
Posted by Christopher
on 12/13/2009 at 05:43 PM
Filed Under: • FREEDOM • Heroes • Holidays • Military • Patriotism • War On Terror •
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