Don’t Secure The Cannons Just Yet.

Tam has some valid points about Senator Brown.  Let me put it into military terms. This was NOT Nagasaki or Hiroshima.  This wasn’t The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.  This wasn’t even Midway.  But this MAY have been the Battle of the Coral Sea; a tactical draw at best, but a strategic victory.  You have to stop the enemy before you can put them on their heels.

Maybe November 2K10 will be Midway.  And remember, even after the US had gained almost total control of air and sea, the Japanese could have totally derailed US plans by the very nearly successful sortie of Admiral Kurita through the San Bernardino strait.  A few blunders here… Some hubris there… And someone in 2013 could easily be asking, “Where are the Republicans?  The world wonders.”   And this time it WON’T be a radioman’s hiccup that adds the last sentence.

So take Senator Brown’s win for what it is;  a hard-fought strategic victory (that is all due to Brown and his campaign, with help form an unorganized enemy drunk on its own successes) that can be built upon or squandered.

My .02 On Fort Hood.

Being away on vacation (which meant not turning on my computer for one darn thing), I never got to comment on the Fort Hood debacle.  Seems to me that our esteemed military high command and their civilian leadership should be frog marched out into Lincoln Memorial side of the reflecting pool, bound hand and foot, and told, “If you can make it to the Washington Monument side, we’ll allow you to resign.”  Oh… forgot one little detail… After they get about a quarter of the way up the pool, have a twin .50 on the steps of the Memorial begin raking the area behind them not so slowly, advancing the elevation after each pass. 

Once again our service men and women are put in harms way by bureaucratic idiots who can’t understand when you make a hard target squishy, the soft targets inside will be exploited.  Not might be… WILL BE!  

How may Police and Sheriff’s offices make their officers, detectives, and deputies unstrap when they get inside.  Maybe, they should use the military logic and just pretend there is a giant bubble over their station house that protects them from everything ‘cause it wouldn’t be right for someone to attack. 

The last time I checked, and I could be wrong on this, a soldier is a target 24/7-365.  They get no days off.  No time when they are not in the cross hairs.  Why our bases are treated like teen summer camps by the leadership is beyond me.  Every damn officer should have a sidearm. ALWAYS!  E-6 and above should rotate in and out of carry duty.  I can see why you don’t want E-1 through 4’s to carry daily.  But for God’s sake, in this age of internal Jihadists why the hell would you not have a much greater armed presence on base. 

Hell, you don’t want anyone below butter bar to carry?  Fine.  Put fudge ton of patrols INSIDE the base that can respond in a moment’s notice. 

It’s really stupid to think that a random shopping mall in Texas has more available arms per capita than a military base.

The Few… The Proud…

Hippo Birdie to The Corps!

“Semper Fi” is our honored Corps.
May God see you safe to your families.
May you never have to fire again in anger.
May the thought of you keep evil in its shadows.

But should the call go forth,
May your aim be ever true.
May your honor be forever remembered.
May God be waiting with your salute when the job is done.

Best 99 Cents I’ll Ever Spend.

BWO of Lawdog comes this. 

If you did not serve, as I did not, and listen to this without holding your, “…manhoods cheap,” then you suck and I don’t want to know you.  

Passing this along is the least I can do for those who stand tall in the face of death.

Next Time The Cable Goes Out…

… or you run out of cereal or see that your “check engine” light has come on;  remember that there are people who have it rougher and say a prayer for them.

Teh Sexy. It Haz It.

One of my secret loves is Ships of War.  Particularly because of the men that have served on them.  The absolute testicular (and increasingly ovarian) fortitude it takes to get out on the open waves and put your fate totally in the hands of your officers and country is the stuff of legends.  I know no battleship has ever occupied an inch of land, or raised a flag on a tyrant’s palace, but our navy IS our ability to project our resolve across the globe and the second thing that makes a modern invasion of the US unthinkable; the first being the 2nd Amendment.  So when I see new designs for warships, I generally yawn comparing them to the Great White Fleet or the Yamato and shed a tear for the days when a fleet sailing into harbor, or sometimes just a single ship, was the ultimate, “My flag is bigger than your flag,” metaphorical raspberry that one nation could give to another. 

As advances in weapons and systems continue, the overt raspberry has been replaced with the game of “hid and seek”.  …Something at which we are also quite good.  In our more “enlightened” age, some of the greatest warships aren’t ships are all, but Submarines that prowl silently protecting us.  I’m not knocking Subs and Submariners.  Far from it.  I COULD NOT DO WHAT THEY DO.  Period. Full Stop.  But the “throwback to the days when we had wars and not Jihads” in me pines for the sleek beauty of a heavy cruiser, under full steam, on the prowl. 

Enter the USS Independence. I have to say I’m not yawning.  That’s a definite “wave the flag” worthy ship design, at least by the looks of it.  I have NO CLUE about it’s capabilities as compared to the USS Freedom (also mentioned in the post).  It may be a turkey.  But that’s one damn sexy turkey.  Imagine the design ramped up to a destroyer of even cruiser class.  *Drool*  

As an aside.  When the Ford takes over for the Enterprise, I sure hope another active vessel gets that name.  Star Trek references be damned, that Ship Name has too proud a heritage to be left behind.  I really pray that the CVN-79 or 80 doesn’t get dubbed the Carter or the Clinton!  Here’s the Navy’s excuse to NOT saddle the ships with those names. 

Of course… The Clinton man not be such a bad name.  WAIT FOR IT… It wouldn’t have an issue with getting target ships to go down. *rimshot*

BWO: BRM