October 2012 - Argghhh!

BOQ

...I opened the box the nice (but really scared-of-the-dogs) FedEx man left. Which contained two new homeless vets.

I finally dragged all the bits and pieces of the 3inch trainer out of storage and got it assembled. If you look at the bottom of the tube, you can see it's been cut-away. This allows the crew to go through all the motions of servicing the piece, including hanging and dropping the round, without having to have a string tied to the round to remove it (much less have to kick the round out of the tube (which, admittedly, is an immediate action drill for a misfire). In this mortar, the (inert) round...

...among other things, it didn't really exist at the time, in terms of being a government or a proper Westphalian nation-state. Just sayin'. And the government which actually held title, well, they (along with those cheese-eating surrender monkeys) did sorely vex us. They were just a theater of war, and a legitimate one, at that. Not that we ever really have put our hearts into it, when crushing Canada was concerned. We were happy with controlling the Great Lakes, and we probably had a sense...

It used to be leading a CSAR over Laos...now it's this. Nighty night campers...H/T: Mark Tapscott via Instapundit...

He was a soldier combat infantryman once , er, twice , no, make that three times, and young. No, he was just three times the soldier any of us was or is. I would put the Auld Soldier in a class with LTG (R) Hal Moore, who was CSM Plumley's battalion commander in the Ia Drang, but Plumley towers over them. Command Sgt. Maj. Plumley fought in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam and made five parachute jumps into combat. Friends said he never told war stories and was known to hang up on people...

...good times. The aircrew of a UH-1N Iroquois prepares for a sharp tactical maneuver over a forest in southern Alabama, Sept. 19, 2012. The UH-1N belongs to the 6th Special Operations Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman First Class Nigel Sandridge)

Meh: Vets Groups Urge Soldiers to Refuse Combat Veterans advocacy groups that want to end the war in Afghanistan are leading an outreach campaign near Joint Base Lewis-McChord this week to connect soldiers with information about how to become conscientious objectors. Good: Former 173rd Commander Retires at Reduced Rank The 173rd Airborne Brigade colonel who was convicted of fraud and bigamy has left the Army after being reduced in rank. Bad: Dempsey Opposes 4-Star's Demotion America's top...