Argghhh!

I'm about to make myself useful for John, since this is a principally Army blog. I have, below, the excerpts of an email I received from a fellow airline pilot. It is a summary of another pilot's conversation with Tim Cheney, the Captain of NW Flight 188, that overflew MSP. My comments are in [brackets].

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...

Dude has a much narrower focus, though.

8 August shares a distinction with 2 August with no Medals being awarded for actions on this day. So, today we'll go with an *almost* Medal of Honor. A Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest honor this nation can bestow upon our soldiers. On M ay 14, 2009, Staff Sgt Jarion Halbisengibbs was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in theSamarra, Iraq, on Sept. 10, 2007. Staff Sgt. Halbisengibbs led a combined assault force on agroup of farm houses known to be an insurgent...

...as one assumes he understands the underlying hypocrisy of the "whole of government" in this. WASHINGTON - Special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven warned his troops, current and former, that he would take legal action against anyone found to have exposed sensitive information that could cause fellow forces harm. "We will pursue every option available to hold members accountable, including criminal prosecution where appropriate," the four-star commander wrote, in an open,...

Today, on St. Joan D'Arc's Feast Day , we are all reminded...

Last Saturday I provided weapons for the militaria display at the Patriot's Day Parade in McLouth All I provided was a sampling of weapons from 1903 -2013, to cover all the veterans likely to show up (and a bit beyond, since no.one.showed.up. from the Philippine Insurrection or WWI, go figure...) The more interesting part was the memorabilia from local families. The visitors were predictable - the boys were drawn to the firearms, but the ladies, girls, and older men were drawn to the memorabilia...