So, I’ve just about had it with this whole WikiLeaks thing. Now, they’re threatening to release some CIA document….I mean seriously, where is Jason Bourne when you need him?
Although maybe we don’t need him. The Commandant of the Marine Corps just said that keeping 202,000 Marines constructively occupied is not an easy task. Well, I’d like to see a few of them take care of Mr. Julian Assange.
“Kastner has been missing for 2 months, they just found his body in yellowstone, self-inflicted gunshot…”
Last night I received the above as a text message from James Thomas, “Rage 2 Actual.” Sergeant Peter Kastner was one of his squad leaders.
At the moment, I’m still speechless. However, there are a few things I have to say to Peter:
It feels like yesterday that you were sitting in my state-room aboard the USS Dubuque, discussing your squad’s affairs with Lieutenant Thomas. You were a strong, disciplined leader, with a John Wayne presence. When other’s would have lost their cool, you were calm, relaying your intent in a soft and resolute voice. You always went beyond the expectation.
Even when things started to go wrong.
After taking two IED blasts your memory began to erode. Doubt set in.
Days later, you watched Clint die. And you collected his remains.
I still remember how it affected you. The confidence and strength were visibly removed. And I didn’t know what to say.
Things didn’t get any better after the deployment. You left the Corps, became a civilian, and began a new war with PTSD. I’m sorry I let you fight it alone.
I let you fall off my radar. I let you down. I failed you. Because, alone, you went into Yellowstone to face your enemy. You won’t be coming back. You’re beyond this life.
I’m not sure if you ever read the book, as you went missing not long after it was published. It was my attempt to capture what you, one of the best damn Marines I’ve had the pleasure to serve with, accomplished in life. I only wish I could have told you that in person.
You may be beyond my reach, but you are not forgotten.
Semper Fi Sergeant.
In my daily searches of YouTube for good war vids, I came across this. I quickly decided whoever said the Americans were the only ones motivated for the War on Terror never met a British Paratrooper. Check it out, pure motivation (click the link for the video):
Watch out Terry we’re hunting you down,
There’s nowhere to hide in Sangin Town,
You shit yourself when the .50s are fired,
No point in running you’ll only die tired,
Got A10s on call for brassing you up,
No food or water, we don’t give a ****,
So do one Terry, you’ve plenty to fear,
Semper Fi, you magnificent blokes of 3 Para.
Global War on Terror…haven’t heard that term in a few years. Sounds like Islamic extremism is the next phrase to be lopped alongside the aforementioned. Why? Because America still hasn’t figured out who, or what, it is fighting.
The Enemy
So let me break it down for you. America is fighting a very capable and adept foe. The most fundamental aspect of this foe is the fact that they are Islamic extremists, often referred to as terrorists. We have been fighting these terrorists for decades on every habitable continent except South America. Make no mistake, they haven’t simply declared war on the West, they have declared war on our way of life. From our good friend Osama:
We — with God’s help — call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan’s U.S. troops and the devil’s supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson.
If the administration thinks that they can counter al Qaeda’s propaganda war by ignoring the fact that the terrorists are Muslims and the West is dominantly Christian, they are sorely mistaken. In fact, they are choosing to ignore that which they should be exploiting: the terrorists are extremists and have murdered thousands of other muslims in the name of Islam. This is how America can separate the terrorist from the populace in places like Afghanistan and Iraq; To drive a rift between the two that results in events similar to those in the second half of Rage Company.
We are at war. A little less PC is appropriate. Maybe we should follow this muslim President’s example: grab your AK47 or M4 and go meet the enemy for yourself.
Two great reviews of our story that really capture what it’s all about. Below are some highlights, click through for the full reviews. Semper Fi gentlemen!
“Rage Companyshould be read by noncommissioned officers and officers who are preparing for deployments involving insurgent warfare, and it should be considered for the Commandant’s professional reading list.”-LtCol Charles S. Gaede USMCR (Ret)
Cover of Rage Company
This last fact was revealed to me this morning.
I have to admit, I was rather moved. Many of you know that I started writing Rage Company as an attempt to tell the story of what three Marines accomplished in life and death. When my editor asked if I wanted to be on the cover of the book, I quickly said no. This wasn’t about me, it was about them, the 205 Marines of Rage. So when my editor chose to go with the photo of a single Marine, I knew what was coming. People assumed that it was me holding the M240G. I’ve even received hate mail from other Marines, lambasting me for posing with another Marine’s weapon. Now, my editor’s brilliance is revealed, because no longer is this photo just an eye-catcher. It has a purpose: to remind the reader that inside the pages of Rage Company is the legacy of countless Americans sacrifice, a sacrifice which defeated al Qaeda in early 2007.
Please read below, truly a tough story of sacrifice from a great American: Ed Darack.
When another Marine asked me the other day who was on the cover of my book and I, for the bzillionth time, couldn’t provide an answer, I decided to correct my ignorance. So, last night I opened the book jacket, got the photographer’s name, Ed Darack, went to his website, shot him an email, and read this response on my cell phone at 05:10 this morning. I’ve linked to a bunch of photos he sent me in the text, please check them out.
“Hi Tom, Thanks for contacting me.
The Marine is LCpl Michael D. Scholl originally of Lincoln, Nebraska. He was a Marine of Company E, 2/3. He was an 0331, specifically, a 240 gunner, but you know this by the photo. The photograph was taken around October 15, 2005 during Operation Pil, ISO OEF VI. The photograph was made in the morning, after a movement at the start of the op. We began late in the night out of Watapor Village, in the Pech river valley in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province. This was a distributed op, and I was with Echo-1. The platoon had ANA attached, as well, some Army National Guard ETTs, one of whom started to become a heat cas, so we went firm so the FAC could get a Dustoff to medevac him. While we were waiting around, I had Mike pose for this shot.
Some other shots before this, not posed.
I first met Mike after I arrived at Camp Blessing, at the village of Nangalam, in the Pech in late September, 2005. I was with him for a heliborne assault on a spot known as TRP-12. The patrol was called Operation Valdez.
Here’s Mike’s M240G during this patrol:
Mike is in the photo on the bottom of this page during the insert for this op:
I stayed good friends with Mike after their OEF deployment, spending time with him in Hawaii when I followed them out there in early 06, meeting his wife, Melissa. I then kept up with him on a regular basis, and we met up again for their OIF PTP at 29 Palms. The main element of 2/3 deployed to Anbar Province in September, 2006. Melissa was pregnant just before Mike left. I’m sure you know where this is going at this point, as if it were a happy ending I would not have put this much information in this email. I got probably the worst phone call of my life around the middle of November, 2006 (maybe like the 15th or 16th). It was Mike’s mother, around 0400. She got the news that he’d been killed. It was on River Road, next to a blown up pontoon bridge, on the way to Barwana. He never got to meet his daughter. The least I could do was to photograph the spot, and bring back a rock or two from there, when I visited the battalion in Jan-Feb 2007. I got escorted down River Road by a squad, of Marines so I could cross with a local boat to see Fox Company at Barwana (near Camp Bastard, which was set up by Marines detached from the 15th MEU). We had to wait around so I made a small memorial with a Lieutenant friend. I photographed it.
Later in the year, when embedded with 2nd MAW for a project for Smithsonian, I recognized the spot from afar, and asked the pilots of a Huey to orbit a few times. The familiy appreciated the photographs.
Here’s the legacy.com write up:
…thanks to sacrifices like Mike’s, we won OIF. Iraq, America, and the world at large will be the better for it in the decades to come. That’s all there really is to say.
Congratulations on your book. I haven’t read it, but I have read some information on it, and I’m glad that certain information got out. 2/3 got hit pretty hard in the Haditha Triad… a total of I think 23 KIA for their deployment; a pretty substantial number these days. I was not there for this. I’m glad, as while the battalion would have told me that I was not a hindrance or excess baggage, I would have been. I got there in January of 07, at the tail end of the last gasps of AQI in the area. It was interesting to speak with the Marines after we all met up upon their return to K-Bay. They told me that the incidents went from something like an average of 350 per month to like 15, right around March of 07–they just fell off a cliff. I guess that is when you were in Ramadi. AQI all cried uncle at the same time throughout the greater AOR, due to the very-unsexy “presence” missions the Marines undertook, and all the frustrating casualties and day-to-day rigors of a true COIN campaign.
Best,
Ed”
Thank you Ed, I wish you all the best. And guy’s, Ed’s written a few books of his own. You can check them out on Amazon.
Today’s headlines aren’t all that great for the home side in the War on Terror. I have to say, the most prominent and the first of the headlines is the most worrisome. Apparently, General McChrystal isn’t all that pleased with his support from the executive branch. Not to mention the politiking of the man who should be assisting him as an equal in the Afghan war effort, Karl Eikenberry. I’m not sure why the general is surprised, the dude is a diplomat. My surprise? The article seems to paint Biden as a fool, Obama ill prepared, Eikenberry as “covering his flanks,” with the general left to figure it all out. I hope you sense the sarcasm, I’m not really surprised. Sounds like the opportunity that only a general would get.
Here’s one that’s just as interesting…..we’re training the Afghan Air Force here in the states, Lackland AFB to be exact. The only problem is, they don’t want to go back. So they don’t. Hell, would you? I’d take that free plane ticket any day. I’m sure there’s plenty of people south of the border signing up for the Afghan Air Force these days… To be honest though, this isn’t anything new. The Iraqis pulled this trick all the time. I think these politicians are just trying to get their name in the news. I’d like to see more articles on the friendship between McChrystal and Eikenberry.
Now, knowing that there are 10 random Afghans roaming America I’m sure it’s comforting to see that this American kid who tried to blow up Times Square describes himself as a “Muslim Soldier” after one trip to the Afghan region. Brilliant.
Look’s like we’ll be ready to pull out by July, 2011.
Gary Faulkner, American Extraordinaire
Unfortunately Gary did not pass the first test of Chuck Norris’ “Osama Hunting 101.” The 40 inch sword and pistol were a dead give-away. All you need is the roundhouse kick. My advice to Gary: before your next escapade into Pakistan, get caught up on your Missing in Action and Delta Force.
So why hasn’t Chuck Norris gone hunting for Osama himself?
Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting implies the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing. When was the last time anyone saw Osama?
Check this out: Reuters admittedly edited a photo showing an activist on board the Mavi Marmara with a knife in his hand, standing over a stabbed Israeli commando. Now why would they do that???? Fair and balanced? I dare say not.
I’d imagine the guy with the knife wasn’t alive much longer.
You want the real story? Read the words of an Israeli Staff Sergeant, the last off the Blackhawk Helicopter, who killed six of the Turks at close range. A more realistic representation of what took place that night.
Somebody call the United Nations.
The End of Combat Operations in Iraq
So, this morning I was on FoxNews discussing what I wanted hear the President say in his speech tonight. Like I said this morning, I really wanted to hear him discuss the surge, the success it achieved in Iraq and what it means for Afghanistan. I have to admit, he gave me more than I thought he would, but, here’s what I liked and didn’t like:
Positive, he said something good about President Bush:
Hey, it’s not much, but judging by what he’s said before, I think this is a step in the right direction.
Negative, I thought this was about Iraq, not the economy:
War is expensive, and it’s not how much money we spent in Iraq, it’s the way we spent it. We threw billions of dollars into a top down, corrupt, bureaucratic system. I want to hear how you, Mr. President, are going to prevent this process from repeating itself in Afghanistan, not use it as a statement / tie-in to our economy during a speech about the end of the Iraq War.
Negative, yet somehow positive… the campaign promise:
I knew he was going to say this, but it didn’t sound as insincere and political as I thought it would (and if you saw he’s weekly address from last week, you’d know what I’m talking about).
Positive, he mentioned the surge:
Well, he mentioned it…and inferred that he’s using it because it was successful in Iraq… but, I’m still baffled why he can’t specifically say it succeeded in Iraq. Might as well do it now, you know your going to get called out on it during the debates for 2012….
Negative, counter-insurgency knowledge:
Actually, that’s not one of the lessons of this conflict. In fact, it’s the mindset we entered this conflict with. Whether we like it or not, our soldiers and Marines are our diplomats in irregular conflicts, like Iraq and Afghanistan. Nations are built from the bottom up, and if we can’t secure the populace then the foundation of these nations will never be laid, and the diplomats will have no job. The problem in Iraq today is that we created an Iraqi governing system long before we ever secured the people. Please don’t preach this as a lesson, I’d rather look to the surge and Anbar Awakening for lessons from Iraq.
Positive, he recognized the Corps:
Three out of the six battles he mentioned above, fought and won by Marines. Huge bonus points, maybe this was his way of bribing me…
Overall, I got more than I expected. I didn’t anticipate hearing Bush’s name or any mention of the surge. If the speech didn’t contain any reference to either of those two topics, it would have been a disaster. I am disappointed that he didn’t go into greater depth with the surge and how it relates to Afghanistan. In general, I would’ve liked to have seen more detail about Afghanistan. Like most speeches, this was pretty broad in scope, nothing really tangible. Not as memorable as the Oslo speech.