Korea....what the heck is going on?

Back in Ye Olde Times (ie. 1945, when the USSR/Japan Nonagression Pact being allowed to lapse is an example that springs to mind) something like this would be considered just this side of a declaration of war.
Today, I am not sure what it means. The Norks have made a living off of weird and threatening talk, crazy or threatening action and then sitting down to "talk" after being given a whole bunch of money/food/aid. Their Chinese enablers have not seen much necessity to restrain them at all, and the US and her allies have not tried particularly hard either.
I sure hope everyone in S. Korea is prepared and ready for .... whatever is (or is not?) coming this time.

Memorial Day 2009

It means a bit more this year, because CSM Bones has been in Afghanistan and lost some Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines in his Task Force.

Amidst the barbeques and mattress sales, please remember the Fallen on Memorial Day. For they strove to be (reminding me of what I heard one of my ministers say Sunday) free of guilt in life, free of fear in death.

See also this.

A word of advice, after a good day

This past Saturday was Armed Forces Day. If you didn't know that, you are not alone. But despite the relative obscurity of the day, the USO had not forgotten. They provided a whole bunch of fun stuff for the family of service members out at Chicago's Navy Pier. My family had a great time, and the USO people were wonderful.

It was also "Marine Week" out at Navy Pier, so there were lots of Marines, vets and recruits enjoying the fine day.

There is a ship that sails from the Pier - the Windy. Part of their current "theme" is 'Pirates of the Great Lakes'. As part of this, they fire a cannon. A very loud cannon. And they fire it right as they were coming in to the Pier.

My word of advice, to the fine folks of the Windy...when your port is hosting an awful lot of people who may have recently spent time under fire, please consider waiting until you are a bit further out before firing a cannon.

Thanks.

3000 meter sniper rifle

I was also a TOW gunner in a past life. As I walked the perimeter of a firebase in Konar, it warmed my heart to see Troopers manning a system over looking the valley below. I asked them where the Tank threat is, and they told me they have been engaging mortar teams at over 3000 meters. Decent stand off saves lives. Give us the tools and we will get the job done.

Poppies....Poppies will make them sleep

We convoyed for hours through Poppy fields through Oruzgan province in Southern Afghanistan. All I thought about was the Wizard of Oz. When I asked my Afghan Police partners what was with all the crops, they told me many people here have flower shops. Still a long way to go.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Tell me this will not come to pass. Please.


Stay affordable, my little roasted friends

Blast from the Past or "How I told the police to charge the Cookie Monster with Murder"

When I was an Assistant State's Attorney, I would periodically be assigned the 'felony authorization hotline'. All the felony ASAs got a week at a time on this assignment. You would get the call, usually at absurd hours in the early morning, from each local police department (or the Sheriff) to authorize charges on felony cases.

If it was a particularly serious case, like a murder, you would go to the scene or the police department. One early morning back in 2000, I got a call of a triple shooting with one fatality. When I got to the police department, the Sergeant I spoke to said "yeah, we need murder and attempt murder charges for the Cookie Monster." As it was 2:15AM, I thought just maybe I had misheard. But it turns out that the suspects nickname was 'the Cookie Monster'. It was quite a bad situation, and I ended up approving a whole raft of charges... but the suspect had fled to Mexico and I thought I had heard the last of it.

Not so.

I hope that this case gets a just ending.

UPDATE:

You decide if the nickname was warranted.

Fun with Matt Drudge

Matt Drudge's site is a very useful portal to wire services and the like...of course, seeing a story link like:

Smuggler with 14 birds in his pants hit with federal rap...

is kind of fun too....

A day at FOB Salerno

The Inner Prop's one time home.