URGENT! Don't be like those Occupy Wall Street hacks...

Posted By Mr Wolf • [October 05, 2011]

Right.  You actually WANT a job.  You want to serve your country in some manner.  You want a job that can give you great experience, satisfaction, and fantastic compensation potential.

In short, you should look at one of these jobs.

Some friends of mine are seeking the following types of people, and believe me, you really need to take a hard look at these positions.  And if you know someone who would be interested, please pass this along!

IO/ MISO/PSYO Planners Wanted! Available for Immediate Placement.

Join an A-Team of Info Operations. We are seeking SC Planners to work Afghanistan, in support of USFOR-A, to provide expert advice and assistance with regard to specific influence products, target audience, analysis and communication methods at the local, regional, and national level.  Our SC planners will facilitate IO integration for combined military and civilian-military campaign plans for Afghanistan.

Candidates should have experience in joint/multi-national operations, experience in Information Operations, PSYOP, Public Diplomacy, Commercial Marketing or Influence Modeling, that can facilitate USFOR-A staff integration and synchronization, information flow, and dissemination as it relates to cultural, economic, political, religious, social, newsworthy, and tribal issues in each supported entities AOR.  We are looking for professionals who have knowledge of, and experience with, strategic message development in a cultural context that supports the overall strategic communication planning process.  Regional experience is a must

Successful candidates should meet the following minimum qualifications:

• Be a U.S. citizen with a valid, active DoD security clearance of SECRET or TOP SECRET.

• Have a minimum of five (5) years experience working in Strategic Communication/IO/PSYOP with U.S. military.

• Possess excellent written, oral, and interpersonal skills.

• Have a Bachelors or Masters of Arts degree in a social science discipline: history, sociology, psychology, political science, etc.

The following are additional, value added skill sets:

• MEL 4 or equivalent (SAMS a plus)

• Battle Staff Course with 2S Identifier

• PSYOP/MISO Officers Qualification Course

• FA 30/Information Operations Qualification course

Compensation Commensurate with Experience includes paid CONUS travel and paid vacation time plus discretionary performance bonuses.

Salary: Negotiable, but commensurate with current rates in theater. Place of Duty:  Kabul, AFG.

Please email your resume, level of clearance, timeline you are available to deploy to: INFOPS2011@gmail.com.

Be sure to tell 'em Wolf sent ya...

Overwatch

Posted By Blackfive • [October 05, 2011]

A U.S. Army soldier with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 84th Field Artillery Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team scans his sector during a security patrol Sept. 23. Soldiers with 1-84 Field Artillery provided security during the construction of a bridge and detour near the village of Ghormach.  Photo by SPC Jazz Burney, 170th IN CBT.

Keeper of the Flame dinner

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [October 04, 2011]

Last night was the Keeper of the Flame award dinner put on by Frank Gaffney's think tank, the Center for Security Policy. This year the award went to Buck McKeon, the Chairman of the House Armed Services committee and a tireless fighter for the budget we need to keep our country safe. He greatly deserves the recognition and let's hope he wins many more battles on the Hill. He was joined on the dais by Sen. Jon Kyl, who sits on the super committee that will try to cut the deficit/debt and not destroy the military in the process- well at least he will try and do the latter. Also speaking was Rep. (LTC ret.) Allen West, who is well known to B5 readers and to the country now. Not to take anything away from the other gentlemen, but he rocked the house speaking with no notes. This shouldn't shock anyone who has heard or seen him before, but it was a tour de force tracing our heritage of martial strength from Lexington & Concord to Abbotobad, Pakistan. I will post the video of his speech as soon as it is available. A great evening spent with true patriots doing all they can to keep America strong.

Me & Rep. West

LTC Nerove (my girl) & Buck McKeon

Ask An Infantryman - She Flies in Coach

Posted By Blackfive • [October 04, 2011]

Infantrymen, your sage counsel is sought!

Dear Ask An Infantryman

I have been dating "Claude" for eight months. We are planning a trip in the fall to visit his family's chateau in France. Claude has long legs and refuses to travel in coach because it's uncomfortable, so he will buy a business-class ticket for himself and a coach ticket for me.

While I'm grateful Claude is paying for my ticket, I feel that since we're a couple, we should travel together. I don't want to be upgraded to business class necessarily, but I'd like him to sit in coach with me. When I brought this up, he refused and is now calling me "ungrateful."

My feelings are hurt, and Claude can't understand why I am upset. My friends and family think he is acting rude and selfish. I can't help but agree. Do I have a right to be upset? I am so uncomfortable with this arrangement that I'm considering not even going.

-- NOT UNGRATEFUL IN SAN DIEGO

Grunts, post your wise advice in the Comments section.

Carry on!

Ask Your Senator to Support the "Day of the Deployed"!

Posted By Blackfive • [October 04, 2011]

In 2006, Soldiers’ Angels asked then-Governor John Hoeven to sign the first ever Day of the Deployed proclamation in honor of deployed warriors from North Dakota.  The proclamation grew over the years, with over 40 governors across the nation signing their own state proclamations honoring the service members in the states they governed.

While this declaration of troop support has been honored state by state, it is time to make Day of the Deployed a national day of honor.  Once again Soldiers’ Angels requested the help of John Hoeven, and once again he has responded with strong support…

Building on his resolution as North Dakota’s governor, Senator John Hoeven yesterday introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate to designate Oct. 26, 2011, as “Day of the Deployed” in recognition of the sacrifices of U.S. servicemen and women currently deployed around the world.

And we need your help to get your Senators to assist with sponsoring and supporting this resolution in the U.S. Senate.

You can use the form letter below to send an email to encourage your senator to co-sponsor S. Res. 253, which declares October 26 a national Day of the Deployed (find your senator's contact info here).

Please remember to make the subject line:  "Soldiers' Angels Re: Day of the Deployed" 

Please be sure to replace the bolded brackets with your specific information at the beginning AND the end before you send it.

Dear Senator [YOUR SENATOR’S LAST NAME],

I read about Senator Hoeven calling on his colleagues to join him in sponsoring S. RES. 253 to declare October 26 as a national DAY OF THE DEPLOYED in honor of our brave men and women in uniform who are selflessly putting their lives on the line to protect and preserve our way of life.

Please join him in honoring the many selfless actions demanded of military members and their loved ones across the globe, and the sacrifice being made in homes across America every day.  Every deployment reflects the deep commitment of not only the deploying member, but of the many friends and loved ones who are left behind to aid in answering our nation’s call. 

These heroes deserve our deepest respect and honor, so I hope you will stand with me and my fellow constituents by co-sponsoring S. RES. 253 to make Day of the Deployed a NATIONAL DAY OF HONOR for them.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR CITY & STATE]

Thank you for helping make this very important national recognition for our troops happen!

Ranger Up Launches New American Rugby - American Sin Bin

Posted By Blackfive • [October 04, 2011]

The guys at Ranger Up had a team of employees who were rugby players and enthusiasts that wanted one thing more than anything in the world...deliver a World Cup Championship to the United States of America!

So they talked to Nick...

One day, after we finished our updated pitch, a funny thing happened: Nick said YES.

We were thrilled!

“But,” he added. “If we’re going to do this, you need to understand three things:

1) This will be harder than anything you have ever done. It’s going to take more time and effort than you can imagine, and you’re going to have to fight for every inch of success just like you do on the pitch. You have to promise no matter how hard it gets, you will never quit. 2) Ranger Up only engages in businesses that give back. If we go into rugby, we’re not going to be an apparel company. We’re going to be a vehicle to elevate the game of rugby in America. Wrap your heads around that now. It’s not about the shirts. It’s about what we do. 3) We’re going to win the World Cup. And our job is going to be to set the conditions to make that happen.

If you guys agree to those conditions, then we are all in.”

We gave each other the thousand-yard stare of someone standing on the edge of the abyss, contemplating the jump. We had a lot of great ideas, but a World Cup victory seemed like a bridge too far. Nick walked up to the white board and sketched out a plan for the next two years, then the next five, then eight, and all the moving pieces we needed to nail down to make it happen. It all made sense. But there were other things we could do. We chimed in and built on his ideas. We filled another white board, then another. Three hours later we were still going strong.

Nick stood to leave, but stopped at the door. “So, it looks like this is a YES?”

We didn’t even hesitate, bludgeoning him with a hail of yesses..

This was our job now.

We have a World Cup to win.

So, if you're like me and played Rugby or just a fan (All Blacks!) or interested in what those lunatics at RU are up to, go over and check out American Sin Bin. Like them on Facebook. Support their three goals:

1) Elevate American Rugby

2) Bring home an American World Cup Championship

3) Have a hell of a good time doing it

Let's do this, people!

The First F-35B Landing at Sea on the USS Wasp!

Posted By Blackfive • [October 04, 2011]

The F-35B is the variant of the Joint Strike Fighter for the U.S. Marine Corps, capable of short take-offs and vertical landings for use on amphibious ships or expeditionary airfields to provide air power to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force.  The F-35B will replace Marine AV-8B Harriers and F-18 Hornets and is undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River prior to delivery to the fleet.

In addition to being the first ship to successfully land the F-35B, USS Wasp was also the first ship to host the V-22 Osprey during shipboard trials in October 2007.

The F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) test aircraft BF-2 landed safely on USS Wasp’s (LHD-1) flight deck, the first at sea vertical landing for the Marine Corps’ F-35 JSF version. Below is the video of the landing:

The first vertical landing is part of the initial ship trials for the F-35B which started Monday and is expected to last two-weeks. The tests are scheduled to collect data on the aircraft’s ability to perform short take-offs and vertical landings on a ship at sea, as well as determine how the aircraft integrates with the ship’s landing systems, and deck and hangar operations.

This test period, the first of three scheduled at-sea test periods over the course of the development program, will also collect environmental data on the deck through added instrumentation to measure the F-35B’s impact to flight deck operations.

Here is a nice shot of the F-35B coming in for the landing:

More photos of the historic trial after the Jump

Continue reading "The First F-35B Landing at Sea on the USS Wasp!"

Wanat

Posted By Blackfive • [October 04, 2011]

A U.S. soldier looks out into the Waygul Valley from his fighting position while manning a .50-caliber machine gun in Wanat Village, Afghanistan, Sept. 22, 2011. The soldier is assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Zackary Root.

October 3rd, 1993

Posted By Blackfive • [October 03, 2011]

CW3 Durant's Super6-4 over Moghadishu, Somalia on October 3rd, 1993.  Photo courtesy of SOCOM.

Operation Gothic Serpent was underway in Moghadishu, Somalia...Delta, Rangers, PJs, SEAL TEAM 6, and  Infantry battalions were all called on to take part in the mission to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's key lieutenants.

The mission was highlighted by the movie Blackhawk Down. 

Most of you probably know most of the details of the mission - that the valor of the men on the ground and in the air was incredible.  It is estimated that between 700 to 3000 Somali fighters were killed. And twice that wounded.  84 Americans were wounded. 

18 American Fighting Men died on that mission.

Jonn Lilyea's friend MSG Tim Griz Martin was one of them and he has a tribute site up for him here. 

Chief Aaron Weaver survived Somalia (as a Ranger) but lost his life in Iraq.  We had a tribute to him here.

And Chaplain (MAJ) Jeff Struecker (who is now retired) was a SSG on the ground in Somalia.  Here is our video interview with Chaplain Struecker at the Best Ranger Competition. 

He retired this year.

 

This final scene of the movie, sums up Operation Gothic Serpent which the Somalis call "The Day of the Rangers":

 

In Memoriam:

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta
MSG Gary Gordan (awarded Medal of Honor)
SFC Randy Shughart (awarded Medal of Honor)
SSG Daniel Busch
SFC Earl Fillmore
SFC Matt Rierson*
MSG Tim “Griz” Martin

3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
CPL Jamie Smith
SPC James Cavaco
SGT Casey Joyce
PFC Richard “Alphabet” Kowalewski
SGT Dominick Pilla
SGT Lorenzo Ruiz

160th SOAR (Nightstalkers)
SSG William Cleveland
SSG Thomas Field
CW4 Raymond Frank
CW3 Clifton “Elvis” Wolcott
CW2 Donovan “Bull” Briley

2nd Battalion 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (rescue convoy)
SGT Cornell Houston
PFC James Martin

I.E.D.'s on the Decline

Posted By Blackfive • [October 03, 2011]

StrategyPage outlines why Improvised Explosive Devices are on the decline in Iraq and Afghanistan:

...In Afghanistan, the enemy started off with one big disadvantage, as they didn't have the expertise or the resources of the Iraqi IED specialists. In Iraq, the bombs were built and placed by one of several dozen independent gangs, each containing smaller groups of people with different skills. At the head of each gang was a guy called the money man. That tells you something about how all this works. Nearly all the people involved with IED gangs were Sunni Arabs, and most of them once worked for Saddam and learned how to handle explosives. The gangs hired themselves out to terrorist groups (some of them al Qaeda affiliated), but mainly to Baath Party or Sunni Arab groups that believed the Sunni Arabs should be running the country. You got the money, these gangs got the bombs...

StrategyPage says there were 12,000 IEDs encountered last year in Afghanistan.  But they are on the decline as we disrupt the personnel and money traffic as well as develop new technologies (weekly it seems) to defeat them.

Go read the whole piece.

The Stolen Valor Awards - The Sour Sixteen

Posted By Blackfive • [October 03, 2011]

The Stolen Valor Awards voting is happening at the Farm Team's place. The Flag Officer and Seek Help Regionals are open...so go over to This Ain't Hell and cast your ballot.

Here is what the Sour Sixteen looks like:

Dead Tango dancing at the Jawa Report

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [September 30, 2011]

I asked for Adam Gadahn to be dead along w/ Awlaki to make it an American al Aqeda twofer. Well it wasn't Gadahn, but it was another traitorous rat bastard, one who the intrepid Jawas have been jack slapping for a while, a weaselly little scumbag called Samir Khan.

Update by Rusty: Reports are still in flux. As of this moment it's hard to confirm whether or not Awlaki and Khan are both dead. US officials are confirming, off the record, that Awlaki is dead -- but Jane Novak, who has deep contacts in Yemen, says that a local news agency, nass press, is reporting that Awlaki survived the attack and was only injured. And as Ed reminds us, this wouldn't be the first time Awlaki was reported dead. But other tribal sources claim he's dead.

As you know, the Arab world is rife with rumor that passes as fact. We'll keep you posted, but given that US officials are confirming off the record that Awlaki is dead, then I'll have to treat the naysaying as rumors until we hear otherwise.

The really personal news here would be that Samir Khan is dead. As long time readers know, Samir and I have had personal disputes over the years. It was Samir, then blogging as Inshallahshaheed, who threatened to kill my family.

All in all an excellent day

Friday Dead Tango Dance- Awlaki edition

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [September 30, 2011]

Oh please, please please be true, and if you could throw in the reprehensible loser Adam Gadahn to make it an American al Qaeda twofer, I would be eternally grateful.

SANAA, Yemen — Anwar al-Aulaqi, a radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric and one of the most influential al-Qaeda operatives wanted by the United States, was killed Friday in an airstrike in northern Yemen, authorities said, eliminating a prominent recruiter who inspired attacks on U.S. soil. If you don't recall why it is a good day for dancing, a quick reminder.

This guy is a perfect test case for the idea that being a terrorist rat bastard makes you a target no matter where you are, what you are doing and what the color of your passport. BOOM, you're dead!

Aulaqi, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, has been implicated in helping to motivate several attacks on U.S. soil. He is said to have inspired an Army officer who allegedly killed 13 people in a November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Tex., as well as a Ni­ger­ian student accused of attempting to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner the following month and a Pakistani American man who tried to set off a car bomb in New York City in May 2010. Aulaqi has also been linked to an attempt in 2010 to send parcel bombs on cargo plans bound for the United States.

In April 2010, the Obama administration authorized his targeted killing. U.S. officials alleged that he is a top leader in al-Qaeda’s Yemeni wing, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

I have plenty of beefs with Obama and his team, but he has been actually leading from the front as far as killing terrorists. And it was a bold move to purposely target an American citizen who has joined the enemy, period. Yes it brings up some issues and we should talk about them. But the idea that just because one of these scum can check a block as a US citizen doesn't give him cover from the Reaper and the Hellfire it brings.

Do I trust our government? Well not any more than I absolutely have to. But if I have to pick one area where I am willing to cede some serious freedom of maneuver, it is in the whacking dead tangos arena. And yes, that includes those with blue passports. They didn't have to join a murderous, barbaric pack of medieval obscurantists. So payback is a medevac, or even better a return to their component molecules. So be it. Now back to the dancing.

 

GAME ON!

Posted By Mr Wolf • [September 29, 2011]

The Farm Team is at it again- just as B5 posited previously, they at THISAINTHELL.US are holding the coveted Jackwagon awards.  Up for now is the Special Ops regional- follow along over there and cast a vote!

Me- I'm backing Chabot.  At least he attempts to look the part..partially...

Mullen says Pakistan runs insurgent groups

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [September 29, 2011]

Well no kidding.

The sad thing is that he couldn't say the blisteringly obvious fact that Pakistan founded many of the Taliban and related insurgent groups that plague Afghanistan and they continue to fund and run them now. Politics and diplomacy prevented him from doing this previously, but he is retiring and apparently the blatant hypocrisy pushed him over the edge. Now the administration is trying to leak itself out of this bind.

Adm. Mike Mullen’s assertion last week that an anti-American insurgent group in Afghanistan is a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s spy service was overstated and contributed to overheated reactions in Pakistan and misperceptions in Washington, according to American officials involved in U.S. policy in the region.

It may contribute to overheated reactions in Pakistan, but that doesn't make it one ounce less true. I have been writing and speaking about this for years and it is probably the biggest problem we have in the region. We cannot neutralize, let alone defeat, an enemy that has safe havens and support in a neighboring country. This is made even worse when their sponsors are ostensibly our allies and we share intel with them. The bin Laden raid came as  surprise to them because if we had told them, he would have been long gone before anyone knocked on his door.

You go to war with the allies you have, not the allies you want. All we have are the Pakistanis, and they are a hardly a unified country. Elements within the government, military and intel services all play their own games and so we try yo guess who really is helping us. The answer is pretty much nobody, and that is another good reason to get the hell out of Dodge.