Home From Kunar

Last night we attended a celebration at an American Legion Post for Billy. He came home on leave the day after I posted that earlier video of his unit under attack. He is in great spirits and his parents are absolutely delighted that he could be with them even for a short time. We managed to spent some time with the family during the celebration.

Billy had some more information on the IED ambush as mentioned in one of the recent posts below this one. He was riding "shotgun" in the same MRAP where the soldier in the weapons mount was shot in the helmet.

As Billy explained it, the bullet (a 7.62X54) that pierced the helmet was from a sniper rifle. It is a more powerful round than that which is used in an AK-47 (7.62X39). It penetrated the helmet, traveled over the solider's skull through the liner and put a three inch gash in the back of his head as it exited. The GI is only nineteen; it was his third day there - he was brand new. He is back in action but a little leery now, more cautious.

The driver of the lead MRAP that was damaged by the IED is not doing as well. His right arm was amputated below the elbow but there are complications: he has malaria and the skin grafts are not taking. He is currently recuperating at Walter Reed Hospital in DC.

We talked for a bit more and he is grateful for the prayers everyone has directed towards him. He is flying back to Afghanistan in ten days - upon his return he will be promoted to sergeant.

Speaking to his dad I got some ideas on what to send our daughter when she goes to Afghanistan next month. Snacks, personal hygiene items, powered energy beverages and small packages of candy (like Halloween portions) to hand out to Afghani children. Hooah.

101st Combat Brigrade - Kunar Province

Since my in-laws passed, we have spend the last few Christmas Eves at my wife's cousin's house - Isabelle and her daughter Delores. Isabelle's husband, Vince, passed away about ten years ago; he and my FIL were first cousins. Vince and Isabelle immigrated from Monopoli, Italy, in the early fifties and moved to Syracuse where they could be with family. It was a big joke that Vince received a small monthly pension check from Italy for his service in the Italian Navy during WWII. Vince would shrug and grin. If the Italian Navy ever found out what he did (or didn't do), they would have shot him. Vince was a lover, not a fighter.

There is a family that Delores met while she was working as a representative for a large faucet manufacturer. For the past several years these wonderful people have also joined Isabelle and Delores for Christmas Eve and we have become friends with them. Last year their oldest son, Bill, was home from Iraq and he joined all of us in a great time of fellowship and food (Isabelle can cook like nobody's business). Like his dad, Bill is extremely tall; he has been in the Army for about four years now.

Bill is currently assigned to Alpha Company, 2-327th Infantry, 101st Combat Brigade. He is in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. At the bottom is a Global Post video that shows Bill's unit under attack. An IED explodes and the lead vehicle in a convoy is heavily damaged. There is an exchange of small arms fire. Several men are injured. By the grace of God no one lost their life.

This is NSFW due to graphic images and langauge.
You will see an American soldier get shot.
Allow me to prepare you.

There are three parts to this video. In the first segment, the IED has detonated and you are inside an armored vehicle during the small arms exchange. The soldier manning the grenade launcher is shot in the head. His helmet absorbs most of the round and he is knocked out of the weapon mount. He is concussed by the force of the hit but alive and bleeding slightly. His buddies tend to his wound.

In the second segment you are now outside the armored vehicle. You will first see a soldier wearing sunglasses and gesticulating - waving his arms while giving directions. This is Bill. Then you will see soldiers tending to the wounded who were in the lead convoy combat vehicle - heavily damaged and on fire from the IED. The driver was seriously injured.

In the third segment you will listen as one of the soldiers relives the incident with his buddies and the seriously wounded driver is evacuated by helicopter to a hospital.

This is the real deal. Our people are in constant danger. God bless and protect our soldiers.

MSGT ROY P. BENAVIDEZ

When you hear tales of unbelievable heroism like the one I am about to share, you wonder - "Could I do this?" I know I couldn't. The overwhelming majority of us do not have the cojones possessed by the son of a poor sharecropper, US Army Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez.

I am not going to go into great detail about what this man did, the video speaks to his acts far more eloquently than my poor skills. Msgt. Benavidez flew into a major firefight to rescue a squad that was hopelessly trapped by a North Vietnamese battalion. Armed only with a knife and medical gear, he saved the lives of eight soldiers and was grievously wounded himself. Please view the video and marvel at his self sacrifice.

But what I wonder is this:

Where does God forge such strength in the hearts of men?
As David sings in Psalm 139:15-16:

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to
be.

Does He peer into the yet unformed soul - soft and shapeless, but full of potential - and insert something of Himself? Some unknown component of the Godhead that bends men to His will without their even knowing it? Is it in our hearts? Our brain? Where does this reside so completely hidden until it bursts forth and amazes us? Like a seed in a dry land that suddenly erupts overnight into a magnificent tree, did Roy surprise his mates?

There are undoubtably thousands of men who acted without thought for their own safety during the wars and conflicts that have followed the founding of our Nation. The overwhelming majority go unreported, unnoticed save for those who witnessed them. While we can honor such men as MSGT Benavidrz, for it is right and fitting that we do, let us also honor those who gave also themselves and did not receive the recognition.

Thanks to Charlie the ChiTown Cop for sending me this video.

Stop It, Stop It Right Now

It is not a tragedy, it is an outrage. But the Army's highest ranking officer, Gen. George Casey, believes that the "tragedy" that took the lives of thirteen GI's and wounded twenty-nine more takes second place to the evil that would befall this country if:

"...our diversity becomes a casualty here. It’s not just about Muslims, we have a very diverse army, we have very diverse society and that gives us all strength."

Idiot. The stupid politically correct so&so should be horse whipped and thrown out of the Army on his flat ass. Where the hell is a George Patton when you need one? If this had occured while my daughter was still being recruited I would have fought like crazy to keep her out of the Army.

I am beside myself. These are the jackasses commanding my child? Toss diversity General and grab a clue. You've got to be more concerned with the lives and safety of your command rather than their racial or ethnic composition.



I stopped for about a half hour to calm down and clean the language up on this post.

CRUSHER

The following videos are of a prototype autonomous combat vehicle currently under development by DARPA. It is not a little thing (6.5 tons) and they don't call it Crusher for nothing. It is designed to go around or go over any obstacle in its path.



This next video got some tunes to go with it.
A little more then halfway through this clip (1:30) you'll see what happens when Crusher gets excited.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

When Soldiers Have Too Much Time On Their Hands

Her buddies stuffed her into a dryer in the barracks dorm.

She fits pretty good.

Glad to see she's still flexible.

Off To Lost In The Woods

Our daughter finishes basic training this week and the graduation exercise is Thursday. She'll now be a Spec-4 just in time to be shipped off to DLI in Monterey, CA, for a year and a half.

So tomorrow morning we fly to St. Louis. From there we rent a car and drive two hours to Fort Leonard Wood to partake in the festivities. Neither my wife nor I have flown since the late seventies so this should be interesting.

I was texting her at work today about the small aircraft we are going to fly in: "The Widow Maker" (a Bombardier Q400 to Newark with some crop dusting jobs along the way) and "The Angel O'Death" (a newer Embraer RJ 145 from Newark to St Lou). Things certainly have changed with the gas crunch.

Bombardier Q400

RJ 145

She has since decided to render herself semi-conscious for the entire trip with Dramamine washed down with vintage YooHoo .

We'll be back Saturday if the stinkin' Fokkers leave us alone. I'll be watching our six the entire way. See ya then.

She's Okay

Today we got a letter from our daughter at boot camp in Fort Leonard Wood. From the date on the letter, she writes this after her first full day in the army.

The food is decent, her sneakers really rock and the sergeants yell at them a lot. She has learned how to sit at attention. We're so proud!

A New SPEC 4

At least that's what she'll be when she gets out of boot camp. And that's Fort Leonard Wood, MO. We showed up at 1000 at the MEPS station at the 174th NYANG. Our daughter was there since 0500.


Then around 1030 Cpt. Whatshizname administers the oath and she's in. In all, nine recruits were sworn in. The families of only three showed up. I felt bad for the other kids. The nine people in our family that witnessed this was over half of all the civilians who showed up for the ceremony.




Then she eats her first GI lunch while we chat; at 1130 Sgt. Bilko sticks his head in the room and growls, "Leonard Wood, get going." And she's on her way to the airport which is only a quarter mile away.

Really... everyone was very nice. Her recruiter was there and gave me his card in case we have any questions down the line. He turned out to be a pretty decent guy.

We had lunch and went to the airport and waited (and waited) to see her off at 1700.

Tomorrow's The Day

Tomorrow my daughter goes into the Army; her MOS will be Linguist. The recruiter is picking her up at oh dark hundred and we'll meet her at the recruiting center later on in the morning for the ceremony. She is excited about going to boot camp which is at Fort Leavenwood, MO, and is anxious to attend the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, sometime in November. We are all very proud of her. But boy oh boy will we miss her.

Army Strong

My daughter went and did it. She enlisted in the Army this afternoon. She is now in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program) and must report in on 22 JUL 08. She is scheduled to attend OCS at Ft. Bennington in October.

I was expecting it and I thought I would be fine, but I'm kinda numb at the prospect. If she gets the MOS (Mil Intel) she wants she'll probably end up in the sand box within a year talking to murderous idiots in their heathen tongue. She has been home from Eygpt less than a year and we had hoped she would be with us longer.

There was some confusion about her enlistment bonus (there ain't gonna be one) and that pissed me off, producing a terse call to one of the recruiters. He explained in some detail what happened and I accused him of a "bait and switch." I am still a little jigged over this so I am not going to get into it until I settle down a bit. This bonus scenario changed at the very last moment before she was asked to sign and I told her afterwards that she should have told them to cram it until more information was forthcoming. More than one former Army person (officer and enlisted)warned me not to trust the recruiters. But my daughter is fine with it. She wanted in, bonus or no.

So be it.