H/T: MJ Morning Show…

Need a blender that can hack it, even when the substance you put in it for that fancy dinner party is looking pretty tough?

embedded by Embedded Video


From BlendTecThe BlendTec guy was on the phone with MJ and said the YouTube videos all started when one employed said “let’s grind something up” and they videoed it. Put it on YouTube just for giggles and it got lots and lots of hits….So, yep, you guessed it, they made lots more, blending you all sorts of stuff: Golf balls, clubs, light bulbs, etc…

So, if you have a food processing task, or have an errant significant other/soon to be former spouse with stuff, this just may be the blender for you!

Open trackbacks…well, maybe one day…but in the meantime:

This “sea story” is not my own, but I heard it personally from HM2 Tom McKenney, USN. Now, it being a “sea story,” one always must consider the probability (not just the possibility) of the actual truth of the matter being, well, somewhat “different” from the verbally related tale of the sea:Tom was a crew member onboard the USS PROTEUS (AS-19) in the late 60s, while she was homeported at Naval Station, Guam in Apra Harbor. No, I was not wearing a uniform at the time, but, he was dating my older sister, so he was around a lot.

Anyhow, the PROTEUS generally remained moored med style to well out in the harbor, so she could service two submarines at her side. Sometimes (and it was very occasionally), the ship got underway, transited out of the harbor and steamed about the local ocean areas, so as to show sailors knew the way of the seas.Now to the meat of the story: Tom says one day, while the ship is at sea, hears over the 1MC “Navigator to the Bridge!” Ok, not necessarily a big deal…but a little bit later: “OPS Boss to the Bridge!” Interest level is climbing. Next: “XO to the Bridge!” and then “Captain to the Bridge!”

Just a little bit of khaki overload for a peace time (for them) steaming near your homeport on local ops….

The kicker, subject to historical scrutiny, was the general announcement: “Would anyone who knows where the **** we are report to the Bridge!” Ah, therein lies the rest of the story. Yes, the Bridge watch team had lost track of where they were. Back in those days, GPS wasn’t a twinkle in some engineer’s eye yet. LORAN was electronic navigation, and, I’m not sure, they maybe had Omega, too. Other than that, the tools of the trade were the sextant, a chronometer and someone who could punch the pubs and do math, as well as manage to keep a DR track of the ship’s movement. Oh, and add that the skills required to do this do require a modicum of routine exercise for proficiency’s sake.

So Tom tells me one of the enlisted men showed up on the Bridge, went out on the Bridge Wing and surveyed the horizon. He pointed and said “Over there.” The leadership took that course, as was pointed out, towards a cloud, one of many in the sky, and, after some expenditure of fuel, found the tropical island home called “Home.” Asked later how this man discerned the location so urgently sought by the operational chain of command, he was said to reply: “I just looked for the biggest, darkest rain cloud.”

Some would call it “seaman’s eye,” but I’m sure the CO called it salvation…

If you’re interested, some great history for USS PROTEUS (AS-19) can be found at Tender Tales.

It’s the 11th…but not November 11th. Doesn’t much matter, the soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast guardsmen and Marines still need your support daily.

I happen to be a fan of the life returning and future society changing program of ValOUR-IT:

If you’d like a full page, printable quality picture of MEGEN in at night, in the amphibious environment, click here and save it!
It’s one of my categories, so it’s easy to see all that has been blogged about here, in case you need to catch up. Over 1000 served, more to follow!But maybe you’re rather contribute in some other way, such as sending beef jerky and powdered energy drinks to the 4th Recon Platoon (see a detailed post here).Are you good at sewing? It gets cold in those MEDEVAC planes, especially when “normal” clothing doesn’t fit anymore. Break out the machine and the knitting needles and help out with Sew Much Comfort.

Maybe you’d like the truth to prevail when a man or woman we sent into combat is accused of something? Then Defend the Defenders, started for Ilario Pantano, but has continued to serve the legal needs of other service members might just be the ticket for you.

You can help the families left behind in several ways, by providing living quarters via the Fisher House, or for their children’s future financial and education needs in several funds.

I have made up a page just for the troop support charities I have come across, so hopefully you can find a place for your passion or talents or money can be useful, not just on special occasions, but year ’round.

Someone is spending a bit of time contemplating the future out there.

A great read in the Armed Forces Journal

12 new principles of warfare
BY LT. CMDR. CHRISTOPHER E. VAN AVERY

Now that dramatic improvements in weaponry, communications, sensors and even the utility of individual combatants have been demonstrated in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is clear that America must revise and expand its principles of war to effectively plan and execute the more expansive and complex warfare of the future battlefield.

Before redefining the principles of war for future conflicts, three questions must be answered. First, how has the revolution in military affairs (RMA) affected military capability, and how will it affect capability in the future? Second, what types of conflicts and enemies should America expect to confront over the next quarter-century? And third, who will be cooperating with America in military operations of the future? Even these seemingly simple questions have complex answers and significant caveats that must be recognized.

With regard to the effects of the RMA, some historical perspective is necessary. The current principles of war have remained essentially unchanged since at least 1921, when in the wake of World War I, there was a push in the U.S. military to codify doctrine based on the lessons of that conflict. Going into the future, great benefits for, and changes to, conventional military power are expected from the RMA. The Global Information Grid promises to be a leap forward for communications and the collection, analysis and distribution of information. Developing systems will allow a commander on one platform to electronically execute offensive or defensive action using the sensor data from a second platform and weapons from a third. The net-centric battle space will allow for seamless interservice communication, information-sharing, and the rapid fulfillment of support requests. A mistake can be made, though, in assuming that the RMA has an endpoint and the military will return to a static structure following transformation. Therefore, the first assumption when drafting new principles of war is: A new set of principles of war must be broad enough to readily accommodate the fast pace of development in military doctrine, technology and capabilities.
[…]

Yep, there’s more (including the 12 points as the title says)…

Fuel for the synapses. I often heard the discussion of the AEGIS Combat System being able to assign and fire weapons from other platforms back in the early ’90s, and the possibilities of equipping “lesser ships,” at the time the SPRUANCE Class DDs with vertical launch cells full of SM-2s for the cruiser to shoot. I also heard a lot of ship captains bristle at the thought of a seaman out on the foc’sle with a knuckle buster chipping up the bad non-skid being summarily fried by the rocket exhaust when a CG-47 Tactical Action Officer said “SHOOT!” It was hear enough to get most of them to actually use systems in automated modes, the only ones effective against current threat profiles of cruise missiles.

The weaponeering and sensor capabilities are well past what I was trained to integrate into my mind for war fighting, so it’s time for this discussion among the war fighters.

Anyhow, go, read, consider, or, if you like, collect, evaluate/analyze and then, if you have a comment, disseminate!

Jack Army, in the sandbox, posts (in two parts), a letter he received. He did ask one of his Iraqi counterparts to write what he thought. The letter talks to us. Worth the read. I doubt you’ll ever see this grace the media of anything even remotely related to the MSM:

I asked an Iraqi I know to write a letter to Americans. I told him he should write whatever he wants. Specifically, I said, “if you could say anything you wanted to the American people, what would it be?” He wrote a letter and was very passionate when giving it to me. I could tell that he had agonized over this letter, what he wanted to say and how best to say it. He speaks English well but has a little difficulty writing it. I wanted to give you his words without any help from my, but I did edit slightly only to make a few confusing sentences a little more understandable. Because he wrote such a long letter, I broke it into two parts. Below is part one. My Iraqi friend is eager for feedback. I promised him that I would share any comments about his letter with him. So, feel free to address your comments to him. Unfortunately, for security reasons, I cannot tell you much about this fine man, but I can tell you that I admire him for what he does and his dedication to Iraq.

This is what he wrote:

To my brothers and sisters all over the world,

Hi, I am in individual Iraqi, I can only express my own ideas about what is going on in this whole situation and I am very sure that the majority of Iraqis have the same idea.
[…]

Part I and part II, in their entirety, at Jack Army’s blog.

Read it there, before you don’t know you never saw it in the “news.”

Paint dot Net. Not only is it freeware, it nags you not, it does layers, varied “opacity,” has shapes, brushes, fonts, erasers, and not only does it have some useful effects loaded in, you can download a raft of free plugins to do things like make a picture on a spherical background, inject clouds, align objects, etc, etc, etc, via the Paint.Net user forum.

I do my headers with it, because it’s quick, simple and has plenty enough features to drop the SWO pin and lettering on top of a cropped pic to header dimensions.

High quality AND free (with a PayPal button if you feel inclined to use it)!

I heard about this program at the 2006 MilBlogs Conference, yet no one could tell me the link. I emailed VFW for an answer and none showed up. Reading a magazine yesterday, where Gunny Ermey was interviewed, he discussed the program set up by the VFW to help families stateside. He said not a single request had been turned down to date.

Your hands, fix-it know how and/or money would help take care of the families who have members in the fight, not available to get on with crossing off taskers on the “Honey-Do” list.

Get over to Unmet Needs and get smart, maybe there’s a family down your block that needs a lawn mowed or a leaking toilet fixed.

If you’re a family in need of help, the site has the button to get you to the help request form.

P.S. Like ValOUR-IT 100% of donations go directly to help the families!

Pass the Word!

It was a typical muggy, sunny day in the summer in Mississippi: August 25th, 1979. Ross Perot was there, Admiral Hayward, the Chief of Naval Operations was the speaker. They were there to honor their Naval Academy classmate.

Lt Col William G. Leftwich, Jr., USMC, Class of 1953His widow, since remarried, and his two sons attended. One was by then a Cadet at VMI, The other in high school.Why was a modern destroyer named for this man? Because he displayed gallantry in battle and died while flying to the aid of his trapped Recon team in South Vietnam.

From HQ Marine Corps website:

Lieutenant Colonel William G. Leftwich, Jr., was commissioned a Marine Second Lieutenant on June 5, 1953, upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy. As Brigade Captain during his senior year at the Naval Academy, he was commended at graduation for exemplary officer-like qualities, which contributed… “to the development of naval spirit and loyalty within the Brigade.”

Lieutenant Colonel Leftwich completed The Basic School in January 1954, and later served as a rifle platoon commander with the 2dMarine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. During 1955-56 he served with the 3d Marine Division in Okinawa. On his return to the United States, he was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, where he was promoted to Captain in July 1957. He began a 3-year assignment at the Naval Academy, serving as a company officer. An excellent athlete, he performed collateral duties as assistant varsity tennis coach and battalion football coach.

In 1960, he rejoined the 2d Marine Division, serving as a company commander until 1962, when he was named aide-de-camp to the Commanding General. In June 1963, he was assigned as aide to the Commandant, Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia. He reported for duty in Vietnam in January 1965, as Assistant Senior Advisor to the Vietnamese Marine Brigade.

Lieutenant Colonel Leftwich participated in 27 major operations against the Viet Cong in the central highlands of Vietnam, and spent more than 300 days in the field. He was wounded in the battle of Hoai An, March 9, 1965, and in addition to receiving the Purple Heart, was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism. According to his citation, he “…played a major part in all phases of the successful relief of the village of Hoai An which was under heavy enemy attack by two Viet Cong battalions…. By his own personal example…, he led the attack…. Despite injuries by enemy machine gun bullets in the back, cheek, and nose, he went to the aid of a mortally wounded comrade… and delayed his own evacuation until he could call for additional air strikes and brief the task force commander of the situation.”

Upon his return to the United States in January 1966, he served as an instructor at The Basic School. He completed the Command and Staff College in June 1967, and was named to the school’s honor list. Assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in November 1967, while serving as a systems analyst with the Manpower Management Information Branch, G-1 Division.

In 1968, Lieutenant Colonel Leftwich was selected by the Under Secretary of the Navy to be his special assistant and Marine Corps aide. He served in this capacity under the Honorable Charles F. Baird, and Mr. Baird’s successor as Under Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable John W. Warner.

In April 1970, he began his second tour of duty in Vietnam, serving initially as an infantry battalion commander with the 2d Battalion, 1st Marines. On June 30, he assumed duty as the Commanding Officer of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Reinforced).

On November 18, 1970, Lieutenant Colonel Leftwich was, per his practice of accompanying every emergency extraction called for by his reconnaissance teams, serving as senior “extract officer” for such a mission on the day of his death. The team had incurred casualties and requested an emergency extraction from enemy-infested territory, in an area being enveloped by dense fog. The team was extracted under Lieutenant Colonel Leftwich’s personal supervision. As the helicopter began it’s ascent, it crashed into a mountainside in enemy territory, killing all aboard.

Lieutenant Colonel Leftwich’s medals and awards include: the Navy Cross, the Silver Star (posthumous), the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” and two gold stars, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal with one gold star, the Purple Heart with two gold stars, and various personal awards from the Republic of Vietnam.

The memory of Lt Col Leftwich lives on in the form of an annual award, the Leftwich Trophy:

The Marine Corps Association is grateful for the generous support of the H. Ross Perot Foundation for providing the endowment that supports the annual presentation of the Leftwich Trophy. The trophy is rendered in bronze and depicts a Viet Nam era Marine Officer aggressively leading from the front which epitomizes the character of the award winner each year.

The Leftwich Trophy is intended to recognize active duty captains in the ground combat arms community, holding company or battery command who clearly and dramatically demonstrate the ideals of courage, resourcefulness, perseverance and concern for the well being of our Corps and it’s enlisted Marines. For the first time in the history of the award, which spans back to 1979, this year’s award is presented posthumously. Captain John W. Maloney, died in combat operations in Iraq after being recommended for the award.

The Award is provided through a foundation, which was established by H. Ross Perot who was a Naval Academy roommate of Lt Col William Leftwich, for whom the trophy is named.

The 2005 award of the Leftwich Trohpy went to CAPT William Maloney, USMC.

From the Military Times:

Leftwich Trophy awarded posthumously

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer

For the first time in the award’s 27-year history, the Marine Corps has bestowed the prestigious Leftwich Trophy for Outstanding Leadership to an officer who died in combat.

Capt. John W. Maloney was killed June 16, 2005, when his Humvee was destroyed by a “massive bomb” as he led his infantrymen from the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, out of an ambush in a small town south of Ramadi, Iraq, according to his nomination.

Maloney assumed command of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in July 2004.

“There are few officers who accomplish so much in such a short time in command,” wrote 1/5’s former commander, Lt. Col. Eric Smith. “This is simply a reflection of the efforts and abilities of an officer who, in my opinion, was not only made of the same stuff as Lt. Col. Leftwich, but who similarly sacrificed his life for his Marines.”

The Corps cited Maloney as the 2005 recipient of the Leftwich Trophy in an April 4 Corps-wide message, AlMar 015/06.

First awarded in June 1979 to Capt. Clyde S. Brinkley Jr., the Leftwich Trophy is intended to recognize active-duty captains in the ground combat-arms community holding company or battery command who “clearly and dramatically demonstrate the ideals of courage, resourcefulness, perseverance and concern for the well-being of our Corps and its enlisted Marines,” according to the criteria for the award.

The award is provided through a foundation established by H. Ross Perot, a Naval Academy roommate of Lt. Col. William Leftwich, for whom the trophy is named.

Shortly after taking command of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam, Leftwich died in a helicopter crash during a Nov. 18, 1970, emergency extraction of his men from enemy-infested territory.

Maloney’s company was posted at one of the hottest combat outposts in Ramadi, capital of the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq, a notorious Sunni stronghold. The government center outpost in the heart of the city is the site of frequent insurgent attacks from rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and mortar fire.

The parallels with Maloney’s actions and those of the award’s namesake were not lost on Smith when he recommended the fallen Maloney for the Leftwich.

“Were we to replace a hot [landing zone] and a UH-1 [Huey] helicopter with an IED-infested sector of town and an armored Humvee, there would be no daylight between what these two great leaders gave to our Corps,” he wrote.

Awarding the trophy posthumously was somewhat controversial, Marine officials said, though rules governing the award do not rule out giving the trophy — which depicts a Vietnam-era Marine officer clutching an M16 in one hand, waving his men forward with the other — to a deceased Marine.

Smith argued in his nomination for Maloney that the Jan. 20 award of a Bronze Star with a combat “V” was done “to pay him tribute” for his heroism in Iraq.

“The commandant came back and asked us, ‘Are you doing this because the Marine was killed in action or was he the best guy?’” said Gene Benson, Leftwich Trophy coordinator with the Corps’ Plans, Policy and Operations office, in an April 24 interview. “And he was the best guy regardless if he had been [killed in action] or not. So it just turned out that way.”

Benson said plans are in the works to present the Leftwich Trophy to Maloney’s wife, Michelle, at the Marine Corps Association-sponsored Ground Awards Dinner in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 21.

Last I recall, his son who graduated from the Naval Academy had been selected to Commander.

The ship? I am a Plank Owner, and have often blogged here on some of the shipboard life I experienced there:

The 22nd of 31 hulls, LEFTWICH began service stationed in San Diego, and later was shifted to her homeport of Pearl Harbor. She was one of the first of the SPRUANCE Class ships to be fitted with TOMAHAWK cruise missiles, with two armored box launchers (4 weapons each) on her foc’sle.

Not that it takes near as much “intestinal fortitude” to chase down the guys sending your emails from Nigeria as it does to run headlong towards a flaming Jeep Cherokee and give a good kick in the bullocks to a terrorist, but be comforted in knowing some people are taking it to the ones who fill your email box with requests to help them free up the fortune, and you will receive a piece of it…
it seems some people have formed up into teams to purposely bait scammers into being humiliated by tricking them into thinking they found someone to rape the bank accounts of…

They ever award trophies….

Some of the sites where you might want to enlist to help the cause:

419eater, Scamorama and aa419.

The article I read in the St Petersburg Times (can’t find it there, but here is the original New York Times article) says the scam baiters won’t identify themselves, but did grant interviews over the phone.

St Pete Times article “Cunning ‘victms’ turn tables on Internet scams” 7/6/2007 says:

[…]
Their motives may seem altruistic, but not all law enforcement officials approve of their tactics, which can include entrapment and humiliation.
[…]

Gee, am I missing something? Humiliation in return for trying to commit international identify theft, wire fraud, and then abscond with the big $$$? Oh, well, some police person (in Lyons, France) said this:

They are fraudsters and they are not good people, but they have their human rights.

Leave it to the MSM to tell us how these wanna be, or maybe already, crooks have human rights.

Anyhow, news from the “front” in another kind of war. Just thought you’d like to know…

Solar Challenger in flight (Click the pic for more of the story)Maybe everyone flying to “We have to make carbon to reduce it” Live Earth Concerts should consider investing in this type of aircraft, before they foul my breathing air anymore.Oh, and Solar Challenger successfully crossed the English Channel this day in 1981 (5 hours 23 Minutes)….

Al Gore, please call NASA flight schedule and ticketing office!