Sneak preview tickets in hand, I expected to see a good movie, having seen a few commercials. I saw a great movie. Not knowing the details of the real situation, if the movie wasn’t too overly dramatized, it certainly is an inspirational story of an entire community, not just a coach or a team. It is worth your time.

Yesterday I posted how life seems to emulate reality TV. Today I write about how life, in the context of a small West Virginia town should be a model for our nation.

How timely this happens to be, as the theme of the movie: “Yes, we took a loss, but we need to suit up and get back in the game, if we ever expect to win” plays into post III of a few weeks ago, in The Ratchet and the Governor – Tools for Today” series I have been working on. I also commented, just a few days ago, the rough times demand tough men.

The movie is well acted. Be ready to be brought into the emotions of a town who loses all but 4 of their football players, the college athletic staff and several of the key (read big) supporters. The big picture of the movie is it took many from the College and town, as well as a coach, who knew nothing more about the school than they were in need of a coach, and they made things happen.

They set a goal, first by the desire of one of the four players, who had not gone on the trip due to an injury, who thought the honor was not in shutting down (the equivalent response at our national level is the “withdraw and redeploy” concept), but by standing tall, and getting the student body to support a message to the school administration and the board, that they wanted to honor the dead by staying the course until victory. It was not an unruly crowd that gathered to get the point across, but a large one, willing to make their presence know in support of continued effort in the face of disaster.

They couldn’t find a coach in the long list of alumni. It was looking bleak. A coach called and when asked in the interview why he wanted the job, his answer was to look at his three children and his wife, running around the front yard, then tell Marshall’s President it was because of them, and then he paused and said he couldn’t imagine being without them and he figured a whole town was hurting and he thought he might be able to help. What a concept: You do it for your children, and along the way, you do it for everyone else, and their children so to speak.

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Chasing links….and here’s some interesting philosphy:

The biggest threat to America is not communism, it’s moving America toward a fascist theocracy… — Frank Zappa

I found this as the “tagline” for a posted “NCrefugee” (I thought we weren’t supposed to use that word any more, because it makes people feel bad) at Daily Kos, where he posted, suspecting a grand conspiracy of right wingers using zombie computers to bias the outcome of the weblog awards by deleting cookies, so you can vote over an over… Geez…I guess if you live in a world where it’s all about a conspiracy behind every grain of sand, then all in life can ebe explained thru that sort of filter.

But…to the main point: Frank’s insightful quote.

For a drug overdosed hippy, Frank sure seemed to be “spot on.” I’m sure he wasn’t able to forsee the future, where an Islamofascist government disallows all things non-Muslim, starting with any devisive comments about the religion. I bet he didn’t conceive of the “poligion” that this will bring, if we keep backing away from anything that hurts the feelings of those of that faith…

Weekly Open Trackbacks. A “safe harbor” to “suggest” to readers they should take a chance on you(r writings). Go for it.

From last week’s Sea Stories, I discussed the ship at sea always being a place of noise, and I indicated I’d tell more of that this week. Here it is.

On my second ship, one of my collateral duties was that of Gunnery Liasion Officer (GLO), which entailed being the person who managed the trageting of the ship’s guns against shore targets, via a spotter, on the ground or in the air, who would identify and fix target positions.

As part of our “shakedown” training (it was a newly commissioned ship), we had to train in this mission area, and we took a trip from San Diego harbor (homeport) to the west to the firing range off San Celmente Island and I proceeded to practice a skill I first learned in the school rooms of the Fleet Training Center.

I stood at the Dead Reckoning Tracer (DRT), which, for the purposes of this work, was converted to a plain old chart table. The operation specialists had laid out the grid reference charts for the area, and set up the radio circuits and sound powered telephone headsets. Status boards (large hanging, edge lit plexiglass sheets) were redrawn with the format for the fire missions we would be tasked with and positioned so I could easily read them from where I stood. My tools, up to three stopwatches, a sharpened No. 2 pencil, dividers and the “Commanche Board,” also were out for use.

So, “perched” several decks above, and away from the fore and aft 5″54cal MK 45 gun mounts, I would still be able to hear the gun laoding mechanisms doing their work. Two decks below the guns, the magazine crews would pick the type ammuntion and powder charges from their storage and place them in the hoists. Hydraulics and mechanical systems would rapidly raise the 76 lb projectiles and the powder cases up to the gun mount, where they were automatically loaded into a tray before the ram then shoved them into the waiting breech, to have the breech block slam into place behind them, awaiting patiently for the electrical charge that will begin the “explosives train” on it’s path to sending the sleek bullet hurtling towards it’s assigned target.

I felt the operation as much as I heard it. I felt the forward gun, Mount 51, and heard it fairly clearly, but I mostly felt Mount 52, probably 350 feet aft of me in straight distance measurement, insulating itself from me thru multiple bulkheads and 4 decks of aluminum and steel. The firing of either mount, was clearly unmistakable, as I became practiced on sending high explosives many miles away on the word of a disembodied voice on the radio.

“On Station, Ready for Call for Fire” begins the sequence, alerting the forward observer you are available to pummel the enemy who dares to enter his field of view…..

More later…

I have long thought the “Survivor” series was pretty worthless and conveyed a bad message, but it seems to be a replication of the current political, and cultural landscapes these days.

So they start out “teams,” which don’t really have anything to do with forming teams, because, at the end of the day (season), the goal is to not only beat the other team, but out maneuver each and every one of your team mates, just so you can walk with the prize.

Between elected and governmental, as well other supporters of the President, it seems “Phase II” has begun, where, after getting somewhere as part of the “team,” then the backstabbing begins, so there are sufficient bodies to stand upon to reach what you desire.

Noting more profound than that, but it seems my view of the “Survivor” model had come to be the dominant methodology in the upper levels of our government….sad, but, we will pay.

In the meantime, check out “Lifestyles of the Rich and Fascist.” (Speaking of life imitating TV…)

Well, at least I’m a fighter and not a C-5A!

See what kind of Military aircraft you are!

H/T: SteelJaw Scribe.

Consensus? You’ve got to be kidding me. Maybe I can give John Gruden a call and offer my services, and those of several of my friends, who think his record this season sucks, so we can have a commission to tell him how to do it “in a different direction.”

Oh, yeah, I was tall and skinny. I never played football, but I did swim, play baseball and basketball. Much like the Baker Commission, I complee people to look upon me as qualified to discuss detailed NFL lavel football.

And, like a snowball’s chances in hell, I’m sure I’ll get a call back from my buddy John…..

I have come to pretty much emlininate profanity from my discussions, but this entire set of current events has me toying with dusting off the mental bookshelf that holds some more of the more choice sayings I learned in many years as a sailor….

Pardon me, but times like these demand those people, who are so unpolished in polite company during peacetime that they are excluded, passed over and shuffled off to assignments far from where they can embarass the “chosen ones,” who will one day be admirals and generals. I had a few friends like this during my service time. Brutally effective as leaders in the simulated combat conditions we could muster, and constantly considering the options/scenarios for war at sea. They stayed near the waterfront when not on sea duty, in jobs to helpp the fleet get better, and turned their noses up at Pentagon assignments. They knew the profession, on it’s worst day, would require every bit of sea going and combat/damage control/engineering experience they could immerse themselves in, and that’s what they did, to the detriment of their careers.

One man, a mentor to me, who could tell you when you screwed up and make sure you understood the newest tactics, had played many sports, including football and baseball, and it was always with a go for broke, victory if the goal attitude. He carried that attitude into everything he did. He made O-4. He was shuttled off to the side. He retired and, having been noticed by a reservist who drilled with them, was sought after for that very spirit, and now he does in the business world what his senior officers thought was too much out of the question.

Look at the changes of command at the outset of WWII? Those who had grown up and comfortable in the extended peacetime were tossed out to the curb and the agressive, loud, we’re here to kill the enemy and break things crowd was installed. Yep, you need those guys when the light is dim and the casualties are high, caused by the lack of understanding of those who got you there in the first place. But then, after the conflict, the war fighters are, once more, pushed aside and the politicians rise again.

One man I worked for was the most brilliant tactician, in both exercise, and also in a real world multi-month operation, but his “interpersonal skills” left just about everything to be desired. I’d go to war with him in a heartbeat, but count me out if he need administrative support. It’s men like this that carry the day in the times of challenge, not those who refuse to get their hands dirty in understanding our enemy, much less history.

Take your stinking “consensus” and stuff it. Get me a hard nosed, hard driven, focused person, who will lead and make the hard decisions, knowing full well the gravity of the situation. Side Note: Dr. Gates sure isn’t striking me as one of these guys, no matter how many Aggies had has run with and talked to. Being a friend is one skill set, being a leader is another altogether. You can be both, but the leader aspects need to be exercised first.

We don’t need smooth and polished, with the right color tie, and a manicured metrosexual type running the show right now. We most certainly don’t need unelected people to demand the President take orders from them.

We need Bucks and Bills to be put in place, with orders to “retake the Falklands” type direction from the Commander-in-Chief. Along the way, the rules of armed conflict and rules of engagement will be followed, because those seemingly troglodytes are the consumate professionals. But if they need an ROE changed, they’ll be stating their case.

Better yet, men like Bill and Buck would come home victorious, with a simple request: “What next?”

Update 12/11/2006: Looks like Rick Santorum and I are of one mind…

From Celstron, the “Sky Scout.”

It uses GPS to tell you (computerized voice) what stars/constellations to look for as you point it around. You can also access a menu and select a celestial object/planet and it will giude you to looking at it in the “Locate” mode.

15.2 oz, without batteries….and, I’d certainly be careful about using it in the presense of your enemies, lest they figure out where you are while it tells you what you’re looking at….

Hey, at $399 (plus shipping and applicable sales tax and the cost of some batteries), you can afford to skip your Junior Year NROTC navigation course…

Many years ago, as we sat at the dinner table, discussing the current effort to get rid of cars that burned leaded gas, I made some comment about tha implied that would be the end of it when they got it completed.

My mother-in-law had recently gotten the diesel Mercedes she had wanted for some time and that next factored into the equation.

My father-in-law next commented “these people keep lists of 10 itmes thay are after. When they get rid of the item at the top, then they add another one at the bottom, so they will always have things to attack.”

In the past few days, and reflecting on the state of world affairs, specifically in reference to the Islamofascists, Jes was oh, so correct. They will ask for one thing, then when they get it, they add more requests. The sad part is we keep believing what they are asking is the thing they actually desire, instead of figuring out it is merely a stepping stone to the larger prize they seek. In this case, they won’t stop until they dominate, which has been the history of the Muslim faith (via the leadership) since the inception of the religion.

Yes, they have been beaten back and given up on agression for a while, but it our time when they have chosen to surge forward to accomplish their desired goal.

So, if “they” get Israel taken off the map, they aren’t going to stop there…

FbL sent out a link to Valour-IT, Milblogs Give Hundreds of Laptops to
Wounded Soldiers at the PBS Mediashift website, highlighting Valour-IT.

Mark Glaser opens his post with this:

As I sit here and type this blog post, I pause for a moment to consider how important my fingers and hands are to me as a blogger and writer. If I should be injured or lose the use of my hands in some awful accident, what would I do?

That hypothetical situation is very real for some American soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, where body armor helps protect them from getting killed from the blasts of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) � but injuries to extremities are common. In the summer of 2005, when Army Captain Charles �Chuck� Ziegenfuss, a military blogger, was severely injured by such an IED, he asked his blog audience to help him get voice-to-text software, Dragon Naturally Speaking, for his laptop.

Take a few moments to read and consider the story, which I now know began in August, 2005, the “brain child” of two people, who connected via the Internet, several thousand miles apart physically, yet of one mind, and each had the puzzle pieces to get the Valour-IT program started.

Here we are, 15 months later, at least $350K in the books and 650+ units in place, headed towards 850 in place by Christmas this year, and funding for more as a result of this year’s fund drive. Here’s some insight from Mark’s article:

Neither FbL or Ziegenfuss make any money themselves from the project, which has zero overhead and is completely volunteer-run � just like Soldier�s Angels, which offers all sorts of services for wounded soldiers. FbL, who prefers to keep her real name out of the spotlight and off her blogs, told me how amazed she was by the power of the blogosphere to organize for a cause and come together virtually.

Throughout the year and in particular when there are big disasters, the common comment is “I want 100% of MY MONEY to go to the cause!” Well, guess what…Valour-IT is that charity.

Also: Based on info in this article, it seems the checks are still being counted and the over the top number I reported about a week ago of $204K is not it. It’s headed to $230K for the drive. That will be $50K more thatn the goal. What a testament to the compassion of the people who came in contact with this program.

FbL hasn’t settled on just laptops for our troops. The PBS article mentions her idea for Personal Digital Assistants for those suffering from traumatic brian injury (TBI):

Beyond that, FbL imagines another program that would offer personal digital assistants (PDAs) for soldiers suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI). TBI is a common problem for soldiers in Iraq who have suffered brain damage from IED blasts. One of the common problems is short-term memory loss, and the PDAs could help injured soldiers remember their appointments, to-do lists and other minutiae lost in the haze during recovery.

And if you ever thought one person, or two, couldn’t change things, I’d invite you to study the history of this 15 month old program, that has come from a twinkle in someone’s eye, to affecting the lives of hundreds and on it’s way to helping thousands, and, I’d suggest, a model for collaboration efforts via the power of the Internet. Not only did it bring many military associated people together, but it also saw others from all walks of life and political backgrounds join in to do something special:

Valour-IT is another result of average folks banding together online to make a difference, getting beyond petty politics and government bureacracy to get something done and do it right. It�s one of those classic holiday stories of people giving of their time, their money and even the bully-pulpit space of their blogs to help others in need.

Like the proverbial snowball in the cartoon, rolling downhill and gathering girth and speed, Valour-IT is such a project, headed towards avalanche status.

If you can pitch in, your help is welcomed.

A special plea is for any knowledge of how FbL might be able to take this program to the next level and make it an endowment supported entitiy, rather than being supported through our online drives. Does anyone know how to do that?

Meanwhile, FbL is looking for full-time work at a military non-profit in Southern California and is hoping that Valour-IT can become a fully funded endowment, so that online fundraising campaigns won�t be necessary. She says they are close to getting a large donation that could make that happen, and might make a deal with a computer hardware company that would donate refurbished computers or lower the cost below the $600 they usually pay per laptop.

Thanks for the support and please pass this info around!

Trackbacked at:
Woman, Honor Theyself

I read “Strategy for Defeat” many years ago, back in the days in Newport, RI, while studying such issues, and not promted by any reading list.

The book, written from the viewpoint of the admiral who was CINCPAC (Commander-in-Chief, Pacific), so he was well breifed in as to the “goings on” of the time.

I am working from recall, but Adm Sharp’s premise is the “doves” were the ones who caused the prolonging of the war and therefore the bloodshed, on all sides, and the “hawks” would have had the war come to a much faster conclusion. As a result, his contention was the hawks were actually the ones who would have saved lives.

His thesis was supported, in one chapter, by the story of a major sea port, aerial mines and “peace” talks…..

He said in 1968, he had forwarded a battle plan to mine Haiphong Harbor. The plan was rejected, because Washington felt Soviet ships (that were delivering war materials to the North Vietnamese) might become victims of the functional blockade and therefore a major international incident would be caused.

When the plan was finally executed in 1972, the North Vietnamese were at the Paris Peace Talks and actually talking, as their logistical “tail” had been strangled. This is more important in the light of the conflict between China and Russia as to who was “more senior” in the Communist world, and China was denying the Soviets the use of Chinese railways to send material to Vietnam. Being forced to get their major resupply by sea, and the major seport, with the capacity to offload the items, was cut off. The North Vietnamese quickly become more argeeable in figuring out how to back away from the conflict.

This is a lesson in strategy (recall who were the presidents in the two years listed above), and a show of force (or not when the capability existed), which managed to clearly and consisely communicate to our enemy we meant business. If you think about the metod used, there didn’t even have to be casualties, as the mines become “guards” on the sea ways, and would kill and maim the enemy only when the beligerent chose to cross the area.

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