31st MEU's "Helo" Company practices fast rope insertion

Ganjgal and a mothers unfinished business....the Marine Corps unfinished business....a nation's unfinished business.

Gunnery Sgt Aaron Michael Kenefick, USMC KIA Kunar Province (pic provided by his mother)

Sometimes I actually hit on a subject that pulls hard on my heartstrings.

This is one of those times.  But I have a problem.  I write too simply and speak too plainly to give it the justice that it deserves.  I've read the accounts by others and they have the polar opposite issue.  They're too flowerly in their prose, and perhaps a bit too elogquent in their wording to give it the hearing that it deserves.

I'll provide links that can give you a good primer on this battle, the same battle in which Sgt Myers won his Medal of Honor, so that you can get up to speed on the issues involved.  In a nutshell it boils down to....

1.  Sgt Meyers deserves his Medal of Honor.  The entire team involved in that action on that fateful day deserves MoH's.  Those guys lacked supporting fires, not courage and we should ALL feel ashamed because of that.
2.  Rules of engagement got men killed and no one has called leadership on that.  From what I've read Vietnam was bad.  From what I see Afghanistan is worse.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  We're seeing the worse leadership in the history of our nation when it comes to those running the US military.  Politics has trumped any and all strategic/tactical considerations and men are dying because of it.
3.  A total lack of accountability when it comes to blame holding those resposible for the outcome.  Hazing incidents, sexual misdeeds, and politically incorrect pictures taken on the battlefield have led to more severe punishments than we've seen from those that denied fire support to that training team.  By not seeing those responsible mounted on a base flag and hoisted high for all to see is a travesty.  Punishment must be given, it must be visible and it must serve as an example to others.
4.  That this hasn't caused more of a stir in the Marine Corps is also a travesty.  Some brother Marines were killed and no one anywhere got pissed off enough to throw rank insignia up against the wall and ask the guys in the 10th Mountain what the fuck were they thinking.  No one flew in back of a CH-53 or an MV-22 over to that Tactical Command Post and punched one of that bastards in the face or carved their initials in there ribcages...no one in the Marine Corps got PISSED THAT THIS HAPPENED!
5.  This also relates back to number 2.  Why is a mother leading the charge on this?  I was contacted by one of the fallen Marine's mother.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to talk to her today because of an issue that took me away.  I hope to talk to her next week, but the point remains.  A Marine's Mom is doing something that Marines, Marine Leadership, Retired Marines and Veterans should be doing.  This incident is about one micrometer away from being a full fledged crime.  We owe her more, we owe the Marines that were involved in that battle more and we owe the fallen more.

The Commandant was right.  The Marine Corps is off the rails and this is exhibit number 1.  But what do we do now? I have no idea.  A blog post isn't enough.  An interview with a grieving mother isn't enough so what do we do?  The only thing I can think of is to perhaps get Senator Webb's attention on this subject but he's a former SecNav so he's well aware of what happened and even has the classified briefing.  I thought about hitting up Sgt Meyer and asking him to write a guest post but that would be asking too much.  He lived it.  No need to ask him to live it again.


So what do we do?


I have no idea.

F-35B To Edwards

USMC Lt. Col. Matt Kelly flew F-35B BF-2 to its new but temporary home at the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, on 23 July 2012. The aircraft is at Edwards for a series of flights involving airstart testing.

Blast from the past. Army Jet Pack.

BF-16 flies. The F-35 has a higher production rate than the Rafale.

Interesting tidbit.  Craig Hoyle over at the Dew Line reported today on the production rate of the Rafale.  If his numbers are correct (and I believe they are) then the F-35 has achieved a production rate almost 3 times higher (if not more) than the vaunted Rafale program.  The only thing left for the critics to do is to state outloud..."we were so wrong!"

Lockheed Martin test pilot Al Norman flew F-35B BF-15 (US Navy Bureau Number 168312) on its inaugural flight on 26 July 2012 from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas. The aircraft will be assigned to VMFAT-501 at Eglin AFB, Florida.

Australian Air Force F-18's vs. SU-30's.

Troy Battle Stock in use by professionals

Colombian anti-narcotics police officers escort Diego Perez Henao, a.k.a. 'Diego Rastrojo', alleged leader of 'Los Rastrojos' drug traffickers gang, upon his arrival at the narcotics airbase in Bogota, on July 25, 2012, after being extradited by the Venezuelan authorities. Perez, captured on June 3 in the Venezuelan state of Barinas, is indicted in Colombia for drug trafficking, murder, conspiracy, formation of armed groups and financing of terrorism.

This is the first time I've seen the Troy Battle Stock being used by professionals.  On the net its gotten mixed reviews and I've seen more than a few vids of it performing badly.  I'd be real interested to know if its a winner or loser...if you can actually bust doors with it or whether it collapses on itself with just a light tap.

You can check it out for yourself here.

Directing fire.

Canadian Army Warrant Officer Robby Fraser, a platoon warrant officer with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, directs machine gun fire at a support by fire position during a platoon-size live-fire assault, July 22, as part of Rim of the Pacific 2012. Approximately 2,200 personnel from nine nations comprise Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force 3, Combined Force Land Component Command. The land component of RIMPAC is conducting amphibious and land-based operations in order to enhance multinational and joint interoperability.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Robert Bush)

Interesting.  A platoon warrant officer.  The Marine Corps could benefit from such a program.  It would allow experienced SNCO's to lead platoons.  It would never fly but it is a thought.