Funny MRE Reviews

From The Smoking Gun website, you can read actual soldier reviews of test MREs.

We could really use this technology in Iraq

Wired has the scoop on "a company that developed technology capable of creating water out of thin air nearly anywhere in the world is now under contract to nourish U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq."
Seeing as how water costs over $30 a gallon to get into troops' hands, this would make a lot of fiscal sense. Seeing as how troops keep dying to deliver water to their buddies, this would help out in that realm, too.

Star Wars Humor

I thought this ad way pretty funny

That was close

This could have been ugly

Very Cool

I just sent a calendar to a wounded vet.
Pinups for Troops (h/t Blackfive)

Gina Elise is a model with a BA from UCLA. She has spent the last year putting together a project that combines what she knows (modeling, photography, history) to help a cause dear to her heart (hospitalized veterans and soldiers in need).
So, she created a project called Pin Ups for Vets which is co-sponsered by American Legion Post 360 of Lake Arrowhead, California. Gina Elise says this about her project:
Over the past year, I have heard and read incredible stories about the injured soldiers returning from military service. Their hardest battles have just begun, as they attempt to recover in Veterans Hospitals all across America . I was touched by each story, and knew that I had to try to do something to help our hospitalized Vets.
I came up with an idea to recreate a World War II style pin-up calendar that would have the dual purpose of raising money for programs that support hospitalized Veterans, and also serve as a GIFT for each and every Veteran, as they recover in a Veterans Hospital.

Worldwide Wrap up

Bill Roggio has a great wrap up of the major theaters of the Global War on Terrorism.

Better him than me

I had a buddy in Ranger School whose older brother has been through the course a couple years earlier and sent him letters written on used cheeseburger wrappers, but this (rated R) prank takes the cake.

SF Alpha Geek is back

I deleted this guy off my blogroll after he stopped posting in the summer of 2005, but he's back now from a year hiatus and is still just as funny.

More BFO's

BFO=Blinding Flash of the obvious.

Looks like even Time Magazine editors think that the UN is a powerless paper tiger: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1546346,00.html

Finally some good news

h/t to B5
The Army has finally decided to drop that lame-ass "Army of One" slogan.
I wish I had been around Fort Sill when a basic trainee had tried to pull something like this "I don't have to be a team player, Drill Sergeant, I'm an Army of One!"
That slogan sucked...
...like the decision for everyone to wear black berets. Can we get rid of that lame-ass decision now, too?

The new slogan is "Army Strong." I like it a lot better.

Back at Home

I finally made it back to the states a couple weeks ago. This blog (and the email address that goes with it) had suffered miserably while I was over in the CENTCOM area of operations and I apologize humbly to those who emailed me and I didn't respond. Things got to the point where I didn't have the energy or the inclination to talk about national policy or military affairs. All I could ever muster was a rant against my incompetent chain of command and that was going to find me getting in a lot of trouble. My mother always said that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all... And that was my tactic for the last half of a year.
Now that I am off active duty again, maybe I can relate some of the mind-numbingly stupid things that my chain of command put the soldiers in my unit through. I still love this country and the Army as much as I ever did, I'm just disappointed that such idiots could rise through the ranks of the reserves and garner positions of influence and power. Thank goodness no one in our units was killed as a result of this outright stupidity, but that was just dumb luck. Those officers never should have made it past lieutenant.
Anyhow, I'll post more once I figure out if they can drag me back on active duty for talking crap about the worst bosses I've ever known. I'll have to consult my lawyer. :-)

If it bleeds, it leads

Heroism just doesn't sell copy as well as scandal. This proves it:

While ABC, CBS and NBC have chosen to highlight [the Haditha] potential scandal, a new Media Research Center study finds those same networks have given far less attention to the heroic deeds of the 20 members of the U.S. military who have received the highest recognition for bravery since the war on terror began. In fact, 14 of the country's top 20 medal recipients have gone unmentioned by ABC, CBS and NBC.

A soldier's burden

Ain't it the truth?
Life is hard enough for soliders over here. I don't think some of these people (Sheehan, Murtha, the liberal press) realize how much harder they make it.

Captured

Been busy. no excuse.
I hope these guys are found alive and actively resisting... soon.

Deserting the Desert

Another thing the big-time news outlets are not publicizing is how the Army's desertion rate is way down since 9/11. That wouldn't fit nicely in the lefties' belief that "even soldiers don't support this war." If you do see a story about this, it usually chalks the statistics up to better army benefits, implying that we are all just money-grubbing mercenaries.
An interesting footnote is the insignificant desertion figures published by the Air Farce: only 30 airmen per year desert. Must be all the comfy linen, dorm rooms, and steak dinners the airdales get.

Retention Problems? Yeah right...

...that's why the Air Force needs to give 900 lieutenants the axe. They're so hard up for people, they have to cut those who want to stay. The Army is even 15% over it's retention goal.
The left is crying about how the people who are fighting this war don't support it and are voting with their feet. Blackfive and Greyhawk take exception to that whining, and rightfully so.