Tuesday, July 31, 2012

A BOOK ABOUT MY STRUGGLES

I was born in one country, raised in another.

My father was born in another country.

I was not his only child.

He fathered several children with numerous women.

I became very close to my mother, as my father showed no interest in me.

My mother died at an early age from cancer.

Although my father deserted me and my mother raised me, I later wrote a book idolizing my father, not my mother.

Later in life, questions arose over my real name.

My birth records were sketchy.

No one was able to produce a legitimate, reliable birth certificate.

I grew up practicing one faith but converted to Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my new country, but I practiced non-traditional beliefs and didn't follow Christianity, except in the public eye under scrutiny.

I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about them.

That was before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and embarked on a new career.

I wrote a book about my struggles growing up.

It was clear to those who read my memoirs, that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.

I became active in local politics in my 30s. Then, with help behind the scenes, I literally burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office in my 40s.

They said I had a golden tongue and could talk anyone into anything.

I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history and no experience in leading a single organization.

Yet I was a powerful speaker, and citizens were drawn to me as though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks.

I drew incredibly large crowds during my public appearances.

This bolstered my ego.

At first, my political campaign focused on my country's foreign policy . . .

I was very critical of my country in the last war and seized every opportunity to bash my country.

But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country's economy.

I pretended to have a really good plan on how we could do better, and every poor person would be fed and housed for free.

I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess.

It was the free market, banks and corporations.

I decided to start making citizens hate them; and, if they became envious of others who did well, the plan was clinched tight.

I called mine "A People's Campaign.”

That sounded good to all people.

I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain widespread popular support.

I knew that if I merely offered the people 'hope', together we could change our country and the world.

So, I started to make my speeches sound like they were on behalf of the downtrodden, poor, ignorant to include "persecuted minorities."

My true views were not widely known, and I kept them unknown until after I became my nation's leader.

I had to carefully guard reality, as anybody could have easily found out what I really believed if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. I'm glad they didn't.

Then I became the most powerful man in the world.

And then the world learned the truth.

Who am I?















Answer: ADOLPH HITLER







If you were thinking of SOMEONE ELSE: be afraid! Be very Afraid! Those who don't learn from the past are destined to repeat it.


- STORMBRINGER SENDS

Monday, July 30, 2012

ONLY IN AMERICA



Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich during a $35,000 a plate campaign fund raising event.


Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when we have a black President, a black Attorney General, and roughly 18% of the federal workforce is black. 12% of the population is black.


Only in America could we have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel who once ran the Ways and Means Committee, BOTH turn out to be tax cheats, who are . . . wait for it . . . both in favor of HIGHER TAXES.


Only in America can we have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.


Only in America would we make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay thousands of dollars for the privilege while we discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just 'magically' become American citizens.


Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country's Constitution be thought of as "extremists."


Only in America could you need to present a driver's license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.


Only in America could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. oil company is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).


Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year for total spending of $7 million PER MINUTE, and complain that it doesn't have nearly enough money.


Only in America could the rich people who pay 86% of all income taxes be accused of not paying their "fair share" by the more than half the people who don't pay any income taxes at all.


Thanks to Special Agent LUNAR SPOOK for this sublime philosophy . . .

- STORMBRINGER SENDS


Sunday, July 29, 2012

I REMEMBER THE MUNICH OLYMPICS

by Sean Linnane
























I remember looking at the image of Palestinian terrorists in the Munich Olympic village, on TV and on the covers of the news magazines. The Munich Olympics were supposed to be a celebration, another step further in the rehabilitation of Germany's standing as a member of the world community.

Instead we got horror. We saw the face of international terrorism, and an atrocity against humankind unfold before our very eyes.

We could barely comprehend what we were looking at. It was to the 1970s what 9/11 was to the 00's - a game-changer.

One thing we could understand, at that moment and throughout the rest of that tumoltuos decade of terrorist attacks and aircraft hijackings; even though they outnumber them a thousand-to-one, the haters of Israel could not defeat her on the battlefield. And so they turned to a captive pool of recruits - the Palestinians - to deliver cowardly attacks against unarmed noncombatants.

It was as disgraceful a tactic of war then as it is now. That the International Olympic Committee deliberately chose not to honor the memory of the Munich 11 is tantamount to siding with the terrorists.


Shame on the IOC.


Shame Shame Shame.


- STORMBRINGER SENDS


MUNICH, MEMORY and the IOC

American Power blog roundup on the IOC rejection of a moment of silence for Israel's 1972 athletes.

See: "Munich and the Politics of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)."






In the above screenshot, Limor Livnat, Israel's Minister of Culture and Sport, bows her head in silence at Friday night's opening ceremony.

And it turns out the IOC allowed the commemoration of the 7/7 attacks, but nothing for the Jews, which some say is "the worst decision of the Opening Ceremony."

NBC didn't even play the 7/7 terrorism tribute on U.S. television, perhaps attempting to avoid the controversy, but click through for the video clip.


Saturday, July 28, 2012

THE LEFT-LEANING LAMESTREAM MEDIA WILL PROBABLY IGNORE THIS

Gun carrying man ends stabbing spree at Salt Lake grocery store

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith's store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon. Smith's employee Dorothy Espinoza says, "He pulled it out and stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and yelling you killed my people. You killed my people."

Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. "There is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms."

Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. "A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith's grabbed him.




I'd have killed the worthless bastard, save the taxpayers the price of a trial and incarceration, but maybe that's just me.

- -STORMBRINGER SENDS

Friday, July 27, 2012

SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER KIA AFGHANISTAN



Tue Jul 24, 2012
Fort Bragg Special Forces soldier Staff Sgt. Brandon R. Pepper dies in Afghanistan

When I met this young man, Pepper was coming into the "Q" Course, I was on my way out of the Army and trying to figure out what to do with the next part of my life. Of course the joke was he was one half of the salt-and-pepper team, because his running partner was black. KIA'd on his first deployment as a Green Beret - Pepper is in Valhalla now.


“Respect”


- STORMBRINGER SENDS


Thursday, July 26, 2012

RUMOR CONTROL . . .

Forgive me Team - I just got off the plane Sunday night and I'm still playing catch up. - S.L.

Political-hack-impersonating-a-journalist George Snuffalumpagus

The morning after the mass shooting in the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado during a screening of the new Batman movie, ABC News' Brian Ross and George Stephanopoulos suggested a Tea Party connection

This is right on cue with the LIberal script: the Left-Leaning Lamestream Media attempted to blame the Tea Party for the Tuscon shootings in January 2011, shortly after Republicans swept the midterm elections. Now, in the critical 2012 elections, the Lamestream atempts the same thing - with ABC News leading the way.

Really? Really? Is that the best you got? Pathetic.



Why Am I Not Surprised? Dept:

Looks like Aurora theater shooter guy may have have some associations with the Occupy Movement. Here's a link to the Denver Post


. . . The Batman movie portrays the OWS crowd . . . the new Batman movie featured the villain as an Occupy Wall Street type . . .


James Holmes has a YouTube video supporting Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Anarchists in San Fran Post Video of Themselves Smashing Windows & Causing Mass Destruction

". . . Occupy Wall Street’s mainstream defenders are trying desperately to distance themselves from the “Black Bloc” anarchists who by now have grown to become one of the largest, if not the largest, group comprising the Occupy movement. Without the anarchist Occupiers (such as the ones shown here) the movement would quickly disintegrate from lack of participants.

The problem for Occupy’s apologists is that this major sector of the movement has transformed into a fascist street gang, and have no intention of “toning things down.” Anyone who thinks that they are substantially different from the Brown Shirts terrorizing Munich in the early ’20s is fooling themselves. Heck the SA logo is even almost identical to the Black Bloc’s logo . . ."




"That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

- STORMBRINGER SENDS



Wednesday, July 25, 2012

"Mitt Romney Did Save My Daughter . . . "



"In July 1996, the 14-year-old daughter of Robert Gay, a partner at Bain Capital, had disappeared," the story reads. "She had attended a rave party in New York City and gotten high on ecstasy. Three days later, her distraught father had no idea where she was. Romney took immediate action. He closed down the entire firm and asked all 30 partners and employees to fly to New York to help find Gay’s daughter. Romney set up a command center at the LaGuardia Marriott and hired a private detective firm to assist with the search. He established a toll-free number for tips, coordinating the effort with the NYPD, and went through his Rolodex and called everyone Bain did business with in New York and asked them to help find his friend’s missing daughter. Romney’s accountants at Price Waterhouse Cooper put up posters on street poles, while cashiers at a pharmacy owned by Bain put fliers in the bag of every shopper. Romney and the other Bain employees scoured every part of New York and talked with everyone they could – prostitutes, drug addicts – anyone.

"That day, their hunt made the evening news, which featured photos of the girl and the Bain employees searching for her. As a result, a teenage boy phoned in, asked if there was a reward, and then hung up abruptly. The NYPD traced the call to a home in New Jersey, where they found the girl in the basement, shivering and experiencing withdrawal symptoms from a massive ecstasy dose. Doctors later said the girl might not have survived another day. Romney’s former partner credits Mitt Romney with saving his daughter’s life, saying, ‘It was the most amazing thing, and I’ll never forget this to the day I die.’

"So, here’s my epiphany: Mitt Romney simply can’t help himself. He sees a problem, and his mind immediately sets to work solving it, sometimes consciously, and sometimes not-so-consciously. He doesn’t do it for self-aggrandizement or for personal gain. He does it because that’s just how he’s wired."


The Bain Knight Rises to Defeat the Bane of Capitalism:




Tuesday, July 24, 2012

THIS IS AN ACT . . .



I have advanced training & experience in interview & interrogation skills, and I'm here to tell you this is an act, and I'll tell you why:

The perpetrators' demeanor is unnatural, almost as if he's in a trance, or a drug induced stupor. Well it's easy enough to determine whether or not he's under the influence of drugs, and he's not THAT glassy-eyed to be in a trance.

It is possible that he is overwhelmed with the enormity of what he has done - if this is the case his reaction is unique amongst mass-shooters we have seen in recent years. More likely Holmes is trying to evade responsibility for his actions. He's making a play for the insanity route, and that will be a hard sell, and I'll tell you why:

First of all, there was no way he could have acquired the tools, weapons, ammo and improvised explosives for his mass shooting / IED-laden apartment in a trance. Sure, this guy is an absolute sociopath but so are lots of criminals and the crazy route never worked for them either. Holme's plot required a lot of deliberate thought, planning and skills to engineer and pull off. This plot was not the work of a non compis mentis candidate.

The only way this ploy will work as a defense is if the judge lets him get away with it. I suggest that judge take control of his courtroom and call this idiot on his act - possibly use electronic surveillance of the suspect to challenge and confront his behavior. This case is too important to let this clown act hijack it for his own personal egomaniacal entertainment.


STORMBRINGER SENDS

SOMETHING's UP WITH BLOGGER TODAY . . .

It's not letting me post pictures . . . as you all know Blog STORMBRINGER is driven by imagery so for today I'll paint you a word picture:


Paris, 21 July 2012


After paying my respects at Napoleon's Tomb, I inspected the incredible collection of arms in Les Invalides - which is the complex housing the cathedral in which Napoleon & several other heroes are entombed, the monument to all of France's military, and the home for Les Anciennes (disabled military veterans).

At the ticket counter I asked if there was a military discount (I always ask) and was told "only in uniform". Then I told the girl, "Mais, je suis un Ancienne," and showed her my blue ID card. Viola- instant multipass throughout the entire complex - gratis.

This is the third time I have received such treatment at the hands of the French. The first time was in a small Norman village - Ste Mere Eglise - where I was not allowed to pay for a drink for three days; the second time was at a cafe in the part of Paris where I hang out, when my credentials became known and dinner was on the house. The waiter pointed to the landlord and uttered one word: "Respect"

The collection at Les Invalides includes weapons from the Stone Age to the Space Age, suits of armor for almost every king of France, most notable Dukes and Marechals and a ton of ordinary knights. An impressive array of artifacts from the Napoleonic era - everything in remarkable condition and historical information was displayed in a logical and easy-to-digest format. I filled in the gaps of a lot of my knowledge of history, the Napoleonic era especially.

Yes, their record or recent times is ridden with scandal but there was an epoch when the French KICKED ASS all over Europe and all over the world. In fact, until an episode known as the Seven Years War (we know it as the French & Indian War) the French were THE Superpower in their day, and if it wasn't for the actions of a certain Captain George Washington (these acts would be called 'war crimes' in this day & age) we'd be having this conversation . . . in French!

Stereotypes aside, the French are an incredibly war-like race. They gave us the metric system, the five-paragraph op order format, the military mercador grid reference system, military time, modern artillery and the bayonet. Consider their activity post-WWII to this day; almost continual military adventuring. Compare this to the Germans, who despite their heroic reputation are the most effeminate race in modern Europe and the ONLY people THEY ever beat in a war are . . . the French!

At the height of recent Franco-U.S. angst, my personal boycott of all things French never extended to their women or their wines. Regarding their women, as a lifelong sufferer of "yellow fever" (there is no known cure) there is nothing hotter than a French-speaking Oriental and of course feminine shaving is not even a consideration - everybody knows that Oriental women are not only completely smooth, they are double- and triple- jointed and are raised from birth to service & pleasure the Alpha-male members of the warrior class.

Like my favorite half-American, Winston Churchill; I am a Francophile as well as an Anglophile. My open-mindedness does not extend to accordion music however - I nearly threw an accordian off a train the other day (WITH the Mime still attached).

Myself, it wasn't exactly For Whom the Bell Tolls when I went through my Channelling Ernest Hemingway moment but ... wandering around my little corner of Paris last night it occurred to me how -IF- I hadn't been married w/family; after military retirement I very well could've ended up here in Paris cooling my heels between gigs in the Sandpile and down south in the Dark Continent. The place IS restful and its quite possible to be a Big Fish in a small pond here.


"Vive la vie, et vive le guerre, et vive la vie de la mercenaire!"


STORMBRINGER SENDS




Saturday, July 21, 2012

NICE WORK, TSA . . .

Look what made it through the security x-ray machines at Philadelphia International Airport . . . AND the x-ray machines at St. Pancras, London (terminal for the Chunnel train to Paris) . . . ! ! !

I NEVER LIKED BATMAN . . .

. . . especially after Heath Ledger's disturbing interpretation of Joker . . .

It doesn't take a genius to see that nothing good would come of THIS insanity.


And now this latest madness . . .

'Dark Knight' shooter told cops he "was the Joker . . ."


. . . and right on cue it doesn't take long for liberals to use this tragic incident to call for gun controls:

CNN’s Piers Morgan reacts to theater shooting: ‘America has got to do something about its gun laws’

Oh yeah, Pier? Well how come you liberals in the media never call for any kind of sanity checks or controls on Hollywood's glorification of violence? Everybody knows the pen is mightier than the sword, right? The talking heads of the Left-Leaning Lamestream Media who-never-had-an-original-thought-in-their-entire-lives never for a nano-second suggest we put a clamp on their sacred Freedom of Speech - Hollywood can pump all the filth and corruption it wants into the pliable minds of young people and thats all right. They never, ever look at Evil and question what inspired this madness.

Anyway, Piers - who the EFF asked YOU??? You're a foreigner - where the Hell do you get off suggesting we do a DAMN thing? I tell you what, Piers (what kind of name is that anyway?) if you don't like it here: LEAVE.


Evil Begets Evil

The Batman film franchise has glorified weirdness and evil since its first iteration, back in '89. Now they roll out this latest freak bad guy:

This is nothing less than propaganda to inspire would-be wannabe terrorist/criminal masterminds.


Unfortunately for Piers Morgan and all the rest of the liberals, we have this little thing in the United States called the Bill of Rights - which codifies our God-given right to arm arouselves against lunatics like this:







Jared Lee Loughner - the grinning idiot monster of the January 2011 shooting spree that seriously injured Arizona Congresswoman Giffords, 11 others and killed six.







Message to Piers Morgan:

Dis-arming America will never work and anybody who's asking for it lives in a liberal fantasy land. All gun control will ever achieve is to dis-arm law-abiding citizens. Go ahead and call for this, Piers; in fact, we've got a national election going on - why don't we have Obama get out there and call for 100% gun control and the dis-arming of America? He'll never do it, and you know why? Because this would be a sure-fire way to hand the Presidency AND Congress over to the Republicans.

Does it ever occur to you bleeding heart media darlings that the single largest supplier of military-style assault weapons to North American organized crime is the Obama Justice Department? When challenged on this, Obama refuses to provide any paperwork that may state otherwise.

I've got a better idea - why don't we adopt the Israeli model? They have a country full of potential terrorists, surrounded by terrorists and enemies, and yet they don't have mass shootings. How come the media can never connect the dots on this? If every able-bodied male of military age was required by law to be armed and trained how to use firearms, I guarantee you this mass-shooting phenomenon would grind to a halt.


Another smirking idiot self-starter terrorist; an active-duty officer in the US Army, Hasan had 'Soldier of Allah' on his business card.


Major Hasan was able to wander into his workplace at Fort Hood, kill 13 people and wound 29 others - before the MPs could arrive at the scene and return fire. It may amaze the general public to learn that U.S. Army soldiers are not allowed to carry weapons around on base. This is not the case in Israel, where people carry at all times, on and off duty, and are trained in weapons safety and basic marksmanship.


STORMBRINGER SENDS

Friday, July 20, 2012

THE TERRIFYING BACKGROUND OF THE MAN WHO RAN A CIA ASSASSINATION UNIT

A federal investigation alleged Enrique Prado's involvement in seven murders, yet he was in charge when America outsourced covert killing to a private company.




It was one of the biggest secrets of the post-9/11 era: soon after the attacks, President Bush gave the CIA permission to create a top secret assassination unit to find and kill Al Qaeda operatives. The program was kept from Congress for seven years. And when Leon Panetta told legislators about it in 2009, he revealed that the CIA had hired the private security firm Blackwater to help run it. "The move was historic," says Evan Wright, the two-time National Magazine Award-winning journalist who wrote Generation Kill. "It seems to have marked the first time the U.S. government outsourced a covert assassination service to private enterprise."




The quote is from his e-book How to Get Away With Murder in America, which goes on to note that "in the past, the CIA was subject to oversight, however tenuous, from the President and Congress," but that "President Bush's 2001 executive order severed this line by transferring to the CIA his unique authority to approve assassinations. By removing himself from the decision-making cycle, the president shielded himself -- and all elected authority -- from responsibility should a mission go wrong or be found illegal. When the CIA transferred the assassination unit to Blackwater, it continued the trend. CIA officers would no longer participate in the agency's most violent operations, or witness them. If it practiced any oversight at all, the CIA would rely on Blackwater's self-reporting about missions it conducted. Running operations through Blackwater gave the CIA the power to have people abducted, or killed, with no one in the government being exactly responsible." None of this is new information, though I imagine that many people reading this item are hearing about it for the first time.

Read the complete bizarre story HERE


I do not share the author's sense of outrage here. I'd like to go on the record here as saying I personally have no problem with this program; this is NOT the first time the United States Government has "outsourced" warfighting and killing to private contractors. Apparently this author has no sense of history, and is not aware of the privateer fleet of the years leading up to the War of 1812, the role of Jean Lafitte the Pirate in defeating the British Army at the Battle of New Orleans, or perhaps the fabled history of the Flying Tigers. Conflict is a constant of the human condition, war is fluid, and to even attempt to constrain ourselves to a set of rules when our enemies operate with impunity across the wide spectrum of war is nothing short of folly. War is simple, brutal and direct; Patton

- STORMBRINGER SENDS


Thursday, July 19, 2012

WHY FOREIGNERS MAKE BETTER SOLDIERS

From StrategyPage.com sent in by SturmBringener Lunar Spook




In the United States the non-citizens of prime military age (18-29) make up about 2.2 percent of the U.S. population, but 4 percent of military personnel. There are about 1.2 million non-citizens who are physically, mentally, and psychologically fit to serve in the military. These men and women are particularly attractive to the military because they tend to work harder, have fewer disciplinary problems, and often possess language skills and cultural knowledge that the military needs. But a major reason non-citizens are over-represented in the military is that it's an ancient tradition for a newcomer to gain membership in the tribe/kingdom/country via performing some dangerous service to gain acceptance.

In the last decade the U.S. military has enlisted some 70,000 non-citizens, about five percent of all recruits. The foreign recruits are tossed out during their first three months of service at half the rate of their citizen counterparts. After three years of service 72 percent of citizens were still in uniform, compared to 84 percent of non-citizen troops. The foreign troops are more patriotic and work harder than their citizen counterparts. Non-citizen troops have another incentive, as they can apply for citizenship sooner because of their military service. Any foreign recruit forced out for medical reasons (because of combat or non-combat injuries) can still obtain citizenship more quickly. Most foreign troops obtain citizenship as soon as they can while in the military because many jobs require a security clearance and only citizens can get one of those.

In the last decade some senior American officers urged the recruitment of more foreigners. Not just non-citizens with green cards but foreigners who are not residents of the United States. This brought forth protests from those opposed to, well, whatever. Historically, the American military has usually had more foreigners in the ranks than it does now. During the American Civil War about twenty percent of the Union Army was foreign born troops.


The Irish Brigade reporting for duty, Gettysburg July 1863


There were entire divisions of Irish, Germans, or Scandinavians. For the rest of the 20th century the all-volunteer military continued to have a higher (than today) percentage of foreigners. Recruiting foreigners enabled the army to get more enthusiastic and capable recruits. Naturally they would have to speak acceptable English, just as resident foreigners in the United States or citizens from Puerto Rico must. The American military pay and benefits are competitive with U.S. civilian occupations but to most foreigners these pay levels are astronomical. The risk is low, as only about one in a thousand foreign born volunteers died in Iraq or Afghanistan. All that and you get to become a citizen of the United States after your four year enlistment is up. The only question was which line would be longer at American embassies, the one for visas or the one for military recruiting?

The United States is not alone in this acceptance of foreigners in the military. Take, for example, Britain. Two centuries ago Nepalese Gurkhas were first recruited into the British Indian army and then the British army. After India became independent in 1947, they too recruited Gurkhas for Indian infantry units. But service in the British army was considered a better deal. Britain has long recruited foreigners into its army and navy because there has always been a shortage of British citizens willing to serve.




Then there is the French Foreign Legion, which is supposed to be nothing but foreigners (except for the officers). But many French join, claiming to be from the French speaking parts of Belgium. No matter, if otherwise qualified the "Belgians" are signed up. In Italy, the Vatican (a small part of Rome that is an independent country controlled by the Roman Catholic Church) gets most of its security forces from Catholic areas of Switzerland.


This is the Swiss Guard.

While the French Foreign Legion dates from the 19th century, the Swiss have been serving as foreign mercenaries since the 15th century. But these contingents disappeared as better economic opportunities developed in Switzerland and mercenaries became less popular. Many other nations have successfully used foreigners in their armed forces. Not mercenaries but foreigners willing and able to serve next to the native born. It still works.




During my time in the U.S. Army, I served beside soldiers from all over Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East - to include Israel, Iran and the Arab countries. Just like the mercenaries of Ancient Rome, we earned our citizenship through military service to the Empire.

When I enlisted in the United States Army I held Australian citizenship, and technically I still do. However after taking my Oath of United States citizenship in May, 1986, I never renewed my Australian passport on the premise that I felt obligated to my new country, the country subsequently served for twenty-five years.

I still consider myself an Australian by birth, of course, and it has been suggested that I renew my Australian passport. In fact I was recenetly informed that I may be eligible for British citizenship, on account of my father's nationality, and I am exploring the possibility of acquiring a British passport.

In my post-military life as a privateer, however, I see no conflict of interest in holding the papers of three nations; especially considering the close relationship that exists between the United States and the British Commonwealth. To me, this simply enhances my versatility as a professional private soldier. My primary loyalty is to the United States, of course.

- STORMBRINGER SENDS




Wednesday, July 18, 2012

ARGUING WITH LIBERALS . . .

Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a flock of pigeons; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeons are just going to knock over all the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like they are victorious . . .



- STORMBRINGER SENDS

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

LET MY PEOPLE GO

New Zealand oil spill penguins released back into the sea.

Wildlife rescuers release penguins that were caught up in the oil slick from a stricken vessel that was grounded on a reef off the northern coast of New Zealand in October.





These are the same kind of penguin's I described having watched from the beach at the end of the street where I lived as a very young child.

I guess most people, when they think of Australia, imagine kangaroos & koala bears. It always blows people's minds when I tell them about the penguins.


- STORMBRINGER SENDS

SWEET CHILD IN TIME

Deep Purple's Jon Lord dies age 71



Jon Lord - co-founder and keyboard player of metal pioneers Deep Purple - passed has passed beyond the Great Divide today, July 16th 2012

Jon - the father of the after suffering a pulmonary embolism. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer and was surrounded by his family at the London Clinic.

Lord founded Deep Purple in 1968, and along with drummer Ian Paice was a constant in the band during their existence from 1968 to 1976. He co-wrote many of the band's ballads, including the seminal 'Smoke On The Water' and was responsible for the legendary organ riff on 'Child In Time'.

He remained with the band when they reformed in 1984, until his retirement in 2002.

A statement on his website reads simply: "Jon passes from Darkness to Light".

"Jon was surrounded by his loving family," the statement added.





I worshipped this band . . . their legendary ballads inspire me in my warrior exploits to this day . . . they are the original Iron Vikings from Hell heavy metal rock band . . . today my heart is sad . . .

- STORMBRINGER SENDS



Monday, July 16, 2012

ON THE ROAD AGAIN


Yesterday I stood in front of a glass case at the Imperial War Museum here in London and looked at this famous Brough S100 motorcyle - one of many owned by T.E. Lawrence - of Arabia fame - in fact this is the bike he was riding the day he was killed in an accident. Britain lost a great soldier the day T.E. was run off the road.

No I am not in town for the Olympics, it's just a pitstop enroute to bigger and better things.

The Imperial War Museum has an incredible collection of artifacts from the First World War onward - to include interesting displays with video presentations of Secret War - Mi5, Mi6 and the Special Forces, a very intense Holocaust section with an exhaustive presentation of how the Nazis arrived at the Final Solution, and a though-provoking film on the phenomenon of genocide. It is pointed out that of the millions who died in the First World War, only 10% of those were civilians; yet by the end of the 20th century, that proportion of war casualties had reversed.

There was a good study of the Blitz which includes a huge map detailing the German bombing damage to South London (where I stay when I am in town) to include the V-1 & V-2 rocket strikes of later in the war. I have often looked at the city blocks around here and tried to imagine what it was like, the destruction.


Walking through the streets of London, one sees row upon row of older type buildings (above) interspersed with modern cube-like construction (below) - I imagine after the war they were being thrown up as rapidly as possible, to clean up the terrible aftermath of destruction.


More later - I've got to get out the door to work. Peace, Out -


STORMBRINGER SENDS





Saturday, July 14, 2012

UPSIDE-DOWN LAND



You know you live in an Upside-down Land if...
A Muslim officer crying "Allah Akbar" while shooting up an army base is considered to have committed "Workplace Violence" while an American citizen boasting a Ron Paul bumper sticker is classified as a "Domestic Terrorist".


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
You can get arrested for expired tags on your car but not for being in the country illegally.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more of our money.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
A seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for calling his teacher "cute" but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
The Supreme Court of the United States can rule that lower courts cannot display the 10 Commandments in their courtroom, while sitting in front of a display of the 10 Commandments.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Children are forcibly removed from parents who appropriately discipline them while children of "underprivileged" drug addicts are left to rot in filth infested cesspools.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Working class Americans pay for their own health care (and the health care of everyone else) while unmarried women are free to have child after child on the "State's" dime while never being held responsible for their own choices.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Hard work and success are rewarded with higher taxes and government intrusion, while slothful, lazy behavior is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid and subsidized housing.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
The government's plan for getting people back to work is to provide 99 weeks of unemployment checks (to not work).


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Being self-sufficient is considered a threat to the government.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Politicians think that stripping away the amendments to the constitution is really protecting the rights of the people.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
The rights of the Government come before the rights of the individual.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Parents believe the State is responsible for providing for their children.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
You can write a post like this just by reading the news headlines.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
You pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor defaults on his mortgage (while buying iphones, TV's and new cars) and the government forgives his debt and reduces his mortgage (with your tax dollars).


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Your government can add anything they want to your kid's water (fluoride, chlorine, etc.) but you are not allowed to give them raw milk.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
Being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you "safe".


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
You have to have your parents signature to go on a school field trip but not to get an abortion.


You know you live in an Upside-down Land if....
An 80 year old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a Muslim woman in a burqa is only subject to having her neck and head searched.


THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST READ WHEN YOU VOTE ! ! !



STORMBRINGER SENDS

Friday, July 13, 2012

SURVIVAL TRAINING

The key word here is SURVIVAL. Most people think you need a .30 cal hunting rifle or a shotgun with a slug barrel to bag an elk or a kodiak bear. This is actually a flawed thought process- the start point is to develop a proper survival mindset. All you actually need to survive in any environment is your mind, but for the purposes of this exercise we're going to drop you out there in the Alaskan wilderness with a razor sharp hunting knife and a bag of salt.

That's it - just a hunting knife and a bag of salt. Nothing else - not even rucksack, canteen, sleeping bag, boots, clothes, nothing. All that's stuff's a crutch, and besides, with the hunting knife you can make anything you need.




The first logical step is to get some leaves to cover yourself so your junk isn't out there swinging in the breeze - I mean, you don't want people laughing at you while you go about the serious business of surviving. Leaves will have to cut it for now, but of course you're going to need animal skins - preferably with fur - and you're going to need them fast because it gets cold in Alaska, even in the summertime.

To take an elk, use the knife to fashion a six foot staff and use cordage to bind the hunting knife to the staff as a speartip. Then, you lay out your bag of salt as a deerlick to attract elk. When elk come, you jump out and spear one. If they all bolt, you give chase. We humans, with sweat glands, have built-in cooling and as such we can run continually without tiring. Deer or elk on the other hand will overheat, eventually they will tire, lay down for a rest and probably have a heart attack. At that time you can jump out and let them have it and finish them off with your spear.


H-e-e-e-y all we're talking about here is Bambi, right?


Then you take the salt and use it with the brains of the animal to tan the hide. First order of business is to fashion a loincloth for yourself, and some rudimentary moccasins. Also use the leather to create thongs for your woman - put these aside you will use them later.




In the meantime, refresh yourself on some tasty elk steaks; you'll need your strength for the next part. You may consider rubbing urine from the elk's bladder or musk glands all over your body to mask your scent, because next we're going bear hunting. The urine and the musk glands have the dual purpose of making you irrisitable to women, which is good because you're going to require maximum charisma annd extraordinary powers of persuasion to get your woman to cooperate for this next phase:


Using the spear/knife as a digging stick, dig a DEEP pit - about 10'x10'x20' deep at least. Cover the pit with twigs and leaves. Now you're going to need some kodiak bear bait - salt won't cut it; this is going to take some teamwork. Wait until your woman is having her monthly time, then use the leather thongs to tie her spreadeagled over the leaves. She will have to be naked of course, this goes without saying. Then go hide behind a tree or a rock or something and wait. When the kodiak comes sniffing around because he smells that fresh ripe red snapper and he goes for it, he's going to fall through the leaves and the fall will probably knock him out.


How hard can it be? I mean, we're talking about a relative of the Koala bear, right?


The rest is easy; you drop down onto the kodiak bear from above and let him have it with your knife. If during this critical phase you drop the knife no problem; when the bear does that huge roar thing, you shove your entire arm ALL THE WAY DOWN the animals throat, reach all the way down and grab his *sshole from the inside and pull the bear inside out.

That's all it takes - simple when you think about it, really. Who needs guns?

What are your questions?


- STORMBRINGER SENDS

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

UN ARMS TREATY TARGETS U.S. GUN OWNERS

“It cheapens our rights as American citizens, and weakens our sovereignty.”
- Wayne LaPierre, National Rifle Association





A treaty being hammered out this month at the United Nations -- with Iran playing a key role -- could expose the records of America's gun owners to foreign governments -- and, critics warn, eventually put the Second Amendment on global trial.

International talks in New York are going on throughout July on the final wording of the so-called Arms Trade Treaty, which supporters such as Amnesty International USA say would rein in unregulated weapons that kill an estimated 1,500 people daily around the world. But critics, including the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre, warn the treaty would mark a major step toward the eventual erosion of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment gun-ownership rights.

Americans “just don’t want the UN to be acting as a global nanny with a global permission slip stating whether they can own a gun or not,” LaPierre said. “It cheapens our rights as American citizens, and weakens our sovereignty,” he warned in an exclusive interview with FoxNews.com


Read the rest of it HERE


NRA ALL IN 2012

Our Second Amendment rights have been attacked for four long years. In four more, they could disappear entirely. This election year, the NRA is rallying gun owners to go ALL IN for the freedom. Are you ALL IN? www.FirearmsFuture.com


Get Over It! We Are Not All Created Equal

Women can conduct and lead combat operations; that is not the issue - photo by Capt Katie Petronio


Marine Corps Gazette | July 3, 2012 | Capt. Katie Petronio

The Marine Corps Times recently published a handful of articles in regard to opening Infantry Officer Course (IOC) to females and the possibility of integrating women into the infantry community. In mid-April the Commandant directed the “integration” of the first wave of female officers into IOC this summer following completion of The Basic School (TBS). This action may or may not pave the way for female Marines to serve in the infantry as the results remain to be seen. However, before the Marine Corps moves forward with this concept, should we not ask the hard questions and gain opinions of combat-experienced Marines (male and female alike) as to the purpose, the impact, and the gains from such a move? As a combat-experienced Marine officer, and a female, I am here to tell you that we are not all created equal, and attempting to place females in the infantry will not improve the Marine Corps as the Nation’s force-in-readiness or improve our national security.


As a company grade 1302 combat engineer officer with 5 years of active service and two combat deployments, one to Iraq and the other to Afghanistan, I was able to participate in and lead numerous combat operations. In Iraq as the II MEF Director, Lioness Program, I served as a subject matter expert for II MEF, assisting regimental and battalion commanders on ways to integrate female Marines into combat operations. I primarily focused on expanding the mission of the Lioness Program from searching females to engaging local nationals and information gathering, broadening the ways females were being used in a wide variety of combat operations from census patrols to raids. In Afghanistan I deployed as a 1302 and led a combat engineer platoon in direct support of Regimental Combat Team 8, specifically operating out of the Upper Sangin Valley. My platoon operated for months at a time, constructing patrol bases (PBs) in support of 3d Battalion, 5th Marines; 1st Battalion, 5th Marines; 2d Reconnaissance Battalion; and 3d Battalion, 4th Marines. This combat experience, in particular, compelled me to raise concern over the direction and overall reasoning behind opening the 03XX field.


Who is driving this agenda? I am not personally hearing female Marines, enlisted or officer, pounding on the doors of Congress claiming that their inability to serve in the infantry violates their right to equality. Shockingly, this isn’t even a congressional agenda. This issue is being pushed by several groups, one of which is a small committee of civilians appointed by the Secretary of Defense called the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service (DACOWITS). Their mission is to advise the Department of Defense (DoD) on recommendations, as well as matters of policy, pertaining to the well-being of women in the Armed Services from recruiting to employment. Members are selected based on their prior military experience or experience with women’s workforce issues. I certainly applaud and appreciate DACOWITS’ mission; however, as it pertains to the issue of women in the infantry, it’s very surprising to see that none of the committee members are on active duty or have any recent combat or relevant operational experience relating to the issue they are attempting to change. I say this because, at the end of the day, it’s the active duty servicemember who will ultimately deal with the results of their initiatives, not those on the outside looking in. As of now, the Marine Corps hasn’t been directed to integrate, but perhaps the Corps is anticipating the inevitable—DoD pressuring the Corps to comply with DACOWITS’ agenda as the Army has already “rogered up” to full integration. Regardless of what the Army decides to do, it’s critical to emphasize that we are not the Army; our operational speed and tempo, along with our overall mission as the Nation’s amphibious force-in-readiness, are fundamentally different than that of our sister Service. By no means is this distinction intended as disrespectful to our incredible Army. My main point is simply to state that the Marine Corps and the Army are different; even if the Army ultimately does fully integrate all military occupational fields, that doesn’t mean the Corps should follow suit.


(Sorry about the Obama ad embedded in that video, folks; I don't drive the ads or their content. In this case CNN is the culprit ... that's OK if you're reading this blog then you already know this election isn't about who we elect it's about who we beat: "BHO HAS GOT TO GO!") - STORMBRINGER SENDS



Tuesday, July 10, 2012

YOU ASKED - I ANSWERED

Sean - I have an old school chum from my youth who grew up to become an Air Force General (Ret). My question to him is the some I raise with you. Would active US military obey what they might deem unconstitutional and likely dictatorial Executive Orders or would they stand down and refuse?

Thanks - A.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hey Buddy -

Regarding your question - it is one I have struggled with - I will answer with an anecdote;

I came back to the United States in September of 1992. The Rodney King riots had taken place about six months earlier; over in Okinawa we were VERY aware of how the Korean residents of Los Angeles had been targeted by the black mobs, and how they chose to defend their businesses and themselves with rifles and shotguns against raging mobs. I remember having lunch with a respected member of the SF Okinawa "mafia" - we had just concluded a (LEGAL) arms deal in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant and burritos y cerveza were the logical next step. I remember sitting across from J.D. and saying, "What the hell HAPPENED to this place?" meaning of course the USA. He replied, "You see it too?"

Around the same time there was a lot of desparate talk of revolution & civil strife - Clinton had just been elected and HillaryCare and the assault rifle ban were on the table. I had to get my head straight about what I would ever say if armed interlopers came to my house and put me to the question, "Are you with us or against us?"

Of course, such a scenario never emerged - and the lesson is it will never emerge until people's families and livelihoods are directly threatened.

In the years following I moved up throught the military infrastructure and saw for myself the mindset of the colonels and generals who put into operation our national security policies. These men are thoroughly schooled in the Constitution - they are for the most part Conservatives but that does not matter - they are not radicals, they are not extremists, they are not revolutionaries. The US military prides itself on not being a banana republic operation. The men who own and operate the US military are not stupid and they are not lawyers, either. Any policy or guidance that comes down the pike regarding turning muzzles on civilians is going to be looked at long and hard with a jaundiced eye. Kent State was an anomaly not a pattern.



May 4th, 1970; a student protest at Kent State University against the Vietnam war. The Ohio National Guard were called in to control the protesters. At about 12:24 pm, Sgt. Myron Pryor began firing his pistol at the students. The other troops began firing their riffles. It is estimated that the shooting lasted about 13 seconds and that 67 rounds were fired. Four students were killed; ten others were wounded.



We have a system of checks and balances - one of the themes I was reminded of from day one in the Army is that the civilians are in charge. It was pointed out that the commanding officer could not tell us how to vote, what movies to watch, what newspapers to read - nothing. Bill of Rights protections were in full force, and we could not move amongst the civilian population and display our weapons. What it would take would be a total breakdown of the system of law, such as we saw in New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina.

Say what you want - that place had a total breakdown and there were looters - in this kind of circumstance you WANT the National Guard to show up with rifles. Yes it gets ugly right after that - for a historic reference look up what is referred to in the history books as RECONSTRUCTION.

Answer your question?

Cheers,
Sean

Taliban Publicly Execute Woman Near Kabul, Afghanistan

CONTENT WARNING: This is the real deal.



from Donald Douglas - posted at Theo Spark

A lot of the clips I've seen have been edited, but here's the original language video out of Afghanistan. The tribesman are seen handing a Kalashnikov to the man, who then takes two shots and misses, and then drills the women in the back of the head on the third. Her body whips back and she falls to the ground. The man keeps firing. I didn't count but some say he fired nine rounds in all, with at least 100 village men cheering him on . This is the dark ages of barbarity in our very own day and age, and the Obama administration has called the Taliban a "peace partner."

See: "VIDEO: Taliban Execute Woman in Parwan Province, Afghanistan"

This is a graphic video, so don't click if you get queasy.

Monday, July 9, 2012

For My Appalachian Brothers . . .

. . . that guy on the porch with the shotgun is the spitting image of my mentor the Deacon of Doom . . .




US Army Special Forces has a strong connection with the country folk of the Appalachian region - I got a formal intro to what I call the Hillbilly Ethos way back when in the Q Course, where we do our graduating exercise Robin Sage amongst the people of the fictictious country of Pineland (which of course is barely in the foothills of Appalachia) and later still when I worked amongst the country people as a survival instructor at SERE . . . the CAG runs it's selection up in the hill country of West Virginia - I've been through that land, it is sheer vertical. There are hollers out there so steep the sun doesn't clear the ridgeline until ten in the morning and slips down below at four in the afternoon, and that's in the summertime.

Deacon educated me about the strong Appalachian culture - going a couple decades back here to my time in Okinawa. Deacon showed me film called
Matewan which documents a little-known chapter of American labor history; the events of a coal mine-workers' strike and attempt to unionize in 1920 in a small town in the hills of West Virginia. The story of the Battle of Matewan is intense - regardless of your feelings about trade unions and what they've morphed into these days; to this day coal mining is all those people up in the hills have for hard cash and the union cause was all they had to fight total exploitation. How ironic it is a sycophant of the modern day unions who seeks to deny these people their source of income.

My colleague and friend Jack of Iraq a.k.a. the Atomic HillBilly comments; "There is actually a town named Appalachia in southwest Virginia, not too far from where I grew up. Interestingly enough, it is located in "Wise" County and their town motto is "Born From Coal Survives Through Spirit".

Deacon says, "I am familiar with this place, it is near the BSA camp by Moon Mountain . . ."

They are good people who live up in those hills; they have a code of hospitality, they will share with you what they've got and if you're apt to listen you will learn a lot from them - I have . . .

- STORMBRINGER SENDS


Sunday, July 8, 2012

HAPPY BROTHER's DAY

A "Brother" sent this to me - S.L.



You may have served in Combat or in non-combat. You may have retired out or you may have served for a short time. You may have been a draftee or a volunteer. You may have served in the Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard or the Merchant Marines, BUT YOU SERVED. You did not run off to England or Canada, etc.




YOU DID YOUR JOB HONORABLY and for that I am PROUD to call you Brother/Sister.


You may have served during WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Iraq or Afghanistan, But you served, you did not run. You have a DD 214 with those words "HONORABLY DISCHARGED" the two most noble words in the world.




Brother-Sister, life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forgive the ones who don't, just because you can. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands know this. If it changes your life, let it. Take a few minutes to think before you act when you're mad. Forgive quickly. God never said life would be easy, he just promised it would be worth it.




Again I am proud to know each and every one of you.




Happy Brothers' Day! To the cool men that have touched my life: Here's to you!! I was never a hero, but I am thankful I served among them. A real Brother walks with you when the rest of the world walks on you. Send to all your Band of Brothers, because the fake ones won't.




Today is Band of Brothers' Day; send this to all your brothers, fathers, sons and fellow veterans you know.

- STORMBRINGER SENDS

THE 'NAM

Fascinating photos of the early days of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict, sent to me from a friend's personal collection (Click on the images to view the original size, they are amazing) I get a poignant feeling coming through these photographs; an earlier era before the peacenik chickensh*ts and their spineless quislings in Congress betrayed the Vietnamese people by declaring the war "lost" . . . S.L.


A South Vietnamese soldier holds a cocked pistol as he questions two suspected Viet Cong guerrillas captured in a weed-filled marsh in the southern delta region late in August 1962. The prisoners were searched, bound and questioned before being marched off to join other detainees. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


A US crewman runs from a crashed CH-21 Shawnee troop helicopter near the village of Ca Mau in the southern tip of South Vietnam, Dec. 11, 1962. Two helicopters crashed without serious injuries during a government raid on the Viet Cong-infiltrated area. Both helicopters were destroyed to keep them out of enemy hands. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


In this Aug. 1962 file photo, South Vietnamese government troops from the 2nd Battalion of the 36th Infantry sleep in a U.S. Navy troop carrier on their way back to the provincial capital of Ca Mau, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


With a few salvaged belongings in the background, a Vietnamese woman carries a baby and pulls her daughter away as their home erupts in flames in July 1963. The woman and children may have been left behind so as not to slow other villagers escaping into the jungle. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


Vietnamese government troops are silhouetted against palm tree and jungle background as they cross a wooden bridge en route to the village of Ap Ba Nam, deep in southern Camau province on August 24, 1963, during a 5-day mission against Communists. The mission, which ended on August 20, was accomplished by about 4,000 government troops. The area south, east, and west of Camau province is a Viet Cong stronghold. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


As South Vietnamese troops pass by in the Ca Mau peninsula, a mother grieves over her daughter, who was badly wounded by machine gun fire from a US helicopter, the week of Sept. 15, 1963. The soldiers had landed by helicopter in response to an attack by Viet Cong guerrillas on a South Vietnamese outpost. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


South Vietnamese soldiers ride elephants across a river in the Ba Don area, about 20 miles from the Cambodian border, during a patrol in search of Viet Cong guerrillas in June 1964. In some conditions, the Hannibal-like transportation is more suited to jungle warfare than more modern vehicles. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


In this March 19, 1964 photo, one of several shot by Associated Press photographer Horst Faas which earned him the first of two Pulitzer Prizes, a father holds the body of his child as South Vietnamese Army Rangers look down from their armored vehicle. The child was killed as government forces pursued guerrillas into a village near the Cambodian border. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


In this Jan. 9, 1964 photo, a South Vietnamese soldier uses the back end of a bayonet to beat a farmer for allegedly supplying government troops with inaccurate information about the movement of Viet Cong guerrillas in a village west of Saigon, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


As the day breaks in the jungle area of Binh Gia, 40 miles east of Saigon Sept. 1, 1964 paratroopers of the first battalion airborne brigade are silhouetted at a mortar position they have manned through the night against possible night Viet Cong attack. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


As US "Eagle Flight" helicopters hover overhead, South Vietnamese troops wade through a rice paddy in Long An province during operations against Viet Cong guerrillas in the Mekong Delta, December 1964. The "Eagle Flight" choppers were loaded with Vietnamese airborne troops who were dropped in to support ground forces at the first sign of enemy contact. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


Flying low over the jungle, an A-1 Skyraider drops 500-pound bombs on a Viet Cong position below as smoke rises from a previous pass at the target, Dec. 26, 1964. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


U.S. door gunners in H-21 Shawnee gunships look for a suspected Viet Cong guerrilla who ran to a foxhole from the sampan on the Mekong Delta river bank, Jan. 17, 1964. The U.S. provided air support during a South Vietnamese offensive in the Mekong Delta. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


Hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into tree line to cover the advance of Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh on March 29, 1965, which is northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border. Combined assault routed Viet Cong guerrilla force. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)


In this January 1965 photo, the sun breaks through dense jungle foliage around the embattled town of Binh Gia, 40 miles east of Saigon, as South Vietnamese troops, joined by U.S. advisers, rest after a cold, damp and tense night of waiting in an ambush position for a Viet Cong attack that didn't come. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)