Theodore's World

This is the squadron patch Alex Raymond designed for the Marines in May 1945. He blended images of a masked (pilot’s goggles) Flash Gordon style warrior; the Marine Corps emblem; red and white uniform with a field of blue stars; the warrior with wings (probably representing the air crew); the sword as a lightning bolt (representing perhaps aircraft which strike from above) and standing on an aircraft rocket. The squadron adopted the new name ‘The Rocket Raiders’. It was listed as one of the best-designed squadron patches of World War 2.

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“U.S. Marines are the most peculiar breed of human beings I have ever witnessed. They treat service as if it was some kind of cult, plastering their emblem on almost everything they own, making themselves look like insane fanatics with haircuts to ungentlemanly lengths, worshipping their Commandant almost as if he was a god, and making weird animal noises like a gang of savages.

They’ll fight like rabid dogs at the drop of a hat just for the sake of a little action, and are the cockiest s-o-b’s I have ever known. Most have the foulest mouths and drink well beyond man’s normal limits, but their high spirits and sense of brotherhood set them apart. Generally speaking, the United States Marines I’ve come in contact with, are the most professional soldiers and the finest men and women I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a secondhand opinion. All militaries harden their recruits, instill the basics, and bend young men to their will. But the Marine Corps provides its members with a secret weapon. It gives them the unique culture of pride that makes the Marines the world’s premier warrior force.

The Navy has its ships, the Air Force has its planes, the Army its detailed doctrine, but ‘culture’, the values and assumptions that shape its members is all the Marines have. They call this culture, Esprit de Corps.

Alone among the U.S. military services, the Marines have bestowed their name on their enlisted ranks. The Army has Army Officers and soldiers, the Navy has Naval officers and sailors, the Air Force has Air Force Officers and airmen—- but the Marines have only Marines.”

General William Thornson, US Army

Wild Thing’s comment………..
Thank you Marines from this Navy Vet wife. I see where the left is continuing there attacks and protests at the Marine Corps Recruiting Centers in various places. It breaks my heart to see this happening. I wanted to find something that we seldom see patches from past wars that were used by the Marine Corps. I thought the one above was very special.

…Thank you Bob for sending this to me.

Explosive Ordinance Team (EOD) in action compilation

US Soldier Arm Wrestles Iraqi
US soldier and Iraqi have some fun arm wrestling. Honestly I was surprised at the outcome, thats one big Iraqi.

Helicopter carrying John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, Joe Biden makes emergency landing in Afghanistan
Flight Makes Emergency Landing In Afghanistan
Spokesman Says No One Injured
KETV
WASHINGTON — A helicopter carrying three senior U.S. senators made an emergency landing in Afghanistan on Thursday morning.
Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Biden and Chuck Hagel were aboard the aircraft., according to Jon Summers, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The lawmakers are on a trip this week that includes stops in India, Turkey and Pakistan.

“The helicopters transporting the Senate delegation in Afghanistan made an unscheduled landing this morning due to a snowstorm,” Hagel spokesman Jordan Stark told KETV NewsWatch 7. “There were no injuries and all members of the traveling party were safely transported to their destination at Bagram Air Base.”

“The helicopters carrying (the senators) and their aides this morning made an unscheduled landing in the mountains in Afghanistan due to ominous weather,” Kerry spokesman David Wadesaid. “After several hours, the senators were evacuated by American troops and returned overland to Bagram Air base, and left for their next scheduled stop in Ankara, Turkey.”

Earlier this week, Hagel and the others were in Pakistan to observe parliamentary elections. There had been concern about the group entering the volatile region, and that militants could launch attacks during Monday’s vote.
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UPDATE:
Senators in Emergency Landing

No one was injured, according a statement from Kerry’s office. The senators and their delegation returned to Bagram Air Base in a motor convoy, and have left for Turkey.
“After several hours, the senators were evacuated by American troops and returned overland to Bagram Air Base, and left for their next scheduled stop in Ankara, Turkey,” the Kerry statement said. “Sen. Kerry thanks the American troops, who were terrific as always and who continue to do an incredible job in Afghanistan.”
The lawmakers were on a trip this week that included stops in India, Turkey and Pakistan, where they observed the elections earlier this week.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Please use best Thurston Howell III voice: heh heh
“ Then bullets raked the fusilage. I used my body to protect everyone in the aircraft. I manned the twin 50s and returned fire. I then climbed out of the door and up to fix the rotors while they were still moving. Just like I used to do in Vietnam. Hey Biden, have I mentiomed I was in Vietnam for 3 months?”
Kennedy tried to come in to rescue them……but alas could not make it that far.

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….Thank you Lynn for the link to the story about this.

This spring, Pat Dollard’s Young Americans will air on cable television, the result of years of work. But there’s a good reason for the time it has taken: Pat Dollard is a man obsessed with reality, his reality of the war he experienced while embedded with the 3rd battalion 7th Marines in Ramadi.
WND
In an article written for Vanity Fair, Pat Dollard is excoriated as a pro-war cheerleader. Surprisingly, The New York Times also gave an unflattering portrayal of Dollard.
Despite the criticism from places both expected and not, Dollard’s Young Americans will be a make or break endeavor.
At a studio in Santa Monica, Pat and his editorial assistant Donnie “dB” Bracamontes put the final touches on the third episode in the Young American series. Critics who complain Hollywood has not accurately portrayed Iraq will need to be careful for what they wish.
Dollard trumps the pretenders by giving such an engaging view of Iraq, I found myself watching the 30-minute episode half-way out of my seat. The episode showed the Marine response to a major bombing at the Ramadi glass factory. What follows is not just a CNNesque report on raw violence, but a pulsating pictorial of the effects of terror.
The first five minutes were exhilarating and frightening. I found myself nodding my head and anticipating what was going to happen, because I had been there before.
Dollard himself makes no pretense of objectivity, his website sells “Jihad Killer” shirts and during Young Americans the audience will hear Dollard’s voice give on-the-spot editorials.

“You see, you liberals, this is what you’re supporting!”

There really is no substitute for being there, but it takes an entirely different personality to choose a place because it’s dangerous.
In 2005 and 2006, Ramadi was reputed to be the most dangerous place on the planet

“I went to Ramadi because I knew it was going to be the next Fallujah,” Pat said, referring to the 2004 Battle of Fallujah, when Marines cordoned off the city and swept through to weed out entrenched terrorists dreaming of jihad.

By the time I saw Fallujah in 2007, I met some of those Marines who helped to clear out the town nicknamed “The City of Mosques.” But even those riflemen had an eerie reverence for the violence in Ramadi.
The battles of Fallujah were extremely violent, but Ramadi was supposed to be the capital city of the al Qaida-proclaimed Islamic Republic of Iraq. Unlike Fallujah, Ramadi was the city that had kept the Marines under siege, and not the other way around.
Young American editor dB Bracamontes won a Clio Award for editing, and has worked on the trailers for major releases: Transformers, Batman Begins, I Am Legend and the list goes on. In a city where people make a lot of money pretending to be someone else Bracamontes is the real deal working behind the scenes to make so many others stand out. Although dB is accustomed to demanding directors, Dollard is obsessed.

“I knew I had to go over [to Iraq], because Hollywood would never make this film.”

It’s one thing to believe in a cause ? Dollard says he was not at all surprised by 9/11 ? it is entirely another to risk bodily harm in order to prove a point. So far, Dollard is right, Hollywood has not attempted to make an accurate film on Iraq, and Dollard has paid a high price to prove this point.

On a night patrol, Patrick Dollard and his Marine escorts were hit by an IED. Lt. Almar Fitzgerald and Cpl. Matthew Conley were killed in the violent assault. Dollard still has physical problems from that night, but speaks less of his own injuries and more of the Marines who lost their lives.
This is the mood permeating Young Americans, a blend of dread, suspense and violence mixed in with sorrow, reflection and humor. In other words, this is precisely what being in Iraq is like.

“This isn’t Dog the Bounty Hunter, this is the real thing,” Dollard said when we talked about the rush of going on night house raids in places where the participants had no intention of making speeches for the cameras.

Over half a year and 600 hours of footage in the formerly most dangerous place on earth has had a spill-over effect into how Dollard perceives the world today.

“The best of spiritual America, the spirit of America is in Iraq,” is how he describes it. Being spared when so many around him died has had a profound effect on this documentarian. “I’m a God man myself.”

A part of this literal cultural warrior still is in Ramadi. “I feel contempt for the average civilian,” Dollard says. “I can’t stand that I live in a culture, especially in Hollywood, where measure of man is self-indulgence.”

Young Americans debuts this spring on Showtime.

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Wild Thing’s comment……..
I am looking forward to seeing Young American’s. Thank you Pat for the support you have given our troops, for your blog, and for this movie, and also for your kindness. Wishing you all the best you deserve it! What Pat has done is awesome and I am sure the finished product will be the best ever.

Lou Dobbs on CNN about the Amnesty Bill

The ‘secrets’ behind this bill and how tax payors will have to foot the costs of these provisions, and the benefits that the illegal aliens will get that established US citizens dont get.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
This is a train wreck that will happen when they finish with this Amnesty Bill.
Just a thought here from me, one day in the privacy of ones home, it will be told in soft voices to the younger and future generations of our country how men and women came to this country with their heads held high obeying the immigration laws that once existed. Standing in line and giving their names to an American sitting at a table.
Beginning a new life, a better life and a chance to live in the land of the free. How seeing the Flag flying brought tears to their eyes and their heart full of pride to live in such a land like no other. And when seeing a soldier dressed in his uniform on the street was an opportunity to thank him for his sacrifice and service.
The day arriving when speaking English meant something and not a number to punch on a phone. The accomplishment of saying please and thank you in the language of the new land.
The peace in ones heart that accompanied knowing the work done and pay for an honest job to provide for yourself and your loved ones was something to be honored and respected. That those wanting a hand out were rare, and how even those having a hard time during wartime would do whatever they could to earn an honest wage.
And hyphenated only had to do with grammar and not the label of what an American was because everyone wanted to be called an American. They knew it came at a great cost to make this country what it was and to be a part of it was a dream come true.

Raining Brass
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Tyler Carroll fires an AT-4 during live-fire training, at the Udairi Range Complex in Kuwait. Marines of Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, from Camp Pendleton, Calif., are training as part of their current deployment to the Pacific and Arabian Gulf. Photo by U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Bryson K. Jones.

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Puppy Love

U.S. Army Sgt. Doug Bowyer, takes a moment to pet a puppy that a group of Iraqi children brought to show him in Al Rashid, Baghdad. Bowyer is assigned to the 318th Tactical Psychological Operations Company. Photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Greg Pierot.

Paratroopers capture Special Groups criminal leader
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO

BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers detained a Special Groups commander during an operation in Baghdad’s Sha’ab neighborhood Feb. 20.
The detainee is suspected of involvement in multiple murders and other criminal activities.
Paratroopers with 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, detained the suspect at approximately 7 p.m. after a tip on his whereabouts.
The suspect is a known Special Groups leader and financier believed to receive funding from Iran that was earmarked to support the Diyala criminal network, said Maj. Cameron Weathers, the 2nd BCT intelligence officer.
The money is typically used to pay and equip Special Groups criminals, procure vehicles and support criminal activities against innocent Iraqis.
“These criminal elements who insist on ignoring al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr’s ceasefire pledge are certainly not working in the best interest of Iraqis,” said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, MND-B spokesman. “We will continue our efforts to bring these criminals to justice.”

Stryker Soldiers capture IED cell member
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO

BAGHDAD – Soldiers with Multi-National Division – Baghdad captured a suspected key member of an improvised explosive device ring Feb. 19.
Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 14th infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, detained the suspect near the Nassir Factory, northwest of Baghdad.
The suspect is allegedly an al-Qaeda member and IED facilitator that is part of a terrorist IED ring.
He is suspected of multiple IED attacks against Coalition and Iraqi Security forces.
The suspect is being held for further questioning.

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Time for a Drink

Staff Sgt. Chuck Shuck and his K9 partner, Sgt. 1st Class Gabe, both with 178th Military Police Detachment, 20th Military Police Battalion, take a break to hydrate during a cordon and search operation in the village of Shukran, near Forward Operating Base Q-West. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Amanda Morrissey

Obama, Clinton debate tonight in Texas
AUSTIN, Texas
AP
Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton square off tonight in another debate. It’s being held in a gym at the University of Texas at Austin.
Both candidates have been crisscrossing the state in advance of the March 4th, delegate-rich Texas primary.
Obama leads in the overall hunt for delegates to next summer’s nominating convention. He’s won the last 11 state contests in a row.
The Associated Press delegate count shows Obama in front with 1,351 delegates to Clinton’s 1,262. It takes 2,025 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.
Tickets to the debate are a hot commodity in Austin. More than 43,000 Texans entered a lottery for the 100 tickets available to the public. Even the 254 Democratic county chairs took their chances on a drawing for the 100 seats reserved for them.
That is in case anyone wants to go and faint for Obama. hahahahha
Time: 8 EST on CNN
Here’s a preview of the “debate”:
clintoon: I’ll be the best president!
obama: I’ll be the best president!
clintoon: Will Not!
obama: Will Too!
clintoon: Will NOT!
obama: Will TOO!

“Barack Will Never Allow You to Go Back to Your Lives as Usual.”
Michelle Obama speech at UCLA. Transcript:

“In 2008, we are still a nation that is too divided. We live in isolation, and because of that isolation, we fear one another. We don’t know our neighbors, we don’t talk, we believe our pain is our own. We don’t realize that the struggles and challenges of all of us are the same. We are too isolated. And we are still a nation that is still too cynical. We look at it as “them” and “they” as opposed to “us”. We don’t engage because we are still too cynical. …
Americans are not in debt because they live frivolously but because someone got sick. Even with insurance, the deductibles and the premiums are so high that people are still putting medications and treatments on credit cards. And they can’t get out from under. I could go on and on, but this is how we’re living, people, in 2008.
And things have gotten progressively worse throughout my lifetime, through Democratic and Republican administrations, it hasn’t gotten better for regular folks. ….
We have lost the understanding that in a democracy, we have a mutual obligation to one another — that we cannot measure the greatness of our society by the strongest and richest of us, but we have to measure our greatness by the least of these. That we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done. That is why I am here, because Barack Obama is the only person in this who understands that. That before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation.”

“Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.”

I’m sorry, nowhere in the Constitution does it authorize the President of the United States to demand anyone shed their cynicism. And I’m all for people pushing themselves to be better, but I don’t think the President demanding it is the way to go about it.
Hugh Hewitt opens the show by playing a stunning stump speech a couple of weeks ago by First Lady hopeful, Michelle Obama. …………Michelle Obama, unplugged….CLICK HERE

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Wild Thing’s comment……..
This POS Michelle Obama and yes I mean that in the full sense of the words intended. Is one angry, wanna be dictator broad! As my husband says she looks lilke a man, well IMO she comes on like one too. God help us all when this piece of work gets in our White House with her so called messiah husband.

* Captain Ed
* Hugh Hewitt

For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk
Complete article is HERE it is several pages so I am just putting the link here for you to click on.
Basically this is it……………
Late Wednesday, the Times published to its website a story set to hit print editions Thursday, linking McCain to a female lobbyist. The paper suggested the Arizona Senator has been engaged in an illicit relationship.

“A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet,” the Times reported. “Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.”

The Times said that McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, denied the Times innuendo that they had engaged in a romantic relationship or that McCain had done favors for Iseman. The Times alleged that McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of Iseman.
Though McCain has had a reputation as an independent and maverick U.S. Senator who has championed ethic and campaign finance reform, the Times story painted a different picture.
Though last year McCain had voted to end the practice of lawmakers using private jets paid for by those lobbying Congress, the Times said McCain had used the private planes of billionaires Rupert Murdoch and Michael R. Bloomberg, as well as one of Iseman’s clients.
The paper also brings up McCain’s role in the infamous S&L scandal and his collaboration with banker Charles Keating. McCain was named a member of the so-called “Keating Five.”

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Wild Thing’s comment……..
The smearing begins, unfortunately it is part of an election process. Not only here in America but in other countries as well.
McCain has been the favored Republican of the media in his campaign, as the media ignored or attacked Hunter, Thompson and Romney. Did we really think the media liked McCain, no not unless we want to buy a bridge in some desert.
So what do we have here, some old story that may or may not be true about a man that for the most part has very little respect from conservatives as it is.
Add into this factor politics it is cut throat and messy and that is the least of it’s negatives. Selling one’s soul to the devil to get delegates and make empty promises that never were intended to be fulfilled is another.
McCain has sold his soul, so have all of them that are left in the race on both sides of the fence. I include Huckabee in this as well. He may very well be the sleaziest of all. There is a price to pay for selling one’s soul and it is not pretty.
IMO McCain’s soul was cast into Dante’s inferno when he and John Kerry deliberately hid information during the Select Senate hearings on our missing POW’s and MIA’s —THEIR FELLOW VIETNAM VETERANS—in order to normalize relations with Vietnam.
McCain took the lead in demanding a U.S. Justice Department investigation of POW/MIA families and activists accusing them of fraud because in some of their fund-raising literature they claimed the U.S. government knowingly left U.S. POWs behind after the Vietnam War and that some remain alive today.
McCain told reporters, “The people who have done these things are not zealots in a good cause. They are the most craven, most cynical and most despicable human beings to ever run a scam.”
And John McCain, a former POW in Vietnam, called an ad the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were running criticizing John Kerry’s military service “dishonest and dishonorable” . . . “I deplore this kind of politics,” McCain said. “I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable.”
Things like this come back to bite a person …..Karma!
McCain calls it a smear.
McCain: Reports on lobbyist a ‘smear’
I guess this is the next phase of our election process, so we will see what happens and buckle up because like Bette Davis said in one of her movies All About Eve …..”Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
Meanwhile, pray for America and please join me in checking out any Congressional Races in your areas. There is still something we can all do to try and keep our great country from disappearing completely as we have known and loved her.

This picture is off an AAFES (The Army & Air Force Exchange Service) calendar for this year.
It is so precious I just wanted to share it with you.
God bless our troops and keep them safe.