Theodore's World

Stars and Stripes
Sailors aboard the USS Cole, bombed by terrorists in 2000 as it refueled in Yemen, are getting their feet wet in the Mediterranean before the repaired ship returns for the first time to the Middle East since the deadly attack.
On Monday, the guided-missile destroyer entered into the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet as part of a seven-vessel expeditionary strike group, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima. Now, roughly 6,000 sailors and Marines will spend three weeks in the Mediterranean before heading to the Middle East.
While the deployment is the Cole’s second since the attack, it is the first cruise back to the Middle East since October 2000, when terrorists blew a hole in the side of the vessel and killed 17 sailors.

“I am proud to hear that [the Cole] is actually going back to the Middle East, but at the same time concerned because, as we know by history of al-Qaida, they will try again,” said Master Chief Petty Officer James Parlier, who was on the Cole when it was attacked.

The destroyer’s return “shows our enemy that we are not defeated, and the very ship they attacked is going to help defend our cause, and that is doing the right thing for Iraq and its people,” Parlier said by e-mail in Great Lakes, Ill.

While in the Med, the strike group will work with navies from Greece, France, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, officials said.

“The port visits are twofold: we have a strong desire to get the ships and their crews to good liberty port calls, but there is more of a strategic focus, and that is to build and strengthen partnerships with those countries,” said Navy Lt. Chris Servello, a 6th Fleet spokesman.

USS Cole’s Namesake Was ‘Fighting Field Musician’

It’s fitting that the man the Navy named the destroyer Cole after was wounded but rose to serve his country again and again.
Sgt. Darrell Samuel Cole enlisted in the Marine Corps on Aug. 25, 1941. Following boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., he was sent to Field Music School for training as a field music Marine, the equivalent of a bugler.
After he completed instruction, he was transferred to the 1st Marine Regiment, and on Aug. 7, 1942, he and his unit reached the shores of Guadalcanal for the first American offensive of World War II.
Cole wasn’t too happy in his role of field musician in a fighting outfit. After he proved himself by acting as a machine gunner in the absence of the regular gunner, he applied for a rating change. His request was refused, because the unit was short of buglers.
Cole completed his first tour of duty in February 1943 and returned to the United States, where he joined 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, which was then forming as a part of the 4th Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
When the unit moved to California, Cole again asked to transition from the field music rating, but his request was again denied.
During the 4th Marine Division’s first engagement at Roi-Namur in the Kwajalien Atoll, Cole, forsaking his bugle, went into action as a machine gunner.
Four months later, when the division stormed ashore at Saipan, he was not only a member of a machine-gun unit, but was a machine-gun section leader – a post awarded to him because of his proven ability as a gunner.
On Saipan, Cole’s squad leader was killed. Although he was wounded, Cole assumed command of the squad and was awarded the Bronze Star for “his resolute leadership, indomitable fighting spirit and tenacious determination in the face of terrific opposition.” He was also awarded the Purple Heart.
A few days after the battle of Saipan, Cole led his squad ashore in the invasion of the neighboring islands of Tinian, where he continued to live up to his growing reputation as “the fighting field musician.”
After the Marianas campaigns, he again requested a change of rating, and this time his request was approved. Cole was redesignated “corporal, line” and was subsequently promoted to sergeant in November 1944.
On Feb. 19, Cole led his machine-gun section ashore in the assault on Iwo Jima. Moving forward with the initial assault wave, the section’s – and the entire company’s – advances were slowed by a hail of fire from two Japanese emplacements, which Cole then personally destroyed using hand grenades.
His section continued to advance until it again was pinned down by enemy fire from three Japanese gun emplacements. One of these emplacements was silenced by Cole’s machine gun, but then the gun jammed.
Armed with only a pistol and a hand grenade, Cole made a one-man attack against the two remaining positions. Twice he returned to his own lines for additional grenades and continued the attack under fierce enemy fire until he had succeeded in destroying the Japanese strong point.
On returning to his squad, he was hit by an enemy grenade and killed instantly.
His one-man attack and self-sacrifice allowed Cole’s company to move forward against fortifications and attain its objective.

Wild Thing’s comment…..
Smooth sailing, USS Cole! I will never forget we had a spineless SOB for a President at that time when the USS Cole was attacked!

The United States Army was born out of the desire to defend liberty and proudly celebrates its 231st birthday on 14 June 2006.
Since 1775, millions have worn the uniform and lived the “Warrior Ethos.” Soldiers have always understood that the freedoms our nation guarantees are worth fighting for and America’s decision to put “boots on the ground” illustrates like no other action its continued commitment to these ideals.



From Kabul, Afghanistan, the Security Detachment Soldiers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District (AED) wish all Soldiers and Civilians throughout the Army, Happy 231st Birthday. Through our construction and reconstruction programs, AED’s Boots on the Ground are making a difference in promoting stability and security in Afghanistan and the Central Asia Republics.

This year’s theme is “Call to Duty – Boots on the Ground.”

“To all of our Soldiers around the world, our thoughts are with you and your families on this 231st Army Birthday. We are humbled by your sacrifices and awed by your achievements,” said Secretary of the Army Dr. Francis J. Harvey.

Wild Thing’s comments……
Thanks to American Soldiers, freedom’s light shines as a beacon throughout the world.
The Army has courageously fought our country’s wars and served honorably in peace for over two and a quarter centuries. We can all be justifiably proud of The Army’s achievements—a distinguished history of service to the Nation. From our victories in the American Revolution through the trial of our Civil War, from the trenches of World War I to the beaches of Normandy and the island battles in the Pacific of World War II, from the frozen mountains of Korea to the sweltering paddies of Vietnam, from Grenada and Panama to the sands of Kuwait and Iraq, and now on the plains and in the mountains of Afghanistan, Soldiers have marched at the van of democracy and the cause of liberty.
We will never be able to tell you enough how very proud we are of you. Thank you for your service, for your sacrifices, and for your abiding devotion to something greater than self. God bless each and every one of you and your families, God bless our magnificent Army, and God bless America.

I am the flag of the United States of America

I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.
There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.
My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.
Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.
My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.
My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.
My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.
My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.
I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.

I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers – the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.
I am as old as my nation.
I am a living symbol of my nation’s law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
I voice Abraham Lincoln’s philosophy: “A government of the people, by the people,for the people.”
I stand guard over my nation’s schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.
I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.
Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.
I have my own law—Public Law 829, “The Flag Code” – which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.
I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.
Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.

I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.
If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.
Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.
As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are – no more, no less.
Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.
Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: “One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.
God grant that I may spend eternity in my “land of the free and the home of the brave” and that I shall ever be known as “Old Glory,” the flag of the United States of America.

F-22 Raptor Scores Direct Hit in Testing of Supersonic, HIgh-Altitude JDAM drop
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., June 12, 2006 —
A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter, flying at a speed of Mach 1.5 and an altitude of 50,000 feet, released a GPS-aided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) from a range of 24 nautical miles, destroying a small ground target in the F-22’s fastest and highest JDAM delivery yet.
This was another milestone testing event for the Combined Test Force of Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and U.S. Air Force pilots who conducted the joint developmental and operational test in early May at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., using a 1,000-pound Mk-83 JDAM with live warhead supplied by Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.
The ability to release a munition at supersonic speeds and standoff ranges greatly enhances the aircrew’s survivability against heavily defended targets.

“We’ve already demonstrated the airplane’s ability to operate with virtual impunity in the air-to-air realm and have had many successful JDAM deliveries previously, but successfully attacking a ground target at this speed, altitude and standoff range with a live weapon shows that to be true in the air-to-ground mission as well,” said pilot Lt. Col. Raymond “Buzz” Toth following the test. “The Raptor is ready to fight and is uniquely capable of supporting Air Force and Joint Command objectives against any enemy.”

The LAR algorithm developed by this interdisciplinary team offers the robust capability of updating to the latest weapon performance without requiring a new software build,” said Paul Bay, vice president and F-22 program manager at Boeing.

“Our JDAM, Phantom Works and F-22 units each brought a specialized expertise that was essential to making the LAR integration a success.”

“The successful drop of the JDAM from the Raptor has demonstrated our Systems Engineering process throughout the design life cycle,” said John E. Paquet, director, F-22 Mission Systems and Software at Lockheed Martin. “Early in the design phase, we brought Raptor pilots to the high fidelity air combat simulator and received valuable feedback on the new JDAM LAR. We were able to quickly incorporate their feedback into the software design, and the results of that collaborative effort were evident in the recent test.”

The F-22 is capable of dominating any adversary through an unmatched combination of stealth, supercruise speed, agility and precision strike, together with a complete view of the battlespace provided by an advanced sensor suite and integrated avionics. The Raptor will enable combat commanders to change the way wars are fought over the next 40 years.
Please click HERE for complete article

Video’s
F-22
JDAM Launch Standard Motion

F-22
JDAM Launch Slow Motion

F-22
JDAM Launch – Fire Ball

 

 

Wild Thing’s comment…..
Mach 1.5…50,000 feet…bullseye! It’s called Reach out and touch someone.

I voted against Zarqawi before I voted for him.

I have a plan before I didn’t have a plan.
No. Wait.
I had a plan before I have a plan.
Uh…
First I didn’t have a plan, then I had one.
Now where did I put that thing.

Actual comment by Kerry….

“No matter how brave our soldiers are, no matter how valiant, no matter what their caring,” said US Senator John Kerry, pictured here, “Our soldiers cannot bring democracy to Iraq at the barrel of a gun.” Opposition Democrats used President George W. Bush’s secret visit to Iraq as an opportunity to renew their calls for speedy end to America’s military involvement there.

No, there is no truth to the rumor that if my plastic surgery were to ever fail, my eyebrows would be slapping against my knees! And Zarqawi was one of our best Allies, He is going to be missed by all democrats.

Actual quote…….”Have you had enough of a war that is failing to make America more secure?..Democrats will accomplish this with civility, honesty, and fiscal responsibility because on the very first day, we will pass a reform package, Honest Leadership, Open Government, to make the most corrupt, closed Congress in history into the most open and honest one. We will pass our civility package, which will turn the Congress into an arena of ideas instead of an auction house where legislation goes to the highest bidder.”

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Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Drying Out) speaks with Rep. Sam Farr (D-Moonbat) in the foreground, while Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Senile) stares at the ceiling in the background.

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Where’s an exorcist when you need one? Quick, someone bring me a drink!

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Chucky’s bride!

Ramadi, Iraq
Terrorist-infested Ramadi in the wild west of Iraq is for U.S. troops the meanest place in the country, “the graveyard of the Americans” as graffiti around town boast. There is no better place to observe American troops and the fledgling Iraqi army in combat. That’s why I came. When military public affairs asked where I wanted to be embedded, I told them, “the redder, the better” (red means hostile).
So they packed me off to Camp Corregidor in eastern Ramadi with the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). The 506th’s official motto is “Currahee,” Cherokee for “stands alone.” But they’re better known as the “Band of Brothers” – so dubbed by author Stephen Ambrose and HBO (although the term originally applied to just one company in the regiment).

Michael Fumento has exclusive coverage, with the “Band of Brothers.”

Wild Thing’s comment……
I want to thank Michael Fumento for his email to me about this and for sending me his site. Thank you Michael you are doing a great job of sharing things with us about our awesome troops.
And here is another post I did on this……In Country

Welcome Home… America’s Tribute To Vietnam Veterans
Celebrate our veterans with parades, concerts, and eight days of activity at the Welcome Home Tribute to Vietnam Veterans. This week long procession of thanks invites all who are Vietnam veterans and those who would like to appreciate them to join in the festivities.
Awards will be given, rides on the Huey helicopter, and a Sky Soldiers air assault demonstration will light up the eyes of all visitors. The week will end with a Native American Powwow, veterans luncheons, and a Heartland Benefit concert.
Vietnam era veterans wishing information or to register for the Homecoming may do so by going on-line at:
Welcome Home
or by calling 1-800-335-4587. Tickets for general public go on sale May 11, 2006 at 7:00 am. Tickets available by phone at 1-866-464-2626, or online HERE

My Title would be!!
PC Pentagon Gives Red Carpet Treatment to CULT Islam

U.S. Marines Build Shrine To Islam
We are at war with militant Islam, but you wouldn’t know it from the Pentagon, which is busy erecting a shrine to Islam just five short years after Islamic terrorists destroyed a good chunk of its own building and killed more than 100 of its occupants. Worse, it’s consulting on the project with a Wahhabi-educated cleric posing as a moderate.
Last week, military brass — along with representatives from the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations — dedicated the first Muslim prayer center for the Marines as a symbol of the military’s “religious tolerance” and “respect” for the faith the enemy uses to attack us. Already, plans are in the works to build by 2009 a bigger mosque at the Marine base in Quantico so Muslim service members can have a “proper place” to worship, and one that “honors their religious heritage,” officials say, not realizing that the mosque can also be used by the enemy to build a Fifth Column inside the Marines.
The idea for the center came from Navy Lt. Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam, a young, smooth-talking Muslim chaplain, who wanted a permanent place of worship — and “education” — for the growing number of soldiers who are interested in — and converting to — Islam.
Quantico has only 24 Muslims on base, so the mosque — the first of its kind in the 230-year history of the Corps — will also serve to introduce and draw other Marines to the faith. Large posters explaining how “Muslims love and respect Jesus” (but only as a minor prophet and not the son of God, which they view as blasphemous to Allah) line the inside of the white building. This is one way imam Saifulislam — known on base simply as “Saif” — bridges the faiths to reach out to Christian soldiers. Blacks are particularly susceptible to his pitch.
Apparently, whatever Saifulislam wants, he gets — even at the terrorist prison camp at Gitmo, where he was first assigned after 9-11. There, he recommended that al-Qaida detainees be served halal meals — including traditional dates and lamb — prepared according to Islamic dietary law. The Gitmo menu now boasts 113 Muslim-appropriate meals for the benefit of finicky terrorist tummies.
That’s not all. Thanks to Saifulislam’s advice, our enemy now wakes to the sound of Muslim chaplains calling them to prayer instead of barking dogs or guards, who are now trained in Muslim sensitivity. Also thanks to Saifulislam, detainees can brush up on jihad by reading paperback Pentagon-issued copies of the Quran. They can even finger prayer beads and wear makeshift turbans and skull caps.
While at Gitmo, the Navy imam privately counseled al-Qaida prisoners in their native tongues of Urdu and Arabic. “I must give hope for them to cope,” Saifulislam said. How thoughtful of him.
It turns out Saifulislam also ministered to Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, a fellow Muslim charged with desertion, just before he went AWOL again last year. Hassoun deserted his post in Iraq where he served as an Arabic translator. After he was captured, and after he met with the Quantico imam, he deserted again.
Saifulislam is clean-cut with a Colgate smile. The Pentagon gives him great latitude because he claims to be moderate.
However, Saifulislam studied Islam at a hardline Wahhabi school in Virginia that was raided by federal authorities after 9-11. And one of his mentors is Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami al-Arian terror case. Federal court records allege he gave at least $50,000 in jihad money “to support suicide bombings” in Israel.
Saifulislam, born in Bangladesh, insists he is only a Sunni Muslim and does not adhere to the faith’s more orthodox and militant Wahhabi sect practiced by Osama bin Laden and his ilk. Still, his pro-jihad academic background should raise flags at the Pentagon.
Instead, it’s giving him a permanent taxpayer-supported platform from which to convert grunts to Islam. With the Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy texts the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of war. This is tantamount to the Marines setting up a Mein Kampf reading room during WWII.
The timing of the dedication ceremony is ironic by half. As the deputy secretary of defense and Marine commandant respectfully removed their shoes to enter the mosque and intoned pleasant PC platitudes about being one big happy “family” with Muslims, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the arrest of 17 Muslim men who had allegedly plotted to explode fertilizer-based bombs at important sites in Canada. Their plans also called for attacking parliament and even beheading the prime minister. Almost half of them had attended the same mosque in Toronto.
Several military officers chose to sit out the Quantico ceremony than hear deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England mouth “salaams” to the Muslims in attendance. They think the mosque is misplaced, and don’t trust its imam.

“I have great concern about this young Muslim chaplain,” said Lt. Comm. Gary P. Stewart, also a Navy chaplain. “I don’t trust him.”

The Pentagon’s over-the-top gesture is only the latest sign that political correctness is running amok inside the military. Chief chaplains for the Navy, Army and Air Force routinely meet with top leaders from the Islamic Society of North America for PC powwows, even though ISNA is a Saudi-backed group with ties to terrorists. No matter, the Pentagon distributes ISNA literature on Islam and Muslims to help increase troops’ “sensitivity” toward Islam.
The first principle of war is knowing your enemy and what motivates him. The PC-addled Pentagon seems to have forgotten that rule.
Wild Thing’s comments…….
I got sick at my stomach reading this article. This is what happens when politically correct politicians get involved with trying not to offend the enemy instead of killing them. I am sure that most Marines are pissed as hell about this especially after returning from Iraq where they were fighting against the very people that we are now trying to coddle. This is just unbelievable. Zarqawi didn’t create Islam, Islam created him. It’s one thing to give them space to worship it’s another to build a new Mosque.
This is embracing the very cult and culture of death that we are fighting against!! Churchill said “We will never surrender”. We say “We’ll kiss your ass”.
Islam is not a “great religion”. It is a cult/religion following a blood-thirsty murderer. It brooks no opposition, it does not co-exist with other religions. It believes it must reign supreme and will use force to subjegate it’s opponents.
The United States should declare that is does not view Islam as a religion in this country. That will be the ONLY way we can defeat Islam. This will be a long and bloody war.

Al Gore jokes he’s been getting a taste of the movie star treatment.
The former vice president was on the “Tonight” show Thursday night. Host Jay Leno asked about the reaction to Gore’s documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Gore says since he’s been on the Hollywood A-list, he’s had a huge feud with Lindsay Lohan. When Leno asked for details, Gore said Lohan “knows what she did.” The line got a big laugh.
Gore also jokes he might consider a nude scene in his next movie if the script had integrity and it advanced the story.

Wild Thing’s comment…..
File this under the I don’t get it category!
Global warming and nudity?? Just seeing ‘Al Gore’ and ‘nude scene’ in the same sentence makes my eyes hurt. And how could we forget this quote by Al Gore, ” don’t want to diminish the threat of terrorism at all, it is extremely serious, but on a long-term global basis, global warming is the most serious problem we are facing.”…..
…HUH Al?? Hell’s bells you mean global warming is worse then the threat of terrorism?? I think Islam missed the memo on that!

A Marine was attending a college course between missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The professor, an avowed atheist, shocked the Class one day when he walked in, looked toward the ceiling, and said loudly,

“God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15 minutes.”

The lecture room fell silent and the professor began his lecture. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed,

“Here I am God – still waiting.”

It got down to the last minute when the Marine stood up, walked toward the professor and threw his best punch knocking him off the platform and out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat down. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.
The professor came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked,

“What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?”

The Marine calmly replied,

“God is busy today protecting America’s soldiers who are protecting your right to behave like an idiot and say stupid stuff. So He sent me.”

Thank you Jack (Conservative Insurgents) I LOVE this!