Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
I can understand the brushing the hair and putting on the best clothes he has – all part of their ritual if they think they are going out to die. Do it clean and well groomed.
“The 18 year old with the rifle is the mission, everything else is support” says it all.
Ever notice that those rank tabs on the front of the blouse make a nice “shoot here” sign?
You bring up a good point, Joe–one I’ve meant to comment upon. When and WHY did we shift from rank on shoulder/collar to tabs on tunic front? Makes us look like a damn 3rd-world army (they all do it for some reason.) Is it thought to be less visible to snipers (what w. vests, etc.) for some reason? Any Army types here to explain?
Virgil, I think it is so that our own people and see the rank insignia. The badges on the collar, especially the black ones, I find very hard to see. If you are standing in front of someone and the badge is on the collar and facing to the side, they are darned near invisible.
(what is really fun is trying to see a Confederate officers rank insignia at reenactments – most of the time the beard covers it. And you can’t really tell by the braid on the sleeve)
As a (currently) “Army type,” the rank on the front is simply because of the fact that wearing a flak jacket obscures the rank that is normally worn on the collar tabs. This is practiced by both Marine and Army personnel, although Marines will sometimes wear a patch that has name/rank – similar to what pilots use. The rank is subdued in both cases so that it doesn’t gleam/reflect light and is difficult to see at any distance. Much different from the days when I would pin a gold or silver bar directly onto the front of my flak jacket; in effect saying, “Shoot here!”
Yes, and the rank tabs for GO/FO are sewn on, not removable.
The Lacedaemonians used to comb their hair before battle, too. Pissed the H*ll out of the Persians. With that in mind, it makes an uncomfortable parallel.
I wish I was there fighting with the Infantry.
That LtCol Stephen Smith featured at 8:06?
He was my neighbor for a couple years, and he’s now a full-bird.
Gotta love the combined arms approach to the battle. Those stupid bastards didn’t stand a chance and were too stupid to know it. Sucks to be them, I ain’t crying a bit over their demise.
Sidenote: Just imagine what Army Aviation could do if the Air Force gave the Army it’s Warthogs. They would too, if it wasn’t for that stupid Key West Agreement.
Ouh Ouh, talking dirty about warthogs. Yeah that would be terrific.
I do love seeing the old alma mater kicking ass. God Bless the 101st.
Yeah, I’ve got a buddy (fellow chaplain) who is currently deployed to the Af with the 101st. And another old friend (college roommate – now a chaplain with the 160th SOAR) who was deployed with the 25th Div (Airborne) Spartans – the same ones in the video. Based out of Ft. Richardson in Anchorage, AK. his callsign was “Denali Shepherd.” I proudly wear the t-shirt he gave me from his deployment to Iraq.
There are several parts to this video. Look for the “related videos” on the right and keep clicking. The Apache one is really good.
I seen all of them…it’s worth wacthing all 6 of them.
The insurgents are bringing a knife to a gunfight….
Awesome use of the technology and glad we have it on our side as it is the only force multiplier you have out there in the Shite-Wilds of AFGHN.
Saw the Kiowa guys flying into FOB Frontenac for refuel and then fly back out to give support to the fight in that region….Great stuff and always liked having the “little friends” around….need many “see’ems” up in the air to keep us safe.
Mess with the best, die like the rest…..
One of my favorite benefit rides was to the local National Guard Unit at the RDU Airport.
Usually there were some attack & support helicopters there, though one year there were none as they were all deployed.
Talking to the pilots was a hoot -they were so proud of what THEIR machine did, and what they were doing. Most enjoyable.
Many of us always ensured that we spent time with the families of the pilots to thank them also. Keeping the home hearth burning is too often underappreciated.
I’d guess that on average, about 50% of the riders were vets, with many active duty also. A fair amount of combat vets, most from the VN era.
Awesome video, makes me wish I had a WOFT packet ready…
[...] H/T- Lex [...]
Video series such as this remind me of the team synergy that exists on the field of battle. Now if only our Congress would assimilate even a small percentage of that synergy, we’d be light years away from where we are now.
Anyone else notice the level of coherence and ‘groundness’ in the speech of the warfighters? Damned impressive. They get who they are, and they get what they are about…as compared to so many of their peers back on the block…
There is hope for us yet.
I even remember when it was stated Army policy that Kiowas would not be armed. So glad that idiocy went by the wayside.
Same logic that had the AF keep guns/hard-points off of OV-10s, Aero..
I spent half of my one year tour (10/09-09/10) as a law enforcement professional in 4/25′s battlespace at Salerno, Chamkani, and Dand Wa Patan. This set of videos very much captures the spirit, professionalism and truth behind the soldier effort. I believe most of this action was in around Pakitya, Paktika, and Khowst Provinces.
I was the LEP at the Joint Forensic Field Facility JEFF-6 at Kandahar Airfield for the other half of my tour. Same spirit in RC-S as their was in RC-E.