Given the alleged insubordination of their commander over long-delayed reinforcements, it’s not surprising to hear that the troops doubt the value of the dangers they face in Afghanistan. Especially while the Mae West president dithers over whether they need to be augmented or brought home.
Via Hot Air.
Comments Off on Disillusioned in Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, Obamalot, The War, Troops
Tagged Afghanistan, morale, Obama, Obamalot, U.S. troops
A favorite photo by freelance Afghanistan correspondent Michael Yon: PJs on a casualty run. I’ve been helping support him with a little here and there for several years. You should, too. You know?
Comments Off on Boots over Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, Blogosphere, The War, Troops
Tagged Afghanistan, Michael Yon, PJs, U.S. Air Force Pararescue
Latest news from Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio on First Cav’s LTC Tim Karcher:
"I have no legs, and I accept that. I do not accept that my lack of legs will limit me. The adventure is re-learning, so that I am not limited. Some people talk about how brave or heroic this attitude is, but for me it is simply practical. I refuse to let this keep me from living my life to the fullest, and you would too. It’s not heroic, it’s realistic. I admit, I look forward to moving through this adventure with others who are travelling the same path that I am. Thus far, many have helped me and guided me, and I look forward to inspiring future wounded Soldiers. Leadership doesn’t stop at the hospital door."
Some would. So it’s nice to hear from one whose leadership doesn’t. Good luck, colonel.
Via Op-For.
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Posted in Blogosphere, Iraq, Texana, The War, Troops
Tagged CaringBridge.org, LTC Tim Karcher, Op-For
I can understand why the father of a dead Marine would beg the AP not to use a photo showing his son, Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, 21, of New Portland, Maine, wounded and dying in Afghanistan.
The father is a retired Marine first sergeant. Many military families do not trust Big Media and, I think, often with good reason. AP looks especially hypocritical because the picture (part of a slide show here which clearly does not depend on it) is not a prize winner.
On the other hand, it was taken at wide angle from a dozen feet away, it is not graphic, and the young man’s face is fuzzily indistinct. You can’t even tell where the RPG wounded him, though from the red mass on his lower body it appears to be his upper leg, whose big arteries bleeding out would account for his death. But none of that will ameliorate the truth that will linger in military minds: that a father’s plea was ignored. And for what? Sensationalism? To energize the anti-war movement? It’s not like people don’t know that death happens in war.
UPDATE: The AP also was unprofessional, violating their own embed agreement with the Marines. And Some Soldier’s Mom shows why my own yes-buts are beside the point. She gets in her licks about journalistic cruelty-without-an-excuse. Even the former WaPo reporter Tom Ricks is embarrassed.
Comments Off on Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, RIP
Posted in Afghanistan, The War, Troops
Tagged Afghanistan, AP photo, Marine Lance Cpl Joshua M. Bernard
I know the nephew is missing his P-3, but he’s a new father now and that will occupy him. He’ll get back on the flight deck someday, I’m sure.
I have ignored the wall-to-wall media coverage of the death, the Valentine (and airbrushing) analysis and the funeral. It was easy to do because I rarely watch television or read newspapers anyhow. But when I heard that the ol’ fraud would be buried in Arlington, well…
I know, as many people do not seem to, that Arlington National Cemetery is full of military paper-pushers who never spent two seconds in combat. It is not just heroic ground, despite the heroes who are buried there. But, really, now, Ted never served in the military, and he had zero to do with the assassinations of his brothers. (We can hope.) He doesn’t deserve to be there just because he was part of one of the most ambitious, political and publicity-hungry families in American history. Bah.
UPDATE: I’m wrong. He served as a private in the Army, from 1951-53, after he was expelled from Harvard. But, according to this report, his daddy made sure he never had to fight in Korea.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 