An American Carol

Looks good.  Plus, I’d be happy to spend a little money on a film that turns Michael Moore into a patriot, even if it is just fantasy.

(H/T Mrs. Greyhawk’s Dawn Patrol)

4:16 pm EST

Training update

I emailed Army Bro last night to see how things were going and to let him know I’d been thinking about him.  I heard back from him this morning:

Well, we’re halfway through our training here.  Since my last letter, we have done convoy, building clearance, infantry lanes, commo, and IED training, and received a briefing from a team that returned from the same mission last year.  Things are going well and the team is really coming together.

The Garmin was a big help during Land NAV. Took me a while to figure it out, but it put me within one meter of the point.  I could see it before I got to it, but I wanted to see how accurate it was.  It was just too cool.

There have been some small changes to our Ft. Riley training and looks like we will have two small blocks of four day down times while there.  We leave for Baker soon and will focus on convoy, commo, and movement for the last five days of our training.

We report on the 3rd (have to have a Family Support Briefing), and then fly out on the 4th.

Love to all,
Army Bro

It was so good to hear from him and know things are still going well.  If you’ve been thinking of emailing him, now might be the time.

1:17 pm EST

You want the truth? Can you handle the truth?

Yeah.  I think you can.  The truth is a whole lot less upsetting than the junk the MSM feeds us.  Read this and also this.

I’m going to say this one more time.  Cancel your newspaper subscriptions.  Turn off and do not watch television news; not even Fox News.  Turn off the news on the radio at the top and bottom of the hour.  If that’s not something you’re willing to do, then every time you see or read one of “those” stories, immediately seek out the Milblogs for context, perspective, and the whole truth.  Your only other alternative is to go to a doctor and get a prescription for tranquilzers.  If all you do is watch or read the MSM, you’re gonna need ‘em.

2:28 pm EST

Army Gold

Two USA Olympians.  Four Olympic Records.  Two Gold Medals.

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Go Army!

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First, Spc. Walton Glenn Eller III.

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit shotgun shooter Spc. Walton Glenn Eller III takes his final shot to secure a gold medal with an Olympic record score of 190 in double trap Aug. 12, 2008, in Beijing. U.S. Army photo by Tim Hipps

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Then, Pfc. Vincent Hancock.

U.S. Army Pfc. Vincent Hancock sets two Olympic records and prevails in a four-shot shoot-out with Norway's Tore Brovold to win the men's skeet competition at the Beijing Shooting Range, Aug. 16, 2008. U. S. Army photo by Tim Hipps

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Via Blackfive, who has links to the stories, including this link to the DoD Military Olympians page.  There are “15 military athletes representing the U.S. Army, Army Reserve and Air Force” competing in Beijing this year.  Betcha didn’t know that, did you?

12:35 am EST

Red Fridays…

It’s a mlitary thing!

T-Shirts.  Golf Shirts.  Yard signs. Get the shirt at the MarineParents.com CafePress store.

9:30 pm EST

To The Fallen Records

TTFR is the world’s first and only record label dedicated to members of the military.  From their YouTube page:

To The Fallen Records was created in 2006 by Army CPT Sean Gilfillan and his business partner Ms. Sidney DeMello. TTFR showcases the incredible musical talent inside the military community. Whether they are active duty, reserve, guard or veterans; country, hip hop, rock, or jazz; Army, Air Force, Navy or Marine Corps; To The Fallen Records is the ONLY record label in the world strictly dedicated to getting their music out to the public.

On the Web.

On YouTube.

On MySpace.

On iTunes.

There are three CDs:  one Country, one Hip-Hop, and one Rock.  Especially spend some time at the TTFR website where they have one free download per month.  Here’s a music video of “Support US” by TTFR featured artist, Soldier Hard.

(H/T to JP in the Milblogging.com newsletter)

P.S.  I notice TTFR has a link to HOOAH!!! RADIO in their sidebar.  I used to listen to it on the computer a lot back in 2006.  You can even record a Shoutout for the troops (or your favorite troop) that will be played on the radio.

7:01 pm EST

We’re ready! Are you?

Yesterday Falcon hooked up her webcam and we used Skype.  It was fun.

Later last night, Cheatos downloaded Skype and we tested his setup.

Tonight we conference!  If any other family is interested in joining us to check out Skype’s conferencing feature, let me know.  Remember, you don’t have to have a webcam; just a built-in (or external) microphone and speaker that comes standard on most computers.  So what are you waiting for?  Go download Skype, set up your account, email me your ID, and join us tonight.  September, when Army Bro leaves for official training, will be here before you know it.

1:47 pm EST

Congratulations Avery and Dustin!

First and foremost for walking away from an accident Thursday evening on their way to the boardwalk.  Seems someone hit them at an intersection and totaled Avery’s 1972 VW Beetle.

I never much cared for Beetles, so I think Avery came out way ahead as she’s now the proud owner of a 2003 Toyota Maxtrix XR!

How all that translated into Dustin getting a car too, I don’t know. (Ha-ha.  Just kidding.)  But, he is now the proud owner of a 1997 Chrysler Sebring convertible!

Congrats and enjoy your new wheels guys.

[Note to Craig and Susan:  I'd be stocking up on Tylenol if I were you.  )

2:14 pm EST

Word!

Army Bro finally had access to a computer, and this evening there’s word in the form of an email.  I left out one or two sentences, and redacted names/places for obvious reasons.

Well we are into our 4th day of training. I have been assigned a Captain. Captain Kirk [redacted], a [redacted] policeman who is a member of their SWAT Team. Great guy. About 5′ 9″ 240 lbs and benches 450. A stud! He is a big Star Wars fan and even goes to the conventions. He has some tattoos, so he has some catching up to do, but just a really cool guy. We will work together very well.

Our training so far has been great, plenty of PT and lots of grunt work. I love this sh#t, give me more of it! We were at the VCOT (Vehicle Convoy Operations Trainer). It is like a virtual reality machine where you are set up in a Hummer with a driver, TC and a gunner in the hatch. They run different scenarios and you have to avoid IEDs and shoot up the bad guy’s. The gunner gets 500 rounds for the .50 cal. The one convoy I went through I fired off 400 plus rounds and had four kills and blew up three vehicles. HOOAH!!!!! GET SOME!

Well I’ll keep updating you as I can. This is also cleared for posting if you want.  Just take out about the xxx and any bad lanugauge, spelling etc……

Love and miss you,
Army Bro

I’m not positive what a TC is.  I believe it may be a Truck Commander as I know many soldiers refer to Humvees as trucks, and since a TC on a tank is a Tank Commander.

9:15 pm EST

Tony and Laura’s pictures

Here are some pictures taken by Tony and Laura on the 19th and 20th.

Okay, now we’ve shared my pictures and video, Craig and Susan’s, and Tony and Laura’s.  Who else took pictures and/or video?  I know Cherry was taking pictures, but she’s been out of town and I expect we’ll get hers as soon as she returns.  Oh, I know!  We don’t have any pics from *cough* 1SG’s wife *cough*. 

11:59 am EST

UPDATED 9:27 pm EST:  In case no one scrolls down far enough to notice, I also updated the prior post with Craig and Susan’s pictures. I added a couple of more he sent yesterday.

Pre-training training

We’re missing you already.  Train hard.  Stay safe.

12:38 am EST

Time to get mad?

I’m beyond mad.  Incensed is more like it.  Ongoing Mexican military incursions into the U.S. that threaten United States Border Patrol Agents are not acceptable.  Note that Freedom Folks’ source for this most recent incident is the Local 2544 National Border Patrol Council out of Tuscon, Arizona.  Freedom Folks also links to their reporting on some prior instances.  I can’t figure out how to link to the specific statement currently at the top of Local 2544’s page, so here it is in its entirety [emphasis mine].

Agent Held at Gunpoint by Mexican Military
8-3-08 A Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint by the Mexican military last night south of Ajo. Mexican military personnel crossed over the border and pointed rifles at him. Backup units arrived from the Ajo Border Patrol station, and the Mexican military personnel eventually returned to Mexico. Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has been going on for years. They are never held accountable, and the United States government will undoubtedly brush this off as another case of “Oh well, they didn’t know they were in the United States.” A few years ago the Mexican military went a step further and put a .50 calibre rifle round through the rear window of a Border Patrol agent’s patrol vehicle south of Ajo. Nothing was ever done. Nobody was ever held accountable. Particularly galling is the fact that the Mexican military often pulls these stunts in Humvees donated to them by the American taxpayers (although they were apparently on foot this time). We note that Border Patrol agents have historically driven worn-out, junk vehicles.

We will withhold further comment on this incident until we see how our leaders handle it. We don’t have much confidence in most of them.

It is fortunate that this incident didn’t end in a very ugly gunfight.

(h/t Hot Air Headlines

3:10 pm EST

Some pictures from Craig and Susan

In case any of you haven’t yet seen pictures of Craig’s house, here are a few he sent me.

Netxt up, some pictures from their vacation at the beach.

Last, but not least, a fantastic picture of Army Bro, Judson, and Jackson.

Just as with my prior pictures, click on a thumbnail above.  When the picture opens in a new window, click on the picture again and it should get larger.  Then, do a “Save As” or “Save Page As” to download and save the picture on your own computer.

4:00 pm EST

UPDATED August 10, 2008 @ 10:25 am EST

A few more pictures.

Possible commenting problems

It came to my attention a few day ago that Frosty Froggy suddenly started getting errors when she tried to submit a comment.  Yesterday, Charles Johnson confirmed there was a code problem with Site Meter that was affecting IE7 browsers.  I checked with Frosty Froggy and she does use IE7.  I’m still not certain if Site Meter is what’s causing her particular problem as she is able to read the blog, but just can’t leave a comment.  Anyway, if anyone else is having a problem commenting, try using an earlier version of IE or a different browser altogether, such as Firefox.  If that doesn’t solve the problem, let me know and I’ll remove Site Meter.

12:40 pm EST

House Republicans are revolting

The Democrats left for vacation and turned out the lights.  But, 40 Republican Congressman have stayed and are on the floor.  Gateway Pundit says someone needs to bring them candles.   Heh.  Michelle Malkin reports there’s been a call from the Republican Study Committee for President Bush to convene a special session on gas prices.  She also has a link to Rep. John Culberson’s Live Twitter updates on what’s happening, plus more.  This is very interesting.

2:33 pm EST

UPDATE @ 2:42 pm EST:  Be sure to check out the coverage and updates on this at Politico’s The Crypt.  Seems Democrats are attempting to keep the press from covering what’s happening.  Their coverage is a MUST READ!