Michael Yon, a former SF Operator turned freelance reporter, is in the States and has made an intersting observation, and is calling for help from retired military people:

The difference a year can make is staggering. One year ago, the gap between the ground reports from Iraq from military friends prompted my travel to Iraq to see for myself just what was happening. The dispatches posted to these pages over the ensuing months were an attempt to bridge that gap. Now that I’m back in the United States for a time, trying wring every bit of information of the war out of the news, only to come up dry most days, it’s become clear that in just under a year, the media gap has morphed into a chasm. Before this thing becomes a black hole, it’s time for a few good men and women to put their military experience and expertise to use in an operation that can create an alternative channel that will allow frontline information to break through and be heard.

Here’s the post with his plea for those with connections to the real men and women on the front lines to step up to the plate and become the conduits for the news to flow from our service members.

Think of it as a call to arms, to quit grumbling about those PAO types who were good for nothing, and become one. Who can sniff out a (let’s be polite) “fake” story better than those who have been there, and also, who can know it’s a good story for the same reasons? Most likely you also have connections to friends and family who are in some far flung corner of the world on a deployment, doing the hard work, and not having it reported, at all, let alone the way it is.

Here’s the unabridged direction from Michael:

Call for Volunteers: Any retired military personnel interested in the Frontline Forum, please email to [email protected], and put “Volunteer” in the subject heading. Please describe briefly your military experience and an estimate to the number of hours per week you can spend reading stories from troops. If you have skills that are in some way related to this project, please include a description of those skills in your email. Let us know what you can do and how much of it you are willing and able to do. Someone will get back to you soon. While the Volunteers organize, we’ll build the forum, network with others who are in touch with our troops, and when all is ready, we can turn on the faucets and open the flow of frontline news.

On the Rush Limbaugh show a few days ago a caller made a great point: Many years from now, the people researching what this time was all about will pull up articles from the NYT and Washington Post. He was a little discouraged, saying “they have alredy beat us, because they have written it the way they want and now it’s history.”
Michael’s call for volunteers may well be a way to counter the press bias for those of two and more generations down the road, who will no longer have the view of those who were there. So…time to quit grumbling about the Has Been Media and get out to poke a stick in thier eye, with that valuable tool called “truth.”

Thanks to Little Green Footballs for the Open Thread!

Can you help?

WOW! What will those rocket scientists think of next?

Hyperdrive sure will make our other meager attemtps at space travel look like we are in the stone age…

Eat lunch, go to the moon, have dinner in 1/6th the gravity….I’m sure “Scotty” would like to have been around for this…

Part II, Part III,Part IV, Part V, Part VI,
Part VII, Part VIII

Part IX

I don’t recall the exact date it was, but it was in January 20 years ago, and the location was an island pardise referred to as “DGAR” (pronounced Dee-gar) by the mulitude of airmen and sailors who have had the pleasure of transiting, by ship, sub or plane to the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean in the Chagos Archipeligo. Being south of the equator, it is more than likely responsible for many “Shellbacks” of the various services as well.

I pick up the story a few months late. But to catch up quickly, my travels to DGAR began in Norfolk, VA at the end of Oct, 1985. Sailing with the USS CORAL SEA (CV-43) Battle Group, under the command of Commander Carrier Group TWO. Assigned to the Battle Group was Destroyer Squadron THIRTY TWO, USS BIDDLE (CG-34), USS CAPODANNO (FF-1093), USS JESSE L BROWN (FF-1089), USS JACK WILLIAMS (FFG-24) and USS MONOGAHELA (AO-178), we headed east to the Med to swap out our CV and Group Commander, before heading to the North Arabian Sea. My “boss” was Capt Wes Jordan, Jr, Commodore for DESRON 32, and the Chief Staff Officer was CDR William “Bill” Nurthen. Staff OPS was LCDR Steve Nerheim, LCDR AL McCollum was our token ASW TACCO from the P-3 community to help make sure us “shoes” did ASW right. Much, much more on that later….OSC(SW) Jim Koch was our OPS Assistant, and RMCS(SW) Rumbaugh the Communications Officer. We had a chpalian and an RP (religiuos program specialist), but I can’t recall their names. They were farmed out to the ships of the Battle Group and rarely we with us. YN1 Thorton and a MS1 as the Commodore’s staff rounded out our little “family.”

Our sailing from Norfolk in October had been a wonderfully exciting day, as all our gear had been loaded aboard USS BIDDLE, but during the night before, the deck crew was hoisting a 40′ Utility Boat back aboard when a limit switch failed, allowing the winches to keep running, after the davit arm was fully upright. The result was a bend davit arm. COMNAVSURFLANT directed BIDDLE to remain inport and effect repairs, as our deployment would require anchoring out a lot, and the boat davits would be used extensively.

The Commodore issued orders to find another flagship. Looking to the north, we could see the CORAL SEA already moving from the piers. USS MONOGAHELA was still moored at her berth, so we yelled for help from the BIDDLE’s crew, and got our gear to the Oiler….

Off we go, but more background to come. Anyhow, on or about this date, 20 years in the past, I was headed towards the brow, so I could say I had a beer on Diego Garcia, after being on duty the first day inport, having just arrived from Singapore, where most of our Battle Group had spent Christmas. I heard “All Hands Prepare to Get Underway!” on the USS SARATOGA’s 1MC system…..

Chapomatic is a really smart guy (but then most all sumariners I have met are), who does his homework. He has great posts and this one, besides being good reading, has spawned a “spirited,” yet mostly polite discussion between a libertarian, some conservative civilians and a few ex- and current military guys, who have their opinions on the topic of the NSA leaks.

I submit we have bowed to many warrantless searches, like at getting on commercial airplanes, giving our SSN for credit checks and going to major sports venues and US Customs, and no one gets too excited about that. One response to my commentary on the thread said words the the effect that there is no Constitutional right to ride a plane. Someon responded that there is also no Constitutional right to make telephone calls! Touche!

I submit the rage is merely Bush Derangement Syndrome, because there doesn’t seem to be retroactive rage for the decades, and, actually centuries of this behavior by government….I’d be much more sympathetic to “the cause” if I saw anger at the concept, not at one man’s actions.

Anyhow, it’s a thread of discussion that should hang on and “have legs” I suspect….

Capt Lex says he wants a Mazda Kabura, but I really think he let out that his eyesight is slipping from the one eagle eyed 20/15 measure he is used to….that’s way too sad for any pilot.

But, in the spirit of tech lustâ„¢, I’d like one of these:
A really, really BIG Screen.

Now, on the other hand….

these would be nice (and would keep from disturbing others in the room), but…alas, as with many things develped for the DoD, it’s really kinda pricy..(I think about $26K) and it looks very nerdish.

These are more compatible with the middle income pocket book, in the $899 retail range…

I see the “wakeup” clearly up ahead.

Here is a quote from “Last Days at the FOB”:

“Do not mistake my words. I am not broken, nor am I damaged. The story of our mission is not a tragedy, despite our losses. The deepest etchings on my soul, the ones that will remain in both this life and the next, were the incandescent examples of valor, courage, and brotherhood I witnessed each and every day. The men who served at my side were bound to me, and I to them, with tidal forces that have no equivalent in the sterile formality of the living world. Back home the concept of “self” is a rigid construct, a domain mapped with the rigid formality of a land agreement. But here on the bleeding edge we became more something greater than our individual parts. We became a family.”

Profound to the very core…

Lt Currie, CPT Bout, and Major K are almost out of the combat zone, but, as Danjel says above, it’s about those he fought beside, that have changed him. An echo of the veterans of combat in so many wars once more.

Here’s a link to an interview with CPT Danjel Bout on the Milblogging site. It’s a very interesting read, and a chance to find out what one man’s stress relief has managed to accomplish. (HT: Mudville Gazette.

A little something from the “Duece Four” troops…All the good stuff in the movie: Explosions, cool military equipment, hard rock, and lots and lots of good guys (Stryker guys).

A music video by a blogger: American Citzen Soldier – “This We’ll Defend.” One of our soldiers with some pretty amazing talents! Just another reason to support Operation Heartstrings!

Video by Americanloveunit – “The Pride of America” – Our troops at “work” and some of the results…

Bombs at work…stuff yields to the laws of physics….

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post!

Looks like the Marines are helping out making the world a safer place…

HT: Open Fire

Charlie Daniels was being interviwed on the Tony Snow talk show. Charlie commented that he had no idea which generals were telling Jack Murtha that we couldn’t win the war, because he hadn’t heard that from a single one. During his tour of SW Asia, he said, while you might find a very occasional service member who didn’t think we were winning, but every one else was confident that we were winning every where but in the media and great things were happening.

Charlie issued an open invitation to Jack Murtha and Ted Kennedy to accompany him on his next tour, which is being planned for April, so they could get the answers from the troops who were doing the fighting. Sounds to me like someone has a solution to a problem here….

So, any bets that Jack Murtha’s schedule is already full? It would be nice if he took this trip, so he could really make sound decisions while carrying out his Constitutionally mandated duties in Congress.

Tony asked Charlie about Operation Heartstrings, too. Charlie has set up a plan to get instruments and equipment to the troops, so they have something for their time off the line to relax with. He mentioned many companies have made generous contributions already, mentioning that Gibson has already sent 100 guitars. Charlie is working with the National Guard to get the donated items transported.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post!

I picked up this morning’s paper and rejoiced at the saved lives, only to find out that it was but one life, the raido in the car told me.

I’m curious: Will the reporters of the print and electronic media possibly begin to figure out they have some responsibility to their fellow humans?

This past 14 months (or there abouts) have been one unfounded story after another. Start with Dan Rather’s faked memo on the President’s National Guard Service and, discounting the horrific pain caused today by people more concerned with ratings, marketshare and readership than the doing something professional, let alone morally correct, consider the completely false reporting that came out of New Orleans regarding maruading bands of criminals taking over the streets and dead bodies piled up.

I once heard someone define courage as being able to hang on 10 seconds longer than everyone else. Maybe it would be good for reporters to hang on those few extra minutes before releasing such significant (but in actuality, in the name of making sure all reporting it correct) stories, lest they send waves of emotional reactions that have damagin effects. Look at the result of false stories of the flushing of Koran’s by US troops. That story resulted in riots and actual deaths. I heard that there has already been one incident of a mine company official being jumped by one of the family members. It’s more than preventing emotional issues here, it’s about not tempting people in highly charged emotional states to make decisions they will regret for the rest of their lives, let alone the physical consequences someone else in their path may have to live with as a result.

It’s all about choices, and I vote for everyone to be responsible in their personal choices.