From the WTF File...

So I see this picture over at the LA Times Blog - Babylon & Beyond with this story about more Marines being sent for Cold Weather training, presumably in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.

What caught my eye was the M4 this Navy Corpsman is carrying....it isn't real!

Photo: Navy corpsman at the Bridgeport mountain training facility. Credit: Marine Corps

Since when did we begin training with fake weapons? I know its been several years since I've been in uniform but we never would have gone on any training mission without our real weapons. Part of going on these "missions" was to not only learn how to operate in that environment but to also learn how to care for your equipment in those environments.

Can someone shed some light on this?

My Lai, Iraq and Liberal America

Pam over at Iraq War Today delivers another one of her spot on rants.

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of My Lai. She takes on the myth that is My Lai and lays it directly on the feet of those who should be most ashamed of its occurrence by starting out with this line:

Like it or not, My Lai was the best thing ever to happen to those who malign our troops and what they do - to the anti-troop crowd, My Lai was an unprecedented gift.

Oh so true Pam, oh so true. Just as the left waits in the wings for another "atrocity" to occur in Iraq or Afganistan so they can malign the millions of those who serve based upon the actions of a select few, so they did with My Lai. Pam in her post digs deep into the myth presents the numbers and reminds us that yes, My Lai did occur, and so did Abu Ghraib, but those acts are not the acts of a military bent upon destruction or murder, but as we already know the mistakes of a few who could not handle the stressed placed upon them by a populace that expects no risk and a divided administration that accepts no mistakes.

No thanks to the first Gulf War where the populace began to believe that we could prosecute war without any risk to ourselves, war is not the sterile environment of explosions on your monitor, and detached voices authorizing the killing of another. War is dirty, grimy and painful. It is the most depraved thing man could wrought upon man, to think otherwise is to live a fantasy. The terms surgical strike and collateral damage are misnomers, oxymorons in a world where oxymorons thrive. War is not clean and pretty and as I've said before you can't save the game and start over or respawn back at the start when things start to go sour.

Every war has its trial, its villains from the winning side. The victors have to find those who will bear the cost of what we needed to do to win; those who will in essence shoulder the responsibility for the fact that when armies meet to settle things, people are killed and maimed. Vietnam had My Lai. Iraq had Abu Ghraib - the stupid behavior of a very few soldiers, who took some idiotic pictures. Since that didn't turn out to the torture-fest that would have satisfied the need to demonize someone on our side, the hunt went on. They almost got Lt. Ilario Pantano. And they almost got Haditha - a tale that has been falling apart from the start. Frighteningly, both could have gone far worse for the troops involved had it not been for a couple of factors that didn't exist during the My Lai circus - milbloggers and talk radio. This time, there was opposition to the lynch mob that always waits in the wings. Haditha is still open, and it is up to that opposition to remain vigilant.

What always throws me for a loop in these situations is that we are collectively so ready to view American troops as if they're something other than human. We're always so ready to forget that those "animals" at My Lai were, in some cases, barely out of high school. They were brothers, sons, fathers...they were ours. In another place, at another time, some of them might have been that nice kid next door.

I wonder what's more savage - the behavior of troops in war, who occasionally cross the line after they are pushed to their limits, or the behavior of the bloodthirsty mob of critics who clamor for the heads of the heroes that protect their freedoms? I think, and always have, that the latter is more reprehensible. Our Heroes display remarkable restraint when criticized, often enduring the attacks without a word.

As Pam so succinctly notes - noting the passing of these ignoble anniversaries is one thing, but if we are only going to do so so that the left can use them to attack the millions who serve proudly and honorably then what is the reason of "celebrating" them at all? We don't celebrate Memorial Day because we enjoy killing our sons and daughters in war. We celebrate Memorial Day because we as a nation must remember those that have sacrificed their lives for our lives. We should as Pam recommends remember these occurances and learn from them. We must realize that war is not without risk, that it is dangerous and it does things to our young men and women that we should not wish upon anyone. Many come home from war, some broken and unable to adjust, many with no problem at all, and yes our sons and daughters die in war. But that is not the depravity that is war, the true depravity is those who sit idly by and debate and slander those who go off to war. The true depravity is the active anti-war activist that conducts war upon those who go off to war form the safety of their office or classroom.

War is hell to paraphrase Sherman, but a greater hell is to expect our sons and daughters to accomplish their mision while putting barriers in their way to accomplish that very mission. When the Rules of Engagement are twisted by Monday morning quaterbacks to satisfy the bloodlust of a few in our society that can find nothing right with the mission that is when war becomes a deeper hell for our sons and daughter.

If we truly want to learn from events like My Lai then we should start to point the finger at those most responsible for My Lai and its lingering mysticism of evil, the left and their war on the military is the perfect place to start.

Then and Now

These scenarios would be funny if they weren't so true: What happens now is in the extended section.

1973 Scenario:
Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack. Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his rifle to show Jack.

1973 Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school. Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled.


1973 Scenario:
Jeffrey won't be quiet in class, disrupts other students. Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by Principal. He returns to class and is quiet.

1973 Scenario:
Billy breaks a window in his father's car and his Dad gives him a whipping. Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

1973 Scenario:
Mark gets a headache and takes some headache medicine to school. Mark shares headache medicine with Principal out on the smoking dock.

1973 Scenario:
Mary turns up pregnant. 5 High School Boys leave town. Mary does her senior year at a special school for expectant mothers.

1973 Scenario:
Pedro fails high school English. Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

1973 Scenario:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed. Ants die.

1973 Scenario:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary, hugs him to comfort him.
In a short time Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2006 Scenario:
School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

2006 Scenario:
Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

2006 Scenario:
Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

2006 Scenario:
Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Billy's sister is told by state psychologist that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

2006 Scenario:
Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

2006 Scenario:
Middle School Counselor calls Planned Parenthood, who notifies the ACLU. Mary is driven to the next state over and gets an abortion without her parent's consent or knowledge. Mary given condoms and told to be more careful next time.

2006 Scenario:
Pedro's cause is taken up by state democratic party. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he can't speak English.

2006 Scenario:
BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

2006 Scenario:
Johnny's parents sue and win a 3 million dollar law suit against the county for not posting signs warning that running on the playground can be hazardous. Mary is accused of being a sexual predator for hugging Johnny and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.