No Young Soldiers

10 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

Daily dramas unfolded, including the bangs, booms and small-arms fire that punctuated the times. At 1800, I was preparing to go to orders with 1 Platoon, A Company of 2 Rifles, when shots from a large-caliber rifle began cracking low over base. I passed by sniper, Kris Griffith, and said, “Hey Kris, why don’t you grab your rifle and go shoot that guy?” Kris replied that two other sniper teams were on it. “He’s close,” I said, and Kris answered, “About 600 meters.” Then we went our separate ways.

Orders were given and then the soldiers performed final checks on their gear and tried to fall to sleep in the sweltering evening heat. Some nights I would go to sleep using the sleeping bag as a pillow, only to wake up with it drenched in sweat.

The alarm was set for 0213 hours, but at 0211 I sat up and turned it off before it could wake the soldiers who were not going on the mission. I had nineteen minutes to pull on my boots, body armor, and small rucksack, before I had to get to breakfast, engage in final conversations, and then show up for the mission at 0310. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, al qaeda, bombs, GMLRS (Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System), IEDs
Posted Aug 10th 2009 at 4:04 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 20345034 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/10/no-young-soldiers/No+Young+Soldiers+2009-08-10+23%3A04%3A21Michael+Yon

Review: ‘The Hurt Locker’

The Hurt Locker is not about Iraq, why we went there, what we did when we got there, or whether we should have gone in the first place. It is not about American foreign policy or domestic disagreement over that policy; it’s not even about soldiers or their qualities or character …  it’s not about politics at all.

The Hurt Locker is about an adrenaline junkie who gets off defusing bombs.

Sgt. Will James is very good at this narrow work. He is occasionally a fool who takes unnecessary chances. Far more often he is an expert who enjoys that his wisely bold tactics occasionally make him appear a fool—because a fool’s luck has nothing to do with his success. Early in the picture and after much prodding, Sgt. James admits to a superior officer that he has defused “873 bombs, counting today.” (more…)

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Tags: bombs, Hurt Locker, Iraq, Jeremy Renner, Kathryn Bigelow
Posted Jul 15th 2009 at 11:07 am in Reviews | 18165419 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mlong/2009/07/15/review-the-hurt-locker-3/Review%3A+%27The+Hurt+Locker%272009-07-15+18%3A07%3A42Mike+Long

Narco-Terrorism: American Style

On a hot summer evening, in a bar in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico just across the bridge from Laredo, Texas; a thirty year-old man, on his knees, surrounded by a dozen armed guards, can be heard begging for his life, he cries for one more chance to make it right with the boss, one more chance to see his family—one more chance at life.

His boss happens to be the man who dictates the life and death of every soul in the Laredo corridor, listens to the pleas but has already made up his mind. He stands as judge and jury in this court and it’s clear, he’s heard enough. So he pulls a diamond studded, pearl handled pistol from his belt and slowly hands it over to one of his newest recruits. He tells the recruit to put a bullet in the condemned mans head as he sobs uncontrollably—and so, without hesitation the young man pulls the trigger four times over. (more…)

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Tags: automatic assault rifles, bombs, grenade launchers, heavy-caliber machine guns, Laredo
Posted Jul 6th 2009 at 8:51 am in Politics | 17465475 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rfleming/2009/07/06/narco-terrorism-american-style/Narco-Terrorism%3A+American+Style2009-07-06+15%3A51%3A52Rusty+Fleming