***Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - Day 21

"Wish You Were Here"

For all the free people that still protest.
You're welcome. We protect you and you are protected by the best.
Your voice is strong and loud,
but who will fight for you? No one standing in your crowd.
We are your fathers, brothers, and sons,
wearing the boots and carrying guns.
We are the ones that leave all we own,
to make sure your future is carved in stone.
We are the ones who fight and die,
We might not be able to save the world, Well, at least we try.
We walked the paths to where we are at
and we want no choice other than that.
so when you rally your group to complain,
take a look in the back of your brain.
In order for that flag you love to fly
wars must be fought and young men must die.
We came here to fight for the ones we hold dear.
If that's not respected, we would rather stay here.
So please stop yelling, put down your signs,
and pray for those behind enemy lines.
When the conflict is over and all is well,
be thankful that we chose to go through hell.

Corporal Joshua Miles and all the boys from 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines,
Kuwait 3/9/2003

Oh my word. Did you hear Matthews, "Why don't the damn democrates give the president his due. He done good today?"

In response to some comment from Fineman, Matthews said, 'We are all neocon's today."

5,621 posted on 04/09/2003 5:02:31 PM PDT by mware

I wanna see Ceegar Man too....

I am single...

5,622 posted on 04/09/2003 5:02:41 PM PDT by najida (Ignorance is temporary, but stupidity is forever.)

East, that is wonderful news.

5,623 posted on 04/09/2003 5:02:59 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit

I hate to do it, but 1 hour for TV and dinner...yes, I have to see who is off "American Idol"...hopefully Kimberly Caldwell!

Back later to push it over 7,000. (now to relive my young days by watching "That 70's Show")

5,624 posted on 04/09/2003 5:03:17 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Victory in Iraq!)

O'Reilly: The big losers, Saddam and his sons who at this moment, may be enjoying their new home, in HELL!

5,625 posted on 04/09/2003 5:04:20 PM PDT by Poser

...night vision goggles.

heckuva visual, dude. LOL

5,626 posted on 04/09/2003 5:04:37 PM PDT by aloysius89 (fascite magnopere aut iti domun)

To: Cordova Belle

5,627 posted on 04/09/2003 5:04:37 PM PDT by Consort

cigar guy goooooood tooooo..

5,628 posted on 04/09/2003 5:04:48 PM PDT by melodie (santa..i have been a good girl this year...all i really really want for xmas is a spec. ops. guy...)

Kimberly or Carmen. She is cute, but last night was terrible. Think Simon has his heart set on Ruben now. He was pretty harsh on him early on, but I think he is won over now.

5,629 posted on 04/09/2003 5:05:44 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit

Hope he could see this, make his suffering even worse!!

5,630 posted on 04/09/2003 5:05:45 PM PDT by crobnson

LOL! Thanks!!
If I knew how to post a pic, I'd post Cigar Man for all those clammoring for him!!!

5,631 posted on 04/09/2003 5:06:13 PM PDT by Cordova Belle ("I love it when a plan comes together!!")

5,632 posted on 04/09/2003 5:06:21 PM PDT by melodie (santa..i have been a good girl this year...all i really really want for xmas is a spec. ops. guy...)

To: Jackie-O; angelwings49; melodie; najida; Cordova Belle

5,633 posted on 04/09/2003 5:08:46 PM PDT by retrokitten (She's the one, the only one, built like an Amazon)

mel, who posted him?? I haven't seen him yet! Now I'm really curious. (Rummy is my true hero tho..he's a bit older but I still have a crush!) ;0)

5,634 posted on 04/09/2003 5:09:01 PM PDT by Jackie-O ("WANKER" is my new term of endearment for the Antis!!)

I did..He showed the side of himself I used to like.He laughed. Dean wowed the union gathering today.Oh,how I hope he wins the nomination.He wouldn't do a McGovern but the nation will not go for him. BOB ARNOT alert.

5,635 posted on 04/09/2003 5:09:06 PM PDT by MEG33

I just found him at Post #4626---

---but you knew how to post the pic--

Thanks!!!

5,636 posted on 04/09/2003 5:10:18 PM PDT by Cordova Belle ("I love it when a plan comes together!!")

Yessss, very nice! Thanks kit!!

5,637 posted on 04/09/2003 5:10:26 PM PDT by Jackie-O ("WANKER" is my new term of endearment for the Antis!!)

hey, id like sharpton to win the nomination, there's no chance of that man winning anything

5,638 posted on 04/09/2003 5:10:28 PM PDT by ztiworoh

Just picked up this new piece while I was surfing around.

LABORATORY OF WAR

By RALPH PETERS
April 9, 2003 -- AMERICA'S armed forces entered the war in Iraq with the finest equipment, the best training and the most advanced doctrine in the world. Our military will end the war with priceless practical experience of what works on the 21st century battlefield and what doesn't.
No matter how much thought is applied to war, theory is never a substitute for experience. Even the most insightful military thinkers will not get everything right. We know that.

That's why we stress flexibility at all levels of training and planning. Our military is better than any other at adjusting to new realities while the bullets are still flying.

Many of the nitty-gritty lessons learned will only emerge after the dust settles and the services can audit everything from specific weapons effects to the most appropriate basic load of ammunition for tanks in urban combat. But, at a broader level, critical lessons are already evident.

Perhaps the greatest revelation has to do with the continuing value of ground forces. Every few years, critics who insist that, this time, technology will win the war with little or no help, must be proven wrong. And while the remarkable advances in precision weapons delivered from the air have enhanced our ability to make war more efficiently while reducing the price civilians pay, what has gone largely unnoticed is the emergence of another form of precision weapon: ground troops.

Traditionally, ground forces have been war's blunt instrument. But, in this campaign, our Army and Marine units have been applied throughout the depths of the battle-space with unprecedented efficiency. Our troops have done more with less than any army previously has done.

Dramatic improvements in intelligence and communications allowed our forces to focus combat power at the right place and time - before the enemy could begin to react - in a manner that gives one Army division the battlefield effect of multiple divisions in past wars.

This does not reduce the need for any of the divisions currently in our inventory - a meager ten in an Army with global commitments. On the contrary, our Army and Marine Corps are sized austerely for our country's responsibilities. But it does revolutionize the impact of ground forces.

More and more, our forces resemble the Roman legions of the empire's golden age, invincible against all threats posed by barbarians.

This isn't a revelation to military professionals. Planners and force designers have been working toward this goal of intensifying combat effectiveness for more than a decade. But the doctrine and technologies had to be proven on the battlefield. Now the military's forward-thinkers have been vindicated.

That said, numbers still matter. While our forces have conducted the most impressive military campaign in history, another heavy division on the ground would have allowed them to press on immediately to Tikrit, the regime's last citadel, and to open the back door to Mosul and Kirkuk in the north. This role will fall to the hi-tech 4th ID as it enters the war zone, but there has been a time-lapse between opportunity and our capability to exploit it.

Our troops fighting in Baghdad would also welcome additional comrades beside them. They're doing a spectacular job under tough conditions. But more troops on the ground would enable us to finish the Iraqi resistance even more swiftly and safely. In urban operations, sheer presence can be decisive.

Other advances that have proven their worth include 21st-century joint operations - all the services working in much-improved cooperation with one another - and the increasing integration of special operations forces into conventional operations and even tactical encounters.

While the strategic air campaign did not meet initial expectations, it remains a worthy effort to attempt to reach beyond intervening armies and innocent civilians to destroy an oppressive regime's leadership. Attacks against leadership targets, even when the immediate results are disappointing, send a valuable warning to other dictators that they will not be able to hide behind civilians forever.

Practical lessons include the need for the Marine Corps to receive more funding to beef up and refresh its inventory of combat vehicles. Performing valiantly, the Marines have disproved the old adage that the Corps cannot sustain a fight deep inland. But the likely contours of future wars mean our Marines need to be supplied with upgraded equipment for future campaigns. The Marines are particularly good stewards of tax dollars. We are foolish not to treat them more generously.

Our attack helicopter fleet faced unexpected levels of risk on the battlefield, with Apache tactics leaving aircraft more vulnerable to ground fire than anticipated. Yet, the Apache pilots - and those flying all other types of helicopters - swiftly adjusted their techniques, determined to get right back into the fight. No one has been more courageous in this war than our tactical aviators.

Our attack helicopter doctrine will be heavily rewritten after this war, based on lessons learned. That's in the normal order of things. Friendly-fire incidents also continue to bedevil us - a problem that may never be solved entirely on the hyper-velocity, fluid battlefields of this century.

No military gets everything right, no matter the intensity of its efforts to forecast the future. The goal is to get it right to a decisively greater degree than your enemies have done. We have passed that test with the highest marks in history

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/72988.htm

5,639 posted on 04/09/2003 5:10:53 PM PDT by TheLion

Thank you, Retrokitten!!!!

5,640 posted on 04/09/2003 5:11:18 PM PDT by angelwings49 (God Bless our Troops!)

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Operation Iraqi Freedom

This thread is dedicated to the brave men and women of the

Armed Forces of the United States of America.

Links to the past threads

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