USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ A Tribute To The Green Berets ~ May 13, 2003

azstarnet.com ^ | May 13, 2003 | LaDivaLoca

[LaDivaLoca]

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US SPECIAL FORCES

(Click on the graphics below for links to sources)

PART I - THE GREEN BERETS

"I am sure that the Green Beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead." — President John F. Kennedy, 1961.

WHO ARE THEY: The Army's elite, special forces units, known for extensive cross-training to conduct the most dangerous clandestine missions or to act as diplomats and teachers, training friendly, foreign forces.

NICKNAME: Warrior Diplomats

MOTTO: "De Opresso Liber"

UNIFORM: Green berets

ORIGIN: Their lineage goes back to "Rogers Rangers," the frontier soldiers who fought in the French and Indian Wars of the 1750s. Modern ties are to special forces of World War II, including the "Devil's Brigade," a joint American-Canadian force that fought in Italy and France, and "Merrill's Marauders," who fought in Southeast Asia.

SPECIALTIES: Parachuting into hostile territory, surviving on their own for weeks at a time, hand-to-hand combat, learning regional languages and cultures, and using diplomatic skills to work with coalition forces. Each gets a specialty in weapons, engineering, medical care, communications or operations and intelligence.

GEAR: M16 and M4 rifles, grenade launchers, M9 semi-automatic pistols, other weapons. Green Berets are trained in foreign or obsolete weapons that still are common in overseas areas where they might serve.

EXTREME TRAINING: After grueling training, including sleep deprivation, they undergo a 14-day final exam known as "Robin Sage." It's a simulated setting where they have to interact with opposing armies, guerrilla forces, and local civilians. Sudden "ambushes" teach them never to let down their guard.

WORKING GROUPS: Working in 12-man teams, some commando missions could be conducted by just a few Green Berets.

EXPERIENCE: Southeast Asia, 1957-1975; Bolivia, 1967-68; Panama, 1989; Persian Gulf, 1990-91; Somalia, 1992; Haiti, 1994; Bosnia, 1994-present; Kosovo, 1999.

HOME BASES: Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Fort Campbell, Ky; Fort Carson, Colo.; Camp Williams, Utah; Birmingham, Ala.

HOLLYWOOD'S VERSION: "The Green Berets," 1968; "Rambo: First Blood Part II," 1985.

BOOKS: "Inside the Green Berets," by Charles Simpson, 1983; "Green Berets at War: U.S. Army Special Forces in Asia 1956-1975," by Shelby L. Stanton, 1987; "The Company They Keep," by Anna Simons, 1997.

— Scripps-Howard News Service.

Special Forces Prayer

__________________

Almighty GOD, Who art the Author of liberty and the Champion of the oppressed, hear our prayer.

We, the men of Special Forces, acknowledge  our dependence upon Thee in the preservation of human freedom.

Go with us as we seek to defend the defenseless and to free the enslaved. May we ever remember that our nation, whose motto is “In God We Trust”, expects that we shall acquit ourselves with honor, that we may never bring shame upon our faith, our families, or our fellow men.

  Grant us wisdom from Thy mind, courage from Thine  heart, strength from Thine arm, and protection by Thine hand.

It is for Thee that we do battle, and to Thee belongs the victor’s crown.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. AMEN

The Special Forces Creed   

I am an American Special Forces soldier.  A professional!

I will do all that my nation requires of me.

I am a volunteer, knowing well the hazards of my profession.

I serve with the memory of those who have gone before me:

Roger's Rangers, Francis Marion, Mosby's Rangers,

the first Special Service Forces and Ranger Battalions

of World War II, the Airborne Ranger Companies of Korea.

I pledge to uphold the honor and integrity

of all I am - in all I do.

I am a professional soldier.

I will teach and fight wherever my nation requires.

I will strive always, to excel in every art and artifice of war.

I know that I will be called upon to perform tasks

in isolation, far from familiar faces and voices,

with the help and guidance of my God.

I will keep my mind and body clean, alert and strong,

for this is my debt to those who depend upon me.

I will not fail those with whom I serve.

I will not bring shame upon myself or the forces.

I will maintain myself, my arms, and my equipment

in an immaculate state as befits a Special Forces soldier.

I will never surrender though I be the last.

If I am taken, I pray that I may have the strength

to spit upon my enemy.

My goal is to succeed in any mission

- and live to succeed again.

I am a member of my nation's chosen soldiery.

God grant that I may not be found wanting,

that I will not fail this sacred trust.

"De Oppresso Liber"

"Ballad Of the Green Berets"
Words and Music by Robin Moore and SSgt. Barry Sadler.



Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret.

Silver Wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret.



Trained to live off nature's land
Trained in combat, hand to hand
Men who fight by night and day
Courage picked from the Green Beret.

Silver Wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret.

Back at home a young wife waits
Her Green Beret has met his fate
He has died for those oppressed
Leaving her his last request.

Put Silver Wings on my son's chest
Make him one of America's best
He'll be a man they'll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret.

(Click on graphic for link to source and read the first chapter)

About this book

“As the [al-Qaida terrorists] charged one wall, three Green Berets leaned over the parapets, oblivious to the enemy small-arms fire that was cracking by their heads and shoulders.

“ ‘Focus, squeeze, focus, squeeze,’ they recited quietly. . . . Each time . . . the lifeless body [of an al-Qaida terrorist] would snap back through the desert air and drop onto the sandy courtyard.”

The war in Afghanistan was the most secret conflict since the CIA’s covert war in Laos; thousands of journalists covered it, yet, ironically, little is known about how it was waged or what really happened—until now.

The Hunt for bin Laden plunges the reader into America’s War on Terror, from the first top-secret meetings of TASK FORCE DAGGER in Tampa on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, through the liberation of Kabul sixty-two days later and the tragedies of OPERATION ANACONDA. The book takes the reader into the heat of battle—as seen through the eyes of the Green Berets on the ground. This is the story of how only a few hundred men, operating from a secret Special Forces base, changed the course of history in Central Asia and destroyed a hundred-thousand-man terrorist army in less than ninety days.

Action-packed and controversial, The Hunt for bin Laden is teeming with revelations and inside information: the truth about John Walker Lindh and Mike Spann; the failure of the “conventional” generals; the courage of the Northern Alliance; the wounding and murder of journalists; and the flaws and frustrations of the hunt for bin Laden himself.

In mid-December 2001, Robin Moore arrived in Afghanistan, where he joined his old friends, whom he had celebrated thirty-five years earlier in his book The Green Berets and who were now calling in airstrikes and fighting alongside the armies of the Northern Alliance against the terrorist al-Qaida and Taliban. In less than three winter months, about a hundred Green Berets accounted for the deaths of perhaps as many as forty thousand terrorists and the winning of a war in Afghanistan—where the Soviets had found fighting a war all but impossible.

Robin Moore dedicated his book to the following:

Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud,
who warned America and perished on September 9, 2001

the men, women and children
who perished on Septembr 11, 2001

the New York City firefighters and police officers
who perished trying to save them

and to the Green Berets who perished avenging them.....



"Apocalyptic terrorists, no matter their rhetoric, seek your destruction
and must be killed to the last man. The apt metaphor is cancer:
you cannot hope for success if you only cut out part of the tumor.....
For a superpower to think small, which has been our habit across
the last decade, at least, is self-defeating folly. Our responses
to terrorist acts should make the world gasp."

RALPH PETERS in When Devils Walk the Earth



"We're going to need the ring for this one."

unidentified Special Forces ground commander upon learning
that fewer than one hundred Green Berets would fight
the entire northern war



"I asked for a few Americans. They brought with them
the courage of a whole Army."

General Abdul Rashid Dostum
late November 2001



MSG Bolduc touched on the essence of the Green Berets in
Afghanistan in an eloquent statement:
"When we arrived, the area was crawling with Arabs, Pakistanis,
Chechens, and the al-Qaida. We knew they would fight to the
death rather than surrender. They did not expect that we would
do so well. You see, we were also prepared to give our lives."

Page 123-124, R. Moore, The Hunt for Bin Laden:
Task Force Dagger

PART II - US ARMY RANGERS next Tuesday

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, Meekie, for my morning cup of hot chocolate, with marshmallows.

[SevenofNine]

OMG the remake going sucks

Hollywood reporter is reporting that tell you THERE IS NO SCRIPT IN HOLLYWOOD they thinking about

MAKING Remake of John Wayne classic Green Berets

THAT IS VERY WRONG INDEEDDD

OMGGGGGG

[SevenofNine]

Rackkkk that Link 68

RACK ITTTT


Well Interfax wire reporting that while we tuck in bed last night wacky Russian miltary busted some members of miltant group in Cheneya that had their hands in bomb blast in Grozy area last night


Also report off Interfax that everybody fav KGB agent Illya ERRR I mean Vlad

Said that strong evidence by KGB intellgence claim that both Bomb blast in Chenyea and in Saudi Arabia are connect

COME ON ILLYA Show to Dubya

Don't bogart it

[tomkow6]

Think I look like a Green Beret?

[tomkow6]

Anybody seen my skinny-legged sister Beth lately?

[Kathy in Alaska]

"Think I look like a Green Beret?"

Hmmmmmmm.............I'm thinking. There is a certain resemblence. Can't quite put my finger on it.

[LibertyLight]

Thank you for the beautiful thread - brought me to tears. Dedicated patriots - shedding Light on the power of the deep conviction of Love for America and freeing the oppressed. God Bless our Military. Sending the Power of Protection - God's Great Love and Light Surrounding You.

[LibertyLight]

Thank you for the beautiful thread - brought me to tears. Dedicated patriots - shedding Light on the power of the deep conviction of Love for America and freeing the oppressed. God Bless our Military. Sending the Power of Protection - God's Great Love and Light Surrounding You.

[Bethbg79]

I saw her go that way a minute ago. lol

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Cowpens (CVL-25)

Independence class light aircraft carrier
Displacement: 11,000 t.>br> Length: 622'6"
Beam: 71'6"
Extreme Width: 109'2"
Draft: 26'
Speed: 32 k.
Complement: 1,569
Armament: 26 40mm, 16 20mm, 30 aircraft
Nickname: The Mighty Moo

USS Cowpens (CV-25) was launched 17 January 1943 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., sponsored by Mrs. M. H. Spruance; daughter of Vice Admiral W. F. Halsey; and commissioned 28 May 1943, Captain R. P. McConnell in command. She was reclassified CVL-25 on 15 July 1943.

Departing Philadelphia 29 August 1943, Cowpens arrived at Pearl Harbor 19 September to begin the active and distinguished war career in which she was to earn a Navy Unit Commendation. She sailed with TF 14 for the strike on Wake Island on 5 and 6 October, then returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for strikes on the Marshall Islands preliminary to invasion. She sortied from Pearl Harbor 10 November to launch air strikes on Mille and Makin atolls between 19 and 24 November, and Kwajalein and Wotje on 4 December, returning to her base 9 December.

Joining the vast carrier TF 58, Cowpens sailed from Pearl Harbor 16 January 1944 for the invasion of the Marshalls. Her planes pounded Kwajalein and Eniwetok the last 3 days of the month to prepare for the assault landing on the 31st. Using Majuro as a base, the force struck at Truk on 16 and 17 February and the Marianas on 21 and 22 February before putting in to Pearl Harbor 4 March. Returning to Majuro, TF 58 based here for attacks on the western Carolines; Cowpens supplied air and antisubmarine patrols during the raids on Palau, Yap, Ulithi and Woleai from 30 March to 1 April. After operating off New Guinea during the invasion of Hollandia from 21 to 28 April, Cowpens took part in the strikes on Truk, Satawan and Ponape between 29 April and 1 May, returning to Majuro 14 May for training.

From 6 June to 10 July 1944, Cowpens operated in the Marianas operation. Her planes struck the island of Saipan to aid the assault troops, and made supporting raids on Iwo Jima, Pagan, Rota, and Guam. They also took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 and 20 June, accounting for a number of the huge tally of enemy planes downed. After a brief overhaul at Pearl Harbor, Cowpens rejoined the fast carrier task force at Eniwetok on 17 August. On the 29th, she sailed for the preinvasion strikes on the Palaus, whose assault was an essential preliminary to the return to the Philippines. From 13 to 17 September, she was detached from the force to cover the landings on Morotai, then rejoined it for sweep, patrol, and attack missions a gainst Luzon from 21 to 24 September. Cowpens, with her task group, flew strikes to neutralize Japanese bases on Okinawa and Formosa from 10 to 14 October, and when CANBERRA (CA-70) and HOUSTON (CL-81) were hit by torpedoes, Cowpens provided air cover for their safe withdrawal, rejoining her task group 20 October. En route to Ulithi, she was recalled when the Japanese Fleet threatened the Leyte invasion, and during the Battle of Surigao Strait phase of the decisive Battle for Leyte Gulf on 25 and 26 October, provided combat air patrol for the ships pursuing the fleeing remnant of the Japanese fleet. Continuing her support of the Philippines advance, Cowpens' planes struck Luzon repeatedly during December. During the disastrous typhoon of 18 December, Cowpens lost one man, planes and equipment but skillful work by her crew prevented major damage, and she reached Ulithi safely 21 December to repair her storm damage.

Between 30 December 1944 and 26 January 1945, Cowpens was at sea for the Lingayen Gulf landings. Her planes struck targets on Formosa, Luzon, the Indo-Chinese coast and the Hong Kong-Canton area and Okinawa during January. On 10 February, Cowpens sortied from Ulithi for the Iwo Jima operation, striking the Tokyo area, supporting the initial landings from 19 to 22 February, and hitting Okinawa on 1 March.

After overhaul at San Francisco and training at Pearl Harbor, Cowpens sailed 13 June for San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on her way striking Wake Island on 20 June. Rejoining TF 58, Cowpens sailed from San Pedro Bay 1 July to join in the final raids on the Japanese mainland. Her planes pounded Tokyo, Kure, and other cities of Hokkaido and Honshu until 15 August. Remaining off Tokyo Bay until the occupation landings began 30 August, Cowpens launched photographic reconnaissance missions to patrol airfields and shipping movements, and to locate and supply prisoner-of-war camps. Men from Cowpens were largely responsible for the emergency activation of Yokosuka airfield for Allied use. Between 8 November 1945 and 28 January 1946 Cowpens made two voyages to Pearl Harbor, Guam, and Okinawa to return veterans. Placed in commission in reserve at Mare Island 3 December 1946, Cowpens was decommissioned 13 January 1947.

Reclassified as an "Aircraft Transport", with hull number AVT-1, on 15 May 1959, while in reserve. Stricken from the Navy List on 1 November 1959 and sold for scrap in 1960.

In addition to her Navy Unit Commendation, Cowpens received 12 battle stars for World War II service.

[tomkow6]

I saw her go that way a minute ago. lol

She's been "that way" for a long time..........

[Bethbg79]

I've had Tony 24 hours a day since the 21st of April...lol

He wasnt very mobile at first, but now he can entertain himself..lol And I can get some puter time now. :-)

[tomkow6]

[tomkow6]

How are the kittens?  

[blackie]

A Tribute To The Green Berets ... Bump!

[beachn4fun]

Nah, we told you you look like a pickle!

[Bethbg79]

Kitties!!!!

They're doing great! That's "no name" to the far left, Burka in the rear, Molly in the front and Fish to the far right. :-)

[tomkow6]

Does "Burka" behave himself?

[Kathy in Alaska]

WRECKAGE — An Iraqi helicopter, destroyed by precision-guided munitions, lies near Baghdad University. There were 15 other burned out wrecks right next to the University. Saddam Hussein routinely stashed military equipment next to civilian facilities. AFPS photo by Jim Garamone

HEAVY LIFTING — U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Holloway directs a crane operator in lifting a 3,000-pound diesel engine from a fire truck while Senior Airman Michael Jackson steadies it. Both airmen are assigned to the 458th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron at Mihail Kogalniceanu, Romania. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Lakisha Croley

[tomkow6]