"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!
Good Saturday Morning Everyone
If you would like to be added to our ping list, let us know.
Join us at the rally we call:
What: A peaceful remembrance of those with whom we served in Vietnam - those who lived and those who died.
We will tell the story of their virtues and how that contrasts with the lies told by John Kerry.
When: Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004 @ 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT
Where: The West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, DC
All Vietnam veterans and their families and supporters are asked to attend. Other veterans are invited as honored guests. This will be a peaceful event--no shouting or contact with others with different opinions. We fought for their rights then, and we respect their rights now. This is NOT a Republican or a pro-Bush rally. Democrats, Republicans and independents alike are warmly invited.
Our gathering is to remember those with whom we served, thereby giving the lie to John Kerry's smear against a generation of fine young men. B.G. "Jug" Burkett, author of "Stolen Valor," will be one of our speakers. Jug has debunked countless impostors who falsely claimed to be Vietnam veterans or who falsely claimed awards for heroism. Jug recommends that we refrain from dragging fatigues out of mothballs. Dress like America, like you do every day.
Dress code: business casual, nice slacks, and shirt and shoes. No uniform remnants, please. Unit hats OK.
Selected members will wear badges identifying them as authorized to speak to the media about our event. Others who speak to the media will speak only for themselves.
The program will be controlled in an attempt to stay on-message. Speakers are encouraged not to engage in speculative criticism of John Kerry but (1) to stick to known and undisputed facts about John Kerry’s lies while (2) reminding America of the true honor and courage of our brothers in battle in Vietnam.
Send this announcement to 10 or more of your brothers! Bring them by car, bus, train or plane! Make this event one of pride in America, an event you would be proud to have your mother or your children attend.
Contact: kerrylied.com
Something politicians still haven't learned. Good Thread to day Snippy.
Today BTW is August 6th, 2004.:-D
Read: 2 Tim. 1:1-7; 2:1-2
The things that you have heard from me . . . commit these to faithful men. —2 Timothy 2:2
Bible In One Year: Psalms 72-73; Romans 9:1-15
Whenever I meet a Christian for the first time, I'm interested in learning how he came to trust Jesus as his Savior. Each person has a different story to tell, but they all testify that they learned the truth because of the efforts of others—their parents, pastors, Sunday school teachers, Bible club leaders, friends, writers. Someone has rightly observed that the body of Christ grows through "an unbroken chain of teachers."
In today's Scripture we learn that Timothy became a believer through the influence of his grandmother Lois, his mother Eunice, and the teaching of Paul (2 Timothy 1:5; 2:2). The apostle told Timothy to become part of that chain and "commit these truths to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (v.2).
The "faithful men" Paul had in mind were probably church elders, yet he was expressing a principle that applies to every believer. We had to receive the truth from someone; now it is our gracious privilege and solemn duty to transmit that truth to others.
Think of yourself as a link in the living chain that extends from the time Jesus lived on earth to the present. We must keep that chain strong by telling others about Him so that the gospel will reach to future generations. —Herb Vander Lugt
"Right Shall Rise Again!!
(To be sung to R.E.M.'s "So. Central Rain")
Clinton's gonna fall!! Dem Leftists try to stall...
Their Lib'ral mis-Directions...are driving RATS insane!!
Our Will shan't bend!! Slick Willie washed away...
The Evil of the Lib'rals...has forced Mudboy to sing.
I'm sorry...Slick's sorry...Left's sorry...Right's always...
Justice is our Right...Third Party calls...the RINOs frown...
The wise man wrote his words upon the rocks...
But MUD's not bound to follow suit!!
The Left shall bend...Slick's ConDamnation's Nigh!!
If Slick's Treas'nous Crimes YOU Condone...yer choice isn't mine!!
Slick's sorry...Left's sorry...
Med'yuh never called!! MUD waited for Left's calls...
Left's lies and mis-directions are driving US away!!
Then Limbaugh sang...Left's Brain-washin' washed away...
Left says that I should "Just Move ON!!"...that Choice isn't mine!!
I'm sorry...Slick's sorry...Left's sorry...Justice's RIGHT!!!
Ooooh...Ahhhhh...Ahhhhhhhhh-EEEEE...Ahhhhh-ahhhhhhh-uhhhhh...
{end very intensely on Am}
Heh heh heh...Mudboy Slim (15 January 2002)
"Trying to fight the enemy in his back yard, but avoid casualties, was contradictory. It Backfired."
THAT is what the brass desperately needs to relearn, that avoiding casualties isn't possible.
And we here 'at home' need to remember this as well.
No matter how the press plays it up.
Ripcord: Screaming Eagles under Siege, Vietnam 1970 by Keith William Nolan. Presidio Press
(http://www.presidiopress.com), P.O. Box 1764, Novato, California 94948, 2000, 480 pages, $29.95 (hardcover).
At first glance, Keith Nolan’s Ripcord seems to have little to do with the Air Force other than to serve as a reminder of the importance the F-4 played in close air support and the B-52 played in the bombing campaign in Southeast Asia. After all, this is the story of Fire-Support Base Ripcord, an Army installation. The fight in the hills around Ripcord was an infantryman’s fight, holding little or no interest for an Air Force audience.
Although this is true, members of the Air Force, especially its leadership, would do well to read Nolan’s book. What it chronicles, beyond the horrific scenes of battle, is the story of several hundred men fighting a battle they have already lost. It tells how these troops, faced with an impossible mission, begin to mistrust their leadership and how their anger begins to spread.
Fire-Support Base Ripcord was established as the first part of a campaign to push the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) out of the A Shau Valley, an operation that never really came to fruition as originally conceived. The ridge on which Ripcord would be built was seized in April 1970 but reverted to the NVA only three months later, on 23 July. Because of political considerations, writes Nolan, “division headquarters proved reluctant to be drawn into the kind of bloody slugging match that would have been required to push the enemy out of their entrenchments around Ripcord” (p. 11).
Ripcord is especially powerful when it examines leadership, from the platoon all the way up to division level. Nolan expertly and evenhandedly dissects eyewitness accounts of both good and bad leadership in the field. The grunts who followed their leaders into battle often did so reluctantly, largely because of the overwhelming nature of the obstacles before them. In the interviews and letters Nolan presents, these soldiers’ impressions of platoon and company leadership are mostly positive. The questions surrounding leadership arise mostly at the battalion level and above, starting with Lt Col Andre Lucas, the battalion commander tasked with the defense of Ripcord, and with Brig Gen Sidney Berry, acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division. Each of their subordinates has a different opinion, and Nolan is careful to let readers make up their own minds about each man’s leadership qualities. Again and again, the book returns to the issue of leadership: what proved effective and what did not; whether a commander could have done more or less; who had responsibility; and what leadership could have done differently.
Beyond this case study in leadership is the fascinating story of several battalions of men who faced the horrors of war every day. Nolan takes his readers on patrol with the ranging platoons as they probe the jungles around Ripcord to test enemy strength. He follows them up nearby Hill 1000, from which the NVA pounded Ripcord with mortar and 55 mm fire. Nolan tells of the men on Ripcord who provide suppressing fire for the men in the field around the camp, and he walks with the men in the field who try in vain to knock out mortar and gun emplacements that threaten Ripcord. Finally, he follows the men off Ripcord as they evacuate the base while NVA troops victoriously swarm the hilltop.
Although the besieged men were happy to evacuate their living hell, they questioned the reasons for establishing the base if it was to be abandoned so quickly. Chris Straub, a retired lieutenant colonel who saw action during the Ripcord siege, wrote to Nolan, noting that the evacuation “confirms my view that from the start the 101st’s push into the Ripcord AO [area of operations] was not in consonance with what the U.S. was trying to accomplish in Vietnam in 1970” (p. 411). If Ripcord did not mesh with overall US objectives, one wonders why so many men died before it was abandoned. Again, the question of leadership raises its head.
Ripcord is a quality piece of investigating, and Nolan deserves credit for his dedication to revealing as many sides of the story as he can. His ability to humanize the men who fought is commendable. Most importantly, however, Nolan is able to provide present military leadership with a case study in effective battle management. We owe it to future conflicts to read and internalize the lessons Ripcord presents.
1st Lt Glenn D. Leinbach, USAF
Osan AB, South Korea
Dien Bien Phu deja vu.
Ripcord : Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970 by KEITH NOLAN
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 2d Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. place and date: Fire Support Base Ripcord, Republic of Vietnam, 1 to 23 July 1970. Entered service at: West point, N.Y. Born: 2 October 1930, Washington D.C. Citation: Lt. Col. Lucas distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism while serving as the commanding officer of the 2d Battalion. Although the fire base was constantly subjected to heavy attacks by a numerically superior enemy force throughout this period, Lt. Col. Lucas, forsaking his own safety, performed numerous acts of extraordinary valor in directing the defense of the allied position. On 1 occasion, he flew in a helicopter at treetop level above an entrenched enemy directing the fire of 1 of his companies for over 3 hours. Even though his helicopter was heavily damaged by enemy fire, he remained in an exposed position until the company expended its supply of grenades. He then transferred to another helicopter, dropped critically needed grenades to the troops, and resumed his perilous mission of directing fire on the enemy. These courageous actions by Lt. Col. Lucas prevented the company from being encircled and destroyed by a larger enemy force. On another occasion, Lt. Col. Lucas attempted to rescue a crewman trapped in a burning helicopter. As the flames in the. aircraft spread, and enemy fire became intense, Lt. Col. Lucas ordered all members of the rescue party to safety. Then, at great personal risk, he continued the rescue effort amid concentrated enemy mortar fire, intense heat, and exploding ammunition until the aircraft was completely engulfed in flames. Lt. Col. Lucas was mortally wounded while directing the successful withdrawal of his battalion from the fire base. His actions throughout this extended period inspired his men to heroic efforts, and were instrumental in saving the lives of many of his fellow soldiers while inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Lt. Col. Lucas' conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, at the cost of his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit and the U.S. Army.
