PHOENIX

Meet Demon, the Phoenix Bird of Pineland:

Demon is the mascot of my buddy JD's guerrilla unit. As a part of Exercise Robin Sage, JD provides training to Special Forces candidates by a combination of of challenging dilemmas and psychological cruelty.


Pineland:

The Special Forces Qualification Course ("Q-Course") is culminated by Operation ROBIN SAGE, a 4 week long large-scale unconventional warfare exercise conducted by the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and over 50,000 square miles of North Carolina. For more than half a century, around a third of North Carolina has served as the fictional "People's Republic of Pineland" for the 28-day exercise which culminates in the 19-day Robin Sage. During this unconventional warfare training exercise, the Special Forces students are required to apply and exercise the skills taught in the Special Forces Qualification Course.

The 15 counties of North Carolina that make up the People's Republic of Pineland include: Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Guilford, Hoke, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond, Rowan, Scotland, Stanly and Union.


The students are put into 12-man Operational Detachments 'Alpha', (ODA's). Students are isolated for 5 days and issued an operations order. They begin their planning process and study material required to execute their detachment's mission during the exercise.

On the last day of isolation the detachment presents its plan to the battalion command and staff. This plan will explain how the commander intends to execute the mission. The next day, the students make an airborne infiltration into the country of Pineland. They then make contact with the guerrilla forces and begin Robin Sage. Students will then begin their task of training, advising, and assisting the guerrillas. The training will educate the guerrillas in various specialties, including weapons, communications, medical, and demolitions. The training is designed to enable the guerrillas to begin liberating their country from oppression. It is the last portion of the Special Forces Qualification Course before they receive their "Green Berets".

ROBIN SAGE involves approximately 100 Special Forces students, 100 counter-insurgent personnel (OPFOR), 200 guerrilla personnel, 40 auxiliary personnel, and 50 cadre. The local communities of North Carolina also participate in the exercise by role playing as citizens of Pineland. Many of the OPFOR and guerrilla personnel are North Carolina residents who are financially compensated for their participation. The role of the guerrilla chief, or "G-Chief," is played by a retired Green Beret.

Bob Snyder, also known as Pineland Bob, right, maps out a transportation plan with a soldier during the Special Forces' Robin Sage exercise in Ramseur, N.C.

There is nothing like Exercise Robin Sage - on such a scale at least - in any other military organization in the world. Since my retirement from active duty I have been involved in two major corporate security organizations, working side-by-side with fellow Special Forces veterans, and the principles and truisms of guerrilla warfare learned in Robin Sage are constantly referenced. The corporate suits in the boardrooms are never able to outflank us with their office politics and agendas. We know the battle before it is fought; if we can prevail, we engage and overcome. If there is no tactical victory to be achieved; combat is declined.

The SEALs and the MARSOF are trying to replicate Robin Sage; my advice to them is why re-invent the wheel? Come over to the Dark Side - Pineland already exists - use the existing training lanes and G-networks that are already in place; there's plenty of contractors coming back from the Sandpile who are willing to plus-up the cadre.

The Anthem of Pineland is as follows:

This is the Land of the of the Tall Pine Tree

Where All of Us used to Live so Free

THIS IS PINELAND

A Place to Live and a Place to Play

But the UPA took it All away

THIS IS PINELAND

A Place where We are all Free to Work Together

Where our Crops can Grow and the Sun will Shine Forever

A Beautiful Land with Much to Give

This is where We'll Always Live

THIS IS PINELAND

ZIGGY ZOGGY ZIGGY ZOGGY OY! OY! OY!

ZIGGY ZOGGY ZIGGY ZOGGY OY! OY! OY!

ZIGGY ZOGGY ZIGGY ZOGGY OY! OY! OY!

PINELAND! PINELAND! PINELAND!

Speaking of Birds, today's Mystery Bird is HERE

CHE GUEVARA

If your kid ever comes home in a Che Guevara T-shirt, ask him if he knows what the Cuban murderer actually stood for. Sit him down, strip the gauze of ignorance from his eyes and have him read some of these Guevara quotes:


10 Che Guevara quotes the left would rather not talk about


Here are a few I pulled out:

• “To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary … These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution!”

• “A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of the The Wall!” The Wall is a reference to the wall where Che’s enemies stood before his firing squads.

• “If any person has a good word for the previous government that is good enough for me to have him shot."

The only good Che Guevara is a dead Che Guevara


That not good enough to do the trick? Here's some more Che-ism the Left would rather not be publicized:


13 reasons you should throw away your Che Guevara T-shirt

• Soon after Batista was overthrown, Guevara had hundreds of Cuban government officials executed. Notice that the phrase “fair trial” was conspicuously absent from the previous sentence.

• Che was a brutal murderer. He trained and commanded firing squads that executed thousands of men, women and children deemed enemies by the new Castro regime. He once put a bullet in the head of a fellow guerrilla he suspected of disloyalty.

• Che was not a fan of our First Amendment. He opposed freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and protest. Can you say North Korea?

This photo was taken in an Obama campaign office in Texas. The volunteer who put the poster on the wall might be surprised to learn that her hero opposed free elections.


But if your kid MUST wear a Che Guevara T-shirt, there's THIS brilliance:

Che Guevara in death, with CIA agent Gustavo Villoldo (left) and an unknown U.S. Special Forces officer.


At CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia they have a very interesting museum, which includes some displays dedicated to the campaign, capture & death of Che Guevara, to include personal artifacts. Che was such a threat, his remains a visible high-profile personality file in an otherwise sea of anonymity . . . S.L.



Today's Bird HERE.


.

U.S. & INDIAN ARMY SPECIAL FORCES

This is my old outfit -

1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, out of Okinawa.

Never in a million years could I imagine "First of the First" up there in the snow in Alaska - we were tropical lightning, "Unleashed in the East" . . .






Thanks to THEO for bringing this gloriousness to my attention . . . S.L.



In honor of my old outfit and Indian Special Forces, here is some Southwest Asian Hotness wearing North American tribal colors.


.

NEW SPONSOR

Jim from Pro Art Shirts contacted me regarding an image I'd used about a year ago on a post about le Legion Etranger. He has graciously allowed me to use it, and I updated the post to acknowledge his artwork.

The t-shirt designs available at Pro Art Shirts are fantastic - bold, basic military insignia. They are well-balanced, pleasing to the eye and representative of that which readers of STORMBRINGER respect and hold dear: our proud family of freedom-fighting military organizations, the warrior ethos incarnate. After exchanging notes with Jim, he sent me a collection of images representing the units I was assigned to:

I mentioned that I also served with the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (DERR) and the 7th Gurkha Rifles, and that I was present on the battlefield with the French Foreign Legion in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) although I do not know which regiment - we were busy working and there wasn't time to get acquainted. Jim said that he'd be happy to design something for those organizations so I'm looking around for some good high res references - he's been after a good reference for the Gurkha cap badge for a long time, still no luck with that. In a future post I'll tell you all about the DERR and what makes them special, even within the Great British Army.

Monday Mystery Bird HERE




.

WAR OF WORDS

From Milblogging.com:

A war of words has broken out between Michael Yon and Jim Hanson (who blogs over at Blackfive under nom-de-plume Uncle Jimbo) and Michael Yon earlier this week over on Blackfive.net. A number of bloggers and readers quickly defending the side of Uncle Jimbo after seeing some of the Michael Yon rants.

"Uncle Jimbo" Hanson and Michael Yon

This isn`t the first time; back in April 2010 a battle between Michael Yon and several milbloggers took place after negative comments Michael made about General McChrystal on his Facebook page.

The current war of words doesn`t look like it`s going to end anytime soon; over 100 comments have already been posted on a story that was published Friday. The post has become a verbal battleground for Uncle Jimbo, Michael Yon, and a number of other prominent bloggers and readers.

More details HERE



Comment: Uncle Jimbo and I know each other from Okinawa; we re-established contact around the time I retired from active duty and into what I do now, and just about the same time STORMBRINGER kicked off. He is what he says he is . . . S. L.



Uncle Jimbo posted a story this past Saturday called The Last Spiderbender - a cautionary tale about the dark side of Public Affairs - well worth the read.


.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: 9th TOUR OF DUTY

SFC RONALD GRIDER, KIA

Elite warriors from the United States Special Operations Command will gather this week at Fort Bragg, North Carolina to remember one of their own.

After nine tours of duty, Sergeant First Class Ronald Grider was killed in Konduz Province, Afghanistan in September on his 30th birthday. He was the father of a young daughter.

Grider, 30, a veteran of a dozen years of military service, was on his ninth deployment to a combat zone in the current Middle East conflicts.

Grider was born in Alton, Ill. He graduated from high school in 1998. Grider enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Infantryman, a month shy of his 18th birthday,
on Aug. 18, 1998. Friends and family say despite the frequent deployments, Grider was still the happy-go-lucky kid they all called "Hank," and that he had found his calling in the military.

Grider served for three years as a grenadier, rifleman and scout team leader, in C Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

During this time, Grider attended Ranger School graduating in May 2000. He served with the 3d battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia as a rifle team leader and squad leader, deploying once to Afghanistan and three times to Iraq.

Later, Grider attended and passed the Special Forces "Q" Course. In November 2005, the Army assigned him to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Operations Command, at Fort Bragg as a Special Operations team member.

"For five years, he performed this duty, deploying four times to Operation Iraqi Freedom and once more to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom," USASOC said.

Grider served as an unofficial chaplain for older warriors in his squadron. The longer he stayed in, friends and family say, the more he sought comfort in his religion.

Grider had talked to a pastor about entering the seminary and taking his life in a new direction. He had a big thing to wrestle with: Which job would benefit other people more? The pastor said, I don't know. Ultimately, Grider opted to stay in the Army for a full to earn his retirement, and then go to seminary and come back and help the other way.

A soldier injured in the same attack that killed Aaron Grider told the family about his last moments: "He knew that he was going to die, because he was actually - he was bleeding out. He looked up at these guys that were trying to take care of him. And he said, it's OK, closed his eyes and died."

Grider's decorations include two Bronze Star Medals; he was posthumously awarded his third Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.