BY THE GRACE OF GOD AND "OLD SLABSIDES"

This awesome tale of a very special 1911 comes to us via the worthy blog of a friend who is also a Brother and Charter Member of Team STORMBRINGER- Chasmatic's SPILLERS OF SOUP:

"One of the older technicians at work was telling me a story today about a pistol that was in his in-laws' family.

"He tells me that his wife's late father, who was a Marine in the battle of Iwo Jima, had brought back his pistol from the war. I'm thinking, OK, must be a nice old 1911 model, one that has probably seen more than a few soldiers' hands; then comes the rest of the story.

"Turns out that the guy's father in law had a camera with him in his sack, and had taken some pictures of when they raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi. He submitted his photo but it was not chosen as the one that is now famous. The family still has this picture hanging in their living room.

"A few days after the flag raising the Japanese attacked the Marines and another fight broke out. While they are in the middle of everything a Japanese sniper takes a shot at him. The bullet hits him in the right wrist and hits his gun hanging from his belt. The round, after completely disabling his right hand, penetrates his leather pistol holster and embeds itself into the slide of his 1911. Fragments from the round penetrate through the other side of the holster and into his leg, injuring him further. The Marine was able to get to the medic, where he was then evacuated to care for his injuries.

"So the technician asks me if I would like to see it. After telling him the obvious, he calls his wife's brother and asks if he could bring it up to the shop.

 
"Here are the pictures I took after listening to the same story again from the Marine's son. (it was a good story, I had no problem listening twice.)

I asked him if he would mind me posting them on here, as long as I blocked out the serial number. He said go right ahead.

"Although I had to blur out the serial #, it fell into the early/mid 600,000 range. Found this Colt: S/N 450,000 to 629,500 = Oct. 24, 1918 to April 10, 1919

The Marine's name was Horace Arthur Smith "Arty". he passed away 3 years ago."

Honor

Wednesday Bird HERE


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RIFLE

This video was sent in by a friend who is also a Brother - filmed by some Air Force Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTAC) in Tal Afar, west of Mosul in Iraq (date unknown):

A Marine unit was pinned down in the street. They set their video camera on the bumper of their armored HUMVEE, which they were using for cover.

Keep an eye on the opposing van parked just down the street. On the audio you can hear them shooting back and forth. The rounds you can hear are from the Marines, and the ones you hear pinging against the side of the vehicle with no accompanying pop are from the bad guys.

Listen carefully; when the Marine says they just fired the "rifle," it means an F-16 aircraft just launched a Maverick missile. You can see it strike the vehicle the bad guys were using for cover.

End of story . . . for the bad guys.



Tuesday Tart HERE


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MARINE CORPS VET TARGETED BY VANDALS

DISGRACEFUL

Nov 8, 2010 York County, Pennsylvania

Vandals targeted an Iraq War Veteran in West York sometime early Monday morning:


 
An Iraq War Veteran and recipient of two Purple Hearts awakened to find his SUV damaged by vandals.

Police say, Anthony Gurreri, a former Lance Corporal with the United States Marine Corps, found his SUV damaged in his driveway along N. Clinton Street. The 2003 GMC Yukon had a smashed back window, all 4 tires were slashed, both headlamp lenses were broken, and the front windshield wipers and wiper arms were torn from the mounts.

The statement, "Go Back to Iraq and Kill More Women and Kids," was spray painted on the hood of the vehicle. The vandals also etched the words "Muder" (murder spelled incorrectly) and "Killer" into the driver and passenger side doors.

Investigators ask anyone with information about this crime to contact the West York Borough Police at 717-854-1975.


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STILL A GUT WRENCHER

US Marines visit the ancient battle field, pay their respects on what is now sacred soil . . .



Mount Suribachi, overlooking Invasion Beach.


An interesting presentation (with Elvis' American Trilogy) -

IWO JIMA TODAY







(Sent in by Chas - the music didn't open on my computer - S.L.)

MARINE WAR DOG HERO

A Marine Corps Military Working Dog recently passed away; please review this touching tribute to a true canine hero:



MWD Flapoor was one of our great military working dogs who was on the front lines with our Marines during Operation Iraqi Freedom. His handler, Marine LCpl Brown, made this tribute video so we can all remember one of our beloved K9 heroes.

MWD Flapoor did two tours in Iraq. During his first tour, in 2005-2006, MWD Flapoor and his handler at the time, Cpl Poelart, were providing security at an Iraqi police recruitment center in Ar Ramadi when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the building. The bomb killed dozens of Iraqis wanting to become police and wounded dozens more.

The bomb set a precedent in that the first military working dog handler, Sgt Adam Cann, was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom. MWD Flapoor and his handler were both wounded and awarded the Purple Heart. Cpl Poelart was eventually honorably discharged while MWD Flapoor recovered from his wounds and went back for a second successful tour in Iraq. Thank you for making this tribute LCpl Brown so we can all remember this amazing dog for his sacrifice and service to our country.

V-22 OSPREY UPDATE

A reader writes:

". . . it's a nice "whiz-bang NEATO!" thing but still after ALL THESE YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT ISN'T SAFE. FAA won't approve them for Civil Aviation for all their design faults."

Why the V-22 Osprey is Unsafe.



"Yes the wing rotates and things fold BUT:

V-22 Lies Exposed

"G2mil's March article, V-22 Alternatives describes why V-22s are not shipboard compatible. This has been known by those profiting from the V-22 program for a decade. This is why they avoided deploying V-22s with naval task forces. However, all the CH-46Es have been retired from the East Coast, so V-22s were forced to deploy last month with the 22nd MEU. They deployed only 10, rather than the standard 12 with the CH-46E, because V-22s are twice their size."

Read the rest of Tom's insightful analysis here.


Sean Linnane write: Thanks for this info, Tom. I was aware of the controversy surrounding the V-22, from the inception of the military program, but not in such detail. In late 2007 I observed a large number of MV-22's in the air and on the airstrip at Camp Lejeune, NC. At that time my impression was 'Thank God I'm retiring and will never be forced to get onto one of those science fiction-looking eggbeaters.'

There's a standard line the military aviators always say about the Airborne: "I don't know why anyone would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane."

Let me say it proud and say it loud: I am not an aviator, I am Airborne. I ride around in birds I don't fly them, and always, always, ALWAYS I prefer to jump out of them rather than land in them.

V-22 OSPREY

Yesterday I watched eight of these babies land at Camp MacKall Airfield, NC - it was like a scene out of a science fiction movie.



I was aware that the idea of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft with helicopter-like rotors at the wingtips is not new, but I had no idea that the concept originated in the 1930s.









On second thought I guess this makes sense when you consider all the Buck Rogers gee-whizbang coolness they were throwing around back then . . .








The first design resembling modern tiltrotors was patented by George Lehberger in May 1930, but he did not further develop the concept. In World War II, a German prototype, called the Focke-Achgelis FA-269 was developed starting in 1942, but never flew.


The Bell XV-3 - first flown on 11 August 1955 - was a tiltrotor aircraft developed by Bell Helicopter for a joint research program between the United States Air Force and the United States Army. the XV-3 had the engines in the fuselage and drive shafts transferring power out to tilting wingtip rotor assemblies. It was fitted with ejection seats; they were never needed but would have fired downward. (YIPES ! ! ! - S.L.)


XV-15 in takeoff mode.

What was to ultimately become the XV-15 originated in 1971 as a concept at NASA Ames Research Center. The first of two Bell XV-15s first flew on May 3, 1977.

Force Recon Marines conduct military freefall (HALO) ops from an Osprey.

The aircraft designation "V-22 Osprey" was given on 15 January 1985. The USMC variant received the MV-22 designation and the Air Force variant received CV-22. This was reversed from normal procedure to prevent Marine Ospreys from having similar designations as aircraft carriers (CV). Full-scale development of the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft began in 1986. The first V-22 was rolled out in May 1988. The initial operators are the United States Marine Corps and Air Force; the Army left the program citing a need to focus its budget on more immediate aviation programs.

On 17 September 2007, ten MV-22Bs of VMM-263 deployed for Iraq aboard the USS Wasp. They are primarily used in Iraq's western Anbar province for routine cargo and troop movements, and also for riskier "aero-scout" missions. The V-22 flew 3,000 sorties, racking up 5,200 hours in Iraq as of July 2008. USMC leadership expect to deploy MV-22s to Afghanistan in 2009.

OK let me kill two myths right here - the V-22 Osprey CAN fold for compact storage (for maritime operations) . . .

For compact storage and transport, the V-22's wing rotates to align, front-to-back, with the fuselage.

. . . and it IS possible to fastrope the Osprey:


AFSOC Operators Fast Rope and Hoist out CV-22 Osprey, Hurlburt Field, Florida.

Operational Units:

United States Air Force

o 8th Special Operations Squadron (8 SOS) at Hurlburt Field, Florida
o 71st Special Operations Squadron (71 SOS) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
o 20th Special Operations Squadron (20 SOS) at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico

United States Marine Corps

o VMM-162
o VMM-261
o VMM-263
o VMM-264
o VMM-266
o VMM-365
o VMMT-204 - Training squadron
o VMX-22 - Marine Tiltrotor Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron

FACES OF WAR

Study the faces of these US Marines, in action in Afghanistan this Fourth of July weekend.

Marine Captain Eric Meador of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. gives his Marines a "Hoo-ah Speech" before moving out on the start of Operation Khanjari, July 2, 2009.

Some of them are teenagers. All of them know what going into combat means.

Marines from 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade move onto the choppers.

The zippered pouch mounted on the front of his gear contains his NODs (Night Observation Device).

The 12-gage shotgun rounds identify this Marine's role as a door breacher.

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf" - George Orwell