CONNECT THE DOTS

Iran War Games Begin in the Persian Gulf with new 'Ultra Fast' Speed Boats

Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats attack an abandoned war ship, being used as a target, during a maneuver in the Persian Gulf, Thursday 22 April 2010.




Mystery Rocket Explodes in Jordan



BBC Thursday, 22 April 2010 17:07 UK

A rocket has exploded near the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba, damaging a warehouse but causing no casualties.

The rocket was one of two fired early on Thursday which landed in Jordanian territory - the other fell into the Red Sea.

There are conflicting reports as to where the rockets were launched.





Iran Boosts Qods Shock Troops in Venezuela
Pentagon Predicts U.S. Clash with Islamist Paramilitary




Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military.

The report on Iranian military power provides new details on the group known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Islamist shock troops deployed around the world to advance Iranian interests. The unit is aligned with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, North Africa and Latin America, and the report warns that U.S. forces are likely to battle the Iranian paramilitaries in the future.




Burning Oil Rig Sinks into Gulf; 11 Still Missing

U.S. Coast Guard photo shows fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon Wednesday April 21, 2010. 11 workers are still missing since a thunderous explosion rocked an oil drilling platform that continued to burn late Wednesday.


. . . One worker said he was awakened by alarms and scrambled to get on a life boat.

"I've been working offshore 25 years and I've never seen anything like this before," said the man, who like others at the hotel declined to give his name . . .


Me? I don't believe in coincidences . . .

- Sean Linnane


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I STAND CORRECTED . . .

As pointed out in comments (dang I can't get anything past youse guys) that was a JU-52 not a JU-88 in the opening sequence to WHERE EAGLES DARE - the JU-88 was a twin engined medium bomber.

Quite honestly I suspected as much when I posted but was in too much of a hurry to do adequate pre-mission checks. This falls under the Operational Principle of: "That little nagging voice you're ignoring in the back of your head is the enemy that's out there, gonna sneak up and ambush your ass."

- Sean Linnane

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

SEAL UPDATE 22 APRIL 2010

This (unconfirmed) report just came in via the Blackberry device - S.L.

navy seal 1st petty officer huertas has been found not guilty of the assualt charges. the other two remaining seals charged are being tried in the next few weeks, but with the first not guilty in they are hoping the gov. drops these remaining charges.

(Note: blogposts will suffer slight loss of quality as I move to master this new method to post to STORMBRINGER - Sean Linnane)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

THE REAL GERMAN HELICOPTER

WHERE EAGLES DARE is arguably one of the best war movies ever made; written by the great action novelist Alistair MacLean. The action opens with a covert airborne infiltration into a high alpine pasture in the middle of winter - from a JU-88 in cool winter camo with a SWASTIKA on the tail, no less! This is the first unorthodox plot twist thrown out at the audience - before the movie even gets started - and the whole thing just gets better from there.





If you've got the time, watch all these clips.


The only aspect of this film bothered me is the German helicopter . . .






Even as a kid I knew the chopper featured in the castle scenes was a post-war Bell Bell 47 "whirlybird" (military nomenclature H-13):


Korean War-era Bell H-13 Souix performing medevac with 2 wounded UN troops.


It wasn't until later in life I discovered the Germans actually had helicopters during World War II, and not just experimental prototypes, either; they were operational!





This knowledge absolves Alistair MacLean and the film's producers of any wrongdoing and puts WHERE EAGLES DARE high up in the running for STORMBRINGER'S Best War Film of All Time.

Your comments are welcome, as always - particularly any nominations for Best War Films.


Enjoy,

Sean Linnane


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WHEN THE IZZYs FLY THE STRIKE

IAF B707 refueling Israeli F-15s


This story exploded all over the 'Net today:

Would the U.S. Shoot Down an Israeli Jet? Top Officer Won’t Say




April 20, 2010

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- In a town hall on the campus of the University of West Virginia, a young Air Force ROTC cadet asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen to respond to a “rumor.” If Israel decided to attack Iran, the speculation went, those jet would need to fly through Iraqi airspace to reach their targets. That airspace is considered a “no-fly” zone by the American military. So might U.S. troops shoot down the Israeli jets, the airmen asked the chairman, if they breached that airspace?

Mullen tried to sidestep the question.


Read it all here


Here's the STORMBRINGER take: This non-answer does not necessarily imply that the United States will take drastic measures against our Israeli allies. The man is being as politically correct and tactfully discreet as possible - and though I ordinarily find the PC mindset repugnant, in this case Admiral Mullen must choose his words very carefully because he represents the military arm of the United States government.

Americans serving in Iraq have been on the receiving end of Iranian rockets smuggled to militants in Iraq for years. Iranian EFPs have also killed a number of Americans. I am certain of two things: there are American servicemen & women who would hesitate when given an order to fire upon Israeli targets - particularly enroute to bomb Iran; and the Command I'm sure is contemplating this scenario.

The sad fact of the matter is we had our opportunity to smash the Iranian Fundamentalist Islamic Revolution in it's infancy and we hesitated - or should I say Jimmy Carter hesitated. The ball was in his court and he balked. IF the day after our embassy was taken down on November 4, 1979, the 82D had jumped on to Tehran Airport and moved on the city . . . well, we wouldn't be having half the problems we're having with these people now.

But instead we've got what we've got going on now, and this thing is going to go on for the next hundred years.


- Sean Linnane


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A CLASS OF GENERALS

The West Point Class of 1915 is known as ‘The Class the Stars Fell On’ because of graduates like Omar Bradley and Dwight Eisenhower. But the Class of 1976 - which graduated from West Point at the lowest point in the history of the modern US Army - is coming into a stellar reputation all their own . . . Wall Street Journal


David William Barno: Retired top commander in Afghanistan



Frank Gunther Helmick: Leading U.S. efforts to train Iraqi troops



Stanley Allen McChrystal: Top Officer in Afghanistan



Raymond Thomas Odierno: Top officer in Iraq



David Mitchell Rodriguez: Deputy in command in Afghanistan


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HANGING OUT WITH BUDDHA

"Thus ended my airborne career . . ."







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