COMMENTS

Regarding the comment (below) about the tank - yes it occurred to me that this might be training / testing footage, especially given the voice-over, and I said as much to the guy who sent it; I should have included my comments that I emailed back to him. Given the flight track of the missile, it looks like it is wire-guided - such as a TOW. I'm not familiar enough with the Milan to say one way or the other. It is a spectacular piece of footage nonetheless.

Somebody asked is that photo actually Barry Sadler - according to an article I read in Soldier of Fortune magazine years ago, yes it is. I don't know the deal with the Wehrmacht cap, because if you study the pic closely you can see he is wearing Vietnam-era tigerstripe camouflage, and to the best of my knowledge, none of the Germans who served in French Indochina in the Foreign Legion wore any remnants of their World War II uniforms.

Close inspection of the photo reveals the distinctive "Horse" crest of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School - my alma mater:

So the question becomes what on Earth is Barry Sadler doing with a SWC crest on a Wehrmacht cap? The only possible explanation I can come up with is he is possibly in role as a guerrilla for the final training exercise of the Special Forces "Q" Course. This is possibly a mystery to which we may never learn the answer - one thing is for sure; I know right now my buddies in the team rooms at Fort Bragg and in the instructor's hooches out at Camp MacKall are saying, "WOAH - HE'S RIGHT, CHECK IT OUT! BARRY SADLER IS WEARING A SWC CREST ON HIS CASCA PORTRAIT!"


Oh, and the link to the Friday Bird is working now.


Peace, Out . . . SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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DEATH BY PHOSPHOROUS

I received this footage via an unconfirmed source; it was reportedly filmed by the Israeli Defense Forces in real time, depicting the lead vehicle of a Syrian tank column in the Golan Heights. I cannot confirm whether or not the footage below is an actual event, or footage from a testing facility. The terrain matches that of the Golan Heights, however, and there is no signage or distance markings as one would expect to see at an ordinance proving grounds.

The fully armored Syrian tank is hit by an Israeli laser-guided, steel-penetrating, phosphorous-filled "hand-held" rocket; a small, very portable and tightly controlled weapon system. My source states that each one is accounted for when they are checked out and back in. There must be no fewer than 2 soldiers present to verify the use, one must be a senior officer with a minimum of 10 years military service. (The weapon name and program is secret.)

My source states that this tank was headed for one of Israel's settlements. Reportedly, there were four more tanks approximately one mile to the rear of this tank, which turned around before getting to this area after learning what had happened to the lead tank.

You can hear the ammunition cooking off after the initial strike. Needless to say, it not possible for tank crew members to survive an event like this, which did not make the news. This is reportedly an everyday event for Israel's Armed Forces; they do not permit the "embedding" of news reporters with their armed forces like we Americans do. This weapon and its tactical use is for their survival, not for "news" entertainment.




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THE ETERNAL MERCENARY - Part II

Barry Sadler (November 1, 1940 – November 5, 1989) was a Green Beret medic in Vietnam, and of course his main claim to fame was as singer songwriter of the immortal BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS.

There's another side to the great balladeer of Special Forces, however: Barry Sadler was also the author of the notorious CASCA THE ETERNAL MERCENARY series of novels.

In an earlier era they would have been labelled "pulp fiction."

The "Casca" saga centers on the title character, Casca Rufio Longinius, a Roman soldier who stabbed Christ during the crucifixion, and is cursed to remain a soldier eternally till the Second Coming. The series of novels takes Casca through to the 20th century. Sadler himself wrote only the first few, with the remainder of the original 22 books being farmed out by the publishers to other writers and issued under his name.

There's a STORMBRINGER tie-in, of course: a private in the barracks in the early eighties could not escape these sacred texts. So somewhere between pulling CQ runner duties or one of those stupid details where they'd have you guarding a building and if you got lucky there'd be a jeep or a truck you could sit in to keep out of the rain, bust out your L-shape and read a few chapters of CASCA or CONAN THE BARBARIAN or maybe even MACK BOLAN.

FAST FORWARD: Kuwait, 2001. We were doing this unGodly commute down the National Highway back and forth to this Kuwaiti camp where their guys were pulling their annual training and we were the lucky guys who drew the short straw, which meant we got to train these poor rich slobs who really didn't want to be there.

Anyway our team Warrant Officer was Eric Rojo - not his real name - the best damn Warrant in Special Forces and probably the oldest, and one of the most lethal men I ever had the pleasure of serving next to. A cowboy from Oklahoma who held advanced science degrees and had once worked as a chemist for Exxon; Chief Rojo always got a lot of respect. Anyway Rojo popped this CD into the dashboard; yep, you guessed it; CASCA THE ETERNAL MERCENARY.

Well this was good, and all of us poor slobs who had soldiered through and paid our dues in the early eighties happily listened to the adventures of Barry Sadler's alter-ego, nodding our heads approvingly, knowing that we were receiving Green Beret lore and wisdom straight from the source. We'd tapped into the mother lode, apparently, because Rojo had brought the entire 22-volume collectors edition disk set, and suddenly this deployment began to look a little more bearable.

Of course the Team Captain hadn't been there in the early eighties - the youngest NCO on the team probably had more time under canopy that he had in the Army - he had no idea what this tripe was we were listening to and he couldn't figure out for the life of him what the hell it was all about. Finally on the second day he goes, "What is this sh*t we're listening to?"

Suddenly the CASCA material doubled in value, because IT PISSED OFF THE OFFICER! Because I was the 18F - team intell sergeant and resident philosopher - I spoke up in this serious tone of voice; from the back of the van I started with, "You are ignorant of your Special Forces heritage, Sir . . ."

He came back with, "What? WHAT? What the hell are to talking about ? ? ?"

This was license to push it, and I started getting more and more disrespectful in an oblique way; the Captain hated me so it was glorious fun, of course, and everybody else was digging it. The Captain was going nuts - he had self-confidence issues to begin with - until finally Chief Rojo spoke up, "He's talking about Barry Sadler, Sir."

"Huh? Barry who?"

"You know, the guy who wrote BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS."

"Huh? Oh yeah, him. What's that got to do with this crap we're listening to, this Mickey Mouse sh*t that Linnane likes?"

"Barry Sadler wrote it, Sir."

"Huh? What, the song? I KNOW THAT . . ."

"No, the book, Sir."

"Book, what book?" I'm telling you, this Captain was a real specimen - the kind the Brits call a Rupert.

"CASCA THE ETERNAL MERCENARY, Sir - this stuff we're listening to . . ."

The Captain goes, "Huh? What?" a few more times, then starts studying the box the disk came in; like a hog staring at a wristwatch.

Anyway I couldn't do a post about Barry Sadler and not mention CASCA THE ETERNAL MERCENARY - a character that Sadler modeled after himself, apparently, and then set out to emulate.

The Kuwait deployment actually had a couple high points, but it ended bad - real bad - like everything else in that particular twelve-month period. And like every significant event in my life, what happened to my team in Kuwait was eclipsed six months later when the buildings came down in New York and everything changed for all of us, from now and forever more, into . . . eternity . . .
SEAN LINNANE SENDS




Thursday Bird HERE



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LIFE IS HARD . . .

. . . IT's HARDER WHEN YOU'RE STUPID!"

"Of course I can navigate - see my Ranger tab?"


"We're going to be moving fast, so pack light. All you'll need is your field jackets and poncho liners."


"By the looks of this training schedule, we're going to be pretty busy, so you might as well leave your civvies and party money at home."




Today's Bird HERE



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SPECIAL FORCES SERGEANTS MAJOR DON GREEN BERET ONE LAST TIME

By Master Sgt. Donald Sparks, Special Operations Command, Europe

Feb 8, 2010

Photo credit Master Sgt. Donald Sparks

Sergeants Major Brian Bushong (left), and Larry Reeb, 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), listen to Barry Sadler’s ‘Ballad of the Green Beret’ during their retirement ceremony January 21.


STUTTGART, Germany - Twenty-five years ago, two men joined the Army one week apart at different locations. Nineteen years ago, they both became Special Forces sergeants. Earlier this year, they finished their careers together as brothers-in-arms and leaders in the SF community.

Sgts. Maj. Brian Bushong and Larry Reeb bid farewell to their fellow Green Beret brethren of 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) during a retirement ceremony held Jan. 21 in Panzer Hall.

Maj. Gen. Michael S. Repass, commander, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne), praised the two warriors for their distinguished service.

"When you joined the Army, you were given a check to serve, to go in harm's way and to do the nation's business," Repass said. "You've cashed in with your service and commitment to our nation."

Bushong, a former anti-tank gunner, decided to become a Special Forces Soldier because he wanted more of a challenge and also because he was inspired by members of his family who served honorably in World War II and the Korean War.

"My father shared his experiences of combat from his time in Korea," said Bushong. "The heroes who served as part of the 'Greatest Generation' were my uncles, and they inspired me."

Reeb, who described himself as, "nothing more than a poor son of a mountain man from Kentucky," originally joined the Army as a crew chief on a UH-60 helicopter. In 1987, during a support mission in Beirut, his bird hauled a Special Forces team to a location and he said, "I want to be one of them.

"I could tell they were a tight, focused, camaraderie team and that appealed to me," he added. He earned his green beret in 1991 as well, and became a Special Forces communications sergeant.

Both men recalled their many operational contributions to missions all over the world.

Bushong took part in Operation Assured Response in 1996, evacuating nearly 1,000 Americans and embassy personnel from Monrovia, Liberia.

"It was a very hostile environment," he said. "Normally, we don't get to do missions for our own people, but having the opportunity to protect our own citizens and protecting their lives meant a lot to me. I still have a sense of satisfaction from what we did."

Reeb mentioned that the personal highlight of his career was deploying with his company to Afghanistan and returning from deployment with all of his men. Ten of his Soldiers earned Purple Hearts during their tour of duty.

"I went out on every mission with those men," Reeb said. "As a company sergeant major, I can truly say those men motivated me."

At the end of the ceremony, both men faced the next generation of warriors who proudly wear the green beret, while listening to the Ballad of the Green Beret echoing throughout the center.

"We all have that certain kind of DNA," Bushong said of Special Forces Soldiers, with a grin. "It's no coincidence of who we are and what we do."



I served with both these men - they are both honorable and worthy, and I'm glad to see they made it to Sergeant Major. One thing I will tell you is that Reeb character scared me more than any bad guy I ever faced down - he's that crazy and I say that in a good way - and that's the God's Honest Truth.

SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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BARRY SADLER, THE ETERNAL MERCENARY

This is my tribe . . . S. L.

Barry Sadler, soldier / balladeer


Green Beret Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler composed the #1 song in 1966, "The Ballad of the Green Berets." John Wayne used it as a theme song in his 1968 film "The Green Berets."

"Out here, due process is a bullet." . . . John Wayne as Colonel Mike Kirby, "The Green Berets"

"The Ballad" sold 12 million copies, a million in Japan alone and "went into nine versions in Germany," even though it was banned in East Germany where the government labeled the Green Berets "perverts", liking them to the Nazi SS. The first royalty check was for a quarter of a million dollars. That day Sadler, dumped on the living room floor in front of his wife Levona, $50,000 in cash. He had never earned more than $5,000 a year.





"I like creating, but I don't like going on tour - I don't want to be an entertainer. I don't think I like the traveling that much. Seems like for about 15 years, my bedroom was over a juke box. My folks were professional gamblers and we traveled a lot, wherever there was a game. Once, I went to nine schools in one year."

The Army sent Sadler on tour to promote their enlistment programs. He made more than 800 public appearances in a year and a half. Then he was released from service even though Sadler wanted to re-enlist.

"And I'd been wounded anyway. They took a chunk of beef out of my leg. I was on a patrol and stepped on a damn punji stick. Some Viet Cong had spent a few minutes sharpening a piece of bamboo and dumped it in a dung heap and there I was - infected and out of action. Can you imagine $50,000 of trained soldier sent home because of a lousy two-cent bamboo stick and manure? It was a hell of a war." . . . Barry Sadler (1940-1989)

Barry Sadler during his subsequent career as an adventurer. He died under mysterious circumstances after sustaining a head wound in Guatemala, in 1989.




Tuesday Tart HERE







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A MYOPTIC CLAIRVOYANCE . . .

. . . Alan Caruba shares brilliant insight with us from his most excellent blog WARNING SIGNS:


". . . Egyptians, ten years or less into the future, might look back at his thirty years of dictatorship as 'the good old days.' "

". . . the Central Intelligence Agency . . . I seriously doubt could predict tomorrow’s weather. Reportedly, the news of Mubarak’s decision to step down came to the current CIA Director, Leon Panetta, from CNN.

. . . they (the CIA) were taken completely by surprise when both Pakistan and India achieved nuclear weapon parity. I can even recall the debacle of the Cuban Bay of Pigs invasion. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a happy surprise . . ."


Alan obliquely refers to a salient point I made in THE STORMBRINGER CONTROVERSY:

"So it is left to imbeciles in the news media to tell us what is happening, why it is happening, and what is likely to happen.

That’s how we ended up with Walter Cronkite reporting from Saigon that Tet was a huge defeat for the American forces when it was, in fact, a huge victory or Dan Rather’s utterly false report about George W. Bush’s National Guard history . . .

Since the late 1980s, this mush-for-brains crowd has been telling us that global warming was real . . ."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

You gotta love it. I wish I could crank out brilliance like this even once a week but I'm a soldier - even in what I do now - not a journalist and the sad fact of the matter is there are only so many hours in a day, only so many days in a week. Necessity being the Mother of Invention, therefore, it is with great fanfare that Blog STORMBRINGER proudly presents:


(drum roll)

"Ta-D-A-H-H-H-!-!-!"


BLOG ROLL:


NASA To Honor Dead Egyptian Bimbo
What is with this government? Every day there is another slur on American Culture, American Values. This time the agency is NASA . . .


U.S.-Afghan-Pakistan Meeting Delayed Amid Tensions Over U.S. Prisoner
With allies like this who needs enemies?


American Thinker Blog: Afghan Red Cross worker with one leg set to be hanged for conversion to Christianity
Take note - this is happening in a regime that we prop up with billions of U.S. dollars and the lifeblood of thousands of our soldiers. Does anybody know the outcome of this outrage?


Iraqi Christians Flee Wave Of Targeted Violence
This story comes from NPR no less . . .


Iraqi Christians Flee Mosul after Series of Murders
Sad to say; Christians had a better deal under Saddam Hussein than under the current management . . .


Haunted by violence, Iraqi Christians flee to Turkey
Judeo-Christian-based politics are better than Islam any day of the week.


52 Iraqi Christians killed by al Qaeda after raid on church
FACT: Christianity is the single most persecuted religion on Earth.

If nothing else, this is a brilliant way to include politics without turning STORMBRINGER into a political site . . . same way I managed to incorporate the North American version of a Page Three Girl* . . .


* DANGER WILL ROBINSON: NSFW!!!


. . . without frosting the Ladies Auxiliary . . . speaking of which; this Monday's Mystery Bird is HERE

"Happy Valentines Day Ladies!"

SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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