February 23rd, 1945, Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Five Marines and one Navy corpsman raise a flag. In one millisecond of time photographer Joe Rosenthal snaps a photo destined to become an iconic image of not only the United States Marine Corps, but of the United States. That photo is surreal in the way that it represents the warrior ethos of the American fighting man. No individual face is clearly visible. Each man’s form blends into a group effort. A nation which prides itself on the individual over the group, is represented by an image of a group striving towards a common goal, each voluntarily lending it’s own uniqueness to a solid mass, unwavering, unflinching in it’s goal. And in the purest truth of what it means to be an American, to be a an American warrior, none of them realize, or much care, about the eternal glory that they are forging. They only care about the task at hand. They only care about each other. And when it was all done, when the victory was won, only three survived, with only two unscathed. They returned to their lives, each baring the mental scars of that battle, each dealing in their own way with the added trauma of unwanted fame and worship.

They are all gone now, off to their hard earned rewards in the next world. But the image, and the legacy, that they left us, remains.

On Saturday February 20th Scout Platoon, 4th Tanks came home to their families. They were one of the first Marine combat elements across the Iraqi border in 2003, and they were a part of the last Marine combat element to leave, truly living up to the motto “First in, last out”. They completed their tour of duty without a single Marine casualty, despite some “sharp engagements”.

I am obviously proud of Crumb Crunchie, but I am also proud of each and every Marine in his platoon, many of whom I have come to feel as close to as the Marines I had the honor to serve with. As I watched their bus, escorted by two Florida Highway Patrol cruisers, come down the street, I felt as if I had 28 sons coming home. And in a way I did.

We all did.

Welcome home men. Welcome home.

Give us more, O Emperor! »« AIIIEEEE! My EYES!

Moshtarak is Dari for “Together”. The name has been chosen for a joint Afghan/NATO operation to take the city of Marjah in northern Helmand Province. Marjah lies in the southern end of Al Nadi district, and is the center of opium production in Helmand.  Flat, easily defensible terrain, crisscrossed with irrigation canals, the Taliban fled there after being routed from the Garmser district to the south by a major Marine offensive in April of 2008. Successive offensives in the summer of 2009 drove the Taliban from the area around the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah and the population center of Gereshk. The Taliban regrouped in Marjah while the the U.S. Marines, British, and Afghan forces lacked the resources to tackle the insurgent strong point. There they consolidated their positions and joined forces with the narcotic producers in the area, setting up as many as 187 opium processing factories, protected and taxed by the Taliban.

Brig. General Nicholson, the senior Marine in Afghanistan, has been eager to tackle Marjah, what he termed as a “cancer in Helmand”. In early February the allies announced that the operation to retake Marjah would soon commence. Announcing a pending offensive is a tactic used by the Pakistanis in Waziristan, and during the Iraqi “surge” to drain the enemy of non-ideological fighters, convincing them to run rather than fight. It was also hoped that it would convince non-combatants to leave the area, as happened in Fallujah in 2003. In Marjah however it has been reported that the Taliban are refusing to allow civilians to leave in the hopes that their presence would dissuade the coalition from bringing its overwhelming firepower to bear.  Only 1,000 or so civilians have reportedly left.

U.S. forces have been shaping the battlefield for weeks now with special operations troops infiltrating the city of 50,000 to eliminate key Taliban leaders. British and Afghan forces have been setting up cordons to restrict enemy movement, and psy-ops teams have been dropping leaflets listing Taliban fighters known to be in the city, of whom there are an estimated 1,000. Close to 15,000 Army, Marine, British, and Afghan troops are now moving in to eradicate them. They will need to breach fields of thousands of IED’s and mines,and assault into an easily defended, fortified position.

On February 9 troops from the Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade took up blocking positions to the northeast of Marjah and made heavy contact. 3rd Battalion 6th Marines pushed south towards Marjah proper while 1st Battalion 3rd Marines and Afghan forces launched a successful helicopter assault ahead of them to seize “Five Points”, a major road intersection to the west of the Helmand River, linking Marjah to Lashkar Gah to the north. The Taliban immediately counterattacked with heavy weapons and were repulsed, allowing 1/3 to clear the road for 3/6’s advance.

With the cordon now in place, the operation was imminent. It kicked off today. Traditionally the Taliban will not stay and fight, but will instead withdraw, leaving behind IED’s and suicide teams. Moshtarak may be different however. The Taliban have had months to prepare static defenses in Marjah and it is expected that they may stand and fight. If they do, they will die. All that remains to be seen is how well they will fight before they are killed.

Please keep our men and those of our allies, who as you read this are assaulting into Marjah, in your prayers. There is heavy fighting ahead before Moshtarak is over.

Gods Speed.

Since Globull Wormening has shut down the cesspool on the Potomac, the braying jackasses in the MSM have told us that it costs us $100,000,000 a day. One hundred million dollars a day for the gubmint to sit on it’s ass and do nothing.

As of yesterday Obama has been in office for 385 days. The national debt has increased $1,722,000,000,000. One trillion, seven hundred and twenty two billion. That’s $4,472,727,272 per day. Four billion, four hundred seventy-two million, seven hundred twenty-seven thousand, two hundred seventy-two dollars a day when the gubmint is working.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Thank you Algore for “Snowmageddon”.

Courtesy of LC Rurik. Couldn’t let this one slip by.

Heard some scuttlebutt that a certain LC hereabouts recently pinned on the silver Oak Leaf clusters of a Lieutenant Colonel. Now it ain’t often a Rottie makes light bird. Hell it ain’t often a Rottie makes much of anything other than a nuisance of himself, or a drunken mess as Mrs. M will sadly attest to, so it would seem some beers are sorely in need of hoisting.

yeah Draco, I’m looking at you here ya shitbird. Congratulations, sincerely. I ain’t saluting yer ass though.

First round is on you, an [Fixed it for ya'-I know they don't teach 'figgers to Jarheads-JB] O-6 O-5 can afford it. (Unless Mope’s around that is). Well done my friend.

The exact opposite of Murthafucker, LC & IB Major Bryan is up and running from A-stan and has his first post up. He told me in an e-mail that 20 hour days isn’t real conducive to active blogging. I would call him a pussy, but I ain’t one to talk to lately

In any case, he’s hoping to do one or two posts a week, and knowing the good Major as I do, they should be very insightful. If any of ya’ll read him on a regular basis prior to his latest deployment, be sure to check back in with him again.

He once wore the same uniform I did. And he betrayed that uniform, besmirching the honor of my beloved Corps.  For that, and for that alone I wouldn’t piss on his grave. For his family, who knew him as something other than a boil on the ass of a shitbird maggot, I feel sorrow for, and offer my condolences. For the Haditha Marines he slandered, and for the veterans of the Long War he defamed, and for the honor of my Corps; may he roast in hell. Good riddance, may the world forget you ever claimed the title United States Marine.

Well, it passed fairly unnoticed, its importance recognized only by those who were there, and those who have paid attention. On Saturday January 23 the United States Marine Corps turned over responsibility for operations in Al Anbar Province to the United States Army. The last Marine combat operation had been run on January 14th, and it was time for the last Marine infantry battalion still in Iraq, 3rd battalion 24th Marines, to leave. The Army’s 1st Armored Division assumed control for both Anbar and Baghdad provinces.

Anbar was once the heart of the Iraqi insurgency. Cities such as Ramadi and Fallujah were scenes of the fiercest fighting of the entire war, and some of the worst house to house fighting the Corps had faced since Hue in 1968. But after 5 years of hard fighting, of conventional slug fests, IED and VBIED bombings, and COIN warfare, the insurgency was crushed. Iraqis lined up under mortar and sniper fire to vote. Queue’s of volunteers for the fledgling Iraqi Army and National Police were shelled and car bombed. The survivors closed ranks and lined up again, defiantly daring the AQI to hit them again. Iraqis were trained, tested, and blooded; and now stand in place of the U.S. troops they admired and wanted to emulate.  And the whole time the Iraqis were struggling to stand on their own and begin building their own country, one free of Baathist tyranny, the U.S. military fought to provide them the environment they needed to be able to take their rightful place in the community of nations.

In the face of a ruthless enemy our military prevailed. While fifth columnists at home called the war evil, our warriors ignorant dupes, the cause unjust, the vicious butchers that were our enemy “freedom fighters”; while they did everything they could to ensure our defeat, our men prevailed. They efficiently and ruthless liquidated the enemy with one hand, while they caressed the children and innocents of Iraq with the other. They performed magnificently, and they won.

Much will be said over the next year about our “responsible draw down” from Iraq. They will say that the war has “ended”. Obama will claim credit for “bringing our troops home”. But few will dare to call it victory. Fewer still will admit that the troop withdrawals were agreed to in the Status of Forces Agreement in 2008. And even fewer that it was made possible by the tactical and strategic victories of 2003 – 2008.

No, they will not claim victory, but make no mistake that it is exactly that. We defeated Saddam Husseins Iraq. In it’s place we sowed the seeds of a western style democracy in the heart of the Islamic world, right next door to the evil theocracy of the Iranian Republic, the birthplace and spiritual heart of the modern Islamo-fascist movement. And we drew in thousands of Jihadi’s into a battlespace of our choosing, where our tactics, techniques, and equipment could perform at their peak efficiency. And we slaughtered them. In our way, not theirs.

The war that Harry Reid triumphantly claimed was lost, was instead won on the dusty roads of Anbar province. It was won in the parlors of tribal chiefs over chia and hookas. It was won in the hearts and minds of the Anbar Sunnis and the Baghdad and Diyala Shias. It was won by the very same men who are now leaving, coming home to a nation who will little notice their return.

In March of 2003 some of the very first Marines to cross the border into Iraq were the Scouts and CAAT teams of 4th Tank Battalion. The very same platoon, loaned out to 3/24 for the final deployment, was part of the  last combat operation on January 14th. In fact, some of the very same men were there for both. It was a long, hard fight in between. And they, WE, prevailed. No play of semantics can take away what they, and by extension what we as a nation, accomplished.

As of this morning those Marines, the men of Scout Platoon, 3/24, the last combat Marines in Iraq, are in Camp Pendleton California.

No one, no bastard here in the world, can ever take away what you and your predecessors did. I’m proud to call you, and the war fighters of all of our branches, my countrymen.

Welcome Home Marines, and congratulations on a job well done, well done indeed.

Semper Fidelis.

So Misha and I were talking and, as such is the case whenever there is a meeting of such momumental intillects…er… I mean towiring intillegience…no not that, I uhm.. fart smellers… no, smart fellas, yeah that’s it, well the Good Idea Fairy™ paid a visit and we decided that since The Snipers Dead Tango Demotivators were so popular we should offer y’all a regular fare of our military’s finest work.

And as luck would have it, The Sniper gave us a second helping of his delightfully sick mind. Enjoy pups.

Next week, or whenever the mood hits me, it will be just some plain old successful virgin seekers and y’all can make your own captions.