Category: fierce battles

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Panic is High in Afghanistan, Especially at the Kabul Airport

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I told you I would keep you up dating on my SFC friend who is in harms way in Kabul, Afghanistan. The city has been over run. We have all seen the panic at the airport.

i haven’t heard from my friend in two days. Has me worried big time. She is part of the military that is the last in Afghanistan. She is a huge harms way situation. Please pray for her.

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Military news….


The Coast Guard belatedly commemorated its 231st birthday last week with a record offload of illegal drugs.

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For some reason, White House officials still believe the conquering Taliban will settle for a negotiated peace with the collapsing Afghan government, rather than total victory. Then again, when it comes to Afghanistan, U.S. presidents rarely like to face reality.

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The scene at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul has devolved into chaos as both Afghan and foreign nationals seek to flee Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s violent campaign to reclaim the country. Social media footage captured at the airport shows hundreds of people on the airport flight line, apparently blocking the take-off of at least one commercial airliner.

The Taliban captured Kabul on Sunday as former President Ashraf Ghani fled to neighboring Tajikistan, leaving Taliban fighters to occupy the presidential palace and mark the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan almost exactly 20 years after the United States initially invaded the country.

While President Joe Biden has ordered another 1,000 troops to bolster the roughly 5,000 U.S. troops already a the airport to help evacuate Americans who work at the Kabul embassy and some Afghans who have applied for visas, the U.S. embassy in Kabul warned on Sunday that the airport had come under fire amid the Taliban’s push into the city.

“The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport,” the embassy said in a statement. “There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place.”

The U.S. military’s focus right now is evacuating Americans from Afghanistan.

For Afghans, the prospect of getting a flight to another country is virtually non-existent for the foreseeable future. While Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has claimed that the evacuation from Kabul is “not Saigon” the U.S. government is once again leaving a country as tens of thousands of people in the capital are terrified of retribution from the new regime.

One Kam Air flight was apparently unable to take off because hundreds of people tried to board it.

“The runway of the airport was filled with a constellation of uniforms from different nations,” the New York Times reported. “They joined contractors, diplomats and civilians all trying to catch a flight out of the city. Those who were eligible to fly were given special bracelets, denoting their status as noncombatants.

Despite the panic that has engulfed the country in recent weeks, the Biden administration has held fast to its decision to rapidly withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan amid the worsening security situation there.

“When I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our Forces and our allies’ Forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday prior to the Taliban’s march on Kabul. “I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth.”

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The article about Afghanistan is heartbreaking. How could the president not know this would happen, and why hasn’t he been taking people out earlier. Many people will die now because the Taliban have no mercy.

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I shared with you a couple of posts ago, that I was cutting back on my excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

You can see some of them by searching the archives.

I will be sending the book to my publisher soon.

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What’s happening in your world? Do you have friends still in Afghanistan? Do you worry they will not make it home?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,800 fellow veterans subscribed to this site. What don’t you join them by clicking on the subscribe button at the top of this page. When you do, all future posts will directly to your inbox.

If the days are just too much for you, GETHELP!

Here is a toll free number to call, 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. they will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never fear the world.

1-800-273-8255… texting 838255

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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There Are Many Great Stories About Our Heroes Who Fought in WWII.

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Military news…

“We’re under great pressure. We’re crumbling. We’re being overrun,” Retired Army Ranger Col. Ralph Puckett recalls saying in November, 1950, when he and a small force of other Rangers and Korean soldiers held off hundreds of Chinese soldiers during a battle near Unsan, Korea. 70 years later, Haley Britzky was among the first to report on Wednesday that Puckett will receive the Medal of Honor for his conspicuous gallantry that day. 

It might be obvious that drinking and samurai swords don’t mix, but, as they say about a lot of things, ‘tell it to the Marines.’ One Marine told me about his unfortunate experience with the two for a story I wrote rounding up reader submissions of the dumbest things they did in uniform. Other readers talked about picking up forklifts with bigger forklifts, or shorting out the base power generator because they were trying to watch Power Rangers. 

It might be obvious that drinking and samurai swords don’t mix, but, as they say about a lot of things, ‘tell it to the Marines.’ One Marine told me about his unfortunate experience with the two for a story I wrote rounding up reader submissions of the dumbest things they did in uniform. Other readers talked about picking up forklifts with bigger forklifts, or shorting out the base power generator because they were trying to watch Power Rangers. 


“The job of a Corpsman is to go through hell and back for your Marines,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Luis Fonseca at his retirement ceremony last week.  Nobody knows that job better than Fonseca, who is the most decorated active-duty corpsman in the Navy and who first cut his teeth running through a wall of lead to save his buddies during the 2003 Battle of Nasiriyah. Fonseca was awarded the Navy Cross for valor for his actions that day, but it was only the beginning of a long career saving Marines on far-flung battlefields.
The Air Force has deployed its drone-killing microwave weapon to Africa
The Air Force is currently testing a prototype of its new drone-killing microwave weapon “in a real-world setting” in Africa, Breaking Defense reports, a major step forward for the service’s directed energy efforts.
Military spouses are the backbone of the military

The United States military is the finest fighting force in the world, ready to deploy anywhere within 48-hour notice. A combat-ready unit cannot operate without logistics, communications, and of course, family support. While they don’t wear uniforms, military spouses are fundamental in keeping our forces domestic and abroad focused, supported, and ready to go.
The Air Force’s new drone-in-a-box is like ‘scramble the fighters’ for base security forces
New drones at Travis Air Force Base respond immediately to fence alarms or distress calls, giving security forces rapid eyes-in-the-sky.
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Why did I enlist into the Army? (Thank you for asking.)

I had three uncles that fought in WWII. Two of them received the Purple Heart. They were brave and was able to come home. They told me stories of many that didn’t come home.

My brother went into the National Guard after I enlisted.

I was a freshman in college and my first term GPA was 0.76! I was having too much fun.

Myself and two other buddies sat down and had a talk. We decided to enlist under the buddy system. I was proud to join because I honored my uncles so much.

I have stories about my uncles in my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life. Two of my uncles were in life threatening situations.

One uncle was a tanker. He was the man who was in charge of the tank with two other soldiers. One day he stopped the tank and told his buddies he was going to air out the tank by opening the top.

That turned out to be a mistake. A Japanese soldier came running up and tossed a grenade into the tank. It killed his best friend next to him, and he and the other tanker were wounded.

He never wanted to talk about that incident, because he felt it was his fault for having people killed and wounded.

Another uncle was in the infantry. He was fighting the Germans in France. He whole unit was attacked, and many of the soldiers were either killed or wounded.

Those that survived retreated. This left many man still alive, but wounded.

My Uncle could see the German soldiers coming through and checking to see if there were any soldiers still alive. If they were they killed them.

My uncle had to “Play dead.” He couldn’t move or even breath as one german came by him. They went on through and then the medics came back to rescue those who were still breathing. My was uncle one of them.

My third uncle was a SeaBee. They were vital to the war in that they built bridges across rivers for the soldiers to advance. This also helped with the equipment.

To me he was just as much as a hero as the others.

Stories about these three heroes are in my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Keep coming back to see what new things have happened.

Better yet, go to the top of this page and click on the subscribe button. When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox.

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Were you wounded while in the military? Are you still suffering because of that?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,010 fellow veterans subscribed to this site, and they all have your back.

If it is just too overwhelming for you right now. GET HELP!

There is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never face the storms alone!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.

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What A Horrible Year We Have Been Through in 2020

Thank you for the connection.

Doug

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Whew!! What a horrible year we have had. 2020 will be one we will try to forger but probably will not. Just too many negatives in one year:

The pandemic is still raising its ugly head.. We still don’t know for sure who our next president will be. We faced wild fires like we have never seen before. The rioting took its toll as well. Other than that 2020 was fine. 🙁

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I got a great Christmas present! My wife gave me a subscription to Netflix. . It was so needed. I had run out of “free,” movies,” to watch that were mediocre at best.

Now I have my subscription all set up for only the kind of movies I like. What kind? Military movies of course. I have watched three or four of them already.

Three of them were true stories. Two of them broke my heart. I will be sharing the titles with you as I go through the list of movies.

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I just can’t forget my brothers and sisters who are deployed and in harms way. Talk about loneliness!

One of the movies I watched was about a British company that was sent to Africa to protect to people from the rebels who were trying to overcome the people.

There were 150 British soldiers, and they were attacked by 1,500 rebel warriors. The British held them off for three days, and then had to surrender, because of the overwhelming numbers against them.

The real story here, was that not one man was killed of British troops, but hundreds of the enemy were. The soldiers never gave up. They were going to fight until the last man, but their commander decided he didn’t want any of his men slaughtered.

A interesting side story is that the commander went to the city, and went into a bar to have a drink. He met a man who invited him to drink Cognac with him. The commander did and they got along fine. Then the commander found out the the leader of the enemy was this same man.

The two of them actually met in the middle of the battlefield to discuss surrender. The enemy soldier ask the commander to surrender, because he has so many men on his side that wanted to kill them all. The commander said, “Actually I was going to ask you to surrender.”

The enemy leader was impressed, and reached out his hand and they shook hands, and each went back to their lines.

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I will leave you up in the air as to the final outcome. Here is the title of the movie. Watch it if you can:

The Siege at Jadotville

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Well…I have done my movie review for the day. It is time to check up on you.

How are you doing.? The Christmas rush is over. However, are you still feeling the jet lag?

Does is seem like each hour is like a month?

You are not lone, my friend. There are over 10,610 fellow veterans here that have your back.

I know there are times you feel you can’t handle things. If so GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number that is free 24/7. Their advice is even free. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

______________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.