As for the release of the photo, I'm sure Valarie Jarrett and David Pouffe (sp?) had a lot to do with that decision.

Unfortunately, Life-101 is not an offered course in either high school or college. The concept of 'No Fail' may make the teachers/professors feel warm and fuzy, but imagine the first time the new hire responds to his/her supervisor with "whatever" - it WILL BE a significant emotional moment! It was years later, when we were transitioning to the Demming Management Method (aka ISO-20xx, Sigma-x, ETQ, etc.) and employee empowerment that I realized the the Marine Corps had been using this method for years, developing subordinates to assume greater responsibilities. The superiority of the US Armed Forces lie (as well as many other factors) in the ability of the lowest level to assume command and execute the mission rather than the centralized command and control doctrine. This is one more reason why the Obama Bigger Government Is Better theory is failing the American People - we are natural risk takers and problem solvers. The 'No Fail' doctrine awards mediocre performance and the inability to intelligently arrive at a decision. Semper Fi!

When I was in the Corp's the saying was "There's always that 10% that doesn't get the word". Now, after driving a school bus for about 8 years after retiring, the ratio should be 90%. As a hiring manager with a global corporation, I literally had to explain the fictitious "Bill Gates 10 Rules For Seniors" to our applicants. No, Johnny, you don't get a company IPhone and a BMW, you do get to work 10-12 hours a day at a base wage, with wage increases based on performance. Unfortunately, the 10% who DO get it, don't make the news, I've had the pleasure to work with an organization that provides college scholarships to students, whose selection criteria requires evidence of hard scholastic and community commitment - these students are truly a joy to meet and talk to. Unfortunately, as I said, they don't make the headlines. The only thing that keeps me going is that committed 10%, but maybe those are the ones who make up your hard chargers. Semper Fi!

"Those who do not study history are bound to repeat it", Obama has now committed the cardinal sin of Vietnam, ignoring the advice of his military commanders and responding to what his disgruntled leftist supporters want in order to get reelected. Unfortunately, all the American Public sees in the Lame Stream Media is 'US Forces Killing Civilians', 'Karzi and his Government Is Corrupt' and 'x Troops Died', they have no idea of the progress being made. The greatest ally the Taliban and AlQueda have is the American Press, just as the North Vietnamese relished in the news media reports of the time. When Obama wanted to get elected, Iraq was the 'bad' war, Afganistan was the 'good' war. Now he has switched policies because he is losing his leftist support, and the media polls indicate that American want us out. As a person schooled in statistics, I want to see the raw data on that - what the make up of the polling audience was, how was the question worded and phrased, etc. Lord save us from all politicians! Semper Fi!

Let's see, at least two contempt of court citations against this administration, flagrant disregard of enforcing existing laws passed by the legislature, flagrant disregard for Congress and the Constitution,flagrant abuse of office and many more 'high crimes and misdemeanors', but the unfortunate thing is, the House could indite, but the Senate will never try. The lame stream media continues to misdirect attention (have you seen the dirt in Sarah's emails?)just like a magician and his act, for of course they are enabling his Alinski act. God pray that we have the guts and intelligence to replace as many of the Senate, and continue to replace those in the House that refuse to follow the Constitution. And Lord I pray the the American people see through this charlatan and replace him with a President that honors the office,

Unscrew their tire valve stems, I believe in the last town that they experienced 'valve failure', the only tire service in town told them those were metric valves and would take a week to order. Semper Fi.

While I was in Vietnam with 1st Marines, our regimental commander, Col. PX Kelly allowed us on our 'spare' time to go into the local villages and work with the elders on civic projects and provide medical care. This was not CAP/ACT per se, but a unit doing what made sense, and in one case presented the village with a deer (a delicacy)that was shot while we were patrolling. These were the same villages that alerted us to the presence of VC/NVA, and allowed a window to either bolster our defense, engage, or provide intel back to regiment for action. Sitting back in the cantonments was what the French did, with predictable results. Unfortunately, history does repeat itself and those who do not study it are bound to repeat the mistakes. I see the mission in A-Stan downgrading into the mess that Vietnam was, with politicians making the military decisions based on polling data not operational facts, and as stated above by Rafort09, the 'Corporate Cheerleader' or the 'Politically Correct' Officer making decisions to hold back and not pursue and engage the enemy, basically fighting a 'trench war'. Marines do what we do because, frankly, we're d***ed good at what we do -- Best Friend/Worst Enemy. Semper Fi!

The unfortunate thing about the real world situation we are in is that we only control 1 house. Spending/Budget originates in the House, but must be passed by the Senate and signed by the President. Until we get control of the Senate, any radical cuts will not pass, and unless we have enough to over-ride a Presidential Veto, we will still be in grid-lock. We have got to start somewhere, and hopefully 2012 will see 'The One' out of office along with his Senate fellow travelers, but we have got to start energizing our troops. The thing most don't realize is that every election is a national election for the make-up of the House and Senate are critical. The internet and VOIP protocols allow all of us to participate in elections across the US. Yes, we may not be able to vote for that particular candidate, but we can contribute to and work for their election campaigns. I myself have worked a call bank for an out of state candidate, the technology allows you to call into their system and begin calling supporters (such systems are necessary to block calling Do Not Call numbers).

UpChuck - I love your selections, however, I would nominate Paul Ryan for SecTreas, and get someone with some Intelligence Experience (as well as intelligent) for Homeland Security. Every once in a while I hear some things from Ron Paul that makes sense, but then he wanks out into NambyPamby land and I have to remember what we Texans know about Ron - he moved from Beaumont so that he could get into an uncontested district to get elected, then spends the majority of his time in office campaigning (who does that remind you of?). Palin and Huckabee will be Kingmakers, hopefully shaping the ticket to something that is electable, and as far as Mitch - as a previous poster noted, his image as the CEO of the United States re-enforces my feeling that there is something too 'slick' about him. Herman Cain at least knows enough that he doesn't know enough and is not afraid to admit it. As to the ones who say he will surround himself with good people - that's what CEO types do, they are not all SME's (Subject Matter Experts) of their industries but have the proven ability to search out experts to fill out their administrative slots.

Do you know hen Bin laden has been in your car? There's a new drink in your cup holder - it's made with two shots and a splash of water..... Ba-Da-Boom

I agree, an excellent book, finished reading it about two weeks ago. Ben Coes in in line with Brad Thor and the old Tom Clancy (Jack Ryan) books (though I'm not too impressed with Dead or Alive - yet, 1/2 way through).

These men and Corpsmen, God Bless Then All!

Thank You Major for your and your Marines sacrifice. Semper Fi!

The cup of coffee I had at 2/1, when watching the sun rise out of the South China Sea the morning after we survived a Typhoon. Rode the typhoon out in our radio tower (80' tower), watching the waves roll over our switchboard at the base,and riding the tower that was rocking on two legs. Best cup of coffee, cigar, and sunrise ever.

I think the photo of the reservists in Iraq holding the sigh "One Weekend A Month, My A**" probably would have received a better reception.

In reference to eating their young, there are some things even animals can't stomach. Another town got together ahead of time and ensured that there were no parking spaces anywhere within miles of the funeral, and I heard that at one, the valve cores were removed from their van's tires while it was in the motel parking lot - tire service store in the town told them that those were 'metric' tire valves and had to be ordered. Semper Fi!

Sometime only after these heros pass do we truly learn how special their sacrifice was - my brother-in-law was a copilot of a B-24 that was shot down over Ploesti. Reading the MACR, I learned that his aircraft attacked by 3 ME-109's in wing-tip formation. The nose ball turret gunner was KIA, the 2 inboard engines were shot out, the wing was on fire and there was fire streaming from the bomb bay - they recoverd the aircraft long enough for the crew to bail out (he didn't remember to the day he passed how), and spent the remainder of the war in a Romanian POW camp. I only learned of this after his passing, after I had talked to some Confederate Air Force pilots who gave me some B-24 Bomber Groups web sites to begin my search. He never talked about it, the only reference I ever heard him say (referring to his days as a POW) was "you'd be surprised what you will eat to stay alive". Unfortunately another of the 'Greatest Generation' passed in silence about his sacrifice. I believe that the generation we have now in service is also deserving of that same title - I only hope their sacrifices will not go unheralded. As you say, time for a stogie...

Happy 235th to my fellow Marines. Go to www.godaddy.com to see Bob Parson's annual Happy Birthday message to Marines.

OK, no expert nor conspiracy theory buff, but I seem to remember an A4H driver telling me one time that they could out fly a SAM, but on afterburners, they would only have 18 seconds of fuel. If the photo depicts a 'jet', it is at an amazing rate of climb and the glow at the back could only be the afterburners needed to achieve that ROC. If The Revolutionary Guard could roll out a SCUD on a mobile launcher and launch the bird in a few minutes (an advantage of a solid fuel rocket), could not the Iranians launch one of their solid fuel birds from a container on a tramp freighter? I'm not sure if an Akula type sub (something the Russians are giving out like Cracker Jack toys) could launch a tube based SRBM, but an Akula or other type of diesel boats are almost impossible to locate if they are on batteries, and an EMP type shot is not out of the question by one of these nut cases to raise havoc. Who could we blame and respond to if we couldn't locate the launcher?

Thanks for the info on monoprice.com, I was just getting ready to shell out some max bucks for two HDMI cables at Best Buy. I'm also going to look into the ps3 - never considered it to replace my old DVD player and the Apple TV unit I was looking at for Netflix streaming.

I have fired off an email to my Senator, John Cornyn, regarding this. I know he is working on getting this right for our service men and women. It is interesting that these (and the majority not in compliance with the MOVE act) have Democratic Governors - maybe a coincidence? NOT.

The 'Dream Act' was a dream in Harry Reid's mind to garner the Hispanic vote. I have no problem with legal aliens getting a pathway to citizenship after receiving an Honorable Discharge from the service. Four of my friends were 'legals', one from Germany, one from Japan, and two from Mexico, each was willing to give all to become citizens - three of them have their names engraved on a wall about a half mile from the Capital. The DREAM act would encourage illegals to enter the service, putting a strain on the services for a number of reasons. Most of all, how many were juvvie gangbangers whose records are locked or cleared because they were juveniles? The military is not a clearing house for social problems, but that is what this administration and it's partners in crime want to relegate it to, rather than the defense of our country

Actually that is true of major corporations as well. Just about every year we were tasked with spending the 'December Surprise' of $x millions before the 31st of December because some other unit had gone under budget and "if we don't spend it, our budget will be cut next year". Never made sense to me - wasting capital dollars to make an objective couldn't benefit the shareholders, just as it couldn't benefit the taxpayers.

When I was in the RVN, we used to resupply the 'Crows Nest' (Marble Mtn, DaNang) by Chinook, the raw supplies, Ontos ammo, C-Rats, etc were by cargo net, but for us, they would have to back up to the monolith and drop the ramp while flying at 800'. The only other option was climbing up the 800' side by rope.

I agree, and debating if we need to do an AARP revolt on the NRA. I have forwarded my views on DISCLOSE to my two Senators, though, as Republicans I'm sure they are on board. What we need is for everyone who has a Dem Senator to email, call, write expressing their views - we need to turn some Dems, and that includes the two from Maine.