A couple of miles north of the Conference shootout is the Inland Center Mall. My scenario would have chosen the now secondary target as the Mall with Christmas shoppers. They could have made the relatively short drive back to Redlands on surface streets and hunkered down watching the news in their own home. Unfortunately for them their vehicle was identified by an armed citizen with a CCW who caused them to abort their secondary target. It could have been much worse. There was a shootout a year or so ago where the bad guy hid out in a cabin above San Bernardino in the Big Bear Lake region. Apparently the Farooks learned nothing from that episode.

A truly sad remembrance and memorial for all of us. Our heroes, our family and friends. We are all less for their passing.

Once again into the breech. We will be looking forward to your briefings. Bless the clueless store clerk at Best Buy who is blissfully unaware of freedom's costs. One of our Reps from Congress, Ron Barber, just returned from Helmand for a personal look at the situation there. According to him he received a full briefing about plans to vacate Afghanistan the end of this year. He is trying to save the A-10 training program at Davis-Monthan AFB from the chopping block again. I wonder who is more clueless, the store clerk or Barber?

Inspirational. RIP gentlemen. Thanks for your service and sacrifice.

UP close and personal just as the Marines like it. Great photo.

Putin has both feet in Obama's feedbag. Apparently, Obama did not have a plan "B" in case their support for the removal of Yakushenko from power in Ukraine blew up in their face. What a farce.

Putin understands that there are limits to his ability to sustain the cost of power projection as a lesson to the flaccid diplomacy of the west. Tweaking the nose of our CinC and NATO with the implied threat of reducing the flow of petroleum products to Europe in the middle of winter is colorful but unproductive financially to Moscow. Taking a page from Obama's playbook, Putin is distracting Kerry from reacting to what Putin is really up to. Namely, consolidating power in the M.E. by roiling oil prices which will benefit him in the short and long term. Kerry is in way over his head and dancing to the KGB music. Fascinating that Putin has managed to engage in a large and real time readiness exercise while simultaneously putting on full display the hollow rhetoric from the financially strapped Europe and U.S. The belligerents in this current brouhaha all have one thing in common; they cannot afford to continue this military posture for long. It does put paid to the laughable "Russian Reset" much touted by Obama and ignored as delusional by the rest of the world. Hiding behind the Olympics, Putin also managed to seriously degrade militants out of the Pankisi Gorge region by drawing them out to the massive bait that is an Olympic soft target. Any discussion of Putin should be prefaced by his history with the KGB. Give the devil his due, Putin is shrewd, clever and a cold blooded assassin. Russia's weakness is financial. His cash reserves are low and he is on his way to extending his near-afar back into eastern Europe. Obama's move to take missiles out of Poland to curry favor with Putin was a fool's errand with predictable results. Predictable if one knows one's enemy and what he is capable of. If Putin loses any sleep at night it is because he is wondering how far the U.S. pendulum will swing back in 2014/2016.

That is serious re-qualification. Nice shot Seaman Coffer!

Boats like this give pause to those who would act irresponsibly against us. Proud to have been a part of Navy.

"And by challenging the comforting stories we tell about ourselves, a new American generation might just begin the long, hard work of making America exceptional again." This condescending tripe is typical of the elites in academia. The use of "comforting stories" to describe this country's history and heritage is a clue that the writer chooses to ignore our bedrock principles. I remember a phrase used in the series Miami Vice episode where the cadaverous financial titan says to Sonny and Tubbs that "...when America sneezes, the world catches a cold." That is as true today as it was in the 80's and we still hear questions from the world "Where are the Americans" or some variation of "What are the Americans going to do?" There is a vacuum of leadership in the world today directly attributable to those whose fondest desire is for the U.S. to relinquish it's sovereignty to a failing European Union who have already learned the obvious lesson that socialism does not work. Fascinating and insane that the progressives in this country hang onto the belief that they can fine tune the world's Rube-Goldberg, centrally located big government, regulatory behemoth. News for the writer, you reap the failure you sow. The rest of us adapt and overcome despite the machinations of those who would have us believe otherwise. You write us off at your own peril by preaching from your bully pulpit to a diminishing congregation of unmotivated takers. I crossed paths with a member of the "greatest generation" wearing a Navy hat yesterday. Eighty some years old he gave me a bear hug when he saw my Navy cap. The greatest generation is alive and well if you know where to look and listen. By the way, it was Michelle Obama who tellingly said "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country..." Followed later by Obama parroting "We are the ones we have been waiting for." The inference being that history began when he was elected as he continues to oversee the rewriting of a history he dismisses.

I believe JohnR and others like him fail to understand the dynamics of life on the squad level. Not our job to run the numbers before accepting the assignment. What we do is know that we will fight and leave no fellow serviceman behind because we are the best at what we do. Obvious correlation being the CinC's failure to back the dead and dying at Benghazi when assets were available. Honor in the face of dishonor.

Excellent Gunny! Haven't heard one of those speeches in awhile. Had me standing up in front of my computer. "The string is broke" indeed. SEMPER FI! Indeed...

Glad to see PFC Deville received his deserved recognition for his actions, and that of his squad, in Korea. My uncle served in Korea after serving in the Pacific with the SeaBees. Long overdue recognition for these heroes, some of whom were placed in double jeopardy after coming home from WWII. Good job guys and congratulations Deville. You earned it.

Maybe the editor has decided to use the word 'Marine' as a verb in this case not an adjective. As in; "I've been Marined" which has significance if one has ever been on a hike like this or to the Marine "duty hut." Nah, probably not.

Used to surf that off the strand just south of the bleachers the "buds" use. Looks like the two lead boats are in good shape considering the 10 ft. breakers. The boat in the rear is going to have some problems with the next wave if they don't paddle with enthusiasm through the breaking wave in front of them. Figure the water temp is in the high 50's and air temp is probably in the 60's. Good practice.

libciv; I saw the interaction. Bad behavior does not excuse bad behavior in others. Timing and perception is everything, in any case. In a game of this magnitude, with the Super Bowl on the line, I would not congratulate the losing team, still in shock and adrenaline, that it was a 'helluva game'. May have been a helluva game for the winning team but emotions run high, and in different directions, for all concerned. It is called "gloating" and one would think that anyone with a degree in communication would understand this. Of course, the Seahawks absorbed 104 penalties for the year and a total of 966 yards against them. Hardly a helluva game when your average penalties are 8 flags and 74.3 yards per game even if you win. With stats like that a team hardly qualifies for bragging rights and the whole spectacle left a sour taste.

L and G; Somewhere along the way sports has become a win at any cost and descended from sportsmanship and enjoyment of the game to entertainment. As Marshall McCluhan famously wrote; "The medium is the message." We used to make the trek up Alameda St. in Los Angeles to the olympic stadium the Dodgers played their games at before Chavez Ravine. We would arrive early and parked next to the roped off area of the parking lot reserved for the players. No limos just guys arriving with a bag holding their equipment. They would talk with us as we moved to the gates where they went one way and we went the other. No agents just folks, neighbors sometimes, enjoying the game. Caught a few foul balls and home runs during the game and even caught a couple of balls Duke Snyder threw into the stands as practice ended and the game was about to begin. Talked to the greats back then and it didn't matter what color they were. It was the love of the game, sportsmanship, humility, tactics, strategy, studying the other team and taking notes. Learned a lot from them as I played in the Duke Snyder league in Compton. The lesson learned, above all, was what we had in common. Frank Howard once said to us boys "there is no I in we." Now it seems it has become "there is we in me." Pity. In the military a drill sergeant was fond if saying "in the foxhole there is no color except khaki green." Words to live buy and they have served me well.

"I'm the best corner[back] in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you going to get." --Richard Sherman So Sherman had a 4. something GPA and went to Stanford speaking 'that's the result YOU going to get'? Harvard admits that the lowest academics there get an A- because, well because they must be smart or they wouldn't be at "Hahvahd" studying. Talk about grade inflation. No class or humility from the local 'hood" in Compton apparent in Mr. Sherman's use of English. Typical of the "ME" generation these days. I respect Mr. Sherman's abilities but, adrenaline notwithstanding, he should display the same self-control and discipline whether winning or losing learning the rigors of his game. Fame is fleeting but outlived by character that comes with losing with grace. Mr. Sherman, in my America, would have shook hands with Crabtree and thanked him for being a worthy opponent. Now that's class...and there is so little of it these days. Full disclosure, I was raised in Compton and played baseball and basketball against most of the high schools in Watts back in the early 60's. Many of us graduated in 1966 and got drafted right after graduation.

Colonel Gadson is an inspiration to me. He represents the best that I expect of myself and pride in being part of our nation's military. Thanks for the reminder and head's up that there is still much to be done. Lead by example.

He was a great leader and the bane of liberals, marxists, and progressives too concerned with themselves and their dreamy delusions to understand what a great country they live in. He and Nancy are missed. Who will replace him?!

Interesting question. My opinion is that if I purchase a song off I-Tunes I own the rights to that song for non-commercial activities. Like cutting coupons out of a newspaper I have purchased I can give said coupons to others if I choose not to use them myself. If I purchase DVD's and CD's I can loan them out to others for their enjoyment. Is it a matter of copyright protection, licensing, etc.? If not, how is the original owner protected? I presume by charging $20 dollars for a just released DVD/CD that cost a dollar to produce. Welcome to the digital world I suppose. Good article.

“What we need to do is to think more about the next generation than we do about the next election.” Ret7; looks like a good number on the state level. Walker has good news to spread and is not about to quote faux numbers to make himself look good. He already has proven his bona fides in two elections. On the other hand, the legions of bureaucratic tyrants in the federal government have every reason to lie about their numbers. The difference being that Walker's programs have benefitted the taxpayer and rationalized the budget at the expense of the progressives and their union supporters who ran roughshod over the citizens in Wisconsin. In short, the quote makes clear that the "ME" generation could care less about the financial disaster their policies burden future generations with. In the Boy Scouts and later, the military, we were taught to leave wherever we were in better condition than what it was when we arrived. That is why we dismantled unused buildings, i.e. quonset huts, etc., whenever the opportunity presented itself. A concept that the progressives/liberals seem congenitally unable to understand or pursue as a matter of conscience. Also, explains why Jake Tapper, CNN, during his recent interview with Luttrell regarding SOLE SURVIVOR failed to understand the point of the movie. Like the governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, you praise his ability to change his state for future generations and don't turn away from tough decisions despite the perils. Luttrell and his SEAL team, Band of Brothers, did the job they were assigned on a mountain top in Afghanistan. Telling that both are criticized by the liberals as purveyors of propaganda for their efforts.

Probably a nearby outhouse or outbuilding. Fire for effect!

Our so-called mid-east policy of capitulation, supplication, and appeasement from our CinC. What is next? Lynn Stewart as Holder's left hand advisor? Korea isn't the only place going to the dogs.

Rodman is mentally ill and the 'Kimster' is a sociopath. In short, they are perfect for each other and a blight on humanity. Maybe he can choose which circle of hell he is qualified for at the appropriate time.