Posted on 03/08/2010 10:01:36 AM PST by MindBender26
The SecDef was just yesterday walking the streets of a newly liberate town in southern Afghanistan. Sans "vest". If he can do that, these guys should be able to fly into Baghdad International (Sather Air Force Base or Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.
Lots of USO tours have gone to those places. If they can, these guys should be able to as well.
In point of fact there was a group of NFL players at Bagram on 5 March 2010.
Because those are only *part* of SWA. Iran is part, Kuwait is part, so is Saudia Arabia. Plus the 'stans just to the north, and arguably Pakistan on the east.
I'd probably light up like a Roman Candle. :)
Bob Hope, or Ann Margret, Barbara Eden, Joey Heatherton and the Gold Diggers?
Heck we enjoyed watching film of them during breaks in "academic training" at Vandenberg AFB, in '71.
Well, Hope was pretty great too. :)
After Desert Shield/Storm, I told my wife, we can't have another war until Bob Hope dies. It would kill him not to be able to go. And we didn't.
WW-II
Vietnam
Gulf War 1
With some Real Presidents.
We have a Winner!
ROTFLMAO!
But we can, and we should.
Maybe this will be the final straw that gets some in the military making "discrete inquires" (such as the SEALs can do so well) as to the eligibility of The One.
Chant it.
Barrack Hussein Obama
Although calling him a REMF is insulting to us REMFs.
Bet they can duck and move better than Hillary in the Balkans.
Agreed.
Bull. Actually I agree about the national treasures part, but they won't need to be 007 to stay safe in the zone of operations. They can go anywhere there's a Forward Support Battalion, Tactical Operations Center or established airhead. Nobody's asking them to pull a patrol! Again the point here is not the risk which is negligible and controllable. Heck even our freaky Prez, his veep and Sec State + numerous congresscritters and Hollywood stars make the same trip every day. Why are you defending this?
Can someone *ping* me when there is an update ? I called WH. Also, sent this story out to everyone I knew.
Thanks.
“Why are you defending this?”
I imagine that some PA officer is scared to death of losing someone a lot more important to the national identity than some Hollywood star. The President and Congresscritters have a larger security infrastructure.
My original disagreement with you here had to do with your apparent disdain for civilians.
I am sorry. I don't have any problems with civilians. I AM one and have been so since 1994 when I left the reserves (thanks to the Clinton RIF). However one of the things I have found is that the training and experiences of that fairly long association as well as my continued association with present day soldiers and marines and "operators" imprints itself on my mindset, reactions and overall personality. I find this to be a pretty common phenomenon with many folks of military experience. My "warped" (my family, friends and students seem to think it's warped) sense of humor is a direct link to that, too. That training coupled with the training and experiences I had in my brief stint as a Law Enforcement Officer has kept me safe in civilian life, too. Especially as a teacher in the inner city.
It took a very long time for me to find out just who and what all this training and life experiences made me and why I'm sooooooo different from 99% of all the teachers I've met over the last 20 years: WHAT MAKES ME A SHEEPDOG? I find this defines me to the last molecule in my being. I have found so many sheepdogs, too, that have never served in the military or had anything to do with it. Never been a cop or worked as a parole officer (my LEO effort). Folks who came to being a sheepdog because they found the long dormant warrior spirit that I think defines the free man and woman and especially the free American through some trauma in their lives or in the life of somebody close to them. ExSoldiers are just able to tap into it a bit easier. that's all. lol Sorry for the rant.
“However one of the things I have found is that the training and experiences of that fairly long association as well as my continued association with present day soldiers and marines and “operators” imprints itself on my mindset, reactions and overall personality.”
They were fighter pilots, not “operators”, a very long time ago.
If you haven’t ever done it, read the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/frame.html). It explains, in detail, just how harrowing the Apollo 11 lunar landing truly was. There is a prt for Apollo 13. Not too much but an interesting read. Apollo 17 seemed to be one of the most problem free flights of the entire Apollo program. However, on Gemini 9A, Cernan had A LOT of trouble during his EVA. He was working way too hard, was sweating enough to block his view through his helmet, and nearly overheated in his suit. He had trouble getting back inside even though Tom Stafford was helping. That was his brush with disaster. That, and a helicopter crash several weeks prior to the launch of Apollo 17.
Perhaps the reason Armstrong Lovell, and Cernan are stuck where they are is because they are all highly critical of Ø’s plans for NASA. Add Harrison Schmitt, Cernan’s fellow moonwalker to that list and that’s a lot of high powered opposition to Ø. I haven’t heard anything from the remaining moonwalkers about Ø’s future plans for NASA.
This is retribution to their collective opposition, nothing more, nothing less. Of the three of them, I have always wanted to meet Jim Lovell. He seems to be one of the few astronauts, former or present, that you feel that you could really talk to and get straight answers.
I wasn't even talking about them at all in my last post! But since you bring it up, my father in law was a marine fighter pilot in WWII. He died suddenly last month and there is a FR thread dedicated to him. He was 86 when he died with a long list of WWII decorations including the Navy Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with two gold stars and a record of 17 air to air kills in the Pacific. His USMC Honor Guard was presided over by a Major and a platoon of marines. The USMC tried to get him an FA18 "fly over" but the tasking was too short notice. The point here is that this really OLD guy still managed to get himself into a fight with a neighbor about 10 years ago when he was 76. The irate neighbor who kept pushing and pushing and pushing, finally picked up a steel bar with which to strike pop, whereupon pop promptly threw just one punch and knocked the guy cold. They had to call EMT to revive him. Pop shook his head in total disbelief and kept muttering something about it being over fifty years since he'd last done that ... and where in the world did that come from? LOL
Remember, I'm not suggesting these guys be allowed to run patrols or go to a forward patrol base. You think the congress critters would go if there was even a HINT or real risk? Forget security, it's no different for them than anybody else. Remember during the 2008 campaign when Hillary said she'd had to duck and cover with incoming fire? That was a HUGE deal. The media pix showed her standing at a podium giving a speech next to the aircraft! That's all these guys want to do. The Hollywood guys go much further forward than these guys have asked to do. Gary Sinise of CSI New York has done so much for the war effort I can't believe it. So much to take care of the troops. He's literally risked his neck to go to forward operating bases. So have others. Then of course there is THIS EXAMPLE of a geriatric hero going into harms way. All these guys want to do is what Hillary did and come home. Stop marginalizing their efforts and valid desires.
“Stop marginalizing their efforts and valid desires.”
I’m not. I just have some understanding of why and it may have had nothing to do with Obama.
Thanks. I will read the landing transcript. I think Buzz was freaking out a bit but Neil was in test pilot mode. They came so close to disaster. Cernans space walk was an almost disaster too. Apollo 17 was smooth as glass. Sadly the public had grown bored with this amazing accomplishment.
Always been a huge fan of Neil, Lovell and the late Alan Shepherd. The movie Apollo 13 with rat Tom Hanks never captured Lovell. Jim L is such a larger than life and charismatic guy.
I think Neil, Lovell, Cernan and Alan Shep were all Navy guys.
Maybe not (plenty of variables, I'll admit) but the history of this President just screams an intense lack of guts. Something the astronauts have in spades.
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