[G Hollingsworth]

Just got back from Co. where I met a fair amount of GIs with missing legs and so forth and I can tell you first hand its a crime. The theme for the past few years has been to get the wounded worriers on what feet or what they have left and get on the snow. I have been teaching this type of skiing for 14 years with DSUSA and the DAV. One told me that they need to stand off 500 yds,no one in or out and a squad of Barrett light 50s. problen solved when they run out of food.

[Rave]

What a tragedy and what a waste!

[whirlwind]

yup we're nuts.

[Big Dog]

Who was it that said, "The best defense is a strong offense!" . . . ?

I believe it, and so too does George W. Bush. But, he does allow himself to be moderated by his cabinet and advisors, and the idea of "world opinion".

We'll pay for that by more American lives lost, trying to "pacify" the sandbox.

thanks for staying on topic y'all this wasn't about geopolitics or the war on terrorism or Iraq..what would you want to be armed with if you had to fight weird beards in Fallujah ?

[Despoiler]

To get back on target Ld,

If I were clearing buildings I have to go along with Gyrene, a 12 gage with 00 buckshot, in a 10-shell extension tube. If I were in a supporting position like on top of a building I would have to go with the M14.

[BattleRifleG3]

When our brothers are over there going through the hell that they are, the last thing I can really think of is what I would do in their shoes. I don't have the slightest clue what they're going through or what they wish they had. And darned if I'm going to ask them when they get back from hell what gun they'd prefer if they had to do it again. All I can ever hope to do is send them my thanks and with fear and trembling accept the possibility that my time may come some day. I obviously have never been through war, but the only way I think I could ever get up in the morning and go on with life is remembering the people we did it for. The thought of seeing the faces of friend and foe alike dead or dying is not something I feel I can prepare for, or that I would gain anything by imagining. What I know from pictures and reading is bad enough.

I'll let my countrymen tell me what they want to tell me, nothing more, nothing less.

[Stopper]

I'd want a SAW or an M-60!!!!! No sense in screw'n around, give me full auto in a war zone or give me a ticket home!!!!

[dave375hh]

If they had listened to me, there wouldn't be a problem in any of those cities. There'd be NO CITIES! These scumbags should have been nuked in '91. There's nothing worth saving in that reigon of the world except the oil. So kill them all and take the oil as the spoils of war. This idea may not be popular but that doesn't mean it's not true!

[Oxford]

Received the following email from a friend today and thought it fit into the subject of this thread. It's a good read and thought provoking.
Ox
-------------
No more heroes? - by Oliver North - December 17, 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "It's stuff you hear about in boot camp, about World War II and Tarawa Marines who won the Medal of Honor," Lance Cpl. Rob Rogers of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment told the Army Times.
Rogers was describing the actions of his fellow Marine, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a Mexican immigrant who enlisted in the Marine Corps the day he received his green card. Most readers of this column probably haven't heard about Rafael Peralta. With the exception of the Los Angeles Times, most of our mainstream media haven't bothered to write about him. The next time you log onto the Internet, do a Google search on Rafael Peralta. As of this writing, the Internet's most used search engine will provide you with only 26 citations from news sources that have bothered to write about this heroic young man.


Then, just for giggles, do a Google search on Pablo Paredes. Hundreds of media outlets have written about him. The wire services have blasted his story to thousands of newspapers. Television and radio debate programs gladly provide the public with talking heads that can speak eloquently on the actions of Pablo Paredes. You see, Pablo Paredes, a Navy petty officer 3rd class, did something the liberal elites consider "heroic" and the media consider "newsworthy" -- he defied an order. Last week, Paredes refused to board his ship bound for Iraq along with 5,000 other sailors and Marines.
He showed up on the pier wearing a black t-shirt that read, "Like a Cabinet member, I resign." We know this because Paredes had the courtesy and forethought to notify the local media that he would commit an act of cowardice the following day. Perhaps he hoped to follow the lead of another famous war protestor who went on to become a U.S. senator and his party's presidential nominee by throwing away his military medals.


Paredes stopped short of trashing his military I.D. in front of the cameras because he said he didn't want to be charged with the destruction of government property. The media, we are promised, will continue to follow this story intently. It is a shame that the media focus on such acts when they could tell stories about real heroes like Peralta, who "saved the life of my son and every Marine in that room," according to Garry Morrison, the father of a Marine in Peralta's unit -- Lance Cpl. Adam Morrison. On the morning of Nov. 15, 2004, the men of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines awoke before sunrise and continued what they had been doing for seven days previously -- cleansing the city of Fallujah of terrorists house by house.


At the fourth house they encountered that morning, the Marines kicked in the door and "cleared" the front rooms, but then noticed a locked door off to the side that required inspection. Peralta threw open the closed door, but behind it were three terrorists with AK-47s. Peralta was hit in the head and chest with multiple shots at close range.


Peralta's fellow Marines had to step over his body to continue the shootout with the terrorists. As the firefight raged on, a "yellow, foreign-made, oval-shaped grenade," as Lance Cpl. Travis Kaemmerer described it, rolled into the room where they were all standing and came to a stop near Peralta's body. But Sgt. Rafael Peralta wasn't dead -- yet. This young immigrant of 25 years, who enlisted in the Marines when he received his green card, who volunteered for the front line duty in Fallujah, had one last act of heroism in him.


Peralta was the polar opposite of Paredes, the petty officer who turned his back on his shipmates and mocked his commander in chief. Peralta was proud to serve his adopted country. In his parent's home, on his bedroom walls hung only three items -- a copy of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and his boot camp graduation certificate. Before he set out for Fallujah, he wrote to his 14-year-old brother, "Be proud of me, bro ... and be proud of being an American."


Not only can Rafael's family be proud of him, but his fellow Marines are alive because of him. As Peralta lay near death on the floor of a Fallujah terrorist hideout, he spotted the yellow grenade that had rolled next to his near-lifeless body. Once detonated, it would take out the rest of Peralta's squad. To save his fellow Marines, Peralta reached out, grabbed the grenade and tucked it under his abdomen, where it exploded.


"Most of the Marines in the house were in the immediate area of the grenade," Kaemmerer said. "We will never forget the second chance at life that Sgt. Peralta gave us."


Unfortunately, unlike Paredes, Peralta will get little media coverage. He is unlikely to have books written about him or movies made about his extraordinarily selfless sacrifice. But he is likely to receive the Medal of Honor. And that Medal of Honor is likely to be displayed next to the only items that hung on his bedroom wall -- the Constitution, Bill of Rights and his Boot Camp graduation certificate.


Yes, Virginia, there are still heroes in America, and Sgt. Rafael Peralta was one of them. It's just too bad the media can't recognize them.


-Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist - ©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

[Troy]

guys like that, a real special breed.