Ran with permission from: One Marine's View
The Battle of Midway June 4-7 1942
Posted: 05 Jun 2009 04:11 PM PDT
Hummer Excluded from GM Sale
Posted: 05 Jun 2009 04:12 PM PDT
Army: Military Versions of Hummer Excluded from GM Sale Officials said some people called the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and AM General LLC, the company that makes the military vehicles, asking if the rights to the Humvee had been sold to the Chinese.
The U.S. Army is assuring people that General Motors' deal to sell its Hummer brand to a Chinese company has nothing to do with the military version of the rugged vehicle. Officials said some people called the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and AM General LLC, the company that makes the military vehicles, asking if the rights to the Humvee had been sold to the Chinese. Steve Clawson, spokesman for the South Bend, Ind.-based AM General, said the military and civilian programs are separate. "GM's proposed sale of the civilian Hummer brand would have no impact on the military Humvee program," he said. The Army's news service posted a story to clarify the situation on its Web site Wednesday, a day after news of the sale was announced. "We really wanted to clarify in the minds of our own soldiers as well as the general public what was happening, just so we were clear on the difference," said Lt. Col. Martin Downie, an Army spokesman. Staffers at the House Armed Services Committee contacted the Army after hearing the sale news and were reassured that the military vehicles would not be affected, said Josh Holly, spokesman for the committee. "I think the committee will continue to watch it just in case, but at this point I haven't seen much concern from members on the military side," he said. General Motors Corp. announced Tuesday that it had a tentative agreement to sell the Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., a 4-year-old company with just 4,300 employees based in China's mountainous southwest. GM bought the rights to sell Hummers to civilians from AM General in 1999, and GM hired the company to build the H1 model at a plant in Mishawaka, Ind. The hulking, inefficient vehicle, which dwarfed most other vehicles on city streets, was based on the military Humvee. Later, the automaker designed the Hummer H2 civilian vehicle, and AM General continued to build it. A smaller version, the H3, was built by GM at a plant in Shreveport, La. AM General is privately held, owned by private equity firm The Renco Group Inc., and MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, both of New York. The company, born of Jeep heritage, was once part of American Motors Corp. It began designing the Humvee in 1979, and since then has sold more than 200,000 to the U.S. military and friendly nations, the company said on its Web site. The vehicles became famous in the 1991 Gulf War. Tengzhong, which is keeping production of the Hummer in the United States, will face daunting hurdles in reviving the vehicle, known in Chinese as "Han Ma," or Bold Horse. Soaring gas prices have battered sales of the boxy trucks, which roar along on oversize tires and can weigh up to 5 tons. GM sold 341,000 Hummers to civilians worldwide through 2008, but U.S. sales have dropped dramatically this year. GM sold only 5,113 Hummers through May, down 64 percent from the first five months of last year, according to Autodata Corp. In a chat on GM's Web site Thursday, GM CEO Fritz Henderson was asked how a Chinese company with no experience building personal vehicles was able to buy Hummer, and Henderson wrote that GM had limited interest in the brand. "The potential buyer Sichuan Tengzhong offered the best overall alternative, and we did not have broad portfolio of other buyers," Henderson replied.

The White House Said Little About This

Police Say Arkansas Shooter Targeted Military
June 01, 2009Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A man with "political and religious motives" killed a soldier just out of basic training and wounded another Monday in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said. The shootings were not believed to be part of a broader scheme.
The soldiers completed basic training within the past two weeks and were not regular recruiters, said Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis of the Oklahoma City Recruiting Battalion, which oversees the Little Rock office.
William Long, 24, of Conway, died, and Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, was wounded and in stable condition, Police Chief Stuart Thomas said.
Both men were from nearby hometowns and volunteered to work at the recruiting center to attract other locals to the military. "They can show the example, 'Here's where I was, and here is where I am,'" Artis said.
Police arrested Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, along a crosstown interstate moments after the shootings at the Army-Navy Career Center in a shopping center in west Little Rock.
Muhammad acted alone, the police chief said, and based on an interview with officers, the suspect "probably had political and religious motives for the attack." He lived in an apartment just 1.5 miles from the recruiting center. A search warrant had been obtained for the apartment.
Thomas said Muhammad, previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, would be charged with first-degree murder, plus 15 counts of committing a terroristic act. Thomas said those counts result from the gunfire occurring near other people.
The accused shooter's father, Melvin Bledsoe of Memphis, Tenn., hung up on a reporter who called about his son's arrest Monday night.
Witnesses told police that a man inside a black vehicle pulled up outside the recruiting center and opened fire about 10:30 a.m. Long fell onto the sidewalk outside the center while Ezeagwula was able to crawl toward its door.
Police said Muhammad's vehicle was stopped on Interstate 630 a short time later and the suspect was taken into custody. Police Lt. Terry Hastings said the suspect surrendered without incident. Police found an assault rifle and other weapons in the vehicle.
Jim Richardson, the manager at a drug store around the corner from the Army-Navy center, said people at the store didn't realize anything was amiss until hearing sirens outside.
"Nobody heard any gunshots," Richardson said.
Steven Johnson, an 18-year-old recruit, was on his way to take a qualifying test when he found police cars at the center. By early afternoon, Johnson was waiting patiently outside the yellow police tape.
"I'm going to check and see if they're all right," he said.

Freedom

Shortly after we were married, Mark gave me this T-shirt. I wear it with pride. Because those words are short, but powerful.
"I have my rights!"
"I have the right to....!"
"It's a free country!"
"If I want to talk trash about the sitting President or the former President, I can. Freedom of speech, baby!"
There are men and women who made the final formation and now laying a rest, in G-d good earth, who laid down their lives so that you can enjoy your hot dog and fireworks this weekend.
Freedom is' free. It was paid for the blood of Marines, Sailors, Air Men and Soldiers. It was sealed by the tears of spouses and family members who laid them to rest.
I still miss you, daddy.

It is the SOLDIER, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the SOLDIER, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the SOLDIER, not the campus organizers, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the SOLDIER, who salutes the flag, who serves the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag.
And it is we, their wives, husbands, parnets, children, siblings who pray for their safe return and lay flowers on their coffins.

This is How It Begins

The packing of the bags.....

No Big Suprise

From Military Com.: Today in the Military
This is why it is, Washingtion, it is called War On Terrrism......
Pakistani Taliban Threatens Washington
March 31, 2009Associated Press

-->
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - The commander of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a deadly assault on a Pakistani police academy and said the group was planning a terrorist attack on the U.S. capital.
Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday's attack outside the eastern city of Lahore was in retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.
"Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details.
Mehsud and other Pakistani Taliban militants are believed to be based in the country's lawless areas near the border with Afghanistan, where they have stepped up their attacks throughout Pakistan.
The Taliban leader also claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed four soldiers Monday in Bannu district and a suicide attack targeting a police station in Islamabad last week that killed one officer.
Such attacks pose a major test for the weak, year-old civilian administration of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that has been gripped with political turmoil in recent weeks.
The gunmen who attacked the police academy in Lahore on Monday killed seven police and two civilians, holding security forces at bay for about eight hours before being overpowered by Pakistani commandos. Some of the attackers wore police uniforms, and they took hostages and tossed grenades during the assault.
Earlier Tuesday, a spokesman from a little-known militant group linked to the Pakistani Taliban also claimed credit for the attack and a similar ambush-style attack against the Sri Lankan cricket team earlier this month in Lahore. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the two claims.
Omar Farooq, who said he is the spokesman for Fedayeen al-Islam, said the group would carry out more attacks unless Pakistani troops withdraw from tribal areas near the Afghan border and the U.S. stops its drone strikes. The group previously said it was behind the deadly September bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 54 people.
Mehsud declined to comment on Fedayeen al-Islam's claim that it carried out the attack or to say whether the group is linked to his own.
"At this time, I will not give any detail," Mehsud said.
The Pakistani Taliban leader also said he was not deterred by the U.S. bounty on his head.
"I wish to die and embrace martyrdom," he said.
The Pakistani Taliban has links with al-Qaida and Afghan Taliban militants who have launched attacks against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from a base in the border region between the two countries.
Pakistan faces tremendous U.S. pressure to eradicate militants from its soil and has launched several military operations in the Afghan border region.
The U.S. has stepped up drone attacks against militants in the area, causing tension with Pakistani officials who protest they are a violation of the country's sovereignty and kill innocent civilians.
Monday's highly coordinated attack highlighted that militants in the country pose a threat far outside the border region. It prompted Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, Pakistan's top civilian security official, to say that militant groups were "destabilizing the country."
The gunmen killed six police during the assault, and one died late Monday from his injuries, said Lahore's commissioner, Major Azam Khan. He said Tuesday that the initial investigation revealed that two civilians were also shot and killed, but he did not reveal their identities.
More than 90 officers were wounded in the assault, according to officials.
After gunmen stormed the academy, masses of security forces surrounded the compound, exchanging fire in televised scenes reminiscent of the militant siege in the Indian city of Mumbai in November and the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team.
Khan said three of the attackers blew themselves up when commandos retook the police academy to avoid arrest. Authorities arrested four others at the scene.
Wasim Ahmad Sial, a senior Lahore police official, said authorities have obtained fingerprints of the attackers who blew themselves up and have determined one of their identities. He did not provide further details.
Punjab police chief, Khawaja Khalid Farooq, told reporters Tuesday that a suspected militant who was captured at the scene of the attack had provided "genuine and actual leads that are beneficial for interrogation."
He said about 50 other people in Lahore were detained overnight for questioning.

Reality Hits

This morning, reality hit: Mark leaves in two months.
He has to train for six weeks before being send overseas. He gets to come home for a week, however.
I was picking up his coffee cup, noticing he hadn't finished it.
Starbucks.
He loves Starbucks.
I have to start making Carepackages again, icluding Starbucks coffee.
It was then that I started to cry.
It lasted just a few moments.
But it will not be the last Cry.
Now, I am back to cleaning out my desk, thinking about making chicken soup for supper since the weather is still chilly.
It makes one feel better.