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Accord

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Everything posted by Accord

  1. It's not a "private christian army" stop being stupid. This is just a political move to appease certain people and nothing more, and it will change nothing. The contractors working for blackwater right now will simply go work for DynCorp, Security Intl, etc. which do the exact same thing.
  2. penguino is absolutely right, you guys are just too blinded by Obama's persona to be able to see it. My platoon nabbed 4 taliban operatives (one of whom was from chechnya), turned them over to our HET guys, and they're at GITMO right now. There are no innocent men there and GITMO is no different than any other international military prison, it's just the news media decided to put it all over the news so people think it's a big deal and it's not. If it closes then every prisoner there will just be transferred to another prison and nothing will change except a bunch of blind liberals feeling good about themselves when the reality is there are hundreds of GITMO's all over the world that are no different and these prisoners will now be living in far worse conditions than they were before because the news media will no longer be watching them 24/7 like they were at GITMO. You got one detention facility closed out of hundreds - good job you really made a difference in the lives of terrorists. Fact of the matter is places like GITMO exist, need to exist, and will always exist. Closing GITMO is no different than banning guns, allowing gays in the military, etc. They're just feel good laws when in reality accomplish absolutely nothing.
  3. Most of you guys don't understand the culture of the US military, and most people in the military don't understand the culture of those in direct combat roles. If you make that known that you're gay among your peers then you can expect to be living a miserable life. So we can't directly haze the sh*t out of you because you're a homo, so you'll just end up standing duty every weekend, being put on every sh*t detail and billet out there, and if you're a grunt and on deployment you'll be stuck on camp guard and never leave the wire with your boys. Someone has to stand duty on christmas day... These are just a couple of the tons of examples out there where your life will get f***ed with. You will get f***ed with so badly and you will contemplate suicide. Most boot junior Marines/soldiers in the infantry have an absolutely miserable life and get hazed and f***ed with constantly until they've proven themselves in combat, that's how it is in the grunts. We have the toughest job in the military and if you show even the smallest sign of weakness you will be f***ed with so bad that you will at one point or another contemplate suicide, and that's just for your average boot. It doesn't matter what Obama or the law says, just because you're allowed to join doesn't mean that you will be tolerated, and in an infantry unit you definitely won't be. This is what reality is in a typical infantry unit, we are a men's only organization and at the end of the day our sole purpose in life is the kill enemies of the United States. Whether you like it or not, the US military has a good ole boys culture and if you make it known that you're gay you can pretty much kiss the rest of your career goodbye. Are there gays in the military right now? Yes. Are they still in the closet? Yes. Not because they're afraid of getting kicked out, but because they're not stupid. If you want to allow gays to join the military, that's fine, but keep them out of combat related roles. Women do not exist in the infantry not because of them being physically inferior (most female Marines are more physically capable than a lot of men I know), but because it will destroy the tight knit unit cohesion essential for mission completion and a gay man in an infantry platoon will do just the same.
  4. you guys do know that Military Times poll only polled its subscribers right? That's why I didn't give it much credence. Short of an entire mandatory DoD-wide poll among the entire military, the polls from Military Times are the next best thing and you won't get any better accuracy. You cannot go to any military base in the world whether it's in Iraq, Afghanistan, USA, etc. without seeing the Military Times, it's the most widely read publication among the military and is very respectable. They're polling thousands upon thousands of military personnel from junior privates to four star generals across the entire spectrum of the military. You will not get a more accurate poll than this.
  5. I'm not attracted to them, but I would like to try getting serviced by a girl that has one. I used to date a chick who had one, it's really not a big deal.
  6. I have no problem with them going after Al-Qaeda wherever they are. I think it should be a small scale operation though, special forces and the like. Shouldn't need to be massive amounts of troops. Dude, that's not the case at all. There is no hope in Afghanistan, and running small scale SF missions to target a select few high profile leaders will accomplish nothing. We killed a countless number of upper level Taliban leaders and senior officers, and the second they're killed there's always someone else who immediately takes their place. More than 75% of the country has been completely untouched by coalition forces for over 7 years now and you've got cities that are taliban strongholds with 5,000+ taliban. The army is over there simply as a defensive/occupying force and the other 33 nations over there as part of ISAF NEVER leave the wire, only ones who are proactive in hunting the enemy on a massive scale are the Marines, and right now there's only one battalion over there. We killed 1,200 taliban and liberated the entire Helmand Province... the British relieved and took over for us and the taliban came back and started wiping out the brits left and right and the brits retreated back into a single FOB. You need to get the politicians and news cameras out of the country and let the military win this war. Unless you put at least two battalions of Marines in each province, there is zero hope for any sort of legitimate military or political victory in Afghanistan.
  7. *runs to the nearest marine enlistment office* This job definitely has it's benefits that's for sure.
  8. 233rd birthday of the Marine Corps.... this was the ball in Ft. Lauderdale: this is bob powers a Marine from WW2, Korea, and Nam... the mans an american hero with a silver star and 3 bronze stars w/ V. he lives alone and rots away in a retirement home 24/7 and doesn't have a car and has no family so i wanted to do something special for him on veterans day by taking him out to dinner. ....but after that it was game ON in Miami, 9 months of hell to party like a rockstar: http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30207404_6134.jpg http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30207406_6685.jpg http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30207410_7792.jpg http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30207414_8895.jpg http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30207429_1917.jpg http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30207450_8320.jpg http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30207457_3502.jpg http://photos-h.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210215_8425.jpg http://photos-g.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210262_5637.jpg http://photos-b.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210209_6718.jpg http://photos-a.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210208_6432.jpg http://photos-f.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210205_5590.jpg http://photos-d.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210259_4701.jpg http://photos-d.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210203_5051.jpg http://photos-b.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210217_9001.jpg http://photos-c.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210218_9291.jpg http://photos-f.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210221_154.jpg she goes to FSU so we hit it off really well. http://photos-e.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210220_9867.jpg http://photos-g.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-snc1/v375/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30210222_460.jpg god bless america.
  9. Had an escort from the police and the patriot guard... http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194581_8962.jpg The lady on the left is the mayor of Boca Raton and the guy on the right is Congressman Ron Klein http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194582_39.jpg http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194583_8940.jpg http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194584_18.jpg http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194610_7024.jpg http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194611_7300.jpg http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194607_6216.jpg and how could I possibly forget... http://photos-164.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v361/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30194637_5090.jpg
  10. 23 days left until I am back on American soil.
  11. I know this makes no difference for anything, but out of curiosity, what is your rank at the present time? I'm a Lance Corporal. My unit is going to Al Anbar province in Iraq next year, but rumor is we're coming back to Afghanistan. When we get back i'm putting in a package for Embassy Duty, where i'll spend three years at three different American embassies around the world. It's extremely competitive to get accepted into Embassy Duty, you're competing against the top 1% of of the Marine Corps. If I get accepted, that's what i'll be doing and if I don't then i'll deploy again with my unit next summer. The State Department recruits Marines directly out of the Embassy Duty program to be Regional Security Officers and things of that nature, so if I get accepted i'll most likely work for the State Department when I get out after my 3 year tour.
  12. I'll be home soon, not allowed to say exactly when because it's OPSEC but let's just say i'll be at the Bills@Dolphins game on October 26th.
  13. Here are a few pictures from Afghanistan... Us inside of a Taliban compound we captured and lived out of for a few days before taking more ground. Sleep is at a premium This is Hansen, one of the guys in my team... he got shot in the head. If you're a Marine and buy Marine times, you probably saw him on the cover about 2 months ago. Fox News crew setting up for a story before we pushed the city of Garmsir. Playing some baseball in Kandahar before combat operations began. This is my pack, the taliban hit it and not me... the bullet was stopped inside the middle of the pack and I now have it around my neck. Me on the 240 http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v336/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160060_9233.jpg http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v336/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160062_7.jpg http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v336/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160087_7807.jpg Poppy field http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160131_8553.jpg Captured this Taliban safe house day before this pic was taken. http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v319/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160133_4828.jpg taliban stronghold http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v336/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160135_8663.jpg bout to throw my gear on before a patrol http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v336/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160137_9784.jpg http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v336/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160138_689.jpg 3 months without a haircut... f*** Marine Corps haircut regulations. http://photos.l3.facebook.com/photos-l3-snc1/v319/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30159985_2479.jpg trying to get a few hours of sleep before going back out to hunt the taliban http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v336/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30160023_614.jpg Sunset in the desert Got a sh*t ton more pics but this internet is so slow that I don't have the time to upload them all, got some pretty sick video of 2,000 pound bombs being dropped on taliban strongholds, endless firefights, shooting javelin and tow missiles, kicking in doors, rocking on the MK19, etc etc etc i'll post that when I get some better internet.
  14. This is the first time i've gotten access to the internet in 4 months, I don't know where to begin. I have spent the past 4 months in brutal conditions that I never even imagined, there's a lot of Marines over here but very few are out doing what we're doing. My roommate and best friend was killed in an enemy trench, my other friend was shot in the head 3 feet away from me, my other friend was hit by an RPG and is paralyzed for the rest of his life, and just last week my former squad leader lost his leg. I hate my f***ing life, I can't sleep at night even though things are pretty low-stress now, and the only reason i'm alive and posting this is because of the new MRAP's, our's has over 65 bullet holes and has been hit by 4 RPG's. We've slept in captured Taliban compounds for the past 4 months and I haven't showered in just as long. Right now we're in the process of turning everything over to the British so we can get the f*** out of this god damn country in about 2 months, we'd already be out of here if we didn't get f***ing extended. I just found this about Coop, you can read about him here: http://livinglegendteam.blogspot.com/2008/...m-j-cooper.html My time limit is almost up so I don't have much more to say other than there are a lot less Taliban walking god's green earth right now.
  15. What's going on guys? I'm about 1.5 months into my deployment here in Afghanistan and right now this country for all intents and purposes belongs to my unit and this country is literally the sh*t hole of the world. War and combat is no f***ing joke and when people say it's hell they're not kidding, it doesn't matter how much training you've received or how prepared you think you'll be. A few days ago we just lost our first 2 Marines and the tone of this conflict is totally different than what I could have ever imagined. These are Marines i've seen in the chow hall, have spotted for on the bench press at the gym on base when we got some down time, and just saw on a regular basis and now they're gone. I finally understand what it is that every combat vet has preached since i've been interested in joining the military and now that i'm finally deployed and am now a combat vet myself I understand. Yeah it's nice to say you're here freeing a bunch of oppressed people yadadada, but all that is irrelevant and doesn't mean anything. Once the first IED goes off or the first bullet hits the armor on your humvee and you pop your cherry, the only thing that matters is making sure the Marine on your left and right goes home to their family when this deployment is said and done. Here are some pictures I took These are what we roll around in now... Humvee's are a thing of the past. http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30068818_4328.jpg http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30068819_4597.jpg http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30068820_4861.jpg http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30066716_4648.jpg http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30066719_5736.jpg http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30068816_3839.jpg http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30066725_7958.jpg http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v235/228/37/1071021164/n1071021164_30069208_7150.jpg Semper Fi
  16. We were all just told that we're deploying to Afghanistan this weekend, I can't post the exact day or time but it's this weekend and a hell of a lot sooner than expected. This is going to be my last post on here for a while, we're going to have no internet access or anything in Afghanistan especially with where we'll be and what we'll be doing. I don't even know what to say right now other than I had a great time here and in 8 months i'll be back. Semper Fi
  17. Harry, 23, has been deployed in the restive Helmand province for 10 weeks, where most of the 7,800 British troops in Afghanistan are based, according to the military?s statement. That's where i'm going in 10 days...
  18. Accord

    Perfection

    I never understood the purpose of these things. Purely exhibition? 1. The History of Drill Drill is marching. In ancient history, the most powerful, efficient and developed empires developed ways of moving organized units of troops from one place to another on the battlefield, without individuals getting mixed up with other units. Otherwise, as masses of people manoeuvred amongst each other individuals would get lost and end up having to attach themselves to any old unit. A system of flags was developed so people could identify their own units (and side) on the field and make their way their correct flag bearer if they got separated. But sticking to "formed up" squads was better, forming a box of men who moved as a single body. Overall it meant command systems were effective - men stayed together and could be commanded as units. Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, testifies to the superiority of Roman discipline, and part of that discipline was an ordered method of moving formed up squads from one place to another. This discipline facilitates effective realisation of tactical man-management, and the result is a superior fighting army. [Josephus p195] During what historians have reluctantly come to call The Military Revolution European armies between 1550 and 1720 became generally state-controlled, financed and permanent. There was a resultant loss of individuality, with the need for better organization, good training - especially in drill - and strict discipline [becket & Chandler p40]. Training became an institution. Since then, drill has become increasingly important as part of training, discipline and military parades. Goose Stepping was a form of extreme marching held by German, Prussian, and Russian heads of military to be an ultimate display of the unbreakable will and discipline of its soldiers. Most modern marching is not as extreme as the rigid goose step. Anything that resembles it is now unpopular because it has became associated with fascism. Nevertheless it is still used by some countries as a powerful display of military discipline. Military Drill in the Army is formalized with utmost precision in the fearsomely bulky Drill Book. In the preamble to the Drill Book it is "confidently asserted that the foundation of discipline in battle is based on drill" and that this has been proven again and again. According to William Barlow, Robert Graves said there are "three types of troops: those with guts who could not drill; those good at drill but with no guts and those who had guts and could drill well. [...] These last fought best of all". 2. Drill and Politics An army that regularly parades in public displays itself as a highly professional army. Even though the parade itself does not perform any useful function on a battlefield, it has an affect even in times of peace and in build-ups to wars. A rag-tag army is likely to be unable to put on parades, hence it holds that larger and better armies can display their discipline by means of public performances. It therefore acts as a psychological tool and a deterrent - it says that the army is ready, strong and trained. For example North Korea was facing off against the USA in 2002/2003 and making politically aggressive claims that it was developing nuclear weaponry. It put on a large number of military parades, sometimes including squads of children playing instruments and performing rigid dances, and they received attention in the news, commenting on how "modern" their army and military was. They could clearly be seen to be skilled; and this would act as a deterrent against many lesser armies. German Nazi parades in the 1930s were awesome, fast and hard. They clearly formed part of the psychological manipulation tools of the Nazis, making the people feel strong and proud, making them happier to put themselves behind such a dedicated and inspiring home force. So merely as a deterrent and as home inspiration, drill and parades perform useful military and political functions. As we are concentrating, in this text, on the ontology of training procedures, I will now concentrate on the role of drill on the personal development of soldiers physically and mentally, and not look at the role of drill in formal military displays. 3. Drill and Physical Training Not everyone has the control over their bodies that athletes have. Strain, stress, laziness, inability, mental weakness and disfamiliarity prevent most people from having maximum control of their own bodies. When situations become stressful, cold or uncomfortable then people who have been trained to rigidly form their bodies around their will will undoubtedly perform better than those people whose only mind-body training has been computer games and casual sport. A recruit will spent an apparent eternity stood motionless at attention, sometimes in seemingly unbearable cold and warmth. But with each such session, the cold becomes a little more bearable, the motionlessness becomes more familiar and more elegant and the recruit's body learns a little better how to conform completely to the wishes of its operator. With drill comes increased control over your own body. * In a tactical situation, on sentry, you must remain completely quiet and motionless in order to minimize the chances of being seen or heard. A recruit who has mastered hundreds of hours of drill, in the cold and in uncomfortable positions, will also be a master of his own body in such tactical situations. * When a recruit moves on to skill at arms training the casual motionless and calmness, despite discomfort, is an essential ability of a good shot. If a recruit is not used to ignoring the minor discomforts of a held position, their minds will be distracted and their firing will be less accurate. Once drill is internalized and your body is accustomed to the discipline, it becomes more like a relaxing meditation than hard work, and your mind can wonder. Retrospectively, it feels to some like they no longer find it hard... it is hard, but, they have become accustomed to the hardness. "Nearly everyone who came into the Depot from civilian life brought with him the tortuous notion that, to drill smartly, one had to restrict and frustrate the natural action of the body. [Through drill] men came to inhabit and use their bodies less self-consciously, with an economy of movement" 4. Drill and Discipline Many civilians and military men would like to consider discipline the primary role of drill. Parades, it is frequently said, is a display of discipline and in training it forms a method of instilling discipline that can be visually and physically tested. Drill was "a considerable art and could be used to show off, to punish or to loosen up. In the early stages of training it was the recognised means of breaking a squad in." [William Barlow]. Yes, discipline is a major part of drill but I hope that by highlighting the other roles it plays before getting on to this subject, I also highlight the other functions that drill serves. When training recruits in drill it tends to bring out peoples' attitudes. Employing typical low-level popular psychology, it is used to "drill" discipline into recruits by pummelling them harder the more they resist, until they "break". When they break, they accept that they're rubbish at drill, that they are making mistakes, and that they will have to keep doing it until they get as good as they are being trained to be. Until they reach that point of breaking, recruits will resist the training. They may think they're "good enough", they may reject the need to do drill or they may reject the commands or make fun of drill. Once broken, they will accept drill. Although previous "attitudes" will surface, they won't interfere anymore with the actual obediance to the commands given. In short, their attitude has been overriden by freshly instilled discipline. That's how drill is seen to instill discipline amongst the average person. In addition, drill is used within the armed forces as a punishment. Drill can be made very physically demanding. On the coldest days, a squad commander can drill a group of men until they sweat, their legs and feet ache and hurt, and they can no longer perform the moves with full gusto. It is a form of exercise. Keeping those knees waist high when "marking time" (marching on the spot) can be a form of torture, a dynamic stress position. As such, many of the low-rankers in the armed faces pretty much hate drill for the memories of the angst, although some come to like it.
  19. Accord

    Perfection

    I've always loved (un)armed drill and exhibition, it's one of my fondest memories of ROTC. My most proud moment was when I entered my first armed drill team, obviously this is a whole other level, but I'm glad that I could have helped send someone off to become that type of person. The second to last week of USMC boot camp we have the Final Drill Competition where every platoon in the company competes against each other for honor platoon during graduation, the Final Drill Competition is treated like it's the fricken Super Bowl. Every infantry Marine gets the opportunity to try out for the Silent Drill Team and being a member of the SDT is very prestigious, but there's no way I could do it... I had enough drill for 3 months, no way I want to spend the next 2 years doing it. Only infantry Marines are eligible.
  20. We are supposed to be above torture. We put people to death after WWII for waterboarding. exactly...its been proven over and over and over again not to work. Jack Bauer disagrees with you.
  21. There are actually people who don't believe the US tortures people? :lol Of course we torture people, it's the nature of the beast. Whether we create laws against it, put forth policy forbidding it, etc. it will do nothing. It will still happen, except it'll just occur under the radar and methods which leave no evidence will be used.
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