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I woke this morning to an email from a friend in Germany. It is the greatest holiday message I’ve received this season. Perhaps one of the greats of all time. I thought I’d share it with the Naval Institute family for a laugh…and then I’m going to send it all the lawyers I know. And then to all of my uber PC friends. Let the feeling hurting begin…
—–Ursprüngliche Nachricht—–
Von:
Gesendet: Freitag, 23. Dezember 2011 11:55
An:
Betreff: Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year
Dear Clients, Partners, Kith and Kin,
I wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May 2012 be prosperous, successful and free of negative incidents.
And now, from me (“the wishor”) to you (“hereinafter called the wishee”):
Please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non- addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all… and a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2012, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or dietary preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting you are bound by these terms that:-
* This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal
* This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged.
* This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement any of the wishes.
* This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishor.
* This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.
* The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish the sole discretion of the wishor
* Any references in this greeting to “the Lord”, “Father Christmas”, “Our Saviour”, or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged.
Yours faithfully,
Bjorn
Posted by Alexander Martin in Alexander Martin | read comments (4)
This year I attended the Army-Navy game for the first time since having graduated. I secured Club Level seating (or standing, as it were) to calm my post-traumatic-midshipman-memory-response; the promise of central heating, leather couches and reuniting with old shipmates over a steady flow of spirits seemed a more comfortable homecoming than braving the elements with the masses. One day I’ll be married with kids, I told myself as I completed my decadent, self-interested Club Level transaction, and then I’ll return to the cold. To the stands. To the game the way it was meant to be enjoyed…drunk on emotion and pride with my fellow Americans. And cold.
This morning a banner on the Naval Institute’s website caught my eye and took me to a preview of the must-watch documentary of the season. It will be airing this Wednesday, December 21st on Showtime. I recommend it to everyone who would like to know (or be reminded) why the Army-Navy game is indeed, a Game of Honor.
On this very important day in our nation’s history – the 7th of December – we must give pause and remind ourselves….
Posted by Alexander Martin in Air Force, Alexander Martin, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy | read comments (1)Last night I spent the Marine Corps’ 236th birthday at the San Diego Yacht Club. It was an intimate black tie affair in a breezy, open, dark-wooden room overlooking a dazzling harbor attended by hero-Marines that bled on Saipan and Iwo Jima, fought through the Chosin, repelled Viet Cong during Tet, and sustained terrible wounds from violent skirmishes with the Taliban in Afghanistan’s RC South.
Amazing.
During the cocktail reception I sipped on a young Dewar’s and listened to old stories. And I marveled. Marines of all ages stood, soaring, like granite statues in black tuxedoes telling war stories and laughing and remembering. I tried to memorize each detail of the landscape. Each story, each handshake, each ‘Happy Birthday Marine’ was for me a nod from the great hoplites I have been reading about since I was a child.
The evening’s super narrative was elegant and palpable and it was this: here gathered to celebrate a birthday bigger than any one soul are but a few humble ambassadors of America’s finest tribe, Marines, who, after playing with the House’s money for all these years, pause to drink and dine and let their eyes and hearts swell.
I always revel in the unspoken, all-felt storyline…
Golden city lights poured through open glass doors into glasses of rocked-scotch and bounced from Silver Star to Silver Star to Silver Star worn on marvelous black tuxedos by silver haired warriors; this light instantly reflecting and refracting among dozens of Naval Academy rings and Eagle Globe and Anchor pins that swirled the light as hands waived and waived depicting stories of war days, past.
It’s hard to write this without sounding romantic; but Marines are romantic figures, and the Marine Corps a romantic service. Romantic in that the execution of each human action is deliberate and from the heart, transcendent.
Transcendent discipline. Transcendent violence. Transcendent sacrifice. Transcendent love.
On this Veteran’s Day I’m reminded by those Marines I drank with last night just how important they are to our country’s survival. I am humbled by their sacrifices, their courage, and their transcendence.
My generation has a great deal to learn from these men and women. From those who have spent all these years doing their best, playing with the House’s money.
A stark and inspiring reminder of the thankless work our Marines are doing day in, day out, in our defense.
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:31:13 -0500
Somalia: U.S. Citizen Kidnapped
Taken Question
Question: What is the status of the American kidnapped in Somalia? Have we confirmed citizenship? Are we in touch with the family? What are we doing to assist?
Answer: The Department of State can confirm that a U.S. citizen has been kidnapped in northern Somalia. We remain concerned about the individual’s safety and well-being. We are working with contacts in Kenya and Somalia to ascertain further information and have been in contact with the individual’s family to provide all appropriate consular assistance.
The United States condemns kidnappings of any kind, and we call for the immediate release of all of the victims involved. Due to the privacy laws, we have no further information at this time.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/10/176235.htm
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:25:48 -0500
Taking Diplomatic Action Against Piracy
Fact Sheet
Piracy off the coast of Somalia is a crime of growing global concern. Piracy has significant and direct implications for every nation, from rising danger to seafarers to impacts on humanitarian aid deliveries and global commerce. To address this shared security challenge, the United States is actively pursuing a broad, coordinated, and comprehensive multilateral approach to combating piracy focused on security, prevention, and deterrence.
The United States is proud to be a founding partner in the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. Established in January 2009 pursuant to the UN Security Council Resolution 1851, the Contact Group is a voluntary ad hoc international forum of more than 70 countries, organizations, and industry groups with a common interest in bringing pirates, their financiers and facilitators, to justice.
Among its accomplishments to date, the Contact Group has:
- Facilitated the operational coordination of an unprecedented international naval effort from more than 30 countries working together to protect transiting vessels.
- Partnered with the shipping industry to improve and promote the full implementation of Best Management Practices that merchant ships and crews can take to avoid, deter, delay, and counter pirate attacks.
- Worked to build the capacity of Somalia and other countries in the region to combat piracy, in particular by contributing to the UN Trust Fund Supporting Initiatives of States Countering Piracy off the Coast of Somalia; and
- Launched a new Working Group aimed at disrupting the pirate enterprise ashore, including its associated financial networks, through approaches similar to those used to address other types of organized transnational crime networks.
When I think about the traits that embody a United States Marine, many words come to mind. This clip captures some of the most important, I think: a smart, straight-talking, hard working, beer drinking, no-nonsense professional with the ability to kill the Taliban hordes using nearly every T/O weapon organic to a rifle company (save perhaps a 60 MM mortar), all the while possessing an unrelenting spirit and sense of humor.
In this absolutely perfect segment on late night television Sgt Dakota Meyer made his forefathers proud by demonstrating to audiences across America the different sort of ethos that makes the Marine-tribe so special, in or out of active service…
Lace up your boots. Work hard. Meet the enemy. Do your job. Laugh when possible. If you’re lucky, come home. Be grateful. Remember your comrades. Laugh when possible. Lace up your boots. Work hard. Do your job. Laugh when possible. Work hard. Remember. Laugh. Work….ask the President of the United States to have a beer with you, and never forget to “grease your bobcat.”
I’m proud to see the Corps represented by Ambassador Meyer.
Vietnam Firm Pays ‘Millions’ to Free Pirated Ship
Agence France-Presse (09/26/11)
The Vietnamese shipping firm Hoang Son Ltd. has paid a $2.6 million ransom to free its hijacked carrier and the ship’s crew. The vessel, known as the Hoang Son Sun, was captured by Somali pirates about 520 nautical miles southeast of Muscat, Oman, on Jan. 20, along with its crew of 24. Somali pirates still hold at least 49 vessels and more than 500 crewmembers hostage, the monitoring group Ecoterra says. Meanwhile, the Denmark-based firm Risk Intelligence is reporting that the ransom for an average-sized merchant vessel captured by pirates has risen to roughly $5 million.
On 13 September 2011 a GreySide Group press release reported that Michael Ferguson was brought on as the Vice President of Global Operations. Just days later he and his team of three Americans and a Brit were arrested on illegal weapons charges in the Nampula Airport.
Ferguson spent 21 years with the SEALs to include deployments with SEAL TEAM 1 and SEAL TEAM 8, before becoming a weapons and tactics instructor for the Coast Guard, and, just this month, an executive for the GreySide Group – a Herdon, Virginia based international risk management firm.
According to a BBC report, Ferguson commented he and the others were on a mission to free a vessel held by pirates in Pimba.
Inacio Dina, Nampula’s provincial police spokesperson, told the BBC that the weapons include a FN 5.5mm rifle, ammunition, and communications gear.
Greyside has not yet commented. The US Embassy has said they had no connection to the group.
Other details of this story are unknown at this time.
Just one week after the killing of our most sought after enemy by our country’s premiere assaultmen the headlines have turned predictably back to what (sadly) matters most to far too many Americans…back to National Football League infighting, and reality television, and 5 dollar gas and Lindsay Lohan, and on and on and on.
Just one week after history has altered course into an irreconcilable unknown with our most lethal enemy since World War II – the Islamist – more attention is spent in the collective daily consciousness on meaningless self-indulgence than on asking the question our grandparents so circumspectly posed after Hitler fell and Hirohito’s Japan remained: What now?
The times are indeed grim when our violent land wars are fought by less than 1% of a population that cannot even identify where their fellow countrymen are doing the fighting and killing and bleeding and winning on their behalf. This sort of thing makes me sad.
And then I think of Brian Blonder.
On the tenth of this May there was no more magnificent stage in all the world than the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Though this sacred place holds only nominal natural elevation, it seems high enough, I think, to peer into our national soul. And so when a man goes there, his heart races. And his breath shortens. And his muscles tighten. And his eyes water because this is our American Everest.
It was on this stage – at the foot of our nation’s highest moral terrain – that Brian Blonder received the second highest award given for valor in the face of danger for his actions during an all-day firefight against Taliban insurgents Aug. 8, 2008, during the battle of Shewan, Afghanistan in which he led Marines and Sailors and innovated and persevered and dealt death to more than 50 Taliban fighters and drove the rest from that terrible village in the southern Farah province.
It was aside our American Everest that those attending were reminded, if only for the duration of the ceremony itself, why this nation will endure after all – not because of Yankee versus Red Sox baseball, or free speech, or an independent judiciary (though all of that is quite important, indeed) – but because of the United States Marine Corps, and the weight carried by a few words displayed on a large sign in the foreground of the ceremony concerning the title, Marine…
Earned. Never Given.
The victory in Shewan that day by an out-gunned Marine platoon had everything to do with ‘earning it’ and this incredible defeat of a fierce enemy was not only a function of the tremendous leadership of Captain Byron Owen and Gunnery Sergeant Brian Blonder but also of their men’s unbridled courage and lethality. It was a day that required extraordinary Marines perform extraordinarily. And so they did. And so they won.
Brian Blonder will tell you he just did his job. But that he could have done better here. Here. And here. And he’ll tell you his Marines just did their job as well. Then he’d just assume have a sip of black coffee and a pinch of Copenhagen…and set out on a long run with a heavy ruck into the mountains. Alone.
That sort of quiet-professionalism might just be expected from one of Tennessee’s native sons. Tennessee, a state which produced more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state, and more soldiers for the Union Army than any other Southern state, has a reputation for producing hard men built for war…but more than this, Gunny Blonder, who would no doubt rather be training in sweaty utilities than standing at attention in sweaty dress blues, understands that the 10th of May wasn’t about him at all. The 10th of May was about what he represented so well in battle: The United States Marine Corps.
And so these days when the thought of how few Americans have ever heard of Farah Province, Afghanistan or seen Arlington for themselves makes me sad…
I think of Brian Blonder.
CITATION
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving as Platoon Sergeant, Force Reconnaissance Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Marine Corps Forces Central Command (Forward) on 8 August 2008 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder was leading a dismounted patrol through the city of Shewan when his platoon came under intense rocket propelled grenade, mortar and machinegun fire that destroyed a vehicle and trapped several Marines in the kill zone 150 meters away from the enemy. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder exposed himself time and again to heavy fire as he coordinated the suppression of the enemy so that the Marines could be recovered. Later in the battle, Gunnery Sergeant Blonder personally led a flanking attack on the enemy trench system through countless volleys of machinegun and rocket propelled grenade fire. He continued to press the attack as the platoon penetrated further into the trenches in order to defeat the enemy. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder’s tactical ability, superior marksmanship and aggressive fighting spirit inspired the platoon to continually advance on the enemy despite being highly outnumbered. He was a driving force during the eight hour battle and pushed the platoon to gain and maintain the momentum against the enemy until they were destroyed. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder’s valorous actions helped reduce a major enemy stronghold as his platoon killed over fifty enemy fighters, destroying several Taliban cells and opening the highway in Shewan to coalition convoys. By his bold leadership, wise judgment, and complete dedication to duty, Gunnery Sergeant Blonder reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus presents the Navy Cross to Gunnery Sgt. Brian M. Blonder during a ceremony at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., May 10, 2011.
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