Bear on a sledge!

I don't know who wrote this and it's not 100% correct but it's close... and it is Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays or anything else.

Merry Christmas! !

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying nor taking a stand.
Why the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say.
December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.


Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Shoving and pushing folks around just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down,
At Lowe's the word 'Christmas' was nowhere to be found.
At K-Mart and Wal-Mart and Penney's and Sears
You won't hear the word 'Christmas'; it won't touch your ears.


'Inclusive,' 'sensitive,' 'Di-ver-si-ty'
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The Reason for the Season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say:
Shout "MERRY CHRISTMAS"  not "Happy Holiday!"

Marine Corps Reserves... Toys for Tots...

A great start for Toys for Tot's... way to go Dunkin Donuts! !

Dunkin Donuts gives 30,000. click to read more.

DVIDS - News - 3rd LAAD transfers authority to 3/25

This is my son's unit... 3/25. Be safe and hurry home.

DVIDS - News - 3rd LAAD transfers authority to 3/25

The maiden voyage of the world's only glass-bottomed hot air balloon

Petraeus reloads rules of engagement

Petraeus reloads rules of engagement: "The top commander in Afghanistan on Wednesday issued updated rules that limit the use of artillery and airstrikes but recognize the right to use firepower in self-defense."
Click here to read more...

Navy invention gives Marines secure data connection in field

Afghan theater gets 'Wi-fi on the run'


By Jeanette Steele, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 10:31 p.m.

/ SPAWAR photo
A vehicle carrying a SPAWAR invention that is providing troops in Afghanistan secure data networks in the field is tested at Camp Pendleton in September.

A vehicle carrying a SPAWAR invention that is providing troops in Afghanistan secure data networks in the field is tested at Camp Pendleton in September.

Imagine trying to do business on the go without your BlackBerry or laptop. No information, no good.

Now imagine trying to direct a battle without that kind of information, with lives on the line.

As recently as last fall, Marine commanders in Afghanistan were venturing into a virtual data blackout when they went into the field.

They had telephone capability and rudimentary “force trackers” that showed Marines as dots on a screen. But in a vast country that lacks many modern roads — not to mention cellular antennas on every street corner — the troops had no way to send or receive data via classified or secret Internet networks on the run.



Enter a contraption rigged up by San Diego scientists at the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command research labs.



It provides a kind of “Wi-Fi on the run” for Marine commanders. They can roll out to the battlefield and keep in communication with all the networks they had back at the command post.

“It’s a game changer for us,” said Thomas Staley, 48, who recently won one of the Navy’s awards for top scientist of the year for leading the design team.

He jokingly calls it “Starbucks on the move,” referring to the free Internet access that the coffee chain provides for laptop-carrying customers who use the shops as an office-away-from-the-office.

Defense analysts said SPAWAR’s invention solves a major problem for Marine commanders in the field, providing the communications that troops complained were missing in Iraq.

“On the road to Baghdad in 2003, U.S. forces found that they were usually out of touch with higher command authority unless they stopped and set up fixed towers and dishes for communication,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

“It’s hard to believe, but it is a fact that much of the time in places like Iraq and Afghanistan our warfighters can’t get the kind of links that everybody expects in their car in the United States.”

Staley’s modular device rides around in an armored truck driven by two lance corporals. It gives the Marine regimental commander instant Internet access over hill and dale. And at 60 mph.

Before this, command post technology was designed to be stationary. To set it up in a new location took somewhere between six hours and two days.

The first field version arrived in Afghanistan in November. Two more will be tested at Camp Pendleton this month, then shipped out to the battleground.

Here’s how they might help in Afghanistan:

The United States uses unmanned planes to track the movement of trucks driven by Taliban leaders. A bunch of sport-utility vehicles parked in front of a house indicates a bad-guy summit is probably under way.

Information from drones is typically relayed on classified networks, said John Pike, founder of GlobalSecurity.org.

“Letting the commander know that it looks like there’s a big meeting going on at the other end of the valley because there are a dozen SUVs parked out front — that’s the sort of thing you’d like to get in real time,” Pike said.

“It makes it more difficult for the enemy to meet and scoot faster than we can catch up with him.”

The Army is developing a similar technology, which it calls Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, or WIN-T.

The Marines trying out Staley’s invention — called Mobile Modular Command and Control, or M2C2 — are still on the battlefield. With them is Staley, the officer with a quick eye who helped goose the Navy along to get the rig into the field.

A former naval officer who lives in Tierrasanta, he led a team of up to two dozen scientists in San Diego and Charleston, S.C., who worked on the concept for five years.

They presented a prototype during a 2008 war game exercise in Hawaii.

The Marines landed on the beach, encountered the prototype for the first time and realized what it meant for them.

The eyes of the Marine operations officer lit up, said Staley, who was present at the exercise.

“It clicked. He was generating ideas faster than we could get things to work,” he said.

The Marines issued a statement of urgent need soon after, in late 2008. SPAWAR worked at unheard-of speed to turn the prototype into a battle-ready device in less than the usual three years.

But it’s not just for wartime. The Navy sees this technology as a humanitarian tool.

When U.S. ships arrived off Haiti after the massive January earthquake, sailors realized all of the island’s networks were shot. That feedback made it to Staley’s lab at SPAWAR.

“Even a day delay in setting up communications has a huge impact in finding places to land, getting information back so they can get stuff there that needs to be there,” Staley said. “They desire this right away.”

The system in use in Afghanistan cost $4 million, but that includes all of the related equipment, the armored truck and the staffing to make it work. Later devices will only add $600,000 to the price of the truck used to carry them.

But Wi-Fi isn’t everything. Given the complexities of the Afghanistan war, information alone isn’t going to turn the tide, analysts said.

The Taliban has some of its own communication ability, including satellite phones and Internet access from fixed locations. It is much more rudimentary than the Marines’ new equipment.

However, some of the major hurdles in the Afghanistan war aren’t about information availability. There’s the corruption in the local government and the poppy-based opium drug trade financing the terrorists.

“When you’ve got problems on that scale, the question of what does your battalion commander’s connectivity look like is just not going to register,” Pike of GlobalSecurity.org said.

“What are they going to do? They are just going to drive around and say, ‘Sure are a lot of poppies out here.’ ”

Jeanette Steele: (619) 293-1030; jen.steele@uniontrib.com. Follow on Twitter @jensteeley

The Warrior Song - Hard Corps

Back to Cali :(

Well... my son has come and gone from his pre-deployment leave. It was great to have him here. We had some good times. Took some nice pictures. It's still really hard to believe he is going to "The Big Ugly Place"  I wish I knew what it was going to be like there... how communication is going to be, how long it will take for care packages to get to him. The waiting for the first word from him that he's there is going to be hard. I want to know what the winter there is going to be like... I have questions but I'm sure all MoM's do.. in time I may [or may not] get answers.

I miss him... lots

My son is in Cali. Being a Marine mom is not easy. Being part of the Marine family is a whole different story though. I have met some of the nicest most supportive people in the world... Other Marine Parents. These are the only people that know how I feel... you can not imagine what it is like to have your son deploy to a war zone. It truely is amazing these people know exactly though... the fear, the pride, the missing, the pride, the crying, the pride, the worry, the pride.

Cutest Marine Dress Blues

This is by far one of the cutest Marines dress blues jackets I have seen. My son saw it while shopping in the Camp Lejeune area... it is a good size for my Marine bear but it cost as much as a full sized one....

Marjah battle continues, 12 civilians killed

Click here to read the story

Troops sweep into Taliban stronghold

Read all about it

Today...

“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Friday is over...

Now that the day is well over I suppose I can say it was somewhat productive. Taxes are all completed, house was inspected for some renovations, I have started this blog not sure how that's going to work out tho, drank to much coffee and then had espresso while out, Picked up birthday cake at the DQ before Starr and I went shopping @ Target... snapped a couple of silly mobile pics while there to forward to T... hopefully it's something that will make a grunt whose been out in the field smile. OORAH! !

Smores Goldfish :) they should put these in MRE's

Leprechaun Hat w/ beard - silly Starr

In Marjah, ‘the operation has begun’

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12 things Marines can expect in 2010

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