Hooah

Found this Hooah site:

FM 7-21.13 – The Soldier’s Guide, dated 15 OCT 2003

Paragraph 4-27, Traditions, states:

“Hooah!” This informal but always understood sound is less a word than an audible affirmation of the warrior ethos. The soldier that utters that sound understands his task and will not quit until it is completed. That sound means soldiers are ready and willing to accomplish the mission at hand.

Your Family Might Be too HOOAH If…

• All your possessions are military issue.
• Your kids recite their ABC’s phonetically.
• Your kids call their sandbox “NTC”.
• You have pull-up bars outside the kitchen door.
• Your daughter’s first haircut was a flattop.
• Your kids pull fireguard.
• Your newborn’s first words were “all OK Jumpmaster”.
• You always back into parking spaces.
• You have to look up your parents phone number, but can dial the CQ, SDNCO, company, battalion, and brigade with no problem at all.
• Each page of your vacation atlas has two routes marked.
• Your kids call the tooth fairy “Slicky Boy”.
• Your son fails the third grade, but tells everyone he was a “phase three recycle”.
• Your favorite author is Mike Malone or Tom Clancy.
• When your kids are too noisy, you yell “at ease!”
• You don’t own any blue ink pens.
• Your leave always occurs during the last week of September.
• Your wife’s “high-n-tight” is more squared away than your Commander’s.
• You keep a box of MREs at home and in the trunk of your car in case of emergencies.
• When talking to relatives by phone, you end the conversation with “out here.”
• You & your kids refer to your spouse as “Household 6″ or “CINC House.”
• You’ve seen Patton enough times to memorize his speech.
• You call the Post Locator instead of Information to find your friends.
• You take the family camping with no tent or sleeping bags.
• The only time you and the spouse eat without the kids is at the unit “dining out.”
• Your kids can speak three languages by age eight.
• The only suit you own is your Class A uniform.
• You carry your cell phone to the shower.
• Your vehicle is registered on post and in two different states.
• You convince your spouse that all ten of your guns are necessary for home protection.
• You have more money invested in TA-50 than in your car.
• You tell your kids to go to bed at 2100 and they try to explain that it’s only nine o’clock .
• No one understands the stories you tell because of all the acronyms.
• You can explain the Gettysburg battlefield better than directions to your house.
• Your kids know the words to “she wore a yellow ribbon.”
• Your two-year old calls everyone in BDUs “daddy”.
• The phone book lists your rank instead of Mr.
• Your spouse hasn’t unpacked the good china for twenty years.
• You ruin the movie for everyone around you by pointing out the unrealistic military scenes.
• You live on post so you can hear reveille every morning.
• Your family calls you “Sir.”
• All your jokes begin with “there was this soldier, a marine and an airman…”
• You feel compelled to get a haircut every three days.
• All of your shoes are military style, except for one pair and that pair is your running shoes.
• You are convinced that coffee is a nutrient.
• Your home town is convinced that you are a foreigner.
• Your first impressions of civilians are that they all need haircuts.
• All of your underwear is colored OD Green, Brown, or White.
• Civilians exercise and you conduct PT.
• You only wear those dorky military glasses or the geeky aviation glasses.
• Your kids categorize other kids as either military brats or civilian slugs.
• You answer your phone at home by explaining that the line is unsecure.
• Your spouse owns several military cookbooks published by family support groups.
• Half of the mementos in your house are from Korea or Germany .
• Your newborn must attend the newcomers’ orientation briefing within the first 30 days of life.
• Your wife’s two favorite shades of lipstick are light green and loam.
• You go to a barbecue and insist that your family feed tactically.
• You make your children clear housing before they go off to college.
• You require your mechanic to replace the sandbags on your floorboards as part of a tune-up.
• Your POV is equipped with blackout lights.
• Your kids volunteer to pull air guard on the school bus.
• Your doorbell sounds off with the current challenge and password.
• You have sector sketches and range cards posted by every window in your house.
• You give the command “Fix Bayonets” at Thanksgiving Dinner.
• Your kids show their meal cards at the kitchen door, except the oldest, who is on separate rations, and must pay for the meal.
• You make your daughter sign out on pass on Prom Night.
• Your kindergartner calls recess a “smoke break.”
• Your wife takes a “knee” in the checkout line at the supermarket.
• You do your “back to school” shopping at the U.S. Cavalry Store.
• Your kids salute their grandparents.
• Your kids get an LES with their allowance.
• Your grandmother won “All American Week” and “Best Ranger”.
• Your kids initials are AR, FM, TM, or DA.
• Your POV has your name stenciled on the windshield.
• Your kids are hand-receipt holders.
• Your older kids call the youngest one “Cherry.”
• Your wife keeps Mermites in the china cabinet.
• Your wife left you and you held a “Change of Command” ceremony.
• You call your in-laws the “Slice Elements.”
• Your dog’s name is “Scout” or “Ranger.”
• You decorate your Christmas Tree with Stetsons, sabers, and spurs.
• You’ve given your children monthly counselings or an Article 15.
• You cut your own high and tight.
• Refer to every question with “let me check the reg.”
• If you always reply back with “Roger.”
• If your home library consists of FM’s and AR’s.
• YOU CANT SAY MORE THAN 5-7 WORDS ON THE PHONE WITHOUT SAYING “BREAK”

 

sign me up….

Coffee City Texas.

 

for those who haven’t met him already let me introduce Mr. Murphy

Image via Wikipedia

MURPHY’S LAWS OF COMBAT OPERATIONS
1. Friendly fire – isn’t.
2. Recoilless rifles – aren’t.
3. Suppressive fires – won’t.
4. You are not Superman; Marines and fighter pilots take note.
5. A sucking chest wound is Nature’s way of telling you to slow down.
6. If it’s stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid.
7. Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo and not want to waste a bullet on you.
8. If at first you don’t succeed, call in an airstrike.
9. If you are forward of your position, your artillery will fall short.
10. Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself.
11. Never go to bed with anyone crazier than yourself.
12. Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
13. If your attack is going really well, it’s an ambush.
14. The enemy diversion you’re ignoring is their main attack.
15. The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions:
– when they’re ready.
– when you’re not.
16. No OPLAN ever survives initial contact.
17. There is no such thing as a perfect plan.
18. Five second fuzes always burn three seconds.
19. There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.
20. A retreating enemy is probably just falling back and regrouping.
21. The important things are always simple; the simple are always hard.
22. The easy way is always mined.
23. Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at.
24. Don’t look conspicuous; it draws fire. (For this reason, it is not at all uncommon for aircraft carriers to be known as bomb magnets.)
25. Never draw fire; it irritates everyone around you.
26. If you are short of everything but the enemy, you are in the combat zone.
27. When you have secured the area, make sure the enemy knows it too.
28. Incoming fire has the right of way.
29. No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.
30. No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat.
31. If the enemy is within range, so are you.
32. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
33. Things which must be shipped together as a set, aren’t.
34. Things that must work together, can’t be carried to the field that way.
35. Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support. Corollary: Radar tends to fail at night and in bad weather, and especially during both.
36. Anything you do can get you killed, including nothing.
37. Make it too tough for the enemy to get in, and you won’t be able to get out.
38. Tracers work both ways.
39. If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will get more than your fair share of objectives to take.
40. When both sides are convinced they’re about to lose, they’re both right.
41. Professional soldiers are predictable; the world is full of dangerous amateurs.
43. Military Intelligence is a contradiction.
44. Fortify your front; you’ll get your rear shot up.
46. Weather ain’t neutral.
47. If you can’t remember, the Claymore is pointed towards you.
48. Air defense motto: shoot ‘em down; sort ‘em out on the ground.
49. ‘Flies high, it dies; low and slow, it’ll go.
50. The Cavalry doesn’t always come to the rescue.

 

yeah Im a Tolkien nerd….

Hello. My names Tom and Im a Tolkien geek.

I have been a fan of Tolkien since I picked up a copy of the Hobbit at the local library when I was a grade schooler and have read the Trilogy every few years ever since. I even packed a copy to take with me on deployment. The scene above is one of my favorite parts. Theoden, an aging king is answering a call for aid from an ancestral ally. It is a battle he knows is hopeless. Drastically outnumbered, he goes anyway. This passage in the book has always spoken to me. It speaks of duty, honor, courage,  good vs evil and standing up for what is right against all odds.

The film of course took liberties with the original text and it wasn’t quite portrayed “the way I saw it in my imagination”, but I still get that hair prickling on the back of my neck feeling when I watch it.

Then suddenly Merry felt it at last, beyond doubt: a change. Wind was in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far away, in the South the clouds could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: morning lay beyond them.

But at that same moment there was a flash, as if lightning had sprung from the earth beneath the City. For a searing second it stood dazzling far off in black and white, its topmost tower like a glittering needle; and then as the darkness closed again there came rolling over the fields a great boom.

At that sound the bent shape of the king sprang suddenly erect. Tall and proud he seemed again; and rising in his his stirrups he cried in a loud voice, more clear than any there had ever heard a mortal man achieve before:

Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

With that he seized a great horn from Guthláf his banner-bearer, and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder. And straightaway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.

Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in this speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the host of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.

 

weapons for reporters…get it right for once

AKA: “OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!”

I cannot stand it when the news reports: “drug dealers home raided…machine gun found” and they show a table of dope w/an AK47.

Or when hunting rifles are called “Assault Weapons“….a .45 cal 1911 called a “revolver”..and on, and on.

So I am going to keep this simple:

These are handguns. They are small so they can fit in your hand.

These are the common “hunting guns”..they are the ones that are “OK”. Even Bill Clinton said so. The Shotgun has a big fat barrel that can shoot out a bunch of small BB’s to shoot down clay targets, ducks or Dick Cheney’s friends. The Rifle has a small opening in the barrel and can hit things far away. Deer, targets, road signs..all that “nice” stuff.

Ooooo! Look out! These are those evil, nasty “Assault Weapons”. Never mind that they fire the same kind of Ammo as the “rifle” above. These badboys have “magazines”…”flash hiders”… “bayonet lugs”…and HORRORS “Pistol Grips”! I’m probably breaking a law just showing them to you. BUT THEY ARE NOT MACHINE GUNS!

These two can have the words “machine” and “gun” placed next to each other, but as you can see they are very different in appearance. Don’t get all confused on me now, but…the top one fires the same kinds of bullets as the “handgun” (remember? the ones that you can hold in one hand?). The big one fires the same sorts of bullets as the “rifle”. Yes the “nice” hunting rife and the “mean and nasty Assault Weapons”.

OK…so we don’t get brain cramps that will be all for today. Nothing more to see here…move along.

 

what they say…what it means

This is a repost from early 2009 that seems to be getting some traffic recently…go figure.

Due to the popularity of “reality television” shows like Cops, Wildest Police Videos, Stories of the Highway Patrol and the rest, many people are being exposed to the “language of the street”.

In this language there are many phrases and customs that the unitiated may have difficulty understanding. Some viewers may become confused by the actions of officers when the person they are dealing with seems to sound perfectly reasonable.

Therefore, as a public service I am providing this easy to understand guide. With it the viewer can have a better understanding of what exactly the police officer and his “customer” are saying to each other. Be reassured that in most cases each party knows exactly what the other is saying:

When he/she says——–He/she really means:

That’s not mine!——-That’s mine.

I don’t have my ID on me.——- Im going to lie about my identity.

I didn’t do anything!——- I did it.

I swear to God!——-I’m about to lie.

That’s not my purse——- I have drugs in my purse.

I don’t know his name/I know him as…——-I’m about to lie about my friends identity because he probably has a warrant.

I swear on my child’s life!——- I’m about to lie.

I’m just driving around——- I just came from a drug house.

I don’t have my drivers license on me——- My drivers license is suspended or revoked. The judge took my license away from me.

 I’m not going to lie to you officer!——-I’m about to lie.

I did what? What did you say?——- Im trying to think up a lie.

These aren’t my pants!——-That’s my dope in the pocket.

“As far as I know” (usually in response to a question about warrants, licenses, presence of illegal items)——- I don’t know if the warrant was issued yet. I can’t remember when the protective order expires.  I’m unsure if the suspension took effect yet.

I swear on my mothers grave!——-I’m about to lie.

I paid for that!——- I stole that.

I just got paid/ I won it at the casino/I just sold my car.——-That’s my drug sales money.

Why are you hasslin’ me?——- Why do I keep getting caught?

This is bullshit!——- I hate getting caught.

You only stopped me because I’m (insert group here)!——-Yes, I rolled through that stop sign in my tinted up hoop-de with the one headlight out, the door lock punched and a cloud of marijuana smoke emitting from the windows.

I’m just driving around——- I just came from the scene of a crime.

I only had 2 or 3 beers——-I’m drunk.

I was driving to the store when my old lady called and said that her friend needed to be picked up from the bar, but first I had to stop for some gas so I was going to the station over there when I saw my buddy…..——-Im a “verbal diarrhea” liar.

There are people killing each other out there and you guys are arresting me?——- I did it.

This car? This car belongs to my friends girl…I don’t know her name——- This car is a “crack rental”.

I think I’m having a heart attack! (while in a cell)——- I want to spend the night in a hospital bed instead of on a concrete slab with a roll of toilet paper for a pillow.

You didn’t read me my rights!——- I’m clueless about criminal procedure and really think that this means my arrest is invalid and you have to let me go.

 

 

yes..its a joke.

 

WARNING: NOT WORK SAFE.

Aaaaarmy training sir! (the ticker at the bottom is a riot).

 

10 things about the entertainment industry that piss me off

Ask my wife and she will tell you, I can get out of control when I am watching any television show or movie about the military or law enforcement. The constant, recurring mistakes and misinformation that these industries put out just get in my craw and I have to yell “BULLSHIT!!” It makes me wonder, don’t these shows have advisers? If they do, what the hell are they getting paid for? Or is it that the directors think that they have better knowledge on these topics? The following are at the top of my WTF?!?! list:

1. Give me that before you hurt yourself:Cops and soldiers are constantly “racking” their weapons. I mean come on! I carry with a round in the chamber all the time. If I had to constantly rack my weapon every time I drew it there would be brass flying everywhere and my co-workers would think I lost my mind. I know that directors love the “click clack” of weapons being cycled but use your goddamn head! SWAT teams don’t stack up on a door and THEN load their weapons. FBI agents don’t have to charge their pistols after they draw them and they definitely don’t have to do it two more times in the same incident! Racking your shotgun just before you kick down a door is f$#%ing STUPID!! Going into an apartment after a serial killer, knocking on the door, hearing him run out the back and THEN racking your pistol and giving chase…F#$%ING STUPID!!!

2. Oh what the hell why not?:Every Tom, Dick and Harry stacking up with the SWAT team, I think not. If my blood pressure went up one mmHg every time I saw some “CSI”, “FBI Investigator” or “Detective” stacking up with the tactical team to go in and get the bad guy my head would F’n explode!

News Flash. If I saw some “CSI” getting in my stack on a high risk entry he would get a boot up his ass. No SWAT team leader worth is salt is going say…”OK you FBI Profiler with no tactical training I am aware of, or experience with MY team, go right ahead and get in the stack.”

The only thing that gets me more pissed off is when the SWAT team rams the door and Horatio Crane in his shades is the first guy through the door! Hello numbnuts director, the way it works is the SWAT team goes in ALONE!! and when its secure they call the eggheads and Detectives in.

3. Uniformed Cops as props:Every Detective/Profiler/CSI show or movie out there has uniformed cops as “background”. They walk aimlessly here there and everywhere with clipboards or magically appear to conveniently slap the cuffs on the bad guy that the dweeb from the “crime lab” ran down in a raging gunfight…please.

Or its the “dumbass uniform” who screws up the investigation that the star detective has to deal with.

Then…like in #2, when some “hot call” goes out I don’t know why TV cops bother to even show up. You know its the hot detective from the crime lab that is going to go in first and fight mano y mano with the serial killer. Where the hell the uniform cops went nobody knows, they just show up to haul off the bad guy to the station. They must have stopped in the kitchen for some coffee while the hero did all the work.

4. Hello I’m with the Gvt and I’m here to help:CSI and Criminal Minds…you always hear “were just here to help with your investigation, not take it over…” yet somehow its always some profiler that takes over the investigation and gets involved in the shooting or the apprehension. I know it wouldn’t be exciting if the agents sat in the office all day and the local cops were the ones making the arrests, but that’s how it is. By and large FBI agents are investigators, accountants, lawyers and lab techs.

And these CSI teams..it always impresses me how CSI works local, county, state, federal and hell even international cases. Who the hell do these guys work for anyways?

5. Kill em and Leave em:The “profilers” arrive like the cavalry…light up some scumbag and then hop back on their jet and fly off into the sunset. Yeah when an on-duty shooting happens that’s pretty much how it goes..no investigations, lawsuits or court appearances necessary. If you are “with the crime lab” or a “profiler” you can just holster up and walk away.

6. Nuclear Grenades: Some Delta Operator tosses a fragmentation grenade into a window and the whole floor erupts into a raging inferno of a fireball like a suitcase nuke just went off….uhhhhh…no. A loud BOOM! a puff of smoke and a lot of little bits of metal flying about is about it.

7. Crappy Salutes: Need I elaborate? Some of these actors salutes would make a Drill Sergeant break out in hives.

8. Weird Science:No we don’t have computer databases of every matchbook from every club in the tri-state area. No we cant piece a broken bottle together and get a fingerprint that comes back instantly to a known felon (that gets picked up in 20 seconds). NO DNA TESTING IS NOT A “WHILE YOU WAIT” PROCESS!

These shows have gotten so out of hand with their “stretching” of real forensic science that juries have been clearing criminals of their charges because the proof wasn’t “as conclusive as they see on CSI”. Prosecutors even have a name for this phenomenon. “The CSI effect”.

9. Tuck that thing in: Military movies where everybody is walking around with their “dog tags” outside their shirts. Or dress uniforms with improper ribbons or improper wear of a uniform. Come on guys there are books on this stuff. Read one! Then there are the hot women detectives in clothes so tight I can count the change in their pockets. Not that there are no attractive women in law enforcement, but if one of my subordinates came in with her cleavage and belly button showing she would be going home for a wardrobe change.

10. Cover me I’m going in:Nobody ever waits for back-up, sets up a perimeter or gets on the radio. It sucks to share the glory with some dumbass “uniform”. I’ll just go down into that basement with the serial killer in the “woman suit”, only pussy’s would back out and call for back-up.

I know, I know, its just entertainment, but it pisses me off… deal with it! Keep reading for my next installment. This is just me warming up.

 

darth vader vs. the cops

 

I dont care who you are. When you have to get arrested, you get arrested.

 

vacation

 

Going with the family to Deep Creek Maryland for a bit.