from the U.S. Air Force Academy

They'll be deployed to the box soon enough. Enjoy!



Hat tip to JoeMyGod.

Marine Deployment Video from Iraq

Here's another deployment video from Iraq, this is how we win wars:



Here's the official music video, Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch:

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden: What his Deployment Means for America

Serving in a war zone teaches anyone many things, including intolerance for nonsense, a nicer term for bullshit. Delaware Attorney General Joseph R. "Beau" Biden, III [D] has told those who served in Iraq at the same time,

I've said many times that serving with people like you was the greatest honor of my life. The sacrifice from you and your families is remarkable, and in my estimation, too few in our nation understand the depth of it.

And here's what it means for America: Attorney General Biden, along with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman [D], has taken the lead in insisting on the integrity of our legal system, that "robosigner" fraud on our judicial system be punished, and that those responsible, including at the corporate managerial level [the military equivalent of which is command responsibility] be held to account.

“This action concerns far more than the financial interests of a few sophisticated investors,” [Manhattan Federal] judge [William Pauley] wrote. “And the intervention of the state AGs in this action will protect the interests of absent investors.”

OYE Comment: We believe that serving in a war zone has ensured that Delaware Attorney General Biden will always find the time and energy to do the right thing for his state and, indeed, for America.

And if more of our civilian political leadership, at all levels, had shared such experiences, our country would be a better place.

Hat tip to AmericaBlog.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden: Pics from his Deployment to Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq

Celebrities at Marine Corps Balls

We salute Sgt Scott Moore, USMC, for starting a trend: YouTube invitations to celebrities, in his case actress Mila Kunis, to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. November 10 was the 236th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps; celebrations take place all month.

"It's a huge honor just to be invited, it is. [ . . . ] Talking to people and hearing their stories, being a part of something that truly I know nothing about but I'm incredibly eager to learn."

OYE Comment

We've always said, if more prominent Americans personally knew some of our enlisted servicemembers or junior officers - those most at risk in combat - our country would be a better place.

And now Mila Kunis is one of them. What a great lady!

We also take note of another celebrity, "Dancing with the Stars" alum Kristin Cavallari, who attended a Marine Ball in California with Lance Cpl. Jonathan Burkett. Hat tip to Huffington Post.

Columbia University Actively Recruits Veterans

The New York Times reports that Columbia University is actively recruiting veterans for its School of General Studies, an undergraduate unit specially created for adult students including veterans, which is separate from Columbia College, its traditional undergraduate school.

Even Doonesbury has taken note of the need for good colleges and universities to recruit our 21st Century veterans.

As we have said before, if more Americans personally knew enlisted servicemembers or junior officers - those most at risk in combat - or recent veterans, America would be a better place.

Props to Columbia University for supporting this effort.

Props to California's LA/Valley Pride: Welcome, Marines!

Operation Yellow Elephant salutes LA/Valley Pride in California.

Now that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is history, organizers invited all military branches to recruit at San Gabriel Valley Pride in Pasadena. Unfortunately, while the Marines were interested, they had no money. From the LA Times:

Marine recruiters reach out at gay pride event in Pasadena

[ . . . ]

Alan Chan, San Gabriel Valley Pride's secretary, invited military personnel in the Pasadena recruitment office across from the college to set up booths at the event. The Navy, he said, did not have adequate staffing. The Army had previously committed to another event. The Air Force did not respond. And the Marines, who alone expressed interest, nearly had to plead poverty because the branch had exhausted its funds for the fiscal year and did not have $150 for the exhibitor fee. LA/Valley Pride covered the fee, said Executive Director Paul Waters. [ . . . ]

OYE Comment:

If the Marines' participation at this event results in the eventual enlistment of one qualified recruit, we'll consider it a success.

We salute not only the Marine Corps Pasadena recruiting office but also the GLBTQ community in the area, who realize that, if more Americans personally knew someone wearing the uniform, especially enlisted servicemembers and junior officers - those most at risk in combat, our country would be a better place.

How about you, Ben Quayle? Would you encourage the GLBTQ community in your district to invite military recruiters to their event?

Hat tip to AmericaBlog Gay.

Gay Soldier Booed: Any Comment, Oliver North?

On September 9, Oliver North [LtCol USMC (ret.)], Founder & Honorary Chairman of Freedom Alliance, praised post-9/11/2001 American servicemembers. We're posting it in its entirety:

A Decade of War

[September 9, 2011]

The Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet required 58 warships, 350 aircraft and more than 10,000 sailors to carry out. Though the raiders killed 2,403 Americans, only five U.S. Navy vessels were damaged beyond repair. In Washington, Congress immediately responded with a nearly unanimous declaration of war; only one member voted no. The American people answered the call to duty, and 16.5 million young men and women were soon in uniform. The U.S. became the leader of a grand alliance supported by both political parties. Everyone knew right from the start who our enemies were and that the war would end only when those enemies surrendered - unconditionally.

That’s hardly the case with what happened on and after 9-11-01. Until that terrible morning, most Americans never had heard of Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. The attack bin Laden carried out with just 19 radical Islamists aboard four commercial airliners killed 2,973 Americans – more than the Japanese had at Pearl Harbor. In strategic terms, the 9-11-01 attack was a near-perfect “economy of force” operation.

Though there was no declaration of war, hundreds of thousands of young Americans volunteered to take up arms against an enemy they understood but Washington has steadfastly refused to name. Every one of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardsmen and Marines on duty today either “joined up” or “stayed in” because of what took place on 9-11-01. In the decade since, more than 2 million of them – the brightest and bravest of their generation – have served in the extremely difficult and dangerous places where this long war is being fought. And they continue to do so, despite Washington’s inability to define victory and despite the growing antipathy of our mainstream media.

The nation that once honored its war heroes with parades and celebrations now all but ignores the extraordinary sacrifices being made on our behalf. Instead, politicians, pundits and the potentates of the press constantly seek ways to denigrate those who serve in our nation’s uniform.

Those who define what is “news” for the rest of us have beaten Abu Ghraib like a rented mule for more than a half-dozen years. Newsweek magazine created a totally fictional story about a Koran being flushed down a toilet at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, generating scores of attacks in Muslim-majority countries. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin likened our troops to those who served Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and the Cambodian despot Pol Pot. And a reporter for The New York Times claimed that most of those serving in harm’s way are just “poor kids from Mississippi or Alabama or Texas who could not get a decent job or health insurance.” Those who believe this drivel don’t know the warriors of 9-11.

This week’s memorial services on the 10th anniversary of that devastating attack on our soil will justly focus on the first responders. The firemen, police officers, EMTs and everyday citizens who risked - and sometimes lost - their lives that day are heroes and deserve to be recognized as such. So are those who watched the events that day and decided to don a uniform and fight back at those who wrought such death and destruction on our shores.

Thanks to young Americans wearing helmets, flak jackets, flight suits and combat boots, Saddam Hussein – the Butcher of Baghdad – is no more and Osama bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda, the vicious radical Islamist movement bin Laden spawned, is fractured and badly damaged but still alive in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Chechnya and seeks to take advantage of uncertainty in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The Ayatollahs in Iran are guiding violence in Syria and threatening stability in Iraq.

While we recall those who were lost on 9-11-01, we would do well to also remember those who serve in our armed forces because of what happened that day. They forfeited the comforts of home, absented themselves from the affection of loved ones and went into harm’s way to protect us from those who would once again visit unspeakable terror on our homeland. They, too, deserve our thanks and prayers in this decade of war, because it isn’t over yet.

OYE Comment:

We agree. For Oliver North:

As you know, pursuant to a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, according to our Constitution, and implemented according to its terms by the President, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a non-heterosexual Soldier currently serving "in harm's way" in Iraq asked a question of the Republican Presidential candidates in the September 22 debate in Orlando FL. The audience booed the questioner, and none of the candidates called them on it. Immediately after the debate, only Jon Huntsman and Gary Johnson disagreed, calling it "unfortunate." Rick Santorum later concurred with them, but Santorum later retracted his condemnation.

So here's our question for Oliver North:

Do you agree that non-heterosexual Servicemembers deserve the same respect from the American people that you rightly support?

If so, have you said so publicly [link, please]?

If not, why not?