Best-selling author Sebastian Junger’s newest book ‘Tribe; On Homecoming and Belonging,’ has been published at a most appropriate time. 

Where do people belong these days? Where do you go when times are tough? The answers used to be easy; during the Depression, churches and extended family helped those in need.WW2 gave us the brotherhoods of Leathernecks, Swabbies, GI’s, and Flyboys, who morphed postwar into either the white collar Corporation Man or the blue collar Steelworker, Autoworker, Craftsman. But the unifying factor was that everyone belonged somewhere; everyone counted to someone, everyone was a member of some sort of tribe.

However it’s different today, Junger says. Western society is changing, and not for the better. There is an upheaval today as technology, capital, and communications have converged to break down traditional society in ways that affect people’s sense of self-worth. Post-WW2 America equates personal success with wealth, so while Trump rants about trade pacts and jobs lost to China, and Hilary promises the biggest jobs program since WW2, no one discusses the more serious problem of how technology and robotics are permanently eliminating entire industries, which marginalizes those left jobless.

‘Tribe’ has a most interesting premise; that the smaller and simpler societies of the Indian tribes of long ago and the combat veterans of today, enjoy a more rewarding life than the ordinary civilian. Both offered something unique: a chance to prove one’s worth to those you deem important; an opportunity to measure yourself against those who came before you. People are accepted as-is, so long as they contribute to the common good.

However today there’s no longer a clear path to acceptance, Junger writes. The fast food and cashier jobs that taught teens a work ethic are disappearing as companies install self-service lanes. Varsity sports are on the decline, the sweat and training needed to set a personal best has been replaced by participation awards and team hugs. Even the coming-of-age first driver license has lost its importance as Millennials would rather text Uber than go through the aggravation of maintaining and driving their own car. The result is a society that makes it difficult to earn job experience and denigrates the value of competition by emphasizing feel-good events where preparation is an option. 

This is a healthy society?

More difficult is finding an opportunity to become a man in a world where courage is considered an anachronism. When challenged on sacrifice by Khizr Khan, father of Army Captain Humayan Khan (KIA-Iraq), GOP presidential candidate Trump proudly replied ‘Oh I sacrificed a lot; I’m a businessman who worked long hours.” Really? Working late is not remotely the shared sacrifice of Iwo Jima, Khe Sanh, Fallujah, or the thousand other battles and firefights where American boys became men.

It’s interesting to note, Junger observes, how people seem to respond more favorably to tragedy than to pleasure; people clearly  remember where they were on 9/11, how they helped friends and strangers during Hurricane Sandy or Oklahoma tornadoes. During the London Blitz, Junger documents, suicide and depression rates dropped precipitously as Londoners fought to maintain normalcy in their lives. Germany’s civilian morale was equally strong; despite the horrific Allied bombing campaigns that targeted civilians, their industrial production increased significantly.

Are we stronger when we all pull together, as the Londoners proved to be? The Marines and Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan would say so; they know where they belong. They know the discomforts and other issues caused by deployment are more than balanced by the comradeship they found, the work ethic they honed, and maturity they earned. Sebastian Junger has raised important questions in his book ‘Tribe’, now how do we use it to start a national debate to find the answer for the rest of us?

 “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging”                                                                                             by Sebastian Junger

Grand Central Publishing, 2016

The US - Iran Nuclear Treaty

It's far more involved than the superficial news bytes we see on the television

1-First, it's not just a US-Iran deal. On the US side was the UK, French, Germans, Russians, Chinese; the treaty has worldwide favor. Equally important is that all these countries have been honoring Obama's embargo, which is what forced the Iranians to sign. Had he held out for the harsher terms the GOP is now demanding, the Iranians would not have signed – and our allies indicated they would not continue the embargo if they felt the US was being unreasonable. A key part of the embargo was China refusing to buy Iran's oil; losing their best customer was what caused their economy to collapse.

2-While most of the Middle East is Sunni, Iran and Iraq are Shia; that puts Iran in conflict against the Sunni's, regardless of security or economic issues. While both are Muslim, there's a huge difference between the two; the Shia believe they need to proselytize, while the Sunni's are not so in-your-face.

2A-It's also a Saudi vs Iran fight for military influence in the Middle East. While the Saudi's have money, they and their OPEC allies lack the will to fight. Yes they buy billions of dollars of our weapons, but they lack cojones to use them. Note how the Iranians have troops in Iraq fighting ISIS (which complicates the Sunni-Shia problem, since we, the Saudis, Jordanians, and UAE are fighting ISIS also) while the Sunni's fight by airstrikes. Also, the Saudi's, etc al remember the Iranians marching thru Iraqi minefields during the Iran-Iraq War...that sort of motivation beats technology every time when the fighting is door-to-door.

3-Israel. Not the Israeli Defense Force of the 1950's-70's. The IDF got their ass handed to them in 2006 by Hezbollah,and last year the vaunted Israeli Intelligence missed 200+ tunnels being dug, so they responded by shelling civilians. On the wrong end of a 20-1 population disparity, Israel needs to realize they need to co-exist by more than sheer firepower.

No one is asking Israel to stand-down, but Iranian PM Rouhani has put his life on the line signing this deal, so maybe Bibi needs to take a step back and see if the Iranians perform. Plus 60% of the Iranian population is under age 25; they have ZERO interest in sanctions, war, etc. They – like the Israeli kids who also don't want to fight (and claim the religious exemption so they don't have to serve), want a normal life. Two issues here: if the Israeli's won't defend their own country, why should we defend it for them, and 2-the Arab armies are not ganging up on Israel any longer; Israel's biggest problem is internal, as they debate if they're a Jewish country or a democratic country.

4-Who's the big dog economically? Back to Saudi vs Iran: The Iranian people are proud of being Iranians, they work hard, and built a successful country centuries prior to oil. It's called the Persian Gulf for a reason. The OPEC countries, who hire foreigners to do their work, don't have this mindset. Basically they've wasted the 37 years since Ayatollah Khomeni sent Iran back to the stone age, and now they're scared of what the Iranians want to accomplish economically after all their years of isolation. And they outnumber the Sunni's by 8-10 to 1.

5- The GOP's concerns are more anti-Obama rhetoric than truth. Sanctions don't come off until the centrifuges are decommissioned, and other nuclear equipment is destroyed or turned over. The Iranians need to do a lot of things first...all which the GOP forgets to mention in their continued anti-Obama frenzy,

5A-If Bibi and the GOP want to tackle a real nuclear threat; let them look to Pakistan. A failed state where Nigerian-levels of corruption fuels Taliban and Islamic extremism and their ISI plots against India, the US, and the civilized world...let's not forget they have 60+ nuclear weapons now, along with missile delivery systems that can reach Saudi Arabia, Israel, and most Indian cities. Iranian weapons in 3-5-10 years? The Paks have nucs now.

6-America's role? I'm not sure. Sending troops is not an option (hear that, GOP?), but maybe we beef up our existing Middle Eastern bases and do more joint training. But I do know if the GOP halts this treaty, the EU and China will abandon the embargo, trade with Iran, and doom us to the role of the odd uncle ranting from the sidelines as the game goes on without him.

Oh, it'll be interesting.

Immigration & America; July 4, 2015

This week's foray by The Donald into the immigration debate made me step back and think "what makes someone an American?" Is it an accident of birth? Having a special skill? Or is it an attitude?

Immigration didn't use to be a political issue; short of leprosy or lunacy, basically everyone was accepted. In the 19^th Century's human waves of immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island were my grandparents, who came to the New World for a chance for a better life.

My maternal grandmother was Mary Inez Ryan, a Roman Catholic from Ireland's County Limerick, and we grew up listening to her stories of leprechauns and banshees. She married Joseph Mendell, whose German-Jewish father changed their name from Mendel upon arrival here. My dad's parents were also immigrants, Louis Ljubon from Budapest married Bavaria's Aloysia Woelfl. Both families settled in northern New Jersey, struggled through the Depression, and like so many others after Pearl Harbor, both my mom and dad enlisted in the Marines. Afterwards they were part of the first G.I. Bill class at Montclair State Teachers College and worked hard to give us kids a better life and more opportunities. That makes me a 3^rd generation American; the proud grandson of immigrants.

With so many decades of immigrants come so many immigration stories... on one of my Afghan embeds I met Maj Tuan Pham, USMC, a Vietnamese refugee whose grandfather and father were killed by the Viet Cong. His mother and sister fled Vietnam as 'boat people,' and eventually got Pham out...he's a hard-charger who understands the values of sacrifice and hard work. While his family story is certainly  more interesting than mine, it's similar in that it started with folks looking for a better life, making their way to America, working hard, giving back, and helping build that which we call "The American Dream".

Since 9/11 there have been some 60,000 immigrants who became Americans through their service in the Armed Forces. The ranks of the Marine Corps, for example, are filled with young men and women with fascinating accents who are "giving back" to their newly adopted country. Some of them "give back" a lot; Trump would be horrified to learn that Mexican-born Marine Sgt Rafael Peralta's last act was to roll onto a grenade in Fallujah, sacrificing himself in order to save the lives of the Marines behind him. Then there's Sgt Michael Strank, one of the five Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. He was born Mychal Strenk, in Jarabenia, Czechoslovakia, and learned English in a tough Pennsylvania steel town.

His fellow flag-raisers included Rene Gagnon, the son of French-Canadians who were working in a New Hampshire textile mill, and Ira Hayes; a Pima Indian born in Arizona. One wonders of Hayes's thoughts on immigration; probably not much; he considered his fellow Marines to be his adopted family.

Strank was killed on Iwo, three days after that famous photograph was taken; Peralta died in Fallujah . Other countries should have immigrants like these two.

They're the strength of this country, this blend of steel workers, farmers, and shopkeepers who arrived here with little more than an ill-fitting suit and a fierce determination to "do better." They helped build America by learning the language, working hard, and in believing America to be a 'melting pot' and not a 'mosaic;' they blended together and gave this country a mind-set that equated hard work with success.

Unlike the faux-patriotism espoused by those who are only seeking publicity; Strenk and Peralta understood that patriotism was something that was to be practiced as opposed to harangued. On the morning after Pearl Harbor, college boys were racing farm boys to enlist, and by 1945 America had 12 million men and women under arms. Everyone volunteered; my ex-wife's father forged his father's name to the paperwork and joined the Army underage -- he grew up quickly as he first fought in Italy and later in the Battle of the Bulge. Young Americans like Peralta did the same, enlisting – like many- after 9/11.

That's real patriotism. Everyone pulled together for the common goal of protecting the American way of life that their parents and grandparents worked to offer them.

That's what makes today's immigration debate so frustrating. Most of the illegals quietly work hard, taking the dirty jobs that most American citizens refuse. Sure many of them arrive not speaking English, but neither did my Grandfather Ljubon or Mychal Strenk. America is still a country of opportunities for those who want to work, and given the opportunity, look at how Sgt's Strenk and Peralta have become a part of American history.

Maybe being an "American" is an attitude rather than an accident of birth. Since people today aren't digging the Erie Canal or building the transcontinental railroad; today's settlers are instead working in an Iowa meat-packing plant or cutting lawns in Bucks County, PA. Hard work never hurt anyone Grandpa Ljubon used to tell me; and as Grandpa's Strenk, Peralta, and Pham surely told their boys; with hard work you can accomplish almost anything.

So raise a glass to our 239th birthday -- with more hard work and immigrants like these, we'll be celebrating 239 more.

Happy Independence Day.

Book Review: "Choosing Courage"

 "Choosing Courage"

by Peter Collier

Artisan Books, 2015

The word 'hero' has been dumbed-down these days. Schoolchildren with perfect attendance are called heroes, as are those popular cartoonish Robert Downey Jr – Transformer movies. Computer-generated fiction? Let's be honest; while going to school regularly is a good thing, real heroes are the Marines fighting their way off the Iwo Jima beaches, or clearing Fallujah house-by-bloody-house.

Peter Collier's fine book “Choosing Courage” helps the reader understand today's hero. Collier takes the stories of Medal of Honor awardees from WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and tries to find a common thread to their stories. At the same time, he intersperses the actions of a few brave civilians and compares them to see if they match those inspiring stories of the combat veterans – and he finds that thread.

While many Medal of Honor recipients are reticent of their fame, and prefer to phrase their actions as 'I was just doing my job,” a few have taken a more articulate view. Col Jack Jacobs, USA (ret) is one. Jacobs, awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in 1968 Vietnam, is a thoughtful man who explains how in the midst of battle, wounded in an ambush that killed many of his troops and with a piece of shrapnel in his eye, remembered the question posed by the Hebrew scholar Hillel of two thousand years ago “If not you, who? If not now, when?” Jacobs knew that if someone didn't take charge, the slaughter would continue, and if he was the only person capable of action, then he needed to get on with it. That's far cry from today, when people's first response to an emergency is to pull out their cellphone and make a video for TMZ or FB.

Eleven months later, Col Wesley Fox, USMC (ret) was leading a rifle company of Marines that was ambushed by a far larger force of North Vietnamese soldiers. Like Jacobs, Fox was wounded, as were all his platoon commanders. But training trumps fear, and as the young Marines stepped up to take charge, Fox had no time for fear as he worked to keep his Marines fighting. When the Marines were finally extricated, they'd suffered 70 Marines killed or wounded, but the NVA lost more than 100 killed.

There are civilian equivalents to combat, Collier writes, and provides two breathtaking examples. Jencie Fagan, a gym teacher, was putting up a volleyball net for her first-period class when she heard gunshots. Running down the hallway to where she thought the noise had come, she encountered students running in terror (and a teacher who locked herself in a classroom), Fagan saw a student with a handgun and slowly approached him. Talking soothingly to him, she stood in front of him so he would have to shoot her in order to shoot any other students. Fagan talked him into dropping the pistol and she then hugged him until the police arrived.

Of the many heroic stories coming from 9/11, “Choosing Courage” picks that of Rick Rescoria, a British native who joined the American Army and fought in 1965 Vietnam., earning a Silver Star at Ia Drang. Becoming an American citizen after the war, in 2001 he was the Director of Security for Morgan Stanley on 9/11. Due to the prior training he'd instituted, almost all of Morgan's 2,700 employees got out of the South Tower, however Rescoria was last seen going back into the building to be sure all of 'his' employees were out. The South Tower collapsed a few minutes later; Rescoria's body was never found.

That's what Peter Collier's “Choosing Courage” illustrates. Courage comes from within the individual, and in response to a crisis situation. No sane person looks for these situations, but as Jacobs says “I didn't want to look back years later and realize I could have done the right thing, but didn't.” It's really a simple question, Fagan realized later; which way will you run??

"Choosing Courage" is Highly Recommended!!

Choosing Courage

by Peter Collier

Artisan Books, 2015

ISBN # 978-1-57965-596-9

"Boston & Beyond"

I wrote this 20 April 2013:

"Dear Martin:

Friday evening they captured the 2nd of the two cowards who killed you last Monday afternoon. The news of his capture can’t give you more than your 8 ½ years, and probably won't make it easier for your family to accept your loss, but your death, and the injuries to your mom and sister, have personalized this tragedy for America more than you’ll ever know.

Seeing your photo and reading about how you were waiting at the finish to cheer your dad hit this grandfather to a 9 ½ year old very hard. Big smiles; big hearts, not a mean bone in your bodies; every time I see your photo I think of my grandson. While at your ages neither of you guys can easily define patriotism, extremism, or other concepts, you both understand good vs. evil and right vs. wrong – and this country saw both on Monday.

As your dad saw, and he and your mom and sister will someday share with you in Heaven, are the stories of the spectators, aid workers, and other runners who ran towards the explosions to help. Your fellow Americans staunched those horrific wounds by hand while others picked up the badly injured and carried them to safety. Your mom and sister survived because of them.

You’d also be proud of the Boston PD and others who worked hard to find the bombers; they worked non-stop until Friday night when the 2nd coward surrendered. But while that’s five days too late to help you, you can be assured that you and your great smile will never be forgotten.”

The only redeeming feature of this past week was watching how Boston reacted to this senseless tragedy. Carlos Arredondo, “the man in the cowboy hat,” vaulted the barriers, picked up a man who had both legs blown off and pushed him to an aid station-while clamping an artery by hand so the young man didn’t bleed out. A torrent of aid workers and others raced to assist and used direct pressure and impromptu tourniquets to keep the injured alive. That’s what makes America and Americans different, it’s those who run to the sound of the guns.

And as the week progressed, they kept running. When the Boston PD and FBI asked for any videos or photos taken of the finish line; they were overwhelmed by the response. When the Boston PD needed to lock-down the city Friday morning after they and the two bombers engaged in that firefight Thursday night, a million Bostonians cooperated by staying indoors. And Friday night-who discovered bomber # 2? A local citizen who immediately called 911 instead of giving in to the base calls for vigilante justice so prevalent on the internet.

Perhaps the week is best described in the words of one of the officials who addressed the city and the nation in the press conference Monday night “Today didn’t show America’s weakness; today showed America’s strength.”

May those who run to the sound of the guns always be with us.

Veterans Day Roll Call

Today we call the roll:


Bunker Hill. The Battle of Bladensburg. San Juan Hill. Chateau Thierry. Monte Cassino. Guadalcanal. Midway. Chosin Reservoir. Khe Sanh. An Nasiriyah. Fallujah. Garmsir. Today is the day to honor those men and women who helped found and protect the United States: the American Veteran.


America has been blessed with a citizenry that has produced some extraordinary Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen through its history. William Travis drawing a line in the sand at the Alamo. Cpl. Alvin York in the Argonne. Sgt. Dan Daly rallying the surviving Marines to charge the German machine guns at Belleau Wood, "Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?" Gen. O.P. Smith from Chosin Reservoir, "We're walking out, and we're bringing our wounded and our dead with us." Sgt. Robert Banfield, Marine Artilleryman at An-Nasiriyah, "Hurry up! We've got Marines dying up there!"


"I enlisted. I was drafted. I served in the Guard." While Americans enlist for a variety of reasons, it's worth remembering that in the depths of the 2005-2006 carnage in the Sunni Triangle, US Marine recruiting offices were jammed with young men and women wanting to do their part for their country.


Many make it a family tradition. Linda Woodland's father, Sgt Hamilton Woodland served in the Army Air Corps in WW2, as did her uncle Ralph Howell 3rd, but their tradition dates back much further; while her great-grandfather John C. Howell enrolled in 1862 as sergeant of Company H, Twenty-seventh New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, and fought at both Fredericksburg and Vicksburg, ancestor John Pellet, Jr. fought in the Revolution.


Sgt Adam Grau is another whose family tradition dates back to the Civil War. Both grandfathers plus a grandmother served; Sgt. Irv Schulwolf, Army, Korean War, Cpl. Wallace E. Grau, 9th U.S. Army Air Force, WW2, and Petty Officer Dorothy Slivka Grau, Navy, WW2. So did his great-grandfather Pvt. Walter Grau, American Expeditionary Force, WW1 who was a machine gunner like Adam. Their tradition began with Cpl. Albin Knolle, 26th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, 11th Corps, Army of the Potomac, who received a battlefield promotion the evening of 7/1/1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, and later WIA at the Battle of Lookout Mtn. TN. Died of war wounds 1886.


The freedoms enjoyed by Americans today have not come easily. Spanish-American War: 2,446 killed; WWI 116,708 - WWII: 405,399 - Korea: 53,686 - Vietnam: 58,236 - Iraq: 4,427 - Afghanistan: 2,350 The totals unfortunately include such fine men and women as Sgt. Justin Noyes, Fallujah; HN3 Chris "Doc" Anderson, Ramadi - Maj. Megan McClung, Ramadi; Capt. Travis Patriquin, Ramadi, and Lance Cpl. Gavin Brummond, Marjah.


From where does America get such men, author James Michener once wondered. Noyes came from a little town in Oklahoma, Doc from outside of Denver. Iwo Jima flag raiser Sgt. Mike Strank came from Pittsburgh by way of Czechoslovakia, while his fellow flag raiser, Pvt. Ira Hayes, came off an Arizona Indian reservation, as did the Marines' famed Navajo Code Talkers. The Army's Nisei Battalion, the most heavily decorated — and wounded — of WWII, was of Japanese ancestry, and it's worth noting that 57,000+ immigrants became citizens since 9/11 while forward-deployed.


While WW2's Rosie the Riveter received the publicity, women in the military wrote their own chapters. After 22 Army nurses were captured by the Japanese when the Army surrendered at Corregidor, women rushed to enlist. Sgt. Clare Mendell (later wife of Marine Capt. James Lubin) commanded the women's unit at Quantico that wrote "The Letter" to the families of the KIA Marines, and during the war, most of the Army Air Force planes ferried to England were flown by women – with 36 of them crashing and dying on the way. Women Marines and soldiers have earned Bronze and Silver Stars while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and America's Women Warriors have received their fair share of Purple Hearts. The valor and capabilities of America's female combat veterans is not a topic that needs debating.

Thank you, all who serve or have served; it's you who protects America.

239 Years and Counting!

The 239th birthday of the Marine Corps is tomorrow; 10 November. This past weekend Marines -both active and former - throughout the world were attending celebrations and galas. Young Marines in their first set of dress blues, accompanied by their equally young girlfriends perhaps wearing last year’s high-school prom dresses, proudly rubbed elbows with their captains, majors, and other senior officers under whom they serve.


But a formal occasion isn't necessary; all over the country fathers dress up to take their Marine sons out for an evening, or a son will be sure to take his old man out for a few drinks. You see, tradition isn’t built on dining and dancing, it’s built on the remembrance and recognition of those who came before.


In many cases, being a Marine is a family tradition. There are birthday balls where sons, daughters, fathers, uncles, and cousins attend en masse—a family fire-team or a 155-mm gun crew, if you like—and they’ll tell you that becoming a Marine was one way of following in Dad’s footsteps. In many cases, becoming a Marine was something they’d wanted to do since they were little boys.


It’s hard to know what came first, the mystique of being a Marine, or the history and traditions that built the mystique; regardless, these Marines grabbed the concept and never let it go. Maybe they liked the way Dad carried himself, or maybe the stories of Tarawa, Chosin, or Hue city appealed to them. But being a Marine was part of their essential nature, part of their reason for being.


Some careers come with their own lasting dignity: hard jobs like steel worker, policeman, or Marine. Jobs where by the end of the day I-beams have been produced, drug dealers arrested, or villages cleared of insurgents. Jobs where sweat, effort, and dedication are more important than where someone went to college.


It’s an unusual thing about these jobs: those who have them look at life in moral, instead of economic terms. They tend to ignore income levels, job titles, and frequent-flyer miles earned, and instead rank others in terms of who can provide for their families, or who has the courage to dash out into the street under fire to drag back a wounded buddy. You can spot them by the way they look you in the eye and the way they carry themselves.


So 10 November is their day and Marines will celebrate the birthday of their Corps. Around the globe, in various climes and places, this year, last year, and next year, the following scene will play out: Whether the celebration is big or small, there is a birthday cake. Even though in Ramadi or those little COPS along the Helmand River, it was likely an MRE brownie, it was a cake, and in the tradition of the Corps, the oldest Marine at the service will present the first piece to the youngest. This is Marine tradition, the passing of the cake symbolizing “You are one of us. You are part of an organization that is older than the United States itself. The courage of your predecessors is part of your heritage. You are one of us—now go and pass it on.”


And that’s what brings us back to the 239th birthday of the Marine Corps, where being part of something larger than themselves, where hard work, sweat, brotherhood, and tradition are part of every day, and where terms like “honor,” “courage,” and “commitment” remain the way of life for The Few, The Proud, The Marines.

Happy Birthday Marines!!

Book Review: "The Lion's Gate", By Steven Pressfield

The Lion's Gate, by Steven Pressfield

With his latest book, "The Lion's Gate," best-selling author Steven Pressfield has added yet another masterpiece to a body of work that includes "Gates of Fire", "The Afghan Campaign", and "The Legend of Bagger Vance."

Different than the historical fiction on which he's built his reputation, in "The Lion's Gate" Pressfield tackles recent history; in this case Israel's preemptive strike against the massing Arab armies in the June 1967 "6-Day War." His thorough research is what makes the book so good; in addition to the books, magazines, and news clips of the 6-Day Way he read, Pressfield also traveled to Israel and interviewed 63 veterans of the fight. Talking with infantrymen, fighter pilots, half-trackers, helicopter pilots, Pressfield gives the reader a vivid understanding of the odds Israel was facing as the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan gathered against the young country.

Most Marines today under the rank of Colonel were born after the June 1967 war, and while they may have studied Gen Ariel Sharon's brilliant advance across the Sinai Peninsula to the Suez Canal, few understand how tenuous was Israel's existence. Most Americans today associate Israel with an overwhelming combat supremacy, Bibi Natanyahu threatening a possible strike on Iran, or the ennui of never-ending Palestinian-Israeli bombings and counter-strikes.

But in 1967 Israel had been a country for only nineteen years and it's survival remained in doubt; the country was outnumbered 40-1, the Israeli Defense Forces were using WW2 leftover American M3 halftracks, surplus Patton and Centurian tanks, and in May, pro-Arab French President Charles DeGaulle reneged on his 1957 promise to support Israel. "This is 1967," he said, and cut off all arms shipments. More important, with Lyndon Johnson a lame-duck president mired in Vietnam, there was hope, but no guarantee of American military support.

In "Lion's Gate" the veterans Pressfield interviewed recount the massive odds they faced; the Egyptians had moved one thousand Soviet T-55 tanks to Israel's south, the Jordanians and Iraqi's were moving mechanized infantry, armor, and fighter squadrons to Israel's western border, and Syrian artillery was already shelling Israel from the north. When Egypt's President Nassar sent paratroops to seize Sharm-el-Shiekh and close the Gulf of Aqaba, the Arab world exploded in joy; dozens of thousands across North Africa and the Middle East demonstrated, screaming "Death to the Jews."

Pressfield, a former Marine infantryman, is a skilled researcher and historian. As the Israeli combat veterans talk about the sense of purpose they felt knowing if they failed, their wives and children would be slaughtered by the on-coming Arab hordes, Pressfield elicits such sobering stories of how the streets of Tel Aviv, Ashdod, and other cities were empty - all the city buses and even dairy trucks had been commandeered to carry the reservists. The call-up was so thorough, one veteran relates, that if the Egyptian Tupelov and Ilyushian bombers attacked the Israeli cities; there would be no one able to halt the cities from burning; both the fire trucks and firemen had been mobilized.

But what makes "The Lion's Gate" such a compelling story is how Pressfield wove the context of the survival of Israel into the veteran's boots-on-the-ground stories of El Arish, Jiradi Pass, and recapturing Jerusalem. In relating how Israel needed to fight and win both the near battle and the far battle, Pressfield uses Gen Moshe Dayan, to narrate why the war needed to be fought. But with Dayan dying in 1981, Pressfield reached out to Dayan's first wife, Ruth, and his daughter Yael, for insight into Dayan's thinking. "The only was to handle a bully," Dayan told Yael, "is to punch him in the face. Strike now, as soon as possible, and destroy him."

But as Marines, typically outnumbered but over-motivated, will understand, it's necessary to win decisively, and Pressfield digs out of Dayan's archives his quotes that "The enemy must be dealt such a blow that he will be deterred from striking again, for as long as possible...it must be the destruction of the Egyptian Army in a straight-up fight; tank against tank, man against man."

"The Lion's Gate" is one of Pressfield's finest books. In the backs-against-the-wall theme of "Gates's" Spartans at Thermopylae, Pressfield relates the true story of an entire country's courage while facing overwhelming odds. You won't put it down unfinished.


“The Lion’s Gate,"
by Steven Pressfield
Sentinel-Penguin Group, 2014
ISBN # 1-59523-091-1

Book Review: "Before the First Shots are Fired, by Gen Tony Zinni, USMC (ret) and Tony Klotz

"Before the First Shots Are Fired"
By Gen Tony Zinni, USMC, ret, and Tony Klotz

Today's foreign policy world seems like the bad old days of American indecision under Jimmy Carter; the Israel-Hamas war, Putin annexed the Crimea, President Obama's red-lines in Syria are repeatedly ignored, and the Americans killed in Iraq seem to have been sacrificed for a country whose people wanted democracy far less than the “Neocon's wanted it for them...clearly General Tony Zinni's USMC (ret) latest book, “Before the First Shot is Fired; How America can win or lose off the battlefield,” is being published at a most opportune time.


Writing with an honesty rare in Washington, D.C, “Before the First Shot” is Zinni's assessment of why America's foreign and military policy-making is ineffective, if not harmful, to America's national interests. In conjunction with co-author Tony Koltz, he discusses why the complex question “Are we warriors, peacekeepers, or liberators?” of Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond needs to be honestly discussed and answered when military actions are being considered.


A combat infantry officer in Vietnam, Zinni is no stranger to foreign policy's effects on the military. He finished his 40-year Marine career commanding Centcom, from where he led HA-DR missions into Somalia, worked with our NATO allies, and dealt with enough local potentates he was jokingly referred to as “America's Proconsul.” Whether 3rd or 4th Generation Warfare, Zinni's fought both, and the book is filled with real-time examples that validate his thoughts on how how America's foreign policy should best be implemented.


One of the biggest issues, Zinni writes, is that warfare has changed and neither the American military, the public, or the politicians understand how it has changed. It's the politicians inability to decide on America's role, coupled with a DoD who prefers to act on a huge scale or not at all, that is paralyzing America's foreign policy. As the many Marines who dealt with Mullahs, Elders, and gang leaders will confirm, it's a different battlefield than Tarawa, and the politicians need to realize the term 'bad guy' is relative. He equally faults the Pentagon; technology is a tool, not an end-state, and Zumwalt-class destroyers or forever-developing F-35's are not the weapons needed to keep small wars from becoming bigger.


But today's world, Zinni acknowledges, is vastly more complex than defeating the Axis powers; unlike beating the Japanese, the American people need to be convinced the war, or military action, is worth supporting – and it's up to the president to marry the mission to American interests. With technology enabling the media to beam video of gassed children and bleeding women worldwide, it's the president's role to decide if the situation is merely horrific or is of sufficient importance to justify America's involvement.


But unlike WW2, when America rallied to FDR; today's politicians fill the 24-hour news cycle in ways that often negatively impact American foreign policy-making. While the GOP routinely castigates President Obama for 'losing' Iraq, it's worth remembering the Iraqi's refused to sign a status of forces agreement – and by 2011, after 4,476 KIA and a trillion-plus dollars borrowed and spent on the war, the only support for continued American involvement came from a small group inside the Beltway.


Such constant negativity serves to weaken the president's ability to lead, Zinni argues, and serves to make future intervention's more difficult. As the lies and deliberate misinformation used by the Bush Administration “Neocons” to justify the war in 2003 came unraveled, it became more difficult to convince Americans of the need to intervene in other conflicts. Harriers over Syria three years ago might have given Assad second thoughts about gassing his fellow citizens. How ironic if those same lies used to justify the 2003 invasion halted an intervention in Syria that led to ISIS-ISIL's fracturing of Iraq.


Does a president need military experience to run a viable foreign policy, Zinni asks? Polio kept Franklin Roosevelt from serving, but he was Ass't Sect of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson and under his leadership the Allies won. Carter was a Naval officer, but missed or mishandled world events. Obama never served, yet picked Gen James Jones as his first National Security Advisor, hugely boosted the Marine presence in Afghanistan in 2009, sent Marines to Darwin as an integral part of his “Pacific Pivot,” and freely uses drones to kill those in Pakistan and Somalia who threaten American interests. It would seem the value of prior service depends on the individual.


A president needs an innate curiosity, Zinni says; one cannot be passive and disengaged when discussing the potential use of military force and it's follow-on effects. “Before the First Shot” makes an interesting comparison between Bush Jr, who served briefly in the Texas National Guard, and Clinton who accepted a student deferment during Vietnam. He castigates Bush (“the Decider”) as simply making decisions on the recommendations being presented by like-minded people, with Clinton, who Zinni believes 'got it right.'


Zinni credits Clinton for studying plans, grasping their complexities, and understanding where he might be needed to make critical decisions. Clinton also understood that his “OK” didn't mean he could then just stand back and watch; he had to follow events should he need to call an audible. Zinni also credits then-Sect of Defense William Cohen with building relationships between Clinton and the military, he and his fellow co-com commanders briefed Clinton several times annually; a far cry from “hyper-controlling secretaries like McNamara and Rumsfeld who limited the direct contact with generals and admirals. When that happens, presidential decisions suffer.”


Political leadership and the military commanders need to be synced, Zinni argues, as anything less ends in bloody and expensive disaster. “Before the First Shot” should be mandatory reading for every president and politician involved in the decision to send America's PFC's and LCPL's into harms way; our young men and women will give America their best – if only the politicians and bureaucrats would do the same.


Before The First Shot is Fired
By Gen Tony Zinni & Tony Koltz
Palgrave-Macmillan, 2014
ISBN # 978-1-137-27938-5, $ 27.00

Book Review: "Blue-Eyed Boy" A Memoir, by Robert Timberg

There are two types of courage, both equally worthy of our respect and admiration. We all know the first; it's the battlefield courage that enables John Basilone on the 'Canal, Dan Daly at Belleau Wood, and Jason Dunham in Western Anbar to rise to the occasion. It's the second type of courage that's perhaps more difficult; it's looking into a mirror at 0355 and seeing your shattered visage staring back as you wonder who might hire you, will anyone ever love you, and if life is worth continuing – and then stubbornly pushing though another day. That's Bob Timberg type of courage.

“Blue-Eyed Boy” is Robert Timberg's story, and one of the best memoir's you'll ever read. The story of his life since being catastrophically burned outside of Danang in January 1967, Timberg presents a story that is simultaneously funny, sardonic, and painfully honest. A short-timer with only 13 days remaining in Vietnam, his story begins when his Amtrac rolled over a landmine outside of Danang “I felt myself lifted from the top of the Amtrac, as if in the eye of a hurricane, except in place of wind and rain I was being carried aloft by flames.”

Timberg survived, but needed to rebuild both his head and his life. In painfully vivid writing, he describes not understanding the severity of his injuries until overhearing a nurse casually ask “where's The Burn?” when referring to him, the 35 operations he endured (one without anesthesia that saved an eye), and learning how his skin would not only never grow back, but would instead contract his face with thick, ropey, hideous scars. The only constant in his life besides post-operative pain, and an increasing depression, was the unflagging attention and love of his wife Janie. He also writes how after 18 months of constant operations of finally accepted reality; that he was “horribly disfigured and plastic surgery could only do so much.” But Timberg's time as a casualty was coming to a close; the Marine Corps discharged him as 100% disabled (calling his wounds 'highly repugnant'), while the hospital prepared to discharge him. It was “nut-cutting time,” he wrote; “how would skills such as shooting Expert with a .45 handgun or field-stripping an M14 translate into a civilian job?” And a job was suddenly important; his wife was pregnant.

Call it Fate, call it Opportunity, or call it constant reinforcement from his wife, but Timberg threw a dart and it landed on Journalism...he was accepted at Stanford and despite the fact he couldn't even type; Timberg quickly discovered he could surely write. Stanford also taught him tolerance, and forced him to begin to confront the inequalities of the Vietnam War. Few American males fought, fewer volunteered, and as a disfigured Marine combat veteran on a liberal campus, Timberg had little in common with either the students or the professors. But surprisingly, he developed a respect for anti-war protestors like the former Stanford student body president David Harris. Instead of fleeing to the cushy confines of Sweden or Canada, or faking a sanity issue like chickenhawk singer Ted Nugent, Harris refused his draft notice, was arrested, and jailed for three years. That worked for Timberg, who believed 'there was no free lunch...you had to put yourself in peril, in either the Big House or the Boonies.” Guys like Harris were OK by Timberg.

Life was becoming a series of benchmarks for Timberg: an initial job at Annapolis's Evening Capital where he quickly discovered that when in the field interviewing cops and citizens for a story he had no sense of being disfigured – one hurdle successfully negotiated. Timberg soon discovered he was a very good reporter – another hurdle jumped. A new job as the Baltimore Evening Sun's political reporter...and in the Spring of 1979, after nine years working as a reporter, Timberg was selected as one of Harvard's prestigious Nieman Fellows, an award given to a dozen promising American mid-career journalists annually. It wasn't a Pulitzer, Timberg writes, but a recognition that he could excel in his chosen field. “I'd broken the plane of the goal line...I knew now I could run with anyone.”

In “Blue-Eyed Boy” Timberg recounts scoring a game-winner with his first book “The Nightingale Song,” the New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1995. Written following the Iran-Contra scandal in which Marines Ollie North, and Bud McFarlane, along with Admiral John Poindexter, were accused of trading weapons for hostages with Iran, Timberg finally realized there was no reason for him to think of himself as a victim of the Vietnam War; that he was a national-class author and journalist. This awakening was due in part to his new friendship with then-junior Senator John McCain, who decided that his life would not be directed by his time as a POW, and insights from fellow Vietnam Marine (and Sect of the Navy) Jim Webb, who also had a respect for the anti-war protestors like Harris who went to jail for their beliefs.” The book enabled Timberg to come full-circle, he wrote, “he'd fought a war, became a casualty of that war, and was now chronicling the impact of his generation's uneven response to it.”

Although written by a member of the Vietnam War generation, “Blue-Eyed Boy” is a book worth reading by everyone, especially those many thousands wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. As Timberg says, and every Marine will understand, 'what I needed to do was not to hide from the world, but to take it on.” Well done, Capt Timberg; “Blue-Eyed Boy” is the ultimate example of “Keep Attacking!"

Blue-Eyed Boy A Memoir by Robert Timberg Penguin Group, 2014 ISBN # 978-1-59420-566-8 $ 27.95

Obama's troop withdrawl plan

Last week I returned from Afghanistan after spending five weeks with the U.S. Marines in Helmand Province. It was my sixth visit since April 2007; I embed with and write on Marine-Army-National Guard operations. And unlike most journalists (and 99% of America) my son serves; he's a U.S. Marine, and last year I was able to spend a few days with him in Afghanistan when he was out on his most recent deployment. So, I look at President Barack Obama's troop-withdrawal decision from both a personal and professional basis.

Let me begin with the caveat that my comments cover Marine Corps operations and efforts in RC Southwest (Helmand and Nimroz provinces), in which they've been in charge since last year. The Marines took over from the British forces, who now fight (as Task Force Helmand) under Marine control.

In short, it's going very well, so well that Marine Col. Norman Cooling (2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd) Operations Officer) told me last week, "We're winning."

By every metric, he's correct. Firefights are few, job creation is up, and schools that had two students in March now have 50. Farmers are growing wheat instead of poppy, and in the few areas where there is still fighting (Musa Qala and Sangin), the Taliban is using IEDs instead of trying to combat the Marines in firefights.

In the Garmsir area, the locals contacted the local Afghan army and helped them seize 350 pounds of explosives and IED-making equipment when I was there. Further, as opposed to the several-a-day firefights we had last year in Marja, in my recent five weeks, I only heard three (just three!) rounds fired. In short, the locals like the security, jobs, and governance we bring, and co-operate by turning in Taliban at every opportunity. I've been there. I've seen it.

So why do I feel President Obama is making a mistake?

It's because the Marines are spread too thin, and to pull any of them out now will disrupt their training the Afghan Army. It will also embolden the Taliban to attack again.

A major part of U.S. policy is training the Afghan army and Afghan police to fight, and while Afghan army training and recruiting is going well, they need another year or two of intensive training before they can operate independently. They can fight (and fight well), but we're teaching literacy, leadership, logistics, and other important concepts as they fight, and that takes time. If we pull out and leave an un-prepared Afghan National Army, then the people lose heart as the Taliban surges (as they did in 2002 when Bush pulled the troops out for his war in Iraq), and then we need to return -- again -- and do the job correctly.

Taking 33,000 troops out in the next year is purely a domestic political decision; I was on little patrol bases where seven Marines and four Afghan soldiers were responsible for a several-mile area; for the U.S. to withdraw fully 35 percent of current forces in Afghanistan will lead to yet another Taliban resurgence, and subsequent Pakistani-ISI meddling.

And on a personal level, I've proudly watched my son leave for war five times since 2003 -- but a major part of my ability to not worry (much) is because of the intensive training and preparation all Marine receive before they deploy, as well as the thorough thought and planning the Marine generals, colonels, and senior leaders give each mission. For once, I'd like to see the same preparation, effort and attention to detail from our Congress and president in planning a war -- as much as our young men and women give in fighting it. Clearly Pres Obama made a political decision, and not a military one, and I can only hope he's correct.

MajGen Richard Mills talks about USMC-ANA-ANP success in Helmand

http://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/audio/leathernecks-andrew-lubin-interviews-majgen-richard-mills

Last WW1 Vet Dies

Claude Stanley Choules, the last known combat veteran of World War I, died Thursday at a nursing home in the Western Australia city of Perth, his family said. He was 110

Beloved for his wry sense of humor and humble nature, the British-born Choules — nicknamed "Chuckles" by his comrades in the Australian Navy — never liked to fuss over his achievements, which included a 41-year military career and the publication of his first book at the age of 108.

"We all loved him," his 84-year-old daughter Daphne Edinger told The Associated Press. "It's going to be sad to think of him not being here any longer, but that's the way things go."

He usually told the curious that the secret to a long life was simply to "keep breathing." Sometimes, he chalked up his longevity to cod liver oil. But his children say in his heart, he believed it was the love of his family that kept him going for so many years.

"His family was the most important thing in his life," his other daughter, Anne Pow, told the AP in a March 2010 interview. "It was a good way to grow up, you know. Very reassuring."

Choules was born March 3, 1901, in the small British town of Pershore, Worcestershire, one of seven children. As a child, he was told his mother had died — a lie meant to cover a more painful truth: She left when he was 5 to pursue an acting career. The abandonment affected him profoundly, Pow said, and he grew up determined to create a happy home for his own children.

In his autobiography, "The Last of the Last," he remembered the day the first motor car drove through town, an event that brought all the villagers outside to watch. He remembered when a packet of cigarettes cost a penny. He remembered learning to surf off the coast of South Africa, and how strange he found it that black locals were forced to use a separate beach from whites.

World War I was raging when Choules began training with the British Royal Navy, just one month after he turned 14. In 1917, he joined the battleship HMS Revenge, from which he watched the 1918 surrender of the German High Seas Fleet, the main battle fleet of the German Navy during the war.

"There was no sign of fight left in the Germans as they came out of the mist at about 10 a.m.," Choules wrote in his autobiography. The German flag, he recalled, was hauled down at sunset. "So ended the most momentous day in the annals of naval warfare," he wrote. "A fleet of ships surrendered without firing a shot."

Choules and another Briton, Florence Green, became the war's last known surviving service members after the death of American Frank Buckles in February, according to the Order of the First World War, a U.S.-based group that tracks veterans.

Choules was the last known surviving combatant of the war. Green, who turned 110 in February, served as a waitress in the Women's Royal Air Force.

Despite the fame he achieved because of his military service, Choules grew to become a pacifist who was uncomfortable with anything that glorified war. He disagreed with the celebration of Anzac Day, Australia's most important war memorial holiday, and refused to march in parades held each year to commemorate the holiday.

"He always said that the old men make the decisions that send the young men into war," said his son Adrian Choules."He used to say, if it was the other way around, and the old ... were off fighting, then there would never be any wars," Choules told local media.

During World War II, he was the acting torpedo officer in Fremantle, Western Australia, and chief demolition officer for the western side of the Australian continent. Choules disposed of the first mine to wash ashore in Australia during the war.

He later transferred to the Naval Dockyard Police and remained in the service until his retirement in 1956.

In his 80s, he took a creative writing course at the urging of his children and decided to record his memoirs for his family. The memoirs formed the basis of his autobiography, which was finally published three decades later in 2009. He would cite the book as one of his greatest achievements.

Still, the aging process took its toll, and in recent years, he grew blind and nearly deaf. Despite that, his children say he retained his cheerful spirit and positive outlook on life. "I had a pretty poor start," he told the ABC in November 2009. "But I had a good finish."

ANP & Marines at Kajaki Dam

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ZEEBRUGGE, Afghanistan – U.S. Marines have been defending the area around the Kajaki Dam near here for more than a year, but they are not the only force fighting to protect this key terrain.

Many of the nearly 130 Afghan Uniformed Police officers stationed at Kajaki can literally call the area home, and the Marines based here say their Afghan counterparts have proven themselves in action against the insurgency.

“They go out and find IEDs for us,” said Cpl. Anthony Chavez, a provisional rifleman with Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 8. “We take them out with us on pushes … they’ve contributed to us in helping push the insurgents back.”

The AUP is a national security force intended to provide community policing services and rule of law.

“The AUP are important because, other than the provincial governor, they’re the only government influence in these rural areas,” said 1st Lt. Aiden Katz, the officer in charge of the Police Advisory Team from 1st Bn., 5th Marines, RCT-8.

The Kajaki AUP outfit is notable for its organization and patrolling ability, qualities that stem from the fact that most of the unit’s original officers were recruited out of local families displaced by the insurgency, said Katz.

“From my experience the AUP do tend to be local, but not specifically from [the area they patrol],” he explained. “The majority of these AUP are originally from here.”

Kajaki’s defining features are the hydroelectric dam on the Helmand River and the fertile green zone that winds along it into Sangin District to the south. Coalition security in the area centers around the dam, and the AUP station is adjacent to it.

Much of the population that had lived in the villages near the dam and the nearby green zone fled about five years ago after fighting in the area intensified. The local bazaar closed and most of the locals went with it.

“Five years ago the bazaar was busy and crowded,” said Haji Faziullah Ahakizad, who has been district chief of police for several years. “After the Taliban came all the people left.”

Many of Kajaki’s displaced families settled near the provincial capital at Lashkar Gah. Much of the local AUP force was recruited from there, said Faziullah.

Faziullah and his men have established several posts in the lowlands around the dam. At night, lights from their trucks and checkpoints can be seen from the hillside forward operating base here, patrolling and interdicting suspicious activity.

Marine Police Advisory Teams with 1st and 3rd Battalions, 5th Marines, have been working with the Kajaki AUP for more than a year. The PATs teach the AUP patrolling and rule of law tactics, and serve as an operational liaison between the Afghan forces and the Marines.

Cpl. Brock Bigej, a police trainer with 1st Bn., 5th Marines’ advisory team, knows about working with Afghan police. In 2009 and 2010 he spent several months training Afghan Border Police officers in southern Helmand province. By the end of that deployment the ABP had made significant strides under their Marine mentors, he said.

“It was very gratifying to see the progress they had made by the end of seven months,” he said.

The experiences from his previous advisory deployment lead Bigej to volunteer for his current mission. As good as the unit he helped mentor last year were, the police at Kajaki are better, he said.

“This unit is much more organized than the unit I worked with last time,” he said. “They’re moving around at night and during the day providing security. They’re much more independent than the last group.”

The AUP are designed to serve more as a traditional police force than a full-fledged fighting force, but the reduced population around the dam has the Kajaki AUP working the other way around, said Katz. They are operating much more akin to how the Afghan National Army would be,” he explained.

The AUP here have been involved in numerous actions against local insurgents since the Marines took over security of the area. There is plenty of insurgent activity in the area just outside the security bubble near the dam, and improvised explosive devices are a serious threat to locals and coalition forces.

“The insurgents in this area are not from here,” said Faziullah. “They want to fight; we will fight them.”

The result of the AUP aggressively policing in the area has been to create an extra layer of security that benefits coalition units and locals in the area, said Katz.

The police advisors are not the only Marines to note the effectiveness of the Kajaki AUP. Primary security for the area falls to 1st Bn., 10th Marines, and certain AUP officers have achieved quasi-folklore status with the unit.

The Marines talk of an officer nicknamed “IED Dundee,” whom they say has unearthed and disarmed dozens of improvised explosive devices in the area. Other officers are known for their lethal accuracy with rocket propelled grenades and PKM machine guns.

Although most of the local populace may have fled, the AUP are involved in the lives of those locals who elected to stay. In January, a local man stepped on an IED likely meant for coalition forces. Two AUP officers rushed to his aid before hitting a second device. One officer lost his legs, the other lost a foot, said Katz.

“Being from here they have a notable amount of bravery to protect the people and fight the enemy,” he said.

For now the coalition and AUP forces in the area are in a holding pattern in the area around the dam, although Faziullah has plans for the future of his home district that go beyond the current situation.

"My plan is to expand my posts,” he said. “The Marines will help me, and the Afghan Army will help me, and we will bring peace to Kajaki.”

Boehner: Afghanistan now more important

Boehner: Afghanistan now more important
From NBC's Shawna Thomas

House Speaker John Boehner sees the death of Osama bin Laden as proof that U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a necessity for the country’s safety. "It's important that we remain vigilant in our efforts to defeat terrorist enemies and protect the American people,” he said during a late afternoon press conference at the Capitol. “This makes our engagement in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan more important not less.”

Surrounded by most of the Republican leadership in the House, Boehner began with talk of unity. “The tragic events of 9/11 10 years ago remind us that we’re all Americans and that what unites us as Americans is far greater than what divides us.” He honored the troops and the intelligence community, as well as those who died on September 11, but he and three other members who spoke -- Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and GOP Conference Chair Jeb Hensarling -- all seemed to express a renewed commitment to American armed forces. Their choice of words was striking in the context of the continued spending debate. (Remember, the Defense Department was appropriated billions more than what it got last in fiscal year 2010 in last month’s compromise, but is a huge piece of the spending pie that will have to be dealt with.)

Hensarling, who was last to speak, congratulated President Obama, while reminding everyone that the war isn’t over. “One thing that has not changed after today is that the price of liberty remains eternal vigilance,” he said.
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22nd MEU / USS Bataan, arrives Libyan coast

Amphibious Ready Groups and Marine Expeditionary Units Switching Out

USS BATAAN, Mediterranean Sea - The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Group relieved the Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU of their duties in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility April 27.

The Bataan ARG has assumed responsibilities as Commander, Task Force 62 and will conduct maritime security operations and provide support as required for coalition forces assigned to Operation Unified Protector.

"I am proud of the great work the Sailors and Marines of the Kearsarge ARG/26th MEU team have done," said Capt. Peter Pagano, commander, Amphibious Squadron.
"Regardless of the mission they were assigned,they accomplished it with integrity, professionalism, and dedication."

"This MEU has been in positions of tremendous responsibility and each time delivered nothing less than what they were asked to give," said Col. Mark J. Desens, commanding officer 26th MEU. "I am very proud to have served with the Marines, Sailors and civilians of this MEU and our Navy-Marine Corps team. This deployment has been the highlight of my operational career."

During the past eight months in the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet AORs the Kearsarge ARG /26th MEU team conducted a wide range of missions, ranging from the delivery of over 3 million pounds of supplies to Pakistan after a devastating summer flood to the safe relocation of 335 displaced personnel from Tunisia to Egypt.

The Kearsarge ARG was actively involved in the initial phases of Operation Odyssey Dawn, with AV-8B Harriers assigned to 26th MEU flying multiple sorties in support of the no-fly zone established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. As the mission transitioned to NATO-led Operation Unified Protector, Sailors and Marines remained on station and ready to render assistance.

"The Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU's performance in the 5th and 6th Fleet AORs has been nothing short of outstanding," said Capt. Steve Yoder, commander, Amphibious Squadron 6. "I have complete confidence that our Sailors and Marines assigned to the Bataan ARG and 22nd MEU will continue this tradition of excellence, and that they will remain vigilant, flexible, and ready to execute the full range of amphibious
operations."

The BATARG and 22nd MEU deployed three months ahead of their original schedule to relieve the Kearsarge ARG and 26th MEU. The blue-green team conducted a wide range of integrated training over the last several weeks to be able to arrive on station and immediately provide the combatant commander with a versatile sea-based force that can be tailored to a variety of missions.

"The Marines and Sailors of 22nd MEU have completed the turnover with 26th MEU and are prepared to execute operations in support of Operation Unified Protector and other missions that may be assigned," said Col. Eric Steidl, commanding officer 22nd MEU. "As a Marine Air Ground Task Force, 22nd MEU is capable of responding to a wide array of contingencies ranging from humanitarian assistance to combat operations.
As we wish our fellow warriors from 26th MEU farewell, we stand ready to assume the mission as an amphibious force in readiness."

"We talk a lot on Bataan about being on time and ready for tasking," said Capt. Steve Koehler, commanding officer of USS Bataan. "This ship's job is to put the MEU in a position to conduct the nation's tasking. We are certainly ready for that and proud to have the watch here in the Mediterranean Sea."

The Bataan ARG includes detachments from Naval Beach Group 2, Tactical Air Control Squadron 21, Fleet Surgical Team Six (FST) 8, Helicopter Squadron 22, Beach Master Unit 2, Assault Craft Unit 2 and ACU-4. ARG ships include the Norfolk-based Bataan, the amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde, and the dock landing ship USS
Whidbey Island, homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek - Fort Story, Va.

The 22nd MEU is a Marine Air Ground Task Force comprised of the Command Element, Ground Combat Element, Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment; Aviation Combat Element, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (Reinforced); Logistics Combat Element, and Combat Logistics Battalion 22.