US Military descends upon Iceland like beer-drinking locusts.

God bless our military.

U.S. troops landed in Iceland last week ahead of the start the largest NATO military exercise since the Cold War, and apparently, they left their mark in the most appropriate way possible: by drinking every last beer in the nation’s capital.

A significant number of bars in downtown Reykjavík were forced to make emergency beer runs under the onslaught of thirsty American sailors and Marines in town for the start of Trident Juncture 18, Iceland Magazine reports.

Continue reading US Military descends upon Iceland like beer-drinking locusts.

Jihadist in Belgium stopped by off-duty US military.

I’d say that they should make a flick about this, except that it was over so quickly.

A massacre on a high-speed train in Belgium was prevented Friday when two members of the U.S. military in civilian clothing surprised an Islamist militant, authorities said.

The suspect was loading his automatic Kalashnikov rifle in a toilet, apparently preparing to attack, when the service members confronted him, said a European counterterrorism official.

As such things go, it ended well for the jihadi. Which is to say, he didn’t die. A trained American soldier who has been alerted to danger is not a soft target, armed or no. One of the soldiers was injured (three people total). Details beyond that are still a little sketchy, which is suggestive…

My only comment on the ‘Obama’s golf game trumps military couple’s wedding’ thing.

At some point in 2017, the newly former President Barack Obama will be off doing something in public.  His Secret Service detail will, naturally enough, be attempting to secure whatever venue it is that the former President is visiting… and they will be told, in a very loud voice, to go start f*cking off now.  It may be by the owner of the site. It may be by a proprietor or shop-owner. It may just simply be a citizen or citizens; the point is, somebody is going to tell Barack Obama to go wait his goram turn like anybody else.  Because he’s never learned how to do that, and he’s certainly hasn’t been encouraged to over the last six years.

I don’t expect that incident to make the news, but I do hope that someone will have the mother-wit to have a camera running.

Chuck Hagel wants to kill the Warthog, once and for all.

(Via Instapundit) Why not?  After all, it’s only the single most useful all-around plane in our arsenal.

The New York Times reported late Sunday that Hagel’s proposal, which will be released to lawmakers and the public on Monday, will call for a reduction in size of the military that will leave it capable of waging war, but unable to carry out protracted occupations of foreign territory, as in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Under Hagel’s plan, the number of troops in the Army will drop to between 440,000 and 450,000, a reduction of at least 120,000 soldiers from its post-Sept.11 peak.

Officials told the Times that Hagel’s plan has been endorsed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and protects funding for Special Operations forces and cyberwarfare. It also calls for the Navy to maintain all eleven of its aircraft carriers currently in operation. However, the budget proposal mandates the elimination of the entire fleet of Air Force A-10 attack aircraft, as well as the retiring of the U-2 spy plane, a stalwart of Cold War operations.

Continue reading Chuck Hagel wants to kill the Warthog, once and for all.

Military academy games back on! …And, oh, yeah: @BarackObama is weak.

Via Ace Of Spades HQ comes the latest defeat for Barack Obama in his Washington Monument Syndrome campaign: military academy football is back on.

U.S. military academy football teams will play this weekend, despite the government shutdown.

A senior defense official said Wednesday the decision affects this weekend’s games only, and future games will be evaluated as events unfold. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Translation: Those idiots in the White House may not understand about football, but we do. Needless to say, you can guess how those future games will be “evaluated” – spoiler warning: football fans with an opinion on military academy games will not suddenly start changing their minds – but that leads to a larger point. To wit: this administration has the same kind of killer instinct that so infused the career of Confederate General Braxton Bragg. Continue reading Military academy games back on! …And, oh, yeah: @BarackObama is weak.

NDCF Chair condemns Scott Murphy’s anti-military stance.

It stands for the National Defense Council Foundation…

…and it’s a NGO defense-oriented conservative think-tank that’s been calling for the conversion of American transportation to alternative fuels since at least 2003. Its chairman, retired military veteran James Martin, writes:

On behalf of NDCF supporters who proudly represent all branches of the military, it strikes me that Mr. Murphy’s writings at his alma mater, Harvard University, when he was editor of a university magazine, Perspective, do not jibe with the majority views of the people of the 20th Congressional District of New York.

Murphy apparently co-authored an editorial critical of the military and questioned its longstanding traditions and structure. In the same editorial, Murphy railed against having ROTC outposts on college campuses, “Bringing ROTC on campus is not the best way of helping the economically disadvantaged.” (Perspective, Summer 1989).

His attacks on our nation’s military demonstrate just how out-of-touch he is. This is the same District that was once served by the late Republican Congressman, Jerry Solomon.

First off, Jim Tedisco. Republican. Running for the seat. Doesn’t hate the military. Donate here.

Continue reading NDCF Chair condemns Scott Murphy’s anti-military stance.

Does NY-20’s Scott Murphy (D) still think that the military’s a bunch of racists?

Do not blame me for the fact that he is on the record with this.

(H/T: Hot Air) That’s a serious question, because he signed his name to an article saying precisely that back in college. The quote goes:

The military not only discriminates on the basis of sexual preference, but on the basis of sex and race. Women are not allowed to serve in combat even if they are physically superior to males who do serve in combat. And, while there are not explicit rules discriminating against minorities, the Congressional Black Caucus has found that “racism has become institutionalized at all levels of the military. Black and other minority service men are victims of discrimination from the time that they enter the services until the time that they are discharged.” Will Harvard choose to ignore this discrimination?

Murphy went on to declare that military values – which he proceeded to get wrong, as only a liberal Democratic Ivy League student can – are directly contradictory to those of Harvard University, or at least the Harvard University of twenty years ago. I would like to say that Harvard’s grown up a little since then, but it’d be a lie. Still, I’d like to know: has Murphy?

Moe Lane

PS: Jazz Shaw has more; so does this site, even if they can’t get the name of the NRCC right. But one of their commenters noted that parts of this district were once Gerald Solomon’s (I think), so that works out. And, of course, see also Erick’s post on the subject.

PPS: Jim Tedisco. Republican. Running for the seat. Doesn’t hate the military. Donate here.

Crossposted to RedState.