World War II History: Faces From The Beach – 06 June 1944

My father’s generation accomplished some cool stuff, but were they really the Greatest Generation? – I hope not.

I hope that Millennials and each succeeding generation of Americans far exceed the accomplishments of the last but it is hard to argue with the humble patriotism, intestinal fortitude and tenacity of the WW2 generation.

On 6 June, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed on the Normandy coastline.

Covert operatives had been inserting in preparation for the invasion since the previous summer.

Two divisions of Paratroopers dropped in the night of the 5^th/6^th.

Nearly 20,000 Ships and Aircraft were involved in delivering troops by landing craft, Parachute and Glider. Jedburghs and other OSS/SOE teams jumped in early to set up networks to pave the way for Paratroopers and the main invasion.

Over 9,000 allied troops were killed or wounded in a 36 hour period.

I have known literally hundreds of WW2 veterans over my decades. Growing up as a diplomat’s kid in the 60’s meant about 90% of my father’s friends and associates were WW2 vets.

I will say one thing for my father’s generation;  if they weren’t the greatest …they were absolutely the most loyal and the most humble.

You never saw one of them with a tailgate full of “I’m a veteran — Thank Me” bumper stickers and the one-upmanship and cannibalistic nature of many Veterans and Veteran’s groups, just didn’t exist until the last 10 years.

The old guard had no such needs.

They never bothered to talk about their exploits – You could know one of them all your life and all of a sudden at their wake, someone else will tell you they earned a Croix de Guerre or the Navy Cross or made the “Bataan Death March.

I guess they just never felt the need to toot their own horn.

Four Medals of Honor were earned on D-day but tens of thousands of acts of courage and selfless devotion to country and fellow Soldier took place between the water and victory.

In an effort to Honor each and every one of them I thought I would point out a few of those scared kids who made that invasion and proved themselves on the field of battle.

Take a close look at the faces – You might even recognize one or two of them.

Read the Remainder at Havok Journal

 

Crusader Corner: General McChrystal Gives 4 Tips On How to Fight and Win Against ISIS

You would know that some of the best, most practical advice about fighting and WINNING against ISIS comes from one of the only Generals to be fired for criticizing the Obama White House. Personally, I like McChrystal. What he accomplished with JSOC was extraordinary. The man got results. My only complaint with him is how he handled the Pat Tillman incident; Could have been done much better.-SF

At a time when our political leaders freely admit that they don’t have a plan to deal with ISIS, or try to tell the nation that we’re somehow “not at war” with a de facto state that our President claims we’re nonetheless going to destroy, it’s deeply refreshing to hear from someone who not only understands how to defeat rabid Islamist murderers, but has actually done it.

 

In a recent interview with CNN, General Stanley McChrystal, who formerly commanded both the Ranger Regiment and the brutally effective Joint Special Operations Command, outlined several key points that I hope our political and military leaders paid attention to.  If they’re serious about getting after ISIS, they should have McChrystal’s number on speed dial.

I personally served under McChrystal’s command many times in both Iraq and Afghanistan and have seen the results of the kind of actions he advocates.  Although I have’t worked for him in years, in my mind he still possesses the ultimate credentials:  his method of fighting terrorists works.

Below are four excerpts from McChrystal’s interview, to which I’ve added some personal commentary.

If you really want to understand what it takes to defeat terrorists, you don’t listen to the feckless empty suits who would rather launch hashtag campaigns than black helicopters—you listen to real warriors like Stanley McChrystal.

_____

1)  “The effectiveness of a group is not its numbers, it’s how effectively it’s connected.” 
This was certainly true of JSOC, whose relatively small size belied the organization’s enormous impact on the battlefield in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other locations around the world.  McChrystal correctly recognized that small groups of specially selected, highly trained, and well-supported operators, backed by superb intelligence, could be entrusted to do what needs to be done in a complex, protracted, and often bloody conflict.  JSOC wasn’t a large organization when McChrystal took over as commander, but because he was effective where others weren’t, he kept getting more and more resources and achieving better and better results.

A key aspect of the success of McChyrstal’s plan was his emphasis on building a network to defeat a network.  Unlike many others in the Special Operations community, McChrystal was willing to reach out to other units, other services, other agencies, and even other countries to put a team together that used precision intelligence to drive operational and tactical decisions that resulted in operations at a pace faster than the enemy could withstand.  Units under McChrystal’s command would crack open enemy networks and exploit them up and down the chain until those organizations were utterly exhausted and completely neutralized.  Then they would move on to the next one.  This is the kind of mindset, commitment, and persistence that it will take to defeat ISIS.

What was true of JSOC then is true of ISIS now.  ISIS is very well connected… at least, it’s better connected than the governments and other groups it is fighting.  No group is better than JSOC at breaking up that connective tissue that allows terrorist groups to function.  Getting after the way the group functions, rather than obsessing over how big it is or whether it is “JV or varsity,” will give real results.  What kind of results?   You can hear it for yourself from no less than the Presidential level: “Listen: JSOC Is Awesome!”

Read the Remainder at Havok Journal

 

World War II History: The US Army Rangers and Point Du Hoc

One of the highlights of my last trip to France was the three days I spent in Normandy, site of the D-Day invasion.  As a professional military guy, this is one of the coolest possible trips because the Normandy campaign had it all – amphibious assaults, airborne drops, tank battles, joint firepower, fighters and bombers, amazing logistic and engineering feats, special operations and much more.  I would highly recommend seeing Omaha Beach, Pegasus Bridge and of course, the American cemetery – still on of the most affecting places I have ever seen.  But my favorite part of my trip was Pointe du Hoc.

In the overall drama of D-Day and the slaughter on the beaches, Pointe du Hoc was a key but secondary operation which served an important purpose.  Once completed, it was of relatively minor importance to the overall operation.  The extraordinary thing about this operation was the audacity, heroism and bravery exhibited by the men that fought there.

Pointe du Hoc occupied strategic high ground between the Omaha and Utah landing sites.  There isn’t a beach there, just one hundred foot high cliffs to the east and west for several miles making it pretty much unassailable.  It did have unimpeded views of both American landing sites.  The Germans had emplaced a battery of 155mm cannons at the location in hardened bunkers impervious to bombardment and from this location could have easily ranged both landing sites.

The guns themselves would have done minimal damage to warships but the effects of accurate 155mm fire air-bursting over the beaches would have slaughtered troops at both landing sites.  The guns needed to be removed but how does one get to the top of the cliffs in an era before helicopters and precision fires.

The answer was to come at the Pointe from the sea and climb the cliffs.  The mission fell to the 2^nd Ranger Battalion, an elite unit of light infantry formed earlier in the war for high-risk sorts of operations – what are now called special operations.  The Ranger’s plan called for them to take boats up to the bottom of the cliffs at high-tide and use specially built ladders and rocket assisted grappling hooks to get to the top.  Because of the dangers of night navigation, the assault occurred in day-light just after a bombardment was supposed to have suppressed the defenders.

Things started to go wrong almost immediately.  The first problem was when the boats got to the cliffs, the cliff height turned out to be higher than the ladders by over 30 feet.  The boats were delayed in arriving at Pointe Du Hoc and pre-assault suppression had already been completed several minutes when the assault began.  The rockets on the grappling hooks confused the Germans for a few minutes making them think that the bombardment had resumed but they quickly recovered and began to fire down on Rangers ascending the ladders and the final 30 feet by rope and hand.  Grenades and Bullets flew in both directions – at one point a Ranger climbed to the top of one of the ladders with a .30 caliber machine gun and fired it upward at the Germans.  It was a desperate affair.

The Rangers made it to the top and their superior training quickly overwhelmed the German artillery soldiers.  The Rangers did not find the guns within the fortifications but a quick search revealed the guns hidden a short distance away and they were destroyed.

The Rangers’ primary objective had been accomplished but the battle was not over.  They moved on to their secondary objective to secure a road leading into the western flank of the Omaha landings but were quickly attacked by an experienced regiment of German soldiers and they were pushed back towards Pointe du Hoc.  The three companies of 2^nd Rangers were supposed to be reinforced by the remainder of 2^nd Rangers and the entirety of 5^th Rangers but weather and navigational errors forced those Rangers to land at Dog Green at Omaha Beach instead.

The Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, led by LTC James Rudder, were forced to defend themselves for two days against vicious counterattack and from fratricide from naval gunfire and air support.  The Rangers held and were finally relieved by elements of the 29^th Infantry coming from Omaha beach having retained their position but losing 60 percent of their 225 man element (there were 90 Rangers left capable of fighting after two days).

Ranger Memorial at Point Du Hoc

Today, Pointe du Hoc is a rather understated place with no museums or shops like you find at the other sites.  There is a sense of timelessness about the place.  Where development has encroached on to the other sites to various degrees, Pointe du Hoc still looks like it did on 06 June 1944.  The fortifications are still intact and the entire site is covered in deep shell-holes from 14 inch shells from the USS Texas.  As you stand at the edge of the cliffs and look down, it is hard to fathom how men climbed up them under fire and then attacked across the open ground towards the fortifications.  From the top of the fortifications you can look south towards the narrow outcropping of land and see where the German 914 Grenadiers counterattacked.  You can imagine the isolation that the Rangers with only sporadic communications back to the ships, backs to the cliffs and no reinforcements coming from that direction.

There was a lot of bravery to go around on D-Day and operationally, once the guns were destroyed the events on Pointe Du Hoc were insignificant in regards to the course of the campaign – the Germans were going to win or lose the fight at the main landing sites regardless of what happened after the guns were destroyed.  Still, it was one of those small but key events which could have meant success or failure of the greater operation.  If ever there was a place where I had to point out the bravery and tenacity of the American soldier, Pointe Du Hoc would be my example.

At the top of the lead fortification where the Rangers made their ascent, there lies a single monument.  It is not large and gaudy like the French monuments, angular and blocky like many of the American ones, or even dark and gothic like the few German ones you find.  Instead, it is a single simple monument with a rather plain inscription.  Given what had occurred here one of my trip companions thought there should have been a bigger monument but I think the one there is perfect.  It is probably the most beautiful single monument on any of the D-Day sites and it is a fitting testament to the valor shown by the Rangers on that date.

Read the Original at Havok Journal

For Further Reading Rangers in World War II by Robert W. Black is an Excellent choice.

Socialism Sucks: The Political Rehabilitation of Che’ Guevera

It might surprise some of you to hear that I can be completely unreasonable and even aggressive about certain issues; the rest of you already know me well enough to expect it. I left all my social skills someplace in Eastern Europe.

I’ve even been known to make an ass out of myself in public when faced with certain issues… but I do have a reasonable side – I just try never to show it unless I’m about to be arrested and I think it will help.

I made a rare foray out to civilization last week and I found myself standing in line at Wal-Mart;  in front of a man in his late 20’s, with his wife and what appeared to be 3 adolescent  boys.

He was wearing a Lenin lapel pin on his hat, the kind that every idiot western tourist bought at the Moscow Olympics in the 80’s, and a brand new Che’ tee-shirt. The kind you can get from Amazon for 19.99 any day of the week.

By the time I regained control, I had poked the little SOB in the chest and asked him what the F*** was wrong with him. I asked his wife if it made her proud to mother children to someone with less common sense than a syphilitic baboon, then I asked the boys how it felt to have a traitor POS  for a father.

Needless to say I caused a scene but I did realize I was out of line in offering to beat him to a puddle of pink puss in public, so I turned back to my purchases and kind of hoped he would  jump me from behind.

He and his family changed lines and I made my purchases and left, but I caught myself cruising the parking lot as I left – almost hoping to catch him and beat his ass in front of his kids.

I apologize if that offends any of you but it is the most honest window into what happens inside of me when I am faced with anyone who is idiot enough to accept Democratic Socialism, or promote it… I’ve been there, done that – I have the scars to prove it.    But I also came to a realization – the look in this clown’s face told me he really had no clue why some  guy old enough to be his grandfather was accosting him in public.

I think I hurt his feelings. It would still have made me feel good to mash his face but in reality he was a victim of his own upbringing and ignorance – he didn’t  mean it to be an insult – he just didn’t know any better.

 That guy in Wal-Mart had an excuse – President Obama  does NOT.

The President should have enough sense or have advisors who have enough sense to keep him from exhibiting the same level of stupidity as the man in Wal-Mart.

 

This isn’t like when Nixon dealt with Mao or when Bush puked in Japan, both of them kept distance from anything that would honor tyrants.  It appears we are experiencing the official rehabilitation of Che’ Guevara.

The worst ass beating I ever took as a kid was when I was about 14. I cut school and hitch-hiked to San Francisco to go to a Jefferson Starship concert.  When I came  home the next day,  I was wearing a Che’ Guevara tee-shirt, much like the one I saw in Wal-Mart.

I think the entire neighborhood came out to watch as my father educated me on Che’ Guevara . Today someone would have called the police and called it child abuse.  It was just good sense correction in my mind – I never got a beating I didn’t need and I’m relatively stable as an adult.

Che’ Guevara was arguably one of the most heinous individuals who ever walked the earth. He ranks right up there with Mengele, Trotsky and Ali Hassan al-Majid.

Born better off than most and steeped in left wing Socialist ideology, Ernesto “Che’ ” Guevara wasn’t much different than some we see today. The ones who have become so enamored with either the extreme right or the extreme left.

Armed with a pie-in-the-sky outlook on all things social and political, they follow blindly. All that matters is that pie-in-the-sky perception, regardless of what else is involved.

The biggest difference between Che’ in the beginning and the Sandersites and Teabaggers, Trumpites and Hillabites of today is they  just don’t know any better.

Che’, On the other hand, figured it out and decided he liked it. Che’ found himself between a hypothetical ideology (Jesus style Socialism) and the reality of Soviet style Democratic Socialism.

A man of his stature, educated and politically  ignorant, is always a prize for any tyrant. Che’ was recruited and welcomed by the Castro brothers. He participated in the Cuban revolution and is consistently reported to have been a true coward under fire.

His connection to Castro was his only leadership qualification, but Che’ saw himself as Castro’s successor.

After the Revolution, Che’ served as one of Castro’s closest advisors, Cuban Ambassador to the USSR, and eventually Castro put him in charge of the infamous La Cabaña prison.

At La Cabaña, Che’ not only gave the orders to torture, rape and kill enemies of the state; he took great pleasure in doing it himself.   Enemies of the state like, Christian pastors, Nuns, homosexuals, Jews, Russellites, Pentecostals and anyone else that opposed Democratic Socialism and refused collectivism.

By 1964 Cuba’s economy was a shambles and became directly tied to the Soviet Union. It was time to spread the cancer.

Che’ went to Congo first, where he helped start a disastrous and failed revolution; then on to Bolivia to further spread Democratic Socialism by force.

By this time the CIA was hunting him in an effort to get our hands on him and turn him. Che’ was a man void of integrity and honor, he could have easily been turned and used for a while before we let him be executed.

The Bolivians in conjunction with the CIA caught Che’ in 1966 and in spite of U.S. protests and requests to give him to us, they put him down like the rabid dog he was.

I only tell you that story to point out that there is something seriously wrong when the President of the United States doesn’t have enough common sense or competent advisors to NOT allow him to be put in a position where he can be used as a propaganda tool.

Some things are simply not forgivable. It might be Diplomatic common sense to reopen relationships with Cuba and might even be ok to show respect to their office of president – even if it’s held by one of the Castro bros – But…

Che’ cannot be rehabilitated any more than Stalin or Mao can. The record of his deeds cannot be softened enough to make anything about him acceptable.

If you think my reaction to the Che’ tee-shirt was bad, you should see how Cuban Americans reacted to the image. For a Cuban American to see President Obama posing in front of a mural that honors Che’ Guevara must have been like a Jew seeing a President honoring Joseph Mengele.

I’ve been on advanced party for VIPs – I know for a fact that someone was assigned to reconnoiter every venue the President would be appearing in – what idiot let him take a stage in front of Che’s wall without a backdrop?

All he had to say was “No”; we don’t honor scum like Che’.

Would it have angered the Castro Regime? – damn strait it would have… but that would have been a good move.

They need us much more than we need them, showing weakness is never a good negotiation tool

Before you get a tee-shirt with a face you don’t really know or get a SPQR tattoo, at least educate yourself to who it is and what it means.

If you are either swearing loyalty to the city of Rome or your politics are so extreme right wing that you are a Fascist or hard core  NAZI, then an SPQR tattoo might be appropriate .

If you are so far left that you embrace Democratic Socialism ; then a Che’ Guevara or Lenin t-shirt will fit you just fine…but at least know what it means and embrace it.

Understand that even if you were told it means something else – When you sport an image of an enemy figure or a NAZI or Communist slogan, you are telling the world you are an enemy of the United States and that you embrace Tyranny.

The Sheeple routine is unbecoming of free men.

Read the Original Article  at Havok Journal

Texas News: IED Found in Texas

According to McLennan County Sheriff, the material consisted of shotgun shells in a container possibly filled with a flammable liquid. They describe the device as “extremely dangerous”.

Well, at first glance it sounds disturbing. But several things need to be addressed.

1. Rosebud is a rural Texas town with a small population and at the moment, there is no significance in targeting anyone there.
2. The type of device is of limited effect. The heat from a flame could set off the primer causing the powder to ignite and fire the shotgun shell. However, the shell alone will not contain the force necessary to provide propulsive force to the pellets in the shell. Beyond a very limited range, it would not have much energy to impart damage. Additionally, the first shell to fire, would burst the container and scatter the rest of the shells. They might still go off, but without any focus and with limited results. You need a barrel to contain the force of the shot in order to get energy imparted to the pellets.

The most significant thing to my mind is the comments of the various posts. This is a singular event with no stated precursors or attribution but everyone is freely blaming, well, everyone.

The list of guilty potential parties includes

1. Everyone white
2. Everyone brown
3. Everyone Christian
4. Everyone Atheist
5. Everyone Muslim
6. Everyone Democrat
7. Everyone Republican
8. Ted Cruz
9. Donald Trump
10. Hillary
11. Jade Helm
12. Walmart
13. Target

While many of the comments are sarcastic, there is plenty of real fear. Fear of what? Fear essentially for the sake of fear alone. While IED’s are no joke, I have seen what they can do and spent challenging times trying to figure out where and when they might be placed in order to warn convoys, we have no information beyond that a device was found.

A shitty device at that. Is this something more? Is this a precursor or just some kid being an idiot? We don’t know but sure, lets speculate and make shit up.

Given the sophistication, lack of, and the location. I am going to walk out on a limb and say this is nothing right now.

Until we have more information, there is no point in speculation and definitely not any point in fear. Given more information and evidence, I could make a better analysis that might actually mean something but since I can’t, the best that I can say is, this is nothing worth getting worked up over.

Sounds crazy right? Fear is the greatest tool of terror no matter who is using it. Until we have more information, the best thing to do is just keep doing what you were already doing and let it pass for now. If we know more, we can do more.

As for who is to blame, let the police work that out. Insane blame game, racist, xenophobic comments just cause more fear.

There are no precautions to take, not changes in habit that will work, no actions that will make you safer. And since there are not, there is no point in getting all worked up over nothing. Because right now, there is nothing specific to get worked up about.

Read the Original Article at Havok Journal