Afghanistan

Canadian troops and Kiowa choppers pin down Taliban in a grapehut. A Hellfire missile is called in to finish the job.

General Pershing once said the deadliest weapon in the world is a marine and his rifle:

Multimedia production (with music) highlighting the importance of the air element of the Marine Corps and how they directly support the troops on the ground. Footage includes combat scenarios including fire fights, helmet cam footage, explosions and air fire support.

ᔥ NZ Herald

The Taliban appear to be doing the bidding of Murray McCully and helping close down an embassy:

The New Zealand Embassy was among the sites hit in a series of attacks in Afghanistan.

Taliban insurgents yesterday launched violent attacks on several locations across the country’s capital, Kabul, as well as in three eastern cities, firing grenades and automatic weapons in what has been described as one of the most serious assaults in years.

A guard tower at the British embassy compound, which also houses New Zealand’s embassy, was hit by two rockets and remained locked down this afternoon.

Prime Minister John Key, who is in Indonesia, told reporters that the two New Zealanders attached to the embassy had not been involved in the incident and were safe.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the New Zealand Defence Force confirmed that Afghanistan-based personnel were all safe and accounted for following the attacks.

I love this photo.

Not only has the photographer captured the Mortar round in flight, but you can also see the dust spurts as the base plate compresses under the impact of the round exiting and the muzzle flash surrounding the round as it exits:

ᔥ NZ Herald

The SAS are coming home from Afghanistan…one month earlier than Phil Goff promised they would return if Labour was elected.

New Zealand special air service troops are returning home from Afghanistan at the end of their two-and-half year deployment.

The fourth deployment of SAS troops to Afghanistan was posted in 2009, with their official mission coming to an end yesterday.

Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman today formally acknowledged their contribution, saying they had helped ensure Al Qaeda could not maintain safe-havens in Afghanistan from which to plan further attacks.

“In this sense, the NZSAS deployments have directly helped protect New Zealanders from the risk of international terrorism,” he said.

“The SAS have served New Zealand with distinction over the course of their deployments in Afghanistan. It’s been a job well done.”

There are many things you can call a Victoria Cross winner…hero, brave, outstanding etc, but you can’t call him a dud root, as the hosts and panel of an Aussie TV show have found out:

The co-host of Channel Ten program The Circle has publicly apologised for making a sexist and disrespectful comment about Victoria Cross winner Ben Roberts-Smith, saying she had never met the Australian war hero and ‘‘felt sick’’ at the angry backlash she had received after branding him brainless.

Yumi Stynes admitted she did not know much about Corporal Roberts-Smith when she commented on a photograph of the shirtless war hero in a swimming pool yesterday, saying: ‘‘He’s going to dive down to the bottom of the pool to see if his brain is there’’.

Stynes’ guest co-host and veteran journalist George Negus had then quipped: “I’m sure he’s a really good guy, nothing about poor old Ben. But that sort of bloke, and what if they’re not up to it in the sack?”

Another host questioned whether Negus was suggesting “that he could be a dud root?”, to laughter from the audience.

But their flippant treatment of Corporal Roberts-Smith – who single-handedly stormed an enemy machine gun position in Afghanistan in 2010 – angered relatives of decorated war veterans as well as viewers, who flooded the television show’s Facebook page with furious comments.

The show’s treatment of Corporal Roberts-Smith also came under fire after the soldier revealed in a candid interview on Channel Seven’s Sunday Night that he and his wife had conceived their twin daughters through IVF treatment.

The US Army has developed kevlar grundies for combat:

When it comes to the many “life-changing” injuries that can result from an IED blast, the loss of a limb is probably the first one that springs to mind. But injuries to the pelvic region that leave soldiers with the inability to have children can obviously be just as devastating. That’s why the U.S. Army has developed a Pelvic Protection System – dubbed “Kevlar boxers” or “combat underpants” by some soldiers – to protect dismounted soldiers patrolling Afghanistan roads.

The U.S. Army developed the Pelvic Protection System after taking a lead from British forces that employed “Blast Boxers” made by Cardiff-based military accessories provider BCB International. The U.S. version consists of two layers of protection – a Tier I protective under-garment – or “PUG” – and a Tier II protective outer-garment – or “POG.”

Worn like shorts, the PUG is worn under a soldier’s ACU (Army Combat Uniform) pants and can be worn over the top of, or in place of underwear. It has a breathable, moisture wicking material on the outer thighs and knitted Kevlar along the inner thighs to protect the fleshy parts of the thigh and the femoral artery. Additional knitted or woven Kevlar is located over the groin. The fabric has been tested to ensure it won’t melt or drip when exposed to extreme heat.

There is a great deal of lefty wailing about some soldier pissing on the corpses of dead Taliban. Blair Mulholland says what I am thinking.

These are soldiers!  They are supposed to kill our enemies.  What earthly difference does it make if they humiliate the corpse?  The corpse is no longer bothered by the offence.  Besides which, these are Taliban, they are vile sacks of shit who stone women for exposing their ankles and trying to get an education.  And they harboured Osama Bin Laden after 9/11 and refused to give him up.  If I had the opportunity, I would piss on a Taliban corpse as well.

Arapeta Awatere – the great Colonel of the Maori Battalion, once pissed on Hitler’s rug, and nobody complained.  If we are going to show no respect for these scumbags while they are living, why do their bodies suddenly become sacred in death?

The US Government and the US Army hierarchy should ask themselves when they became such pussies that they are so afraid of a bunch of pissing cocks.  These soldiers don’t deserve a court martial, they deserve a beer.

Iran is getting stroppy:

 Iran says it has successfully test fired a long-range missile during its naval exercise in the Gulf, the official IRNA news agency reported.

“We have test fired a long-range shore-to-sea missile called Qader (capable), which managed to successfully destroy predetermined targets in the Gulf,” the agency quoted deputy navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi as saying.

The move follows Iran’s threat to halt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Today we will test-fire Qader and Nour long range missiles during the drill,” Mousavi told state TV earlier today.

Iran has been holding the 10-day naval exercise at a time of increased tension with Western powers over its nuclear programme, and Mousavi said on Sunday it had successfully test-fired a medium range surface-to-air missile.

Tehran threatened last week to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if it became the target of an oil embargo over its nuclear ambitions. The European Union has said it is considering a ban – already in place in the United States – on imports of Iranian crude.

The US Fifth Fleet said it will not allow any disruption of traffic in the vital oil shipping route.

They must be blessed with a whole heap of stupid. The US has wound down its Iraq deployment, Afghanistan is winding down too…they have plenty of battle hardened veterans, heaps of munitions and a stroppy anti-West country that wants nukes flexing it’s muscles.

Iran says they will close the Straits of Hormuz, I say a flight of B-52s, some B2s, a couple of carrier groups and the US Marines will make sure that won’t be happening.

Britain’s Number one Christmas Song is ‘Wherever You Are’:

A choir of wives of soldiers serving in Afghanistan topped the British singles charts this week, beating X Factor winners Little Mix to the Christmas No. 1 spot and outselling the rest of the top 12 put together.

Wherever You Are by Military Wives, a song written using excerpts from letters sent between military couples, sold 556,000 copies, the Official Charts Company said.

From their Youtube page:

‘Wherever You Are’ is a moving love song written by Royal Wedding composer Paul Mealor for the choir to sing at The Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance. The music is set to a poem compiled from letters to and from the servicemen and their wives on a 6-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. It is the raw emotion of the song that has touched so many of the British public.