Damn...
To hijack, generally speaking I don't care about your country or cause, if you're going to fight for it your country should care for you when it is over. A country which can't/ won't take care of its veterans is just pathetic.
What Are You Currently Reading?
- Thread starter CDG
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Damn...
To hijack, generally speaking I don't care about your country or cause, if you're going to fight for it your country should care for you when it is over. A country which can't/ won't take care of its veterans is just pathetic.
pardus
Verified Military
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- Sep 7, 2006
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- 10,534
Damn...
To hijack, generally speaking I don't care about your country or cause, if you're going to fight for it your country should care for you when it is over. A country which can't/ won't take care of its veterans is just pathetic.
Pathetic is being kind.
Medical, civilian retraining, psych, pensions etc... costs should all be factored in and put aside as part of the cost of going to war.
Just finished Shadows of a Forgotten Past: To the Edge with the Rhodesian SAS and Selous Scouts, by Paul French. Another first-hand account of the Rhodesian Bush War and assorted fun against commie-backed factions. Very good read. Indebted to Pardus again for the recommendation. 
Currently reading "Guardian Angel" by retired Senior Master Sergeant William Sine. Pretty good book for anyone interested in the Pararescue career field. The book has a story of the SMSgt doing night jump into a minefield to help an Aussie SAS Operator who got hit by a land mine. Apparently that mission was a big reason why Pararescuemen were afforded the opportunity to carry blood with them.
Z
Z
Was that SASR digger Andy Russell?
Yes. The SAS Team had a CCT attached to them and requested Pararescue. SMSgt Sine was part of the three man team, they jumped off an HC-130 into the minefield. The HC-130 would arrive faster then the CSAR helicopters so they made the attempt in order to help prepare and stabilize Russell.
Australian SAS Sergeant Andrew Russell (RIP)
SAS Sgt. Russell
Thirty-three-year-old Sergeant Andrew Russell, from the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment, has been killed in action in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Russell suffered fatal wounds on 16th February, 2002 when the long-range patrol vehicle in which he was travelling struck a suspected anti-vehicle mine.
He was one of five Australian personnel travelling in the vehicle, but was the only person wounded in the explosion.
Combat Search and Rescue helicopters were launched from Kandahar 13 minutes after the task group headquarters was notified of the incident at 11.58pm Australian Eastern Summer Time.
Despite the efforts of a three-member US military rescue team, who parachuted into the scene to stabilise him in preparation for evacuation by helicopter, he was pronounced dead after arriving at a United States medical facility in Kandahar.
ZM
pardus
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Why was he not taken out by the CSR helos from KAF? I can't imagine a parachute drop being organized and launched in 13 minutes...
I've seen it said that the medical team took off minutes after the helicopter (no mention of how many minutes), at any rate they got to the incident site quicker than the chopper and were working on him when it landed.
Why was he not taken out by the CSR helos from KAF? I can't imagine a parachute drop being organized and launched in 13 minutes...
The mission took place in western Afghanistan near the Iranian border. The HC-130 was traveling from Jacobabad, Pakistan to Kandahar then to Karshi-Kanabad(K2), Uzbekistan. The HC-130 was transferring supplies and personnel back and forth with a team of PJ's onboard who were on airborne alert. After leaving Kandahar for K2 the request for a medevac came in and the HC-130 was ordered back to Kandahar to drop off the cargo and personnel. Believe it or not they were actually requested for a different medevac mission before it got cancelled. Then that's when the medevac request came in from the SAS team. The HC-130 and Pave Hawks took off at around the same time from Kandahar. The idea was that the PJ's onboard the HC-130 would be able to arrive before the Pave Hawks so they would be able to stabilize Russell and prep him for evacuation. After the Pave Hawks arrived they loaded Russell onboard then left back towards Kandahar.
ZM
First to Jump by Jerome Preisler. The subject is the 101st's pathfinders in WWII. Well written, but if I see one more line about misfits and those who wanted to repair their military record I'll scream. Mr. Preisler makes the pathfinders sound like The Dirty Dozen without the murder and rape. Discussing their equipment and their intent in Normady is interesting as in the tie-in to E/506 and the mutiny against Sobel, but overall I'm not impressed.
Finally getting to the last chapters and it finally gets into the groove. I'm separating career from literary merit as no doubt CP has had a pretty impressive career, but there's a bit too much padding in the mid section of the book. In comparing it to Ken Connors' bio it's obtuse & reading the braille is a requirement.
RetPara
SOF Support
"A Cruel And Shocking Act" by Phillip Shenon
This is an examination of the Warren Commission principally through the eyes of the Warren Commission's young lawyers like Warren Specter before he went to Congress. It's well worth the read as it gives a very good examination of how screwed up the investigation of the Kennedy Assassination was.
This is an examination of the Warren Commission principally through the eyes of the Warren Commission's young lawyers like Warren Specter before he went to Congress. It's well worth the read as it gives a very good examination of how screwed up the investigation of the Kennedy Assassination was.
I'm a quarter of the way through How to Win Friends and Influence People. I'll post more thoughts later but for now, I am impressed by the timelessness of this book. Most of my civilian friends recommended it, especially those in sales. Whether I'm in or out of uniform next year, I'm happy to tighten my shot group when it comes to people skills.
Dame
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- Apr 22, 2010
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Great book. Absolutely relevant in any time period. And yes, it tends to be one of the Gospels of the Sales profession.
Some book about Rangers some Goon and a tall guy wrote. 
We kept one copy and gave the other to my in-laws. It will join our other two signed books on the shelf, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace and In The Company Of Heroes.
We kept one copy and gave the other to my in-laws. It will join our other two signed books on the shelf, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace and In The Company Of Heroes.
First to Jump, first to be cancelled. Ugh, that's the book the Pathfinders deserve? Not bloody likely.
I moved on to The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge.
The author:
http://www.thomasasbridge.com/
http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/profile/4511-dr-tom-asbridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Asbridge
I moved on to The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge.
The author:
http://www.thomasasbridge.com/
http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/profile/4511-dr-tom-asbridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Asbridge
KurtTroter
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I'm currently reading Level Zero Heroes, its an absolutely well articulated read that i think adequately describes one MSOTs struggle in an unforgiving AO as well as touches on the operational dynamic most US forces struggled with in the Afghan war.
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Wild, by Cheryl Strayed. Apparently everyone in the world but me knows about this book, and the upcoming movie based on the book. I picked it up at REI today - The first part of the book, heartrenching. An autobiography of a woman (the author) who as an in-experienced hiker, walks the Pacific Crest Trail.
