From VietNam To Afghanistan: A Family Of Heroes

Army Pilot, Retired Marine Father Receive Silver Star Awards During Special Ceremony.

By Spc. George Welcome
101st Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (29 Nov. 2008) — Thirty years separate the conclusion of the Vietnam War and the start of the Global War on Terrorism. While time, tactics and technology have made today’s military vastly different from the one which fought in the jungles of Vietnam, the common denominator in the two conflicts is the American service member, whose bravery and sacrifices secure peace and freedom for America and its allies.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Harris receives a handshake from Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, after being presented the Silver Star during an award ceremony at Combined Joint Task Force-101 Headquarters on Nov. 28, 2008. Photographer: Spc. George Welcome, 101st Combat Avation Brigade Public Affairs.

It is a rare occurrence when a Soldier receives a Silver Star for courage under fire. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Harris became one of the few Soldiers to receive the prestigious award on the evening of Nov. 28, during a ceremony at Combined Joint Task Force-101 Headquarters. But the fact that his father, Retired Staff Sgt. Gary Harris, was also presented with a Silver Star made the event all the more special.

Through the magic of video teleconferencing, the Harris family got to watch as the younger Harris was presented the Silver Star by Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, CJTF-101 commanding general, from the conference room at Fort Campbell, Ky. Meanwhile, Soldiers from CJTF-101 watched the video screen, as the elder Harris was pinned with not only the Silver Star, but a Bronze Star he earned as a Marine serving in Vietnam, which were never formally presented to him.

“It’s very rare that we present the Silver Star,” Schloesser explained to those in attendance at both Fort Campbell and Afghanistan. “We have a very high standard and we make sure that the few who do earn it have done so through selfless sacrifice. It’s clear that Mr. Harris did that, and it is also clear that the nation owes a debt to Staff Sgt. (Ret.) Gary Harris, it was almost 40 years ago that he earned it, and I hope in some small way that we can pay back that debt by presenting him his award with his son’s today.”

Personal courage and selfless service run deep in the Harris family bloodline, as both father and son reacted similarly in their encounters with enemy forces, by risking their lives to ensure the safety of their comrades.

The elder Harris displayed this courage on Aug. 15, 1969 when as a squad leader in Vietnam, his company which was patrolling the outer perimeter near Gol Ree, was attacked with mortar and rocket fire. He quickly directed the members of his squad to return fire on the enemy. As the attack died down, he moved his squad closer to the perimeter, which had been weakened during the barrage. As the enemy resumed its assault, he directed his squad to return fire once again, breaking the enemy attack. During the engagement, he risked his life by helping medics aid wounded Marines and helped bring them to safety.

The younger Harris also displayed bravery in the face of danger by exposing himself to enemy fire. On July 2, 2008, Harris, who is a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot assigned to Company C, 5th Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, landed his helicopter at a landing zone near Gardez, Afghanistan, to pick up infantry Soldiers for transport, when his aircraft came under attack by enemies using rocket propelled grenades, a heavy machine gun and various assault rifles.

With the aircraft on fire, Harris and crew manage[d] to fly it a short distance before putting it down again. After safely exiting the burning helicopter, the entire crew took up a defensive posture. They managed to contact a CH-47 Chinook, which was in the area to help extract them from the battlefield. As the Chinook landed, the enemy resumed fire. It was then that Harris, who was helping one of his wounded crew chiefs to the helicopter, exposed himself to fire by engaging and killing an approaching enemy combatant. He entered the helicopter only after ensuring that the members of his crew, the ground forces and the quick reaction force were safely aboard.

“Mr. Harris has been great since the incident,” said Sgt. DeeJay Norby, a crew chief who was also involved in the action at Gardez. “He didn’t get down or anything afterward; he went right back to business doing his job. It’s really awesome getting to fly with a great group of pilots and crew chiefs.”

This was not the first award that Harris received during the deployment; he was also presented with the Air Medal with Valor device.

In his short address, Harris thanked his flight crew and the crew of the Chinook that performed the rescue operation. “I’m so lucky to serve with so many great heroes,” said Harris. “Without them, the outcome might not have been so good.”

He also gave a heartfelt thank you to his father, whose life and service set the example for him. “Every time people thank us for our service, I tell them to thank a Vietnam vet; so dad I want to thank you today.”

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Simply AWESOME! Thank you both! And thanks to all the other people who helped. Godspeed.

May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.

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Founders’ Daily Quote: 28 Nov 08

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep for ever.”

–Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781

And this is a ‘diest’? And I am a trillionaire…

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Cross-posted @ Rosemary’s Thoughts.

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Flight 93 Blogburst: 27 Nov 08

Below you will find this week’s blogburst regarding the argument about the Memorial to be built in Pennsylvania. What is the main issue? The people who designed the Memorial insist on not only including the nuts that caused the crash, but to make it as a symbol of the largest mosque heading towards Mecca (taking a flight map, not straight from point A to point B. Those are two different points). Please read this and if you agree, won’t you consider joining us in trying to stop this? Thank you.

No, the Mecca-orientation of the Crescent of Embrace is NOT a product of the landform.

Defenders of the Flight 93 memorial repeatedly insist that the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent HAS to be a coincidence. It is completely determined, they insist, by the landform, the path of Flight 93, and the impact point, leaving no room for intent to enter.

Of course it is crazy to think that, so long as it is just an unfortunate coincidence, there is nothing wrong with planting a giant Mecca-oriented crescent (the central feature of a mosque) on the graves of our murdered heroes. About as crazy, actually, as thinking that the Mecca-orientation of the giant crescent could really be a coincidence. First architect Paul Murdoch just innocently comes up with a half mile wide Islamic-shaped crescent to honor the victims of Islamic terrorism, then he innocently places the Sacred Ground Plaza between the tips of the giant crescent, in the position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag, then he innocently just happens to point this entire crescent-and-star-flag configuration at Mecca (and on and on and on).

When the nation saw the second airliner hit the Trade Towers, everyone immediately knew that the first impact was no accident. The more airplanes that Paul Murdoch flies into the Flight 93 memorial, the more the Memorial Project thinks it HAS to be an accident. It’s just TOO OUTLANDISH to think that an Islamic enemy could attack us out of the blue and unaware in such a henious way. What precedent is there for thinking that such a thing could even be possible? (Knock, knock, knock.) So the more evidence they are confronted with, the more impossible it seems and the more they insist that Murdoch HAS to be innocent.

Okay. So they are willfully blind. Even so, they still need excuses to hang onto their willful blindness, and part of Murdoch’s evil genius is to supply these excuses. That is where this trope about the crescent design being dictated by the landscape comes from. It comes from Murdoch, and is actually one of his most brilliant deceptions.

Murdoch’s PRELIMINARY DESIGN actually can be seen as dictated by the landform, the flight-path, and the point of impact

Before any designs were submitted, the Memorial Project gave all the design contestants a site organization map that labeled the “the ridgeline”, “the bowl”, “the crash site”, and “the flight path”. Architect Paul Murdoch claims that all he did was combine these elements by having the flight path symbolically “break” the circular bowl shape, creating the giant Crescent of Embrace design. If you start a crescent at the point where the flight path crosses the ridgeline, and follow the rim of “the bowl” around the ridgeline to create a crescent that “embraces” the Sacred Ground where Flight 93 crashed, then you get the Crescent of Embrace design. Since this procedure uniquely determines the orientation of the crescent, there is no room for the orientation to be determined by anyone’s intent. If it faces Mecca, it HAS to be a coincidence.

This argument actually works, but only when applied to Paul Murdoch’s ORIGINAL Crescent of Embrace design, which did NOT point to Mecca. Take a look:

Click for larger image.

The site organization map (left), shows “the bowl” bordered by “the ridge” along with the flight path and the crash site. Murdoch’s preliminary Crescent of Embrace design (right), uses the point where the flight path crosses the ridge/bowl as the end point for a crescent that has the Sacred Ground centered between its crescent tips. Resulting orientation: 11.1°clockwise from north, which is 44.1° north of Mecca.

The explanatory notes in the preliminary design are perfectly accurate when they describe the crescent as focused on the Sacred Ground:

A curving arc of maple trees along a walkway unites the ridge and forms an edge to the bowl, with a focus on the Sacred Ground.

It is also correct to say that this crescent and its orientation are uniquely determined (to within 5° or so) by the landform, the flight path and the crash site. If the crescent arc were extended much further then it would no longer point to the Sacred Ground. (The amount of curve between the end points of the crescent does not matter. Murdoch established the curve of his original crescent by smoothing the curved shape of the ridge line.)

If this crescent is uniquely determined by the combination of landform, flight path and crash site, then the final Crescent of Embrace design, rotated 42.3° further to the east, obviously CANNOT be determined by these factors. By extending the crescent in his final design to match the full Islamic crescent shape (covering about 2/3rds of a circle of arc), Murdoch created a crescent that no longer points to the Sacred Ground:

The bisector of the crescent in Murdoch’s final Crescent of Embrace design points approximately 1.8° north of Mecca (marked “qibla”). Notice that the bisector of this Mecca-oriented crescent does not even touch the Sacred Ground, but crosses through the upper portion of the Sacred Ground Plaza that sits up the flight path from the Sacred Ground.

While the crescent no longer points to the Sacred Ground, Murdoch still PRETENDS that it does. Asked last summer about the orientation of the crescent, Project Superintendent Joanne Hanley and architect Paul Murdoch both claimed that it points to the Sacred Ground:

Further, [Hanley] added, it is still unclear exactly where on the landscape the memorial will even be situated. It could move as much as 200 yards, she said, discounting the idea that it faces Mecca.

“The only thing that orients the memorial is the crash site,” she said.

Mr. Murdoch reinforced that idea.

“It’s oriented toward the Sacred Ground,” he said. “It just couldn’t be clearer.”

Hanley may be honestly duped, but Murdoch knows full well that the crescent does not point to the Sacred Ground. Such an orientation would ruin his mosque design, not just because a Sacred Ground oriented crescent would no longer point to Mecca, but also because it would place the graves of the infidels in the location of the star on an Islamic flag, leaving them inside the symbolic Islamic heavens. Blasphemy!

Murdoch has a very different symbolism in mind for the star on his giant crescent and star flag. In the top third of the Sacred Ground Plaza, centered on the bisector of the giant crescent in the exact position of the star on an Islamic flag, sits a separate upper section of [the] Memorial Wall inscribed with the 9/11 date. The date goes to the star on the Islamic flag. The date goes to the terrorists.

The duping of David Beamer

At this August’s public meeting of the Memorial Project, David Beamer (father of Flight 93 hero Todd Beamer) came out to counter Tom Burnett Sr.’s protests against the crescent design.

Mr. Beamer declared that he had performed several months of due diligence investigating the warnings about the crescent design, by which he presumably meant that he had checked at least a few of our factual claims like the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent (now called a broken circle), but instead of reporting the results of his fact-checking, Mr. Beamer changed the subject. He did not say a single word about the accuracy of any of our claims, [he] only reported how he had met with architect Paul Murdoch and was satisfied that Murdoch’s design properly honors his son and the other murdered heroes of Flight 93.

If he actually did any fact checking, then he is fully aware that the giant crescent DOES point within 2° of Mecca , in which case there is only one plausible explanation for Beamer declaring the design innocent. Murdoch must have convinced him that the crescent orientation is determined by the landform, the flight path and the crash site, so that its orientation on Mecca HAS to be coincidence.

If Mr. Beamer had bothered to talk to the person who has been warning of an enemy plot, then Alec Rawls would have explained to him that no, these physical facts about the crash site do NOT yield a Mecca-oriented crescent. They yield a crescent that points 44° north of Mecca. It is a very strange concept of due diligence to trust the assurances of the who is an enemy operative while refusing to talk to the person who is issuing warnings

Very strange, too, to think that just because one is convinced that the Mecca orientation of the crescent is a coincidence that somehow makes it okay to deny the Mecca orientation when speaking to the press and the public as several Project spokesmen have now done. The fact that Mr. Beamer and Hanley and other Project Partners have been duped be Murdoch”s explanations would be of little consequence if they just let the public know what they know so the American people can decide for themselves whether the fact that it might be a coincidence makes it okay to plant the world’s largest Mecca-direction indicator on the Flight 93 crash site.

Obviously the answer would be “NO!”, and this nightmare would be over. It is the lying that is the problem. Hanley et. al. can be a bunch of dupes if they want, but they have no right to deceive the public about what they know.

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May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.

Source: Error Theory.

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Founders’ Daily Quote: 27 Nov 08

“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favors.”

–George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789

Yes, George. That would be the ideal, but you must understand. Just because you fought in the Revolutionary War and were the our very first president, you do not understand the plain written constitution. At least that is what the Left/Marxists would like us all to believe! Bravo for what you said then. It is just as profound today.

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Cross-posted @ Rosemary’s Thoughts.

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Africa: The Unnoticed Threat

What about the Somalian pirates? Ah, yes. Now you look, but what do you really know? For example, did you know that the middle east has been using sub-saharan Africa as a gateway to Mexico so they can enter the United States?

Yes, this is happening more and more often. Especially since our media refuses to educate the masses that are too stupid to handle the truth…or is it that they are just too lazy to track it down? Hmm, I’ll leave that to you to decide. On with the article.

I like to read Douglas Farah’s site, because he keeps his eyes, ears, and whatever body part is available to the ground when it comes to Africa. He is a counter-terrorism expert expert, and he has authored the book, “BLOOD FROM STONES”, the secret financial network of terror.

This is what attracted my eye today:

Sub-Saharan Africa Rises for the Wrong Reasons.
By Douglas Farah

While the Somali piracy crisis has galvanized world opinion, it is not the only area of Sub-Saharan Africa that is attracting counter-terrorism attention.

The growing ties between criminal and terrorist groups (often one and the same when it comes to Hezbollah’s broad activity in Western and Central Africa) has been noted. The Congress authorized the creation of the new Africa Command (Africom) largely because of the terrorist threat in the region.

But what is the real threat? Again I return to the pipeline metaphor, and Africa is more and more frequently a[n] important part of that pipeline structure.

Two cases illustrate this clearly. The first, an illegal alien smuggling ring running from Ghana through Central America to the United States was ideally positioned to carry anyone, including terrorists, across multiple borders.

The ring was run by a 26-year-old named Mohammed Kamel Ibrahim, living in Mexico and using the moniker “Silk the Shocker.” For $5,000 he offered to have his clients met by corrupt Mexican officials and sent on to the United States.

What is astonishing is the number of countries through which this network moved people. Like water running downhill they simply took the path of least resistance at any given moment. My full blog is here.

If you continue reading this article, you will find there are several ways in which corrupt governments – including the Mexican government – are aiding in the spread of jihadism. This is one of the very important reasons why we must remain ever vigilant on the issue of gaining control of and keeping it of our borders. Not only our borders by land but by that of sea.

Yes, they are planning something which will occur because someone got into America through the sea. We must press our government to gain control of our harbors. Also, they must give our Coast Guard proper training and equipment to face our enemy head-on. We are all counting on them as well, and it’s about time we showed it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.

Everyday I have an Open Trackback Linkfest party for all my friends – the ones I know and the ones I will come to know. If you have a post you would like to share, why not trackpost it here? All you have to do is add my Permalink somewhere in your article (usually at the bottom), then trackback to it. You don’t have trackbacks available? Why not use Wizbang Stand Alone Trackback? Everyone have a nice day.

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Founders’ Daily Quote: 26 Nov 08

“It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to Him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.”

–James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785

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Cross-posted @ Rosemary’s Thoughts.

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IAEA To West: Drop Dead

Have you visited The Talon yet? That is where I write every Tuesday. There are 7 other talented writers who also write for the Eagles UP blog. Please show us some love, and stop over. Better yet, register! 😉

International Atomic Energy Agency’s chief scumbag, El Baradei, has taken it upon himself to endanger the whole world by seeking to allow Syria to obtain a nuclear power plant that will not ‘violate’ or need their supervision. Just like the ones in Iran and North Korea. Doesn’t that make you feel better? The article is in Ha’aretz under the title, “IAEA chief ElBaradei: Let Syria have nuclear aid“.

Here is a brief quote:

An IAEA report last week said a Syrian building demolished in an Israeli air raid last year bore similarities to a nuclear reactor and uranium particles, possibly remnants of pre-enriched nuclear fuel, had been found in the area.

But it stressed the findings were preliminary and more on-site checks, and Syrian documentation to prove its denials of covert nuclear activity, were needed to draw conclusions. [Continue reading.]

If this was the other way around, if Syria had attacked Israel, the un would not even bat an eye. They wouldn’t even acknowledge that anything unlawful occurred. This is one way to determine who our enemies are. The old double cross.

I suppose all of my writing to representatives, senators, the UN, etc, made no impact when it came to getting this man fired. I find no satisfaction in being correct that he is a muslim spy for the Middle East. This of course means the terrible things we do not know about will most certainly fall upon me as well.

I do not think as some on the naive side of this issue. I do not just ask, ‘What business is it of MINE?’ No. I care about you as well, even if you don’t. This is getting to be overwhelmingly frustrating. And Obama wants to give the UN $50 BILLION more dollars? God, please protect us.

PS. Here are the URL’s for Eagles UP and the Talon.

Cross-posted @ The Talon and Rosemary’s Thoughts.

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Founders’ Daily Quote: 25 Nov 08

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition.”

—Thomas Jefferson (Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, 15 February 1791)

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Cross-posted @ Rosemary’s Thoughts.

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Gates: Afghan Support Makes Economic Sense

by Donna Miles
Armed Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (Nov. 24, 2008) – Tough economic times are no excuse for the international community to withhold support for Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters returning with him Nov. 21 from a two-day defense ministerial in Nova Scotia, Canada. Gates called it shortsighted for some to consider cutting troop support or funding in Afghanistan, particularly in light of the threats that remain there. “They’ll have to weigh the consequences of not doing it,” he told reporters.

Robert M. Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense.

The secretary said during a news conference in Cornwallis, Canada, that Afghanistan poses “some significant challenges,” with insurgents finding sanctuary in the western border area and new recruits joining the insurgency during the past two years. A key to countering this, he said, is to continue going after the Taliban, al-Qaida and other threats while building Afghan security forces so they can assume full responsibility for the country’s security.

NATO is building a trust fund to underwrite the effort and nearly doubling the Afghan security forces to 134,000 members. Despite its estimated $17 billion price tag, Gates called it a solid investment. “There is a huge disproportion between what it costs to train and equip an Afghan soldier and what it costs to put an American soldier in Afghanistan, trained and equipped and sustained,” he said. “It is an order of many orders of magnitude, [and that’s] true of other countries as well.” Ultimately, he said, it’s in everyone’s best interest to speed up the process in building up the Afghan national security forces. “Over the long term, your interests in getting out [of Afghanistan] are served by making a contribution to expanding the Afghan army.”

Gates said during a NATO defense ministerial last month in Bucharest, Hungary, that he encountered no “push-back” on either the expansion of the Afghan National Army or creation of a NATO trust fund to help pay for it. “I think there is a broad understanding that, ultimately, the expansion of the Afghan security forces is everybody’s ticket out of there,” he told reporters.

Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, who hosted last week’s meeting, reiterated the call for other NATO countries to support the effort through trainers, equipment or funding. “Other countries should be under no illusion,” MacKay said. “We are still asking for them to pick up the slack and share the burden.”

Source: CENTCOM.

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Founders’ Daily Quote: 24 Nov 08

“The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.”

—George Washington, letter to Thomas Nelson, August 20, 1778

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