Riehl World View

2005: The Year In Military Heroism

Between seeing this post of Sondrak's on Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith and all the brouhaha over various nonsensical year end lists, I decided to do a tribute post to America's War Heroes of 2005. In my view, they cannot get and certainly haven't gotten enough attention via the MSM.

Via CENTCOM links below you can access the data for all awards given month by month. I've read them all and highlighted one or more honorees for each month of the year, including some of the more compelling accounts of their noble service to America. Sadly, some awards were given posthumously.

Jan - 05: Among several awards, perhaps the most notable was a Silver Star awarded to 1st Lt. Neil Prakash, a tank platoon leader from the 2nd Battalion, 63rd Armor of V Corps’ 1st Infantry Division, in action at Ba'qubah.

During the action, Prakash spent several hours under fire as the lead vehicle, taking the brunt of the attack. When enemy fire disabled his tank’s turret, he maneuvered the entire vehicle in order to engage the enemy with the main weapon system and .50-caliber machine gun.

“Looking out of the hatch, I’m just spraying guys and they’re just falling,” said Prakash. “They would just drop – no blood, no nothing. We just keep rolling, getting shot at from everywhere.”

By battle’s end, Prakash's platoon was responsible for 25 confirmed destroyed enemy and an estimated 50 to 60 additional destroyed enemy fighters. Prakash was personally credited with the destruction of eight enemy strong-points, one enemy resupply vehicle, and multiple dismounted enemy fighters.

“He led the way,” said Alpha Company Commander Capt. Paul Fowler.

Llama Busted

Incredible but true. And a sad day for bloggers everywhere.

Along with mug shots and pedigree information on Florida Keys residents nabbed for such things as probation violations and cocaine sales, one "Juan Llama" appeared in connection with his misdemeanor arrest for "loitering-or prowling" at Key West High School.

And I thought Steve and Robbo had the good sense to leave the high school girls alone.

It's About Time

No, not New Year's Eve. Well, maybe that, too. However, DOJ is going to look into the NY Times regarding certain leaks.

More Bang For Your Buck

Quite Literally: Girls with Guns via Jeff at BA

Girls with Guns is a site devoted to cordite vixens from film & TV, featuring screen caps from scores of movies, ....

Ed Lorenz: Perfectly Dead

Yep, looks like from now on ol' Ed will be forever after chasing that 7 - 10 split in the sky. A Sisyphean struggle of less than epic proportion, perhaps. But nothing beats a bowling alley for a good round-bottomed, beer drinking gal who likes rough, extra-marital sex.

Um, er .. so I've heard. I don't bowl ... much. But there was this girl I knew, once .... ; )

PORTAGE, Mich. (AP) -- A bowler collapsed and died at a bowling alley shortly after rolling the third perfect game of his life. Ed Lorenz, 69, bowled a 300 Wednesday in his first league game of the night at Airway Lanes.

When the retiree got up to bowl in the fifth frame of his second game, he clutched his chest and fell over, and efforts to revive him failed.

"If he could have written a way to go out, this would be it," said Johnny D Masters, who was bowling with Lorenz.

On a serious note, God rest his soul.

Stand Off At Israeli Palestinian Check Point

So it appears.

GAZA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Scores of Palestinian policemen, angered by the killing of a fellow officer in a gunfight with a clan in the southern Gaza Strip, blocked access to the main border crossing with Egypt on Friday, prompting its closure.

Between Iran, Israel and the Palestinians, realize there's an incredible amount of confrontation going on in the Middle east just now.

Don't any of these people realize it's the Christmas Holidays?

Geesh! What am I thinking?

Of course not. The world keeps turning and it isn't all good.

Blog Changes

Just an FYI for some regular readers. Eventually there will be some changes coming to the blog. For one, I have been asked to join Blog Ads - an invite only ad service for bloggers which is a fairly standard deal. Please note - I received the same offer at the height of the Natalee Holloway story and though I would have generated a fair amount of dollars from it then, as well as over time, I made the decision to not do it for two reasons. One, I did not want to capitalize on the story that way. And two, if I had taken the time to try and reconfigure things, I was concerned it would have resulted in a mess and dragged on the reporting for days. It wasn't worth it for me.

In any event, I do not believe we are talking intrusive advertising, but simply some new boxes and such along the side. Basically, I am going to use any revenue generated, and my own dollars if need be - to, I think, improve the blog. Some of what I will be doing is not being done by any other blogger I am aware of and it will give readers a chance to participate in a fun, interesting and hopefully unique way.

No changes are planned to take place over night. But I wanted to let some know they are in the works.

What Did You Do On Christmas Vacation?

Runaway to Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Maybe it was the time the taxi dumped him at the     Iraq-Kuwait border, leaving him alone in the middle of the desert. Or when he drew a crowd at a Baghdad food stand after using an Arabic phrase book to order. Or the moment a Kuwaiti cab driver almost punched him in the face when he balked at the $100 fare.

But at some point, Farris Hassan, a 16-year-old from Florida, realized that traveling to Iraq by himself was not the safest thing he could have done with his Christmas vacation.

And he didn't even tell his parents.

Hassan's dangerous adventure winds down with the 101st Airborne delivering the Fort Lauderdale teen to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which had been on the lookout for him and promises to see him back to the United States this weekend.

It begins with a high school class on "immersion journalism" and one overly eager — or naively idealistic — student who's lucky to be alive after going way beyond what any teacher would ask.

ACLUless

This sort of thing just tics me off. It isn't about civil liberties, or civil rights or good government. It's a blatant political ploy which totally undermines, or at least should undermine any belief that the ACLU is anything more than a part of the wacko wing of the Democrat party.

The ACLU said President Bush’s actions were a clear violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was passed by Congress in response to revelations that former President Nixon was using “national security” claims to spy on American citizens he considered his “enemies.”

Rut Roh! I'm Number One On Google

Though maybe I shouldn't boast. LOL Try to do this without trying - I'm not 100% clear on the language, either.

ok people this is my secon post ever on this site. i really witsh i could get ...

ps -- Not sure if I should welcome those readers, ... or put papers down for 'em. ; )