Operation Red WIngs

Today, we remember the valor and sacrifice of those brave Navy SEALs and Army aviators who lost their lives during Operation Red Wings, in 2005, Afghanistan. The night of the 27th of June, 4 Navy SEALs were inserted via Night Stalker helos between Sawtalo Sar and Gatigal Sar. Soon after, the mission was compromised when a group of locals inadvertently stumbled upon the SEALs' position. After determining that the locals were civilians and not combatants, the goatherders were allowed to live and the SEALs moved onward to their primary surveillance position. After close to an hour, the operators were surrounded and ambushed by their original target (Ahmad Shah) and a large group of his men. As the fire increased in volume and intensity, the operators were forced to continually fall back. Eventually, every single one of the men had been either shot, or injured terribly, but they still kept fighting on. Danny Dietz was shot multiple times in the torso area and once in the neck, Matt Axelson was also wounded similarly, but took a round to the side of his head as well, Marcus Luttrell had broken a number of bones and Mike Murphy had taken a bullet to the stomach. Nevertheless, they fought back with the ferocity expected of these elite warriors.

Outgunned and surrounded, with one operator succumbing to his injuries, Lt. Murphy made a heroic decision to use his last-resort Iridium sat-phone to attempt to place a call to base, alerting the QRF. He moved onto higher ground, so as to get a signal for the phone and exposed himself to enemy fire from all sides. He was able to get through to his CO and quickly explain the situation, then sign off. During all of this, Murphy was shot a few more times, but finally managed to drag himself back to a covered position. He was later surrounded and brutally executed by Taliban fighters in the area, and the remaining two members of the reconnaissance team, Luttrell and Axelson, both seriously wounded were hit by an RPG. Luttrell was flung out of the covered spot where he and Axe were pinned down, and tossed into a gully. He later extracted himself and was eventually recovered by locals, tortured by the Taliban, then rescued. Axe's fate was unknown till after the operation ended and recovery efforts were fully underway. Luttrell had notified the recovery team that Axe had around 3 full magazines remaining when they were separated by the RPG blast, but when the team found him, he had a single magazine left and his body was a few hundred yards away from where the RPG hit, indicating that the man continued to fight back, even after all his injuries.

Sadly, the loss of life wasn't limited to these 3 brave SEALs of the SRT. The QRF lead by LCDR Erik Kristensen, flown by Army Night Stalkers was shot down, all hands lost, when an RPG hit their Chinook.

• LT Michael P. Murphy
• STG2 (SEAL) Matthew Axelson
• GM2 (SEAL) Danny Dietz
• FCC (SEAL/SW) Jacques J. Fontan
• ITCS (SEAL) Daniel R. Healy
• LCDR Erik S. Kristensen
• ET1 (SEAL) Jeffery A. Lucas
• LT Michael M. McGreevy Jr.
• QM2 (SEAL) James E. Suh
• HM1 (SEAL) Jeffrey S. Taylor
• MM2 (SEAL) Shane E. Patton
• SSG Shamus O. Goare
• CWO3 Corey J. Goodnature
• SGT Kip A. Jacoby
• SFC Marcus V. Muralles
• MSG James W. Ponder III
• MAJ Stephen C. Reich
• SFC Michael L. Russell
• CWO4 Chris J. Scherkenbach

Gentlemen, your sacrifice will live on forever. 

Thank you. 

Iceman out. 

Memorial Day 2012

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

-Abraham Lincoln (16th President of The United States of America). 

What do we think of when Memorial Day Weekend comes to mind? Family and friends over for a barbecue for sure, right? Fireworks, a parade, the Indy 500 and television marathons?

Sadly, for a very large number of Americans, that would be their definition of the day. Memorial Day is when we come together to remember those who've paid the ultimate sacrifice in support of their country, throughout the years.

From the Revolutionary War to the current conflict in Afghanistan, so many Americans have given their lives in the name of freedom, liberty and justice, and in defense of the United States against those who seek to tear it apart.

God bless those who've passed in service of the United States. As Abraham Lincoln put it so well, it is up to us to ensure that these brave men and women did not die in vain, and to preserve their memory for future generations.

Let us never forget.

The Canucks

Everyone makes fun of Canada's military. I'll admit, even Canadians make fun of them too. Does it consist of hockey players trained in the art of slapshotting explosive pucks at enemy combatants? Are its submarines really canoes with holes in them? Does it even exist?

Haha, well yeah. It exists. They're only hockey players in their spare time, and their submarines are real, modern diesel-electrics. Actually they don't get as much credit as they deserve. Though it's a small fighting defense force, Canada's military is among the most modern in the world, and its intense recruit training churns out highly-trained and qualified soldiers, airmen and sailors fit for service in their respective branch. Granted, there are a few things I'd personally like to see changed (along with a good number of others who'd support my notions, I'm sure), and yeah, it's definitely not comparable in terms of size, strength and technology that you'd find in the US or British armed forces, it can hold it's own for a while. 

Did you know that the Canadian Forces pioneered the use of digital camouflage patterning? Yep! In fact, the United States Marines wear a derivative of CADPAT.

Did you know that a Canadian Forces sniper broke the record for the longest kill in the world, in 2002? 2657 yards! It was later surpassed by a British sniper in 2009, however.