Iceburner

so we are back on the statement that if it's not a direct threat to America we shouldn't do anything about it? The iraqi insurgents are threating american interests in iraq...which is more than the warlords in darfur as far as "threating" America/her interests....yet now we are supposed to get outta iraq and go to darfur? sry this is quick, i got more work to do today. i'll check back after work.

In reference to MCDP 1, (the Marine Corps Warfighting Manual): War is a violent clash of interests between or among organized groups characterized by the use of military force. These groups have traditionally been established nation-states, but may also include any nonstate group such as an international colition or faction within or outside of an existing state with it's own POLITICAL INTERESTS and the ABILITY to generate organized violence on a scale SUFFICIENT to have SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL CONSEQUESNCES......The essence of war is a violent struggle between two hostile, independent and irreconcilable wills, each trying to impose itself on the other. War is fundamentally an interactive SOCIAL PROCESS...." I could go on, but this simply backs up that war is an extension of politics. The way the process normally breaks down is you have the 2 irreconcilable wills, you use political means (i.e. talks, sanctions, etc), and when you still can't get along, you impose your will on the other...the other will breaks, and then your POLITICAL process is complete. The "war on drugs" is not a real war....there is not an organized group called "Drugs"....it's simply the US and the police trying to enforce their laws on a SUBSTANCE. And if you feel you can declare war on Bad 4-way teams, then you will have to go through the political process, attempt to reconsile your wills on all bad 4-way teams, and if that fails, then you can attempt to force your will on all bad 4-way teams... You define WWII vet not calling what we are doing a "war"....WWII is about the closest thing to a total war we have ever gotten...mainly because we used all of our nations assets to defeat the enemy (i.e. nuclear weapons). I know a WWII vet (he lives across from me) and he calls this a war, and is proud of what myself and my devil dogs are doing. He knows what is reported. The draft will not come back IMO because of how uneffective it is. The Marines are making their recruiting goals, the army is not. I would go, but i got a brief to recieve...and feel that i'm wasting my breath on you anyways.

war is an extension of politics....therefore, yes, America is at war...

An avid balloon pilot, community volunteer, skydiver, and a good friend. It's an honor to be jumping the demo's this weekend again this year in his memory. I'm sure he'll be there too.

it's just like bow fishing for carp...just now you gotta be a faster. I enjoy bow fishing...it takes some real skill to hit a fish. Helps me out with reflexes for deer hunting too.

I'm not in the AF, but i dont think the "dont ask dont tell" rule would be a good decision...if you at least let the higher ups know what you are doing, they will have a lil more sympathy for you if you do get hurt doing a jump. If you ORM it, there shouldn't be a reason that they wouldn't let you not jump...as i'm in schooling and they let me jump, mainly because i ORM'd it and showed them that i was taking every effort to make it as save as possible.

the only thing that pisses me off is not getting the best gear...rather, we get the best gear we can afford...Dont get me wrong, i think we go into combat with enough gear to get us through it, but knowing that the XM-8 is held back due to lack of funds, the JSF is having some funding problems. I agree that there should be checks and balances on the military...but a lot of this political crap is simply so some politician can further their carreer.... okay, my lil rant is over.

Is this another case of you saying something that you are aware doesn't make any sense or are all global analysts including the CIA 'the left'. i tend to put this into the same catagory of Hitler not being a direct threat to the US...yet we wanted him out of power (even long before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor). Wether or not you agree or disagree with the presidents reasons for entering into conflict, SH was a bad man, an evil dictator, and is better off not being in power.

it's a lot of little things that people (both lefties and rights) overlook...it took the US 6 years to draft a constitution...our first one failed...we went through a civil war, we still had minorities with no rights up untill the last centry. We are still an evolving and "new" country. Democracy is hard, especially when you are trying to build one from nothing. All the Iraqi's (and afghans) knew before the US got invovled was dictatorship. Horrible things were carried out by SH and his regime. People will want to get revenge, people will not know what to do with their freedom, and it will be a long and bumpy road...but without support i truely believe it will be a longer and harder path for the people over there.

i'm in the USMC (2nd LT) and just let my chain of command know that i skydive, and if they have a problem with it i polietly explain to them what skydiving entails (as most whuffos dont really know much about it). I haven't had a problem with any of them yet. Most i have had to do was right an ORM (opperational risk managment) letter letting them know i am taking the appropriate steps to reduce the risks involved (i.e. having an AAD, wearing a helmet w/audible alt. and having a wrist mount alt. etc.)

lets not forget it took the US 6 years to draft a constitution that still has changes made to it....what makes you think Iraq will go any quicker? When a captian i knew was trying to teach them civics and politics, when he first arrived in the village they were excited because they thought "new dictator" had arrived...and were happy....they have had no concept of democracy...you can't teach people that in a couple years.

Yup! Invading a country that poised no threat is always the right thing to do. Well, i may not be john, but i did join in the time of war. Also, i dont like breaking it down into liberal/conservative in an argument, becasue no matter who you are, if you get called one it is considered a personal attack. You say Iraq poised no threat to US. Hitler poised no threat to us, yet we supplied our allies with weapons and money, later took over and kicked his ass. Hitler was a bad man, we can agree, and he no longer exsisted because of us. Many of the arian germans didn't want hitler overthrown just as many of the rich iraqi's didn't want Saddam overthrown...but i am assuming we can agree that he, too, was a bad man. In Darfur, there is an outcry of support because of the warlords committing war crimes there...and who's supposed to step up? Well, many people say the U.S. should do something there...but what threat does anyone there pose to us? Also, many may not know this, but some people that we are still capturing in Iraq still have the needles (can't remember their exact name... ) that you stab into yourself after a chemical weapons attack....why would they be supplied this if they never had WMD's to begin with? Our "allies" say iraq never was a problem....aka the french...yet we find weapons cache's of FUCKIN BRAND NEW french equipment that the insurgents are using (yea, that kinda pisses me off a bit if you can't tell). I said the media is losing the war, because you rarely hear of anything good coming from Iraq or Afghan...the media in the U.S. is entertainment...watch the local news and i'll bet you hear more tragedy than anything...and why? because it helps their ratings. A couple years ago a young devildog (Marine for those of you who dont know our nicknames) was shown shooting a "wounded iraqi) and the media immediatly said it was out of cold blood, etc. However, when it was found out that not more than a few days ealier, another Marine was wounded by an "injured iraqi" who just happened to have a grenade, and this was a repeat incident (dunno if that makes sense to any of you...). The insurgents/extreemist/whatever youw ant to call them fight dirty, and when soldiers/Marines/brits/etc protect themselves, the media is making them out to be the bad guys. It is war, people do die, and it is sad. However, i firmly believe if you start something you should be there until the job is done. Americans wanted iraq to be free, wanted saddam to be taken out, and wanted a civil govt. there....however, we are impatient, and now want to leave beacuse what we see on the news must be all that is happening. Do i believe that if the middle east had no oil we wouldnt give a damn? well, i do think oil is the reason we want peace there, but i dont believe that's why we went to war....as gas prices haven't dropped lower than pre-war prices from what i can remember. So to close my rant, do i believe that Americans are weak...not all of them. The devildogs in my platoon are stronger than i could have imagined. However, i believe that Americans are generally misinformed, and will believe anything they see on T.V. because it's easier than reading different newspapers. But then again, i guess if you really want the truth, go there, see for yourself. Try being a female/minority in a country like pre-war Iraq, and ask yourself if you believe it is better now or not. Yes people are still dying, but the job isn't done, and when it actualy gets done (whether the U.S. is there in the end or not) i truely believe life will be better...as at least they now have a say in what happens, no matter how small a voice it may be.

my personal opinion is that the orriginal mission was clear...it was when the American media started giving a biased opinion on the war which then made the military change their strategy because the politicians that run the wars wanted to be in the favor of the public to futher their campaign. When funding for the war takes so damn long to get due to political issues, then yes, the troops wont have the best equipment, which will lower moral, etc. IMO the media lost the war in Vietnam, and is causing us to "lose" the war in Iraq.

it's on video...i've played with the zoom a bit, and noticed a reduction...just haven't had time to play with it much sense then. Thanks for the replies!

anyone know of ways to reduce this...other than a different lense? Is there a way to edit it out of a video that's easy to do, or is it pretty much a "you are shit outta luck" problem? I've read up on what it is, and understand where it comes from, but haven't heard of any ways to reduce it, without changing your lense.

I always use the examples of Marines on Tarawa, or Iwo, or the soldiers on D-Day when people tell me how we should leave because of the deaths in Iraq/Afgahnistan. Although i have lost people i know, and have learned from, it's a war, and people die. It sucks, but it's reality. Keeping all personal opinion about the war aside, how long did people really expect to be in Iraq? We (the USA) are still in Japan, still in Germany, still in Italy, etc...all because of WWII and other incidents. We will be in Iraq for a long time. There is no quick and easy solution after a war happens. You stay until the job is done.

so stupid question here...i currently jump a PC 109 with a 37 mm lense on it...i have the step up ring for a 25-37. i just bought a new lense (43 mm), and have only been able to find a 37-43 mm step up ring...but not a 25-43. Does such a ring exsist? only rings from a 25-43 i have been able to find was a step down ring which needless to say does me no good unless i could just flip it around haha. pm me if you know where to find one, or if they even exist...as i dont really want to do the whole 25-37-43 combo unless necessary.

Do they wing walk with that plane? That is on my want-to-do list. Do they give lessons? yes they do wingwalking and yes, i hear they do give lessons, but i'm not gonna walk out on a wing w/out a parachute

see, now that i've left WI, look at the plane i get to jump demos from, well one of the bi planes.

i do like having my alone time...and whenever i get outta a long relationship, i say i'm gonna live up the single life, only to be in another relationship in a few weeks

making jail bait even harder to distinguish from of age people.

and to think i bought my pc109 for about 350...but i love the camera. My warrenty just ended...so it's gotta be bound to break pretty soon, what are some common things that go on them?

Hey everyone, thanks for all the responses, i was contacted by areodyne and am going to send them some pictures and whatnot. The cutaway handle is properly seeded. Also, just wanted to add that i didn't mean to bring any bad publicity on areodyne or their products, as i love the new rig and everything, just was wondering if this was a problem that i needed to get fixed or not...which is why i posted it in here. Semper Fi

it reaches the housing on the risers, and can be inserted...but comes out of it (i notice it mainly when i am packing, so i dont know if it comes out on opening or sometime after deployment)...almost like it is a little too short. i was going to contact aerodyne...but figured i'd post it on here first.

my friend had a dog named C A T and a cat named D O G. say the letters, and you got their names....i always wondered if it fucked up their minds