75th RANGERS — HAPPY 39th BIRTHDAY

Back prior to 1969, there were a bunch of us — all volunteers, all paratroopers — who served in an outfit called the LRRPs — Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. Yes, that’s where the name for this blog came from.

Our official designation was E-Co., 58th Inf., LRRP, 1/10 Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division. Every division had a LRRP (or LRP — Long Range Patrol) of its own, operating with teams composed of anywhere between three or four to eight men and sometimes more. In E-58 we used the three-four combination (usually three Americans and a Montagnyard), a concept developed by the Australian SAS.

Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War, by James F. Dunnigan, Albert A. Nofi, (pp 79-85) gives a fairly accurate summation of what the LRRP teams did in Viet Nam.

My article Evolution of the LRRPs gives a broader picture of the small unit concept.

The U.S. Army Rangers Association also has a good — and briefer — history of the unit as well as a listing of which LRRP outfits became which Ranger companies..

The reason I’m telling you this? On February 1, 1969 all the LRRP companies in Viet Nam were redesignated 75th Ranger companies, tracing their lineage back to the famed Merrill’s Marauders (5307th Composite Group) of WWII (Burma) fame. My unit became K Company, 75th Rangers.

So, here’s to 39th birthday of the modern Rangers, and to all of the men — dead and alive — who served as LRRPs in Viet Nam and as Rangers in conflicts around the globe.

“Lieutenant General John H. Hays, Jr., who commanded the 1st Infantry Division from February 1967 to March 1968 and went on to become the deputy commanding general of II Field Force, serving until August 1968, said that the LRRPs were, “… generally considered to have the most uncomfortable and dangerous job in Vietnam…,” but also noted that, “… the way in which the long range patrols were used was one of the most significant innovations of the war.””— GPJ, Evolution of the LRRPs.

3000 MILES ON A 20 FOOTER

A guy is setting up to sail 3000 miles across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Guadaloupe this year. He tried it once before and didn't make after sailing without food or water for 11 days (lost it all in a storm).

Big deal. Yes, it is ... he's doing it on a 20-foot Tornado which is a racing catamarran. HERE'S THE FULL STORY.

TET ANNIVERSARY

This one almost slipped past ... tomorrow (January 30, 1968) is the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive.

Here's to all of you who were there.

And here's to those of you who didn't make it home.

THE PRIMARIES — THE REAL STORY

As per columnist Dave Barry from today's MIAMI HERALD.

As nonsensical as the system is, Barry attempts to make — and does a damn fine job of making — sense of what has to be the stupidest method of selecting anyone for anything, including, as he notes, Kumquat Queen of Pasco County.

Classic Barry.

COLUMBIA RIVER RESCUE - INFO NEEDED

I’ve been reading National Fisherman Magazine for at least 30 years, and if you consider yourself any kind of seadog, it’s something you should be reading as well. In the February issue they started a story about a rescue off the Columbia Rivermouth back in 1980

I’ve been privileged to have done a story with the Coast Guardsmen from the National Motor Life Boat School located at Cape Disappointment right at the rivermouth. It’s a wild area that I can only imagine in storm conditions.

Anyway … the story is called Staying Alive and it’s written by Spike Walker, author of Working the Edge (which is as good a look at Bering Sea crab fishing as the Discovery Channel series), as well as others (most recently Coming Back Alive). The NF story is about the March 1980 rescue of the Miss Kim

Walker is doing another book and wants to include the details of the story he’s written in NF, but has discovered that the CG records — and newspaper records — are missing.

Anyone with any first hand knowledge about the rescue can contact Walker at PO Box 1141, Cannon Beach, OR 97110 or e-mail him at mrcrabbs1@excite.com.

JOHNNY JIHAD — DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ

I was reading a story from Front Page Magazine today about the American terrorist Jose Padilla and how the government, liberal judges and BS public opinion got him off with a 17 year sentence. In the course of the article was a reference about John Walker Lindh, good ol’ Johnny Jihad, captured by the Afghanis in 2001.

It got me to thinking about what happened to that asshole, so a quick Google search later I was on a Wikipedia bio that was almost funny in blaming everyone BUT Lindh for what happened, while telling us all about this misunderstood little asshole.

Needless to say, the usual Liberal BS putting any and all things American at fault led me to delve a little deeper and I came across THIS written by Robert Young Pelton.

For those of you who don’t know Pelton, he was one of — if not the — first journalists on the ground in Afghanistan when the war started. Working for CNN, he broke the Lindh story first, was with Lindh for the early days of his captivity, took the brunt of the denials and other Liberal apologisms and has continued to take abuse from them as well as the Lindh family.

So … for the truth from the horse’s mouth, give THIS a read.

KENNEDY: ENDORSEMENT OR KISS OF DEATH

Think about it, Obama. Do you really want an endorsement from the biggest bag of wind (not to mention his head size, which is Easter Island-like in proportion) on the East Coast?

Personally, if ol' Ted got behind me for any reason, I'd be looking reeeeal carefully for where the bridge ends.

And remember ... good luck doesn't run rampant in the Kennedy clan, no matter what they say.

UK COASTGUARD — IT'S AN ADVENTURE

Bringing new meaning to the old US Army (paraphrased) slogan, "It's not a job, it's an adventure," the UK Coastguard (they use one word) gets some oddball jobs if the weekend of January 25-26 is any indication.

On January 25, Inverness Coastguard Rescue Team, specialists in swift water rescue assisted in the rescue of various animals and farmers who were threatened by fast flowing and rising water in sleety rain and high winds. Initially a call was made to the Coastguard at Aberdeen requesting assistance to trapped individuals at Knocknashalavaig, on the River Beauly, where the river had burst its banks and had risen four feet trapping some farmers with 25 head of cattle. At 10.40 the Coastguard were then alerted to a further 40 sheep which had also become stranded further down the river

Also on January 25, at 1400 Brixham Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) received numerous 999 calls from members of the public with reports of a hang glider that had apparently made an uncontrolled descent into cliffs at Portwrinkle. Brixham Coastguard tasked Tamar Coastguard Rescue Team, with Looe Coastguard Rescue Team as backup and Royal Navy Rescue Helicopter 193 from RNAS Culdrose to the scene.

Then on January 26, at 1940 Portland Coastguard received a 999 call requesting assistance in the rescue of a climber stuck on cliffs near Swanage. The alarm was raised by the climber’s friend, who made the emergency call from the nearby Anvil Point Lighthouse and reported that his friend had got into difficulty while climbing the Marmolata Buttress, near the lighthouse. Portland Coastguard tasked Swanage and St Albans Coastguard Rescue Teams (CRT) to the scene, along with the RNLI Swanage Inshore and All Weather Lifeboats. The casualty was located near the base of the cliff, five metres above the water line.

A NEW WAY TO DEAL WITH UNWANTED CALLS

CLICK HERE (then arrow back)
About 15 minutes ago, the phone rings and it's an offshore worker for Sprint telling me I just won a free cell phone or something.

So I happen to be playing around — it just popped into my head — with this app called Bullet 1.2. Now what Bullet 1.2 does is change every click of your mouse into a "bullet" sound that leaves a "bullet hole" in your screen (they fade after a few seconds). You can shoot as fast as you can click your mouse.

So, as I said, I was playing with this on full volume and using a headset. I guess the mic was a little to close to a speaker, but after a couple of single shots, followed by a clip of about 10 on auto, the guy on the phone hung up!

I swear to God this happened. I'm yelling "hello," "hello" into the phone and otherwise trying to be somewhat polite, and he figured that it's as bad in America as it is wherever he's living.

As far as I know the app is only for Macs, but I'm sure there's a DOS version out there somewhere.

You Mac folks can download it HERE. It's great and I'm going to try on the next guy that calls and will report back (yes, I'm on a do-not-call registry ... another waste of taxpayer $$).

THE NYT SCREWS THE POOCH ... ONCE AGAIN

Never mind they picked Hillary (what a surprise!) and McCain (probably the most liberal of the Republicans) and bitch-slapped Rudy (gee, another surprise), but they continue to be considered the "paper of record" by the left, and continue to write articles that should reside in a book called How Not to Write a News Article.

HERE's their latest load of bullshit that, ahem, has no agenda.

RECORD FISH

This sturgeon was caught on the Fraser River below the Mission Bridge in Oregon. It measured 11 feet, one inch, and 56 inches around. It was released after recovering from a six hour battle.

No hoax.

(Thanks to Ed D for the head's up.)

FOR ALL YOU GIANT FANS

Here's some good stuff from ESPN, The Magazine's PAGE 2 by Bill Simmons.

Mostly about the Giants, but a lot of good stuff about the championship weekend in the form of an "awards" column (i.e., the Ted Kennedy Award, etc.).

APROPOS OF ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ...

I haven't give this topic much thought, but apparently the folks at Roxio have. Roxio is a software company that makes CD an DVD burning software. (I use it ...great point-and-click stuff.)

If you're like me, you move images off your computer and store them on CD (I back up all my files — regardless — at least once a month, maybe more often if I'm having a busy month).

Now, we know how long B&W prints can last — Brady's Civil War shots are still around, so that's at least 140 years or so — and we probably have a decent idea how long color prints and slides can last.

What we don't know is how long CDs and whatnot will last, even though there has been simulated aging done to them and various results conclude in the 100s of years, etc.

(It also behooves you to store the device you recorded on with your backed up stuff so you'll be able to read it in the future. Ever tried to find out what's on those 5.5 inch floppies [do you even remember those?]? How about finding a computer these days that will run 3.5 disks? Save those drive before tossing the computer. But I digress ...)

So Roxio did a test on the markers we use to label CDs and DVDs, and it seems all are not equal (hint: if you can smell your marker, you shouldn't use it on a CD). HERE'S their report. Apparently there are markers made specifically to label CDs.

HOW WARS START

And you thought the Iranians were peace loving little fellas, didn't you?

You haven't read this anywhere (God forbid. It's actual news!), but here is how wars get started. Sources are non-American (Irani and Israeli) and Boston.com.

"Days ago, head of the U.S. Southern Command, Admiral James Stavridis told a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington that he fears the phenomenon of increasing Iranian influence in Latin America and a "disastrous" linkup between drug traffickers and radical Islamists operating in and from that region. Islam strictly forbids narcotics such as alcohol, cannabis, opium, cocaine and psychedelics. How then is it possible that there are increasingly strong links between drug dealers and radical Islamists in Latin America? Intelligence sources agree the terrorist financial scene has been changing for some years. Funding, at times, is achieved through cash payments, using various currencies, for certain terror services from groups such as Hizbullah and Hamas. Cash is obtained through a variety of illegal activities, predominantly through the drug trade, human smuggling, extortion and money laundering. Stavridis warned that Iran, a heavy financial backer of Hizbullah and Hamas has already opened 10 embassies in Latin America and President Ahmadinejad says he wants to have an embassy in every country in this region."

In September Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Bolivia, where he pledged $1 billion in investment, and then Venezuela to meet President Hugo Chavez, whom the Bush administration accuses of being a threat to stability in the region. He also has been to Nicaragua recently.

"I haven't seen any evidence that Iran has fomented any kind of terrorism in this part of the world," but there remains a "very disconcerting" possibility that Iran's growing presence could lead to future terrorist links, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.

DO THE RESEARCH

“Please do one-tenth as much research before casting a vote in a presidential election as you do before buying a new car.”

Ann Coulter was talking to Republicans (and probably lambasting Senator McCain), but the sentiment goes to EVERY voter.

Do you just buy a car you read a report about in one newspaper, or heard about on one TV program?

Selecting a president is a helluva lot more important, if you haven't noticed.

THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) appears to be a legitimate (if somewhat liberal-by-nature) organization that is careful from whence it gets its operating cash.

Today the organization is all the rage because of a new search engine they've established that came up with over 900 "false statements" by the President and his staff regarding Iraq.

Since nearly all these "false statements" were supported by the same people who will be using this info to castigate the President (remember, most liberals and Democrats still think President Bush is running for re-election)... it behooves the CPI to put this finding in context.

I want to see a search done in available documents running up to WWI, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan-1, and any other "wars" they may care to use to get this 900-plus lie thing into context.

That shouldn't be terribly hard for a search engine to accomplish, and would go a long way towards integrity.

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?

Nowhere in the Constitution — despite what Liberals, Democrats and the ACLU say — does the concept or words “separation of church and state” appear.

True or false?

Here’s the First Amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Doesn’t say a damn thing about keeping state and religion apart, does it? It just says the state can’t establish an official religion. And don’t give me any interpretation bullshit. It says what it says.

Then again — everybody’s smarter than the Founding Fathers, right?

WE'RE GOIN' TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!

SOME THINGS TO PONDER

This may be an oldie, but I've never come across the last two before. Courtesy of my buddy Art S.

C O W S
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

T H E C O N S T I T U T I O N
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years … and we’re not using it anymore.

T H E 1 0 C O M M A N D M E N T S
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this: You cannot post “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,” and “Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor” (and a couple of others!) in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians ... It creates a hostile work environment.

GOOOOOO GIANTS

NUFF SAID

THE PC-ING OF AMERICA STRIKES AGAIN

A golf commentator made a passing reference on television the other day that if any of the other golfers had a hope of beating Tiger Woods they'd better string him up in alley.

To keep the non-issue going (Tiger wasn't phased about the comment), Golfweek Magazine ran a giant noose on its cover ... and as a result the editor was fired.

The guy got fired for putting a noose on the cover of a magazine to illustrate the story of a guy saying that other golfers should hang a black golfer who happens to be the best golfer in the world.

Now, was the original statement dumb? Of course.

Was the noose on the cover dumb? Of course.

Political Correctness — just another name for more insidious racism.

PROFILE OF VALOR

Thanks to the Patriot Post for the following.

"On 23 December 2006, then-Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CWO3) James Herring of the North Carolina National Guard was leading a five-vehicle patrol in Tahrir, Iraq, when the convoy was attacked by three jihadis with machine guns. The gunner in Herring’s Humvee easily dispatched the enemy fighters only to immediately be confronted with 20 more pouring over a wall 30 feet away. The gunner took aim and killed many insurgents, but the driver was soon hit in the thigh by enemy fire as another group of insurgents was now attacking from the other direction. Herring left the vehicle, fired and killed two jihadis and then ran to assist the wounded driver. Despite being knocked to the ground by the impact of a rocket-propelled grenade, Herring helped to move the driver into the rear seat for further medical treatment. He then drove the Humvee and led the convoy down side streets and back to safety. Not a single member of the convoy was lost, in large part thanks to Herring’s actions, for which he received the Silver Star. Of the incident, the decorated Virginia law-enforcement officer said, “I think that we spent about 400,000 minutes in Iraq, and you get recognized for something that took three minutes. I want to reiterate I wasn’t the only hero out there. All those guys out there are heroes to me. They did things that warrant the same award in my opinion.”"

16 YEARS AGO TODAY

Operation Desert Storm kicked off. And — well — here we are again.

MOST BIZARRE ELECTION SLOGAN

“He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him.”

(It does have a certain lyrical ditty quality to it, doesn't it?)

Charles Ghankay Taylor's, Bentley College (MA) grad, slogan while running in the 1997 Liberian national election. He became the country’s 22nd president in a landslide 75 percent of the vote. The election was deemed proper by UN observers.

This was the guy with whom televangelist Pat Robertson swapped good p.r. for diamonds. Robertson was also pals with Mobutu Sese Seko of the DRC (Congo), another piece of work.

Taylor is under trial for war crimes, Mobutu died in exile (1997; cancer) and Robertson is the third richest cable TV owner in the world (and probably a billionaire).

GIANT PLAYERS, WAVES AND LEGENDS

Well, you have to hand it to the New York Giants. The offense (in the form of Eli Manning) didn't make any mistakes, and the defense — pushed to the physical limits by a 10 minute and then a seven minute drive — bent but didn't break and defeated the 13-3 Dallas Cowboys yesterday to go the NFC title game against Green Bay at Lambeau Field on Sunday. Air temp at game time (1830) is supposed to be in the single digits.

My prediction? Giants by seven ... and we'll see you at Phoenix!


In Surfing News
Santa Cruz surfer Greg Long won the Mavericks' contest on Sunday. I watched it on the live Web feed, which was a great idea, but the two guys announcing seemed to have a vocabulary of three words: awesome, charging and definitely. If I hear any one of those words again, I'm gonna suck on a .45. I know they had a lot of air to fill, but ....c'mon guys ....

Anyway, conditions were less than epic, but some of the best rides of the day were on some verrrrry big waves, and some of the guys were getting incredible elevator drops to make them.

As a footnote: the $75,000 prize was to be divided up as $30,000 to the winner, and the next five splitting the remainder. An impromptu meeting held in the lineup during the (sometimes very) long lulls, changed the rules and the six finalists decided to split the winnings evenly. Now that's a true surf head. Congrats to all the contestants who rode.

Lastly
I ain't a big baseball fan, but I will note the passing of former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Johnny Podres. He was a key element in the Bum's only World Series win.

MAVERICKS CONTEST IS ON

Contests starts tomorrow ... 24 of the world's top big wave surfer are headed for Half Moon Bay. You can catch all the action HERE starting tomorrow.

FROM THE “LOOKING UNLIKELY BUSH WILL GET ELECTED” DEPT.

Thanks to the folks at The Patriot Post for the following.

“If the New Hampshire debates settled anything, it’s which party has the stomach to take on radical Islam … Out of respect for their [Democrats] constituency, there was a complete blackout regarding Islamic jihad ... Republicans, on the other hand, called the enemy by its proper name. The candidates referred to terrorists and terrorism as ‘Islamic,’ while also citing radical ‘Islam’ as the problem, no less than 22 times... They get it. Democrats don’t. They talked a lot about ‘fighting’ —fighting insurance companies and big business and Wall Street and polluters. But will they fight the real enemy—Islamic terrorists?... Investor’s Business Daily

“Liberal voters want desperately to cast a history-making vote and, if that’s your priority, Barack Obama is a much more appealing way to cast it than Hillary. Don’t worry about this ‘Change You Can Believe In’ shtick. Obama doesn’t believe in it, and neither should you. He’s a fresh face on the same-old-same-old—which is the only change Democrats are looking for.” — Mark Steyn

“There’s no doubt about it. And there’s no way to read it except as a rebuke to President Bush.” — MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Barack Obama’s caucus win in Iowa … uh, is, uh, Bush running again, Chris?

“After 9/11, I would never have taken us to war in Iraq. I would have stayed focused on Afghanistan because the real threat was coming from there.” —Hillary Clinton, who voted to go to war in Iraq.

From the “religion of peace:” “The occupied territories are awaiting their first visit by the crusader Bush and the mujahideen are also waiting for him.” — American al-Qa’ida leader Adam Gadahn issuing threats about the President’s visiting the Middle East this week.

“Everybody in this race, Democrat and Republican, is now officially for Change. They get more fervent about Change every day; it’s only a matter of time before they start calling for tactical air strikes on Washington. I’ll be honest with you: I’m getting tired of Change. I think it’d be nice, for a change, if a candidate came out against Change, maybe with a catchy slogan like, ‘Remember: It Could Get Worse,’ or ‘Hey, At Least You’re Not Dead’.” — Dave Barry.

CHASING 50

Chasing the 50 mph barrier in sailboats is like chasing the land sound barrier at Bonneville Salt Flats (that was accomplished by Andy Green in the ThrustSSC back in October ‘97).

The sailors, in a variety of craft, some recognizable as watercraft and some really wild looking, are presently at 48.70 mph (Finian Maynard on a sailboard in April ‘05).

So here’s the next one to give it a try — the WotRocket .

YA THINK?

In yesterday's Media News daily report, anchor Tom Brokaw, revealed a "big" secret about the MSM and their inability to report. The first comment appeared in TVNewser, the second in the WaPo.

"Tom Brokaw is no M.D., but he diagnoses as "cancerous" the networks' chronic urge to project winners before polls have closed. "We stage all these rules not to call an election before the returns are in, based on exit polls, and then we say, 'It looks like a slam dunk,'" Brokaw said. "It's inappropriate. Our job is to report and reflect what, in fact, we know; not just speculate on what is likely to happen."" (emphasis mine)

" "The pirouettes are amazing," says Brokaw, who was analyzing the campaign on MSNBC. "The utter confidence with which everyone had been wrong 20 minutes earlier (emphasis mine), they have the same utter confidence about what produced this surprise. It's intellectually dishonest.""

Wow! "Inappropriate," "intellectually dishonest" and "report and reflect."

I'll give Brokaw his props for calling it correctly.

Hell, I might even watch the guy tonight (I usually last about 45 seconds into the first item of any of the 6 p.m. news shows, before exploding at their version of "news." I will say that I lasted about two minutes with Couric's reportage last night, however).

A HERO PASSES

(Left: Hillary and Norgay on the South Col prior to the summit push — Photo property of the Royal Geographic Society)



Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander who — along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay — was the first man to top out on Mount Everest, died today. He was 88 years old.

Hillary and Norgay (who died in 1986), conquered the 29,035 foot (8,850 meter) summit on May 29, 1953. His experiences and love of the mountains and affection for Nepal's Sherpa people developed into a lifelong effort to raise money for schools, hospitals and airfields in the region.

In recent years, Hillary criticized today's climbers and the environmental damage they were causing to Everest. He also despised the change in the mountaineering ethic.

“The whole attitude to Mount Everest has become rather horrifying,” Hillary told New Zealand's Otago Daily Times,. “People just want to get to the top. They don't give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn't impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die.”

Hillary had three children with first wife Louise Mary Rose, who died in a plane crash in Nepal with their daughter Belinda in 1975. Fourteen years later, he married June Mulgrew. He died of “too many years of old age,” Graeme Dingle, an Everest veteran, said.

Hillary died in Auckland City Hospital today. He is survived by son Peter, who has also climbed Everest, and his daughter from his first marriage, Sarah.

Sir Edmund was one of the reasons I became interested in climbing and the reason I became a climber. He was a true hero … in every sense of the word.

“Without doubt, the most important things have never been standing on a summit, or reaching a Pole. Unquestionably, it has been the work we have done in cooperation with the mountain people, establishing schools, medical clinics and hospitals. Those are the things I will always remember.” — Sir Edmund Hillary.

“What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.” — George Leigh Mallory who died on Everest.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

The 2008 Vodafone-McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23 was unveiled in Stuttgart recently. It was accompanied by team driver Lewis Hamilton (a sort of 23rd birthday present for him) and his new teammate, Heikki Kovalainen. Test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffet also attended the unveiling with officials of the team, Mercedes, and Mercedes workers. The new car gets it first road tests in Spain starting January 9. It will test for five race days.

HAPPY HANGOVER DAY

There are advantages to going to bed before the ball drops and one of them is no hangover. A friend of mine who wasn't as smart went out and partied last night and reported that after eight minutes of 2008 he was already disappointed in the way it was going. And he paid for it today. (Thanks for that one Doctor Joe.)

Well, here we go for another whirlwind year.

As Ben Franklin once said:

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

God's speed to all our troops in harm's way (it's 0115 in Baghdad and 0245 in Kabul). Hope you're all home soon.