I haven’t got a chance to watch this yet, but VBS.TV doesn’t usually let me down.

Watch it and let me know what you think.

I don’t know what to think of that commercial. It’s really well done, but the fact the soldier is missing his legs, and then presumably dies after turning the TV on seems to be in poor taste.

Am I crazy for thinking that, what do you guys think?

It is a grim reminder of the cost of war. But for marines based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, getting a meat tag – a tattooed copy of their vital information inked into their skin – means paying a visit to Jesse Mays before they head off to war.

Full article at the BBC – HERE

This is a photograph released by the U.S. government in 1960 that shows the Little Boy atom bomb, the type detonated over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. The bomb was 29 inches in diameter, 126 inches long and weighed 9,700 pounds with a yield equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT explosive. (AP Photo)

Full photoset – HERE

Lt. Col. Richard D. Heyward, left, and Sgt. Nick Wysong, right, keep watch as the Army’s 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the last formal U.S. military combat detachment to leave Iraq, crosses the southern desert lands of Iraq on August 17, 2010. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

Full photoset – HERE

U.S. Marines carry a comrade wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) to a waiting medevac helicopter, near the town of Marjah in Helmand Province on August 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)

41 more incredible photos over at Big Picture – HERE

Do people actually EVER fall for this crap? I searched google for a couple of lines from the letter and it seems that there are a lot of different “from” and “reply-to” email addresses used, which tells me it is likely used to verify working email addresses.

I wonder if the actual Lawrence K. Wilson knows that a scam artist is impersonating him?

Check out the full set of pictures – HERE

Very interesting idea.  Seems like it would be pretty tough to get the perspective perfect unless you could somehow hook your camera up to your computer and have some sort of “live view” and overlay the historical picture with lots of transparency. There must be some programs available to do that… trial and error would just be too tedious.

This combination photograph shows portraits of Afghan National Army soldiers following a patrol made on Sunday, July 11, 2010, at the United States Army’s Combat Outpost Ware, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, near Kandahar City, southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Check out the full Afghanistan July photoset – HERE

Some especially graphic pictures in this month’s set.

Full story - HERE

I can see why at first the commanding officer was not impressed. But when he learned the full story about how they had no time to bring the whole body because of enemy fire i’m surprised he didn’t have a good laugh about it.  Oh well.. haters gonna hate. Whoever did that beheading is going to have a cool story and possibly a badass nickname for the rest of his life.

History of the Gurkha – HERE

Yesterday, WikiLeaks released over 75,000 secret US military reports covering the war in Afghanistan.

The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports describe the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military. They include the number of persons internally stated to be killed, wounded, or detained during each action, together with the precise geographical location of each event, and the military units involved and major weapon systems used.

The Afghan War Diary is the most significant archive about the reality of war to have ever been released during the course of a war. The deaths of tens of thousands is normally only a statistic but the archive reveals the locations and the key events behind each most of these deaths. We hope its release will lead to a comprehensive understanding of the war in Afghanistan and provide the raw ingredients necessary to change its course.

Wikileaks Afghan War Diary 2004-2010 Download Page – HERE

Dedicated War Diary page – HERE

As expected, the government is extremely pissed off at this.

Even more pissed off then they were at the release of the U.S. Military Apache Helicopter Footage back in April.

Dismounted Soldiers often carry heavy combat loads that increase the stress on the body leading to potential injuries. With a HULC exoskeleton, these loads are transferred to the ground through powered titanium legs without loss of mobility.

Gotta love technology. Might as well just go one step further and in case every soldier in an IronMan style climate controlled bulletproof suit; I’m sure that’s coming.

HULC website – HERE

The first episode of the Cat Shit One animated series is out, and blog reader Adam S was awesome enough to send it over for me to check out.

Here are my thoughts on it:

• The animation and physics are incredible… It’s basically like a grownups version of Toy Story, but with animals and guns.
• The camera angles in the animation are really neat as well, and really add to the viewing experience.
• Sound effects and music are top notch.
• One discrepancy I did note, is that the rabbit’s hearing protection is always at the side of their face, not where their ears are… not a big deal though.

The main rabbit character “Packy” has what looks like an m4, but it takes AK mags… a lot of people think that was a mistake, but it’s not. The rifle exists and is made by Knights Armament Company, model: KAC SR-47

Not that much happens in this 20 minute first episode, but I’m sure the story will develop more in the remaining episodes.

Cat Shit One Wikipedia page – HERE

Buy the first 3 graphic novels on Amazon if your interested here:

Have any of you guys seen it yet? If so, what did you think?

Source - XKCD

A belt of bullets lays across photos of women adorning the armor of a Stryker vehicle on June 11, 2010 north of Jalaulah, Diyala Province, Iraq. (Warrick Page/Getty Images)

Some powerful pictures in the set as usual.

Full photoset – HERE

According to China’s People’s Daily Online, the Taliban have taught monkeys to recognize U.S. Military uniforms and shoot at the soldiers using AK-47s, Bren machine guns, and mortars.

Full Story – HERE

Ugh, lets hope there are no splinter cells here at zoos in the United States.

On the plus side, i’m pretty confident a monkey wouldn’t have very advanced military tactics, and could easily be taken out with a .22 LR or enticed to stop shooting with some more food.

Thanks to this story, I will no longer associate monkeys and AKs with this cute picture.

JELUWAR, AFGHANISTAN – JULY 07: Rounds of .50 caliber ammunition sit in an MRAP vehicle with U.S. Army Task Force Thor Route Clearance Patrol from 23rd Engineering Company, Airborne before a day-long route clearance mission July 7, 2010 in Jeluwar, Afghanistan. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Full photoset – HERE

Looks like it would be a stressful job. It’s probably a bad thing that there would be a lot of down time where nothing happens… it wouldn’t be the type of  job to get lazy on.

Note: The red tipped bullets you see every 5th round in the picture are Armor Piercing Incendiary Tracers (M20).

An interesting project by Indonesian artist Agan Harahap.

The full gallery with 12 more pictures – HERE

They are all pretty awesome, I had trouble deciding on which one to use in this post.

Almost a century ago and without the aid of any pixel-generating computer software, the itinerant photographer Arthur Mole (1889-1983) used his 11 x 14-inch view camera to stage a series of extraordinary mass photographic spectacles that choreographed living bodies into symbolic formations of religious and national community. In these mass ornaments, thousands of military troops and other groups were arranged artfully to form American patriotic symbols, emblems, and military insignia visible from a bird’s eye perspective. During World War I, these military formations came to serve as rallying points to support American involvement in the war and to ward off isolationist tendencies.

More Info – HERE

Lots more pictures – HERE

*Click them to view full-size*
(The photographs appear to be on display at the Hammer Gallery in Chicago, IL)

Simply amazing; the use of perspective is incredible. It would be neat to see this done again.

I wonder if there was a lot of complaining back then? I’m sure there would be plenty today if soldiers were ordered to be involved in this type of project.

A member of the Afghan National Police (ANP) watches as US soldiers of the 97th MP Battalion (not pictured) search the site of a Taliban weapons cache in Kandahar City on June 14, 2010 discovered after an informant contacted NATO forces in the area.

As usual, Big Picture delivers. Check out the full set – HERE