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.

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

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.

Hilarious. I wouldn’t want to be on patrol with those ANP jokers though.

I gotta hand it to Al Jazeera for getting these exclusives.

If I was one of the guys from the 82nd Airborne it would take all my restraint to not pull out my rifle and put a few rounds through that bong.

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.

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).

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

A soldier shields himself from rotor wash as a U.S. Army MEDEVAC helicopter from Charlie Co. Sixth Battalion, 101st Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Shadow takes off from a field after picking up wounded Afghan National Army soldiers June 22, 2010 near Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Full photo set – HERE

Kandahar Role 3 Hospital is one of the most advanced hospitals in Afghanistan, recently moved into a modern, custom-built fortified building on the sprawling airbase that serves as the nerve center for the NATO military effort in southwestern Afghanistan.

Check out the photoblog post – HERE

The pictures are not as captivating as usual, but still worth looking at.

Full Set – HERE

While mounting the M2 machine gun onto the turret system of his MATV during pre-combat checks, this soldier experienced difficulty inserting the locking pin on the MOD 93 machine gun mount.  The soldier then attempted to force the locking pin into place with a rock. After this failed, he then secured a loose .50 cal. round, using it to hammer at the locking pin, attempting to force the locking pin into place.  After several hits with the .50 cal. round, the primer activated, setting the round off in the soldier’s hand. Extensive injuries were suffered to his right hand, middle, ring and pinky finger.

See the official weapons safety message memo – HERE
*Warning Very Graphic*

It’s really unfortunate when Darwin comes for soldiers… but hitting a live round? COME ON.. how does he think his machine gun fires?  This incident would have been a bit more understandable if it occurred in the heat of combat, but the memo specifically states the soldier was mounting the M2 onto the turret, pre-combat.

On the bright side, I guess he get a ticket out of Trashcanistan.

Source

Another great set of photos from May.

Check them out – HERE

As you can see in the photo above (#13 in the group), the Army Sargent is preparing to crawl into a cave with the knife clenched between his teeth.  Is that common practice?  Or was he just fooling around for the photo? I always thought it was only done in movies like Rambo for effect.  I tried it once with my USMC Ka-Bar but it wasn’t very comfortable, and I didn’t want to wreck my teeth.

On Tuesday, the toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members. Having taken nearly seven years to reach the first 500 dead, the war killed the second 500 in fewer than two.

Full Story – HERE

I hope the Taliban death toll is in the 5 digit range.

To those that serve, thank you.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

Nice words… BUT…

Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

Full Story – HERE

Judging by the rest of the article, he seems to be doing a whole lot of backpedaling now.

Pretty funny how the NYT headline says his “words differ” rather than calling him a liar. How classy of them to use a euphemism. 

I’ve never been to war, or been in the military.  But for those who have, I assume its pretty easy to spot when someone is bullshitting about their service.

Sadly, an incident like this probably wont hurt his senate chance.

U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan could someday be awarded medals for restraint that prevents civilian casualties in combat.

Full Story – HERE

Congratulations, you get a medal for not killing innocent people! Seems like unless your unit caused a total massacre, it would be pretty hard not to give this medal to everyone.  If it will improve morale though, I’m all for it!

My girlfriend and I always joke that I have “Incredible restraint for a human being”, because when something really pisses me off I take a breath and move on rather than over reacting.  To be honest I don’t really want a medal… A Starbucks gift card would be nice though.

Hat Tip: Guns&Coffee

A US Marine convoy from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines steers alongside an inactive gas station in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on April 9, 2010.

Some new pictures I haven’t seen, some old.

See them all – HERE

The New York Times invites members of the military who are serving, or have served, in Afghanistan to help us document the daily life of this war in photographs, video and writing. Take us on a tour of the forward operating base, introduce us to your friends, describe the hardships and rewards of deployment and the humor that helps you pass the time.

Full Story – HERE

I have a lot of respect for the “At War” section of the NY Times.

A British Army sniper has set a new sharpshooting distance record by killing two Taliban machinegunners in Afghanistan from more than a mile away.

Craig Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry, killed the insurgents with consecutive shots — even though they were 3,000ft beyond the most effective range of his rifle.

The distance to Harrison’s two targets was measured by a GPS system at 8,120ft, or 1.54 miles. The previous record for a sniper kill is 7,972ft, set by a Canadian soldier who shot dead an Al-Qaeda gunman in March 2002.

Full Story – HERE

Very impressive kills.  I couldn’t even imagine the adjustments you would have to make at that range, and even the mirage that he must have seen looking through the scope.

Tom Irwin, a director of Accuracy International, the British manufacturer of the L115A3 rifle, said: “It is still fairly accurate beyond 4,921ft, but at that distance luck plays as much of a part as anything.”

If he took shot after shot and EVENTUALLY hit the insurgents I would call it luck. According to the article though, Harrison fired 3 shots.  The first 2 hit and killed the insurgents, then the 3rd and final shot he used to disable the machine gun they were using.  If that is luck, and not skill, then Harrison is pretty damn lucky.

Anyone know why it took so long for this story to reach the news? According to the article, the record breaking kills happened in November 2009.

I think it’s interesting that the article refers to the caliber of the L115A3 as 8.59 mm , and the caliber of the previous record holder, Canadian Sniper Rob Furlong’s rifle as 12.7 mm.  I suppose most of the rest of the world is on the metric system, and they might be familiar with those numbers, but referring to them as .338 Lapua Magnum and .50 BMG in addition would likely have avoided some confusion (here in the U.S. anyway).

More information on the L115A3 – HERE

Accuracy International Website (one of the worst websites I have ever seen) – HERE

A US Marines V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft kicks up dust as it takes off inside a US Marines base of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines in Marjah.

The Osprey is my favorite aircraft.

Check out the rest of the amazing photos – HERE