Poppin That ……. §§ 2006, October 17 §§
Posted by cerebralrevolution in Captains Log.1 comment so far
Begin
Captain’s Log, October 17 in the 2006 year of our Lord
So this weekend was exciting yet frustrating at the same time. Exciting because I went paintballing this past weekend. $25 for about 6 rounds of paintballing isn’t bad in my estimate. So lets see, it was alot like I anticipated it to be. It didn’t hurt at all, so that misconception should be removed from the minds of every individual. I enjoyed myself because we played woodball and I went sliding around in trenches finding cover and all the sort. I was told to supress and move and I did that and executed it flawlessly. I think I got tagged every round by I did some shooting myself.
Unfortunately I have many negatives to talk about. First I’ll start with my equpiment. I was using rental equipment and for some reason some of the paintballs would curve drastically after coming out of the barrel. This agitated me tremendously because there were plenty of times I had nice shots and had it even gone straight if i was off, I’d have been able to correct it in time to still get the person. This was my only complaint with the equipment, although a big complaint, but hey its a rental.
So now onto the personnel. My team. I don’t mean to bad mouth my team but there are some things that were wrong with the way things went with my team. First they never moved. (1) The game would start and they’d move to their initial positions and just sit and take cover. Progression is the name of the game. We have to move up field. Me knowing this, I would surpress and move to a new position. My team, none of that, which lead to me being hung out to dry on plenty occasions where I’d just have to sit and wait. (2) My team did not communicate, I say this because of something AMAZING that happened. I will tell you the story. Imagine a H because this is what one of the bunkers looked like. I was on one side of the middle bar in the H for awhile and sometime along the line someone from their team moved into the same bunker just one the opposite side. A teammate of mine was what, not even 10 feet from me however he did not say anything. It would have been very simple for me to stand or reach over and just pull the trigger once. However I got out because amazingly he found me. I cussed out my team because this was the second to last game and I’d have thought that the rookies would’ve learned by now. (3) I was in a bunker that resembled a house. It had 4 walls and 2 windows on each side. I was in there by myself and had made it cleanly. It was a nice position in which I could counter from once they started moving up. They did not see me go in because I approached from the woods and entered the structure from the wooded side which gave me cover. So I was in, waiting, checking the marker to make sure all was set. What happens next. Two of my teammates come running into the house and just sit there. This brings unwanted attention and of course fire. This destroys the element of surprise that I once had. I get annoyed and bail out and set up shop in another bunker.
I need to go again with some experienced people so I can get better and I can actually have a real experience in paintballing.
Finish…
Never to Be Forgotten, Part 1 §§ 2006, October 13 §§
Posted by cerebralrevolution in Fallen Heroes.add a comment
There have been so many things that has happened in the last 15 years that have effected many lives. However people tend to forget about those things unless they have impacted them directly. 13 Years ago on October 3, 1993 while the U.S. was in Somalia under the leadership of Clinton two Black Hawks went down in what was supposed to be a quick mission.
NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND
Two snipers asked to secure a Black Hawk site in which they had no idea when reinforcements would arrive.
Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend To mean devices for a sordid end. Courage–an independent spark from Heaven’s bright throne, By which the soul stands raised, triumphant high, alone. Great in itself, not praises of the crowd, Above all vice, it stoops not to be proud. Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above, By which those great in war, are great in love. The spring of all brave acts is seated here, As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear. – George Farguhar
A coward turns away, but a brave man’s choice is danger. – Euripides
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. — Gilbert Chesterton
Brotherhood is the very price and condition of man’s survival. – Carlos Romulo
No one’s death comes to pass without making some impression, and those close to the deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and become richer in their humanness. — Hermann Broch
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. – Albert Pike
In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich. – Henry Beecher
These men may not be well known for what they have done to the nation. To the families who lost them and to the family of the man they saved, they will never be forgotten.
HOOAH
Never to Be Forgotten, Part 2 §§ 2006, October 13 §§
Posted by cerebralrevolution in Fallen Heroes.add a comment
Gary Gordon was born in Lincoln, Maine in 1960. Master Sergeant (MSG) Gordon, U.S. Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on October 3, 1993 while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Gordon’s sniper team provided precision fire from the lead helicopter during an assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fire. When MSG Gordon learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the second crash site of Super 64, he and another sniper, Sergeant First Class Randall Shughart unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the large and growing number of hostile Somalis closing in on the site.
After his third request to be inserted, Gordon received permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, he was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Shortly after, the Blackhawk that had inserted Gordon and Shughart was hit by an RPG, but managed to crash land back at the U.S. controlled airport.
Equipped with only his sound-suppressed CAR-15 and Colt M1911 .45 caliber pistol, Gordon and his fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members of Super 64. He immediately pulled pilot Mike Durant and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position.
Gordon used his custom sniper rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers. He was down to his last magazine and had used half of it before he was fatally wounded. Fellow Delta sniper Shughart then took Gordon’s CAR-15 to Durant for him to use. Gordon’s actions saved the pilot’s life.
Never To Be Forgotten, Part 3 §§ 2006, October 12 §§
Posted by cerebralrevolution in Fallen Heroes.add a comment
Sergeant First Class (SFC) Shughart, U.S. Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on October 3, 1993 , while serving as a Sniper Team Member, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Shughart provided precision sniper fire from the lead helicopter during an assault on the target building and at two helicopter crash sites, while being subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade fire. While providing critical suppressive fire at the second crash site of Super 64, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site. Shughart and his team leader unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site.
After their third request to be inserted, Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fire at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, he and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Shortly after, the Blackhawk that had inserted Gordon and Shughart was hit by an RPG, but managed to crash land back at the U.S. controlled airport.
Equipped with only his M-14 rifle and a Colt M1911 .45 caliber pistol, SFC Shughart and his team leader, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members of Super Six Four. He pulled the crew members, including pilot Mike Durant, from the aircraft, and established a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position.
Shughart used his rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers while traveling the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. After his team leader was fatally wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted, Shughart recovered Gordon’s CAR-15 and searched the helicopter’s wreckage, recovering several of the crew chief’s M-16s. He returned to Durant, giving him Gordon’s CAR-15 with only the last magazine half full. Gordon had managed to fire all but 15 rounds before being fatally wounded. Shughart then returned to the wreckage without saying another word. When he finished the M-16s’ ammunition, SFC Shughart continued to fight armed only with his Colt .45 pistol until he was fatally wounded. His actions saved Durant’s life.
