Typhoon Up Close

Here is a shot from the RAF that will curl your hair.

11th Marines Land In Kuwait

Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit disembark Landing Craft Unit 1635, which ferried them from the amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa (LHA 1). Operations in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility are focused on reassuring regional partners of the coalition's commitment to help set conditions for security and stability. U.S. forces maintain a naval and air presence in the region that deters destabilizing activities while safeguarding the region's vital links to the global economy. Photographer: Petty Officer 3rd Class Bryan Niegel, Navy Visual News Service

Obama And Guns

Here is all you need to know about Obama and gun rights. Typical left wing gun grabber, pander to the hunters while screwing the general public. Also remember that Obama supports whole heartily the D.C gun ban that should be killed off later this year by the Supreme Court. Obama’s U.S. Senate career has already seen him vote against a bill (S.397) to protect the firearms industry from those who seek to sue manufacturers, distributors, and importers for the criminal misuse of firearms by criminals, an idea akin to suing car manufacturers for damages caused by drunk drivers.Why do leftists and Marxists always want to take the guns? Because those with the guns make the rules. Our founding fathers were smart men, they knew sometime in the future the government would get large, powerful and omnipresent and they wanted to be sure that the citizens still had a say.
Here are Obama’s answers to Project Vote Smart,http://votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=BS030017

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning gun issues.
X a) Ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.
X b) Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
c) Maintain state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
d) Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
e) Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms by law-abiding citizens.
f) Favor allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms.
X g) Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks with firearms.
h) Other
Also more from Pajamas Media , Click title for Link

B-2 Spirit Down On Guam, Crew Safe

It finally has happened, A B-2 Spirit crashed on take-off at Anderson AFB Guam earlier this morning. If the information is accurate it was AV-8 serial number 88-0329, The Spirit of Missouri Both crewmembers ejected and are reported in good condition. This takes the number of airframes down to I believe 20 aircraft in the active fleet.
I wonder what they were thinking when they know they had to pull the handles on what is deemed the most expensive aircraft ever built.

The last 4 weeks have not been good for the USAF, Earlier this week a mid air of two F-15C’s south of Panama City FL, both A/C lost 1 pilot dead, A HANG F-15D down Feb 1 off Oahu with the pilot rescued, and an F-16C down Jan 16 off Key West with the pilot rescued. It will be interesting to see if there is a common thread in the B-2, HANG and F-16 crash and what if anything ACC releases publicly next week.

Obama In Left Field

I have not commented on the Democrat primary because both candidate are Marxists at heart but tonight Sen Obama just lost it or is pitifully not informed. With comments like these how can anyone take this inexperienced Senate back bencher seriously as Commander in ChieF of all U.S. Armed Forces

Obama claims US soldiers in Afghanistan are capturing Taliban weapons because this was easier than getting weapons from the government.
You've got to be kidding?

Pentegon Brief Of Shoot Down

U.S.S Lake Erie Downs Sattelite

Late Wednesday night the USN successfully engaged and shot down the dead spy satellite 130 miles up over the Pacific. The satellite posed a life threat due to the amount of hydrazine fuel that was still on board. The U.S.S. Lake Erie fired a SM-3 surface to air missile to bring down the errant satellite.

Two Eagles Down Off Florida Gulf Coast

Two F-15C Eagles from the 58th FS, 33rd FW, Eglin AFB FL had a mid air collision 35 miles south of Panama City FL. Both pilots successfully ejected and were rescued by USCG search and rescue personal. Unfortunately the Air Force announced last night that one of the pilots died from the injuries he received in the crash. A formal accident investigation board will be formed to determine the cause of the accident. Most of the time in midairs it end up being pilot error with a loss of situational awareness. We will not know for sure until the board releases its finally report down the road.

Where Eagles Fly

KOSOVO Recognized Independent State, Why?

I’m not sure what is going on in Kosovo and why the U.S. and certain NATO allies have gone ahead and recognized what will be a fundamentalist Islamic state in the heart of old Europe.
Kosovo is a province in Serbia made up mostly of Albanian Muslims. Over the years the Albanian majority and the Serbs lived somewhat peaceably with a lot of welfare like subsidy from the Yugoslav government. In the winter of 1998 with the Balkans falling apart NATO claimed that the government in Belgrade was oppressing the Kosovo Albanians with over 100,000 killed. This all led to NATO bombing on March 24th 1999 civilian and military Serbian targets because, it claimed, this was the only way to stop widespread ethnic cleansing against Albanians by the Yugoslav government.
Many observers say it must be true the Serbs committing genocide because of the huge rush of Albanians fleeing during the spring of 99. What they fail to explain is the 100k plus Serbs who also fled and reports that the Albanians were being forced out by the terrorist KLA. What it really looks like was Serb forces cracking down on Islamic terrorist KLA who are allied and supported by Al Qaeda. We were bombing the wrong people,
I have read many articles from both sides and have failed to find any hard evidence that ethnic cleansing by the Serbs in massive numbers was true. In fact with Milosevic who was locked up for a war crime trial at the Haque, I have not found anything where NATO can point to one Albanian murdered in Kosovo by Belgrade forces. What there are is many acts of aggression by the KLA terrorists against the Kosovo Serb minority. What also is fact is that the Kosovo Albanians, who were a minority in Serbia, but a majority in Kosovo, and where in control of all Kosovo institutions, including the government, the police, the educational system and others were persecuting the Kosovo Serbs, who were a minority in Kosovo. Another interesting fact is that during WWII there was an alliance of the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo with the German Nazis against the Serbs, Jews, and Roma (Gypsies) of Kosovo. While on the other hand Marshall Tito’s communist Partisans who won the civil war in Yugoslavia where mostly Serbs. Serbs on balance fought against the Nazis, whether as Partisans or Chetniks. The Chetniks were politically and morally ambiguous; they were guilty of gruesome atrocities in reprisal to those committed by the Ustashe, and though never truly allied with the Nazis they did not consistently oppose them either, which eventually caused the Allied powers to switch their support to the Partisans who, though having the handicap of being communists, were nevertheless attractive for being staunchly and actively anti-Nazi. The Partisans were also multi-ethnic and had a dogmatically explicit ideology of ethnic tolerance. Even at the end of the war they were also mostly Serbs.

So with the recognition of the new independent state we will not win the hearts and minds of the Islamic horde as they are sworn to Jihad but we have angered all the orthodox Christians in the area and the Russians.

DEFINITION OF A VETERAN

A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The “United States of America”, for an amount of “up to and including my life.”
That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.
- Author Unknown

Imad Mughniyeh Dances With The Devil

Imad Mughniyeh Hezbollah terrorist kingpin who was responsible for numerous terrorists strikes around the world against both U.S. and Israeli interests tonight dance with the devil. He was assassinated by a car bomb in the terrorist city and state Damascus, Syria. While the Israeli government denies any connection, government spokesman expressed satisfaction at his death. I for one am glad he is gone, final justice for our murdered Marines. Below is a short list of attacks that he was connected to.
—April 1983: suicide bomber at U.S. Embassy Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.
—October 1983: Barracks bombing Beirut, killing 241 U.S. Marines, and 58 French Paratroopers
—March 1984 Kidnapping and killing of Lt. Col. William F. Buckley
—March 1985: Associated Press chief Mideast correspondent Terry Anderson kidnapped and then held for more than six years.
—June 1985: Hijacking of TWA Flight 847 heading from Athens to Rome, and killing of U.S. Navy diver Robert Stetham,
—March 1992: Israeli Embassy bombing in Argentina killing 29 people.
—July 1994: Bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, killing 95 people.

Photos Top, Dead scumbag
Bottom, Beirut Memorial, Jacksonville NC, home of Camp Lejune, Semper Fi

UPDATE: Berkeley CA and Harry Reid (D) Nev. Stand With Code Pink And Against Marines

The latest travesty in Berkeley, CA and the usual from Harry Reid, the worst Senate majority leader ever, traitor to the core.

From Michelle Malkin and Move America Forward:

Berkeley Police Watch “Peace” Freaks attack Patriots.
Berkeley erupted in violence Tuesday morning when the Communist, terrorist-supporting anti-war group crossed into Martin Luther King Park and assaulted pro-troop individuals. Riot police stood by, but did not stop the assaults. Police agencies did not respond to calls for help.
Move America Forward, the nation’s largest pro-troop organization, received permits from the City of Berkeley to hold a daylong demonstration in MLK park against the City Council who passed three outrageous resolutions calling U.S. Marines “unwanted intruders.”
“It is mayhem on here,” MAF communications director Danny Gonzalez said from the park early Tuesday morning.
Code Pink was permitted for across the street. The two sides were to stay separated, according to rules laid down by the city. But the city has a history of giving Code Pink special preference. The City Council gave free parking permits and a free noise permit to the radical group, which has helped fund terrorist families in Iraq with a $600,000 gift. MAF Exeutive Director Catherine Moy attempted to get help from the Berkeley police as the mayhem unfolded, but an officer hung up on Moy. Moy asked the California Highway Patrol to help in the emergency, but the CHP refused. “I have never in my life experienced such inaction in the face of an emergency, “Moy said. “I will ask the Federal Government to investigate, as well as the State Attorney General. It is one thing to give free parking places to the City Council’s special interest anti-war groups, it is another to take sides and endanger the lives of others.”
Move America Forward and other pro-troop organizations will stand in support of the Marines all day Tuesday until they can enter the City Council chambers to address the City Council.

And Harry latest madness via The Hill

Senate Democrats left two days of legislative business officially open last week, hobbling GOP efforts to bring up a bill punishing a liberal California city for scolding Marine Corps recruiters.
The process of recessing is very unusual in the 110th Congress. The only times the Senate went into recess were on Sept. 12 and before and after a number of quick “pro forma” sessions held late last year and in early January, in a tactic to keep President Bush from making recess appointments.
When the Senate adjourns, a legislative day officially comes to an end. To bypass committee consideration of a bill, a senator can request that a bill be placed on the Senate calendar two legislative days after it is introduced.
Once a measure is on the calendar, a senator can request the Senate to approve a bill by unanimous consent, or force at least one member to object to its passage.
But on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7, Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) closed the chamber’s doors by recessing until the next day, a move that, unlike adjourning, does not change the legislative day.
That tactic effectively delayed an effort by DeMint and five other conservatives to bring forward a bill, introduced on Feb. 6, that would strip Berkeley of $2 million worth of earmarks inserted into the $516 billion omnibus spending bill Bush signed into law at the end of 2007. According to three GOP aides, DeMint signaled on Feb. 6 that he would request that the bill be placed on the legislative calendar before the decision was made to recess, rather than adjourn, for the night.
“Berkeley needs to learn that their actions have consequences,” DeMint said.
Republicans said Democrats clearly wanted to avoid being forced to choose between the Marine Corps or Berkeley, Calif., known for its liberalism and fervent anti-war positions.
Instead of adjourning at the end of a day as usual, the Senate “recessed” twice, a move that, under Senate rules, slows the process of adding new bills to the calendar. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not adjourn until last Friday, effectively pushing back floor consideration on the GOP bill until Tuesday — the same day that the city council is likely to tone down its call for Marine Corps recruiters to leave town.
“The only reason to recess is to block something, and the thing that got blocked by Reid’s stall tactic was the Semper Fi Act,” said spokesman Wesley Denton, referring to the bill introduced by his boss, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
“Democrats have chosen not to defend the Marine Corps, but to pander to anti-war protesters and Berkeley officials that are actively trying to impede military recruitment.”

Just Because Rep. Jack Murtha (D) Ohio Is Still A Dirt Bag

Blast From The Past F-105 Thunderchief (THUD)

A great airplane that carried out the bulk of what amounted to strategic bombing in route pack six during Vietnam. The THUD was the largest single engine fighter that the USAF has ever operated. It was developed during the mid 50’s with the first prototypes coming into service in 1954. The THUD was typical of the Air Force’s preference in fighters during this era. With its high wing loading the THUD was designed with high speed in mind instead of maneuverability, one of its primary missions was to deliver a single nuclear weapon at low level. During Vietnam the THUD D model flew over 20,000 sorties as our primary strike fighter in the north and the two-seat G model armed with the AGM –45 Shrike was used extensively as a Wild Weasel to suppress enemy air defenses. The Thud even had success against North Vietnamese Migs, shooting down 27.5, 24.5 with the 20 MM cannon and 3 with the AIM-9 Sidewinder. After Vietnam the THUD that had suffered 397 combat and operational losses was rapidly withdrawn from active service and transferred to the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. The last ANG G models flew in the 128 TFS, Dobbins AFB, GA until 1983 and the last Reserve aircraft flew with the 466 TFS, Hill AFB, UT retiring the type in Feb1984
For a great book on the Thud in combat and a view of why the Air Force Air Staff is what it is check out Thud Ridge by Col Jack Broughton.
"YGBSM"

For A great THUD web site check out http://www.burrusspta.org/thud.html

F-105 D/G Specs
Crew 1 D, 2 G
Length 64 ft 4 inches
Height 19 ft 8 inches
Wingspan 34 ft 11 inches
Empty Weight 27,500 lbs
Max Weight 52,546 lbs
Power plant Pratt and Whitney J-75 afterburning turbojet, 26,600 lbs thrust in A/B
Max Speed Mach 2.08
Armament 1 20 MM Vulcan cannon, up to 14,500 lbs of ordnance, Aim-9 Sidewinder

U.S. military officials wary of China's expanding fleet of submarines

An interesting article from the International Herald Tribune. This is a topic that has popped up in the news, the last time in Oct 2006 when a Red Chinese sub surfaced within weapons distance of the USS Kitty Hawk. Since then a few Naval Bloggers like CDR Salamander have talked about the demise of the USN ASW capability with the phased retirement of the S-3 Viking and the now limited numbers of P-3 Orion aircraft, and the lack of decent ships for the ASW role. You have to ask yourself what the Navy is thinking not keeping these assets up and investing in the future. I’ve read how hard to detect the new generation diesel electrics subs are. With folks like Iran looking to get into the undersea game you would think the USN would want to protect their biggest target/asset the carrier.

By David Lague
Thursday, February 7, 2008
BEIJING: For a procession of senior U.S. military commanders who have visited China in recent years, the complaint has become almost routine.
As part of a sustained military buildup, they say, China is investing heavily in so-called area-denial weapons without explaining why it needs them.
The term area-denial weapons refers to a combination of armaments, technology and tactics that could be used to dominate a specific area or keep opposing forces at bay in a conflict. And one of the most formidable examples U.S. commanders identify is the Chinese Navy's rapidly expanding fleet of nuclear and conventional submarines.
"I would say that the U.S. feels a strong threat from Chinese submarines," said Andrei Chang, an expert on Chinese and Taiwan military forces and editor in chief of the magazine Kanwa Defence Review.
"China now has more submarines than Russia, and the speed they are building them is amazing," Chang said.
U.S. and other Western military analysts estimate that China now has more than 30 advanced and increasingly stealthy submarines, along with dozens of older, obsolete types. "China is capable of serial production of modern diesel-electric submarines and is moving forward with new nuclear submarines," the Pentagon said last year in its annual report on the Chinese military.
By the end of the decade, experts say, China will have more submarines than the United States, although it will still lag in overall capability.
In a conflict, these Chinese submarines - many armed with state-of-the-art torpedoes and anti-ship missiles - would sharply increase the threat to enemy warships approaching the strategically important waterways of North Asia, according to security experts.
On a visit to China last month, the senior U.S. military commander in Asia, Admiral Timothy Keating, said the Pentagon was continuing to monitor the development of China's area-denial weapons, including submarines.
"Chinese submarines have very impressive capabilities, and their numbers are increasing," Keating told reporters in Beijing. Like other U.S. commanders, he also called on China to be more open about its plans.
If China were more transparent about the need for these weapons, it would improve trust and reduce the danger of crisis or conflict, Keating said.
"In submarine operations in particular, because of the medium in which they are conducted, underwater, there is greater potential, in my opinion, for inadvertent activity that could be misconstrued or misunderstood," he told reporters.
Under pressure from Washington, senior Chinese officers have said that the buildup is strictly tailored to defending China's interests and that it poses no threat to any other nation.
"The distance between the Chinese and U.S. militaries is big," said General Chen Bingde, chief of general staff in Beijing of the People's Liberation Army. "If you fear China's military buildup, you don't have much courage."
While the administration of President George W. Bush continues to press Beijing for transparency, most foreign security experts, including senior Pentagon analysts, believe China's unstated objectives are relatively clear.
They say that China plans to use its submarines and other area-denial weapons to delay or deter a U.S. intervention in case of conflict over Taiwan. China regards the self-governing island as part of its territory and has warned regularly that it would use force to prevent Taiwan from moving toward formal independence.
Stealthy submarines would pose a direct threat to the deployment of U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups, almost certainly the first line of any American response to a Taiwan crisis, according to security experts.
In conjunction with attacks on military surveillance satellites, regional U.S. bases and communication networks, the Chinese military would attempt to keep U.S. forces at a distance while attempting to overwhelm the island's defenses, they say.
"This is precisely what the submarines are for," said Allan Behm, a security analyst in Canberra and a former senior Australian Defense Department official. "They can bottle up and deny an enemy access to any given area; in this case that means the U.S. Pacific fleet."
On previous occasions of high tension over Taiwan, Washington has deployed aircraft carriers to neighboring waters, sending a signal to China that it should not use force against Taiwan.
But in a clear demonstration of the increasing vulnerability of these warships, one of China's new Song-class conventional submarines was able to remain undetected as it shadowed the U.S. carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, in late 2006. It then surfaced well within torpedo range.
For some China experts in the U.S. military, this was an aggressive signal to Washington that ranked with China's destruction in January 2007 of one of its own obsolete weather satellites with an antisatellite missile. In so doing, the Chinese Navy demonstrated that it could challenge the most powerful surface combatants of the U.S. Navy in waters around Taiwan. It also gave evidence that Chinese submarine technology had advanced more rapidly than some experts had expected.
"The U.S. had no idea it was there," said Behm. "This is the great capability of very quiet, conventional submarines."
Submarine construction is clearly a top priority for the Chinese Navy, and foreign analysts have noted that in recent years it has concurrently developed four - possibly five - classes of new, locally designed and built submarines.
Some experts have suggested that China is taking the same path as Germany and Japan, which once relied heavily on submarines in a bid to compete with the British and U.S. navies.
The attraction of submarines, the experts say, is that they are extremely cost-effective weapons compared with surface warships. For a relatively modest investment, stealthy submarines can threaten much more valuable military and cargo vessels and attack targets on land with missiles.
The suspicion alone that a submarine may be in the area can force an adversary to operate more cautiously, while diverting resources to expensive and complex detection and tracking.
In further evidence of progress in submarine technology, China displayed photographs and models of its new Shang-class nuclear-powered attack submarine at a Beijing exhibition in July celebrating the 80th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army. The official People's Daily newspaper reported that two submarines of this class are now in service.
In October, Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons researcher with the Federation of American Scientists, spotted on a Google Earth satellite image what appeared to be two of China's Jin-class nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines. Some military analysts were surprised that China had built another submarine of this class so soon after the first, in 2004.
And to put the improvement of its fleet on a fast track, China has also taken delivery of 12 advanced Kilo-class conventional submarines from Russia. These submarines are among the quietest and most difficult to detect, according to veteran submariners.
Experts say the designs of the newest Chinese submarines show evidence of technical assistance from Russia.
Analysts have also suggested that some of China's conventional submarines have been fitted with so-called air-independent propulsion systems. This would allow the submarines to patrol for extended periods under water without needing to draw in air for the diesel engines used to charge their batteries.
A number of naval experts have noticed that the growth in China's submarine power has occurred while U.S. antisubmarine warfare capability has declined from its peak during the Cold War.
What is more, in case of conflict over Taiwan, Chinese submarines would have the advantage of operating in a favorable environment for undersea warfare.
The waters of the East China Sea, South China Sea and Yellow Sea are of uneven depth, with considerable background noise, complex thermal behavior and strong currents. These factors make it very difficult, if not impossible, for surface ships and aircraft to detect stealthy submarines, even with the most advanced passive sonar and other sensors.

B-52 In Action

One of my favorite aircraft affectionately know as the BUFF, the B-52 Stratofortress. This is a nice video found on www.metacafe.com. With some great shots of what I call iron rain.

B-52 Stratofortress - Watch more funny videos here

My Station's E-One

Here is shot of our newest Engine. It is a custom built E-One Typhoon with a twelve-inch extension on the crew compartment we have 4 MSA Fire hawk air packs mounted in the seats in the cab plus the officer seat up front. The truck is equipped with a laptop for computer aided dispatch and there are voice-activated headsets at each seating position. The engine is powered by a 535-horse diesel running through an Allison automatic transmission. It has a 1000 gallon booster tank and is equipped with a 1500 gpm rated Hale pump with the Hale Foam Pro CAFS. We carry 3 preconnected 1’ 3/4 attack line,
a three inch blitz line, a deck gun, front 1 ½ trash line, booster reel and we use 5 inch LDH for supply. All the ladders and pike poles are internal with access gained off the rear. The best feature of all is the air conditioning, which is a lifesaver here in the southeast. I’ll post the shot from our web site and update with new one later this week.

Sen Jim Demint R-SC Wants Berkeley CA Fed Funds Cut

About time someone steeped up to the plate to reign in the far left socialists. The vocal leftists in the Bay area amaze me they have the gall to protest the very men who protect their collective right to do it while calling for their expulsion. Many of these same people have no problem sucking up to the public handout table, be it welfare, rent subsidy free healthcare, whatever. Shoot I’ve seen this type first hand in my own family, oxygen wasters all.
The article is from Fox news on line

WASHINGTON —
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says the City of Berkeley, Calif., no longer deserves federal money.
DeMint was angered after learning that the Berkeley City Council voted this week to tell the U.S. Marine Corps to remove its recruiting station from the city's downtown.
"This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families," DeMint said in a prepared statement. "The First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money."
"If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer-funded handouts," he added
In the meantime, a senior Marine official tells FOX News that the Marine office in Berkeley isn't going anywhere.
"We understand things are different there, but some people just don't get it. This is a part of the military machine that gives them the right to do what they do, but what they are doing is extreme," the official said.
DeMint said he will draft legislation to rescind any earmarks dedicated for the City of Berkeley in the recently passed appropriations bill — which his office tallied to value about $2.1 million. He said that any money taken back would be transferred to the Marines.
DeMint's office provided a preliminary list of items that would be subject to his proposal:
— $975,000 for the University of California at Berkeley, for the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, which may include establishing an endowment, and for cataloguing the papers of Congressman Robert Matsui.
— $750,000 for the Berkeley/Albana ferry service.
— $243,000 for the Chez Panisse Foundation, for a school lunch initiative to integrate lessons about wellness, sustainability and nutrition into the academic curriculum.
— $94,000 for a Berkeley public safety interoperability program.
— $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District, nutrition education program.
The Marine official, speaking with FOX News on Friday, said Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway scoffed at the news, but there are no plans for to protest the City Council's decisions. There are definitely no plans to move the recruiting station either.
"To actually put something into law that encourages the disruption of a federal office is ridiculous. They are not going to kick a federal office out of its rightful place there, and this is not going to discourage those young patriots who want to be Marines," the official said.
The Berkeley City Council this week voted to tell the Marines their downtown recruiting station is not welcome and "if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome guests," according to The Associated Press.
The council also voted to explore whether a city anti-discrimination law applies to the Marines, with a focus on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents open homosexuality in the military.
The council also voted to give the antiwar group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months, as well as a protest permit.
The Marine recruiting office in Berkeley has been open for about one year, but has been the subject of recent protests by Code Pink members.
FOX News' Justin Fishel and Trish Turner contributed to this report.

Hawaii Air National Guard F-15D Down

The article is a little sensational beacause of the A-D models recent structure problems but never the less not to bad.

The Honalulu Advertiser

The ditching of a Hawaii Air National Guard F-15D fighter yesterday was at least the fifth crash nationwide for the Eagles since May and will result in even greater scrutiny for an aging aircraft that has been grounded several times in recent months. The fighter crashed yesterday in the ocean 60 miles south of O'ahu at about 1:37 p.m. after the pilot lost altitude and control, officials said. "The pilot ejected. He's safe," said Capt. Jeff Hickman, a Hawai'i National Guard spokesman. Hickman said there were two of the twin-tail fighters doing routine "air-to-air" training. Two Coast Guard cutters were on the scene of the crash, and the pilot was picked up by helicopter and taken to The Queen's Medical Center, where he was in good condition yesterday evening.
The National Guard did not release the pilot's name or age, but said he was an experienced pilot.
The pilot's family was with him at Queen's and officials said he was in good spirits.
The outcome was far different than the crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C in early November in which the aircraft broke apart and led to a worldwide grounding of the F-15 fleet. The Missouri pilot's arm was shattered and his shoulder was dislocated.
The Hawai'i Air Guard pilot did not suffer any broken bones.
"He's a tough guy," Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, the head of the Hawai'i National Guard, said of the pilot. "He was up, walking around, smiling, had his family there — so we're all happy that he's in good shape."
Lee said the pilot, who was flying solo in the twin-seat aircraft, "was getting to the point where he said, 'Hey, I'm getting kind of low, if I can't control it, I better punch out.' "
Lee said he couldn't release altitude information, but the pilot was "at the low end" of the minimum for ejecting. His ejection seat parachute deployed properly.
Three rescue aircraft crews from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point and crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard cutter Ahi, an 87-foot patrol boat, immediately responded to the incident. The Coast Guard was alerted at 1:45 p.m., a release said.
"He seemed OK for having just crashed," said Coast Guard rescue swimmer Dave Burns, who hoisted the pilot out of the seas with swells up to 12 feet. "It just seemed like he was ready to get out of there. He wasn't injured. He wasn't disoriented."
Burns said the pilot was in a life raft when the Coast Guard arrived. The rescue swimmer jumped into the waves, swam over to the jet pilot and made sure he was OK.
The pilot thanked the crew several times after the rescue, Burns said. Once the helicopter landed, the pilot was able to walk, he said.
Coast Guard Lt. Will Johnson, the pilot of the Coast Guard helicopter, said there was an oil sheen in the water and a smell of oil in the area around where the fighter pilot was rescued.
But Johnson said he saw no wreckage from the downed F-15.
The rescue was Burns' first time saving someone in the water. "We train for this type of stuff," Burns said. "I'm just glad the guy was OK. It was a good day for both of us."
Lee, the state's adjutant general, had thanks for the Coast Guard, "because as soon as our (operations center) called, their help was there in short time to pick him up."
Hickman said the second F-15 maintained visual contact with the downed pilot.
Crewmembers from the cutter Ahi, the cutter Kukui, a 225-foot buoy tender, and Coast Guard aircraft crews were remaining on scene to check for pollution and debris.
A crash investigation will take at least 30 days, officials said.
The F-15 is part of the 199th Fighter Squadron, 154th Wing of the Hawai'i Air National Guard.
Before yesterday, the squadron was approaching a record 80,000 hours of accident-free flying in the F-15, Hickman said earlier. Around the late 1960s, a Hawai'i Guard F-4 Phantom pilot did have to eject because of a fuel problem, he said.
The F-15s serve in a homeland defense role for the state. The aircraft also are available for worldwide taskings.
The 63-foot-long F-15s, which can fly faster than 1,875 mph, or Mach 2.5 plus, were deployed to Iraq in 2000 for no-fly-zone duty and patrolled the skies above Honolulu after the 9/11 attacks.
Thirteen of 20 Hawai'i Air National Guard F-15s stationed at Hickam Air Force Base returned to the air in mid-January after the fighters were grounded worldwide on Nov. 3. The day before, an Air National Guard F-15C in Missouri experienced catastrophic structural failure and broke apart in flight during basic maneuver training.
The entire U.S. Air Force F-15 fleet was grounded after the Nov. 2 Missouri crash. The A through D model jets were cleared to fly, but then were regrounded on Nov. 28, and again in early December after another problem aircraft was found.
The newest model, the F-15E, continued to fly and is being used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In June, an F-15 from the Oregon Air National Guard crashed in the Pacific Ocean on a training mission. Also in June, one of the jets crashed near Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. And in May, an F-15 went down in southwestern Indiana during training.
The Hawai'i Guard's seven other F-15 Eagles remain grounded and await clearance to fly from Air Combat Command on the Mainland.
Hawai'i has A, B, C and D models that are on average 25 years old, officials said. The plane that crashed was a newer D model F-15 valued at $28 million.
The Hawai'i Air National Guard first received F-15s in 1987, replacing F-4 Phantoms.
The Hawai'i aircraft flying yesterday has two seats, although officials said there was only the one pilot in the crashed aircraft.
Guard officials said they did not believe the F-15 crash was related to ongoing training at Kane'ohe Bay.
The Navy said last month that F-15 Eagles were to be used in an adversary role as eight U.S. Navy F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet jets from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine were conducting flight operations at Kane'ohe Bay through Feb. 20.
The Navy was to work with the Hawai'i Guard's 199th Fighter Squadron to test the Navy's newest fighter aircraft technologies. The Guard's 199th Fighter Squadron also was expected to conduct operations in and out of the air facility throughout the testing period, said Navy Lt. Mark Huber, a public affairs officer.
The F-15s at Hickam will be replaced by F-22 A Raptors with stealth technology starting in late 2011.
A Coast Guard rescue crew hoisted a downed F-15 Hawai'i Air National Guard pilot from waters about 60 miles south of O'ahu yesterday afternoon. The unidentified pilot was not hurt.
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com and Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.