FedEx 777F

FedEx has taken delivery of its first 777F cargo aircraft. The 777F powered by a pair of magnificent General Electric GE90-110 engines offers the best load and fuel burn of any large cargo aircraft. With 30 firm orders FedEx will be the largest operator of the 777 freighters.

Photo Boeing

Austrian Typhoons

The Austrian Air Force has taken final delivery on its 15th Eurofighter Typhoon. They all serve with the 1st Wing at Zeltweg AB. The Typhoon is one good-looking aircraft.
Both images © Dietmar Fenners/EADS

Border Patrol

Can someone explain to me that as the Federal government is adding jobs at a terrific rate, why is the Obama administration is planning on cutting 300 Border Patrol Agents?

Last KC-135E Retires

After more than 50 years of service the last serving KC-135E Tanker was retired last Friday at Davis Monthan AFB. Tail number 56-3630 will continue to serve for years to come as it is stripped of parts for the rest of the fleet. Its age and service like the rest of the fleet are a testimony to solid design and great maintenance over the years.

(U.S. Air Force photo/Airman Jerilyn Quintanilla)

Strega Wins Reno

In a repeat from last year Team Strega won the Reno Gold unlimited race fro the second year in a row last weekend. What made this victory unique was the age of winning pilot at 22. Steve Hinton has become the youngest champion ever.

Steve Hinton photo David B. Parker/RGJ

UN Speech, Epic Fail.

Once again the President throws the U.S., Israel and common sense toward the global warming fraud under the bus. Check out John Bolton’s comments from Fox. As far as Kaddafi, it’s a crying shame that he wasn’t home when the 48th FW F-111 came calling.
Good on the Canadians waking on the Iranian dirt bag.

Click thr title to go to Fox News for Amabassdor Boltons comments

Sergeant First Class Jared Monti, MOH

Citation from the Medal of Honor presented to the parents of Sergeant First Class Jared Monti.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Staff Sergeant Jared C. Monti distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a team leader with Headquarters and Headquarters troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, in connection with combat operations against an enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, on June 21st, 2006. While Staff Sergeant Monti was leading a mission aimed at gathering intelligence and directing fire against the enemy, his 16-man patrol was attacked by as many as 50 enemy fighters. On the verge of being overrun, Staff Sergeant Monti quickly directed his men to set up a defensive position behind a rock formation. He then called for indirect fire support, accurately targeting the rounds upon the enemy who had closed to within 50 meters of his position. While still directing fire, Staff Sergeant Monti personally engaged the enemy with his rifle and a grenade, successfully disrupting an attempt to flank his patrol. Staff Sergeant Monti then realized that one on his soldier was lying wounding in the open ground between the advancing enemy and the patrol’s position. With complete disregard for his own safety, Staff Sergeant Monti twice attempted to move from behind the cover of the rocks into the face of relentless enemy fire to rescue his fallen comrade. Determined not to leave his soldier, Staff Sergeant Monti made a third attempt to cross open terrain through intense enemy fire. On this final attempt, he was mortally wounded, sacrificing his own life in an effort to save his fellow soldier. Staff Sergeant Monti’s selfless acts of heroism inspired his patrol to fight off the larger enemy force. Staff Sergeant Monti’s immeasurable courage and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and the United States Army

Ex-Commandos Rescue US Woman Imprisoned in Arab Home

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133453
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(IsraelNN.com) Former IDF commandos secretly entered a Palestinian Authority village on Monday and rescued an American woman and her 2 1/2-year-old son from her Muslim husband, who had beaten and and held her captive for three years. The woman and child flew to the United States Wednesday night and are en route to her family’s home in Ohio.
The Arab met the woman during a visit to the United States and enticed her to return with him to Israel and to the house where he lives with his first wife and several children, according to Voice of Israel government radio military reporter Carmella Menashe, who reported the story.
“She had no idea of where she was and was unable to escape,” Menashe reported. The woman wore Muslim clothes, including a veil over her face, and the man threatened her that she never would see her child again and that security agents would pick her up if she fled. She was kept under guard to make sure she could not reveal details of her ordeal on the telephone.
Her family, knowing she was somewhere in Israel, unsuccessfully tried to get the U.S. Consulate in eastern Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority to help, and the family turned to a friend, a former Israeli combat soldier, who contacted a friend in Israel who also was a former commando in the Israeli Defense Forces.
The commando, who did not reveal his full name, explained that he gathered nine comrades, and they used their own intelligence connections to locate the house where she was being held.“We carried out surveillance around the house, wore civilian clothes and staged the operation without any danger. We were unarmed, but part of the group was armed in a waiting vehicle in case there was trouble," he said.
They carried out the secret operation in broad daylight without resistance and when the captor was not home, whisked the woman and child into a car and brought them to an apartment already prepared for them near the American Consulate. Her husband had destroyed her American passport, and after she signed documents and obtained a new passport, she and her son were driven to Ben Gurion International Airport, where they boarded a plane to New York. The commando who was interviewed by Menashe pointed out that the IDF and American government were not involved in the mission although the Consulate was updated so officials could be prepared to help the woman after her rescue. He said there was no problem entering the Arab village and that the rescuers crossed the IDF checkpoint when they knew there would be a minimum number of soldiers.He said they carried out no illegal activities, and that they did not care if they were stopped on their way to Tel Aviv from the village because they had accomplished their mission of freeing the woman.The woman’s family will pay the commandos for their work, he said. Asked if he would carry out the same type of operation to free kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, he said that is exactly what the government should be doing.

I'm not surprised that our Stae Deparment did nothing to help locate and rescue this women.

SEALS 1 Somali Terrorist 0

Monday, September 14, 2009
Justin Fishel


Navy Seals from US Special Operations Forces conducted a raid in southern Somalia on Monday that killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of 4 co-conspirators wanted in the 2002 bombing of an Israel owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, two senior U.S. military officials told Fox News.
Ten days ago President Obama signed the Execute Order for Nabhan, who since 2006 was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists. He was also wanted for the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Kenya in 1998.
They called it operation Celestial Balance: at least two AH-6 Little Bird helicopters deployed from one of two U.S. Navy vessels near Somalia's coast strafed a vehicle Nabhan was using to go back and forth between meetings.
Intelligence operatives had been monitoring Sabhan prior to the attack. The helicopters passed once, firing on the vehicle, and then circled back around to retrieve the body so they could make a positive identification, according to an official.
The attack in Mombasa took place on Nov. 28, 2002 - involving a suicide bomber that blew up the lobby of the Israeli owned Paradise hotel. On the same day the attackers unsuccessfully attempted to shoot down an Israeli owned Boeing 757 civilian jetliner run by Arkia. They fired surface to air missiles and missed.
Nabhan's Somali group, Al- Shabaab, has links to Al Qaeda.

Hard to believe the One signed the order to get this scumbag. The leftists will go nuts.

Discovery Home

The space shuttle Discovery is home after a 14-day mission in support of the space station. Discovery landed at Edwards AFB Friday evening after inclement weather prevented its landing at the Kennedy Space Center. These guys make it look easy

We Remember the 2996

This picture brings a human face to the 2996 people murdrded by Islamic terrosrist on 9/11. I can remember thtat day the shot from msulim dominated countries around the worlds showing people dancing and celebrating. Nothing makes my blood boilmore than thinking of all the liberals in this country that want to forget and just do not undersatnd that these people will not stop. They only respect the big stick and Uncle Sam needs to be swinging it more. Unfourtunaly this won't happen with current crop of ass hats that are running the show in D.C.
Hat TIp the Jawa Report

9/11 A day of Infamy

Today is 9/11 the eighth anniversary of the surprise attack by Islamic radicals that brought death and destruction to our great nation. I hope that today people take a minute to remember the hero’s and the victims of that tragic day and to remember who did this to us. Our enemies will not stop and we must accept this fact. Pray for our nation and the fallen and pray that the current crowd in Washington does not leave us open for another attack.

'We're pinned down:' 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush

This is an absolute disgrace the new ROE see’s to these needless casualties. This is why the Russian ended up pulling out. The bottom line is we cannot nation build were there is no nation. Special Forces units should be used with massive firepower brought to bear to kill the Taliban off. This type of kinder gentler BS does not get it. US Marines from Camp Lejeune have been taking the brunt of the recent casualties. There is no excuse not to give troops in contact all that they need from airpower and artillery that is available. This will become a if we let it a meat grinder that will be an albatross around the current administrations neck. An exert from the McClatchy news article, click the title for the whole article. This incident is under investigation as to why the request for artillery support was not
granted.
I would also like to know why there was no TACAIR availble and why did the helicopter take 1 hour to arrive?

GANJGAL, Afghanistan — We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.
"We will do to you what we did to the Russians," the insurgent's leader boasted over the radio, referring to the failure of Soviet troops to capture Ganjgal during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation.
Dashing from boulder to boulder, diving into trenches and ducking behind stone walls as the insurgents maneuvered to outflank us, we waited more than an hour for U.S. helicopters to arrive, despite earlier assurances that air cover would be five minutes away.
U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.
McClatchy Newspapers 2009

F Company 2/8 Marines

Marines from F company of the 2/8 are seen responding to fire from a Taliban ambush.
Photo's Jack Hill/The Times

Semper Fi

Station Fire Decalred Arson!

From the Wall Street Journal
The Station fire raging in the mountains east of Los Angeles was caused by arson, the U.S. Forest Service said Thursday.

Teams of forensic investigators had spent the past two days combing the area believed to be the fire's origin, looking for clues.

The area has been cordoned off with yellow tape and deemed a crime scene.

Last Sunday, two firefighters died while battling the blaze when their truck overturned, falling more than 800 feet, as they tried to escape the flames.

After the cause of the fire was ruled to be arson, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said that it had begun a homicide investigation in relation to those two deaths.

Though firefighters have been able to contain 38% of the fire, up from 28% a day earlier, and have successfully shielded many of the most populated nearby communities, the blaze is expected to burn for close to another week.

The fire has consumed close to 150,000 acres, or about 234 square miles, making it the largest fire on record in Los Angeles County.

The fire began on Aug. 26, and has cost about $3 million a day to fight.

Much of that cost came from an air assault, involving multiple air tankers that blanketed portions of the fire's perimeter with fire retardant and water.

The evacuation has been lifted on 6,400 households and people returned to their homes, though officials were concerned about one community that may still be at risk.

At least 64 structures were consumed by the blaze, making the damage to property relatively light, considering the size and intensity of the fire.

Col William A. Jones III MOH Citation

Col Jones showed that he was one of the ultimate warriors on this mission. Until I saw this on http://www.thedonovan.com I had never heard of this mission. Col Jones dies in an aircraft accident before he could accept his award.



Rank and organization: Colonel, U.S. Air Force, 602d Special Operations Squadron, Nakon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. Place and date: Near Dong Hoi, North Vietnam, 1 September 1968. Entered service at: Charlottesville, Va. Born: 31 May 1922, Norfolk, Va. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Col. Jones distinguished himself as the pilot of an A-1H Skyraider aircraft near Dong Hoi, North Vietnam. On that day, as the on-scene commander in the attempted rescue of a downed U.S. pilot, Col. Jones' aircraft was repeatedly hit by heavy and accurate antiaircraft fire. On one of his low passes, Col. Jones felt an explosion beneath his aircraft and his cockpit rapidly filled with smoke. With complete disregard of the possibility that his aircraft might still be burning, he unhesitatingly continued his search for the downed pilot. On this pass, he sighted the survivor and a multiple-barrel gun position firing at him from near the top of a karst formation. He could not attack the gun position on that pass for fear he would endanger the downed pilot. Leaving himself exposed to the gun position, Col. Jones attacked the position with cannon and rocket fire on 2 successive passes. On his second pass, the aircraft was hit with multiple rounds of automatic weapons fire. One round impacted the Yankee Extraction System rocket mounted directly behind the headrest, igniting the rocket. His aircraft was observed to burst into flames in the center fuselage section, with flames engulfing the cockpit area. He pulled the extraction handle, jettisoning the canopy. The influx of fresh air made the fire burn with greater intensity for a few moments, but since the rocket motor had already burned, the extraction system did not pull Col. Jones from the aircraft. Despite searing pains from severe burns sustained on his arms, hands, neck, shoulders, and face, Col. Jones pulled his aircraft into a climb and attempted to transmit the location of the downed pilot and the enemy gun position to the other aircraft in the area. His calls were blocked by other aircraft transmissions repeatedly directing him to bail out and within seconds his transmitters were disabled and he could receive only on 1 channel. Completely disregarding his injuries, he elected to fly his crippled aircraft back to his base and pass on essential information for the rescue rather than bail out. Col. Jones successfully landed his heavily damaged aircraft and passed the information to a debriefing officer while on the operating table. As a result of his heroic actions and complete disregard for his personal safety, the downed pilot was rescued later in the day. Col. Jones' profound concern for his fellow man at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

LACFD RIP

Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt Tedmund "Ted" Hall, above left, died along with 34-year-old Arnaldo Quinones, above right, when they drove off the side of a treacherous road in the Mt. Gleason area, south of Acton. While searching for an evacuation route for a 55 man inmate crew.
RIP Brothers