GI JANE BREAKS THE COMBAT BARRIER

Women at Arms
G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/us/16women.html

As the convoy rumbled up the road in Iraq, Specialist Veronica Alfaro was struck by the beauty of fireflies dancing in the night. Then she heard the unmistakable pinging of tracer rounds and, in a Baghdad moment, realized the insects were illuminated bullets.

She jumped from behind the wheel of her gun truck, grabbed her medical bag and sprinted 50 yards to a stalled civilian truck. On the way, bullets kicked up dust near her feet. She pulled the badly wounded driver to the ground and got to work.

Despite her best efforts, the driver died, but her heroism that January night last year earned Specialist Alfaro a Bronze Star for valor. She had already received a combat action badge for fending off insurgents as a machine gunner.

“I did everything there,” Ms. Alfaro, 25, said of her time in Iraq. “I gunned. I drove. I ran as a truck commander. And underneath it all, I was a medic.”

Before 2001, America’s military women had rarely seen ground combat. Their jobs kept them mostly away from enemy lines, as military policy dictates.

But the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, often fought in marketplaces and alleyways, have changed that. In both countries, women have repeatedly proved their mettle in combat. The number of high-ranking women and women who command all-male units has climbed considerably along with their status in the military.

“Iraq has advanced the cause of full integration for women in the Army by leaps and bounds,” said Peter R. Mansoor, a retired Army colonel who served as executive officer to Gen. David H. Petraeus while he was the top American commander in Iraq. “They have earned the confidence and respect of male colleagues.”

Their success, widely known in the military, remains largely hidden from public view. In part, this is because their most challenging work is often the result of a quiet circumvention of military policy.

Women are barred from joining combat branches like the infantry, armor, Special Forces and most field artillery units and from doing support jobs while living with those smaller units.

Women can lead some male troops into combat as officers, but they cannot serve with them in battle.

READ THE FULL STORY WITH PICS AND VIDEO HERE
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/us/16women.html

WOMEN SOLDIERS DESCRIBE WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE AND FIGHT ALONGSIDE MEN IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Women at Arms

Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In

By STEVEN LEE MYERS
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/us/17women.html
Be sure to click on this link and then watch the video of two young females from the U.S. Army describe how they deal with the men in their combat unit in Iraq.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq — There is no mistaking that this dusty, gravel-strewn camp northeast of Baghdad is anything other than a combat outpost in a still-hostile land. And there is no mistaking that women in uniform have had a transformative effect on it.

They have their own quarters, boxy trailers called CHUs (the military’s acronym for containerized housing units, pronounced “chews”).

There are women’s bathrooms and showers, alongside the men’s. Married couples live together.

The base’s clinic treats gynecological problems and has, alongside the equipment needed to treat the trauma of modern warfare, an ultrasound machine.

Opponents of integrating women in combat zones long feared that sex would mean the end of American military prowess. But now birth control is available — the PX at Warhorse even sold out of condoms one day recently — reflecting a widely accepted reality that soldiers have sex at outposts across Iraq.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the first in which tens of thousands of American military women have lived, worked and fought with men for prolonged periods. Wars without front lines, they have done more than just muddle the rules meant to keep women out of direct enemy contact.

They have changed the way the United States military goes to war. They have reshaped life on bases across Iraq and Afghanistan. They have cultivated a new generation of women with a warrior’s ethos — and combat experience — that for millennia was almost exclusively the preserve of men.

And they have done so without the disruption of discipline and unit cohesion that some feared would unfold at places like Warhorse.

“There was a lot of debate over where women should be,” said Brig. Gen. Heidi V. Brown, one of the two highest ranking women in Iraq today, recalling the start of the war. “Here we are six years later, and you don’t hear about it. You shouldn’t hear about it.”

Read full story here and watch video of two females from the U.S. Army describe how they deal with the men in their combat unit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/us/17women.html

HERE ARE THE COMMENTS IN THE NY TIMES RE THE RAPE OF CAPT. MARGARET H. WHITE BY A FELLOW GI IN IRAQ

The New York Times has posted the comments to the article I posted about the rape of Capt. Margaret H. White by a fellow GI while deployed to Iraq. The NY Times stopped taking comments after it reached 299 which shows how much interest there is in this story.

Here is the link to the FULL list of NY Times comments: http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/us/28women.html?sort=oldest

You can read the full story by going to my blog http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-york-times-another-peril-in-war.html and reading the article and viewing a video of Capt. Margaret H. White.

NEW YORK TIMES: ANOTHER PERIL IN WAR ZONES: SEXUAL ABUSE BY FELLOW GIS

December 28, 2009

Women at Arms

Another Peril in War Zones: Sexual Abuse by Fellow G.I.’s
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/us/28women.html?hp

BAGHDAD — Capt. Margaret H. White began a relationship with a warrant officer while both were training to be deployed to Iraq. By the time they arrived this year at Camp Taji, north of here, she felt what she called “creepy vibes” and tried to break it off.

In the claustrophobic confines of a combat post, it was not easy to do. He left notes on the door to her quarters, alternately pleading and menacing. He forced her to have sex, she said. He asked her to marry him, though he was already married. He waited for her outside the women’s latrines or her quarters, once for three hours.

“It got to the point that I felt safer outside the wire,” Captain White said, referring to operations that take soldiers off their heavily fortified bases, “than I did taking a shower.”

Her ordeal ended with the military equivalent of a restraining order and charges of stalking against the officer. It is one case that highlights the new and often messy reality the military has had to face as men and women serve side by side in combat zones more than ever before.

Sexual harassment and sexual assault, which the military now defines broadly to include not only rape but also crimes like groping and stalking, continue to afflict the ranks, and by some measures are rising. While tens of thousands of women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, often in combat, often with distinction, the integration of men and women in places like Camp Taji has forced to the surface issues that commanders rarely, if ever confronted before.

The military — belatedly, critics say — has radically changed the way it handles sexual abuse in particular, expanding access to treatment and toughening rules for prosecution. In the hardships of war, though, the effects of the changes remain unclear.

The strains of combat, close quarters in remote locations, tension and even boredom can create the conditions for abuse, even as they hinder medical care for victims and legal proceedings against those who attack them.

Captain White said she had feared coming forward, despite having become increasingly despondent and suffered panic attacks, because she was wary of she-said-he-said recriminations that would reverberate through the tightknit military world and disrupt the mission. Despite the military’s stated “zero tolerance” for abuse or harassment, she had no confidence her case would be taken seriously and so tried to cope on her own, Captain White said.

A Pentagon-appointed task force, in a report released this month, pointedly criticized the military’s efforts to prevent sexual abuse, citing the “unique stresses” of deployments in places like Camp Taji. “Some military personnel indicated that predators may believe they will not be held accountable for their misconduct during deployment because commanders’ focus on the mission overshadows other concerns,” the report said.

Read full story here and watch video of CAPT. MARGARET H. WHITE who was raped by a fellow soldier during her deployment to IRAQ: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/us/28women.html?hp

FIRST UNITS OF NEWLY ARRIVED US MARINES GO OUT IN SEARCH OF TALIBAN: RAW VIDEO

President Obama recently signed orders sending 4,000 US Marines to Afghanistan and this raw video shows the Marines going out on a patrol in search of the elusive Taliban in Helmand Afghanistan which is located in southern Afghanistan.

TURN YOUR SOUND WAY UP BECAUSE SOUND IS LOW

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/nrnH2Cahlno&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

NEWS ALERT: "TIME RUNNING OUT" IN FIGHT AGAINST THE TALIBAN

'Time running out' in fight against Taliban

by Lynne O'Donnell Mon Dec 28, 12:27 am ET

http://tiny.cc/M4xcn

KABUL (AFP) – Time is running out in the fight to eradicate the Taliban from Afghanistan as the extremists evolve, recruit and spread their influence across the country, according to Western military intelligence.

The insurgency is organised, increasingly effective and growing more cohesive, said a senior intelligence officer with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"The insurgent strength is enabled by the weakness of the Afghan government," the officer told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The Taliban is funding its operations, which he estimated to cost between 100 million to 200 million dollars a year, through "Al-Qaeda, drugs and taxing the people."

Its ideology is based on "establishing Al-Qaeda as a global entity", ridding the region of foreign forces and establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan work together to those ends.

The United States and its allies "took our eye off the ball" for a number of years, allowing the movement to grow and strengthen, the officer said.

Read full story here: http://tiny.cc/M4xcn

YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS VIDEO: PRESS CONF ON SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE U.S. MILITARY.

Suzanne Swift, who was in the Army, was sexually assaulted during her stint in the Army and in this video you hear what happened to her and how the military treated the rape. It is a gripping and moving story and something that should be seen by all because this is just another case of how the mainstream media in concert with Department of Defense keep stories like this hidden from the American public.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/9IzFIk-XQvY&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

Additional information: http://www.countermilitary.org/SuzanneSwift.html

HERE IS WHAT VETS OF AFGHAN WAR REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN. MUST SEE VIDEO

It is not often we get to see and hear what veterans of the Afghanistan War have to say about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, but in this video a number of Afghanistan War veterans speak their mind about the war.

This is well worth watching because as usual the mainstream media in the United States will NEVER bring you a video story like this.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE

http://www.youtube.com/v/vWldsClEW_E&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

AMAZING VIDEO OF GROUND CONTROL DIRECTING APACHE CHOPPER TO DESTROY TALIBAN PLANTING IEDs ON ROADSIDE

The video gives you a first-hand look at how ground control directs an Apache Helicopter to destroy Taliban insurgents planting IEDs along a well-travelled road in Afghanistan.

Listen and watch as the Apache chopper gets its orders from ground control to make the strike.

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/9NOtjdCjo60&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

AFGHAN SECURITY AT A NEW LOW AFTER GRIM YEAR

The first video is a sobering look at what the U.S. troops are facing in Afghanistan. The country is in shambles and the Afghan government is full of corruption. There are many amongst the Afghan people who have no faith in the idea that the United States and a trickle of foreign nations can make a difference in Afghanistan.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17317010;_ylt=AkkwC.X1Q35B0jnRhV_VEuQBS5Z4

KICK ASS VIDEO OF U.S. NAVY SEALS ON A DANGEROUS MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN

Video shows a contingent of U.S. Navy Seals on a dangerous mission into Afghanistan. The appropriate song is "Hunt You Down" by Savilia.

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ejksFTaxfE0&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

MONTAGE OF WORST IED ATTACKS EVER

This video is a compilation of some of the worst IED attacks ever recorded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/TsrlT5tAal0&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

A CHILLING VIDEO OF REPORTER CHRISTIE BLATCFORD'S EXPERIENCE ON THE FRONT LINES IN AFGHANISTAN

Christie Blatchford is a war correspondent who has been covering the Afghanistan war since it started over eight years ago. In this video, she recalls a harrowing experience with a U.S. military unit when they are ambushed by the Taliban.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/_5ByCpw8hcQ&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

DATELINE: AFGHANISTAN---REPORTING ON "THE FORGOTTEN WAR"

In this video you get to see the reporters who are embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan and report daily about what is happening in "The Forgotten War."

This video reports on a Chinook helicopter that crashed while trying to rescue Navy Seals and all 16 military personnel on the helicopter were killed.

Editorial Comment: IMO it is a rotten shame how few people in the United States give a damn about our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. There seems to be no vested interest in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq because most people don't have a relative in the fights nor do they even know anyone in the United States military deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Comment by Bill Corcoran, editor, CORKSPHERE

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/rPaTgRPr4O4&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

GREAT VIDEO SHOWING 8TH MARINES ON PATROL IN AFGHANISTAN

In this video you see members of the 8th Marines talking with Afghan children and elders in an attempt to get information of where the Taliban are hiding. Very tense situation.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/RvHGL-iMN_c&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

YOU WILL NEVER SEE A WAR VIDEO LIKE THIS. TALIBAN RAP SONG: WARNING: SOME FOOTAGE IS VERY GRAPHIC

This is a Taliban video made by the Taliban using lyrics to a rap song. The footage can be very gory at times.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/MXHkEP4nSVI&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

BREAKING NEWS: US SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

US soldier, Taliban commander killed in Afghanistan: NATO

Posted on : 2009-12-26 Author : dpa News Category : Asia

http://news.yahoo.com/topics/afghanistan

Kabul - A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, while Afghan forces backed by foreign troops killed a Taliban militant in central region, NATO said Saturday. The US soldier died in the blast on Friday, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. It did not provide details.


This year has been the deadliest for US and NATO forces since the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001. More than 500 international soldiers - with more than 300 of them from the United States - have been killed in the Afghan conflict so far this year.


Meanwhile, Afghan and international troops conducted an operation on early Saturday in Nerkh district of central province of Wardak against a Taliban commander, thought to have been responsible for planning attacks against Afghan and NATO forces in the province, the ISAF statement said.


When the joint forces approached the targeted compound, the "heavily armed" Taliban commander ran to a nearby mosque, the statement said, adding that the Afghan forces surrounded the mosque and called on the targeted man to surrender.


"The Taliban commander opened fire with his AK-47 while in the mosque and was killed by the Afghan security force," it added.

INCREDIBLE VIDEO OF US MARINES BATTLING TALIBAN IN A BLINDING SNOWSTORM

The snow has arrived in Afghanistan and this video shows US Marines battling the elements and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The conditions are horrible, but the troops are determined to carryout the mission.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/x3uvH998TXg&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

VIOLENT FIREFIGHT BETWEEN 24TH MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE AND TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

Christmas is over and this video shows the 24th Marine Expeditionary force in a violent firefight with the Taliban in the open spaces of Afghanistan.

TURN YOUR VOLUME WAY UP

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/U-oahae6Quw&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

THIS JUST IN: TROOPS IN BAGHDAD CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS: RAW VIDEO

We just received this video of some of our troops deployed to Baghdad celebrating Christmas.

Iraq continues to be a dangerous assignment as witnessed by the recent splurge of car bombings across the country.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/xdNJK0B9nZ8&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

BOB HOWARD, MOST DECORATED AMERICAN VETERAN, DIES AT 70

Watch this video narrated by Brian Williams of NBC about Bob Howard, the most decorated American veteran ever, who died today at age 70 from cancer.

A heart-warming story and tribute to this brave soldier.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.apacheclips.com/media/12739/One_tough_guy/

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE TO PLAY VIDEO

TALIBAN VIDEO SHOWS CAPTURED US SOLDIER, PFC BOWE BERGDAHL, BLASTING U.S. FOR INVADING AFGHANISTAN

There are some people who have looked at this Taliban video showing a captured American soldier, Pfc Bowe Bergdahl, Sun Valley, Idaho, speaking out against the United States and the invasion of Afghanistan and think the Pfc Bergdahl has been brainwashed into saying these things.

What do you think after viewing video?

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/sNZXb27PFiE&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU FROM OUR TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ (THREE VIDEOS)

These are three videos showing our troops celebrating Christmas in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I hope you enjoy them. Click on link and then go to link on my blog and click on it and then click on the diamond-shaped arrow to play the video.

Merry Christmas to all.

Bill

http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2009/12/so-this-is-christmas-video-honoring.html

http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2009/12/soldiers-christmas-poem-and-song-2009.html

http://corksphere.blogspot.com/2009/12/soldiers-christmas-poem-heart-warmig.html

THE SOLDIER'S CHRISTMAS POEM--HEART-WARMIG VIDEO

This poem was written by a GI during WWII, but it is appropriate for this Christmas Day and has been updated with footage from both Afghanistan and Iraq. A must watch.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/-lbH0YqrCqY&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

A SOLDIER'S CHRISTMAS POEM AND SONG--2009---VIDEO TRIBUTE

There are a combined nearly 300,000 U.S. service personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan on this Christmas Day, 2009. This video is a tribute to all of them who are 8,000 miles away from their loved ones. Don't miss this video and pass it around as a Christmas present on Christmas Day.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/FU_G-s2i5cc&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS: VIDEO HONORING THOSE WHO SERVE IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ

Beautiful video showing our troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq celebrating Christmas.

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME

WATCH VIDEO HERE

http://www.youtube.com/v/l6yb3WQ_-Sk&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

THREE BOMB BLASTS KILL 34 IN IRAQ AND INJURE 100

Scores killed in Iraq blasts

A twin bomb attack occured near a bus stop in Hilla [AFP]

Three bomb blasts in Iraq have killed more than 34 people and injured 75 others.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/2009122414310924426.html

Officials said that a double explosion struck near a bus station in Babil province on Thursday, killing 14 policemen and a provincal councillor.


The first bomb, in a car, was said to have exploded at about 2pm (1100GMT) in Hilla, the provincial capital about 95km south of the capital Baghdad.


Another blast came about 15 minutes later when police arrived.


The authorities said that the attacks targeted Shia pilgrims who gathered near the bus station to mark Ashura, a commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein.

In northeastern Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad, a bomb planted near a funeral tent killed eight people and wounded another 33.

A SPECIAL VIDEO MERRY CHRISTMAS POEM TO ALL MY BLOG READERS

This video Christmas poem was created by a member of our Armed Forces and sent to me by my Facebook friend Richard Mowry.

I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks to all for all your support this past year.

God Bless all of our troops and bring them home soon.

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/5_P6yU_ymFM&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

BILL CORCORAN, editor, CORKSPHERE, http://corksphere.blogspot.com
Email: corkcol@aol.com

HEART-WARMING VIDEO OF SOLDIER'S DOG GREETING HIM HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN

This video speaks for itsself. A man's best friend is his dog. Or as President Harry Truman once said: "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ysKAVyXi0J4&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY THIS VIDEO

VIDEO OF OUR GIS IN BATTLE WITH TALIBAN IN KORENGAL VALLEY AFGHANISTAN

The New York Times video shows a platoon of US soldiers in a battle with the Taliban in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan.

TURN UP YOUR SOUND

WATCH VIDEO HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/69Gjy-x9aO0&hl=en_US&fs=1

CLICK ON LINK ABOVE AND THEN DIAMOND-SHAPED ARROW TO PLAY