The four Navy Seals from SEAL Team 10, were Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy and petty officers Matthew Axelson, Danny Dietz and Marcus Luttrell.  After a helicopter insertion and a treacherous four mile hike, the SEALs found a hiding space overlooking the Afghan village where Shah was suspected and prepared to stalk him.

Two local goat herders and a fourteen year old boy happened upon them.  Michael Murphy, the leader of the squad, put their fate to a vote.  Axelson voted they should be killed, a sad, but militarily efficient result.  Dietz abstained.  Murphy told Luttrell that it was up to him.  Worried about the consequences, and giving what he called the “liberal media” a chance to drag them and the SEAL name through the mud, Luttrell spared the three Afghans.

That decision, as noble or moral as it may have been, led to the worst day of casualties in U.S. Special Forces history.  Two hours after the Afghans were released, a force of about 80 Taliban swarmed the SEALs.  The SEALs, perched on a perilous cliff with radios that did not work, were alone.  In the brutal firefight that followed, the SEALs were forced to peal off and slide down a nearly vertical mountain of shale. Several times.

Danny Dietz, shot three times, once in the throat, continued to fire on the enemy, even as Taliban reinforcements arrived.  The fourth shot, to the head, killed him instantly.  After nearly an hour holding off the Taliban, Dietz killed, and Murphy, Lutrell and Axelson each shot at least once, Michael Murphy did something that defies belief.  Already shot in the stomach, he climbed out from behind his covered firing position and into the center of the firefight to call for help using his own cell phone.  He raised the Special Forces command, and reinforcements were on their way.  As he returned to his covered position, he was shot in the back, through the chest.  This act bravery was later honored with a Congressional Medal of Honor.

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”
- Winston Churchill

Murphy covered their displacement down the hill again, but was overpowered and killed.  Axelson was soon shot in the head, but incredibly, continued to fight, defending his shipmates.  Luttrell was left to fend off the scores of Taliban while rendering aid to a dying Axelson.  A grenade blew Luttrell out of his position, killing Axelson, and ironically, saving Luttrell.

Luttrell’s body was blown clear of the firefight, and the Taliban presumed him dead.  Far away, the SEALs’ reinforcements were landing, but the Taliban had staged an ambush.  When the Chinook helicopter lowered its ramp, a Taliban RPG screamed into the opening, destroying the helicopter and killing eight Navy SEALs and eight Nighstalker crew members.

The Navy SEALs were FCC Jacques J. Fontan, ITCS Daniel R. Healy, LCDR Erik S. Kristensen, Jeffery A. Lucas, LT Michael M. McGreevy, Jr., QM2 James E. Suh, HM1 Jeffrey S. Taylor, and MM2 Shane E. Patton.  The Nightstalkers were Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare, Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature, Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby, Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles, Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III, Maj. Stephen C. Reich, Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell, and Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach. In all, 19 Special Forces operators were killed.

For the next five days, Luttrell was hidden and protected from the Taliban by Pashtun tribesmen in a small village.  The village elder carried a note from Luttrell to the Special Forces command center, and Luttrell was soon rescued.  Shah survived his encounter with the SEALs, but he did not live long.  Less than three years later, he was killed in a firefight with Pakistani police forces.

Murphy was given the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously.  In 2008, a Navy destroyer was named after him.  Axelson, Dietz and Luttrell were each awarded the Navy Cross for their actions during Red Wing.  Luttrell later wrote a book, one you should read: Lone Survivor.  A movie is rumored for next year.

Luttrell has always maintained it was self-preservation, not mercy that lead him to spare the lives of the goat herders.  He knew that killing them was the correct thing to do, but worried about the media and a politically correct Navy court martialing him.  As if to prove Luttrell’s concerns legitimate, this year, three Navy SEALs were court martialed for allegedly punching a terrorist.  All three have been acquitted.

Luttrell’s suffering was not over, however.  Luttrell was given a dog, DASY, as part of his rehabilitation.  The name is an acronym for his comrades, Danny, Axe, Southern Boy (Luttrell) and Yankee (Murphy).  In 2009, in an act of unfathomable cowardice, two teenagers shot and killed his dog, DASY in Texas.  Luttrell gave chase, and fortunately for the scum, the police apprehended them before Luttrell did.

Keep these men in your mind and heart this Memorial Day.  Enjoy your hot dogs and your day off.  But don’t forget what these rough men have done and stand ready to do, to protect your freedom.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” – Ronald Reagan

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! – I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry

“Some people wonder all their lives if they’ve made a difference. The Marines don’t have that problem.” – Ronald Reagan

“There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.” Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

“Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.” – Ronald Reagan

“Some people wouldn’t know a threat to their freedom until it cut the power to their Xbox and killed a half a million of their friends.” – Mike Kaminski as General Patton.

“The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years.” James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy; 23 February 1945

“They told (us) to open up the Embassy, or “we’ll blow you away.” And then they looked up and saw the Marines on the roof with these really big guns, and they said in Somali, “Igaralli ahow,” which means “Excuse me, I didn’t mean it, my mistake”. Karen Aquilar, in the U.S. Embassy; Mogadishu, Somalia, 1991

“Pain is just weakness leaving your body.” U.S. Navy SEAL saying

“It’s important that people know what you stand for. It’s more important that they know what you won’t stand for.” – Will Rogers

“Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer.” – Ronald Reagan

“The only easy day was yesterday.” U.S. Navy SEAL saying

“Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.” – Ronald Reagan

“Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.” – Ronald Reagan

“We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.” – Ronald Reagan

“There is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.” – Ronald Reagan

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” – George Orwell

“Conservatives have excellent credentials to speak about human rights. By our efforts, and with precious little help from self-styled liberals, we were largely responsible for securing liberty for a substantial share of the world’s population and defending it for most of the rest.” – Margaret Thatcher

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way” – John Paul Jones

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

“Never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill

“When the British shoot, the Germans duck, when the Germans shoot, the British duck, when the Americans shoot, everybody ducks.” WW II proverb

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

“To be born free is an accident. To live free is a privilege. To die free is a responsibility.” – Brig. General James Sehorn

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” – John Wayne

“Courage is doing the right thing, even if you might lose. Valor is doing the right thing when you know you cannot win.” – Daily Danet

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight.” – Aragorn

“They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they’ve done.” Jean Luc Picard.

“We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have now done so much for so long with so little, we are now capable of doing anything with nothing.” – US Navy proverb

“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” – Mike Tyson

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain

“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.” – Mark Twain

“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘nice doggie’-until you can find a big stick.” – Will Rogers

“We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.” – Will Rogers

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill

“Appeasement only ensures the dragon stays well fed. These men came to slay the dragon.” – Daily Danet

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.” – Samuel Adams

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”- Thomas Paine

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” – Dante Aligheri

“Before we’re through with ‘em, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell!” – Vice Admiral William F. Halsey

“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry

“People like me do the things I do, so that people like you can continue to do the things you do.” – Johnny Micheal Spann, Killed in Action (Afghanistan) 25 November, 2001

“Doing bad things to bad people.” Motto of 3rd Special Forces Group

“In our business winning is everything, second place is unthinkable” – General Henry H. Shelton

“Atomic warfare is bad enough; biological warfare would be worse; but there’s something that is worse than either. The French can tell you what it is; or the Czechs, or the Greek, or the Norwegians, or the Filipinos; it is subjection to an alien oppressor.” – Elmer Davies

“Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” – Winston Churchill

“Army: A body of men assembled to rectify the mistakes of the diplomats.” – Josephus Daniels

“I can hear you, the rest of the world can hear you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” – George W. Bush

“A society too squeamish to call evil by its right name has destroyed its first, best defense against cutthroats.” – David Gelernter

“It’s a whole lot better to go up river with seven studs than a hundred shitheads” – Col. Charlie Beckwith, Founder of Delta Force.

“We’re Airborne, we’re supposed to be surrounded.” Major Richard Winters at the Battle of the Bulge.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

Petty, snobbish Sodomites who think honest people should jump off a bridge into icy cold water.  Simpletons who think gambling will help the economy — any economy.  Jealous, spiteful little men who think it’s possible to be “oppressively perfect,” because personal character is a zero sum game.

I can’t imagine why circulation is down.  Good luck with those layoffs, Mr. Jamieson.

Have a Merry Christmas, and do try this at home!

Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup or brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila

• Sample the Cuervo to check quality.
• Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.
• Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
• Add one peastoon of sugar. Beat again.
• At this point it’s best to make sure the Cuervo is still ok, try another cup just in case.
• Turn off the mixerer thingy.
• Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.
• Pick the frigging fruit off the floor.
• Mix on the turner.
• If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters just pry it loose with a drewscriver.
• Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.
• Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who geeves a sheet.
• Check the Jose Cuervo.
• Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
• Add one table.
• Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.
• Greash the oven.
• Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.
• Don’t forget to beat off the turner.
• Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the wishdasher.

Cherry Mistmas!