Bookworm Room

Tweet Last year, when I was casting about for a holiday season charity, a friend recommended the Semper Fi Fund, which helps out wounded service people and their families.  I was planning on making a donation again this year, sometime around December something or other, but I’m not going to wait that long.  I’m going [...]

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Tweet Courtesy of the Navy League, today I boarded the USS Makin Island as an official ship’s greeter.  My visit was a bit more fraught than past experiences have been, so I thought I’d walk you through the girl’s guide to visiting the USS Makin Island, starting with pre-visit preparations: Review boarding instructions at last-minute [...]

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Tweet Sgt. Gary Stein was discharged from the Marines because he created a web page critical of President Obama.  Despite the fact that I agree with Sgt. Stein’s political views, I think the Marines did the right thing. One of the things that makes our military great is the fact that it is a non-partisan [...]

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Tweet Usually, Marines are there to help us.  Today, though, you can help out a Marine — America’s Sergeant Major, who blogs at Castra Praetoria, is in a dead heat at the Milbloggies for best Marine Milblogger. Mike’s not only a friend of mine, but he runs a wonderful blog, one that is funny, moving [...]

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Tweet Two people sent me a link to stories about Naomi Wolf castigating singer Katy Perry for making a “shameless” piece of video “propaganda” celebrating the U.S. Marines.  One sent me the link because he knows that, I went to school with Naomi.  The other sent me the link because he knows that I like [...]

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Tweet I’ve finished reading the wonderful Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine, and am about to embark upon Give Me Tomorrow: The Korean War’s Greatest Untold Story–The Epic Stand of the Marines of George Company.  One of the things that stands out in any book one reads about the Marines is the fact [...]

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Tweet You know me — I’ve always had a soft spot for the Marines.  (No offense to the Navy League, of course, especially because the Marines are an integral part of the Navy League.)  Since I can’t imagine anyone not sharing my feelings about the Marines, I thought you’d like the following remarks from Col. [...]

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Tweet You remember Ilario Pantano, don’t you?  Well, maybe not.   It’s been a long time now since the media savaged his reputation, selling him to Americans as a cold-blooded killer, a story that ran endlessly on newspaper front pages and in TV headlines.  Interestingly, the media was pretty quiet when the report came out clearing [...]

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Tweet Suek posted this is an open thread, but I thought it was too good to keep hidden: Marines are taught: 1) Keep your priorities in order and 2) Know when to act without hesitation. A MARINE was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the [...]

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Tweet I’m about to show my age here, but what can you do.  Up until this morning, I had no idea who Justin Timberlake was.  I mean, sure I’d heard his name, but I just vaguely thought “Singer?  Actor?  Whatever.”  I’ve pretty much checked out of pop culture lately, finding it too antithetical to my [...]

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Tweet In honor of Fleet Week (which starts Saturday in San Francisco), I have three Navy/Marine related stories to relate and I want to promote a few of my favorite Navy related blogs. Story 1: My daughter has started a new school and is making new friends.  The other day, I met the Mom of [...]

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Tweet I meant to post this yesterday, but time got away from me:  many, many, many congratulations to the Marines and their Afghan allies for the Marjah victory.  I never doubted that they would win, but I certainly understood that each Marine and Afghan soldier faced the risk that he would make the ultimate sacrifice [...]

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Tweet Thanks to the Navy League, I’ve just returned from a delightful evening aboard the USS Green Bay.  I knew the evening was going to be lovely even before I boarded the ship.  Although a nasty storm is threatening to hit the Bay Area tomorrow, the drive into the City was exquisite.  The air was [...]

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Tweet Courtesy of the Navy League, we spent several hours yesterday enjoying the hospitality of the crew of the USCG Cutter Pike, an 87′ Marine Protector Class Coastal Patrol Boat.  In other words, we spent the afternoon on an active duty patrol boat.  Rather than a chronogical recitation of a day that was basically very [...]

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Tweet You know how I feel about the Marines.  And now Barack knows how the Marines feel about him: I found the above video at Cheat-Seeking Missiles, where Laer also has a picture that is worth ten thousand words. UPDATE:  Blackfive has more, including a reminder about why the troops might be just a little [...]

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Tweet You all know that, much as I admire our armed forces generally, and our Navy particularly, I have a special spot in my heart reserved entirely for the Marines.  Laer has yet another story illustrating just why the Marines are a special breed.

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Tweet There’s a good news article in the SF Chronicle today, and one that also has a one interesting point and one missing point.  First, the good news:  A local Marine battalion just returned home yesterday, safe and sound, from its fifth tour of duty: Number five was relatively easy. The Marine battalion that has [...]

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Tweet I’m sorry to say that, for me, “the troops” have always been somewhat abstract, not because I don’t respect and admire them, but because I really don’t know any troops.  Living in my Marin bubble, where the military is anathema to the average person, you simply don’t have a large number of people entering [...]

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Tweet I loved this short, but true, story: A teenager learned it is not a good idea to try to rob a former U.S. Marine at knifepoint, no matter how old he is. Santa Rosa police Sgt. Steve Bair said an 84-year-old man was walking on Fourth Street with a grocery bag in each arm [...]

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Tweet Rob Riggle, at the Daily Show, demonstrates that people who support the military may find that their best weapon is simply to let Code Pink talk, and talk, and talk. Man, those gals are stupid.

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Tweet There’s a big hoo-ha about the “Marines killing a puppy video,” a bit of nastiness, whether real or faked, that is giving the anti-military crowd a lot of grist for their “the military creates monsters” mill.  I learned something interesting, though, at From my position . . . on the way!  It turns out [...]

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Tweet Yesterday morning, in Berkeley, they were saying this: “Murder, rape, torture, war. That’s what the Marines are for.” and this: “These are very dangerous people. They’re lying to their children, talking them into becoming killers.” I noted that the mask had slipped, revealing that the “we support the troops, but not the war” line [...]

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Tweet If you’re interested in up close pictures and eye-witness reporting from the goings-on in Berkeley, check out ProtestShooter. The pictures are from early in the day, so I can’t wait to see the next installment. My favorite photo was one that really didn’t have to do too much with the protest at all, but [...]

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Tweet Since the Iraq War began, the Left has attempted to disassociate itself from the ugliness of 1960s anti-War protests by repeating, over and over, “We love the troops. It’s just the War we hate.” That line always had a stilted quality, especial since we have a volunteer army, and our troops are willing to [...]

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