Timothy Patrick Ryan

…had a long and distinguished career as a United States Air Force Pararescueman. He was a longtime member of Joint Special Operations Command’s 24th Special Tactics Squadron; one of the military’s designated Special Mission Units.  He was on a combat jump into Panama, and was also awarded the bronze star and purple heart during his time in the service.

I didn’t know Tim nearly as well as his active-duty teammates; he was a little before my time. We didn’t meet until I decided to take a break from non-stop contracting and do some medical instructing for various military/law enforcement agencies. Tim was the lead instructor on my first class.

We quickly bonded over our shared PJ heritage, and went on to do more classes together. Tim was a fantastic instructor, very intense, and you could tell all of the students, especially the young future medics and corpsmen, were slightly scared of him. Even in his 50s, he cut an imposing figure. We would always crack open a few cold beers at the end of the training day, and have a great time with all the other instructors, swapping stories.

Tim and I would go back and forth on Facebook talking politics, pop culture, and current events all the time. He loved to mix it up and make fun of all the ridiculous shit that happens in our wacky American life. I like to think he’d be a fan of what we’re doing here on cms.sofrep.com.

I was shocked when Tim died suddenly from a heart attack last November at the age of 53, gone way too soon. He is missed by his comrades, and especially his children. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. last week (apparently it takes a while these days,) and there was a great contingent of his brother PJs to see him off to his final staging area amongst his fellow warriors.

Every Memorial Day, I think about a lot of people. I think about my friend and former teammate, CMSgt. Nick McCaskill. I think about the PJs, SEALS, and army personnel from Extortion 17.  I think about all of the people I didn’t know, who never got to come home. And I also think about everyone else I knew who served our country, and are no longer with us, like Tim.

So happy Memorial Day weekend to all of you readers out there. This roundup’s for Tim “The One They Call” Ryan. See you on the other side.

Defense Department- Everything is Going to Plan:

Recent efforts by the government of Iraq to enroll Sunni tribes within the popular mobilization forces will provide additional needed combat power to Ramadi ISF commanders. As well, the coalition remains steadfast in support of the government of Iraq within Ramadi...

We firmly believe Daesh is on the defensive throughout Iraq and Syria, attempting to hold previous gains… They no longer field large conventional formations; they travel in civilian vehicles, they travel in small numbers, which, again, slows their — their ability to move in and around the battlespace, and their ability to maneuver is very, very limited at this point…

Again, we see the lack of training and the rush to deploy inexperienced replacements to the battlefield…

This is a defense department transcript from LAST FREAKING FRIDAY. So almost simultaneous to this briefing, ISIS was overrunning Ramadi. Huge affable nod to one of the few interesting columnists in America, Mark Steyn.

Apparently, we’ve learned nothing from the last 14 years. One of the least surprising details, that the Iraqi army turned tail and ran once again, despite outnumbering ISIS by up to 15 to 1. The U.S. is still under the impression that it can mobilize a national military in a “country” that is basically made up of competing tribes.

Whenever you get quotes about the Iraqi army from senior defense department leadership, you’re guaranteed to get a bunch of gobbledegook about our “valuable coalition” and “ongoing strategic partnership” and other bureaucratic blathering. Leave it to a First Lieutenant to get the closest to the truth (he probably got a talking-to after this statement):

“No matter how many billions of dollars you spend, you cannot buy experience. You cannot buy legacy. You cannot just manufacture that out of nowhere,” Marine 1st Lt. Dave Jackson, who fought alongside Iraqi troops on two deployments, told Al Jazeera last year after the fall of Mosul.

Let me translate that for you: You cannot buy heart and the fighting spirit.

When reached for comment, General Martin Dempsey, flailing about for something positive to say, came up with this gem:

“The ISF was not driven out of Ramadi,” Dempsey insisted. “They drove out of Ramadi.”
He said the Iraqi commander made “what appears to be a unilateral decision to move to what he perceived to be a more defensible position” near Habbaniyah east of Ramadi.

HAHAHAHAHA. Good, one, Martin. So they weren’t CHASED away, they RAN away.

On the other hand, we did do this:

US special forces soldiers have killed a senior leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group during a raid carried out in eastern Syria, the US secretary of defence said.
Pentagon chief Ash Carter said in a statement on Saturday that the raid in al-Amr had killed Abu Sayyaf when he “engaged US forces”.

Al Jazeera’s Omar al-Saleh, reporting from the Bekaa valley in neighbouring Lebanon, said two US helicopters had taken part in the operation at an oil field east of the city of Deir Az Zor.

“Activists from the area say at least six people from ISIL were killed, including at least two of Arab nationalities; a Saudi and an Iraqi,” Saleh said.

The US put the number of ISIL deaths at about a dozen, and said no US soldiers were killed during the incident.

The United States remains very, very good at carrying out targeted hits. There isn’t a country on the planet that can match the very serious men who make up our special operations forces. However, the U.S.  remains very, very bad at trying to install puppet governments in foreign lands with alien cultures.

And God, if I see one more veteran in my Facebook feed going, “HERPY DERP WE NEEDZ TA GO OVER THEREZ AND GETUM!! ISIS IZ BAD DERP!,” I’m going to lose my shit. Yeah, let’s drain our treasury and send our best young men to go die in a meaningless, third world hole whose own people can’t muster up the courage and/or ability to handle their own affairs after 14 years of us pissing away our blood and treasure over there.

Of course, we could go over, crush ISIS, and re-take Ramadi. Our special operators are ACHING to get in there and deal some death to these medieval savages. But… then what? These tribes have been going back and forth for a thousand years, and if you think Whitey is going to go over there, and use logic, reason, and democracy to get between the Muslims and their Magic Book, you are a dimwitted, discombobulated, dullard.

MOH Winner Dakota Meyer Ends Engagement to Bristol Palin… Wait, What?:

Bristol Palin’s wedding to Sgt. Dakota Meyer has been called off, but they will still be celebrating on Saturday. The daughter of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin dismissed reports that the Medal of Honor recipient is already married to another woman.

According to the reports, Meyer, 26, is still married to his first wife Cassandra Wain, whom he married at age 19 in 2008. This was apparently why Palin called off the impending wedding in Kentucky.

On Monday, Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska confirmed on her Facebook page that her daughter’s wedding will not take place as scheduled. But instead of wasting such a good day at “the old Kentucky home,” the Palins and the Meyers decided to just “celebrate life” on Saturday instead of a wedding. She did not explain if the nuptials were canceled or merely postponed — or provide a reason for the change in plans.

Dakota, what the hell, brother? You earned the Medal of Honor, for chrissakes. You should have a whole regiment’s worth of hot trim falling all over you. And Bristol Palin is who you hitched your wagon to?

And what’s up with going ahead with the event? When a marriage is called off, is it common to throw up your hands and say, “Well, fuck it: I already paid for the DJ. LET’S DO THIS?”

Plus, I’m not sure that the Palin family is the one you want to hang out with to just “celebrate life,” Dakota. You could end up getting your ass kicked. 

Airborne Operations Good and Bad:

Jumping out of a plane is ridiculous, but it’s part of the job for many a soldier. So I saw a couple of jumps with, uh, VARYING DEGREES of skill over the week. Let’s take a look at the first one. This is courtesy of a PJ I know, and he says that the guys are doing a water jump into Prince William Sound, Alaska:

SUPER SLO-MO!!! That is a TEXTBOOK exit while wearing fins off the ramp. Great job, guys. Now, let’s take a look at one that didn’t go so well:

OUCH! Now, I can’t really tell from the video, but it APPEARS that the soldier is facing (correctly) into the wind. That wind speed must have been ridiculous. Jump masters, feel free to give me your opinions. Is this the fault of the DZ party giving them the go ahead in high wind, or is the soldier jacked up? Either way… You’re going to feel that one in the morning, buddy.

When You Thought the Media Couldn’t Get Any More Stupid:

The biker gang shootout this weekend in Waco, Texas, that left nine people dead, 18 wounded, and as many as 192 facing organized crime charges has sparked a lot of scrutiny over how police and media are treating this incident compared with how they approached the protests in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore.

The relatively relaxed-looking police presence in Waco was a big topic of discussion. Photos taken by news organizations in the aftermath of the incident showed arrested bikers — who were mostly white — sitting without handcuffs and able to use their phones, while law enforcement officers looked casual and minimally attentive.

This is my own opinion, and I don’t have any proof yet that this happened, but I’m going to go ahead and guess that the cops punched a bunch of holes in these guys. Which is fine with me. So I don’t even get this. In Baltimore, they basically let people burn down half the western district for days and didn’t do anything. In Waco, the cops pulled up and started capping fools.

Police have acknowledged firing on armed bikers but has not yet been made clear how many of the dead were shot by gang members and how many were shot by officers.

So I’m not really getting the gleeful fun that the national black activist shyster network is having on twitter and in the media. Here’s a couple of examples from doofus “journalist” Charles Blow of the New York Times:

OH SNAP. Well, the cops showed up, riddled the biker thugs with rounds, and the situation was pretty much over with. There were no crowds of white people marching in the streets protesting the militant cops firing upon the lovable bikers, nobody burned down any buildings, nobody screamed and threw bricks at the police for using too much force, CHARLES, you IDIOT.

Another:

Let me help you out, Charles. You see, the media doesn’t handwring about the back story and upbringing of the bikers, or what led them down this path, or how we can save future biker criminal thugs, because NOBODY CARES ABOUT THEM. To contrast, the media spent much of it’s time in Baltimore painting sympathetic portraits of known gangbangers. So, while he thinks he’s being Totes Clever, he’s actually showing how stupid he is.

Remember, the city council (!!!) actually held press conferences with members of some of the local street gangs, praising them as allies. The mayor said she wanted to give them, “space to destroy.” Now, in your life, can you EVER picture a politician of ANY ethnicity standing in public, proud solidarity with a couple of methed-out biker thugs? Of course not.

Charles, do you see the difference between an extremely rare, spectacular event, and decades upon decades of systematic violence, addiction, incarceration, poverty, and misery? I’m sure you do; you should be smart enough.

Charles, do you ever wonder why you don’t see 12 guys hanging out on the corner dealing crack in the middle of the day and shooting at one another in nice neighborhoods? Because the people there would have the cops down there every single day, putting the boots to them medium style, until they got the message. They would be CHEERING the police brutality, you dope.

You think I’m joking? Check out the beatdown that the sheriff’s department laid on this white guy last month out in California:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPvTTmhyB_w

You probably never heard of it, did you? Keep in mind, the helicopter was RIGHT OVER THEIR HEADS, and it went on, and on, and on some more. Did people protest, or march, or throw bricks at cops, or burn down buildings? No. (Well, the media did, for about a day or two. Then they forgot about it.) They collectively shrugged their shoulders. After all, the guy was a horse thief. Plus, he shot a dog.

Meanwhile, in Baltimore, 34 36 people have been murdered in the 30 days since Freddy Gray died. The Western District alone has 22 murders so far THIS YEAR, surpassing last year’s TOTAL of 21. But the grifter activists, led by the Grifter-In-Chief, have already moved on to the next scam. See, there’s no money to be made there.

Nothing will ever change, and little kids will continue to catch stray rounds from the gang members shooting in the streets, all because there is a vast concern that the police are insufficiently huggable to violent felons and drug dealers. It’s a disgrace.

But It’s OK Because This Will Solve Everything:

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — President Barack Obama ended long-running federal transfers of some combat-style gear to local law enforcement on Monday in an attempt to ease tensions between police and minority communities, saying equipment made for the battlefield should not be a tool of American criminal justice.

Grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, firearms andammunition of .50-caliber or higher will no longer be provided to state and local police agencies by the federal government under Obama’s order.

“We’ve seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there’s an occupying force, as opposed to a force that’s part of the community that’s protecting them and serving them,” Obama said, nine months after an outcry over the use of riot gear and armored vehicles by police confronting protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.

I’m actually ok with this. The cops are always warning us that they NEED this stuff to counter violent criminals, but notice that they really aren’t taking away anything totally necessary. Not unless the cartels start using armored vehicles, anyway. The cops are still going to have M4s, sniper rifles, and drones, so that will pretty much guarantee them fire superiority everywhere they go here.

Obviously, this is just a bone being thrown out to the activist crowd. This does nothing to change the underlying dynamics of the protests that we see occurring on a near-daily basis now. So the cops will wear blue uniforms instead of camo? They’ll still beat some ass.

Army Captain Saves Couple From Burning Car:

An off-duty U.S. Army captain bravely pulled a trapped couple out of a burning car in North Carolina — while wearing a Captain America T-shirt, reports ABC News.

Steve Voglezon was on his way to a mall Sunday afternoon when he saw the aftermath of a devastating crash of two vehicles in Chatham County.

William Thompson, 67, was driving his wife, Kathleen, 63, in their Acura sedan when Mark Ricketts, 59, allegedly crossed his Chrysler SUV into their lane and they collided.

The SUV flipped over and both vehicles went up in flames.

Voglezon, seeing the carnage, immediately sprang into action.

He grabbed a fire extinguisher from a neighbor to smash the couple’s window before dragging the Thompsons out to safety.

Outstanding job, Captain Voglezon… I see he’s got jump wings on his uniform. Way to represent, airborne!

Thing That Irritated Me This Week:

I swear, I’m a magnet for this: You know when you’re standing in a line, and the guy behind you starts muttering to himself, and then attempts to draw you into his circle of dementia?

SCENE: At AIRPORT

Me: (Listening to music, minding my own business, waiting to get on airplane.)

Weirdo: (muttering to self under breath) “rabble…. rabble… Jeez, this is taking SO LONG… Flying, amirite?” (attempt to make eye contact with me, eyes wide open, eagerly looking for signs of empathy.)

Me: (Long, stone-faced stare into his eyes, ever-so-slowly turning my head away, then one quick look back  and shake of my head. Return to listening to music.)

ALL OF THE TIME. Let this be my public service announcement to all the nut jobs. First off, talking to yourself is a sign of dementia. This is not to be confused with the lesser of nutters, those who READ out loud to themselves. That’s merely a sign of a feeble mind/low intellect. Second: I don’t want to talk to you. You are balding, rumpled, and fairly unattractive.

Either way, Guy: Don’t ask me to validate your inane babble. Christ. I’m at the goddamn airport; I’m already irritated enough.

Atheists Go After General, Wonder Why Nobody Likes Them:

An Air Force general who recently spoke about how God has guided his career should be court-martialed, a civil liberties group is saying.

In a speech at a National Day of Prayer Task Force event on May 7, Maj. Gen. Craig Olson credits God for his accomplishments in the military, and refers to himself as a “redeemed believer in Christ.”

The Air Force Times reports that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has taken issue with Olson’s remarks, is calling for the two-star general to be court-martialed and “aggressively and very visibly brought to justice for his unforgivable crimes and transgressions.”

I’m not a religious man. But calling a speech that talked about how one’s God gave him the strength and dedication to be the best he could be an “unforgivable crime?” This MRFF guy sounds like a whacko.

Mysteriously, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was nowhere to be found for this guy: Can you guess who this story is about?

During his residency at Walter Reed, (???) was asked to prepare a scholarly presentation on psychiatric issues. Instead, he produced a completely off-topic lecture that failed to include a single medical or psychiatric term. In it, he wrote that the Qur’an teaches that unbelievers should have their heads cut off and be set on fire. His superiors asked him to make changes, but the final version of (???)‘s PowerPoint presentation, which he gave in June 2007, still focused almost entirely on Islam and the Qur’an. Hasan stated that having Muslim-Americans in the military poses the risk of fratricidal murder of other soldiers, and added the comment, “We love death more then (sic) you love life!”

Nevertheless, (???) was selected for an elite two-year fellowship at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. Two months later he gave another off-topic presentation, arguing that since America was at war with Islam, suicide bombings and other violent responses were justified. (???)’s classmates protested his remarks so vigorously that the instructor had to stop the lecture. Later, (???) told classmates that his allegiance to the Quran took precedence over his military oath to defend the Constitution.

During his USUHS fellowship, (???) performed poorly and was placed on probation for repeatedly proselytizing about Islam to patients and colleagues. However, his supervisors gave him outstanding officer evaluations that ignored his obsession with violent Islamic extremism. Instead, they praised his “unique skills” and his “extraordinary potential to inform national policy and military strategy.”

If you guessed “Major Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood Shooter,” you win!

Now, on one hand, you had a guy on his own time talking to a private group in a private setting, giving a speech about how his God helped him be the best person he could be. Should he have been wearing his uniform? Probably not. But also, not the worst thing in the world. I mean, we live in a time where gay pride events take place on military bases now, presumably with people in uniform. I also don’t agree with that, but again, don’t think that it’s the worst thing in the world, so I think this General’s speech is pretty harmless.

On the other, you had an openly-radical jihadist, talking about his holy war to bring violence against the infidel during work hours, while training other officers, on a military installation. The MRFF took a pass on that one, though. So there’s that. Great job, fellas.

UPDATE: The Air Force has declined the request of the MRFF.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. Tweet me here @BKactual. Take care of each other.