As the pre-election contentions heat up, you might consider spending some time at the website of OPSEC Team. They highlight specific security issues with the White House's handling of operational details. I'll be interested to see what else they come up with as the campaigns continue.

Truly game changing: Wearable Robots Help Paralyzed Warriors Walk Again

Saw this on Blackfive... it may be for Christmas but it's worth reading no matter what time of year.

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam,'
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.:

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

I'm spending the afternoon working on some PR materials for my military support NGO. It's easy to get so used to the images that there's little impact. Today, though, I'm doing design work that changes the context and puts these images into people's hands, into their daily lives.

I'm working with faces of the fallen, and the enormity of the sacrifice just comes crashing down. But right now, I cannot believe what an honor I've been given in being able to do this work. I get to "meet" these warriors and it's my job to introduce them to others. My work becomes personal. I have to constantly ask myself whether I'm using their likeness honorably or if it's just publicity. And if it's just publicity I go back to the design board because I refuse to trivialize them. It's a tougher calling...but it is a privilege.

Deaf ROTC Auditor Fights to Join Army

This case is particularly interesting due to issues of women in combat, disabled soldiers staying in active duty, and the Israeli model. On one hand, I understand why the Army says "no." We have obligations to our wounded veterans that do not automatically extend to other citizens. While we may feel obliged to serve, the military is not obliged to accept us into its ranks. Combat readiness must be the first priority. Moreover, as we have seen with female soldiers, non-combat designations to not always prevent the soldier from ending up in combat, and in this case, his inability to hear may put himself or others at risk.

But the reality is that we already accept differences in physical standards. Age and gender based requirements are a fact of military life. As I discussed in the post about female Special Ops teams, we'll do far better to recognize different abilities rather than make a fuss about creating "equality" within the military. Equality of worth is not the same as equality of role. Keith Nolan should have his chance to earn a commission, not because we need to make the military "match the population" but because he's proven that he has tremendous potential to serve with distinction. But if we are to make such a bold move, we must eschew concern about the public response if something goes wrong. After reading his story, I believe Nolan would gladly accept the risks. And if he fulfills his potential, I believe his future brothers in arms would gladly accept them too.

It takes a lot of heroism to get my jaw to drop. But I read this over on Blackfive and was stunned. Where do we get such warriors, such men?

The President of the United States in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to

CORPORAL DAKOTA L. MEYER
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

For service as set forth in the following:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the repeated risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a member of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September 2009. When the forward element of his combat team began to be hit by intense fire from roughly 50 Taliban insurgents dug-in and concealed on the slopes above Ganjgal village, Corporal Meyer mounted a gun-truck, enlisted a fellow Marine to drive, and raced to attack the ambushers and aid the trapped Marines and Afghan soldiers. During a six hour fire fight, Corporal Meyer single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved 36 Marines and soldiers and recovered the bodies of his fallen brothers.

Four separate times he fought the kilometer up into the heart of a deadly U-shaped ambush. During the fight he killed at least eight Taliban, personally evacuated 12 friendly wounded, and provided cover for another 24 Marines and soldiers to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior and determined foe.

On his first foray his lone vehicle drew machine gun, mortar, rocket grenade and small arms fire while he rescued five wounded soldiers.

His second attack disrupted the enemy’s ambush and he evacuated four more wounded Marines.

Switching to another gun-truck because his was too damaged they again sped in for a third time, and as turret gunner killed several Taliban attackers at point blank range and suppressed enemy fire so 24 Marines and soldiers could break-out.

Despite being wounded, he made a fourth attack with three others to search for missing team members. Nearly surrounded and under heavy fire he dismounted the vehicle and searched house to house to recover the bodies of his fallen team members. By his extraordinary heroism, presence of mind amidst chaos and death, and unselfish devotion to his comrades in the face of great danger, Corporal Meyer reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Normandy Beach Faces New Invasion: Wind Turbines

Although my family served in North Africa and the Pacific, I'm very aware of the sensitivity of this issue. And I hope that the Normandy veterans will continue to speak up, because their voices should eclipse mine. But I would like to cautiously offer another point of view.

Over the years we've often discussed the need to balance remembrance with living our lives fully. One of the few things that has helped me after the chopper crash is the knowledge that these warriors would never want us to spend the rest of our lives staring at the walls in their name. No, they'd never want to be forgotten, but they didn't die for a burial ground. They died so that we could live our lives in freedom, making new discoveries and breathing new life into the land destroyed by war.

The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.
-Archibald MacLeish

Homeland Security Chair Seeks Probe Into Administration-Sanctioned Bin Laden Movie

I understand this scenario better than some, simply because I've liaised with a major government agency while writing a novel. It's a security tightrope when a writer wants to portray something realistically. In the hands of someone who cares about security, it's usually possible to have a novel or screenplay which is largely truthful yet still protects the real people who do the job.

In the hands of the average anti-military Hollywood producer, or someone seeking reelection, there's trouble. Bad trouble.

I'd recommend paying attention to the results of the investigation. Most of us probably have a suspicion about what it will uncover, but we need the public outrage to push this monster back into its cage. If Hollywood already has the details, it may be too late. But we need to try.