Lima Battery breaks out the big guns at Lead Mountain range
By Cpl. Evan M. EaganMCAGCCLima Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, conducted a re-familiarization shoot Sept. 6 and 7, at the Combat Center’s Lead Mountain training area to prepare for their upcoming deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom later this month. ... Full Story

The hot dog stand in the Pentagon's center courtyard, which has long been a source of Cold War speculation, folklore and legend, will be torn down in the coming months. During the Cold War, the Soviets reportedly thought the hot dog stand led to a secret underground bunker. (DOD photo/Steven Donald Smith)


by Steven Donald Smith
American Forces Press Service

9/20/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The hot dog stand in the Pentagon's center courtyard, which long has been a source of Cold War intrigue, will be torn down in the coming months and replaced with a new eating facility.

"Rumor has it that during the Cold War the Russians never had any less than two missiles aimed at this hot dog stand," said Brett Eaton, an information and communications officer for Washington Headquarters Services. "They thought this was the Pentagon's most top secret meeting room, and the entire Pentagon was a large fortress built around this hot dog stand."

Reportedly, by using satellite imagery, the Soviets could see groups of U.S. military officers entering and exiting the hot dog stand at about the same time every day. They concluded that the stand was the entrance to an underground bunker.

"They (Soviets) thought the officers were going to get their top secret briefings in a protected area, but really they were just going to get lunch," Mr. Eaton said with a chuckle while standing in front of the building.

The legend surrounding the hot dog stand is even spun by official Pentagon tour guides during public tours of the building.

"It's rumored that a portion of their (Soviet) nuclear arsenal was directed at that building, the Pentagon hot dog stand," tour guides tell visitors as they pass the stand. "This is where the building earned the nickname Cafe Ground Zero, the deadliest hot dog stand in the world."

To Mr. Eaton's knowledge, this tale has never been officially substantiated by Russian officials.

The Pentagon was declared a national historic landmark in 1992, and because the courtyard is one of the five historically protected features of the building, the hot dog stand must be replaced by a building of roughly the same size, and exactly the same shape as the Pentagon, Mr. Eaton said.

"In general, the design will kind of replicate what we have here right now, but it's going to be much more modern and a lot bigger. It will really give us an efficient food service delivery system for the Pentagon," said David Gabel, the renovation program manager for Pentagon renovation and construction.

The new building will cost about $1.2 million to complete, he said.

In addition, the wooden owl atop the current hot dog stand to ward off birds must be preserved and placed on the new structure.

The new building will be the third permanent eatery on the spot.

"This one was put up in the late 1980s," said Jeff Keppler, business manager for the Pentagon concession committee.

The current facility has not been used for a few years. Serving in its place was a sandwich and pizza seller who operated out of a trailer next to the building.

The new eating facility will have indoor seating for about 50 people and will offer catering services. It is tentatively scheduled to open next September.

"I'm really looking forward to the new building," Mr. Keppler said. "It's going to be great for the population of the Pentagon to have a year-round facility that will have indoor seating, restrooms, with breakfast and lunch available Monday through Friday."

The Soviet Union is a thing of the past, but the hot dog lives on in America.

The wooden owl atop the current hot dog stand in the Pentagon's courtyard will be placed on the new building that will replace the current structure. (DOD photo/Steven Donald Smith)

by Petty Officer 2nd Class Eli J. Medellin

September 20, 2006

Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment patrol Hana Qadim, Iraq. US Army photo.

From Marine Corps News:

Cpl. Daniel M. Greenwald, an assaultman from Rockland County, N.Y., attached to Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, holds up his Kevlar helmet. The Kevlar stopped an insurgent sniper bullet from severely wounding or killing Greenwald. He only suffered a minor gash on his forehead. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Erik Villagran


Sept. 15, 2006
Submitted on: 09/20/2006 03:03:27 AM
Story ID#: 20069203327

By Lance Cpl. Erik Villagran, 1st Marine Division

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Sept. 15, 2006) -- Cpl. Daniel M. Greenwald knows that being hard headed isn’t always a bad thing.

Greenwald, from G Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, was shot in the head by a sniper while conducting vehicle checkpoint operations in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. He’s now an expert at explaining just how good his helmet works.

“I was the greeter on one of the ends of a vehicle checkpoint,” said Greenwald, a 24-year-old assaultman from Rockland County, N.Y. “I was doing a double check on my vehicle, turned in and that’s when I got shot.”

The bullet’s impact knocked him out for a short moment. When he woke, he was wondering what sort of 18-wheeled truck just hit him.

“Everything went black,” he said. “I knew I got hit with something. It sounded like a grenade or a small improvised explosive device.”

Greenwald jumped behind his humvee for cover as soon as he got to his feet. Still dazed from the impact, he radioed his Marines that he was hit.

Marines set up security to block the area they believed the round originated.

“We wanted to make sure he was alright and get him out of there,” said Cpl. Daniel J. Kelley, a 25-year-old squad leader from Centerville, Tenn. “The squad reacted well. They set up the cordon automatically.”

The squad’s hospital corpsman rushed to aid Greenwald.

“When I first got up there I thought he was dead because blood was running down his face,” said Navy Seaman Jared D. Condry, a 20-year-old corpsman from Jacksonville, N.C. “Then I started talking to him and he was responsive.”

Condry began to assess Greenwald’s injury and discovered an inch-long gash on his head. He put a patch on the wound and loaded him into a humvee that transported him to Camp Fallujah.

Doctors there took a closer look at Greenwald’s injury.

“They got me back in like 20 minutes,” Greenwald said. “It was a quick evacuation. The Marines’ performance in the situation was great.”

The Kevlar helmet was inspected more closely at the camp’s medical center. The bullet never penetrated through the helmet. It hit the night-vision goggles mount, rode the inside of the helmet and flew out the right side. A screw flew out of the helmet and caused the gash on Greenwald’s head.

Marines who know Greenwald have been letting him know how lucky he was to walk away from the incident with only a gash.

“You have to wear you’re PPE,” Greenwald said. “You never know what can happen. I was doing a regular VCP. I didn’t expect to get shot in the head.”

Greenwald is currently waiting to be medically cleared so he may rejoin his fellow Marines on the front lines.

“I’m just anxious to get back out there,” Greenwald said. “I want to help out the squad.”

Cpl. Daniel M. Greenwald an assaultman from Rockland, N.Y. assigned to Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 points at the spot where an insurgent sniper bullet hit his Kevlar helmet. The helmet prevented the round to cause any serious damage to Greenwald. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Erik Villagran

Cpl. Daniel M. Greenwald, an assaultman from Rockland County, N.Y. attached to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 holds up the Kevlar helmet that saved his life. He was shot in the head by an insurgent sniper while conducting a vehicle checkpoint. He escaped with only a minor gash on his forehead. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Erik Villagran

C-130 AMP flies for first time
A specially modified C-130 Hercules flies over the Texas countryside Sept. 19 during its initial test flight. The Hercules, which took off from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, was modified under the C-130 Avionics Modernization Program which included a comprehensive upgrade of the avionics system that increases situational awareness for the warfighter tenfold over old analog cockpits, dramatically increasing information available to aircrews at a glance, simplifying tasks and decreasing workload. (Boeing photo/Ron Bookout) Download Full Image

How the courts forced me to give sensitive information to Osama bin Laden.

BY ANDREW C. MCCARTHY
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 12:01 a.m.

(Editor's note: This article first appeared in April 2004.)

Intelligence-gathering is something of a square peg in the round hole of contemporary political morality. It is about unearthing that which is willfully concealed, an enterprise that necessarily calls for invading privacy and inducing betrayal--discomfiting acts in an age that exalts the individual and his liberties above community and country.
It is about assuming and preparing for the worst in an era that sees "bad" as an outmoded adjective for "different," another dash of enlivening spice in a rich social stew. Intelligence is gimlet eyes in a world of rose-colored glasses.

Now, however, that foreign pathologies long denied have visited their excesses upon us, many among the benignly tolerant have turned overnight into the equivalent of ambulance-chasers. In particular, they have confidently laid at the door of America's intelligence apparatus the success of America's enemies on September 11, 2001.

[...]

How did this wide wreckage in our intelligence capacities come about? One incisive answer has been given by Mark Riebling in his gripping history, "Wedge: How the Secret War between the FBI and CIA Has Endangered National Security" (1994, reissued in 2002 with a new epilogue). Riebling's thesis is that the problem is longstanding, that it has a single "root cause," and that this root cause is institutional.

In his telling, a full half-century's worth of national disasters--from Pearl Harbor through the Bay of Pigs, the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11--can be traced directly to intelligence failures, and those failures were proximately caused by turf-battling between our two great rival agencies.

[...]

Read the full commentary, at OpinionJournal.com

Persian Gulf (Sept. 16, 2006) - Landing Craft Utility One Six Five Six (LCU 1656) assigned to Assault Craft Unit Two (ACU-2) approaches Landing Craft Utility One Six Five Eight (LCU 1658) during a sterngate maneuvering exercise. ACU-2 is currently embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Saipan (LHA 2). Saipan is on deployment in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations (MSO). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Patrick W. Mullen III

Associated Press September 20, 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany - A U.S. attack helicopter crashed on a training mission in southern Germany, killing two American soldiers, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.

In a brief statement, the 1st Armored Division said that the two soldiers were killed Tuesday night in the accident when their AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter crashed at the Grafenwoehr Training Area during aerial gunnery exercises, Maj. Wayne Marotto said.

He said the Army was investigating the crash, but the cause was not yet known. The Apache is widely used by the U.S. Army, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has a two-person crew.

The identities of the soldiers, who were assigned to the 1st Armored Division's 12th Combat Aviation Brigade at Illesheim Army Air Field, were withheld until their families could be notified, Marotto said...

Read the Rest - at Military.com

Our hearts are with the family, friends, and comrades of these fallen heroes.

STRYKER IN MOSUL — U.S. Army soldiers from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team stand watch near a suspected insurgent neighborhood in Mosul, Iraq, Sept. 17, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Senate Democrats plan probes into Iraq war - Video
Braving death, Baghdad's children start school
Upsurge in Attacks on Troops in Iraq

Homeland Security / War on Terror
House Panel Reverses Course on Detainees
Alleged Sept. 11 Plotter to Face Gitmo Hearing
General calls for clarity over interrogations
Pentagon to release report on September 11 claims
Pentagon ordered to identify detainee abuse cases
Afghanistan, Pakistan clash over war on terror

Mid-East Ceasefire / Israel at War
Israeli forces raid Palestinian stronghold in Gaza
Quartet welcomes Palestinian unity government - Video

Immigration / Border Control
House OKs Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote
Congress debates immigration bills

NSA / CIA
OSCE speaks out over secret prisons

Worldwide Wackos
Chavez: U.S. Empire Will Soon Fall, Bush is 'Devil'
Major powers want Iran action in October
Israel calls Iran its greatest threat

Politics / Government
Senate Democrats plan probes into Iraq war - Video
Conservative vote no guarantee for Republicans
Bush's allies struggle to keep war bills
Bush says he'd send troops into Pakistan
Papers show Bush allies' inside access

U.N. News
Peacekeepers in Darfur Through End of 2006

News from My Neck of the Woods
Club Owners Plead No Contest for Deadly 2003 Fire

Oddities
Jerusalem? Never heard of it
Shanghai: It's a big pajama party

Other News of Note
Katrina Nursing Home Owners Indicted
California Farms Focus of Spinach Probe
U.S. urges Thai coup leaders to restore democracy - Video
New Orleans nursing home owners indicted

Fox News
Space Shuttle Atlantis' Crew Readies for Return to Earth
NASA plans for 6:21 a.m. ET landing attempt
Videos: Former Astronaut on Floating Objects
Bench NASA?
Cops Arrest Suspect in Woman's Dragging Death
Oil Dips to Lowest Price in 6 Months
Federal Reserve Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged
Stocks to Watch: Hospira and Nike

Reuters: Top News
California sues carmakers
Hungarian protesters vow to keep up pressure on PM - Video
Exxon misleads on climate change: UK Royal Society
FCC seen backing airline's broadband at Logan
Yahoo, Current TV unveil new video service
Rush west leaves Polish families in tatters
Tanning cream may ward off skin cancer: study
Madonna's "Confessions" tour sets record
Bob Seger faces fans with first album in 11 years
Taiwan protests get violent
Stocks rise on Fed; solid profits
Stocks fly with profits up, oil off, steady Fed - Video
Dollar falls after U.S. rates kept on hold
Gold sheds New York gains despite weaker dollar
Mayne shares jump 36 percent after Hospira bid
Comtech shares rise after earnings
Fed holds interest rates steady
Emerging market crisis?
Pfizer aims to be No. 1 in biotech - CEO
EA says SEC requests options data, shares fall
Boeing says expects "good news" on border contract
GSE debate tempo quickens, official says
Amaranth moves to disband, sell assets - sources

AP World News
Skeleton sheds light on ape-man species
Diaz files police report vs photographer
Yankees clinch AL East title again
Second Duquesne suspect surrenders
Thai leader says no elections for a year
Charges filed in Mo. baby's kidnapping
Jolie and Pitt give $1 million gifts
Birth-control patch label warns of risk
News Corp. may start Chinese MySpace

Military.com
Troop Needs in Iraq May Force Hard Choices
Navy Slashes Aviation Budget

CENTCOM: News Releases
AFGHAN, COALITION DOCTORS TREAT ANDAR PATIENTS

NEW GOVERNOR FOR GHAZNI PROVINCE

USJFCOM
Urban Resolve 2015 leaders meet with the media - photos - podcast
Empire Challenge 06 focuses on joint, coalition warfighting operations - podcast
Liveblogging: Urban Resolve 2015 - Read Chris' liveblog

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
Bush, Iraqi Leader Discuss Future - Story
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
British Forces Distribute Rice, Flour, Oil - Story
Medical Personnel Treat Nearly 500 Residents - Story
U.S. Soldiers, Iraqis Hold Recruitment Drive - Story
Navy's C-130 Moves Cargo to Deployed Units - Story

IN IRAQ
Trade Show Highlights Progress in Irbil
Leaders Highlight Successes of Baghdad Operation
Micro-Finance Organization Helps Local Pharmacy
Soldier Hit by Anti-Tank Mine Praises Up-Armor
Operation Improves Ameriyah, Deters Terrorists
82nd Airborne Takes Over Operations in Bayji
Iraqi Police, U.S. Soldiers Seize Weapons, Suspects
25th Infantry Division Continues Transition Role

IN AFGHANISTAN
10th Mountain Division Soldiers Thwart Extremists
Legacy of Fallen Citadel Graduate Lives On

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (PDF)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Casualties - Story

Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul

Gitmo

Today in History
1348 – In Zurich, Switzerland, Jews are accused of poisoning wells.
1451 - Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa orders Jews of Holland to wear a badge.
1776 – Great fire in NY.
1780 - Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
1784 – Penns Packet and General Advisor becomes the first daily newspaper in America.
1792 – The first French Republic is declared.
1863 - Union forces retreat to Chattanooga after their defeat at Chickamauga.
1872 - John Henry Conyers of SC becomes the first Black student at Annapolis.
1893 - Frank Duryea drives the first U.S.-made gas propelled car.
1895 – The first auto manufacturer (Duryea Motor Wagon Company) opens.
1913 – The first aerobatic maneuver, sustained inverted flight, is performed in France.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding signs a joint resolution to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1930 - Johann Ostermeyer patents the flashbulb.
1931 - Britain goes off the gold standard.
1934 – A typhoon strikes Honshu Island in Japan, killing 4,000.
1937 - J.R.R. Tolkien publishes "The Hobbit."
1938 – A hurricane with 183 m.p.h. hits New England, killing 700.
1949 – The Federal Republic of (West) Germany is created; the People's Republic of China is proclaimed.
1954 – The Nuclear submarine "Nautilus" is commissioned.
1957 - "Perry Mason" premiers on CBS-TV.
1964 - Malta gains independence from Britain.
1970 - "Monday Night Football" premiers on ABC (the Browns beat the Jets); Luna-16 leaves the Moon.
1972 – Marcos declares martial law in the Philippines.
1974 – The U.S.’s Mariner-10 makes its second fly-by of Mercury.
1981 - Belize gains independence from Britain; Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first female Supreme Court Justice.
1982 - Cable cars in San Francisco cease operations for two years of repairs.
1984 - NASA launches Galaxy-C.
1989 - Poland's National Assembly approves prime minister Mazowiecki.

Birthdays
1415 - Frederick III, German Emperor (1440-1493)
1756 - John Loudon McAdam, created macadam road surface (asphalt)
1788 - Margaret Smith Taylor, 1st lady
1866 - Charles Jean Henri Nicolle, bacteriologist, Nobel Prize winner (1928); H(erbert) G(eorge) Wells, author (War of the Worlds)
1909 - Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana (1958-66)
1912 - Chuck Jones, animator (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck)
1931 - Larry Hagman, actor (I Dream of Jeannie, JR-Dallas)
1940 - Bill Kurtis, newscaster (The American Parade)
1950 - Bill Murray, comedian, actor (SNL, Stripes)
1955 - Richard J. Hieb, astronaut (STS 39, Sk:STS 49)

Passings
1327 – King Edward II of England
1776 - Nathan Hale, American spy, hanged by the British
1956 - Anastasio Somoza, Nicaraguan dictator, assassinated
1957 – King Haakon VII of Norway
1961 - Earle Dickson, inventor (Band-aid)

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Ammon, Glendon L., USAF (IN); F105D shot down (pilot), remains returned August, 1978

Bauder, James R., USN (CA); F4B shot down (pilot, w/Mills)

Mills, James B., USN (CA); F4B shot down (Naval Fighter Officer, w/Bauder)

1967
Kien, Nguyen Thai, Commando (Vietnam); released September, 1984 – alive and well as of 1998
Judge, Mark W., USMC (CA); KIA, remains recovered

Plumadore, Kenneth L., USMC (NY); DIC, remains recovered

Vescelius, Milton J., USN (MI); RF8J shot down (pilot), remains recovered August, 1985

1969
Cecil, Alan B., US Army SF (OK); KIA, body not recovered

Jackson, James W., Jr., USMC (GA); reportedly disappeared from hospital

1971
Carroll, Roger W., Jr., USAF (MO); F4D shot down (pilot, w/Cook), DIC, remains returned June, 1994 – ID’d October, 1995

1972
Cook, Dwight W., USAF (IA); F4D shot down (weapons/systems officer, w/Carrol), remains returned June, 1994 – ID’d June, 1995