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… the one and only Billy Shears…
Let me cut to the chase: I just don’t see how a 25- and a 21-year-old, both non-special-forces, are going to train 30 Afghanis into shape not to get over-run without US support.
And it defies comprehension to think anybody could believe this possible.
Do they even speak the language? I’ll have to read the rest of the article.
The Korangal Valley is now the shit. This is Obama’s war and all the journalists want to be there. I wonder how many know the history and what a meatgrinder it is. For everybody. Obama and all the generals in the US military (including Petraeus) simply don’t “GET” Afghanistan.
It is and always has been LOSE-LOSE-LOSE. You die, she dies, everybody dies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/world/asia/01firebase.html?hp
“The corporal has tied a flea collar through his belt loops; he needs it like a dog. He served two tours in Iraq. His four-year enlistment ended last month, but he extended for nine months when promised he would be assigned to a combat outpost in Afghanistan.”
So why has he not been made a sergeant? Why has he not been sent to OCS?! This shit absolutely makes blood boil. These are the toughest motherfuckers in the US military, and this is how they are treated? What is wrong with us as a nation?
Read this again. He only signed when they promised him Korengal. The man is sick. That’s what Central Command thinks. He makes Odierno look like the pussy he is.
In all, Corporal Conroy said, in five months here, he and Lance Corporal Murray have been attacked more than 70 times. He said he respected the insurgents’ courage, but was grateful that most of them lacked an essential skill.
With all due respect to Conroy, this skill is a radio that works and close support from Reaper/Predator/Hellfire and F-15/18 500-lb laser guided death.
The Afghan captain who worked here until early April was overweight, lazy and rarely left the firebase. He used Afghan infantryman as valets. “I expected to come in and find the soldiers dropping grapes in his mouth,” Corporal Conroy said.
“Or fanning him with a palm branch,” said Lance Corporal Murray.
A new Afghan lieutenant rotated in last week. He is neat and lean, and has shown self-discipline and tactical sense. The Marines celebrated his arrival by buying a chestnut-and-white bull.
The Afghan soldiers bound the animal’s legs and flipped it onto its side. A soldier worked a blade across its throat. These Afghan soldiers eat meat once every two or three weeks. Tonight they would feast.
They were palpably happy. “Let Barack Obama come here and kill a cow for us,” one said. The rest laughed.
Corporal Conroy watched until the jokes subsided. War, like politics, is local. He reminded the Afghans that a platoon looked out for itself, and that he was the senior American on hand. “You don’t need Obama here,” he said. “I bought the cow.”
That’s what you get for ruining my birthday, Bitch!
It has been suggested that being “deep in contango” reflects a prevailing perception (or perhaps reality) that the world is awash in a particular nonperishable commodity. It has also been suggested that a return to a less deep contango condition, i.e., when the difference between short- and long-term futures prices narrows to more closely track actual carry costs, is an indicator that perceptions regarding the immediate availability of said commodity may soon reverse.
Anyway, here’s some fresh information about contango trading in oil:
Oil stored at sea rises to record levels
The contango offers a trading opportunity for oil companies.
As a result of the global downturn, the cost of hiring oil tankers has fallen sharply.
Rental costs for VLCCs capable of holding around two million barrels have fallen to between $35,000 and $40,000 per day, or 52-60 cents per barrel of crude oil per month.
After financing costs of around 30 cents per barrel per month are added —this brings an approximate monthly cost of storing oil of around 90 cents per barrel.
Providing the spread between oil futures months is wider than the cost of storing oil, trading companies can buy discounted prompt oil, sell a similar quantity of forward oil futures and put the oil in a tanker for a month or longer.
Energy Trades Ease Oil Firms’ Pain
Oil companies are ideally placed to profit from this trade because they have plenty of storage capacity in the form of tanks and pipelines to stockpile the oil while waiting for prices to rise. Other, smaller traders would have to pay high rates for storage.
In a typical contango play, a company that bought oil on the spot market at $49.92 a barrel as of Tuesday’s close, and at the same time sold a futures contract for September delivery at $53.19 was able to lock in a profit of $3.27 a barrel. In mid-January, the difference widened to $15.21. Contango has narrowed in recent months, but the trade still pays off handsomely, even factoring in storage and financing costs.
“It’s almost like printing money,” says Torbjorn Kjus, oil market analyst at DnB NOR Markets in Norway.
Here’s something that’ll keep you military, weaponry and history aces busy.
Cryin won’t help you. Prayin won’t do you no good.
No, seriously, dude, turn the lights down.
Ecclestone tops Britain’s F1 rich list but sees wealth slashed by costly divorce
The Sunday Times estimates Slavica, who married Ecclestone in 1985, has taken around a third of their former £2.2bn total worth. She is the highest new entry on the list with £734m, putting her 58th. Her main source of income is listed as ‘divorce’.
Yeah, Baby!
I don’t know. I’m not really sure. This might be one of the best interviews ever. I’m not sure.
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