On a recent medevac (not the one shown in this picture), we were called to evacuate two of our infantry men with shrapnel injuries. It had been a difficult mission. The zero line is a brutal place.
After I established IV access in one of our guys and my brother in arms placed it in the other casualty while we had a few safe-ish minutes to do so, we administered necessary medications and it was time to drive to the nearest next level of care.
I immediately noticed the demeanor of one of our guys, the thousand yard stare. The one I've seen in the eyes of my casualties many times before. I asked him if we was ok. I know the answer but he snapped of his stare just for a moment to say "Yeah. Yeah I'm ok." I believe he was trying to reassure himself more than me. After a few seconds, he'd be gone again. Somewhere far away in the dark spaces of his memories.
It reminded me of another time at the stabilization point where one of our casualties also had the same stare and demeanor. He would answer questions and be gone again. He was the only survivor of his unit.
For the duration of our ride I ask the same question at least a few more times just to connect him back to the world for a moment. This young man had to watch his friend die of a catastrophic injury from an FPV drone that could not be fixed where they were. Traumatic memories like this are unimaginably painful.
I really mean it when I say the zero line is a brutal place. It's not some day trip you go to and come back from like its no big deal. You can't drive all the way to the zero line, the drones will destroy your vehicles. So you must walk into hell.
A piece of them dies in that place. Especially when they have to watch their brothers die and there is nothing they can do to save them.
War is hell. Don't let anyone tell you any different.
Diesel fuel is at record prices, you need a home equity loan to buy a friggin pot roast, our soldiers are dying in the middle east, China and Japan are dumping our bonds, measles and diarrhea lettuce are spreading like wildfire, and you silly fuckers want us to reelect the MAGAs?
No cinematic cuts, no heroics — just the suffocating silence of the grey zone where every second could be your last.
First-person footage of Kalinouski Regiment soldiers operating on the front line. Extreme focus, iron discipline, and unwavering resolve.
Retweet to show the world the reality of our fight. ⚪️🔴⚪️ 🇺🇦
Las contradicciones de Alice Weidel, líder de AfD en Alemania:
⭕️Está en contra de los homosexuales; es lesbiana.
⭕️Está en contra de la inmigración; su pareja es inmigrante.
⭕️Está en contra de que los homosexuales adopten; tiene 2 hijas adoptadas.
⭕️Va de patriota alemana; vive en Suiza.
Insuperable.
Call me old-fashioned if you like, but a zip-up polo shirt on a visit to a warzone? What on earth is he thinking? Even Boris worse a suit. Knowing how the Ukrainians like their protocols to be respected, I imagine this will have caused some offence. Surely the FCDO advise PMs on things like this?
🇺🇸🇺🇸🧐🤔“AND YOU STILL DARE TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH…”
Sasha Legerman: This is too accurate not to share.
This Australian’s response to Trump’s rant that “NATO does nothing for America” is absolutely devastating:
“Mate. You run a country where 600,000 homeless people will sleep on the streets tonight.
A country where 40% of adults can’t cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money.
A country where insulin costs more than a car payment, and people ration it just to stay alive.
A country where medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy.
A country where women die in hospital parking lots because doctors are too afraid of abortion laws to treat miscarriages.
You imprison more of your own citizens than any country on Earth.
More than China. More than Russia. More than North Korea.
In the land of the free, 2 million people sit in cages, and a quarter of them haven’t even been convicted of anything.
They’re simply too poor to afford bail.
Your life expectancy is declining. You’re the only developed nation where that’s happening.
Your infant mortality rate is worse than Cuba’s.
Your children practice active shooter drills between math and English classes while you sell defense stocks to your friends.
Your minimum wage hasn’t changed in 15 years.
Your teachers work two jobs, your veterans sleep under bridges, and you just spent a trillion dollars flattening a country that never attacked you.
And now a convicted criminal — found liable for sexual abuse, defending a pedophile, sleeping with a porn star, and running the biggest dumpster-fire campaign since the Taliban — is thanking you for yet another disaster.
And you call Greenland badly governed?
Greenland has universal healthcare. Free education. One of the lowest incarceration rates in the world.
Nobody there goes bankrupt because they got sick. Nobody dies in a waiting room because insurance refused treatment.
‘NATO wasn’t there when we needed them.’
When exactly was that, champ?
September 11?
Because NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history FOR YOU.
Soldiers from dozens of countries deployed, fought, bled, and died in Afghanistan FOR YOU.
Australia wasn’t even in NATO, and we still showed up. For twenty years.
And then you left at 2 a.m. without telling anyone and left everybody else to clean up the mess.
You don’t care that a great nation is being terrorized by your friend, and you haven’t shown it a single ounce of sympathy.
So maybe before calling other countries badly governed, take a look at your own backyard, you aluminum siding salesman with a spray tan.
The only thing badly managed in this picture is your damn mouth.
And you still dare to lecture the rest of the world?”
Good morning and Happy Saturday to every9one who agrees that Pete Hegseth must be REMOVED as Defense Secretary for failing miserably at his job, for the Iran War debacle to the US Navy sailors stuck on ships indefinitely.
Our sailors deserve better.
It's unforgivable.