Just "Pullin' your chain", my friend. Just pullin' your chain!

Have a GREAT day!!

 

You''re good at that---and I love it!

 

Ha!!!



On a more serious note. . . .

Thank you for your service to this GREAT nation, Marine!!

 

Up to no good I'm sure. They should both be shot.

 

Well now it looks like they have another captive. Some guy that writes books and was thinking about writing a book on the pirates. Guess now he will be able to give a first hand account.
American Travel Writer Kidnapped in Somalia - Michael Scott Moore was considering writing a book about Somali pirates

 

Too bad it wasn't the other Michael Moore...

 

It's really a shame this didn't get more front page coverage from the media.

And by the way, the military has been doing HALO / HAHO jumps from around that altitude for about 50 years now.

(PS The ANGLICO guys who specialize in HALO jumps are crazy, but nice to have on our side)

 

Had me going too. I have little to no sympathy for him. I am biased because I disagree with his political views, but the way he makes problems where none exist is the larger factor. I find that, in general, muckrakers and rabble-rousers get some of their own medicine.

I have similar thoughts on the yacht owners. So, they're intelligent enough to build a boat and be able to navigate it through all kinds of water, yet they're ignorant of the fact that the Indian Ocean (not part of the US, I might add) is a death trap? How does that make sense?

Arrogance.

The aid workers, I can sympathize with to a degree. Like the yacht owners, they knew of the risks. However, unlike the yacht owners, they acknowledged these risks rather than denied them. They went in total spite of these risks, which is quite a different proposition than going simply for the thrill of playing with your odds.

My NSHO. And may God bless all Dept. of Navy personnel in whatever they may do for good people.

 

There are a few former world-wide terrorists RIP who'd agree its better to have our Navy guys on your side rather than again ya!

 

Way, way out of line. That is actually the first post I've ever considered giving negative Reps for, which surprises me as long as I've been here and as much crap as I've seen.

 

That is just 'wrong'. How would you feel IF one of those people were in YOUR family, and MIGHT see that on an open forum?????

Your comment is waaaaaay over the top and is unjustifiable.




Agreed. 100%+.

 

I'm new to this part of FTE and was also quite disappointed to see such a display.

Yeah the aid workers might be ill-advised to help others in that part of the world but they still deserve our help if we're able to provide it.

 

Yes, the aid workers have good intentions but they went to Somalia on their own accord. It's great that we have Special Operation teams that are willing and able to pull off a mission like this and luckily no one but the bad guys got killed. But is it worth the risk to rescue someone who purposely goes to a third world country and is then surprised that they were kidnapped? If I went to Mexico City for a vacation and was taken hostage by a drug cartel should I expect the same?

 

There are precautions that can be taken for those people who travel to such countries - for example, I have relatives who run an artisan coffee roasting business and who regularly travel to South America to visit coffee plantations - There are parts of Brazil where they can't travel without bulletproof jackets and an armed escort... Anybody who knowingly travels to dangerous areas like this needs to do their homework and be prepared for it...

While serving in the USMC, they tried to get me to try out for forest recon - I turned it down - it takes a certain kind of mindset to do the crazy stuff special forces/ops guys do and I don't have it... There's no way in hell you'd see me jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft at that altitude (OK, I have a problem with jumping out of an airplane at any altitude)...

 

Good points Bruker but yes in my mind you'd be just as valuable a citizen to me and the USA and yes we should go get you. I guess my question is what should we have done for these admittedly foolish or ill-advised folks? Should we have let the kidnappers torture them in order to extort a ransom--or allow them to be murdered if we refuse to negotiate for hostages?

Yeah its only two insignificant aid workers who put themselves in harms way but is letting such terrorism or criminal behavior the better idea? Is it not better to set an example regardless how outrageously skewed the "reward" seems compared to the money expended? Wouldn't it have been cheaper to simply pay the ransom instead of mobilizing one of our elite military teams? Yes but what message does that send?

Teddy Roosevelt once said "walk softly........but carry a big stick......." which somehow seems to fit this situation. As American citizens we'd hope we're individually important enough to have our government come to our aid. When or if we start analyzing any rescue situation based upon a cost vs benefit reasoning our world inside our borders will drastically change as will the way the rest of the world views us. The USA is already seen as weak and wimpy world-wide and without us making bold statements like this rescue mission that view isn't going to change. Being seen as weak only invites others to take advantage of us, having applied their own imaginary cost vs benefit analysis and believing there's no down side to screwing with us.

FWIW all this nonsense outside our borders will prevent me from ever leaving the USA again. Not that its not sometimes dangerous here too but I like the devil I know instead of the one(s) elsewhere.

I was approached to join the embassy guard corps while serving USMC--that didn't appeal to me either. I was more comfortable for some reason near Bein Hoa AFB, ca 1971! Thanks for your service BTW and welcome home!