The poster is a Navy veteran, and posts about some of what he has seen.  It has scrolled off the front page, and only a couple of people posted to it.  However, those that did are also military and stated what they saw. It's a great diary.

http://www.dailykos....
Material for One of Jim Webb's Novels

My overseas brother has told me similar stories.

Did you know that in Afghanistan one method of killing your enemies is to boil them?

That there's an orphanage there where the kids, until last year, had never had a single toy and had no changes of clothing?  (We're talking 300-400 kids).

And a hundred other stories.

George Allen hasn't a clue.  He went on one of those in-and-out trips to Iraq and he thinks he saw something.

Astronomy fan?  I mean .. the Oort dust thing?

I do like astronomy, and I always seem to be on the fringes of things. Just seemed like the right name to choose!

Cook had changed the MD race for the Senate to a tossup based on a close recent poll.  But the WaPo tomorrow will report strong leads for Cardin and O'Malley:

http://www.washingto...

A strong Democratic tide in Maryland threatens to swamp Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s reelection bid and bolsters the party's efforts to retain control of an important U.S. Senate seat, according to a new Washington Post poll.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) held a 10 percentage point lead over Ehrlich, and Democratic Senate nominee Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin had a similar advantage over Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele among likely voters in the Post poll, which was conducted last Sunday through Thursday. The leads were well beyond the survey's three percentage point margin of error.

The CMC link is the best - Webb's Fields of Fire is listed along with the Constitution for the E1-E3 list. I'm pasting it in here in case some people don't hit your link.

The intent of the Commandant in issuing this list (MCBUL 1500) is stated as follows: "In an era of constrained resources, our professional reading program is designed to provide Marines with an intellectual framework to study warfare and enhance their thinking and decision making skills. The mind, like the body, grows soft with inactivity. All Marines must understand that mental fitness is as demanding and as important as physical fitness, for both require commitment and perseverance. In a world characterized by rapid change and great uncertainty, our reading program will act as a combat multiplier by providing all Marines with a common frame of reference and historical perspective on warfare, human factors in combat and decisionmaking. In so doing, the program will also strengthen the threads of cohesion that make our Marine Corps unique." Selectons of  recommended works are to be made from the listings under each rank. The sub-categories of readings for "All Marines" listed at the end, are shown in parentheses.

Private, Private First Class, Lance Corporal
-------------------------------------------
Forester  Rifleman Dodd
Heinlein  Starship Troopers
Hubbard  A Message to Garcia
Miller  The Bridge at Dong-Ha
Simmons  U.S. Marines: 1775-1975
Various  U.S. Constitution
Webb  Fields of Five

The mind, like the body, grows soft with inactivity. -- MCBULL 1500

Jarheads are in the house, Swift Boat cowards.

...that Allen, shrub, and this repug congress apparently consider The Constitution to be fiction as well (it is almost as if they can't distinguish fantasy from reality)...

I also noticed they include Heinlein's 'Starship Troopers' but NOT 'Stranger in a Strange Land' (and I understand why).

The reference to what you've been told to call homosexual pedophilia is a cultural practice.  Consider the practice of female genital mutilation.  That's not homosexual pedophilia either, nor is any ritualized circumcision.  To say that they are betrays incredible ignorance.

I'm sure that Allen doesn't want his ethnic slurs publicized.  Too bad.

And Ollie North is a criminal.  Try sticking to the issues.

Here is what John McCain has to say bout the book you are referencing you idiot:

John McCain, praise for Lost Soldiers:

"James Webb’s new novel paints a portrait of a modern Vietnam charged with hopes for the future but haunted by the ghosts of its war-torn past. It captures well the lingering scars of the war, and exposes the tension between the dynamism of a new generation and the invisible bondage of an older generation for whom wartime allegiances, and animosities, are rendered no less vivid by the passage of time. A novel of revenge and redemption that tells us much about both where Vietnam is headed and where it has been."

What?  Are you going to smear McCain now!? 

I prediction:  This is going to blow up in Allen's face.  Webb wins.

Most people read war novels in an attempt to understand war.  George Allen and his people read war novels looking for titilating pornographic passages.  That says something.

on Republican blogs, now I have to waste time doing it here.

Here goes:

a)  "homosexual pedophilia":  You are assuming a fact not in evidence, which is that the event described by Webb had a sexual meaning.  It did not have a sexual meaning, but was instead an apparent cultural practice. 

b)  You "doubt that Jim Webb was exposed to this in Vietnam".  Upon what do you base your doubt?  Does it seem so outlandish to you that it couldn't have happened?  Is there some reason aside from your obvious political leanings to doubt Mr. Webb's word?  Are you saying that some truths should not be reported? 

c)  Nasty tape campaign.  How does Allen's clumsiness end up being Webb's fault? Mr. Webb has in the face of repeated invitations from the media refused to discuss Allen's racial insensitivity.  The matter was compounded by all the people coming forward to say what a bully Allen is.  Webb has been trying to run on issues for months.  Allen hasn't got any issues, which is why he resorts to mud-slinging.

d) The economy only looks good to people who are impressed by stock market bounces.  The big freakin' credit card our government is using, combined with reduced revenues from tax decreases, will take its toll.  Sooner or later we have to pay the piper, but Republicans would rather maintain a fantasy that we can wage war, cut taxes, continually increase productivity by corporate takeovers which usually result in cuts of employees and benefits, and stimulate the economy into endless growth. 

The Persian Gulf war was 16 years ago, and Webb's main point  was that we couldn't go into Baghdad or remove Saddam without destabilizing the region.

e)  Webb's sketchy background on domestic issues doesn't make him unqualified.  He knows a lot about foreign policy.  Very few new Senators have comprehensive knowledge of everything, so what's your point? 

Re heroes, it's about character.  And character is determined by the actions of the one whose character is in question.  Webb's just got a better character.  Allen's a weak jerk.

but I believe in Thailand, but during the period of his service in Vietnam.  Not really germane to the point of the poster's stupid argument.

Otherwise your comments are right-on.

I think it's good.  It gives Jim's main rebuttal points, and has a few jibes at Allen.

http://www.washingto...

Back in 2001 freepers were trying to put together a Military History and Strategy Reading List.  They said "anything by James Webb."  Someone else wrote "Amen on James Webb. Fields of Fire, particularly." No criticism whatsoever.

Now all of a sudden they are all "highly offended".

Kool Aid anyone?

that has this passage:

"Kiss me and kiss me again,
for your love is sweeter than wine.
How fragrant your cologne;
your name is like its spreading fragrance.
No wonder all the young women love you!
Take me with you; come, let’s run!
The king has brought me into his bedroom.
...
You are as exciting, my darling,
as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.
How lovely are your cheeks;
your earrings set them afire!
How lovely is your neck,
enhanced by a string of jewels.
We will make for you earrings of gold
and beads of silver.
...
Your breasts are like two fawns,
twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
...
Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride.
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
...
Your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates
with rare spices
...
You are slender like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters of fruit.
I said, “I will climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like grape clusters,
and the fragrance of your breath like apples.
..."

This book also has scenes of murder and incest. This best-seller is ... the Holy Bible

like this it wouldn't be hard to get them to read it.

Nothing.  No comment. He hides behind them. William Gray got off without a day in jail and Allen won the election.

http://www.raisingka...

Nice visuals of Allen here:

http://www.afterdown...