A Look Back: The Best Quote of 2009

"We should be long past applauding politicians of any hue: they got us into this mess. The best deserve a probationary opportunity to prove themselves, the worst should be in jail."
Gerald Warner, The UK Daily Telegraph, January 20th, 2009 (Inauguration Day)

Northwest Airlines terrorist attack

The Christmas day attack on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit by a passenger who ignited an incendiary device is an important reminder for all of us. If the passenger really is connected to Al Quaeda, as he claimed, it is another example of that organization's strategy to repeat it's attacks on a target until they are successful.

In 1993, Islamist terrorists lead by Ramzi Yousef detonated a bomb in the basement of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, killing six people and injuring 1,042. The attack was intended to bring down both towers, but failed. In 2001, however, the terrorists were back with a different method, crashing aircraft into the towers. As we know, this time they were successful.

On 22 December, 2001, Shoe Bomber Richard Reid attempted to ignite explosives aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. He was overpowered by passengers and crew and is now in jail.

In 2006, British authorities arrested three men accused of plotting to blow up at least seven trans-Atlantic airliners in one day over the Atlantic, by detonating liquid explosives.

This latest attempt on the Detroit-bound flight shows that Al Quaeda is still determined to bring down airliners. It also illustrates that they don't quite have the technology worked out yet, but as with the WTC bombing, they are persistent.

It also shows that increased security at airports is important as a first line of defense to stop terrorists and explosives getting onto airplanes, but as in this latest case, cannot be relied upon to prevent every single attack.

The most important lesson we can all learn from this is that once an aircraft takes off, the only people who can save themselves are the crew and the passengers. It doesn't matter how many F-16s are scrambled to escort the aircraft. Those fighter pilots cannot take out the terrorists on the aircraft, they can only shoot the plane down before it can be crashed into a target on the ground. It is vital that when a passenger starts to act in a threatening manner, such as trying to ignite a bomb, the passengers and crew act immediately and decisively to take him down with overwhelming physical force.

A Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times..

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Dear Al Gore

Dear Mr. Global warming,

It was 23f at my house this morning. That is only slightly warmer than Hillary Clinton's personality. I thought you might like to see the weather forecast for Colorado and surrounding areas. I fail to see how global warming is such a problem when we are experiencing winter storms like the one that came through here about a week ago, accompanied by about six days of sub-freezing temperatures. That storm covered 895,000 square miles from the Rocky Mountains all the way to the east coast. I don't yet know how large the current storm is, but there are already forecasts that the airlines will have more trouble keeping their flights in the mid-west on schedule than those British climatologists had keeping their fabricated-data emails from public view. As I type this, my neighborhood is getting a snow-job that's almost as good as the stories about the ice cap melting and polar bears becoming extinct.

But don't take my word for it, here's the forecast from a meteorologist in Denver:
Snow will increase and spread across the state tonight. 9NEWS Meteorologist Marty Coniglio says that the southwest corner of Colorado will be hardest-hit overnight with other areas getting snow, just not quite as heavy, through the morning hours Wednesday.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for the foothills west to the Continental Divide from 5 p.m. Tuesday until 5 a.m. Thursday. Locations within the advisory include but are not limited to Breckenridge, Estes Park, Bailey, and Idaho Springs. These areas could see 5 to 12 inches of snow accumulate by early Thursday morning.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY also includes Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, the entire Interstate 25 corridor and Eastern Plains locations out to Deer Trail from 8 p.m. Tuesday through 5 p.m. Thursday. These locations can expect 4 to 8 inches of snow to accumulate by early Christmas Eve day.

Winds will also be an issue the further east you travel with gusts up to 45 mph causing low visibility for travelers and blowing and drifting snow.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY also includes the Sangre De Cristos and Wet Mountains of southern Colorado, and the Walsenburg and Trinidad areas. Mountain locations can expect 5 to 10 inches of snow by Thursday, while lower elevations will see 4 to 8 inches of accumulation.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for most of southeast Colorado, the panhandle of Oklahoma and north Texas from late Tuesday through Thursday. Expect 4 to 8 inches of snow to accumulate in locations like Lamar, Holly and Springfield by late Thursday.

A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for part of southwest Colorado, including the southwest San Juans and Durango vicinity until 6 p.m. Wednesday. Mountain locations can expect 10 to 18 inches of snow to accumulate by late Wednesday, while lower elevations will see 4 to 8 inches of snow.

A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for extreme eastern Colorado, western Kansas, and western and southwest Nebraska from 5 p.m. Tuesday through 11 p.m. Thursday. Locations such as Akron, Limon, Burlington and Ogallala, Nebraska can expect 5 to 10 inches of snow to accumulate by Christmas Eve. If you are planning to travel, gusts above 40 mph in the warning area could create near blizzard conditions with blowing and drifting snow.

Travel will be extremely difficult throughout Wednesday as this storm moves across the state.

Along with the snow, it will get much colder along the Front Range over the next couple of days. Highs will only be in the teens and twenties through Christmas Day, with extremely cold northerly winds. Some overnight lows could drop into the single digits.

Michael Morse, Firefighter and Author

I've added a new link to John's Favorite Links, on the right side of this page. Michael Morse is a Providence, Rhode Island firefighter. I got to know Michael while I was working for the company that published his excellent book, "Rescuing Providence". Michael also helped me when I was researching some first aid information for my book on bugging out of dangerous situations.

I think I've made it pretty clear in some of my blog postings just how much I love and respect our military people; Our civilian emergency people are cut from the same cloth. When the rest of us listen to our survival instinct and run from danger, these guys ride to the sound of the guns, so to speak. Who can forget the firefighters on September 11, 2001 who were running UP the stairs at the World Trade Center, or who rushed to the Pentagon that same morning, to pull military personnel and others from that burning building? Same mindset, just hoses instead of rifles.

It's Always Nice to be Published

One of the biggest kicks any writer gets is to see their work in print. Even if it's only an advertisement in the local paper that says, "Eat at Joe's" we all get a thrill in knowing that somebody is reading something we've written, tweaked, and sweated over.

So this month I was doubly thrilled to see my article, "Chopping and Changing: Personalizing a Fighting Handgun" in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Concealed Carry Magazine. The article describes what are arguably the basic attributes that a self-defense pistol may need, and some of the ways to chop and change a pistol for it's owner. I had the opportunity to tour the Robar facility in Phoenix, Arizona, where they do some incredible gunsmithing and refinishing on practical, tactical firearms. (Big thank you to Robbie and the staff at Robar for their hospitality).

Also this month, I got a call from the editor of American Cop magazine to tell me that my article which compares the IRA-5, a 9mm short-barrel rifle produced by Iron Ridge Arms in Longmont, Colorado, to a short-barrel AR-15 for police work such as SWAT team building entries, appears in the January/February 2010 issue of American Cop magazine. (Another big thank you to Oliver and the guys at Iron Ridge Arms).

Both magazines are available by subscription only, so you won't find them on the shelf at your local store, but they are both quality publications, and both are available for download off the internet.