May He Rest In Peace

President Ford receives full military and state honors.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

(H/T Wordsmith for the cartoon.)

A military Christmas.

C.I.R. Press Holiday Wishes

Merry Christmas all. I get to spend a few moments of quality time with the family prior to working through the holiday. But this is one of my favorite pieces of military history. For those of you with children please enjoy. Others out there, this will remind you that us in the military are people too. Enjoy.

NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa - radar, satellites, Santa Cams and jet fighter aircraft.

Detecting Santa all starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system has 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. NORAD makes a point of checking the radar closely for indications of Santa Claus leaving the North Pole on Christmas Eve.

The moment our radar tells us that Santa has lifted off, we use our second mode of detection, the same satellites that we use in providing warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America…

Those are the facts here is the history:

For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa. The tradition began after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa on a special "hotline" included an inadvertently misprinted telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first "Santa" call on Christmas Eve 1955. Realizing what had happened, Colonel Shoup had his staff check radar data to see if there was any indication of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update on Santa's position. Thus, the tradition was born. In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for the North American continent called the North American Air Defense Command, known as NORAD. Canada and the U.S. believed they could better defend North America together as a team instead of separately.

NORAD carried out its first Santa tracking in 1958 after inheriting the tradition from CONAD. Since that time, Canadian and American men and women who work at NORAD have responded to phone calls from children personally. Additionally, media from all over the world call NORAD on Christmas Eve for updates on Santa's location. Last year this Website was visited by millions of people who wanted to know Santa's whereabouts. This year, the information is provided in six languages.

NORAD relies on many volunteers to help make Santa tracking possible. Hundreds of volunteers spend part of their Christmas Eve at the Santa Tracking Operations Center answering phones and emails to provide Santa updates to thousands of inquiring children worldwide.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Click here for the official countdown to Christmas, and to track Santa!

To all my readers Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and God Bless.

-md

Technorati Tags: Merry Christmas, Santa, NORAD, military

International Mailing for FREE!

C.I.R. Press Note

Here is a great way to show your support especially around the Holiday Season when it is so hard to be away from family and friends. Let the military know that you are thinking about those serving and appreciate everything they are doing.

Lets Say Thanks!

The mission of Let's Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas. By submitting a message through this site you have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women.

The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries from children across the country.

-md

Thank You!

To my readers,
I apologize for being very busy in the past few weeks, but much has been going on and I have not had much time to comment or post. I will be more active in the coming weeks. I give my respect and deep appreciation to SECDEF Rumsfeld. He has done many great things for us over his decades of service, and I for one will not forget.

Thank You!

-md

December 7th, 2006

C.I.R. Press Memorial

God bless those who lost their lives then and who continue to do so in sacrifice for their country.

"Sixty-five years ago tomorrow, the United States endured an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that for the next 60 years -- until Sept. 11, 2001 -- stood as the most devastating enemy attack on U.S. soil.

"Like the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor has been called a defining moment in U.S. history. It caught the country by surprise, rallied its people against their attackers and thrust the nation into a long, difficult war against tyranny.

"Within hours of the surprise attack in the early-morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941, more than 2,400 Americans were dead. Five of the eight battleships at the U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base were sunk or sinking, and the other battleships, as well as ships and Hawaii-based combat planes, were heavily damaged." (USAF Link)

Above:Courtesy of a Japanese fighter, photographing the attack on the harbor.

"In the 21st century, freedom is again under attack, and young Americans have stepped forward to serve in a global war on terror that will secure our liberty and determine the destiny of millions around the world," President Bush said. "Like generations before, we will answer history's call with confidence, confront threats to our way of life, and build a more peaceful world for our children and grandchildren."

-md

Additional required reading:
Mike's America has a terrific piece regarding Churchill, history, and its impact. December 7th 1941 A Tragedy That Could Have Been Avoided

Technorati Tags: Pearl Harbor, Navy, December 7th

Finally an official response.

C.I.R. Press Editorial

WASHINGTON D.C. – There is a smile on my face and SF is getting what they deserve, and I mean it. Obviously this ship realized they were headed to SF and decided to make a U-Turn. The official response:

"Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. J. Michael Myatt, chairman of a high-powered committee that was to support a commissioning ceremony for the Makin Island, said he has been informed that the ship would not be commissioned in San Francisco, as scheduled, but in San Diego.

"Myatt said he had been told that the Navy was concerned about San Francisco's refusal to provide a homeport for the retired battleship Iowa, which would be turned into a museum, and for the city school board's decision to abolish junior ROTC training in San Francisco high schools.

"One of the factors that turned the Pentagon against San Francisco, he said, was widely quoted anti-military remarks made by various city politicians. Some of the remarks got considerable attention, especially ones made by Gerardo Sandoval, a member of the Board of Supervisors, who was quoted on national television as saying national defense should be left to 'the cops and the Coast Guard.'''

-md

(H/T Hotair)
Technorati Tags: San Francisco, Navy, anti-military, liberal

Goodbye funding.

C.I.R. Press Editorial

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It should come to no surprise that one of the very first things on the chopping block of the democrats is nothing other than missile defense (MD good enough for NATO, New SECDEF for MD, Hopefully). Sure while more and more countries are acquiring nuclear weapons and long range missiles why not cut back on the defense of missiles? This is like if prior to 9/11 terrorists were actively publicizing their training to hijack airplanes and the voice of half the US Government was to "cutback on airplane security." Believe me, this comes as no surprise.

Is what so many against missile defense forget is that it is not just a line of missiles on the west coast, the Navy plays a large part as well. And much of the technology used for MD is also used for systems used in theatre against shorter range missiles. I cannot understand why anyone would not want to fund the work to be able to do what is in the above photo… especially with the following:

You can refer back to prior conversations about MD: Innovation and the BMDS, "Every test has failed." News to me!, Mobile sea-based defense

-md

Technorati Tags: Democrats, BMDS, ICBM, missile defense, cut funding