Jump to bottom

35 comments
1 Sharmuta  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:35:57am

Wow! Too cool!

2 The Other Les  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:36:37am

Cool.

3 Bobblehead  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:38:04am

I saw that photo and the story a couple of days ago. Those pilots are brave souls. I salute their courage.

4 [deleted]  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:38:39am
5 debutaunt  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:40:41am

A photo capturing the mood of a painting.

6 quickjustice  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:41:59am

If you read Yon's article, the light is caused by the rotors striking dust and debris. It's beautiful, but very dangerous for the pilots and passengers.

7 A Man for all Seasons  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:43:37am

I remember the high light of Jordan's training when 1st Platoon jumped on Helo's out of 29 palms...He said it was the coolest thing he had ever done in his life...

8 Killgore Trout  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:43:53am

Death from above..
Official: Likelihood of Pakistani Taliban leader's death '90 percent'


The United States believes Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a drone attack last week, President Obama's national security adviser said Sunday.

"We think so," Gen. Jim Jones told NBC's "Meet the Press," adding, "We put it in the 90 percent [likelihood] category."

Pakistan's foreign and interior ministers said Friday the government was still waiting to conduct DNA analysis to confirm the identity of a man killed Wednesday in an unmanned aerial vehicle strike.

The suspected U.S. drone targeted the home of Mehsud's father-in-law, Mulvi Ikram ud Din, in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area, an intelligence official said.

Taliban officials have denied reports of Mehsud's death.

9 itellu3times  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:46:25am

re: #8 Killgore Trout

Death from above..
Official: Likelihood of Pakistani Taliban leader's death '90 percent'

Just what does the Koran say about being turned into pink mist?

10 MandyManners  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:48:54am

re: #8 Killgore Trout

Death from above..
Official: Likelihood of Pakistani Taliban leader's death '90 percent'

Jihadi-Locks is dead!

11 DEZes  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:50:22am

re: #9 itellu3times

Just what does the Koran say about being turned into pink mist?

Fubar akbar

12 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:53:36am

re: #8 Killgore Trout

I'd feel sorry for his wife, but I'll bet he wasn't much of a husband.

13 Macker  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:54:17am

re: #8 Killgore Trout

Death from above..
Official: Likelihood of Pakistani Taliban leader's death '90 percent'

Sorry guys...90 percent just ain't gonna cut it...you better get his DNA to shove in the faces of all those Islamofascists.

14 Killgore Trout  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:54:29am

re: #9 itellu3times

Just what does the Koran say about being turned into pink mist?

72 raisins and juice box. It's Allah's finest honor.

15 JEA62  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:55:37am

Yeah! BOEING! We build those where I work.

16 LeslieG  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:01:00am

Glenn Reynolds posted this photograph last week, with this explanatory very interesting explanatory caption from Michael Yon:

“I made this photo last night in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. This Landing Zone is very dangerous. A few weeks ago, another helicopter was coming into this LZ and was shot down at the last minute, killing all passengers and crew. Two children on the ground also were killed. The sparks coming off the rotors occur when the helicopters land in hot, dusty conditions. The landing itself occurs in a dangerous ‘brownout.’ Brownout danger is compounded by the sparks which light up the dust and can confuse pilots who are wearing extremely sensitive nightvision goggles.”

17 Mr. E. Train  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:08:48am

I swear, if I hit the lotto Mr. Yon will have enough $ to stay in the field as long as he wants. He's doing work vital to the nation and a 100 years from now he will be the source most often quoted by historians when it comes to the war on terror.

18 lostlakehiker  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:18:18am

re: #17 Mr. E. Train

I swear, if I hit the lotto Mr. Yon will have enough $ to stay in the field as long as he wants. He's doing work vital to the nation and a 100 years from now he will be the source most often quoted by historians when it comes to the war on terror.

How about every sufficiently admiring lizard kicks in the price of a lottery ticket? That'll net him more than if we all buy lottery tickets and send winnings, if any, his way.

One thing that makes LGF so interesting is its careful factual tone. Some of the hardest-to-get facts come from war zones. We do owe Michael Yon.

19 MJ  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:19:57am

As long as we're in the Middle East, here's how one newspaper corrected a Henry Siegman libel. Siegman, for those who don't know, specializes in libels about Israel and are always given credibility by the MSM because he is Jewish.

Damaging Israeli misquote finally corrected

Record set straight seven years after Israel's top soldier was accused of trashing Palestinians

It was a hot day in summer – or so they say – when Moshe Yaalon delivered a harsh, unyielding verdict on the fate of a thwarted nation.

"The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people," the Israeli officer said – or is said to have said.

The year was 2002, near the height of a violent Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation now known as the Second Intifada. At the time, Yaalon was the Israel Defence Forces' chief of staff – in other words, the country's top soldier.

To some ears, his stark assessment of Palestinian fortunes served to reinforce the worst suspicions of Israel's critics, depicting Israelis as heartless aggressors and Palestinians as hapless victims.

The statement, or some approximation of it, crossed oceans, countries and continents, appearing in print or repeated over the airwaves around the world. It was published in some of the globe's most distinguished publications, including the Star.

There's just one problem.

Yaalon did not say what he is supposed to have said...

[Link: www.thestar.com...]

20 Ojoe  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:22:38am

Yes, and the men in the copter allow silly politicians in the USA the breathing space to make stupid remarks every day.

21 soxfan4life  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:22:52am

I liked watching the helicopters wind up at dusk or dawn and watch the light shows from the rotors. I also liked having those helicopters overhead while we were moving. Many thanks to the AVN BDE 1st Cavslry Division from a former cavalry trooper.

22 Yankee Division Son  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:29:08am

Georgia Democrat yells at local doctor over health care. Doctor had the audacity to (Gasp!) ask a question...

23 Walter L. Newton  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:42:05am

I've actually been reading through the health care proposals and it is a real eye opener. Some highlights and my opinions on it.

1) There are a lot of title and sections that are extensions of current programs that already allow the government to intrude on our private lives. You just don't know how intrusive their CURRENT reach is. One of the clever aspects of this proposal is the gathering of already existing health care material that reside in Social Security and other Federal programs and giving them a more intrusive nature by locking them into this new proposed bill.

2) There are sections in this proposal that can amend and change existing titles and sections in existing bills (such as changes and amendments to Social Security). That's like holding a constitutional convention without ever bringing the constitution into the proceedings.

3) There is a whole section on taxing private health care benefits. And, if this section is retained, it will certainly make it more and more expensive over the years for any employer to offer private health insurance or for an American citizen to retain their own private health insurance. This proposed bill is a direct hit on all aspects of the private health care business.

4) A very large part of this proposal, a major title in the proposed bill, will set up a Federal Health Care Corp (doctors, nurses, administration personal, health care clinics etc.) that will be in direct competition with private health care industry. And, having the Federal government behind this Federal Health Care Corp, there is no way the private health care industry will be able to compete against all the government propped up parts of this programs. This Federal Health Care Corp will have massive rights to intrude into many aspects of daily life, both private citizens and private business, in order to fulfill their stated mission.

5) In general, this proposal does absolutely nothing to prevent the eventual demise of the private health care industry. The creation alone of the Federal Health Care Corps would be equivalent to private industry trying to set up a competing military force, they may be able to do it better, but it will never happen.

6) There is NOTHING in the bill that prevents the creation of a single payer government health care system. For a matter of fact, almost everything I've read so far in this proposal is designed to facilitate that final goal.

7) This proposal didn't appear out of thin air. It is well thought out and it's titles and sections are well constructed legalese, with one final goal in mind. The total Federal control of health services and your personal health concerns.

Read this thing, you'll be a step ahead of most of the politicians that claim to represent you. Truth to knowledge, use it.

24 Walter L. Newton  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:42:30am

BBIAB

25 Knitwit  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 10:45:38am

re: #18 lostlakehiker
Great idea!

Sounds like a plan.

Me, too.

26 wiffersnapper  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 11:39:25am

Gives new meaning to the term Halo Jump!

27 ShowMeStateOfMind  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 12:33:24pm

Anyone else see the Starship Enterprise in the shape created by the sparks and the helicopter's body? This photo is stunning.

28 punkindrublic  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 1:14:49pm

Looks a lot like "St. Elmo's Fire" we see on P-3 Orions, but probably a slightly different cause. Helo's are notorious for building up HUGE amounts of static electricity just by the motion of their rotor through the air; you'd better touch a helo hoist-cable with a grounding rod before grabbing it with your hand to connect a cargo sling.

29 bj  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 1:16:57pm

I am continually in awe of Michael Yon. Kudos to the man for his work.

30 mingjaiyo  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 1:27:09pm

I concur with #17 Mr.E.Train. I have been following Mr.Yon from his earliest postings out of Iraq ( for those not familiar with his most hardhitting early writings search his archives for "Gates Of Fire" - both the story and the pictures are electrifying ). His reporting from the field is the best I have personally read and his having been an actual service member -6 years Special Forces - causes me to trust his reporting as being accurate and without spin. Future historians who will write of these conflicts in the WOT will be well served to to hold Yon in the same capacity as modern day scholars of the Classics hold Thucydides ( been there,done that,lived through it,survived to tell the tale).

31 wee fury  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 4:18:11pm

Wow.

32 jcbunga  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 4:21:48pm

Lest we forget those in harm's way.

33 anand  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:12:45pm

awesome. paypal'ed a few $$.

Charles: You may want to give his fund raising drive a plug.

34 Seax  Sun, Aug 9, 2009 9:16:48pm

Lots of static, lots of dust.
Hard on personnel and machines.

35 samsgran1948  Mon, Aug 10, 2009 8:38:59am

I know I'm very late to the game, but it seems to me that that picture would make an awesome mounted, framed and numbered print that Mr. Yon could sell. I know I wouldn't mind shelling out some hard cold cash for it.


This article has been archived.
Comments are closed.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh
The Pandemic Cost 7 Million Lives, but Talks to Prevent a Repeat Stall In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met - some online, some in-person in Geneva - hoping to forestall a future worldwide ...
Cheechako
3 days ago
Views: 119 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ...
Cheechako
2 weeks ago
Views: 280 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1