The AirSea Battle is a concept for fighting a future war with China. This strategy is based on the types of weapons that the Chinese are procuring at a rapid pace and looks at what we need to do to defeat them.

I am not saying that the US and the Chinese are going to war at any time but my beloved military ring customer we must plan for each and every contingency lest something happens and we are caught by surprise.

Military forces must be adapted to fight current and future battles. You can't use past tactics and equipment to fight a present or future war. Just look at our situation now. Look at the war that my Desert Storm Military Ring Customers and the war that my Iraqi Freedom Ring customers had to fight. Those wars are totally different from the war that my Enduring Freedom Ring customers are currently fighting.

If you go back to Vietnam, those military ring customers fought an all together different type of war. Military tactics, plans, and equipment must constantly change and adapt to the current situation. 

The USMC is using its Assault Breecher Vehicles to help clear mines and IEDs in afghanistan during the offensive on Marjah. The problem is that the Taliban has left as many mines, booby traps, and IEDs as they possibly could set up before retreating in anticipation of the upcoming offensive. The mines aren't doing much good because our marine corps ring customers have the answer to take them out.

The Mine Breachers are the answer that our marine corps ring customers have for them. Each breecher weighs over 72 tons and carries 7,000 pounds of explosives which is in the form of a mine clearing rope.

The breechers can clear mines one of two ways. they can use the large plow to clear a path through the minefield or they can fire an explosive rope. When the rope is fired it goes out about 150 meters and detonates on the ground to set off any mines close to it. The breecher makes quick work of the danger to allow our troops to pass through. If I were an enemy soldier I would certainly be disheartened by this quick way that our USMC ring troops can dispose of all of the hard work of emplacing minefields.

The enemy minefields are totally ineffective against this new techonology.

Operation Enduring Seperation has been an ongoing operation which effects every branch of the Armed Forces and touches every family member regardless of age, race, sex, religion, or ethnicity.

Operation Enduring Seperation touches each and every one of my military ring customers, whether they are army ring customers, navy ring customers, air force ring customers, marine corps ring customers, coast guard ring customers, etc. It doesn't matter if they are Navy SEAL ring customers, Special Forces ring customers, Delta Force, Army Rangers, Force Recon or what have you.

Operation Enduring Seperation speaks for the time when troops are seperated from their loved ones while discharging their sworn duties to their country. It speaks for the time that they have spent sleeping on the ground on top of ice and snow. It speaks for each and every wet and miserable experience that they have ever gone through while serving their country. It speaks for the times they have been caught in dust storms, rainstorms, blizzards, and heat waves. It speaks of rainy days, frosty nights, hot summers, and hard times.

This operation speaks especially for the times that they have been seperated from their husbands, wives, and children for months at a time. It speaks of the father of that new born who is now a year old and doesn't even recognize him when he sees him. It speaks of the two or three months that you spend with that newborn before you are torn away by the next deployment. You hope that you live to get back home so that you will get to see that precious child again.

It speaks for the mother who has just been moved to a place that she knows nothing about when her husband had to leave as soon as they got there. It speaks of her survival with several small children, a salary too small to even feed them, and a husband who is too far away to be of any help. It speaks further of the time that that husband finds that he will have to stay deployed for an extra six months, he only found out a few days before he was to return back home.

We need the support of every American man, woman, and child for those who have to participate in operation enduring seperation. Support our troops. 

Marines fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan are beginning to become frustrated by the tactics that the Taliban is using to fight the war. The Taliban knows that our marines are sometimes severely restricted by the rules of engagement which prevents them from shooting back at combatants in certain circumstances in order to save civilians. The Taliban at the same time is taking advantage of the restrictions placed on us to kill more Americans.

The Taliban will force innocent women and children to stay close and act as human shields when they attack Americans. When our soldiers want to return fire they can't because of the risk of killing the innocents. The Taliban shows no respect for the lives of these innocent men, women, and children. I have to question how is it that our troops are being blamed for all of the deaths of innocent women and children.

The Taliban fighters will also shoot at our soldiers from concealed positions and then drop their weapons and stand out in the open because they know that we can't shoot at civilians who are not carrying weapons. Many times our troops can't return fire even though they know that the person standing there was just shooting at them.

I hope that our military and our military ring customers will soon find a way to overcome the actions of the enemy combatants. We are doing all that we can to win the hearts and minds of the civilian population who have got to realize that our military ring customers are not the criminals in these conflicts.

This new round is a baaaaaad mama jamma...it will be introduced in 2010 we hope and it is light years ahead of anything that I ever saw in all of my years as an Army Field Artilleryman. It is da BOMB!!!.

The M982 is classified as an 155mm extended range, guided artillery shell. Which means that it is fired from a 155mm howitzer. Extended range means that it flies farther than the conventional artillery round. MUCH FARTHER!! 

this round has a maximum range of 40 to 72 kilometers which is twice as far as anything that I ever used during my time in the Army. If my memory serves me right the rocket assisted projectile which we had before I left had an unclassified range of about 3,000 meters which was a big deal to us. But get this, It has a CEP of 10 meters. Now grasshopper I see that glaze in your eyes as you form the question in your head; So what? You say. Who gives a flip?

Well let the military ring man explain it to you this way. A CEP of 10 meters means that it doesn't land any more than 5 meters away from what you are shooting at. Even from its maximum range. Now does that make your skin tingle or what? That translates into a one round one shot kill on whatever you are shooting at that day. Pretty impressive huh?

This round uses glide fins to help it get distance and GPS to guide it to its target. Thats some high tech stuff. The M982 will have three different warheads. The first is a hardened shell to penetrate hard targets. The next is a warhead which can contain 64 DPICM bomblets or 2 SADARM munitions. The third warhead will contain smart munitions which will be used in urban warfare. This will elevate the skills of our Artillery military ring customers into the stratosphere.

The SADARM is an anti armor round which is fired from artillery This artillery round senses and destroys tanks on the ground. It has been tested successfully and is being produced in small numbers. It has not been fully fielded for whatever reason but when it is it will certainly be a force multiplier.

I remember the concept when I was in the military but I wasn't aware that it had actually been produced before I got out. The timed fuze will cause the round to open at about 1,000 meters above the target and eject two antitank submunitions. When they eject they spin slowly under their ram-air parachutes. while they are spinning radar and infrared sensors look for armored targets on the ground. Now guess what grasshopper. When the sensors find a target they fire a penetrator charge into the top of the tank which is the thinnest part of the armor to destroy it. If it misses and hits the ground instead it will self destruct.

This weapon will certainly be a force multiplier to our custom military ring customers who might have to go head to head with that enemy armor. It is better for someone else  to kill the ememy tank before you have to.

This new howitzer is being fielded to replace the M198 towed howitzer which is used in the United States by the Army and the Marine Corps. The biggest new feature that it offers is its ultra light weight which is due to the extensive use of titanium in its design. 

There are several distinct advantages of this howitzer over the M198. The first is its light weight which is rather obvious. It is easier to transport since it is a towed howitzer and easier to airlift. It can be air lifted by lighter aircraft than usual which gives more flexibility of use. You can also move more of them faster because since they are lighter it takes more of these howitzers to reach the maximum capacities of the vehicles or aircraft which will transport them. This howitzer is also smaller than the M198 which it replaces which means that more can be stored in the same amount of space. It also reduces the number of crewmen needed to operate it from 9 to 5.

This howitzer can also be put into operation much faster than the M198 which it replaces and can be used to fire the GPS guided Excalibur field artillery round. This is a very good weapon for our light forces. It can get into lightweight places and still pack a heavyweight punch. I can certainly see where it will benefit our combat arms military ring customers.

A beyond visual range missile is normally a missile which has a range of 20 nautical miles or more which is also guided to its target by some means of homing system which may be active or passive or a combination of both.

The beyond visual range missile is normally an air to air missile but not necessarily so. Some of these missiles may have to by guided by an operator for part of its flight but will eventually find the target and fly to intercept it. These missiles are a testament to the wonders of modern technology and why it is always evolving to adapt to improvements and changes.

The advent of this weapon caused new technology to be developed to defeat it, which in turn causes newer technology to overcome and so on and so on. Military training for our custom military ring customers has to adapt and change also in order to fully integrate these new weapons into our armed forces.

You probably don't remember it because I never heard of it before today. I was in the military at that time also. Just because I sell custom military rings doesn't mean that I know everything.

Anyway this operation took place in October 1987 and was a retailatory strike against Iran after it attacked a Kuwaiti oil tanker. The tanker was empty at the time but 18 of its crewmen were injured in the attack. The US retaliated by destroying two Iranian oil platforms which it said were serving as radar and command and control platforms for Iranian operations. One of the platforms was destroyed by Naval gunfire and the other was boarded and searched by Special Operations troops who used explosives to destroy it. This is just one of the many operations that our special operations ring customers perform almost as a matter of routine that we never hear about.

Once again and I have said this many times before, we owe these operators a debt of gratitude for the work that they have done for us in the war on terror and in whatever other operations that they conduct on a routine basis. Our special forces military ring customers are certainly due for gratitude.

The number of the newest and best aircraft that we had planned on having may be cut due to price constraints. The problem is that it costs about 350 million dollars to build an F-22 Raptor and about 200 million to build an F-35. These aircraft would be the cream of the crop of the entire world for many years to come, but the question is are they really needed? Of course I say yes. Any real military man or woman would say the same thing. They are so advanced that nothing else even comes close which introduces the arguement that they are not needed. I say any new and good technology is needed. Lets get light years ahead of the competition. They would catch up if they could and if they do they won't hesitate to use their advantages to do us in.

I say that we should bring it on. I am from the school which says that you should use everything that you have to your advantage. It would be great for us to have so much of a tactical advantage that it would be almost illegal for us to fight.

If future warfare stays the way that our warfare is now yes the advantages would be lopsided. To that the military ring man says oh well.

One thing that we need to keep in mind though is the Chinese development of new technology. The Chinese are bent on becoming the worlds next superpower so we need to keep an eye on them. You who are Air Force ring customers know. We would need those aircraft in any conflict with them.

 The Sidewinder air to air missile will have its capabilities expanded. As a matter of fact it has already been done. This missile's software will be expanded to allow it to hit swiftly moving ground targets. This has been accomplished so it is a matter of whether the Marine Corps wants to go ahead with using it. We are used to seeing the movie shots of this missile being fired from one airplane into another, but now is time for us to expand our concept of use. 

The side winder can also be fired from aircraft at moving ships. this has also been accomplished. It has also successfully hit rapidly moving targets on the ground which were attempting to evade at the same time.

In other applications it has been fired from the ground and from submarines at aerial targets with success. The best thing is that the cost of modifying this missile is low so the modifications can be done with relative ease. This is really good news for all of you Marine Corps ring, and  Navy ring customers because it gives you so many more capabilities for the use of this weapon. It is definitely good news for all of you military ring customers because it will make you bwtter able to accomplish different missions.

Although US officials won't confirm this the family of Haji Omar Khan say that he has been killed in a US air strike on new years eve. He was obviously targeted along with other al-Qaeda operators in the strike which killed about 20 people. He was killed in the Mir Ali region of north Waziristan province in Afghanistan.

Mr Khan was guilty of murdering many other tribal leaders in the area who were opposed to taliban rule. He justified his actions by calling them American sympathizers.

Although officials aren't specifying the type of attack which was successful in killing Mr. Khan I believe that it was nothing other than a drone firing a Hellfire missile which took him out. Things really seem to be shaping up for our forces in Afghanistan. Now is not the time to lag in giving them our undying support.

There has not been much said about it but I believe that one day we will find that drones firing missiles made a serious impact on this war. I don't think that the State Department wants to release much info now but mark my words. I don't have any proof but I just have that feeling about the use of drones.

Airborne forces are light infantry who can be dropped into battle because they are designed to be carried into battle with aircraft. The big advantage of Airborne forces is that they can appear quickly almost out of nowhere to wreak havoc on the enemy and behind his lines. There is nothing worse than having a large, motivated, fighting force in your rear ares tearing up everything that they see. It really messes up the rest of your operation. 

Airborne soldiers can be transported in large numbers if necessary which is contingent on the number of aircraft available to transport them.

The biggest disadvantage of using airborne forces is that they can't carry much equipment so they are not good for sustained operations. The numbers of airborne forces has decreased since the advent of the helicopter. Airmobile forces are transported by helicopters and are used in much the same way as airborne forces. The premier airborne Division in the US Army is the 82nd Airborne Division, and the premier airmobile Division is the 101st. We have the custom military designs available to do both the Paratrooper's ring and the airmobile ring for any of you out there who has been involved with either of these two types of military units. 

United States drones have racked up a number of kills in the war on terror. Drones recently accounted for 17 terrorist deaths in the area of North Waziristan Afghanistan.

Several airstrikes conducted by drones firing hellfire missiles were launched against al- Qaeda targets with very good success. The wonderful thing about using these drones is that it keeps our soldiers, and marines out of harms way while the enemy is being killed. I know that all of you military ring customers who happen to have to do the fighting can appreciate that.

The prime target of the air strikes have been al-Qaeda's external operations network. Three of the commanders of this network have been killed since May 2008. 

The Army is looking to field a new ruck sack for soldiers serving in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The purpose of this new ruck is to better accomodate the needs of soldiers in Afghanistan and the type of missions that they have to perform. The terrain and climate of the region are different from what we faced in Iraq. This poses unique problems which cause us to have to make adaptations in the equipment that we use. 

The new ruck which will be 3000  cubic inches in size is smaller than the 5000 cubic inch modular lightweight load bearing equipment, and larger than the 2000 cubic inch assault pack. So it kind of combines the best qualities of each and eliminates the worst qualities at the same time. It is lighter than the MOLLE to help the soldier traverse the rugged terrain, and it is larger than the assault pack. This gives the individual more room for extra equipment because the missions sometimes become extended. 

The military is doing everythingthat it can to accomodate the Enduring Freedom ring customers who are stationed in Afghanistan. In order to be victorious we must be able to evolve and adapt to the changing situations of warfare.

This is good news for my potential paratrooper's ring customers who currently jump with the T-10 training chute. I have jumped with the T-10 and the MC1B chutes and the force of landing is great. From what I have read the new ATPS should go a long way towards reducing injuries in jumpers by decreasing the force of landing. Paratroopers know that the majority of injuries occur on the landing. Poor body position when you hit ground will definitely get you hurt. The Advanced Tactical Parachute System will be a little bit more forgiving on poor body position landings.

To begin the ATPS consists of both a reserve and a main parachute. Both chutes add a significant amount of drag which causes the chute to hald more air and the jumper to descend more slowly. The rate of descent for the T-10 (which gives the softest landing of the two that I have jumped) is 22-24 feet per second. The rate of descent for the ATPS is 16 feet per second. That should definitely improve the rate of injury for jumpers. This should definitely be good news to 82nd Airborne Division military ring customers because there will be fewer paratroopers lost for duty at any one time due to injury.

The ATPS is a cruciform (cross) shaped parachute and the reserve chute is cone shaped. The ATPS has 28% more surface area (to catch and hold air) and the reserve has pouches on top which catch and hold air. I have not seen a picture of this parachute but its odd shape will take some getting used to.

The harness will also be improved to displace opening shock more effectively. You custom military ring customers who have jumped with the T-10 know that since the harness is seated around the groin area what it feels like when the T-10 pops open. Sometimes it really hurts. The new harness should decrease groin and back injuries to the paratrooper.

According to a top Taliban commander in Pakistan the taliban is conducting its own version of a troop surge. So we are to believe from this that the Taliban is conducting their own countersurge. This sounds good but can they pull it off? I (the military ring man) don't think that it is even feasible and I will tell you why.

Waliur Rehman has issued a statement to the press that he has ordered thousands of Taliban fighters from Pakistan into afghanistan to assist the Taliban there in its efforts during the troop surge which is in progress.

Personally I think that the whole thing is a bunch of hogwash. I think that in reality the Taliban and al-Qaeda are in sore distress although they will never admit it. I don't even think that they can mount much of a response to the troop surge.

US spokespeople have strated that intelligence hasn't seen any indications of this. So that should tell the real story. I don't think our custom military ring customers serving in Afghanistan will have to worry much about this threat.

An Alpha Strike is the military term for an all out military attack on an enemy force. In this type of attack you throw absolutely everything that you have at the enemy with no regard for follow on actions, ammunition supply constraints or anything else. In other words you just go crazy and let it all hang out.

The purpose of this attack is to anniliate the enemy in front of you. It is not to gain ground or position but to destroy that enemy force in front of you. You shoot your best shot and once you do you are done. You are out of steam so it has to be successful.

The picture above shows a carrier strike force. This force is often used to launch an alpha strike but it is not limited to the US Navy. As you custom military ring customers know who are in the combat arms all may use this form of attack but the terminology may be a little different.

A wargame is when you try to get an idea of what a military operation will incorporate by going through the various scenarios that the battle that you are getting ready to fight will present. 

You cannot cover every possible scenario or forsee every possible problem but wargaming definitely helps. It had evolved almost into a science before I got out of the military. We would put the plan together and even do as many rehearsals as we could before the actual battle. We would even build replicas, or sandtables of the area that we would operate in. There were times that we got on the radio and actually practiced what we would say. During the heat of battle people are excited. One thing that we learned is that people will respond exactly the way that they have been trained. All branches of the Armed Services now war game operations now so all military ring personnel who have ever conducted an operation are familiar with it. 

Wargaming gives all who are involved a better feel for what needs to be done. Even when plans go awry (they always do) you can make good decisions about what action to take because you know what everyone else should be doing and where they are trying to go. I am sure that all of you military ring customers know also that when you wargame it gives all of the participants a sense of being more involved in the planning process and helps to increase your chance of success.

Marines serving in Khan Neshin Afghanistan have a tough job of stopping the flow of insurgents, and weapons into and through the area. All of you militray ring folks who follow these blogs know that I have posted information before about the vastness of the area that our troops have to control. Well this is definitely no exception.

This area was and still is one of the Talibans major routes of infiltration from Pakistan. The marines there have done a good job of staunching the flow but the problem is that there are only a few hundred marines to cover a 6000 square mile area. It dosen't take any kind of arithmetic to see that that is not enough. They can by no means stop everything. This is one reason that the extra surveillance that will come with the troop surge is so important. This is the part where our Air Force military ring customers come in. They use the upgraded surveillance to better monitor the wide open spaces.

Hopefully the  troop surge will alleviate some of the pressure of our military ring associates on the ground also. If our marines get a little help they will handle the situation. Choking off the supply of fresh weapons, bodies, and equipment is all a part of the warfare. If we can prevent or even hinder resupply and reinforcement of the Taliban it will make the act of expelling them from Afghanistan easier

The US military will greatly bolster its surveillance capabilities in Afghanistan during the upcoming troop surge. I can see major benefits in this strategy since I am a former military man. It will definitely help out all of our military ring colleagues who will be involved in Operation Enduring Freedom. There will be more troops of all branches who will want Operation Enduring Freedom rings as a result of this surge. 

The major advantage is that this will be a force multiplier for our troops. The use of this expanded technology will reduce the need for manpower. For example our Army and marine military ring customers won't have to be everywhere at the same time. The aerial surveillance allow commanders to direct our resources to where they are needed. Since the area that they have to cover is vast this will be a great help. We won't need forces all over the place. The surveillance will spot the problem and forces can be dispatched to deal with it.

Some of the different equipment that will be sent will be MC-12W piloted surveillance planes and Gordon Stare high tech video sensors. We need to use every tool that we have to its maximum advantage in order to win this war. There is a lot of other classified and unclassified surveillance equipment in use that our Air Force military ring customers are aware of. I believe that this troop surge will be a stunning success.

Conflict escalation meas that you kick the action up a notch. Sometimes during a battle or war you have to get kind of nasty to get your point across. A prime example of this concept in action was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.

The US knew that we would probably not be able to conquer the Japanese mainland with conventional warfare. We also knew that they wouldn't surrender to a conventional force so we had to go nuclear. It is regrettable that so many lives were lost in the process but I am sure that it had to be an agonizing decision for our president.

You military ring folks know that the military uses threat levels of DEFON levels to elevate conflict expectations in training and in war. All troops are given an overview of the situation in operation briefs and updates. These give the Rules of Engagement (ROE) which are guidelines that tell how much force can be used in different situations. Part of the rules of engagement is a threat level. This tells you how much of a probability of contact that you have with the enemy.

The smoke grenade is a valuable tool in the military and is handy for many practical uses. Some of the ways that I have used them and I'm sure many of you custom military ring customers have too are for signaling, marking targets or landing zones. One thing that many civilians are probably not aware of is that smoke is very useful for command and control of military operations.

Smoke comes in different colors and the colors may be given a significant meaning. Members of a unit may know that if they see blue smoke during combat it may mean for them to break contact. Another color may be a signal to change direction etc. Smoke can also be used to screen your movement as you combat arms military ring customers know. You san also drop it directly on top of the enemy to confuse him as much as possible/ 

There are two basic types of military smoke grenades, potassium chlorate and white phosphorus. The potassium chlorate grenade releases a colored dye as it burns and the white phosphorus explodes and burns on contact with the air. White phosphorus is dangerous and will burn you severely if it gets on your skin. It is used on enemy troops and positions. Whenever you use military smoke you must take the direction of the wind into consideration. If you don't account for the wind speed and direction you might cause yourself a serious problem.

When it comes down to the military survival skills are seen in the light of being able to survive behind enemy lines without being detected. We military ring folks talk about escape and evasion but these skills are just a part of the total equation.

In order to survive you must be able to to take care of basic survival needs such as water, food, shelter, habitat, and first aid.

Military survival courses teach these skills along with training the student to evade enemy forces and navigate his or her way back to friendly held territory. Military survival courses are taught at many different military schools at various levels of intensity levels. The survival skills that a snipers ping customer may need may be different from what a pilot's ring customer may need.

Some of this training can get to be really extreme and intense as inded it should be. This training may be the thing that one day saves the life of the special operator, or combat soldier. There are many different levels of this training with the most extreme being that which our Special Operations ring customers go through. Some of it is not as demanding which depends on the chance that it would ever have to be put to use by the custom military ring customer.

You Air Force ring, and Navy ring customers can talk about this much better than I can but a MIRV is basically a nuclear missile with several warheads. They were a way around the SALT treaty which limited the number of missiles that participants could have but not the number of warheads.

MIRV's pack more of a punch when they impact in a tight area than a larger more powerful warhead will. I read the reason why but it kind of messed with my head because it is so complicated so I won't even try to explain it. Maybe some of you custom military ring customers who are in the Air Force or Navy can elaborate for us. We will be glad to hear from you. I will try to elaborate the way that I comprehended it. When the MIRV drops a scattered load of warheads even though they are much less explosive than one huge warhead. The explosive power is more because more pressure is spread over the area. The power of the large warhead will dissipate without covering as large of an area. Do you feel me?

 Tne MIRV can also be used to destroy different targets also which greatly enhances their value. One MIRV can do the work of several single nuclear missiles. We would like for one of you bright custom military ring customers to enlighten us some more on this subject.

Believe it or not building a Defensive Fighting Position has evolved almost into a science in modern times. Now all of you military ring customers who are combat arms or combat support arms have been trained in this and know what it takes. When warfare was simple the fighting position was simple. Once tactics were devised to get to the inhabitant of the foxhole the foxhole had to be constructed differently.

Some of you don't know because you should never have to construct one. The art evolved from the simple procedure of digging shallow depressions to digging deep positions with overhead cover. The ideal foxhole will protect the warrior from tanks rolling over it and artillery which explodes in the air and showers shrapnel on the ground. The USMC ring customer that you see here is in a fighting position which has not yet been completed. He has not yet used any timbers and sandbags to build a top to protect him from artillery fire.

The Infantry warrior knows to begin to build the foxhole as soon as he is assigned an area to defend. He will continue to improve on it as long as he is there. Building a foxhole correctly is hard work especially since you are normally physically exhausted before you begin since it is usually done after a hard march. Hopefully this post will give you an idea of what our custom military ring customers who are combat arms troops have to go through.

This round is one of my favorites and was developed and first used because of its stopping power. The army needed something with stopping power against attacking determined enemy soldiers who had no intention of stopping until they had taken you out along with everybody else who even remotely looked like you.

It has a low muzzle velocity which works with its large size to give it stopping power. This round will probably put your enemy down no matter where it hits him. That is the reason that I like it so well. When you think about the physics of this round think of it as getting hit with a brick rather than a pebble. The pebble will definitely sting you but the brick is going to definitely put you on your butt.

It will definitely put a large hole in whatever it hits which also makes it more effective. The large hole means a more rapid loss of blood and thus a faster loss of consciousness.

It was helpful in stopping dope crazed combatants who were too spaced out to even know that they were shot. I have heard stories from several of my  Vietnam veterans military ring customers.

The Flame Assault Shoulder Weapon (FLASH) is a shoulder fired rocket launcher which holds 4 66mm incendiary rockets. Each rocket carries 1.34 pounds of thickened pyrophoric agent (TPA).

TPA is a chemical compound which burns at a very high temperature when it is exposed to air. The shooter can fire all or one of the rockets at a time. The FLASH was assigned to the Infantry platoon. Some of you military ring customers who are old warriors may remember this weapon since it is not really used today. The launcher was bulky to carry and there were reliability problems with the ammunition.

This is one of the few weapons that I didn't get the opportunity to fire when I was in the army although I have seen it fired which was a sight to behold. One of the killing features of this round was that if it were fired at you while you were in a foxhole, the incendiary would take all of your oxygen.  You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one of these. They were devastating in the hands of a good Infantryman all of you custom military ring customers who have seen this round fired have seen how it can devastate an area.

The Gordon Stare Sensor is a pod which will be mounted on Reaper MQ-9's that will greatly improve the capability of the drone to gather intelligence from the battlefield.

This system will enhance our Air Force ring customers ability to combine different images from different angles from up to 9 cameras together to form one image which gives a more complete story.

 Now I could do my advertising thing here and compare this to the way a custom military ring can be used to tell a story but I will limit it to this. The customization that you choose for your custom military ring adds to the total story that you tell. Each item of customization adds another facet to your military ring giving a more complete picture to the viewer. Now back to the subject. 

Five of the cameras are electro optical and 4 of them are infrared so this is just about as complete a picture that you can get. This system will be able to send 10 different images to 10 different operators at the same time. Now for you custom Air Force ring customers who will use this system check this out. The next generation will be able to send up to 30 at the same time.

The fighter aircraft is designed to take out other enemy aircraft but can have a multiple use role. Fighters due to the nature of their role have to be faster and more maneuverable than other aircraft. The fighter must have some sort of advantage to give it the edge in air to air combat. It is designed to kill other aircraft and that just what it does.

The premier fighter in the world right now is the F-22 Raptor. That bad boy can take out multiple enemy fighters at the same time.

I have known many fighter pilots in my day and they are all extremely confident. A Fighter Pilot's military ring customer must be confident because of the nature of the job that he has. The fighter is capable of maneuvers than are taxing on the human body and mind. The pilot must have super quick reflexes because of the high speed of the aircraft. We have many features for fighter pilots to choose from when they create a fighter pilot's ring.

The LCAC is the primary amphibious assault vehicle of the US Navy. This vehicle takes amphibious operations to a whole new level with its enhanced capabilities. I'm going to rattle off a few of its chacteristics which my marine corps custom ring customers already know.

This extraordinary piece of equipment has a maximum speed of over 70 knots when empty and 40 knots when fully loaded. It has a range of over 300 miles, and can carry up to 180 fully armed troops. it gives the Marine Corps additional troop and equipment carrying ability, beach landing ability, and can also be used in lane breeching and mine countermeasure operations. This piece of equipmqnt takes amphibious warfare to a whole new level.

The tactical advantages that this vehicle gives to the Navy far outweigh the cost of the LCAC. This is a piece of equipment that all of you Navy Ring customers can be proud of. 

The point man is the soldier, special operator, or marine who leads his element during a patrol operation or a movement to contact. He is the first to make contact with the enemy and has the most dangerous job in his element. He will normally be killed if contact is made with the enemy.

This is a position which should be rotated between team members because of its stressful nature. In case of enemy contact the point man will almost certainly have to be rescued or evacuated because he is the first one in. In many cases a smart enemy will allow the point man to pass by them so that they will have a better chance of dealing with the follow on soldiers.

Since the point man will be the first to make contact with the enemy all eyes are on him as he moves forward. The point man will communicate with the rest of his unit with hand signals although they can tell by his body language when there is trouble ahead. My Infantry and special operations ring customers will be most familiar with this term.

C-4 is a well known military explosive which is mainly composed of cyclonite. It is produced by mixing this explosive with plastic fillers and some other materials in a solvent and allowing the solvent to evaporate.

I had the opportunity to work with this explosive while I was in the military as did many other custom military ring customers. It was pretty much the standad explosive used then. I don't know what the standard is now. I wouldn't be surprised if the military has come up with something better. The people who would know this would be my explosive ordinance disposal ring customers.

This explosive is excellent for many different uses and is also very stable. You can't blow it up just by lighting it with a match or dropping it. This is good for military applications which means it can handle the stresses of being used and transported by combat units.

Another factor which makes it ideal for demolition is that it can be molded. This gives it the flexibility to be used in a wide variety of applications. It can be shaped for extra effect on irregular shaped objects to be destroyed or made into shaped charges. The benefit of using a shaped charge is that the force of the explosion is concentrated on a small area so that you can get greater effects with a smaller amount of explosives.

The Designated marksman is different from the sniper in several ways. This is a role that is given to one of the units organic marksmen who is a good shot. He will fill this role as the situation dictates. If he is not reqiured to act in this role he will operate within his unit. He is a very good marksman and has had some special training but he will not be as good a marksman as the sniper.

The sniper is more highly trained and will only function as a sniper. his job is to pick off specific targets at longer ranges while the designated marksman will provide rapid fire on enemy troops at shorter ranges.

The DM will use weapons that are organic to his unit although they may be modified for accuracy while the sniper will use weapons which are designed specifically for sniper use.

Designated marksmen are used by Army Infantry and USMC Infantry. If you are an Army Infantry ring or a USMC Infantry ring customer you may want to place the term Designated Marksman on the side panel of your military ring. 

This is the new weapon system which will replace the M24 currently being used by the Army. This system has already been tested in Afghanistan and has gotten very good reviews from the soldiers who have used it.

It used the 7.62mm NATO approved round which is heavy enough to pack a pretty good punch. It will also travel farther than the 5.56 round that the US uses.

The one thing that I liked about this rifle when I read the specs is that it is designed to be friendly for both right and left handed shooters. when I was active duty I was a left handed shooter and using the the M-16 was totally inconvenient. Whenever the cartridge ejected it would fly right across my face and I would have to turn the rifle over to apply the safety or the magazine release. All of you snipers ring customers should like to use this weapon based on the reviews that it has gotten so far. I know that the Marine Corps used to require all Marines to fire as a right handed shooter. I don't kmow exactly how that would have worked for me.

The Battle Dress was the first camoflaged uniform that the US Army issued in 1980. It is no longer authorized for use now as the ACU has replaced it. It was a major change when it was first introduced. It was almost a radical departure from what the Army was used to.

During the time that this uniform was issued our immediate perceived threat was from the Warsaw Pact. The camoflage pattern was woodland in anticipation of the area that we thought that we would have to operate in.

Many of you Army ring customers who are old warriors  may remember when the Army adopted this uniform. I liked it at the time because it was radically different from the Vietnam era fatigue uniform that our Vietnam ring customers knew and loved so well. The DCU and ACU combat uniforms have made the BDU obsolete.

The ACU is the latest in a line of army uniforms worn in garrison as an everyday work uniform but designed for wear in combat. If you are like me I like to wear these uniforms everyday because they are comfortable. I have never been one who will wear the class A or B uniform daily.The ACU incorporates a design which is good for woodland, urban, or desert use. Its predecessors are the DCU (desert camoflage uniform), and the BDU (battle dress uniform). The BDU had a woodland camoflage pattern. and the DCU was sand colored. The ACU kind of blends all of these characteristics together in one. I envy my young military ring customers who get to wear this uniform because I never got to wear it.

In addition, the ACU is reportedly cooler than its predecessors and has IR capabilities which make it easy to see at night with night vision goggles. All of you Army mi;itary ring customers regardless of what branch you were in know how important it can be to be easily identifiable to your own forces. The IR capabilities should definitely keep you from being lit up by friendly fire.

The Air Force is flying a new stealth drone in Afghanistan. Some of you Air Force custom military ring customers may know about but I'm sure that most of you don't. I was in the dark until just a few minutes ago myself.

There is question about why the Air Force would have to employ such an aircraft in a country where the insurgents have little or no radar to detect them anyway. Some of the speculation is that maybe they are being used to fly surveillance into Iran and Pakistan.v It is not quite clear just what the capabilities of these drones are but this particular drone is not armed.

The Air Forces 30th Reconnaissance Squadron is the unit which operates this aircraft which is named the RQ-170 Sentinel. It is also known as the "Beast of Kandahar." We really don't know what this aircraft is capable of doing and seeing. Technically its mission is to provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces.

If you have been affiliated with the military in any way shape or form for any amount of time you know that this definition can probably be twisted a million different ways. It dosen't really tell us a thing at all. All of you custom military ring customers know that is about par for the course. Do you Desert Storm ring customers remember when we were about to be deployed? I know that I had to watch CNN to find out what was going on. I learned more from the news than I did from my unit.

This new system is slated to be taken to Afghanistan when the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Unit goes back. this unit has qualified with this piece of equipment and they have a deep respect for what it can do. This vehicle will be added at a rate of 1 per Stryker platoon to augment the Stryker. It is more or less created for Operation Enduring Freedom.

I remember when my Calvary ring customers first received the Bradley Fighting Vehicle how they and the Opfor in Fort Irwin Ca were so impressed with its capabilities. As we were also

The M1128 (MGS) utilizes 4 different types of ammunition. Its primary role is to provide overwatch for Infantry forces as they attack taliban hideouts and strongholds. It can blast through bunkers and walls, along with vehicles and enemy troops. This weapon will give our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers an extra added edge in the fight over there. We need every edge that we can possibly use in order to quickly win that war. 

The Russian Navy is seeking to acquire the newest French built amphibious assault ship to help to shore up its aging fleet and provide increased versatility for its naval fleet.

The Mistral is able to carry large numbers of personnel and equipment into relatively shallow waters and quickly discharge them to fight the land battle.

This gives them an offensive ability that they don't presently posses. This is a cause for concern for neighboring countries. Russia wants to buy licenses from France to build several of the ships. The ships can also be used to transport and offload large quantities of military equipment. I don't think that this is any cause for concern to our Navy and our Navy ring customers.

Boeing is testing a laser device which may be helpful to our military ring customers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The laser has been mounted onto the Avenger and has done well in testing so far.

It works by directing a laser beam at the IED which causes a slow burning away of the explosive material in the IED. This will be beneficial to our ground forces for several different reasons.

First and foremost it will give explosive ordinance disposal teams operating in the Middle East a little relief. There are not enough of these teams to meet the demands of disarming IED's because they are so commonly used. When a unit spots an IED it has to pull back, call EOD, and wait for EOD to arrive and disarm the device. This takes up a lot of valuable time and holds the unit up since they can't perform their mission until the IED is removed. The laser will save many hours in time and manpower for our troops. This time will free units up to conduct other missions and thus greatly increase effectiveness.

Precision guided munitions are a recent technological advent which takes warfare to a whole new level.

Precision guided munitions (PGM's) may be smart bombs and missiles, GBU's (guided bomb units) etc. The definition of a PGM is a guided weapon which is capable of hitting a specific target with minimal damage to objects or people who happen to be close to the target. In other words we have taken weapons which were once known as area weapons and turned them into point weapons. They don't just land close to the target and get effects by massive explosions, they get results with direct hits.

You custom military ring customers from the Operation Desert Storm era may remember the advent of the smart bomb in that war. You military ring customers from Operation Iraqi Freedon know that smart bombs were very widely used at that time. During Desert Storm 10% of the bombs dropped were smart bombs while about 90% were smart bombs during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

One major advantage of guided bombs and missiles is that you get more results with fewer munitions. If you are using bombers to drop bombs you send fewer bombers and their crews into harms way.

The precision guided bomb dosen't have an internal engine. It is directed by fins or vanes which turh and cause it to change directions. All of my Air Force ring customers who are pilots knoe that the bomb must be dropped close to the target to be able to hit it. The guided missile is powered by an internal engine and may be able to travel long distances to get to its target.

This term is used when we refer to nuclear warfare and originated during the cold war. This is the nuclear strategy that both the United States and Russia sought to employ. Many of my younger custom military ring customers may be too young to have heard this term.

Generally the purpose of a first strike is to destroy your opponents nuclear launch and storage facilities before he can hit you back. The first strike is a surprise attack and must be massive and devastating to be effective. The goal is to destroy his retaliation capabilities to the point that if he does manage to get anything off at all his attack will be weakened to the point of being ineffective.

Nuclear submarines were an excellent strike weapons system because they could not be easily targeted. Since you can't get a location on them you can't eliminate them.

Fortunately for all of here at the custom military ring place and for you military ring customers this never happened. I think if nuclear weapons are ever used in the future they will be used selectively to accomplish specific battlefield goals. I sure hope so anyway. 

The Pershing II was a solid fueled, 2 stage, medium range nuclear ballistic missile which was employed by the US Army in Europe during the cold war.

Although no longer in use this missile was used as a deterrent to Warsaw pact countries during the cold war. It was a theater level tactical nuclear missile which was employed by the US Army Field Artillery ring customers. All of you custom military ring customers who served during the 70's and 80's should be familiar with this weapon.

I was an artilleryman but my specialty was cannon artillery. Pershing missilemen would only be stationed in one of two places in the world during their era. Those places were Germany and Fort Sill Oklahoma.

During that time the expected threat of war was a Russian attack through Europe. These missiles were employed as a deterrent because they told the Russians that we would go nuclear if we had to. I had a custom military ring customer who was a Pershing missleman tell me that back when Jimmy Carter was president we came almost to the point of launch against the Soviet Union.

Damage control is the term that our custom Navy ring customers, and our Coast Guard ring customers are more familiar with.

Damage control refers to the actions taken by the ships crew to prevent the ship from sinking and may be one or a combination of many possibly actions. Damage control actions are normally temporary fixes to the major problems. Submariners are very familiar with this term as it is probably more critical for them, to get damage problems quickly resolved.

The ships engineers will eventually perform a permanent fix but the initial goal is to prevent the ship from sinking. There are many ways for the crew to repair a leak or fix a problem. Most of these include attaching metal bands or strips, adhesives, and using plugs.

Have you ever seen the WWII movies where ships had watertight doors that always had to be closed in time of war. This effectively compartmentalizes the ship and prevents the water from spreading throughout the ship. Our submariners are wel aware of the importance of compartmentalization of the sub and how it can help to keep it from sinking. 

Force Multiplication refers to the military tactic of combining resources to give an exponentially greater advantage. It will boost the power of a small force to that of a much larger force. It is a very effective tactic when you have limited manpower resources but need to get a lot done.

A good example of this is my Special Forces ring customers. Their job normally is to go into an area and motivate, train, and equip the locals to fight. So you take a small Special Forces team and give them a while. They will turn the locals into an Army which greatly multiplies their numerical value. Do you remenber when Turkey denied the use of their land and air space to us during Operation Iraqi Freedom. When they did this General Franks couldn't use the 4th Infantry Division to attack from the North as he had planned. His solution was to use Special Forces in the region to train the indigenous Kurds to attack. It worked out for him as the Special Forces troops were able to put the attack together with the Kurds executing it. This was much more effective for the small number of troops which we had in the area.

Other things that can be used as force multipliers are; obstacles, weather, terrain, weapons of mass destruction, smart bombs, and stealth weapons. Each one of these can greatly increase the effects of a relatively small force.

The military occupation is the next step after the invasion. Thse are terms which apply to a country hostile to the country that it controls. An occupation has occurred when the hostile army has control and authority over a territory. An occupation is not necessarily a military goernment in that the the occupying Army has no control whatsoever over the area that it dos not physically occupy. This is almost the same as the Afghan government which seems to have no control over the area outside of Kabul.

According to the laws of war an occupation only includes the physical area that the hostile force occupies. So being occupied and governed are two different things.

Sometimes we attack or conduct raids with no intent whatsoever of occupying. Examples of this may be hostage rescues and attacks on personnel or facilities which are deemed to be a threat. A prime example of a military occupation is our present situation in Afghanistan. A military occupation is one of the different type of events that you can use a custom military ring to commemorate. Many of my operation Iraqi Freedom and enduring Freedom Ring customers have already done so. 

The definition of this term is a deliberate action aimed at weakening your enemy or seting him up to fail. In most cases when this happens during a war the saboteur is not necessarily military. Many times acts of sabotage are committed by civilians sympathetic to a cause or who are members of a resistance movement.

The word originates from the Netherlands from when workers would throw their sabots (wooden shoes) into the cogs of textile looms to break them because they feared that they would eliminate their jobs.

Do you remember the show called Hogan's Heroes? They were successful at committing many acts of sabotage.

The aim of sabotage is not to necessarily to kill your enemy but to slow him down or make it difficult for him to do his job. As many of our custom military ring customers may already know the targets of sabotage won't necessarily be military targets. They are more often industrial or commercial. They will however be targets that will have an influence on the military operations of the enemy.

The military occupation is the next step after the invasion. Once the invading Army has gained a foothold the land that it controls is called occupied territory.According to the laws of war an occupation only includes the physical area that the hostile force occupies. So being occupied and governed are two different things. Occupation is only the control over a specific piece of ground.

Sometimes we attack or conduct raids with no intent whatsoever of occupying. Examples of this may be hostage rescues and attacks on personnel or facilities which are deemed to be a threat. A prime example of a military occupation is our present situation in Afghanistan. A military occupation is one of the different type of events that you can use a custom military ring to commemorate. Many of my operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom ring customers have already done so. 

A resistance movement is a group of people in a country which has been occupied who are dedicated to fighting against the occupying force. The resistance may be by acts of violence or acts of sabotage. The resistors are usually fighting in the defense of their homeland so they have everything to lose if they are defeated. Since they have little inherent power sometimes the resistance is passive. 

We have encountered much resistance during our conduct of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. This has come in many shapes and forms. The resistor may refuse to answer questions or give information, he or she may give critical information or assistance to the enemy, or even take up arms and actively fight against that enemy.

I think that many of my Operation Iraqi Freedom ring people would agree that the resistance that we met was from largely misguided civilians. It is not a good thing to see your country invaded by foriegners and the natural tendency for anyone would be to resist. I think that the resistance that we met in Iraq has a large influence on our policies in Afghanistan.

The term "Guerilla Warfare is derived from a Spanish term which means "little war." In guerilla warfare a small outnumbered, and ill equipped group of people have to use irregular tactics to fight a larger military force sometimes this can be done quite successfully. A guerilla force often wins by attrition. They eventually wear the larger opponent down. Since they can never be totally wiped out they have a chance to win as long as they remain committed to the war. Since their country is the one invaded they will not quit the fight.

Guerillas must be as unconventional as possible because they can not defeat their enemy in a head to head conflict. Sometimes when you watch a football game on TV you will see a weaker team use trick plays and deception to try to score because they know that they are not strong enough to win otherwise.

The biggest weakness that a large army has is their predictability. They must operate all things according to a rigid protocol in order for anything to work. The guerilla force will take advantage of this if they know what they are doing. They can plan their actions on the scripted response that the enemy will make to any attack or action against it. This is the kind of warfare that our Vietnam Veterans ring customers faced in the Vietnam war. It required us to come up with different tactics to try to combat guerilla warfare. This was frustrating to our soldiers because the hit and run tactics of the guerillas caused casualties that we couldn't reciprocate.

Here's a new twist for our custom military ring posts. Our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen have to be able to do a whole lot more than fight. The new breed of soldier knows how to use his mind and improvise. He can turn defeat into victory if he gets the opportunity. Thats what modern training is all about. As an Army officer I was often overworked and understaffed. I learned early to rely on people and to give them room to solve some of the day to day problems that we encountered.

This is what I think seperates the winners from the losers in war. The real winner will find a way to prevail. He dosen't have to be the strongest. He has to have the most resolve. He also has to be able to think under pressure. I remember when I was younger. When I competed in sports I would rely on my physical strength and coordination. As I got older I began to lose the edge. Finally I had lost it altogether. I had to leard how to use my mind. I learned how to intimidate my opponent. If I couldn't make him fearful I would play on his temper and make him angry. This worked but you had to be careful because it was dangerous.

At this point in my life I don't have to try to intimidate people. I just rely on intelligence and experience. So must it be with our Armed Forces.

Force Multiplication refers to the military tactic of combining resources to give an exponentially greater advantage. It will boost the power of a small force to that of a much larger force. Any military has to be intelligent and concious of any tools and opportunities that you have to do so.

A good example of this is my special forces military ring customers. Their job normally is to go into an area and motivate, train, and equip the locals to fight. So you take a small Special Forces team and give them a while. They will turn the locals into an Army which greatly multiplies their numerical value. Do you remenber when Turkey denied the use of their land and air space to us during Operation Iraqi Freedom. When they did this General Franks couldn't use the 4th Infantry Division to attack from the North as he had planned. His solution was to use Special Forces in the region to train the indigenous Kurds to attack. It worked out for him as the Special Forces troops were able to put the attack together with the Kurds executing it. This was much more effective for the small number of troops which we had in the area.

Other things that can be used as force multipliers are; obstacles, weather, terrain, weapons of mass destruction, smart bombs, and stealth weapons. Each one of these can greatly increase the effects of a relatively small force.

This new vehicle is the baby of the Army and Marine Corps. It has not been fielded yet but it plans to be a humdinger when it is. The services are very pleased with what has been accomplished so far but I am not really sure of exactly what it will do. 

The advent of the IED during the present crises caused the current Humvee to be changed into something that it wasn't really designed to be. When I read about this new vehicle I got the impression that it will be capable of many more diverse functions than the Humvee. I don't know much about this one at all but if any of you out there do please let us know what you find out. The military ring man will attempt to stay on top of this one.

The Official designation of this artillery projectile is a 155MM cannon launched, fin stabilized, terminally laser guided explosive projectile used against hard targets. The article that I read listed the maximum range of this projectile as 16,000 meters. I'm not so sure about the range as it is listed. This projectile was new when I left military service but I seem to remember a maximum range which was much more. 

The copperhead operates by detecting a laser signal and guiding itself to it. Once it acquires the signal the fins will adjust themselves to aerodynamically guide the copperhead to its intended target. There are other variables which must be accounted for to make the copperhead function correctly. The observer must operate the laser from within certain parameters to give the copperhead enough time to change its direction. The artillery crew that fires the round must also meet certain operational guidelines in that they must fire it from an area which will also give the round enough time to change direction.

This artillery projectile was first used in an operation during Operation Desert Storm. It was a new weapon then. We had to train up on it during the time that we were deployed there before the war began. Our General was anxious to use it in combat and he ordered one up the first chance that he got. I could create a custom military ring to tell my story of the first time that this round was used. It was a doozy because it required a lot of people to be moved a long way. The round was used to blow up a few Iraqis in a building. A few bullets could have been used to do the same thing for much less money. 

The Pakistani Army has launched a major ground offensive against Taliban fighters in the province of Waziristan which is located on the border of Afghanistan. The reason is that the Taliban has been a real pain in the butt, especially in the border regions of the country. Hopefully the Pakistanis will have the cahunas to sustain the battle and get the job done. 

The Pakistanis have committed 30,000 troops to this offensive with hopes of driving the Taliban fighters out of the area. They have launched several other offensives in the past but have had very limited success because they have been half hearted operations. Even though the Pakistanis don't really have control of the area anyway the Taliban is a serious threat to their authority. The area is extremely rugged and the big question is whether the Pakistanis can maintain control of the area if the operation is successful. there are an estimated 11,500 Taliban in the area.

Once the Pakistanis take control of the area (if they are successful) the real problem will be maintaining this control. I hate to be a sour lemon but I can't see how they will. Maybe they will surprise me. I hope that they do.

The USS Wayne E Meyer is set to be commissioned soon. This ship is the Navy's latest Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer DDG 108.

The thing about the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers is that they are equipped with the Aegis weapons system. System is the right word for the Aegis. This destroyer is named after the man who led in the implementation of this system. I have made several posts about this system before but remember this: When the Navy needed to shoot down a satellite tumbling to the earth they used the Aegis. Not only did they hit the target they had to hit it in the gas tank!! The Wane E Meyer will be able to fight simultaneous battles on the sea, under the sea, and against aircraft all at the same time!! Nuff said.  

The Navy is making it almost impossible to keep up with our custom Navy ring designs. Naval technology is evolving so rapidly that it is just about all we can do to stay abreast. We can do just about every Navy ring design such as the Chief Petty Officers ring, or a Navy SEAL ring, but they are making us work really hard to keep up.

Normally a military static line is the line which pulls the parachute out of its deployment bag. The troopers weight causes drag which pulls the chute out and causes it to open at the same time. The static line is attached to the airplane with a cable and it is attached to the chute with a cord. The cord breaks once the chute has been fully pulled out because it will not bear the jumpers weight. This seperates the static line and the bag from the parachute. If the parachutist has a problem with his chute not opening or being twisted he or she has a reserve chute. The jumper must open the reserve chute by pulling on a ripcord and quickly pulling the parachute out with his hands.

Static line jumps are what you typically see on TV when a large number of troopers are dropped into an area. They are normally done at low altitudes (500 to 2000 feet), and I think that they are the safest way to jump. If all goes well the trooper dosen't have to worry about the chute deploying on this type of jump. He just falls away from the plane and his body weight does the rest. The trooper must hook the static line to a cable in the airplane before jumping. The jumpmaster pulls in the empty static lines after each stick (small group of jumpers) exit the aircraft.  We honor our paratroopers with the jumpwings as a part of our paratroopers ring design logos. We also honor the jumpmaster (masterblaster) with designs that he or she can use to create a jumpmasters ring.

The Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP) GBU-57A/B is a 30,000 pound "bunker buster" which is precision guided and can destroy targets up to 200 feet underground. This bomb is one big bad mamma jamma.

Can you imagine the noise that a 30,000 pound bomb would make. The fact that it would detonate so far underground would have a serious dampening effect, but still that sucker will pack a pretty serious punch. As a matter of fact punch isn't a good enough word, stomp might be better. I guarantee that if you are anywhere near at the time of impact the concussion and noise of the explosion would give you some serious problems. You might live but you would wish that you didn't.

Check out this scoop straight from the custom military ring man. Tell everybody that you got it from me first. The US Defense Department has put in an urgent request to get some more of these MODs and to enhance the current airborne system of delivery. The reason that they give for the request is this;"An urgent need for the capability to strike hard and deep targets in high threat environments.

Now grasshopper, I need for you to put on your thinking cap for a moment. What would be a high threat environment right now that would require the use of a bomb which destroys underground targets, Iraq? Afghanistan? I can't see those two. Not for the use of this type of bomb. What about, lets say an underground nuclear facility somewhere? Like Iran maybe. Do you remember the post that I wrote where I said that Iran was on the verge of having a nuclear device. Now we are on the verge of having something capable of taking it out. I don't know for sure but you make your own assessment. Don't just take the word of the operation enduring freedom ring man. Look at the facts and make a decision.

 There will be a little bit of help on the way for our infantry soldiers serving in the middle east in the form of the MK48 MOD1 Machine Gun. The problem is the rough terrain in Afghanistan and the particular hazards that it imposes on the machinegunner. Humping a machine gun is bad enough on a normal day but when you add the extra problem of the mountanous terrain in Afghanistan you run into special problems. The MK48 is about nine pounds lighter than the M240B which it will replace. The MK 48 is not quite as durable as the M240B but it is not meant to be the permanent solution. It is just to help out until the M240C is fielded.

 The MK 48 still packs a punch similar to the M240C but with less weight. When the M240C is fielded it will add the durability of the M240B with much less weight. We keep up with the constant changes and updates to military eqiupment so that we can remain current with our military ring designs. This particular piece of equipment would probably be good for an Operation Iraqi Freedom, or an Operation Enduring Freedom ring design.

Black-Swift is an effort to design and build a hypersonic aerospace vehicle which will be able to travel at speeds of up to mach 6 and ultimately mach 25. No one is owning up to this aircraft or the existence of this project but I don't have any doubts about it's existence. 

You can take it from the Air Force military ring man this one is for real. I have absolutely no proof at all but I will stand on what I believe. Now lets get to the meat of this matter.

This project is not known as an airplane but as a low earth orbit spacecraft. It will fly at mach 6 at an altitude of 100,000 feet. You can probably see why nobody is owning up to anything. If I had a weapon like this one I would get amnesia too. This aircraft will use a combination turbine and a ram jet for its power. The turbine engine can get it up to mach 3, and the ram jet will give it the boost up to mach 6.

Some benefits of this high speed vehicle would be the rapid transportation of troops and equipment, the ability to rapidly survey a problem area, and the ability to rapidly put precision guided munitions on a target.

The problem so far is not really achieving the high speeds that are forecasted but finding a material or composite which will be able to handle the high temperatures which the extreme speed will cause. 

Let me tell you a story that might not be a story because the thing that I am telling you about may or may not exist. Thats the world that we will enter into when we talk about the Aurora Airplane (SR-91 Aurora). Supposedly the Aurora might have been built during the 80's and 90's with the purpose of replacing the SR-71 Blackbird.

If this airplane does exist as we think that it well might, it is capable of hypersonic (not supersonic) flight. Hypersonic is defined as at least five times faster than the speed of sound. Thats a minimum of five times faster than sound for those of you who might not have gotten it.

There is speculation that this project could have been scrapped because of the increased reliability of the many different unmanned aerial vehicles that we employ, and the fact that our spy sattellites can be used for the same purposes as the Aurora. If we knew anything about the Aurora we would be able to produce some designs for our Air Force military rings, or our Pilot's rings. Even if we did I wonder if anybody would own up to the existence of this plane by purchasing a military ring.   

Carrier Strike Group 1 (CSG 1) has been established by the Navy. This new Strike Group will be based in San Diego with the mission to support US Navy in the Pacific Ocean. The flag ship of this new group will be the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). The mission of this group is very diverse and with the technology that we have available I am sure that it will be well able to handle any assigned mission. The other factor will will make this group formidible is the quality of the sailors that we have in our Navy.

Responsibilities of this Strike Group will be to help promote regional partnerships, to deter crisis, to project power, to promote maritime security, and to provide human assistance, and/or disaster relief.

You can see that the list of duties and responsibilities is a long one. The Navy has every confidence that this group can accomplish every task. We offer the huge number of custom designs for the US Navy military ring so that a sailor with that Strike Group will be able to tell any and every aspect of his or her military service with a military commemorative ring.

There have been recurring incidents of Afghan policemen assaulting American troops and killing or wounding them in the assaults. In the latest incident an Afghan policeman shot and killed two Americans before he turned and ran away. The governor of the province where this occured says that the people who recommended the individual for the police job are in custody. Good move Mr. Governor.

This is guerrilla warfare in its purest form. Since the weaker force (the Taliban) can't survive in a head to head fight they must use any and every trick available. There obviously no fair in war but I must say this, if we used anything close to this kind of tactic the world would scream and cry about it. We would never hear the end of ti abroad and here at home also. Bleeding hearts would say that we should be more sensitive to the needs of the terrorists. This type of tactic has got to hsve a nrgative impact on the morale of our soldiers, so I want to say to them, keep your heads up and keep doing what you are doing. It may not sound that way but we are interested about what happens to you. 

Eigjht US soldiers and 7 Afghan fighters have been killed in fighting in Eastern Afghanistan. The battle occured on Oct 3rd as US forces were preparing to leave the base where they were stationed.

The attack by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters was a well coordinated attack and the fightin lasted for several hours. The attackers were finally shut down by US air power along with Artillery. The lesder of the attackers was Taliban commander Dost Mohammed. The Taliban were assisted by al Qaeda's shadow army. Fourteen Afghan policemen were captured during the attack and their whearabouts are still unknown.

It is always unfortunate for me to have to talk about US casualties but the truth must be told. I want you to check this out. No number was given for enemy casualties. Do you notice how there never is a number given? I just wonder why. Let the Operation Enduring Freedom Ring man give you his theory Grasshopper. I believe that if we started to tell the number of deaths that we are actually inflicting the entire Arab world would be in an uproar. I don't mean anything negative about this, I'm just saying what I believe to be the truth. I may very well be wrong but I don't think that I am.

The united States Army issues marksmanship badges to soldiers to show the level of expertise that they posses with different types of weapons. The bar which is attached to the bottom of the badge denotes the specific type of weapon that the soldier has qualified with. Some of the weapons categories are pistols, rifles, small bore rifles, grenade launchers, etc.

The lowest award is the marksmsn badge which is next to the bar on the right. A marksman is a better than average shooter of the weapon listed. The sharpshooter is the next higher badge, with the expert badge being the highest award. It is possible to be qualified on different weapons systems so that the shooter may wear two or more badges.

We keep harping on military rings and one of the reasons for this blog is to show you many of the ways that you can use your military ring. If you in fact want to tell the story of your expertise you can find a way to display it on your custom military ring or marksmanship ring. You can also list the weapon or weapons that you are proficient with.  

A mercenary is essentially a soldier who is hired by a country that he or she is not a citizen of to fight for pay. The mercenary is very well paid for his services and normally has no interest in the reasons or goals or cause of the war. They are normally people who have served in the armed forces of some country and discovered that they enjoy fighting. Now keep in mind that all of what I am wriring here may or may not be true.

The mercenary is not a member of the armed forces of the country that they are fighting for. I thought that the French Legionaires were mercenarys until I did a little research for this article. They are not classified as mercenarys simply because they join the French Army in order to become a part of the Legion.

I believe that a mercenary is a better soldier simply because he has been around for a while, have probably been involved in conflicts and wars, and is a professional soldier who actually enjoys being involved in combat. I have been involved in ground combat and I didn't like anything about it at all. It was SCARY!!! call me a chump if you want to. I think that its better to be a living chump than a dead lion.

We have done many things over the years with the custom military rings that we produce but we have yet to create a mercenary's ring although we could if we had to. It would be a challenge but we could pull it off to your satisfaction. 

This operation was conducted in November and December 2004 in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. It was the second battle for Fallujah (Operation Phantom Fury) was one of the codewords of this operation. This operation was a joint US and Iraqi led operation. The major players were the 1st Marine Division, and The Fallujah Brigade of the Iraqi Army.

The control of the city had been given to the Iraqis after the first time that it was cleared of insurgents, however insurgents soon regained the city. There were thousands of insurgents in the city and things reached the breaking point when they kidnapped and killed American contractors and mutilated their bodies. Well that ripped it and they had to be dealt with.

Allied forces first blocked off the city to block off the escape of as many insurgents as they could and then began to use artillery and aircraft to bombard the city. The major fighting took place in the first nine days of the conflict but there was sporadic fighting until the end of December 2004. The operation was a huge success but there was some negative press. One press issue came up when a Marine shot a wounded insurgent but later investigation showed that the shooting was indeed justified.

These are the types of things that we use military rings to commemorate. Many returning soldiers and marines have chose to have the word Fallujah on one of the side panels of their custom military rings in order to help to tell the story of the job that they performed while in Iraq. Creating an Operation Iraqi Freedom Ring is an excellent way to document the story of your service.

There are a lot of different things in the works for our Air Force which should once again propel us forward in a gigantic technology leap over the rest of the world.

I wrote a post a few days ago about how the rest of the world was catching up to our technology when it comes to sea and air power. Well don't worry because it won't happen. The spokesman at that time was bewailing the fact that the rest of the world was catching up to us in technology. Well that may be true but we are getting ready for a huge technological leap. That is the point that he failed to mention. According to the chief scientist of the Air Force (Werner Dahm) there are some real goodies in store. The Air Force is planning how it will take the battle to the enemy in the next 20 years. The way that air combat will be conducted will be according  to our dictates. So we will always maintain the advantage. The best position for us is with our enemies trying to copy what we do. That means that we are in the driver's seat. 

Pilotless Airplanes are one new development. I am not talking about drones here but fighter planes which would be employed in droves. We will certainly have to update our inventory of designs for the Air Force Military rings that we produce, and for the pilot's rings also.

Other planned goodies include airplanes which will be able to fly as fast as rockets can fly now, I'll bet you that will be a serious rush for the pilots. There will also be electric powered lasers which can be used to knock out enemy air craft. Add satellites the size of baseballs, and planes so lift efficient that they will have 20% more lift to the equation and you can see that we will have some serious weapons on hand.

Now check this out. This is the stuff that they don't mind telling us about. What about the stuff that they are neglecting to mention?

The Navy is seriously considering placing women in submarine crews  and from what I just read its not a matter of if but when. You can take it from the man who produces  custom US Navy rings the time is coming soon. It is more than an experiment it is coming. I'm sure there will be some glitches and obstacles at first but the male and female sailors will adapt and overcome. 

There are several problems that the Navy has to address before this action can be completed. Some of them are space requirements, fraternization, hygiene and sanitation, and the refitting of submarines to accomodate both women and men.

The silent service has been all male since its inception and there will be a lot of growing pains as women begin to infiltrate. There is a lot of pride among the men in the silent service and they will have to accomodate the change. There is very little privacy aboard submarines and take it from me men who are locked up together for long periods of time can start to become a little screwy. The guys are going to have to remember that there will be ladies on board.

The first women submariners will probably be assigned to ballistic missile subs because they are less cramped for space and can be more easily changed to accomodate them. Being assigned aboard a boomer will also be more beneficial to their career advancement. The jobs available aboard the attack submarines are not compatible with the jobs that women may be assigned to in other places in the Navy.

The Army will field a new uniform for two of its active duty Battalions serving in Operation Enduring Freedom. The change in uniform will be made to accomodate the different climate and environment in Afghanistan. The ACU was a good color pattern for operations in Iraq, but Afghanistan is more mountainous and the color pattern of the ACU does not really blend in there.

The current uniform does not fit very well with the mountainous, rocky, snowy environment. Soldiers have complained that the pattern  does not always camouflage them well and that a different pattern and color were needed for better protection. The version of this uniform already being used by Army, and Air Force Special Operation Forces is called MultiCam One. It incorporates a brown, tan, and green camouflage pattern. The pattern is different from the ACU pattern in that it has squiggley designs rather than the computer generated look of the ACU. The version which will be given to the regular Army units will be called the UCP Delta, and it will have coyote tan added to it's color scheme.

Our Operation Enduring Freedom custom ring customers were issued the ACU uniform recently which I think is a very good pattern. It is and it served us well in Iraq but the military has to constantly change and adapt to fit in with changing times.  

This new shelter will be much better than the old pup tents that I remember. The old tents were heavy, cumbersome, tough to put up, and leaky. If you were careful you could erect it where it wouldn't leak but you definitely had to reset it at least once a day. Most times when it rained you got wet. We used to put a small berm around the bottom of our pup tents to stop the rain and insects. Once the insects found an opening though it was all over for that night. You would never be able to stop them. You just had to deal with it.

The new shelter is waterproof and bug resistant. That in itself is a big plus. Soldier morale is better after a good night's sleep. It is a bad feeling to sleep in a wet tent and clothing. I remember shivering many nights in the rain. It is also bad to try to have a good start after slapping mosquitos all night.

The correct name for this piece of equipment is the Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH). This helmet was first developed by the Special Operations Command for use by Army Special Operations soldiers. The Army decided to make it standard for the rest of its soldiers because of the advantages that it offers over the older kevlar helmet. This newer helmet is also made of kevlar but it is improved and gives better protection than the older model, especially from handgun rounds.

I once took a kevlar helmet out to the place in the woods where I would do my target practice. I wanted to test it to see just how well it protected. I used a 45 caliber pistol to fire many shots into it before I finally got one to penetrate it. It really took a beating. I was satisfied with the amount of protection that it offered after that day.

All branches of the service use this new halmet in some capacity. It is mainly used by Special Operations soldiers on certain occassions in the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Some of the advantages of this helmet apart from its superior protection is that it is lighter. A few ounces of weight sure makes a big difference to the neck at the end of the day. Especially during the summertime in Iraq, or Afghanistan. It is also more comfortable than the kevlar that it replaces and gives the wearer a wider range of view.

This class of Aircraft Carrier is also known as a super carrier for several good reasons. The Nimitz class aircraft carrier is the largest ship in the world. Nimitz carriers are powered by 2 nuclear reactors which can keep them operating continuously for 20 years without having to refuel.

This class of aircraft carrier can carry 85 various aircraft along with all of the other supplies, weapons, personnel, and equipment that it needs to perform its mission. The aircraft carrier is the ultimate fighting platform and can project a tremendous amount of power to any part of the world in a short period of time. The carrier and its accompaning group of warships is a formidible force indeed. The days of naval warfare like we used to see in the movies with battleships slugging it out with guns are long gone. Today's technology is much more advanced with longer range weapons. Therefore battles will be inherently different. The aircraft carrier would be a terrible sight for any smaller country to deal with because of all of the power that it projects.

I have always heard the term cutter used when Coast Guard ships were referred to but I really had no idea what a cutter was until I did some research to write this post. The term "Cutter" was first used in the United States by our Treasury Department. There was a sailboat which was originally designated as a cutter but the term later came to apply to any ship longer than 65 feet.

From what I could discern the cutter is the workhorse of the Coast Guard fleet because of its size. There are many different types of cutters, and their classification depends on the job that they are required to perform. The cutter is the heavy duty ship of the Coast Guard and their sizes vary according to the duty that they must perform. They can operate in rivers and coastal areas as well as on the high seas.

Some of the different types of cutters include Icebreakers, Patrol Boats, Buoy Tenders, Construction Tenders, and Patrol cutters. This list is not all of the types of cutters that the Coast Guard uses, but it is intended to give you an idea of the functions that these ships are capable of. Many Coast Guard Military Ring customers will put the name of the cutter that they served on above the side panel of their custom military ring.

General Petraeus has predicted that there is a lot of tough fighting ahead for our soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. I don't like this news but it is what it is. The General recommends that we use the strategies that we developed in Iraq to fight this war. He is talking about tactics here but that is just a small piece of the puzzle. He is talking about winning the hearts and minds of the civilian population also.

You can't measure the value that the civilian population has as a piece in the puzzle here. There are so many intangibles that there is no way to even know what they all are. For example, when our forces destroyed many Taliban fighters not very long ago they used information provided by civilians to locate and destroy the enemy. Getting this amount of cooperation is accomplished in part by rebuilding the infrastructure of the country. For example, there has been a 600% in the number of students actually attending school because of the schools that we have built and the programs that we have initiated. This is only one area of rebuilding. The Taliban has recently began attempts to expand their influence and control over the people in the region. Obviously they are also aware of how critical it is to have the civilian population on your side.

This new assault rifle is primarily used by Delta Force but I have to admit that it is something very special. I never cease to be amazed by the technology that we develop for our armed forces. One major advantage that it offers is that it is almost impossible to make it jam. This is very important since our soldiers operate in conditions which are not conduicive to the long life of a firearm. There were times when my weapon jammed at the wrong time during training which would have been critical if I had been in combat. Just a small amount of sand would cause a massive jam which couldn't be quickly fixed.

The HK416 will still fire when it has been buried in sand, or immersed in water. This assault rifle can use any one of four barrels, depending on the way that it will be used. A 40mm grenade launcher can also be quickly and easily mounted to it when more firepower is needed. I will be sure to ask the next Delta Force military ring customer what he thinks about this assault rifle.

This new vehicle is still in development and if all goes as planned it will be another bad mama jamma. This vehicle is superior to the AAV (amphibious assault vehicle) that it replaces in so many ways. First of all it has what the Marine Corps call an over the horizon capability. It can be launched from its mother ship from over 25 miles away. This means that the bigger ship dosen't have to come within sight of the shoreline to launch. It is also much faster than the personnel carrier that it replaces. It can travel at speeds up to 29 knots on the surface of the ocean and 45 MPH on land.

It is also more heavily armed than its predecessor with a 30mm cannon which shoots up to 200 rounds per minute, and a 7.62mm machine gun. On top of this it is heavily armored, and has day or night capabilities, and a 200 mile operating range on land. I am sure that all of my Marine Corps Infantry ring customers appreciate this new technology and the fact that it enhances their survivability on the battlefield.     

This new weapon system (which is still being developed) just about beats all that I have ever heard of. Our armed forces will continue to be the best as long as we give them this type of technology to use. The system is composed of Container Launch Units, (CLU's). Each CLU is a self contained box which contains 15 rockets. The rockets can be fired in sequence or one at a time. They can be launched at different targets or the same target. They may also be fired at any time that the operator chooses. The system can be remotely operated or missiles can be launched from on site. The boxes can be utilized as a unit or they can be tied togrther in a series. There are so many applications for this system (just like we have for our military rings) that the possibilities are almost limitless.

The units are deployed on the ground in preselected locations or on ships. The missile used for this system is called the PAM (Precision Attack Missile). The system is light and easy to transport. The missile can be laser guided, guided by GPS, or programmed to hit a target. The missile can also be programmed to identify individual targets and will make in flight corrections as necessary. This new system is considered to be field artillery. I used to be stationed at Fort Sill Oklahoma which is where every one of my Army and Marine Corps Field Artillery custom military ring customers come from.

We hear the term "afterburners" when we hear about military aircraft and most of us who know very little about aircraft only have a vague idea of what they are. I have always known that they give more speed but I never knew how they really worked.

The term "afterburners" is actually a description of how they work. When afterburners are used a large amount of jet fuel is injected into the jet pipe behind the turbine. so you see that afterburners don't involve the use of the jets engine. This fuel is heated by the hot exhaust gases and burns causing thrust (which produces speed). Afterburners boost power but they use a tremendous amount of fuel so they are only used whenever necessary. A pilot may have to kick in the afterburners on takeoff and maybe when a getaway is needed. You will only see afterburners used on some of the supersonic aircraft that we have. Afterburners are more of a thing of the past because we have since come up with more efficient ways to produce thrust in our aircraft. Many of the features of our modern aircraft can be added to the aviators ring to show that you either flew or operated, or had the job of maintaining this piece of eqiupment in the Service.

I wonder if we will ever see this as it was in WWII. The Battlefleet was a conglomeration of Naval assets that would control a sea or an ocean. The battlefleet consists of surface ships, aircraft, and submarines. I don't think that we will ever see this again in the same way. In WWII it was a very large formation which searched for the enemies Navy. Its job was to destroy that Navy and dominate the seas. The reason that I don't think wthat we will ever see the same types of formations is because of modern technology.

A large fleet nowadays would be no more than a large pretty target. Modern technology makes it impractical for assets to be bunched together this way because of the large signature. They would be very easily found and killed with modern weapons. In the old days you had to get close in to fight it out. Nowadays because of long range weapons it is nor necessary to bunch up together to pack a punch. Ships can mass fires from a long distance away from the target. They don't have to be close together to engage a number of targets in a small area because of the long range of their weapons.

The old Navy had to use scout planes to find the enemy and they still use them today, however add satellite imaging to the equation. Remember that radar, and sonar have been vastly improved also. This is another reason why a big formation is easier to find. Survival will neccesitate scattering resources over a larger distance. Remember also that submarines are quieter, faster, more stealthy, and can operate independantly almost indefinitely.

I don't know what a future Naval conflict will look like but I seriously doubt if it will look like the WWII engagements that we used to see on TV.  My father was a product of the old Navy but most of my custom Navy ring customers these days have not used the older Naval tactics.

"What in the world is a Littoral Combat Ship? you might ask." I knew that you would so I have the answer prepared for you. I didn't know myself until a few months age so here it is. The first thing that I had to understand was the meaning of the word Littoral. This word refers to a ship which operates in the area close to the shore. Littoral ships are not large ships. they are adaptable to a wide range of operations and can be used for many different purposes.

The advantages of Littoral ships are their speed, flexibility, maneuverability, and shallow draft. They can do things that no other ship can do, outrun anything in the water, and get into places where no other ship can go.

Some of the many operations that this ship can perform are; anti-submarine warfare, resupply, troop transport, mine sweeping, anti-ship warfare, intelligence gathering, and reconnaissance. These ships are somewhat stealthy because of their hull design. The angled hull design helps to deflect radar around the ship and not back to the source which gives the ship a small radar profile. Another name for these ships are high speed surface ships.

I can definitely see the benefits of using these ships. I wonder if the Navy would and could make them larger. It seems to me that it would be good to do so but I am not a military genius. I can see where these ships can help with drug interdiction, to fight piracy, and they could probably play a major role in counterterrosism. These ships can operate in the coastal waters of the Uniteed States or be transported to operate in the coastal waters of other countries. My Naval ring customers can certainly be proud of the technology available to them.

It seems that the Taliban may be winning one battle in the presidential election taking place in Afghanistan right now. Voter turnout in the southern part of the country seems to be extremely low. The Taliban has campaigned very hard to get people in that part of the country not to vote while US and NATO forces have been trying to drive the Taliban out of the Southern cities leading up to the election. They wanted to drive them out of the cities to help to reduce the number of threats against civilians. Incumbent president Hamid Karzai gets the bulk of his support from the Southern region.

The Taliban have threatened civilians not to vote in these areas because President Karzai has been extremely supportive and sympathetic to the United States.

President Karzai's rival "Abdullah Abdullah" gets his major support from voters in the Northern part of the country where voter turnout has been heavy. If President Karzai does not win the election we may see more government intervention in Operation Enduring Freedom with added limitations, and restrictions. This definitely would not be good news to my Operation Enduring Freedom military ring customers.

The Aegis Combat System is just that. A combat system and not a weapon. This is a complex operating system which our Navy utilizes. It can be a single ship system or operate as a ship to ship network. This system uses computers and radars to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. This bad boy gets my rating as a bad mamma jamma. Do you remember the Navy ship that had to hit an errant satellite in its fuel tank to shoot it down? This was done using this weapons system. Remember that the satellite was tumbling thru space. Thats some kind of shooting!!

This weapons system is capable of anti-aircraft warfare, anti-submarine warfare, land attack, and ship to ship warfare. This weapons system can do it all.

The Aegis can search, track, and guide at the same time. It can also track well over 100 targets at the same time at well over 100 nautical miles away. All of you Navy personnel should be proud of this new technology. Your new Navy ring will tell the story of your time in service.   

The initials LCAC refers to the Marine Landing Craft Air Cushion. Now at this point you may ask me why in the world are you talking about that? And what in the world difference does it make about anything? Well grasshopper let me educate you.

The LCAC gets my top equipment rating of "One bad Mamma Jamma." It is officially classified as a Hovercraft. It can be used to, check this out; transport weapons, equipment, carco, and personnel from ship to shore and also across the beach. The unclassified maximum speed of the LCAC is 70+ knots and it has a 200 to 300 mile range. That is not all my friend, let me give you some more information about this piece of equipment. It can carry up to 180 fully equipped marines or 60 tons of equipment. It can also be armed with 2 12.7mm machine guns, or a 50cal, or M60, or a Gatling gun. I would want the Gatling gun personally. It can also be equipped with a 40mm grenade launcher.

This bad boy can also be used for beach landings, personnel transport, evacuation support, lane breaching, anti mine operations, and whatever else it is needed to do. Thats what I call versatile my friend. All of our military ring customers can really be proud of the technology that they have to do their jobs. I know that it gives me pride when I research and write about this new technology.

0. US Forces in Iraq may be required in the near future to be deployed to some trouble spots in that country. This will be a response to a spike in violence which has occurred since our troops have been pulled back out of these areas. This response may not be required but if it does it will be to assist the Iraqi police and Armed Forces in putting down the violence.

This redeployment (if it happens) would probably start out as more of a show of force. Its purpose would probably be to make the troublemakers think twice before they start any trouble. It would also give Iraqi forces some added confidence when they see that their help is at hand.

I am surprised that there does not seem to have been a need for our forces to intervene before now. This says a lot about the dedication and abilities of the new Iraqi armed forces and their new government. 

I  certainly hope for all of our sakes and especially for the sake of our soldiers that the Iraqis can continue to maintain the peace in their country.

Our Operation Iraqi Freedom soldiers have certainly done their job and more. We have even sold custom military rings to Operation Iraqi Freedom goverment officials.

The Afghan Presidential election is scheduled to take place in a few days and US and Allied forces are assisting the Afghan Army and Police Force as much as possible in preparation. Afghan police teams have been deployed to troubled areas in Kandahar province to help to maintain order at different polling places. Keep in mind that Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and there is a strong Taliban presence there.

The Taliban have threatened citizens and attempt as much as they possibly can to intimidate them into not voting.

The US and NATO will stand ready to assist the Afghan forces but will maintain as low a profile as possible. There have already been offensives launched in order to drive the Taliban out of populated areas so that they will not have a hand in the election. Now the focus is on defensive operations in order to keep as low a profile as possible.

This is another example of the fine work that our military is accomplishing during Operation Enduring Freedom. The Afghan people should be proud of the sacrifices that US and Nato servicemen and women are making to insure that they will have the right to vote in this upcoming election. Those who have had a hand in this historic event can use their Operation Enduring Freedom ring to tell the story of their place in history.

This is the name of the latest US military push in South Eastern Afghanistan. United States Marines are conducting this offensive in order to force the Taliban out of populated areas before the upcoming Presidential elections.

US Marines in the town of Dahaneh are running into very heavy resistance from the Taliban but are continuing to apply the pressure and take over the area. This town is in the area which is a Taliban stronghold and has been so for many years. This operation will open up the door for the citizens of the region to be able to vote freely in the upcoming election without intimidation or coercion by the Taliban.

If you think about this you will see how admirable it is that our soldiers are giving their lives for the Afghan people. I certainly hope that those who are benefitting from these great sacrifices appreciate them.

Another benefit of this operation is that our forces have captured 66 pounds of opium  because this area is the major route for drug smuggling in this area. It seems like one major benefit of Operation Enduring Freedom is that it will put a serious dent in drug trade. I for one certainly hope that it does.

Operation Enduring Freedom will be remembered for this reason and others for a long time to come. The Operation Enduring Freedom ring will be used by many of those who were a part to remember those times for years to come. 

The AEGIS Combat System refers more to a network of operations than it does to a specific weapon. It can be one ship utilizing the AEGIS Anti-Ballistic missile, or a network of ships operating in concert to get the job done. This anti ballistic missile system is used by our Navy, but there are other variations which other Navies use also. The sailor who is designing his or her own custom United States Navy ring has many resources available to commemorate their working with this system although I couldn't find an actual picture of the missile to show you.

This system is one of the most capable ABM systems in use is the modest statement given in research articles. I know that this was the system which was recently utilized to knock an errant spy satellite out of the sky.

Now you may ask me why is that such a big deal? My answer to you in this matter dear grasshopper is this: The satellite was travelling at a much greater rate of speed than any Ballistic Missile ever does. Now add this to the equation; the satellite was tumbling through space as its orbit deterioated and had to be hit on its fuel tank for the kill to be a righteous one. Well one missile was all that it took to take down the errant satellite. This gives me the utmost confidence in our Navy and their equipment.  

This aircraft is a bad mamma jamma. I remember when it was first introduced to the US arsenal years ago. It seemed like something out of star wars. I know that other countries have them now in one form or another. I don't know the differences in the capabilities of theirs vs ours, but I would lean towards saying that ours are probably more techonologically advanced just based on what I know about our military.

The AWACS is a flying radar platform. That is simply the best way to describe it. It is easily detected by the enemy because of its powerful radar, but they can't do much about it because of the vast distance that its radar covers. The situation is like boxing with someone who's arms are three times longer than yours. There is not much that you can do.

The job of the AWACS is to detect aircraft. It can determine whether an airplane is friendly or enemy. This information shows on its display. It can be used for surveillance or to direct friendly aircraft to defend against, or to intercept enemy aircraft.

It can also be used to manage aircraft on the battlefield based on the tactical situation. One AWACS flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet can cover an area of well over 120,000 square miles. Those of you who have operated or maintained this equipment can create an Air Force military ring or a pilot's ring to show the world that you have been affiliated with this airplane.

US Marines, British Soldiers, and Afghan Forces have recently destroyed hundreds of tons of poppy seeds, opium, and heroin in Helmand, and Kandahar Provinces in southern Afghanistan. Since the Taliban uses proceeds from drug sales to fund their war efforts in the region friendly forces have also confiscated military supplies to include bomb making materials, AK-47's, and RPG's.

This seems to be a good benefit of the War on Terror in that most of the heroin consumed in the United States comes from that region. Hopefully confiscating the drugs and weapons will help to starve the Taliban out og their war efforts. Maybe this should be more of a strategy than trying to ferret out and kill individual Talilban members. I'm sure that our military will find the right combination punch to deliver and end the war quickly.

The US has changed its drug interdiction policies in the area to go after drug warehouses rather than the poppy fields of the individual farmer. Thats what I call hitting where it hurts the most. Hopefully Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom will soon be distant memories and the only pictures that we will have of them will be on custom military rings.

The US Coast Guard in conjunction with the British Navy seized $55,000,000 worth of cocaine last week off of the coast of Venezuela.

Coast Guard Law Enforcement Group Team 406 was aboard the Royal Navy frigate Iron Duke when the British ship spotted the go fast boat crew dumping bales of cocaine overboard. When they moved in to investigate the Coast Guard boarded the vessel and took 4 men into custody and recovered the 26 bales of cocaine.

The go fast boat is the choice of many smugglers because they are so small that it is hard to detect them on radar. They can also travel at high speeds to help them evade Navy and Coast Guard vessels.

This is another example of our Coast Guard at work. This is the type of story that many of our servicemen and women use a custom Coast Guard ring to tell.

The US Coast Guard rescued 113 Haitian survivors and recovered another 11 bodies in a rescue on July 21st. The rescue took place off of the Turks ans Caicos Islands which are located in the Carribbean between the Bahamas and Haiti.

The sailboat was reported to have about 200 passengers aboard it when it capsized. The passengers were refugees who were trying to make refuge in the United States or the Bahamas. The reason that the boat capsized was partially due to overcrowding but mainly due to the fact that the boat ran aground on a shallow reef when it tried to dodge a police vessel.

I think that it is so unfortunate that conditions are so bad in Haiti that people are forced to put their lives on the line just to escape poverty. I am not a politician and certainly not the smartest man in the world but it is obvious to me that something needs to be done. I don't have the answer nor do I profess to have a solution but I think that this situation is deplorable.

I'm sure that the survivors are thanking the US Coast Guardsmen who were instrumental in their rescue. These are the kind of memories that a custom Coact Guard sterling silver ring would help to bring back. You can be proud of the job that you have done. I for one am grateful to you.

If you really want to have a laugh check this one out. The book entitled "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Rules for Mujahideen" has set up rules of conduct for Islamic extremists waging war against the US in Afghanistan. Ain't that a kick.

I think that the whole thing is a propaganda tool to gain the support of the civilian population in Afghanistan. I also think that it is a thinly veiled attempt by the Taliban to start to exert centralized control over provincial leaders in Afghanistan.

According to the book, Suicide bombings will be curtailed to avoid injuring innocent civilians. I don't think that they give a hoot about who they hurt but this rule sounds good. It seems as if they want the civilian population to feel loved.

The book also forbids the formation of any new militias which do not come under the direct control of the Taliban. Sounds to me like this is another attempt to gain control. I don't think that the local leaders will go for it though.

They will also give provincial leaders the right to determine how they want to conduct operations in their area.

The final thing that we will mention here is that it gives guidelines for the treatment of prisoners and forbids the selling of prisoners. Give me a break. I hope no one is dumb enough to fall for this.

Thank you to all of our soldiers participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and also to all of you who have purchased Operation Enduring Freedom Rings from us in the past.

A Booby Trap is a device which can be used to trap or snare animals. In the military sense it is an object which is designed to maim, kill, and psychologically defeat the enemy. It can also be used to deny his access to a territory, and to make him combat ineffective. Some booby traps are designed to wound but not kill. The reason for this is that it takes several other soldiers to attend to 1 wounded soldier thus reducing the number of soldiers who can participate in the fight. 

It is believed that the name booby trap came from the practice of catching boobies which are sea birds. Bait would be placed to lure the bird to a noose which would be tightened when the bird stepped into it. The boobie trap usually works according to the same principle when used as a military weapon in that it takes advantage of human nature. Objects can be used which are colorful or in some other way attractive to the intended victim. When the victim moves or touches the object it will injure him or her in some way.

One trick that German soldiers would use to kill American military Officers would be to rig a picture to explode and then hang it crooked on a wall. When American soldiers took over the building the Officer by nature would not be able to resist straightening the picture. The picture would explode and deprive the unit of one of its senior leaders.

One advantage of the booby trap is that it is simple and inexpensive to construct and use. During the Vietnam war one of the Viet Cong favorites was to sharpen Pungi Sticks (bamboo sticks) and place them into the ground. They would cover the hole to hide the trap. It would always be placed in an area where the soldiers had to walk so if the victim did not have his guard up he might have a problem.

Boobie traps are more of a help to a small Army because it gives them an advantage. IED's used in Operations Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom are examples of modern day boobie traps. I have not talked to any custom military ring customers yet who have had the displeasure of many boobie traps, but many of my Operation Iraqi Freedom military ring customers have come into contact with IED's.

Cluster Bombs are munitions that release smaller bomblets when they are dropped. They can be either air dropped or delivered by artillery. We are more familiar with dual purpose cluster bombs because they are used more often.

A dual purpose cluster bomb scatters munitions while it is yet airborne over a wide area. They contain munitions which can destroy either vehicles or personnel. The "bomblet" normally is a shaped charge which explodes on contact with an enemy tank or vehicle. The shaped charge explodes downward to penetrate the armor of the vehicle. If it dosen't land on a vehicle it has a spring loaded mechanism in the bottom which causes it to bounce up off of the ground. It then explodes when it is about chest high spreading deadly shrapnel over a wide area. Each bomb when dropped may contain hundreds of individual bomblets so you can see why this weapon is so effective.

One major problem with cluster bombs is that you will have a lot of unexploded bomblets laying around after the fact so you don't want to use them over an area that you may have to send soldiers into later. You also don't want to use them in an area where innocent people will be passing thru.

Cluster bombs can be configured to contain flame producing, chemical, and runway destroying bomblets. They can also contain chemical munitions, or propaganda leaflets.

You can thank me the custom Air Force military ring man for this tidbit of knowledge

The Landing Safety Officer is an experienced aviator who is responsible for helping pilots to land safely on an Aircraft Carrier. We are more familiar with the man we see on the movies waving paddles at the pilots to help them line up their aircraft for landing but it goes much deeper than that.

There are several different Landing Safety Officers working together at all times when aircraft are landing. They must work as a team because carrier landings are so difficult and there are so many variables to take into effect.

The Air wing LSO is overall responsible for the landing operation. There are two assigned for each Airwing and one has to be on duty at all times when landing operations are being conducted.

The Controlling LSO is the one who actually controlls the glideslope of the aircraft and its angle of attack. This is the one which we are so familiar with. the controlling LSO also grades each landing.

The Backup LSO is responsible for aircraft order and insures that the landing area is secure.

The Deck Status LSO monitors the status of the deck as clear or foul (safe or unsafe for the aircraft to land on).

If you have ever served as an LSO we will be more than happy assist you when you create your custom Navy ring. This will help you to show the world how proud you are of your service and to tell your personal story.

How about another tidbit of information from the  military ring man? Well you know that I'm going to give it right? So here it is...the military term for today is "Raid." My definition of a raid is a surprise attack conducted for a specific purpose. A raid is normally conducted behind enemy lines and it is not usually done to gain control over a piece of terrain. Surprise is the key to a raid. You want to go in, do your thing, and get out before the enemy can react to you. You go in with as much firepower as you can bear, and then get out while the enemy is still in shock.

There are many purposes for conducting raids. Some of them are: to destroy or damage people, supplies or equipment; to capture people or equipment, to test the enemy's reaction to the raid, to gather intelligence, or to free prisoners such as the Son Tay raid during the Vietnam War, and to demoralize or confuse the enemy.

Raids can be conducted by any branch of the military or can be a conbined operation of several branches working together.

One example that comes to mind of how a raid can be beneficial is when a raid destroys fuel and/or supplies which causes a larger attack force to not be able to function thus aiding the overall war effort.

The US soldier who went missing in Afghanistan was shown on a videotape which was used by his captors for propaganda purposes. I saw the videotape and I will give you my account of it. If you would like to view it you can go to www.military.com and pull it up. It was obviously staged and showed the frightned soldier eating a meal. This was obviously a ploy to make them look like they are humane captors. I thought that he looks kind of thin although I don't know what he weighed to begin with.

The soldier was identified by the Defense Department as being the one who is missing but they won't release his name to the public which is a good thing. I think that this is the least that should be done out of respect to him and his family. I would like to give the family my heartfelt sympathy here. I hope and pray that everything turns out well and that he is released or rescued without harm. You have my sincere prayers and if there is anything that I can do to help you please let me know.   

The story that he tells on the videotape and the account given by the Defense Department vary widely. I beleive that his version was rehearsed and given to him to say on tape. He admits that he is frightened which is natural and he gives an appeal when prompted by his captors to ask citizens of this country to pressure the government to send our soldiers home.

I want to take time here to thank all of our servicemen and women for a job well done while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom and anywhere else that you may be today.

Take it from the military ring man, stay safe and keep your head down. For the missing US soldier I hope that you come home soon.

Operation Northern Watch was the follow on  to Operation Provide Comfort. In this operation US and coalition forces used air power to enforce the no-fly zone which had been established in Iraq after Operation Desert Storm. This zone was above the 36th parallel in Iraq. The reason that it had to be established was to prevent Saddam from bombing the Kurds in northern Iraq.

 This operation began on Janruary 1st 1997 after Saddam decided that he wasn't going to honor the No Fly Zone anymore. During this operation US and coalition aircraft were fired upon every time that they patrolled the skies but none were ever shot down.

We can help you to create your own custom military ring if you were ever involved in this operation. Even if you were not one of our service members who had a role in this operation we can help you. You can tell the story of your service regerdless of the branch that you served in.

The AGM-130 missile is an air to ground missile designed specifically for long range use. An air to ground missile is a missile fired from an air plane against a target on the ground.

This missile can be guided to it's target by an operator, or it can be programmed to fly to its intended target on its own. The reason that it has such a long range is that it has a rocket engine which boosts it to it's target. This missile is so accurate because it uses GPS to guide it to the target. It also uses an inertial navigation system which uses computers and motion sensors to continuously calculate and redirect the movement of the missile to its intended target.

Air Force personnel who have worked with this weapon system can tell you much more about it and the way that it operates than I can. I can talk to you expertly about a number of military weapons and also about custom Air Force rings.

If you have never known what the term Preparation, Bombardment, or Prep means when it comes to military terminology well get it from me the custom military ring man today is your lucky day.

 A preparation is an intense aerial bombardment which normally precedes a ground attack.  The purpose of the preparation is to confuse, disorganize, kill, wound, and cripple the enemy. In short it helps the ground forces with their job by weakening the enemy before ground units begin to do their work.

The preparation can consist of fires from Artillery, Naval Gunfire, Aerial Bombing, Mortars, or any combination of all of the above. It may last for hours or even days, depending on the overall situation. The preparation may also be used to decieve the enemy about where the attack will come from if the deception warrants the expenditure of ammunition. I used to like to mix in smoke rounds at the end of the preparation in order to blind the enemy to the force which was approaching them.

The preparation requires precise timing because you want to force the enemy to keep his head down until your forces are right on top of him. You also don't want to bomb your own people so there is a fine line of coordination which has to be done.  

This is the  military ring man's definition of the term:

Ambush is the military term for a surprise attack from a concealed force. The ambush attacks an enemy unit while it is passing by. The main purpose of the ambush is to totally destroy the force which is being atttacked.

In order to effectively kill off as much of the enemy as possible an ambush must catch them while they are in a kill zone. A kill zone is an area which limits the enemy's escape route. If they can't get away quickly there is more time to wipe them out. Normally when a vehicle convoy is ambushed the attackers try to kill off the first and last vehicles in the convoy to block the middle vehicles from escape.

There are three basic shapes for the ambush. The linear ambush follows a straight line such as a road, or river. The L shaped ambush has attackers positioned on one side to better kill the enemy. In a V shaped ambush the enemy is channeled into the kill zone so that they will be more effectively destroyed. Sometimes the enemy force can be lured into the kill zone and at other times the ambush point is determined by terrain features. You want to attack the enemy in a place where the natural land features makes it hard for them to escape such as next to a river, cliff, etc.

Since the ambush is normally behind enemy lines the ambushing force must be ready to get out of the area quickly.

The ambush begins with a predetermined signal and ends with another predetermined signal. There is normally an observation post placed apart from the ambush which notifies the attackers when the enemy is approaching. 

The withdrawal of US soldiers from Iraq meant just that to the Iraqis, a total withdrawal. Iraqi forces have experienced some violence in the cities since US troops have withdrawn but it dosen't seem to be anything that they can't handle

They have banned our troops from their cities entirely except for supply convoys. They are not asking for much help at all when it comes to battling insurgents. I think that this is a wonderful sign. They seem to be showing pride in their new government and their ability to handle their problems which is just what we need in order for our soldiers to be able to come home soon.

There seem to be indications that they may require a minimum amount of assistance with some intelligence gathering, but all else seems to be going well. Hopefully this crises will soon become a distant memory to all of us. We can choose to create a custom Operation Iraqi Freedom Ring to remind us of the time spent in the defense and rebuilding of that country, and just having a keepsake of that time is much better than having to be involved in that conflict.  

Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division will soon deploy with the newer M-320 grenade launcher. The division is currently training the 1st BCT grenadiers on the use of this new weapon.

When I looked at the changes in this new weapons system it appears to me that they are designed specifically for operations Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. The reasons that I say this are; The launcher is about 3 inches shorter than the M-203 which it replaces. It can also be quickly detached from and reattached to the soldiers combat rifle. These changes make it a better weapon for close quarters combat.

The M-320 also has improved sights which are more durable and capable than the sights on the M-203. The new sight is equipped with a laser range finder which gives a vast increase in accuracy, and it has an infrared night capability which makes it a lethal and accurate weapon during night operations.

We just like like the military make constant improvements in our  custom military ring designs. The military understands that we must constantly change and evolve to adapt to situations and circumstances and to give our fighting men and women the best chance for victory.  We are committed to giving you the best product just as the military is committed to giving you the best chance of victory.

Operation Strike of the Sword is in full effect and I wish our soldiers and Marines well who are taking a part. Now we can break the back of al Qaeda and the Taliban and get on up out of dodge. I certainly pray that all goes well for our troops and that we have 0 casualties.

I am also happy that the new Presidential Administration is showing the resolve necessary to end this war. I was never worried that our new administration would back down and leave the region to collapse, but I agree that we should get out as soon as we possibly can.

Our government is not talking much right now about this operation, but I'm sure that we will get the details as soon as it is over and it is safe to reveal operational plans to the public. Lets hit the terrorists a good lick.

From what I can tell from the news that I have read the objective of the operation seems to be to surround and kill the terrorists. I have read that US troops were inserted by helocopter. I believe that troops were inserted on escape routes and checkpoints to cut off escape from the main attack. Talk it from the custom military ring man. We will see if I am right as soon as the operation is over and the details are revealed to the public.

This form of combat is also known as close quarters battle. CQC is different in that it is up close and personal fighting. Soldiers have to be specially trained for CQC because regular tactics and weapons are designed for longer range fighting.

American soldiers have the greatest advantage on the battlefield because of the superior technology that we posses. We like to engage the emeny at greater ranges because most of our weapons are designed for range and accuracy. We can also use more systems at longer ranges such as cruise missiles, artillery, tanks, heavy machine guns, and air strikes. We can't use any of these resources at close range.

In close quarter combat you have to rely on the individual abilities of your fighting men more so than the technology of your weapons systems. The weapons that the soldier will use in CQC will be small stock rifles or shotguns, knives, and hands and feet. You can't get much more personal than that. Many of our customers who have purchased special operations rings, such as Army Ranger, or Navy Seal ring from us have had special training in this form of combat.

These techniques describe parachute freefall techniques used by the military to insert or deliver personnel and /or equipment into a designated area. HAHO means High Altitude High Opening. This insertion technique is used when personnel are to be dropped into an area that aircraft can not fly over, or when the noise of their chutes opening will alert the enemy to their presence. In a HAHO jump the chutist will actually glide for miles until he reaches a designated spot over the ground. Both these techniques are super stealthy but they are used according to the tactical situation.

In a HALO jump the soldier will freefall and only open his chute when he is close to the ground. This prevents his chute from being seen from the ground during the freefall. If the chute is observed when it opens he will be so close to the ground that he will be able to get out of the area before trouble arrives.

The vast majority of parachutists will jump into an area using a static line. The static line pulls the chute open for the jumper as he or she exits the aircraft. This is the method that conventional paratroopers (regular infantry soldiers) will use. HALO/HAHO techniques are normally used by special operations units. We offer parachute emblems, and badges that we offer our military ring customers who have been or are currently paratroopers. You can create your own paratroopers ring using any of our designs.  

Operation Desert Fox was the codename given to the 1998 US and British bombing campaign against targets in Iraq. The stated purpose of this operation was to weaken Saddam's base of power in Iraq, and to degrade his ability to manufacture and use weapons of mass destruction.

Now here is where I want to throw in my 2 cents worth. Do you all remember the Rodney King beatdown that President Bush got when we didn't find any weapons of mass destruction in our last invasion of Iraq? We should keep in mind that President Clinton thought that Saddam had these weapons also. As a matter of fact he thought so strongly enough to bomb the facilities where he thought they were located.

Now you will proceed to ask me, if he had them why didn't we find them? Well Grasshopper the answer to that is very simple. I will answer you with a question. What do you do with things that you don't want anyone to find? I know I hide them myself.

When I would buy Christmas gifts for members of my household I would hide them with the house cleaning supplies because I knew no one was going to go there. Well now you will ask where could he have possibly put them. We searched the entire country? My answer to this Grasshopper is that he put them in another country. A place where he knew we wouldn't be going. Do you remember how Saddam sent his Air Force to Iran during operation Desert Storm? Now Iran has nukes, what a coincidence. We are all creatures of habit.

Getting back to the subject, this operation was declared a success but it still didn't weaken Saddam enough for him to be overthrown. The US was criticized for this attack and we really don't know all of the details, but I really don't think that we bombed Iraq because the President was bored and wanted some excitement. You may or may not agree with my accessment of the situation which is fine, but if one day you discover that it is true remember that the military ring man told you first. 

According th the Japanese Defense Ministry North Korea may be planning another missile launch between July 4th and 8th this year. The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 has a range of 4,000 miles. This puts it about 500 miles short of Hawaii which is 4,500 miles away from the Korean Penninsula.

I personally still believe that this is just another round of sabre rattling by the North Korean goverment, however they have upped the ante too much to ignore. President Kim must have kimchi for brains. He is obviously very desperate, mildly insane, out of touch with reality, or a combination of all three.

This type of provocation is just too much to be ignored. Personally I think that we should shoot the missile down as soon as it is launched. We would be perfectly within our rights to do so.

I still think that he needs money and is trying to goad us into giving him financial aid, but it is just about time to spank his behind. I don't know a whole lot about a whole lot of things, but you can take it from the  military ring man, even though he talks loud he is basically harnless. It will be interesting to see what the new US Presidential Administration will do to handle this situation. Maybe they will take my advice.   

In both the Army and the Marine Corps this is the highest enlisted rank. The Sergeant Major is the biggest, baddest, oldest, and ugliest, enlisted soldier in the Battalion. The Command Sergeant Major is the senior enlisted advisor to the Battalion level (or higher) commander. He or she represents all of the enlisted people in the unit. The top dog (enlisted) in the Army or the Marine Corps is called Command Sergeant Major of the Army (Marine Corps).

In my military experience the Command Sergeant Major was highly respected by both officers and enlisted soldiers and was treated with reverence even by high ranking officers. He is the example of wisdom and strength to all in the command. He had to rise above a multitude of others to attain the rank of Sergeant Major and he is the most experienced soldier in the unit. There are many companies that have designed  Sergeeant Major's ring to commemorate this rank.    

The picture that you see is the image that most of America has about "Snuffy Smith." He was a hilarious hillbilly comic book character that I enjoyed reading about as a child, but did you know that the origional Snuffy Smith was in fact an Air Force Sergeant?

Staff Sergeant Maynard Harrison Smith was an Air Force Sergeant who enlisted in the Air Force to avoid being persecuted for failing to pay child support. He volunteered to become a gunner in order to make rank quickly and receive the additional pay. You see Air Force Gunners just didn't normally live very long in those days so they had to have some incentive to take the job.

Ssg Smith did indeed have the nickname of Snuffy and he is the person that the comic book character is based on. The real Snuffy Smith was the recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions during combat during WWII. His bomber ended up in the wrong place which put them in one heck of a situation. The bomber was severely shot up and damaged very badly. Ssg Smith is credited with single handly fighting the fire (which was very severe), periodically tending to 3 of the injured air crew, and driving off wave after wave of enemy bombers with his 50 caliber machine gun. Sgt Smith certainly earned his pay that day.

I'll bet that most of you had no idea that this event ever happened. I knew about it and it popped into my mind the other day that it would be a good topic for a post. I was talking to some of my military customers today and they had no idea. This post serves the same purpose that an  Air Force ring would serve in that it tells a story that might otherwise be forgotten.This is the real "Snuffy Smith" being awarded the Medal of Honor. One thing that I have learned is that you certainly can't judge people based on appearance alone. I would not think that Ssg Smith was capable of what he accomplished if I judged him by his outer looks. What the picture does not show is his heart.

This is the million dollar question for me. You may ask me why do I ask? Why am I concerned? Well grasshopper I am concerned because I have an inner trouble detector which is telling me that something strange is in the milk.

I have made several posts before now on this same subject and now I will say it again.

China now has the second largest defense spending budget in the world behind the United States. You may want to say so what? Whats the big deal? You may also counter with the arguement that the United States has the biggest defense budget of all. Well all of that is true, but there are two points that I want to make to you. First the War on Terror is what pushes our defense spending over the top. The United States has been trying to cut its defense budget for years.

The next point is that until recent times China didn't give a hoot about increasing its defense spending, so whats up? China has increased its spending this year by 10%. That is a very significant amount. Why the big build up. What are their future plans? You don't increase spending for any project without a plan. You need to listen to me, (the military ring man) and I am sure in my mind that I am right China has a plan for world domination  

This post is to those of you who have served in Operation Enduring Freedom or you who want to create a custom Operation Enduring Freedom ring for someone who has or will serve in Afghanistan. We will add posts which are more informative to you to assist you in designing your custom ring. We have found that while many of our customers want this kind of information in addition to the news and information that we provide on this blog site.

First of all you can put the words "Operation Enduring Freedom around the stone on your ring. This is an option that not many do not seem to be aware of. There is also an Operation Enduring Freedom side panel that you can use. Most customers will put their dates of service or place of service above this, but the choice is yours. Remember that you have the choice of adding another side panel to the other side of the ring. Many seem to forget this. There is much more that you can do. We have only given you a couple of pointers here, but feel free to call us at 912-877-4734 if you have additional questions about how to create your Operation Enduring Freedom Service ring.

You all check this out. I ran across this today in my research and just had to do a post on it. I can't tell you a whole lot because I need to do a whole lot more research and the subject is so advanced that it messes with my mind so here is the little bit that I can talk about.

Future Force Warrior is a project which is a part of the Future Combat Systems Project. As far as I can determine the goal of this project is to integrate the soldier and his equipment into a fighting system. The way that I see it is something like producing a Robocop or Bionic man but not quite as drastic.

This project will use nanotechnology, (my best description of this is miniature robots) exoskeletons, which I describe as outer clothing which may function as body armor or even have other functions, and magnetorheological fluid based body armor (I have no earthly idea of what this is). The complete product will consist of six systems which you can pretty much figure out when you look at them. They are; 1)The Headgear Subsystem 2) The Combat Uniform Subsystem 3) The Weapons Subsystem 4)The Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor Subsystem 5) The Microclimate Conditioning System and 6) The Power Subsystem.

It would take up too much time to try to break down each subsystem here but you get the idea. Maybe I will come back at a later time and do so, but all of you are welcome to add what you can at any time. This topic is deep but we military ring folks here can tackle it if we take it in small bites.  

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar who was the Taliban's top military leader has been captured in Karachi Pakistan. According to our source he was captured about ten days ago and is cooperating with his interrogators. Does it seem strange to you that he was captured ten days ago and we are just finding out about it? Its not a strange thing O military ring customer. I will explain the reason why. If he is cooperating our military definitely didn't want the enemy to know until it could act on the information thet it received. If the intelligence was good it has helped the war effort tremendously. The critical intelligence may have resulted in more Taliban casualties, but one thing is for sure, it definitely resulted in saving American and possibly civilian lives.

Also notice O military ring customer of mine that they don't give any details of the capture. Well it smells just like a mission which was pulled off by our Spec Ops military ring customers. We may never know how it was done and our Special Operations military ring customers for sure won't tell so lets just be grateful for their service. Maybe we will find out one day how it was done and I will bet you hard money that either our Special Forces ring customers, or our Navy SEAL ring customers had something to do with it. 

This capture is very significant because Mr. Barader coordinated all of the Taliban's military movements. So in other words if he is talking we have all of their military plans. Now personally I don't think that it is a coincidence that he was captured right at the start of the operation. Had he been taken earlier the Taliban would have had time to react and change their plans. Our military ring customers in Afghanistan took him at the most inconvenient time for the Taliban. Thank you for a job well done.

If you really take the time to look at the facts of this case it will be a tribute and a testament to our intelligence gathering capabilities in the Middle East. The story is that two terrorists were jailed in Bahrain for plotting terror attacks against US Navy ships and personnel in Bahrain, and weapons charges. Don't you think its kind of strange that a small cell of two men could be found and taken down right before they were to begin their attack. Our intelligence services must have had their phones tapped because they knew that they were waiting on orders from higher ups.

Yes thats right. The two were ready and waiting on their attack orders when they were nabbed. One of the two was a customs officer. The NSA provided the information which led to their arrest and government prosecuters allege that the men were trained in Jordan. They don't make allegations without having some form of knowledge so I'm willing to believe that they know exactly what they are talking about. This was a good job by our government service ring customers in the NSA

Check out this last little tidbit O military ring customers. When the residences of the would be attackers were searched numerous weapons, bomb building paraphernalia, maps, and photos of the target areas were found in their possesion. The terrorists claim that they were stockpiling weapons to help fight off an impending Iranian attack but that sounds like a crock to me. They were just caught by the superior intelligence gathering capabilities of our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers in Bahrain.  

My question to everyone is, Who's minding the store? Are we keeping an eye on the movements and manipulations of the Chinese government my honorable military ring customers? Does anyone have a clue of the diabolical undercover operations that the Chinese are conducting? WE NEED to keep an eye on China. Who was it that we assigned the task of watching China? Is he asleep on the job? Somebody needs to wake up.

I have done many posts on the Chinese military buildup and what it entails. The Chinese are conducting a war against us the United States on all fronts. I was sitting in the clinic to have some more of my periodic physical done this morning when I saw on the news how the Chinese are buying up all of the US stock that they can get from us. Oil stocks, precious metals, and the like. Thats serious to me. Why are we letting the enemy creep in?

Now my precious grasshopper, I hear you saying, "so what." Well the problem is this stocks denote ownership. When you buy stock in a company you own a percent of that company. So my question to you is why do they need so much stock? It most certainly gives them financial leverage over us. Leverage that they can exercise at the time of their choosing.

Now let me add to this, the Chinese hold between 6 and 7 percent of the US debt. This is caused by a rising trade deficit. Now let me add one more little tidbit to the pot. The Chinese currently hold about 7 trillion in US currency. You may ask again my venerable little military ring customer, Who cares? The deal on that is this; the Chinese can decide to dump that currency into our economy at any time which would wreak absolute havoc on our economy. That many dollars suddenly dumped into the economy would cause currency prices to tumble and very likely send this country into a deep recession.

So please don't have to make me say I told you so my custom military ring customer. Lets keep our eyes on the Chinese government.

My question to everyone is, Who's minding the store? Are we keeping an eye on the movements and manipulations of the Chinese government my honorable military ring customers? Does anyone have a clue of the diabolical undercover operations that the Chinese are conducting? WE NEED to keep an eye on China.

I have done many posts on the Chinese military buildup and what it entails. The Chinese are conducting a war against us the United States on all fronts. I was sitting in the clinic to have some more of my periodic physical done this morning when I saw on the news how the Chinese are buying up all of the US stock that they can get from us. Oil stocks, precious metals, and the like.

Now my precious grasshopper, I hear you saying, "so what." Well the problem is this stocks denote ownership. When you buy stock in a company you own a percent of that company. So my question to you is why do they need so much stock?

Now let me add to this, the Chinese hold between 6 and 7 percent of the US debt. This is caused by a rising trade deficit. Now let me add one more little tidbit to the pot. The Chinese currently hold about 7 trillion in US currency. You may ask again my venerable little military ring customer, Who cares? The deal on that is this; the Chinese can decide to dump that currency into our economy at any time which would wreak absolute havoc on our economy. That many dollars suddenly dumped into the economy would cause currency prices to tumble and very likely send this country into a deep recession.

So please don't have to make me say I told you so my custom military ring customer. Lets keep our eyes on the Chinese government. This thing is really getting deep. If I have sense enough to see whats going on I'm sure that our State Department realizes this also.

Tempers seem to be flaring a little bit in Haiti with some agencies complaining about the way that some things are being done but that is normal. Relief workers are stressed by the situation which looks hopeless, they have seen a lot of carnage, and things still need to be sorted out. They are under a tremendous amount of stress and they are desperately trying to help. You have to give them a hand for what they are enduring to help the population of that country.

There is an estimated 200,000 dead, 250,000 wounded, and 1.5 million who have been left homeless. Many victims were left for days without food, water, shelter, and medical aid while rescue efforts had to be geared up. Rescue workers are still pulling wounded victims out of the rubble and there is no doubt that many have died slow deaths in the rubble and debris before they could be rescued.

The World Food Program has been feeding between 60 to 100,00 people per day which is pretty remarkable, but there are many out there who still aren't able to get food. as a result violence is beginning to escalate as many Haitians search for food or whatever else that they can get. The rescue efforts and aid that our military ring customers have rendered has been remarkable but we have a long way to go yet. 

Once again let me tell you that our soldiers do a whole lot more than kill people and blow stuff up. This post is to tell you a little about some of the other things that our troops are capable of.

Members of the 1-19th Agribusiness Development Team are teaching Afghan Farmers how to grow something other than poppies. They will have a tough job ahead of them because the farmers will have to be convinced that we will help them to increase their crop yield. They are also making good money from poppies so some convincing is in order.

The countries agriculture has been ravished by years of war. the poor farmers had to do whatever they could to survive so they grow and harvest poppies for the opium trade. Since it has been a lucrative business for them it will be hard to get them to change. Hopefully good crop yields will convince them to do it the way that we want them to.

I was talking to a reformed drug dealer just yesterday who was telling me about the money that he made by dealing drugs. He would work from 9 until 12 each day. After that he wouldn't sell anymore but he still made mad money. You can see how it would be hard to convince someone making good money to give it up unless you can show them something better.

Each team member uses a soil sampling kit to check the composition of the soil so that we will know the additional steps to take to increase crop yield. Farmers are being shown how to increase yield. Once they see that our methods work better hopefully they will not be hesitant to use them. Most of the farmers only own small plots of land so they consume most if not all of what they produce. This is another story that our custom military rings can be used to tell. It is a unique story for our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers but it is a good one.

Our military ring customers helping out in Haiti are standing strong and working to bring some organization to the chaos. The Coast Guard Cutter Oak will be there soom and will deliver heavy machinery to help get the port back up and running. We have also got the airport operational by prioritizing the delivery of equipment. There are also about 30 helicopters in use which are ferrying supplies across the country.

Our troops are working hand in hand with United Nations troops and Haitian police forces with 1,000 troops working on land, 3,000 aboard ship, and another 12,000 expected in next week. The biggest challange that they face at this time is establishing some kind of order in that situation. To do so priorities had to be set up. Once the top priorities are met then secondary priorities can be addressed.

Contrary to popular belief our troops can do more than blow up stuff and kill people although they do uhose things extremely well. The world should take note of our custom military ring customers and recognize them for the good that they are capable of.

This post goes back to the case of the 5 Americans arrested in Pakistan for suspected terrorist intentions in that country. The Pakistanis insist that they have enough information to put these prisoners away for life and if so I hope that they do.

What really scares me is that all of these are AMERICAN citizens from the DC area. One of the suspects father (Khalid Farouq) has been released because of lack of evidence but I guess he knew how to keep his hands clean.

They claim that they wanted to go to Afghanistan to help their Muslim brothers fight against the US forces there and that they have no connection with al-Qaeda. The biggest unanswered question to me is this. Why did they have a map in their possession of an area in Pakistan which was so close to one of its nuclear facilities if they didn't mean to do anything? I know that I am not the fastest bird in the flock so will one of you custom military ring people explain that one to me? 

The military is making good use of K-9's during Operation Enduring Freedom. They have made many contributions to the effort and have probably saved many lives due to their explosive detection capabilities. They can also be used for patrols, drug detection, and as guard dogs.

the K-9's have been used in some instances to sniff out explosives in buildings before our troops went in, and in many instances have prevented problems. They have also been credited with finding several bomb making factories.

The K-9 and its handler will serve 12 month tours of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom after several months of training and an unspecified get acquainted period. The use of K-9's has been cited as a force multiplier for our military ring customers who are serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani is warning Yemeni citizens to beware of a US occupation if American troops are allowed in the country. I think that this is a very clever lie to put pressure on the Yemeni government to not allow a US prescence in that country. That is fine since the US currently has no plans to send troops anyway. We have more than enough on our plate with all of the other drama that we have going on in this war on terror.

The crafty thing about this announcement is that it sets Yemen up to become a safe haven for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. If the government there is not strong enough to hold its own against these terrorists and the US can't enter...well you can figure the rest.

The Yemeni government sort of has ties with al-Qaeda so it is in a touchy situation. Part of the reason for its actions against terrorists is recent attacks in that country.

Our best bet is to shore up that government as much as possible. This works in our interest and theirs. The point that I want you to ponder o custom military ring customers of mine is this; will the Yemeni population buy into this propaganda?  

Here is a little update for all of you custom military ring customers who don't know about it yet. It seems that the suicide bomber who killed 7 US CIA agents recently was a double agent. He was able to really play the CIA on this one. I bet it won't happen again though.

Humam Khalil Abu al-Balawi had convinced the CIA that he would help them to track down Ayman al- Zawahri who is reported to be Osama bin Ladens right hand soldier. This explains why he was able to get into the CIA compound without being searched. Obviously he had worked with his handler long enough to gain a degree of confidence which he exploited in order to make his suicide attack.

He blew himself and the CIA operators up while he was being debriefed. Now at this point my precious military ring customers my superior intelligence kicks in and tells me that he had offered information before which was credible to the CIA to get his foot in the door so to speak.

Mr al Balawi had produced a video on or about Dec 20th where he tells that he would get revenge for the killing of an al-Qaeda operative. Its a small victory for the terrorists in this war but our custom military ring customers who are serving will have the final say in victory.

Now I know that I am probably going to get roasted by many of you custom navy ring customers for this but I want to add my 2 cents here. No I was never in the US Navy, I was in the Army. I just want to voice my opinion on the major question of this conference.

The question will be should the Navy add more Littoral Combat Ships to its arsenal or should it add a number of multipurpose fast attack craft?

My answer is this; keep the LCS because it gives us such a technology advantage that I don't see how we can afford not to utilize it fully. We do need a number of multipurpose fast attack craft, but I don't think that we need very many. My reasoning is that the only reason the navy will need the fast attack craft is to combat piracy. We don't need a large fleet for that. The rest of the world community needs to help with this problem since it is not exclusively a US problem. We need to look to the future use of the LCS since each LCS is also a multipurpose craft. The LCS can also perform many of those missions that we would use the smaller craft for. It is also a multiuse vessel. Personally I feel that it can be used to take on a large portion of this workload. What do the rest of you Navy ring customers think? 

You probably have heard of the silkworm missile which was very heavily utilized by the Iraqi's and Iranians in their was during the 1980's. It was really popularized by the press because it was the thing to report about at that time.

This missile was developed by the Chinese and has several variations. We will talk about the SY1 and SY2 in the intrest of time today. There are some minor differences in the two but the main thing is that the SY2 used solid fuel for propulsion. The reason for the switch was that the SY1 was unreliable and the liquid fuel would cause problems. The liquid fuel version of the missile had a longer range but the solid fueled motor was a better tradeoff.

The maximum range of the SY2 is 130 kilometers. It is 6 meters long and weighs in at slightly less than the SY1 at 1,720 kilograms. The silkworm is no joke and is well respected by our Navy ring customers because of its capabilities to inflict damage. The maximum range of the SY1 was 150 kilometers.

Sometimes its good to talk to people who are close to ground zero when something happens who can tell you the real deal. We hear accounts which come from dirrerent places and they do the best that they can but the more a story is told the more it changes. Unless of course you use a military ring to tell it but thats another story altogether.

I met and conversed with a military ring customer today who I'll call Dave. Dave has been working as a personal security guard in Afghanistan for several years so he has a pretty good idea of what is actually happening in that country. I took advantage of the opportunity to ask him some questions about several of the topics that I have blogged about recently to get the thoughts of someone who knows whats going on. Two of the topics that I asked about were the blackwater incident and the use of drones in Afghanistan.

When I asked about the Blackwater he gave me his thoughts on it. One thing that he mentioned is that insurgents will take pot shots at you when you are in their area. One tactic is to shoot at you and when you put that shooter down another will come and pick up the weapon to use against you. The Taliban will frequently use innocents as cover so sometimes innocents will get hurt. Any weapons left at the scene of a shooting will be picked up and carted away because they are worth so much money. Dave also told me that there was a lot of expended 7.62mm ammunition found at the site of the Blackwater incident. For those of you civilians who don't know 7.62mm is the bullet that the AK-47 uses. My custom military ring customers will know this already.  

According to the wife of the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed the 7 CIA employees on Dec 30 in his suicide attack he was angry with the United States for the treatment of the prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. What a way to express anger. Its funny what offends people. We never see the things that we do but we can always see what others do. 

I was angry too when those suicide bombers hijacked airliners and killed thousands of innocent people on 9 11 but it didn't provoke me to bomb anybody else. As a matter of fact I was absolutely and completely upset as I'm sure were millions of other people. In his mind his logic must have been noble, but it was absolutely wacked out if you ask me. What do the rest of you custom military ring customers have to say about it?

Dafne Bayrak, the widow of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi who was the suicide bomber feels that the war against the United States must go on. She is just as whacked out as her late husband. When I first thought about writing this post I was going to talk about how negative propaganda can affect US relations, but when I really looked at it I changed my mind. If some call Abu Ghraib a provocation for this attack I call it an excuse. People do absolutely what they want to. I say if you are going to do a deed just do it. Don't make up a reason. 

The Yemeni government has vowed to fight terrorism within its borders. It has been getting a huge dose of encouragement from the United States and a large infusion of money but you have to do what you have to do. Obviously we are getting some movement out of our middle east allies. We need all of the help that we can get in our efforts against terrorists. Getting our middle eastern allies involved could be the difference between winning and losing.

Last week the Yemenis conducted several operations against al-Qaeda which seem to have been a resounding success. The attacks targeted al-Qaeda hideouts and targeted a number of al-Qaeda leaders who were believed to be having a pow wow. Several suspected high ranking al-Qaeda operators were believed killed in the attacks.

The first attack killed about 30 terrorists, and another 25 suspected al-Qaeda operators were captured in another operation.

The Yemenis were responding to US intelligence reports of the terrorists in the area and had to go on the offensive when they learned of several suspected suicide attacks which al-Qaeda was planning to conduct.

Our military in Afghanistan has stopped destroying poppy fields because destroying them caused more problems than it solved. The matter of whether to destroy the poppies or to leave them alone is very complicated with the cons of destroying them seemingly outweighed by the pros of leaving them alone.

The poppies are a way of life for many of the farmers of that area. Even though we gave them wheat seeds to replace the poppies the poppies won out for various reasons. The major one being financial. This is a dilema for our Operation Enduring Freedom Ring  customers currently serving in Afghanistan.

We can't win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people of that region if we continue to destroy their livelihood but at the same time we can't condone the drug trade either. The Afghan farmer doesn't know anything about the drug trade in the United States and I'm sure that he doesn't care. All he sees when we burn his poppy fields is us taking the food off of his table. We need his cooperation if we are to get the job done there and exit the country so this kind of puts us on the spot. So what do you do? 

This is just a little bit disturbing for me to talk about but Pakistan has captured five American men who it is certain were about to conduct some sort of terrorist operation in that country. the men were from the D.C. area and were believed to have been in touch with the Taliban there.  They were captured with incrimminating evidence on them which was a map to some sensitive areas in that country.

The question that the custom military ring man has for you grasshopper is this; How many more Americans are overseas undergoing terrorist training? How many of those intend to hit targets here at home. It seems that it is only a matter of time before someone does. Frankly the military ring man is a little bit surprised that our government has been able to keep the American population safe this far.

I know that there have been Somali americans who have left this country and trained in terrorists camps. The disturbing thing is that these men could have entered this country at will. They were American citizens. This is getting pretty scary.

We really need to support our government and our fellow countrymen at this particular time in history. Don't be lulled into thinking that nothing can happen. We are kind of spoiled because our government has been able to protect us so far. My question to you is how do we keep terror within our borders under control? Should we give up more of our civil rights for the prospect of safety.

Some of you younger military ring customers may not remember this incident but I do. I was stationed in the 2/18th Field Artillery in Fort Sill Oklahoma at the time. This was the first of this type terrorist attack that I remember and it was a shock to many people.

This blast occured on October 23 1983 and resulted in the deaths of 220 US Marines and 18 of our Navy personnel along with about 79 French soldiers. This was one of the greatest single day losses of the lives of US troops in history.

The attack was conducted by suicide bombers driving two seperate trucks. The blasts occurred about two minutes apart. It definitely caught us by surprise that time but we took prudent steps to prevent it from happening again.

The bombing had the effect of causing the UN peacekeeping force to leave the country. In the aftermath we learned some lessons that we have applied to our outposts in trouble areas which have greatly helped to prevent this type of situation from ever occurring again.

Somali pirates have racked up a victory by collecting a four million dollar ransom from the Chinese government. The ship and its crew of 25 were captured in mid October about 700 miles off of the coast of Somalia. Thr Somalis are still reputed to have 8 ships and over 200 other crewmen in captivity from other countries. This business is obviously very lucrative to them so I don't see them ever quitting on their own volition.

The area that the pirates operate in is so vast that they can not always be caught and stopped. The fact that governments are paying their ransom won't do anything to help the situation but what can you do? Our custom navy ring customers cover much of the area but it is just too big. 

The Chinese freighter was released without incident and the crew and ship are in good condition. I wonder what can be done in the future to rescue captured crewmen? This seems like the type of situation that our new Littoral Combat Ships would excel in. Let me hear the opinions of some of you  custom navy ring customers on what could possibly be done to stop the piracy.

We might be in a situation like when the marine corps had to attack northern Africa back in the day to stop the ptrates there. All of our marine corps ring customers have to study this in their history.

MEDEVAC is normally performed by the US Army although every branch of the armed services have procedures for evacuating casualties. MEDEVAC is different from casualty evacuation in that MEDEVAC units don't knowingly go into hot zones because they are not combatants. MEDEVAC is the transportation of the wounded warrior to a hospital rather than a casualty collection point or an aid station. I am using Army terms here. Some of you marine corps military ring customers may use different terminology. The Air Force uses its pararescue to locate and evacuate downed pilots which is different from MEDEVAC.

In the event a soldier has to be evacuated from a combat zone a casualty evacuation vehicle is used. This will be a vehicle organic to the soldiers unit which is armored for protection or it may be a lightly armed helocopter. Once the casualty is moved to a safe area he can be MEDEVAC'ed  to hospital where he can be  treated for more serious injuries.

During peacetime all custom US Army military ring customers are drilled on MEDEVAC procedures and call signs. if a soldier is wounded or injured during training the training is halted and the MEDEVAC will come directly to the units location. If his injury is not serious or life threatning he will be evacuated to the units aid station to be treated and released.

In what seems to be a success the Iraqi government brought a potentially lethal situation to a peaceful end recently when they reacqured the oil well at al-Fakkeh. The oil well which sits about 50 meters from the Iranian border was recently seized by Iranian troops. There are many places where the border is is dispute because it is not clear exactly where the line is located.

The well was reacquired without violence and the situation seems to be well in hand. This is a small victory in diplomacy for the new government but it is a good one.

The Iraqis are also working on an international deal to sell some of their oil revenues to get money flowing again.

Although these things are small steps they are positive actions at the same time. Those custom military ring customers who follow this blog stationed in Iraq are well aware of many of the struggles that the fledgling government is facing and must face in the future. We certainly hope for everyones sake that they will be able to survive this time of crisis. I know that our customers who have ordered Operation Iraqi Freedom rings who are still in country is rooting for the new government so that they will be able to return home.

The president of Venezuela has recently made accusations against the United States and Columbia. He sounds pretty paranoid to me. Isn't there a psychological term for that? I was chillin and enjoing life when I read this and it broke my peace. Now I'm thinking is it just me? Cause I have read some crazy stuff today.

He says that Columbia is allowing the United States to use its military bases to stage an attack on Venezuela. Why on earth would we want to attack Venezuela? To annex it as the 51st State. Give me a break.

Now get this all of you loyal military ring people. He has accused the Netherlands of allowing us to use outlying islands to stage an attack on his country.

He has also cited a recent incident where he says that a US drone flew over from Columbia to spy on his country. Now that may in fact be true I don't doubt that we are flying drones over his country but my guess is that if we are it is for drug interdiction purposes. Mr Chavez is overestimating his worth if you ask me. Why would the United States want to spend the time and effort to attack his country? If one of you brilliant custom military ring people has the answer please let me know.

Now let me share this one with you and correct me if I'm wrong but the thinking behind this one is askew if you ask me. I may be wrong but I can't see it the same way as Mr. Al- Zawahri. One of us is woefully off point and I don't think that it is me. If I am the one with the problem please somebody let me know. Anyway let me tell you the story.

According to a news article that I just read the deputy commander of al-Qaeda is upset and a little bit frustrated with our president. Is that a kick or what?

Aymon Al-Zawahri criticized President Obama's handling of the situation in the Mideast. (You talk about a pot calling a kettle black). He dosen't think that President Obama has done enough to reach out for peace in the region and that all of his talk about peace is just superflous. My question first to you precious military ring customer is this. Does this make any sense at all to you? My question to Mr Al-Zawahri is this. What exactly do you want dude? Are you high?

I would challenge him to make the first positive move then and show us how it should be done. Does anyone have any feedback for the custom military ring man on this one? I have to admit that I am just a little bit baffled on this one.

The 1 Star General is the lowest of the flag officer (General Officer's) rank. In order to be promoted to the rank of 1 star the officer must be selected by a board of Generals for recommendation. He or she is then chosen by the President and has to be confirmed by the Senate. Sounds deep dosen't it?

Then after appointment the 1 Star can only serve for 5 years. Did many of you military ring customers know that? After that time he or she must either be promoted or retire unless he or she has less than 30 years of military service. For all of you US Navy ring customers this rank is equal to the rank of Rear Admiral.

Normally in a Combat Division in the Army there are three generals. A 2 Star and 2 One Star Generals. Each 1 star assists the Division Commander in a different way. The ADCM controls the actual combat forces while the ADCS is in charge of the Division's logistics.

This move is part of the effort to close down the Navy run prison in Guantanimo Bay in Cuba. Approximately 100 terror detainees will be moved there as a first wave of transfers. Others will be transported to other prisons which we don't know of yet.

The move will be good for the town of Thomson which desperately needs the revenue that the Federal purchase will generate. The state government gets to unload the prison which was languishing and the move will provide some jobs for the town's residents.

The move will also open the door for the prisoners to be tried on American soil. This will be good news for a few  government service ring customers who happen to work in State and Federal prisons. Hopefully some other languishing prisons will be revitalized by the move.

General Stanley McChrystal is suggesting a plan which sounds like a winner to me. I wonder if you Enduring Freedom ring customers will agree with me on this one. The gist of his plan is to offer the Taliban a way to bow out of its war in Afghanistan gracefully.

The thing about this is that the Taliban is there to stay whether they win or lose the war so why not offer them a way to save face and be repatriated back into the government.

This sounds like a winner to me but the question is what if they don't accept? All of you custom military ring customers know about Murphy's law. The Taliban dosen't see things the way that we westeners do. They may feel that if this is a holy war we can't be allowed one bit of leverage. Thats definitely a point to consider.

I also think that for this strategy to work we have to really bloody them up with the troop surge. if we hurt them bad enough it might make it easier for them to decide to bow out gracefully. Then again you can't predict the response. What sounds logical to us is not necessarily logicalto them.

This story is a testament to how high tech the war on terror has become and it is a small picture of how technology will effect any future wars.

Iraqi hackers were able to tap into feeds from some of the drones that we are using in the war on terror.

In doing so they were able to monitor real time footage from the drones. This was done using off the shelf software. It is believed that they were assisted by Iranian military trainers.

I'm sure that there was no serious harm done by the hackers. From what I read all they were able to do was to see some of the video feeds that the drone operators were able to see. This incident is classified by the custom military ring man as one of tose quirks that is peculiar to this war.

I'm sure that steps have already taken by the Department of Defense to correct this problem.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has taken exception to a statement made by President Barrack Obama. President Obama's statement was about the war in Afghanistan. He basically said that commanders in Afghanistan asked for more troops under the Bush administration but those troops were never sent. To be honest this statement dosen't take all of the issues into account such as priorities.

Mr Rumsfield's response was that there were no requests for additional troops while he was in office that he was aware of. He also says that such a bald misstatement (in other words the President is a bald faced liar) should require a written explanation. Now military ring customers, I'm not going to take sides here but I will state the facts as I know them.

First of all I have NEVER in ALL of my military life known a commander to not ask for more than what he had. The nature of every commander in the military, as I'm sure that our military ring customers know is that he or she never feels that they have all of the resources that they need.

In all fairness to Mr Rumsfeld resources were tight and we were stretched real thin so additional soldiers were not available to send right away. Also Iraq was the priority mission so all resources had to be channeled there first.

General David McKierman who was commander of troops in Afghanistan remembers things differently than Mr Rumsfield does. He served under the Bush administration and says that he tried many times to get additional troops and resourses but with no results. Times have really changed for our custom military ring customers in Afghanistan since that time, hopefully we will have the resources available to do the job.

The Brigade Combat Team is the basic Army unit which is deployed to conduct extended combat operations. With the onset of the War on Terror the US Army had to change its concept of deploying units into combat. The threat is not army against army any more but one force on another force.

The Brigade Combat Team contains everything that it needs to conduct sustained combat operations. It has attached support units for maintenance and logistics purposes. The team can be a heavy (armor and mechanized infantry) or a light (light infantry) team depending of the area, ememy, and terrain that it will operate in. You can see that within the BCT there is a limitless possibility of custom military rings which can be produced.

The artillery which used to be organic to the division has now been placed directly within the brigade for control and cohesion. This creates a lean and mean unit which can fight the battle without a whole lot of reorganization. Our Field Artillery ring customers will no longer be able to use the name and insignia of a seperate DIVARTY because of this.

 We salute all of our military ring customers who are a part of the newly organized BCT. We particularily salute our friends of the 48th BCT who should be returning home soon. We have added a 48th BCT ring to our selection of military rings.

Camp Pendleton is a large base by any standard with an area of 124,ooo acres of land. It was established in 1942. The purpose of the base was to train Marines to fight in WWII. You can see the practicality of situating the base on the west coast when you look at the conduct of operations in the Pacific at that time. It was a good logistic location because it was right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Troops would simply have to be transported to ships by bus and loaded up.

The base has a daytime population of over 100,000 this is large by any stretch of the imagination. Many cities are not this large. It is the primary training area for amphibious warfare although amphibious warfare training is not the only type of warfare training conducted there.

The camp is the home of the 1st Marine Division. It is also a basic training base and many trainees will purchase their Marine Corps basic training rings upon graduation. Many of them will purchase an additional USMC ring later on in their careers because there are so many more military experiences open to them. This is also the area where we sell many 1st Marine Division rings.

The US Supreme court refused to hear allegations from 4 men who were Gitmo detainees at one time but have now been released. Personally I don't believe their allegations because I used to be an active duty soldier and I know the policies that we operated by when it came down to the treatment of EPW's. Now let me say that we were field soldiers and these were not prison conditions. Maybe being a prison guard would wear on you after a while and cause you to get strange. that I don't know, but I am skeptical about the detainees allegations.

These 4 alleged that they were tortured and forced to pose in very stressful positions. They also allege that they were harrassed by dogs and denied religious freedom while detained at Gitmo.

I will admit that there  may have been some isolated incidents but I just don't think it was a regular practice. Now to be perfectly honest with you if these men were in fact terrorists I don't have any sympathy for them at all. Not after I have witnessed some of the atrocities committed against innocent people. Especially after I have seen the beheadings. The view of the man is this, if you chose this lifestyle then take your medicine. Don't be a wuss. If you are a terrorist be hardmilitary ring  like you should. If you can dish it out, be sure that you can take it.

This bit of news is really not a surprise to me and it probably won't surprise oue Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers either but Osama bin Laden is reportedly believed to be slipping in and out of Afghnaistan.

Mr. bin Laden is believed to be somewhere in the Waziristan province on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is believed to be spending most of his time in Pakistan and slipping in and out as necessary.

One big question that remains is why can't he be caught. I believe that he is getting a lot of assistance from the countries that he frequents. I don't necessarily think that he is getting assistance from government officials, but we must understand that there is a fierce allegiance from fellow Arabs and I'm sure that it is not hard for him to get help. Arabs consider themselves to be brothers.If they fight each other is one thing but they will never cooperate with outsiders.

Let me give you an example of the difference between the Western and the Arab mindset. There is a $25,000,000 reward for the capture of Mr. bin Laden but no one has snitched him out yet. Now if one of us westeners were offered that kind of money we would flip on our own mother. You military ring customers know this just as well as I do. Twenty five million is a major piece of cheese. I'm not saying that I would snitch out my mother but I would definitely think about it. HARD.

You know that there has got to be someone who could rat him out but no one has. This is a major difference between Arab and Western thinking. In addition there may be some who want to but they would never be able to live down the shame that they would incur from their brothers. The big question is will the US ever catch him. The military ring man is not a betting man but if we haven't caught him so far the probability is that we never will. 

The US Coast Guard cutter Harriet Lane recently seized about 6,000 pounds of cocaine in the Carribbean Sea. That's a lot of blow folks. The loss of that kind of product had to put a serious dent in somebody's pocket. There has got to be a drug lord out there with a serious attitude.

The coke was seized from the Olympiakos which was from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. According to the article that I read the ship was spotted by aerial surveillance and the Coast Guard was alerted. They then boarded the ship and seized the cocaine.

Now I want all of you military ring customers to make a note of what isn't being said. You Coast Guard ring customers may be able to help us out on this one. What they don't say is how they knew that the ship was carrying cocaine...did you notice? You don't just follow ships and search them because of a hunch. I believe that they have some hi tech equipment that they are not telling us about. I may be wrong but it makes perfect sense to me. There has got to be something that they have that we don't know. We are probably better off not knowing because the drug dealers don't know either. Hooray to our Coast Guard ring customers for a job well done.

al-Qaeda detonated a series of bombs in Iraq on tuesday which resulted in the killing and wounding of about 300 Iraqi citizens. Maybe now the Iraqi population will direct some of that hate that they had for us at the rightful targets. Our Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers were the recipients of that hatred.

All of the blasts were aimed at facilities of the new pro American government so it seems that they were an obvious attempt to destabilize the government before it can get a firm grip on the affairs of the country. I certainly hope that the Iraqi government officials who ordered military rings from us are ok.

Some of the government buildings which were bombed were the Labor and Finance Ministry buildings. Maybe now many Iraqi citizens will see that the United States is not their real enemy. The recent attacks call into question the ability of the new government to protect the Iraqi people. I feel as though they will be able to stand but they will have a lot to quickly learn.

They also come at a time when elections are being planned by the new government. al-Qaeda knows that if the new government can successfully conduct elections it will in essence be sealed as the legitimate governing authority of the Iraqi people. The elections will be the biggest test so far.

The US Army Officer Candidate School (OCS) is located in Fort Benning Ga and is part of the US Army Infantry school although it is branch immaterial.

It is a means of rapidly producing qualified Officers in time of need if the situation dictates. It is one of 5 ways that a person can become an Officer in the US Army. Persons who can be selected to attend can come from various backgrounds. They can be enlisted personnel up to the rank of Master Sergeant, can come from the warrant officer ranks,  from other branches of the military, or can be civilians with a college degree who have attended Basic Combat Training (BCT).

The insignia which is shown at the top of the page is the insignia of the school and it is available for those of you who would like to create a custom OCS military ring. You can purchase it in all of the metal choices that we have available for our military rings. You can pick a different military ring design for the other side of your military ring which quite naturally will correlate with your other military experience.

This is the first post that we have done on the Judge Advocate General's Corps. When you think about the military the first thing that comes to mind is the combat soldier. I have been negligent in posting about some of the combat service support branches of the Army so I want to do more in terms of posting news and information about those branches. The combat arms branches of the Army are glamorous but the combat service support branches are just as vital to our national security.

Although we don't readily think about the JAG Corps they are present wherever we have soldiers around the globe. The JAG is composed of lawyers whose purpose is to assist commanders and soldiers in legal matters of all types. The JAG also consists of defense lawyers who provide legal counsel for military personnel, and prosecuting attorneys to execute military justice.

JAG Officers are appointed in a process which is not the same as other military officers. Most have no prior military experience. If a regular officer wishes to become a JAG he or she must be discharged from the military and reappointed. Even though I have neglected to talk about this branch in my blog postings Balfour didn't forget to add custom designs for their military rings for the customers who want to create a custom JAG military ring.

You can see why the military ring customers refer to this rank as a three star obviously when you look at the three stars of this rank insignia. The average soldier rarely if ever will see a three star General because they are not found at division level. I know I never have because I spent most of my military career in line units.

I found out some interesting things that I didn't know about this rank as I began to do the research for this article. First of all there is a finite number of General Officers which can be appointed in any branch of service at any one time.

This rank is common to the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. It is dependent on position and is a three year appointment. In other words the 3 star can only serve for three years. After that time he has to vacate the position to allow some other two star to move up. He or she must be confirmed by the Senate before serving in the office. I did not know that the rank was temporary until now although under certain circumstances it can be extended. I have never personally known any 3 star Generals although I have seen plenty of 2 star Generals. 

In what was billed as a book signing tour Sarah Palin visited Fort Bragg NC on November 22nd. I believe that this was really a thinly veiled campaign trip. She will continue on to Ft. Hood TX for her next session.

Military installations are not supposed to be used for campaign tours but since she is no longer a politician she was able to book the tours. So she is already bending the rules. I wonder how much more will she bend them if she is elected. 

Her tour provoked some anti Obama sentiment by republican party supporters but in my opinion the military is not the place for this. I understand why it is important for the Armed Services to keep a lid on this type of activity. 

The Commander in Chief is just that. It dosen't matter whether he or she is a Democrat or Republican. Soldiers are sworn to serve their country regardless of who the president happens to be. When you get people on a military base publicly critisizing the policies of the Commander in Chief you are getting into an area which can cause our country serious problems. I certainly hope that Ms Palin will keep this in mind . As I hope any other presidential hopeful would.

Now here is a post for all of my custom US Navy ring personnel. I had to research this one before I wrote about it but I have enough for the uninitiated. I have heard of the Merchant Marines but I really did not understand what they were until I studied for this post. Now the military ring man can impart some information to you. 

The Merchant marines consists of the fleet of US civilian owned merchant vessels which are used to transport goods and services on our nations waterways.

During wartime they are converted to an auxilary to the US Navy which makes the mariners servicemen. They may be required to wear uniforms during time of war although they wouldn't wear the same uniforms as regular sailors. There will be some differences.

There are approximately 465 ships and 69,000 personnel in the Merchant Marines. I remember times when we were deployed to various places from here. Merchant marine vessels transported the majority of our equipment to the middle east.

There is a growing concern about al- Shabab terrorist camps which are growing in membership in Somalia. The camps are training recruits from all over the world to include many American Somalis. Many naturalized Somali Americans are training in these camps.

The recruits are fed a steady diet of anti-US rhetoric and even use pictures of president Obama for target practice. This definitely is not good news for all of you custom military ring customers because it suggests the possibility of another place to fight terrorists.

Those of you who are Iraqi Freedom ring and Enduring Freedom ring customers are aware of the ramifications of this already.

The problem in Somalia are the same as in Afghanistan. The Somali government is weak and only has control of a few blocks of the city of Mogadishu. I think we need to reconsider our goals in this war on terror. There is no way that we can wipe out terrorism worldwide. Maybe we need to conserve our manpower and just use technology to search for and eliminate known operatives. Maybe it would be better if we concentrated more on keeping terrorists from entering our country.

Well this is for all of you Desert Storm ring customers and the rest of you custom military ring customers who had to deal with Saddam Hussein in one form or another. The Saddam channel airs throughout the Middle East just for you.

No one really knows who funds this channel or where it is aired from but Mohammed Jarboua who resides in Damascus Syria claims to be the chairman. He is not telling what he knows so we may never know the truth. Jarboua claims that it is aired in Europe but there are all kinds of rumors out there. Personally I think that it is being aired from either Iraq or Syria but I don't have any evidence to back that up.

I just see it as a weak form of anti US propaganda which is probably not going to have the desired effect on the Iraqi population although sentiments seem to be split along party lines. The Sunni sect may tolerate the program since this was Saddam's sect, and the Shiites are more or less opposed to it. Personally I can't see why anyone would want to resurrect the memory of Saddam Hussein and I,m sure that all of my fellow military ring customers feel the same way.

I may be wrong but I think that they probably will. Unless the US can talk them out of it there is no way that they can not afford to attack. If I am I'm sure that some of my custom military ring customers will straighten me out. I think that there is little doubt that they will feel as though they have to. There are mulitple problems with this situation which the Israelis can't ignore.

The biggest problem now is the Iranians are planning to purchase the Russian made S-300 SAM missile. The S-300 is the newest Russian SAM and if the Iranians get their hands on them they would give Israeli aircraft major problems. Israel may feel that a preemptive strike is necessary in order to insure its own survival.

You Air Force ring customers are familiar with all of the nuances that this presents. The S-300 is a long range SAM and will track a jet down and turn with it until it makes contact. It is nearly impossible for a jet to evade this new missile once it has been targeted.

In addition the Iranians are getting more defiant since the secret nuclear site at Qom has been discovered. On top of this the Israelis are surrounded by enemies on all sides. They may feel as if they must act quickly to keep from being destroyed.

The body of a paratrooper who was missing in Afghanistan has finally been found. Sergeant Brandon Islip went missing on November 4th when he and SPC Benjamin Sherman were swept downcurrent in one of the region's fast moving rivers. The soldiers from the 82nd Airborne division were attempting to recover supplies from an air drop when they either fell into the river or entered it to recover some of the supplies. I'm not at all certain that this is what happened but it seems to be the most plausible explanation.

We created a post on this story recently and are following up now with the conclusion to the matter. Evidently an Afghan citizen witnessed the accident and reported it. Intensive searches began and the body of SPC Sherman was recovered on November 10th. Another Afghan citizen evidently spotted the body of SGT  Islip in the Bala Murgahab river weeks later. His body was subsequently recovered after a search of the area. We send our condolences to all of the 82nd Airborne soldiers who are military ring customers who may have known these soldiers. 

The key words here are the same that I have said again and again "WATCH CHINA". In what could be a test of the resolve of the Obama administration the Chinese have declared that military operations in space are inevitable. This thinly veiled threat gives a glimpse of what the real intentions of the Chinese are. Some of you custom military ring customers will disagree with me I'm sure but there is no doubt in my military mind that the Chinese intend to dominate the world with their military manpower and might. This is evident by the tremendous military buildup and force modernization that they have recently initiated. I think that they want to take advantage of the sheer size and power of a new military machine to bully the world into submission. You custom military ring customers who follow this blog may be prone to agreeing with me.

I have done several posts in the past on this very same subject. The thing that really concerns me the most is the increasing hostility in their rhetoric. They are not doing so much sword rattling for nothing.

If this last statement and the recent anti satellite technology that they are testing is a ruse (which I doubt) the Obama administration probably should not respond  in any overt manner, but thet definitely need to stay on top of the situation. I know that we have recognized the need to get more satellites into position to keep an eye on China. We should do this with all haste.

The Pakistani government is claiming to have good success in its offensive against the Taliban. The purpose of the offensive is to eliminate Taliban strongholds in the country. This offensive is aimed at pushing the Taliban out of the country but the problem is that the government has never had much control over these areas anyway. My question is, what will happen when the Army leaves if they are successful at expelling the Taliban. The next question is the question of mixed loyalties in the Pakastani Army.

The offensive is being conducted in the Waziristan province which is a Taliban stronghold. These type of local military offensives are what it will take to help to get our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers out of Afghanistan and back home. The Afghan army will face the same problem of maintaining control of the enemy strongholds once they have been cleared. This is a problem once again because these areas have always been lawless.

I'm sure that our government is doing all that it can to prop up the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is vital to our success that these governments overcome the corruption which is so rampant and establish internal order. Our custom military ring customers perform so many different functions in serving our country during these conflicts that the scope of the operation is almost impossible to fanthom.   

I may be wrong but I think certain that they probably will unless the US can talk them out of it. I have the feeling that we have probably talked them out of a whole lot of things in the past that the world knows nothing about. If I am wrong I'm sure that some of my custom military ring customers will straighten me out. I think that there is little doubt that they feel as though they have no choice but to bomb these sites before Iran can attack them. There are mulitple problems with this situation which the Israelis can't ignore and they really can't afford to assume that the Iranians will do the right thing.

The biggest problem now is the Iranians attempt to purchase Russian made S-300 SAM missiles. the S-300 is the newest Russian SAM and if the Iranians get their hands on them they would give Israeli aircraft major problems. This sets the stage for a preemptive strike by Israel.

You Air Force ring customers are familiar with all of the nuances that this presents. The S-300 is a long range SAM and will track a jet down and turn with it until it makes contact. It is nearly impossible for a jet to evade this new missile once it has been targeted.

In addition the Iranians are getting more defiant since the secret nuclear site at Qom has been discovered. On top of this the Israelis are surrounded by enemies on all sides. They may feel as if they must act quickly to keep from being destroyed.

The Navy Cross has been awarded to Lance Cpl Joshua Mooi for his actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom  on November 16th 2005. If you were to read the account of the battle in which he earned this award I'm sure that you will see that it is well deserved. The custom military ring is one way to preserve memories of special events such as this one.

I read the entire account of the firefight that the Marines were involved in and to say the least it was quite intense. We wouldn't be able to tell every detail of the story on a custom military ring but we would be able to give a summary.

Cpl Mooi's unit was clearing farmhouses in support of Operation Steel Curtain when the events took place. They had cleared most of the farmhouses when they came upon a group of about 2 dozen insurgents in the last house. The insurgents had prepared well fortified positions within the house while they waited on the Marines. They had put portholes in the walls of the farmhouse and were well supplied with ammunition and grenades. This was a well orchestrated ambush by the insurgents.They had obviously taken a lot of time preparing. Our Operation Iraqi Freedom customers are very familiar with this terrorist tactic.

Cpl Mooi had to make many trips across open territory to save several wounded Marines and to fight the enemy. His actions no doubt saved the lives of many of his comrades. This Marine's actions certainly honor the reputation of the Corps. All of you USMC ring customers should be proud of the way that he represented.

2nd Lieutenant Donald McGlothlin was killed in the battle when he apparently dived on a grenade to save the lives of several of his Marines. I must say that the Marines gave a good account of themselves. A special standing shout out goes to the Lieutenant. He gave it all. There is no more that he could possibly done. America you should be proud of the Marines who fight for your freedom.

All Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers should read the account of this story because I just can't do it justice with this short post. When you read it you will be surprised and amazed at the heroic actions or our custom military ring customers.

Even though we are only mentioning bombs and artillery here this is an all inclusive effort to improve accuracy at all levels of command and with all military weapons. The mandate from the military is to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The reason for this is that the Taliban fighters will get as close as they can to innocent civilians touse them as human shields.

 Bombs and artillery are not necessarily designed to kill by direct hits although they certainly can and will. Each bomb dropped and each artillery shell lobbed at the enemy has what is called a CEP or circular area of probability. This means that when fired at or dropped on a target even in the best conditions they will not necessarily hit it but will land in close proximity to it. Just getting close is usually good enough to get significant damage from the blast and shrapnell. Mortars have a wider CEP because they have such a high trajectory. The mortar shell flies so high that it is subjected to more factors like wind, air temperature, etc. which influence where it will land before it hits the ground. 

Most of the error caused when artillery is used are caused by inaccurate coordinates given by the forward observer. The FO has to be extremely careful to identify the right target and to get its location exactly right. Sometimes crew error is the cause of mishaps but believe it or not this is fairly rare. A good Fire Direction Center and a Good Forward Observer can get the artillery to land close to the target without collateral damage.

Ali al- Marri is a terrorist who has admitted to undergoing terrorist training in al-Qaeda camps and knowing the 9-11 terrorists. He will soon be sentenced for his terrorist acts. We all know that when we got caught at something we always breathed a sigh of relief for the stuff that we didn't get caught at. Do you get my drift?

Anyway the kicker is this: Since he has served 5 years in a Navy Brig before being charged his lawyers want him to be released for time served. Now I'll tell you like my computer security system told me the other day. There are multiple problems. First of all why should he be allowed to live? Why should he ever get out of jail? I have no doubt in my military mind as do all of us here at the military ring factory that this man will continue to try to kill as many Americans as he possibly can if and when he gets out. Do you have any doubt in your mind? Are we tracking? Do you understand where I'm coming from? If his past actions contributed in any way to the death of 1 American he needs to die. Period. End of story.

We military ring people will certainly keep track of this one and we will notify you of what we find out.

This oil spill was the biggest in history. It happened during Operation Desert Storm and every Operation Desert Storm ring customer is aware of the details.

This spill was caused by Saddam Hussein when he ordered the Iraqi Army to open some valves at  several oil refineries.They also damaged some oil tankers which led to the subsequent discharge of a vast amount of oil into the Persian Gulf. It was estimated that anywhere from 42 to 462 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Gulf. Now get this. The spill was 101 miles long, 42 miles wide, and 5 inches deep. Thats a whole bunch of oil. When it happened I thought that Saddam hussein did it out of spite but it is believed that he ordered it to foil a perceived amphibious assault by US Marines.

1 million barrels of oil were recovered from the spill, 2 to 3 million barrels washed ashore, and an estimated 6 to 10 million barrels evaporated. Thats a whole bunch of wasted money. Fortunately the spill was gotten under control before it could do a whole lot of environmental damage.

A bombing in Peshawar Afghanistan recently resulted in the deaths of 93 people who were mostly women and children. The attack occurred at the same time that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the country, but I don't think that it was aimed at her. The intent seems to be to retaliate for the government offensive which must be putting a serious hurt on insurgents. The attack was designed to kill women and children with the ultimate intent being to kill the resolve of the Afghan army to fight the offensive.

These fanatics try to claim a higher cause for slaughtering innocent people. Personally I don't see it but I'll keep my thoughts to myself. I certainly hope that this new US offensive does the trick. To all of my Enduring Freedom ring customers I wish you well.

Our government has just finished a round of careful evaluation of new war strategy in Afghanistan. They wargammed each scenario which was suggested for action to try to figure out all of the possible pitfalls and strengths of each. At least this administration is taking a measured, even, intelligent, approach to solving the problem. President Obama did announce that the mission would be evaluated and I believe that this is part of the process. We need to redefine our mission there and make sure that we don't waste lives and resources unnecessarily.

Any new strategy will have to employ the Afghan forces to the fullest. The widespread corruption in the Afghan government is a big problem. The Afghan government needs to win the hearts and minds of the people before they can establish firm control. This is one of the things that our government is pressing for before we commit extra resources. Once we retake Taliban and al-Qaeda strongholds the Afghans must be able to maintain control in order to realize victory.

We will see what the future holds for our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers. We wish you the best during your time of service. Please feel free to let us know of any changes in the situation.   

I am of the opinion that maybe a military draft wouldn't hurt this country. It might make some of our citizens appreciate the simple things in life. The garbage and food that we throw out every day would be a treasure for people in many third world countries. A half rotten cucumber, a half rotten tomato, and a crust of bread is a meal fit for a king in many other countries. If you had to spend an entire summer in the Arabian desert where the temperature gets into the 140's you will certainly appreciate a glass of cold water.

Maybe some of our young generation (and older) would appreciate a 40 hour work week if they had to work for 48 to 72 hours straight with only 2 to 3 hours of sleep while being constantly harrassed by enemy soldiers the entire time. This was not war. It was during each of many training exercises at the National training center in California.

A day in the office when the heat or AC is not working will not seem so bad after a week of sleeping on the ground on top of the ice while being hungry, funky, tired, cold, smelly, dirty, scared, and sleepy at the same time. Did I mention COLD. I mean FREEZING COLD!!! These are the memories that my military ring evoke whenever I look at it.

For all of the young gansters who want to be hard, live the life of a combat soldier and then I will be impressed. Don't try to stare me down because I won't play that game with you. Earn your combat soldiers ring and combat pay then come and talk to me. Learn this type of discipline and you will impress the socks off of me.

To those prisoners who live in the tent city in Arizona I say big deal. I have slept on the ground in a hole for months so I have no sympathy for you having to sleep in a tent. My sentence was for service to my country and not for an infraction of the law.

One thing that I have learned from the military is that even the most disobedient person becomes a tame puppy when his life is on the line. The fear of dying will make you obey any order given. The toughest hardest to handle soldier in peacetime will hang onto every word that you tell him in war. He will follow orders to the letter because he knows that he needs to do the right thing to live. Maybe some of us should be deprived of the finer things in life before we learn to appreciate it. Every time that I look at my custom military ring it brings back memories of the time that I served.

Our new commander in chief is in the process of deciding what to do about committing extra forces to the fight in Afghanistan. The big worry is that when we retake territory will Afghan forces have the gumption to hold it. Also the locals are losing all faith in the Afghan government because of the corruption.

If we commit extra troops they will secure ground and areas under Taliban control. Thats not the problem. The problem is corruption in the Afghan government. Right now Americans don't know who the enemy is half of the time. There have been times when American soldiers have been fired on by their Afghan escorts during missions.

There were some problems in the recent presidential election. The official vote shows Karzai winning but there is much evidence of the election being rigged. The problem that this presents to the US is that if there are two people claiming to be president this creates an unstable atmosphere which definitely won't help us fight the Taliban. According to our estimates Mr Karzai would still win a runoff but he needs to take positive action to legitimize his presidency before we can help him. The US wants him to take some kind of action to smooth things out before we begin to committ troops. If any of my Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers know more about the story please let us know. 

I don't think that you need me to tell you that this is a job which requires special personality characteristics to perform successfully. The air traffic controller is responsible for the safety of aircraft while they are in his or her corridor of operations. This is a job which requires focus and attention to detail. This job is one of the most stressful jobs that you can have because of the intense responsibilities which are inherent to it.

The controller must be able to quickly solve problems concerning math and space computations. He or she must have an excellent memory, and at the same time be able to process information in a situation which is changing continuously. The successful controller must be able to extract critical information from pilots in critical situations and must be able to make a specific impression on the mind of the person that he or she is communicating with in order to get a point across.

The air traffic controller's ring is one of the many possibilities that we help you to create. We haven't mentioned it yet in this blog, but we probably should have. There are so many possibilities available that it is almost impossible to name them all. If you need help designing your air traffic controller's ring don't hesitate to contact us.

I had noticed that you would never hear a former President or VP ctiticize a sitting President or VP. I never heard George Bush criticize the Clinton administration when his administration took over even though someone had gone as far as to remove the "W"'s from the typewriters etc. I always thought that it was a real class act among our nations leaders. Well Mr Cheney as changed that precedent and to be honest I hope that none of the other past Presidents or Vice Presidents follow his example.

 Mr Cheney has certainly set a new precedent on this one as he has fired several shots at the Obama administration from his position on the outside looking in. He and Newt Gingrich apparently feel that our sitting president is being indecisive because he is taking so much time to weigh his options on how to proceed with  the war in Afghanistan. Now if I felt this way I would agree with him but I don't see President Obama as indecisive at all. Not when I look at the quick and drastic steps that he took to save our economy which somehow got totally jacked up while Mr Cheney was in office.

This is the custom military ring mans perception. You can take it or leave it. I feel that our president is being as careful as he can about comitting soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines to fight and possibly die in a foriegn country. As a former soldier and war veteran I can appreciate that and I'm sure that there are others who do also. Our mission is not to rule Afghanistan and impose our values on them but to neutralize al-Qaeda. We can't destroy them. We can't make them want to be like us. To be honest I think that al-Qaeda has already been neutralized. When was the last time that they were able to launch a terror attack on American soil?

The USS Freedom represents a new day in Navy technology. It is one of the new class of ships called littoral combat shjips (LCS). This ship will be deployed 2 years ahead of schedule. The Navy feels that the capabilities of this ship and current mission requirements warrant the early deployment.

I think that the Freedom will be a good weapon in the fight to stop international piracy. It has more speed and stealth than anything else in the ocean. It's obvious that we have to step it up to the next level in order to effectively deal with this threat, I believe that we can contain it but it is too lucrative a business for the pirates for us to be able to stop completely.

The accelerated schedule will probably cause some minor problems for the crew but they will be able to work through them. The USS Freedom will certainly be a force multiplier with all of the technology that it brings to the table. We do offer a Freedom US Navy ring as one of our products but it is not named after the USS Freedom.

This term refers to all offices of the United States Department of Defense which have the specific job of dealing with the media and local communities when it comes to military matters.  I look at these personnel as translators because they have the job of conveying the understanding to the public of exactly what the military is up to. This is also important because it is a way of maintaining good will with the community. The military by its  nature must be different so sometimes it is not understood by the public.

One unique thing about the Public Affairs Office is that it is staffed by both military personnel and civilians under the leadership of a Public Affairs Officer. So if you are a civilian working in a Public Affairs Office you can design a Public Affairs Office Ring to tell the story of your government service. The side panel design is available and you can choose from a number of other options for the rest of your customization.

Whenever you watch the news and you see a military person explaining maneuvers or deployments that person is the Public Affairs Officer.

The Marine Corps Band is the oldest professional and military band in existence. It was established by an act of Congress in 1798. I found out some things that I just was not aware of when I began to study to do this post. For example, band members never attend Marine Corps basic training. They will never be ordered into combat. Their rank insignia has a lyre embroidered on it rather than the infantry crossed rifles.

The band does over 500 concerts per year. Since there are only 365 days in a year you know that they have to jump. I can see why they don't have to undergo basic training. There is no need for the job that they have to do.

This is not the case for the many fleet bands that the Marine Corps has. Fleet bands are assigned to units and their members are regular marines. I can certainly see the need for the marine corps band as a seperate unit. Their mission is also crucial even though they are not fighting Marines. They are the public representatives of the Marine Corps. Fortunately we have the custom work available to help band members create a custom military ring.  

The biggest enemy to Operation Enduring Freedom is corruption which is rampant in the Afghan government. The corruption hinders in that it takes confidence in the government away from the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. Once territory has been taken we must win the hearts and minds of the people in order to keep the Taliban from coming back in. The citizens of the country must feel that they can trust the government.

Afghan forces must also win the confidence of our soldiers and marines who are trying to assist them. There have been incidents where Afghan police and security personnel have turned on the Americans who were escorting them on patrols and killed or wounded several of them. The biggest job is going to be getting a viable government in place although sometimes I feel as if I can say that about our own government.  

The squadron is the number of aircrafrt that is designated to perform a certain mission along with all of the support personnel that accompany it. The size of the squadron varies from a few aircraft to a few dozen. I think that this is based on mission requirements. 

Some of the most famous squadrons that I can think of are the blacksheep squadron, and scout squadron 6 of WWII.

Another squadron that is famous is the Blue Angels which are shown here. This squadron has been around for years and does air shows around the world. The qualifications to become a member of this Squadron are very rigid. Members live and train together constantly which is part of the teamwork concept. An Air Force military ring can be created to depict the squadron that you were in or involved with during your time in the Air Force.

I think that the fact that president Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a world vote of confidence and hope. Personally I don't see where enough has been done to justify the award, but lets look at the campaigm for change that the president ran on.

The only way to extricate ourselves from the mess that we are now in is to change the way that we are doing many things. I think that the world community sees that this administration is sincere on their pledge and is responding to it in a positive way.

I think that our president has cleverly changed the course of our foriegn policy to get maximum cooperation from the world community. I certainly hope that he can keep the momentum going in the direction that it is.

This is an era in our history which is very critical to our survival as a nation. It is a time which should and will be remembered throughout history. A government service ring would be a prime method of commemorating these historic times.

The estimated number of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan has continued to grow at a high rate. There are an estimated 25,000 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as this post is being written and the number is growing all of the time. There are also a large number of Afghan people who work for the Taliban from time to time whether for money or by force, or choice.

Many Afghan civilians may see this war as a foreign occupation of their country. Even though they might noe be dedicated to the Taliban they may see serving them as the lesser of two evils. If they refuse to cooperate with the Taliban they will face the wrath of the Taliban. On the other hand if they cooperate with US and allied forces they still face the wrath of the Taliban when we leave the area.

If the Afghan police and militia can be taught to successfully take control of the areas that we clear from the Taliban's influence I think that we will make more significant progress in that country. We will continue to pray for all of our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers in Afghanistan and all others who serve there.

Its been awhile since I was on active duty so I was not aware of this change until I started to write this post. The Military Airlift command as we know it was done away with in the early 90's. This obviously had to be because of the changing global tactical scenario. How do you like my big words? I'll bet that you didn't know that the custom Air Force ring man had it in him did you?

The Air Mobility Command was formed in 1992 with elements from the Military Airlift Command, and the Strategic Airlift Command. It's mission is to provide airlift, special missions, aerial refueling, and medical evacuation for US troops. Now notice the words special missions. I think that implies that it picks up the nuclear mission that SAC had. This seems like a way to say the same thing without arousing people to the fact that there is a nuclear mission.

In essence the Air Mobility Command transports our fighting men and women to the fight, not only them but all of the equipment that they need to use to do their jobs.  Some of the transport airplanes such as the C5 are huge. The C5 can even fly really heavy vehicles such as Abrams tanks to the battle. A C5 which is fully loaded has to be moved every few hours to prevent its weight from compressing the tarmac that it sits on. Think about the technology that it takes to get something that heavy to fly. This command rapidly gets our fighting men from point A to point B 24/7. We honor them by offering their emblem as a side panel design on our custom US Air Force rings.

Our president is considering the request for more soldiers to go into Afghanistan and will make a careful deliberate choice in the next few weeks. He has reiterated that our mission was to destroy al-Qaeda and capture Osama bin Laden. He dosen't want the mission there to get any bigger than it needs to be. This sounds good to me. Our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen know that their job must be done and they will do it but we don't need uneccessary deaths or casualties.  

The president said that before a decision is made to send soldiers into harms way we must have a clear cut goal and a strategy to meet that goal this will avoid "mission creep" or our mission turning into something other than what it needs to be. President Obama went on to say that the mission should be evaluated every six months to make sure that we are still on track. If the president gets his way it will obviously mean less time overseas for our soldiers. Hopefully I will get to see some of my old Operation Enduring Freedom Ring customers again.

We can never change the customs or mannerisms of the Afghan people. Their values may be different from ours. If we allow ourselves to get sucked in we will end up defeated like we did in Vietnam. I am all for destroying al-Qaeda,but the truth is that we will never totally anniliate them. Many of my custom military ring customers have been deployed to the middle east three or four times.  Some of them have purchased Operation Iraqi Freedom Rings, while others have purchased Operation Enduring Freedom Rings. I'm sure that any news of a shorter tour of duty will be good news to them.

The US is moving forward in the battle against IED's. The latest move to try to limit the casualties that they cause has been the employment of counter IED teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hopefully this will help to prevent injuries to our troops and maybe save some lives.

IED's have been the guerilla warriors to the superior firepower of our forces. They are the perennial hit and run type of weapon. We have adapted in many other ways to try to counter the carnage caused by there weapons with good success. These teams won't directly prevent terrorists from using IED"s, hopefully they will have an indirect effect.

The job of these teams is to gather information from where IED's have exploded or were found so that the evidence can be analyzed to prevent their use in future operations. The team will gather, and analyze evidence once it has been called to action. I don't know anything at all about the process but I know they they were given specialized training. This training will need to be added to the custom designs that we use on the custom military rings that we produce. 

According to the IAEA Iran has the technology to produce a working nuclear device this year. They will also have the long range missile technology to launch a nuclear warhead into Europe in the very near future.

When you look at Iran's military spending you will see that they are spending all of their time and money on nuclear rather than conventional weapons. Now thats scary. There is a saying that you can tell where a man's heart is by looking in his checkbook. I don't see where it is hard to come to a conclusion here. Take it from me the military ring man.

Irans nuclear development clearly tells of its intentions. There is no reason to wonder, to analyze, to guess, or to debate. Look at the facts. If you come to a conclusion other than the fact that the Iranians have the intention of being able to launch a nuclear bomb at someone tell me. Let me see if I can educate you. You may say that we need to exercise diplomacy and I will ask you how do you exercise diplomacy with someone bent on destruction.

We are seeing signs of a major success in Afghanistan despite a lot of reports of doom and gloom. The case being made for a troop surge in Afghanistan and the fact that some of our military leaders are saying that we must send more troops or lose the war seem to be direct contradiction to this. Now one thing that I know is that commanders never feel that they have enough to do the job at hand. The military commander will use every tool at his or her disposal to insure that he or she dosen't lose any soldiers so naturally they never feel as if they have adequate forces. Our custom military ring customers always seem to be upbeat about the war so all indications seem to be good from them.

According to US National Advisor James Jones, al-Qaeda has been greatly diminished in power and he does not forsee the return of the Taliban to power. There seems to be a serious contradiction here and I wonder who is right.

I certainly hope that the commanders are being overly cautious which is good for two reasons, first it shows that they are doing all that they possibly can for our troops, and if they are being overly cautious all of our troops will be home sooner than expected. 

We still have significant hurdles to overcome in Afghanistan before we can call it quits. The strategy that the US seems to be following to take and maintain control in Afghanistan seems to be the same as the strategy that we followed in Iraq. Which is to use our forces to take control of territory and then putting the local police force in charge of maintaining that control as we withdraw. The good thing about this is that we got plenty of practice in Iraq so we should have the strategy down pat. When I talk to my Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers, and my Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers they seem to have the utmost confidence in what we are doing.

The biggest question is whether we can get the Afghan police up to snuff on what they have to do. They are in an area where corruption, drugs, and power have ruled so this is how they have learned to operate. The government only has control over small areas of the country so it too is not used to being in power.

They have hundreds of training camps scattered throughout the middle east. Their fighters are well trained in these camps and determined. Their fighters don't mind dying for what they believe is right. This creates a vast difference in motivation between the two forces. One wants to fight and dosen't mind dying for a cause and the other dosen't. 

Our Operation Enduring Freedom soldiers must very quickly bring the Afghan forces up to snuff to deal with al-Qaeda. If they can't there won't be any kind of military ring that we can possibly produce to tell a good story. I have confidence in our leaders. I believe that we will be able to work out a solution and bring things under control. We have always in our military history been able to overcome and win and I am sure that we will now. 

0. The Army's Best Warrior competition is a gruelling 6 day competition held each year in Fort Lee Virginia. In this event the best of the best are tested and evaluated during a varietyof events. The thing that I like about this competition is that it is designed to evaluate skills which are relevant to modern warfare. when I look at the events I see that they are planned around events and tasks that the soldier has to perform on the battlefield as we know it today.

The event tests the soldiers combat skills, qualities and abilities, the soldiers are drilled by boards of Sergeant Majors who ask tough questions. They are put through battle drills and evaluated, given written exams, and must qualify with the M-4 rifle. They must also qualify in day and night urban warfare orientation courses.

The winners of this years competition were SFC Aaron Beckman,who was named the NCO of the year, and Spc Clancy Henderson who was named the soldier of the year. This is an ideal story to tell on a customized ring. We would br willing to donate a custom military ring to each one of these individuals to help them commemorate this great accomplishment. Where you? If you are out there contact us and lets make this happen. We will be more than happy to design your military service ring.

There has been a major prison break from one of Saddam Hussein's compounds in Tikrit. This compound was one of the buildings which had to be converted into a makeshift prison in order to handle the vast number of combatants from the recent war. There were a total of 16 combatants and 5 of those were known to be al-Qaeda operatives who were awaiting execution for their role in assisting terrorists who conducted hostile operations against us. All of the prisoners were dangerous and being held for dangerous criminal activities.

Iraqi officials have managed to capture one of the escapees and have requested assistance from the US in the form of aerial surveillance and search dogs. The inmates apparently were given a wrench or stole one from somewhere which they used to pry open a window and escape. Personally I believe that it was an inside job. Now I admit that the custom military ring man may be wrong on this one but this is really how I feel.

I certainly hope that the Iraqis can step up to the task at hand. In all fairness this is a big leap for them. The US is still in the process of training Iraqi detention teams on inmate control techniques. I know that the troop withdrawal from Iraq has been accelerated so that is a good sign of how the Iraqis are taking care of business. Their future will probably be filled with many more tests of this nature.

We have helped many members of the 48th BCT design custom military rings in the past and we are thankful for all of the friends and acquaintances that we have made among you over the years. This post is for all of you who may want to create your own Operation Enduring Freedom Ring, and for all of our past customers over the years. We are sending a shout out to CWO Randy King and his family, and to all of you who have purchased rings from us in the past. We have moved our store location so some of you may not know where we are. We are on Frank Cochran Drive right across the street from Ranger Joe's.

The majority of military rings that 48th BCT soldiers have purchased from us were either celestrium, or goldtone celestrium rings. We have often put the crest of the 48th BCT or the unit that you were attached to during your tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. One other thing that I want to alert you to is that you can also design your commemorative ring to be a military retirement ring. You may include both campaigns on your ring as the side panel designs and inscribe the words US Army retired around the stone of your ring. Remember that there is a special discount just for you. You can call us for the discount code when you get ready to order your ring at 912-877-4734 and we will be more than happy to help you.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is seeking to find pictures of each veteran listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The pictures will be displayed in the soon to be built Veteran's Education Center in Washington DC. Solicitations for pictures of the listed veterans will start with family and friends and this is sure to be a project that will take some time. This will ba a very ambitious effort for them and our hat is off to them because there is no doubt that it will be difficult.

It is certainly worthwhile because we didn't give those brave servicemen the honor and recognition that they deserved at the time that they really needed it. It's too bad that it took us so long to realize the debt of gratitude that we owe them. One positive thing that we did learn from this experience is that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines deserve our deepest respect and gratitude for their selfless service.

There are not many Vietnam Veterans ring customers these days because that war was so long ago but we do see them every once in awhile. We periodically create custom military rings, or custom license plates for our Vietnam Veterans and we are always happy to see them.

I was not solicited to post this but maybe it will help the fund if I put out that FEDEX will scan the pictures free of charge. I don't have much more information than this but if you contact either the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund or FEDEX's office you will be able to get more information. 

The USS Boxer (LHD-4) is calssified as a WASP class amphibious assault ship. Which means that it's primary purpose is to deliver ground troops to the battle. This ship can carry up to 1,894 marines into the battle. That is a bunch of firepower folks. It can also carry a mixture of up to 42 aircraft which would be the CH-53 helocopter, or V-22 Ospreys.

Even though you can't tell by looking at the picture, this ship is armed with the Sea Sparrow Missile System and the Phalanx CIWS.

This ship now serves as the Flagship of combined Task Force 151 which is stationed off of the coast of Somalia. This ship has been active in operations against piracy. She also participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Iraqi Freedom II. If any of you out there have served aboard this ship please write in and comment on this post.

One of the latest stories coming from Afghanistan is that US Marines and Afghan fighters were killed in an ambush with insurgents in which they were repeatedly denied artillery support. The article goes on to say that in a sustained firefight these combatants had to wait an hour for close air support to arrive. Now the article seemed to want to point the finger at superiors who denied the artillery support but I say lets wait and find out the real deal before we jump to conclusions.

Normally any combat patrol will have direct support artillery. Direct support means just that. You call the firing unit directly and they provide what you want based on the rules of engagement. There are some situations where artillery will be denied and I am sure that whoever didn't allow the artillery had what they deemed to be valid reasons. Lets not pass the verdict too soon.

There were a total of 4 Marines and 10 Afghan fighters killed in the attack. This is a tragic story which shouldn't end here. If forces other than Americans caused this disaster then American troops should no longer be placed under the control of foriegn commanders.

According to Christopher Hill (the US Ambassador to Iraq) the drawdown of American and other forces in Iraq is indeed going according to schedule. This was the gist of his report to the House Foriegn Affairs Committee recently. All combat forces should be out of Iraq by the end of August. This is good news but now we have a subsequent buildup in Afghanistan to look forward to.

al-Qaeda has been stepping up violence in Iraq recently to try and trip up the new government but the new regime has been holding firm. al Qaeda is hoping to cause enough unrest so as to cause a civil war but reports are that the new regime is holding strong. Iraqi security forces have been able to maintain an excellent amount of professionalism in the execution of their duties. Don't you see how this is a testament to the capabilities of our military and the flexibility that it can display. It went from the role of fighting force to police force to advisors and performed all superbly.

Reports are that we may be able to accelerate the rate of the withdrawal if the new Iraqi Government and security forces can continue to perform at its current level. 

In his latest statement the Taliban leader makes an announcement to President Obama. He informs our president that the US is powerless to stop the war in Afghanistan. Im sure that President Obama appreciates this insight but he is probably listening to the people that he usually relies on for advice.

Mr bin Laden then goes on to blame the United States for the war because of its alliance with Israel. Now I may be wrong but my pea sized brain does not see this as the reason for the war. I thought that the reason was terrorist attacks conducted on Americans by Mr. bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorists. I was really thinking that the cause was the slaughter of innocent Americans by Mr. bin Laden.

Either one of two things is wrong here. Either I am suffering from the initial stage of sometimers disease or Mr bin Laden is on a diet of crack cocaine and dog food.

The thing that I really think that bin Laden is attempting to do is to cause our president to doubt that we will win the war and call for the redeployment of our soldiers back home. I think that he has seriously underestimated  the intelligence and resolve of our president. It is impossible for anyone to be elected president of the United States without a high degree of intelligence and resolve. I also believe that there is a reason for everything. The reason for this latest statement by the al-Qaeda leader may be the fact that his organization is getting its teeth kicked in.

There was a secret raid conducted in Somalia which appears to have been successful but the problem is that no one can point a finger at who conducted it. Sounds kind of Spec-Opish to me. It is thought that the raid was conducted by US Special Forces soldiers but if it was they will never own up to it.

The raid was conducted against al-Qaeda, which is setting up for operations in Somalia and according to eye witness accounts. Some men dressed in US uniforms got off of a heliocopter which came from a French ship and killed Salen Ali Nabhan who was an al-Qaeda leader and captured several other wounded al-Qaeda fighters.    

There were some other al-Qaeda deaths in the battle before the snatch was made. Last year al-Qaeda leader Aden Hashi Ayro was killed last year in a similar type operation.

Al-Qaeda is seeking to make Somalia one of its strongholds which is a logical move for them since the government has little control over most of the country. The country is currently involved in a civil war and the main faction which opposes civil rule is al-Shabab. Al-Shabab is attempting to overthrow the goverment and institute strict Islamic rule. The government has no control over most of Mogadishu.

Our soldiers and marines on patrol in Afghanistan don't know what to expect from day to day. This war is 180 dergees different than the type of war that my generation is familiar with. Our battles were force on force where you basically pounded it out like opposing football teams and the best man won. You kicked each other in the teeth just as hard as you could and he who had the most left at the end was declared the winner.

There is no such thing as a routine patrol in Afghanistan. The patrol might encounter one of many situations when underway. These include but are not limited to: no enemy contact at all, chasing an enemy force, being hit with a small ambush, being shot at by snipers, or a full scale ambush. Servicemen may find themselves in an all day battle, or the patrol may turn out to be a public relations campaign where they meet and greet villagers.

Individual soldiers and marines may find themselves making critical decisions which if wrong would have a devastating effect on relations with the civilian population.

I personally believe that one of the reasons that we saw so many atrocities by our soldiers during the Vietnam War was because our boys were frustrated at the fact that the enemy was so elusive so they vented their anger on the civilian populace. They were getting hit and had no one else to hit back. I am not justifying those actions, I'm just saying what I think. The training that our soldiers undergo before they deploy to this area teaches them how to react to this type of pressure. We did a lot of wrong things in that war, but at least we learned from them.  

Lets remenber the attacks of September 11 2001. Let us not waver in our efforts to destroy those who would not hesitate to destroy us. Lets remember that over 3,000 innocent Americans were killed for no other reason that day than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They hadn't harmed anyone nor was the thought of doing bodily harm to anyone in their minds.

Let us remember that America can not stand still for this type of action. We had no choice but to act. I am not going to debate whether it was right or not to go into Iraq because frankly I don't know. I don't have access to the same information that our President did when he made his decision.

Let us remember that many of our young men and women have given their lives to keep us safe from future attacks. Many of them had not had the pleasure of seeing their children born. Many of them were newlyweds and had not had time to enjoy their marriages. Many of them were not able to say goodbye to dear friends and loved ones before they had to leave and fight the war. Many of them had young children that they never even got the chance to hold in their arms.

Let us not do them the disservice and the dishonor of forgetting. You might forget but I will never forget.

There were six confirmed terrorist kills in an attack on a suicide bomber training camp in the Swat valley in Northern Pakistan. Locating and destroying the camp was the result of an offensive to search out and destroy terrorists in the area. US officials knew that there was a training camp in the area because of the large number of bombings which were occuring there.

Keep in mind that this camp was located in an area of Pakistan which is largrly lawless and ungoverned. There were 11 suspects arrested in the attack on the camp. There were also twelve other foreign terrorist suspects arrested in the area when they were caught sneaking into the area from Iran. The foreign suspects were from Sudan, Russia, Turkey, and Iran. One thing that the war on terror is doing is cleaning up terrorists from all over the world.

A Taliban Commander who remains unnamed has been captured in Eastern Afghanistan. He was captured along with 6 other insurgents when several insurgents went to seek medical treatment from wounds (probably incurred in a firefight) at a clinic. US forces were tipped off about the movements of the insurgents and were fired upon as they moved into position to take the clinic. Hopefully we are winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people in this war. That is what it will take for our military forces to be successful and the Taliban realizes this. I have read several articles lately where Taliban officials have instituted reforms to give them the appearance of caring for the citizens of the country.

The Taliban has the advantage in this area because their countrymen will naturally want to protect them. The Taliban may have lost much ground because of their record of suppression and brutality. If we can convince the native Afghan people that we have their in their best intrests at heart we may be able to sway public opinion. The intelligence that we will receive if we can do this will be invaluable.

I salute all of our Operation Enduring Freedom fighters and those who have served. We want you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.

It seems that Somali pirates have worked up enough nerve to shoot at one of our helicopters. The Navy chopper was flying a routine surveillance mission off of the coast of Somalia when the pirates used an automatic weapon to fire at it. US Navy helicopters have been conducting routine surveillance of pirates for a while but this is the first instance that we know about where a ship was actually fired on.

The navy routinely  surveils the ships that the pirates have captured and are holding while they are waiting to receive their ransom. There are currently about 5 ships and 105 crewmen currently being held by the pirates.

The Navy didn't return fire and I am sure it was because they didn't want to accidentally harm any of the innocent captives. The name of the ship where the piratres fired from is the Win Far which is a Thai ship.

I for one wonder where this piracy thing is going to take us. Obviously the pirates are not going to stop because there is easy money to be made. In my mind some kind of action is going to have to be taken. An International task force should be put together to police the waters around Somalia for the sole purpose of finding and destroying pirates. There is a task force in place now, but their purpose is to protect maritime shipping and not to sarch out and destroy pirates.

I realize that my actions are easier said than done and that they sound drastic but I don't see any other solution to this problem. As long as the pirates can make money they will attack maritime vessels. To me this is a history repeat of the situation of the Barbary Wars when we had to send in US Marines to handle the problem. If someone out there has a better idea please let us know. 

The Second Infantry Division is currently stationed in The Republic of South Korea with the mission of protecting the country from invasion from North Korea until other units can be brought in to help. I used to be a member of this unit and the pace was hectic. We never knew from day to day what the future held. Whenever the alert siren went off we didn't know whether the situation was real or just another drill.

During that time the Division was stationed close to the demilitarized zone of Korea which runs along the 32nd parallel. We manned many posts on the DMZ and units were rotated back and forth for short periods of time. The rotation system would give units on the DMZ a break from this stressful duty. Units also patrolled the no man's area along the DMZ to look for signs of enemy incursions, and to stop infiltration into South Korea from the North. 

We served alongside the ROK (Repiblic of Korea) Army. They were some tough soldiers. Let me tell you a true story. We were visiting a ROK compound once during the month of November. If you have ever been to Korea you know that the temprature hovers right around 0 degrees in November. On this day at about 7:00 in the morning there were about 5 ROK soldiers running around the compound on a track. They were dressed in combat gear, and were carrying weapons, bur were shirtless. When we left that evening at about 4:30 PM they were still running!! We asked about it and were told thru our intreperter that they were being punished for a rule violation. If we did that in the US Army the press would have a field day with it. We salute all of our soldiers who have ever served in the Second Infantry Division which is Second to None. 

William Calley has apologized for the well known massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War. Before we get into this story let me give you my honest opinion. I am a former soldier and believe me there can be a lot of pressure put on you to obey orders that you know are wrong. I have been given orders that I knew did not apply to the circumstances, but because my superiors did not want to budge they would not listen to what I had to say. Stubbornness is a good quality up to a point because a successful commander has to be stubborn, but not stubborn beyond reason. I remember one incident where a superior who had no idea of what my units situation was ordered us to perform a task. One of my subordinates told me when I protested to go ahead and get it over with because that superior wanted to be able to say that we had accomplished the training and wouldn't change his mind. I saw this as good advice and we performed the action. When the superior asked me for my opinion afterwards I told him. I know that he knew that I was right but he didn't want to concede that his judgement was not the best in that situation.

Now back to Lieutenant Calley. 2Lt. Calley was the lowest rank that an officer can be. He is scared and placed in a situation that he was not able to control. Was he wrong in what he did? My answer to you is yes, and I think that he knew it but he was not strong enough to fight against the wrong orders. I also think that he was not strong enough to stop his unit once things got out of control. You have to prove yourself as a second Lieutenant. Many soldiers and NCO's will test you to see how much backbone that you have because you are younger and inexperienced. Personally I don't think that a Second Lieutenant should be a leader until he has had a chance to prove himself.

His unit had not been in active combat but they had suffered casualties through different acts of sabotage. Top this off with the fact that they were given bad intel which incorrectly implied that all of the villagers were VC. This helped Lt Calley and his men to rationalize their actions. Add the stress that the Lieutenant was under to kill somebody and it all turned out to be a disaster in the making.

I think that there should have been others convicted because no matter how much you may be compelled you still do not have to obey an unlawful order. Accounts of the massacre tell stories of others who tried to stop the killings, so Lt Calley should have been able to stop it if he had wanted.

I sympathize with the Lt because I have been in similar situations. I have carried out orders which were somewhat questionable because of the withering pressure that was applied, but I don't believe that I would ever follow an unlawful order. I had enough grit to stand up for what I thought was right and I have done so on several occassions while in the Army.

The purpose of the newly activated Global Strike Command is to unite all of the nuclear forces controlled by the Air Force under one commander. The command will take control of the 20th Air Force and the nations ICBM's in the near future. Some of the other units which will also come under the control of this command are the 8th Air Force, the 576th Flight Test Squadron, and the 425th Strategic Operations Squadron.

This command reminds me of the SAC which has been disbanded, but in my humble opinion I think that it will greatly benefit our armed services by providing centrelized command and control of the nuclear capable units of the Air Force. It will also provide a greater deterrent to those who would oppose us just because it exists.

I'm sure that there will be growing pains but the end result will be well worth the cost of organization. There will probably be an esprit amont the airmen who serve in this organization. The best way for an individual assigned to this unit to express his or her espirit would be through the use of an Air Force ring.

The 101st Airborne Division recently hosted a welcome home ceremony for Vietnam War Veterans recently. In my humble opinion I think that it was a very good gesture to make, and long overdue. Oue Vietnam Veterans were the victim of General Ho Chi Mingh's propaganda tactics when he suceeded in making the war unpopular here in America. Part of the reason for this success was the hippie movement in this country at that time.

Our servicemen were subjected to some of the most deplorable conditions in service in Vietnam and then to some of the most scathing criticism when they returned. This had to have a negative effect on morale and made many of them question the validity of the war. In addition to this there were no clear cut objectives for fighting the war so there was no reason given to our servicemen for thier suffering. One thing that I know about our soldiers is that they will endure hardship if they have to.

I feel that the welcome home ceremony was so important in that it finally made these veterans feel appreciated. I remember my own homecoming and the gratitude that the American public showed to us. It really lifted my spirits and made me feel good about my country. A Vietnam Veterans ring. would be the ultimate tool to commemorate involvement in this historic event.

The AIM -120 is an advanced medium range air to air missile which is also known as an BVR (Beyond Visual Range) missile. The Air Force has given it the additional name of the Slammer.

This missile can be used day or night in any kind of weather which is a huge benefit. It is the latest evolution of the AIM-7 Sparrow which was developed by the US Navy in the 1950's. The Sparrow was the top dog in its day and it just continued to get better with time.

The AIM-120 is used by both the US and its allies. One aircraft can fire several of these missiles at once with each being programmed to attack different targets. This enables the aircrew who fired the missile to do whatever else that they need to do rather than stay there to guide the missile to contact.

Once the missile reaches a certain point its own radar takes over to locate its target and fly the missile to it. The AIM-120 has both active and passive homing radar. This means that it can send out its own radar signals to home in on the aircraft or it can detect signals coming from its target. 

This is only one sophisticated weapon that we use in our modern Armed Forces. I can't help but be impressed as I do the research to post information for this blog. I can't imagine how we could make most of this technology any better than what it is. I also understand why the men and women who handle this technology will often feature it on the custom military rings that they wear.  

The sub machine gun was an addition first to the military arsenal which is more of a small caliber machine gun. The sub machine gun gives added punch in close quarters combat than an ordinary pistol because it combines the attributes of a machine gun with a pistol round.

The sub machine gun has the rate of fire of a regular machine gun but since it is so much smaller it dosen't have the same range or the killing power. It also does not have the accuracy of the larger machine gun.

One good thing about the sub machine gun is that it is not bulky and can be very easily handled by one person. It is good to use in close fighting situations when you need to clear an area of more than one person, or you need to provide cover.

Sub machine guns are used more by Special Operations personnel, and tank crews when they are used by the military, however they are gradually being replaced in use by carbines and assault rifles. I have never had a military ring customer to put information about this kind of weapon on a ring. Maybe because military ring customers who may use this weapon often are part of a crew on a bigger weapon system.

I have some good news for all of you who are active duty, reserve, or retired Marines. We can produce a sterling silver USMC ring for you. The latest metal choice which is available to you is the silver select military ring. This is in addition to the Gold and Celestrium rings that we have offered for years. This ring is a combination of sterling silver and platinum and it comes with the same lifetime guarantee as all of our other rings. There is no difference in the amount of customization available to you also. You can still show everything that you do on any other ring.

The silver select military ring has a much more brilliant shine than gold or celestrium and many customers ask for it immediately when they see it.

I have some on display that I have used for displays for years and I have never had to clean them. This is notable because I allow customers to handle them all of the time.

Since sterling silver is the latest fad in jewelry these rings get a lot of attention. It also dosen't hurt that all of the customization that comes with the rings is free.

The first technique for pilots to safely exit air craft when they were in danger of crashing involved the use of parachutes. Before that the pilot was just out of luck.

Ejection seats were developed by the Germans when the increased air speed of mordern aircraft made it impractical to use a parachute for escape. Increased air speed made it almost impossible for the pilot to exit the moving plane and there was the danger of being hit by the tail.

Ejection speed had to be experimented with when the seats were first used. The large explosive charge used to expel the pilot also caused spinal cord compression and possibly other injuries. In the end ejection seats used several smaller charges which quickly ejected the pilot but were less traumatic in effects on the body.

Zero zero ejection seats were later developed primarily for the Navy, but they are in use in most fighter planes of today. The zero-zero seat could safely eject a pilot at zero altitude, and zero airspeed. This was especially beneficial to carrier pilots because of the unique way that they have to take off and land.

Our pilots are a very valuable asset to us. It takes a lot of time and dollars to train a pilot so you can see why it is important to keep them alive. The pilot who has escaped from trouble can use a  pilot's ring to tell his story.  

Although it is not the picture shown here the USS Lake Eerie was the Navy ship chosen to shoot down USA 193 or NROL-21 which was a US spy satellite launched in Dec 2006. The satellite malfunctioned shortly after liftoff and could never be brought back under control.

It was shot down 14 months after it was launched. The AEGIS Anti-Ballistic Missile System was modified and utilized to successfully shoot the satellite down.

 The problem with the entire process was that the missile was not designed to shoot down satellites. Neither was the Navy. The Navy crewmen were given a very short time to retrain to be able to shoot the satellite down. In addition the missile's internal workings had to be modified in a very short period of time to accomplish this task along with the existing radar. The official reason given for having to shoot down the satellite was that it contained 1,000 pounds of highly toxic satellite fuel which was potentially harmful to people if not destroyed. The kicker to the whole ordeal was that not only did they have to shoot down the satellite, but they had to hit in in the fuel tank!! This is while it was tumbling through space!!!

This is a wonderful story to tell and a custom US Navy ring would be a good vehicle to convey it to others.

The United States Strategic Command USSTRATCOM is one of the combat commands of the United States Department of Defense. It was created in 1992 with the purpose of replacing the Strategic Air Command (SAC).

When I looked at the laundry list of duties for STRATCOM I must say that I was overwhelmed. Each function is vitally important for our national defense and each one has no room for error. Here is a partial list; space operations, information operations, missile defense, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, global strike, strategic deterrence, and combating weapons of mass destruction.

The duties and responsibilities are so all encompassing that there is no way that we can cover them in this blog. Any person who has ever served in STRATCOM whether military or civilian can create his or her own service ring to tell the story of their service more adequately. The beauty of creating the service ring is that you can be very specific and tell a better story of your own experiences.

The office of US Naval Intelligence was created in 1882 with the purpose of spying on the Navies of other countries. As time went on the duties were expanded to include the responsibility of protecting Navy personnel, censorship, and the ferreting out of spies and saboteurs.

This is a serious business and the people who are assigned these responsibilities take them seriously. The actions, inaction, and decisions of Navy Intelligence personnel have immediate and wide ranging consequencies on other Navy personnel. This is why we are taking the time to mention this office here. We don't know a whole lot about what they do but I will bet you that if they weren't on the job the whole world would know because they would get much more scrutiny.

If you or a friend or loved one works in Naval Intelligence or have ever done so, you can use the many options that we offer to create your own custom Naval Intelligence ring You can call us at 912-877-4734 and we will be more than happy to assist you with any questions that you may have. 

This unit has many stories that can be told. It is the unit stationed at Fort Irwin California. I could tell about its involvement in The Philipine-American War, The Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, but that is not the purpose of this post today. This unit has earned the right to wear just about every military ring that we produce because of its rich history.

What we should produce for them is a ring called the National Training center ring. We have their unit crest which can be mixed with any of the other designs that I have mentioned above.

When I was active duty Army some years ago my unit (the 24th Infantry Division) had an ongoing rivalry with this unit. The reason was that we would have to face them in the National Training Center in Fort Irwin CA several times a year. We were one of the very few active duty divisions which defeated them in battle from time to time, but let me tell you in order to defeat them you had to pack a lunch because it took everything that you had and then some. This unit had the job of functioning as the enemy for units which had to train to fight in Desert Warfare. Since the 24th Infantry Division was created specifically to respond to middle east problems we had the dubious distinction of having to go up against these guys on a regular basis. I have to give them all of the props that I can because we lost more to them than we won, but we won some too.

This unit trained year round for its mission and the reason that they were so good was that they would go up against unit after unit year after year. That was all that they did. I really believe that they were infinitely better than the enemy that they represented. I will give them much of the credit for they way that our Armed Forces were able to defeat Saddam Hussein in both Iraqi Freedom and Desert Storm. The training that we received opposing them was absolutely the best training possible.

If you are not sure grasshopper let me educate you. This term is very familiar to our Navy readers but to us landlubbers more education is needed.

The official definition of a "Deck" is a permanent covering over a compartment or hull of a ship. The primary deck is the top deck of the hull and serves as the primary working surface. Every other working surface of the ship is also called a deck whether it is located above or below the primary deck.

The main purpose of the primary deck is for the structural support of the hull of the ship itself. Protection from the elements is the secondary purpose. It also serves to support the weight of people and equipment, and it serves as an equipment platform for specialized equipment. Now check this out. The desk has various parts some of which are the; 1) Scantling or topside which is the actual material that the deck is composed of. The type and weight of the scantling may vary depending on the functions accomplished on the deck. 2) Fittings which are built onto the deck for various purposes. There are also numerous other parts which are too many to try to talk about in this short post.

When a ship or boat has more than one level each level is referred to as a deck and the floor of each deck is known as the sole. Decks can be named and or numbered according to location and function. This is necessary on larger boats or ships with multiple decks.

Many times we are not familiar with the terminology that other services may use. All of this was new to me since I was not affiliated with the Navy during my time in the Armed Forces. When you design a custom Navy ring you display your own unique set of experiences that are exclusive to your time in service and in doing so you educate those of us who were never affliated with your branch of service. 

The Master Chief Petty Officer is the highest ranking enlisted person in the Navy and the Coast Guard. The other Petty Officer ranks are Chief Petty Officer and Senior Chief Petty Officer.

This rank corresponds to the rank of Sergeant Major in the Army and the Marine Corps. He is the senior enlisted member of the chain of command so just like the Sergeant Major he is the biggest, baddest, meanest, ugliest mutha in the valley.

This rank gets the respect of enlisted and officers. The chief is revered for his knowledge and is considered to be the technical expert in his field.

Official duties of the Chief Petty Officer are to assist the commander in issues regerding: quality of life, discipline, training, and morale. Aboard submarines he is known as the "Chief of the Boat."

This rank is so vital and the job of the "Master Chief" is so important that we created a side panel design for the customer who wishes to create a Master Chief Petty Officer's ring. This design is just one of many types and styles of military ring designs that we offer.

The term "Leatherneck " is one of many slang terms for Marines but few people know of its orgins. This term came into being because it referred to the high leather collar which used to be issued to British and American Marines.

One rumor about the purpose of this collar was that it was issued to Marines to protect the neck from sword blows. It was a 3 and 1/2 inch collar which fastened at the back. The true story behind this leather collar is that its purpose was to keep the head straight and erect thus improving military bearing.

The leather collar has not been used for many years but if you will notice the high stiff collar on the dress blue uniform. This is a throwback to the old leather collar.

Now look at the uniform that this marine is wearing. It looks sharp but one thing that I believe will help out is a USMC military ring.

The US Army Air Assault school is located in Fort Campbell Kentucky. It's primary purpose is to train soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in Air Assault (Airmobile) operations. The school is not limited to the 101st Airborne Division but is open to all regular Army soldiers.

Air Assault operations primarily use the helicopter as a tool to move troops and equipment around the battlefield. Soldiers and equipment are more often inserted behind emeny lines to conduct operations in the enemies rear areas.

Airmobile tactics were born out of the Vietnam war. These tactics were the response to the guerilla warfare that Americans were engaged in for the first time because soldiers could strike rapidly from almost anywhere on the battlefield. It was also good because the dense jungles hampered ground movement. If you were ever a member of the 101st or attended the Air Assault school we have plenty of air assault ring designs that you can choose from for your military ring. We pride ourselves on the amount of customization that we have available for you.

Unfortunately another 48th BCT soldier was killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan. We want  to send our sincere condolences to all of the family members and friends of every soldier from this unit that has been killed or wounded in action in Afghanistan and Iraq. I comment so much on this unit because they are stationed so near to me here in South East Georgia. I have met and served many of the soldiers of this unit. If any of the members of this unit reads this I am the custom military ring man who helped you all to design your Iraqi Freedom rings.

Although I haven't seen you in a while my thoughts are still with you. Hopefully this troop build up will help us to get things under control and you all will be able to come home soon. If my count is accurate you have 4 KIA's this trip. We will pray that you don't get to number 5. Thank you for the outstanding job that you are doing and come home soon.

The 48th Infantry Brigade is a modular infantry brigade of the Georgia Army National Guard. It was organized in 1825 and served the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. The unit was brought into service on April 20 1861 at Macon GA and was surrendered at Appomattox VA.

The 48th has seen action in Bosnia in support of Task Force Eagle and during Operation Iraqi Freedom III. It took heavy casualties during OIF because it was deployed in one of the most troubled areas of Baghdad. Unfortunately I had the pleasure of knowing many of those fine soldiers who lost their lives during this conflict.

We have served this unit with many custom military rings over the years, and have made many good acquaintances with these soldiers. This unit is scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom during the summer of 2009. We wish you Godspeed in your mission and we wish you a safe return.

From time to time we get questions about our goldtone celestrium military rings I attempt to answer some of the most commomly asked questions about our goldtone celestrium rings. These rings are also known as vladium. Celestrium is a jeweller's alloy which is strong, durable, malleable, extremely chemically resistant to tarnishing and corrosion, and looks identical to our real gold rings. It takes a practised eye to tell the difference.

The goldtone celestrium is celestrium with a 14kt gold overlay. It comes with a lifetime guarantee also and is more resistant than gold to damage. The celestrium ring costs less than the gold ring and is a good alternative especially if you are on a budget, if you wish to wear your ring daily. or if you are afraid of losing it.

The celestrium ring comes with the antiqued finish, whereas gold rings can come with either the antiqued or natural finish. Every design that comes with the gold ring can be placed onto the celestrium ring.

The goldtone celestrium ring is an excellent choice if you want the exact look of 14kt yellow gold without having to pay the same price.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar who was the Taliban's top military leader has been captured in Karachi Pakistan. According to our source he was captured about ten days ago and is cooperating with his interrogators. Does it seem strange to you that he was captured ten days ago and we are just finding out about it? Its not a strange thing O military ring customer. I will explain the reason why. If he is cooperating our military definitely didn't want the enemy to know until it could act on the information thet it received. If the intelligence was good it has helped the war effort tremendously. The critical intelligence may have resulted in more Taliban casualties, but one thing is for sure, it definitely resulted in saving American and possibly civilian lives.

Also notice O military ring customer of mine that they don't give any details of the capture. Well it smells just like a mission which was pulled off by our Spec Ops military ring customers. We may never know how it was done and our Special Operations military ring customers for sure won't tell so lets just be grateful for their service. Maybe we will find out one day how it was done and I will bet you hard money that either our Special Forces ring customers, or our Navy SEAL ring customers had something to do with it. 

This capture is very significant because Mr. Barader coordinated all of the Taliban's military movements. So in other words if he is talking we have all of their military plans. Now personally I don't think that it is a coincidence that he was captured right at the start of the operation. Had he been taken earlier the Taliban would have had time to react and change their plans. Our military ring customers in Afghanistan took him at the most inconvenient time for the Taliban. Thank you for a job well done.

If you really take the time to look at the facts of this case it will be a tribute and a testament to our intelligence gathering capabilities in the Middle East. The story is that two terrorists were jailed in Bahrain for plotting terror attacks against US Navy ships and personnel in Bahrain, and weapons charges. Don't you think its kind of strange that a small cell of two men could be found and taken down right before they were to begin their attack. Our intelligence services must have had their phones tapped because they knew that they were waiting on orders from higher ups.

Yes thats right. The two were ready and waiting on their attack orders when they were nabbed. One of the two was a customs officer. The NSA provided the information which led to their arrest and government prosecuters allege that the men were trained in Jordan. They don't make allegations without having some form of knowledge so I'm willing to believe that they know exactly what they are talking about. This was a good job by our government service ring customers in the NSA

Check out this last little tidbit O military ring customers. When the residences of the would be attackers were searched numerous weapons, bomb building paraphernalia, maps, and photos of the target areas were found in their possesion. The terrorists claim that they were stockpiling weapons to help fight off an impending Iranian attack but that sounds like a crock to me. They were just caught by the superior intelligence gathering capabilities of our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers in Bahrain.  

My question to everyone is, Who's minding the store? Are we keeping an eye on the movements and manipulations of the Chinese government my honorable military ring customers? Does anyone have a clue of the diabolical undercover operations that the Chinese are conducting? WE NEED to keep an eye on China. Who was it that we assigned the task of watching China? Is he asleep on the job? Somebody needs to wake up.

I have done many posts on the Chinese military buildup and what it entails. The Chinese are conducting a war against us the United States on all fronts. I was sitting in the clinic to have some more of my periodic physical done this morning when I saw on the news how the Chinese are buying up all of the US stock that they can get from us. Oil stocks, precious metals, and the like. Thats serious to me. Why are we letting the enemy creep in?

Now my precious grasshopper, I hear you saying, "so what." Well the problem is this stocks denote ownership. When you buy stock in a company you own a percent of that company. So my question to you is why do they need so much stock? It most certainly gives them financial leverage over us. Leverage that they can exercise at the time of their choosing.

Now let me add to this, the Chinese hold between 6 and 7 percent of the US debt. This is caused by a rising trade deficit. Now let me add one more little tidbit to the pot. The Chinese currently hold about 7 trillion in US currency. You may ask again my venerable little military ring customer, Who cares? The deal on that is this; the Chinese can decide to dump that currency into our economy at any time which would wreak absolute havoc on our economy. That many dollars suddenly dumped into the economy would cause currency prices to tumble and very likely send this country into a deep recession.

So please don't have to make me say I told you so my custom military ring customer. Lets keep our eyes on the Chinese government.

My question to everyone is, Who's minding the store? Are we keeping an eye on the movements and manipulations of the Chinese government my honorable military ring customers? Does anyone have a clue of the diabolical undercover operations that the Chinese are conducting? WE NEED to keep an eye on China.

I have done many posts on the Chinese military buildup and what it entails. The Chinese are conducting a war against us the United States on all fronts. I was sitting in the clinic to have some more of my periodic physical done this morning when I saw on the news how the Chinese are buying up all of the US stock that they can get from us. Oil stocks, precious metals, and the like.

Now my precious grasshopper, I hear you saying, "so what." Well the problem is this stocks denote ownership. When you buy stock in a company you own a percent of that company. So my question to you is why do they need so much stock?

Now let me add to this, the Chinese hold between 6 and 7 percent of the US debt. This is caused by a rising trade deficit. Now let me add one more little tidbit to the pot. The Chinese currently hold about 7 trillion in US currency. You may ask again my venerable little military ring customer, Who cares? The deal on that is this; the Chinese can decide to dump that currency into our economy at any time which would wreak absolute havoc on our economy. That many dollars suddenly dumped into the economy would cause currency prices to tumble and very likely send this country into a deep recession.

So please don't have to make me say I told you so my custom military ring customer. Lets keep our eyes on the Chinese government. This thing is really getting deep. If I have sense enough to see whats going on I'm sure that our State Department realizes this also.

Tempers seem to be flaring a little bit in Haiti with some agencies complaining about the way that some things are being done but that is normal. Relief workers are stressed by the situation which looks hopeless, they have seen a lot of carnage, and things still need to be sorted out. They are under a tremendous amount of stress and they are desperately trying to help. You have to give them a hand for what they are enduring to help the population of that country.

There is an estimated 200,000 dead, 250,000 wounded, and 1.5 million who have been left homeless. Many victims were left for days without food, water, shelter, and medical aid while rescue efforts had to be geared up. Rescue workers are still pulling wounded victims out of the rubble and there is no doubt that many have died slow deaths in the rubble and debris before they could be rescued.

The World Food Program has been feeding between 60 to 100,00 people per day which is pretty remarkable, but there are many out there who still aren't able to get food. as a result violence is beginning to escalate as many Haitians search for food or whatever else that they can get. The rescue efforts and aid that our military ring customers have rendered has been remarkable but we have a long way to go yet. 

Once again let me tell you that our soldiers do a whole lot more than kill people and blow stuff up. This post is to tell you a little about some of the other things that our troops are capable of.

Members of the 1-19th Agribusiness Development Team are teaching Afghan Farmers how to grow something other than poppies. They will have a tough job ahead of them because the farmers will have to be convinced that we will help them to increase their crop yield. They are also making good money from poppies so some convincing is in order.

The countries agriculture has been ravished by years of war. the poor farmers had to do whatever they could to survive so they grow and harvest poppies for the opium trade. Since it has been a lucrative business for them it will be hard to get them to change. Hopefully good crop yields will convince them to do it the way that we want them to.

I was talking to a reformed drug dealer just yesterday who was telling me about the money that he made by dealing drugs. He would work from 9 until 12 each day. After that he wouldn't sell anymore but he still made mad money. You can see how it would be hard to convince someone making good money to give it up unless you can show them something better.

Each team member uses a soil sampling kit to check the composition of the soil so that we will know the additional steps to take to increase crop yield. Farmers are being shown how to increase yield. Once they see that our methods work better hopefully they will not be hesitant to use them. Most of the farmers only own small plots of land so they consume most if not all of what they produce. This is another story that our custom military rings can be used to tell. It is a unique story for our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers but it is a good one.

Our military ring customers helping out in Haiti are standing strong and working to bring some organization to the chaos. The Coast Guard Cutter Oak will be there soom and will deliver heavy machinery to help get the port back up and running. We have also got the airport operational by prioritizing the delivery of equipment. There are also about 30 helicopters in use which are ferrying supplies across the country.

Our troops are working hand in hand with United Nations troops and Haitian police forces with 1,000 troops working on land, 3,000 aboard ship, and another 12,000 expected in next week. The biggest challange that they face at this time is establishing some kind of order in that situation. To do so priorities had to be set up. Once the top priorities are met then secondary priorities can be addressed.

Contrary to popular belief our troops can do more than blow up stuff and kill people although they do uhose things extremely well. The world should take note of our custom military ring customers and recognize them for the good that they are capable of.

This post goes back to the case of the 5 Americans arrested in Pakistan for suspected terrorist intentions in that country. The Pakistanis insist that they have enough information to put these prisoners away for life and if so I hope that they do.

What really scares me is that all of these are AMERICAN citizens from the DC area. One of the suspects father (Khalid Farouq) has been released because of lack of evidence but I guess he knew how to keep his hands clean.

They claim that they wanted to go to Afghanistan to help their Muslim brothers fight against the US forces there and that they have no connection with al-Qaeda. The biggest unanswered question to me is this. Why did they have a map in their possession of an area in Pakistan which was so close to one of its nuclear facilities if they didn't mean to do anything? I know that I am not the fastest bird in the flock so will one of you custom military ring people explain that one to me? 

The military is making good use of K-9's during Operation Enduring Freedom. They have made many contributions to the effort and have probably saved many lives due to their explosive detection capabilities. They can also be used for patrols, drug detection, and as guard dogs.

the K-9's have been used in some instances to sniff out explosives in buildings before our troops went in, and in many instances have prevented problems. They have also been credited with finding several bomb making factories.

The K-9 and its handler will serve 12 month tours of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom after several months of training and an unspecified get acquainted period. The use of K-9's has been cited as a force multiplier for our military ring customers who are serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani is warning Yemeni citizens to beware of a US occupation if American troops are allowed in the country. I think that this is a very clever lie to put pressure on the Yemeni government to not allow a US prescence in that country. That is fine since the US currently has no plans to send troops anyway. We have more than enough on our plate with all of the other drama that we have going on in this war on terror.

The crafty thing about this announcement is that it sets Yemen up to become a safe haven for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. If the government there is not strong enough to hold its own against these terrorists and the US can't enter...well you can figure the rest.

The Yemeni government sort of has ties with al-Qaeda so it is in a touchy situation. Part of the reason for its actions against terrorists is recent attacks in that country.

Our best bet is to shore up that government as much as possible. This works in our interest and theirs. The point that I want you to ponder o custom military ring customers of mine is this; will the Yemeni population buy into this propaganda?  

Here is a little update for all of you custom military ring customers who don't know about it yet. It seems that the suicide bomber who killed 7 US CIA agents recently was a double agent. He was able to really play the CIA on this one. I bet it won't happen again though.

Humam Khalil Abu al-Balawi had convinced the CIA that he would help them to track down Ayman al- Zawahri who is reported to be Osama bin Ladens right hand soldier. This explains why he was able to get into the CIA compound without being searched. Obviously he had worked with his handler long enough to gain a degree of confidence which he exploited in order to make his suicide attack.

He blew himself and the CIA operators up while he was being debriefed. Now at this point my precious military ring customers my superior intelligence kicks in and tells me that he had offered information before which was credible to the CIA to get his foot in the door so to speak.

Mr al Balawi had produced a video on or about Dec 20th where he tells that he would get revenge for the killing of an al-Qaeda operative. Its a small victory for the terrorists in this war but our custom military ring customers who are serving will have the final say in victory.

Now I know that I am probably going to get roasted by many of you custom navy ring customers for this but I want to add my 2 cents here. No I was never in the US Navy, I was in the Army. I just want to voice my opinion on the major question of this conference.

The question will be should the Navy add more Littoral Combat Ships to its arsenal or should it add a number of multipurpose fast attack craft?

My answer is this; keep the LCS because it gives us such a technology advantage that I don't see how we can afford not to utilize it fully. We do need a number of multipurpose fast attack craft, but I don't think that we need very many. My reasoning is that the only reason the navy will need the fast attack craft is to combat piracy. We don't need a large fleet for that. The rest of the world community needs to help with this problem since it is not exclusively a US problem. We need to look to the future use of the LCS since each LCS is also a multipurpose craft. The LCS can also perform many of those missions that we would use the smaller craft for. It is also a multiuse vessel. Personally I feel that it can be used to take on a large portion of this workload. What do the rest of you Navy ring customers think? 

You probably have heard of the silkworm missile which was very heavily utilized by the Iraqi's and Iranians in their was during the 1980's. It was really popularized by the press because it was the thing to report about at that time.

This missile was developed by the Chinese and has several variations. We will talk about the SY1 and SY2 in the intrest of time today. There are some minor differences in the two but the main thing is that the SY2 used solid fuel for propulsion. The reason for the switch was that the SY1 was unreliable and the liquid fuel would cause problems. The liquid fuel version of the missile had a longer range but the solid fueled motor was a better tradeoff.

The maximum range of the SY2 is 130 kilometers. It is 6 meters long and weighs in at slightly less than the SY1 at 1,720 kilograms. The silkworm is no joke and is well respected by our Navy ring customers because of its capabilities to inflict damage. The maximum range of the SY1 was 150 kilometers.

Sometimes its good to talk to people who are close to ground zero when something happens who can tell you the real deal. We hear accounts which come from dirrerent places and they do the best that they can but the more a story is told the more it changes. Unless of course you use a military ring to tell it but thats another story altogether.

I met and conversed with a military ring customer today who I'll call Dave. Dave has been working as a personal security guard in Afghanistan for several years so he has a pretty good idea of what is actually happening in that country. I took advantage of the opportunity to ask him some questions about several of the topics that I have blogged about recently to get the thoughts of someone who knows whats going on. Two of the topics that I asked about were the blackwater incident and the use of drones in Afghanistan.

When I asked about the Blackwater he gave me his thoughts on it. One thing that he mentioned is that insurgents will take pot shots at you when you are in their area. One tactic is to shoot at you and when you put that shooter down another will come and pick up the weapon to use against you. The Taliban will frequently use innocents as cover so sometimes innocents will get hurt. Any weapons left at the scene of a shooting will be picked up and carted away because they are worth so much money. Dave also told me that there was a lot of expended 7.62mm ammunition found at the site of the Blackwater incident. For those of you civilians who don't know 7.62mm is the bullet that the AK-47 uses. My custom military ring customers will know this already.  

According to the wife of the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed the 7 CIA employees on Dec 30 in his suicide attack he was angry with the United States for the treatment of the prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. What a way to express anger. Its funny what offends people. We never see the things that we do but we can always see what others do. 

I was angry too when those suicide bombers hijacked airliners and killed thousands of innocent people on 9 11 but it didn't provoke me to bomb anybody else. As a matter of fact I was absolutely and completely upset as I'm sure were millions of other people. In his mind his logic must have been noble, but it was absolutely wacked out if you ask me. What do the rest of you custom military ring customers have to say about it?

Dafne Bayrak, the widow of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi who was the suicide bomber feels that the war against the United States must go on. She is just as whacked out as her late husband. When I first thought about writing this post I was going to talk about how negative propaganda can affect US relations, but when I really looked at it I changed my mind. If some call Abu Ghraib a provocation for this attack I call it an excuse. People do absolutely what they want to. I say if you are going to do a deed just do it. Don't make up a reason. 

The Yemeni government has vowed to fight terrorism within its borders. It has been getting a huge dose of encouragement from the United States and a large infusion of money but you have to do what you have to do. Obviously we are getting some movement out of our middle east allies. We need all of the help that we can get in our efforts against terrorists. Getting our middle eastern allies involved could be the difference between winning and losing.

Last week the Yemenis conducted several operations against al-Qaeda which seem to have been a resounding success. The attacks targeted al-Qaeda hideouts and targeted a number of al-Qaeda leaders who were believed to be having a pow wow. Several suspected high ranking al-Qaeda operators were believed killed in the attacks.

The first attack killed about 30 terrorists, and another 25 suspected al-Qaeda operators were captured in another operation.

The Yemenis were responding to US intelligence reports of the terrorists in the area and had to go on the offensive when they learned of several suspected suicide attacks which al-Qaeda was planning to conduct.

Our military in Afghanistan has stopped destroying poppy fields because destroying them caused more problems than it solved. The matter of whether to destroy the poppies or to leave them alone is very complicated with the cons of destroying them seemingly outweighed by the pros of leaving them alone.

The poppies are a way of life for many of the farmers of that area. Even though we gave them wheat seeds to replace the poppies the poppies won out for various reasons. The major one being financial. This is a dilema for our Operation Enduring Freedom Ring  customers currently serving in Afghanistan.

We can't win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people of that region if we continue to destroy their livelihood but at the same time we can't condone the drug trade either. The Afghan farmer doesn't know anything about the drug trade in the United States and I'm sure that he doesn't care. All he sees when we burn his poppy fields is us taking the food off of his table. We need his cooperation if we are to get the job done there and exit the country so this kind of puts us on the spot. So what do you do? 

This is just a little bit disturbing for me to talk about but Pakistan has captured five American men who it is certain were about to conduct some sort of terrorist operation in that country. the men were from the D.C. area and were believed to have been in touch with the Taliban there.  They were captured with incrimminating evidence on them which was a map to some sensitive areas in that country.

The question that the custom military ring man has for you grasshopper is this; How many more Americans are overseas undergoing terrorist training? How many of those intend to hit targets here at home. It seems that it is only a matter of time before someone does. Frankly the military ring man is a little bit surprised that our government has been able to keep the American population safe this far.

I know that there have been Somali americans who have left this country and trained in terrorists camps. The disturbing thing is that these men could have entered this country at will. They were American citizens. This is getting pretty scary.

We really need to support our government and our fellow countrymen at this particular time in history. Don't be lulled into thinking that nothing can happen. We are kind of spoiled because our government has been able to protect us so far. My question to you is how do we keep terror within our borders under control? Should we give up more of our civil rights for the prospect of safety.

Some of you younger military ring customers may not remember this incident but I do. I was stationed in the 2/18th Field Artillery in Fort Sill Oklahoma at the time. This was the first of this type terrorist attack that I remember and it was a shock to many people.

This blast occured on October 23 1983 and resulted in the deaths of 220 US Marines and 18 of our Navy personnel along with about 79 French soldiers. This was one of the greatest single day losses of the lives of US troops in history.

The attack was conducted by suicide bombers driving two seperate trucks. The blasts occurred about two minutes apart. It definitely caught us by surprise that time but we took prudent steps to prevent it from happening again.

The bombing had the effect of causing the UN peacekeeping force to leave the country. In the aftermath we learned some lessons that we have applied to our outposts in trouble areas which have greatly helped to prevent this type of situation from ever occurring again.

Somali pirates have racked up a victory by collecting a four million dollar ransom from the Chinese government. The ship and its crew of 25 were captured in mid October about 700 miles off of the coast of Somalia. Thr Somalis are still reputed to have 8 ships and over 200 other crewmen in captivity from other countries. This business is obviously very lucrative to them so I don't see them ever quitting on their own volition.

The area that the pirates operate in is so vast that they can not always be caught and stopped. The fact that governments are paying their ransom won't do anything to help the situation but what can you do? Our custom navy ring customers cover much of the area but it is just too big. 

The Chinese freighter was released without incident and the crew and ship are in good condition. I wonder what can be done in the future to rescue captured crewmen? This seems like the type of situation that our new Littoral Combat Ships would excel in. Let me hear the opinions of some of you  custom navy ring customers on what could possibly be done to stop the piracy.

We might be in a situation like when the marine corps had to attack northern Africa back in the day to stop the ptrates there. All of our marine corps ring customers have to study this in their history.

MEDEVAC is normally performed by the US Army although every branch of the armed services have procedures for evacuating casualties. MEDEVAC is different from casualty evacuation in that MEDEVAC units don't knowingly go into hot zones because they are not combatants. MEDEVAC is the transportation of the wounded warrior to a hospital rather than a casualty collection point or an aid station. I am using Army terms here. Some of you marine corps military ring customers may use different terminology. The Air Force uses its pararescue to locate and evacuate downed pilots which is different from MEDEVAC.

In the event a soldier has to be evacuated from a combat zone a casualty evacuation vehicle is used. This will be a vehicle organic to the soldiers unit which is armored for protection or it may be a lightly armed helocopter. Once the casualty is moved to a safe area he can be MEDEVAC'ed  to hospital where he can be  treated for more serious injuries.

During peacetime all custom US Army military ring customers are drilled on MEDEVAC procedures and call signs. if a soldier is wounded or injured during training the training is halted and the MEDEVAC will come directly to the units location. If his injury is not serious or life threatning he will be evacuated to the units aid station to be treated and released.

In what seems to be a success the Iraqi government brought a potentially lethal situation to a peaceful end recently when they reacqured the oil well at al-Fakkeh. The oil well which sits about 50 meters from the Iranian border was recently seized by Iranian troops. There are many places where the border is is dispute because it is not clear exactly where the line is located.

The well was reacquired without violence and the situation seems to be well in hand. This is a small victory in diplomacy for the new government but it is a good one.

The Iraqis are also working on an international deal to sell some of their oil revenues to get money flowing again.

Although these things are small steps they are positive actions at the same time. Those custom military ring customers who follow this blog stationed in Iraq are well aware of many of the struggles that the fledgling government is facing and must face in the future. We certainly hope for everyones sake that they will be able to survive this time of crisis. I know that our customers who have ordered Operation Iraqi Freedom rings who are still in country is rooting for the new government so that they will be able to return home.

The president of Venezuela has recently made accusations against the United States and Columbia. He sounds pretty paranoid to me. Isn't there a psychological term for that? I was chillin and enjoing life when I read this and it broke my peace. Now I'm thinking is it just me? Cause I have read some crazy stuff today.

He says that Columbia is allowing the United States to use its military bases to stage an attack on Venezuela. Why on earth would we want to attack Venezuela? To annex it as the 51st State. Give me a break.

Now get this all of you loyal military ring people. He has accused the Netherlands of allowing us to use outlying islands to stage an attack on his country.

He has also cited a recent incident where he says that a US drone flew over from Columbia to spy on his country. Now that may in fact be true I don't doubt that we are flying drones over his country but my guess is that if we are it is for drug interdiction purposes. Mr Chavez is overestimating his worth if you ask me. Why would the United States want to spend the time and effort to attack his country? If one of you brilliant custom military ring people has the answer please let me know.

Now let me share this one with you and correct me if I'm wrong but the thinking behind this one is askew if you ask me. I may be wrong but I can't see it the same way as Mr. Al- Zawahri. One of us is woefully off point and I don't think that it is me. If I am the one with the problem please somebody let me know. Anyway let me tell you the story.

According to a news article that I just read the deputy commander of al-Qaeda is upset and a little bit frustrated with our president. Is that a kick or what?

Aymon Al-Zawahri criticized President Obama's handling of the situation in the Mideast. (You talk about a pot calling a kettle black). He dosen't think that President Obama has done enough to reach out for peace in the region and that all of his talk about peace is just superflous. My question first to you precious military ring customer is this. Does this make any sense at all to you? My question to Mr Al-Zawahri is this. What exactly do you want dude? Are you high?

I would challenge him to make the first positive move then and show us how it should be done. Does anyone have any feedback for the custom military ring man on this one? I have to admit that I am just a little bit baffled on this one.

The 1 Star General is the lowest of the flag officer (General Officer's) rank. In order to be promoted to the rank of 1 star the officer must be selected by a board of Generals for recommendation. He or she is then chosen by the President and has to be confirmed by the Senate. Sounds deep dosen't it?

Then after appointment the 1 Star can only serve for 5 years. Did many of you military ring customers know that? After that time he or she must either be promoted or retire unless he or she has less than 30 years of military service. For all of you US Navy ring customers this rank is equal to the rank of Rear Admiral.

Normally in a Combat Division in the Army there are three generals. A 2 Star and 2 One Star Generals. Each 1 star assists the Division Commander in a different way. The ADCM controls the actual combat forces while the ADCS is in charge of the Division's logistics.

This move is part of the effort to close down the Navy run prison in Guantanimo Bay in Cuba. Approximately 100 terror detainees will be moved there as a first wave of transfers. Others will be transported to other prisons which we don't know of yet.

The move will be good for the town of Thomson which desperately needs the revenue that the Federal purchase will generate. The state government gets to unload the prison which was languishing and the move will provide some jobs for the town's residents.

The move will also open the door for the prisoners to be tried on American soil. This will be good news for a few  government service ring customers who happen to work in State and Federal prisons. Hopefully some other languishing prisons will be revitalized by the move.

General Stanley McChrystal is suggesting a plan which sounds like a winner to me. I wonder if you Enduring Freedom ring customers will agree with me on this one. The gist of his plan is to offer the Taliban a way to bow out of its war in Afghanistan gracefully.

The thing about this is that the Taliban is there to stay whether they win or lose the war so why not offer them a way to save face and be repatriated back into the government.

This sounds like a winner to me but the question is what if they don't accept? All of you custom military ring customers know about Murphy's law. The Taliban dosen't see things the way that we westeners do. They may feel that if this is a holy war we can't be allowed one bit of leverage. Thats definitely a point to consider.

I also think that for this strategy to work we have to really bloody them up with the troop surge. if we hurt them bad enough it might make it easier for them to decide to bow out gracefully. Then again you can't predict the response. What sounds logical to us is not necessarily logicalto them.

This story is a testament to how high tech the war on terror has become and it is a small picture of how technology will effect any future wars.

Iraqi hackers were able to tap into feeds from some of the drones that we are using in the war on terror.

In doing so they were able to monitor real time footage from the drones. This was done using off the shelf software. It is believed that they were assisted by Iranian military trainers.

I'm sure that there was no serious harm done by the hackers. From what I read all they were able to do was to see some of the video feeds that the drone operators were able to see. This incident is classified by the custom military ring man as one of tose quirks that is peculiar to this war.

I'm sure that steps have already taken by the Department of Defense to correct this problem.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has taken exception to a statement made by President Barrack Obama. President Obama's statement was about the war in Afghanistan. He basically said that commanders in Afghanistan asked for more troops under the Bush administration but those troops were never sent. To be honest this statement dosen't take all of the issues into account such as priorities.

Mr Rumsfield's response was that there were no requests for additional troops while he was in office that he was aware of. He also says that such a bald misstatement (in other words the President is a bald faced liar) should require a written explanation. Now military ring customers, I'm not going to take sides here but I will state the facts as I know them.

First of all I have NEVER in ALL of my military life known a commander to not ask for more than what he had. The nature of every commander in the military, as I'm sure that our military ring customers know is that he or she never feels that they have all of the resources that they need.

In all fairness to Mr Rumsfeld resources were tight and we were stretched real thin so additional soldiers were not available to send right away. Also Iraq was the priority mission so all resources had to be channeled there first.

General David McKierman who was commander of troops in Afghanistan remembers things differently than Mr Rumsfield does. He served under the Bush administration and says that he tried many times to get additional troops and resourses but with no results. Times have really changed for our custom military ring customers in Afghanistan since that time, hopefully we will have the resources available to do the job.

The Brigade Combat Team is the basic Army unit which is deployed to conduct extended combat operations. With the onset of the War on Terror the US Army had to change its concept of deploying units into combat. The threat is not army against army any more but one force on another force.

The Brigade Combat Team contains everything that it needs to conduct sustained combat operations. It has attached support units for maintenance and logistics purposes. The team can be a heavy (armor and mechanized infantry) or a light (light infantry) team depending of the area, ememy, and terrain that it will operate in. You can see that within the BCT there is a limitless possibility of custom military rings which can be produced.

The artillery which used to be organic to the division has now been placed directly within the brigade for control and cohesion. This creates a lean and mean unit which can fight the battle without a whole lot of reorganization. Our Field Artillery ring customers will no longer be able to use the name and insignia of a seperate DIVARTY because of this.

 We salute all of our military ring customers who are a part of the newly organized BCT. We particularily salute our friends of the 48th BCT who should be returning home soon. We have added a 48th BCT ring to our selection of military rings.

Camp Pendleton is a large base by any standard with an area of 124,ooo acres of land. It was established in 1942. The purpose of the base was to train Marines to fight in WWII. You can see the practicality of situating the base on the west coast when you look at the conduct of operations in the Pacific at that time. It was a good logistic location because it was right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Troops would simply have to be transported to ships by bus and loaded up.

The base has a daytime population of over 100,000 this is large by any stretch of the imagination. Many cities are not this large. It is the primary training area for amphibious warfare although amphibious warfare training is not the only type of warfare training conducted there.

The camp is the home of the 1st Marine Division. It is also a basic training base and many trainees will purchase their Marine Corps basic training rings upon graduation. Many of them will purchase an additional USMC ring later on in their careers because there are so many more military experiences open to them. This is also the area where we sell many 1st Marine Division rings.

The US Supreme court refused to hear allegations from 4 men who were Gitmo detainees at one time but have now been released. Personally I don't believe their allegations because I used to be an active duty soldier and I know the policies that we operated by when it came down to the treatment of EPW's. Now let me say that we were field soldiers and these were not prison conditions. Maybe being a prison guard would wear on you after a while and cause you to get strange. that I don't know, but I am skeptical about the detainees allegations.

These 4 alleged that they were tortured and forced to pose in very stressful positions. They also allege that they were harrassed by dogs and denied religious freedom while detained at Gitmo.

I will admit that there  may have been some isolated incidents but I just don't think it was a regular practice. Now to be perfectly honest with you if these men were in fact terrorists I don't have any sympathy for them at all. Not after I have witnessed some of the atrocities committed against innocent people. Especially after I have seen the beheadings. The view of the man is this, if you chose this lifestyle then take your medicine. Don't be a wuss. If you are a terrorist be hardmilitary ring  like you should. If you can dish it out, be sure that you can take it.

This bit of news is really not a surprise to me and it probably won't surprise oue Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers either but Osama bin Laden is reportedly believed to be slipping in and out of Afghnaistan.

Mr. bin Laden is believed to be somewhere in the Waziristan province on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is believed to be spending most of his time in Pakistan and slipping in and out as necessary.

One big question that remains is why can't he be caught. I believe that he is getting a lot of assistance from the countries that he frequents. I don't necessarily think that he is getting assistance from government officials, but we must understand that there is a fierce allegiance from fellow Arabs and I'm sure that it is not hard for him to get help. Arabs consider themselves to be brothers.If they fight each other is one thing but they will never cooperate with outsiders.

Let me give you an example of the difference between the Western and the Arab mindset. There is a $25,000,000 reward for the capture of Mr. bin Laden but no one has snitched him out yet. Now if one of us westeners were offered that kind of money we would flip on our own mother. You military ring customers know this just as well as I do. Twenty five million is a major piece of cheese. I'm not saying that I would snitch out my mother but I would definitely think about it. HARD.

You know that there has got to be someone who could rat him out but no one has. This is a major difference between Arab and Western thinking. In addition there may be some who want to but they would never be able to live down the shame that they would incur from their brothers. The big question is will the US ever catch him. The military ring man is not a betting man but if we haven't caught him so far the probability is that we never will. 

The US Coast Guard cutter Harriet Lane recently seized about 6,000 pounds of cocaine in the Carribbean Sea. That's a lot of blow folks. The loss of that kind of product had to put a serious dent in somebody's pocket. There has got to be a drug lord out there with a serious attitude.

The coke was seized from the Olympiakos which was from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. According to the article that I read the ship was spotted by aerial surveillance and the Coast Guard was alerted. They then boarded the ship and seized the cocaine.

Now I want all of you military ring customers to make a note of what isn't being said. You Coast Guard ring customers may be able to help us out on this one. What they don't say is how they knew that the ship was carrying cocaine...did you notice? You don't just follow ships and search them because of a hunch. I believe that they have some hi tech equipment that they are not telling us about. I may be wrong but it makes perfect sense to me. There has got to be something that they have that we don't know. We are probably better off not knowing because the drug dealers don't know either. Hooray to our Coast Guard ring customers for a job well done.

al-Qaeda detonated a series of bombs in Iraq on tuesday which resulted in the killing and wounding of about 300 Iraqi citizens. Maybe now the Iraqi population will direct some of that hate that they had for us at the rightful targets. Our Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers were the recipients of that hatred.

All of the blasts were aimed at facilities of the new pro American government so it seems that they were an obvious attempt to destabilize the government before it can get a firm grip on the affairs of the country. I certainly hope that the Iraqi government officials who ordered military rings from us are ok.

Some of the government buildings which were bombed were the Labor and Finance Ministry buildings. Maybe now many Iraqi citizens will see that the United States is not their real enemy. The recent attacks call into question the ability of the new government to protect the Iraqi people. I feel as though they will be able to stand but they will have a lot to quickly learn.

They also come at a time when elections are being planned by the new government. al-Qaeda knows that if the new government can successfully conduct elections it will in essence be sealed as the legitimate governing authority of the Iraqi people. The elections will be the biggest test so far.

The US Army Officer Candidate School (OCS) is located in Fort Benning Ga and is part of the US Army Infantry school although it is branch immaterial.

It is a means of rapidly producing qualified Officers in time of need if the situation dictates. It is one of 5 ways that a person can become an Officer in the US Army. Persons who can be selected to attend can come from various backgrounds. They can be enlisted personnel up to the rank of Master Sergeant, can come from the warrant officer ranks,  from other branches of the military, or can be civilians with a college degree who have attended Basic Combat Training (BCT).

The insignia which is shown at the top of the page is the insignia of the school and it is available for those of you who would like to create a custom OCS military ring. You can purchase it in all of the metal choices that we have available for our military rings. You can pick a different military ring design for the other side of your military ring which quite naturally will correlate with your other military experience.

This is the first post that we have done on the Judge Advocate General's Corps. When you think about the military the first thing that comes to mind is the combat soldier. I have been negligent in posting about some of the combat service support branches of the Army so I want to do more in terms of posting news and information about those branches. The combat arms branches of the Army are glamorous but the combat service support branches are just as vital to our national security.

Although we don't readily think about the JAG Corps they are present wherever we have soldiers around the globe. The JAG is composed of lawyers whose purpose is to assist commanders and soldiers in legal matters of all types. The JAG also consists of defense lawyers who provide legal counsel for military personnel, and prosecuting attorneys to execute military justice.

JAG Officers are appointed in a process which is not the same as other military officers. Most have no prior military experience. If a regular officer wishes to become a JAG he or she must be discharged from the military and reappointed. Even though I have neglected to talk about this branch in my blog postings Balfour didn't forget to add custom designs for their military rings for the customers who want to create a custom JAG military ring.

You can see why the military ring customers refer to this rank as a three star obviously when you look at the three stars of this rank insignia. The average soldier rarely if ever will see a three star General because they are not found at division level. I know I never have because I spent most of my military career in line units.

I found out some interesting things that I didn't know about this rank as I began to do the research for this article. First of all there is a finite number of General Officers which can be appointed in any branch of service at any one time.

This rank is common to the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. It is dependent on position and is a three year appointment. In other words the 3 star can only serve for three years. After that time he has to vacate the position to allow some other two star to move up. He or she must be confirmed by the Senate before serving in the office. I did not know that the rank was temporary until now although under certain circumstances it can be extended. I have never personally known any 3 star Generals although I have seen plenty of 2 star Generals. 

In what was billed as a book signing tour Sarah Palin visited Fort Bragg NC on November 22nd. I believe that this was really a thinly veiled campaign trip. She will continue on to Ft. Hood TX for her next session.

Military installations are not supposed to be used for campaign tours but since she is no longer a politician she was able to book the tours. So she is already bending the rules. I wonder how much more will she bend them if she is elected. 

Her tour provoked some anti Obama sentiment by republican party supporters but in my opinion the military is not the place for this. I understand why it is important for the Armed Services to keep a lid on this type of activity. 

The Commander in Chief is just that. It dosen't matter whether he or she is a Democrat or Republican. Soldiers are sworn to serve their country regardless of who the president happens to be. When you get people on a military base publicly critisizing the policies of the Commander in Chief you are getting into an area which can cause our country serious problems. I certainly hope that Ms Palin will keep this in mind . As I hope any other presidential hopeful would.

Now here is a post for all of my custom US Navy ring personnel. I had to research this one before I wrote about it but I have enough for the uninitiated. I have heard of the Merchant Marines but I really did not understand what they were until I studied for this post. Now the military ring man can impart some information to you. 

The Merchant marines consists of the fleet of US civilian owned merchant vessels which are used to transport goods and services on our nations waterways.

During wartime they are converted to an auxilary to the US Navy which makes the mariners servicemen. They may be required to wear uniforms during time of war although they wouldn't wear the same uniforms as regular sailors. There will be some differences.

There are approximately 465 ships and 69,000 personnel in the Merchant Marines. I remember times when we were deployed to various places from here. Merchant marine vessels transported the majority of our equipment to the middle east.

There is a growing concern about al- Shabab terrorist camps which are growing in membership in Somalia. The camps are training recruits from all over the world to include many American Somalis. Many naturalized Somali Americans are training in these camps.

The recruits are fed a steady diet of anti-US rhetoric and even use pictures of president Obama for target practice. This definitely is not good news for all of you custom military ring customers because it suggests the possibility of another place to fight terrorists.

Those of you who are Iraqi Freedom ring and Enduring Freedom ring customers are aware of the ramifications of this already.

The problem in Somalia are the same as in Afghanistan. The Somali government is weak and only has control of a few blocks of the city of Mogadishu. I think we need to reconsider our goals in this war on terror. There is no way that we can wipe out terrorism worldwide. Maybe we need to conserve our manpower and just use technology to search for and eliminate known operatives. Maybe it would be better if we concentrated more on keeping terrorists from entering our country.

Well this is for all of you Desert Storm ring customers and the rest of you custom military ring customers who had to deal with Saddam Hussein in one form or another. The Saddam channel airs throughout the Middle East just for you.

No one really knows who funds this channel or where it is aired from but Mohammed Jarboua who resides in Damascus Syria claims to be the chairman. He is not telling what he knows so we may never know the truth. Jarboua claims that it is aired in Europe but there are all kinds of rumors out there. Personally I think that it is being aired from either Iraq or Syria but I don't have any evidence to back that up.

I just see it as a weak form of anti US propaganda which is probably not going to have the desired effect on the Iraqi population although sentiments seem to be split along party lines. The Sunni sect may tolerate the program since this was Saddam's sect, and the Shiites are more or less opposed to it. Personally I can't see why anyone would want to resurrect the memory of Saddam Hussein and I,m sure that all of my fellow military ring customers feel the same way.

I may be wrong but I think that they probably will. Unless the US can talk them out of it there is no way that they can not afford to attack. If I am I'm sure that some of my custom military ring customers will straighten me out. I think that there is little doubt that they will feel as though they have to. There are mulitple problems with this situation which the Israelis can't ignore.

The biggest problem now is the Iranians are planning to purchase the Russian made S-300 SAM missile. The S-300 is the newest Russian SAM and if the Iranians get their hands on them they would give Israeli aircraft major problems. Israel may feel that a preemptive strike is necessary in order to insure its own survival.

You Air Force ring customers are familiar with all of the nuances that this presents. The S-300 is a long range SAM and will track a jet down and turn with it until it makes contact. It is nearly impossible for a jet to evade this new missile once it has been targeted.

In addition the Iranians are getting more defiant since the secret nuclear site at Qom has been discovered. On top of this the Israelis are surrounded by enemies on all sides. They may feel as if they must act quickly to keep from being destroyed.

The body of a paratrooper who was missing in Afghanistan has finally been found. Sergeant Brandon Islip went missing on November 4th when he and SPC Benjamin Sherman were swept downcurrent in one of the region's fast moving rivers. The soldiers from the 82nd Airborne division were attempting to recover supplies from an air drop when they either fell into the river or entered it to recover some of the supplies. I'm not at all certain that this is what happened but it seems to be the most plausible explanation.

We created a post on this story recently and are following up now with the conclusion to the matter. Evidently an Afghan citizen witnessed the accident and reported it. Intensive searches began and the body of SPC Sherman was recovered on November 10th. Another Afghan citizen evidently spotted the body of SGT  Islip in the Bala Murgahab river weeks later. His body was subsequently recovered after a search of the area. We send our condolences to all of the 82nd Airborne soldiers who are military ring customers who may have known these soldiers. 

The key words here are the same that I have said again and again "WATCH CHINA". In what could be a test of the resolve of the Obama administration the Chinese have declared that military operations in space are inevitable. This thinly veiled threat gives a glimpse of what the real intentions of the Chinese are. Some of you custom military ring customers will disagree with me I'm sure but there is no doubt in my military mind that the Chinese intend to dominate the world with their military manpower and might. This is evident by the tremendous military buildup and force modernization that they have recently initiated. I think that they want to take advantage of the sheer size and power of a new military machine to bully the world into submission. You custom military ring customers who follow this blog may be prone to agreeing with me.

I have done several posts in the past on this very same subject. The thing that really concerns me the most is the increasing hostility in their rhetoric. They are not doing so much sword rattling for nothing.

If this last statement and the recent anti satellite technology that they are testing is a ruse (which I doubt) the Obama administration probably should not respond  in any overt manner, but thet definitely need to stay on top of the situation. I know that we have recognized the need to get more satellites into position to keep an eye on China. We should do this with all haste.

The Pakistani government is claiming to have good success in its offensive against the Taliban. The purpose of the offensive is to eliminate Taliban strongholds in the country. This offensive is aimed at pushing the Taliban out of the country but the problem is that the government has never had much control over these areas anyway. My question is, what will happen when the Army leaves if they are successful at expelling the Taliban. The next question is the question of mixed loyalties in the Pakastani Army.

The offensive is being conducted in the Waziristan province which is a Taliban stronghold. These type of local military offensives are what it will take to help to get our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers out of Afghanistan and back home. The Afghan army will face the same problem of maintaining control of the enemy strongholds once they have been cleared. This is a problem once again because these areas have always been lawless.

I'm sure that our government is doing all that it can to prop up the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is vital to our success that these governments overcome the corruption which is so rampant and establish internal order. Our custom military ring customers perform so many different functions in serving our country during these conflicts that the scope of the operation is almost impossible to fanthom.   

I may be wrong but I think certain that they probably will unless the US can talk them out of it. I have the feeling that we have probably talked them out of a whole lot of things in the past that the world knows nothing about. If I am wrong I'm sure that some of my custom military ring customers will straighten me out. I think that there is little doubt that they feel as though they have no choice but to bomb these sites before Iran can attack them. There are mulitple problems with this situation which the Israelis can't ignore and they really can't afford to assume that the Iranians will do the right thing.

The biggest problem now is the Iranians attempt to purchase Russian made S-300 SAM missiles. the S-300 is the newest Russian SAM and if the Iranians get their hands on them they would give Israeli aircraft major problems. This sets the stage for a preemptive strike by Israel.

You Air Force ring customers are familiar with all of the nuances that this presents. The S-300 is a long range SAM and will track a jet down and turn with it until it makes contact. It is nearly impossible for a jet to evade this new missile once it has been targeted.

In addition the Iranians are getting more defiant since the secret nuclear site at Qom has been discovered. On top of this the Israelis are surrounded by enemies on all sides. They may feel as if they must act quickly to keep from being destroyed.

The Navy Cross has been awarded to Lance Cpl Joshua Mooi for his actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom  on November 16th 2005. If you were to read the account of the battle in which he earned this award I'm sure that you will see that it is well deserved. The custom military ring is one way to preserve memories of special events such as this one.

I read the entire account of the firefight that the Marines were involved in and to say the least it was quite intense. We wouldn't be able to tell every detail of the story on a custom military ring but we would be able to give a summary.

Cpl Mooi's unit was clearing farmhouses in support of Operation Steel Curtain when the events took place. They had cleared most of the farmhouses when they came upon a group of about 2 dozen insurgents in the last house. The insurgents had prepared well fortified positions within the house while they waited on the Marines. They had put portholes in the walls of the farmhouse and were well supplied with ammunition and grenades. This was a well orchestrated ambush by the insurgents.They had obviously taken a lot of time preparing. Our Operation Iraqi Freedom customers are very familiar with this terrorist tactic.

Cpl Mooi had to make many trips across open territory to save several wounded Marines and to fight the enemy. His actions no doubt saved the lives of many of his comrades. This Marine's actions certainly honor the reputation of the Corps. All of you USMC ring customers should be proud of the way that he represented.

2nd Lieutenant Donald McGlothlin was killed in the battle when he apparently dived on a grenade to save the lives of several of his Marines. I must say that the Marines gave a good account of themselves. A special standing shout out goes to the Lieutenant. He gave it all. There is no more that he could possibly done. America you should be proud of the Marines who fight for your freedom.

All Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers should read the account of this story because I just can't do it justice with this short post. When you read it you will be surprised and amazed at the heroic actions or our custom military ring customers.

Even though we are only mentioning bombs and artillery here this is an all inclusive effort to improve accuracy at all levels of command and with all military weapons. The mandate from the military is to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The reason for this is that the Taliban fighters will get as close as they can to innocent civilians touse them as human shields.

 Bombs and artillery are not necessarily designed to kill by direct hits although they certainly can and will. Each bomb dropped and each artillery shell lobbed at the enemy has what is called a CEP or circular area of probability. This means that when fired at or dropped on a target even in the best conditions they will not necessarily hit it but will land in close proximity to it. Just getting close is usually good enough to get significant damage from the blast and shrapnell. Mortars have a wider CEP because they have such a high trajectory. The mortar shell flies so high that it is subjected to more factors like wind, air temperature, etc. which influence where it will land before it hits the ground. 

Most of the error caused when artillery is used are caused by inaccurate coordinates given by the forward observer. The FO has to be extremely careful to identify the right target and to get its location exactly right. Sometimes crew error is the cause of mishaps but believe it or not this is fairly rare. A good Fire Direction Center and a Good Forward Observer can get the artillery to land close to the target without collateral damage.

Ali al- Marri is a terrorist who has admitted to undergoing terrorist training in al-Qaeda camps and knowing the 9-11 terrorists. He will soon be sentenced for his terrorist acts. We all know that when we got caught at something we always breathed a sigh of relief for the stuff that we didn't get caught at. Do you get my drift?

Anyway the kicker is this: Since he has served 5 years in a Navy Brig before being charged his lawyers want him to be released for time served. Now I'll tell you like my computer security system told me the other day. There are multiple problems. First of all why should he be allowed to live? Why should he ever get out of jail? I have no doubt in my military mind as do all of us here at the military ring factory that this man will continue to try to kill as many Americans as he possibly can if and when he gets out. Do you have any doubt in your mind? Are we tracking? Do you understand where I'm coming from? If his past actions contributed in any way to the death of 1 American he needs to die. Period. End of story.

We military ring people will certainly keep track of this one and we will notify you of what we find out.

This oil spill was the biggest in history. It happened during Operation Desert Storm and every Operation Desert Storm ring customer is aware of the details.

This spill was caused by Saddam Hussein when he ordered the Iraqi Army to open some valves at  several oil refineries.They also damaged some oil tankers which led to the subsequent discharge of a vast amount of oil into the Persian Gulf. It was estimated that anywhere from 42 to 462 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Gulf. Now get this. The spill was 101 miles long, 42 miles wide, and 5 inches deep. Thats a whole bunch of oil. When it happened I thought that Saddam hussein did it out of spite but it is believed that he ordered it to foil a perceived amphibious assault by US Marines.

1 million barrels of oil were recovered from the spill, 2 to 3 million barrels washed ashore, and an estimated 6 to 10 million barrels evaporated. Thats a whole bunch of wasted money. Fortunately the spill was gotten under control before it could do a whole lot of environmental damage.

A bombing in Peshawar Afghanistan recently resulted in the deaths of 93 people who were mostly women and children. The attack occurred at the same time that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the country, but I don't think that it was aimed at her. The intent seems to be to retaliate for the government offensive which must be putting a serious hurt on insurgents. The attack was designed to kill women and children with the ultimate intent being to kill the resolve of the Afghan army to fight the offensive.

These fanatics try to claim a higher cause for slaughtering innocent people. Personally I don't see it but I'll keep my thoughts to myself. I certainly hope that this new US offensive does the trick. To all of my Enduring Freedom ring customers I wish you well.

Our government has just finished a round of careful evaluation of new war strategy in Afghanistan. They wargammed each scenario which was suggested for action to try to figure out all of the possible pitfalls and strengths of each. At least this administration is taking a measured, even, intelligent, approach to solving the problem. President Obama did announce that the mission would be evaluated and I believe that this is part of the process. We need to redefine our mission there and make sure that we don't waste lives and resources unnecessarily.

Any new strategy will have to employ the Afghan forces to the fullest. The widespread corruption in the Afghan government is a big problem. The Afghan government needs to win the hearts and minds of the people before they can establish firm control. This is one of the things that our government is pressing for before we commit extra resources. Once we retake Taliban and al-Qaeda strongholds the Afghans must be able to maintain control in order to realize victory.

We will see what the future holds for our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers. We wish you the best during your time of service. Please feel free to let us know of any changes in the situation.   

I am of the opinion that maybe a military draft wouldn't hurt this country. It might make some of our citizens appreciate the simple things in life. The garbage and food that we throw out every day would be a treasure for people in many third world countries. A half rotten cucumber, a half rotten tomato, and a crust of bread is a meal fit for a king in many other countries. If you had to spend an entire summer in the Arabian desert where the temperature gets into the 140's you will certainly appreciate a glass of cold water.

Maybe some of our young generation (and older) would appreciate a 40 hour work week if they had to work for 48 to 72 hours straight with only 2 to 3 hours of sleep while being constantly harrassed by enemy soldiers the entire time. This was not war. It was during each of many training exercises at the National training center in California.

A day in the office when the heat or AC is not working will not seem so bad after a week of sleeping on the ground on top of the ice while being hungry, funky, tired, cold, smelly, dirty, scared, and sleepy at the same time. Did I mention COLD. I mean FREEZING COLD!!! These are the memories that my military ring evoke whenever I look at it.

For all of the young gansters who want to be hard, live the life of a combat soldier and then I will be impressed. Don't try to stare me down because I won't play that game with you. Earn your combat soldiers ring and combat pay then come and talk to me. Learn this type of discipline and you will impress the socks off of me.

To those prisoners who live in the tent city in Arizona I say big deal. I have slept on the ground in a hole for months so I have no sympathy for you having to sleep in a tent. My sentence was for service to my country and not for an infraction of the law.

One thing that I have learned from the military is that even the most disobedient person becomes a tame puppy when his life is on the line. The fear of dying will make you obey any order given. The toughest hardest to handle soldier in peacetime will hang onto every word that you tell him in war. He will follow orders to the letter because he knows that he needs to do the right thing to live. Maybe some of us should be deprived of the finer things in life before we learn to appreciate it. Every time that I look at my custom military ring it brings back memories of the time that I served.

Our new commander in chief is in the process of deciding what to do about committing extra forces to the fight in Afghanistan. The big worry is that when we retake territory will Afghan forces have the gumption to hold it. Also the locals are losing all faith in the Afghan government because of the corruption.

If we commit extra troops they will secure ground and areas under Taliban control. Thats not the problem. The problem is corruption in the Afghan government. Right now Americans don't know who the enemy is half of the time. There have been times when American soldiers have been fired on by their Afghan escorts during missions.

There were some problems in the recent presidential election. The official vote shows Karzai winning but there is much evidence of the election being rigged. The problem that this presents to the US is that if there are two people claiming to be president this creates an unstable atmosphere which definitely won't help us fight the Taliban. According to our estimates Mr Karzai would still win a runoff but he needs to take positive action to legitimize his presidency before we can help him. The US wants him to take some kind of action to smooth things out before we begin to committ troops. If any of my Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers know more about the story please let us know. 

I don't think that you need me to tell you that this is a job which requires special personality characteristics to perform successfully. The air traffic controller is responsible for the safety of aircraft while they are in his or her corridor of operations. This is a job which requires focus and attention to detail. This job is one of the most stressful jobs that you can have because of the intense responsibilities which are inherent to it.

The controller must be able to quickly solve problems concerning math and space computations. He or she must have an excellent memory, and at the same time be able to process information in a situation which is changing continuously. The successful controller must be able to extract critical information from pilots in critical situations and must be able to make a specific impression on the mind of the person that he or she is communicating with in order to get a point across.

The air traffic controller's ring is one of the many possibilities that we help you to create. We haven't mentioned it yet in this blog, but we probably should have. There are so many possibilities available that it is almost impossible to name them all. If you need help designing your air traffic controller's ring don't hesitate to contact us.

I had noticed that you would never hear a former President or VP ctiticize a sitting President or VP. I never heard George Bush criticize the Clinton administration when his administration took over even though someone had gone as far as to remove the "W"'s from the typewriters etc. I always thought that it was a real class act among our nations leaders. Well Mr Cheney as changed that precedent and to be honest I hope that none of the other past Presidents or Vice Presidents follow his example.

 Mr Cheney has certainly set a new precedent on this one as he has fired several shots at the Obama administration from his position on the outside looking in. He and Newt Gingrich apparently feel that our sitting president is being indecisive because he is taking so much time to weigh his options on how to proceed with  the war in Afghanistan. Now if I felt this way I would agree with him but I don't see President Obama as indecisive at all. Not when I look at the quick and drastic steps that he took to save our economy which somehow got totally jacked up while Mr Cheney was in office.

This is the custom military ring mans perception. You can take it or leave it. I feel that our president is being as careful as he can about comitting soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines to fight and possibly die in a foriegn country. As a former soldier and war veteran I can appreciate that and I'm sure that there are others who do also. Our mission is not to rule Afghanistan and impose our values on them but to neutralize al-Qaeda. We can't destroy them. We can't make them want to be like us. To be honest I think that al-Qaeda has already been neutralized. When was the last time that they were able to launch a terror attack on American soil?

The USS Freedom represents a new day in Navy technology. It is one of the new class of ships called littoral combat shjips (LCS). This ship will be deployed 2 years ahead of schedule. The Navy feels that the capabilities of this ship and current mission requirements warrant the early deployment.

I think that the Freedom will be a good weapon in the fight to stop international piracy. It has more speed and stealth than anything else in the ocean. It's obvious that we have to step it up to the next level in order to effectively deal with this threat, I believe that we can contain it but it is too lucrative a business for the pirates for us to be able to stop completely.

The accelerated schedule will probably cause some minor problems for the crew but they will be able to work through them. The USS Freedom will certainly be a force multiplier with all of the technology that it brings to the table. We do offer a Freedom US Navy ring as one of our products but it is not named after the USS Freedom.

This term refers to all offices of the United States Department of Defense which have the specific job of dealing with the media and local communities when it comes to military matters.  I look at these personnel as translators because they have the job of conveying the understanding to the public of exactly what the military is up to. This is also important because it is a way of maintaining good will with the community. The military by its  nature must be different so sometimes it is not understood by the public.

One unique thing about the Public Affairs Office is that it is staffed by both military personnel and civilians under the leadership of a Public Affairs Officer. So if you are a civilian working in a Public Affairs Office you can design a Public Affairs Office Ring to tell the story of your government service. The side panel design is available and you can choose from a number of other options for the rest of your customization.

Whenever you watch the news and you see a military person explaining maneuvers or deployments that person is the Public Affairs Officer.

The Marine Corps Band is the oldest professional and military band in existence. It was established by an act of Congress in 1798. I found out some things that I just was not aware of when I began to study to do this post. For example, band members never attend Marine Corps basic training. They will never be ordered into combat. Their rank insignia has a lyre embroidered on it rather than the infantry crossed rifles.

The band does over 500 concerts per year. Since there are only 365 days in a year you know that they have to jump. I can see why they don't have to undergo basic training. There is no need for the job that they have to do.

This is not the case for the many fleet bands that the Marine Corps has. Fleet bands are assigned to units and their members are regular marines. I can certainly see the need for the marine corps band as a seperate unit. Their mission is also crucial even though they are not fighting Marines. They are the public representatives of the Marine Corps. Fortunately we have the custom work available to help band members create a custom military ring.  

The biggest enemy to Operation Enduring Freedom is corruption which is rampant in the Afghan government. The corruption hinders in that it takes confidence in the government away from the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. Once territory has been taken we must win the hearts and minds of the people in order to keep the Taliban from coming back in. The citizens of the country must feel that they can trust the government.

Afghan forces must also win the confidence of our soldiers and marines who are trying to assist them. There have been incidents where Afghan police and security personnel have turned on the Americans who were escorting them on patrols and killed or wounded several of them. The biggest job is going to be getting a viable government in place although sometimes I feel as if I can say that about our own government.  

The squadron is the number of aircrafrt that is designated to perform a certain mission along with all of the support personnel that accompany it. The size of the squadron varies from a few aircraft to a few dozen. I think that this is based on mission requirements. 

Some of the most famous squadrons that I can think of are the blacksheep squadron, and scout squadron 6 of WWII.

Another squadron that is famous is the Blue Angels which are shown here. This squadron has been around for years and does air shows around the world. The qualifications to become a member of this Squadron are very rigid. Members live and train together constantly which is part of the teamwork concept. An Air Force military ring can be created to depict the squadron that you were in or involved with during your time in the Air Force.

I think that the fact that president Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a world vote of confidence and hope. Personally I don't see where enough has been done to justify the award, but lets look at the campaigm for change that the president ran on.

The only way to extricate ourselves from the mess that we are now in is to change the way that we are doing many things. I think that the world community sees that this administration is sincere on their pledge and is responding to it in a positive way.

I think that our president has cleverly changed the course of our foriegn policy to get maximum cooperation from the world community. I certainly hope that he can keep the momentum going in the direction that it is.

This is an era in our history which is very critical to our survival as a nation. It is a time which should and will be remembered throughout history. A government service ring would be a prime method of commemorating these historic times.

The estimated number of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan has continued to grow at a high rate. There are an estimated 25,000 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as this post is being written and the number is growing all of the time. There are also a large number of Afghan people who work for the Taliban from time to time whether for money or by force, or choice.

Many Afghan civilians may see this war as a foreign occupation of their country. Even though they might noe be dedicated to the Taliban they may see serving them as the lesser of two evils. If they refuse to cooperate with the Taliban they will face the wrath of the Taliban. On the other hand if they cooperate with US and allied forces they still face the wrath of the Taliban when we leave the area.

If the Afghan police and militia can be taught to successfully take control of the areas that we clear from the Taliban's influence I think that we will make more significant progress in that country. We will continue to pray for all of our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers in Afghanistan and all others who serve there.

Its been awhile since I was on active duty so I was not aware of this change until I started to write this post. The Military Airlift command as we know it was done away with in the early 90's. This obviously had to be because of the changing global tactical scenario. How do you like my big words? I'll bet that you didn't know that the custom Air Force ring man had it in him did you?

The Air Mobility Command was formed in 1992 with elements from the Military Airlift Command, and the Strategic Airlift Command. It's mission is to provide airlift, special missions, aerial refueling, and medical evacuation for US troops. Now notice the words special missions. I think that implies that it picks up the nuclear mission that SAC had. This seems like a way to say the same thing without arousing people to the fact that there is a nuclear mission.

In essence the Air Mobility Command transports our fighting men and women to the fight, not only them but all of the equipment that they need to use to do their jobs.  Some of the transport airplanes such as the C5 are huge. The C5 can even fly really heavy vehicles such as Abrams tanks to the battle. A C5 which is fully loaded has to be moved every few hours to prevent its weight from compressing the tarmac that it sits on. Think about the technology that it takes to get something that heavy to fly. This command rapidly gets our fighting men from point A to point B 24/7. We honor them by offering their emblem as a side panel design on our custom US Air Force rings.

Our president is considering the request for more soldiers to go into Afghanistan and will make a careful deliberate choice in the next few weeks. He has reiterated that our mission was to destroy al-Qaeda and capture Osama bin Laden. He dosen't want the mission there to get any bigger than it needs to be. This sounds good to me. Our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen know that their job must be done and they will do it but we don't need uneccessary deaths or casualties.  

The president said that before a decision is made to send soldiers into harms way we must have a clear cut goal and a strategy to meet that goal this will avoid "mission creep" or our mission turning into something other than what it needs to be. President Obama went on to say that the mission should be evaluated every six months to make sure that we are still on track. If the president gets his way it will obviously mean less time overseas for our soldiers. Hopefully I will get to see some of my old Operation Enduring Freedom Ring customers again.

We can never change the customs or mannerisms of the Afghan people. Their values may be different from ours. If we allow ourselves to get sucked in we will end up defeated like we did in Vietnam. I am all for destroying al-Qaeda,but the truth is that we will never totally anniliate them. Many of my custom military ring customers have been deployed to the middle east three or four times.  Some of them have purchased Operation Iraqi Freedom Rings, while others have purchased Operation Enduring Freedom Rings. I'm sure that any news of a shorter tour of duty will be good news to them.

The US is moving forward in the battle against IED's. The latest move to try to limit the casualties that they cause has been the employment of counter IED teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hopefully this will help to prevent injuries to our troops and maybe save some lives.

IED's have been the guerilla warriors to the superior firepower of our forces. They are the perennial hit and run type of weapon. We have adapted in many other ways to try to counter the carnage caused by there weapons with good success. These teams won't directly prevent terrorists from using IED"s, hopefully they will have an indirect effect.

The job of these teams is to gather information from where IED's have exploded or were found so that the evidence can be analyzed to prevent their use in future operations. The team will gather, and analyze evidence once it has been called to action. I don't know anything at all about the process but I know they they were given specialized training. This training will need to be added to the custom designs that we use on the custom military rings that we produce. 

According to the IAEA Iran has the technology to produce a working nuclear device this year. They will also have the long range missile technology to launch a nuclear warhead into Europe in the very near future.

When you look at Iran's military spending you will see that they are spending all of their time and money on nuclear rather than conventional weapons. Now thats scary. There is a saying that you can tell where a man's heart is by looking in his checkbook. I don't see where it is hard to come to a conclusion here. Take it from me the military ring man.

Irans nuclear development clearly tells of its intentions. There is no reason to wonder, to analyze, to guess, or to debate. Look at the facts. If you come to a conclusion other than the fact that the Iranians have the intention of being able to launch a nuclear bomb at someone tell me. Let me see if I can educate you. You may say that we need to exercise diplomacy and I will ask you how do you exercise diplomacy with someone bent on destruction.

We are seeing signs of a major success in Afghanistan despite a lot of reports of doom and gloom. The case being made for a troop surge in Afghanistan and the fact that some of our military leaders are saying that we must send more troops or lose the war seem to be direct contradiction to this. Now one thing that I know is that commanders never feel that they have enough to do the job at hand. The military commander will use every tool at his or her disposal to insure that he or she dosen't lose any soldiers so naturally they never feel as if they have adequate forces. Our custom military ring customers always seem to be upbeat about the war so all indications seem to be good from them.

According to US National Advisor James Jones, al-Qaeda has been greatly diminished in power and he does not forsee the return of the Taliban to power. There seems to be a serious contradiction here and I wonder who is right.

I certainly hope that the commanders are being overly cautious which is good for two reasons, first it shows that they are doing all that they possibly can for our troops, and if they are being overly cautious all of our troops will be home sooner than expected. 

We still have significant hurdles to overcome in Afghanistan before we can call it quits. The strategy that the US seems to be following to take and maintain control in Afghanistan seems to be the same as the strategy that we followed in Iraq. Which is to use our forces to take control of territory and then putting the local police force in charge of maintaining that control as we withdraw. The good thing about this is that we got plenty of practice in Iraq so we should have the strategy down pat. When I talk to my Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers, and my Operation Iraqi Freedom ring customers they seem to have the utmost confidence in what we are doing.

The biggest question is whether we can get the Afghan police up to snuff on what they have to do. They are in an area where corruption, drugs, and power have ruled so this is how they have learned to operate. The government only has control over small areas of the country so it too is not used to being in power.

They have hundreds of training camps scattered throughout the middle east. Their fighters are well trained in these camps and determined. Their fighters don't mind dying for what they believe is right. This creates a vast difference in motivation between the two forces. One wants to fight and dosen't mind dying for a cause and the other dosen't. 

Our Operation Enduring Freedom soldiers must very quickly bring the Afghan forces up to snuff to deal with al-Qaeda. If they can't there won't be any kind of military ring that we can possibly produce to tell a good story. I have confidence in our leaders. I believe that we will be able to work out a solution and bring things under control. We have always in our military history been able to overcome and win and I am sure that we will now. 

0. The Army's Best Warrior competition is a gruelling 6 day competition held each year in Fort Lee Virginia. In this event the best of the best are tested and evaluated during a varietyof events. The thing that I like about this competition is that it is designed to evaluate skills which are relevant to modern warfare. when I look at the events I see that they are planned around events and tasks that the soldier has to perform on the battlefield as we know it today.

The event tests the soldiers combat skills, qualities and abilities, the soldiers are drilled by boards of Sergeant Majors who ask tough questions. They are put through battle drills and evaluated, given written exams, and must qualify with the M-4 rifle. They must also qualify in day and night urban warfare orientation courses.

The winners of this years competition were SFC Aaron Beckman,who was named the NCO of the year, and Spc Clancy Henderson who was named the soldier of the year. This is an ideal story to tell on a customized ring. We would br willing to donate a custom military ring to each one of these individuals to help them commemorate this great accomplishment. Where you? If you are out there contact us and lets make this happen. We will be more than happy to design your military service ring.

There has been a major prison break from one of Saddam Hussein's compounds in Tikrit. This compound was one of the buildings which had to be converted into a makeshift prison in order to handle the vast number of combatants from the recent war. There were a total of 16 combatants and 5 of those were known to be al-Qaeda operatives who were awaiting execution for their role in assisting terrorists who conducted hostile operations against us. All of the prisoners were dangerous and being held for dangerous criminal activities.

Iraqi officials have managed to capture one of the escapees and have requested assistance from the US in the form of aerial surveillance and search dogs. The inmates apparently were given a wrench or stole one from somewhere which they used to pry open a window and escape. Personally I believe that it was an inside job. Now I admit that the custom military ring man may be wrong on this one but this is really how I feel.

I certainly hope that the Iraqis can step up to the task at hand. In all fairness this is a big leap for them. The US is still in the process of training Iraqi detention teams on inmate control techniques. I know that the troop withdrawal from Iraq has been accelerated so that is a good sign of how the Iraqis are taking care of business. Their future will probably be filled with many more tests of this nature.

We have helped many members of the 48th BCT design custom military rings in the past and we are thankful for all of the friends and acquaintances that we have made among you over the years. This post is for all of you who may want to create your own Operation Enduring Freedom Ring, and for all of our past customers over the years. We are sending a shout out to CWO Randy King and his family, and to all of you who have purchased rings from us in the past. We have moved our store location so some of you may not know where we are. We are on Frank Cochran Drive right across the street from Ranger Joe's.

The majority of military rings that 48th BCT soldiers have purchased from us were either celestrium, or goldtone celestrium rings. We have often put the crest of the 48th BCT or the unit that you were attached to during your tour in Iraq or Afghanistan. One other thing that I want to alert you to is that you can also design your commemorative ring to be a military retirement ring. You may include both campaigns on your ring as the side panel designs and inscribe the words US Army retired around the stone of your ring. Remember that there is a special discount just for you. You can call us for the discount code when you get ready to order your ring at 912-877-4734 and we will be more than happy to help you.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is seeking to find pictures of each veteran listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The pictures will be displayed in the soon to be built Veteran's Education Center in Washington DC. Solicitations for pictures of the listed veterans will start with family and friends and this is sure to be a project that will take some time. This will ba a very ambitious effort for them and our hat is off to them because there is no doubt that it will be difficult.

It is certainly worthwhile because we didn't give those brave servicemen the honor and recognition that they deserved at the time that they really needed it. It's too bad that it took us so long to realize the debt of gratitude that we owe them. One positive thing that we did learn from this experience is that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines deserve our deepest respect and gratitude for their selfless service.

There are not many Vietnam Veterans ring customers these days because that war was so long ago but we do see them every once in awhile. We periodically create custom military rings, or custom license plates for our Vietnam Veterans and we are always happy to see them.

I was not solicited to post this but maybe it will help the fund if I put out that FEDEX will scan the pictures free of charge. I don't have much more information than this but if you contact either the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund or FEDEX's office you will be able to get more information. 

The USS Boxer (LHD-4) is calssified as a WASP class amphibious assault ship. Which means that it's primary purpose is to deliver ground troops to the battle. This ship can carry up to 1,894 marines into the battle. That is a bunch of firepower folks. It can also carry a mixture of up to 42 aircraft which would be the CH-53 helocopter, or V-22 Ospreys.

Even though you can't tell by looking at the picture, this ship is armed with the Sea Sparrow Missile System and the Phalanx CIWS.

This ship now serves as the Flagship of combined Task Force 151 which is stationed off of the coast of Somalia. This ship has been active in operations against piracy. She also participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Iraqi Freedom II. If any of you out there have served aboard this ship please write in and comment on this post.

One of the latest stories coming from Afghanistan is that US Marines and Afghan fighters were killed in an ambush with insurgents in which they were repeatedly denied artillery support. The article goes on to say that in a sustained firefight these combatants had to wait an hour for close air support to arrive. Now the article seemed to want to point the finger at superiors who denied the artillery support but I say lets wait and find out the real deal before we jump to conclusions.

Normally any combat patrol will have direct support artillery. Direct support means just that. You call the firing unit directly and they provide what you want based on the rules of engagement. There are some situations where artillery will be denied and I am sure that whoever didn't allow the artillery had what they deemed to be valid reasons. Lets not pass the verdict too soon.

There were a total of 4 Marines and 10 Afghan fighters killed in the attack. This is a tragic story which shouldn't end here. If forces other than Americans caused this disaster then American troops should no longer be placed under the control of foriegn commanders.

According to Christopher Hill (the US Ambassador to Iraq) the drawdown of American and other forces in Iraq is indeed going according to schedule. This was the gist of his report to the House Foriegn Affairs Committee recently. All combat forces should be out of Iraq by the end of August. This is good news but now we have a subsequent buildup in Afghanistan to look forward to.

al-Qaeda has been stepping up violence in Iraq recently to try and trip up the new government but the new regime has been holding firm. al Qaeda is hoping to cause enough unrest so as to cause a civil war but reports are that the new regime is holding strong. Iraqi security forces have been able to maintain an excellent amount of professionalism in the execution of their duties. Don't you see how this is a testament to the capabilities of our military and the flexibility that it can display. It went from the role of fighting force to police force to advisors and performed all superbly.

Reports are that we may be able to accelerate the rate of the withdrawal if the new Iraqi Government and security forces can continue to perform at its current level. 

In his latest statement the Taliban leader makes an announcement to President Obama. He informs our president that the US is powerless to stop the war in Afghanistan. Im sure that President Obama appreciates this insight but he is probably listening to the people that he usually relies on for advice.

Mr bin Laden then goes on to blame the United States for the war because of its alliance with Israel. Now I may be wrong but my pea sized brain does not see this as the reason for the war. I thought that the reason was terrorist attacks conducted on Americans by Mr. bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorists. I was really thinking that the cause was the slaughter of innocent Americans by Mr. bin Laden.

Either one of two things is wrong here. Either I am suffering from the initial stage of sometimers disease or Mr bin Laden is on a diet of crack cocaine and dog food.

The thing that I really think that bin Laden is attempting to do is to cause our president to doubt that we will win the war and call for the redeployment of our soldiers back home. I think that he has seriously underestimated  the intelligence and resolve of our president. It is impossible for anyone to be elected president of the United States without a high degree of intelligence and resolve. I also believe that there is a reason for everything. The reason for this latest statement by the al-Qaeda leader may be the fact that his organization is getting its teeth kicked in.

There was a secret raid conducted in Somalia which appears to have been successful but the problem is that no one can point a finger at who conducted it. Sounds kind of Spec-Opish to me. It is thought that the raid was conducted by US Special Forces soldiers but if it was they will never own up to it.

The raid was conducted against al-Qaeda, which is setting up for operations in Somalia and according to eye witness accounts. Some men dressed in US uniforms got off of a heliocopter which came from a French ship and killed Salen Ali Nabhan who was an al-Qaeda leader and captured several other wounded al-Qaeda fighters.    

There were some other al-Qaeda deaths in the battle before the snatch was made. Last year al-Qaeda leader Aden Hashi Ayro was killed last year in a similar type operation.

Al-Qaeda is seeking to make Somalia one of its strongholds which is a logical move for them since the government has little control over most of the country. The country is currently involved in a civil war and the main faction which opposes civil rule is al-Shabab. Al-Shabab is attempting to overthrow the goverment and institute strict Islamic rule. The government has no control over most of Mogadishu.

Our soldiers and marines on patrol in Afghanistan don't know what to expect from day to day. This war is 180 dergees different than the type of war that my generation is familiar with. Our battles were force on force where you basically pounded it out like opposing football teams and the best man won. You kicked each other in the teeth just as hard as you could and he who had the most left at the end was declared the winner.

There is no such thing as a routine patrol in Afghanistan. The patrol might encounter one of many situations when underway. These include but are not limited to: no enemy contact at all, chasing an enemy force, being hit with a small ambush, being shot at by snipers, or a full scale ambush. Servicemen may find themselves in an all day battle, or the patrol may turn out to be a public relations campaign where they meet and greet villagers.

Individual soldiers and marines may find themselves making critical decisions which if wrong would have a devastating effect on relations with the civilian population.

I personally believe that one of the reasons that we saw so many atrocities by our soldiers during the Vietnam War was because our boys were frustrated at the fact that the enemy was so elusive so they vented their anger on the civilian populace. They were getting hit and had no one else to hit back. I am not justifying those actions, I'm just saying what I think. The training that our soldiers undergo before they deploy to this area teaches them how to react to this type of pressure. We did a lot of wrong things in that war, but at least we learned from them.  

Lets remenber the attacks of September 11 2001. Let us not waver in our efforts to destroy those who would not hesitate to destroy us. Lets remember that over 3,000 innocent Americans were killed for no other reason that day than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They hadn't harmed anyone nor was the thought of doing bodily harm to anyone in their minds.

Let us remember that America can not stand still for this type of action. We had no choice but to act. I am not going to debate whether it was right or not to go into Iraq because frankly I don't know. I don't have access to the same information that our President did when he made his decision.

Let us remember that many of our young men and women have given their lives to keep us safe from future attacks. Many of them had not had the pleasure of seeing their children born. Many of them were newlyweds and had not had time to enjoy their marriages. Many of them were not able to say goodbye to dear friends and loved ones before they had to leave and fight the war. Many of them had young children that they never even got the chance to hold in their arms.

Let us not do them the disservice and the dishonor of forgetting. You might forget but I will never forget.

There were six confirmed terrorist kills in an attack on a suicide bomber training camp in the Swat valley in Northern Pakistan. Locating and destroying the camp was the result of an offensive to search out and destroy terrorists in the area. US officials knew that there was a training camp in the area because of the large number of bombings which were occuring there.

Keep in mind that this camp was located in an area of Pakistan which is largrly lawless and ungoverned. There were 11 suspects arrested in the attack on the camp. There were also twelve other foreign terrorist suspects arrested in the area when they were caught sneaking into the area from Iran. The foreign suspects were from Sudan, Russia, Turkey, and Iran. One thing that the war on terror is doing is cleaning up terrorists from all over the world.

A Taliban Commander who remains unnamed has been captured in Eastern Afghanistan. He was captured along with 6 other insurgents when several insurgents went to seek medical treatment from wounds (probably incurred in a firefight) at a clinic. US forces were tipped off about the movements of the insurgents and were fired upon as they moved into position to take the clinic. Hopefully we are winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people in this war. That is what it will take for our military forces to be successful and the Taliban realizes this. I have read several articles lately where Taliban officials have instituted reforms to give them the appearance of caring for the citizens of the country.

The Taliban has the advantage in this area because their countrymen will naturally want to protect them. The Taliban may have lost much ground because of their record of suppression and brutality. If we can convince the native Afghan people that we have their in their best intrests at heart we may be able to sway public opinion. The intelligence that we will receive if we can do this will be invaluable.

I salute all of our Operation Enduring Freedom fighters and those who have served. We want you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.

It seems that Somali pirates have worked up enough nerve to shoot at one of our helicopters. The Navy chopper was flying a routine surveillance mission off of the coast of Somalia when the pirates used an automatic weapon to fire at it. US Navy helicopters have been conducting routine surveillance of pirates for a while but this is the first instance that we know about where a ship was actually fired on.

The navy routinely  surveils the ships that the pirates have captured and are holding while they are waiting to receive their ransom. There are currently about 5 ships and 105 crewmen currently being held by the pirates.

The Navy didn't return fire and I am sure it was because they didn't want to accidentally harm any of the innocent captives. The name of the ship where the piratres fired from is the Win Far which is a Thai ship.

I for one wonder where this piracy thing is going to take us. Obviously the pirates are not going to stop because there is easy money to be made. In my mind some kind of action is going to have to be taken. An International task force should be put together to police the waters around Somalia for the sole purpose of finding and destroying pirates. There is a task force in place now, but their purpose is to protect maritime shipping and not to sarch out and destroy pirates.

I realize that my actions are easier said than done and that they sound drastic but I don't see any other solution to this problem. As long as the pirates can make money they will attack maritime vessels. To me this is a history repeat of the situation of the Barbary Wars when we had to send in US Marines to handle the problem. If someone out there has a better idea please let us know. 

The Second Infantry Division is currently stationed in The Republic of South Korea with the mission of protecting the country from invasion from North Korea until other units can be brought in to help. I used to be a member of this unit and the pace was hectic. We never knew from day to day what the future held. Whenever the alert siren went off we didn't know whether the situation was real or just another drill.

During that time the Division was stationed close to the demilitarized zone of Korea which runs along the 32nd parallel. We manned many posts on the DMZ and units were rotated back and forth for short periods of time. The rotation system would give units on the DMZ a break from this stressful duty. Units also patrolled the no man's area along the DMZ to look for signs of enemy incursions, and to stop infiltration into South Korea from the North. 

We served alongside the ROK (Repiblic of Korea) Army. They were some tough soldiers. Let me tell you a true story. We were visiting a ROK compound once during the month of November. If you have ever been to Korea you know that the temprature hovers right around 0 degrees in November. On this day at about 7:00 in the morning there were about 5 ROK soldiers running around the compound on a track. They were dressed in combat gear, and were carrying weapons, bur were shirtless. When we left that evening at about 4:30 PM they were still running!! We asked about it and were told thru our intreperter that they were being punished for a rule violation. If we did that in the US Army the press would have a field day with it. We salute all of our soldiers who have ever served in the Second Infantry Division which is Second to None. 

William Calley has apologized for the well known massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War. Before we get into this story let me give you my honest opinion. I am a former soldier and believe me there can be a lot of pressure put on you to obey orders that you know are wrong. I have been given orders that I knew did not apply to the circumstances, but because my superiors did not want to budge they would not listen to what I had to say. Stubbornness is a good quality up to a point because a successful commander has to be stubborn, but not stubborn beyond reason. I remember one incident where a superior who had no idea of what my units situation was ordered us to perform a task. One of my subordinates told me when I protested to go ahead and get it over with because that superior wanted to be able to say that we had accomplished the training and wouldn't change his mind. I saw this as good advice and we performed the action. When the superior asked me for my opinion afterwards I told him. I know that he knew that I was right but he didn't want to concede that his judgement was not the best in that situation.

Now back to Lieutenant Calley. 2Lt. Calley was the lowest rank that an officer can be. He is scared and placed in a situation that he was not able to control. Was he wrong in what he did? My answer to you is yes, and I think that he knew it but he was not strong enough to fight against the wrong orders. I also think that he was not strong enough to stop his unit once things got out of control. You have to prove yourself as a second Lieutenant. Many soldiers and NCO's will test you to see how much backbone that you have because you are younger and inexperienced. Personally I don't think that a Second Lieutenant should be a leader until he has had a chance to prove himself.

His unit had not been in active combat but they had suffered casualties through different acts of sabotage. Top this off with the fact that they were given bad intel which incorrectly implied that all of the villagers were VC. This helped Lt Calley and his men to rationalize their actions. Add the stress that the Lieutenant was under to kill somebody and it all turned out to be a disaster in the making.

I think that there should have been others convicted because no matter how much you may be compelled you still do not have to obey an unlawful order. Accounts of the massacre tell stories of others who tried to stop the killings, so Lt Calley should have been able to stop it if he had wanted.

I sympathize with the Lt because I have been in similar situations. I have carried out orders which were somewhat questionable because of the withering pressure that was applied, but I don't believe that I would ever follow an unlawful order. I had enough grit to stand up for what I thought was right and I have done so on several occassions while in the Army.

The purpose of the newly activated Global Strike Command is to unite all of the nuclear forces controlled by the Air Force under one commander. The command will take control of the 20th Air Force and the nations ICBM's in the near future. Some of the other units which will also come under the control of this command are the 8th Air Force, the 576th Flight Test Squadron, and the 425th Strategic Operations Squadron.

This command reminds me of the SAC which has been disbanded, but in my humble opinion I think that it will greatly benefit our armed services by providing centrelized command and control of the nuclear capable units of the Air Force. It will also provide a greater deterrent to those who would oppose us just because it exists.

I'm sure that there will be growing pains but the end result will be well worth the cost of organization. There will probably be an esprit amont the airmen who serve in this organization. The best way for an individual assigned to this unit to express his or her espirit would be through the use of an Air Force ring.

The 101st Airborne Division recently hosted a welcome home ceremony for Vietnam War Veterans recently. In my humble opinion I think that it was a very good gesture to make, and long overdue. Oue Vietnam Veterans were the victim of General Ho Chi Mingh's propaganda tactics when he suceeded in making the war unpopular here in America. Part of the reason for this success was the hippie movement in this country at that time.

Our servicemen were subjected to some of the most deplorable conditions in service in Vietnam and then to some of the most scathing criticism when they returned. This had to have a negative effect on morale and made many of them question the validity of the war. In addition to this there were no clear cut objectives for fighting the war so there was no reason given to our servicemen for thier suffering. One thing that I know about our soldiers is that they will endure hardship if they have to.

I feel that the welcome home ceremony was so important in that it finally made these veterans feel appreciated. I remember my own homecoming and the gratitude that the American public showed to us. It really lifted my spirits and made me feel good about my country. A Vietnam Veterans ring. would be the ultimate tool to commemorate involvement in this historic event.

The AIM -120 is an advanced medium range air to air missile which is also known as an BVR (Beyond Visual Range) missile. The Air Force has given it the additional name of the Slammer.

This missile can be used day or night in any kind of weather which is a huge benefit. It is the latest evolution of the AIM-7 Sparrow which was developed by the US Navy in the 1950's. The Sparrow was the top dog in its day and it just continued to get better with time.

The AIM-120 is used by both the US and its allies. One aircraft can fire several of these missiles at once with each being programmed to attack different targets. This enables the aircrew who fired the missile to do whatever else that they need to do rather than stay there to guide the missile to contact.

Once the missile reaches a certain point its own radar takes over to locate its target and fly the missile to it. The AIM-120 has both active and passive homing radar. This means that it can send out its own radar signals to home in on the aircraft or it can detect signals coming from its target. 

This is only one sophisticated weapon that we use in our modern Armed Forces. I can't help but be impressed as I do the research to post information for this blog. I can't imagine how we could make most of this technology any better than what it is. I also understand why the men and women who handle this technology will often feature it on the custom military rings that they wear.  

The sub machine gun was an addition first to the military arsenal which is more of a small caliber machine gun. The sub machine gun gives added punch in close quarters combat than an ordinary pistol because it combines the attributes of a machine gun with a pistol round.

The sub machine gun has the rate of fire of a regular machine gun but since it is so much smaller it dosen't have the same range or the killing power. It also does not have the accuracy of the larger machine gun.

One good thing about the sub machine gun is that it is not bulky and can be very easily handled by one person. It is good to use in close fighting situations when you need to clear an area of more than one person, or you need to provide cover.

Sub machine guns are used more by Special Operations personnel, and tank crews when they are used by the military, however they are gradually being replaced in use by carbines and assault rifles. I have never had a military ring customer to put information about this kind of weapon on a ring. Maybe because military ring customers who may use this weapon often are part of a crew on a bigger weapon system.

I have some good news for all of you who are active duty, reserve, or retired Marines. We can produce a sterling silver USMC ring for you. The latest metal choice which is available to you is the silver select military ring. This is in addition to the Gold and Celestrium rings that we have offered for years. This ring is a combination of sterling silver and platinum and it comes with the same lifetime guarantee as all of our other rings. There is no difference in the amount of customization available to you also. You can still show everything that you do on any other ring.

The silver select military ring has a much more brilliant shine than gold or celestrium and many customers ask for it immediately when they see it.

I have some on display that I have used for displays for years and I have never had to clean them. This is notable because I allow customers to handle them all of the time.

Since sterling silver is the latest fad in jewelry these rings get a lot of attention. It also dosen't hurt that all of the customization that comes with the rings is free.

The first technique for pilots to safely exit air craft when they were in danger of crashing involved the use of parachutes. Before that the pilot was just out of luck.

Ejection seats were developed by the Germans when the increased air speed of mordern aircraft made it impractical to use a parachute for escape. Increased air speed made it almost impossible for the pilot to exit the moving plane and there was the danger of being hit by the tail.

Ejection speed had to be experimented with when the seats were first used. The large explosive charge used to expel the pilot also caused spinal cord compression and possibly other injuries. In the end ejection seats used several smaller charges which quickly ejected the pilot but were less traumatic in effects on the body.

Zero zero ejection seats were later developed primarily for the Navy, but they are in use in most fighter planes of today. The zero-zero seat could safely eject a pilot at zero altitude, and zero airspeed. This was especially beneficial to carrier pilots because of the unique way that they have to take off and land.

Our pilots are a very valuable asset to us. It takes a lot of time and dollars to train a pilot so you can see why it is important to keep them alive. The pilot who has escaped from trouble can use a  pilot's ring to tell his story.  

Although it is not the picture shown here the USS Lake Eerie was the Navy ship chosen to shoot down USA 193 or NROL-21 which was a US spy satellite launched in Dec 2006. The satellite malfunctioned shortly after liftoff and could never be brought back under control.

It was shot down 14 months after it was launched. The AEGIS Anti-Ballistic Missile System was modified and utilized to successfully shoot the satellite down.

 The problem with the entire process was that the missile was not designed to shoot down satellites. Neither was the Navy. The Navy crewmen were given a very short time to retrain to be able to shoot the satellite down. In addition the missile's internal workings had to be modified in a very short period of time to accomplish this task along with the existing radar. The official reason given for having to shoot down the satellite was that it contained 1,000 pounds of highly toxic satellite fuel which was potentially harmful to people if not destroyed. The kicker to the whole ordeal was that not only did they have to shoot down the satellite, but they had to hit in in the fuel tank!! This is while it was tumbling through space!!!

This is a wonderful story to tell and a custom US Navy ring would be a good vehicle to convey it to others.

The United States Strategic Command USSTRATCOM is one of the combat commands of the United States Department of Defense. It was created in 1992 with the purpose of replacing the Strategic Air Command (SAC).

When I looked at the laundry list of duties for STRATCOM I must say that I was overwhelmed. Each function is vitally important for our national defense and each one has no room for error. Here is a partial list; space operations, information operations, missile defense, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, global strike, strategic deterrence, and combating weapons of mass destruction.

The duties and responsibilities are so all encompassing that there is no way that we can cover them in this blog. Any person who has ever served in STRATCOM whether military or civilian can create his or her own service ring to tell the story of their service more adequately. The beauty of creating the service ring is that you can be very specific and tell a better story of your own experiences.

The office of US Naval Intelligence was created in 1882 with the purpose of spying on the Navies of other countries. As time went on the duties were expanded to include the responsibility of protecting Navy personnel, censorship, and the ferreting out of spies and saboteurs.

This is a serious business and the people who are assigned these responsibilities take them seriously. The actions, inaction, and decisions of Navy Intelligence personnel have immediate and wide ranging consequencies on other Navy personnel. This is why we are taking the time to mention this office here. We don't know a whole lot about what they do but I will bet you that if they weren't on the job the whole world would know because they would get much more scrutiny.

If you or a friend or loved one works in Naval Intelligence or have ever done so, you can use the many options that we offer to create your own custom Naval Intelligence ring You can call us at 912-877-4734 and we will be more than happy to assist you with any questions that you may have. 

This unit has many stories that can be told. It is the unit stationed at Fort Irwin California. I could tell about its involvement in The Philipine-American War, The Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, but that is not the purpose of this post today. This unit has earned the right to wear just about every military ring that we produce because of its rich history.

What we should produce for them is a ring called the National Training center ring. We have their unit crest which can be mixed with any of the other designs that I have mentioned above.

When I was active duty Army some years ago my unit (the 24th Infantry Division) had an ongoing rivalry with this unit. The reason was that we would have to face them in the National Training Center in Fort Irwin CA several times a year. We were one of the very few active duty divisions which defeated them in battle from time to time, but let me tell you in order to defeat them you had to pack a lunch because it took everything that you had and then some. This unit had the job of functioning as the enemy for units which had to train to fight in Desert Warfare. Since the 24th Infantry Division was created specifically to respond to middle east problems we had the dubious distinction of having to go up against these guys on a regular basis. I have to give them all of the props that I can because we lost more to them than we won, but we won some too.

This unit trained year round for its mission and the reason that they were so good was that they would go up against unit after unit year after year. That was all that they did. I really believe that they were infinitely better than the enemy that they represented. I will give them much of the credit for they way that our Armed Forces were able to defeat Saddam Hussein in both Iraqi Freedom and Desert Storm. The training that we received opposing them was absolutely the best training possible.

If you are not sure grasshopper let me educate you. This term is very familiar to our Navy readers but to us landlubbers more education is needed.

The official definition of a "Deck" is a permanent covering over a compartment or hull of a ship. The primary deck is the top deck of the hull and serves as the primary working surface. Every other working surface of the ship is also called a deck whether it is located above or below the primary deck.

The main purpose of the primary deck is for the structural support of the hull of the ship itself. Protection from the elements is the secondary purpose. It also serves to support the weight of people and equipment, and it serves as an equipment platform for specialized equipment. Now check this out. The desk has various parts some of which are the; 1) Scantling or topside which is the actual material that the deck is composed of. The type and weight of the scantling may vary depending on the functions accomplished on the deck. 2) Fittings which are built onto the deck for various purposes. There are also numerous other parts which are too many to try to talk about in this short post.

When a ship or boat has more than one level each level is referred to as a deck and the floor of each deck is known as the sole. Decks can be named and or numbered according to location and function. This is necessary on larger boats or ships with multiple decks.

Many times we are not familiar with the terminology that other services may use. All of this was new to me since I was not affiliated with the Navy during my time in the Armed Forces. When you design a custom Navy ring you display your own unique set of experiences that are exclusive to your time in service and in doing so you educate those of us who were never affliated with your branch of service. 

The Master Chief Petty Officer is the highest ranking enlisted person in the Navy and the Coast Guard. The other Petty Officer ranks are Chief Petty Officer and Senior Chief Petty Officer.

This rank corresponds to the rank of Sergeant Major in the Army and the Marine Corps. He is the senior enlisted member of the chain of command so just like the Sergeant Major he is the biggest, baddest, meanest, ugliest mutha in the valley.

This rank gets the respect of enlisted and officers. The chief is revered for his knowledge and is considered to be the technical expert in his field.

Official duties of the Chief Petty Officer are to assist the commander in issues regerding: quality of life, discipline, training, and morale. Aboard submarines he is known as the "Chief of the Boat."

This rank is so vital and the job of the "Master Chief" is so important that we created a side panel design for the customer who wishes to create a Master Chief Petty Officer's ring. This design is just one of many types and styles of military ring designs that we offer.

The term "Leatherneck " is one of many slang terms for Marines but few people know of its orgins. This term came into being because it referred to the high leather collar which used to be issued to British and American Marines.

One rumor about the purpose of this collar was that it was issued to Marines to protect the neck from sword blows. It was a 3 and 1/2 inch collar which fastened at the back. The true story behind this leather collar is that its purpose was to keep the head straight and erect thus improving military bearing.

The leather collar has not been used for many years but if you will notice the high stiff collar on the dress blue uniform. This is a throwback to the old leather collar.

Now look at the uniform that this marine is wearing. It looks sharp but one thing that I believe will help out is a USMC military ring.

The US Army Air Assault school is located in Fort Campbell Kentucky. It's primary purpose is to train soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division in Air Assault (Airmobile) operations. The school is not limited to the 101st Airborne Division but is open to all regular Army soldiers.

Air Assault operations primarily use the helicopter as a tool to move troops and equipment around the battlefield. Soldiers and equipment are more often inserted behind emeny lines to conduct operations in the enemies rear areas.

Airmobile tactics were born out of the Vietnam war. These tactics were the response to the guerilla warfare that Americans were engaged in for the first time because soldiers could strike rapidly from almost anywhere on the battlefield. It was also good because the dense jungles hampered ground movement. If you were ever a member of the 101st or attended the Air Assault school we have plenty of air assault ring designs that you can choose from for your military ring. We pride ourselves on the amount of customization that we have available for you.

Unfortunately another 48th BCT soldier was killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan. We want  to send our sincere condolences to all of the family members and friends of every soldier from this unit that has been killed or wounded in action in Afghanistan and Iraq. I comment so much on this unit because they are stationed so near to me here in South East Georgia. I have met and served many of the soldiers of this unit. If any of the members of this unit reads this I am the custom military ring man who helped you all to design your Iraqi Freedom rings.

Although I haven't seen you in a while my thoughts are still with you. Hopefully this troop build up will help us to get things under control and you all will be able to come home soon. If my count is accurate you have 4 KIA's this trip. We will pray that you don't get to number 5. Thank you for the outstanding job that you are doing and come home soon.

The 48th Infantry Brigade is a modular infantry brigade of the Georgia Army National Guard. It was organized in 1825 and served the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. The unit was brought into service on April 20 1861 at Macon GA and was surrendered at Appomattox VA.

The 48th has seen action in Bosnia in support of Task Force Eagle and during Operation Iraqi Freedom III. It took heavy casualties during OIF because it was deployed in one of the most troubled areas of Baghdad. Unfortunately I had the pleasure of knowing many of those fine soldiers who lost their lives during this conflict.

We have served this unit with many custom military rings over the years, and have made many good acquaintances with these soldiers. This unit is scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom during the summer of 2009. We wish you Godspeed in your mission and we wish you a safe return.

From time to time we get questions about our goldtone celestrium military rings I attempt to answer some of the most commomly asked questions about our goldtone celestrium rings. These rings are also known as vladium. Celestrium is a jeweller's alloy which is strong, durable, malleable, extremely chemically resistant to tarnishing and corrosion, and looks identical to our real gold rings. It takes a practised eye to tell the difference.

The goldtone celestrium is celestrium with a 14kt gold overlay. It comes with a lifetime guarantee also and is more resistant than gold to damage. The celestrium ring costs less than the gold ring and is a good alternative especially if you are on a budget, if you wish to wear your ring daily. or if you are afraid of losing it.

The celestrium ring comes with the antiqued finish, whereas gold rings can come with either the antiqued or natural finish. Every design that comes with the gold ring can be placed onto the celestrium ring.

The goldtone celestrium ring is an excellent choice if you want the exact look of 14kt yellow gold without having to pay the same price.

All of you custom military ring customers have heard the term "The Fog of war" used before. It is used to describe the way that confusion often rules in combat and the total confusion about events, circumstances, and people that you encounter. People will get your simplest orders confused in war and in training because they start trying to think rather than just doing what you want them to. I have made many a good plan only to see people interject themselves into it and jack it up. We may not understand a plan or an order sometimes but we don't know what the planner knows when he makes the plan. Sometimes he will get it wrong but more often than not he is right. To be honest I have jacked things up too. On more than one occassion.

You have to react to fluid and rapidly changing situations and I tell you now, nothing is ever as it seems. You can plan, and plan, and plan, and nothing will go according to plan. Normal decisions will be wrong because people do the opposite of what they are supposed to, equipment breaks down, radios stop working, and you have to read your map, monitor 4 radios, don your protective mask, and dodge bullets at the same time. Meanwhile your boss is on the other radio cussing you out because he is trying to get hold of you and can't hear you trying to answer him. All of you military ring customers know exactly what I am talking about. Even if you haven't been to war because its the same during training exercises. The only way to beat this is through repetition and training. Troops have to know their jobs so well that they can do it in their sleep. So when fatigue, fear, cold, hunger, and anxiety all kick in at the same time he will still be able to do his job effectively.

The DMZ in Korea divides North and South Korea. It roughly cuts the country in half and runs along the 38th parallel across the entire length of the country. The actual dividing line of the two countries is called the MDL. The MDL was the actual front line when the Korean War armistice was signed. Each side had to withdraw 2000 meters to form a buffer zone. That buffer zone is known as the DMZ. The DMZ is about 2and1/2 miles wide. Units are permitted to patrol their areas but not to cross the MDL.

Over the years there have been many incidents where North korean forces have crossed the MDL and firefights have occurred. Mnay of these incidents have been documented but the North and South Koreans skirmish more than we know. It is their country and they are deathly serious about it

I have seen the DMZ and it is very heavily fortified with tank traps, obstacles, and concertina wire. It is overwatched by all kinds of weapon systems. I could see no way possible that it could be penetrated by an attacking enemy. It may be possible but take it from me the custom military ring man. If the enemy attacks with the intention of penetrating into the south he will pay a very heavy toll because of the massive amount of obstacles and fortifications located there. I'm sure that the North Korean army has fortified their side just as much.

This battle was the largest amphibibous campaign in the Pacific during WWII and was also the bloodiest. This battle took place close to mainland Japan so the fighting was especially fierce. I believe as do many others this battle was the catalyst for the decision to use the nuclear bomb to attack Japan rather than conventional forces. The losses during this battle were well over 350,000 which were more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. President Truman knew after this battle that if he attacked ths Japanese mainland the results would be devastating. We could never sustain a prolonged battle on the Japanese mainland.

The battle lasted 82 days and was also called Typhoon of Steel because of the large amount of ordinance and manpower used and because of the ferocity of the battle. There were many civilian casualties in this battle because Okinawa had a large civilian population. Many of the civilian deaths were from mass suicides. The Japanese soldiers told them that if they were captured they would be tortured by the American troops.

During the battle there were over 1,900 kamikaze attacks by the Japanese and ninety percent of the structures on the Island were destroyed. Virtually all of the foilage of the Island was destroyed during this conflict.

This battle was beneficial to the US because it gave us a staging area for other operations near Japan. We maintain a garrison on Okinawa to this present day. 

This post applies to most of the people who follow this blog whether you are an active warrior or whether you have retired from active warfare. If you have retired you still have a warrior's mindset so you never cease to be a warrior.

So to all of you military ring folks out there. You are warriors. Always have been and always will be. The warrior is the one who is experienced in conducting warfare. This term also applies to a mentality. The warrior has an aggressive winning mentality or a fighters spirit. In my mind a true warrior will always find a way to win or either hurt his enemy so bad that he will think twice before looking for the next fight.

In warrior cultures the warrior class always has a strict code of conduct. This works to keep the warriors from becoming morally bankrupt because of the great power that they have. The warrior must use his or her expertise for the good of the nonwarrior society.

Gerinomo whose picture that you see here fit the description to a T. I went to visit medicine bluff in Oklahoma where he jumped his horse off of to escape the Cavalry. Gerinomo survived the incident but the horse didn't. You need to see the place. He had to have cahunas as big as cannonballs. If I had been in that position they would have caught me that day.

By definition a superpower is a state which is a leader in the international system. It has influence in world events and if necessary has the power to exert its will militarily anywhere in the world. Personally I think that the United States is the lone super power at this particular time and we have had our day in the sun for quite a while now. Remember that when you are on top everyone is gunning for you.

The influence of the superpower covers many different areas. The super power must have the political power to exert its will. Military force is not always the answer. The super power is also a leader whether othes states follow willingly or out of intimidation.

Superpowers normally have large populations. This is necessary in order to have the manpower to exert military might while maintaining order at home. The true super power also has some sort of influence on the world's culture. I was talking with one of my army ring customers a few days ago who was born in a foriegn country. He related to me in our conversation that as a child he and his friends listened to Michael Jackson's music and imitated the fashion trends of the United States.

We talked about the military might of the super power but it must also posses economic power. The almighty dollar has much influence. Money talks. The US certainly uses foriegn aid programs to its benefit. Other countries may not like us but they will keep a low profile in order to continue to receive our aid.

The US is the only real super power at this time but the world situation is rapidly changing. Our super power status has been exemplified in the way that we have conducted the war on terror. You Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers have witnessed this first hand any others can attest to this also.

This old warrior was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Korean War in 1952. He is truly an American hero who deserves to be mentioned and remembered. I was truly impressed when I read the citation for his award and I want to share it with you. This should encourage you military ring customers and make you feel proud to be a part of the US Armed Forces. It should give you Air Force Military ring customers special pride in your corps. I have told many stories of medal of honor recipients in the past but this one is truly special check it out and I am sure that you will agree.

Maj Davis was on a combat patrol with two other F-86 Sabres of which he was leader when they spotted enemy MIGs in the Yalu valley who were obviously on their way to intercept a friendly bombing mission which was under way in the area.

Even though his force was outnumbered 12 to 3 he pressed forward with an attack. After he shot down two MIGS he was under heavy fire when he decided to take out a third. He had to slow his air speed to do so which is when his fighter was hit with enemy fire. His actions caused the enemy fighters to have to break formation and saved the bombers from attack.

Don't you think that this story is really special. The thing is that he was under attack the whole time and he had to know that he would get hit when he slowed down. This pilot was totally focused on his mission.

The Chief of Staff of the United States Army is the highest ranking person in the United States Army so he really is the meanest mutha in the valley. If he's not he probably thinks he is and he has the juice to back it up so you don't want to mess with him.

The flag which we have shown here is the flag of the Chief of Staff. We don't do a military ring with this design because the probability of it being used is low, but if the Chief of Staff wants to have a custom military ring designed we can hook him up with something nice and we will give him a lifetime guarantee. He won't get a price hookup because he makes the big bucks and can afford it.

The Army Chief of Staff reports directly to the Secretary of the Army and assists him in presenting and enforcing Army policies, plans, and programs. Among many other duties he also directs the Inspector General to perform inspections and investigations as required. I can tell all of you custom army ring customers that one thing you don't want is the IG digging in your business so don't tick off the Chief.

I'm sure that you Navy ring customers already knew this but I didn't have a clear idea of what a Schooner was until I did the research to write this post. After I did I found the research to be quite fascinating. The description of a schooner is a sailing ship with at least one fore sail and one aft sail. Now there were many different types of schooners and some had more sails than others. The way that they were made naturally depended on the way that they would be utilized. The foresail (I assume that this is the sail in front). Is never larger than the aft sail although it may be the same size. I am sure that you Navy ring customers can educate the rest of us on the reasons for this. 

These ships were known for their speed and the amount of firepower that they could carry. As you can see from the picture the schooner could be quite large. It could also be a fierce fighter because of the number of cannons and the amount of ordinance that it could carry. Because of this combination of speed and firepower the Schooner was a favorite ship for pirates. They used it to come in blasting and get out quickly. It was ideal for the hit and run tactics that they used to fight and plunder. I would compare these tactics to the airmobile operations that our US Army Airmobile ring customers are trained in. 

It was authorized by congress to explore the Pacific Ocean and consisted of Navy ships and people. It started in 1838 and lasted until 1842. They expedition explored Pacific sites as far away as Fiji, Hawaii, the Phillipines, and Wake Island. You Navy ring customers may already know the history of this expedition but this is an education to many of the rest of us custom military ring folks.

The greatest significance of this expedition is the amount of data that it collected and the number of places explored. In all they explored over 280 islands, mapped 800 miles of present day Oregon, collected over 60,000 plant and bird specimens and the seeds of 648 different plants along with 254 live plants. You can see that the work which they accomplished was significant indeed. Lieutenant Wilkes was known for some of the personal quirks that he had and he did not get along with his people very well but on the surface it seems that he was effective in the mission.

Now even some of the brightest of you military ring customers out there may not know this but many of the specimens that they collected remain in the Smithsonian to date.   

Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese General who is believed to have written "The Art of War." I have read this book as I'm sure many of you have too and it is timeless. The wisdom that he applies to doing battle can be applied to the modern battlefield also. Many tacticians still use this book as a reference when planning for battle. These tactics still apply even in our modern era even though he lived around 400 B.C.

One thing about him is that he was absolutely ruthless. I'll compare him to Darth Vader. Let me share this account with you.

When King Wu wanted to see how effective this General was at training troops he gave him a number of his concubines to train. He picked the top two concubines and put them in charge of two companies. When they gave an order the rest of the women giggled. He then had the top two killed and I guess you know that there were no more problems after that. Totally ruthless but totally effective. I'm glad as I know the rest of you military ring customers are also that I never served under a commander like that.

Total war is a concept that views war as an all encompassing function. The person or government which engages in this concept definitely has a win at all cost mindset. This is the most devastating and destructive type of warfare possible because it consumes everything else in its execution.

Total war involves utilizing every available asset to fight the war. This includes civilian, and industrial resources. The best way to understand this concept is to view the war as all important with all else existing to support that war effort. This is the defensive side of total warfare. As you Vietnam War ring customers know, the Viet Cong would not hesitate to sacrifice women and children in their war effort.

We Operation Desert Storm ring customers know how Saddam Hussein leaked oil into the Persian Gulf to deny the Marines access to an amphibious assault.

Those of you who are Iraqi Freedom ring and Enduring Freedom ring customers know how terrorists don't mind using innocents as human shields. It dosen't bother them one bit to kill innocents.

The most prolific incident of total war in American history happened during the US Civil war when General Sherman marched through the South destroying absolutely everything in his path.

In a nutshell this war was started by a whole bunch of people who just went crazy at the same time. You can probably think of World WarII as a whole bunch of different conflicts that kind of merged into one gigantic war. I have had the opportunity to meet several WWII Military ring customers in my day, but if there are many more of you out there please speak up. Most of my military ring customers come from a later era. 

WWII was known as a global military conflict where most of the nations of the world ended up being aligned in one of 2 opposing alliances, the Axis powers and the Allies. There were over 100 million personnel mobilized for the war, and at the end there were over 70 million KIA's which were mostly civilian. This war was the epitome of a total was because the economies and resources of many countries were tied up in it.

I'm sure that all of my custom military ring customers are aware of Hitlers invasion of Poland in his quest for world dominance. This brought most of the other European countries into the war. They knew that they had to band together in order to not be conquered.

Japan and China had their own thing going on because Japan was also seeking world domination. Their attack on Pearl Harbor finally brought the US into the war. Thats not all folks. Italy was attempting to subjugate Ethiopia under Mussolini also. Since everybody was fighting anyway each country just got in where they fit in. I don't know what was in the coffee that day but it was definitely stronger than 151 rum. 

The term friendly fire refers to incidents where combatants accidently light up their own forces. It can be small arms fire, missiles, artillery, or bombs. These incidents can occur during operations by all branches of service. All Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps custom military ring customers are familiar with the meaning of this term.

I have personally had an incident where I almost called an air strike on friendly soldiers (in training). The pilot who was to drop the bombs was alert enough to see that the situation on the ground didn't look like it should and abort the mission.

The problem is that in war everyone and everything is going 1000 miles an hour in all directions. Friendly forces are engrossed and involved with the enemy so many times they don't know their exact location. The battlefield is covered with smoke most of the time so the obscure tank that you see which is not in the place where it should be might be one of yours who has chased someone, or is being chased.

All of my aviation ring customers know that when they are called on they do not know exactly where ground forces are located. They have to go with the information that the observer gives them.

My forward observer ring customers know that many times when a target is called in by a person in trouble who dosen't normally call for fire support he can easily get the coordinates wrong. If you can't see what he is looking at you can't verify the information.

Miriam Cohen who was the oldest female Marine was finally laid to rest recently. Personally I see this as a dubious distinction and a position of honor for MS Cohen. She enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943 at the age of 35. She passed away on Veteran's Day which was a fitting memorial to the life that she lived. She continued to help out other veterans as long as she possibly could. She would be seen even when she was in her 90's assisting other veterans. Thats some serious dedication for you.

Ms Cohen was a veteran of both the Korean War and World WarII. Her service to her country did not end with the wars it only ended with her death.

The life of this Marine should be a testament to all of my Marine Corps ring customers out there. In my mind she represented the epitome if what a Marine should be. The Corps was obviously the focus of her life. If you are going to be devoted to a cause you should live for it with all of your heart.

This oil spill was the worst in history. It happened during Operation Desert Storm and every Operation Desert Storm ring customer is aware of the details. Origionally we thought that Saddam Hussein had caused the spill out of spite but we found out that he did indeed have a plan

This spill was caused by the Iraqi Army when they opened some valves at  several oil refineries, and dumped the content of several oil tankers. It was estimated that anywhere from 42 to 462 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Persian Gulf. Now get this. The spill was 101 miles long, 42 miles wide, and 5 inches deep. Thats a whole bunch of oil. Saddam Hussein did it to foil a perceived amphibious assault by US Marines.

1 million barrels of oil were recovered from the spill, 2 to 3 million barrels washed ashore, and an estimated 6 to 10 million barrels evaporated. Thats a whole bunch of wasted money. Fortunately the spill was gotten under control before it could do a whole lot of environmental damage

General William Orlando Darby is the man who started the movement that led to the founding of the US Army Rangers. He entered the Army in 1933 as a Second Lieutenant and later in his career he trained with and studied the British Commandos. This gave him the inspiration for his commando unit which was initially known as Darby's Rangers. Darby's Rangers eventually became the present day US Army Rangers.

General Darby was actually a Colonel at the time of his death but was promoted to General posthumusly. I know for a fact that any and all of my customers who purchase Army Ranger rings are intimate with general Darby's history. He is well respected and honored in the Ranger community.

If you are like me you probably can remember many humorous times in the military. Unfortinately you can't put every one of these memories on your custom military ring but every time I look at my military ring it brings back memories.

This story is an event which happened while I was stationed in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. We spent a lot of time there in the field and this was one of those times. We were having a command and staff meeting one night where we were geeting our marching orders for the next day.

At the end of this staff meeting whoever was speaking warned all commanders of a General Officer who would fly around the area in a helicopter and drop in on units unexpectedly. The warning went something like this, "General Smith will be flying around and he has been known to pop up unexpectedely in unit locations at any time. Well one person who didn't hear piped up with the, "What did you say?"

The answer, given by another and accepted by all was; "There's a bunch of bull---t flying around and it just might land anywhere.   

The Rough Riders were Teddy Roosevelts cavalry unit during the Spanish American War. They were made famous for the attack known as the Battle of San Juan Hill. I don't know how great the charge was or if most of it was just media hype but the bottom line is that it was successful.

The 10th cavalry was one of the units which fought in that battle. In case you wonder why I mention them it is because they were a Buffalo Soldier unit. When I saw a TV depiction of this battle it showed the 10th cavalry as a cowardly unit that had to be rousted up out of their holes to go join the battle. I'm sorry but I just don't believe that this is true. I have heard other accounts which were opposite of what the TV depicted.

Part of the reason that the battle was successful was that for some reason the Cuban Commander of troops did not utilize all of his assets. The reasons for this are not clear. Maybe he was planning on something to happen that didn.t happen.

This is a part of history that we may never be able to decipher, but the fact is that it was a huge victory for the Rough Riders. The purpose of creating the military ring is to document past events for posterity. 

The sabre is usually a backsword. A backsword is a sword which has one sharp edge and a thick edge for strength. It also has a handguard to protect the users fingers and knuckles. It is normally curved but this is not always the rule. Many cavalry sabres were straight and had double edges which made them suitable for thrusting rather than slashing. 

Napoleon used sabres extensively in his cavalry charges but they became less useful as pistols and carbines came into use. Sabres are not used in combat anymore but they do maintain a ceremonial significance. They are used more by drill teams in competition and ceremonial drill. The sabre will probably never become obsolete as a ceremonial piece because it adds so much pizzazz. I enjoy seeing a good drill team conduct sabre drill. We associate them more with the marine corps but they are also used by army drill units.

The sabre is just like the custom military ring in that it is used to speak of the past. It is a wonderful item of military tradition and adds an elegant effect when worn  the military uniform.

Taps is the military tune played at military ceremonies and funerals by buglars. This tune was composed by Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield during the Civil war. The meaning of the song is to signal the end to a hard days work. The lyrics go something like this:

Day is done....Night is nigh...Gone the sun...From the hills...from the lake...from the sky...all is well...safely rest...God is nigh

Now don't try to hold me to perfection on these lyrics because its been years since I committed them to memory. My brain wasn't that good to begin with and it has gotten worse over the years.

This tune became so popular during the Civil War that it was used by both the Union and Confederate armies. I don't know if all of you have heard this tune but it is captivating and beautiful. I have seen many people who were stoic at military funerals cry when a good bugler played this tune. This tune touches me each time that I hear it. It is fitting to play at the funerals of the warriors that have taken the last step and gone as far as they could for their country.

Just like the military ring this tune is a memorial to the one that it is played for. The military retirement ring is a just memorial for those who have served their country. It is a memorial for the years that they have sacrificed. 

The era of the Dive Bomber is long gone but these bombers certainly made their mark in history. This bomber was developed to be effective on ships, bridges, etc. where you needed a direct hit rather than a shrapnel and explosive effect on the target. It was very efficient and had an advantage over regular high altitude bombers in several ways:

First was the increased accuracy of this type of attack which reduced the number of bombs and airplanes needed for a successful assault.

The Dive Bomber was harder for enemy antiaircraft  gunners to hit because of their steep attack angle. The Dive Bomber attacked from almost directly overhead so gunners typically could not elevate the gun tube high enough to get rounds onto the target. I don't think that this would be the case during mordern times because advanced millile and redar technilogy would be able to engage the bombers long before they could get in range.

There were also some drawbacks to using Dive Bombers which had to be overcome. The biggest was manueverability. The Dive Bomber built an enormous amount of speed during its attack so the pilot had to be able to pull up out of the dive before he smacked the deck or the water. The high speeds also made the controls harder to operate. The solution to this was to add dive brakes to slow down the planes descent. This enabled the pilot to be able to come close to the target and to pull up effectively as soon as he has dropped his bomb.

This bomber is now obsolete along with this type of attack. I compare it to the use of smart bombs today because the concept of use is similar. The Dive Bomber is an excellent choice of design for the Navy pilot's ring. This is a piece of equipment that never should be forgotten.

Arlington National Cemetery is named for Arlington county VA where it is located. The cemetery was established during the Civil War on the grounds of General Robert E. Lee's wife's estate. There are soldiers buried there from each war that we have fought and there have some pre Civil War dead interred there also.

The cemetery covers an area of 624 acres and contains the remains of over 300,000 people. There are well over 20 burials conducted each day. The cemetery is constantly expanding to accomodate future burials.

Arlington National Cemetery contains many monuments along with the tomb of the unknown soldier. The cemetery would be an excellent tour because of the history that it contains. There are an average of more than 20 burials there per day and there are also accomodations for cremated remains. 

There are tough restrictions that have to be passed if you are to be buried at Arlington. This cemetery is a type of memorial to honor the memories of those who are buried there. There are many types of memorials that we can have. I have a custom military ring that I had made as a memorial for the time that I served in the military. My custom military ring is not for a specific war or conflict. I chose to let it speak of my service in broader terms. I will leave my service ring to my grandson for him to remember me. 

"The Wall" is a movie which tells the story of memorabilia which has been left at the Vietnam Veteran's memorial in Washington DC. I was deeply touched as I watched the movie. I think that it was one of the best movies that I have ever seen. We may see an object which means absolutely nothing to us but that same object may be another man's treasure.

The wall tells the story of a homemade pencil holder, an electric guitar, and a badge. It is expertly woven together and it really made me gain a deep appreciation of the significance that objects have to us. Then I got the great idea to use it as a post for this blog.

It dawned on me that this is the same significance of creating a military memorial ring. The military ring can contain a lifetime of memories on one small metal object. Each individual design that you choose can have a whole world of different meanings. What may bring back memories to you may bring back memories to someone else that are totally different. Each object that you see placed at the foot of the wall is important to someone. So will every bit of information that you place on your military ring.

Whether you create a Vietnam Veteran's memorial ring, a retirement ring, or a service ring, you can use the ring to tell the story of your time in service. Many people choose to design their custom military ring for an heirloom. This is the reason that I designed mine. I only wear it on special occasions, and I intend to pass it on to my grandson when I die.

The fourragere is an award which is given to units and resembles a rope or cord worn around the shoulder. The French introduced the practice of wearing the fourragere and it was subsequently adopted by other countries. This is awarded to units and not individuals so you can't wear the award when you leave the unit.

I used to love to be able to wear this award because it really added pizzazz to the uniform. What really looked good was when you were able to wear this award on each shoulder.

There is another award which looks sharp and adds pizzazz to the uniform also. The custom military ring which we offer. You or a loved one persent this award to you and you don't ever have to turn it in when you leave a unit. These rings are tailor made for you by Balfour military rings and are guaranteed to last you for a lifetime.

The real name for this Apache war chief was Goyathlay Goyaale. He was born in 1829 in New Mexico. I believe that the thing that really set him off was the murder of his wife and 4 children in a raid against his village by the Mexican Army in 1858. I think that would have set me off too. When he went on a revenge raid the Mexicans gave him the name Geronimo. The name came from their appeal to Saint Jerome for protection from his knife attacks in which he repeatedly charged through gunfire to attack.

Geronimo was believed by his followers to have supernatural powers. Their eyewitness accounts of his exploits were the cause of their belief. I have seen Medicine Bluff in Fort Sill Oklahoma where he jumped from on his horse to escape pursuing cavalry and that definitely had to be a spider man move. His horse died from the fall but Geronimo lived.

Geronino terrorized both the US and Mexican armies for decades with his raids. There are numerous stories of his escapes and exploits. Geronimo died in captivity in 1909 in Fort Sill. It is rumored that his skull and bones were stolen from Fort Sill and are the skull and bones that the order of skull and bones has possession of at Yale University.

I believe that the term "Geronimo" which is suposedly uttered by parachutist before a jump came from his renowned jump off of Medicine Bluff. 

This tradition began as a Naval tradition and is similar to the tradition of the hand salute in that the purpose is to show a lack of hostile intent by showing that you were unarmed. The naval salute was done by approaching or vanquished ships as a show that they had no ammunition on hand. The original process was for the approaching ship to shoot up all of its ammo so that it didn't have any left to shoot at you. The hand salute is done for the same purpose. The right hand is used in the hand salute to demonstrate the lack of a weapon, thereby showing a lack of ill will.

In 1842 the United States declared the 21 gun salute to be its Presidential salute. The 21 gun salute is fired upon the arrival and departure of the President. It is also rendered for former presidents, the president elect, foriegn heads of state, and members of royal families.

The wearing of a military commemorative ring is another time honored tradition but is not limited to presidents, and heads of state. Anyone who has a story to tell can use a military ring to do so. 

The irony of the story is that when you salute you display your ring with all of your accomplishments.

Doris "Dorie" Miller was a navy cook who distinguished himself by his bravery during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Mr Miller was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross.

Doris was born in Waco Texas in 1919 and was known as "Raging Bull" when he played high school football probably because of his size and the position that he played (fullback).

During the attack on Pearl Harbor he responded to general quarters early that morning but his initial duty station had already been destroyed. He was subsequently tasked to help carry wounded soldiers below deck. Afterwards he was ordered to man 2 Browning 50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns. He didn't have any formal training on the weapons but began to use them to shoot at enemy aircraft which he did until he ran out of ammunition. He had to later abandon ship with the rest of the crew when the Nevada sank. He was subsequently visited by the then Secretary of the Navy because of this act of bravery. He was awarded the Navy Cross after this visit. 

This is an award which is well deserved and long overdue. This badge recognizes soldiers who are not Infantry who have been stationed in a danger area who have come under fire from enemy forces. This badge was authorized in May 2005. Until then the only soldiers who could be recognized for performing actual combat duties were infantrymen. There are many support soldiers who sometimes come under fire in the performance of their duties such as engineers, forward observers, mechanics, and military police.

The changing nature of modern warfare has dictated that an award of some kind be given to these soldiers. It used to be that friendly and enemy lines were firmly established and delineated in combat. During Operation Iraqi Freedom we began to see the blurring of these boundaries and support soldiers began to engage in firefights with enemy soldiers. In this instance I am talking about transportation personnel who had to deliver supplies and equipment to the rear areas of the battlefield. There has always been instances where engineers, MP's, and artillerymen would come under fire.

The infantryman certainly deserves to be awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, but the Combat Action Badge is also a well deserved award. We are working on this design for our custom military rings and hope to add it real soon. We are expecting this design to really do well since it is a new design.

Many of us remember General Custer from his defeat at Little Big Horn. As a former military man I'm going to have to come to his defense. The defeat at Little Big Horn could have happened to anyone. I think that Custer was overconfident and that added to his defeat, but Murphy will rear his ugly head at ant time and cause even the best laid plans to come to nothing. I have seen it happen time and time again. Sometimes one persons wrong interpetation or misunderstanding of a directive will ruin a perfectly laid campaign. I have had it happen to me. You can explain everything down to the letter and then some free thinker misinterpets a detail and totally messes you up. Nuff said.

Custer was a successful commander during the Civil War and had many victorious  campaigns. He grew up in Michigan and was a son of German immigrants. He graduated last in his class from West Point in 1861 and wad immediately sent to serve in the Civil War. In 1866 he was mustered to active duty again to serve in the Indian campaigns. One thing that I found out was that he was court martialed in 1868 for being AWOL but was reinstated to serve in the Indian Wars.

I won't go into the details of Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn but just about every bad thing that could have happened to him did happen. He was also vastly outnumbered by the Indians that he fought which he didn't realize until too late. For those of you who have never served in the military this account shows just how quickly things can go from good , to bad, to worse. All of our military ring customers who have ever been involved in any military type operation can attest to the fact that things can go quickly downhill. The best victory and the worst defeat are only seperated from each other by a few chance incidents.

This famous battle occured in an area in West Texas known as Rattlesnake Springs in August of 1880. Apache war chief Victorio was the cause of problems to settlers in the west. His tactic was to cross back and forth across the Rio Grande River and conduct raids in the US and Mexico. In addition, he would conduct raids along the border of Texas and New Mexico.

On August 3rd 1880 Cpl Asa Weaver and a small detail of Buffalo Soldiers fought Victorio at Alamo Springs. Rather than try to chase the Apaches across the desert our tactic was to place detachments of soldiers at watering places and strategic passes to try and intercept him. After this battle 5 companies of Buffalo Soldiers from the 10th Cavalry chased Victorio on a parallel path to try to intercept him at Rattlesnake Springs. They actually out rode the Apaches by travelling a distance of 65 miles in less than 21 hours. This was a magnificent feat of endurance. They were able to get into position before Victorio arrived and cut him off. A skirmish followed which is significant because after Victorio crossed back into Mexico he never again crossed the border back into the United States. He obviously did not want to deal with the hard charging Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry. Cavalry soldiers are a proud bunch. I was never in the cavalry but I had dealings with them on many occasions.

The hard riding that these soldiers did is not a whole lot different from what the modern day cavalry soldier has to do. I have never seen a cavalry soldier that didn't own a lot of regalia. This is why we offer US Cavalry ring designs that the cavalry soldier can use to make his custom military ring. 

•  The highway of death refers to the higway (80) which leads out of Kuwait into Basra Iraq. Iraqi soldiers fleeing from Kuwait during Operation Desert  Storm were killed en masse during the last days of the war. They were killed mainly by US aircraft and ground units. The official US estimate of the dead were a few hundred but take it fom me, this estimate is in the low side. Very very low. The US government wanted to downplay the carnage because of the fragile relationship that we had  with our Arab allies. They also wanted to avoid negative propaganda.

There are those who have condemned the killing of  so many fleeing Iraqi's. Some think that  an inordinate number of civilians were killed because of the many civilian vehicles which were caught in the melee, but those vehicles were used mainly by Iraqi soldiers who had confiscated them to get away in. The biggest reason that the US military went after these fleeing Iraqi's so hard is that my unit (the 24th Infantry Division) was directly north of them in their path. They outnumbered us very badly, and if they had been able to reach us we might have had a major problem. We never had to fight that battle because our Air Force never allowed them to get to us. If they had gotten through the chances are slim that I would be here today. We chose to do just like the Army when it came to this event and downplay it in our military ring design selection. It is not the kind of thing that you want to publicize on a commemorative military ring.

The 54th Massachussetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was the first black unit to serve in the American Civil War. The success that this unit realized opened the door for blacks to serve in the US Armed forces although they were interred in segregated units.

The founding of the 54th were largely the result of Massachussetts Governor John A. Andrew. Governor Andrew was an abolitionist who was confident that blacks would mwke good fighting men. He did not buy into the racism of the day which questioned the intelligence, courage, and abilities of the black man.

Volunteers for this historic unit were taken from several states and Canada. They were largely independant blacks who had never been slaves. They sacrificed all to become a part of this historic unit. They realized that the country would be watching them and that their actions would have a serious impact on how society would view the service of the black man in America. Black Abolitionist Frederick Douglas volunteered for service, but since he was too old to serve both of his sons volunteered and enlisted in the unit.

The unit commander was Robert Gould Shaw who was born from a wealthy abolitionist family. Initially Col Shaw had racist doubts about the abilities of the black soldiers but as time went on his attitude changed and he wrote many praises of his unit. Many of the soldiers of the 54th were never paid for their service. The Union Army initially offered them the $13.00 per month standard pay, but later reneiged and cut their pay to $7.00 per month. The unit then refused to take any pay in protest. This issue was not resolved until many of the members had lost their lives in combat.

The accomplishments of this fine unit is but one of the many reasons that many choose to create a military commemorative ring. The military service ring insures that events which may have taken place long ago will have a place in the human heart and mind.

The 54th is remembered for its action at Fort Wagner South Carolina. Fort Wagner was a well fortified Confederate stronghold. The Fort was built out of the sand and Palmetto trees found in the area. These materials made it almost impregnable to the Union artillery bombardment which was used at the beginning of the battle. In addition Union intelligence estimated a force of 300 soldiers to be defending the Fort, but the true number turned out to be 1,200. The 54th made it to the parapet of the fort, but could not take it in the hand to hand combat that followed. Several other units attempted to take the fort afterward but none of them had as much success.

The valor that the 54th displayed in that battle earned the respect of the Union Army, and as a direct result black soldiers were allowed to join the Union Army in large numbers. President Lincoln acknoledged after the war that if not for the service of black soldiers, the Union Army may well have lost the war.  

This famous Civil War battle was probably the greatest loss for the Union Army and the biggest victory for confederate General Robert E. Lee. In order to understand what happened in this battle let me give you the background of the events which led up to it.

President Lincoln was frustrated with General McClellan because of his timidity and rightfully so. General McClellan would not press the Confederate Army when he should have. His lack of aggressiveness allowed General Lee valuable time to nurse, rearm, and refit his army. Had he been pressed it would have caused him multiple problems. President Lincoln replaced McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside who was more aggressive, but inflexible and lacked battlefield vision. Lincoln thought that it would be an excellent victory to take the Confederate capitol of Richmond. He had to take Fredericksburg first which was where the Union Army faltered.

The first problem for Burnside was poor logistic support. He needed pontoons in place in order to construct bridges at the river crossing to help him cross into the city. When the pontoons arrived 10 days late he lost momentum and the element of surprise. Since Lee was no dummy he used this time to fortify his defenses, evacuate the city, and position his forces for a counterattack if necessary. Burnside refused to understand the mess that this delay put him in. He believed that he would still surprise Lee. He didn't alter his battle plan to account for the loss of surprise, and he wouldn't alter his plan of attack to account for some other changes. Once he took the city he was delayed for a few more days which gave Lee even more time to prepare for the impending battle. General Burnside lost most of his forces when he ordered a frontal attack against a Confederate position behind a fortified wall. This position was on the opposite side of a 600 yard open field. When the Union soldiers attempted to cross the field they were cut to pieces.

Burnside tried time after time to cross this field with devastating effects on his soldiers each time, yet he refused to change tactics. In the end he lost over 12,000 soldiers (KIA's) in this battle. These attacks took place during daylight hours so confederate soldiers and artillerymen had no problem picking off the union attackers. Then Union Army finally broke off the battle at nightfall but not before 12,000 lives were wasted. Unfortunately tragedies such as this have happened from time to time in our military. This is not the type of event that you would want to remember on a military ring or any other commemorative memorabilia.

The remains of Private Mark Carr were finally identified after more than 100 years of interrment Private Carr who was from the town of Dixon Illinois was killed in action on Jun 27 1864 while charging an enemy position on Kennesaw Mountain Georgia during the Civil War.

His remains were found in 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and his grave became a local landmark. That is until Mr Brad Quinlan came along.

Mr Quinlan who is native to the area was fascinated with finding out who's remains were interred in the grave so he spent about 5 years of his life doing research in order to get them identified. His biggest break came when he uncovered civil was burial records about the bodies which were interred there.

Mr. Quinlan was able to ascertain that Private Carr's remains were never accounted for after the battle and he was listed as missing in action. He was eventually able to account for the whereabouts of two other soldiers who went missing that day, thus he was able to identify Private Carr through the process of elimination.

It is a wonderful thing that this soldier's remains were finally identified and he was laid to rest with all of the honors that he deserves. We still need to remember that there are many soldiers missing from past wars whose remains were never identified. Many people create  POW/MIA military rings to honor the unknowns. Many others will fly POW/MIA flags in honor of those missing in action. 

The purpose of this post is to let you know about many of the options available to you when you design your  custom military ring. You can design a custom military ring regardless of which branch of service that you are in or have served in.

The following list gives you an idea of what you can use to customize your ring:

1. You can choose from 7 different types of metals. Regardless of the metal type that you choose your ring is guaranteed for life.

2. You can choose from 3 different ring designs

3. Your next choice is the wording that you will put around the stone of the ring. There is a long list of phrases available for this, and you have the option to choose whatever you like.

4. We have a total of 14 different colors that you can choose for your stone. Most people choose their birthstone, but the reason that you choose a color is totally up to you.

5. The next choice that you have to make is what effect do you want for your stone. There are 3 different effects to choose from and they all look wonderful.

6. There are  a huge selection of designs avaliable for you to place inside of the stone (over 200).

7. You have the choice of what you want to engrave inside of your ring.

8. There are many side panel designs available for you to choose from. You get to pick one for each side of your ring.

9. You get to write whatever you want above each side panel. There is a total of 32 available spaces for you to use.

10. In some cases you get to pick the colors that you want to go below the side panels. there is a wide assortment of colors for you to choose from.

Now we want you to remember that all of this customization won't cost you a penny. You pay one price for your ring and everything that you get to add is free. We do not charge additional fees for each thing that you choose. The price that we tell you up front is the price that it costs. Not a penny more. 

From time to time we get questions about our goldtone celestrium military rings. This post will attempt to answer some of the most commonly asked questions about our goldtone celestrium rings. These rings are also known as valadium. Celestrium is a jeweller's alloy which is strong, durable, malleable, extremely chemically resistant to tarnishing and corrosion, and looks identical to our real gold rings. It takes a practised eye to tell the difference.

The goldtone celestrium is celestrium with a 14kt gold overlay. It comes with a lifetime guarantee also and is more resistant than gold to damage. The celestrium ring costs less than the gold ring and is a good alternative especially if you are on a budget, if you wish to wear your ring daily. or if you are afraid of losing it.

The celestrium ring comes with the antiqued finish, whereas gold rings can come with either the antiqued or natural finish. Every design that comes with the gold ring can be placed onto the celestrium ring.

The goldtone celestrium ring is an excellent choice if you want the exact look of 14kt yellow gold without having to pay the same price.

I have never seen this docudrama, but from what I have read about it I feel that every soldier, marine, sailor, and airman should check it out as I will when I am able. I will be sure not to miss it when it is aired because I am sure that it will be informative and worthwhile.

From what I have read this docudrama depicts life in the 92nd Buffalo Division during WWII. For those of you military ring customers who may not be familiar with the term "buffalo" it is a term which used to be applied to American soldiers of African descent.

Inside Buffalo tells the story of an army which was vastly different from our Army of today. In the 1940's according to the account given by 92nd Division veteran Joseph Stephenson there was a quota set for the number of blacks that the Army would accept. He had to apply to every buffalo soldier unit that he could find in order to be admitted into the military. When ha was accepted he never went through basic training. I guess the army didn't feel that black soldiers were not important enough to waste training time on.

Our military has come a long way since that time. Now we have a multicultural military. We have sold military rings to people of many different heritages, and races. I would always feel proud when we deployed to other countries and they were able to see that America is truly a meltingpot for all people.

There are many times when we need to use an air mobile or airborne force to accomplish a certain mission rather than conventional ground troops. Conventional troops are normally mechanized which means that they have heavy vehicles that they ride on which carry a lot of heavy firepower. They may be restricted in some types of terrain and sometimes there are areas that they just can't get into I.e. mountains.

Some situations when air landing may be necessary are when we need to seize or destroy important buildings or terrain for tactical purposes, cut off supply and communication lines in the rear area of the enemy, to clear or seize airfields or landing zones, to take certain areas that conventional forces may not be able to get to, and to thwart enemy attack or counterattack plans.

These operations are well known to our air assault ring, and paratrooper ring customers, but some of our other military ring customers may not be as familiar with them hence the reason for this post.

Air landed troops will not be left alone for long because they are by necessity placed in a vulernable situation. They have to be pulled out or relieved by conventional forces at some point in time because these custom military ring troops are light forces and can only carry a limited amount of equipment. They literally fight with what they can carry on their backs. 

In what seems to be another aspect of the troop surge in Afghanistan Special Operation Forces will increase the number of secret missions that they have been conducting in Afghanistan. The missions that they have been conducting have really been putting a hurt on the Taliban and will be ramped up in preparation for the troop surge. Although they don't give details of what they are doing I am sure that there have been some snatch and grab missions and just raising a whole lot of general cain.

Most of these missions have been in the rural areas of the country where the Taliban have probably felt relatively safe until now. A recent operation netted 150 Taliban killed. The troop surge is starting to click on all cylinders which is wonderful news to me. Our Special Operations ring customers should have quite a story to tell when they return. 

The term Esprit de Corps is a term that can sometimes refer to an intangible. This term refers to the morale or pride of the unit. Another way to describe it is the belief of the units members in their purpose of mission.

Sometimes the esprit de corps is noticeable by the conduct and behavior of the units soldiers. It is evident in their snap, their walk, their actions, and their work ethic. It is important for the unit to have high morale to be effective. High morale is a common factor with units which are effective in their mission. The high level of military pride is probably more noticeable in military schools than anywhere else. It is drilled into the servicemember during the special training and most of the students are super motivated about what they are doing also.

Many of my military ring customers come from units with high morale and pride. Some of the m ost spirited units and soldiers that I have been around were 82nd Airborne Division ring customers, US Army Ranger ring customers, and Navy SEAL ring customers. This list is not all inclusive at all. There are many others that I can mention but room does not permit me to name you all so don't get offended if I didn't have room to mention your unit.  

I had no earthly idea what the recon corpsman was until I started to do research for this post but since I researched I have a lot of respect for these brave marines.

In order to make a long definition short let me explain it this way, these are medics who accompany marine recon elements into battle.

These corpsmen are trained in medical treatment techniques and they are trained to do the job of the recon unit that they accompany. When these marines go into battle they are not the weak link in the chain they hold their own grit. These corpsmen have to be trained to assist wounded marines in situations where additional medical help may be a long way off. They also have to be able to do the same job as the marines that they are attached to.

We have never produced a military ring for these Marines but we can. We have more than enough custom work available for you to create your Navy Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman's ring. We pride ourselves on the fact that we can produce a custom military ring for any and every serviceman.

We have all heard this term when it comes to the Vietnam war and all who are qualified to wear the Vietnam Veterans ring can educate you to the real deal on who they were. They were the dreaded Vietnamese people who were indigenous to South Vietnam who were not particulary happy about our being there.

The Viet Cong were members of the political party known as the National Liberation Front. This force resided in South Vietnam but were sympathetic to the political ideals of the North.

The words Viet Cong are a shortened form of the words Vietnam communist. The Viet Cong consisted of guerilla units, regular army units, and villagers who were not very well organized, armed. or equipped. One thing that I have is say is that they were tough as nails. I din't know exactly how much they were in league with the North Vietnamese Army but I do know that they had 3 classes of operatives. The guerilla fighters who were a part of that organization, a regular Army, and civillian villagers who were sympathetic to the cause. Some of them gave help in various ways and some would fight with or for the Viet Cong. 

When I use the word "Commando" I apply it to all of my custom military ring customers who are special operations soldiers and even to infantry units or other small units set up for limited specific missions. Commando units may be infantry recon units, paratroopers, force recon, SEALs, rangers, and even sappers. 

The military use of the word generally refers to light infantry troops used to attack conventional targets, used in raids or ambushes, counterterrorism. reconnaissance, and other operations.

The first people who come to mind are US Army Rangers. In my mind they are commandos in the purest form of the word. They are asociated with small unit offensive operations and patrols. Although some commandos like US Special Forces are used quite differently they still fill the bill of the commando clasification. All of our commandoes deserve our undying respect. We should keep in mind that they face a greater chance of being killed in action than the regular soldier. They are not in it for prestige, but for service.  

The 24th Infantry Regiment was organized in Nov 1869 as a "Buffalo Soldier" regiment. The 24th initially saw duty in the old west where they served as a sort of police force and protected settlers from the indians and from outlaws. They performed these duties until 1898.

The 24th saw action as a segregated unit in the Spanish American War, the Phillippine American War, as a sort of police force for the US during the Mexican Revolution, WWII, and the Korean Conflict.

The official history of the 24th regiment during the Korean War is not good. According to history the 24th broke and ran during battles and were cowardly throughout the war. Now if that is true my question would be this. Why were they left in continuous combat during the entire war? I know that if I were in charge and a unit was worthless I would disband it and have it removed from action as quickly as possible before it caused other problems. I'm sorry but since this is my site that I use my money to pay for I can say what I want. I believe that in this case history is a lie.

You can be sure that the correct story of your service is told because you tell it with the custom design work that you put on your military ring. Once it has been created it will tell the story of your service as long as it exists.

You have probably never heard of LRRPS but they were the thing during the Vietnam War. The acronym LRRPS stands for long range reconnaissance patrol. LRRPS were used extensively during the Vietnam War to gather intelligence from deep behind enemy lines.  The teams were expert at patrolling and stealth. They would travel extensive distances to gather intelligence. Sometimes they would get caught in fire fights but that is not the purpose of recon patrols. If a recon patrol is caught in a firefight their response should be to break contact and dissappear.

To show you the things that commanders will do let me tell you about this: When LRRPS patrols did get into firefights their kill ratio was 400 to 1 so commanders began to involve them in situations that they technically should not have. There was pressure on commanders to get high body counts so to many commanders the LRRPS was the way to do this although this was not tactically or morally correct.

LRRP patrols were very vulernable when they were behind enemy lines. They probably could not count on artillery and close air support. If they ran out of food they had to live off of the land, and if they were wounded they would be in a serious fix. I have not had the pleasure of designing a custom military ring for a LRRPS team member as of yet but I welcome the opportunity.

Airborne soldiers are soldiers who are typically inserted behind enemy lines by either parachute, glider, or helicopter. The use of airborne soldiers must be carefully calculated for maximum results and minimum losses. When they are used correctly they can cause absolute havoc among the enemies rear echelon forces. They can disrupt the ability of the enemy to sustain combat on the front by disrupting his supply and command and control among other things.

Commanders have to consider how paratroopers will be resupplied and removed from the action when they are dropped behind enemy lines. They are light forces by nature so they don't have a lot of heavy firepower. They are not normally used for sustained operations but sometimes they are required to go long periods of time with little or no resupply. This type of soldier must have initiave and resourcefullness.

Air assault operations are a type of airborne operation where soldiers are carried into battle in helicopters. The biggest advantage to this is that they can be dropped off and picked up and moved around the battlefield very quickly which  makes them a devastating force when used correctly. This really makes this warfare a type of chess game. If you have ever been associated with any of these types of units we have the custom military ring design work available to help you create your own custom airborne ring or air assault ring. 

Senior Navy Chief Petty Officer Philip Ryan III has been awarded the Silver Star medal for valor while serving in Afghanistan. Much of the story is classified so we may never know the full details. One thing that we do know is that he was cited for bravery during a firefight in which he also assisted three other wounded SEALs.

The Silver Star is one of our highest awards for valor and believe me they are not passed out freely. If the chief got it he earned it. NAVY SEAL's have been awarded dozens of these medals since the war on terror began, but due to the nature of their job we will probably never learn many details of why the awards were given. One thing that the chief can do is to create a custom Navy Chief Petty Officer's Ring to help him tell his story of the time that he served in Operation Enduring Freedom and any other operation that he has served in. I don't know if he will because you never hear a real Navy SEAL bragging about what he has done. 

Each one of us has a story to tell. When you see a serviceman or woman in uniform you only need to look at the awards that they are wearing to get an accurate picture of what they did in service. When you design your custom military ring you are telling the world what you have done. The military ring, or Navy ring is the testament to the world about what you have done for your country. You don't have to brag, just let the truth be seen.

I had heard about the Force Recon element of the United States Msrine Corps but I didn't really have an idea of how tough they really are until I started to study to do this post. I have a new found respect for them now that I am aware of some of what they are required to do.

They differ from scouts and infantry patrols in that their primary mission is patrolling deep behind enemy lines. They have to be super stealthy in order to fulfill this mission. They normally operate far away from the umbrella of artillery, and naval gunfire support. It would also take a little time to get air support to them so their best defense is to not be seen or compromised in any way. This requires a level of training that is equal to any special operations forces that we have, to include Army Special Forces, or Navy SEAL's.

When Force Reconnassance is used for patrols and intelligence gathering type operations this is called green ops. They are also used in black op type of operations also. Black ops is when they purposely engage the enemy in ambushes, raids, snatches, etc. When black op type operations are performed they are usually performed closer to friendly lines where the Force Recon unit can enjoy the benefits of Field Artillery, or Navy Gunfire if necessary.

Some of the other missions that Force Recon units can be utilized in are battle damage assessment, finding and marking drop zones for paratroopers, and ambushes. Force Recon Marines can place their specialty and unit designation above the side panel designs on their custom made USMC ring.   

Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape training is conducted to teach personnel who by the nature of their job whether military or civilian who may become prisoners of war. The branches of the military which have more of a need for this training are the Navy, Air Force, and Army.

SERE training teaches skills which the student may need should he or she be forced to have to evade the emeny while living off of the land. It also teaches resistance to the pressure tactics which may be used on prisoners of war.

Some of the survival skills taught are; emergency first aid, land navigation, techniques for avoiding detection, and living off of the land. Much of the training is classified. I have known many who have been through SERE training and it is pretty intense and realistic.

Resisting sexual assault was added to the training after Operation Desert Storm. Most of the people who go through this training are special ops people so most of my military ring customers will include the mention of this training on a Special Operations Ring.

The US Navy is warning the world to expect increased attacks by Somali pirates in the next few weeks. The number of attacks have been low recently which is due in a very large part to the current monsoon season in the Gulf of Aden area.

The heavy seasonal rains and winds make sailing conditions very tough, therefore harder for the pirates to operate the smaller vessels that they use to hijack the larger cargo carrying ships. The monsoon will end soon and with the end will come calmer seas and winds. Pirates may come out in full force to make up for lost time.

The US Navy is urging mariners who must travel through the area to stay in designated shipping lanes. The lanes are patrolled by about 30 Navy warships and aircraft from 16 different nations. 

Our military is so versatile. During these times we depend on them to accomplish a wide range of tasks and there is no room for error. This mirrors the challenge of creating custom US Navy rings for our Navy personnel. It is a challenge because of the complexities of jobs, duties, and assignments of our modern Navy.

The US State Department is  85% sure that Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's sons has been killed this year in an attack by a  US drone firing Hellfire missiles. Although we can't confirm the death with 100% accuracy I have been around long enough to know that if it is put out it is probably true. I know from my experience that we do not rush to make these kinds of statements unless we can pretty much back them up.

This death is not a result of Saad bin Laden being sought out by our military but is a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As far as we know he was not heavily involved in terrorist activities like his father so his death can be viewed as collateral damage.

This incident should give the average person an idea of the kind of work that our servicemen and women are putting in in Operation Enduring Freedom. I wish that there was something which could be done to let everybody get a feeling of the harsh conditions that our troops have to operate in in Afghanistan. Whenever one of our soldiers in Afghanistan purchases an Operation Enduring Freedom ring we try to send an encouraging e mail to boost his morale.

If you knew anything about the Vietnam War you have more than likely heard of the Mekong Delta. This is the 15,000 square mile area on the southern tip of Vietnam where Ho Chi Mingh City (formally Saigon) is located. This area was the place of much action during the war and there were many US military units based there.

This area gets its name from the fact that the Mekong River branches out into many tributaries here before it finally empties into the sea.

This is also the area in Vietnam where most Navy personnel who were involved in the war saw action. The Navy used small fast patrol boats a lot in this area which interacted with Viet Cong guerillas.

This area holds many memories for Army, and Navy Vietnam Veterans alike. Some good and some not so good. You can create your Vietnam veterans ring to tell the story of your involvement in the Vietnam war.