Word: gunness
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...Staunch Soldiers "Under the Gun" [may 9], on the severe problems of the Philippine military, was timely. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (A.F.P.) need a miracle to overcome the problems you described?"corruption, bad housing, woeful medical care"?but I do not agree that the A.F.P. has a morale problem. Poor equipment, yes, but not low morale. I was in the A.F.P. for 30 years, and I know that the Filipino soldier is highly motivated and fights without grumbling, even if he is short of equipment. Sad to say, the revolving-door policy of the President in appointing...
...moving four-wheel-drive vehicle on a deserted rocky track south of Taraka Gorge, a steep-sided valley about 130 km southeast of Kabul. Their task was to set up an observation point overlooking a village suspected of harboring Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. Intelligence reports suggested there were gun emplacements and bunkers on the mountainsides and that the enemy were using part of the area as an escape route to Pakistan. The patrol was to observe for one or two days and then remain in place while the rest of the squadron patrolled openly through the valley...
...night, RK3 hiked deeper into the mountains. On the bare hillsides, the troopers saw "countless tracks, fortifications and bunkers along the ridge lines," the patrol leader later wrote in his report. When they reached their objective, a ridge overlooking the valley and the village of Bhalkhel, they discovered a gun emplacement and a Russian-built heavy machine gun with a range of more than 3,500m. The patrol leader - according to his own report - ordered his men to set up an observation post about 40 m from the gun. Because there were no rocks or shrubs big enough to shield...
...from about 10 m away, the man "went for his weapon," according to the patrol report. "It was the last thing he did,'' says the trooper. The SAS men opened fire. Alerted by the gunshots, armed men fanned out from the village below, some climbing the path toward the gun emplacement. The troopers fired shots and threw a grenade in an effort to keep them back, but the Afghans split up and outflanked them. Within minutes, bullets were whizzing from all directions. Machinegun rounds churned up the dirt, Kalashnikov bullets cracked overhead and rocket-propelled grenades screamed past. One grenade...
...disgraced talk-show host; JJ, a failed rock musician; Jess, a teenager who just got dumped by her boyfriend; and Maureen, a middle-aged shut-in with a severely disabled son. Momentarily distracted from self-destruction, the four get to comparing notes. (Maureen is immediately judged the top gun, misery-wise. "Oh, yeah," says Jess. "That's a no-brainer. Don't change your mind. You'd only regret it.") They decide to put off jumping and instead form a bickering, wary, ad hoc fellowship. It's like The Breakfast Club rewritten by Beckett...