Ben Hess (CW2) - Call sign Brandy 37

I Think I Won by Gahan Wilson (Click Here)

Note:  This page is a duplicate without the politics.  Don't get me wrong by the above cartoon.  I can see the humor but I'm to the right on defense.  Ah, what the heck, I can throw a couple in.  Here is what my LED license plate says (that one was too small and I ordered this one):

Liberal – someone easily programmed by a biased media.

Peace activist - Someone who supports terrorist’s nukes & kills US troops by encouraging our enemies. They think its peace.

Perfect storm - a free haven for al-Qaeda if we pull out of Iraq and a psycho making nukes next door?

I once had someone tell me in a non-derogatory way that she has never met someone that thinks like me.  Probably because I'm way to the right on some issues like defense yet way to the left on others like the environment and some things I just don't give a crap either way.  I think it is because bias on the news seems so obvious to me and I ignore it.  I only see the facts and it doesn't influence my positions.  If you can ignore bias you opinions go all over the place.  I could easily do a term paper on bias including example after example.  If I were back in college and had the option on the topic of a term paper, how people are effected by bias would be my first choice.

On defense I feel that the more people with their finger on the button, the greater the chances someone will push it.  I definitely don't want Mahmoud Ahmadinejad via al-Qaeda as one of the persons with their finger on that button.  I doubt if there is a liberal argument I haven't heard but they are all secondary to that and I don't see why they have a tantrum about setting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back 10 years.  As far as the Europeans or anyone else hating us for it, they hated us when the peanut farmer was president and will always hate us as long as there's a biased media.  As an example of how much people are influenced by bias, Vladimir Putin controls the media in Russia and has an 80% approval rating (CBS News, 12/1/07).  Just like they most people of both parties didn't see the energy crisis coming even though it's been obvious for years (I've me writing my representatives for at least 10 years), I don't think most comprehend the severity of what could happen with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's finger on the button.  Should a president put us in that terrible position because that's what the polls say?  I also worry that the opposition might increase our enemies moral and get more of our military killed something that I get very passionate about having seen it before in Vietnam.  Saying you support our troops but oppose the war is like saying that black is white.  That one is good for 50 points on my blood pressure.  I guess I got carried away again but you should see the other one.  I probably criticize politicians from both parties equally but when I vote it's for who I feel will do the most to prevent a terrorist nuke.  It's the number one thing that would totally ruin my life.  George Bush and the republican party really irritated me by blocking the increase in CAFE standards several years ago but again, it's better than a nuke.  I think the fact that's never happened before gives people a false sense of security.  It really irritates me when hecklers try to portray people trying to prevent terrorist nukes as the evil ones.  That logic is so warped it's like they're possessed by the devil.

Risk of Nuclear Attack on Rise - washingtonpost.com, 4/16/08 - "the risk of such an attack on U.S. cities has grown in the past five years because of the spread of nuclear technology and the growth of a global terrorist movement ... the threat is greater and is increasing every year with the march of technology ... A 1-kiloton device, which could fit into a suitcase, could kill about 25,000 people ... A 10-kiloton explosive, which could be hidden in a van, could kill about 100,000 ... the amount of burn victims that you're going to have would stress any system" - I'll never figure out why the majority of people consider the economy more important than preventing this.  We're only talking 1940's technology for the fission models and 1950's technology for the fusion models (over a thousand times more powerful) plus most of what they need to know is on the Internet (fission / fusion).  That article is fission figures so multiply by 1000 for fusion. If that happens there ain't going to be an economy.  What's really scary is that it's the Washington Compost as Ollie North calls them because of their liberal bias saying that.  What more of a perfect storm could you have than a free haven for Al Qaeda if we pull out of Iraq and a psycho with unlimited oil money making nukes next door in Iran.  If it happens the Monday morning quarterbacks will be asking why we didn't see that one coming for ages. Obama likes to argue that Al Qaeda wouldn't be there if we didn't invade Iraq. Can't anyone see the huge flaw in that? The bottom line is that they are there now. The reasons for taking out Saddam Hussein are beyond the scope of this but he was on the cover of US News & World Report before he even invaded Kuwait and the caption was “The most dangerous man in the world”. Go to their website and I’m sure you can find a copy of the article.  Obama is just an ex pot head trying to brainwash dumb people with arguments that lack any logic.

Things like cameras were rationed in the exchange in Vietnam.  It took me two months to get the one I wanted then I had it under my helicopter seat inside my helmet bag while transporting some South Vietnamese and that disappeared.  It took me two more months to get another one.

McFail & Spooky?	Bob Cowan, Dave Blinn waiting for the fog to burn off.
Bob Cowan?	Dave Blinn?
Sam Bradford?	I got this from 117thahc.org.  I believe that's me on the far left. - Ben Hess
LZ Sally '69 or '70, camera pointed NW	? Steve Sampson ?
A Shau Valley taken from approximate location of FSB Rendezvous about 5 months after Rendezvous shut down.  Camera pointed to the northwest I believe.  This was no-mans land at the time.  I believe that was Razor Back on the right and I think Hamburger Hill was in the middle someplace.	A Shau Valley taken from approximate location of Fire Support Base Rendezvous about 5 months after Rendezvous shut down.  Camera pointed to the south.
FSB Rendezvous about 5 months after it shut down.  I spent 9 days as POL (refuel facility) officer at Rendezvous in Sept. '69.  It sucked big time.  Hot, humid, wet, mud, a stream of piss going through our tent and we got mortared nearly every day.  Just to the left of the center of the top right quadrant you can still see 3 "T's".  That's what was left of the POL.  I helped move it there from it's previous location, to the right of the bottom right quadrant.	Another taken from over Rendezvous  camera pointed to the south. Click here for a better picture at another web site.  Click on the picture to enlarge it and then put the cursor on the lower right corner and when an icon appears, click on  it to enlarge even more.
A Shau with camera pointed to the west while over FSB Rendezvous.  I think that brown hill,  just to the right of the center of the picture and just below the horizon is Hamburger Hill.	Eagle's Nest taken for helicopter over FSB Rendezvous.
This aircraft was flying a search mission in the Ashau Valley.  It had a Cobra as cover.  The pilot was shot and the observer, who was not a pilot, took the controls.  The Cobra was able to talk the observer in to flying it back to LZ Sally.  He crashed while trying to land.  The observer was able to walk away from the crash.  The pilot was already dead.
Short final to a landing zone near the DMZ.  Look at those mountains in the background.  I believe they were once triple canopy jungle.  As you went further west along the DMZ you got back into jungle terrain and/or fields of elephant grass.	City of Hue
HHC Second Brigade, 101st Helicopters next to Highway One (to the right but you can't see it) across the street from a district headquarters, which was between Da Nang and Phu Bai.  About 30 degrees to the left was a large mountain, that had an old abandoned French facility at the top.	Just north of FSB Birmingham, hovering in a loach with one hand and trying to take a picture of a baboon with the other hand.  Not only is that dumb but it's a good way to get shot at.
Jim Burton was killed in action (click here).

Warrant Officer Candidate Class 69-17, Ft. Wolters, TX