Ibram, same for you as for Mari: you've got the cart before the horse. I don't call people who disagree with me communists; it's simply that communists disagree with me a lot -- I don't have to call them anything. I'd add, from this former Cold Warrior's perspective, which gives me ten years' experience with Communist opinion, that it's tw's communism that blinds him. It certainly makes him suck at history.

Oh, I didn't know you worked for the State Department, brown eyes. :rolleyes:

You still don't. Those ten years were US Navy -- NAVSECGRU -- and the NSA, which is Department of Defense, not State. Time was, I made my living speaking, reading, and writing Russian. I've still got some Soviet-era publications stashed in storage boxes. Lots of people said it was windy and tendentious and lying propaganda, and hey, what I read was windy, tendentious, et cetera... imagine living your whole life where the textbooks and reference material are all in bureaucratese, and heavily leaning to the passive voice.

One of the worst things about collectivist totalitarianism is that at bottom, it's fucking boring. And by all accounts, the Russians are not great lays either. Funny, you'd think those long cold nights would give them the opportunity -- but they'd have to lay off the drink. That might be it.

Oh, I see. You're calling TW a commie because he bores you. :rolleyes:

You like to hear me tell you "no," a lot, don't you? Wouldn't scale modelmaking be a more rewarding hobby?

I'm calling tw a commie because of his stated views, as I said in the opening post. Note, if you will, that he made no significant or persuasive denial of being of the communist persuasion, either, just a feeble mention of the Pentagon Papers. We could call this his last few frayed shreds of personal integrity -- his responses, such as they are, demonstrate that he knows I've got his number.

Breaking Communism, now... that does not bore me.

UG was caught and exposed outrightly lying to the Cellar - rewriting history to promote self serving politics. Let's face it UG. You are an expert on Vietnam War history - and yet did not even read the Pentagon Papers. Honesty is a complication that UG avoids. An old Sen McCarthy technique: when caught lying, then accuse others of communism. Could UG at least be original? Because another extremist used such accusations, then accusations should work for UG?

I forgot. UG also believes the history he rewrites. Sen McCarthy successfully drove all communists from the US government and US Army. Communist accusations must work.

UG proclaims he fought the cold war. He sat at a desk translating Russian text. That's a warrior - or an old joke about a purple heart for a paper cut? But being a true warrior, UG posts: How many corpuscles died at his desk in defense of liberty?

Urbane Guerrilla was caught rewriting history for personal convenience. His modus operandi is to accuse and insult due to what transpired previously:
UG Rewrites more History and
Can UG Prove He is not Lying Again?

I've got the Navy Expeditionary Medals to prove you wrong once again, tw. Read Blind Man's Bluff for a history of the kind of thing I was involved in -- though it covers a period well before the time I was doing classified stuff in that vein. I recommend the book, though.

I've done a good deal more for my civilization than you ever will.

Tw, you just ain't got the stuff to gainsay me. Believe what you like, since you're so wedded to untruth. That commitment to falsity and the Communist take on world history is what makes you and keeps you such a bad human being. I'll just keep exposing you until the end of your miserable, neurotic life.

Criteria

The Navy Expeditionary Medal is awarded to Navy personnel who have landed on foreign territory and engaged in operations against armed opposition or who have operated under circumstances deemed to merit special recognition and for which no campaign medal has been awarded.

This medal is only awarded to personnel attached to one of the ships or units listed in the notice or instruction at some time during the respective periods shown, and who actually participated in the operation. This includes personnel attached to a squadron or unit embarked in a ship during the eligible period for that ship. Members of rear echelons, transients, observers, and personnel assigned for short periods of Temporary Additional Duty (TAD) or Training Duty (TD) are not normally eligible. However, consideration will be given in those instances when the local commander certifies a particular and significant contribution by an individual.

Navy Expeditionary Medals awarded after Wake Island 1941;
Thailand: May 16 - August 10, 1962

Cuba: January 3, 1961 - October 23, 1962

Iran, Yemen, & Indian Ocean: December 8, 1978 - June 6, 1979

Iran, Yemen, & Indian Ocean: November 21, 1979 - October 1, 1981

Lebanon: August 20, 1982 - May 31, 1983

Lebanon: June 1, 1983 to March 4, 1984*

Libya: January 20 - June 27, 1986

Persian Gulf: February 1 - July 23, 1987

Monrovia, Liberia (Sharp Edge): August 5, 1990 - February 21, 1991

Rwanda (Distant Runner): April 7-18, 1994

USS Cole Operations (Determined Response): October 12 2000 to December 15, 2002

* For service in Lebanon between June 1, 1983 and March 4, 1984, the service member may choose either the Navy Expeditionary Medal (or Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, depending on Service component) or the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.

In which of the above operations have the Navy personnel, not Marines, "landed on foreign territory and engaged in operations against armed opposition"? :confused:

Blind Man's Bluff goes through apx 1987.

Blind Man's Buff is a heck of a book. It describes events as recent as 1992, but focuses much more on earlier events.

It also points out the existence of "black" decorations, awarded off the open record for operations that are still classified. There were a couple of DFCs given to SR-71 crew on that basis too, but that's a different book.

If I was looking for Naval personnel who had been "in foriegn territory facing armed opposition or who have operated under circumstances deemed to merit special recognition and for which no campaign medal has been awarded", I'd be thinking about either Naval Special Warfare or very black SIGINT operations.

Or perhaps both.

SIGINT, and that's all I'm a-sayin'.

My two awards were for serving in the task force that was backing our play when the Iranian hostage rescue mission went flop at Desert One, and the other for service off the littoral of a then-quite-hostile nation.

Bruce most helpfully listed this one; it's my first award:

Pencil pushing? Or more likely keyboard pounding?:confused:

Hey, intel types generally are in the rear with the gear. Fact of life. Though we did get out towards the sharp end from time to time. You're fairly near the sharp end when you're personally sketching a caricature of Khoumeini on the housing of a cluster bomb slung from an A-6. I drew a pretty recognizable Khoumeini -- looked a lot like Bill Mauldin's.

For some kinds of SIGINT, you have to be very close to the SIG.

One reason Iran was strategic in Cold War days. And Govenor's Island...

I'm sure it was worth a medal. :rolleyes: