FRIDAY FOTO (December 29-30, 2017)

Christmas Watch.

(U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Erika Kugler)

A lone sailor walks across the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), after being relieved from watch duty. The ship is in port in Bremerton, Washington —  where this photo was taken on December 25, 2017 — where the Stennis was preparing for its next deployment.

FRIDAY FOTO (December 15, 2017)

Flying Fire Fighter.

(Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Nieko Carzis)

A California Air National Guard C-130J Hercules drops fire retardant over the hills above Santa Barbara, California on December 13, 2017. The aircraft, helping fight the fatal Thomas Fire, is assigned to the 146th Airlift Wing.

A 32-year-old firefighter, Cory Iverson, lost his life Thursday (December 14) battling the Thomas Fire, the largest of the blazes plaguing southern California. Iverson, who had been a firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — also known as Cal Fire — since 2009, was a fire apparatus engineer from San Diego, according to a Cal Fire spokeswoman, CNN reported.

FRIDAY FOTO (December 8, 2017)

Water Wall.

(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jose Madrigal)

No, those aren’t giant polar bears, woodchucks or Yetis advancing on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz in the Pacific Ocean.

You can’t see them, but planes from from Carrier Air Wing 11 just dropped live ordnance (bombs) on the ocean surface, creating an exploding “water wall” in a flight demonstration. The aqua-technics were part of Tiger Cruise 2017 on December 1.

The photo below gives a closer view of the titanic splashes of water. To us they look like frolicking fuzzy critters. (the fifth from the right definitely reminds us of a giant porcupine.) What do they look like to you?

(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Kennishah J. Maddux)

FRIDAY FOTO (November 17, 2017)

Wait, what?!!

(U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Caitlyn Smoyer)

Sergeant Rocky, the 3rd Infantry Division’s mascot, jumps over obstacles behind a soldier during a competition at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The November 13 event was part of Marne Week 2017, a celebration of the division’s centennial.

The mascot’s name and Marne Week derive from the division’s World War I nickname: “The Rock of the Marne.” According to the website, Global Security, the division was activated at Camp Greene, North Carolina 100 years ago this month.

Eight months later, at midnight on July 14, 1918 the Division went into combat for the first time. As a member of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe, the Division earned its name as the “Rock of the Marne,” when it stuck to its position after surrounding allied units retreated during the Second Battle of the Marne. Casualties were very high but the German advance was driven off.

3rd Infantry Division shoulder patch (U.S. Army image)

In World War II,  General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. led the division in battles in Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. The 3rd ID saw 531 continuous days of combat — the only Army division to fight the Axis on every European front — in places like Casablanca, Anzio, Tome, the Vosges Mountains, Colmar, the Siegfried Line, Palermo, Nurnberg, Munich, Berchtesgaden, and Salzburg. Lieutenant Audie Murphy, the most decorated U.S. soldier in World War II, was a member of the 3rd ID.

The division also fought in the Korean War. One brigade fought in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and Marne division units deployed to Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan in ensuing years. Last year, one of the division’s battalions was posted to Ukraine in support of Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.

Designated a mechanized infantry division, the 3rd ID is now part of the XVIII Airborne Corps, based at based at Fort Stewart and Fort Benning, Georgia.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In case you’re wondering, Sgt. Rocky the 3rd ID mascot is a bulldog and shouldn’t be confused with Sgt. Rock of Easy Company.

FRIDAY FOTO (November 10, 2017)

Night Flight.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Gregory Brook)

Air Force C-17 Globemaster III pilots from the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron conduct combat airlift operations for U.S. and coalition forces in Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.

To see a video of this massive cargo plane, click here. 

Here’s another shot of these folks at work.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Gregory Brook)

FRIDAY FOTO (October 27, 2017)

I Talk to the Trees.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sergeant Allison M. DeVries)

Marine Corps Sgt. Jonathan Streit (center), briefs Marines during a ghillie suit and sniper exercise at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California on October 13, 2017. Streit is a squad leader assigned to 1st Marine Division’s 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.

The ghillie suit, worn by civilian hunters and military snipers, is designed to look like heavy foliage in a forest or field. It was originally developed by Scottish gamekeepers as a portable hunting blind and first adopted for war in 1916. The name derives from a Scottish word for “lad” or “servant.”

To see more photos of this exercise (it was really hard to pick just one photo this week) click here.

And if you don’t get the Hollywood/Broadway reference in today’s headline, click here to see a scene from Paint Your Wagon, a Big Budget musical western from 1969 — and yes, that is who you think it is singing amid the trees.

FRIDAY FOTO (October 20, 2017) UPDATE

Looking for Trouble.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Cody J. Ohira)

Marines search for an aerial target during a live-fire training exercise at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, October 10, 2017. The weapon the Marine in the middle is holding is a Stinger — a man-portable, shoulder-fired, heat-seeking, anti-aircraft, guided missile.

The Stinger provides short-range air defense to counter high-speed, low-level, and ground attack aircraft. Stingers have an identification, friend or foe (IFF) subsystem that helps the gunner and team leader identify friendly aircraft.

One interesting factoid about the Stinger, the Marines’ gunner handbook warns that when firing, the gunner and assistant must hold their breath until the trigger is released to avoid inhaling toxic fumes. And this is what it look like when the Stinger leaves the tube.

These Marines are with the 2nd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Cody J. Ohira)

Updates with new second photo.

FRIDAY FOTO (October 13, 2017)

Ready to Rock.

(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Spencer Roberts)

Amid clouds arising from the steam-powered catapult and waiting flight deck crew, an F/A-18E Super Hornet prepares to take off from the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Pacific Ocean on October 10, 2017. Named for the 26th president, who was also an assistant secretary of the Navy, the aircraft carrier is on a deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet (Middle East) and 7th Fleet (Asia Pacific) areas of operation.

Oh, and by the way, Happy 242nd Birthday U.S. Navy! 4GWAR will have a photo essay on the Navy, Sunday (October 15).

FRIDAY FOTO (October 6, 2017)

Osprey Power.

(U.S. Army photo by Private First Class Deomontez Duncan)

Marines attach a Jersey barrier to a hovering V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft while working to reinforce the Guajataca Dam in Puerto Rico, October 3, 2017, in Hurricane Maria’s aftermath.

More than 11,000 U.S. service members are in Puerto Rico providing logistical, medical and aviation support to help commonwealth and local emergency personnel following the devastating Category storm that struck the island and the U.S. Virgin Islands September 20.

For more photos, click here.

FRIDAY FOTO (September 29, 2017)

Invictus.

(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Luksan)

Medically retired U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Sarah Rudder competes in the 200-meter dash in Toronto, Canada during Invictus Games 2017, an international Paralympic-style event. Rudder, who lost her leg due to injuries suffered at the Pentagon on 9/11, won seven gold medals at last year’s games in Orlando, Florida.

The Invictus Games, held September 23-to-30, are an international program created by Britain’s Prince Harry, in which wounded, injured, or sick service members and veterans compete in adaptive sports. The UK royal founded the event in 2014, inspired by the U.S. Defense Department-funded Warrior Games in America. The inaugural Invictus Games were held in September 2014, at many of the venues used for the 2012 London Olympics, according to the Telegraph website.

The poem Invictus, by English Victorian poet, William Ernest Henley, himself an amputee, ends with the famous lines:

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.

For more photos, click here, here, here and here.