Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Diego, war town

SEALS in Afghanistan, debate over M-16, SEALS in Iraq, Bob Kerrey and Ka-Bars, Rolling Stone

"When I was in Oceanside, we went to the Semper Fit gym on Camp Pendleton, and people were really excited about business. A lot of people were talking about the deployments they are going on, the deployments they have been on."
"When I was in Oceanside, we went to the Semper Fit gym on Camp Pendleton, and people were really excited about business. A lot of people were talking about the deployments they are going on, the deployments they have been on."

More Treacherous Than Vietnam

"Several weeks ago, there was a story about a SEAL that supposedly fell out of a helicopter. His name was Neil Roberts. The helicopter took a few hits. He flipped out of the helicopter. They rolled out, the helicopter had to do an emergency landing, and they didn't know he was gone for a while. He hid himself between the rocks until the emergency rescue team realized he was gone and went in to rescue him. He exposed himself to two machine-gun nests and killed [a lot of] bad guys before he was out of ammo and had to surrender. He knew his rescuers were going to be suckered into an ambush, so that's why he got up and exposed himself. He stood there with his hands up and they captured him."

By Robert Kumpel, April 25, 2002 | Read full article

James Montes, holding .223 and .308 caliber bullets. "Gone is the day of trench warfare like in World War II and World War I. You are not having to pick guys off at 500 yards."

Afghan Dust Jams Mouse Guns

Beginning with Vietnam, American soldiers and Marines have carried the M-16 rifle. And the virtues and vices of the black rifle have been argued by military men and gun enthusiasts ever since. The central issue in the argument is the .223 caliber, or 5.66-millimeter bullet, fired by the M-16. "Before Vietnam," explains Jason Kuyper, manager of Southern California Guns in La Mesa, "the military used a heavier-caliber weapon. It was a .30 caliber, and now it's basically a .22 caliber. There's a significant difference in both the size of the bullet and the energy it delivers."

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Ernie Grimm, May 2, 2002 | Read full article

Hardcore Combat

“My Kuwaiti counterpart and squadron commander was Colonel Nasser. Terrific guy. All he wanted to do was kill Iraqis. He’d scare me shitless taking the Duck and the frigates within three miles of the coast looking for targets. His ships had Exocet surface-to-surface missiles, and he was just dying to fire them, but every time he got a radar signature from a target, the U.S. wouldn’t let him pull the trigger. Broke his heart. But what concerned me was the Iraqis had their own surface-to-surface missiles — Chinese Silkworms — with a range of about 40 miles and warheads that could hold chemical and biological agents. I did not like to close that coast, which was just wall-to-wall with booger-eaters.”

By Bill Salisbury, Feb. 6, 2003 | Read full article

A Soldier's Pay

Bradley is an animated woman of 36, whose tousled long black hair and French accent give her an exotic cast. When I acknowledge her accent, she replies, “Yes, I’m sorry, I’m from France,” an apology for her country, which has been thrown in the gutter by some Americans for not supporting the war. Her husband, a weapons officer, is aboard the Constellation in the Persian Gulf. Bustling through the warehouse, she shows me how overstuffed it is with household goods. “There’s too much,” she says. And then an idea pops out: “Wouldn’t it be great if we could find someone in San Diego who could ship the overflow to Iraq?” I stop, a bit incredulous. “To Iraq? Now?”

By Thomas Larson, Aug. 21, 2003 | Read full article

Ka-Bar. "Nobody said nothing. We just took out our knives and started cutting. We passed 'em down the line and ever'body got good 'n wet."

Nobody Talks, Everybody Walks

All the recent commotion about U.S. atrocities at Abu Ghraib Prison and elsewhere got me thinking about Ka-Bar knives, which in turn got me thinking about former senator and now member of the 9/11 Commission Bob Kerrey. In his autobiography, When I Was a Young Man, Kerrey offers a cautious mea culpa for killing those Vietnamese villagers one dark night in Than Phong Province. Kerrey admitted men in his SEAL squad used their Ka-Bars on five Vietnamese in a hut near the doomed VC ville where "Kerrey's Raiders" would kill at least 18 women, children, and old men. The Raiders accomplished their chore with automatic weapons, rockets, and grenades.

By Bill Salisbury, July 1, 2004 | Read full article

Evan Wright. Two Camp Pendleton-based Marine sergeants, Tony Espera and Eric Kocher, were disciplined following the publication of Wright's Rolling Stone articles.

Ultimate Warrior

"When they really won me over," Wright added, "wasn't so much when I was in the process of writing them. What really wowed me was after I printed these Rolling Stone articles, and they were very raw. I mean, I wrote about guys by name shooting civilians. I wrote about them using the foulest language, bathroom humor, and things that you might make jokes about, but you wouldn't want your mom to read them, and their moms did read them. I put them through all of this, then some of them got threatened [with disciplinary action], and one guy gets kicked out of the battalion.”

By Ernie Grimm, Aug. 12, 2004 | Read full article

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

More on San Diego inventions – Spike Bite and disappearing ink

The scandal of county supervisors at the library
Next Article

More on San Diego inventions – Spike Bite and disappearing ink

The scandal of county supervisors at the library
"When I was in Oceanside, we went to the Semper Fit gym on Camp Pendleton, and people were really excited about business. A lot of people were talking about the deployments they are going on, the deployments they have been on."
"When I was in Oceanside, we went to the Semper Fit gym on Camp Pendleton, and people were really excited about business. A lot of people were talking about the deployments they are going on, the deployments they have been on."

More Treacherous Than Vietnam

"Several weeks ago, there was a story about a SEAL that supposedly fell out of a helicopter. His name was Neil Roberts. The helicopter took a few hits. He flipped out of the helicopter. They rolled out, the helicopter had to do an emergency landing, and they didn't know he was gone for a while. He hid himself between the rocks until the emergency rescue team realized he was gone and went in to rescue him. He exposed himself to two machine-gun nests and killed [a lot of] bad guys before he was out of ammo and had to surrender. He knew his rescuers were going to be suckered into an ambush, so that's why he got up and exposed himself. He stood there with his hands up and they captured him."

By Robert Kumpel, April 25, 2002 | Read full article

James Montes, holding .223 and .308 caliber bullets. "Gone is the day of trench warfare like in World War II and World War I. You are not having to pick guys off at 500 yards."

Afghan Dust Jams Mouse Guns

Beginning with Vietnam, American soldiers and Marines have carried the M-16 rifle. And the virtues and vices of the black rifle have been argued by military men and gun enthusiasts ever since. The central issue in the argument is the .223 caliber, or 5.66-millimeter bullet, fired by the M-16. "Before Vietnam," explains Jason Kuyper, manager of Southern California Guns in La Mesa, "the military used a heavier-caliber weapon. It was a .30 caliber, and now it's basically a .22 caliber. There's a significant difference in both the size of the bullet and the energy it delivers."

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Ernie Grimm, May 2, 2002 | Read full article

Hardcore Combat

“My Kuwaiti counterpart and squadron commander was Colonel Nasser. Terrific guy. All he wanted to do was kill Iraqis. He’d scare me shitless taking the Duck and the frigates within three miles of the coast looking for targets. His ships had Exocet surface-to-surface missiles, and he was just dying to fire them, but every time he got a radar signature from a target, the U.S. wouldn’t let him pull the trigger. Broke his heart. But what concerned me was the Iraqis had their own surface-to-surface missiles — Chinese Silkworms — with a range of about 40 miles and warheads that could hold chemical and biological agents. I did not like to close that coast, which was just wall-to-wall with booger-eaters.”

By Bill Salisbury, Feb. 6, 2003 | Read full article

A Soldier's Pay

Bradley is an animated woman of 36, whose tousled long black hair and French accent give her an exotic cast. When I acknowledge her accent, she replies, “Yes, I’m sorry, I’m from France,” an apology for her country, which has been thrown in the gutter by some Americans for not supporting the war. Her husband, a weapons officer, is aboard the Constellation in the Persian Gulf. Bustling through the warehouse, she shows me how overstuffed it is with household goods. “There’s too much,” she says. And then an idea pops out: “Wouldn’t it be great if we could find someone in San Diego who could ship the overflow to Iraq?” I stop, a bit incredulous. “To Iraq? Now?”

By Thomas Larson, Aug. 21, 2003 | Read full article

Ka-Bar. "Nobody said nothing. We just took out our knives and started cutting. We passed 'em down the line and ever'body got good 'n wet."

Nobody Talks, Everybody Walks

All the recent commotion about U.S. atrocities at Abu Ghraib Prison and elsewhere got me thinking about Ka-Bar knives, which in turn got me thinking about former senator and now member of the 9/11 Commission Bob Kerrey. In his autobiography, When I Was a Young Man, Kerrey offers a cautious mea culpa for killing those Vietnamese villagers one dark night in Than Phong Province. Kerrey admitted men in his SEAL squad used their Ka-Bars on five Vietnamese in a hut near the doomed VC ville where "Kerrey's Raiders" would kill at least 18 women, children, and old men. The Raiders accomplished their chore with automatic weapons, rockets, and grenades.

By Bill Salisbury, July 1, 2004 | Read full article

Evan Wright. Two Camp Pendleton-based Marine sergeants, Tony Espera and Eric Kocher, were disciplined following the publication of Wright's Rolling Stone articles.

Ultimate Warrior

"When they really won me over," Wright added, "wasn't so much when I was in the process of writing them. What really wowed me was after I printed these Rolling Stone articles, and they were very raw. I mean, I wrote about guys by name shooting civilians. I wrote about them using the foulest language, bathroom humor, and things that you might make jokes about, but you wouldn't want your mom to read them, and their moms did read them. I put them through all of this, then some of them got threatened [with disciplinary action], and one guy gets kicked out of the battalion.”

By Ernie Grimm, Aug. 12, 2004 | Read full article

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Roll-over crashes crop up in San Diego and Baja

Nails, beer, Coca-Cola, Mexican pop singer Luis Miguel's stage equipment
Next Article

Happy accidents on the Bob Ross soundtrack

Jason Lee and Dave Klein craft new sounds for a classic show
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.