In other news

Rico says he went to a Soldier of Fortune convention in Las Vegas with his friend Pomp Lentini back in 1970, and has continued to read it (now on-line) ever since.
The current issue has some good stuff, as usual:

Wounded working dogs receive skilled care by Colonel Bob Vogelsang, Program Manager for Clinical Veterinary Medicine
By now, most everyone knows that the warriors in Afghanistan consist of both the human and canine kind. Military working dogs (MWDs) have been with service members since day one of the current contingency operations and will likely be there until the last. And just as the human warriors are regularly exposed to the many potential hazards posed by the enemy, so too are the dogs. Indeed, some MWDs have suffered serious wounds that require timely and skilled medical care.
While some units not under the Army Public Health Command umbrella provide the initial resuscitative treatment and stabilization of wounded dogs, definitive care is performed by USAPHC elements. Dogs wounded in theater will generally first be evacuated to Dog Center Europe (DCE) in Vogelweh, Germany. DCE assesses the dog's condition and provides the appropriate treatment, surgery or other procedure for the particular injury.
Last year, four dogs wounded by either small arms fire or improvised explosive devices were treated in USAPHC veterinary hospitals. One canine was a Marine Corps dog named Drak, two were Australian (Kujo and Kuga), and one was from the United Kingdom (Tommie). Having the most extensive and sophisticated military veterinary care, the U.S. provides services to other nations' MWDs as well as its own.

Drak
Drak and his handler were wounded in a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device explosion. Drak received extensive injuries to the area near his right hip. Pieces of shrapnel destroyed part of the pelvis forward of his hip joint and also caused soft tissue damage. He also suffered shrapnel wounds and burns to his rear legs.
Drak was initially treated by Lieutenant Colonel Jim Giles, a veterinary surgeon in Afghanistan with the 463rd Medical Detachment Veterinary Services. Giles stabilized the dog's vital signs and cleaned his wounds. During that initial surgery two large, jagged metal fragments were removed from the wound near his hip. Shortly afterward, Drak was medically evacuated by the Air Force to Germany where the DCE took over his care.
Veterinary surgeons Major Jacque Parker and Major Kent Vince, along with staff members at DCE, operated to close the wounds. After that surgery, Drak remained in Germany to convalesce prior to his next trip to the DOD Military Working Dog Veterinary Service at Lackland Air Force Base in
San Antonio, Texas. Drak had a remarkable recovery, and he didn't need a course of physical therapy and rehabilitation. However, it was thought that his ability to return to duty as an MWD and stay in top condition was questionable.Drak is currently in San Antonio awaiting the outcome of a disposition board. His Marine Corps handler is also in San Antonio, at the Warrior Transition Unit at Brooke Army Medical Center, so they still get to see each other.

Kujo and Kuga
Kujo and Kuga are Australian military dogs who received gunshot wounds: Kuga to the the carpus (the wrist on a human) and Kujo to the upper part of his front limb. As with Drak, each dog initially was seen by Giles in Afghanistan for stabilization and wound cleaning before being medically evacuated by the Air Force to Germany and the DCE.
Kujo's wound was particularly problematic, as it destroyed most of the small bones that work together to allow movement. In Germany, a complex metal external fixator was placed to keep the area immobilized to try to allow the area to heal. The bullet that hit Kuga shattered the bone of his upper front leg. After arrival at the DCE, plates, pins and screws were used to realign the bone fragments. After a recovery period, both dogs were flown back to Australia for additional treatment.

Tommie
Tommie is a dog from the United Kingdom. Tommie was the luckiest of the bunch; he was hit in the side by a bullet that went under the base of the tail and came out the other side. Though he had some big holes in him, the bullet amazingly missed any important structures. Large blood vessels to the rear limbs, colon, pelvis, and nerves were all nearby, but none of them was injured. Other than needing the wounds closed after being cleaned out and probably being sore for a little while from the swelling and bruising, Tommie happily went off to the U.K.
Army veterinarians take care of military working dogs wherever they are. USAPHC veterinary facilities and staff are making significant contributions to the well-being of these warrior-animals. Training and experiences like that provided by the Veterinary Corps' First Year Graduate Veterinary Education program help new Army veterinarians to be ready to respond to injured MWDs and other veterinary issues.

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Green Berets awarded Distinguished Service Cross for Valor by Staff Sergeant Marcus Butler, US Army Special Forces Command
Two Green Berets from the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in a ceremony held at the John F. Kennedy Auditorium on 14 June. Chief Warrant Officer Jason W. Myers and Staff Sergeant Corey M. Calkins received the Army's second highest award for valor for two separate missions in Afghanistan in 2010; the Distinguished Service Cross is second only to the Medal of Honor. "I am extremely honored and humbled to receive this award," said Calkins, a senior weapons sergeant and native of Midland, Michigan. "I was just the one called on that day, but I know any other guy on my team would have done the same thing." Calkins distinguished himself on 18 February 2010 as part of a dismounted patrol consisting of Army, Marines, and Afghan National Army soldiers. During this patrol, Calkins faced a formidable size enemy force in fortified positions. Facing this threat, Calkins assaulted his way through the area successfully suppressing the enemy force to allow the safe evacuation of three injured Marines.
"Corey Calkins constantly exposed himself to effective RPG, PKM and mortar fire as he almost single handedly routed the entrenched Taliban in order regain the vital terrain and to save the lives of his fellow Americans and Afghan partners," said Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. During the ceremony, vignettes were presented describing the actions of Myers and Calkins. McRaven referenced the vignette when describing Calkins' ability to rally troops to action. "The ANA, spurred on by Sergeant Calkins’ undaunted drive towards the enemy, hurled themselves against the enemy in an apparent effort to match their mentor’s bravery and aggression," said McRaven. "Undaunted drive…that says it all."
Only two months after Calkins' valorous actions Myers distinguished himself along a single lane road in the mountains of Afghanistan, March 27, where his patrol was ambushed by an enemy force of approximately 75 to 100 insurgents. During this ambush Myers took command of the situation by directing movement, returning fire and providing medical aid all while exposing himself to enemy machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. "There are so many heroes on my team and I am just so honored to be here," said Myers. "I just did what needed to be done and I know that anyone else would have done the same." "Chief Myers did what no normal man would do," said McRaven. "Chief Myers did what only a very small percentage of soldiers in the history of the U.S. Army have done - he fought his way out of a deadly ambush by constantly exposing himself to RPGs, and PKM fire and rallying his force, saving the lives of his Afghan and American partners and then taking the fight to the enemy until victory was assured."
Towards the conclusion of the ceremony, McRaven put into perspective the actions of both Myers and Calkins and what it means to be a Green Beret. "The Green Beret isn’t just a piece of headgear; it is a symbol of all that is good and right about America. It represents the finest soldiers ever to take the battlefield. Jason Myers and Corey Calkins represent all that is good about the men who wear the Green Beret," said McRaven. "For those that witnessed the actions of Chief Jason Myers and Staff Sgt. Corey Calkins on those fateful days in Afghanistan, they will forever be in awe. I want to thank you again for your incredible service to the Regiment, the Army and this great Nation. To the men of 3rd SFG, your reputation continues to grow. Your legacy will be found not in the wars that you fought, but in the men that fought them," said McRaven. "You, and the families that give you strength, have earned the respect and admiration of an entire nation."

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Analysts Warn Northern Mali Could Become Jihad Base by Anne Look, VOA News
Islamist militants appear to be in control of the vast lawless expanse of desert in northern Mali that they captured with other rebel groups in early April. Extremists from Pakistan and Nigeria have reportedly converged on the territory. Some analysts and world leaders say the region could become a haven for terrorist activity.
Analysts say current conditions in northern Mali are hardly a mirror image of Afghanistan in the mid-1990s when the Taliban seized control, creating a terrorist safe haven from which Osama bin Laden plotted his deadly 2001 attack on the United States.
But al-Qaeda-friendly Islamist militants in Mali appear to be edging out other rebel groups for control of the north.
"It is not just a talibanization of northern Mali," said Kwesi Aning, the director of research for the Ghana-based Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center, which has tracked the rise of armed groups and extremism in Africa’s Sahel region. "It is actually a radicalization of the Sahelian states of northern Mauritania, northern Mali, parts of northern Burkina Faso and northern Niger," added Aning. "That is why the international community, with ECOWAS, must ensure that Mali must be resolved one way or the other. Because if Mali collapses, the spillover effects and the domino effects of that crisis will be frightening."
Northern Mali is part of the difficult-to-patrol desert that stretches from Mauritania to Chad and has been overrun by traffickers, terrorists and kidnappers for ransom in recent years.
Even before the crisis, Sahelian countries struggled to cooperate and develop a regional strategy against threat.
Mali's neighbors, in particular Mauritania, accused Mali of giving safe haven in the north to criminal elements, including al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb in exchange for the group not attacking Mali.
Tuareg separatists, known as the MNLA, and the Malian Islamist sect Ansar Dine captured the three northern regions of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu in early April during the chaos that followed a March 22 coup in Bamako. Ansar Dine is an offshoot of the Tuareg rebel movement and has ties to al-Qaida of the Islamic Maghreb, whose leaders have emerged from their desert hideouts and are now being spotted moving reely in the towns.
While the MNLA called for the creation of the long-fabled Tuareg homeland of Azawad as a secular state, Ansar Dine has begun imposing its brand of Islamic law in northern towns.
Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said Monday, after meeting with French President Francois Hollande in Paris, the situation in northern Mali is an "international threat that requires an international answer."
Just days before the meeting, President Issofou told a French broadcaster that jihadists and drug smugglers are now the dominant forces in northern Mali. He says other forces with other objectives are marginal. He said Niger has information that Afghani and Pakistani nationals are in northern Mali training militants recruited from West African countries. He said they also have evidence that members of the Nigerian extremist sect Boko Haram are training recruits in Gao.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS says it is ready to send several-thousand soldiers to Mali. But analysts told VOA that an ECOWAS force will take time and money to create. Even then, analysts say those troops would lack the training and experience in desert warfare needed to present a true threat against the heavily-armed militants entrenched in the north.
Many suspect the ECOWAS force would get bogged down in southern Mali, securing the post-coup government transition in Bamako.
France says it is backing a call from President Issoufou and other African leaders for ECOWAS to seek a U.N. Security Council mandate for military intervention in Mali.
President Issoufou says they will need logistical support from the United States, France and other powers. Analysts say the involvement of neighboring non-ECOWAS nations Mauritania and Algeria would also be key.
The international community has rejected efforts by rebel groups to declare independence or set up an Islamist state in the territory. A pact between the MNLA and Ansar Dine lasted less than a week, and the two groups reportedly came to blows in early June in Kidal.
Malians, in the southern and northern halves of the country, have rejected the occupation or any division of the country. But some doubt the now-disorganized Malian army, already unable to beat back the rebels before the March coup, would be able to mount a meaningful offensive.
Burkina Faso has opened negotiations with the MNLA and there is talk a compromise to be reached on their demands for independence. An ECOWAS spokesman says the regional bloc is losing patience with rebels who it says must relinquish control of the towns or face military action.
But some report that Ansar Dine is better armed and less ready to give in. An Ansar Dine spokesman in Gao, Oumar Ould Amma, says he is 100 percent convinced the Malian army will never beat them. He says maybe if Mali will be supported by France, the United States or ECOWAS. He says Ansar Dine is ready for that. He says they have already dedicated their lives to Allah. He says this fight will not be difficult for them, like swatting a cobweb. He says they are ready to die as martyrs.
As negotiations sputter along and the transitional government in Bamako struggles to find its footing, fears are growing the war over northern Mali is still to come.

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Ugly Angels deliver devil dogs by Corporal Isaac Lamberth, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Rolling down the runway at Camp Bastion, Staff Sergeant Hugo Paniagua, an aerial observer with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362, makes preparations and adjustments to his fifty-caliber machine gun prior to taking off for a counternarcotics operation in Helmand province in Afghanistan on 4 June.
As his CH-53D Sea Stallion flies into a firing range, he lets loose a burst from the gun, ensuring everything is in working order before heading into a hostile environment. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Paniagua knows all too well the need for a working weapon and the dangers of landing in a combat zone. During one of the squadron’s first missions of the deployment, a helicopter from the unit came under insurgent fire, wounding a crew member inside. While not present for the mission, the incident lingers in the back of his mind every time he flies into a potential hostile area. “It really drives the point home that what happens out here is for real,” Paniagua said, “We know that it's a possibility.” With that in mind, Paniagua makes final adjustments to his gear and weapon, affectionately named Terra by the squadron armorers. He then scans the ground below, looking for anything that could threaten the helicopter on its way to pick up Marines from the Second Battalion of the Ninth Marine Regiment, and members of the Afghan National Interdiction Unit (NIU), a specialized counternarcotics unit.
Arriving at Camp Hanson, Paniagua assists the Marines of 2/9 and the NIU aboard. The two Sea Stallions take off and fly to the first targets of the day: two abandoned compounds suspected to be staging areas for narcotics and weapons. A short distance from the compounds, the helicopters descend, making their final approach. Landing in a cloud of dust and debris, the Marines and NIU quickly disembark and make their way to their objectives.
“Seeing those guys run out like that, it really gets you all riled up knowing that they’re going into harm’s way,” Paniagua said. “It’s our job to fly these guys to and from each place and keep them as safe as possible.”
The Marines and NIU search both compounds, but find nothing. Several minutes later, the Sea Stallions land to pick up the Marines and move onto the next target several kilometers away.
First Lieutenant Ben Leape, the assistant intelligence officer for 2/9, said having air assets, like the Ugly Angels, to transport them from location to location, has greatly enhanced the unit’s range, allowing them to reach more target areas quickly. “Having the helos around to take us from place to place while we’re doing these kinds of [operations] is a huge enabler,” said Leape, of Annapolis, Maryland. “Without them, we would have to stand on the side and watch and know huge shipments of narcotics are leaving the area.”
By day’s end, the Marines and NIU search three compounds, but do not find any weapons or drugs. As Paniagua takes Terra off its firing hinges, he can’t help but be glad the day ended well. “It’s a good feeling when everyone comes back and nobody gets hurt,” he said.