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Afghan Moto Video: Huge JDAM Obliterates Taliban Position

Although JDAM officially stands for joint direct attack munition, in the Marine Corps and Army it means something much simple to those of us who are on the ground: a ginormous morale boost.  Or as one excellent YouTube user so eloquently put it: “2,000 lbs of DEMOCRACY.”  I promised SQ Nation more airstrike videos just a few days ago, and I am a man of my word.  Airstrikes don’t get much bigger than this, ladies and gents.  More after the jump!

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Greatest Surfer Interview Ever, or Audition Video for Workaholics?

Let’s just get this straight: I’m not even slightly qualified to talk about surfing, but this website is half-mine so guess what – we’re talking about surfing.  While I was stationed out in Hawaii for a few years with the Marines, and I did take a surf lesson on about 6-8 foot waves at the same place (Turtle Bay) where Kunuu taught Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, let’s just say surfing isn’t for me.  It was a stellar workout, but yeah, I’d rather do other things like just swim and/or drink Kona Brewing Co. beer on the beach.  But enough about me, this latest post is about quite possibly the greatest surfer interview you will ever witness – or is it actually a secret audition video for the new and fourth Workaholics character?  You decide – I’m just going to keep laughing.

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Edge of Tomorrow Trailer

Tom Cruise is racking up quite a sci fi portfolio: Oblivion, Minority Report, Vanilla Sky…Top Gun. What’s that? Top Gun isn’t sci fi? You saw how he looked shirtless. Out of this world…

One month from today, Edge of Tomorrow hits theaters. While I’m not sure if I’m sold on Emily Blunt as an action star (thinking of The Five Year Engagement and day-old donuts), she at least doesn’t smile all that much in the trailer, and that builds a sense of actual suspense. Like our other 2014 movie trailers – we’re hoping for the best and expecting for the worst. Or pretty close to it. Continue reading “Edge of Tomorrow Trailer”

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Helmand Combat Video: Marines Clear Taliban Compound with ANA

Now this Helmand combat video is a must-see!  As you likely have already read in my previous Marine Corps-tagged posts and videos here at SQ, I’m a former Marine who deployed to Afghanistan – or more specifically Helmand Province – as an embedded advisor with the Afghan National Army, or “ANA”.  These videos really bring me back to 2010/2011 when I was there – not for the combat, as I didn’t see much outside of a few IEDs and small-arms fire, but for the Helmand landscape and watching the ANA operate. You have to understand that they are not Marines, or in all honesty anything remotely close to what most Americans would consider professional soldiers; they are the pride of Afghanistan, and I will tell you that these guys can flat out fight.  Sure they have their shortcomings, but fighting – at least the unit that I worked with – is not one of them.  That being said, the 1:07 minute mark in this video made me just about choke on my coffee from laughter – more details after the jump!

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The Martian Initial Thoughts: Hilarious, and a Mars-One Preview?

If you haven’t heard of “Mars One“, then let me bring you up to speed.  Eight short years from now, the first human – and private – mission to mars will commence, and those pioneers will not be coming back to Earth.  The Mars One mission is that of colonization: to “establish a human settlement on Mars.” (Source) Yeah, pretty incredible stuff, right?  Most folks’ first response when hearing about this plan – if they didn’t dismiss it entirely to begin with – is that no private company (let alone the US government) would be able to finance a perpetual colonization mission on Mars, and they pose a very valid point.  However, the billionaire founder of Mars One has proposed an absolutely ingenious solution to the money problem: first of course, he will get the mission started with his own checkbook, but what will blow you away is the second half of his plan – Mars One will be a 24/7 reality freaking television show.  No, I am not kidding.  Everyone on the planet will now be able to watch – and watch they will – the first humans travel to, land and colonize the red planet, and television networks will pay just about every dollar they can find in their couches to get airing rights.  You’re excited now, aren’t you?  So what does this have to do with Andy Weir’s latest sci-fi suspense/thriller, The Martian?  Everything.

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Helmet Cam Combat Video: Taliban Ambush Recon Marines

Did you see the Taliban in this pretty intense helmet cam combat video?  No?  Yeah, that’s how they prefer to operate – I would wager the Recon Marines that were ambushed as they crossed that danger area didn’t see them either.  Whether it’s by firing through murder holes in the iron-strength mud walls, or initiating an ambush just at the right time when the sun is setting behind them (you know, so when you turn towards the ambush it’s nothing but blinding sun and 7.62 coming at you), that’s their gameplan: quick ambush, move and attempt a quick flank/envelop, and then get the hell out of Dodge as soon as American air power gets on station.  Don’t miss the video – as always more after the jump!

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Marines End Combat Operations in Sangin: A Reflection

When I got out of the Marine Corps in early 2012, only to transition from the beaches of Hawaii to the black ice covered roads of Chicago-land, I hopped on the local Metra train to take me downtown.  While I have a ton of friends downtown that I wanted to meet up with, it was a Monday morning, and I had to catch another train – this time Amtrak – to make the trek down to St. Louis to pick up my Jeep which had finally arrived from Oahu.  Six hours later – and only for a whopping $12 fare – I woke up in St. Louis, and hailed the first cab I could find.  The cab driver was a little more talkative than usual, and it didn’t take long for him to figure out I was in the military – while he did guess correctly that I was a Marine, he failed the civilian test when he asked, “we still have troops in Afghanistan?”  While I sadly have encountered a few other people that have uttered that same phrase over the last two and a half years, I have been pleasantly surprised as to how many civilians actually are familiar with Sangin.  You see, today marked a pretty historic day: earlier this morning the Marine Corps Times reported that the last Marines had finally departed one of the most dangerous places in all of Afghanistan – Sangin District.

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Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!

Alright, confession time. I haven’t had this big of a guilty pleasure since I downloaded Miley Cirus’ The Climb back in 2009 (Which I played over Ventrillo during WoW raid bosses to aggravate the hell out of our main healer). At leas that’s what I keep telling myself…

But Borderlands? Keep it coming! This franchise is fun, addicting, and I don’t feel guilty when I walk away from it for a month. I loved Skyrim; I will always love Skyrim. But take a a couple weeks off and I had no clue what I was doing, or who I was supposed to sacrifice someone to, or what skill I was building.

Set to debut sometime in late 2014, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel takes place before the storyline of the original in the series, and focuses mainly on Handsome Jack and his own personal bag of problems.  Continue reading “Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!”

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X-Men: Days of Future Past

What can make X-Men better? Time Travel. What makes Time Travel better? Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy’s awkward bromantic relationship. It’s okay, we forgive them. Because this summer, we get the next installment of Marvel’s X-Men legacy.

This installment finds previous stars uniting with current favorites. We have Hugh Jackman (from Scrubs infamy) with James McAvoy, Halle Berry with Jennifer Lawrence, and Michael Fassbender with, well, who are we kidding. He’s good enough alone. Continue reading “X-Men: Days of Future Past”

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Probably the Funniest Boot Camp Letter Ever

Oh boot camp, how I do not miss thee.  While technically I went to Marine OCS (Officer Candidate School, or in simple terms: boot camp), it’s not something I would really want to do again.  For those guys who tragically got hurt at OCS – fractured bones was the most common from the constant running/hikes – they got the chance to start all over again, which makes them even more impressive. Would you want to do boot camp 1.5 or 2 times?  I would – but I would be one grumpy mother trucker in my second go-through.  Alright enough with the nostalgia: what I have here for you in preview picture form above, and full picture form below, is arguably – no probably the funniest boot camp letter I have ever read.  It is also ironically maybe the most coherent and intelligent, but then again, it’s not really that surprising because it came via the frustrated pen of a paralegal specialist!  What’s a paralegal specialist in the Army, you ask?  He/she is pretty much the tip of the spear on the front lines.  /sarcasm.  Full boot camp letter below!

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Air Force Video: Blair Bunting Flies with the Thunderbirds

While I got to do some really cool stuff as a Marine – lead a scout sniper platoon, deploy to Afghanistan, and shoot just about every weapon in our ground arsenal – I honestly have wanted to be a pilot since I was a little kid.  While both of my grandfathers were officers in WW2 – one was an infantry officer in the Army, while the other was a bomber pilot in the Army Air Corps (now the Air Force) – it was the fact that I never got to meet the latter that really influenced my decision to become an officer.  While my horrendous eyesight kept me out of flight school, by the time I was a few years out of college my desire had shifted heavily in favor of infantry/ground intelligence with the Marine Corps.  I wanted the honor of leading an infantry platoon, and it was an incredible, unforgettable experience – that being said, and especially after watching this video, the life of a fighter pilot looks just absolutely awesome!  I cannot stress the following words enough: must-watch video!

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Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Official Reveal Trailer

Drop what you’re doing, and tell your notional secretary to hold all your calls for the next three minutes: the official Call of Duty Advanced Warfare reveal trailer has been released, and we have the intense video for you right here at SQ!  Just look up – literally, maybe like two centimeters – and hit play.  If you hear Kevin Spacey’s voice then you did everything correctly; if not, well, I’m not sure what to tell you.  As a big Call of Duty fan – especially of the earlier Modern Warfare series – I am pumped for Advanced Warfare! As always more after the jump – enjoy the CoD reveal trailer!

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