A dog is the only love that money can buy. That’s your Sunday Sermonette.
The Old West
Frank Grouard, born into peril at age nineteen, was captured by Crow Indians, stripped bare, and abandoned in the forest. Fate intervened when Sioux warriors found him, and Sitting Bull adopted the boy as a brother. He learned their language, married within the tribe, and lived for years among Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, absorbing their ways and secrets. At twenty-six, he escaped, carrying the knowledge of the plains into a new role that would etch his name into frontier legend.
Grouard became Chief Indian Scout under General George Crook, guiding troops across the harsh Montana winter to track Sioux movements. On March 17, 1876, he located Crazy Horse’s village on Powder River, leading to the chief’s capture. Though hailed by Crook for his invaluable service, Grouard bore the burden of blame for the eventual death of Crazy Horse, stabbed by a guard resisting arrest. His skill, loyalty, and understanding of both worlds made him indispensable, a man walking the razor edge between cultures and conflict.
In later years, he served as a U.S. marshal around Fort McKinney and fought in the Johnson County War of 1892, his frontier life never softening.
The Good Life
Every meal a banquet, every paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade, and all the canned ham and limas you can choke down, chased by warm, stale water that has that metal canteen aftertaste.
Bullet Points:
** A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed construction to resume at the federal migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” blocking a lower court order that had ordered a halt to the project.
** What is cracking up Elsa?
** Hezbollah Disarmament: The Lebanese Council of Ministers approved a plan on September 5 under which the Lebanese military will attempt to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah will likely try to subvert the LAF’s campaign to disarm Hezbollah over the fifteen-month implementation period to enable Hezbollah’s reconstitution efforts and prevent the group’s disarmament. Hezbollah will reconstitute slowly unless its reconstitution is interfered with. Each day Hezbollah is not disarmed is a day it will become more capable of resisting and ultimately defeating the government’s disarmament effort. The United States and other foreign countries are reportedly offering economic incentives to the Lebanese government for moving forward with its plan to disarm Hezbollah. These financial incentives would undermine Hezbollah’s ability to build support among the Lebanese population by enabling the government to provide services that Hezbollah previously offered.
** Settled nuclear science and tainted Walmart shrimp.
** How do you feel about red dot Indian food? This reflects my view.
** Goes Ahead – was a Crow who survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Custer dismissed him and several other Crow scouts before the final phase of the battle, and they were not with the companies that were annihilated. His role: Goes Ahead served as one of six Crow scouts under Custer. Due to their tribe’s long-standing animosity with the Sioux and Cheyenne, the Crow often sided with the U.S. Army.
On the morning of the battle, Goes Ahead and the other Crow scouts warned Custer about the immense size of the Lakota and Cheyenne encampment they had discovered. The scouts prepared for battle by removing their U.S. Army uniforms and putting on their traditional war clothing, a sign of fatalism that enraged Custer. Custer dismissed them shortly before his detachment’s final, fatal engagement.
Goes Ahead and the other dismissed Crow scouts survived the battle by joining the forces of Major Marcus Reno on a ridge overlooking the area. Goes Ahead’s wife later reported that her husband saw where and how Custer died.
** Don’t let working in the oil fields ruin your life. Be a man, ruin it yourself.
** ICE officials hold a news conference after at least 450 people were arrested in a raid on a Hyundai manufacturing site in Georgia. https://abcnews.go.com/…/450-people-ice…/story…
** For the first time since 2002, the US Dollar and the Euro are in parity – they have the same value.
** VDH – Iran is a paper tiger.
Everyone Loves a Big Bust
(H/T Claudio) in Iraq – The Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) announced yesterday that it rolled up an Islamic State (IS) financial network that spanned three unspecified West African countries. According to Iraqi media reports, the operation was the first of its kind by Iraqi intelligence on the African continent.
INIS stated on X that it “succeeded in arresting a main financing network for the terrorist entity Daesh [the Islamic State].” According to the Emirati news outlet The National, the effort included the arrest of at least 10 Islamic State operatives.
INIS stated that the network was helping to “smuggle ISIS families,” finance the Islamic State’s activities in Iraq, and fund attack planning in Europe.
INIS said that it carried out the operation “after monitoring movements and communication lines between this network and other networks inside and outside Iraq.” The intel service offered a few additional details.
The countries in which the Islamic State operatives were arrested remain unknown. However, the targeted network was likely related to the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP). In addition to its main base in Nigeria, ISWAP also maintains cells and networks across much of coastal West Africa.
In addition, Iraqi and Syrian nationals linked to the Islamic State were arrested in the Ivory Coast late last year. These individuals were connected to another Islamic State cell in Madagascar that was also busted at the same time.
Like INIS’s description of the latest foiled Islamic State network, the earlier connected cells in the Ivory Coast and Madagascar were also attempting to plan attacks in Europe.
African branches now helping the IS core
The fact that operatives most likely linked to ISWAP were helping to finance the Islamic State’s legacy network in Iraq is unsurprising. The Islamic State’s activities in Iraq are at a historic low, with only limited operations occurring after the group has faced years of significant setbacks in the country.
The group’s challenges include the killing of Abdallah Makki Muslih al Rifai, better known as Abu Khadija, earlier this year. Abu Khadija was believed to be one of the Islamic State’s top global leaders, identified as the head of the group’s General Directorate of Provinces (GDP) and Delegated Committee. He was also recognized as one of, if not the top, Islamic State leaders in Iraq.
In Africa, however, the Islamic State’s fortunes are entirely different, as many of its local branches are thriving. In particular, ISWAP remains the Islamic State’s largest and most militarily and administratively capable branch on the continent, where it rakes in millions of dollars from proto-governance, the taxation of civilians, and cryptocurrency networks.
The Islamic State’s Al Furqan Office, located within ISWAP, is one of several so-called regional offices set up around the world to help manage its global affairs. It is responsible for sending funds to other Islamic State wings worldwide. In particular, Al Furqan helps manage most of the Islamic State’s activities in the Sahel, wider West Africa, North Africa, and Sudan.
This function is similar to the Islamic State’s Al Karrar office, situated within the Somali Province in northern Somalia. In addition to helping to fund Islamic State activities in Congo, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, and beyond, it has also helped finance the group in Yemen, Turkey, and Afghanistan.
This financing method, in which portions of locally sourced funds are pooled into the coffers of the regional offices for wider dispersal to other Islamic State wings globally, allows the Islamic State to diversify its finances, insulating and supporting its global activities despite any setbacks.
With the Islamic State hurting in Iraq and, for the most part, in Syria, the group’s core legacy networks now rely on its African wings to provide a much-needed lifeline. This situation is a reversal from 2015, when it was the core in Iraq and Syria that financially helped then-fledgling African provinces.
Identify the Aircraft
1
Identify the Armor
2
3
4
Parting Shot
End
My wife and I went to the Little Bighorn 23 years ago. When your chief scout says you’re outnumbered 15 to 1 maybe you should listen. I have read lots of accounts of the fight and like the British in the early Zulu wars ego does not make up for poor judgement when fighting “natives”.
George Custer needed the big win because he planned to run for president against US Grant. The “Son of the Morning Star” liked to fight battles where he had all of the advantages (don’t we all) and in this instance, he did the opposite. His principal officers: Reno and Benteen, hated his guts. He had his coterie of friendly officers, but when #1 and #2 would just as soon see you dead, it’s a bad thing. His troopers were not well-trained and disciplined. Dragoons (which his cavalrymen were) had antiquated firearms for the time. They weren’t bad, but neither were they good. The raw meat that made up the 7th was not made of hardened campaigners. General Crook was turned around coming up from the South, though Custer didn’t know it, and Terry was far behind his “reconnaissance in force.” He left his artillery train behind. He divided his forces. In short, Custer’s ambition outrode his common sense and he died for his sins. The Sioux Confederation won a pyrrhic victory and, in so doing, gave up all hopes of any semblance of negotiation. It’s an interesting study.
Peter principal and ego in action. Custer had his coterie of hangers on, but his expertise was Reno and Benteen who were smart enough to NOT get roped into that CF… Too bad he took so many troops with him.
Friendly and free were my dad’s prerequisites for a dog.
With one son being a veterinarian helped on the cost side.
“The Good Life” brought a smile and memories to me. Thanks.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Kamov Ka-50 Havoc. Unusual nose sensor.
Identify the Armor:
2. Elefant
3. T-34-85
4. Semovente da 75/18
Well done. The Ka-50 is a prototype for the production model so it looks a little offf.
Old marching cadence.
They say that in the Army, the pay is mighty fine.
They give you a hundred dollars,
And take back ninety-nine.
Oh, Lord, I wanna go,
But they won’t let me go,
Home.
Parity of US
US $ and Euro at Parity? Exchange Rates as of 7 Sept. 2025 (1252 UTC) seem to disagree.
I’m obviously misinformed. I read about parity without fact-checking. Dumb on me. Sorry.
Traveled to Denmark in late 2005 the exchange was something like 6.3 Krone to the Dollar…okay rate. Next time we went in June 2007 it was 5.6 Krone to the dollar…made for $20 open-faced sandwiches. Just checked, 6.37 Krone to the dollar…comfortable, but nothing like the Jan 2017 rate of 7.16…only to fall off significantly after all year (Brexit Effect maybe?)
I am in Germany this weekend. The exchange rate is about $1 = 0.85 Euro. If I pay in $$ to a local business they round down so it is closer to 0.80 Euro. If possible everything goes on the card as USAA gives current exchange rate.
“A dog is the only love that money can buy.”…while true in many instances, Christ’s love is free for the taking, we just have to ask and accept it.
Cats…well, that a whole other story.
Some people believe you can buy God’s love…
Just send in your donation @ http://www.jimmyswagger/joelosteen/joycemeyer.com…and you will receive a Heavenly Decoder Ring and Admittance Passport Kit. Act now!…and we’ll include a personalized embossed Bible in gold leaf for 3 easy payments of $39.98 each, plus S&H. If Catholic, we have a special ‘indulgences’ tab one may use to minimize Afterlife punishment for past deeds you may or may not be guilty.
Better that you round up to $39K to make sure you get more blessings. I think that Swaggart is dead so it may be enroute from beyond.
While I can’t say I know senator Kennedy, or have even been within miles of him, I’ve seen enough of his talks in the senate that I wouldn’t be even slightly surprised if that whole bit with the scene of an Alien movie chest buster coming from “radioactive shrimp” was a joke. Radioactive shrimp, btw, is the best “could be the name of a rock and roll band” of the year.
I agree. There is considerable snark.
👍
That pay chart was E4 too!
https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poem/poems_shillin.htm
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Shillin’ a day,
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Bloomin’ good pay–
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Lucky to touch it, a shillin’ a day!
C- Rat Ham and Lima Beans. I liked them, which allowed for favorable bargaining with those who hated them.
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Custer, etc. Did the Army send their best and brightest to serve on “the frontier”? Or, a good place to dump problems?
At the time, George Custer was the best and brightest, a close buddy of Gen. Sheridan who commanded the theater. Sheridan wanted Custer to be president for selfish reasons and interests. General Terry was solid and so was General Crook, who did all of the heavy lifting to bring Geronimo to heel. I know that Nelson Miles was commanding when Geronimo came in, but Crook deserves the credit in terms or executive management.
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The Army then as now, was filled with martinets. Custer, Fetterman, etc. who went down in history shot full of arrows all had an arrogance working against them. Communications between different formations in the field was line of sight. Would Crook’s defeat (in the sense that he couldn’t continue) have stopped Custer if he’d known about it (different Indians than the tribes/units Custer chased)? I doubt it. Custer wanted the glory and the headlines at any cost.
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If Custer had his artillery train (slow pack howetzers and gatling guns on mules) with his main body and if he hadn’t divided his force into three parts before knowing the disposition of the enemy, could he have brought the confederated tribes to battle? I doubt it because he would have planted his regiment somewhere, entrenched and would have waited for them to make a mistake and attack frontally. Napoleon said “Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.” Attacking the entrenched 7th would have been very costly in terms of manpower the Indians could not have replaced.
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In the end, the Army learned that the secret to victory was to kill all of the buffalo and leave it at that.
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The Geronimo Campaign was different because the Apache (unlike the Plains tribes) did not rely on buffalo. The place I live now was summer ground for the Apache. In the winter they migrated south. The country was very rough and Gen. Crook learned that the solution was to induct Apache into the Army and send them out with an Army officer and a white scout or two to hunt down other Apache. It worked. The Army was incapable of conducting an effective campaign against them. The Battle of Big Dry Wash, which took place very close to my home, was an exception. The Apache jumped the reservation, the army pursued. The Apache set up an ambush and during the night another 200 (or so) cavalry arrived they didn’t know about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Big_Dry_Wash
The Army did have some solid victories. The Battle of Summit Springs in Eastern Colorado comes to mind. The Box Wagon fight was different as the natives took lessons from the War of Northern Aggression (your term) vs disciplined soldiers with more modern weapons.
Then, we have the Milk Creek Massacre where Major Thornburgh took the easy route to Meeker and got trapped in a narrow canyon. Two to four generations back, my paternal linage were freight contractors for the Army. As a very young kid, I remember listening to a great uncle talking about the Army’s “damned fool officers”.
I worked at a majority Korean owned factory a few years ago as a Maintenance Manager and was told that I was getting some help in the form of some Koreans workers that were laid off in Korea.
When they got here on a travel visa (!) they were put on Midnights with a Korean manager who was bilingual who was not maintenance related or knowledgeable of our systems.
So I was called in many nights to resolve problems that
A: They couldn’t
and
B: They caused.
and we communicated via Google Translate
Fun times.
Money well spent because a dogs love is unconditional.Most don’t deserve it to be honest.
I forgot to add great blog today. They all are really but lots of good info today. Thanks for your efforts.
Dogs are truly a gift from God.
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Never had the “Ham and Lima Beans” or any c-rats, but I’ve eaten a lot of MRE’s.
I’ve never eaten MREs – came after my time. I never minded C-Rations. In some cases, an improvement over “Consolidated Mess Halls”. We would rig pots of water on exhaust manifolds to have hot meals.
“stripped bare, and abandoned in the forest. Fate intervened when Sioux warriors found him, and Sitting Bull adopted the boy as a brother. He learned their language, married within the tribe, and lived for years among Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, absorbing their ways and secrets.”
“became Chief Indian Scout under General George Crook, guiding troops across the harsh Montana winter to track Sioux movements. On March 17, 1876, he located Crazy Horse’s village on Powder River, leading to the chief’s capture. ”
Fuck, I thought I was cynical before…… nothing like betraying those who saved your life.
Yeah, biting the hand that fed you.
More than one white man acted like that.
And the Indians often traded sides also.
I wonder what the moral compass was informed by.
As I mentioned, the fiercest and smartest Apaches put on the blue coat to take out Geronimo.
I have tried several varieties Red Dot food. And it all comes down to a culture that loves rice that tastes like it’s got Downy fabric softener in it. None of it tastes good to me.
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Now, I eat just about anything that’s cooked well. Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Filipino, pert near everything in the Americas except for seal fat. But jasmine rice and most curries are just right out. And I can’t get past the horrid wretched retch-inducing stench of it all.
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Yeah, hard pass on food from the Sub-Continent. HARD PASS. Like no friggin way.
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If I want to eat lentil soup, I’ll do a good European or Cajun version. And, really, if you got good access to Italian, or Greek, or Cajun, or Midwest, or Tex-Mex, or Irish or, God forbid, boring English food (except for fish-n-chips with malt vinegar,) why would you want to eat Dot Indian.
“A dog is the only love that money can buy. That’s your Sunday Sermonette.”
What an excellent sermon! We do love our dogs.
Good to hear your Iraqis are doing their thing.