In the course of 30 minutes, he had downed five 8-ounce servings of Rip It, a military-approved energy drink that was infamous for causing a variety of unpleasant side effects when consumed in excess.
In the boredom arising out of a cool night in Ramadi, Iraq, this was a “Case Race,” or an attempt to down as many of the cans in a 24-pack as he and his squadron possibly could.
He farted with such potency the vehicle’s driver started to dry heave. Forcing him to pull over, Snell ran out, crouched over and soiled his many layers of fatigues. His body hummed with a restless energy. Snell says it was “like my skin was crawling.”
Such are the excesses of a military life powered by Rip It.
Rip It can be found almost anywhere a soldier goes in the Middle East. It’s as common as an MRE. Snell estimates that at least 99 percent of enlisted men and women have tried it, with some growing so attached they’re more concerned with the number of cans left than the quality of actual food.
“It’s paramount to survival, not only for yourself, but for your peers.” Even more than food, he believed his fellow soldiers perceived Rip Its as “mission essential.”
“People would count ammo, how many bottles of water and how many Rip Its they got,” he says.
Those with an extreme tolerance might down as many as 18, creating the kind of hyper-vigilance found in cartoons. One soldier told National Public Radio that it was Rip Its and tobacco that kept him up late into the night while on patrol. “Patriotism,” the company ad slogan reads. “…If only we could bottle it!”
Many soldiers just feel awake and alert; others suffer from what Snell refers to as “man-strual cramps,” a clenching of the guts that struggles to keep up with the influx of stimulating liquid.
Stateside, Rip It keeps connected to servicemen and women via support on social media, while hashtags like #teamnosleep try and appeal to cramming students, all-night gamers and law enforcement.
SEOUL, May 2 (UPI) — Kim Jong Un has been missing from public events in North Korea for more than a week although he is expected to lead a historic Seventh Party Congress on Friday.
Kim hasn’t been seen since the 23rd or 24th of April, right after the launch of the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile.
Could his gout be acting up again? Have there been any more assassination attempts? Is he taking “All you can eat?” as a personal challenge at a Chinese
Buffet?
Showtime is this Friday, as after 30+ years, the rubberstamp congress meets. One line from the article was:
At the last party congress in 1980, North Korea drew 177 delegates from 118 countries.
Really? 118 countries sent at least one delegate back in 1980?
Hard to say what all will go on at the Congress, since Daddy Kim didn’t bother with them during his run.
@5 & 6, first I don’t believe 6 people were “saved” eby “servicemen” as I only saw 1 adult in your “better” video and the “good samaritan” rule doesn’t apply. Be sure to geback with us on that.
Andy
7 years ago
@TBONETYLR
I’ll try to contact MSGT Raimondo (He’s the 8th CES emergency management superintendent here on OSAN AFB) and ask what the correct number is. If its only 4, I hope CNN and all the other news media will make the correction. If he says its 6, I’ll tell him I’ll need to see a video as proof. 😛
Slightly off-topic; but I was bored and started reading the links to the right… The Kenneth Markle convicted in NY has a different middle name than the (in)famous one.
Also, Lost Nomad’s blog has been taken over by someone purporting to offer loans…
SEOUL, May 4 (UPI) — An American who was freed from captivity in North Korea in 2014 said Pyongyang billed him $300,000 in hospitalization fees after his release.
According to Bae, North Korea billed him 600 euros for each night he spent in a hospital, which totaled $300,000.
300 Large for medical care in North Korea? What does Fatty Kim think he’s running? An American ER?
Well, the DPRK did charge him in Euros, not Dollars. Maybe they were expecting Europe’s Socialized Medicine to pay Bae’s bill.
Army captain sues our President Barack Obama claiming he doesn’t have the legal authority to wage war against ISIL in Iraq & Syria
This “captain” must not follow the chain of command aye?
http://gawker.com/army-captain-sues-obama-claiming-he-doesnt-have-the-leg-1774875485
The dummy Nathan Michael Smith should sue the majority GOP led congress for refusing to vote/do their job, to fight ISIL even after most GOPers were whining about the need to fight ISIL/blaming Obama(calling him “weak”) before Obama started his war mission creep vs ISIL.
MTB Rider
7 years ago
Ehrin Watada fought this battle back in 2007. The Army declared a Mistrial, and a second trial was declared unconstitutional. Lt. Watada walked, and Liberals cheered.
Now someone wants to walk away from Obama’s war. Will they cheer or boo Cpt. Nathan Smith?
…This is the sort of material human rights watchdogs like Naureen Shah, Director of National Security and Human Rights at Amnesty International USA, would love to view.
“I didn’t previously know of these films and it is incredibly interesting,” Shah told me in an interview. “We know Gitmo was considered a ‘battle lab’ for experimental, unproven techniques to control he behavior of the detainees, so every aspect of the detention site and handling of detainees warrants a really close review.”
Based on this film index, Shah believe “clearly they themselves were evaluating these tactics because they were interested in human experimentation.” The films themselves “could be a smattering of a much larger set of documents that show an overall environment where torture flourished,” Shah said…
…The sessions are not videotaped or tape recorded, Miller said.
And yet the Defense Media Activity appears to possess a video titled “TIGER TEAM INTERROGATES DETAINEES,” with an identifying barcode of 55580090. General Miller retired in 2006.
There are many other interrogation recordings, including repeated references to so-called “psyops,” short for psychological operations.”
Trump’s Finance Chair Is A Bank Exec Who Made ‘Yuge’ Profits From The Financial Crisis
Plenty of Californians already know him. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. certainly does…
…But the factor arguably most critical to the bank’s success was a loss-share deal it struck with the FDIC during the most desperate moments of the financial crisis, in which the agency agreed to absorb most of the losses on the bank’s bad debt.
Mnuchin is the chairman of OneWest Bank, which was formed out of the wreckage of failed IndyMac Bank in 2009 and seeded with about $1.5 billion from people like Mnuchin,… http://www.ibtimes.com/donald-trumps-finance-chair-bank-exec-who-made-yuge-profits-financial-crisis-2364689
…And that arrangement certainly helped Mnuchin, Soros and other shareholders pull more than $2 billion in dividends out of the bank since its inception. That’s before the windfall on the sale to CIT where the original investors more than doubled their money.
During that time, OneWest foreclosed on at least 35,000 homes in California. CIT also got a huge helping hand from the government during the crisis:
It received $2.3 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and declared bankruptcy
before paying it back…
…Trump has made no secret about his admiration for tough negotiators, and Mnuchin certainly appears to be one — especially when the American taxpayer is across the table.
…The judge was referring to the banking practice of dual tracking, in which a borrower in default seeks a modification while the institution continues at the same time to pursue foreclosure. By the time the borrower learns what is happening, it is usually too late to prevent the foreclosure.
As a California appellate court decision several years ago noted, “For homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure, this dual tracking might go by another name: the double-cross.”
setnaffa
7 years ago
Some people think cancer is dangerous. They’re right; but it’s practically harmless compared with the mind rot displayed by our mutual friend. Folks who believe like he does are contagious because we pay them to teach innocent and gullible children.
Van Jones of CNN on how the so-called “black vote” might influence the election:
“70 percent of African Americans have a horrible view of Donald Trump,” Jones continued. “In order for the Democrats to win the White House they don’t have to get 50 percent of the black vote or 60, or 70, or 80, or 90, Democrats in order to win historically need 90 to 92 percent of the black vote. If only 70 percent don’t like Donald Trump, that means 30 percent are open to his argument. If he gets half of those, he’s president.”
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, has been making some observations about Trump for a few months now. From his most recent blog entry: “Trump’s proposition is that the establishment is a bunch of useless losers and he can do better. The ad shows Trump being opposed by… a bunch of useless losers on the Republican side. Trump annihilated every one of them. And it wasn’t even hard.”
His blog is worth a read. http://blog.dilbert.com/?utm_source=dilbert.com&utm_medium=site&utm_campaign=brand-engagement&utm_content=navigation
setnaffa
7 years ago
Liz, you know Scott Adams has a way with words… 😆
Tbonetylr
7 years ago
Dirty Rotten DOD or largest socialist USA gov’t department 🙄
Grassley, Fellow Senators Seek Meeting With Defense Secretary on Military Sexual Assault http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-fellow-senators-seek-meeting-defense-secretary-military-sexual-assault
“A report compiled by the advocacy organization Protect Our Defenders (POD), and follow-up reporting by the Associated Press, found that Department of Defense officials provided inaccurate information in order to affect the policy debate in Congress over sexual assault in the military. The reports found that cases cited by Department of Defense officials were inaccurately characterized, and that relevant information was omitted.
We are deeply disturbed by the allegations in the two reports that the Department deliberately misled members as they were debating an issue of policy and oversight,” the Senators wrote in the letter. “We are sure that you share our concerns and request a meeting with you to discuss these allegations as soon as possible.”
Smokes
7 years ago
[Smokes awakes from his slumber and slogs out of his cave, he tosses a paper on the ground with the headline facing up for all to read. As he lumbers back into the darkness he mutters “Yeah it’s bait for CH… so what?”
That group of cadets is one of the best examples of American Servicethemselfmembers I can recall in quite some time…And
George Zimmerman is actioning off the gun he used to murder Trayvon Martin so since there are many/most/all Zimmerman fanboys (here)is your PSA, get your Zimmerman American Firearm Icon today, some proceeds will go to the Bundy crowd or to fight BLM violence. http://crooksandliars.com/2016/05/george-zimmerman-proudly-auctioning-gun-he
“In a stellar example of wingnut free enterprise, Zimmerman is auctioning off the gun he used to murder stand his ground against an unarmed Trayvon Martin as a “piece of history.”
Tbonetylr
7 years ago
FBI director and former G. Bush deputy attorney general rebrands “Ferguson Effect” as “Viral Video Effect”
A rebranding without stats? Sounds like white cop fearmongerers!
“So if cops are becoming more hesitant to beat up surrendering suspects, and it doesn’t necessarily have any impact on overall crime rates, what’s the problem?”
A bunch addicts you is…
Here’s how the US military got hooked on a high-caffeine energy drink called ‘Rip It’
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/heres-how-the-us-military-got-hooked-on-a-high-caffeine-energy-drink-called-rip-it/
In the course of 30 minutes, he had downed five 8-ounce servings of Rip It, a military-approved energy drink that was infamous for causing a variety of unpleasant side effects when consumed in excess.
In the boredom arising out of a cool night in Ramadi, Iraq, this was a “Case Race,” or an attempt to down as many of the cans in a 24-pack as he and his squadron possibly could.
He farted with such potency the vehicle’s driver started to dry heave. Forcing him to pull over, Snell ran out, crouched over and soiled his many layers of fatigues. His body hummed with a restless energy. Snell says it was “like my skin was crawling.”
Such are the excesses of a military life powered by Rip It.
Rip It can be found almost anywhere a soldier goes in the Middle East. It’s as common as an MRE. Snell estimates that at least 99 percent of enlisted men and women have tried it, with some growing so attached they’re more concerned with the number of cans left than the quality of actual food.
“It’s paramount to survival, not only for yourself, but for your peers.” Even more than food, he believed his fellow soldiers perceived Rip Its as “mission essential.”
“People would count ammo, how many bottles of water and how many Rip Its they got,” he says.
Those with an extreme tolerance might down as many as 18, creating the kind of hyper-vigilance found in cartoons. One soldier told National Public Radio that it was Rip Its and tobacco that kept him up late into the night while on patrol. “Patriotism,” the company ad slogan reads. “…If only we could bottle it!”
Many soldiers just feel awake and alert; others suffer from what Snell refers to as “man-strual cramps,” a clenching of the guts that struggles to keep up with the influx of stimulating liquid.
Stateside, Rip It keeps connected to servicemen and women via support on social media, while hashtags like #teamnosleep try and appeal to cramming students, all-night gamers and law enforcement.
Obama’s Iraqi Policy apparently hit the fan today. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/protests-in-baghdad-throw-administrations-iraq-plan-into-doubt/2016/04/30/759fadd4-0f03-11e6-bfa1-4efa856caf2a_story.html
Someone who really believed in Freedom: http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_In_detail.htm?No=118719
Where’s Fatty?
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/05/02/Kim-Jong-Un-conspicuously-absent-leading-up-to-despite-pending-7th-Party-Congress/8831462195322/
Kim hasn’t been seen since the 23rd or 24th of April, right after the launch of the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile.
Could his gout be acting up again? Have there been any more assassination attempts? Is he taking “All you can eat?” as a personal challenge at a Chinese
Buffet?
Showtime is this Friday, as after 30+ years, the rubberstamp congress meets. One line from the article was:
Really? 118 countries sent at least one delegate back in 1980?
Hard to say what all will go on at the Congress, since Daddy Kim didn’t bother with them during his run.
American servicemen saved 3 babies and 3 women from a burning building outside Osan Airbase in South Korea.
Source: CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/05/02/babies-dropped-from-burning-building-korea-orig-cm.cnn
Better quality video
https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/31488213/babies-dropped-from-fourth-storey-of-burning-building-to-safety/#page1
@5 & 6, first I don’t believe 6 people were “saved” eby “servicemen” as I only saw 1 adult in your “better” video and the “good samaritan” rule doesn’t apply. Be sure to geback with us on that.
@TBONETYLR
I’ll try to contact MSGT Raimondo (He’s the 8th CES emergency management superintendent here on OSAN AFB) and ask what the correct number is. If its only 4, I hope CNN and all the other news media will make the correction. If he says its 6, I’ll tell him I’ll need to see a video as proof. 😛
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.frost.71
Slightly off-topic; but I was bored and started reading the links to the right… The Kenneth Markle convicted in NY has a different middle name than the (in)famous one.
Also, Lost Nomad’s blog has been taken over by someone purporting to offer loans…
Cruz just dropped out of the race.
You get sick in People’s Republic of Korea! You give us money! Lots of money!
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/05/04/North-Korea-charged-US-prisoner-300000-in-hospital-fees/4111462380734/
300 Large for medical care in North Korea? What does Fatty Kim think he’s running? An American ER?
Well, the DPRK did charge him in Euros, not Dollars. Maybe they were expecting Europe’s Socialized Medicine to pay Bae’s bill.
If you’ve got an up-coming trip to Kuwait for vacation, business or official duty, here’s something to be aware of.
“You’ll soon have to hand over your DNA if you want to visit Kuwait”
The mandatory aspect of providing DNA adds an intriguing dimension.
I always had a good time providing DNA to SE Asian countries on a voluntary basis.
Will Mistress Fatma supply a gobstopper and a triple ripple buttplug upon arrival or should I bring my own?
“You get sick in People’s Republic of Korea! You give us money! Lots of money!”
Oh, the irony of Communism.
In other related news, Vietnam, ruled by communists for 40 years, is now the No. 1 fan of capitalism on the planet:
http://qz.com/394732/vietnam-overrun-by-communists-40-years-ago-is-now-the-no-1-fan-of-capitalism-on-the-planet/
You’d have to be sick to GO to DPRKistan…
Army captain sues our President Barack Obama claiming he doesn’t have the legal authority to wage war against ISIL in Iraq & Syria
This “captain” must not follow the chain of command aye?
http://gawker.com/army-captain-sues-obama-claiming-he-doesnt-have-the-leg-1774875485
The dummy Nathan Michael Smith should sue the majority GOP led congress for refusing to vote/do their job, to fight ISIL even after most GOPers were whining about the need to fight ISIL/blaming Obama(calling him “weak”) before Obama started his war mission creep vs ISIL.
Ehrin Watada fought this battle back in 2007. The Army declared a Mistrial, and a second trial was declared unconstitutional. Lt. Watada walked, and Liberals cheered.
Now someone wants to walk away from Obama’s war. Will they cheer or boo Cpt. Nathan Smith?
The Gitmo Home Movie Vault of Guantanamo Bay
http://gawker.com/the-classified-home-movies-of-guantanamo-bay-1774698603
“…Among them appear to be recordings of detainee interrogations that military officials have previously claimed were never filmed…
…This is the sort of material human rights watchdogs like Naureen Shah, Director of National Security and Human Rights at Amnesty International USA, would love to view.
“I didn’t previously know of these films and it is incredibly interesting,” Shah told me in an interview. “We know Gitmo was considered a ‘battle lab’ for experimental, unproven techniques to control he behavior of the detainees, so every aspect of the detention site and handling of detainees warrants a really close review.”
Based on this film index, Shah believe “clearly they themselves were evaluating these tactics because they were interested in human experimentation.” The films themselves “could be a smattering of a much larger set of documents that show an overall environment where torture flourished,” Shah said…
…The sessions are not videotaped or tape recorded, Miller said.
And yet the Defense Media Activity appears to possess a video titled “TIGER TEAM INTERROGATES DETAINEES,” with an identifying barcode of 55580090. General Miller retired in 2006.
There are many other interrogation recordings, including repeated references to so-called “psyops,” short for psychological operations.”
Hot Mic: Chris Matthews Caught Ogling Melania Trump’s runway walk
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/05/hot-mic-chris-matthew-caught-ogling
Trump Superpac head(Jesse Benton) guilty of 4 federal counts of corruption…
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2016/05/05/former-ron-paul-aides-guilty-payment-scandal-kent-sorenson-michele-bachmann-jesse-benton-dimitri-kesari-john-tate/83968234/
Trump’s Finance Chair Is A Bank Exec Who Made ‘Yuge’ Profits From The Financial Crisis
Plenty of Californians already know him. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. certainly does…
…But the factor arguably most critical to the bank’s success was a loss-share deal it struck with the FDIC during the most desperate moments of the financial crisis, in which the agency agreed to absorb most of the losses on the bank’s bad debt.
Mnuchin is the chairman of OneWest Bank, which was formed out of the wreckage of failed IndyMac Bank in 2009 and seeded with about $1.5 billion from people like Mnuchin,…
http://www.ibtimes.com/donald-trumps-finance-chair-bank-exec-who-made-yuge-profits-financial-crisis-2364689
…And that arrangement certainly helped Mnuchin, Soros and other shareholders pull more than $2 billion in dividends out of the bank since its inception. That’s before the windfall on the sale to CIT where the original investors more than doubled their money.
During that time, OneWest foreclosed on at least 35,000 homes in California. CIT also got a huge helping hand from the government during the crisis:
It received $2.3 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and declared bankruptcy
before paying it back…
…Trump has made no secret about his admiration for tough negotiators, and Mnuchin certainly appears to be one — especially when the American taxpayer is across the table.
OneWest Bank & Steven Mnuchin etc…pay 7 figures in mortgage fraud case
http://calcoastnews.com/2013/09/onewest-bank-pays-7-figures-mortgage-fraud-case/
At the short end of the seven-figure settlement agreement were two nationally known individuals, billionaire Steve Mnuchin and…
…The judge was referring to the banking practice of dual tracking, in which a borrower in default seeks a modification while the institution continues at the same time to pursue foreclosure. By the time the borrower learns what is happening, it is usually too late to prevent the foreclosure.
As a California appellate court decision several years ago noted, “For homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure, this dual tracking might go by another name: the double-cross.”
Some people think cancer is dangerous. They’re right; but it’s practically harmless compared with the mind rot displayed by our mutual friend. Folks who believe like he does are contagious because we pay them to teach innocent and gullible children.
http://www.wallpaperup.com/uploads/wallpapers/2014/02/22/267746/big_thumb_a9b6fb47f59a2ba61ac1d3a93ab3676d.jpg
Van Jones of CNN on how the so-called “black vote” might influence the election:
“70 percent of African Americans have a horrible view of Donald Trump,” Jones continued. “In order for the Democrats to win the White House they don’t have to get 50 percent of the black vote or 60, or 70, or 80, or 90, Democrats in order to win historically need 90 to 92 percent of the black vote. If only 70 percent don’t like Donald Trump, that means 30 percent are open to his argument. If he gets half of those, he’s president.”
http://redalertpolitics.com/2016/05/02/van-jones-unexpected-warning-dems-trump-black-vote-video/#M5JjKRscFcWgDeAP.02
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, has been making some observations about Trump for a few months now. From his most recent blog entry:
“Trump’s proposition is that the establishment is a bunch of useless losers and he can do better. The ad shows Trump being opposed by… a bunch of useless losers on the Republican side. Trump annihilated every one of them. And it wasn’t even hard.”
His blog is worth a read.
http://blog.dilbert.com/?utm_source=dilbert.com&utm_medium=site&utm_campaign=brand-engagement&utm_content=navigation
Liz, you know Scott Adams has a way with words… 😆
Dirty Rotten DOD or largest socialist USA gov’t department 🙄
Grassley, Fellow Senators Seek Meeting With Defense Secretary on Military Sexual Assault
http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-fellow-senators-seek-meeting-defense-secretary-military-sexual-assault
“A report compiled by the advocacy organization Protect Our Defenders (POD), and follow-up reporting by the Associated Press, found that Department of Defense officials provided inaccurate information in order to affect the policy debate in Congress over sexual assault in the military. The reports found that cases cited by Department of Defense officials were inaccurately characterized, and that relevant information was omitted.
We are deeply disturbed by the allegations in the two reports that the Department deliberately misled members as they were debating an issue of policy and oversight,” the Senators wrote in the letter. “We are sure that you share our concerns and request a meeting with you to discuss these allegations as soon as possible.”
[Smokes awakes from his slumber and slogs out of his cave, he tosses a paper on the ground with the headline facing up for all to read. As he lumbers back into the darkness he mutters “Yeah it’s bait for CH… so what?”
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/10/us/west-point-cadets-photo/
That group of cadets is one of the best examples of American Servicethemselfmembers I can recall in quite some time…And
George Zimmerman is actioning off the gun he used to murder Trayvon Martin so since there are many/most/all Zimmerman fanboys (here)is your PSA, get your Zimmerman American Firearm Icon today, some proceeds will go to the Bundy crowd or to fight BLM violence.
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/05/george-zimmerman-proudly-auctioning-gun-he
“In a stellar example of wingnut free enterprise, Zimmerman is auctioning off the gun he used to murder stand his ground against an unarmed Trayvon Martin as a “piece of history.”
FBI director and former G. Bush deputy attorney general rebrands “Ferguson Effect” as “Viral Video Effect”
A rebranding without stats? Sounds like white cop fearmongerers!
http://gawker.com/fbi-director-rebrands-ferguson-effect-as-viral-video-1776225926
“Mr. Comet added that he continued to hear from police officials in private conversations that “lots and lots of police officers” are pulling back from aggressive confrontations with the public because of viral videos.”
“So if cops are becoming more hesitant to beat up surrendering suspects, and it doesn’t necessarily have any impact on overall crime rates, what’s the problem?”