H&I* Fires 5 Sep 2006

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite. You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

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If you're just checking in for the first time since the weekend - don't forget The Blog Of War.

Most of the promised-as-yet-undelivered Project Valour-IT cluebats are in the mail.

The Python 5 - UAV killer. There's a burgeoning market for that missile.

Captain Z - molding young proto-officer minds... I think I'd like to see Captain Z at summer camp. I gotta put the trash out, you guys find some kewl stuff. -the Armorer

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Okay, yer slugs. CPT Z has a request - his brother-in-law is in Iraq now, and needs some buckin' up. Go find out how. C'mon, it's our jobs, people! -the Armorer

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For those who read us (to include at least one former resident of the place) and have an interest in the Old DB, there is a new book out about the United States Disciplinary Barracks - well, the old one, known as "The Castle." I've got a copy, it makes for interesting reading. If you'd like one - if you live in the KC area, the author is selling autographed copies at the Bell Hall Book Store on the Fort this week. Or you can order one via the website, "Saga of Fort Leavenworth Castle." I think my favorite story thus far is about the one successful escapee - who still sends Christmas cards. -the Armorer

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Speaking of The Blog of War - if you need help deciding whether or not to buy it - the WaPo and Vanity Fair recommend it... H/t, Blackfive. -the Armorer

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This comes as a shock - Celebrities are Narcissists. Although it appears that the entertainment industry doesn't create them, it just... enables them. Thank heavens bloggers aren't celebrities - therefore my self-published ruminations don't count in the equation...

Celebrities have more narcissistic personality traits than the general population, and people with narcissistic tendencies seem to be attracted to the entertainment industry rather than the industry creating narcissists, according to a groundbreaking study conducted by researchers Drew Pinsky of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and S. Mark Young of the USC Marshall School of Business and the USC Annenberg School for Communication.

How come this never happened when *I* was in high school? Of course, the naivete of the young Mr. Palar is bemusing.

John McCain is out trying to get shot down again. C'mon, Senator, once was enough! *Note to self - Georgia is *not* on my mind for a travel destination this year. No, the *other* Georgia, not the peachy one.

-the Armorer

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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.

Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.

Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*

The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.

I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. It's also an open trackback, so if (Don Surber uses it this way a lot) someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".