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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Major Bell has another funny story. Here's a taste:
Day two: The alarm went off at 0500, "Oh Lord, I can't move!" It took every ounce of will power to get dressed. I admit it; I whined like a baby to these hard chargers at the bunker and demanded that we dumb this down a bit. "Sir" the Sgt replied, "You are a Marine, we are all Marines...you are expected to maintain that level that separates us from the other services ...Suck it up...Sir."- FbL
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How about a little History to get your day started. Something like, oh, 5000 years of Imperial History in the Middle East ... In 90 seconds.
H/T to Christian at Pro Deo Et Patria. - Barb
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Lots and lots getting said about the use of a particular type of anti-tank mine. NYT has a piece on it . But Noah Schactman, formerly of DefenseTech but now at WIRED, probably has the best round up of the criticism, scroll down as there’s several posts on it, of the Army’s case.
Of course, when I hear some of the way people react to uncertainty in intelligence, I have to wonder if they really think intelligence work is typified by the certainty of ‘AF is running low on water.’ It isn’t. And we, the general public, need to learn how to live with that.
---ry
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Rather than write something that wasn't going to add anything to what Chap said on the subject - I'll send you over to Chap and his discussion on having more than one party that understands warfare - vice one that kinda sorta does, and another which in it's most public face, deliberately misunderstands it, sometimes seemingly solely to score domestic political points. Oh, and pick your point on the historical timeline any time since the truce that ended Korea... and that statement pretty much holds true (with shades of nuance) regardless of which party is in power. And it's been getting worse.
Greyhawk on 60 Minutes and the Appeal for Redress - and the active duty sailor behind it.
Smash picks on little old ladies... again.
CDR Salamander points to the small victories (which can help prevent the more costly variety) in the Long War that most people just don't notice - because they are... small.
And for some more comic relief - Jules on Walking While Blonde.
Then there's this, from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, concerning Al "Use less!" Gore:
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.
Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.
Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.
Snerk! I love it when the leaders practice what they preach. Just remember boys and girls - when it comes to the elites (righty or lefty) it's almost always "Do what we say - and pay no attention to what we do." How will you know Congress is serious, truly serious, about oh, employment law and Universal Health Care? When the laws apply to them, and you see them in your local clinic, filling out the paperwork themselves. Just sayin'
Update: Mr. Gore responds. As near as I can tell, it boils down to... "I'm rich, so I can afford pricey solutions you don't, and then pay what amount to fines that are insignificant to me (purchasing "offsets") so neener neener neener." Perhaps I'm being uncharitable. -the Armorer
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The VEEP may not have qualified for a combat patch - but he's at least *heard* the elephant, live, not Memorex. I can imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth at the lost opportunity that will be going on over at DU. I'm not going to go look, I don't need to. -the Armorer
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Major John over at Miserable Donuts has some thoughts (and direct experience) regarding where the bombing occured at Bagram today - the one that exploded while the VEEP was visiting.
Moving on to Lebanon, Ry linked yesterday to a bit about Sy Hersh's reportage. Today, let's link to Tony Badran, who blogs from Beirut at Across the Bay, as he does what Hersh's editors do not - a little fact-checking. -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. 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".
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