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H&I* Fires, 12 FEB 2007

February 12, 2007 | | Comments (9)

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. [Hey - trackbacks work again!]

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

[First again! It's like sneaking past the moat monster wearing 80 pounds of clanging armor. Then again...it could be insomnia.]

Just a quick note to remind folks that Kansas City Soldiers' Angels are making plans for the big Snake Saturday Parade. First meeting for float design and parade participation is Tuesday night at the MO National Guard Armory. It will be a great way to have fun, meet other Angels and support the troops!
-Kat

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Yeah, but ya forgot to set the clock on the post to 2300-ish, dincha?

Someone you should know, Marine 1st Lt. Eliot Ackerman. -the Armorer

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J.D. Pendry has a fantastic post about the Answer Coalition's 3/17/07 march in Washington, and the response by Gathering of Eagles. I sure wish I could be there. Yup, yup, yup. ~AFSis
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"Night" author and Holocaust survivor, Eli Wiesel, was attacked in a San Fransisco hotel during a peace rally last week. The assailant has not been caught, but someone has been writing about the incident, claiming to be the assailant on the anti-Zionist Web site ZioPedia. The post states that the writer wanted to “bring Wiesel to my hotel room where he would truthfully answer my questions regarding the fact that his non-fiction Holocaust memoir, Night, is almost entirely fictitious." and also claims that the Holocaust itself is a "myth". Unfortunately, I cannot supply you with a link to the post on ZioPedia because it is "no longer available". Hmmmmm....

Come on Sanger.... take him on!!!!
~AFSis

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The Castle Adjutant, Barb of Righty in a Left State, has a nice little post linking more information about the upcoming award of the Medal of Honor to LTC (R) Bruce Crandall - finally, as we mentioned yesterday, a living recipient! -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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9 Comments

By kat-missouri on February 12, 2007 10:37 AM
“There is only one alternative; it is to do it or not do it. You have to do what needs to be done in a situation." - Lt Ackerman I like this guy. And, it was hard to think about resetting the time stamp on the post when one is lacking sleep and the moat monster's stinky breath is fuming up your cognitive processes.
 
By fdcol63 on February 12, 2007 10:51 AM
For ry: (Here because I figured you'd read it here at some point ... LOL) You were right ..... Feb. 11 came, and nothing from Iran. Good news!
 
By Richard1 on February 12, 2007 3:38 PM
Michael Yon is looking for someone to identify a weapon he found: "During an Iraqi Security Forces raid in Mosul, I was there when our own forces (1-24th Infantry Regiment) captured tons of enemy weapons and explosives. Among the tons of munitions, I photographed 27 SA-7 Surface to Air Missiles that night. There were also a few strange weapons. None of the many military people I have shown this photo to could identify this weapon or where it might have come from. It looks homemade. Can you ask your readers to try to identify it?" Drudge has it on his site
 
By KCSteve on February 12, 2007 4:14 PM
To see the Michael Yon posting with the picture click here I haven't seen it myself yet due to the slow loading times caused by everyone else in the world trying to see it. Like Richard1 I came here to spread the word to what I think is the group most likely to be able to ID it (at least among those who can post publicly)
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 12, 2007 5:07 PM
Not surprisingly, I've been getting lots of email with this subject in it. No, I don't know what it is. Frankly, it looks like a training device to me. For a live rocket-launcher, that shoulder stock puts the backblast area awfully close to the shooters shoulder. As a home-made training device, however - with possibly a sub-caliber laser, or even sub-caliber projectile thrower in it - that would be supportable. It could also be a toy. But, based solely on the low-res pics I've seen, with no good verbal description, I'm not willing to call it a weapon per se.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 12, 2007 5:30 PM
Of course, thinking about it, and pondering some of the more modern, reusable type of launchers - the safety distance could be gained by the exhaust tube being loaded with the munition. The thiness of the tube walls and absence of any breech mechanism consistent with a recoiless rifle argue for an RPG/bazooka style weapon - and it could still be a trainer or toy. Ponder ponder ponder.
 
By lawhawk on February 12, 2007 5:36 PM
Here's a question for the denziens. Can you identify this weapon? They're mulling the question at LGF as well, but so far no one seems to know what the heck the US and Iraqi forces have apparently recovered.
 
By Barb on February 12, 2007 6:56 PM
Thanks for the link, John. I was tickled to find that Bruce Crandall is almost a neighbor :-) Interesting note, his wingman was awarded the MOH in 2001. Why do you suppose it took an extra 6 years to get this pushed through for Crandall??
 
By SangerM on February 12, 2007 8:52 PM
Interesting pic.. Some things of note: 1) not a one-off home made jobber (as in an Ahmed garage-shop special). The fwd grip and the stock or injection molded (looks like softimpact) plastic, the holes in the bottom of the fwd grip and the stock are either from molding dies or are openings so those items can be screwed into the bottom of the tube. 2) There is no discernable trigger mechanism, but that could just be the picture qual. Possibly a small button in the handle? 3) That is not likely to be a blast tube given the proximity of the shoulder to the opening; however, it could be that a long-tube rocket of some kind sits in the tube and the ignition is further back than the opening (imagine a subcaliber law with a long tail), the end does look reinforced however, 4) If this is real, then it's meant to be fired (assuming it's a launcher of some kind) from in close quarters... the human factors are wrong. Put your hand about where the rear grip is and the shoulder fit, and try to imagine the scope up close... that looks like your rear hand would be close to your chest, unless you hold the thing cross-armed (right hand on fwd grip, left arm acrss chest to hold rear grip??) 5) Unless it's for small circle aiming, there is no need for a scope, generally, not like that. so maybe it's a one-shot dart-type launcher? 6) To be honest, the design reminds me of a long-distance microphone for eavesdropping across parking lots, or perhaps some kind of laser designator, sound reader?? The key has got to be the scope and the open tube... there is no reason for that for a bullet launcher, when Aks are everywhere, or sniper rifles, etc.. this looks like a hightech toy, and not like something that shoots, to be honest. Sooooo... if it _doesn't_ shoot a dart of some kind (spring loaded, able to put a dart inside of a compound), then I think it is either a laser (perhaps for blinding pilots or gunners?) or it's a microphone perhaps.
 
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