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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The Milblogger Conference is coming! Hopefully, if you intend to attend in person, you've already registered (if not - hit the link on the top right sidebar!). Or, if you're too lazy to move your mouse far, even to click the link at the top of this paragraph, then click here.
If you can't be there, but intend to be there virtually, in the chat room (moderated by Greyhawk, like last year), you need to help out a bit. This conference is more expensive than last year's was, and we frankly couldn't cover the chat room - sponsorship for that fell through. So, if you're saving all those dollars you would have spent to attend in person, how about donating $10-100 to help defray the cost of the chatroom and related services. We need $2K, and I know we've already got at *least* $200 in the kitty.
Andi (the Grand High Mistress of All Things Conference) sends:
Funds are low, we have to pay for a lot of items to make this conference work. I had to cut the chat room from the budget because there is no money. However, after talking to Mrs. G, she thought we could raise the funds to add the chat room, so I’ve opened a donation site. We need to raise $2,000 by April 19.Mrs. G rightfully said that the chat room was vital to the virtual attendees last year, so let’s give it a go. It’s especially important to the troops overseas. I need your help. Can you please write something up on your sites and beg for donations? Link below is for the donation site.
So, here's that link - click here to donate! Never mind - through the good offices of Techography, we found an alternate method. -the Armorer
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Interesting article in the German mag, Der Spiegel, on Bin Laden's "Eurofighters."
Radicalization with friends and family
These numbers indicate that the impact of Afghan training camps on radicalization has since been largely offset.
Bakker and Hidde Donker summarize the issue of radicalization as follows: Their group of jihadists differs "fundamentally from the global mujaheddin." This conclusion is also supported in other ways-- by the realization, for example, that the jihadists who became active in Europe "radicalized with little outside interference, ...often together with friends and family members."
What this boils down to is that these Euro-terrorists are recruiting themselves. The Internet plays an important role in this process. Many of the jihadists featured in the study obtained al-Qaida propaganda via the Internet, especially in the last few months leading up to their attacks.
This reinforces a fear security officials have long had: The radicalization phase is becoming shorter and shorter.
Another difference between the Dutch study and Sagemann's results is also disconcerting: 58 jihadists were noticed by the police before their planned attacks -- almost one-fourth of the sample and far more than in Sagemann's study. Small-time criminals are apparently finding their way into al-Qaida in Europe more often today than in the past.
A higher proportion of converts than in the Sagemann study (a total of 14, including 13 former Christians and one former Hindu) also confirms that there are more detours on the road to jihadism than there were in the past.
Read the rest here. -the Armorer
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About damn time. I was pushing this idea a decade ago - except I was proposing we license an unclas version of our SIMNET construct.
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY NEW YORK — The U.S. Army is about to invade the online gaming community with an estimated $2 million sponsorship deal with the Global Gaming League website. Starting in June, the Army will sponsor a "national gaming" area as a way to tap into the site's 9.2 million players per month of everything from shooter games to pro baseball. It hopes to find candidates for recruitment among the 17- to 24-year-old males who are 80% of the gamers on the site — young men hard to reach with advertising."The consumer model for traditional media is changing," says Gary Bishop, who oversees Army marketing and advertising. "We're grappling with the challenge of how do we better use new media to tell the Army story. Online is probably the best way."
GGL is a gaming community site that blends game news and play. Founder Ted Owen describes it as "ESPN meets MySpace for gamers. Video gaming is a culture. The Army has been a very forward thinker. They get it."
Read the whole story here in USA Today. H/t, Jim C. -the Armorer
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From the National Journal we see that Defense Secretary Gates knows how to play the game.
Gates Plans To Use Air Force, Navy Funds To Cover Army Costs In Iraq, Afghanistan With the fate of the FY07 wartime supplemental still unknown, Defense Secretary Gates will soon ask lawmakers to approve the transfer of $1.6 billion from Air Force and Navy personnel accounts to cover the costs of Army operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.In a letter Wednesday to Senate Appropriations Chairman Byrd, Gates reiterated his concerns that failure to appropriate the war funds in the next several weeks will have "disruptive" effects on readiness, Army personnel and their families.
"The department shortly will be presenting to the Congress a $1.6 billion reprogramming request that proposes to shift $0.8 billion from both the Navy and Air Force military personnel accounts to the Army Operation and Maintenance accounts," he told Byrd.
If you want to read the rest of that, you'll need to subscribe to the National Journal.
As my buddy Mike notes:
Re: diversion of funds – Gates is a frickin’ genius – let congress stand up to those special interest groups – Boeing, MD, NG, etc.
Indeed. Let them. -the Armorer
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Ambush in Taliban Heartland (Dutch and Afghan Soldiers duke it out with the Taliban)
Speaking of the continuing British Sailor question, apparently their own mates are a bit unhappy.
Continuing the Armorer's local military news, a round up of things military in Kansas and Missouri
From the Forum (Soldiers' Angels): a message from the front
Please understand. Sometimes unpleasant things happen. That's life. But we are doing so much for so many and sometimes it feels no one but us knows. We are not looking for accolades or recognition just ....I don't know what. Maybe some self-assurance that the county we proudly represent is even remotely aware.
-Kat
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An even 100 Leopard 2 tanks for the Canadian Forces: $650 million.
Knowing your armed forces is going to retain the critical capability to operate tracked, armoured, direct-fire vehicles: priceless.
(That's right folks - the Canadian Forces is going Dutch.) - Damian
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Anyone who has ever had a loved one deployed in a dangerous place will share my disgust with Bob Fife. - Damian
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Here's one way to deal with rapists! ~ Barb
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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 (oops, can't call 'em UAVs anymore - they're now Unmanned Aerial Systems... some Colonel got his Legion of Merit for that change...), er, um UAS's 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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