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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Damian sends:
Tim Hortons is a Canadian icon, and the CF Personnel Support Agency operates a franchise at Kandahar Air Field. Apparently there's a lineup from the minute they open to the minute they close each day.Anyhow, here in the Great White North, we just finished our annual rite of spring, the Roll Up The Rim To Win contest - you roll up the rim of the coffee cup, and you can win everything from a new vehicle to an IPOD. Well, they've got one going just for the soldiers at KAF as well, and the coffee cups are printed in CADPAT!
How cool is that?
How cool is that? See for yourself, here.
Speaking of things Canadian... how about a shot of the Canadian Navy's Underwater Precision Drill Team?
Sticking with a military theme - Soldier/Press relations. -the Armorer
[update: Blackfive has discussion that this is not as it seems - kat]
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From the Things That Don't Come To Mind When Thinking of Kansas file: From a Kansas Adjutant General press release:
CANADIAN FIRM TO TEST UNMANNED AIRCRAFT AT GREAT PLAINS JOINT TRAINING CTRA commercial manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will begin using the Kansas National Guard’s Great Plains Joint Training Center ( Smoky Hill Weapons Range ) to run test flights of the UAV it developed for a U.S. Army research. The effort was initiated last fall with a UAV Symposium sponsored by the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department.
Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology, Inc., (MMIST Ltd.), based in Ottawa , Canada , will conduct a series of test flights May 2, 3 and 4 of its CQ-10A UAV “Snowgoose” UAV. The Snowgoose is the world’s first cargo UAV. It is being used by U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq .
“This partnership between the Kansas National Guard’s Great Plains Joint Training Center and a commercial entity is an historic first,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting. “The wide-open Kansas air spaces at our weapons range in Salina make it the ideal site for such test flights. In addition, there are a number of nearby facilities there and other locations where personnel can be trained in the use of such equipment.”
MMIST is considering using facilities at Herington Regional Airport to conduct future crew training.
Great Plains Joint Training Center consists of 33,873 acres located 11 miles southwest of Salina , Kan. An 11,500-acre impact area contains more than 150 targets. The Great Plains Joint Training Center is home to one of only 15 Multiple Threat Emitter System/Threat Reaction Analysis Indicator System sites in the Air Force inventory. This system provides superior electronic warfare interactive scenarios to significantly improve aircrew wartime survival capabilities.
Moving to politics: Some advice to the Democrats from a Democrat. In broad brush, from a Duties and Responsibilities perspective - I agree with this statement:
The 2008 election is the Democrats' to lose. Attempting to usurp the powers of the commander of the chief -- or risking the charge that Democrats have abandoned troops in the field -- is one of the few ways the party could jeopardize its seemingly impregnable position. The best chance to end the war is to make sure the next president is a Democrat.
Read the rest of Doug Shoen's piece in the Boston Globe. Let a Democrat run on the platform of ending the war. If they get elected, let them end it. That's the way it should work. Of course, Senator Reid disagrees. Apparently he feels it's his job. -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 (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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