H&I* Fires, 04 MAY 2007

May 4, 2007 | | Comments (13)

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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Kent’s Imperative has a post about different methods of analysis and decision making. I continually find this site an interesting read.
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This is just laughable. So, you’re teacher hanging in the hall is harassment too, then? Jeez. I get kids not liking the military or wanting to hear the recruiters rap, but this is just laughable.

“Why should all that money be spent on recruiting people to the military?" said Philip Locker, a student. "Why can't we spend that money on creating good paying jobs for people here in the United States, so when they graduate they can get jobs that serve our communities?"

Anyone else see the disconnect between the kids statement and his act?
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Columbia Journalism School also doesn’t like the new rules about media relations. I’m not as sympathetic to their reasons for being miffed as I am for deployed bloggers though.

I will say this: when journos AND the military mutually stop treating each other with major, irrational suspicion and rancor this kind of nonsense will no longer happen.
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Tossing some Alan bait: baseball standings. (Told you it was too early to complain about the BoSox after two games. We won’t talk about the Cubs.)
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An examination of how transnational terrorists are abusing a system designed to help third world countries with capital movement. Human creativity seems to outstrip rules making and regulation.
--ry

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Bob Owens, of Confederate Yankee, helps Representative Murtha with the Honorable Gentleman from Pennsylvania's memory problems...

Moving along, Canadians take their hockey seriously. Really seriously. In related news, the Canadian Army recently got its a$$ handed to it on the field of battle. Fortunately, it was by other Canadians.

In case you missed it - Berbers point out that Arabs are colonialists, too. And arguably worse that the Europeans.

Belkacem Lounes, president of the World Amazigh Congress, wrote an open letter to Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qaddafi in response to the latter's March 1 speech in which he denied the existence of a Berber or Amazigh(1) people in North Africa. In his letter, dated April 10, Lounes protested Qaddafi's statements, saying that the 30 million Amazigh living today in North Africa cannot be ignored. He added that the Amazigh had played a central role in the fight against European colonialism, but that since independence they had been oppressed by the "internal colonialism" of pan-Arabism, which he labels an imperialist ideology. Lounes stated that it was archaic to consider diversity a danger, and calls on the North African governments to commit to democracy and human rights.

More here, from Memri.

We're outta here to hit the Smithsonian. -the Armorer

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Okay, I lied, we're not there yet. But this is a kewl milestone to pass on the opening day of the Milblogger Conference. Probably sometime late this afternoon - the Castle will host it's 2 millionth visitor since lowering the drawbridge and raising the barbican in 2003. It wasn't that long ago when number 1,000,000 dropped by, sent to us by Neptunus Lex. May the Fourth Be With You! -the Armorer

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Ping! 2 Million. Whee! If I hadda nickel for each of those visits... I'd have enough to buy a *really* nice truck, and what the heck, a trailer to go with it! -the Armorer

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I'm still alive...

If you know what

"R
I
P
FPlan
Plan
M
S
I"

means, you'll have a clue as to what I'm up to. In fact, if you can guess what the above is, John will send you an autographed picture of the dead Dole Center chair.

Or not. -Instapilot

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Quote Of the Day.

"He’ll be back in a V8 once the estrogen wears off." -Instapilot

H/T: Mr. Blair (No, not THAT one. This one.)

*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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13 Comments

By Karla (threadbndr) on May 4, 2007 12:09 PM
RE the High School piece. Here at Topeka High, the MCJROTC Armed Drill Team memebers are the MAJOR jocks. They trump the football and basketball lettermen. All the JROTC cadets go to classes (ALL their classes) twice a week IN UNIFORM. The cadet cadre is about 250 students - over one tenth of the student body. The boys have milreg high and tight haircuts. The girls wear their hair up. They police each other in the halls, adults and teachers get a "Good Morning, Ma'm" or a "Hello, sir." And yes of those 250 students, about one in ten goes into the military. There were about 11 (active, reserve, ROTC college and service academy apointments - all branches) in the Marine!Goth's graduating class. Somehow I cannot see this as a bad thing!
 
By Trias on May 4, 2007 1:58 PM
Regarding recruiting; Over here in Australia recruiters are not present in high schools. I agree with that because schools are places to learn. Attempts to coerce students into the military is the wrong thing to be doing in this place in my view. If kids are going to join the military when they grow up I would hope they do it of their own free will. I find using pressure tactics on kids contemptible. I also think it is wrong to tie school funding to military access. In university they were present, however and these are no longer kids. The Australian military had an area set up during the orientation week giving visibility and access. They never blocked halls or spieled from what I remember. After that them and all the others (political parties, sport and university groups etc) shoved off and we studied. You know in my experience things aggressivly sold are lemons. Why are recruiters going down this path in the US?
 
By Ed Tracey on May 4, 2007 2:51 PM
Trias - 1. They are not going down a path, this has been going on for generations, it's just that we didn't have so many whining liberal "victims" in the past. I guess they feel like a teenager seeing a recriuter is the same as a moth seeing a flame. 2. In the US, it is the states responsibility to educate the next generation, not the federal gov't, therefore, why shouldn't the feds tie money to desired behavior? 3. Where do you get talking to someone in the hall is coercion? The same place that our liberal politicians get that shouting at somebody is torture, I suppose.
 
By bad cat robot on May 4, 2007 2:59 PM
I get the sense, Trias, that the complainers equate "aggressive recruiting" with "just showing up". If only they could ban *everyone* with an agenda from showing up at high schools and just letting people learn ... But no, they even permitted college recruiters to show up, the brazen hussies. Trapping poor innocent students into debt! I seem to recall a few public safety groups too, brainwashing us into thinking drunk driving was a bad idea. The horror.
 
By Ledger on May 5, 2007 1:08 AM
TWO Million visitors is not too bad. “...if I had a nickel for each one... I would buy a *really* nice truck." - John Isn’t 2 million times $.05 about $100,000. Nice truck! That sounds more like an 18 wheel truck.
 
By Trias on May 5, 2007 1:20 AM
Ed: In Australia we all view it as a duty to educate the children not just a particular government. The money should not be tied to desired behavior because the method used is undesirable. I'm not saying recruiting is wrong. I'm saying recruiting through coercion at a place of a child's learning is wrong. "Where do you get talking to someone in the hall is coercion?" What is the source of this? You're paying too much attention to the 'force and violence' definition of coerce. Coercion is also about substitution of your aims into your targets. What do you think recruiters are there for? Discussing the weather? They are there to substitute a students aims to join the military instead. That is a noble goal but not done the wrong way in the wrong place. BCR: Recruiters would have to do more than just show up. I admit the article is laying claim to a great deal with rather thin information. I suppose the public safety groups had to use law and money to allow them into the school too :-/
 
By ry on May 5, 2007 1:26 AM
Attempts to coerce students into the military is the wrong thing to be doing in this place in my view.
I' agree with you Trias, but there's no real coersion going on. They stand there at a table on the quad or with a bunch of brochures in hand that they try to hand to you(and you can ignore like the 'Save the Whales' people also trying to hand you literature.). Kids can walk on past if they want. If a kid looks at the recruiter the guy trys to stary up a conversation and if kid engages goes into his rap. THere's nothing of a capitive audience involved. You aren't forced to listen to them. Some kids even give them the finger with no ramifications. I think you misunderstand the SCOTUS' Solomon decision. Schools that deny military recruitors but accept every other recruitor under the sun have a serious problem. You can't give privelages to State Dept headhunters that you won't give to military, nor to big name lawfirms that you won't give to the military. On US campuses there's recruiters from just about everything every day of the week, with a couple of big weeks where everyone is there at once doing interviews. Walking across a quad is navigating a sea of organizations pitching you to sign or join something. HS is much different, but that's US colleges. ANd it's only tables on the quad or posters in halls. They don't come to your door or anything. You aren't forced to listen or accept literature. It's a lot like a billboard, but in school. THey ended Selective Service after I turned 18. What used to happen was you had to register for the Draft. You'd get a call from each Service about a week after filling out the paperwork at the Post Office. That's gone. How else are they supposed to get contact numbers if not from the schools then? BCR is right about the whinnyness though. The guys are standing next to a door, they're visible. Horrors. It's like the guy in 'Holy Grail' yelling about how he's oppressed when he's nothing of the sort. Some of these kids have exceptionally thin skin. Ms. Thang is like that. A 'Fly Navy' bumper sticker on my monitor case at campus 'creates a hostile working environment' because it promotes violence and promotes patriarchy. The PacNorWest has some very militantly 'Progressive' minded people who cannot stand opposing views. The closer you get to Seattle the more of them you'll find(and The Wife wants me to move to Seattle? Ai yah.). JRTOC is mostly built around teaching leadership skills and discipline and civic mindedness. Google up the San Francisco bruhaha over cutting Naval JROTC for more details of what both sides are claiming. It's not like ROTC in college, where you have a committment to do something after taking money(X number of years Active component if you do well enough in the program and your grades are high enough, or Y years Reserve component if you're a sub 3.0 student at graduation). Ugh. Need sleep.
 
By John of Argghhh! on May 5, 2007 5:36 AM
Ledger - a fully tricked out Toyota Tundra pushes you well past 40K. Then throw in the 40K trailer... And as gas pushes to $3 a gallon around here, the rest is gettin' 'round town money...
 
By Oldloadr on May 5, 2007 11:32 AM
Trias – I looked up the definition of "coerce" and here is what I found -- Transitive verb Infinitive to coerce Third person singular coerces Simple past coerced Past participle coerced Present participle coercing to coerce (third-person singular simple present coerces, present participle coercing, simple past coerced, past participle coerced) 1. to use force, threat, or intimidation in attempt to compel one to act against his will. 2. (computing) to force an attribute, normally of a data type, to take on the attribute of another data type. Therefore, I must ask if you are engaging in language creep, the same as those who consider mild forms of coercion (e.g. shouting) to be torture. BTW, it is not the duty of the federal government in this country to educate a single soul. Additionally, no college or public school district is coerced (couldn’t help it) to accept federal funds, and they know up front that the funds come with strings. In other words, there ain't no free lunch.
 
By Trias on May 5, 2007 4:03 PM
Ry: Are we talking about high school or universities here? I've illustrated already I don't have a problem with military recruiting at university. OK I'll go with what you say how they operate. Why do they need contact numbers from school children at school? There are plenty of other ways to recruit. Who is Ms Thang? It seems any hostile environment is largely her own creation. Australia doesn't have a JRTOC equivalent. I've had a quick look but i think the whole thing would really be another long discussion. Oldloadr: No. Allow me to quote from the Merriam-Webster which i believe is even a US dictionary. "2 : to compel to an act or choice" Your words "mild forms of coercion (e.g. shouting)" show you already knew your quoted definition was incomplete. Claiming language creep in such circumstances is farcical. I accept the US federal government might not take it as their duty. JROTC seems to contradict that in my view. I'm glad our government works differently though, as I said, I view it as a responsibility of all. In other words, the federal funds are used to coerce the schools into accepting the programs.
 
By Oldloadr on May 6, 2007 12:32 PM
Trias - In case you come back to this thread: 1. I was arguing your point about coercing the students. That was what you started with. And, I'm afraid even with your choice of dictionary, you are still not making a point unless you are engaging in language creep. Tell me how a recruiter standing in a foyer with some pamphlets waiting for a student to initiate contact meets your definition of coercion. 2. I’m sure you have never read the US Constitution, but it enumerates the responsibilities of the federal government and leaves all other powers to the several states, including education. I’m glad you are happy with your system; I am quite happy with ours and I sincerely wish that all of those here who want to live like you all do would move there and leave our system alone here.
 
By ry on May 6, 2007 9:38 PM
Ry: Are we talking about high school or universities here? I've illustrated already I don't have a problem with military recruiting at university.
I described both actually. THe case in HS is that they show once or twice a week. Have a table in the lunch room. Stand about with lit to hand out and try to start up a con with kids. The college case is that there's just about everything there every day of the week. Every day. Join Cal-PIRG. Join Young Socialists for the free ejaculation of Palestine. Whatever. It's there. SOlom says if you let the YPFEP on campus you have to let DoD on campus too. Content neutrality, and to enforce it gov't can withhold funding to make you play fair. I get the impression that in AUS the hawking of wares is much reduced. That's not the case of the US university. THe US highschool is different. Recruiters show up once in a while. THey come with the Thunder on career day, just like everyone else. I'm with Loadr that you're defining down the meaning of 'coerce'. That simply being given an oppurtunity to see something you're coerced into it. Would it be the same for kids who have to sit thru religions awarness sessions in their civics courses? Is that coercive(it's definitely captive and resistance to the exposure brings the heavy hand of the closest Vice Principal and detention and possibly suspension)? Coersion implies that your tricked or forced into something you wouldn't normally want to do, but are doing to benefit yourself somehow. Like how rape by boss happens. I don't see that dynamic at work here. It's kind of like your making the case that because the school allows it that there's the unspoken message that the school supports it and to partake is in your best interest. I simply don't buy that logic. It's like saying the State supports a position because it allows you to put something like 'MPEACHW' as their personalized license plate or a 'Support Life' theme as your license plate(you pay extra for both). Maybe it's because I'm a bit more inclined to believe the gen pop is more individualistic than you? Don't know. Ms Thang? Ah, she was my bane in my lab when I still could work in a fumehood. She had a tizzy just about every time I opened my mouth. She'd say something stupid like, 'The Patriarchy is out to force us womyn back into being barefoot and in the kitchen.' And I'd say, 'Well, wearing strappy sandals in a chem lab is close, ain't it?' (Note, I was often the safety officer. Wraparound glasses and sandals don't cut it with me. Nor shorts(and I'm a California kid who isn't comfortable wearing anything but walking shorts), short skirts, and tanktops. It's a chemistry lab, its an inherently dangerous place and you'd better respect it.). A 'Fly Navy' bumpersticker on my 'hood made her 'afraid for her safety'--'cause I'm a dangerous gun totting nut apparently. Seeing some of the gun vids, combat vids, or pictures of women with weapons drove her nuts(but Annie deFranco's manhating music was just fine apparently. Shi gatta ga nai, neh?) She complained alot and loud. So now I don't even go into the office much and work from home most of the time. Drove me nuts. My PI even more nuts.
Why do they need contact numbers from school children at school? There are plenty of other ways to recruit.
Of course there are. But the most effective is the aggressive campaign. You'd be surprised how many kids just sitting around doing nothing get interested because of the call. The TV ads help, as does the NASCAR sponsorship and magazine ads. But active headhunting is still very effective. We have a different understanding of the social contract over here it would seem. The JROTC thing? Why hash it out? Just look at the SF city council meeting and ID who you agree with. They've already been all over it. No point repeating. Coercion of schools or kids? It's already established precedent that the Fed can coerce state and municipalities. That was done with Nixon and block grants back in the 70s(and used by every pres since.). Like affirmative action SCOTUS found that there's a compelling reason for this---hiring for a less glamorous and difficult job vital to national defence. Really, look at the Solomon decision itself instead of all the meta.
 
By Justthisguy on May 7, 2007 3:42 AM
Dang, Ry! Cane chew just giggle, laugh, and then ignore Miss Thang? I mean, she really is so absurd as to be laughable. Of course, she does seem to suffer from chronic, severe, female neurotypicality. P.s. I have considered having a t-shirt printed bearing the legend, "Neurotypical Women Frighten Me!" Think that'll ensure I never ever get laid, for the rest of my life?