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H&I Fires* May 27, 2007

By Denizens on May 27, 2007 | | Comments (6)

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...

Yesterday, today, and who knows, maybe tomorrow, the Master and Mistress of Argghhh! will be out searching for a new location to raise the Standard of Argghhh! Several hundred miles of travel already, searching out those sites that call to us. There are two that are candidates, and both will probably support the Armorer's Dream - a place suitable for shooting from the deck without annoying, scaring, or endangering the neighbors. Which means - not many neighbors. The Master and Mistress of Argghhh! are somewhat curmudgeonly and retiring people. But it would be good for a blogmeet, too.

We saw a place yesterday that when you come upon it, it sits in a forest glen, with a split-rail fence in the front yard... just begging for a 12 pounder Napoleon. Even SWWBO agrees.

Moving along...

Another mugged liberal. Welcome to the fold, State Representative Michael DeBose (D-12) of Cleveland.

News from the Front:

BAQUBAH — Coalition forces rescued seven kidnapped victims during a three-day operation in Chibernat, a village north of Baqubah, Wednesday.

BAGHDAD — The acute care clinic of the 399th Combat Support Hospital at Contingency Operating Base (COB) Speicher is one of the busiest U.S. clinics in country.

CAMP BAHARIA — The sounds of men shouting cadence, boots stomping down baby powder-fine sand and rocks skittering across the ground fill the air. Iraqis in green flight suits, helmets and bullet-proof vests hold their rifles in front of their chest and march in time to the commands of their blue-shirted drill instructor, an Iraqi policeman by the name of Mohammed.

TIKRIT — About 45 local sheiks met with Diyala provincial leadership in Baqubah, Iraq, to discuss their tribe’s concerns, reconcile grievances and discover solutions to rid terrorism from the province, May 23.

Separated at birth? Did my Mom and Dad have a sekrit? This guy and I must share some DNA...

From Denizen Netbrad:

...I found your Doppelganger at Jamestown, working in the armory. Enjoy and have a safe and happy weekend.

Heh. I actually intend to start making firearms like the ones this gentleman is handling. Even more appropriate, perhaps - on my mother's side, the family first appeared on this continent in the form of Nicholas Meriwether at Jamestown circa 1650.

Oh, and I can't stand it - this is funny. -the Armorer

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For light Sunday reading... a Sea Story. Here's a taste of a naval aviator's report on his first attempt to qualify (CQ) to fly on and off an aircraft carrier at night. Complication? He's being told to do it in the middle of minimal visibility:

As I cross the shuttle, CAG is in tension and is quickly fired off the bow, disappearing immediately ! As I go through the cockpit checks, I try to keep my voice as low as possible (trying not to do a Tiny Tim impersonation) and keep my heart from pounding a hole in my chest... Truthfully, Marine or not... I was scared s______ !

God never made a blacker void than off the bow of the boat at night with no stars and no moon... Only those of us who've been there... can truly appreciate what I'm saying, here... By this stage of my life, I'd been shot at... missed and hit... but never had anything make me as tense.

This is a good one! - FbL

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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 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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6 Comments

By Maggie on May 27, 2007 10:48 AM
Happy house hunting!
 
By Carrie on May 27, 2007 11:58 AM
Have fun with the house hunting. That's always been kind of fun. Moving though?? God how I hate moving. I hate the smell of cardboard, hate the sound of tape ripping across the boxes... HATE IT!!!! I have moved 18 times and I KNOW there's another move or two in my future...but it sure would be nice to put down some roots. Plant a lilac bush and still be living in the house when it matures and smells so pretty.
 
By OD on May 27, 2007 12:17 PM
Great front yard. I was already envisioning a line of Civil War rifleman behind that fence. Re; "Day by Day", an imaginary chick in a cartoon is as close as those Iraqi metrics are ever going to get to reality. You have to wonder, if reconstruction is such a success, why the Republicans, led by Duncan Hunter, tried to close down the office of the Pentagon's Special Inspector-General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen. It was only the Democrats' victory in November that won his office a reprieve. It's nice that Iraqi kids have been vaccinated, as they always were. Shame that more than half of Iraq's doctors have fled the country.
 
By Neffi on May 27, 2007 2:17 PM
...and the Napoleon is in full recoil! Nice...
 
By John of Argghhh! on May 27, 2007 7:32 PM
Apropo Owen's Comment (I would note I link the cartoon, I don't draw it!)
Diplomatic Baghdad [Mark Steyn] Even neocon warhawks are wont to roll their eyes when chaps start listing all the good news from Iraq that never gets reported: I remember Rich Lowry scoffing at one such recitation on an NR panel last year. So Chris Muir's Memorial Day cartoon will leave many cold. Nonetheless, one statistic caught my eye: 47 nations now have embassies in Iraq. That's a high number. America has diplomatic representation pretty much everywhere, but even wealthy nations usually skimp. My Canadian passport advises me to contact the nearest British consular representative if I'm in one of the many parts of the world where Ottawa feels it's not worthwhile showing the flag. EU members often share embassies in distant parts. Embassies are expensive to maintain, especially in war zones, where you're often an easy target. So 47 embassies is impressive, especially when you consider over two-thirds are non-Arab. The Romanians, for example, maintain diplomatic missions in about a third of the world's countries. They don't bother with New Zealand, which is left to their Third Secretary in Australia to handle. Yet they have a mission in Baghdad, although there are undoubtedly fewer Romanians in Iraq than in NZ. Iraq itself is now operating 60 embassies around the world versus New Zealand's 40. I hasten to add I'm not picking on the Kiwis, just looking for appropriate mid-rank stable nations with which to compare the alleged quagmire. The fact is that Iraq is not just the nightly plume of smoke on the evening news. It's got a relatively thriving economy, a commercial sector and a diplomatic presence that reflects that.
 
By jim b on May 27, 2007 9:25 PM
Good luck with the future. And just a note from a dad about one of his sons. My son Ram (his code name not his real name)having completed Army basic, then Jump School .. then Selection .. then SUT and SERE .. is now beginning the process of learing his MOS and Language. He is proud, he has found a home. As a former Marine Artilleryman and Infantryman, I could not be prouder. AS we now honor Memorial Day I want to say.... Aroogah, and Hoorah. God Bless America, and God Bless all of those of you who support the US Military. Good night Chesty, wherever you are.