Comments for H&I* Fires, 29 JUN 2007

H&I* Fires, 29 JUN 2007

2007-06-30T04:55:42Z

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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A sign of something that looms over the horizon: Putin lays claim to vast chunk of the Arctic. Right of way, territorial claims, and such that result from accessibility gained by receding polar ice are issues that are being argued right now in many places.
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Heh. I know the feeling. The left lane’s the passing lane and not the ‘I’m too lazy to pay attention to changes in traffic so I’ll just sit here’ lane.

But then there’s the problem of the jackalope who comes screaming down the road at 90mph and just expects you to get out of his way, traffic or no, and then tailgates you flashing their headlights and such.
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This sucks. VBIED have gone to London. JRobb’s Bazaar of Violence sounds more and more reasonable all the time, regardless of TDAXP’s slagging the idea.
--ry

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Two items for your consideration, whose only connection is that they both involve special forces:

Facta Non Verba - which, if you remember your Latin, means they won't talk about it

Odourless underwear is worth the money

- Damian

Update: I've been able to find out some additional information on the decorated SOF members (cleared through the appropriate official channel), which I've posted as an update to the Facta Non Verba link. I'll admit I was surprised to find out one of the soldiers recognized was a female member of CANSOFCOM, and that the citations themselves will remain sealed for at least twenty years.

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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".

Comment from BillT on 2007-06-29

2007-06-29T21:06:32Z

Facta Non Verba -- Reminds me of something COL Charlie Beckwith once said when presenting some impact awards in a jungle clearing during the Unpleasantness in Southeast Asia: "It gives me the greatest of pleasure to present you these awards -- especially since they are for heroic actions you could not have performed because none of us are supposed to be here, and therefore you could not possibly have won." Or words to that effect. Hey, it was a long time ago, and besides, I wasn't there...

Comment from kat-missouri on 2007-06-29

2007-06-29T20:53:13Z

Funny, I was sick as a dog last night and did not get a chance to finish my post on the middleground inspired by a conversation over at blackfive. That being that I did not buy the "fight them there so we don't fight them here" in its fullest. I was about to post references to other attacks around the area and foiled attacks in Europe and here that pointed out that we were at war and would be attacked here eventually. Guess I'm a day late. However, I do believe we have to defeat them "there", even if we are attacked here because, we cannot kill their ideology here. This is not where it starts or where it is most prevalent. It is there that it started, there that it is prevalent and there that it must die so that we do not have to fight them forever nor more significantly "here". The only other thing that we can say is "Thank G_d, someone had their eyes open over in London." The terribleness of such an attack would have dire consequences in a wide ranging way. Still, I would not give them Iraq, even if they bombed us here. I might advocate something more terrible than the current COIN if we were. Now, we wait and see.