You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

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First up, part time Denizenne, full time Bill-groupy, and deployed soldier Desultory Butterfly (aka Flutterby) will be on the radio today - in this morning's email from Castle Adjutant Barb, among others:

Woot! Our friend Allie / Desultory Butterfly is going to be on the radio tomorrow from Iraq. "Also, I'll be on the radio tomorrow [today]. I believes it's a baltimore station. Here was what was emailed to me, "It is the Tom Marr Show and it is on WCBM 680 AM in case you wanted to let your family etc. back home know you are going to be on. Though, I don't know if folks in the D.C. area would be able to pick it up. " It will be at 9am [EDT] if you can catch it, okay?" The website is http://www.tommarr.com/, and there's a 'listen live' button to listen through your web browser, too!

Robert Jordan, RIP.

DoD already promised to stop fiddling with the existing sattellites, now they want you to know the next generation of them won't have the capacity to be fiddled with:

DoD Permanently Discontinues Procurement Of Global Positioning System Selective Availability

The Department of Defense announced today that it intends to stop procuring Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites with the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals. This capability, known as Selective Availability (SA), will no longer be present in the next generation of GPS satellites.

Although the United States stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals by setting SA levels to zero in May 2000, this action to permanently remove SA eliminates a source of uncertainty in GPS performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide for some time. While this action will not materially improve the performance of the system, it does reflect the United States' strong commitment to users by reinforcing that this global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil applications around the globe.
The decision to remove the capability from the next generation GPS satellites was approved by the President after a recommendation from DoD. The move coincides with the U.S. Air Force's solicitation to purchase the next generation of GPS satellites known as GPS III.
GPS is a dual-use, satellite-based system that provides accurate positioning, navigation and timing information to users worldwide. Originally developed by the Department of Defense as a military system, GPS has become a global utility. It benefits users around the world in many different applications, including aviation, road, marine and rail navigation, telecommunications, emergency response, resource exploration, mining and construction, financial transactions and many more.

[Dons tinfoil beanie] Of course, that doesn't mean the CIA or NSA won't do it via the backdoor...

I need to tidy up some unfinished business... the Whatziss from last week! So, what was it? The german rocket for their equivalent of the US MICLIC, MIne CLearing LIne Charge. Essentially a rocket, hooked to a rope which has C4 attached to it. You drive up to the obstacle, fire the rocket, which arches over the obstacle, to include stands of concertina, and then you detonate it - it will break the wire, set off single-impulse mines, kick surviving mines out of the way - and will also kill or disable troops in the area, bunkered or no. Mind you, you may still have some now-sensitized and peeved double-impulse mines in there - so send in the plows first. Here's a video.

Miclic Rocket, BIG explotion - Watch more free videos

-the Armorer

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From Breitbart, via Denizen FDCOL:

"The US Air Force established a provisional Cyber Command Tuesday as part of an expanding mission to prepare for wars in cyberspace, officials said. The move comes amid concerns over the vulnerability of the US communications and computer networks to cyber attack in a conflict, as well as the military's desire to exploit the new medium."

Clearly, they read the results of the study we completed in January and briefed around the Building. 8^ ) -the Armorer

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I may not root for Nebraska, but I'll root for a player of theirs, to do well in everything he does and to reserve his bad days when the 'Huskers play Mizzou. Go visit CDR Salamander to see why. -the Armorer

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Jules Crittenden fact-checks the Armorer, though you'll have to dig to find it. -the Armorer

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While I would use this facility as the Arms Room, vice the purpose to which it was put - imagine what the guys who built this could do if they chose to do something legal... H/t, Kevin. N.B. - the sidebar ads at that site could cause angst in some offices. Be aware of your surroundings. -the Armorer

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If you haven't lately, you should stop by She Who Will Be Obeyed!'s place and take a look at her photography - there's birds, flowers, and aged flower children. Just start at the top and work your way down. -the Amorer

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In my capacity as the number one Swabbie Doxie, it is my duty to remind everyone that today is "International Talk Like A Pirate Day!".........Maggie

{Argghhh! mateys! - the Armorer]

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Over at Right Wing News, the Rightosphere Temperature Check is up. As usual, we participated. We were more in line with everybody this time than we have been of late. -the Armorer

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I see the President was consistent with his message. This week he met with some conservative journos in the Roosevelt Room - and his message was clearly the same to them as it was to the Milbloggers, at least as K-Lo tells it. -the Armorer

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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"