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H&I* Fires, 25 OCT 2007

October 25, 2007 | | Comments (14)

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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Being in virtual isolation here has caused me to become rather disconnected from things, as my posting of late indicates, due to a lack of ability to research and stay plugged in. Things such as the full impact of the fires in California - something I handled clumsily yesterday mixing empathy and self-indulgent humor. At least I realized that it was clumsy in context *before* I got several emails... much less before I read Fuzzybear Lioness' on-going saga as she waited to find out if the new house her mother and she live in is still there to be lived in. Thanks, Ry, for pointing it out to me. You too, Jim.

Thankfully - for FuzzyBee at least - it has ended well. -the Armorer

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Jim Dunnigan on Blackwater - all I'll add is - the Castle has a source in the State Department that essentially agrees with Dunnigan. The Castle has a source inside Blackwater who doesn't say much at all. The last is a pat on the back. -the Armorer

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Don't piss off the Mascot Union! H/t, Kevin. Yesterday was a defense, tomorrow a raid - today, off to coordinate ops and effects for an ambush - CYA! -the Armorer

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I’m just a morbid guy apparently.

Everyone worried about the So Cal fires should take heed of this, particularly those who live there(this means you, Fuzzy and Sir Lex): be prepared for mudslides between Feb and Apr of ’08. That’s been the pattern of these big fires. Do a bit of googling of the Laguna fires in 93(94?). You aren’t out of the woods by any stretch yet. Sorry, but as a native Wackifornian I’ve seen this half a dozen times. Be prepared people. We care about you too damn much too simply sit back and not say anything. Get your chit together and don’t even think you can relax now as you’re not out of the woods yet.

So don’t anyone lay off giving to Red Cross this year. So Cal is going to need it three times as much come Feb and the rainy season starts up and washes out a lot of the homes that didn't burn down.
--ry (Ambush? What ambush? *smack* Oh, that one.)
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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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14 Comments

By Oldloadr on October 25, 2007 8:03 AM
The article you linked is factual, but one thing that was left out, which, IMHO is, at least, part of the problem. Blackwater has been working for the State Dept and CENTCOM has had no control over them so far. What this has meant in practical terms is the other PSCs have had limitations placed on their firepower and Blackwater hasn't. When I left the AOR last year, our project had been turned down, for the 3rd time by CENTCOM, in our request to have M-60/M-240s (7.62mm) for our lead and trail vehicles. The most bang we were allowed was M-249s (5.56mm). And don't even ask for anything with HE. The only grenades we were allowed were colored smoke for LZ marking. Conversely, Blackwater was allowed M-2s and chain guns. CENTCOM’s view was that you don't need heavy crew served weapons for, what is supposed to be, a purely defensive mission. Another point: I argued (unsuccessfully, of course) that the PSCs were hiring from the wrong gene pool to start with. A mission of pure defense and protection of assets would be better suited to former MPs, not former special ops operatives. But, hey, what do I know, I’m just an old bomb loader who’s convoyed from Mosul to Basra, that’s all.
 
By John of Argghhh! on October 25, 2007 8:05 AM
Sounds like valid points to me, Loadr.
 
By AFSister on October 25, 2007 9:17 AM
Good points, Ry.
 
By Cricket on October 25, 2007 10:05 AM
Uhhh, when Shrillary and Nancy PLOsi went gallivanting off to the ME, who provided their security? Blackwater or the Secret Service?
 
By FbL on October 25, 2007 10:22 AM
No worries, John. I saw that post in a mindless scroll through the Castle, but didn't have the unoccupied brain cells to comprehend it, much less be offended. What little part of me that registered it knew you were disconnected and busy. :) And you're right of course, Ry. Another way in which my mother and I are lucky is that we are on a hill that only burned in pockets. The fire hopscotched around up the hill from us and at the base of it (houses burned), but there are no wide swathes of empty hillside. So any mud-slides would likely be no more than an inconvenience for us (blocking access for awhile, utilities, etc). Lex should be okay, too: I think he lives on a mesa and the fires didn't come any closer than a couple of miles to him.
 
By Oldloadr on October 25, 2007 11:50 AM
Cricket - Members of Congress usually get active duty escorts; at least they did when I was at CV. It gives them an opportunity to play the politician with the soldiers. Nobody cares what a stinking contractor thinks...
 
By Oldloadr on October 25, 2007 5:32 PM
BTW - In case anybody thinks I was being offensive; I was once a "stinking contractor" in Iraq...
 
By ry on October 25, 2007 8:25 PM
You'd be surprised, Fuzzy. Even a little bit liquifies. If it was me, I'd get together with a bunch of the neighbors and plant some trees or something to act as a stiffener to the burnt areas. What sayeth Unka Bill on the situation, oh Gardner King of Joisey? Either way, watch the tufted tushie, Fuzzy. For-warned is for-armed. YOu can still stock pile on essentials like water, butane camp stove, non-perishable food, kitty litter(oh yes indeedy), meds(if'n you or Momma Fuzzy have any prescriptions) and ways to keep warm when/if the power and gas lines get cut.
 
By steveH on October 25, 2007 9:15 PM
As for burned slopes, it wouldn't be a bad idea to cast out grass seed and the like, in addition to any trees or shrubs. Retardant from air tankers at least used to include grass and weed seeds in the mud; that's what binds a lot of topsoil from erosion, and they hoped to give it a head start. I grew up in L.A. county, and can't recall when mudslides didn't follow big fires. That's assuming it ever rains again down there.
 
By ry on October 25, 2007 10:13 PM
There's a type of ground hugging vine that tended to do well in chapparal conditions(was a biotch to rip out too), but the enviros might not like it since it's 'an invasive non-native species'. But would be a good intermediate in my opinion. Have to ask Ma what it was that I spent my entire summer at age 12 rooting out. I hear you sH. We gotta remind people that this isn't a once off problem and that it is a persistent one. I know they don't want to hear that now, but the sooner it gets moved on the better the outcome. loadr, contractor you may have been, but you're only stinky after 18 hour days(at least that's what Mrs. loadr says).
 
By Oldloadr on October 26, 2007 8:21 AM
In case anybody comes back here; I thought I would comment on ry's mention of vines as an anti-erosion agent. You were probably thinking of kudzu... It looks great on paper, but there is a downside sometimes. However, the climate of Southern California may not be so conducive to losing control as the climate here in Dixie.
 
By John of Argghhh! on October 26, 2007 9:17 AM
Being currently in Dixie - kudzu is a noxious weed, no doubt.
 
By Oldloadr on October 26, 2007 12:18 PM
Yes it is and Clemson University is constantly looking for ways to control it (they've given up on eradication). The latest I heard was to get goat herders to travel around with their herds to kudzu infestation sites (similar to bee-keepers with their bees). The goats seem to do well on kudzu forage...
 
By Cricket on October 27, 2007 6:11 AM
We have an infestation in our neighborhood as well. I would second the enviros on that as being horrid to weed out. Kudzu aint pretty. Not as pretty as ivy.
 
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