Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..

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...

Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want to flame someone in email please - if it doesn't say "The Armorer" or "John" then I didn't write it! And honestly - if you don't like something said or posted... leave a comment, and hash it out (within the context of The Rulez which are clearly posted on the comment form, I would add).

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Media Reports 6 Bogus Stories in 6 Weeks. Incompetence? Unconscious bias? Lack of standards? Who cares. Same result: media is proving itself more and more unreliable. I was talking to a friend yesterday about how my work with Valour-IT has affected my view of the media: despite all the info on our website, it's amazing how many articles get basic things wrong. Add to it the typical errors found in many military-related stories (due to their total unfamiliarity with the subject matter), and it's even worse. And I've recently had a front-row seat to observe how easily their ignorance, bias and sometimes outright laziness allow them to be manipulated, ultimately manipulating the governing class that takes them seriously. The amount of faith I have in major media's accuracy and thoroughness in reporting a story is now barely measurable.

There's a twist in the "emasculated Norwegian lion" story. Commenter Glen Norberg at Op-For says the dangly bit isn't what everyone thinks it is:

Umm, Not to dismiss the neutering of the European military, but as a decorative artist I have messed with some coat of arms designs. I never considered that "dangly part" to be anything phallic. In fact I always understood that it was a decorative "fur extension" on the knees.

Here are other examples
http://www.fleurdelis.com/lions.htm

If you look, there is another "p*nis" on his forward knee as well. [redacted for Net-Nanny's sensitivities]

Click the second link and compare the lions there to the patch pictured at the top of the Op-For story. I think he makes a good case for the idea that, considering the stylized nature of the Norwegian patch, the feminists in Norway got their knickers in a twist for a p*nis that existed only in their imaginations. For some reason, Freud comes to mind... - FbL

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And the Lineman said... "Let there be light!" -the Amorer

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Today is the 100th anniversary of the sailing of TR's Great White Fleet.......Maggie

*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."