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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I found two posts late yesterday that are somehow related, but I haven't completely teased out the connections. The first: "My husband is dispensible." The other comes from a recovering wounded soldier: "We are kept as a necessary evil." - FbL

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The counter-protesters are going up against Code Pink. Andrea Shea King is posting Third Wave Dave's reports from Berkeley. So far, they report that CP is out-numbered 150 to 100.

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Caveat about first reports is in full effect, but this is from on the scene in Berkeley, reported by phone. The two camps (CP and counter-protestors), were to stay on separate sides of the street:

12 Noon PST - Code Pink has crossed the street, advancing toward the Patriots. That's why the police were all lined up. Xome Code Pinkos penetrated the center of the Patriots -- a fight has broken out -- about 50 cops in riot gear are trying to separate the two groups. A fight ensued. Dave is taking photos of the fracas. There must be a hundred cops now in riot gear, two rows of cops in between the two groups -- spilled over into the street -- TV cameras rushing over to capture it. The peace loving Code Pinkos are the aggressors, trying to encircle Move America Forward Patriots. Now the police are shifting all the way to the other side, in an effort to get between Pinkos and MAF.

...The police have blocked off the street with cars. Some of them have plastic handcuffs and gas masks hanging from their belts.

-FbL

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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."