H&I* Fires, 22 APR 2008

April 22, 2008 | | Comments (20) | TrackBacks (0)

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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H311 just froze over. Message from the NRA:

Kansas Governor Signs Two Pro-Gun Bills into Law! Please Thank the Governor Today!

The first, House Bill 2280, will protect law-abiding gun owners’ right to bear arms, and would prevent the confiscation of firearms during a state of emergency, such as occurred following Hurricane Katrina and after the tornado devastation in Greensburg.

Also signed was Senate Bill 46, legislation that will allow Kansas firearm retailers, manufacturers, importers and citizens qualified under the National Firearms Act to sell, manufacture, import and own NFA firearms. [emphasis added]

Knock me over with a feather. Mebbe when Valkyrie Arms gets through their reorg, I can get that DeLisle I've lusted after for years.

Not that I'll be rushing out to buy a lot of these things... though I've *always* lusted in my heart after the Lahti. -the Armorer

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Oh-oh - scary headline: More convicted felons allowed to enlist in Army, Marines.

Data released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350.

There are a lot of things that go into this - not the least of which is we are criminalizing more and more behavior. Now that the 6 year old who swatted a classmate on the rump is a registered sex offender... well you see the point. CJ has more details on his post on the subject. Keep the trends up, and we'll *all* need waivers at some point. The key is keeping an eye on it - and for that I really don't mind Representative Waxman releasing the data, even if the Usual Suspects will flog the services about it. -the Armorer

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This sort of institutionalized anti-American scaremongering drives me nucking futs. It's somehow front-page news in the only broadsheet newspaper in our nation's capital that Canadian C-17 pilots trained on exchange with American aircrew flying into and out of Iraq? This information has been in the public sphere for over a year now, and hardly qualifies as breaking news.

I'm wondering if this is intended to scuttle Natynczyk's chances at CDS, because of his Iraq experience (note that both stories are from the same newspaper). - Damian

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Apropos our Sailor in the Desert and his latest career enhancing change in function from "intelligence" *ahem* to "sheep farmer extraordinaire", I thought you all might like to read about a navel-gazing Navy Lt Weiner who apparently is unhappy that her IA was going to get her assigned to Iraq doing some duty that she was not trained to do (ie, that she would rather not do, that was NOT career enhancing and was IN IRAQ!). LT Nixon tells her "welcome to the club" and to get over it, but it is interesting to see the comments he got on the post. Most of those were complaining about "lack of preparedness" in the Army forcing poor Navy schmucks to have to fill Army billets (I think they are called "slots" in the Army but someone can correct me if my lingo is off).

As a civilian, I don't get all the ins and outs of military administration, but as a civilian interested in military history, the complaints, whines and general drama queeness of Lt Weiner and the commenters defending her sad case, makes me highly amused. Read your history boys and girls. You have nothing to complain about. -Kat

Update: Not to forget our own Army version of this puling chylde-officer, I am mindful of what the Auld Soldier had to say on the subject:

I almost posted a comment on your blog regarding all the whining coming from the troops in Iraq. They are the best paid, best supported (including by the public at large), least uncomfortable; and at least statistically for combat arms folks, at the lowest risk of death of any wartime army in US history. Not that I am unappreciative of what they are doing, but danger & discomfort are relative & it would help if they had a better sense of what troops endured at places like Gettysburg, Meuse-Argonne, The Ardennes & Okinawa, the first six months in Korea, Ia Drang Valley & War Zone D in the 60's. -the Armorer

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This has got to leave a mark. Ouch, what a take down of both Clinton and Obama, and, more embarrassingly, by a Progressive no less. Ouch.
--ry
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Not that Ry's Baracillary-bashing Progressive isn't rough on the GOP: The fact that the GOP is wrong, heartless, stupid and mean about much of this merely adds power to the argument that it helps to believe in something. Heh. Yeah, that's me, bitter, clinging to my Beecher Bible and heartless, stupid, and mean. Snerk. Great message, guys. -the Armorer

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Speaking of Hillary - did she just get Michael Ledeen's vote? Did I really just hear Wannabe-CinC Clinton declare war on Iran?

Clinton further displayed tough talk in an interview airing on “Good Morning America” Tuesday. ABC News’ Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.

“I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” Clinton said. “In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.”

See more over at Stop The ACLU. -the Armorer

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I admit, regardless of who wins in November, it's been just plain *fun* to watch the Dems turn into Machiavelllian gamers worthy of Survivor. And I have about as much respect for their candidates as I do for contestants in the game. For many of the same reasons.

And things like this make the HuffPo worth the email - from Arianna herself:

One of the main themes of my new book, Right Is Wrong, is the role the media have played in allowing the lunatic fringe now in control of the Republican Party -- the people who believe in torture but don't believe in evolution -- to hijack our democracy. I document how the real problem comes not from Fox News or the likes of Limbaugh and O'Reilly, but from a mainstream media that has so internalized the Right's framing and messages they have now become a part of its DNA.

Heh. If they don't trust 'em as much as we don't trust 'em - I'd say we're winning... in that the MSM has been pulled back closer to the middle. -the Armorer

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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 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 that particular topic. It's also an open trackback, so if (Don Surber uses it this way a lot) 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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20 Comments

By Neffi on April 22, 2008 11:10 AM
I'll have that .22 Thompson, thank you very much! It's the only way you can afford to shoot the durn things...
 
By Alan on April 22, 2008 11:20 AM
That is really odd as it is also well known up here that Canadians were on the ground in Iraq where they were part of an exchange program. I don't call that anti-Americanism, though, so much as a swing at our minority Harper government which is either going through a looooong learning curve or is in waiting until the next Liberal government gets its act together.
 
By Pogue on April 22, 2008 12:00 PM
ooohhh! REWAT time! :-)
 
By BillT on April 22, 2008 12:26 PM
Both the Army and Marine Corps have been struggling to increase their numbers as part of a broader effort to meet the combat needs of a military fighting wars on two fronts. Got it. Recruiters exceeding mission is now termed "struggling." I trained troops (and served with 'em) who were offered the choice of "jail or the Army" by local magistrates. Seventy percent (7 out of the 10 I can vouch for) straightened their lives out. Of the remaining three, two deserted and one found out that doing 3-to-5 in the stockade was *not* a career-enhancing move...
 
By LT Nixon on April 22, 2008 1:22 PM
Ah yes, LT Weiner. A self-centered officer solely focused on her "career". Just what the military needs!
 
By ry on April 22, 2008 2:39 PM
I'm seeing Triangulation at play here vis the Iran thing. She needs to look tough while not alienating the left-that's-left(not a typo) of the party. A wedgish issue. Someone ran a big thing about deterrence theory in relation to Mdm. Hillary's comments about that, but then there's the War in Context reaction(summed up: shut up, Isreal has 200 nw of their own, they need nobody's help the terroristic Zionist punk@55es). Just far enough to not be Obama, but not far enough to spark a revolt within th party, yes? Yeah, I saw that John. So? The die hards always think we're eitehr certifiablely insane or evil incarnate. What else is new? I take that as a compliment. We're sooooo bad, and yet poll after poll shows McCain about even with either prospective Dem. What does that tell you about the love for either within the non-party types(just as there are conservatives who aren't republicans, while there exist people who are republicans first last and always, there's got to be an analog on the left side).
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 22, 2008 2:56 PM
Hey, you were making your point on the topic, I was just doing a value-added, keeping the bitter meme alive, alive, oh!
 
By MajMike on April 22, 2008 3:42 PM
re: Squidly LT Whiner... wow, an opportunity for a Joint assignment at the lowly grade of O-3?!?! performing a contracting officer function?!?! wow, that sounds like something that is in huge demand in Naval circles, what with all the local contracting they do in vicinity of their bases. operating outside of one's cultural comfort zone?!?! yee-haw, what a chance to spread your wings and see the world (and ain't that always why they go squidly in the first place?. sounds like a deal made in heaven. what's wrong with it?
 
By jim b on April 22, 2008 3:44 PM
Sebelius the Clintonista does not deserve thanks. She vetoed the right to carry legislation and they earned the title of the first governer to have a veto overturned in recent history. She would have vetoed these two bills as well but it was common knowledge that the same "good guys" would have overturned these vetos as well. They had the numbers ... it was a case of, "Go ahead Kathy baby ... Make my Day!"
 
By Desert Sailor on April 22, 2008 4:16 PM
ex-LT Weiner is a disgrace. I say this unequivocally both as a Naval Officer (Mustang) and as an "early" (before the process really got in gear) IA guy. You are an officer. You hear a need, you fill it. You lead...Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Coasties...whatever the mission calls for, you do it. It ain't real fun but there will be parts you will always remember and appreciate. You will give to a greater cause. You will free up a Soldier or Marine to DO THEIR BASIC MISSION while you serve outside your comfort zone. You WILL serve with honor. Anything less is beneath you. ex-LT Weiner is now an EX with an "other than honorable" discharge. She deserves a BCD and hard time as a deserter. There are over 2700 Navy Officers each year now that serve in those IA jobs. Some are "Joint" some aren't. Most are staff support, PRT, MTT or counter IED. Few are "door kickers". They serve voluntarily or volun-told (their number came up at their parent command)...whatever...they serve honestly and most, in time, are happy to contribute to their brother services. The guy on your right and left, means the same across all branches. To those in the Sandbox...hang tough, she is but a media bump in the road, ya'll are doing good, C ya back at Sea and Anchor!! Shoot straight and sail safe, DS
 
By Justthisguy on April 22, 2008 5:26 PM
Ah, yes, the DeLisle Silent Carbine. Combines the goodness of the Enfield and the .45ACP, both. If I had such, _I_ would never mis-use it, not even on the annoying Yorkshire Terrier belonging to a former neighbor. Honest! I'm not kidding! My plan to kill that dog is to pick it up in my hands, up-end it, and go ppvvffgdddbzzzt on its tummy with my lips. I'm quite sure it would have a stroke right then and there. I have refrained from doing this because I like this dog's human, a sweet old lady.
 
By Argent on April 22, 2008 5:58 PM
Recruitment of Felons: I don't believe the rather huge jump in the enlisted with felons can be fully attributed to rise in conviction or criminality (by the act or the definition). It's too great an increase to pooh pooh it away so pathetically. In fact more of it may well be statistical variance because this is just a couple of points of data. I do think there's a degree of it being about lowering standards of recruitment. This has probably been going on for quite some time with the growth and demand in the military and the lower inclination of people to step up as evidenced by the bonuses etc for signing up. I guess that suggests those numbers mean the Marines were less inclined to reduce standards than the Army. What would be more telling is compiling it with other information like school grades of the enlisted. However there's two points which are fairly obvious. One is that a convicted felon in the military is not necessarily a bad thing. Frankly I'd rather they go there than gaol. Even if one took a dim view of the military held by many not in it, gaol is quite a bit worse. I like to think of them as expensive education camps for crime. The other is that while the increase is large it's representation in the total number of enlisted must be tiny. Meaning while it may be indicative of a lowering of standards, it is just not that enormous. ie It's not a big deal. And of course there may be more reasons for such numbers than the ones presented. Bitterness: Oh this one really latched on with Conservative blogs. Not only did Obama finally show people something of what he really thinks instead of all his vapid yay talk, it was ugly to boot. And it rolls in just beautifully with all the Pope/God stuff going around due to his visit. In other words, his timing was atrocious. It certainly pushed Kat's buttons. This is interesting. "Not that Ry's Baracillary-bashing Progressive isn't rough on the GOP: The fact that the GOP is wrong, heartless, stupid and mean about much of this merely adds power to the argument that it helps to believe in something. Heh. Yeah, that's me, bitter, clinging to my Beecher Bible and heartless, stupid, and mean. Snerk. Great message, guys." So then you are a GOP not an Independent. I wasn't sure of that before. Weiner: It seems to me she puts her fears too far forward. Fear for her life and for her career. She probably is better out of the military which really requires a degree of courage. The other thing that disturbs me is this. Weiner, totally untrained in finance in an out of the water role with a self-interested streak, is tasked to be handing money to warlords. Likely quite significant sums. It's screams of unprofessional money handling conduct of which the Army should be ashamed.
 
By Maggie on April 22, 2008 6:45 PM
Re: ex-Lt. Whiner - I just have to shake my head. In the days after the favorite Naval Consort returned to US soil in 2003, he had his steak and his beer. Saw his family. Refreshed the Princess, lol. Then he set about getting back onto the tip of the spear. He volunteered for every opportunity he saw. When he got his orders to go back to the Gulf his reaction was a gusty sigh "Finally!". Sometimes the bad seeds weed themselves out.
 
By Casey Tompkins on April 22, 2008 11:34 PM
I noticed that many of the featured writers for Vet Voice are Kos/Huffington/Guardian/BBC contributors. LT Nixon seems to be one of the few exceptions. Also, their endorsements seem to run very much to Democrats, although I didn't run down every candidate listed. In many cases the party alignment of the person in question was very well obscured. So I'm just as surprised they complain about this administration's war management as I am that Ann Coulter doesn't like gay people. Sheesh.
 
By kat-missouri on April 22, 2008 11:50 PM
Lt Nixon is near on anarchic libertarian with moderate conservative post modernist utopian leanings. In other words, he thinks they all suck so he gets the Nod there. LOL
 
By ry on April 22, 2008 11:57 PM
In a way ARgent, I'm on John's side on the felony thing. Most of the one's I've heard of are drug convictions. There's a dissonance between calling for a more caring and respectful appraoch and then saying that letting them into the military shows how depraved the organization is(having a good conduct discharge is a step up in getting a job as are the skills learned while in the Service.). So, we see a bit of political hypocracy from those calling foul over it. It really does come down to what the felony is, sorta. A murdering gangbanger should absolutely be excluded. But a guy just out after a 3 year drug conviction(caught carrying a dime bag he just bought)? A guy out after doing a nickel for gta? I think something can be said about drug pushers and the grand theft, but the guy caught for possession is much harder. Particularly with the climate of 'decriminalize it' or 'the paradigm for drug offenses punishment is idiotic' that percolates on this side of the Pacific.
 
By Casey Tompkins on April 23, 2008 12:23 AM
Ry, considering that some poor bastich selling a pound of weed or three ounces of coke to a narc will garner him a worse sentence than rape or murder, I'll agree. Bloody revenoors...
 
By Argent on April 23, 2008 2:07 AM
Yes i pretty much agree with that re felony. Certainly, jumping to the concept of depraved is sensationalist. ...and the other side of the Pacific, don't you worry.
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 23, 2008 7:59 AM
Argent - while the Marines are generally more resistant to lowering standards, they have the luxury because they are a smaller force. Marine authorized end strength is circa 175K I believe, for the active force, and circa 484 for the Army, though there are DoD proposals to take it as high as 202K for the Marines and 545K for the Army, and Congress has in mind 189K for the Marines and 525K for the Army. Those are active duty strengths, to put the service disparity in perspective for you. As for politics, I see why you say what you say - but I'm not registered anything, and if I do supportive things, it's by candidates, vice party. But, the reality is - if you're a conservative in this country, the GOP is the most likely group to have a candidate that's more acceptable than the other side. I am not now, nor have I ever been, a card-carrying Republican. But that doesn't mean that I'm not a relatively de-facto one, except in some respects I'm a leech, since I don't give them any money, because they are continually pissing me off. Heh. You're more right than wrong, in absolute terms, if not in technical terms. The two-party system is problematic in that regard - I could vote for Blue Dog dems (conservative Dems) except that, in regards to the Presidency and Senate, that puts the party I have least in common with in charge of selecting judges, who have a power all out of proportion (and unaccountably so) to what the Founders envisioned when they crafted the three institutions to countervail each other. Of course, the Presidency has a power all out of balance, too. And the Congress oft times delegates it's power to the judiciary or the executive. Heh. Thanks. Now I'm all depressed.
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on April 23, 2008 4:23 PM
Vote Rhino Party!! Cheers