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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A weird bleg (it is gollum after all): does anyone know much of anything about a Boeing program called Eagle Eyre (alternative spellings possible) that would’ve been concurrent to AWACS development? I’ve been told that not only was it shelved but much of the data on it was ordered ‘lost’, and so I’ve not much hope in any web search engine giving me much on it. But, we’ve got a pretty eclectic and sometimes connected readership here so what the heck. You guys might know something or someone that can clue me onto a book or something.
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Even though I am (a quasi) one I too have to, every once in a while, say, “Save us from the intellectuals.” Or in John speak, ‘the “Smart Guys” (@55es?) Who Want to Tell Me My Job.’ I love these guys and the work they do, but, sometimes, it takes on the air of arguing about angels and pin dancing. It really does, every once in a while, remind me of the hyper-anal phys-chem guy on my committee who had kittens over my Retro-Synth-Analaysis because I used hybridized orbital models(SP, SP2, SP3 type stuff, and was done in 6 minutes at the time) in my decision making instead of taking 6 days to let a computer chug thru Mol-Orb-Theory and quantum mechanics calculations. Tool.
There is no formula, no ‘best model for all situations’ to understand it, and you still have to tinker with whatever you’ve read and learned. I’d say, if anyone asked me, warfare is as much an art and a science as crystallography (if you’ve ever had to get some ugly , novel compound ready for x-ray diffraction you know *exactly* what I’m talking about (where’s my rubber sacrificial chicken?)).
--ry
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Memorial Day message from Dusty:
Dude,I'm in Frankfurt with my biological clock turned completely around so I'm gonna crash in about 5 5 minutes. I wish I had a stirring post to offer but I wouldn't do it justice. In Germany on Memorial Day weekend...ironic, that (if you're a WW II buff).
God bless all who have served, are serving and will serve. Theirs is a Special Place in heaven...a place Barack will never see (he may get to heaven, but there are some sunny uplands for The Fallen where only they can go--personal opinion).
My best to you and SWWBO on this holiest of holidays.
Cheers,
Dusty
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Heh. One of these things is not like the other... Ask.com, Yahoo.com, Dogpile.com, Google.com. Mind you, you have to click those *today* for this post to make sense. My fave? Dogpile. -the Armorer
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- FbL
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As the the WWII and Korea generation start moving, in ever larger contingents, to their final bivouacs...
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Sergeant Merlin German. One.tough.Marine. -the Armorer
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From the SpouseBuzz blog - Semper Fi Wife: "Remember Me and Not My Fate"
A most *excellent* point. How they lived their lives is of *at least* if not much, much, more, importance. -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. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".
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