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H&I* Fires, 02 Jul 2008

By Denizens on July 2, 2008 | | Comments (11)
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.

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Herbert Meyer - What In the World Is Going On?A Global Intelligence Briefing for CEOs.  Mebbe Ry can IPB us some counter-arguments. 

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Dusty wanted all y'all to see this:
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Cassandra, LT G, and I make Wired.  -the Armorer

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Heh. Note from Fort Riley:

 

Fireworks Illegal on Post

As the Fourth of July holiday approaches, the bright lights of fireworks will decorate the night sky in many communities. However, Fort Riley residents are reminded that Fort Riley does not permit fireworks on post. Fort Riley Chief of Police Vittorino Dimattia said lighting fireworks is illegal on post and reminds post personnel to check with area community police departments before lighting anything in their city limits.

This will *not* be the case at Castle Argghhh!. SWWBO and I are going pyro-shopping this evening. And it's raining today, so unlike last year, the fire threat will be tiny. Another reason we chose to live rural. I'm not complaining about the Fort - I'm just explaining one of the reasons we exercised our mobility option! -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. Of course, now I have to call them UAS's, because someone got a Legion of Merit for the name change.Anyway, I call the post H&I Fires 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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11 Comments

By AFSister on July 2, 2008 10:51 AM
I wonder if the Army's reaction to LT G's blog would have been different had he not been an Officer.  Enlisted grumble all the time about orders they disagree with, but I don't know of any who have been shut down under the new regs.  It just makes me wonder if he was shut down because he was an Officer, and speaking out of line as an Officer, or if he was shut down simply because he was speaking out of line as Soldier.
 
By John of Argghhh! on July 2, 2008 10:57 AM
Noah is going to have some more to say on that subject.  No, I don't know what, just that he's got some more examples.
 
By Beth Donovan on July 2, 2008 11:05 AM
That's cool you made Wired, but there are some serious nut cases commenting there!  I can feel my blood pressure rising when I read the comments.
 
By John of Argghhh! on July 2, 2008 11:11 AM
I long ago learned not to bother with the comments at places like Wired.  Not the fault of Jonah or the mag, it's just the demographic.

Much like for the most part I don't listen to the callers to right-wing talk radio.   Too many are people with time on their hands and not much more to say than "ditto" etc. 

I don't listen to what passes for left-wing talk radio, so I have no idea what their callers are like.  But I'm guessing they're a mirror image - perhaps, with a younger overall demographic, a greater frisson of angst. 

But since you brought it up, I guess I'll go peek.
 
By John of Argghhh! on July 2, 2008 11:13 AM
Ooops.  That should be *Noah* not Jonah.
 
By Maggie on July 2, 2008 11:53 AM
Thanks for the video link Dusty.  I'm stealing it.

I want to look at Wired, but I am not sure I can handle it.  I am already nearly unhinged over the McPeak-Clark-Beers-Webb thing.  Wired might push me over the edge.  If I end up institutionalized I may not make the Milblog conference.

It's a good thing I have those Sailors to look forward to this weekend. 

I'm self medicating with chocolate right now and I'll retest my heart rate in a little while to see if I can take it.
 
By Justthisguy on July 2, 2008 12:02 PM
Fireworks Are Good. Sweet in the nostrils of Saint Barbara is the smell of powder, and music to her ears is the Kaboom.
 
By Justthisguy on July 2, 2008 12:22 PM
Maggie, band music always helps me at a time like this. I recommend "The Glory of the Yankee Navy", by John Philip Sousa.
 
By TJ Lambert on July 3, 2008 12:15 AM

I have just got to get this off of my chest; Many years ago, after I ETS'ed from the Army in Berlin, Germany, I was cast as an Air Force SP for a Martin Sheen docu-drama called Judgement in Berlin.

I ended up with all of 5 seconds of actual screen time after edits, but my complaint mostly is of the photoshop job that was done for the VHS and DVD covers... They used a shot of my friend, (Keep in mind, this was supposed to be taking place in the sixties) Tony and I, and some other guy holding freaking black painted air guns, and Tony is wearing his huge, eighties glasses, AND the idiot next to me has his forking helmet on backwards!!!

I have seen at least three different covers for this movie, and they all have that same shot of the three of us.

My one shot at fame turns into a joke.

Oh, well, it was fun, I got to meet Leo Penn and Martin Sheen, and the coolest part was the M151 "Jeeps" on the set; During one of the many "down times" I recognised a real hack job "Jerry Rig" on the wiring of the black out headlamp on the jeep I was leaning on... Out of curiosity, I opened the hood, and sure enough, there was my signature and service date etched on the oil filter!

I was an Army mechanic for the Military Police in Berlin, and when we completed a service on a jeep, we'ed actually sign and date the filter. I was just flabbergasted that one of "my" jeeps was still running around after all these years, and we'd meet on an Air Force base with both of us civilians. Pretty cool. 
 
By Cassandra on July 3, 2008 7:50 AM
AFSister:

My gut feel is that is probably the reason. It matters, both as a measure of how your words are received and in setting the standard to which you will be held. There was that and the fact that so  much attention was drawn to the incident.

Often, they can afford to ignore something if people don't make too big a deal over it. But if there is too much hand waving, it is now officially on the record and can't be ignored.

I thought Noah's article was very even handed - he presented all sides of the issue, which is really rare. He seemed to have a good feel for why Lt. G's writing was so admired and valuable (something I never addressed, because I didn't think I needed to - preaching to the choir) as well as the various concerns of Milbloggers and of the Army.

I hope he writes a book some day. I think he is meant to be a writer.



 
By AFSister on July 3, 2008 11:59 AM
That's what I'm thinking too, Cass.  Like it or not, officers are held to higher standards than regular enlisted or NCO's.   I do hope he writes a book!