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What? A Whatziss? No! [updated]

By The Armorer on February 1, 2010 | | Comments (45)
whatzis1.jpg
That's it. That's all ya get. Run with it.

Update: The Whatzis continues.

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45 Comments

By Old Fat Sailor on February 1, 2010 7:40 AM
Travois, Mk I Mod 0, Field Expedient, unassembeled, one each.
 
By Eric Wilner on February 1, 2010 7:40 AM
Organically-grown, natural-camo nunchuck?

 
By Alan Briley, RN on February 1, 2010 7:41 AM
The raw materials for a field expedient rifle, pistol, "hand goone," matchlock, rest!
 
By fdcol63 on February 1, 2010 7:46 AM
Grass, sticks, and rope.  LOL
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 1, 2010 8:14 AM
I see your grasp of the obvious is as painful as ever, Frank...
 
By Fishmugger on February 1, 2010 8:30 AM
A penicillin culture farm display from a Walter Read retrospective. The rope is official, cause the end is taped; for what reason it's there????
 
By Tim on February 1, 2010 8:43 AM
OK.  We got the rope, we got the tree, anybody seen that damn journalist?
 
By Fred on February 1, 2010 9:33 AM
Don't run with it! You'll fall and hurt yourself. You'll put an eye out or do something else your mother warned you about.
 
By Russ on February 1, 2010 9:42 AM
trebuchet needing assembly?
 
By John (Not The Armorer) on February 1, 2010 9:49 AM
DANG!  Critters got loose again!
 
By Slinky on February 1, 2010 10:06 AM
Field expediant Stretcher/Splint/Bipod/Catapult/First-Down marker (some assembly required)
 
By Slinky on February 1, 2010 10:12 AM

A primitive First-down Marker from the 1098 superbowl

I say that only because i have football on the brain and my initial guesses of field-expediant Splint/stretcher/bipod/gallows/catapult (some assembly required) have already been taken.

 
By AFSister on February 1, 2010 10:17 AM
Hard to say, John. 
The blade is a little wider than fescue, and I doubt you have Kentucky Bluegrass out yonder.. but I suppose it's possible.  The tree branches seem to have been stricken with moss and a blue-green algae.  Too hard to tell which variety of either though.  Perhaps a close up will help.

And then there's that green rope pretending to be a snake in the grass.

Hmmmm..

 
By Colin on February 1, 2010 10:35 AM
The makings of a Spanish windlass.
 
By Kevin on February 1, 2010 10:49 AM

Senator Robert Byrds old "Klan Kadet" field gear?
 
By Tim on February 1, 2010 10:59 AM
This is rapidly becoming the best Whatziss evah!
 
By Sean Maloney on February 1, 2010 11:06 AM
 The remains of a native American MEDEVAC travois used to get the wounded away from the U S Cav hordes in 1872?
 
By Grumpy on February 1, 2010 11:15 AM
This is Hobart Hempworth's  Trachea Tweaker, some assembly required.
 
By Viper Chief on February 1, 2010 11:39 AM
Its a left handed smoke shifter! Wait, no, its a yard of flight line and some chem-light batteries. Or it could be a field streacher. missing the wool blanket though...
 
By Nosmo on February 1, 2010 11:45 AM
A swiss seat dumped onto the ground
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 1, 2010 11:49 AM
Nosmo - the funny part of your answer (while wrong in this context) is that you are, in fact correct - that rope *was* used as a swiss seat back in my ROTC rapelling days.
 
By BigGriz on February 1, 2010 1:10 PM
Add a shovel (and a hole)and you have a dead man for tying down your your a$$ in a hurricane!
 
By Eric on February 1, 2010 1:51 PM
Recovery rope? The poles are a 'red hearring'
 
By prestonious on February 1, 2010 1:56 PM
Having been caught in "one" previous whatis, and the fact that the whatis by design can not show the money shot-- I would have to venture to say the elements are components of a low tech snare for Canis latrans perhaps?
 
By Fishmugger on February 1, 2010 2:00 PM
What context? It's a contest. It's an old busted up flag pole which is only good for kindling. The rope is used to drag them to the camp fire site to do smores. Swiss seat bah. You actually risked your life on that rope? They didn't pay you enough.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 1, 2010 2:13 PM

They sure didn't when I was a cadet.  S'not too bad now though.  Especially since all I have to do in order to get paid is draw a breath.

 
By Martin Morehouse on February 1, 2010 3:47 PM
Entirely too improvised. You need McElderry's mule litter, as used in the Modoc Wars, for your collection, if you need to recover casualties from the lower forty. books.google.com/books
 
By Mike L on February 1, 2010 4:19 PM
Not to point out the obviious, but....... Swiss seat works for me.  Your, er, "SHADOW" wasn't quite what it is now, in your cadet days.  I know - room to talk, etc.  Just sayin'.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 1, 2010 4:26 PM
I never *said* I was using it now, for that purpose, either.

Pllpppttttt!
 
By Lt on February 1, 2010 4:39 PM
I guess MacGyver got shot by the natives before he was able to impress us by making a GPS out of that stuff?
 
By RoyK on February 1, 2010 4:53 PM
Ah yes! The makings of a hasty bipod for a field expedient red leg anti-armor shot.

Could also be adapted for ice fishing though. YMMV.
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on February 1, 2010 5:57 PM
It's a study in preparation for an exhibit at the MOMA.

Cheers 
 
By NevadaDailySteve on February 1, 2010 6:04 PM
Y'all are way off. I've got this nailed, it's a thong hammock. You pound the two sticks in the ground with the rope stretched between them and lay down and balance on the rope.

Tim,

You say: OK. We got the rope, we got the tree, anybody seen that damn journalist?

Wavy wavy, here I am.

 
By jsallison on February 1, 2010 7:27 PM
The components of a very poorly designed nunchaku for a really big dude(ette). Or a very lame response for wife-unit's call for more firewood.
 
By JamesLee on February 1, 2010 7:44 PM
Well, I'm going to take a stab at it.

I say it's what remains of a long-ago seige engine, like a HUGE crossbow.  Obviously the rope is the bowstring, and the sticks are very old hickory.  One would be the bow itself, the other, idunno, maybe a cocking, or release tool.  Or perhaps the flaming torch the bow would try to throw over the castle walls.

John, have you had an encroachment of Vikings lately?

(actually, the bark on those, although rotted and falling off, does somewhat look like hickory to me, but then again, I've been stuck in the stinkin' city for the last 20 years)
 
By Justthisguy on February 1, 2010 7:56 PM
The jump-rope and sticks which yer neighbor girl kids used to use, when you lived in the city.
 
By Beth Donovan on February 1, 2010 8:41 PM
 Dbie - the grass in that part of the farm is Brome.  A great grass hay that we use to feed the horses, goats and bunnies.
 
By AFSister on February 1, 2010 8:53 PM

Ah ha!  Brome.  I knew I didn't recognize it as "normal" grass.

 
By Eagle1 on February 1, 2010 9:46 PM
Navy rope, Army sticks= clothes line
 
By Argent on February 1, 2010 11:56 PM
Those twigs look like they couldn't hold a budgerigar.  Pity, somethign along Murray's line would be interesting.

I'm gunna go for super expedient.  Could be all sorts of stuff.  Do you smoke the grass to make it work?
 
By Justthisguy on February 2, 2010 12:42 AM
Alright, let's think logically here. The Donovan says that the rope is old, but it's obviously well-preserved. The sticks look, well, rotten. The sticks are laid out parallel next to each other. We do not know how long the sticks are.
 
By Justthisguy on February 2, 2010 12:51 AM
The rope was used to lash those sticks into a pair of shear legs, back when. When the need for that was over, The Donovan salvaged the rope for sentimental reasons. Lately, he noticed that the sticks were still around, mouldering away, and thought to use them to make this picture, so as to mess with our minds.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 2, 2010 8:04 AM
You guys are on a roll.  *I'm* having fun, anyway!

The Whatzis continues - click here.
 
By Blake Kirk on February 2, 2010 12:11 PM
Components for a field-expedient launcher for a B-12 rocket?

I mean, all you need at this point is a large piece of bamboo that's been halved.   Oh, and a B-12 rocket....
 
By Grimmy on February 3, 2010 7:13 AM
Field expedient bastinado kit?