Archive for November, 2004
A co-worker passed on this link to a Popular Science page with lots of neato car technology. Go check it out. You can also vote for your favorite on the page for that gadget.
This is offered completely and totally comment-free as a service to MO readers.
Two stories in today’s Tacoma NewsTribune:
Michael Gilbert notes that soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will get a month of leave starting next week. Like all the other troops that have served in Iraq, these guys have certainly earned it and then some.
Twenty of the brigade’s Fort Lewis-based troops died during the year. A little over 400 were wounded, with about 70 percent of them able to return to duty soon after, Rounds said. The rest were evacuated to military hospitals in Germany and the United States.“That number would be significantly higher” if not for the protection of the Stryker vehicles and equipment issued to soldiers, said Lt. Col. Gordie Flowers, commander of the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment.
Sgt. 1st Class James Salyers, a platoon sergeant in Flowers’ battalion, said his 40-man unit was hit by a dozen roadside bombs and saw action throughout the stay in Mosul.
“I had the good fortune to bring back all my guys,” he said. “Without the Stryker, without the Kevlar and the protective equipment, we would … have had deaths.”
Three of the brigade’s 300 Strykers were destroyed, all due to secondary explosions, [Brigade commnader Col.] Rounds said.
Three seems to verify that a Stryker was destroyed during the battle on August 4th. One was destroyed by a fire started by an IED and one by a fire started by an RPG. No one was killed in either of those incidents. The third one apparently was destroyed after taking hits from an RPG according to the famous Men in Black post by CBFTW. But I haven’t really been able to nail that one down, so if anyone’s got some info, pass it on.
Mr. Gilbert is apparently working on a “One Year Later”-type story covering the first deployment of the Strykers. I hope he has luck finding the details he’s looking for, as he’s been the best source of Stryker coverage out there.
Also:
Three Stryker soldiers honored
One Silver Star and two Bronze Stars. Two of those decorations were earned on Augusth 4th. I doubt that’s a coincidence.
Go read for yourself. I’ve got to get back to work.
A reader sends this:
I think the Army will have a problem with terminal ballistics (wounding/killing potential) with the XM8.The 12.5 and 9 inch barrel lengths are generally too short to provide the velocity needed for bullet fragmentation in the target at reasonable combat ranges. Your site viewers might be interested in the excellent discussion of the 5.56mm round (history, ballistic performance, gelatin testing, etc.), which is pinned as the reference FAQ in the Ammunition forum at AR15.com
I’ve just barely scratched the surface of that site. Tons and tons and tons of good stuff. You’d need an Energia super booster to put it in orbit, and even then you’d better hope they did the English-metric conversions right.
Go check it out. And a big time thanks to the reader who sent it in.
UPDATE: And I agree 100% (speaking as an armchair analyst) with the barrel length issues. The baseline carbine variant of the XM8, which would be the “standard” variant, has a barrel that’s two inches SHORTER than the current M4. Nicer to carry in a vehicle, I’m sure. But it’s supposed to be all the better to shoot you with, my dear.
Not sure how long this has been up. Somehow I managed to not hear about it. Download the teaser trailer in Quicktime format at starwars.com.
I will be posting screenshots from time to time of MO’s exclusive automatically-updateing magic spreadsheet. More county recount results are in and Dino Rossi has picked up 107 additional votes so far.
Download and watch live if interested in what has to be one of the craziest elections this season.
UPDATE: No. Actually, Christine Gregoire has cut into Rossi’s lead by two. I looked at the sheet at exactly the wrong time, when the recount numbers had updated but all the original count numbers had not yet done so. Fixed screenshot on the post. Sorry.
Despite the Legacy Media’s fascination with Kevin Sites’ video of the Marine shooting a wounded insurgent, the Battle for Fallujah will go down as one of the most brilliant urban assaults in military history.
For a Power Point presentation of info and images detailing what was found in the city, go see Soldiers for the Truth.
Here’s a nice summary grab:
(Click for better look)
(via FR)
Soviet Space Battle Station Skif and its prototype Polus
Defense Tech points out a MilitaryPhotos board with pictures of a mid-80s Soviet anti-ICBM orbiting laser-armed space station prototype. It was launched in 1987 on the USSR’s Energia super-booster but failed to remian in orbit. I had heard of this but had never seen pictures. Incredible.
The discussion on the board has some good stuff, too.
INSURGENTS FAKING DEAD FIRES ON MARINES
From CENTCOM:
FALLUJAH, Iraq – Marines from the 1st Marine Division shot and killed an insurgent, who while faking dead, opened fire on the Marines that were conducting a security and clearing patrol through the streets here at approximately 3:45 p.m. on 21 November.
I can’t wait to see the utter outrage from Chris Matthews and the rest of the Legacy Media over this.
Super Bowl goes from Janet to McCartney
I mean, I like Paul McCartney and all, but come on.
It seems that the increased spammer activity has exploded. Right now my host, Verve Hosting, has disabled all Movable Type comments until the spam attack stops.
I’m not sure that it will.
UPDATE: Well, they seem to be back up, now.
