Marine reached out to child, and she saved lives

If you haven’t read this story, you should. I noted it some time back, but here’s a more-complete version. (via Blackfive)

Six of Diamonds Captured

For the first time in quite a while, one of the cards has been nabbed. About time.

Syria had him and 29 other Baath Party officials. They turned them all over to Iraq. Hopefully this is an indication that Syria is willing to play ball with the new Iraqi government and it’s larger, more-powerful allies.

I’m not holding my breath.

Thanks to the magic of Technorati, I discovered that I’ve been linked to by The Eggcorn Database. It

collects unusual spellings of a particular kind, which have come to be called eggcorns. Typical examples include free reign (instead of free rein) or hone in on (instead of home in on), and many more or less common reshapings of words and expressions: a word or part of a word is semantically reanalyzed, and the spelling reflects the new interpretation.

They just started operations last week and give themselves a ver. 0.4-alpha designation, but it promises to be good stuff.

The post that the Eggcorn Database links to is This will wreck havoc with Lunatics and Werewolves, won’t it?. And what I find particularly amusing is that I don’t really recall whether I was trying to be clever by using “wreck” instead of “wreak”, if I mis-typed “wreak” but it got past the spell-checker since “wreck” is also a word, if I mis-typed “wreak” and the spell-checker suggested “wreck” before “wreak” and I took it, or if I really just thought it was supposed to be “wreck havoc”.

That post is just a quickie and a little-tongue in check, so maybe I was just trying to be clever. I do that from time to time. Or maybe I was just being stupid. I do that from time to time as well.

Not that anyone’s ever noticed the latter, of course.

Anyway, it’s a honor to be recognized by the Eggcorn Database, and doubly-so because I’m a “charter honoree” of sorts since I was noted so early in the site’s development.

And I think I always thought it was supposed to be free reign…

Aid Pours in for Victims of Mommy Madness

I’ve been meaning to weigh in on this issue for quite some time. But Iowahawk basically sums up my position:

“It’s hard to look at the plight of these women and not want to chip in and ‘git ‘er done,’” says Tammi Jo Pearsall, 28.

Pearsall, herself a mother of four and part-time convenience store clerk in Alachua, is widely credited with creating the grassroots relief network that has generated over $4,600 in donations for Upper Westside supermoms desperately seeking meaningful time for self-actualization.

And

“I work the 4-to-midnight shift, so I get a lot of longhaul truckers,” says Pearsall. “Them are some good boys, and they were real eager to help when I tolt them about how many of them city women were struggling with feelings of disempowerment and a lack of options.”

and especially

“Suffering knows no color,” says Latasha Evans, 26. “When I heard about all the career and time management struggles of these unhappy white women, I knew as a Christian, I had to do my part.”

A mother of two in Harvey, Illinois, Evans persuaded her fellow parishoners at Calvary Zion AME Church to act on behalf of the victims. Evans’ church choir, The Mighty Gospel Wings of Mercy, recently recorded a self-funded album to promote awareness of Affluent Supermom Syndrome. Entitled “Sweet Glory of Self-Esteem,” the CD’s proceeds will go directly to offset victims’ Ballet and Pilates class dues.

And then there’s

The effort has also expanded internationally. From Sudan to Indonesia, thousands of women across the globe have heeded the call for feminist sisterhood and lined up with offers of support and solidarity.

Typical is Ulaam Abdullah, 27, of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ulaam was so moved by the plight of American Supermom victims that she organized a local charity as soon as she received permission from her husband.

“Here in the kingdom, we women don’t have to worry about juggling career pressures and driver’s licenses and voting, so it’s easy for us to get complacent and spoiled,” she says. “so I guess you could say it was a real wake-up call when I heard how these American women felt so many mixed signals and confusing choices.”

And

“Sure, it was hard taking a month off from the Waffle House,” says Columbus, GA volunteer Jewel Childress. “But if it means one of these New York mothers will finally have time to take an enrichment class at The New School or start work on her novel, it’ll all be worth it.”

And…

Oh, hell. Just go read the whole thing. (via WoC)

Ranger regiment in Afghanistan to get 16 Strykers

This development escaped my attention until it was mentioned in Strategy Page today.

The 2/75 Ranger battalion will be getting 16 Strykers when they deploy to Afghanistan later this year.

The 75th Ranger Regiment is the Army’s most elite airborne infantry outfit. It is headquartered at Fort Benning, Ga., and its three battalions are stationed at Fort Benning, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., and Fort Lewis, Wash.

“The Rangers have been looking to upgrade for some time and now, during the war, is a great opportunity,” said a senior special operations officer. “I don’t see it as a mission change, just another tool to prosecute the mission from a protected, versatile mobility platform.” The Rangers have seen the value of the Stryker in urban operations when working side-by-side with Stryker units in Iraq, the officer said.

This should provide some more valuable information about the true performance of the Stryker, especially in less-urban areas than it’s mostly been used in in Iraq.

I’d be curious to know what the mix of vehicle types will be, and how many Humvees and other vehicles will be used in addition to these 16 Strykers. And if the Rangers will be making any changes to the Stryker before they deploy. And if they’re going to utilize the anti-RPG slat armor. And what changes the Rangers will make once they’re in the field.

Basically, I have a lot of questions. But I think this is a good move.

Boeing rolls out KC-767 tanker

As I mentioned earlier, the first-ever 767 tanker is being delivered this week to the Italian Air Force.

Three more will be delivered to Italy (though the tanker modification will be done in Italy instead of in Wichita) and four will go to Japan (of which three will be modified in Italy, as well). The United Arab Emirates are considering purchasing two or three, as well. But beyond that there’s nothing.

If the US Air Force doesn’t go with 767-based tankers, it might be the end of the 767 line forever.

“We’ve had line breaks before,” Stonecipher says. “We broke the line on the F-15 a number of years ago and actually restarted that line in 1993. Line breaks are expensive, they’re inconvenient, but it depends on how bad people want 767s.”

I didn’t remember that the F-15 line restarted after a shut-down. That can’t be cheap. But I’ve said before that if the USAF wants tankers bad enough and Boeing wants to keep building 767s bad enough, some sort of deal should be reachable.

Also, another option exists of which I was unaware:

Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, says there’s a chance a dedicated tanker production line could be established that would reduce the modification costs by 50 percent. However, he says, there would still be tanker work that would need to be done in Wichita.

It really seems to me that something should be do-able.

Son of REFORGER Goes to Iraq

Strategy Page has an excellent piece on the big troop rotation nearing completion in Iraq.

The 18th Airborne Corps headquarters, the 42nd Infantry Division (a National Guard outfit), the 3rd Infantry Division and the 2nd Marine MEU (Division) have replaced the 3rd Corps headquarters, the 1st Infantry Division, the 1st Cavalry Division and the 1st Marine MEU (Division). American troops strength will go down to 138,000 by March. The increased traffic from over 250,000 troops moving in and out over the last few months has caused an increase in traffic accidents, although combat injuries have been declining since the battle of Fallujah last November. Most of the heavy equipment belonging to units remains in Iraq, to ease up the logistics burden. The troops either return to the equipment they left behind when they came over, or are issued new equipment and weapons, to the replace those being left behind, when they get home.

I had wondered about the increase in traffic deaths of late. This seems to be a perfectly reasonable explanation.

The lessened traffic load of not swapping out heavy equipment when you swap out troops makes a great deal of sense, but it also probably leaves the new troops holding their noses when they reach the sandbox. I heard that the soldiers in the second Stryker Brigade wanted to know when the last time the first Stryker Brigade’s vehicles, which were left for the second brigade, had been washed. They apparently hadn’t been washed for a year.

Then the first brigade went back to Fort Lewis and took over the Strykers that the second brigade had been keeping squeaky-clean all along.

For what it’s worth, when the third Stryker Brigade deploys this fall, it will be taking its own vehicles with it.

The Strategy Page article ends with

Depending on what sort of treaties are negotiated with the new Iraqi government, some pre-positioned equipment for American combat units may stay in Iraq. Iran is still seen as a threat to Iraq, and just the presence of pre-positioned American equipment is often enough to give frisky neighbors pause. Kuwait has been the host to several combat brigades worth of American equipment for over a decade. Again, that provides more practical experience about maintaining the stuff in a desert environment. There are also lots of Kuwaitis who have experience maintaining the gear.

The article noted that this practice is similar to the REFORGER (REturn of FORces to GERmany) program of the 1980s. I think we’ll have a significant number of troops and airmen stationed in Iraq for years (or decades) to come, but a REturn of FORces to the Middle East program, with a significant amount of pre-placed heavy equipment, wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

and

There’s plenty more where those came from. (via Argghhh! )

Cobb SCAR Candidate/MCR Prototype Weapons at SHOT Show 2005

I totally forgot to link to Defense Review’s awesome post on the Multi-Caliber Rifle (MCR) which was in the running at one time for the Special Operations Command’s Combat Assault Rifle. Tons of pics. Tons.

Go look.

Unless Nixon was a king, George Washington’s Birthday is not Presidents Day

Frank Warner notes that Congress did not change the name of the third Monday in February to “Presidents’ Day”. Ever. So that makes it “Washington’s Birthday”.

So can I take my Dilbert Day-by-Day calendar back for a refund because it’s defective? Of course, I’d wait until late December to do so.