Archive for November, 2006
Submarine with cocaine seized off Costa Rica
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – The U.S. Coast Guard seized a homemade submarine carrying 3.5 tons of cocaine off Costa Rica and arrested two Colombians, a Guatemalan and a Sri Lankan, Costa Rican officials and media reported Sunday.
The submarine, made of wood and fiberglass, was unlike military submarines or those used by oceanographers. It could only submerge 6 feet under water, Costa Rican Coast Guard spokesman Jose Antonio Fallas told Reuters.
The Navy should ask to borrow this for ASW training…
James Hooker’s YouTube video for “Hanging Out With The Boys” has been flagged for possible inappropriate content by the YouTube community.
Murdoc’s pointed out the song and the video previously, but here it is again:
(via Dean)
Nominations are pouring in for the 2006 Weblog Awards. This is the premier blogosphere award program, so be sure to nominate your favorites.
In particular, keep an eye on the Best Military Blog category. A lot of good ones are getting nominated, and even those that don’t make the cut are probably worth a look. So check ‘em out.
Head on over and get your two cents in.
UPDATE: Incidentally, MO was ranked #1097 at the time of the Ecosystem snapshot for the contest. So MO would be eligible for the Best of the Top 1001 – 1750 Blogs category. Murdoc’s just sayin’.
On Feb. 20, 1991 during Operation Desert Storm, John Bridget was sucked into an A-6E’s engine while preparing the jet for take-off:
Here’s some info I found on the incident at Amazing Videos:
Read the rest of this entry »
The Timber Terror
The Mosquito light bomber.
Marines Vs Camel Spiders
Or what Doc did in Iraq when he was bored. ‘Doc in the Box’, not murDoc…Murdoc’s a civie…
I Park Like An Idiot
There’s no shortage of people who need these stickers on their vehicle.
Secret of Cold War Spy Messages Revealed
The Stasi’s invisible ink formula is secret no more. Just in time.
Edmund Fitzgerald Videos
Various videos of the ship, headlined by a great memorial video set to Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’.
Read the rest of this entry »
No time to discuss right now, but these just crossed the wires:
DoD Announces Units for Next Operation Iraqi Freedom Rotation
The Department of Defense announced today the first of the major units scheduled to deploy as part of the next Operation Iraqi Freedom rotation. This announcement involves one Army division headquarters and five Army combat brigades consisting of approximately 20,000 service members. The scheduled rotation for the forces identified in this announcement will begin in early 2007.
Force levels in Iraq continue to be conditions-based, and are determined based on the recommendations of military commanders in Iraq and in consultation with the Iraqi government. U.S. force rotations will be tailored based upon changes in the security situation. Iraqi security forces continue to develop capability and assume responsibility for security in Iraq.
This rotation continues the U.S. commitment to the stability and security of Iraq, yet is flexible and adaptable in order to meet the evolving requirements for the mission.
For Operation Iraqi Freedom, the major units announced today are:
3rd Infantry Division Headquarters, Fort Stewart, Ga.
4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Ks.
4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wa.
3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.
1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C
173rd Airborne Brigade, Vicenza, Italy
The department also alerted approximately 27,000 active duty and 10,000 reserve component troops in combat support and combat service support units smaller than brigade-size elements for deployment beginning in 2007.
And
DoD Announces Unit for Next Afghanistan Rotation
The Department of Defense announced today that the 218th Brigade Combat Team, South Carolina Army National Guard, will deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to train the Afghan National Security Forces. The scheduled rotation will begin in early 2007, and will include approximately 1,500 service members as presently envisioned.
The department also alerted approximately 6,200 active duty and 600 Reservists in combat support and combat service support units smaller than brigade-size elements for deployment beginning in 2007.
(Note: I was taking notes on this in the dark. I hope that I got the quotes correct. If not, I will at at least attest that I’m close and that I’m not changing the meaning of what was said.)
I attended a screening of the film ‘The Ground Truth’ last Sunday here in Grand Rapids at the Wealthy Theater. Though I was fully expecting a total anti-war film, I must admit that I was pretty surprised at just how weak the film was.
I hoped that it would be sort of along the lines of ‘The War Tapes’, the documentary put together from footage shot by National Guard troops while deployed for a year in Iraq. It”s nothing of the sort. Rather, it’s a series of interviews with several strongly anti-war soldiers, with a bit of big media footage interspersed here and there. Except for a bit of video shot during boot camp (the origins of which are unclear to me) and some taken when a unit returned from a deployment to Iraq, it’s virtually all talk talk.
And the talk is not even-handed or open-minded in any way. Make no mistake. This is a piece of serious anti-war propaganda. It was quite disappointing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Comments Closed
I’ve got a new site starting up which will concentrate on news and events in Michigan. It’s been pretty much under the radar so far as I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how I’m going to run it and what style I’ll use, and it will still be in “beta” mode for a while yet. My initial plan had been to go “Instapundit of West Michigan”, but I’ve been finding that usually just quick linking to items of interest isn’t quite doing it for me. So I’m going to experiment a bit.
Something over there that started as a quick link post on the USCG’s plan to utilize 34 firing ranges on the Great Lakes for M240B training turned into a lengthier piece, and instead of cross-posting the whole thing over here I’ll just send you over in that direction.
Check it out if interested, and MO readers from Michigan (I know there are a fair number of you out there) are invited to keep an eye on MichiBlogger as I ramp things up in the coming weeks.
Comments aren’t yet active on the new site, but feel free to leave some here on this post if you have an opinion.
Noticed this a few days ago:
It’s in China.
A) How the Hades did they build themselves what appears to be a Nimitz-class super carrier?
B) Why, um, did they build it in a pond?
CLICK HERE for the answer
No. Not the tankers. Those planning the tankers: U.S. mulls possible delay in air tanker -sources
Just when you thought the whole USAF next-generation tanker fiasco couldn’t get any worse, we get this:
Pentagon and U.S. Air Force officials are considering changes to a multibillion-dollar competition for new aerial refueling tankers, including a two-year delay in picking a winning bidder, three sources familiar with the proposal said on Monday.
Two more freaking years before they even select a plane?!? Current plans call for picking a winner next September.
Three sources, who asked not to be identified, said that plan was still an option.
But they said officials were also being briefed on a proposal to fund development work on the refueling tanker by both teams of competitors for several years, which would allow more comprehensive testing and evaluation before a contract award in 2009. [emphasis Murdoc's]
Ahhh. Two more years of double-funding development work on a plane that was already developed several years ago. Now it’s all starting to make sense.
Murdoc is sure glad there’s not a war on or any increased demand on our current tanker fleet or anything.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Army Eyes USAF Tankers for Network Tech.
What? They couldn’t shoehorn Army networking into the F-22?
Read the rest of this entry »
