Tank duel at the cathedral – March 6, 1945

The story of a short encounter with a Panther. Images shot by Sgt. Jim Bates, a First Army Signal Corps photographer attached to the 3AD.

See this 3AD history page for more pictures.

UPDATE:

Boom.

M151 Remote Weapon System
with M2 .50 cal gun
Click for whole picture

Finally: New Remote Weapon Systems for Stryker

DVIDS:

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait — Members of the 2nd (Stryker) Cavalry Regiment recently became the first Army unit to have the new Remote Weapon Systems refitted and mounted on their Stryker vehicles.

The RWS is the Army’s latest advancement in weapon systems. The system has a new laser range finder for its .50-caliber mounted machine gun. Before 2nd SCR Soldiers deployed to Iraq the new systems were mounted on Strykers in Germany and Kuwait.

First, note the regiment’s location.

Secondly, the article actually seems to make the RWS sound like a new invention. It’s not, and all Strykers have always had the M151 RWS (called the ‘Protector’ in the commercial market). The upgrade is actually a new and improved version of the RWS which incorporates, among other things, the Small Tactical Optical Rifle Mounted (STORM) Laser Range Finder:
(more…)

The Soviet Union, the story goes, brought the film ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ over from America as propaganda, trying to pass it off as an example of capitalism gone amuck. The long struggle of the Joads on their trek to California and the bitterness they found when they got there were to show how bad things were in the so-called “free world”. The film had to be banned, though, after Soviet citizens became jealous that even homeless peasants in America owned cars.

True? I don’t know. But I was reminded of it when I saw this:

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

Forty-three percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.

Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

Eighty-nine percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

A while back, the Grand Rapids Press ran a story on local families who were living in poor conditions, due to either overcrowding or dilapidated homes. A photo accompanying the story showed one living room with bare wall studs and a few wisps of insulation. The kids sat on the floor. Playing XBox. On a very large (50″+) rear projection widescreen television.

Poverty, in many cases, is all relative. It’s not a description, it’s an arbitrary line.

(via Wizbang)

Japan Military Homes, Ship Raided Over Data Leak

Here’s something to make you feel all warm inside:

The homes of several serving members of Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and a destroyer were raided as part of an investigation into a leak of sensitive military data from a computer, Japan’s Kyodo News reported Tuesday.

Officers from the Kanagawa prefectural police force and the JMSDF’s own criminal investigations unit are investigating the leak of information related to the Aegis missile defense system, the sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptor system and the reconnaissance satellite data exchange Link 16 system.

The Aegis leak first came to light in March this year when police were conducting an immigration-related investigation into the Chinese wife of a JMSDF officer. During the search they came across the data, which included the radar and transmission frequencies of the Aegis system. The officer wasn’t authorized to be in possession of the data so the investigation was begun. [emphasis Murdoc's]

Apparently, the data was leaked as a result of a porn-swapping network.

And they want F-22s?

Why We Need a Draft: A Marine’s Lament
He was in the firefights of Fallujah. He saw gaps in America’s arsenal that he believes can only be filled when America’s elite puts its sons on the battlefield. A plea for selective service.

Like every other pro-draft opinion out there, this one is based on the hoped-for side effects of a military draft, not on direct impact such a thing would have.

America isn’t practicing the basic tenet of capitalism on the battlefield with an all-volunteer military, and won’t be until the reinstitution of the draft.

The argument is that if everyones sons and daughters were in the military, all the money for all the MRAPs and body armor and other cool stuff would flow into the armed forces. And how about this:

We have a severe talent deficiency in the military, which the draft would remedy immediately. While America’s bravest are in the military, America’s brightest are not. Allow me to build a squad of the five brightest students from MIT and Caltech and promise them patrols on the highways connecting Baghdad and Fallujah, and I’ll bet that in six months they could render IED’s about as effective as a –Just Say No” campaign at a Grateful Dead show.

The mine has been a dangerous weapon for the entire history of human warfare, virtually all of it built on conscript armies. But five engineering students would suddenly solve it? Come on.

I can’t question the guy’s experiences. He survived 9/11, enlisted in the Marines, and fought in Iraq. But if the investment banker-turned-Marine corporal is right, why is virtually all of the rest of the military opposed to the draft.

I’ll give him credit, though, because he seems to honestly believe a draft would help win the war. Most folks who want a draft so bad want it so that the anti-draft antiwar protests will finally get in gear like the good old days of Vietnam.

I sort of like Reddit. I really do. There is a great deal of good stuff to be found. But, man, are some of the posters idiots.

Here’s a high-rated story for today:

Now Blackwater has an air force

Here’s the article it links to:

Blackwater seeks Super Tucano acquisition for trainer role

Security and training company Blackwater USA confirmed that it has applied for a license to acquire one Embraer Super Tucano light attack trainer.

The acquisition is on hold pending licensing approval by the US government, a Blackwater spokeswoman said.

The aircraft would launch a new pilot training programme for Blackwater, which provides a broad range of training and operational services for military and law enforcement clients.

Reading the comments by the morons is sort of funny. What are the demographics of Reddit? 14-17 year old males, or so. Here’s a sampling:

–Why would they need a trainer if they were not developing an airforce? Executive thrill-seekers?

–I wasn’t aware they did training.

–private contractors 2.0 – now with airforce(tm) !

–I bet they can’t wait to go to Iran.

Kids these days…

Mars Exploration Rover Status Report: Rovers Resume Driving

NASA.gov:

After six weeks of hunkering down during raging dust storms that limited solar power, both of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have resumed driving.

The game is “collect as much solar energy as possible”. The rovers are suffering, but what do you expect more than three and half years into a three month mission?

Iraqi army soldiers with 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division shoot M-16A2 rifles at the small arms range at Camp Al Asad, Iraq, Aug. 13, 2007. U.S. Marines from 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division are working with the Iraqi soldiers to teach them various war fighting techniques. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Shane S. Keller)

Iraqi poodles beware!

G.I. Joe: “Real American Hero” no more

Now the Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity? What happened to “One for all and all for one?”

Murdoc never owned or played with any of the 80s line of G.I. Joes, but he played a lot with the earlier generations of Joe.

I had a plain jane Joe for which I acquired a cool diving set which included a bronze helmet, white dry suit, and hoses which plugged into a little mouthpiece you could blow in to (sort of) inflate the suit if you sent Joe to the deep end of the bath tub. The mouthpiece had a compass in it and I used that for many years. There were metal (real metal) weight shoes. Oh, and a black rubber octopus. Get yours here for only $499.

I had some sort of yellow and black underwater sled, like this except it was yellow where this one is white. Here’s a shot of the yellow one, but I don’t think I had the SCUBA gear. However, I might have had the harpoon gun, so maybe I just don’t remember. That also appears to be the giant clam with the computer inside that I thought had come from the diving suit set.

I also had the Secret Mountain Outpost, a sort of base with a locking door and radar antenna. One side of the base’s interior had a radar display, but I don’t remember what was on the other (left) side.

Later, I got a talking G.I. Joe. You’d pull a string in his neck and he’d say all sorts of cool and kick ass things. (”Let’s check with headquarters in Belgium first” wasn’t one of them…) This seems to be him, though I really don’t remember him being black.

I think, except for a bag of extra weapons, gas masks, grenades, and such, that was the extent of my G.I. Joe collection. I shifted over to the Six Million Dollar Man at that point, but you can bet that there were uncounted G.I. Joe – Steve Austin alliances over the next few years. Kicking ass and taking names (as long as there was time to take names) never stopped. My brother and I had other various 12″ scale figures, as well, and I sure wish I had some video of our games. My psychiatrist would probably be interested, as well.

The guy across the road had an extensive (and older) Joe collection, and when we got together it was basically critical mass.

My G.I. Joe toys were from the early 1970s, and it’s pretty cool checking out the stuff online.