Archive for September, 2007
Deployed gunners have eagle eyes with safer turret system
Tech. Sgt. Mark Klinefelter operates a common remotely operated weapon station Sept. 12 at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. The CROWS turret allows a gunner to remain safely protected inside his armored vehicle while operating the computer-stabilized, laser-aimed weapon. Sergeank Klinefelter is assigned to the 824th Security Forces Squadron Alpha Flight. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Parker Gyokeres)
Full story on Air Force Link. Previous CROWS coverage on MO here: A murder of CROWS
Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid
Some day this is going to make a heck of a movie:
Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.
The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.
From the UK’s TimesOnline. Take it for what it’s worth.
See also Defense Tech’s What Actually Happened in the Syrian Desert?
Apparently the unstealthy F-15I Israeli aircraft were able to make it into Syria without being shot out of the sky, and some reports indicate that they snuck their way out through Turkey either with permission or without.
I’ve heard that the jamming of the Syrian air defenses was so severe that it shut down civilian comms inside Lebanon for the better part of a day.
Searchers locate missing Boy Scout troop
They had gotten off the trail so they “hunkered down” for an extra night.
They waited until daylight rather than trying to walk out in the dark.
All were safe and well, and on their way out, when found. The search was initiated in case a member of the troop had been injured and the group was having difficulty getting out of the woods, so to speak.
How Nuclear Warheads Made Unplanned Flight
Today’s Washington Post has a front page story on the accidental flight of six AGM-129 nuclear cruise missiles from North Dakota to Louisiana last month. It’s worth a read.
Though I’m not really going all alarmist crying about “60 Hiroshimas”, or claiming that one nuclear weapons was stolen by rogue elements of the military for use against a Democratic-held US city, this was obviously a very serious breach of procedure and must be dealt with quickly and harshly.
As for the AGM-129s, which are being deactivated and removed from inventory, are there any plans to use the missiles (minus warheads) for anything? I haven’t heard about any plans, but wouldn’t conventional warheads or surveillance equipment for well-defended targets make sense? We should have around 400 of the things left, and they weren’t cheap and they’re fairly capable pieces of equipment.
Or do treaties require their destruction?
A bug fix release of the newest version of the Movable Type publishing software has just been released. I’ve been using 4.0 on a new project of mine and I like it so far.
Now that an .01 is available, MO will be upgrading soon.
Sailors, Riverine Squadron One, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, enter the reeds on the edge of Lake Thar Thar in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq to conduct cordon and search operations July 15. The 13th MEU is deployed with Multi National Forces-West in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Al Anbar province of Iraq to develop Iraqi Security Forces, facilitate the development of official rule through democratic reforms, and continue the development of a market based economy centered on Iraqi reconstruction. Photo by: Cpl. Kyle J. Keathley
Hey, that’s no poodle shooter on the right. I thought the Navy just used M-14s for salutes and shooting lines between ships. Well, besides Navy SEALS, anyway.
As it turns out, Last sailors trading in their M-14s.
Iraqi Security Forces Make Progress in Northern Iraq
Logistics, as much discussed here in the past, remains a major problem at this point.
U.S. energy production maps
State by state oil and gas, with another map for coal.
Gun Blogger Rendezvous
Hi-Point has donated a pistol to be raffled off.
Iran tests new homemade fighter jets
It’s the plane first unveiled last year. I don’t think anyone’s intimidated.
US Resumes Blackwater Convoys in Iraq
Whatever your opinion, private security contractors are here to stay.
A Heavenly View
‘Lucky’ imaging system corrects for atmospheric interference.
U.S. Coast Guard To Tap Landfill for Power
This has always made sense to me because instead of methane going into the atmosphere it’s used to make electricity. Double win. But I don’t really know the details.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sgt. Kerry Williams, squad leader, monitors the progress of his squad as they assault up to an enemy position during a live-fire range. Marines from Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, spent three days in the field perfecting small unit leadership through various exercises. Marines practiced leading squads and fire teams on patrols, taking enemy fire, closing with their foe and using their fire power to win the battle at Fort Pickett, Va., Sept. 16-18. Infantry units focus on a decentralized leadership style that allows them to be more agile on the battlefield. Photo by: Cpl. Randall A. Clinton
Note the M4 carbine. The Marines are shifting away from 9mm pistols.
Via the Ministry, here’s a chilling look at off-duty SS officers and personnel at Auschwitz.
BREAK TIME:Killing civilian prisoners in death factories is hard work.
Click for a closer look at the bastards (who are now relaxing in Hell)
Last December, Rebecca Erbelding, a young archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, opened a letter from a former United States Army intelligence officer who said he wanted to donate photographs of Auschwitz he had found more than 60 years ago in Germany.
Ms. Erbelding was intrigued: Although Auschwitz may be the most notorious of the Nazi death camps, there are only a small number of known photos of the place before its liberation in 1945. Some time the next month, the museum received a package containing 16 cardboard pages, with photos pasted on both sides, and their significance quickly became apparent…
Rather than showing the men performing their death camp duties, the photos depicted, among other things, a horde of SS men singing cheerily to the accompaniment of an accordionist, [adjutant to the camp commandant Karl] Höcker lighting the camp’s Christmas tree, a cadre of young SS women frolicking and officers relaxing, some with tunics shed, for a smoking break.
You can view an audio slideshow of some of the photos here.
What makes it so amazing is that we know so many of the individuals’ names. Almost like they’re people or something. We even know the dog’s name, for crying out loud. It’s this sort of faux familiarity that made some sequences in ‘Schindler’s List’ so painful to watch.
Museum curators have avoided describing the album as something like –monsters at play” or –killers at their leisure.” [Museum historian Judith] Cohen said the photos were instructive in that they showed the murderers were, in some sense, people who also behaved as ordinary human beings. –In their self-image, they were good men, good comrades, even civilized,” she said.
Looking at these photos, it’s difficult to tell them apart from actual human beings.
Says Johno at the Ministry:
There’s one woman in the pictures, who appears a few times. She’s clearly a camp administrator of some kind, and she’s young, fresh, and pretty. She’s clearly vivacious and strong-willed; it’s easy to be attracted to this face from more than sixty years ago and imagine a friendship or a friendly beer. And then I realize that behind that smile and those pretty eyes is a mind completely and totally at ease with sorting families into keepers and corpses every single day, and I want to puke myself dry.
I’ve often wondered what the general feeling about the SS personnel who ran the camps compared to actual soldiers in SS combat units is. For all the evilness of the Nazi regime, the German army often displayed true (though misplaced) honor and obviously fought hard and well. How “stained” are SS combat units by the horrible actions of their brethren in the camps?
In the United States, the Nazis have been built up as the most vile and malevolent creatures in all of human history. These photos could be submitted as supporting evidence for that claim.
I hesitate to call these monsters ‘evil.’ It reflects poorly on regular evil people.
John at Op-For on the Iranian announcement that they’ll bomb Israel if attacked:
They may as well draw up plans to turn camel dung into solid gold, as long as they’re daydreaming.
