Webster

The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions." --American Statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852)


Friday, September 29, 2017

"Let them kneel"

I saw this from one of the Facebook veteran groups that I belong to.  I really thought it was very good, I thought about putting it on my facebook status but I didn't feel like having my facebook posting on my page become a free fire zone...and yes I thought of it anyway....Does that make me a bad person?   Like I care what they think anyway. f**n dickheads


Let them kneel. Let them speak. Let them do what they are best at. We never go to a knee willingly. They have an off season. We work year round. Let them "do battle" on Sundays and think they know anything of war. We will never forget, yet will do it again anytime our country calls.
They get time outs. We suck it up.
They have injuries that sideline them. We dress it and press on.
They miss a season due to "turf toe." Our feet blistered and bled, we didn't slow down.
They have lost dear friends due to free agency. We have lost friends in our arms.
They will give up on the play if their teammate doesn't block for them. We will gladly take a bullet for our teammates.We have lost our friends in our own arms.
They make millions and will not show up to work until they get more. We hover above the poverty line and go to jail if we don't go to work.
They abuse drugs and alcohol because they can't cope. 22 of us commit suicide every single day.
They are celebrities and heroes to children. We are only recognized by our fellow veteran brothers. We wouldn't have it any other way!
Let them kneel, let them speak... for cowards die a thousand deaths, but a man of honor will live forever.
Let them disgrace what we hold dear, they will never know honor. Stand true to your ethos.
Let them kneel, let them speak....look them in the eyes and smile because they will never be us.
They aren't made from the same cloth and can't ever measure up.
They will never be us!
GOD BLESS AMERICA


   P.S I hate reCAPcha, gets more complicated

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

MIG 23 crashes in to Belgium house in 1989 in strange Cold War Story.

I remember this incident once I read of it, I was stationed in Stuttgart and we heard of this on AFN  and the Stars&Stripes newspapers had stories about it.  I remembered commenting back then if this caused concerns on the regimental net for the 11th ACR that had people always patrolling the 1KM zone between East and West Germany.  I went and looked up some stories about it Here, Here,and Here.   


July. 4 1989, Independence day for the Americans, was not an especially exciting day for the 32nd TFS (Tactical Fighter Squadron) also known as ‘Wolfhounds’ then based in Soesterberg, Netherlands.
When two very competitive pilots J.D Martin and Bill Murphy were scrambled, they were not expecting that their independence day flights would be to intercept and possibly engage a very strange Soviet MiG.
On the same day, Soviet Pilot Nikolai Skurigin prepared his MiG-23M for a routine training flight. When Skurigin’s MiG took off from Kolobzreg, Poland, the pilot had no clue what was about to happen to his aircraft.
Soon after taking off Skurigin realized that MiG’s engine had a major failure and that aircraft was going to crash in few seconds, so he did what every pilot is trained to do in such situations, he abandoned the aircraft and ejected.


An air-to-air right side view of a Soviet MiG-23 Flogger aircraft. Exact Date Shot Unknown
A MiG 23, in flight with pilot

While descending in his parachute, Skurigin realized that something peculiar had taken place; his MiG was actually gaining height instead of loosing it and worse, it was heading straight towards NATO airspace.


MiG23-2
The flight of the MiG
On the other side, JD and Murphy after being sent to intercept a Russian plane that had invaded their air space, had problems of their own; they were having some major communication issues with Ground Control Intercept
Despite these difficulties, the two pilots got closer to the ‘rogue’ aircraft and discovered that not only the MiG was unarmed it was also unmanned. This posed another challenge to the pilots and ground control since the aircraft was now considered not an immediate threat.
US Air Force pilots in their F-15s escorted the Soviet MiG until it reached the 39,000ft mark, after that aircraft started descending possibly due to low fuel levels.



9143119_orig
The crash site as seen from above
When the aircraft started descending, pilots with the help from the ground predicted that it would land somewhere near Lille, on the border of Belgium and France. Later on, the calculation showed that it would rather crash in an empty field inside Belgium, and was coded as ‘non risky’.
But the calculations could not predict what actually happened when Soviet MiG crashed in a farm killing an 18-year-old boy.



scannen00059dw
What was left of the MIG
Clearly an avoidable causality on the part of both Soviets and Americans, both nations showed genuine regret on the outcome of the incident. When Colonel Skurigin discovered about the death of the Belgian boy by his MiG, he publicly showed regret for his decision to eject out of the aircraft.
The Belgian government made a formal protest to the Soviet Union regarding the lack of notification as to the danger the aircraft posed to the civilian population. Belgian Foreign Minister Mark Eyskens expressed concern that “from the time the MiG-23 was first picked up on NATO radar to the time it crashed more than an hour later, no word of warning came from the Soviet side,” and that “there was also a ‘notable slowness’ on the part of the Soviets in disclosing whether the jet was carrying nuclear or toxic weapons.”
The USSR paid $685,000 in compensation to Belgium.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Some Range time

I built a new AR out of parts that I had, and I ordered a lower and a bolt carrier group from Palmetto State Armory and I had to wait to find time to shoot it.  I went to the range near my house.  Got there, pulled out the AR15's and set them up

I grabbed the *New* rifle and set it up and got ready to shoot.   I was going to use the last of the crappy Tula ammo, I figured if it could shoot that it can shoot anything...
Well I loaded the first magazine, inserted the magazine into the rifle and let the carrier bolt slide forward and I *felt/heard* the round pick up, Went to turn on the Vortex Strikefire sight that the rifle has...and guess what...DRT*     Yep, Dead Battery.

  
 Spare battery, Will have to order more.  Bad thing with Optics, they munch batteries.  The new rifle does have backup iron sights.

Well I aimed the rifle and fired off several rounds of the crappy Tula ammo

The rifle actually shot well especially with the crappy Tula ammo.
   Well I then loaded another magazine and continued firing.


I shot about 60 rounds at this point.  I still had 60 rounds of that crappy Tula ammo left.  I decided to switch rifles and grabbed the "original" rifle.
 I knew the the older rifle didn't like the Tula so I had 100 rounds of Federal .223 to feed that rifle.  I loaded several magazines..

I shot the old AR for 50 rounds, and it was real light to shoot,
 Not bad for Iron sights.  I moved the rear sights over a bit after I shot the pic.

there is several pounds difference between the new rifle and the old rifle.  the New rifle if I shoot it standing unsupported, I would get arm tremors after a minute or to from the weight, I would have to find a different way to fire the rifle if I had to shoot it unsupported.

     Well I continued shooting.  I ran 120 rounds of my crappy Tula ammo through the New AR15, I had a couple of hiccups with the Tula and I have noticed that I had some magazine issues, the new rifle, I had to push the magazine to make sure that they are locked, this also happened with the old school GI magazine.  I will pickup a Pmag and see if that helps.

  All in all, it was a good time, this was the most ammo I have shot up in a very long time.  The Tula I wanted to get rid of anyway because it doesn't play well with either of my AR15's. but I will replace the 100 rounds of Federal so my stock will be replenished anyway.



Monday, September 25, 2017

Monday Music "Its the End of the World as I know it" by REM



Apparently the world was supposed to end on Saturday and it didn't happen. 


I decided to roll with REM's "it is the end of the world as I know it and I feel fine".  the song came out in 1987 and I bought the album "Documents" in 1988 as a CD from the PX at Robinson Barracks in Germany.  I transferred the song onto a cassette tape where I had a mix of various songs and this one was on the play list.  I believe that I have played it in the past, and normally I avoid doing repeats, but in honor of the Apocalypse that didn't happen I figured I would run it again. 


R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by lead vocalist Michael Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist/backing vocalist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. were noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style, Stipe's particular vocal quality, and Mills' melodic basslines and backing vocals. R.E.M. released their first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.

"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" is a song by the rock band R.E.M., which appeared on their 1987 album Document, the 1988 compilation Eponymous, and the 2006 compilation And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S Years 1982–1987. It was released as a single in November 1987, reaching No. 69 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and later reaching No. 39 on the UK Singles Chart on its re-release in December 1991.


The song originated from a previously unreleased song called "PSA" ("Public Service Announcement"); the two are very similar in melody and tempo. "PSA" was itself later reworked and released as a single in 2003, under the title "Bad Day." In an interview with Guitar World magazine published in November 1996, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck agreed that "End of the World" was in the tradition of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues.". The song was featured in the third episode of the 13th season of The Simpsons, "Homer the Moe".


The music video was directed by James Herbert, who worked with the band on several other videos in the late 1980s. It depicts a young skateboarder, Noah Ray, rifling through an abandoned, collapsing farmhouse and displaying the relics that he finds to the camera

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Tennessee Church shooter stopped by a CCW holder


I pulled this information off Drudge on the guy.  This hits kinda close to home because my mom and pops live in Tennessee, although on the other side of the state.  Apparently a CCW holder stopped this guy.  He is from the Sudan, emigrated here in the 90's.  I don't want to throw the "Islam" handle at him yet.  Nothing from his social media post indicates an islamic bent.  I will adopt a wait and see attitude.  This is also why I and many people carry at church, it is a good place to hit a soft target full of unarmed victims.  It is entirely possible that the guy was suffering from "roid rage" or something along that line.

Nashville Police have identified the suspect of a mass shooting at a church Sunday morning as 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson.

Samson is being charged with murder and multiple counts of attempted murder in the attack that killed one and left at least seven other people injured at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, a town just south of Nashville, Tenn.
Samson is a bodybuilder who attended high school in Tennessee and is originally from Karthoum, Sudan, according screenshots of the suspect’s Facebook page obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation before the account was taken down. Police say he is a legal resident and came to the U.S. in the 1990s.
“Everything you’ve ever doubted or made to be believe as false, is real. & vice versa, B” Samson wrote in his final post, around 11 a.m. CST.

Emanuel K. Samson facebook page (Screenshot/Facebook)
Samson posted photos of himself posing at a gym Sunday morning, with the caption “Unrestricted, paroxysm.”

One of the final posts from Emanuel K. Samson before he allegedly opened fire at a church in Antioch, Tennessee (Facebook screengrab)
A Nashville Police Department spokesman said the shooter entered the church after 11 a.m. CST wearing a neoprene ski mask. One woman was shot in the parking lot before the shooter entered the church and opened fire on about 42 people still inside.
One church member, 22-year-old Caleb Engle, confronted the shooter before being pistol whipped in the face. Engle then went to his car to retrieve a gun, which he has under a concealed carry license.
Engle returned to the church to confront the gunman again. The gunman shot himself in the face when the man returned, possibly by accident.
“He’s the hero here,” Nashville police chief Steve Anderson said. “He’s the person who stopped this madness in its tracks.”

Some quick musings...

it is Sunday morning and I just got home from work so I figured I would post a few pithy thoughts

   First off, apparently President Trump pissed off a bunch of people that had no issues taking a knee during the National Anthem.  These people were really upset that he called them out and they are talking a bunch of protest and other actions....the Funny thing is that the people that are mad at Trump already hate him so it is nothing new.  I will not watch any NFL football, apparently having a bunch of overpaid, overindulged, spoiled athletes complain about racism and social justice where they live better than 99% of Americans and they bitch and complain....?
But this isn’t about black lives for these people. This is about using dead black bodies as props to Virtue signalling their righteousness likely to compensate for their Playboy lifestyle and baby daddy culture.
Screw the players screw the NFL Let It Burn
Also the same people are complaining about President Trump retweeting the Golf ball heard around the world...LOL
And Hillary is out there promoting her new book, and she is blaming everyone but herself....To me, she is the gift that keeps on giving, the more people that see the angry bitter women casting blame on everyone because they denied her her birthright.

She will keep being the face of the establishment democrat party and she will be the albatross around their neck, the lying, smug, conceited, self centered, and narcissistic person that she is.

   And Finally...I hate reCAPcha...it gets more difficult to use with multiple clicks on multiple images and it takes longer.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Soviet Army, Mobile Artillery(Red Storm Rising)

In the book Red Storm Rising, the Soviet Army used artillery and helicopters to suppress the NATO positions and to try to knock out the roving NATO TOW missiles that were ravaging the tank formations as they moved deeper into Germany.  Per doctrine the Soviets would bring their heavy guns right behind their tank formations.  They also would save most of their combat power for the breakout or breakthrough.  American doctrine would have our artillery support the force,like in the defense,  the Soviet had a different doctrine.  Casualties were acceptable and they would save their striking and combat power to support the advance.  If the Soviet unit was being attacked, they would not call for artillery support, they would not want to waste it.  When I was in the Army in the 80's, before the fall of the Soviet Union, we would make jokes that we would do well DFing the enemy assets, but we had a life expectancy of 17 seconds after we keyed the mike for a report even though our comms were "green", meaning they were encrypted but the carrier wave was still analog.  Since them we have gone to burst and digital, but back then, it was the AN/VRC 46.  The soviet would DF our signals and call artillery on us and they also had counter morter/counter battery assets in their HQ units to ID our gun assets and they would use the artillery.  To the Soviet Army, they prided themselves on their artillery, from both the self propelled and the towed.





 2S19 in a parade
The Russian army referred to artillery as “the god of war.” Its destructive power not only shattered enemy formations but also transformed the shape of battlefields where it was used.
Despite their adoration, self-propelled artillery was neglected by the Soviet Union. Overlooked in favor of vehicle-mounted armament, it did not emerge from its underdog status until the late 1960s. Along the way, some effective weapons were produced.

     Self-propelled artillery emerged during the period of experimentation in fighting vehicles in the lead up to WWII. In Stalin’s Soviet Republic, standardization was key, and a strong emphasis was put on the mass production of tanks, rather than on a variety of vehicles as other nations tried.
Katyusha Rockets
During WWII, the Soviets became enamored with rocketry. Seeking mobile systems to indirectly rain destruction down on their enemies, they turned to multiple rocket launchers, nicknamed Katyusha. There were no self-propelled howitzers or mortars.
 SU-76 at a museum
The necessities of war forced them to create some self-propelled artillery. To challenge German tanks, the Soviets built a self-propelled anti-tank gun, the SU-76. Hastily designed and produced, it used a modified T-70 tank body and an adapted version of the ZIS-3 76mm gun. It went into action in early 1943 but had been too hastily made. Inadequate for taking on tanks, it was used instead as an infantry support vehicle.

Also based on a tank chassis, the ISU-122 and ISU-152 followed the SU-76 into the war. They were equipped with heavier guns enabling them to fulfill both anti-tank and artillery roles successfully.
As the Cold War began, those machines remained in service. With the USSR so focused on rocketry, it was not until the 1960s that the next generation of significant self-propelled artillery emerged.



An ISU-152 displayed at Karlshorst, Berlin, Germany. Photo: Franco Atirador / CC BY-SA 3.0

The reign of Nikita Khrushchev, another advocate for rocketry, ensured the dominance of rockets in the Soviet military up until the mid-1960s. Following his removal from office, the situation changed. The way was open for a wider variety of self-propelled artillery.
    
One of the most significant results was the 2S1 Gvozdika. A self-propelled howitzer, its first prototypes were made in 1969, and it entered service in 1970. The Gvozdika’s main armament was a 122mm howitzer, based on the D-30 towed howitzer. It provided greater mobility to an existing gun as well as greater protection for its crew. The howitzer could be angled for either direct or indirect fire, varying its usefulness.
The variety of options added to the Gvozdika showed how military vehicles had improved since WWII. As well as high explosives and smoke shells, it could discharge chemical ammunition or rounds that extended its 15.3km range to nearly 22km. It had infra-red equipment, different tracks depending on the terrain, and could be adjusted to make it shorter for transportation on aircraft.


Polish Land Forces Self-propelled howitzer 2S1 “Gvozdika” in artillery range.

A range of different self-propelled artillery weapons followed.
The 2S3 Akatsiya was another howitzer, this time carrying a 152mm gun. It combined a powerful engine with improvements in tracks and suspension to help it get around the battlefield. It was usually loaded using ammunition passed in from the outside through rear hatches. The 33 rounds carried inside the hull were kept for moments of necessity. It could fire a greater variety of rounds than the Gvozdika, including incendiary, flechette, and scatter mines. Later versions of the vehicle added more ammunition and a more advanced targeting system.

The 2S4 Ty ulpan’s main weapon was a 240mm mortar, carried on a chassis adapted from a minelaying vehicle. Before firing, the mortar was rotated on a hinge at the rear so that it rested on a base plate facing away from the vehicle. It was the first piece of Soviet self-propelled artillery to fire nuclear rounds.
Also introduced in the early 1970s, the 2S5 Giantsint-S was a vehicle with a 152mm artillery gun mounted on its roof. It could be fired both directly and indirectly and was again equipped with a range of rounds, as well as both direct and indirect sites. A large spade was deployed from the rear to make it more stable when firing.
The 2S7 Pion added a larger caliber 203mm self-propelled gun to the range. Entering service in 1975, it also carried a surface-to-air missile system. Like the 2S5, it had a rear-mounted spade to stabilize it when firing. It had a range of 37.5km or 47.5km with rocket-assisted ammunition.


2S7 Pion at Museum of Technics, Arkhangelskoye, Moscow Region. Photo: Dmitry A. Mottl / CC BY-SA 3.0

In 1981, a new and highly flexible self-propelled gun entered service – the 2S9 Nona. The Nona consisted of a 120mm gun/mortar mounted on the body of a BTR-D armored personnel carrier. It was amphibious, could be airdropped, and had protection against nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. It could be used for both direct and indirect fire, including anti-tank duty. While it’s maximum range of just under 9km was less impressive than some other artillery, it was a useful weapon.

In 1989, a replacement for the 2S3 and 2S5 came into service. It was the 2S19 Msta. It carried a 152mm howitzer with a maximum range of just under 25km. 50 rounds were kept inside the vehicle, although it was usually loaded with ammunition supplied from outside. A machine-gun and smoke grenade launchers provided extra protection.
Soviet-made vehicles were joined by the Czech vzor 77 Dana. With a 152mm self-propelled gun/howitzer, the Dana had an eight-wheeled chassis rather than a tracked one. It made it less mobile but cheaper and was considered adequate for its role serving from behind the lines.
By the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and its allies had a broad range of self-propelled artillery. Rockets remained important, but their days of relying on them were over.
Source:
Ian V. Hogg and John Weeks (1980), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Military Vehicles
Russell Phillips (2017), Tanks and Combat Vehicles of the Warsaw Pact

Friday, September 22, 2017

Military Humor

I shamelessly cribbed this off Facebook, I thought it was hilarious.


The military branches explained: the Army, Navy, and Marines are all brothers in a family. Army is the oldest and mom and dad made all their parenting mistakes with him. The Navy is the middle son, they're the explorers who left home and no one cared. The Marines are the youngest who mom and dad let do whatever they want and they still have an inferiority complex due to their small size.
Well, mom and dad got divorced once all the boys were grown. Mom got remarried to a rich guy and quickly gave birth to a fourth son, the Air Force. Now she loves him the most, showers him with the best toys, and buys him whatever he wants. When they go on vacation they fly first class, stay in 5 star hotels, and enjoy the finest meals. The air force is spoiled rotten and his three older brothers have bitter resentment toward him for this.
Finally there's the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is the rich step dad's son from his first marriage and none of the other brothers think or act like he's part of the family.
That's the best way to explain the various service branches and their internal dynamics.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Dereliction of Duty to the Military forces in the name of Political Correctness


I was reading from David Hackworth blog, here is a quick bio of Hack, David Haskell Hackworth (November 11, 1930 – May 4, 2005), also known as "Hack," was a prominent military journalist and a former United States Army colonel who was decorated in both the Korean War and Vietnam War. Hackworth is known for his role in the creation and command of Tiger Force, a military unit which was formed in South Vietnam to apply guerrilla warfare tactics against Viet Cong guerrilla fighters.
     You can read the rest of his bio on Wiki Here.

      I didn't agree with everything that Hack espoused especially the anti-nuclear stuff, he believed that we should disarm and the Soviet Union get a pass and I personally disagreed with him.  But the guy was a warrior, somebody that wins 10 silver stars for valor plus a myriad of other awards is worthy of respect.  He was always in the warfighters corner, and he had distain for the "perfumed Princes" that were more interested in their careers rather than taking care of the troops.   He was especially critical of Bill Clinton and his pushing a feminist agenda on the U.S Military to eradicate the last vestiges of testosterone in the American Society.  This comment was taken off his blog by the guy that updated the original. 

Original title - Dereliction of Duty – The Feather Merchants, Duds and Perfumed Princes that Sold out the US Military to Political Correctness
Dereliction of duty is a specific offense under United States Code Title 10, Section 892, Article 92 and applies to all branches of the US military. A service member who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties (or follow a given order) or has incapacitated himself in such a way that he cannot perform his duties. Article 92 also applies to service members whose acts or omissions rise to the level of criminally negligent behavior.
The US military is in Deep Kimchi. The US military is a non-military, military in 2017.
Since late 1991, the military has been attacked by leftists and militant feminists who were determined to transform the last bastion of masculinity in American society. With the help of traitorous enablers in the military and civilian government officials, their efforts have been more successful than their wildest dreams.
A Maoist cultural revolution has slowly engulfed the military, with the results that today’s US armed forces are totally feminized, led by perfumed princes, focused on things that have nothing to do with war fighting and in many regards, ill-prepared for combat on the high seas, on land and in the air.
The US military in 2017 is being largely run by senior leaders who believe the military is no different than a corporation, except the military has cool uniforms and high explosives. Hollywood values are now the norm and the spirit of the bayonet is no longer, kill, kill, kill; but, diversity.
Sure, we have cool technology, predator drones and nukes. Yes, the SEALs, when they’re not selling juicers or video games, are still eating glass and urinating napalm. Yes, there are still motivated troopers, and good NCO’s; but as a composite, competent, effective and lethal instrument of death to our enemies, the military is a shadow of its former greatness during the Cold War and in Desert Storm. This is not the military that Tom Clancy idolized and wrote about. It’s the military Claudia Kennedy and Patricia Schroeder wanted…and got.
In the last few years, the list of politically correct and socially engineered lunacy in the military seems like something out of a science fiction movie.
The nation has watched as male US Army ROTC cadets were ordered to parade around in red high heels to show their empathy towards rape victims. Soldiers from the Big Red One, the 1st Infantry Division, a unit that landed, fought and died on Omaha Beach (in addition to every other war in the 20th and 21st Century) were ordered to conduct physical training in pregnancy simulators to make men understand how difficult it is to exercise while pregnant. US service personnel were ordered to take white privilege classes, and training which instructed them that the Bible and the Constitution are sexist documents. The Secretary of the Army distributed a memorandum for record to worldwide commands, which instructed commanders to ‘balance lactation support and readiness.’ At Fort Benning, a conspiracy as grand as the Kennedy assassination ensured that three women, including a 37 year old mommy, graduated from Ranger School, a move which gave Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, the green light to authorize women to serve in the combat arms and special operations units. To brainwash an entire generation of young marines, so called ‘unconscious bias training’ is conducted at marine bases to try and convince young men that Mary Jane can hack it in combat with the Old Breed on Peleliu and Okinawa.
At the US Air Force Academy, a lesbian serves as the commandant of cadets. While a lesbian unfurls the colors in Colorado Spring, a veteran combat pilot and Air Force Major General is thrown out of the service for telling a subordinate that he was ‘drunker than 10,000 Indians.’
In the Navy, 16 out of every 100 females are medically evacuated from ships because of pregnancies. In fact, a baby was born on board the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower last September. The Navy smoke and mirrors unit went into action immediately. The idea of a baby being born on a US ship of war was looked at as something normal and the Navy even said they were happy to welcome a new member of the Navy family.
Good God. Raymond Spruance is rolling in his grave.
Meanwhile, the 7th Fleet is still reeling from the Fat Leonard Scandal and is having problems navigating at sea. Collisions in the last year have cost the lives of 17 sailors. In the 5th Fleet last year, a young navy officer willingly surrendered his crews and craft to outgunned Iranian thugs. When in captivity, the young officer continued to violate every tenet of the Code of Conduct, by thanking the Iranians for their hospitality, while one of his men weeped openly on camera like a guest on Oprah.
In the army, senior leaders, realizing that they have no armored or mechanized skills left in the force are desperately trying to turn the army of none overnight into the army that won the Cold War and Desert Storm. Good luck.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un seems to have figured out that our missile defense might just very well be full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.
How did all this happen and who’s responsible?
The demise of the US military essentially started the day the Gulf War ended. The war, which had all the nastiness of war from the past, was seen by the public as a video game, where the enemy just laid down their arms and surrendered en masse. War was now clean and bloodless. Sergeant Stryker was no longer needed to storm the ash laden hills of Iwo Jima. Suzie Q could kill the enemy at stand-off ranges by merely pushing buttons.
And, so the feminist fantasies, the PC madness and the social engineering insanity commenced.
Then there was Tailhook…
The Tailhook Affair took place in September of 1991, when Navy and Marine Corps aviators at the yearly convention in Las Vegas were accused of drinking and lewd behavior. Feminists in Congress and in the Beltway saw their moment to wreak havoc on the military’s masculine culture. Tailhook became a feminist slaughterhouse, where hundreds of seasoned and exceptional US Navy and Marine Corps officers, including Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Frank Kelso, were keel-hauled by the Navy for drinking, carousing, indecent conduct and drummed up charges of sexual assault. Imagine that, aviators who drink and get laid; can’t have that in the military.
In a 1992 Newsweek article on Tailhook, the writer states, “It won’t be easy changing the macho atmosphere of the Navy, which has lagged behind the other services in addressing sexual harassment.”
God knows we wouldn’t want macho military people in the military; the hell with Sergeant York and Chris Kyle. Send in Nathan Lane and Liberace…
Actually, it was pretty easy to change the macho environment of the Navy. All you had to do was s-can all the warriors and gradually fill the ranks with powder puff leaders who are PC wallflowers; the result, a surface navy that can’t sail from one end of the lagoon on Gilligan’s Island to the other.
The following is a list of some of those responsible for the current state of the military. There are many others, hundreds; the criminally negligent feather merchants, duds and perfumed princes who sold out the military to political correctness and the let the armed forces be socially engineered into the fiasco we have today:
The Tailhook witch hunt was conducted by Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Barbara S. Pope, who, along with Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder are the first villains in the death of the US military. Pope chaired an ad hoc committee that not only reexamined the roles of women in the military, but put political pressure on President Bill Clinton to make drastic changes in US military policy, which included assigning women as combat pilots in the US military and allowing women to serve on Navy ships, two actions which contributed to the lack of readiness and the lack of fighting spirit we see in the Air Force and Navy today. Schroeder had been a left wing lunatic and advocate of women in combat for years while serving in Congress. Of course, she, like Pope had actually never been within ten thousand miles of a combat zone.
The liberal and feminist militants in the Pentagon and in the Beltway had an ally in the Great Draft Dodger, President Bill Clinton, who saw the military as a great place to conduct social experiments.
In 1994, women were also authorized to serve in support units in the army that they had traditionally been banned from because the units supported the combat arms. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Shalikashvili, looked on and said nothing.
During the 1990’s Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, was a vocal advocate for women to serve in combat positions in the army, although she herself had never been near any shot and shell. Kennedy’s most famous quote and one which still reverberates through the tattered army today was ‘this is not your father’s army.’
No, it sure as hell isn’t and that’s a big, big problem.
Before out-processing from the lean green machine in 2000, Kennedy accused a fellow general officer of sexual harassment. After all, she’s a feminist. She currently serves as chairwoman of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services and is a menace to the military.
Nine years after Tailhook and an onslaught of feminist led policies had already shot holes in the military, my old boss at Soldiers for the Truth, the late Colonel David Hackworth, wrote about the ridiculous coddling of young army recruits at Fort Jackson in a 2000 article titled, ‘The March of the Porcelain Soldiers.’ Hack had travelled to ‘Relaxin’ Jackson himself and saw the effects of nine years of the post Desert Storm army. He wasn’t impressed.
In 2001, with a conservative back in the White House, you would have thought that things might revert back to pre-1991 days. Vice President Dick Cheney, who had served as Secretary of Defense knew the score. He had read the reports indicating how poorly coed units in Desert Storm had performed compared to the rock ‘em, sock ‘em all male combat arms units that won the war in 100 hours.
During the Iraq War, to propagate the fantasy of women fighting in combat, the Jessica Lynch fairy tale was written by feminists in the Pentagon. Lynch’s convoy was ambushed in Iraq in 2003. The feminist propaganda machine went into full swing. She was reportedly fighting like John Wayne, Nick Rowe and Henry V combined as she killed multiple enemy soldiers. She was awarded the Bronze Star and her rescue from the hospital was practically directed by Ridley Scott. In actuality, when the ambush started, Lynch was unable to chamber her M-16 because it was dirty. Her vehicle soon crashed, knocking her out. Subsequently, she was taken prisoner and treated in an Iraqi hospital that was largely empty when Lynch was rescued. She will go down in history as the only US soldier to received a Bronze Star for getting cold cocked.
Jessica Lynch will be the first person to tell you she was completely used by perfumed princesses in the Pentagon.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan raged, nothing was done to change anything that had taken place in the Pentagon during the Clinton years.
The die was cast…
The election of President Barack Obama in 2008, would ignite leftists and feminists in the Pentagon, in Congress and in the Beltway to finish a job they had started in 1991. Obama’s mission was to not only fundamentally change America into a socialist country, but to turn the military into a Bob Fosse musical with C4.
No one was more responsible for allowing the military to be destroyed during the Obama years more than General Martin Dempsey. Dempsey, who was referred to as ‘an echo chamber of the Obama administration’, was the virtual captain of the Pentagon Titanic, who stood on the bridge calmly as the US military sank into the Potomac. Under Dempsey’s watch, open homosexuality was authorized, rules of engagement that got troops killed in Afghanistan continued, along with the myriad of absurd sensitivity and diversity training, the collapse of the army’s armor and mechanized capabilities, while the Obama administration shifted money and focus away from missile defense as Dempsey said nothing.
One of those responsible for the abysmal state of the US Navy now is former Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, who was THE WORST SECRETARY OF THE NAVY IN US HISTORY. Mabus was a one man social engineering wrecking ball. During his tenure, the Navy lost ships and quality leaders while the Marine Corps received a new Orwellian gender neutral dictionary and Soviet style ‘unconsious bias training.’ In an OPED to the Washington Post, Mabus wrote that he believed women should serve in combat because he once watched four female marines negotiate a six foot wall.
Obama’s willing executioner to implement every single PC directive was none other than Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Carter opened all combat positions in the US military to women in 2016, and with the help of Ray Mabus, completely ignored the Marines’ 36 million dollar study which said in no uncertain terms that all male units perform much better in combat simulated situations than all female and coed units.
After Dempsey escaped from the Pentagon Titanic in a lifeboat down the Potomac, he was replaced by General ‘Fighting Joe’ Dunford, who is clearly against women serving in combat, but never said so publicly, or resigned his commission in protest. Dunford’s silence helped no one except Dunford and his pension.
In the summer of 2015, the former Secretary of the Army, John McHugh conspired with Major General Scott Miller, the commander of Fort Benning, to graduate several women from Ranger School. McHugh ignored repeated attempts from Congressman Steve Russell to present school records for the three women who were passed through at Fort Benning. Major General Scott Miller, a former member of Delta Force and a veteran of combat in Mogandishu, sold his soul to political correctness by ensuring that there were female graduates from the army’s toughest training. Stories of special coddling for the women, including showers, special diets, unlimited attempts to pass the course and pre, pre Ranger training held at Fort Carson, led many to believe that something was indeed rotten at Fort Benning; along with the fact that the three female graduates looked very plump on graduation day, when most men lose 40 to 60 pounds. To this day, Congressman Russell has never seen the green cards (Ranger School transcripts) for the three women.
In Congress, Congresswoman Marth McSally, a former A-10 pilot and a feminist Kool Aid consumer, has been a strong supporter of women to serve in ground combat units and MOS’ even though she has never experienced ground combat herself.
Others members of Congress that are vocal and obnoxious supporters for women to serve in combat, but who know nothing of combat, or the military in general are Congresswoman Kristen Gillibrand and Senator Claire McCaskill.
Then there’s General Mattis…
Mattis has largely been all talk and very little action. He has done nothing to reverse any of the Obama era directives except for the transgender issue, in which he was ordered to by the President.
The jury is still out on General Mattis.
Those mentioned, as said, are only a smattering of the hundreds of self-serving military bureaucrats and politicians who sold out the armed forces because they were more concerned about their pensions, PX benefits, Tricare and post career salaries than about the soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen and women.
Anyone who has served, particularly in the army or marines, knows the phrase, ‘The Mission and the Men; first the military’s main mission – to train for war, to be prepared for war and to win those wars. Second, the men and the women that serve in the military need to know that their leaders and particularly those at the top are making decisions that will ensure that they have the best chance to survive training, and more importantly combat. Our senior leaders are most importantly in charge of people’s lives. Their actions affect whether your son or daughter comes home in a box or not.
Frankly, it’s more than obvious that a majority of the nation’s senior military leaders, senior defined as anyone wearing a star, haven’t given a damn about the troops for a long time. It’s been all about soothing feminist fantasies, placating some idiot in Congress who doesn’t know a FROG-7 from a F-14 and following along with social engineering that any fool with half a brain knows is plain old insanity.
Should these people be prosecuted for criminal negligence, aka, dereliction of duty? Can they be? Through their actions, for whatever motivation, they have put not only the lives of US military personnel in danger, but the nation itself.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Trumps Speech to the UN, brilliantly executed




  I caught President Trumps Speech to the UN yesterday and it was a traditional President Trump speech but it also explained the roles of the United States, the duty of the President to protect the citizens of the United States and he mentioned several problem rogue states from North Korea, Iran, a and Venezuela.  And the quote he used for Venezuela was " A place where socialism didn't fail, but was faithfully executed" was brilliant.
     I was flying home from Florida after visiting my brother whom was back from Afghanistan, I was walking in the airport and saw that CNN No Surprise giving airtime to Hillary to comment refute President Trumps speech at the UN.

  I was irritated, I wish that she would just go away but the #The Resistance keeps her in the limelight in hopes that they can revive  her political fortune.
     Trumps response to Hillary's criticism of his speech
It was her and Bills inattention that created the North Korea's problems, they sold missile guidance technology to the Chinese in 1996 in exchange for campaign cash for Bills Reelection campaign.  I remember a guy named Lee that was a bundler with the Red Chinese and he was the go-between.  Lee got sent to prison and Bill campaign staff skated.  Funny how that works.

    Several more blogs that I read have dropped off the network...I wonder when it will stop or will the digital long knives continue....

     Also I really, really Really Hate reCAPcha..    

3 best things in life

I have been quoting "Conan" since the early 80's when I first saw the movie.  I really though it was a catchy quote.



   I have modified it somewhat when dealing with my scouts, I would use the term,
                        "Crush your enemies...See them driven off the campfield and hear the lamentation of their scoutmasters."

     What can I say, I have a weird sense of humor.
    And here is something for the modern political scene...

Monday, September 18, 2017

Monday Music "Der Kommisar" by Falco and After the Fire

I remember both versions when they hit MTV, you know the station that used to play music during the 80's.  Well I did like both songs, I remember one of the MTV VJ's I think it was Mark Goodman that told us that Falco wrote the songs, but After the Fire version was more popular.  I guess it was due to the vagaries of the American market.  Well I always associated the songs in my teenage mind with the "Commisar" as it related to the Soviet Union and the communist system.  In that system, the Kommisar directly represented the party and the face of the party to the average Soviet citizen.   Funny how my mind worked.  I suppose even back then I hated communism and what it represented.  




"Der Kommissar" is a song first recorded by Falco in Austria in 1981, covered a year later by After the Fire. Originally written by Robert Ponger and Falco, the Falco version reached the top of the charts in many countries.
After the Fire's version featured English lyrics by the band's Andy Piercy. The song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.




"Der Kommissar" ("the commissioner" or police captain) was originally written by producer Robert Ponger for Reinhold Bilgeri. Bilgeri turned it down as he felt the song was too soft, so Falco reworked the song for himself instead.
Falco wanted to release "Helden von heute" as the main side (A-side), but the record company wanted "Der Kommissar" to be released, because they felt it had more potential. The record company decided upon a double A-side release and was vindicated when "Der Kommissar" reached No. 1 in German-speaking countries in January 1982. After this success, Falco's management decided to release "Der Kommissar" (as an A-side) in other countries as well.
In the United States and the United Kingdom, Falco's hit didn't fare as well, despite topping charts throughout Europe and Scandinavia during spring and summer 1982. In the summer of 1982 the British rock band After the Fire recorded an English version of the song, also called "Der Kommissar", and released it as a single, but the record floundered. Coming off a tour opening for Van Halen, After the Fire was working on material for a new album when in December 1982 the group announced onstage during a concert that they were disbanding. Both the After the Fire and Falco versions were rising on the Canadian charts at the time, but neither had cracked the US pop charts. Around that time, American pop singer Laura Branigan began working on her second album, and recorded a new song written over the melody and arrangement of "Der Kommissar", called "Deep in the Dark", which was prepared for release, when the After the Fire version finally hit the US charts (Hot 100) on February 22, 1983, and started rising. Though the UK band's version barely nicked their home country's Top 50, in 1983 the song ultimately rose to No. 5 in the US, where their music video was an MTV hit.
The song entered the American Top 40 on March 5, 1983, peaked at No. 5, and remained in the Top 40 for a total of 14 weeks. The single was released under the Epic label, with a catalog number of 03559. Amidst all this renewed attention to the composition, Falco's own version, which had done well in some US markets but not charted nationally, was re-released, but the German-language record remained essentially a novelty hit there, charting concurrently with the After the Fire version but not rising above No. 78.
In Canada, Falco's version had peaked at No. 11 the same late-January week that After the Fire's version peaked at No. 12. After the Fire's record company, CBS, pleaded with the band to regroup, but to no avail. While UK promos for "Deep in the Dark" were pressed (the After the Fire version missed the UK top 40 and the Falco version didn't even chart there), Branigan's record company, Atlantic, officially released "Solitaire" in the U.S., where that song went to No. 7.


"Der Kommissar" / "Helden von heute" is a double-A-side single by Falco released in Austria and Germany in December 1981. "Der Kommissar" reached the top of the charts in many countries. The song recorded for other side of the record, the pop-rock "Helden von heute" ("heroes of today"), is a tribute to David Bowie's "Heroes". It was recorded in Berlin, Germany; Falco claimed in an interview that he went to Berlin to follow the "tracks" left there by David Bowie, with his albums "Heroes" and Low.
In the official music video for "Der Kommissar" released in the United States, Falco flees from the police, with several police cars in the background. Another music video for the Falco single released in Europe also exists.
"Der Kommissar (The Commissioner)" only reached No. 74 in the US Cash Box Charts in 1983 and did not even chart in the UK, but Falco would break through with major hits in those countries two albums later, with "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Vienna Calling" in 1986. Updated remixes of "Der Kommissar" were released by Falco in 1991, 1998, and posthumously in 2008.
 After the Fire Version
After the Fire (or ATF) are a British rock band that transitioned from playing progressive rock to new wave over their initial twelve-year career, while having only one hit in the United States ("Der Kommissar") and one hit in the United Kingdom ("One Rule For You")


Sunday, September 17, 2017

3 rules for avoiding Poverty( Or the Poor House)

I am out of town and my posting will be irregular so I decided to post some old posts that have some nuggets of wisdom.   This one I did back in 2015.  I may post some stuff about the AIRPORT disaster movies perhaps later on. 


3 rules for not being in Poverty.

  I used to listen to a radio talk show host named Neil Boortz, until he retired a couple of years ago.  he used to talk many times on his show about the "3 rules for avoiding poverty".  He equated poverty with a mental illness, for barring a mental issue or physical disability you can avoid poverty by following 3 rules.



    Rule number 1. Get an education, any education...make an attempt to better yourself.  Learn all you can while you can, you will be surprised how far it will take you.  When you get an education, even at work, you are making an attempt to improve yourself and things like that are noticed by the bosses and it might open up opportunities.  Learning takes work and you would be surprised how many people are too lazy to continue learning, then they wonder why they no longer earn more and move up.  If you quit learning, you will stagnate and then move backwards because there are people coming up that are hungry and you will find yourself obsolete and unemployed and wondering what happened.

Rule Number 2.  Get a job, any job..work it until you find a better job.  While you are working your job, always look for opportunities to better yourself at work, learn how the process works, make the extra step to learn all facets of the job, become indispensable to your employer.  Or if you really don't like the job, work it hard, learn about it and look for a better job.  You keep working for the better job.  While you are at it, keep on learning so you don't become expendable and replaceable.  Form good work habits, always come to work a bit early.  it doesn't hurt to get ahead of the power curve for your job.  It also shows that you are enthusiastic about your work and that is noticeable.

Rule Number 3  Don't get pregnant.  This rule applies to both girls and guys.  For girls, getting pregnant early unless they are lucky and have a great family structure in place, will be trapped in a cycle of poverty.  Sure they get benefits from the government, but the money they get is just enough to keep them trapped in a continuous cycle.  "Why work when I get money from Uncle Sugar." they sell their dreams and soul for an EBT card.  Once the baby arrives, it will be difficult to continue getting an education to improve themselves and they will be trapped where they are or even slide into a worse situation than they have now.  I remembered this girl in high school, she wanted to get into NASA, and become an astronaut.  She was brilliant and we could see her making it.  But she got pregnant and had to drop out in the 11th grade.  A few years later I was working at Domino's Pizza after graduating high school and a year of college then ran out of money.  I was delivering pizza as I was making ready to join the Army for the G.I. bill so I can go back to school.  Well I was delivering a pizza to a dilapidated trailer and this same girl came to the door.  I immediately recognized her and asked her how it was going.  She told me that she had her baby and was pregnant again.  I then asked her " where is your husband?"  She commented that he was probably at the bar getting drunk.  I continued to make small talk for a few minuted then I left.  I had an epiphany as I was leaving.  Where she is now is the highpoint of her existence.  It is a slide to grinding poverty from here and I was a bit bummed.   This rules also works with guys, if you get a girl pregnant, you also are responsible and you will have a 18 year commitment and if you and the girl break up, expect to have child support and possible garnishments to deal with.  Rather than going to school to get a higher education, you have to enter the work force at a lower paying job to make ends meet and your dreams are on hold perhaps indefinitely.
     If you follow these rules and apply a modicum of common sense, you should be able to avoid the lower  parts of the economic ladder.  

    P.S  I Hate reCAPsha....It is never just 1 page, when you have to go through multiple to post something on a fellow bloggers excellent post.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Friday Musings

Well my package that I had ordered 4 weeks ago finally came in....Yay!

I was excited, I have been having 1.5 AR pattern rifles for a while and I have been needing to go ahead and make 2 rifles.
I quickly put the lower where I wanted.  I toyed with the idea of putting the original buttstock back on the rifle,you can see the size difference from the A1 stock and the A2 stock.  I finally decided to keep the A2 stock because there is a big difference in the plastic used from the A1 and the A2, the A2 is far more durable and less likely to break.
I put my M60 sling back on the rifle like I used to have back when I was in the service.  I have a M203 sling attachment on the barrel on both of the rifles.  Now as my "new" rifle, I have a 3 point sling, but it don't work well so I have to find a new sling that will go with the rifle.   I look at the rifles and it dawned on me that there is like 40 years of technological improvements from the original rifle to the present.

    I also found a receipt when I had my .45 modified in Germany for the competition shooting I used to do.  The same 45 that got stolen back in 1992 when the thugs broke into my F150 to steal it along with the watch that my dad had given me that he had picked up in Vietnam on his second tour.
    I also have some Flight attendant humor that I had gotten from various means ...
 And this one was very good, I got a laugh out of it.

I will add this...I hate reCAPcha.....Just saying.