I am listening to the Sirius/XM play down the best music from the 1980's, I got off work a bit early so I can get on the computer. I have some interesting thoughts for the new year.
2020 besides sounding like an old News show promises to be an interesting year, first off I would like to see Trump reelected, and watch the snowflakes really melt down.
Seriously I wish you and yours a Happy and fruitful New Year full of Joy, family and fellowship
From me and mine....
And one more thing....
I am continuing my run of "Bugaloo" songs....You know when you happen to look outside or check your home security camera and you see this forming up...
You decide either to surrender or...fight...so you get ready and load the music as you get ready..
This discussion was mentioned at "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite" on Facebook. People were mentioning their "Bugaloo song" as it were. So I am playing a selection of them for the past few Mondays. I loaded this into the scheduler thingie in Mid November and this song is scheduled to Post in late December.
Kiss is a favorite song of Mine, in college, my roommate had his boombox set to go off before reveille. I was at a Military College so I was involved in the ROTC program. Well the song would start off kinda Low and gradually pick up a crescendo. Excellent song to wake up to.
The song is one of the band's most popular and is a classic rock staple. It is also seen as one of the more technical songs musically in the band's canon. The guitar solo is famous for its flamenco style and being a duet between Stanley and Ace Frehley, it has since been a large influence on rock music and heavy metal, in particular Iron Maiden and Pantera.
The song, recorded and released as a single in 1976, was the third single from Kiss's album Destroyer and was planned to be their last in support of the album. As a single, it did poorly in sales and radio play (other than in Detroit), and failed to chart in the U.S. even though it would prove to be a fan favorite. It came as a surprise that the B-side "Beth", a ballad written and sung by drummer Peter Criss, wound up catching on in different markets in the United States, so the single was reissued with "Beth" as the A-side and "Detroit Rock City" as the B-side.
While the song briefly references Detroit, the real-life incident
which inspired the lyric evidently did not take place there. "I had the
basic riff of the song, the 'Get up, get down' part," Stanley recalls,
"but I didn't know what the song was about except it was about Detroit.
And then I remembered on the previous tour, I think it was in Charlotte,
somebody had gotten hit by a car and killed outside the arena. I
remember thinking how weird it is that people's lives end so quickly.
People can be on their way to something that's really a party and a
celebration of being alive and die in the process of doing it. So that
became the basis for the lyric."
On Destroyer, the song segues into "King of the Night Time
World", via the sounds of a car crash. The songs were played together
on the Destroyer tour.
During the Rock And Roll Over tour, Stanley changed the
lyric, "I know I'm gonna die, why?" to "I know I'm gonna die, and I
don't care!" The song was #6 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs and is
featured on the album Heavy Metal – The First 20 Years. "Detroit Rock City" was based on an earlier song that Kiss performed only in concert called "Acrobat".
Well Christmas has gone and Santa brought my son a Kayak and some other stuff.
He likes the Kayak and you can fish from it, that is what he really likes from it because he likes to fish. My dad likes to fish and my son does, but I don't care for it, I guess the fishing gene missed a generation.
He bought some headlights for his truck and we installed them along with some LED lights.
Here he is moving the adjustment brackets from the old housings to the new housings, this allow the headlights to pretty much already set when you install them rather than have to adjust them again...and again....and again... I learned that trick a long time ago.
The first headlight installed.
Both headlights installed, the truck looks totally different than it did when we got it. My son is stoked, he is planning on more stuff.
Looks totally different.
I bought some "door guard" strip, to protect my doors on my truck.
"Door Guard"
I had plenty left over so I went ahead and had a brilliant thought.....
Remember those visor thingies that you see on TV to help you see at night or in really bright light.
"Tac Visor". As seen on TV kinda thing...?
Well I like mine but I get fingerprints all over it flipping it up or down, depending on the condition,
What it looks like in my truck
The Night version, with the "door Guard" to keep fingerprints off of it.
Daylight version I use when the sun is directly in my eyes when I am driving.
Disregard the very cluttered garage, most of those boxes are Christmas decoration boxes. Santa did bring me a set of Bushnell Binoculars and some ammo. I will try next week to torment Mack at his place of employment and see how the Beretta pistol and the Hipoint carbine run. I also have a cold air intake coming in for my truck so I will post about that when it happens.
The liberals are in a tizzy, having all these counties declaring themselves "2nd Amendment Sanctuaries" really have their panties in a bunch. I suppose they expected no blowback from the "sanctuary cities for illegal immigration". Whats good for the goose is good for the gander but they don't see it that way. Apparently only the left can be activist. If the right does it, it is evil, breaks the rule of law,supports nazi's and other complaints.
Speaking of doubling down on stupid, the governor and the AG of Virginia is continuing their attempts to gut the 2nd amendment in their state. There are a slew of antigun bills and plus a bunch of other wet dreams that the democrats want from sticking it to the police and more green new deals. Also they increased the budget for the corrections dept for all the gun owners they plan on locking up for defiance. You can't have the hoi Pelloi talking back and sassing their betters you know.
Also the governor wants to increase bringing in more refugees and sticking them in white affluent neighborhoods. There is a movement to break up the nuclear family and the single family middle class homes. If you live in a single use home, you are racist, bigot. Apparently they want to move everyone to huge apartment buildings where it is easier to control for the benefit of the environment. But somehow the neighborhoods where the "connected live" will be exempt. This is part of the movement to break the middle class. I have discussed the movement to punish The Middle Class, the new "Kulaks".
The liberals in Richmond and around D.C have no idea what they are trying to do, the meme I just posted is very accurate and the people will push back. The blue state clowns are waving a lit match around a puddle of gasoline and it ain't gonna take much to start it off.
I have heard rumblings of other blue state governers sending their national guards to help is "restoring Law and order" in Virginia if it goes sideway. I wonder how many federal laws will be broken by such an action and I can't really see a bunch of guardsmen from other states being all froggy to jump in to a hornets nest.
Still recovering from Christmas. My son got some parts to mod his truck and I will post those in a day or 2 also. I have every intent of avoiding any retail establishment on this day.
I have heard of the Oriskany and of course of the Forrestal Fire. I have a book in my library that talked about the Forrestal fire and it is a very good book. It did explain a few things I didn't know.
I had picked up in some bargain bin a long time ago and it was very well done and researched. I had learned a lot about it. I heard something about a fire on the U.S.S Enterprise(CVN-65) Fires on a ship is a very big deal, that is usually what sinks them. The Lessons of the Forrestal are still taught at Naval shipboard schools.
Aircraft carriers may “rule the seas,” but even they do not have
immunity from disasters at sea. To quote the 1973 U.S. Navy training
film Trial By Fire: A Carrier Fights for Life, “Yet for all
this vast strength, as real as it is apparent, a carrier at sea is extremely vulnerable since her striking arm requires the use of exotic
fuels and powerful weapons. She is forced to carry with her the
potential for her own destruction. It’s all around her, on and below
decks, waiting—waiting for a miscue, a careless error, or a tragic
accident.”
Since the members of a ship’s crew are human like anyone else, when
thousands of souls embark on a carrier they have no choice but to put
their lives in their shipmates’ hands. They have to trust the rules and
procedures designed to best mitigate the hazards of such a dangerous
environment.
There is no telling how many times sailors on board an aircraft
carrier have flirted with disaster, and simply been lucky. During the
1960’s, as the Vietnam War brought American sailors into major combat
conditions for the first time since the Korean War, three aircraft
carriers were not so lucky.
Oriskany (foreground) and her sister Bonhomme Richard conducting operations in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1970 Oriskany was no stranger to fire during combat operations.
During the Korean War, a “hung” bomb on a F4U Corsair fighter broke
loose and exploded as the aircraft landed, killing 2 and injuring 14
sailors. But that paled in comparison to the conflagration that struck
the ship 13 years later. Oriskany had been at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin
since early July 1966, conducting airstrikes against North Vietnam. On
October 27, a three-foot-long magnesium parachute flare somehow ignited
while a sailor was handling it in the ship’s hangar bay. The sailor
reportedly panicked and threw the flare, burning at 5,400ยบ F, back into
the “flare locker,” a space which held at least 700 more flares. Those
also ignited, resulting in an explosion that blasted open the locker’s
steel bulkheads.
Oriskany on fire
The explosion itself, the chemical fire, and the suffocating smoke
from the burning magnesium—which cannot be put out with water, rendering
the hangar bay sprinkler system useless—caused 38 sailors to be
injured, 3 aircraft destroyed, and 3 aircraft damaged.
Trial by Fire "A carrier fights for survival.
Worse, 43 sailors died, mostly pilots who had been sleeping in nearby
staterooms when the explosion occurred, and succumbed while trapped by
the intense heat and smoke. Oriskany was forced to depart to San Francisco Bay Naval
Shipyard to repair the extensive damage. She would return to the combat
zone in July 1967.
An F-8 Crusader intercepts a Tu-95 “Bear-D”. Oriskany, from which the F-8 launched, can be seen in the background. Oriskany arrived back at Yankee Station in time to be witness to, and aid in, a shipboard disaster that far eclipsed her own. The Forrestal fire marks the second worst loss of life on a Navy ship after World War II. Forrestal had arrived in theater just six days previously
and was beginning her fifth day of airstrikes against North Vietnam.
Many factors united to create the deadly conditions that led to tragedy.
For instance, some ordnance handlers followed loose procedures that
violated Navy safety regulations. Some equipment had material
deficiencies. Also, due to a shortage of Mk-83 bombs, the Navy supplied Forrestal with badly deteriorated AN-M65 1,000-lb bombs left over from the Korean War.
The
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CV-59) underway at sea in
1987. Various aircraft of Carrier Air Wing 6 (CVW-6) are visible on deckA major factor was that, aside from the sailors who had been
specially trained as firefighters, most of the crew and especially the
air wing were generally ignorant of proper shipboard firefighting and
damage control procedures.
World War II had proven the value of training all sailors to fight
fires, but the practice had lapsed over the years. On top of that,
damage control equipment had not been sufficiently updated over time to
keep pace with changing combat conditions.
A
port bow view of the aircraft carrier USS FORRESTAL (CV 59) passing
through a rainbow while underway in the North Atlantic Ocean during
Exercise TEAM WORK’88.That fateful day, 27 aircraft were staged on Forrestal‘s
flight deck, fully fueled and bristling with various bombs, missiles,
rockets, and 20 mm ammunition. Everyone was busily preparing for an
11:00 AM launch. But at 10:51, a power surge in an F-4 Phantom triggered
the inadvertent firing of one of the Phantom’s Zuni rockets.
The flash from the rocket was recorded by the ship’s Pilot Landing
Aid Television (PLAT) camera. The Zuni crossed the flight deck and
struck an A-4 Skyhawk 100 feet away, rupturing its 400-gallon fuel tank
and igniting the spilling fuel.
An A-4 Skyhawk burns shortly after its fuel tank was struck by a Zuni missile.
In the blink of an eye, flames engulfed several aircraft. Future
Senator John McCain, back then a Naval aviator, managed to escape from
his own A-4 as Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Gerald Farrier began
fighting the fire with a Purple-K canister, trying to help other pilots
who were trapped in the flames. McCain got away in the nick of time, as
the AN-M65 bombs too quickly yielded their devastating payload.
Words fail to succinctly describe the horror of the catastrophic
chain reaction of explosions. The first bomb “cooked off” a mere 90
seconds after the fire began. At least 8 explosions wiped out two
firefighting teams and tore gaping holes in the flight deck, and the
fire raged out of control. Burning jet fuel poured into the holes and
down the sides of the ship, expanding the fire to multiple decks below.
The
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) underway off the
Philippines on 12 August 1967. This photo was taken approximately three
weeks after fires and explosions damaged the ship off Vietnam on 29 July
1967.
When the explosions subsided, Forrestal‘s sailors heroically
set out to save their ship, and finally extinguished the last of the
flames at 4 AM the next day. Unfortunately, their lack of training in
some cases caused more trouble. Foam hose teams spread protective foam
only to see water hose teams wash it away. Water hose teams also caused
additional damage by unnecessarily flooding spaces untouched by the
fire.
In the end, the casualties were 134 killed, 161 injured, 20 aircraft destroyed, and $72 million in damage to the ship. Forrestal was effectively knocked out of the Vietnam War, and would take 2 years to repair. USS Forrestal (CV-59) underway on trials, 29 September 1955, just prior to commissioning The video recording of the inferno from Forrestal‘s PLAT camera was incorporated into the previously mentioned Trial By Fire
film. For years afterward, countless sailors watched it as part of
training classes. The Navy named its new firefighting school in Norfolk
in honor of Chief Farrier, immortalized as “the Chief with the Purple-K”
in the film.
The Navy made many changes to its policies and damage control
equipment as a direct result of the fire. Most notably, firefighting and
damage control training became mandatory for crew-members on every Navy
ship.
An aerial starboard beam view of the aircraft carrier USS FORRESTAL (CV-59) underway.
A Zuni rocket was once again the catalyst the third time disaster struck
an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. This time, it was Enterprise that relived an experience similar to Forrestal‘s: 8 major explosions and a raging fire. Enterprise, however, saw some significant differences.
Unlike Oriskany or Forrestal, Enterprise
was not in a combat situation. She was near Hawaii, in the middle of
what probably many sailors would agree was the second worst time to have
a disastrous fire onboard—an Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI).
The
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) underway returning
to the United States from Western Pacific cruise that included the
evacuation of Saigon16 armed aircraft were scheduled to launch at 8:30 AM. Around 8:15,
according to the Navy JAG investigation afterward, “an MD-3A jet
aircraft starter unit was positioned on the starboard side of an
F-4J…such that its exhaust outlet was in line with and within
twenty-four inches of a loaded LAU-10 ZUNI rocket launcher mounted on
the starboard wing of the aircraft.”
Although several people, including one of the ORI inspectors,
observed the exhaust from the improperly parked “huffer” heating the
rockets, no one took definite action. An overheated rocket exploded,
beginning the exact same chain reaction that had occurred on Forrestal: punctured fuel tanks spilled fuel that ignited, which in turn detonated ordnance.
Sailors aboard Enterprise battle a huge ordnance fire triggered by a Zuni rocket. 14 January 1969As with Forrestal, holes blown in the flight deck allowed burning fuel to enter the interior of the ship. But thanks to Forrestal, nearly all of Enterprise‘s ship’s company and the majority of its embarked air wing had been trained in firefighting, which proved invaluable.
Another major difference in Enterprise‘s case is that the
modern bombs involved did not detonate immediately, buying time for
sailors to jettison other ordnance near the fire. The Captain turned the
ship so that the wind blew the flames clear of undamaged aircraft,
which also helped prevent the fire from spreading across the flight
deck. By 11:38, all fires were extinguished. Sailors from the destroyer Rogers use their on board hoses to assist with the firefighting efforts aboard Enterprise Enterprise‘s casualties were 27 dead and 371 injured. Damage
to the ship was estimated to be over $10 million. In addition, 15
aircraft were destroyed and 17 damaged, costing another estimated $44
million.
The investigative report concluded that “sound damage control
organization, training and execution minimized casualties and prevented
the initial fire from spreading beyond the Fly Three area of the flight
deck to any significant degree.” The report also indicated, however,
that flight deck personnel were still largely deficient in knowledge of
weapons specifics, such as their cook-off times.
View of Enterprise’s stern during the fire, January 1969Mishaps, some fatal, inevitably still occur on carriers. USS Nimitz
(CVN 68) in 1981 experienced a similar fuel and ordnance fire as the
carriers of the 60’s, although on a smaller scale. But overall, the
“lessons learned” in the 60’s resulted in improved policies, procedures,
and equipment that have been largely effective at preventing a repeat. Forrestal particularly was a milestone in the Navy’s change of approach toward firefighting.
The
aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and embarked Carrier Air Wing
(CVW) 11 transits into San Diego prior to mooring at Naval Air Station
North IslandHowever, the “entirely preventable” 2008 fire aboard USS George Washington
(CVN 73) was a grim reminder that even the most ironclad regulations
and procedures can sometimes be no match for fatigue, laziness,
ignorance, or haste, not to mention freak accidents. George Washington‘s fire, which originated below decks and
fortunately did not involve weapons, resulted in $70 million in damages
and 37 sailors injured, but no fatalities. In wartime, as other carriers
can attest, adding weapons and aviation fuel to any of those human
factors can make the outcome far more deadly.
Well I figured I would run out a Christmas song for Monday Music and I
always liked "little Drummer Boy with David Bowie and Bing Crosby. To
me this song plays well with their own music strength and is one of the
best known and unusual duets in Music history...Think about it Bing
Crosby, the classic crooner and Ziggie Stardust. Whodda thunk it?
But they played well together and created in instant classic. This
song and one other are my favorite Christmas Songs.
"Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" (sometimes titled "The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth") is a Christmas song with an added counterpoint performed by David Bowie and Bing Crosby. "Little Drummer Boy" is a Christmas song written in 1941, while the "Peace on Earth" tune and lyrics, written by Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, and Alan Kohan, were added to the song specially for Bowie and Crosby's recording.
The track was recorded on September 11, 1977 for Crosby's then-upcoming television special, Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas. The pair exchanged scripted dialogue about what they each do for their family Christmases, before singing "Little Drummer Boy" with a new counterpoint with original lyrics written for the special, "Peace on Earth".
Bowie's appearance has been described as a "surreal" event,
undertaken at a time that he was "actively trying to normalise his
career" He has since recalled that he only appeared on the show because "I just knew my mother liked him"Buz Kohan
was not sure that Crosby knew who Bowie was, but Ian Fraser claimed,
"I'm pretty sure he did. Bing was no idiot. If he didn't, his kids sure
did."
According to co-writer Ian Fraser, Bowie balked at singing "Little
Drummer Boy": "I hate this song. Is there something else I could sing?",
Fraser recalls Bowie telling him. Fraser, along with songwriter Larry Grossman and the special's scriptwriter, Buz Kohan,
then wrote "Peace on Earth" as a counterpoint to "Little Drummer Boy".
Crosby performed "Little Drummer Boy", while Bowie sang the new tune
"Peace on Earth", which they reportedly performed after less than an
hour of rehearsal.
Crosby died on October 14, nearly five weeks after recording the special at Elstree Studios near London; in the U.S., the show aired just over a month later, on November 30, 1977, on CBS. In the United Kingdom, the special first aired on December 24, 1977 on ITV.
The song was available for some years as a bootleg single backed with "Heroes", which Bowie had also performed on the TV special. In 1982, RCA issued the recording as an official single, complete with the dialogue, arbitrarily placing "Fantastic Voyage" from the Lodger
album on the B-side. Bowie was unhappy with this move, which further
soured his already strained relationship with RCA, and he left the label
soon after.
The single debuted on the UK singles chart in November 1982, and
climbed to position number three on the chart, boosted by a 12" picture
disc release. It has since become a perennial on British Christmas
compilation albums, with the TV sequence also a regular on UK nostalgia
shows.
In the United States, "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" became a staple on radio stations during the Christmas season.
On November 9, 2010, Collector's Choice Music released a 7-inch vinyl edition of "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" on red-colored vinyl in the United States. The flip-side of the single contained a Bing Crosby/Ella Fitzgerald duet of the song "White Christmas", recorded in 1953. The single was limited to 2,000 copies.
And my other favorite Christmas song is "Do they know it is Christmas"
I decided to go with one of my favorite songs for Christmas for my
Monday Music posting. I decided to go with "Band-Aid" Do they know it
is Christmas?. I remembered doing an posting last year on this so it is
a duplicate post. I don't normally do a music repeat except for this
song and the Little Drummer boy. I was in High School in my senior year and this was all over MTV
and the news back then. It was a totally new idea to do a charity this
way. I believe in giving...as long as it is people doing it...It is
proper..and a Christian thing to do. Not government which I consider
it wealth transference and it is wrong. for the force of government is
used to take money by force from people to give to other people in the
name of "giving". I call it "legal theft". Giving is supposed to be
voluntary, that is the nature and the magic of it.
Geldof was so moved by the plight of starving children that
he decided to try to raise money using his contacts in pop music. Geldof enlisted the help of Midge Ure, from the group Ultravox, to help produce a charity record. Ure took Geldof's lyrics, and created the melody and backing track for the record. Geldof called many of the most popular British and Irish performers of the time (Kool & The Gang and Jody Watley
were the only Americans present at the original recording), persuading
them to give their time free. His one criterion for selection was how
famous they were, in order to maximise sales of the record. He then kept
an appointment to appear on a show on BBC Radio 1, with Richard Skinner, but instead of promoting the new Boomtown Rats
material as planned, he announced the plan for Band Aid. The recording
studio gave Band Aid no more than 24 free hours to record and mix the
record, on 25 November 1984. The recording took place at SARM Studios in Notting Hill between 11am and 7pm, and was filmed by director Nigel Dick to be released as the pop video
though some basic tracks had been recorded the day before at Midge
Ure's home studio. The first tracks to be recorded were the group /
choir choruses which were filmed by the international press. The footage
was rushed to newsrooms where it aired while the remainder of the
recording process continued. Later, drums by Phil Collins were recorded. The introduction of the song features a slowed down sample from a Tears for Fears' track called "The Hurting", released in 1983. Tony Hadley, of Spandau Ballet, was the first to record his vocal, while a section sung by Status Quo was deemed unusable, and replaced with section comprising Paul Weller, Sting, and Glenn Gregory, from Heaven 17. Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran sang between contributions from George Michael and Sting. Paul Young has since admitted, in a documentary, that he knew his opening lines were written for David Bowie,
who was not able to make the recording but made a contribution to the
B-side (Bowie performed his lines at the Live Aid concert the following
year). Boy George arrived last at 6pm, after Geldof woke him up by 'phone to have him flown over from New York on Concorde to record his solo part. (At the time, Culture Club was in the middle of a US tour.)
The following morning, Geldof appeared on the Radio 1 breakfast show with Mike Read, to promote the record further and promise that every penny would go to the cause. This led to a stand-off with the British Government, who refused to waive the VAT on the sales of the single. Geldof made the headlines by publicly standing up to Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher and, sensing the strength of public feeling, the government backed down and donated the tax back to the charity.
The record was released on November 29, 1984, and went straight to No. 1 in the UK singles chart,
outselling all the other records in the chart put together. It became
the fastest- selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million
copies in the first week alone. It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks,
selling over three million copies and becoming easily the
biggest-selling single of all time in the UK, thus beating the
seven-year record held by Mull of Kintyre. It has since been surpassed by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" (his tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales) but it is likely to keep selling in different versions for many years to come. In 1986 the original music video from "Do They Know It's Christmas?" received Band Aid a Grammy Award nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form.
After Live Aid,
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was re-released in late 1985 in a set
that included a special-edition 'picture disc' version, modelled after
the Live Aid logo with 'Band' in place of 'Live'. An added bonus, "One
Year On" (a statement from Geldof and Ure on the telephone) was
available as a b-side.
"One Year On" can also be found in transcript form in a booklet which
was included in the DVD set of Live Aid, the first disc of which
features the BBC news report, as well as the Band Aid video.
Participants
The original Band Aid ensemble consisted of (in sleeve order):
Christmas is almost here, so I figured I would post a few Christmas related video's...well some of them are tenuously related to Christmas...but who is counting.
First off is the Predator Christmas Special
My favorite, Full Metal Elf
And of course we gotta have some good old fashioned
This article is published for educational purposes only. This article in no shape form or fashion condoning taking out of MRAPS. Don't try this at home
Washington, DC (TFC)
– Police and military vehicles are stolen from time to time. Should a
citizen be in a community where a military vehicle is stolen, it would
be wise to understand how civilian populations throughout history have
disabled military vehicles in the past. This article has absolutely
nothing to do with the recent trend of police departments deploying
armored vehicles against people exercising their
Constitutionally-protected rights. Perhaps the reader travels overseas
and a military crackdown erupts while they are drinking Pina Coladas on
the beach. The point is that this information should never be used
against US law enforcement. That would be a violation of the social
contract and you might end up in jail.
Most Americans are familiar with the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected
(MRAP) vehicle because their local police department obtained one to
look cool. Due to familiarity, this will be the vehicle used as an
example. The same tactics will work against almost all other armored
vehicles.
Note: The parameters for this article are simple: The reader does
not possess a great deal of tactical experience and has no access to
firearms, high explosives, homemade explosives, or chemical weapons.
Prior to engaging an armored vehicle, it is important to understand
what, exactly, you are dealing with, once the intimidation factor is
stripped away. It’s really just a heavy passenger vehicle that is
designed to move people from one location to the next, while protecting
them with armor. That’s it. While these vehicles do have some offensive
capabilities, like gun ports (holes to stick a weapon through and fire
at a crowd), or even a mounted machine gun or grenade launcher, their
primary mission is to move people. Defeating an MRAP is as simple as
destroying its ability to move and protect its occupants at the same
time.
The tactics discussed in the article will be limited to relatively
low-impact methods. Obviously the most effective method of stopping an
MRAP is deploying a shaped charge. I think the new terminology is
Explosively Formed Penetrator. However, if you’re reading this article,
you (probably) don’t have the technical expertise to safely use this
method.
Destroying an armored vehicle’s ability to move or protect its
occupants does not necessarily mean destroying the vehicle. When
encountering an armored vehicle on foot with no heavy weapons, the
reader has adopted an unconventional warfare stance. It would be best to
think unconventionally. Stopping movement by obscuring vision:
While the outside of an MRAP varies greatly from a normal car,
sitting in the driver’s seat is fairly similar to driving a U-Haul
truck. The driver looks over the steering wheel and through the
windshield to the street. If the driver cannot see past the windshield,
the vehicle ceases to move because it either crashes or the driver stops
it.
Any sticky liquid substance that can be pumped into water balloons or
packed into a glass container will stop an MRAP. If the balloon bursts
or the glass container breaks open on the windows, the driver is forced
to stop and the occupants are forced to exit the vehicle to clean off
the windshield. The effect is enhanced if three different types of
substances are mixed: a sticky liquid to obscure vision and defeat the
windshield wipers and sprayers, a thin liquid to increase the splatter
from the impact, and a granular substance to further obscure vision.
Examples:
Combination one: Syrup, milk, and sugar (Warning: Container not to be left around diabetics, small children, or people who bake)
Combination two: Heavy weight motor oil, lighter fluid, and aluminum or magnesium flakes (Warning: Extremely flammable)
Combination three: Elmer’s glue and glitter (Warning: Possibly too fabulous for many people)
The person that is in fear for their life from the threat of the
armored vehicle is only limited by their imagination in this case. Latex
paint and honey have also been used as base liquids in the past with
success. While these may seem silly or too simple to work, I challenge
anyone to try it on their own vehicle. The glitter isn’t a joke either;
it reflects light which further obscures vision. Historical note: The first armored troop transports that
were deployed in large numbers were open on the top. When German troops
deployed the “halftrack” in urban areas, resistance fighters would drop
Molotov cocktails or hot tar from rooftops. While modern armored
vehicles are closed on top, an elevated position can still be used to
deliver vision obscuring material. Stopping movement by stopping the engine:
Most modern armored vehicles have air intakes for the engine that are
armored and have multiple grates to protect the engine from rifle fire.
This presents another unique method of stopping the vehicle: clogging
the air intake. The safest method is using spray foam insulation which
can be sprayed at the vehicle from a relatively safe distance. Without
air, the engine will either cease to run or will overheat. Some have
suggested simply clogging the exhaust. However, the location of the
exhaust makes anyone willing to stick a banana in the tail pipe of an
MRAP much braver than I am because they are exposed to the gun ports,
and are literally inches from the back door. Stopping movement by pit or tip:
Both of these methods require prior planning and a rudimentary
understanding of funneling tactics (the process of sending your
opposition down the route that you want them to go).
“Tank pits” are highly-effective against all forms of armored
vehicles. It is exactly what it sounds like: a pit dug in the intended
path of the vehicle that is deep enough to put the vehicle at an angle
that it can’t maneuver out of. The pit is covered by plywood and
camouflaged to match the surrounding area. A pit for an MRAP would need
to be about four feet deep, about six feet long, and as wide as it can
be made across the intended path.
“Tipping” an armored vehicle uses the same principle of placing it in
a situation that it can’t drive away from, but instead of using a
prepared trap it utilizes the existing landscape. It’s a little bit of a
misnomer because it doesn’t actually require the vehicle to tip over.
Examples would be roads that have extremely weak bridges. A typical MRAP
weighs in at about 36,000lbs with occupants. Removal of warning signs
about the load capacity of the bridge can aid in this tactic. Other
options are forcing the vehicle down a route that ends in an area too
narrow to turn around. Alternatively, in urban areas, Egyptian
dissidents lead armored cars down alleys and then ducked through side
alleyways too small for the vehicle to move through. While the occupants
were wondering whether or not to pursue on foot, a stolen bulldozer was
placed at the entrance to the alley. Stolen bulldozers have also been
used to flip armored vehicles down hills after impacting them from the
side. Using Flame:
The ubiquitous Molotov cocktail has two purposes when dealing with
armored vehicles. The first is to obscure vision. Fire is very hard to
see through. A true Molotov cocktail will burn for some time; and, if
the flame is just below the windows, the driver will be unable to see
and likely panic because well… fire is scary. The second purpose is to
force the occupants out of the vehicle. Contrary to popular belief and
what is often portrayed in movies, the best location for the flame is on
the wheel wells and running boards of the vehicle, not the roof. Heat
rises. A Molotov cocktail that is burning on the roof of an armored
vehicle may not even be noticed by the occupants. However, one that is
heating up the metal around them and the floor underneath them will be
noticed very quickly and will cause them to exit the vehicle. Molotov
cocktails also tend to interfere with the advanced optics on tanks.
“Heat seeking” optics don’t react well to a flame burning in front of
the sensor.
Molotov demonstration.
Image source: DOD
It is important to understand what a Molotov cocktail will not do. It
will not “blow up” an armored vehicle. The set of circumstances
required for an explosion to occur is so unlikely that it isn’t worth
spending time addressing. It will not injure the occupants in most
instances. There is an extremely rare, but worth mentioning, set of
circumstances that has occurred in which insurgents threw several
Molotovs at an armored car and for whatever reason the fluid did not
light. Instead, it simply soaked the vehicle. The fumes from the
flammable material seeped into the cabin through the gun ports and when a
functioning cocktail hit the vehicle later it ignited all of the
remaining fluid. The fumes inside the vehicle also ignited in a
fireball, severely injuring the occupants. Concluding remarks:
None of the methods or tactics described above included the use of
high explosives, firearms, or anti-tank weapons. Using those tools, the
vulnerabilities of armored vehicles are exponentially increased.
Unshielded coolant lines, hydraulic lines, and air brake canisters make
the MRAP good for one thing and one thing alone: protecting troops in
combat from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It’s not even great at
that. It is not a good raid vehicle. It is not a good vehicle for
crackdowns.
The MRAP is a perfect case study in perceived capability vs actual
capability. The perceived capability of the massive armored vehicle is
that it can withstand anything. The actual capability of the vehicle is
that it can be disabled by a kindergartner’s art supplies. Rest assured
that no matter what banana republic you happen to be in, if the
government orders a military crackdown or begins enforcing a police
state, you can defeat their armored vehicles. Keep in mind, we never
even discussed the ways to sabotage the vehicle while it’s parked
overnight.
Note: This information provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. Please do not try this at home.
The democrats went ahead and filed articles of impeachment against President Trump, they went ahead and done it. They have seriously damaged the social fabric of the country and the peaceful exchange of power between the parties that have existed since the formation of the republic. Well there was one other real disagreement and that was in 1860 and we know how that one went.
Meanwhile there was celebration amongst the democrats and the media that they have impeached President Trump, this really disturbs me. To live in that echo chamber around DC on the Potomac and think that everyone else think like they do and if they don't then they are rubes and hicks and their opinion don't matter a bit.
I have stated that this is a problem, to believe that your countrymen are sub human and not worthy of opinion and just need to shut up and work quietly while their betters figure out the best way to run the country.
The people that want to run the country have a vastly different way of prosperity than we do, they believe that they know what is best because their college professors told them how it is supposed to work, and it will work once the right people run it.
And speaking of differences of opinions, the British had their elections last week and Labour got hammered, the British people got tired of the pussyfooting around and general stalling by the government in moving BREXIT forward. After the results and the Tories decisively trounced the Labour party, and areas that in the past were Labour strongholds, went Tory. I saw the reaction by the people in London, the usual "Johnson Sucks, and he isn't my Prime Minister".
It kinda gave me the warm and fuzzies, the liberal left, the open border left whom have been importing 3rd world non assimilating people to the British culture and believe that their own culture is superior to the wishy washy British culture and accept all the social handouts as a form of Jidyza tax this will cause problems. they are already have areas where the police can't go and the local muslims enforce sharia law in their enclaves and the British courts allow it. You have the grooming gangs where young girls are being picked up in Rotterham England and impressed into rape gangs and the British officials will not do anything about it for fear of being "racist". Stuff like this is what prompted the Brexit movement.
Boris Johnson the New British Prime Minister got his inspiration from "Teflon Don" where the democrats haven't been able to silence yet. We like Trump because he fights, he is the first GOP President that doesn't roll over and take it because it is "Stately". I hated it because it showed the democrats that the President was a wimp. Well Trump fights, and he is good at it, he takes a punch and immediately counter punches and the democrats are stunned by this style and they don't know what to do.
And speaking of silencing, the new Virginia Governor and the Attorney General whom are democrats and this is an object lesson where a small number of very blue counties in Virginia swung a state blue, the rest of the counties of the Commonwealth of Virginia are red, but they were out numbered voter wise, a lot of conservative voters stayed home and they got burned. The very blue counties around Washington D.C and Richmond did it. This is an microcosm of why the founding Fathers instituted the electoral college system to protect the rural parts of the country from tyranny of the cities. Well anyway the Governor has pushed a bunch of gun control bills and preaching confiscation of firearms, to sending the national guard to go door to door. The Virginia National Guard releasing a statement saying (Say what? in a nutshell). They quickly walked it back, I guess they forgot that they have to "register" them before they can "confiscate" them. the surrounding counties that are red immediately started forming 2A "sanctuary Counties" and the left lost their mind shreiking "you can't do that!. it is illegal!!". Sucks to be hoisted on your own petard when y'all formed "sanctuary cities" so
Meanwhile another results is that various rural sheriffs are forming "citizen Militia's" and some of the sheriffs are saying that they will "deputize" everyone. The folks in Richmond have threatened to cut the internet, cable, and power of people before the guard moves in to seize firearms....and the people in those counties are thinking of...
The democrats have no idea how close they are on kicking things off, they insist on pushing the issue because they believe that they are right and we are wrong and those that believe that they are right because of their education and association and beliefs system. They believe that they should rule like the nobles of old and that we in "flyover country" are just serfs and wage slaves to support them and the system that they have crafted to they can skim off it and lord over the "great unwashed."
Between the gun control laws on several states like Virginia, Florida, California(no surprise there) Oregon and Washington(No surprise either), and the democrats impeaching Trump who has a huge following in the "Flyover states"
"TrumpLand"
President Trump has a following on this part of the country and he is very popular there.
Democrat controlled areas.
You see the disparity on landmass, but all the control and drama are coming from the coastal areas, they view the areas between NewYork, and D.C and California as "FlyOver Country". They keep pushing and pushing and they will discover that there will come to a place and a line where they dare not cross, and violence will be nasty and vicious, and I and my friends don't want to go down that road because we have seen war and fighting and don't to inflict it on our fellow Americans.
But if the issue is forced, where our voice and vote don't matter anymore...then flipping the switch becomes an attractive option.
USS Forrestal (CV-59) underway on trials, 29 September 1955, just prior to commissioning The video recording of the inferno from Forrestal‘s PLAT camera was incorporated into the previously mentioned Trial By Fire
film. For years afterward, countless sailors watched it as part of
training classes. The Navy named its new firefighting school in Norfolk
in honor of Chief Farrier, immortalized as “the Chief with the Purple-K”
in the film.
Sailors from the destroyer Rogers use their on board hoses to assist with the firefighting efforts aboard Enterprise Enterprise‘s casualties were 27 dead and 371 injured. Damage
to the ship was estimated to be over $10 million. In addition, 15
aircraft were destroyed and 17 damaged, costing another estimated $44
million.
