11 Amazing F-16 Paint Jobs.

 This showed up in my work email 2 months ago and I kept meaning to post it in my blog, but I kept forgetting to snag it.  When I started at my present employer, I was employed as a "AMPT" or I painted Airplanes, I had painted cars at Ford Motor Company and my hydrostatic paint experience was key for my getting hired at my present employer....Whooda thunk that.  I no longer paint airplanes, I am just a regular A&P mechanic now but I can still grab a Devilbis paint gun if necessary to paint or touch up an airplane.  

1. "Ghost"

An F-16 Fighting Falcon with a "ghost" paint scheme departs Hill Air Force Base, Utah, for Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., June 3., 2020. The paint scheme is intended to replicate an adversary’s fighter jet.

(Air Force photo / R. Nial Bradshaw)

Some of the baddest — meaning the way they used it in the '90s — F-16 paint jobs aren't just for show. They are actually meant to prepare pilots for future threats they might face in unfriendly skies. The “Ghost” paint scheme, used by the 64th Aggressor Squadron (AGRS) at Nellis Air Force Base, is one of them.

What is an AGRS, you ask? Aggressor squadrons act as the bad guys in Air Force training scenarios, and the Air Force wrote that the “Ghost” scheme was “intended to replicate an adversary’s fighter jet.”

Which adversary could that be? Russia, most likely, as the scheme closely resembles that of the Sukoi Su-57.  Interesting side note: the 64th AGRS chose this paint scheme through a crowd-sourced vote hosted on Facebook by Brig. Gen. Robert Novotny, commander of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base.

“Social media gives me a chance to connect directly with the folks who have a similar passion for military aviation,” Novotny said in a press release at the time.

2. “Splinter” (Blue)

An F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron (AGRS) takes off from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Aug. 8, 2019.

(Air Force photo / Airman 1st Class Dwane R. Young)

Much like with “Ghost,” the “Splinter” paint scheme was also inspired by “real world threats,” said Capt. Ken Spiro of the 64th AGRS when the design was unveiled in 2016. This time, the scheme took cues from the Su-35S, according to The Aviationist. 

These paint jobs don’t happen overnight: It took nearly three weeks to finish the first version of this one.

“With this new paint scheme we have to paint one color at a time,” said Jeffrey Dezell, who, as the head of the M1 Support Services corrosion shop, was in charge of painting the jet. “It’s more labor intensive and takes longer to complete. It’s a one of a kind paint job that no one has done before.”

3. “Wraith”

An F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron (AGRS) performs an aerial maneuver during Aviation Nation 2019 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Nov. 16, 2019.

(Air Force photo / Airman 1st Class Bryan Guthrie)

For those who prefer a more subtle look, the Wraith is here for you. The all-black paint scheme was inspired by,  you guessed it, a Russian fighter jet, and in all likelihood, the MiG-29, according to The Aviationist. Here again, Novotny used Facebook to crowd-source input on the paint job. However, this time the crowd only got to vote on the name, not the paint itself. Still, I’d say they chose the right one.

4. "P-47"

The 149th Force Support Squadron takes a group photo at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, June 4th, 2017.

(Air National Guard Photo / Senior Master Sgt. Robert Shelly)

Some outfits never go out of style, and this WWII-inspired paint job is one of them. At least, the 149th Fighter Wing seemed to think so in 2017, when the wing celebrated the 70th birthday of the Air Force by painting one of its F-16s in the 1944 paint scheme of the 396th Fighter Squadron. Back in WWII, the squadron flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighters over Europe. If it looked anything like this jet, it looked damn good doing it.

5. "NASA"

EC96-43508-10 The single-seat F-16XL (ship #1) makes another run during the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamic Project (CAWAP) at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The modified airplane features a delta ''cranked-arrow'' wing with strips of tubing along the leading edge to the trailing edge to obtain pressure distribution data. The first flight of CAWAP occurred on November 21, 1995, and the test program ended in April 1996. March 4, 1996

(NASA photo)

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s an F-16 ... if you look closely enough. NASA used this unusual F-16XL High Lift jet for its Aero-Dynamic Flow Studies in High Speed Research in 1993. NASA was trying to help produce a high-speed civilian airliner, and the cranked-arrow wing design of the F-16XL provided a nice platform for testing a technology called supersonic laminar flow control. The transport idea didn’t work, but the XL experiments helped hone the art of computer modeling aerodynamic phenomenology, NASA wrote. Most importantly for our purposes, it looks cool.

6. “Thunderbird”

U.S. Air Force Maj's. Blaine Jones, Thunderbird 5, lead solo, and Jason Curtis, Thunderbird 6, opposing solo, perform the Inverted Opposing Knife-Edge Pass during a practice show at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo., May 27, 2014.

(Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Larry E. Reid Jr.)

No F-16 photo list is complete without the freedom-loving paint job of the Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s premier fighter demonstration team. First formed in 1953, the Thunderbirds have gone through multiple paint schemes and aircraft over the past 67 years, but they’ve flown the F-16 since 1982. How does the Air Force keep these planes looking so good? Windex. Lots of Windex.

"These jets are cleaned head to toe two or three times a day with wax and Windex," said Thunderbirds crew chief Staff Sgt. Nathan Kearns in 2010. "We wipe off every little bug smear."

7. "Viper"

U.S. Air Force Maj. Garret "Toro" Schmitz, F-16 Viper Demonstration Team pilot and commander, flies at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., Aug. 20, 2020. Schmitz utilized the afterburner of the F-16 for a fast takeoff during the Viper Demonstration performance.

(Air Force photo / Senior Airman Benjamin Ingold)

The F-16 was officially named the "Fighting Falcon" in 1980, but nobody calls it that. How come? Former Air Force flight test engineer Eileen Bjorkman explained why in her 2014 article about the jet for Air & Space magazine:

Pilots had dubbed the jet the “Viper” after the fighter spacecraft in the TV series “Battlestar Galactica.” Many pilots wore “Viper Pilot” name tags. Leadership demanded the pilots remove the tags, but the unofficial nickname stuck.

 he Air Force's F-16 Viper Demonstration team decided to take the name literally. Earlier this year, the crew gave it a snake scale pattern, complete with scales on the tail flash that match those on the team patch.

“The team’s goal behind the paint job was to keep it subtle, subdued, but true to the nature of the Viper Demo Team,” explained Maj. Garret “Toro” Schmitz in an email to Task & Purpose.

Bravo, Viper Demo Team, bravo.

8. “Splinter" (Black)

An F-16 Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 18th Aggressor Squadron, flies over Denali National Park, Alaska, Aug. 17, 2020. Stationed at Eielson Air Force Base, the 18th Aggressor Squadron is one of two Aggressor Squadrons in the Air Force. Their mission is to know, teach and replicate enemy tactics, techniques and procedures.

(Air Force photo / Tech. Sgt. Jerilyn Quintanilla)

We had to bring an aggressor squadron back in at some point, and this black-grey-white entry used by the 18th AGRS was just too good to pass up. It’s a variant of the blue “splinter” scheme we listed earlier, but updated to prepare for new threats in the Arctic Circle, explained Lt. Col Brian Ford, the 354th Maintenance Group deputy commander, in a 2017 article about the paint job.

“Typically, to fully repaint an aircraft it takes about a week to two weeks,” said Tech. Sgt. Augustus White, the 354th Maintenance Squadron structural maintenance repair section NCO in charge. “This process takes a lot of man-power so we run a three shift operation to get it done.”

9. “Ace in the Hole”

An F-16C Fighting Falcon from the Texas Air National Guard's 111th Fighter Squadron flies with a special paint job in honor of the squadron's 90th anniversary. All the colors and markings have specific meanings, reflecting the unit's 90-year history.

(Photo courtesy of John Dibbs)

Some paint jobs are just really pretty, and this 2007 scheme from the 111th Fighter Squadron is one of them. A unit of the Texas Air National Guard, the 111th was celebrating its 90th anniversary and chose to paint its flagship in the colors and symbols of its history, the Air Force wrote. Here is the breakdown:

• The rudder is painted like a JN-4 Jenny, a biplane the squadron flew in the 1920s.
• The wings and flaps recall the paint schemes of the pre-World War II era.
• The “N5 A” was the insignia the squadron’s P-51 Mustangs sported during WWII, in which the 111th shot down 44 enemy aircraft.
• The blue fuselage represents the Korean War, where the squadron shot down two enemy aircraft. The “Ace in the Hole” and star on the tail replicate the markings of the 111th’s F-84s during that conflict.

The 111th has since reorganized into a reconnaissance squadron that flies the MQ-9 Reaper, but its 2007 paint job is still one of the best out there.

10. “Makos” 

A Mako shark-painted F-16 of the Florida-based 482nd Fighter Wing (Dec. 16, 2016)

(Courtesy photo taken by Clinton White)

Florida has carnivorous Mako sharks, and you know what else it has: the 93rd Fighter Squadron, which calls itself the “Makos” after the local fast-moving predator. The shortfin Mako can swim as fast as 25 miles per hour, with bursts of 40+ miles per hour, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wrote.

It’s an apt namesake for the 93rd, whose F-16s can reach Mach 2 (1,500 mph) and pull up to nine Gs, exceeding the G-force capability of any other current U.S. fighter aircraft, the Air Force wrote in 2015

This jet shows how stylish the F-16 can be with the right splash of paint. Also, notice the FM written on the tail, which stands for “Florida Makos.”

11. “Tiger”

Starboard-side view of F-16C, serial 87-0241, in-flight over western Colorado. Following the traditions of the NATO/ EuroTiger Meet, the Colorado ANG painted this F-16C in dramatic "tiger" markings for the Tiger Meet of the Americas.

(Air Force photo /  SSgt. Greg L. Davis)

If you couldn’t already tell, animal patterns look great on F-16s, so our last entry for today is of a Colorado Air National Guard F-16C sporting tiger stripes for the Inaugural Tiger Meet of the Americas held at Buckley Air Force Base in 2001. 

The American Tiger Meet mirrors the NATO/European Tiger Meet, which brings together military aviators from regional countries to foster camaraderie, teamwork and tactics familiarization, the Air Force wrote in 2001. If you want some more Tiger fighter plane pics, just check out this Wikipedia page about it.

      Personally I liked #9 the best "The Ace in the Hole"  It is the Old School Prewar design.

Post Election Musing.....

 I had preloaded my blog with several articles during the election and afterwards to avoid posting anything I might have to retract.  I now have time to think and ruminate a bit.

         They are soo blatant about it, they are not even trying to hide it and daring us to say anything about it.  It is like 'so what, screw you little people, we are your "Betters" and we know what is best for you.".  It is so in your face and the arrogance is infuriating.  I am angry and resigned at the same time, I know that others are waiting for the courts to decide, but President Trump has an uphill climb getting any movement on his many justified "fraudulent" ballots.  The states having the issues with the exception of Georgia have democratic administrations and they are very unfriendly to President Trump.  Here is a Link from ZeroHedge with a lot of information on it.  it links the Monster Hunter Nation Blog on it.

     Something else that ate at me, I was watching the media while I was at work in the break room on November 4th, and even on Fox, they were giddy and smarmy that President Trump was behind and Biden has a real possibility of winning this thing, I wanted to heave my coffee mug at the TV screen,  We mechanics were a somber group.  We know that our employer cannot survive another shutdown, we are in better shape than the other airlines, but we can't survive another lockdown that Biden is promising.  One of the mechanics was bitching to us" Damm fuckers that work here that voted for that pedophilic asshole will wreck this company and fuck themselves out of a job, but they will screw the rest of us in the process."  Well that sentiment pretty much summed up the attitude. 

      On a different note, it seems that the vaunted Blue wave never materialized, the GOP did very well except for its standard bearer....Funny how that happened....  The GOP will retain its majority in the Senate and picked up quite a few house seats.  This tells me more than anything else that the fix is in to screw President Trump with fraudulent ballots.

      My thoughts is that the democrats don't realize what they are playing with, most of us on the "right side of the aisle" crave legitimacy, we are very angry right now and the only thing holding us back is the rule of law, if the democrats are successful is stealing the election through fraudulent means we know that after this, there will nothing to stop them next time, there will never be another free election in this country again, our voice and decision in the shaping of this country will no longer exist.  When people no longer have a say in the political process, they will resort to violence,   Voting is the safety valve for the republic and when people no longer have faith in the process, then insurgency is a huge possibility, and nobody is a better insurgent than an American with a grudge.

Best Vehicles For Surviving The Apocalypses(Humor)

Some Tongue in cheek humor, I ran across this article following another link and I shamelessly "clipped" it.  These are some vehicles to survive the Apocalypse.   Personally I kinda like the Plain old fashioned "Deuce and a half or 5 ton Truck....

   

Here is the Humorous article, and I think these vehicles actually exist.

2020 isn't off to a great start. We lost Kobe Bryant, General Motors killed its Holden brand, and most people are being told to work from home. In that order. Could this be the lick that kills old Dick? Hopefully we don't find out soon, but it would be wise to use this valuable time to prepare for the worst. Some might even say, the inevitable. We'll save you the trouble from researching bulletproof cars or trucks good for zombie hunting. It's all here folks. Depending on what causes civilization's collapse, some choices will be more useful than others. Choose wisely. And good luck out there!

Howdy Partner. Aliens have attacked, and you've just been deputized. You'll need the help of bright spotlights and a sturdy bash-bar for an emergency getaway. If Hollywood predicted it right, aliens are going to be tiny little fellas, but they're gonna be fast. The 2020 Ford Explorer marks another generation of the Ford tradition, and it also comes with a new special police model. One that uses a hybrid drivetrain to save fuel, and boost horsepower output. The three-row SUV has loads of room for supplies or friends you might rescue along the way. The FPIU has been engineered to safely soak-up a 75-mph rear-impact, just in case Aliens try to ack you from the back

The intergalactic bandits won't fight fairly, but the FPIU has you covered. Police Perimeter Alert uses the Explorers blind spot monitoring system to alert you when someone is sneaking around. If an object is determined to be a threat, the windows will automatically roll up, the door locks will activate, and footage from the rear view camera appears on the infotainment display. That should give you ample time to escape, considering hybrid models have a combined power output of 318 horsepower and a quicker zero-to-60-mph time than any other police SUV, ever.

Look, you don't call something a "Gladiator" unless it has those sorts of ambitions. Consider the new Jeep pickup's standard equipment (in Rubicon guise): Fox shocks, skid plates, beefy Dana 44 axles, locking front and rear differentials, and rock rails. The Jeep is big but not too big, and its off-road capability and toughness are assets to leverage when you'll be mowing down the undead and clambering around off the grid trying to evade spawning sites—um, we mean, former population centers.

You're probably asking, "But why choose the Gladiator pickup, when your stuff could be protected in the closed confines of the four-door Wrangler Unlimited?" Our easy answer? That the Gladiator represents the "on the offensive" option, both in name and layout. It's ready to fight, and its open pickup bed and removable roof panels make for excellent sharpshooter perches from which to fend off bands of groaning zombies. With the nation’s finest armaments left abandoned by the now-overrun military and useless to the undead, it wouldn’t be hard to utilize the Gladiator’s 1190-pound payload and stick a .50-caliber rotating machine gun in the bed.

We're not sure what Cthulhu looks like–yet. Legends tell of an enormous octopus with big armored scales and tentacles strong enough to lift cruise ships. Whatever sleeping medication Cthulhu takes, it's working, because the beast hasn't revealed itself in over 15,000 million years. When that day comes, choose the Sherp. The 43-hp ATV wears giant 63-inch tires that can climb logs, rocks, ice, snow, but most impressively, travel on water at 3.7 mph. Okay, that's not very quick, considering your typical fishing boat has a top speed of 11 mph, but the Sherp doesn't stop when it hits the shore.

Sherp

Assuming Cthulhu can't fit a pair of Healys at the end of its bus-size tentacles, getting onto shore to escape seems like a good plan. That is of course unless you believe it to have wings. The Sherp has 23 inches of clearance, but only a max speed of 24.5 mph. However, the planet would be full of debris and rough terrain if such an event occurred, so its 35 degrees of grade-ability could come in handy. It's also capable of storing extra fuel within the wheels, expanding its maximum fuel capacity to 76 gallons. Crap, we almost forgot to mention Cthulhu might be immortal. Ugh, you just can't win!

Event: State-Sanctioned Lockdown
Strategy: Sneak out in plain sight.

Pre-apocalyptic sorts of tensions take a while to play out into full-on lockdowns, so you've had time to equip your black Chevrolet Suburban HD (today available only to fleets, but you can get around that snafu, right?) with the requisite "secret service" treatment. That means lights, antennae, tinted windows, and the like.

Shown here in government guise, the Suburban HD is the smart survivalist’s one-up on the swaths of doomsday planners clamoring for a bestickered squad car. No uniformed police or military will dare second-guess you when you glide through checkpoints with a one-handed confident wave. You're above their pay grade, or at least appear to be, and so you're probably doing something important. Bonus effort: Talk three of your friends into snapping up armored Suburbans of their own to create a convincing convoy. If it all goes wrong, the Delta Force says the Suburban can take a hit or two.

Event: Enemy Invasion
Strategy: Off the road and on the run.

The Toyota Tacoma is a little long in the tooth, you say? Could be. But you’re not going to be looking to impress the Joneses when the Russians are landing on both coasts. You're going to need something you can pack up, pack in, and take off in without even an errant concern over its reliability. The hardcore, off-road-ready TRD Pro version ensures you won't have a pang of unease over the Tacoma's capability, either.

The 2020 Tacoma TRD Pro adds an incredible (and appropriate) Army Green paint option. (Don't worry, you’ll be spray painting "Wolverines" before the enemy knew what hit them.) As a bonus, the TRD Pro model can be paired with a dependable six-speed manual transmission, which these days doubles as a better anti-theft system than the most state-of-the-art car alarm you can buy.

Event: Civil War
Strategy: When your fellow citizens war, get yourself something civil.

It's a shame Mercedes-Benz has yet to resurrect the towering G550 4x4 Squared model in the redesigned G-class lineup. It'd be perfect for when the world goes to hell in a handbasket. Plus, a 4x4 Squared based on the new G-class sure would be sweet to show off to your soon-to-be-doomed fellow citizens. While you could always find one on the used market, new is always better; if that new-car smell is something you want to hang onto post-apocalypse, the regular G-wagen is worthy—if not quite as tall as the discontinued 4x4 Squared.

While everyone else dukes it out Mad Max–style for dwindling resources after a national meltdown of epic proportions, you're not ready to give up on those luxuries that make the difference between surviving, and surviving well. And if you conspicuously consumed before, why stop now that the world is burning? The G550 not only is a luxury box to rival the best, but it's an off-road billy goat and comes with a nice, high-mounted brush bar masking its front end from random, post-apocalyptic debris or mobs or zombies. The quicker, more powerful G63 model has a less heavy-duty brush bar, and it's mounted low on the bumper—we won’t get gruesome, but you can do the math there on its usefulness on the out-of-control crowds or zombies. So, use the $23,000 in savings you'll have left over from buying the G550 instead of the G63, and use it to pay for uparmoring and auxilliary lighting.

Event: Enemy Attack
Strategy: Go, go, go!

Offering absolutely no defensive protection, the Ariel Nomad should be your pick if your number one concern is the only concern: getting out of dodge, right f$#@ing now. It's essentially an Ariel Atom that's been over-engineered to move quickly through practically any terrain. Focus on that, not the fact that the buggy has barely enough room inside for a backpack.

What the Nomad does have is a supercharged Honda K24 engine pumping out 300 horsepower, BF Goodrich Mud Terrain tires, an adjustable heavy-duty suspension, and a feathery 1750-pound weight. Picture this: You live in a dense downtown area and learn warheads are inbound. There isn’t much time. Forget your suvival strategy, rations, close friends and relatives—your only option is to beat the masses clogging the roads out of town. And so, sidewalks, alleys, stairs, trails, bike paths, and aqueducts become your paths to safety beyond the blast radius. The Nomad is the vehicle that will make it so in a hurry; trust us, we've practiced it.

Event: Bullet Tsunami
Strategy: Bring this X5 to a gunfight.

Typically when someone describes a car as being bulletproof they're speaking in terms of reliability. In the BMW X5 Protection VR6's case however, it's a far more literal description. The underbody, cargo area, firewall, and door jams are all overlapped with high-strength armor plating that can take blasts of up to 15 kilograms of explosives from a distance of 13 feet. Thanks to Post Blast Protective Technology, the windows don't completely shatter and remain firmly in place. Seeing through them however, well that's a different story.

If the local forecast calls for cloudy with a chance of bullets, the several layers of protection offered in this X5 will keep you from drowning in lead. Windows, door gaps, and even an optional reinforced roof to prevent drone attacks are all part of this shelter on wheels. The right pedal activates a 523-hp 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 for quick escapes while your attackers pop another clip into their AK-47s. Run-flat tires and extra guarding around the gas tank are both in place to keep things moving.

Event: A Handmaid's Hell
Strategy: Women and children first.

What if Amazon's A Handmaid's Tale actually happens? There is no better way to save the women and children from some horrific dystopian reality that enslaves and reassigns them than with a new four-door Unimog Crew Cab from Mercedes-Benz's "Defense" line. You can build these rigs aimed at military service pretty much any way you want, but in this scenario we'd suggest upgrading to the armored troop carrier. It's assuredly better for when society is crumbling around you than the less-armored, cloth-sided troop carrier pictured here. Either way, there's room for everyone! Or at least you and your large family.

Sure, this massive Benz is not cheap, but can you really put a price on the survival of your nation as you know it? With eight forward and six reverse gears, the ability to ford water up to 50 inches deep, and portal axles for insane ground clearance, the Unimog isn't likely to encounter a situation that stumps it, apocalypse or not.

Event: Civil Unrest
Strategy: Head for the woods and hole up.

Tensions are rising, the riots are happening a lot more often, the mail hasn’t been coming, and the power has been iffy at best. You can feel it in your bones: It’s only a matter of days before the entire country goes Tango Uniform. That's why you should consider an upfitted Mercedes-Benz Sprinter from Outside Van. Take the family on a fun overlanding trip today, and be super-prepared for an uncertain tomorrow.

If you are anything like us, you wisely opted for the 170-inch "Amp" Sprinter dualie model, with 200 watts of solar array up top, a queen-size bed, shower, rainwater collection, and induction cooktop. With factory all-wheel drive, a suspension lift kit, and some serious off-road rubber, you and your family are headed for the hills to sit this one out for as long as it takes for those riots to die down in the city.

Event: Heavy Rioting
Strategy: Pacify the masses.

Put the kybosh on civil disobedience and you could be running a town or greaseball militia before you know it, and stability and protection is powerful social currency in post-apocalyptic times. So, why not pacify the masses on your way to your new station by using the 250-psi water cannons mounted atop Inkas' very aptly named Riot Control Vehicle will pretty much tone down any anxious crowd you could imagine.

If the hordes get too fighty, don't worry: The Riot Control Vehicle can withstand multiple high-velocity rounds as well as shrapnel from explosions. If the blaze keeps burning, no worries there either—the RCV has a fire suppression system that protects the perimeter of the vehicle. And, yes, that is essentially a giant shovel mounted to the front. Your getaways (or breaches) should be pretty easy, no matter what's in your way.

Event: Global Quarantine
Strategy: There is no hope—but there is booze in this Rolls.

Whatever you did in the normal world to afford the $500,000-plus Phantom Extended Wheelbase, we'll assume you'll be crafty enough to instantly do the math when the antibiotic-resistant super-virus outbreak hits. Even if you can get out of range for a few days, or even weeks, there is no beating a force of nature like this. Earth is done with us and is hitting "reset," and only the germs will survive. It's against this bleak, hopeless backdrop that we suggest the Rolls. Unlike some of the other vehicles on this list, it isn't going to beat the odds and carry you to a post-human earthly existence. No, it's here for those keen on measuring out their remaining days one drink at a time in comfort and style.

Outside, the airborne pathogen has people dropping like flies around the world. But in your Rolls-Royce, you've got deep-pile carpeting, a refrigerator with a decanter (drink up!), and your favorite commissioned artwork in the glass dashboard. Perhaps you'll cast a wistful glance at that art while decompressing in the back seat. Maybe you won't. But more importantly though, you've got silence. You can scarcely hear the screaming and decaying hordes around you as you sip on the Veuve from 1841 that you’ve been saving for just this day.

Event: Global Currency Collapse
Strategy: Barter system.

It's not difficult to imagine a scenario in which the same geniuses who brought you the mortgage crisis, credit crisis, and a few stock market collapses could botch the entire financial system, sending us all back to the stone age overnight. There would be roving gangs, sure, but for the most part people just want to survive—you included, we bet. So, get yourself a Ford Transit Connect cargo van. It's small, affordable, and useful even before the economy melts down.

Imagine, you could barter your way across the nation like a dystopian version of Jon Favreau in Chef, cooking up food for the masses in exchange for raw ingredients, shelter, warmth, or fuel. If business is booming, you can tow a 2000-lb smoker behind you. You'll get far on a tank in this little-ish Ford van, which is EPA-estimated to get 27 mpg highway, and the efficiency of modern solar panels (of which many can fit on the Ford's boxy body) will help with extended stays well off the grid—or what's left of it.

WARNER BROS

Civil War Sniper Jack Hinson, The Need for Revenge

 

I ran across this story and it resonated with the revenge part of my nature, the part of my nature that believes that that   there comes a time where a person may have to hoist the black flag of revenge and start cutting throats and enacting retribution for massive wrongs.   Right now we leave this to the state to handle the justice part of the equation of society, but of this "social Justice" nonsense gets carried away and if people get away with murder and mayhem, you will see a a return back to the old ways and that will not be a pretty sight. 

An old proverb dictates that, “revenge is a dish best served cold,” but to Southerner Jack Hinson, revenge tasted best when he was consumed with the heat of anger and it smelled of blood. Hinson tried to live as a peaceful man, no mean trick when surrounded by America’s Civil War, as he was.

But in spite of the battles raging all around him, Hinson started no fights with his neighbors, nor arguments around the dinner table with his family. He simply would not choose a side in that most dreadful American conflict, even though he lived smack in its midst, in Tennessee.

In the early 1860s, Jack Hinson lived with his wife and 10 kids on a plantation called “Bubbling Springs”. He was content to stay out of local squabbles about the war, and though he owned slaves, he quietly told his family that secession would be bad for their farming business. Still, he kept those views private, and just got on with life and taking care of his family.

Enslaved Africans on a plantation.

Hinson even managed to stay apolitical when he hosted Union Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, who was so enamored with the plantation that he commandeered it for his local headquarters. After Grant won the pivotal takeover of Fort Donelson, Union soldiers were a common sight along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. And yet Hinson still took no sides.

Then, events conspired to change Jack Hinson from a fence sitting farmer to a rage-filled Killer. One son signed up with the Confederacy, another with a local militia. Unfortunately for these young men, Union soldiers found them in the wilds of the region while they were deer hunting one day, and mistook them for bushwhackers.

Ulysses S. Grant

“Bushwhackers” were men who lived in the wild, men who inflicted terrible damage on the Union troops, then melted back into the forest.  They were decreed enemies of the Union, and if caught, were not given a trial, they were simply dealt with in the harshest manner possible.

Because the local structures of civility and law and justice had deteriorated so badly after the fall of Fort Donelson, some bushwhackers no longer confined themselves to killing Union soldiers. Some pillaged entire homesteads and wreaked havoc on whole communities. Consequently, they were badly mistreated before being killed by their captors.

Three Bushwhackers circa 1864

To be mistaken for bushwhackers sealed the Hinson boys’ fate. They were murdered by a Union lieutenant, their bodies mutilated, heads severed and jammed onto the posts outside the gates of the Hinson estate. Their decapitated bodies were left rotting in the sun in the town’s central square. One was 22, the other only 17. It was only Jack’s connection to General Grant that spared him, and the rest of his family, a similar fate.

But Jack Hinson went almost mad with grief for his boys. He swore revenge, and he got it in spades. But first, he sent the remaining members of his family elsewhere so that he could exact his revenge untethered by familial responsibilities or, perhaps, his conscience.

An unidentified sharpshooter for the Army of the Potomac on picket duty during the American Civil War.

First, he needed a weapon, so he purchased a rifle made to his exact specifications, accurate to half a mile. Hinson then found a cave in which to live, taking only the bare necessities to help him survive. His first order of business was to kill the two men who were responsible for his sons’ deaths; the man who gave the order, and the one who carried it out. He killed both.

The British Whitworth sharpshooting rifle which served as the basis for Jack’s own

Hinson then went after Union supply boats, their captains, crews, and whatever officers he could find. He had started the war as a neutral man, he did not finish it as one. Though throughout his later life he maintained that he was on no one’s side, Union records estimate Hinson killed more than 130 officers, an extraordinary feat for a man in his late 50s when the war started.

United States Navy ironclads off Cairo, Illinois, during the American Civil War.

Hinson finally went back to his plantation after the war. He died there, in 1874, a much diminished man, as he had lost so much of his family to war and disease. It is impossible to estimate the toll all those murders took on his soul.

The Big Day, We Save the Republic or consign it to history....

 

      I have already Voted and made my intentions plain, as have many of my friends.

Monday Music "Run Run Away" By Slade

 

 I am continuing my string of "bugaloo" songs.  This discussion was started in the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite", back in December? it is a Facebook group with enthusiast of the ILOH "International Lord of Hate" A.K.A Larry Correia.  We were talking about what song would we use if we looked out of our window or glanced at our security camera and saw this.....

One of the alphabet bois lining up to take down your house...What would be your "Valhalla" song and you would set it up to play as you load up magazines and prepare yourself.

 I figured it would scar the alphabet boys if they come busting in and hearing a song that is related good music in the 1980's unlike that crap they listen to now.  What can I say, My humor is warped....just a bit. Next week will be "Another one Bites the Dust" by Queen ,  Now that should really cause some psych evals., hehehe, some poor ATF guy trying to explain the attraction to his mother because he has the hots for a bunch of guys that were into really heavy metal and were responsible for the start of the heavy metal movement in England......But hey it is ATF...and they ain't right anyway.

   I decided to go back to the 80's, which is my favorite decade....I mentally threw some dice and flipped a quarter and went with SLADE, a British Glam Rock band that has a heavy metal influence.  This song I first saw on MTV..You know back when they played music, this song followed on the British New Wave invasion.  Some people panned the 2nd British Invasion, but the music was to me fresh and different than the stuff that was presently being played.  The influence of the New Wave invasion changed the face of the music in the 80's and helped make it iconic for the era.

Slade in 1973

"Run Runaway" is a hard rock song performed by the English band Slade. The song was written by Jim Lea and Noddy Holder and was on their 1983 album The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome. It reached No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart, and proved to be the band's last U.K. Top 10 hit single.

The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome album was released in 1984 in the United States with a different track listing under the title Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply. That same year, the single "Run Runaway" became the band's biggest American hit, benefiting from heavy play on MTV, peaking at No. 20 and spending a total of eight weeks on the BillboardHot 100's Top 40. It was also number one for two weeks on the Billboard Top Tracks chart.

The single was included on Canada's official 'Top 100 Singles of 1984' chart, where Run Runaway peaked at No. 84.

The melody is inspired by the hymn "There Is a Happy Land." Holder himself summed the song up as "a rocky Scottish jig."

The lyrics memorably concern observing a chameleon.

Dave Thompson, from allmusic described the song as "building on the anthemic power of the earlier "My Oh My" - itself their biggest U.K. single in nine years - "Run Runaway" is raucous chanting, swirling guitars, wild violin, and even a taste of heavy metal bagpipes, helped along by a drum sound that is pure early '80s."

After being asked for his favourite Slade song, vocalist Noddy Holder replied that although "Far Far Away" was his favourite, hearing "Run Runaway" on the radio a few days before the interview really knocked him out.

For the September–December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, Lea was interviewed and was asked to share where he was when he wrote various Slade tracks. For "Run Runaway," Lea stated it was written whilst he was holding a conversation with someone.

In a mid-1989 Slade fan club magazine interview, Powell was asked if there was a Slade track that he felt was one of the band's best efforts on record. Powell replied stated that "Standin' On The Corner" from the 1975 album Slade in Flamewas a favourite. Powell also stated "The 12" version of Run Runaway, I liked doing that one as well."

The single peaked at No. 193 for 1984 on rateyourmusic.

In the September–December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, the poll results were announced for the 1986 opinion poll based on Slade’s material. For the best single of the 80s, "Run Runaway" placed at No. 2.

The song is played frequently at UMass-Amherst basketball games.

    A music video was created for the single, filmed at Eastnor Castle in Ledbury, Herefordshire, England.

The track was also performed on many UK TV shows including Top of the Pops, Hall of Fame and a filmed performance at the Rhyl Sun Centre. The song was also performed on an unknown German TV show, an unknown Swedish TV show along with My Oh My and on an unknown European TV show.

The track was performed at Montreux Festival in 1984 along with "Slam the Hammer Down." In America, the song was also performed with the 1984 hit single "My Oh My" on American Bandstand.

In 1985, the band performed the song on the UK show Saturday Live along with the newer single "7 Year Bitch." This performance featured live vocals and a different backing track for both songs. In 1987, the band mimed the song on the UK show The Tom O'Connor Show, along with the band's current single of the time, "Still the Same."

The video for this single was a Tim Pope video for GLO Productions that cost RCA £16,000 to have made. The filming was made entirely at Eastnor Castle at Ledbury. As the song had a ‘Highland Jig’ feel to it, so did the video. The band were featured live in front of an audience dressed in tartan. Sequences were of a marching bagpipe band, an enormous kilted scot grappling with a caber and Hill looking very mysterious on the castle ramparts.

The band was let down by the film crew in so much as Powell was not featured in the video at all - he can only be seen in the background. Lea stated that the only requirement that Slade insist upon when they make a film is that all the band are featured, and this wasn’t the case when they saw the finished version of this video. The film was a great success in the United States, peaking at the top of the playlist charts. It’s constant showing on MTV helped Run Runaway become Slade’s biggest American single, reaching the top twenty. Lea recalled that one video jockey even announced; "…and believe it or not that set in the video was an actual castle, it wasn’t constructed just for the film…"

After filming the music video at Eastnor Castle, the band returned to the place where they'd once played their third ever live gig under Chas Chandler's management. The gig was an end of film party for the cast of a film that starred Sammy Davis, Jerry Lewis and Peter Lawson. The band got very drunk during the gig, and Noddy Holder stole a flat cap from the dressing room. On the way home the band were stopped by the police who questioned them about a theft. At first the band thought it was about the cap - but it didn't concern that at all. The police were looking for some antiques stolen from Eastnor Castle.

In the September–December 1986 Slade fan club magazine, the poll results were announced for the 1986 opinion poll based on Slade’s material. For the best promo/video film, Run Runaway placed at No. 1.

In December 2011, the very coat that Hill wore in the Run Runaway video sold on Ebay.co.uk for £295.00. Hill also wore the coat on many European TV shows around the time. The seller had bought the coat many years ago from The Slade Fan Club where Hill auctioned off a few items to raise money to build a recording studio in his loft at home. After winning the auction, a cheque payable to Dave Hill was made.