Military Wisdom

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Feb 012009
 

“If the enemy is in range, so are you.” – Infantry Journal

“It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.” – U.S. Air Force Manual

“Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” – General MacArthur

“You, you, and you … Panic. The rest of you, come with me.” – U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.

“Tracers work both ways.” – U.S. Army Ordnance

“Five second fuses only last three seconds.” – Infantry Journal

“Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once.”

“Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.” – Unknown Marine Recruit

“If you see a bomb technician running, follow him.” – USAF Ammo Troop

“Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 40,000 Feet and Climbing.”

“You’ve never been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach 3.” – Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)

“The only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.”

“If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it’s probably a helicopter — and therefore, unsafe.”

“When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.”

“Even with ammunition, the USAF is just another expensive flying club.”

“What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, …. The pilot dies.”

“Never trade luck for skill.”

The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: “Why is it doing that?”, “Where are we?” And “Oh S…!”

“Friendly fire – isn’t”

“Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.”

“Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; We’ve never left one up there!”

“Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.”

“The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you.” – Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

“There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.” Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

“If something hasn’t broken on your helicopter, it’s about to.”

“You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.”

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives,the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks “What happened?”. The pilot’s reply: “I don’t know, I just got here myself!” – Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)

My Predictions for the New Obama “Presidency”

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Jan 182009
 

The following piece was written by Kit Lange an Air Force veteran and military writer. I could not have said this better if I had written this myself.

I know where our destiny is heading when I read articles like this. Either you are part of the answer or part of the problem.

As for me, I’m off to buy some more ammo.


Now that America has shown us all that affirmative action even works in politics, I’ve compiled a list of things that you can probably expect to happen. These predictions are 80% gleaned from information all of us have access to, and 15% gut instinct based on many years of research, historical study, and being glued to current affairs. The other 5% is just anger at my countrymen’s stupidity–I admit it.

  • Websites and mass emails offering “free grants,” courtesy of the government and “Obama’s wealth redistribution.” Actually, this one’s a freebie, because I have an email with a date and timestamp of literally minutes after Obama was declared the winner, offering exactly that.
  • Israel will understand this election was the end of any type of assistance, military or otherwise, from the U.S. , and will stop holding back their defense at the request of the American administration. Look for a first strike on Iran soon, as well as increased activity by the Israeli military in general. Israel is on her own now, and God help us all because of it.
  • Look for Iranian retaliation–against American targets. That goes doubly for other terrorist organizations. We just elected a man with the full endorsement of every major terrorist group in the world as leader of the free world. It’s the political equivalent of hiring a child molester to babysit your kids while you leave for the weekend. Not only is HE going to have fun with your child, but he’ll probably sit and watch while his friends come over and do it too.
  • Look for far-left justices appointed to the Supreme Court, effectively tying up the entire government in a trifecta of liberal humanism, the buzzwords of which remain empty platitudes like “hope and change,” and the ultimate goal of which is socialism–and soon, sharia law.
  • Military cases of troops being tried and convicted for killing the enemy in combat will continue to rise–and the conviction/plea-bargain rate will stay at nearly 100%, as the government seeks to use the best men and women this country has to offer as sacrificial lambs on the altar of global appeasement. Those brave and honorable men who currently reside in prison cells across the country, stripped of their rank, their careers, families, and their good name, will not taste free air again for many years. Their sacrifices and their stories will be forgotten by the general public, remembered only by those of us who continue to fight for them.
  • Look for the slow but steady erosion of rights you have enjoyed for your entire lives–all the while being told it’s “for your own good.” Restrictions on gun ownership, home schooling, encouraged dependence on the ever-growing federal government. More nanny-state provisions will be put into place to protect the “disadvantaged” and the “poor,” (read: lazy, uneducated, unwilling to better themselves) even while groups like the unborn, the mentally handicapped, elderly, and terminally ill are slowly pushed toward euthanasia. Of course, this will be done with feel-good phrases like “death with dignity,” “not wanting to be a burden,” and “merciful release from suffering,” all of which ignore the basic fact that we are killing people without their consent for the “good of the people.” Before you tell me I’m crazy, let’s just remember that Barack Obama was the ONLY senator in the Illinois state senate to vote against providing medical care for babies who were inconsiderate enough to survive an abortion. Also, look for taxes to go up. Yes, they’ll go up.
  • You think the economy is bad now? Just wait. You’ll have the most expensive “free” health care ever. Bread lines aren’t just for Russians anymore.

    We have traded experience for color, freedom for slavery–and the irony is that the average American sheeple thinks their vote somehow righted an ancient wrong, somehow ENDED the spectre of slavery and ushered in some beautiful era of liberty. In reality, we are about to be less free than you ever thought possible.

    I watched the faces of those crowded into the mob (excuse the pun) in Chicago. They stared at Obama like he was a god, an idol, a panacea to their every want and need. We have truly failed as a nation if we are at the point where we feel we must look to one man to take care of us all, to be our father figure and our sugar daddy. We have lost not only the “can-do” attitude of past generations, but the “MUST-do” attitude of our forefathers. We have allowed ourselves to become reduced from Patrick Henry’s proud cry of “liberty or death” to the sniveling, whining idea that we are owed something. We have gone from being the honorable defenders of freedom, to being told we are the problem.

    The eyes of Obama and McCain were also telling. McCain acted with class and grace in his concession speech , offering the most honorable response I’ve seen yet. I don’t agree with all of McCain’s positions, but it cannot be denied that the man has served his nation–at permanent and severe detriment to himself–for half a century.

    His eyes were clear and sincere, honest. His speech underlined the very reasons why, of the two men offered, he was hands down the best choice.

    On the other hand, Obama’s eyes were cold, calculating. His manner was smug and still carried the arrogance he has always had. His facial expression was one of barely disguised disdain for everything people like me believe in. His body language was smooth, polished–too much so. He talked of patriotism as though it is a value he is familiar with–and yet, his horrifying attitude toward the country he now leads is as well-documented as his friendships with those who seek its demise. He is charismatic to those who don’t know what to look for, and he is inspiring to those who cannot or will not think for themselves. However, too many who voted for him are guilty of the most dangerous kind of hypocrisy. You see, we are told daily that we must not see color, just mankind. (We are all family, you know–or so we’re told.) And yet Barack Obama was handed the White House on a silver platter by a fawning media, a bevy of foreign donors (who, to this day and in violation of U.S. election laws, remain nameless and unaccounted for), and a populace who voted based on color instead of right and wrong–even in the face of the most damning evidence against a Presidential candidate in many years, perhaps ever.

    It is said that the people receive the government they deserve. Sadly, I fear that’s correct. We have become complacent, unwilling to see the writing on the wall, content to frolic in the warm water without bothering to notice that it’s been getting hotter by the minute. We are two seconds from a rolling boil–and perhaps it is already too late.

    So, liberals, enjoy your victory. Jump around. Have a party, file for your free grants. Scream “Gimme my handout!” and make fun of those of us who fought to make sure your “messiah” didn’t get access to the most powerful position in the world. Just remember when it all comes crashing down: You own the White House, the Congress, and soon the Supreme Court. You have no one to blame but yourselves for the mess you just created.

    As for me, I’m buying my handguns this week so I have an answer for those who will come try to take them.

    Kit

Kit Lange is an Air Force veteran and military writer who specializes in investigating murder cases stemming from actions in combat. Her work was used as evidence in the Lt. Ilario Pantano case, and has been quoted extensively in other news publications for other cases. In 2005, she co-wrote a 10-part series disproving war crime allegations against an elite Army unit; her blog, EuphoricReality.com, was named as one of the top 10 milblogs of the year. She is also the National Web Coordinator for Gathering of Eagles, a nationally-recognized troop support organization. Kit holds a degree in Aircraft Maintenance Technology from Spartan College of Aeronautics, and is currently working on a second degree in Aviation Technology Management. She resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma


Deadly Conventional Weapon of the Day: Anti-Personnel Mines

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Jan 042009
 


Anti-personnel mines: These little hidden bombs cause such havoc in civil wars around the world that they’ve been banned by most nations. The U.S. still insists on retaining the right to use them, though it doesn’t actively deploy them.

Best known is the Claymore mine developed by the U.S. in the 1950s and widely copied worldwide, but possibly most notorious is the Soviet “Butterfly” model that during the 1980s killed and maimed Afghan children who thought it was a toy.

“We make extremely rare use of mines anymore,” says Wright. “In the old days you had to go clean the mines up … now you’ve got to remember to send people to clean that area, [because] civilians or your own troops may run into them.”

The M18A1 Claymore is a directional anti-personnel mine used by the U.S. military. It was named after the large Scottish sword by its inventor, Norman A. MacLeod. The Claymore fires shrapnel, in the form of steel balls, out to about 100 meters across a 60° arc in front of the device. It is used primarily in ambushes and as an anti-infiltration device against enemy infantry. It is also of some use against soft-skinned vehicles.


Claymore mine detonating 50 feet away.

God Bless America again!

Courtesy Fox News

Jan 032009
 

The .50-caliber sniper rifle: Confederate soldiers first mounted scopes on high-powered rifles during the Civil War, but the first specially designed sniper rifles for both police and military use came about in the 1970s. The barrels are precisely machined and specially mounted to minimize recoil.

Many Western sniper rifles use NATO standard 7.62-mm cartridges, but models using massive .50-caliber bullets are so powerful they can take out enemy ordnance by sheer force of impact.

One .50-caliber model, the McMillan TAC-50, set the record for longest kill in 2002 when a Canadian corporal shot a Taliban insurgent from a mile and a half away in Afghanistan.

“The advantage is range,” says Wright. “You can fire 2,000 meters plus, more than a mile, and hit a target accurately. … If it hits it’s probably going to kill.”


This is the one of the craziest sniper rifles in the world.

Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes, reports on the power of .50 caliber sniper rifles and the terrorist threat posed by these weapons, with New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

God Bless America again!

Courtesy Fox News

Deadly Conventional Weapon of the Day: Laser-Guided Bombs

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Jan 022009
 


Laser-guided bombs: First used in Vietnam, these bombs (and some missiles) home in on a laser-illuminated target marked either by the shooter or a third party on the ground. Unpowered bombs use fins to steer themselves to the target; powered missiles use rocket or jet engines.

Laser-guided missiles and bombs were used to great effect during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, offering unparalleled precision at hitting targets; for example, a tank in an alleyway could be destroyed from miles away without hitting the adjacent buildings.

But they do have some drawbacks — they don’t work well, or at all, in heavy dust, fog or smoke.

“The biggest advantage is [not hitting] innocent civilians,” says Wright. “You don’t want collateral damage.

“Let’s say the enemy sets up a position right next to a village,” he explains. “Instead of having to plaster the area with explosives and inadvertently destroy the village or religious site, you can use this to pinpoint and take it out with surgical precision.”


Two F-117’s dropping GBU-24(?) laser guided bombs at Point Bravo, Nevada during the 2007 Air Force Fire Power Demo (Capstone).


The GBU-27 Paveway III (Guided Bomb Unit) is a laser-guided bomb with bunker buster capabilities. It is a GBU-24 Paveway III that has been redesigned to be used by the F-117A Nighthawk stealth ground attack aircraft.

he GBU-27 was used in Operation Desert Storm. It was the weapon used in the February 13, 1991 attack on the Amiriyah shelter, which resulted in the deaths of more than 400 Iraqi civilians. It was also used in a series of strikes on the Muthanna State Enterprise site during February 1991, which the U.S. military identified as the heart of the Iraqi chemical weapons production infrastructure.

The first foreign sale of the GBU-27 was the acquisition by Israel of 500 units equipped with BLU-109 penetrating warheads, authorized in September 2004. (Raas and Long 2006) Delivery of such precision guided weaponry was accelerated at the request of Israel in July 2006, though the exact munition were not specified. Israeli Defense Forces officials state that other precision-guided munitions have been used to attack Hezbollah facilities in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. However, the bunker busting technology in the GBU-27 could be directed, according Israeli military sources, at Iran or possibly Syria.

God Bless America again!

Courtesy Fox News