Millitary Wisdom

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." — Infantry Journal

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." — US 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 Manual

"Five second fuses only last three seconds." — Infantry Journal

The three most useless things in aviation are: Fuel in the bowser; Runway behind you; and Air above you. — Basic Flight Training Manual

"Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once." — Maritime Ops Manual

"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." — Unknown Marine Recruit

"If you see a bomb technician running, try to keep up with him." — USAF Ammo Troop

"You've never been lost until you"ve been lost at Mach 3." — Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot)

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire." —Unknown Author

"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage it has to be a helicopter — and therefore, unsafe." — Fixed Wing Pilot

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash." — Multi-Engine Training Manual

"Without ammunition, the USAF is just an expensive flying club." — Unknown Author

"If you hear me yell; 'Eject, Eject, Eject!,' the last two will be echos. If you stop to ask 'Why?' you"ll be talking to yourself, because you're the pilot." — Pre-flight Briefing from a 104 Pilot

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; but If ATC screws up, .... the pilot dies." — Sign over Control Tower Door

"Never trade luck for skill." — Author Unknown

"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight." — Basic Flight Training Manual

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation — we have never left one up there!" — Unknown Author

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

"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-Montham AFB, AZ

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to." — Sign over Carrier Group Operations Desk

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal." — Lead-in Fighter Training Manual

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!"

via [patriot post]

The Airplane "Boneyard" in HD

Some take religious journeys to sacred places, others gather at the home fields of beloved sports teams. But my pilgrimage? One day it will be here, to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group outside of Tuscon. Better known as the "Boneyard," it's the place where nearly 5,000 aerospace vehicles have gone to die. I'm going to spend the rest of the work day scoping out the new high-res Google map.

Chosen for its arid climate that slows degradation of the planes, the base is home to a huge variety of retired birds. Many are nuclear-capable, retired as a result of arms reduction treaties throughout the years. Lots of B-52s, B-1s and F-111s that once carried nuclear arms.

Then there are the relatively recent internments: plenty of F-14 Tomcats, which were retired for good in 2006. Other current planes spotted include F-15s, F-16s, C-130s, KC-135 refueling tankers, A-10s.

And what have we here? F-4 Phantoms from Vietnam? Maybe even some Century Series jets from the '50s and '60s, if my childhood memorization of aircraft silhouettes hasn't yet failed me? I could play this game all day.

And so could you. Let us know if you spot anything interesting in the comments:

[BBC]

Cool site for laughes

There I fixed it, an awesome site if you want to laugh
http://thereifixedit.com/
[NOT FROM A BLOG from my knowledge]

H20 yeilds to O2

Hydrogen cars might be closer than you think
"from Popsci
you

An interesting report from CNN over the weekend: a tabletop hydrogen fuel cell recharging station could bring hydrogen power to the individual home, allowing portable devices and eventually automobiles to charge up on the universe's most abundant element cleanly from the comfort of home.

Horizon Fuel Cell Technology's HydroFILL device -- which admittedly has an ultra-futuristic look about it -- runs on regular old H₂O, stripping the oxygen from the hydrogen and packing the latter into removable cartridges at high pressure. However, though the hydrogen is packed in at high pressure, the individual cartridges store it in solid state at lower pressures, making it much safer to carry around and sidestepping a major concern with fuel cell technologies.

If powered from a renewable source, the device essentially enables a carbon free process of powering numerous devices. A UK concern is already developing a Smart Car-like automobile powered by Horizon's technology. Whether or not the energy concentrations will be enough to propel the concept to success in the near-term remains to be seen, but the idea of creating home-based hydrogen power stations is enticing, as it means we wouldn't necessarily have to retool our energy infrastructures to enable a clean, efficient hydrogen economy.

[CNN{& popsci}]

For you millitary people

I have found out from a reliable source that the army is taking away bayonett training.
" Defense tech

I wasn’t sure my post from yesterday would garner such a reaction, but I’d say the pros outweigh the cons 10:1.

Many of you mentioned that the last known bayonet charge might have been executed by a squad of Brit troops in Basra back in ‘04.

Well, a little Googleing and low and behold it turns out that bunch of maniac Scots from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders got ambushed by about 100 Mahdi militiamen near Basra, fought it out, and when they ran low on ammunition, fixed bayonets and went to town.

Based on an after-action report found at this link, the intimidation factor of the bayonet and the surprise such a charge caused among the enemy used to engagements at a distance were pivotal.

The bayonet charge by British troops in Basra achieved tactical success primarily because of psychological and cultural factors. It also shows that superior firepower does not guarantee success by either side. In this case, the value of surprise, countering enemy expectations, and strict troop discipline were three deciding characteristics of the bayonet charge.

And, reading the report, you can’t help but come away from it thinking that while the insurgent is courageous in a sense that he’s willing to commit suicide in an attack on his enemy, and that he’s cunning in his building and implementation of weaponry, and that he’s agile in his ability to move quickly in tight spaces and mingle with the population — in the end their internal propoganda that the coalition are wusses just doesn’t make sense.

Propaganda by Sunni and Shiite jihadists regularly advertised the perception that American and British soldiers were cowards. Similar rhetoric increased after the battles of Fallujah in April2004, perhaps to steady the resolve of militia fighters in the face of aggressive coalition attacks.

In addition, British convoys did not engage significantly during previous ambushes, which probably validated the narrative for many Mahdi militiamen. Because many of the Mahdi fighters were teenagers, it is also likely that the Mahdi army used these ambushes for training and recruiting. The attacks were an opportunity for young fighters to use weapons in combat with little risk of serious reprisal.

Who would you pick in a hand-to-hand standoff — in a eyeball to eyeball fistfight? A Scot highlander or a pencil-necked Mahdi bomb clacker?

I pick the guy who eats haggis. Like this dude…

“I wanted to put the fear of God into the enemy. I could see some dead bodies and eight blokes, some scrambling for their weapons. I’ve never seen such a look of fear in anyone’s eyes before. I’m over six feet; I was covered in sweat, angry, red in the face, charging in with a bayonet and screaming my head off. You would be scared, too.”

Corporal Brian Wood
Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment

In the end, the Brit counterassault killed 35 bad guys and left three UK troops lightly wounded.

Keep the bayonets brother!

PS — And here’s another young Brit who had to resort to his rifle blade when the chips were really down:

– Christian"

More Iphone stuff

iPod Qadrahelodrone

from Defense Tech by christian

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I’m pretty into new tech gadgets.

Not the kind that just grabs up the latest must-have thing (though I am thinking very seriously about grabbing a tablet when they come out), but I get excited about gadgets that innovate beyond what’s being talked about and offer uses (both practical and entertainment wise) that aren’t being met — or could only be met at a very high price.

When a colleague sent a note along to me this morning on the AR.Drone made by the French company Parrot, I was intrigued. Then I looked at their site and the videos that explain what the AR.Drone does and I freaked.

Frome USAToday:

Moving the iPhone or iPod Touch, which have built-in accelerometers, directs the toy helicopter in forward, backward, turning and other directions. Buttons on the iPhone make it go up or down.

The chopper has four propellers and two on-board video cameras. One camera assists in flight, the other broadcasts video back to the device. That’s where game developers could use the toy’s capabilities to created augmented reality games to play in the real world, says Parrot founder Henri Seydoux.

“For the first time, you can play together with a friend like a flying ace,” he says. “You pilot your copter and could shoot him in the game and the video camera makes that connection.”

I’m an iPhone disciple — I mean, I truly think the iPhone is the greatest invention since the wheel, if not since fire. And if I can now use my iPhone to snoop on people or places with a lightweight helidrone, I’m in.
Popout
Now, after watching the video, I’m left with the question: Why does it take a decade of development and 100s of millions of dollars to develop (and not even yet field) a microdrone capability for the military, when some French company nobody’s ever heard of can pop one of these things out in a year? How soon do you think SOCOM will put out an UNS on this little gizmo?

– Christian