Foot Fetish

From the Chronicles of Jake we learn the importance of taking care of one's feet, especially those of an infantryman.

"Sound hearts are not much good if the feet won't stand." - Teddy Roosevelt

These boots were made for walking...

Lazy Ramadi

Don't miss this.

"Uppity"?

A San Antonio columnist (via RCP) opines on the nature of public reaction to an "uppity" military in a description of the attempt to improve American intelligence. Can't say as I quite get what he's on about, but I expect Charlie Moskos to be quoted about it in 5...4...3...2..

(Who's Charlie Moskos? He's the only veteran who's a sociologist that happens to be on everyone's speed dial. He's everywhere when someone talks about the civilian-military gap, or military demographic trends, or other similar subjects.)

Soviet Gadget List

BoingBoing points to an entertaining selection of Soviet equipment for sale or display, like this ten rotor crypto unit.

I like the helicopter that fits in the torpedo tube myself...

Wow

Soldiers’ Angels Ship 5,000th Backpack To Help Wounded Soldiers In Overseas Hospital

Read this too. It's not about the numbers.

Found On Usenet

Every once in a while I check out the military pictures group on USENET. Found these pictures, with no attribution, of the memorial service for SDVT-1 and 160th SOG members we lost in Afghanistan last year.

Fair winds and following seas--and if you want to donate to the Naval Special Warrior Foundation or the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, those organizations are Froggy-endorsed.

Photos after the jump.

Click on the photo for bigger.

Attribution is unknown because I found these in a random USENET newsgroup. I have one more photo, which has faces on it so I won't publish here. If you need that one and you were there, email Chapomatic at gmail.

All done!

GODSMACKDOWN

Over the weekend I exchanged a few emails with Jay Babcock, the editor of Arthur magazine, regarding his very contentious interview with Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack. It seems that Sully is a proud supporter of the U.S. Military, while Jay is not.

I left a comment on Jay's site, and it all went downhill from there. Check out the blow-by-blow here.

Re: AIF military logic

Well said Lex. I think one of the early indicators of actual civil war in Iraq (as opposed to "sectarian violence") will be that all Sunnis will be dead. The numbers support this.

We’re a bunch of Geeks

If the folks that ran the PX out here actually paid attention to what we actually want, they would be rolling in the dough. Haven’t they realized after 3 years that every time Halo is on the racks that they’re all gone within an hour? If there were customer survey forms for the PX, I haven’t seen them yet.

AIF military logic

I don't know - maybe it's Western-style military training - you know, Purpose, Method, Endstate and all that, but headlines like these, and the accompanying text leave me wondering:

Blasts kill 14 at Baghdad airport
Two cars packed with explosives ripped through a busy car park
Fourteen people have died and six were hurt in a double suicide attack near Baghdad airport, on a day of violence that claimed at least 30 lives in Iraq...

The blasts came after a spate of overnight bombings destroyed several Shia Muslim shrines near the city of Baquba, some 40 miles (65 km) north-east of Baghdad.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says much of the violence now is playing into a scenario of rising sectarian tensions between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

The shrine attacks were clearly yet another provocation aimed at adding fuel to the flames, our correspondent adds.

I mean, it's clear that the anti-Iraqi forces don't have anything like a unified political vision - unless you count rejectionist nihilsm as a vision - but you just have to wonder at the military logic of this kind of insensate violence:

First insurgent: Praise be! We have through our brutal campaign of indiscriminate violence succeeded in accomplishing Step #1 of our glorious military plan. We have finally overcome the forces of sectarian moderation and fanned the retributive emotions of the majority Shi'a population! While also alienating the Kurds!

Second insurgent: Give thanks! The Shi'a outnumber us three to one, control the military and interior ministries, and are now well armed, trained and equipped!

First insurgent: And don't forget, brother: The Shi'a and the Kurdish populations sit atop the natural wealth of the entire country! While we are masters of the trackless desert wasteland! On to Step #2!

Second insurgent:

First insurgent:

Second insurgent: What was Step #2 again brother?

First insurgent: I'm thinking, I'm thinking.

Annoying Headline of the Day?

Perhaps this one: Thousands Rally Against U.S. Troops.

But it's still early.

Sheesh...

Video game industry is told it needs to grow up

THINGS got off to a bad start this week when Wonder Woman was refused entry to the building.
The problem, it seemed, was a new set of rules from the organisers of the annual E3 video games conference. The message was clear: any kind of semi-nudity, even a pair of superhero bikini bottoms, would not be tolerated. Gamers needed to grow up, get sex off their minds and concentrate on the wholesome family entertainment of stealing fast cars and firing lasers at giant alien crabs.

The video games business was desperate to be taken seriously at the jamboree this year. After 12 months of slumping sales — and a failure to live up to its prediction of overtaking Hollywood as America’s primary form of entertainment — the industry was expecting big things from the unveiling of next-generation hardware, such as the Sony PlayStation 3.

Should we ban such things here?

Oddly enough, I heard a rumor that Hollywood was considering using scantily clad, beautiful women in some upcoming movies as a lure to attract viewers. I'm not sure if that's true though - it seems like it might cheapen the industry.

RE: Old MIUWU sailors never die...

Eagle1: The NCW Squadron (successor units to the Harbor Defense Command) "Commodores" still wear Command at Sea pins, even though they are land-based commands, while the MIUWU and IBU COs are stuck with shore command pins. And the IBU skippers never stop bitching about it, believe me.

A fellow MIUWU sailor, eh? Small world...

Old MIUWU sailors never die...

Smash: I spent 5 great years in MIUWU land - and was CO of one of the units that deployed for ODS. Our only boats at that time were Zodiacs. The PSU and the MIUWU were linked together under the Port Security Harbor Defense commander and he worked for the Harbor Defense Commander (some time over a beer, we can mull over how the shore based ODS PSHD COs got Command at Sea badges for being the bosses over two shore commands (MIUWU and PSU).

Many jolly turf wars followed ODS over who would boss the MIUWUs...I guess NCW is as good a place as any (though I was of the crowd that argued that the better idea was to let the senior MIUWU or PSU CO be the Port Security guy and cut out what I viewed as an unnecessary level of command at the PSHD (NCW det?) level.

Monday

Assuming we'll be FOC on Monday, any suggestions as to what I should wear?

RE: Before the IBUs

Eagle1: the MIUWUs are still around; I served in one during my stint in Kuwait back in 2003. The original MIUWUs did have boats, but the Navy took the boats away when they split out the IBUs in the late 1990s.

MIUWUs, IBUs, and Coast Guard PSUs typically deploy together as part of a Naval Coastal Warfare detachment to provide port security overseas. Since the end of Vietnam, the NCW community has consisted almost entirely of reserve units. But earlier this year the first active duty NCW squadron was commissioned in San Diego, and the second will be commissioned at Little Creek later this month, so we can expect to see a lot more of these high speed boats deploying overseas in the near future.