Category: Military Stuff

Excellent post over at The Belmont Club today on missile defense and deterrence.  Well worth a read.

UPDATE: In the comments:

It’s a little disturbing when a major Presidential candidate’s first instincts after the Iranians test 9 long missiles are to blame his government for not engaging in direct talks. The real story here is to ask why, if Teheran has no WMD ambitions, it has any ballistic missile program at all. Does anyone actually believe these expensive missiles are going to be fitted with conventional warheads? That would be so cost ineffective as to be implausible. Any reasonable person, looking at the situation, would regard the firing of the 9 missiles with alarm. I think BHO’s reactions are almost unnatural.

Here’s what 20mm rounds fired from the M61A1 Vulcan Gun on an F16 can do to a Chevy Suburban.  They say only 70 rounds were fired, which is basically a tap on the 6,000 rounds-per-minute Vulcan.

Peter, who blogs at Firearms and Freedom, points out a group who’s job it is to protect war memorials from dirty stinking hippies.  This is a worthy cause, in my opinion.   Looks like Peter also got to meet Jonah Goldberg.   I really need to make some time to read Liberal Fascism.

Rachel is absolutely right on this one:

Wanna know what I think, as a bona fide military girlfriend? I think they should have porn in the PX, especially if all we’re talking about is Playboy and Penthouse. Men need to see naked women, and these men happen to be spending months at a time in forced celibacy, and if they want to look at a pretty girl’s boobies and release some of that, uhhh, energy, more power to ‘em. I have absolutely no problem with it and like I said, I’d send those mags to my own boyfriend if I could, once he gets to Iraq.

It’s not a good idea to deny these kinds of things to young men who are forced to spend all their waking hours in the company of other men.  Bad things happen when you do that, especially in a high stress environment, like a combat zone.  It would seem to be this is just moralistic grandstanding on the part of a certain politician.

They ended up shipping fuses for nuclear warheads.  Ooops.  It’s one of those things, you have to wonder if it’s a legitimate mistake, or we’re (or were, rather) secretly arming Taiwan with nuclear weapons, and this whole story is a cover.

They’ve donated $72,000 worth of tickets to Texas National Guardsmen who would have otherwise been unable to get home for the holidays.  They deserve our thanks, and our business.

Bitter and I went to the Submarine Museum in Groton, CT, where they have the USS Nautilus displayed:

 

Sadly, they don’t tour you through the reactor or engine room.  I’m wondering if any of that stuff is still classified.  USS Nautilus is the only nuclear powered submarine on display to the public anywhere in the world.  You can visit the submarine museum in an hour’s time if you want, and it’s worth the visit.  Especially if you have kids of the right age.  You can show them where the nuclear warheads would be mounted on the Polaris missile they have on display.

USS Nautilus is the official ship of Connecticut, which is only fitting.  Groton, CT is the home to General Dynamics’ Electric Boat Division, which is the birthplace of much of our nation’s submarine fleet going back a century.

I’ve been on more than a few submarine museums, and I have to say, I have a lot of respect for anyone who could spend months at a time on something like the Nautilus.  Even on a nuclear sub, quarters were cramped.  It was tough for me just walking around for a few minutes, but then again, I’m probably a bit tall to be a submariner.

The big question is, will these only be available to “only ones”?  Of course, I think it’s cheating, but don’t tell Gene Simmons.

Thanks to Kevin for pointing me to this excellent Blackfive post on soldiers coming back home.