Snowflakes in Hell

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.

It’s one thing to have a KB on a small arms cartridge.  How about one of these:

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.

And interesting history of some of the Pennsylvania National Guard.  Sounds like it used to be a real militia, as our founding fathers originally envisioned.

No… really.

… in the same headline: “nuclear” and “mistakenly”. If you see those two, chances are it’s big heap trouble:

The plane was carrying Advanced Cruise Missiles from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a Defense Department policy not to confirm information on nuclear weapons.

The missiles, which are being decommissioned, were mounted onto pylons on the bomber’s wings and it is unclear why the warheads had not been removed beforehand.

While I have great respect for the men and women who serve, it should always be remembered that the military is still a government operation, with all the baggage that entails. Hopefully something like this won’t happen again!

UPDATE: Ahab has more.

UPDATE: See Magus’ comments below.  It’s pretty good information on what’s involved with flying around nuclear weapons.

Looks like the Army wants to replace the M24, M14 and Mk 11 sniper rifle with a single 7.62×51 NATO based semi-automatic system.

Hat tip to Dave Hardy.

Head over to Scalawag’s and check out the picture there.  Scalawag thinks it’s a mortar, but I’m not sure it’s not a rocket.  The shape isn’t consistent with a mortar shell, which usually tend to have a raindrop shape.  Those fins at the end probably fold back for flight stabilization.  It’s not inconsistent with other rockets that work the same way, and in the front it looks like there might be a clear window for an IR or laser guidance package.  It’s definitely not an RPG, but it might be some other type of rocket.

I wonder if it’s a movie prop.

If you live near Boalsburg, in Central Pennsylvania, it sounds like you’ll soon be able to visit the large guns of the Battleship USS Pennsylvania.

The Navy retires its last M-14s.

Apparently these folks have never heard of training.  Or know nothing of the severe ammo shortages that are plaguing the military and civilian market alike.   But why bother to check facts when you can just jump to conclusions.

Looks like General Dynamics just won a $44 million dollar small arms ammunition contract.  I’m hoping this means they will be able to add production capacity, and can help keep the price of 5.56×45mm NATO down to a reasonable level.  Lately, I’m trying not to shoot so much of it because of the price, and I hate that.

I want my next vehicle to be one of these.

Not much in the way of armor, but it sure would be fun to show up at a car hunt with one of these.

SayUncle mentions the fourth circuit decision that the feds can’t hold people indefinitely without charging them, and says it’s good. I agree that it’s good, in this case, but it does bring up an interesting problem of how to deal with the topic of prisoners in this type of warfare, which is something civil libertarians don’t spend enough time thinking about.

It’s generally been understood that the military may detain, without charges, and without recourse to the civilian courts, combatants that have been captured in a theater of war. It’s also understood that spies and saboteurs, even if captured away from the battlefield, may fall under military jurisdiction if captured. This is one of those essential things that government traditionally have been allowed to do in the exercise of their military powers.

The big problem I see with the “War on Terror” (we really need to come up with a better name) is that it paints a very fuzzy line between the state’s exercise of military power and the exercise of police power. Because we’re not dealing with the typical type of belligerent you encounter in war; because we’re not fighting any single nation, with an army who’s soldiers wear uniforms, bear arms openly, and fight in organized military units, it’s not clear where the state’s military power should end, and the police power ought to apply.

I do think in the current conflict that the military needs to retain the ability to keep prisoners of war, but when combatants should be considered POWs, held under military authority, or prisoners, held under civilian authority, I’m not sure about.

The best I can come up with is that if persons are captured as combatants in a theater of war they may be treated as prisoners of war for the duration of that conflict. If they are captured domestically, or even internationally, as part of police actions, rather than military operations, they are entitled to the same due process as anyone else subject to criminal prosecution.

But that does raise the problem of status. What’s to stop abuses by the executive branch of its military power? How does someone detained under military jurisdiction challenge his status? I think these are questions that Congress probably ought to be thinking about. In wars between organized states, and their armies, having a recourse to civilian courts could create a nightmare, as enemy prisoners of war would be trained to file lawsuits in order to drain their opponents resources. But we’re not likely to see large numbers of prisoners of war in this current conflict.

This war is different, and we’ll need different rules. But the left certainly isn’t seriously thinking about the issue in a helpful or intelligent manner, and the right certainly can’t be trusted to come up with rules that respect proper limits on the state’s military powers. It’s something for liberty minded folks to think about, because we’re going to be having this debate as a matter of consequence, whether we want it or not. With the left being intellectually out to lunch, those of us who cherish liberty and individual rights may have to tow the banner on this, but I think we have to come up with rules that respect the individual, without limiting the state’s military powers to such a degree that we can no longer prosecute wars effectively.

UPDATE: Professor Kerr has more on the subject here.

In From the Cold is wondering if Governor Corzine didn’t hit is head a little too hard in his car accident, based on his call to close to Warren Grove Range.   On the contrary, based on what I know of the Governor, I would say he’s getting back to his normal self.

The USS Winston Churchill, which was docked at Penn’s Landing this weekend and which Bitter and I took a tour of. Apparently Armed Canadian was there as well, but we missed him.

USS Winston Churchill. An Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer.

(more…)

Check out this link w/photo of an iPod that saved a soldiers life:

My wife’s uncle works in a military hospital and told me about this. Its pretty amazing. Kevin Garrad (3rd Infantry Division) was on a street patrol in Iraq (Tikrit I believe) and as he rounded the corner of a building an armed (AK-47) insurgent came from the other side.

The two of them were within just a few feet of each other when they opened fire. The insurgent was killed and Kevin was hit in the left chest where his IPod was in his jacket pocket. It slowed the bullet down enough that it did not completely penetrate his body armor. Fortunately, Kevin suffered no wound.

Pretty cool.  Apparently Apple got wind of this and is replacing his iPod for him.

The Times of London is reporting that the kidnapped British soldiers are going to be tried for espionage by Iran.  Witnesses claim the British vessel was in Iraqi waters when it was attacked by the Iranians.

This is an act of war under any interpretation of international law.  What I want to know is, why haven’t the British responded along the lines of

“You have 1 hour to return our soldiers.  If they are not returned by then the Royal Navy will be executing a blockade of your ports.   If they are not returned in 24 hours, the Royal Air Force will begin bombing military targets inside Iran itself.”

I don’t get why we’ve been pussy footing around with these people.  I can understand invasion would be difficult, but we could destroy most of Iran’s combat power within a matter of days.

From Leaning Towards the Dark Side, we learn that the last World War I combat veteran died on February 22nd, 2007.

The last American combat veteran of World War I recently passed away, on February 22nd. Howard V. Ramsey was 109 years old and lived in Oregon. He was corporal, and arrived in France two months before the war ended in 1918. Ramsey drove trucks and cars, which brought him under enemy artillery fire as he delivered supplies to the front lines, or drove an ambulance up to retrieve wounded troops. After the war ended on November 11, 1918, Ramsey spent seven months recovering the bodies of dead American soldiers. Ramsey was born in Colorado, and volunteered for service, as he was too young for the draft. There are still seven American World War I veterans, but none of them went overseas.

A sad milestone, for sure. But there are currently hundreds of thousands of folks out there following in Mr. Ramsey’s footsteps, of whom we should be justly proud.