Serving death and destruction worldwide, too!

NATO general: Iranian military bombs found in Afghanistan.

Gee…whoda thunk it?

Unbelievable…wish he was up for ValOUR-IT instead, but a lot of children who lost parents in the Marines of law enforcement will be the lucky ones…The Democratic “leadership” will fund precisely what they are against

Comment in the Little Green Footballs post on going over $2M…

#84 Kaintuck 10/18/07 10:14:01 pm reply quote report 3

News Flash!

Harry Reid offers withdrawal, defeat and redeployment letter on eBay.

Bidding started and ended at 50 cents, no buyers.

Floowed by:

#113 FlyingTigress 10/18/07 10:19:12 pm reply quote report 1

re: #84 Kaintuck

News Flash!

Harry Reid offers withdrawal, defeat and redeployment letter on eBay.

Bidding started and ended at 50 cents, no buyers.

It’s the fact that he has negative feedback that caused the problem. Consistently lousy product, often misrepresented item description, expensive and slow delivery.

Too in this jewel as a bonus:

#144 song_and_dance_man 10/18/07 10:27:23 pm reply quote report 2

I can see it now. Dan Rather will try to auction his TANG memo.

Too funny!

Update @ 12:54 EDT: Not funny: Harry Reid (D-NV) takes to the floor of the Senate of the United States of America and proclaims credit for raising money to support the children of those who died in battle. Since the MSM/HBM/Dinosaur Media didn’t bother to carry the story in the first place about the abuse of elected official power against a private citizen, directly in contravention with The Constitution of the United States of America, the old media will now report it and hail the magnificant manner in which the Democrats, 41 of them specifically, have done just like their icon, Bill Clinton, helped raise awareness for children in need and ain’t they just great? Merely a prediction, but I’m sure the stories will be released in less than a few minutes, when the auction closes…(in 50 seconds)

Just went back for the link…$2,100,100 right now….it was $2,000,100 just a few minutes ago and there are 5+ hours left…

Snooping around the web drummed up this: What a combat medic figured out:

Why We Serve: Combat Medic Saves Lives Using New Evacuation System
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2007 – A veteran Air Force combat medic helped to transform the way wounded troops are treated and evacuated during a recent deployment to Afghanistan.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mark A. DeCorte is participating in the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public-outreach program.  Tech Sgt. Mark A. DeCorte recalled the previous practice when unarmed battlefield medics were flown in to treat and evacuate injured servicemembers usually after an area had been cleared of the enemy.

However, DeCorte emphasized, “When you have a wounded soldier on the ground, they need help now.”
[…]

He took a little lead from previous wars and todays technology, to bring more detailed lifesaving techniques closer to the wounded…in fact, right on the field of combat, and on the way to the first hospital.

[…]
The concept of treating and evacuating injured servicemembers during the din of battle was tested during DeCorte’s tour of duty in Afghanistan from February to June 2006, the 13-year military veteran said.

The Army had requested Air Force assistance to improve its air-ambulance capabilities in Afghanistan’s austere, mountainous terrain, DeCorte explained.

Previous doctrine was to send in medical-evacuation helicopters after the fighting had stopped, he noted, but this practice meant that some troops wouldn’t survive the trip to the hospital. That procedure would change.

In Afghanistan, DeCorte was one of several military medics embedded with aerial combat-support units. Instead of using traditional rotary- or fixed-wing aircraft marked with red crosses, the new wave combat medics carried arms as they flew directly into the maelstrom aboard armored helicopter gunships.

The idea, DeCorte explained, was to treat the wounded as quickly as possible. And, when the concept was tested on the battlefield, it contributed to achieving a previously unimagined wounded-survivability rate of 90 percent, he said.

“We can now go in embedded (with combat units) and part of the operation,” DeCorte said.
[…]

Riding to the rescue in HH-60G armed Pave Hawks:

[…]
A servicemember’s odds of surviving battlefield-inflicted wounds go way up if he or she can be evacuated to a treatment center within an hour of being injured, DeCorte pointed out. In medical parlance that period of time is known as “the golden hour,” he said.

“If I can get you to surgery within an hour you most likely have a chance to survive,” DeCorte said.

The Minot, N.D.-born noncommissioned officer saved 36 lives during his 63 combat sorties in southern Afghanistan. “It’s very bad in that area,” DeCorte observed, adding that two of his fellow combat medics on other air-evacuation flights saved another 102 lives between them.
[…]

BZ, Tech Sgt Decorte!

Former Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff, AMD William Crowe died today.

A 1947 Naval Academy graduate and a submariner, Crowe served as an assistant to President Eisenhower’s naval aide, as executive officer of the Tang-class diesel/electric submarine Wahoo, captain of another Tang-class boat, the Trout, and then a string of other command and staff assignments, culminating with his appointment in 1980 to be commander in chief of allied forces in Southern Europe and his appointment in 1983 to be commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Command.

President Reagan tapped him to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1985, a position in which he served until 1989. During his tenure Congress passed the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, a sweeping measure that unified many aspects of a then-disconnected military and formally made Crowe, as Joint Chiefs chairman, the senior-most U.S. military officer.
[…]

He later served as our Ambassador to England, as well. The funeral will be held Oct 31st at the Naval Academy.

Get a load of this (Copyright 2002):

Chapter 1
“Best Laid Plans”
“Men are useless.” A shortish blond woman, in roughly the same shape as the office she occupied, leaned back in her chair. She plopped her size tens on what was otherwise an elegant mahogany desk. Madam President wasn’t happy this morning. She squinted at the eagle carved in the ceiling and continued to rant: “I’ve had it with the lot of you.”That was true in more ways than one. The first woman to hold the office, she had arrived on the backswing of the political pendulum. The previous occupant of this noble house had been devoted to family and faith, a man of simple ideas. But this President had divorced her husband, albeit after the election, and within days of her inauguration had shocked the nation by announcing she was a lesbian. Tough as steel and just as cold, this new breed of president seemed to have faith in nothing but her invincibility, and to fear nothing but anonymity.”
[…a paragraph down…]
Ever fickle, the American people had elected a dove, a peacemaker, or so her campaign had promised. She was schooled in political correctness and all manner of new-world-order solutions. Everything she said sounded so reasoned, so civilized. Well, in front of the cameras, anyway…
[…]

Had to make a shortstop at the Dr’s office the other day and took two books, you know, in case they made me wait…the one almost done and this other one I had purchased at a used book store, in excellent condition, from the Political/Military section so labeled. Thought it was a non-fiction book, and after polishing off “The Truth About Muhammed” by Robert Spencer (most excellent read, BTW), I moved on to open “Tea with Terrorists: Who They are – Why They Kill – What Will Stop Them” by Craig Winn and Ken Power. The above text opened the book, which in the forward explains, while it is a novel, it is founded on very real research and documentation.

So…think these boys have a time machine in their garage? Actually, I hope not, but I sense they are being true to what are very plausible real life situations, as they stated in the Forward.

The Amazon reviews are quite complimentary, saying this is good reading for those who won’t pick up non-fiction books…but love their novels.

Put your links to your best (or…well…anything you have) here…The sights at sea are amazing, and some one a few will witness, unless they look for them.

So, you call yourself a sailor, and you don’t believe in “the Green Flash?” Do you consider your fellow mariners who boast of such siting as more (maybe a lot more) or less on the wrong side of sanity for a moment or a lifetime?

Well, I have seen the phenomena, and now, you can know I’m quite sane, if you are an unbeliever, but at least I saw it in person a few times…

The “why/how” is here.

More real sitings captured here.

Facts and fiction about same…

Do you believe me now, shipmates?

Watch the video. Read the description of the precise Mecca orientation of the design which the press and others have been denying.

The exact Mecca orientation of the Flight 93 Memorial

A person facing directly into the giant central crescent of what was originally called the Crescent of Embrace will be facing 1.8° north of Mecca. Defenders of the crescent have used the inexactness of its Mecca orientation to dismiss concern.

•Patrick White, Vice President of Families of Flight 93, argues that the giant crescent cannot be seen as a tribute to Islam because the inexactness of its Mecca orientation would be “disrespectful to Islam.”•Both major Pittsburgh newspapers are denying that there is any such thing as the direction to Mecca.

•The internal investigation conducted by the Park Service denies that there is any such thing as “almost”:

…mihrab orientation either points to Mecca or it does not … [it] cannot be off by “some” degrees. [From page 2 of report summary. Page 1 here.]

All of this willful blindness about the simple orientation of the crescent structure has been effective in keeping public inquiry from reaching a second startling fact: that the crescent design also contains a hidden exact Mecca orientation, corresponding to architect Paul Murdoch’s own description of how the crescent structure should be interpreted.

Physical crescent tip vs. thematic crescent tip

What points not quite exactly at Mecca is the physical Crescent of Embrace structure (every particle of which remains completely intact in the Bowl of Embrace redesign). Connect the most obtruding tips of the physical crescent, form the perpendicular bisector to this line (the bisector of the crescent), and it points 1.8° north of Mecca:

Click for larger images. The green circle with “qibla” direction marked is from the Mecca-direction calculator at Islam.com. “Qibla” is Arabic for “prayer direction,” which Muslims calculate as the “great circle” or “shortest distance” direction to Mecca.

But Paul Murdoch has also given a thematic explanation for the crescent structure, indicating how the thematic or “true” upper crescent tip should be understood. In Murdoch’s description, the flight path breaks the circle, turning it into a giant crescent. Thus the thematic upper crescent tip is what is left of the crescent structure after the parts that are “broken off” by the flight path are removed. Take away the parts of the Entry Portal Walls that extend out beyond the flight path, connect the most obtruding tips of the remaining structure, and a perpendicular to this line points within a couple hundredths of a degree of Mecca (i.e. it points exactly at Mecca, as far as can be determined given the pixel resolution of the graphics).

The flight path is represented in the Crescent/Bowl design by the Entry Portal Walkway, which comes down from the NNW. The Walkway passes through the Entry Portal Walls and projects out into the crescent:

Take away the parts of the crescent structure that are “broken off” by the flight path, and the remaining crescent structure is oriented exactly on Mecca.

[The above graphic was created by laying the Crescent of Embrace and the Bowl of Embrace site plans on top of each other. This was done to accurately capture the one real change that Murdoch made in the Bowl of Embrace redesign: the lengthening of the Entry Portal Walkway. (See “Memorial riddle #2: Why did Paul Murdoch lengthen the Entry Portal Walkway?) So that the new Walkway length can be seen, the low resolution Bowl of Embrace site plan is enhanced by overlaying it with the high resolution Crescent of Embrace site plan.]

The 44th inscribed translucent block on the flight path

At the end of the Entry Portal Walkway (marking the thematic or “true” upper crescent tip, according to Murdoch’s own description), sits a large glass block, inscribed with LAFD Captain Stephen J. Ruda’s dedication: “A common field one day. A field of honor forever.”

This will be the 44th inscribed translucent block emplaced along the flight path, matching the number of passengers, crew, AND terrorists. 40 will be inscribed with the names of the 40 heroes (despite Tom Burnett’s demand that Tom Jr.’s name not be used). Three more will be built into a separate section of Memorial Wall that is centered on the bisector of the giant crescent (the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag). These three blocks will be inscribed with the 9/11 date. Thus the date goes to the Islamic star. The date goes to the terrorists.

By having the 44th glass block mark the thematic “true” upper crescent tip, and by having that thematic crescent tip create a hidden exact Mecca orientation for the giant crescent, Murdoch is able to tie his Islamic and his terrorist memorializing design features together into a perfect bin Ladenist embrace.

TACKLE THE BARE NAKED HIJACKER!

After all, it does not get much more naked than this:

Or this:

Or this:

The Walkway riddle: When Paul Murdoch extended the Entry Portal Walkway, he was doing more than just perfecting the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent. This slight adjustment in the placement of the 44th block also perfected two other terrorist memorializing elements of Murdoch’s mosque. Anyone who can figure out either of these elements before looking at the answer wins a glorious prize.

—————

If you want to join the blogroll/blogburst for the Crescent of Betrayal blogburst, email Cao at caoilfhionn1 at gmail dot com, with your blog’s url address. The blogburst will be sent out once a week to the participants, for simultaneous publication on this issue on Wednesdays.

Crescent of betrayal/surrender Blogburst Blogroll

1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech
A Defending Crusader
A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever
And Rightly So
Big Dog’s Weblog
Big Sibling
Cao’s Blog
Chaotic Synaptic Activity
Error Theory
Faultline USA
Flanders Fields
Ft. Hard Knox
GM’s Corner
Ironic Surrealism II
Jack Lewis
Kender’s Musings
My Own Thoughts
Nice Deb
Ogre’s Politics and Views
Part-Time Pundit
Right on the Right
Right Truth
Stix Blog
Stop the ACLU
The View From the Turret
The Wide Awakes
Thunder Run

Listen to this podcast

Hmmm…reminds me of “Conspiracy Theory” but with HMDs. “Drawing on air” but oh, so cool…

Artists ‘draw on air’ to create 3D illustrations
By Lisa Zyga

By putting on a virtual reality mask, holding a stylus in one hand and a tracking device in the other, an artist can draw 3D objects in the air with unprecedented precision. This new system is called “Drawing on Air,” and researchers have designed the interface to be intuitive and provide the necessary control for artists to illustrate complicated artistic, scientific, and medical subjects.
[…]

Pretty cool stuff….but you need the HMD of your choice…

Look at this:

The Sensics piSightâ„¢ products are the world’s most immersive head-mounted displays, ideal for numerous applications including virtual prototyping, training, data mining and more. The panoramic, upgradeable, high-resolution piSight displays offer:

Panoramic field of view that delivers full 3D immersion: from 82° to 180° diagonal, depending on model
A modular, upgradeable design that fits a very wide range of performance and budget requirements
High resolution: Up to 4200×2400 pixels per eye (2400×1720 effective)
Ease of use: weighing less than 1 kg (2 lbs.), piSight HMDs feature an open-frame design that is comfortable and stays cool

More specs:

ProductspiSightâ„¢ Specifications

The following table shows key performance parameters common to all the piSight panoramic head-mounted displays. Please visit the available configurations page for the information about specific configuration.

Field of view
(depending on model) 82° to 180° diagonal
58 ° to 179 ° horizontal
29 ° to 84 ° vertical

Binocular overlap 29° to 82° depending on model

Resolution 20 pixels/degree
2.9 arcmin/pixel throughout entire visual field

Color 24 bit color
75% of NTSC gamut
>800:1 contrast

Frame Rate 60 Hz

Eye relief 18 mm

Interpupillary distance 55 mm minimum
71 mm maximum

Headsupported weight 1.5 to 2 lbs (0.7 to 1 kg) depending on model

Tracking Compatible with most motion trackers and many eye trackers

Toss in, some most likely very, very pricey (today) Sensics PiSight Full Immersion 3D displays and what a virtual experience you’ll have…like IMax, without having to find a parking place…or the each time excessive ticket prices.Now…how to get into the I/ITSEC conference in November in Orlando to check the Sensics products out…Between that and holographic displays, a whole new word of visual delights await us.

SkyGod.com. I’ve met a few who thought they were…anyhow…aviation quotes by category…

Before I begin: You’re stationed aboard and “auxilary” vessel. Your bretheren of the “black shoe” Navy don’t consider your ship a “combatant,” but fight like you are one when the time comes… Don’t miss this tale in Sunday Ship History!

Today: Lieutenant Commander William R. Hoel, a riverboat pilot and ship captain in the Civil War. Joining the US Navy in 1861, William Hoel served 4 years in the Navy during the Civil War. Beginning his combat career as First Master of the gunboat USS CINCINNATI>, he particpated in the Battle of Ft Henry on the Tennessee River. Wounded in that battle, he helped achieve an early victory under the forces commanded by BG U.S. Grant.Two months later, William Hoel volunteered to pilot the USS CANONDELET to run past Confedrate batteries at Major General John Pope’s forces. This action allowed the opening of the Mississippi River for use bu Union gunboats.

Taking command of USS PITTSBURG in Ocotber, 1862, Hoel’s gunboat played a significant role in the Wikipedia:

On 29 April 1863, as Acting Rear Admiral David D. Porter’s flotilla was bombarding the Confederate Batteries at Grand Gulf, his flagship, USS Benton, became unmanageable and was caught under heavy fire in a position where she could neither steer nor reply to the enemy guns. On seeing Porter’s predicament, Hoel slipped the Pittsburg in between Benton and the flaming Rebel batteries to protect her by taking the fire himself. In the next 10 minutes his heroism cost the Pittsburg 6 men killed and 8 wounded, but the sacrifice allowed Benton to extricate herself from the deadly trap.

The first vessel named in honor of William Hoel was the USS HOEL (DD-533), a ship of the FLETCHER Destroyer Class. Commissioned July 29th, 1943.Serving at Tarawa, in the Marshal Islands, the Admiralty Islands, and Palau before her final battle, and the most significant for the US Navy, naval history and her crew, the Battle off Samar on Oct 25th, 1944:From the Battle Off Samar website:

Leyte Gulf/Samar – 17 – 25 October 1944

On 12 October HOEL was assigned to Task Group 77.4 for the invasion of the Philippines. Her task unit consisted of COMCARDIV 25’s four escort carriers and two FLETCHER Class destroyers, veterans HEERMANN and JOHNSTON. Their group was then joined by COMCARDIV 26’s two CVE’s and their screen of four destroyer escorts, completing the task unit Taffy III.

Taffy III, one of three task units assigned to Task Group 77.4, was stationed off the coast of Samar. Here, from 17 to 25 October, they conducted daily air support operations for the amphibious landings on Leyte.

COMCARDIV 25 under fire #1Shortly after sunrise on the morning of 25 October, HOEL and Taffy III were set upon by the vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy Center Force. As 18-, 16-, 14-, and 8-inch shells fell among the American Task Unit, HOEL and the other screening ships laid protective smoke in defense of the escort carriers.

In the words of survivor Glen E. Foster, an Electrician’s Mate Second Class, “….When GQ was sounded I took my station (in the emergency generator room) and donned the sound powered phones and heard that the whole Jap fleet was out there. Shortly thereafter we took a hit that knocked out the aft generator. The emergency diesel generator next to me started up and I was kept busy providing emergency power. I felt numerous hits that shook the whole ship and water started flowing into the compartment . . . . we tasted the water and found it to be fresh water so we surmised that a tank or pipe had sprung a leak . . . . by this time communications had been knocked out and I had no idea what was happening topside except I kept feeling the ship taking hits and I could hear and feel our forward guns firing…

….While I was working in front of the switchboard a hit into the forward fireroom buckled the bulkhead and knocked the switchboard onto me . . . . steam started pouring into the compartment. It was then I decided it was time to get the hell out…”

Although out-gunned by the heavy Japanese warships, HOEL was ordered to attack with torpedoes. The actions that transpired next are best explained by HOEL’s senior surviving officer, LT Maurice F. Green, USN, “….We decided to fire a half salvo at the leading battleship and save the other half for the leading cruiser because it was definite that we would have to turn at least two columns of ships in order to be of any assistance in screening the CVE’s. . . . At 0725 we received the first hit on the bridge which destroyed our voice radio communications and also the remote Radar PPI on the bridge. This shell also killed several bridge personnel…helmsman, captain’s talker… It was less than five minutes later that we received a hit on the main battery director putting it out of action and also killing our anti-aircraft officer, making it necessary for the anti-aircraft guns to go into local control. We had an officer at each 40mm AA mount…there was nothing within range of the 40mm’s to fire at…”

COMCARDIV 25 under fire #2At 9,000 yards, HOEL fired five torpedoes at the IJN battleship KONGO, all missed. It was shortly after this point that she was hit on her bridge. With one engine lost, HOEL’s speed was reduced to about 17 knots. She then turned to engage the heavy cruiser line. Shortly after 0750, HOEL launched her five remaining torpedoes at the IJN heavy cruiser HAGURO, scoring at least one hit.

Once again, LT Maurice F. Green, USN, “With our ten fish fired we decided it was time to get the hell out of there…this proved impossible because we were boxed in on all sides by enemy capital ships. We fishtailed and chased salvos and made all possible speed on one engine which enabled us to continue to remain afloat… The Jap battleships were 8,000 yards on the port beam. We had heavy cruisers 7,000 yards on the starboard quarter and we had only two guns left to fire. They were forward which made it difficult to continue firing while attempting a retirement…”

HOEL had suffered major material damage during her engagement with the Japanese battleships and cruisers. Fires blazed throughout the wrecked ship as the survivors went over the side. Glen E. Foster continues, “….When I pushed open the hatch all I could see was smoke and fire. I went up the ladder and tried to open the escape hatch to the next deck but it wouldn’t open . . . . I was turning it in the wrong direction! I threw open the hatch and saw a shipmate running into the bulkhead screaming…

….I threw open the starboard escape hatch and crawled through a pile of bodies and body parts to the main deck. I looked around in shock and disbelief at the condition of the ship, the ship was listing badly to port . . . . when I was about midships we took another hit around the galley area that knocked me down. I got up and waded off the port side…”

With only half her original speed available and boxed in by the Japanese warships, HOEL was soon overwhelmed by the Japanese. At 0855 she rolled over on her port side and sank stern first.

USS HOEL (DD 533) received five Battle Stars for her service in World War II.

The Battle off Samar is documented in numerous books, in short entires, to entire volumes. It is the final naval surface battle held. USS HOEL (DD-533) was there.

Turns out, with a little more reading, that there was to have been another USS HOEL (DD-768) of the GEARING Class, which was in the process of being built, when canceled. That’s what happens when you trounce the enemy: The money managers quit funding shipbuilding programs.

The USS HOEL (DDG-13), a ship of the CHARLES F ADAMS Guided Missile Destroyer Class was also named for William Hoel. Commissioned June 16th, 1962 she was decommissioned on October 1st, 1990.

From one of the history pages on the web, I will summarize some highlights of the DDG-13 HOEL:

After construction and fitting out, HOEL sailed to her homeport in San Diego, and remained a member of the Pacific Fleet her entire time of service. She was in the Gulf of Tonkin when the TURNER JOY and MADDOX were fired upon. Duties included carrier escort and also Naval Gunfire Support (NGFS). IN Jul 66, on her second deployment to Vietnam, she operated near Da Nang and fired 2,100 round of 5″ 54 cal ammo. That’s some serious shooting! Did lots of damage in support of the Marines, too. She was off the DMZ of Vietnam in February, 1968 for the Tet Offensive, too, while on a third combat deployment.

When the Shah of Iran fell, HOEL was in the Indian Ocean on cruise, and was sent into the Persian Gulf as a result. Another presence for significant events.

She was in the Gulf again, years later, when the USS STARK (FFG-31) took the hit. Running Earnest Will convoy operations was also a calling of HOEL.

With USS LEFTWICH (DD-984), USS KIDD (DDG-993), USS JOHN YOUNG (DD-973), HOEL conducted punitive attacks on Iranian Oil Rigs in response to the attacks on the SEA ISLE CITY US flagged tanker, taking out Iranian command and control stations on the oil derricks.

Decommed in 1990, she was purchased to become a mobile electical generation plant for use in SOuth America. The plan didn’t work and she was later broken up.

LCDR William R. Hoel, USN was quite a man and the ship named in his honor did him proud.