Wednesday - March 12, 2008

New Yon - go read it

Ok, Ok, I’m late for the party again. You’ve all probably read Michael Yon’s latest Discpatch from Iraq, Guitar Heroes that went up two days ago. It’s hard for me to be everywhere at once, but I try. So go and read it. It’s a great story of aerial swordfighting, our guys in helicopters against the Jihad Moes in the sandbox in and around Mosul. Pretty damned excellent job our Air Cav troops are doing, though I wish they had something a tiny bit more substantial than unarmored Kiowas and tiny Hellfire missiles to fight with.

For you gearheads ... here’s a photolink to the gunships

and another photolink to the Hellfire missile they’re using.

Mr. C. and I have been talking about that “more substantial” part, what with the Air Force being in the news quite a bit these past few days. Read Yon’s article and you’ll see that the downside to fighting a super precision war is using minimalist weapons, barely big enough to get the job done. A risk I don’t think we should be forcing our troops to take. I think it would be better, and probably a lot cheaper, to use more basic munitions that pack a bigger wallop. ("But what about collateral damage?” “Hey, almost no buildings within 100 yards of the target were destroyed. And PS - it’s a WAR, remember?") You’ll also notice that the M-4 “poodleshooter” carbine isn’t quite up to the task either.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/12/2008 at 05:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Iraq • War-Stories •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2008 Domain Owner