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Saturday, January 31, 2004

Here is a list of the worst cars ever. My parents even owned one!
Now the EU is looking for fraud in the PA. I wonder what they will find.
This is a great Red Sox page. Thank God that I live in Nottingham or I would be looking over the edge of the Tobin Bridge after the Red Sox blew it against the Yankees. I won’t say that the Yankees suck or other Neanderthal comments, because history shows that they are rightfully are one of the worlds best sporting teams. It is just frustrating that the Red Sox has the potential to win the show, but as one of my more PC friends says, they do a Linda Lovelace and choke. All I can say: wait till next season!

Friday, January 30, 2004

Here is the list of those who Saddam bribed.
Sometimes I walk to work around 6:30 in the morning, the streets are quiet with no traffic and I can see all the cars sitting in the driveways. The neighborhood I live in is Middle English; most of the houses are single family dwellings or attached two family houses. When I am walking, I can see a BMW M-5 or 3 series, a Mercedes Benz, lots of Vauxhall Vectras, Ford Mondeos and some smaller cars. Why I mention this is because almost all the houses I pass by have garages. The cars are parked on the driveways and the garages are filled with “stuff.” This is because the cars are all too big for their garages. My neighbor has a Nissan Micra and that is almost too big for her garage. She has to park to one side of the garage to open her drivers door. I have come to the conclusion the only car that can fit in a British garage is a Morris Mini or MG midget. That is because you might be able to go thru the sunroof of the Mini or climb out the MG since it is a convertible. When walking home I saw a man working on his BMW X-5 and he could not get it in the garage.


Via Fainting in Coyles. America has conquered Europe. There is a Hip Hop version of Beethoven’s 9th symphony out now. It is the official anthem of the EU. When is the country western version coming out?

Saturday, January 24, 2004

What happens when a nuke goes off.

The EU is telling Britain to stop working too much.


Friday, January 23, 2004

To a soldier, the rifle is the primary tool of the trade. Well the US Army is about to adopt a new rifle. Here is the debate about it at the infantry forum.
A while back (scroll down a little) I wrote about why I was pissed about 9/11. This article has the reasons we did not go after OBL and crew, before 9/11. It was a CRIMINAL action, not a military problem. God have mercy on the schmucks who dropped the ball and let 9/11 happened.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

What soldiers eat.

The prospect magazine has a good article on corruption in France.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Here is one way to take down radical Islamists.

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Via Wil Wheaton. This article tells the trials and tribulations of Alison Berkley, who is a snowboard instructor at Aspen, Colorado, and how she have to work with the youth of today. They can be a bit overweight and glued to a video game. Then she gets canned by Aspen for her writing about it.


I can relate some of her comments about teaching snowboarding, because from 1995 to 1998 I taught snowboarding too. I can say it was a great gig. It had some advantages of free snowboarding, food at normal cost (hot chocolate at 25 cents versus $1.35), and partying with some hell raisers.

All I had to do was teach three times a week. I taught on Saturday mornings to get the best parking spot, since I was staff and I showed up early to get the first run down the slopes to make sure they were safe with the Ski Patrol. I did two sessions on the morning. Most of the time they were packed 10 to 15 students that lasted about an hour and a half. Sometimes I got to teach a private lesson and that was for a hour and I made 15 bucks. I even taugh some royality from Europe and got a twenty buck tip!

Then I taught on Mondays or Tuesday because they had after school programs and they were easy, most of the time. The exception was when a school dumped their “special ed” students on me. I tried to teach them, but they left me since I had to ensure their safey because they had to follow instructions. They told me to F&$# off. So I told them to do the same.

The only time that sucked was over the Christmas holiday and management “requested” us to teach five or six session in three days. It was raining cash! Most of my students were from Boston, New York City and New Jersey. There was one mother who was watching me teach her six year old son. She was in a fur coat, yelling at the kid. This was his first time on a snowboard and he was scared. She kept yelling at me “get him on the lift.” He was having a hard time learning how to turn, go straight or control the board. That was on the beginer "slope." I was trying to make it a fun experience and told him he would need a few more lessons. After the lesson his mother started to scream at me screeching that she wanted her money back. I told her to talk to my boss and she started to stomp over to the school. My boss thanked me for sending a psycho to him.

Also I had to teach two drunken yuppies from NYC, who wanted to know where “to score some tail.”

If you want some more war stories from the slopes just write to me and we can make arrangements.
If you are going to buy me a birthday gift here is a suggestion.

Monday, January 19, 2004

Via the Braden files. Actual gun footage of attack helicopters in Iraq. Warning it is a big file-5 megs
Cost of living in Hirschberg, Germany: one McDonald's Big Mac, medium Coke and fries cost 4.39 Euros or 5.42 USD. From looking at the receipt there is a 16% sales tax included in the cost.
I was watching the game ticker over the internet at the New England Patriot’s website and it was a win, but not a dominating win. The Pats better give Adam Vinatieri a bonus since he was the leading scorer. The defense is physical and carrying the team. It seems to me that the offense lacks the killer instinct to score more touchdowns from the red zone. I hope they can change this or Carolina will be the Super Bowl champions.


Lessons learned from Iraq by the Army, Marines, Air Force and the British


Friday, January 16, 2004

In our work area we have a big screen TV and in the past it had CNN Europe on 24/7 playing on it. Yesterday they had a three “journalists” yakking away about how horrible it was to operate under the CPA and the US military. Everybody stopped working and had the WTF look on their face. Can the “journalists” remember operating with Saddam’s handlers? When they had to compromise what they were reporting or they where in deep crap? Now the TV is on CNBC Europe, most of their content is business or financial headlines. Everybody agreed that CNN was recycled crap of corporate and government PR statements. Who ever says that soldiers are not the smartest guys or gals on the planet would be amazed if they heard the talk derivatives, stock options and other investment and economic policy from all the ranks. Some of the privates could give the suits of Wall Street a run for their money. To give us a break from the news, we are evaluating MTV2 Pop that is broadcast in German. Britney still looks the same.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Here is the big picture. I am working on sending units down range and bringing them back in this massive rotation.
The end is coming to the dead enders.

The one of the frontlines of the war on terrorism is in Europe.


Monday, January 12, 2004

Another reason why I hate lawyers. We were swapping war stories and this was one the topper of the afternoon. During Operation Northern Watch, two F-16 had Saddam Hussein in their crosshairs while driving in a convoy. They were about to let some ordinance rip, but the Judge Advocate General (JAG or lawyer in civilian speak) told them that they would be relieved from uniform if they attacked.
You would only find this on an America Army post in Germany: a Mercedes Benz with a Dale Earnhardt NASCAR sticker.

They say the sun never set on the British Empire, but the US Army operates in 24/7 mode. I am on a telephone conference call and the first part of it was taking a roll call and it stretched across the planet, now we are going to update SITREPs (Situation Reports) for the troops.

Sunday, January 11, 2004

The difference between America and Europe by the Economist.

Cost of living in Euroland. 1 liter of regular gas in Ireland is .90 Euro (1.14USD) and 1.07 Euro (1.36 USD) in Germany or a $5.15/gallon in Germany and $4.32/gallon in Ireland.

Phil Carter talks about the easy way to deal Saddam. Since he is a POW, just repatriate him to the new Iraqi government. End of story. There is no international law that says a country cannot execute a convict of mass murder and other serious crimes.

Saturday, January 10, 2004

People are talking about President Bush’s new policy concerning illegal emigrants. But I think people are missing two major issues.

First, what is the root cause to drive Mexicans to become illegal aliens? Mexico has natural resources to become a prosperous country. Mexicans are smart and hard working people. They want a good future for themselves and their families, just like us. I think we need to help them root out the corruption and crime that endemic to their society that retards economic growth, but the majority of work will have to be done by them. Would you want to live in a society like that?

Second, how many CEOs, corporate managers, hiring or HR personnel are charged or go to jail for hiring illegal aliens? Illegal aliens know that companies will hire them. After a while you develop a nose on who is legal and who swam across the Rio Grande River. A bilingual graduate from Universidad Tecnológica de México with a diploma and all the paper work from employment agency with a green card is a sure bet to be legal versus some poor lad picking tomatoes in the Central Valley of California.

The present system is broke and we need to fix the roots of the problems that drive the most motivated workers to a foreign country to eek out a living.

If we give Mexico a break on immigration issues we need to press the Mexican government to grant us the same privileges for Americans to seek employment in Mexico. In the future many more Americans will be seeking work in sunny Mexico.

Friday, January 09, 2004

Good afternoon, from Schwetzingen, Germany. I will be here for the next week helping doing my duty for God and country. Did some PT in the morning and ate some good food in the dining facility or more commonly known as the mess hall.
Now I am analyzing some interesting items cranking out some reports.

It is interesting that I read some reports from down range and the next day I see them on CNN in the cleaned up for public consumption mode. A bit surrealistic.

Do you ever wonder what happens to the grease from fast food joints and roadkill? Here is your anwser, don't read before eating.

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

You want to test drive a M1A1 tank?
This morning I took the bus to work and the bus driver was on a roll talking about the latest events on Mars. When I boarded the bus, he told everybody that the Yanks knew how to get around on Mars with a golf cart and if we find the “Beagle 2” could we bring it home. He said it looks like a dustbin lid that has Leicester stamped on it. Leicester is the home of the British National Space Centere. Everybody on the bus had a good laugh. Actually I feel sorry for the Brits, because a lot of national pride was riding on the Beagle 2 probe. One guy quipped it just like the British car industry.

Monday, January 05, 2004

A great list of military books to read.

Sunday, January 04, 2004

The cost of living in Nottingham, England. A McDonald’s big mac, medium fries and coke cost 3.39 pounds or 6.07 US dollars.

Friday, January 02, 2004

From Phil Carter at intel dump
The Israelis are now forming mixed (male/female) infantry and combat arms units.

This should be interesting.

When I was an S-4 in a field artillery battalion, we had a few female soldiers attached to us in the Logistics Operation Center (LOC). Out of the four, one was a cadet who was going to be a nurse and she let us know that she was not going to a happy being stuck in the field. So we made her a runner between us, brigade and the rear detachment. The rest were very good soldiers, they dealt with all the hardships of a field exercise, but they did have a few weaknesses. They were all right in static defensive positions, but when we did aggressive patrolling around our position, it took a toll on them physically. They were more susceptible to injuries and tired easier. They were only 5’2” to 5’5” so they did not have the strength or endurance that the males had. Also they had a lower BS level with all the CS gas, crap food, lack of sleep, rain, and other small pains that accumulate over a field problem. It was a leadership issue to maximize the strengths of the troops to minimize their weaknesses and to keep the unit going.

One issue that we did not have to deal with in the field was the sexual relationship devil. Everybody was professional, but once we came out of the field a few weeks later, we lost one of the female soldiers due to getting pregnant. She went up to brigade and we were short another troop.

Thursday, January 01, 2004

Do you want to speak like a professional from the military? I posted before about how amateurs talk tactics and professionals talk logistics, well here is lesson one.

All types of supplies categorized into 10 classes and they have their own symbols for use on maps:

Class I - Subsistence (food and water)
Class II - Clothing and individual equipment
Class III - POL (Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants-diesel and aviation fuel)
Class IV - Construction materials
Class V - Ammunition
Class VI - Personal demand items
Class VII - Major end items (weapons, radios, etc.)
Class VIII - Medical items
Class IX - Repair parts
Class X - Agriculture/economic development items

Then there are colors:
Green: 85% or better, combat capable
Amber: 70 to 84% strength, combat capable with minor deficiencies
Red: 50% to 69 % strength or combat ineffective, unit has major losses or deficiencies.
Black: less than 50% strength or requires reconstitution before next mission

Colors can describe the overall status of a unit, type of critical equipment (tanks, helos, artillery) or amount of personnel.

FM-101-5-1 is the reference for the above.

So if you want to impress everybody, just say “it was so bad my unit went black on class V.” Translation: you shot all your ammo and you started to fix bayonets.

Happy New Years!! All I can say is that I am a boring guy. Wifey, Little Pumpkin and I celebrated New Years day in the traditional New England fashion: get some take out Chinese food and watch a video. It is fun to stay warm and to know that I will wake up with out a “morning migraine.” Cheers!

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