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Military/Veterans (General/Chat)

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  • The Pokémon Plot: How One Cartoon Inspired the Army to Dream Up a Seizure Gun

    09/26/2012 2:11:14 PM PDT · by DogByte6RER · 6 replies
    IO9 ^ | September 26, 2012 | Spencer Ackerman - Danger Room
    The Pokémon Plot: How One Cartoon Inspired the Army to Dream Up a Seizure Gun In 1998, a secret Army intelligence analysis suggested a new way to take out enemies: blast them with electromagnetic energy until their brains overload and they start to convulse. Amazingly, it was an idea inspired by a Pokemon episode. Application of "electromagnetic pulses" could force neurons to all fire at once, causing a "disruption of voluntary muscle control," reads a description of a proposed seizure weapon, contained in a declassified document from the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center. "It is thought by using a method...
  • Not Just the Middle East: Obama's Foreign Policy Record Is Appalling

    09/26/2012 9:38:48 AM PDT · by american_steve · 1 replies
    The Daily Beast ^ | September 21, 2012 | David B. Rivkin, Jr
    The organizing principle of the administration’s foreign policy is one of weakness and passivity, coupled with a conspicuous rhetorical abdication of American leadership, write David Rivkin and Lee Casey.
  • Iran test-fires missiles, sinks warship-sized target

    09/25/2012 11:16:34 AM PDT · by SpinnerWebb · 16 replies
    www.cbsnews.com ^ | 9/25/2012 | AP
    (CBS/AP) TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has test-fired four missiles designed to hit warships during a drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian military commander said. The missiles were fired simultaneously and hit a "big target" the size of a warship, sinking it within 50 seconds, Gen. Ali Fadavi of the powerful Revolutionary Guard was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.
  • Lincoln’s Great Gamble

    09/24/2012 11:57:08 AM PDT · by iowamark · 214 replies
    NY Times ^ | September 21, 2012 | RICHARD STRINER
    Countless school children have been taught that Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator. Others have been taught — and many have concluded — that the Emancipation Proclamation, which Abraham Lincoln announced on Sept. 22, 1862, has been overemphasized, that it was inefficacious, a sham, that Lincoln’s motivations were somehow unworthy, that slavery was ended by other ways and means, and that slavery was on the way out in any case. The truth is that Lincoln’s proclamation was an exercise in risk, a huge gamble by a leader who sought to be — and who became — America’s great liberator. Since...
  • The Basics of War and How the U.S. Went Wrong

    09/24/2012 11:24:09 AM PDT · by arthurus · 32 replies
    Right Side News ^ | 24 September 2012 05 | Thomas Snodgrass
    n view of the public frustration with a decade of largely unsuccessful U.S. war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the impending cuts to the U.S. military budget, there is an active debate at present as to what military strategy and force structure should be fashioned for the future. Unfortunately, many taxpayers and most politicians are totally illiterate when it comes to the subject of warfare. (Judging from the dismal results in the last ten years, a similar conclusion might to drawn concerning the U.S. officer corps.) In an attempt to fill this critical knowledge void and perhaps raise the level...
  • Update on prayer request for sick soldier (Alex)

    09/24/2012 7:16:21 AM PDT · by texaschick · 9 replies
    He is still on a ventilator, feeding tube, and in a coma. But his body temperature has been in the normal range for a couple of days now - PTL. After some patience causing delays in their departure, his parents are leaving today for Germany and will have more to say in a day or two. The last update was that the medical folks caring for Alex would like to see him on a plane back to a hospital here in the states by Friday. Thanks for joining me in prayers for this young man and his family. When they...
  • World War II Recruiting Poster Art

    09/22/2012 10:00:54 PM PDT · by djone · 7 replies
    "The 1941 - 1945--USA WWII Recruitment Posters'.. Various posters used by recruiters....
  • USS Fort Worth Commissioning Ceremony

    09/22/2012 9:18:45 AM PDT · by Sporke · 20 replies
    U.S. Navy Facebook Livefeed | 09/22/2012 | Me
    I just finished watching the Commissioning Ceremony for the USS Fort Worth, on Facebook. First of all, it was an outstanding ceremony. There is nothing quite like adding a new ship into our Navy. Something happened during the ceremony that made me think our Secretary of the Navy might want to start looking for a new job. The Secretary of Navy, the Honorable Ray Mabus, was making his speech. It was a typical speech for the most part. What got my attention, however, were a few comments he made. First, he mentioned President Bush once or twice, but not a...
  • Prayer needed for a soldier

    09/21/2012 6:09:55 AM PDT · by texaschick · 50 replies
    Please pray for a young man who was flown from Afghanistan to Germany yesterday with pneumonia like symptoms. A team of lung specialists were flown in because he had dangerously high fevers and they ended up putting him in a drug induced coma till they can figure out what is wrong with him. They want to fly him back to a hospital here in the states when he is stable enough to transport. The Army is flying his parents to Germany on Saturday to be with him. This family goes to my church and are leaning on God's Word to...
  • The U.S. Conducted Atomic Weapons Tests On Beer

    09/20/2012 6:36:23 PM PDT · by Pilsner · 39 replies
    Popsci ^ | 09-19-2012 | Colin Lecher
    An uncovered file documents Cold War-era investigations into an important question: is it safe to drink beer that was exposed to an atomic bomb detonation? And does it taste OK?
  • Sept 11, 2012 - alQaeda Terrorist Attack Kills 4 Americans

    09/20/2012 3:12:21 PM PDT · by nuconvert · 4 replies
    nuconvert, Fox
    Or, "AlQaeda Attack Kills 4 Americans on Sept. 11th Anniversary” Those are the headlines that Obama & his administration have been dodging. They don't want voters connecting Sept. 11th terrorist attacks with Obama. According to Charles Lane (Washington Post) and Stephen Hayes (Weekly Standard), the U.S. is "paying the price for weakness". Regarding Afghanistan, Lane said, "the exit strategy is now in trouble." Charles Krauthammer: "the black flag of alQaeda was raised over American embassies in Tunis, in Sudan, in Yemen, in Egypt and Libya" Obama's foreign policies have us PAYING THE PRICE FOR WEAKNESS.
  • US Army's only African-American woman helicopter pilot killed in Afghanistan

    09/19/2012 1:55:46 PM PDT · by trailhkr1 · 12 replies
    Internet ^ | 9-19-12 | Mwakilishi
    A Kenya native enlisted in the United States Army died on Wednesday, September 5th in a helicopter crash while serving in the Afghanistan war. Thalia Ramirez Moll, 28, who is half Kenyan and half Puerto Rican, was an army pilot and was flying a Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopter before it crashed in the Pul-e Alam district of Logar Province in Afghanistan.
  • QUESTION: Why Are So Many RUSSIANS Working At Our State-Side Military Bases ?

    09/19/2012 12:24:14 AM PDT · by Yosemitest · 44 replies
    Observation As A Military Retiree
    What's going on with our United States Armed Forces? Why are there so many Russians working at our State-Side Military Bases, in the Base Exchange, Commissary, and at the Base Gates as contractor guards, checking our I.D.s ? Has Obama sold us out to the Russians?
  • The Gettysburg Address, still a relevant message in 2012.

    09/18/2012 7:53:01 PM PDT · by carlo3b · 14 replies
    The Battle of Gettysburg ^ | Sept. 18, 2012 | Carlo3b, Dad, Dad, Author
    The Gettysburg Address "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether...
  • Small town Missouri Paper upsets town over Cadet's graduation announcement

    09/18/2012 12:01:12 PM PDT · by daxjaxter · 44 replies
    he Madison CounTy Crier ^ | wednesday, september 12, 2012 | Frances Madeson
    CaleB kIllIan graduates From u.s. marIne Corps Boot Camp the next laugh By truman Jones Caleb Killian, son of William H. and Donna Killian of Fredericktown, graduated from Marine Corps boot camp at MCRD, San Diego, CA on August 12, 2012. Killian graduated from boot camp as a Private First Class and received recognition for qualifying “expert” in marksmanship. Killian was also chosen to be prayer leader for his platoon. During the 13 weeks of boot camp, he was trained in both class and field environments in first aid, uniform regulations, combat water survival, marksmanship, handto-hand combat, the basics of...
  • Would/should Israel attack Iran to involve other nations (peacekeeping exercise)?

    09/18/2012 9:35:09 AM PDT · by topher · 22 replies
    Vanity but sourced | 9-18-2012
    UK Joins Persian Gulf Naval War Games amid Iran-Israel TensionsSubtitle: Three British warships joins 30-nation minesweep exercise, seen by military analysts as warning to Tehran to tow the line Vanity: With the ships of 30 nations involved in Naval Exercises in the Gulf, it would seem that Israel would have much to gain with an attack on Iran at this time. Iran might might make a knee-jerk reaction and attack some of these ships of different nations. This probably would result in some of attack in response to Iran's attack. But is it as simple as that to goad Iran...
  • Op-Ed: Camp Bastion Attack Is Reality Check for F-35B

    09/18/2012 9:15:36 AM PDT · by Yo-Yo · 12 replies
    Defense-Aerospace.com ^ | Sept. 18, 2012 | Giovanni de Briganti
    PARIS --- The rationale for the F-35B fighter took a serious beating last week, when a dozen Taliban attacking Camp Bastion destroyed six US Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers on the tarmac, and seriously damaged two more. By exposing a glaring hole in its operational doctrine, this attack shows conclusively that, just like the Emperor in Andersen’s fairy tale, the F-35B Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter has no clothes, The F-35B – the most complex, overweight and expensive variant of the Joint Strike Fighter – is being developed to provide the US Marine Corps with...
  • MILITARY CHAPLAINS: BIGOTRY RAMPANT VS. CHRISTIANS!

    09/17/2012 6:47:21 PM PDT · by massmike · 9 replies
    wnd.com ^ | 09/17/2012 | BOB UNRUH
    It’s been about a year since the U.S. military adopted the Obama administration goal of open homosexuality in the ranks, and NBC recently reported on a study from an organization that openly promotes sexual lifestyle alternatives in the ranks saying there has been no negative impact from the change. That would mean that the study by the Palm Center of the Williams Institute at UCLA apparently would not consider it a “negative” that two airmen were publicly harassed in a post exchange food court as they were privately discussing their concerns. Nor would a situation where a chaplain was encouraged...
  • A Fist Full of Firepower: The Rock Island Armory .22TCM

    09/17/2012 6:10:24 PM PDT · by antisocial · 60 replies
    The familiar look, feel and function of the legendary 1911 pistol designed over 100 years ago are alive in this new offering from Rock Island Armory. For those who are followers or even “fans” of this beloved design, simply holding one brings a smile to their face. For this latest incarnation, the .22TCM by Armscor, everything remains the same – until it is fired for the first time. At that single point of contact between firing pin and primer, the interest of all surrounding shooters is evident. This is not so much about a new 1911 family pistol, as it...
  • Antietam: A Savage Day In American History

    09/17/2012 4:22:21 AM PDT · by iowamark · 34 replies
    NPR ^ | 9/17/2012 | Tom Bowman
    On this morning 150 years ago, Union and Confederate troops clashed at the crossroads town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Battle of Antietam remains the bloodiest single day in American history. The battle left 23,000 men killed or wounded in the fields, woods and dirt roads, and it changed the course of the Civil War. It is called simply the Cornfield, and it was here, in the first light of dawn that Union troops — more than a thousand — crept toward the Confederate lines. The stalks were at head level and shielded their movements. Cannon fire opened the battle with...