Like marbles...
Posted on 01/13/2009 6:52:44 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Snipers or assassins could be spotted in their nests before even firing a shot thanks to laser surveillance technology to be unveiled in Britain.
European and U.S. companies are accelerating research into anti-sniper defences in response to threats in Afghanistan and Iraq and at home.
But most systems use acoustic or thermal sensors that depend on waiting for the first shot.
An alternative developed by the European aerospace group EADS aims to warn of attack and pinpoint the sniper before he pulls the trigger by bouncing light off his telescopic sight.
'It is the same principle as 'cat's eyes' in the middle of the road,' said Peter Talbot-Jones, research team leader at EADS Innovation Works at Newport in Wales.
'Cat's eyes' behave like the retina of a cat by reflecting light from a car's headlamps to illuminate lines on the road.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It would have been a story that warmed the hearts of many American boys.
They don’t do it to all houses. They do it to the Freeper who speaks out, and the others learn fast to be sheep.
Fortunately I’m a slow learner.
I get into these kinds of arguments with my students all the time. "Can't fight a real army" goes the thinking. Well, look at recent history: The Afghans fought the biggest and most well equipped army in the world (USSR) to a standstill in the 1980s. They did so with what amounts to 18th century level firearms. Yes, they had help with US Stingers courtesy of Charlie Wilson. But the spirit of the warrior is what carried them thru those dark and often frozen nights, all alone and facing an enemy with far superior numbers and technology.
The 2nd Amendment simply represents the base level of an age old doctrine of war. Call it "TRADE UP." If I have a 22, I can trade up to an M4. If I have an M4 I can trade up to a SAW. If I have a SAW, I can trade up to an artillery piece or possibly an MLRS platform. Such is the way armies are equipped. But it does require a base tool to start the trade up process. Thus the 2nd Amendment. Many folks won't have to start with a 22 so their trade up process can proceed much quicker. Also, many Americans wisely foresaw such a necessity and started their collections of firearms in both NATO and WARSAW PACT calibers, many of which are also in common use with police departments.
Also, I don't expect the numbers to show solely citizens on one side and military/LEOs on the other. Although the numbers have been shrinking since the 1960s when liberalism and globalism began to infect the school curriculum's across the nation, I suspect there are still substantial numbers of soldiers and police officers who know the real score and I think we can count on their support at the proper moment.
Kids ask me how do I expect to deal with a tank? Hey I was a tanker for awhile. I know the things that make tankers sweat bricks under maneuver conditions. You can stop a tanks in it's tracks with simple barbed wire. That's a mobility kill only though. He'll still have use of all weapons, he just won't be able to move. Still, a paralyzed tank becomes a "fixed fortification." And as General George S. Patton once said: Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man. Paralyzed tanks can be overcome.
Wishful thinking, FRiend, on several counts.
First, you're assuming that all 100 million poorly-armed folks will be against the government. Doubtful.
Second, of those who oppose the government, you assume that all of them would actually take up arms even if they had them. Again, doubtful.
Finally -- and this is the big one -- a 2 million man army capable of reliably killing their attackers in many or most instances will quickly take the fight out of the vast majority of those who oppose the government.
As we've already shown in Iraq and Afghanistan, large concentrations of enemies are almost certain to be destroyed. An insurgency would quickly devolve into individual or small-group attacks that are primarily annoying rather than militarily significant. But those, too, have become much less successful over time.
Finally, modern counter-insurgency tactics would work in a civilized country, as well or better than they have in Iraq. The ability to sustain an insurgency is doubtful.
It's not to say that an insurgency couldn't be successful ... but the mismatch between government and potential insurgents is unbelievably greater than the Founders could ever have imagined, and it's increasing every month.
They would have, had it not been for the help of the French.
Like marbles...
He is not by any stretch of the imagination either of those things.
They were getting pasted.
The turning point of the Afghan war had two parts. First, the advent of Stinger missiles and other US aid neutralized the Soviets' helicopters, which were their primary military advantage.
Second, the Soviets attempted to win by atrocity (similar to what the FR Keyboard Kommando contingent is always wanting us to do....) That rarely works, and it didn't work in Afghanistan.
I’m still mostly bothered by those who think American soldiers will kill Americans for no other reason than they’re getting paid. I thought that kind of disrespect for our men and women in uniform was reserved for the Cindy Sheehan types.
As far as your trade up idea is concerned, I’ve read that there are an estimated 100 or more 50 caliber rifles in Michigan alone. Trading up from there becomes a short step.
“There are millions of armed citizens in my state of Michigan alone.”
And you haven’t revolted against Granholm? //sarc//
Neat thing is, the center of a fuzzy target is still the center.
Glass is not really for improvement of basic ability to hold steady and squeeze a round, but they sure do help see what you are aiming at!
Well, as you yourself allude to, The mujahadeen in Afghanistan did receive alot of crucial assistance from the west in terms of stinger missiles, without which there wasn’t a lot they could do about air attacks. I can’t really see ordinary US Citizens being able to knock those out in significant numbers under garage conditions.
As the US is currently the only superpower in the world, you would be on your own. No other country would dare to provide material assistance to you against your government.
It’s also worth remembering that the Soviet Union was in a state of economic collapse by this point, and couldn’t afford to fund a FOREIGN war. This is another relevent point. The government would be fighting for it’s own very survival on its own soil. During the Revolutionary war, as with the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the ‘foreign’ government had more pressing issues closer to home to devote their resources to. However, if the government is fighting for its very survival on its own soil, cutting their losses and withdrawing is not an option. They would have just as much to lose by not winning as you guys, and that gives them one hell of a motivation to keep fighting, no matter what the cost, because the alternative is their own destruction....
Iron sights baby ... iron sights.
“I’m still mostly bothered by those who think American soldiers will kill Americans for no other reason than they’re getting paid. I thought that kind of disrespect for our men and women in uniform was reserved for the Cindy Sheehan types.”
Its not going to be like that though. You seem to have this idea that its going to be viewed by all as a black and white conflict with an evil government crushing the self-evidently virtuous insurgent good guys, with the bad guys by necessity having to be a load of mercenary psycopaths who have consciously chosen evil for selfish reasons, its not going to be like that at all. It certainly wasn’t during the revolutionary war, or the civil war. A lot of people are bound to view you as traitors and terrorists, and will view your cause as wrong and their cause as just the same way you will....
The second block lives outside cities, grows food, makes stuff, fixes stuff, owns a variety of vehicles, and often owns many weapons, some of considerable firepower.
If you think rural America would exist in any form without massive government subsidies taken from the more populous areas, you are misinformed. (and I say this as a proud product of rural America)
Of course, neither area could function without the other, but characterize rural areas as anything approaching self-sufficient is a fantasy.
Bout the same as what happened to FBI sniper, Lon Horiuchi, who shot and killed and killed Vicki Weaver.
Vicki Weaver was standing behind the door of their cabin through which Kevin Harris was entering the house, holding their 10-month-old baby Elishiba in her arms.
Well, according to the training I got it's possible under the right conditions using just a few hundred feet of cable, a sturdy anchor point and the critical factor is a tight LZ ringed with some tall trees. So it's a fairly narrow window absent those stingers.
But I really wasn't referring to the general body of citizens sheep. I was really talking about a huge number of former servicemen and women dating all the way back to WWII. Like my wife's dad. Retired USMC Colonel. Navy Cross, DFC and 2 Silver Stars. Once took on forty zeros by himself, downing eight before the rest of the Black Sheep arrived. Yeah he's 85, but he's got firepower I wish I had and no worries about his future. He actually sort of yearns to serve his country again. Doubt he'd be pulling LRRP missions but you'd be amazed at the level of his skills and creativity.
Remember Eric Rudolph? Guy who bombed the abortion clinics way back when? He was a little old army pfc. Standard infantry grunt. He ran the FBI's 400 man task force ragged for three years in a 40 sq mile area of the west north Carolina mountains. Sure he had tons of local help. Food etc. So would anybody resisting government tyranny. But look at Rudolph and knowing his basic level of skills, imagine what a thousand PO'd SEALs could do. Or thousands of former special ops soldiers and marine recon. These are guys trained to whip up enough explosive material to drop the Golden Gate Bridge and do so with material found locally. Could they really win? I dunno. But a good idea on how it might go can be found in a series of books written by our very own freeper Travis McGee. EFAD.
I know this, winnable or not, it's better to die on your feet as a free man than live on your knees as a slave. But.... Maybe that's just me.
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