Who's guarding our military equipment? - Michelle Malkin

townhall.com ^ | 10/29/03 | Michelle Malkin

[TADSLOS]

Avenger ADA System

Were these what you saw?

[FreedomPoster]

They had one of those on static display at Road Atlanta 10/2002. We got to play with the thermal sight a little, I have a pic of my son holding the trainer manpac Stinger the soldiers had with them (or were they Marines, can't remember, crs strikes).

[TADSLOS]

Here's an even scarier scenario. We have thousands of pieces of military equipment being shipped by rail every day from military installations to port or other training areas and return. I passed hundred of trucks, tanks, artillery pieces, etc... loaded on open flatcars this morning on my drive to work. The rail companies provide some security at overnight stops, but these shipments are largely left to themselves. It is common practice to budget loss and damage costs due to theft and vandalism during these rail moves.

We find bullet holes in windshields, gas tanks, side panels and doors all the time. All this takes time and money to repair, which detracts from operational readiness and training. It wouldn't take much to systematically de-rail trains or create havoc with our logistics and transportation systems.

[Poohbah]

It wouldn't take much to systematically de-rail trains or create havoc with our logistics and transportation systems.

Unfortunately, you've now defined a mission that is impossible to perform: securing every inch of the rail network.

[TADSLOS]

Nice little go anywhere system. We routinely use their services to train our AH-64 crews on employing their ASE and transponders while the ADA crews get a workout tracking and interrogating the aircraft.

[FreedomPoster]

Makes sense. I found the picture, here's a link, didn't direct-link in deference to the bandwidth-deprived:
http://images4.fotki.com/v43/photos/7/77755/345674/DSCN1068-vi.jpg

You can see the thermal sight pulled out remote from the Humvee, below the trainer Stinger my son is holding. It was fun tracking some of the camera helicopters that were cruising around for the race, using the sight.

[FreedomPoster]

There's a fair amoung of commentary on infrastructure protection in this thread, from earlier today, starting in post#4, that is applicable here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1011103/posts

[FreedomPoster]

And a follow up comment - you don't need to cover every inch, though that would be nice. Just cover enough that you're regularly catching any inappropriate interlopers. Of course, there smart thing to do would be to lock down the borders, first, but I don't see that happening.

[Poohbah]

And a follow up comment - you don't need to cover every inch, though that would be nice. Just cover enough that you're regularly catching any inappropriate interlopers.

In other words, every inch.

Because otherwise, the inappropriate interlopers will simply hit the rail line where it isn't being guarded.

Of course, there smart thing to do would be to lock down the borders, first, but I don't see that happening.

I've already figured out the manpower requirements for securing our borders and coastline: it isn't pretty.

[sheik yerbouty]

No, the vehicle it was ob was somewhat larger.

[FreedomPoster]

No, not every inch. I'm not proposing obvious guard towers. And no, there would be no 100% certainty. But there would be an innoculating effect that could be sufficient.

On borders, if there were any national will to do it, we'd announce we are going to start shooting illegal crossers, then shoot a few. Illegal crossings would drop to a trickle, once the news got out. From that point forward, it would be much easier to spot a few, when the system isn't overloaded with a flood.

[FreedomPoster]

This?:

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/chaparral-dvic414.jpg

[Poohbah]

But there would be an innoculating effect that could be sufficient.

Nope. It would be ridiculously easy to determine which sections are guarded and which sections are unguarded, and to attack the unguarded sections.

On borders, if there were any national will to do it, we'd announce we are going to start shooting illegal crossers, then shoot a few.

Uh-huh. And when the networks show video of little Juan screaming and bawling over the body of his mother, that policy will die an instant death.

You'd have to shoot most of your fellow citizens to implement that policy and keep it in place.

[sheik yerbouty]

No, it looked like one of those scud launchers. I didn't look at it in detail, I just thought the security was lacking.

[Little Pig]

I like how they point out that the Paladin (M109) can launch Nerve gas and Nuclear rounds. Like any terr who somehow manages to walk off with a tank the size of a house is also going to manage to gain access to (what is probably) the one high-security munitions storage facility where we keep the 10-15 gas rounds and the 5 nuke shells left over from the 60s.

Nothing like adding needless concerns to hype your point. Having said that, I still respect Michelle for her opinions.