Over on Black Five, a story sent in by a soldier known to the blogosphere as “Questing Cat” talks about the junior soldiers in the light of the reality of youth, combat, and NCOs, and he uses that long known term “The New Guys” to describe the message.

QC is back in Iraq, on his second tour. During his last tour, he posted a raw, detailed and intense story of exercising his Combat Life Saver (CLS) skills one day on the battlefield. He wrote it shortly after returning from the mission and it was the kind of writing that told the story of what that medical aid person is going through as he takes care of a wounded comrade. That blog is no longer available (see note), but will most likely be featured in Black Five’s upcoming book, where he has collected and edited the best of military blogs. The book is close to being published.

For those who have served, you will instantly know you were one once. The comments by the readers have add on stories to confirm and amplify on QC’s excellent shot of life via his writing.

Some time back, I found suitable, affordable substitute vehicles to keep the feeling alive for retired sailors.

In this post, there was jet boots (to go with a wing suit) for Capt Neptunus Lex. All he would need was a hot air ballon to get the altitude, and then he’s off to the sound of twin jet engines pushing about the sky.

Chapomatic has a few years to go yet, before he’s on the public dole, but since used nuclear subs require too many friends to take out for a sea cruise (not to mention where will you get the fuel), but he can get one of these for a lot less. Subsunk is already off the books and operating independantly, so, even tho it may be late to get it wrapped for his retirment, I’m sure he’d not turn it down.

Now, an appropriate gift for (I’m assuming he’s a gator sailor) Commander Salamander: The “Quad Ski:”

Being a two person vehicle, it may constrain your social interaction, and if that’s the case, then I invite your further attention to the “Humdinga:”

Now, this would be more suitable for someone like Froggy, so he and his well musculed friends could take a run for an afternoon jaunt (or….a moonless night run). Any Marine would most likely feel comfortable in this, if they had ever survived a ride to the beach in an LVT. I’m sure the M2 is an option, and the Class III license you’d have to obtain on your own.

If Uncle Jimbo or Black Five get the urge to revisit their old special ops days, they might want to pitch in with one of the professional mariners or soldiers of the sea, just to keep the union bosses off their backs…

Notice: This post will evolve and expand this evening (8/18) and now into 8/19. Lots of issues here, just in case someone decides we need to protect out coastline. I’m starting it now to get the thought process going, but if you’re interested, check back late tonight or tomorrow for more of my insights.

Got this from Milblogs and the poster there, Eagle1, has more at his site, including a 7/26/06 post.

I feel like adding my two cents and I will “fisk” myself, using my own comments I posted on Eagle1’s blog:

A thorny issue indeed. Many years gone by, there were NIKE AJAX and HERCULES, as well as BOMARC missile sites all around the US, near major cities to defeat the threat of manned bombers.

I grew up near the Renton, WA Boeing plant, and a family friend got me a factory model of a IM-99 BOMARC missile, complete with the TEL.

How can we possibly manage a coast line defense without massive expeditures, let alone the acquisitions of real estate in all of the places we would need to park a RADAR/SAM Site?

First issue: While ballistic missiles go up, with enough altitude to show well beyond local horizon, we’ll need outward looking RADAR systems to continually scanning the horizon, on the azimuths of the expected threat….At the very least, we’d have to place many RADAR sites on the East, Gulf and West coastlines for protection. We could decline to place them on the Northern and Southern border, as the threat is postualted, in this case, to be sea launched. We would have to acquire plots of land, every so many vulnerable miles to allow siting the defense systems. The effort and the cost would be staggering to cover all three coasts, so some hard decisions would have to be made, as to which places were of “high value.” Who would make this decision matrix up?

If we choose to only protect some areas, then, as demonstrated by the terrorists, the tactics are to go for the weak spots. What if a “tramp steamer” was modified to carry North Korean manufactred SCUDs? As a result, the non-/less defended areas would most likely become the targets of choice for those wishing to make a point. The follow on outcry would parallel that of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with citizens with loud voices, would have expected that every single square inch of American soil and neighborhood was protected with 100% certainty. The human wreckage would be bad enough, but the political fallout would be horrific, as we seem we are no longer able to understand the Federal Government cannot take care of everyone, everywhere.

It’s not out of the question, these days, that other than nation sates with military power, have access and support (financial, logistical and training) to field and use weapons of increasing size and complexity. The Israelis found this out when a CS-801 anti-ship missile was launched from the vicinity of Beriut.

Second issue: Land acquisition. My father worked for years in Montana, North and South Dakota (and other states in the vicinity I’m sure) as an Army Corps of Engineers land appraiser. He travelled most of the time in my early years, finding and procuring land for Minute Man silos. I do recall discussions, once in a while about “condemning” property back then, and have come to understand years later that’s what we have come to know as “eminent domain.” I’m also sure, the cost wasn’t cheap for that level of national security to be put in place.

While I was on active duty, my dad visited me in Virginia Beach, there to work on getting the local community to grant easements for the land around Oceana Master Jet Base. The Navy wanted agriculture only. That was when Viginia Beach was the fastest growing city in the US, during the Reagan military build up. With the building of Lynnhaven Mall in early 80’s, there was concern such a large shopping center would be located essentailly under the landing and approach patern for a busy air station, not to mention, more and more farm land was being sold, and both commercial and residential building was taking place around there. The response from the City Council/community was: “If you want the land to be free of buildings…then buy it!” What would happen now if we had to purchase beachfront property, particularly when it’s near population centers (to be defended) at today real estate pricing? Think about the cost…more comments later in this article related to this topic.

I’m wondering if RCA is proposing the SPY-1 Series, in a block house, with a MK-41 VLS matrix in a self contained blockhouse arrangement.

Call it “MOTS” (Military Off the Shelf), for purposes of discussion, but…there are systems developed, tested, deployed and documented in our hands right now. The ideal shopping list of equipment would be from those items deployed aboard Navy combatants, as they are designed for maximum capability, using minimum space and limited resources. The logistics chain is already established and the only issue would be quantities, from a contracting standpoint.

I mentioned the AN/SPY-1(series) phased array RADAR, and the AN/SPG-99 Illimuniators because they have proven themselves with several decades of service. The proof of concept on this type of shore based installation has been in place for many years, being nicknamed the “Cornfield Cruiser” near the RCA plant in Moorstown, NJ. The MK-41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) missile matrix is already certified to operate with several types of anti-aircraft weapons. Other choice might be the Rolling Airframe Missile with the modified MK-15 Close In Weapons System mounting for point defense of the RADAR site itself. Toss in the AN/USG-2(V) Cooperative Engagement System (CEC) capability for intercommunications between nodes. All this stuff is in service right now.

All you’d have to solve is the radio frequency interference (RFI) issues when operating high powered RADAR. The issue there is when the US and the Soviet Union put over the horizon early warning radars on the line in the late 70’s, the exceptionally high strength signal “splattered about the RF spectrum, and Amatuer Radio Operators referred to the signals as “the Woodpecker” for it’s characteristic interference signal in serval bands. These sites would play havoc with local TV and radio reception, a necessary side effect for the trade off of defense.

Another particulalry interesting issue involved in placing such things in a neighborhood, since explosives ordnance will be present, is the blast radius of detonating ordnance in the event of that unplanned circumstance. One other project my father worked on was the possibility of building an ammo pier on Guam, in one of the bays on the SW part of the island (this was during the height of the VN war, and the B-52s out of Anderson AFB hauled a lot of bombs). I do recall sitting at the kitchen table, looking at aerial phots of the area, with concentric circles superimposed on them. The inner circle was the area where houses would be leveled, the second, I believe was major strutural damage and the third, where glass windows would be blown out. Of course they had to plan for an entire ship load of ordnance exploding, not merely something like 16 SM-3 anti-air missiles. In any case, this is not an issue most real estate agents have to consider. In other words, the physical space for the site, in terms of land procurement is one issue, but then having a cleared, safe area, in the event of explosions, adds to the acreage needed. It would be costly.

Questions:

1) If we can’t get people in Martha’s Vineyard to allow wind generators on towers off the beach, how will we get them to accept the placement of a phased array and a booster disgarding missile system “just down the block” from their house?

Even when last years devestating hurricanes helped (once again) to point out our dependence on foreign oil, not only did the beach residents of MA say “NOT IN MY FIELD OF VIEW (will you construct those ugly wind towers)!”, but the CA and FL congressmen banded together, across party lines, to ensure no oil drilling would occur with 250 miles of a beach (unless you’re Chinese oil rigs working for Cubans). So if too high gas prices won”t allow measures to solve the problem, would the concept of placing systems as decribed above work any better? And, in actual fact, it’s not like you can just lobby to place your defensive system (for your locale) in a less affluent neighborhood, because defense is about location and geometry, and cares not even a little for the economic topography….

2) If we don’t want to fund manpower to sit as virtual TAOs at each site (wow…job opportunity for retired SWOs!), is there a plan to have a centrally located node with the RADAR/ESM sensor data being transmittded to where the decision maker will sit a 24/7/365 watch?

3) If the manpower is too much money for the taxpayers liking, will “we” accept software control of engagements (which…is already a proven function in several systems)? Will we choose an MS operating system to manage the functions, and if so, will Bill Gates allow the review of the software at the code level?

Ah, more to blog on….I have some background in the field…

Software safety. Big issue. Worthy of tackling when I can pull out the mental coal shovel, so I’ll end this tale for the night. Check back for more tomorrow (late day)

***Welcome LGF and MilBlogs readers!**** Feel free to look around the blog…

One more anniversary passes of the end of WWII.

Wouldn’t you know it was a Sailor who made the timeless pose for the celebration of the end of WWII.

For those of you who have been reading a while, you may have read the stories of my friend who flew gliders way back then. This day, 61 years removed, set history as a man with his youth, his French girlfriend, a small spotter plane, and full of bravado did something, well, shall we say “different” (but certainly not out of character for those who venture into the skies in combat aircraft…)

This past June 6th, I posted some more details Jim Helinger, Sr., passed along to me regrading his duty. By this time, I had also scanned in the few remaining pictures he has of those days gone by. They are in that post.

So, hopefully you’re still scratching your head and wondering what Jim did, and what a French girlfriend has to do with VJ day in 1945.

The story begins here. If you want the details, chase the links to part II and then to the final segment, Part III (link provided for those with little patience, or time today).

I used to wonder about Jim’s claim of this “first,” but have come to see it’s entirely feasible. I found these excellent photos by Christopher Michels (who was a Navy P-3C Naval Flight Officer). One of his sets was of the Eiffel Tower at night.

Using your old intel photographer training, you can see from the size of the people under the tower that there’s plenty of room for an L-5 Stinson Spotter plane to ge through there safely.

Thanks to LGF for a place to share good news and John of Castle ARRGGHH!! for the trackback and Plank’s Constant for the Open Trackback, < ahref="http://www.conservativecat.com/mt/archives/2005/12/continue_the_co.html">The Conservative Cat for the floating trackback festival, Blue Star Chronicles for the Open Trackback, The Pirates Cove for the Open Trackback!

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A few days ago, I blogged out loud about the muddled assumptions. One comment I made was I didn’t think we had faced a situation where we had had a populace with a significant number of citzens who held an allegiance to something above the nation itself. I wrote that before the shooting in Seattle at the Jewish Federation Building, but the behavior of the man who entered the building, using a hostage to get in the door is exactly the mindset that is so troubling:

Amy Wasser-Simpson, the federation’s vice president, told the Seattle Times that Haq got past security at the building and shouted, “I’m a Muslim American; I’m angry at Israel,” before he began shooting.

I’ve rethought the issue, and we have had a situation like this before. It began on Dec 7th, 1941, but the outcome is not the same. Back then, the response from the Japanese-American community, was to send forth the 442nd Regimental Combat Team:

On December 7, 1941, the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by Japan. This act thrust the United States into World War II. All men who were eligible for military duty were called upon to fight, except Japanese Americans. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Japanese American men were catagorized 4C, non-draftable. Moreover, they and their families were placed into concetration camps by the United States Government. However, on February 1, 1943, the government reversed its decision on Japanese Americans serving in the armed forces and announced the formation of the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team.
The 442nd initially consisted of Japanese American volunteers from the mainland United States and the Hawaiian Islands. There were many different reasons why these young men volunteered. Despite the rampant racism towards Japanese Americans during this period, many volunteers felt that if there was to be any future for Japanese in the United States, they had to demonstrate their loyalty by fighting for their country.

The majority of volunteers from Hawaii and the mainland were sent to Camp Shelby in Mississippi. Initially, tension existed between the Hawaiians and the mainlanders. The mainlanders often degraded the Hawaiians for their poor speech and “barbaric” aggressive manners, thus causing them to feel inferior. Due to the excessive fighting and dissension among the troops, the commanding officers were ready to terminate the training. However, a suggestion was made to have the Hawaiians and mainlanders visit relocation camps. After Hawaiian Japanese Americans visited some of the camps, they realized the hardships mainlanders had gone through and a new sense of respect developed for each other. One Japanese American remembers, “the regiment was not formed when we volunteered, nor when we arrived in Camp Shelpby, but rather, it was formed after this (relocation camp) visit” (Matsuo, Boyhood to War. 73)

When this unified unit arrived in Europe, they still had to prove their competence, as well as their loyalty to white soldiers and commanding officers. However, after liberating the small town of Bruyeres in Southern France and rescuing the “Lost Battalion” (141st), Japanese American soldiers gained the respect of their fellow soldiers, the townspeople of Bruyeres, and particularily the members of the “Lost Battalion.” For their performance, the 442nd has been recognized as the most decorated unit in United States history. 18,000 total awards were bestowed upon the 442nd, including 9,500 Purple Hearts, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, Seven Distinguished Unit Citations, but only one Congressional Medal of Honor (Crost, Honor by Fire. 179). Although their impeccable service earned the 442nd the respect of their fellow soldiers, they were not perceived in the same way by American society when they returned to the West Coast.

Immediately following their return, the 442nd realized that the attitudes of many Americans had not changed. World War II veterans of Japanese ancestry were welcomed home by signs that read, “No Japs Allowed,” and “No Japs Wanted.” In many cases, veterans were denied service in local shops and restaurants, and their homes and property were often vandalized or set on fire.

Joe Byrne
Kyle Higuchi
Jason Opdyke
Mario Sani

Notice the mentality shift. In 1941, those oj Japanese descent felt they owned it to their new nation, and the rest of the citizens, to demonstrated in a courageous manner, their loyalty. Their nickname: “Go For Broke.” we know what that means and that’s how they fought, becoming the most decorated regiment in the US Army.

Get a load of this:

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service, in the entire history of the U.S. Military. The 4,000 men who initially came in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly 3.5 times. In total, about 14,000 men served, ultimately earning 9,486 Purple Hearts , 21 Medals of Honor and an unprecedented eight Presidential Unit Citations.

Anyone who questions service like that has lived in a hole their entire lives. They, like the units comprised of African-Americans, such as the USS MASON (DE-529) and the 761st Tank Battalion, were accepted at the front lines as fighting men, equal to the challenge of combat.

The situation of the day, vs the time of the reloaction camps of the 1940’s are opposite in how communities of non-native Americans handled the decision of loyalty.

I also think, having found the very consise history of the 442nd I quoted above, that is it interesting to observe how the rest of the population reacted. Once again, it is from oppostie ends of the spectrum: At the end of the war, the Japanese-Americans (and African-Americans) who stepped up to the plate and shed their blood for “the Man,” suffered cruelty and assaults from those who they had defended. In this day, while the Muslim-Americans don’t stand and proclaim their alliegance to the nation that affords them freedom, and, most notable, does not relocate them into camps, which conficating their money, personal property and businesses to divide between the Americans in their communities, we also go out of our way to make sure no one is offended by the words in print or on TV, nor any action taken by law enforcement that might be looked upon as “profiling.”

One group showed us they were with us, while the military members from the land of their ancestors, pilaged, raped and murdered their way across China and the Pacific Islands and Rim before cannibalizing our aviators at Chi Chi Jima.

Today, those who have come to us from the Islamic countries openly condem us when we discuss taking action to secure the freedom of all of our citizens, to include them. It’s a world upside down.

To the men of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, I salute you and the legacy you gave your new nation. To the Islamic-Americans, I challenge you to read their history and decide your response.

Update 8/01/2006: CDR Salamander has a post regarding this topic…

Over the weekend of the 4^th of July, I was on the road and finally found time to stop and visit the museum for the Mighty 8^th Air Force. It’s right there on the side of I-95, just south of Savannah, GA, featuring a B-47 static display next to the interstate. I wasn’t sure what I’d find, but, the interior of the building did have some things I hadn’t seen at an air museum before.

The museum starts you out with a little walk through the history leading up to WWII, with some history of the rise of German power, and the attack at Pearl harbor. From there, it’s a lot of info on the planes and men who became the 8^th Air Force, stationed in the British Isles. I did note that the aircraft types memorialized were almost exclusively bomber or fighter models, with nothing discussing the logistical planes, which, after checking with my friend Jim, indeed discovered the C-47s and gliders of the troop carrying groups all were in the chain of command. Savannah is the appropriate place for the museum, for, as I found out on my excursion, it was the place where the unit was established in 1942.

Be that as it may, the museum is still a worthwhile side trip, if you’re traveling the East Coast. Here’s what was in the central gallery display area, which took me by surprise:

Yep, a real war trophy, the venerable ME-163B “Komet” rocket fighter! Armed with 30mm cannons, they launched this thing vertically (or horizontally with a drop away set of wheels), it then got above the bomber formations, swooped down through them in a high speed, gravity assisted glide, before it landed, sometimes blowing up when it hit the runway, due to the use of hydrogen peroxide as the fuel for the rocket motor.

Here’s a picture of the business end of this interesting piece of history:

There were displays galore, and several movie theaters looping historical films. Displays included a POW Camp barracks, forged documents from the escape and evasion efforts, aviation art, log books, etc, etc…the kinds of things you’d expect. As you near the end of the displays, there is the nose section of a MiG-21, with a walk up platform, so you can get a good view of the cockpit. One memorable display was a painting of a ME-109 escorting a battle damaged B-17. The story was the fighter swooped in to strike, and could see several of the crew being treated by others, so he flew alongside the bomber. It wasn’t until about 30 some years later, the German pilot discussed his moment of compassion, and he was able to meet some of the crewmen of the B-17 he declined to shoot down.

Here are some of the other displays:

The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine made famous for its use in the Spitfire and the later Mustangs. I came to know the sound of this Rolls-Royce/V1650 mill when it powered the Unlimited Class hydroplanes in the early ’60s. If you’re not familiar with that water sport, they were doing 200+ mph with the WWII fighter engines when I was in grade school and now they do 200 plus a little with helicopter turbines, just without the studly roar of the 12 cylinders hammering away.

There was also a Cyclone engine on a stand. The powerplant of the B-17s and B-24s:

A real P-51D hung proudly on the tail of an ME-109:

They had a PT-17 Steerman, a scale P-47 and the nose section of a B-24 Liberator in the center gallery. They also had the two waist gunner stations from a B-17, set up with an aerial gunnery simulator, where you could wield a real M2 Browning against FW-190s and ME-109s coming from various attack angles.

Static display outside included the B-47 Stratojet, a MiG-17 “FRESCO”

and one of the longest serving aircraft with the US Armed Forces, the F-4 Phantom:

So, there’s my vacation travel report.

Had enough with a media that trashes everything, even the good done by the US Military?

Captain B of One Marine’s View wants to take out a FULL PAGE AD in a major newspaper for this coming 4th of July, in support of our troops.

Had Enough?” is here….

He’s still open for which paper and what to say in the ad, but…it’s all premised on getting the funds together to pay the freight.

He has a donate button on the right sidebar of his blog, labeled “Donate cigars for troops here!” It will do the job…

Think about it….what better way than to proclaim we believe in the goodness and sacrifice of those young (and not so young in some cases) men and women who are forging the future for not only us, but humanity.

Dadmanly has a post on the recent discussions on the roll over problems with the Up Armored HMVEEs. It is one of many, which I will use for a jumping off point for the discussion of “we’ve been here before.”

Asa recap, it wasn’t all that long ago the MSM was lambasting the Military for not having “enough” armor on HMVEEs, which, were never intended to be patrol vehicles by design. They were cargo carriers to get supplies to the front, but…that’s another entire story in how equipment is developed and fielded by the US Armed Forces, as a function of Defense Analysis, brought to the Pentagon in the early 60s, by a gentleman you may recall named Robert McNamera.

Be that as it may, after the sceeching from the front pages of major papers, and in other forms of media communications, the Pentagon lept into action and got armor on the HMMVVs, sometimes, and at first, by troops scrounging for steel plates and getting out the trusty welding torches. Troops with skills are not always a bad thing, but there are times that well intentioned “local” efforts cause some consequences that can’t be forseen. Conversely, sometimes the “shore based” or stateside development organizations are too stuck in traditional thought to see a good idea, or, they are more often constrained by budget allocations from doing more. That also leads to another discussion, where too much money spet, when it is working to save lives (which is hard to quantify) ends up an issue in the media, where the demands are made to call people on the carpet to explain their “excessive and unnecessary” expeditures. So, once more good, hard working, thoughtful and intelligent people, in uniform, as civil servants, and as contractors, get caught trying to tip toe through a minefield.

On December 10th, 1941, the British battleship HMS PRINCE OF WALES and battlecruiser HMS REPULSE were sunk in the South China Sea by a Japanese air attack. Within a few short days, the Japanese Navy forever changed the face of war at sea. Proving the capability of aircraft launching and attacking from long range as the effective method of projecting power. The sun set on the era of the large captial gunship that day.

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Do you remember this picture?

SSG McNaughton is looking to run in the New York Marathon this coming November and is asking for a little help.

Impact a Hero – Walk/Run/Wheel

Click on the picture above to get to the donation page for SSG McNaughton.

I’ve also added a link on the Charities Page of this blog for this donation request.

HT: Gulf Coast Pundit and Black Five

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post!

Note: Our wounded service members need some help…see details on Valour-IT funding laptops with voice recognition software here.

Thanks for your considertaion of this great project!

See D-Day Remembered on Black Five for more stories commemorating this day in history.

Part I,Part II and Part III of the Adventures of Jim, Sr

Jim Helinger, Sr, USAAF

I can’t say this post is full of D-Day info, for Jim Helinger, Sr, Glider Pilot, USAAF, doesn’t talk about combat much. He says there are plenty of other things to talk about, and he is right. I choose to take a few words to highlight Jim’s service in this battle , as well as the others.

CG-4A WACO Glider Info

The links at the top of the post take you to the story Jim told to me over dinner last year. He was one of those men in the gliders on D-Day, being towed over the English Channel in order to get supplies and troops on the ground, and then return to fly again. As a part of the 442nd Troop Carrying Group, he hauled some of the 82nd Airborne Division into battle on this day, 62 years ago.

Jim also had other duties beside flying. He was tasked to determine airworthiness of the gliders on the ground. He said he guessed he always made a good guess. Ever wonder how they got the glider pilots back? How about you find a glider that looks sound after it’s landing, tell the surviving pilots to get in and strap in, you set up a pair of goal posts, stretch a line between them, attach a tow line (nylon) to the line across, then shoot a flare for the orbiting C-47 to see. That signals the C-47 to come do a low altitude pass, dangling an arresting hook like arrangement, that snagged the glider back into the air and ultimately home.

Jim in the pilot’s seat – taken by his co-pilot

He also flew at least 40 other combat glider missions, and ended up doing a little defensive work on the ground at the Battle of the Bulge. Jim said not all the pilots took the ride home from D-Day. Besides being pilots, they also had to dismount and fight with the troops until the area was secure. He siad a few of the pilots fought on the ground all the way to Germany, and at the end of the war, they finally met back up with their units.

The glider crews don’t get a lot of pages of print, nor combat artwork, for the most part. The C-47, and a fine airplane it is, gets the lion’s share of the credit for hauling lots and lots of paratroopers, as it did. It also hauled the WACO and HORSA gliders, too. JIm said they mostly only saw the C-47 pilots when they were briefing for a mission, but they pretty much stayed apart during normal working routine. The glider pilots were at least qualified as Co-Pilots in the C-47, in case they needed extra hands.

A glider pilots view of the tow plane

D-Day was a phenomenal efforts, and many parts and pieces went into making the battle plan function. Jim Helinger, Sr, was one of those men who did his part that day.

Thanks to BlackFive for the D-Day Blogburst!