Sounders.

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Once again in the Chicago Tribune we have a story that has been covered before. The wild pig gone berserk and a menace and nuisance in several states. Herds of pigs [a herd of pigs is called a sounder] proliferating in abundance and number and causing widespread and ever increasing mayhem, destruction to crops and native vegetative matter in a massive way, almost overwhelming in nature.

"GPS, copters deploy in war against crop-eating pigs"

And hunted with can only be called quasi-military methods.

WAR!!

Quasi-military methods NOW to include:

* The use of GPS for sounder location.
* The use of night vision devices.
* The use of helicopters [air assault].

From the Tribune article only today:

"Oklahoma just called the GPS-equipped Judas pigs, which leader hunters to their unsuspecting friends. Texans started gunning down wild hogs from helicopters last year. South Carolina legislators have drafted a bill [kill] that allows hunting with night-vision devices."

This very topic has been the subject of various previous blog entries.

Wild pigs, a cross of feral hog [escaped and now wild domestic pigs] and imported European wild boar breeding in extraordinary numbers, a threat to crops and the environment, the proliferation of which is a threat growing and cannot be contained, almost "guerrilla-like" insidious and uncontainable!

"They tear down even more than they eat, and they eat plenty"

Animals big, ugly, dangerous, wily, and having a degree of animal smarts not a whole lot less than a dog or cat!

Be very careful when hunting these critters. They can and will come at you to KILL YOU and have a marked capacity for being able to do so!!

The "hunt" for the wild pigs does constitute very realistic training for soldiers? A sport that benefits the society as a whole and has that element of danger that ordinary military training just does not provide. You can "wet your pants" literally when after these creatures.

Teams of soldiers from units such as special forces, rangers, Marines, paratroopers, SEAL, etc., using archaic weaponry [bow and arrow, crossbow, spears, black powders rifles, etc.] hunting the wild pigs perhaps is the ULTIMATE in military training only second to actual combat itself? I would think so. That ELEMENT OF DANGER PRESENT AS IT NORMALLY IS NOT!

Definitely too there is precedent for such military maneuvers! From the StrategyPage CIC web site of Al Nofi:

"In December of 1959 a detail of Army Special Forces personnel conducted a mission on Ishigaki Shima, a Japanese island, in support of operations to wipe out an infestation of wild boar."

This was U.S. Army Special Forces [Green Berets] from the battalion forward located on Okinawa a mission "in support of", hunting the wild boar with M1 .30 caliber carbines? Might have well been the case. The wild pig infestation problem is not confined to the United States.

European knights of yore, the nobility of the Middle Ages too the favorite sport and practice for war of which was hunting the wild boar from horseback using lance, the pig sticker, the meat of the beast a favored delicacy and those heads from game taken adorning the walls of the castle as trophies demonstrable of martial prowess.

Good hunting, good luck, and BEWARE!

coolbert.

Major General.

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More Joseph Kony stuff.

Caesar the Major General has been captured.

Caesar, an acolyte and confidant of Joseph Kony, Caesar a self styled strategist and possessing the grandiose title of major general has been finally run to ground and captured.

Caesar not displaying any fight whatsoever, found and taken prisoner with an AK, a measly eight rounds of ammo, his wife, child and a helper in tow. A poor catch overall and not what had been hoped for.

"Top Joseph Kony crony Caesar Achellam captured in ambush"

"Uganda has captured one of the top rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), bringing it a step closer to catching Joseph Kony, the LRA leader accused of war crimes, the military said yesterday."

"Caesar Achellam, a major-general in Kony's outfit of about 200 fighters, had been captured in an ambush on Saturday . . . They said Achellam had been armed with just an AK-47 rifle and eight rounds of ammunition. He was being held with his wife, a young daughter and a helper."

Those interrogating Caesar keep your wits about you at all times. Caesar to save his skin will be willing to talk and probably will give away a lot of info THE VERACITY OF WHATEVER INTELLIGENCE THEREBY GAINED TO BE SUSPECT AND DOUBTFUL UNLESS VERIFIED AND MOST DECIDEDLY SO!!

To what extent Caesar represents a "doomed" source in the manner as would have been understood by Sun Tzu is unclear. My intuition is that this capture was too easy, Joseph even perhaps deliberately sacrificing a major player in his organization in an attempt to fool those in pursuit. Joseph is full of skulduggery, take my word for it.

coolbert.

Firefly.

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That word Firefly during the Second Indo-China war having three meanings, depending on the context understood correctly.

Two instances [# 1 and # 2] of the word Firefly easily understandable the third [# 3] not so much so?

1. Firefly a drone aircraft in the developmental process for long-range missions during the Vietnam War.

"The Ryan AQM-91A  was a developmental drone developed during the Vietnam War to perform long-range reconnaissance, especially into China."

"US intelligence thus needed a long-range drone with a high degree of survivability . . . the new design was designated the 'Model 154 / AQM-91A Firefly'".

Successful operational missions ZERO but the concept sound.






2. Firefly missions a flight of three helicopters, operating at night, one of which was equipped with a very powerful searchlight allowing for the illumination of targets in total darkness. Hunters/killers from the air. [thanks to the article by Tompkins from the Top Tigers & Mustangs web site.]

"Firefly missions were conducted at night with no lights except for the one helicopter that had a powerful spot light attached to it.  The helicopter with the light would fly at about 500 ft. Another helicopter or gunship would fly at 1000 and a third at 200 [ft.].  The Helicopter flying at 200 ft. was a gunship equipped with miniguns and rockets.  The aircraft at 1000ft was equipped with a .50 cal machine gun.

Targets illuminated by the spot light [searchlight?] from one chopper the other two obliterating the enemy with combined fire!

3. Firefly a concept. A divisional or brigade combat commander in his own personal helicopter hovering over the battlefield while units under his command actually engaged in combat. The combat commander in the manner of the leader on the black powder battlefield of yore able to see at almost a single glance the posture of his troops, the enemy and understood with some certainty how the battle is proceeding. Also able to issue commands at his discretion, yea or nay the actions of his subordinates and order assistance as he deems necessary. Micro-management without question!

Devoted readers to the blog have some insight into # 3. This was called Firefly that hovering over the battlefield and observing the combat action as done by the senior commander?

coolbert.

Rationing.

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On this date seventy years ago!

Thanks to the Chicago Tribune almanac:

" In 1942 gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for nonessential vehicles."

The United States in 1939 and all for the duration of the war [WW2] an OIL EXPORTING NATION, IN MARKED CONTRAST TO THE SITUATION AS EXISTS TODAY!!

All for the war effort, that privately owned family automobile rarely used during the war,  travel severely curtailed if not outright more or less ended.

And as has been mentioned but in a cursory manner, American culture and society as existing in 1947 markedly different as that culture and society that was present prior to the start of WW2!

And most epitomized by ownership of the private family automobile.

In 1939 only one in four American adult males able to own a car,.

By 1947 almost 100 % of adult American males able to own a car.

America in 1945 the ONLY nation on the planet having more food that it could eat, more oil than it could pump, more steel than was needed for building. That consumer society and overall prosperity on a mass basis the trend and THE EXPECTED NORM FROM 1945 ONWARDS!!

coolbert.

BB-57

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From that previous blog entry, the RN HMS Dauntless made totally impotent for a matter of minutes, a fuse costing ten English pounds when blown the ship for that moment made a floating and inert non-functioning hulk.

The loss of all power during wartime while a vessel in actual combat and even during peace time maneuvers creating a situation that might very well be fatal for all.

A situation for which there is precedent.   

From the Second World War: Guadalcanal & Fourth Battle of Savo / Island!

Thanks to various sources in this instance, the American battleship South Dakota BB-57 while actually engaged in night combat losing for a period of three minutes all electrical power rendered for a brief but very dangerous period a floating steel hulk blind and more or less helpless!

And all BECAUSE OF HUMAN ERROR!

First from the wiki we have the bland pronouncements and verdict not so very judgmental:

"That night, an error in engine room switchboards left South Dakota powerless: without her radars, she no longer had a grasp on the complicated tactical situation. South Dakota, under fire from at least three ships, took 42 hits, causing considerable damage. Her radio communications failed, radar plot was demolished, three fire control radars were damaged, there was a fire in her foremast, and she had lost track of Washington."

Human error and violation of all known procedures, practices, protocols more correctly understood as:

"the South Dakota's Chief Engineer, contrary to established procedures, had tied down her circuit breakers, which had the effect that of putting the whole electrical system in series."

That engineer in a vain effort to isolate one problem created an even greater difficulty with almost calamitous results!!

"The concussion of 5-Inch hits [Japanese rounds hitting] and internal shocks of firing her own batteries overloaded the circuits and everything went out- radar, fire control stations, turret motors, ammo hoists and radio’s, leaving South Dakota blind."

ONLY the intercession at quick response of the USS Washington saving the South Dakota from oblivion and destruction!! So it would seem.

ALSO, from the previously classified C O N F I D E N T I A L report [as of 1942] it being realized that sailors when in combat having becoming so reliant on electronic apparatus for situational awareness that failure by loss of electrical power creates a very unhealthy  "psychological effect" combat personnel at the exact wrong moment becoming helpless, unable to respond to enemy threat!!

"The trust-and faith in the search radar equipment is amazing. After this ship lost both SG and SC equipment, the psychological effect on the officers and crew was most depressing. The absence of this gear gave all hands a feeling of being blindfolded."

As it was in 1942 so let us hope IT IS NOT NOW!!

coolbert.

D Class.

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Thanks again to the English DailyMail on-line the British Royal Navy [RN] answer to the American DDG "Zumwalt" class destroyer - - the D Class destroyer Dauntless proven according to the headline to be NOT so dauntless!

"Not so Dauntless... Navy's £1 billion warship blacked out by a £10 fuse"


"Stranded and helpless" - - a "Daring" class vessel at that exact moment NOT so daring!

"Bristling with cutting-edge technology and carrying an awesome array of weaponry, the Royal Navy’s new destroyer HMS Dauntless is said to be one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful warships.
But the £1 billion vessel was left helpless and stranded – when a £10 fuse apparently blew.HMS Dauntless is the second ship of the Type 45 class of air defence destroyer built for the Royal Navy (also known as the Daring or 'D' class)."

Please forgive me but as only a person with a technology degree and NOT a naval architect this D class warship appears to be too top-heavy? I am wrong here? My intuition fails me that this ship DOES NOT look right?

The primary mission of the D class vessels is AIR DEFENSE? So it is stated:

"HMS Dauntless is the second ship of the Type 45 class of air defence destroyer built for the Royal Navy (also known as the Daring or 'D' class)."

Dauntless in contrast to the American DDG class destroyer NOT having a mission of striking targets far inland organic capacity limited in that regard [land attack]!

Dauntless nonetheless carrying "an awesome array of weaponry" to include:

* Anti-air missiles (Sea Viper) Sea Viper missile system. [Aster 15 & Aster 30]

* Anti-ship missiles. Sea Skua anti-ship missiles [heliborne] & RGM-84 Harpoon.

* A single 4.5 inch Mk 8 mod 1 gun. [114 mm]

* Anti-submarine torpedoes [heliborne].

Compared to the cost for one American DDG destroyer the English are getting a good value for their money? That is a billion POUNDS and not dollars apiece per warship, the DDG costing about $7 billion per copy!

That Daily Mail headline too alarms in a way that is misleading? During combat action in the Pacific during World War Two, the American battleship North Dakota lost ALL power an engineering officer having tied down all circuit breakers in a manner unwarranted, disaster nearly occurring! Mistakes such as the ten pound fuse easily remedied proper steps and measures immediately taken, solution found!

coolbert.

Dennis Copping.

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From seventy years ago the RAF Kittyhawk combat aircraft of Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping long missing found! Having crash landed in the Egyptian Desert and covered [?] by sand all this time, the war bird now found, more or less in very good condition, intact to a degree seldom found after sustaining war time damage, suitable perhaps for restoration and resuming flight status at some time. The body of Dennis Copping NEVER found, the airman presumed dead, body-not-recovered [BNR]! Thanks to the English DailyMail on-line:

"Frozen in the sands of time: Eerie Second World War RAF fighter plane discovered in the Sahara... 70 years after it crashed in the desert"

"Pilot of the Kittyhawk P-40 was thought to have survived crash, but died trying to walk out of the desert"

"Aircraft was found almost perfectly preserved, unseen and untouched, after it came down in 1942"

"Historian describes find as 'an incredible time capsule' and 'the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun's Tomb'"

A fly-able P-40 restored and not a replica [replicas do exist?] very expensive, and doubling in value each and every year, so few even exist!

The conditions as found in the Sahara very conducive to preservation? NOT the extremes of moisture, mildew, rot, atmospherics and damage from critters as would be found in other locales? Such must be the case that numerous undiscovered and very well preserved examples of military hardware, aviation and otherwise, must just be out there, waiting to be found and restored!

coolbert.