UGS.

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These are not the UGS your father knew!! 

Thanks to Danger Room and intelNews.org we have this item of interest.

Unattended ground sensors [UGS] an integral part of a net-centric system now being used in Afghan and before that in Iraq.

From over forty years ago now during the Second Indo-China War, those UGS as part of the Mac Namara Line once again in use, but this time much up-dated as you might well imagine, the size of the proverbial hockey puck, solar-powered, potentially able to operate for DECADES and resembling a rock more or less.

Can be "sown" in profusion allowing for economy of force, especially in the low-intensity counter-insurgency warfare.

 "This Rock Could Spy on You for Decades"

 "Palm-sized sensors, developed for the American military, will remain littered across the Afghan countryside — detecting anyone who moves nearby and reporting their locations back to a remote headquarters. Some of these surveillance tools could be buried in the ground, all-but-unnoticeable by passersby. Others might be disguised as rocks, with wafer-sized, solar-rechargeable batteries that could enable the sensors’ operation for perhaps as long as two decades,"

 "Arrays of up to 50 palm-sized acoustic and seismic sensors form a mesh network. When one sensor detects a person or a vehicle passing by, it uses unlicensed radio frequency bands to pass an alert from one node to the next. The alert finally hits a communications gateway, which can send the signal via satellite, tactical radio network, or Wi-Fi to a command and control center. That signal can tip off additional sensors — or it can send a Twitter-like message to an intelligence officer’s phone or tablet."

Sounds like net-centric stuff. Links to radio relay, remote sites, satellites uplink/downlink and accessible by a variety of decision makers and shooters. Able to detect the movement of persons or vehicles from a long distance, further investigation warranted, destruction a possible.

 UGS in Vietnam NOT such a big success. Too susceptible to variables and the various types of signals often not distinguish-able, the observer not able to determine an enemy soldier from a peaceful peasant or a herd of water buffalo.

UGS only one of many sensors available to the net-centric warrior and combined with other assets and used in tandem, those shooters relying on data remotely accessed, modern technology allowing for maximum of damage to the enemy with minimum of effort.

Such is the concept and the hope!

 coolbert.

R.E. Lee.

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Thanks to David G. and the tip from Larry we have this controversial item. ON THIS DATE IN 1862 ROBERT E. LEE ASSUMED COMMAND OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC [ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA].

And the course of history was changed forever.

"A TRAGIC IRONY OF HISTORY: WITHOUT LEE’S BRILLIANT GENERALSHIP, THE SOUTHERN WAY OF LIFE WOULD HAVE SURVIVED" [?]

"all of his [R.E. Lee] successes—the Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville—served to ensure that one day the Southern way of life would be gone with the wind."

"One of the most overlooked dates in American history is the 1st of June 1862. This was the day when Robert E. Lee was given command by Jefferson Davis of the Confederate Army of the Potomac . . . The promotion of Lee changed everything for the South and it would change the course of the entire nation. Lee renamed his command the Army of Northern Virginia and infused it with the martial ardor necessary to win Southern independence on the battlefield."

“By mid-May the Army of the Potomac [Union] lay on the outskirts of Richmond, hoping to capture the capital of the Confederacy and perhaps end the war. If that strategy succeeded the nation might be reunified, but without abolition of slavery.”

Those southern states of the Confederacy in rebellion on the verge of defeat, the Union preserved and only that, AS WAS THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF THOSE IN OPPOSITION TO SECESSION! A protracted conflict resulting in large measure due to the efforts of R.E. Lee while in command the continued battlefield success of the Army of Northern Virginia the war continuing in an unanticipated manner THE GOAL OF THE UNION FORCES EVENTUALLY BECOMING PRESERVATION OF THE UNION AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY!!

Resolution of the conflict in 1862 would have meant a continuation of the Union BUT not an abolition of slavery?

Devoted readers to the blog have an opinion on this matter?

coolbert.

Balloons.

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Man in a basket. 

Observation balloons used extensively by all combatants during the Great War [WW1], a tethered balloon raised aloft hanging from which is a basket with a manned observer. This was a common sight near the front lines during that conflict.

"Observation balloons are balloons that are employed as aerial platforms for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Their use . . . reaching their zenith during World War I"

Make no mistake about it, this was very dangerous duty, either to be an occupant of the basket, the observer slung from underneath the inflated and carried aloft balloon, or that enemy pilot approaching and desiring a shoot-down that target so tempting but nonetheless heavily defended.

"Because of their importance as observation platforms, balloons were heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns and patrolling fighter aircraft. Attacking a balloon was a risky venture, but some pilots relished the challenge."

Balloons inflated with highly explosive and flammable hydrogen. Tracer rounds from an attacking aircraft able to set alight the balloon with disastrous consequences.

Man in the basket, the observer being able to parachute to ground if and when an enemy attack successful, the balloon burst and dropping from the sky. Attacking enemy combat aircraft subjected to massed and dedicated AAA [anti-aircraft-artillery] fire, withering and intense. DANGEROUS DUTY FOR ALL PARTIES AND THE HAZARD NEVER MINIMAL!!

From an altitude of 2,000 feet  [600 meters] the line-of-sight [LOS] of the observer on a good day at least sixty miles [100 kilometers].

From the era of the Great War a view as might have been seen 

from a balloon. Those rectangles are farm fields.

Tethered balloons under some circumstances still an option for the military and security apparatus of a quasi-military nature. NOW sans basket but with high-definition telephoto television lenses, day/night infra-red capability, and MUCH MORE, helium and not hydrogen the gas of choice now!!

coolbert.

LEMV.

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NOTHING like this has been seen in at least eighty years ever since the time of Billy Mitchell? A military blimp of extraordinary size, ready for deployment to the combat zone, a throw-back to a time of yesteryear, AND as they say, amazing! NOT itty-bitty but BIG!

The LEMV [Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle] an aerial vehicle designated for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, surveillance, extended loiter time and endurance - - "hang time" if you will!

"Army Readies Its Mammoth Spy Blimp for First Flight"

"TAMPA, Florida . . . Northrop Grumman has finally penciled in the first flight of the giant surveillance airship it’s building for the U.S. Army. The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle — a football-field-size, helium-filled robot blimp fitted with sensors and data-links — should take to the air over Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first or second week of June [2012]"

Optional use of the LEMV touted as a supply airship, a cargo carrier!!

"The LEMV can do more than hover and spy. It’s also a potentially useful cargo carrier. The current model can carry 20 tons of supplies. A scaled-up version could carry hundreds of tons — and at a fraction of the cost of fixed-wing airplanes."

The U.S. Army at one noted for having MORE AIRCRAFT THAN THE AIR FORCE AND MORE BOATS THAN THE NAVY!! At least that was the case up until the mid 1960's. NOT sure of what the case is now.

And does the 3,000 foot [1,000 meters] rule apply to the LEMV? Army "aircraft" only able to operate BELOW 3,000 feet [1,000 meters] the remainder of the airspace reserved for the air force. The 3,000 foot rule still applies?

Air ships traditionally very subject to the weather, turbulence, buffeting, inclement conditions, etc. So will be LEMV?

coolbert.

Commando?

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From the Voice of America [VOA] only today a headline that startles:

"US Denies Sending Commandos to Spy on North Korea"

"U.S. military officials are rejecting a report suggesting that U.S. military commandos have been parachuting into North Korea to gather intelligence on Pyongyang's underground military installations."

"The Diplomat, a Tokyo-based political journal, on Monday carried a report alleging that a senior U.S. special operations commander revealed the supposed commando program at a conference in Florida last week."

"The Diplomat [says] that both U.S. and South Korean commandos were taking part in the reconnaissance mission"

American and South Korean commandos BOTH it is alleged.

My instantaneous reaction to this headline was: "let it not be so!!"

Parachutists engaging in intelligence gathering missions of this sort during the Cold War were quite common for a period of time and were found to be almost 100 % uniformly unsuccessful!! Agents nabbed almost at leisure by the communist adversary with the loss of life stupendous!!

That intelligence as sparse as gleaned with hindsight found to be for the most part disinformation those parachute agents captured and forced to engage in a "playback operation"!!

Operating in such a manner [parachutists] against a totalitarian dictatorial government as harsh and as cruel as the North Korean very difficult if not impossible. Far less gained that the losses are worth!!

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Military Slaves.

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From the Daniel Pipes web site we have some extracts of an article originally posted by Dr. Pipes as of 2000. The military slave and the apparantely "unique phenomenon" of such an institution in the Islamic world. Thanks to Dr. Pipes in all instances. The level of scholarship is indeed that of scholarship.

"Military Slaves: A Uniquely Muslim Phenomenon"

I think most students of military hisotry are familiar with the Janissary of the Ottoman Empire or the Mamelukes of the various Egyptian Islamic dynasties. Military soldiers professionals their entire adult lives, having been raised from an early age to be military men, owned by the ruler, and beholden only to same.

Children having been enslaved [Christian in the case of the Janissary and Circassian in the case of the Mameluke] knowing no other life than that of the soldier and as described a tradition and "phenomenon" perhaps UNIQUE to the Islamic world?

"Even a cursory glance at the history of Muslim peoples reveals the extraordinary role played by men of slave origins in the armed forces. They served both as soldiers and as officers, then often acquired preeminent roles in administration, politics, and all aspects of public affairs."

A tradition and "phenomenon" last for a period of a thousand years [1,000] and hardly confined to the Ottoman or Egyptian Islamic empires.

"In History"

"For a full millennium, from the early ninth century until the early nineteenth century, Muslims regularly and deliberately employed slaves as soldiers. This occurred through nearly the whole of the Muslim world, from Central Africa to Central Asia, from Spain to Bengal, and perhaps beyond. Few dynasties within this longtime-span and broad area had no military slaves."

The status of the military slave much enhanced beyond that of the "ordinary slave"! The military slave not subject to the endless toil of the domestic or field slave, that military slave having a role in society and opportunities not available to the "ordinary slave".

"Far from being lowly domestics or servile laborers, they enjoy the respect and the power of soldiers. Although slaves, they are part of the ruling elite; they bear arms, have access to the ruler, fill important positions, and enjoy the amenities of wealth and power. Indeed, they enjoy many advantages which most free men cannot attain and, as a result, their slave status carries with it no stigma. On the contrary, it becomes a badge of distinction; slavery, in an extraordinary reversal, gives access to power and social superiority which free birth might deny. Far from considering it a humiliation, free men covet this status and slaves jealously guard it. None of this, of course, holds true for ordinary slaves."

That carrying of arms ["bearing arms"] it should be recognized as normally only a "right" as conferred to free men, not to slaves. PRIVILEGES AND ADVANTAGES AVAILABLE TO THE MILITARY SLAVE EVEN INDEED THAT "MOST FREE MEN CANNOT ATTAIN"!!

It should be noted that the Mameluke prowess in battle according to all accounts was awesome, the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut the high water mark of Mongol conquest no one other than those military slaves of the Egyptian able to vanquish the Mongol in a similar manner.

During the American Civil War it was SUGGESTED by both Robert E. Lee and Patrick Cleburne that enslaved blacks be armed and enlisted into the forces of the Confederacy. Suggestions rejected without discussion or comment.

coolbert.

Shinmiyangyo.

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Before there was the Korean War there was the Korean War.

More correctly called the Korean Expedition [1871]. Called by the Koreans Shinmiyangyo.

A punitive military expedition on the part of the American naval Asiatic Squadron, the result of verbal misunderstandings on the part of both warring parties, an abortive action not resulting in any decisive conclusion.

"The United States expedition to Korea, the Shinmiyangyo, or simply the Korean Expedition, in 1871, was the first American military action in Korea."

"on June 1, 1871, a punitive expedition was launched ten days later after the commanding American admiral failed to receive an official apology from the Koreans. The isolationist nature of the Joseon Dynasty government and the assertiveness of the Americans led to a misunderstanding between the two parties that changed a diplomatic expedition into an armed conflict."

This was too the last time [?] widespread use was made of NAVAL INFANTRY? Sailors going ashore carrying small arms and fighting as infantrymen. That American on-shore contingent the preponderant number of which was sailors [a mix of sailors and marines]!

Comments:

* That large number of decorations for valor [Medal of Honor] for one minor engagement would not have been the case today. At the moment [1871], the only medal for valor in combat as issued by the American military was the MoH. Today the standards for awarding the MoH have changed dramatically.

"Nine sailors and six Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor, the first for actions in a foreign conflict."

* The American naval officer in most senior command it should be noted possessing extraordinary powers to conduct diplomacy and even initiate hostilities at his discretion. This was a prerogative of naval officers of the period, not having the rapid means of communication as is the case today.

* Only several years [1866] prior to the American Expeditionary Force engaging in combat with the Koreans, the French also had done the same, in a similar manner, but with even less productive results. Korea at the time was referred to as the "Hermit Kingdom" due to the extreme and deliberate isolation as imposed by the local rulers. [sounds just like today at least for North Korea, doesn't it?]

Punitive military expeditions to redress a grievance legitimate or otherwise used to be quite fashionable but nowadays and for some time has given way to diplomacy and so much the better for it I would think. These type of events make for lurid and overblown reading in the history books and make for bad feelings that quite often last for a long time.

coolbert.