Category Archives: ARMY TRAINING

NASA has bestowed a $125,000 grant upon a research corporation to pursue the development of 3D-printable food, according to a report from Quartz. Anjan Contractor, who runs Systems & Materials Research Corporation, hopes to design a system that will turn shelf-stable cartridges of sugars, complex carbs, and protein into edible food on demand.

Contractor asserts that by the time the population reaches 12 billion people (“peak human” for Earth being around 9.5 billion to 10 billion people), we will have to change our perceptions of what “food” is in order to sustain everyone. A modified RepRap 3D printer serves as Contractor’s theoretical prototype design for printing food.

via 3D-printable food? NASA wants a taste | Ars Technica.

So…. Star Trek TNG replicator… or “Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!”

was posted by Quartermaster earlier today on the Moore, Oklahoma post.

Tell him what he wins, XBrad! (My bet: a year’s free subscription to the blog, an autographed 8 x 10 color glossy of Sox, and a free drink at the next meetup.)

Thank you to all our readers and commenters for keeping the conversation going!

Just… stunning.

This one is pretty easy….

Had a conversation tonight that included “Donkey Dick” and “Dogbone” both of which are terms universally applied in lieu of proper nomenclature for c0mmon items in the Infantry. In fact, in both cases, I  don’t know the actual nomenclature.  Tactical radios were commonly referred to as “pricks” but that was mostly because their actual designation began with “PRC-___.”

It’s awfully common for items in the Army to be known by a name that has no relation to what the government actually calls it.

What have you seen called by a common name that may raise some eyebrows?

USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH, At Sea (NNS) — The Navy’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) has begun touch and go landing operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) May 17.

For UCAS-D, this represents the most significant technology maturation of the program. Ship relative navigation and precision touchdown of the X-47B are critical technology elements for all future Unmanned Carrier Aviation (UCA) aircraft.

Don Blottenberger, UCAS-D Deputy Program manager, commented, “This landing, rubber hitting deck, is extremely fulfilling for the team and is the culmination of years of relative navigation development. Now, we are set to demonstrate the final pieces of the demonstration.”

Earlier in the week, the UCAS-D test team and CVN 77 worked together to successfully complete the first ever launch of an unmanned aircraft from an aircraft carrier proving the importance of introducing unmanned aviation into the already powerful arsenal of aircraft squadrons.

“We are proud to be a part of another historic first for Naval Aviation. The landing was spot-on and it’s impressive to witness the evolution of the Carrier Air Wing,” said Capt. Brian E. Luther, Commanding Officer USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)

via X-47B Accomplishes First Ever Carrier Touch and Go aboard CVN 77.

I missed this story on Friday. Compared to a catapult launch, this is a far more impressive accomplishment. When the cat strokes, you WILL go flying. But performing an approach to touchdown in the landing area of a carrier is far, far more complex.  I’d be interested in hearing some of the inside details (are all X-47 approaches made from Marshall or do they fly a daylight, zip-lip pattern like their meat-brained counterparts?).

Sometime this summer, they’ll put the hook down, and make an arrested landing. After that, they’ll likely start looking how a UAV integrates with manned aircraft and cyclic carrier operations.

SAN DIEGO — In the ocean off Coronado, a Navy team has discovered a relic worthy of display in a military museum: a torpedo of the kind deployed in the late 19th century, considered a technological marvel in its day.

But don’t look for the primary discoverers to get a promotion or an invitation to meet the admirals at the Pentagon — although they might get an extra fish for dinner or maybe a pat on the snout.

The so-called Howell torpedo was discovered by bottlenose dolphins being trained by the Navy to find undersea objects, including mines, that not even billion-dollar technology can detect.

“Dolphins naturally possess the most sophisticated sonar known to man,” Braden Duryee, an official at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific said after the surprising discovery.

via Navy dolphins discover rare old torpedo off Coronado – latimes.com.

Might cool. Even a 19th Century torpedo is an incredibly sophisticated piece of machinery. Just the depth control mechanism is very complex. We tend to forget just how brilliant some engineers were in those days.

Deployed dad makes surprise return — disguised as catcher while daughter throws first pitch | Big League Stew – Yahoo! Sports.

Your feel good story of the day.

I have no ear for music. I couldn’t tell a G flat from a flat tire. But one thing I can tell is the sound of the Pratt & Whitney R-3350 radial engine. So as I was sitting by the pool today, my ears perked up in an autonomic reaction, as FiFi, the world’s only flying B-29 went overhead.

Sharp readers may recall I had a glimpse of her just two short months ago.

No pics this time. But as always, a joy to hear. 

KAZAKHSTAN – After five months in space, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield was shocked to discover his cell phone provider has charged him well over a million dollars for data usage and roaming charges while he was in space.

“This is ridiculous,” said the 53 year-old who recently commanded the International Space Station and a proud owner of an iPhone 5. “I only Instagrammed a few hundred pictures of the sun coming up over the Sahara Desert and a thunderstorm over the Pacific Ocean, posted my videos of me eating in space a few dozen times on Twitter and watched a few YouTube videos of goats that sound like humans and that’s it!”

via Hadfield comes home to $1.37 million Rogers phone bill – The Beaverton – North America’s Trusted Source of News.

His phone had airplane mode, but not spaceship mode.

It’s the 12th anniversary of my cousin’s business. Every year, he holds a BBQ at the shop to celebrate (and generate a touch of goodwill with the local plumbers). So I had pulled pork, smoked sausage, and ribs with about 600 of my closest friends.

This was just one of about half a dozen grills/smokers.

Mr. RFH told the story today of his co-worker having to go to the Army Surplus store to buy a vintage ACU. Seems that he has to turn in an ACU that he’s had since ROTC days, and that was many moons and many moves ago. It was either buy an ACU for $100 from the surplus store or the Army will charge him $180. Yay.

This reminded me of having to turn in everything every time I completed a co-op quarter. There was a 23-item checklist, including keys and labcoats. I never did find out what would happen if I didn’t turn in everything. My first co-op quarter ended with a snowstorm in December and most of the management chain taking the day off. It took some searching to find a workaholic willing to sign that I had indeed turned in everything. My last co-op quarter, they insisted that I still had a labcoat checked out. I searched all over until a co-worker took pity on me and let me turn in one of his. I returned the favor when he retired. Gonna be interesting when I retire, to see if they still have one more labcoat on my tab. Bets?

From about 1890 to the end of the Cold War, the US Navy had a fairly stable system in place for naming ships.  The easiest was to show this is in tabular form.

For a long time, the Navy mostly followed these guidelines. There were some exceptions (and I’ve left out dozens of ship classes) but in general, just by knowing the name of the ship, you could know with some fair precision just what type of ship it was. It was logical, orderly, neat and tidy.

So of course, the Navy quit doing that.

Let’s take a look class by class.

Battleships- No more were built after World War II, so that convention was suspended for a while.

Carriers- With the end of World War II, plans for future construction were shelved, and only the three Midway class “battle carriers” were finished. Of these, two maintained the convention, but one, CVB-42, was named for recently deceased Franklin D. Roosevelt.  We can bemoan the practice of naming carriers for presidents, but if any president should have earned the honor, a strong case can be made for FDR. Few presidents loved the Navy as much, and certainly none were as well regarded by the Navy as a whole.

Unfortunately, after the aborted attempt to build CV-58 – The USS United States-  the next ship, the first US supercarrier to be built, was named for the first US Secretary of Defense, James Forrestal. While Forrestal was in many ways an admirable man, it started a rather lamentable trend of naming capital ships after politicians. Fortunately, the rest of the ships of that class were named in a rather more traditional manner.  Not until CV-67 would the Navy name a carrier for a man, John F. Kennedy. In a misguided attempt to honor a fellow sailor, the navy opened the floodgates. While the next carrier would be named for an admiral, pretty much the rest of the Nimitz class could be better described at “the political class.’  And by naming ships after politicians in  a nation with an often bitter political divide, they set the stage for bitter partisan battles over naming ships.  How long until we see a USS Bill Clinton or USS Barack Obama?

Some changes were the result of advancing technologies. For instance, while a nuclear sub was a nuclear sub, a Ballistic Missile Nuclear Sub with more firepower than all the battleships of history combined probably needed a more fitting name than, say, “USS Hagfish.” And so the “41 for Freedom” ballistic missile subs were named for historical American figures, starting with George Washington. That’s pretty defensible. Especially since the honorees at least were dead, and for the most part, quite historical figures.

When the Los Angeles class nuclear attack subs faced an authorization vote in congressional committee, suddenly the naming convention for subs switched from fish to cities. Arguably, the SSN is a successor the the cruiser in many ways. But in a remarkable coincidence, the names chosen for the first 12 boats were cities in the states of the members of the committee. As ADM Rickover famously noted, “Fish don’t vote!”

But with subs being named for cities, when the Navy decided to again build cruisers,* they started naming them after historic battles of American history, such as Ticonderoga, and Hue City.

So far, only destroyers and frigates have a solid record of maintaining their naming convention, with one or two exceptions, none too egregious.

The LCS class…. When the names of the first two ships were announced, there were howls of derision, and in the case of LCS-2, outrage.  LCS-2 was christened USS Independence. The previous USS Independence was a Forrestal class carrier, and thousands of sailors thought it an insult to that fine ship’s heritage to name such a lowly ship after it.

In the wake of that PR fiasco, the Secretary of the Navy came up with the retroactive, and insulting, explanation that the ships were named for mid-sized American cities. Sure, there’s a town called Freedom somewhere, and of course, Independence, MO. But really, it was just the Navy pinning patriotic buzzwords on the ship. I mean, who in Congress would vote to kill Freedom?**

The follow on ships have mostly been named for cities, but even here, we see the convention being abandoned, with LCS-10 being named for former US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who’s only c0nnection to the Navy I can see is being the wife of a sailor. The naming of LCS-10 was widely seen as the SecNav pandering to the President’s gun control legislation push, and few if any sailors were thrilled by the announcement.

To some extent, ship naming has always been influenced by political considerations. But the sheer level of pandering to special interests, and shunning of naval tradition and heritage of the last few years argues strongly for Congress to revisit the sole authority granted to SecNav to name ships, and perhaps they need to codify some of the conventions in law.

*Actually, just really big destroyers, but their huge price tags justified calling them cruisers.

**OK, yeah, I know, every Democrat in Congress and the White house is trying to kill Freedom…. as a concept.

Days after Hitler’s suicide a group of American soldiers, French prisoners, and, yes, German soldiers defended an Austrian castle against an SS division—the only time Germans and Allies fought together in World War II. Andrew Roberts on a story so wild that it has to be made into a movie.

via World War II’s Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together – The Daily Beast.

My Mom won’t read this, as she’s computer illiterate. But to all the Moms out there that read this (or write for it), here’s to you, and I hope you have a wonderful day.

The Luftwaffe’s JG-71 “Richtofen” is one of the most storied fighter squadrons in history.

The most obvious reason being JG-71’s namesake, The Red Baron. Even their former commanding officer was the highest scoring fighter pilot of all time.

JG-71 formed in 1959 and equipped initially with the Canadair Sabre, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and (up until very recently) the McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom. They are now flying the Eurofighter Typhoon and have recently been solely equipped with the type.

One of the few squadrons tasked strictly with the air-defense mission, JG-71’s Phantom days go back to 1974 and were one of the Luftwaffe fighter squadrons to fulfill NATO QRA duties over the Baltic and Iceland. On 8 May 2013 those Phantom days came to an end.

JG-71s F-4F in the commemorative paint scheme to celebrate transition to the Typhoon

From 2010 to 2013 JG-71 flew both the Phantom and the Eurofighter Typhoon. This month they’ve said auf wiedersehen to the Phantom.

It’s been a fun ride indeed…

JG-71 F-4 Phantom patch…with attitude

[Updates]: Photorecon has some photos and a short JG-71 Phantom history.

Also, the “official” site for the Phantom retirement is here (in German). Lot’s of cool geedunk there if you’re so inclined.

Today, May 10, is Military Spouse Appreciation Day.

I don’t have one, but many of you do. Go appreciate the heck out of her. It’s a tough gig.

And for those readers who are military spouses, here’s a big hug. Thanks for supporting your trooper.

{{{HUG}}}

I don’t normally tell people to turn to Cracked for the skinny on what military life is like.

But in this case, the “5 Things” is actually not half bad. The author is most likely Air Force, as I can tell you we in the Army didn’t spend endless hours on our uniforms. We spent endless hours marching (well, walking, really) to and from various classrooms.

Waaaaaay back late last Autumn, Anthony at Lucky Gunner sent me two boxes of PMC Bronze .45 ACP ammunition to evaluate.   Well, winter came not long after Thanksgiving here in Vahmahnt, don’tcha know.  And it lasted until about two weeks ago.  (So much for Global Warming.)  I have become rather unwilling, in my old age, to endure misery without a damned good reason.   And, unfortunately, I consider standing in the sleet or in a 20 knots breeze generating a wind chill of single digits or below zero to be somewhat miserable.

Bottom to top: Para-Ordnance 12-45 with 3.5″ bbl; M1911A1 with match trigger and 5″bbl; Colt Gold Cup M1911A1 with 5″ bbl.

Enough sniveling.  A couple weekends ago, the weather was sufficiently improved (40 and sunny) to take those two boxes of ammo, and three of my 1911s, to the range.   I hadn’t pulled triggers for real in four months, being limited to presentation, dry-fire, and magazine change drills.   So I did some warming up with all three pistols, a modified full-size 5″ 1911 with a match trigger and hammer, a 5″ Colt Gold Cup, and my carry piece, a 3.5″ Para-ordnance 12-45, using CCI .45 ACP at 230 grains.

Once I re-established sight-picture for each weapon and gave each a few strategically-placed drops of CLP, I was ready to test the PMC ammo.   The ammunition was 230-grain round-nose (“ball”) FMJ, generating 350 ft-lbs of energy with a MV of 830 fps.    I fired first two strings of slow fire (5 rds ea.) from each pistol at 25 yards.   Recoil was very consistent, as was ejection of the casings.  Each pistol functioned flawlessly with the PMC ammunition, without any feeding, chambering, or ejection problems.  Except for a pair of wanderers when the hammer fell in the wrong spot on the “figure eight”, all the rounds were tucked safely in the eight-ring, nine-ring, and ten-ring, with a number of X-shots.

The next string was 25 yards rapid, firing a magazine as fast as I could re-acquire the target from each weapon.  The ammunition was again as accurate as the shooter, and then some.   I fired some pretty good strings, and had that sense that the ammunition was impacting exactly where I’d been aiming when the hammer dropped.   Each weapon again functioned flawlessly.   Recoil was smooth and consistent, making second-round acquisition quite manageable.

The final string was 15-yard double-tap drills with each weapon.   One mag of 6 rds each from the Gold Cup and the custom gun was fired, but I concentrated, not surprisingly, on my carry sidearm in expending the remainder of the ammunition.  The PMC ammunition went through each weapon without a stoppage or malfunction, the consistent recoil paying big dividends with accuracy in the double-tap, especially with the Para 12-45.

I inspected each weapon thoroughly upon the conclusion of firing, and found that the PMC Bronze burned cleanly and without leaving brass shavings from the primer or case rim, as others have.   Cleaning was light lifting.  I would highly recommend PMC Bronze from your 1911, or from any .45 ACP-chambered handgun you might own.

*About Damned Time

In the course of writing that post on cold launches, I drifted off and started looking at legacy missile systems, including the Titan ICBM.  I’m mostly familiar with the Titan II. Why I never gave any th0ught to the Titan I, I just don’t know.

Here’s what caught my eye. Unlike most ballistic missiles, the Titan I wasn’t guided by an inertial platform, but rather was a radio command guidance system. An ATHENA digital computer at the Launch Control Complex managed the radar tracking and command guidance.

One presumes that after a certain time to establish the missile on a proper trajectory to its target, the radar and command guidance terminated. Each LCC had three Titan I missiles, but only one ATHENA system.

Titan I was fueled with RP-1 (very purely refined kerosene) and liquid oxygen. Since LOX doesn’t store very well, the missiles had to be stored unfueled, and only loaded with LOX prior to launch. That takes time.

The Titan II missile that quickly replaced the earlier model used storable propellant- namely hydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide. While those were more storable than kerosene and LOX, they had their own issues. The Titan II also used an inertial guidance system.

Ugh. 17 Air Force officers assigned to ICBM duty are temporarily relieved for retraining.

Being a missileer has to be on of the more frustrating career paths in the Air Force. At least back in the days of SAC, they got a modicum of respect. Today, half the country doesn’t even realize they still pull duty in the bunkers. And I’m just guessing they don’t always get the top performers from the various officer accession routes.