Bring The HEAT

Ken Block vs. Pike's Peak.

 

 

Fire Finder Radars

The use of radars to locate enemy mortar, rocket, and artillery positions goes all the way back to World War II.  The superb SCR-584, designed to direct the fire of 90mm anti-aircraft batteries, was shown to be quite capable of tracking inbound enemy indirect fire. It wasn't long before the services developed dedicated systems specifically for that role.  Here's a video showing the early 1970s era TPQ-31 in use. 

 

The next generation of radars for the Marine Corps is the TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar, or GATOR, which combines Air Traffic Control, Air Defense, fire finding, and other functions in one set. 

World of Warships- A Wasted Kraken

 

 

Grump's Cruiser Kraken

 

 

Let's talk about 2LT Spenser Rapone for a bit.

Twitter especially, but across most social media, people are talking about how on earth could the US Military Academy graduate an avowed communist.

On paper, Spenser Rapone has a very impressive record. 

Enlisted, served in  the Ranger Regiment (which means he also completed the Airborne School, as well as the Ranger Indoctrination Program), served a tour with the Rangers in Afghanistan, earned the Combat Infantryman Badge,  was accepted to West Point, graduated, was commissioned Infantry, and is currently attending Ranger School. Normally, this is someone you'd look at as a hard charger, a real comer. Most commands would be delighted to have a 2LT like that come in. 

But, Spenser Rapone isn't like most new Lieutenants. 

That last pic, the tweet, well... that's a problem. 

It's not technically a violation of regulations to be an out an out commie in the service. Which, I don't want the services policing the troops political thought. Neither do you. 

Unfortunately for 2LT Rapone, Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice says:

Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

 

While Article 88 might be somewhat selectively enforced, it's still there. Further, Article 92 of the UCMJ:

Any person subject to this chapter who–

(1) violates or fails to obey any lawful general order or regulation;

(2) having knowledge of any other lawful order issued by any member of the armed forces, which it is his duty to obey, fails to obey the order; or

(3) is derelict in the performance of his duties;

shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

That covers the prohibition on political activities and speech while in uniform. Which, pretty clearly, he engaged in. 

Finally, the catch all, Article 133:

Any commissioned officer, cadet, or midshipman who is convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

What is "conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman?" Pretty much whatever tends to bring discredit upon the service, among other things. It's the catch all article, similar to how Article 134 can be applied to a great variety of misdeeds for enlisted personnel. De facto, conviction under any punitive article of the UCMJ is prima facie evidence to sustain an Article 133 conviction. 

Many people are asking who nominated Rapone to West Point. Frankly, I don't know. But I strongly suspect he was a Secretary of the Army nomination. It's quite common for the Army  to look at the ASVAB scores of new enlisted soldiers, and invite them to apply for a nomination while on Active Duty. 

Will the Army court-martial Rapone? I doubt it. 

But do I think 2LT Rapone's career in the Army will be curtailed? Oh, yeah. 

The Army has a very wide array of tools to deal with officers that fail to maintain the standards of conduct expected of them.  Simply writing a bad Officer Evaluation Report is enough to sink a career. Letters of admonishment, Non-Judicial Punishment, and an invitation to resign in lieu of court martial are all options. 

Interestingly, the pics of him at West Point are from 2016, so someone has known about this for a while. But now that he's made the Army look bad, things will likely happen. 

Oh,  and since he's currently in Ranger School, there's a very good chance he has no idea of the social media shitstorm surrounding him. 

 

The Military Response to Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria

There's an emerging political message on the Left that because Donald Trump is a racist that doesn't care about brown people,  he's ignoring the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. 

As with most Left narratives, it's utter bullshit. 

Carl Prine, the San Diego Union-Tribune's military  reporter, is hardly a Trumper. And yet, he's at least honest enough to tweet out exactly what the military is doing to conduct relief operations in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. 

 

The Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Contingency Response Group has deployed to PR.

— Carl Prine (@CarlPrinetweets) September 26, 2017

3rd Airlift Squadron, 502nd Logistics Readiness Squadron and 433rd LRS began shuttling Globemasters full of supplies to PR several days ago

— Carl Prine (@CarlPrinetweets) September 26, 2017

Beach Master Unit Two is taking supplies in directly from the beach!

— Carl Prine (@CarlPrinetweets) September 26, 2017

The Coast Guard Cutter James is now operating as a command and control platform. USCG has opened San Juan harbor for vital supplies.

— Carl Prine (@CarlPrinetweets) September 26, 2017

The 143d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), boarded the New Orleans, a U.S. Army LCU, for deployment to PR.

— Carl Prine (@CarlPrinetweets) September 26, 2017 

Puerto Rico, even prior to the hurricane, had a fairly limited logistical infrastructure. The loss of power throughout the island also means that simply establishing airport and seaport operations would be a challenge. Fortunately, the US military has units that exist solely for that purpose, and they are being deployed to do so. 

Our friends at Think Defence wrote a fantastic essay on the challenges of responding to the massive 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti. It's a long, but fascinating read. Many of those same challenges are present today  in Puerto Rico and the USVI, and the lessons learned in Haiti will be used. I cannot emphasize enough that you really should read that essay. 

World of Warships- A Duel to the Death

 

 

The Patriots Lost on Sunday

...and lost big.  

Sixteen of their number, players James White, Alan Branch, Brandin Cooks, Devin McCourty, , Lawrence Guy, Trey Flowers, Elandon Roberts, Duron Harmon, Jonathan Jones, Deatrich Wise, Johnson Bademosi, Adam Butler, Malcom Brown, Malcolm Butler, Stephone Gilmore, and Jordan Richards, chose to intentionally show disrespect to our flag and our country by kneeling in protest during the National Anthem.  What were they protesting?  Racial injustice, supposedly.  (You see, it is considered de rigueur by the far-left to denigrate the United States and everything about it, because in their views it fails to be the perfect utopia they have constructed in their heads.) 

Of course, most of this was done in response to President Trump's pointed remarks condemning such behavior, in which he called for NFL owners to fire players who showed such disrespect (former QB Colin Kaepernick first started this crap in its current form).  While Trump used questionable wisdom in making his remarks (he is the President, not a candidate), and while it is certainly true that such protest is legal free expression, the players kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem of the freest nation in the history of mankind, in order to protest "racial injustice", are rich, spoiled, and ignorant hypocrites.  

If "black lives matter" so damned much, why haven't those sixteen players gone into Chicago or Baltimore or St. Louis and employed some of that self-congratulatory courage to put an end to the gang and drug violence, and the overwhelming cause of deaths of young blacks.  Which is, of course, being murdered by other blacks.  Nearly every black person murdered in this country is killed by another black person.  To the tune of 93%.  Blacks are, according to the Justice Department, responsible for better than half of the murders committed in this country between 1980 and 2008, despite being slightly less than 12% of the population during that time.  Self-described "team leader" Devin McCourty?  You go first.  Put up or shut up.  

You see, the men and women who serve the country and the flag you protest while making your millions, do just those sorts of things.  They go into places that are terribly dangerous and they risk their lives every day to defend the innocent.   Save me the bullshit about this not being about money, either.  The sixteen players that showed such disrespect?  They are paid more, on average, as INDIVIDUALS (not counting endorsements) every month than a USMC Rifle Platoon earns in that same month in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Nearly twice as much, in fact.  For playing a game the rest of us played for the love of it.  Perhaps one of those sixteen could use his millions to fly to Sangin and tell the Lance Corporal walking a combat patrol in the 110-degree heat all about his "white privilege".  

Were I to possess a magic wand, I would wave it over the sixteen assholes mentioned above.  Then, they could learn about real discrimination.  Some would become Copts in Egypt, being burned alive inside their Church by the same Muslim Brotherhood that Barack Obama invited to the State Department over and over again.  Or they could suddenly find themselves as ethnic Kurds in Saddam's Iraq, seeing  themselves and wives and children buried alive by the Iraqi security forces.  Or they could be ethnic Poles, enslaved and starving, being worked to death in an Arbeitslager in Germany or a Gulag in the Soviet Union.  Or an Armenian without food or water or hope, on the death march across the Syrian desert.  Then, perhaps, they could have a taste of what hate and discrimination truly is.  But none of them know, not even a little.  Instead, they play a game for great deal of money and are treated like celebrities, simply because they possess physical talents given them by God.  

As for owner Robert Kraft, fuck you.  You are supposed to be the adult in the room.  When those players wear that uniform, in that stadium, they work for YOU.  They show such disrespect to our flag and our Anthem because you condone and approve of it.  Your players are not "intelligent" or "thoughtful".  They are ignorant, arrogant, spoiled children.  If they were intelligent and thoughtful, they would understand, in some small way, that they should kiss the ground in front of them, and thank their God they were born into this time and this place.   Into the freest nation ever on earth, bought and paid for by those who fought and died for their liberties, to end slavery and oppose tyranny.  None of those terrible things mentioned above will happen to your players, because better people than they will lay down their lives to prevent it.  Men and women for whom the flag and Anthem your players have shown such contempt for represents anything but injustice. 

The cascade of boos from people who paid their hard-earned money for a ticket yesterday showed that they understand, even if your players don't.  One would think you might have the spine to teach them.  Or tell them.  Stand your asses up and respect your country and your flag.  But you don't have that courage or that spine.   

The score of the game was immaterial.  The Patriots lost.  Perhaps they should consider a name change for the franchise.  URR here.  

 

A Day at Sea

Man, the Navy had some cheesy films in the 70s. 

Note that while the living accommodations are much nicer than WWII built ships, they're still very spartan compared to today's fleet.

Also, as an interesting coincidence, both URR, I, and frequent commenter/occasional contributor Esli's wife have all been aboard the same Knox class frigate, USS Miller, FF-1091, sister ship to USS Lockwood shown here.

 

 If you were watching closely, during the gunnery exercise, you might have  spotted a two second shot of a guy moving a pedestal mount with handlebars, and what looked like steel drums on either side. 

That has nothing to do with gunnery, but is in fact the first generation director for the Sea Sparrow Basic Point Defense Missile System mounted on the fantail. Yes, the first generation guidance system had no automatic tracking, and instead relied on a sailor simply pointing the radars at the missile visually.  

World of Warships- The Kill Secure Kraken