Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Drones and Other Military Stuff

I watched The Rise of the Drones last night.

First off, I don't know what one calls using drones to kill people. "Combat" doesn't fit, for the drone driver has no skin in the fight. The biggest risk that they face is being in a car crash going to and from work. Look, I don't ascribe to the notion that there is something honorable and chivalrous about armed combat. The idea is to win and if winning means you shoot the guy in the back or blow him up from a distance, that's winning.

But there is something disquieting about whacking a guy on the far side of the world.*

Second, does anyone really think that drone technology isn't going to be used, not only by the bad guys, but by the really bad guys? Stalkers, for one? Or take a small fixed-wing drone, put a few pounds of explosives into it and fly it into the car of the guy you want to kill?

Third, forget outdoor privacy, now. Not when they can put a drone 3+ miles up that takes video at 6" resolution over an entire city and they can store the video forever.

A laughable moment was to see the drone drivers wearing flightsuits. There's no reason why they couldn't all be wearing dresses and heels. And maybe they should, for it's no more a physically-demanding job than being a telemarketer.

This made me smile:
A woman who is married to a female Army officer has been named Fort Bragg, N.C., spouse of the year even though an officers' spouse club refused her membership.
A big F.U. to the bigots in the Ft. Bragg , even if they did just change their minds.

There has been a lot of stuff about the Pentagon removing barriers to women serving in combat. They have been, all along in the Wars of the Chimperor, because the soldiers needed women with them in order to be able to search female suspects. So women have been there, carrying rifles shooting and getting shot.

Fact is that a lot of women won't be physically qualified to serve as infantry soldiers, but those that can do the job ought to be permitted to. Historically, the inclusion of women in ground combat forces was only done because there were not enough male cannon fodder, but times have changed.

And maybe it is time to amend the Selective Service Act so that everyone has to register.
___________________________
* Anyone who said that insurgents were cowards for using command-detonated IEDs should be knocked to the ground and stomped on. For obvious reasons.

8 comments:

w3ski said...

My niece is currently a Lance Corporal in the Stan. She signed up for aircraft mechanic, then she found out she liked to run track and could easily shoot expert. They would have sent her to Sniper training if she was male
Instead the Corp cross trained her as MP.
She was at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan when all hell broke loose. She is not allowed to share what went on but I can presume she had some "skin" in that fire fight.
Maybe now the Corp can put her to use And give her credit for what she does.
Every once in a while my country does something right, just enough to keep my hopes up.
w3ski

w3ski said...

As to drones, where I live the closest "take out" is 15 miles r/t but about a quarter mile line of sight. I am all for calling in my order and having a drone deliver my food to the nearest landing spot.
Lets put this tech. to Good use.
w3ski

Old NFO said...

Yep, but your last sentence will NOT go over well with the elites... Their little 'precious' should NEVER be subject to something so plebian... Just sayin...

Eck! said...

There have been private and "other"
uses of drones int he country.

The most notable was a private use by a hunting protest organisation to photograph a hunt on private grounds.
Seem they were quite upset with they lost the drone to un-friendly fire.

Its a high risk game as once the technology is there it can be misused and even used against the former.

Eck!

bmq215 said...

I predict we'll see a lot more hackers working on (and getting arrested for) homemade jamming technology in the future.

w3ski said...

I know, there I go being practical again. The family curse.
w3ski

Joe said...

The NYT had a nice photo accompanying their article about how the USAF is providing transportation for a French mechanized infantry battalion in Mali. The three soldiers closest to the camera were women. No big deal.

Earl said...

Very balanced, war needs warriors, nations building need mothers. Funny about the Spouses Club at Ft Bragg.