Good Times

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Thursday, the first of the so-called “crazy days” leading up to Lent, is known as Weiberfastnacht or the Women's Carnival, where women cut off men's ties as a symbol of power reversal. The women sometimes reward obliging men with a bützchen, or friendly peck on the cheek, a less common tradition today. Source (You can also read about it in more detail here.)

So yes, Thursday, Lincoln's Birthday, was Altweiberfastnacht. (I think the "Alt" part of the name was lost to political correctness some time ago, as it means "old," just like no one says "Fräulein" any more. Modern times, yuck.) I saw mention of this on the internet on Friday, brought back a memory it did. Of the old days. (Hhmm, mentioning the "old days" and Germany in the same context is problematic, innit?)

Anyhoo.

There I Was ...

Sitting at my desk at Geilenkirchen AB, Germany, compiling a bunch of C++ code as I recall. It was a large-ish program and compiling and linking all of it took some semi-lengthy amount of time. Perhaps 30 minutes or so. Then if something is amiss, you fix it and start over again.

Normally (normalerweise, auf Deutsch) I would occupy my time during a long compile by playing cards (FreeCell to be precise) on the computer while monitoring progress. One Altweiberfastnacht (I believe it was 1999, some three months prior to retiring from the Air Force) I was doing just that. While doing so, a band of celebrants of the female variety entered my office on a mission to cut the ties off of any man they encountered.

As I normally wore my BDUs¹ to work, having occasion to sometimes crawl about the lab and other places where computer equipment was in use to check on cables (which the cleaning staff would sometimes inadvertently unhook or otherwise cause to lose connectivity) and having once destroyed a rather pricey pair of uniform pants doing that, I felt justified in doing so. (My colonel once chided me for that, after explaining myself, he relented, in fact he started wearing his BDUs to work as well. Now it seems to be all the rage.)

Long story short, one does not wear a tie with BDUs, now on Altweiberfastnacht the ladies, especially the European ones, get annoyed if one does not wear a tie so that they can destroy it, so I adopted the expedient of fashioning a false tie out of cardboard and affixing that to my attire in lieu of wearing an actual tie, which would get destroyed. Not being made of money, as the saying goes, I did not wish to lose a tie once a year. So ...

Anyhoo, long story short ...

I'm sitting at my desk, monitoring my compile job and having a game of FreeCell when I hear the clamor of a group of females approaching my position. When they entered I presented my fake tie for destruction which some of the ladies (the Europeans) chuckled at, as they knew me well by this point, this being my 8th Altweiberfastnacht. They snipped it and prepared to move on to find their next victim when one paused, looked at my computer screen, then looked at me. I should note that this lady was an American captain (O-3 Air Force type, not O-6 Navy type).

"Playing games on Air Force time?" she asked in a semi-serious tone.

"I'm compiling ma'am, while I'm compiling I play FreeCell. And yes, I'm compiling on Air Force time, as well as playing a game."

"Hhmm, that seems less than professional."

I realized at that point that she might be serious after all, it seems to be a habit of our non-rated officers to be somewhat, shall we say, pretentious. As a senior noncommissioned officer, I felt it was my duty to respond in a corrective manner.

"Perhaps ma'am, but maybe just as professional as running around the building cutting off ties."

At which the European ladies all had a good laugh and our young captain blushed mightily, realizing the absurdity of her position. The ladies left without further ado.

When the compile was done, I went and picked up The Missus Herself and went to join the festivities at the club on base. Fun times were had, no ties were harmed on my part.

I miss Germany at times.

Good times.

¹ Battle Dress Uniform, or BDUs for short.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Source

So a few years back I had the privilege of "flying" the F/A-18 simulator out at NAS Lemoore, where Big Time and LUSH live. While Big Time is still on active duty, he's now on CAG staff aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) so he doesn't fly as much as he used to. Odds are I won't get another sim ride in this lifetime. More's the pity.

Anyhoo, I was reminded of that sim ride when Michael mentioned in yesterday's comments how the Navy uses a lot of simulation to train their sailors. So I went down memory lane and decided to repost this one from 2013. I mean I'm really busy playing games at the moment, so ...

One more thing, Beaner49 asked if there were any new tank sims for the PC and I had mentioned Sherman Commander being (maybe) released this year. I went to Steam to see if there were any updates and lo and behold discovered that they had released a demo of that sim. I downloaded it, checked it out, and all I can say is ...

TAKE MY MONEY!!

Anyhoo, here's a blast from the past, perhaps I'll ...

Damn it, gotta run, got a contact off the port bow, might be a sub, might be a whale, but I have to check it out ...

Okay, that's not the view from a Rhino as you approach "the boat", but it gives you a pretty good idea what I was seeing in the simulator today. Well, kind of...

I was always a bit high. To my credit I didn't do a ramp strike.

So I had that going for me.

Got to the sim building on time (which can be a minor miracle when you have to get a three year old ready at the same time!) I settled into "the jet" right around 1045 local. After adjusting the rudder pedals and the seat, we were ready to go. Son-in-law Big Time was my instructor and he's a good one. Tells you what to do and why you do it a particular way.

After an unfortunate, "What the Hell was that?" incident, (Big Time hit a button, all I saw was the "red screen o' Death" then we reset) we were ready for take-off. Out of NAS Miramar of all places!

F9F-6P of VC-61 over NAS Miramar
(Back in the day)

When Big Time said we were ready to go, the throttles went forward, past the detent and into 'burner. As he put it, "Guess you know about that part..." As he started to speak again I had already eased in a bit of right rudder to correct a rather disturbing "Hey look, I'm heading off the left side of the runway" problem.

In moments we were "airborne", simulated of course.

This sim was rather placid, no movement to give you a feel for flying, but rather nice displays and sound. We seemed to be flying around the time of nautical twilight. Either that or someone needed to crank up the brightness and contrast. Heh.

I was at 20K in no time flat so we played around for a while. Did a loop, which was alright until I did the old "look straight up and back to acquire the horizon" thing only to note that the all-around displays weren't quite 360-degrees. Directly overhead, nothing. So I looked right, reacquired the horizon and pulled out comfortably with beaucoup altitude to spare. I hadn't tied the low altitude record yet!

Next I wanted to build up some smash. I suppose I could have put the nose down to gain airspeed but where's the fun in that? Past the detent and into 'burner I went (after all we're in the sim, who cares about fuel conservation?)

When I got her going pretty good, I pulled back to military power, rolled left and pulled the stick back hard into a pretty sweet high-G turn. Big Time showed me the read-out, I think I got it up to 5-Gs. But as you couldn't really feel it, it wasn't that much fun. So I figured I would do some more maneuvering to see if I could at least not look like an idiot while "flying".

Did a rather nice Immelmann (again, the lack of a full 360 display was a bit disconcerting), then from there went into a Split-S. (Yes, I did check the altitude first!) While enjoying the sight of the displays reacting to my maneuvering I kind of lost my situational awareness. Next thing I know "Bitching Big Time" is muttering in my ear, "Pull up, pull up". Oh yes, boys and girls, the Old AF Sarge was rapidly approaching tying the low altitude record but through judicious back pressure on the stick (as in trying to touch my spine with the joystick) I managed to level off at a rather uncomfortable 100 feet.

By the way, the simulator displays are rather 3-D. 50 feet lower and I do believe I would've plowed into a ridge. At least it looked like a ridge as it passed rather rapidly under the jet.

So, let's find the boat and try and land this beast.

After some fooling around (and a reset to give me a bit more fuel, remember I went into 'burner more than was probably prudent early in the flight) there was this disturbance on the ocean's surface.

"That's the wake?"

"Yup, of course we're pretty far out yet. It'll get bigger."

Well, technically yes, it does get bigger. But OH MY GOD I HAVE TO LAND WHERE?

Yes, big ocean, small boat. Relatively speaking.

First approach wasn't too bad. Of course, the old timers would no doubt argue that the jet practically lands itself. You can set Automatic Throttle Control (ATC) which will manage your airspeed pretty nicely. Unless you jerk the controls around a bit much. Then the onboard computers decide, "Well, the meatware seems to want to do things his way, alright, YOUR JET!"

Yup, ATC will shut off if your control inputs are, shall we say, a bit rough. Ditto the autopilot. Kind of sucks when you're slamming the jet around trying to stay on path and on glideslope. Gently does it cowboy, gently! 

Rhino Heads Up Display (HUD)

So I'm coming in pretty good, just a tad high. Big Time says "chop the power" (or words to that effect), I pull the throttles all the way back. I'm on the deck.

Um, shouldn't I be stopping now? Laughing maniacally, I push the throttles into 'burner and start yelping "bolter, bolter, bolter". Time to try again.

"So Big Time, what happened there?"

"Well, you came down a little hard, so I'm guessing you managed to bounce your 'hook over all four of the wires."

"Well. That sucks."

"Hey, it happens."

"To you?"

"Of course not."

So we went around again. For two more touch and goes. And one low pass over the boat when I realized I had pulled back on the stick instead of pushing forward like my nice IP told me to.

"What was that?"

"Uh, I wanted to wave at the Admiral?"

"Right..."

So our sim time was up. I never did trap, but I didn't damage the carrier in any way. No sailors were harmed.

I also was amazed at just how much seawater those General Electric F414 engines can suck down and still function.

(While I never hit the boat, we did go swimming a couple of times.)

As we departed the sim, the operator guy who controls everything said, "You need a little work on your landings." Yes, we all had a good laugh at that. Nice of him to say "a little", rather than, "Hey, you suck at this!"

All in all, three things today -

1) It's not easy landing on an aircraft carrier,

2) Big Time is a superb instructor,

3) Aircraft carriers only look big when you're not trying to land on them.

Today was:

AWESOME!!!

Oh Yeah!!!

What? No Tanks?

Screen shot from the game (splash screen)

Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age

Nope, no tanks today, I've been too busy learning a new game on the computer. It's one of those games about which my former naval officer son once remarked, "Too much like what I do for work for me to really enjoy it ..."¹

And this one is pretty good.

I picked this up a few months back but haven't really had the chance to really get into it until now. I did play it once right after I got it, decided to jump straight in without playing any of the tutorials and got my ass kicked.

I was in charge of two ships doing gunfire support off the coast of Vietnam, feeling my way through the controls. A couple of enemy aircraft came on scene, seeing a MiG make a low pass over my flagship, unopposed because I forgot to tell the lads to engage, made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up.

Seeing BOTH of my ships dead in the water and on fire, really got my attention. This time, I'm going through all of the tutorials, multiple times no doubt, before going to sea again!

There's a lot to this game and it's going to take some time to get good at it, or I might suck at it forever, that happens. So bear with me, if the posts seem short, it's probably because I'm out at sea somewhere, stalking someone, or running from someone.

So far, I am very impressed.

It's something to watch your aircraft come up on the elevators (on a carrier) or come out of the hangar (helicopters on destroyers), watch them preflight, then launch. The graphics are pretty good, much sharper than the release trailer above.

I should note that this game is in "Early Release," which means we get to pay to play and provide bug reports and suggestions to the developers. I should note that I have zero problems with this. In my old job I remarked on more than one occasion that that was the sort of work I'd pay someone to let me do. So getting paid to do it was a bonus.

The time period is the Cold War, so think Sprucans and older non-nuke carriers as well as the first three nuclear carriers, USS Enterprise (CVN-65), USS Nimitz (CVN-68), and USS Dwight  D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). Hopefully they'll include Burkes at a later date. For now, I'm happy with what there is.

Here's a series of screen shots I took while launching a helo from USS Gallery (FFG-26). In the first shot you can see the port side hangar door opening. On the lower right of the screen is the flight deck window which indicates that I've got an SH-2F heading towards the launch point.

Screen shot from the game (Actual game play)

Now in the next screen you can see the helo is out of the hangar but hasn't moved to the launch point yet (the middle of the circle on the flight deck).

Screen shot from the game (Actual game play)

Once the aircraft is at the launch point, you can listen as the engines spool up, the sound is pretty awesome. After a short wait, the rotors begin to spin. Although you can't see it in the shot below, the rotors are spinning and it's shortly before the pilot "pulls pitch." If you look close, you can see the rotor wash on the sea from the helo!

Screen shot from the game (Actual game play)

Now the aircraft is airborne and awaiting your orders.

Really cool stuff if you ask me.

Screen shot from the game (Actual game play)

So if the posts seem short (maybe even non-existent), you'll know why.

Okay, sea and anchor detail have been called away, gotta run, see you when I get back. Virtually, of course.

Ciao!

¹He does play now, after being out of the Navy for over a decade.

Is the Main Battle Tank Obsolete?

Source

In yesterday's post more than one commenter mentioned that the advent of the drone has made the tank as useless as horse cavalry. (Note, horsemen were used to some good effect in Afghanistan. Horses are still useful in getting people from point A to point B.)

I wanted to address that idea, that thought. While I thought about how I would answer the question, I turned to The Chieftain. I was quite sure that Nicholas Moran might have some thoughts on the subject. Better than mine, that's for sure.

And of course he does.

Now the video is three years old, back when people were starting to notice all the drones flitting about Ukraine destroying Russian vehicles (including tanks) and hapless infantrymen who were caught in the open. (Anyone who has survived infantry combat will tell you that it's a very bad thing to be caught in the open.)

So rather than try to argue the point myself (and I am no expert on armored combat) I'll let the SME do it. Take it away LTC¹ Moran!

Note: YouTube has been having some issues lately, if the video claims it's "not available at this time," just refresh your screen.

So yes, the tank ain't dead yet, probably won't be for quite some time.

And it isn't because they look cool, it's because they are still bloody effective.

As to what lessons we can learn from Ukraine and all of those videos on X and YouTube? Here's LTC Moran's take on that ...

He knows his stuff and he knows when not to opine. Good man that.

¹ Proper abbreviation for a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.

The New Tank on the Block

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Militaries which don't evolve to meet the ever-changing demands of the battlefield waste human lives and resources. It's nice to know that the U.S. Army is not falling into that trap.

My old buddy Dwight (retired Navy and fellow Lexican) tipped me off to this new armored fighting vehicle currently in work. A few things about it raised a few warning flags in this old engineer's brain, so I went looking for The Chieftain's thoughts on the project. I feel a whole lot better now and I think that this "new" vehicle will be a war winner if, God forbid, we need to ever deploy tanks on a future battlefield. (From what I understand, many of the lessons learned in Ukraine will be considered. Just in case you were worried about that.)

Okay, this is a long video, but well worth your time. Nicholas Moran knows his business, he's an armor officer, and puts a lot of thought into the subject matter. He is truly a Subject Matter Expert when it comes to armored fighting vehicles and mobile warfare, both the history and the practice thereof.

Before jumping into the video, there were a couple of things I noted as a former engineer who saw the many ways people could find to kill a viable weapon systems concept.

The Chieftain asked (around the 25:50 mark of the video) why this wasn't a new tank but still an M1 variant. Colonel Howell's answer was that this wasn't really a new tank, because ...

"They did the requirements right back then ..."

Something Zumwalt (my big project as a worker bee) never really got right and never really finished. Requirements churn was a HUGE problem in the early days. If you can't nail those down, why the heck are you spending money on building the damned thing?

This machine is being built with the users in mind, the folks who will actually be manning the thing. (I mean it will even have cupholders! You'd be surprised how nice those are to have! Go to 27:30 in the video for a good talk about crew amenities.)

Anyhoo, here's the video, if you have any interest in how your tax money is spent on new military hardware, you should watch the whole thing.

The only thing which makes me nervous is the software for this beast. Believe me when I say, I know how easy it is to make a mess of that. You don't want your gunner to have to stop and say, "Sorry Skipper, you'll have to wait, the computer is rebooting ..."

Been there, done that and it does not impress the customer.

Enjoy.

And so it begins!

 Sorry, Got word that construction has begun on our new home.  Well, the demolition part anyhow.  So, I've got two Monday Posts today!

Just got a text from our construction supervisor.  Apparently, demolition has begun. 

 

Yes, it has begun!  Taking down the abandoned house was the first in several clearing requirements. The above video is looking to the North West at the start.  That's the road to get onto the property

The area directly to the right of the picture below will be the spot for the Horse Barn and their grazing pasture.  They'll be taking down the scrub crap and leaving most of the trees.  The dead ones will obviously be taken down also.

  

Looking to the south east in this pic  

This next picture the camera is to the left of the frame.

 Lots of junk to be put in the bin.

 

Lot's of stuff to get rid of, but...It's a start!

 

Pyrenees, OK, not Great!

Well, Campers, another week down the tubes.  A lot of phone calls between the contractor and us.  This was followed by another phone call to one of the "Powers that Be" aka  a desk warming bureaucrat, by us to get it done.  So, nothing to report on the housing project.

But... on to the subject of this week's post.  I don't know if I've properly introduced y'all to our adopted "children". 

A little back ground, when my sister passed away, she left two Great Pyrenees (GP) Dogs that we adopted.  Atticus and Gryndll.  

(L) Atticus, (R) Gryndll

We were still living on our 30+ acre property near Fredericksburg.  They had plenty of room to run around and howl at the cattle, deer or other beasts that got near our property.  Sleep was generally not interfered with.

The only downside we've discovered yet in our move to CStat is the rental house we're in is 1) small. 2) Quite close to the neighbors and 3) Near a highway and a Railroad track.  Did I mention there are a lot of trains going by, many after dark.

All of those actions cause an "equal and opposite" reactions from the GP's.  They are doing an excellent job of keeping the "bad guys" away from the house.   Unfortunately, they are also disturbing our sleep.  Bad enough!

But...it's also disturbing our neighbor's sleep.  Apparently last Friday night, one of them couldn't take it anymore. About 10:30, Gryndyll was scarring off a deadly enemy squirrel or other animal when someone came knocking at the door.  Mrs J and I were in our bed clothes and headed toward the bed.  I turned around and went to the door.  

It was a Police Officer.  He explained that someone had complained.  We explained our predicament with the trains and freeway noise keeping them alert.  He was very nice about it after having been introduced to the twosome.  However, he said we had to keep them inside at night.  We explained the dogs also bark inside the house.  

About this time, one of them kicked off barking, behind the closed door.  The officer was impressed, but said we'd need to find a cure.    Haven't found one yet.  That night, Mrs J slept out in the living room with them.  After a while, they quieted down quite a bit.  We'll have to see how they'll handle it if they're alone in the living room.

Why don't they sleep in our room also?  Well, we also have a cat.  The Cat and Gryndll don't get along.  So our room is the Cat's Kingdom while Gryndll primarily is limited to the rest of the house.   Unfortunately, Atticus is also prohibited from the Master Bedroom.

 

Unfortunately, we're in a conundrum.  When they're in the back yard, the house minimizes the loudness of that barking inside the house (obviously not enough to please the complainant) and Mrs J and I can get some sleep.  The Police Officer ruled that option out. 

 

When they're in the house at night and some sound gets them stirred up and barking, well, sleep is not an option. We're trying to train them.  They don't like to be wet, so we've got a spray bottle with water.  When they bark indoors, they get squirted on the head (no, not the eyes or any other part that could be injured).  The problem is that when they're barking in the house and we're asleep, it involves getting out of bed, finding the squirt bottle, figure out who's barking, squirt him or them, and go back to bed.

 

Two things there.  One, it's difficult to get back to sleep and two, something else will set them off.

 

Oh, and by the way, sleep for them during the day? No problema!!!

 

 

 

The real solution is moving in to the new house.  Nobody is close enough to care about barking in the country.  

 

I wonder if our construction supervisor can be talked into boarding them in his house....

 

House would be moved WAY up on the priority list.

 

But...we'll just have to gut it out.  Now that my Monday post is published,  I think I'll stop B,M,& C-ing and go take a nap!

 

Peace (and quiet) out, all y'all!