New Look

The blog has a new look. (Um, no, not looking through a periscope. Though I do like the photo.)

Those who've been here a while know that I look to do this from time to time.

My blog buddy Pogue, no doubt, will find the new header a bit busy. Well, he is kind of an artist. (See his photo blog.) But I like busy.

Chime in, whaddaya think?

Two New Members!

 

Wow, three new members this week. First Flit and now two more today! I guess I can let the press gang stand down this weekend!

Seriously, please give a hearty welcome to Diogenes Sarcastica (his real name, I'm sure). Diogenes has a pretty awesome blog here.

And to little lotta, who blogs here. (And I love the name "Witless Relocation Program". I think I'm eligible!) Be nice to lotta, she's armed.

So welcome aboard.

New guys buy the beer.

The broom and mop are in the closet behind the bar. (Just in case the crowd gets rowdy, again.)

Don't mind that "whatever it is" on the floor in there, Virgil assures me it's dead. And I'm sure Juvat and Flit will back him up. At least it hasn't started to smell yet. So I'm not sure I'm inclined to believe them. (Maybe it's sleeping? Oh Lord maybe it's another Phantom pilot, they seem drawn here.)

The Old NFO and the Cap'n of HMS Defiant continue to remain moot on what, exactly, it is. And how, exactly, it got there.

Buck just keeps mumbling "wasn't me". Suldog just sits in the corner smiling, like he has a secret.

Six, ORPO and Murph just keep pointing at Joe. And Joe fumes and grumbles about it being "Skip's fault". Yeah, it's like that around here.

c w and the WSF were both out of town that day. At least that's what they claim.

I'd blame IT, but seriously he scares me. Suldog says he's demented. Suldog would know.

The ladies (Kris and Angel) are too well behaved to do anything like that. So they told me, and I believe them. They scare me more than IT!

Proof would never do such a thing. I mean c'mon, dude looks like Mark Twain!

The DiploMad? Nah, couldn't be him. He's so, ya know, diplomatic.

Hhmm, I'll bet ya it was Rumbear. I mean, look at him!

Okay, so maybe it wasn't him.

So really, welcome aboard Diogenes and lotta.

(Why do you want to know where the nearest exits are at?)

I'm going to need to retire just so I can keep up with my reading list!




And yes, this post did set my "personal best" for most links. Why?
If I didn't link YOUR blog, don't worry, someday I will. I promise.
No really,
Trust me.

November

My November Guest

Robert Frost

My Sorrow, when she's here with me,

Thinks these dark days of autumn rain

Are beautiful as days can be;

She loves the bare, the withered tree;

She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.

She talks and I am fain to list:

She's glad the birds are gone away,

She's glad her simple worsted gray

Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,

The faded earth, the heavy sky,

The beauties she so wryly sees,

She thinks I have no eye for these,

And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know

The love of bare November days

Before the coming of the snow,

But it were vain to tell her so,

And they are better for her praise.

So yes, it's November.

The days are shorter.

The wind has a chill to it which foreshadows what is to come.

Winter is not far away. No, not far at all.

All those pretty leaves now litter the yard, reminders of what was.

I don't begrudge the coming of winter, it's all part of the eternal cycle of days.

This has been going on long before I was here.

And will continue long after I'm gone.

But for now, I'm enjoying the ride.

Wondering what comes next.

And loving every moment...

Military News, War Coverage, Life Magazine and Airplanes!

The public has always clamored for news during times of conflict.  While access to that news could be considered a right, especially since the public is footing the bill and their elected officials authorized the funds to fight, it's no secret that the Military has shaped the narrative during wartime.   The earliest conflicts were only detailed after the termination of hostilities.  Thucydides was an observer of the Peloponnesian Wars and later wrote the history of the conflict- an account and a war so significant that it is required reading at our War Colleges.  Otherwise, history is written by the victors.

One of the first war correspondents documented the battles during the Crimean War (Oct 1853-Feb 1856), but these accounts usually took several weeks to publish after being written.  The telegraph was a big leap in battlefield reporting as it allowed daily reports to be filed and accounts could be written and published as they were unfolding.  The first use of the telegraph was during the Russo-Japanese War (Feb 1904-Sep 1905), but reports were highly censored and reporters heavily restricted.  WWI (Jul '14-Nov '18) also saw significant censorship, but some correspondents were given government authorization.  However, with that authority came government control over where they operated and what they saw.

During WWII, the public was given the most coverage of any event in the world's history up to that point, with a pressing need to receive support for the troops and the war effort in general.  However, the government provided most of the footage necessary to publicize the war, thereby heavily controlling both what and how the war was shown to the folks back home.  That footage in the form of Newsreels was one of the primary forms of news for much of America, shown prior to feature films in Movie Houses across the country.   These newsreels are considered important historical documents as they are often the only account of certain aspects of WWII.

How the newsreels depicted the war helped shape public opinion about our effort, how the enemy was depicted, and how many war bonds were sold.  It was not a hard sell however, and the public's appetite for war coverage was well fed.  These newsreels were kicked into overdrive once the war started, but newspapers and periodicals were there from the beginning of hostilities in Europe.  Life Magazine was one such publication that documented the events leading up to America's entrance into the war after Pearl Harbor.  War sold magazines like no other event, and the covers of Life showed a change from one war story every 3 or 4 weeks prior to Dec 7th, to practically every weekly cover throughout the rest of war.  You can see them here:

It wasn't just the covers of Life Magazine that showed the war.  The war was well documented in the pages of the magazine, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words- two thousand if it's a picture of airplanes!  There are hundreds of pictures here, but some of my favorites are below.

PBY off the Aleutians

Dauntless over the South pacific

Same Dauntless up close

More Dauntlesses

Helldivers in the overhead stack

Operation Torch

Luckily, there was no need to shape any narrative when it came to just showing awesome pictures of airplanes.  As the Commander of USCENTCOM ('03-'07), General John Abazaid said after the Abu Ghraib debacle, "The media is terrain."  I was planning on going into the current War on Terror, or whatever it's being called now (more narrative shaping), and how Strategic Communications affect both the enemies efforts and the public's perception, but I got distracted by all the pictures I found. That info would have been interesting material for this post, but it turned out to just be a good excuse to show some nice airplane photos, and I threw in some other history to make our gracious host happy.  I hope you enjoyed it.

The Sidewinder

This is something you don't want your opponent to have. And with the AIM-9X's very sophisticated all-aspect seeker head, the bad guy doesn't have to be at your six for this missile to be effective!

AIM-9 Missile Sending a QF-4 Drone to Valhalla

The Old NFO sent me a link to a very nice article on the AIM-9, here. You should check it out!

I didn't have the opportunity to "play" with these back in the day, as the Weapon Control System on the F-4 was primarily the radar and the gun sight system. Think radar guided AIM-7 Sparrows and dropping bombs. While it was called a gun sight the F-4C and F-4D model aircraft I worked had no internal gun. Just this wanking huge gun pod we could hang on the center-line station. (I'm sure Virgil and Juvat could explain the aerodynamic "qualities" of that pod.)

But I have seen 'Winders mounted on jets, both the blue and the war shot versions. So I can semi-reliably recognize them on 3 out of 4 attempts. (Heh.)

No, the AIM-9 series of missiles was pretty simple, point your jet at a heat source, get a tone, pull the trigger and move on to other targets. Fire and forget. This video will give you an idea of how capable the latest version is.

I'm glad the Old NFO gave me that article to share because I'm just not feeling the creative juices flowing today. I blame the switch over back to Standard Time. Yes, yes, I know we "gained" an hour on Sunday but the time change still messes with my equilibrium. Regardless of it's direction. It's not that I dislike change...

Well, actually it is because I dislike change.

I was going to say something about being a "codger". But while I like the "eccentric" part of the definition of that word, I'm not thrilled with that whole "usually elderly" bit. Because I'm not elderly. Though my progeny might say otherwise.

I much prefer the term "pain in the a$$". Most would heartily agree with that self-assessment!

At least I've got that going for me.

New Member Alert

Let me just say this, Fliterman or "Flit" as we sometimes called him over at the Mothership, is one of the Old Guard Lexicans.

If you want to argue with him, best have all your facts in order, for the man has a way with words.

But he's still the FNG here, so the beer's on Flit!

If you can catch him!

Oh, and Flit, stay away from those old reprobates Juvat and Virgil Xenophon, couple of old Phantom jocks they are. Oh wait, I believe you know your way around old Double Ugly too. 

So now I've got three Phantom pilots here?

Oh. My. God.

Welcome aboard Flit, glad to have you.

Changes

‘We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God.’”

This is the Honor Oath taken by all USAF Academy (AFA) Cadets when they are accepted into the Cadet wing at the conclusion of Basic Cadet Training.

Correction- this was the honor oath.  Earlier this month, the USAF Academy announced that the words "so help me God" would no no longer be included in its honor oath.

The rationale?  “Here at the Academy, we work to build a culture of dignity and respect, and that respect includes the ability of our cadets, Airmen and civilian Airmen to freely practice and exercise their religious preference — or not,” Lieutenant General Michelle Johnson, who serves as the Academy’s superintendent, said in an official statement. 

“So in the spirit of respect,” she continued, “cadets may or may not choose to finish the Honor Oath with ‘So help me God.’”

So the AFA is pro-choice.

Correction- in the AFA's Cadet handbook, “so help me God” has already been removed. Apparently it's a bit hush hush on who ordered that as the AFA's Public Affairs Office stated that a Freedom of Information request must be submitted to get that question answered.

From the NEWSMAX article:  

The complaint came after the Colorado Springs Independent newspaper published a photograph of a poster at the academy, which included the oath, and then forwarded the photo to Military Religious Freedom Foundation president Mikey Weinstein, a frequent critic of Christianity in the armed forces.

But Weinstein, while applauding the decision to make the oath optional, questioned how it will be applied.
If the person who leads the oath includes the words, Weinstein said, cadets who don't say the phrase may feel vulnerable.

"What does it mean, 'optional'?" Weinstein said. "The best thing is to eliminate it."

******************

In other news, Navy SEALs have been ordered to remove ‘don’t tread on me’ Navy Jack from uniforms.  This is a patch similar to the Gadsden Flag with the coiled snake:

 
Apparently, who ordered that is TBD, but in an email from a Senior Enlisted Advisor (SEA) which is an E-7,8 or 9, depending on unit size, stated the following:

ALL:

WARCOM and GROUP TWO/ONE have pushed out the uniform policy for NWU III and any patches worn on the sleeve.

All personnel are only authorized to wear the matching “AOR” American Flag patch on the right shoulder.  You are no longer authorized to wear the “Don’t Tread On Me” patch.

Again the only patch authorized for wear is the American flag on the right shoulder. Please pass the word to all.

SEAs usually don't operate unilaterally, making up orders as they go along.  They work closely with the CO, XO, or Chief of Staff in their day to day duties and almost definitely were given orders to put out this uniform policy from NAVSPECWARCOM.  What pushed that Command to change the uniform policy?  According to the article on The Daily Caller, 

"When a friend of mine asked his leadership the same question, he was told, “The Jack is too closely associated with radical groups.” We must assume that this thought policeman embedded in the SEAL community is speaking of the Tea Party, whose flag (which also dates from the American Revolution) depicts a snake with the same defiant slogan as The Navy Jack."

Tea Party members, American patriots who just want the government out of their lives, lower taxes, and more liberty, they are now considered Radical Groups.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes