Pic Of The Day

Panther On Patrol, An F-15E Strike Eagle from the 494th FS, RAF Lakenheath

Air Power in Afghanistan

Another great job using on call air. The Taliban will be overrun and just like in Iraq their senior most skilled fighters will be killed off leaving the cannon fodder.

KABUL, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Clash between security forces and Taliban insurgents left more than three dozen rebels dead in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province, provincial governor Mohammad Akram Khapalwak said Wednesday. "The battle took place in Sarobi district when militants attacked government checkpoints on Tuesday and Afghan troops called in air support during which 40 enemies were killed," Khapalwak told Xinhua. He also said that six Afghan soldiers sustained injuries in the fire fight. Meantime, Salahudin Ayubi who claims to be Taliban commander in the area, told media form unknown location that only three Taliban fighters were killed in the gun battle while government troops received huge casualties. No independent source was immediately available to verify the claim. Warring sides in Afghanistan often exaggerate the casualties inflicted on rivals. Early in the day the U.S.-led Coalition forces said in a statement that over a dozen insurgents were killed in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province on Monday.

Editor: Wang Hongjiang

Biden, Delaware ‘s Wind Bag

This is one of many great quotes that will come up with Senator (Gaffe) Biden. If this is the best they can come up with, Capt Bullshit must have been turned down by a few other Veep candidates. Some of other Biden tidbits will be his comments on the Haditha Marines, ( still waiting for an apology Joe) and during his abortive Presidential campaign what he said about Obama’s qualifications and his comments on guns

From Meet the Press, Sept, 9 2007

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE): " Well, what I saw, heard, learned is a little bit what you heard from a general just a moment ago. There was a big disconnect between the truth of the matter and the reality. I mean, the truth of the matter is that, that the—America’s—this administration’s policy and the surge are a failure, and that the surge, which was supposed to stop sectarian violence and—long enough to give political reconciliation, there’s been no political reconciliation. The reality is that we’re supposed to, as you said, stand up American—or stand up the Iraqis so the Americans could stand down. We’ve been hearing that for five years. We’re nowhere near being able to do that.
The reality is that, although there has been some mild progress on the security front, there is, in fact, no, no real security in Baghdad and/or in Anbar province, where I was, dealing with the most serious problem, sectarian violence. Sectarian violence is as strong and as solid and as serious a problem as it was before the surge started. "

Reaper In Action

The UAV fleet continues to impress me with their expanded capabilities.

By: Staff Sgt. Don Branum, USAF
8/21/2008 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFPN) -- An MQ-9 Reaper dropped a 500-pound bomb against an anti-Iraqi target Aug. 16 in one of the first weapons engagements for the unmanned aircraft system.
The Reaper began flying combat sorties in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom July 18 and joined the MQ-1 Predator as another UAS patrolling the sky to protect coalition forces.
The successful airstrike, which destroyed a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, demonstrates the persistent strike capability that the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing provides commanders on the ground, said Brig. Gen. Brian T. Bishop, the 332nd AEW commander.
"We are here to integrate airpower into joint operations in Iraq, and ensuring we make the most of our unmanned-aerial-system capabilities is just one of many ways we do that," General Bishop said. "With our ability to provide persistent stare and persistent strike, we provide a clear battlefield assessment and quick responses to commanders when they need it."
During an overwatch mission over southeast Iraq, Reaper operators from the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance and Attack Squadron at Joint Base Balad discovered a suspicious vehicle. The Airmen immediately relayed the information to personnel in a local ground unit, said Lt. Col. Micah Morgan, the 46th ERAS commander. After the suspicious vehicle was confirmed to be a VBIED -- a variant of the No. 1 killer of Americans on the battlefield -- a joint terminal attack controller cleared the Reaper to employ a GBU-12 laser-guided weapon against the vehicle.
"This was a great example of the Reaper's unique capabilities," Colonel Morgan said. "We searched for, found, fixed, targeted and destroyed a target with just one aircraft."
Unmanned aircraft system aircrews' fusion of the warfighting domains of air, space and cyberspace enables them uniquely to share critical information with JTACs and other command and control elements, ensuring that they hit the right target, Colonel Morgan said.
"We go to great lengths to avoid unnecessary damage, and the Reaper's unique capabilities allow it to play a key role in our highly disciplined targeting process," he said.
The 46th ERAS flies both Reaper and Predators. Its aircrews directly control all Reaper operations in Iraq and provide launch and recovery for Predator operations. During UAS missions, they can communicate with critical partners worldwide using a mix of radio, telephone and secure Internet systems.

Pic Of The Day

Raptor in burner

Almost Won The Darwin Award

During Tropical Storm Fay and intrepid kite surfer deployed his set up to the beach. The results were to be expected almost catastrophic. It’s a good thing breathing is automatic or genius like this would suffocate. The man is in critical condition in a local Ft Lauderdale hospital

McCain Home Run Hitter

I’ve never been a super strong McCain fan but I always said I would vote for anyone running against this Marxist. But after the performance Sunday I’m impressed and Obama’s handlers must be thinking how due we get out of the debates. The media will spin like mad dogs in the Sunday papers but the bottom line is their man got thrashed.
I just cant’ belive it, the straight talk express showed up with direct answers while Capt Bullshit spun and weaved. Two quotes that say it all

Obama " The American dream is slipping away"

McCain " America's best days are ahead of us"

and then
Does evil exist, and if so, do we ignore it, do we negotiate with it, do we contain it, or do we defeat it?


Obama: "...A lot of evil has been perpetrated in the claim that we were trying to confront evil."

He's not talking about another country there. He's talking about the U.S. perpetrating evil.

Does evil exist, and if so, do we ignore it, do we negotiate with it, do we contain it, or do we defeat it?


McCain: Defeat it.

Quote Of The Day

If you laid all the climate scientist end to end, they wouldn’t lead to a conclusion

Senator Lieberman Speaks

Yesterday Senator Joe Lieberman (I) Conn, intuduced Senaotor McCain at a rally In Pennsylvania, this one has to hurt Nobama.

"In my opinion, the choice could not be more clear: between one candidate, John McCain, who’s had experience, been tested in war and tried in peace, another candidate who has not," Mr. Lieberman said. "Between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not. Between one candidate who’s a talker, and the other candidate who’s the leader America needs as our next president."

Blast From The Past M60A1 Medium Tank

Here is a decent pic of an M60A1 medium tank like I was a crewmember on while I served in the Marines. You know your getting old when the tanks you crewed on are either static displays or on the known distance ranges getting blown away.

SPECS
Weight- 60 tons
Length- 32'4"
Width- 13'6"
Height- 12'6"
Ground Clearance- 18in
Track Width- 28in
Forward speed- 30 mph
Reverse speed- 10 mph
Engine- 750 hp Continental AVDS-1790 V-12 diesel
Vertical- obstacle climb 49 in
Maximum width ditch- 108 in
Fording Depth- 48 in
Main Gun- 105mm/51cal M68 rifiled gun with 63 rounds
Coaxial machinegun- M240 - 7.62mm with 5,950 rounds
Commander's machinegun- M85 - .50 cal antiaircraft gun with 900 rounds

Another Reason To Oppose Mike

I had voted for McIntyre before but in early 2007 I caught one of his Pelosi supporting votes against the surge, before the surge ever got going. I then started tracking his votes that either were straight up against the surge or tying funding requests to a bullshit timetable for withdrawal.

What I found was disturbing; the so-called Blue Dog was voting lock step with San Fran Nan. This is not I would have expected from a so-called conservative Democrat. As a Desert Storm Veteran and friend to many Marines Grunts who are currently deployed, nothing piss’s me off more than non serving politicians screwing the men who are deployed doing the heavy lifting. Its no darn wonder he will not Debate Will Breazeale who is an Iraq veteran and current serving Army Reserve Major. Here is a partial list of the votes he participated in and the ones I never got a straight answer from his office of why he voted this way.

.CON.RES.63: Iraq War Policy resolution February 16, 2007 Passed Expressing disagreements with President Bush's decision to send over 20,000 additional U.S. combat troops to Iraq.

H.R.1591: U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007 March 23, 2007 Passed Supplemental appropriations bill. Providing $124 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and other purposes). Requiring that U.S. withdraw all combat troops by Sept. 1, 2008. (

H.R.1591: U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007 (Conference report) April 25, 2007 Passed Supplemental appropriations bill. Providing $124 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and other purposes). Requiring that U.S. begin withdrawing troops in 2007. Recommending that the withdrawal be complete by March 2008. (

H.R.1591: U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007 (to override President Bush's veto) May 2, 2007 Passed Supplemental appropriations bill. Providing $124 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and other purposes). Requiring that U.S. begin withdrawing troops in 2007. Recommending that the withdrawal be complete by March 2008.

H.R.2237: To provide for the redeployment of United States Armed Forces and defense contractors from Iraq. May 10, 2007 Failed Mandating that U.S. combat troop withdrawal from Iraq begin within three months, and that it be completed six months after that. Then, the bill mandated, no congressional money could be used for military operations (though there would be an allowance for certain types of special-ops activities).

H.R.2206: U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 May 10, 2007 Passed Supplemental appropriations bill. Providing funding for the Iraq War through July, at which point Congress would vote again on funding through September.

H.R.2206: U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 May 24, 2007 Passed Supplemental appropriations bill. Providing funding for the Iraq War with non-binding benchmarks for Iraqi progress.

H.R. 2956: Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act July 10, 2007 Passed Bill to require U.S. to begin removing troops from Iraq within 120 days and have only a "limited presence" in the country by Apr. 2008.

Carter's 1977 Energy Plan

I had a commenter that brought up some valid points on Mike McIntyre. Sure we can’t lay the blame on him historically but we can sure ask why he won’t do the right thing now. He also asked who was responsible for Carter’s plan going down the tubes. Well Jimmy called for more coal and nuclear power, and reduce foreign oil dependence which to me sound like more drilling, so this question kind of answers itself. Solar then and now is a non cost effective joke but to be fare a few items have been implemented. Below is Jimmy’s 1977 speech.

Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you about a problem unprecedented in our history. With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly.
It is a problem we will not solve in the next few years, and it is likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century.
We must not be selfish or timid if we hope to have a decent world for our children and grandchildren.
We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.
Two days from now, I will present my energy proposals to the Congress. Its members will be my partners and they have already given me a great deal of valuable advice. Many of these proposals will be unpopular. Some will cause you to put up with inconveniences and to make sacrifices.
The most important thing about these proposals is that the alternative may be a national catastrophe. Further delay can affect our strength and our power as a nation.
Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" -- except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.
I know that some of you may doubt that we face real energy shortages. The 1973 gasoline lines are gone, and our homes are warm again. But our energy problem is worse tonight than it was in 1973 or a few weeks ago in the dead of winter. It is worse because more waste has occurred, and more time has passed by without our planning for the future. And it will get worse every day until we act.
The oil and natural gas we rely on for 75 percent of our energy are running out. In spite of increased effort, domestic production has been dropping steadily at about six percent a year. Imports have doubled in the last five years. Our nation's independence of economic and political action is becoming increasingly constrained. Unless profound changes are made to lower oil consumption, we now believe that early in the 1980s the world will be demanding more oil that it can produce.
The world now uses about 60 million barrels of oil a day and demand increases each year about 5 percent. This means that just to stay even we need the production of a new Texas every year, an Alaskan North Slope every nine months, or a new Saudi Arabia every three years. Obviously, this cannot continue.
We must look back in history to understand our energy problem. Twice in the last several hundred years there has been a transition in the way people use energy.
The first was about 200 years ago, away from wood -- which had provided about 90 percent of all fuel -- to coal, which was more efficient. This change became the basis of the Industrial Revolution.
The second change took place in this century, with the growing use of oil and natural gas. They were more convenient and cheaper than coal, and the supply seemed to be almost without limit. They made possible the age of automobile and airplane travel. Nearly everyone who is alive today grew up during this age and we have never known anything different.
Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power.
The world has not prepared for the future. During the 1950s, people used twice as much oil as during the 1940s. During the 1960s, we used twice as much as during the 1950s. And in each of those decades, more oil was consumed than in all of mankind's previous history.
World consumption of oil is still going up. If it were possible to keep it rising during the 1970s and 1980s by 5 percent a year as it has in the past, we could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade.
I know that many of you have suspected that some supplies of oil and gas are being withheld. You may be right, but suspicions about oil companies cannot change the fact that we are running out of petroleum.
All of us have heard about the large oil fields on Alaska's North Slope. In a few years when the North Slope is producing fully, its total output will be just about equal to two years' increase in our nation's energy demand.
Each new inventory of world oil reserves has been more disturbing than the last. World oil production can probably keep going up for another six or eight years. But some time in the 1980s it can't go up much more. Demand will overtake production. We have no choice about that.
But we do have a choice about how we will spend the next few years. Each American uses the energy equivalent of 60 barrels of oil per person each year. Ours is the most wasteful nation on earth. We waste more energy than we import. With about the same standard of living, we use twice as much energy per person as do other countries like Germany, Japan and Sweden.
One choice is to continue doing what we have been doing before. We can drift along for a few more years.
Our consumption of oil would keep going up every year. Our cars would continue to be too large and inefficient. Three-quarters of them would continue to carry only one person -- the driver -- while our public transportation system continues to decline. We can delay insulating our houses, and they will continue to lose about 50 percent of their heat in waste.
We can continue using scarce oil and natural to generate electricity, and continue wasting two-thirds of their fuel value in the process.
If we do not act, then by 1985 we will be using 33 percent more energy than we do today.
We can't substantially increase our domestic production, so we would need to import twice as much oil as we do now. Supplies will be uncertain. The cost will keep going up. Six years ago, we paid $3.7 billion for imported oil. Last year we spent $37 billion -- nearly ten times as much -- and this year we may spend over $45 billion.
Unless we act, we will spend more than $550 billion for imported oil by 1985 -- more than $2,500 a year for every man, woman, and child in America. Along with that money we will continue losing American jobs and becoming increasingly vulnerable to supply interruptions.
Now we have a choice. But if we wait, we will live in fear of embargoes. We could endanger our freedom as a sovereign nation to act in foreign affairs. Within ten years we would not be able to import enough oil -- from any country, at any acceptable price.
If we wait, and do not act, then our factories will not be able to keep our people on the job with reduced supplies of fuel. Too few of our utilities will have switched to coal, our most abundant energy source.
We will not be ready to keep our transportation system running with smaller, more efficient cars and a better network of buses, trains and public transportation.
We will feel mounting pressure to plunder the environment. We will have a crash program to build more nuclear plants, strip-mine and burn more coal, and drill more offshore wells than we will need if we begin to conserve now. Inflation will soar, production will go down, people will lose their jobs. Intense competition will build up among nations and among the different regions within our own country.
If we fail to act soon, we will face an economic, social and political crisis that will threaten our free institutions.
But we still have another choice. We can begin to prepare right now. We can decide to act while there is time.
That is the concept of the energy policy we will present on Wednesday. Our national energy plan is based on ten fundamental principles.
The first principle is that we can have an effective and comprehensive energy policy only if the government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices.
The second principle is that healthy economic growth must continue. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. An effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
The third principle is that we must protect the environment. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems -- wasteful use of resources. Conservation helps us solve both at once.
The fourth principle is that we must reduce our vulnerability to potentially devastating embargoes. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and developing a strategic petroleum reserve.
The fifth principle is that we must be fair. Our solutions must ask equal sacrifices from every region, every class of people, every interest group. Industry will have to do its part to conserve, just as the consumers will. The energy producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer.
The sixth principle, and the cornerstone of our policy, is to reduce the demand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Conservation is the only way we can buy a barrel of oil for a few dollars. It costs about $13 to waste it.
The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement costs of energy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford.
The eighth principle is that government policies must be predictable and certain. Both consumers and producers need policies they can count on so they can plan ahead. This is one reason I am working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy, to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy.
The ninth principle is that we must conserve the fuels that are scarcest and make the most of those that are more plentiful. We can't continue to use oil and gas for 75 percent of our consumption when they make up seven percent of our domestic reserves. We need to shift to plentiful coal while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy.
The tenth principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy we will rely on in the next century.
These ten principles have guided the development of the policy I would describe to you and the Congress on Wednesday.
Our energy plan will also include a number of specific goals, to measure our progress toward a stable energy system.
These are the goals we set for 1985:
--Reduce the annual growth rate in our energy demand to less than two percent.
--Reduce gasoline consumption by ten percent below its current level.
--Cut in half the portion of United States oil which is imported, from a potential level of 16 million barrels to six million barrels a day.
--Establish a strategic petroleum reserve of one billion barrels, more than six months' supply.
--Increase our coal production by about two thirds to more than 1 billion tons a year.
--Insulate 90 percent of American homes and all new buildings.
--Use solar energy in more than two and one-half million houses.
We will monitor our progress toward these goals year by year. Our plan will call for stricter conservation measures if we fall behind.
I cant tell you that these measures will be easy, nor will they be popular. But I think most of you realize that a policy which does not ask for changes or sacrifices would not be an effective policy.
This plan is essential to protect our jobs, our environment, our standard of living, and our future.
Whether this plan truly makes a difference will be decided not here in Washington, but in every town and every factory, in every home an don every highway and every farm.
I believe this can be a positive challenge. There is something especially American in the kinds of changes we have to make. We have been proud, through our history of being efficient people.
We have been proud of our leadership in the world. Now we have a chance again to give the world a positive example.
And we have been proud of our vision of the future. We have always wanted to give our children and grandchildren a world richer in possibilities than we've had. They are the ones we must provide for now. They are the ones who will suffer most if we don't act.
I've given you some of the principles of the plan.
I am sure each of you will find something you don't like about the specifics of our proposal. It will demand that we make sacrifices and changes in our lives. To some degree, the sacrifices will be painful -- but so is any meaningful sacrifice. It will lead to some higher costs, and to some greater inconveniences for everyone.
But the sacrifices will be gradual, realistic and necessary. Above all, they will be fair. No one will gain an unfair advantage through this plan. No one will be asked to bear an unfair burden. We will monitor the accuracy of data from the oil and natural gas companies, so that we will know their true production, supplies, reserves, and profits.
The citizens who insist on driving large, unnecessarily powerful cars must expect to pay more for that luxury.
We can be sure that all the special interest groups in the country will attack the part of this plan that affects them directly. They will say that sacrifice is fine, as long as other people do it, but that their sacrifice is unreasonable, or unfair, or harmful to the country. If they succeed, then the burden on the ordinary citizen, who is not organized into an interest group, would be crushing.
There should be only one test for this program: whether it will help our country.
Other generation of Americans have faced and mastered great challenges. I have faith that meeting this challenge will make our own lives even richer. If you will join me so that we can work together with patriotism and courage, we will again prove that our great nation can lead the world into an age of peace, independence and freedom.
Jimmy Carter, "The President's Proposed Energy Policy." 18 April 1977. Vital Speeches of the Day, Vol. XXXXIII, No. 14, May 1, 1977, pp. 418-420.

Nice Shot From MNF-Iraq.com

A young Iraqi girl waits to receive a plush toy from Coalition forces at a Cooperative Medical Engagement in Hor Al Bosh, July 30, 2008. Photo by Spc. Daniel Herrera, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.

Pic Of The Day

The Air Forces newest airframe the MV-22

Fear The Reaper

Via AF link

In the vicinity of Balocan, an Air Force MQ-1 Predator fired a Hellfire missile onto armed insurgents. Furthermore, an Air Force MQ-9 Reaper dropped a GBU-12 onto enemy forces. A JTAC reported the mission successful.