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  • I hadn’t Heard About This…

    Which, I spose, is not surprising…  

    https://www.duffelblog.com/2015/03/artilleryman-starves-during-hearing-test/#ixzz4zG6bx2CG

    Artilleryman Starves to Death Inside Hearing Test Booth

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    FORT CAMPBELL, KY — A soldier assigned to the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division was found dead this Monday in the Soldier Readiness Processing Center (SRPC) by fellow service members, according to base security officials. Sources report that Sgt. Aaron Sanchez allegedly succumbed to starvation after two weeks alone in a hearing test booth, because his tinnitus prevented him from hearing most frequencies.

    “Old Sancho died trying to pass eh? That’s nothing!” Sanchez’s supervisor Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Barber yelled at reporters. “Two of my redlegs got run over by a train the other day!”

    A preliminary investigation into the death has determined that Sgt. Sanchez, an artilleryman currently serving as a 105mm gunner, did not want to reveal just how badly his hearing had deteriorated over the course of his four years in the Army and risk being rendered medically non-deployable.

    “We have discovered on the test playback that Sgt. Sanchez repeatedly pushed the trigger when there were no tones being played, and failed to press it when there were,” explained Mr. Robert Hogan, the investigator assigned the case. “Unfortunately, it appears that Sgt. Sanchez’s hearing was so bad that he couldn’t even hear the computer telling him that the test was restarting.”

    Sources inside the SRPC further revealed that the particular booth that Sgt. Sanchez was sitting inside had recently been upgraded to remain locked from the outside until the completion of the test, a modernization that the SRPC claims has boosted success rates by 13%.

    The trapped Sgt. Sanchez went unnoticed both by soldiers hurrying to get their deployment papers stamped and the enlisted lab technicians stationed outside the booths, as they never actually look inside them.

    URR here.  I said "URR HERE!"  "URR HERE!"  "I'M NOT YELLING!"  "OKAY!"

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  • USS Texas restoration

    At 105 years old, the former USS Texas is the last surviving dreadnought type battleship in the world. She's also been in salt water essentially all that time. The old girl ships about 350 tons of water every day. Pumps keep up with that, but eventually, she'll fall apart. 

    The current preservation plan is to build a dryberth around her. The problem is, her hull plating and her framework along her bottom are so compromised that she would essentially collapse if she were dryberthed right now. So they are reinforcing the keel and plating along most of the length of the ship, a drawn out, and difficult process, but an interesting one to watch. 

     

     

  • The Development and Production of the B61 Thermonuclear Bomb

    Which, this video goes into surprising detail on the fission side of a thermonuclear weapon, but has obviously been edited to leave out information on the details of the fusion side. Still, it shows a lot of pictures of components that I don't recall seeing in any other declassified videos. Variants of the B61 remain in service today as the primary air dropped nuclear weapon, and the B61-12 variant is in development for possible future deployment. 

     

     

  • USMC HIMARS/GMLRS in action

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  • Argentine Submarine ARA San Juan Confirmed Lost

    Skynews-ara-san-juan-missing-submarine_4158660

    Very sad news to hear for anyone who has made a living plying "the old grey widowmaker".  ARA San Juan S-42 is now reported as being lost, with no sign of survivors from the crew of 40.  Initially, reports were that she was having communications issues, but would continue her mission.  She was not an antique boat by any means, being of the German-built TR-1700 design and having been commissioned in 1985.  She is a modern, capable diesel boat, with 30-days' endurance and a submerged speed greater than 25 knots.  San Juan underwent refit, and was modernized not long ago, being in the yard from 2008-2012.  

    Now comes the search for survivors.  But those are some inhospitable waters off Patagonia.

    A total of 13 ships and six aeroplanes are braving strong winds and high waves over an area of 66,000 sq km (25,500 sq miles) more than 400 km (250 miles) east of the bay of San Jorge off the coast of Patagonia in southern Argentina.

    And the US Navy, as is virtually always the case, is lending a big hand in the form of MPRA, providing P-8 Poseidon aircraft, aircrew, and ground crew.

    Prayers for those aboard, and for their families.  URR here.

    What is a woman that you forsake her, 
    And the hearth-fire and the home-acre, 
    To go with the old grey Widow-maker? 
    -RK

     

     

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  • The Bell Model 30 Helicopter

    Bell Aircraft's first helicopter design was basically handed to them on a plate by a guy named Andrew Young who had designed it pretty much all by himself. Young had made a series of scale models until he had devised the stabilizer bar principle for aircraft stability. 

    The Model 30 was really more of a proof of concept aircraft, rather than a production design. But very soon after, the "guts" of the Model 30, stripped of virtually every ounce of excess weight, would result in the Model 47, which would fly in 1945. You might recall seeing the Model 47 from the TV series MASH. The Model 47, or H-13 in Army parlance, would serve the US from 1946 well into the Vietnam War. Quite a few Model 47s are still used today in the US and elsewhere. 

    The nifty part of this video is watching the Model 30 flying indoors. I can just imagine all the FAA Inspectors today watching and having  kittens. 

     

     

  • Meals Ready to Eat on KCET

     

     

  • Presented without comment.

    http://usmclife.com/2017/11/graphic-navy-admits-pilots-responsible-obscene-skywriting/

  • SNC Dreamchaser Drop Test

    Pretty nifty. And the decision to use a skid versus a nosewheel makes a lot of sense once you think about it. 

     

     

  • Via Military Times.

    Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, it’s expected that about a half-millionwill be alive at the end of 2017.

    Many veterans of this and other conflicts will take with them stories of service that can’t be replaced. Some will have earned commendations they mentioned only in passing, or ignored out of modesty, or locked away alongside painful memories.

    Family members who want to learn more about their relative’s service, even those in service themselves, may have limited knowledge when it comes to navigating an archive process that, with a bit of persistence, can provide more than just a few dates and places.

    Military Times sought advice from the National Personnel Records Center, as well as in-house expert Doug Sterner, curator of the Military Times Hall of Valor, to provide some basic steps on the path to piecing together a personal history.

     

    There's some good advice on how to navigate the system, which is surprisingly user friendly. After our father passed away, it was quicker and easier to order copies than to look through his files.