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  • Load HEAT- Ming Na Wen

    I mostly remember Ming Na Wen from ER, but surely you’ve seen her on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

    Ming-Na WenMing Na Wen (1)Ming Na Wen (2)Ming Na Wen (3)Ming Na Wen (4)Ming Na Wen (5)LOS ANGELES - NOV 10: Ming-Na Wen arrives at the "Sofia The First: Once Upon a Princess" Premiere And Story Book Launch at Walt Disney Studios on November 10, 2012 in Burbank, CAMing Na Wen (7)Ming Na Wen (8)Ming Na Wen (9)Ming Na Wen (10)Ming Na Wen (11)Ming Na Wen (12)Ming Na Wen (13)Ming Na Wen (14)Ming Na Wen (15)Ming Na Wen (16)

     

    She’s 51! Wow!

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  • The Brodie System

    We’ve actually written about it before, but the video linked then has been removed, so here’s some more. Via War is Boring, with a tip o’ the hat to Comrade Arthur.

    Here’s the short video:

     

    And here’s a longer video showing more detail.

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  • Way to bury the lede, Stripes.

    For nearly a year, Ukrainian forces have been at war with Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east. While Moscow has denied sending troops into Ukraine or providing heavy weapons, Hodges said there are numerous signs of Russian involvement.

    “Hundreds of armored vehicles, rocket launchers and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that are being provided, either employed by Russians or by their proxies in the eastern Ukraine,” Hodges said. “The sky is full of Russian UAVs and they are immediately finding all the Ukrainian formations, and (the Ukranians) are suffering huge causalities from artillery, rockets.”

    via Army looking to store tanks, equipment in Eastern Europe – Stripes.

    As you can see from the link, the article is about prepositioning a set of equipment in Europe for rotational Brigade Combat Teams to exercise on.

    But there at the bottom, you have the most interesting part of the story, one that has nothing to do with the storage story. The US will be using a battalion of the 173rd to advise and assist training in western Ukraine forces that, let’s face it, will then be deployed to fight the Russians in the east.

    And for all the folderal about how it’s “Russian backed separatists” LTG Hodges pretty much admits it is actually the Russians themselves who are slowly invading Ukraine, bit by bit.

    Of course, the Obama administration policy here is to simply deny the existence of any problem.

  • U.S. Navy Approves Production for Super Hornet IRST | Defense Media Network

    The U.S. Navy has approved low-rate initial production (LRIP) for the infrared search and track system (IRST) developed and integrated by Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the F/A-18 Super Hornet, according to a Boeing release.

    The IRST is comprised of Lockheed Martin’s IRST21 sensor and Meggitt Defense Industry environmental control unit mounted at the front of a GE Aviation FPU-13 fuel tank assembly. The IRST is mounted on the centerline pylon of the aircraft. The system demonstrated production readiness after an extensive series of assessments, reviews, and flight tests, according to the release.

    via U.S. Navy Approves Production for Super Hornet IRST | Defense Media Network.

    IRST graphic

    Well, that’s one way to upgrade the plane.

  • M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle

    Someone asked me the difference between a stock M14 rifle and the modified M14 EBR. Well, here’s the supplement to the technical manual that explains the key differences, and covers operator and armorer maintenance as well.

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  • Updates on Company Level Feeding

    For some reason, I’m obsessed with small unit rations and feeding. Mostly because I spent so much time eating the first generation MREs and not getting more than one or two hot meals in the field for weeks at a time.

    Anyway, the current standard for small unit feeding is the KCLFF, or Kitchen, Company Level, Field Feeding.

    But the Army is replacing this with the Assault Kitchen. First, take out whomever named it and beat them to death. The kitchen is not leading the charge.

    Second, there are some pros and some cons to this “upgrade.”

    First, the pros:

    • Much improved burner unit.
    • Smaller logistical footprint.
    • Heat on the move capability
    • Space for both AK and roughly four days rations on Humvee and trailer.
    • Easy to operate and maintain.
    • Ability to feed two hot meals per day.

    Now the drawbacks.

    • Only suitable for heating UGR-H&S (Unitized Group Rations- Heat & Serve)
    • Not capable of preparing UGR-A and UGR-B (basically, fresh foods, and canned meals with some shelf stable items).
    • While KCLFF is rated for only one hot meal per day, it too can prepare two UGR-H&S daily under most circumstances.
    • Did I mention Assault Kitchen was a really stupid name?

    UGR-H&S isn’t a bad feeding system, for the short term. But the inability to provide cooked fresh hot meals such as the UGR-A is a serious handicap if the supported company will be isolated for extended periods, such as deployed in a Combat Outpost in Afghanistan.

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  • Heh.

    Coastie

  • Seriously, NOT The Duffel Blog

    In keeping with the second half of the blog’s name…

    Dwarf Stripper Kat Hoffman Finds Love With Army Sergeant

    But hey, if they’re happy, more power to ‘em. The world can always use a little more love.

    Heh. Little.

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  • “B” Roll film of Hohenfels.

    The JMRC (Joint Multinational Readiness Center) Hohenfels is a terrific little chunk of land in the gorgeous rolling hills of Bavaria, Germany. Nearby Grafenwoehr is the live fire range complex. Hohenfels is the force on force maneuver box.

    I made about half a dozen 3-4 week trips to Hohenfels in my short tour in Germany. I never saw such nice weather there. It was either cold and wet (or snowy) in the winter, or hot and dusty in the summer.

    Back in the day, right toward the end of the Cold War, the usual use of Hohenfels, then known as CMTC, was to put a heavy brigade through its paces.  The opposing force was normally supplied by a reinforced battalion from one of the division’s other brigades. Toward the end of my time in Germany, CMTC gained its own full time OPFOR, 1/4 Infantry (who are still there).

    In addition to the Blue Force and the OPFOR, there is also the O/C Team. What used to be called umpires, the Observer/Controller Teams advise, assist, and critique the actions of the unit being trained. Much like a coach walks a player through his performance after a game, so the O/C’s help show the units under training their strengths (usually few!) and weaknesses (usually many!).

    O/C’s are usually assigned to just about every echelon throughout the unit being trained. For instance, a mechanized Infantry platoon would typically have a senior Infantry NCO who has successfully served as a Platoon Sergeant. And the battalion commander would have as an O/C a fellow Lieutenant Colonel, one who has successfully completed his battalion command tour.

    I *think* this exercise was just before our friend Esli assumed duties at JMRC.

  • MCLIC Madness

    Some of this video you might have seen posted here earlier. The MCLIC is the Mine Clearing Line Charge. Basically it is a tube stuffed with plastic explosives. A rocket drags the tube out of its bin, and across a minefield. The charge is then exploded. The blast overpressure will cause mines in the vicinity to sympathetically detonate. The Marines use a modified M1 tank hull, the Assault Breacher Vehicle, as a launch platform for the MCLIC, though it can be adapted to several other mounts, including a trailer mount towed by a Humvee. The first part of the video is interesting as it shows how the MCLIC is set up on the vehicle, and gives you a decent look at the rocket itself.

    The second half of the video shows five or six of a man portable, much smaller version of the MCLIC, known as the APOBS or Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System being used to clear mines/IEDs from an open lot in the village.

    Best of all, there’s some great splodey.

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