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"The W54 is small enough to be deployed as a SADM (Special Atomic Demolition Munition) or so called "Backpack Nuke". It was the closest thing the U.S. is ..."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/w54.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/w56.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suitcase_bomb

http://www.sftt.org/dw07102002.html

When the US government tried to infer that Taliban and other suicide bombers were cowards, IT was the coward for failing to recall that, like the miserable failure the Japanese Kamikazes were, the US W54 program would have made suicide bombers out of the troops carrying these backpack bombs and who thought they were going to parachute in, covertly plant one on a bridge or some vital infrastructure, and then "run a few hundred yards to safety"... Hell, even the Enola Gay and other nuclear bombers were expected to be non-returns, basically on a one-way suicide mission, considering the blast effects and the attendant radiation...

See a rebuttal to the Army claims at http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?data base=Unlisted%202007.db&command=viewone&id=22
at Soldiers for the Truth.
There's a lot more information about the Army Lab's inconsistencies and other issues relating to the Dragon Skin body armor issue at that site.

The most popular brand, Dragon Skin, is BETER than what the army provides. ... if you're killed in combat while wearing body armor that wasn't issued by the military, your family doesn't get your death benefits.

Army Orders Soldiers to Shed Dragon Skin or Lose SGLI Death Benefits

There was a a case a few weeks ago where a guy was paralyzed from the waist down, and the military withheld his pay until he paid back a few grand in combat pay

Wounded Soldiers Told They Owe Money to Army Seems this is happening so much Nightline is doing an investigation. One telling quote: "No Pay for Four Months"

Then there's the guy who had to pay $600 for body armor that was destroyed when his arm was shredded by an enemy land mine.

My Mistake. It was $700

field medic tied a tourniquet around Rebrook's right arm to stanch the bleeding from shrapnel wounds. Soldiers yanked off his blood-soaked body armor. He never saw it again. But last week, Rebrook was forced to pay $700 for that body armor, blown up by a roadside bomb more than a year ago.

One of the more interesting things I've seen out of this war was the unveiling of some absolutely brutally honest product reviews from the Marines.

Put simply -- this ain't the first clotting agent thats been developed, but oh boy does QuikClot apparently fail. Story here:

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/000458.html

and the PDF (which rocks) is here:

http://www.sftt.org/PDF/article05122003a.pdf

--Dan

There are also lessons learned such as "Be careful how much armor you put on your HMMV or it will roll over." There are really great ideas coming out of soldiers all the time (because they're laz... *couch* efficient and want to stay alive.) Not all of these are good things. The very concept of up-armoring HMMV's is ridiculous, to say the least, and I won't get into that now. Google for "humvee rollovers" and you'll see what I mean.
The other thing to consider is the sheer number of IED's in Iraq. EOD removed approximately 1 per linear foot of road in the first hundred yards into Fallujah. Even if you did get one of these robots in, setting off one IED can easily set off a chain of others, and you have no idea where that chain may go. The insurgents are smart, and are constantly analyzing our procedures in order find new ways to attack. There would be a way to exploit these.
For some great reading on the Iraq war and the current state of the military, see http://www.sftt.org/ or http://www.hackworth.com/

I know it's powerpoint, but take the time to view the presentation on Fallujah on SFTT. It's pretty unbelieveable.

DARPA would be more useful if they could find a way for some of the Army "leadership" to get better organizational skills. We don't need more total troop strength in the Army to meet taskings. Silly as it sounds the Army could add 30,000 to the fight by managing..... teeth, overall unit readiness and reorganization. Read this short op/ed by an Army combat vet. It is things like this and not some Buck Rogers solution that would be more useful: Nothing to Smile About ( SFTT.org )

In short, it can't land quick enough to avoid a 15 year-old kid with an RPG blowing a $68 million dollar hole in the taxpayer's wallet. Those who will have to ride in it view it as a death trap. The descent rate is slow enough to make even rifle fire a serious problem.

I heard that the osprey started out due to a delineation of service problem. That is, the Navy is not allowed fixed wing transport aircraft, as that is the sole domain of the Airforce. Any info on this?

Instead of restricting fake violence, why don't we restrict real violence? Stop the Bush Administration from invading Iraq; give peace a chance. Fact: 28 percent of American troops sent to the Persian Gulf region during 1990-91 ended up becoming caualites.

It is the big picture that matters.

Before I rip your bung-hole a wee bit, let me give you some acronyms, abbreviations, and slang regarding who I am ... E-6 in less than six, item 11 has three nuke NECs(MOSs), item 12c > 8 yrs, item 12g > 3 yrs, item, item 13 has 8 awards, item 24 = Honorable, item 26 = KBK, item 27 = RE-R1

Read "Conduct Unbecoming" for details on military fuckjobs. Primary focus is on fags/dykes in the military but it gives you a feel for how awful military life can be.

Visit this website for some details on military work Fun Time Navy

Also visit FTN

Also visit Soldiers For The Truth for a current event perspective of what is wrong with the current military after eight-years of pathetic Clinton-Gore leadership (i.e. WAR-CRIMES)

Here is a VERY SHORT list of what I saw during my approx nine-years in the Navy, making me "Glad I'm now a civilian":

incompetant medical care (told to return to serving food as a recruit with an active case of pink eye and broncitis)

co-worker almost made blind by contaminated and expired navy-issued eye medication - ends up with EXTENDED shore duty and eventual medical discharge

sorry ... I can't talk about the whole ANTHRAX thing ... I escaped in '98

tricked into investing in US Savings Bonds vice Index Funds (read "Random Walk Down Wall Street")

obviously ill co-worker forced to stand vice sitting on floor while waiting in line to see a health tech (note: you are LUCKY if you get to see a nurse or a doctor ... sure glad Clinton-Gore Health Care got defeated ... wouldn't want to force a dog through government health care)

ship-wide food poisoning due to no soap in bathroom adjacent to kitchen

over 48 hours with no sleep or food

even though I am white I began to appreciate how American blacks felt under slavery because I was an Enlisted person

received medal for going to Somilia - was 4 miles offshore (hot showers, hot food, TV, Air Conditioning, clean sheets, ....) while the Army died due to the Clinton-Gore failure to send M1A1s and AC-130s to support the troops

Maintain a questioning attitude

a) If the action is illegal you can refuse to do it and "blow the whistle". There are laws that no action can be taken against a whistleblower so you are theoretically safe (I don't know how well this works in practice, though).

Actually, this doesn't work very well at all in the real world. David Hackworth, an ex-Army Colonel, has plenty of examples of people that were reduced in rank, given bad performance reveiews, and just about anything else you can think of when they tried to use the "Whistleblower's Act," as it's called, report the dishonesty and blatant CYA olympics going on in all branches of the service.
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