I skimmed the article looking for the name of the system, couldn't find it.
I have used the LRAD in the past though, i'd guess all these things are pretty similar. My experiences with it are mixed. It's great for dispersing crowds before things escalate. The ones i used had a few functions. Mic for transmitting voice and a siren for normal use. There was a volume nob and key that unlocked the device from "normal" to "dangerous" modes. I never had to unlock it, haha. It doesn't work like you think normal sound does.. it literally is a beam and goes pretty far too. It's strange when you're on the receiving end (ie in the Riot trying to put it down) and your buddies are panning it around.
The only big downside to these things is they only work when the crowd is in a defined space. If they get between the device and like a command vehicle or another group on your side, you can't use it or risk cutting all communication to/from that group.
so, to summarize. Great for dispersing a non-violent crowd. Works over long ranges, light weight, easy to use. Rubbish used solo trying to put down a real riot. Though useful in tandem with other non-lethal systems.
19D is a Cavalry Scout and falls under the Armor branch. The 19 Deltas are trained in a wide variety of skill-sets because they are supposed to encounter the enemy before anyone else does. Self sufficiency/recovering and high mobility type stuff.
Here is a description of what the lowest & youngest scouts must be able to do: "Skill Level 1 MOSC 19D1O. Performs duties as crewmember, operates, and performs operator maintenance on scout vehicles. Armored Airborne ReconnaissanceVehicle (M551A1), and Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (CFV), HMMWV, M113, crew-served weapons, anti-aarmor weapons, and communications equipment. Loads, clears, and fires individual and crew-served weapons. Engages enemy armor with anti-armor weapons. Operates and performs operator maintenance on wheeled vehicles. Assists in the recovery of wheeled and tracked vehicles. Secures, prepares, and stows ammunition on scout vehicles. Performs mounted and dismounted navigation. Serves as member of observation and listening post. Gathers and reports information on terrain features and enemy strength, disposition and equipment. Applies principles of escape and evasion. Collects data for the classification of routes, fords, tunnels, and bridges. Performs dismounted patrols. Employs principles of cover and concealment and camouflage. Assists with construction of light field fortifications, laying and removal of mines, and emplacing demolitions. Requests and adjusts indirect fire."
I'd like to point out that the MK19 is used on HMMWVs as a single man weapon system. No crew needed. The MK19 is a pretty neat weapon system, but i still prefer the.50 cal over it. It's much easier to manage and there is a plethora of ammo types (mk19 has others too, but i've never seen them in circulation)... SLAP is my fav. But like you said, the chances of a civy getting their hands on a high caliber weapon system is slim. Civies are good at making shit up though.. and conventional armies usually have problems fighting unconventional ones.
The best weapon system of all, in my mind, is the radio.
In regards to your "hold off a squad of US military" I'd wager an ex-18 series could do it, or 19D or maybe 11B for that matter. They would completely understand the units structure, likely tactics, TOE, standard ROE, and all kinds of garbage.
I do however completely agree with your remark about the government's workers and time spent. People forget that the majority of US gov workers are just average joes making a living. They don't have access to any super secret info.. they aren't privy to possible secret plans of population suppression. Frankly, they just want to make money and live a good life. Only when you get into politics and OGAs do things get kinda dicey..
Special Forces quasi-mission statement
on
New Personal Mono-Wing
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· Score: 2, Informative
"Special Forces have the ability to be virtually everywhere at once; this guarantees that they are the first on the ground or already at a crisis location when trouble starts.
Their missions include direct action operations, unconventional warfare, special recon, and counter terrorism. Their skills and training give them a thorough knowledge of foreign languages, customs and cultures. In addition, they are the masters of training and organizing insurgents, surrogate fighters, native forces and foreign armies."
Most of the things they do are during "peace time". Their missions don't appear on the news because nobody cares about X-istans civil disputes over Y resource. SF troops aren't regular soldiers. They aren't just elite versions of regular soldiers either. They have an entirely different job than the other 99% of militaries. The article is about UK's SAS, so i'm really just talking out of my ass. Really neat military technology though.
I never really thought about it that way. I guess that's something the Army has over another civilian organization. The general comradery. You know that most of the guys around you, up and down, care for your general well-being as well as your ability to perfom. You're spot on about the leadership too. They take their jobs very seriously. On the otherside of the coin though; mistakes in the Army, even small ones, measure in lives.
I absolutely agree with that. Sometimes i'd envy those Airforce guys. They'd get chinook'd anywhere they wanted to go and were always standing around having fun. But i'm drawn to that regimented quasi-machine spirit of the Army. The Marines are even more hardcore on this front.. but too much for me. The AirForce were always on the top of "who's cool" until is was mission time. Then is was the Army. We never had to discuss how it was to be done. The commander says GO!.. we go. No one is complaining or saying it's not fair or trying to wiggle out of it. Marine Corp officers are generally better than most Army ones in my opinion. Well.. maybe not better, but less political and more down to business (better in my view). But you are more right than you know, the AirForce is where it's at if you want to still be "you".
You're quite right in that the two are entirely different. But to answer you questions about the game. Player's could theoretically destroy parts of the local economy by restricting access to certain resources. Though i think most market manipulation is to create demand for a restricted product and raise it's value. Some ships and equipment are extremely rare because only a few players hold the Blue Print Originals used to create the items. The prices of some of the more rare items are 100fold the cost of what it took to create. It's a rather complex system though.
Advanced items need advanced materials to create. Which means someone needs to mine raw materials from a moon and react certain combinations of materials to create complex materials and again for advanced materials which can be used as ingredients in the creation of powerful ships/weapons. Most things can be reversed too. You can recycle a ship into it's basic raw minerals (with some loss) for use elsewhere. There is zero set price for anything player created. You can charge as much as you wish for anything.
I'm not much into the market as i am into finding and researching bluepints. Not to mention the constant battle with pirate players;) It's a truely unique game. The first two weeks are free if i remember correctly. It's hard to convey the scale of the game without something to compare it to. But if you like the complexity that nature provides, there are many such aspects in this game.
You might be surprised to know that something like this exists in Eve-Online, a space based MMORPG. Almost the entire economy is player based and fed. The ship i bought was manufactured by some guy who had to buy a blueprint copy from a Scientist player and then buy minerals from a Miner player. If a small group of players artifically increase the price of something they control, the local economy will feel it. Likewise, some pieces of equipment and ships are so impossible to make without help, it forces people into groups to achieve a goal.
Now i realize this isn't exactly what you were looking for, Trees can be cut down and planted or whatnot. But it's the same idea. If your Corporation has a starbase to mine a rare metal from a moon that nobody can get anywhere else, you have a lot of power over the local ecosystem.
The best part about the game is just flying around attacking pirates or whatever. If you're not into the economy much, it seems more like the weather. "Why TF are missiles so damn expensive today?!?"
I think you have a lot of fighting spirit and I don't want to put that down, but you haven't a chance if you want to fight the US Army as a whole. Don't be so ready to assume that all the US soldier's would blindly follow illegal orders. The United States' people wanted the best trained and most technological army in the world, you got it. While you are fixing cars, filling out paperwork, or working on your ranch.. i'm learning better and more efficient ways of clearing rooms. I work out everyday and must pass a nationally created standard of fitness. I'm excellent with my firearms and strive to stay that way. The Army is extremely organized, motivated, and prepared to perform whatever mission is put before them.
Imagine that instead of your usual 40 hour work week you trained and trained on mastering your art of warfare. How good would you be at it after years of learning? If a day comes when soldiers do have to make that choice you eluded to earlier.. the only reason i can think of them not siding with the people is because you've already divorced them. You've decided they're all bad and to be hated.
Something else that should be looked at is the National Guard.. they are very different from a Regular Army soldier. They have a normal job just like you and probably live right down the street. He has sworn himself the same as I except that he's directly under your state's Governor. If you truely must have a civilian military, that's going to be as good as it gets.
But i really do think people forget that the military and the government is made up of people just like you and me. No one is infallable, shit happens. The military is a machine yes, but with many many voices in it. Without those voices the machine wouldn't exist. Only the foolish would assume that all those voices are the same. Did you ever play that game as a kid where you whipser a phrase to the kid next to you and then he does the same. The phrase gets passed from kid to kid all the way around the room until the last kid says what it is. It's never what it started out to be. Your leaders might not all be warmongering demons. There's just shitheads in there messing up the works. blah.. that's enough ranting
I learned a new word today, perjorative, it means belittling. As far as rank goes.. i'm not a big enough of an asshole yet to be a major. On the topic of rank though, a good clue would have been "I'm the guy on the ground with a gun.". Actually.. now that i'm thinking about it - the perjorative that is. Hodgi isn't a belittling comment. I really thought it ment pilgrim or something like that? Besides, there's yanks, brits, japs, and all that. I did a googlefight between yank and hodgi, yank won by a ton. They always called me am-ree-kee anyways. How you turn "American" into that.. who knows. Geez.. i miss hanging out with those guys. ahh, good times.. good times.
Man.. it would just be too much money to bring an American Interpreter over there anyways. We had a few interpreters from the local town and paid each a good amount. You get a lot more than interpretation skills with locals too. They know the streets and who's who and blah. Not to mention they know when someone is straight up lying to you. Though you do run into issues of trust when dealing with local interpreters, but we're wily Americans and find ways around such things. Actually, i think the name of the group that supplies most of the "certified safe" interpreters in Iraq is called Titan. Ah, and google says yes.. Here's a quick peek at what the interpreters are expected to know, if anyone cares at all. A quote from the link: Linguists are required to work 12-hour shifts and in excess of 60-hour weeks in order to provide continuous contract linguist support that this 24 x 7 operation requires. Linguists must be available for worldwide deployment as the mission dictates.
I could have replied to almost anyone's post.. but yours was convenient. Their cell phone service is wayyy different than say America's. I bought a cell phone and was talking to my buddy in less than a minute, literally. Once you have a phone that can take those wtfchips, you can use most of the networks there. If you went too far south, you had to switch to one of those kuwaiti wtfchips. I had to buy cards to deposit money onto my wtfchip.. that was the worst part. I'd ask some hodgi for a $10 card and he'd say "mista, for you twenty dollas." Bah, i'm an American! i'm not use to the whole "talking the guy down thing". I'm sure he probably got some counterfitted cards for a buck and made 15X that from me. As far as "insurgents" using cell phones and the NSA/CIA listening in on them.. what's the point? it's not like they'd tell me about it. I'm the guy on the ground with a gun. My group worked on tips from locals. Most of em are criminals in some way.. so neighbors are quick to tell the IPs. Not to mention gossip. Mygod does Iraqi gossip travel fast. My group was pretty much "it" for many many miles. There wasn't any three letter agency giving us tips. I'd bet Bagdad gets monitored quite a bit, but whether the lefthand tells the righthand what's going on is a totally different issue.
We have no idea what the long-term impact of these devices inside the human body could be.
Man, you should talk to some Army doctors. They leave kids full of shrapnel because "it's not worth taking it all out, just the big peices". They could probably use data from those kids situations for the RFID implants. Though i doubt you'd be able to get anything useful from the government about it.
I've been living in Kentucky for a few years now.. let me tell you, it's practically a different country. You are treated different if you aren't Kentuckian. People aren't generally rude or mean if you aren't from here. But it makes one hell of a difference. Even in big cities (Louisville) people still have country attitudes. I've traveled quite a bit and found "urban culture" cold and inhuman. People are less hell bent on physical possessions, popularity, and dollar signs here. It's about achievements and who you are.
I can visit most any grave yard and find someone who died during the civil war and look him up. Then drive down to the battlefield where he fell and read about his unit's last actions before his death. My town was shelled by southern troops early in the civil war and a cannon ball lodged into a building can still be seen to this day from the town square. There are huge nature preserves and geological formations unique to only a few places in the world, such as the moon bow. All this is far off topic, but i just wanted to say that uniqueness is everywhere. There were probably fantastic places to see and people to meet just ten minutes from your Denver home. I think big cities have mostly imported culture. They can't create culture, only attract it. What culture does exist in a city, has always been there since the beginning. You don't see cowboys walking in downtown everyday. There's no ranch in the city to manage.
I just think twelve hours in any direction is MORE than far enough to tell a difference. You just have to get off the highway. Hell, if you were in Germany, it wouldn't matter where you were, you'd probably drive out of Germany and all the way through another country in twelve hours (though the autobahn does help:) .
Man.. i lived without phones, internet, postoffice, a finance(read army bank), hospital, or any of that crap for over six months.. We didn't even have a taco bell! What kind of crap is that?!? Something needs to be done about this! We can't fight a war without our endless supplies of soft taco supremes! Not to mention every tent needs T1 line access.. at a minimum.
On a more serious note.. my platoon collectively purchased our own satelite internet from some guy in the town we were living in. It was the best thing that ever happened to us. We might not have had those fancy toliets that flush away poo at the push of a button.. but our internet was bitchin fast and uncensored.
Who do you want fighting for your country? A blood thirsty pitbull or a lapdog?
A war they cannot lose a foe that cannot bring the wind out of their sails. Maybe we should send less troops to even it up next time?
They have to see their friends die as well as their enemies and the innocent. Those are only words to you, please don't throw them about carelessly.
Now they go back to the millions and become heros and bring the millions of unready up to a new level, get them frothing at the mouth just waiting for 'fluffy' to rear their head up again. Now have a real core to your army. If you think uncle Sam can pick your scrawny, pale ass give him a gun and your gonna let the frags go like Quake, you would likely shit yourself before you got your first shot off and possibly go into shock when you get real brains splattered all over you.
If someone calls me a hero, it's a slap in the face. I do what i do so my brothers and sisters don't have to. I wouldn't try to block anyone's attempt to volunteer, but i don't want to see the innocent lose what makes them precious. As far as Uncle Sam taking some scrawny pale kid and sending him into battle with rifle in hand. Who do you think fights these things? Not old men, i can assure you. Kids. Just out of high school with two months of training under their belts and they're ready to take on the world. They're just kids. Even when they get back and take that blood stained uniform off, they're still kids. Still laugh and play and can't legally drink.
now it is battle-hardened, blood and killing no longer scares it or slows it down it just wants more. We're monsters. You've ensured that we are absolute monsters. We don't fit in with "normal" people anymore. That's why so many soldier's hang themselves, become Bums, or re-enlist and fight until they're bodies are ragged and worn out. It is a rare case indead to meet a monster that laid down his rifle and doesn't miss it.
You can hate us, it's quite alright. We're already more tortured then you can ever imagine.
By far the worst. Who wants to pay for their past actions every day? Who wants to not only pay for them but relive the horror over again, everyday. Years ago, i actually got a kick out of wacko vets. Yea, it's not so amusing anymore.
It is preferable if the people getting the shit kicked out of them are non-white and non-Christian, since a very large percentage of America, although they may read the NY Times and listen to NPR on the drive in to work, value such lives much less than they do blonde-haired and blue-eyed European derivatives.
I can't think of many predominatly Christian and 'white' countries the US could possibly fight with? Quoted from wikipedia.org "regions and countries that are today predominantly light skinned include countries of Europe, Asiatic Russia, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Chile,and Uruguay." Maybe New Zealand is next! Naa, you're right, US citizens are racist fucks.
You're right, it doesn't always work. Doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying. There was a time when the United States kept mostly to itself. Not anymore and never again. Besides, we're still pretty new at this whole sovereign nation thing. I can think of plenty of older countries that have conquored their way across the world and back for nothing more than money. But to call the United States a bully (i am assuming this was your target nation)? American politicians are damn pansies. Forever compromising. Always afraid of this and that. We put a president in office that wanted to flex some muscles. Oops. Atleast we've all learned a little from it. Oh, come on.. bully? Cocky, maybe. Young and stupid, more likely.
Maybe it's that the US is the most aggressive nation at the moment. That makes us a target to naysayers. Give us a few hundred more years to catch up with the rest of the world's nations in maturity. Heck, only recently has preservation of buildings and lands become an issue. You won't find 600 year old castles on hilltops here. At best a pile of wooden planks that was a shack with D. BOONE carved into a piece. Or an old brick building with cannon balls still lodged into it from our Civil War. Though, i mustn't forget native burial grounds either. Anyways.. i'm rambling, back to the point. So, take your bully argument and shove it up your ass. Have a good day.
When you say someone has a memo, i'm thinking a signed piece of paper with a date and a clear header of it's purpose and intended audience. Isn't that what a memo is? I read that Article and also another apparently found in 2002. It's absolutely BS. The Prime Minister of England and The US President had a private meeting. The article then quotes exerpts from notes taken by one of the PM's advisors. Was that advisor in the private meeting? It doesn't say. The actually memo itself was some sorf of handout to the PM's aides. If there was a memo out there with Bush saying "Let's assassinate Mr. Hussein", I'd very much like to see it. Even bigger than that would be a memo from the PM dated July 2002 saying "The US wants to go to war and that 'intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy'."
I don't doubt the US president had desires to invade Iraq early in his term. Whether he had reason to or fabricated that reason is truely important. Enough here say, bring out the memos already.
Maybe you should not have invaded his country in the first place. If you were sitting at home watching lost I bet that iraqi kid would not have stabbed your friend in the neck. Having said that what do you gain by torturing this kid?
You assume the most terrible responses from people like me. I think your assumptions immature and baseless. You think coalition soldiers as warmongerers. I was at home watching Farscape before this. I don't have a choice of whether or not to go. I have placed my skills and abilities into the hands of my government with the idealistic view that the citizens of my country can best decide when and where to use me. Whether i agree we should go to war or not changes nothing for me. I still go and perform the job regardless.
Knowing your kind you would probably just kill the kid and get another hard on for a few minutes. Then you don't know me.. or my kind. In fact, i advise you not to speak like that to people "like me". Honor is the most important aspect of our lives. We use the tools of violence to perform our jobs, yes. It's what we do. That doesn't make us evil men.
I don't wish to change your opinion of the actions performed by coalition troops in Iraq since 2003. I do however deserve respect for performing my duties to the utmost of my being. Let there not be an imitation of doubt in your mind, i am a good man. I am also tortured.
You should watch a video of what happens to captured coalition troops.
On a more personal note. I've got a little scenerio for you. You're on patrol and hear a loud explosion from the interior of a nearby town. Your squad calls it up and goes to check it out. An Iraqi Police station was carbombed. You secure the area and start to administer aid to injured persons. You and your buddy just fixed up some 15-16 year old kid and start working on an old man. With your backs turned that kid pulls out a knife and stabs your buddy in the neck. The kid puts his hands up and surrenders immediately. Your buddy is dead. Where does that individual fit into the Geneva Convention? Do you have it in you to detain him using the most minimal force necessary?
When a country is invaded it's the duty of all citizens of that nation to fight to kick out the invaders whether they have uniforms or dogtags or whatever. You should see the mass graves of those citizens who tried to expel saddam after the first Gulf War. 10's of thousands. I don't think you can even fathom that kind of number, dead.
A lot of cities already looked "destroyed" before the US (read Coalition) went in.
Would you have us not bury the dead women and children?
tens of thousands of muslims died from firebombing cities? Nope, don't think so.
Listen up, i was there in the marketplace on 28 Feb 05 when a carbomb killed over 100 people. We were only 100 meters away. He was a coward. He was afraid to get any closer. Afraid we'd see him, kill him. So he parks in the middle of a crowded market and killed all those people. You've been to a market. How many women and kids do you think there were? Nobody knows because there wasn't enough left of their bodies. We could only count shoes. I'll tell you now, some of those shoes were really small.
What about the mass graves outside Karbala? After we left from the first Gulf war the local towns rose up and tried to fight Saddam. There are 10's of thousands in those unmarked graves.
Oh, wait.. i've got a really good one. Who would put their little girl in the road to block a US convoy so they could attack it? Now that's dirty. Do you know how we had to fight that? You don't want to know. Drivers have nightmares because of the terrible things they were forced to cope with.
We don't attack for no reason. We don't bomb for no reason. We don't search homes looking for treasures to steal. We aren't targetting muslims. Your country or another, the Job we perform will be the same.
I don't speak for the Army or represent any organization in any way. I speak for myself.
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I skimmed the article looking for the name of the system, couldn't find it.
I have used the LRAD in the past though, i'd guess all these things are pretty similar. My experiences with it are mixed. It's great for dispersing crowds before things escalate. The ones i used had a few functions. Mic for transmitting voice and a siren for normal use. There was a volume nob and key that unlocked the device from "normal" to "dangerous" modes. I never had to unlock it, haha. It doesn't work like you think normal sound does.. it literally is a beam and goes pretty far too. It's strange when you're on the receiving end (ie in the Riot trying to put it down) and your buddies are panning it around.
The only big downside to these things is they only work when the crowd is in a defined space. If they get between the device and like a command vehicle or another group on your side, you can't use it or risk cutting all communication to/from that group.
so, to summarize. Great for dispersing a non-violent crowd. Works over long ranges, light weight, easy to use. Rubbish used solo trying to put down a real riot. Though useful in tandem with other non-lethal systems.
ex-18 was in reference to the US Army MOS code 18 series.. which would be Special Forces, there is a list of the codes here: http://www.us-army-info.com/pages/mos/special/special-mos.html
.50 cal over it. It's much easier to manage and there is a plethora of ammo types (mk19 has others too, but i've never seen them in circulation)... SLAP is my fav. But like you said, the chances of a civy getting their hands on a high caliber weapon system is slim. Civies are good at making shit up though.. and conventional armies usually have problems fighting unconventional ones.
19D is a Cavalry Scout and falls under the Armor branch. The 19 Deltas are trained in a wide variety of skill-sets because they are supposed to encounter the enemy before anyone else does. Self sufficiency/recovering and high mobility type stuff.
Here is a description of what the lowest & youngest scouts must be able to do:
"Skill Level 1 MOSC 19D1O. Performs duties as crewmember, operates, and performs operator maintenance on scout vehicles. Armored Airborne ReconnaissanceVehicle (M551A1), and Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (CFV), HMMWV, M113, crew-served weapons, anti-aarmor weapons, and communications equipment. Loads, clears, and fires individual and crew-served weapons. Engages enemy armor with anti-armor weapons. Operates and performs operator maintenance on wheeled vehicles. Assists in the recovery of wheeled and tracked vehicles. Secures, prepares, and stows ammunition on scout vehicles. Performs mounted and dismounted navigation. Serves as member of observation and listening post. Gathers and reports information on terrain features and enemy strength, disposition and equipment. Applies principles of escape and evasion. Collects data for the classification of routes, fords, tunnels, and bridges. Performs dismounted patrols. Employs principles of cover and concealment and camouflage. Assists with construction of light field fortifications, laying and removal of mines, and emplacing demolitions. Requests and adjusts indirect fire."
There are descriptions for higher 19D levels here: http://www.us-army-info.com/pages/mos/armor/19d.html
I'd like to point out that the MK19 is used on HMMWVs as a single man weapon system. No crew needed. The MK19 is a pretty neat weapon system, but i still prefer the
The best weapon system of all, in my mind, is the radio.
In regards to your "hold off a squad of US military" I'd wager an ex-18 series could do it, or 19D or maybe 11B for that matter. They would completely understand the units structure, likely tactics, TOE, standard ROE, and all kinds of garbage.
I do however completely agree with your remark about the government's workers and time spent. People forget that the majority of US gov workers are just average joes making a living. They don't have access to any super secret info.. they aren't privy to possible secret plans of population suppression. Frankly, they just want to make money and live a good life. Only when you get into politics and OGAs do things get kinda dicey..
As quoted from the US Army SF Center:
"Special Forces have the ability to be virtually everywhere at once; this guarantees that they are the first on the ground or already at a crisis location when trouble starts.
Their missions include direct action operations, unconventional warfare, special recon, and counter terrorism. Their skills and training give them a thorough knowledge of foreign languages, customs and cultures. In addition, they are the masters of training and organizing insurgents, surrogate fighters, native forces and foreign armies."
Most of the things they do are during "peace time". Their missions don't appear on the news because nobody cares about X-istans civil disputes over Y resource. SF troops aren't regular soldiers. They aren't just elite versions of regular soldiers either. They have an entirely different job than the other 99% of militaries. The article is about UK's SAS, so i'm really just talking out of my ass. Really neat military technology though.
I never really thought about it that way. I guess that's something the Army has over another civilian organization. The general comradery. You know that most of the guys around you, up and down, care for your general well-being as well as your ability to perfom. You're spot on about the leadership too. They take their jobs very seriously. On the otherside of the coin though; mistakes in the Army, even small ones, measure in lives.
I absolutely agree with that. Sometimes i'd envy those Airforce guys. They'd get chinook'd anywhere they wanted to go and were always standing around having fun. But i'm drawn to that regimented quasi-machine spirit of the Army. The Marines are even more hardcore on this front.. but too much for me. The AirForce were always on the top of "who's cool" until is was mission time. Then is was the Army. We never had to discuss how it was to be done. The commander says GO!.. we go. No one is complaining or saying it's not fair or trying to wiggle out of it. Marine Corp officers are generally better than most Army ones in my opinion. Well.. maybe not better, but less political and more down to business (better in my view). But you are more right than you know, the AirForce is where it's at if you want to still be "you".
If you think a big company is bad about treating you like a number, join the Army.
You're quite right in that the two are entirely different. But to answer you questions about the game. Player's could theoretically destroy parts of the local economy by restricting access to certain resources. Though i think most market manipulation is to create demand for a restricted product and raise it's value. Some ships and equipment are extremely rare because only a few players hold the Blue Print Originals used to create the items. The prices of some of the more rare items are 100fold the cost of what it took to create. It's a rather complex system though.
;) It's a truely unique game. The first two weeks are free if i remember correctly. It's hard to convey the scale of the game without something to compare it to. But if you like the complexity that nature provides, there are many such aspects in this game.
Advanced items need advanced materials to create. Which means someone needs to mine raw materials from a moon and react certain combinations of materials to create complex materials and again for advanced materials which can be used as ingredients in the creation of powerful ships/weapons. Most things can be reversed too. You can recycle a ship into it's basic raw minerals (with some loss) for use elsewhere. There is zero set price for anything player created. You can charge as much as you wish for anything.
I'm not much into the market as i am into finding and researching bluepints. Not to mention the constant battle with pirate players
You might be surprised to know that something like this exists in Eve-Online, a space based MMORPG. Almost the entire economy is player based and fed. The ship i bought was manufactured by some guy who had to buy a blueprint copy from a Scientist player and then buy minerals from a Miner player. If a small group of players artifically increase the price of something they control, the local economy will feel it. Likewise, some pieces of equipment and ships are so impossible to make without help, it forces people into groups to achieve a goal.
Now i realize this isn't exactly what you were looking for, Trees can be cut down and planted or whatnot. But it's the same idea. If your Corporation has a starbase to mine a rare metal from a moon that nobody can get anywhere else, you have a lot of power over the local ecosystem.
The best part about the game is just flying around attacking pirates or whatever. If you're not into the economy much, it seems more like the weather. "Why TF are missiles so damn expensive today?!?"
I think you have a lot of fighting spirit and I don't want to put that down, but you haven't a chance if you want to fight the US Army as a whole. Don't be so ready to assume that all the US soldier's would blindly follow illegal orders. The United States' people wanted the best trained and most technological army in the world, you got it. While you are fixing cars, filling out paperwork, or working on your ranch.. i'm learning better and more efficient ways of clearing rooms. I work out everyday and must pass a nationally created standard of fitness. I'm excellent with my firearms and strive to stay that way. The Army is extremely organized, motivated, and prepared to perform whatever mission is put before them.
Imagine that instead of your usual 40 hour work week you trained and trained on mastering your art of warfare. How good would you be at it after years of learning? If a day comes when soldiers do have to make that choice you eluded to earlier.. the only reason i can think of them not siding with the people is because you've already divorced them. You've decided they're all bad and to be hated.
Something else that should be looked at is the National Guard.. they are very different from a Regular Army soldier. They have a normal job just like you and probably live right down the street. He has sworn himself the same as I except that he's directly under your state's Governor. If you truely must have a civilian military, that's going to be as good as it gets.
But i really do think people forget that the military and the government is made up of people just like you and me. No one is infallable, shit happens. The military is a machine yes, but with many many voices in it. Without those voices the machine wouldn't exist. Only the foolish would assume that all those voices are the same. Did you ever play that game as a kid where you whipser a phrase to the kid next to you and then he does the same. The phrase gets passed from kid to kid all the way around the room until the last kid says what it is. It's never what it started out to be. Your leaders might not all be warmongering demons. There's just shitheads in there messing up the works. blah.. that's enough ranting
I learned a new word today, perjorative, it means belittling. As far as rank goes.. i'm not a big enough of an asshole yet to be a major. On the topic of rank though, a good clue would have been "I'm the guy on the ground with a gun.". Actually.. now that i'm thinking about it - the perjorative that is. Hodgi isn't a belittling comment. I really thought it ment pilgrim or something like that? Besides, there's yanks, brits, japs, and all that. I did a googlefight between yank and hodgi, yank won by a ton. They always called me am-ree-kee anyways. How you turn "American" into that.. who knows. Geez.. i miss hanging out with those guys. ahh, good times.. good times.
Man.. it would just be too much money to bring an American Interpreter over there anyways. We had a few interpreters from the local town and paid each a good amount. You get a lot more than interpretation skills with locals too. They know the streets and who's who and blah. Not to mention they know when someone is straight up lying to you. Though you do run into issues of trust when dealing with local interpreters, but we're wily Americans and find ways around such things. Actually, i think the name of the group that supplies most of the "certified safe" interpreters in Iraq is called Titan. Ah, and google says yes.. Here's a quick peek at what the interpreters are expected to know, if anyone cares at all. A quote from the link: Linguists are required to work 12-hour shifts and in excess of 60-hour weeks in order to provide continuous contract linguist support that this 24 x 7 operation requires. Linguists must be available for worldwide deployment as the mission dictates.
I could have replied to almost anyone's post.. but yours was convenient. Their cell phone service is wayyy different than say America's. I bought a cell phone and was talking to my buddy in less than a minute, literally. Once you have a phone that can take those wtfchips, you can use most of the networks there. If you went too far south, you had to switch to one of those kuwaiti wtfchips. I had to buy cards to deposit money onto my wtfchip.. that was the worst part. I'd ask some hodgi for a $10 card and he'd say "mista, for you twenty dollas." Bah, i'm an American! i'm not use to the whole "talking the guy down thing". I'm sure he probably got some counterfitted cards for a buck and made 15X that from me. As far as "insurgents" using cell phones and the NSA/CIA listening in on them.. what's the point? it's not like they'd tell me about it. I'm the guy on the ground with a gun. My group worked on tips from locals. Most of em are criminals in some way.. so neighbors are quick to tell the IPs. Not to mention gossip. Mygod does Iraqi gossip travel fast. My group was pretty much "it" for many many miles. There wasn't any three letter agency giving us tips. I'd bet Bagdad gets monitored quite a bit, but whether the lefthand tells the righthand what's going on is a totally different issue.
Would the latency be 82 years or 41?
We have no idea what the long-term impact of these devices inside the human body could be.
Man, you should talk to some Army doctors. They leave kids full of shrapnel because "it's not worth taking it all out, just the big peices". They could probably use data from those kids situations for the RFID implants. Though i doubt you'd be able to get anything useful from the government about it.
I've been living in Kentucky for a few years now.. let me tell you, it's practically a different country. You are treated different if you aren't Kentuckian. People aren't generally rude or mean if you aren't from here. But it makes one hell of a difference. Even in big cities (Louisville) people still have country attitudes. I've traveled quite a bit and found "urban culture" cold and inhuman. People are less hell bent on physical possessions, popularity, and dollar signs here. It's about achievements and who you are.
I can visit most any grave yard and find someone who died during the civil war and look him up. Then drive down to the battlefield where he fell and read about his unit's last actions before his death. My town was shelled by southern troops early in the civil war and a cannon ball lodged into a building can still be seen to this day from the town square. There are huge nature preserves and geological formations unique to only a few places in the world, such as the moon bow. All this is far off topic, but i just wanted to say that uniqueness is everywhere. There were probably fantastic places to see and people to meet just ten minutes from your Denver home. I think big cities have mostly imported culture. They can't create culture, only attract it. What culture does exist in a city, has always been there since the beginning. You don't see cowboys walking in downtown everyday. There's no ranch in the city to manage.
I just think twelve hours in any direction is MORE than far enough to tell a difference. You just have to get off the highway. Hell, if you were in Germany, it wouldn't matter where you were, you'd probably drive out of Germany and all the way through another country in twelve hours (though the autobahn does help:) .
Man.. i lived without phones, internet, postoffice, a finance(read army bank), hospital, or any of that crap for over six months.. We didn't even have a taco bell! What kind of crap is that?!? Something needs to be done about this! We can't fight a war without our endless supplies of soft taco supremes! Not to mention every tent needs T1 line access.. at a minimum.
On a more serious note.. my platoon collectively purchased our own satelite internet from some guy in the town we were living in. It was the best thing that ever happened to us. We might not have had those fancy toliets that flush away poo at the push of a button.. but our internet was bitchin fast and uncensored.
Who do you want fighting for your country? A blood thirsty pitbull or a lapdog?
A war they cannot lose a foe that cannot bring the wind out of their sails. Maybe we should send less troops to even it up next time?
They have to see their friends die as well as their enemies and the innocent. Those are only words to you, please don't throw them about carelessly.
Now they go back to the millions and become heros and bring the millions of unready up to a new level, get them frothing at the mouth just waiting for 'fluffy' to rear their head up again. Now have a real core to your army. If you think uncle Sam can pick your scrawny, pale ass give him a gun and your gonna let the frags go like Quake, you would likely shit yourself before you got your first shot off and possibly go into shock when you get real brains splattered all over you.
If someone calls me a hero, it's a slap in the face. I do what i do so my brothers and sisters don't have to. I wouldn't try to block anyone's attempt to volunteer, but i don't want to see the innocent lose what makes them precious. As far as Uncle Sam taking some scrawny pale kid and sending him into battle with rifle in hand. Who do you think fights these things? Not old men, i can assure you. Kids. Just out of high school with two months of training under their belts and they're ready to take on the world. They're just kids. Even when they get back and take that blood stained uniform off, they're still kids. Still laugh and play and can't legally drink.
now it is battle-hardened, blood and killing no longer scares it or slows it down it just wants more. We're monsters. You've ensured that we are absolute monsters. We don't fit in with "normal" people anymore. That's why so many soldier's hang themselves, become Bums, or re-enlist and fight until they're bodies are ragged and worn out. It is a rare case indead to meet a monster that laid down his rifle and doesn't miss it.
You can hate us, it's quite alright. We're already more tortured then you can ever imagine.
your mind keeps replaying the memory
By far the worst. Who wants to pay for their past actions every day? Who wants to not only pay for them but relive the horror over again, everyday. Years ago, i actually got a kick out of wacko vets. Yea, it's not so amusing anymore.
It is preferable if the people getting the shit kicked out of them are non-white and non-Christian, since a very large percentage of America, although they may read the NY Times and listen to NPR on the drive in to work, value such lives much less than they do blonde-haired and blue-eyed European derivatives.
I can't think of many predominatly Christian and 'white' countries the US could possibly fight with? Quoted from wikipedia.org "regions and countries that are today predominantly light skinned include countries of Europe, Asiatic Russia, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Chile,and Uruguay." Maybe New Zealand is next! Naa, you're right, US citizens are racist fucks.
You're right, it doesn't always work. Doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying. There was a time when the United States kept mostly to itself. Not anymore and never again. Besides, we're still pretty new at this whole sovereign nation thing. I can think of plenty of older countries that have conquored their way across the world and back for nothing more than money. But to call the United States a bully (i am assuming this was your target nation)? American politicians are damn pansies. Forever compromising. Always afraid of this and that. We put a president in office that wanted to flex some muscles. Oops. Atleast we've all learned a little from it. Oh, come on.. bully? Cocky, maybe. Young and stupid, more likely.
Maybe it's that the US is the most aggressive nation at the moment. That makes us a target to naysayers. Give us a few hundred more years to catch up with the rest of the world's nations in maturity. Heck, only recently has preservation of buildings and lands become an issue. You won't find 600 year old castles on hilltops here. At best a pile of wooden planks that was a shack with D. BOONE carved into a piece. Or an old brick building with cannon balls still lodged into it from our Civil War. Though, i mustn't forget native burial grounds either. Anyways.. i'm rambling, back to the point. So, take your bully argument and shove it up your ass. Have a good day.
When you say someone has a memo, i'm thinking a signed piece of paper with a date and a clear header of it's purpose and intended audience. Isn't that what a memo is? I read that Article and also another apparently found in 2002. It's absolutely BS. The Prime Minister of England and The US President had a private meeting. The article then quotes exerpts from notes taken by one of the PM's advisors. Was that advisor in the private meeting? It doesn't say. The actually memo itself was some sorf of handout to the PM's aides. If there was a memo out there with Bush saying "Let's assassinate Mr. Hussein", I'd very much like to see it. Even bigger than that would be a memo from the PM dated July 2002 saying "The US wants to go to war and that 'intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy'."
I don't doubt the US president had desires to invade Iraq early in his term. Whether he had reason to or fabricated that reason is truely important. Enough here say, bring out the memos already.
Maybe you should not have invaded his country in the first place. If you were sitting at home watching lost I bet that iraqi kid would not have stabbed your friend in the neck. Having said that what do you gain by torturing this kid?
You assume the most terrible responses from people like me. I think your assumptions immature and baseless. You think coalition soldiers as warmongerers. I was at home watching Farscape before this. I don't have a choice of whether or not to go. I have placed my skills and abilities into the hands of my government with the idealistic view that the citizens of my country can best decide when and where to use me. Whether i agree we should go to war or not changes nothing for me. I still go and perform the job regardless.
Knowing your kind you would probably just kill the kid and get another hard on for a few minutes. Then you don't know me.. or my kind. In fact, i advise you not to speak like that to people "like me". Honor is the most important aspect of our lives. We use the tools of violence to perform our jobs, yes. It's what we do. That doesn't make us evil men.
I don't wish to change your opinion of the actions performed by coalition troops in Iraq since 2003. I do however deserve respect for performing my duties to the utmost of my being. Let there not be an imitation of doubt in your mind, i am a good man. I am also tortured.
You should watch a video of what happens to captured coalition troops.
On a more personal note. I've got a little scenerio for you. You're on patrol and hear a loud explosion from the interior of a nearby town. Your squad calls it up and goes to check it out. An Iraqi Police station was carbombed. You secure the area and start to administer aid to injured persons. You and your buddy just fixed up some 15-16 year old kid and start working on an old man. With your backs turned that kid pulls out a knife and stabs your buddy in the neck. The kid puts his hands up and surrenders immediately. Your buddy is dead. Where does that individual fit into the Geneva Convention? Do you have it in you to detain him using the most minimal force necessary?
When a country is invaded it's the duty of all citizens of that nation to fight to kick out the invaders whether they have uniforms or dogtags or whatever. You should see the mass graves of those citizens who tried to expel saddam after the first Gulf War. 10's of thousands. I don't think you can even fathom that kind of number, dead.
A lot of cities already looked "destroyed" before the US (read Coalition) went in. Would you have us not bury the dead women and children? tens of thousands of muslims died from firebombing cities? Nope, don't think so. Listen up, i was there in the marketplace on 28 Feb 05 when a carbomb killed over 100 people. We were only 100 meters away. He was a coward. He was afraid to get any closer. Afraid we'd see him, kill him. So he parks in the middle of a crowded market and killed all those people. You've been to a market. How many women and kids do you think there were? Nobody knows because there wasn't enough left of their bodies. We could only count shoes. I'll tell you now, some of those shoes were really small. What about the mass graves outside Karbala? After we left from the first Gulf war the local towns rose up and tried to fight Saddam. There are 10's of thousands in those unmarked graves. Oh, wait.. i've got a really good one. Who would put their little girl in the road to block a US convoy so they could attack it? Now that's dirty. Do you know how we had to fight that? You don't want to know. Drivers have nightmares because of the terrible things they were forced to cope with. We don't attack for no reason. We don't bomb for no reason. We don't search homes looking for treasures to steal. We aren't targetting muslims. Your country or another, the Job we perform will be the same. I don't speak for the Army or represent any organization in any way. I speak for myself.