Here’s something you seldom hear amid the chatter about the vulnerability of the Russian arsenal. Even if you find some Russian nukes to steal, you may not be able to make them work:
"Russian nukes are more high maintenance than most, and after as little as six months without tinkering and replacement of worn parts, the bombs no longer work."
Via StrategyPage.com
The 2:32 heroic music to the new Army recruiting video keeps running through my head and I keep returning for another hit of its booming drums and stacatto brass from the Youtube link at Black Five. The opening shot of a platoon with a billowing cavalry guidon leads to men in camo with automatic rifles slung across their chest armor against a backdrop of diving Apache gunships.
I love the subliminal message, that while some contend the Army is broken, as the narrative says, "there is nothing on this green earth that is stronger than the US Army."
More on the new slogan, Army Strong, which replaces Army of One. Although some are already ridiculing the Hulk Smash grammar and theme, it looks like a winner to me. A great wartime recruiting tool, and a valuable information warfare direct response to the armed doubters of the world.
UPDATE Blackfive seems to have dropped its link to the vid, so here’s the one at YouTube–at least until Google decides it’s too bellicose. More likely to be permanent is the link at Army Times which needs Windows Media.
Southern Methodist University in Dallas operates two nuclear blast detectors like this one–one south of Reno, Nevada, and another in Big Bend, in West Texas. No word from the university whether their instruments detected anything from North Korea, but since they’re funded by the Defense Deparment, they presumably are keeping mum until the Bush Administration issues its definitive report. Popular Mechanics describes the international detection system in this link from Instapundit.
Meanwhile, Pajamas Media thinks there’s little chance it was a hoax: "The emerging consensus is that such a trick would be very difficult; getting all of the TNT to explode in the same nanosecond is nearly impossible."
UPDATE Comes the confirmation. "The United States reported Monday that radiation-detecting aircraft had confirmed that North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test a week ago." Size: less than a kiloton. Which is impressive enough: even low-yield nuclear weapons are very powerful and destructive. "The nuclear weapon that destroyed Hiroshima had a yield of 10-15 kilotons, so weapons of up to five kilotons are still quite large." Call it a mini-Hiroshima. Suburb sized.
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Posted in The War
Tagged North Korea, Nuclear blast detectors, SMU
That’s the new slogan, which goes with this good video available at Black Five. The new words replace the older Army of One, which I thought was a nice improvement over Be All You Can Be, the butt of many anti-American slurs. But my favorite still is the one I saw on posters in the early 1960s: The New Action Army.
UPDATE It’s also a good counter for those who like to contend that the Army is broken.
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Tagged Army of One, Army Strong, Be All You Can Be, Black Five, The New Action Army
The side of sectarian violence in Iraq you may not see in the MSM.
"Christians are living a terrified life in Mosul and Baghdad. Several priests have been kidnapped, girls are being raped and murdered and a couple of days ago a fourteen year old boy was crucified in the Christian neighborhood Albasra."
Via Gates of Vienna
"Dr. Francis Harvey, Secretary of the Army…notes that recruitment is at a 9-year high and that reenlistment is very strong. Harvey talks about the Army’s strength levels, force structure, equipment maintenance loads, and general ability to withstand the stress of the Long War against terrorism. In particular, he responds rather forcefully to claims that the Army is lowering standards to make its recruitment numbers."
Instapundit’s Glenn and Helen "show." Radio, in essence, when you want it.
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Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops
Tagged Army, Instapundit, Long War, Pajamas Media, recruitment, retention
Cox And Forkum entered this one in the choice Iranian Holocaust cartoon contest with a hidden anti-Iranian motif that takes some looking and manipulating to spy out, or you can go here for it, which you should anyway because it’s a good story. The cartoon lost. Wasn’t vile enough.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 