Tag Archives: military

Big old mean North Korea

north korean tanks

Sometimes we just need to back away and think for ourselves a moment, filter out the hue and cry. South Korea has the 11th strongest economy in the world. It has an arms industry of its own, exporting weaponry to lots of other countries. And the Republic of Korea [ROK], South Korea, has the 11th strongest military in the world. Far, far ahead of North Korea.

So what the hell is the US doing with its 25,000 troops in South Korea? ROK is perfectly able to defend itself, economically, militarily, diplomatically, every way. If they don’t feel strong enough to do it, they could form a mutual defense treaty with Japan, with whom they share the North Korean threat.

Ohh. Yeah. North Korea has nukes. Whoopteedoo.

Does anyone really suppose South Korea, Japan, hasn’t the capability of blowing those North Korean missiles and aircraft being launched a few hundred miles from them, doesn’t have, I was going to say the capability of knocking them out of the sky before they emerge outside North Korean boundaries?

Once we drop away from the WWIII rhetoric, the cries of nuclear winter and running around in increasingly smaller circles shouting increasingly shrill pronouncements, isn’t the greatest likelihood that, should North Korea attack anyone, it would be South Korea, or possibly Japan?

Because North Korea isn’t so crazy as to have attacked anyone at all in force since 1954. That’s right. There’s not a combat veteran, not one, in the North Korean military.

And where the hell do they get all that war material? Every round for those tanks is expensive, every rocket, every missile, every helicopter, every airplane, every bomb. North Korea is a poor country. Who the hell does anyone suppose is going to lend them money for leading edge weaponry, or send them 21st Century tanks, helicopters, airplanes?

I recall back before Nixon went to China there used to be frequent papers and articles with titles such as, Is China a Sleeping Giant, or a Paper Tiger?’. They were mainly concerned in those days about the Chinese military.

There’s probably a reason that today nobody asks the same question about North Korea. They’re too handy for waving around as s boogerman hiding in the dark closet or under the bed when Iran or some other scary place wears itself out as a war mongering distraction.

But sometimes we just need to stop and think.

Old Jules

Stolen valor? Give me a freaking break.

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read.

Gangs, whether it’s Hell’s Angels, Banditos, cops or [now] Army Navy Marine and Airforce volunteerees, tend to be jealous whenever some non-member sports their colors.  A tattoo artist acquaintance in Austin, Texas, started keeping a Thompson submachine gun under his mattress when he learned he’d tattooed a non-Bambino with a Bandito badge of honor, for instance.

But now what with the Valor-this and Valor-that being bandied about by the ‘thankyouforyourservice’ clubs, the big issue of the day is what you can see down at the VA hospital any working day.  People sitting around lying to one another about what John Waynes they used to be.

However, this is mostly a different breed.  Guys claiming to have been Navy Seals or Army Snipers getting all riled up because some dumbass down at the mall is pretending to be a soldier.  Sick enough the dumbass wants to do it, but how needy are those Seals and Snipers who haven’t suicided yet over the serious bullshit going on inside their heads?  They’ve got to go around looking for dumbasses to out to jack themselves up into something with a life worth living?

Probably there needs to be a little Ferguson platoon burning down the local recruiting offices.  This stuff is getting all out of hand.  Those guys are beginning to believe their own bullshit.

Now back in the day when I was John Wayne I wouldn’t have put up with all that crap by either side.

Old Jules

Richard Nixon: “That is no longer operative.” Current White House Guy: “Gimme a high five, baby.”

Hi readers.

Do you have difficulties keeping track of all that crap going on in the pestholes of the world?  I’m not talking about France here.  I’m talking about places where we’ve either invaded them and given them their freedom [Actually I suppose France meets that description, along with everyone else involved in WWII except Russia] eh.  Well, hell.

Let me start over.  I don’t understand what the hell is going on in the Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Russia, or even the Pacific Ocean downstream from Fukushima Northern Hemisphere Distributor of Deadly Radiation.  I don’t understand why they keep beating the trumpet claiming Ebola’s going to kill us all.  I don’t understand why people keep claiming they don’t understand that Israel’s gradually absorbing their neighboring country before the eyes of the world and killing off the residents there indiscriminately.

It’s consoling to me to figure the guy in the White House doesn’t understand any of that either.

Nothing new there.  Back when Ronald Reagan was dealing with Iran during the Jimmy Carter presidency, telling them he’d trade them weaponry if they’d hold onto the hostages until after the election, Reagan didn’t understand it all, either.  I doubt he ever understood he’d been whipsawed by a bunch of smartypantses, one in particular, wearing a Marine Lt. Colonel insignia and a pretty face.  I think Iran/Contra took him by surprise.

Yeah, Colonel John Wayne North helped weave that web.  Along with a number of familiar faces later on during the Bush Senior presidency, engineering Desert Storm.  Maybe Bush Senior understood it all.

But nobody has since then, among the distant observers, nor among the people who think they’re making it all happen.

Be consoled, readers.  Nobody even remembers the assassination of President Diem, the Gulf of Tonkin and how that blew up into the biggest US military debacle in US history.  Nobody even remembered it a couple of years into the war.

For that matter, nobody remembers the invasion of Panama, the Iran Hostages and the cute piece of horse trading Reagan lackeys used to keep those hostages in prison until after the election in exchange for weaponry.  Nobody even remembers the Bay of Pigs.  Or the devil-take-the-hindmost last minute graveyards voting in South Texas that won the election for John Kennedy.

So if you don’t understand what the hell we’re doing talking about military involvement in the vicinity of Russia and the Ukraine, don’t worry.  A year from now you won’t remember it anyway.  Same with Syria, Iran, everywhere else it’s more comfortable for the government if you forget.

You’ll remember North Korea.  Be consoled.  And you’ll remember that someone in Palestine shot the finger at an Israeli and caused them to have to carpet bomb some town or city full of unarmed civilians to get at suspected terrorists.

Be consoled though.  The guy in the White House won’t remember it, either.

Old Jules

Battlefield nuke circa 1964 – The Davy Crockett

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by.

Davy Crockett battlefield nuke

I came across this recently declassified pic of the Davy Crockett missile and couldn’t resist posting it.  Probably the first tactical nuclear weapon anywhere.  We had a battalion of these in Korea in the 1st Cavalry Division, and probably there were a lot more in the other units along the DMZ.  In those days even the name, “Davy Crockett” was classified.

The one depicted here isn’t precisely the same as those in the 1st Cavalry Division, though.  Ours were mounted on  3/4 Ton trucks and unless my memory is flawed I think ours were larger diameter than this.

I’ve never seen a picture of a Davy Crockett before.  They sure-as-hell weren’t allowing any shutterbugs loose in the vicinity of the Special Weapons / Division Artillery in those days.  I did, however, see a lot of diagrams, both internal and external.  I wish I’d been interested enough to remember some of it.

Anyway, we had enough of those just in the 1st Cavalry Division to spark WWIII. Probably with some left over for WWIV.

Probably nowadays they’re all re-deployed to Israel and pointed all their neighbors except Palestine.  Conventional weapons will take care of Palestinians just fine until they get them into the camps for the final solution.

Old Jules

Forcing 18 year old women to sign up for Selective Service [Draft]

Hi readers.  I know it makes women feel more equal and better about themselves, but I’m wondering whether this Executive Order extending Selective Service registration to females is a good thing.  Might be a sign of bad things coming down the pike, or they mightn’t do something to remind everyone there’s always a Draft Law hiding in the wings to snap up youngsters once the all-voluntary military folks have all sold themselves to Blackwater and other Mercenary groups for more money.

Is it not written, “For God, country and my babeeee”?

Are we going to give all that up, all it implies, all every adolescent could hope to believe, just to make girls feel more equal?  Give them the right to get conscripted into the military for a couple of years no matter what they’d rather be doing?  Give them a lead-pipe cinch to be raped half-to-death if they’re captured?

Well, I hadn’t really thought about it that way.  Now that I do, I guess it’s actually a good thing, though still probably a dose of bad news in what it implies.

Old Jules

The dual-citizenship US/Israeli friend to So Far From Heaven

Perhaps you readers will find this anecdote interesting and edifying.  I certainly do.

So Far From Heaven blog has a reader and sometimes commenter who holds dual US/Israeli citizenship.  Not to suggest it’s unusual.  I might be the only US citizen alive who doesn’t hold dual Israeli citizenship.

But this So Far From Heaven reader is special.  Back during the Vietnam War, maybe 1966-67, he adopted Judaism and fled to Israel to avoid the draft.  Became a weaponry salesman for Israel, maybe to Israel, probably helping them furnish weapons for every drug lord in South America.

And a thoroughly interesting, admirably loyal [to Israel] US citizen. http://leanpower.wordpress.com/

Yeah, this guy was a sight to behold back in the day.  Running along the railroad tracks with a backpack full of rocks in training for the Israeli army when he arrived in Israel sometime hence.  He knew if he became an Israeli he’d have to be in the military, but Israel never loses anyone in their wars.

Tens of thousands of casualties in the armed forces the Israeli military attacks by surprise and defeats.  A few hundred Israeli casualties.  Fell off trucks or something, most likely, or accidentally shot themselves.

Look up the statistics on every Israel war if you don’t believe me.  Any one.  Take your pick.  Look at the Israeli casualty counts, and the body counts of the countries they attacked.  Including the USS Liberty.  No Israeli casualties on that surprise attack on a US warship lasting several hours.  Not one.

Obviously our Israeli/US citizen reader/draft-dodger knew that.  He picked a winner for a country he could ‘serve’ in complete safety.  And when it was all over he came back to the Good Old US of A to buy and sell big guns.

They’re everywhere.  Even here on So Far From Heaven.

Old Jules

Drones, drone pilots and other heroes protecting our freedoms

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read.

I’d been putting off giving Drones, the movie a try on Netflix because of the cover art.  Gave the appearance of one of those animated space war games I’ve found I don’t want to devote any minutes of my remaining life to see.  But it was on my ‘list’ anyway.  I kept scrolling past it and eventually decided to bring it up long enough to apply the ruthless scourge treatment.

Frankly, it wasn’t a good movie in most of the ways I’d normally measure movies.  But it did show that somewhere some other human beings are wondering about the moral and ethical issues related to killing off targets thousands of miles away using drones and drone technology.  I’d wondered a lot about the minds of the people making the decision to kill a host of obviously innocent bystanders and whether they were experiencing any karmic loading afterward.

Drones does explore the matter and a viewer is left with the impression someone among the directors, screenplay writers, producers, had personal experience with drone piloting and all it implies.  I find it encouraging that someone, though maybe not any of the parties actually involved in making choices to blow away babies, children, mothers, and people such as myself who happen to be in the wrong place at the right time, someone is thinking about what it means.

All the usual suspects have opinions about the flick and have said so on Netflix:

Once again the poster and disc art has nothing to do with the actual movie. The entire production is shot inside a “trailer” with a few external shots to show it was in the Nevada desert. This mess concerns the elimination of a suspected terrorist and a shave tail lieutenant that doesn’t want to fira Hellfire missile from the drone she and her pilot are operating. It is left wing mush focusing on collateral damage with a side trip to how EVIL the military command is. Save yourself the loss of 82 minutes and avoid this male bovine excrement.

——————————————————————-

Wow. 1st, yes the audio sucks in parts, but there’s subtitles. 2nd, surely any high ranking officer would not disregard such flagrant refusal of orders. Oh, & then we have both military people (girl & guy—YES, women can be violent!) committing assault; One could argue this is an example of why women should not be in combat (drone pilots are more like ground soldiers than regular pilots).At least 1 other review was wrong, this is somewhat realistic, nothing corporate, all 100% military. I’m not in the military, but as I understand it, deliberate refusal of orders, (esp in a combat situation!) would result in being relieved of duty, & disciplinary action.As another says, Poster is BS, nothing to do with movie. Does bring up many moral questions, but so does war & killing in general; If they’re part of your own nation, killing even 1 civilian can make someone a terrorist, & a murderer. (and US military—-yes, I’m in US—has killed *THOUSANDS* of Iraqis, who were unarmed; How does that make Us (ie, USA) any better than them?3.5 stars for moral issues; 1 for technical; Much more realistic than most military movies, but if this is 100% realistic, it’s a sad commentary on our (US) military.I agree, needs better research.

 http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70296444?sod=search-autocomplete

Just following orders is an excuse that ceased to carry water on the losing side back shortly after WWII.  Evidently the makers of this movie believe, probably correctly, that military careersmen in an all-volunteer military damned well better just follow orders.  And, of course, the orders are coming from people who’ve weighed all the ethical and moral issues, made sound value judgements without regard to anything in their personal lives.  All the way up the ladder to the guy in the White House.

Reminded me that I saw on Yahoo News the other day a story about Bill Clinton remarking somewhere that, “I could have killed Osama Bin Laden.”  Seemed strange to me, brought up visions of him and some Arab duking it out with swords or dueling pistols.

I’m more inclined, however, to think he meant he could have killed him the way he murdered the Mount Pleasant men, women and children outside Waco, Texas, using puppets who were just following orders.  Heroes who were, at least, close enough to smell them burning and hear their screams.  Different sort of hero from the drone pilots.

Old Jules

Veterans Administration assigned responsibility for preventing Ebola outbreak inside US

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read.

Most of you will have already seen the news that the VA Medical Centers have been given complete responsibility for preventing spread of the Ebola pandemic to the US.  The White House issued the statement Tuesday that, “the facilities are in place all over the nation and are under utilized.  Recent new attention to possibly funding the VA Medical Centers and providing physicians who have not had their licenses to practice medicine suspended yet provides a solution to two problems.  And a possible solution to a lot of others.”

Workers in VA Medical Centers are numerous and if Ebola or some other contagion doesn’t prevent it, many will enjoy Federal retirement benefits within twenty years.  Potential fiscal saving spinoffs for giving Ebola to the VA are enormous.

Old Jules

Getting Israel behind us – Let God give them financial aid and weaponry

Stand with Israel harper tx

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read.

Back during the Yom Kipper War, Six Days War, one of those, I recall a friend named Victor Sturm, an atheist, commenting the Israeli military prowess was almost enough to make him believe in God.  I think that was true for most of us, whether we were atheists, or not.  Israel’s always been easy to support.

During all those years everyone I was acquainted with felt badly about what was done to the Jews in Germany, and supporting the secular state of Israel seemed one of the ways to compensate.  In those days television would play a German Holocaust movie at the drop of a hat to keep it fresh on the minds.  I recall during the Cambodian killing fields times the only thing competing on television was constant reminders of the German camps.  Same was true when millions of Biafra folks were dying like flies.  It was always “Yeah, but look what happened in Germany to Jews!”

Well, we’re a lot more informed these days.  Germany was one of the places where one hell of a lot of people were systematically persecuted and killed.  One of the places, and Jews were one of the targets.

Fact is nobody cares about all that.  Nobody cares about atrocities and genocides.  Including Israel.  Nobody lifted a finger to stop Cambodia, Biafra, and a dozen other places where the death counts got into six figures or higher.  And WWII sure as hell wasn’t fought about what Germans were doing in those camps to Jews and Gypsies.  Nor what the Japanese were doing to the Chinese and other countries they occupied.

Justifying US involvement in WWII because of Hitler’s camps is pure fabrication by hindsight.  Nobody before Pearl Harbor gave a popcorn fart what Hitler was doing to Jews.  And the Jews fleeing Germany were having one hell of a time finding any country willing to take them.  They were stacking up like cordwood in Spain and Portugal because Britain, the US and almost everyone else didn’t want any more than they had already.

So when the dust settled Israel was formed to assuage the guilt feelings of the US population, the British, everyone who sat by with their thumbs up their butts at a time when they might have saved a lot of lives.  Christian religious fanatics in all the civilized countries loved the idea.  It carried the undertone suggesting somehow God was involved in all this, letting his Chosen People return to the Promised Land.

It might have worked out fairly well.  If Israel hadn’t turned out to be as savage, greedy and lacking in human compassion as the rest of humanity, it could have worked out.  Likely as not they could have settled in, shaken hands with the new neighbors and worked together to make the world a better place.

But that couldn’t happen.  Israel was won by terrorism and terrorists, and it’s continued to indulge in State terrorism from the day it was founded.  The Israeli government continues to grab land outside the boundaries established by the United Nations, continues to slaughter the neighbors without conscience, and blames everything on the people they’re robbing and slaughtering.

And nobody’s quicker on the draw with playing the race card than Israeli supporters.  Anyone who tries to examine the behavior of Israel critically is immediately accused of hating Jews, being an anti-Semite.  It’s happened right here in the comments of blog posts whenever Israel received critical examination.  Or even in response to pleas that they resort to peace occasionally just for the novelty.

Savagery and blaming the victims, same as the US has done countless times in countless places.  Same as the Russians, the Japanese, the Chinese, the British, the French.

Hell, the contagion of being Chosen People must have been awfully damned infectious to have infected so much of humanity with Hebrew Biblical behavior.

Israel has passed the Modern Civilization 101 course in greed, aggression, brutality, callous disregard for human suffering and tedious self-aggrandizement.  It’s time to put them up there with the Great Nations and let them sink or swim among the sharks.

I think they might make it for a while.  Because when we have to get along with our neighbors to survive, we tend to become circumspect and reasonable in ways we’d never thought of when we were being mollycoddled and pampered as though we could do no wrong.

The US is bankrupt, though it doesn’t admit it.  Our industry’s all gone to Asia.  Our weaponry’s all designed and manufactured by Asians.  A time is coming when US foreign aid will be a footnote in history.  Along with US military prowess.

But we can be confident Israel will probably be the recipient of the last US foreign aid dollar to be sent anywhere, despite famines and disease where they really need it.

Old Jules

 

 

Unsettling entertainment – Killing rapesters who’d been protecting our freedoms

Hi readers.  When a movie rattles the eye teeth enough to cause a person to think about it longer than a minute afterward, it’s probably rare.  If it causes thought for a duration longer than it took to watch it, even rarer.  Black Rock, streaming on Netflix, is one such movie and for unanticipated reasons.

Black Rock 2012 R 79 minutes, Three life-long-friend women’s vacation on a remote island turns into a nightmare.   Three guys 18 days home from Afghanistan and Dishonorable Discharges are chilling.  One of them is the younger brother of a childhood friend of the three.  More Info Starring: Katie Aselton, Lake Bell Director: Katie Aselton

So here’s a tiny island with three guys capable of being badasses when provoked, and three 30ish women, one of whom is horny enough to seduce-to-the-edge one of the badasses, then try to interrupt biology with the word, “No!”

Badass doesn’t think no means no, so she kills  him with a rock upside the head.

And thoroughly pisses off the other two previously only potential badasses who saw her saying too many yeses and not enough no when the whole thing could have been just a friendly interlude.

So the first potential badass is dead.  The girls have been beat around considerably before escaping to the woods.  Angry badasses 2 and 3 are stalking them with guns with the stated purpose of murdering them.  Shivering huddled together crying the seducer/coitus interrupter weeps, “Oh God!  This is all my fault!

No,” her friends assure her.  “It was just an accident.  You didn’t intend to kill him.  It wasn’t your fault.”

Well.  Um.  Lessee now.  Reality has an inconvenient way of trying to elbow into life sometimes.  Women have rightfully attacked the old “She was asking for it,” male predisposition when rape not involving racial issues was discussed.  It generally works in town and something called ‘date rape’ is frequently prosecuted.

But maybe there’s a larger issue here.  Maybe females owe it to themselves to recognize at some fundamental level there’s a such thing as angry, angry men who aren’t out looking for trouble, but who don’t need any female genitals rubbed up against them just to give a girl a thrill.

But hell, I liked these guys.  Jeeze, they were Dishonorably Discharged!  I’ve never known anyone who was Dishonorably Discharged I didn’t like fairly well.  Although my step-brother, Bobby Jack Nelson, did have some character flaws to recommend against him over the long haul.  I liked him anyway.

If any of you watch this movie I hope you’ll come back and comment on the post.  I’d like to hear whether you find the flick as thought provoking as I do.

Old Jules