A comparison…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
While taking a frustration break today I noticed a couple of portable generators parked on the other side of the parking lot…

As I wandered over, I realized this was ‘almost’ a perfect example of the difference between Mil-Spec and what is called COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) procurement…

On the left is a Kohler 30KW portable generator mounted on little two wheel trailer (commercially procured/assembled ‘system’)…

On the right is a Mil-Spec 30KW portable generator mounted on it’s Mil-Spec trailer…

First, note the difference in the trailers.  On the left, a ‘standard’ little lightweight 2 ton trailer.  Single axle, small ‘feet’ for stabilization, generator is ‘attached’ to the trailer by 4 bolts on the bottom and four steel angle clamps about 3 inches wide.  Standard trailer lights too. Weighs about 500 lbs.  Standard trailer hitch, no trailer brakes. Small aluminium storage ‘tray’ forward of the genset.

On the right is a Mil-Spec ‘lightweight’ trailer.  Dual axles, as wide as a Hummer, diamondplate steel fenders, full articulable large foot stabilizers. The generator is dropped between 12 inch by 3 inch I-beams welded and bolted to the trailer frame, and the generator is bolted to the I-beams by 10- 1/2 inch diameter bolts on EACH side, and also tack welded with 3-4 inch beads at each corner.  Mil-Spec trailer lights, air brakes, individual hand brakes for each wheel,  Pintle Hook instead of trailer hitch, welded steel storage box 12 inches deep by 36 inches long by 24 inches wide welded forward of the genset in the frame.  Weight something around 2000-2100 lbs.


Now the gensets themselves…

Again Mil-Spec in foreground, Kohler in the background.

First the Kohler, note the limited number of access panels/doors, and the ‘lump’ just forward of the genset on the trailer is the ONE cable with ONE set of connections. Weight about 2600-2800lbs (full of diesel).

Next, the Mil-Spec (ugly Army green), note 4 access panels on the left side, repeated on the right side. On the rear are four more access panels.  In the tray are a selection of cables, covering ‘most’ requirements, plus the black panel on the front of the genset allows access directly to the master three-phase output.

Weight over 3000lbs (full of diesel).

Now comes the ‘fun’ parts…

Time to procure-

Kohler setup- appx 30 days

Mil-Spec setup- appx 1 YEAR!  (paperwork, justification, order, wait for manufacture, MOAR paperwork, etc.)

Cost-  

Kohler setup- $15,000 WITH trailer

Mil-Spec setup- Somewhere between $80-100,000…

So bottom line, Mil-Spec costs between $65,000-$85,000 MORE money, but it’s “certified” to perform under all circumstances, go into battle, etc. etc…

(and requires a special school AND a license to operate)…

The Kohler?  Hook it up and turn it on…

Any Army or Marine types that can verify costs of the Mil-Spec and weight would be appreciated (I have ‘guestimates’ from the power plant manager)…

Sigh…  

Say WHUT???

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Well, it looks like the rats are deserting the sinking ship…

Briefing reporters Tuesday ahead of the hearing, State department officials were asked about the administration’s initial — and since retracted — explanation linking the violence to protests over an American-made anti-Muslim video circulating on the Internet. One official responded, “That was not our conclusion.” He called it a question for “others” to answer, without specifying.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter, and provided no evidence that might suggest a case of spontaneous violence or angry protests that went too far.

Full article HERE.

Ya know, if one of US did something like this, our asses would be UNDER the damn jail…

And ANOTHER one out of Chi-town…

Drawing the ire of the gun lobby, Cook County Board President Preckwinkle is eyeing a violence tax on guns and ammunition sold in the city and suburbs, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
snip-
“If we were to pursue a tax on something like guns and ammo, clearly that wouldn’t be popular with the [gun lobby] out there, and it may not generate $50 million, but … it is consistent with our commitment to pursuing violence reduction in the city and in the county,” Kurt Summers, Preckwinkle’s chief of staff, said on Monday.

Full article HERE.

They just DON’T think the same way we do!

Worth a Read…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This is from the Captain’s Journal…

On the other hand, because of political correctness, in the Spring of this year, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley was condemned by the Joints Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and relieved of teaching duties at Joint Forces Staff College for teaching a course judged to be offensive to Islam.  The course he taught,Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism, was an elective course that Lt. Col. Dooley’s superiors judged as presenting Islam in a negative way. His superiors were persuaded to come to this conclusion after receiving an October 2011 letter in which 57 Muslim organizations claimed to be offended by the course.  The fact that Lt. Col. Dooley is a highly decorated combat veteran with  nearly 20 years of service under his belt apparently held little or no sway with the JCS.  As a matter of fact, JCS Chairman General Martin Dempsey “personally attacked” Lt. Col. Dooley on C-Span on May 10, 2012, during a Pentagon News Conference.

I’ve already blogged about this one, and it’s still ongoing with LTC Dooley…

Next, take note of the fact that females are now matriculating at infantry officer training at Quantico.  This is certainly in line with Andrew Exum’s counsel concerning his own branch of the service: “I see no compelling reason why women should not be allowed to attend Ranger School. As far as I am concerned, if a woman really wants to run around a sawdust pit at two in the morning screaming “Ranger!” while periodically stopping to low-crawl for 50 meters, we have a constitutional — nay God-given — responsibility to allow her to do so.”

And we’ve batted this one around too, but it’s STILL applicable…
Full Article HERE.  And make sure to read the first comment too!

h/t to Don

Now if we can just get a few folks to actually pay attention…

Just sayin…

And this one has been out there for a couple of years, but it’s still valid…


You OWE it to yourselves to participate in this election, go vote please!!!

This Gives Me a Little Hope…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
For one, it was actually made in San Diego (but then that IS a Navy/Marine town). But more over, it’s kids who actually ARE paying attention to what this election means!



And then there’s this from Sgt. Major J D Pendry, USMC Retired…

He’s definitely STILL got his act together!!!


Jimmy Carter, you are the father of the Islamic Nazi movement. You threw the Shah under the bus, welcomed the Ayatollah home, and then lacked the spine to confront the terrorists when they took our embassy and our people hostage. You’re the “runner-in-chief.”

Bill Clinton, you played ring around the Lewinsky while the terrorists were at war with us. You got us into a fight with them in Somalia and then you ran from it. Your weak-willed responses to the USS Cole and the First Trade Center Bombing and Our Embassy Bombings emboldened the killers. Each time you failed to respond adequately, they grew bolder, until 9/11/2001.

John Kerry, dishonesty is your most prominent attribute. You lied about American Soldiers in Vietnam . Your military service, like your life, is more
fiction than fact. You’ve accused our military of terrorizing women and children in Iraq . You called Iraq the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time, and the same words you used to describe Vietnam . You’re a fake! You want to run from Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to murderers just as you did to the Vietnamese. Iraq , like Vietnam , is another war that you were for, before you were against it.

John Murtha, you said our military was broken. You said we can’t win militarily in Iraq . You accused United States Marines of cold-blooded murder without proof and said we should redeploy to Okinawa . Okinawa, John? And the Democrats call you their military expert! Are you sure you didn’t suffer a traumatic brain injury while you were off building your war hero resume? You’re a sad, pitiable, corrupt, and washed up old fool. You’re not a Marine, sir. You wouldn’t amount to a good pimple on a real Marine’s ass. You’re a phony and a disgrace. Run away, John.

Dick Durbin, you accused our Soldiers at Guantanamo of being Nazis, tenders of Soviet style gulags and as bad as the regime of Pol Pot, who murdered two million of his own people after your party abandoned Southeast Asia to the Communists. Now you want to abandon the Iraqis to the same fate. History was not a good teacher for you, was it? Lord help us! See Dick run.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Carl Levine, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Russ Feingold, Pat Leahy, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, the Hollywood Leftist morons, et al, ad nauseam: Every time you stand in front of television cameras and broadcast to the Islamic Nazis that we went to war because our President lied, that the war is wrong and our Soldiers are torturers, that we should leave Iraq, you give the Islamic butchers – the same ones that tortured and mutilated American Soldiers – cause to think that we’ll run away again, and all they have to do is hang on a little longer. It is inevitable that we, the infidels, will have to defeat the Islamic jihadists. Better to do it now on their turf, than later on ours after they have gained both strength and momentum.

American news media, the New York Times particularly: Each time you publish stories about national defense secrets and our intelligence gathering methods, you become one united with the sub-human pieces of camel dung that torture and mutilate the bodies of American Soldiers. You can’t strike up the courage to publish cartoons, but you can help Al Qaeda destroy my country. Actually, you are more dangerous to us than Al Qaeda is. Think about that each time you face Mecca to admire your Pulitzer.

You are America ‘s ‘AXIS OF IDIOTS.’ Your Collective Stupidity will destroy us. Self-serving politics and terrorist-abetting news scoops are more important to you than our national security or the lives of innocent civilians and Soldiers. It bothers you that defending ourselves gets in the way of your elitist sport of politics and your ignorant editorializing. There is as much blood on your hands as is on the hands of murdering terrorists. Don’t ever doubt that. Your frolics will only serve to extend this war as they extended Vietnam . If you want our Soldiers home as you claim, knock off the crap and try supporting your country ahead of supporting your silly political aims and aiding our enemies.

Yes, I’m questioning your patriotism. Your loyalty ends with self. I’m also questioning why you’re stealing air that decent Americans could be breathing. You don’t deserve the protection of our men and women in uniform. You need to run away from this war, this country. Leave the war to the people who have the will to see it through and the country to people who are willing to defend it.

Our country has two enemies: Those who want to destroy us from the outside and those who attempt it from within.Semper Fi,

J. D. Pendry – Sergeant Major, USMC, Retired


We NEED more people to speak out… plain and simple…

Rube Goldberg’s Grandkids…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Some talented kids with WAY too much time on their hands…


And you’ve got to give Coke credit for letting them have a go at it…

h/t JP

Hard at work…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Spent the day fighting the wind and rain… It was just brutal…

And for those who’ve ever gotten a time hack from WWVH, here it is…


And here are the three antennas (no I didn’t climb the HF mast to take this)…


Trivia question, what are those three Freqs??? 🙂

Trivia question #2, does anybody remember the Lady who’s voice was ‘featured’ on WWV/WWVH ???

Hint- probably 90% of us over the age of 30 have heard her voice ‘many’ times…

If you don’t know, the answer is HERE. 

Um… Not so fast…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This one came in via the mil-email net.

The spinning continues…

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says the Pentagon has the resources to implement its strategic re-balance toward the Asia-Pacific, despite increasing budget restrictions in Washington.
Speaking Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, Carter acknowledged that it is fair to question whether the United States has the ability to meet the objectives of the “pivot” toward Asia announced by the Obama administration last year.
The plan was recently criticized in a U.S. government-mandated report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which found that the pivot has not been presented in a way that reflects “current budget realities.”

snip…

US sends “newest assets” to Asia
But he also outlined details of plans that have angered Beijing, including the transfer of U.S. military ships to the Pacific and the stationing of U.S marines in Australia.
“By 2020, we will have shifted 60 percent of our naval assets to the Pacific. That’s an historic change for the United States Navy. The Marine Corps will have up to 2,500 marines in rotation in Australia. We will have four littoral combat ships stationed forward in Singapore,” said Carter, “And, we’ll proceed to fully build out our military presence on Guam and surrounding areas.”
As wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, Carter says the United States have more flexibility to send its “newest assets” to the region, including warships, aircraft carriers, B-1 bombers and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

Full article HERE on Global Security.

Wheeet…  Bullshit flag…

This is not even CLOSE to the truth!  All one has to do is search public documents  to see that ALL of the services are in trouble, and what new assets???

F-35 is on the chopping block…
P-8 is on the chopping block (Again)…
DD1000 is now a 2-3 ship class (maybe only ONE ship)…
B-1’s classify as ‘new’???
Hell, they’re still deploying B-52s world wide since they can actually DO the job…
LCS?  There are only two, and the rest are possibly on the chopping block…
2500 Marines to Australia?  From where???
And the Army??? They’re in Korea…  

And all those other ‘new’ ships…  Well, that’s DESRON 15, webpage HERE…

All seven of them…

To cover THIS area… And yes, that map IS to scale…

And we’re ‘not’ paying any attention to China???  Geez, these folks truly HAVE drunk the koolaid!!!

One can only wonder ‘why’ these speeches/articles/comments are coming out.  Can’t possibly have any impact on the upcoming sequestration could it???

I do know there is a LOT of churn on the mil-email and real concerns about the folks we’ve got on the front lines after the last couple of weeks…

Think About It…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
When you add THIS



to what has happened in Libya, is happening with China, and North Korea…

I can only ask you to think about where you want America to go before you vote!

Outta Gas…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
California is in trouble…

The combination of the refinery fire, pipeline issues and the fact that no other refineries make the CARB (California Air Resources Board) certified re-oxygenated gas is having MAJOR impacts…

Gasoline at the pump gained 8.3 cents to $4.315 a gallon in California yesterday, according to AAA.com, 53.1 cents more than the national average of $3.784. In Los Angeles the price was $4.347. Gasoline futures for November delivery on the Nymex rose 14.34 cents to settle at $2.9429 a gallon, after falling yesterday to a 10-week low. Retail price movements tend to lag behind those of futures.
Not too bad, right???  Um… not quite…
See below!
San Francisco
Spot California-blend gasoline, or Carbob, in San Francisco surged 30 cents to $1.40 a gallon over futures, also the highest level since at least 2007, at 4:03 p.m. New York time.
Low-P, a gasoline station in Calabasas, California, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, stopped selling unleaded gasoline Oct. 2 and ran out of high-octane and medium-octane fuel yesterday, John Ravi, the station’s owner, said by phone yesterday. Ravi said he posted an “Out of Gasoline” sign on each pump and took down the prices outside his shop.
“I can get gas, but it’s going to cost me $4.90 a gallon, and I can’t sell it here for $5,” Ravi said. “If you come here right now, I’ve got some diesel left. That’s all. My market is open, but no gas.”
“We’re going to start shutting pumps Friday,” Sam Krikorian, owner of Quality Auto Repair inNorth Hollywood, said by phone yesterday. “Gas is costing me almost $4.75 a gallon with taxes. There’s no sense in staying open. The profit margins are so low it’s not worth it.”

’Squeeze is On’

“The squeeze is on, and people are doing desperate things,” Bob van der Valk, an independent petroleum industry analyst in Terry, Montana, said by e-mail yesterday. “The mom- and-pop gas stations are having to close down from either not being able to obtain gasoline from their regular distributor or cannot afford the break-even price of almost $5 per gallon.”

Complete article HERE.

But… but didn’t they say gas was ONLY $4.315 at the pump?  And that’s IF you can find gas…

My daughter had to gas up today on the way to work, and Costco was OUT of premium… She said she paid $5.75/gal on I-5… 

California is melting down, and when you add in the union problems, the taxes, the underwater budget, and now no gas; it’s a question of how much longer California can hold out, or whether they will have to declare bankruptcy BEFORE the election…

The Things One Sees…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
And doesn’t have a camera handy…

Like a 300+lb local…er… Native Hawaiian, wearing board shorts and go aheads (Flip-flops to us), on an old Vespa…

Or maybe ‘absorbing’ the Vespa… he was hanging off ALL sides of it…

To get ‘started’ off the stop light, he had to crank the throttle wide open, then push…  Think Fred Flintstone…

And since he was so big, he couldn’t get his feet in the little footwell, so he picked his feet up ‘just’ far enough to not hit the street (but the back of the go aheads were bouncing off the street).  And wide open I don’t think he EVAR got over 15-20 mph…

And overheard at lunch…

The ‘real’ reason Obummer lost was he’s Black, and it was a RACIST debate…

Huh???  Wanna ‘splain that one to me???