Notes to self…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Find some place else to stay next time…
Air Farce bases have some ‘stupid’ internet policies- Block any thing about weapons (e.g. blogs, firearms companies, NRA, etc), and this is the pop up

Your page is blocked due to a security policy that prohibits access to Category Weapons

but you’re allowed to go to Brady bunch, VPC and all the other anti-gun sites…

Don’t walk close to the compound fence at night. DAYUM those floodlights are bright… AND I got busted for smoking in a secure area! WTF???

Why is it, if you’re inside the fence, everybody walking by on the outside ‘ignores’ you??? Are they pretending we don’t exist???

Japanese econo-boxes (e.g tiny cars) have more features than most full size american cars! My tin can with roller skate wheels has automatic wipers, automatic headlights, auto dimming rearview mirror, and a rear windshield wiper…

Now if it just had THREE squirrels for power, instead of the two…

With four full sized Americans in three bags in it, it had to downshift to low gear to get up a hill. Pretty bad when the big diesel truck was pulling away from us going to up the 9% grade…

After five “days” of less than four hours of sleep, dingy (is that a word?) does not BEGIN to describe how tired we are. One guy literally went to sleep in the middle of the conversation!

Once again, truly impressed by the kids out here on the pointy end… They are good, and proud of what they are doing! And in casual conversations, many more (both male and female) are gun owners/shooters! Yea for them!

There was something elzzzZZZZZZZ

10 Lbs in a 5 Lb bag- Take 2…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Here we go again… Take two, plus some pics. Reconfiguration is complete more or less…


Different CONEX boxes, different cable reels and other toys.

And creating welding 101 🙂 In the right center you see some folks squatting on the deck. They are welding padeyes to the deck, and as Danny observed before, painting them with White Lead, since they are temporary. Now it’s raining at this time, so they did some creative welding/painting, by using the torch to heat up the padeye/weld, paint it quickly, and use an umbrella to deep the rain off for a couple of minutes until the paint dried… Pretty creative!!!
And Danny wanted some more pics of the ROV, it’s a HYSUB 150/3000 (info HERE). This is a pic of the swing out derrick used to launch the ROV over the side of the ship, which does have DPS (1 meter accuracy).
Here’s another view of the derrick and cable sleeve. As you can tell, it’s a pretty ‘healthy’ assembly…
And here are some pics of their control station- Since we’re not planning on using it, we don’t have any of the ROV crew aboard.

My timing SUCKS!!!

Posted on by March 6, 2013


Alternate title- Well, THAT was just special…

Sigh…

Pushed it a ‘bit’ late leaving the work site, so we decided to take the Expressway back up to where we were staying. Now the tropical storm eye wasn’t quite here, but the wind/rain was getting interesting…

For those who’ve been over here, you remember the Expressway is made with volcanic rock in place of ‘gravel’ seen in most roads in the USA. It sheds water really well, but it’s also SLICK when wet!

Anyhoo, we jump on the Expressway, and the “mid-sized” car (read tin can with roller skate wheels) is a bit of a handful. The guy riding with me is already nervous, since he’s in the left front seat with no steering wheel, no brakes, nothing…

It’s blowing 30ish knots, gusting 50ish knots, raining ‘medium’ (about what we’d call a frog strangler back home) and sideways. So visibility is not the best.

I’m more concerned about staying on the road than I am about speed, so I’m not really looking as I’m also trying to see the road and kinda crabbing into the wind. About that time we come out from behind one of the hills onto the first bridge going North…

Next thing I know, the other guy goes, “did you do that on purpose?”

What?

“Did you change lanes on purpose?”

I didn’t change lanes!

“Yes you did!”

Huh???

“I can see the guardrail now, before I couldn’t!”

Meh… So we get across the bridge, and there we go again…

See above… Same comments from him and from me. He has had all the fun he can stand, so he flops the seat back down and tells me- “Lemme know when we die!” and closes his eyes like he’s sleeping.

So I fight the car up the Expressway for 25 klicks, get off, and- The wind drops off, the rain stops and the sun comes out…

And he looks up and asks, “Did we die? Is THAT why the sun’s shining and there’s no wind?”

My timing sucks!!! And I’m STILL trying to get the seat cushion outta my ass…

10Lbs in a 5Lb bag…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Well, here we go again… Trying to get 10lbs in a 5lb bag, er… ship…

This is a working ROV on the ship we are working with; it’s not the cutesy little things you see on TV, this one is a workhorse ROV!!! 4600 lbs, 100 inches high, depths to 16000 feet, two manipulators…
And a pic of the ship from the pier…
The big blue thing sticking up through the picture is the port A-Frame support, capable of >30,000 lbs. The other bits and pieces are semi positioned on deck, based on offload and ability to flake equipment out prior to deployment.
This one is from the 01 Deck, looking aft past the ROV sheave. Even though the deck ‘appears’ open, you can see the cable spool that has to be spooled out down the center of the aft deck.
And finally, what I think is probably the ‘best’ headline I’ve seen about OBL. And it pretty much captures the folks out here on the pointy end’s perspective…

And in what is becoming a habit, got another @#&*% Tropical Storm (03W) that has us boresighted… I want to find the sumbitch with the target painted on his back and send him somewhere/anywhere else… sigh…

Happy Mother’s Day…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

To each and every Mother, thank you for being there for us, bearing us, nurturing us, and most of all, putting up with us…


And a special thank you to those Blue Star and Gold Star Mothers out there. Without you, we would not have a military. Your sacrifices go above and beyond what any parent should have to endure.

The Blue Star Mother’s Flag. Contrary to what some think, this is NOT a Brigadier General/Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Flag…

A Gold Star Mother’s Flag- ‘Technically’ this flag is incorrect, the original intent was for the gold star to be slightly smaller than the blue star on the blue star flag and the blue star would form a border around the gold star.

USS Murphy DDG 112…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

USS Michael Murphy, DDG-112 was christened today, 7 May, 2011 at Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine. Adding to the significance of the date is that this was also his birthday. Lt Michael Murphy would have been 35 years old. Instead, he gave his life during Operation Red Wings at the age of 29. He gave his life for the other team members, and his memory will live on in this Burke class Destroyer.

More on USS Murphy HERE:

More on Operation Red Wings HERE:

More on the christening HERE:

Of note, LT Murphy and the other SEALS had the option of killing the herders who initially discovered them, but chose NOT to take innocent lives, even though it would ‘probably’ cause them problems. THIS is the kind of thinking that sets US military apart from the bad guys… Sadly, we lost three outstanding sailors that day and only PO1 Marcus Luttrel survived, and he is living every day with survivor’s guilt. I think it is truly appropriate that the “stock” photo used for the commissioning is not the officer portrait, but rather one of the last pictures taken of LT Murphy in theater. The ship’s motto is also true of not only LT Murphy, but the SEALs in general, the motto is “LEAD THE FIGHT”.

A bit busy…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Sorry for the light posting and commenting…


We took a bit of a different approach into Tokyo this time, as far as I could tell from listening to the controllers, this is the ‘new’ standard approach…

On the road for the next month or so, as usual lousy connectivity, and limited bandwidth at best…

So posting/commenting will be light and for that I apologize. I will throw stuff up when I can. Y’all go read from the side bar, ALL good folks over there!

Osama Bin Laden is dead!!!

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Looks like the US got him yesterday with a SOCOM team (update- SEALS supported by 160th SOAR) on the ground in Pakistan! Been waiting for familial DNA comparison, apparently it came through tonight! Best news I have heard since 9/11!

And even better, all our folks got out okay!

NRA Convention Wrap up…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

GREAT TIME! 🙂

Seriously, the dogs are now howling, but it was worth the effort and the time…


Estimates of attendance are around 70,000 (official figures will be released later this week)


Sebastian over at Snowflakes in Hell has been doing the grunt work attending the law seminars and other important meetings, and his reports are up HERE. Thanks Seb!!!


Thanks go to the NRA PR office, they let us in, and even gave us credentials! Other thanks-
The Pittsburgh Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department. Everyone of their folks I talked to were polite, helpful and pretty much ‘ignored’ all of those that were open carrying. Of course it might have been that they figured at least half of us were carrying…


And I did get a comment as I was leaving from one of the PD Sgts that not a single person had shot them the bird or called them pigs all weekend 🙂 Amazing how that courtesy thing works…


The event staff did an excellent job, they were unobtrusive, polite, helpful and the food was actually pretty good! But about those little bitty coffee cups…


I believe the ‘signature’ event was Wayne LaPierre’s call for Holder’s resignation. One can only hope they were listening in Washington!!!


We had a BUNCH of bloggers there, and it was a pleasure to meet folks I’ve been reading and those who comment (sometimes) on my poor little blog… One of the highlights was getting to meet Breda’s Mom- She’s in the dictionary- Under FEISTY! I can now see where Breda gets here attitude!


This morning I got in a ‘bit’ early, so I wandered around and ended up talking to John Bianchi for a few minutes, and got a chance to ask him how he came up with the design for the ambidextrous holster for the M-92. It was a truly interesting story involving three years of research and ALMOST didn’t get accepted because he added the cleaning rod to the front of the holster. John said he finally told the General that Bianchi would pay for the rods themselves!!!


I also got in early enough to speak to Ronnie Barrett for a minute or so, he was on his way to the big meeting, so was formally dressed, but he was willing to stop and talk. He indicated the MRAD should be officially released next month!!! Interestingly enough, EVERY person that came up to him while I was standing there (probably 15-20 folks) ALL thanked him for his stand on California!


So THIS is now on my wish list (probably about the 12th of never, but what the hey)…

I also stopped back by the FN booth after my last conversation with Frank James about hogs and the amount of ‘power’ needed to bring them down. I got a chance to talk to Eric Lund, one of FN’s shooters, and asked him for an honest appraisal of the SCAR 17. As we were talking I found out he used to be with an agency in Fairfax, and we know a number of people in common, including my gunsmith and folks that routinely whip my ass on the range…


His comments (or words to that effect)- It’s a slower cycle time than an AR platform, since it’s not direct impingement, it’s easier to clean and breaks down quickly (he did it in about 30 secs). He said it’s a smoother ‘felt’ recoil even as light as it is, and due to the lower alignment of the barrel to the stock, he felt the rise was very manageable for repeated shots. He also said the rifle should hold 1 MOA fairly easily. Trijicon is also making an ACOG optic that will fit it with the BDC built in like the TA31RCO. He also said it can be set up as either right or left handed depending on the shooter, with the exception of the ejection (always to the right).


I think this one goes on the serious want list…

And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Breda for setting up the blogger get together! It was great, and we had the added benefits of Alan Gura and Alan Gottlieb attending. Mr. Gura is one smart individual, and I believe there are other things coming from him. I also believe he has a critical capability that most of his opponents don’t have, and that is the ability AND willingness to think out of the box! I’m just glad he’s on OUR side!!!


And for those who are curious about the BBQ leather I wore last night, it was done by Kenny and Cody Rowe out of Hope Arkansas. Their web site is HERE!


I will defer to others who had MUCH better cameras than I for the pretty pictures, and thanks to all for the pleasure of your company! Looking forward to seeing you again next year, if not before!