Archive for November, 2011

Comanche Code Talkers Inducted into OK Hall of Fame

From: Comanche Nation

Fourteen Comanche code talkers and two Medal of Honor recipients are among those inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame on Nov. 11. The Comanches used their native language to keep Germans from understanding radio transmissions during World War II. They were honored posthumously during the ceremony. Nine other Oklahomans also were honored at the ceremony  Nov. 11 at the Gaylord Center at Oklahoma Christian University. Four of them also are deceased. Those selected for induction into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame are:
The Comanche Nation code talkers served in the U.S. Army 4th Signal Company, 4th Infantry Division during World War II. They used their Comanche language in radio transmissions that helped save the lives of thousands of Allied troops. They served in combat from the D-Day invasion of Normandy to the end of the World War II in Europe. The 14 Comanche code talkers who served in the European Theater are: Charles Joyce Chibitty, Haddon “Red” Codynah, Robert Holder; Forrest Kassanavoid, Wellington “Mike” Mihecoby, Perry “Taxi” Noyobad, Clifford Ototivo Sr., Simmons Parker, Melvin Permansu, Elgin Red Elk, Roderick Red Elk, Larry W. Saupitty, Morris “Sunrise” Tabbyyetchy and Willis Wood Yackeschi. Noyobad was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart; Kassanavoid, Saupitty, Yackeschi and Roderick Red Elk were awarded the Purple Heart during the Korean War. Melvin Permansu and Roderick Red Elk received the Korean War Service Medal and United Nations Service Medal. In 1995, Chibitty, then 78, was honored as the last surviving World War II Comanche U.S. Army code talker in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.

Staff Sgt. George G. Red Elk was born in Lawton. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1967 and served in Vietnam as a loader, gunner and tank commander with Company D, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He received the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions on March 18, 1969, when his unit was conducting a sweep through a rubber plantation. Red Elk’s tank received rocket-propelled grenade fire, severely wounding his hand. He knocked out a second rocket-propelled grenade team and remained with his tank until he passed out. Red Elk also served in the Oklahoma Guard’s Battery A, 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery of the 45th Field Artillery Brigade. He was deployed to Saudi Arabia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Read more: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-military-hall-of-fame-set-to-induct-new-members/article/3600761#ixzz1d9GRLoxD

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NATO service member killed in southern Afghanistan

From: Statesman.com

NATO says one of its service members has been killed in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan.

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Make Ready with Bill Jeans: Shotgun Operator

 

Join Bill Jeans for a one-on-one training session in his Shotgun Operator course. Bill is the owner-operator of Morrigan Consulting, a tactical weapons training and consulting business in operation since 1998. For over seven years Bill was the Operations Manager and Chief Rangemaster for Gunsite, the world-renowned school founded by Jeff Cooper. With Shotgun Operator, you will learn about shotgun choices and options, ammo selection, wall penetration, shotgun handling, reloads, patterning with buckshot, shooting with slugs, multiple targets, pivots and turns, transitioning to a handgun, shooting with movement, combat mindset, and the shotgun standards

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Russian Hackers Attack Illinois Utility

From: PopSci

The Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center released a “Public Water District Cyber Intrusion” report on November 10 that indicates that hackers may have had access to the system since September. Hackers using Russian IP addresses hacked the software vendor that makes the system. They were then able to access the vendor’s database of usernames and passwords, and used the stolen credentials for remote access to the SCADA system’s network. These vendors keep records of their customer’s access information for maintenance and upgrading the systems.

Two to three months before the discovery of the hack, operators noticed “glitches” in the remote access to the SCADA system. “They just figured it’s part of the normal instability of the system,” said Joe Weiss, cybersecurity expert and managing partner at Applied Control Solutions, who obtained a copy of the report. “But it wasn’t until the SCADA system actually turned on and off that they realized something was wrong.”

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Cautionary Tale: Birdshot is for Birds – Bad Guys require 00 Buckshot

Old_Painless: “I received a note from a police officer that asked me not to mention names or locations about this true event.

A police officer was involved in some shotgun training, where they used #6 birdshot in the training due to lower cost. After the training session, he forgot to remove the birdshot and replace it with 00 Buckshot, the normal carry load.

That night, while on patrol, he confronted a couple of burglars and was in a shootout with them. He shot both of them with his shotgun, but forgot that he had it loaded with birdshot.

They killed the officer and escaped.

Never use birdshot against goblins. Use plated 00 Buckshot.”

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot22_4.htm

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US Army Completes First Test Flight of Mach 6 Weapon

“In a terse press release, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the first test of the the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, which launches on a staged rocket and then glides to its target, in a manner similar to the Space Shuttle’s re-entry.

Over at DefenseTech, they argue that the trajectory being different from an ICBM is meant to show that it is not a first strike device, but even the commenters don’t think that explanation flies. The speed of deployment and the ability to strike targets without going high enough to be seen by many advance warning radars makes it a precision surprise attack weapon, a kind of super-cruise-missile for surprise, asymmetric attacks.”

http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/11/18/1448258/us-army-completes-first-test-flight-of-mach-6-weapon?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

Concept animation here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/dod-army-successfully-tests-top-secret-hypersonic-weapon/story?id=14975275#.Tscnh0-kSyN

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U.S. Military Goes Online to Rebut Extremists’ Messages

“…The government’s expanding efforts in computer-network warfare, offense and defense are among the most secret enterprises carried out by the military and intelligence community.

To counter the adversary’s use of the Internet, American cyberwarriors have hacked into extremist chat rooms to sow confusion, or to inject poisonous code to take down militant Web sites. Sometimes, they choose not to act, but silently track the online movements of jihadists to learn their plans.

In contrast, the Digital Engagement Team operates in total sunshine: all of the online postings carry an official stamp acknowledging sponsorship by Central Command.

…“You’ve heard of the Iron Curtain, of course,” Mr. Safavi said. “We’re here to pierce the Electronic Curtain because the military has decided that it cannot cede this information space to violent extremists.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/world/us-military-goes-online-to-rebut-extremists.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

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Cartel Plot: Use U.S. Guns for Massive Mexico City Attack

“In October of 2008, Chicago-based drug trafficker Margarito “Twin” Flores was summoned to the Sinaloa Cartel’s mountaintop compound. The leaders of the Mexican narcotics syndicate were pissed. The brother of a top lieutenant had been arrested by the government and risked being extradited to the United States; the Sinaloans wanted to retaliate — in a massive and deadly way, and in the heart of Mexico City.

“Let it be a government building, it doesn’t matter whose. An embassy or a consulate, a media outlet or television station,” cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman said. Even the U.S. embassy might be fair game.

“Twin, you know guys [in the U.S. military] coming back from the war,” the lieutenant’s son, Jesus Vincente Zambada Niebla, told Flores. “Find somebody who can give you big powerful weapons, American shit. We don’t want Middle Eastern or Asian guns, we want big U.S. guns, or RPGs [rocket propelled grenades].”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/u-s-guns-mexico-city-attack/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

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Special Operations Command (SOCOM) announces: “invisibility” equipment for commandos a top priority.

“…SOCOM is asking for proposals that’d “reduce the warfighter’s facial signature” in marine environments, to minimize their risk of heat-based detection by infrared sensors or motion-based spotting via electro-optical surveillance.

Sounds crazy, but they just might have a shot. In 2008, the Army Military Research Office boasted that they were a mere two or three years away from developing metamaterials that could deflect light to conceal a given object.

Since then, experts at various institutions have made impressive progress. Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas have shown off an invisibility cloak that harnesses the “mirage effect,” defense company BAE Systems has developed a system that renders vehicles invisible to the entire infrared spectrum and physicists from St. Andrews University broke new ground with a meta-material that comes even closer to all-out undetectability.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/invisible-soldiers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

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Darpa’s Quest to Find You by Your Heartbeat

“The U.S. military can see you breathing on the other side of that wall. It can even see your heartbeat racing while you crouch behind the door. But if you think running farther away or hiding in a crowd will make you invisible to the Defense Department’s sensors, you might be in for a surprise. The Pentagon’s geeks are looking to tweak their life-form finder so they can spot your tell-tale heart no matter what you do.

Darpa, the Pentagon’s mad-science shop, announced last week that it’s looking to improve on technologies that sniff out biometric signatures like heartbeats from behind walls. Dubbed “Biometrics-at-a-distance,” the program seeks to build sensors that can remotely identify humans from farther away and tell them apart in a crowd.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/follow-your-heart-darpas-quest-to-find-you-by-your-heartbeat/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

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Corrosive Ammo Damage

wild50gunner: “My in depth analysis of damage done to a Arsenal SGL-31 that went without maintainance for 9 months after fireing corrosive Rusian surplus 7n6”

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Sootch: “Why I Own A Gun: Self Defense”

“Self Defense is a Basic Human Right!”

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Obama Pushing Shooters Off Public Lands

“Gun owners who have historically been able to use public lands for target practice would be barred from potentially millions of acres under new rules drafted by the Interior Department, the first major move by the Obama administration to impose limits on firearms.

Officials say the administration is concerned about the potential clash between gun owners and encroaching urban populations who like to use same land for hiking and dog walking.

“It’s not so much a safety issue. It’s a social conflict issue,” said Frank Jenks, a natural resource specialist with Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 245 million acres. He adds that urbanites “freak out” when they hear shooting on public lands.”

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/11/16/obama-pushing-shooters-off-public-lands

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Brownells November Super Selections

Click here for November specials from Brownells.

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If you know that you will have to fight…

“Bring a rifle.

Bring several friends with rifles.

If a rifle is not available, bring a shotgun loaded with 00 Buck.

If a shotgun is not available, bring a handgun, one that the caliber starts with at least a ‘4’.”

– Clint Smith

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