"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (8 Viewers)

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

XBe02Drvr said:
Whoa, Chris, not so fast! They may be Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, but they ain't all dummies. Three of the top five in my fast track Avionics "A" School class were Marines, one of them female, and our class was only 15% Marine and 5% female. All the Marines were in the top quarter of the class. Semper Fi where it's due. Good thing, because they had to endure hand-me-down equipment.
Click to expand...

Chris never identified what the Marines would DO with the crayons...but one suspects it has little to do with making pretty pictures. Rapid insertion up an adversary's nostril, for example, is a very Marine-like thing to do with a crayon...they probably learned the trick in kindergarten.
 
GrauGeist said:
Several local law enforcement agencies have received vehicles from them like HumVees and even a South African Army Casper (armored car).
Click to expand...
The militarization of policing is a problem. People should join the police for the same reason they want to become a nurse or firefighter, to help people, not to play soldier.

We had a wave of police militarization here in Canada in the 2010s, mostly about replacing friendly, bright paint on cruisers to black and greys, and officer's uniforms changing from light blues to blacks. But we also saw municipal police buying armoured vehicles for that one riot every decade that gets out of hand. Everyone wants to feel like they're in Starship Troopers I suppose.
 
Last edited:
buffnut453 said:
Chris never identified what the Marines would DO with the crayons...but one suspects it has little to do with making pretty pictures. Rapid insertion up an adversary's nostril, for example, is a very Marine-like thing to do with a crayon...they probably learned the trick in kindergarten.
Click to expand...
I'm told a Crayola Kindergarten Special fits neatly in the pitot tube of a MiG. Preflight test of the pitot heat melts and cures it in the Russian winter, and by launch time it's polimerized and invisible. How's your accelerate-stop distance with full ordnance on a wet runway? "Roll the equipment, Comrade!"
 
Up until at least about 20 years ago, the government published a GSA surplus list. The top of the pecking order was other Govt agencies, then state agencies, then counties within the states. There was apparently proof needed of a requirement. Terrebonne Parish (county) in Louisiana had two L-20 Beavers, three DUKW amphib trucks, and a couple of deuce and a half. The aircraft were used for search over the swamps for aircraft down. The trucks were handy during hurricane relief. The Louisiana Dept of Wildlife and fisheries received two YO-3As which they used to catch illegal shrimpers. While I was working for Kodak I serviced a processor at the NASA Stenis rocket test center and was shown a piece of equipment which filled a 9 by 12 foot room. The dept head got it from GSA surplus. The only thing it could do was make perfect black & white 8" by 10" photo prints. It was one of two built for NASA and used in California. There was no solid state electronics, all vacuum tubes. Once calibrated, it had to stay powered on constantly. I was shown some prints from film exposed in various lighting and full of shadows and hidden detail. When printed by this machine, the exposure for the print compensated so that it looked as if it were photoed outside on a sunny day. I was completely impressed with this piece of equipment as at the time I had a darkroom in my garage. Seeing it had a very limited use in the late 80s, I asked why he had it. His response was, "I just couldn't let this machine be scrapped."
 
XBe02Drvr said:
Whoa, Chris, not so fast! They may be Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, but they ain't all dummies. Three of the top five in my fast track Avionics "A" School class were Marines, one of them female, and our class was only 15% Marine and 5% female. All the Marines were in the top quarter of the class. Semper Fi where it's due. Good thing, because they had to endure hand-me-down equipment.
Click to expand...

M.A.R.I.N.E

My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment
 
Admiral Beez said:
The militarization of policing is a problem. People should join the police for the same reason they want to become a nurse or firefighter, to help people, not to play soldier.

We had a wave of police militarization here in Canada in the 2010s, mostly about replacing friendly, bright paint on cruisers to black and greys, and officer's uniforms changing from light blues to blacks. But we also saw municipal police buying armoured vehicles for that one riot every decade that gets out of hand. Everyone wants to feel like they're in Starship Troopers I suppose.
Click to expand...
"Militarization" of LEO has been a response to a part of society that increasingly glorifies "gang culture" and disregards the laws of society.
A good point would be several years ago, when gunmen in Los Angeles robbed a bank and then battled police in a running street fight. The police were under equipped and out-gunned by the robbers and it took a tremendous effort to stop them - the police were armed with revolvers and shotguns versus the robber's Soviet manufactured weapons and body armor. That event made LAPD upgrade to better equipment to better protect their officers and in turn, provide the ability to s

Tehama County Sheriff's Casper has only been used on a few occasions, all were incidents where a gunman was barricaded and battling deputies, requiring a SWAT response.

Shasta County Sheriff's HumVees are used for Search and Rescue or accessing the many illegal marijuana plantations that pop up in remote areas of the county.

City of Redding's SWAT armored car, on the other hand, was special ordered from Ireland.

Holding hands and offering hugs and cookies to today's bad people is not going to stop them from shooting a cop (or a 13 year old girl) in the face.
 
special ed said:
Up until at least about 20 years ago, the government published a GSA surplus list. The top of the pecking order was other Govt agencies, then state agencies, then counties within the states.
Click to expand...

special ed said:
Seeing it had a very limited use in the late 80s, I asked why he had it. His response was, "I just couldn't let this machine be scrapped."
Click to expand...
Just before I reported to my Permanent Duty Station NAS, a destroyer squadron was disestablished at the NavBase downtown, and a little later a sub squadron followed (old diesel boats), resulting in a major downsize of the Ships Repair Department. Suddenly all kinds of machine tools and other paraphernalia appeared on the GSA surplus list, so our E7 Chief OIC went downtown on a shopping spree. He just couldn't let that stuff get away and scored a lathe, a small milling machine, two drillpresses, a table saw, a bandsaw, a radial arm saw, a joiner, two sanders, a bending brake, and several lots of tools and cutters, all in top condition. These promptly got installed in a large open space in our shop that the Air Station CO had been considering taking away from us and moving another activity into.
One hand washes the other. We got to keep the space and the machinery in return for doing odd fabricating jobs for the air station and other tenant commands in lieu of having them let out to contract. We built a cockpit procedures trainer for the SH3 helicopter after NavTraDevCen refused to supply one. Also, various bulletin boards, display cases, directional signs, and fixtures for various shops around the base. But mostly we did "cumshaw", using it for our own personal projects and vehicle maintenance or making retirement plaques for officers and chiefs.
 
Sorry, this did give me a chuckle.

AFD1C335-6004-4AED-AA35-108F0A2223D8.jpeg
 
Ukraine only hope is that the Soviet economy tanks before they do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

  • ... and 1 more.
    • Total: 9 (members: 5, guests: 4)

    Similar threads

    A
    The coming $26 billion windfall for the Canadian Armed Forces. What to buy?
    2
    Replies
    37
    Views
    1K
    Sisu
    S
    M
    All V-22's Grounded
    Replies
    2
    Views
    1K
    GTX
    GTX
    M
    All This For The Low, Low Price of .....
    Replies
    19
    Views
    2K
    MIflyer
    M
    M
    The Wrath of KAAN?
    Replies
    3
    Views
    839
    Snautzer01
    Snautzer01
    M
    The USAF V-22 Mishap of 2023
    Replies
    2
    Views
    496
    Thumpalumpacus
    Thumpalumpacus
    Back