SKULLHEAD SENDS CHRISTMAS

T'was the night before Christmas and all in my cave

not a creature was stirring because they were afraid.

The skulls all were hung by the chimney with spears

in hopes that the Fat Man would soon be there.

The children were asleep all nestled against the women folk

keeping warm on that cold winter night.

When all the sudden there arose such a clatter

Skullhead just sat there, he knew nothing was the matter -

it was the Fat Man with the reindeer.

He landed out front and then said, "Hello"

and proceeded to unload his sled in the snow.

"I brought some things for you folks and the kids

I know its not much but its all I can give.

Thank you for serving your country as you did

and wish I could do more for this no way to live."

Skullhead said "Thank you," for his kind words,

and "Things are not as bad as they seem.

We are all happy and the government leaves us be.

Some day things will get better just you wait and see.

All this around is only temporary, of that I guarantee."

"Well Fat Man," Skullhead proceeded to say,

"You better load up and be on your way.

Others are counting on you to stop their way,

You help people, remember it all will get better some day."

The Fat Man smiled as he sat down, "Skullhead," he proceeded to say,

"Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" then he flew away.

Skullhead smiled and said, "Its always a good day

as long as I don't have to ride in that sleigh!"





Longtime friend and comrade-in-arms SKULLHEAD sends from his cave deep in the Southland . . .

.

CHRISTMAS SEASON 1944

Belgium, sixty five years ago:




The Battle of the Bulge was the single largest and bloodiest battle American forces experienced in World War II.

In all, 840,000+ Allied soldiers participated in the Battle, with 1,300 medium tanks, plus tank destroyers, and 394 artillery pieces.

19,246 Americans were killed in the Bulge, 47,500 wounded, 23,000 captured or missing (an astonishing 89,746 total casualties), approximately 800 tanks destroyed. 200 British soldiers were killed, 1,200 wounded or missing.



They fought and died for our freedom. Remember them as you enjoy your Christmas festivities this year, and every year.





Due to horrific conditions at the hands of the Wermacht, many of these GI's did not survive their captivity.


The German Wermacht went into the offensive with 500,000 men, 1,800 tanks, and 1,900 artillery pieces. 67,200 German Wermacht killed, 32,800 wounded or missing and appoximately 700 tanks destroyed. On top of these staggering statistics, approximately 3000 civilians were killed during the course of the Ardennes campaign of 1944-45.


At this time I am playing catch-up with Blog STORMBRINGER - I will cover the Battle of the Bulge with greater, in-depth analysis as this Christmas season unfolds. - S.L.




The text reads:

Dec. 23, 1944 - "Battle of the Bulge" - An entire U.S. armored division was retreating from the Germans in the Ardennes forest when a sergeant in a tank destroyer spotted an American digging a foxhole. The GI, PFC Martin, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, looked up and asked, "Are you looking for a safe place?" "Yeah" answered the tanker. "Well, buddy," he drawled, "just pull your vehicle behind me...

I'M THE 82nd AIRBORNE, AND THIS IS AS FAR AS THE BASTARDS ARE GOING."




I have lived in and around the Fort Bragg area for many years. There are not too many of WWII paratrooper veterans left, but I have had the honor to meet a few over the years. I knew a retired Sergeant Major who served with the 101st in Normandy, the Low Countries and was at Bastogne. I asked him once, "How did you do it? How on Earth did paratroopers fight tanks, and hold out?"

"Oh, well, we just did what we had to do to stay alive."

"I always heard they put you guys in there without any winter gear?"

"All we had was bedsheets, white bedsheets, over our uniforms."

"Oh man. How did you do it? How did you deal with the cold?"

"Oh my Lord, that was the coldest I have ever been in my entire life. I will never forget that cold, as long as I live. On Christmas day, they served turkey stew. We were on the front lines, we'd have to go back one at a time. They'd fill our canteen cups with turkey stew, and by the time we'd get back to our positions, the turkey stew would be frozen solid."

Kind of puts the great Blizzard of 2009 into perspective, doesn't it? - S.L.

BACK ON TRACK

Home from my journeys, by the fireplace with a happy little Jack Russell snoring contentedly across my lap. Regular posts to continue soon . . .

BE ADVISED:

I will be in a travel window over the next three / four days . . . postings to Blog STORMBRINGER will be intermittent at best . . .

S.L.

INSURGENTS DID NOT "HACK" ANYTHING

I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger with an itch - closing out the month - and haven't had time to tend to Blog STORMBRINGER . . .


MQ-9 Reaper armed with GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided munitions and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles


The headlines read:

Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones
$26 Software Is Used to Breach Key Weapons in Iraq; Iranian Backing Suspected



When I heard this story on Thursday I thought right away, 'this isn't such a big deal.' If for no other reason that live video isn't encrypted.

Text and voice signal can be encrypted, but video is such a LARGE bundle of one's and zero's that it's hard to send live in the first place. Trying to encrypt and send live video - well, I won't say it's impossible, but it'd be damn hard to achieve.

Live video eats up so much signal and bandwidth on the electromagnetic spectrum, that it's hard for ground pounders to even get a frequency to use vid, never mind the power source necessary to send the stuff.

But I'm just a lowly knuckledragging Neanderthal, what do I know? SO . . . I ran it past the team techie - our "Q" - and he confirmed what I already suspected: video can't be encrypted (as far as he knows, and he knows a LOT). Ergo this is NOT hacking, this is eavesdropping:


This from the AP:

Dale Meyerrose, former chief information officer for the U.S. intelligence community, compared the problem to street criminals listening to police scanners.

"This was just one of the signals, a broadcast signal, and there was no hacking. It is the interception of a broadcast signal," said Meyerrose, who worked to field the unmanned systems in the 1990s, when he was a senior Air Force officer.

The problem, he said, is that when the drones were first being developed they were using commercial equipment, which as time goes on could become vulnerable to intercepts.


There is a tendency to de-humanize your enemies, and to underestimate them - especially if they are Asians or Africans.



The Taliban have displayed some ingenuity here, granted, but this does not put them in the same category as the SpyKids.

SUPPORT THE TROOPS

It's Christmastime . . .




You want to send a Care Package to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, & Coast Guardsmen serving in harm's way . . .

. . . but have no idea of what to send, who to send it to, or how to send it?


Click HERE to find out how . . .








Suggestions of things to send:

• Baby Wipes
• Razors
• Lip Balm
• Hand Sanitizers
• Deoderant
• Bath/Body wash
• Shaving gel
• Peanut butter (no natural peanut butter, please – it doesn’t ship or store well)
• Single serve coffee packets
• Drink singles (like Crystal Lite)
• Small stuffed animals (soldiers give them to the local children
• Nail Clippers
• Hand Lotion
• Thoothbrushes
• Toothpaste
• Non-perishable/sealed snacks
• -individual servings
• I-tunes gift cards or pre-paid phone cards
• Ramen noodles


Sergeant Brian Horn was serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Kirkuk area of Iraq as a sniper team leader when he started the idea of Any Soldier® to help care for his soldiers. He agreed to distribute packages that came to him with "Attn: Any Soldier" in his address to soldiers who didn't get mail.




Brian later completed a tour in Afghanistan and is now home, but AnySoldier.com continues larger than ever. Due to overwhelming requests, in January 2004 the Any Soldier® effort was expanded to include any member of the Armed Forces in harms way:























Christmastime, or ANY time! The troops are always grateful to get Care Packages, and they NEED THE STUFF!!!

NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER's UZI

As originally seen on DOUBLETAPPER

Take a standard configuration UZI:




Add a Picatinny Rail, Fore Grip, Flashlight, Scope, Drum Magazine, and what do you get?












How about an IDF Custom silencer?














What about full amphibian warfare capabilities?




Not your Grandmother's UZI!

IDF Women Cadet 1970's with IWI UZI SMG



IDF Women have been issued the UZI SMG since it's creation.




These IDF Women are about 69 years old now.
Some of them still like to shoot


Let me know what you think . . . S.L.