General Discussion Thread

[Matt Wiser]

One wonders how many of them were in New York....

[Poohbah]

One wonders how many of them were in New York....

...and whether they were regular or extra crispy...

And I'm off to Little Rock this week for some budget meetings, where we argue about how many angels can dance on the header of an Excel spreadsheet...

[clancyphile]

IC/Jeb Pruitt:

So, after the kids found the first cache, it became a priority to find others. Turns out, the Soviets had seven in the areas of Fort Knox and Fort Campbell. Three were intact. Two others were mostly full - the real dangerous stuff (Semtex, grenades, etc.) and dull stuff (documents) were still there, but the small arms and cash/gold were gone. One was called in by kids who told their parents... after they helped themselves to a finder's fee. One, though, was completely cleared out.

Good news: No nuke in the wild. Bad news: We have no idea what, exactly, was in it.

Search is being expanded nationwide now. We'll get a bunch of them, but we expect a bunch will be cleared out.

Had a tiff with Rep. Bagwell of Washington, who complained we didn't come down hard enough on the kids. We reminded him that the Amrican Legion post - OF WHICH HE WAS A MEMBER - mounted a fully-loaded missile launcher, complete with nuclear-tipped missile (I think it was a SS-N-14, but I'm not sure) that they took off what was, for all intents and purposes, a war grave. He was quiet after that.

OOC:

Just how many folks did take souvenirs from battle sites, wrecks, etc.? Probably became a big headache for military forces.

[jemhouston]

After the battle of Wichita, the locals took anything not nailed down. They were worried the Soviets may have counter attacked and they would be reoccupied. They took small arms up to and including mortars, and RPGs/ AT-4s.

A couple of years after war, the Kansas State Government offered to take in anything they wanted to get rid of.

The biggest thing that was turned in, someone had removed a Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin barrel 23mm from somewhere and mounted in on a removal platform that could fit in the back of 1 ton pickup.

There is a gun store / firing range owned by five veterans of the Battle of Wichita, three American and two ex-pat Russians. They're still refurbishing people picked from that battle.

Texas is even worse than that.

[Poohbah]

After the battle of Wichita, the locals took anything not nailed down. They were worried the Soviets may have counter attacked and they would be reoccupied. They took small arms up to and including mortars, and RPGs/ AT-4s.

A couple of years after war, the Kansas State Government offered to take in anything they wanted to get rid of.

The biggest thing that was turned in, someone had removed a Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-23 twin barrel 23mm from somewhere and mounted in on a removal platform that could fit in the back of 1 ton pickup.

There is a gun store / firing range owned by five veterans of the Battle of Wichita, three American and two ex-pat Russians. They're still refurbishing people picked from that battle.

Texas is even worse than that.

And if they could pry it up, it wasn't considered to be nailed down.

Never ask a lady her age, a man his salary, or a Kansas farmer exactly how he acquired that T-64 tank...

[Wolfman]

Or the spares, fuel and ammunition for said T-64…

[jemhouston]

Post War, there was a small market for military vehicles above the norms. In order to pay for the upkeep, they started side businesses to let the people drive them. Some side hustles became full time businesses https://www.drivetanks.com/.

Somebody got an import permit and started importing spare parts. In some cases, they installed US Engines.

I'm hearing about more people owning tanks.

[Wolfman]

God help us…

[Poohbah]

Well, last week at LRAFB got interesting. The DC/S Ops, LTG John Hadfield, said Wednesday night that the six of us had hit the wall in terms of productivity, and decided that what we needed was a good dinner at the Riverfront Steakhouse, no discussion of work related items, just some quiet fellowship over good food.

He was right. The evening was a much-needed break, and when we resumed work the next day, we got finished much more easily.

So, we were headed back to the base when we hear sirens. A Mustang passed us on the shoulder at abound 100, and then a State Police Charger comes past. They did a PIT maneuver right in front of us!

Johnny Hadfield called it the Arkansas State Police Hello.

[jemhouston]

Not surprised the break help.


Sometimes I wish a legislature would establish felony stupid in the penal code. Trying to outrun the cops would be in there.

[Poohbah]

Not surprised the break help.


Sometimes I wish a legislature would establish felony stupid in the penal code. Trying to outrun the cops would be in there.

Apparently, the ASP has quite a YouTube following for their PIT/TVI maneuvers. The guy who did this one is a minor celebrity.

[Wolfman]

Well, last week at LRAFB got interesting. The DC/S Ops, LTG John Hadfield, said Wednesday night that the six of us had hit the wall in terms of productivity, and decided that what we needed was a good dinner at the Riverfront Steakhouse, no discussion of work related items, just some quiet fellowship over good food.

He was right. The evening was a much-needed break, and when we resumed work the next day, we got finished much more easily.

So, we were headed back to the base when we hear sirens. A Mustang passed us on the shoulder at abound 100, and then a State Police Charger comes past. They did a PIT maneuver right in front of us!

Johnny Hadfield called it the Arkansas State Police Hello.

So, an interesting night, eh?

[Poohbah]

Well, last week at LRAFB got interesting. The DC/S Ops, LTG John Hadfield, said Wednesday night that the six of us had hit the wall in terms of productivity, and decided that what we needed was a good dinner at the Riverfront Steakhouse, no discussion of work related items, just some quiet fellowship over good food.

He was right. The evening was a much-needed break, and when we resumed work the next day, we got finished much more easily.

So, we were headed back to the base when we hear sirens. A Mustang passed us on the shoulder at abound 100, and then a State Police Charger comes past. They did a PIT maneuver right in front of us!

Johnny Hadfield called it the Arkansas State Police Hello.

So, an interesting night, eh?

Watching the quaint local customs of the indigenous peoples is always interesting.

[Matt Wiser]

A very quaint custom that has spread. ISHP (Idaho State Highway Patrol) uses it,as do their Utah counterparts. Some County SOs do as well.

As for lethal souvenirs? I've got two AKs still on my Den wall that I take out and shoot regularly (the AKMS I had in Colorado, and the AK-74 that I picked up on U.S. 287), Goalie has another -74 acquired at the same time on 287, and, of course, one really lethal (though technically demilitarized) warbird in 512.

Speaking of 512, Kacey wants to become F-4 qualified. Her mom and I have been talking about it, and we're drawing up a training syllabus. I'm also talking to the guys at the Heritage Flight and asking them how they go about getting a new pilot (who does have T-38 experience) qualified.

[clancyphile]

Or the spares, fuel and ammunition for said T-64…

IC/Jeb Pruitt:

That is something that may have to change. A couple months back, NEST got a call for my home town. Seems that during Prairie Fire, a SS-23 in its TEL ran out of gas and was left behind. Rancher grabs it, kinda some recompense for two-plus years of dealing with a lot of uninvited guests from the Rodina.

Rancher passed on, so the family asked the National Guard to look the vehicle over, make sure it was OK. Local unit comes... realizes the missile is still live. Cue the call for the local EOD.

They come in, and lead tech starts examining the saved paperwork. Calls in a translator from the intel shop. Three minutes later, they're on the horn. Turns out this particular SS-23 was packing the 9N63 warhead. We're talking 100 kilotons, folks.

Between the caches and that, there are some serious talks going on about trying to at least get an inventory. Senator Mason is going to take the lead - which is huge of her since registering stuff is, shall we say... practically anathema these days, which is why we're going to limit it to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear stuff.

[jemhouston]

Are people trying to get to start drinking again?


That said, I remember for about five years after the war, Texas was big on getting people to turn in the larger items they acquired. In most cases, once they were checked, they were either returned to the owner, or put for action with the owner getting a cut. I'm little fuzzy (so was Texas) how much NBC stuff was recovered, but it was sizable.

The last Sarin bombs were recovered two years ago in the Sam Houston National Forest. I think one hunter was about to shoot them, when another recognized what they were and stopped him.

[Poohbah]

Or the spares, fuel and ammunition for said T-64…

IC/Jeb Pruitt:

That is something that may have to change. A couple months back, NEST got a call for my home town. Seems that during Prairie Fire, a SS-23 in its TEL ran out of gas and was left behind. Rancher grabs it, kinda some recompense for two-plus years of dealing with a lot of uninvited guests from the Rodina.

Rancher passed on, so the family asked the National Guard to look the vehicle over, make sure it was OK. Local unit comes... realizes the missile is still live. Cue the call for the local EOD.

They come in, and lead tech starts examining the saved paperwork. Calls in a translator from the intel shop. Three minutes later, they're on the horn. Turns out this particular SS-23 was packing the 9N63 warhead. We're talking 100 kilotons, folks.

Between the caches and that, there are some serious talks going on about trying to at least get an inventory. Senator Mason is going to take the lead - which is huge of her since registering stuff is, shall we say... practically anathema these days, which is why we're going to limit it to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear stuff.

At Lubbock International Airport, we captured 282 nuclear weapons.

And the paperwork for 250.

DOE and NEST were the extremely busy for a while.

[Wolfman]

So you’ve said before. They’re going to be busy again with this.

[Lordroel]

Seems there is in the news that one of the new Russian Russian Borei-A-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the Imperator Aleksandr III has some problems following a failed R-30 Bulava missile test, the Imperator Aleksandr III is one of the eight Borei-A-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines the Russian Navy operates out of Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast.

[jemhouston]