John Kettler

Sgt.Squarehead, After rewatching the video, I picked up on something I hadn't noticed that first time and was, I believe, remarked upon in a separate armor video related to the main one. That was that the way the deflector rib was attached to the armor (three rivets, one at front and the others on the far end of each leg) made it give when hit, thus dissipating some of the arrow's energy, and even bending if hit hard enough, much like a crumple zone on a car. In the former case, it would give, deflect and spring back. In the latter case, the "V" was a form of sacrificial armor, winding up bent, maybe in the limit destroyed. But upon further study of the T-64's "V", I noticed it wasn't welded down throughout but was, in fact, welded in only a few places, thus, I would think, at least potentially getting the same net effect as on the Agincourt breastplate. MIchael Emrys, Was previously unaware of these shot deflectors. As for utility, uneven impact loads degrade penetration (via tip erosion, projectile directional change, etc.), or even defeat penetration by, amor-piercing projectiles. Erwin, That could be true. Were that the case, though, I'd expect no gap beneath most of that deflector. Regards, John Kettler

Most of us know about the Venus flytrap, but did you know there's a masculine looking insect eating plant which has caused considerable excitement lately via the moniker hung on it and big time doubts about the photos purporting to show it? https://www.anonews.co/penis-flytrap-exists-in-remote-forests/ Anyone for a virtual circus? Yes, you read that correctly. The animals never run amok, have no smell and don't poop. Nor do the circus owners have to deal with animal activists. https://www.anonews.co/circus-uses-cruelty-free-animal-holograms-instead-of-live-animals/ What's better than an already amazing pink dolphin? That would be a pink dolphin mom with her calf! https://www.anonews.co/endangered-pink-dolphin-gives-birth-to-a-pink-calf/ Regards, John Kettler

SimpleSimon, Know what you mean about carrying a certain tactical mindset into CM. Making the transition from from CMx1 to CMx2 was quite challenging for me and others because it was no longer a squad icon and the odd sniper here and there, but all these individual guys, so troop handling became a thing, as did dealing with terrain granularity, resulting in only partial squad effectiveness because of LOS issues. In CMx1, if you had LOS, the entire squad fired at full effect. But the killer (and not just metaphorically speaking) was that tactics which worked well in CMx! could and did get your troops slaughtered in CMx2. This was especially true of assaulting MG positions. In CMx1, you could charge them headlong, would probably take some lumps, but would carry the position, but that same effort would get your men butchered in CMx2. That was WW II. Modern warfare, as exemplified in CMx2 CMBS was another matter altogether, because of the huge increase in weapon accuracy and lethality. In my initial outing as the Russians, I lost 40% of my force in two shattering minutes! The AI controlled US force did that to me, mind, while firing on the move. Ivan Zaitsev, You're most welcome. Bozowans, Read that book ages ago and much appreciate the quote you provided. J Bennett, Ref M16A1 carrying handle, that's crazy, but not the only such Army craziness I know of. During both WW II and the Cold War the Army fielded combat boots with rough outer surfaces of tanned leather. In the first case, it was because it was much simpler and cheaper to build the boot that way. In the Cod War case, it was to enhance concealment. In both cases sergeants burned off the nubs and ordered the men to black and polish them as per normal boots! Great that you got a CMP M1 Garand. Got to put a few rounds downrange with one and shot prone. Wouldn't want to have to fire lots of shots from one in a day, but in fairness, I was very skinny back then and weighed something like 125 pounds. J Bennett and LukeFF, Suspect the real origin of that confusion lay in the fact the furniture on the rifle was plastic, not hardwood and that, compared to the M14 it replaced, the M16 did look like a toy weapon and relative to the M14, hefted like one, too. Regards, John Kettler

Time to start a new 12 Step program--or not. Looks like this is more to do with compassion than addiction. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7539757/Surrogate-mum-14th-time-52-admits-pregnancy-compulsion.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed Regards, John Kettler

Back in my Soviet Threat Analyst days, I read a DIA pub on the T-64, a tank of which we knew very little even in the early 1980s because it was never paraded and was held inside the Soviet Union, rather than deployed in East Germany with the GFSG (Group of Soviet Forces Germany). Distinctly recall reading about the "V" shaped piece on the glacis armor, concerning which the received wisdom of the time was that it was there primarily to deflect water during fording, but by a strange set of circumstances, I would up watching a video in which there was a forensic reconstruction using a 160 pound draw replica English longbow, firing case hardened and plain wrought iron tipped bodkin point arrows, against an exact replica of a French knight's breastplate and area immediately below it. There's more to say, but the part that's directly relevant to the tank side of things is that the breastplate had a "V" too. Live fire found that mid chest shots which didn't hit square on would deflect upwards, but were deflected away from the throat by that self same "V". As a result of this, am now of the opinion that the main purpose of the "V" on the T-64 and other tanks may really have been to divert projectiles which would otherwise be guided to the turret ring, driver's vision blocks or gun barrel if instead of biting on impact, skidded up the armor plate, just like the arrows did. Additionally, there are horizontal bars on the glacis plate right in front of and a bit downslope of his vision blocks. The function of those bars is to put differential stress on an projectile hitting it in order to cause it to break up. The BMP-2 has a similar arrangement on the entire glacis, specifically to defeat otherwise lethal smaller HMG and cannon projectiles. At least before DU and SLAP! Here's the video. T-64B showing that "V" on the glacis. http://www.military-today.com/tanks/t64_images.htm Regards, John Kettler

Be sure to watch the other videos on that YT channel, among which are one on Canadian uniforms and insignia, another on German infantry uniforms and insignia and a third on the Panzer and Sturmartillerie uniforms and insignia. Learned a lot, but the amount of information, especially ref the German side, is dizzying and my retention dubious! The German videos have some (drool) excellent pics and clips; the Canadian vid nowhere nearly as many. The Canadian insignia, a topic on which I knew almost nothing and which is rather atypical by US standards, gets thoroughly discussed, from the lowest ranker up through Army CO, I believe. Regards, John Kettler

Hm. What could people do to a huge electronic billboard that would generate national level media interest and provide amusement, too? Here's the answer! Regards, John Kettler

This is a superb video contrasting common depictions in war movies of how infantry carried their weapons against real period sources and photographic evidence. Has lots of useful pictures, including squad movement through drainage ditches in Normandy, British infantry in assault configuration complete with T-handled full size shovels, GIs advancing, Germans in city fighting and the famous BoB StG44 equipped SS moving past burning US halftrack, plus images and text from German, US and British manuals and even training film. Also describes several sites where excellent information on particulars of weapon handling in WW II are covered. Not only is this information helpful for skins and terrain info, , not to mention potential VO chrome via German command to get down, but I believe it could be fed into the soldier animations. Might be interesting to explore animations for prisoner handling upon capture, too. Have read the GIs commonly cut the belt of prisoners, so they'd have to use their hands to hold up their pants, greatly limiting opportunities for mischief! Regards, John Kettler

Be sure to check out the section Pictures at the above link. Many are like looking at someone's wartime snapshots, while others are like you're there, back during the war. Eerie! Also, though there's some duplication, the unit's blog has gobs of grog goodies, too. https://sichrgt195.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR2Fms0DOaIO847V-MoCSK0JYm1ZfiXna4_oZmrB7NZEW14jDzAbkjSY7H4 Regards, John Kettler

The unit's blog has lots more. https://sichrgt195.blogspot.com Regards, John Kettler

From a living history site for a Sicherung unit comes a wealth of German groggery devoted to the nits and grits of soldiering, uniforms, equipment, ant-partisan ops, training and more. These guys are straight up grunts, with the highest rank being an Obergefreiter. http://www.festung.net/livinghistoryarticles.htm Regards, John Kettler

76mm, Well put! Bud Backer, How could I have missed that? Do have a live link by any chance? Do any of our Russian, Ukrainian and other colleagues have accounts of Soviet medics, male or female, both ref training and in battle. Am sure IRemember.ru has some, but they're unreachable from the English side of the site.There seem to be slim pickings on the Anglophone side of things. One small item of good news is that there are miniatures of Soviet medics in 28 mm scale produced by Warlord and a female owned outfit called Bad Squido Games. The latter also has a female recon group, mortar team and other items. Wish I could find an account I posted long ago of a husband and wife team in an ISU-122 in the Battle of Berlin. He was the driver mechanic and she the komandir. They were having an argument while trying to get into battle as to what route they should take! Nothing to do with medics, but I thought I'd mention it. IRemember.ru also had/has a great account by a former female tanker. One interesting bit of chrome was that the ladies felt unfeminine in their figure hiding trousers and cut up the pants to make skirts, in gross violation of the regulations. Such destruction of State property, especially in wartime could easily have gotten summary execution of penal battalion/penal company (depending on rank). Suspect the osobists (NKVD) were told to stay out of it by higher because of the morale boost it gave to the female comrades who shared the exact same risks in battle and faced a dire additional likelihood the men didn't if captured! Regards, John Kettler

No lion in the wardrobe, but how cool is this? How about these? I've heard of giant teddy bears, but this one dwarfs them all. Shudder to think what it cost! Regards, John Kettler

Accidental innuendo or deliberate? You decide. Certainly, the ad's message attention getting. As long as the handrail holds, this is a fantastic (and wholly new to me) way to exercise! Regards, John Kettler

This is wrong in so many ways! This is an actual target array used by North Miami Beach Police Department. Am perfectly fine with training one human silhouette targets, depictions of armed terrorists and the like, but this is beyond the pale. Absolutely fits the letter and spirit of the OP, too, in terms of an appropriate story for the thread. The horrifying story has spawned a strong response, a depressing one from that police department's officials, and its own hashtag #usemeinstead started by clergy. Here are a few examples. Despite the astounding similarity to Vinnie of "Jersey Shore" fame, this priest has the same message. Regards, John Kettler

"Sorry, our bad." In actuality, law enforcement personnel are almost certainly trained never to admit fault for their. conduct, lest it be used in a suit/s against individuals and their departments, agencies and such. Regards, John Kettler

Now, this is a warning sign. Not looking good for him so far, but they say there's someone for everyone, right? Am showing this because my paternal grandfather was an engineer on a steam locomotive as one of his many careers. Besides, it's a cool sequence. Regards, John Kettler

This is what you get when Manufacturing ignores the blueprints from Engineering. So unnecessary! Here is a textbook demonstration of how NOT to do a chokehold and illustrates perfectly why LAPD banned it after a bunch of during arrest deaths. Were he to put significant tension on the choking arm and pull toward himself, he could easily injure her or kill her. This is because he'd crush her windpipe. What he should've done was put her neck in the crock is his forearm and upper arm, then squeeze, partially or fully cutting off blood flow to the brain, making her semiconscious in the lesser case or knocking her out completely. Regards, John Kettler

Aragorn2002, You're way ahead of me in your reading there, and your assessment of the value of that author's work is mind-blowing. Concur ref quality of work and encourage you to post there and tell him so. Regards, John Kettler

This subject came up over in the CoC group, and I though people here would appreciate what I found. This is part of a Soviet unit re-enactor site. The article on female Red Army medics: includes, period illos showing casualty extraction methods, 1939 bag contents (did sulfa powder get there later under LL?) and re-enactors in a variety of female medic uniforms. My interlocutor was asserting they were only in field hospitals, to which I replied they were pulling guys right off the firing line to get them to aid stations. Have read veteran accounts myself saying exactly this. The medics were not with the men directly in the line but were close enough to respond to cries for help. They were armed, too. No idea why there's a blue highlight. https://theredguard.weebly.com/medics.html Main site is here. These people are deadly serious about the quality and credibility of the historical representation they provide. Regards, John Kettler

ikalugin, Much appreciate this, but could you supply at least a rough translation of the table? Haiduk, As ever, thanks for the particular UKR centric info and insights you provide. THe UA put the Javelins just where I would have--in the hands of those who can do the most damage with them, and not necessarily AFVs, either. CPs come to mind, as a case in point. Jammers would be another high leverage target. As for the dummy Javelin in the pic, judging from the helmet, that soldier is SOF, and it's entirely possible real training is being done using a mockup of at least all-up Javelin system service weight. Regards, John Kettler

You're welcome, guys. Here's a great one from the same site on the Italian Army. Most of the article is indeed about matters at that lofty level, but the CM value lies in a trove of largish pics, some in period color, covering everything from a sentry through mortar team, Bersaglieri, Alpini, airborne, IG and crew, flak, AFVs and even trucks, clear down to the Red Devil hand grenade and Brixia projectile. The grenade cum projectile appears to be full size. My favorite pic is the first one, which features a formidably protected ATG. https://www.eucmh.be/2019/09/19/the-italian-army-in-ww-2-turnbow/ Regards, John Kettler

Erwin, You misunderstood me. I didn't say the guy in the GIF was doing the Fosbury flop but that someone years ago did. Was drawing a contrast between the low back first jump the man of yore did with the astonishing gigantic headlong forward leap of the guy in the GIF. Regards, John Kettler

When the Complaint Department for Uncomfortable Mass Transit was overwhelmed by the truly butt hurt, the department instituted a strict in-person requirement. to make things more manageable, the waiting room was downsized to hold one person, and here's the chair. Regards, John Kettler

Don't recall the name of the football player, but there used to be a guy who'd do a Fosbury flop to get into the end zone. But get a load of this. He even stuck the landing! Regards, John Kettler