John Kettler

This is a great story illustrative, I think, of human potential. Stan Lee himself would be impressed, and he's got a show full
of incredible unique people who can do things so amazing they're hard to think about, never mind see happen and have to deal with those shocks. Let me put this mind boggling deadlift into perspective for you. Arnold Schwarzenegger's deadlift record in his prime was over 300 pounds less, and that's straight from Arnold. Watch Eddie Hall kill it, with Arnold Schwarzenegger totally focused on motivating him all the way.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Steve,
 
That's wonderful, and I'll make sure my brother knows, since I've been showing the game to him via vids and stills. But please tell me where to find the Black Dea? That's what the header reads at your link.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Steve,
 
That's wonderful, and I'll make sure my brother knows, since I've been showing the game to him via vids and stills. But please tell me where to find the Black Dea? That's what the header reads at your link.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

panzersaurkrautwerfer,
 
I really do miss my brain. I neglected to mention when I visited NTC. 1980. I believe MRE's were pretty new then. For sure, my brother thought they were better than K rations. Was was also the occasion of my previously described romp in the Threat Garden. After looking inside an MTLB and being told it was relatively spacious, I felt bad for the PBI who had to run around in a BMP. 
 
Either your memory's great, or it's your Google fu, but Walter McIlhenny was indeed a Navy Cross winner. So sayeth his Wiki.
 
For extraordinary heroism and courage as Executive Officer of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, during a frontal assault upon a strongly fortified enemy Japanese position along the coast of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, August 27, 1942. After organizing a volunteer party to advance and evacuate the wounded from the hazardous position well forward of the company, First Lieutenant Mcllhenny, armed only with a rifle, and while under heavy enemy mortar and machine gun fire, covered the advance and withdrawal of the rescue party, gallantly drawing enemy fire and silencing a Japanese machine gun nest. Although ill at the time and suffering shock from concussion of an enemy mortar shell, he returned to a vantage point close to enemy lines and, in the face of fierce sniper fire, acted as an observer, relaying accurate information necessary for fire control until ordered by his superior officer to leave his post. His great personal valor, above and beyond the call of duty, not only made possible the rescue of nine wounded men but also contributed to the success of Marine mortar fire.
 
He also won the Silver Star.
 
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while in command of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, in combat against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on November 2, 1942. After a previous attempt to secure information had failed, Captain McIlhenny led a patrol of approximately twenty men to reconnoiter the enemy's right flank and, moving through dense jungle, cleared the zone of hostile snipers and finally reached his objective. Completing his mission, he started to lead his patrol back to their own lines when they were spotted by the enemy who immediately opened fire, pinning them down. When almost all of his men were wounded, including two runners who had been dispatched to the battalion, Captain McIlhenny, despite his own injury, determined to carry the message himself and finally succeeded in reaching our lines. His great courage and unswerving devotion to duty enabled his company to attack the enemy's flank and capture their position. His superb leadership and indomitable fighting spirit were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
 
With that sort of life experience under his belt, can you imagine the joys of trying to make excuses to him?!
 
I appreciate the rundown on MREs, which I'm told have gotten better since I first had one. I wouldn't know, since I really didn't enjoy the experience, other than having it with my brother/MRE cuisine guide. I wonder why they don't put beef jerky in MREs? Lightweight, nutritious and, as long as it stays dry, immune to pretty much everything short of a direct hit from a nuke.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

This is a great story illustrative, I think, of human potential. Stan Lee himself would be impressed, and he's got a show full
of incredible unique people who can do things so amazing they're hard to think about, never mind see happen and have to deal with those shocks. Let me put this mind boggling deadlift into perspective for you. Arnold Schwarzenegger's deadlift record in his prime was over 300 pounds less, and that's straight from Arnold. Watch Eddie Hall kill it, with Arnold Schwarzenegger totally focused on motivating him all the way.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Everyone,
 
The purpose of this thread is to provide a central location into which I can put information and the like which I deem significant and worth knowing about, as well as my own observations and opinions, subject to the usual BFC rules, as well as certain request and strictures coming from BFC. In this way, there should be no further thread proliferation and "real post" ranking issues. Other members are, of course, welcome to participate in what I post, but I ask that you be respectful. Argue against the ideas I present; don't attack me. As some may have noted, I have formal requests in to the Mods to kill two separate threads. If they choose to do so, that should further alleviate matters on the CMBS Forum as a whole.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler
 
 

This is a great story illustrative, I think, of human potential. Stan Lee himself would be impressed, and he's got a show full
of incredible unique people who can do things so amazing they're hard to think about, never mind see happen and have to deal with those shocks. Let me put this mind boggling deadlift into perspective for you. Arnold Schwarzenegger's deadlift record in his prime was over 300 pounds less, and that's straight from Arnold. Watch Eddie Hall kill it, with Arnold Schwarzenegger totally focused on motivating him all the way.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Apocal,
 
The English language must be terribly confusing to people trying to learn it. Are we talking guards made of mud, something like China's famous clay warriors, or are they guarding mud. If the latter, why guard at all, given effectively unlimited supplies? And that's over an above the now not so obvious, if running across the term without knowing tanks or having an image to work from, guarding against mud? Weighty questions, to be sure. Now, if you want to talk mudbugs, I'm there! Shall need beer, though.
 
Dozza,
 
This is turning into quite an education for me. During my Hughes days one of my first assignments was to figure out how the Russians could render WASP, a brilliant swarm antitank missile which used active MMW guidance, useless. One of the things we came up with was using track guards to hide the telltale track reflections, especially when moving. Back then, the Russian tank force, as we saw it, was T-62s and T-55s, neither of which had skirts.  The T-64, which did, was never seen in public back then, was never paraded. The US learned of the T-64 in the late 1970s, and there wasn't even a CIA report on the T-64B until October of 1984. In fact, we had no sighting of the T-64B until 1980. In my entire career in military aerospace I never saw a single CIA document. They had lots of control markings which kept them out of defense contractor hands. What I saw came out of DIA or Army Intelligence.
 
This hiding the tracks concept may (note conditional) explain the embedded metal fibers in the T90 series track skirts and, presumably, the mud guards. The Russians were the world leader in MMW systems, and the US was trying desperately to catch up. The T-72 , which started with gill armor, was officially accepted as a State approved weapon in 1973. Interestingly, the Wiki has a link to BFC's T-72: Balkans on Fire. I don't know, having never seen anything on the matter at all in terms of more than cursory info, when the Russians switched from straight rubber (what we thought when we saw them), to the current material. But then, the US didn't have a single T-72 to examine until after the SU collapsed in 1989.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler 

gunnersman,
 
I think those two are suitable for a quiet Estonian night, whereas Bradleys could be heard in the Kremlin. Only slightly more acoustically stealthy than a nuclear strike. Speaking of Bradleys, here's a niftly little toy.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Tank Hunter,
 
Thanks for these. I think having the latest and the greatest sensors gave the US the edge on detection time, but at the price of a small accuracy loss when rush shooting. Looks like the Chieftain guys weren't having a good day, particularly when you look at what that Chieftain gunner says at the other link regarding his CAT experience. The consistent German and Netherlands apparent sensor edge with the Leo 2 is evident in the equally consistent 4.1 second slower Leo 1. Nor is this delta a national difference, for the numbers also apply to a non German unit in both cases. I strongly suspect the German did a lot more live fire gunnery training than did the Canadians, and their poor showing was something of a NATO and national scandal. I would've been surprised, though, had German gunnery been poor, Historically, the Germans have been excellent gunners (see, for example, German naval gunnery at Jutland and scored here (p 756 et seq) by the British themselves as on par or better than theirs. Nor was that an isolated case. There's also Big Bertha, the Paris Gun, Anzio Annie. I'll stipulate to the Panzer aces of WW II. At heart, they're all about being meticulous about gunnery. I'd say the traditions, thorough crew training and firing experience showed up unmistakably in the stats. Besides, if having the GSFG and the East Germans across the border doesn't motivate you to excel, what will?
 
LOckAndLOad (How I wish you'd picked a handle easier to type),
 
I linked to Chieftain gunner because I had absolutely zero notion, less still knowledge, the Chieftain could be fired that fast, with at least part of the course being firing on the move. This is a tank which is firing two part ammo, after all. Also, depending on what year of the CAT you selected, the way teams got to the competition changed more and more to resemble typical crews than the best of the best which characterized the early years.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler 

Zveroboy1,
 
If the Eastern Front is the redheaded stepchild of the CM2 family, take heart that the child was ever born to begin with. Some of us have been trying to get a PTO game since the first CMx1 game, CMBO, came out. But we can't so much as get mating to occur. There are people who've done some amazing PTO mods, but it's hardly the same. We'd be thrilled to have something as simple as a Vehicle Pack, so we could go do the rest ourselves, but that isn't happening, either. If you want more Eastern Front love, then make the kind of argument which will get Steve's attention and magnanimity--greatly improved CMRT sales.
 
It probably doesn't help your cause, though, that the whole area of GPW conflict is presently akin to a pressure cooker with a marginally performing, worsening, safety valve. I could be wrong, possibly hugely so, but sales might be better if 1C, the Russian firm which created CM:Afghanistan, which BFC developed, had done CMRT. I say that because there is apparently a large Russian gaming community and having a Russian firm create it would theoretically have gotten the locals excited, generating a lot of sales from motivated buyers interested in the GPW. This is, of course, pure speculation, since I don't know how many copies of CMRT BFC has sold and expects to sell. Nor do I have even the remotest idea how big the Russian gaming community is and of those players, how many are GPW buffs, care about Op Bagration, and at what price point they would buy. Way too many unknowns, but what I do know is that Steve's not about to bet the firm on a hope. He, like investigative reporters, has to follow the money. Unless and until the European side of the gaming community begins to be a significant part of the gaming market, the reality is that BFC's game and module choices are going to be heavily skewed toward what the principal customers, Americans, want and have shown they're willing to pay for.
 
Also, it occurs to me that Op Bagration may not be floating the boat of the panzerphiles, if you will. CMRT doesn't have much because the German mech forces had been wiped out wholesale in many areas and were mere shells elsewhere. The Germans aren't on the strategic offense or teetering into the strategic defense. They are deep into it and trying desperately to hold things together. Mainly with infantry.
 
This sort of stands Panzerphile World™ on its head. In order to really be able to play with lots of tanks, one has to be Russian. A lot of gamers aren't interested in that (I know someone who always has to be the Germans, as a case in point), so this may be a further factor working against CMRT. There's heavy armor, but it comes with red stars and "Za Stalina" on the turrets.
 
As if that weren't enough, there's the whole Cold War thing. Russia was our ally during WW II but became our enemy after the war. And like it or not, to this day if you call the average 30-35+ American adult male a commie, there's a high likelihood you'll get rapped in the chops, for to us that is an insult and not a small one Thus, taking Russia in CMRT, I suspect, brings up strong negative associations of being a commie. True, calling someone a Nazi is also not going to go well, but the Germans are seen as having the cool toys (oh so many sizes and shapes, forget the logistics nightmare in the real war) and the cool camouflage, too. Russians have only a relative handful of AFV, gun and vehicle types, and they with very few exceptions come in either Russian green or whitewash over same.I guarantee you far more people in the US have heard of a Tiger tank than have heard of a T-34. And hit movies such as SPR and Fury have only made this even more true.
 
This split has been true for decades when it comes to WW II models as well. Model competition after model competition in the US will show German AFVs, guns and softskins to be the dominant category, with Tiger tanks of every stripe guaranteed to be prominently featured. I've been a student of Russian armor going back to high school, and I built the Tamiya SU-100 back when models came with rubber tracks and motors, but the meat of the market was the German stuff. I say this not just as a former modeler, but as someone who set up and ran a hobby shop; who knew and dealt directly with all the model builders in a good sized city. Anything German was hot, even if it was a staff car. I'd say the situation has begun to reverse itself somewhat in the last decade or so because Russian and other regional firms have put out a slew of Russian models on every conceivable subject. If you want a T-26 model of a chemical warfare variant that is armed with two big Flash Gordon style mustard gas rockets, you've got it, but there used to be almost nothing. 
 
Summing up, I believe the factors I've listed probably have exerted  a strong negative cumulative effect on CMRT sales and constitute a real and financially significant inertia which BFC has to contend with every time it seeks to do something Eastern Front related. We got Op Bagration because it allowed BFC to leverage a huge outlay in units, models, weapon characteristics, animations and more done for CMBN and CMFI to get us a new game faster than would otherwise have been the case. But I am dead certain that had the first Eastern Front  release been CM:Barbarossa, BFC would be a lot happier with the sales figures. And the CMers and the overall computer wargame market would be a lot happier with BFC. Part of the problem is simple ignorance. American school children were/are taught about the invasion of Russia, but unless it's a specialized history course, even college students (barring those in military academies) won't ever have heard of Operation Bagration. Had to look it up myself. Nor does it help there's been little mainstream stuff on it or, for that matter, much on the Eastern Front in English from the Russian side at all. When Ballantine Books published Jeffrey Juke's Kursk: The Clash of Armor in 1969 as part of the Ballantine Books Illustrated History of World War II, it was practically a revolutionary act, sad to say. The same was true of Douglas Orgill's  T-34: Russian Armor from the same sprawling series. It was published in 1970. These were probably the first times the American and British mass reading public got to see things from the Russian side of the fence, using Russian sources, in a context that was neither exclusively invasion (Barbarossa) nor besieged cities (Stalingrad, Leningrad), and wasn't the Battle of Berlin, either. Yet neither Jukes nor Orgill was  Russian.
 
Though I don't own currently own CMRT myself (resource constraints and successfully seduced by CMBS), I do hope BFC puts out a Module for it. BFC has said it intends to do a series of games for the Eastern Front. But the likelihood of that is very much tied to how this Eastern Front game does, despite what I perceive as a stack of obstacles in its way. My short term solution? Find a millionaire. Have that person buy lots of CMRT games, give them as gifts, sponsor tournaments and the like OR have said millionaire commission BFC to create the desired Eastern Front product, paying for same with a big fat check having enough zeroes following the first nonzero digit to make it worth BFC's while to make it and generate a nice profit, too. Regardless of any subsequent sales. A more practical and realistic approach would be to talk up the game someplace other than here, get people to play the CMRT Demo (the first E-crack's free) buy extra copies as gifts and do anything else you can think of to get people to buy CMRT. Good luck!
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Alexey K,
 
Confound it! You've just revealed BFC's deep black CMBSOS. Combat Mission Black Sea: Operational-Strategic. Stratfor paid a fortune for it on a private commission to BFC, but with a secrecy clause, and now Steve is going to have to return his yacht and Charles is no longer going to have that exquisite Waterford crystal brain jar he's just gotten used to. But fear not, Wikileaks will soon have all the juicy details for us. Look what happened the last time it looked into Stratfor.  The link is real. Shall have to read the Stratfor gaming article. Looks pretty interesting.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

jomni,
 
Which M60 version, please? Makes a big difference in both general capabilities and in terms of comparison with the T-64. M60A3TTS, for example, had stabilized gun, LRF, ballistic computer and thermal sights.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

I may've posted this before, but if I didn't, you'll likely be glad I did. He was in the GPW from November of 1941, maybe earlier, and fought through the entire war.
 
http://www.nps.gov/nama/blogs/The-Nine-Lives-of-a-Soviet-Tank-Commander-Vasily-Bryukhovs-Service-During-World-War-Two.htm
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

When my brother was at NTC, one night there was a soldier, out cold in his sleeping bag. Then someone moved an M113 about ten feet in the dark without checking ahead. You know the rest. Which was how I learned about crunchies after hearing him first use the term and not understanding it. Some explanations can be done without, I've discovered. I was equally perplexed by "DATs" and "CDATs," but those terms, while not endearing to those referenced, at least didn't directly involve sudden large compressive forces on a hapless friendly.
 
In looking at my #89, I now find myself cringing a bit over my first sentence. I think what I find offputting is that I prefaced my lead thought with "sadly," and I wish I hadn't done that. To me, it seems almost inhuman when I look back at it. 
 
Codename Duchess,
 
A very good question. Monty Python would've gone to town with that training session. Something like.
 
Training Instructor
 
"Now see here, men. You've all done the Armour Course, You're real tank men now. Regret to inform you that something got left out of the training syllabus."
 
(Up pipes Private Watkins)
 
"Sergeant?"
 
Training Instructor

"Yes, Watkins, what is it?"
 
Private Watkins

(Freezes, can't talk)
 
Training Instructor
 
"As I was saying, you've learned you must shoot, move and communicate in order to fight your tank properly and kill the enemy, right?"
 
(Growling but low enthusiastic utterances from the men)
 
"Kill the enemy! Right!"
 
Training Instructor
 
"But sometimes, you must be clever in how you go about it. Understand?"
 
(Tank men look clueless)
 
"You must learn to squish and not be squeamish. Got it?
 
(Watkins again)
 
"What? Getting toothpaste out of a tube?"
 
Training Instructor
 
"Something like that."
 
Watkins
 
"Why ever would one be squeamish about toothpaste?"
 
Training Instructor
 
"Well,..."
 
END
 
I really would like to see Armata. Something that rumbles smartly down the road, a brilliantly conceived and executed steel, exotic alloy and composites tank that leaves observers speechless. Not one that looks that way, but is made of plywoodium, either. I want to see Armata, but the only place I want it in combat is on our (virtual) turf. There, we shall test its mettle (and metal) in vicious flurries of electrons and charge state changes!
 
I feel like Tantalus, and I'm tired of having this purported super tank dangled in front of me, yet always out of reach. Given that we seem to be able to get pictures of experimental tanks on the Poligon, pics which, given my former work, would've been practically priceless during the Cold War, it's frustrating to have so little on Armata. I almost wish I'd not seen the speculative or better informed renderings (not the SF style insanities), articles and vid. For they gnaw at me. At times. If patience is a virtue, right now I'm not terribly virtuous!  
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

This looks like serious work, and this is very clear from the high production values. Sky Mods will want to take notes, for some of what I'm seeing is breathtakingly beautiful. Who knew the Poligon could be an art piece? The treadhead stuff is great, and it's interesting to see a Russian encampment with the troops in tents, camo fencing around what look to be HQ or other sensitive elements, but what I like already, less than 2.5 minutes in, is seeing the tank crews themselves. Whatever this is, it has subtitles, but they're in Russian!  Also, I noticed something remarkable and rather cool. When the tank fires, the shock (pretty sure it's not the muzzle blast) on the chassis is so great it shakes a lot of dust off the tank, something akin to what a dog does. Clearly, we need a dust mod for this!  Russian tankers are tough. I see these guys driving through great clouds of dust, yet not a man is wearing goggles. Sure wish I could see all the footage that went into this.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Everyone,
 
The purpose of this thread is to provide a central location into which I can put information and the like which I deem significant and worth knowing about, as well as my own observations and opinions, subject to the usual BFC rules, as well as certain request and strictures coming from BFC. In this way, there should be no further thread proliferation and "real post" ranking issues. Other members are, of course, welcome to participate in what I post, but I ask that you be respectful. Argue against the ideas I present; don't attack me. As some may have noted, I have formal requests in to the Mods to kill two separate threads. If they choose to do so, that should further alleviate matters on the CMBS Forum as a whole.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler
 
 

BLSTK,
 
I heard that, too, but the impression I got was that he fired on a bunch of people but kind of personalized the experience by singling out one victim. Besides, that wasn't the pilot but the narrator. Who knows if the pilot said a thing that was recorded? I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but to make an attack on a single man out in the middle of a field makes no sense at all. If a single man was the target, the pilot is an idiot, a criminal,  and wasted an enormous amount of ammo to get him. Narrators of the period were altogether too cheery. There might be blood everywhere and friendlies' guts hanging in the trees, but these guys would find a way to sound enthusiastic and crack wise ("ya gotta love those gutsy Marines") in doing so. Had they been covering the attacks that turned Hamburg into an inferno, we could've had something like this: "In Hamburg, Germany the city is ablaze from end to end, with no relief in sight as British bombers of the RAF continue to exact hellish vengeance on the Nazis. Best firestorm ever!" I'm only half joking.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Everyone,
 
The purpose of this thread is to provide a central location into which I can put information and the like which I deem significant and worth knowing about, as well as my own observations and opinions, subject to the usual BFC rules, as well as certain request and strictures coming from BFC. In this way, there should be no further thread proliferation and "real post" ranking issues. Other members are, of course, welcome to participate in what I post, but I ask that you be respectful. Argue against the ideas I present; don't attack me. As some may have noted, I have formal requests in to the Mods to kill two separate threads. If they choose to do so, that should further alleviate matters on the CMBS Forum as a whole.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler
 
 

This looks like serious work, and this is very clear from the high production values. Sky Mods will want to take notes, for some of what I'm seeing is breathtakingly beautiful. Who knew the Poligon could be an art piece? The treadhead stuff is great, and it's interesting to see a Russian encampment with the troops in tents, camo fencing around what look to be HQ or other sensitive elements, but what I like already, less than 2.5 minutes in, is seeing the tank crews themselves. Whatever this is, it has subtitles, but they're in Russian!  Also, I noticed something remarkable and rather cool. When the tank fires, the shock (pretty sure it's not the muzzle blast) on the chassis is so great it shakes a lot of dust off the tank, something akin to what a dog does. Clearly, we need a dust mod for this!  Russian tankers are tough. I see these guys driving through great clouds of dust, yet not a man is wearing goggles. Sure wish I could see all the footage that went into this.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

This looks like serious work, and this is very clear from the high production values. Sky Mods will want to take notes, for some of what I'm seeing is breathtakingly beautiful. Who knew the Poligon could be an art piece? The treadhead stuff is great, and it's interesting to see a Russian encampment with the troops in tents, camo fencing around what look to be HQ or other sensitive elements, but what I like already, less than 2.5 minutes in, is seeing the tank crews themselves. Whatever this is, it has subtitles, but they're in Russian!  Also, I noticed something remarkable and rather cool. When the tank fires, the shock (pretty sure it's not the muzzle blast) on the chassis is so great it shakes a lot of dust off the tank, something akin to what a dog does. Clearly, we need a dust mod for this!  Russian tankers are tough. I see these guys driving through great clouds of dust, yet not a man is wearing goggles. Sure wish I could see all the footage that went into this.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

This looks like serious work, and this is very clear from the high production values. Sky Mods will want to take notes, for some of what I'm seeing is breathtakingly beautiful. Who knew the Poligon could be an art piece? The treadhead stuff is great, and it's interesting to see a Russian encampment with the troops in tents, camo fencing around what look to be HQ or other sensitive elements, but what I like already, less than 2.5 minutes in, is seeing the tank crews themselves. Whatever this is, it has subtitles, but they're in Russian!  Also, I noticed something remarkable and rather cool. When the tank fires, the shock (pretty sure it's not the muzzle blast) on the chassis is so great it shakes a lot of dust off the tank, something akin to what a dog does. Clearly, we need a dust mod for this!  Russian tankers are tough. I see these guys driving through great clouds of dust, yet not a man is wearing goggles. Sure wish I could see all the footage that went into this.
 

 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Emoticons are fine, for those so inclined, but the only one I've ever used was entirely accidental, wholly unwanted by me and occurred on this Forum because I was tired and forgot to deselect the blasted check box. Respectfully request you make traditional writing the default setting and Enable Emoticons a user selectable option.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler
 
 

Everyone,
 
The purpose of this thread is to provide a central location into which I can put information and the like which I deem significant and worth knowing about, as well as my own observations and opinions, subject to the usual BFC rules, as well as certain request and strictures coming from BFC. In this way, there should be no further thread proliferation and "real post" ranking issues. Other members are, of course, welcome to participate in what I post, but I ask that you be respectful. Argue against the ideas I present; don't attack me. As some may have noted, I have formal requests in to the Mods to kill two separate threads. If they choose to do so, that should further alleviate matters on the CMBS Forum as a whole.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler
 
 

Just last night, I was watching a bunch of real world goodies pertinent to CMBS and had excellent audio. A short time ago, I watched TV programs online. That was fine, too. But in looking at an array of things on YT just now, nothing has audio. It's all got the dread "X" on the speaker image. I thoroughly checked at 3:30 AM (3:42 AM, 03/14/15 where I am presently) to make sure my sound was on and volume adequate. 
 
T-90 (in Russian)  A tremendous vid, may I add? Not a sound. 
 

 
Dad used to crack wise about easy college courses, such as Basket Weaving and Canoe Tilting, rather than Engineering. Guess what? The audio there doesn't work, either.
 
Making Willow Baskets
 

 
Kelly's Heroes Showdown with a Tiger scene
 

 
I don't know what's going on or why, but I absolutely hate this and am concerned this is some insane new YT policy. If so, someone needs to replace YT. Stat.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler