Saturday Is Old Radio Day: The Mysterious Traveler

The Mysterious Traveler

... was an anthology radio series, a magazine and a comic book. All three featured stories which ran the gamut from fantasy and science fiction to straight crime dramas of mystery and suspense.

Here's an episode from 1949, "The Planet Zevius"

Friday Fun Film: "Sea Wars"

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Noted here:

According to The Washington Post, Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alex Delgado created a parody trailer of the film, “Sea Wars: The Ike Awakens,” using crewmates from the aircraft carrier.

Friday Film: Kittyhawks and the Defense of Australia

44 days. 24 brave men. A stubborn refusal to allow Australia to be "expendable."

Thanksgiving

If our menu is not as elaborate as that of USS Arizona in 1917, we are no less grateful for the blessings of the past year.

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Disaster Prep Wednesday: Don't Let the Turkey Burn Your House Down (Reposted)

Here's a re-posting of a 2014 post on how to avoid making a wreck of your Thanksgiving:


Okay, try not to burn your house down while cooking your turkey.

Especially true if you decide to deep fat fry the thing.

Some words of advice from Joseph Lindberg at the Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Exploding turkeys: How to avoid them:

On average, five Americans die each year from fires caused by deep fryers, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

The most common mistake is overfilling the deep-frying vat, which causes oil to spill over the edge and ignite, engulfing the entire unit in flames that are difficult to extinguish.

And placing a frozen -- or even partially frozen -- turkey into the vat can cause an explosion of hot oil, according to the fire marshal.

In fact, UL, an independent and global safety science company, considers turkey fryers so hazardous that it will not certify them for safe use.

U.S. fire departments respond to about 1,000 home fires each year that are started by deep fryers. In addition to deaths, those fires cause some 60 injuries and $15 million in direct property damage on average per year.

To avoid explosions and fire, follow these tips from the fire marshal:

-- Place the fryer outdoors on a flat surface, and never on a wooden deck or in a garage.

-- Fill a cold fryer with water and place your turkey into the vat to determine the amount of oil needed. Mark the water level well below the rim of the vat, and make sure the fryer dries thoroughly before filling with oil.


-- Oil and water do not mix. Avoid injury, and explosions, by thoroughly thawing and drying the bird before frying it.

Be smarter than the turkey. Don't be in the running for a Darwin Award.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey v. Russia: Turks Defend Their Airspace

Reuters report "Turkey downs Russian warplane near Syria border, Moscow denies airspace violation". Hurryiet report:

Turkish F-16

Two Turkish F-16's shot down a Russian-made SU-24 jet on Nov. 24 near the Syrian border after it violated Turkish airspace, presidential sources said.

Turkey shot down the jet after it failed to heed the warnings within the rules of engagement.

Initial reports said the jet belonged to Russia, but presidential sources later clarified that the jet's nationality was unknown.

SU-24

The Turkish Armed Force also stated that the jet of “unknown nationality” had been warned 10 times in five minutes about its violation of the airspace.

Hmmm.

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence: Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 19 October - 18 November 2015

From the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence:

WORLDWIDE: Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 19 October - 18 November 2015

Saturday Is Old Time Radio Day: Fibber McGee and Molly "The War is Not Almost Over" (1943)

A small look at America during on a full war footing:

On Midrats 22 November 2015 - Episode 307: Our Own Private Petard - Procurement & Strategy with Robert Farley

Please join us at 5pm on 22 November 2015 for Midrats Episode 307: Our Own Private Petard - Procurement & Strategy with Robert Farley

This Sunday we are going to look at the big pixels that supports the entire national security infrastructure above it.

Using his recent article in The National Interest, The Real Threat to America's Military (And It's Not China, Russia or Iran), we will tackle the greatest challenge of a world power - those things it has no one else to blame for.

Procurement, strategy, and the choices we make. The run of the last 30 years of weapons development and strategic foresight has not been a very good one. Why?

Join us live if you can or pick the show up later by clicking here or by picking it up later by visiting our iTunes page.

Friday Film: Night Engagement off Empress Augusta Bay

1 - 2 November 1943

The Danger of Ignoring Opinions Which Challenge Your World View

It's probably absurd for a small time blogger like me to link to the mighty Instapundit, but this Ed Driscoll post is important "Sharyl Atkisson: Obama Won't Read Intelligence on Groups He Doesn't Consider Terrorists" is important because of what it reveals about the problems that can be caused by not occasionally taking a look at things you might find disagreeable (and probably much more about the ego which, once committed to a cause or course, cannot be swayed by evidence that might challenge the correctness of that path). No I won't quote the post here, but you really should read the whole thing.

One really good aspect of military planning is that, if done properly, it requires the commander to sort through a problem and carefully weigh risks and possible outcomes before committing to a course of action.

A key element of this planning process is gaining - to the extent possible - a good understanding of the current situation - an "assessment." The function of this process is to make sure that "what is" is not overtaken by "what I wish it was." or, as set out in the following manual:

First, assessment must determine “where we are.” The assessment process must examine the data received and determine, in relation to the desired effects, the current status of the operation and the operational environment. This is the most basic and fundamental question that assessment must answer. The second fundamental issue that assessment must address is “so what and why” (i.e., what does the data mean and what is its significance)? To answer this question, the assessment team will examine the measure of effectiveness indicators, both individually and in relation to each other. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, assessment must begin to address the “what’s next?” Assessment must combine the analysis of the “where we are”and the “so what” and develop thoughtful, logical guidance for the command’s planning efforts.

 "Data received" includes intelligence about the enemy force, the human terrain, the physical terrain and one's own personnel and equipment availability and status.

Now, it is entirely possible for the Commander in Chief to determine that he or she is perfectly satisfied with the state of things as they are and not see a need to commit any assets to changing the status quo or to affect a change in direction.

If based on a thorough understanding of the risks of that path (and recognizing that the "law of unintended consequences" is always in play), then the executive can be held to account for his or her choices. "What happens if I do nothing?" "What happens if if I withdraw troops?" "What happens if I add more troops?" are legitimate questions.

Most field commanders are not in a position to pose questions about the political ramifications of such choices - although one can hope that even political leadership can ask "What is the right thing to do?" without political overtones - but with careful weighing of national security interests.

What happens when an executive is not inclined to look at realistic assessments of "how things are" or "how this coud turn out" or if those in the assessment chain begin to shade the information that they are sending up? What happens if you ignore intelligence reports that you have decided in advance you don't agree with?

Probably not much good.

That being said here's a guide for commnders:

Commander's Handbook for Assessment Planning and Execution

The focus of this publication generally is on-going operations and the progress made to achieving a desired end state. Lack of clarity of what that end state should be can lead to a lot of waste in people, equipment and other tools of implementing national policy.

Disaster Prep Wednesday: Increasing Your Situational Awareness

All of us are concerned about terrorist activity - though the risks of such an act affecting you or anyone you know are remarkably slim.

Probably, instead of worrying about such a remote possibility, you really ought to be getting ready for those life events that are far more likely - floods, fires, earthquakes, and car wrecks to name a few.

On the other hand, there are few really good suggestions that can help you in almost any situation - one of which is to work to improve your "situational awareness" skill set.

You might recall that in Sherlock Holmes books, Holmes has the seemingly uncanny ability to see things that others don't. Holmes has increased his situational awareness.

In fact, in most detective and thriller literature, the hero or heroine of the work very often uses that ability to solve/prevent/resolve whatever crisis is confronting them because they observe more things that you and I might.

In old Western movies, someone would often offer up a warning because things were "too quiet." Or, in other words, the situation was anomalous because the normal, expected pattern of noise (bugs, birds and whatever) was absent.

In real life, aircraft pilots and those who drive our navy ships work hard to acquire the ability to "know" what is happening with a glance or quick brief - to gain a sense of the situation quickly.

The U.S. Coast Guard offers up this definition:

Situational Awareness is the ability to identify, process, and comprehend the critical elements of information about what is happening to the team with regards to the mission. More simply, it’s knowing what is going on around you.

As is pointed out here, there are some events ("first wave" events) that you can do nothing about. However,

But if you are fortunate enough not to be a victim of the first wave, then you can survive. And often, before the first wave occurs, there are minute details that can tell you something is wrong.

Buried in this Psychology Today piece is a kernel of what is involved in developing situational awareness - "pattern finding" -

Pattern-finding is so central to survival and success that we see patterns everywhere, even in random data—a phenomenon called apophenia. We spot faces in clouds and hear messages in records played backward. And while we expect some level of order in the world, on occasion our pattern-spotting gets away from us and makes a connection we wouldn't expect. When that happens, we demand, at least subconsciously, an explanation.

It turns out that our favorite kinds of explanations involve "agents"—beings capable of intentional action. The agent could be a person, a god, or a superintelligent robot. We're biased to blame even simple events on agents—spotting them or their footprints allows us to manage them if they are dangerous: It is better to mistake a twig for a snake than to mistake a snake for a twig.

Unconscious pattern recognition underlies a variety of automatic processes, including those we associate with accurate intuitions or a sixth sense ... Sensing danger in a combat zone or suddenly "knowing" that a partner is cheating or a friend is pregnant are instances in which we've pieced a pattern together wholly unconsciously. The suddenness with which it bursts into our consciousness can feel as if the hunch is born of clairvoyance.

Let's get more practical. If you drive the same car every day for weeks, months or years, you will - if you are mostly sentient - learn to appreciate the cars "normal" feel. As a result, when something changes from that "normal," you may take the car to a mechanic offer up a "it just doesn't feel right" suggestion.  That's your sense of pattern recognition kicking in. The mechanic will (and if you ever listened to Car Talk, you've heard this) ask questions designed to focus the problem into a diagnosis of probable issues.

Okay, let's say that you go to a busy shopping mall. If you spend a few minutes watching shoppers, you will see that there are patterns to their mall behavior and that it is easy to spot people who don't fall into those patterns. These "odd folks" are outliers. Now, it may be that these outliers are simply people who vary from the norm due to inexperience or indifference to mall shopping. Or - it may be that they are up to something unusual - and they fall outside the pattern.

So, it's a July day in a mall. Everyone is dressed in summer clothing except for a few individuals wearing long back raincoats. Would you notice this? If you do notice this, what should you do? This constitutes a "thing outside the pattern." Your situational awareness level ought to jump up a bit. What else are these folks up to? Are they gathered in one spot or spread out? Are they looking at each other or ignoring each other?

What are your plans at this point?

There's a nice discussion of "situational awareness" at The Organic Prepper's blog post How to Survive a Terrorist Attack. One point he makes is that you gain by having an improved sense of situational awareness:

A higher level of situational awareness can help you in many ways, should you be unfortunate enough to be present during an active of terror.

It can help by:

Allowing you to identify a threat before it becomes active
Allowing you to locate exits and routes to the exits
Allowing you to determine sources of cover

If you can identify a potential threat before it exists, you can sometimes prevent an attack or at the very least, you can protect yourself and your family more effectively. . . .

The Organic Prepper also points to "Kim's Game" as a learning tool for increasing your situational awareness - well described in Graywolf Survival's Using Kim’s Game to increase your observational skills. A hat tip to both those blogs.

The point of all this is to encourage you to learn to really look at the world in which you operate and use the recognition of the patterns you observe to assist you in being able to rapidly identify anomalies that may require further, rapid examinations for potential threats.

Or maybe even the need for a car repair.

Remember, Holmes once solved a case because of a dog that didn't bark - an event outside the expected pattern - and a fine example of Holmes applying his sense of "situational awareness."

Fighting ISIS: "War on IS needs 'boots on ground': US air force secretary"

Channeling Fehrenbach?

"War on IS needs 'boots on ground': US air force secretary":

"Air power is extremely important. It can do a lot but it can't do everything," James said.

"Ultimately it cannot occupy territory and very importantly it cannot govern territory," she told reporters at the Dubai Airshow.

"This is where we need to have boots on the ground. We do need to have ground forces in this campaign."

James cited the "Iraqi army, the Free Syrians and the Kurds" as forces to support in the fight against IS.

And, maybe the French, the U.S., the Germans, etc?

As quoted and commented on here, T.R. Fehrenbach wrote :

Americans in 1950 rediscovered something that since Hiroshima they had forgotten: you may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life—but if you desire to defend it, protect it and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men in the mud. ”
Yep, our young men with their ideals against their young men with theirs.

For most, if not all, the marbles.

Be careful in your choice of allies, Madam Secretary, though, as was discussed in Fighting ISIS and al Qaeda: Choosing Poor Allies Is Not Helpful after some of our early "allies" cut and ran or defected:

Given the long history of rapidly changing alliances in the region this result probably shouldn't be exactly - you know - shocking. However, it does point out - once again - the problem of first world thinking meeting third world tribal and cultural standards head on.

These "allies" are fighting for what, exactly?

It certainly isn't for the glory of Syria or mom and apple pie.

Motivation being what it is and given that Mao's precept that "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," applies to tribal and religious struggles in the Middle East as well as to communist insurgencies, these former and current allies basically are fighting for power and profit, while the other side seeks to replace the status quo ante with themselves, asserting that "God is on our side!" as they gather up power, profit and young maidens to debauch or sell into slavery. Seems to be a pretty good recruiting tool when coupled with the chance to fight the "Great Satan" and its minions.

In the long run, our side offers . . . what exactly again?

An end to the strife between the Muslim sects? Given that war has been going for 1300+ years, that seems somewhat unrealistic.

No, we need to kill the ISIS guys on the ground n Syria, Iraq, or wherever and then whack the ones who try to bring the fight to us at home.

Whether that home is the U.S., France, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Germany, Britain or . . .

Long war? Yep.

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: Dimension X - "Report on the Barnhouse Effect"

1950's SciFi radio was so good.

Here's a little show based on a Kurt Vonnegut short story as part of the Dimension X series - which promised

"Adventures in time and space... told in future tense..."

On Midrats 15 Nov 2015 - Episode 306: Author Claude Berube on his next book: Syren's Song

Please join us at 5 pm EST on 15 November 2015 for Midrats Episode 306: Author Claude Berube on his next book: Syren's Song

This Sunday for the full hour our guest will be author Claude Berube to discuss his second Connor Stark novel, Syren's Song. From the Amazon page,

"Syren's Song is the second novel featuring Connor Stark, and it promises to be just as engaging as The Aden Effect. This geopolitical thriller begins when the Sri Lankan navy is unexpectedly attacked by a resurgent and separatist Tamil Tiger organization. The government issues a letter of marque to former U.S. Navy officer Connor Stark, now the head of the private security company Highland Maritime Defense. Stark and his eclectic compatriots accept the challenge only to learn that the Sea Tigers who crippled the Sri Lankan navy are no ordinary terrorists."

We will also discuss the craft of writing, how emerging real world events can influence the writing of fiction, and as we usually do with Claude, perhaps some other interestiing topics that crop up in the course of our conversation.

Join us live or pick the show up later by clicking here. Or you can also catch the show later on our iTunes page here (though the episode number might be different because ...?)

Friday Fun Film: Learning to Fly the Hellcat

I think things are more complicated today.

Thanks

To all who have served our country, thanks.

UPDATE: Here's U.S. Army training video featuring some tactics against tunnels.




So, a special salute to the "tunnel rats" on this Veterans Day 2015:

During the Vietnam War "tunnel rat" became a more or less official specialty for volunteer infantrymen, primarily from the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Their motto was the Latin phrase "Non Gratum Anus Rodentum"—"not worth a rat's ass". Since the 1940s, during the war against the French colonial forces, the Viet Cong had created an extensive underground system of complexes. By the 1960s, there were underground hospitals, training grounds, storage facilities, headquarters and more. The Viet Cong, who were crack forces highly skilled at guerrilla warfare, might stay underground for several months at a time. The tunnels were their territory.

Whenever troops would uncover a tunnel, tunnel rats were sent in to kill any hiding enemy soldiers and to plant explosives to destroy the tunnels. A tunnel rat was equipped with only a standard issue .45 caliber pistol, a bayonet and a flashlight, although most tunnel rats were allowed to choose another pistol with which to arm themselves. The tunnels were very dangerous, with numerous booby traps and enemies lying in wait.
***
Tunnel rats were generally, but not exclusively, men of smaller stature (5'6" and under) in order to fit in the narrow tunnels. Mangold and Penycate claimed that the tunnel rats were almost exclusively White or Hispanic soldiers and that the majority of American Latinos were Puerto Rican or Mexican American. Such tactics came to prominence following their successful application in January 1966 during a combined US–Australian action against the Củ Chi tunnels in Bình Dương Province, known as Operation Crimp.

Brave men.

U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 5 October - 4 November 2015

ONI's unclassified Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report covering 5 October - 4 November 2015:

TThe Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) message provides info on piracy threats to, and criminal action against, merchant vessels worldwide in the last 30 days. This report is produced primarily to inform merchant mariners and naval forces.

U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 5 October - 4 November 2015

Didn't make the report yet, but there is an interesting story out of Somlia, "Four Iranian hostages freed in Somalia". Interesting because the rescue was done by a Somali force:

Four Iranian fishermen have been freed in Somalia after security forces rescued them from a pirate gang, security officials said on Thursday.

Local elder Mohamed Moalim Abdirahman said the men appeared "healthy" despite their ordeal, but that the pirate gang still held as many as nine other hostages, all believed to be from Iran.

"Security forces rescued four Iranians who have been held hostage by pirates," said Abdirahman Mohamed, a security official in central Somalia's Galgadud region.

"Two of the kidnapers were arrested during the raid on a house where they held the victims," Mohamed added.

Not to be too cynical, but I wonder who forgot to pay their "hostage tax."

"IRINSJamaran" by Aspahbod 

By the way, when last heard from the Iranian Navy was still "foiling" pirate attacks "somewhere on the high seas." As seen in the above WTS Report, no other nation has reported major pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden or nearby. Here's the Iranian - uh - "story" from 27 Oct 15:

Iran’s Navy chief Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari says the country's naval forces have successfully thwarted a pirate attack on an Iranian oil tanker in high seas.

Sayyari added that pirates in seven boats were attempting to seize the Iranian oil tanker Tuesday morning but they were overpowered after Iran's domestically-manufactured Jamaran destroyer was called in and opened heavy fire on the pirates.

The assailants were then forced to flee, the commander said.

He noted that the 36th fleet of the Iranian Navy, comprising Jamaran destroyer and the Bushehr logistic vessel, is currently on a mission in high seas to provide security for merchant vessels and to display the Islamic Republic’s might.

Wow.

On Midrats 8 Nov 2015 - Episode 305: "Fall Free For All"

Please join us on Sunday, 8 Nov 2015 at 5pm EST (U.S.) for Midrats
Episode 305: Fall Free For All

It is that time of the year ... time for a Fall Free For All on Midrats.

No guests, no agenda, open phones, open topics, open mic.

Join Sal from "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "Eaglespeak" for a full hour as we dive in to the national security topics of the day with a maritime bent - or whatever topics break above the background noise.

This is your chance by calling in or by throwing it out in the live chat room, to bring up the topic you wish we would cover, or to just play stump the chump.

Join us live or pick the show up later by clicking here. Or, if you prefer, you can find the show later at our iTunes page here.

Saturday Is Old Radio Day: Jack Benny "Money Ain't Everything" (1936)

Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, and Eddie Anderson (Rochester)

Ah, The Jack Benny Show:

The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.

Here's sample show from the fourth year of his radio show: