Blather...Real and Imagined

In what’s turning into a semi-regular event here at EIP, here’s today’s Cannon AFB update, courtesy (once again) of the Air Force Association’s “Daily Brief:”

What Are Those Things?: Air Force Special Operations Command is beginning to move several units to its new western base at Cannon AFB, N.M., and this summer plans to send in a relatively new and low-profile airframe-the U-28A. According to Col. Tim Leahy, commander of the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon, the aircraft came out of the emphasis placed on special operations forces in the last Quadrennial Defense Review. Dubbed the "Non-Standard Aircraft" and called NSA, the small airlifter is a variant of the Pilatus PC-12 and joined the air commando fleet in August 2005. Filled with advanced communications and navigation gear and a host of classified capabilities, the aircraft is designed to provide intratheater support to special ops forces. AFSOC chose the U-28A specifically to operate from short and unimproved runway surfaces and even dirt strips. One reason for assigning them to Cannon is to take advantage of the nearby Melrose training range, where AFSOC is interested in practicing assault landings on one of the dirt strips, according to range chief Johnny Rogers. "The rougher the better," Rogers said during a tour of the range. The aircraft are currently operated by the 319th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

I find these lil tidbits very interesting. These news releases are small clues as to what sort of activities, and what sort of military personnel participating in these activities, are going to be taking place in and around Cannon Airplane Patch in the very near future. Methinks we’re going to get a lot more diverse in these parts. In addition to Air Commandos, I’m thinking we’ll be seeing folks from Marine Force Recon, Army Rangers, and such. And there may be SEALs, too, but I think not…those guys are pretty big on the self-contained, organic, in-house thing, including transport to and from the fight. Or they used to be. The current “jointness” trend might have overcome that tendency, so it wouldn’t surprise me a whit to see SEALs walking around Cannon. Maybe.

Have you ever wondered what life is like for the rank and file aboard an aircraft carrier? A deployed aircraft carrier, on station in the Gulf? And by “rank and file,” I mean the guys who work on the jets and get them ready to do what must be done, not the high-visibility guys who do the flying. Those fly-guy stories are well represented and well-told…most notably here. But it’s the support troops who rarely get the press, and even more rarely tell their stories. One such story is being told here… in “Post Cards From Deployment: In the Gulf.” (This is but one installment in a series... I suggest you read them all!)

Wonder no more. And a BIG tip o’ the hat to SJS for doing the blog-hosting chores for Southern Air Pirate.

So…I was catching up on my Lileks last evening and came across a wonderful 1953 Harley ad James had so kindly and thoughtfully posted in the “Advertising” sub-section of his site, along with his trademarked piquant commentary.

There are lots and lots of adjectives that come to mind when thinking of J. Lileks…like “prolific,” “erudite,” “witty,” and “talented.” But the only adjective that adequately describes his knowledge of motorcycles is “lacking.” And why is that, you ask, Gentle Reader? Because one doesn’t drive a bike, one rides. And one rides on a motorcycle, not in one (just how would you get “in” a motorcycle, anyway?). Both usages are the tell-tale signs of a person who may admire motorcycles but has rarely ridden one, if ever. Take my criticisms with a grain of salt, because the ad is great. You should go.

Yes, I am nitpicking. It’s simple jealousy at play, that’s all. Sheer, unadulterated jealousy.

Long-time readers of EIP may wonder about the lack of political fodder around these parts of late. Well, I’m going through yet another of my periodic “screw-it” episodes, wherein I wash my hands of all things political. Which, of course, is necessary from time to time, if only to keep what’s left of one’s (my) sanity. And besides that, it’s The Holidays…and who needs MORE idiots at this time o’ year?

Still and even, I’m going wade back into the morass to bring you this lil interesting installment of point-counterpoint political dialog, otherwise known as the “Jane, you ignorant slut!” school of intellectual exchange. From The Times (UK):

Al Gore, the former US Vice-President, launched a very public attack on Washington today blaming American officials for the failure of this week’s United Nations climate change conference.

The United States refused to sign up to emissions targets as the Bali conference on global warming limped to an acrimonious conclusion today.

Mr Gore, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year for his work on climate change, was clear in his denunciation of President Bush’s attitude.

“I am not an official and I am not bound by diplomatic niceties. So I am going to speak an inconvenient truth: my own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali,” he said, to the applause of delegates.

As Charles Krauthammer remarked, rather pithily, on FNC’s Special Report last evening (transcript not available; quoting from memory): “It’s global warming, not ‘American warming’.” Krauthammer’s point is the two nations with bigger problems than the US (China and India)…when it comes to emissions… are excluded from the Kyoto Protocol and other future climate change proposals. And the US is absolutely, positively correct in refusing to accept the economic burden(s) of Kyoto without similar concessions from those whose problems are larger than ours…and getting worse. That’s just one lil anecdote. There are others, such as this, from Christopher Monckton:

As a contributor to the IPCC’s 2007 report, I share the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. Yet I and many of my peers in the British House of Lords - through our hereditary element the most independent-minded of lawmakers - profoundly disagree on fundamental scientific grounds with both the IPCC and my co-laureate’s alarmist movie An Inconvenient Truth, which won this year’s Oscar for Best Sci-Fi Comedy Horror.

[…]

If we take the heroically stupid decisions now on the table at Bali, it will once again be the world’s poorest people who will die unheeded in their tens of millions, this time for lack of the heat and light and power and medical attention which we in the West have long been fortunate enough to take for granted.

If we deny them the fossil-fuelled growth we have enjoyed, they will remain poor and, paradoxically, their populations will continue to increase, making the world’s carbon footprint very much larger in the long run.

And this:

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

Well now. I’m in no way dissing the Pope (but it sure does look like it, since I’m invoking the pontiff’s name in conjunction with Algore), but it seems odd to me that one High Priest is in serious disagreement with another (real!) High Priest. I dunno about you, Gentle Reader, but even in this day and age I’ll wager the Pope has more moral authority than Algore.

In his little finger.

Thus endeth today’s lesson.