F-22 Raptor breaking the sound barrier
(Source: slavicinferno)
Panetta to lift ban on women in combat
Women in all branches of the military soon will have unprecedented opportunities to serve on the front lines of the nation’s wars.
Leon Panetta, in one of his last acts as President Obama’s defense secretary, is preparing to announce the policy change, which would open hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday.
The groundbreaking move recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff overturns a 1994 rule banning women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta’s decision gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.
“This policy change will initiate a process whereby the services will develop plans to implement this decision, which was made by the secretary of defense upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” a senior defense official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Some front-line military roles may open to women as soon as this year. Assessments for others, such as special operations forces, including Navy SEALS and the Army’s Delta Force, may take longer.
A defense official told the Associated Press that the military chiefs must report back to Panetta with their initial implementation plans by May 15. The announcement on Panetta’s decision is not expected until Thursday, so the official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Panetta’s move expands the Pentagon’s action nearly a year ago to open about 14,500 combat positions to women, nearly all of them in the Army. This decision could open more than 230,000 jobs, many in Army and Marine infantry units, to women.
In recent years the necessities of war propelled women into jobs as medics, military police and intelligence officers that were sometimes attached — but not formally assigned — to units on the front lines.
Women comprise 14 percent of the 1.4 million active military personnel.
Panetta is preparing to step down as Obama begins his second term, with former Sen. Charles Hagel nominated to take Panetta’s place.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/23/panetta-opens-combat-roles-to-women/
(Source: slavicinferno)
Since the Japanese surrender after World War II, Japan cannot have an offensive military. Should they amend this law with China claiming rights to Japanese islands? or with North Korea testing Nuclear weapons? What do you think?
(Source: slavicinferno)
Imagine this horrible robot cheetah chasing you!
(Source: slavicinferno)
Watch a 1963 video of British soldiers conducting a military exercise after dropping acid
Back during the Cold War, the military wanted to find out if LSD could be used to incapacitate enemy forces. So they administered the drug to unsuspecting British soldiers, and sent the squaddies off to perform their duties. This short video, which is as hilarious as it is disturbing, chronicles the British soldiers’ hapless attempt to complete a military exercise while completely tripping balls.
The British weren’t the only country to conduct such experiments. Back during the 1950s, the U.S. Army conducted experiments with soldier volunteers at its Edgewood, MD arsenal. These experiments lasted until 1972, in which soldiers were given synthetic marijuana, LSD and two dozen other psychoactive drugs — all with the intent of developing chemical weapons to debilitate enemy soldiers.
Wonder how many of these soliders went on to become hippies.
io9.com
(Source: slavicinferno)
Pixel Uniforms Made American Soldiers Easier to Shoot
In 2004, American Army personnel were issued with a bold new camouflage design, one based not on wavy woodland patterns, but pixels. It looked cool in a photo, but hasn’t worked so well where it counts: on the battlefield.
The Universal Camouflage Pattern, or UCP, is a grey-green uniform that was supposed to allow soldiers to blend into almost any terrain they may find themselves in. Look closely - or, really, just look at it - and it’s made up of large pixels, like the background art of an old NES war game.
Tragically, it seems the decision to adopt the design nearly a decade ago was made by politicians and top brass, and not the men and women who would actually be wearing it into battle.
“Essentially, the Army designed a universal uniform that universally failed in every environment,” an Iraq veteran told The Daily. “The only time I have ever seen it work well was in a gravel pit.”
The problem with UCP was a simple one: it doesn’t work. A design supposed to make soldiers harder to see has in fact made that job easier for the enemy, and things got so bad that in 2010 the US Army’s combat forces in Afghanistan were issued with a new design after repeated complaints.
Bizarrely, the UCP’s origins date back to a similar Marine uniform designed in 2002, that was designed…differently.
“They went to Home Depot, looked at paint swatches, and said, ‘We want that color,’ ” Anabelle Dugas, one of the Marine pattern’s designers, says. “That color” was part of a Ralph Lauren paint series.
While Army personnel outside Afghanistan are still stuck with the UCP, the branch is currently hard at work on a replacement design, one that this time might actually take soldier’s views and needs into consideration.
http://kotaku.com/5920930/pixel-uniforms-made-american-soldiers-easier-to-shoot
(Source: slavicinferno)
