The Military Thread

The ULC? Lemme see what I can do. It seems like "ULC" is one of those acronyms that miss out a few letters for easy writing. The ULC, according to my google-fu, is the United States Army Corps of Engineers Learning Center. The guys you met may have been instructors from the establishment mentioned on attachment as liaison personnel.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I didn't hear it correctly. I think it was a term ended with C, but I can't remember.

That does sound like it, though. I saw them in World Civilizations class, though.

Engineers love history. Particularly military engineers. Ask any of the really good ones about the bridges Caesar built in Germany.

We have concrete bombs. That's what the explosive filler is replaced with in inert munitions.

Also, the reason the guidance kits are absurdly more expensive is because it's finicky electronics instead of a bit of stamped steel and explosive filler.

@Tam - Ah, really? I see.

Some not so good news, or maybe good news:

BAE Systems and EADS in talks over merger

I'm not so hot on my defense industry knowledge, so I can't offer much of an opinion on whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.

This◊, however, is one of the most adorable MWDs I have ever seen.

These stuffs are amazing.

I particularly liked these bits:

I would love to see a video of that big flamethrower mine going boom. Anyone have one?

Agreed.

http://www.korean-war.com/Russia/KoreaPoligon691-720.html

Link to the "The War in Korea 1950-1953" page dealing with that bad boy. From a Russian publisher, so the tech details should be right. After all, that is what the boys at the Khodynka Airport got paid for, 8-)

Heh, saw the SMA today as I was leaving the DFAC.

In other news, someone fucked up ROYAL today. Like prison time in Leavenworth royal. Not gonna say what they did though, but it was major.

Mark: Hang onto your balls and watch you back. Also step aside from being in front of the fan.

I am. It was someone from a different class. Nonetheless I aim to lay low.

Now I shall do some shots of Jameson as it has been a long week.

I hear that, two straight weeks of work for me, what with our riot control exercise last week and drill this weekend, and a week at my civilian job this week.

So in other news, the job at the UAV station that I was talking about a while back? I was offered it, but I turned them down. I worked with that unit last week at their own base and it is way hotter there than I like, and the unit is full of idiots. Also, it lets me not put all my eggs in one basket so I can get additional viable skills. If my old job at my unit pops back up in the coming years, I might go out for it again, but in the meantime I'm going to just cruise as being an IT guy and getting my certificates.

Oh, and I'm A+ certified now.

Cool. I'm getting A+ certified through a class in school.

First, well done Barkey. Second, what the hell is A+ certification?

Honestly once my ETS date rolls around I am out of this bullshit.

Lol. I said the same shit man. Hang tough.

Tam: For your own good, please NEVER post in the Technology/PC building thread anymore. You'll just facepalm everytime Shaggy makes a wrong statement, which is each and every time.

A wrong statement about what?

Shaggy's "facts"

• "LGA 2011 is for servers only" - ignores the fact that the X79 chipset (and thus also has LGA 2011 socket) is for retail.
• "Z77 has its own graphics" - ignores the fact that starting with Sandy Bridge no Intel chipset has its own "graphics", as the graphics processing is now part of the CPU.
• "You want me to buy a $70 500W PSU instead of this $25 700W PSU? Are you stupid?" - ignores the fact that no 700W PSU worth less than $50 can even reach 400-500W, much less 700W.
• "More cores is better, that's why my AMD eight core FX-8150 is better than Intel's i5 and i7 since they're only quad core" - ignores the fact that AMD's own offering can barely match up with Phenom II X4's, much less Intel's quad core CP Us.

The first one was recent, when I saw Tam still posting (and still wondering about what Shaggy just said), the others were a bit older, a few months ago when I last posted on that topic.

edited 15th Sep '12 12:21:49 AM by entropy13

Mark: You're already sick of it? When you get to your actual unit, it should get better. AIT is where a lot of 'civilians' get weeded out; the ones that faked it through Basic somehow and now that they get a bit of freedom, they go completely nuts. The real soldiers, the ones that graduated from Basic mentally, actually do okay when the leash is loosened.

In short, it's easy to do right when a Drill Sergeant is omnipresent and all-knowing. It's a different story when you have alone time away from them. Basically, What You Are in the Dark.

pvt: True enough. Still doesn't help when the man is dancing on the collective dicks though.

Oh hi Military Thread!

On ETS: Everyone in the military says "I can't wait for ETS." Yet some re-up. You can come back, try the National Guard or Reserves. Mark, don't be that guy without a plan. If you have a security clearance, it's good for up to 6 months after your ETS. Start the job hunt while on your terminal leave. Make many copies of that DD 214. Sure employers can look you up by your social security number (many do) but a copy of your discharge papers (to non-US tropers that what a DD 214 is) helps sell your resume.

If 90% of success is showing up, you'll have it made if you chose college. Looking back on my college years, man I was a total Ditz. I thought I had it rough when classes started at 7:30. Have fun, but keep those grades up! If college is in your future have you looked into the Post 9/11 GI Bill? Did you know that the VA owes some GI's $1200? (and that you can get it back with some paperwork).

@Tuefel: The 'man' has many forms. Be it an NCO who's all about being a dick, an officer who's greener than the grass at the golf course or civilian bosses who seem to be Pointy-Haired Boss in the flesh. Don't let'em get you down. I've survived a boss with anger management issues and a platoon sergeant who later got relieved for his idiocy.