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SabresEdge Show an affirming flame from a defense-in-depth Since: Oct, 2010
Show an affirming flame
#36026: Sep 12th 2014 at 11:25:34 AM

In other words, Sherman with thicker armor and bigger gun.

Hello, Easy Eight, nice to see you too.

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#36027: Sep 12th 2014 at 6:31:38 PM

So was having a conversation with a friend.

What's the difference between C4 and Semtex? Yeah the components are different but like is there any real difference in performance?

Oh really when?
TuefelHundenIV Night Clerk of the Apocalypse from Doomsday Facility Corner Store. Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
Night Clerk of the Apocalypse
#36028: Sep 12th 2014 at 6:46:33 PM

Yes there is some. The difference in chemical composition means they have slightly different output. My knowledge is a bit rusty on this but I think Semtex is slightly more powerful.

Who watches the watchmen?
SabresEdge Show an affirming flame from a defense-in-depth Since: Oct, 2010
Show an affirming flame
#36029: Sep 12th 2014 at 6:57:05 PM

Also, re: defense-in-depth for the Pacific: the recommended analyses are Shattered Sword and Fire in the Sky. Basically, Japan's ocean-defense strategy relied on overlapping island outposts with airfields to hold the enemy, long enough for the Kido Butai and the main surface force to scream in and obliterate the enemy. Two problems developed. One, the US built up the Fast Carrier Task Force so that by the end of 1943 it was capable of standing off an island fortress and attriting Japanese airpower into uselessness, a capability the Japanese never could have developed (even the mighty Kido Butai was a raiding force; it couldn't slug it out with an islanded enemy without ground-based air support). And two, Kido Butai got its face pushed in at Midway, meaning that the island bastions were no longer nodes in an integrated defense system, but isolated strongholds that could be blasted, invaded, or bypassed at will.

edited 12th Sep '14 6:57:57 PM by SabresEdge

Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#36030: Sep 12th 2014 at 7:02:49 PM

[up][up]Is it like a noticable difference or is whatever you're trying to blow up not going to care?

I heard Semtex is extremely hard to detect with bomb sensing equipment. Any truth to that?

Oh really when?
TuefelHundenIV Night Clerk of the Apocalypse from Doomsday Facility Corner Store. Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
Night Clerk of the Apocalypse
#36031: Sep 12th 2014 at 7:27:14 PM

I am not sure how big the difference is. From what I can recall it wasn't really a big difference and appropriate application can likely make up for the difference in power or there is so little difference it really doesn't matter outside of specific circumstances. As for hard to detect that is likely true. It has the reputation in general for being harder to detect due to the different chemical composition.

Who watches the watchmen?
TuefelHundenIV Night Clerk of the Apocalypse from Doomsday Facility Corner Store. Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
Night Clerk of the Apocalypse
#36032: Sep 13th 2014 at 12:51:35 AM

Cgnale The DAGR "Guided Hydra" and Hellfire two being shot.

Who watches the watchmen?
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#36033: Sep 13th 2014 at 4:39:14 AM

Slow motion missiles are awesome

Oh really when?
tryrar Since: Sep, 2010
#36034: Sep 13th 2014 at 4:45:06 AM

Hey guys, with the focus on more "brown water" capability, it looks like the Navy is getting back into the patrol boat game, with the first of the new Mk. VI patrol boats arriving.

entropy13 Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#36035: Sep 13th 2014 at 5:50:41 AM

Still not sure if we'll be able to go to the Philippine Military Academy or not. Lol

Nohbody "In distress", my ass. from Somewhere in Dixie Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
"In distress", my ass.
#36036: Sep 13th 2014 at 6:41:34 AM

^^ And the sad thing is that except for endurance those are probably more capable than the LCS. tongue

In regards to soldiers as hostages, probably unsurprisingly Duffelblog contributes to the discussion. Unfortunately, even in jest that article has more than a bit of truth to it. sad

All your safe space are belong to Trump
Cganale (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#36037: Sep 13th 2014 at 6:59:55 AM

Hey, they shot those off at Eglin. =D /notsurprised

Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#36038: Sep 13th 2014 at 7:09:06 AM

[up][up]

I find DuffelBlog hilarious and I'm not even American or in uniform: Army War College welcomes foreign exchange class of future brutal dictators.

Schild und Schwert der Partei
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#36039: Sep 13th 2014 at 7:51:06 AM

What reasons could there be for a Private Military Company's leadership that is mainly in the PMC business for profit above all else (including morality, thus claiming to be Above Good and Evil) to consider Psycho for Hire and/or Sociopathic Soldier as preferable traits in the contractors that they employ?

edited 13th Sep '14 7:53:02 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#36040: Sep 13th 2014 at 7:54:17 AM

A sociopath wouldn't ask questions when you need to shoot small children to flare up a regional conflict thus making whatever side your own require more of your services?

I mean it works well for Blackwater

Oh really when?
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#36041: Sep 13th 2014 at 7:56:13 AM

Intimidation of the enemies, basically. Maybe the bosses of that PMC did hear of the (alleged; I am not sure if it's true but that is not important here) military strategy of the Mongols to commit war crimes (by contemporary standards) to scare their enemies into submission.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#36042: Sep 13th 2014 at 8:03:09 AM

[up][up][up]

Soldiers that will obey any order, no matter how unethical?

Schild und Schwert der Partei
InverurieJones '80s TV Action Hero from North of the Wall. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
'80s TV Action Hero
#36043: Sep 13th 2014 at 8:19:37 AM

And this is why mercenaries have no rights as Po Ws and such...

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'
TuefelHundenIV Night Clerk of the Apocalypse from Doomsday Facility Corner Store. Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
Night Clerk of the Apocalypse
#36044: Sep 13th 2014 at 8:44:32 AM

Jones: That is an exaggeration and a gross one at that. Even most mercenaries are seldom so outwardly brutal or deranged. I don't personally like that they fight for money but they are still people. Also last I checked many of the enemies the US has gone against frankly didn't give a shit about POW rights to begin with regardless of where they POW was from.

Who watches the watchmen?
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#36045: Sep 13th 2014 at 8:50:24 AM

A sociopath wouldn't ask questions when you need to shoot small children to flare up a regional conflict thus making whatever side your own require more of your services?
That could just as well be served by keeping a tiny black-ops unit of such people to commit this kind of False Flag Operation, rather than having the plurality/majority of your employed contractors be that.

I mean it works well for Blackwater
... Really? I mean, I know they had a less-than-stellar record as a PMC, but I didn't expect them to have stooped that low.

Intimidation of the enemies, basically. Maybe the bosses of that PMC did hear of the (alleged; I am not sure if it's true but that is not important here) military strategy of the Mongols to commit war crimes (by contemporary standards) to scare their enemies into submission.
Good point.

Soldiers that will obey any order, no matter how unethical?
Well, if the parent company is into a lot of shady businesses that they need to keep under wraps with any means, fair or foul... That works.

PS:

  1. When I said "Psycho for Hire" and "Sociopathic Soldier", I was including the Rape, Pillage, and Burn sorts. In fact, try to take into account as many of the common variants listed in each trope's article as possible.
  2. Would replacing "preferable" with "tolerable" result in different answers?

edited 13th Sep '14 8:52:34 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#36046: Sep 13th 2014 at 9:00:23 AM

Something to bear in mind is that IRL out-and-out psychopaths tend to be disqualified from military service because they are liabilities.

Schild und Schwert der Partei
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#36047: Sep 13th 2014 at 9:05:48 AM

Which makes them open for recruitment by the more unscrupulous PMCs that either don't care for their psychopathy or actively seek it for one reason or the other, right?

edited 13th Sep '14 9:06:00 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
TuefelHundenIV Night Clerk of the Apocalypse from Doomsday Facility Corner Store. Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
Night Clerk of the Apocalypse
#36048: Sep 13th 2014 at 9:10:39 AM

Marq: Not necessarily. Even the PMC's prefer folks who are reasonably stable. Erratic violent individuals like that tend to be bad for your bottom line and draw the attention of authorities.

You are more likely to find that kind of mentally unhinged sort in an institutionalized sort of org. Some of the SS/Gestapo fit that more then a PMC. Same for Pol Pot's Death Squads, or other similar groups. Even then the Heer of Nazi Germany were the least likely to be the drooling psychopaths.

That is to say troops can't degenerate into that with enough exposure to brutality and harshness but the vast majority won't outright evil bastards like that.

Who watches the watchmen?
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#36049: Sep 13th 2014 at 9:15:40 AM

Just to clarify: When I said "the more unscrupulous PMCs", I wasn't comparing them to regular militaries; I was comparing them to more scrupulous PMCs. Maybe I should've said "the more unscrupulous among PMCs"...

That said, AFAIK, psychopathy/sociopathy does not necessarily entail that the afflicted person would be a total nutjob who will disobey orders on a whim just to indulge his sadistic side.

Would an environment where Corporate Warfare is not that uncommon be conducive to a considerably increased proportion of "Rape, Pillage, and Burn"-willing psychopaths/sociopaths on the average don't-care-about-psychopathy-if-you-will-do-your-job-well PMC's payroll?

edited 13th Sep '14 9:18:33 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
TairaMai rollin' on dubs from El Paso Tx Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Mu
rollin' on dubs
#36050: Sep 13th 2014 at 9:22:22 AM

[up]Blackwater and other PMC's were looking for anyone with military experience and in the early stages of OIF and OEF turned a blind eye to troops with lots of UCMJ actions and other problems. Steroid and other drugs were rampant among PMC's and again they turned a blind eye as long as the contract was paid out.

They were caught and they were forced to clean up their act. Unlike a government, a PMC has few rights when one of their employees breaks the law. The only thing shielding them would be their employeer (too desperate to toss them out) or they run back to a nation like the US (who can bail them out politically).

Even then, Blackwater is "no more' and is a shadow or it's former self.

A False Flag Operation is a terrible idea in this age of social media and even poor farmers having cell phones with cameras. A Psycho for Hire is a bad idea, they chicken out when the work gets tough and go crazy from boredom. Plus they will just go for the bigger paycheck.

edited 13th Sep '14 9:22:58 AM by TairaMai

I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....

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