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An Old Friend Gets An Upgrade

Popular Mechanics has a quick blurb on the facelift our fleet of B-52 bombers is getting so that they can be more effective weapons and stay in the air until 2040.  This includes improved radar and radios, better brakes, and an improved ordnance carrying capacity.

I have a lifelong affection for these big mothers.  I was born a few miles from Minot Air Force Base, and I can’t remember a time in my life I didn’t hear those things rumbling overhead.  Heck, the team at my first school (Grades 1 through 12 all under the same roof) was the “Bombers“, and there was a huge mural of a B-52 on the wall of the gym.  The terrain around the school must have reminded someone of somewhere overseas, because it was commonplace for a bomber to do a low-level practice run over the top of our playground.

A lot of my friends fathers either flew or maintained the bombers, and I knew something was up when all of the dads disappeared at odd intervals.  I remember one really bad Saturday sometime around 1980 when all the fathers ran out of their homes pulling on their uniforms and heading back to base as fast as they could.

So now we’re going to keep the B-52 in the air until I’m almost 70 years old, which would make the airframes almost 90 years old by the time they’re retired.  If they can make it that far, that’s got to be some kind of record.  It would be like the Navy still flying Curtiss biplanes to patrol the coastline, or the Army keeping Grant tanks in the active force.  Here’s hoping that these old, dependable aircraft continue to be an integral part of our air power for a long time.

H/T to Instapundit.

by daddybear71 on February 28, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in military

Posted by daddybear71 on February 28, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/28/an-old-friend-gets-an-upgrade/

Quote of the Day

Use common sense.  If you jump a subway turnstyle, you might get away with a warning from the police.  But if you jump a subway turnstyle carrying a loaded gun and smoking a joint, maybe you need to get your ass kicked. — Chris Rock, “How to not get your ass kicked by the police” – Link NSFW for language

by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Quote of the Day

Posted by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/27/quote-of-the-day-15/

Today’s Earworm

by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Earworm

Posted by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/27/todays-earworm-39/

30 Days of Twain – Day 26

Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world — and never will.

by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Twain

Posted by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/27/30-days-of-twain-day-26/

Thought for the Day

Stepping into a hot shower while still drowsy and stepping on a wet, lifesize, silicone rubber frog that squishes under your foot just like the real thing is better than a cup of coffee.

Not as good as a bat with a nicotine habit, but it does the trick.

by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Thought for the day

Posted by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/27/thought-for-the-day-16/

Today’s Earworm

Johnny Cash, February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003
by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Earworm

Posted by daddybear71 on February 27, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/27/todays-earworm-40/

News Roundup

  • From the “Bad Idea” Department – A judge in Georgia recently took his gun out to make a point during a trial.  A witness was being uncooperative, and the judge suggested the witness shoot her lawyer.  Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm DaddyBear’s Den welcome to the honorable Judge David Barrett, the next bad example to be used ad nauseum by anti-gun organizations.  Keeping and recovering our rights is hard enough without giving those who oppose us even more  ammunition.
  • From the “Grand Theft WASR” Department – A teenager in Florida confessed to stealing an AK-47 clone and some ammunition from a house his mother works at as a housekeeper.  His excuse was that he really liked it and he didn’t think his mom would buy one like it for him.  The young man probably ought to ask for incarceration, because coming home to his mother would be worse.  Better she have a while to cool off and find a new job before she lays into him.
  • From the “You Keep Using That Word” Department – The riots in Afghanistan over the disposal of Korans that were being used to send messages by internees at a prison in Afghanistan continue. So far four American soldiers have died, and seven more were wounded Sunday when “demonstrators” threw grenades at a NATO base.  Note to reporters and the U.S. government – when the bullets and hand grenades start flying, it’s no longer a demonstration or protest, it’s an attack.  The military leadership in Afghanistan and the Obama administration must have fill-in-the-blank forms for apologizing to foreign governments.  They issued apologies to Afghanistan, Muslims everywhere, the queen of Sheba, and Abe Vigoda within hours of the incident.  No word yet on whether they’ll be apologizing to the families of the soldiers who are killed and wounded when ‘peaceful protesters’ start using deadly force instead of chanted slogans and our government wouldn’t let them return effective fire.
  • From the “Welcome Home, Soldier” Department – The military has announced that the remains of the last missing soldier from fighting in Iraq have been identified.  SSG Ahmed Kousay Altaie went missing several years ago when he left his units base in Baghdad to visit family and was abducted.  No word yet on the circumstances of his death or the recovery of his remains.  SSG al-Taie, it’s good to have you back.  
by daddybear71 on February 26, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in news

Posted by daddybear71 on February 26, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/26/news-roundup-18/

30 Days of Twain – Day 25

To create man was a fine and original idea; but to add the sheep was a tautology.

My Take – Some would be insulted by the idea that men are sheep, but after meeting people from around the world, that may be an overestimation.

by daddybear71 on February 26, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Twain

Posted by daddybear71 on February 26, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/26/30-days-of-twain-day-25/

Making your own luck

A Louisville Metro policeman probably owes his life to luck and good training:

The police badge Officer Washington was wearing actually deflected one of the bullets. That, combined with the fact that he was wearing a protective vest, kept his injuries from being much worse.

 I didn’t know this, but LMPD doesn’t require patrolmen to wear a vest all the time.  Officer Washington was trained to wear it in school, so he got in the habit of doing something smart that wasn’t absolutely required.  That probably saved his life last night.

I’m Scandinavian enough to believe in luck.  But I’m enough of a realist to believe that we usually make our own luck.  You put on your seat belt, make sure your kids are belted into car seats, do a chamber check on your firearm before you put it in the holster, and a myriad of other things every day that if they’re ever needed, someone is going to say “You were lucky you did X this morning.”.

I’m glad Officer Washington is alive, and yeah, he got lucky when a wildly fired shot hit him in the badge and the vest.  But his training and good sense made his luck much more potent.  We can all learn from that.

by daddybear71 on February 26, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on February 26, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/26/making-your-own-luck/

I love this smile

Girlie Bear had her first experience at shooting pistols today.  I took the red-dot sight off of the 22-A1 and she put about 100 rounds downrange.  I wasn’t that worried about accuracy today and concentrated on grip, stance, and safety.  The target you see above was after her first couple of cycles through the two magazines I have for that pistol.  My only admonition on accuracy with her was to not shoot the lights, target holders, or wall, but she didn’t do half bad for her first time out.

She seemed to have a great time, but was very serious about doing it right.  She was conscientious about proper grip on the pistol, taking her time with shots, and being safe.  She even got to do a couple malfunction drills when the pistol had FTF’s.  I’ve found with the 22-A1 that you have to give it a very steady platform to fire or it doesn’t fire the next round, so I showed her how to cycle the slide and to hold it very firmly.  The recoil on it is so light that she had no trouble controlling it.

I was really proud of how serious she was about safety on the range.  I wish the same could be said about the group next to us. It was a group of 5 or so adults, most of whom were first time shooters.  The guy supplying the guns had pretty much emptied the safe and had a large assortment of pistols, including a .50 AE Desert Eagle.  It looked like a really neat gun, until it started to stove pipe when one of the new shooters was using it. When that happened he turned it 90 degrees to the left to look at the ejection port, which turned the muzzle of that very fine pistol pointed directly at us.  The first reminder from me was measured and gentle, the next one less so, and the third time was a “Let’s pack up and go talk to the range safety”.

Girlie Bear had a great time, and is already asking when we can go back.  I told her that once she gets comfortable and accurate with the .22, I’ll let her shoot .38’s out of my Model 13, and then she can try any of my other pistols.  This may be the thing that gets me off my butt and buying a 9mm so that she can shoot something more than a .22 and not have her poor father eating ramen noodles so that he can afford the ammunition.

by daddybear71 on February 25, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns

Posted by daddybear71 on February 25, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/02/25/i-love-this-smile/

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