[hmmmmm..... seems the images are all stripped out. must be how they're embedded or linked in the email. joel does not like this trend.]
Hi Mom,
Thanks for tuning me in to that. I didn't know that the military had that many dogs trained for war like that. In my opinion, there's nothing laudable about it. And as to the ethics behind it, the premise of their conditional statement is false: "If it's ethical to send humans into combat, then why not dogs?"
In my lifetime, I have yet to see the US get into an ethically-justifiable war, according to my understanding of Christian, or even just human, ethics. If the ethical code is based on empire, then with the principles that guide an empire ethic, yes, send humans, dogs, and sharks with lasers attached to their fins.
In the meantime, we're spending $250,000,000 on dog armor, and I wonder how much on training, etc.
Many blessings,
Joel
http://revjd.blogspot.com/
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes
the existing model obsolete."
-Buckminster Fuller (Architect and Geometrist)
On 13 July 2011 15:17,
wrote:
----- Original Message -----
Subject: FW: Go Cairo!!!
-------Original Message-------
Subject: Fw: Go Cairo!!!
From:
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2011 16:20:52 -0400
----- Forwarded by on 07/09/2011 04:20 PM -----
| From: |
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| To: | |
| Date: | 07/09/2011 09:06 AM |
| Subject: | Go Cairo!!! |
The Dog That Cornered Osama Bin Laden
When U.S. President Barack Obama went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, last week for a highly publicized, but very private meeting with the commando team that killed Osama bin Laden, only one of the 81 members of the super-secret SEAL DevGru unit was identified by name: Cairo, the war dog.
Cairo, like most canine members of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs, is a Belgian Malinois. The Malinois breed is similar to German shepherds but smaller and more compact, with an adult male weighing in the 30-kilo range.
(German shepherds are still used as war dogs by the American military but the lighter, stubbier Malinois is considered better for the tandem parachute jumping and rappelling operations often undertaken by SEAL teams. Labrador retrievers are also favoured by various military organizations around the world.)
Like their human counterparts, the dog SEALs are highly trained, highly skilled, highly motivated special ops experts, able to perform extraordinary military missions by SEa, Air and Land (thus the acronym).
The dogs carry out a wide range of specialized duties for the military teams to which they are attached: With a sense of smell 40 times greater than a human's, the dogs are trained to detect and identify both explosive material and hostile or hiding humans.
The dogs are twice as fast as a fit human, so anyone trying to escape is not likely to outrun Cairo or his buddies.
The dogs, equipped with video cameras, also enter certain danger zones first, allowing their handlers to see what's ahead before humans follow.
As I mentioned before, SEAL dogs are even trained parachutists, jumping either in tandem with their handlers or solo, if the jump is into water.
Last year canine parachute instructor Mike Forsythe and his dog Cara set the world record for highest man-dog parachute deployment, jumping from more than 30,100 feet up - the altitude transoceanic passenger jets fly at. Both Forsythe and Cara were wearing oxygen masks and skin protectors for the jump.
Here's a photo from that jump, taken by Andy Anderson for K9 Storm Inc. (more about those folks shortly).
As well, the dogs are faithful, fearless and ferocious - incredibly frightening and efficient attackers.
I have seen it reported repeatedly that the teeth of SEAL war dogs are replaced with titanium implants that are stronger, sharper and scare-your-pants-off intimidating, but a U.S. Military spokesman has denied that charge, so I really don't know (never having seen a canine SEAL face-to-face). I do know that I've never seen a photo of a war dog with anything even vaguely resembling a set of shiny metal chompers.
When the SEAL DevGru team (usually known by its old designation, Team 6) hit bin Laden's Pakistan compound on May 2, Cairo's feet would have been four of the first on the ground.
And like the human SEALs, Cairo was wearing super-strong, flexible body Armour and outfitted with high-tech equipment that included "doggles" - specially designed and fitted dog googles with night-vision and infrared capability that would even allow Cairo to see human heat forms through concrete walls.
Now where on earth would anyone get that kind of incredibly niche hi-tech doggie gear?
From Winnipeg, of all places.
Jim and Glori Slater's Manitoba hi-tech mom-and-pop business, K9 Storm Inc., has a deserved worldwide reputation for designing and manufacturing probably the best body Armour available for police and military dogs. Working dogs in 15 countries around the world are currently protected by their K9 Storm body Armour.
Jim Slater was a canine handler on the Winnipeg Police Force when he crafted a Kevlar protective jacket for his own dog, Olaf, in the mid-1990s. Soon Slater was making body Armour for other cop dogs, then the Canadian military and soon the world.
The standard K9 Storm vest also has a load-bearing harness system that makes it ideal for tandem rappelling and parachuting.
And then there are the special hi-tech add-ons that made the K9 Storm especially appealing to the U.S. Navy SEALs, who bought four of K9 Storm Inc.'s top-end Intruder "canine tactical assault suits" last year for $86,000. You can be sure Cairo was wearing one of those four suits when he jumped into bin Laden's lair.
Here's an explanation of all the K9 Storm Intruder special features:
Just as the Navy SEALS and other elite special forces are the sharp point of the American military machine, so too are their dogs at the top of a canine military heirarchy.
In all, the U.S. military currently has about 2,800 active-duty dogs deployed around the world, with roughly 600 now in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Here's the link to a dandy photo essay about U.S. war dogs that just appeared in the journal Foreign Policy.
Several of the photos I have included here are from Foreign Policy, as you will see. Other photos are from K9 Storm Inc.
As for the ethics of sending dogs to war, that's pretty much a moot point, don't you think? If it's ethical to send humans into combat, then why not dogs?
At least the U.S. now treats its war dogs as full members of the military. At the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. combat dogs there were designated as "surplus military equipment" and left behind when American forces pulled out. |
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Labels: mailbot
A message from the older generation.,
Many blessings,
Joel
http://revjd.blogspot.com/
"Holy is what you do when there is nothing between your actions and the truth."
-Stayceyann Chin
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Dee Johnson <.....>
Date: 7 June 2011 18:48
Subject: Fw: Wasn't this us ?
To: .....................
This is cute and most of it is from my younger days. Show to your kids..... ----
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2011 3:02 PM
Subject: Fwd: Wasn't this us ?
I remember those days, don't you??
A little house with three bedrooms,
One bathroom and one car on the street.
A mower that you had to push
To make the grass look neat.
In the kitchen on the wall
We only had one phone,
And no need for recording things,
Someone was always home.
We only had a living room
Where we would congregate,
Unless it was at mealtime
In the kitchen where we ate.
We had no need for family rooms
Or extra rooms to dine.
When meeting as a family
Those two rooms would work out fine.
We only had one TV set
And channels maybe two,
But always there was one of them
With something worth the view.
For snacks we had potato chips
That tasted like a chip.
And if you wanted flavor
There was Lipton's onion dip.
Store-bought snacks were rare because
My mother liked to cook
And nothing can compare to snacks
In Betty Crocker's book.
Weekends were for family trips
Or staying home to play.
We all did things together --
Even go to church to pray.
When we did our weekend trips
Depending on the weather,
No one stayed at home because
We liked to be together.
Sometimes we would separate
To do things on our own,
But we knew where the others were
Without our own cell phone.
Then there were the movies
With your favorite movie star,
And nothing can compare
To watching movies in your car.
Then there were the picnics
At the peak of summer season,
Pack a lunch and find some trees
And never need a reason.
Get a baseball game together
With all the friends you know,
Have real action playing ball --
And no game video.
Remember when the doctor
Used to be the family friend,
And didn't need insurance
Or a lawyer to defend?
The way that he took care of you
Or what he had to do,
Because he took an oath and strived
To do the best for you.
Remember going to the store
And shopping casually,
And when you went to pay for it
You used your own money?
Nothing that you had to swipe
Or punch in some amount,
And remember when the cashier person
Had to really count?
The milkman used to go
From door to door,
And it was just a few cents more
Than going to the store.
There was a time when mailed letters
Came right to your door,
Without a lot of junk mail ads
Sent out by every store...
The mailman knew each house by name
And knew where it was sent;
There were not loads of mail addressed
To "present occupant."
There was a time when just one glance
Was all that it would take,
And you would know the kind of car,
The model and the make.
They didn't look like turtles
Trying to squeeze out every mile;
They were streamlined, white walls, fins
And really had some style.
One time the music that you played
Whenever you would jive,
Was from a vinyl, big-holed record
Called a forty-five.
The record player had a post
To keep them all in line
And then the records would drop down
And play one at a time.
Oh sure, we had our problems then,
Just like we do today
And always we were striving,
Trying for a better way.
Oh, the simple life we lived
Still seems like so much fun,
How can you explain a game,
Just kick the can and run?
And why would boys put baseball cards
Between bicycle spokes
And for a nickel, red machines
had little bottled Cokes?
This life seemed so much easier
and slower in some ways.
I love the new technology
but I sure do miss those days.
So time moves on and so do we
and nothing stays the same,
but I sure love to reminisce
and walk down memory lane.
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