Rusty's Naval/Military History thread

[Buster's Uncle]

You'd have to sorta turn off your conscience to sleep at night.

[Mart]

From the photos, a lot can be said about him. He is smiling and it looks sincere. He is happy with his life. He probably had strong psychic to do that job. Though after such event he might also be replaced due to stress he maybe got after that decision.
Also, judging from the apartment he lives in now, he is abandoned by his friends (?) not having family (?) and not in some luxurious house after years of such service. It looks to me, he was really fired from the military with no good opinion.

[Buster's Uncle]

It's not a rich country for most people, and there have been very hard economic times in the interim - I notice the wallpaper behind him is in good shape and the place looks clean.  His pension is probably not huge, is all, and I don't know how usual that is for a retired Lt. Colonel, but it's Russia.

Paging Jarlwolf...

[Mart]

They mention, he lives in Moscow area? That must also be quite expensive place. Even a small apartment must cost a lot.
Some people are like that, they will not choose a luxurious house in the country, but prefer to live in dense urban area. He may be that kind of person.

[Buster's Uncle]

A town in the Moskova area.  A somewhat urban apartment is why I'm pretty sure it's not Jarl, actually.  Even looks a little bit like him.  That's a great old man face, BTW.

[Buster's Uncle]

Rusty?  Nothing to say?

[Rusty Edge]

No, it is interesting. So often history hangs by a thread.

I'm glad I'm still alive. There have been other close calls, originating with our systems. I would like to think that they would have used the hotline, and averted the disaster that way, had it escalated.

It reminded me of other things, too. Like when they dismantled most of the American missile silos, they noticed that most of the launch codes were set to Eight Zeros! Now, to be fair that's probably the last code I would try. I might start at 00000001 and count upwards. But most of them the same?!

Crack one and you crack the majority of them!

[vonbach]

Cracking the codes isn't the issue getting to them is. Lots of little things in the military aren't
what you would expect. Especially as far as security is concerned. Tanks for instance don't even have keys.

[Rusty Edge]

Lots of little things in the military aren't
what you would expect. Especially as far as security is concerned. Tanks for instance don't even have keys.

I had no idea.
Thanks vonbach.

[Mart]

So that's why occasionally you hear about some drunk soldier going wild on city streets in a tank...

[Buster's Uncle]

Y'know von, that sounds a little like experience talking...  What branch?

[vonbach]

Army. A child could drive an Abrams. Literally. It has the same controls as a motorized tricycle.
All it has is handles that move you forward or back and the brake. The brakes btw can go from
60 to zero in the length of the tank itself. Hacking in the military like in WARGAMES is pretty much
impossible for a very simple reason. Theres no outside connection to anything vital. So if you want
to hack something you have to get to the facility itself.
I know someone that actually served in a missile silo btw.

[Buster's Uncle]

I sorta knew that about tank steering, but certainly not specifically about the Abrams.

Sir, you intrigue me.

Thank you for serving.  I would make that hoo-ah noise, but I can't keep straight which is the Army and which the Marine version, and wouldn't want to insult you getting it reversed.

See any action?

[Rusty Edge]

Army. A child could drive an Abrams. Literally. It has the same controls as a motorized tricycle.
All it has is handles that move you forward or back and the brake. The brakes btw can go from
60 to zero in the length of the tank itself. Hacking in the military like in WARGAMES is pretty much
impossible for a very simple reason. Theres no outside connection to anything vital. So if you want
to hack something you have to get to the facility itself.
I know someone that actually served in a missile silo btw.

I don't know much at all about how an Abrams works. I knew a guy who was a motor pool mechanic in the Reserves. He said that the air filter was the size of a dining room table. I saw some relatively close during the Dessert Shield mobilization. I was on a passenger train, and they were on flatcars on parallel tracks. Beyond that, nothing.   

I would have thought that they had keys, much the same as large tractors and construction equipment. If for no other reason, to keep people out of them while they are sitting empty.

[Buster's Uncle]

I imagine they're simply never left unattended if operational, and keys take seconds that could get people killed in a tight spot in the field.