I was wishing we find the motherfucker person responsible for the death of my fellow citizens and bring them to justice.

It might be nothing more symbolic than Captain Ahab finally catching his white whale, but to the men and women serving in our armed forces and intelligence services around the world, I simply say thank-you.

It was a great relief getting word from David about his trip back. Mom and I will be going to pick him up. The families got word about their return before some of the soldiers did. That means we have to travel into Michigan which, as proud Ohioans (Go Buckeyes!), we don’t do unless absolutely necessary.

And there will be plenty of time to say it tomorrow, but I can’t help to say it now. To every one of the soldiers belonging to the 783rd, thank-you for everything, and welcome home.

Here are some quick facts from Wikipedia’s page for the MRAP:

• MRAP stands for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected.
• MRAPs are a family of vehicles rather than just one design like the Hummer or M1A1 Abrams.
• There are no common designs since a number of vendors supply their own versions.
• The MRAP program is being funded through an “emergency war budget”.
• Since making the vehicles available to soldiers in the field was a priority, the military granted contracts to a number of vendors to speed up manufacturing.
• The hulls are V-shaped to deflect energy away from the vehicles.
• Because of the weight combined with the design, a high center of gravity makes the MRAPs susceptible to rollovers from poor road conditions.
• An MRAP II program has been initiated to develop a new vehicle in order to better protect against explosively formed penetrators (EFP) which use shaped charges to form a jet of metal to cut through armor.

From the pictures that my brother sent me, it looks like they were being trained to use FPI’s Cougar. They come in both a 4×4 and a 6×6 version. Over 3500 vehicles are expected to be delivered by the end of 2008. There’s been a number of Cougar’s that were subjected to IEDs and mines in Iraq and Afghanistan where crew members survived the blasts with some of the trucks still operational enough to get to safety.

Photo: A Cougar MRAP after driving over a mine. All crew survived with minor injuries and the Cougar was driven two miles to safety on three wheels after the explosion.

It comes with mixed feelings. I’m proud of him and his unit with the service and dedication to the country’s interests. He was a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom during its first year. Now he’ll serve as part of the ongoing Operation Enduring Freedom. At the same time, I’m saddened at the fact that I won’t know when I’ll be able to seem him next. I assume that he’ll get a break at some point and be granted some leave time where he’ll fly back and visit for a week. But since things don’t seem to be going as planned, I can’t rely on hope.

There’s been some confusion in regards to his discharge date. His term of service is to end in February of 2009. For instance, he’s not supposed to be deployed within a year of that date, but some wording in the official orders makes it seem as though they can hold him, an effective stop-loss, until the end of the tour. He had been trying to convince higher-ups that someone wasn’t interpreting the orders correctly, but to no avail. I guess there’s still a chance for the end of his term in February. We won’t know until someone else finally makes that call. Regardless of any outcome, he’s still in Afghanistan.

Here’s a quick video of my brother escorting his friend through an OC (aka Pepper Spray) training course.

Quake fans rejoice! The US Navy has been the recipient of a brand new 32MJ rail gun, the most powerful one yet. It can fire rounds up to speeds of Mach 8, or 2722 meters per second.

In a practical sense, a rail gun eliminates many obstacles that a conventional gun presents.

• Since the rail gun propels its projectiles with electricity alone, storage would be free of explosive materials. Not only does this present a much safer environment for the sailors, especially during battle, it would free up space in order to store more ammunition.
• Gas expansion, driven by conventional explosive material, is limited in its ability to launch a projectile. A rail gun can launch a projectile much faster and further away.
• Rapid fire of a rail gun can be achieved much more efficiently. As there is no spent cartridge to clear from the weapon, a new projectile could be loaded within a moment after being fired.

The major drawback to this weapon is having to supply it with 3 million amps of power for each shot. The Navy is looking to get it’s hands on a 64MJ rail gun which would mean requiring up to 6 million amps of power. They estimate that in order to fire a 64MJ weapon six times per minute would require 16MW of power, a major reason why the Navy is getting its hands on these first.

The Arleigh Burke class of US destroyers are powered by four General-Electric turbines capable of generating 75MW of power. By balancing the power needs between propulsion and the weapon, a fleet of destroyers with mounted rail guns could be a very formidable force. From delivering supporting fire to troops on the ground from distances of 220 miles away, to supplementing the Aegis missile defense systems with hypersonic projectiles, fully functional rail guns would be indispensable.

Below is a video of a test shot done in October 2006. This is not the 32MJ rail gun but of NAVSEA’s testing of the technology. It is also accessible at Fredericksburg.com.