Alaan posted:

Being the first test pilots on that had to be a particularly rear end clenching experience. "Ok, this plane wants to jerk wildly out of control but we're pretty sure the computer will stop you from dying horribly."

NosmoKing posted:

I liked the B-58, XB-70, and FB-111 "encapsulated ejection systems". Don't fart the seat out, eject the whole freakin' cockpit (or in the case of the B-58, a little capsule that make you look like a pillbug coming down under a parachute).

Frozen Horse posted:

This has also given me a new appreciation of exactly how suicidal things like sticky-bombs were. If you really fail, you have a large grenade glued to you. If you kind-of fail, you have a tank full of angry people with coaxial machine guns alerted to your presence. If you, through some miracle, succeed, you fail due to being right next to a tank that is exploding.

Oxford Comma posted:

Too bad this isn't an online poll. Otherwise I'd look forward to Canadian troops riding to battle in their Gushing Grannies!

Snowdens Secret posted:

Warbadger posted:

It's a propellant fire. The auto loader stores a bunch of propellant charges above the gun and it's exposed to the crew spaces. There's also ammunition (anything not in the carousel) and more propellant charges scattered about the crew spaces.

The armor on the sides of the tank is actually quite thin, so pretty much any old RPG can punch a hole through there and shoot a jet of molten metal into the crew compartment. At that point there's a really good chance that at least one propellant charge will light up and cause fire in the crew space which will then light up ALL the propellant charges, resulting in a tower of fire and potentially a flying turret.

Sometimes the fire (or whatever the tank was shot with) will also cause one of the High Explosive rounds to cook off, causing a catastrophic explosion.

Snowdens Secret posted:

I kinda wish they'd name one the William J Clinton just to hear the nicknames.

mllaneza posted:

For a submarine you'd want to call it the Lewinsky.

Groda posted:

Or an aircraft carrier exclusively staffed by F-35's and A-7's.

canyoneer posted:

If they didn't fire a salute with the casketcannon, it was a wasted opportunity

FrozenVent posted:

The French Foreign Legion has pioneers too:

evil_bunnY posted:

At that point you'd think a bit of sand would literally be the least of their worries.

Blistex posted:

Moms make the best meals?

priznat posted:

I could barely fit into anything armoured, leopard 1, Grizzly, Coyote (basically a LAV-III), even m577. M109 was ok though, roomy.

I'm very tall though. Tall people are not suited to military life I expect.

Booblord Zagats posted:

NATO reporting name "Shark Vulva"

brains posted:

from the report cited:

interesting how (in)effective they concluded tac nukes would be against infantry even in best-case scenarios. also, lol at the study referenced for that number being named "OREGON TRAIL."

it is pretty revealing of the thought process in the upper leadership in the military at the time, in the "if things truly go to poo poo we'll just nuke because they're an insta-win" mentality. that's some cold war arrogance at its finest.

Arglebargle III posted:

That thing about cables cutting people in half is a myth. They're just not sharp. They can break bones and give you internal injuries though.

Propagandalf posted:

Yes, it's still done, if not to such documented degrees. A lot of those functions are done by contractors and locals.

I don't think there's a regulation martini anymore, but there are kids siphoned off from the cook schools to become chefs/sommelier/maitre'ds who learn that stuff. You don't want Pvt. Pyle trying to announce the Dutch NATO officers at diplomatic events or planning meals for a defense chief's summit.

joat mon posted:

I wish I knew. Apparently there were 5 different martini recipes in the "Open Mess Operational Manual"

Doctor Grape Ape posted:

Yup. Now let me get back to whipping my slaves, gotta get that cotton to market!

Cippalippus posted:

Yeah, it's a pretty good post. Head towards Wikipedia if you want to see how many wars Switzerland has fought in the last few centuries to see what I mean. After that, do the same for the USA, adding to the count the number of deaths, the long term results, the money wasted and come here telling me it was worth it.

Cippalippus posted:

That's a pretty short list of old crap that pales in comparison to the more recent bullshit that the USA has pulled on the world.
Basically if you think that after Iraq you are going to feel superior to Russia, boyo, you're going to be hit with a sore disappointment. American sanctions in fact are a blessing for us since we give no fucks about them and are strengthening our relationship with Russia.

Anyway, and to the point, the countries you listed didn't have anything to do with Russia, but with the Soviet Union, which at the time was ruled by a Georgian. Putin got you covered on that and evened the score.