Olive-Drab.com Blog

It didn’t get much notice last year, but 350 simultaneous bombs detonated in Bangladesh on 17 August 2005. Apparently cell phones were used to trigger the bombs with an automated program to set them all off at the same time. Here is a CNN story about the attack:

Bomb blasts shake Bangladesh

New developments indicate that this may have been a trial run of a new technique developed by al Qaeda. DEBKA, a news agency that closely follows the Middle East, reports today that French counter-terror experts have traced the Bangladesh attack to a facility set up by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, al Qaeda’s Iraq commander who was killed earlier this year. The DEBKA story:

Al Qaeda’s novel death technique: Detonating hundreds of simultaneous explosions through cell phone and Internet

You may also recall a news story last August about men with Middle Eastern backgrounds arrested after buying hundreds of cell phones in the U.S. Midwest. Charges were dropped when there was no proof they had any connection to terrorism.

Palestinian-American man wrongly accused of terror plot in US says he was targeted, wants apology

Can we now connect the dots? There is still no proof of any new plot but this is the kind of development that will make it almost impossible to stop some future attack in the U.S. or Western Europe.

One of the most unusual trucks standardized by the U.S. Army was the M561 Gama Goat. The 6×6 vehicle had a four wheel cab and two wheel trailer connected by an articulated power joint. New photos have been added to the M561 page and the M792 Gama Goat Ambulance has been given its own page:

M561 Truck, Cargo, 6×6, Gama Goat
M792 Truck, Ambulance, 6×6, Gama Goat

The Grumman Aerospace Corporation-built F-14 Tomcat officially ends its career with the U.S. Navy at a decommissioning ceremony today, 22 September 2006.  In service since 1974, the Tomcat has become too expensive to maintain when compared to the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet that is its replacement.

Here are some links with the background on the decision and the ceremony today:

DefenseLink: Squadron Homecoming Marks End of Era for Tomcats

Jet Observer:  Fairwell Tomcat

DefenseLink reports that TACOM awarded a contract on 11 September 2006 to AM General (South Bend, IN) for, among other things, M1165 high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWV).  Here is a link to the announcement:

 defenselink.mil

Problem is that this is the only mention of an M-1165 model HMMWV that has surfaced.  Anyone know more about this?  Please use comments on this post to share what you know.

UPDATE

I checked with TACOM about this and here is their response:

“An M1165 is a four door HMMWV on an ECV (Expanded Capacity Vehicle) chassis.  This vehicle combines the roles of the former M1097A2/M1113 models.”

All these models are described on the Olive-Drab.com page called Up-Armored HMMWV.

Popular Science has posted a long article by Bill Sweetman, the author of more than 30 books on aerospace technology, analyzing what he thinks is going on at Area 51 in Nevada.  No, not aliens, but leading edge aerospace developments under classified budgets, the kind of projects that birthed the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes a generation ago.

The Top Secret Warplanes of Area 51

9/11 was five years ago but it is still an unhealed wound.  There is war for the US and allies in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as terrorist threats or actions all over the world.  We don’t know how this will all turn out, but we know we have to fight and win.

Remembering accurately the events of 9/11 is part of maintianing the resolve to win.  There are many tributes and reviews of 9/11 this week, but let me point you to a special set of pages prepared by the Department of Defense with news footage and personal stories in text, pictures and video:

A Day We Will Never Forget

In addition to the Carlisle Bandage page posted a few days ago, several more First Aid Kits and Battle Dressings have had their pages completed. These are now available in the Olive-Drab.com Military Medicine section:

• Jungle First Aid Kit
• Battle Dressings
• First Aid Kit, Individual

Good news for the Army:

” In a big turnaround from a year ago, the U.S. Army will achieve its 2006 goal of 80,000 new soldiers despite lingering reluctance by some potential recruits to join amid the Iraq war, officials said on Friday.

Adding recruiters, sweetening enlistment bonuses, accepting older volunteers and even tolerating more tattoos helped the active-duty Army rebound from fiscal-year 2005 when it fell almost 7,000 recruits short of 80,000, officials said.”

Link to the full Reuters story:  Army to hit 2006 recruit goal

One of the most common items of militaria is the Carlisle bandage, used by the U.S. Army and USMC from the 1920s until after WW II, issued to every soldier.  When wounded, it was the Carlisle that the soldier pulled out of its web pouch to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound, often the only treatment until a corpsman came or the casualty could be moved to an aid station.

There is now a page in the new Military Medicine section of Olive-Drab.com with a review of the history of this item and the many changes it has gone through:

World War II Carlisle Dressing

Thanks to Power Line for publicizing a remarkable 27 min. video by an Israeli journalist embedded with IDF soldiers as they entered Lebanon. An encounter between an Israeli company and Hezbollah fighters takes place in a house near the border resulting in IDF casualties.

The film is noisy, confusing, and hard to follow — that is, it shows combat. Subtitles in English and diagrams of the action clarify what is going on.

Link to the IDF Lebanon Video

One important fact from this video that I have not heard elsewhere. The Hezbollah fighters were wearing IDF uniforms and equipment to sow confusion.