#fire department tanker

[larryshapiro]

rural water supply operations

[bekolxeram]

I swear this is the last time I bring up that air tanker in 2x14 voluntarily. The bottom line is, if you believe Tommy did fly that plane, that makes him not even superhero level cool, but Jonny Kim level cool. If you believe he didn't, then he's just as cool, always knowing a guy from all walks of line, ready to help out with whatever resource on hand the second Chimney says the word. At the end of the day, he saved the 118 and a bunch of civilians either way, and he did it again in S7 flying to that cruise ship. He'll always be our cool heroic pilot no matter what.

With that being said, I have some thoughts about the CAL FIRE line from the news reporter in that episode. If you're not interested, please read no further. And if you don't want to see this kind of posts at all but still want to read my other content, please block the tag #aviation realism.

I know Bobby said "217 incoming" when he saw that C-130, only the news reporter mentioned it was with CAL FIRE. That's why I suspect the CAL FIRE line was shoved in after the actual scenes were filmed, because they realized or someone explained to them how impractical and dangerous for an urban fire department to own a giant air tanker and just dump tons of water all over the city.

I saw the same technique utilized for the tsunami arc in S3. Anyone who has taken geography in high school can tell that in reality, there is no megathrust fault capable of generating Indian Ocean 2004 or Japan 2011 scale tsunami off the coast of SoCal. So where did the tsunami come from? In 3x02, before Sue asks Maddie to "triage" the dispatchers, you can hear once again a news reporter saying the tsunami is triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Alaska. This takes the fictional tsunami scenario from having zero basis in real life, to possible in extreme cases and greatly exaggerated for dramatic effect.

I thank whatever divine intervention or persistent technical advisor that made the CAL FIRE line possible.

2x14 was first aired on April 15, 2019. What you might not remember or realize is that something notable happened across the Atlantic on the very same day: the Notre-Dame fire. The entire world watched the cathedral burned for hours while over 400 firefighters all over Paris tried to contain the flame. A certain f...... former US president then suggested on Twitter that "perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out."

The French immediately responded by pointing out that dumping large amount of water from an aircraft at low altitude could "weaken the structure of Notre-Dame and result in collateral damage to the buildings in the vicinity." A retired FDNY battalion chief also told the media that water bombing would likely make the situation more dangerous, as civilians on the street might be hit if you miss the target.

The entire internet was clowning on that stable genius for such an innovative idea all afternoon. Imagine if 2x14 aired later that evening with not even a smaller single engine one, but a large 4 engine airtanker somehow belonging to the LAFD, that would come off extra stupid, even meme inspiring. But with the CAL FIRE line, they could at least claim that it was the extreme and rare circumstances requiring additional assistance from other agencies in the area, and it was not part of 911-verse LAFD's normal operation.

If the writers had done their homework beforehand and the CAL FIRE thing was always part of the script, good for them. If it was indeed shoved into the scene last minute, then they should thank their lucky stars.

I can already imagine the headache Bobby is going to have working on Hotshots as a consultant.

[soumarhea]

The Wall of Heroes in Maru's workspace; the little details that lives rent free in my head. I'll just paraphrase what I and another troper wrote on Maru's Shout-Out entry on TvTropes;

Keep in mind this is taken straight from The Art of Planes, so pretty much a concept art, and have slight difference from the ones in the final cut of the film.

There's a total of five aircraft on the Wall including Nick Lopez, and each aircraft got another picture and one or two newspaper clippings pinned along their framed photo. Very much grouped like this;

The top left picture on the Wall (boxed in red) is a Grumman S-2 Tracker of the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (abbrev. CDF, now CalFire) with "87" marked on the tailfin. Pic above shows it to be "82", but in the film proper it is "87", and slightly zoomed in. Tanker-87 was lost in a midair collision with another CDF S-2, Tanker-92, over a fire near Ukiah, California, in 2001.

The bottom left corner of the Wall (boxed in green) is a picture of a Bell 212 helicopter. On 21 May 2011, while fighting a wildfire, a Bell 212 helicopter went down just offshore in Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta.

In the film proper, the picture at the center of the Wall is a C-130, with "82" marked on the tailfin (yes they just shuffled that number around), in a livery similar to Aero Union air tankers livery. C-130A N130HP, call sign Tanker-130, also painted in red and white (albeit with a different livery), was lost with all crew on board after experiencing a catastrophic breakup in the air while fighting the Cannon Fire on 17 June 2002.

The picture at the center of the Wall above (boxed in yellow), is a Martin JRM Mars with Forest Industries Flying Tankers (FIFT) livery. The JRM tanker Marianas Mars was lost while operating under FIFT when it went down while fighting fires in British Colombia on 23 June 1961.

The picture on the top right corner of the Wall (boxed in blue) is a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter, painted with Carson helicopters livery. On 5 August 2008, S-61N N612AZ crashed on takeoff while assigned to the Iron Complex fire in California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Bottom right is Nick Lopez. The only thing notable in the picture is he died at 36. Also, look at Blade's dumb face lmao

Headcanon; every time Blade crashes, Maru pinned even dumber picture of him on the Wall.

Anyways, a closer look at the bottom-center map gave us Piston Peak location and,

pardon my nonexistent map-reading, I live on the other side of the globe,

Piston Peak National Park seems to be somewhere in Oregon... or is it upper California/Nevada?? Wait hold on,

Map is roughly overlaid but I guess, definitively, Piston Peak is somewhere in Oregon.

[mitigatedchaos]

2027: Youtuber Astroblob336 attempts a "distracted driving" prank, appearing to eat a 5-course meal while his car is driving down a highway, to views of stunned onlookers. He is pulled over by a police officer. A crew member for the shoot, who has been controlling the car using a phone app and a game controller from the trunk, pops put of the trunk, startling the officer.

The police officer draws his gun, but does not fire. However, in attempting to step back from the officer, the crew member enters a lane of traffic. The driver of a fuel tanker truck witnesses this and swerves to avoid hitting them. The truck rolls over on its side, and the tank hits both the police car and the Youtuber's car before igniting, killing all three people in its path.

This becomes an issue of national discourse, as the crew member's family sue the police department, alleging the officer created a dangerous environment, while the police union sues the Youtuber's estate, alleging that the original distracted driving prank was itself a crime and caused the dangerous situation, including the loss of the officer's life.

[steam-beasts]

Three questions:

1. Were any engines/rolling stock killed during the Incident?

2. You said earlier that Flynn wasn’t transformed, but not Belle?

3. Is Stephen canon, and if so, was he transformed?

1. No, no engines were killed. But yes, a few trucks and tankers were killed, half to do with the engines going feral and half to do with how much they hated the trucks and tankers, the ones who lived consider themselves lucky that they were just scratched and bitten. Nowadays, they’re still troublesome, but now they have a rule to not go completely overboard with annoying and pestering the engines, mainly out of fear.

2. Well, first of all: the infection was affecting mainly steam engines at the time, so Flynn was safe, but he had to quarantine once Belle contracted it and stayed at the Sodor Fire Department in Wellsworth. Once they all started going feral, he had a better chance at escaping and made sure to take as many civilians with him as possible.

3. Yep. Just about every single steam engine was infected (except Stepney and Gator). He looks like this;

Miraculously, he managed to keep his original wheels after shedding.

[rjzimmerman]

Note that the studies that were released by companies affiliated with polluters happened in 2019, during the trump administration.

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

On a Southern California spring morning in 1973, a tanker truck driver jackknifed his rig and dumped the agricultural fumigant he was transporting onto a city street. A Los Angeles Fire Department emergency response team spent four hours cleaning up the chemical, 1,3-dichloropropene, or 1,3-D, a fumigant sold as Telone that farmers use to kill nematodes and other soil-dwelling organisms before planting.

Seven years after the spill, two emergency responders developed the same rare, aggressive blood cancer—histiocytic lymphoma—and died within two months of each other. In 1975, a farmer who’d accidentally exposed himself to 1,3-D repeatedly through a broken hose was diagnosed with another blood cancer, leukemia, and died the next year.

Within a decade of the men’s deaths, described as case studies in JAMA Internal Medicine, the National Toxicology Program, or NTP, reported “clear evidence” that 1,3-D causes cancer in both rats and mice. The finding led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to classify the chemical as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans” the same year, 1985. So it wasn’t a surprise when researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles reported in 2003 that Californians who’d lived at least two decades in areas with the highest applications of 1,3-D faced a heightened risk of dying from pancreatic cancer. 

Yet EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs’ Cancer Assessment Review Committee, or CARC, concluded in 2019 that 1,3-D—originally embraced by tobacco companies for its unparalleled ability to kill anything in soil that might harm their plants—isn’t likely to cause cancer after all.

In doing so, EPA, whose mission is to protect human health and the environment, rejected the human evidence, calling the UCLA study “low quality.” It also dismissed the authoritative NTP study and studies in lab animals that documented 1,3-D’s ability to damage DNA, a quintessential hallmark of cancer.

Instead, EPA’s CARC relied on studies provided by Dow AgroSciences (now called Corteva), the primary manufacturer of 1,3-D, and proposed a review of evidence linking the fumigant to cancer by SciPinion, a consulting firm hired by Dow, as an external peer review of its work. The decision to entrust external review to a Dow contractor has drawn repeated criticism, including from the agency’s watchdog, the Office of Inspector General, or OIG.

“During EPA’s search of the open literature, a comprehensive third-party peer review of the cancer weight-of-evidence assessment that considered toxicokinetics, genotoxicity and carcinogenicity data for 1,3-D was conducted and published in 2020 by SciPinion,” said agency spokesperson Timothy Carroll. EPA argued that the SciPinion review satisfied the criteria for an external review, Carroll said, and that another panel would have arrived at the same conclusion, given the specialized expertise required.

The OIG had recommended EPA conduct an external peer review of its 1,3-D cancer risk assessment in a 2022 report that outlined several problems with the agency’s process. An external review, the OIG said, requires “independence from the regulated business,” again noting the deficiency in a new report released in early August. 

The scientists who run SciPinion have long consulted for manufacturers of harmful products, often publishing studies that deploy computer models to question the need for more protective health standards.

[usafphantom2]

Buddy Brown, one of the first SR-71 Blackbird pilots, wrote down some of his adventures during his 30 years in the US Air Force. The following is in Buddy’s own words about his first flight over Hanoi with RSO’s David Jensen.

‘The first sorties I flew, Dave Jensen and myself were scheduled as a double looper over north Vietnam.

‘A double loop means you fly over north Vietnam once, descend… refuel in Thailand airspace, and then make a second pass on your return to Kadena. The route was generally: depart Kadena, fly subsonic to the first refill point ARCP approximately 200 nmi south of Kadena, get a max load of fuel, cruise to a point southeast of DaNang, skirting unfriendly radar on the flight down, turning north, flying into the Gulf of Tonkin, entering north Vietnam in the vicinity of Haiphong, crossing north Vietnam just took about 8 to 10 minutes. Deceleration into Thailand for a second air refueling, climb back to altitude, climb back to altitude over north Vietnam on the western border continue west into the Gulf of Tonkin and then again onto Kadena. Double engine flame-out

‘Dave notified me of the times when we were being looked at (Painted) by the Chinese and North Vietnam radar. And when a missile SA-2 was fired at us.

The sensors program via the ANS system to point angles when to turn on and off to operate normally.

At the start of our deceleration profile into our second air refueling, the problems began. At that time, My left generator went offline and wouldn’t reset. This is a NO-GO Situation.

At about the same time, I had a double engine flame out!🔥

‘We were going to make an emergency landing at Takhli AB, Thailand.

‘During the glide to restart altitude, of course, we lost cabin pressurization. So, our pressure suits inflate it, which made the cockpit movement a little more complicated. I called the tanker and said that we would be bottoming out early. At about 35,000 feet, I restarted both engines.

The second approach to Takhli I landed. Since a portion of the airbase was also a CIA compound, I taxied right into the CIA’s hanger. A recovery crew was sent down from Kadena the following day, and had the SR ready for a return flight to Kadena within a couple of days. The head of the CIA compound told me as I was dressing ready to leave.

“If you don’t tell anyone you were here, I won’t either!” This is a typical spy response they did however give me great service!’

Written by Linda Sheffield, previously published in aviation geek club, Scott Brown, son of Buddy is working on a book about his father. I can’t wait till it’s published. I will let you know.

Photo Buddy Brown on left David Jensen on Right

Brown family was one of my neighbors at Beale Air Force Base

@Habubrats71 via X

[warningsine]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels released footage on Thursday showing their fighters boarded and placed explosives on a Greek-flagged tanker, setting off blasts that put the Red Sea at risk of a major oil spill. The vessel was abandoned earlier, after the Houthis repeatedly attacked it.

In the video, the Iran-backed Houthis chant their motto as the bombs detonated aboard the oil tanker Sounion: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

The blasts capped the most-serious attack in weeks by the Houthis in their campaign disrupting the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, as well as halting some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen.

The Sounion carried some 1 million barrels of oil when the Houthis initially attacked it on Aug. 21 with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat. A French destroyer operating as part of the European Union’s Operation Aspides rescued the Sounion’s crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, after they abandoned the vessel and took them to nearby Djibouti.

The footage released Thursday shows masked Houthi fighters carrying Kalashnikov-style rifles boarding the Sounion after it was abandoned. The bridge appeared ransacked. Fighters then rigged explosives over hatches on its deck leading to the oil tankers below. At least six simultaneous blasts could be seen in the footage.

The footage, as well as comments by the Houthi’s mysterious leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, confirmed an earlier analysis by The Associated Press that the Houthis boarded and planted explosives on the Sounion. The Houthi-controlled SABA news agency described al-Houthi as saying the Sounion attack shows America “is lying in its claims regarding any deterrence of Yemeni operations supporting Palestine.”

“The effectiveness of our operations and their control of the situation is acknowledged by the enemies,” al-Houthi said.

Western countries and the United Nations have warned any oil spill from the Sounion could devastate the coral reefs and wildlife around the Red Sea. However, the EU’s naval force in the region says it has yet to see any oil spill from the Sounion.

Operation Aspides “is preparing to facilitate any courses of action, in coordination with European authorities and neighboring countries, to avert a catastrophic environmental crisis,” the EU mission said. “Together, we can protect the environment and maintain stability in the region.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric commended the efforts by the international community and the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, “to secure the immediate access to the vessel and avert an environmental catastrophe.” The Houthis have agreed to allow the operation to proceed safely, he said.

Dujarric did not offer any indication when it might start but added that the reports that “the salvage operations for the tanker can proceed with tugboats and rescue ships to access the incident area” are encouraging.

On Wednesday, the Houthis suggested they may allow the Sounion to be salvaged, though the rebels already once blocked crews trying to reach the abandoned vessel, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. State Department declined to directly comment on the video Thursday. It referred to earlier remarks in which spokesperson Matthew Miller warned “the Houthis’ continued attacks threaten to spill a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea, an amount four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster” in 1989 off Alaska.

This isn’t the first time the Houthis have used the threat of an oil spill to their advantage. It took years of negotiations before the rebels allowed the U.N. in 2023 to remove 1 million barrels from the oil tanker Safer off the coast of Yemen, which had been used as a floating storage and offloading facility.

“Experience has shown that the group is willing to interfere with salvage efforts if they can turn the situation into a political bargaining chip,” warned Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near-East Policy who has studied the ongoing Houthi attacks.

The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

Meanwhile Thursday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said its forces destroyed a Houthi missile system and drone.

[eddie-brii]

So here's the prologue for the OC story I've been working on for a bit now. I'm taking my time with this one. I really want her to feel like a character in the game so updates are going to be slow.

Charlie is also here so I've really made myself question my sanity. But, hey, it should be a fun experience.

Prologue

In a small village in Iraq, May 29th, 2003.

The lights in the safe house were low, the sun setting while two people stared at one another trying keep there minds off just where they and the film crew reporting on the locals’ reaction and recovery from the war are. Two were sitting across from one another at a crate in the corner of their little safe haven, using it as a makeshift table. The gentleman with the glasses shuffled the cards while smoking a cigarette, taking his time while the female fidgeted. The rest of the members in their little group were already laying down or not interested in social interaction with the woman opposite to the dealer.

“Charlie, will you just deal the damn cards already?” She finally demanded after brushing her bangs to the side. He’d lost count of how many times the twenty six year old had done so within the last hour and if she wasn’t doing that, she was biting her cheek.

“Temper, temper. You’re oddly on edge, Bree, have been all day. Is there a reason?” Charlie asked as he finally began to pass the cards one by one between the two of them. He was used to the others mood changes at this point. He stared at the younger woman across from him, one of the most unusual he’d met from a recent failed folklore film project. Helltown, Ohio had popped up on his radar as a possible new idea to get his name out there. It had enough potential to draw him across the pond to the US, or so he thought.

Charlie had hoped, when he arrived in the northern area of the state, he’d be able to track information easily enough. But everywhere he went no one wanted to talk about a ghost town with a possible Native American curse on the land surrounding it, only the war going on overseas. Finally while in Cleveland, he’d gotten someone to point him to a lead that had him heading south. Apparently the mountains of Appalachia were known for their strange goings on and the people there were quite familiar with the unusual. It made sense someone would know something about his little curse. After even more searching, he was pointed to the woman across from him as a “folklore expert”. Charlie wasn’t sure what to expect to say the least at the first meeting, but, then again, he imagined if he’d known the other title he found out she had, he might have felt underwhelmed until he had gotten to know her. A Paramedic in a rural area was not the occupation he pictured, though being a member of an integral part of the community gave little indication as to what she was practicing in her free time. He really had no idea what he was getting into when he walked up to the fire station that day.

One year earlier.

Charlie was excited. He’d finally managed to find this expert the unofficial group leader he’d found recommended. The older woman had been insistent that, despite his disbelief, her contact would be the one to talk to. He was sure the Fire Chief of the department had been as confused as him when he called requesting to speak with one of his members, but he equally couldn’t bring himself to care as this was the first breakthrough in the last month. As soon as he arrived he was taken aback by the activity he was seeing. A fire engine, another large truck that looked to be a small commercial water tanker and ambulance were outside with multiple people moving about. It all looked like organized chaos, with crew members still in the pants of their fire gear, laying out hoses and washing said trucks. The smell that seemed to permeate the area made it obvious that a fire had occurred. The stench coming from the gear laying out was enough to make his head begin to throb slightly and if he didn’t already partake in cigarettes, he imagined he’d be fighting off a cough. Charlie finally managed to spot the man he was looking for, or more so heard him as he yelled for someone to “bring the hose to the dryer”. Charlie worked his way over to the Chief, thankfully without tripping over something being cleaned or bumping into someone.

“Good morning, Chief Stewart, a pleasure to finally meet you in person!”

“Good mornin’ Mr. Lonnit, happy to have you on station. My crew’s just got back from a structure fire so you’ll have to excuse the mess. Always seems to happen when we expect company.” Charlie paid little attention to the last comment, he was just thankful he could understand the man. The accent in the tri state area could be difficult for him depending on how thick it was, and how much slang the locals used. He still didn’t understand what the waitress meant by the pie being “so good your tongue will slap your brains out” when he had asked at that diner.

The man that greeted him was weathered, heavy set and around his height. He didn’t give much time for Charlie to continue assessing him or the scene in front of him before he spoke again.

“Ms. Williams is this way.” The Chief started towards the squad.

“I’m not sure as to what you’re wanting to speak with her about but if it’s related to Fire and EMS Bree is one of our best and brightest members. A damn good firefighter and passed her medic with flying colors. Recently graduated from college with her pre-med, one of the only reasons we haven’t made her an officer. We joke she’s our resident good luck charm.” The older man stated, dodging equipment and personnel left and right.

“What exactly do you mean by good luck charm?” Charlie asked as he avoided a ladder being moved.

“Pardon the language but when we deal with shit shows and she shows up things go much better.” Finally nearing the back of the ambulance where the doors were open, they heard sudden shouting from a firefighter heading in the same direction with a couple others close behind him.

“Hey, Bree, I have medical issue that needs taken care of! I got pain in a certain area, I think I need ya to take off my pants and feel around!” The man in question began to gesture to his crotch and the other two tried to hide their laughter behind their hands.

“Sorry, Benson, can’t do anything for small dick syndrome,” came a female voice from the back compartment in an unimpressed tone. Charlie noted little to no accent. Surprising.

“Burn!” exclamation the young man’s friends at the same time as they finally lost the battle to keep themselves quiet, laughing at Bensons expense.

The Chief and Charlie had turned the corner of the vehicle where he finally was able to see the person he assumed he was looking for. The woman in question had her neck bent over a book that she was writing in as she put away items, apparently not even considering the comment made by the young man worth her full attention. She had to bend slightly in the back of the ambulance, but Charlie guessed she was around five foot six with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, strands of it had escaped to hang in wild curls around the sides of her face with the bangs that were already free. She was dressed in a t-shirt proudly displaying the department’s emblem with dark blue pants and boots. He couldn’t see much more from where he was standing, Chief Stewart interrupted his chain of thought before it could go farther or he could move closer.

“Benson! Stop harassing one of our only medics! We have company for God's sake!” At the Chief’s shouting, Benson at least had the decency to look embarrassed at his behavior in front of a member of the public.

“Sorry, Chief, I, um, just wanted to joke around with Bree.” From what Charlie could tell the firefighter was just a kid, couldn’t be more than twenty, the blush on his face from getting caught making him look even younger.

“Get back to work, and remember, she’s a firefighter as well, with more experience than you and someone who won’t hesitate to save your ass. In and outside of a fire, she deserves respect!” The Chief finished his reprimand, each of the three youths gave a “Yes, Chief” scattering at the dismissal before they got into more trouble. Charlie heard a sigh and the sound of booted steps making their way out of the truck.

“Chief, that last part wasn’t necessary. He’ll figure it out eventually but right now he’s a kid who just got his fire card. He’ll grow out of it. Squad’s back up to par by the way,” Bree stated as she climbed out the back doors. Finally getting a better look at her, Charlie observed dark brown eyes with gold flecks set in a rounded face. A lighter, peachy complexion with high cheekbones and button nose. Her build was…. feminine but solid? Charlie was slightly surprised seeing the muscle apparent in her arms, however, he realized she more than likely needed strength for her job over a concern for appearance. Not a model, but, not bad either. Along those arms were tattoos, intricate and elegant, that disappeared under the sleeves of her shirt. He didn’t recognize the symbols throughout the designs. He made a mental note to ask about them if she allowed an interview, but for now he needed to get her to talk to him.

“Thank you for taking care of it,” he continued after a quick inspection of the back before she closed the door. “And, Bree, I made a promise to your father to look after ya. That means making sure the new pups don’t think they can talk to you like that. Besides we do indeed have company.” He stepped to the side to reveal Charlie. “Bree, this is Mr. Charlie Lonnit. He’s the one who requested to speak with you specifically.” The Brit moved forward at the Chief’s prompt.

“I’ll let you get to it.” Chief Stewart left the both of them as he began to see to the other department members.

“A pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Williams. You came highly recommended as a expert of a project I’m working on.” He presented his hand to the younger woman, moving past the awkwardness after the Fire Chief had left. He noted the strength behind her handshake when she took it, confident and firm. She gave him a confused look, with eyebrows drawn together, at the mention of why he was there.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Lonnit. I’m not sure as to what I could be an expert in that would make a gentleman from the UK come all the way over here, but there’s a picnic table we can talk at beside the fire house away from the noise.”

“Please, lead the way, and call me Charlie.” he stated before he followed her over to the area in question. She hummed in response.

“Go ahead and call me Bree then. Not even the kids here call me Ms. Williams,” she called over her shoulder. The noise becoming distant as they passed the corner of the building. She sat down at the table and leaned forward, arms crossed still eyeing him, unsure as he sat across from her.

“I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. I’m afraid researching the film I would like to shoot has been difficult to say the least. You maybe my only lead so far beyond the history records I’ve been able to dig up,” he started hoping to put her at ease.

“I’m flattered, but again, I don’t know if I can actually help you.”

“I was assured you would be, by a source that seemed to know you fairly well,” he continued on. “You see, there’s an area north of here, in Summit county, that has a certain reputation that has caught my interest and I would like to look into putting together a film crew to shoot a documentary series about the location. I’m afraid it’s been hard to find anything besides public records. I was hoping you’d fill in the blanks, if not a possible interview.” He had had his head down throughout the rest of his explanation, trying to find his notepad and pen but her response finally caused him to look up.

“Fuck no! You’ll get yourself killed going up there.” She was looking at him incredulously, her arms uncrossing as her back straightened to full attention, a stark difference to the uncertainty he’d seen not moments ago. She looked around to make sure none of the other members had made their way even close to the table. She turned back to him finally as he swallowed the lump that was now in his throat, unsure of how to take her reaction.

“Who the hell gave you my name and in what context?” she leaned forward with a serious look directed at him. Charlie held up his hands in surrender, leaning back to try to diffuse the situation’s sudden tension, thoroughly confused at her behavior and feeling pinned under her glare.

“An older woman gave it to me, Mrs. Ria Cottrell. She assured me you were the person to talk to and assist me. That’s all she said,” he answered quickly. It seemed to make her loosen up but the strain remained in Bree’s shoulders as she gave him a hard stare before sighing, running her hand through the hair that had fallen from the tie holding it back. She took a moment to stare at the table afterwards, eyebrows drawn together again and hand now rubbing her forehead.

“What the fuck, Ria...” she muttered under her breath. She finally looked up at him, breaking the stillness.

“Alright, if she sent you here, then there’s a good reason. Unfortunately, this isn’t the place for what you want to ask. Are you opposed to meeting later at my home? I don’t want to risk others hearing any of this.” He quickly nodded, dropping his hands, confused but hopeful for answers.

“I have to let Chief know I’m leaving early. If you want to go grab anything you think you’ll need, go ahead and do so. I’m only answering these questions once. Plus I need to get the smell of smoke out of my clothes.” Bree stated getting up. She grabbed a small note pad from one of her side pockets and quickly wrote her address.

“Meet me there in two hours. Until then Mr. Lonnit.” Walking away he heard her yelling to Chief Stewart but quickly got up himself. Making a mental checklist of everything he needed while he walked to his car, his focus now on the woman that seemed to know a great deal more than what she initially let on.

Later he found himself knocking on the screen door of what he hoped was the right home, barking soon followed as he heard footsteps coming to the door. Bree was indeed the one who opened the door but she barely greeted him. She seemed preoccupied thanks to their earlier conversation. She had cleaned up well and he was slightly shocked to see her in a sundress with her hair down, curls on full display now, giving her a soft look that wasn’t present before.

“I’ll make some tea if you’d like to sit down,” she said leading him to a small sunroom with plants decorating the space and bookshelves filled with knick knacks and different volumes. A few he recognized and others he didn’t. Some of the titles made him raise his eyebrow questioningly. He’d have to add that to the list of inquiries. He moved to sit at the small table letting his eyes further take in the room. It felt warm and cozy, making him feel at ease despite his apprehension at the strange behavior of his hostess. Charlie was attempting to read more titles of what books he could see when the sounds of shouting and paws coming his way interrupted him.

“Jinx! Get back here!” was all the warning he had before his lap was filled with a very large K-9 attempting to lick him to death. He tired to put up some form of resistance but he was finding it futile.

“Get down! Now!” Finally the furry attacker calmed enough to allow Charlie to look at her, now sitting at his feet with a wagging tail and tongue hanging out the side of her mouth. A mutt, but obviously well taken care of and loved, if the friendliness and grooming were anything to go by.

His hostess appeared in the doorway, a little out of breath from what he guessed was a sudden chase. She straightened up after a moment of taking in her dog’s demeanor, a note of surprise in her expression before it softened.

“I’m sorry, normally she doesn’t bolt like that. At least she’s somewhat remembered her manners,” she stated with her hands on her hips, turning her gaze to the dog now looking back at her, tail still wagging.

“It’s quite alright. I’m not worse for wear, if you don’t count the hair,” he assured as he reached down to pet Jinx’s head, the pet leaning into his hand and enjoying the attention. The action caused Bree to pause. It seemed seeing how well he’d handled the sudden furry intrusion seemed to oddly confirm something to her, if her knowing smile was anything to go by.

“Since you seem to be handling her well, I’ll be right back with the tea.”

Bree disappeared momentarily coming back with a tray and tea service, surprising him. As he found it difficult to find a decent cuppa since he arrived in the US, he hoped it would have some caffeine to help with the headache he still had from the smell around the fire equipment but, from what he could determine, it was herbal. Still, hopefully a step up from the restaurants he had frequented recently. As she poured the tea he moved to pull out the note pad he had written all of his questions in. She offered him the first cup she filled along with moving a honey jar closer to him, an unspoken offer to sweeten his, if so desired. She finished pouring her cup before Bree herself sat down, taking the honey jar after he was done with it. Jinx now contently laying across her owners feet.

“So, if it’s alright with you I’d like to go ahead and start,” Charlie finally said after a he took the first sip. Admittedly the questions he had initially been planning to ask were already thrown out the window, changing when she reacted so bizarrely earlier. He felt he’d inadvertently stumbled onto something. He just needed her to clue him in as to what exactly it was.

“Certainly. I’m sure you have many questions, though I get the sense they may have changed direction.” Giving him a knowing look, she continued to sip her tea.

“Indeed. Now, I gather from our conversation earlier that you are very well informed of the sightings in the area of Boston, Ohio?”

“Yes, while I have not been there myself , we at one point had a similar, though smaller, issue of our own here.” At this admission, he was taken aback.

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“You really think that’s the only place that Natives possibly cursed?” She asked, giving a questing look over her tea cup. He’d heard of a few local legends but hadn’t found anything in recent records.

“You said “at one point,” are you implying you no longer have such issues?” This earned the reporter a smile.

“Yes, it’s been taken care of,” came Bree’s enigmatic reply.

Confusion flooded Charlie’s mind again. He was starting to think he’d leave with more questions than answers if this kept up. Apparently he had paused long enough it had given his hostess time to plan another proverbial bucket of water to drop on his head. The next words she spoke were with a smile and they sent his eyebrows to his hairline.

“By the way, how’s the headache?”

“I beg you’re pardon?” He didn’t think it was so obvious. He ran through his actions in the past few hours since they met and couldn’t find a single time that he’d done something to possibly indicate he’d even had one. He’d been too caught up in everything happening to pay it much mind and now that he thought of it, it was gone rather suddenly.

“You really have no idea who you talked to or who she sent you to, do you?” She leaned against the window sill beside her when she said this, the amusement at his expense obvious. He was trying to keep a poker face but knew he failed when she chuckled.

“Why do I feel it has something to do with the fact you have a book called The Encyclopedia of Magickal Herbs?” he finally asked, nervously shifting his glasses. She smiled again, seeing his bewilderment and finally took pity on him. Leaning forward after setting her cup down, she gave him a thoughtful look before she spoke.

“Mr. Lonnit, how familiar are you with Witchcraft?”

He was pulled from his thoughts when said witch made a disgruntled noise as she looked at her hand. She hadn’t changed much in the last year, her hair growing a little longer and her starting into medicine. He was glad both of them kept up through phone calls and emails.

“Maybe I should have dealt the cards.” She was trying to distract from his question about her edginess. In her defense, the rest of his crew didn’t know the particulars of their meeting and beginning their unlikely friendship. She made it clear she wasn’t comfortable with her practices being common knowledge.

“No, I’m not going up against you when you’ve pulled your card tricks.” He groaned, remembering the amount of times he’d lost to her.

“I can’t help that I’m in Lady Luck’s good graces,” she said with a smug smile. He rolled his eyes at that. If that’s what she wanted to call her offerings to Fortuna, he wouldn’t argue. He just also wouldn’t let her shuffle. The goal was to get Bree to tell him what was bothering her, not lose most of the money he’d brought with him. He knew it was getting worse when she began to play with the medallion she wore. A family tradition she had explained, it was made of carved dark red wood, one side held the image of a roaring lion, the other a scorpion posed to strike. She usually left it under her shirt to keep wandering eyes away from it due it’s personal nature.

“In all seriousness, what’s bothering you? You’ve been short tempered all day. Poor Andrea was about ready to cry when you snapped at her over simply handing you dinner,” he pressed hoping to get to the heart of what was going on. After all, if Bree was on edge there was a reason.

“Maybe it has something to do with being several thousand miles from my home and dog?” she offered.

“Understandable but you know Jinx is well taken care of thanks to your mother. This isn’t your home sickness,” he stated with certainty.

“Stress from the fact that even though you hired me to be medic for the film crew, you’ve been pimping me out to most of the small villages that haven’t seen a doctor in who knows how long?” She shrugged her shoulders, a pointed look on her face as she leaned forward to rest her elbow on her knee.

“Although I wouldn’t use such a crass term, I’ll give you that one and I’m forever grateful you went through the extra training to do so.” He sighed as he leaned forward before he continued, lowering his voice. “You’re having another one of you’re feelings again, aren’t you? I’ve asked you to tell me about when they happen.”

At that his friend sighed and leaned back against the wall behind her. She didn’t know when she’d gotten so easy to read by the Brit, but here she was. She didn’t have to be happy about it though.

“I’ve just had a knot in my stomach for the past few hours. I know it’s not something I ate but I keep hoping it is.” Bree crossed her arms, rubbing them to try to sooth herself for the gods knew how manith time since the pit in her stomach stated growing.

“Do we need to move?” he asked concerned for the group as whole. He didn’t care if he seemed crazy for doing it but if Bree said to move, they moved. Her and Charlie had already discussed these feelings. They always seemed to happen before something hit. Last time she managed to help them avoid getting caught in a bombing by having Kevin, their driver, pull over for an extra few minutes to “stretch her legs.” It was getting to the point the others were noticing. Bree knew they were going to start asking questions soon, and honestly she was surprised they hadn’t already.

“No, I don’t get the feeling it’s something like that,” she said, not used to not being able to pick up what was wrong. She’d hoped that between her little ability and the good will they were building, they would be left alone, but now she was worried it wasn’t enough. She started fanning herself with her shirt, to try and get air flow to cool herself down, the medallion around her neck slipping back out of sight. She really hated the warm weather and even after the month they’d been here she still wasn’t used to it.

Charlie was looking at her again. It wasn’t the first time he felt guilty for calling her up when he was offered to do the job of reporting in the middle of this war. After she had answered all of his questions over the course of a few weeks, he had always gone back to her for advice and a read on things to ensure he wasn’t getting ready to make a mistake. That had been exactly why she was the first person that came to mind when the news outlet mentioned he’d need to make sure his crew had someone for first aid. What had surprised him was how quickly she agreed to it, but all Bree could offer was that something told her to come. At the end of the day, he’d take any help from whatever deities she had watching her back.

“Alright, then prepare for me to finally get my money back from last week.” Bringing them both back to the present.

“I’d like to see you try, Lonnit.” Bree finally pulled back from the wall behind her looking at her hand again to see what she could work with. Her friend won’t know what hit him.

After a few rounds, Charlie was staring at her incredulously.

“I thought you said it only worked if you shuffled the cards yourself?!” he said as she took the wad of cash off the table.

“Did I say that?” Bree was trying to look innocent but knew she was failing at his expression, so instead she opted for her best cheeky grin. All the other could to do was huff at her antics.

“This is normally the point in time I’d recommend strip poker but I love you too much as a brother to want to see you naked, even for comedic purposes.” She smiled as she heard him snort.

“And I, you a sister, but that still doesn’t make up for the alarmingly large amount of money you’ve manage to wring out of me since coming to Iraq.” At his statement she gave him another pointed look.

“Consider it payback for the last house call I had to make, that you insisted on, I might add!”

“In my defense, I had no idea that Badra and Mandali still had an active Republic Guard. You know that old man wouldn’t have gotten better without you.” He had a point. It still didn’t make having to be smuggled in and out of the city any better. There had honestly been a moment when she thought they would get caught but luck was on their side. They ran into two boys willing to help them, one only wanted cash, but the other honed in on her Mothman keychain. Apparently he had an interest in legends and mythology, to the point his degree would be related to it when he went to university overseas. It’d hurt to say goodbye to Monty but it meant their safe passage out of the city. They had stuck to small villages for a reason since then.

“In all seriousness, one of these days doing that is going to bite us in the ass. People are still hostile even with the fall of Saddam and you can bet the US military wouldn’t be happy with our little stunts either.” Bree was shaking her head when she thought about the trouble they’d be in if anyone outside the crew knew what they’d been up to. It was bad enough the locals were starting to purposely seek them out for assistance, and the network had to be getting suspicious of the medical supplies she was using. Thankfully she had taken the time to read into any local herbs but in the face of what the country was going through right now, no matter how much magic she worked, it would only go so far.

“Everything’s going to be alright, Bree, you’ll see.” Charlie reassured her before starting to yawn.

The sun had almost fully set now, with the approaching darkness they began to pack up the cards and hopefully settle in for the evening. Their nightly routine was stopped, though, when a knock came to the door. Kevin answered it leaving only a small crack, enough to hold a conversation with whomever was outside at this time of night. Bree’s stomach was doing flips and she was beginning to wonder what was going on the longer the two talked. She could understand only a little of what was being said, having no time to fully learn the language. Kevin finally moved aside to let the man through, dressed in the simple clothing of a shepherd.

“Bree, he says his mother is in bad shape, something about weakness and a bad stomachache for the past few days. They’re not far from us, an hour or so. You up to going tonight?” Kevin asked as he pulled away from the door.

“Is there anything else she’s suffering from? That could be a number of things.” She said already reaching for her packs. Her body oddly settled, not with a feeling of ease but finality. She heard him speaking with the man at the door again.

“You can’t avoid it or them, not anymore.” Came across her mind, sending a chill down her spine. She wasn’t sure who said it but they had never steered her wrong.

“No, nothing else. Sounds simple enough,” their driver answered, breaking her train of thought.

“Who do you want to go with you, Bree?” Charlie asked, he never let her leave by herself, but tonight was going to have to be different. If what they said was true, she wasn’t dragging anyone else into this.

“I think I’ll go on my own on this one. Something tells me I’ll be back before sunrise.” She moved to grab her canteen and put her ball cap on to make sure he didn’t see her face. She hated lying to him and tried to avoid it. She went to grab her kukri, a present from Charlie before they started the job. He thought she would enjoy the superstition related to the knife and wanted to make sure she had some protection when she came here with him. Securing the sheathe to her thigh, she may not be about to prevent whatever mess she was getting into, but she was not going unarmed.

“That’s… not like you, are you sure?” Charlie wasn’t convinced, the thought of her going alone making his own stomach twist.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine.” Finally looking up at him, she smiled to reassure him. “I’ll be back before you know it,” she said, walking towards the man who’d called on them.

“Bree, I don’t like this. I’m going with you” She stopped and turned to stared at him, something about it making the knot in his stomach worse, but for once, he would not be backing down. He wasn’t letting anything happen to her, not because of him. She sighed as she closed her eyes and shook her head at the expression on his face.

“Okay, but make it quick. I really do want to be back for breakfast.” She finally lamented. He went to grab everything he needed for the trip. It may be a quick one but he still would bring a camera just in case. After he grabbed everything, he turned to Kevin. He’d hoped they wouldn’t need them but he had at least had the foresight to make sure information was put together on everyone in the crew in case a missing person report needed to be sent. Thankfully they’d always been back by the time Bree figured on but this time something felt off, her behavior putting him on edge.

“If we’re not back by sunrise, send those packets into the US military.” Kevin nodded, looking unsure himself. Charlie turned to where Bree and the shepherd stood, motioning for the man to lead the way. The three stepped out of the safe house and turning down the street, slowly walking out of sight.

When six am rolled around everyone in the crew now had that same pit in their stomachs. There was no sign of Charlie or Bree. Kevin started heading as fast as he could to the closest US unit they knew of with the information packets in hand. He was silently cursing when he finally made it to the soldiers after an hour, something had gone horribly wrong.

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 1/15/2024 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 1/15/2024

by Kyle Anzalone

Ukraine

The New York Times Says Ukraine Is Struggling to Hold Territory NYTThe Institute

US Says Aid to Ukraine “Ground to a Halt” CNBC

American Citizen Jailed in Ukraine for His Political Views Dies AWC

Korea

North Korea Test Fires Missile NYT

Israel

White House Aiding Israeli Targeting in Gaza The Intercept 

Israeli Outlet Says IDF Ordered Hannibal Procedure on Oct 7 Ynet

CIA Providing Israel with Intelligence on Top Hamas Officials NYT

Israel Destroying Gazan Infrastructure Needed to Support Life France24

UN Official Says “Providing Aid Across Gaza Is Almost Impossible” Statement The Institute

Syria

Turkey Bombs Kurdish Groups in Iraq and Syria AJ

Yemen

US Issues News Sanctions Targeting Yemen Treasury Department 

Major Tanker Companies Halt Red Sea Shipping in Response to US and UK Strikes CNBCAWC

Yemen Issues Defiant Response to US and UK Strikes AWC

Saudi Arabia Calls for US To ‘Avoid Escalation’ in Yemen AWC

White House Conducts Additional Strike in Yemen AWC

Yemen Issues Defiant Response to US and UK Strikes AWC

Most of Houthis’ Military Abilities Remain After Strikes NYTAWC

Netanyahu Tells Blinken: ‘This Is Also Your War’ AWC

Federal Employees to Stage Walk Out Over Biden’s Support for Gaza Slaughter AWC

Somalia 

Two Navy Seals Missing Off Coast of Somalia AP

Read More

[larryshapiro]

Memphis Fire Department Light Water 1

[bekolxeram]

I hate to break it to you, but the pilot in 2x14 is NOT Tommy.

The good old timeline problem

Plenty of pilots hold both licenses for helicopters AND airplanes, it's not impossible to fly both categories of aircraft on a job either. The thing is, helicopters and fixed-wing airplanes generate lift differently, so naturally logged flight hours on one category is not transferable to the other, you have to accumulate them separately. For Tommy to serve in the army, work as an active firefighter since 2005, and build up enough flight hours on both helicopters and multi-engine fixed-wing aircrafts, he would have to live in the sky.

2. LAFD does not own any fixed-wing aircraft, nor does it make sense to have one

The LAFD serves the city of Los Angeles, which is mostly urban, for the more suburban or rural area around LA you have the LA County Fire Department. Green areas within the city of LA are not big enough to warrant a whole air tanker, a fleet of 7 helicopters would suffice. LA has plenty of water source nearby, even if a catastrophic wildfire happens within its city limit, the choppers can simply go back and forth scooping up water and dropping it.

Helicopters are definitely better suited for urban areas, because they can fly straight up and down, they can hover and they only require a space big enough for the aircraft itself to take off/land, while a fixed-wing aircraft needs a whole runway.

Waterbombing in an urban area is also dangerous. The water or fire retardant dropped from an aerial firefighting aircraft is actually quite heavy, and it can cause damage to ground properties, let alone serious injuries or even death to ground personnel.

Fixed-wing aircrafts create lift by flying forward through the air, so precision is not of the essence. Helicopters on the other hand, create lift by the motion of the blades, so they can move in any direction until they get an exact aim at their target.

3. The plane is canonically not from the LAFD

Neither the LAFD nor the LACoFD own any fixed-wing aircraft, the closest department to operate such aircraft is the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, aka CAL FIRE. If you go back to the episode, you can hear the news reporter saying the C-130 is with CAL FIRE just before Chimney turns off the TV.

The LAFD and LACoFD do work with CAL FIRE when there's a major wildfire, so Tommy probably just asked his colleagues at the 217 or called up himself pilots at CAL FIRE to ask for a favor.

In that episode. Chimney asks specifically for the help of the 217 through Tommy, and Eddie receives radio communication just before the plane arrives that "217 is inbound", so it's safe to say the 217 IS where the LAFD AIr Operations are based at. Despite recent confusion on Tommy and Buck's career timeline (5 years vs 7 years), 217 IS harbor station, at least according to previous lore.

[mareislandfoundation]

Life and Death at the Gate

At dawn on Sunday, 25 June 1950, the North Korean army crossed the 38th parallel supported by massed artillery fire. With the support of the Soviet Union the invasion was based on a false claim by North Korea that South Korean troops had attacked first. The real aim of the invasion was to take by force and subjugate South Korea under rule of the current North Korean leader's grandfather and his sham democracy. Condemned by the Free World, the invasion drew the first ever response by the United Nations, primarily supported by U.S. troops and aid. The war has technically never ended, and it resulted in millions killed and over 100,000 U.S. servicemen wounded or killed in action. In recognition of the coming carnage, a short time after the invasion, the World War II era hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13) was towed from a mothball fleet to Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINS) in the San Francisco Bay Area to be taken out of mothballs and recommissioned. The US Navy Hospital Ship Benevolence would never make it to Korea. She tragically sank just minutes outside the Golden Gate while returning from sea trials.

Benevolence departed Mare Island at 0800 on 25 August 1950 for limited sea trials following recommissioning. Eight and a half hours later the fully loaded freighter SS Mary Luckenbac passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in thick fog bound for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Visibility was reported to vary from 300 to 400 yards. Radar had become common place by the 1950’s, but the Mary Luckenbac‘s radar had malfunctioned and was turned off. As the Mary Luckenbac passed under the bridge, she was on a collision course with the Benevolence returning from her sea trials. Aboard the Benevolence the radar was on and operating, but for some reason the crew was unaware of the approaching freighter. Both ships had bow lookouts posted and were operating their fog horns, but their combined closing speeds of 27 knots would doom the Benevolence. At an estimated 1,000 yards bow lookouts on the Benevolence sighted the bow wave of the approaching freighter. Benevolence began blasting the emergency signal on the ship’s horn as both ships attempted evasive action. It was too late, within three minutes the freighter slammed into the hospital ship raking her compartments open along the port side.

Following the collision both ships vanished into the fog. Unaware of the extent of the damage to his ship, Captain Barton E· Bacon on board the Benevolence gave no orders to prepare to abandon ship. However, within 5 minutes his ship’s main deck had sunk to sea level at the bow and she was listing 45 degrees, too far over to launch the lifeboats. The Benevolence had managed to transmit a message requesting emergency assistance just after the collision and then radio contact was lost. Twenty minutes later the Benevolence rolled over and sank in the shipping channel between Pt. Bonita and Seal Rocks. Five Hundred and twenty-five men and women went into the frigid water as the outgoing tide scattered them further out to sea. As word of the disaster spread a small armada of fishing boats, yachts, coast guard and naval vessels began scouring the seas in the thick fog looking for survivors. Survivors would continue to be found and pulled from the sea for nearly two days and as they were landed by rescue ships the Red Cross handed them a carton of cigarettes and the Service’s gave them booze. In the end eleven Navy, ten Military Sea Transportation Service and two MINS tradesmen were lost.

The Benevolence laid just beneath the waves in the south shipping channel as a hazard to navigation for sixteen months as separate courts of inquiry were held by the Navy and Coast Guard on Treasure Island and in San Francisco respectively. While the inquiries were underway MINS was directed to study the possibility of salvage. A no cure no pay request for proposals was sent to Bay Area salvage firms to evaluate the feasibility of salvage. A tanker suffered a minor collision with the Benevolence hulk, before MINS officials determined that salvage was not feasible, and the decision was made to remove the hazard with explosives. When you visit the USS San Francisco memorial near Lands’ End on the 49 Mile Scenic Drive and look out to sea you are overlooking the site of the Benevolence sinking.

Dennis Kelly

[theocrabalar]

Guns we never got to use in Metal Gear Solid 2

So, instead of gushing over how amazing MGS2 is, let's get down to brass tacks and immediately nerd out over what we didn't get. First off, let's start at the beginning. Olga Gurlukovich, the woman who's the sole reason I start making monkey noises when I see a woman in super baggy pants with suspenders hanging down. She carries a PSS pistol;

The PSS is a silent semi-automatic pistol, this pistol gets tossed overboard before the player can get a chance to use it. If in use by the Gurlukovich mercenaries, we could imagine it would be a pistol with very scarce ammo, but also highly effective, being semi-auto. Probably considered a lethal option to the XM9.

Next up, we have the NRS2. No good in-game picture available, so a picture of the real thing will do;

This highly unusual knife gun, which is fired with the blade pointed towards yourself. For gameplay, this could probably be used for focus on close quarters fighting, but with a possibility of shooting at something in the distance without needing to swap weapons. It would certainly be an interesting option that could make gameplay varied.

Next up, the Colt Single Action Army revolver.

"This is the greatest handgun ever made. The Colt Single Action Army. Six bullets. More than enough to kill anything that moves." It's clear that MGS3 figured out, holy shit, this gun is cool and we need to let the player use it. Especially, with how they added gameplay features to it, they decided to give the gun the ability to ricochet bullets so you can trickshot your way through Tselinogorsk. The same mindset in MGS2 could have made for some really interesting choices considering all the fancy indoor areas and hallways. There's also no proper magnum handgun for the player in MGS2, so if you want a handgun that can blast away common enemies in a single shot to the chest, this could have been it.

Sergei Gurlukovich himself pulls a Makarov on Scott Dolph during the tanker chapter. This would been a basic sidearm for the mercenaries and is understandably cut, it's a gun that it's difficult to make exciting for the player as it would performed the same as the USP, but lower capacity and no laser and no silencer. Then again, it could have been added purely for variety's sake. Which is always good to make something feel vast and a real universe.

"Laugh and grow fat" This one would be interesting in-game for the player. Provided it would be somewhat controllable for skilled players, and sharing ammo with the USP, it could be a hog for churning through your ammo and low range, but if used up closed, you could definitely do some solid bursts of damage. What magazine the gun would have, would definitely help decide if you could bursts a few enemies before reloading, or needing to reloading between every enemy.

This is another special one. It's already very special that a russian mercenary group would use a western shotgun such as the SPAS-12. It also features a combination pump and semi-automatic mechanism. This could in theory allow the player to change the firerate. Who knows for what purpose, there could be some video game logic like how they can only use the really powerful ammunition with a pump-action, and have the less damaging ammo be spammable with the semi-automatic mechanism. Or, they could skip that and make the shotgun be only pump or only semi, and then focus on how it works in that way. It definitely opens up a world of weird gameplay options.

Here's a weird one, a rail gun. MGS2 is a stealth game. I realize that, and I really like it. But it really suffers in the department of being able to do things at a distance outside of set pieces set up for sniping. It would definitely be a New Game Plus type of gun, maybe given out for playing through the game while helping or tranq'ing birds, not killing them. It would definitely be a great gun for taking out bosses. It was later implemented in Peace Walker, but required quite the team effort to use it efficiently. Clearly, the developers also loved this magnificent piece of art and weaponry in game.

Here's another fun one. Assuming it would be a counter to the M4 later available in-game, the AN94, could possibly given the hyper-burst option, making it fire two rounds per trigger press in an insane fire rate. Looking at how the gun has a light or laser mounted onto it's front gas port/gas block, it looks really close to be able to be used by the player already.

Here's a gun that is really known for being cut content. The French FAMAS. How it made it's way to the tanker or plant would be difficult to imagine considering it was supposed to be only for the genome soldiers in Alaska in MGS1. It would occupy the same purpose as the AKS74u and the M4 as well, so it wouldn't add anything new to the player, but it would feel familiar for returning MGS1 players. While not correct, the gun could have had a three round burst to differentiate it, like how it does in Counter-Strike 1.6 which is what I really know it from, form these days.

The FN P90. What a wonderful PDW. Again, another gun that's understandable that we don't have access to, as it wouldn't contribute much, but would also clutter an already weird to navigate inventory. It's equipped with the original old red dot sight, so in first person view, that would actually be very different for regular players of first person shooters with iron sights from these days.

Here's a really weird one, the SPP-1M Underwater pistol. Wait what? So in the original design of MGS2, there was an even greater focus on the underwater parts of the gameplay, even more fighting. Which explains why someone would suggest adding an pistol focused on underwater fighting. Probably also related to the cut Dead Cell member who went by the name "Chinaman" who was an olympic level swimmer, and if Vamp's boss fight wasn't annoying enough, I can totally see the need for a gun in that section. There is leftover code in the game that suggest this got quite far in development for player use, the gun itself as far as I know, don't have a model in-game.

And here for the last firearm that should/could have been available to the player. The M203 grenade launcher. It's very clearly shown off in several cutscenes, being used by both the Navy Seals when confronting Fortune, as well as Snake Plissken;

How this would be utilized in-game would be interesting. Could definitely be a very viable boss-encounter weapon with it's full-auto capability from the M4, and then being able to somehow quickly switch over to using the grenade launcher. So in conclusion, many of this firearms were considered, but when we think about it, we can also clearly understand why much of it was cut, so there would be less work to do on bland equipment, so the developers could rather focus and shine up all the equipment that is actually interesting gameplay wise.

Most images blatantly stolen/copied from IMFDB.org, MetalGear.fandom.com and Wikipedia.

[petrova075]

The driver-mechanic of the Furia crew.

Since the first days of the special military operation, the crew of the tank with the call sign "Furia" has been successfully carrying out the assigned tasks of supporting the infantry, opening up enemy observation and strongholds, and destroying the nationalists' living force.

Earlier we told you about the tank commander, Guards Staff Sergeant "Z", who lost a leg as a result of a mine explosion. To get out of the damaged equipment at that moment, he was helped by the mechanic-driver, Guards lieutenant (then junior sergeant) "D". It is about him that we will tell you.

"D" was born and grew up in the Kizhinga district of the Republic of Buryatia of the Russian Federation. After graduating from school, he was drafted into the Armed Forces. Conscripted service was in a tank brigade as a mechanic-driver. After being discharged from the reserve "D" entered the Buryat State Agricultural Academy. After studying for several years, he decided to transfer to the correspondence department and go to serve under contract in a tank brigade, where he was appointed to the position of mechanic-driver of a tank platoon.

In a special military operation Guards Lieutenant "D" takes part from the first days. During this time he managed to show his skill in driving a combat vehicle, as well as ingenuity, courage and bravery, for which he was noted by the higher command and was awarded the Order of St. George - St. George Cross IV degree. During the special operation in 2022 was awarded the regular rank of junior sergeant, and already this year "D" received lieutenant epaulettes and promotion.

February 2023 was one of the toughest months for the soldiers of the tank brigade. There were dense battles all along the front line, one after another orders were received to take enemy strongholds. The crew of the tank with the call sign "Furia", under the control of the Guards junior sergeant (at that time) "D", went out confidently and clearly worked out the set goals.

Near Ugledar, while performing the task of escorting a remote demining engineering vehicle to a minefield, the seventy-two was hit by an enemy guided anti-tank missile. As a result of the hit, the gunner-operator, Guards Sergeant "B" and the tank commander, Guards Staff Sergeant "Z", were severely wounded. Despite the barrage of mortar fire, "D" was not confused for a second and proceeded to evacuate the crew. First pulled out of the fighting vehicle "B" and carried him to the nearest shelter, located two hundred meters away, then returned for the commander. After providing first aid to his wounded battle comrades, the fighter went back to the tank and attempted to make contact to request assistance in evacuation. However, there was no communication, and then the tanker decided to move to the nearest brigade positions. Overcoming about five kilometers, "D" was able to reach their own and report on the wounded comrades and their condition. Afterwards, together with the evacuation team, he returned to the location of "Z" and "B". Thanks to the courageous and decisive actions of Guards Junior Sergeant "D", the wounded were saved and quickly evacuated without jeopardizing their lives.

For heroism, personal courage, bravery and selflessness shown in the performance of military duty during a special military operation, Junior Lieutenant "D" was awarded the Order of Courage.

[usafphantom2]

IMAGES: USA, South Korea and Australia start large-scale exercise with more than 130 aircraft

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/31/2023 - 08:23am Military, War Zones

More than 130 aircraft from the U.S., South Korea and Australia are participating in a joint exercise called "Vigilant Defense 24", which began on October 30.

Organized by the Seventh Air Force at Osan Air Base in South Korea, the exercise will last until November 3, focusing on interoperability between allies and a wide range of mission sets.

More than 25 types of aircraft are participating, including fighters, transport planes, tanker planes and reconnaissance planes, according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Korea.

The U.S. Air Force will contribute F-35, F-16 and A-10 combat/attack aircraft, as well as KC-135 air refuelers. The Air Force of the Republic of Korea will fly with its own F-35, as well as its E-7 for early warning and air control and the KC-330. The Royal Australian Air Force will contribute to KC-30A transport and refueling aircraft.

Colonel Michael G. McCarthy, commander of the 8º USAF Operations Group, said in a statement that opportunities like these are “truly invaluable to refine the necessary tactics, techniques and procedures that ensure that the combined force can operate as a cohesive unit, if we are called upon to do so.”

The statement of the 8ª Hunting Wing pointed out that the training exercise is routine, "of a totally defensive nature", and not in response to current threats or real-world situations.

During the five-day event, the U.S. and South Korea will practice the integration of different types of aircraft and different types of operations, including air defense, close air support and emergency air interdiction, according to the ROK Ministry of National Defense.

Another goal will be to improve interoperability and coordination between fourth- and fifth-generation fighters. South Korea has already ordered and started receiving 40 fifth-generation F-35 fighters and intends to buy 25 more in a deal valued at $5.06 billion, which was approved by the U.S. Department of State in September.

The joint training between the three allies brings the possibility of provoking a North Korean response. Last year's exercise, called 'Watchy Storm', featured about 240 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and Army, along with South Korea and Australia.

North Korea opposed the exercise through its state media. During and after last year's prolonged exercise, Pyongyang tested several short-range ballistic missiles and attempted to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, which ended in a failure.

The leaders of the U.S. and South Korea have committed to conducting more regular and large-scale exercises together to strengthen the alliance and dissuade North Korea.

North Korea, however, continues to test new missiles. More recently, it fired two short-range ballistic missiles before a bilateral meeting between leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 13.

After this meeting, the U.S., South Korea and Japan criticized North Korea for providing military equipment to Russia against Ukraine, warning that such actions violate UN Security Council resolutions and could “significantly increase the human cost of Russia's war of aggression”.

The joint statement released on October 25 by U.S. Secretary of State Anthon Blinken and the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan stated that Pyongyang is seeking military assistance from Moscow to develop its own capabilities. It also raised concerns about potential exchanges of nuclear or ballistic missile technology between them.

Russia and North Korea denied such exchanges, but satellite images and evaluation by think tanks indicate an increase in rail traffic and suspicions of ammunition shipments from Pyongyang to Moscow.

Tags: Military AviationJoint ExercisesRAAF - Royal Australian Air Force/Royal Australian Air ForceROKAF - Republic of Korea Air Force/South Korea Air ForceUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Korean Peninsula

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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