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I've been tapped to teach a "World Politics" course for Spring. Rather than a bland survey, I've decided to theme it around the Cold War, yay  !I am balls deep in building the syllabus, but so far I am doing a sections on ideological origins, technology, the nuclear arms race, pop culture and the origins of the cold war. I plan to show the documentary "Atomic Cafe" at the start and finish the course with Dr. Stranglove. We will go all the way up through 1992. I'm pretty psyched about it, I hope my students will be as well. Secret Hope: TFR all move to my school to take my course and make it awesome.
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Dec 16, 2010 03:04
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Mr. Despair posted:Also, B-1's basically are the best. If you're ever by Ellsworth you should try golfing at the golf course. It's not the best course at all, but it's amazing teeing off as a B-1 comes in for a landing or some A-10's circle around. Hey Rapid City buddy! The Air and Space museum out near Ellsworth is a bit run down, but has some really cool stuff. I want to offer to redo their Cold War display for free though. They have a modern Russian uniform on display, complete with Russian flag as their Soviet uniform. Unless its some sort of subliminal thing, they need the classic Soviet uniform there. I still miss going to the Dayton museum though... when I used to go as a kid I would associate that musty smell and smells wafting down from the cafeteria with the Cold War displays, so anytime I think of the Cold War, even 20 years later, I think of that unique and not altogether unpleasant smell. Let's talk about the US Army's "Aggressor Forces" during the Cold War! http://books.google.com/books?id=pa...d%20war&f=false http://www.scribd.com/doc/19247939/1959-US-Army-Vietnam-War-Aggressor-the-Maneuver-Enemy-243 The only link I could find on them, I own this book, btw. Aggressor Forces were designed as a Communist-like force for exercises. They had a complete political ideology and military history written for them, as well as Soviet style tactics, equipment and uniforms. The US wanted to avoid the direct link of Soviets as the enemy, so instead this was designed to prepare the Army for a future conflict against the Soviets. The "Circle Trigon Party" was the enemy and the uniforms had such fun things as standard Army helmets with a wooden coomb on top and rather elaborate Officer's uniforms. I've seen the helmets, once, in a Surplus shop near Rock Island arsenal. I also have a few of the field manuals back home. Aggressor Forces continued until the mid-70s sometime when they were replaced with Actual Soviet aggressor forces for realism. I did a Google search and found very little besides the Google Books link above. I always figured the Aggressor Forces concept for one of those little known Army ideas that tried to migrate the fact that, yes, the Soviets were the bad guys.
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Dec 16, 2010 16:53
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Bombers were alllll the rage until the advent of effective ICBMs. Suddenly the idea of keeping huge forces of nuclear capable bombers was no longer in the strategic interests of either side. Why keep bombers on station when you can install things like NORAD and multiple silos around the country for cheap? (Comparatively, that is). ICBMs also played a huge role in reducing the conventional ground forces for the US. One of the platforms Eisenhower was elected on in the '50s was his stated goal to reduce the defense budget. You see, the only way it was thought to counter the Soviets was to stage huge conventional forces in Europe. When Ike took office the switch to nuclear equipped missiles was possible because of the advances in technology, of which the space race played a major part "Hey Guyz, we can launch this satellite in orbit, bet we can do that same with a 10 megaton nuke!". The switch to nuclear deterrent from conventional was a major milestone in the Cold War. Up until this time, Atomic weapons were seen as extensions of conventional weapons, like Atomic Artillery and nuclear tipped, Jeep mounted guns (yes, these really, actually existed). Now it was short, medium and long range missiles designed to destroy the home country of the enemy. I don't think Ike knew quite what he was getting us into, like much of the Cold War it was marked by an-almost innocence as to the true cost of nuclear weapons.
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Dec 16, 2010 18:52
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Scratch Monkey posted:On the contrary. Ike was very much aware of how the technology industry was beginning to drive the military, and he was very wary of what would happen once war and defense was put mainly into the hands of the business sector. That's not what I meant, but my phrasing was pretty ambiguous. Sorry.. what I was getting at was the long term effects of a nuclear build up on American strategy, the environment and society. Plus the lack of knowledge on the long-term effects of nukes on human health. Oh, I know he knew what American business was doing, I think he knew that at the end of the War when the Stock Market took a huge dip on VJ Day.
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Dec 16, 2010 19:08
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Stroh M.D. posted:AWESOME STUFF That video is loving tits. Thanks for the screen caps! The official name of the Aggressor Forces was "The Circle Trigon Party". No poo poo. Found my old Aggressor Forces manuals when I was home in July. I kick myself for not picking up the Aggressor Forces helmet at a surplus shop in Rock Island, IL back in the day. Would have an awesome Halloween costume. The helmet was a regular M1 helmet liner with a wooden comb screwed to the top, just hilariously awesome.
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Aug 5, 2011 02:06
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Outside Dawg posted:Yeah, Torpedo 8, the TBM Devastator was really really obsolete by the time of Midway, cool link though, I'll save that for later, thanks. The whole story of Torpedo 8 is pretty badass. Hornet's CAG was rather clueless and refused to believe that the Japanese were north of them, no matter how much 8's CO, John Waldron, bitched at him. At one point Waldron had enough, waggled his wings and flew off north with his boys, leaving the rest of Hornet's air group behind. The irony is that they were about a week from receiving the new Avenger rather than the POS Devastator when they sailed.
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Mar 18, 2014 23:22
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Insane Totoro posted:Would Torpedo 8 really have had more of a chance flying planes they were unfamiliar with and still without fighter cover? Probably not but the Devastators were so bad that more crew would have possibly survived. The TBD was a total death trap. I'd have to look it up but some TBMs were present on the island, I don't recall how many, if any, made it back. 8's major contribution to the battle was getting the fighters on the deck, allowing the dive bombers to work their magic.
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Mar 18, 2014 23:31
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ArchangeI posted:Dear God, with Putin acting like Hitler 2.0, the Luftwaffe may be in the market for a new low level strike fighter. This is gonna happen, isn't it. Speaking of the Putin, apparently he talked with the Argentinian PM about the double standard of self-determination between the Falklands and Crimea. Because, you know, Ukraine invaded the Crimea and took it by force in 1993. Also, there was a B-52 flying around Ellsworth AFB today. Those things are so cool to see. Must have been visiting from Texas.
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Mar 26, 2014 23:13
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iyaayas01 posted:No BUFFs in Texas, either Barksdale in LA or Minot in ND. Oops, probably Minot then. One of the very few perks living here, perhaps the only one, is seeing B-1s and occasionally B-52s flying. So cool to hear then see.
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Mar 27, 2014 00:02
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A while back somebody asked for a article on the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War: King C. Chen "China's War Against Vietnam, 1979: A Military Analysis" is the best short piece I've found on the war. The war itself is so utterly Cold War. As Vietnam is busy driving into Cambodia, China decides to send a massive ground army to punish the the Vietnamese so being so haughty. Sino-Vietnamese relations had been cut off and China hoped that a punitive war would lead to a restoration of relations. For China the biggest thing that came out of the war was a realization that a "People's Army" concept of warfare was probably pretty bankrupt in an age of technology. Hell, there was an entire strain of thought in Bejing that promoted the idea that nuclear weapons were merely, as one author put it, a paper tiger. The essence of Maoist military thought was contained in the 1979 war: men, not technology, would win the day. In the aftermath of the war was when China started to reform it's military thought and began to update their forces significantly. They also started holding joint exercises with nuclear detonations. For China the war was a mixed bag. They were able to make some gains and destroy some Vietnamese border areas but the poor logistics and rugged terrain prevented them from running the Vietnamese down. Vietnam, for it's part, fought like hell and used a mix of regular and territorial units, as most of their army was in Cambodia. Vietnam also had way more combat experience and, unsurprisingly, a far better AA grid over Hanoi and the northern half of the country thanks to Uncle Sam diligence and the Soviets. They did end up flying a few F-5s left over from the ARVN pretty effectively in addition to MiGs that were more advanced, again because of Soviet assistance. Fun Fact: The Soviets had a treaty that should have led them to side with Vietnam and attack the Chinese. But the Soviets played it smart and sent some naval assets to Cam Rahn Bay and airlifted some massive amount of aid to Hanoi but otherwise kept out. The '79 war was just weird all around.
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Apr 14, 2014 18:39
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Snowdens Secret posted:One-ship class makes parts supply a nightmare, and also means any special training and skills you learn there isn't applicable to the rest of the fleet. All of the first-gen nuke power plants were absurdly over-complicated, and carrier plants by nature are absurdly over-complicated (steam supply to catapults) but the Enterprise's design was lovely in so many devious ways that many have said they thought Rickover had it hosed up on purpose to discourage the idea of a nuclear surface Navy (or any surface Navy.) The whole thing was very manpower-intensive to operate and maintain even by nuke Navy standards, and if there's two words nukes hate (more generally than "fast cruise" or "field day") it's "manpower-intensive." One of my roomates was a nuke on board the USS Virginia (I think) and his stories pretty much parallel what you're saying. At one point he said the hull was so thin in places that is was mostly paint and punching through it was pretty easy, if you were inclined to. They decommissioned her in 1994. It's amazing how downright old much of the arsenal is. The school I work at has developed a procedure that injects some sort of aluminum thing into areas on the B-1 that would otherwise render them grounded. They're apparently been able to restore four B-1Bs to flight status because of this and they're drat near 40 years old. I went to the little AF museum in Rapid City on Saturday with my daughter. She got to sit in the F-106 Interceptor cockpit while I called out Soviet bombers coming over the Alaskan DEWS line. She's pretty good little pilot and was pretty happy to fire "Genies" at bomber formations. I've been telling her that Easter Candy comes from bombers who deliver it to good little girls. We were under the B-52D and she kept saying that bombers give candy  . Either I am going to really mess my kid up or just sorta mess her up. She's been taking her B-52 toy to bed along with her princess dolls and stuffed animals. Then I showed her that dad is right at the Berlin Airlift "Candy Bomber" display in the museum. http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5979 See, bombers really do deliver candy! (Well, C-47s anyway)
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Apr 14, 2014 21:06
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Obscure Conflict time: Libya-Egypt, 1977. In the wake of Egypt signing a peace deal with Israel and the massive amount of US Aid that followed, everybody's favorite loser/Dictator/moneybags Qaddafi wanted to "punish" Egypt. Libya kept their Soviet affiliation, of course, so this began to develop into another small proxy of the Cold War. The Soviets had less control over Qaddafi than the US did with Egypt. So for around a year, 76-77, Libya and Egypt trade accusations back and forth over espionage, hijackings, and terror bombings. In August of 1976 Libya closes the Egyptian consulate in Benghazi and "uncovers" a supposed Egyptian spy ring. In response Egypt began to mobilize troops along the border. Then Qaddafi expelled all Egyptians from Libya quickly followed by a "March on Cairo" by thousands of Libyan civilians. Once they hit the border, they were turned back. This was followed up by repeated Libyan artillery barrages on the Egyptian border posts. On July 21, 1977 Libyan sent a small force to raid the desert town of Sallum, which succeeded. Qaddafi began sticking units along the border for further incursions. Libyan Army units amounted to maybe three brigades at most.Sadat, incensed at Qaddafi's bullshit, mobilized three full divisions and the Air Force. Egyptian forces attacked across the border on July 22 and 23, easily routing the Libyans and taking numerous border posts and towns. Sadat was preparing a full scale invasion of Libya with the intention of driving to Tripoli but the US and other Arab states persuaded him to stand down. By July 24 an armistice was declared and the whole affair, at least officially, ended. The whole thing is, frankly, hilarious. Qaddafi pokes a bear and underestimated the scale of Sadat's military response. I have no doubt that the Egyptians would have whipped him as they were swollen with American arms and funding. Supposedly Sadat had been planning a full scale invasion for a while anyway and Qaddafi simply gave him an excuse. The Air War would have been mostly MiGs with the Libyan Mirages thrown in for good measure. Both sides also have extensive Soviet supplied AA and SAMs.
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Apr 15, 2014 16:30
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Groda posted:"Legitimate" is a perfectly ridiculous term here. Actually, it is legit as many European states recognize it and deal with them as a full fledged Government. Like when Germany recognized Croatia in the early 1990s and basically set the stage for the cluster gently caress of European intervention in the Yugoslav wars. We recognized Israel in 1948 solely based on Harry Truman's belief that it was ordained by the bible. Anybody play Battletech here? In one of the source books, the one dealing with the Periphery, they have a history of Earth and at the very beginning one of the things that touched off WWIII was a massive conflict between Russian and Ukraine with NATO intervention. Kinda scary right now.
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Apr 18, 2014 00:06
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I am currently in talks with my daughter in regards to having a bombers themed 3rd birthday. She's torn. Princess Sophia is also popular with her, so I am seeing if we can combine the two. I've already informed her that bombers deliver presents to good little girls on their birthdays. And she loves her B-2 that the 
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May 4, 2014 01:02
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mlmp08 posted:It's super cool to be actively involved with your kids, but there's something really odd to me about saying bombers bring candy/toys. While your post is noted, bombers are still way better than loving Caillou. Watch Caillou for a few episodes and let me know if B-52s with nukes are not a better alternative. Hint: They are. Burning Beard fucked around with this message at 03:35 on May 4, 2014 |
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May 4, 2014 03:33
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