Old War/Dad Power: Clancey chat (both types)

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MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

Cyrano4747 posted:

On the other hand I'm guessing that Florida has fewer dust storms.

Counterpoint: Hilarious numbers of thunderstorms.

# ? Oct 7, 2020 03:20

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 09:24

Memento: Aug 25, 2009; Bleak Gremlin

PCjr sidecar posted:

Kazakhstan didn�t have a century of real estate scams building infrastructure stubs and loving off as groundwork.

Also seawater isn�t dissolving limestone bedrock in Kazakhstan.

Also the uranium deposits are right there for when you want to try running a space rocket with a nuclear engine. I mean, I assume the USSR tried to gently caress around with that stuff, if only because the USA did.

# ? Oct 7, 2020 04:11

Proper Kerni ng: Nov 14, 2011

What was the Soviet version of the brobdingnagianly complicated anti-oopsie protocols of Permissive Action Links? Did they, uh, actually have anything like that? I remember hearing that the UK's freefall bombs were essentially protected by feckin' Masterlock keys you just... physically stuck in a lock and turned to arm a bucket full of Armageddon.

# ? Oct 7, 2020 09:32

shame on an IGA: Apr 8, 2005

Proper Kerni ng posted:

What was the Soviet version of the brobdingnagianly complicated anti-oopsie protocols of Permissive Action Links? Did they, uh, actually have anything like that? I remember hearing that the UK's freefall bombs were essentially protected by feckin' Masterlock keys you just... physically stuck in a lock and turned to arm a bucket full of Armageddon.

Dead Hand lol

# ? Oct 7, 2020 11:33

LostCosmonaut: Feb 15, 2014

Memento posted:

Also the uranium deposits are right there for when you want to try running a space rocket with a nuclear engine. I mean, I assume the USSR tried to gently caress around with that stuff, if only because the USA did.

They did (the RD-0410), but there doesn't seem to be as much information about it online as NERVA; http://www.astronautix.com/r/rd-0410.html

# ? Oct 7, 2020 13:16

Memento: Aug 25, 2009; Bleak Gremlin

LostCosmonaut posted:

They did (the RD-0410), but there doesn't seem to be as much information about it online as NERVA; http://www.astronautix.com/r/rd-0410.html

I'm going off a gut feel here but I reckon that the Semipalatinsk test site is probably a pretty rough place to live these days.

And for at least the next hundred thousand years.

# ? Oct 7, 2020 13:24

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Proper Kerni ng posted:

What was the Soviet version of the brobdingnagianly complicated anti-oopsie protocols of Permissive Action Links? Did they, uh, actually have anything like that? I remember hearing that the UK's freefall bombs were essentially protected by feckin' Masterlock keys you just... physically stuck in a lock and turned to arm a bucket full of Armageddon.

It's something we've wondered a fair bit around here.

# ? Oct 7, 2020 14:28

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Rockets and People, volume 2: stories from the early R-7 launches

Just so you know, the cosmodrome was dry, and the radio engineers ordered lots of alcohol for "cleaning" and May Day was a break, so naturally May Day morning they had been drinking all night and were drunk as skunks, and began knocking on the doors of the annex/train cars and inviting everyone to drink with them and performing absurd little may day ceremonies, until it annoyed the political officer who complained to Korolev who had to yell at the engineers to not drink the goddamn ethanol already or so help Lenin he was gonna send the lot of them to Siberia where they could use their engineering skills to wire timber camps

Korolev does a lot of yelling, about 90% fully justified. Being purged by Stalin will do that to you

quote:

Glitches occurred on an hourly basis during horizontal electrical tests. It wasn�t easy to report to Korolev about each glitch and have to explain causes, to boot. And to make matters more complicated, he would demand that he be called about any glitch, even at night. Voskresenskiy was more decisive and persuaded Kasho and me to buck this system; otherwise, later at the launch site it would be impossible to get anything done.

Late one night after the failure of yet another instrument (most likely it was the Tral or one of the radio control instruments), I decided to replace it immediately and reported this to Korolev after waking him up with a phone call. A half hour later, referring to my decision, Kasho repeated the same report over the phone. Another half hour later Voskresenskiy woke up Korolev with a third phone call and said that he was very troubled by these failures and by the instrument replacement that Chertok was performing.

In the morning, when he appeared at the MIK after his sleepless night, Korolev summoned us and said: �I know that you arranged to teach me a lesson. To hell with you. Let�s set up this procedure to make a detailed entry about all glitches in the logbook. Every morning when I arrive, Kasho will call in whomever necessary if he can�t explain it himself, and I will sign the logbook after you.

So the cosmodrome lacked an oxygen plant. In order to get the frankly gigantic amount of LOX the R-7 needed, it took nearly all the LOX in the USSR:

quote:

On the morning of 14 May, diesel engines began to bring steaming tanks of liquid oxygen up to the launch site. Ryabikov, who had been at the site, complained, �This is the second time we�ve left the country with no oxygen.� Why the second time? It turns out that at the meeting of the State Commission in Moscow the Central Committee, that is, Khrushchev, announced the requirement to perform the first launch before 1 May as a gift in honor of the holiday. Nesterenko vehemently protested, showing rather convincingly that it would not be possible to prepare the firing range, launch complex, and the missile itself in the 20 days remaining before the holiday.

�Well, if you don�t manage, we�ll report to the Central Committee and explain why,� said Nedelin apologetically.

Nesterenko asked that the order to ship liquid oxygen to the firing range be cancelled: �We can store anything, but we don�t know how to store oxygen�it
evaporates.�

Indeed, in order to fill the missile with oxygen, three times the required amount needed to be sent to Kazakhstan from Russia. Railroad tank cars were not designed for the long-term storage of cryogenic liquids. There was a very high rate of evaporation. The oxygen plant and the storage facility at the firing range had not yet been built. We really did leave our industry, especially metallurgy, without oxygen.

Nesterenko�s arguments had no effect. The instructions to ship oxygen to the firing range with delivery before 25 April were fulfilled. After 1 May, all the tank cars returned for a second filling, having enriched the steppe atmosphere with pure oxygen from the first shipment. But the second time, no one had any doubts that the oxygen would be used.

Test missiles, at least, had a self destruct function. It had been planned to use the conventional explosive inside the warhead if a test launch had a warhead, but in these early tests there was none, so, a separate shutdown method [engine shutdown] had been devised. It also had a surprising amount of security:

quote:

The responsibility for making the decision to issue such a command was huge. Out of fright, a person could wreck a good missile and disrupt the flight tests. Therefore, a group of the most highly qualified and responsible specialists consisting of Appazov, Lavrov, and Mozzhorin was singled out to supervise. They would be located directly in the shooting plane and observe the missile�s behavior using a theodolite. Based on a three-way decision, they would relay by telephone to the bunker a password known only to them and the two launch directors, Nosov and Voskresenskiy. After receiving the emergency password in the bunker, they would press two buttons in succession. This served as a command to the radio-control station 15 kilometers away to broadcast the emergency signal using the directional antenna.

The first password was "Ivanhoe".

The command bunker was, well, a very well protected bunker deep beneath the earth. The only physical viewing was done by two parascopes, who were manned by official launch observers. Once a launch started, personnel had to race up sixty or so stairs to the surface if they wanted to see what was up.

quote:

At T-minus 15 minutes, Korolev, Nosov, Voskresenskiy, and Barmin went down into the bunker. Nosov and Voskresenskiy took their places at the periscopes. Doro- feyev was in communication with the first IP, where Golunskiy and Vorshev were supposed to comment on the events displayed in the form of shimmering green columns of parameters on the electronic screens of the Tral ground station.

T-minus 1 minute. Total silence now. Habit more than memory focuses on what have now become standard commands: �Broach! Key to ignition! Purge! Key to vent! Launch!�

I noted how Chekunov pressed the red button with particular zeal upon hearing the command �Launch!� Gazing at the console, Yevgeniy Ostashev commented:

�The �ground-to-board� command has passed.�

Voskresenskiy was glued to the periscope: �The gantry has pulled away... Ignition ... Preliminary... Main!�

A report came from the console: �Lift-off contact.�

Voskresenskiy exclaimed: �Liftoff! The missile lifted off!�

The roar of five engines penetrated into the bunker. Yevgeniy Ostashev informed us, �The console has reset.�

There was nothing more to do in the console room. Pushing, I fought my way upward, oblivious to the steep climb, just annoyed at how slowly the crowd of people ahead of me was climbing. Where did they all come from? Finally I sprang out. It was dark; after all, it was 9 p.m. local time!

I made out Nedelin�s imposing form next to me. The rapidly dimming exhaust plume blazed brilliantly against the dark sky. But what was this?! It became sort of lopsided. In addition to the main plume, another one had formed. The missile broke out of the Earth�s shadow and it glistened, illuminated by the sun, which was invisible to us. It was an otherworldly, unforgettable spectacle. Now we would see the separation! But suddenly against the black sky the lights went out. A small flicker was still shining and moving away from the spot where it had just been blazing so brightly.

Trying not to knock anybody down, we descended into the console room. There would be a report from the telemetry specialists there. Only they could explain why our star had faded away ahead of time. There was a tremendous rush of activity in the bunker. Having cast aside his customary self-control, Mrykin was congratulating and embracing the still stunned Korolev. Voskresenskiy was on the phone interogating Golunskiy. Everyone was exchanging theories, but no one could explain anything. Barmin was already calling up the bunker from �ground zero� to report that on first inspection no external damage was detected on the launch pad.

Finally, Voskresenskiy tore himself away from the telephone and loudly reported: �Telemetry has visually detected the passage of an emergency shutdown command at somewhere around 100 seconds. They will not say anything more precise. They are taking the film cartridges over to MIK for development.

Korolev couldn�t stand it: �Ask when they will be ready.�

�Sergey Pavlovich, let�s at least give them a night. By morning they will all be deciphered. It would be useless for us to conjecture who�s to blame.

After debates as to what time we should gather for the report on the films, we nevertheless talked Korolev into leaving to have dinner, get some sleep, and after an early breakfast, to hear what the telemetry specialists had to say at 9 a.m.

When Voskresenskiy saw me, he said, �Boris, let�s go to my place.�

Korolev happened to pick up on this, and in a disgruntled, but rather loud fashion grumbled, �You�d better find out where that command came from and then sort out what�s wrong. Boris, your AVD is probably the culprit.�

Voskresenskiy�s housemates in cabin No. 3 were Barmin and Kuznetsov. Despite our fatigue, we settled into Kuznetsov�s most spacious room and over a bottle of cognac we discussed the events, scenarios, and repercussions for another couple of hours. Barmin was very satisfied that the launch system had passed the test. Yes, that alone was already a very big success.

But not just that; after all, the booster cluster had flown for 100 seconds. That meant the cluster dynamics also checked out and it was controllable. It didn�t keel over during the very first seconds of flight. That was something we could drink to. At 1 a.m. I was getting ready to go over to the adjacent cabin and get some sleep, but Voskresenskiy got a call from Golunskiy, who reported the results of the film analysis. �Fire in the aft of Block D. The temperature sensors started to go off the scale and went out of order. It was outside the parameters. The temperatures began to rise during launch. Controlled flight lasted for 98 seconds. Then, by all appearances, the fire started and got so big that the thrust of the engine in Block D dropped abruptly and the booster separated without receiving a command. The remaining four engines were running and the control system was trying to restrain the missile. The control surfaces could not cope with the disturbance. They were at their limit and at 103 seconds the AVD command passed validly.�

Voskresenskiy asked, �Did you call Sergey Pavlovich?� �Yes, I gave him the report. He demanded that we find the source of the fire. Now let�s examine all the other parameters.

�Look here, Boris,� said Kuznetsov, �now you and I must drink another drink. It was my gyroscopes that gave the command and your emergency engine shutdown unit that did just that for the first time on the very first missile. Your control surface actuators put up a good fight for the missile�s life.� These were sufficiently convincing arguments for us to polish off the bottle.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 02:07

DrAlexanderTobacco: Jun 11, 2012; Help me find my true dharma

Hey, does anyone have a link to the possibly apocryphal story about a Soviet RADAR array being turned on whilst technicians were performing maintenance? It resulted in horrific burns, death, the usual - I searched for it quite heavily but it's hard to find. Cheers!

# ? Oct 9, 2020 15:56

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

DrAlexanderTobacco posted:

Hey, does anyone have a link to the possibly apocryphal story about a Soviet RADAR array being turned on whilst technicians were performing maintenance? It resulted in horrific burns, death, the usual - I searched for it quite heavily but it's hard to find. Cheers!

I remember that one. It was late cold war (like right before or after the USSR fell apart IIRC) and it was one of the gently caress-off big radar arrays used for tracking incoming ICBMs iirc.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 16:05

Guest2553: Aug 3, 2012

Haven't heard that one before but a high power near field of (what is presumably) a HF-UHF range radar will mos def penetrate deep enough to cause tissue damage through absorption. :rip:

if it was a CW system and not pulsed.

e.

Schadenboner posted:

Maybe it's a misreporting of Anatoli Bugorski getting his head nuked by a particle accelerator?

E: Ivans wouldn't even cover the cost of his Tegretol or whatever?

JFC that is both metal and :piss:

Guest2553 fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Oct 9, 2020

# ? Oct 9, 2020 16:41

hobbesmaster: Jan 28, 2008

Guest2553 posted:

Haven't heard that one before but a high power near field of (what is presumably) a HF-UHF range radar will mos def penetrate deep enough to cause tissue damage through absorption. if it was a CW system and not pulsed.

Theres also a huge arc flash hazard depending on what maintenance was being done. I've only seen the story come up with regards to "CELL PHONES CAN CAUSE CANCER" people.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 16:47

Schadenboner: Aug 15, 2011; by Shine

Maybe it's a misreporting of Anatoli Bugorski getting his head nuked by a particle accelerator?

E: Ivans wouldn't even cover the cost of his Tegretol or whatever? :wtf:

Schadenboner fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Oct 9, 2020

# ? Oct 9, 2020 16:47

Electric Wrigglies: Feb 6, 2015

DrAlexanderTobacco posted:

Hey, does anyone have a link to the possibly apocryphal story about a Soviet RADAR array being turned on whilst technicians were performing maintenance? It resulted in horrific burns, death, the usual - I searched for it quite heavily but it's hard to find. Cheers!

Industrial Stuff (HV, rotating equipment, punch points, explosives) being turned on while people are working on it ( to horrific results that I have witnessed multiple times.) is an every day story. So much so that it is more of a statistic than historically noteworthy. Generally you can work on surprisingly powerful radio emitters with a bit of care. My old man as a radio tech said there is quite the technique to getting on and off live gear/ towers / etc in a routine fashion ( mainly due to the voltage) He also says that cooking sausages in front of the arrays on navy ships was possible but frowned upon.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 17:26

DrAlexanderTobacco: Jun 11, 2012; Help me find my true dharma

Thanks guys,

This is a definite account that's been posted here quite a bit, so hopefully someone's got the transcript somewhere.

E: More info to jog people's memories:

- 3 soldiers were working within the RADAR array, doing maintenance
- Top Brass turns up as part of a nationwide readiness test (which the guys at the station weren't told about :v:

) and issue orders to get the array turned on immediately
- RADAR turns on and immediately the people inside know something's up.

- Two go blind and start vomiting everywhere, one who's just far away enough to escape with a pounding headache manages to get them both into a UAZ and tries to drive to a hospital before crashing

One definitely dies, I think the other two survive, though one is permanently blinded.

DrAlexanderTobacco fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Oct 9, 2020

# ? Oct 9, 2020 17:35

in a well actually: Jan 26, 2011; dude, you gotta end it on the rhyme

Can�t link it easily but google microwave airpower site:somethingawful.com to find neb�s repost in the goldmined airpower thread of permabanned�s translation

# ? Oct 9, 2020 17:46

shame on an IGA: Apr 8, 2005

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3373768&pagenumber=757&perpage=40#post458481821

quote:

]
Before I start, I would like to say that the events described in here have really happened, though the names of the unfortunate victims are changed by the author.
The collection of medical cases is written by a non-engineer in the manner so that everyone could understand it. The opinions of the author are purely his own, they do not represent my opinions. I have tried to translate it as close as it was possible. This text contains no classified information, everything in it could be found in open access on the Internet.

A.V. Lomachinski
Faculty of Military Medicine Academy of the Military Medicine, Moscow
"Curious cases in military medicine and military medical investigation"
excerpt:

Radar-originated trauma.

If you think that radar-originated trauma is something akin to a strike with a rotating radar dish - you are deeply mistaken. Radar-originated trauma is
an injury inflicted by microwaves. If the microwave radiation is weak, then one wouldn't have an injury, but a chronic radar-originated disease.
Sleeplessness, restlessness , pains and body weight loss are among its symptoms. It's not great, but at least you are alive. What we didn't know is that it is very
difficult to stay alive after a real radar-originated trauma. Microwave radiation is considered 'soft' as it is not in common terms 'hard' gamma radiation, but just
a "low-intensity" high-frequency electromagnetic field, akin to a microwave oven. Why would you fear that?

Most powerful fields are generated by Strategic Defense Initiative radars. Their emitter is constructed in a fashion as to project a focused invisible beam of MW radiation.
This is understandable, because the you would loose less energy on useless 'highlighting' of the empty space. At first a standby-radar spots something foreign in the airspace, and then detected object is 'highlighted' with a focused beam. The interception missile follows the reflection of that focused beam, right to the object. This system was worked down to details, like the Bolshoi theater. This was the system, described in the agreement on Strategic defense, signed in 1972 by Nixon and Brezhnev, the same old agreement that was repealed 30 years later by Bush. Sr. That's right - the Strategic Defense System of Moscow was founded in 1973, albeit only with nuclear-tipped interceptors, while the USA could never create something efficient until 2000. A typical AA Defense officer of the Moscow and Leningrad district had a hard time during his duties, as both the northern and the official capital were just minutes away from the border. Radars were permanently on-line and the officers were always on call, like in wartime, no slacking allowed. Things got lax during the Gorbachev's term, that's when those events happened.

There was a secret SDI base somewhere in-between Kalinin and Leningrad. Like in every other military garrison bordering Moscow a hard time has fallen upon the crews, the reason behind it - just a month before, a German amateur pilot, named Rust, landed in his small plane directly on the Red Square. This was an inconceivable insult to the "new policy and new thinking" of the Gorbachev's regime, and it has brought the highest disdain towards the SDI and Air force.

The newly appointed Minister of Defense - Yazov, commonly called in the Army - "Everyone will put on his uniform" (* originally a word play on his name), who liked nothing more than war exercises and parades, has signed a new order, forbidding to take off-line SDI radars for routine maintenance, unless the equipment was seriously broken.
This meant that Army technies had to resort to all kinds of tricks to successfully maintain radars, without turning them off, while working on them. Of course such arrangements were impossible on the continuous pulse radars, but it worked a marvel on the focused beam ones.
One only had to call your SDI counterparts and "Is everything clear? So it's ok if we go up?". That meant - to go into the temporary 'asleep' radar beam zone. But if all of a sudden ... Put it bluntly - anything remotely suspicious can bring on-line a 'sleeping' radar. For the technician, working inside the emitter this situation meant Russian roulette - if one survived this time, he would live at least until the next maintenance round.

Sergeant Ivanuk, captain Lykov and privates Al'muhammedov and Siniagin conducted a "routine small-scale maintenance without shutting down the radar". Captain was checking the electrical works while the privates washed and cleaned something, under the watchful eye of a sergeant, who helped the captain from time to time. The radar control room was far away from the emitter dish itself, in an underground bunker, so there they were issued a truck, Gaz-66. Sergeant Liahovetski, a driver, was the fifth member of the repair and maintenance party.

According to the safety guidelines he was to drive the group directly underneath the dish, then retreat with the car 300m in a safe direction. He was to constantly watch for the other members to appear out of the radar's maintenance entrance, keeping the motor running. And it wasn't just your plain army Gaz truck - its cabin and the rear compartment were screened from the microwave radiation, and over the cabin windows retractable perforated steel sheets were extended. The truck electrical circuits were shielded as well, and on the key fob, instead of the ordinary driver's gri-gri you had a fluorescent bulb, that looked like a pen - a microwave indicator. When the bulb started glowing it meant for the driver that it was time to lower the retractable shields and drive quickly towards the radar's door, while pushing the horn constantly. Personnel would jump in the rear compartment, and the truck would scramble away from the radar, in the direction opposite to the emitter.

A routine small maintenance duty was usually quite peaceful and lasted not more than 15 minutes, the technies would walk out of the door and wave their hands for the truck to come over and pick them up. No shielding was necessary. When the personnel was waving a small red flag - it just meant that you had to drive quickly and put down shields on the return way, because the meaning of the red flag was that someone had called from a central station and the radar would be on-line shortly after that.

During the month after Rust landing and that stupid directive enactment, no such extraordinary situation would happen. All the Airforce waited for the siege to be lifted and the Minister's anger to calm down, bringing the duties back to the normal cycle. Meanwhile all technies climbed in 'sleeping' radars, cursing the amateur German, the directive and the perestroika, that started to steer in a very weird direction.

There was an unwritten rule between the radar personnel - when a foreign object was spotted, first and foremost people called the focused beam radar to check, whether someone was working in the emitter zone, and then the alert was declared. The radar enters automatic mode after the alert is declared and it cannot be turned off or steered out of the way. Those 20 - 30 seconds before the alert sufficed to pull away of the dangerous zone, so that the people were spared and the radar had enough time to connect and spot the target. Such precautions, were of course unconductive to maintain an acceptable alert readiness level, but at least it allowed a way out of the current stupid situation.

That day a major was on the watch, a well-known person in the technies circle, so they couldn't have expected anything bad to happen. He was steady, of sound mind and valued the lives of his subordinates and mates more that the opinion of the army inspection commissions.

And this inspection arrived suddenly. Only if it was a routine check - a single colonel or a major from the division, he could have explained everything or even told them to gently caress away, even risking his career. Unfortunately for him , there was a whole bunch of colonels, generals, and this band was called 'General readiness inspection of the Ministry of Defense'. This is a time when ballroom generals give orders to launch a strategic missile from a SSBN in Northern Ocean, while watching this missile to be shut down, in real life. They can also make this 'real' exercise to closer resemble wartime conditions. That was exactly what happened - they told the major, that he was dead, because the control center was destroyed by a missile ten minutes ago, "Pull the switch, shut down the controls, the communication has already been cut" he was told. We'll see how the global SDI system beam control works, not only your base. The major grabbed the phone, but could hear no tone. He would have liked to call the guys to warn them, but how? His own base emitter was no longer working, and even if he could see the focused beam screen, he couldn't have done anything. Suddenly, a bright spot appeared on a station screen - that could mean only one thing - the beam has highlighted a target for the interceptor missile. Once that have happened, the radar turns fully automatic,preoccupied with the only goal, even if it's quite a primitive robotic goal of destruction. From that moment on nothing can interrupt the work of the beam - 30 megatons of the enemy weapons are flying towards Moscow, to shot those down was important, the rest wasn't.
[to be continued...]

[...part 2...]

Captain Lykov was killed instantly - electrocuted by the 27 kV power supply. No radar injury - death like on an electric chair. The radar operator said that 'the only thing left were his shoes'. He was exaggerating, even if the shoes were spared, they still rested on the charred body's feet. Sergeant and privates weren't holding any conductive surfaces, so the current didn't do anything bad to them. They felt an intense heat and an unbearable pain in their heads, they jumped out of the radar door. I have to say that no one was in direct line of sight of the focused beam, if they would, the result would have been different. They were only lightly touched by periphery of the microwave beam.

After some moments all three went blind, the heat was gone, but their bodies felt burning from within. Ivanyuk didn't loose his courage and shouted "Privates, come towards me, hold one another." Almost falling unconscious the soldiers crept near the sergeant and grabbed him. Just after, the trio heard the engine sound and the horn. Three technies were a pitiful sight to behold and Liakhovetski realized that he couldn't just stay in the shielded cabin. To hell with the glowing microwave detector, he opened the door and jumped out. His skin started tingling very unpleasantly and his head was feeling heavy, after a moment a burning sensation came. That is - a burning sensation from within.
The pain around the bones was especially strong - as if someone was pushing cigarette butts from another dimension.

"Where is the Cap'n " - shouted the driver
"He's hosed. I've seen him electrocuted, Load us up, we are feeling really loving lovely and we're blind! Faster, friend, faster! If we don't scramble, we'll loving burn alive here!"- responded sergeant.

The driver, with great difficulty, pushed the weakening trio in the rear compartment. He was starting to feel really lovely himself, weakened and swaying, like a drunk. Finally, up in the truck cabin, he could see that the shields have heated up, but humans could still walk - he was amazed. He first thought that he was going to drive his truck in a ditch, but after only 200 meters he felt much better, the burning had diminished, he was dizzy and wanted to throw up. Finally the fence - 300 m away from the radar, safe zone already, so he could lift the shields from the windscreen. But he wouldn't stop here, he thought, it was at least 3 km till the checkpoint, there he could call someone. How the others in the back, are feeling? He wanted to piss and vomit. He stopped after a kilometer, wanting to jump out of the truck, but instead he had fallen out helplessly. After a little while he could get up, walk a few meters to the nearest tree and throw up here, only a small amount of puke would come out. He remembered the landscape around the radar dish - a concrete field, then some short grass and further some bushes, trees, far in the distance. "Does it burn up itself or someone cuts it?" he thought - "It burns up, probably."

The piss was hot, at least it seemed hotter that normally, then he realized that it was painful to relieve himself - "Oh, great, I caught gonorhhea from a radar" he thought, but it was only funny for an instant. He pissed all over himself, because he couldn't stand upright, and even than he was holding himself on a tree. Liakhovski cursed and dragged himself towards the rear compartment of the truck.
It was disturbingly quiet inside - two were disparately lying on the floor, the sergeant's head rested in a puddle of vomit. Only Sinyagin was half-seated in the far corner of the compartment, visibly he puked over himself, but at least he was awake. His eyes were open, but he didn't react to the light.

"Tovashishh sergeant, Mikhail, Sanych, Altik, Sinya, What's up mates!!!", he only heard a heave, coming from Sinyagin, he pulled himself in the compartment and started shaking the prostrated people. Everyone was alive, but unconscious, he wrapped them in work vests and an old blanket, and tried to make a makeshift headboard for all three to lie on. Finally, he felt much better himself, the pan was completely gone, but the dizziness remained. He thought, that he couldn't help them, only deliver them quickly to a medic. He was afraid to jump out of the truck once more, so he lied down on the compartment floor and slided off. Then, leaning against the truck body, he walked towards the cabin and drove towards the checkpoint.
Four people were normally manning the checkpoint, while two were out patrolling the perimeter and looking for lost mushroom pickers, the two others stayed "on the line". The young recruits usually do the rounds, as they have to walk far - to the next checkpoint and sign their presence in the journal there. The 'stick' time, as was called the barrier watch duty, was very uneventful. If one were to hear the sound of the engine, he would go outside with his weapon ready and open the barrier, while the other one would make a note in the journal. This time the watch man immediately understood that something exceptional have happened, the approaching truck was swerving and when it stopped near the barrier, Sgt. Liakhovski had almost fallen out of the cabin. The two soldiers keeping the watch were shocked.
"Get me a phone fast mates! Captain Lykov is dead, everybody else have passed out, and I'm hosed too, I'm struggling to stay upright" - ejaculated Liakhovetski
"What the hell happened?"
"who knows - the radar burned everyone!".
After those words, soldiers led Liakhovetski to the pillbox
"Where do we call - to the man on duty?"

"First him , then up, to the headquarters"
The duty officer's inquiry were quickly interrupted by the variable mood of the Liakhovetski "Tovarishh officer, we are completely hosed, If we can't get a medic, three people will die here. I cannot move them myself - I can't drive anymore, my head is turning like crazy. I've also been shot up by the radar."

The officer on duty called the field hospital, then the headquarters. After doing so, he jumped in his jeep and hurried towards the checkpoint. After 10 minutes or so he was there with another technies group, a minute later the doctor and the field medic arrived, he injected the lightly wounded with corglucone (? I have no idea what it is), and installed intravenous catheters on the two difficult cases - Ivanyuk and Al'muhameddov. A call from the HQ came, it was the major who ordered to bring the four technies directly to the airfield, where an Il-76 was waiting. 40 minutes later all of them were already in the air, inside an empty Il-76 bound for Rzhevka airfield near Leningrad.
At the same time an emergency unit was dispatched from the Hospital of Military Medicine to the Rzhevka airfield. Surprisingly, the emergency van took the same amount of time to cross half of the Leningrad that it took the airplane to fly from a neighboring region.

A difficult questions have arisen as soon as the victims arrived at the Academy of the Military Medicine - how should they be medicated? It was more or less clear with Liakhovetsky - he had a mental breakdown, with additional neurological symptoms and fulminant cystitis of unknown origin. But the origin of that cystitis wasn't so mysterious - the brain and the bladder are the 'wettest' organs in the human body. This is why they were injured by the MW radiation first.
[...part 3...]

A psychiatrist, a neurologist and an urologist were called, and after this extraordinary council have determined the best medication and therapy course, our driver's condition started to improve quite quickly. Cystitis was cured with little effort in no more than a week. For some time the driver would present those strange symptoms, reminiscent of
a brain trauma, meningitis, arachnoiditis, alcohol intoxication and an extreme mood variability, but it was over in two month. The guy was dragged between various medical institutions, for the sake of research, demonstrated like a circus monkey, that took at least 6 month more, and he was released just before his demobilization. He had it easy.

It was much worse with the three others. The condition of the Sergeant Ivanyuk was very precarious, and despite all reanimation measures taken there was no notable improvement. His heart stopped after two days, and the efforts to restart it through electro-stimulation were unsuccessful. The sergeant died without regaining consciousness, but his death allowed the two others to survive. During the sergeant's autopsy a remarkable finding appeared - the radar injury consisted of the internal organs' burns, those organs that had a larger percentage of water content were burned more severely. It was also remarkable, because those burns were only on the surface - on the liver and kidney's fibrous capsules, on the arachnoids, on the bladder epithelium, on the endothelial surface of the major blood vessels. But the most important were found on the pericardium - the heart envelope. The victim have developed a fibrinous exudative pericarditis, a condition when there is too much liquid containing fibrin, the thrombotic agent, pours out in the pericardium. Despite the fact that the pericardium was drained, without the knowledge of the underlying condition, the normal blood counts could not be restored. So major thrombi formed in the vessels, leading to the infarctus and embolisms - the direct cause of death.

It was difficult to prevent this from happening, but the therapy course for the two remaining victims was now clear. They would be treated not for an unknown radar injury, but for a very concrete burns, inflicted by MW. That would also explain the immediately inflicted blindness - the cornea was simply burned away, due to the surface burns.
From then on, the combustologists have taken over the care for the two privates. Controlled dialysis was administered, along with intravenous diuretics and plasma to maintain the blood count balance - not to leak through the vessel's walls, but neither to form trombi. After a while the crisis was over.
In the beginning Al'muhameddinov had it worse than Sinyavin, because he developed pericarditis faster, but after the drainage, he didn't have as much fibrin scars, as Syniavin had. Syniavin was transferred to the surgery, where those scars were dissected and his heart normal function restored. Those guys staid in hospital for a long time, but even after their internal organs returned to normal, they couldn't have their sight back - it was irreparably lost, burned away by the radar.

[end]

The translation has taken more time than I would have expected.
Forgive me if the quality isn't quite good - I don't translate literature, even documentary - mostly scientific articles, contracts, legal stuff and some medical stuff from time to time.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 17:50

ThisIsJohnWayne: Feb 23, 2007; Ooo! Look at me! NO DON'T LOOK AT ME!

E. Story posted.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 17:53

DrAlexanderTobacco: Jun 11, 2012; Help me find my true dharma

Thanks everyone! I wasn't expecting help so quickly :shobon:

# ? Oct 9, 2020 17:56

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

DrAlexanderTobacco posted:

Thanks everyone! I wasn't expecting help so quickly

The Cold War thread: we do what we must because we can

e: actually, since we're on the subject, did somebody British in the old thread post a good brief on why nuclear weapons shook out the way they did? I remember the phrase "I wrote this for British Marxists in DnD."

Nebakenezzer fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Oct 10, 2020

# ? Oct 10, 2020 00:52

drgitlin: Jul 25, 2003; luv 2 get custom titles from a forum that goes into revolt when its told to stop using a bad word.

There�s a great book called Cabinets and the Bomb that uses minutes from cabinet meetings to track the progress of the UK deterrent from Tube Alloys through to Trident. That may be what you�re thinking of.

https://www.amazon.com/Cabinets-British-Academy-Occasional-Papers/dp/0197264220

# ? Oct 10, 2020 08:44

Cooked Auto: Aug 4, 2007; If you will not serve in combat, you will serve on the firing line!

So the North Koreans held their annual military parade and displayed some rather peculiar stuff.

Like their own Armata clone.
https://twitter.com/Defence_blog/status/1314913077981327361

Which just radiate "We've slapped some cardboard on top of a hull and painted it tan" energy.

Also wheels galore:
https://twitter.com/Defence_blog/status/1314903508609572864

Let's not forget DPRK Stryker MGS Clone:
https://twitter.com/Defence_blog/status/1314897516052336640

And they've gone digital as well apparently:
https://twitter.com/DylanMalyasov/status/1314893007716519947

# ? Oct 10, 2020 14:42

Crab Dad: Dec 28, 2002; behold i have tempered and refined thee, but not as silver; as CRAB

Oh poo poo that�s where all our blueberries went!!?!!

# ? Oct 10, 2020 14:51

aphid_licker: Jan 7, 2009

One of the largest economies in the world is using broomsticks for machine guns and here's NK just casually unveiling it's new ICBM, MBT, and uniform.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 15:03

Murgos: Oct 21, 2010

Cooked Auto posted:

So the North Koreans held their annual military parade and displayed some rather peculiar stuff.

Like their own Armata clone.
https://twitter.com/Defence_blog/status/1314913077981327361

The whole thing about the Armata is that the crew sits in the hull and the turret is unmanned. They borrowed some of the cosmetic accents of the real thing without any of the substance, which is actually exactly what a cheap knock off version of a popular product usually does.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 15:29

Raenir Salazar: Nov 5, 2010; "According to Wikipedia" there is a black hole that emits zionist hawking radiation where my brain should have been

I really should just shut the fuck up and stop posting forever; College Slice

I can see some of those developments but developing a whole new modern tank unless they had direct Russian assistance seems implausible to me.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 15:37

Gabrielite: Apr 24, 2008

Those "Stryker" photos also show the drivers sitting uncomfortably close to the right hand side of the hatch, which really ruins the illusion that maybe the whole thing isn't some manufactured body for another vehicle, which is probably a BTR chassis I'd guess.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 15:39

MRC48B: Apr 2, 2012

Can someone explain to me the advantage of a liquid fueled rocket in a road-mobile package?

It seems that having to add several tanker trucks of lox and kerosene to your logistics train is not ideal for mobility.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 16:57

standard.deviant: May 17, 2012; Globally Indigent

MRC48B posted:

Can someone explain to me the advantage of a liquid fueled rocket in a road-mobile package?

It seems that having to add several tanker trucks of lox and kerosene to your logistics train is not ideal for mobility.

If you don't have solid fueled rockets with the same range/throw weight, it's still more mobile and thus more survivable than static basing.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 17:02

Cooked Auto: Aug 4, 2007; If you will not serve in combat, you will serve on the firing line!

https://twitter.com/CalibreObscura/status/1314968701163233281

The Calibre Obscura thread about the Parade has some other highlights, like the old Bizon-esque AK mags and apparently a new QBZ style bullpup AK.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 17:43

Chamale: Jul 11, 2010; I'm helping!

That radar accident is tragic. Corglucone is convallatoxin, which causes an increased heart rate and evidently was used as emergency medicine. It's derived from lily-of-the-valley.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 18:34

Mortabis: Jul 8, 2010; I am stupid

Christ why are they marching on parade in gas masks

Actually come to think of it I guess I'd rather do it that way right now what with the pandemic

# ? Oct 10, 2020 19:03

ThisIsJohnWayne: Feb 23, 2007; Ooo! Look at me! NO DON'T LOOK AT ME!

MRC48B posted:

Can someone explain to me the advantage of a liquid fueled rocket in a road-mobile package?

It seems that having to add several tanker trucks of lox and kerosene to your logistics train is not ideal for mobility.

Not fuelled by either lox or kerosene, but tetrox/udmh and (i)rfna. Tanks are already filled. Solid fuels are overall more practical and less quirky to deal with (if you have a plant that can make good ones), but udmh + irfna = good enough for government work.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 19:04

KYOON GRIFFEY JR: Apr 12, 2010; Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22

Gabrielite posted:

Those "Stryker" photos also show the drivers sitting uncomfortably close to the right hand side of the hatch, which really ruins the illusion that maybe the whole thing isn't some manufactured body for another vehicle, which is probably a BTR chassis I'd guess.

It's definitely BTR-80 based as they have their own indigenous BTR-80 clone, the Chunma-D. The wheel spacing is correct for a BTR-80.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 19:04

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Murgos posted:

The whole thing about the Armata is that the crew sits in the hull and the turret is unmanned. They borrowed some of the cosmetic accents of the real thing without any of the substance, which is actually exactly what a cheap knock off version of a popular product usually does.

I think they stole several visual cues from recent Challenger 2s

e:The British Army is bringing back awesome Berlin Brigade camo and Challenger 2 variant that is called, no poo poo, Streetfighter 2?

Nebakenezzer fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Oct 10, 2020

# ? Oct 10, 2020 21:05

BIG HEADLINE: Jun 13, 2006; "Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"

Nebakenezzer posted:

I think they stole several visual cues from recent Challenger 2s

e:The British Army is bringing back awesome Berlin Brigade camo and Challenger 2 variant that is called, no poo poo, Streetfighter 2?

"Guile 1 to Cammy 3, report, over."

(silence)

"Guile Actual to Cammy 3, report immediately, *over*."

"Damnit, Guile 1, why couldn't our callsign have been Ken or Ryu???" :mad:

"Quit takin' the piss or it'll be changed to Blanka, Cammy 3."

# ? Oct 10, 2020 21:16

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Hello! I was sent here to ask about the Gulf War as last night I realized that I know like, two things about that war. I'd like to read a good overview book about the war. Something that's more than the wikipedia page, at least. Do any of you know of a book like that? Thanks!

e: wait poo poo, FIRST gulf war, my bf was all "there were two of them"

# ? Oct 10, 2020 21:56

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRgfBXn6Mg

There should be a part two at some point in the future.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 22:05

Xakura: Jan 10, 2019; A safety-conscious little mouse!

Nebakenezzer posted:

I think they stole several visual cues from recent Challenger 2s

e:The British Army is bringing back awesome Berlin Brigade camo and Challenger 2 variant that is called, no poo poo, Streetfighter 2?

Berlin brigade camo is really cool

# ? Oct 10, 2020 22:32

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 25, 2024 09:24

Thomamelas: Mar 11, 2009

https://twitter.com/AnnQuann/status/1314929136729636864

gently caress your stealth. LED strips are cool!

# ? Oct 10, 2020 23:32

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Old War/Dad Power: Clancey chat (both types)

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