Thermobarics, where to start? First, probably a good idea to read something like this: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The lack of transparency about officer misconduct is commonplace and intentional, according to @JoePlenzler, who served as a public affairs officer alongside more than a dozen general officers, including three commandants of the Marine Corps. thewarhorse.org/lost-trust-con… During half those assignments, Marine leaders saw engaging with the media as “all risk and no gain.” And some of them “add an additional dose of hubris in there” by asking “Why should I have to talk to these guys?” thewarhorse.org/lost-trust-con…

1/30/1991: a special CENTAF log entry for the cluster munition fanboys in the house #gulfwar30 #desertstorm30 "F-16s employing non-precision, free-falling general-purpose bombs, as well as older-generation cluster bomb units (CBU) — Mk-20 Rockeye, CBU-52, and CBU-58 —flew the majority, 569, of these missions."

1/30/1991: first combat use of another failure-prone weapon system - FASCAM mines #gulfwar30 #desertstorm30 Developed in the 1970s, FASCAM, or Family of Scatterable Munitions, were artillery-delivered mines ejected from 155mm projectiles. The antipersonnel mine is "ADAM" for Area Denial Artillery Munition, and the antivehicle mine is "RAAM" for Remote Antiarmor Mine System

It's been 18 hours since I asked @AF_Academy Public Affairs how much rent @AirForceGrads pays to have their headquarters on the USAFA campus. No response.

https://twitter.com/johnismay/status/1355349687692374020

Check out the AOG's digs in Doolittle Hall here: events.usafa.org

What a surprise: the people who planned and lead the air war in Desert Storm think it went great. Let's do some fun keyword searches in this report, shall we? mitchellaerospacepower.org/single-post/de… #gulfwar30 #desertstorm30 The word "mistake" is used sparingly -- once to refer to Saddam Hussein, and the rest mostly to talk about "honest mistakes" that don't get further review #gulfwar30 #desertstorm30

For everyone tweeting on the 30th anniversary of Desert Storm about how brilliant the air campaign was, know that the U.S. did a lot of incredibly stupid things like drop high explosive bombs on chemical weapons depots, such as the one at Al Muthanna They thought that the explosives in Mk-84s would destroy chemical agent, when all they did was create a giant mess that, today, still has not been cleaned up

8’ tall metal barricades going up on 18th Ave tonight just north of Constitution Hall to block pedestrian traffic. Worker tells me the exclusion area for the inauguration will be at least 1/3 larger than he’s seen for any other govt event, w/ 2 and 3 layers of fencing in parts Along Constitution Avenue

The videos I shot last night got more attention that I expected. I’ll post more from earlier in the day now, and in chronological order 1:27pm: crowd is leaving the Washington Monument following the president’s address. They’re all headed towards the Capitol. Lots of street preachers and buskers, like this guy, among them

Police just shut down the post-curfew protest at Capitol Hill. Protesters shouted ‘pigs’ at police, called them ‘traitors’ and said ‘you’ll get the noose too’ Protester to police: ‘Traitors get the rope, traitors get the fucking rope. Wait til we come back with rifles, motherfucker. You think that’s an idle threat?’

Some quick math on #BeirutBlast: though it's difficult to precisely measure the explosive yield of 2,750 tons of AN due to age/deterioration, the publications I have say in a worst-case scenario it could have had as high as 42% the power of TNT nytimes.com/2020/08/05/wor… That would mean the explosion could have had the force of 2.3M lbs or 1,155 tons of TNT. You can then use U.S. military publications to determine the resultant blast overpressure in pounds per square inch (psi) at various ranges

Remember the video of a guy getting beat on by feds in Portland and responding with double-birds? He's Chris David, a 6'2" 280-lb 53 yr old fmr SeaBee and varsity wrestler from USNA '88 nytimes.com/2020/07/19/us/… “I’m appalled and disappointed at the feds’ behavior — that whoever led them and trained them allowed them to become this way,” Mr. David said. “This is a failure of leadership more than it is a failure of their own individual behavior towards me.”

Kate Wilder passed every test at the Special Forces Officer School in 1980 but was prevented from graduating. An investigation determined she had been discriminated against and she was awarded a backdated diploma nytimes.com/2020/02/28/mag… Years later, when the SF tab was created, she rated one. “I was the real McCoy,” Wilder told me. “I was not the Ladies Auxiliary Special Forces”

On the night of Dec. 2, 2005, three HH-60G Pave Hawks lifted off from Balad for a routine CSAR training op at Camp Taji. They touched down on the north side of Taji, with the birds "light on the wheels" at full military power -- causing a massive brown-out nytimes.com/2019/06/26/mag… The powerful rotor wash blew sand, grit, and topsoil everywhere. The port and starboard side doors on all three birds were open, per SOP. Airmen breathed in the mess and were covered by it. The team quickly inserted a 9-man PJ team and shot back into the air, orbiting overhead

A small company in Huntsville, Ala. has sold 2,000x GBU-69 Small Glide Munitions to SOCOM. With a 20nm range, 36 lb warhead, GPS/laser-guidance, impact and airburst fuzing, this new glide bomb quickly went from concept to killer in Somalia nytimes.com/2019/03/27/mag… Its wing provides lift, and allows it to fly quietly to its target. Three latticed "grid fins" provide guidance. Look familiar? Same company made the grid fins for GBU-43 MOAB and the GBU-57 MOP