Comments by "Stephen Villano" (@spvillano) on "Artur Rehi" channel.

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  21. Oddly, Russia has maintained their low earth orbital observation constellation, which has to be replaced fairly often. China, Russia, the US and possibly Israel have the capability to shoot satellites down. The Space Force is really just a command in the US Air Force, as Congress declined wasting money in creating an entirely separate combatant command service, rather than just making a combatant command within the Air Force. Most of US orbital assets are communications, observation and navigation (GPS is actually a military constellation, civilian which is a bit less accurate than the encrypted military precision GPS). Additionally, there are nuclear device detonation detectors, largely looking for gamma ray flashes, some of that data only recently being released to science on gamma ray bursts and terrestrial gamma ray bursts from high energy lightning. There are a few odd birds out there as well, but I can't comment on that which everyone knows is up there, but not what it actually is. As for governmental expenses, well, around 1/3 of my paycheck goes into payroll taxes, most being federal income tax. Suffice it to say, I earn enough to be quite comfortable, with quite a few computers for each primary room for home theater and web browsing, a pair of data center servers, an electronics lab and quite a few appliances, including home cleaning robots and a fair assortment of various types of firearms, some precision shooting grade competition weapons. Some find it odd that I drive an older car, but I refuse to purchase something that loses $10k or more of its value just driving out of the car dealership. But then, I'm a cleared defense contractor. After all, if one cannot be part of the solution, there is plenty of money to be made in perpetuating the problem. ;) The rods from God concept was insanely expensive, as they would've had to heft that insanely heavy rod to orbit and simply dropping them wouldn't do a thing - it's in orbit, something had to initially accelerate it down and out of orbit, upon impact, the entire rod compressed itself, heated and turned into vapor. A telephone pole, made of heavy metal turned instantly into gas, in short, an explosion. There was also consideration of an x-ray laser, pumped as part of a nuclear weapon, focused and aimed at MIRV buses and individual suborbital warheads, ablating them enough that the fuel for the guidance unit exploded and threw it off course (and the charged particles generated by the high energy x-rays striking dense components destroying the electronics. And there still is a notion, currently prohibited by ratified treaty, of placing a high energy laser into orbit and accomplishing the same thing, for far less.
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  28. The Gulf War was and remains in the Persian Gulf region, Afghanistan isn't very close to the Persian Gulf, something called Iran being between Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf and our bases there. Historically, well, ever since a certain invasion by some Mongols, was easier to invade after, the populace realizing that being conquered wasn't as bad as what happened in a total war, was a lot more easily won. Even with what now is Iran. CIA, because they have a covert operations division that we can have plausible deniability and save diplomatic face sufficiently enough that everyone knows we got caught with a hand in a cookie jar, everyone knows it was one of our hands, we cut it out enough to deny knowing that hand. Soviets did the same thing, as do many other nations. Diplomatic dancing dirty. Afghanistan even gave Alexander the Great a hard time "retaining it", which basically was a bloodletting exercise and eventually, abandoned. The Mongols suffering a similar experience. The British Empire suffering a similar experience. They cannot be ruled, because they are unruly! Thanos invades, suffers a similar experience and loses most Infinity Stones. At least I got to keep my stones, even if I did long ago lose my marbles... ;) Oddly, both sides have an open invitation for me to come back and visit. One side, I suspect, doesn't have my best wishes in mind for such a visit. The other side, not at all noisy, but I'll likely have to lose weight after and not from any form of metals or minerals. It all comes down to who got on my bad side and who got on my good side. Life can get really weird at times, given what tag some placed on some of each. My attitude is, if you want to misbehave, do so quietly and cause minimal destruction, make a noisy wreck in a way one cannot pretend to ignore, now, we've all got a problem. I don't give a damn which started the fight, now I have to stop it immediately and still have to deal with pissed off Mom. I'll be hearing about for ages! And sorry, kids, but my parents were indeed married. ;) Having been in both theaters, I am quite firmly convinced, somewhere that we've not located, there are vast fields, where RPGs are gently swaying in the breeze, awaiting harvest by a certain Slavic nation for delivery "south"... Tomahawk missiles are precision missiles, which can deliver several forms of havoc, the nuclear variety, retired, cluster bomb, HE, a few other sorts of bomb delivered, with GPS precision, some having additional option kits added to further inform accuracy from indicated guidance that's shared with a JDAM bomb. They were most recently and famously, used against aircraft shelters in Syria and did a hell of a job against hangar queens that were left behind after we deconflicted things with Russian Federation forces. GPS can inform guidance, terrain mapping radar as well, plus of course, the usual autopilot style guidance. Precision guided junk removal service! Anaconda, "We knew you were coming, so we baked you a cake!", total goat rope, but we most certainly left an impression on or with them. Well over 3000, in well prepared positions, with overlapping fields of fire, mine fields and prepared choke points. It was prepared by the same SOB's that trained me. But, as usual, US training and equipment comes in two models, export models and our own models.
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  29. The original plan was for a third wave, targeting ammunition stores and more importantly, the fuel farm. Without that fuel, our carriers would've been worthless and recovery would've taken far, far longer. The dud rate in that era isn't really all that unusual, impact destroys the fuse before it can detonate the bomb. Additionally, the bombs and torpedoes were customized for the mission, the torpedoes had to be shallow within the port, the bombs designed to penetrate the armored deck of the warships. The worst part of the attack was, due to the security measures enacted pre-attack, the ambassador had to manually decrypt the declaration of war, resulting in an official declaration of war to be delivered long after the attack, resulting in a sneak attack before war was officially recognized as being declared, enraging a pacifist population. Interestingly, US intelligence already knew the contents, as the diplomatic codes were cracked and the declaration known to the military. Chain of command delays essentially ensuring Pearl Harbor had no inkling of an upcoming attack. The US, having significant losses, additionally added pocket battleships, destroyer escorts and escort carriers, all with minimal to no armor. In the battle of Leyte Gulf, those destroyer escorts, despite being unarmored, turned back destroyer, cruiser and the pride of the Japanese fleet, a dreadnought class battleship. The Japanese mistook destroyer escorts for full destroyers, selecting armor piercing rounds, which literally punched through the ships, to land on the sea bottom. Aggressive action on the part of the unarmored destroyer escorts reinforced the mistaken impression of the Japanese commanders, resulting in their failing to punch through and destroy the escort carriers and their aircraft, essentially sealing the fate of the war for Japan. Proving the adage true, "Never interrupt the enemy when they're making a mistake". The Arizona remains a war grave to this day, slowly leaking fuel oil, but her guns were salvaged and used by the Navy.
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  33. Lasers move at the speed of light for a reason, the L in laser is light. Coherent light, all waves fully in phase, which helps keep the beam from expanding excessively, as all photons are moving in the same direction and phase once they leave the laser output mirror. The laser is invisible because it's infrared, which the human eye cannot see. In theory, one could use an x-ray laser or UV laser and they'd be more efficient - outside of the atmosphere. The oxygen in the atmosphere doesn't like high energy photons, like x-rays and UV-C band light and ionizes, blocking propagation by blooming the beam, scattering it to hell and gone. So, x-ray lasers and UV lasers, largely would be confined to space, where ballistic missile and spacecraft threats could be intercepted. Masers are also of potential usage, but IR is more energetic, so why go to a lower energy microwave photon? For a rail gun, even Chuck Norris would be vaporized while trying to catch the slug. The biggest problem they've had is massive slide erosion, plus the capacitor bank is the size of a small village. OK, not really village size, it takes a industrial building sized generator and capacitor and cooling bank, the capacitor bank the size of a large heavy weight moving dump truck. Conductors that go to the rails are around as thick around as your arm, many times they're hollow, as the center of any conductor won't carry a current at all, due to magnetic effects and repulsion that electrons have for one another. I have some ideas for the rail gun erosion problem and the rail price would essentially be three times higher. Still, well worth the price, given that that projectile would literally blow clean through a WWII dreadnought class battleship. Plus, the railgun would still have a bank of capacitors on a ship, the old ammunition magazine spaces.
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  37. A WWII computer was, at a minimum, one floor that's one city block by one city block, one model was larger and took up 3 floors. People manually calculating were actually faster for some mass calculations. Hell, for the beginning of the US space program, computers were extensively used - human computers. John Glenn's first flight into space was calculated by an IBM digital computer and due to the calculation running twice and giving different results, was recalculated by a human computer that Glenn trusted more than that new fangled IBM computer. The movie "Hidden Figures" shows a small window into their world at that time. Slotin and his screwdrivers were subsequently replaced with the Godiva device - the first of which was destroyed by a criticality accident that didn't kill anyone. There was a third criticality accident during the Manhattan Project, a chemist who turned on a mixer, which formed a vortex sufficient to allow criticality. He shut down the mixer and ran outside shouting that he was on fire. He died of radiation exposure some time later. Today, we understand the mathematics involved and can simply calculate what configuration one is operating under and apply the math. No blue glows, no loud, rude noises. Laughably, Stalin was getting daily reports from his espionage network, detailed reports, but due to the pressure of the war, wasn't able to do much about developing their own nuclear weapons until after the war ended and their first designs were US based designs.
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  38. We have 11 and are building more as we speak. One term for aircraft carriers is "bomb magnet", today, it's also a missile magnet. Hence, the fleet. Aircraft carriers, like their fleet can and are replenished as sea, via logistical ships. So, they can quite literally stay out at sea for a year or even longer. The line driven resupply method, as well as hose based resupply, go back incrementally to WWII. "We're on the same side", today. When I started in the US Army in 1982, we weren't. I rather like running low on adversaries and turning them into friends! :) BTW, I was born in Philadelphia. Google that, get a fair sized list, Pennsylvania is my home state. APO = Armed forces Post Office and zip code designates a specific area, AE being Armed Forces Europe. Which covers US CENTCOM AOR and US AFRICOM. Anything more granular is classified as confusing. ;) Catapults, other than the electromagnetic variety still being perfected, use live steam to operate them. Live steam is so hot, if a pipe ruptures, you don't even see steam, you get cooked instantly, with a scalpel precise jet. Elevators for planes went back to WWII and even the Soviet Union had a carrier that has elevators for aircraft. Alas, to the best of my knowledge, no McDonalds are on an aircraft carrier or any other vessel. Yet. And I was US Army, but I know the conditions and capabilities of my brothers and sisters at arms. Three US aircraft carriers wouldn't manage to take over Russia or China, too big for one, too damned many people in the other. Remember the first law of ground warfare, never, ever, ever get into a ground war with China. And as Germany learned, Russia. ;) Estonia, trivially taken with coffee cups. ;)
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  39. For a notion, during the US Civil War, only 2% of the total population fought. It was a hair lower during the Revolutionary War. WWII had 11% fight. Women went into factories to build ships, weapons and munitions, children like my parents ran scrap metal collection drives to turn in for the war. Ironically, some prior proportion, sent by Japan, who bought US scrap metals before the war, at US forces. BTW, the riots in New York were so severe, the Militia was called out and shelled the Bowery, NYC to suppress the riots. We also had militia and regular troops patrol our streets to suppress the much later Nativist riots, literal religious warfare between Protestant and Roman Catholic adherents. Interestingly, the allegedly anti-semetic Grant, allowed full and unrestricted rights that every other citizen had at that time to - Jewish men and businesses. Beyond unusual at the time. Suggest, he was a bit more nuanced in intelligence. But, a good General takes orders, a good president has to be far more creative than that and also know how to lead in front of their leaders. Both sides were confiscating supplies along the way, especially food, as in those days, even the mighty rail logistical train was still in its infancy, so it was immense, neverending trains of horse carts with food or what one confiscates for food for their armies. Both sides tended to not win a lot of friends, as nothing was left for the farmer's family for winter. Even then, interrupting the logistical train still would wreak havoc on the enemy, as one can confiscate food, one can even conscript personnel, but ammunition and munitions comes typically from far more distant sources. The Mississippi River is the largest river in the US, essentially nearly dividing the nation in half, save for limited ferries for much of our history - until the modern era, when bridges began to abound and Eisenhower shoved the interstate system down our throats, which was a good shove, even if at the time, it was a horse pill. As for names, if the officer was good enough, I'd happily serve under Moses Foe, aka, Moe Foe. ;) Lincoln was quite at risk of losing the election. That's where Sherman was needed, Grant into greater play and driving forward with little more than piss, vinegar and napalm being excreted as one moves along, depleting any third column attempts. While the Confederacy ran off of voluntary contributions to supply the war effort, the Union had mandatory taxation, tariffs and more, both at that point, requiring conscription, with many desertions along the way. Yeah, the debates redefined the word debacle. BTW, General Hood has a fort named after him, not all that far from me and where we've taken a rest during a long convoy for rest and resupply, Fort A.P. Hill. Given Marfan's Syndrome, Lincoln's survival at that time is surprising. At that time, he was a decade beyond the normal average age where one would die of aortic dissection, in that era. 292 day siege, during an era lacking artificial lighting to illuminate runners on the river and small roads. Yeah, it was primitive back then, even gas lights were novel notions. Most homes, in northern Union cities still have water and sewer lines from that era today. Well, Jefferson Davis could've refused surrender, but being utterly out of armies, I have no idea how he'd stop even a few US Marshals from arresting him. Meanwhile, Lincoln's assassination wasn't a simple murder, it was a decapitation strike attempt, the line of succession was attacked strategically, with the VP avoiding via chance an attack. The feeling of occupation was due to The Reconstruction, which enforced black rights, rather than lip service only and slavery remaining de facto. The emotions of having a military force enforcing civilian laws forced the necessity of the Posse Communicatus Act, forbidding the US Army and by lineage, the US Air Force from enforcing civilian law as long as local law enforcement and the courts remain able to operate. Which is why, today, seeing someone in an apparent military uniform on the streets while armed and enforcing law is jarring enough for people to quite literally begin arming themselves. One of the scars of the Civil War era. Because, a violation, at the gentlest destroys all military careers for violating it, at worst, prison, massive fines and a loss of faith and trust that'll remain lifelong. I was a young teen during our bicentennial celebration, literally bathed in the history, due to the epic historical nature of such a date. It was just not long after the Civil Rights Era gained major gains that I fully agree with and would fight to the last drop of blood of whatever bastard tried to forcefully overturn that. And no real patriot ever wants a status quo, a real patriot wants to continually improve the nation that they've dedicated a lifetime in support of. Welcome to my mantra. Every right to a marginalized group further enhances and protects my rights and I'll protect those rights as I swore to do, way back in late 1981, to the last drop of blood of whoever tries to deny those rights, our laws and Constitution. For, that Constitution is my bible, our leaders that advanced rights and those who fought to protect our Constitution, my Gods. And being one of that August group, I'm lousy with smite, in an era rife in need of it and many begging for it. And while, today, I walk with a cane, everything around me is a weapon, so please never offend against our laws, societal norms and Constitution. Lest you do so in my presence and, like the idiot that coughed upon an infant over a mask, the moron that beat an elder down with a cane over mask rule enforcement of their state and company, the soon to be imprisoned for life regressives that have actually murdered workers over rules on private property owners requiring masks, I'll treat you precisely as I treated very real terrorists that attacked and especially, those who tried to go hand to hand and it'll be unpleasant in the extreme, with permanent injury, as I lack time to bandy about, as usual and it'll end the threat swiftly. I protect against any and all aggression upon those of my peers and I've the scars to prove that I was highly successful. Peace, success and long life as long as you refuse to be treasonous or stupid, but I repeat myself.
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  47. There is no gravitational attraction causing ships to collide. Shipping and naval vessels in general tend to use well established sea lanes, which increases the probability of rescue, should something happen and people are in lifeboats or worse, in the water. Large vessels have one characteristic, it isn't being so massive that they form some magical gravitational field, but instead, they're massive and they can indeed stop on a dime - as long as that dime is a few kilometers long. Most commercial vessels also have a turning radius that's essentially, well, it steers like a cow. Try to steer fast, it's like taking a commercial airliner and shoving the rudder 90 degrees over, the last time that happened, the entire tail was torn off and the airliner crashed, killing passengers, crew, aircraft and people and structures on the ground. At Midway, more vessels were lost more to fires, which eventually heated the magazines suffiently to detonate the high explosive munitions, one Japanese carrier died that way, after a US bomb detonated below decks, entering via the airplane elevator, rupturing the aircraft gasoline fuel lines, firefighting lines and magazine flooding lines, the fire finally overheating the magazine and BOOM! Exoskeletons are being designed, some day, they'll even make them practical. Likely, in 20 years, along with fusion power. Rinse and repeat every 20 years. High tech, insanely expensive things like stealth are still useful, as Russia is incessantly developing newer and faster missiles, like hypersonic cruise missiles, China, new stealthier fighters, etc. It's rather difficult to shoot at what you can't find on radar and have to close to visual range to even know what direction the target you're seeking is.
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