was a really bad idea. Of course, all the heart attacks and the cyborg stuff made him really fond of bad
ideas. But still -- The Osprey doesn't work in stressful situations. It costs more than three helicopters, can't do the tricks it needs to evade things like RPG7s -- and is a bigger target than a Blackhawk -- and tends to fall out of the sky and kill Marines. So, send a few to Iraq to prove that you need to send more. Of course, there is a twisted logic to the whole chingasa thing as Col Armador Cantu DO, former LT working for Sgt AXE a bizillion years ago in Germany would put it. If you can't stop Iraq because of the sacrifices of those fallen already, you can't kill Osprey if it keeps killing Marines.
So, they are sending this piece of shit to Iraq. Meanwhile DOD is determined to get a new rifle in the hands of the troops...so long as they are the grandchildren of the troops currently getting shot at in Iraq. The M4 carbine is a helluva improvement over the M16A2; but, it is still finicky in dust and sand. Of which there is a lot in Iraq. Nothing says fun more than having to try and clean a goddamn rifle while you're under stress...I've had to have soldiers do it on the range because they couldn't shoot fast enough to qualify. In this case, people are shooting back. Trust me -- more complex. Try and do something relatively simple but mechanical while your neighbors are pelting you with apples. Trust me, more difficult. The XM8 is a neat concept, but there are better guns out there now. But, they aren't designed by the geniuses who ruined the AR15, forced the 9MM down the services throats and can't even design a good bayonet. Which, for those of you who aren't sure, is a big fucking knife, not a new model from Dodge.
Well, the dead soldiers from the weapons failures can get together with the dead Marines from the Ospreys in Valhalla and throw empty beer bottles and chicken wings at the idiots who got them killed. Tiffany is always in favor of a party, and she'd probably figure she looked good in a Hooters outfit with a horney helmet.
The Osprey can't be any worse than the greenish-brown attack helicopter I saw today near Camp Pendelton. It was flying about 200 ft above the freeway and then landed in an adjacent dirt lot. The thing was spewing out black smoke and looked like it was going to fall out of the sky. It wouldn't survive a week in Baghdad - I assume the Marines just use it for training here.
Posted by: Comandante Agi | 14 April 2007 at 03:41 PM
Probably a Huey left over from Vietnam. The Marines have pretty much blown their aircraft money on this thing. It's a seductive technology, of course, just like the Harriers. Only, notice that no one is really flying Harriers anymore. They also had a problem staying in the sky...
Posted by: Crusader AXE | 15 April 2007 at 10:19 AM
Hell of a good point... i'm not on this page for reading but... you seem so oppinionated that i had to read it, great points... makes me pity the decisions on wasting money even more now
Posted by: Don't ask | 05 August 2007 at 05:39 AM
If we weren't opinionated, we'd find better uses for our time. And, if you're not our page for reading, why...? Anyway, thanks. And, reading is not a bad thing...
Posted by: Crusader AXE | 05 August 2007 at 09:37 AM