Warmaker

Merciless, merciless!

Locked, Cocked, and Ready to Rock!

None of the Hornets, IMO, are beautiful. That all gray Jolly Rogers' Super Hornet looks atrocious. Ugh.

I don't have a Garand but have fired it several times in the past year. My friend owned a Garand and we went out to the sticks, along with all of our weapons... including the Garand owner's arsenal (he was big into weapons and safety... his father was an old, retired Korean War Marine). Anyways, the Garand is an absolute joy and I rate it very highly even though I'm quite aware of some faults like the en-bloc clip's limitations in combat. One other problem with the M1 Garand: 30.06 ammunition gets very expensive with this semi-automatic beauty. Thanks to the Marines, I consider myself a decent marksman. Using the M16A2's iron sights I can reliably hit targets up to 500yds. With the M1 hitting stuff at 800 is almost unfair, even with wind adjustments. We don't need no steankin' optics! Again, the M1 is an absolute joy and I want one now. pliiiiiinnnngggg!

The FG-42 was designed for the German Fallschirmjager in WWII. Think of it as a souped up BAR. It had a 20 round capacity for the magazine and fired a full sized 7.92x57mm round. It can be fired semi or full auto, but at auto it's quite hard to control. It's definitely not a Carbine but I tend to fall it under as another squad support weapon like how the BAR did with the US military. Even in a SAW-like role, the MG34/42 filled those roles much, much better. The FG-42 and BAR in a support role suffered from the same drawback: magazine capacity. Compare that to the belt fed (and some assault magazine/clips) for the MG34 & MG42 and their ROF, the FG-42 and BAR just don't hold a candle.

I was part of my squadrons' CQ training detachment on the USS Lincoln (June 13-21). Yes, Hollywood was there big time on the boat. The jet/movie prop was really big, it ate up pretty much nearly 1/2 of Hangar Bay 2. I'm not a fan of the design, but oh well. Jamie Foxx was there too along with Jessica Biel. As you can imagine in a ship filled with thousands of male Sailors & Marines, Ms.Biel was the hot ticket. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her in their version of the flightsuit... kind of tight-fitting Actually, during one early morning she came up near the Cats 1 & 2 in her Pajamas What was kind of bad for us, especially at night crew, was when they were using the flight deck for filming. We couldn't do squat up there, even aft of the island. And they were up there for hours. Speaking of their jet, it was sitting aft of the island on the flight deck when we were loading up for the det. One of my Marines I was walking with saw it and said, "Ooh, is that the new Navy Stealth Fighter?" I had to hold back from backhanding him for that. PS- In the original poster's picture, you can see a camouflaged F/A-18C. That's Aircraft 22 from our squadron. It kind of has a funny camouflage scheme. The pattern is jagged, reminding me of some Russian style camos. Also, the choice of colors is weird: The same used by many of the USMC CH-46's & Super Cobras: Grey & Dark Green. To make it even more weird, the modex is gloss red with yellow trim... along with the Soviet red star on the vertical stabs. I tell you, we have some weird schemes in our command. I just got a digital camera, maybe I can put some up one of these days of our weird gallery.

Someone bring the girl to my place!

You should have seen it a while back in their forums the whole Pirates vs Ninjas debate. Good laughs, I say. Nice welcome with this, too: This site is awesome. My name is Robert and I can't stop thinking about ninjas. These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

VMFA-314 is a CV going Marine Squadron based out here in MCAS Miramar. With '314, being a Marine squadron and the Corps' slowly converting to digital camouflage for it's uniforms, this is, IMO, just a unique paint job for the unit. Traditionally, especially with the advent of the Dept. of the Navy standardizing all naval aircraft to gray, fighters/bombers with the modexes having "nuts," i.e. 200, 100, can have a unique color scheme. Some commands have the "CO's bird" retain colorful schemes reminiscient of the old Hi-Visibility color schemes. Since the jet shown here had a modex of 200, it's just a color scheme the command wanted to try for that jet. No breakthroughs or anything like that. OTOH, I have never seen real digital urban camouflage. I've only seen and have woodland & desert MARPAT camouflage. The use of grey tones though for this jet's digital pattern just looks more pleasing for the aircraft and still maintaining a somewhat adherence to the plain gray color schemes. Nice work BTW to the Corrosion Control team for making that camo. I'll have to stroll around the base to see if it's real or just a display jet. EDIT TO ADD: Okay, nevermind. Seems real enough. It has intake covers and remove before flight pins/tags hanging on it. The location of the picture definitely is not MCAS Miramar, though.

When the Marine Corps' MARPAT was still early in the works, the Army was asked if it wanted in on the little venture. Of course, if the Army bought into it also, things would be alot more cheaper. In the end, the Army didn't want it and was content with the current BDUs (which aren't bad by any means). The USMC continued on and sought input from the ranks. There were a few things that were going to be implemented but Marines screamed to not add. I remember removable, zipper sleeves. Yes, you read right. Thank Chesty Puller that didn't get in. There were big yays/nays regarding the velcro pockets, and I'm not that big a fan of it either. The velcron however only exists on the breast pockets: Everything else is good 'ol buttons, including the upper arm pockets on both sides. On a quick glance, the new Army digitals' features are similar to the USMC. Barring color similarities and the obvious difference with the colar. I recall that when the MARPAT went live the soldiers liked what they saw, esp. with the woodland versions. Regarding the tan boots, I also remember hearing a while back how "abnormal" tan boots were. I thought it seemed weird when we were switching to them but it makes more sense when you get dirty out there. Brown is just a much more natural color than black. It's just too bad the Army didn't buy into it with the Corps at the same time, dating way back to 2000. It would have saved both of our services time & money. I still have 3 pairs of the old woodland/3-tone desert cammies with me, with one being boot camp issue from '93. I now have 2 MARPAT woodlands and 2 MARPAT deserts cammies and I will never use the old stuff anymore. The old woodlands are good, but the new digitals surpasses them in practically every way. It seems to work that much better in the fall with decidous trees. MARPAT Blouse The link above will show a thumbnail of a young PFC with the MARPAT uniform (blouse shown only). If you click on the bottom right you will see a huge hi-res picture (DSC 0130) and you'll get a good view of the pattern.

Just got off the USS Lincoln from a little trip. Anyways, I've been following this weapon for almost a year (something like that). It's an interesting weapon, but the Marine Corps hasn't bought into it yet. It received some examples via the Army, as did the other services. As a Marine, I like what I see so far. Much more reliable over the M16 and much, much less finicky (sp?). I like the sights for most parts, but as someone trained with the M16A2 I feel weird not having Iron Sights. I do like the return of automatic, supplementing the semi-auto setting. If it had 3-rd burst along with auto, semi, and safe, I would love it even more. Other reasons why I like it is the modular capability. Various barrells/receivers can be used. Personally, I despise the short barrelled carbines, especially for a 5.56mm round. If for some gawdawful reason 5.56 is continued to be used, a 20 inch barrell is available to give it some creditibility. I have heard however that 6.8mm isn't out of the question right now and the XM-8 wouldn't have much trouble switching to it. Can't remember where that was said, maybe from an excerpt in the Army times or something (which was excerpted by the Marine Corps Times, IIRC). I also remember seeing the XM-8 configured as a SAW. The Army seems to like it. As I said early on, the USMC received some XM-8's for testing but hasn't bought into it with the Army (I think due to the whole M16A4 thing). If the weapon goes live witht the Army I hope the Corps' gets into it. I love my M16A2, don't get me wrong. I'm trained with it and very confident with my marksmanship skills with it, but the finicky nature of the '16 bothers me. For some it angers them to no end. One more thing: If the XM-8 goes full producition, let the standard service round be 6.8mm. And maybe we'll go back to .45 cal for our pistols too

*cough!*

Hmmm. Really nice lately. I think I'm getting a cavity or two.

That's cool. On a different note, aren't they converting to Super Hornets soon?

Keep it going guys, keep it going. Feed me!

Reagan was the president for most of my childhood and the USA in the '80s would not be the same without him. Sorry to hear his passing.

Hey Max, I see you're a System Shock 2 Fan? That game rocked!

Yeah, Bandai really should have made the Enterprises in similar scale. You could then really see the size & technology differences in the eras. What I want to see is a Klingon Bird of Prey.

I've heard good things about it. I need to look for a demo/trial or something.

Aah, the JSF. I really, really, hope they pull a Houdini on this project. My beloved Marine Corps is really staking quite a bit onto this aircraft. If the Royal Navy is aggrivated about the weight issue, you can be assured the USMC can be too, though I haven't heard it yet. Actually, for a different subject, the USMC really needs to replace the CH-46. The CH-53 I think can soldier on for a couple more years than the '46. Our two helos are really feeling the age. The Super Cobra should get a nice boost with the AH-1Z.

Sweet jeez, The Exorcist? I was maybe 7-8 years old and my parents let me watch it. It scared the bejeezus out of that little Catholic boy, lol. I swear I didn't sleep well for a week or two after that movie and I kept the lights on in my room. A year or so ago when people were talking about the extended version being released on DVD, I caught a preview of the "spider & stairs" scene. That sent chills up AND down my spine. One other movie I thought was cool, which I didn't see until recently was The Thing. You know, the scientists in the antartic and all. Bad situation to be in.

I saw Pitch Black in theaters and I was surprised as to how decent it came out. I'm neutral about Vin Diesel but if the main honchos from the original PB are heading this up, then I'm probably willing to give the new production a chance.

Yeah, I'm aware of the XWAUpgrade. I know of many of the members since the X-Wing vs TIE Fighter days. The project has been very slow, but the quality is undeniable. In fact, it seemed the upgrade was going to die off several times but they've been dedicated and churned out some very beautiful stuff. They've done practically all the Alliance & Imperial fighters done and we've seen a couple starships. The Imperial Star Destroyer is a beauty to behold. I'm wishing the guy whose doing the TIE Fighter conversion my best wishes. There's already a icon pack to replace those PANSY Rebel icons, Imperial hangars (from inside an ISD), and an Imperial Concourse (TIE Fighter CD), so we are getting closer from leaving the Rebel lovefest that XWA is It's a shame fans have to do something like this for the dead X-Wing series.

IGN article from E3 The above link is straight to the 3rd page of an article regarding the Space Expansion for SWG. It says that it will support joysticks which holds some hope for us X-Wing series fans. What still worries me, among lots of other SWG gamers from the official forums, is the "Basically, all you need to do is to click on enemy to start firing" from the 1st page of the same article. *shudders* You can find some more news at the Official SWG Forums, but be warned: Though it can be informative as to what's current in SWG, it's the biggest flamefest on a forum that isn't a politically oriented forum. Digging through the legitimate posts can be discouraging. And this is coming from a new comer of 2 months. One last thing: I would pay good money if TIE Fighter received an update with today's technology. To this day it is still one of the best game's I've ever played also. "For the greater glory of the Empire, DESTROY EVERTHING!!!" Edited to add: One last thing I forgot that bothered me from the article: No collission detection between starfighters. And something the developers said which caused some anguish: Regular TIEs with hyperdrives.

My friends, I've seen some weird things on the net. This article, unlike alot of things out there in the net isn't disgusting... it's just WEIRD. Look at it this way: After these two get their lecture on the Birds & Bees, I'm sure they'll both be absent from work for quite a while. I know I would. "Boss, I'm calling in that I won't be at work for a month." "What?!? It better be d*** good! What makes you think you're not coming in?" "I just found out about what sex is!" silence... "Oh... Well... Ok, see you next month..."