Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport.
My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front).
Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42.
Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
USS America LHA-6 began sea trials in 2014. LHA-6 is the lead ship of the new America class assault ships, replacing the older Tarawa class. Do not confuse USS America LHA-6 with the scuttled aircraft carrier USS America CV-66.
“We have begun to set up machine learning deep neural networks to use artificial intelligence to classify the organisms, but do not have results yet.”-Brad Penta, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
A swarm of veligers, a larval stage of mollusks.
The U.S. Navy’s (USN) Naval Research Laboratory has been conducting surveys of what it calls ocean swarms. This is when small lifeforms cluster in an area of the ocean and cause havoc with electronic devices.
Intermediate trophic level (ITL) organisms are actually determined by their place in the food chain. Civilian biologists might differ in their definition of an ITL but the USN considers everything from copepods to jellyfish as ITLs. When they ‘swarm’ they render USN underwater electronic devices useless because of the way they refract the electronic signals. Some of these creatures even produce their own electronic signals.
In 2019, the USN and the University of Mississippi conducted an ITL survey off the coast of Delaware. They used not only ocean going detection devices but airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDaR) cameras, which used lasers to scan the ocean surface. But this LiDaR was different, instead of the monochromatic laser the scientists used a multi-color LiDaR system they call Multi-Wavelength LiDaR Environment, or MuWLE.
The MuWLE is so sensitive the scientists report that they detected clouds in the air, under the aircraft, that could not be seen with human eyes!
This is a ‘Wirewalker’, it floats with the motion of the ocean, measuring conductivity, temperature, depth, light and acoustic backscatter, and dissolved oxygen.
The researchers are now trying to collate all the data they collected. The goal is to provide the USN with new technology that can allow its ocean going vehicles to avoid ‘ocean swarms’.
Other ocean swarm research team players include Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, University of South Alabama Dauphin Island Sea Lab, University of Southern Mississippi, Florida International University, and University of Delaware.
U.S. Air Force photo by Captain Katie Mueller, Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, 13FEB2021.
Kawasaki C-2 makes a humanitarian drop on Angaur, Palau. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Ryan Brooks, 10FEB2021.
The Kawasaki C-2 was designed to replace the older and intentionally limited (by Constitutional law, which has since been amended) C-1.
It was also designed to exceed the abilities of the C-130J Super Hercules, which the Japanese Self Defense Forces determined to be too limited for what they had in mind.
C-2 over Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 14FEB2020. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Curt Beach.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Melanie A. Hutto, Misawa Air Base, Japan, September 2019.
2019 Paris Air show video walk-around:
Kawasaki C-2, Iruma Air Base, Japan, 10JUL2019.
A U.S. Air Force C-130J Loadmaster gets to ride a C-2.
The C-2 can be equipped with an automated loading system.
The spacious loadmaster station (compared to C-130J).
USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.
Size comparison to four engined Boeing C-17, Yokota Air Base, Japan, September 2018. USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.
USAF photo by Yasuo Osakabe, 17SEP2018.
EC-2 version.
Video, C-2 ELINT (EC-2) , Gifu Air Base, Japan, 2018:
General Electric CF6-80C2K1F turbofans are used.
XC-2 prototype, first flight 2010. Design project began in 2001.
Video, C-1 vs XC-2:
Video, XC-2 first flight:
Aoshima makes a 1:144 scale plastic model kit, retailing in Japan for about U.S.$43. However, I’ve seen U.S. sellers asking as much as U.S.$71 for it!
Incomplete (tip-o-the iceberg) list of main-stream-news links about global immigrant/border operations affecting the United States taxpayers, days of 09 to 15 of Gregorian February 2020.
HAWAII: In federal court, Singapore based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement pled guilty to knowingly dumping pollution into U.S. waters and will pay a fine of $1-million-750-thousand. It is considered the largest fine ever in the District of Hawaii.
Falcon Dam has been identified as a major national security concern and as such the U.S. Coast Guard, the International Boundary and Water Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department all agreed to jointly patrol the area during ‘elevated security situations’.
At Egg Harbor Township, state militia (National Guard) conducted natural disaster response training that included weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear) 11FEB2020.
Official advise given to U.S. Navy and Marine personnel: “- The U.S. Department of State has advised NO travel to China due to the novel coronavirus. – All personnel assigned to MCIEAST, II MEF, and MARSOC (active-duty, civilian personnel, dependents, retirees) are encouraged to follow CDC guidance regarding the virus. – NMCCL is working closely with medical providers across MCIEAST, II MEF, MARSOC, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health, and the CDC to ensure all appropriate measures are taken to prevent potential spread. – Anyone contracting a respiratory illness should not assume its COVID-19. In fact, the flu is far more commonplace. Please ensure your flu vaccination is current. – Any beneficiaries who have traveled to China in the past 14 days with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing should seek medical care right away. Call NMCCL prior to arrival or let medical staff know immediately upon check-in if you have traveled to China recently.
Best Prevention Methods: • Appropriately wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds • Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands • Avoid close contact with those are sick • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces”
Washington state militia members (National Guard) with the 341st Military Intelligence Battalion translated COVID-19 safety advice for non-English speaking U.S. residents into Arabic, French, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Thai, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean.