All posts by Hutchins AAron

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.

U.S.

U.S. Disaster: Hawaii Fires, 4+ months on, Lithium batteries made things worse?

Video January 2, 2024 Hutchins AAron

Incomplete list of federal government response to the ongoing wildfires on the Hawaiian Islands.

On 28DEC2023, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)-Honolulu District revealed plans for a temporary campus for displaced students of King Kamehameha-the-Third elementary school. USACE video by Charles Delano:

USAEC was ordered in September, by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), to design and build a temporary elementary school. The work is actually being done by contractor Pono Aina Management of Waianae, Hawaiʻi. The temporary school is using taxpayer-leased modular buildings, and could be in use for the next five years!

Kula, Maui, 27DEC2023. USACE photo by Brigida I. Sanchez.

Debris removal includes trees that are considered to be a potential threat, possibly falling onto the public, so they are cut down and removed.

“All the recovered lithium batteries and power walls were handled by EPA utilizing an innovative process. The state, county, and other federal partners were not involved in the de-energizing and decommissioning of the batteries.”-Stacy Greendlinger, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, December 2023

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers explains the debris removal process, on Maui, Hawaii, 01DEC2023:

USACE photo by Sara Goodeyon, 25NOV2023.

At the end of November, the USACE Wi-Fi system for the new temporary school had to be moved to a better location, to improve connectivity.

On 18 November, the first soil samples were collected by the USACE in Kula: “At each location, six inches of soil is scraped off of the top and then the contractor lays out decision units and collects the samples. The samples will be analyzed for elevated levels of metals such as arsenic, canec, lead, and cadmium. If they come back showing elevated levels of contaminates, the area will be scraped and sampled again.”-Jean Barnes, Environmental Protection Specialist

Hawaii Army National Guard’s UH-60 Black Hawks and CH-47 Chinook rotary wings respond to wildfire on O’ahu, near Mililani Mauka, 04NOV2023. So far, the Hawaii National Guard has dropped at least 30-thousand gallons of water on the O’ahu wildfires. Video by Sergeant Lianne M. Hirano:

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Second Class Brandon Hillard, 01NOV2023.

The U.S. Coast Guard-Station Maui oversees the contracted salvage and recovery operations of sunken boats in the Lahaina Harbor.

Hawaii Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook drops water on the wildfire on Mililani, O’ahu, Hawaii, 01NOV2023. Video by Master Sergeant Andrew Jackson:

USACE photo by Erin Jimenez, 24OCT2023.

In October, USACE employees, working the Hawai‘i Wildfire Recovery Field Office in Kiehi, were so stressed-out that they got a visit from therapy dogs.

On 21OCT2023, the USACE began the first site assessment for Phase-1 private property debris removal in Kula:

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Megan Geiger, 19OCT2023.

In October, donations were collected on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in the Evergreen State of Washington. The donations were then picked up and shipped to Hawai’i by a Seattle based food pantry organization.

U.S. Disaster, September 2023:

LAHAINA FIRE FIASCO, WILL THE USE OF ELECTRIC CARS RESULT IN EPA ‘SUPER FUND’ STATUS FOR RESIDENTS?

U.S. Disaster, August 2023: FEMA RESPONSE, LAHAINA FIRE!

LAHAINA FIRE; JTF 5-0 DEPLOYS!

LAHAINA FIRE; HAWAII MILITIA DEPLOYS!

U.S. Disaster, August 2021: MILITIA & U.S. ARMY BATTLE LARGEST EVER WILDFIRE FOR HAWAII!

Kit Bashing

Model Gift Build: 1978 versus 2023, Made in China out to get us?

Video January 2, 2024 Hutchins AAron

I discover the modern Chinese made Monogram 1955 Ford F-100 is not the same as the original made-in-the-U.S.A. (in 1978) Monogram Ford F-100!

Part-1, made in China:

Part-2, trip down memory lane:

Model Gift Build: SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

Fukushima

A second quake has just struck Japan. 23:03 Japan time, preliminary magnitude 7 Japan scale, downgraded to 3 magnitude.

January 1, 2024 Hutchins AAron

Japan Meteorological Agency is investigating why they are getting greatly differing seismic readings.

Fukushima, International

Disaster 2024: Japan hit by massive quake, fires, liquefaction, tsunamis!

Video January 1, 2024 Hutchins AAron

01 January 2024 (06:31-UTC-07 Tango 06) 11 Dey 1402/19 Jumada t-Tania 1445/20 Gui-Chou 4721/01 январь 2024 года

Noto Peninsula (能登半島, Noto-hantō) is the epicenter of a 7.6 magnitude Richter scale (7-Japan Meteorological Agency [JMA] scale) earthquake that struck at 16:10 Japan time. An earthquake warning was issued just before the quake. Evacuations underway for Ishikawa Prefecture (located on the center of the west coast of Honshu). Ishikawa-Wajima (Wajima City) is on fire, the local fire department reports they are overwhelmed.

Buildings are collapsed, with people underneath. Small tsunamis are coming ashore in surrounding west-coast prefectures on Honshu and Hokkaido.

A live TV news reporter, in one city, said mud was pushing up into the streets. At least 49 aftershocks on the Noto Peninsula.

In the affected prefectures, communication services (including fiber optics) are down, bank services down, some rail transport is down, airline services suspended, hospitals reporting many injured people showing up, police in Nanao City report at least two people confirmed dead, Nanao Ohta Thermal (coal fired) Power Station shutdown. A nuclear power facility in the area reports no problems as it was already offline when the earthquake struck.

A second quake warning was issued.

March 2022: FUKUSHIMA REDUXE!!! 7+ QUAKE, TSUNAMIS, 6- QUAKE, NUKE PLANTS OFFLINE, TRAIN DERAILS!

Idaho

Idaho trades one Cold-War aircraft for another Cold-War aircraft, is it progress or politics?

Image December 27, 2023 Hutchins AAron

27 December 2023 (03:13-UTC-07 Tango 06) 06 Dey 1402/14 Jumada t-Tania 1445/15 Jia-Zi 4721/27 Декабрь 2023 года

A-10C on Gowen Field, Boise Airport, Idaho, 20DEC2023. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur.

Both the A-10 Thunderbolt-2 and the F-16 Falcon were developed during the same decade; the 1970s.

A-10A Thunderbolts fly over the Pacific Ocean, 14JUN1977. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Joseph F. Smith.

In July of this year, the Idaho Air National Guard revealed that the U.S. Air Force is forcing them to replace their A-10Cs with F-16s, starting in 2027.

A-10C on Gowen Field, Boise Airport, Idaho, 20DEC2023. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur.

The A-10A (first flight May 1972) was the result of U.S. Air Force experience with ground attack missions over Viet Nam.

An F-16A belonging to Hill AFB, Utah, flies over Nellis AFB, Nevada, December 1979. USAF photo by Ken Hackman.

The F-16A (first flight in 1976) was developed as a replacement for the F-5E Tiger-2 (itself a replacement for the F-5A Freedom Fighter, designed to be a low cost aircraft for countries who did not have the money to buy the big combat planes, and was subsidized by U.S. taxpayers through the MAP [Military Assistance Program]).

The first USAF unit deployment of F-16s to Europe involved Falcons from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in 1981. They were sent to Flesland Air Station, in NATO-Norway. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sergeant Don Sutherland, 01MAR1981.

The division between those in the USAF who liked the A-10 and those who liked the F-16 began during the development of the prototypes, in the 1970s. My father worked at Edwards Air Force Base, California, during that time, and was one of the pro-F-16’ers. Edwards AFB is where both aircraft were originally developed. My father would come home from work stating that he hoped something bad happened to the A-10, so that the USAF would choose the F-16. What people (including my father) didn’t seem to understand is that both aircraft were the result of combat experiences over Viet Nam, and were intentionally designed for specific missions, which is why at that time the USAF wanted both aircraft.

A-10C on Gowen Field, Boise Airport, Idaho, 20DEC2023. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur.

Both aircraft have been upgraded over the decades, yet ever since the Obama regime was in power the U.S. Air Force has pushed to replace the decades old A-10 with the decades old F-16.