Tag Archives: montana

Idaho, International

World War Three, 2016: Snake River M1A2 SEP, Live Fire Romania!

Video

08 August 2016 (00:11 UTC-07 Tango 01) 18 Mordad 1395/04 Dhu I-Qa’da 1437/06 Bing-Shen 4714

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Corey Baltos, 07JUL2016.

My ‘alma matter’ 116th Armored Cav in Cincu, Romania, July 2016.  (SNAKE RIVER IFVS INVADE ROMANIA!)

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Corey Baltos, 28JUL2016.

Idaho Army National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Kyle J. Warner, 02AUG2016.

During the last days of Saber Guardian 2016, Idaho, Montana & Oregon Army National Guard’s 116th CBCT M1A2 SEP tanks conduct live fire with their 120mm Rheinmetall guns, and there’s some vid of Canadian infantry firing their personnel weapons:

Small UAV (R/C drone) aerial video:

116th Cavalry (pronounced Cav-al-ry, not cal-vary) Brigade Combat Team Colonel Farin Schwartz and Romanian Colonel Julian Daniliuc comment about Saber Guardian:

Oregon Army National Guard photo by Captain John Farmer, 06AUG2016.

Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team (Oregon chapter) shooting up the Romanian Land Forces Combat Training Center.  (OREGON CAPTAIN EXPLAINS WHY IDAHO BASED MILITIA INVADED ROMANIA!)

USAF F-35A “COMBAT READY” IN UTAH

45 YEARS OF C-130 MAFFS OPS

OBAMA DEPLOYS INDIANA BLACKSNAKES A-10s TO SLOVAKIA

C-17 DUMPS HMMWVS ON SOUTH CAROLINA, AWESOME VID!

Snake River 116th’s 2015 NTC rotation on video (including Combined Arms Live Fire)

International, U.S.

World War Three, 2016: Montana militia enjoys being the ‘Bad Guy’ in Romania!

Video

31 July 2016 /22:47 UTC-07 Tango 01 (11 Mordad 1395/26 Shawwal 1437/29 Yi-Wei 4714)

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Corey Baltos, 30JUL2016.

Company D, 1st Battalion, 163rd Infantry Regiment, Montana Army National Guard playing Opposing Forces (OpFor) at the Romanian Land Force Combat Training Center.

National Guard M1A2 SEP(System Enhancement Package) plays the ‘Bad Guy’ in Romania:

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Corey Baltos, 30JUL2016.

How to hide your M1A2 SEP in Romania.

“This is kind of neat for our unit. This is the first time the National Guard has been asked to conduct Saber Guardian as the OpFor, and for them to call on the state of Montana it means a lot to us, it makes us proud. We take a lot of pride where we are from, and to come here and provide a legitimate challenge to the BlueFor for this mission is challenging and rewarding. We are proud for our unit and proud for our state.”-First Sergeant Mathew Kemp, Delta Company, 1/163 Infantry, Montana National Guard

Montana OpFor Bradley’s (and a M113) ‘invading’ Romania. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Corey Baltos, 30JUL2016.

Montana’s 1/163 Infantry Regiment is part of the National Guard’s ‘Snake River’ 1/116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s ‘invasion’ of former Warsaw Pact member Romania.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Corey Baltos, 30JUL2016.

Montana’s Bravo and Delta infantry companies are playing the role of Opposition Forces (OpFor, OPFOR) during Saber Guardian 2016.  The U.S.-NATO wargame concludes by 07 August 2016.

‘Combatants’ are using MILES (multiple integrated laser engagement system), it’s one of the first laser tag systems, developed by the military decades ago: “The MILES gear provides a realistic force on force training opportunity. This realistic training gives our guys an idea of what they need to work on, what skills they need to develop and what they are proficient at.”-Staff Sergeant  Joseph Thacker, Delta Company, 1/64th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

Me at a rare Pocatello Airport air show, in 1999, wearing my OPFOR shirt that I got after Idaho's NTC wargame at Fort Irwin in 1998.

Me at a rare Pocatello Airport air show, in 1999, wearing my OPFOR shirt that I got after Idaho’s NTC wargame at Fort Irwin in 1998.

“THIS IS WHERE ARMOR FIGHTS!” IDAHO NATIONAL GUARD

Business/Economics, Idaho

Like beer? Get ready for skyrocketing prices as Mother Earth kills off malt barley crops in three U.S. states! Corn harvest not as big as expected? Get ready for $40 bread, spuds & steaks?

30 September 2014 (09:32 UTC-07 Tango)/05 Dhu l-Hijja 1435/08 Mehr 1393/07 Gui-You (9th month) 4712

“There is no panic yet. Everybody has been telling us not to panic. There is carry-over from last year’s malt supply. Our prices are stable until January, but beer prices are going up.”-Tim Mohr,  Angry Hank’s Brewery in Billings, Montana

Bad news for beer drinkers, it’s being reported that the malt barely crops in Idaho, Montana and North Dakota have been nearly destroyed by unusually cool and wet summer weather (what global warming?).

Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors are dependent on those crops.  A report out of Montana said the crops sprouted too soon.  When the barely sprouts is crucial as it has to have enough sugar at harvest time to be used to make beer.   It also must be harvested before it germinates, and the abnormal rain caused most barely crops to germinate before harvest.

What this means is U.S. beer brewers must import their barely from other countries for the 2015 brewing season, which means it’s going to cost beer drinkers more money.

But it’s not just barely that’s going down in flames.  Hay, wheat and potato crops took a big hit as well, which means grocery prices are going up in 2015.

According to the University of Idaho, Idaho farmers lost at least $220-million worth of hay, barely, wheat and potato crops this year, due to excessive rain!

At the beginning of September the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) declared Twin Falls and Jerome, in Idaho, disaster areas.   This allows farmers to borrow money from the government to get them through next season, due to not having any crops to sell.   (it’s just another way to keep family farms in debt)

Last week, harvest results were being reported and it wasn’t good.  According to the USDA wheat prices are already inching up, as the spring harvest totals were below the five year average.

This is the beginning of the corn harvest and so far only 42% is mature.  The past five year average is 54% mature.   On top of that only 7% has been harvested, the five year average for the beginning of harvest is 15%.

The price of beef cows continues to go up.  And while the price of live cows goes up, the number of slaughtered cows goes down, ensuring the price you pay in the grocery store will skyrocket.  Another factor that will drive up beef prices are the failed hay crops in states like Idaho (which is a big cattle ranching state).

Late blight kills Idaho’s 2014 potato crops?

GMO CROPS INTENDED TO CREATE STARVATION IN THE U.S. & CANADA?

Idaho, Technology

Idaho Wildfire Update, 10 September 2012: Canada joins the fight at Pocatello Tanker Base!

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10 September 2012, the smoke just won’t go away, ’cause fires just keep poppin’ up!  So far, the year to date fire retardant used by fire fighting aircraft out of Pocatello airport (aka Pocatello Tanker Base) is 261,797 gallons (991,009.4 liters).

Little “seeders” 802 Air Tractors are the backbone of airborne firefighting operations out of Pocatello airport, but Neptunes, MAFFS C-130s and now Convair CV580 operated by CONAIR of Canada, are making appearances at the tanker base.

Click pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make bigger:

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there are new fires in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Wyoming.  There are currently 34 large wildfires burning through the United States.

Idaho has seven large fires, with 640,881 acres (259,355.3 hectares) burned! California has nine fires, but with fewer burned acres, at 151,988 (61,507.36 hectares).

The most recent fires here in eastern Idaho were the Flint Canyon Fire south of American Falls, West Menan Fire and the Pickering Fire near Rexburg.

Regarding the now notorious Mustang Complex Fire, recently officials said the fire was so hard to get to that it would probably burn until the first heavy snowfall of winter!

The Mustang Complex Fire, burning along the Idaho/Montana border, increased by 20,000 acres (8,093.7 hectares) on 09 September 2012.  Mandatory evacuations were ordered.  The fire is now the single largest in the United States, at 281,000+ acres (113,716.6 hectares)!

EAST IDAHO WILDFIRE UPDATE, 29 AUGUST 2012: BURN AREAS BECOME DUST FARMS. 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Full time employment down In Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Maine and Vermont

A report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that while part time employment is going up, it’s being offset by a drop in full time employment!

The top five states for increased part time work are Montana, Oregon, Maine, Vermont and Idaho.  Montana leads the country with a 39% increase in part time work.

In Idaho there was an average of about 515,000 people with full time jobs in 2007. In 2010 that number dropped to 445,000.  At the same time, in 2010 the number of part time jobs increased 35%. 

As far as full time wages go, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average full time pay in Idaho, in 2010, was $666 per week.  That’s a piddly 4.6% increase from 2007, and it’s one of the smallest increases in the entire United States!

Business/Economics, U.S.

Government Incompetence, What Economic Recovery? Reports say Congress will let Postal Service default on December 16

“It feels like Helena and Cosby are caught in the cross hairs. There is a big battle going on and we are the ones that are going to suffer.”-Marianne Price, Montana resident who relies on the U.S. Postal Service

Recently, the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Fred Rolando, said certain actions by Congress, or lack of action, could put the USPS into a “…death spiral…”.

A CNN Money report says political analysts have reason to believe the U.S. Congress will not consider any more bills to save the U.S. Postal Service, until after the 2012 elections.  That guarantees the USPS will default.

The U.S. Postal Service, which does not use taxpayer money to operate, employes 557,000 people directly.  Several companies, like FedEx, also provide service under contract.  South eastern Idaho postal workers told me that if the USPS defaults, at least 200,000 postal workers will immediately lose their jobs!  It will also mean cut backs for those contractors working for the Postal Service.

The USPS is actually a contractor itself.  Under President Richard Nixon today’s Postal Service was created (it was the Postal Department before then).  The Postal Service operates on money that comes from you and me buying postal products (not taxes).  Under President Ronald Reagan stamps were added to the list of products the Postal Service could make money from (before that the government got the money from stamp sales).  The only tax money used for postal services are for mail for the blind, for mail in election ballots sent from U.S. citizens living overseas, and, for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies.

For reasons not publicly known, some elected officials, and the main stream media, are misleading the public into thinking that cuts to the USPS would save taxpayer money. It won’t!

A Cornell University professor says the U.S. Congress is fully to blame (as I’ve stated in past postings): “A lot of these decisions are fundamental business decisions about quality and frequency of service, and they should be in the hands of the executives running the Postal Service. But Congress won’t let them do that!”-Richard Geddes, Cornell University associate professor

While many officials blame the Postal Service management and the unions, the fact is that USPS management and unions have been working together to make drastic cuts. Their latest agreement could cut $20 billion in postal worker health care benefits, but Congress has to sign off on it.

Just a couple of weeks ago, President Barack Obama extended the deadline for default by the U.S. Postal Service.  The new deadline is December 16.  If the CNN Money sources are right, then bye bye USPS (unless Obama just keeps extending the deadline)!

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology, U.S.

It’s official: Idaho’s internet services suck!

After decades spending millions of dollars to get Idahoan’s connected to the World Wide Web, Idaho has the slowest connection speed in the U.S.

Pando Networks surveyed 4 million internet customers across the country, and found Idaho’s average connection speed to be 318 kilobytes per second, with 83% completion rate.

Idaho’s northern neighbor, Montana, and eastern neighbor Wyoming, also made the slow connection list.  Wyoming actually has a slightly faster connection rate, than Idaho.

Two of Idaho’s other neighbors, Washington and Oregon, made the top 15 fastest rates.

So who’s number one in the United States for internet connection speed?  Tiny old Rhode Island: 894 KPbs!

Business/Economics, U.S.

Montana Judge restricts Marijuana use law restrictions

A judge is blocking parts of Montana’s medical marijuana use law, not because of the marijuana, but because of too many restrictions.

The Montana marijuana law bans commercial for profit sales of marijuana.  Under the law marijuana is to be sold as a not for profit product, among many other restrictions.

Judge James Reynolds argued that Montana does not restrict any other business, so why marijuana?  “The court is unaware of and has not been shown where any person in any other licensed and lawful industry in Montana – be he a barber, an accountant, a lawyer, or a doctor – who, providing a legal product or service, is denied the right to charge for that service or is limited in the number of people he or she can serve.”

Reynolds also said the law made marijuana legal, and he sees no reason for all the restrictions placed on the law.  He argued that all the restrictions actually make it hard for people, who need it for medical use, to get it.

The law was passed by voters in 2004, but was overhauled by state lawmakers this year.  The new restrictions were supposed to go into effect on Friday.

The overhaul came after Federal officials conducted some raids, and came down on the state government.  Among those restrictions include a ban on advertising, limiting distributors to just three customers, and automatic investigations of doctors who prescribe marijuana to more than 25 patients.

The restrictions were immediately challenged in court.  Judge Reynolds did not block all the restrictions, just those he thought violated state and federal constitutional rights.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International

Canadian oil company equipment stuck in Idaho, Montana suing

Canadian Imperial Oil (a subsidiary Exxon Mobil Corp) has massive equipment, called modules, stuck in Lewiston, Idaho.  They need to get it to their Kearl oil sands project in northern Alberta, Canada.

The problem is their size.  Idaho Transportation Department has yet to approve transportation of the equipment through Idaho, one of the problems is that the modules won’t fit under any overpasses in Idaho.  Oil company officials say they will have to cut them in half.

In Montana, there are lawsuits to stop the transportation through its territory. Montana officials say the size of the Imperial Oil equipment will require burial of overhead power lines, upgrading existing roads and building new turnouts (who’s gonna pay for that?).  Montana environmentalists say the company needs to do an environmental impact assessment.

Imperial Oil is complaining that their construction schedule is being compromised.  Maybe they should have worked this out before hand?

Imperial Oil does not have a good business track record, or a good safety track record.  Recently they’ve apologized for the release of a mile-long plume of sulfur dioxide, in Ontario, Canada.

Idaho, U.S.

Firefighters from Yellowstone & Gallatin heading to Texas

Four firefighters from Yellowstone National Park and Gallatin National Forest were sent to help fight the fires in Texas.

The ‘Pipeline’ wildfire, one of many in Texas, is burning on the Big Thicket National Preserve.  The local firefighters were sent in because of a inter-agency request.  Officials believe the ‘Pipeline’ fire was started by people.