Thursday, June 28, 2007

I am Pro Amnesty.

Amnesty. What would that mean?

All illegal aliens should immediately be given legal status upon their return to their home country, and should retain it so long as they stay in their home country, or legally apply from their home country (and be accepted by the US), for legal entry into the US.

If the illegal has US born dependents, he/she should be allowed to take these US born dependents with them. I don't know if the US born dependents should be US citizens or not. I figure there is a strong case that, especially after they returned to their parent's home country, they would not fall under the 14th Amendment provision "and subject to the jurisdition thereof".

If they don't have enough cash for the ticket, the illegal aliens would register with ICE, be fingerprinted for secure ID, and be shipped to their home country at no cost to the Federal Government (ie the cost would be born by the illegal). Perhaps on their way, they would even be given help filling out the forms to become a legal alien.

The important thing is that the illegal should be in line behind anyone who applied for legal entry to the US the way you are supposed to do it. Further, the illegal would have to pay taxes on all work they did inside the US before their application would be accepted. I am indifferent on if the US born foreign raised dependent should be permitted back into the US after they reach the age of majority.

That would be amnesty. Anything that is kinder to the illegal than that would be a benefit to a law breaker, and as such would be guaranteed to attract more illegals. I am opposed to being kinder to law breakers than to non-law breakers.

It is important to note that any illegal alien not confined by law (ie. in jail) can become legal at any time they want by returning to their home country.

Yes, I am very happy that the current attempt at fly by night amnest failed in the Senate today.

Cheney having to provide reports to a minor federal bureaucrat.

It is the made up issue by Pat Leahy, Socialist, Vermont. Beldar, at http://beldar.blogs.com/beldarblog/2007/06/does-cheney-hav.html
Has the right answer.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

John Edwards

Apparently John Edwards jokes are all the rage. They are the opposite of the Chuck Norris jokes of a few years ago.

"Chuck Norris never sleeps. He waits."

Since John Edwards is poofy, his jokes usually make light of that.

"John Edwards doesn't know what the bottom of the toilet seat looks like."

"John Edwards. One drop of his blood has enough estrogen to stop menopause."

Feel free to add your own.

Constitution in Exile

Fourteenth and Second Amendments, in light of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11: Letters of Marque and Reprisal.

The Second Amendment is simple, and breathtaking in its scope.

“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

As used in each of the amendments, “the people” is a term of art that indicates all citizens and legal, free residents. The people in the Second Amendment is the same term used in the First , Third and Fourth Amendments, and is reasonably construed to have the same meaning.
The Dred Scott decision, as delivered, turned on the SCOTUS understanding of the limitation of that term “the people” to residents who were not Negroes.

The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in response to the decision written by Judge Taney, on Dred Scott that stated that no Negro had standing in the United States. In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks -- slaves as well as free -- were not and could never become citizens of the United States. The court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permiting (sic) slavery in all of the country's territories. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933.html
Dred Scott “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his (the white man’s) benefit. He was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever profit could be made by it."

It was this decision that revealed the failure of the policies of antislavery wing of the Whig party which relied upon the 1820 Missouri Compromise to limit slavery in Federal Territories. It was this decision, in the wake of conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in Kansas, stated that even free states could not ban slavery. It was this decision that lead to the successful Republican effort to find a President who could add an amendment to limit human slavery to the states where it existed. The Missouri Compromise had three provisions.

  1. Missouri would be admitted as a Slave State.
  2. No further Slave states would be admitted north of the southern boundary of Missouri.
  3. Fugitive slaves captured anywhere in the United States would be surrendered by federal marshals upon demand by the owners (or their agents).

Though the Missouri Compromise was overturned, Missouri remained as a slave state, and the Fugitive Slave Law continued to be enforced. The only part that was overturned was the restriction of Slavery to existing Slave States and the Southern parts of Federal Territories.
The Missouri Compromise was modified by the Compromise of 1850 that had 5 provisions, that were enacted, two for the antislavery forces, two for the pro-slavery forces, and the 5th as a balance between the two.

  1. California was admitted as a Free State
  2. The Slave Trade (though not Slavery) was forbidden in Washington, D.C.
  3. New Mexico and Utah Territories were organized without prohibition of Slavery
  4. The Fugitive Slave Act expanded upon that of 1820, and required all US Citizens to assist in return of escaped slaves.
  5. Texas gave up title a great deal of western land to which it had good claim, but received 10 million dollars in compensation.

The Fugitive Slave Law continued to be enforced, even during the Civil War. This enforcement was necessary to keep the northern slave states (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware) in the Union. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation!

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified by California on May 6th, 1959, and implicitly recognizes

  1. that States may wrongfully inhibit the liberty of their citizens or residents, and
  2. that it is a duty of the Federal government to assure that Civil Rights would be honored by states.

That was the experience of the Great Rebellion, where state governments not only asserted the right to leave the union, but also asserted the right to unilaterally set the terms upon which that separation would take place. Examples of their unilateral acts to set the terms of separation include:

  1. Rebellious States asserted their continued authority over US Citizens within their territory by enacting and enforcing conscription of US Citizens within their territory. Exemptions were granted to large plantation owners.
  2. Southern state militias attacked federal forces, to include Harper’s Ferry and Ft Sumter.
    Southern state militias, acting for the southern state, appropriated federal property.
  3. Southern state militias blocked navigation on Federal Waterways, to include the Mississippi River and Charleston Harbor.
  4. Southern state militias prevented the collection of Federal tariffs within and adjacent to their borders, even for merchants who were willing to pay tariff as necessary to penetrate the Federal Blockade.

Having lost political validation in the election of the President, rather than seek political validation in the legislature, and seeing no hope in legal validation in the Supreme Court, the rebel Southern States sought validation by force, and appealed to the sword. When the southern states lost, the last support of their position was lost with their armies. A condition of the restoration of rights for the rebel southern states was acceptance of the 14th Amendment.

The 14th Amendment clarified the words of Article 4., Section 4.

“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. “

That was the section by which President Lincoln asserted his authority to maintain the perpetual union of the States, codified in the Articles of Confederation, that predated the Constitution.

The key provision of the 14th Amendment is in Section 1.:

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”


This forbids States from depriving its citizens of rights, as well as privileges and immunities, and further assures “equal protection of the laws”. Just as a state can not circumvent the requirement for equal protection of laws by creating an arbitrary class of persons called “Negro” and enacting special reductions in their status, so the states can not create an arbitrary class of persons called “Ordinary Citizens ” and remove their rights. This is what California has done, by banning meaningful self defense to all citizens of several counties without police powers.
Now it must be admitted that if the 2nd Amendment provides an individual right to keep and bear arms, that the 14th Amendment forbids States from acts that would abridge that right. If a citizen is immune from laws infringing upon his duty (delineated in Title 10, section 311) to be prepared for militia service, then States may not abridge upon that immunity.


The next question is: To what extent does the individual right of the 2nd Amendment extend?

“In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a "shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length" at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense.”

United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939). The term “not within judicial notice” is a term of art which implies that the facts may be what they are, but the evidence has not been presented and recorded. United States v. Miller suggests that it extends at least to the possession of weapons useful for militia service, holding constitutional a ban on sawed off shotguns in the absence of evidence that such weapons were useful for militia service. Such evidence could have been provided by testimony of many men, called up from the militia to federal service during WWI, who used sawed off shotguns as “trench brooms” in the severe close combat environment of that war. During Vietnam doctors were provided short shotguns to permit them to defend themselves and their patients from an enemy that did not respect the Red Cross. During Desert Storm, tank commanders used shotguns to remove enemy infantry from tank aft decks. During the present operations in Iraq short shotguns are used by combatants to breach locks on heavy doors, and special purpose breaching rounds are provided for that purpose. This long experience of use of shotguns, many with barrels shortened far beyond 18 inches suggests that competent defense would allow Miller’s presumption of non-utility to be overcome.

Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252, 264-66 (1886) [State law barred "any body of men, other than the organized militia of the state and the troops of the United States, from associating as a military company and drilling with arms in any city or town of the state"; the Court held:] The first [claim is based on] the second amendment, which declares: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." We think it clear that the sections under consideration, which only forbid bodies of men to associate together as military organizations, or to drill or parade with arms in cities and towns unless authorized by law, do not infringe the right of the people to keep and bear arms. But a conclusive answer to the contention that this amendment prohibits the legislation in question lies in the fact that the amendment is a limitation only upon the power of congress and the national government, and not upon that of the state. It was so held by this court in the case of U. S. v. Cruikshank, in which the chief justice, in delivering the judgment of the court, said that the right of the people to keep and bear arms "is not a right granted by the constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed, but this, as has been seen, means no more than that it shall not be infringed by congress. This is one of the amendments that has no other effect than to restrict the powers of the national government . . . ." . . . It is undoubtedly true that all citizens capable of bearing arms constitute the reserved military force or reserve militia of the United States as well as of the states, and, in view of this prerogative of the general government, as well as of its general powers, the states cannot, even laying the constitutional provision in question out of view, prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security, and disable the people from performing their duty to the general government. But, as already stated, we think it clear that the sections under consideration do not have this effect. “

What is not known is whether a law forbidding the people from keeping arms, not just in cities and towns, but generally, would deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security.


Some assert that the right to keep and bear is limited to manually operated or self loading (confusingly called "semiautomatic") rifles, since once manually operated or semiautomatic rifles were individual weapons, and fully automatic rifles were reserved for crew served weapons. This is not factually correct. The famous M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle was a fully automatic weapon, but was not crew served, rather being issued during WWI, WWII, and Korea to one man per infantry squad in the Army and during WWII and Korea to one man per infantry fire team in the Marine Corps. As technology has improved, the fully automatic M-1 submachine gun, the M-3 submachine gun and the M2 Carbine are not crew served, and each of these were issued to individuals during WWII during the Korean War, and the fully automatic M-16, M16A1, as well as the burst fire M16A2 and burst fire M4 Carbine are issued to individual soldiers.

Since fully automatic assault rifles are provided to the Organized Militia (National Guard) when in State and Federal service, then presuming competent decision making on the part of the national military authorities, one can confidently state that fully automatic assault rifles are useful for militia service. This is backed up by legislative votes that authorize and appropriate funds to purchase fully automatic rifles, given their well known issue to individual soldiers. These fully automatic rifles are not crew served weapons, but rather individual weapons used in modern tactics to attack and defend, by individual soldiers.

Even Crew Served weapons may be useful to the Militia. Certainly infantry mortars (typically from 60mm to 120mm in diameter) are crew served weapons, because of the size and weight of the weapons themselves, and the weight and bulk associated with meaningful amounts of ammunition. Some anti-tank weapons, to include the LAW (Light Antitank Weapon) are issued as a round of ammunition, and carried and employed by individual soldiers, and correspondingly members of the National Guard. Others (such as TOW, Javelin, and Hellfire) are crew-served, and signed to the commanding officer and thence hand receipted down to Non-Commissioned Officers. National Guard units are provided with Armored Vehicles, with large cannon, and multiple automatic weapons. Members of the unorganized Militia members may be assigned to operate these weapons in the event that the Organized Militia is called to federal service. During the early days of WWII, local militias obtained artillery for local self defense by appropriating weapons that had previously been in front of various Post Offices. Certainly crew served antiaircraft weapons could have provided some useful local defense to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, if only they had been available to the occupants of the large buildings that were targets of that atrocity. Those who would ban crew served weapons, assent to continued similar attacks of American Citizens, as they perpetuate the inability of Citizens to protect themselves from evil, unless they announce the details of their “better plan”.

Certainly the rights to private ownership of one form of Crew Served Weapon is referenced in the Constitution itself: During the early Federal period, the contemporary wooden merchant ship, supplemented with weapons is a crew served weapon, able to transport itself by concerted efforts of a team of sailors to set the sails, and trim the rudder. Its weapons could have good effect only if private gun crews serviced their weapon as ordered by the gun officer, and trained its guns as commanded by the ship’s captain. The ship as a crew served weapon would be trained in peace for useful self defense on the high seas, or to have good effectiveness in time of war under Congressionally Granted Letters of Marque and Reprisal. The members of a ship’s company would train together during peace, as part of their normal occupation (as a merchant seaman) so that during war, the Congress could expand the effective naval force available. Such figures as John Paul Jones served as Privateers, sailing under authority of Letters of Marque and Reprisal. It should be noted that John Paul Jones did not wait to get his training until the United States had issued the LMR. Time is money, and LMR were paid for by the parties, and expected to make a profit. He, and much of his crew were already competent. Merchant Seaman at that time had to be ready to defend their ships cargo from violent non-governmental pirates as well as from government belligerents. In that respect that time was much like the present.

If the right of a citizen extends even to crew served weapons, as well as to individual weapons, then where is the limit of right, which may not be abridged by legislature, and where is the beginning of privilege, which may be governed by legislative law? Can an individual have legal access to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and if so, of what toxicity, and to how many kilotons?

Artillery and mortars are used by the active services, as well as the National Guard. As such, they would be available to members of the militia. Ammunition would be regulated just as ammunition storage for the active service and National Guard is stored carefully. Though artillery and mortars could be kept, the artillery for them could reasonably be controlled. Militia members would have to be expert in drawing ammunition from storage and returning unused ammunition to storage. Locations where artillery, mortars, or missiles could be fired would be controlled, just as these locations are carefully controlled in the active service. Training with dummy rounds would be uncontrolled, and training with and storage of sub-caliber practice devices would be controlled commensurate with the reduced lethality of such ammunition.
Chemical agents as weapons as now understood were first used by Imperial Germany during the First World War. Chlorine gas, followed by Phosgene and Mustard agents were used. Later National Socialist Germany developed Nerve agents, but did not routinely use them against combatants. Zyclon B was used in the extermination camps against non-combatants. US treaties and agreements have forbidden use of these weapons, and so no aspiring militia member need be expert in their use. These weapons would not be available for militia use.
Certainly nuclear weapons are beyond the means of all but the most unusually wealthy individuals. Nuclear weapons were first developed by the United States Government, and used during WWII. They have since only been developed by government actors. In the United States, access and information on them is highly classified, and by stripping special access clearance from any person not employed, the right to access to nuclear weapons is well controlled. That would not change. Nuclear weapons manufactured abroad and imported would be subject to a substantial duty, and this duty or tariff could easily be made so large as to practically prevent them from importation.

Update: Vin Suprnowicz also points out the link between the second and 14th amendment in a current issue of Shotgun News. http://www.shotgunnews.com/suprynowicz/

Hat tip to Tam from View From the Porch at http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/

References

US Constitution
Second Amendment to US Constitution
Fourteenth Amendment to US constitution
Article XIV.
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.


Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,(See Note 15) and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Proposal and Ratification
The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-ninth Congress, on the 13th of June, 1866. It was declared, in a certificate of the Secretary of State dated July 28, 1868 to have been ratified by the legislatures of 28 of the 37 States. The dates of ratification were: Connecticut, June 25, 1866; New Hampshire, July 6, 1866; Tennessee, July 19, 1866; New Jersey, September 11, 1866 (subsequently the legislature rescinded its ratification, and on March 24, 1868, readopted its resolution of rescission over the Governor's veto, and on Nov. 12, 1980, expressed support for the amendment); Oregon, September 19, 1866 (and rescinded its ratification on October 15, 1868); Vermont, October 30, 1866; Ohio, January 4, 1867 (and rescinded its ratification on January 15, 1868); New York, January 10, 1867; Kansas, January 11, 1867; Illinois, January 15, 1867; West Virginia, January 16, 1867; Michigan, January 16, 1867; Minnesota, January 16, 1867; Maine, January 19, 1867; Nevada, January 22, 1867; Indiana, January 23, 1867; Missouri, January 25, 1867; Rhode Island, February 7, 1867; Wisconsin, February 7, 1867; Pennsylvania, February 12, 1867; Massachusetts, March 20, 1867; Nebraska, June 15, 1867; Iowa, March 16, 1868; Arkansas, April 6, 1868; Florida, June 9, 1868; North Carolina, July 4, 1868 (after having rejected it on December 14, 1866); Louisiana, July 9, 1868 (after having rejected it on February 6, 1867); South Carolina, July 9, 1868 (after having rejected it on December 20, 1866). Ratification was completed on July 9, 1868.

The amendment was subsequently ratified by Alabama, July 13, 1868; Georgia, July 21, 1868 (after having rejected it on November 9, 1866); Virginia, October 8, 1869 (after having rejected it on January 9, 1867); Mississippi, January 17, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870 (after having rejected it on October 27, 1866); Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected it on February 8, 1867); Maryland, April 4, 1959 (after having rejected it on March 23, 1867); California, May 6, 1959; Kentucky, March 18, 1976 (after having rejected it on January 8, 1867).

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Brainwashed schmucks!

Alas, this http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/06/from_the_kgb_playbook_demorali.php explains the poor misleaded people at Daily Kos and Democratic Underground.

The communists had a contining problem. Their best and brightest went into Marxist Leninist philosophy, as they were told that such was critically important to the success of their country. Further they were told that correct application of Marxist Leninist theory would lead to higher living standards, higher morality, and eventually build a heaven on earth.

But it didn't. Of course the smart guys who studied ML theory eventually noticed that. Since they were party members, and they were "True Believers" they spoke up in an attempt to make the small changes that they thought were needed to improve Marxist Leninist theory. Once they pointed out the various shortcomings, and suggested their improvements they were identified and murdered. Trotsky was murdered in 1939, but he was far from the first. There is a fairly famous picture which had the early party comrades assembled in a group shot. As one after another was murdered or executed (little difference in the USSR), they were airbrushed out until only Stalin remained.

Fred Thompson pointed out in his recent You Tube response to Michael Moore that a Cuban journalist is confined to an insane asylum, given frequent shock treatments as a corrective for his crime of speaking the truth about the Castro regime. Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Katy Couric, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Barny Frank, they would all be quickly executed in a Marxist Leninist version of the USA. Poor things, they don't know how rotten is the system for which they work.

They are kind of like the homosexual activists who oppose our war against Islamic Fascists, despite the sad fact that the Islamic Fascists would have them murdered within minutes of their takeover.
.

Monday, June 04, 2007

I want a seal skin coat!

Seal skins are used to make coats, mittens, muffs, and even boots. They make garments that are warm and dry even if it is cold and wet.
Imagine: If everyone wore sealskin winter clothes, we would have less carbon emissions from people heating their houses and cars. Medical costs from frostbite would drop.

The baby seals pelts are white, which helps the aboriginal people as they eke out their existance in the cold northern wastes. Without sealskin, you are pushed to use oil based plastics, which do not vent moisture so fast, leading to frostbite or at least chilblains and trenchfoot.

The beef and pork industry kill their animals by hitting them on the head too. Alas, the baby seals are not so cooperative as to be driven into a pristine slaughterhouse. So if you don't want to see it, close your eyes.

The number of seal pups taken each year is monitored and adjusted so that the population of seals doesn't increase beyond what the fisheries can bear. The management process is similar to all other animals taken for sport, meat, and skins. That is as it should be.

So hurrah for Canada and their enlightened game management programs. Next time I hit the liquor store, in honor of the Canadian seal harvesters I will get a fifth of Canadian Club.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Army Combat Uniform(ACU)

I was reading about some dissatisfaction with the new ACU. The intent was to take advantage of digital technology to create a pattern that was not super at any terrain, but would be not all that bad at any terrain. As is usual, computerized idiocy is idiocy. When you take an average of arctic winter and Jungle, you get something that is not particularly good for anything.

Now, just to establish my credentials, I served in the Army/Infantry/Europe/7th Army/3rd Armored Division/2nd Bde/2nd Bn 48th Infantry, back during the Carter Administration. I left as a Captain. Since that time I got two Engineering degrees, and have worked for the Navy, the Air Force, and two defense contractors. I have seen new camouflage patterns come and go, each proclaimed the greatest yet, each changed because something new was supposedly even better.

Ah, the Army. Like Rodney Dangerfield, they "Don't get no respect." More aircraft than the Air Force, more boats than the Navy, and more amphibious landings than the Marine Corps. Although the Marines are the worlds best two division force this side of Fort Hood, they have their own feet of clay. Odd that they would copyright their “superior” pattern to prevent their brothers in arms from using it. I don’t think the very small Marine Emblems on the MarPat uniform meet the Geneva requirement for “distinguishable at a distance”.

The Army is big. It hast to be managed differently than the small services. Reducing the number of uniforms saves big bucks. When the Army got rid of the Green (a semi dress uniform modeled after the WWI combat uniform) it saved a lot. The army retained the Army Blues a full dress uniform modeled after the Civil War and Indian War combat uniform. The Army Blue trousers are a lighter shade than the Jacket: In the summer heat soldiers would still wear their trousers, and lay aside their jacket, and the trousers would accordingly fade. Money was short then too.

Before the recent surge the US had 140,000 men in Iraq. The Army had 99,000 of them. The other three (four counting he Coast Guard!) contribute to the 41,000. The Army is also underfunded, getting only 24 percent of the budget for 2/3s of the fighting. The Army doesn't have billets at posh embassies around the world, nor do they have comfortable billets with a sheet and pillowcase on Navy ships. The Army is the only service that has been continuously in existance since the Revolution, and before. The Army has units with traditions that go back to American Colonial Forces in the French and Indian War (7 Years War for any European readers). By contrast, the Navy and Marines were disbanded. The Air Force traces its pseudo history to the WWI Army Air Service, by which time the Army Aviation had been in action for 50 years, and completed two deployments. (in 1898, Army aviation units adjusted artillery fire on the Spanish in Cuba, 5 years before the Wright Brother's first flight.

During WWII there were 248 US amphibious invasions. 200 of them were conducted by the Army, using the doctrines . The Marine Corps used Army regulations when operating on land until 1834. That means that the celebrated Lt O'Bannon cutting down the flag of the Bey of Algiers on the shores of Tripoli was conducting his operation in accordance with Army Regulations. In the 1920s the Marine Corps moved its birthday from July 11th, 1834 when they got their own regulations back to 1776 when the Navywas recruiting for Shipboard Police (the British Marine was mostly that). The British experience was to disband the Marines after every war, which hindered learning from mistakes. When the Marines landed at Inchon, the Army was there too in the persons of the US 7th Division. At the same time, the Army fought the length of Korea, from Pusan to Seoul. The Marines took half of Seoul. Task force Lynch was equipped with Pershing Tanks, and accompanied by General Gay, formerly of Patton's 3rd Army Staff.

I don't want to disparage the Marines. They are good, proud men, (and ladies). They do a great job even outside the realm of publicity. It was rather amusing that the Army worked with the Northern alliance to clear 3/4s of Afghanistan, outnumbered some 1000 to 1. The Marines took a hop to the airport at Khandhar, which was secured by the Army, and thought they merited a headline. The Germans didn't call the Marines Devil Dogs, and to assert otherwise is a lie. "Teufelhunden" is not German. It is merely propaganda of the crude WWI sort. Teufelshunde would be German. No German dispatches have been found that so refered to the Marines during WWI.

The Navy was recreated during the early federal period. Prior to that, the US mostly used privateers, private citizens operating privately owned crew served weapons, sailing under terms of Letters of Marque and Reprisal. John Paul Jones hated privateers, but the Continental Navy had 5 ships at sea in 1978 when privateers had over 3000! George Washington created the first riverine force to float his men across the Delaware river. The Continental Navy was disbanded after the Revolution. There was no need for one, as the British provided security for merchantmen under their merchantile policies.

Camouflage was historically not needed, and is currently overrated. After you begin fighting, camouflage doesn't work unless it can hide muzzleflashes. In the days of black powder, clouds of white smoke further emphasized the location of any unit that fired.

Camouflage is a patrol technique. On patrols you walk a lot, and shoot very little. Before you fire, camouflage may be useful, but hiding behind things is even more useful. There is a powerful difference between cover and concealment. Before your patrol you should prepare your detachment for the operation, and this includes tailoring your uniform (no rattles, no shine, no swish, and helmets festooned to break up the outline) your equipment (magazines with open end down in the pouch, and bandoleers attached tight so they don't swing or bump). Faces are easy to recognize, so they are colored to break up the familiar two eyes, nose and mouth outline that every 5 year old has mastered.

The ACU doesn’t have black, but it doesn’t matter, since the ACU are worn UNDER armor, knee pads, web gear and associated bandoleer straps. That should, with careful selection, break up the outline of the ACUs. The previous 3 color desert camouflage uniform was thought to be an improvement over the 5 color chocolate chip and 4 color desert because the unform light colors worked better in Arabia. Now a uniform light color is not satisfactory?

What would make sense is a 3 layer approach.

1. Cotton wicking undergarments. The innermost layer would have built in tourniquet tapes for rapid field treatment of injuries to the limbs, even before the armor can be removed. The inner cloth garment should have evaporation beds to permit heat removal from sweat evaporation. The evaporation beds are connected to rubber bladders under the heels, knees and elbows, so that common movement techniques (walking, crawling) get the benefit of an air cushion under the hard protection, and create cooling airflow under the armor.

2. An intermediate layer of body armor and web gear. The web gear must be integrated with the armor, so neither is completely parasitic. This means lighter weight for the same function. The web gear should have two water bladders (in case one breaks!) arranged vertically along either side of the spine with a connected hose and valve to permit drinking on the move, with a quick attachment to the NBC protective mask. Ammunition pouches should be attached to the web gear so as to ride side of the hips. Access would be by slits with flaps, held open or closed by velcro. Hooks that attach the back pack to the webgear would be attached through holes in the over-uniform. Again, the holes would have flaps that could be held open and closed. The back pack would be modular, with each piece able to be dropped by quick detachable connectors. This would let infantry drop off ammunition at the company/platoon base of fire, while still retaining the amunition for their squad weapons.

3. A top layer camouflage surcoat. The camouflage surcoat would be flame resistant, have slits for access to the web gear pouches, and pockets for first aid pouch, rations, maps, and notebooks, and a selection of different size, shape, and patterns cloth strips with which the outer camouflage can be festooned to break up the outline.

If you are fighting in urban areas, camouflage uniforms don’t matter. If you are 3 foot from your enemy, no camouflage matters. If you are behind a door, you can wear a clown suit. If you are in a Hummer, Bradley, Stryker, or Abrams, no camouflage matters. If you have fired your rifle, the muzzleflash will attract enemy return fire, no matter what your uniform pattern. If your uniform doesn’t match your likely background, modify your uniform with tapes, ghilli fibers, and spray paint. Then select your movement paths and techniques to take advantage of cover and concealment. Behind a bush with a clown suit is better than in front of a bush with the best camouflage devised by man.

No combat ready unit ever passed inspection. No inspection ready unit ever passed combat. I was always quite content to have the Marines known for the prettiest dress uniform.