Ron Bleac
-
Posts
1,730 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Events
Forums
Posts posted by Ron Bleac
-
-
-
You need to be a Schola magister, if you aren't already. You would be the best magister in history.
-
Let's not get too excited here. While it's wrong in every sense to rip off property and claim it as your own, the fullest extent of the law when it comes down to things like this really isn't that much, especially in Eastern bloc countries. How do I know? I'm from one. He likely isn't going to have to pay any fines and because the person pressing charges doesn't have the funds to actively persecute, they'll have to settle on having LL remove it and remove Christoph's ability to upload mesh.
-
I don't particularly care which manner of regulations it is derived from, but its well known, and one of those in a lengthy list of idiotic gestures by nations who deem a particular weapon barbaric in its usage. None of which terribly mattering as every nation has equipped itself accordingly and avoided things like chemical warfare for quite some tie (although drilled in the event it does happen).
It is barbaric, though.
It's exactly due to conventions like these that the US or Soviet Union no longer has their massive stockpiles and readily available production capacity of 60 million Sarin, Agent Blue, infected insect bomblets, biological (black plague, leprosy, anthrax etc) or chemical bomblets. All of those were produced in the hundreds of thousands, though. That's enough nasties to coat the entire Western hemisphere, most of Africa and Eastern Europe in a blanket of death, sickness and misery as long as you have the jet fuel or ballistic missiles to deliver this birthday cake right to your choice of doorstep. But who cares, it's an idiotic gesture because nobody will ever even think about reintroducing them because it's totally not the most effective, easiest to produce and the most readily available option, right? It costs less money to produce a simple aluminium bomblet and stuff it full of infected mosquitoes than it costs to create 100 pops of 7.62.
It's still considered totally tactical and acceptable too, as witnessed by the Iran-Iraq war, First Gulf War and the Soviet war in Afghanistan. All of those are within the last 30 years and in military terms, the service life of that kind of weapon is pretty long, mosquitoes discounted. I think the world would be an even scarier place if that piece of paper wasn't there to say "no, this isn't right" which makes it sadder, because anyone in their right mind should see that bombing someone with chemicals that will leave them alive and cause hundreds of years of genetic damage isn't right.
Those conventions are there for a pretty gosh darned good reason. Not just for chemical weapons, either!
-
My brother got it. Watched him play it.
What a buggy piece of crap. He's been on it for 26 hours now.
-
I want to correct a popular mistake/misconception about the Geneva conventions.
Anti-material munitions can be used against infantry troops. The idea of "shooting at canteens" is a myth. Air tunnels can't decapitate or amputate people, this is caused by shrapnel or direct impact and even then, it's rare to see a full decapitation or amputation from something that is still a relatively small projectile. Militaries worldwide care very little about what kind of pain the enemy feels when they are hit. The point is to kill the enemy and when we talk about business like that, even the Geneva Convention has to accept the fact that pain is very much involved with death. Contrary to popular belief the use of incendiary weaponry against infantry is not banned in the Geneva Convention. In fact, the Geneva Convention does not prohibit the use of any kind of weaponry, be it nuclear, chemical, biological or incendiary. The Geneva convention(s) apply to sick and wounded military personnel, with separate articles for prisoners and civilian population. They do not address the use of weaponry. The conventions that you are referring to are known as the "Hague Conventions" and they are not binding in any shape or form. The reason for this confusion is that the Hague Convention has a section referred to as the "Geneva Protocol" which references the use of incendiary, gaseous and asphyxiating weaponry in warfare. But the Hague convention does provide a few standard guidelines. I attached them below.
Art. 23.
In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden -
To employ poison or poisoned weapons;
To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;
To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;
To declare that no quarter will be given;
To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering;
To make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention;
To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;
To declare abolished, suspended, or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party. A belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war.
Art. 24.
Ruses of war and the employment of measures necessary for obtaining information about the enemy and the country are considered permissible.
Art. 25.
The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited.
Art. 26.
The officer in command of an attacking force must, before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of assault, do all in his power to warn the authorities.
Art. 27.
In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes.
It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of such buildings or places by distinctive and visible signs, which shall be notified to the enemy beforehand.
Art. 28.
The pillage of a town or place, even when taken by assault, is prohibited.
-
Tactical is taking a massive dump mid-battle without getting shot.
-
From my grandfather's selected memoirs. He was stationed at Immola Airfield after being wounded for a second time. After a short recovery in hospital he was placed into a "homeguard" (read: active military but behind the lines) unit to guard vital rear areas such as Immola airfield, from which a large quantity of fighter aircraft were based. He was never part of the air force, but participated in reloading machine guns and in small maintenance duties such as repainting aircraft. He spent a short time in the area, after which he was transferred forward back to the front when manpower supply became low. He went on to be wounded lightly for a third time before the war ended.
Early June, 1942.It was quite a grimy and rainy morning on this Thursday. It was the 4th, Mannerheim's birthday. I was doing my usual five hour stint in front of "The Tower," a small three story brick building hastily constructed to serve as a temporary radio shack. While most people didn't enjoy mind boggling boredom for five hours, I found sentry duty was an excellent place to write down my thoughts and thus volunteered for it whenever possible. I was the reclusive type of guy. There had been no reports of enemy activity so far, possibly due to the slight fog. No aircraft were taking off and all was calm. I fiddled around with a single round from my rifle and pocketed it. But suddenly there was a stir, men running back and forth with rifles shouldered. Yet there was no alarm. I looked about and noted a small black car drive onto the field. Another one followed it close in tow and all of the individuals in the vehicles disembarked.
One of them was very tall, well dressed and in military uniform while the other in a long, dark trencher. The others that followed in tow were also in military uniform. They began walking in my direction on a forest trail and made their way close to the runway, walking right past me in the process. It was at this point that I noted the facial features of the tallest one. I felt my legs, chest and spine instantaneously stiffen as I snapped into attention instinctively.
The men in question were no other than Marshal Mannerheim, the commander in chief of the Finnish Military and President Risto Ryti. Mr. Ryti seemed to pay little attention to me but the Marshal waved at me slightly as he passed by, never losing composure or the pace of his stride. I came out of attention and waved back, then remained on post as much as I would have liked to speak to him face to face. While I generally paid very little attention to politics, one could call it a special circumstance since we were at war after all. Mannerheim had always been a very interesting character and while I wouldn't call it a dream, I would've liked to sit down and talk to him about the soldierly sort of things. While I was disinterested in Ryti, I found a lot of respect for the man for his ability to do such a tough job in wartime. Five minutes later Mannerheim left, we didn't know where.
It was around 10 AM to my recollection when I was summoned over to my company's position on the West side of the field. In the tent and barrack building I discovered a large group of men, about 50 or so. Some of them were not part of my unit. I placed my rifle in the rack beside the door and walked in, still wearing my helmet. After a short conversation we were informed that a special guest would be arriving and my company was selected to act as the honor Guard while the others would form a three rank line around the airfield in perfect concealment, acting as security. All anti-aircraft guns in the area were to be towed outside of the field to form a flak triangle, just in case. We were told how to address our guest properly and reminded that if we hadn't taken German in high school or had not been there, we should speak in Finnish. It would be translated. In the next twenty minutes or so we inspected our uniforms, shined our boots the best we could and cleaned our rifles, deammoed them and refreshed on procedure. In fact, we were still doing so on our way out of the door. Nobody was quite sure on what to do.
As we stepped out of the building in a two rank file we noted a large amount of individuals gathering at the center of the field and after a double-quick march to their location, formed a three rank line abreast to the side of the runway and the hangar. The black car with Ryti was at the end of the runway, protected by a small troop of infantry. We waited for what seemed like an increasingly long period of time until finally at around 11:25 we heard engines. A very large plane indeed. It circled above to lose altitude, then finally, out from above the tree tops roared a Focke Wulf Condor in full German regalia, all four engines at full power. The black Swastika was visible on the tail of the plane as it came in for landing, screeching onto the tarmac at what we thought was an amazing landing. None of us spoke about it, though. This large plane aroused a certain amount of curiosity and a little bit of intimidation as it rolled towards the hangar. We noted a small plume of smoke rising from the right front wheel but paid no mind to it as it didn't seem to catch flame. I scanned to the left, then to the right and saw the black car driving towards the hangar. It parked to our right and the passengers disembarked again, this time standing to our right side and to the front. The door of the ominous Condor swung open and extendable stairs were lowered by the crew at which point a cameraman stepped out. Behind him were two German officers of rank I didn't recognize and a third man in a coat. We snapped into attention without command again. As the third man came down the steps I noted his posture. He was leaning forward slightly with his right hand on the railing for the faintest of moments. His stride was rather short but quick. Overall, he was a rather quirky looking old man.
My eyes darted back and forth to the man himself and his entourage. A couple of more steps towards my direction and my mind worked out his identity. The black toothbrush moustache under his nose was a dead give away. He walked towards us and Ryti and delivered a quick salute, addressing President Ryti personally. They exchanged a handshake and moved towards us, at which point Herr Hitler inspected our formation. I was the fourth from the left in the front rank and as Hitler moved in from the right, he stared each of us in the eye and gave every one of us a pat on the shoulder and a quick, non-formal handshake. He was clearly interested in us and asked short questions.
He addressed me in German and spoke somewhat slowly in a very low tone of voice, "Corporal, how very nice of you to be here today." For once, high school German served me well. "Thank you, sir." To this he smirked and asked me about my rifle, the Finnish Mosin Nagant M/39: "A simple design. How do you feel about it?"
After considering my options I piped up again, "Simplicity comes with its advantages." To this he nodded in what seemed like agreement and moved on to the man next to me, who he questioned about his personal life. He asked questions such as "How old are you," "Do you have someone at home," and about political beliefs. To his surprise he found that most of the men present weren't all that interested in politics. Later on I heard he had found this impressive but dangerous.
The most surprising thing of all was that he had taken the time to study rank structure and greeted us by our ranks. All in all, he spent around 20 minutes with us before moving on with Ryti. They weren't taken far, to a nearby railroad where Mannerheim was waiting in a dining train car with a full entourage of junior officers.
I spent the rest of the day at the airfield and roughly five hours later, after dining with Mannerheim and Ryti he was scheduled to board the Condor again. We were there in full formation and he said goodbye to us, going through us to shake the hands of every soldier. He addressed each one of us and had a short conversation before departing. He spoke to me again: "I spoke to your officers outside the dining train car, they told me about you and your friends. I wish you a speedy recovery." He said, shaking my hand again. I thanked him and nodded repeatedly. His handshake was tight and full of confidence, yet short. Less than half an hour later he boarded the Condor, but remained at the door. He stood there until the last of his entourage had boarded and as the door was closed took his window seat behind the exit. He stared at us until the engines started at which point his attention was diverted back inside the plane, but he returned to give a quick wave. Three minutes later the Condor was back in the air. This was around 18:45.
After the plane was well over the horizon we returned back to our quarters, most of us falling fast asleep, myself included. The next morning I awoke to find that round of ammunition I pocketed still in my trouser pockets.
Deutsche Wochensau film #614. At 3:59 the company makes its first appearance in the film. 6:48 onwards the "Improv Honor Guard" is visible in the background.
Now here's the most interesting part. During the visit someone snuck a microphone into the dining car and to this day, it is the only known recording of Hitler's "conversation" voice. He discusses the war freely, without raving like the madman he was. It gives a really good idea of his sense of "strategy" politically and military.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o64QOynq0_Q&feature=related
-
I remember a world without Runescape.
-
I would suggest we take Pvp, which means we can finally do something about people who bug us and kill them as a group, unless you guys have a better idea?
I support this idea.
-
Contrary to what everyone seems to be inclined to believed, women can participate as well. It's called "no shave november" not "grow a beard november."
-
Stick driving is easy. I don't know what the Ffff you guys are talking about.
-
This is my stick.
it gud
edit:
PS that white car in the background is my brothers' pimp ass smart car with sound systems so huge he had to replace the doors with bigger ones to fit them.
-
You guys do know this guy made 500,000 pounds for doing this, right? Is that sad?
-
Here's the army of Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington who fought at the battle of Waterloo in 1815 against the French Grand Army. This set of figures was constructed and painted for nearly 45 years and they total at 25,000 man strength. That is 2 and a half Napoleonic Divisions of troops, complete with artillery, cavalry and officer corps along with medical staff. It gives you a glimpse of what the British Grand Army may have looked like if standing in close order all together.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqLoLKlbVuU&feature=related
-
Nation: Republic of Finland, Uusimaa (New-land)
Provider: Sonera (NEVER BUY FROM THEM. EVER. )
Cellphone: Nokia N97 (omg so many software bugs)
Rate plan: Base payment 25€, variable on calls. 22€c texting.
Features:
Unlimited data per month.
Annoying advertisments.
Never-ending signal cuts.
Text message spam.
Never works.
-
The number of small shards suggests that the landing gear was down and was sheared off on impact, transforming the gears into missiles that ripped the plane's undercarriage appart, causing the plane to separate into several pieces on impact. The damage will be highest directly behind the gear carriage and most distinct on the tail section of the plane. Due to the gear being down it is to be assumed that the aircraft was either in landing or take-off procedure, as lowering the landing gear during ditching isn't standard procedure at all and highly counter productive.
I suspect that the critical failure resulted from human error. The crew had forgotten to engage the deicing procedure before takeoff and as they climbed into higher altitude, the ice began to form and slowly brought the engine RPS down. The flight crew’s failure to use engine anti-ice during ground operation and takeoff resulted in a critical loss of airspeed, stalling the aircraft mid-air and it came down amidst a forested area with gears down.
Find the flight #, airport that the plane took off from, flight time and ATC2plane recordings.
-
In the immortal words of Sean Connery.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD5GtohtRYU&feature=related
-
If an enemy military has a bigger stick, we should either aim at disabling their stick or bringing out a bigger one. As much as I would love to say we can go up against multiple fleetships, AGLs and automatic weapons with Scar-Ls, that doesn't work today. The modern battlefield is a place where things such as tanks, armored fleetships, aircraft and high yield explosives are common place. We must either adapt our offensive capability to match today's standards (we don't want to play Scrabble in a Call of Duty game) or develop sufficient defensive measures to reduce our casualties, thus outpacing the enemy by bringing in a steady flow of reinforcements by manpower resupply or by starving their defenses with firepower, reducing their reinforcement output or obstructing their supply line.
Just because we pull out bigger guns or more guns doesn't mean we're the Call of Duty kid, it means we have the resources and power to outmatch an enemy that would normally outgun us, such as when attacking a dug in enemy in their own sim. There is no shame in calling in heavier ordnance onto the enemy when the situation demands it, or bringing in bombers to assault a position that is in fact, outgunned to clear the way for a ground advance.
I have never seen a commander stripped of rank or lose respect over a failed battle, unless they have committed a serious offence or have been negligent of rules, both of the enemy and our own code of conduct. I have been here close to two years now and I'm notoriously heavy handed with firepower and even criticized as "stupid" for launching full frontal assaults with tanks, infantry and aircraft when in reality: That may be the best option in some sims, such as Erebus Initiative (who are no longer with us) or Alliance Navy.
-
I know you'll only see this tomorrow but I have a question to ask.
Did they install those laser beams Davey requested?
-
-
Is that a Kar98 I spy behind that Mosin Nagant or do my eyes fool me?
-
media
Oh my Ffffing god yes.
-
French MREs are amazing. Still an MRE, sure. But better than every MRE out there.
Gnilley
in General Discussion
Posted
I'm going to record myself playing this game.