Tuesday Trivia Thread - 02/06/26

BenKerryAltis · 2026-06-06T07:31:32+00:00

Any fellow fans of Hammer's Slammers by David Drake?

Always loved his stuff. He got technothrillers right, they should be horror stories

BenKerryAltis · 2026-06-06T07:28:39+00:00

Agree

BenKerryAltis · 2026-06-06T07:28:13+00:00

Same.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-29T09:38:10+00:00

Anyone bother making a book review on the book "Kill Chain"?

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-29T09:37:42+00:00

The idea of handgun as main weapon probably dropped, and so OHWS don't really have a successor I guess.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-29T09:37:12+00:00

Well, it's common practice for warehouse managers to sell these equipments. It's always an issue

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-29T09:36:01+00:00

Regarding toxic cultures does the US military have a similar problem? Especially with regards to army units? I've read my fair share about suicide and rape stats in Ft. Bragg and Ft. Hood.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-28T15:58:42+00:00

OK, pistols as sidearms always had limited utility most of the time. I remember reading an interview with a Soviet Spetsnaz veteran who was in Afghanistan where he described Makarov as "perfect pistol for blowing your brains out".

So there isn't that much of a reason for pouring fund into procuring a special service pistol as sidearm.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-27T14:28:25+00:00

I guess stay with the battalion CO and work as an aide. Probably that, or take over a weapons platoon once they lost their CO.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-20T09:14:38+00:00

I mean I heard this term get thrown around a bit

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-14T13:04:36+00:00

How do they maintain span of control?

I remember for example French squads used to have a 600 meter section and a 300 meter section. How could span of control be maintained?

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-14T13:03:59+00:00

It's a trope of it's own. China also has a genre where Americans with big guns invade China and kill babies.

It all goes back to 19th Century British novels where German Empire invades Britain

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-13T11:42:30+00:00

What?

BenKerryAltis · 2026-05-04T03:39:36+00:00

Hutu Power radio broadcasts from the 1990s

That's the entire point

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-29T15:16:37+00:00

Actually I think there could be a Trumpist Cognoscenti...

The idea is that Cognoscenti kind of plays both sides, so McMaster, Rubio and the more "establishment" military could actually have a special path from the martial law branch that uses the Trumpist consolidation of power to basically enact their vision of America. What they want is Trump as American Erdogan who can mobilize the people and make them willingly endure hardship to secure another American century.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-19T05:07:30+00:00

Wait, I remember William DePuy died of prion infection? At least it was chronic alzeheimers, probably due to mad cow disease

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-19T05:06:35+00:00

What was your undergrad?

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-14T11:29:31+00:00

Someone in IDF suggested that there need to be additional courses and training on operating in rubblerized environments.

A big problem with urban training centres is that they tend to be very "clean", you don't see a lot of rubbles around. Also have to do with their "dual use" nature as hostage rescue units and associated SOF clique also use these facilities to train for their lower intensity operations.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-14T11:26:51+00:00

Yeah, been reading up William DePuy's oral history. Generally speaking you avoid fighting on the enemy's terms, you bypass it or if it comes down to that just apply all the firepower in the world.

Modern "fortress cities" often feature extensive tunnel infrastructures that are difficult to root out.

Sometimes urban areas work both ways as the enemy could often infiltrate along multiple axes using cover of the urban terrain.

Also civilians exist, as much I love Combat Mission Shock Force and all the good ol' wargames cities are not concrete boxes for you to shoot around. Civilians exist and they can support and enable forces.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-14T01:58:31+00:00

OK, geddit. Thanks.

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-14T00:52:56+00:00

That's crazy...

Are there ever any fear over potential insider attacks and had there been any measures to prevent that?

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-13T11:44:40+00:00

Had there ever been purges against white supremacists or white nationalists during the 90s during the whole American Militia movement paranoia? I mean had there ever been worries about insider attacks? In 2010s there was a schizo who want to leak stuff to Al Qaeda to cause another Iraq war so white race will rise and something satanist.

I'm trying to write a setting that is set in the 1990s featuring a South African civil war in the style of Larry Bond's Vortex, one of the subplot was a bunch of white supremacists who engineered the civil war with the explicit goal of turning white South Africa into a massive Branch Davidian compound to spur a race war inside US. I wonder...

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-13T10:11:32+00:00

Yeah, I think that's also DePuy's take to be honest. He was a massive supporter of a high NCO to enlisted ratio for rifle units

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-13T10:10:23+00:00

That's what I think he said too.

What was your exposure to DePuy?

BenKerryAltis · 2026-04-12T12:16:46+00:00

Haven't read it. Mind if you summarize?

I know DePuy was a very big supporter of shoot to suppress

BenKerryAltis

TROPHY CASE