![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribCranks and Arguing With Same
So John Scalzi is having an argument with some crank on the Internet. I suspect I know which crank, and said crank has his crank dial turned up to 12, or maybe even 13. Having said that, arguing with cranks is like mud-wrestling with a pig - you'll get dirty and the pig kind of likes it. Personally, I try (and don't always succeed) to restrict my crank-wrestling to cases where the crank is obviously and factually wrong.
Guns in the (US) Military
When I was in the US Navy (1985-1994) when a ship was in port in the US, there was exactly one (1) gun not locked up in the armory or a ready locker. This was a 45-caliber pistol (M-1911, WWII-vintage) carried by the Petty Officer of the Watch (POOW). He (and it was always a he back then) stood on the brow or ramp leading up to the ship from the pier. The pistol was kept unloaded, and the POOW had two magazines with 5 rounds each. He would only load a magazine when told by the Officer of the Deck (OOD), and only chamber a round on an additional order from the OOD.
Then one day we pulled into port and the POOW had a nightstick instead of a gun. I asked our ship's weapons officer why, and was told words to the effect of "the only time that gun gets used is when a POOW decides to shoot himself." So no guns for the POOW.
Militaries operate in response to their threat levels. In the US, the threat is accidental or unauthorized discharge, so the solution is keep the guns locked up. In Israel, the threat is terrorist attack, so the solution is to carry your gun everywhere.
This phenomenon carries over to other military activities. In the US, Pearl Harbor was a devastating attack, so we spent most of the Cold War with units on a hair-trigger alert. The Soviets also suffered a surprise attack, but that wasn't nearly as devastating. Also, they couldn't trust their officers like we could. As a result, most Soviet ICBMs were never armed with warheads.
History drives current conduct.
So John Scalzi is having an argument with some crank on the Internet. I suspect I know which crank, and said crank has his crank dial turned up to 12, or maybe even 13. Having said that, arguing with cranks is like mud-wrestling with a pig - you'll get dirty and the pig kind of likes it. Personally, I try (and don't always succeed) to restrict my crank-wrestling to cases where the crank is obviously and factually wrong.
Guns in the (US) Military
When I was in the US Navy (1985-1994) when a ship was in port in the US, there was exactly one (1) gun not locked up in the armory or a ready locker. This was a 45-caliber pistol (M-1911, WWII-vintage) carried by the Petty Officer of the Watch (POOW). He (and it was always a he back then) stood on the brow or ramp leading up to the ship from the pier. The pistol was kept unloaded, and the POOW had two magazines with 5 rounds each. He would only load a magazine when told by the Officer of the Deck (OOD), and only chamber a round on an additional order from the OOD.
Then one day we pulled into port and the POOW had a nightstick instead of a gun. I asked our ship's weapons officer why, and was told words to the effect of "the only time that gun gets used is when a POOW decides to shoot himself." So no guns for the POOW.
Militaries operate in response to their threat levels. In the US, the threat is accidental or unauthorized discharge, so the solution is keep the guns locked up. In Israel, the threat is terrorist attack, so the solution is to carry your gun everywhere.
This phenomenon carries over to other military activities. In the US, Pearl Harbor was a devastating attack, so we spent most of the Cold War with units on a hair-trigger alert. The Soviets also suffered a surprise attack, but that wasn't nearly as devastating. Also, they couldn't trust their officers like we could. As a result, most Soviet ICBMs were never armed with warheads.
History drives current conduct.
