Chinese Weather Balloons, and Should You Worry About Them?

[jbsommerfeldt]

Hey, I saw him on stage a couple of weeks ago!

Yea right, if you sawed him on stage TMZ would have said something by now. Get real dude!

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

@ jbsommerfeldt

Don't forget which one you use to wipe your nose with and which one you wipe the sweat off
your face LOL The Ak canteen carriers were lined with rabbit fur to. And always have your misquote
netting that went over your helmet !!

The VB boots (Mickey Mouse) boots were nice but the Air Force lace up mukluks were killer

You mean these:


Notice, no fur. These they let us keep. Anything with animal fur we had to turn in on discharge or reassignment. I could have stole the fur stuff. Guys were selling parkas with real fur for $1k, Gauntlet gloves for $300, Fat Boy Pants for $500. Ronald Reagan was my Commander In Chief. I would never do anything to disparage his name the USA or God send me to hell if I break my OATH!

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

@ jbsommerfeldt

Don't forget which one you use to wipe your nose with and which one you wipe the sweat off
your face LOL The Ak canteen carriers were lined with rabbit fur to. And always have your misquote
netting that went over your helmet !!

The VB boots (Mickey Mouse) boots were nice but the Air Force lace up mukluks were killer

Didnt have the Mickey Mouse boots. They kinda had a bad rap with my buddies. I heard stories of guys not pressurizing them correctly and in a KC135 have a blow out. BTW: USAF we called them "bunnie boots" sounded more pussy to the Ft. Rich guys (i think)

 

[teepot]

I still have my bunnie boots. Everyone wanted to keep their parkas. My wife still has her parka. Just say you lost it. Oh Oh, what do you mean I have to pay for it. I knew a supply guy. When he found something that wasn't in the inventory he would take it back to his room. Had a foot locker full of stuff. Was in Denver in 1980. USAF.

 

[Cape Byron]

Yea right, if you sawed him on stage TMZ would have said something by now. Get real dude!

Brisbane, support act for the Chili Peppers. No word of a lie.

TMZ can kiss my hobby knife.

 

[teepot]

Oh yah. The balloon. I want to see it reassembled like the NTSB does for airplane crashes. Show the Chinses what we have and describe what each one does.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

I still have my bunnie boots. Everyone wanted to keep their parkas. My wife still has her parka. Just say you lost it. Oh Oh, what do you mean I have to pay for it. I knew a supply guy. When he found something that wasn't in the inventory he would take it back to his room. Had a foot locker full of stuff. Was in Denver in 1980. USAF.

Take a look at it real close. If its "real fur", what persco team were you on? Just curious.

 

[bobby_hamill]

@ @jbsommerfeldt

They be the ones . The early Black Boots were the ones called "Mickey Mouse" The
later white one were called VB Boots VB = Vapor Barrier Boots . The VB Boots had a small screw
valve you were supposed to open when in aircraft .

US Military Bunny Boots (Bata/Miner new)

We only carry genuine military surplus, no knockoffs! We have U.S. Army & Navy camo, uniforms, and gear from WWII to modern day. Find the army surplus gear you need!

go-armynavy.com

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Brisbane, support act for the Chili Peppers. No word of a lie.

TMZ can kiss my hobby knife.

Really, they cut Flea in half!

 

[bobby_hamill]

I was a Radio Repairman Attached to the 137 FA Headquarters Co.
With my Freddy FADAC ( M-18 ) computer training I was sent to Fort Rich
When I was at Ft Rich, Alaska was considered over seas Duty. So We were in the
states getting over seas duty pay

In 79 they did away with the Alaska Brown Beret head gear and a lot of us were upset about that .
The army had a crap load of batteries For the Pric 77 radio that were cold weather use. The battery pack
was in a harness that was worn under the Parka to keep the battery warm. Rather than discard them we came up with
a Rube Goldburg way of attaching the battery to the TacFire FDC Handheld calculator by way of a car cigarette lighter.

We had an NCO "loose an M16 in a creek aka river to me and the LT knowing I was diver certified airlifted my butt to the river
by chopper and I found the Weapon with in 24 hours. Thank God for the dry suit I was using !

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Did you get any DOD orders that Ft. Rich couldn't (not for any particular reason) issue? Meaning you had to go to Elemedorf AFB CBPO? Good chance that was me. Ive always wondered about people i typed orders for. 2 in specific break my heart. Navy didi bop guys that were eliminated in South America. Dont freak out everybody, this was in the eighties. Any knowledge i have is now certainly useless. I also had a deserter.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

I was a Radio Repairman Attached to the 137 FA Headquarters Co.
With my Freddy FADAC ( M-18 ) computer training I was sent to Fort Rich
When I was at Ft Rich, Alaska was considered over seas Duty. So We were in the
states getting over seas duty pay

In 79 they did away with the Alaska Brown Beret head gear and a lot of us were upset about that .
The army had a crap load of batteries For the Pric 77 radio that were cold weather use. The battery pack
was in a harness that was worn under the Parka to keep the battery warm. Rather than discard them we came up with
a Rube Goldburg way of attaching the battery to the TacFire FDC Handheld calculator by way of a car cigarette lighter.

We had an NCO "loose an M16 in a creek aka river to me and the LT knowing I was diver certified airlifted my butt to the river
by chopper and I found the Weapon with in 24 hours. Thank God for the dry suit I was using !

USAF had and still does AK and HI as overseas. In AK I not only got overseas pay, but overseas duty ribbon and AK dividend checks (once in awhile special hazardous duty pay ). I dont know the AK dividend checks now but when I left I got 4 at 1k +. Me, wife and two kids. $$$$ Man we gotta drill like crazy in every lower 48.

 

[teepot]

Take a look at it real close. If its "real fur", what persco team were you on? Just curious.

No fur. I was Security Police. Was at Buckley. Priority A resource.

 

[bobby_hamill]

we had 1 guy went AOL and after 2 months they just dropped him from the roll call. I don't know what
ever became of that.

When I was going through Radio School at Ft Sill Ok, Our classroom was on 2nd floor
and on the 1st floor directly below our class room was the Pershing Missile School. One of my buddies was a
Pershing Missile Crewman and took me on a tour the classroom. It was neat to see the Pershing in all of its glory !

My MOS was 31V F7. 31 Victor was radio repairman and Suffix F7 was for the FADAC . My stepsister was stationed at
Fort Lewis Wa when I was up in Ak. She was in a transportation unit

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

No fur. I was Security Police. Was at Buckley. Priority A resource.

Back in my day very few people got off of Elmendorf AFB with artic cold weather gear that had real fur. That's because the real fur was uncommon. An AFSC requiring it or PERSCO team would have had it. It was not given out as norm. Basic cold weather gear is what most got. That you could get away with a blink and a nod. It was not real fur.

 

[bobby_hamill]

When I got out they asked me did I want a plane ticket home or they would pay so much per mile
if I was gonna drive home . I quickly said I was gonna drive LOL
I use to take mac flights down to Ft Lewis to see my sister, 4 bucks for a noisy flight on a c130 or 300+ bucks
for a Alaska Airlines Ticket

 

[bobby_hamill]

you would see these adds on Ak TV at least 5 times a day

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

you would see these adds on Ak TV at least 5 times a day

Sacramento CA too!!!! I was stationed at McClellan AFB before it was shut down. Burned to the ground actually, on purpose.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Since us GIs have officially high jacked this thread:
I processed special orders at Elmendorf AFB, Barry Williams (Greg Brady) came up to do a USO show. I had to help him in process and get cold weather gear. Just the basics not artic. During processing he asked me about the "Alaskan Bush Company". I was like, seriously? He said well my friends said I gotta go check this place out. I told him, Ok its a strip club with sad looking naked dancers and a beer is gonna cost ya $12 (1980 dollars) + a $25 cover charge (again 1980 dollars). He said, your kidding and just laughed. He said never mind. I never saw him again.

 

[bobby_hamill]

Alaskan Bush Company.... 20 beautiful dancing women and 1 ugly one

 

[DAllen]

No, no, no....you're still not getting it.
At LEAST try to blame it on either Hillary or Trump (your choice), and then tell me what a fool I am for not realizing it.
C'mon, try to keep up.

Perhaps post something like...."Finally the stupid people with no common sense and IQ of 85 are telling all the smart people how stupid we really are"

ssixsixsix

There you go. And then when the post gets deleted per forum rules whine at the mods for being politically biased.

 

[kuririn]

From an article in the local paper, Carl Schuster, a former Navy captain and university instructor with a plausible explanation for why the Chinese took this seemingly inexplicable action:

"Schuster said that it’s unclear how much American officials actually knew about these operations and why they seemingly kept quiet until now, but asserted that the silence essentially acted as an invitation for Beijing to expand its apparent operations as “the perpetrator will conclude either that you can’t detect their actions or you don’t object.”

'“To suddenly react harshly to something you have ignored for one to three years creates the impression your motivation is driven by something more than the perpetrator’s actions,” said Schuster. “That doesn’t mean you take a military action, but rather issue a protest that the perpetrator’s actions are unacceptable and that you will not tolerate further incidents of that nature. As it was, our silence invited further balloon incursions and, by extension, a PRC (People’s Republic of China) miscalculation about the potential consequences of their actions.”'

 

[KenECoyote]

Yeah, let's not go the politics route... seems half the country thinks the other half is stupid, but it's actually both halves thinking the same.

Mama always said... "Kids... no fighting over a balloon!"

 

[kuririn]

In retrospect it appears that the appearance of a large balloon over Kauai (home of the Pacific Missile Test Range Facility) about a year ago may be one of the prior incursions the Pentagon mentioned. Jets were scrambled but the balloon was not shot down.
News video from that occasion:

Residents spotted a strange orb above Kauai. The military responded with jets

Some residents say it looked like military jets shot it down and some heard loud booms.

www.hawaiinewsnow.com

 

[NateB]

I saw a leaked picture of a new fighter weapon system being tested.

 

[H_Rocket]

I think it's the marrow in the bones that is beneficial.
View attachment 562302

Yum yum.

Well, then this should be right up your alley…

 

[flyingeagle]

From what I reading from the news media and I use that term loosely, they found that the balloon had explosives to detonate the balloon for what reason no one knows. Why would a weather balloon be carrying explosives to self destruct?

 

[CalebJ]

From what I reading from the news media and I use that term loosely, they found that the balloon had explosives to detonate the balloon for what reason no one knows. Why would a weather balloon be carrying explosives to self destruct?

Source?

 

[kuririn]

From what I reading from the news media and I use that term loosely, they found that the balloon had explosives to detonate the balloon for what reason no one knows. Why would a weather balloon be carrying explosives to self destruct?

First, I doubt that it's a weather balloon.
From what I have read it also had a parachute for the payload. So perhaps the explosive was to detonate when it drifted steered back over China and the chute was for payload recovery?

 

[boatgeek]

Well, this is ... fascinating. In a recent press briefing, the White House press secretary said that Congress was briefed on Chinese balloon surveillance back in August. We don't know (at the moment) who was in that briefing and what was discussed.