What a weekend.
Anyway, I'm back at work. New stuff for tomorrow on the two-stage war against Saddam, how the Democrats still don't get it, and some bloggy goodness from around the Blogosphere™. (That's 15 cents I owe Bill now.)
The response to my last post from Friday has me wondering. Are reading comprehension skills dropping, or did no one bother to read all of Dunnigan's words or my comments?
What Dunnigan argued, and I echoed, is that the era of the tank as the primary means of land warfare is slowly ending. Now, what words there led people to believe that anyone wants to scrap the M-1 or end all future tank development?
W'at? We 'ave to read your posts before commenting on them? ;-)
I ask too much sometimes, I know.
I read it. I disagree with Dunnigan.
We tankers are a touchy lot, Stephen. When someone starts talking about us becoming irrelevant, sometimes we get a little upset.
Also, it's been said many times in the past, so we tend to think it's all just a crock.
We read it, Stephen, we just don't agree. Armor will continue its dominance especially in the offense.
Also, there's probably been a few too many funerals held for the main weapons of war.
In the brief time that I've watched this stuff, I've seen:
Anti-tank guided missiles spell the end of tanks.
Anti-ship missiles spell the end of anything bigger than a patrol boat.
Shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles end the era of the modern combat aircraft.
Reactive armor spell the end of anti-tank guided missiles.
The submarine (specifically Soviet sub fleet) spell the end of carrier battlegroups.
And the end of the Cold War justifying the end of just about every aircraft, tank, helo, and ship program out there.
Every time, it was some kind of cheap and/or technologically sophisticated item which was going to kill off the leader.
Not to mention all the crapola about the M-1 in particular: guzzled gas, too heavy, gas turbine engine wouldn't work, IR signature too high, sights excessive, vetronics wouldn't work, gun too LONG-ranged (yep, when they were shifting to the 120mm), too little ammo storage (ditto). And, of course, too expensive. It's a friggin' miracle the thing was built, in the end.
Not sayin' Dunnigan necessarily said any of these things (or you), but you get tired of all the doom-and-gloom predictions after a while.....
Better pay Bill more than 15 cents. 11/11 was not a good day for the blogosphere.
