The army and the Marines have an ongoing dispute (the army is much bigger and probably isn’t much aware of it) with respect to which is better, the army’s Blue Force Tracker or the Marines’ C2PC via EPLRS. Like any software made by the Marines, C2PC is clunky, slow, and hard to work with. But it is encrypted. The army system is easy to use, fast, handy and it works right all the time. The problem is that BFT isn’t encrypted (this was several years ago, I had heard they were changing that, let’s hope so). So, if you knew how to get at the BFT data you could see where everyone is all the time.

via The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » It’s Cheap to Hack a Drone.

This is in the comments to a post about the fact that drone video streams are not encrypted. Amateur hour. And in the comments they say that the blue force tracker isn’t encrypted either? WTF?! We’re broadcasting our troop locations out there for everyone to see… wow, these people deserve to be shot. Instead, it’s our Marines and soldiers who will be shot, while the idiots who put this system in place will get promoted and lucrative private sector jobs.

While the national security team discusses the long-term challenge, the Justice Department said it was deliberating whether to try the lone surviving pirate in the United States or to turn him over to Kenya for trial. The rescue of Captain Phillips drew widespread praise for the Navy and Mr. Obama, but some experts warned that it could escalate the campaign by Somali pirates who have vowed to take revenge on Americans and are holding more than 200 hostages from other countries.

I think a quote from G. W. Bush is in order here.

Bring. It. On.

“…to the shores of Tripoli…”

With the “Black Hawk Down” episode in Somalia in 1993, where two American helicopters were shot down and 18 American soldiers were killed, still in the American consciousness, Mr. Obama and his advisers are wary of becoming deeply involved in the region again. That wariness comes at a time when Mr. Obama is already trying end a war in Iraq and win another in Afghanistan. White House officials on Monday played down suggestions that the United States could attack pirate bases on shore, portraying that as unlikely.

Really, why the hell not? It’s not like the goal here is regime change, or nation-building. Nation-building, I realize now, is a really bad idea. But what’s wrong with just showing up and causing some havoc?

Eyl, Somalia:

Remember that the pain is a gift, and men have overcome far worse. When your training results in injury, remember that there are those whose injuries dwarf yours by degrees of magnitude, men who would kill for the right to feel a strained Achilles or a jammed thumb. They will not quit regardless of the odds, and you will not disgrace their example.

The next time your muscles protest or you feel a callus give way, be thankful for the feeling, and the comparative ease with which you train every day. Be thankful for the gift that is your body, and the pain that it brings.

In Northern Texas, there are twenty men battling to reclaim lost capacity, showing the world that injury is not an endpoint, that sacrifice does not end in martyrdom. Their courage is physical and mental, and their lesson is one that will serve far beyond their lifetimes.

– Jon Gilson

Operation Phoenix is a CrossFit Foundation initiative that will raise the necessary funds to equip the entire United States Marine Corps with functional fitness equipment to increase combat preparedness, reduce injury, and strengthen unit cohesion. This will be accomplished through non-profit sales, corporate sponsorships, and individual donations. Every penny raised will go directly to “America’s Fighting Force,” the USMC.