Zero

Appreciate the good words-- it's always been about trying to make sense of this crazy ride. whether it's barbs and spears I'm throwing, or making reflections of, or commentary on, things I've seen--the artwork (and sometimes the writing) serves, for me at least, as the medium through which I'm exploring, coping, and sometimes trying to shape. There's more that's never seen the light of day (sometimes that's a good thing), and I'm working on (yet another) side project that puts everything together-- from the first days of the Dodo as a SMACK at the zoo, through eDodo and anything in between. There's a lot of started-but-never-finished projects in there... alot of things that started as good ideas but just ran out of time or inspiration... One of the projects that I still consider one of the greatest missed opportunity was an attempted collaboration with other mil cartoonists around the 2009 timeframe. Air Force Blues was at its heyday... the B-52 toon kicked ass, and there were mil cartoonists that were just killing it left and right. I had the idea that we could all get together on a collaboration that took our characters to a Red Flag-- the audience would see the same scene from multiple perspectives such as the initial mass brief-- each artist would tell a part of the story (and you'd see the others in the background or silhouetted to keep the continuity... it'd progress through the flying and culminate in an absolute riot of a Friday night that I envisioned would be like the hotel scene in the Reno 911 movie... and then we'd all retreat to our individual comics again with a slight walk-of-shame cloud hanging over us all in a "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" moment. Never even made it past the idea stage... and then we all just seemed to grow up overnight and our works were overcome by events. It is funny how things come full circle... and now being on the backside of the power curve, I feel like I've got a little more time to get back to the works. Man, it was so much easier when eDodo was around. Times have changed though... social media eclipsed most websites, and humor has been pushed into sound-byte clips that can be quickly digested by instagram users; I wonder how eDodo would even be received by the current generation, though I suspect that. like most cult-followings, it would take root again and flap its fat little wings to make waves... just like always. Cheers, Zero

Look what happens when you actually log in and make a comment rather than just lurking all the time! The Crate died in 2009 when it got hacked and I just didn't have the time to try to get it off of life support and back in the air. I restarted another blogsite over at Thunder and 30mm via wordpress (because any spare money goes to one kid in college and my young 'un in softball, so it's free and that's for me) https://thunderand30millimeter.wordpress.com/ There's a facebook mirror for all things A-10 and CAS specific under the same name as well. The Sandy stories are there, plus a Walking Dead fan-fiction I started (and am trying to get going again) that walks through the initial zombie apocalypse via a group stationed at DM when it all goes down-- there's a small Facebook page for it that has some of the art I did for the story as well. On the Facebook, I've kept some cartoons going via a couple of pages: my personal stuff is over at Crate of Thunder Productions-- some youth sports cartoons and caricatures, and starting to compile my nose art / A-10 ladder door collections. With eDodo going the way of the bird it was named for in 2009 also, I've kind of putzed around with a Dodo heritage idea on Facebook as well (The Dodo Campaign: Underground Commentary, Extinction and Resurrection); some cartoons occasionally going in there, including another hair-brained idea to revisit Stract Wars... as if I've got time for that! So, in short, once the Crate's own site fell apart, I scattered all over the place. But it's free, so there's that. Cheers, Zero

This article pops up every few months in different sources, always citing that 5:1 "kill" ratio that the 1978 exercise "proved." Here was the kicker in the data: the helos had no shot-kill criteria whatsoever. None. If they got their gun in the general vicinity of the fighter, without regard for range amongst all things... they called a "kill." The fighters involved in the "test" weren't aware of the helos self-designed kill criteria until the debrief. There's still a few silver-backs around that had first or second-hand knowledge of this one if you look hard enough through your community-- probably the blue hair that shows up in the bar once a year and empties the squadron's Jack supply... Had this occurred in the modern sense, the Army crews would have had to take out loans to repay all of their invalid kill calls. A fighter can't turn with a helo-- the things can hover, pedal-turn, and hid behind scrub brush. You stay high and outside where they can't see you, and you pop 'em from long range-- similar to the way experienced fighters engage Hogs. Cheers, Zero

It's a simple equation...

Greets all, Standard disclaimer--long time listener, first time caller... For anyone who is familiar with the rescue of Marcus Luttrell in July 2005 as part of Operation Redwings, there is a foundation that he is helping to launch next weekend that will provide a rehabilitation, rest, recovery, and reintegration facility in Texas for wounded and returning warriors-- Lone Survivor Foundation and the Lone Survivor Ranch. My involvement with that mission 5 years ago started by flying Hogs as one of two Sandy Ones that we had deployed with the 74th EFS. There's stories aplenty in that vein, but that's not the point of this post. In looking for more info about the mission, I stumbled across the Lone Survivor Foundation and have been talking on and off with the folks who are bringing it to fruition. What I'd like to solicit from this esteemed assembly is ideas or ways forward on moving Gulab, the Afghani tribesman who sheltered Marcus from the Taliban, from Bagram to Houston for the event on Saturday. Yes, I realize that this provides less than a week. The folks running the foundation are associated with JSOC, and are pursuing those leads for using their own rotator as a primary option, but asked if I could look into any other options as a USAFE strap-hangin' staff bum. Since those offices ain't openin' for another 36 hours, I figured I'd start here and see if anyone had some ideas. I have access to SMS, and it looks like there are options to move him from Bagram to USAFE, or even further on to CONUS- the specifics aren't imortant (OPSEC obviously), but the details are what will make or break the endeavor. Here's what I know so far: Gulab will be getting his Visa for travel to the US within the next couple of days (no specific timeline ID'd...) He'll be travelling with one Terp and a GS employee who will be getting him to Bagram. What else would be needed, and at what level would approval need to come from-- local to Bagram, or higher? Anyone ever done something like this before? I'm not looking for solutions, just ideas, advice, or point-outs from folks in the know- I'm in the staff trenches at USAFE (Weapons and Tactics)and can work my airlift contacts on Monday to see what other ideas might be out there, as well as do any of the heavy-lifting staff queep that can be done before I head out on Thursday to start making my way back to the states for the event. We've also got a USAFE Weapons Officer from our shop at Bagram Wing Weapons, which may help as well. It's an under-the-gun crunch time that will hopefully be OBE by the foundation folks working within their own scheme of influence in the JSOC / SOCOM channels. But, I offered assistance where possible, and I humbly ask for any advice or point-outs. Thoughts? Possible / Impossible? For more info on the foundation, here's their website is at: www.lonesurvivorfoundation.org Thanks in advance for any thoughts that might be out there- PM me for details or my .af.mil email for more official correspondence. Cheers, Zero