Satchel

An economically "strong" country with enormous potential for middle east standards needs a strong leader, that´s someone you do not shake off-the-cuff, like it´s happened in Afghanistan. The opposing parties in Iraq are to weak to take over that job, while Arab countries like Syria won´t accept a pro US or pro Israeli government. The complicating issue are the strong anti western sentiments in the middle east region, especially if an arab country attacked. To replace an arab government with US sympathizing lackeys is something that would be build virtually on sand, not only because of religious belief and sentiments, but also because the Oil production could reach heights it would never achive under a suppressed and controlled Iraq ruled by Saddam. If these and other productions would be efficiant in a possible post war scenario, it surely isn´t in the best interest of countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran that too have a oil based economy and exports they rely on, Syria with it´s ever decreasing economy and strive for export partners could suffer the worst from this. This scenario could led to further destabilization of the whole region. The worst case scenario if establishment of a new government fails, could be a conflict on all levels between Iran, Syra and Turkey fighting for chunks of Iraq and it´s resources. If intervening on a military basis somewhere, you don´t go in without knowing exactly what you want there, how to achive it, and how to get out smoothly again, without making the situation worse than it had been before. In that sense i didn´t read, saw or hear any thought out plans and reforms from Mr. Bush on the issue, all i hear is "We must remove him, he´s a threat"- that´s not much of a strategy.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (grey @ Sep. 26 2002,17:57)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">since when does any helicopter in this game survive a direct hit with a 120mm cannon ? what have u been smoking <span id='postcolor'> Thanks, but i´m not smoking, neither do i play on cadet. In resistance 1.75 try the following, position a KA-50 or MI-24 in the editor, choose "flying" and type into the intitialization field "this flyinheight 20" without the quotation marks. Place a waypoint directly above the AC´s, set to "careless" and "never fire". Now position yourself into an M1 as gunner or commander in front of the helicopter 300+ meters distance, choose HEAT or AP and target the engine housing just below the rotor or crew compartment, let me know your results. Out of 5 tests: MI-24 AP resist 5/5 MI-24 HEAT resist 0/5- Note the AC wasn´t destroyed and had no visible damage, just the crew ejected everytime- Helicopter was still operational afterwards. KA-50 AP resist 0/5 KA-50 HEAT resist 5/5

7--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (foxer @ Sep. 26 2002,217)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Take out iraq name outta what your saying and put afghanistan,That what's people said about what was going to happen in afghanistan.... CLOSED.     This thread is going off topic..<span id='postcolor'> Afghanistan belongs to southern asia not the middle east, is no OPEC member and is an ongoing operation. It´s an economically extremely poor country compared to Iraq, it´s influence in the arabic world very limited. However lets see what happens if ISAF is withdrawn from the area, shall we?

I already thought the term "Axis of evil" sounds familar to me...Japan, Italy, Nazi Germany anyone? According to Bush´s statement the majority on this planet are branded terrorists, located everywhere, from the White House to the Kreml, as they do not support or question his cause.....after all it were the Allies making the forming of a strong constitutional state in Germany possible after the war, and we hold on to it till today, it´s a thing of national identity and morality. That´s why a "patriot act" restraining basic human rights would be unthinkable in Germany. May be one of the reasons why we are unmarketable for military and political adventures with uncertain outcome and questionable motivations.

The major gripe i have with vehicles in general, to include fixed and rotary wing A/C, are the physics. A few examples: <ul> [*]If a helicopter or jet hits an Object or earth surface, it bounces around like a rubber ball. Same if an AC is hit by cannon- or missile fire, caused by the impact AC´s can even stop forward flight, going backwards and/or sideways, flipping over like toys, as if they have very little mass and momentum, or beeing operated in a low gravity environment. [*]You can start and land a fixed wing AC perfectly on any terrain. It not only makes airstrips neglectable, but is also unreal. [*]Damage physics do need improvement, a helicopter, doesn´t matter what type, that survives a direct hit on normally vital parts from a 120mm HEAT, HE-FRAG or APFSDS munition is just not real. The linear decrement of overall hitpoints upon substraction of weapon damage capability is also a bit on the simple side, i often feel like fighting the level boss in arcade games when going against vehicles in OFP, mostly it doesn´t become evident they have different hit locations with different strengths and vital components. The cockpit implementation of AC also leaves alot to be desired, the fuzzy and blurry instrument gauges on the else non functional panel bitmaps are pretty much unreadable and don´t serve a purpose, as they display basically the same information the omnipresent arcade HUD is presenting, with difference that the "HUD" is usable for navigation and SA. If removing the Arcade HUD and placing all info devices (Gauges, MFD´s, HUD) into the cockpit while making them readable, it would do a great deal to immersion and realism. Other than that weapon system realism, but that´s too much to list.

If an unofficial commerical "expansion pack" would sport quality and features that couldn´t be achived by the modding community that is working on a free distribution basis, i would buy it, doesn´t matter if authorized by BIS or not. To top the quality that some community addons feature however, you´d have to be an extremly capable artist and knowledgeable on the subject. I´ve seen addons on a free basis that exceed the work of commercial software done by "professionals" by far. Apart from that i´m all against making addons liable for costs, as it´s against the principle most addon creators work for, it´s done not so much with the community in mind, but rather the buck.

Without strong national leaders there will be a power vacuum after a Regime fall in Iraq, which in return would make it quite impossible for the US to enforce the reforms they envision. Furthermore it is likely that further radicalization of  extremistic movements in arabic countries occur after an US Invasion in Iraq, an issue seeming rather undiscussed in the US government, talking about pouring fuel into a fire. Generally the "Axis of evil" charade and "War on terror" campaign doesn´t take into account that Terror has no boundaries, one simply doesn´t fight terrorism at a front, it´s an essential mistake of the Bush government. The worst thing for Bush would be another terror assault striking the US during the Iraq invasion. It would tell the world, and most importantly the US population, that Bush is fighting at the wrong front. If the Iraq campaign itself should fail, Bush would not only be referred too as the man with the gun in his hand and finger on the trigger, but would also be held accountable for the lasting economic recession in the states, which a successfull Iraq campaign could eventually help. Terror always has political roots, in most cases it´s about power. Without domestically reforming middle east countries on a political basis, you do not solve the problem but make it worse, in that sense Bush takes a very high risk with invading Iraq.

New soldier models indeed would be nice. As we have a rather "wild" mix of equipment that bend the timeline from the 80´s into the late 90´s (i.e. G36, KA-50), there wouldn´t be a conflicting issue with actual modern issued uniforms and gear replacing the existent models. But who knows what BIS might have in store for us with Independance Lost (is it still alive?), if only more info about it would come through the pipe.

First off i have tons of fun with the HK pack, and consider it an OFP essential everyone should have, because it´s simply great addon. Personally i know quite well that it can be a pain in the ass, and takes quite alot of time to get the weapons audio print of an addon somewhere near to what it sounds in real life. As reference for those who did the HK addon, or anyone who wants to know what an MG3 sounds like in real life,  i uploaded 2 videos with acceptable sound quality to sample from. The first video featuring a group strength defensive live-fire shooting exercise from a 2 ton truck, using G36´s and an MG3. You can view/download the video here (NOTE: YOU NEED THE LATEST DIVX CODEC http://www.divx.com/divx  ) G36/MG3 Video I The second video features firing of an MG3 from a 2 ton truck, G36´s are less dominant although you hear them at the end on semi auto. MG3 Video II  Quite some high ROF for an 7.62mm x 51mm machinegun isn´t it, you get the idea why allied soldiers in WW2 referred to the MG42 as making a sound like ripping canvas after watching these vids.... and the MG3 already has been toned down in comparison to the MG42. For comparison, the M249 SAW although of smaller calibre (5.56mm x 45mm) has a Rate of Fire of 750 rpm versus the MG3´s 1150 RPM.

I don´t know if Karma would drag down performance considerably, a code that is complex, but well and efficiantly written might be in the end faster than a code not as efficiantly- think about OFP´s initial netcode. Seeing the engine in action (UT2K3) and in some demos you can download from the developers HP: http://www.mathengine.com , all i can say is outstanding! Even if it would have a minor impact on performance, i would be glady sacrifying it if no longer falling through building walls, don´t have skiing tracked vehicles anymore, bouncing objects and vehicles of all sorts, submergeable helicopters and the like. Karma provides fast and stable physics modeling, particularly rigid-body dynamics and collision detection, suitable for use in interactive 3D applications. Using the Karma physics libraries, it is possible to create sophisticated environments that accurately predict object movement in any environment. Karma provides a foundation that can be used in everything from games to virtual reality simulations. Dynamics Karma can be used to build realistic articulated rigid-body simulations, including the use of multiple joint types, soft and hard joint limits and spring-like recreation with multiple nodes as needed. • Manages several joint types and several actuation models. •Simulates hard contact constraints with no interpenetration. •Provides a fast and stable friction model. Collision Detection Karma provides advanced algorithms that are optimized to calculate the collisions between a variety of objects such as geometrical primitives (spheres, boxes and cylinders) for object-to-object collision detection, as well as more advanced types such as convex and even arbitrary polygon meshes. • Selectable geometry types with fast, tunable, collision detection and contact generation for stable collision response. •Efficient handling of large number of objects. •Time of impact estimates. •Flexible plugin architecture allowing selective type linking user geometry types. Karma is available for Microsoft Windows, and Linux operating systems. For extended functionality, it can be supported to be integrated with third party APIs. Why choose Karma? Efficient Our pre-built, pre-tested, fully-documented libraries mean you can reduce overall development time so you can get your product to market faster than ever. Your development team can focus their energies where they add the most value: making your application best-of-class. Fast Using Karma means you can simulate large systems of bodies in real-time for interactive simulations. Speed is assured by using a very fast solver that calculates realistic looking contacts and stable assemblies. Stable By using Karma you don't have to spend time fixing problems. The product benefits from wide usage in many industries - all contributing to its overall robustness and stability.

I have been absent for a while, so i don´t know much about OFP´s current multiplayer popularity, however for all those liking games with a straight military approach in a roughly believable manner, OFP should be still a game of choice if you throw everything into a pot, despite all bugs and things that do need considerable improvement. And so OFP is for me, after playing relatively polished games like Americas Army, Battlefield 1942 and Delta Force:Blackhawk Down, i came to the conclusion that they are all different from OFP, and although they´re fun to play and looking great on the visual side, they cannot "replace" it. All these games listed are nice in one or the other way, however, as OFP they lack certain areas; Americas Army is skirmish in a sandbox concentrating on a small unit theme (for now), Battlefield 1942 has somewhat jerky robot-like animations (way more so than OFP robots) and is situated more on the action side of things, Delta Force:Blackhawk Down features bunnyhopping, medipack collecting and jerky animations the like. Now all these games listed are primary trimmed towards multiplayer, which leaves the single player component probably a bit behind of what OFP features with it´s AI, large islands and terrain features, large scale combined arms battles and powerfull mission editor. However, no question OFP is aging and still has major issues, needing a "marshall plan" from ground up that goes beyond the improvements that shipped with Resistance. Whether that be in form of OFP2 (Independance lost ?), or in a major update with rewritten physics- (although bouncing vehicles and sliding tanks already have "cult" status), graphics- and sound engine. P.S.:The Karma physics engine would surely look good in OFP .

I´d love to see the following for OFP 2: <ul> [*] Modern scenario with according equipment. [*] Engine supporting OpenGL. [*] New, generally overhauled Infantry models, including quantitative as quality-wise reworked animations and model  to make it visually more realistic, like; - Corrected Weapon body alignment; Hands-weapon, Head-weapon (aiming line), Shoulder-Buttstock. - Corrected general infantry model standing position, i don´t know about others, but i don´t stand upright while my legs are O-wise bend sideways, while going into my knees. - Better running animations. - Revisited shooting positions and recoil animations; standing, crouched, prone. - Reload animations, like actually seeing a new magazine inserted and the round properly loaded if the mag was shot empty before (*cough** cough*, <span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>Americas Army</span> should be reference there). - Re-done "Walking with weapon aimed". - Patrol walking, weapon lowered walking slowly. - High poly Infantry models, including chinstraps on helmets, better equipment detail on load bearing vest/harness (optimally you´d see what the character is actually equipped with, example: number of handgrenades, nvg, magazine pouches), Rucksacks for all (to increase equipment that can be carried, could be handled similar to storage boxes). - Ability to swim. - scope and iron sights animation if using a rifle with optics, like zooming in and out to/from the eye. [*] Improved vehicles, including; - more realistic driving physics - ability to fire more than one weapon simultaniously from different crewstations, like an AA MG for the commander, several port- and starboard weapons from a helicopter. - Vehicle doors and ramps actually opening and closing upon embark/disembark - "Action Hud" replaced by more realistic interfaces, like radars for AA vehicles, Thermal/IR optics for tanks, as an example. - functional LST, or even better an Tarawa class carrier including LCAC´s. - Better damage modelling, both visually and physically, for vehicles. - dirt, not only dust, kicking up when heavy tracked or wheeled vehicles move through grass or mud. [*] Indirect fire system introduction (Artillery, mortars),  however, it shouldn´t be to simplistic like point&click on the screen. [*] Realistic weapon behaviour, especially for Missiles. [*] Improved visual SFX, such as explosions, tracers, bouncing tracers and other special effects.   [*] Fixed clipping problems, indoor fighting more solid. [*] More extensive and large interior building designs. [*] High Res sky textures, better water textures, transparent in shore vicinity. [*] Different seasons, like winter and summer, including snowfall, improved rain etc. [*] Ability to choose your own character in multiplayergames, as for now you can only take what the mission designer put on the map before- if it´s 20 machine gunners, you´ll have to take one of those. The limitations for vehicles however should remain (made available and placed by the mission designer). [*] Time fused handgrenades, not the impact ones. [*] accessable structures below surface level, like trenches, foxholes, fighting positions. [*] Something inbetween "dead" and "injured but ready to continue", like incapacitated. Could be usefull for MEDEVAC´s, you don´t loose squadmembers completely (and therefore their experience), but their service for 1 or 2 missions, as they need time to recover. [*] Fully dynamic campaign, full player control over available forces at his disposal and mission selection. Player could allocate forces to missions, and select the mission objective(s), and how/when (time of day) the mission will be done. A realtime Jstars/ strategic/tactical map could inform the player about the forward line of defense of own an enemy troops. [*] In reference to above points, a better worked out Role playing- and unit managing part. How about an CO field office/ Tactical Operation Centre with soldier dossiers for the single player campaign part, and options to manage your squad and select operations/missions yourself. [*] Reward the player for good performance with medals and/or promotions. Thats it for now Â

I´d love to see the following for OFP 2: <ul> [*] Modern scenario with according equipment. [*] Engine supporting OpenGL. [*] New, generally overhauled Infantry models, including quantitative as quality-wise reworked animations and model  to make it visually more realistic, like; - Corrected Weapon body alignment; Hands-weapon, Head-weapon (aiming line), Shoulder-Buttstock. - Corrected general infantry model standing position, i don´t know about others, but i don´t stand upright while my legs are O-wise bend sideways, while going into my knees. - Better running animations. - Revisited shooting positions and recoil animations; standing, crouched, prone. - Reload animations, like actually seeing a new magazine inserted and the round properly loaded if the mag was shot empty before (*cough** cough*, <span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>Americas Army</span> should be reference there). - Re-done "Walking with weapon aimed". - Patrol walking, weapon lowered walking slowly. - High poly Infantry models, including chinstraps on helmets, better equipment detail on load bearing vest/harness (optimally you´d see what the character is actually equipped with, example: number of handgrenades, nvg, magazine pouches), Rucksacks for all (to increase equipment that can be carried, could be handled similar to storage boxes). - Ability to swim. - scope and iron sights animation if using a rifle with optics, like zooming in and out to/from the eye. [*] Improved vehicles, including; - more realistic driving physics - ability to fire more than one weapon simultaniously from different crewstations, like an AA MG for the commander, several port- and starboard weapons from a helicopter. - Vehicle doors and ramps actually opening and closing upon embark/disembark - "Action Hud" replaced by more realistic interfaces, like radars for AA vehicles, Thermal/IR optics for tanks, as an example. - functional LST, or even better an Tarawa class carrier including LCAC´s. - Better damage modelling, both visually and physically, for vehicles. - dirt, not only dust, kicking up when heavy tracked or wheeled vehicles move through grass or mud. [*] Indirect fire system introduction (Artillery, mortars),  however, it shouldn´t be to simplistic like point&click on the screen. [*] Realistic weapon behaviour, especially for Missiles. [*] Improved visual SFX, such as explosions, tracers, bouncing tracers and other special effects.   [*] Fixed clipping problems, indoor fighting more solid. [*] More extensive and large interior building designs. [*] High Res sky textures, better water textures, transparent in shore vicinity. [*] Different seasons, like winter and summer, including snowfall, improved rain etc. [*] Ability to choose your own character in multiplayergames, as for now you can only take what the mission designer put on the map before- if it´s 20 machine gunners, you´ll have to take one of those. The limitations for vehicles however should remain (made available and placed by the mission designer). [*] Time fused handgrenades, not the impact ones. [*] accessable structures below surface level, like trenches, foxholes, fighting positions. [*] Something inbetween "dead" and "injured but ready to continue", like incapacitated. Could be usefull for MEDEVAC´s, you don´t loose squadmembers completely (and therefore their experience), but their service for 1 or 2 missions, as they need time to recover. [*] Fully dynamic campaign, full player control over available forces at his disposal and mission selection. Player could allocate forces to missions, and select the mission objective(s), and how/when (time of day) the mission will be done. A realtime Jstars/ strategic/tactical map could inform the player about the forward line of defense of own an enemy troops. [*] In reference to above points, a better worked out Role playing- and unit managing part. How about an CO field office/ Tactical Operation Centre with soldier dossiers for the single player campaign part, and options to manage your squad and select operations/missions yourself. [*] Reward the player for good performance with medals and/or promotions. Thats it for now Â

Actually there had been German Sniper Training Schools and courses; for the Wehrmacht the Infanterieschule (Doeberitz), Scharfschützen-Ausbildungs-Kompanie II of the Wehrkreis II (Groß Born) and other units which conducted such training. The necessity for trained and equipped snipers became obvious to the German Command shortly after beginning of the 2nd WW. After the start of the Barbarossa campaign, and first encounters with well trained, well equipped Russian snipers, everything that had been missed in regards to sniper training and outfitting in the former years had to be catched up for.  The actual trained sniper employment took place independently on battalion level, where snipers would be combined in platoons, and could be used in main focus whereever they were needed. On Combat Company level additonally so called "Zielfernrohrschuetzen" were used, which is basically an infantryman without particular sniper training, but an optic-aided weapon for precision shooting he is equipped with. Museum pic: German Sniper on a pole, such things you don´t learn as a normal infantryman.

Many aircraft go down because of human error, the weakest part in the chain and greatest factor i guess , if it´s not for catastrophic mechanical/electronical failures. Correct countermeassures in, or shortly before, a failure situation could have surely prevented some of the crashes in history. The rank a pilot has, is not automatically a guarantee for professionalism, responsibility or capabilities- such as a german Bundeswehr SAR UH-1 crashed some time ago because it´s senior aircrew partied heavy the night before, with the pilot doing mad maneuvers the next day, leading to death of all passengers. There are many things, such as little sleep, not beeing concentrated or simply trying to pull extra radical maneuvers while ignoring the A/C limits to impress the visitors that could have led to the crash, among mechanical/electronical failures of the catastrophic sort. If it should proove human error, such as a stall because stressing the flight envelope limits too much, i guess one can speak of unprofessional and irresponsible behaviour mixed with insufficent preparation, especially when flying at an airshow low level over visitor crowds-colonel or not.

It´s a sad tragedy, aircraft are falling out of the sky like bricks. Just a day after the catastrophe during the Lwiw flight show,  a second combat aircraft crashed in the Ukraine. As reported by Itar-Tass under reference to the defense ministry in Kiew, a SU-25 crashed during a test flight, killing the pilot.  The crash happened at the military airport of Saporoschje, just after the machine had maintenance and repair. Minister of Defense Schkidtschenko announced his resignation because of these incidents. As i wasn´t enough with the crashes, in Moscow an Iljuschin Il-86 crashed today, killing 14 of the 16 passengers. The eastern block builds some great planes, but if maintenance is bad and/or they are flown by inexperienced  insufficent trained pilots, such things happen.

While it had been predictable that civil rights would be suffering under 9/11 as it has announced itself in the patriot act, Bush now concretizes how total control and restriction of basic individual rights on freedom will look like. It seems the Bush administration is striving to form the western equivalent to the STASI state, as seen in the former eastern germany. Under acronym "Tips" (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) Bush tries to form a "Citizen corps" whose task will be, among others, to spy on other americans to report for suspicious activities. According to statements of the central of constitutional law in New York, about 1 informant keeping eyes and ears open for the government will come on 24 citizens in the pilot project. Therefore the snitch-quota will be higher in the US as it has ever been in the DDR. The "Citizen Corps" will consist of five powerful divisions: The "CERT" (Community Emergency Response team), the Medical reserve Corps (group of employments for medical supply), the initiative Neighborhood Watch (neighbourhood monitoring), the "VIPS" (Volunteers in policy service) and "TIP" (Terrorism information and Prevention system). The Bush administration envisions that all Americans putting about two years of their life into the service of the security of their country - in 4000 hours of service divided on their lifetime. The administartion hopes to win primary people working in public areas or at interfaces between public area and privat life. Bus drivers, postmen, telephonists, truck drivers, electricity -, gas or water servicers, conductors, Ship crews and dock workers are to go with sharpened senses and the will through the world to call a particular number free of charge if somewhat seems suspicious to them.  Alone on the organsation "Citzen Corps" Bush intends to spend 560 Million US Dollar, but altogether budgets for "Home Defense" will be much bigger. The Department for national security as concepted by Bush will have about 170.000 employees, and will be extended to one of the biggest governmental Institutions within the U.S. A yearly budget of 37,4 Billion US $ is intended to be invested in it. I think the U.S. under Bush is on it´s best way to go backwards in time, back to the days of an Edgar Hoover keeping blacklists of political opponents, an easy way to justify riddance of inconvenient adversaries in all classes of society. An environment where pompous asses, brown noses, intrusive slime balls and Peeping Toms have their magic hours and live up to the fullest. A witchhunt on different skin colors, religions or political beliefs is likely to be the result.

To many factors playing into, you cant really calculate something like this...a straying bullet or shrapnel might put your life to an end, an accident, friendly fire or what not. Todays weapon systems are more efficiant and lethal than they ever had been, sensors and surveillance systems are so sophisticated that you have practically hardly a place to hide. If 2 armies of the same force strength, setup and technologys would clash, deaths would be very rapid i guess.

20.) Always deplete at least a full magazine load into an opponent, to make sure he´s really out of action and not just fakin´ his way out. Don´t worry about your ammo loadout or exposure of your position, a good soldier always shoots plenty of rounds to calm himself down, especially in situations where the smoke obscured battlefield makes it impossible to get a visual on enemy-....or friendly forces. When in doubt or having no clue- shoot, soldier! 21.) The soldier and his rifle are the most deadliest weapon on the battlefield, remember that when you are facing all those BMP´s, T-80´s, Hinds and Hokums throwing nasty shit at you. You are an unbeatable and superior fighting machine, soldier! 22.) Consealment and cover are for cowards and weaklings, the brave soldier doesn´t need any of those, he fights chivalrously and faces all those enemy hords storming towards him vis-a-vis, or- if the enemy hides in a cowardly act, he takes the initiative and charges forward to duel anyone dumb enough to step forward and take his challenge. You are a Hero, supposed to make your country proud, no coward, soldier! 23.) The enemy is always dumber, more predictable and less competent than your own forces, opposing forces would never get the same ideas own Command and Control units have in their unlimited smartness. The proper attitude is that everything own forces do will succeed, while everything the enemy does of course fails- a waste of time for the faithfull soldier to prepare for other eventualities. Don´t work that brain soldier, other people with much bigger brains and gifted with remote evaluation and diagnosis skills ,even across large distances, are thinking for you! 24.) Your own preparations concerning equipment are always correct if not specialized down to the smallest detail due to facts that make up rule #23. If the enemy force contains weapon platforms you cannot fight efficiantly with your setup, the opposing forces are either cheating, or it´s a software bug. Rule #21 applys here, you will take your rifle and destroy that T-80, soldier!

20.) Always deplete at least a full magazine load into an opponent, to make sure he´s really out of action and not just fakin´ his way out. Don´t worry about your ammo loadout or exposure of your position, a good soldier always shoots plenty of rounds to calm himself down, especially in situations where the smoke obscured battlefield makes it impossible to get a visual on enemy-....or friendly forces. When in doubt or having no clue- shoot, soldier! 21.) The soldier and his rifle are the most deadliest weapon on the battlefield, remember that when you are facing all those BMP´s, T-80´s, Hinds and Hokums throwing nasty shit at you. You are an unbeatable and superior fighting machine, soldier! 22.) Consealment and cover are for cowards and weaklings, the brave soldier doesn´t need any of those, he fights chivalrously and faces all those enemy hords storming towards him vis-a-vis, or- if the enemy hides in a cowardly act, he takes the initiative and charges forward to duel anyone dumb enough to step forward and take his challenge. You are a Hero, supposed to make your country proud, no coward, soldier! 23.) The enemy is always dumber, more predictable and less competent than your own forces, opposing forces would never get the same ideas own Command and Control units have in their unlimited smartness. The proper attitude is that everything own forces do will succeed, while everything the enemy does of course fails- a waste of time for the faithfull soldier to prepare for other eventualities. Don´t work that brain soldier, other people with much bigger brains and gifted with remote evaluation and diagnosis skills ,even across large distances, are thinking for you! 24.) Your own preparations concerning equipment are always correct if not specialized down to the smallest detail due to facts that make up rule #23. If the enemy force contains weapon platforms you cannot fight efficiantly with your setup, the opposing forces are either cheating, or it´s a software bug. Rule #21 applys here, you will take your rifle and destroy that T-80, soldier!

Neither country would make any claims without outside support and motivation, as the sovereignty of the few "rocks" with no real value is yet to be determined. Both sides made an agreement in the 60´s, stating that neither side shall occupy the island long-lasting with military forces. It wasn´t spain but marroc which violated against this treaty in a provocing act, so it´s not their position to do any statements or even demands on the issue. This whole thing is totally pathetic and absurd, looks to me just like a sorry reason to start a conflict.

I wonder if there was a shortage on news, nothing else to publish, as its nothing really groundbreaking new to people following foreign politics over the last years.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ July 17 2002,17:33)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Satchel @ July 17 2002,01:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Ok, back to the original question....i´d pick Bermuda. Why? because far away from heavy industrialisation and major polution problems, while having one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it´s known for it´s financial services for companys worldwide. Beautiful water, very nice landscape and many islands in the surrounding to do some island hopping.<span id='postcolor'> Right. I'm back from my collaspes into sleep (which I really needed), Satchel, you can't have Bermuda because it's a colony. If we have anymore country discussions there must be no flaming, not because I don't like arguing, but because its tedious and I'm sick of it!<span id='postcolor'> Bermuda got as little to do with the UK, as the Bush administration with world piece . The inhabitants nationality is Bermudian(s), not english, so yes Bermuda is a valid choice, the only area i would switch for my beloved Germany .

Ok, back to the original question....i´d pick Bermuda. Why? because far away from heavy industrialisation and major polution problems, while having one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it´s known for it´s financial services for companys worldwide. Beautiful water, very nice landscape and many islands in the surrounding to do some island hopping.

Hitler was megalomaniac with an increasing loss of reality. Neither had he been a decent military strategist, nor did he accept the advice of his generals as offensives began to stagnate and fronts to crumble. Rather than putting an effort on wonder weapons, it would have been wiser to put all effort into already approved systems. As Hitler put himself in charge of the whole Wehrmacht as commander in chief, and later after the first failures, only loyal NS Officers were put in charge of other important instruments, the high command was composed out of mostly incomptent military strategists and tactists, with very few exceptions. He held his generals on a short chain, that rivalled each other for Hitler´s favor, what in the end made the troops ineffective, especially in operations involving combined arms. For example, the Panzertruppe was stationed to far inland during D-Day, although Rommel, one of the most capable Generals and Army Group Commander on the Westwall, requested their immediate support on the coast, he said; "the war will be won or lost on the beaches. We'll have only one chance to stop the enemy, and that's while he's in the water . . . struggling to get ashore." Because of quarreling with the commander in chief of the West, Rundstedt (who himself was quarreling with Keitl, Jodl and later Hitler), tanks were not ordered support, as Rundstedt believed in a deep defense, wearing the allied attack out, for a later german counterattack. Rundstedt's plan to hold the reserves back and then launch a massive stroke, was greatly praised by many generals, and many thought it would have been very beneficial.... had it been executed. Rommel was one of the few who did expect the invasion exactly where it occured, in the Normandy, but hardly anyone listened to him although it was quite logical that the invasion would not take part in an area where the strongest fortifications had been build, so that many resources were concentrated on other parts such as the area between Le Havre and Calais, the major strongpoints. As Rommel visited the Westwall the first time, he was dissapointed how lackluster an ineffective it was setup, he himself was not convinced that it could fend of an invasion. In a hurry defenses were build that later would be manned by inexperienced troops, mostly with obsolete equipment and mainly composed of very young or elderly men that were not suited to be deployed on the eastern- or other fronts.