It’s been 27 years since I created my original website, The Gear Guru, which was founded in October 1997 on Geocities of all places. Even better, I created it on NIPRNET dialup over DSN from Exercise Foal Eagle 97 at K2 in Korea to Hurlburt Field. Eventually it did receive a proper URL: gear-guru.net.

The Way Back Machine has some archived versions of the site. Check them out if you want to know the secret origins of SSD, back when you had to create pages via HTML.

It was a lot of fun when I did it, and I learned a lot.

Eric Graves
Editor

Some of you will recognize this Nativity scene from the movie “Threads” which paints a very bleak future at the hands of nuclear Armageddon. Released at the height of the Cold War in 1984, a year after the US TV movie, “The Day After,” it is a much more frank and horrifying look at the subject by British production by the BBC, Nine Network and Western-World Television, Inc.

We should all thank our forebears on both sides of this tense period who loved us so much that they pulled us back from the brink. They had survived the deprivations of a global depression and at least one world war. They didn’t want us to experience something worse.

On this Christmas, let us all pray for peaceful times.

Jalapeño popcorn is pretty much an Air Force thing, made in squadron “bars” or snack bars by the “Snack O” or snack officer who is generally one of the NUGs in the squadron. Making jalapeño popcorn isn’t the only duty of this auspicious office. They also manage the money of the snack fund and handle all the other snacks making regular runs to either the commissary or Costco to pick up things like zebra cakes and various energy drinks.

Now, I’m not gonna lie, I really enjoy jalapeño popcorn, but my wife and I went to Ocean Prime for our anniversary a few years ago and they didn’t have any bread to bring out, ?so our server brought us some truffle popcorn from the bar. That stuff is like crack, so now, every time we go there we ask for truffle popcorn as a starter, and then take a box home for a snack the next day.

I’d also like to point out that when I was a scout leader, I would regularly bring Jiffy Pop ?popcorn to outings and make it over the fire. Youngsters had never seen it even though it was a staple when I was a kid back in the 70s and 80s. It’s generally still available at many stores if you look for it and I know you can get it on Amazon as well. It can be a lot of fun if you’ve got a backyard fire pit, or by just making it on the oven top.

Jalapeño popcorn is usually made in an industrial popcorn popper like you’ll find at a carnival or a movie theater. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have one of those consequently, I’m going to hit up my readership and solicit jalapeño popcorn recipes.

Since there are a lot of great seasonings for popcorn out there, and it’s the holiday season, so you’ll have plenty of people coming over, or you’ll be visiting friends and family, popcorn is a great snack to share. My forehead just broke out in a sweat thinking about a nice batch of jalapeño popcorn.

Please share your favorite topping or recipe for popcorn.

Have a wonderful day of thanks, no matter where you are!

Once again, our friends at Tactical Distributors are sponsoring our Black Friday/Cyber Monday master list. To see it, updated regularly with the latest sales info, click here.

TH-1.4 Turtle Head Specs:

• Weight: 15.8 oz
• Load Rating: 35 lbs recoil instrument
• Ball Joint Angle: 32°
• Ball Diameter: 1.4 in.
• Base Diameter: 2.13 in.
• Height: 3.6 in.
• Tripod mount: 3/8-16
• J-Clamp: Picatinny & Arca Swiss
• TAA Compliant, Made in USA

This compact and lightweight ball head incorporates the newly patented J-Clamp system.

J-clamp system

This is a self-adjusting clamp system that can mount to Picatinny or Arca Swiss rail systems. The self-adjusting feature allows for compatibility across many different tripod brands. 

The J-Clamp system is also user adjustable. Simply tighten or loosen the internal adjustment screw to add or lessen clamp tension to your specific brand of plates/rails.

stores.hogsaddle.com/th-1-4-turtle-head

The DOG Leg is a modular system that allows the user to take their helmet mounted night vision goggles and position them behind a spotting scope system for magnified IR observation.

Dual Optic Grabbing Leg Mount Specs:

• Folded Length: 8 in.
• Weight: 17.2 oz
• Load Rating: 16 oz
• WNVM Clamp: Wilcox Dovetail 
• J-Clamp: Adjustable Picatinny & Arca Swiss
• TAA Compliant, Made in USA

Features:

·      Positive attachment of NV device to spotting scope

·      Ability to see to the maximum magnification power of spotting scope (IR flood may be needed past 20x)

·      Zero pixelation of image due to ocular lens positioning

·      Ability to manipulate focus and magnification rings without disrupting optic

·      Universally mounts to various brands of spotting scopes and ocular lens sizes

·      The J-clamp mounts to both Picatinny and Arca Swiss rails

·      Two stage leg locking system for ease of operation

stores.hogsaddle.com/dog-leg-nv-mount

Hog Saddle Products are Made in Kansas City: Machined in-house using American raw materials. The springs are even made in KC. Keeping jobs in the heart of the Midwest. TAA Compliant.

Conceal your gear with the low-profile, ultra-light Long Walks Collection by Vertx. Made for every outdoor adventure, these packs feature an ultra-lightweight yet incredibly durable mini-rip fabric. Each bag weighs less than 2 lbs, with the waist pack at just half a pound!

They’re incredibly versatile, with VELCRO® Brand loop lining and plenty of room for CCW storage and customization, allowing you to seamlessly transition from backcountry treks to corporate headquarters. Experience unmatched modularity to keep your gear organized – on and off the trail.

Shop the Long Walks Collection for lightweight, tough, and infinitely versatile bags at vertx.com.

WASHINGTON (AFNS) —  

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said the Air Force must continue evolving into a highly integrated and lethal “one Air Force” if it is to successfully compete, deter, and win in today’s strategic environment.  

Allvin’s assessment came during remarks on Aug. 16 at the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, that offered additional detail on the service’s efforts to reoptimize itself to meet a new era of Great Power Competition head-on. 

“As long as I am in this seat, I’m looking to evolve our Air Force,” said Allvin. “I’m very pleased with the progress thus far.”  

To do this, he stated the force must emphasize mission over function to become one Air Force. He highlighted the importance of prioritizing mission effectiveness rather than functional competence as a foundation for the Air Force to develop new capabilities, rapidly project power, and execute missions effectively and efficiently. 

“One Air Force [means bringing the force] back together and integrating to meet the threat and the environment,” said Allvin. “We need one Air Force that’s one fighting force with one force design.”  

During his remarks, Allvin discussed how the Air Force must deliver combat-effective, agile, and adaptive airpower at scale, especially as it relates to the growing challenge in the Pacific posed by China.  

“We have to make sure we have the Air Force we need so if competition turns to potential conflict, we can either deter that conflict or decisively win it if called upon,” said Allvin. 

The ideas and priorities Allvin emphasized are part of an ambitious retooling of the Department of the Air Force unveiled in February dubbed “Reoptimizing for Great Power Competition.” That effort is designed as a forceful mechanism to move the Air Force from being primarily focused – and configured – to fighting the Global War on Terror to a much different force ready to confront a well-equipped and capable adversary, such as China.  

“If we don’t do it now, we’re going to pay for it later,” Allvin explained while addressing the need to adapt. “Whatever we do or don’t do today will impact how well the future fight goes … The environment is here – we have to adapt to it.”  

Allvin stressed repeatedly in his opening remarks at Hudson and later during a Q&A session that the Air Force cannot be a “diffuse” service. The Total Force, he said, must be forged into an aligned and unified one in which Airmen are mission-ready and wings deploy as units of action in a way that is seamless and dominant. 

Allvin added how, over time, the Air Force has become fragmented as it adapted to previous security environments.   

“Since the last time we were in Great Power Competition, our Air Force has become more diffused, and maybe more stovepipes have been created, and we really haven’t realigned ourselves because we haven’t had a sort of existential threat against which we should align ourselves,” said Allvin. 

Allvin highlighted the Air Force remains the best and most capable in the world but stressed that status is not guaranteed in the future; the decisions the service makes now carry greater weight for future outcomes. 

In total, the service’s reoptimization effort marks the largest retooling of the Air Force in over a generation. In response to a question about how the service is coping with putting in place such substantial change, Allvin offered encouragement. 

“I’m a bit surprised at how fast we’re going,” he said, noting that the assessment measures only the first six months of a much longer journey. At the same time, he said the success to date is rooted in the way “our Airmen get it,” meaning that they understand “the why” and the urgency surrounding reoptimization.

By TSgt Nick Z. Erwin, Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs