Over the course of my career, I used the old wooden-style barracks as both barracks as well as work space. For example, there were numerous occasions where they were used for exercises and as transient billeting. When 3rd Group first reactivated in 1990, we used the Old Division Area barracks on Bragg as our unit buildings until the compound on New Smoke Bomb Hill was completed.
What about you?
Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Sony Pictures Entertainment invite you to scheme on the big screen when the Stanley Kubrick classic “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964) bursts into cinemas nationwide for a special two-day event on Sunday, September 18 and Wednesday, September 21.
I attended the recent showing of “Planet of the Apes” and it was awesome. I had never seen it in a theater and had only once seen it on the big screen as a small child at the drive-in. If you are a fan, I highly encourage you to attend. For more info, visit bit.ly/DRstrangelove.
MINNEAPOLIS (September 6, 2016) — Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) today announced the hiring of John M. Olson as Vice President and General Manager for Polaris Defense, effective immediately. Reporting directly to Bob Mack, President, Global Adjacent Markets, Olson will execute complete Polaris Defense P&L responsibility, lead and develop the long term strategy for the organization, and build it into a top supplier of innovative customer solutions to the Department of Defense and other Government agencies.
“John is incredibly accomplished, is highly conversant with cutting-edge technology, and has decades of experience with the Department of Defense, having both worked within that organization and conducted business with it as a contractor. His combination of energy and expertise will be a boon to our Defense business and our company as a whole,” said Scott Wine, Polaris Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Polaris Defense has made strides in recent years and has significant untapped potential. I am confident John is the right person to help us realize it.”
John joins us from Sierra Nevada Corporation, where as Vice President of their Space Systems business he was responsible for space-exploration systems, including the innovative Dream Chaser reusable spacecraft. Altogether, John has 28 years’ experience in DoD/USAF, NASA, and White House public service, including 12 years at the Pentagon, as well as 3 years’ executive leadership in private industry. He is also a veteran with active service in multiple conflicts, including overseas and wartime support during conflicts in the Gulf, Bosnia/Kosovo, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.
John holds a BS degree in Engineering Science and Mechanical Engineering from the Air Force Academy, dual M.S. degrees in Material Science, Engineering, and Avionics from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Auburn University.
This photo taken at Stittsville Shooting Range during some range time with Millbrook Tactical, was recently released by Gentex. You’ll recognize the FAST Carbon Helmet and RAC headset, but you may not have seen the SOTR. I first saw it at Warrior West and I was very impressed. Since then, it’s only gotten better.
This is the first in a special series by our friends at Breach-Bang-Clear on Trails Found and SF Vet Jim Grasky. This is some great stuff.
Around this time in 1965 Jim Grasky was a young Special Forces soldier in Vietnam. About this time in 1970 he was a the squadleader for a team of smoke-jumpers parachuting in to fight remote wildfires. For about a quarter century after that he was a Border Patrolman. In about two weeks he’ll be teaching a small crew of media how to track, ride and maneuver on horseback in the back country of Arizona.
It’s the same thing he’s been teaching to USSOCOM and other organizations for years through his school, Trails Found, which is one reason why we’ll be using this event to promote SOC-F (Special Operations Care Fund). Grasky, who was a combat engineer with 8th SFG half a century ago, is now past 80. Most of his students could be his great grand-children, but few of them can keep pace with him. He is generally considered to be one of the best trackers on the continent, and not surprisingly is as adept a mounted tracker as he is tactically savvy when it comes to mounted operations.
Jim and his students will be working in the Dragoon Mountains and around Cochise’s Stronghold during the event, which was the brainchild of Breach-Bang-Clear. They’ll be providing Soldier Systems Daily with updates, reports and equipment reviews from their time on the ground there.
Watch for #trailsfound16 in your social media feed for additional details.
More to follow.
Mayflower shared these photos with us of something they are working on which accommodates Velcro as well as magnetic attachments of pouches to mobility platforms.
SureFire introduces a new product and enters a new market.
Fountain Valley, CA — SureFire, LLC, manufacturer of the world’s most innovative illumination tools, will be unveiling its one-of-a-kind FirePak™ smart phone illumination tool at CTIA Super Mobility 2016, the largest mobile event in America and the best place for everything wireless. The all-new FirePak™ gives you the ability to shoot vibrant, high-definition video with your smart phone in low-light situations, something never before possible. This versatile device can be activated remotely via a Bluetooth app and generate multiple useful output levels—up to an incredible 1,500 lumens of light—for navigating at night, emergency preparedness, and more. FirePak can also be used to recharge your smartphone’s battery and even be used separately as a handheld illumination tool.
SureFire CTIA Booth —To demonstrate the revolutionary FirePak™, SureFire will be hosting an interactive booth at the show, where visitors can don various props and take an awesome 360° slow-motion selfie-video with the help of the FirePak™. Each day, the first 50 participants who take a 360° selfie will also receive a free SureFire phone case and be entered in our daily giveaway contest for the best videos shot at the booth and posted to Instagram! The first-and-second-place winning entries will receive a free FirePak™ and phone case, while the third-place winner will receive a SureFire SideKick®.
To check out the new FirePak—as well as other SureFire products—and to shoot a selfie video with FirePak and enter the video contest, be sure to visit SureFire’s booth # 956. Learn more here: www.surefire.com/firepak
I’m not quite sure how the math will work out on this combo, but it looks like one hell of a ride.
