20021202

Aww shucks
This blog is listed under "Other Fine Blogs" by Mr. duToit. Many thanks.

Yes, I've been away, devoting all of my Thanksgiving time to my wife and children. I managed to fit in a shooting expedition in Boulder County with a friend I hadn't seen for a year, helped him break his fiancee's Jeep's front driveshaft, and function-fired an FAL and an Ishapore pseudo-Scout.

My firstborn has also tried out the Pinnacle at the nearest REI store.

Sorry I've been away so long, but like James Rummel, I've had other things to do than sit in front of a computer. Upon returning from this hiatus, I was checking to see if anyone dropped links to me, and I'm grateful that James and Kim have not.
It's a stinkin' NAAK, Greta
Greta Van Susteren was interviewing a talking head on her Fox News program this evening about smallpox vaccinations. The file footage running along with the interview showed a BDU-clad woman demonstrating a Mark I nerve agent antidote auto-injector kit. Two injectors yoked together, a short one loaded with atropine sulfate, and a long one loaded with pralidoxime.

The Mark I's only application is to counter nerve agent poisoning. Self-administered or buddy-administered when symptoms are presented, intramuscular, right through the protective clothing. They contain huge needles, backed by huge cocked steel springs, to inject the drugs into the large outer muscle of your thigh while your hands are shaking.

This kit has no relation to vaccination against smallpox whatever.

Even Fox News is not immune to the errors that accompany reporting about the military, even on a topic that has been receiving much (deserved) attention, NBC defense.