YOU CAN NEVER LOOK BACK

The little voice inside your head? Maybe it's not all your imagination, or a Don Henley riff. The Pentagon has spent at least the last decade sussing out ways to put voices inside your noggin.

A report recently released by the Pentagon under a Freedom Of Information Act request shows us the way. PhysOrg reports:

"The phenomenon is tunable in that the characteristic sounds and intensities of those sounds depend on the characteristics of the RF energy as delivered," the report explains. "Because the frequency of the sound heard is dependent on the pulse characteristics of the RF energy, it seems possible that this technology could be developed to the point where words could be transmitted to be heard like the spoken word, except that it could only be heard within a person´s head. In one experiment, communication of the words from one to ten using ´speech modulated´ microwave energy was successfully demonstrated. Microphones next to the person experiencing the voice could not pick up these sounds. Additional development of this would open up a wide range of possibilities."

The report predicts that communicating at longer distances would be possible with larger equipment, while shorter range signals could be generated with portable equipment. Putting voices in people´s heads could cause what the report calls "psychologically devastating" effects.

Here's a link to the report, via Wired. Enjoy. Don't listen.

PAUL TIBBETS, 92

He piloted a B-29 Superfortress named the Enola Gay on Aug. 6, 1945, and forever changed the world. Ghastly infamy.

As The New York Times obit notes:

“I was anxious to do it,” he told an interviewer for a documentary, “The Men Who Brought the Dawn,” marking the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. “I wanted to do everything that I could to subdue Japan. I wanted to kill the bastards. That was the attitude of the United States in those years.”

Thirty years after helping incinerate more than 60,000 people -- most of them civilians -- Tibbets flew a B-29 and simulated the Hiroshima bombing at an air show in Texas.

The point goes to Lone Star DC, who sums it up best: [He] gets what he gave. As do we all.

HEY, SAILOR

In 2004, Jason Knight was a petty officer, third class, in the U.S. Navy. He got married. But that only confirmed what he'd long suspected: He was gay.

Knight told his superiors. He was discharged under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The military took his $13,000 sign-on bonus.

Where is Jason Knight now?

Just finishing a one-year tour in Kuwait with Naval Customs Battalion Bravo. The Navy called him up for short-term active-duty recall. He's now a second-class petty officer.

Stars & Stripes reports:

"He's better than the average Sailor at his job," said Bill Driver, the leading petty officer of Knight's 15-person customs crew in Kuwait. "It's not at all a strange situation. As open as he is now, it was under wraps for quite a while. It wasn't an issue at work."

Another Sailor with the detail, Petty Officer 1st Class Tisha Hanson, works in admin and has had to process discharges for homosexual Sailors before.

"I've obviously never heard of something like this happening before," she said of Knight's return to active duty. "But it doesn't bother me. The Navy tends to keep people who don't want to be here, but Jason does."

In Knight's case, he was given an honorable discharge when booted from the Navy on April 4, 2005. Though it's not widely known, a clause in the military's policy on discharging gays allows commanders discretion on what form of discharge to give a gay servicemember.

"Don't ask, don't tell." Don't bother.

DON'T TAP THAT

While stationed in Iraq, Carl J. Ware Jr., an airman first class, died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Kyle J. Dalton, a senior airman, pulled the trigger. But first he tapped it.

According to the Virginian-Pilot:

The men were a part of the 886th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron in Iraq, charged with guarding foreign detainees.

Ware, 22, returned from his security detail and walked into his barracks shortly after noon on July 1. Dalton had his 9mm service pistol out and held it at waist level, he testified.

“I was tapping on the trigger,” Dalton told the judge. “It was something the guys had done before...playing with each other.”

Dalton tracked Ware with the gun as the victim crossed the eight-man barracks to his bed, he said. Dalton pulled the slide back and squeezed the trigger, expecting the gun to be empty.

It was not, of course. Ware died within minutes of the July 2006 shooting.

Prosecutors dropped a murder charge; in return, Dalton pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He faces a dozen years in prison, reduction in rank (to airman basic) and loss of pay and benefits.

100-KNOT SUB ON THE WAY

This one's for Smitty. Military.com reports:

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Office (DARPA) has initiated an underwater express program to "demonstrate stable and controllable high‑speed underwater transport through supercavitation. The intent is to determine the feasibility for supercavitation technology to enable a new class of high‑speed underwater craft for future littoral missions that could involve the transport of high‑value cargo and/or small units of personnel. The program will investigate and resolve critical technological issues associated with the physics of supercavitation and will culminate in a credible demonstration a significant scale to prove that a supercavitating underwater craft is controllable at speeds up to 100 knots."

Such a 100-knot (115 miles-per-hour) undersea craft would be more than twice as the world's fastest submarine, the Soviet-built Project 661 (NATO code-name Papa). That submarine, completed in 1969, was armed with ten Amethyst anti-ship missiles (NATO designation SS-N-7) plus torpedoes. Twin reactors and twin shafts drove the Papa at 44.7 knots on trials--the fastest ever traveled by a manned underwater vehicle. She subsequently went slightly faster in service. ...

The current DARPA underwater express program is based on the concept of supercavitation. This involves surrounding an object with a bubble of gas that allows it to travel at high speed by reducing contact with the surrounding water and hence reducing drag. The Soviet-developed VA-111 Shkvall (squall) torpedo is the best known use of this technology; that rocket-propelled torpedo has an underwater speed of about 200 knots.

In the United States the primary DARPA contracts for the "100-knot submarine" have been awarded to General Dynamics/Electric Boat, Northrop Grumman, New Systems Tech, and the University of Pennsylvania 's Applied Physics Laboratory.

Yeah, but it still won't have those cool front windows like the Seaview.

FALSE HEROISM AT THE PENTAGON

"Courageous and humble, a loving husband and son, a devoted brother and a fierce defender of liberty: Pat Tillman will always be remembered and honored in our country." -- President Bush, Fall 2004

Now that we know the truth about Pat Tillman's death, the words are especially hollow, almost cruel. His death wasn't heroic; his last words were his name -- I'm Pat Tillman! -- delivered in a scream in hopes that his fellow Rangers would stop shooting at him. Instead they shot him three times in the head, from a distance no longer than a football field, and then the Army lied hard to keep the truth from the public.

The early lies said Tillman and his patrol killed nine enemy soldiers, and Tillman was airlifted out and lived for 12 hours before succumbing to his wounds. It took more than a month for the Army to finally acknowledge the fact that Tillman died in a hail of friendly fire.

(For the full background, this ESPN report from 2006 is hard to top.)

His Silver Star still stands, though reading the citation makes the lies even worse:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, 9 July 1918 (amended by act of 25 July 1963), has awarded the SILVER STAR to
CORPORAL PATRICK D. TILLMAN
UNITED STATES ARMY
for gallantry in action on 22 April 2004 against an armed enemy while serving as a Rifle Team Leader in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Corporal Tillman put himself in the line of devastating enemy fire as he maneuvered his Fire Team to a covered position from which they could effectively employ their weapons on known enemy positions. While mortally wounded, his audacious leadership and courageous example under fire inspired his men to fight with great risk to their own personal safety, resulting in the enemy's withdrawal and his platoon's safe passage from the ambush kill zone. Corporal Tillman's personal courage, tactical expertise, and professional competence directly contributed to this platoon's overall success and survival. Through his distinctive accomplishments, Corporal Tillman reflected great credit upon himself, the 75th Ranger Regiment, and the United States Army.

Audacious, indeed.

U.S. SUB, JAPANESE TANKER COLLIDE

Not many details at this hour. The collision occurred in the Arabian Sea, according to a Japanese defense ministry official. Reuters has the skinny:

The spokesman said the ministry was investigating the incident but no other details were immediately available.

No immediate report of injuries, but CNN says there is damage.

ARMY ASKS DEAD SOLDIERS TO RE-UP

About 275 dead or wounded officers received letters from the Army, asking them if they'd kindly return to active duty. On Friday, Army brass offered an apology. CNN reports:

The letters were sent a few days after Christmas to more than 5,100 Army officers who had recently left the service. Included were letters to about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.

"Army personnel officials are contacting those officers' families now to personally apologize for erroneously sending the letters," the Army said in a brief news release issued Friday night.

The Army did not say how or when the mistake was discovered. It said the database normally used for such correspondence with former officers had been "thoroughly reviewed" to remove the names of wounded or dead soldiers.

The Army "regrets any confusion."

EVANGELISM AT THE PENTAGON

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation charged this week that military officers working at the Pentagon are risking national security by being heavy-handed with their professions of Christian faith.

The officers include four generals and three colonels, according to the foundation. Public displays of faith by those officers might give the impression that the United States is a Christian nation fighting a new Crusades, says Mikey Weinstein, president of the foundation. He called it an "internal national security issue every bit as great as the one we're fighting outwardly."

Cybercast News Service reports:

Weinstein called on incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates to investigate a promotional video for the Christian Embassy, an organization that ministers to members of Congress, ambassadors, presidential appointees and Pentagon officials.

Christian Embassy, established in 1975, works with government leaders "not only because of their personal needs, but also because of their position as decision-makers to influence our families and freedoms," according to its website. At the Pentagon, the group holds weekly prayer meetings and Bible studies every weekday.

In the promotional video cited by Weinstein, four generals and three colonels appear wearing their uniforms. Among them is Lt. Col. Lucious Morton, who says that Christian Embassy-led Bible studies benefit the military as a whole because they create "Godly men" who will lead others into battle.

Maj. Gen. Jack Catton also appears in the video and says he shares his faith with people he meets in his office: "I start with the fact that I'm an old-fashioned American, and my first priority is my faith in God, then my family, and then my country."

Weinstein said the video raises questions about whether the officers followed military regulations that restrict appearances in uniform for non-military purposes.

We're not sure about the validity of the claim that this is a national security risk. We're more queased by the fact that the seven colonels and generals are wearing their uniforms while evangelizing for Jesus. Talk about coercion.