I wasn't sure where to put this, because it's a personal confession. But it springs from a science fiction television program, so I'll put it here.
One of my now-favorite science fiction programs is Star Wars: Andor. The program is a really remarkable showcase of sparkling dialog, a tight plot, epic high points...it's just a great show.
At one point, a character is about to be tortured by an Empire technician-scientist. The man is clearly a nerd type, kind of like a Nazi scientist who is totally involved with the technology and not making a connection with the inhuman horror his technology is a achieving. As he is preparing his torture machine to be used on the victim, he's practically giddy with delight in describing the details of how they came to develop such exquisite torture technology. He was killing people, and the technology was soooooooo cool to him. Boooo, you bad guy, you!
I watched that maybe twice before it brought back to my mind an evening during the DESERT STORM bombing phase of the Persian Gulf War. I had done "bomb scoring" during Vietnam and had always been disgusted by the inaccuracy of "dumb" bombs in that war. The statistic was that it took 24 strike attempts to successfully destroy one target, which meant that 23 bomb strikes hit something else. Something like 95% of the bombs dropped in the Vietnam war had destroyed something or someone unintended.
But we were using "smart" weapons on Iraq, and from the first night of bomb scoring, the results were spectacular. We were truly achieving "One target, one bomb" results. Our Tomahawk missiles were literally able to fly through the front door of a building, negotiate the building to a specific office, enter it and explode. Sooooooooo cool!
But we were having a problem penetrating the "Yugoslav" aircraft bunkers at the Iraqi airfields. Our penetration bombs were just exploding on the concrete surface, blowing out a shallow crater but not penetrating as intended. Bummer!
It took only two weeks before the technicians had developed a new penetrating smart bomb for the Yugoslav bunkers. I remember looking at the reconnaissance imagery that first night and noting the neat "pinholes" on the surface of the bunkers (instead of a crater), showing that it had nicely penetrated the shell. Then in front of the bunker, the blast doors lay on the concrete like burnt potato chips, the evidence that the bomb had penetrated and exploded inside, killing anyone inside. I called over other people to take a look. Soooooooo cool!
If you were watching CNN during that time, you probably saw some of the "bomb camera" footage from the attack aircraft. In that footage, you could see the weapons officer's crosshairs on the target for the seconds that he guided the bomb into it, then the explosion of the target being destroyed.
Well, in one case, I had located a camouflaged bunker at an airfield, probably where the aircrews lived. It would not have been discovered if I hadn't been exceptionally good at my job. I reported it and flagged it as a target.
The next night, I got a chance to see the bomb camera footage of that very bunker being struck. This time, as we watched the crosshairs on the bunker while the bomb was gliding toward it, suddenly the figure of a man dashed from the side and dived into the bunker...a split second before the bomb struck it and destroyed it.
That was a new sensation for me, and it was unpleasant. It's certainly not what combat troops go through. I had an uncle who during the Korean War actually had to strangle an enemy soldier to death with his bare hands....no, this was certainly not like that.
But after watching that scene in Andor, it brought back to me the feeling I had with the first evidence of success of the new bunker-busting bombs. It was the same kind of giddiness over a weapon that the Imperial torturer displayed. I had been that guy.
One of my now-favorite science fiction programs is Star Wars: Andor. The program is a really remarkable showcase of sparkling dialog, a tight plot, epic high points...it's just a great show.
At one point, a character is about to be tortured by an Empire technician-scientist. The man is clearly a nerd type, kind of like a Nazi scientist who is totally involved with the technology and not making a connection with the inhuman horror his technology is a achieving. As he is preparing his torture machine to be used on the victim, he's practically giddy with delight in describing the details of how they came to develop such exquisite torture technology. He was killing people, and the technology was soooooooo cool to him. Boooo, you bad guy, you!
I watched that maybe twice before it brought back to my mind an evening during the DESERT STORM bombing phase of the Persian Gulf War. I had done "bomb scoring" during Vietnam and had always been disgusted by the inaccuracy of "dumb" bombs in that war. The statistic was that it took 24 strike attempts to successfully destroy one target, which meant that 23 bomb strikes hit something else. Something like 95% of the bombs dropped in the Vietnam war had destroyed something or someone unintended.
But we were using "smart" weapons on Iraq, and from the first night of bomb scoring, the results were spectacular. We were truly achieving "One target, one bomb" results. Our Tomahawk missiles were literally able to fly through the front door of a building, negotiate the building to a specific office, enter it and explode. Sooooooooo cool!
But we were having a problem penetrating the "Yugoslav" aircraft bunkers at the Iraqi airfields. Our penetration bombs were just exploding on the concrete surface, blowing out a shallow crater but not penetrating as intended. Bummer!
It took only two weeks before the technicians had developed a new penetrating smart bomb for the Yugoslav bunkers. I remember looking at the reconnaissance imagery that first night and noting the neat "pinholes" on the surface of the bunkers (instead of a crater), showing that it had nicely penetrated the shell. Then in front of the bunker, the blast doors lay on the concrete like burnt potato chips, the evidence that the bomb had penetrated and exploded inside, killing anyone inside. I called over other people to take a look. Soooooooo cool!
If you were watching CNN during that time, you probably saw some of the "bomb camera" footage from the attack aircraft. In that footage, you could see the weapons officer's crosshairs on the target for the seconds that he guided the bomb into it, then the explosion of the target being destroyed.
Well, in one case, I had located a camouflaged bunker at an airfield, probably where the aircrews lived. It would not have been discovered if I hadn't been exceptionally good at my job. I reported it and flagged it as a target.
The next night, I got a chance to see the bomb camera footage of that very bunker being struck. This time, as we watched the crosshairs on the bunker while the bomb was gliding toward it, suddenly the figure of a man dashed from the side and dived into the bunker...a split second before the bomb struck it and destroyed it.
That was a new sensation for me, and it was unpleasant. It's certainly not what combat troops go through. I had an uncle who during the Korean War actually had to strangle an enemy soldier to death with his bare hands....no, this was certainly not like that.
But after watching that scene in Andor, it brought back to me the feeling I had with the first evidence of success of the new bunker-busting bombs. It was the same kind of giddiness over a weapon that the Imperial torturer displayed. I had been that guy.
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