Two like-charged balloons hang from a common point from the ceiling. The repulsion effects cause them to hang at an angle from their usual vertical alignment. A plastic tube is charged by rubbing with synthetic fur. The plastic tube is inserted into the space between the balloons, causing even further repulsion.

To learn more about charge interactions, visit The Physics Classroom Tutorial.

A Confederate skirmish line trying to repel the Union Advance during the Battle of Resaca.

Georgia is commemorating the 150 year anniversary of the Civil War in Georgia . They will be reenacting some of the battles and will have other activities to commemorate others. Obviously they can't reenact the Battle of Atlanta. This is a reenactment of the battle of Resaca in North Georgia just below the Tennessee line which took place in mid May, 1864. The reenactment takes place on the same ground as the original battle.

Following his withdrawal from Rocky Face Ridge, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston established a strong defensive position protecting the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Resaca, where the railroad crossed the Oostanaula River. On the 13th, Sherman's men tested the Rebel lines to pinpoint their whereabouts. Over the next two days, Sherman launched a series of attacks against Johnston's earthworks, which were largely repulsed. Confederate counterattacks by Hood's corps failed to dislodge the Yankees, who were in full force in front of the Rebel lines. On the 15th, however, a small Federal force crossed the river at Lay’s Ferry, effectively flanking Johnston out of his entrenchments and forcing the Confederates to withdraw

This was a small impediment for Sherman's troops who were on their way to the Battle of Atlanta and then their infamous march to the sea which crippled the South and was instrumental in the war's end.

By this time in the war, 1864, the Confederate Army was already a rag tag bunch with no semblance of real uniforms.

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

The German wasp, or European wasp, Vespula germanica, is a wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to Europe, northern Africa, and temperate Asia. It has been introduced and is well-established in many other places, including North America, South America (Argentina and Chile), Australia and New Zealand. German wasps are part of the family Vespidae and are sometimes mistakenly referred to as paper wasps because they build grey paper nests, although strictly speaking, paper wasps are part of the subfamily Polistinae. In North America, they are also known as yellowjackets.

The German wasp is about 13mm (0.5 inch) long, and has typical wasp colours of black and yellow. It is very similar to the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris), but seen head on, its face has three tiny black dots. German wasps also have black dots on their abdomen, while the common wasp's analogous markings are fused with the black rings above them, forming a different pattern.

The nest is made from chewed plant fibres, mixed with saliva. It is generally found close to or in the ground, rather than higher up on bushes and trees like hornets. It has open cells and a petiole attaching the nest to the substrate. The wasps produce a chemical which repels ants, and secrete it around the base of this petiole to avoid ant predation.

A solitary female queen starts the nest, building 20–30 cells before initial egg-laying. This phase begins in spring, depending on climatic conditions. She fashions a petiole and produces a single cell at the end of it. Six further cells are then added around this to produce the characteristic hexagonal shape of the nest cells.

Once the larvae have hatched as workers, they take up most of the colony’s foraging, brood care and nest maintenance. A finished nest may be 20–30 cm across and contain 3,000 individuals.

Each wasp colony includes one queen and a number of sterile workers. Colonies usually last only one year, all but the queen dying at the onset of winter. However, in mild climates such as New Zealand, around 10% of the colonies survive the winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queen overwinters in a crack or other sheltered location.

This common and widespread wasp collects insects, including caterpillars, to feed to its larvae, and is therefore generally beneficial. The adults feed on nectar and sweet fruit, and are also attracted to human food and food waste, particularly sodas and meats.

The nests are subject to predation by the honey buzzard, which excavates them to obtain the larvae. The hoverfly Volucella pellucens and some of its relatives lay their eggs in the wasp's nest, and the larvae feed on the wasp's young.

Workers at the nest entrance

This species is considered a pest in most areas outside its native range, though its long residency in North America is such that it is not treated with any level of urgency there, in contrast to areas such as South America, where the introduction is more recent, and the impacts far more dramatic, prompting a greater degree of concern over control measures

Cadets learn from Air Assault School instructors in how to repel from a repelling tower as they are critiqued at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 2018. In order to get their Air Assault badge, every summer Cadets go through Air Assault School learning first to repel from a high tower then from a helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff)

Naval Air Station Fallon traces its origins to 1942, when the Civil Aviation Administration and the Army Air Corps began construction of four airfields in the Nevada desert. As part of the Western Defense Program, initiated to repel an expected Japanese attack on the west coast, runways and lighting systems were built in Winnemucca, Minden, Lovelock and Fallon.

As the war in the Pacific developed, the Navy recognized a need to train its pilots in a realistic environment using all the tactics and weapons currently being developed. Fallon was the Navy's choice. In 1943, the Navy assumed control of the two 5,200 foot runways. Construction soon began on barracks, hangars, air traffic control facilities and target ranges. On June 10, 1944, Naval Auxiliary Air Station Fallon was commissioned. Training operations reached a peak in the summer of 1945 when an average of 21,000 take-offs and landings were recorded and more than 12,000 flight hours logged at the station. Ironically, just as construction of the initial airfield project was completed and the training program was going full gear, the Japanese surrendered and brought an untimely end to N.A.A.S. Fallon. Eight months after the completion of a new 24-unit housing project, five months after a new gym was built and only three months following the opening of a new Commissary, N.A.A.S. Fallon was placed in a "reduced operation status." One month later, on Feb. 1, 1946, the facility was further reduced to a "maintenance status." On June 1, 1946 it was in a "caretaker status" and the official designation of Naval Auxiliary Air Station removed.

For the next five years, the Bureau of Indian Services used the facility. Buildings once used by pilots to prepare to meet the challenge from the deck of a pitching aircraft carrier disappeared. The swimming pool, once the scene of Sailors attempting to escape the Nevada summer heat, became a home for pigs.

The Korean conflict brought new life to the small desert installation. Once again, the Navy found reason to train pilots in the new sophisticated jet aircraft. In 1951, Fallon became an Auxiliary Landing Field for N.A.S. Alameda Calif. On Oct. 1, 1953, N.A.A.S. Fallon was reestablished by order of the Secretary of the Navy. The present day bombing ranges, Bravo 16, 17 and 19, were also created that year.

Over the next 30 years the Fallon air station grew to become one of the premier training sites for Navy and Marine Corps pilots and ground crews. New hangars, ramps, housing and other facilities sprang up to give the installation new and greater capabilities.

The airfield became known as Van Voorhis Field in 1958, named after Lt. Commander Bruce A. Van Voorhis, a Fallon native who received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for service in the South Pacific during World War II.

The airfield's most sophisticated range, the electronic warfare range, was established in 1967.

On Jan. 1, 1972, the Navy recognized Fallon's importance to naval aviation by upgrading the base to a major aviation command, and thus, Naval Air Station Fallon was commissioned.

During the 1980s the air station experienced dramatic growth, as a state-of-the-art air traffic control facility and new hangars were constructed. In response to challenges faced by deployed air wings in conducting contingency strike operations from aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Sea into Lebanon, the Navy constructed a new training center. In 1984, the Naval Strike Warfare Center was established to be the primary authority for integrated strike warfare tactical development and training. It quickly became the "graduate level" training evolution that air wings go through during their inter-deployment training cycle: after completing the four week training course in Fallon, an air wing was ready for combat anywhere in the world.

In 1985, Fallon received a new tool to aid in its aircrews training: the Tactical Aircrew Combat Training System or TACTS. This system provides squadrons, carrier air wings and students from the Naval Strike Warfare Center with visual, graphic displays of their missions eliminating guess work. Strike Fighter Squadron 127, the "Desert Bogeys" aggressors moved to N.A.S. Fallon in 1987, becoming the air station's only permanently based squadron.

During the 1990s the base continued to expand its role as the pinnacle of Naval Aviation tactical training. A new hangar, ramp and academic building were built in 1995 to accommodate the arrival of Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (Top Dome) from San Diego to Fallon in early 1996.

In July 1996, The Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) was commissioned, combining the functions of TOPGUN, the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School and the Naval Strike Warfare Center into one command under a two-star admiral. The training center has continued to instruct all aspects of tactical integrated air warfare, including air wing training detachments, TOPGUN classes, E-2 Hawkeye mission commander courses, as well as developing advancements in tactics and procedures.

CBMU 303, a Seabee construction maintenance unit, also relocated to Fallon in 1996. Known as the "Fighting Saints," Fighter Composite Squadron Thirteen (VFC-13), replaced VFA-127 as the adversary squadron at Fallon, taking over the duties of the disestablishing Desert Bogeys in flying F-5 Tiger IIs that same year.

NAS Fallon moved into the twenty first century with a continued commitment to Naval Aviation. From the formulation of the Navy's first "Encroachment Action Plan" to the holding of the first Operational Assurance Forum, NAS Fallon has been in the forefront of preserving the existing training areas while planning to meet future requirements. These long range visions together with the current combination of the base's facilities, the air space available for training over Northern Nevada and the unsurpassed air-to-ground and electronic warfare ranges make NAS Fallon integral to keeping America's Naval Forces trained and ready now and into the future.

VAN VOORHIS FIELD

A Legacy of Honor

Naval Air Station Fallon is known among the locals simply as 'the base,' and few are familiar with the airfield's real name or the man for whom the field is named. In fact, the airfield represents a memorial to a WWII naval aviation hero and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Commander Bruce Avery Van Voorhis, the airfield's namesake, was born in Aberdeen, Wash., on Jan. 29, 1908. Shortly thereafter he moved with his family to Fallon, Nev., where he spent his childhood. His father served as the Indian Service Representative at Stillwater. Van Voorhis attended school at the Oats Park Grade School and later graduated from Churchill County High School in 1924 where his classmates also knew him as "Clint."

He was a 1929 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and earned his pilot wings in 1931. Van Voorhis served with numerous aviation units stateside and overseas. He reported for duty to Bombing Squadron 102 as Plane Commander of a PB4Y-1 at the height of conflict in the Pacific during WWII.

Van Voorhis died on July 6, 1943, near Hare Island of the Kapingamarangi Atoll in the southernmost area of the Eastern Carolina Islands in the Western Pacific. After a 700-mile flight alone, he launched successive bombing and strafing attacks on Japanese ground installations, destroying a radio station, anti-aircraft emplacement and at least four enemy aircraft in the air and on the water in six successive ground level attacks. He was caught in his own bomb blast and crashed into a lagoon, ending his heroic, single-handed strike.

The Air Station was dedicated in his name on Nov. 1, 1959. At that time the 14,000-foot runway was one of the longest in the world and remains the longest in the Navy. In 1956, 13 years after Van Voorhis' death, a destroyer escort was launched bearing his name (DD-1028) from the shipyard in Camden, N.J. The ship was in service throughout the world for 17 years, including participation in the naval blockade of Cuba in 1962, before being decommissioned in 1972. In 1982, then Governor of Nevada, Robert List, issued a proclamation designating May 31 as LCDR Bruce Avery Van Voorhis Day in the state of Nevada.

As the names of a new generation of heroes is written in the history books, Americans can look back gratefully at the heritage left by those who came before and know that this country is no stranger to the cost of freedom. The list of those willing to fight, and die, to pay that price is long and continues through every chapter of America's history. Among that list of names is Nevada's own LCDR Bruce Avery Van Voorhis.

"GO NAVY"

for the patio I think

365 in colour May 4

Inflate two balloons and hang them from a common point on the ceiling by string. Rub both balloons against your head hair to charge them in like manner. The balloons are charged with like charge as one another. Move away from the balloons and observe the noticeably large repulsions between the two like-charged balloons. This demonstrates the repulsions of two like-charged objects.

To learn more about charge interactions, visit The Physics Classroom Tutorial.

"PermaNet is a long-lasting, insecticide-treated mosquito net commonly used in Africa by people who live among malarial mosquitoes. The net kills or repels mosquitoes for up to four years—up to five times longer than other normal treated nets—without losing effectiveness, even after twenty washes. Low re-treatment rates represent the biggest challenge in the fight against malaria, the infectious disease that kills more children than any other illness in Africa. Malaria’s kills millions each year, helping to make economic growth in countries with high malaria transmission historically lower than in countries without malaria."

other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/permanet

"Design for the Other 90%

February 17 – May 29, 2009

Of the world’s 6.5 billion people, 90 percent have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted. In fact, nearly half do not have reliable access to food, clean water, healthcare, education, affordable transportation, or shelter. The exhibition Design for the Other 90% features more than 30 projects that reflect a growing movement among designers, engineers, and social entrepreneurs to create low-cost solutions for everyday problems. Through local and global partnerships, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor.

Design for the Other 90% showcases designs that incorporate new and traditional materials, and abandoned and emerging technologies to solve myriad problems—from cleaner-burning sugarcane charcoal to a solar-rechargeable battery for a hearing aid, from a portable water-purification straw to a low-cost laptop. By understanding the available resources and tools as well as the lives and needs of their potential users, these designers create simple, pragmatic objects and ingenious, adaptive systems that can help transform lives and communities.

FIND OUT MORE

Watch a video blog.cooperhewitt.org/2007/05/14/in-their-own-words about the exhibition and discuss the designs in the exhibition.

Visit the exhibition web site other90.cooperhewitt.org/ to learn more about the designs on view."

Cadets learn from Air Assault School instructors in how to repel from a repelling tower as they are critiqued at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 2018. In order to get their Air Assault badge, every summer Cadets go through Air Assault School learning first to repel from a high tower then from a helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff)

Title: Repelling Pickett's charge on right of Bloody Angle.

Creator: Phillipoteaux, Paul Dominique, 1846-1923 (artist)

Date: ca. 1883

Part Of: Collection of Civil War era stereographs

Physical Description: 1 photographic print on stereo card: stereograph, albumen; 11 x 18 cm.

File: ag1982_0145_026_r_opt.jpg

Rights: Please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University when using this file. A high-resolution version of this file may be obtained for a fee. For details see the sites.smu.edu/cul/degolyer/research/permissions/ web page. For other information, contact degolyer@smu.edu.

For more information and to view the image in high resolution, see: digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/civ/id/384/

View the Civil War: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints Collection

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

repeles

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets learn from Air Assault School instructors in how to repel from a repelling tower as they are critiqued at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 2018. In order to get their Air Assault badge, every summer Cadets go through Air Assault School learning first to repel from a high tower then from a helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff)

Cadets learn from Air Assault School instructors in how to repel from a repelling tower as they are critiqued at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 2018. In order to get their Air Assault badge, every summer Cadets go through Air Assault School learning first to repel from a high tower then from a helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff)

Rinca (Indonesia), July 2010

Our guide Bona prepares himself to repel a 2 meter komodo dragon with a forked stick while my fearless 10-year-old daughter Mareike photographs the scene. Here's another (even more extremly) shot of this kind - both taken by my wife Konny with a Canon G10 compact camera.

The Komodo dragon is the largest species of lizard in the world and found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is growing to an average length of 2 to 3 metres (6.6 to 9.8 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms (150 lb).

The Komodo dragon's diet is wide-ranging, and includes water buffalos, deer, horses, goats, wild boar, monkeys, birds and other reptiles (including smaller Komodo dragons). The dragons are known to bite prey and release them, leaving the prey to die from the wounds in combination with the poison of the dragons. The widely accepted theory that the dragons kill their victims only by infecting them with highly virulent bacteria is wrong. In fact they have two venom glands in the lower jaw.

Occasionally the dragons eat human corpses, after digging up the bodies from shallow graves. This habit caused the villagers of Komodo to move their graves from sandy to clay ground and pile rocks on top of them to deter the lizards. Although attacks are very rare, Komodo dragons have been known to attack humans. 2007 a Komodo dragon attacked an eight-year-old boy on Komodo Island. The boy later died of massive bleeding from his wounds. Natives blamed the attack on environmentalists outside the island prohibiting goat sacrifices. This denied the Komodo dragons their expected food source, causing them to wander into human civilization in search of food.

In March 2009, two Komodo Dragons attacked and killed a fisherman on Komodo. He was attacked after he fell out of a sugar-apple tree and was left bleeding badly from bites to his hands, body, legs, and neck. He was taken to a clinic on the neighboring island of Flores where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A belief held by many natives of Komodo Island is that Komodo dragons are actually the reincarnation of fellow kinspeople and should thus be treated with reverence (our visit to the Komodo village was really impressive, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. But next time I will. So here are two long-distance shots: 1, 2).

Komodo dragons were first documented by Europeans in 1910, when rumors of a "20 feet long land crocodile" reached Lieutenant van Steyn van Hensbroek of the Dutch colonial administration. Van Hensbroek caught and killed a six foot Komodo. Then, in 1926, American W. Douglas Burden went on an expedition to research the creatures, and named them "dragons." After returning with 12 dead specimens and two live ones, this expedition provided the inspiration for the 1933 movie "King Kong".

The capture above (and others on my stream) was taken during our own 3 day expedition to Flores, Komodo and Rinca in July 2010. If you are interested in such a trip: Rinca is hotter than hell, so carry sufficient drinking water instead of tons of camera equipment. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about… :)

Any unauthorized use of this photo is strictly prohibited.

_____________________________________________________________________

In German:

Unser Guide Bona macht sich bereit, einen Zwei-Meter-Komodowaren mit einem gegabelten Stock abzuwehren, während meine furchtlose zehnjährige Tochter Mareike die Szene fotografiert. Hier gibt's noch ein extremeres Foto dieser Art - beide aufgenommen von meiner Frau Konny mit einer Canon-G10-Kompaktkamera.

Der Komodowaran ist die größte Echsenart der Welt und lebt auf den indonesischen Inseln Komodo, Rinca, Flores, und Gili Motang. Er erreicht eine durchschnittliche Länge von 2 bis 3 Metern (6,6 bis 9,8 ft) und ein Gewicht von rund 70 Kilogramm (150 lb).

Die Ernährung der Komodowarane ist breit gefächert und beinhaltet Wasserbüffel, Rehe, Pferde, Ziegen, Wildschweine, Affen, Vögel und andere Reptilien (einschließlich kleinerer Komodowarane). Die Warane sind dafür bekannt, dass sie ihre Beute beißen und anschließend wieder freilassen – bis die zugefügten Wunden in Kombination mit dem Warangift zum Tod der Opfer geführt haben. Die allgemein akzeptierte Theorie, wonach die Warane ihre Opfer lediglich durch Infektion mit hoch virulenten Bakterien töten, ist falsch. Tatsächlich verfügen sie über zwei Giftdrüsen in ihrem Unterkiefer.

Manchmal fressen die Warane menschliche Leichen, nachdem sie diese aus flachen Gräbern ausgegraben haben. Diese Angewohnheit hat die Dorfbewohner auf Komodo veranlasst, ihre Gräber auf lehmigem statt auf sandigem Boden auszuheben und Steine darauf zu stapeln, um die Echsen vom Wühlen abzuhalten. Komodo-Warane sind für ihre Angriffe auf Menschen bekannt, obwohl dies sehr selten geschieht. 2007 griff ein Waran einen achtjährigen Jungen auf Komodo an, der später seinen starken Blutungen erlag. Die Eingeborenen machten für diesen Vorfall Umweltschützer außerhalb der Insel verantwortlich, die ihnen zuvor ihre Ziegen-Opfer verboten hatten. Dadurch hätten die Warane ihre erwarteten Futterquellen verloren und seinen seien gezwungen gewesen, sich zur Nahrungssuche in die Nähe menschlicher Zivilisation zu begeben.

Im März 2009 griffen zwei Warane auf Komodo einen Fischer an und töten ihn. Er war aus einem Zimtapfelbaum gefallen und von den Waranen nach Bissen in Hände, Beine, Hals und Körper stark blutend zurückgelassen worden. Man brachte ihn in eine Klinik auf der Nachbarinsel Flores, wo er bei Ankunft für tot erklärt wurde.

Nach Glauben vieler Eingeborener auf Komodo handelt es sich bei den Waranen eigentlich um Reinkarnationen ihrer verstorbenen Verwandten, die daher mit Ehrfurcht behandelt werden sollten (unser Besuch des Komodo-Dorfes war sehr eindrucksvoll, leider habe ich keine Fotos gemacht, was ich aber nächstes Mal nachholen werde. Hier zwei Ansichten aus der Ferne: 1, 2).

Durch Europäer wurden die Komodowarane erstmals 1910 dokumentiert als Gerüchte über ein "sieben Meter langes Landkrokodil" Leutnant van Steyn van Hensbroek von der niederländischen Kolonioalverwaltung erreichten. Van Hensbroek fing und tötete schließlich einen 1,8 Meter großen Waran. 1926 begab sich dann der Amerikaner W. Douglas Burden auf eine Expedition, um die Tiere zu erforschen und nannte sie "Drachen". Nachdem er mit zwölf toten und zwei lebenden Exemplaren zurückgekehrt war, gab seine Expedition den entscheidende Einfluss für den 1933 gedrehten Film "King Kong".

Das Bild oben (und andere in meinem Stream) entstand während unserer eigenen dreitägigen Expedition nach Flores, Komodo und Rinca im Juli 2010. Falls Ihr an so einer Reise interessiert seid: Rinca ist heißer als die Hölle, also nehmt ausreichend Wasser mit statt tonnenschweres Kamera-Equipment. Glaubt mir, ich weiß, wovon ich spreche… :)

Any unauthorized use of this photo is strictly prohibited.

A look back to see what I was doing in November 2011.

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

Afghan National Policemen, repel a mock Taliban attack during a capabilities demonstration.

The next generation of Afghan policemen are beginning their careers, having completed their British-led training and graduated.

A total of 89 newly-trained patrolmen and 28 junior commanders graduated on Saturday 13th November 2010 at a passing out parade at the Helmand Police Training Centre, just outside the Helmand provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

The officers will now be deployed across Helmand Province with the task of providing added security in the urban centres, while the Afghan National Army continue to provide security and deter the Taleban threat in the rural areas.

Policing techniques and standards continue to improve across Helmand following the opening of Helmand Police Training Centre in November 2009. HPTC is now capable of turning out 180 newly qualified policemen every three weeks, following an intensive eight week course run by soldiers from The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 SCOTS), supported by members of the Ministry of Defence Police.

This image is available for non-commercial, high resolution download at www.defenceimages.mod.uk subject to terms and conditions. Search for image number 45152098.jpg

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Photographer: Sgt Rupert Frere RLC

Image 45152098.jpg from www.defenceimages.mod.uk

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

Mother repels attacker and allows the fledgling to flee to safety nearby in the undergrowth

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The outbreak of the war in Europe in September 1939 did not immediately affect the status of the Armée de l'Air in French Indochina because it had the task of defending a wide area of Southeast Asia, including the future Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. And yet its array of airplanes seemed inadequate to perform any kind of real defense against any incursion by an enemy, because there were less than 100 airplanes available to it, all obsolescent or obsolete. In September 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. This was an area of northeast China, which encompassed the provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang. Nearly six whole years later, in July 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War had begun. As yet, the French colonial authorities were hoping that the Japanese would not be brazen enough to take on the might of a European power. However, it became increasingly likely after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, since Japan was part of the Axis alliance and thus Germany's ally.

Until then, Japanese authorities heavily influenced the diminishing Vichy French presence in the region and handed over a lot of leftover military hardware to its own allies, primarily the Thai forces. However, there was not much left to be distributed: about 30% of the French aircraft were rendered unserviceable by the end of the French-Thai War in early 1941, some as a result of minor damage sustained in air raids that remained unrepaired. The Armée de l'Air admitted the loss of only one Farman F221 and two Morane M.S.406s destroyed on the ground, but, in reality, its losses were greater and the influence of Japan on the leftover stock was fogged in order to save face. However, even in 1944, single former Vichy French aircraft and tanks were still active in the region, primarily under Thai flag.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.17 m (26 ft 10 in)

Wingspan: 10.61 m (34 ft 10 in)

Height: 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)

Wing area: 16 m2 (170 sq ft)

Empty weight: 1,895 kg (4,178 lb)

Gross weight: 2,540 kg (5,600 lb)

Powerplant:

1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine with

619 kW (830 hp) for take-off at 2,520 rpm at sea level,

driving a 3-bladed variable-pitch propeller, 3 m (9 ft 10 in) diameter

Performance:

Maximum speed: 490 km/h (304 mph; 265 kn) at 4,500 m (14,764 ft)

Stall speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn) without flaps

135 km/h (84 mph; 73 kn) with flaps

Range: 1,100 km (680 mi, 590 nmi) at 66% power

Combat range: 720 km (450 mi, 390 nmi)

Endurance: 2 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds (average combat mission)

Service ceiling: 9,400 m (30,800 ft)

Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,562 ft) in 2 minutes 32 seconds

9,000 m (29,528 ft) in 21 minutes 37 seconds

Wing loading: 154 kg/m2 (32 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass: 2.95 kg/kW (4.85 lb/hp)

Take-off run to 8 m (26 ft): 270 m (886 ft)

Landing run from 8 m (26 ft): 340 m (1,115 ft)

Armament:

1× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, firing through the propeller hub

2× 7.5 mm (0.295 in) MAC 1934 machine guns in the outer wings

The kit and its assembly:

This quick build was created in the wake of the “Captured” group build at whatifmodellers.com and actually is a personal interpretation of someone else’s idea, namely of fellow modeler NARSES who came up with the idea of a captured French M.S. 406 in Indochina under a new Thai flag. I found the idea so weird, yet realistic, that I decided to build one, too.

The model is the very simple but quite acceptable M.S. 406 from Hobby Boss. Externally the model is nice, with recessed panel lines and a basic landing gear. Internally, it is rather bleak, even though it has a full cockpit with a floor, integrally molded seat and even some details behind the pilot’s armor bulkhead. The canopy is a single piece and very clear, but it comes with massive locator bars, so that I decided to keep the canopy closed and added a pilot figure to cover the minimal interior. I was lucky to find a Japanese (though pretty “flat”) WWII pilot in the donor bank, left over from a Hasegawa model. I also gave the figure some seat belts (made from adhesive tape), but the rest remained unchanged – even the original metal axis for the propeller was used. I just replaced the machine gun barrels with hollow steel needles and added a pitot on the wing, which is probably part of the kit but not indicated in the instructions. The same is true for the foldable ventral antenna.

The build was finished quickly, in the course of just a single evening, including the pilot and some overall PSR.

Painting and markings:

My interpretation of a French aircraft in Thai service after the French-Thai War stuck closely to the real world Vichy livery, which was the standard French camouflage in grey/green/brown with light blue-grey undersides (all from ModelMaster’s Authentic Color range), together with a yellow-and-red-striped cowling (a base with Humbrol 69 and red decal stripes added later) and a white cheatline long the fuselage. The tail of French aircraft in Indochina was painted all-red from early 1941 onwards upon Japanese command, because of friendly fire incidents. This was adopted for the model (with a mix of Humbrol 19 and some 73), which is supposed to belong into the 1942 time frame.

As a captured aircraft, the original French roundels were replaced/overpainted with red disks/hinomaru, and then Thai elephant markings added on top. That’s a personal idea, ordnance directly supplied to the Thai forces from Japan had the simple, square “elephant flag” emblem directly applied to the wings and the fin (but no fuselage roundel). The all-red tail was taken over, but I painted the rudder in a dark IJA green, since it would formerly carry a French fin flash. The same green was used to overpaint a serial number on the fin and a former squadron emblem under the cockpit.

The hinomaru come from a PrintScale Ki-46 sheet, and these markings are intentionally a bit oversized, so that they cover well the former French markings and are highly visible. The elephant markings some from a PrintScale Ki-27 sheet, so that the red tone on both sources are very close to each other. The Ki-27 sheet also provided the Thai ciphers “3” and “4”, combined into a “34”.

The interior was painted in medium grey, and the model externally received some signs of wear and tear in the form of dry-brushed leading edges and around the cockpit as well as some soot stains behind the exhaust stubs and the machine guns. Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

A quick build, and the easy-build Hobby Boss M.S. 406 is certainly not as crisp as a “real” model, but in this case the story behind the weird livery was more in the focus than the canvas underneath. However, an interesting result, and the hybrid paint scheme with heritage from three different operators make the aircraft an unusual, if not exotic sight.

Cadets learn from Air Assault School instructors in how to repel from a repelling tower as they are critiqued at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 2018. In order to get their Air Assault badge, every summer Cadets go through Air Assault School learning first to repel from a high tower then from a helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

USMA Cadets conduct Air Assault Training at the South Dock Repelling Site. West Point, NY, June 29, 2022. (U.S. Army photo by Kyle Osterhoudt, USMA)

If you're one of those people whom mosquitoes tend to favor, maybe it's because you aren't sufficiently stressed-out.

Insects have very keen powers of smell that direct them to their targets. But for researchers trying to figure out what attracts or repels the pests, sorting through the 300 to 400 distinct chemical odors that the human body produces has proved daunting.

Michael C. Witte

Now scientists at Rothamsted Research in the U.K. have been making headway at understanding why some people can end up with dozens of bites after a backyard barbecue, while others remain unscathed. The researchers have identified a handful of the body's chemical odors—some of which may be related to stress—that are present in significantly larger concentrations in people that the bugs are happier to leave alone. If efforts to synthesize these particular chemicals are successful, the result could be an all-natural mosquito repellent that is more effective and safer than products currently available.

"Mosquitoes fly through an aerial soup of chemicals, but can home in on those that draw them to humans," says James Logan, a researcher at Rothamsted, one of the world's oldest agricultural-research institutions. But when the combination of human odors is wrong, he says, "the mosquito fails to recognize this signal as a potential blood meal."

The phenomenon that some people are more prone to mosquito bites than others is well documented. In the 1990s, chemist Ulrich Bernier, now at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, began looking for what he calls the "magic compounds" that attract mosquitoes. His research helped to show that mosquitoes are attracted to humans by blends of common chemicals such as carbon dioxide, released from the skin and by exhaling, and lactic acid, which is present on the skin, especially when we exercise. But none of the known attractant chemicals explained why mosquitoes preferred some people to others.

Rothamsted's Dr. Logan says the answer isn't to be found in attractant chemicals. He and colleagues observed that everyone produces chemicals that mosquitoes like, but those who are unattractive to mosquitoes produce more of certain chemicals that repel them.

Misguided Mosquitoes

"The repellents were what made the difference," says Dr. Logan, who is interested in the study of how animals communicate using smell. These chemicals may cloud or mask the attractive chemicals, or may disable mosquitoes from being able to detect those attractive odors, he suggests.

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Besides delivering annoying bites, mosquitoes cause hundreds of millions of cases of disease each year. As many as 500 million cases of malaria are contracted globally each year, and more than one million people die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mosquitoes can also spread West Nile virus, dengue fever, yellow fever and other illnesses.

Currently the most effective repellents on the market often contain a chemical known as DEET, which has been associated in some studies with potential safety concerns, such as cancer and Gulf War syndrome. It also damages materials made of plastic. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has determined that DEET, when used as directed, is safe.

The Rothamsted team set out to get the mosquitoes' viewpoint. The researchers separated human volunteers into two groups—those who were attractive to mosquitoes and those who weren't. They then put each of the volunteers into body-size foil bags for two hours to collect their body odors. Using a machine known as a chromatograph, the scientists were able to separate the chemicals. They then tested each of them to see how the mosquitoes responded. By attaching microelectrodes to the insects' antennae, the researchers could measure the electrical impulses that are generated when mosquitoes recognize a chemical.

Dr. Logan and his team have found only a small number of body chemicals—seven or eight—that were present in significantly different quantities between those people who were attractive to mosquitoes and those who weren't. They then put their findings to the test. For this they used a so-called Y-tube olfactometer that allows mosquitoes to make a choice and fly toward or away from an individual's hand. After applying the chemicals thought to be repellant on the hands of individuals known to be attractive, Dr. Logan found that the bugs either flew in the opposite direction or weren't motivated by the person's smell to fly at all.

The chemicals were then tested to determine their impact on actual biting behavior. Volunteers put their arms in a box containing mosquitoes, one arm coated with repellent chemicals and the other without, to see if the arm without the coating got bitten more.

Significant Repellency

The group's latest paper, published in March in the Journal of Medical Entomology, identified two compounds with "significant repellency." One of the compounds, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, is a skin-derived compound that has the odor of toned-down nail-polish remover, according to George Preti, an organic chemist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, who is involved in a separate line of research into insect-biting behavior. The other, identified in the paper as geranylacetone, has a pleasant odor, though there is some question about whether the chemical is formed by the human biochemical process or is picked up in the environment, Dr. Preti says.

Dr. Logan declined to comment about the specific chemicals because of proprietary concerns. He says the findings have been patented and the group is working with a commercial company to develop the compounds into a usable insect repellent. One issue that still needs to be resolved: how to develop a formulation of the repellent chemicals that will stay on the skin, rather than quickly evaporating as they do naturally. The hope is to get a product to market within a year or two, he says.

Some of the chemicals researchers identified are believed to be related to stress, Dr. Logan says. Previous research has shown that these particular chemicals could be converted from certain other molecules and this could be as a result of oxidation in the body at times of stress, he says. However, it's not clear if the chemicals observed by the Rothamsted researchers were created in this way, and research is continuing to answer this and other questions.

Dr. Logan suggests that mosquitoes may deem hosts that emit more of these chemicals to be diseased or injured and "not a good quality blood meal." Proteins in the blood are necessary for female mosquitoes to produce fertile eggs, and Dr. Logan says it might be evolutionarily advantageous for mosquitoes to detect and avoid such people.

Other Research

Other research includes an effort by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, who published a paper in the journal Nature last week identifying a recently discovered class of molecules that inhibit fruit flies' and mosquitoes' ability to detect carbon dioxide. Mosquitoes can detect carbon dioxide emissions from long ranges, so turning off the ability to detect the gas, perhaps by releasing the inhibiting molecules into the environment, may be a way of keeping the bugs at bay, the researchers suggest. Another team, at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, is launching a study into whether the taste of human skin and blood are related to the insects' interest in biting certain individuals.

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

Some time around midnight on Saturday September 24th 1977, several small bands of Khmer Rouge guerillas crossed the frontier along Tay Ninh province, Vietnam in a coordinated series of raids. They cut a swathe of prodigious violence through the border villages, accounting for between 400-600 lives before being repelled by the Vietnamese army several days later.

In tiny Xa Mat commune, four kilometres from the border, the bodies of 11 young schoolteachers were discovered in and around a disused well that was located at the rear of their bamboo and thatch living quarters. Those in the well had died whilst hiding there after the KR threw in a concussion grenade, causing the well to collapse. Four bodies found outside the well had gunshot wounds and at least one of the females had been mutilated in some way before she was shot. Over the last few years, I have interviewed several of the victims’ family members and friends in order to construct a detailed picture of what happened on that night.

The site of the massacre has been preserved and in 1999 a cenotaph was erected in memory of the victims. On my previous visit to the site three years ago, I found it dilapidated and in need of maintenance. On 11 September this year the government completed a major renovation of the site and held an opening ceremony to which all the living relatives were invited.

Pictured in this set at her graduation is Phạm Thị Thanh Nga (deceased) and, on the anniversary of the massacre are her younger sister, Phạm Thị Anh Đào (57) and older brother, Phạm Thanh Cùng (64). Their father discovered Nga’s body lying on top of the well on the Monday following the attacks.

At age nine, Nga assumed the role of caring for her siblings following the mother’s untimely death from illness. There were seven children in the family at that time. Nga continued her schooling and was a conscientious student, excelling in the sciences. Her father encouraged her to study medicine. She sat and failed the entrance exam twice, but achieved grades sufficient to pursue a science course at university in Saigon. Her father and other family members were less enthusiastic about this and her youngest aunt, herself a teacher, suggested she should instead attend a teaching course in Tay Ninh. Nga was into her second year of study when the 1975 ‘liberation’ of Saigon occurred, marking the end of the Vietnamese American War.

She was sent to work at the school in Xa Mat in 1976 and earned little in her first year as a graduate teacher. In 1977, she began to receive a subsistence wage (around 45VND), which was supplemented with a 1kg rice ration, 100g of MSG and a couple of kilos of sugar.

On the night of the attacks, rockets and gunfire from the border were heard in distant Tay Ninh City and the family began to worry for Nga as she would usually have returned home by mid afternoon (Nga rode her pushbike 40km to and from the border hamlet every week). The family was unaware that the teachers had been enjoined to remain at the schoolhouse into the evening to make sweet porridge and paper lanterns for the children to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. On the Sunday morning, the father went to the office of education and learned of the fate of his eldest daughter. He wasn’t permitted to retrieve her body until the next day due to continued occupation of the area by the KR. He eventually rode a coal-fired steam cart to the site along with education department officials and other family members. Along the way he encountered appalling carnage “…there were bodies everywhere- children were torn in half!”

Nga’s father cleaned and prepared her body for burial at the place where she was killed. She was wrapped in a nylon shroud when the family received her on the evening of Monday 26th. The siblings implored their father to let them see her, but he refused. Despite saying that he was glad she had not been killed in the same gruesome way as the children he’d seen on the road, he firmly resisted their pleadings. “They shot and killed her, and I cleaned and wrapped up her body- that’s all you need to know’, he said.

Nga was 25 when she was killed.

NOTE: anyone with further information regarding this attack, or any others that occurred along the Vietnamese border during Pol Pot's DK regime, PLEASE contact me through flickr mail and share your information. Thanks!

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

Cadets repel from the blackhawk helicopter 14 June 2018 by the Hudson River at the United States Military Academy West Point.

U.S. Army photo by Michael Lopez

Cadets learn from Air Assault School instructors in how to repel from a repelling tower as they are critiqued at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 2018. In order to get their Air Assault badge, every summer Cadets go through Air Assault School learning first to repel from a high tower then from a helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff)

Cadets learn from Air Assault School instructors in how to repel from a repelling tower as they are critiqued at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 2018. In order to get their Air Assault badge, every summer Cadets go through Air Assault School learning first to repel from a high tower then from a helicopter. (U.S. Army photo by Bryan Ilyankoff)

From a scanned photo. Sometime around 1984 I was hiking in the Trapps near New Paltz, NY. I came upon what looked like a Boy Scout group learning to repel on the cliffs. I took a few pictures, but I really liked this one. The angle makes the drop look higher than it was. The boys posture and the determination in his body language also made me like this shot

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)

Cadets, Staff, and Soldiers conducted aircraft repelling operations utilizing two UH-60 Blackhawks in support of the Air Assault training, July 1, 2023, at West Point, N.Y. Canidates are trained in Air Assault operations, sling-load operations, and rappelling. Upon graduation of the course each Soldier will be able to perform skills required to make maximum use of helicopter assets in training and in combat to support their unit operations. Air Assault School is one of the most physically challenging 10 days in the Army. (U.S. Army Photos by SFC Luisito Brooks)