Lot's of different pics of this sign.

Lot's of different pics of this sign.
"I don't make hell for nobody. I'm only the instrument of a laughing providence. Sometimes I don't like it myself, but I couldn't help it if I was born smart."

1st Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden.
"From here to Eternity"

Paul Valery

"You are in love with intelligence, until it frightens you. For your ideas are terrifying and your hearts are faint. Your acts of pity and cruelty are absurd, committed with no calm, as if they were irresistible. Finally, you fear blood more and more. Blood and time."

The Wisdom of the Ages

"When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed',"

Mikhail Kalashnikov
"Here lies the bravest soldier I've seen since my mirror got grease on it."

Zapp Brannigan

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Hillbilly Armor


I can't resist a little tentative poking-out-of-the-head here, vis-a-vis Rumsfeld/Cheneyesque humor.
Who can forget the hilarity that ensued from Rumsfeld's "...hillbilly armor" interview of 2004?
Turns out, it (the question) was planted but... so what.
The Donald ended up looking like a dork regardless.
The world's smartest man (not really) reduced to the classic stoner response:
"Whoa Dude... Shit (stuff) happens."
Anyway, here's the Wiki lowdown; blah, blah, blah.
Available above.
But...
The world's changing fast and those among us who've believed - against all reason - that the past three decades represented some form of normalcy may need a bit of hand-holding.
Welcome to the wonderful, challenging and - trust me - rewarding world of
scarcity.
Just so's we can begin to adjust;
here's a look at some earlier forms of, "hillbilly armor".
Po' folks, makin' do.
Photo at top:
An early Brit (ca 1940), armored car.
This, and the other photo come from this very informative site where you can most certainly find more information about the photos than I'm supplying here.
You've heard the expression, "dumber than a box of rocks".
The protection enjoyed by the radiator of the pictured vehicle is dependent on nothing more.
Turns out; maybe it's not so dumb after all.
In the rear sits another box-of-rocks.

The box, on the Mark 1, on the truck bed was wood planking 54 inches high and 62 x 48 inches around the sides. The planking was 7/8 inches thick and in two layers with a 6 inch gap between them. The gap was then filled with shingle, this was found to be proof against small arms fire.

"Shingle" = "crushed rock". Here's an interesting aside:
Around here (Willamette Valley) all the crushed rock, damn near all of the other rock as well, is basalt which, I think would be better for the purpose than rock based on limestone or shale.
Just trying to attract a little govmint industry.
Times is hard.
Anyway, a box-within-a-box-of-rocks so to speak.
A box of guys-with-machine-guns.
How about that, huh?
No shit now. This was proof against "small-arms fire" meaning, I assume, anything up to rifle-caliber, machine-guns.
Seems to me, anything much bigger, you're in trouble already.



This last is such a good idea it's a shame that it will be thought ridiculous, because it's not.
At least I don't think so.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen.
What you're seeing on the cab of this rig is the marks of 3/4" lumber having been used as concrete forms.
The pour for the rear compartment was a little more polished than that of the cab but, there's no escaping it. That's what it is.
A pillbox on wheels.
A concrete pillbox.
Will certainly stop the bullets and - it's easily repairable.

1 comment:

Chas S. Clifton said...

Priceless photos.

After the British Expeditionary Force left all its transport and heavy weapons at the water's edge in Dunkirk (and elsewhere in France and Belgium), I suppose they were reduced to making armor plate out of rocks.

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