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The impulse from a 20k nuke is many orders of magnitude greater than a WWII "Earthquake" bomb. It is likely that Israeli nukes are at least 40kt, and not unlikely that some are in the 60-80k range. No valid comparison is possible with a 10,000# chemical explosive WWII bomb, unless the nuke misses the target by a substantial distance - well beyond the normal CEP of modern weapons.
Or they could just as well be duds. Thus far, we had 3 recent nuclear powers who had confidence in their arsenals before testings. Thus far, we had 4 sets of duds (twice for North Korea).
It would be prudent for Egypt not to assume that Israel has duds.
It would be also prudent for Israel to assume she does.
Sadly, those of us in the Profession of Arms make our living in very dangerous environments.
Saw a man cut in half jump starting a tank by having tanks nose to nose and not side to side.
In one week in FT Stewart in summer of 1986 we saw an engineer 5 ton dump truck loaded with troops roll over into a swamp and kill 12; a 5,000 gallon tanker crash into a wrecker killing the wrecker crew; an AH-1 fly right into the front of a CH-47 loaded with troops killing all 23 on both aircraft and 5 on the ground; an M1 driver drowned when his tank fell into a swamp and 6 people were killed in a rollover accident from one of our units at NTC that same week.
The CG was relieved about a month later...we lost over 100 people in six months.
4 years later the 24th ID lost fewer soldiers in the 8 months of Desert Shield/Storm than home station.
“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
Mark Twain
and so much of that rests upon the leadership of the unit in question. damn.
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
and so much of that rests upon the leadership of the unit in question. damn.
The slave start death was preventable, same with the helo crash, tanker/wrecker crash and dump truck crash. But the drowned Abrams driver may just be part of the profession. If no ones shooting drive unbuttoned for better visibility and safety. If the ground gave way its an actual accident. I buried the front half of a hummer outside the bird baths at Hood, was sitting still and all of a sudden plop down she went in a bog underneath what looked like hard pack. The NTC roll over was almost common place. Poorly working NVG's bad roads, tactical movement, vehicles with high centers of gravity on bad roads... Some of the NVG's we got issued at NTC were absolute junk, if the moon was out even a little bit you could see far better without them.
The slave start death was preventable, same with the helo crash, tanker/wrecker crash and dump truck crash. But the drowned Abrams driver may just be part of the profession. If no ones shooting drive unbuttoned for better visibility and safety. If the ground gave way its an actual accident. I buried the front half of a hummer outside the bird baths at Hood, was sitting still and all of a sudden plop down she went in a bog underneath what looked like hard pack. The NTC roll over was almost common place. Poorly working NVG's bad roads, tactical movement, vehicles with high centers of gravity on bad roads... Some of the NVG's we got issued at NTC were absolute junk, if the moon was out even a little bit you could see far better without them.
Well a little more complicated....
The aircraft crash occurred at night while flying in different directions on opposite sides of a paved road. The AH-1F had an engine failure which caused it to swerve across road and hit the Chinook.
The tanker crash lead to an investigation which created a MWO to go Army wide and post to PS Magazine.
The 5 ton dump crash occurred on a rainy night when the truck, found to be driving at a safe speed, hit a Seth of
Us on the road caused not by tactical units but a Georgia State Game Warden checking access points and dragging mud onto the road. Kind of a shit happens deal.
We were a very risky Army in the 1980s. We trained our asses of with technogy which was not quite there yet....we became a better Army but it cost us blood and treasure.
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