Members of the command staff of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing stand at ease as an Osprey taxis to a stop at Al Asad Airbase on December 22. Aboard the aircraft is Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.
(Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michael L. Haas)The Pentagon hasn't been saying much about what's up with the Osprey in Iraq. That could be because it doesn't want to jinx what seems to be, after the first three months of deployment, a success story for the long-controversial tilt-rotor aircraft.
(By contrast, try getting it to stop crowing about the performance of a different breed of new aerial technology, unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Reaper.)
Since arriving at Al Asad Airbase last fall, the 10 MV-22 Ospreys of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 have accumulated more than 1,600 hours of flight time, carrying hundreds of passengers--from ground troops to VIPs--and thousands of pounds of cargo "without a mishap or even a close call," according to a story last week in The Dallas Morning News. That's no small feat for an aircraft that critics cited time and time again for its checkered history of fatal crashes; among other things, they said, the aircraft could well fall prey to the dust it would stir up in the desert environment. Time magazine in October tarred the Osprey--which flies like both a helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane--in a cover story titled "A Flying Shame."
The Marines Corps did seem to be handling the 16-ton Osprey gingerly at first in Iraq, using it in less risky support missions, according to the Morning News story. (For the Dallas paper, this is something of a local story: Bell Helicopter Textron assembles the aircraft in Forth Worth and Amarillo.) But in December, the aircraft began to take part in combat missions. From day to day, anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent of the Ospreys are ready to fly, the paper reported. That could be a sign of genuine and worrisome mechanical problems, or maybe just overly protective policies that keep airworthy Ospreys grounded.
If all continues to go well, scores more Ospreys will be hitting the production line for eventual use by the Marines, the Navy, and the Air Force.
Marines make use of the Biometrics Automated Toolset system in Fallujah on July 19.
(Credit: Cpl. Joel Abshier/U.S. Marines Corps)As state-level officials and other critics push back hard against the federal Real ID mandate here at home, the U.S. government is reporting success abroad with a biometric ID system it has installed in Iraq.
The automated biometric identity system being used by the Iraqi government now holds more than 350,000 sets of fingerprints, photos and retina scans, and "we increase the database by 4,000 or 5,000 each week," Army Lt. Col. John W. Velliquette Jr. said in a teleconferenced briefing this week. Velliquette runs the fingerprint and retina scanning center in Baghdad's International Zone. Iraqis are expected to assume full operation by next summer.
The system is used to verify the identity of members of the Iraqi police and military, prisoners and prison guards, and authorized gun owners. (The guns must be kept in homes; they're not to be carried out in the streets.) It's also used to identify criminals and suspects in criminal cases, Velliquette said. "We will get criminal hits; we get 10 to 20 a week from the minister of Interior."
And then there are the bureaucratic benefits. "We also weed out ghost employees," Velliquette said, "people who collect two paychecks but actually only work one job."
The ID system may not be as futuristic as the term "biometrics" would imply. Judging by the briefing transcript, it seems skewed heavily toward fingerprints--a biometric identification technology that's been around since the Sherlock Holmes era. Indeed, Velliquette referred to it as the Automated Fingerprint System, or AFIS.
And civilian employees of the Interior Ministry who collect information in the field via "jump kit" (Panasonic Toughbook computer, Livescan fingerprint scanner) can't upload the data directly to the main office. "Because of connectivity problems over here, the information is burned onto a CD (and) taken over to Adnan Palace," Velliquette said.
While we all hope that the ID system is helping to take some of the danger out of a dangerous place, the possibility exists that access by bad guys to the Interior Ministry database could lead to harm for some. Noah Shachtman, writing in Wired's Danger Room blog, called out Velliquette's concern that the database could become, in the lieutenant colonel's words, "a hit list if it gets in the wrong hands."
The business end of the BAT system.
(Credit: Cpl. Joel Abshier/U.S. Marines Corps)Personal information in the database includes an individual's name, parents' names, address, birth data, height and weight--but not religious affiliation.
"Some sectors are entirely Sunni, some are entirely Shi'ite," Velliquette said, "so we take great pains to make sure this database stays in proper hands."
At the moment, the only people in Baghdad with access to the main database are seven American contractors and 24 employees of the Interior Ministry.
Actually, there are three biometric systems in operation. In addition to AFIS, there's the Biometrics Automated Toolset system, which is used to identify residents of particular cities, and the Biometric Identification System for Access, which is used for access to bases and to the International Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi officials and foreign diplomats work. All of the local systems are linked to the Pentagon's Biometric Fusion Center, in Clarksburg, W.Va. But they don't connect to each other, meaning that someone recorded in a BAT database in Fallujah who then moved to Baghdad wouldn't necessarily be readily identified.
The U.S. Marine Corps has found the BAT system to its liking. Fielded initially for use in military detention centers, it has come into everyday service on a much wider scope by units in Iraq (and Afghanistan). Residents of Fallujah, for instance, have to show ID badges created in connection with the system to get past checkpoints. "With the occupation here, badges have become part of the Iraqis' way of life," Cpl. Jonathan Rudolph, the BAT system noncommissioned officer with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, told Marine Corps News recently.
As of the end of July, Marine BAT system operators had completed, updated or renewed over 5,200 ID cards since the beginning of June.
The Milwaukee Brewers hit a home run this year, landing the 10th ranked spot on Harris Interactive's list of America's favorite baseball teams.
Last year, the Brewers ranked No. 18, after having spent four consecutive years in the dugout with rankings in the low to mid 20s, according to Harris Interactive's announcement. The fact that the Brewers are leading the National League's central division is likely giving some froth to its rankings.
The online poll, which surveyed 2,372 adults in the U.S., ran from June 5-11.
And who was America's favorite baseball team this year?
Once again, the New York Yankees--for a fifth consecutive year. Sorry, Mets fans, your team took a hit this year, falling to the No. 7 spot from No. 2 in the previous year.
The Atlanta Braves moved up a notch to No. 2 this year from No. 3 last year, while the Boston Red Sox jumped to No. 3 from No. 5, during the same time period.
St. Louis Cardinals ranked No. 4 this year, also moving up by two points from the previous year. The Chicago Cubs weren't as lucky, slipping to No. 5, as the Cardinals ousted the team from its lofty perch.
Several teams made further gains on fan enthusiasm this year. The Detroit Tigers rose one notch to rank No. 6, the Seattle Mariners climbed to No. 8 from No. 10, and the Cincinnati Reds that jumped to No. 9 from No. 14 last year.
For the Mariners, fan appreciation may also come from the added entertainment of watching the team clear the benches when it plays.
On Sunday, the Mariners and Oakland Athletics engaged in a pissing match that brought both teams out of the dugout and onto the field, according to a posting on KomoTV.com.
And, as seen on YouTube, the the Mariners and Yankees cleared the benches in May, and the Northwest team was at it in March with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Next season, the Mariners may also double their revenue by selling boxing tickets.
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