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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (6986)	9/7/2003 6:53:48 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793745

Is the Hip similar to the Hind? I don't want you to get the idea that I am a helicopter expert. But I will share what I think I know. The Hind is a much newer type than the HIP. It is extremely powerful and rated (I believe) the best in the world for high altitude operations. Soviet Hind gunships were used against the Afghans in the 80s. The CIA provided the Afghan Freedom fighters (Afghan mojahedeen) with weapons to defend themselves including stinger missiles to take down the birds. I don't believe the Hind is nearly as widely distributed as the Hip...but they are around. If I recall correctly the bad guys also had some in Guatemala and Nicaragua. And I think the Soviet version of the stinger was used against them there. A lot of Hinds (probably hundreds) were taken out in both Afghan and SA. I am certain we have a supply. I have seen them on TV news clips with what I believe were USSF and probably other govt personnel disembarking. The SA7 and Stinger missiles are a potential gigantic problem...The press has reported on it many times. A helluva lot of those weapons are not accounted for around the world. Writing this post about past military OPS to you...I had a lot of thoughts about current military OPS and the American people. We have the very best overall security in the world and absolutely the worst attitude about it. The reporters are the worst. Publishing secret info about on-going OPS. Complaining about airport security. Whining that the war against terror is not over. Crying over the cost of freedom. Bitching because our leaders are taking decisive actions to stop terrorist attacks against Americans and America. Every High School senior should get a class on OPSEC including: Operational Security (OPSEC): The definition, the reasons for it, why it is effective, past costly OPSEC errors, how OPSEC applies to business, how to use OPSEC to protect yourself from identity theft, The difference between Operations Security and Operational Security and why both are important. Give every kid who completes the course a purple dragon ballcap to keep the program and thinking in the forefront. The OPSEC symbol is a purple dragon...That was the name of the operation that discovered the B-52 bombing data leak during the Vietnam conflict. Just one more unrelated point to make this post a real mess...The Stinger was a major key to defeating the Soviets in Afghan. The Soviet losses there (over 15,000) led to a huge moral problem throughout their armed forces. Some consider these losses and the resulting demoralization one of the major considerations that led to the collapse of the USSR. uw