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How To Perfect the Kayaking Forward Stroke

From George Sayour,
Your Guide to Paddling.
Stay up to date!

The kayak manuever known as the forward stroke is a relatively easy technique to master. That being said, it is also one of the most commonly distorted strokes in kayaking. This "How To" will guide you through the steps that every kayaker should know for maximum propulsion across the water as well as the proper ergonomic technique for wrist, shoulder, and torso safety. These directions are written assuming a right-handed paddler. If you are a "lefty" simply reverse the directions.

Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 15 minutes to get the hang of it

Here's How:

1. Hold the Paddle Properly:
The forward stroke can only be executed safely and properly as long as you are holding your paddle properly. Your hands should be about shoulder width apart, the paddle should be facing the right direction and oriented properly.

2. Determine Your Control Grip
Most kayak paddles have blades that are offset from one another. The best way to describe this is if you were to lay the paddle on the ground, one blade would lie flat on the ground while the other would be angled upward. This makes it necessary to maintain the correct grip. If you are right-handed your control grip will be with your right hand. If you are left-handed your control grip will be with your left hand. The control grip does not change positions once it is on the paddle.

3. Maintain Proper Posture in the Kayak
You should maintain an agressive, yet comfortable, position in the kayak. Sit upright with your legs securely in the thigh braces and the balls of your feet against the foot supports.

4. Rotate Your Body
To take a stroke on the right side, rotate your torso counter-clockwise while extending your right arm and retracting your left arm. This is the step that often performed incorrectly. The key to it is the torso rotation.

5. Take The Stroke
Place the right side paddle blade in the water near the feet and rotate the torso so as to pull the blade through the water along side of the boat. Be sure to retract your right arm while at the same time extending your left arm.

6. Setup For The Next Stroke
As soon as the stroke is over your paddle should be setup for the next stroke on the left side of the boat. Continue the rotation of your torso to obtain the maximum reach on the left side of the boat.

7. Rotate Your Grip
At this point you need to bend your wrist on the control grip hand. Allow the paddle to rotate in your other (loose) hand until the paddle blade is lined up to enter the water at the proper angle. Grasp the paddle with your "loose hand."

8. Take The Stroke
Place the left paddle blade in the water near the feet and rotate the torso so as to pull the blade through the water along side of the boat while retracting your left arm and extending your right arm.

9. Repeat

At this point, you should be paddling along rather smoothly. Keep repeating Step 4 through Step 8 until you need to correct your direction with another stroke on the same side of the kayak or until you get to your destination.

Tips:

1. If you are a "righty" use a paddle designed for a right-hand control grip. If you are a "lefty" use a paddle designed for a left-hand control grip.

2. Don't hold the paddle too tightly, even with your control grip. This will cause fatigue and possibly undue long-term stress.

3. There are a number of different design features to consider when buying a paddle. Make sure you buy and use the right length and thickness paddle.

What You Need:

* Kayak
* Paddle
* Body of Water

http://paddling.about.com/od/technique/ht/use_paddle_k.htm?p=1

Army Guard Set to Fly New Euro Helicopter

May 14, 2008
Military.com|by Christian Lowe

COLUMBUS, Miss. -- It's an old adage that the Guard and Reserve are the red-headed step children of "Big Army." It's the guys on active duty that get the newest, shiniest, priciest piece of gear while the part-timers get the cast offs -- last year's equipment on its last legs.

Well, that's about to change in a few weeks when the Army National Guard receives its first of 200 UH-72A Lakota helicopters to replace its inventory of Vietnam-era UH-1 Huey and OH-58 Kiowa utility helos and some UH-60 Blackhawks.

Yes, the Big Army's already gotten about 20 of the new Lakotas to free up some of its Blackhawks for duty in Iraq, but the so-called "light utility helicopter" is purpose built for the Guard to use for domestic medivac situations and other state-assigned "general support" missions.

"For a lot of missions in the U.S. we don't need a Blackhawk," said Col. Neil Thurgood, director of the Army's utility helicopters project office, during a visit to the manufacturer's Columbus assembly plant May 9. "So, we're going to save the taxpayers some money."

Based on the Eurocopter EC-145 -- a commercial bantam-weight helo used commonly for hospital "life-flight" missions -- the UH-72 takes advantage of all the modern amenities typical of its class. With two engines, advanced rotors and a glass cockpit, pilots say the Lakota is easy -- and safer -- to fly than its predecessors, particularly the venerable Huey.

"I've been flying Hueys for years and you've got to be on the controls all the time," Thurgood said. But with the Lakota's advanced flight controls and auto pilot, "squeezing the stick the entire time" isn't in the cards anymore.

"I was coming into the airfield and all I had to do was turn some knobs and dials until I was in a hover, the auto pilot did it all," Thurgood added.

For Guard pilots who already have some stick time, it'll be an easy transition to the UH-72, Army officials here said. Pilots will have to attend a 10-day course on the Lakota at a Eurocopter facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, before they fly their home-station birds, and maintainers will have to do roughly the same thing to get up to speed on the LUH's modern systems.

New Guard pilots will simply leave initial flight training and attend the same 10-day course as their more experienced brethren.

"The transition won't be a problem at all," said Lt. Col. Jim Brashear, LUH product manager.

But a helicopter that program officials claim is one of the few Army aviation contracts that's adhering to projected cost and schedule timelines does have some limitations. For one, the LUH isn't built for a combat environment, so Guard units who deploy to a war zone won't get to take their shiny new helos with them.

"They'll still be able to fly their Blackhawks when they deploy," said Keith Roberson, deputy director of the Army's utility helicopters project office.

While officials here cite the LUH as an example of what can go right with an aviation program, the helo has seen its share of controversy. In July 2006, after the Army awarded the $3 billion contract to American Eurocopter -- a subsidiary of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company -- competitor McDonnell Douglas Helicopters protested the decision, throwing the program's future into doubt.

The UH-72 emerged from the fight unscathed, but critics later charged the aircraft was ill suited to some environments, including so-called "high-hot" conditions like mountaintop wildfires and the deserts of California.

"There are no areas in the United States that we think we can't take this aircraft," Roberson countered.

The Lakota is being manufactured partly in Germany; with final assembly here at this newly-built plant in rural Mississippi. Through the rest of this year, more of the aircraft will be assembled at the Columbus plant, with the entire end-to-end production of Lakotas coming from domestic manufacturers by mid-2009, officials say.

The Lakota's foreign designers "are fulfilling their promise to shift production from Germany to the U.S.," Thurgood said. "That's contributing to our industrial base and our economy."

© Copyright 2008 Military.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.military.com/news/article/army-guard-set-to-fly-new-euro-helicopter.html?ESRC=eb.nl

US to Equip Afghan Army with M-16s

Military.com | By Christian Lowe | April 30, 2008



In a sharp break for a military with long experience wielding the battle-tested AK-47, the Afghan national army is set to replace its entire inventory of Kalashnikov rifles with the American-made M-16.

By the end of the year, the U.S. military plans to ship about 55,000 used Marine Corps M-16A2 rifles to Afghanistan with the intent of outfitting every soldier in the Afghan army with one by the late spring of 2009. So far about 6,000 M16s, including Canadian C-7 variants, have been fielded to Afghan units and about 6,000 M-4 carbines have been in the hands of Afghan commandos since May 2007.

Officials in charge of the $44 million modernization effort recognize the difficultly in transitioning a largely illiterate force from a weapon designed for the third world to one that requires intensive maintenance and marksmanship. But the new, more accurate weapons are already proving their worth on the battlefield.

"When the commandos go into a fight against an enemy that's armed with AKs, it's not a fair fight. And even fire against 'spray and slay,' it's not a fair fight at all," said Army Lt. Col. Mike McMahon, who heads up the modernization program for the Afghan army.

"The competence you get [from the M-16] and the confidence is just incredible," he said.

The effort to abandon decades of experience with the venerable Kalashnikov is in part an attempt by Kabul to make a symbolic break from its insurgent past, where genocidal battles with AK-47-toting Soviets and Taliban religious zealots weigh heavily on the memory of Afghanistan's post-September 11 government, McMahon said.

Similar efforts are in the works to supply the new Iraqi army with M-16s as well.

But the enhanced performance and increased assurance gained by wielding the M-16 and its variants come at a cost. Early efforts to train the Afghan army on the M-16 have been mixed, with some soldiers sticking to their trigger-happy ways -- firing triple the amount of ammunition that a typical U.S. trainee would -- and others using diesel fuel to lube the finely-tuned carbine as if it were an AK.

"The Afghans called this the 'Black Kalashnikov'," McMahon said, and saw it as nothing more than a plastic version of the weapon they always used. "They figured out very quickly -- after they went through zeroing -- that it was way different than the Kalashnikov, and you didn't fire all your rounds at the same time."

The M-16s do take some getting used to, McMahon said, and some long-standing habits have to be broken. For one, Afghan troops can't just pick up any M-16 and fire it with any hope of hitting what they're aiming at because each soldier has his individual weapon zeroed to his particular shooting style. And, too, each soldier is accountable for that weapon's whereabouts.

And no more emptying a 30-round magazine shooting from the hip, McMahon said. The M-16 is designed to be fired from the shoulder, so Afghan soldiers can forget the "spray and slay" shooting style they used with the AK.

Initial training on the M-16 with the 205th Afghan Army Corps in January was mixed, mainly because there were too few instructors with deep enough range and marksmanship know-how to get the students up to speed. So a new program has been launched along the lines of the M-16 training regimen in Iraq to hire six teams of 12 civilian contract instructors who will teach Afghan non-commissioned officers how to use the new rifle.

In a classic "train the trainer" model, those NCOs will then be in charge of teaching Afghan grunts on the M-16, giving small unit leaders the added benefit of perfecting both their rifle and management skills.

"We see a huge secondary benefit in terms of development of the NCO corps by doing this; in teaching them how to train, how to run ranges and how to teach" other soldiers, McMahon said. "Also this gives them a system that will have a devastating impact on the enemy in terms of almost revolutionizing the army.

Kitty Hawk in Last Hong Kong Port Call

April 28, 2008
Associated Press

HONG KONG - The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk sailed into Hong Kong on April 28 on its final away-from-home port call five months after being turned away by China.

"We're delighted to be back," said the ship's commander, Rear Adm. Richard Wren. But he said the U.S. was still "not completely satisfied" with China's explanation of why the carrier was denied entry in November.

"We were never provided a concise explanation," he said.

The Kitty Hawk, with about 5,000 sailors on board, was joined by one cruiser and three destroyers - the USS Shiloh, USS Curtis Wilbur, USS Stethem and USS Lassen - on its five-day port call.

The 47-year-old ship, based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, is the only U.S. aircraft carrier based outside the United States. The diesel-powered vessel is to return to the U.S. in late May for decommissioning and will be replaced by the nuclear-powered USS George Washington.

The carrier attempted to make a long-scheduled port call in Hong Kong last Thanksgiving, but was told before its arrival that it had not obtained clearance from Beijing. The thousands of sailors on board were unable to meet their families and friends who had flown to the city to spend the holiday with them.

Beijing later said it would allow the carrier to enter Hong Kong on humanitarian grounds, but the decision came as the carrier was already leaving the area.

The incident damaged relations between the U.S. and Chinese militaries. The top U.S. commander in the Asia-Pacific, Adm. Timothy Keating, said Beijing's behavior was unacceptable, while Beijing said the U.S. military had not followed correct procedures.

Some analysts suggested China was retaliating for a decision by Congress to award exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama its highest civilian honor.

Although the West views the Dalai Lama as a figure of moral authority, Beijing has accused the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of seeking to split Tibet from the rest of China and of instigating anti-government protests in the Himalayan region last month.

Since the rebuff of the Kitty Hawk, the USS Blue Ridge visited Hong Kong in late January and the USS Nimitz strike group in early April.


© Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Guardium - Autonomous Security Vehicle System

Guardium - Autonomous Security Vehicle

IAI/Lahav (Israel)



Guardium autonomous observation and target intercept system, developed by IAI/Lahav is based on the M-Guard unmanned security vehicle (USV) which can be operated from a command center, carry out routine patrols and quickly respond to evolving emergencies. They can suppress suspicious elements close to the perimeter, and hold them back until manned security forces arrive, or use various forceful means to eliminate the threat, if applicable.

The M-Guard autonomous vehicle uses the TomCar chassis. The vehicle is equipped with an automated tactical positioning system and can operate autonomously on and off road, at speeds up to 80 km/h. The vehicle can carry a payload of up to 300 kg, including light armor shield to protect vital systems. The USV can carry a wide variety of sensors, including video and thermal cameras, with auto-target acquisition and capture, sensitive microphone, powerful loudspeakers and two way radio. The vehicle can also be equipped with lethal or less than lethal weapons which can be directed and operated from the Main Control Center (MCC). A fleet of USV sentries is controlled from the MCC, from where they are launched on routine patrols, ambushes or operating in response to events received from an early warning or perimeter defense system. The MCC is also provided with automatic tactical area definition, by terrain, doctrine and intelligence, which assist in preparation of the operational planning and programming for USVs. Each USV can also be manually controlled by remote control.

US Recruiting for Cyber Wars

April 16, 2008

Business Week Online

The U.S. military is looking for a few good geeks.

"This building will be attacked 3 million times today," announces the commentator as the Pentagon appears on an ad available on the popular video site YouTube (GOOG). "Who is going to protect it? Meet Staff Sergeant Lee Jones, Air Force Cyber Command, a member of America's only cyber command protecting us from millions of cyber threats every day."

The YouTube recruitment video is part of a high-profile ad campaign running on TV, in print, and on the Web. In the ads, the Air Force boasts of its ability to protect the nation from a potentially devastating cyber attack. The ads overstate just how protected the U.S. military's networks are [BusinessWeek, 4/10/08], but they underscore a new sense of urgency: As computer networks play increasingly vital roles in the U.S. military -- and expose it to new dangers from skilled information warriors trained by other nations -- the U.S. needs a new type of 21st century soldier.

"How do you tap into the intellect of a completely different kind of Air Force warrior?" asks General William T. Lord, the chief of the nascent Air Force Cyber Command -- the military's newest unit fighting digital warfare.

Techies on Patrol

General Lord thinks the answer may be to encourage U.S. hackers to enlist. In an interview with techie forum Slashdot in early March, he was asked if hackers with checkered pasts, and overweight geeks who couldn't pass a physical training test, were candidates to join the growing ranks of cyber soldiers. "I believe even the most unlikely candidate, when working for a cause bigger than himself, turns out to be a most loyal ally," the general wrote.

The next James Bond or GI Jane may well be a hacker -- routinely peering and probing computer networks to further his country's industrial or military edge. Instead of tense confrontations and close calls in far-off places, the digital warrior will telecommute. Simply tapping at a keyboard, she'll connect with electronic moles that will pass on gigabytes of valuable data stored in the networks of prime targets half a world away.

Using the Internet is less risky and exponentially more efficient, and, given some due diligence, cunning, and a knack for social engineering, the path leads to just about any computer's soft interior.

League of Electronic Nations

There are some surprising indications that this future has arrived in an abundance of ways. The U.S., China, and Russia are building up their cyber forces. "For the Chinese, info war is the next realm. They are never going to go tank to tank with the U.S.," says Matthew G. Devost, a former Pentagon network security tester and chief executive officer of Total Intelligence Solutions in Alexandria, Va. The Chinese military offers prizes to its best computer hackers, and according to a January, 2006, white paper by the Chinese military, it has a three-stage strategy between now and 2050 to win an "informationized war," one that is fast-paced and mostly digital.

The superpowers are hardly alone. The league of electronically prying, prodding, and posturing nations now numbers well into the dozens -- by some tallies, closer to 100. A report published in August, 2006, by the office of Joel F. Brenner, counterintelligence executive for the director of national intelligence, noted that his office discovered at least 108 countries engaged in "collection efforts against sensitive and protected U.S. technologies," up from 37 a decade ago. The report doesn't name many names, though it identifies China and Russia as among "the most aggressive" in targeting the U.S.

China denies any involvement in cyber spying [BusinessWeek.com, 4/10/08] and says it, too, is a victim, "frequently intruded [upon] and attacked by hackers from certain countries."

Spying on Defense Contractors on the Rise

The Russian government also denies participating in such activity. "Russia has never engaged in any kind of cyber intrusions in the U.S. or any other countries," says Yevgeniy Khorishko, the Russian government's spokesman at its embassy in Washington. "All these kinds of reports and articles that appear from time to time are pure speculation. They don't deserve to be commented upon."

Suspicious activity associated with attempts at spying and stealing information from defense contractors is on the rise, too -- especially from nations along the Pacific Rim and Asia, according to another declassified 2006 report by the Defense Security Service, which helps contractors keep tabs on espionage attempts.

In particular, the report noted a "dramatic increase in the number of incidents involving government affiliated entities," and rising use of the Internet as a tool of choice. "The potential gain from even one successful computer intrusion makes it an attractive, relatively low-risk option for any country seeking access to sensitive information stored on U.S. computer networks," the report notes, while predicting the risk to sensitive information from cyber spies "will increase as more countries gain the expertise to exploit those systems."

Weapons of Mass Disruption

In the U.S., the latest wave of sophisticated, precisely targeted attacks prompted the Defense Dept. last summer to give the incursions and thefts of sensitive data a new name: "advanced persistent threats." The phrase is meant to underscore both the virulent nature of this type of cyber intrusion and their origin: hackers working for foreign nations.

Pentagon insiders refer to the malicious software and devious methods of state-sponsored hackers as "weapons of mass disruption." U.S. military and intelligence officials worry about damage being inflicted by professionals, well-trained, backed by large sums of money, and making use of their own homegrown innovations. "Our adversaries are very good. But I'm not sure we've seen their best," says Lieutenant General Charles E. Croom, who heads the Pentagon's Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations.

A Different Kind of Soldier

The U.S. Air Force is preparing for a digital onslaught. It now aggressively seeks recruits, identifying cyber space in all its recruitment ads as its new domain of military activity. The Air Force has long had a role in aviation, of course, and also in space. Now it's adding cyber space. Among skills said to be in demand: the use of "hack backs" that probe intruders' own systems, and outright offensive measures. "Everything out there can reach and touch us," says General John C. "Chris" Inglis, deputy director of the National Security Agency. "We must be able to outmaneuver our adversaries."

Despite the alarming rise of cyber intrusions and a new sense of urgency, some traditions are hard to break. When General Lord told Air Force officials he wanted to reach out to hackers through a forum on Slashdot, some of his colleagues advised against it. "There were elements of the Air Force that didn't think I should engage the Slashdot guys," he says. "They're not the kind [of soldier] that I grew up with where you marched to breakfast in the morning. This is a different kind of crowd."

General Lord says he ignored the advice because the U.S. needs top-notch cyber soldiers. "It's speed of light warfare, it's not speed of sound warfare. It's faster than our F-22."

Visit www.businessweek.com for news, analysis, and commentary from the world's most widely read business publication.

Mexico Deploys Troops to US Border

March 28, 2008

Associated Press

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - The Mexican government said March 27 it has
sent more than 2,500 soldiers and federal police to curb soaring
violence in a border state across from Texas and New Mexico.

Agents began arriving March 26 in Ciudad Juarez near El Paso,
Texas. About 200 people have been killed in this Chihuahua state city
of 1.3 million since Jan. 1.

"In this battle, no group will be able to withstand the government's

will and force," Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino said at the
initiative's unveiling in Ciudad Juarez.

Chihuahua is home to the town of Palomas, across from Columbus, New

Mexico, where at least 40 people have been killed so far this year.
Earlier this week, Palomas' police chief sought asylum in the U.S.
after his deputies abandoned him and he received death threats.

Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora blamed the violence on

drug cartel reaction to a government crackdown, under which President
Felipe Calderon has already deployed more than 20,000 federal agents
nationwide, to combat a wave of killings, beheadings and grenade
attacks.

"The violence ... is a sign of (the gangs') weakness, decay and decline," Medina Mora said.

The soldiers and federal agents will patrol throughout Chihuahua and
evaluate local police in an effort to weed out corrupt officers,
authorities said.

Speaking in the central state of Morelos on Thursday, Calderon

touted the recent arrest of two alleged top cartel leaders as evidence
of his government's resolve to fight the gangs.

More than 3,000 people, including more than 300 police officers and

some 40 soldiers, have died since Calderon took office in December 2006
and began the crackdown, according to the Mexico City newspaper
Reforma.