Another mess o' Web links

AIM THIS PAGE

7 P.M. CDT

I heard an interesting report this afternoon between the pledge breaks on Iowa Public Radio about a web site devoted to bringing information about U.S. marines to their mothers. The woman interviewed in the piece said that the USMC is great about disseminating information to the spouses of Marines but not so great about keeping their moms informed. Therefore, she started a site devoted to doing just that. This seems to be a treasure chest of links, info and other interesting stuff.

I found the hour-long special MSNBC broadcast last night on reporter David Bloom to be quite moving. They have a nice tribute to this remarkable guy posted on their web site, too.

I was fascinated reading about how Bloom had personally directed the modification of an M88 Tank Recovery Vehicle with a gyroscopically mounted microwave transmitter. His live signal was beamed to a truck following miles behind and then relayed to a satellite. This was what allowed Bloom to broadcast live as the "Bloomobile" bounced across the desert at 45 miles per hour.

Naturally, this made me wonder: What IS a Tank Recovery Vehicle?

The answer: It's a wrecker for tanks. And it's a transporter for tank mechanics. Read more about all 40 tons of the M88 here.

The husband of the woman we put on page 1A of The Des Moines Register two weeks ago has been identified as one of the bodies found in a grave last week during the raid that rescued Jessica Lynch.

At the risk of sounding like a geeky visuals guy -- Oops, too late! -- I found something in last week's Newsweek that turned me on: color scans of all the patches for the various U.S. military divisions involved -- or soon to be involved -- in the war. I've seen the little icons used in USA Today, but naturally, they're small and black-and-white. I wish I had gotten my hands on these earlier.

Insignia -- and lots of other information, too -- is available at each division's home page:

Army 3rd Infantry (Mechanized) Division

Army 101st Airborne Division

Army 82nd Airborne Division

Army 4th Infantry Division

1st Marine Expeditionary Force

Army First Armored Division (This one seems to be down at the moment)

Army First Cavalry

Army V Corps

And a couple more that seem to be under construction...meaning there seem to be an awful lot of broken or inoperative links embedded in them.

31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade

Third U.S. Army

And the official web site for the U.S. Central Command

charles.apple@pilotonline.com