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One mission in my service was going to Korea and blowing up concrete walls. Back in 2008 the Korean government acquired new concrete barrier designs meant to re
by alaskamiller 10y ago
One mission in my service was going to Korea and blowing up concrete walls. Back in 2008 the Korean government acquired new concrete barrier designs meant to re-enforce strategic locations.
Wanting to see real life usage of these barriers, a contingency of Marine combat engineers working with the ROK Marines got tasked to breaching them.
From that I learned two interesting things of note. Concrete serves two means: it's actual use as a barrier and the other being a manifestation.
In combat zones, Hesco containers prevail. Rapid deployment and durability makes them a much better fit. But imposing concrete blocks represent the continuity of the state.
Heavier and harder, with more logistics required, building out concrete walls is meant as a way for the state to declare they are here to stay, not retreat. So actually it's wielding a supply chain effectively that is the most effective weapon on the battlefield.
That said though, we made short work of the concrete.
- tajen 10y agoI reckon concrete is necessary, but how much does it harm the economy? I can't recall a barrier in history that didn't prevent food from reaching to the right people and triggering bribes. But the main driver in peace is to get paid/production jobs for everyone, and the main specificity of a city is that it's good for tertiary jobs, but it requires constant provisioning from agriculture and industry, which both happen outside towns and require intensive movement of goods. In a nutshell: Don't concrete walls prevent recovery? Don't they split the population, creating even more groups with differences? Should we plan for them to be "reconfigured" in the following years, when the conflict improves? Side question: Sorry I didn't follow, why was USA in Irak again? Did it start with the famous WMD accusation at the UN conference then the intervention got bogged into a long unpeaceful situation, am I recollecting events in the correct order?
- jacobush 10y agoNot quite. It began with a teary eyed son claiming vengeance for his father: "he tried to kill my papa!"
- pault 10y agoIt started with the Project for the New American Century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century#Calls_for_regime_change_in_Iraq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_C... "Of the twenty-five people who signed the PNAC's founding statement of principles, ten went on to serve in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz." They were planning this for a long time.
- pimlottc 10y agoYeah, I was really concerned about these effects as well. How can you expect the citizenry to transition from a wartime mentality when their neighborhoods look like a war zone?