The first of two posts inspired by a particularly interesting episode of Build it Bigger.

I’ve always known that the US Military is the coolest, but here’s another fun fact to give it some more cool points: We can parachute drop tanks from an airplane.

The cargo bay door opens and the tanks are pushed out.  An array of parachutes on the tanks open, and the tank glides slowly to the ground.

How cool is that?

Sometimes, they blow up early.

Every time I see one of these videos I am struck by exactly how far the US Military goes to protect civilians. I love those guys.

The US Military has begun offering Warrior Mind Training, a program rooted in ancient Japanese Samurai traditions to some soldiers as part of a new emphasis on developing mental toughness among the troops.

While there have been no official studies of the effectiveness of the program, early anecdotal results are encouraging:

[A] poll of 25 participants showed 70% said they felt better able to handle stressful situations and 65% had improved self-control.

There is hope that this new program will help treat, or even prevent, PTSD among members of the military.

Capable of “disabling” ground targets, no less.

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Air Force on Aug. 30 defeated a ground target from the air with the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) aircraft, demonstrating ATL’s first air-to-ground, high-power laser engagement of a tactically representative target.

Over at The Weekly Standard, Michael Goldfarb imagines the future implications:

As this test proves, the Laser has huge potential as a tool for assassination. Lasers have the potential to zap individual bad guys without causing the same kind of collateral damage as a Hellfire missile or small-diameter bomb.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Since the first Gulf War in 1991, a group of veterans and townspeople from around Bangor Maine have greeted every troop flight that arrives or departs from Bangor International Airport.

The Bangor Airport (which incidentally is also a designated emergency airport for the Space Shuttle) is the last major US airport between Europe and the United States, which makes it a stop for many transatlantic flights.

Slublog over at the Hot Air Greenroom explains:

I’ve been at the airport a couple of times when troop flights have arrived, and it’s a moving experience. Soldiers file in and the minute they enter the terminal, the troop greeters start applauding, shaking hands and hugging the troops. In the troop greeter room, soldiers are given access to snacks and free cell phones they can use to call loved ones. Although I’ve never been a formal part of the troop greeting, I have taken the opportunity to shake a hand or clap for those who serve our country.

The greeters are the subject of a new documentary, called The Way We Get By. Trailer below.

The movie is in limited release, but will be shown on PBS this Veteran’s Day.

Those of you moved enough to donate to this worthy cause, can do so here.

On the Web: TWwGb Movie Site, Maine Troop Greeters Home Page, PBS

A 9 inch knife in the brain. (Well, I don’t exactly know if you can, but this guy did.)

Army Sgt. Dan Powers was working to keep pedestrians away from the scene of an explosion in East Baghdad when he was hit:

Powers was walking away from the cordoned area when it hit him — a near-knockout blow that felt like a “clothesline tackle,” he said. But Powers stayed on his feet, spun around and slammed his raven-haired assailant to the asphalt, prodding the skinny Iraqi man’s face with his M4 barrel. Riley, his squad mate, pounced and detained the assailant.

“I remember being pretty pissed off,” Powers recalled to Air Force Times. Adrenaline throbbed in his veins and blood soaked his shoulder. A medic, Spc. Ryan Webb with the 118th Military Police, was tugging at his arm, demanding that he “sit down, calm down and leave the knife in.”

The knife? What knife?

“They said, ‘You’re stabbed’ and … I remember seeing the handle,” Powers said. “There was no pain because the brain has no pain sensory nerves. It was all surface, like someone punched me in the head.”

Stabbing is pretty rare in today’s military. In fact, Powers was only the second person to be stabbed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Powers was rushed to a nearby medical facility, where one of the Army’s top neurosurgeons advised the doctors on the ground on via his laptop. He was then evacuated to the US in a rare nonstop flight.

Amazingly, the only brain function that seemed affected was his balance.

After a few months of rehab, Powers is back to normal. Oh, and he’s rejoining his original company, you know, right after he makes his first parachute jump.

As for the stabber… Powers testified against him in Iraqi court via teleconference.

He’s not sure how the trial turned out, but he’s told that the Iraqis planned to “lengthen his neck a little bit.”

Powers handles the whole thing exactly as you’d expect:

Powers acknowledges that his survival tale, circulating within the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, is “the stuff they make movies out of.” But the soldier in him bristles at the notoriety — or the suggestion that he’s some kind of hero.

In his version of the story, the Army, Navy and Air Force moved the world to save one man’s life.

And he’s just some guy who got stabbed in the brain.

I’d encourage you to read the whole original tale. It’s worth it. And hot damn our military rules.

Source: The Original Story, The Follow Up Story, and h/t Look True North.