DesertFox

Just curious if there are any good special forces in the Middle East with the exception of Israel?

How about for somewhat large scale, not to eliminate sentries and the like?

Curious when that last time a nation in Europe used crossbows or bows in a military conflict?

Does that mean that any competent gun smith could make an extended 1911 gun magazine back then?

Thought this might be a good place to ask 1. When do you think the 1911 was first available on the civilian market? I am curious if it would be readily available in the 1920s and 1930s. Working on an RPG project and I want to give the character a 1911 because it seems to be the best pistol available during that time 2. When were extended magazines first available. I knew there were 9 round magazines available in the 1980s but were they availavle before then?

I was listening to the Caustic Soda podcast episode of "Weird Wars" http://www.causticsodapodcast.com/2015/07/06/weird-wars-part-1/ http://www.causticsodapodcast.com/?powerpress_pinw=4257-podcast Kind of curious what your favorite weird wars were?

Looks like he kept it painted

Many of the guys were pretty young too and were writing to mom. Many men did not marry until 26 and many women did not marry until around 21 or 22. Our image of the teenager marriages, while it did happen, were not the norm. As such, there may have been less Hustler than one might think although there was certainly some (there was also porn available). I suspect a lot of complaints about officers, the other men, and food.

From everything I have read, literacy actually was really high . . . .Seen numbers for the north of 85 to 90% and 80% in the South. One of the reasons why we know so much is due to the writing of soldiers and not just officers. They seemed to love to write home. Hang on . . . almost 40% of the people in the Confederacy were slaves. & IIRC rather few of them were literate. 80% of black American adults were illiterate in 1870, which puts a ceiling of 70% on southern literacy, even assuming 100% literacy among the free population. I suspect the sources I read indicate that it is 80% among white southerners

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20141116-textbooks-proposed-for-texas-schools-open-can-of-worms.ece How about the War Between Illiterate Factory Workers vs Illiterate Farmers? Northerners believed slavery was a threat to wages. Southerners believed abolition would force poor farmers to pay more taxes. Basic economics. From everything I have read, literacy actually was really high . . . .Seen numbers for the north of 85 to 90% and 80% in the South. One of the reasons why we know so much is due to the writing of soldiers and not just officers. They seemed to love to write home.

I am pretty sure the whole thing is made up from his gluteus maximus. . . . Of note however, you will find most historian pretty approachable. For example, you could write Gary W. Gallagher He presented the teaching company course on the ACW

That's not how it works. A new, more weight-efficient material would be marketed as weight-saving, but actually be used for increasing protection with marginal and short-lived weight savings. It's the same with fighter aircraft construction, hard body armour inserts etc. There's a limit for weight acceptance and the developments will exploit it. It is fiction related so I can do what I want I just did not want to make things up whole cloth.

What Last Dingo posted is good enough. . .Trying to get an idea of how much a tank like the Abrams / Leopard / T-72 might mass assuming some revolutionary lightweight material. I did not need exact numbers but ballpark numbers were fine.

Thanks, it is interesting that weapon and ammo makes up less than ten percent of the tank's mass

Kind of curious how much of the weight of an Abrams (or pick another tank if you need to) is the actual armor?