Hi, I'm in the military, specifically the Army and began my career as an Infantryman. 1. We have no "definition" of an "assault rifle". A rifle is just a rifle, whether belonging to friendly forces or a threat weapon. 2. A 7.62 mm machine IS a crew served weapon, i.e.: the M240B or the M60 that preceded it. In a dismounted mode there will be a gunner and an assistant gunner who carries a tripod and extra ammunition. A very fortunate gun team (or Squad, since extra ammo will be cross loaded) has an ammo bearer also. I cannot speak to the accuracy of the rest of your post as the subject matter does not fall within my expertise but I can only hope that it is not equally as poorly researched as your military knowledge.

I am a member of the Army Reserve. Since the shutdown we are not conducting our usual once a month drill. While this does not personally cause me financial distress, many of the Soldiers in my unit are like your average American living pay check to pay check. It definitely hurts them and their families when a (normally) reliable part of their income is suddenly taken away. Some of those same Soldiers have outstanding pay owed to them that they currently cannot get resolved because civilian workers who handle pay issues are furloughed. The Reserve Components (including the National Guard) make up 2/3 of the nation's military manpower. So while Congress pats itself on the back for managing to fund active duty service members' salaries and continue to play their political game, the rest of us suffer. We have been asked to fight and bleed just as much as our Active Component counterparts, yet like so many other Americans feeling the ripple effects of this pointless shutdown, we have been forgotten.

We do need a military. It is a major part of our political clout and serves as our "Big Stick". It is a deterrent to North Korean aggression against the South, our political and strong economic partner. It is a deterrent against Chinese aggression towards Taiwan and Japan, our political and strong economic partners. It prevents the power vacuum that would exist without it and otherwise we would likely see more uppity states doing rash things. It is our deterrent against foreign terrorism because we have a long arm that will reach out and find the perpetrators of attacks on our citizens and interests. On the home front, it is the response to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and rampant forest fires. You miss the bigger picture.

My best friends wife works for the the VA and she was told that she was "Critical" and would have to work without pay until the budget was passed. She suggested she felt the flu coming on and suddenly she was getting a paycheck again.

Nice story. Government agencies don't work like that. And no one is so critical to make demands such as this.

I guess we won't have to care or notice when you die from food poisoning,or from foods that claim to come from the USA but are actually from Assylvania and laden with heavy metals, or your drinking water is contaminated by hazardous waste left to disperse, et cetera.

No one is driving to the Grand Canyon or a multitude of other National Parks either. It's peak season right now in Utah's seven National Parks (most of any state in the country) because normally it's too damn hot or too damn cold.

I think Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, inventor of Fascism and role model to Adolf Hilter said it best --->

Apples and oranges. Most gov't employees work for the Executive Branch. Currently they are being abused by a few retards in the Legislative Branch who can't get their shit together. Why quit your job over a few political hacks who could be gone after the next election?

Furthermore, it's not that easy. Even civilian employees have invested in retirement benefits, not a 401K, but a real pension and also have good healthcare benefits. I doubt many are willing to throw away such things at the drop of a hat. Interestingly the benefits that the gov't offers used to be standard in the private sector. Not anymore.

I am not sure about navies, but armies have long used various colors to designate branches. Though usually the colors were trimming on a uniform or incorporated into insignia, not the main color.

So you're saying that seat belts didn't work so well when they were a new and developing technology but they do now? Hmm..

No need to be an asshole if you can just watch the game in the car. The need to get from point A to B as quickly as you can changes when you can do most all the things in the car that you would be doing at home or whatever. The vast majority of airplane and train passengers are perfectly patient to wait out the trip and most of them don't even have the luxury of their own space to do whatever they want in.

Still, you make a good point.

Would it happen to be a slight drift to one side at the opportune moment..?

Don't worry, I'm sure there will be some Amish or Mennonites that you can hang out with for their manually driven cars.

Just as long as they aren't running Windows. I find myself intervening with Windows PCs all the time when I think they are about to something bad. Given their speed, my reaction time is plenty fast.

I make a 10 hour round trip every month. The past few months I have started listening to audiobooks and my conclusion is that I would much rather read. I find myself going back a lot because my attention is distracted by something on the road or my mind simply wanders because I'm doing the same thing for hours. The other downside is I often do not know how things in the audiobook are supposed to be spelled. Things such as character and place names. I feel like I am missing a lot from the experience of actually reading where I can follow the story with a map and visualize the places where events are taking place. Or if the work is one of a technical nature, I often wish to research supporting concepts or try things out myself along the way.

Since spending time in the car is necessary (much easier and cheaper to travel this route by car) I'd much rather spend my time there as a passenger who read, nap, eat, whatever, anything but being chained to the wheel.