| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Black Lotus
Fluffy-Esque
Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
1043 Posts |
 Posted - 02/05/2002 : 12:17:45 PM
|
I copied this without permission ... sorry ;)
By Martin Savidge
CNN
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Don't worry, I'm not giving away any state secrets here: The military base at the Kandahar Airport is like any military base the world over -- there are passwords.
And United States military passwords -- and queries thrown out to unknowns -- have come a long way from the old John Wayne World War II movie lines like "Who won the '43 World Series?"
When we first arrived, members of the media were given the passwords of the day so that in the dark of night while stumbling to the latrine, if challenged one of us could be immediately identified as "a friendly."
Sadly, the process has fallen by the wayside. I say sadly because it was often the source of some mental gymnastics.
You see, the password is supposed to be used casually in a sentence. This is done in case some "unfriendly" might overhear a single word. So each time we've been presented with the password of the day, we've practiced using it in a sentence.
I've never been tested in the heat of a "Halt! Who goes there?" way, so perhaps my casual phrase would have vanished in some frightened blurt. But I was feeling clever about my creativity until the day the password was "fibula." No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't come up with some conversational use of the word. "Is that your fibula or mine?" "Excuse me old chum, could I borrow your fibula?" "Boy, it must be fixin' to rain, my fibula's killing me!"
Dead heat
There actually are two passwords -- the challenge password ("Halt! Who goes there?") and the running password.
The running password is to be shouted if you're approaching the perimeter with a host of "hostiles" on your trail. The message to friendly forces is, "Don't shoot me, but who ever comes after me is dead meat." I find the strategy wonderfully sound and personally worrisome.
What, I asked, if I'm with a group of friendlies sprinting to safety with bad guys on our heels? Pity the poor guys who couldn't quite keep up with my fleet-footed pace. And then again, what if someone's faster than me? Is the penalty for second place death?
No, said the officer. You'd simply shout the running password as you rocketed by -- with a number indicating the total good guys running with you.
This scared me. I got into journalism in college because it was the only major that didn't require math. I can only hope that should you ever find yourself running with me into camp with the enemy to our rears that our race will end in a dead heat.
Let me rephrase that: a tie.
By the way, I once tried to investigate whether the passwords of the day were generated by humans or computers. I've never had an answer. But when American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh was brought through the Kandahar Airport -- and the Army wouldn't confirm or deny it was him -- the following day, the password was "walker."
-----------
Trade my life for a barrel of gold.
Find someone else before I get too old.
If I live my life for aesthetic gain,
will you repay me with all your pain? |
|
|
Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 12:28:51 PM
|
quote:
Dead heat
There actually are two passwords -- the challenge password ("Halt! Who goes there?") and the running password.
The running password is to be shouted if you're approaching the perimeter with a host of "hostiles" on your trail. The message to friendly forces is, "Don't shoot me, but who ever comes after me is dead meat." I find the strategy wonderfully sound and personally worrisome.
What, I asked, if I'm with a group of friendlies sprinting to safety with bad guys on our heels? Pity the poor guys who couldn't quite keep up with my fleet-footed pace. And then again, what if someone's faster than me? Is the penalty for second place death?
No, said the officer. You'd simply shout the running password as you rocketed by -- with a number indicating the total good guys running with you.
This scared me. I got into journalism in college because it was the only major that didn't require math. I can only hope that should you ever find yourself running with me into camp with the enemy to our rears that our race will end in a dead heat.
Let me rephrase that: a tie.
That whole section is funny as hell! Nice to see that there are still some people out there that don't take themselves too seriously.
-J
 |
 |
|
|
Saint Jude
Alien Abductee
USA
2144 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 3:33:33 PM
|
thats great.
- Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces.
 |
|
|
|
pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 3:52:41 PM
|
quote:
This scared me. I got into journalism in college because it was the only major that didn't require math. I can only hope that should you ever find yourself running with me into camp with the enemy to our rears that our race will end in a dead heat.
I thought this part was the best because a lot of my friends hate math. Maybe I should persuade them to take journalism......so they can go to war weaponless.
"I do what I can with what I've got." |
|
|
|
Black Lotus
Fluffy-Esque
Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
1043 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 3:57:04 PM
|
Nah dude, they'd be armed with a press pass. Unlimited access to all areas without the risk of getting shot, molested, tortured or imprisoned ... oh wait ... that's not true.
-----------
Trade my life for a barrel of gold.
Find someone else before I get too old.
If I live my life for aesthetic gain,
will you repay me with all your pain? |
|
|
|
pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 4:04:12 PM
|
Yeah....that's all we need.....Barbara Walters and Al Roker (sp?) armed with uzis and asking questions.
"I do what I can with what I've got." |
|
|
|
Black Lotus
Fluffy-Esque
Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
1043 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 4:15:57 PM
|
Hey, they got Geraldo over there .. he's a veteran at combat, especially chair combat tactics.
-----------
Trade my life for a barrel of gold.
Find someone else before I get too old.
If I live my life for aesthetic gain,
will you repay me with all your pain? |
|
|
|
Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 5:42:46 PM
|
quote:
especially chair combat tactics.
That's the first thing I think of when I think of Geraldo... that broken nose.
-J
|
|
|
|
pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2002 : 6:13:52 PM
|
Did any of you see that episode of the Daily Show? At the end, Jon says "and here it is....your moment of zen." Then they just show Geraldo reporting while the credits were rolling. I thought it was hilarious.
"I do what I can with what I've got." |
|
|
|
Black Lotus
Fluffy-Esque
Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
1043 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2002 : 10:19:19 AM
|
quote:
Did any of you see that episode of the Daily Show? At the end, Jon says "and here it is....your moment of zen." Then they just show Geraldo reporting while the credits were rolling. I thought it was hilarious.
"I do what I can with what I've got."
AHAHAHAHHAAH!! Geraldo is such a spoon.
-----------
Trade my life for a barrel of gold.
Find someone else before I get too old.
If I live my life for aesthetic gain,
will you repay me with all your pain? |
|
|
|
dirtysloth
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1302 Posts |
|
| |
Topic |
|
Artivle from CNN
