Breachers typically experience peak overpressures ranging from 7 kPa (1 psi) to over 50 kPa (7.3 psi) during explosive breaching, with studies recording maximum levels up to 83 kPa (12 psi) in some scenarios. While 4 psi (28 kPa) is commonly cited as the safety threshold for the minimum risk of eardrum rupture, actual, uncorrected environmental exposure in enclosed spaces or with specific charges often exceeds this level. The US DoD has increased focus on these “low-level blasts” (LLB) because, while sub-concussive (not causing immediate, overt neurological injury), they can cause “breacher’s brain” (cumulative mTBI)
So, you want to be an operator. I know people who wish they’d gone downrange. I admit that there is a clear adrenaline addiction that comes with it. Many develop nicotine addictions from dipping. (Lip, tongue, and throat cancer are prevalent. Retired Special Operations Forces (SOF) often face a shortened life expectancy compared to the general population, with estimates suggesting a potential reduction of somewhere between ten and fifteen years. Anecdotal evidence and studies of 100% service-connected veterans suggest a significantly diminished lifespan.
There are common musculoskeletal and orthopedic problems. Compressed or bulging discs (specifically in the lumbar and cervical spine) are widespread, resulting from years of carrying over 100-lb rucksacks, parachute landings, and high-impact fast-boat operations. Chronic knee injuries (patellofemoral pain syndrome/osteoarthritis) and severe shoulder injuries (rotator cuff tears, labrum tears, impingement) are among the most common injuries, often requiring multiple surgeries. Many retired SEALs report living in constant discomfort due to accumulated micro-traumas, including broken bones that healed improperly and recurring tendonitis.
This brings us to “breacher’s syndrome.” Repeated exposure to low-level blasts from breaching charges, explosives, and heavy weapon firing creates microscopic, accumulated damage to the brain, distinct from single-impact concussions. This damage causes long-term problems such as memory loss, cognitive impairment, headaches, and a higher prevalence of intracranial aneurysms. Postmortem studies have found “interface astroglial scarring,” a specific form of damage that can be associated with erratic moods, insomnia, depression, and early-onset cognitive decline. Chronic tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and significant hearing loss are almost universal due to repeated proximity to explosions and gunshots. Vertigo or balance issues resulting from inner ear damage or TBI are common.
Due to extreme stress, lack of sleep, and brain injury effects, many operators suffer from endocrine dysfunction, including low testosterone (hypogonadism), which leads to chronic fatigue, muscle loss, and mood changes. Inguinal hernias are very common, often treated multiple times over a career due to heavy lifting. Long-term damage from severe, recurring chafing and infections caused by “surf torture” during training is universal. A high reliance on painkillers (ibuprofen, opioids) to manage chronic pain, which can lead to addiction, as well as high alcohol consumption.
It can be intoxicating while it lasts. But there is an endgame reality that everyone must come to terms with. I didn’t mention chronic stress fractures to the pelvic girdle, accelerated arthritic degeneration, and problems with hearing that come with the inevitable numerous rips to the tympanic membrane (eardrum). Given the damage to the middle and inner ear, hearing aids are of limited value. To those aspirants, I wish you good luck. I personally avoided some of this with a shorter career, though I was repeatedly called from reserve status back to active duty for various reasons. I’m too old for that now. When I wasn’t doing this, I was in the law enforcement game, or in the intelligence game – back on the tip of the spear. Fun, yeah. Great experiences? Sure, read my books. Endgame is a little more painful than it might otherwise have been.
Bullet Points:
** VDH on NATO. NATO, and by that I mean the EU types, and the UK, need to decide what the new rules will be. If they don’t want to behave like American allies, they don’t need to. Neither does the US need to provide them with transport or refueling aircraft, naval support, etc. Putin is delighted, but behaving realistically is more important than pretending. It may be time for bilateral agreements that are based on genuine commitments. The US secured the Straits of Hormuz to ensure European oil supplies. The hostility from Europe couldn’t be more misplaced IMHO. President Trump weighs in on the discussion.
** Sketchers (right)
** BRM discusses small handguns. I have no problem with belly guns, but if you’re going to fire at a human target, put the barrel into his guts and THEN pull the trigger a few times. Or you’ll likely miss unless you practice relentlessly.
** From the Mailbag – Q – LL, what are you reading now? I need something for Spring reading. A – I’m a little over halfway through Damascus Station, by David McCloskey. It’s a good story with a very accurate vibe of Damascus and Syria under Assad Junior.
** Will Boasberg stop?
** Siege Warfare – In 701 BC, the Assyrian** king Sennacherib arrived at Lachish — the second most important city in the Kingdom of Judah — and demonstrated a siege system the ancient world had never encountered at this scale. Three methods ran simultaneously. Battering rams, refined across generations of Assyrian kings, pried bricks from walls one by one using metal blades suspended on iron chains inside wheeled housing. Earthen ramps built from three million quarried stones — passed hand to hand along human chains — hauled one-ton ram machines to wall height. Siege towers moved forward while defenders threw burning torches at them; Assyrian engineers poured water from hoses on top to counter the fire. Below ground, sappers undermined foundations until entire wall sections could collapse from underneath. All three at the same time. Sennacherib was so proud of Lachish that he had the entire siege engraved on his palace walls in Nineveh. Those reliefs survived. They are in the British Museum today — the only visual record of a siege, confirmed by biblical texts, Akkadian inscriptions, and modern archaeological excavations. The city fell. The machine moved to the next one.
** Ancient Assyria = Modern Kurds
** Prepare to be boarded. Way beyond Boating with EdB.
** Ice ages, what Milankovitch Cycles do to Earth, and — Mars?
** The evolving situation of control over the Straits of Malacca. It’s an interesting thing, and we can only thank the President. Xi and the Chinese for being such turds that the Indonesians would seek a rational counter to the celestials. Keep in mind that Indonesia is a Muslim country.
Population Control – In Ancient Sparta
The Spartan secret police, called the Krypteia, sent young men into the countryside every year with orders to kill as many helot slaves as they could find, and this was considered a standard part of their military education.
The helots were a population of enslaved people who formed the agricultural foundation of the Spartan economy. They were not slaves in the conventional ancient sense — they were an entire conquered ethnic group, primarily from the region of Messenia, who were collectively owned by the Spartan state and bound to the land they worked. Because helots vastly outnumbered Spartan citizens, maintaining control over them was a permanent preoccupation of Spartan political and military organization. The Spartan state formally declared war on the helots every year, a legal mechanism that meant killing a helot carried no ritual pollution under Spartan religious law.
The Krypteia was an annual institution in which selected young Spartan men completing the final stages of the agoge training system were sent out into the Laconian and Messenian countryside armed with only a knife and ordered to survive by their own means — and to kill helots, particularly those who appeared strong, capable of leadership, or physically impressive. The operation served multiple purposes simultaneously. It provided graduating warriors with real killing experience, selectively eliminated helots most likely to organize resistance, and maintained a continuous atmosphere of terror across the helot population that suppressed the possibility of organized revolt. The practice is documented in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus and corroborated by other ancient sources. Historians of ancient Sparta, including Paul Cartledge, have described the Krypteia as a systematic program functioning as a structural element of Spartan society rather than as an exceptional event.
***
Note: There is disagreement as to whether SPETZNAZ training included Russian special forces troops killing prisoners as part of their training in a more modern setting. I am persuaded that it happened, but some disagree. The prisoners were referred to as марионетка (puppets). In these scenarios, the puppets were armed with a knife, and the Spetznaz were not. It likely also happened during the training of other specialized GRU (Главное разведывательное управление) personnel. Successful prisoners who eliminated a trainee were allegedly offered women and food as a reward – until they went into the arena again against another trainee.
Identify the SOF Aircraft
1
2
Identify the Special Purpose Vessels
3
10 built, 19 planned
4
Also see captioned photo (above) – 12 built for USN, 12 built for Ukraine (delivered 3/26)
Parting Shot
Bathhouse Barry is back on the rubber-chicken circuit, entertaining progs.
End
2 is Boeing MH-6M Little Bird
3 is USNS Burlington Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport. The builder is Austal USA a subsidiary of Austal Australia well known ship builder for large, high speed ferries here.
Excellent
4 is MK VI patrol boat
Yes it is!
Identify the SOF Aircraft:
1. MH-60L DAP
2. MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird
Identify the Special Purpose Vessels:
3. USNS Burlington
4. Mark VI patrol boat
Perfect!
Ref retired operators. You missed the impacts on health from the high quality nutritious field diet along with the regular high quality comfortable sleep.
*
I read the Little Bird is going to be replaced with a new design.
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Ed needs one of those Mark VI boats. Maybe we could do a picnic fund raiser, raffle or something?
More on the AH-6 tomorrow as the design limits are pushed.
I’ve only been boarded once.
Lessons learned.
I’m not sure the Mark VI will fit in my slip.
You nailed it with todays post title…Creative Dissonance’ is a perfect moniker for what we are seeing between the media, politicians , and other world leaders who have been ‘in conflict’ with PDJT and his Team…who are solving the very problems that bunch created.
It is also interesting how ‘the talkers’ demand something get done only to ignore the lack of activity when their puppet is in office, yet when an actual ‘git-er-done’ person is getting after the problem…because it is past due…these same people are critical of every micro-step in the operation.
Broke radio silence yesterday, flipped from Pandora to ‘The Five’, and our favorite elite ‘head up her rear-end’ Tarlov was on…but more specifically, the group, which, yes, are all paid actors to some degree…lessor degree for Watters and Gutfeld. They were discussing the latest minutia result of ‘the Iran conflict’, including the ‘bent’ Strait thing and NATO…then Chalkboard fingers began denouncing everything ‘because…gas prices’. All I could do was yell back, “Geez, would ya give the man a few weeks then report back, and NATO is feeling the heat of irrelevance, and real Americans are patient with gas cost, which is coming down.”
VDH is correct…but still…pretty sure the President has this thing dialed in…all of it…because he does not want America and her allies to lose this one chance to fix what every other president refused to do while desperately calculated in protecting America and his boss, the people.
Bravo, Paul!
“I know people who wish they’d gone downrange.” In my experience, not all but some of them are blowhards and the last bunch you’d wanna go down range with. I hear people my age lament that they “missed” Viet Nam. I always want to ask them, what stopped you? I went and proud of it but I sure as hell don’t “miss” anything about it.
The guy who says he is not afraid is the guy you don’t want by your side when the heat comes.
Don’t be this guy….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qei19MZm18A
Because this is him in real life:
https://youtu.be/OrZB5n0tNAI?si=G4VdEA8mPK0XlW8E&t=50
Don’t be DiNero either…just don’t.
The Army put me in Europe. A notice was sent out that the only volunteers wanted for Vietnam were French speakers. Assigned to a unit that was 60% black, in the height of the civil rights troubles mid 1960’s, wasn’t too safe. Fights daily.
Prepared you for your career in the automotive industry.
🤣…”You really do want that TruCoat.” https://www.tiktok.com/@forgottenflicks/video/7221851579735936299
The F&I office is where the real damage happens. I always declined the “promotion”. Two things I did push was Ziebart rustproofing because it works and GAP insurance. If it isn’t Ziebart, pass. GAP insurance can be purchased cheaper than at the dealership. If you are financing a vehicle, you need GAP.
Ziebart works! It kept my ’73 Vega going strong through several Illinois Winters!
” Many retired SEALs report living in constant discomfort due to accumulated micro-traumas, ”
My best friend, Force Recon, injured himself on a civilian job and Workman’s Comp sent him to a doctor, who after the x-rays, asked him how he got all those microfractures.
He is in continual pain and sleep is a distant friend to him.
I once read that the perception of Navy Seals is unrealistic. They’re not all big, brawny men and the things they do are basically easy for them to accomplish. The requirement they travel in submarines mandates a height 6 feet and below, which means they can be short, wiry determined warriors that will eventually suffer from the tremendous abuse of their bodies.
I worked with a welder that wasn’t tall, was generally quiet, and most would never have any idea he was retired special forces in the Army. He wasn’t tall, and an unsuspecting would-be antagonist would be surprised by the immediate, dangerous reaction if they confronted him. A husband-in-law did something that set off his fuse. The last time I tried to call him for a project, his number was disconnected, and those that knew him had no idea where he was. I have a feeling his wife’s new husband found his life was far from pleasant, and wouldn’t doubt things became nasty.
Most SEALs fit into the 5-10 to 6-4 height range. Operational roles favor those who are not extremely tall, as more mass can become a disadvantage during high-repetition endurance events. Some can’t lock out of torpedo tubes because of shoulders, etc. But for the most part, everyone can fit on a sub.
Read somewhere the Delta force guys are smaller but wiry, quick, and tougher than nails, even a bit crazy. Have no idea if it’s true, but from a civilian cheap seat view, sounds about right.
Yes to the Delta physical size and attitude. Train to the Nth degree on the scenario, get them to the target, and unleash them.
LL care to comment on the tendency of operators to fathers girls. It’s also been noticed in extreme athletes . Even noticed it in my family , my son in law is a tri athlete since a teenager.. father of three beautiful girls .
I have four daughters.
Interesting…some genetics PhD probably could come up with a workable theory off your sampling of one. M&D had three boys and a girl…dad was an athlete, baseball, football, crew, and did his stint in the Marines….but back then it was all-around, not today’s extreme athletes.
And fighter pilots. Though cargo pilots tend to a better mixture of the sexes.
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Dad was grounded before he started swiving and thriving (yes, I am watching Taylor and Burton’s “Taming of the Shrew” while reading comments. A most wondrous movie, she was truly a beautiful and great actress.) Of course, he didn’t meet my mom until the medical condition that got him grounded as she was his occupational therapist. (Married on July 4th as that was the only weekend they both could get off. She stayed in the service until she became pregnant, you know, the good old days.)
BRM’s discussion is excellent. Thorough and well laid out as usual. I’ll offer a bit of my own experience on the outside chance someone might find it useful.
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Living in Texas, the majority of the time I wear a T-shirt and cargo shorts. I carry in the right hand top pocket of my shorts. I can recommend “Sticky” brand pocket holsters. I find that the lower cargo pocket doesn’t work. It is too awkward to access, requiring a slight bend at the waist, and the gun’s weight makes it swing like a pendulum when walking. I carry a reload mag on my belt on my left side, in a little 4-inch nylon knife pouch.
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My sidearm is an FEG PA-63 chambered in 9mm Makarov. Yes, Hornady does make an FTX round in that caliber. This is not a recommendation. It is just the way my situation worked out. Among other things, back in my FFL days my cost was $99. A few caveats on a stock PA-63–
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The double action trigger pull is horrendous. Easily improved by replacing the hammer and recoil springs.
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The magazines do not drop free. The fix requires a bit of internal fitting and adjustment.
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They are surplus. No factory warranty. Spare parts if you can find them. That’s why I have two pistols.
I left a comment on his post. My age/mobility/vision narrows my choices. A NAA revolver in .22 Mag in the hoodie pocket is the daily carry. I can slip the holster with my thumb enough to clear the hammer and trigger. Cock, and fire inside the hoodie pocket. Hopefully, as LL suggests, belly to belly with the scroat.
.22 Mag will do the trick, WSF.
So you want to be an operator.
Respect.
The SGT wants to do it, LSP.
Siege mentality and engineering to breach the siege – perfect example is Masada in southern Israel. BTDT.
Sieges are a wicked yet wondrous thing. Medieval European siege rules had three parts: 1. Before the siege begins, the soon-to-be besieged could surrender and only the wicked leaders would be punished (or ransomed or such.) 2. Once a breach was made, the besieged were given a chance to surrender and pay a great penalty in loot and the wicked leaders and commanders would be executed, mostly, with few ransoms. Why? because of 3. Once a breach was made, and surrender refused, no quarter would be given and God will look the other way. Looting, pillaging, raping, outright murder alongside all the killing and burning.
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It’s what the Crusaders did to Jerusalem. Once the Crusaders encircled, they called for surrender, no surrender came. They started the siege, and breached the outer walls, no surrender came. So the Sack of Jerusalem, which the muslims still bitch about today, occurred. Other muslim towns learned, usually, from this and surrendered or emptied out before the Crusaders came.
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Henry V’s campaign in France included the famous siege of Harfleur. Harfleur was besieged, they did not surrender. Harfleur’s wall was breached and the famous Sack of Harfleur occurred. The lesson learned, the next cities, towns and castles that Henry V came to gladly surrendered before any siege was possible.
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Medievaly, the Europeans were very sophisticated in the siege system, including ramps and covered rams, siege towers and ladders and all sorts of counter-siege equipment like picks and hooks and such to snag siege equipment. But no boiling oil (stupid Hollyweird, looks neat but what fruitcake would purposefully set fire to his own property?) Instead, pots of boiling water or sewage or tubs of burning-hot sand were the preferred ‘liquid’ to drop on the enemy. Water scalded but cooled but was usually very available. Burning hot sewage or horse manure was a great way to get rid of waste products and sewage or manure stuck and scalded. Hot sand, available in desert areas especially, is a terribly bad thing to get under one’s armor, as regular sand is bad enough (DAMHIK.)
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The big takeaway from all of it is, well, the best place to be in a siege is a couple hundred miles away, minimum, in comfort, under a roof in a nice location with good food and friends.
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Otherwise, sieges suck. Whether for the sieging force or the besieged.