The Viridian Military

Key concepts: Green military, 20th century military
doctrines, lead and tungsten bullets

Attention Conservation Notice: It's highly speculative and rather grim.

Entries in the Viridian Summer Health Warning Contest:

http://www.earthlight.co.nz/~bretts/vs.html http://www.tux.org/~lasser/viridian/ http://www.subterrane.com/heat.htm http://www.ugrad.cs.jhu.edu/~rmharman/img/viridian/sun.bmp http://humlog.homestead.com/viridianart/HEAT.html http://members.tripod.com/~MSpong/viridian/heatdeath.html http://www.premierestedivolt.com/HEAT.HTML http://www.radix.net/~kreinsch/viridian/heatkills.html http://www.provide.net/~herrell/heat.html http://www.gothic.net/~weasel/viridian/ http://home.earthlink.net/~keim9/heatwarning.htm http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/viridian/viridianheat.html http://www.octa.net/heatposter.html http://www.boston.quik.com/kitsune/gfx/heatwarn.jpg http://jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu/~djb14/viridian/heatkills.htm http://www.artlung.com/viridian6/
http://www.well.com/~smendler/heat.html http://www.greenbuilder.com/viridian_heat_load@148K.html http://www.powerbase-alpha.com/bigmike/heatkills.html http://www.cs.brown.edu/~pal/viridian.html http://www.potatoe.com/viridian/poster.html

This contest expires on September 1, 01999.

From: baraka@kolumbus.fi^ (Garth Coogan)

(((Garth Coogan remarks: This development seems pretty Viridian to me, though I wonder with what they could replace those depleted-uranium cannon shells, with their nasty leftovers.)))

Source: (no source given)

"The American army has recently declared that it will issue lead-free bullets to its soldiers as part of a move to what it calls 'green ammunition.' Rather than pricey platinum, however, military researchers have hit upon tungsten metal as a replacement for lead. They have developed two tungsten mixtures == one with tin and another with nylon == to substitute for lead in the standard 5.56mm service round for M-16 rifles.

"Soon, they will replace the ammunition used in all small arms. The attraction of tungsten, which is commonly used in light-bulbs, is that it is weighty enough to do damage, but, unlike lead, is non-toxic.

"That matters because military men, too, have to think about the environment == particularly the environment of firing ranges where, in these relatively peaceful days, most ammunition is spent. The problem is that bullets usually shatter on impact. As round after round of this shattered ammunition accumulates, the resulting debris can turn the soil toxic, or ooze its way into the groundwater.

"The cost of cleaning up this mess is the reason behind the shift to non-toxic bullets. High lead levels have already forced the National Guard, America's military reserve, to suspend the use of more than 800 of its indoor firing ranges. Removing lead from just one naval range cost over $2.5m.

"As for performance, officials say that field testing shows the switch to tungsten will require no sacrifice. In fact, they claim optimistically, early results suggest that in some applications such as long-distance shooting, tungsten bullets may be better than leaden ones."

(((Bruce S remarks: this anonymous clipping sounds plausible, and it would seem to be an interesting harbinger. The 21st century's native versions of Green needn't bear much resemblance to the peaceable Green shibboleths of the 20th. Who would have predicted, for instance, that Germany's first Green foreign minister would help lead a European shooting war? Or that loud cries of spreading environmental damage would be primary war-propaganda from the Serbian regime?

(((There's something that feels extremely plausible in a 21C Green warfare scenario. A high-tech shooting war, fought with Green military methods for environmental reasons. There you are, you see == on the losing side, naturally == with your rusting AK-47 in your hand == crouched in your cruise missile-proof bunker == reluctantly ready to fight to the death to defend your squalid little country's God-given sovereign right to fill the planet's atmosphere with chlorofluorocarbons. When from over the dark horizon == in their laminated-bamboo, fully recyclable black helicopters == here comes a swarm of armored globalist cyborgs, who proceed to rend your human flesh with high-speed streams of precisely-targeted, guaranteed non-toxic, rifle fire.

(((Soon, your conquered backwater is under full occupation by multinational cadres in orange decontamination jumpsuits. They're shutting down all your dirty power plants, and scrapping all your internal- combustion cars.. They're also recycling your trash (while carefully searching through it for environmental war- criminal evidence). They're carrying out universal vaccination campaigns, that double as DNA fingerprinting dossiers. They might claim legal backing from any of the planet's various world governments: NATO, WTO, GATT, MAI, UN, INTERPOL, Hague World Courts of Justice, NAFTA, GUUAM, Kyoto, EC, Red Cross and Crescent, maybe even some eerie globe-spanning network of self-appointed Non-Governmental Organizations, who knows. Who cares. They're mean, they're Green, they're in deadly earnest, and they're a lot more technically advanced than you are. It's over. Put the gun down. Get a job.)))

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty list

(((In other military news, the wife of the man who ended the Cold War would seem to be dying of cancer from atomic bomb tests.)))

"FORMER FIRST LADY MAY HAVE BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT. Raisa Gorbachev, who is currently being treated for leukemia at a Germany hospital, may soon undergo a bone marrow transplant. 'The Moscow Times' on 20 August cited Russian Public Television as reporting that the sister of the patient, the wife of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, will be the donor. Raisa Gorbachev is reported to be feeling 'slightly better' after the initial phase of chemotherapy but will continue that treatment for two to three weeks, dpa quoted her doctor as saying. Meanwhile, 'Moskovskie vedomosti' reported in its No. 32 (August) issue that her sickness may be attributed to radiation exposure during her youth. Raisa Gorbachev was born and spent almost 20 years in Rubtsovsk, Altai Krai, just 100 kilometers from a site where the Soviet Union began nuclear testing in the 1940s. Radiation levels there were the same as those in the 'alienation zone' following the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear accident, according to the publication."

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