Military gear

The "249 SAWS" are M-249 Squad Automatic Weapons. It is a fully automatic, belt fed, gas powered rifle that fires a 7.62mm round. It can be fired from the hip or shoulder and also includes a bipod for stationary firing. Generally every squad sized element (generally around ten troops or so) contains at least one SAW. The Bradley is a tank that is lighter than the Abrams. I am not really familiar with tanks, but you can check them out at globalsecurity.org (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m2.htm ). The civilian damage is regrettable, but in an ambush situation there will always be some stray fire. The fact that the ambush took place in a city only compounds that.

In other Iraqi news, the Bug Wars took place on the first of December. Which would win; a field mouse, a large hornet, or a small scorpion if all three were placed in an empty 1.5 liter water bottle? Suprisingly, it was the mouse. After enduring multiple stings, the mouse chewed and clawed the scorpion and hornet to death. I don't know the exact species of scorpion, but it was about 3 inches long without the tail and green. The hornet was the same size and red. The mouse was approximately 4 inches long without tail. It was brown on top and white on bottom. The mouse received a second chance at freedom and a substantial cash prize which it ungraciously abandoned.