News Stories

[justinstrife]

I'm going to need a few more TB hard drives... Already filled up 2.5tb worth.

[justsomeguy]

Originally Posted by justinstrife

I'm going to need a few more TB hard drives... Already filled up 2.5tb worth.

Holy crap. I have an 1.5TB, and I barely filled 40% of it, with various shows downloaded over 6 years! (lesser shows get relegated to DVD archives)

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

Holy crap. I have an 1.5TB, and I barely filled 40% of it, with various shows downloaded over 6 years! (lesser shows get relegated to DVD archives)

-stares at 2x 100 DVD spindles filled with stuff not to mention 3 boxes full of boxset Series/OVA/Movies and another box full of VHS tapes-

Been doing this a bit longer than 6 years...

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

A lot of them get elected based on "Damn, there's so much wasteful pork barrel spending in congress. Why can't those bastards be like my congressman who keeps getting all these programs to help my district?" People's problem with congress is congress as a whole. Their congressmen are doing a great though.

i was talking to one of my clients in 08 regarding the election. She said that now that obama is elcted he is going to clean up all that wasteful spending. I pointed out to her that what we california consider pork the other guy consider necessary and they consider what we are getting to be pork. What is pork in reality is a matter of perceptive or who it is benefiting. If it benefits you then it is not pork, if it benefits someone else then it is pork.

[Zu Ra]

Slightly old but still makes you go WTF @_@

Giacometti Sculpture Becomes Most Expensive Work Ever to Sell at Auction for 104 Million

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

We have so many members from East and Southeast Asia, that I'm curious how the US weapons deal with Taiwan is being viewed in the region. On the one hand, I realize that we made this commitment years ago so that backing out now might be seen as abandoning our promises. Nevertheless the whole notion of selling advanced armaments to Taiwan seems quite destabilizing to me.

Nimitz docks in Hong Kong despite China tensions

Hong Kong (Feb 17): Five American warships docked for a port call in Hong Kong today in a sign that recent tensions between China and the United State may be easing after flare-ups over an arms sale to Taiwan and the Dalai Lama's imminent visit to Washington.

Carrying some 5,000 sailors, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and four other ships arrived in Hong Kong for a four-day rest stop after spending five months in the North Arabian Sea as a base for air combat missions in Afghanistan, the USS Nimitz public affairs office said in a statement.

Political analysts see Beijing's approval of the port call as an indication that the Chinese government doesn't want to let Sino-US relations deteriorate further, hampering cooperation on the global economy and other issues.

With its abundance of foreigner-friendly restaurants, bars and shops, this former British colony has long been a favoured stop for US warships, and Beijing has continued the tradition after Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule.

But China once blocked a long-scheduled port call by the USS Kitty Hawk in November 2007 at the last minute, denying thousands of sailors a Thanksgiving reunion with families and friends who had flown to the city. Some analysts viewed the move as retaliation after the US Congress awarded its highest civilian honour to the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to meet President Barack Obama tomorrow in a meeting condemned by the Chinese.

- AP

I miss the USS Kitty Hawk. It had the most kawaii name in Chinese: 小鹰号 (xiao ying hao), literally the "little eagle".

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Nimitz docks in Hong Kong despite China tensions


I miss the USS Kitty Hawk. It had the most kawaii name in Chinese: 小鹰号 (xiao ying hao), literally the "little eagle".

Well I suppose Chinese subs are going to hold the ship hostage in the harbour when Dalai Lama meets Obama.

It is good to see the CCCP growing up for once.

And here is....wow.

U.S. Marine Walks Away From Shot to Helmet in Afghanistan

-By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS

MARJAH, Afghanistan—It is hard to know whether Monday was a very bad day or a very good day for Lance Cpl. Andrew Koenig.

On the one hand, he was shot in the head. On the other, the bullet bounced off him.

In one of those rare battlefield miracles, an insurgent sniper hit Lance Cpl. Koenig dead on in the front of his helmet, and he walked away from it with a smile on his face.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Koenig shows the spot on his helmet where a Taliban bullet struck, almost centered, between the eyes.

"I don't think I could be any luckier than this," Lance Cpl. Koenig said two hours after the shooting.

Lance Cpl. Koenig's brush with death came during a day of intense fighting for the Marines of Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment.

The company had landed by helicopter in the predawn dark on Saturday, launching a major coalition offensive to take Marjah from the Taliban.

The Marines set up an outpost in a former drug lab and roadside-bomb factory and soon found themselves under near-constant attack.

Lance Cpl. Koenig, a lanky 21-year-old with jug-handle ears and a burr of sandy hair, is a designated marksman. His job is to hit the elusive Taliban fighters hiding in the tightly packed neighborhood near the base.

Follow events in Afghanistan and Pakistan, day by day.

The insurgent sniper hit him first. The Casper, Wyo., native was kneeling on the roof of the one-story outpost, looking for targets.

He was reaching back to his left for his rifle when the sniper's round slammed into his helmet.

The impact knocked him onto his back.

"I'm hit," he yelled to his buddy, Lance Cpl. Scott Gabrian, a 21-year-old from St. Louis.

Lance Cpl. Gabrian belly-crawled along the rooftop to his friend's side. He patted Lance Cpl. Koenig's body, looking for wounds.

Then he noticed that the plate that usually secures night-vision goggles to the front of Lance Cpl. Koenig's helmet was missing. In its place was a thumb-deep dent in the hard Kevlar shell.

Lance Cpl. Gabrian slid his hands under his friend's helmet, looking for an entry wound. "You're not bleeding," he assured Lance Cpl. Koenig. "You're going to be OK."

Lance Cpl. Koenig climbed down the metal ladder and walked to the company aid station to see the Navy corpsman.

The only injury: A small, numb red welt on his forehead, just above his right eye.

He had spent 15 minutes with Doc, as the Marines call the medics, when an insurgent's rocket-propelled grenade exploded on the rooftop, next to Lance Cpl. Gabrian.

The shock wave left him with a concussion and hearing loss.

He joined Lance Cpl. Koenig at the aid station, where the two friends embraced, their eyes welling.

The men had served together in Afghanistan in 2008, and Lance Cpl. Koenig had survived two blasts from roadside bombs.

"We've got each other's backs," Lance Cpl. Gabrian said, the explosion still ringing in his ears.

Word of Lance Cpl. Koenig's close call spread quickly through the outpost, as he emerged from the shock of the experience and walked through the outpost with a Cheshire cat grin.

"He's alive for a reason," Tim Coderre, a North Carolina narcotics detective working with the Marines as a consultant, told one of the men. "From a spiritual point of view, that doesn't happen by accident."

Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Shelton, whose job is to keep the Marines stocked with food, water and gear, teased the lance corporal for failing to take care of his helmet.

"I need that damaged-gear statement tonight," Gunnery Sgt. Shelton told Lance Cpl. Koenig. It was understood, however, that Lance Cpl. Koenig would be allowed to keep the helmet as a souvenir.

Gunnery Sgt. Shelton, a 36-year-old veteran from Nashville, said he had never seen a Marine survive a direct shot to the head.

But next to him was Cpl. Christopher Ahrens, who quietly mentioned that two bullets had grazed his helmet the day the Marines attacked Marjah. The same thing, he said, happened to him three times in firefights in Iraq.

Cpl. Ahrens, 26, from Havre de Grace, Md., lifted the camouflaged cloth cover on his helmet, exposing the holes where the bullets had entered and exited.

He turned it over to display the picture card tucked inside, depicting Michael the Archangel stamping on Lucifer's head. "I don't need luck," he said.

After his moment with Lance Cpl. Gabrian, Lance Cpl. Koenig put his dented helmet back on his head and climbed the metal ladder to resume his rooftop duty within an hour of being hit.

"I know any one of these guys would do the same," he explained. "If they could keep going, they would."

[justinstrife]

God bless the Marines. Have known a few and they would give their lives in a heartbeat for those around them. Generally a little bit crazier than those in the other branches, but easily the hardest workers IMO.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by justinstrife

God bless the Marines. Have known a few and they would give their lives in a heartbeat for those around them. Generally a little bit crazier than those in the other branches, but easily the hardest workers IMO.

Personally I think the war is right to be started (at least it broke the Taliban's back and hold over global terrorism and slowed the further skewing of moderate Muslims to their hardline beliefs), but wrong to be dragged for so long without a concrete plan for governance. But the soldiers there still did their job despite all the shit coming down from four corners of the world.

Politicians start wars, soldiers put their lives on it and die in it, and ordinary people suffer for it. Life just isn't fair is it?

[justinstrife]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Personally I think the war is right to be started (at least it broke the Taliban's back and hold over global terrorism and slowed the further skewing of moderate Muslims to their hardline beliefs), but wrong to be dragged for so long without a concrete plan for governance. But the soldiers there still did their job despite all the shit coming down from four corners of the world.

Politicians start wars, soldiers put their lives on it and die in it, and ordinary people suffer for it. Life just isn't fair is it?

Life is never fair. Anyone who believes you can make life fair, is a fool. Many good people have died in this war. Both soldiers, and civilians alike. All because of a minority of people who cannot live in peace with the rest of the world.

And yes, the politicians screw everything up. They politicize everything, even individual battles, and the people who are actually there, suffer for it.

[Vexx]

He's alive because we ordered a make of damned good helmets. The "spiritual" nonsense in the article was annoying. It was technology that saved him (and a sniper that doesn't realize helmets aren't made of cloth and probably tactical cover training).

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Vexx

(and a sniper that doesn't realize helmets aren't made of cloth and probably tactical cover training).

Eh. Maybe the shot just went a bit higher than the sniper intended.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Eh. Maybe the shot just went a bit higher than the sniper intended.

I do suspect that you've hit the bullet on its head. I've been told by a senior Army medical officer that even though a modern Kevlar helmet can stop a projectile from penetrating the skull, it's not likely to prevent whiplash injury to the neck due to the force of impact.

However, I'd qualify that he hadn't seen such injuries at first hand. Nor is there any evidence of such injuries available online. Closest I can find is a 1999 article published on a university website alluding to "concern over 'whiplash' effects causing neck injury".

Still, brilliant though the helmet is, it's mainly designed to prevent shrapnel injuries to the head rather than stopping a high-powered rifle round. LCP Koenig is, quite simply, a very lucky man.

[Zu Ra]

Teen who pulled mother/children from Train's path, says he's no hero



Todd McHugh doesn't think he was a hero Monday night, but police say the Citrus Heights teen probably saved a mother and her two young children from serious injury or death.He pulled them out of their car stuck on light-rail tracks in Folsom about 90 seconds before a Regional Transit train smashed into it. "This young man stopped, he got out, and he got up to those tracks and helped that woman from the car," said Folsom police spokesman Sgt. Rick Hillman. "A lot of heroes don't think of themselves as heroes. They just do what needs to be done." Hillman and McHugh described what happened at 7:15 p.m. near the intersection of Folsom Boulevard and Iron Point Road:


McHugh, 17, was northbound on Folsom Boulevard on his way to meet friends when the silver Honda Fit in front of him veered off the road, went into a ditch and jolted to a stop on the tracks. McHugh jumped out of his Dodge pickup and went to help. The driver, a woman who police say had fallen asleep, was behind the wheel and dazed. Her two daughters, ages 7 and 10, were in the back seat, buckled in. McHugh took the woman's hand and helped her from the car. She unbuckled the kids.Another driver who had pulled over to help shouted that a train was coming, McHugh recalled Tuesday. Police said the other good Samaritan, who was unidentified, ran along the tracks and tried to wave down the train. It was dark, there was a bend in the tracks, and the train operator probably never saw him, Hillman said. A Regional Transit spokeswoman said the speed limit on that section of tracks is 55 mph.McHugh said the driver applied the brakes, but the train was still going fast when it came up on them.The woman, her daughters and McHugh took shelter behind his truck as the train smashed into the subcompact, dragging it down the tracks, the teen said. The woman's car was demolished. Officials said the train was damaged. But none of the the crew and four passengers was injured. Hillman said the outcome could have been far worse. "Had she sat there for another minute or two, she and her daughters could have been in that vehicle when the train struck it, and they could have been severely injured or killed."


At his home in Citrus Heights on Tuesday, McHugh said he "didn't do anything anyone else wouldn't have done." McHugh described himself as an average student at Bella Vista High School. A junior, he said he would like to be an airline pilot. The teen had CPR and first-aid training at the urging of his father, Bill McHugh, a retired Air Force firefighter and now a safety engineer. Bill McHugh said he was proud of what his son did. He said Todd is working to become an Eagle Scout. As emergency workers arrived Monday night, Todd McHugh thought it best to get out of their way, and he left to join his friends. The woman's husband, Eugene Lo, spoke with The Bee. He said his wife, who does not speak English, was in shock and didn't want to talk about what had happened.


The family lives near the crash site.Lo said he wanted to thank the young man who may have saved his wife and daughters. "We are grateful that he helped," Lo said. "We wanted to say thank you last night, but he was already gone."

Source : SacBee

[Reckoner]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_465299.html

AT WAR: Another Taliban Leader Captured In Pakistan, Newsweek Reports


We are blogging the latest news about America's war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Email us at AfPak [at] huffingtonpost.com. Follow Nico on Twitter; follow Nicholas on Twitter. See archives of 'At War' here.

Another Taliban leader captured in Pakistan. Newsweek's Sami Yousafzai and Mark Hosenball report that a second leader of the Taliban, identified as Mullah Abdul Salam, has been captured in a joint effort between Pakistan and the U.S.

Salam was apparently picked up by Pakistan security forces about a week ago in Faisalabad, around the same time that the Taliban's second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baraader, was reportedly captured. More details from Newsweek here.

4:07 PM ET -- U.N. rejects 'militarization' of Afghan aid. Senior United Nations officials in Afghanistan say that UN agencies will "not participate in the military's reconstruction strategy in Marja as part of its current offensive there," the New York Times reports.

The issue in a nutshell:

Wael Haj-Ibrahim, head of the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs here, said the military should not be involved in providing health care or schools.


"If that aid is being delivered as part of a military strategy, the counterstrategy is to destroy that aid," Mr. Haj-Ibrahim said. "Allowing the military to do it is not the best use of resources." Instead, he said, the military should confine itself to clearing an area of security threats and providing security for humanitarian organizations to deliver services.

"The distribution of aid by the military gives a very difficult impression to the communities and puts the lives of humanitarian workers at risk," Mr. Watkins said.

Story continues below

The Times notes that U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal "has made the rapid delivery of governmental services, including education, health care and job programs, a central part of his strategy in Marja, referring to plans to rapidly deploy what he has referred to as 'a government in a box' once Marja is pacified."

4:03 PM ET -- The ghost town of Marjah. Some video from CNN:

4:01 PM ET -- Dutch likely to reduce troop presence. The Dutch Cabinet "was deadlocked Wednesday over extending the Netherlands' mission with NATO in Afghanistan, and it appears likely to reduce its 1,600 troop presence there," the AP reports.

Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos said his Labor Party will oppose a formal NATO request to remain in the restive southern province of Uruzgan. The Dutch mission ends in August.


The departure of the Netherlands would be a blow to hopes that NATO's European members will expand operations in Afghanistan before beginning to withdraw in 2011.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and his Christian Democrats want to extend the mission for a year, possibly in reduced form.

But Bos' highly public stand Wednesday makes it unlikely without risking a political crisis that could bring down the coalition government.

3:40 PM ET -- The injured on both sides.

AP photo caption: "During a sporadic firefight, U.S. Marines guard a wounded and combative Taliban fighter, one of two captured minutes earlier, according to witnesses, during a U.S. Army Task Force Pegasus medevac mission, in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Wednesday."

AP photo caption: "Airborne in a U.S. Army Task Force Pegasus helicopter, U.S. Army Crew Chief Spc. Timothy Johns, of Mitchell, S.D., gives medical care to an Afghan National Army soldier with a gunshot wound, during a medevac mission over Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Wednesday."


3:20 PM ET -- Marjah residents skeptical of NATO promises. Today in Marjah, coalition forces took down the Taliban's white flag across the area and replaced it with Afghanistan's official green-and-red one. It's a potent sign of the town's liberation from Taliban control. And yet, according to the AP, many of Marjah's residents are wary of NATO's promise to transform their village.

[F]or many, Taliban rule hasn't been all that bad. Plenty of Afghans have made a living off the opium trade, which also funds the insurgency. While some residents greet NATO forces with tea, others just want the troops to clear their streets of explosives and leave.


No one here needs liberating, they say.

"The Taliban didn't create any problems for people. Every Thursday there was a court session, and if someone had a problem, he would go in front of the Taliban mullah who was the judge," said Samad Khan, a 55-year-old poppy farmer in the village of Saipo on the outskirts of Marjah. The Islamist militant group levied a 10 percent yearly tax on his poppy crop, and let him be.

2:20 PM ET -- Britain's latest weapon. Britain's Ministry of Defense issued the following release about their latest weapon for fighting the Taliban, known as the Python rocket.

The Royal Engineers have fired their latest weapon in their battle against the Taliban for the first time - an exploding hose which punches safe passage through suspected IED belts.


The Python rocket is a trailer-mounted, rocket-propelled mine-clearing system pulled behind the Trojan armoured engineer tank. The Python system fires a snake of high explosives.

The detonation, across a suspected IED field in a dry river bed - wadi - north of Patrol Base Wahid, shook the ground either side of the detonation, and created a huge cloud several hundred metres high.

The weapon was fired for the first time in Afghanistan last Saturday, the London Times reports. The device is listed as 230 meters long. Watch a video of the weapon's impact on the Times' site.

Here's how one British sergeant described it: "It takes your breath away. You feel the vehicle rock, and in awe of what has just happened. You see the flash, hear the bang and then feel the shock wave."

2:10 PM ET -- Back in D.C. Obama discusses Afghanistan with his national security team in the Situation Room. Photo courtesy of the White House.


2:00 PM ET -- How Baradar was caught. Los Angeles Times reports that the arrest of the Taliban leader hinged on U.S. information in what amounted to a 'rare intelligence break.' However, the article doesn't really provide any details on what the big intelligence breakthrough consisted of, other than a U.S. official saying that, "Fortune played a role."

9:40 AM ET -- What Baradar's arrest means for Pakistan. A potential strategic coup, writes the New York Times: "Pakistan has removed a key Taliban commander, enhanced cooperation with the United States and ensured a place for itself when parties explore a negotiated end to the Afghan war."

The Times' take follows on its report last week that Pakistan had signaled to the U.S. that it wanted to play a greater role in U.S. and Afghan efforts to negotiate some form of reconciliation with the Taliban.

9:30 AM ET -- Marjah's government office seized by coalition forces. U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers secured the former police station as well as ruined government center in Marjah, the Journal reports, thus laying the groundwork for the Afghan government to attempt to establish control over the Taliban stronghold.

9:20 AM ET -- Baradar's arrest confirmed. For the record, Pakistan confirmed the arrest for the first time Wednesday.

9:00 AM ET -- Taliban using human shields. AP reports on a particularly gruesome Taliban tactic:

Taliban insurgents are increasingly using civilians as human shields as they fight allied troops trying to take the militants' southern stronghold of Marjah, an Afghan official said Wednesday as military squads resumed painstaking house-to-house searches.[...]


With the assault in its fifth day, insurgents are firing at Afghan troops from inside or next to compounds where women and children appear to have been ordered to stand on a roof or in a window, said Gen. Mohiudin Ghori, the brigade commander for Afghan troops in Marjah.

"Especially in the south of Marjah, the enemy is fighting from compounds where soldiers can very clearly see women or children on the roof or in a second-floor or third-floor window," Ghori said. "They are trying to get us to fire on them and kill the civilians."

[mg1942]

Japan reclaims title of top treasury holder

[iLney]

When you own the bank 100,000, you fear the bank. When you own the bank 1,000,000,000,000 , the bank sh**s in its pants.

What is there to be proud of?

Edit: oh I forgot, according to Keynesians, debts are capitals! It makes perfect sense

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

I do suspect that you've hit the bullet on its head. I've been told by a senior Army medical officer that even though a modern Kevlar helmet can stop a projectile from penetrating the skull, it's not likely to prevent whiplash injury to the neck due to the force of impact.

Modern rounds can defeat the current generation of kevlar helmets, though. There was a video floating around where they demo'ed the HK MP7 SMG, and a bullet from the gun went completely through a helmet from front to back. The chances of such a weapon appearing in Afghanistan or Iraq aren't too great, but I'd argue have a through-and-through can be better than having the bullet stop - and possibly rattle around causing severe trauma damage - inside someone.

From the article, it sounds like the round hit the lance corporal's helmet just right on the steel(?) plate holding his NV goggles, and the round wasn't from, say, a hunting-type/sniper rifle. Both - and combined with the kevlar - saved him. If so, that's a right bit of really good luck for him, and probably not easily repeatable.

Originally Posted by iLney

When you own the bank 100,000, you fear the bank. When you own the bank 1,000,000,000,000 , the bank sh**s in its pants.

What is there to be proud of?

Edit: oh I forgot, according to Keynesians, debts are capitals! It makes perfect sense

... IMHO, debt can be considered as capital, but it depends on the circumstances.

Let's say that you, as a person who has an income with good credit, decides to borrow money from a bank. The bank does its job (*cough* which had not been done well) and decides you're a good risk. The loan is and will be repaid - along with interest. That series of cash flows is from the future, and has a present value, which can be added to the bank's books and ledgers.

IMHO, the problems come about when people start to "tinker" with the account rules to, perhaps, (1) make the PV bigger than what had been normally accepted, (2) realize the market value of the loan faster - since a part of the loan is likely still outstanding, and (3) etc.

If the bank does not do its job and do a good job at investigating the potential borrower, that credit risk can be a problem as well. There is no guarantee that people will not just walk away or declare bankruptcy, which will cause the bank to have to now realize the loan, not as a positive cash flow, but as a loss. Few people are able to accept that they are bad credit risks, and the banks aren't toeing the line either. This - i.e., realizing the loss - IMHO, is not happening now much in the U.S.

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, however, since taking that loss = foreclosing on people's houses/cars/etc. Adjusting the terms = potentially taking a loss as well, which given (1) the delay and (2) the lack of interest in adding more stimulus politically now... I don't know what the outcome will be, but it'll likely be ugly for everyone.

[iLney]

The key here is "Risk." People should know that when they put money in a bank, they are taking risks of losing all that amount. But since some very powerful institution backs that act up, suddenly this type of risk becomes virtually non-existent.

The strongest restraint against bank's reckless activity is then undone. Why? For the sake of financial security? If one does A with the risk of B, B will be always there as long as A is performed. There is no way to alleviate B.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by LynnieS

Modern rounds can defeat the current generation of kevlar helmets, though. There was a video floating around where they demo'ed the HK MP7 SMG, and a bullet from the gun went completely through a helmet from front to back. The chances of such a weapon appearing in Afghanistan or Iraq aren't too great, but I'd argue have a through-and-through can be better than having the bullet stop - and possibly rattle around causing severe trauma damage - inside someone.

From the article, it sounds like the round hit the lance corporal's helmet just right on the steel(?) plate holding his NV goggles, and the round wasn't from, say, a hunting-type/sniper rifle. Both - and combined with the kevlar - saved him. If so, that's a right bit of really good luck for him, and probably not easily repeatable.

It is a steel core brass jacketed bullet, rather than the usual "ball" rounds which are lead core copper jacketed. The steel makes it more tough to be able to transfer enough KE to defeat the Kevlar, rather than the lead which makes it denser and able to project a larger force.

Regarding the round, I suspect it is either a 7.92 x 57mm from a Kar98 (WWII rifle, insurgents still use it because it is a low cost SR, and its bolt-action mechanic makes it quite accurate) or a 7.62 x 54mmR from an SVD, commonly used by the Taliban, left behind by the Soviets in the 1980s. Both are medium/high caliber rounds, and the latter is used in Soviet PK machine guns, a general purpose machine gun. Being general purpose, the round is used to defeat lightly armoured vehicles and infantry sporting body armour, so it has got plenty of power in it.

Besides, Kevlar helmets are not exactly bulletproof, a modified 5.56 round can punch through it. I saw it in a limited video demonstration where one such round is fired at half a metre away and went inside the helmet.

Also, I do believe that the US Marines in Afghanistan use a slightly different helmet because most insurgents carry AK-47s and PKMs, which have higher bullet calibers. Thus there is a need to probably have stronger kevlar helmets to withstand these rounds capable of delivering the kinetic energy that is significantly more than the 5.56 rounds most countries use.