All I know about solar energy I learned from my 15 year old son

                                     All I know about solar energy I learned from my 15 year old son

                                                    One example of the use of solar energy
     Tiger Company (150 men) of the U.S. Marines conducted a remarkable three-week patrol through Southern Afghanistan, replacing hundreds of pounds of spare batteries in their packs with roll-up solar panels the size of placemats to power their battle gear. India Company was chosen last summer to pilot the project because it was due to deploy in Sang in Provence, the deadliest zone in Afghanistan.

     Modern U.S. forces are more lethal than any in history, but they also gobble up more energy. That lengthens vulnerable supply lines and overloads soldiers in the field, but connecting a radio battery to a solar panel placemat it allows the men to recharge their equipment. The solar packs freed the Marines from constant resupply. By carrying fewer batteries, they carry more bullets, and move faster and further. Use of the solar gear means helicopters don't have to ferry extra batteries to the Marines and trucks don't have to convoy fuel for generators.

      How did the Marines fare with the new solar equipment? Tiger Company was paralyzing. Tiger’s mission: Kill any Taliban fighters were using a desiccated riverbed. Insurgents were using the riverbed (wadi) to cross northern Helmand Province, which is main part of the Taliban's power base in Southern Afghanistan. All of Tiger Company’s men were out before day break near Julji village for the operation. They had the task of picking off enemy fighters while the infantrymen, with their tanks blowing holes through mud-walled compounds swept through the wadi.

     Tiger, Head Hunter 1 whose leader was Sgt. Justin Smith, 30, of Ogden, Utah, positioned itself on a finger of elevated land. Sgt. Smith was armed with a .50-caliber rifle capable of penetrating a car engine a mile away. His squad was trying to locate a Taliban sharpshooter who was pepperingtheir compound. Every time the Taliban fighter fired, the snipers heard the report from his weapon, then later, the bullet's impact. That indicated the shooter was more than 1,200 yards away. That's the range at which such rounds slow to below the speed of sound, and the noise passes the bullet itself. Shortly thereafter Smith killed the insurgent.

     Lying on his stomach, Sgt. Smith peered through binoculars and spotted two terrorist on the far side of the wadi. After each shot, they ducked behind a wall. Sgt. Smith ordered his men to take cover while he radioed the adjacent sniper team and talked them onto the insurgents' location. A sniper, Sgt. Colon, from Head Hunter 2, an eight man team opened fire killing the insurgent firing positions on a rise 100 yards to the south of Head hunter 1. Next, he began firing, tracking the vapor trails of outgoing rounds guiding him to his next targets
Snipers are a breed apart, a cliquish group of specialized killers who stalk in teams as small as two men, each dependent on the other for survival. They keep count of their kills on the barracks wall, ticking them off like prisoners marking time. Around their necks hang his dog tags along with a bullet, a symbol of the one-shot, one-kill.

     The gear surpassed expectations.

Let me take you back to when the science of solar energy development was first invented. Amazingly, it all began in my garage. The date was September 1976. I remember it as clearly as though it were yesterday. I was standing at my garage work bench alongside my first born son, Mark. He asked me if I would help him make a parabolic curve as an assignment for his high schools science fair project.

    I said, "Sure what is a parabolic mirror? “

     He said, "A parabolic shaped mirror can collect infra-red heat rays from the sun and then reflect the rays back off of the mirror to a small focal point In the front of the mirror producing a very high concentration of heat, much like a magnifying glass only it’s a reverse curve.

     "Hummm I’m not sure I understand you go ahead and make it, and I’ll pay for the materials.” I said

     That was when the moment the sun was first used to generate usable solar energy. Mark built his solar collector which was placed on a card table with a ten- foot tall sign with an explanation. He went on to win the Bonneville Science Fair Award, and so was invited to the Weber State University Science Fair and received the first place blue ribbon award. He so was able to go back to compete in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and again won a first place Blue Ribbon award along with four other science fair students from around the nation and Canada.

     The following year, Mark was a Sophomore in high school. It was a repeat of the first year, except that the national fair was held in Philadelphia. By his junior year the solar collector had caught the eyes of the United States Solar Energy Department located in Golden, Colorado. The Energy Department paid for a two week, all expenses paid for him and an associate scientist of his choice, He took his younger brother, Brian, who was also a student at Bonneville High School in Washington Terrace, Utah. He also was given a four- year full ride scholarship to the School of Engineering at Boulder, Colorado.

     Presently, Mark lives in a home with his lovely wife, Dona Wallace, west of the United States Solar Energy Department (purely accidental), and south on a plato above the Coors Brewery in Golden. He is an Aerospace Engineer at Lockheed-Martin.

     To be continued…

To see more Karl Wallace short stories or write to Karl go to: karlwallaceblog.blogspot.com

Address: Karl Wallace, PO Box 10686 Ogden, Utah 84401