Upclose view of China's PL-10 "anti-stealth" missile!

Thanks to HELP for the pic!

Hmm.  Help said this is the "optical seeker" version but to be honest I have no idea what that means.  What I do know is that Thai Military and Asia Region Blog (here) has a decent overview of the missile.

Breaking! TRUMP won't allow transgenders to serve in the military!

HOLY SHIT!

Trump went there!

More to fucking come but expect the SHIT TO HIT THE FAN!

Korean war drums are still beating...

Yeah guys, the hits keep coming.  This is going as I predicted.  The news is becoming more and more focused on N. Korea and the possibility of war.  It's really a classic psyops campaign being run against the American people.

First you expose the problem to those that haven't been paying attention.  Second you saturate the news that you're doing everything possible to solve the issue peacefully.  Third you tell the people that those efforts have failed and that it might take "more forceful" means to ensure a safe world.  Last, you tell the American people that their safety is threatened by this activity and that it is essential that this threat be removed from the board.

We've seen it play out the same way in every war type situation we've been faced with since Desert Storm.  For a short time they played up protecting women and children of other nations but that has played out and the American people aren't buying it.  So they modified it to make threats on the other side of the planet seem like threats to our mainland.

But I digress.  Check out these articles.  via Daily Beast.

Several media outlets have reported that Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said over the weekend that war with North Korea was not “unimaginable.” What has gone unreported is that he also suggested the administration is giving diplomacy only “a few more months.”
Dunford’s comments, sure to be heard in Beijing and Pyongyang, come as the Trump administration is hinting, with various degrees of subtlety, that it is willing to kill Kim Jong Un, the North Korean despot.

Story here. 

Then this via New York Times.

North Korea will be able to field a reliable, nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile as early as next year, U.S. officials have concluded in a confidential assessment that dramatically shrinks the timeline for when Pyongyang could strike North American cities with atomic weapons.

The new assessment by the ­Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which shaves a full two years off the consensus forecast for North Korea’s ICBM program, was prompted by recent missile tests showing surprising technical advances by the country’s weapons scientists, at a pace beyond what many analysts believed was possible for the isolated communist regime.

Story here. 

Finally this last story isn't exactly about a possible Korean War but an indication (at least to me) that they believe it will be a bloody affair and that we might need to entirely reconstitute our Army and Marine Corps.  via Military Times.

Restarting the military draft after more than four decades of an ­all-volunteer force would be complicated.

But it could be done.

One plan calls for young conscripts to have a choice: two years on active duty or six years in the reserves.

Either way, they’d first have to ­undergo basic training and job training.

If draftees want to go to college first, they must participate in a Reserve Officer Training Corps program and then serve.

If they fail or quit ROTC, they must then enlist.

Whichever option they choose, their obligation is fulfilled with a single combat deployment.
Those are some of the details ­proposed by retired Army Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich, one of the nation’s most aggressive advocates of abandoning the all-volunteer force in favor of a return to the draft.

Story here. 

I'm just the messenger but I really believe that the drums of war are beating hard on the Korean Peninsula.  You decide whether or not you agree but I believe I'm puzzling together separate articles that point to what many refuse to see.  It might not happen but the Pentagon is prepping for war.

Talisman Sabre 2017 Pics (part 2)

Talisman Sabre 2017 Pics (part 1)

Talisman Sabre is over, but here are a few pics that you might not have seen!

Aussies are REALLY trying to make the Bushmaster work in the conventional role.  I wonder how long they keep trying?  The Brits have given up and so have other European countries...we'll see.

Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) onto CH-53E load practice...pics by Staff Sgt. David Proffitt

Open Comment Post. July 26, 2017

Should service guarantee citizenship? Do we need to reinvigorate responsibility vs rights?

Thanks to Will for the idea!

Anyone that has served in the military has thought it.  Civilians talk about rights and those rights seem to always expand.  Rights have no cost to the person that gets them.

What civilians forget is that there comes RESPONSIBILITY to the nation that comes with those rights.

Demanding military service for every able bodied adult is a way to ensure that the citizen pays for the rights that the nation gives them.  If they choose not to serve (and they're capable) then that's ok.  No jail time, no fine, no public harassment.

They made a choice.

But that choice should come with consequences.  If you choose not to serve then you don't get the rights of citizenship.  No more birthright citizens!  You must contribute to the nation.  If you don't serve then you don't get the right to vote at any level of the community.  If you don't serve then you pay a special "excise" tax (assuming you were capable) to pay for the upkeep of the nation that you enjoy the benefits of but are too good to actually contribute your time and if necessary your life.

It may sound harsh but Heinlein was right.

No I'm not talking about an armed takeover of the govt by veterans, retirees etc....I'm talking about reconnecting rights of citizenship with the responsibilities that come with it.

Squadron Commander fired for KC-130 crash in Mississippi...is he paying for the former Deputy Commandant for Aviation sins?

via Military.com

The commander of a wing support squadron based in Cherry Point in North Carolina has been relieved of duty after a commanding general lost confidence in his ability to lead.

Lt. Col. Taylor White, commander of Marine Wing Support Squadron 274, was relieved of his post Thursday by Maj. Gen. Matthew Glavy, commander of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, according to a release send out by 2nd MAW officials.

The wing has recently been linked to two significant aviation mishaps.

On July 10, a KC-130 that took off from Cherry Point crashed in Mississippi, killing all 16 Marines aboard. A day later, lightning struck a flightline in nearby New River, fatally injuring one MV-22 Osprey maintainer and sending another briefly to the hospital.

Story here. 

So let me get this straight.

This squadron commander is getting fired for a mishap that didn't result in the grounding of the entire fleet (the aircraft broke up in midair) and we don't know the cause of yet AND an act of God (I read reports of the incident...as soon as they got word of lightning in the area they were leaving the flight line when the Marines were struck).

Sounds like we're seeing another in a series of scapegoats for the sins of the former Deputy Commandant for Aviation.

It's almost like clockwork.

Class A Mishap?  Fire the squadron commander. It's really getting old.  When the Davis was heading up aviation all he did was tour the nation and talk to the media about the F-35.  Meanwhile Marine Aviation burned.  As he was heading out the door he put together a piece of shit plan to fix what he had neglected and by neglecting broke.  The budget was pushed so heavily toward the F-35 that current maintenance was an afterthought.

It will take at least a decade to fix the mess while trying to bring aboard new aircraft at the same time.

Davis left a mess of a legacy and current Marines are paying the price.

Note:  If any of you "Davis supporters" care to get him online to refute these claims I'll be more than happy to publish his response.  Someone needs to ask the tough questions cause God knows it's not the LCpl Network that leadership needs to worry about...it's the Company/Field Grade Officer Mafia that is getting pissed.

Weird News. Naked man chops off penis and then charges cops!

via Heavy.com

 video shows a naked man covered in blood after appearing to cut off his own penis angrily charging at Chicago Police officers.

The man, who hasn’t yet been identified by authorities, appears to be high on some kind of drug in the video clip, which was recorded July 24 in the Irving Park community near the intersection of Grace Street and Drake Avenue, the Daily Mail reported.

The man is noticeably covered in blood coming from his crotch area, and he starts shouting at the male recording the video, who’s standing behind a metal fence with at least one friend. Additional puddles of blood are visible on the sidewalk in front of the home.

The person who’s recording the video screams back at the man, urging him to “calm down” before noting that police were on scene. The suspect turns to the responding officers and immediately charges at them.

Go here to watch this batshit craziness! 

What would make a person cut his own dingle dangle off and charge police?  There has to be some new super drug on the streets to get this type reaction...could that zombie drug we heard about in Florida be spreading?

My God! US troops surrendered to their Jordanian "allies" before being shot and killed!

Thanks to JD Strike for informing us all of this terrible news!

via Fox News

Shocking video shows U.S. soldiers gunned down at Jordan military base
A Jordanian military guard hunted down and ruthlessly killed three U.S. Special Forces soldiers as the men held their hands up in surrender, newly released video of the controversial November incident shows – contradicting the Jordan military’s original claim the American troops didn’t follow proper protocol when trying to enter the military base.

Security camera footage released Monday revealed details of the Nov. 4 shooting at King Faisal Air Base in southern Jordan where Staff Sgt. Matthew C. Lewellen, 27, Staff Sgt. Kevin J. McEnroe, 30, and Staff Sgt. James F. Moriarty, 27, were gunned down. The video had previously been shown to the families of the U.S. Army Green Berets.

Story here. 

Words can't describe.

This is why I have to fight so hard to keep from hating.  This kinda shit is why I fight my own demons with religious hatred.

This is why I think the whole region should burn and we should light the match and get out the way.

But I guess I'm being emotional.  But damn....

NOTE:  You come with disrespect on this blog post and you'll be banned forever.  I don't care how reasoned you think your argument, if you're supporting the shooter then expect no mercy and no second chances.

Why no word on the cause of the KC-130T crash in Mississippi?

Thanks to Mitchell for reminding me!

The Lockheed KC-130T involved in the crash, shown at Stuttgart, Germany, in 2012

via The Wikipedia Entry.

The accident aircraft was reported to have suffered an in-flight explosion and mid-air break up at an altitude around 20,000 feet (6,100 m) while en-route from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina to Naval Air Facility El Centro in California,[10][11] before it crashed 85 miles (137 km) north of Jackson, Mississippi, killing all sixteen occupants. Other speculation was it lost a wing during cruising flight due to fatigue stress cracks in the center wing box. Debris was spread in a 5-mile (8 km) radius from the crash site and firefighters attending the crash site used 4,000 US gallons (15,000 l) of foam to extinguish the post-crash fire.[12][13][14]

Here. 

The weird thing is that training accidents happen.  I get that and understand it.  This hit me different though.  These guys were just on a simple transport flight and tragedy struck.

But I digress.

Why haven't we heard a thing about this incident?

Not even preliminary findings have been released and everyone has moved on?

This reeks to high heaven.  We need to know the cause, we need to know if this is systemic (I note that there was no grounding and inspection of other aircraft!), and we need to know if there was a case of pushing men/aircraft harder than they should be due to the desire to implement an "aviation centric" Marine Corps.