Thursday, June 01, 2023

Reddit for the win! It is as we feared. The new CMC has been chosen.

It is as we feared. The new CMC has been chosen.
by u/jellies56 in USMC
Dude is political and when you're on the wrong side of his politics he will fucking destroy you and make sure the Command destroys you too!

FNSS MAV - MARINE ASSAULT VEHICLE. Can handle SEA STATE 4!

Wow. The FNSS MAV can handle sea state 4. I have my doubts about the ACV being able to do sea state 2. The last vehicle that the Marines had that could go as high as 4 (my eyeball test from old vids) is the LVTP-5. I've seen vids of that vehicle handling what appears to be impossibly choppy seas.

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

25th ID chest thumps about conducting amphibious assault training....

So Berger & Smith's plan was for the USMC to act as recon/counter recon for US Army amphibious assaults? I couldn't make this ship up if I tried. The Marine Corps is fucked.

Republicans are debating whether or not the domestic spending cuts are enough in the US while gifting the Ukrainians ANOTHER 1.25 billion grant for salaries/social assistance (welfare).

 

Make no mistake. This IS NOT the first gift of money to pay for Ukrainian salaries and welfare. Let me ask my fellow countrymen this. How does it feel to be Ukraine's bitch while we debate how much we're gonna CUT here at home.

Open Comment Post. 31 May 23

 


For the second time this year the Navy sends a Carrier Strike Group to perform HA/DR instead of a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Is this the new normal? Is the Marine Corps out of the HA/DR game?

 via USNI News

Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and its escorts are operating off the coast of Guam awaiting the call to assist in disaster relief ashore, two Navy officials told USNI News.


Last week, Nimitz was dispatched to aid civil authorities if requested in a defense support of civil authorities (DSCA) after Super Typhoon Mawar passed near Guam with 140 miles per hour and waves up to 30 feet high, according to the National Weather Service.


There’s been widespread destruction across the island, including power and water outages across the U.S. territory that’s home to 150,000. The territory’s leadership has formally petitioned the Biden administration for federal assistance.


Until civil authorities formally request aid, the carrier is assisting by providing communication assistance to the island, according to a Navy official.


It’s the worst typhoon to hit Guam since Typhoon Pongsona made landfall in 2002.


“Most of Guam is dealing with a major mess that’s going to take weeks to clean up,” Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said last week.


The strike group deployed on Dec. 3 and has been operating in the Western Pacific since Dec. 16th, according to the USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker.


Nimitz deployed with Carrier Air Wing 17 embarked, guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG-52), guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108), USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93), USS Decatur (DDG-73) and USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60). It’s unclear which of the strike group’s escorts are operating nearby.


Meanwhile, USS Makin Island (LHD-8) and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and are headed east toward the West Coast, officials confirmed to USNI News. The Pentagon had considered also dispatching the Makin Island ARG top support potential humanitarian relief operations on Guam, but has elected instead to send the ARG closer to the U.S.

There are just two possibilities in my mind to explain this and both are bad.

1.  The DoD and US Navy has decided that the CSG is a better platform to conduct HA/DR.  Additionally the Marine Corps leadership has signaled that this is one of those missions that they no longer want to perform or...

2.  The ARG/MEU is incapable of operating in heavy seas churned up by the typhoon that struck the island and are being moved closer to the USA to safeguard those ships.

Either way the Marine Corps has once again been proven impotent and no longer able to carry out legacy/real world missions that are MUCH MORE LIKELY than full scale combat in the Pacific against the Chinese. 

That one foe, one region mindset that has been foisted on the Marine Corps by the outgoing and probably incoming Commandants is gonna be the end of the Marine Corps.

I mean seriously what good is the Marine Corps if its only good for the big fight against the Chinese?  Imagine if the US Army during the cold war said "fuck the rest of the world, we're only focused on the Fulda Gap".

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

China plays by a different set of rules...

I've been kinda mystified by the Russian approach to the war in Ukraine. They're fighting but when they're receiving side blows from the EU/NATO/US they tend to be on the side of restraint.

China isn't going that way.

The US has made all kinds of pronouncements and the Chinese chirp back.

The US makes flights along its coast and the Chinese conduct "unsafe" passes at our aircraft.

The EU sanctions products and they sanction them back.

China is a totally different animal but the surprising thing (if you've been paying attention) is that the US is all but BEGGING them to talk.  To setup an emergency hotline etc...

The Chinese are basically saying fuck that.

I find it frustrating that our military instead of our state dept is taking the lead in dealing with them.  That indicates a war like approach instead of diplomacy.

The SecState should be doing all of the above but he's MIA.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Our foreign policy and our approach to foreign policy is broken.  The military CAN NOT lead in this arena.

The next Commandant is a Berger zealot.

 

The Marine Corps is fucked. Bergers folly continues. No organization can survive a succession of flawed leaders. The Marine Corps is no exception. I hope I'm wrong but confidence is not high.

Did Turkey's FNSS out Marine Corps the US Marine Corps with their ZAHA Marine Assault Vehicle?

If I have any YAT-YAS boys in the audience I'd love to get their opinion on this!
Luv this vehicle hate that RWS.  They should be able to slim that down tremendously.  I have yet to get an explanation of why its so damn big yet carries such a small gun.  Anyone know?
Let me hit you with a tale of two Marine Corps.

First we have the US Marine Corps.  At the time the undisputed king of amphibious assault.  We pushed for a revolutionary amphibious assault vehicle in the form of the EFV.  While it was getting close to being ironed out as the program was canceled, the high cost killed it forever.

The decision was made earlier that high cost would require an additional vehicle to provide lift for Marines towards the objective because of the high cost of the EFV, we had an aviation Commandant that believed that the MV-22 would take over the role of ship to shore movement and surface assault was a thing of the past.

All that added up to the "surrogate" vehicle becoming the main vehicle.  The Marine Personnel Carrier was rebranded as the Amphibious Combat Vehicle and the rest is history.

The wheeled combat vehicle that could swim from ship to shore became our main ride.  While it was first intended to swim across lakes and rivers, somehow the engineers at BAE developed it to swim in the open ocean.  Still don't know how well it does in various sea states but from my eyes its less capable than the AAV it replaces.  

From my chair sea state 2 is about as good as it gets and crossing the surf line is a challenge as noted by several roll overs in that zone.

Now lets head over to the Turk Marines.

They tasked FNSS to build them a Marine Assault Vehicle and from all appearances they looked at the what the USMC did, the different offerings around the world and decided that instead of reinventing the wheel they would perfect it.

The result?  The ZAHA Marine Assault Vehicle.  It's heritage is obvious to all and if you've watched the vids put out by FNSS then you know its blood line.

My question to you.

Has Turkey's FNSS out Marine Corps the US Marine Corps with their ZAHA Marine Assault Vehicle?

I think they have.

What say you?

Eitan Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier Delivery Video