173rd Airborne Brigade does jump ops from CH-47F Chinook Helicopters...Photos by Sgt. Thomas Mort

Integrating an artillery platoon within an infantry company landing team....Video by Cpl. Lucas Hopkins

They keep trying to push this meme! Don't they understand that in the end they're going to re-invent the Marine Expeditionary Unit?

Today's it's an attempt to add artillery, next you're gonna need armored ground mobility so we'll see AAVs or ACVs added to the mix.  Of course we're gonna be looking at increased logistics support so we're gonna have to build a Company Logistics Platoon.  They're gonna need vehicles so 7 tons will be added to the mix.

And then after it's all said and done, they'll talk about combining several of these Company Landing Teams together and we'll be right back to a Marine Expeditionary Unit.

HQMC!  Just fucking stop.  You're drunk.  Go home.

New German Police Special Ops Unit...BFE+

via Military Tech Magazine

The BFE+ will begin its work immediately Five locations, 250 security operatives
A new special unit is supposed to change that. It has been named the Beweissicherungs- und Festnahmeeinheit plus (evidence collection and arrest unit plus), also known as BFE+. Fifty agents will begin working at the federal police's Blumenberg location near Berlin immediately. Four more units, comprised of 50 agents each, will soon be deployed in other locations around the country.
To date, Germany's elite GSG9 special forces unit responded to scenarios like this, where risks to the lives of individual agents were accepted as part of the job. The GSG9 is designed to end such situations and restore order. The unit keeps its skills up-to-date with permanent training, and similar units, like the SEK (a SWAT unit) and MEK (a mobile tactical force), are also maintained throughout Germany.
But these units are all direct attack forces, and are not necessarily trained to conduct large-scale, sustained manhunts. The BFE+ is meant to fill that gap. They are to offer support to GSG9, as well as federal and state police, during large anti-terror operations.
Yet there is an enormous discrepancy between these elite units and everyday police officers patrolling their beat, Jörg Radek, deputy chairman of the police union GdP said. He warns that the protective vests issued to police cannot withstand the impact of rounds fired from assault rifles.

Interesting.

SO what they're actually doing is saying that what we've done in the two incidents that I remember best...the Boston Bombing and the San Bernardino terrorist attacks....isn't satisfactory.

What do I mean?  Bear with me cause I'm eating some crow on this...but if I'm reading this correctly,  then what they're saying is that where we used normal patrol officers to provide perimeter support or even participate in hunting down the terrorists, they instead will use a special police unit.

If I'm reading this right then the Germans have an enormous hole in their response to a Paris, Mumbai or San Bernardino type incident.

It seems like they're saying that unlike our Law Enforcement that is now training to run toward mass shooters and terrorists to stop the incident as soon as possible, they're instead going to do what we've abandoned.

They're going to set up a perimeter with the BFE+ and then assaulting the terrorists with GSG9.

Man I hope I'm reading this wrong.  If I'm right then the Germans will be looking at future blood baths.  The tragedy in the music hall that we saw in Paris will look like a spring shower with rainbows compared to what the German people could eventually confront.

Japanese Self Defense Force demonstrate their version of the Australian Bushmaster...

via ajw.asahi.com

By YUSUKE FUKUI/ Staff Writer

The Self-Defense Forces on Dec. 17 revealed its new armored vehicle equipped with a roof-mounted machine gun that will be used to evacuate Japanese civilians in a foreign nation in conflict.
Japan’s “transport protection vehicle” was put through the paces in an SDF drill at the Somagahara Maneuver Area that straddles Takasaki and Shinto in central Gunma Prefecture.
A V-shaped hull makes the 10-seat vehicle highly resistant to bombs and other munitions used by insurgents.
It is the SDF’s version of the Australian Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle. Australian forces used the vehicle in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Four were deployed this year to the Ground SDF’s Central Readiness Regiment stationed in Utsunomiya. The regiment acts as an advance team for the SDF.
The drill simulated the rescue of Japanese civilians gathered at the Japanese embassy in a nation undergoing turmoil after a change in political leadership.
Fifteen SDF members acting as civilians were led into the armored vehicles under simulated conditions of being surrounded by an angry mob or attacked with a bomb as they headed to an airport.
Although recently enacted national security legislation eases restrictions on the use of arms in overseas rescue missions of Japanese civilians, the SDF decided not to use the machine gun during the drill.

For all the fear and trembling in Asia over the "rise of Japan" they're still taking baby steps toward militarization.

The idea that they wouldn't mount machine guns for an exercise and for it to be highlighted in an article tells me they're far from being the monsters that some make them out to be.

Side Note.  I wonder if they bought them or got a manufacturing license?

Did the Commandant call you all gear whores?

Did the Commandant call you all gear whores?  I think so, but as is the case for senior officers, he was diplomatic.  Check this out from Kit Up from earlier this week...

MC commandant Neller says gear has become too complicated "we've allowed ourselves to become Gucci gear people" #iitsec

— JenJudson (@JenJudson) December 2, 2015

Like I said.  Its diplomatic but I think we can read between the lines.  The real problem?  He might be right.  God knows I like a nicely made piece of cordura!  But seriously.  If you consider the average Marine's load, I wonder how much of it can be considered "snivel" gear...how much of it can be considered "fashion" gear...how much of it is actually needed?  And if it's just for "comfort" or "fashion" then how much would be gained if we got anal with the pack lists again.

Germany to buy another 131 Boxer APCs...via Defense News.

via Defense News

Plans to provide the German Army 131 more Boxer armored personnel carriers have passed the German Bundestag. On Wednesday, the parliament's budget committee approved the procurement of the APCs, a Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed.
The wheeled fighting vehicles carry a price tag of €654 million (US $709 million), including 19 percent VAT, parliamentary sources confirmed. While around €566 million will be spent on the vehicles, about €47 million is earmarked for weapon stations. European armaments agency OCCAR will implement the project. The vehicles in the configuration A2, which come with better protection than previous batches, are due for delivery from 2017 to 2021.
Last week, Lithuania announced its intention to order 88 Boxers in infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) versions with a 30 mm cannon and anti-tank missiles. The State Defence Council selected the vehicle for the 8X8 requirement on Dec. 11. Those deliveries are set for 2017 through 2020.

“The production capacities in Germany and the Netherlands for Boxer vehicles can easily cope with the second batch for Germany and the vehicles for Lithuania,” said Stefan Lischka, managing director of Boxer manufacturer Artec, a joint venture between Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. He even sees an increase in efficiency when production exceeds 30 units per year.

Two things.  First I wonder why the Europeans apply that "value added tax" to even items purchased by the govt?  It seems like an unnecessary doubling of expenses.  Why make the gear even more expensive by pasting a tax onto it?

The next thing is that the Boxer, somehow, is beating the excellent PUMA IFV in the  competition for the next general purpose armored vehicles for the German
Army.  That caught me totally by surprise.  Many experts consider the Puma the finest IFV in production (I'm partial to the CV90 but to each his own).

TAM 2C Modernized (pics) via CirculoTrubia Blogspot

Its a decent effort and definitely low profile but its hard to see how a hybrid tank (its built on the hull of a Marder APC) is competitive with some of the beasts that the other countries in the region are buying. Of definite interest is the turret.  I don't know who builds it but its different from what we saw as the "definitive" model just a little while ago.

Conservative Wahoo talks inside Navy Dept politics and its grim...

You know by now that the SecDef ordered the Navy to trim the number of LCS' its buying and to downselect to one hull.

What I didn't consider is how public this repudiation of Navy Dept policy is.  I didn't think about the clash of politics, doctrine, procurement and "future force" policy we were actually seeing.  Luckily The Conservative Wahoo saw it and educates us all.  Check this out....

There are several key elements of the memo worth discussion, but none more important than the third paragraph, which reads in part “…our military is first and foremost a warfighting force, and while we seek to deter wars, we must also be prepared to fight and win them. This means that overall, the Navy’s strategic future requires focusing more on posture, not only on presence, and more on new capabilities, not only on ship numbers.”

I interpret this statement (and the thinking behind it) as saying that “in a pressurized budgetary environment, conventional deterrence is of relatively less importance than warfighting”, and one can see this reflected in the items taken from the budget (lesser capable ships) and what is added to the budget (munitions, upgrades to the submarine force, and strike fighter capacity).


I am of two minds on this conclusion. First, as a Seapower advocate, I find myself rejecting the false choice between deterrence and war-fighting. The fleet must be balanced for both, and the rhetoric coming from OSD leads one to believe that budgetary restrictions have caused them to unbalance the Navy program with a thumb on the scale of warfighting. The nation can afford both, and the case must be made to ensure that the Navy receives the resources to do both. But that is not the budget environment we are in today, and so the consultant in me sees rationality and coherence in the OSD position.

This is power politics stuff!

They won't have control over the defense budget in a year but its hard to turn a ship and Carter is charting a new course...a course that will hold sway for the remainder of his term and will be influential into the next.

In short the transformationalist have won the day.  The question is will it make a difference?  Everyone but the US Army is facing a procurement trainwreck (and the only reason why the Army isn't is because they're basically buying nothing....JLTV and a few ATVs for airborne forces are peanuts in the defense world)....even if they go the transformation route will there be any money to make it work?

DNP. This is the stuff that the DoD should worry about! Forget the Jacked-3d nonsense.

DNP.

This is the stuff that I would tell anyone that asks about "extra special supplements" to avoid without hesitation and will tell them that they're taking their life into their hands if they use it even one time.

The DoD has a habit of following the latest trends at the MCX and then getting hot and bothered when they see a hot seller.  That's what they did with Jacked-d and basically got a creatine derivative off the shelves.  While they're doing that they're ignoring the real monsters in the room.

Want to know why I'm doing a public service announcement and constantly rant about how potent and deadly this stuff is?  Check this out....

For those familiar with cars or trucks with manual transmissions, or with motorcycles, DNP essentially works like keeping the clutch slipping all the time. The engine (the mitochondria) may be putting out a lot of power, burning gas rapidly, and generating a lot of heat, but much of the power is not getting to the wheels. Instead, it’s going into heating the clutch. Obviously, one ordinarily slips the clutch for only short period of time. But with DNP, the “clutch” (proton gradient) of the cellular machinery is made to slip all the time. The result? A lot of heat production, and a lot of fuel burned. And not that much energy actually making it to productive use.
More specifically speaking, DNP induces proton leakage from the mitochondria, causing them to have to burn more fuel to yield the same amount of ATP in the cell, or even perhaps less ATP than normal.

If that doesn't convince you that this concoction is hell on wheels then check out what else they say....

Large or even dangerous increase of body temperature, intense sweating, yellow bodily fluids, lethargy, water retention, insomnia, hunger, nausea, dehydration, electrolyte depletion, shortness of breath, reduction of insulin production, and reduction of T3. Frequency of these side effects is about 100% except, for example, frequency of nausea might be only about 25%, and dehydration and electrolyte depletion are avoidable.

 This is from a website called THINK STEROIDS...they'll give you the low down on anything you could ever consider taking and even they warn people away from DNP.

I talked to a guy that took this stuff cause-- he wanted to be ripped for the summer and didn't think that the standard (for those in the community) of Test with Winstrol and maybe with a bit of Tren wasn't good enough (why it wouldn't be is beyond me....if you workout you're gonna be making crazy gains and cutting fat like its nobody's business...add Tren to the mix and you better have PCT set ahead of time cause you're gonna shut down natural T production).

He took this shit and told me that even sitting at his desk doing paper work was a kick in the ass.  He was constantly changing shirts because he was sweating so much.  According to him and he might have been exaggerating but nights were even worse.  He would literally have to change the sheets twice a night and even sex turned into not only a sweat fest from hell but he was too gassed to perform!

He was only taking 400mg at his max dose....supposedly some people double that amount!

Stay away fellas!  This ain't for us.

How have I missed this dude????

Wow!  I had a chill listening to this guy!  How have I missed this dude, he's so spot on it hurts!  I guess the NRA is stepping up its game (should not have ignored their mailers)....and the Gun Owners of America finally have a hard charging partner.

Great stuff!

Update on those SOCOM bubba's that went to Libya...

This "team" photo of the SOCOM bubba's that went to Libya only to be turned around struck me as odd.  I rolled with it anyway because they were equipped the right way and the airplane originated in Stuttgart.  I should have known better.

A little birdy landed in my inbox and left this note....

Those guys in the photos are staff pukes assigned to a special TF which is part of Special Operations Command-Africa (aka SOCAF) headquartered in Stuttgart at Kelley Barracks. Stuttgart is also home to 1/10th SFG and two Naval Special Warfare teams.

Yeah.  That makes a bit more sense.  The weapons look sparkling new...maybe used once or twice.  No wear on their webbing/packs...also new.  I might be out of line here but they don't have the "hard look" that I associate with someone that depends on their conditioning to keep them alive.

Yep.  Staff bubba's not operators.

2nd LAR practicing patrolling techniques....photos by Lance Cpl. Brianna Gaudi

Note:  These photos make my heart sing.  I've seen so many pics of HRST, VBSS and other training activities that I've privately wondered if anyone was thinking of maintaining proficiency in basic Marine Corps tasks (every Marine a Rifleman remember?).  Moving thru the woods without making a racket and snagging on every wait-a-minute bush is something that must be practiced. This is good news that will never be highlighted in mainstream defense blogs.  Well done 2nd LAR!  Extremely well done!