Ancient Warfare. The Battle of 300 Champions!

via WarHistoryOnline.

The Greeks sure seem to like the number 300. The 300 Spartans (and their 7,000 allies) at Thermopylae, the 300 Theban Sacred Band, and the little-known battle of the 300 Champions, fought very early in Greek history. Before Persia was a grave threat, actually while Cyrus the Great was building Persia into an ancient superpower, the Greeks quite often fought amongst themselves. Greek shared culture did exist and this thin unity would save the Greeks from Xerxes later, but the link was thin enough for countless Greek cities to be ruthlessly sacked through a variety of Greek City-State wars.
One such war was between the Spartans and the people of Argos (known as Argives, not Argonauts who were a band of mythical heroes) over the coastal town of Thyrea that lay between the two city-states. make no mistake, the Argives were outstandingly fierce soldiers, especially so during their early history. Around this time Argos directly competed with Sparta for dominance of the Peloponnese and competed well. When the Spartans took over the fertile plains of the Argive-allied Thyrea, the Argive army confidently marched out in force.

Read it all here.  You won't be disappointed! 

Blast from the past. M48 Super Patton.

This blast from the past makes me wonder.  Are we seeing the return of the Light and Medium tanks?  Take a look at the Centauro 2 Mobile Gun System.  If it was a tracked vehicle it would be considered a medium tank.  Same could probably be said of the CV90120.  The concept that the US Army is working on for its protected gun system could most certainly be called a light tank.

Here is a thought to get the armor enthusiasts going.  Is heavy armor dead?

Are we finally swinging back to the point where mobility and firepower trump armored protection?

ATF declares gunpowder an explosive

Thanks to Mook and another person I will not identify for reminding me of this!



What have been the hottest issues this past week for the gun community?  The ATF declaring gunpowder an explosive.

Why haven't I talked about it?

Because I'm conflicted!

Remember all the videos like the one above where people have been blowing up barns, vehicles etc...with Tannerite?  Well imagine if the idiot in Tampa had decided to incorporate that into his plans?  How about the shooters in Dallas and Baton Rouge?

I'm not even close to being one of those mad scientists that you find in the gun community and I could do some serious damage with the stuff as is.  What happens if one of those good ole' boys decides to "enhance" the shit?

Oh and if you can do that with Tannerite then you can just as big a bang or bigger with gunpowder.  See that 8lb jug of gunpowder?

You can buy that stuff off Natchez Shooter Supply over the internet without background check or documentation.  Don't want to leave even that trace?  Head to your local Cabelas or Academy Sporting Goods and you can pay cash.

The real issue is that no one trusts the government, especially the ATF/Obama Administration and you're getting a visceral reaction.  Do I trust them?  No.  No I don't.  Do I see the dangers of this being sold without being able to track the sales?  Yeah I kinda do.

Do I blame the ATF?  I'm not sure.  Do I blame the gun community?  Yeah a bit.  We're our own worse enemy.  I said long ago that those Tannerite vids would get unwanted attention and this seems bear that out.

Either way the reloaders are on a buying spree.  That jug of gunpowder?  Demand is so high that you can only buy one a day.  Of course that means in 10 days you could accumulate 80lbs of material that can be converted to an explosive.

I know what you're thinking.  You can do the same with diesel fuel and if you stayed awake during your classes on improvised materials then you could mix household compounds that could clear a building and make people sick as dogs.  So why go after gunpowder?  I think because its so easy...and because its a political target.

So long story short?

After all that I'm still conflicted.  I know this is part of the anti-gun agenda but I also know that it can be justified.

The President of Venezuela is chased thru the streets...one tiny step away from anarchy!

Thanks to William for the link!

via NY Times.

President Nicolás Maduro was chased at a routine political event by a crowd of angry protesters banging on pots and yelling that they were hungry, just days after thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to call for his ouster, local news media reported on Saturday.
Scenes from the confrontation late Friday, which also appeared in videos uploaded to social media, captured the attention of Venezuelans, many of whom blame the unpopular president for the country’s food shortages.
In one video, Mr. Maduro tries to calm the pot-bangers by walking among them, only to be surrounded as the furious crowd yells obscenities.
“What is this?” an astounded voice behind the camera asks in one of the video clips.
Mr. Maduro had traveled from the capital, Caracas, to Margarita Island off Venezuela’s northern coast to inaugurate a number of new public housing units and give a televised address.
During the speech, he denounced his opponents’ calls for his removal from office, calling them “vampires” and saying they were preparing for violence.
Foro Penal, a Venezuelan human rights group, said 20 people had been arrested after the protest in the island town of Villa Rosa. Mr. Maduro’s office made no statement about the episode.

The action desk at Southern Command should be having a terrible weekend.  This is the kind of stuff that is off the radar (I'm still amazed that the major news networks are barely covering this...this isn't front page news in the Times and is found in the "Americas" section) but will have major regional implications.

The other thing is this.  Want to see anarchy?  Let things reach a point where people aren't in the "I want to have this because its cool so I'll steal it" and move on to the "I'm fucking hungry (real hungry, not false food cravings Americans have) and I'm gonna get food for my family" phase.

This is when neighbor starts killing neighbor and people start roaming into gated communities and govt warehouses.

Trust me folks.  This thing could pop.

Your cat is plotting your death...and probably needs to be vetted!

Thanks to Ryan the Red for the linK!

The perfect description of the chaos in Syria.

Thanks to Don for the link!

via UNZ.com

What a mess! In the crazy Syrian war, US-backed and armed groups are fighting other US-backed rebel groups. How can this be?
It is so because the Obama White House had stirred up the war in Syria but then lost control of the process. When the US has a strong president, he can usually keep the military and intelligence agencies on a tight leash.
But the Obama administration has had a weak secretary of defense and a bunch of lady strategists who are the worst military commanders since Louis XV, who put his mistress, Madame de Pompadour, in charge of French military forces during the Seven Year’s War. The French were routed by the Prussians. France’s foe, Frederick the Great of Prussia, named one of his dogs, “la Pompadour.”
As a result, the two arms of offensive US strategic power, the Pentagon, and CIA, went separate ways in Syria. Growing competition between the US military and militarized CIA broke into the open in Syria.
Fed up with the astounding incompetence of the White House, the US military launched and supported its own rebel groups in Syria, while CIA did the same.
Fighting soon after erupted in Syria and Iraq between the US-backed groups. US Special Forces joined the fighting in Syria, Iraq and most lately, Libya.
The well-publicized atrocities, like mass murders and decapitations, greatly embarrassed Washington, making it harder to portray their jihadi wildmen as liberators. The only thing exceptional about US policy in Syria was its astounding incompetence.

This whole article needs to be highlighted.  What are the uptakes?  The Pentagon and CIA have gone rogue because the White House and State Dept don't have a plan to deal with the mess in Syria.

They've gone off the reservation in an attempt to salvage this terrible situation that the fantasy land Democrat Neo-Cons (yeah...Hillary's acolytes) have done to our policy in Syria.

I can't state enough how utterly pitiful it is to have this 8 way circular shooting range going on.

Turkish backed Free Syrian Army fighting YPG (Kurds)?

Thanks to William for the link!

via ABC News.

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish tanks have entered Syria's Cobanbey district northeast of Aleppo in a "new phase" of the Euphrates Shield operation.
Turkish tanks crossed into Syria Saturday to support Syrian rebels against the Islamic State group, according to the Anadolu news agency.
Turkey launched a cross-border operation on Aug. 24 along with Free Syrian Army units to clear the village of Jarablus of IS militants. Since then, rebels have been seizing villages along the Turkish border near Jarablus and the western Cobanbey district from IS, reports Anadolu.
The Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army units have also been fighting U.S.-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units or the YPG. Anadolu says "with this new phase of the (Euphrates Shield) operation, the Azaz-Jarablus line is expected to be cleared of terror elements."

This propaganda piece is just all kinds of concerning.  So now the Free Syrian Army that is backed by the CIA and getting all kinds of new weapon drops is fighting our other more reliable ally, the Kurds?

One thing is obvious though.  Assad isn't on anyone's radar anymore.  The FSA is fighting ISIS, FSA is fighting Kurds, Kurds are fighting ISIS, and so on and so forth.

Syria will lose land because Turkey is about to gobble up a buffer zone but that regime will survive.

J-20 in Tibet. via Mike Yeo's Twitter Page.

Thanks to Joe, Savabir Singh and other that sent the link!

LRIP J-20 reportedly photographed in Tibet pic.twitter.com/eu4Y2Vr8np

— Mike Yeo (@TheBaseLeg) September 2, 2016

Could we all be looking in the wrong direction?  When it comes to the next peer fight I always think China vs. Japan, S. Korea vs. a collapsing North, etc...but we're missing the obvious.

The two countries that have swords out and are spoiling for a fight (if there already aren't skirmishes happening that we don't know about) is China and India at the top of the world.

Between India rushing Mountain troops and material to the area to China doing the same and developing weapons designed to fight at altitude (their new light tank) I think that will be battlefield to watch.

I can even tell you how it will start.  China will do a border incursion, India will respond forcefully and it'll escalate from there till the UN can step in and beg both sides to stop.  By the time that happens we'll probably see a couple of brigades on both sides involved in a big fight.

Chinese Stealth Bomber

Thanks to William, Joe and everyone else to gave links on this story!

via Reuters.

China is developing a new long-range bomber, the head of the Chinese air force was quoted as saying in state media on Friday, the latest move in its ambitious military modernization program.
China has already improved its ability to strike at targets far from home and there will be further improvements in the future, the Global Times quoted air force chief Ma Xiaotian as saying at an air force open day.
"We are now developing a new generation of long-range bomber, and you'll see it in the future," Ma said, according to the paper, without elaborating.
China has been ramping up research into advanced new military equipment, including submarines, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles. This has rattled nerves regionally and in Washington as China takes a more muscular approach to territorial disputes in places such as the South China Sea.
The air force, which has for years relied on large numbers of Chinese copies of Russian aircraft, is now also developing its own stealth fighters. In July, it put into service a new, domestically developed large transport aircraft.

Ma said the air force had entered into a "transformation" stage, changing its focus from quantity to quality, the report said.

Tribe!  Many of you sent me links to this story, but lets take a look at this.  We've heard talk about the Chinese building a new bomber since at least 2011!

We've seen fanboy concept art of the bomber, we've heard talk of how its gonna be a B-2 clone - hypersonic wunder weapon - even a space plane that would orbit the earth before making a drop from height that would use pure speed and no explosive to achieve almost nuclear weapon type destruction (I think its called golden rods or something like that...I'm too lazy to look it up right now).

The point is, I just can't get excited till I see something sitting on a tarmac.

TOW Anti-Tank Missile shoots down Gazelle Helicopter?

Thanks to Info Infantry for the link!

I can't put my finger on it but something seems off with this video.

Royal Marines attempt to plug a glaring hole...they've had no TRAP capability!

via IHS Janes.

Senior UK Royal Marine officers are pushing for the country's two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers to be provided with their own personnel and equipment recovery capability when they enter service later this decade.
Such a force would be "trained and equipped to recover downed aircrew and recover or deny highly classified equipment", according to a briefing on the joint personnel recovery capability prepared by a staff officer in the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade in July, which has been seen by IHS Jane's .
RAF Squadron Leader Phil Skinner, who co-ordinates air support within 3 Commando Brigade's headquarters in Plymouth, revealed that the Royal Marines have already set up a Personnel Recovery Co-ordination Cell (PRCC) in the brigade as a result of last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Just plain wow.

Quite honestly I thought the Royal Marines already had this capability.  The idea that they're just now creating it makes ya wonder.  What were they thinking? How did they let this slip?

What I find even more curious is that they're only seeking to recover personnel and sensitive/classified equipment.  They're not even looking at doing aircraft recovery.

For a top notch force this is just unsat.

Open Comment Post. Sep 1, 2016.

Its Friday, labor day is Monday, Venezuela is melting down, the jobs numbers are below expectations, the unemployment rate is 4.9% yet we're not seeing even the hint of inflation, Trump is the focus of everyone....and I'm waiting for a shoe to drop while the country is trying to enjoy the holiday.

But that's me.  What's on your mind?