10K Crunch Challenge.

How did you do on the 10K crunch challenge?

Well I'll put this out there.  Never again.  Looking back on it I should have realized that these "challenges" aren't about a fitness goal, they're just about "crunching" a number.

What did I get out of this?

I was chasing a number.  My abs got wrecked, they stayed sore and I never felt "weakness leaving the body".

In short.  For me, this shit sucked donkey balls.

Let me repeat.  Never A' Fucking'gain.

Orbital ATK - GDLS LAV Kongsberg MCT-30 Turret 30mm/40mm MK44 Autocannon Firing Tests

AMPV and other armored programs advance for the US Army & Marine Corps.

via Mil-Embedded.com

The Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) will replace the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier program that was terminated in 2007. The FY 2018 program funds engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) prototype testing (including performance and reliability testing), completion of the interim design review (IDR) and the functional configuration audit (FCA), continued development of logistics support products, procurement of live fire test assets, and procurement of 107 LRIP vehicles. FY 2018 funding requested is $674.4 million up from $184.2 million in the FY 2017 request.

Story here. 

Mil-Embedded.com gives a pretty good overview of the latest funding for armored vehicles for the Army and Marine Corps.  I highlighted the AMPV because its the forgotten child in the whole thing, but the good news is that FINALLY we're seeing nice upgrades (read that to mean desperately needed) for American armored vehicles.

Especially heartening is the fact that the Army is moving forward with an APS so we can expect the Marine Corps to follow suit soon.  Even if the idea is to stay the course with the M1A1 (still doing an article on that upgrade) an APS will help with battlefield survivability.

They're late but they're finally making moves to get the US armor house in order.

Neller drives a semi-old skool Ford Mustang 5.0 (its cherry too!)!!!!

Neller drives a semi-old skool Ford Mustang 5.0?

It's cherry too!??!?!?!?!?

Re-appraisal in process....Dude is a dude!  I like it!

Carrier Strike Group 5, somewhere in the Asia-Pacific region conducting live fire ex....pic by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nathan Burke

The S. Korean president visits the White House.

Carrier Strike Group 5 is practicing live fire gunnery.

A second carrier strike group is in the region (at least).

The MEU has gone quiet and is sailing circles instead of landing and doing partnership exercises.

We still haven't heard 2nd ID go off alert.

PACOM is still jumping around like a bunny.

This stuff in Korea is NOT over.  Don't be fooled.  Just because its not front page doesn't mean that forces aren't priming to strike.

How US Marines saved South Korean president's parents in epic battle

via Fox News.

New South Korean President Moon Jae-in begins a four-day U.S. trip for difficult talks on THAAD deployment and the North Korean threat with an emotional visit Wednesday to the "Frozen Chosin" exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va.

Moon shares a special relationship with the Marine Corps and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, the former Marine commandant.

Dunford's father, then-20-year-old Joseph F. Dunford Sr., fought with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, in the brutal sub-zero 1950 battles against the Chinese around the Chosin Reservoir in what is now North Korea.

Moon's parents were among about 100,000 refugees who were evacuated from the area to the south as the Marines fought their way to the sea at Hongnam in what became known as the "Christmas Cargo" campaign, or the "Miracle of Christmas."

Story here. 

Amazing!  Those old skool War Dawgs did more than win a battle...they unknowingly shaped the future of S. Korea in more ways than one.  Imagine if the Chinese had overrun those Marines.  Imagine if Moon's parents weren't saved?

We owe them more than they'll ever know.  So do the S. Korean people.

Royal Marines invite 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines to Wessex Storm!

Ok.  This.  This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about.  Royal Marines are classed as a Special Ops unit but they operate along side USMC units often enough that this makes nothing but sense.

I like it!

HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier With F-35B Stealth Fighters Simulation

Open Comment Post. June 30, 2017

Love this guys pics, hate his watermarks (I respect an artist protecting his work but could you make them smaller or less obvious?)...thumbs up for the X-Grips though.  I use them to make the grip on my G26 fit right with the standard G19 mags.  max firepower in a compact frame...good stuff.  Still can't decide if those clear mags are just a nice conversation piece or if they have a combat application.  Probably buying a pair today just cause they're cool...the only application is to do a quick visual ammo check but other than that I can't find any other real factor except they're neat.

Think Defence Blog is doing a deep dive into the Brit's new medium wt capability!

Think Defence is putting forward what should be a goodie!  He's doing a deep dive into the Brit's new medium wt capability.  If you're as confused as I am as to the objectives, end goals and force structure behind the thing then go here to drink it all in (note...he's gonna be doing this over the course of a couple of articles so buckle in and follow the whole thing).

Chinese Foreign Minister warns India about incursion into disputed territory...

via NDTV.com

China today asked India to withdraw its troops from the Donglong area in Sikkim sector as a precondition for a "meaningful dialogue" to settle the boundary issue, warning that the Indian Army should learn "historical lessons", in an oblique reference to the 1962 war.

In an unprecedented move, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang displayed a photograph of what he alleged was Indian "incursion" into Donglong area and said the dispute which is becoming a confrontation of sorts between the troops on the ground can only be settled by the withdrawal of Indian soldiers from the area.

"Since the illegal trespass happened we have lodged solemn representations with the Indian side in both New Delhi and Beijing," Mr Lu said, showing the photograph from the podium.

He said the photographs will be displayed on the Foreign Ministry's website later.

Story here. 

This is a curious, simmering conflict.  No one is paying attention to it but I rate a sharp short fight between China and India to be more likely than a fight between India and Pakistan.  When it comes to major players I consider this to be the only REAL hotspot on the globe right now.

Yeah I know.  N. Korea is still hot despite most people mistakenly believing that things have calmed down since its no longer front page news (they're wrong by the way....PACOM is still jumping around like crazy...can't put my finger on it but they haven't slowed down preparations one bit), but this thing between China and India has been on slow boil for at least a few years now.

Both sides are gearing up big time, both sides keep reinforcing and both sides are sending more capable units to the area.

Keep an eye on this one guys.

One late night when you're looking slack eyed and silly you'll turn on CNN and see news alerts of intense fighting here.  2 years max.  That's my prediction.  The way they're gearing up and priming forces it'll take two years for a serious incident to kick off.

F-35 Unreliability Risks Strain on Pentagon Budget, Tester Says

via Defense Aerospace.

Costs to operate and support Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 will balloon unless the deteriorating reliability of the Pentagon’s costliest program improves, according to an assessment from the Defense Department’s own testing office.

The aircraft and its parts aren’t as reliable as expected, and it’s taking longer to repair them than planned, according to the presentation by the director of operational testing for defense officials and congressional aides. About 20 percent of the jets must await spares in depots because suppliers can’t keep up with expanding production while fixing returned parts. (…/…)

The availability of spare parts for the 203 F-35s already assigned to bases “is getting worse, affecting fly rates” and pilot training, according to the presentation dated May 8 and obtained by Bloomberg News. Reliability metrics linked to “critical failures have worsened over the last year,” as improvement “has stagnated.” (…/…)

The testing office said in its latest assessment that the trend in aircraft availability for flight test or training missions “has been flat over the past two years” because initiatives to improve reliability “are still not translating into improved availability.” Just last week the Marine Corps temporarily grounded operational jets in Yuma, Arizona, over reliability concerns with the program’s key maintenance diagnostic system.

The fleetwide availability of F-35s to fly when needed is 52 percent, short of an interim goal of 60 percent as well as the 80 percent needed to start combat testing next year. (…/…) 

Story here. 

This is my biggest fear.  And it looks like its gonna be realized.  Despite any sort of commonsense.  Acting contrary to the way that they would run their own household, the Pentagon insists on spending good money after bad.

The old adage of "let's get it and we'll fix it after we have it" is going to doom Marine Corps aviation.

This is the boogeyman.

If this comes to pass then there is no exit off the procurement trainwreck for the Corps.  Marine Air will be hopelessly crippled and efforts to fix it will leave the Ground Combat Component operating equipment that isn't old by US standards but obsolete by the standards of the world.

The F-35 is truly becoming the plane that gobbled the Pentagon!