CV-90 upgrade for the Norwegian Army...

Massive hat tip to Bjørnar for the article.

The government submits an investment proposition to the Storting on new acquisition and renovation of tanks to the Army. - This investment will provide Armor Battalion and the Telemark battalion increased capacities and strengthening the army substantially the material side, says Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide.
The Government will this investment provide the Armoured Battalion and the Telemark battalion increased capacities and cover up for deficiencies in the structure of medium-weight armored vehicles. The bill will now be submitted to Parliament for further consideration
- The military has recently been modernized its equipment, especially on the waterfront. As many know, we have now proposed a procurement of new combat aircraft for the Air Force. I am therefore proud that we are now in line with our renovation plans looking to invest in just under 10 billion to provide the army 146 rebuilt / new armored vehicles of the type CV-90, says defense minister.
The new and redesigned vehicles will give the Army a significant boost in the form of improved combat power and increased protection for the crews that operate them. New capabilities will be such increased my protection, network integration, better self-protection in the form of remotely controlled weapon station and rubber belts for increased accessibility.

The Army currently has 103 pieces. CV-90 armored personnel carriers all of which will be built on. The project will deliver a total of 146 remanufactured / new CV-90-carts. The cars were acquired from the mid-1990s, and has been a reliable and dependable vehicle for the Army. The cars are based on a combination of new CV-90 hull, upgraded and redesigned CV-90 hull (ie the 103 pieces. Existing) and upgraded turret. Plans are also obtained including unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, various sensors and ground communications.

I continue to be amazed at the speed at which these "smaller" countries are able to procure defense items.

Regardless, the Norwegian Army is about to recieve a quick upgrade in capabilities and will find that they have an IFV that is at the very least the equal of any armored fighting vehicle currently in service.

Don't believe the survey!

via Marine Times.

Under Defense Department guidance, women are banned from serving in specialties whose primary function is to close with and destroy the enemy. But that could change. In a historic first, the Marine Corps is now planning to send women to the Infantry Officers School as part of a comprehensive research program that looks at whether opening more fields to women is a possibility. Enlisted women could get a shot, too, at one of the Infantry Training Battalions. Also part of the possible plan are gender-neutral physical fitness standards that would apply to men and women and a Corps-wide survey so you can sound off on the matter.

Wow.

Another survey.

Don't you believe the findings.

The current leadership of the Marine Corps is not to be trusted to give real information on the outcome of this and any other survey.  The reason why?  Because the powers that be have determined a course of action and they will do any and everything to reach the desired outcome.

Don't you find it interesting that in the same year that Gays in the military was suddenly and forcifully passed into law we now face the issue of women in combat?

Don't you find it interesting that Marine Corps heroes like Colonel Ripley and General Barrow gave guidance that is at odds with current leadership?

Isn't it strange that not one retired Marine Corps General has come out in favor of these intitiatives?

But that's ok.  They'll get their desired end state.  Women from middle and lower class families will see their daughters legs snapping like twigs....see their bodies destroyed from carrying heavy packs...and they will learn to hate the Marine Corps.

All so that a few Generals and DoD officials can be wined and dined at DC and New York parties.  All so that a few feminist with delusions of grandeur can subject someone else's daughter to dangers that they would never subject themselves or their daughters to.

It would be funny if it wasn't actually happening.

F-35C Formation Flight

For those who understand...

If you understand, no explanation is necessary;  For those who don't understand, no explanation is possible.

You either get it or you don't.  For those that don't get it, they attack it.  Attempt to weaken it. 

The assault on Marine Corps Values has been ongoing.  Some attack those values by stating that our mission is obsolete.  Some attack it by demanding gender norming so that our Combat Arms becomes ordinary.  Some attack it by demanding jointness for no other reason than claiming fictional cooperation.

But for those that have the internal fortitude, the mental toughness and devotion to duty ...Those people will never yield to those that want the Marine Corps to become ordinary.

We aren't and the Marine Corps isn't.

I just wish those in power (civilian and military) understood that fact.  There was a survey on institutions that the American public still believes in.  The military topped that list.  Not because it changed like the times--chasing the latest "hot thing", but because the US military in general and the Marine Corps in particular represent old fashioned values.

But if you've read this far then you understand and no explanation is necessary....

This just ain't right!

Thanks six_ten!

That's just what I needed to start my day.

An insect that look like its a freaking face hugger from the movie Aliens chowing down on a bird.

That's crazy in a handbag.   

Yeah, no doubt about it...Australia is pretty fucked up.

Oh and this was shot in some guys backyard too.  I wonder what you'll see when you get deep off in the back woods down there?  They probably still have dinosaurs roaming that continent.  Read the story here.

Marines are different.

I chose to be a US Marine because I reject the norms of society.  I wanted a different path...and I wanted to be surrounded by people who shared my beliefs.

I found it.

But its in danger.  Read these words from an Army Colonel about the US Marine Corps I want to be associated with....

By Col. Daniel F. Bolger, USA
 (Excerpt from DEATH GROUND: 

TODAY'S AMERICAN INFANTRY IN BATTLE

 "What makes Marine infantry special? Asking the question that way misses the most fundamental point about the United States Marine Corps. In the Marines, everyone--sergeant, mechanic, cannoneer, supply man, clerk, aviator, cook--is a rifleman first. The entire corps, all 170,000 or so on the active rolls, plus the reserves, are all infantry. All speak the language of the rifle and bayonet, of muddy boots and long, hot marches. It's never us and them, only us. That is the secret of the Corps." 

"If Army infantry amounts to a stern monastic order standing apart, on the edge of the wider secular soldier world, Marine infantry more resembles the central totem worshiped by the entire tribe. Marines have specialized, as have all modern military organizations. And despite the all-too-real rigors of boot camp, annual rifle qualification, and high physical standards, a Marine aircraft crew chief or radio repairman wouldn't make a good 0311 on a squad assault. But those Marine technical types know that they serve the humble grunt, the man who will look the enemy in the eye within close to belly-ripping range. Moreover, all Marines think of themselves as grunts at heart, just a bit out of practice at the moment. That connections creates a great strength throughout the Corps."

 "It explains why Marine commanders routinely, even casually, combine widely disparate kinds of capabilities into small units.... Marines send junior officers and NCOs out from their line rifle companies and expect results. They get them, too."

 "Even a single Marine has on call the firepower of the air wing, the Navy, and all of the United States. Or at least he thinks he does. A Marine acts accordingly. He is expected to take charge, to improvise, to adapt, to overcome. A Marine gets by with ancient aircraft (the ratty C-46E Frog, for example), hand-me-down weapons (such as the old M-60 tanks used in the Gulf War), and whatever else he can bum off the Army or cajole out of the Navy. Marines get the job done regardless, because they are Marines. They make a virtue out of necessity. The men, not the gear, make the difference. Now and again, the Marines want to send men, not bullets."

 "This leads to a self-assurance that sometimes comes across as disregard for detailed staff-college quality planning and short shrift for high-level supervision. Senior Army officers in particular sometimes find the Marines amateurish, cavalier, and overly trusting in just wading in and letting the junior leaders sort it out. In the extreme, a few soldiers have looked at the Corps as some weird, inferior, ersatz ground war establishment, a bad knockoff of the real thing. 'A small, bitched-up army talking Navy lingo,' opined Army Brigadier General Frank Armstrong in one of the most brutal interservice assessments. That was going too far. But deep down, many Army professionals tended to wonder about the Marines. Grab a defended beach? Definitely. Seize a hill? Sure, if you don't mind paying a little. But take charge of a really big land operation? Not if we can help it."

 "Anyone who has watched an amphibious landing unfold would be careful with that kind of thinking. The Marines actually have a lot in common with their elite Army infantry brothers, if not with all the various Army headquarters and service echelons. True, Marine orders do tend to be, well...brief. But so do those of the airborne, the air assault, the light-fighters, and the Rangers, for the same good reason: Hard, realistic training teaches soldiers how to fight by doing, over and over, so they need not keep  writing about it, regurgitating basics every time. More enlightened soldiers consider that goodness. A three-inch thick order, a big CP, and lots of meetings do not victory make. The Marines consciously reject all that. And why not? Despite the occasional Tarawa or Beirut, it works."

 "A Corps infused with a rifleman ethos has few barriers to intra-service cooperation. The Army talks a great deal about combined arms and does it down to about battalion level, often with great wailing and gnashing of  teeth. Marines do it all the way down to the individual Marine. Soldiers have defined military occupational specialties and guard their prerogatives like union shop stewards. Finance clerks don't do machine guns. Mechanics skip foot marches to fix trucks. Intell analysts work in air-conditioned trailers; they don't patrol. Marines, though, are just Marines. They all consider themselves trigger pullers. They even like it, as might be expected of an elite body."

Rant on.

I've recieved a number of e-mails telling me that I'm taking it too far when it comes to criticizing the current Commandant.

My response is that I haven't taken it far enough.

Everything that makes the Marine Corps an elite is under assault---from within and without.

Read that passage again and ask yourself one question.  Is our current leadership upholding the values that are cited above?  If you hesitate even one second then the truthful answer is 'no'...no they aren't.

That's what my bitching is about.

Assault Craft Unit 4 in Morocco

120412-N-QM601-065 CAP DRAA, MOROCCO (April 12, 2012) A landing craft air cushion (LCAC) from Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4 lands on the Moroccan beach of Cap Draa after departing the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7). Iwo Jima is the flagship of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group with the embarked elements of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU). Iwo Jima is deployed participating in Exercise African Lion 2012, a bi-lateral exercise between U.S. and Moroccan forces in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Scott Youngblood/Released)

120412-N-QM601-076 CAP DRAA, MOROCCO (April 12, 2012) A Landing craft air cushion (LCAC) from Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4 lands on the Moroccan beach of Cap Draa after departing the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7). Iwo Jima is the flagship of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group with the embarked 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU). Iwo Jima is deployed participating in Exercise African Lion 2012, a bi-lateral exercise between U.S. and Moroccan forces in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Scott Youngblood/Released)

SOCOM vessel collides with fishing boat.

via Navy Times.

Authorities in the southern Philippines are investigating a collision involving a Navy special operations boat that left a local fisherman dead, according to reports.
A Philippine army official told the Mindanao Examiner that a Mark V special operations craft collided with a fisherman’s boat on Wednesday night near a coastal town in Basilan. The Mark V gunboat was operating with the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, based in nearby Zamboanga at the time.
The 82-foot Mark V is operated by Navy special warfare combatant-craft crewmen with naval special warfare units, and often is used in training and operations with Navy SEALs. It can travel more than 55 miles per hour.
Officials at Naval Special Warfare Command headquarters in Coronado had no information on the incident Friday and referred questions to U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. PACOM officials had no immediate comment.
Another Philippine army official told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the fishing boat had no lights on when it was struck by the Mark V. The son of the fisherman was on the boat at the time but wasn’t seriously hurt, the official said.
The joint U.S.-Filipino spec-ops task force, with about 600 U.S. service members, has been operating in the southern Philippines for more than 10 years, providing counterterrorism training.
The incident comes as more than 4,400 U.S. troops are in the Philippines for the Balikatan joint exercise.

I find a couple of things interesting here.

First.   Notice how Naval Special Warfare ducked behind Pacific Command?

Next.  Notice how everyone defaults to it being operated by Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines instead of identifying the unit involved. 

Last.  This has historically been a Special Forces tasking.  SOCOM is becoming as bureaucratic as the other services.  Not a good sign.  I wonder (because I truly don't know) if they gained anything by taking them out of the lead and making this a joint posting.

Lockheed Martin - Small Tactical Craft

Hat Tip to Lee for the info on this boat.  Thanks.

The Commandant stands alone.

I've been thinking about this initiative to put women into Combat Units in the USMC and realized something.

The Commandant stands alone.

Instead of this news being heralded on MSNBC and other left wing news sites there has been nothing but silence.

When stuff like this is announced you usually will see one or two members of the "Generals" club coming out in support of the initiative.

You don't hear a peep from any retired General on this subject.  Its as if this is too radioactive to touch which brings me to my second realization.

Obama was looking for a Commandant that was "flexible" enough to implement his policies.  In doing so he decided to take a massive SHIT on Marine Corps tradition and selected an aviator for this post.

-----------------------------------Looks like Obama chose well.

But not only here but across the defense establishment.  We have a Chief of Naval Operations that is as useless as the Commandant.  A SecNav that is more interested in green energy than in making sure we have enough ships to do the job.

I have never heard of a Commandant of Marines spoken of with anything but reverence...until now.  Amos is not respected, appears to be in way over his head and is disliked by the troops.

Good thing he's following policies that will make him popular on the lecture circuit and at parties in New York and DC.

Which leads me to my last point.  The Marine Corps has always stood apart from the rest of society.  But now we have something thats new and distinct.

Marine Corps leadership stands apart from the Marines that they're suppose to lead....

Or to put it another way...the general public doesn't understand its Marine Corps and neither does Marine Corps leadership.

I was wrong.  That shouldn't worry you.  That should scare the shit out of you.

Sidenote:
I wonder how this and other actions by the feminist will affect certain laws and legislation.  How can you on one hand state emphatically that women are the very equal of men in every respect and then have say the violence against womens act?  How can you say that women belong on the front lines in combat and then have domestic violence laws geared toward protecting women.

Even more telling will be the psychological effect on men.  We're to look at women as pure warriors.  So what does that do to the male warrior.  Women encountered on the battlefield won't be viewed as individuals needing protection but simply another combatant that is just of a different gender.

The Commandant has drunk the kool-aide and is in the process of destroying the Marine Corps while his benefactor seeks to destroy maleness in society.  Carry your ass sir.  Your services are no longer needed.

UFC 145

Can't wait.  

My bet is Jones stops him in the second.

Submarine Parachute Assistance Group

A member of the Submarine Parachute Assistance Group (SPAG) is pictured on a practices jump into the bay of Gibraltar during an annual training exercise.

The Submarine Parachute Assistance Group (SPAG) was formed using members of staff serving at the Submarine Escape Training Tank (SETT). They are tasked to be able to rapidly deploy a team of people with Escape and Rescue knowledge to provide advice and assistance to the crew of a submarine, survivors on the surface and any other rescue forces involved in the rescue effort.
The SPAG are trained in water descent parachuting using both round and square static-line parachutes. They are on 6 hours notice to take-off, 24 hours a day, all year round.Photographer: Cpl Ralph Merry ABIPP RAF

Cowardice across the blogging world.

The new image of the Marine Corps.  Not a hardcore warrior but a care giver in uniform.

Rant time.

I'm extremely disappointed.

I've been waiting anxiously to see which of the "big boy" blogs would come out and comment on the news yesterday that women would be allowed to go to the Infantry Course.

Not one of them has.

CDR Salamander (which I like alot) is silent.  He'll wax on for days at a time about diversity...but its usually about racial diversity.  This subject he won't touch with a ten foot pole.  Selective outrage anyone?  Yeah.  I'm disappointed and won't read his posts the same ever again.

Information Dissemination.  I don't like Galrahn and his crew.  They're arrogant, condescending and I always had a grudging suspicion that they were under cover ass kissers.  Suspicions confirmed.  He isn't touching on this either.

Black Five.  On this one I am extremely surprised.  They haven't touched on it and they're composed of all these warrior, type A personality types.  They also have writers from the only two SOCOM outfits that I like and respect...Rangers and Special Forces...but they're silent too.  Extremely disappointed.

Last but not least is USNI Blog.  I think simply saying that Colonel Ripley would not be happy is enough.

I've always been told and truly believe that physical courage is much easier than moral courage.  Charging through a hail of gunfire is easier than taking politically unpopular positions.

This subject proves that to be true.

(I apologize in advance Army guys) But remember when US Marines used to laugh at pics like the ones below????  Something tells me that all the guys that were heading to the Marines to standout will be heading toward the Army now.  Airborne, Air Assault and Ranger Units will probably start to overflow with new recruits once the Marine Corps puts this female in the Grunts initiative in place. 

Ironic words.  "Lucky for us, we still have the Marines"...not any fucking more.  GOD!  I wish the leadership would just carry their sorry asses out the door!

Endurance Course.

First F-35C formation flight

Massive hat tip to /Bjørnar for the pics!

General Barrow and Col Ripley on women in combat..

Yeah.


Two real Marines that led from the front.  Setting the example not only because of their intense physical endurance/courage but also because of their unrelenting integrity in the face of political correctness.


The above video shows General Barrow.  Click here to read Colonel Ripley's testimony on the subject.

A massive hat tip goes to Modern American Heroes blog. 

Sea Dart's last hurrah.

For probably the last time in its 40-year history the Navy’s principal shield against air attack, Sea Dart missiles, have been fired by a Royal Navy warship.
HMS Edinburgh launched seven of the Mach 2 missiles at target drones off the Outer Hebrides in a last hurrah ahead of a major military exercise off western Scotland.

How are they going to make it work???

How is the Marine Corps going to get women into Combat Arms...by there very essence physical in nature....while keeping Marine Corps Infantry, Tanks, Artillery, AAVs, Engineers etc hardcore?

I have no idea.

Take the Combat Physical Fitness Test.

If they're serious about standards being equal then that is going away.

What about the tried and true PT Test?

No more flex arm hangs for you women.  Now get your ass up their and do pull ups.  Or do we water it down and do push ups?  But wait.  Men have more upper body strength than women so how do you come up with a gender neutral test????


You go Air Force or Navy and have swim tests?

Wow.

No offense to those services but thats just not the Marine way.

This is a bad idea but the powers that be...and that ranges from pussified bloggers that are politically correct all the way up to the SgtMajor of the Marine Corps over to Generals that have been in combat (ground combat) like Mattis.

They all know that this is a feel good initiative that will weaken our combat power but they won't fight it because they've lost their integrity in the effort to get pats on the back at parties in New York or DC.

I don't think many of these future female officers have any idea of the kind of stuff they're going to run into --- both stateside and down range.  God help the females that find themselves assigned to these units.  They better have the strength of Xena, better run like the wind and can hump a base plate.  Of course they'll be coddled which will breed more resentment, but Battalion Commanders will be under the gun to make it work.

I'm sure some lesbian feminist will cheer when the first female is assigned to an infantry unit.  Too bad they won't be the ones going through the hell.  No.  They'll just send someone elses daughter into the meat grinder that is Marine Corps Combat Arms.

PS.

I want video of mixed sex martial arts training.  After all we're about to send women into combat against men so it makes sense that they'll be caught in close combat situations and might have to go hands on.  So show me a fight between a five foot five inch tall female going head to head against a six two two hundred pound rage factory.  If the Commandant and his cronies are right she should be able to hold her own right?  Yeah its bullshit but he's the one feeding it to you not me.

I couldn't find an image for an upside down Marine Corps flag but this one will do.  Both the Country and the Corps is in distress.  A start to fix both organizations will be to replace the current leadership.

Its official. Australia is jacked up.

Ok Devils...those of you that get sent to the paradise down under, now you have another worry.  If Salt Water Crocs were just decorations for your K-Bar....if the 19 different varieties of poisionous snakes were just living belts just waiting for you to skin them...then how about this.


THE SPIDERS IN AUSTRALIA EAT SNAKES!!!!

Yeah.

That's right.

The Spiders in Australia eat snakes.  Oh and no.  It didn't happen in the boonies...or outback as they call it....no.  The guy who photographed this just happened to catch the scene in his fucking back yard!

Go here for the rest of the story.

To: Huron Serenity.

To:  Huron Serenity




PS.

If you don't like my site, then don't come to my site.  You stupid, arrogant ass bitch!