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| OSV 401 for Iraqi Navy. |
“How could we think to invite the DOD IG [the Pentagon inspector general] in during an election cycle?” Caldwell allegedly upbraided subordinate officers who favored an outside inquiry in fall 2010. Caldwell, supposedly in an “emotional” state, yelled, “You should know better!”If this is true then we are witnessing the worst generation of Generals in our nations history.
The accusations are laid out in a letter sent to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (.pdf), who calls the incident an apparent “cover up.” The Wall Street Journal first reported the letter’s contents.
President Obama “calls me Bill,” Caldwell allegedly bragged, according to the letter. The general supposedly didn’t want to spoil that first-name relationship with a messy inquiry into corruption and wrongdoing at Afghan hospitals.Since then, Caldwell has assumed command of US Army North in Texas, one of the Army’s most prestigious posts and the latest in a series of plum assignments
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| Norinco 8M |
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| Upgraded/revamped Cheetah |
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| Upgraded/revamped Cheetah |
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| Early production Cheetah |
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| Early production Cheetah |
Camp Pendleton, CA – Officials from 1st Marine Division announced on Tuesday that they would be making alterations to the unit’s famous blue diamond emblem. The surprising move comes after a string of recent national controversies involving Marine personnel and their misconduct in Afghanistan. Division leadership decided it was best to combat the increasing negative press with a symbol of change.Read the rest at the site.
“As we all know, First Marine Division’s official motto is ‘No better friend, no worse enemy,’” said spokesman 1st Lt. Alex Lim during a news conference. “But we want to put more emphasis on the ‘better friend’ part.”
The division’s logo—famous for its blue diamond, red number one, and branded Guadalcanal—will be replacing the name of one of America’s most famous battles with a less threatening noun: Utopia. It will also have a more pleasant background instead of the dark and intimidating blue color of years past.
“We just wanted to let the world know that while our organization may primarily deal in warfare, that egalitarian society we all dream of is still within our grasp and can be won by the gentle and loving hearts of the Marines in this division,” added Lim. “By replacing the name of a bygone battle with our hope for the future, we can show the world that we truly are your best friends forever.”
The announcement has been well received by many of the division’s Marines.
PFC Andrew Seibert, who checked in two days ago, said, “I’m very pleased with this decision. The days of puppy throwing, Nazi flagging, and peeing on other human beings are over. Those weren’t the values I was taught in my Marine Corps upbringing at boot camp and SOI. That was the old Corps. We’re here to be citizens of the new Corps, and I for one am proud to be new Corps.”
But not all Marines were happy with this change.
General James Mattis, the former 1st MarDiv leader and outgoing CENTCOM Commander, said: “This is absolute bullshit. I think I’ll call up Al Gray so we can drink like a couple of Lance Corporals and bitch about it for a couple of hours.”
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ORSIS SE T-5000 |
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| T-90 |
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BMPT |
THANK GOD the child is ok. And kudos to the grand jury for recognizing the right to use deadly force to protect your loved ones.
(SHINER, Texas) — Hearing his 5-year-old daughter crying from behind a barn, a father ran and discovered the unthinkable: A man molesting her. The father pulled the man off his daughter, authorities say, and started pummeling him to death with his fists.
With his daughter finally safe, the father frantically called 911, begging a dispatcher to find his rural ranch and send an ambulance.
"Come on! This guy is going to die on me!" the man is heard screaming on the 911 call. "I don't know what to do!"
A recording of the tape was played during a news conference Tuesday where the Lavaca County district attorney and sheriff announced that the father will not face charges.
In declining to indict the 23-year-old father in the June 9 killing of Jesus Mora Flores, a Lavaca County grand jury reached the same conclusion as investigators and many of the father's neighbors: He was authorized to use deadly force to protect his daughter.
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| Two unmanned K-MAX helicopters have delivered more than one million pounds of cargo in less than four months of service in Afghanistan, the US Marine Corps announced on 9 May 2012. The helicopters will now remain in theater until September on a deployment extension. The aircraft, a joint effort by Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace, is the first unmanned helicopter to deliver cargo and resupply troops in a combat zone. The two helos have been averaging six missions per day, with record load deliveries ranging from a single 4,200-pound sling load to 28,800 pounds lifted in a single day. The two K—MAX helicopters are averaging less than one maintenance man-hour per flight hour during the deployment. |
The BGOV Barometer shows Northrop’s Global Hawk and General Atomics’s Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles have had a combined 9.31 accidents for every 100,000 hours of flying. That’s the highest rate of any category of aircraft and more than triple the fleet-wide average of 3.03, according to military data compiled by Bloomberg.Read the whole thing but it points to a larger issue with the DoD.
The June 11 crash of a drone near Bloodsworth Island on Maryland’s Eastern Shore illustrated the vehicles’ propensity for accidents, known as “mishaps” in military parlance. The concern is that drones’ safety record won’t improve as they’re increasingly deployed for testing, border surveillance and other missions in U.S. airspace, said Jay Stanley, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington.
“If we have 30,000 flying pieces of robotic hardware buzzing above our heads, Americans are going to want to be very certain that it’s safe, in addition to putting in place good rules to protect our privacy,” Stanley said in a telephone interview.
This week armoured vehicle manufacturer Streit Group unveiled its latest offering: a "semi-military" armoured personnel carrier called the Jaguar.A couple of manufacturers stated that they were looking to the Middle East and Africa for new business. This offering from the Streit Group shows even that game plan is dicey at best.
The name is of course synonymous with automotive excellence and has an engineering pedigree second to none. I anticipate the name is not just the result of a happy coincidence: Streit is attempting to emulate the same mark of quality in the armoured sector of the industry.
Guerman Goutorov, the Chairman of Streit Group, explained to Defence IQ that the Jaguar was the vehicle that completed the company’s collection. At 7 tonnes the Jaguar sits in the middle of Streit’s other armoured vehicle offerings and is aimed at being a diverse, modular all-rounder.
It’s a semi-military vehicle Goutorov said and can be adapted for a number of threat landscapes. As the future for militaries around the globe becomes less certain, particularly as the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and begins to look towards Asia, the requirement for multi-role vehicles such as the Jaguar is on the up.
The V-shaped monocoque composite-steel hull is designed to withstand a 10kg blast although official testing under STANAG 4569 conditions will be undertaken later this year. The company is also specifying ballistic protection from a heavy machine gun (HMG), which is a protection level up to and including the Russian 14.5mm B32 anti-tank round.Ask any vehicle manufacturer what’s more important to concentrate on with a new machine and they’ll stumble. Is it cost, weight or performance? Streit is no different – it’s clear that only a balance of all three is acceptable. Goutorov knows this and couldn’t pin down one capability over another. He did, however, say that the Jaguar is the most affordable vehicle in its class.
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| Cpl. Adeoluwa Sopade, a meteorology and oceanography analyst with
Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force 12.2, and native of East
Windsor, N.J., fires non-lethal rounds from a Mossberg 590 shotgun
with other Marines during an exercise designed to familiarize them
with the weapon system. The service members participated in non-lethal
weapons and familiarization exercises June 8 and 9, 2012. The
training, which included firing multiple weapon systems and different
fire maneuvers, is to prepare the Marines to provide limited support
in the event of a crisis in the U.S. Africom area of responsibility. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Adwin Esters) |
