Concept ship models by CUTANGUS

One Marine Captain (who happens to be female) with more moral courage than exists in the Commandant's Office.

Interesting.


This Marine Captain...who happens to be female...has more moral courage than exists within the Marine General's club...than exists at the pages of USNI Blog (with the exception of URR and CDR Salamander) and probably exists within Marine leadership in general.


Have you noticed how this debate is playing out?  A few brave souls have waded into it and are shot down by the feminist horde but the rest are hugging the ground like they're being barraged by 1 million Chinese MLRS rocket systems.


Its amazing.  Some of these same men would have no problem leading an assault against fortified enemy positions yet on this subject they cower in fear.


The Marine Corps needs an enema.  Starting with the man at the top.  Once that's done then we can make a move towards getting the basics right.  PFC's out of boot camp now are closer to what being a Marine is all about than those that are driving the ship!

Farnborough 2012. V-22 display.

Marine Medal of Honor infographic.

I don't know why these are suddenly so popular but Marine Blog put this out.  Amos still should quit but back on subject.  You can see the original here.

Pilots talk about the F-35

The CNO. Stuck on Rosie.

Check this out....

LOCKHEED MARTIN F-35 FLIGHT TEST PROGRESS REPORT

 

FORT WORTH, Texas, July 10, 2012 -- Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] F-35 program accrued the highest number of test points in a single month during June, an accomplishment indicative of the program’s ongoing maturation.  Additionally, for the 18^th consecutive month the F-35 test program remained ahead of plan.

 

As of June 30, the F-35 Lightning II 5^th Generation multirole fighter had conducted 595 test flights in 2012 versus a plan of 445 and accrued 4,830 test points against a plan of 3,901.

 

In June, the F-35 program accomplished several flight test and production milestones:

 

• During June, the F-35 test program accrued the most test points in a single month, 1,118, in program history.

 

• On June 5, BF-5 became the first F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) jet to fly with Block 2A software.

 

• On June 13, the first F-35C carrier variant (CV) night flight was completed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. 

 

• On June 13, F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) weapons pit drop testing was conducted for the first time at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

 

• On June 14 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., BF-2 completed the first test flight for the F-35B STOVL variant with an asymmetric weapons load.

 

• On June 25, AF-1, an F-35A CTOL test jet, accomplished the first F-35 weapon pit drop from an external station, a GBU-12 from station 2.  

 

• On June 27, the program achieved the highest number of F-35 flights in a single day, 12.

 

Cumulative flight test activity totals for 2012 through June 30 are provided below:

 

• F-35A CTOL jets have flown 260 times.
• F-35B STOVL jets have completed 202 flights, 134 of which began with a short takeoff. Additionally, F-35B STOVL aircraft have conducted 55 vertical landings.
• F-35C CV jets have flown 133 times.

 

Cumulative flight test activity totals for the duration of the program through May 31 are provided below:

 

• F-35A CTOL jets have flown 907 times.
• F-35B STOVL jets have completed 791 flights, 553 of which began with a short takeoff. Additionally, F-35B STOVL aircraft have conducted 334 vertical landings.
• F-35C CV jets have flown 325 times.

 

Since December 2006, F-35s have flown 2,355 times and accrued more than 3,700 cumulative flight hours. This total includes 91 flights from the original test aircraft, AA-1; 2,023 SDD test flights; and 241 production-model flights. For video highlights of the F-35 program, click here.

 

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th Generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.

 

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 123,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's net sales for 2011 were $46.5 billion.

 

But instead of seeing the F-35 for what it is, we have the CNO still heartsick over the failure that was the A-12 program.  When programs fail and it alters plans for decades its got to hurt but its sorta like being upset because...

 Rosie ODonnell dumps you, yet you keep getting phone calls and perfumed letters from...

Lori Harder but instead of being over joyed you're stuck on Rosie.  The CNO shouldn't be stuck on Rosie the A-12 ODonnell...he should step up to that beauty Lori the F-35 Harder.  He'll be much happier if he did.  That is unless he has an inferiority complex!

Mark Holt Photography..

Farnborough 2012. Great alternate pic site.

Dwi!  Thanks for the alternate pic sites of this show! 

If you're like me and you've been a bit disappointed by the coverage of the Air Show by some of the 'established' defense media then have no fear.  Dwi hit me up with a couple of sites that you should check out.  Thankfully one of the things that's big in Europe (even bigger than here in the US) is photography...in particular military photography so even if you don't hang a shingle outside your door with Aviation Week or Combat Aircraft you can still get great photos.  Check these out.

Check out the sites here and here.

Farnborough 2012. F-18 Display.

Farnborough 2012. 787 Display.

Republic of Korea "Black Eagles" display team

Gymkhana 5

A 500 horsepower Ford Focus....shredded tires that I'm surprised lasted through the run and every ounce of extra weight removed from the interior.

I want to see a 1/4 mile time.

What kind of holster was this guy wearing?

via My Way.

DETROIT (AP) - A woman celebrating the weekend before her 25th birthday was fatally shot Sunday when she hugged an off-duty police officer while dancing at a party, causing the officer's service weapon to fire, according to police and her mother.
Adaisha Miller would have turned 25 on Monday, according to her mother, Yolanda McNair.
The shooting happened at an outdoor social gathering about 12:30 a.m., said police Sgt. Eren Stephens. It happened on the city's west side.
According to Stephens, the woman "embraced the officer from behind, causing the holstered weapon to accidently discharge." The bullet punctured Miller's lung and hit her heart, and she died at a hospital.
Stephens said the Detroit officer will remain on administrative duties while authorities investigate the shooting and report their findings to the Wayne County prosecutor. The officer's name was not released.
"For this to happen to her, whether they want to call it freak accident or mistake in judgment, it should have never happened to my child, and there's nothing I can do to get her back," McNair told WDIV-TV.
McNair said her daughter was out to mark her upcoming birthday.
"All she wanted to do was enjoy the weekend for her birthday," the mother said. "She had every right to enjoy turning 25 and look beyond that."

Hmm.

Tragic but not surprising.  I'm returning to my jaded old ways.  Piss poor gear leads to fucked up incidents.  Trendy gear instead of good gear is usually the cause of this type of stuff.

Armed organizations should put out an approved gear list.  At least the US Army has this right.  Marine Corps?  Not so fucking much.

Flying Display Highlights

Navy Pics. July 09, 2012.

MINA SALMAN PORT, Bahrain (July 6, 2012) Tugboats assist the Afloat Forward Staging Base (Interim) USS Ponce (AFSB-I) as the ship pulls into the Kingdom of Bahrain. Ponce is deployed to support maritime security operations and mine countermeasure efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ashante Hammons/Released)

FORWARD TRAINING AREA (July 5, 2012) U.S. Navy SEALs conduct mobility and weapons training in an open desert gun range. The training familiarizes SEALs in handling both the weapon and terrain at the same time making the transition a common procedure. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Meranda Keller/Released)
120705-N-PA426-103

FORWARD TRAINING AREA (July 5, 2012) U.S. Navy SEALs conduct mobility and weapons training in an open desert gun range. The training familiarizes SEALs in handling both the weapon and terrain at the same time making the transition a common procedure. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Meranda Keller/Released)
120705-N-PA426-008

General Dynamics Piranha III

This has to be it.

General Dynamics has to be offering a slightly modified version of the Piranha III as their entry into the Marine Personnel Carrier contest.

Pussification of the Marine Corps. Infantry Officers Course open to women.

Thanks for the article Sferrin.  I think.  

Hey AMOS.  Just turn in your stars now.  You're fucking up the Marine Corps and we don't need you anymore.  Just carry your sorry ass out the door.

via the New York Times.

Col. Todd S. Desgrosseilliers, the commander of the Basic School, which oversees the course, said he had no special concerns as the course prepares to accept women. “Nothing more so with women than with men,” he said.

“We expect them to be fit enough to go through the course when they get here, just like the men are.”

The 86-day course, which meets four times a year, is called the corps’ most grueling school by its instructors and is intended to screen and train potential infantry officers. Its students are volunteers selected from lieutenants who have completed Officer Candidates School and the six-month Basic Officer Course, which trains all Marine lieutenants to lead provisional infantry platoons and in leadership, tactics, fitness and weapons. That school has been coed for decades.

That's a fucking lie and the Colonel knows it.

I would pay good money for just one person near Washington D.C. that's associated with the Marine Corps to tell the truth.  They won't because they have no moral courage at all.

The Pussification of the Marine Corps is damn near complete.  I'm proud to say I'm old Corps cause this new Marine Corps is going to get slaughtered on a battlefield one day.  You think a terrorist is going to care if a Marine Infantry Person is crying like a baby before he slams a knife between that persons ribs? 

Fuck the leadership for not having the balls to call a spade a spade.  Fuck Congress for not realizing that equality means little on the battlefield.  And fuck the mothers of America that are lining up their daughters to be killed, raped and dismembered on future battlefields.

Lockheed Martin at the 2012 Farnborough International Airshow

US Army Ranger School. SOFREP says standards are falling.

Shocking.


Alarming.


Heartbreaking news.


But to bring this home to my fellow Devil Dogs.  If they're doing this to the Army's Premier Raid Force then what will they do to the Marine Corps? 

Read about it here.

24th MEU at Kuwait Naval Base.

Photos by Sgt. Richard Blumenstein

Army Staff Sgt. Duane Gendreau, a UH-60 Blackhawk crew chief, teaches the fundamentals of boarding and exiting a Blackhawk helicopter to Marines with 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, July 7, 2012. The instruction is in preparation for upcoming joint training between 24th MEU Marines and Soldiers currently deployed to Camp Buehring. The 24th MEU is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, a U.S. Central Command theater reserve force providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.  NOTE:  I've never understood Army procedure when it comes to offloading from a UH-60.  The thought that as soon as you get off you take a few steps and get prone?  Seems as if the Helicopter is taking fire you and it are toast and you can get not only a kill on the airplane but also the troops.  But it must work cause they're still doing it, still I'd love to hear the rationale behind it all.

Lance Cpl. Daniel Huynh, a Baton Rouge, La., native and team leader with 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, posts security during dismount drills on an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter aboard Camp Buehring, Kuwait, July 7, 2012. The instruction is in preparation for upcoming joint training between 24th MEU Marines and Soldiers currently deployed to Camp Buehring. The 24th MEU is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, a U.S. Central Command theater reserve force providing support for maritime security operations and theater security

Marines with 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fasten their seat belts while conducting stationary mounting procedures in an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter aboard Camp Buehring, Kuwait, July 7, 2012. The instruction is in preparation for upcoming joint training between 24th MEU Marines and Soldiers currently deployed to Camp Buehring. The 24th MEU is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, a U.S. Central Command theater reserve force providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

Marines with Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, clear rooms in a building during close-quarters combat training at Udairi Range in Kuwait, July 3, 2012. A contingent of Marines from the 24th MEU is ashore in Kuwait conducting sustainment training during their regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a theater reserve for U.S. Central Command and is providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

Marines with Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, run across an open area during close-quarters combat training at Udairi Range in Kuwait, July 3, 2012. A contingent of Marines from the 24th MEU is ashore in Kuwait conducting sustainment training during their regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a theater reserve for U.S. Central Command and is providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

Marines with Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, take cover while providing suppressing fire on a building during close-quarters combat training at Udairi Range in Kuwait, July 3, 2012. A contingent of Marines from the 24th MEU is ashore in Kuwait conducting sustainment training during their regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a theater reserve for U.S. Central Command and is providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

Lance Cpl. Trevor Wedesky, a Milford, Mich., native and automatic rifleman with Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, provides simulated suppressing fire for his fellow Marines during close-quarters combat training at Udairi Range in Kuwait, July 3, 2012. A contingent of Marines from the 24th MEU is ashore in Kuwait conducting sustainment training during their regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. Central Command area of operations. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a theater reserve for U.S. Central Command and is providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.