This Double Cheeseburger Bread Bowl Is Intense pic.twitter.com/bI1fhkG2Jo— Recipes GIFs (@Thelnteresting) April 2, 2020
Thursday, April 02, 2020
Double Cheeseburger Bread Bowl Is Intense
MilRem teams to build the Estonian APC...
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Wait what? If the F-35 performs well the USMC will need less, if it doesn't it'll need more? Berger is all over the place!
via Defense News.
“Right now, the program of record plows ahead as it is,” he said. “But I’m signaling to the industry, we have to be prepared to adjust as the operating environment adjusts. Right now, the program of record stays the same, but we will — we must — adapt to the adversary and we must adapt to the operating environment that we’re challenged with being in.”Story here.
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Broadly speaking, Berger said, what will drive how many F-35s are in a squadron going forward, or how many the Corps eventually buys, comes down to maintenance — a longstanding issue for the stealthy jet.
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“If the maintenance readiness of the F-35 proves to be very, very strong, then of course, like any other system you need less of them because more of them are up all the time. On the other hand, if it turns out not to be so, then you’re going to need more of them, to account for the ones that are in repair, that are down right now,” he said.
Complicating that issue is what he called the “unique” supply chain for the jet, which in theory lets parts flow in from all over the world, as opposed to the traditional U.S. based supply.
Geez.
Berger is all over the place.
First he calls the F-35 one of the only systems that performed well in the war games. Then he says it comes down to maintenance and if it does as expected he'll need fewer of them but if it doesn't he'll need more? DID HE JUST INCENTIVIZE LOCKHEED MARTIN TO MAKE THE F-35 EVEN MORE OF A TURD THAN IT ALREADY IS???? Last he talks about the supply chain!
Ladies and Gentlemen you're looking at failure to properly message. This is how concepts die. He isn't getting buy in from Marines or policy makers and unfortunately he's flailing around in his effort to explain it instead of having a coherent, solid rationale for pushing the changes that he seeks.
This is management 101 and our Commandant doesn't seem to have his shit straight.
Let's hope he course corrects with a quickness.
Note. I don't say this with glee. I want him to succeed. Hell the Marine Corps NEEDS HIM TO SUCCEED! But the roll out of this concept is following the path that business schools warn about when talking about change agents and why they fail.
Wednesday, April 01, 2020
75 years ago today, US Marines charged into glory!
75 years ago today, Marines stormed the beaches of Okinawa. The battle that ensued would be the bloodiest battle Marines faced throughout the entire war. pic.twitter.com/9AngAnlFtx— U.S. Marines (@USMC) April 2, 2020
The Chinese Communist Party’s lack of transparency and cooperation in response to the Covid-19 outbreak is nothing less than a fundamental breach of trust between China and the rest of the world.
Con Coughlin in top form in Today’s Telegraph: The Chinese Communist Party’s— Nicholas Drummond (@nicholadrummond) April 1, 2020
lack of transparency and cooperation in response to the Covid-19 outbreak is nothing less than a fundamental breach of trust between China and the rest of the world.https://t.co/cpgcpA3mg4
Yeah...this guy puts it together...the Covid-19 is a bioweapon that got loose...
Thanks to Red Leg for the link!
My hot take (probably not popular)...This carrier commander showed himself to be unfit to lead--the letter he wrote reeks of weakness...
via Military Times.
The commanding officer of an aircraft carrier sidelined in Guam says there are more than 100 positive cases of the illness caused by the coronavirus among its crew and is calling on Navy leadership to do more to protect the lives of his sailors.Here.
Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, wrote a four-page letter to his superiors, pleading with them to take action to help stem the spread of COVID-19 cases on his ship. The San Francisco Chronicle obtained a copy of Crozier's letter and broke the story of his stunningly candid request that Navy leaders fix what he says is an ineffective strategy that will only slow the spread on the carrier -- not stop it.
"We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die," the captain wrote. "If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset -- our Sailors."
How did this bubba rise to command an aircraft carrier? This letter reeks of weakness and fear.
I know its not popular but think about it. No. This isn't wartime but the President of the United States declared a NATIONAL EMERGENCY! It should be obvious to everyone that enemies of our country are watching. Listening. Assessing.
And this cowboy decided to write this? The fact that it leaked to the press is another problem entirely and quite honestly NCIS needs to hunt down the leaker and prosecute him/her/it to the fullest of the law.
That letter endangered our national security and confidence in our military force.
But back to the letter itself.
"We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die"Sad truth? People die everyday. Some fall overboard. Some fall prey to accidents. Others decide to take their own lives.
Death is unfortunately a common occurrence even in the peacetime military. This CO needs some perspective. Hopefully he gets it in a desk job and not as commanding officer of an aircraft carrier.
Projection models predict COVID-19 pandemic will peak in Louisiana on April 8
via CenlaNow.
The peak of the COVID-19 pandemic is about nine days away for Louisiana, according to projections published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
According to those projections, Louisiana will hit peak hospital resource use on April 8.
That’s in line with the timing Gov. John Bel Edwards has referenced in recent briefings.
“We are far from OK,” Edwards said in a briefing Wednesday. “If our growth continues, we could potentially run out of vents the first week in April in the New Orleans area.”
At that time, the number of hospital beds needed for COVID-19 patients will exceed the number available in Louisiana, according to the IHME model. It projects Louisiana will be more than 2,013 beds short of the 9,217 hospital beds it will need for COVID-19 patients when the pandemic peaks.
The outlook for intensive care units is even grimmer, with just one-third of the ICU beds needed for an anticipated 1,426 ICU patients with COVID-19.
The IHME model also projects Louisana will need 775 ventilators, representing just over 4% of the 18,767 the nation needs. President Donald Trump has tapped General Motors and others to start building more ventilators to try to meet that need.
The IHME predicts the number of deaths per day will peak in Louisiana at 97 on April 9-10. The models project 2,081 deaths in the state before the coronavirus stops spreading in mid-May.
Gov. Edwards said Sunday that the Ernest Morial Convention Center in New Orleans is being set up with 1,000 beds to take on patient overflow from local hospitals, which should be ready in one week and have the capacity to expand.
In addition to staging for extra beds at the convention center in New Orleans, Edwards said work was underway to expand ICU beds at hospitals around the state, including at LSU Oschner Health in Shreveport, where he said they will be adding 120 ICU beds over the next month.
“It is my hope and my prayer that we will not need them,” Edwards said.
As of Sunday, Louisiana Department of Health figures counted 3,540 people known to be infected statewide and 151 people have died from the coronavirus. 1,127 are hospitalized, more than a third of them on ventilators.
The nation is on track for a shortage of 49,292 hospital beds at the height of the pandemic, with an ICU bed shortage of 14,601, according to the IHME. That’s if all states institute social distancing and other prevention measures by April 2. If not, IHME warns the numbers will increase.
Nationwide, IHME is predicting 2,341 will die at the height of the pandemic on April 14, with the daily death toll finally dropping below 100 on June 12. By Aug. 4, an estimated 81,114 people in the U.S. will have died from COVID-19, if the IHME’s predictions hold true.
The group says more action will be needed to avoid a second wave of COVID-19 cases.
“By end the of the first wave of the epidemic, an estimated 97% of the population of the United States will still be susceptible to the disease, so avoiding reintroduction of COVID-19 through mass screening, contact tracing, and quarantine will be essential to avoid a second wave,” the organization states on its website.
The IHME says its forecast model is designed to address the planning needs of hospitals and local governments, with data coming from local and national governments, hospital networks and other sources including the World Health Organization and American Hospital Association.
“No state, no metro area will be spared. And the sooner that we react and the sooner the states and the metro areas react and ensure that they put in full mitigation at the same time understanding exactly what their hospitals need, then we’ll be able to move forward together and protect the most Americans,” White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Sunday on NBC’s Meet The Press, referring to IHME’s forecast.
Birx says the coronavirus pandemic will move in waves, peaking in each metro area at different times.
“What we’re trying to say to everyone is when this virus comes to your metro area, please stay in your metro area where your care can be provided because it’s spreading virus more quickly around the United States,” Birx said, referring to the spread of COVID-19 from New York to Long Island and southern Florida as people left the city amid alerts.
Took long enough! News media finally admits China lied about the extent of the outbreak in their country...
BREAKING: China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report https://t.co/5tdbtMT158 pic.twitter.com/vjtNw174SN— Bloomberg (@business) April 1, 2020
This was obvious.
This was obvious.
This was obvious.
So why did it take so long? Because politics is more important than truth to some...to more than some.
China is acting as an international demon. If this incident doesn't change the whole world's stance on them then they deserve the catastrophe that comes with the next pandemic that comes from them (and if history is a guide we'll see it in two to three years).
Indonesia to Order 79 Additional Russian BT-3F Armored Vehicles
*Turn the music off! You were warned but this vid gives some real good views of this vehicle.
via Defense World.
Indonesia is mulling the purchase of 79 additional BT-3F armored personnel carriers (APCs) from Russia for an estimated $289 million.Don't understand the attraction of this vehicle. It is substandard for the intended role. In my estimation they'd do better to buy AAVs from USMC stocks.
In April 2019, Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport reported signing of contract to supply an unspecified number of BMP-3F infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) and BT-3F APCs.
“The contract on the supplies of BT-3Fs to Indonesia has become the first Russia’s export deal for these new vehicles. The design reflected the requests of the partners as well as their experience of using BMP-3Fs, which were delivered to them earlier. Indonesia is very scrupulous about the selection of material for its armed forces, and this contract is a serious marker of the highest quality of the Russian weapons and their superiority over competitors,” said Rosoboronexport’s Director General Alexander Mikheev, soon after the deal was inked a year ago.
Sources had told Defenseworld.net that the contract could run into tens of million dollars and includes counter-trade.
In addition, Indonesia may acquire Su-35 jets from Russia if it wins the contest against US F-35 stealth fighter.
The BT-3F was developed on the basis of BMP-3F and designed for the transportation of units of the marines, coastal guard and land forces, as well as for the fire support of landed parties in all types of combat operations.
The APC is capable of transporting 17 people, including crew members. The control compartment hosts the driver, a member of the landing party and commander’s assistant – at the left and right sides accordingly, both being capable of firing machine guns.
The APC is equipped with energy-absorbing folding chairs, providing a significant reduction in shock loads on the spine when exploded on a mine and when driving on rough terrain. In addition, the vehicles are equipped with an aggregate compressor air conditioning, which is vital for the conditions of a hot tropical climate.
The roof of the BT-3F accommodates a two-plane stabilized remote-controlled combat module with a 12.7 mm machine gun. For the purposes of monitoring the terrain and aiming, the combat module is equipped with a tele-thermal imaging sight with a laser rangefinder. The module is equipped with a built-in diagnostic system and ammunition counter with an indication of the “ran out of ammunition.”
US Navy Expeditionary Landing Base ship USS Lewis B. Puller conducted joint naval and air integration operations with US Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in Arabian Gulf
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It has begun. Voids will be filled and the US Army is filling the void that the USMC gave them...
What? You say I'm overreacting? How! There shouldn't be a deck space available for Army aircraft to operate from! The USMC or Navy should be occupying each and every one of them. As things stand now how are we even following our own concepts if we don't have a Marine detachment on this ship operating?
Our house is off kilter and its time for a Commandant that puts our house in order instead of trying to add more mind numbing course changes (read that as new concepts) to the mix.
New Marine Corps A High-Tech Forlorn Hope? .
via Real Clear Defense.
Goure is really defending the F-35 and CH-53K but his points are solid and in my opinion spot on.
This is a must read and I hope that either this concept is defended in depth to allay our fears or he reverses himself.
Either way this rollout is bumpy as hell and luckily for Berger the coronavirus crisis is focusing attention...otherwise he'd be crucified for this monstrosity of a concept that seems to do nothing but yank the Marine Corps in yet ANOTHER fucked up direction.
Note. If I was a Chinese Marine Corps general I'd be licking my lips in anticipation for war with the USMC. A difficult task becomes simple with this concept. It will only require patience and the willingness to conduct widespread ISR missions with thousands of expendable UAVs along with deliberate attacks of piecemeal units scattered throughout the theater of operations. Find a unit, then bombard it into oblivion. Search for the next. Rinse and repeat. Dispersed fleet? Do the same with individual ships. Rinse and repeat. My biggest fear is realized. Scattered units are vulnerable units. Below is the part of the article that should make every proponent of this concept blink...
Instead of a viable Marine Corps for a future great power conflict, Force Design 2030 may be a recipe for the creation of a forlorn hope. For the non-military historian, these were small formations of select troops or volunteers assigned particularly hazardous missions. Because their chance of survival was so slim, they were called a forlorn hope or, in the earliest Dutch version of the term, “lost troops.” Operating in China’s backyard, the new Marine Corps could be facing a bleak future.This must read is here.
Goure is really defending the F-35 and CH-53K but his points are solid and in my opinion spot on.
This is a must read and I hope that either this concept is defended in depth to allay our fears or he reverses himself.
Either way this rollout is bumpy as hell and luckily for Berger the coronavirus crisis is focusing attention...otherwise he'd be crucified for this monstrosity of a concept that seems to do nothing but yank the Marine Corps in yet ANOTHER fucked up direction.
Note. If I was a Chinese Marine Corps general I'd be licking my lips in anticipation for war with the USMC. A difficult task becomes simple with this concept. It will only require patience and the willingness to conduct widespread ISR missions with thousands of expendable UAVs along with deliberate attacks of piecemeal units scattered throughout the theater of operations. Find a unit, then bombard it into oblivion. Search for the next. Rinse and repeat. Dispersed fleet? Do the same with individual ships. Rinse and repeat. My biggest fear is realized. Scattered units are vulnerable units. Below is the part of the article that should make every proponent of this concept blink...
How realistic is the vision of the future Marine Corps suggested by Force Design 2030, and how effective would it be? There are numerous obstacles to deploying and operating a stand-in force that can survive in a future high-intensity conflict. Today there are few places in the Western Pacific that such a force can be deployed in peacetime. Even if it were possible to get our Asian allies to allow the Marine Corps to sprinkle units armed with long-range weapons across the Western Pacific, those units would be early targets of China’s first wave of precision weapons during a crisis. Also, there would be the problem of resupplying those units, which are likely to run out of munitions, fuel and supplies quickly once a conflict starts.HQMC labored long and hard and in my view produced NOTHING!
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
A Chinese national just made a terrible/unexplainable move in Australia..
A billionaire Chinese national, Liu Dian Bo, bought 34 Australian hospitals in 2015 for $900 million. They have 8000 beds. Now that the country needs them most, the billionaire is shutting them down. His company wants more money from the government. https://t.co/q9yJS0vSwl— Anders Corr, Ph.D. (@anderscorr) March 30, 2020
I'd bet by the end of this week this dude gets a call from Xi telling him to open the hospitals...no, scratch that...I bet the Chinese govt pays for the hospitals as a gesture toward Australia.
Of course they'll (the Chinese govt) extract the money from the billionaire but it'll happen behind closed doors.
Wow. This sucks...
Wow. This sucks. May they rest in peace and their memory be a blessing. Would we ever know what really happened if the Brits didn't do an investigation into every death of their personnel...even combat related accidents?
I don't know but I'm beginning to think its an important part of the war effort. The citizens of a nation should know the truth (of course the families too).
Sunshine is a disinfectant and bringing even bad luck to light helps clean the air...and provides the ability to remove a training scar or possible planning mistake.
Oh and be advised. This doesn't change a thing. Bad shit happens. Despite that these guys are still heroes.
Boeing Model 818 for the USAF/NAVY FTX fighter program in the 1960s
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