Azov Regiment is trying to put a good face on it...

Steel people.
Azovstal. pic.twitter.com/EVyMIK6oi0

— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝔇𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱 (@TheDeadDistrict) May 10, 2022

Something is off here.

The Azov Regiment is trying to put a good face on a terrible situation (or so we're told) with vids like these.

BUT!

It's off.  They've been cut off.  Facing bombardments.  How are they as clean as they are?  How are those uniforms not being ripped up with all the wear and tear a unit facing those odds and mounting a defense should be showing?

Plus they don't "look" hungry.  I can't explain that look but when someone is stressed to hell (as you should if you're being subjected to constant bombardment), hungry as hell cause you're cut off, and engaged in firefights because the enemy is probing your lines then I would imagine that your face would show the effects.

I'm not seeing that here.  I'm just saying.  Don't shoot the messenger just making the observation.  If you have an explanation then hit me with it.  

The Ukraine/Russia war is alive and well on Twitter...

Wow. 

One guy is calling the Ukrainian Army cowardly for hiding in schools and sewers so they don't have to surrender and the other is saying that after we free Ukraine, Belarus is next. 

If the Western leadership (along with Russia) don't/feel they can't turn off the war then at least back off the propaganda. 

The last thing we need is for the mob to become even more impassioned than they already are. 

As things stand now, no one even is making an attempt at a ceasefire because emotions have become hyped up.

https://t.co/SMLbuyK2zp pic.twitter.com/NRbfnM0cJa

— Frog Banderite 🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@FrogBandera) May 10, 2022

Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Daily Good News! (@delightfulnews)

These are your Marines (propaganda)

Note. They keep reaching back to the old Marine Corps for their messaging while they drive full speed toward a radically different NEW Marine Corps. It might work. I do know they're redoing their messaging on Force Design 2030. But more changes are coming and they won't be able to dodge how radical this transformation is for long.

 

Mojave - The Armed Overwatch UAS Solution

 

Here

I don't know how survivalable these will be in a peer conflict. Quite honestly I have my doubts.

BUT!

If the Littoral Regiment is gonna be a thing (which I currently believe is a massive mistake) then they're gonna need something overhead to protect and provide surveillance.

This might be the ticket.

If they're able to team them with the few remaining AH-1Zs we have then maybe it could work.  It would definitely be better than what they're planning to send out now.

The problem.  How do you work out the teaming?  The GCE commander is gonna need these in his back pocket (especially since they've lost so much organic firepower), but at the same time to be most effective they need to roam around with those attack helicopters.

Regardless it should be doable.  We're looking at a much smaller Marine Corps with much enhanced headquarters elements.  

This is ominous. Singapore is the center of China's attention due to their balancing relations between the US/China

 

While the Chinese public shares high interests in #ASEAN members, #Singapore has become the country that attracted most of their interest:GT survey. Experts said this reflects Singapore's changing position in balancing between #China and US. https://t.co/tht657Zovu

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 10, 2022

MQ-9B’s new short takeoff and landing capability: MQ-9B STOL

 

Presenting MQ-9B’s new short takeoff and landing capability: MQ-9B STOL

With this developing capability, MQ-9B will be the first #UAS in its class to enable big-deck amphib takeoff and landing, unlocking unlimited potential at sea. #MDM2022

Learn more: https://t.co/uJDDaWgOZJ pic.twitter.com/tLV7TGtXWo

— GA-ASI (@GenAtomics_ASI) May 10, 2022

So if Berger is serious, then I guess we dump the AH-1Z, a few squadrons of F-35s and roll with this on the LHD/LHA? Lightning carriers without F-35s but instead MQ-9Bs instead? Sounds like it fits his concept better. He's fucked with the groundside enough. Time to do the same to the wing right?

NOTE!  It's carrying air to air missiles in addition to sensors.  Put the pods from the EF-18G on it and you have the jammer the joint force needs in the "contested" space without risking a pilot.

Close combat is a thing in Ukraine and this is the closest I've seen...

 

They react pretty quickly, given they take a casualty from the off. But jeez this moment made me tense up. https://t.co/P2nGYWZI2z pic.twitter.com/i1F7buK4SW

— Amaël Kotlarski (@JakOSpades) May 9, 2022

Dutch volunteer killed in Ukraine

 

A Dutch volunteer fighter has been killed in Ukraine. It marks the 1st time a Dutch fighter was killed in this war. The man, 55-year-old Ron Vogelaar, was fighting with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion when he was hit by artillery fire near Kharkov last Wednesday.
RIP hero pic.twitter.com/6aAuZElD3l

— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝔇𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱 (@TheDeadDistrict) May 9, 2022

The operating concepts which Force Design intends to employ contain some sound ideas, some dubious assumptions, and some optimistic projections

via SmallWarsJournal

  Stand In Forces is the concept intended to work in tandem with Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and describes the forces that operate from these expeditionary advanced bases.  To deal with the problem of an adversary with a long-range precision-strike regime, Stand In Forces divides the battlespace into three zones of conflict. 

The first zone, closest to the adversary, will be operated in primarily by autonomous vehicles.  The second, further from the adversary but within the range of its weapons, will be operated in by teamed manned and unmanned systems.  The final zone is outside the range of the adversary’s weapons.  This zone houses equipment systems and personnel requiring logistical and maintenance support.  These will reside either on temporary facilities ashore or at sea, with the systems they support traveling forward into the contested zones.

The idea is that forces in the forward zones of conflict are responsible for identifying and tracking adversary assets. At the same time, those in the rear are responsible for servicing the assets forward.  The separation of zones is conceptually nothing new—merely a defense in depth as has been Marine Corps doctrine for generations. 

Here 

Wow.

It's worse than I thought.  There are more holes in this concept than even I feared.

This isn't a concept.  It's a dream.

Open Comment Post. 10 May 22

The US Military's Slow Slide Toward Confrontation with Russia over Ukraine

 via Military.com

But over the last two months, as Ukraine has made a stand and fought back against the invasion, the aid has ballooned to billions of dollars' worth of helicopters, armored vehicles, newly developed drones and artillery.

Reports this week that U.S. intelligence had helped Ukraine sink a Russian warship and kill Russian generals on the battlefield were the latest signs of what appears to be the Pentagon's slow, steady march to deeper involvement in the European war.

----------

I see two things going on. One of them is an increased willingness to talk about what we're doing," Cancian said. "If you're an administration being criticized for not doing enough, the inclination is to say more about what you are doing.

"But there's no question we're doing more over time," he said.

----------

"All the equipment that we're giving to the Ukrainians is just too extensive to be absorbed in the short amount of time that we're giving them," Cancian said. "I think we're just asking too much, frankly, and I think what's going to happen is that, when that becomes apparent, we'll start using contractors in some way."

Here 

Ya know it isn't quite the same but its very similar.  Steps just like these are how we ended up tip-toeing into Vietnam.

Don't believe me?  Read the history.  I've read both the Official Army & Marine Corps history of the war and you'll see striking similarities.

Am I saying that's where this is going?

No.

I am saying that the trajectory is VERY VERY similar. The longer this goes on the more likely it becomes.  

Someone needs to turn this off or it will spiral. It's already bigger than anyone in the West or Russia thought it would be.

New USMC sniper rifle?

 

In support of Force Design 2030, @USMC snipers will soon be equipped with a longer-range, more versatile rifle designed to increase lethality and establish threat overmatch on the battlefield.

Tap the 🔗 in our bio to learn more#Marines #EquippingOurMarines pic.twitter.com/vkhSwHEDQi

— Marine Corps Systems Command (@USMC_Gear) May 5, 2022

Force Design 2030 advocates are finding comfort in this quote. They're wrong.

Force Design advocates are finding comfort in the above quote.

They're wrong.  

Terribly wrong.

It all goes back to the role of a change agent.  We all know that a change agent must have a vision, must be able to see the end result...but most importantly he must get buy in from those he leads.

That's the problem with the approach taken.

They didn't get buy in.  They started the activity before they had a clear understanding of the change that they were instigating and they did NOT accept critiques of their plan.

No open discussion.  When it was attempted they ran to the comfort of secret information that couldn't be shared.

They even went so far as to state that they were acting in accordance with the national policy directive while IGNORING the fact that the SecDef that supposedly put this whole thing in motion is one of the generals (Mattis) that came out AGAINST Force Design 2030.

Sadly, FD2030 will go down in history as the way NOT to modernize a force.  It MIGHT be the right way.  We just don't know.  We do know that it is optimized to one theater against one foe.  We do know that it has abandoned combined arms in favor of light infantry (very light...lighter than the 82nd airborne) and missiles, with missiles being the supported force.

But most importantly for the Marine Corps, FD2030 will alter the very character of the Marines.  To this day Marine Corps recruiting is making a push from the past to entice recruits, not a pull to what Berger wants the Marine Corps to become.

Another point of concern is the further weakening of the Commandant.

We have had a series of leaders that have diminished the stature of the Commandant.  This Commandant because of the way that he's gone about implementing FD2030 has created a lack of trust and confidence in the big chair.

In an organization as small as the Marine Corps that's a dangerous thing.

Open Comment Post. 8 May 22

 

Things are looking ragged in Mariupol. Read the entire Twitter Thread

 

Commanders of #Azov regiment who resists #Russia in Azovstal plant in #Mariupol tell during the press-conference via Zoom, that about 25,000 civilians have been killed in the city by Russia.
In this thread you can read the most important things they tell. pic.twitter.com/Hy25FDkTQ5

— katerina sergatskova (@KSergatskova) May 8, 2022

No one is talking about it, no denials..NOTHING. So I'll ask the question. What ever happened with the captured Canadian General?

 

🇷🇺 media claiming to have captured Canadian 🇨🇦 Lt. Gen Trevor Cadieu from #azovstal steel plant in #Mariupol

A picture is also circulating ostensibly of his detention

Real or not, time will tell#Ukraine #Russia #rumint pic.twitter.com/cyUctxGEyj

— Viper (@viper202020) May 5, 2022

Anyone remember this?

It hit hard and then disappeared from the news.

No denials, no confirmations (not even the Russians talked about it after the disclosure), absolutely NOTHING on this thing.

We saw an earlier report about a US general and it was quickly debunked.

Again, WE GOT NOTHING on this one.

Anyone have any ideas?  A bro on Twitter that I communicate with indicated that there was news circulating "in the background" but again nothing more.

If you got good scoop on this then let me know.  I will have ABSOLUTELY no problem in posting that its false (assuming that it is).

Russia has “more than 80%” of its artillery alone “still available to them.”

 Thanks to UtahBob62 for the link!~

via The Drive

Russia begins its push to capture a wider swath of the Donbas, the ability to mass and continue to supply its artillery and other long-range fires capabilities will play a huge role in the success of its latest campaign.

Indiscriminate massed fires, meant to kill, confuse, soften and destabilize an enemy ahead of an advance, has long been a key tenant of Soviet and Russian military doctrine. It was as true in World War II (in much of the same territory) as it is today.

----------

Adding to the challenges for Ukraine is the attrition of its air defense systems, combined with the distance of operations and greater density of Russian air defenses in Donbas, according to RUSI.

“As a result of these factors, the Ukrainian Air Force will have much less ability to influence the course of the ground war in Donbas over the coming weeks than it had around Kyiv or in the southwest around Mykolaiv,” RUSI reported.

Here 

Have you noticed the aid package going to Ukraine?  M-777. Caesar from France.  The Brits are sending arty too and many others.

Now we're getting into the war and not the Special Operation.

A 40 mile convoy?  That isn't what you do in a war.  Prep the battlefield with artillery?  That IS what you do in a war.

NOW we will see glimpses of future warfare.  Electronic attack/defense, long range ground based ISR, and sustained fires mixed with long range stuff.

NOW we're gonna get past the propaganda and into the real fight.

NOW we will see the true mettle of both forces. No more delusion on either side.  The Russians know it won't be easy and the Ukrainians know it too. The real fight has finally begun.

Cannon artillery is still king, and the war isn't what we're seeing.

 Check this out from MOA (Thank you Carlton for the link!)

From an AFP piece, published on April 30, we have this:

Russian troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region have shifted from a steamroller strategy to one of relentlessly chipping away at their opponents in the hope of grinding them down.

Ukraine’s army has little option but to try to stall their larger and better-equipped enemy in the sprawling plains of Donbas, where artillery is king.

...

Pessimism about the chances of pushing back the Russians appears to be spreading.

...

Although they are holding their ground on the battlefield, many of Ukraine’s infantry soldiers admit to feeling overwhelmed.

“Viking”, a 27-year-old staff sergeant who fought in Kreminna said his comrades are exhausted and waiting for the order to pull back.

“If it was a war between infantry forces, we would have a chance. But in this area, it’s first and foremost an artillery war and we don’t have enough artillery,” he says.

“For every 300 shells they fire, we fire three.”

Things are not as they appear on mainstream news.  We need to dig deep to get at the truth of this war. 

Most here won't want to, but we must if we truly want to understand. 

One other thing.

Has anyone noticed that we don't see any reports from Western journalist ON THE LINE!

We see reports from Kyiv, and other cities but the only vids we see from the line are from either Russian or Ukrainian soldiers.

I say that to emphasize this.

OUR NEWS IS BEING CONTROLLED!

Open Comment Post. 8 May 22