Guard kitty saves youngster from vicious dog attack!

Domesticated animals form attachments to their owners.  Whether its a dog, cat...even a llama, once an animal sees you as part of its family it will defend its owner.

Ya got to love animal instinct!

The USMC needs to learn the lesson of the IDF vs. Hezbollah 2006 war.

The USMC would be well served to study the Israeli Defense Force war with Hezbollah in 2006.

The parallels are remarkable.  For the first time in its history the IDF was led by an Air Force man.  The "new" style of warfare would involve network centric systems, rely heavily on aerial ISR and would shift the IDF from a ground centric  force to one where the IDF Air Force would play the lead role.

Hezbollah basically read the Israeli play book and kicked their ass.  While I wouldn't characterize this as an Israeli defeat, neither would I call it a victory.

Anthony Cordesman writes a must read lessons learned (you can read it below) but this passage from page 49 stands out to me.....

The IDF may well be able to adapt. The Brodet Commission haslooked beyond the narrow issues of the Israeli-Hezbollah War and hasrecommended comprehensive changes based on the conclusion that“the Israel Defense Forces and the entire defense establishment sufferfrom a multidimensional crisis: budgetary, management, organiza-tional, cultural, and strategic.”
It has radically increased its defense budget and has cancelled theplanned further cuts in ground forces.
It has a new minister of de-fense, Ehud Barak, with practical combat experience in dealing with asymmetric threats.
The IDF has a new, ground forces-oriented chief of staff. The land forces commander, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Gantz,has called for new training methods, a new emphasis on decisive ma-neuver, and a reorganization of many elements of Israel’s land forc-es.  Israel is restructuring its entire training program, with a major new training center for asymmetric warfare in the Negev and major exercises in the Golan.
No one can predict Israel’s level of success,but the country is clearly making a massive effort to adapt to thethreats posed by forces like the Hezbollah and is extremely unlikely torepeat the mistakes of 2006.
The goal must also be to learn what cannot be done and to avoid setting goals for netcentric warfare, intelligence, targeting, and battle damage as-sessments that are impossible, or that are simply too costly and uncertainto deploy. Modern military powers need to approach these problemswith ruthless realism at the political, tactical, and technical levels

The force that the Marine Corps is designing will be easily defeated on a modern battlefield.  We need to reverse course now to maintain faith with the country we are sworn to defend.

  120720_Cordesman_LessonsIsraeliHezbollah by Solomon

Bundy style flashpoint in New Mexico.

Check this out from the Washington Times...

Otero County Sheriff Benny House said that he plans to wait to enforce the order until after a meeting Friday called by acting U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez.
“We’re just doing our homework and finding out exactly what our options are between now and the meeting on Friday, and hopefully we can get something resolved on Friday,” said Mr. House. “I’ll give them that courtesy.”
The Forest Service released a statement Monday saying that the fence, which has been in place for decades “was recently repaired and improved with input from the rancher to ensure that cattle still have access to water.

Bundy didn't have the support of local govt, but these farmers do.

The root of all this turmoil?  We're seeing a clash of cultures.

Financial secrets of the Amish

Bayou Renaissance Man has an article up that is a must read.  Check it out here.

My bigger take away?

People are sensing that something is wrong.  Even if they don't follow my lead and point at globalization as being the culprit, everyone knows that its past time to batten down the hatches and get ready for rough weather.

Fake until you make it is out (although many still feel compelled to follow that concept)....Frugality is the new cool.

Marine Armored Vehicle Procurement. Pure turmoil. Pure chaos.

I've been sitting on the latest news about the AAV Upgrade for a few days...almost a week now.  I needed to chew on it for a bit.  I've reached my conclusions but check this out from Defense Industry Daily (read the entire article..well worth your time).

The USMC needs to keep its 40+ year old AAV Amtracs in service, after destroying the EFV amphibious armored personnel carrier replacement program in 2011 with over-ambitious requirements. Iraq taught the USMC that the Amtracs didn’t offer enough protection, and so the latest refurbishment effort plans to improve the AAVP-7A1 personnel carrier’s protection levels. Deliveries are expected to take place between 2018 – 2023…

The Marine Corps is going full speed ahead with an F-35 that is not ready for combat, yet will slow walk UPGRADES to the AAV?

Deliveries of this supposed upgrade is to take place between 2018 and 2023?

Totally unsat.

General Amos has totally screwed up the AAV/MPC/ACV programs.  While he focused on the F-35 like a laser, he neglected the Ground Combat Element and has made the MTVR the vehicle of choice for Marines acting in an expeditionary environment.

This will rank high as a serious failure of his tenure in office....one of many.

For those that believe that the F-35 hasn't wrecked the USMC's budget I present this as item #1.  That airplane has gobbled up the USMC and if it doesn't deliver as promised the pain will be enduring.  Again from the DID article....

Phase 1.2′s timing will coincide with the beginning of a demographic fiscal crunch, in parallel with increased operations and maintenance costs for the high-maintenance platforms (esp. MV-22 and F-35B) the USMC has been buying lately. That doesn’t augur well, and implies that the AAV7 fleet will remain important for a long time.

Leadership inside the Marine Corps remained silent while the air wing consumed an ever larger portion of the budget.

That is now set in stone.

We will be lucky to even get upgrades to the AAV, and I now doubt whether we will even be able to afford the Marine Personnel Carrier if that program is allowed to continue.

The air power zealots have won.

Our only hope is that a REAL Marine will be appointed as Commandant in 5 months.  Additionally we'll have to hope that he has the fortitude to buck the SecDef and reverse direction on several of Amos' initiatives.

We'll see.

Is this proof of US plotting to overthrow the Ukrainian govt?

Thanks for the info Don!

Everyone has been saying it but I hadn't seen evidence that the US and in particular the State Department had been at the center of the protests that led to the overthrow of the Ukrainian govt.

After getting past the headline grabbing "Fuck the EU" I'm beginning to wonder.  Check this out...

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State Victoria Nuland's infamous February phone call with Geoffrey Pyatt, US Ambassador to Ukraine
Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call -- portion:
Nuland: OK. He's now gotten both Serry and [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, Fuck the EU.
Pyatt: Yeah. I guess... in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I'm just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead we want to keep the moderate democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok [Oleh Tyahnybok, the other opposition leader] and his guys and I'm sure that's part of what [President Viktor] Yanukovych is calculating on all this.
Nuland: [Breaks in] I think Yats is the guy who's got the economic experience, the governing experience. He's the... what he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know. I just think Klitsch going in... he's going to be at that level working for Yatseniuk, it's just not going to work.
Pyatt: Yeah, no, I think that's right. OK. Good. Do you want us to set up a call with him as the next step?
Nuland: My understanding from that call - but you tell me - was that the big three were going into their own meeting and that Yats was going to offer in that context a... three-plus-one conversation or three-plus-two with you. Is that not how you understood it?
Feb 6
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki acknowledged that the recording was authentic and said Nuland had apologized to E.U. officials.

Why hasn't this been emphasized and investigated by the mainstream media?

I don't know but one thing is certain.  We have idiots in the State Dept that are playing games that are getting people killed, destabilizing governments and causing suffering.

That is unsat.

EXCALIBUR ARMY (BMP M2 vehicle manufacturer) has calendar girls!

Thanks for the vid Paralus!



YES!!!!

BAE, Locheed Martin Ground Vehicles Division, General Dynamics and everyone else....if you want us to sit up and take notice of your vehicles then follow Excalibur Army's lead!