Friday, June 01, 2012

200th flight for the first F-35B

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – U.S. Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Fred Schenk flies a mission May 10 in F-35B Joint Strike Fighter test aircraft BF-1. The mission expanded the aircraft’s flight envelope in short takeoff and vertical landing mode, and was the 200th flight for the aircraft. The F-35B is the variant of the Joint Strike Fighter for the U.S. Marine Corps, capable of short take-offs and vertical landings for use on amphibious ships or expeditionary airfields to provide air power to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. The F-35B is undergoing test and evaluation at NAS Patuxent River prior to delivery to the fleet. (Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin)

Pic of the day. Harrier Glory.

Lt. Col. Thomas D. Gore, former commanding officer of Marine Attack Squadron 223, and a native of Tampa, Fla., pilots an AV-8B Harrier over the Kajaki Dam in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Nov. 20. From November 2011 to May 2012, VMA-223 provided close-air support for Marines and their Afghan and coalition partners conducting counterinsurgency operations in southwestern Afghanistan
Beautiful bird.

Heads up.  Still working on new info on the Marine Personnel Carrier Program.  Its a bit more involved than I thought and I'm trying to backstop some of the opinions that I've come up with.  Should be out this weekend.

To our British Friends!  Thanks for the gift of those spare birds!

USMC Pack System.

You're doing something wrong when you have to put out a 30 minute instructional video on how to assemble and use a pack.

What happened to simplicity, ruggedness and durability carrying the day?  No, instead we have packs that are suppose to carry 100 pounds yet have plastic frames!  

But even better is the fact that it takes longer to teach a Marine how to assemble his pack than it does to teach him how to assemble and disassemble his weapon!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Business and the USAF. Who needs NASA?

All photos via Space.com.
Space X's first mission was a total success.  The USAF has the X-37 program running full speed ahead with nary a hick up.  NASA appears like an old, impotent, tired organization that needs to be put out to pasture.


But on second thought...who needs NASA?  The USAF will be revitalized by taking care of the nations military affairs in space...Big Business will get the job done in low earth orbit and even in deep space if a profit can be made...  yeah.  Its time to take NASA down to the river, hold its head under water till it stops kicking and then let them feed the catfish.

 

Tolley starts a scorched earth campaign against Axe.

General Tolley (hereafter known as the poster boy for military leadership at the flag ranks) misspoke at a Special Operations Convention.


During his "talk" he stated that US Special Operations in Korea were running operations into the North.


David Axe reported what he heard and that's when the trouble started.  The knee jerk reaction from many in the Special Ops community was that David reported a lie.  We found out later via the US Forces in Korea spokesperson that he didn't.


They then stated that David should have known better and double checked his facts...my question to the critics is why?  All he did was report what was stated.  Instead of blaming the person who at fault...the poster boy, the reporter is being blamed.  Talk about a case of entitlement!


But I wish it ended there but SOFREP's own Brandon Webb posted this on his blog....
Warning, satire to follow:
The SOFREP editorial staff has heard unconfirmed reports that (name removed) a journalist has committed suicide over his sloppy reporting regarding US Special Operations in North Korea.  He apparently hung himself and a supposed letter was left posted to his hotel room night stand that stated the following:
“I was too ashamed at my own bad reporting and could not go on living knowing that I had resorted to reporting a tabloid headline in order to attract readers attention and try and land more contract work for myself.  I’m ashamed of myself for not having enough common sense to do my homework on the Special Operations community.  I’ll admit that this is rampant in the international news media.  If I had done my research, I would have known that parachute operations into North Korea would be ridiculous from a military strategic perspective and have little return on investment. I encourage people to visit Soldier Systems.net and SOFREP.com for real information on the Military and the Special Operations community.” -(name removed)
The SOFREP staff encourages news media to use multiple credible military sources and read up on issues with regards to their military reporting in the future. After all Special Forces is an Army term not meant for the USN, USMC, and USAF.
To each his own.

But how about we lay blame where it belongs.

General Tolley fucked up, not David.  To make a post like the one above and ignore the real villian, village idiot or poster boy for silliness is just not right.

NOTE:  When Brandon first filed this story, he did it without the "satire" warning and with David Axe's name on full display (in the area where it now states "name removed")

Combat Qualified Frontline Airmen.

Some terrorist is shitting his pants at the thought of meeting these breast feeding mothers in a dark cave.


Read the story here.

Dawn Descent...

Photos by Cpl. Gene A. Ainsworth III

A Marine serving with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit's ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 3/1 fast ropes out of a UH-1Y Huey onto USS Makin Island here May 31. The unit is deployed as part of the Makin Island Ready Group, a U.S. Central Command theater reserve force. The group is providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Hot Hook-Up

Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 5 return from familiarizing themselves with the downward thrust of a Kaman K1200, or "K-MAX," unmanned helicopter during initial testing in Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 22. Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2 pioneered the first unmanned, mid-flight external cargo hookups, and delivered approximately 6,000 pounds of gear in their first day of testing.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Lisa Tourtelot)

Quote of the day



“A real warrior, would like to go to combat with a weapon, a loin cloth and a light coat of oil.
 George Solhan, Deputy Chief Researcher for Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare


MCFIT???? Hey Marine Corps...just fucking stop it.

The Marine Corps is losing its soul and its mind to politically correct bullshit.  Of all the different forms of nonsense that are being pushed onto Marines, we now have a holistic guide to fitness.  Read about it here...but check this out from the Commanders Guide....
MCFIT Coordinator– oversees the use of MCFIT within the
unit. Assignment of the MCFIT Coordinator - The commander using
MCFIT must assign a coordinator to oversee the entire process of
using MCFIT, to include the security of the responses and signin
sheet, and preparing the commander’s report. The coordinator
for phase one of the MCFIT can be any Marine in the unit,
however, a unit’s Religious Ministry Team (RMT) is recommended
for the task. Care should be taken to avoid the coordinator
being any lower than a Sergeant.
I'm not getting this.

What I do know is this.  Physical Fitness has been bastardized into something that its not.  Its not hard.  It doesn't take coordinators, or Religious Ministry Team Members....it takes dedication and will power.

You workout, you eat right and you get enough rest.

Its simple.  In bootcamp you're taught a few basic exercises that can be done in a confined space-anywhere in the world.  This holistic fitness program is to complicate the simple.  We have got to be better than this.  

Sidenote:
I COULD EASILY BE WRONG...but I sense Ms. Obama's hand in this.  She's been pushing a "healthy" agenda and since she's not getting any traction in the civilian world, its just too easy to ORDER the military to do it.  Like I said.  I could be wrong.

Ooops. Uh-oh.



Quite honestly I wonder why this isn't being talked about more.

This is really a history 101 kind of thing.  Basic American history taught in elementary school should have provided the knowledge necessary to steer clear of this controversy.

Now you know why I don't trust politicians to make the militarily smart choice.  If you don't know history...

Starship Troopers: Invasion.



I love animation, I loved the book Starship Troopers.  I was disapointed by the movie.  Rico's Roughnecks the animation didn't disappoint though.  And now we have this.  Pretty cool and it should come out by Comic Con this fall.  Awesome.  Oh, check out the movie website here.