US Army Rangers at Swift Response 15 (pics)...

Breaking!!! Rioting outside the Ukrainian Parliament!

via Kyiv.

One National Guard serviceman was killed and several police officers badly wounded on Aug. 31 when an explosive device was thrown at them from among a crowd of far-right Svoboda Party and Right Sector organization protesters outside parliament.
Anton Gerashchenko, a lawmaker and adviser to the Interior Ministry, wrote on his Facebook page that 25-year-old Igor Derbin, a National Guard serviceman who had just started his service last spring, died in hospital from a wound to his heart incurred during the attack.
"Apart from grenades, the provocateurs were using firearms, shooting secretly," Gerashchenko wrote.

Story here.

Are we finally beginning to see the end game?  The problem for Europe?  They're dealing with a mass immigration problem from the Middle East.  They have bigger problems than Ukraine to deal with so expect little reaction from them and our President is focused on climate change.

Interesting times indeed.

The US Army says it needs to upgun Strykers in Europe. Why?

If you've been following American Mercenary in his latest posting in Europe then you've seen an American Army Officer that seems to be (and this is my opinion, I could be wrong and will gladly accept his correction) impressed with our allies ability to conduct deliberate attacks, seems impressed with the firepower that their vehicles have and is a bit concerned about the lack of punch found in our Stryker Brigades.

Fair enough.

But as he said in a post on mobility today....

I'm serving in my second Stryker unit. The first time I did the Iraq thing. This time I'm doing the "cross train with all our NATO allies across Europe" thing. The experience in Europe has really opened my eyes to why the 2nd Cavalry Regiment really does need 81 Strykers with 30mm cannon upgrades.

Ok.  He wants 30mm cannon upgrades.  Like I said...cool.  But then he says this...

So yeah, Strykers are great to get dismounted Infantrymen across great distances and into the fight, but it's not a preferred platform to go one on one with COMBLOC tanks and fighting vehicles.

Ordinarily I don't like parsing someone's words.  It fails to give the full flavor of the statement or the point being made but this time is different (by the way you can read his whole statement here).  His statement mirrors what the US Army has been saying.

This all leaves me with the one question that was never asked by defense journalist when this news came out.  Why?  Why does the US Army think that it needs to upgun its Strykers in Europe?  Are they going to employ them differently?  Has doctrine changed to account for them moving to a larger caliber main gun?  Will TTPs change because Styker Brigades will operate IFVs instead of APCs?

The why is important and no one has asked that of the US Army with regard to the upgunning to a 30mm cannon.  If this is just a case of the US Army looking at Polish Wolverine's and being envious then that's not good enough.

The F-35/MV-22 just re-imagined concepts from the Zumwalt era?

Many thanks to Robert for the idea!

Note:  Robert provided the below images with an intriguing idea.  He contends that the F-35/MV-22 are re-imagined concepts that were first pushed during Admiral Zumwalt's era and discarded because of cost.  I never put it together that way but it makes sense.  If you look at the performance specs for the Convair/General Dynamics Model 200 (sans stealth) and the General Dynamics model 84 tilt wing then you're seeing basically early versions of the two planes being discussed.

I believe in the advocacy of vertical take off aircraft.  But lets be real.  The USMC should not be held hostage to one part of its combined arms team...in many ways the least valuable or unique part of that team (yeah I'm going there...the USN can if required and would probably have no problem in providing close air for USMC forces).

The President is about to rename Mt. McKinley?

via CNN

....officially renaming the country's tallest mountain from Mt. McKinley to Denali, an historic nod to the region's native population, which the White House says is under threat from the already-present threat of climate change.
"This is all real. This is happening to our fellow Americans right now," Obama said in his weekly address Saturday.

This is the problem.

China's stockmarket is a basket case.  Saudi Arabia/GCC are getting their heads smashed in Yemen.  ISIS is still on the march.  Ukraine is still boiling.  The US military is approaching its smallest size in decades.

And the President thinks that renaming Mt. McKinley is at the top of his to-do list?

Wow.

The MV-22 is when the USMC's budget woes began...

You want the canary in the coal mine of when the USMC's budget problems began?  If you do then I point you to the cost issue with the MV-22.  Check this blurb out from Fool.com....

Consider, too, that while the V-22 Osprey outclasses the helicopters it is replacing in both range and speed, it also costs more than twice as much. According to BGA AeroWeb, each V-22 Textron sells brings in $69.2 million in revenue. That's more than twice the price of a big Boeing Chinook, let alone a smaller CH-46 Sea Knight (no longer being built, or priced). It's twice the cost of Sikorsky's MH-60R Seahawk -- the other helo taking over duties from the Sea Knight.
Yet price seems to be no object. The Marines still can't get enough V-22 Ospreys.

The MV-22 is obscenely expensive...and they're not finished buying them!  If you want to know why HQMC is pushing the current meme that the MV-22 is an aeronautical GOD then look no further than the budget.

The fight I predicted so long ago has finally arrived.

Its the Ground Combat Element versus the Aviation Mafia.  This is an internal battle that the USMC needs to get done and done quickly (hopefully with many of these aviation programs curtailed or canceled).  Ya know the deal about a house divided....but more important is this....  when historians take a look back at how the budget trainwreck almost killed the Corps the 900 pound twins in the corner will be the F-35 and MV-22.

US Military Advisors killed in Yemen??? US Naval Base under construction there?????

Thanks to MiloMonkey for the link!

via FARS

TEHRAN (FNA)- Several US military advisors of the Riyadh government's army were killed and wounded in heavy clashes with Yemen's revolutionary forces in Saudi Arabia's Najran region.

"The Yemeni revolutionary committee forces killed three US military advisors and wounded two others in the Southern province of Najran," Abu Hessam, a senior Ansarullah commander, told FNA on Sunday.
He noted that seven Saudi military men were also killed in the clashes with Yemeni forces.
Abu Hessam did not disclose the names of the American military advisors.
On Saturday, media reports revealed that the US has invaded and occupied Yemen's strategic Island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean and is now building up its biggest naval base there.
"Hundreds of workers from Asian countries have been deployed by the US navy to construct its biggest naval base on the island," Arabic-language Al-Masyra TV quoted a Spanish-language newspaper as saying.
Socotra is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean; the largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95 percent of the landmass of the archipelago. Socotra is located between the continents of Asia and Africa.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 158 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 5,535 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Uh wow.

Military advisors can mean anything but the number is kinda surprising.  If we're thinking "tactically" here then that sounds like a Special Forces A-team got hit and hit hard....of course it could also be a team from SAIC that's providing intel assistance....

I just don't know and will be looking for more info on this.

The blurb about a naval base is also noteworthy.  One thing is certain.  The Pentagon has been too silent in the face of obvious military setbacks to simply ignore this news.

In an information vacuum you take what you can get and dismiss it only after its been proven false.

Its just the nature of this war.

Caspian Flotilla Marines conduct counter-terrorist exercise via Russian Military Technology

All photos and story via RMT...

August 30 - The Caspian Flotilla marines held a counter-terrorist exercise. Approximately 200 servicemen and 20 pieces of military hardware were involved in the event.
The marines practiced repelling the attack of the sabotage group, preventing capturing of the military unit facilities, liquidating the simulated illegal armed group.
The servicemen also trained to provide first aid treatment to the simulated injured by “explosions”.

Bayou Renaissance Man nails it on the schism between Cops and the Community.

This is a MUST read!

Just a small tidbit from the Bayou Renaissance Man...

There's the issue of police themselves. We expect them to be paragons of virtue; but then we send them into situations where their daily interactions are usually with the dregs of society, where they're exposed to violence, threats, lies, filth and the worst that people have to offer. Is it any wonder that they become hardened and cynical, viewing most people (including the 'good guys') as potential law-breakers, regarding everyone as a potential threat until proven otherwise?
There's also the problem of police becoming primarily fund-raising machines for themselves and their localities. I've experienced this myself in Nashville, TN, where I live. Last year I was stopped and issued a ticket for speeding, without the Metro PD officer providing any proof at all that I had, indeed, been speeding. When I protested, he informed me that he wasn't required to do so. He agreed that I could take the matter to court if I wished, but pointed out (rather smugly, I thought) that even if I won, I'd still be required to pay more in court costs than the fine he was issuing me. I was basically in a no-win situation. I thought very seriously about fighting the ticket in court, as a matter of principle; but that would have meant going into town, waiting a full day (possibly longer) for the case to come up, having to come back again if the officer couldn't be there, and all sorts of bureaucratic hassles (as well as having to pay the aforementioned court costs whether I won or lost). It wasn't worth the trouble.

It gets nothing but better from here.  I really believe that he's touched on the issue that is driving much of the trouble between police and the communities they serve.

I only hope that the powers that be get it together soon.  The cop that was assasinated in Houston is the canary in the coal mine.

Everyone knows that I believe that society is breaking down.  IF I'm right (and this is one time that I pray I'm not) then we're about to see this one off becoming a common occurrence.

15th MEU/SPMAGTF-Central Command combined arms exercise .... Photo by Cpl. Jonathan Boynes

An Artillery Marine with India Battery, Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, breaks down an M777 Howitzer during a Fire Support Coordination Exercise (FSCEX) in an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Aug. 25, 2015. The FSCEX is a SPMAGTF and 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit combined arms exercise designed to promote interoperability between the two Marine Corps contingency response forces in the Central Command Area of Operations. BLT 3/1, 15th MEU’s ground combat element, is embarked on the Essex Amphibious Ready Group and deployed to maintain regional security in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

This is interesting.

An MEU working with a SPMAGTF-CR?  I am beyond confused by this duality in thinking.

On one hand we keep hearing about distributed operations, disaggregated MEUs and smaller forces becoming units of action (Company Landing Team).  And on the other we see the Marine Expeditionary Brigade being re-emphasized, talk of combining MEUs on a regular basis and the need to preserve our forcible entry capability.

You can't have both.

Either the Marine Corps will remain a medium weight force in readiness, an excellent combined arms team without peer and having exceptional infantry or it will attempt to go Commando/SOCOM outer perimeter security/aviation mafia.

Infographic via Guide to Prepping.

Note:  I find this interesting because it provides a quick remedy to pepper spray.  I guess the old rule of running water from a hose over your head is now old skool.

Wheels vs Tracks...has the worm finally turned?

Note:  You guys are gonna have to work with/deal with me on this.  I'm experimenting with a new concept for the blog.  Statements made in the comments of blog posts will be popped out to start a new discussion.  Its just an experiment to see how it works, so bear with me.

Wheels vs. Tracks.  Has the worm finally turned?  That's the question brought on by this statement by Herbert...

And why have tracks to operate in rough terrain if all your fuel and other support vehicles are wheeled and cant' follow?

That's just a small snippet of what was said.  The conversation was dealing with the definition of mobility but that part stood out to me because it brings us to the tracks vs wheels thing.

Enter the USMC.

I've been following the USMC's Amphibious Combat Vehicle contest for awhile now.  If you've been following me then you've seen me gyrate between advocating for a detuned EFV, a dramatically upgraded and modified AAV from BAE (still begging them for the actual concept pics of it) and then trying to guess what wheeled vehicle the Marine Corps will select for the project still 7 or more years away.

Having said all that we're reminded of this video by HQMC...



You can watch the whole thing (its quite informative) but the part I want you to focus on starts at 4:38.  That's General Mullen talking and the issue is whats at hand today.  Tracks vs. Wheels.

He states in the clear (and I'm paraphrasing) that wheels have caught up to tracks when it comes to mobility over broken ground.  In talking to him I was challenged to call the staff at the Nevada Test Center to confirm the results of testing on the MPC test bed that showed its mobility rivaled that of the M1 Abrams.

The interesting thing is that we've seen it in the USMC.  The MTVR is approaching almost legendary status as being able to go anywhere and get the job done.  If you look around the globe you see others making the same claims about their wheeled IFVs.  The French VBCI, the Singaporean Terrex 2, the Italian Super AV and others all claim to be able to keep up with tracked vehicles across all terrain.

So ending this the question is asked one final time.

Has the worm turned?

SIDENOTE:  We've all see the go-pro vids of pilots and aircrewman...even a few of sailors doing there thing.  I wish for once a Combat Cameraman or a grunt in the Army or Marines would strap a go-pro to their helmet and give the public a birds eye view of what its like to be going cross country in the back of an AAV or Bradley.  Policy Makers, Congress, the SecDef, even the guys running the services need to be reminded of the heat, dust, and how you can lose situational awareness in the back of these things.  Even better would be to see it from splashing off the back of an LPD to the trip to shore and finally the moment when the ramp goes down.