Iowa is useless as a first in the nation presidential contest.

I'm watching the Iowa Caucuses and I'm disgusted by it.  The pandering that goes on inside the voting sites is just plain wrong.

Even worse.  I don't like Cruz.  I'm not sold on Trump, but I can tell you this.  Cruz seems so slimey I'd use a bath towel after shaking hands with the guy.  Rubio?  I wouldn't trust him to lead a Boy Scout troop much less the nation.  Kasich is done.  Bush is Bush.

Once again we're left with nothing but picking...or trying to pick...the best of a bunch of bad choices.  In a nation of over 300 million people we have only these idiots to pick from?

I won't sit out the election but I damn sure would like to.  This might have been the last chance to put the country on the right footing and I'm pretty sure it won't happen now.

Note:

*  I'm watching the concession speeches and Rubio is confirming his dipshit status.  God this guy has shyster written all over him.

*  Hillary is classless.  How do you just up and declare victory?  This chick is desperate.

*  I watched Cruz and I still can't shake the slimey used car salesman vibe I get from him.

*  Trump was short and sweet.  Hate the guy if you like but I have a grudging admiration for him and the shock waves he's sending thru the establishment...otherwise known as Neo-Cons is music to my ears.

*  I hope Carson packs it in.  The dude was in way over his head.  His style was admired by so many but I found it irritating.  For God's sake man speak the fuck up!

*  Bernie is 666 delegates to Hillary's 670;  The dude has the mark of the beast in delegate count!

*  THREE DELEGATES WERE AWARDED TO HILLARY BY COIN TOSS!  IOWA IS USELESS AS  FIRST IN THE COUNTRY PRIMARY!

German Armed Forces - Puma Infantry Fighting Vehicle

U.S. military experts are training Iraqi Security Forces for heavier, mechanized combat against ISIS

via Scout Warrior

MacFarland said the U.S. Coalition has been shifting its training focus with the Iraqi Security Forces from a counterinsurgency emphasis to a combined arms approach as a way to ta++++ke on and destroy ISIS’ conventional forces.
Counterinsurgency training focuses on asymmetrical dynamics such as small raids, knocking down doors, looking for enemy fighters among civilian populations and attacking small groups of enemies on the move or in dug-in locations.
Combined Arms, by contrast, involves a more traditional type of combat approach designed to win more linear mechanized, force-on-force heavy combat. Combined Arms approaches, which often use tanks, artillery and armored vehicles, seek to bring numerous weapons to bear upon an enemy as part of a simultaneous integrated conventional attack.
ISIS in known to have armored vehicles and operate as both a terrorist insurgent force and conventional force in some respects. As a result, having ISF forces able to attack ISIS aggressively with both techniques could prove invaluable to future offensive efforts.
Given the success ISF forces recently had during the attack to retake Ramadi from ISIS, they did not request air support from Apaches. However, such assistance may be requested when the ISF gets ready to attack ISIS in Mosul, a northern Iraqi city which has been an ISIS stronghold for months.

Read the story here.

I FUCKING TOLD YA SO!  I've been screaming about this for months but the Light Fighter/SOCOM/Transformationalist Mafias have carried the day.

Hybrid/Quasi conventional force is what we're seeing with ISIS which means that SOCOM is becoming more and more vulnerable to them.  Quite honestly we're reaching a point where Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces will have to fall back and push Army Rangers and Marine Special Operations to the fore because they're able to carry out battalion sized raids.  Note that statement too.  Its my belief that even to carry out raids you're looking at a force that comprises at least a Company Reinforced and up to a Battalion now.

When they're dug in, even Battalion sized raids might not be enough and you will have to call in armor.

I'm just glad to finally hear leadership somewhere finally seeing the trees in the forest!

More on the AAV Survivability Upgrade...via Washington Business Journal.

Not much new but definitely worth a read...the process sounds like it's a straight copy (more extensive though...when the AAV were rebuilt earlier) of the work done at Albany.  Story here.

Carrier Navy gives up the deep strike mission. More F-35s and an unmanned tanker?

via AOL 

“What you’re going to see is not a UCLASS [Unmanned Carrier-Launched Strike & Surveillance aircraft] anymore: It’s a carrier-based tanker that is going to be integrated into the carrier air wing,” a senior defense official told me.
“The combination of buying more [F/A-18] Es and Fs, freeing up Es and Fs that are currently doing tanking, plus more F-35s, this is the best way to handle the problem in the near term,” the defense official said. “Right now, most of the aerial refueling is [Super Hornet] Es and Fs, which is causing a problem when you’re already short of fighters.”
to have an unmanned bomber coming off the carrier?'” the defense official acknowledged. ‘We’d say, sure we would, but, right now, based on our analysis, this is the best way to go about the problem. We don’t have enough money.”

So they're going for an unmanned tanker now?  More F-35's?  So the F-35 mafia wins again and any chance of the Navy's carriers doing deep strike goes out the window.

Remember, the F-35 doesn't go as far as the now retired A-6E.  If you think that's bad though, check this out...

“This was the fastest way that we could think of to get stealth on the deck and allow the carrier to fight from range…..based on the resources that we had,” the official said. Given rising threats from Russia and China, he said, “we need to get more stealth on the carrier deck in the early ’20s” — too short a timeline to develop an all-new aircraft.
So “we decided to accelerate F-35C buys,” the official said. “Some people would say, ‘let’s go all in on the UCLASS and make it stealthy,’ but if you did that, you wouldn’t be able to get can the stealth on the deck as fast. There’s just no way you could have done it.”

So in a bid to counter next gen fighters from China and Russia they're betting it all on the F-35?

They ignore the fact that with the F-35, combat air patrols won't go far enough to shoot the archers and instead will be playing a morbid game of whack a mole against enemy anti-ship missiles that are MUCH faster than both the F-35 AND the missiles it carries.

How can the leadership of our military be this stupid?  How can they not see the issues here?  This is bigger than fraud.  We're looking at treason.

SIDENOTE:  Is the very concept of the carrier dead?  Lets play a little scenario game.  You have a carrier hovering 300 miles off the shore of country X.  The country is moderately advanced and has capable anti-air, anti-ship, maritime patrol, access to sats and a good fighter force.  Will a carrier even be able to get close enough to launch strikes?  If the enemy uses fishing boats to keep tabs on the carrier and provide basic targeting information....if they can launch a few missile boats to engage the carrier....suddenly our nations flag ship becomes a self licking ice cream cone.  It exists to protect itself and not to project power!

The Victoria Cross winner that charged and killed 3 enemy Taliban only to be taken out by his own troops...

via War History Online...

He rushed through the corn and assaulted the enemy up close. Despite being wounded in the firefight, he continued the assault giving his men the cover needed to reorganize. As a result of his assault, the Taliban was silenced, and the wounded were allowed to evacuate.
However, there was no sign of Corporal Budd as his unit withdrew. He was initially listed as missing in action while a quick reaction force was assembled to search for him. As the reactionary forces pushed through the vegetation while air power beat back the Taliban, Budd’s body was discovered lying in the field next to three dead Taliban.
For his actions on August 20th and a few days prior, Corporal Bryan Budd was awarded the Victoria Cross and would be one of less than 20 to receive such an award since the end of World War 2. A subsequent examination might have proven that that the fatal shot to Budd came from a 5.56 NATO weapon which indicated friendly fire, but that only occurred because he saw fit to close with and destroy the enemy.

Story here. 

The last line in the section that I've highlighted gives me a bit of heartburn.  It almost implies that Budd is the cause of his own death.  I find it distasteful.

Still, this is instructive.  We've seen on more than one occasion that aggressive individual action can break the back of an enemy's assault.

The Spirit of the Bayonet lives!

Iranian Supreme Leader awards medals to Generals in the IRGC Navy for capture of Riverines...

via CNN

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, on Sunday awarded Fath medals to five commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps naval forces for the detention of 10 American sailors who trespassed into Iranian waters, according the official state news agency Press TV.
Two U.S. Navy crafts carrying 10 sailors reached three miles into the waters surrounding Iran's Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf on January 12 because of mechanical problems.
The boats had drifted off course, but one was also suffering engine trouble, making it impossible for the Americans to back off rapidly and return to international waters when armed Iranian naval boats approached them.
Iran said the Republic Guards detained the U.S. service members and questioned them about whether they were on an intelligence mission.
But an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman said afterward that the boats strayed into Iranian waters by accident. The sailors were later released to the American naval fleet in the Persian Gulf.

"The evidence suggests that they unintentionally entered the Iranian waters because of the failure of their navigational system," spokesman Ramazan Sharif said.
The Fath (Victory) medal is among the highest honors that Iran's supreme leader can bestow on a military leader. It is rarely awarded.
Khamenei praised the generals as "brave" and commended them for bringing the Americans ashore.
The capture of the U.S. sailors "was in fact an act of God, who brought the Americans into our waters so they would be arrested with their hands on their heads through your timely measure," Khamenei said, according to Press TV.

I can't wait to hear the excuses that will be made for this one.  When behavior is rewarded, that behavior will be repeated...Even if the Pentagon, State Dept and White House refuse to take note, I do.

Poland Ministry of National Defence - Armed Forces Modernization

The Poles LOVE their Special Ops and armor....

Americans arrested in Saudi Arabia on terrorism charges.

via RT

Nine US citizens have been arrested on terror charges in Saudi Arabia, local media report. The Americans were among a total of 33 terror suspects detained over the past week.
The arrests come following a string of attacks against Shia targets claimed by Sunni jihadists that have killed 50 people over the past year.
Among the suspects are 14 Saudi citizens, nine Americans, three Yemenis, two Syrians, a Filipino, an Indonesian, a citizen of Kazakhstan, a Palestinian, and a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Gazette, an English-language daily, reported on Sunday, referencing an unnamed source.
Two US officials have told Reuters that Washington cannot immediately confirm that American citizens are among the 33 suspects. However, one of the officials said that US authorities are still checking the names against their databases.

Get ready.

Saudi Arabia beheads terrorist suspects.  This is the new meta in the Middle East.  Our enemies hate us and so do our so called friends.  These people are already dead ... they just don't know it.

Are Russian Marines the unit of choice instead of Paratroopers?

If you had to list the units of choice for Russia, Paratroopers would be number 1 and Russian Marines a distant 2 (I've noticed that they're going by Marine now instead of Naval Infantry as in the past).  That seems to be changing.  The recent Russian intervention in Syria saw Marines deployed instead of Paratroopers and now we have this news via Sputnik...

Some 200 Russian marines have begun training for anti-terror action aboard Russian warships that will be deployed overseas, a spokesman for the Russian Navy said Sunday.
"The training program is based on the experience that has been accumulated over the past years by marines serving as part of anti-terror units aboard every warship and support vessel on missions away from their home ports," Сapt. Igor Dygalo said.
Marines will study all sorts of devices and military equipment that can be found on Russian warships of every rank and class, as well as the Law of the Sea, a UN convention on the use of the world's oceans. They will also drill boarding vessels under pirate control.
A part of the program is devoted to arms training. Marines will be taught how to effectively use firearms in tight space, such as inside ship compartments. The training is held at a marine center in St. Petersburg.

Without knowing Russian rotation schedules (note that this is pure speculation on my part), but if it's anything like the way the USMC does business then the first group should be rotating out late spring early summer and the units set to deploy should be in workups now...sorta like what we're seeing in this story.

Russian Marines are moving to the vanguard of their rapid deployment forces and we need to change how we view their order of battle.  They're emphasizing Marine forces now.  For the Airborne happy Russians that's a big change. 

A Sniper(s) is killing off ISIS leadership in Libya.

Thanks to Ronald for the link!

via Telegraph.

 As befits all the best practitioners of his shadowy trade, no-one is quite sure whether he is one man or many, or even simply an urban legend.

But after a string of assassinations of its local henchmen, the Islamic State's new "Caliphate" in the Libyan city of Sirte is abuzz with talk that an anti-Isil sniper is at work.

In recent weeks, no fewer than three Isil commanders in Sirte have been shot dead from long range, according to local media.

The killings - reported to be the work of a sniper who honed his skills in Libya’s uprising against Colonel Gaddafi - are said to have sowed panic among Isil's forces in the city, who have carried a string of arrests and executions in a bid to track down the culprit.

The Sirte assassin's most recent casualty, according to social media reports from Sirte, was Abdullah Hamad Al-Ansari, an Isil commander from southern Libyan city of Obari, who was shot dead on January 23 as he left a city centre mosque.
The birthplace of Libya's late Colonel Gaddafi, Sirte has been under Islamic State control since last summer, Libyan intelligence officials estimating that there may now be up to 2,000 jihadist fighters now based there.
The port city’s new masters have made brutal examples of opponents, via a regime of floggings and beheadings enforced by black-masked religious police.

And then this...

Adding to the sense of intrigue is speculation that the sniper might be a American special forces soldier, some of whom are thought to be operating in the region to gather intelligence on the Isil presence.

Interesting.  Whoever this is (or they are) this is some hardcore stuff.  Operating in an urban environment without backup or support?  The skill being displayed is beyond awesome.  This guy should be teaching this stuff.

Not only does he have to have intel on the targets but also have to set up a good firing position that won't be detected (in a city!), escape routes if he's noticed setting up or firing, and do all this while (yeah I'm getting redundant) not getting ratted out by some little kid, or bozo on his way to tend herd (or whatever it is they do in Libya).

 This is one story that I hope we never learn the truth about...well at least while the guy or guys are in harm's way.  Whoever it is they're doing work...good work.  I wish them well.

Did Ammon Bundy flip that easily?

via Times Union

Lawyers for the jailed leader of an armed group occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge say they have recorded a phone call with Ammon Bundy telling the four people remaining at the refuge that it is "his authentic desire for them to stand down."
In a statement Saturday, attorney Lissa Casey says "that message has been communicated to the remaining four and there's nothing further to be done on our end... We have set our disagreements aside to save the lives. We've done what we can do."

Through his attorneys, Bundy has repeatedly said he wants the people remaining at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to leave peacefully.
The standoff began Jan. 2 over federal land use policies. Most of the people at the refuge left after Bundy and other leaders of the group were arrested. Those remaining say they want assurances they won't be arrested.

Call me crazy but it sounds like Bundy is working for the Feds!  Did they flip him that easily?  He's been in custody for what..3 or 4 days...and this warrior for his movement is playing Jane Fonda to his former buddies?

Just plain wow!