ISIS defeated in Aleppo, Exxon Chief SecState, Neo-Cons destroyed

Breaking.  ISIS defeated in Aleppo, Exxon Chief selected as SecState and apparently the Neo-Cons have been destroyed.

I couldn't be happier.

Meanwhile we hear that Russia according to intel sources tried to influence our elections and the President has ordered an investigation into their role.

No one has suggested that the Russians or whoever the hackers were supplied the American people with false information.

This is turning into a great day.  Common sense might be making a comeback!

Gleeful Croatian Nazi-collaborators

Pic via Historical Times Tumblr Page.

Gleeful Croatian Nazi-collaborators covered in the blood of their recent victims
via reddit

Simply amazing.  Check out the guy in the background.  I don't know if he's SS or a Croatian, but he has the look of a guy that is not amused.

Czech Defense Ministry buying more Pandur II's.

via Defense News.

The Czech Ministry of Defence is planning to acquire new radars, 20 Pandur armored personnel carriers (APC) and Nexter Titus six-wheel drive armored vehicles for the country ’s military, according to Deputy Defence Minister Pavel Beran.

The latest announcement comes as the Czech Republic is intensifying efforts to raise its military expenditure from 1.08 percent of its gross domestic product this year to 1.4 percent by 2020, and 2 percent by 2025.

Everyone looks at the small forces of the former Soviet Union and think that they're incapable.  Those that think that are wrong.  What I didn't realize though is that they're also somewhat innovative.  Do you know that the Czech's were one of the first forces to adopt a large caliber RWS for their APC/IFVs?  They've been using that 30mm mount for awhile now and appear quite happy with its performance.

While continuing to buy Pandurs is somewhat mystifying to me (are they getting a great deal on them?) they seem quite pleased with the vehicle and all indication point to it being very effective in Afghanistan.

It all doesn't matter though.  The uparming of Europe continues.  The only question is if its being done the right way.

Centauro II 120/105 MGS 8X8 Armoured Vehicle vid

British Army's Combined Arms Manouvre Demonstration 2016 (Infantry)

Colonel John Glenn passed away...Gunny Walgreen's speech is the best tribute I can think of....

Colonel John Glenn passed away and the best tribute given to the man was by Gunny Walgreen in Iraq before a major operation.  Turn up the volume (be warned its infantry...profanity filled ) and think about the man and motivation.



Above is the original.  Below is a slightly cleaned up, more artsy version by Charles Mabry.

Iraqi Forces retreat after ISIS counterattack on seized hospital.

via Reuters

Iraqi troops who seized a hospital deep inside Mosul believed to be used as an Islamic State military base have retreated after a fierce counter-attack, giving up some of their biggest gains in a hard-fought seven-week campaign to recapture the city.
The soldiers seized Salam hospital, less than a mile (1.5 km) from the Tigris river running through central Mosul, on Tuesday but pulled back the next day after they were hit by six suicide car bombs and "heavy enemy fire", according to a statement by the U.S.-led coalition supporting Iraqi forces.
Coalition warplanes, at Iraq's request, also struck a building inside the hospital complex from which the militants were firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said.
Tuesday's rapid advance into the Wahda neighborhood where the hospital is located marked a change of tactics after a month of grueling fighting in east Mosul, in which the army has sought to capture and clear neighborhoods block by block.

And this.

"GATES OF HELL"
Soldiers from the army's Ninth Armored division were left exposed on Tuesday after punching into the Wahda neighborhood.
"When we advanced first into Wahda, Daesh (Islamic State) showed little resistance and we thought they had fled," an officer briefed on the operation told Reuters by telephone. "But once we took over the hospital, the gates of hell opened wide".
"They started to appear and attack from every corner, every street and every house near the hospital," said the officer who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said insurgents may also have used a tunnel network reaching into the hospital complex itself.
Iraqi military spokesmen have said little about the fighting around the hospital, stressing instead gains they said were being made in other parts of east Mosul, including the Ilam neighborhood a few districts northeast.
Brigadier-General Yahya Rasoul, a spokesman for Iraq's joint operations command, said on Wednesday "operations are continuing" around Wahda. He could not immediately be contacted on Thursday.
The statement by the coalition said Iraqi troops "fought off several counter-attacks and six VBIEDs (car bombs) ... before retrograding a short distance, under heavy enemy fire".
The Iraqi officer said that when the troops were inside the hospital complex, fighting off the militants, they came under attack from suicide bombers who he said either infiltrated through tunnels or had been hiding in the hospital grounds.
"We don't know, they were like ghosts," he said.
Iraq does not give casualty figures or report on its equipment losses, but the officer said 20 soldiers were killed and around 20 armored vehicles were destroyed or damaged.

Geez.

This sounds bad.

ISIS is giving much better in Mosul than they are in Aleppo.  I wonder why?  Regardless it appears that ISIS have them by the balls, are hugged in tight and have figured out a way to nullify coalition air power.

Want a terrible prediction?

Russia/Iran/Syria will defeat ISIS in Syria before Iraq/Coalition get the job done in Iraq.  We don't have a lack of expertise, fighting spirit or equipment.  We have a lack of strategic planning (I guess to an extent tactical planning too).

Open Comment Post. Dec 8, 2016.

SecNav Mabus tries to find his balls...

via Navy Times.

The Navy is digging in its heels and rejecting billions in cuts from its 2018 budget as infighting has hit a boiling point at the Pentagon. 
The Navy has refused to submit a budget that incorporates $17 billion in cuts over the next five years that Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered. It's a standoff that has been brewing for months since Carter told the Navy to begin cutting major shipbuilding programs and invest in weapons systems and aircraft, according to half a dozen defense officials who spoke to Navy Times.   At issue is Navy Secretary Ray Mabus's insistence that budget cuts not be directed at the shipbuilding program, which he has long fought to shield from cuts as he attempts to rebuild the fleet to his goal of 308 ships. Mabus argues that cutting ships is the "least reversible" thing to cut from the budget because of the long timeline for shipbuilding programs and the damage to the industrial base. The Navy had been developing budgets with the $17 billion in cuts that preserved shipbuilding, but the savings came overwhelmingly from operations and maintenance money needed to deploy ships and fix them when they get back — Navy leaders deemed those cuts intolerable. 

Too little too late Mabus.  You're still a slimy bastard and you're still going to go down as the worst SecNav in the history of the Navy.

Marine officer who was dismissed while trying to protect Marines wins law suit.

Thanks to James for the link!

via Stars and Stripes.

A federal judge has tossed out a Marine Corps decision to remove an officer from the service after he sent classified information through an unclassified email server while warning colleagues in Afghanistan about the security threat posed by a police chief whose teenage servant later killed three Marines.
U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco ruled Tuesday that the decision against Maj. Jason Brezler will be vacated because the Department of the Navy, which oversees the Marine Corps, "violated its own discovery rule" by failing to provide Brezler with all documents relevant to his case before an administrative hearing.
Bianco's ruling, first reported Tuesday evening by the independent Marine Corps Times, took no position on whether Brezler, whose case became a cause celebre among some members of Congress, generals and veterans, faced retaliation from the Navy Department after his story first appeared in the media in August 2013. Instead, the judge found that the Navy's mistakes "clearly prevented Major Brezler from fully and fairly litigating his retaliation claims," while also potentially depriving senior military officials reviewing his case from "critical information."

I remember this story.  I also remember hearing about his winning yesterday but it took James to give the kick in the ass to write about it.

Consider this.

At one time in the Marine Corps this "infraction" would have resulted in a chewing out and a pat on the back from Brezler's senior.

Today?

Today some stupid bastard that calls himself a Marine demanded that this man be "crushed".

Lockheed Martin T-50A is soaring over Greenville, South Carolina

Commandant talks expanding the force but touches on lack of ground based air defense.

via National Defense.

These new billets would include: information operations, intelligence analysis, electronic warfare, cyber, communications, air defense, engineering and areas where there are shortfalls such as maintenance, he said. Even if the Marines don’t receive this boost in personnel, it will still be adding these capabilities, he said. They will just have to be taken out of other units, he added.

And then this.

“We have to change our training and our mindset to almost where it was in the 80s,” he said. Marines will have to learn to maneuver with uncertainty as to what the enemy is going to do. They will have to mask their signatures, expect to receive accurate indirect fires and expect that the adversary will have aviation, battlefield sensors and robust electronic warfare capabilities, he said.
“They are going to fly their planes over you. And we’re going to have to create that training environment so the soldier, sailor, airmen, Marine sees that and they know what it is … It’s an airplane and its not yours and he’s coming here to bomb you.”

Just plain fucking wow.

Could HQMC be starting to see the future fight the way that I've been screaming about on these pages?  It means that we're gonna need to increase the number of ACVs that are being bought...at least if we intend to keep our "amphibious nature" intact.  It means that a family of vehicles will be needed.  An anti-air, electronic warfare and maybe even a command post variant.

Of course I'm assuming that he's talking about ground based maneuver.  If the idea is still to stuff everything into the back of MV-22's and fly 1000 miles from ship and engage enemy armored formations then the Marine Corps thinkers are still smoking illegal shit.