Thursday, October 05, 2017
Blast from the past. 6 Marine Snipers killed in Iraq. How can they keep pushing the Expeditionary Rifle Squad?
This incident seared into my brain how batshit crazy it is to try independent small unit actions in the modern era. Moving forward a few years after this one and we saw over and over that it just doesn't work today.
This is why the Expeditionary Rifle Squad irks me so much. It might be envisioned that they will operate independently only in benign situations, but reality and the fact that they have the Eagle Globe and Anchor stenciled on their boonie covers mean that they will always be high priority targets.
My plea to the guys at Quantico?
Remember the past, not just the glory and the victories but the tragedies too.
A newly minted "Communist" US Army Officer?
via The Daily Caller.
The Army officer who outed himself as a radical Marxist had been reported back in 2015 for publishing inappropriate and outright anti-American views online, according to a scathing report obtained by The Daily Caller.Story here.
The report gave exhaustive and damning details on 2nd Lt. Spenser Rapone’s disqualifying insubordination at the U.S. Military Academy, extremist political views and out-of-regulations online activity. Still, the Academy’s administration saw fit to allow Rapone to graduate in 2016.
Have you been watching this story? I have. Quite honestly when I first saw it I thought it was some bat shit crazy far right news being posted for some weird reason or to distract.
Now I find out that not only is it true, but the guy is a HARDCORE, RABID, and PROUD Communist.
This is interesting to me because it indicates that US military culture is broken.
Think about it.
West Point, supposedly the most prestigious military academy allowed such an individual to make it thru its doors. They saw fit to commission a person as a US Army Officer that has views that are in opposition to the oath he swore and he constantly posts info on social media sites to prove his loathing of the nation he supposedly will die to protect.
This is the predictable result of social engineering with the military and the "anything goes" mentality that many have today. The military has been transformed into an institution that reflects America instead of an institution that protects America.
Society can be idiotic and goofy.
They can experiment with all kinds of weird social constructs and face no consequences.
The military can't.
This is a minor incident in an organization as big as the US Army but it's telling. Basic right and wrong is no longer an easy call for them and that should worry us all.
Either the mannequins are realistic as hell or the makeup artist needs a raise...pic by Sgt. Wesley Timm
This pic is via 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force's Instagram Page. When I first saw it all I can think is someone had a bad day and I hope they're ok. I was positive that this was a pic from an actual fight, but lo and behold the caption says it's a simulated casualty.
I don't know who came up with the idea of pushing more realistic training but they need a raise....and if that's makeup then so does the artist.
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
US Army Special Forces Troops killed in ambush on their patrol in Niger.
via Reuters
Five soldiers from Niger and three U.S. Army Special Forces troops were killed and two wounded in an ambush on a joint patrol in southwest Niger on Wednesday, according to Nigerien and U.S. officials.Story here.
The five Green Berets were attacked while on a routine patrol in an area known to have a presence of insurgents, including from al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Islamic State, a U.S. official told Reuters.
It was unclear who fired on the U.S. and U.S.-backed forces, the official said. Those forces were not patrolling the area with any specific objective, such as a high-value target or rescuing a hostage, the official added.
I keep saying it but no one in SOCOM is listening. Africa will eat our forces up. We want no part of that continent. Why Special Forces in particular are so enamored with the idea of getting in the fight there is beyond me, but we will see horrors that will make an ISIS executioner recoil in terror.
No one will listen but that's the awful truth.
Next, I don't understand the fascination with these small unit actions. No one has noticed but this is a lesson that was taught during the early days of our Invasion of Iraq. Retaught during fighting in Afghanistan and is being shown in Syria to be bat shit crazy.
Warfare has evolved. If you head out in anything less than platoon strength you stand virtually no chance.
What we're seeing here is what we will see in the continued fight against terrorist and God forbid a war against a peer power.
Small units will be found, fixed and destroyed.
These poor guys were dead as soon as they headed out the wire. 5 Special Forces advisors on a patrol with host nation troops? They were probably clocked as soon as they left the wire. I wouldn't be surprised if this was an actual attempt to capture those boys.
That's the only saving grace about this thing. No one was captured so they can be put thru a living hell on earth.
Side note. Everyone likes to talk about whether amphibious assault is still viable, whether airborne assault or air assault will work against a peer threat. Has anyone considered that maybe the "force multiplier" aspect of Special Forces is no longer valid?
Dunford just signed us up for another 6 or 7 years in Afghanistan...
via The Drive.
Corps General Joseph Dunford went to Capitol Hill to talk to Senators about the state of America’s longest war. Among other things, America’s top uniformed military officer discussed efforts to improve the capability of Afghanistan’s military, specifically noting plans to deliver a gunship version of the UH-60 Black Hawk to the country’s air force.Story here.
On Sept. 18, 2017, two UH-60A+ Black Hawks, the first of nearly 160 aircraft the United States plans to deliver to the Afghan Air Force, arrived a Kandahar Air Field on board a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The entire fleet will eventually incorporate almost 60 aircraft equipped with forward firing weaponry for close air support missions.
“Longterm, and that's about six or seven years from now, we'll completely have transformed the Afghan Air Force,” General Dunford said in response to a question from Senator Deb Fischer, a Republic from Nebraska, during the hearing on Oct. 3, 2017. “A key piece of that is the transition from Mi-17 helicopters to UH-60 helicopters, which includes an attack variant.”
Everyone loves attack helicopters. I know I do, but this time people got dazzled by the metal instead of examining the words of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
He sees us in Afghanistan for another 6 or 7 years.
Trump lied.
The Pentagon lied.
They're giving us generational warfare whether we like it or not.
When will someone with brains decide that he biggest part of the swamp is at the Pentagon? If you want to actually drain the DC cesspool then you might want to start with leadership in that building.
Why am I pissed?
Because he is in essence telling me that his new strategy to win the war will require almost another decade of Americans dying in Afghanistan.
Think about it like this. Someone just got to Junior High. He doesn't know it but he might meet his maker seven years from now in the mountains of a country he doesn't even know exists.
Dutch defense minister, top general resign over soldiers' deaths in Mali
via UPI
The Netherlands' defense minister and top military commander have each resigned over the deaths last year of two Dutch soldiers in Mali.Story here.
In announcing her resignation, Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the lower house of Dutch parliament on Tuesday, "I am politically responsible and am taking that responsibility."
This probably won't catch the attention of many but it could be a turning point in the way the wars in Syria and Afghanistan are fought.
I know this was in reaction to the Mali intervention but I consider that op to be a baby "Afghanistan".
To think that The Netherlands defense minister would be forced to step down over a couple of deaths is beyond interesting.
It appears that at least one country in Europe has reached it's tipping point when it comes to deploying its sons and daughters to foreign lands with illusionary objectives.
What does this have to do with the US?
Many in the DoD were hoping for a plus up of forces via NATO partners in the EU. This will make that harder.
Israel believed the F-35 stealth would be effective for 5 to 10 years...IN 2012!!!!
Foxtrot Alpha blog while slamming the President for another one of his silly statements stumbled upon a stunning truth. Check this out.
A report in 2012 from Aviation Week on Israel’s deal to update its own air force with the F-35A claimed the Israeli military anticipated the stealth technology of the plane to only have a short lifetime of “five to 10 years.”Story here.
Yeah.
They buried the headline. Maybe they consider it old news but the reality is stark. In 2012 the IDF reckoned that stealth had maybe another 5 to 10 years before it became irrelevant on the modern battlefield.
Do the math.
Then think about what's been said on this blog.
We've beat the drum telling you that Raytheon, SAAB, the Russians, the Chinese and others have stated that they're able to detect stealth aircraft.
Now we add this to the mix and it all adds up.
I know what you're saying. If stealth is a non-issue then why are they building stealth jets. My response is that they're not going for all aspect stealth like we are. They're going for reduced signature. Both of the peer nations being discussed are building planes that are HIGH PERFORMANCE, and reduced signature...not full stealth!
We missed the memo.
The future of airborne warfare will be dominated by electronic warfare, not stealth.
Which brings me back to another side issue. What happened to those two reports of interest? Remember the report comparing the F-35 to the Super Hornet? What was the outcome and why hasn't it been made public? The other report was to determine how many Growlers the tri-service needed to maintain credible electronic warfare capability. We never heard the results of that one either.
Stealth is already dead. The Israelis know that. How they're gonna work around the problem will be interesting.
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