Politics Talk. Trump is losing key supporters...

via The Daily Caller.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker didn’t hold back Sunday in response to President Donald Trump’s attacks over Twitter.

“It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning,” Corker tweeted.

Trump tweeted earlier Sunday that Corker, who is not seeking re-election in 2018, “begged” Trump to endorse him.

“I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out,” Trump tweeted. “He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said ‘NO THNKS.’ He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!”

Story here.

USMC bootcamp 101.  You hear the shit over and over and it becomes almost like a little prayer.  Thrive in chaos.  When the world goes crazy you must be the most calm.  Grin in the face of adversity.

You hear all that time after time.

But they also push another meme.  You (meaning the individual Marine) bring order to chaos.  You make the difference.  You must be ready when the nation isn't.

Which brings me to Trump.

This guy doesn't bring order to chaos.  He isn't sorting anything out.  He doesn't grin in the face of adversity, he is the adversity.

Trump lost me with his statement after Charlottesville and while you guys applauded his message my take was that you got to be shitting me.  This fucker had the audacity to applaud Nazis?

But I'm just one guy and I'm nobody.  He doesn't give a rats ass if he's lost me.

But Corker?

When you lose someone like Corker then its time for a little self reflection (on Trump's part).  My only solace is that my opinion is shared by someone like Corker. The guy is a deep thinker.   So if he's bailing then my instincts were correct.

Long story short?  Tump needs to do a serious self check.  He is on the verge of losing it all. 

MH-53E Sea Dragon during hurricane relief work...pics by Petty Officer 3rd Class Levingston M Lewis

It took forever but the Pentagon has finally ramped up relief efforts.  I hope this is a lesson to them.  They can keep pushing light weight relief efforts but that only works in the planning room.  Sooner or later you're gonna see a US city get hit and hit hard.  The flooding in Houston or the broken levees in New Orleans after Katrina don't count.

I'm talking a direct hit from a storm, earthquake....some kind of disaster that is going to render local authorities completely powerless and the Pentagon being called in to fill the gap.

Unless they shake themselves from this small unit religious movement then they're gonna find themselves behind the power curve again.

How this could be applied to combat against a peer opponent is obvious.

Excuse me while I bring out my drum.  Ok.  The beating starts...small units will be found, fixed and destroyed on the modern battlefield!  Any unit smaller than a Company (and even a Company under certain conditions) is vulnerable...even against terrorists.

JLTV multi-mission weapons carrier?

via Oshkosh Press Release.

“The Oshkosh JLTV is engineered to support a wide range of mission kits and weapon systems required for the modern battlefield,” said John Bryant, Senior Vice President of Oshkosh Corporation and President of Oshkosh Defense. “Our JLTV will replace existing light tactical vehicles with a platform that is flexible, scalable, and customizable for specific missions ‘outside the wire’. We are proud to be demonstrating this JLTV capability.”

The JLTV Family of Vehicles was designed with room for growth to provide Warfighters with next-generation protected mobility in the light vehicle class, while supporting advanced networking and increased fire power. The JLTV General Purpose vehicle on display in the Oshkosh booth is equipped with a Boeing Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS), a Kongsberg Protector LW 30 Remote Weapon System (RWS) with a M230LF cannon, and a communications suite that includes a Thales VRC-111 and Thales VRC-121 VIPER.

The JLTV Utility vehicle on display (shown above) is equipped with the Boeing Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Launcher including a M3P .50 cal machine gun, M299 launcher with four Longbow Hellfire missiles, sensor suite, and a communications suite including a Thales VRC-111.

A third Oshkosh JLTV, a General Purpose vehicle, will be on the show floor in the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems booth #1911, showcasing Rafael’s Samson RWS Dual Stabilized Remote Weapon Systems (RWS) with M230 LF, and the Trophy Light Active Protection System (APS).

“The JLTV program continues to be run as a model program,” said Dave Diersen, Vice President and General Manager of Joint Programs, Oshkosh Defense

Hmm.  The Army and Marine Corps might have painted themselves into a weird corner when they reclassed the JLTV from being a utility to a combat vehicle.

It could be expected that Oshkosh would push new varieties of the thing, but now its gonna be hard to justify the cost of an anti-air version of the ACV, Stryker, Bradley or anything else when you can strap all kinds of weaponry on this lightweight vehicle...a vehicle that you told lawmakers was combat ready...frontlines combat ready.

Open Comment Post. Oct 9, 2017

General Dynamics Stryker Dragoon setup for AUSA

All set up for #AUSA! #ausa2017 #ausa17 #usarmy #strykers

A post shared by General Dynamics Land Systems (@gd_landsystems) on Oct 8, 2017 at 7:01pm PDT

Yeah.  I think General Dynamics is back!  They're coming out with a nice booth setup at AUSA, and they look like they're ready to get back in game with new innovations.

That's good to see.

What do I want going forward?  First they need to get some people that can read and interpret contracts going forward.  The performance for the Australian Combat Recon Vehicle contest while disappointing is understandable.  They read what I did.  The Aussies specified an off the shelf solution.  The problem was they failed to interpret it correctly and they didn't read between the lines (I didn't either).  The off the shelf part was fuzzy as hell...so while in my mind their solution fit the bill for the contest, the customer was looking for a bit more.

Next they need to let it fly and stop playing it close to the vest.  Let's be clear.  For the US Army's Mobile Protected Firepower vehicle, they have a chance to blow the doors off if they get bold.

What do I mean?  It hurts to say it but follow the Chinese lead in their light tank development.  That means tossing the idea of an ASCOD II with a 120mm turret attached.  What they need to do is to work out a "mini" M1A2. Take that beast and simply scale it down to a medium/light setup and they have a winner.  Two of their competitors are putting turrets on APC/IFV chassis.  The third is rolling out a design from the 80's.

That program is setup for a wild card entry to win it all.  General Dynamics needs to win the day by getting out of their crouch and attacking forward.

Open Comment Post. Oct 8, 2017

I said we had 5 years...I was wrong. China’s Secret Military Plan: Invade Taiwan by 2020

via Free Beacon.

China has drawn up secret military plans to take over the island of Taiwan by 2020, an action that would likely lead to a larger U.S.-China conventional or nuclear war, according to newly-disclosed internal Chinese military documents.

The secret war plan drawn up by the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the Chinese Communist Party's armed forces, calls for massive missile attacks on the island, along with a naval and air blockade that is followed by amphibious beach landing assaults using up to 400,000 troops.

The plans and operations are outlined in a new book published this week, The Chinese Invasion Threat by Ian Easton, a China affairs analyst with the Project 2049 Institute, a think tank.

Story here. 

I said we had five years.  I was wrong.  The Chinese are gonna go before 2020.  I thought we might have time to build up forces.  We don't.  We need to do what we can while we can and we need to harden up fast.

If we fail remember I warned about this threat while Chinese Patriots on this blog tried to downplay the threat.  More importantly the Chief of Naval Intelligence (Pacific) warned of the threat and was then forced to retire because he was honest.

We can beat the Chinese but it will take a national effort and a mindset change.  Will it take suffering?  Not for those that aren't involved in the fighting but it will take a reality check.

I don't think it will be a long war but it will be bloody.  But for civilians it will require a huge shift in our economy.  Consumerism as we know it today will have to revert to a 50's or 60's model.  Disposable items will probably go away.  Consumer electronics WILL cost more.  Drug prices will rise.

Until we can bring those industries back home.

But in there will be numerous opportunities.

We shouldn't shrink from the fight.  The Chinese themselves have been telling us that its coming FOR YEARS!  We should get our military, economy and mentality ready for the war of national survival.  No that's not right.  It will be a battle for global dominance.

Warhammer News. S. Korea develops a Graphite Bomb to enhance preemptive strike options against N. Korea...

via Sputnik

 South Korea has developed a technology allowing Seoul to create the so-called blackout bomb that could paralyze power systems of North Korea in case of potential military conflict, local media reported Sunday.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the technology has been developed by the Agency for Defense Development within the framework of the country's Kill Chain preemptive strike system.

The media outlet added that the technology focused on targeting only electric power systems by spreading carbon graphite filaments over electric facilities that disrupt activities of the electric power system.

Story here. 

The US has had this since the first Gulf War.  Supposedly the Russians and Chinese have also developed versions of it.

Want to know what worries me more than a nuclear weapon?

The carnage that would result from this type weapon being used on a mega city.  Think about it.  A city of 10 million people suddenly lose power?  You would see death that would be as massive as a nuclear weapon...just long and lingering.

But what should scare everyone is that someone will eventually develop a man portable system.  I wouldn't be surprised if some Redneck with a Master's in applied sciences wasn't already playing in his garage.

These will get out and they will be used.  Either by security forces or criminals on a low level.

The more advanced we get the more we rely on tech.  The more we rely on tech the more vulnerable we become.

The seriously crazy thing?  We're building vulnerabilities into our very way of life and no one seems to care....and at the same time we're developing way to exploit those vulnerabilities.  It's almost like a person that is building a weapon to use on an enemy but doesn't realize that the same weapon will be used against him.  I know that doesn't make any sense but I hope you can flesh it out.

Side note.  Enough of my rambling.  How many of you knew that S. Korea had a preemptive strike strategy?  I sure didn't.

US Army Manual 3-0 Operations is released!

Massive Bravo Zulu to Soldier Systems Blog for finding this jewel...I'm just sharing the link he provided.  Read this for yourself here.

Get it while you can.  I get the feeling this won't be allowed in the wild for very long!

The House of Saud is on the brink...a terror attack reaches the palace...what is the contingency plan if they fall?

via Press TV

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia has cautioned the American citizens in the kingdom, following a foiled attack in the port city of Jeddah.

On Saturday, several unconfirmed reports said that Saudi security forces had thwarted an attack outside King Salman’s Al Salam Palace, which left the assailant and two royal guards dead.

The Saudi Interior Ministry confirmed the attack hours later, saying two guards were killed in the assault on the Saudi royal palace in Jeddah. It added that the slain attacker was a 28-year-old Saudi national.

"Due to the possibility of ongoing police activity, American citizens are advised to exercise caution when travelling through the area," the US embassy said.

The Al Salam Palace is one of the key royal palaces in the kingdom where the Saudi Council of Ministers convenes its meetings.

Terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh have conducted several attacks in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the country’s Shia-dominated Eastern province.

In June, Saudi authorities said they foiled a Daesh attack on the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

Hundreds of Saudi citizens have travelled to Syria to Join Daesh.

CentCom better be paying attention and dusting off war plans.

What is the plan if the House of Saud falls?  There will be a rush to the oilfields.  I can imagine both Iran and Iraq will make a dash to them.  We might see members of the GCC rush there too.

The real prize will be who controls Mecca.

One thing is for sure.  We can't fly an American flag over the place or it will be generational war till 2100 at the minimum.

So how would we do it?  Would we even try? 

This is the problem with the current "forward deployment" and exercise craze. There is no slack for REAL DEAL emergencies that are bound to rear their ugly head.  If a major hurricane can throw off deployment schedules then how can we react in a timely manner to an unexpected emergency that requires at least two divisions to cover?

From my seat we can't.

There is only one answer.  We MUST put the combatant commanders back in a cage, cut off all the idiotic exercises and get some rationality attached to deployments around the globe.  The US military is just too small to be everywhere.  Every request for forces that come from a combatant commander should be approved by the SecDef first.  No more kingdoms that are a power unto themselves.  No more pampered princes.

Then we need to reactivate the Rapid Deployment Force. Every service should have a division ready Battalion that can deploy at a moments notice.  Of course this duty should rotate.  A certain number of units must be maintained at a high state of readiness.

Preperations for the failure of the royal family and other emergencies should be on the front burner for military planners.