Tuesday, January 23, 2018

3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment running the range!

A post shared by 1st Marine Division (@1stmardiv) on

Italian Forces at Checkpoint Pasta, Mogadishu 1993


On the Ground in 60 Seconds!....Photo by Lt.Col. John Hall.

U.S. Army paratroopers from 173rd Airborne Brigade, 173rd Brigade Support Battalion and 54th Brigade Engineer Battalion - Airborne conduct an airborne insertion onto Juliet Drop Zone in northern Italy Jan. 18. It was less than a minute from exiting the C-130 until the paratroopers were on the ground and ready for combat. The Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade are a fast, lethal and combat ready force.

About the Patria AMV 6x6 possibility...






Patria is teasing a new vehicle that's suppose to be coming out in a few months.  If its the Patria AMV 6x6 then its a weak tease.

We've seen that vehicle damn near everywhere.

We saw it displayed in Brazil when it was competing against Iveco for their wheeled IFV, we saw a version offered early on when the AMV first caught fire and we've seen it as late as last year at the Polish weapons show.

A 6x6 version of every 8x8 on the market is a no brainer.

If you want to actually have a family of vehicles then a 6x6 and perhaps even a 4x4 version of them tailored to particular battlefield tasks makes nothing but sense.

If the mobility gap has actually been closed, if it makes sense money wise and if the desire is to have simplified logistics/maintenance then why this hasn't happened earlier is beyond me.

Why is healthy more expensive than fast food?

pic via Jerry Ward Instagram Page....


Explain this?  I have no idea.  Why is healthy food more expensive than fast food?  Maybe you're paying for convenience.  Because they buy in bulk?  No, that can't be right because the ingredients are supposedly the same.  I mean beef costs more than lettuce and tomato and the salad doesn't contain it...and wait...some burgers actually have lettuce and tomato on them.

Long short?

I don't know why this is, but I do know that even in urban areas you can overcome this issue if you're willing to take a little time and acquaint yourself with the area (at least in the South).

I have yet to find an area from Texas, over to Florida and up to S. Virginia that doesn't have a farmers market.  I have yet to find areas where people aren't growing their own food.

A little time and effort and you can buy straight from the field, develop a relationship that supplies you with fresh produce year round and you can finally get on track with healthy eating.

We're coming up on the end of the first month of the new year.  Some people have already fallen off the health bandwagon.  If you have then no worries.  Today is a new day and you can still do the right thing for your physical and mental well being.

Do work or suffer regret.  The choice is yours.

Open Comment Post. Jan 23, 2018





Wow.  Never knew what a "Yurt" was but it seems kinda cool.  I'm assuming you cook over your heating source so that wood stove is actually a stove.  But where do you shit and shower?  Don't tell me you're hoping the bear left some toilet paper on the roll?

Mixed Messages. The SecDef and Think Tanks aren't on the same page.

via Military Times.
There is a growing threat of peer competitors ready to challenge the U.S., and a need to maintain readiness and interoperability among NATO allies, the commander of Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa warned Friday.

He was speaking to a gathering of allied amphibious maritime leaders at the Amphibious Leader Expeditionary Symposium held at Rand headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

“There are peer competitors that are out there that are willing and capable to hand it to us,” said Maj. Gen. Russell A. Sanborn, the commander of Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa. “Are we ready?”
Ok.  Sounds good right.  The General is basically echoing the SecDef's turn to focusing on nation state peer competitors. 

Sounds like a good solid article that will lay out super power challenges around the world right?

Wrong.

Check this part out.
 Paul Schwartz, an expert on the Russian military at the Center for Naval Analysis, said, “Since 2014, Russia has clearly emerged as NATO’s most significant state-based security challenge.”

To meet the challenge, the U.S. and its allies must maintain a credible deterrent threat to keep Russia in check, Sandborn said.

The European theatre has 27 amphibious ships, but they don’t always act in sync. This means Russia can go after individual countries, hitting amphibious capabilities one by one, picking rivals off, Sandborn warned.

“We are a gang,” he said of the NATO alliance. “If you mess with one of us, our treaty says if you mess with one, you mess with all.”
Story here. 

Wow.  Once again a "think tank" bubba focuses on Russia.  The question is why?

If you look at an order of battle NATO WITHOUT the support of the United States should be able to defend their land quite easily.

So why the focus on Russia?

I think a couple of things.  Russia is a historic big bad.  They are the enemy of our fathers and our fathers father.  It fits a box.  Additionally its comfortable and its easy.  Fighting in Europe is a set piece affair.  We know how to do it. It requires little thought.  Additionally we've designed force tailored to fight that terrain.

If you dig deep then you realize that we can simply glide on the work that those that came before us did.  The M1 Abrams?  Designed for the European fight.  For all it's warts and blemishes so was the Bradley.

But flip the script and start talking China.

That fight is hard.  You're getting all kinds of hair brain schemes to solve problems that don't exist to fight an enemy that is getting stronger everyday.

The SecDef and the Think Tanks aren't on the same page for a reason.  The Think Tanks insist on remaining in their comfort zone.  They insist on doing the easy thing instead of preparing to do the hard one.

B-24H Liberator “Little Warrior”

Fuel tanks of the B-24H Liberator “Little Warrior” with the 861st Bomb Squadron explode over Fallersleben, Germany after anti-aircraft hit, June 29 1944. Photo taken by Clifford A Stocking, waist gunner on “Green Hornet.” Nobody survived, the plane exploded

Patria will launch a new armoured vehicle at Eurosatory 2018

Thanks to Yalmuk for the link!




Monday, January 22, 2018

This is skill!!!!!!


How many of you have ever cut down a tree?

How many of you have had to scramble cause you got the cuts wrong and you're playing dodge the falling monster that can crush you like a grape?

If you ever have then you know this is real skill!!!!!

Nicely done...ballsy too!