SNAFU!

German military short on tanks for NATO mission

via DW.com

The German military has secretly admitted that it can't fulfill its promises to NATO, according to documents leaked to Die Welt newspaper on Thursday.

The Bundeswehr is due to take over leadership of NATO's multinational Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) at the start of next year, but doesn't have enough tanks, the Defense Ministry document said.

Specifically, the Bundeswehr's ninth tank brigade in Münster only has nine operational Leopard 2 tanks — even though it promised to have 44 ready for the VJTF — and only three of the promised 14 Marder armored infantry vehicles.

The paper also revealed the reason for this shortfall: a lack of spare parts and the high cost and time needed to maintain the vehicles. It added that it was also lacking night-vision equipment, automatic grenade launchers, winter clothing and body armor.

The German air force is also struggling to cover its NATO duties, the document revealed. The Luftwaffe's main forces, the Eurofighter and Tornado fighter jets and its CH-53 transport helicopters, are only available for use an average of four months a year — the rest of the time the aircraft are grounded for repairs and rearmament.

"The state for all part-time forces are similarly worrying," Hans-Peter Bartels, parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, told Die Welt. Opposition politicians blamed Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen for allowing the military to deteriorate.

Story here.

I could gloat and state that this is another indication that the threat of Russia invading Western Europe is a complete fabrication based on the stance of the Germans but I'll ignore that for a moment.

Instead I'll look at the current military makeup of the European countries and put this theory to my readers.

France, Poland, Italy, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands and others are now jointly the caretakers of European defense (with a HUGE help from the United States).

Germany has simply chosen to leave the field. Whether they decide to comeback is open to debate but I don't think so. I personally believe that their society has become so "hippified" that defending themselves is no longer considered important.

The real solution is to simply tax member states that won't step up to participate in the common defense. Additionally the idea that a nation will have defense corporations yet not provide for its own defense is batshit crazy.

I'd like to see other European countries further develop their in house companies so that the Germans have even less of a say in matters that they won't participate in.

That's just my opinion.

Turkey's "Thank You America" article reveals they're hurting....

via Yenisfak.com

The evil you committed against us woke us up. Thank you so much!

Now we have unmanned aerial vehicles

You did not deliver our unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) even though we paid for them. So we have produced our own UAVs. Thanks to you, today, we have become one of the largest UAV producers!

Our defense industry has obtained one of its greatest powers because of the evil you've done. Now, our army is using the tools we produce safely, and by this means it is achieving great success in its struggle against terror.

This is not all! We produced armed UAVs as well. These devices, which only a few countries in the world possess today, are produced by our own engineers with our own technology.

Thanks to the covert sanctions you imposed on drone spare parts, our patriotic engineers have worked harder and started to produce each and every part on their own.

Today we have become capable of exporting to many countries in the world.

All of this came to pass thanks to you! Good thing you didn’t deliver those devices. Thank you!

Now we have a national helicopter

You didn’t deliver our helicopters although you were paid for them. And we have worked even harder to produce the Atak helicopters. We have a national helicopter thanks to you! Today, our troops fly safely with these helicopters, and they are succeeding in the fight against terrorism.

We will become even more powerful, skilled, and become capable of exporting helicopters to the world. Thank you!

Now we have guns, rifles and armored vehicles

You didn’t provide guns to our police, rifles to our soldiers and armored vehicles to our troops. So, we produced our own infantry rifle, our own guns, and our own armored vehicles. Besides, they are of such good quality that they rank among the most prominent weapons in the world.

We no longer need NATO's outdated rifles. We no longer beg for guns, rifles, armored vehicles, or wait at the door.

Story here.

Interesting.

They're doing a whole lot of chest thumping about their defense industry but if you look at the pieces of it then you'll realize how fragile that advance is and how easily it can be turned around.

Beyond that they accuse us of being part of the coup attempt and close with the thought that ya, the US is evil but all will be forgiven if we shake hands.

I'm not buying any of this.

Turkey is hurting and this little olive branch hides the pain...almost desperation.

I'm enjoying this but wonder if instead of reveling we have an opportunity to get them to moderate a bit. A cooperative Turkey could be a real good thing.

A Legacy Remembered ...the flag raising on Mt Suribachi...

Hmm.

Not sure how I feel about this being reduced to a ground action to "achieve" air superiority.

The implications are mind boggling. That means that the lives lost and injuries sustained were because a greater value was placed on airmen than on the ground forces that did the bleeding.

Thankfully my reading of the history shows the operation to have been about much more than securing a landing strip for damaged aircraft.

Thank God for classic, old fashioned history education (plus I had an old skool history teacher that made it interesting and inspiring).

Merlin lands aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth during helicopter trials...

Arctic Warrior.....pic by Alejandro Peña

Soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, operate a Small Unit Sustainment Vehicle during Operation Punchbowl at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Feb. 10, 2018. Operation Punchbowl was a battalion-level, combined arms, live-fire exercise that focused on arctic lethality. During the operation three 150-Soldier companies maneuvered through varied terrain; attacking and seizing enemy positions as well as eliminating key weapons and vehicles being utilized by the enemy.

Are we back to fighting Assad instead of ISIS????

For the second time in less than a week, U.S. special operations forces in eastern Syria came under attack from pro-regime forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The service members, acting as coalition advisers to the Syrian Democratic Forces, called in an airstrike with an MQ-9 Reaper to destroy a Soviet-made T-72 battle tank on Saturday.

This makes me wonder.

Why would Assad forces attack US backed rebels? I thought everyone agreed that the ISIS threat was the focus.

This is another problem with Special Ops. They can pursue agendas that can be hidden from the American people to achieve goals that are not the will of the people.

They tried and failed to make a case to unseat Assad.

They're doing it anyway.

Actions on the battlefield can give true indications of the real goals of the fight. In my estimation Assad is trying to hold onto as much of his country as possible and apparently US Special Ops and their rebel pets are at the very least trying to take portions permanently if they can't succeed in unseating him.

I could live with that strategy except that it means ongoing rotations of FIRST special ops bubbas and then conventional forces.

We can't afford the drain of resources in a part of the world that has gone past it's sell by date. The Middle East just isn't the center of action anymore.

The Pacific is.

Marine Corps Martial Arts Program Martial Arts Instructor’s Course aboard USS Makin Island....pic by Cpl. April L. Price

Cpl. Garett Backer, a combat cargo Marine with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, executes a shoulder throw during the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program Martial Arts Instructor’s Course aboard USS Makin Island April 17. The course consists of three weeks of intensive physical training, unarmed combat, fighting with edged weapons, weapons of opportunity, and rifle and bayonet techniques.

I wonder who came up with the idea that if you fall correctly it won't hurt? Yet to hear one person say "wow, I fell correctly and didn't feel a thing"...maybe they should say you won't get put out of action but you're still gonna feel this shit instead?

The only deadly honest self defense I've received was when it came to knife fighting. First thing the bubba said was...IF YOU GET INTO A KNIFE FIGHT YOU'RE GONNA GET CUT! Accept that as fact before we do one thing in this training. Cowboy went on to say that the only thing he could guarantee in a defensive situation if you're attacked with a knife is that it's gonna be bloody, some of that blood will undoubtedly be yours but he was gonna show us how to give up non vital body parts to ultimately prevail.

One 30 second riff by the instructor had everyone's eye clicked, brains switched on and full attention given to the course work.

SNAFU!

Thursday, February 15, 2018