No AR-15 involved in the Texas School Shooting so the response has been muted...wonder why?

via AmmoLand.

“[E]arlier reports that the shooter used an AR-15 style rifle were wrong,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement about Friday’s murders at Santa Fe High School. Per the Houston Chronicle, “He said the shooter … used a shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver…”

No semi-automatic handguns or rifles were involved. No so-called “assault weapons”…

You could almost hear gun-grabber hearts breaking. And it leads to a dilemma for them, because their M.O. is to call for gun bans as a necessary step every time semi-autos are used. To be consistent, especially noting how much human carnage was accomplished without them, they must now demand something they haven’t felt politically ready to unveil: A ban on revolvers and shotguns.

You know it's what they ultimately want.

The first would return to the origins of the modern gun-grab movement.

“We're going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going to be very modest,” Handgun Control, Inc. founder Nelson “Pete” Shields told The New Yorker in 1976.  To help mask its intent, the group changed its name to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, but its ultimate goals as articulated by Shields remain.

“[W]e'll have to start working again to strengthen that law, and then again to strengthen the next law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we'd be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time. . . . The first problem is to slow down the number of handguns being produced and sold in this country. The second problem is to get handguns registered. The final problem is to make possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition-except for the military, police, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors-totally illegal.”

Story here.

No AR-15?

Then its not a legit school shooting ... I guess that's the case.  If you've followed the coverage its been different because of that fact.

The loss of life?

Horrendous.

The number of people injured?

Appalling.

The response from the media?  Let's take Chris Matthews Show.  10 minutes of coverage and then back to the Russia Collusion nonsense.

It wasn't that was on other shows following an incident of this type.  It was wall to wall coverage and the same applied to the rest of the MSNBC lineup.

The facts are simple.

For some unknown reason there is a segment of our population that wants to return to Serf status...Slave status.

You do know what that is don't you?

Serfs and Slaves were not allowed to have weapons of any kind to protect themselves.  The curious thing is that this was a worldwide thing.  Even in Japan the emperor did not allow the peasants to own weapons which birthed the so called "ninja" that turned farm tools into weapons.

Why any individual would PURPOSEFULLY seek to deny themselves the tools to protect themselves from predatory individuals is beyond me but many so called adults are all about it!

One thing is certain.

I can't speak for you but for me, the second guns become illegal is the second I become a criminal. 

School shootings are just a variation of Green on Blue Attacks...the solution is a skilled guardian, not drills...

via Collins Dictionary.

green on blue

phrase used to describe attacks on NATO forces by members of the Afghan security forces

Additional Information

The spike in the "green on blue" attacks has prompted Nato to boost security measures while working together with their Afghan counterparts. The measures include assigning "guardian angels" – soldiers who watch over their comrades as they sleep.

As you've heard by now we suffered another school shooting.  This time in the Galveston area of Texas.

I'm baffled by the reaction of the news media.

Well, not only the media but by gun rights opponents and activists.  Why?  Because this is so simple it hurts.  The US Army understood the problem and took steps to solve it so should schools.

We need Guardian Angels in schools.

We need personnel, not just police, but even former military, retired, vets...anyone that can pass background, psych eval and weapons proficiency that will volunteer to perform this task for our little ones.

The pay?

This should be a public service type job.  Pay the same rate as a janitor but pay for gear and any training/refresher courses.

A few closing thoughts.

Training kids to react to school shootings is idiotic.  In most cases YOU'RE TEACHING THE ASSAILANT how you will respond to their attack.  These aren't outsiders (hence my comparison to the Green on Blue attacks).  These are students that decide to kill their fellow students.

Next we need to stop wasting money on SWAT Teams.  Sorry I know they train hard.  I know they're the glamour boys for their depts but when it comes to active shooters they're always late.  Better to equip street cops adequately to deal with the situation and bump up their training to confront bad guys during the opening minutes of these situations.

Last we need to stop fooling ourselves.  10 people were killed today with a shotgun and a revolver.  You can ban AR-15's but it won't stop the rampage. The only thing that will is people that are of good character willing to stand in the breach to stop bad guys.  Yeah.  A good guy with a gun is the only thing that will stop bad guys with guns. 

You know.

Like that school resource officer did earlier this week that no one is talking about.

America is weak now, strong later, so America's enemies must attack sooner rather than later?

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via Defense News.

President Trump’s budget plans will fail at “rebuilding” the armed forces, but there’s room for lawmakers to act, according to a new American Enterprise Institute report.

The conservative think tank argues the president’s 2019 budget request bets too heavily on research and development for next-generation technologies and that lawmakers must tilt the balance toward procurement of existing technologies to replace aging stocks.

“The American military will bottom out in the 2020s,” AEI’s Mackenzie Eaglen writes in a report published Wednesday: “Defense Budget Peaks in 2019, Underfunding National Defense Strategy.”

“The Pentagon will never have the chance to use the weapons it is developing if it’s preempted by a failure of deterrence in the 2020s, rendering the RDT&E expenditures for those systems irrelevant,” Eaglen writes.

Shortchanging procurement would be risky, Eaglen argues, as the Pentagon expects a procurement bow wave due to increased wear and tear on core aircraft, ships and tanks. To boot, it creates a vulnerability adversaries might seek to exploit.

“Unless the bow wave of procurement can be successfully mitigated, competitors will realize that the American are weak today but will be strong tomorrow—and it is better to act now than later,” Eaglen writes.

Though the bipartisan two-year budget deal yielded a substantial $700 billion defense top-line for 2018, the $716 top-line for 2019 just keeps pace with inflation. Budget Control Act caps, and their enforcement mechanism, sequestration, are due to return in 2020 unless lawmakers act again to ease them.

Readiness and modernization are likely to increase over the president’s 2019 budget request if lawmakers tinker under the hood as they did in 2017 and 2018.

For example, the House Armed Services Committee has already included three Littoral Combat Ships in its draft of the 2019 defense policy bill, versus the administration’s request for one. The bill would block the Air Force from killing the JSTARS recap program.

DoD’s $124.4 billion for procurement in 2017 leapt 19 percent to $147.7 billion in 2018, but it would fall 2.3 percent to $144.3 billion in the president’s proposed 2019 budget.

On the flip side, DoD’s $73.9 billion for RDT&E in 2017 increased 23 percent to $90.6 billion in 2018, and it would grow 2 percent to $92.4 billion in the president’s proposed 2019 budget.

Story here. 

There are only two things responsible for the Ambush in Niger...Complacency & Enemy activity...

I've been watching the debate about the cause of the ambush in Niger but it's really simple.

The first is complacency.

I've said and many others have too.  Complacency kills and SOCOM got complacent.  They're already operating far out on the limb, they're out of necessity needing support but at the same time they want to keep things in house.  Add to it undeniable success over a long period of time (on the battlefield, not changing the strategic picture) and they pushed out further and further till it bit them.

The second is enemy action.

As much as we might not like it, the terrorists are evolving.  They're adapting to our tactics and they're becoming more precise in their attacks.

Small units on a big continent?

They're going to observe, seek to isolate and destroy those units.  From their perspective before support can arrive.

We're fans of base camps now.  It wouldn't surprise me if every patrol was monitored as soon as they exited the gate.

I didn't need to know how Johnson died.  I had hoped that he hadn't been captured alive (I still hope that's the case and we're not being lied to for the sake of the nation's psyche as well as the family) and that seems to be the deal.

But the reality is that he knew the job was dangerous as did the other  people that unfortunately lost their lives.

It's just too bad that the news media stuck a microphone in the face of a grieving widow and an ambulance chasing Congresswoman.

Note.  I'll touch on that in the future but their needs to be rules and regulations that family members of the fallen aren't "mobbed" by news reporters while in the midst of what must be horrible anguish, anger and outright despair.

Long short.

There is no one to blame for this incident.  This was one of those times when Murphy whipped out his big green dick and decided to fuck everyone.

The only thing we can do is learn. The first lesson I've already described.  Complacency kills.  I did it for the second lesson too.  Enemy action is a real thing and taking hits is just part of the game.

It's ugly to say out loud but its true.  If we're gonna be deployed around the world then the American public better wrap its mind around that terrible truth.

3/2 in the defense @ ITX-18...pics by Lance Cpl. William Chockey

Out the Marine Corps microwave (the AAV) into God's blast furnace (the Mojave Desert).

ITX is nothing but a pain!

Now you understand why the official song (undeclared) of the Marine Corps is from Teen Titans Go!

Open Comment Post. May 18, 2018.

Blast from the past. USS Enterprise Class Battle Cruiser (sci-fi)..

Going thru my photo files this morning and ran across this.  It's so futuristic steampunk that it baffles the mind.

A helicopter sitting on its flight deck?

CIWS dotting the hull?

The ship itself points to the future but the flourishes practically yell a new steampunk just waiting to be unleashed (I wonder why others aren't doing more of this?).

Taking a moment of fantasy.

Why aren't hypervelocity guns portrayed in sci-fi more often?  When I think of powerful space weapons I can see them going before "photon" torpedoes!

USMC to receive its final UH-1Y at the end of 2018...

via Flight Global.

Bell Helicopter is set to finish deliveries of the UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter to the US Marine Corps by the end of 2018.

The USMC will continue to take deliveries of the Venom’s sister aircraft, the Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter, until 2022.

The Venom and the Viper are based on the Vietnam-era family of Huey helicopters, the UH-1 Iroquois and the derivative AH-1 Cobra. The modern variants share 85 percent of their parts including a common tail boom, engines, rotor system, drivetrain, avionics architecture, software and controls.

“This allows us to reduce our ownership costs and it reduces our footprint on board ships,” said David Walsh, programme manager for the UH-1. “Anytime you are on board a maritime ship space is at a premium.”

Story here. 

Wow.  So I guess part of my critique is proving false.  WTF am I talking about. The budget trainwreck of course.  I was high and to the right about nothing being cleared off the books and everything being pushed to the right.

With deliveries of the UH-1Y ending that means that at least one item is finished and the others can start getting knocked down.

Does that mean we're out of the woods?

Hell no it doesn't!

But it does mean that the problem is being worked which pleases me.

I can hate the plan.  I can think they're slow.  I can shout at the moon but one thing can't be denied.

They at least have a plan.

If you take the time to read the article you'll also note that they're embarking on a series of upgrades.  This also pleases.  I'm still wrapping my head around the UAV "benefit thing" but if they can actually make it possible for UAVs to be controlled from UH-1Y's then the load on the Squad Leader might be reduced a bit, he still might get that UAV support and he should be able to focus on fighting his squad and keeping his people alive instead of concentrating on being a sensor node.

I like it.

When HQMC lays out what its doing instead of having us guessing and extrapolating stuff from articles I think they'll find they have massive support just waiting to beat the drum for them.

3/4 running the range @ ITX-18....major league suckage!

How hot and bright is it?  I'm not sure but I'd bet he has a filter on the lens!

I love the caption that they put on this pic.  "Running to the sound of chaos!"

Kinda stirs the soul doesn't it.

Young pups get raging hard ons thinking "Man that shit is cool...I want to do that!".

Of course reality doesn't hit till ya do it.

What does the pic actually show but the uninformed don't get?  This pic was taken in the freaking Mojave desert.  In case you don't know that region then trust me on this.  Full on summer is already there.  Sleeves are down.  Why? Because if you show those guns you work so hard in the gym to get you'll at best get the worst farmers tan of your life or at worst, sunburned so bad they actually might have to hospitalize you (plus its cooler...never understood that but it is).

More on the desert.  It's probably 100 degrees already with bouts of it almost hitting 110. 

Then there is the distance to the objective.

I don't know if those are simulated impacts or if they're real deal.  Doesn't matter to the infantry.  That's where you're going in full gear.

Most here know the deal so I'm not ruining a Recruiters time on the trail (hope you hit your mark...heard they have no sympathy if ya don't) so no foul.  But make no mistake.  The shit you see above sucks donkey dick.

The weird thing?

This is major league suckage but one of the best times of your life.

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