I'd be embarrassed to man the rails .... at least fake some type of battle damage!

 

I'd be embarrassed to man the rails .... at least fake some battle damage! This is beyond aesthetics.  This indicates something broken.  I'll leave it to the Navy guys to figure it out but the look is terrible.

One small caveat.

These guys were on a 215 day deployment.

Even with that though we know these ships pull into port and get serviced at various locations around the world so I just don't know.

If the hull is in this bad shape then can the vaunted electronics be functional? Are we looking at the naval equivalent of a beat up trashed car with a howling, super powerful, well kept engine under the hood?

Ford Bronco new vs old style...

 

This pic says it all to me when it comes to the new Ford Bronco.  I have the same model that you see in the background and can tell you its setup looks to be a clone to my own.  4in lift sitting on 33's.  Pretty basic for the model.  The new style wilderness firefighting model Bronco looks awesome but I think Ford messed up when they went with the Gen 1 look instead of using the baseline Ford F-150 to give us a Gen 3.

Yeah that's it.

They're giving us a dressed up prequel instead of moving the story forward!

That's why the new Bronco seems like a miss to me.  We've seen this before from Chrysler with some of their cars and how they were going with retro styling for awhile!

But what about Jeep you say?

They've done the "keep the classic" from inception and just do design tweaks. A jeep is a jeep is a jeep since at least 1980 and you really have to be a jeep guy to make out the differences.

America you have no idea what poor, mistreated and exploited really is...

DR Congo man :-( pic.twitter.com/k6W0jkONly

— Mwirigi 🇰🇪 (@Mwirigi) October 21, 2020

Yeah.  This is what poor, mistreated and exploited looks like.  Kinda makes you take a second look at that smartphone and other tech devices you have don't it (America's poor are rich beyond belief to many parts of the world...some of those places are in our own hemisphere...oh and don't get started about that being a reason to support illegal immigration...that's another type of exploitation just with a happy face put on it).

This ladies and gentlemen is why I predict the next major battle will take place in Africa and not the Pacific.

Make no mistake.

China will be there...or more likely, initially supporting a proxy force against us, but the big fight will be in Africa and it will be over resources.

The weird thing is that we've talked about how the stars are lining up for all this but the Pentagon doesn't seem to be able to put it together.

You have Northern African nations already fighting over water.

You have Islamic radicals already terrorizing populations.

Lastly you have nations all over the globe tightening the reigns on the export of their precious minerals.

The sad thing for those little boys (don't want to even imagine what is happening to their little sisters) is that they'll probably graduate from being exploited in cobalt mines to being exploited on future battlefields. 

1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division conduct a mechanized raid with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion during their Marine Corps Combat Evaluation (MCCRE)

 

This is curious.  Let's review what Berger's told us...

*  Amphibious Assault is something that the Marine Corps no longer does.

*  Land combat is something that the Marine Corps no longer does.

*  He's shedding land combat power at an alarming rate, acquiring more UAVs, unmanned ground vehicles (to launch missiles at ships) and has stated that the Marines will act as the eyes of the joint force in the Pacific.

This has to be window dressing.

It doesn't fit with his vision of the future (neither LAR or AAV/ACV) and yet we see this?

Gotta be maintaining an "interim" capability while they make the transformation to irrelevancy.

HMS Prince Of Wales sprung a big leak in it's engine room...

Free flood on board the Navy's newest aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. Second leak in 4 months. pic.twitter.com/oLsFTbArg0

— Jerome Starkey (@jeromestarkey) October 16, 2020

Really can't bang on the Brits with this one.  I don't know what the disease is that is affecting all the navies of the West but we seem to be missing a step in ship design, maintenance and perhaps even seamanship.

They'll get it fixed.  Too much money and national prestige is at stake.

So the bigger question is how do the navies of the Western world get their act together under extreme budget pressure?

Ships are seemingly costing more, are more complex, and yet at the same time more fragile. 

The sea is unforgiving and if you can't even keep the damn things painted then how can you really expect to fight a war?

The initial batch of prototype Infantry Support Vehicles (ISVs) for the US Army is expected to be delivered this month

 

Geez!  The US Army is not bullshitting.  That was fast!  Can't wait to see them in action.  Story from Shepard Media here.

U.S. 5GAT drone ready for first test flight

 

Story here.

Unbelievable. They actually relieved that General for using a racial slur.

 via ABC (read the full story here...this caught my attention).

The Marine Corps confirmed at the time that it was aware of the allegations and that appropriate actions, "regardless of rank," would be taken if the allegations were substantiated.

According to an updated Stars and Stripes article published on Tuesday, Neary was at an outdoor physical training event for Marines at his headquarters where music was being played over loudspeakers. A witness to the incident told Stripes that after hearing some of the musical artists use a racial slur, Neary asked junior Marines nearby how they would feel if he used the word.

The witness told Stars and Stripes that his comment stunned the young Marines who said that even if Neary "was attempting to be instructive about the taboo nature of the word, it came as a shock to hear it from a white general officer."

FUCK ME.

I seriously screwed the pooch on this one.  Should have known better.  So pissed about some other stuff that I didn't wait to get the full story on this.

Full disclosure.

It irks the living hell outta me to hear a kid with his music on full tilt boogey and he's broadcasting his stuff for the world to hear and it full of cussing and yeah...the fucking "N" word.

Am I shocked about it?  Nope.  But I am aware of the history and to be actual and factual with rap music crossing over to all races/creeds and with the word being used so heavily in the music I've personally wondered how powerful is the slur or how can it be considered hateful when its used with so much ease.

I've pounded on Berger relentlessly.

BUT THIS WAS A TOUGH CALL.  I can't even doubt him on this.  That could even be considered a fair question for that General to ask.

FUCK ME.  I got this one all wrong.  I assumed and I definitely made an ass of myself.

The even weirder thing?  They were trying to be inclusive by broadcasting rap music at this PT event.  Ain't that a kick in the fucking pants? Dude was trying to do the right thing and ended up with an oh shit moment.

FUCK ME. 

Massive sidenote.  Yeah.  I was pounding my soapbox for this guy to be removed and yeah....I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about.

Can we please put the idea of firing artillery from ships to bed forever?

 

Modest proposal to my readers.

Can we please put the idea of firing artillery from ships to bed forever?  

The problem as I see it is that no matter what ship or landing craft you decide to bastardize to do this task it is going to be less than suboptimal.

The only way this has ever worked (EVER) is by modifying a Landing Craft Tank (ROCKET) and using it to do the deed.

Could we do that today?  I don't see the platform where it would make sense. From an LHD/LHA?  It wouldn't work with the Marine Corps we know and love and it certainly doesn't fit with Berger's abomination.

A modern day LCM?  Maybe but it would be better used to get vehicles ashore in the Old Marine Corps and in the new one I don't even know if they'll be in service much longer.

JHSV?  Nope.  Too fragile.  Army landing craft?  That's a possibility but I'm betting they're looking to do a "one up" on the Missile Marines and get their own ship killing MLRS ashore so they'll be tied up doing missions too.

There is one thing that gives me pause.

I seriously doubt the Missile Marines or the US Army will be able to do the Expeditionary Operating Base/Forward Operating Base or whatever they want to call it from all of these notional areas they're hoping for.

China has been working the politics of this thing for awhile now.

There isn't ONE Asian nation that will allow us to use their land to fire on the Chinese least they get drawn into the conflict.  

Which means that the US Army might decide to float some of their landing craft with a few HIMARS to do the "distributed operations" thing tucked in close to the Japanese mainland (maybe S. Korea but I doubt it), provide their own anti-air cover (integrated with the Navy and Air Force of course) while taking shots at the Chinese Navy and then puttering away at 20 or so knots to rearm/refuel and do it again...all while dogging enemy targeting.

But the Navy/Marine Corps tying up a landing craft for that type thing?  

Not happening.

Open Comment Post. 21 Oct 2020

 

The Call....

 Fiction.

Stuck out in bumfuck Egypt Louisiana.  Routine patrol.  Call comes in.  Minor disturbance at such and such address.

Roll out.

Arrive at location.

Dispatch got it wrong.  Man inside refuses to leave.  Call for backup.  They're coming but they're about 15 minutes away.  Situation appears contained.  No need to bump it.  Then...

Shit goes from stupid to batshit crazy.

Woman screaming for help.  Shouting from a male voice.  Tell dispatch to bump it up to code 3. Shift Lt wants to know what's going on.  Give him a brief rundown (30 seconds max...he knows how to listen)  15 minutes will now become 5 cause these bubbas will know backwoods roads I don't even know exist and will be blasting my way doing 130.

No time to wait.  Gotta nutt up.  I trained for this most of my adult life.  I'm fit, lethal and know my shit.

Gotta go.

No time to wait.  It's up to me.

FUCK MY LIFE!  I have seconds to decide and the local media will be taking days to see where I messed this up.

Fuck it.  

I kick the door....

Terrex 2 is alive in Africa?

 

via Army Recognition

According to information published by Defence Web on October 16, 2020, Ghana has approved the purchase of 19 wheeled armored vehicles from the Israeli company Elbit Systems.

Citing Defence Web, In terms of the agreement, Israeli company Elbit Land Systems will supply nine 8×8 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) equipped with Elbit Systems UT30 30 mm remotely operated turrets. The order includes ten 6×6 IFVs fitted for reconnaissance operations.

 Currently, Ghana armed forces are equipped with 3 EE-9 Cascavel, 24 Ratel-90 with 90mm cannon, 15 Ratel-20 with 20mm cannon, 4 Piranha with 25mm cannon, 5 Type-05P 25mm, 46 first version of Piranha 8x8 armored vehicles.

 There is no information about the type of vehicle that will be delivered to the Ghana armed forces, but Elbit Systems has developed the Sentinel an 8x8 armored vehicle based on the Terrex 2 designed by ST Kinetics of Singapore.

The Sentinel is an 8x8 armored reconnaissance vehicle jointly designed and developed by the Companies ST Kinetics of Singapore and Elbit Systems Australia. Team Sentinel, led by Elbit Systems of Australia (ELSA), offered the Sentinel II for the Australian Land 400 Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Capability (MCRC) request for tender.

 The Sentinel is an integrated combination of Terrex 2 8x8 armored vehicle personnel carrier, the Elbit Land System's MT30 30mm turret. Featuring high first-round and burst hit probability, the dual-axis stabilized UT30 is designed for firing on the move and at moving targets.

The Sentinel II is based on the Terrex 2 armored vehicle personnel carrier using hull and powerpack components. The hull of the vehicle is of all-welded steel armor construction to which an additional layer of passive armor can be added for a higher level of battlefield survivability.