Occupy - Ranger Up Style

Posted By Blackfive • [January 17, 2012]

From the team at Ranger Up, here is a t-shirt that I think we can all agree represents a classic occupation:

Front

And the Back

Check it out (along with all the other awesome gear at Ranger Up).

Last word on the whiz kids

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [January 17, 2012]

I haven't said anything about the urination indignation, but tonight I heard the perfect commentary.

@NoahPollak Noah Pollak

Those dead Taliban really tied the room together.

Every time a dead Taliban is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the owner?

And yes, of course they were wrong, but that right there is one of the funniest things I have ever heard in my life.

One Veteran’s Struggle With the VA

Posted By McQ • [January 16, 2012]

Despite 10 years of war and demands by the American people that government take care of our veterans, the Veteran’s Administration still has a long way to go.

Airforce veteran Chis Short reports about his experience with the VA bureaucracy.

Election trumps security

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [January 16, 2012]

There is a nice big sanctions package against Iran's Central Bank just waiting for someone to use it. The problem is that someone is Barack Obama and he is running for re-election. The possibility of rising gas prices could interfere with that, so while Britain and France have done their sanctioning the US sits and waits. Oh and cancels military exercises, lest those cause the reasonable Iranians undue consternation.

The United States and Israel agreed to postpone a large joint military exercise from this spring to late in the year to avoid aggravating an already tense regional situation driven by conflicts with Iran, Israeli media reported Sunday.

I wonder if late in the year will be after the November election? As usual for the Obama team there are no strategic considerations, only political ones. So we waste more time and the Iranians enrich more uranium and the likelihood of an Israeli military strike against the Iranian nuke facilities goes up. Hurrah!

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dempsey is traveling to Israel to ask the Israelis to forego their own security, but I kinda doubt he is gonna hear what Obama wants from Bibi Netanyahu. Does anyone really believe that if Obama scores a job extension, that is when he will get tough with the Iranians? I don't and I am pretty sure the Israelis don't either. So we will keep plucking Iranian sailors out of trouble and wagging our fingers at the Mullahs, and they will keep the centrifuges spinning. My bet is that the delay of that exercise with Israel may be mooted when the Israelis decide the time for practicing has long past.

 

Rhino Den's "Three Drinks With" Don Wildman

Posted By Blackfive • [January 16, 2012]

Check this out.  Rhino Den's newest series is titled "Three Drinks With"...

Welcome to our newest series, Three Drinks With, where we sit down and toss back a few “beverages” with military-friendly celebs and pick their brains from our skewed view.

If Amelia Earhart and Sherlock Holmes had a love child it would be Don Wildman, who is quite possibly the most inquisitive, non-descript dude ever. The host of Travel Channel’s Off Limits and Mysteries at the Museum, Wildman has made a living off of exploring the mysteries, histories, and places most people won’t / can’t / make up excuses for why they shouldn’t go into...

Go read the whole interview.

A Design Exercise

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [January 15, 2012]

I'm sitting at a gun show with Mad Mike Williamson and discussing everything from his ideas on improving the infantry to weapons. I've also had the chance to walk around and drool a bit, all of which leads to this.

If you could pick and choose on a 7.62/.308 carbine (for purposes of the exercise just go with it as there are other threads for caliber debates) what would you make a part of it? Ceramic coatings? Advanced metallurgy? Advanced non-metallic materials? Does not have to conform to milspec, but could become the next generation of milspec. What, why, and is there anything out there even close to your ideal?

Discuss.

LW

MilNews --- all the news that’s fit to link

Posted By McQ • [January 13, 2012]

I thought I’d do something like this occasionally. A little news/blog aggregation for your perusal.  What do you guys think?

~What is China really spending on defense?  As the new focus of our “AirSea Battle” strategy, it would be nice to know:

China’s publicly announced military spending in 2011 was 601.1 yuan ($91.4 billion), representing an annual increase of 13 percent since 1989. But defense experts have long known that China hides its actual military spending. According to the Pentagon’s Annual Report to Congress, China’s real defense budget is likely upwards of$150 billion annually; however, “estimating actual PLA [People's Liberation Army] military expenditures is a difficult process due to the lack of accounting transparency” and the fact that “China’s published military budget does not include major categories of expenditure.”

Still, even the Pentagon’s figures, say military analysts, do not capture the full picture of China’s military spending because they do not take into account the so-called “purchasing power parity exchange rate,” which takes into consideration the relative difference in costs of production and labor between nations. When those factors are accounted for, reports the American Enterprise Institute, China’s actual level of military spending may well be over $300 billion, not China’s officially reported $91.4 billion. While experts agree that the purchasing power parity exchange rate is complex to calculate, when taken into consideration, the combined military spending of the next 10 nations far outstrip America’s defense spending.

~Representative Allen West presents a Vietnam Vet with his medals … including 3 Purple Hearts. 

~The chief of the “Skunk Works” talks about future aircraft – manned, unmanned, and my favorite, “optionally manned”:

 

 

~Speaking of drones, a very interesting study of their use, future and possible misuse has been released by the Congressional Research Services.  Some interesting reading.

~Is it time for the Marines to leave Okinawa? 

Hornung says that until recently he was a strong supporter of keeping Marines in Okinawa, but he’s now convinced other forces in the region could do the job.

“What are the Marines on Okinawa for? If you say they are there for deterrence, then you have to ask, deterrence from what?  If you are talking about China, then that would be the 7th Fleet.  If you are talking about North Korea, then I would say it’s the troops who are (based) in Korea,” Hornung says. “If you pull the Marines out, is that going to hurt Japanese national security or US national security? I don’t think so.

~Speaking of “optionally manned” the Army is developing the specs for its next generation helicopter.  Of course whether there will be any funds to build it remains a mystery:

Building a helicopter able to sustain speeds in excess of 170 knots, achieve an overall combat range greater than 800 kilometers (combat radius of 424 kilometers) and hover with a full combat load under high/hot conditions (altitudes of 6,000 feet and 95 degrees F) are among the many capabilities sought after for the JMR.

Plans for the next-generation aircraft also include having a degree of autonomous flight capability or being "optionally manned," successful weapons integration and compatibility, a core common architecture in terms of next-generation electronics, sensors and on-board avionics, manned-unmanned teaming ability and shipboard compatibility.

~Fact checking the President’s claim that our defense spending is the highest in the world.  Depends on what you’re using as the measure.

~Administration decides to pull two US Army Brigades out of Europe.  Why not all four?

~Iraq: the final handover?  US Special Forces prepare to leave.

~A couple of interesting analyses.  One of the new “strategy” and one which claims a “power grab” by President Obama in the Pentagon.

That ought to keep you busy for a while.  More when I gather enough links.

SmokeJumpers

Posted By Blackfive • [January 13, 2012]

Some of the bravest men that you will ever meet...thought this would be of great interest to our readers. Check this out!

 

The Nature of Warriors....

Posted By Deebow • [January 12, 2012]

I know we passed into the territory of the chickafication of America and pulled off on the exit where the libturds have managed to mount quite a surge in their retarded battle to destroy manhood.

But the warriors and the sheep dogs that still fight the battles and win the wars are not about to go quietly into the night.

By now, you have heard of the Marines on Youtube that are on tape giving a well deserved golden shower to some jihadi Talimonkeys, who I am quite certain had it coming.  Does it shock the conscience?  Take "Safe Search" off on Google and type in some of those words I just mentioned and see if your conscience is more or less shocked by what you find.  Maybe for some of the new castrati who probably had to reconcile their feelings regarding naked men and how they felt about the military in general...  And most of these new castrati know that this action is something you usually have to pay extra for.

But I digress...

Continue reading "The Nature of Warriors...."

Alaska Support

Posted By Blackfive • [January 12, 2012]

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy approaches the Russian-flagged tanker Renda while breaking ice around the vessel in the Bering Sea 97 miles south of Nome, Alaska, Jan. 10, 2012. The two vessels departed Dutch Harbor for Nome, Jan. 3, 2012. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis

Crew members aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy observe the Russian-flagged tanker Renda as it follows the Healy's trail through the ice in the Bering Sea, Jan. 8, 2012. The 420-foot, Seattle-based cutter was escorting and assisting Renda on its mission to deliver more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel to Nome, Alaska. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Benjamin Nocerini

 

 

Alaska Army National Guardsmen clear the roof on a building in Cordova, Alaska, Jan. 9, 2012. The Guardsmen moved people into the area to clear roads, roofs and boats after a series of winter storms dropped nearly 18 feet of snow in the region. U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Balinda O’Neal

MerChedes? Really?

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [January 12, 2012]

(For those of you who have missed the angry Uncle J.....he's back for a guest appearance.)

Dear Mercedes Benz,

F**k you! Seriously you thoughtless, barbaric, disgusting bastards, using Che Guevara as anything other than an example of the lowest form of humanity is disgraceful. And yet, there he is, bigger than life with the Mercedes logo on his beret.

And standing under the wretched visage of a psychotic, mass-murdering scumbag is the German head of a German car company. I emphasize the German part of this because the Germans, in the form of the Nazis, became a war machine of psychotic, mass-murdering scumbags and did their slaughtering with ruthless Teutonic efficiency. Let's hear what Dieter the Deutsche Douchebag has to say for himself.

"Some colleagues still think that car-sharing borders on communism," Mercedes-Benz Chairman of the Board of Management Dieter Zetsche said onstage at CES today, speaking about Mercedes' new CarTogether initiative. "But if that's the case, viva la revolucion!"

You have absolutely, positively got to be sh**ting me. This son of a bitch just managed to juxtapose the two most murderous ideologies of modern times all in the name of selling some cars. A progeny of the country that gave us National Socialist Fascism- which managed to kill tens of millions including Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and additional millions of innocent civilians and let's not forget all of the allied troops who died shutting these vermin down- invokes the only other system which surpassed their own in slaughtering vast swathes of humanity, Communism. And to make it even more wretchedly vile, he uses as an icon a man who killed hundreds of political prisoners personally by shooting them in the back of the head while a member of Cuba's murderous regime. FFS, how in the name of all that is decent did someone not take Dieter and the rest of the Mercedes Uber-Menschen out back for a well-deserved horse-whipping when they hatched this idiotic idea?

I could continue this rant, but what would be the point? This is such an outrageous and egregious assault on human morals that I will end as I began, F**k you Mercedes! Oh and maybe a tiny piece of advice (from the BLACKFIVE shirts I designed) that someone should have beaten into your empty skulls.

 

From The Thunder Run to Home...

Posted By Blackfive • [January 12, 2012]

US Army Col. Eric Shwartz led the attack into Baghdad, now known as the 'Thunder Run.' He looks back on his service, and the toll the long fight has taken on American families.

I hope Colonel Schwartz is correct about Iraq.

Exploding Iranian nuclear scientists

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [January 11, 2012]

Someone is purposely killing Iranian scientists, or perhaps as Jonah Goldberg suggests they have become the Spinal Tap drummers of the regime. Either way, it is good news for the rest of the planet.

According to press reports, another Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in a bomb attack:

The bomb assassination of an Iranian atomic scientist on Wednesday will not stop “progress” in Iran’s nuclear programme, Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi told state television. “Today (Wednesday) those who claim to be combatting terrorism have targeted Iranian scientists. They should know that Iranian scientists are more determined than ever in striding towards Iran’s progress,” he said. He called Wednesday’s killing of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a deputy director of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility, “evidence of (foreign) government-sponsored terrorism.”

The list of suspects for this is rather short, starts with Moss and ends with ad. I wish I could include the US on the list, but I don't think that our current leadership considers the Iranians worthy of a gutsy call. I would love to be proven wrong on this as the most dangerous destabilizing thing I can imagine is a nuclear-armed Iran.

Unfortunately that sentiment is not shared by President Obama, or if it is he does a magnificent job of hiding it. He began his attempts at rapprochement with the Mullahs shortly after his inauguration, sending love letters and making videos extolling his deep respect for their rapacity and oppression, their desire to show sweetness & light.

but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization."

"And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, it is your demonstrated ability to build and create," Obama says.

Yeah, how is that going for so far? Even the Russians have had to acknowledge that the Iranians are not playing straight. Economic sanctions are a piece of the puzzle, Ron Paul's foolish statments about them being acts of war aside. But that alone will not stop the madness. There is no good answer to this, but I think the more unexplained explosions the better.

Book Review: American Sniper

Posted By Froggy • [January 10, 2012]

In a world where somebody who has killed more than 250 people on the battlefield must either be PTSD addled suicide victim in waiting or an inhuman psychopath, Chris Kyle defies all logic.  There is no doubt that 4 SEAL deployments to Iraq, each one more intense than the last, is going to have an effect.  You will be changed.  But earning the distinction of the US Military’s most lethal sniper…in history is not the soul crushing, serial killer making deed that many civilians perceive it to be.  It’s actually kind of fun.  Most of the time.

 

Chris Kyle is a highly decorated West Coast Navy SEAL, king of all US snipers, and author of American Sniper.  I have been looking forward to diving into this book ever since I heard he had written it because even though I don’t know Chris, I have heard dozens of his harrowing combat stories from many of the guys he served with.  Unlike Marcus Lutrell who has one big crazy SEAL story, that I essentially live blogged at the time and has already been a bestselling book and now Peter Jackson movie, Chris Kyle stories are legion in the Teams.  He truly is a living legend, and he is just one of those guys whose initiative met with skill in the presence of opportunity and he made the most of it. 

 

Thankfully, Chris touches only briefly on SEAL training as just about everybody has seen the Discovery Channel specials already, and if you want to dig deeper than that you should probably just enlist and find out for yourself.  His book reads more or less like a combat diary as he breaks each deployment down into individual operations and sometimes individual shots with little effort spent on orienting the reader to the larger context of the war or even the major objectives of the operation.  Some of this is to keep OPSEC issues at bay, but by the end of the book it is clear that he isn’t in Iraq for some typical reason like “fighting for our freedom”, he’s there because he enjoys killing savages.  That’s it.  Sure he likes being a SEAL.  He’s probably ten times as patriotic as your average American.  But at the end of the day, he feels that his personal ministry (he doesn’t use that term) is to destroy evil from 600m out. 

 

When I went on the Horses for Heroes trip last summer, there were two amazing young soldiers named Mongo and Ryan who had both been badly wounded and highly decorated in Afghanistan.  Those two guys would easily and readily comprehend Chris’ point of view, but most readers will not.  I understand it from the cultural standpoint of being a SEAL with some minimal combat experience, but not in the way Mongo and Ryan and Chris live it.  That is the true value of this book aside from reading some amazing tales of combat and long range shooting.  If you want to read a brutally honest exposition of what it is that drives warriors to do what they do, told in an informal and conversational manner this book really cannot be beat.  I have to warn you though, because his motivations and perspective are so foreign to most people that it will be very difficult to comprehend or to place yourself in the story as I like to do when I read.  On the other hand, you will come away with a much deeper appreciation for the sacrifices that our warriors make, and that is certainly something that all of us can benefit from. 

 

Nice View

Posted By Blackfive • [January 10, 2012]

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Madison DeLoach observes the terrain during a routine flight operation in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 5, 2012. DeLoach is a crew chief assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 363. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Robert R. Carrasco.