Politics

[Tanks]

MTG wearing the red MAGA hat, and staring down Biden.
I like that little spitfire.

MTG along with Lauren Boebert is GOP's AOC. They all have about room temperature IQ.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

@Tanks ... That's a chilly room.

 

[Corey0372]

SOF raids, which he was suggesting, and if adequately supported, could do some real damage - human damage rather than materiel damage.

SOF would be better employed by focusing on the materiel. If you dropped SOF teams into the Houthi's backyard and killed 5,000 (even 10 or 15k) of their fighters and managed to not lose all the US guys it likely wouldn't stop the ships from being hit in the Red Sea. The Houthi movement isn't ISIS, there's a lot more of them, and trying to start an unconventional warfare campaign in the territory they control isn't likely to succeed, because they have pretty good support from the population within that territory.

 

[Red Leg]

SOF would be better employed by focusing on the materiel. If you dropped SOF teams into the Houthi's backyard and killed 5,000 (even 10 or 15k) of their fighters and managed to not lose all the US guys it likely wouldn't stop the ships from being hit in the Red Sea. The Houthi movement isn't ISIS, there's a lot more of them, and trying to start an unconventional warfare campaign in the territory they control isn't likely to succeed, because they have pretty good support from the population within that territory.

I think they could be very effective at targeted raids against specific leadership targets. They would be my, or any other military leader's, last choice to take on masses of troops in pitched battle.

 

[Corey0372]

I think they could be very effective at targeted raids against specific leadership targets. They would be my, or any other military leader's, last choice to take on masses of troops in pitched battle.

There's been successes (and failures) against AQAP leadership in Yemen in this capacity, but that's mostly because there isn't that many AQ, and everyone whos not AQ hates AQ (to include the Houthis as I'm sure you're aware). The problem with targeting Houthi leadership is most of the Houthi leadership is going to be with a mass (using that term loosely) of troops. They know we can reach them inside Yemen, because they've seen us reach AQ leadership. You could get lucky trying to hit them coming to or from Sanaa, but they would just replace the leadership. I'd wager it's harder for them to replace their materiel capabilities than commanders. The better long term solution to dealing with Houthis as a movement is probably to continue to let the UAE and Saudis work the problem.

 

[Corey0372]

https://warontherocks.com/2024/03/o...ary-is-failing-to-adopt-the-next-machine-gun/

Interesting article on the drone saga, friend of mine says it's pretty spot on

 

[Red Leg]

https://warontherocks.com/2024/03/o...ary-is-failing-to-adopt-the-next-machine-gun/

Interesting article on the drone saga, friend of mine says it's pretty spot on

War on the Rocks is one of my bookmarks. I think the oped this is pretty accurate. We could build in quantity a HMMWV mounted, radar directed, automatic weapon small drone killer right now. Both EOS and GD among others have prototypes. It is essentially an easy adaption of remote weapon station technology. The fifty cal version kills out to 1500 meters which would be a a useful self defense system for the suicide variants if not the artillery spotting versions. Regrettably, no one, to date, can determine ownership. If an ADA asset, then the maneuver units are "supported" rather than owning the protective technology. If a maneuver asset, then resources currently scheduled for the direct fire fight have to be harvested for this effort. Also not a welcome scenario. The course of least resistance is to continue to "study" the problem hoping it will eventually go away.

 

[steve white]

Anyone keeping tabs on Transinistria and Russia's plans for Moldova?

 

[Corey0372]

We could build in quantity a HMMWV mounted, radar directed, automatic weapon small drone killer right now. Both EOS and GD among others have prototypes. It is essentially an easy adaption of remote weapon station technology. The fifty cal version kills out to 1500 meters which would be a a useful self defense system for the suicide variants if not the artillery spotting versions.

All for it... Im sure there's an application for this, but it doesn't help a unit being inserted via ospreys or chinooks, the LMADIS solves some of this problem, but again with a logistics cost. Man portable versions need to be developed. This also wouldn't help in an urban environment.

The offensive applications are an area that has some serious shortfalls as well, for a number of reasons, ORM in training and development being one, and contracting bureaucracy being another one. Remember the nightmare that was the M17 adoption? This is that but way worse.

The other thing is being able to identify a friendly versus enemy drone. A constant issue in Ukraine is there's so many in the sky they sometimes don't know who's it is, and you don't necessarily want to shoot down the one the company next to you just put up to support their fire mission they're using to cover their guys movement to contact. But how long do you wait until you start blasting at it with your duck loads in the shotgun? Deconfliction between units would seem to be an obvious solution.. but what about the RF direction finding threat from the enemy? Maybe you can't get on the radio. Some type of RF signature could be developed that you could scan and identify, like a sort of ADSB, but that would also increase the signature of the UAV and perhaps you don't want it to be increased.

All this to say that with these things..... more is better for the aggressor. We need to make a lot of them. They have to be considered expendable, not something that if it goes down you're expected to go retrieve it like the old days.

 

[Corey0372]

They have to be considered expendable, not something that if it goes down you're expected to go retrieve it like the old days.

Funny story about this.......

So I don't know if it actually happened, but we had a SEAL platoon in the same AO as us in Afghanistan, and this is a story I heard through the grapevine. Apparently they had a Puma go down near a small village that was relatively friendly, when most UAVs crash you get a "last grid" reported back to you until the battery dies. Everyone would always write in Pashtun with a sharpie on the side of the Pumas that basically "if you find this, hold on to it or give it to an American and you will be rewarded with cash." So the SEALs send up a quick 5Ws to higher that they were going to go retrieve the Puma from a village known to be pretty friendly. They get approved and off they go.

When they get to the compound the Puma went down near, they set up a security perimeter and have the local Afghan police approach the house and ask to speak with the man of the house. One of the SEALs on security notices the Puma was hanging in a tree in the back courtyard. They speak with the man of the house and thank him and give him his reward money and retrieve the Puma. They told him....
"Thank you so much for keeping our equipment safe, but why did you put it in the tree?"

Again..... I don't know if this is true.... but apparently his response was

"I didn't want other mice to steal it......."

 

[sestoppelman]

Lets put this one to bed.

To put a footnote on the story of the 320K illegals that Joe flew into the US FROM foreign countries, NOT US AIRPORTS, even SNOPES says that part is TRUE. They do also say that a number of other assertions that I was not even aware of or made mention of are not true.

But the basic point of the story is TRUE, Biden did fly 320K illegals into the country from their homes from outside the US, but they were 'vetted', and had 'sponsors' and so on if you believe all they say in the SNOPES piece, which may or may not be true, SNOPES is decidedly bent left, and I am sure they found it VERY painful to admit that the info gained via the FOIA is TRUE in as far as the basic assertion goes.

So I stand by the news story(s) I posted with the basic claim, its true, the rest is up to the individual to believe or not, if they believe whatever source suits them.

MSN

 

[hyipl]

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[Altitude sickness]

Man, what a divisive, political State of the union speech.

Since he is such a phony. He should have at least acted like a moderate and went after the Haley voters.

Instead a positive vision for the future of the country. He started off with reminding us that his weakness, while Putin was building on the Ukrainian border enabled the Ukraine war.

Then he yelled at everybody the rest of the speech.

I sure would like to get my hands on whatever they jack him up with. Whatever it is, it’s probably being backpacked in across the southern border.

 

[bob meadows]

As long as the GOP does NOT have the votes they will get rolled over, it has nothing to do with being nice. To quote Obama: "Elections have consequences". None of the school yard posturing makes a bit of a difference. However, it does not endear them to independent voters.

that is a true point......however, from my time on earth I have come to the conclusion that anybody that votes demo would probably never vote repub anyway. voting for the party of drag queens in schools, all the woke bs, the continued illegal destruction of our country etc......pretty much stems from the dem side of things. the repubs are not shining knights in armor by no means either. I will never understand how anyone could/would vote dem .......bob

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

This is the State of the Union that I want to hear:

.

I think Robert Kennedy Jr. is the smartest of any of this year's candidates for US President.
Some may consider him to be some sort of "wack job" but I've been accused of that myself

If RFK Jr. becomes the Libertarian Party candidate, he may have a chance at getting elected.

RFK Jr. signals he’s open to running as Libertarian in 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signaled he is open to running as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2024 as he continues his quest of getting on the ballot in all 50 states come November. During his app…

thehill.com

 

[Altitude sickness]

On the Iranian backed Houthi rebels.

Since we’ve been the worlds police for decades and want to control the sea lanes,

we need to decide if we’re going to continue to do that and if we are, we need to take the gloves off and turn Yemen into the Gaza Strip

hammer them until they have no food or water or infrastructure. We could take a lesson from Israel on how to wage a proper war.

Make the citizens hate the rebels more than they do us

that’s all they understand. We’re more concerned with how other nations will view us than winning military conflicts

My views are a good reason. I’m not the commander-in-chief and president.

 

[Brent in Az]

The typical vitriol I would expect from grifter Joe and the flying Monkeys.

 

[Hunt anything]

That was an angry old man last night.

 

[Brent in Az]

This is the State of the Union that I want to hear:

.

I think Robert Kennedy Jr. is the smartest of any of this year's candidates for US President.
Some may consider him to be some sort of "wack job" but I've been accused of that myself

If RFK Jr. becomes the Libertarian Party candidate, he may have a chance at getting elected.

RFK Jr. signals he’s open to running as Libertarian in 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signaled he is open to running as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2024 as he continues his quest of getting on the ballot in all 50 states come November. During his app…

thehill.com

Kennedy is a life long Democrat. He switched to independent last year, as he had no chance of running against Marxist Joe, and the the flying Monkey's were giving him grief for challenging Joe.

At the end of the day, he's still a Democrat.

 

[Red Leg]

Funny story about this.......

So I don't know if it actually happened, but we had a SEAL platoon in the same AO as us in Afghanistan, and this is a story I heard through the grapevine. Apparently they had a Puma go down near a small village that was relatively friendly, when most UAVs crash you get a "last grid" reported back to you until the battery dies. Everyone would always write in Pashtun with a sharpie on the side of the Pumas that basically "if you find this, hold on to it or give it to an American and you will be rewarded with cash." So the SEALs send up a quick 5Ws to higher that they were going to go retrieve the Puma from a village known to be pretty friendly. They get approved and off they go.

When they get to the compound the Puma went down near, they set up a security perimeter and have the local Afghan police approach the house and ask to speak with the man of the house. One of the SEALs on security notices the Puma was hanging in a tree in the back courtyard. They speak with the man of the house and thank him and give him his reward money and retrieve the Puma. They told him....
"Thank you so much for keeping our equipment safe, but why did you put it in the tree?"

Again..... I don't know if this is true.... but apparently his response was

"I didn't want other mice to steal it......."

Definitely need to sort this out soonest.

Warning - rather graphic

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1b9od89