President Biden broke that faith with us, he spoke the unspeakable to Trump in a pathetic and vain attempt at bringing Trump to his knees. Biden lied about what he said, and that is the first insult. The president made the decision to pull out of Afghanistan the way he did, even against the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs and the commanders on the ground. Biden unilaterally decided to pull out haphazardly and recklessly, which resulted in 11 United States Marines, one Navy Corpsman, and another Army soldier killed in a suicide bomber blast that wounded dozens more on that August day in 2021. To this day, Biden's response to the criticism is blase at best, but the facts still remain, he lost 13 American troops that day. Then in January of this year, two U.S. Navy SEALs were initially listed as missing but later confirmed as killed in action as they were attempting to board a vessel at night that was carrying illegal weapons. Three more American Soldiers were killed in an Iranian-backed Hezbollah drone strike on their base in Jordan.
President Biden has had at least 18 United States servicemembers killed in action in the past three-plus years since he has been in office. I do not know what makes that lie worse; the fact that he legitimately forgot about them would show he truly doesn't care. Or the fact that Biden hates Trump so much that he will say whatever it is he needs to say, as long as it makes Trump look horrible. I think it is both and more. //
President Biden was not acting in good faith when he said what he did. He was showing his true colors and that he is a hateful, disgusting old man who needs to step down and or aside. He is not in full control of his faculties, and he is, by far, one of the worst commanders-in-chief that this nation has ever had. //
GBenton
7 hours ago
Biden's biggest lie is that he won in 2020, but beyond that, the current biggest lie is that Trump is the liar.
Biden and the Dems and the media are proven liars.
Trump told nothing but the truth during the debate and all the hoaxes have proven to be lies.
DEI is big business in the federal government. Since Joe Biden took office, the Department of Defense budget for what it calls "DEI projects" has risen each year, from $68 million in fiscal year (FY) 2022, $86.5 million in FY 2023, to now $114.7 million in FY 2024. So, what are the tax dollars of the American people paying for? //
Scott Adams
@ScottAdamsSays
·
Follow
The US military recruitment problem is entirely due to white men no longer joining.
DEI did that.
Let’s not pretend it was something else.
12:41 PM · Jun 15, 2024 //
The U.S. military should only be merit-based for one reason. So that America's most skilled, talented, capable fighting men and women are ready at a moment's notice to defend a country they have been taught to love. //
@amuse
@amuse
·
Follow
DEI: Most Americans have no idea what the last four years has done to our military - it is in shambles. The hardchargers skilled at killing people and breaking thing have been labeled 'toxic' and purged. The focus now is on diversity over skill or capabilities. Show more
10:01 AM · Jun 25, 2024 //
anon-608f C. S. P. Schofield
6 hours ago
Let's not pretend this didn't begin with "equal opportunity" or "EEO officers". There is a class of, mostly, blacks and females whose only job and desire has been to create as much dissension within the ranks as possible while using federal law to make them appear invaluable.
I will say, if no one else, that the various civil rights acts, affirmative action, and EEO type nonsense was always going to result in this.
There is NOTHING inherent in a black, female, or any other privileged class which the military requires to fulfill its mission. That we are forced to pretend that there is is why the military has slowly been slipping from a "family business" where the current generation was preceded by- or serving along- another. Policing is suffering the same fate and it is NOT a positive development.
I certainly am not encouraging anyone to serve, and mine is a family with a history back to the War of 1812, at least.
The B-52 has been a stalwart of the U.S. Air Force since the 1950s. Eighty years after its introduction, the bomber is still relevant, with new variants planned to extend the airframe's service life for decades to come. Indeed, the B-52 will likely reach the 100 year mark of active-duty service.
When the B-52 first flew, aviation itself was only 50 years old, so as of today, the B-52 has been in the Air Force for more than half of the time that humans have been flying airplanes. Along the way, it has received consistent upgrades – to avionics, engines, weaponry, and more – allowing the 50s-era airframe to stay useful in a modern air force.
The B-52J is the latest iteration, with a new Rolls Royce F-130 engine that promises to improve fuel efficiency and stealth performance. It also brings a new radar system borrowed from the F/A-18 Super Hornet, as well as improved weaponry. //
That presents lots of options for un-aliving bad guys. Which, of course, is the whole purpose of the Air Force and all our armed forces, at least in the non-DEI world: to close with and destroy the enemy by fire, maneuver, and shock effect, or, in the case of the Stratofortress, bombing bad guys back into the Stone Age. //
War Planner
25 minutes ago edited
Thank you, Ward,
Almighty proud here! It's how I got my sobriquet: worked for USAF SAC DOCODW writing the SIOP (war plan) for these beasts. You know the safe you saw in Dr Strangelove? Yeppers, that's where my work product went every six months whether we needed it or not!
..kinda feel like Steve McQueen in Papillion on the raft floating out to sea, "I'm still here you bastards!"
Soldier on, Buffs*, soldier on! //
War Planner C. S. P. Schofield
19 minutes ago edited
SACism:
A B-52 is powered by engines that generate the horsepower of 100 railroad locomotives and is constructed with 25 miles of wire and enough aluminum to make 1,000 garbage cans.
..and it flies just like driving 100 locomotives hauling 1,000 garbage cans with 25 miles of wire!
Last month, the Secretary of the Air Force put on a flight suit and sat in the front seat of an F-16.
His F-16 spent an hour in the air, dogfighting with another Air Force fighter. His jet was piloted by AI. //
I was reminded of the scene from "2001: A Space Odyssey." Machines deciding what is right and wrong. //
jumper
16 minutes ago edited
Between a president that keeps threatening to use F-15's against us and a woke military that will absolutely fire on their own people we may as well take our chances with the computers.
But the reality is quite different. This isn't "AI" in the sense that it's sentient and self-determinant. It's adaptive software that eliminates the problems of the human in the aircraft. There would be hard-wired kill switches and all sorts of other safety measures that sci-fi tries to pretend is easily bypassed. Put it this way: the Chinese and the Russians will be designing their own UCAV's. We would be foolish to fall behind in this.
Mike Lee @BasedMikeLee
·
We
Will
Not
Draft
Women
I’m with @ChipRoyTX—this will happen over my dead body.
Patrick Webb @RealPatrickWebb
BREAKING: The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee's intends to require women to register for Selective Service as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY25.
11:45 PM · Jun 14, 2024. //
I don't see what adding women to Selective Service gets us beyond pushing the feminist and DEI agenda.
My argument against drafting women is a cultural one. Healthy societies that aren't in extremis don't force their young women to go off to war. I'd argue that just like dying cultures send their women out to be prostitutes, healthy cultures balk at forcing young women into the military. But that boat has already sailed. Healthy societies don't have a 41 percent out-of-wedlock birthrate. Healthy societies don't surgically mutilate kids. Healthy societies focus on family formation and they don't treat random homosexual pairings the same as marriage. We obviously are not a healthy society and this surrender to the false god of sexual equality just lets us know the war to save our culture has been lost.
Senator Mike Lee has announced his opposition.
Alternative historical fiction is a popular genre in America, where readers explore possibilities such as Napoleon deciding not to invade Russia or a Confederate victory in the Civil War, pondering the hypothetical impact on world history. In honor of Maritime Day 2024, let's consider what would have happened if the United States had fought the Second World War without a strong Merchant Marine and the tens of thousands of courageous mariners who delivered crucial supplies, troops, and weapons across dangerous waters.
It's clear: we would have lost the war or failed to achieve a decisive victory.
During WWII, an estimated 250,000 mariners served, and nearly 10,000 gave their lives, resulting in a higher per capita casualty rate than any of the armed services. Over 700 Merchant Marine ships were sunk by enemy attacks, and hundreds of mariners were held as prisoners of war.
FDR recognized the indispensable role of the Merchant Marine, which he considered the "fourth arm of defense" on par with the navy, army, and air force.
As we observe current global instability and brutal Eurasian conflicts, who will be the visionary leader and advocate who ensures the readiness of our Merchant Marine for the challenges ahead? Its current state is far from adequate. //
The distinction between admirals, generals, and media commentators who freely opine on strategy and theory neglects or casually assumes away the hard reality of logistics. Lately, the strategists have not fared well in deterring conflicts, and the logistic shortcomings in Ukraine and the Middle East are glaring. While those deficiencies are apparent, they pale in comparison to a potential war in the Pacific.
Policymakers properly acknowledge China as the pacing threat, but so few seriously consider the critical importance of logistics and the availability of highly trained and militarily obligated maritime personnel. Decades of war in the Middle East have conditioned us to the luxury of uncontested sea and airspace. We enjoyed large support bases close to combat operations. Our fleet had uninterrupted access to intact and secure port facilities. //
The People's Liberation Army knows that sealift is key to our success. While many debate the vulnerability of our aircraft carriers, they gloss over that our combat power will be short-lived without robust sealift and persistent combat logistics in a war at sea.
Regrettably, we are no longer a true maritime nation; we are now a naval nation.
China, now a bona fide maritime nation, has made significant investments in its merchant fleet and can call on over 5,000 merchant vessels during war. The US has around 80. We must expand our commercial fleet to align with our strategic interests. That means acquiring more ships and enhancing our ability to build, maintain, and quickly repair them. Above all, we cannot prevail without a significant number of merchant marine officers who are ready and obligated to serve the nation when called upon.
Hugh Brennan
11 hours ago
Sadly, our woke military and political command destroyed one of Arlington's most remarkable memorials this year. They dismantled Sir Moses Ezekiel's Civil War Confederate- Reconciliation memorial. Sir Moses ( knighted by the King of Italy) was a world famous sculptor, the first Jewish VMI graduate, and a veteran of the famous New Market charge of the VMI cadets. Due to the BLM/Floyd mania of 2020 that did so much harm, the memorial he had created and which stood over his grave and the grave of hundreds of Americans who were Southerners by birth and loyalty has been destroyed. I'm a thoroughgoing Yankee, but my history lessons taught me to respect the Southern soldier, and that grave desecration, the destruction of art, and the reneging on the post-war reconciliation movement are all crimes of people with low moral standards. It is so much harder to create something beautiful than it is to destroy it. Lincoln would never have done it. //
There was a stunning video I now cannot find that shows pictures of all the American military cemeteries in Europe - France, Luxemburg, Italy, etc. More than I knew, thousands of young men resting where they died, not sent home. The sacrifices of Americans for the freedom of others is stunning and unique in the history of the world.
Donald Trump plans to use special operations forces assassination squads to wage war on Mexican drug cartels if he's elected president. //
About a quarter million US citizens die each year from overdoses of drugs brought into the US by Mexican cartels. This indirect cost is on top of the 30,000+ annual cartel-related murders. //
I think adopting a strategy the Romans used to defend the frontiers of the Empire makes a lot of sense.
When Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in December 2018, the CIA concluded that drug groups controlled about 20 percent of Mexican territory. By 2022, the US Northern Command concluded that up to 35 percent of Mexico was under direct control of drug cartels. That does not seem like success. If that trend line continues, Mexico will be a narco-state within four years. The drug cartels directly employ about 170,000 people, making it that nation's fifth largest employer. If you consider people who make a living supplying goods and services to the cartels, they are probably the most significant economic engine in Mexico. //
With it becoming more evident by the day that the Chinese government is working hand-in-glove with the cartels to ensure fentanyl wreaks havoc in America, it has come time to recognize that we are facing a military problem, not a law enforcement problem. //
Our southern border is with a failed state. Its government can't enforce its laws, and it isn't a useful partner for keeping our border secure. Where the law ends, lawlessness flourishes. The situation here is no different from piracy in the 17th-century Caribbean ... //
... we can use the doctrine of Hostis humani generis to raise the cost of doing business for drug cartels and staunch the slaughter of millions of Americans in the process. //
ConservativeInMinnesota
12 hours ago
Drugs kill far more Americans than all of our wars ever have. We lost around 58,000 in Vietnam and 418,000 in WW2. We’ve been losing more than 100,000 Americans a year to just Fentanyl since 2021.
We went to war over 3000 deaths on 9/11 and 2400 in Pearl Harbor. How many Americans do we let drug cartels kill before we decide it’s time to shut them down?
One can only speculate as to why Biden Inc. would try to reclassify National Guard units to the Space Force, but it seems more than coincidental that more than a dozen Republican governors have sent state National Guard soldiers to help cope with the disastrous Biden border since 2021. Hmm.
One way for Biden to stop that upstaging and embarrassment is to simply move those personnel into the Space Force and prevent them from helping at the border.
The United States Navy's continued investment in aircraft carriers, notably the Ford-class, amidst evolving global military dynamics and emerging threats, particularly from anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) systems developed by adversaries like China, poses strategic and financial challenges. //
Of course, these aircraft carrier arguments are eerily similar to the ones made by proponents of battleships 80 years ago.
Back then, it was the battleship that was the centerpiece of US Navy power projection and the aircraft carriers that were viewed as strange ancillary elements in the fleet. //
First, it will need more Virginia-class attack submarines. Second, it will need to develop arsenals of sophisticated underwater unmanned vehicles (UUV) as well as advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Third, the Navy needs to invest in its own hypersonic weapons capacity. Fourth, Navy resources need to be put into directed-energy weapons (DEW).
All these other expenditures, such as trying to replace the 10 Nimitz-class carriers with 10 Ford-class carriers when the Nimitz-class still has decades of service left, is one such example of wastefulness on the part of the Navy.
The chaplains say the Department of Defense continues to defy a 2023 law rescinding its Covid vaccine mandate. //
“The Department of Defense is hostile to religion,” said the chaplains’ lawyer, Art Schulcz, who is also a veteran. He said the way the DOD handled the vaccine mandate has contributed to the military’s recruiting crisis by repelling recruits and current soldiers with serious faith convictions. In response to ongoing shortfalls, U.S. military branches are lowering enlistment standards and issuing waivers of risk factors such as marijuana use.
The U.S. military’s chaplains “recruiting deficit is extreme,” wrote Rear Adm. Gregory Todd, the Navy’s chief of chaplains, last year.
On October 31, 2023, humanity discovered the history of war in Space. The interception of the warhead of a Yemeni medium-range ballistic missile by an Israeli Arrow-3 missile became the first combat operation to take place outside the earth’s atmosphere.
This is also the first time that a medium-range ballistic missile has been destroyed by an anti-missile missile in a real combat situation. All previous cases of interception of ballistic missiles were interceptions of short-range ballistic missiles or generally operational-tactical ones. An intermediate-range ballistic missile is a much more difficult target because it flies faster and follows a higher trajectory. Actually, this was also the first time a medium-range ballistic missile was launched in a real combat situation.
Israeli missile defense has successfully completed the task. Yemeni missile was destroyed outside the atmosphere; her load, whatever it was, dissipated harmlessly tens of kilometers above the ground. In the confrontation between the ballistic sword and the anti-missile shield, the first round was left to the defense.
Fascinating analysis of the use of drones on a modern battlefield—that is, Ukraine—and the inability of the US Air Force to react to this change.
The United States Marine Corps’ Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1) spends most of its time trialing and evaluating new hardware, weapons, and software updates for Marine aircraft. In between all of those testing events, leaders at the squadron came up with an organic effort to bring in all of their assets for an ongoing test event with a heavy focus on Expeditionary Air Basing Operations (EABO) which is a major initiative that could prove essential to winning a war in the Pacific.
The unidentified drones were such an issue that assets were called in from around the government, including a NASA WB-57 high-altitude jet.
byJoseph Trevithick, Tyler Rogoway| PUBLISHED Mar 15, 2024
Langley Air Force Base, located in one of the most strategic areas of the country, across the Chesapeake Bay from the sprawling Naval Station Norfolk and the open Atlantic, was at the epicenter of waves of mysterious drone incursions that occurred throughout December.
This is a full posting of the short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It is titled “Superiority”. “Superiority” is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1951. It depicts an arms race, and shows how the side which is more technologically advanced can be defeated, despite its apparent superiority, because of its own organizational flaws and its willingness to discard old technology without having fully perfected the new.
You ought to do your self a favor, if you never have, and listen to General Douglas MacArthur’s 1962 speech to the cadets at West Point shortly before his death explaining the meaning of Duty, Honor, Country:
gitarcarver | March 14, 2024 at 1:57 pm
According to West Point, the phrase “duty, honor, country,” was added to the mission statement in 1998 – a mission statement that has been changed 9 times over the last century.
That means the phrase has been around for only 26 of the 222 years (11.7%) West Point has been in existence.
How did West Point ever manage to train leaders like Lee, Grant, Pershing, the “Class the Stars Fell On,” Abrahms, Schwarzkopf, MacArthur, etc., without “duty, honor, country” being in the mission statement?
...
Finally, the “Character Development Strategy” at the USMA contains many statements such as this:
The West Point Character Development Strategy describes how, at all levels and across programs, the United States Military Academy (USMA) develops leaders of character who internalize the ideals of Duty, Honor, Country and the Army Ethic.
“Duty, Honor, Country” is being not removed from the core values at West Point.
Specifically, Conspirator A tasked Schultz with gathering information related to a variety of U.S. military weapons systems, including classified information, and information related to the United States’ potential plans in the event that Taiwan came under military attack. //
This arrest extends a disturbing pattern of relatively junior military personnel with access to classified information being successfully recruited by Communist China as spies. //
There is a problem somewhere. If we've busted four guys with security clearances selling low-grade information to the Chinese in six months, you can bet there are a lot more like them still operating. The counterintelligence for the motives for espionage is MICE: Money, Ideology, Coercion, and Ego. One can't help but wonder if an educational system that focuses on the evil America has done and is doing isn't producing an army of potential traitors at government expense.
The U.S. military has had its ups and downs, but since ending the draft half a century ago, it has been the most expertly trained and exquisitely armed force the world has ever seen. Even during the draft years immediately before World War II to the end of Vietnam, we paid for and usually got the best weapons and training the country could afford.
And unlike those militaries in all those shi*hole countries, our forces were apolitical. They didn’t serve a president or a party, but the country.
In the last several years, wokeness has come to infect our military just as it previously had our universities, news outlets, and the entertainment industry.
Our readiness now is about what you'd expect: “U.S. military is only ‘marginally’ prepared to defend America’s interests at a time when adversaries are ramping up military capabilities.”
I’ve begun thinking of our postmodern military not as a useless Woke Force but as a Third World military: a force that isn’t any good at fighting foreign wars but is perfectly suited for putting down domestic undesirables.
I’m back in that mood. Today’s AT&T cellular network meltdown was a reminder. It’s going down when we least expect it. //
tweet from Marco Rubio:
I don’t know the cause of the AT&T outage
But I do know it will be 100 times worse when #China launches a cyber attack on America on the eve of a #Taiwan invasion
And it won’t be just cell service they hit, it will be your power, your water and your bank. //
My prepping really hasn’t been for the “worst case scenario” – it’s been for the most likely bad scenario, mostly focused on energy grids on which we depend, and food. (I know, readers always tell me to focus on home defense, but that’s not something we talk about.) //
. it’s obvious that if we ever get in a hot cyber war with China they are taking down our electric grid as the first shot, and that will start everything spiraling downward. Of course our civilian infrastruture will be a prime target, and if this administration is too stupid to see that, we are in worse shape than I thought.