This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Military issues

  • Soldier from Army’s Golden Knights parachute team killed in plane crash

    Soldier from Army’s Golden Knights parachute team killed in plane crash

    Army Times reports:

    A member of the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team was one of four people killed Saturday in a small plane crash in Swainsboro, Georgia, officials said.

    Staff Sgt. Aliaksandr “Alex” Bahrytsevich, 31, most recently served as a demonstrator on the Golden Knights Black Demonstration Team, the team announced on its Facebook page.

    “Alex was extremely passionate about the sport of skydiving and always sought opportunities to coach and mentor other members of the team,” the Golden Knights said in the Facebook post. “Originally from Belarus, Alex served the U.S. Army with distinction and pride.”

    In all, four people were killed and another was seriously injured when the small plane crashed after takeoff at the East Georgia Regional Airport, the Associated Press reported.

    Bahrytsevich was off duty at the time of the crash.

     

  • Retiring Marine Chesty XIV seems unimpressed by FNG

    Retiring Marine Chesty XIV seems unimpressed by FNG

    The beloved Marine mascot Chesty XIV retired at a ceremony held at the Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., on Friday after five years of service to Corps. His last parade ceremony with the storied Marine Barracks will be held Friday night for the evening parade.

    Chesty XIV, named after five-time Navy Cross recipient Marine Lt. Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller, began his tour with the Corps in February 2013.

    His replacement, Chesty XV, was announced late March. The young bulldog puppy recruit has since graduated from recruit training and will take the helm as the Corps’ new mascot on Saturday, according to the Marine Barracks Washington.

    That’s about the same look I had when I attended my last Dog and Pony show.  It looks like they might still be using the same Colonel and SgtMaj for these horror shows but I didn’t have a Corporal to follow me around and clean up my sh##.   Poor Chesty has no idea what awaits him in retirement.  Wait until Mrs Chesty starts complaining about him laying around licking his ****’s all day.  Semper Fidelis Chesty, you ain’t out of the sh## yet bro.  Good luck to the FNG.

    The whole story is HERE.

     

  • China is Targeting US? No, really??

    Attention on deck! Listen up! It appears that China, our esteemed trading partner, and manufacturer of multiple hundreds of thousands of brands of US-bound electronics junk, is not only forming its very own Nuke Triad Club, but is also targeting our very own turf, the island of Guam.

    https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/08/17/pentagon-china-close-to-nuclear-triad-has-practiced-targeting-us/

    Ain’t that just sweet???  After all those stories about the Norks in Norkiland targeting the US’s left coast and Guam, now we have to worry about the Chinese doing it, too?

    From the article:

    “The Pentagon, for the first time, has publicly reported what commanders in the Pacific have known about, and kept a wary eye on, for some time: China is practicing long-range bombing runs against U.S. targets.

    “While the Defense Department annually reports on the rapid growth in capabilities of China’s air, land and sea forces, the 2018 report is the first to acknowledge the direct threat to U.S. territory.

    “Recent developments on China’s H-6K variant of its Badger bomber give the bomber “the capability to carry six land-attack cruise missiles, giving the PLA a long-range standoff precision strike capability that can range Guam,” the report said. It also acknowledged frequent bombing practice runs that U.S. commanders at the newly renamed U.S. INDOPACOM in Hawaii have watched expand in numbers and distance.”

    — Military Times article

    There is a link in the article to another article on how China has been practicing bombing runs against the USA territory of Guam. Now, that’s just rude.

    Here’s another link to an article regarding the proposed $716 billion DoD budget for FY2019. https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/08/20/this-week-in-congress-us-senate-debates-pentagon-spending-bill/

    Maybe we should stop sending our technology to China for manufacturing. You know, keep it close to the buttons on the front of your blouse or shirt.

    We did talk about that the other day: bringing all US manufacturing home to Mama, but no one brought up this very subject, which could have been addressed.

    I know it would run up the cost of the iPad for Applefans, but – well, they’re obsessed with Appletoys, anyway, and I’m so unimpressed with all of that stuff that I’m still using a 15-year-old computer.

  • Corporal with 73 years Time in Grade finally gets promoted to Sergeant

    Corporal with 73 years Time in Grade finally gets promoted to Sergeant

    There may be hope for some of you people.

    Marine vet finally promoted to sergeant 73 years later

     Cpl. Edgar Harrell floated in the shark-infested Pacific Ocean for four-and-a-half days.

    He swam aimlessly in the salt water — mixed heavily with black oil and blood — with a group of 80 other men who had jumped off the fiery USS Indianapolis after it has been torpedoed by the Japanese during the closing months of World War II.

    It was July 30, 1945, and it was 110 degrees. They had no water. Dehydration left their lips covered with sores and their tongues swollen.

    By the afternoon of the third day, the group dwindled to just 17 men. Shark fins and the torsos of those they had killed surrounded them. One would scream each time as they were pulled under, just for unrecognizable parts to bob back to the surface. Harrell prayed continually.

    A video of him explaining some of his experiences made 4 Years ago.

    “We have a saying that once a Marine, always a Marine. We might be a little late with this one,” Maj. Gen. Paul Kennedy said in the quick but emotional ceremony. “The Marines have been inspired by the legacy of (Harrell).”

    And in a moment not too soon, the three chevrons were at last pinned to Harrell’s jacket. The now sergeant turned to look at the group who stood and clapped for him.

    “Stay faithful,” he said simply, touching on his faith that he credits to have saved him at sea.

    I got no problem with him being promoted to Sergeant or any other rank for that matter,  Semper Fidelis Sergeant Harrell.

     

  • Trump is rolling back restraints on US cyberwarfare

    cyber war

    Wall Street Journal Link

    President Donald Trump has removed restraints on how and when the US can launch cyberattacks on its adversaries — and it could make attacks on other countries more likely.

    Trump signed an order earlier this week overturning a series of Obama-era rules, which defined a lengthy process of inter-agency approval before the US could launch cyber-offensives, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

    The Journal said one administration official briefed on the decision described the change as an “offensive step forward.” The change is meant to support military operations and deter foreign interference in US elections.

    The Trump administration is under pressure to show it is taking threats of foreign interference seriously in light of mounting evidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election.

    The Obama-era rules, known as Presidential Policy Directive 20, meant agencies that wanted to launch a cyberattack had to gain approval from groups across the federal government. This was to ensure that existing defense operations were not harmed by the launch of a new attack, but added levels of bureaucracy, slowing effective response time.

    The new policy applies to the Defense Department as well as other federal agencies, an administration official told The Journal. The person declined to say which other agencies would be affected.

    Sources did not tell The Journal which rules were replacing the Obama-era directive, citing the classified nature of the process; as The Journal pointed out, the Obama-era rules were classified as well and were made public only in the 2013 Edward Snowden leaks.

    More Obama era group-think bypassed, allowing rapid deployment of cyber warfare assets to attack against near real time adversaries.

  • Mad Dog wants more UCMJ

    Mad Dog wants more UCMJ

    Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has issued new guidance to commanders across the military: Stop relying on administrative actions for discplinary problems and start using the military justice system more often.

    In the new memo dated Aug. 13, Mattis calls the military justice system a “powerful tool” for good order and discipline, and he says flatly it is a “commander’s duty to use it.”

    “Military leaders must not interfere with individual cases, but fairness to the accused does not prevent military officers from appropriately condemning and eradicating malignant behavior from our ranks,” Mattis wrote, according to a copy of the memo that was obtained by Military Times.

    Ok, but I do not think we are going to turn the hands of time backwards.  There was a time when service members could have 5 NJP’s and still make SNCO.  If they are going to start using UCMJ charges at the drop of a hat, I hope they also reward merit.

     “Leaders must be willing to choose the harder right over the easier wrong. Administrative actions should not be the default method to address illicit conduct simply because it is less burdensome than the military justice system. Leaders cannot be so risk-adverse that they lose their focus on forging disciplined troops ready to ferociously and ethically defeat our enemies in the battlefield.”

    I always thought a decline in punishment was a good thing.   Not sure I am with the Warrior Monk on all of this.

    “If a subordinate makes a mistake, leaders should learn to coach them better,” he writes. “But we must not tolerate or ignore lapses in discipline, for our enemies will benefit if we do not correct and appropriately punish substandard conduct. Time, inconvenience, or administrative burdens are no excuse for allowing substandard conduct to persist.”

    The UCMJ is a tool, no doubt.  I never wrote one charge sheet my entire career.  There are a bunch of Marines on my FB list that will tell you they wish I had instead of…  Never met a Platoon Sgt that earned the respect of his men by using a pencil to whip them.

    I am always concerned about booting good warriors to the curb because they like to mix it up.  This fantasy of having killers that mind their manners 24/7 is a joke.  My concern with those graphs is that we are getting too soft and mild mannered.  I earned every one of my NJP’s, all for drinking and fighting with a dose of telling someone to go phuck themselves.  I also went from being a Cpl to a SSgt in 6 months.  If we are going to start taking rank away quickly,  we better not boot the scrappers to the curb unless we are only going to war in the powder puff league.

    The entire article is HERE

     

     

  • “Trump signs bill named for Sen. John McCain, doesn’t mention him”

    “Trump signs bill named for Sen. John McCain, doesn’t mention him”

    President Donald Trump on Monday signed a $716 billion defense policy bill named for John McCain but included no mention in his remarks of the Republican senator, who is battling brain cancer at home in Arizona.

    Trump and McCain are engaged in a long-running feud that dates to Trump’s 2016 presidential run. At campaign rallies, Trump regularly castigates McCain — without outright naming him — for casting a dramatic thumbs-down vote that doomed Trump’s effort last year to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which was enacted by President Barack Obama.

    Trump said there was “no better place than right here at Fort Drum” to celebrate passage of the defense bill, which will boost military pay by 2.6 percent, giving service members their largest increase in nine years.

    I have not read the entire thing but there are some very interesting things brewing.

    Besides setting policy and spending levels, the bill weakens a bid to clamp down on Chinese telecom company ZTE. It allows Trump to waive sanctions against countries that bought Russian weapons and now want to buy U.S. military equipment. The bill provides no money for Trump’s requested Space Force but authorizes the military parade he wants in Washington in November. The White House has said it will outline a budget for the space force next year.

    Damn, no Space Force yet.  I have been waiting decades for those alien bastards to pay for shooting up my ride.   What are they waiting for?  Christmas?

  • Air Force uniform announcement

    Air Force uniform announcement

    An Air National Guard release announced this week that the same Operational Camouflage Pattern uniform the Army dons will be available to wear for Air Force units around the world.

    But one look at the for-whatever-reason-uncropped photo used in the release makes it look more like an announcement that airmen can now wear whatever the hell they want.

    Of all the eyes that military press releases are filtered through prior to publication, not a single person looked at this and thought, “Hey, would matching trousers be a good idea?”

    Is this nitpicking too much? Obviously, but is the difficulty of matching OCP uniforms for an official announcement genuinely that substantial? That which has been seen cannot be un-seen!

    In the Air Force Times article , Tech. Sgt. Daniel Ter Haar takes some liberty with the Uniform of the Day.   Are Woodlands still authorized in the military?  It has become impossible to keep up with all the changes.  I remember when “Sleeves up, Sleeves Down” was the biggest controversy.  I never understood the need for Air Force and Navy personnel to have camouflage.  What ever happened to this guy?

    It used to be easy to tell who was who, I have no idea anymore.