This struck me as profound.<\/p>\n
On Friday Sept. 14, at around 10.15 p.m. local time, a force of Taliban gunmen attacked Camp Bastion<\/a>, in Helmand Province, the main strategic base in southwestern Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
About 15 insurgents (19 according to some reports), wearing U.S. Army uniforms, organized into three teams, breached the perimeter fence and launched an assault on the airfield, that includes the U.S. Camp Leatherneck and the UK\u2019s Camp Bastion, where British royal Prince Harry, an AH-64 Apache pilot (initially believed to be the main target of the attack) is stationed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But,<\/p>\n
Considered that the U.S. Marine Corps<\/a> are believed to be equipped with slightly more than 120 AV-8B+, the attack on Camp Bastion has wiped out 1\/15th of the entire U.S. Jump Jet fleet and a large slice of the Yuma-based squadron. A serious problem for the USMC, that was compelled to buy second hand RAF Harrier GR9s<\/a> to keep the AV-8B+ in service beyond 2030<\/a>, when it will be replaced by the F-35B<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The headline: Marine Attack Squadron loses eight Harrier jets in worst U.S. air loss in one day since the Vietnam\u00a0War<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n
Can it be that those goat ropers have shifted focus?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"