Leaderboard

Side note on your last sentence- I’m a member of several GWOT groups and I’ve been shocked how many are full are army dudes with serious psychological issues allegedly from their single deployment… whether or not they saw combat. I say allegedly because I don’t know these people so am taking their comments at face value. I wonder if the Taliban is full of sad ex-fighters dealing with regrets and nightmares. I’m sure not the same due to cultural differences but I am curious what lasting effects they’ll have. Genuinely curious, don’t mean to sound disparaging. For the first part, I’m not sure we actually do know how to kill people and break things on scale. Tactically yes or course, but at the operational to strategic level we proved incapable of leveraging violence successfully to achieve desired outcomes. Yes nation building was a fools errand in AFG, but imagine we didn’t have restrictive ROE and every enemy identified was killed. We would have “won” by pure attrition; or at least not been driven out in shame. Our self imposed rules (from 09-21) made killing them in amounts necessary simply impossible; as they advanced using large convoys in the open we were too caught up in “near certainty” and “proportionality” to be decisive and ruthless. Even the fact we used Type 2 CAS procedures instead of SCAR for interdiction missions with no friendlies present speaks to an obsession with control at the expense of combat effectiveness. I will continue to blame our generals and be convinced we could have killed our way to victory, and although our captains are great at killing our leaders suck at aligning those actions into a sum greater than its parts.

Trump can’t like a Soviet style leader like Putin because he’s a Nazi I thought. Left is braindead Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

100% this. CH fought in a completely different war than many of us. Toward the end, we couldn't drop unless the GC (a general at AUAB) and his JAG, had continuous, live robot feed on the target and we certainly didn't drop if CDE got above 0.69%. But I know one thing, we all had the proper uniform on at all times and we were COVID free thanks to a 2 week sit in the mold infested, old coalition compound at AUAB...

I always enjoyed having a Jag review our tapes post strike to make sure we used the right phrases pre strike. Gotta justify killing bad guys with words that can be reviewed by some dipshit that just got back from the KAF Chilis who has some innate insight on the PID process. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Flew a couple combat missions that were truly OCA-AI missions in every doctrinal and tactical sense - nope, type 2 control from the AOC. The absolute idiocy of our senior leaders, mil and civ, is mind blowing.

It’s amazing the information gathering possible with publicly available big data analytics. I’d love to see something similar for Trump rallies.

Let’s be honest, each President since 2005ish (so yes, including Bush) didn’t want Afghanistan to fail under their watch because Afghanistan for the longest time was seen as the legit/supported war. As public support for more activity decreased, Trump was wanting to wind it down substantially, as was Biden. In the end, Biden made the call to end it, most likely when his advisors told him that the government/Afghan military could at least hold things together for a while…which obviously didn’t happen. And anyone who did any sort of close advising in Iraq or Afghanistan knew that this wasn’t going to work out, especially in Afghanistan. BL: As M2 states above, we absolutely suck at nation building. It might sound good on paper, but it’s not worth it. So no, staying in Afghanistan after the first few years was most definitely not worth it. I’m all for going in and breaking things if we think it will net positive the interests for American citizens, but then that’s where things need to stop. But hey, the defense contractors made some serious money.

Trump: Old, loud, unsophisticated, shoots off at the mouth, takes enemy fire up close, they keep trying to get rid of him but he sticks around longer than anyone thought. Harris: Remote controlled, annoying to be around, a threat to US citizens. Goes down a lot.

Makes me remember fondly the one and only time in 2018 when I was given Type 3 control after a dude stepped on an IED and the GFC wanted the city block leveled. It was definitely the unicorn and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but the absolute authority to sling hate for the following 20 minutes was glorious.

Same here. I'd like to see the data for Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. My mother told me that you are the company you keep. 6000+ Antifa/BLM/Pro-Palestinian protestors is not exactly good company.

Don’t you love lining up a tight shot between clouds chasing squirters while someone shouts like an auctioneer “1-3 N/A, your sensor your sensor, call pushing with time to release, call in, call…. Standby…. You still in position for immediate release?” 😂 Pro tip the answer is always yes, even if the truth is no. They told me it shows the highest degree of control, making the CG most comfortable. Nevermind the strikes that were aborted because procedures were incomplete, we can do it another day. Better to cancel than take a risk, there’s always tomorrow, we’re not really here to win…. The outcome of AFG didn’t surprise anyone who fought it.

What? Who are the people we risk our lives for that are not also us? The people who listened to Trump in 2015 were surprised with how he actually ended up governing. Myself included. My assumption is that he will run the same playbook, but this time with fewer cabinet members who are actively subverting him.

Instead of listening to talking heads, just listen to what Trump actually says out loud. Seems to me that most of us won’t have a significant life change if he’s re-elected. However, that is not the case for millions of people…the same people we risk our lives for so they can have the freedom to choose how they live their life.

Ruger is a great manufacturer. May have been discussed, but now that the rejuvenated Marlins by Ruger are going strong I can highly recommend them - well at least two of the series so far. Had enough of my standard AR types a decade ago, then moved on to 308/7.62 black rifles, some long range hammers as well as an AK variant = Arsenal. Turns out I’m stuck on these Marlins now. Initially brought on board the 1895 SBL 45/70 to modify it closely to a Mad Pig Thumper. Darn thing was an amazing piece of work in natural form and I just couldn’t do it; however, when the Marlin 1894 - 357 version showed up BAM!!! the Ranger Point Precision hand guard materialized along with the new Magpul stock/internal storage/side quiver, Inforce light and Red dot. Staying away from chaps, but I need a horse as these lever actions are crazy fun to shoot. 45/70 doesn’t kick as much as it’s a push and it’s a blast. Definitely legal in 48 states maybe 49 if the boogie man comes. That 357 rifle puts up some velocity numbers vs a wheel gun and twice as much impact power when relating to ft/lbs. Might over penetrate, but you can adjust with the correct ammunition for home defense. Would I trust it - yes, is it my first choice - not with what’s already in the stable.

Small update in UCT info: Track system is no more, looks like new classes can drop any airframe with no EWO/WSO/SO tracking necessary. New ACJ FTU is being stood up so those should be dropping again in the near future. Tons of RC-135 and C-130 drops recently, but still plenty of WSO’s. OA-1K is alive and in the near future for CSO’s.

Well it’s a good thing none of those sites you posted are heavily biased against Trump. And if I didn’t know any better, I would maybe assume you were biased against Trump as well.

ah that's your bias and media spin talking again

everything trump says about putin is true. he's smart, savvy, and capable. respecting your enemy is a wise thing to do.

Uh huh. Scoreboard.

It's always pointless trying to guess what Trump will do, but he is the only politician with the balls to play hardball with Russia. Okay, Vladimir, if this whole thing is about preventing having NATO right up against your border, then you have two options. You can vacate all Ukrainian territory, affirm the sovereign borders Ukraine as they stood in 2013, and in return you will have a binding treaty that the United States will never support or allow Ukraine membership in NATO. Or, we can lock the borders where they are now after your incursion into the East, we will consider this new Russian territory to be the buffer between NATO and Russia, and immediately recognize what remains of the newly defined Ukraine as the newest member of NATO. Otherwise I'm willing to bet that we can print money to supply Ukraine for longer than you can draft citizens to fight them.

They don’t really believe that. If they did, then people like Chuck Schumer wouldn’t have been sitting next to and getting roasted by Trump at the Al Smith Charity dinner a week and a half ago. It’s all fear mongering to drive up the vote. The disassociated voter doesn’t know policy positions or even that much about the daily interactions and gaffes, blunders, or mess ups of either candidate. But I’d venture to say that most everyone knows about Hitler and the Nazi’s (I say most because sometimes I’m still floored by people’s ignorance). And most know that Hitler/Nazi’s = bad. If you can say it enough, people may start believing it because they’ve heard it 1,000x. My opinion at least, and we all know what opinions are like.

If a progressive doesn’t like me because of my values then I’ll consider that a compliment!

Bro, there isn't an answer to this question for me. I'm not looking to be inspired by a politician, or to become emotionally involved about their opinions. I'm voting for Trump only because I believe his policies will make my life and this country better. I don't care if he shit talks John McCain or some retired general (the GWOT generals can't win and deserve derision anyway). Well I agree with this & cheers back at you; I appreciate reading your opinions despite thinking them completely wrong and slightly retarded. I'm sure we'd have a fun conversation over whiskey then go crush a mission and have each others back 🇺🇸 But you do have TDS 🙂

LOL. You, however. I think you shouldn't vote.

It’s not hard. 2016-2020 was better than 2021-present unless you are a trans/illegal border crosser/indebted student/Taliban/woman unable to figure out birth control/welfare recipient/guy who wants to compete in women’s sports/person wants to get paid not to work. Who’d I miss? Choice is easy to vote for Trump despite him being a dickhead on Twitter. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I would encourage to still vote even if Texas is likely to go to Trump. The last 2 Republican Presidents have won the electoral college but not the popular vote. As long as that continues to happen you're going to hear appeals from the Democrats to abolish the electoral college.

Oh, and JD Vance changes everything. Considering how many whacked out leftist internet trolls are trying to actually assassinate Donald Trump now, there's a halfway decent chance Vance becomes the president sometime in the next 4 years. That possibility is more than enough for me to vote for Trump, while still hoping that it doesn't happen of course.

You children just pick a few dissected quotes from a few posters here and act like everyone is saying the same thing. Go back and find any posts from me where I am denying the things you say we are all denying. You won't find them. Has it occurred to you at any point that the reason you keep falling back on the same stupid arguments is because you don't have anything approaching a policy prescription for America? We all get it, you're aghast at what a terrible person Trump is. The difference is some of us consider him not particularly worse than the people who have been occupying Washington for decades. And it's hilarious that you would list generals, who I consider to be the most pathetic group in America right now, as some sort of evidence. This generation of generals have distinguished themselves in nothing other than their ability to eat the most shit and disregard their own virtue to assure promotion in an organization that hasn't accomplished anything for decades. I don't like Trump. I didn't like him in 2016. Does it matter, what I have before me are two choices and two very different visions for America. I would love a different candidate representing the more conservative vision for America, but I didn't get one. Doesn't change the fact that if I have to choose between what Donald Trump did when he was in office and what Harris did while she was in office, that question is so simple that it boggles my mind you are even here defending the opposition. But you aren't defending the opposition, are you? You're doing the same thing Harris is doing: everything in her power to focus on Trump's admittedly awful personality instead of her obviously awful track record. I'm not voting for anybody for president this year because I've decided philosophically that I'm against presidents over the age of 65 beginning their first term. I'm in Texas, so I can do that and hope that there will be some statistical change that can be recognized and hopefully get us better candidates in the future. But if I was in a swing state, I would be voting for Trump. If you are unable to understand how someone can vote for someone they don't consider to be moral, then I have to wonder what type of drugs you are taking that make you think your candidates are moral. That's the more interesting conversation here.