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Not to say that they thought of everything... but they kinda thought of everything. Helps to have a Hog Driver running the design and implementation. There was "NO" way they were going to block the gunsight.

Also, Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please. -

AQOWwNckO8Hgeut2t_iW3rCk6rq6TpIXzFkW1tY2T5pMqzp9s4icSdsEtv2ub3UQtxCAoeP67MN322HYJuW0m8E3QJBR3xoz.mp4

Wait till Pooter finds out that retirees and civilians can have security clearances... XedkA8l.mp4

TR approves!!

To the extent things have gone quiet, it's largely due to you libs going on and on about personality issues. Yeah, we get it, he says stuff that's in poor taste. All of us wish, and have stated, our desire for a president with classier chops, but this is where we're at. You all pin that on us. I'm fine with it because I understand the choice that had to be made: elect a jerk, or elect complete ineptitude. The one part about Trump's manner I do appreciate: it drives you guys nuts. I will admit that's a bonus I'll miss when he's gone. The ranting and raving about it on this forum, however, is just tiresome when we should be exchanging ideas about strategic happenings instead. Apparently they did get the memo. And I distinctly remember predicting, right here on this message board, barely three days ago, that there was a lot more at play to "opening" or "closing" the straight than met the eye - you responded with this mess. Now, here we are, and lo and behold, what's happened? We closed the straight. It's almost like I can see a larger play at work. You'd call it 4D chess. I just understand that we're the ones with all the strategic leverage. I promise you I can't predict the future, it was just the obvious play. So yes, while Iran has played their very last card by closing the straight, we played a card I saw in the deck that trumps it: we closed it harder. Others here didn't really get it. They can close it, but we can up the ante and beat them at their own game. Or did you actually think we were just going to let them control that waterway on their own terms? Like seriously? Did you think Iranian and Chinese oil tankers would be doing business as usual all the while the lights went out on our allies and we flounder in the channel? Get real dude. We're a superpower. That's not chest-beating. It's looking objectively at who's who in this conflict. Of course we want it open. But it's going to be open on our terms, not theirs. So give it time. I'll spell out the next part for you again: Iran depends on the straight for 90% of their exports, 85% of their government revenue, and additionally import HALF of the gasoline they use to generate power. They need it open far, far more than we do, as they hemorrhage $3 billion dollars a week and risk massive long-term (self inflicted) damage to their oil infrastructure. As I said before, we can play the waiting game while they waterboard themselves. That's the strategic leverage. Can you see it? Or are you queuing up yet another anti-Trump tirade? This is effectively the sequel to my last post, with the added benefit of hindsight including events which I suggested would take place, actually having taken place. You didn't respond thoughtfully when it was prognostication. You didn't address how Iran is far more dependent on the straight that we are. Maybe now you will since it's actually happening?

Yeah i’m shocked that another dumbass statement by POTUS hasn’t caused stable minded conservatives to come unglued on an Internet forum. The actual haters don’t get it, even after we’ve told them a million times, he’s not out savior. And yes, even with his narcissistic self love and abundance of dumbassery at times, he’s still significantly better than kamala would have ever been.

Do you just get a kick out of posting really stupid shit to ensure your credibility remains at rock bottom?

Maybe you guys just got boring? Sorry, that was vague. You guys got boring. Negotiations don't matter if both sides don't leave the table at some point. It's not even certain Iran has a centralized enough government to negotiate anymore. Vance played the hand well. So far.

So now we're going with the "lalallaa I can't hear you" level of debate. Got it. Yes I hate Trump as a person. But I've argued the policy not the man. Weird how different conflicts can have different stances. It's almost as if you're comparing apples to oranges! Ukraine: Defensive. 0 American lives. Extremely costly for 1 of our 2 global adversaries. Important for stability in Europe. Protecting a fledgling democracy Brought new critical positioned nations into NATO. Iran: Offensive. Absurdly more expensive per day than Ukraine in 2 months (iran: $48B + $1B/day vs ukraine: $120B of $180B congressionally allocated spent in 1507 days). Costing American lives and showcasing our weaknesses to China. Disrupted global economic stability, drove inflation up again, and empowered a tier 2 adversary while alienating allies.

So you're complaining that the administration didn't share classified intelligence?!? Speaking of which, do you have access to any real reporting outside of open source? Because if so, there's a lot you don't actually know. Go ahead and criticize all you want, but rralize you may not be the smartest guy in the room...

Saw this article with morning coffee, which tries to address drone defense vs ground troops, I think. Yahoo TechThe Iranian Drone Problem Forced a Radical Fix — The Mari...US marines just gave the M4 a driver-assist system for shooting drones. The modern infantry battlefield is quietly undergoing a transformation that feels as much like a shift in automotive control sysAnd then there's this company, which takes standard guns and turns em into automated, anti-drone point defense systems. Looks like they got rigs for Ma Deuce, 30mm Bushmaster, and the 7.62 minigun as well as the pic below, M240. Bullfrog M240An autonomous M240 weapon station to handle the full kill chain up to group 3 UASSeems like companies are seeing the current battlefield and are making stuff.

@Clark Griswold …

1000%. This is the absolute most un-American thing that is somehow enshrined in American law. I totally get and would support a similar concept IF it were after appropriate due process and the person found guilty, much like what happens to people's trucks and guns after they get caught AND convicted of poaching. But to put the burden of proof on the citizen is completely upside-down and the fact that it hasn't been struck down only proves how far removed the Supreme Court is from actually reading the Constitution and doing it's job. With the qualified immunity removal in some states, legislators that passed that need pass a law to hold themselves to the same standard. If they pass a law that would would meet a similar threshold of 'obviously illegal' (like Colorado's ban on verbal only counseling to help a teenager wondering if they should actually be the other gender that got struck down 8-1), they need to be tried and convicted of violating their constituents' rights. A good starting point would be an identical punishment to what a law abiding citizen would have gotten under their unconstitutional law.

Not today ISIS.

Aren't two threads entirely dedicated to people either bitching or cheering about Trump enough? Talking overall national security policy and such regarding Iran is one thing, but this thread has gone entirely off the rails.

Does everyone not just use the 'unread content' option? I haven't browsed the forum ever.

Yes. It's terrible. Everything is spread out. Too much wasted space. There should be one discussion forum, no sub-forums. Get rid of all the pinned topics.

@Biff_T, you want to chime in on this one?

I think putting a CRAM at every base, not just FOBs, is a no brainer now.

The US has not been good at the money/cost side of warfare since Vietnam. We outproduced Germany in WWII in part by making something that is 80% as good as the German equivalent for half the price and then making 4x as many. When we had Cold War defense budgets, we could get away with making a bunch of the most advanced (expensive) weapon we could find, but hopefully this is a bit of a wake up call for our acquisition side (probably should have occurred in the 2005 time frame).

@Pooter M2 summed my answer up quite well. It’s very evident your opinions and arguments are predicated on open source trash, or at best, some vaguely informed intel bro who read this one thing on SIPR (e.g. basically NIPR these days). You are far from accurately informed on this subject, but you talk like you’ve got it all figured out. There’s a lesson in this, if you can find it.

Some of us do, but we can't talk about it here...

Getting through the strait IS a short trip...

Chinese Seamen?

Of course an AI would say Cyber is primary, tip of the spear.

This is your guys’ actual problem. It’s legitimate delusion. And you project it on others. You say they’re the delusional ones so you don’t have to embrace the reality you are supporting right now explicitly. But this quote right here describes your and many others “delusional syndrome.” You have to understand we aren’t even that mad at the president. Politicians do politician things. But it is your choice to determine if you have any specific morality in how you interpret those actions. Im disappointed in people like you simplifying complex arguments and everything into us vs them. And the ends justify any means is the antithesis of Christianity.

🤦‍♂️ This isn't the full clip. ......it's missing the part immediately preceding this, where she says: "The question was, if Iran was to launch a nuclear attack on Israel, what would our response be?" They clipped it so it just began with: "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the President, we will attack Iran." The full clip is posted below. It's so wild to see how the people always lamenting "fAke NeWs," are actually the one's most easily duped by it. This interview, for anyone interested in the actual context, was a follow-up to an answer she had given the previous day, where she described a nuclear exchange. A legit nuclear war in response to an unprovoked Iranian launch of nukes on Israel. ....Not the train wreck that's unfolding now - an offensive war started by the US and Israel just months after Don the Con said we had already "obliterated their nuclear program."

@Sua Sponte No I did not, thanks for putting that out. I do not support that and think it’s a bad post. Invalid response to Negatory regarding this specific post (my bad).

You guys realize that image was posted on Trump’s Truth Social, right?

Wow, talk about Old School!

Okay. I found the problem. Somehow the default Theme got reset to that garbage that you screenshotted (is that a word). I've fixed that in the settings, and now everybody should be seeing something similar to the second screenshot that @gearhog posted. As to the above the fold vs below the fold discussion... I'm not trying to aggressively drive engagement. However, I think we should have a user-friendly design. I agree that I don't understand the difference between the Squadron Bar and the General Discussion subforums anymore. Let's be honest, almost every thread devolves into political name-calling. All of that said, I'm open to suggestions on how to streamline some of the subforums.

Didn't know grandpa Facebook memes were leaking here as well.

That's NextDoor quality meme

AFSOC is still dropping ACs and MCs but no more U-28s. I don't think the Skyraider training pipeline is fully set up yet so the only drops for those I've seen were all Guard guys. Also haven't seen a C-146 drop in a while so not sure what's happening with those.

I mean, y'all are just throwing soundbites past each other, but the Trump administration's efforts to pull back from Climate Change hysteria has definitely been a positive.

Still waiting for someone to explain to me why if Iran is totally weak and decimated, we’re using their 10 point plan as the basis for negotiations. 🤷🏻‍♂️ guess I’ll have to keep waiting. Best you’ve got is.. wHaT are U smOkiNg?!??

Now the warthog places the probe in the basket…