Lawman

There is absolutely nothing cheaper about deploying non permanent units. The Army found that out the hard way. What’s more in addition to the financial cost there is the poorly measured personnel cost that can only be tracked via reenlistment rates. Divisions deployed to Europe as part of Atlantic Resolve have the lowest rates in the service. Units that go to Kuwait have higher ones, because we managed to make Germany suck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If this is to be used simply as a low density logistics asset within the given COCOM by the ACC then it could be useful, but when talking ramp space and assets in theatre the juice to buy and maintain it is questionable at best. If this is as the article seems to suggest some idea of adding smaller options to the bigger Transcom Intra and Outside theatre airlift than these guys are idiots. Until we are maximizing use of pallet space in the assets already in place (IE not flying a C-130 with 2 contractors and a pallet of water bottles in a ring route looking for Space A) this is a stupid idea. And the idea of “oh well it’ll only be for high value low density cargo” ignores the fact any staff flunky will just check that box on their Air Mission Request form. The last thing we need to give people to used to hitting the Easy Button when thinking about logistics is another tool to misuse/misappropriate. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We also may be positioning the chess board to be more than just one move ahead. There are two options post a response to them with us hitting them. One is for them to launch a lot of “stir up hell” attacks within their considerable capability as far as terror/shock attacks against soft and civilian targets in reprisal. The other is that whole militias in proximity with us in Iraq problem.

Knocking out a few radar sites would be though. I’d play this similar to the way we used to play the No Fly zones over Iraq. You point/fire a missile at us (specifically in international airspace) you will lose what you pointed. It’ll make them think about escalation as well if our seen/known response is you’re free to be buttholes and make statements and thump your chest but active threats will be dealt with immediately and completely. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Remember a week before Barr’s statements when everybody in the media and all the former Obama appointees like Clapper were talking about impending charges against Kushner and others in Trump’s circle.... The Circle that would have built and maintained a criminal conspiracy that we were being promised. That is why 65-70% of Americans don’t support impeachment. It’s got nothing to do with Trump is a terrible person. It’s because we were all sold BS about Russian manipulation and deals between Trump and the Kremlin for quid pro quo that turned out to be conspiracy vapor. Now that those are dead you want to sell us on obstruction which in any other world would have just been political defense but because Trump now it’s a crime worth of burning the house down. Sorry not buying it. The powers that wanted him out way overplayed a bad hand thinking in the end they would get away with the bluff. Message to Democrats: “Beat him with a good candidate or settle in for 5 and a half more years of pulling your hair out screaming at the sky.” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you don’t know your system capes it wouldn’t matter what you’re flying in the stack. That’s a weak argument to those out there saying “Bombers shouldn’t/can’t perform CAS” of which there are plenty typically in platforms with their own shitty record of fratricide. Neither is it unique to the CAS mission as it could just as easily be a C-130 refueled that cant figure out how to turn his F’ing lights off to refuel the HAF, or a drone that doesn’t know how to steady stare at a target and keeps walking the laser everywhere but where it should be. Plenty of people in Apache/Hawg/etc communities that don’t know or care to learn how to fight their MWS are putting ground personnel at risk every time they check in and hope it works out for them this time around. That’s neither unique to bombers nor something to ignore. Know your shit and what it can/can’t do. Beyond that playing the “this is my party and you shouldn’t be here game” that many have been making this incident evidence of is just MWS chest thumping. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m truly amused every time I hear some sort of blame shifted to seeing/not seeing IR strobes and how apparently that is the big discriminator that makes or breaks good CAS tactics in the AF. The premier attack helicopter on the planet cannot see and does not care about IR strobes. As they routinely execute CAS and CCA from altitude and standoff as was intended from ranges that require the gunner to build and develop SA without it maybe that’s not the crutch to be leaning on. Also they can’t do better than an 8 digit grid in slaving to a given grid/target. Yes, this incident was entirely a failure on the idea of CAS being and easily thrown together action. CAS is supposed to be integrated in detail. Detail is something completely lacking in our modern 24/7 bus schedule version of building an ATO to support the coin fight. I doubt the crew even had a CONOP of the mission they were supporting much less a scheme of maneuver.

Wholesale divestiture would be a mistake, but there are more than a few good examples of units simply collapsing their readiness concentration from the whole aggregate to the concentrated fleet that makes mission. There are aircraft out there long past just being a pain within all the services. While it’s nice to say “we have 200 F-XX’s and 100 B-Y’s” that hardly reflects a well cared for lean force when you spend 30-50% of your maintenance efforts on a fractional percentage of problem/old Iron on the ramp. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We should just have the Army try and develop it. That’ll make the Air Force want its Then you guys can steal it at the Pentagon level, fly it around for a year or two, kill it, and transfer the money to Viper/Eagle/etc. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not much. Let’s just say the ground force commander out there was justified in his decision to apportion an Air Reaction Force and the required owned assets. Had that not been there to flex I’m sure a lot of people’s attention would have been gotten.

There is no land component beyond portions of the map in a linear battlefield. Which is what Iraq was in 16-17. Again, my comment as to referencing spins. There were plenty of sections of the map where coverage doesn’t or can’t be readily made available, but we were will within the advertised circle of “we got this,” and were being flat told operating out there that if the call went out, the first asset to respond was gonna be an Army element 100 miles further East, because the guys who actually do this job couldn’t be bothered with the idea of supporting a named mission for those dirty Army people. Yes, having an entire portion of the Air Force advertise its self as “dedicated theatre PR” only to have the same said element tell the rest of the joint fight operating across those lines on a map to go F themselves when actually asked by the rest of the joint forces is unacceptable. If you are going to pretend to be anybody but the ACCs asset, then you damn well better be willing to accept all comers.

We had some missions where the plan was if an aircraft went down to spur ride people out of the recognized crash site and stash them somewhere/anywhere because fuel wasn’t available to fly them to a friendly location. This was next door to the big 60G footprint in country because we were basically told if any crap goes down, you are on your own, we have ACC missions to support over on this part of the map. I could get a B-52 to directly support our mission as a dedicated asset, but I couldn’t get PR. Between that kind of crap and seeing what the Italians did during 2 real live PR situations up north, nobody in our task force had any real faith in that side of the mission anymore.

As long as those power point generated circles with shaded filler cover the whole of the map, the people in charge don’t care what reality is.

Then here is the fact that anything UAS is going to be seen as “why isn’t this my toy!” by combatant commanders who aren’t getting enough assets right now. We don’t have enough UAS or operators to support the missions we are running. Where is this surplus of drones going to come from to suddenly generate OPFOR.

The only thing those guys brought of any use was the coffee shop they set up. We launched the ARF more than a couple times because they didn’t have their crap together.

Has to be a tape compliment with reflective properties for search and rescue while in the water. Which is odd... because Marines wear camo helmet covers and fly off some of the same boats.

Really? There isn’t? Because anybody that can look at a map and the power point slide depicting coverage circles of the Iraq/ISIS AO in 16-17 could see CSAR was about as in its ass as it could be and nobody seemed to have any give a crap in fixing that. You had the Italians pulling down an entire portion of the region and a whole other chunk taken care of by the Marines. I can only imagine how great the coverage is gonna be once double digit SAMs and Red Air are present in the problem. Probably a good idea to review the spins because I’ve seen plenty of them where a 60G or guys jumping out of a 130 weren’t going to be the plan of action. Fact of the matter is it’s easier and arguably safer when your enemy isn’t ISIS crazies to rescue you post capture or do what we did in previous conflicts get you after it’s over. We have people that do that for a living too, and fortunately we’ve invested a ton of money in them even if we haven’t in CSAR.

Thats because as the military tries to get back to that and out of the COIN mindset you’ve got very senior people at this point who only ever saw what that looked like as a 1LT if at all making decisions on what that training looks like. I watched a full bird Col tell the OPFOR to change what ADA they had in an exercise because Greyhound presented too many problems. Like day 1-3 we couldn’t support his ground elements because they wouldn’t give us what we needed. Day 4-6 everything’s awesome because these ZSU-23’s are a cake walk.... There are way to many senior military leaders who think it’s more important to keep replaying the scrimmages they know they can win and shine in the “look how awesome my guys are.... I made that happen,” game.

Other way to look at this is developing the brain trust of experience now to solve a problem that very well may be 10 years away. We got out Butts kicked in previous conflicts specifically because we didn’t look at emerging threats and continued to fight the last fight or ignore a real gap. Happened in the Air with MIGs over Vietnam, happened at Sea with minesweeping, and happened on land as we pursued the worlds best battle tanks and APCs for a standup fight while ignoring the IED. find the deadliest system we could encounter and match our best people against it until we figure out how to kill it. Otherwise F it let’s play the same exercises our dads played at NTC and Red Flag in the 80s and hope nobody buys or builds anything newer than SA-8/Mig29/T72. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agreed. Erdogen doesn’t get to explain “why we broke up” to anybody but his people, but those people will buy his reasoning with far more trust than they will the reasons as broadcast by outside western media. They will simply see the “oppressive sanctions” and other negative motivations as reinforcement that Erdogens message is correct. The US is trying to bully them into acting the way we see fit. To the Nationalist/religiously conservative crowds that support him, that will be red meat to rally against us and push further power and influence toward the crazies. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Safe could be a relative term. Undoubtedly a lot of the issues would be eliminated by better MX practices. Same as it did with all the MI-8/17s we have operated by us vs the ones maintained an operated by *insert crap country here*. At one point we had US service members flying aggressor MiG-23s out in the desert as aggressors. If you read the accounts in “Red Eagles” that thing is an absolute death trap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ricochet is the exact reason for sticking with 7.62 over .50 cal on door guns for the Army. The stand-off gains going to .50cal are minimal when you compare that guns likelihood to send rounds to the target, and then somewhere else at random. When you start throwing high cyclic rate like mini guns into it and the proximity of targets for an X landing (like dudes literally in the rotor disk) nobody wants to be the guy that shoots themselves/their wingman down.

You can’t convince some loons, they’ve invested too much into it. Just look at the crazier people on JC. They’ve gone full Jade Helm, but because they got their crack from the recognized legitimate news outlets they can’t possibly be the crazy ones. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After going to Angeles city, all my dad’s jokes about how guys assigned to the Philippines came back not right made a lot more sense.

Oh I don’t know. Seemed the “This Is MAGA country” attack and selective outrage by his critics was pretty relatable to the President... Until it turned out to be complete BS and those same people are walking back the narrative. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk