Some of you say that in another incident that mistakes happen. Quite a few of you say that the girl in the other incident "hit the officer" in the chest (I bet he didn't even feel it) so the use of force was appropriate.
I wonder. Do you feel the same about this vid? Do you think that the bus driver did no wrong and simply made a mistake?
If not then where is your line between allowable and unallowable mistakes?
Last evening a Soldier attemped to gain access to Fort Bragg through one of our access control points. The Soldier was dressed as a suicide bomber with simulated explosive vest. The incident resulted in an emergency response, EOD clearing the entire scene and an extended closure of a gate. Although the incident remains under investigation, initial reports indicate it was a Halloween costume. The Fort Bragg Garrison Commander wants the community to have a safe and fun Halloween; however, costumes of this sort are not allowed on Fort Bragg. All costumes should be appropriate in dress and tasteful. The Senior Commander of Fort Bragg further directs that Soldiers not wear costumes of this sort off post and strongly encourages Soldiers, DA Civilians, and Family members to follow the same guidance to prevent similar issues within our neighboring communities.
Wow.
This guy was an idiot! He's lucky he wasn't shot and killed on the spot! Of all the places to wear a costume like this he chose an Army Base!
"Very exciting to have USMC OSPREYs onboard HMS OCEAN preparing for tonight’s amphibious assault during Exercise #TJ15." - RADM Tony Radakin, COM UKMARFOR
Drink it in boys and girls. On deck with the MV-22's are CH-47's...not exactly small helicopters and they're absolutely DWARFED!
Now do you understand how fucking big the MV-22 is?
Now do you understand my concerns when it comes to helo-assaults into small landing zones and how the sheer size of this bird limits you to easily predicted LZ's?
Prediction. MarineAir pushed to complete the MV-22 buy before the CH-53K came online for one reason. It will be the go to helicopter for Marines...in many ways it will be superior.
The U.S. Army awarded BAE Systems a contract option worth $245.3 million to complete the low-rate initial production (LRIP) of the M109A7 self-propelled howitzer and M992A3 ammunition carrier. “The success of this program is directly attributable to the partnership between the Army and BAE Systems,” said Adam Zarfoss, director of Artillery and Bradley programs at BAE Systems. “We’ve worked as a team to bring this much needed enhanced combat capability to the soldier to address immediate needs while providing a platform that can support future growth as requirements evolve.” The M109A7 program is a significant upgrade over the vehicle’s predecessor, the M109A6 Paladin Self-Propelled Howitzer. It uses the existing main armament and cab structure of the M109A6, but replaces the vehicle’s chassis structure with a new design that increases survivability and allows for the integration of Bradley common drive-train and suspension components. Additionally, the system leverages technologies developed under the Crusader and Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon programs such as a 600 volt on-board power generation, distribution and management system, coupled with high-voltage gun drive and projectile ramming systems.
I wonder. There was a widely circulated report...a lessons learned from the Ukrainian War...that talked about a MLRS battalion destroying two Ukrainian Brigades in three minutes.
We saw the same thing in the first Gulf War.
Is gun artillery dead? Instead of focusing on mortars should we be towing mini-rocket launchers behind our ITVs?
The horse is out the barn. Knowledge is the most powerful thing that any person has and AR-15 know how is spreading.
Sometimes you do things because they're necessary, and sometimes you do things just because you can. I don't know where this falls but its definitely something everyone should try.
Sidenote. No registration necessary with a 80% lower. We're heading into the last year of the Obama Administration with the threat of Hillary taking over....this golden age of AR-15's won't last forever (Republicans screwed themselves with the backdoor budget deal and the complaints about the debate is just to pacify the base).
Students at Spring Valley High School staged a brief walkout in support of school resource officer Ben Fields, the Richland County sheriff's deputy caught on camera slamming and dragging a student out of a desk earlier this week.
Hundreds of students walked out of class around 10 a.m. and into the school's atrium before school administrators returned the students to class. Principal Jeff Temoney told the students none of them would be suspended if they returned to class. "We've heard your voices, okay," Temoney said. "We appreciate you taking time to do this, but again, as you know, we always focus on teaching and learning, so let's head on back to class
This is just a quick round robin of ISIS news from around the net....
via New York Times.
As Secretary of State John Kerry sat down here on Friday to push for a political settlement of the Syrian war, the immediate tension surrounded his dealings with the Russians and the Iranians. But the bigger challenge may well be reconciling the Saudis and the Iranians, longtime rivals who have turned Syria into the main battlefield in a broadening proxy war for dominance in the Middle East. They have more invested in the outcome than any of the other participants in the talks to end the conflict, now in its fifth year. Until two weeks ago, the idea that Saudi Arabiaand Iran would sit at the same table was unthinkable. The Saudis outright refused, and the two countries have been accelerating an arms race to assure they prevail not only inSyria, but also in Yemen, Iraq and, less noticeably, in the street uprisings in Bahrain.
Here. The Iranians and Saudis are headed to a major regional war.
via Reuters.
A Syrian rebel group which is part of a new U.S.-backed alliance that also includes the Kurdish YPG militia announced on Thursday plans for an imminent offensive against Islamic State militants in Raqqa province, the jihadists' stronghold in Syria. U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said earlier this week the U.S.-led coalition would support local forces as they put pressure on Islamic State in Raqqa and in neighboring Iraq. Washington has announced a shake-up of its support to the rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, ending a program to train fighters outside Syria and instead providing weapons to groups under U.S.-vetted commanders. It has already dropped ammunition to rebels in the north, but has not specified which groups the aid was bound for. The Raqqa Revolutionaries Front, which made the announcement in an online video statement, is one of several rebel groups that recently formed the alliance. The group said earlier this month U.S. weapons were on their way.
Here. I had been calling for a focus on killing ISIS. My thinking is that they're the lesser Satan. Putin has been making the same argument and it seems that the US is "evolving" to that position. Better late than never. via LA Times.
A 24-year-old Syrian immigrant pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to the FBI about his links to the Islamic State terror group. As part of a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in San Diego, Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati agreed to a prison sentence of eight years. Saeed admitted that he went to Turkey from San Diego in late 2012 and then to Syria, where he met Islamic State and Al Nusra fighters. He was questioned by U.S. authorities in Ankara, Turkey, and then when he returned to San Diego in March.
Here. And another story here. ISIS is here. Prediction. Buy your guns, ammo and spare parts now. When they hit its gonna be a price explosion and a run on them like you've never seen.
Note: Ok, this just got a bit interesting. We've seen joint amphibious operations and now they toss in an airborne op? This is the type of stuff we should be seeing from the 82nd and our MEU's on regular basis....especially in the Pacific. It's past time to bring back the Rapid Deployment Force...money is drying up and dedicated units on alert status is the only responsible way to manage precious training funds.
Today I am privy to most of the plans that are currently in place to put women into combat arms. I have been told, again by acquaintances working at the Pentagon and at various headquarters around the US military, that all of the “experiments” that the services have been undergoing for some time now have been a sideshow. The decision had been made from the get-go. As one Female Engagement Team Program manager told many in Afghanistan in 2011, “the decision has already been made; we just need to talk about “the how” instead of “if”.” This means that the Ranger School “experiment” was an experiment in name only. It was guaranteed from the beginning to graduate a woman and that graduation would be used as proof that the combat exclusion rule needed to go. This, of course, matches what every Army Command Sergeant Major (9) in 2011-2013 told me was said to them by high-level CSMs and General Officers while attending their pre-command courses: “women will be in combat arms and women will graduate Ranger School, if any of you has a problem with that, you need to get out of the military.”They reported that the Ranger Instructors at Ranger School were told the same thing. This same message was a similar one that was being told to people who had friends who were Ranger Instructors. The message: “women will graduate, we will guarantee it, and so if you can’t handle that fact, you need to move on out of Ranger School.” When I personally talked to R.I.s I got rolled eyes and lots of depressing comments. “It’s turned political, sir,” they told me one morning at Fort Benning during the Maneuver Center Conference a few years ago. “We are being told to get on-board, or get out.”
Read it and weep. Its just as I've said. You can pencil whip a monkey thru a physics course if you want to....and now they're gonna do the same with women in combat arms.
The interesting part? They just don't know how many guys will vote with their feet and how hard they're gonna make it to recruit from certain parts of the nation.
I hope liberals/hippies/feminist get real gung-ho real quick. The recruiting crisis is gonna turn into a recruiting emergency....
Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has confirmed that his country received nuclear technology from Pakistan. The assertion, made in an interview published on Thursday, undermines Islamabad’s long-standing claims that its supply of technology and material to Iran, Libya and North Korea was the work of a rogue network run by the country’s former nuclear czar, Abdul Qadeeer Khan. In an interview published by website Iran’s Nuclear Hope, Rafsanjani says “Abdul Qadeer Khan believed that the Islamic world had to have a nuclear bomb… The Pakistanis agreed to help us somewhat”. “We were at war, and we wanted to have such an option for the day our enemies wanted to use nuclear weapons. This was our state of mind,” said the former Iranian president. The AQ Khan network is suspected to have supplied Iran with designs for its P1-type aluminium-rotor centrifuges, during a visit the scientist made to its Bushehr nuclear facility in 1986, Later, in between 1994 and 1996, Iran received components for 500 centrifuges, a deal that was followed up with designs for the more advanced P2 centrifuges, which began operating from 2002. Iran admitted to International Atomic Energy Agency investigators that it had met thirteen times with what it described as “the clandestine supply network” between 1994 and 1999.
I might be making too much out of nothing, but its obvious (at least to me) that Iran probably already has nuclear weapons.
If Iran has a nuclear weapon...and everything I've read from open source materials indicates that they do....then the next question should be why haven't we seen more activity from Saudi Arabia to protect themselves from this threat?
And no, I'm not talking about defensive measures...I'm talking about obtaining a nuclear weapon themselves.
N. Korea is hurting for money and they've already built nuclear weapons. So has Pakistan. Is it beyond belief that Saudi Arabia doesn't need to develop weapons....it just goes to poor nations and buys them?
What if we've seen a failure of foreign policy that spans the from Carter until today? What if we're living in a world where Saudi Arabia...a regime that is teetering on the brink of revolution... has nukes? What if all the talk about preventing Iran from getting nukes is deception and the nuke deal is to integrate them into the "community of nations" so that its hoped they won't use them?
I'm not sure about any of this...but it doesn't look good.
Experts who are close to the subject of aerial warfare have stated that China’s latest stealth fighter, the J-31, and J-20 fighter jet are variants that were inspired by F-35. This could mean that the Chinese took intricate details from the fighter jet and implemented them on their own fighter jets. According to AVIC Chairman, Lin Zuomin, he had this to say about J-31 if it ever met F-35 in an open air fight: “The J-31 will finish it off in the sky.” According to the Snowden files, there are several details that outline the scope of Chinese F-35 espionage efforts. These ranged from acquiring the radar design of the fighter jet, as well as detailed engine schematics.These schematics would most likely enable the Chinese to build a fighter whose speed matched that of F-35 and they could also replicate the cooling system of the engine, to prevent it from overheating even when it was stressed to its limits. The leaked documents from Snowden also reveal that several terabytes of data related to F-35 joint strike fighter program were stolen, meaning that if the Chinese were actually responsible for the hack, they had sufficient information on their hands to build a fighter jet of their own in order to match the prowess of F-35.
Walsh cited some of the progress being made on multiple programs dealing with amphibious operations and said the Marines had to maintain that capability. “If we can’t come from sea to shore, we have no reason to exist,” he said. A key part of maintaining that capability is the ACV. Walsh said he expectedtwo of the four bidding contractors would be chosen to build 16 vehicles to be tested over the next two years to select the best for production. Although the ACV will not have the high water speed the Marines sought in the canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program, Walsh said the proposed vehicles are better able to protect the Marines in them and operate on land, where they will spend 90 percent of their time. The Marines still hope a future model ACV can provide a faster water speed, he said.
Two years of testing? Really? We're talking about a ground combat vehicle. The flight test schedule for the CH-53K will be shorter and people are going to be riding in that at 5000 ft, but somehow it takes 2 years to determine the best vehicle?
We're getting jerked around and HQMC is playing games.
The AAV replacement drama has dragged on longer than even the pitiful F-35 program. Time to get this done OR its time to be honest with the tribe and state that it isn't gonna happen till 2030 at the soonest because leadership fucked up. Its really that simple.
The US House and Senate armed services committees are working to identify $5 billion to cut from the defense budget as part of a larger budget pact between Congress and the White House, leaving procurement programs vulnerable to reductions. The Pentagon will get nearly everything it wanted in the budget deal — minus $5 billion — leaving defense watchers to speculate how the rewritten policy bill will play out.
Five Billion dollars.
The article goes on to quote a Senator as saying that the cuts will come out of muscle....and the Pentagon has already cut real combat power to pay for the F-35.
How much longer will the USAF, USMC, USN and US Army (what is the abbreviation for the Army?) play nice when one airplane is killing needed upgrades like the Stryker lethality upgrade and pushing back even further the Amphibious Combat Vehicle?
When the girl refused, a school administrator came in and ordered the teen to get out of her seat. She refused. That’s when Fields was called in to remove her. In the viral video, the officer is seen and heard asking the student to get up. She refuses. As he goes to physically remove her, she attempts to punch him in the head, striking him in the chest. Almost simultaneously, he pulls her from the desk and throws her to the floor, where she is promptly put into cuffs. Now, instead of learning an important lesson that there are rules and laws, and that breaking them has consequences (a lesson so many of today’s youth seem to be missing), there will be publicity, sympathy and likely no repercussions for her terrible behavior. In fact, following the incident, no injuries were reported. Now, after the media attention, the student is claiming multiple injuries.
I find this type of thinking stunning. Some it would seem, believe that their uniformed overlords can do no wrong!
This was a girl!
Not a gang member. She wasn't yelling and screaming in class. She wasn't fighting in class! She simply refused to participate in class and she got her ass beat.
Yet some of my readers think that's ok? Absolutely amazing. Quite honestly this would be outrageous regardless of the color of the officer OR the child!
If you're the type of person that believes that obedience to law enforcement trumps a persons civil rights then I happily part company with you.
The officer's behavior was over the top. The amount of force used on a "suspect" was uncalled for.
But there is a part that has me spinning even harder. Check this out from the same article...
Regardless, many members of the NAACP have already spoken out about the incident saying, “race played a role in the arrest of the black student” and the officer should be charged. After all, nothing drives donations (and ratings for CNN) like a race war, even if it’s largely fabricated.
This publication talks about race war and its suppose to cater to LEOs?
And you wonder why relations between police and the minority communities are so bad?
The new armored vehicle was first put to the test in a division-wide exercise that was held in the spring in the Jordan River valley.
The vehicle is based on a Merkava Mk.2, many of which have been phased out within the framework of the IDF's transition to the advanced Merkava Mk.4 tanks, which are now equipped with the "Trophy" active protection system. Rather than sending the tanks to junk yards, scrapping, or selling them to foreign militaries, the tanks were sent back to the military's repair yards at Tel Hashomer.
The tanks later underwent a thorough facelift; their cannons and turrets were removed, along with spaces used to store tank shells inside the hull. The result is a heavy armored personnel carrier, which outperforms the lighter M113 APC, which is currently in widespread use throughout the military.
Getting a lot of mixed signals from the IDF when it comes to armored vehicle development. Just a couple of days ago I read a story about a new wheeled, heavy APC that they were developing, now this.
Of course this is a common thing in the IDF when it comes to repurposing old tank hulls. They did the same with Centurions and other MBTs so this doesn't come as much of a surprise. The sad but necessary news? They're finally making solid moves to take the M113 out of service. It's just too lightly armored to serve anywhere on the battlefield...to include support roles. Sidenote. What do the Israelis and Russians know that we don't. They're both making moves to heavy IFV/APCs. Either they're wrong or the rest of the world will be very sorry.
While reading some of the comments about the F-35 and how it will not solve the US Navy's problem regarding distance/deep strike, its become obvious to me that some are forgetting about an important part of our nation's naval aviation history....The cancellation of the ALL ASPECT Stealth A-12 Avenger II. via Wikipedia...
The United States Navy began the Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) program in 1983. The program was to develop and field a replacement for the A-6 Intruder by 1994. Stealth technology developed for the United States Air Force would be used heavily in the program.[4] Concept design contracts were awarded to the industry teams of McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics, and Northrop/Grumman/Vought in November 1984. The teams were awarded contracts for further concept development in 1986.[5]
The McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics team was selected as the winner on 13 January 1988, the rival team led by Grumman surprisingly failed to submit a final bid.[6] The McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics team was awarded a development contract and the ATA aircraft was designated A-12. The first flight was initially planned for December 1990.[5] The A-12 was named Avenger II in homage to the World War II-era Navy torpedo-bomberGrumman TBF Avenger.[7] The Navy initially sought to buy 620 A-12s and Marines wanted 238. In addition, the Air Force briefly considered ordering some 400 of an A-12 derivative.[5][8] The A-12 was promoted as a possible replacement for the Air Force's General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, and for the United Kingdom's Panavia Tornado fighter-bombers.[6]The craft was a flying wing design in the shape of an isosceles triangle, with the cockpit situated near the apex of the triangle.[9] The A-12 gained the nickname "Flying Dorito".[9]
The A-6 was the long range strike platform of choice for the US Navy. The A-12 was to be its replacement and IF it had succeeded we would see a Navy much better positioned to handle the anti-access threat we're facing today. From the same entry...
The A-12 I did terminate. It was not an easy decision to make because it's an important requirement that we're trying to fulfill. But no one could tell me how much the program was going to cost, even just through the full scale development phase, or when it would be available. And data that had been presented at one point a few months ago turned out to be invalid and inaccurate."
Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, 1991.[15]
Long story short?
The A-12 was the right airplane at the wrong time.
Yesterday my Animal Crimes Unit arrested 56yo James Allen Darland of Mount Vernon Washington, for bestiality. Darland made contact with one of my undercover detective's posing as a farmer/ owner of several animals in the Wickenburg area. Darland requested to spend days on the farmer’s property solely for the purpose of having sex with the various animals provided including miniature horses, dogs and goats. Darland admitted to detectives on emails and in later phone calls that the self-described married man has been having sex with his neighbor’s horse, dogs and sheep in the state of Washington for some time. Darland also stated he just retired from UPS after working there for over 23 years and when delivering packages for the company, would often have sex with customers’ dogs while they were absent from the residence while on his route. He also spoke of stray dogs that he would find on his route which he captured to use for sexual gratification. The suspect personally met up with my undercover detectives today at a location near Wickenburg where he talked in detail about what sex acts he had recently committed with his own dog and what he planned to do with an unneutered male dog the detectives brought to the scene. Shortly after he regaled the detective of stories about his delivery route days where he unabashedly engaged in sex with customer’s pets, detectives quickly arrested him. We clearly confirmed his intentions to commit this crime by statements, recorded phone calls and videos, e-mails and actions witnessed by my detective, leaving no doubt in his mind that Darland fully intended to carry out his perversion by committing the crime of bestiality. Darland was booked on Conspiracy to Commit Bestiality (Class 6 Felony) and placed in the 4th Avenue Jail. A search was executed for Darland’s dog. His dog was seized in the course of the investigation and transported by Animal Crimes Detectives to the Arizona Humane Society for evaluation to determine whether the animal had been sexually abused.
I wonder if this guy was involved in something even more ghastly than this. Its said that at any one time there are at least 100 mass murders on the streets of America that have gone undetected/arrested.
Denel Land System is supplying 176 turrets for the Malaysian project; the contract covers 69 armed with the DLS 30 mm CamGun; 54 armed with the same cannon and the Denel Dynamics Ingwe missile; and an overhead weapons station for the armoured personnel carrier variant of the Malaysian vehicle. The LCT30 ATGW variant is the most well-armed variant of the AV8, and is equipped with the LCT30 ATGW turret from Denel Land Systems. The LCT30 ATGW turret is armed with a Denel GI30 30mm gun and one 7.62mm coaxial machine gun as well as four ZT3 Ingwe 127mm anti-tank guided missiles. The Ingwe is a laser beam riding missile with a range of 5000m and the ability to engage moving targets. 54 units of this variant will be produced in the first batch of 257 AV8s. 12 of the IFV-25 variant which is fitted with a one-person FNSS Sharpshooter turret armed with a stabilised ATK Armament Systems M242 25 mm dual-feed cannon and an FN MAG 58M 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun (MG) are assigned to the 19th Battalion, Royal Malay Regiment, which is said to require 88 Gempitas in total. This beast is already in operational in Sabah.
Hmmm. This FNSS vehicle is starting to grow on me...I like the setup.
The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded an $897,530,175 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-14-C-0032) for the procurement of 15 Lot 38 full-rate production EA-18G aircraft and associated airborne electronic attack kits. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California (40.3 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (24.1 percent); Bethpage, New York (18.5 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (1.7 percent); Bloomington, Minnesota (1.5 percent); Mesa, Arizona (1.3 percent); Torrance, California (1.3 percent); Vandalia, Ohio (1.1 percent); Ajax, California (1.1 percent); Irvine, California (0.8 percent); Santa Clarita, California (0.6 percent); South Korea (0.6 percent); and various other locations in the continental U.S. (7.1 percent). Work is expected to be completed in January 2018. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $897,530,175 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Ooops...so much for the plan to shut down the Super Hornet production line! But more importantly what does this tell us about the DoD's confidence in the F-35 to perform the Electronic Attack mission?
