The US Army is getting serious about peer threats?

Thanks to John for the pic!

John added this in his note to me...

So, I'm driving to the range with some of my guys and see this being tricked around. One of the kids goes, oh I've never seen a tank like that...I chuckled and said rethink what it is, and after 20ish mins of failed ROCV, I told them it was a SA-15 TOR radar vehicle, Russian.

They asked why we would have that, I told them from the looks, it's not the real deal, just a range target heading to AP hill for some scouts to hit with Arty.

This shit makes my heart sing.

No not the issue with the vehicle.  I'll touch on that in a second.  What has me jazzed is that it's still going on.  Staff NCO's are still training their devil pups in the stuff that counts.  They're training them to meet the future battlefield and win.  No distraction by things they have no power to control (and did not participate in) but a focus on getting better everyday.  Threat vehicle identification is a skill that every Marine MUST master.   This little "school circle" on the way to the range is just plain awesome shit!

But back to the vehicle.  The idea of putting targets on range that simulate threat vehicles is just plain common sense but we've gotten away from that.  Why?  I don't know.  Buying surplus Russian/Chinese tanks from "friendly" nations (of course at a price they couldn't say no to or even in trade for US tech) or even acquiring facsimiles shouldn't be too difficult a task.

Shooting at tires or piles of lumber isn't training.  It's just target practice. Target has a place but so does shoot/move/communicate on a training range! Having said that it appears that the Army is making strides already.  They've turned to on engaging peer threats.  Let's hope the USMC is doing the same.