If you weren't there then you don't know...Let's understand each other.

Above you see a photo of LAV-25A2's.  From basic knowledge that is widely held they're operated only by the USMC in American service.  The setup is what you'd see on Marine Corps vehicles, the stenciling etc...

But they're not being operated by the USMC.  The 82nd Airborne borrowed a couple from the Corps and several others from General Dynamics.

Additionally they're gonna run tests with the cooperation of GD to develop protocols/equipment to make them air droppable.

If you went by the photo alone you'd think that it was crazy to think that the 82nd was testing these vehicles.  Which brings me to the subject of this post. I go by what the photographer/writer/source tells me is the correct information.

For some reason, the correction monkeys have been out swinging and its annoying.  Check out the pic below.

I got this pic from Jimmy Van Drunen's Instagram page.  He's another aviation photographer whose work I enjoy.

What happened?

Despite the watermark on the photo, despite my crediting the author, some yahoo decided to add this comment....

It's an Leonardo (AugustaWestland) AH-Mk.I (AH-64D) of the Czech Republic. During a NATO Demonstration near Volkel, the Netherlands in June 2013...

I don't know.  I wasn't there.  The photographer was.  If I have to choose between some guy I don't know that's commenting on a blog or the guy that was there to take the photo I'm gonna pick the photographer every time.

But the main thing that has me wrapped around the axle is this pic I posted...

Again.

I don't know cause I wasn't there.  What I do know is that I watched a vid (that I can't seem to be able to find) and then saw the pictures of these Stryker ICV's rolling off a C-17 ready for combat.

The BIG NEWS in my opinion was that the Army was exercising the Global Response Force with armor.  Some of my readers wanted to make a big deal about whether or not it was the 173rd conducting a forcible entry exercise or if it was 3/2 like the stencil says.

In my mind that was immaterial.  I'm running with what I read.  173rd conducting forcible entry.

Did I misread the caption?  Possible.  Did the photographer get the caption wrong?  Possibly.  Does it matter for the issue I was trying to get across?

NO IT FUCKING DOESN'T!  The big news is that the Army is making Airborne Mech a reality...NOW and not in the future!

But instead of getting the force of connection on the bigger point the correction monkeys instead want to focus on the minor.

The point of the matter is this.  IF YOU WEREN'T THERE THEN YOU DON'T KNOW!

I wasn't there.  You sure as shit wasn't either.  Roll with the reality of that or get rolled over.  We discuss concepts and ideas.  We attempt to gleam as much information as possible from open source information to understand power moves being made by nation states on this planet.

We don't focus on triviality.  If that's a deal breaker for you then it's been nice but we part company. That's all.