Aurora 17. Another of those exercises you've never heard of...

Aurora 17.

Another one of those large scale military exercises that include US forces for no apparent reason other than to say the Americans participated.

What irks me isn't the obvious dog and pony aspects of the thing (but you can't help but cringe at all the politicians & defense officials that show up....just get the fuck outta the way please!) but the scenarios...all scripted, very little free play and the desired outcomes which validate all the assumptions going in.

If it was free play with tight control by umpires whenever live fire happened, with the ability for ground commanders at the Battalion level and below to respond to unanticipated issues then I wouldn't complain.

But from my chair its looking like another field op with an opening ceremony, lots of pics with politicians, a closing ceremony where generals and politicians pat themselves on the back bragging about jointness and no one getting any training benefit out of the entire drama.

I'll monitor this thing to see if my preconceived notions are wrong, but I'd bet valuable body parts I'm spot on.