More Dawn Blitz 15 ...

Marines with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment provide security on the beach following an amphibious landing as part of Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Sept. 5, 2015. Dawn Blitz is a multinational, amphibious training exercise designed to hone the amphibious landing skills of I Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Expeditionary Strike Group Three and allies of the United States. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Eric Keenan)

Marines with 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division use a compass to determine their left and right lateral limits on the beaches of Camp Pendleton, Calif., during Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015, Sept. 5. Dawn Blitz is a multinational training exercise designed to enhance Expeditionary Strike Group Three and 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade’s ability to conduct sea-based operations, amphibious landings, and command and control capabilities alongside Japan, Mexico and New Zealand. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David Staten)

Marines offload vehicles from a Landing Craft Air Cushion on to a beach aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., during Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015, Sept. 5. Dawn Blitz is a multinational training exercise designed to enhance Expeditionary Strike Group Three and 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade’s ability to conduct sea-based operations, amphibious landings, and command and control capabilities alongside Japan, Mexico and New Zealand. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. David Staten)

Marines with 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion unhook towing cables from an amphibious assault vehicle following an amphibious landing during Exercise Dawn Blitz 2015 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Sept. 5, 2015. Dawn Blitz is a multinational, amphibious training exercise designed to hone the amphibious landing skills of I Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Expeditionary Strike Group Three and allies of the United States. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Eric Keenan)

Saudi Arabia/GCC forces number 10,000.

via Arabnews.com

Emirati and Bahraini soldiers who were “martyred” in Yemen will be treated as Saudis “materially and morally,” said Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, SPA reported on Tuesday.
He vowed that the blood of “our martyrs will not go in vain,” and added that “the (Saudi-led) coalition will continue its operations with determination to defeat the (Houthi) rebels and their supporters who tampered with the future of the brotherly people of Yemen and who tried to destabilize the region.”
The Iran-backed militia and their allies in the army fired a Soviet-era ballistic missile at an army base in the central province of Maarib on Friday, killing at least 60 Gulf Arab soldiers on Friday.
The alliance has deployed 10,000 troops to Yemen, Qatari news channel Al Jazeera said.
Yemen’s neighbors ramped up airstrikes on Sanaa on Tuesday and hope to launch a decisive assault soon on the city.
“The number of coalition soldiers who have already entered Yemen has risen to 10,000,” Al Jazeera reported.
“A second contingent of Qatari soldiers will arrive today at Yemen after entering Al-Wadee border crossing (with Saudi Arabia) ... as coalition forces have added to their military equipment with 30 Apache helicopters, armored vehicles and rocket launchers,” he added.

Ok this is getting good.

I really need to get a handle on the Saudi/GCC order of battle here.  What units have deployed and how do they rate?  What units are in reserve?

Still this is turning into a more compelling fight than the cluster fuck that is the US' effort against ISIS.  We're basically seeing the fight that we've all anticipated between Iran and Saudi Arabia/GCC.

I doubted their (Saudi/GCC) ability to respond to setbacks/reinforce success before.  After the setback of having a bunch of troops killed in a ballistic missile attack it looks like they're doubling down.

I'm asking again.  Do they have enough slack to exploit a breakthrough/absorb a setback now or is this all they can spare?

13th MEU's 81mm night fire...photos by Sgt Hector de Jesus

Corporal Beau Kroupa and Lance Cpl Nicholas Nelson with 81mm Mortar Platoon, Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, fires an 81mm mortar during Realistic Urban Training Exercise (RUTEX) at range 210 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Sept. 2, 2015. RUTEX provides Marines and Sailors of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (13th MEU) an opportunity to perform and practice their duties while deployed in an urban environment

The real truth about the USMC? The School of Infantry is easy...the Fleet is where you get your balls smashed!

Thanks to CoffeeJoeJava for the link!

via Marine Corps Times...

"I was stressing out because all my girlfriends started getting hurt," Brown told Marine Corps Times. "They're all getting this common injury from hips. I was waiting to feel something in my hips and I never did."
Brown was one of just two women left standing in the pair of infantry-trained rifleman platoons at the end of the nine-month-long experiment, she and other members of her unit said. Most of the other women in those two platoons had been dropped or temporarily sidelined with light duty due to injury.

Then this...

Before opting out of the task force, Sheffield, 23, had decided the infantry wasn't for her.
"It sucked; it really sucked," she said. "I wouldn't do this experiment again."

Yeah and she's a pup.  Imagine how she'd feel after 4, 8 or 12 years of that?  Many women are going to be setting themselves up for life long injury.  Bad knees and backs are par for the course that no one talks about.

But the reality is never talked about.  You can pencil whip anyone thru any school in the Corps.  Nothing is ever said in the clear about it but that's the actual and factual.

The fleet is where you get your balls or (in the near future) ovaries kicked in. Oh and trust me.  When you have a battalion commander that's pushing 45, is a PT stud and thinks road marches are fun, base plates build character and you can never have enough ammo...then those marches turn into hell on earth...and that's before you spend the next 8 hours running ranges because you started out at 4am to get their by sunrise (note I said started...that doesn't include your prep time which usually happens late Sunday nite).

But what has me spinning is that the USMC isn't releasing these reports.

The agenda won't allow it.

This is why I absolutely HATE USNI Blog and the group of bastards over there.  They're pushing a cause that will see the USMC weakened.  What happens when you have 1/4 of your battalion undeployable?  How do you make up for so many that are pregnant or injured?

This NEW Marine Corps will be a mix of fun to watch and pure pain.  When the inevitable happens remember I told ya so.

Armata Armored Recovery Vehicle via Gur Khan Attacks...

More images here.

1st Tanks on range 500...photos by Sgt Hector de Jesus

Marines with 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine division, conduct tank gunnery engagements during Realistic Urban Training Exercise (RUTEX) at range 500 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Sept. 4, 2015. RUTEX provides Marines and Sailors of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (13th MEU) an opportunity to perform and practice their duties while deployed in an urban environment.

Camp Bastion about to be overrun? They buried the lead. The ANA is about to collapse.

via Daily Mail...

Camp Bastion, the former British Army headquarters in Helmand, Afghanistan, is in such danger of being over-run by the Taliban that an American Special Forces team has been deployed to protect it.
In a shocking indictment of how far security has collapsed in the province since Britain handed over the base to the Afghan National Army (ANA) last year, the United States has been forced to use 90 ‘Special Operations’ soldiers to defend the site.
In a further alarming development, a British security source who visited Helmand last week has told The Mail on Sunday that the ANA is now paying the Taliban thousands of US dollars not to attack them – a claim regarded as plausible by military experts.

Everyone has latched onto this part of the story.  Understandable, but as is almost always the case, the mainstream reporter missed the bigger issue.  The Afghan National Army is on the verge of collapsing and with it we will probably see the Taliban re-take Afghanistan if/when we actually leave.  Don't believe me?  Check this out from the same article...

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said: ‘The deals are done between field commanders of the ANA and the Taliban’s higher-ups.
‘The Taliban are better equipped and can pay fighters twice the wages of ANA troops, so discounting US air strikes, the engagements have become rather one-sided.
‘Faced with that reality, and in anticipation of an expected peace agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government in the next 12 months, the ANA doesn’t want to lose more soldiers – they’ve lost 4,300 soldiers in action and suffered 12,000 wounded – and the morgues are full. They know they’re onto a loser so they’re literally buying time.’

Yeah.

The Taliban is claimed to be better equipped.  The engagements have been one sided with the ANA getting the worst of it.

They're putting all of their eggs into the basket of a peace treaty!

My question to you is this.  The Taliban aren't idiots.  They know that the West is beyond war weary.  They understand that there is even opposition to sending more of our treasure to that backwards country.

They know that we're ready to leave.

Knowing all of the above, if you were a Taliban leader would accept a peace treaty when outright victory is so close? 

Your moral Monday news feed. Homeless Man in Brazil dies saving woman from gunman

via Unilad.uk

A 61-year-old homeless man in Brazil has fought with a gunman to save a woman. He was killed after the gunman shot him in the chest. The woman held hostage has survived.
The homeless man, Francisco Erasmo Rodrigues de Lima, sacrificed his life to fight off a gunman who was threatening to kill a woman outside the famous Sao Paulo Cathedral in Brazil.
The gunman has been identified as Luiz Antonio da Silva (49) and he was shot and injured by police as Francisco bravely intervened. Silva has previously spent 22 years in prison for theft, damage of property and causing bodily harm.
Francisco received at least two bullets to the chest and died at the scene.

Full story, pics and link to vid here. 

Do you want a kick in the pants?  The nation of Brazil is hailing the guy as a hero but they didn't even give him a decent burial.  From what I've been able to gather he was simply put in what was once called in the US a hobo grave.

Ain't that some shit?

Moral Mondays don't always have a happy ending.

Mexico's Navy/Marine Corps at Dawn Blitz 15....

Thanks to NO for the link!

Note:  Thanks to my readers we know have a tag on at least a few ships participating.  The USS Somerset, a Mexican LST and what appears to my untrained eye to be either a Frigate or a small Destroyer.  I'm still trying to get a birdseye view of the scale of this exercise.  If you have any info hit me with it...from my chair it looks unusually small this year.

More Dawn Blitz 15...pics by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan Riley

NOTE:  Is it just me or does this seem like a MUCH smaller exercise than we've seen in the past?  I've tried finding out the units involved but all I get is 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade.  I can't get a good feel for the ships involved either and its suppose to also include some type of sea base portion to it. Something is off here...this is suppose to be one of the premier amphibious assault exercises and the Corps is holding its cards REAL close to its vest...even with (supposedly) Australia, Japan and Mexico participating.