Armada Española (Spanish Navy) Ship gets dangerously close to a waterspout!

The frigate Numancia suffering a waterspout in the waters of the Bay of Cadiz

That is crazy.  I can't even imagine!  Bonus coverage.  The Juan Carlos...oh and click on the pic to enlarge....that's a MV-22 on deck....

Saudi/GCC rotating troops in what is being called a "long term" operation.

via GulfNews.com

Military experts commended the UAE’s troop rotation tactic in Yemen, announced on Monday, which will see the first batch replaced by another as part of Operation Restoring Hope, saying “it was a positive move, in favour of the coalition forces.”
The military tactic, which is used in military operations the world over, experts told Al Bayan newspaper, aims to revitalise the UAE’s presence in Yemen. They said the decision to replace troops was well-timed, especially since it’s been nearly seven months since the UAE began deploying military forces in Yemen.
The General Command of the UAE Armed Forces on Monday announced that the first batch of Emirati soldiers will be replaced by the second group of soldiers. The rotation comes following many victories, such as the liberation of Marib and retaking the Marib dam, parts of which was rebuilt on behalf of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
According to Al Bayan, the second batch will participate in the Arab coalition forces to perform new tasks in Yemen, replacing the first instalment of troops “which was able to achieve several important victories.”
Strategy-analyst Major General Monem Kato said the troop-rotation decision taken by the UAE is a positive move, in favour of the UAE army and the Saudi-led coalition forces in general. “It is a punctual decision,” he told Al Bayan, “especially since the coalition is on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sana’a, and is on the verge of liberating it.”

Here.

Wow.  Looks like the Saudis/GCC took advantage of the Tropical Storm that hit Yemen to rotate troops.  I'm really surprised that they didn't take advantage of the storm to launch a new offensive.

Regardless.  This isn't going to be short, nor is it going to be painless for them. They're in a quagmire.  

Whites 45-55 dying at alarming rate....another sign that the economic recovery wasn't...

via Washington Post.

“Drugs and alcohol, and suicide . . . are clearly the proximate cause,” said Angus Deaton, the 2015 Nobel laureate in economics, who co-authored the paper with his wife, Anne Case. Both are economics professors at Princeton University.
“Half a million people are dead who should not be dead,” he added. “About 40 times the Ebola stats. You’re getting up there with HIV-AIDS.”

Read it here and be shocked...but I warn you.  Keep your race baiting bullshit to yourself or I'll lock down the comments on this.

My take.

The economic recovery that the Democrats have been hanging there hat on isn't.  They can play with the employment numbers...inflation numbers...even household income but the truth is still out there and obvious to anyone with the eyes to see and the courage to believe what they're seeing.

This country is in economic trouble.  The funny thing is that the Baby Boomers had the highest level of living in the history of the world and their children are getting smoked.

Remember the post that I did on drugs in the Middle East?  I wondered what would happen to a society that experienced a couple of decades of war.  Now we have to ask what happens to a society that experiences a decade of economic malaise and the disappearance of the Middle Class.

Now we know.  Oh and if you think this problem is only affecting whites?  Think again...remember this chick?



The Middle Class across the board is getting body slammed...Black, White, Hispanic, Asian...every swinging dick and ovary.  The Democrats failed.  The Republican have no real answers.  We're fucked.

Sidenote:  I would never do it so leave me alone Secret Service and US Marshals but did you see the President grinning at the start of her question?  I don't dislike the guy (I just think he's done a terrible job) but I feel like jumping thru the TV, punching the fuck out of him and then smoking his ass for half an hour!  What the fuck did she say that was funny or worthy of even a smile?  She voted for her new reality....she got "hope and change" and it sucks.

Awesome F-15 Silent Eagle gif from Foxtrot Alpha!

The more I see of this airplane the more convinced I become that its the real answer to the issue in the Pacific...NOT the F-35!  Nicely done Foxtrot Alpha!  Take notes Boeing!!!

Check out Chris Heal on Flickr!

Just found this guy on Flickr and his pics caught my eye.  Check out his collection here.

Even more pics from Trident Juncture 2015...

When did the Canadians move to band tracks?  That's a rather beefy looking M-113!

Look at all the gear racks on the Canadian LAVIII!  Going into my World of Tanks thinking...I wonder if that counts as spaced armor?

Never had the nerve to ask them in person...didn't want to appear disrespectful but what is the deal with the "decoration" attached to the helmets?  Always found that curious.

Even SOCOM is unable to solve the terrible Fast Roping issue with the V-22....they've got to get that solved before someone gets killed or injured.

This is new...or at least new to me.  What is that contraption they're using?  Is it some type of brake to control the load of a fast roper with a heavy load?  Even so, I can't imagine a pooch is over 50 pounds (military working dogs are light)...so what's the deal?

MacGregor Recon Strike Group Presentation..

Thanks to Paralus for the document!

  MacGregor's Recon Strike Group Presentation

Israel has always wanted the F-15 Stealth Eagle instead of the F-35...

Thanks to T.Rob for the link!

via Defense.PK

A key request was for Obama to grant Israel access to Boeing's proposed F-15 stealth variant, called Silent Eagle and unveiled in 2009. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have expressed interest in the stealth design, but the Obama administration has ordered the closure of the F-15 production line as the Defense Department prepares for the introduction of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
"Israel wants the stealth F-15 as its next aircraft, but Washington wants Israel to buy the F-35 ahead of every other international partner," the source said.

This story is from 2010 and can be read here.

What people forget and what no one wants to admit is how good their intel gathering arms are.  For goodness sake they were able to spy on the Iran nuke deal and that's with the best we have trying to keep the meetings secret!

So its a given that they know the real deal behind the F-35.  Don't be misled by the happy talk coming from the IAF.  If they were as sold on the F-35 as many of the fanboys make out then there would be no need to ask for F-15SEs.

But they are.

MacGregor says a US Army Armored Division would be "annihilated" by its Russian equivalent...

via Politico...

In early September he circulated a PowerPoint presentation showing that in a head-to-head confrontation pitting the equivalent of a U.S. armored division against a likely Russian adversary, the U.S. division would be defeated. “Defeated isn’t the right word,” Macgregor told me last week. “The right word is annihilated.” The 21-slide presentation features four battle scenarios, all of them against a Russian adversary in the Baltics – what one currently serving war planner on the Joint Chiefs staff calls “the most likely warfighting scenario we will face outside of the Middle East.”

First.  PLEASE GET ME A COPY OF THAT POWER POINT!!!!!!  Next.  It gets worse.  Check this out...

“Every time we deploy a division we deploy a division headquarters of 1,000 soldiers and officers,” Macgregor explains. “What a waste; those guys will be dead within 72 hours.”

Note.  PLEASE GET ME A COPY OF THAT POWER POINT!!!!!  This short article is a must read.  Check it out here. 

Sidenote:  I'll tell ya ahead of time.  Spare me the venom/hater-aid toward MacGregor.  The guy might be a rebel but he's one of the few Army advocates that appears to be thinking instead of simply cheerleading.  We need more of that across the services.

Hybrid Terrorist Groups are forcing SOCOM to look more like conventional forces.

Albino sorriso metalico made a statement that made me click.  It was with regard to ISIS being able to assemble a 5 ton vehicle borne IED and assault a column of Kurdish/Arab armored vehicles.

The question.  Have we sat back and watched terrorist groups turn into a hybrid that is too large and dangerous for SOCOM to handle?

The dirty little secret with regard to Special Operations Forces is that they're vulnerable to conventional forces.  That's why they've always been touted as the go-to force for small dirty wars.  

We're seeing something different in the Middle East now.

Yeah, they're dirty wars but the combatants are beyond anything that ANYONE could have foreseen.  Terrorist organizations that are operating armored vehicles, have access to short range ballistic missiles and can go toe-to-toe with conventional forces in the region and win?

Who could have seen that coming?

The even stranger thing?  We've seen "small" special ops units grow to operating in platoon and company sized formations already.  If SOCOM is to remain viable and provide any measure of strike power, that means that Battalion/Brigade sized operations are surely on the horizon.  It also means that the lavish support they already get will have to be increased.

Conventional units have sought to become more like SOCOM.  Ironically, SOCOM in order to survive on this new battlefield, against more capable terrorists will have to evolve to become more like conventional units...either they will become more agile (mechanized) on the ground, carry heavier anti-vehicle/anti-tank weapons (to deal with terrorist armor) and have some sort of artillery assigned or else they will face a day when they will be outgunned by these new Hybrid Terrorist Groups.

Amazing.