Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Infantry Battle School Brecon @ The Fan.

The Fan Dance

The highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, just one of the tests soldiers endure on the section commanders' battle course.






So that's the "hill" the Royal Marines always talk about. I can't lie.  It looks like pain mixed with a big dose of more pain.  Seems like decent weather for these guys though.  I was always told of freezing rain being blown at almost hurricane like force and movements at night on it.  I guess they can tell tales too!

ISIS is a fully formed terrorist group supported by...everyone?

via MintPressNews.
The prime source of money feeding ISIS these days is sale of Iraqi oil from the Mosul region oilfields where they maintain a stronghold. The son of Erdogan it seems is the man who makes the export sales of ISIS-controlled oil possible.
Bilal Erdo?an owns several maritime companies. He has allegedly signed contracts with European operating companies to carry Iraqi stolen oil to different Asian countries. The Turkish government buys Iraqi plundered oil which is being produced from the Iraqi seized oil wells. Bilal Erdogan’s maritime companies own special wharfs in Beirut and Ceyhan ports that are transporting ISIS’ smuggled crude oil in Japan-bound oil tankers.
Gürsel Tekin vice-president of the Turkish Republican Peoples’ Party, CHP, declared in a recent Turkish media interview, “President Erdogan claims that according to international transportation conventions there is no legal infraction concerning Bilal’s illicit activities and his son is doing an ordinary business with the registered Japanese companies, but in fact Bilal Erdo?an is up to his neck in complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be immune from any judicial prosecution.” Tekin adds that Bilal’s maritime company doing the oil trades for ISIS, BMZ Ltd, is “a family business and president Erdogan’s close relatives hold shares in BMZ and they misused public funds and took illicit loans from Turkish banks.”
Wow.  The Russians are turning up the heat on Turkey and if you take the time to actually look at what's being said on the net...from other than mainstream news sites...we're looking at a monster of our own creation.

This is wild.  This is tinfoil hat-ish.  This is scary if true.

H/T to Ronald for this story.

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Strike Update via Combine Joint Operation Inherent Resolve Facebook Page.

SOUTHWEST ASIA- On Nov. 30, coalition military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq. In Syria, coalition military forces conducted one strike using remotely piloted aircraft. Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 12 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets. Coalition military forces conducted one strike in Iraq in support of Coalition operations using fighter aircraft.
The following is a summary of the strikes conducted against ISIL since the last press release:
Syria
• Near Al Hawl, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
Iraq
• Near Al Huwayjah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
• Near Habbaniyah, one strike destroyed an ISIL building.
• Near Makhmur, one strike denied ISIL access to terrain.
• Near Ramadi, five strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL command and control nodes, an ISIL staging area, and an ISIL weapons cache, damaged two ISIL command and control nodes, two ISIL buildings, and denied ISIL access to terrain.
• Near Sinjar, three strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed seven ISIL fighting positions.
• Near Al Qaim, one strike struck an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) facility.
• Near Sultan Abdallah, one strike struck inoperable Coalition equipment denying ISIL access in support of Coalition operations.
Strike assessments are based on initial reports. All aircraft returned to base safely.
A strike, as defined in the CJTF releases, means one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative effect for that location. So having a single aircraft deliver a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of buildings and vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making that facility (or facilities) harder or impossible to use. Accordingly, CJTF-OIR does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.
The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community.
The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct operations. Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Iraq include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States. Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Syria include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the U.S.

They're freaking truck plinking.  We could save money and be more effective by deploying all of our AC-130's and keep the wear and tear on our fighters to a minimum.

Games are being played.  I don't know why but we're not fighting to win...and the Pentagon knows it.

Retired Lt Gen Vaught was right.

General Vaught during his active duty days...
Lets take a step down memory lane...via ABC News...
A retired general today assailed the commander of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden for drawing too much media attention to operations that he argued should be kept under wraps.
Special Operations Commander Adm. Bill McRaven was confronted by retired Lt. Gen. James Vaught, who said he didn't understand why the recent raids by the Navy SEALs, such as the one to kill Osama bin Laden or to rescue U.S. hostage Jessica Buchanan, were all over the media.
"Since the time when your wonderful team went and drug bin Laden out and got rid of him, and more recently when you went down and rescued the group in Somalia, or wherever the hell they were, they've been splashing all of this all over the media," Vaught, 85, said. "I flat don't understand that.
"Now back when my special operators extracted Saddam [Hussein] from the hole, we didn't say one damn word about it," he continued. "We turned him over to the local commander and told him to claim that his forces drug him out of the hole, and he did so. And we just faded away and kept our mouth shut.
"Now I'm going to tell you, one of these days, if you keep publishing how you do this, the other guy's going to be there ready for you, and you're going to fly in and he's going to shoot down every damn helicopter and kill every one of your SEALs. Now, watch it happen. Mark my words. Get the hell out of the media," he concluded, as laughter broke out at a meeting of the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington, D.C.
Wow.  Just plain wow.  My first thought when I saw this awhile ago is that this guy, LTGen Vaught is spot on.  My second was that these so called defense journalist are fucking idiots.  Below is  the vid of the event...


ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos

Why am I posting this?  Because Carter just announced that a "Specialized Expeditionary Targeting Force" would be deployed to Iraq.  I believe SOCOM is flying into trouble..

Think about it.  Iraq is hardly reliable.  Turkey has been shown (conclusively in my opinion) to be supporting ISIS and the same can be said of Saudi Arabia and the other GCC states..the Kurds are good to go,  but the other people that we could expect to get help from...the Russians  are listed as enemies.  So we're in a hurt locker before we even deploy these guys.  One slip in protocol when it comes to intelligence handling and an ambush can be setup.  Poor intel on a target can have our forces flying into a situation with ISIS having only two goals...to kill as many of our people as they can, with a secondary bonus of capturing one alive so that they can torture and kill him for broadcast on YouTube.  This is risky beyond belief.

Retired LTGen Vaught is right, but just like other elder warriors, his council is being ignored.  This crop of military leaders think they know better.  They're wrong.  

Specialized Expeditionary Targeting Force (SETF)? What the fuck is that?

via CNN
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Tuesday that the U.S. military will send "a specialized expeditionary targeting force" aimed at conducting more raids in Iraq.
A U.S. official tells CNN that decision means that there will be additional U.S. Special Operation forces on the ground in Iraq to fight ISIS.
Carter made the remarks testifying before the House Armed Services Committee.
"Next, in full coordination with the Government of Iraq, we're deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and to put even more pressure on ISIL," Carter said. "These special operators will over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence, and capture ISIL leaders."
First.  FUCK!  Cut it out Pentagon!  You're not impressing with all this word sausage you're developing.  Stop with the bullshit please!

Second.  A specialized expeditionary targeting force, that will conduct raids, gather intel and capture ISIS leaders?  That could be any unit in SOCOM.

Last.  Am I the only one that is worried that these guys could get baited into a trap and suddenly we're seeing SOCOM personnel lined up on a beach getting their throats slit?

This is a bad idea and has hints of the Vietnam war.  If past is prologue then we're gonna see Marines deployed to support these operations...right before we start sending in Army divisions.  Yeah.  This is a terrible idea.

Turkish cooperation with ISIS is going mainstream..

via Jerusalem Online.
Hurriyet Daily News recently reported that Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dundar was arrested after exposing that the Turkish government was sending supplies to ISIS. His arrest was appealed but the Daily Sabah noted that an Istanbul Court had rejected the appeal today. Dundar is being charged with providing documents regarding the security of the state, political and military espionage, releasing secret documents, and propaganda for a terrorist organization.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, Dundar denies the charges against him: “We are accused of spying. The President said our action was treason. We are not traitors, spies or heroes. We are journalists. What we have done here was an act of journalism. We have nothing to feel sorry about. These are badges of honor for us.” Dundar compares what he has uncovered in Turkey to the Watergate and Iran Contra Scandals in the US, stressing that his exposures helped to prevent Turkey from making a grave mistake: “A journalist should report the story if he sees the country is in danger.”
Wow.

People have been talking about Turkey and ISIS for months on these pages (the US too) and quite honestly I thought it was MAYBE a few rogue elements but this story makes me wonder.

How high up does the conspiracy go?  Will the US media dig now that we're seeing mainstream Turkish journalist going after this story?

Last but not least are we all sleepwalking thru one of the biggest scandals of the 20th century?

Ayyub Faleh al-Rubaie, the Iraqi "Angel of Death" ambushed and killed?




This popped up on my news alerts and I can't find confirmation anywhere.  Supposedly ISIS snuck into his home, ambushed him and his men and he was killed in the fighting.  Reportedly 14 ISIS fighters died along with 6 of his guys (sounds like one helluva fight...I'd like to know how many assaulters ISIS brought with them).

More to come I'm sure.  One thing I don't get.  The social media/facebook side of the fight is really starting to grate.  Why would any serious fighter want to publicize himself this way?  Why make yourself a bigger target than you already are when you pick up a gun?

Weekend Warriors: Birth of the B-52 Why could they do it then but we can't today?



Ok, I'm sure Boeing embellished this story a bit .... but if they didn't wow!  The USAF stated that they wanted a jet engine, long range bomber (just out of curiosity wasn't the B-47 the first long range bomber?) and over the course of a weekend engineers from Boeing had a proposal ready to go?

We need to get the sense of urgency, the get it done attitude and the skill back into our defense design/procurement.

Why could they do it then but we can't today?

The Marine Corps and Close Air Support (1956)

A Marine Officer is kicked out for trying to protect fellow Marines...how did we get to this point?



via Washington Post.
A senior Navy Department official decided Monday to force a Marine Corps officer out of the service for his handling of classified information, three years after he was first investigated after sending a warning to deployed colleagues about an Afghan police chief whose servant later killed three Marines.
Maj. Jason Brezler will be separated from the Marine Corps following a decision by Assistant Navy Secretary Juan M. Garcia, said Michael Bowe, Brezler’s attorney. The case grabbed attention in Congress and among highly decorated senior officers in the military, some of whom advocated on Brezler’s behalf to let him stay in the Marines. Other service officials maintained that retired Gen. James F. Amos, the Marine Corps’ top officer when the investigation began, and other generals involved handled the case well.
“We will now proceed to a real court and prove that Commandant Amos and his generals illegally retaliated against Major Brezler because they were more concerned with politics and their careers than the lives of their Marines and the service of a good Marine who did the right thing,” Bowe said in an e-mailed statement. “I look forward to their cross-examination.”
Wow.  The Amos legacy is still kicking the Marine Corps in the head and Dunford was Commandant for too little time to dig into this...but Neller should have used his influence to fix this.

This is another sign that the Marine Corps has become infected with the idiocy that exists at the highest levels of the DoD.

Politics is more important than honor.  Good men will suffer to protect fools.  Major Brezler deserves better.  He was attempting to protect his fellow Marines and instead of medals he gets kicked out.

How could this happen in the United States Marine Corps?  Why would any leader allow this type of misjustice?