US Army Air Defense Artillery @ Exercise Artemis Strike....(Pics)

US Army Air Defense Artillery @ Exercise Artemis Strike in Crete, Greece...Vid

Russia has the world's largest armor fleet.

via Pravda.

"During the five-year period, from 2012 to 2017, the Russian army has received more than 25,000 units of new armored and motor vehicles and 4,000 state-of-the-art models of rocket and artillery weapons, which allowed the Russian Federation take the first place in the world in terms of the number of tanks, infantry combat vehicles and MLRS systems," Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Dmitry Bulgakov told the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

Story here.

Even if you cut those numbers in half, the Russians still outpace the West by a large number.

The armor race is on and US Army/Marine Corps leadership doesn't seem to notice or care.

US Army Special Ops Soldiers (Ooh Rah Vid)

Army Stryker vehicles with 30 mm cannon & Javelin upgrades

So now Javelin is vehicle mounted?  Not sure about that.  Seems rather short ranged for vehicle applications but who knows!

Warhammer News. Joint Chiefs say invasion 'only way' to totally disarm N Korea

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via BBC.com

Rear Admiral Michael Dumont expressed the opinion on behalf of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a letter to Congressman Ted Lieu.

Mr Dumont said calculating "even the roughest" potential casualty figures would be extremely difficult.

He also gave some detail on what the first hours of a war would involve.

"The only way to 'locate and destroy - with complete certainty - all components of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs' is through a ground invasion," he wrote in response to Congressman Lieu's questions about a potential conflict.

The risks involved included a potential nuclear counter-attack by North Korea while US forces attempted to disable its "deeply buried, underground facilities", he said.

"A classified briefing is the best venue for a detailed discussion," he added.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff directly advise the president of the United States on military matters.

In a statement with more than a dozen other military veterans turned congressmen, Mr Lieu, a Democrat, said the assessment was "deeply disturbing" and warned that a conflict "could result in hundreds of thousands, or even millions of deaths in just the first few days of fighting."

"Their assessment underscores what we've known all along: there are no good military options for North Korea," the statement said.

The letter was published as Donald Trump begins his mammoth tour of Asia, during which the North Korean threat is expected to be a major topic of discussion.

The president has previously said that if forced to defend the US or its allies, he "will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."

Story here. 

I've been following the president's trip to Asia and can confidently say this. We're seeing a replay of the events that led up to Gulf War 1.  If you remember we saw last minute diplomacy and heard talk of "breakthroughs" that would prevent war.

In the end it didn't work and war were declared.

I see the same happening here.  The weird thing?  Early reports had the Pentagon pushing for limited strikes and no boots on the ground outside of a batshit crazy plan for a special ops decapitation raid, not a full scale invasion as this report is laying out.

So if I believe this news is credible (and I do) how does that jive with what we've already read?

Simple.

The Pentagon is simply justifying its rationale, and war planning.  They're simply adding a caveat to say that with the plan as it is they can't guarantee that all nuclear weapons will be destroyed.

They're playing politician and telling policy makers that even after this military action, the North could still have nukes.

This news is being put out as a way to lower expectations once the balloon goes up.  It's a way to chill out those people that watch military affairs and wonder aloud why we won't see more extensive strikes.

Taliban Special Forces Group?

via Long War Journal

The Afghan Taliban recently promoted its “Special Forces Unit” that purportedly is operating in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman. Since 2015, the Taliban has advertised its so-called “Special Forces Unit” which is known to have operated in southern Afghan provinces.

These six photos of the “Special Forces Unit” operating in Laghman province were released by the Taliban on its official Telegram account on Nov. 1. The Taliban special forces are seen wearing new uniforms and chest rigs, and are photographed with a captured Afghan Army HUMVEE. The images were captured during the daylight.

In 2015, Taliban supporters began circulating photographs online purporting to show a Taliban “Special Forces Unit” training camp somewhere in Afghanistan. The pictures showed dozens of Taliban recruits partaking in physical exercises and weapons training. The recruits were seen training with handguns, heavy machine guns, and what looks like an anti-aircraft gun. Other photos showed the recruits making use of technicals, or armed pickup trucks. The Taliban’s white flag can be seen flying in almost every picture.

Afghan military officials confirmed the existence of a Taliban “Special Forces Unit”, known as the Red Group or Danger Group, in the summer of 2016. An Afghan Army special forces commander said the group uses “advanced weaponry, including night vision scopes, 82mm rockets, heavy machine guns and US-made assault rifles.” According to The Associate Press, the Red Group has fought in Helmand and other provinces.

Story here. 

2nd Tanks (M1A1) trains with French Foreign Legion (AMX-10RC) @ Camp Lejeune...vid by Cpl. Luke Hoogendam

McCain on the F-35. A classic example of failure....

via Inside Defense.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) today urged the nominee tapped to serve as the Pentagon's next chief weapons tester to pay special attention to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

"I've been screwing around with the F-35 for the last 12 years," McCain said during a hearing. "At some universities and colleges around the country they'll be teaching this as a classic example of failure."

McCain said it was a critical time for the Defense Department to have in place a "strong, capable" director of operational test and evaluation.

"Often, it seems as though the department is in a rush to push some platforms -- like the F-35 -- through testing and evaluation prematurely, while at the same time delaying the delivery of other capabilities required to help us maintain our warfighting advantages," he said.

Story here. 

Too little too late.

The Maverick was anything but on this subject.  He knows it too.  I consider this a "cleansing statement" so that he won't be remembered for the folly called the F-35.

Ok. Let's talk Bergdahl.

A reader made a comment that I hadn't talked about the Bowe Bergdahl case.

Quite honestly I didn't think I needed to.

Anyone that's been in the military could see where that case was going.  The Army telegraphed it, the former President telegraphed it and the issue of him being a POW almost demanded it.

Let me explain.

First up you have that goofy ass press conference that the former President had with Bergdahl's hippie family.  That whole thing was a travesty, a messaging failure and downright embarrassing, but it also laid the groundwork for what we would see later.

Second, there was a massive uproar from active, retired and veterans not to mention members of his old unit.  The Army made the right noises but they also almost immediately put out information that mitigated his crimes in the eyes of the public....IF you were paying attention.

Third, there was the actual facts of the case as seen by a military lawyer/judge.  Let's take what we know and put it on the table.  Bergdahl was said to have left base and walked around the countryside, only to return later that night.  Not the smartest thing in the world to do but it does NOT indicate that he wanted to desert.  Dude's actions were weird as hell but because he left and came back that indicates that he could argue that his intention that night was to come back!

Next you have to look at his capture.  Everyone wants to put that as part of his desertion.  You can't.  He walked off his FOB, and got captured by the enemy.  In essence you can credibly charge him with one day of being AWOL or even desertion but the entire time of his imprisonment can't be counted against him.

HE HAD NO CHOICE IN RETURNING.  THE ENEMY HAD TAKEN HIM!

So in essence you have a guy in a war zone that at worst deserted his post, was captured by the enemy and caused alot of pain and suffering because his unit tried to do the right thing and save his sorry ass.

The verdict sucks but anyone that's been in the military could see it coming a mile away so that's why you didn't see the internet erupt when the verdict came down.

Anyone and everyone that was halfway paying attention knew the results of this way back when.

So why didn't I comment on Bergdahl?  Because in my mind it wasn't news.