You missed some of the news about changes coming to Marine ground forces...

Here is some news you missed about the changes coming to Marine ground forces.  via Stars and Stripes...

Each rifle company will gain an operations/intelligence section, a logistics cell and small arms repair, the statement said. Marine battalions will add an information management officer and an information environment operations officer and chief to integrate “information warfare capabilities.”

Each infantry battalion will gain a forward air controller, which means each rifle company will have one assigned.

Plans also call for combat engineer squads to increase to 13 Marines and engineer platoons to be attached to each infantry battalion.

The Marines’ 2nd Tank Battalion will get an additional company while the service upgrades its M1A1 active protection systems and target acquisition and sensor suites, the statement said.

The service also plans to bring back 5th Battalion, 10th Marines as a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, battalion in fiscal year 2023.

The Marines also plan to field upgraded light armored vehicles with anti-tank capabilities.

Story here. 

Wow.

We got so caught up talking about the Infantry Squad that we missed this news.

I'm still left in the starting blocks on this!

It's obvious that the chestnuts are still being kicked around the campfire though.  An increase in Combat Engineer Squad size?  While diminishing the size of the Infantry Squad?  Ok.  If you say so.

The INFANTRY COMPANY gets an intel sections, a logistics cell and small arms repair?  That screams independent operations which probably means Majors instead of Captains leading them.  It also means that Company Landing Teams are alive and well.

Oh and the increase in the Engineer Squad means that urban combat is still a thing and they're planing accordingly.

2nd Tanks gets an additional company?  Are they under strength?  If not then why didn't this go to 1st Tanks?

HIMARS is going to 5/10 which is being brought back?  Interesting.

Not much to bitch about.  Just need to drink it in. 

The only real thing that bothers me is that they're in the mode of Amos.  They pop shit on us and we don't get to participate in the debate.  Its all insular.  Its all so top down driven with exercises and "certifications" that seem a bit scripted.

If only General Van Riper was still around playing the opposing force to these concepts and telling us they're good to go.  Then I would have confidence.  But now?  Now I can only wonder and think that they're reaching hard for change instead of evolving naturally to face the future.

Frustration mounting. Must do better when discussing tough issues....

We're not trying to take over the world here (although just like the "Brain" it is a personal mission of mine), but we are trying to seize a part of the internet and talk about shit others shy from.

But frustration is mounting.

Seriously guys.

Ya got to break out of your camps, do me the small favor of taking a big picture view of things, stop drilling into the weeds, and STOP BEING so fucking miniscule and agenda focused on the controversial shit.

What I'm asking some of you to do (this isn't a wide raging critique, this is squarely aimed at a few) is to simply THINK!

Memes ain't gonna cut it for discussions on this page.

If all you can do is spout nonsense from the left and right then I'm gonna tune you out and then ban you if you can't or refuse to keep it between the lines.

What brought this on?

The latest discussion about the issues in Gaza.

I'm trying to take a big picture view and look at the thing from 90 miles up instead of diving into the weeds which tends to muddy the water for all (we're not there so we don't know the nuances of the situation...easy to bitch till you're the guy on the end of a Palestinian molotov cocktail or vise versa looking down the barrel of an Israeli Tavor) so we MUST be big picture about this stuff.

Now let me get actual and factual.

If you have racial angst or hatred then spare me.  Culturally I identify as an American of African ancestry.  Full fucking stop.  I haven't done an ancestry online.  Did do my stuff for God and country. 

This is again looking at the post when I compared the geopolitical situation that Israel is facing with that of S. Africa.

I don't give two shits about the fate of White S. Africans today.  I just don't.  Many don't seem to have given two shits about the fate of Black S. Africans when they were being ravaged during apartheid.  To that I say cool.  To each his own.

But don't fuck with a blog post that is not at all touching on that racial drama when I'm trying to go beyond that.

I'm not a word smith.

I don't present complex ideas.  I do as I've been trained.  I take the issue at hand, break it down donkey style and then attempt to overwhelm it.

Whether thats trying to figure out how to take a morning shit or looking at the situation facing Israel that's just how I roll.

So I simply ask this.

Stay on fucking topic.  Stay focused on the issues presented.  If you want to vent then do that on open posts but not on issues that I raise with readers to chew on.

End of counseling.

Now get out there and do better.  Next time I smash heads, kick ass and put you in the fetal position begging your mommy to make the bad man stop.

Bell V-280 does 190 knots. Should we be impressed?

via Defense News.

Bell’s V-280 Valor tilt-rotor demonstrator has now flown in cruise mode, reaching 190 knots.

To achieve cruise mode, the rotors in the V-280 pivot from vertical lift to fully forward-facing. While the company reached 190 knots in recent flight tests, it will continue to expand the envelope until it reaches an expected speed of 280 knots, a company spokesman told Defense News on May 15.

The aircraft is part of the Joint Multi-Role Demonstration program that will inform the U.S. military on requirements for a fleet of future helicopters expected to come online, possibly before 2030.

Story here. 

Should we be impressed?  190 knots? 

YOU BET YOUR ASS WE SHOULD BE IMPRESSED!

They're doing a crawl, walk, run type build up and this thing is in the air doing its thing!

Hate to say it cause I like the Sikorsky Defiant too and think it could provide a capability that the V-280 doesn't...but its not doing work right now.

It's kinda stuck in the starting gate.

Not a fan of tiltrotors for assault (unless they've changed descent speed to something approaching that of conventional helicopters when hitting an LZ) but the advance in tech is noteworthy.

Which leads me to a last question.

Is there some kind of unknown (to me) aerodynamic law that makes smaller tiltrotors better?  Just thinking about the history of this stuff and the XV-15 was a tilt rotor but it was small.  So were many that came before.  When we originally went larger with the XCH-142 we went to tilt wings (wish they're modernize that design and bring it back with modern engines).

Is it about aerodynamics and some other rules I just don't know about or is it something else?

US Army rushing Mobile Shorad Launcher (MSL) Stryker to service

The story that hasn't gotten enough play time this week?

The US Army has gotten the MSL Stryker into service and will soon have it deployed to Europe.

Why am I impressed?

Because we did the Russian thing.

We took an existing vehicle and modified it to meet an essential need.  Take the F-35 out of it.  We still need to reinvigorate, and rebuild our air defense forces.

This is an awesome step forward toward that goal.  Quite honestly the Marine Corps should probably do the same thing they did with the MLRS.  Adopt the light version of the system that the Army developed (HIMARS) for their Light Infantry Brigades and get it into service with the Corps.

Is this the future with more budget trainwrecks coming?

I think so.

For better or worse we've seen a generation of military leadership squander an opportunity to develop NEW gear for the next war.  Our boys and girls will be riding into battle with stuff thought of in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

It's not suppose to be that way.

This generation is suppose to set the table for the next but an ill conceived war on terror with a jacked up/impossible to achieve mission mindset (generational war for a volunteer military that has been going on for 20 years with the added idiocy of a false INCREASED operations tempo...anyone who thought that was a good idea was smoking industrial grade crack) doomed any chance for improvement.

The best we can hope for is that they're able to breathe new life into old gear...in other words doing things the Russian way.

Canadian Army @ Exercise Fast Reflex 2018

Is Israel going the way of S. Africa?

This is gonna be controversial and emotional to some.

If you can't handle it leave.

If you remain remember this.  My house.  My rules.  If I think you've crossed the line then I don't have to explain myself, I just do what I do.

Having said all that let's get to it.

I notice many like to point out the current atrocities being suffered by White S. Africans.  That's understandable.  But what those same people fail to point out is the atrocities committed against Black S. Africans by the White Majority while they were in power.

What does that have to do with Israel?

I've been thinking about the violence yesterday.

While trying to balance my unwavering support for the Jewish state, the gas that Netanyahu poured on the situation by declaring Jerusalem the "undivided" capital of Israel, the timing of the embassy move by the US and the fact that we just made this move shortly after ending participation in the Iranian nuke deal (I don't believe in coincidence and all this happening in so short a time frame points to coordination...even I could have predicted the reaction to this mess and I'm not an Intel Analyst) makes me wonder why now.

More importantly is the fact that the images from the rioting is so reminiscent of the scenes just before the end of White Majority Rule in S. Africa.

Change the locale.

Change the skin color of the participants.

Compare and contrast the living conditions for those that are labeled the oppressed and those being oppressed with regard to the two countries and EVEN compare the political circumstances.

From my chair it's eerily similar.

S. Africa.  Surrounded by enemies that wanted to drive it into the sea.

Israel.  Surrounded by enemies that want to drive it into the sea.

S. Africa.  At the time a sophisticated, militarily advanced state.

Israel.  A sophisticated, militarily advanced state.

S. Africa.  Possessed nukes.

Israel.  Possesses nukes.

S. Africa.  The oppressed lived in ghettos/slums etc.

Israel.  The Palestinians live in the worlds largest open air prison.

S. Africa.  International pariah.

Israel.  International pariah.

I want Israel to live.  I want to see the nation flourish, but I'm worried that they've embarked on the same course that S. Africa did. 

If that's correct then consider this too.

All the stories we hear about atrocities being committed against white families in S. Africa today will pale in comparison to what will happen to the Israelis.

Don't get me wrong.  I think Israel has been foolish for trading land for peace.  I think the Palestinians have passed up numerous GREAT deals that could have raised their people out of poverty.

I also think there are some Arab states that WANT this tragedy to continue.

But having said all that I wonder if Israel needs to do something to help mitigate the suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of their own inept leadership not for the sake of the Palestinians but for their own sake.

Even if Trump wins another term he can't serve forever.  Eventually there will be another President that isn't pro Israel.

When that eventually happens again the question must be asked.  Can Israel stand alone against massed modern Arab armies and Palestinians at their doorsteps in the modern age?  If they can't then we'll see a modern day holocaust.  If they can then it will mean nuclear hellfire.  Neither choice is appealing.

Open Comment Post. May 15, 2018

ACE and HSC-28 conduct aerial blue-green integration....pics by Cpl. Jonathan Sosner

UK to buy full allotment of F-35's? Ok then everything else will be slashed...

There are plenty of articles that have as their lead that the UK will buy its full allotment of F-35 fighters.

Ok.  I won't touch that debate (not this time).  What I will touch on is the real headline that everyone missed. From Forces.net.

Last Friday, the Public Accounts Committee warned that in a worst-case scenario, the UK armed forces could be £21 billion short of the money needed to buy equipment over the next decade. 

MPs warned the Government that the department "simply does not have enough money to buy all the equipment it needs".

For the UK the F-35 debate has become secondary.

Quite honestly the new debate becomes the future of their military.  Are they willing to fund one or will they take a step where the separate services become one and they're down to one tank, one airplane and a Royal Marine with a big shiny fighting knife instead of a rifle.

Make no mistake.

This is turning into a pick one debate for the UK.  The F-35 has trashed the USMC's budget but done worse to the UK's. 

Planes or a military.

Pick one but you can't have both.  God save the Brits cause they're fucked.

Canadian Army assaulting thru the front gate of Austere Village exercise area during Platoon Commander Course (pics)...