Hurricane Irma News. Law Enforcement perspective on the ground by JD Strike...

This update is from JD Strike...

ok worked 12hr last night 1800 to 0600.  Beautiful sunny day.  All stores closed at 1900 hrs.  A few gas stations still open but majority no gas.  Lots of people moving in from the coast to get supplies before they bug out.  This morning mandatory evacuation in effect.

Liberty County Sheriffs department manned check points for all roads into and out of the coastal areas. You come out you don't get back in till all is clear.  I work City PD, so if your not familiar with the area, we are the county seat, so everyone from the coast comes through us to move inland.  I stood patrol out at the super Walmart at closing time last night and couldn't believe the people still waiting to the last minute to go get supplies, wire money in or hell just shop .  Think about this, it was payday yesterday so a lot of people had to wait for payday to get any funds to buy basics. (no deep larder).  Luckily no one got stupid and contained their anger.

Spent the rest of the evening  bouncing between two gas stations that had a little fuel left. Long lines and 3-4 police officers present to keep it cool.  Patrolled the neighborhoods assessing my assigned zone for the next few days to get idea of how many houses have people still staying or have been boarded up.  Funny talked to a few people who decided to stay because when Hurricane Matthew came through last year "it wasn't that bad".  All I could tell them was be safe and this storm is not the same or on the same track.  We had areas that had no power for up to two weeks last year and the storm went up the east coast and impacted South Carolina.  I have no clue how this ones gonna play out even if it has moved more west and losses strength.  I got released this morning and told go home make preparations and be back at 1800 Saturday.  Helped my neighbor put up plywood and the helped her pack her truck to leave out the area.  Gave her some ammo, and 10 gallons of gas.
As of 1600 we have clouds, and a little rain and wind, but nothing to write home about.  Afternoon watch is manning intersections and helping keep the flow of traffic moving.  I really pray things don't get bad here like T is experiencing.  Just a point of interest, we will remain in service during the storm period up until the winds get to 45 miles per hour, then we are to bunker down at the PD and wait for the weather to break.  During this period, no calls for service, no deploying out to save or help anyone. No police, fire or EMS period.  That needs to sink into people.  They have to prepare for their own selves, Food, water and medical supplies.  It really sucks to think that IF someone calls for help, we cant or wont be allowed by higher to go out.  That's why there is an evacuation.  Either way its a shitty situation.  Well I hope this storm didn't pay it utilities bills and gets them shut off.  Prayers for everyone.       

Yep.  People are about to get sucker punched.  Even worse.  Its on a new track and I'd bet body parts it goes a bit further west than they're currently projecting.

The lessons learned from this is going to be fascinating.  The old standards are just not going to cut it.  Too many people live too close to the coastline...especially the growth we've seen in Florida, Texas and Mississippi (Louisiana has swamp lands and no beaches so we're immune to that danger).

From my chair if you're living in the path of a major storm you might need to plan on being away from home for maybe two weeks.  Assuming you leave two days before the storm hits land, giving the storm two days to wreck your area and move out, and then maybe 5 days for relief efforts to kick in...power restored, roads cleared and body removed...10 to 14 day stay away from home?

It sounds outrageous but that might be the new standard.

The USAF full operational capability lie via The Drive...

Thanks to Moebius for the link! (Didn't remember you linked this till this morning!)

via The Drive.

Still, it’s not entirely clear how the Air Force is defining “fully combat capable” in this case. None of the three F-35 variants have even begun the mandatory testing process run by the Pentagon's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), which is independent of the individual services.

What is clear is that this is not the same, nor is the service claiming it is, as a formal declaration of “full operational capability,” or FOC. The Pentagon-standard definition for FOC is when every unit that is supposed to receive a certain weapon system has gotten that piece of equipment and can both operate and maintain it. This announcement is generally only supposed to come after the system passes DOT&E's rigorous independent testing regime.

The Air Force had already added confusion to this process by declaring initial operational capability (IOC), which is supposed to reflect a basic operational capability, for the F-35A before the end of developmental testing and without any operational evaluations. The service seems to be again obfuscating the situation, intentionally or unintentionally, by using a term that sounds similar to FOC, but isn't, which has already led to confusion in the media about what this new announcement realistically means. 

Then this.

 “Declaring ‘initial operational capability’ after each of the program's steps rather diminishes the pronouncement,” Grazier added. “I'm sure most people are really only interested in ‘full operational capability’ as that is what we are paying for.”

Beyond that, based on the publicly available information, it’s hard to say whether or not the Block 3F software package will provide a truly complete suite of combat capabilities. We have no reason to doubt the new code will finally allow F-35A pilots to employ the fuller range of existing operational weapons the Air Force wants the aircraft to carry by the end of the ongoing developmental testing process.

As of 2015, this list of planned weapon options was relatively short, including the AIM-9X and AIM-120C air-to-air missiles, GBU-12/B 500-pound class laser-guided bombs, GBU-31/B 2,000-pound class GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs, the GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), and the GAU-22/A 25mm cannon. There are now plans to integrate 500- and 1,000-pound class JDAMs and the GBU-49/B dual-mode version of the GBU-12.

Story here. 

Long short?  This is the most corrupt program in the history of the US military. Forget the costs as horrendous as it is, think about the morale bankruptcy this plane is causing among those in senior positions.

The gamesmanship being played with "IOC" and "FOC" is telling and disgusting.  These people are breaking the law...at least the spirit of the law and Congress is so fucking stupid that they're more worried about basing rights than they are the bankrupting of our defense dept.

Navantia's LCM-1E incapable of transporting Australian M1A1 MBTs?

Thanks to Gerard for the link!

via The Australian.

A Spanish company vying for a $30 billion Navy ship building contract is using a Youtube video to imply its landing craft can carry Australia’s heavy tanks despite the boat sinking too low in water when the armoured vehicle was put on board.

Navantia, one of three contenders for Australia’s $30 billion Future Frigates contract, has a contract worth about $240 million to supply Australia with 12 landing craft supposedly capable of carrying the army’s 62 tonne M1A1 Abrams tanks.

Defence has since confirmed trials of the boats had to be suspended after they sank to low in the water when the 62 tonne Abrams was put on board.

Story here. 

Just plain wow.  The Aussies aren't even operating the heaviest version of the tank and the LCM-1E can't handle it?

This is one of those foreign systems that I've been lusting after and hoping that the USN/USMC would adopt.

Now?

Not only no but hell no!

Even worse?

They're trying to make up for the bad news NOT with engineering improvements but thru an ad campaign?

Navantia just lost all kinds of cool points with me.

U.S., Romanian and British soldiers finish Bull Run II...will Russia-phobic people shut up now?

U.S., Romanian and British soldiers finish Bull Run II at the training area in Bemowo Piskie, Poland, Sept. 6, 2017. The two-day readiness exercise tested the speed of assembly, freedom of movement and collective defense of the NATO battle group. Army photo by Capt. John W. Strickland

Yep.  I'm  a musician this weekend cause all I'm doing is beating on drums.

Why?

Because the current "conventional wisdom" is so wrong it hurts.  We have been conducting exercise after exercise in Europe.  Yet Russia does one and people go batshit?

Are you fucking kidding me?

This is why you prep...

If anyone has any questions on why you should prep I recommend you read some of the recent articles from Law Enforcement readers of this page and their experiences either in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey (T is doing God's work there) and JD Strike getting ready to do work and make things happen in Georgia.

Long short (but I still feel a need to shout this from the rooftops).

You can't get ready.

You must be ready!

Stacking your shit deep in case an emergency happens isn't hoarding, being a survivalist nut case or a doom day zealot.

It's about assuring that you and your family have a plan of action to safeguard your own lives and the valuables/keepsakes that you cherish.

What's next on the list to buy?

No, not more guns or ammo.  Not even more food.  Increase emergency cash? Yeah but that can happen at a normal pace.  I have set aside a reasonable fund to cover those expenses.

What comes next will be a cargo trailer.

One thing is certain.

By the time the authorities alert the public to a potential emergency then you'll see a run on the stores that will see you caught up in a flood of humanity that is drawn to drama like flies (someplace you should never want to be in) or caught in traffic or forced to put your family in a refugee center (they had one for Harvey setup not far from me and again the stories are terrible...don't know if its real or fake).

A good, flexible (in my mind) cargo trailer that you can make provisions to store water and fuel and additional items from the home makes sense.  Especially when its becoming painfully obvious that traveling approx three to four hundred miles from the coast to escape destruction is the new benchmark.

Hurricane News. Florida is screwed, and people are stupid.

Watching coverage of Hurricane Irma.  This is gonna be bad juju and all I see are Floridians playing on beaches.

Mark my words.

In a day or so these same people are gonna be begging first responders to come save them.  These same people will be talking about how they went so many days without food or water.

In short, people are stupid.

Next.  It's happening as I predicted.  The USN/USMC is surging into the Virgin Islands and the real story will be what's happening right here in the continental US.  No one is covering that story and the Marine Corps premier force in readiness is being ignored.  The USMC public relations officer needs to choke himself.

Finally I'll keep banging this drum.  You can forget any increase in defense spending.  The economy and the govt just can't afford a tax cut (which Republicans are demanding) along with hurricane relief (which everyone agrees on) and then combine that with more money spent on defense.

An enemy didn't destroy the US military.

Mismanagement of limited resources (and much to the alarm of generals the budget is limited) coupled with a failed war strategy in Iraq/Afghanistan mixed with the focus on the F-35 despite all evidence pointing to it being a failure, has ensured that we will lose the fight against China that is rapidly approaching.  Much to my disbelief and astonishment, the Chinese have already achieved perfect victory...the shocking thing is that we helped them do it.

Did an X-plane or F-35 crash?

Thanks to Numo for the link!

via Flight Global.

An unidentified US Air Force aircraft assigned to Materiel Command crashed on the Nevada Test and Training Range on 5 September, killing the test pilot and raising questions about the potential existence of a new classified aircraft.

The USAF’s 99th Wing public affairs office at nearby Nellis AFB confirms the crash that occurred during a training mission at about 6pm killed Lt Col Eric Schultz, a USAF test pilot who had previously worked on the Lockheed Martin F-35 test programme. An investigation is underway and “additional information concerning the accident will be released as it becomes available”, the USAF says.

Story here. 

I already have readers saying that it wasn't an F-35 and that we should all move on.  To those people I raise the following issues...

1.  They did not say that it was NOT an F-35.

2.  We do know that information about the F-35...negative information is always timed with release of positive news.

3.  God save the deceased pilot's soul and may his family find comfort, but that bubba had two hands inside the F-35 program and we KNOW they're trying to ramp up production.

4.  Same as number three with the added point that they're trying get the definitive block certified so that they can get foreign sales and have the plane perform as advertised.

With Irma about to hit Florida they decide to release this information?  This happened almost 5 days ago but only now?

I suspect they're hiding bad F-35 news.

Pic of the day....The Light Dragoons of the Royal Armoured Corps night live fire.

The Light Dragoons is a Light Cavalry Regiment in the Royal Armoured Corps 🇬🇧 that is now deployed to #Poland 🇵🇱 as part of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence. They are equipped with the Jackal light armoured vehicle. Recently the battlegroup has conducted a night live fire to enhance the marksmanship of their gunners

Hurricane Harvey & Irma News. A Law Enforcement ground level view.

I've gotten  couple of viewpoints that my readers need to check out from Law Enforcement on the ground...both in Harvey & Irma.

1.  T in Houston.

Well Sol Houston drains well. There is one side of town still flooded due to the releasing of dams up river, but other than that it's not to bad. The cleanup is starting along with the recovery of bodies. I'm on nights so I'm not involved with that.

 As far as crime these guys here run for anything. There have been a ton of pursuits since we have been here. Gas is getting hard to find, but there is no shortage. There is a shortage of fuel tanks that don't have water in them.
 The shooting at officers has stopped as well. It seems like two rival gang guys shot each other the next day with AKs in the area where officers were shot at. Since then the streets have quieted.

 To be honest more shit was going on after Ike.
 Now there are going to be some messed up guys after this with the body recovery. In my area body snatchers come get them when we find them. Down here the officers find them and have to move them to the ME's van. I'm hearing some guys found 4 dead children in a work van. The guy driving was unfamiliar with the van, a buddy loaned it to move his family, he didn't know the transmission needed to be in park for the rear doors to open. It started being taken away by flood waters and he couldn't get the doors open. Sad story. Have a witness that said the guy had one arm wrapped around a tree and one hand on the door handle holding onto it until it was finally to much. Fuck man.

I knew this was gonna happen but didn't expect it to affect me.  Ya know what I mean.  Taking your eye off the ball just because the next episode shows up.

Thankfully we have T providing updates.  Don't forget about Texas and keep them in your prayers (or wish them well if you don't).

2. JD-Strike in Georgia

well they announced mandatory evacuations for Fort Stewart and Hunter AAF. Liberty County and All of Hinesville. I already moved out my Oldest Son to North of here. Wife and Daughter are already in Hawaii with her folks. I'm stuck here with the dog and a Mandatory recall, 12 on 12 off hunkered down at the PD. Talk about timing. I drop my letter for my 2wk Notice on the 28th of this month, then supposed to load a container first week of October and then bounce on a plane. I worked during Matthew and while it was no way close to the size of Irma, it was rough. Ill tell you the panic buying has been going on since Tuesday, gas has been short and now everyone has to be out of the region starting Saturday 0900, with contraflow on I-16. Looking at the Track, savannah is going to be major flooded even if its a Cat 1-2. al the coastal areas are gonna get wrecked and this is not going to be compared to what Florida is projected to get. I tell you the complete helpless feeling is knowing there is nothing you can really do to protect your property. In my case all of our stuff is boxed and staged for the planned move. Anyway, ill ride the storm out at work. Sol ill keep you posted the best I can while the internet stays up and we got power. Oh and before someone askes why the hell I would move to Hawaii with all the crazy shit going on with Norks and China, I got elderly parents that are not doing well. Have to circle the wagons.

Everyone forgets but Law Enforcement is being asked to leave their loved ones and head out into the wild to protect people they don't know.  That's a huge ask...sorta like being in the military huh?

Additionally I can't emphasize enough that we're seeing two regional events. Affected areas aren't covering a few miles but hundreds maybe even thousands of square miles.

These are potentially storms of the century and you get a chance to watch it. I guess we're blessed to live in interesting times...or is it cursed?

The Marine Corps is forward leaning ready to provide assistance in Florida when Irma strikes. GOOD!

via DVIDS.

 Reserve Marines from units in Florida and Alabama are poised to support FEMA, state and local response efforts in anticipation of Hurricane Irma’s land fall. Currently, 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company, based in Mobile, Alabama, 4th Assault Amphibian Vehicle (AAV) Battalion, based in Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida and Combat Logistics Battalion-451, based in Orlando, Florida are preparing to provide support. The preparations ensure Marine Forces Reserve is ready to respond to any requests to bolster Northern Command's support of FEMA's assistance to federal, state and local authorities' ongoing relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

“These are local Marines who live and work in these communities, and they have a deeply-vested interest in helping their neighbors during this dangerous storm,” said Lt. Gen. Rex C. McMillian, commander of Marine Forces Reserve.

Marine Forces Reserve AAV and Recon assets played a critical role during Hurricane Harvey’s relief operations, conducting a number of immediate response missions. In total, the Marine Forces Reserve rescued 1,265 victims, conducted 1,166 welfare checks, delivered 25,500 lbs. of supplies for the American Red Cross and transported 6,000 lbs. of food, water and bedding in support of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The units are organized as a Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF). The MAGTF is the Marine Corps’ principal organization for conducting missions across the range of military operations, including Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HADR) across the globe in which the Marine Corps has a great deal of expertise.

So they learned the lesson and they're forward leaning.

GOOD!

This is more of what I expected.  Unfortunately the Kearsarge and it's MEU is deployed to the Virgin Islands.  Looking at this from a visibility standpoint that's a backwater.  The issue that will capture the hearts and minds...especially during this battle of the budget...will be the work that is done in the continental United States.

Another thing.  I noticed that they're trying to highlight Recon's work in this effort.  Nice try but you don't know the Southern United States if you think they're bringing something special.

Every redneck, good ole boy, coon-ass, cajun and their mother has a boat of some sort and will be doing rescues from boats bigger than zodiacs.  Recon will do work I'm sure but they won't capture attention.

AAV's will though.  You see one of those beasts bringing a Navy Corpsman being piloted by Marines and you know help is on the way.  The news media knows that too.

I know what you're saying.  This is a rescue mission.  A disaster relief mission. To hell with the optics.

I tell you you're wrong.  It's both. It's about optics and the work these Marines will be doing.  And it's a fight that the Marine Corps MUST win if it's going to remain an American touchstone.

Open Comment Post. Sep 8, 2017

S. Koreans protest Anti-Missile System designed to protect them. Why do we bother?

via Defense Tech.

U.S. Army trucks brought four more THAAD anti-missile launchers onto a former golf course in South Korea on Thursday, following clashes between police and protesters trying to block the road.

Two of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system launchers were already in place, but the remaining four in the battery had been put on hold pending an environmental study.

On Wednesday, the South Korean Defense Ministry gave approval to the placement of six launchers in response to North Korea’s underground detonation last week of a nuclear weapon that may have been a hydrogen bomb.

“After consultations with Washington, the additional THAAD launchers will be installed on a temporary basis together with other construction equipment and materials,” the Defense Ministry said.

Story here. 

No rant.  Just this.  Why do we bother?  The S. Koreans and Japanese protest our bases, our aircraft and now a weapon system that is being put in place to protect them.

The Pentagon wants to do a round of base closing?

I recommend they start overseas.