If you're assaulted with a gun feel lucky. What you should fear is a knife attack.

Gun are easy.  Guns don't require the determination and physicality of a knife attack.  If you're assaulted by some idiot with a gun feel lucky.  At least you weren't attacked with a knife.

America is turning into a knife culture by virtue of immigration and gun laws.

If you're attacked by a felon that has spent time in a State or Federal Penitentiary then the odds are that the attack will be particularly vicious.  A favorite tactic is the "prison bum rush".

The bad guy attempts to attack his target unseen.  He tries to knock his victim to the ground.  Gain mount (meaning that he's on top of his prey) possibly using his knees to pin the vics arms down, uses one hand to force the head to the side and then repeatedly stabs the victim in the neck...not stopping until arterial spray is achieved.

Death is almost a certainty if the assailant is physically stronger, practiced in the technique and catches the victim unaware.

A modification of this attack has two people assaulting and one person holding the victim and the other stabbing repeatedly until death ensues.

Be aware guys.  The criminals methods are evolving and they are finding new ways to prey on society.  Add these tactics with the Flash Mob phenom...the Knock Out game and you have a recipe for not trusting crowds or groups of youths.

I don't and I'm not ashamed.

India ups the ante. Tests its K-15 SLBM.

Much appreciate the vid Samar!

I haven't kept any visibility on the Indian nuclear program and that's a mistake.  Its interesting that all the major powers (well most of them outside of Europe and the US) are developing new ballistic missiles.  President Obama's plan (along with the former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Cartwright and whatever think tank he's working for) to radically reduce our nuclear missile fleet seems premature and naive.  At least to me...especially when you look at developments around the world.

Read more about the K family of missiles here.

Read about the test launch here.

Why did SOCOM make a Special Operation-Northern Command?

via Arizona Daily Star.

Based at the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado, Special Operations Command-North will build on a commando program that has brought Mexican military, intelligence and law enforcement officials to study U.S. counterterrorist operations from the U.S. to the war zones, to show them how special operations troops built an interagency network to target al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden and his followers.
The special operations team within Northcom will be turned into a new headquarters, led by a general instead of a colonel and established in a Dec. 31 memo signed by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. That move gives the group more autonomy, and the number of people could eventually triple from 30 to 150, meaning the headquarters could expand its training missions with the Mexicans, even though no new money is being assigned to the mission.
The special operations program has already helped Mexican officials set up their own intelligence center in Mexico City to target criminal networks, patterned after similar centers in war zones built to target al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wow.

I could say another useless command especially when this could have been handled with a detachment to Mexico and fall under SouthCom or even NorthCom...but to make a brand new bureaucracy to help train Mexican Millitary and Government Agencies seems like a waste.

Tin foil hat time.

Unless this command is designed to support operations inside the US.  It being commanded by a General instead of a Colonel gives rise to any and all conspiracy theories.

Sorry kiddies.  I don't trust this government as far as I can throw it.  Something is up with this.

Olympus Has Fallen

Bullshit Alert. The CNO and the budget cuts.

via DOD Buzz.

– Plans to cancel maintenance for about 30 Navy ships at private shipyards between April and September.
– Plans to cancel depot maintenance for about 250 aircraft between April and September.
– Terminations of temporary civilian employees and a civilian hiring freeze. This will reduce the shipyards’ workforce by more than 3,000 people.
– Reductions in base spending and plans to cancel most repairs and upgrades of piers, runways, buildings and other facilities.
Adm. Greenert hints at his motivation for going public with these actions by writing that the they could be reversed if Congress ponies up the approriate funds before too long.
And so it goes, this game of chicken played between the services and lawmakers. And to be clear, this particular back-and-forth lives outside of the looming issue of sequestration. This one just involves the fact that Congress is holding the Navy to 2012 funding levels, which the Navy says will put it $4.6 billion short in 2013. If sequestration happens these sorts of reductions will seem modest by comparison.

If you need further proof that the leadership of our military has been politicized then look no further than this news report.

The Pentagon has been planning for sequestration since EARLY last year.  Now that its been put off and they're only facing spending cuts (at worse...still not as deep as sequestration) they suddenly have to pull this type of action in order to stay within budget?

They're not facing a SPENDING CUT...they're just not getting an increase!  Spending is being held at 2012 levels!

This is bullshit.  The CNO should be ashamed.

A Law Enforcement Official tells it like it is.

via the Bayou Man Blog.  Just a tidbit.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. set off alarm bells Friday with a radio spot some view as a call for citizens to arm themselves.

In the radio ad, Clarke tells residents personal safety isn't a spectator sport anymore, and that "I need you in the game."

"With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option," Clarke intones.

"You could beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back."

Clarke urges listeners to take a firearm safety course and handle a firearm "so you can defend yourself until we get there."

"You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We're partners now. Can I count on you?"

Absolutely spot on.

A man that depends on another man to protect him is not a man.  He's a child.  An infant.  A servant.  BUT HE IS NOT A MAN.

I've watched Chris Matthews (NBC News Guy) who constantly praises those that are "here to protect me" and I cringe every time.  I have never seen a man as soft, feminine and impotent as he is.

Its up to me and you to protect our society.  Get training.  Get in shape.  And then gun up.  

War Anthems...Old Skool vs. New Skool

Yeah.  Metallica.  Old Skool Marine War Anthem....



Barney.  New Skool Marine War Anthem..

Old Skool?  New Skool?  There's a big fucking difference.

Centauro 155.

I once gave the tip of the hat to the Germans for producing the most innovative armored vehicles.  They're still top notch but the Italians are definitely in the ball park.  The spaghetti eaters (I say it with love...lighten up) appear to be focusing a great deal on wheeled vehicle development and the Centauro class is worth a serious look.  Its the heaviest wheeled vehicle class in the West (possibly the world...I need to check) and they're extending the lineup beyond the Tank Destroyer to a whole family of vehicles.  The images below are of the Centauro 155 and the last pic is a lineup of the current Centauro family.

NOTE:  The guys at BAE USA claim that the Super AV is based off this vehicle and I can't dispute that...however consider the mods made to it to make it a super swimmer I can't help but consider it a distant...lets say 3rd cousin.

Review of France's naval reinforcement to Mali

Navy Recognition has an outstanding summary of the Dixmude LHD ferrying reinforcements to Mali.  Read it here and check out the awesome photo essay that accompanies the story.

A world in chaos. Japan threatens to shoot. China says there will be no second shot!

via India Research by Business Insider.

When Chinese and Japanese fighters met for the first time over disputed islands in the East China Sea earlier this month, Japan promptly declared its right to fire tracers at China’s jets.Though met with outrage by China at the time, Japan continues promoting the live firing which Chinese military academics are calling the “first shot.”The Tokyo AP reports Japan believes it’s simply following protocol:“Every country has procedures for how to deal with a violation of its territory that continues after multiple cautionary measures,” Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Wednesday when asked if tracer shots would be fired against intruding aircraft that refuse to change course. “We have response measures ready that are consistent with global standards.”If Japan is using the talk of tracer fire to gauge Chinese reaction, the tactic worked.The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Sunday his country is on “high alert” and that Japan and the U.S. are ignoring the fact that “the islands are China’s inherent territory.”Never to be left out, Chinese military academics quoted in Beijing’s state-run media provided far more fiery replies: “Japan’s desire to fire tracer warning shots as a way of frightening the Chinese is nothing but a joke that shows the stupidity, cruelty and failure to understand their own limitations,” Maj. Gen. Peng Guangqian of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences was quoted saying by the China News Service and other state media.“Firing tracer bullets is a type of provocation; it’s firing the first shot,” he said. “Were Japan to dare to fire tracers, which is to say fire the first shot, then China wouldn’t stint on responding and not allow them to fire the second shot.”

Read it all over at Business Insider, but lets recap.

*Syria is about to implode and with its demise trouble will spread to Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and possibly even to Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
*The French are fighting for the Western World in Mali against a threat to Europe AND the US.
*Afghanistan is quickly turning into the forgotten war yet fighting still rages and we're rapidly approaching a new fighting season.
*India and Pakistan are at knife edge, the latest provocation by Pakistan-the killing and decapitation of an Indian Soldier-remains unresolved.
*Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam and China are all squaring off over an area of ocean.  The war of words and incursions by an expansionist China are on the rise.

All this is going on right now boys and girls.

Add to it a weak US economy.  Spain and other Southern European countries are still in economic hell.  The UK slipped into its 3rd recession.  Economic growth in Germany is slowing.

Yet our administration is attempting to take guns from law abiding gun owners?

Our leadership, military and civilian, are idiots.

Gun Owners in New York preparing organized resistance to new gun grabbing laws.

Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State. 
Heinrich Himmler 

via The New American.

Preparations are already being made for mass resistance. “I’ve heard from hundreds of people that they’re prepared to defy the law, and that number will be magnified by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, when the registration deadline comes,’’ said President Brian Olesen with American Shooters Supply, among the biggest gun dealers in the state, in an interview with the New York Post.

and this...

 “They’re saying, ‘F--- the governor! F--- Cuomo! We’re not going to register our guns,’ and I think they’re serious. People are not going to do it. People are going to resist,”explained State Rifle and Pistol Association President Tom King, who also serves on the National Rifle Association board of directors. “They’re taking one of our guaranteed civil rights, and they’re taking it away.”

and finally this...

 Even government officials admit that forcing New Yorkers to register their guns will be a tough sell, and they are apparently aware that massive non-compliance will be the order of the day. “Many of these assault-rifle owners aren’t going to register; we realize that,’’ a source in the Cuomo administration told the Post, adding that officials expect “widespread violations” of the new statute. 
Threats of imprisoning gun owners for up to a year and confiscating their weapons are already being issued by governor’s office, headed by a rabid anti-Second Amendment extremist who suggested before the bill passed that “confiscation” of all semi-automatic rifles was being considered. If tens or even hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens refuse to comply, however, analysts say New York would either have to start raising taxes and building a lot more prisons, or give up on the scheme that experts say will do nothing to reduce violence and that lawmakers say is aimed at eventual confiscation. 

Don't hate me.  I'm just the messenger.

This is milk toast talk.  I've heard much more aggressive statements and I'm sure others have too.

Our nation is suffering economically, being challenged globally, watching the Middle East destabilize, viewing an ally fighting for our interests in Africa and instead of mobilizing to face those real challenges we're being confronted and distracted by social issues.

Pathetic.

 

SOCOM formed a new unit?

Thanks Tom for the heads up.  Great catch!

via Lignet

New U.S. Special Ops Unit to Advise Mexico on War with CartelsThe Pentagon’s new special operations unit sent to help the Mexican government in its fight against the drug cartels will teach Mexico's military the tactics used to hunt down terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. But this education and training could take years and the U.S. special forces will be consigned to a backseat role in the fight against the cartels, forbidden to participate in armed combat.

Interesting.

Its subscription only but I'm on the horn to Jack Murphy over at SOFREP to see if he can provide any intel/visibility on this new outfit. 

Cannon Launched Missiles...

We started on this subject last week but events over took us.  Time to get back on track.  Personally  I don't really see the advantage of cannon launched missiles over regular projectiles but there must be a need or they wouldn't be in service and in development.



Of all the missile systems, this one intrigues me the most.  Its lighter than the others (I think) yet punches almost as hard.  Quite honestly the Army really should be looking to purchase a few off the shelf for the anemic, maintenance intensive, problem child known as the Mobile Gun System.



The LAHAT appears to be the most widely  used cannon launched missile...at least in the West.  Besides Israel, Germany and India, Singapore is reportedly interested in procuring this weapon system.



The AT-11 is the threat system in this trio and in my estimation the weakest performer.  Its slow, doesn't out range the main gun of the Russian or Chinese tanks its fired from and I suspect that it would have difficulty penetrating current armor setups.

Spudman said that Raytheon is developing a cannon launched missile for the US Army's Abrams but I can't find any info on their site indicating that its been put into production or is still in development.  More later.

Propaganda on guns via poll.

I was watching the Obama News Network better known as MSNBC this morning and they were touting a Washington Post poll that they purported to show that the President had strong support for his anti-gun bill.

Uh.  Not exactly.  Check out a few tidbits...

*The telephone survey of 1,033 adults, conducted Jan. 16-20, found 53 percent view Obama's proposals favorably while 41 percent view the proposals unfavorably.

They surveyed a measly 1,033 people?  That's pathetic and hardly representative.  Additionally they didn't identify the number of Democrats vs. Republicans, nor did they identify where the people they talked to were located.  Did they poll in just New York and California?  Or did they get a sampling from across the country!

* The poll found support for the proposals has slipped since a similar ABC News/Washington Post on the same questions this month.

They also didn't state that support for this Draconian gun bill has been falling.

We're up against a propaganda machine and it appears that they will tell any lie, spin any fact, use any tool to win on this issue.

Don't let them.  Call your representative.  Read the story here. 

Honest but radical proposal.

If Marine Infantry is just going to be a social experiment then its time to close up shop.

My modest proposal is as follows.

If it is determined that standards have been lowered at the end of this period (and everyone will know) then it makes no sense to continue on with the Marine Corps.

Shut it down and re-establish MARSOC as the new Marine Corps.  It will have a strength of 8000 Marines, will be modeled after the British Royal Marines and will reside in SOCOM.

They will carry the mantle of the Marine Corps into the future and the nation will be spared the expense of fielding a large but combat ineffective force.

This would keep the Marine Corps elite and if women want to join the infantry then they can do it in US Army Infantry Units.

For the old skool Marines...

yeah!  Brazilian ladies!

For you old skool Marines...Brazilian Chics!

For you new skool bubbas...you get what ever crawls in the fox hole with ya!

This son of a bitch is lying his ass off!

This bastard is telling a bald faced lie and he knows it.  Whats worse though is that he believes Marines are still believing his bullshit.

Nope.

Nada.

Welcome to your Marine Corps.  I overlooked alot of the nonsense the current commandant pushed on MY beloved Marine Corps but as of today---fuck it.  I'll wait for the next guy and hope he can fix what Amos and his pappy Obama fucked up.  If the next guy can't fix it then trash it.  Better for the Marine Corps to have had a good run and fold up shop then to continue as a shadow of its former self.

New vid of French airstrikes in Mali.

via Navy Recognition (its good to have allies/brother bloggers across the pond!)

"My country was stolen from me, Sir… and I want it back." – Max Manus

via Western Shooters Blog.

When no one of high rank was available to shoot, their outermost rings of security were targeted, even down to lowly GS-5s standing perimeter duty. Suddenly, competent and trustworthy guards were very hard to find.On the remaining internet the threats multiplied as pictures and videos were shared and commented upon by millions. “Remember your oath” was a common theme. That whole tired shtick about “defending the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic,” with a heavy emphasis on domestic. All of that reactionary claptrap. Who knew that so many of them took that oath so damned seriously? Who knew? Mere words on paper, and yet, so many Americans were willing to kill and to die for them. Who knew?The snipers grew ever more brazen and their numbers multiplied daily. They were emboldened by accounts of the murders of federal officials that were splashed across what was left of the internet, no matter how we tried to control and contain it. They freely posted comments such as, “You can take away our rights, but we still get to vote under Rule 308,” (which I have since learned refers to a popular rifle caliber). The shooters understood the critical manpower equation as well as we did. We were out-gunned a hundred to one by snipers we could neither see nor find, and they knew it.

Read the whole thing here. 

2012 Flight Test at Edwards AFB