Haynie is back at it. This time talking pullups.

Haynie wrote an article at USNI and instead of her usual pile of feminist talking points she actually comes down on the side of females meeting the same standards as males.

But something happened.

She got only one comment on the post and that was from a fellow USNI writer.

Everyone else is just staying away.  Why?  Because its obvious.  The feminist have won and a negative comment is career suicide.  So the masses are simply waiting and watching.

But I doubt they're approving.  Read the article here.

Think via Everyday Carry Systems.

Another sweeeeet 300 Blackout build from my buddy Kuech!!!!

Damn!  Kuech keeps pumping these sweet builds out and I don't have my first.  Jealous much?  Yes.  Yes I am!  More pics dude...more pics!  A Vltor upper on  a Noveske lower?  They look they were made for each other.  That's a nice tight looking fit.  The only thing I would change is the muzzle brake.  I want that flash suppressed as much as possible.  Other than that minor detail (which is more to philosophy than anything else) its pure perfection.  I like it!  Correction::he's got threads for a suppressor on that bad boy...flash is taken care of!

Advanced Super Hornet

Dang.  I still hate Boeing but that plane looks good!

The gear renaissance may be over.

Hey gents.  Consider this a heads up.  I was trying to catch up with a weeks worth of emails and got one of the usual sunday flyer ad type that I get from all the gear stores.

I was about to chuck it but opened it instead and it was a note from USCAV saying that despite recently going into bankruptcy they weren't going out of business and any rumors to the contrary were lies.

This made me sit up and notice.  I could care less about them filing for chapter 11.  But this could spell trouble for the industry that has grown since the start of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars.

I can't name the number of gear stores, nylon gear makers and others that I've seen arrive since the beginning of the "troubles"...USCAV has been shaky for a while but I wonder how many others are wobbling?

This could be a problem for gun guys in a couple of ways.

1.  You could see the custom guys go down fast.  Alterations to your favorite pack?  You better hope you know a seamstress with heavy duty gear thats local...or you better learn to do it yourself.

2.  Innovation will suffer.  I like to make fun of the Blue Force Costa sling bag.  Some call it the Ninja Turtle Bag.  However you view it though, it was a development.  Someone took the chance to test a concept on the market.  Compare it to the Tactical Tailor concealed carry bag.  Two concepts, one proved popular, the other not so much.  Less nylon guys, less competition, less innovation.

3.  The same issues with gear will probably apply to firearms.  Europe and Asia copy what's done in the US.  Less customers, fewer businesses, less competition all equals less innovation.

We have been through a firearms/gear renaissance.  This might be the warning bell that the good gear times are over.

Republic of Korea Forces at Work by KishKim

See more of the Professor's work here.

Textron LCU(R)

Thanks for the pdf Lee.

  Textron LCU(R) Hispd

I have a feeling that this concept and the more aggressive (and challenging 21st Century Landing Craft from an earlier post) are both going to take a a backseat to the LCAC SLEP and then the Ship to Shore Connector (LCAC on steroids).

This Sheepdog concept is going to end up biting the gun community in the ass.

I've always thought that the gun community is nuts for supporting Zimmerman.  The guy was playing neighborhood watch/keystone cop and because he ignored dispatcher suggestions to stop following Martin, the guy ended up getting into a fight.

A fight that could have been avoided if he had simply stayed in the car.

And that's the rub of it.  One action was critical to the entire episode.  If he had stayed in the car then the shooting would not have taken place.  For cops its the Fruit of the Poison Tree issue.  A cop pulls you over illegally and then finds a cache of weapons (a real cache...like 200 Glock 19's and 100 AR-15s) along with 50 pounds of weed, it all gets thrown out (you probably won't get back the drugs...maybe the guns) because the first action, the traffic stop, led to the rest of the events.

But I digress.  Check this out...via the Orlando Sentinel.

A resident watching fireworks explode late Thursday over The Hamptons at MetroWest on Turkey Lake said she feared for her life when a man carrying what looked like a machine gun ordered her to leave, according to Orlando police.
The heavily armed man turned out to be Swapna Mandavia's neighbor with the title of "chairman of the fine and hearing violations" committee for the west Orlando complex's homeowners association.
"The suspect, later identified as Howard Fox, approached her and told her to leave because it was after hours," according to an arrest report released Friday. "Mandavia began to leave the pier when Fox raised the gun and pointed it at Mandavia and said she was doing something illegal."
Another resident with two children then complained about a stranger openly carrying firearms. That's when Mandavia, 36, noticed that Fox, 47, was pointing the gun at her again, and she called 911 for help, the report stated.
The first officers to reach the 776-unit complex found Fox at home, where he said property managers gave him permission to enforce HOA rules. He also said he walked the grounds at night to hunt small animals with a 9mm pistol on his belt and a .40-caliber Glock short-barrel rifle over his shoulder, the report stated.
A Hamptons spokesperson could not be reached for comment Friday.
Diana Washburn, the Hamptons Community Association manager, told police Fox had the right to report and document HOA violations but was never given authority to approach people or carry a weapon while enforcing its rules and regulations, the report stated.
After Fox opened his gun safe, he gave police two pistols, the short-barrel rifle, a shotgun and a pair of "silencers," which require a special federal permits to own, the report stated. Police arrested him on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and openly carrying a firearm.
On Friday morning, Fox was released from the Orange County Jail on $2,600 bond.

Gun guys have a serious problem.

They're being led astray by marketers.  The whole Sheepdog concept emerged (in my opinion) from two things.  The first was the view that in an active shooter situation Police contain the situation before seeking to neutralize the suspect.  That means that if a shooting occurs in the Mall, the people inside would be told to hide to the best of their ability because police would secure the location and then SWAT would come along and do a room by room search until they could stop the bastard.

Gun guys know that means much more bloodshed till cops got there which means that in order to survive you needed a civilian with the training and ability to put those wildmen down.

The second was the fact that we've had an industry popup with regards to firearms training.  How do these companies stay in business?  By pushing the Sheepdog concept and by inventing all kinds of weirdness that has no practical application (have you seen some of these shooting stances that are so popular?).

I digress.  The active shooter scenario is valid and makes total sense.  But it is an extremely narrow scenario.  Properly applied the Sheepdog concept should be reserved for protecting you and your loved ones.  What do I mean?  You're in your car and someone tries to carjack you.  Blast him.  You see an old lady being punched in the head by a young punk.  Kill him and take pictures.  You will be a hero.

A weird teenager walking in a neighborhood?  Not so much. You call police and let them handle it.  A lady watching fireworks at a lake?  Not so much.

I'm not the one to do it but we have got to get this Sheepdog concept under control or it will setback the gun community.

What the fuck just happened? Silva knocked out????

Oh SHIT!

Did I really see that?

Did Silva get knocked out like a rookie facing a pro?

I'm not believing this!

Comments.

I did some reading on online privacy and was surprised about more than a few things.

One of the biggest surprises is that I negatively affected readers online privacy by requiring all commenters to have a Google ID in order to post.

My bad.  My very bad.

Thats nonsense and is no longer required. Anyone can post a comment without being affiliated with Google, Disqus, Wordpress or any other online entity.

That is all.

One Team, One Fight via Jinx Labs.

The guys at Jinx Lab are working on a high rez 3d version...this was just one of around a dozen different "versions" they're working on.  I kinda like it.  Call it Marine Corps bias but I like the idea that the Corps is at the center of it all!

RFA Tidespring replenishing RFA Argus. The latest CGI

A 21st Century Landing Craft.

NOTE:  I've recently mentioned the need to actually design forces capable of fighting in the Pacific.  I contend that those types of forces will be totally different from what we have today.  From the short legged F-22 to the underarmed, undermanned and under equipped LCS, we will need to rethink our strategy/procurement.  For the Marines, at the top of the list should be a high speed replacement for the LCU-1600 class.  If the Marine Expeditionary Brigade is the new "Unit of Action" and if Army's Heavy Brigade Combat Teams are going to flow into theater then we need a replacement asap.  See the article below for one option.  Of particular interest is that the author has seen fit to arms his landing craft.  I find such thinking refreshing.  

  A 21st Century Landing Craft. by snafu-solomon-blogspot-com

The wrong force for a future Asian conflict.

Thanks for the article Jonathan.

via Janes.

Asian powers are outpacing the United States to become the biggest spenders on defense by 2021 and are fuelling an “explosion” in the global arms trade, a study showed.
The global arms trade jumped by 30 percent to $73.5 billion between 2008-2012 in spite of the economic downturn, driven by surging exports from China and demand from countries like India, and is set to more than double by 2020, defense and security consultancy IHS Jane’s said and was reported by Reuters.
“Budgets are shifting East and global arms trade is increasing competition. This is the biggest explosion in trade the world has ever seen,” said Paul Burton, a senior manager at IHS Jane’s whose study looked at 34,000 defense acquisition programmes.
The United States has accounted for the lion’s share of global defense spending over the past decade, but budget cuts in Washington, as it withdraws from countries such as Afghanistan, mean that it will account for just 30 percent by 2021 to fall behind Asia at 31 percent.
Military spending in the Asia Pacific region – which includes China, India and Indonesia – will rise 35 percent to $501 billion in the next eight years, compared to a 28 percent fall in U.S. spending to $472 billion over the same period, IHS Jane’s said.
“The big Western defense companies have no option – export or shrink – but this could be sowing the seed of their own demise; the opportunities in the East are a double-edged sword, fuelling a trend which threatens U.S. dominance of defence.” said Guy Anderson, senior principal analyst at IHS Jane’s.
China’s ramp-up in defense spending in recent years is worrying its neighbors such as Japan, with whom it is currently embroiled in a stand-off over a series of uninhabited islands, despite its repeated reassurances that there is nothing to fear.
Japan, as well as India and South Korea, are among countries being courted by weapon makers such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and BAE Systems who want to sell them fighter jets and other equipment to make up for reduced spending in their Western home markets, but such deals tend to require investment in the buyers’s defense industries.
Israeli sources told I-HLS that many of the future deals in Asia will include systems that aer either made for homeland security or that are defined “dual Use.”

Asia is appearing to be on the edge of a high tech conventional forces playground.

Almost every single country in the region is either in possession of or is in the process of acquiring modern, state of the art armored vehicles, fighters and naval vessels.  Included in that shopping list are UAVs and other high tech surveillance systems/equipment.

Simply put.

We're going to be fighting mirror images of ourselves with slight variations on the theme.  Congratulations partnership missions.  You succeeded.  Everyone lusted after our capabilities and now the entire region is about to have them.

The biggest issue facing the Pentagon?

We're building the wrong force to win in this new, emerging, high tech battlefield and with the wrong strategy.

*  How will the LCS fare in a high tech sea fight?
*  How will the short legged F-22 do against SU-30/35 and J-20 launching from extreme long range under direction of an integrated anti-air network?
*  Is Air Sea Battle valid with the force of the next 10 to 20 years?
*  Is over the horizon assault valid under these conditions or will it have to wait until defense are rolled back?
*  Is the Sea Base survivable against a technologically capable foe utilizing undersea robotic attack vehicles, multi-spectrum air attack, hypersonic anti-ship missiles and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (why go after a carrier when you can cripple an assault assembling off shore?)
*  Do Stryker Brigades have a role against mechanized forces of equal capabilities?
*  Will Heavy Brigade Combat Teams even be able to function in restricted Asian cities, light load only (by Western standards) bridges and numerous waterways?

Our future force is sizing up to be the wrong force.  Want an even more troubling issue?  The Middle Eastern countries are rapidly arming up too.  The same issues apply.  Not only are they buying comparable equipment but in many cases its our stuff.  Once China cracks the code and starts selling high tech variations of our gear (without modifications or backdoors so that they can't be fully utilized) we'll face the same issues in the Middle East.

We're soon to suffer the hangover from a period of the worst Generalship in our nations history...both on the battlefield and in setting the table for future forces.

Turkish Air Force F-16 demo by Kevin Martin 1.

J-20 carrying next gen missiles via Chinese Military Review.

Note:  The bays aren't as big as I thought they were.  I imagined that it would accommodate 6 or maybe more missiles easily.  I was wrong.

Have a good 4th!

Concept helicopter by Lufei Bi

The Mayaguez Incident. A warning to the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response Force.

Marines brag and chest thump about battles.

Its part of the DNA.  Its what we do.  We will kick your ass.  We will make you beg for your mommy.  We will win.

Its the Marine Corps way.

There is one battle that the Marine Corps doesn't talk about.  It was an adhoc mission, put together rapidly, depended on a scratch force of Marine, Navy and Air Force aviation.

And it failed badly.

Not only were we beaten, but we left men behind.  Men that were alive.

Men that were later executed by the enemy.

A quick history via Wikipedia.

At 06:12, the eight helicopters (five CH-53 Knifes and three HH-53 Jolly Greens) of the Koh Tang assault force approached the two Landing zones (LZs) on Koh Tang. At the West Beach, the first section of two CH-53 helicopters came in at 06:20 hours. The first helicopter; Knife 21, landed safely, but while offloading its Marines came under heavy automatic weapons fire, destroying an engine. It managed to take off, protected by suppressive fire from the second CH-53, Knife 22, and ditched 1.6 km offshore. Knife 22 was damaged so severely that it turned back with its Marines (including the Golf Company commander) still aboard escorted by Jolly Green 11 andJolly Green 12, and crash-landed in Trat Province on the Thai coast, where its passengers were picked up by Jolly Green 12 and returned to U Tapao.[55][56][57]
At 06:30, the CH-53s approaching the East Beach encountered intense automatic weapons and RPG fire from entrenched Khmer Rouge. Knife 31 was hit by two RPGs, which ignited its left fuel tank and ripped away the nose of the helicopter, it crashed in a fireball fifty meters offshore. A pilot, five Marines, and two Navy corpsmenwere killed in the crash, another Marine drowned swimming from the wreck, and three Marines were killed by gunfire trying to reach the beach. A tenth Marine died of his wounds while clinging to the burning wreckage. The surviving ten Marines and three Air Force crewmen were forced to swim for two hours before being picked up by the gig of the arriving Henry B. Wilson.[58] Among the Marine survivors was the battalion's Forward Air Controller, who used an Air Force survival radio while swimming to direct A-7 air strikes against the island until the battery failed. The second CH-53, Knife 23 was hit by an RPG which blew off the tail section and crash-landed on the East Beach, but it successfully offloaded its 20 Marines and crew of five. They set up a defensive perimeter and the Knife 23 copilot used his survival radio to call in airstrikes, but they would remain cut off from both reinforcements and rescue for twelve hours.[59][60]
Knife 32 was inbound to the East Beach when it was hit by an RPG and aborted its landing, instead heading out over the West Beach to the Knife 21 crash site where it dumped fuel and proceeded to rescue the three Knife 21 crewmen.[61] Two other sections of the first wave, consisting of the remaining four helicopters, were diverted from the East Beach to the West Beach and eventually landed all of their Marines between 06:30 and 07:00 hours, although the final insertion by Jolly Green 41 required support from an AC-130 Spectre gunship in order to penetrate the Khmer Rouge fire on its fifth attempt. Knife 32, Jolly Green 41 and Jolly Green 42 eventually landed 81 Marines on the West Beach under the command of the company Executive Officer, and Jolly Green 43 landed 29 Marines of the battalion command post and mortar platoon a kilometer to the southwest.[62] By 07:00 109 Marines and five Air Force crewmen were on Koh Tang, but in three isolated beach areas and in close contact with Khmer Rouge troops. The Marines at the northern end of West Beach attempted to move down the beach to link up with Col Austin's command element to the south, but was beaten back by heavy Khmer Rouge fire which killed LCPL Ashton Loney.[63] While isolated, the Marines were able to use their 81 mm mortars as fire support for their contingents and devised a makeshift communications network for controlling supporting air strikes by USAF A-7 and F-4 aircraft. It was decided that the platoon isolated on the East Beach should be extracted and following suppressive fire from an AC-130, Jolly Green 13 landed there at 08:15 amid a hail of machine gun fire, but it had landed some 100 m away from the Marines who were reluctant to risk running to the helicopter, and Jolly Green 13 took off with its fuel lines ruptured and made an emergency landing in Rayong, Thailand.[64][65]
Of the eight helicopters assaulting Koh Tang, three had been destroyed (Knife 21, Knife 23 and Knife 31) and four others damaged too severely to continue operations (Knife 22, Knife 32, Jolly Green 41 and Jolly Green 42) and of the helicopters used in the Mayaguez recapture Jolly Green 13 had been severely damaged in the East Beach rescue attempt.[64] This left only three helicopters (all HH-53s - Jolly Greens 11, 12 and 43) of the original eleven available to bring in the follow-up forces of BLT 2/9, so the 2 CH-53s (Knife 51 and 52) whose mission had been search and rescue — the last available helicopters — were reassigned to carry troops.[66] The five helicopters picked up 127 Marines of the second wave at U Tapao between 09:00 and 10:00 hours.[67] At 11:50 Knife 52, Knife 51 and Jolly Green 43 arrived over Koh Tang and prepared to land on the East Beach, as Knife 52 approached fire punctured its fuel tanks and the pilot aborted the landing and headed back to U-Tapao leaking fuel. Knife 51 and Jolly Green 43 also abandoned their landings and assumed a holding pattern.[68]

The above paragraphs just cover the assault portion of the events.  The article covers the planning, execution, extraction and aftermath.  It is one of the best written histories of the event (in abbreviated form) that I have ever read.

But in it lies the warning to the SPMAGTF-Crisis Response Force.

Each time they actually deploy, they could be flying into a Mayaguez Incident. This force is too light to fight and hold ground.  History tells us so.  Using this force to justify the V-22 is a bridge too far and will cost lives.

Professionals for the bad guys read history too.  If I can see the dangers then our opponents can see the opportunity for the destruction of a Marine Unit too.  I hope I'm wrong, but this could end badly...just like it did for an assault force many years ago.

Our foreign policy is confused at best, fucked up beyond all recognition at worst. Warnings from Egypt.

Thanks goes to Bob for pointing me to ZeroHedge Blog...it just got added to my must reads 

Note that the Obama Administration put out a message expressing concern that the government overthrew an elected government---even though the military acted at the behest of Egyptian scholars, Christians, the general public and even some Muslim fundamentalist.

I'm operating off instinct but I've cheered this development.  To see that the US government is taking an entirely different tack is telling. Either they support Muslim extremism, defend democratically elected governments no matter how much they veer from democratic rule, or they know something that the public doesn't.

I just don't know.  What I do know is that the Egyptian people are sending us warnings.

See all the pics at ZeroHedge by clicking here...