House Republicans bets on armor!

  HMKP-113-AS00-20140507-SD001-U2

The above document is the executive summary of the House Markup of the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.  The budget that is being proposed for the Pentagon.

If you turn to page 3 you can see a quick rundown of systems that had money added.  Big wins for US Army modernization efforts and the USMC ground combat element.

We see money added for....

*  Amphibious Combat Vehicle
*  Stryker upgrades
*  Abrams upgrades
*  Medium and Heavy Tactical Vehicles
*  Grey Eagle
*  Hercules Vehicle
*  Body Armor

The DoD had wanted a budget that was all about aviation, future combat ships and more aviation.

Like Goure said, the House Republicans are saying not so fast.  The Senate will push forward the Pentagons and Presidents view of things so the conference committee work on this will bear watching.

Sidenote:  The House is trying to push the Marine Corps along the road of getting the Amphibious Combat Vehicle program done.  It will fall to the next Commandant to see that thru.  5 months left for Amos.

Michael Sam annoys the hell outta me!

This is politically incorrect but Michael Sam annoys the hell outta me!  Consider this....

*  Dude played in the SEC and was player of the year.  Seems like that kind of notoriety would be your ticket to the NFL right?  Wrong.  He performed poorly against the powerhouses of the conference.
*  Dude had a piss poor combine.  He's slow.  He can't jump.  He lacks agility.  He lacks strength.  He is small.  All of this is by  NFL standards at the position he wants to play...outside linebacker.
*  I like football, I don't care who this guy is screwing or getting screwed by.  I don't know the sexual orientation of any of the other people drafted and that's for one reason.  They chose to not tell us.  It can be assumed that they're heterosexual but who knows?  WHO FUCKING CARES!  

Which leads me to my beef.

He knew he was a tweener.  I would bet body parts that he knew he would probably not be drafted but would be allowed to attend a NFL training camp and would have to work his way onto a team.

What really gets my goat is that some player out there that is busting his ass, has better numbers, is bigger, faster, more agile but isn't going to get the chance because he didn't say he was gay---Sam took a spot that a more deserving player should have gotten.

This proves something to me.  There are some gays that don't want to be treated fairly but want special treatment because of who they're fucking.

That irks the hell outta me!

Ukraine is about to collapse.

via Russia Times...

The village of Novoaydar in the Lugansk region is being attacked by Ukrainian troops, according to the local self-defense leader.
“Around 15 APCs have come near Novoaydar,” Aleksey Chmilenko said. “Our self-defense guards are trying to stop the attack and prevent the vehicles moving farther in the direction of Lugansk.”
Meanwhile, representatives of another Lugansk region self-defense group, based in Krasny Luch, told RT that they have seen APCs in the region, but have not heard any fighting yet.
Novoaydar election commission is reportedly being evacuated by self-defense activists, after it was attacked by National Guard troops.
Earlier in the day, shooting and artillery fire was heard on the outskirts of Slavyansk, in southeast Ukraine’s Donetsk region, RIA Novosti reported, citing its correspondent in the area.

via Washington Post...

Drunken mobs roamed the otherwise deserted center of this eastern port city Saturday a day after clashes between pro-Russian militants and Ukrainian security forces left at least seven people dead and the region as a whole continued to seethe on the eve of referendum to secede.
A deadly firefight Friday broke the calm of a patriotic holiday and heightened tensions ahead of Sunday’s hastily organized plebiscite to break with the interim government in Kiev. Late Friday, a group of unidentified assailants attacked and briefly detained several Red Cross volunteers, including a French citizen, at an office in Donetsk

This is the type of social collapse that many see coming to the United States.

Remember that this all started over matters of the Ukrainian economy...some wanted to move closer to the EU but the price to be paid was going to be severe.  

It is obvious to all but the most strident globalization disciples that the current system has failed.  Ukraine is simply the latest victim of a system gone wild.

Lexington Institute turns on the Pentagon.

Dr. Goure doesn't usually surprise me but when I read his latest today it absolutely floored me!  Read the whole thing but check this out...

The Republicans believe, although some may be reluctant to say so publicly, that the nation is facing a tide of threats for which the administration’s proposed force structure will be inadequate. This week alone, Russia advanced its plan to dismember Ukraine, China sought to extend its control of the South China Sea, North Korea continued preparations for another nuclear test, Al Qaeda and its affiliates demonstrated that they are not on the run but rather resurgent and Iran continued to prepare for conflict in the Persian Gulf.
The likelihood that the United States will have to fight multiple major theater conflicts (MRCs) at the same time is increasing. Moreover, these won’t be the kind of MRCs planned for after the Cold War. Our prospective adversaries have gone to school on the American way of war. They have been acquiring advanced offensive and defensive capabilities designed to counter longstanding U.S. technological and operational advantages. HASC Republicans understand that the measure of the United States as a superpower is a force structure of sufficient quantity and quality to fight and win these new types of high-end conflicts in multiple theaters.

Wow.  I'm still taking it in.

We were presented two rather stark choices.  Either we prepare for future challenges or we maintain our current force.

Goure is arguing that the choice the Pentagon made is wrong.  That current challenges are so dangerous that we can't risk gutting our forces.

This is probably the most meaningful article on defense spending (wish he would have gone into greater detail on whats actually needed) I've read this year.

Training the Chinese to fight us!

Before I get to the article, let be clear about China....

1.  The Chinese are a communist nation and they consider themselves to be our number one adversary.
2.  The Chinese have embarked on a campaign of intimidation when it comes to our allies in the region.  From basically rubbing ships with us to setting up oil derricks and fishing in disputed water to even an intrusive Air Identification Zone, they are bullies of the first tier.
3.  We must not make the mistake of thinking that what motivates our leadership will motivate theirs.  We must admit that we do not understand them.

Now check this out from Tactical Gear and Military Clothing....

Over 300 special operations personnel from nearly 40 teams and 19 countries competed in 11 rigorous events this year. Contenders included members of elite police tactical units and top tier military units from around the globe......Overall top scoring teams included: In first place, the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF) ‘Snow Leopards’. In second place, the Special Operations Unit of the PAPF Sichuan Corps; in third the Jordanian Royal Guard; in fourth the Special Operations Unit of the PAPF Xinjiang Corps and fifth the Special Forces of the Armed Forces of the Lebanese Republic.

What has me scratching my head and ALMOST punching walls is this outreach to the Chinese.

Why?

Not only are they participating in events like that listed above, but we've also attempted the same with the Russians.

The Pentagon would like everyone to forget that Russian paratroopers trained with their US counterparts in 2012!  Now we're about to do the same thing for the Chinese Navy at RIMPAC!

We are building capacity in the very force that our allies are getting ready to fight, even if we insist on fooling ourselves.

Time for the Pentagon to get out of the training the enemy mission and revert to the old skool idea of preparing to kill them on the battlefield. 

LAPD went hardcore! MUST SEE VID!

Is this real?  Ok.  I think this is from "End of Watch"....never saw the movie but I'm guessing.  A real deal shootout like this would have been front page news.

PLA's new destroyer could bring down F-35 stealth fighter

via WantChinaTimes

The US fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighter can be detected by the radar system installed aboard the People's Liberation Army Navy's new Type 052D destroyers, according to the Moscow-based Voice of Russia, citing military experts.
Vladimir Evseev, director of the Moscow-based Center for Social and Political Studies, told the Russian broadcaster that details of China's radar project, including the amount spent on its development, remain unknown, however it is a great leap forward in regards to the nation's military modernization program.
China has encountered a lot of obstacles in its attempts to develop its own radar system, but it has managed to overcome these issues with Russian help, Voice of Russia said, citing Konstantin Sivkov, director of the Russian Academy for Geopolitical Issues.
Sivkov said that the most crucial part of China's success is that the PLA Navy finally knows how to handle active electronically scanned array radar systems. With this technology, Chinese destroyers are able to track and shoot down F-35 fighters from a distance of 350 kilometers.
Meanwhile, Pavel Zolotaryov, deputy head of Institute for USA and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the Chinese warship not only has the ability to locate the US stealth fighter but can also deploy countermeasures against the fighter's electronic interference capability.
The new system will gradually increase the combat capability of the PLA Navy in Western Pacific region, Voice of Russia said.

If this is based off the AEGIS radar and if this report is true then the USAF is going to have a serious problem operating in the Pacific.

Lack of electronic warfare aircraft in their future plans points to a glaring oversight.

They aren't planning for worse case scenarios and it could bite them. 

Bundy Ranch News. Shit is getting real.....

via Fox News.

Clark County sheriff's officials say they've been interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation into armed supporters of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.
Assistant Sheriff Joe Lombardo told KLAS-TV that federal agents have opened an investigation into the conduct of supporters of Bundy who reportedly pointed guns at officers during a standoff at his ranch April 12.
Bundy, a states' rights advocate who refuses to acknowledge the authority of the federal government, owes more than $1 million in fees and penalties for letting his cattle use government land over the past 20 years.
Last month, the Bureau of Land Management stopped trying to round up his cattle after a showdown with hundreds of Bundy supporters, some of them armed.
Since the standoff, Bundy went from being proclaimed a patriot by some for his resistance to a racist for comments he made about blacks being better off under slavery.
Bundy supporters have denied pointing weapons at authorities and say that BLM rangers were the ones pointing guns. Lombardo said it's expected the alleged behavior would be the subject of a criminal investigation.
"The federal authorities are conducting an investigation and I am pretty confident it is going to go into the future," Lombardo told KLAS-TV.
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie confirmed the investigation in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He said agents will interview every law enforcement officer who was present during the showdown.
"Everyone anticipated that this would occur," said Gillespie, who told the newspaper that he was interviewed by FBI agents on April 28. "I’ve said all along there has to be accountability for what took place on April 12."
Lombardo told the Review-Journal that FBI agents are primarily interested in who allegedly pointed weapons at federal agents. He said he believed agents would be poring over video and photos to identify people making threats.
“They have a certain standard of what they believe is a violation of the law,” he said. “You can’t expect the federal government to walk away.”
A spokeswoman for the FBI in Las Vegas did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Rumors are swirling all over this thing and now the FBI is involved.

I can guarantee that every photo from every news source will be looked at.  Additionally you can bet that the no fly zone over the Ranch was so that UAVs could provide surveillance of the situation recording license plates and taking additional photos.

These guys are going to face some serious charges and they'll probably be made an example of.  I wonder what will happen to some of the more outspoken participants.  James Yeager, a well known gun rights/weapons instructor, showed up and I wonder if they'll charge him.

Regardless this will be interesting to watch.

Its getting to the point where guys should just hire hookers....

via The Daily Caller...

A University of Michigan student was given a four-year suspension after being found guilty of sexual assault–despite receiving little notice of the charges against him, no attorney, no trial and no jury.
Now, the former student, Drew Sterrett, is suing the public university for abridging due process rights guaranteed to him under the U.S. Constitution.
Sterrett had sex with a female student in his dorm room during his freshman year at the university in 2012. Five months later, while at home in New York for summer break, the university informed him that she had filed a rape complaint against him, according to The Michigan Daily.
He was told that if he spent any time trying to find an attorney, the university would proceed without him. Later that day, he attended a hearing by Skype in which he denied any wrongdoing, according to The Detroit Free Press.“At no point during the call/interview was [Sterrett] given notice of the specific allegations which had been made against him,” the lawsuit claimed.
The investigation was halted in September after Sterrett’s accuser expressed second thoughts about having the details of their encounter made public. Sterrett was left in the dark about this, though he was warned to stay away from Mosher-Jordan, the residence hall where his accuser lived.
Ultimately, the university proceeded to adjudicate the matter. Administrators eventually informed Sterrett that he was found guilty of raping his accuser and creating a “hostile environment” for her, and would be suspended until 2016.
Sterrett says the charges are ludicrous, and the proceedings a gross perversion of justice. For one thing, his roommate was present for the sexual encounter and could have provided testimony that their sex was consensual. For another, Sterrett was not given adequate representation–nor was he ever given an opportunity to address his accuser’s specific allegations.
Still, a university appeals board upheld the ruling against him.
“The decision of the Appeals Board was a rubber-stamp of the flawed investigation and Report and Addendum, lacked fundamental fairness, was reckless, arbitrary and capricious, and clearly denied [Sterrett] due process,” according to Sterrett’s lawsuit.Sterrett’s lawyer, Deborah Gordon, said the university ignored the facts, the law and its own policies on sexual assault in its malicious prosecution of Sterrett.
The suit demands that UM reinstate Sterrett and pay damages. UM has denied any wrongdoing.
“The University is reviewing the complaints and plans to defend them vigorously,” said Kelly Cunningham, a UM spokeswoman, in a statement to The Daily.
Civil libertarians are concerned that new White House recommendations for public universities handling sexual assault cases will further erode the rights of the accused on campuses. 

Quite honestly the old game of chasing women and trying to bed one of them is becoming too risky on a personal and professional level to even consider.

The only safe way to date these days is....I don't know if there is a safe way.  If you're accused of wrongdoing (and I'm assuming the guy is innocent in this scenario) then your life is over.

The old saying that Drill Instructors pound into recruits heads about Women Marines applies to all women today.

Don't look at them, don't talk to them, don't date them and always have a witnesses when you're around them! 

A lesson in messaging for the good people of Sikorsky....

Sikorsky needs a lesson in messaging.

They've jacked up the launch of this helicopter and they forgot that they don't have to sell this to policy makers.  That work should have already been done.

They should be trying to sell the helicopter to the public!

Images, CGIs, and graphs of the helicopter should be floating all over the internet, not speeches of VIPs at the rollout ceremony.

Selfies are for hot babes with big breasts, not for a company's officials at a rollout ceremony.  We don't want to see them, we want to see the helicopter.

So what is the terminal learning objective for this block of instruction?  Less people, more hardware!  Its about the product (and although VERY important) not the people behind it.

A comic book says it best....

Well said.

Time for the warrior tribe to plant its feet and say no more.

The yielding to the craziness must stop.  Just because the Press, Politicians and the mob (probably led by some teenager or 20-something that doesn't even know what the world is about) says that wrong is right doesn't make it so.

Who would have ever thought that a comic book panel could be so powerful?

Chinese police will be patrolling the streets of Paris this summer

via Business Insider.

Chinese police will be patrolling the streets of Paris this summer alongside their French counterparts to help combat a surge in attacks against high-spending Chinese tourists.
The French authorities are determined to improve security for more than a million Chinese tourists who visit the capital for shopping and sightseeing each year.
Their habit of carrying large amounts of cash has made them a “prime target for muggers and pickpockets”, a police source said.
Chinese visitors to Paris are estimated to spend an average of €1,470 (£1,205) each on shopping, mainly buying designer brands, according to Global Blue, the Swiss-based duty free services company.
An interior ministry official said the number of Chinese police to be deployed in Paris was still being decided. “Their role will be preventive and they will carry out patrols with French police at tourist sites,” the official said.
In an incident that caused alarm in Beijing and received wide media coverage, a group of 23 Chinese visitors were robbed of cash and passports last year as they left a restaurant only a few hours after landing at Charles de Gaulle airpo

This has bad idea written all over it.

The very idea of deploying the police from a communist country to patrol the streets of a democracy is downright crazy to me.

But I'm old skool so maybe this is the wave of the future.  Washington DC has tons of Chinese visitors.  I wonder if we're going to invite their police to help out there?

I thought inviting the Chinese to Rimpac was bad enough but this?  Just plain wow.

Greatest Tank Battles - The Battle of 73 Easting

Where did the USMC get the 200 CH-53K number?

Marine Aviation has been on something of a spending spree lately.  The AH-1Z, UH-1Y, F-35, MV-22....now you can add in the CH-53K.

While I only have a bit of heartburn over the F-35 and the MV-22, one thing has got me stumped about the CH-53K.  Where did they get the 200 number from?

When the program was first started the number to be procured was 156. That was at a time of the 175,000 Marine Corps.  Today we're headed back in that direction and many say 150,000 is the real number that no one wants to say publicly.

So if that's the case, why 200?  Especially when we have fewer infantry battalions to support?    I have no idea, but the DoD Inspector General  says this....

What We FoundThe Marine Corps procurement quantity for CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopters in the DoD FY 2013 President’s Budget was overstated by up to 44 aircraft. The Marine Corps could not support the need to procure a total of 200 aircraft because Headquarters Marine Corps Department of Aviation officials:

• did not follow the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System Instruction and obtain Joint Requirements Oversight Council approval for the increase;

• did not have requirement studies prepared to determine a procurement quantity in consideration of program affordability;

• incorrectly relied on a 2008 memorandum from the Deputy Commandant for Aviation directing the increase of the procurement quantity to 200 aircraft, without support;

• incorrectly used the 2010-2011 Force Structure Review’s war-gaming scenarios as justification for the quantity increase; and

• did not justify or appropriately consider the impact of the Marine Corps personnel reductions effect on Heavy Lift quantity requirements.

As a result, the Marine Corps risks spending $22.2 billion in procurement and operating and support funding for 44 additional aircraft that have not been justified and may not be needed to support future Marine Corps mission requirements.
What We RecommendWe recommend the Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Aviation perform an analysis to determine the number of CH-53K aircraft needed, conduct an affordability assessment, and obtain Joint Requirements Oversight Council approval of the CH-53K quantity before the low-rate initial production decision planned in February 2016.Management Comments and Our ResponseThe Deputy Commandant for Aviation disagreed with the report recommendations to perform a requirements analysis and affordability assessment. He stated that existing analyses justify the 200 CH-53K procurement quantity and that the Joint Requirements Oversight Council approved the procurement quantity. Headquarters Marine Corps Department of Aviation did not justify potential increases in cost and quantity.After the Deputy provided comments to a draft of this report the Milestone Decision Authority approved the Marine Corps’ request to rebaseline the program. The re-baseline included procurement cost increases of 54 percent and extended the Milestone C decision from December 2012 to February 2016. We request the Deputy provide additional comments on the Recommendations by July 2, 2013.

22 billion dollars would buy a bunch of Marine Personnel Carriers and probably leave a bit left over to transition the entire USMC over to the HK416.

Even if we don't recoup those funds and are left with fewer aircraft then at least we would live up to our reputation of being frugal.

As much as I like and think we NEED the Ch-53K, we need to justify the extra aircraft or revert back to the old plan of 156.

An Armored Brigade Combat Team tailored for the Pacific....

An expeditionary Marine Corps means a lighter Marine Corps.

But what do you do when you need armored protection to operate deep....to seize an objective because air defenses will not allow a heliborne assault?
You send a mechanized force to blast through defenses and maintain the momentum of your landing on the beach.

But wait!  The USMC is rapidly divesting itself of armor!  Tanks is being whittled away and our AAVs are as old as dinosaurs.  The answer?  You use call on your buddies in the Big Army to land an Armored Brigade Combat Team to carry the torch that you just handed them after DOING YOUR JOB and taking the beach.

Jointness doesn't mean operating together, it means staying in your lane and not duplicating capabilities found in the other services.  The ABCT is what the US Army can contribute to the fight IF Big Army gets moving.

Read how American Mercenary would build such a team here.

Colonel Micheal W. Pietrucha, USAF weighs in on the JSF...MUST READ ARTICLE!

I won't spoil it with a tidbit, lets just say that the article is eyeopening....read it here.

The USAF is dying right before our eyes....

via The National Interest.

Of the three military departments, the U.S. Air Force is buying the fewest total amount of new aircraft, purchasing the fewest types of aircraft, and retiring the most airplanes
Since defense budgets peaked in 2010, and continuing through the 2015 budget request, the U.S. Navy is on a path to have acquired 1,133 new aircraft while the Air Force will have bought 824. Of these planes, the Navy will acquire 264 fighters (including the EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft) to the Air Force’s 117.
Excluding Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs)—or drones—the Navy is on a path to have purchased 1,039 new aircraft, and the Air Force just 400 airplanes between 2010 and 2015.
This shows just how much the Air Force aircraft replacement rate is slowing, which means the already smaller force is getting older, faster.

Eaglen turns the story into a bitch session, crying about how the US Navy's purchase of Super Hornets is a by product of the USAF having F-22s and the future F-35 to defend against high tech threats but that misses the point.

The think tank gurus have failed to come to grips with the burning question.

IS STEALTH THE KEY TO FUTURE AERIAL WARFARE?

The US Navy doesn't think so and all open source material points to them being right.  Additionally the Europeans haven't been sold and even the Russians haven't joined the "full stealth" bandwagon with their latest airplane in development.

Eaglen said it best near the end of her article....

But even if full sequestration does not continue throughout the decade, “sequestration-lite” is here to stay.

The USAF is in a hurt locker of their own making.  They bet their future on the concept of an all stealth air force...and since they're unwilling to admit the mistake and correct it, they've doomed their service and the nation to the ramifications of that decision.

The force will be smaller, more expensive and less capable in the future. 

Bundy Ranch after action....

The above pic and the header are by MilPriority.  He's a former Marine and gear photographer that's gaining in popularity.  His pics are impressive (at least in my opinion) check him out if you're into gear and firearms.

Consider this as part of my lessons learned from the Bundy Ranch standoff...we should have known that actual conflict was not planned.  At least on the part of the militias and the Oath Keepers.

Why do I know this?

Because they're as into guns and gear as I am.  With that being said one of the most common pieces of gear that almost everyone has is a balaclava or shemagh to cover their faces.

That will be a tell to me personally.

If the time comes that sees militia members or the Oath Keepers arrive at a destination with their faces covered and armed then I know its about to kick off.

Check back this weekend for a few other things that caught my eye about the standoff.

Nigeria a girls issue? No! Its a foreign policy/intel failure.

Everyone is upset and agitating over the kidnapped girls in Nigeria.

Ok, fair enough.

But what about the 50 boys that were burned alive along with their teachers?  What about the killing of over 300 shoppers by this same group?

This is a foreign policy failure that can't be solved by hash-tags on Twitter.  The very idea is STUPID beyond description.  Christians are being attacked by Muslims in Nigeria and no one is calling it for what it is.  The Nigerians have allowed a homegrown insurgency to flourish without contesting it and now its flaring out of control.

Africa is the new home for AQ and we have a decision to make.

Do we continue to play global whack-a-mole or do we decide that its not worth the effort?

If we act I can understand it (I would recommend sending Special Forces A-Teams and not conventional forces or even SEALs/MARSOC...this is an insurgency, not a raid type situation which means building up the local forces) but we need to do so because we're clear headed about it.  Not propelled by a social movement that will be on to the next hot thing in a couple of weeks.

Marine One goes to Sikorsky. Another win....

For 57 years, Sikorsky has been trusted with the critical responsibility of building and supporting a safe and reliable helicopter fleet for the President of the United States. We are ready to develop the next generation of ‘Marine One’ based on the trusted, proven & reliable S-92® platform and, alongside our teammates, deliver the world’s most advanced executive transport helicopter on time and to cost