American Mercenary has a must read on women attending Ranger school...

American Mercenary's latest is a must read.

He takes on the issue of women attending Ranger school and I must admit his attitude is more liberal than my own but makes sense.  Check it out here, but a tidbit...

I earned my tab. I got a yeast infection. I got cellulitis. I smelled like a corpse and looked like the walking dead. I took a double recycle to stay in the course so that my 62 day training event stretched out to 117 days. But ten years and one day after I signed my first enlistment contract my wife pinned a black and gold tab to my left shoulder.

So bring it on. If there are any women out there who volunteer to meet the Ranger standard, go for it. I'm convinced there will be women who can make it. But I'm also convinced that the women who could make it are smart enough to avoid it.

Yeah.

You have to read this one! 

China's MBT-3000. New details about the vehicle!

via Janes

The latest version of the MBT-3000, which is also known as the VT-4, has composite armour over the frontal arc. Officials have also revealed that the side skirts are made of rigid composite armour to which explosive reactive armour (ERA) can be added.
When first revealed, the MBT-3000 was fitted with a simple roof-mounted 12.7 mm machine gun. The latest version is fitted with a new low profile roof-mounted remote weapon station (RWS), again armed with a 12.7 mm MG. This is operated by the tank commander and as well as having an anti-aircraft capability, could prove useful in urban operations.
Chinese sources have also said that the MBT-3000 can be fitted with an active defence system - designated the GL5 - but it has not been confirmed if this is a hard kill or a soft kill ADS.
Officials have also confirmed that the gun control equipment (GCE) is all electric, and images broadcast by Chinese state television show that the stabilised 125 mm smooth bore gun is fed by a horizontal automatic loader that loads the projectile first and then the charge.
The MBT-3000 made its international debut in June 2012 at the Eurosatory defence exhibition in Paris. As well as the MBT-3000, Norinco now offers the MBT-2000 - which has a combat weight of 48 tonnes - and the VT2, which has a combat weight of 42 tonnes.
At Eurosatory Norinco officials described the MBT-3000 as the company's most advanced MBT offered on the export market to date, pointing to the fact that it is fully digitised, air conditioned, and fitted with an over-pressure NBC system and an inertial navigation/global positioning system.

Interesting.

This puts Marine Armor in an uncomfortable position.  Do we upgrade the M1A1 to Army standard or do we attempt to leap ahead?

Oh and once you answer that, then riddle me this.  Where are we gonna get the fucking money?

Sidenote:  I wonder how much info they stole to produce this hybrid M1/Leopard look alike?

The Ranger Tab becomes worthless.

via Army Times.

The Army is looking for female soldiers who want to volunteer to attend Ranger school.
The call-out is part of the Army’s ongoing effort to determine whether and how to open combat arms military occupational specialties to women.
Senior Army leaders are expected to decide in January if they want to move forward with this one-time, integrated Ranger school assessment. If the assessment moves forward, it likely will take place in the spring, and the Army will need volunteers already in place and ready to go, officials said Friday.
If the assessment takes place, it will be a first for the storied Ranger school, which until now has been open only to men.
“Right now we’re going through the deliberate planning process, identifying volunteers, and selecting them over the next few months,” said Lt. Col. Alayne Conway, an Army spokeswoman. “In January, we’ll determine the feasibility of conducting an assessment of the Ranger course in the spring of 2015.”

Consider this a done deal.

I find it funny that no one is coming forward and talking about the recruiting difficulties that the services are facing now.

I've gotten too many e-mails from Marines on the trail that tell me about the troubles that they're running into making mission.  They blame former, retired and vets being pissed at the President and Amos...second come the message that males are getting burned by disgruntled females for chickenshit reasons...and last is the lowered standards/push for women in combat arms.

This move by the  Army won't help things.

Being blunt.  I only have respect for only a few Army outfits.  I only respect a few of their schools.

One of them WAS the Ranger course.  After this?  No more.  Ranger school will do as ordered and some female will be wearing a Ranger tab she didn't earn.

Awesome.  Just don't expect me to respect it anymore.  Those days are over.

Sidenote:  Isn't it strange?  On one hand we have men that assault women being charged with not only assault but domestic violence (if they know them) and yet on the other those same people are pushing to have women in combat arms!

Has the war against Police begun? UPDATE!

via ABC News.

A late-night ambush outside a state police barracks in Pennsylvania's rural northeastern corner left one trooper dead and another critically wounded, and authorities scoured the densely wooded countryside and beyond on Saturday looking for the shooter or shooters.
State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said a "very dangerous, armed criminal" eluded quick capture.
"This attack was an ambush. Our troopers were ... shot without warning and really had no chance to defend themselves," Noonan told reporters Saturday afternoon. "It's a cowardly attack. It's an attack upon all of us in society."

NOTE:  Read the comments over at The BLAZE!...this is a right wing news site and the comments are all negative towards police.  Something has happened and the public no longer supports them.  One bad move and Sovereign Citizens and other anti-police groups will be cheered in their attacks.

Interesting.  An ambush by definition, if conducted properly, doesn't give the target a chance to defend themselves.

I also find it interesting that the Commissioner says that this is an attack against all of society.  How?  Unfortunately for police, those that target them hardly ever go after the rest of society.  Even the most rabid of them...the Sovereign Citizens...rarely go after other members of society.

Many mistook my stance on the issues in Ferguson.  Everyone wanted to focus on whether or not the police shooting was legit or not.  I never did.  Not enough information was available AND we were immediately hit with propaganda from both sides (to include the Police Chief withholding information & releasing selective info that supported his side).

WHAT DID alarm me was the military tactics/militarization of police that we saw when County Police showed up to assist in crowd control.

What should alarm Police Officials AND US citizens is that the distance between law enforcement and the people they're working for is greater than ever.

I seriously wonder if the war on Police has begun.

Russians coming home in body bags from Ukraine.

Thanks for the link Jason!

via Yahoo

Late last month Yelena Tumanova was handed the body of her son in a coffin at her home in Russia's Western Volga region. Anton Tumanov was 20 and a soldier serving in the Russian army in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya.
The documents Yelena Tumanova was given with the body raised more questions than they answered - questions about how her son died and about the Russian government’s denials that its troops are in Ukraine. The records do not show Anton Tumanov’s place of death, said human rights activists who spoke to his mother after she got in touch with them.
"Medical documents said there were shrapnel wounds, that is he died from a loss of blood, but how it happened and where were not indicated,” said Sergei Krivenko, who heads a commission on military affairs on Russia’s presidential human rights council.
Yelena Tumanova could not be reached for comment and Reuters was unable to review the documents. But more than 10 soldiers in her dead son’s unit told Krivenko and Ella Polyakova, another member of the presidential human rights council, that Anton Tumanov died in an Aug. 13 battle near the Ukrainian town of Snizhnye. The battle, the soldiers said, killed more than 100 Russian soldiers serving in the 18th motorized rifle brigade of military unit 27777, which is based outside the Chechen capital of Grozny..

I just don't know.

We have entered a world of shadows and greys.

Up is down, down is up and we're being subjected to intensive information warfare from both sides.  American Mercenary wrote a great primer on propaganda ops and I recommend you read it.  We're being bombed on all sides and all open source information on conflicts is suspect.  I think the source of the information tells more than the information itself.

ISIS murders a Brit Aid Worker.

via CNN

British aid worker David Haines appears to have been executed by ISIS militants, according to a video posted Saturday to a website associated with the group, making him the third Western captive to be killed by the Islamist extremist group in recent weeks.
The ISIS video post showing Haines' apparent beheading called his execution "a message to the allies of America."
It is produced very similarly to the videos that showed the executions of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the last of which included Haines and the threat that he'd be killed next.
The new video pictures a masked ISIS militant placing his hand on another captive, whom he identified as Alan Henning, a British citizen.

Wow.

I wonder if all these Westerners that are falling into the hands of ISIS are part of the Global Citizen movement.

I mean seriously.  How STUPID do you have to be to travel to a war zone as a civilian?  Why wouldn't your common sense kick and say "this is a really bad idea"?  Why would you put yourself in that kind of jeopardy?

But a bigger question is why would a country go to war...engage in a long slog...because its citizens were stupid enough to travel to dangerous lands to either "help" or "report" on events?  Its lunacy.  An individual has a responsibility to look after their own safety, if they ignore that, then why should the state step in?

Russia's Armata Main Battle Tank to be displayed.

photo via Immortal Today.com

via ITAR-TASS

BAKU, September 12. /ITAR-TASS/. A family of new combat vehicles based on the universal platform Armata will be displayed at a Victory Parade in 2015, Oleg Siyenko, General Director of the Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) research and production corporation, told ITAR-TASS in an exclusive interview at the ADEX-2014 international exhibition of armaments.
"All works are proceeding according to schedule. A whole family of armored vehicles based on the Armata platform will be displayed in a Victory Parade next year," Siyenko said.

Interesting.

I thought this thing was pure vapor ware.  I'll be keeping an eye on this.  Hopefully someone that reads this blog will be able to get some pics of the thing so we can get a look at its armor, layout, weapons fit etc... 

The Fuji Firepower Exercise 2014 2nd Section **Definitely worth the watch!**

Watching this video convinces me of one thing.

The CNO is right in his estimation that hovering off shore at over 100 miles is no longer a protection against even moderately equipped forces.

We're going to have to fight to the beach and then to the objective.  Maneuver warfare is not going to be enough to avoid enemy fires.  We're going to have to take out Command & Control, launchers and finally suppress enemy infantry.

This Japanese firepower video demonstrates that when it comes to amphibious assault we're back to the future.

SIDENOTE:  Did you catch the blurb starting at the 12:10 mark in the video?  Japanese observation helicopters are now being equipped with 4 air-to-air missiles.  The Marine Corps should make note.  We might be missing a huge development.  While the USMC has dabbled in helicopter anti-air with the AH-1W/Z, it appears that others are dedicating platforms specifically for that mission.  I think that attention needs to be paid with exactly what the Russians are going to do with the KA-52 and the Chinese with the Z-10.

Fat Acceptance?

I'm still doing research into the intermittent fasting thing (found out something astonishing....if you fast for at least 18-24 hours, a man's HGH level increases almost 2000%) and I ran into something that has me scratching my head.

NOTE:  Follow this link to the study that shows that fasting increases HGH levels...this is stunning to me, it appears to this layman that our health/food industry has been lying its ass off.

Fat acceptance.  I never heard of it but it appears that its a cause that feminist groups have latched onto.  This is important because it points to the next battle for "women's rights" in the military.  Expect the weight tables to be soon eased to allow more women to serve.  Anyway check out the pics below and let me know what you think (a small sample size but it represents the thinking of these groups).

NATO: Russia still has 1,000 troops in Ukraine

Video of the Captive UN Soldiers in Syria

via Jerusalem Online (click here to see the video).

Fiji announced that the 45 UN soldiers held by the terror organization Jabhat Al Nusra appear to be “safe and sound” in a video clip uploaded to youtube. The country expressed joy in the situation of the inspectors, who are expected to return home in the coming days.

In the video clip, which is 15 minutes long, two men appear speaking in Arabic while looking in the background at the Fiji soldiers sitting crossed legged. Towards the end of the video, one of them speaks English, specifies the date the video was taken, and stated, “Today is September 9 and it is a very happy day.”
The soldier stated that he was happy because they were told that they would be released soon, as reported in recent days. According to him, all of the soldiers are “alive, safe and sound.”

This is interesting.  The people that are holding the UN troops are affiliated with ISIS.  Additionally the two captured journalist were first captured by and then sold to ISIS by supposedly "good" rebels in Syria.

Now we're suppose to believe that Al Nusra is a good group?  That if these guys are released that they haven't somehow been paid off?

This just doesn't smell right. 

Royal Marines know how to advertise...

Royal Marines know how to advertise to stir the passions of young men.  None of the bullshit running to the sound of chaos to deliver "meals on wheels", they instead show rough conditions, talk about working through hunger and fear, and lastly show their guys going up against scum that need to be eradicated.

The USMC once did it that way too.  Hopefully we'll get back to that with a new Commandant in less than a month.

Rick and Morty

COIN Mafia wins the latest budget war. Is it dooming the US to lose future conflicts?

via The Free Beacon.

Obama said the program will involve a broad coalition “to roll back this terrorist threat.”
“Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy,” he said.
In deference to his liberal anti-war supporters, the president sought to distance the new war from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil,” Obama said. “This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.”

Well there it is.

America, or more specifically, certain parts of the American military are going BACK to war in the Middle East.

The COIN Mafia should be proud.  They've succeeded in pushing us back into the "generational" war against terrorism...or should I follow the herd and call this a war against an ideology?   SOCOM will without a doubt pull conventional forces into the fight to provide security on the objective, to guard their bases and provide logistical support.  But SOCOM should be concerned.  From the outside looking in they're already fracturing and the force is showing serious signs of strain.

Even more alarming is the fact that the drawdown is continuing and word on the street is that all the services are having recruiting troubles.

Speaking more broadly nothing has changed budget wise.  Sequestration still looms.  Budget Hawks are still flying high and defense can expect no plus ups and the F-35 still hangs like an albatross around the neck of the Pentagon.

Is it possible that we can look at this decision by the President, pushed by the COIN Mafia as the major incident that causes us to lose a war against a moderately capable opponent in the future?

I hope not, but worry that it is.

Finally, I AM PISSED at how easily the US people have been manipulated into worrying about ISIS.  When I was having a shit fit about them murdering and cruicifying Christians and others, the news media couldn't care less.  When I was going ape about them driving US supplied vehicles in the open with no US response, the news media could care less.

Then we have 2.  I repeat two, journalist killed on camera it suddenly becomes an action that leads to another conflict?  Don't get me wrong but it doesn't make sense!  The killing of two journalists is a tragedy, but to go to war over that is insanity.

We're setting ourselves up for a strategic mistake of huge proportions and no one seems to be thinking past public opinion polls.

Wildcat Helicopter Carrying FASGW Missiles

Now a School District has an MRAP!!!!

via NBC7 San Diego.

A heavily armored vehicle is now a part of the San Diego Unified School District Police Department’s arsenal, though administrators say it will only be used for rescues.
The hand-me-down Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle was granted to the department through a federal government program. The district did not have to pay for the $733,000, taxpayer-funded piece of equipment, similar to those used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to protect troops against IEDs.

Just plain fucking wow!

The US Navy just made its gambit to buy Advanced Super Hornets...

via Flight Global.

The documents released on 9 September list focus areas for individual TIMs, including modification of current aircraft and specifically names the Boeing F/A-18E/F and F-35C. Another of the meetings will focus on the possibility of building a new-start aircraft. The service is also asking for information on the projected technology readiness level of each proposal for 2020.
Some possible modifications of the existing carrier-based fleet have already appeared. The navy has discussed stealth modifications to the F/A-18E/F, while GE has studied more powerful engines enabled by expanded inlets

Read the whole thing but it seems to me that the Navy is hedging its bets on two fronts.  The first that the F-35 will be the failure I believe its destined to be and secondly, its getting ready for sequestration to continue.

The US budget is about to be pressured by several things....Obamacare not meeting budget goals, the economy not rebounding as predicted, a new war in the Middle East (so much for that peace dividend) and further social spending because of the lagging economy.

The Navy is the only service (well, besides the Army) that is planning actively for a worse case scenario.  The Advanced Super Hornet might be the savior of the carrier air arm and not only its workhorse.

Health Question.

Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting?

If so, how did you feel during your day?  Has anyone taken it to the next level and only consume one meal a day?  From the little research that I've done it appears that early man and even Soldiers that fought the American Indian wars would ride all day and only eat dinner.

Supposedly this is part of the Warrior diet that is popular.  So let me know if  you've tried it.

New MSBS Assault Rifle Vid

Thanks Leetwin for the link!!!

Which of these seven classes do you want to be?

via Nerd Fitness (read the entire article...its entertaining if nothing else).

WARRIOR: You live for strength training. You love the idea of getting stronger and more powerful. You're interested in barbell training and strength training mostly. Your main attributes are strength and power.
SCOUT: Built for distance and efficiency rather than strength and power, you can outlast any animal on the planet. Your muscles are built to last for hours, and you can cover great distances whenever necessary. Your main attributes are stamina and endurance
RANGER: A jack-of-all-trades but master of none, Rangers are well-equipped for any situation. Your weight training revolves around varying the reps, sets, and downtime to continually force your muscles to adapt to new situations. You're good at strength training and pretty good at covering distances when required, but neither is a specialty. Your main attributes are strength and stamina.
ASSASSIN: Every building can be climbed, every gap can be jumped, every obstacle can be conquered. Assassins spend most of their time training with functional body weight exercises as that's usually the only thing they need to lift. Gymnasts and parkour enthusiasts would fit into this category. Your main attributes are power and stamina.
MONK: Monks can kick your ass with their fists and feet, and they will do it before you even knew what happened. Incredibly agile, lightning fast, and loaded with power, Monks specialize in martial arts to stay in shape and destroy the opposition. Your main attributes are power and dexterity.

DRUID: Druids spend a majority of their time training in the arts of yoga, tai chi, and other movement-based disciplines. Each movement has a purpose, and that purpose is to further improve the dexterity, agility, and strength of the druid. Your main attributes are dexterity and agility.
Adventurer: Adventurers haven't quite picked a path yet - or if they have, they're still working on gathering the skills to start their work in their profession of choice. These brave souls are not afraid of anything though, and are often found working diligently with their allies to help ensure every adventure leads down the correct path.