F-15C crashes in the UK.

Thanks for the link MegaWobbleHead!

via the BBC

A US military aircraft has crashed in a field near houses and a school in Lincolnshire.
Witnesses saw the F-15 come down in a field off Broad Gate, Weston Hills, near Spalding at about 15:30 BST.
The pilot is believed to have ejected from the aircraft and police say he has escaped with very minor injuries.
The US Air Force said the F-15 from was from the 48th Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk and had crashed during a training exercise.

And the hits keep coming. 

The Ebola patient in Dallas has died.

He is dead.

While I have sympathy for his family, the reality is much more stark.  

This man brought a deadly infection into the United States and it is entirely possible that this is only the first of many people that will die.  Dallas County and City officials were barely able to deal with one patient.  What happens if 10 more suddenly start showing symptoms?

This first act is over.  The rest of the play goes on.

Thompson missed the mark on his suggestion of the US Army adopting the Scout SV...

Loren Thompson made this statement in one of his latest articles...

If the Army were to part ways with the notion of stuffing an entire squad into one vehicle, then an array of options for modernizing quickly and affordably would open up. Perhaps the most appealing such option would be to adapt the Scout SV armored vehicle that the British Ministry of Defense announced it would be buying from General Dynamics on September 3. The British Army will procure nearly 600 such vehicles in multiple variants employing a common chassis and electronics architecture. The $5.8 billion contract is the biggest order for armored vehicles the ministry has made in several decades.
What makes the Scout SV — SV for specialist vehicle — appealing is that over the last five years, the British government has funded all the complex engineering tradeoffs required to reconcile contending design drivers in an optimized vehicle. The result is a combat system sporting best-in-class survivability, lethality, mobility and reliability. Its open electronics architecture supports diverse missions while its common chassis minimizes logistical requirements. And one of the six variants, dubbed the “protected mobility recce support” vehicle, can carry 4-5 passengers in addition to its crew. In other words, it can provide superior protection, agility and situational awareness to an Army fire team.

The reason why I think that Thompson missed the mark is because there are vehicles that are capable of meeting Army requirements.

In addition to the vehicles that the Army recently trialed at White Sands...vehicles like the German Puma, Israeli Namer and the CV90-30....we've seen new vehicles arrive on the scene that meet Army requirements out the box.

Most interestingly we see the FFG PMMC G5, the CV90 Armadillo and all the contestants in the Marine Corps Personnel Carrier contest.

Adopting a sub-optimal, long in the tooth British design would be a horrible mistake.  (Note: this vehicle was first designed in 1992...its only a few years younger than the Bradley...1981.... with far fewer upgrades)

Quite honestly the ASCOD (Scout SV if you're into rebranding) wasn't even the best vehicle in that competition!  The Army shouldn't settle for less...especially when there are better vehicles available now.

SOUTHCOM Commander talks nightmare scenario.

via USNI News.

The head of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) warned an Ebola outbreak in Central America or the Caribbean could trigger a mass migration to the U.S. of people fleeing the disease and implied established Central American illegal trafficking networks could introduce the infected into the U.S., during remarks at a Tuesday panel on security issues in the Western Hemisphere at the National Defense University.
“If it comes to the Western Hemisphere, the countries that we’re talking about have almost no ability to deal with it — particularly in Haiti and Central America,” SOUTHCOM Commander, Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, said in response to a question of his near term concerns in the region.
“It will make the 68,000 unaccompanied minors look like a small problem.”
An Ebola outbreak could encourage the poor and increasingly desperate populations in Central American countries — like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador — to leave in droves.
“I think you’ve seen this so many times in the past, when in doubt, take off,” he said.
Though an ocean away from Ebola hotspots in Africa, a growing numbers of West Africans are using the illicit trafficking routes through Central America to enter the U.S. illegally and could introduce the disease in the U.S.

You want to see the US go crazy?

Let a mass immigration begin of Ebola stricken people begin.

If this happens you can bet that militarization of the border will be insisted upon.  This is the type of thing that will change the course of civilizations.

Sidenote:  Many are asking but no one is reporting or even talking about it in the mainstream media.  Children are being sickened by a supposedly harmless virus.  Is it connected with the illegal child immigrants?  The lack of chatter and the fact that no one is denying it makes my spider sense tingle.

Thank God for adult leadership at CENTCOM. HQMC was lobbying for a Sinjar rescue mission!?

via USA Today.

Until it was called off at the last minute, U.S. Marines prepared to land aircraft on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq in August for one of the largest evacuation operations ever – the rescue of thousands of trapped refugees, the Marines' top officer disclosed.
"The plan was to pick everyone off the mountain," Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, told USA TODAY in disclosing details for the complex and risky operation for for the first time. "It was going to be a 'round the clock operation.
"It would have been the largest evacuation that I can think of," Amos said. "It could have been very dangerous as well."

Read the whole thing.  It goes from talking about a dangerous, and extremely risky mission...to a legacy building article in a few short paragraphs.

My take on things?

THANK GOD FOR ADULT LEADERSHIP AT CENTCOM THAT DIDN'T BITE ON THIS!!!!

I can't begin to imagine what a terrible cluster this would have become.  We've seen the SPMAGTF-CR evolve from a "Company Landing Team" sized ground component back up to an MEU sized Battalion Landing Team.

But even with a huge increase in trigger pullers this would have been a nightmare operation for aircrew and the grunts on the ground attempting to secure the area until the evac was completed.

A fixed landing area, surrounded on all sides by enemy forces?

Effective close air support flying from hundreds of miles away (assuming aircraft would have flown out of Baghdad)?

Expecting the enemy to rush forces into the area in an attempt to claim US scalps?

Light infantry effectively battling a heavy mechanized force (since ISIS captured modern artillery, M1A1 MBTs, MRAPs and armored personnel carriers)?

I say again.  Thank God CENTCOM didn't bite on this plan!  The death count would have numbered in the hundreds if not higher. 

KIA Medium Tactical Vehicle - Prototype

Who knew?  Kia makes military vehicles as well as hamster carrying cars!

The answer to those "boxes" on the side of the BAE/Iveco SuperAV 8x8.

I got an answer from the folks at BAE regarding a question asked by "gardengnomesareevil" on this blog post....

Any idea what the 5 rectangular pieces are on the rear hull?

Turns out the answer is simplicity itself.  They're Jerry Can brackets.

NOTE:  This will be a slight change in standard practice for gear on APC's for the Marine Corps.  Usually in amphibious ops you see packs strapped to the top and once on land they're moved to the sides of the vehicle for easy access by the carried infantry.  Jerry Cans were mounted in brackets behind the crew stations on top of the vehicle.

DARPA - Ground X-Vehicle Technology

Nato a powerful military? Bullshit!

Thanks to Paralus for the link!

via Defense-Aerospace.com

Last week, a single person pushed Germany's air force to the very limits of its capacities: Ursula von der Leyen, the country's defense minister. Von der Leyen requested that two Transall military transport aircraft with missile defense systems be transferred to Amman, the Jordanian capital. The defense minister and a pool of reporters then flew for eight hours on Thursday morning in one of the aircraft to Erbil in Iraq's Kurdish region. Back in Germany, the military had but a single additional Transall at its disposal.

After her arrival in Erbil, von der Leyen proceeded to the palace of the Kurdish regional government's president. Her visit was to be concurrent with the delivery of German weapons, intended to aid the Kurds in their fight against Islamic State jihadists. Unfortunately, the machine guns and bazookas got stuck in Germany and the trainers in Bulgaria because of a dearth of available aircraft. One had been grounded because of a massive fuel leak. What could have been a shining moment for the minister instead turned into an embarrassing failure underscoring the miserable state of many of the Bundeswehr's most important weapons systems.

No other member of the government has been pushing as hard for Germany to increase its role abroad since taking office last year than von der Leyen. From the very start of her term, she has sought to distance herself from the "military reserve" preached by conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel and by former Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. It is an approach which most notoriously manifested itself in Germany's abstention during the UN vote to conduct air strikes against Libya in 2011. At the Munich Security Conference in January, von der Leyen even proclaimed that "indifference is not an option for a country like Germany."

This is a snap shot of the most powerful military in the EU.

If Germany, owner of the strongest and largest economy on the continent is in this kind of shape then how are the other nations REALLY doing?

NATO is a paper tiger.  "Nuff said. 

How bad was Dallas Ebola response?

Major thanks to Dustin for the link.

via WFAA.com

DALLAS — A homeless panhandler who rode in the same Dallas ambulance after Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan has been found after an extensive manhunt.
The 52-year-old man — who city officials identified as Michael Lively — was admitted to Parkland Memorial Hospital Sunday afternoon after being taken into custody by Dallas police officers. County Judge Clay Jenkins said he was taken to the hospital's psychiatric ward.
"He exhibited clear indicators that he needed to be taken to the psych ward," Jenkins told News 8.
Parkland spokesman Mike Malaise said Lively was later removed by health officials and taken to an undisclosed location for isolation.
News 8 was the first to report on the search for Lively early Sunday. The manhunt began Saturday after Lively walked away from a local hospital where he had been taken to be checked out
Officials tell News 8 that Lively was the next person to ride in the ambulance last Sunday after Duncan was taken to Presbyterian Hospital. Duncan remained in critical condition at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Sunday.
Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance No, 37 was taken out of service on Tuesday, but has since been returned to the fleet after being decontaminated.

Read the entire article AND watch the vid.

So lets see what we have here.  We have paramedics that dealt with a person showing clear signs of Ebola and probably puking his guts out and shitting his pants.

Then we have those same paramedics probably cleaning out the ambulance after that ride from hell...although they didn't know that the guy had Ebola.

Next, after doing a cursory cleanup of the ambulance they pick up their next patient and then the police let him go.

A manhunt for him ensues, they locate him and they charge him with being a 51-50 to keep him from simply going on his way.

THIS IS PART OF THE FIASCO THAT THE MEDIA ISN'T REPORTING.

Yet you have confidence in local, state and federal govt to properly deal with this mess?

Ebola outbreak: Nurse infected in Spain

via BBC

The Spanish health minister has confirmed that a nurse who treated a victim of Ebola in Madrid has tested positive for the disease.
The nurse is said to be the first person in the current outbreak known to have contracted Ebola outside Africa.
Health Minister Ana Mato said the woman was part of the team that treated Spanish priest Manuel Garcia Viejo, who died of the virus on 25 September.
Some 3,400 people have died in the outbreak - mostly in West Africa.
The Spanish nurse is in a stable condition, Reuters quoted health officials as saying. She started to feel ill last week when she was on holiday.
The nurse was admitted to hospital in Alcorcon, near Madrid, on Monday morning with a high fever, Ms Mato said.
Doctors isolated the emergency treatment room.
The infection was confirmed by two tests, the minister said.

I no longer give a fuck.

Something is different about this Ebola.

Many will say that I'm playing "chicken little" and that the sky is falling but Spain is NOT Africa, the medical officials in that country are as professional as we have here and yet this nurse got zapped.

We are not being told the facts of this.  I believe its about pure politics and we've seen how this administration handles things when it comes to elections...but even if you doubt me, one thing is undeniable.  A medical professional in Europe has contracted this disease.

Question.  Where was she on holiday?  Have they started contact tracing?  How far has this shit spread?

New photos of the BAE/Iveco SuperAV 8x8

Future Artillery via AlphaMecha Blog.

"Gunner, do you see that army?"

"Yes mi’lord."

"I don’t want to."

"Understood mi’lord."

New NATO Chief stirs the pot. This will NOT go over well...

Members of Poland's special commando unit Lubliniec disembark from a Mi-17 helicopter during the "Noble Sword-14" NATO international tactical exercise at the land forces training centre in Oleszno, near Drawsko Pomorskie, northwest Poland September 9, 2014 (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)

UPDATE:  Want to read something that is thought provoking about the war in Ukraine?  Check out Cdr Salamander's take on things.  Winter is coming and this is when the war will be won.


via Russia Times.

"Next year, at the ministerial meeting, we will take decisions regarding the so-called spearhead but, even before it is established, NATO has a strong army after all,” Stoltenberg told state-owned Polish broadcaster TVP Info.

"These capabilities already exist. We have them, and we can deploy them in individual regions. And this is only an add-on to what the alliance already has."

In September, his predecessor Anders Fogh Rasmussen outlined the specifics of the rapid reaction force as comprising “several thousand troops, ready to respond where needed with air, sea and special-forces support.”

Amid talk of a “spearhead” NATO force, the United States last month transferred 20 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks and about 700 soldiers, along with Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, to the Baltic States, marking the first time the US has shipped armored vehicles to Europe since the end of the Cold War, Reuters noted.

Such a military force was intended to substitute for permanent NATO bases in Eastern Europe, which the Western military organization pledged not to create following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Read the ENTIRE article here.

First thing you learn when you head into the woods is not to fuck with bears.  You kill them, you avoid them, but you damn sure don't fuck with them.

But what has me laughing is the claim that NATO has a strong army!  Really?  Seriously?

But ignoring all the silliness.  How do you think Russia will respond to these moves?

The smallest US Army and Marine Corps in 50 years is just around the corner. We (supposedly) have interests in Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific....and yet we still need to be ready to defend Europe?

I think our European allies are misreading things a bit...THEY CAN'T SIMPLY CALL ON THE US TO PROTECT THEM!  A coordinated strike by China and Russia at both ends of the globe would have the United States making a choice.  Who do we prioritize?  Europe or the Pacific?  If the answer isn't Europe then they have some serious cash to spend...and work to do.

OMFG! Russian Guy thinks he's a US Marine?

All photos via English Russia.  You just HAVE to read the story here.  Just plain wow.  I wouldn't be surprised if he's out in uniform one day and some real deal Russian Naval Infantry doesn't kick the living shit out of him.  Of course this might be just one huge ass joke.  I don't know.  One other thing.  I don't know if air-soft is big in Russia but I do know that it is in Europe.  Maybe this is just part of his role playing setup?

US Army Apache Helicopters fly strike missions against ISIS.

via Marine Corps Times

WASHINGTON — Army pilots for the first time used an Apache attack helicopter to strike Islamist militant targets in Iraq over the weekend, according to a statement by CENTCOM.
On Oct. 4, “U.S. military forces used attack bomber, fighter and helicopter aircraft to conduct six airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq” the command said in a Sunday morning release, and a CENTCOM official confirmed to Defense News that the helicopter was an Army Apache attack helicopter, but would not specify where it flew from or what munitions it used.

Hmm.

I definitely don't think we're getting the real info on how the war is going against ISIS.

Its obvious that the Iraqi forces are as inept, stupid, and down right unprofessional as ever....why else would we now have to provide close air support--and make no mistake, thats exactly what this is.  You can label the Air Force effort up to this point as being an interdiction campaign.  But back to Iraqi forces....  You can't teach an idiot to drive a tank, fly a plane or defend his country.

The F-35 fix is in. It will be Rubio vs. Paul

via SaintPetersbergBlog

“First came defense cuts of $487 billion over ten years,” he said. “Then, adding insult to injury, the savings found in the defense budget were redirected to already-bloated domestic programs.”
To Rubio, the county’s security is not a temporary fix; a secure nation is something requiring constant vigilance.
“National defense is not an area where we can flip a switch when a need suddenly arises,” he said. “It takes forethought to design and many years to build the capabilities we may need at a moment’s notice.”
Modernization, innovation, and training need to be sustained priorities, even during periods of relative peace.
“For this to happen now, is terrible timing,” Rubio added. “Since a reluctance to utilize ground forces means our reliance on air power is increasing. As it is our only fifth-generation fighter in production, (the F-35) program is too important to abandon.”
With congressional support, Rubio believes the F-35 is poised to become the keystone in a family of fighters, ready to provide air support to troops stationed overseas, or to confront distant targets.
While the program has been gaining momentum in the past year after a number of technical and budgetary setbacks, Rubio said more needs to be done to meet global demand.
Both Russia and China are working on similar fighters, also with plans to export them to other countries.

Read the entire thing.

This will end up as a fight between two Senators that happen to be eyeing making a run for President of the United States.  Additionally they're looking to become part of the new breed of Republicans.  For Rubio, he wants to be the new defense hawk, taking the place of Graham in that role.  For Paul it looks like he plans to lead a wing of the party that is tired of run away spending, foreign entanglements and "USA world police" bullshit that is costing us precious money---and lives.

I'm betting on Ron Paul winning.

As much as Rubio might actually believe what he's saying, the public mood just isn't with him.  Others nations need to step up to defend themselves.  We can't continue to spend like the paper never runs out without seriously damaging our economy (and the world's).

The lame duck session will be the time when we see additional funding for the F-35.  Thats the time to keep an eye on Congress AND Lockheed.

How big is the Nazi influence in Donetsk?

Check out the video posted by English Russia, it purports to show a play put on in the city center of Donetsk.

Haj Amin al-Husseini and Adolf Hitler on 28 November 1941.

Because of the source it can be considered potential propaganda...but...

We do know, but its hardly talked about, that the Nazi's heavily influenced the
Muslim nation starting in WW2 and that influence even shows today especially in the terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

What is surprising is if the Nazi influence is as Russians have said.  A major part of Ukrainian politics.

Boko Haram Video Shows Beheading of Nigeria Pilot

via ABC News.

Boko Haram, the extremist Islamic group In Nigeria, has published a video that shows charred plane wreckage and the beheading of a man identified as a pilot of a missing Nigerian Air Force jet, bolstering the group's claims that it shot down a fighter plane.
The video also allegedly features Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, a man Nigeria's military twice has claimed to kill — first in 2009 and again last year. Two weeks ago the military said they had killed a Shekau lookalike who had posed in the group's videos.
"Here I am, alive, and I will remain alive until the day Allah takes away my breath," the man says in the Hausa language. "Even if you kill me ... it will not stop us imposing Islamic rule ... We are still in our Islamic state, reigning and teaching the Quran."
The United States still has a $7 million bounty on Shekau's head.
The video was made available to The Associated Press through the same channels used previously and seems to show the same man. Nigeria's Defense Headquarters suggested in a blog that the insurgents had manipulated images and cloned "another Shekau."
In the video, the man identified as Shekau says Boko Haram is implementing strict Shariah law in areas of northeast Nigeria under its control. Examples are shown, including the stoning death of a man apparently accused of adultery; the amputation of the hand of a young man accused of theft; the lashings of a man and what appears to be a girl covered in a hijab.
The video ends with a show of burnt-out plane parts in rugged bush. Two pilots and an Alpha jet have been missing since Sept. 11 when it left the northeastern town of Yola on a bombing mission against Boko Haram.
The video shows a kneeling man in a camouflage vest with his right hand in a sling, with a fighter hovering over him with an ax, which is later used in the beheading.
Speaking in English, the victim identifies himself as a wing commander in the Nigerian Air Force and says he was undertaking a mission in Kauri area of northeast Borno state.
"We were shot down and our aircraft crashed," he says. "To this day I don't know the whereabouts of my second pilot."
The insurgents have stolen military hardware from Nigerian forces, probably including anti-aircraft weapons.

Yep.

Nigeria is one of the nations that is suffering from an outbreak of Ebola (they had one case but are much better at dealing with the outbreak).

But this is also the place where the #BringBackOurGirls was aimed at.  Now?  Now they have beheaded a Wing Commander.

And what is the US doing?

We're sending medical personnel and construction bubbas to the region.  NO TRIGGER PULLERS!

Is it "fear mongering" to think that they might attempt to capture a US soldier or two for the sole purpose of carrying out another atrocity for broadcast on YouTube?   If nothing else was learned from the debacle at Camp Leatherneck where we lost a Harrier Squadron, it should have been that only US forces can safeguard US personnel and equipment!  This sounds like a FAST Co mission.

Why I prep.

Many thanks to my friend Peter from down under (Australia).  You asked me a simple question... "why do I blog" ... and it led me to ask other simple questions about other things...like prepping. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that you keep at least 3 days food and water.  Emphasis on at least 3 days.  You can read their list of necessary items here.

But I find that isn't good enough.  Why?  Because I witnessed Katrina first hand.  Not the evil female that works at the mall but the destructive hurricane that blasted Louisiana and Mississippi.  Have you forgotten?  No?  Then I bet you saw the sanitized version of the devastation.  Check out the pics below of the real Katrina...

via Wilyloman Blog
 You show me pictures of 50-80 houses damaged by fire? I feel for them but start counting… this is one area… there were MANY OTHERS just like it. That water is up to the roofs of the houses. They were escaping into their attics only to have the water rise up into those as well and some of them were able to cut holes in their roofs and get outside… others drowned.

The pics below are from Cryptome.org...

One war was being waged overseas with foreign nationals (Iraqis) crying for more money and resources from the invading country (the US) and an act of God strikes and we have a major city basically destroyed.

The tick tock of that destruction is for someone else to cover (and they have....you just need to Google it).  The quick and dirty?  The hurricane passed and kicked the hell out of New Orleans.  No big deal.  It happens all the time.  The issue this time?  The levees failed.  Levees built by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  Levees that were supposedly designed to withstand Cat 5 hurricane forces.

We're talking about mathematics, engineering and building to standard.

We put a man on the moon so doing that shouldn't be too difficult. Right?

Wrong.

The hurricane passed, the levees failed and chaos ensued.  Governor Blanco (she received alot of ignorant blame for what went wrong) tried to rush state resources to the area but a STUPID, ARROGANT, CRIMINAL major of that city wanted to assert "his control".

People died while local and state officials argued over jurisdiction.

Meanwhile Bush is getting reports of the situation and is pressured to "do something".  Unfortunately for him (he's another guy that gets alot of ignorant blame...supporting a "on the ground" presidential visit would have crippled relief efforts) politics was more important than working the problem in many peoples eyes.  He didn't want to cripple relief ops but did want to be seen as being concerned so he did a fly over.  His political enemies pounced on that visual.
(another issue for Bush was that he respects state's rights and didn't want to force the state to be forced by federal agencies to act in ways that they deemed unnecessary...perfectly reasonable in my opinion but people didn't want to hear that)
Meanwhile you had people that didn't prepare.  They were jammed into the Super Dome because they didn't have evacuation plans or the means to implement them before disaster struck.

Others were stuck on roof tops because they couldn't/wouldn't leave and didn't have food or water.

People died, were assaulted, a few raped and a major city was reduced to a condition worse than seen in some third world nations.

I promised that wouldn't happen to me and mine.

That's why I prep.

I've read the history and seen how modern man reacts to issues.  Rioting in Hong Kong and Italy?  Violent and unpredictable...even if the violence is coming from govt forces as is the case in China...or anarchist as in the case of Italy...your'e still looking at sudden violence.

Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey.  Rapes, violence at night, etc...

Blackouts that happened in the past would bring the same.  Snow or ice storms can cause families to be stranded in their houses without power---or food if they haven't properly prepared.

I prep because I respect the power of nature, don't trust the government because I've seen their incompetence up close and truly believe that our global financial system is a house of cards.

The simple question I put to you is this...why don't you prep knowing the same things that I do?