Vet 0369

Actually, I’m not so sure about that. His threats to withdraw from NATO when he was President, were. Based on an actual desire of a population of Americans that “some” members of NATO weren’t fulfilling their commitments. That was actually true, and those members began fulfilling their commitments. Why did Putin wait until Trump was out of office to attack Ukraine? I think it was because he was unsure of how Trump would respond, and thought Trump’s successor wouldn’t do anything, exactly how he handled the invasion of Crimea and the succession of the Ukraine provinces.

I suspect that Ukraine has already balanced the military value of interrupting supply by way of the bridge vs creating the Sun Tzu “Cornered Rat” result of taking it out. One also has to consider the civilian population in Crimea that has remained loyal to Ukraine.

I expect that all of the munitions and equipment was “prepositioned weeks ago.

The administration had to publish that so it has “plausible deniability” when Ukrain does use them on targets in Russia proper. That way the administration can say “Hey, we told Ukraine the ATACMS were only for use within sovereign Ukrainian territories.”

LOL, just like “Willy and Joe” in the Stars and Stripes, or “Sgt. Mike and Sledge” in the Navy Times!

Is using a crowd control irritant banned by something? Tear gas and CS gas are, or were, classified by percentage. IIRC, tear gas is classified as 7% and CS gas is classified as 100%. We had to pass an annual gas training that used CS as the irritant so I’m very aware of the effects of CS gas, even without breathing it in. In fact, I used CS gas canisters as an MP in Japan to quell a race riot in town, and was asleep when some drunken Regulars tossed a couple of CS gas grenades into our barracks because they had to change barracks so our Reserve Unit had a place to bunk during our two-week active training. One Marine was missing during the emergency muster, so our Staff NCOs (me included) went back into the barracks without masks to find him and get him out. Yes, I’m very familiar with the effects of CS gas. As far as I know, unless some treaty has prohibited it since the Cold War, use of CS gas is not prohibited or illegal. The problem is that it can affect the attacker just as much as the defender.

Ok, I don’t intend to get into or start an off topic political discussion, but I have to respond to this. Unfortunately, we in the U.S. are living in a blatantly partisan political environment. The Democratic Party are just as partisan as the Republican Party, and will pull the same crap. They are mostly more concerned about getting a leg-up over, and embarrassing the other party than doing the “right thing” for the American people and its allies. The two extremes of the parties have driven out all of the “old moderates.” Yes, the Republicans have their MTGs, but the Democrats have their AOCs. Both are equally destructive to the process. I keep hearing about how disruptive Republican Mitch McGovern was as the Senate Majority Leader, but everyone seems to forget about Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who refused to allow a single proposed bill that was proposed or passed by a Republican House, to go to the Senate floor for a vote. I’m really sick and tired of the extremely partisan comments and camouflaged attacks that are constantly being posted by Liberals and Conservatives on this supposedly neutral Forum Thread. How about everyone who is doing it, stop and consider whether whether or not the Left and Right Wing garbage they are posting is appropriate to this thread.

I remember that time better than most. One of my childhood best friends was a Marine Captain who was killed in the truck bombing of the Marine Barracks at the Airport.

You bet! In today’s cultural environment, they would be considered toxic waste sites. In fact, when I was in Norway 48 years ago, our latrines were frames with large plastic bags that had to be collected and disposed of (God bless those dahlin Combat Engineers that had to collect and dispose of the bags). If you were caught peeing on the ground, it was a pretty hefty fine!

Actually, I’ve always considered wire, like mines, to be more of a deterrent to guide or force an attacker into areas or avenues to be used as kill zones for my M60s and M2 60mm mortars.

Do we actually have any confirmation from a Ukrainian source that this a real thing and not just Russian propaganda for their own internal consumption?

Amazing! Just think of it, still using a defensive weapon that was first developed thousands of years ago. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Oh, wow! I guess I’m really out of touch with the power sources of the drones. I had the impression that they were primarily electric propulsion. That would be an extremely weak heat source for the infrared tracker of a sidewinder.

Makes you feel old eh! My regular CM opponent was three or four years old when that movie came out. He’s over 40 now!

LOL, you’re absolutely correct! A couple of minutes after I posted it, I said to myself “who actually burned the Merrimack?” This highlights the danger of a cranky old man hurrying to post before forgetting to hit “Submit Reply!”

Even though I’m not Navy, if I remember correctly, on a modern Navy ship, the missiles are used against other ships and air threats while the “main gun” is usually radar controlled and rapid fire to be used against small, fast, agile boats (can you say Iranian gunboats). I don’t believe we use “shore bombardments” any more. We use air strikes, which are more accurate. Forget about all the movies showing shore bombardments from 70 to 90 years ago.

Sorry my friend, but it was the CSS Virginia that fought the USS Monitor. It can be very confusing to those who haven’t studied the American Civil War (including most Americans) but it is very understandable because of how the battle has been recounted since the day it occurred. The Merrimack was a U.S. Navy ship that was burned by the Confederacy at the start of the war. It burned to the waterline. The Confederates raised the hull of the ship, and rebuilt it from the hull up. They then Commissioned the ship the “CSS Virginia.” To this day, I hear U.S. Historians refer to “the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack,” and they are wrong. your comparison was dead on though!

LOL, 100% agree! This is probably the biggest reason humans fight each other.

You’re absolutely correct LLF! I usually try to ignore such comments, especially when I don’t know whether the poster is “Foreign or DOMESTIC.” Intolerance by anyone simply makes my blood boil as I consider them to be the cause of most of the world’s problems. I apologize.

What do you mean “Even worse …about it?” The day that someone, anyone, “can do something about it” is the day this country ceases to exist as a Republic guided by our Constitution! It is extremely pitiful when someone complains that an opposite point of view, no matter how distasteful it is to another should be forbidden. The oath I swore for over 60 years both in the military and in Federal Government service “To protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign AND DOMESTIC….” Is deeply ingrained in me. The First Amendment protections of free speech and freedom of association doesn’t apply to just you alone, and I will fight to the death to preserve YOUR right to speech and association even when I think you’re a left-wing nut case! Will you guarantee the same to me and others? It sure doesn’t look it from your statement.

Actually, I suspect most of SBurke’s “leaks” are caused by his advanced age, as are most of ours’

You really don’t want to open THAT CAN OF WORMS!

Ummmm, do you know that the U.S.Navy had already broken the Japanese Imperial Navy’s code previously and knew what the Imperial Navy’s operational plan was? The only thing the USN didn’t know was the actual target. They suspected Midway, but didn’t know, only that was coded as KT or something, so they had Midway send a message in the clear that their water processing plant was down. They waited, and intercepted an IN transmission saying that KT was running out of water. That sealed the intelligence, and the rest is history! Kinda similar to the U.S. warning Ukraine of the upcoming attack and additionally letting Putin know that we knew.

MTG couldn’t find her way to her office if she didn’t have a driver!

My knowledge is anecdotal from when I was in an F-4 B Squadron in the Fleet Marine Force, Western Pacific (WESTPAC) in 1970 and 1971. Our pilots had a “club” called the Caterpillar Club. The only way one could become a member was to eject from an aircraft. Every pilot I knew, who was a member, had back issues.