General Jack Ripper

IanL,
With nearly 15K posts to my name, I find it patently ridiculous that I, who have contributed mightily to the Forums since January 2000, should have anything but a sterling rep here. Therefore, the factors I have described above would appear to be pertinent. Believe the rep feature is relatively recent, so down votes nowish can undo a great deal of otherwise invisible good rep. That the well is being poisoned is indisputable, for several times I've seen one of the usual suspects jump in to trash me in the eyes of newbies, said trashing being done by characteristically hitting me in ways where I can't defend myself directly. Would love to see the rep feature killed outright.

Regards,
John Kettler

JoMC67,
Regarding my negative post rating, that's because there are some rabid haters here (imagine that) who routinely down vote my posts and have for some time , while most Forumites simply don't rate posts at all. Such are the realities of human nature and busy people focused on CM, not voting. What's being done to savage my rep is a great well-poisoner when newbies notice and ask why. That's when items I'm been asked not to/am not allowed to discuss get trotted out, yet I'm powerless to defend myself. All I can really do is let my CM posts do the talking  for me. 
Regards,
John Kettler

Gentleman,
Krupp stahl insufficient vs murderous Russian die rolls!  Would you believe four sixes (Kills) in six dice rolled in one group firing alone?! Situation further degraded by failure (through ignorance) to voluntarily employ Down, use carried over Down to roll D6 divided by 2 Pin removals and also properly use officer to remove Pins when ordering a Pinned unit to fire. Brother Ed discovered all this later, along with the fact I'd forgotten the Hitler's Buzz Saw German special rule (which I never learned, since Ed has the BA rules and the German book) which adds a D6 to the German MMG, maddeningly referred to in the rules as an HMG. The German MMG thus rolls 6 D6, instead of a D5. Time and again Ed's DPs smashed my LMG and, later, the MMG added, after being wiped out three games running. The Germans, despite a telescopic sight and a NCO with binos, have the same range as other MMGs. Gah! Also galling is that one turn of run will bring men into rifle range vs an MMG. Ridiculous. In all games my men (full standard squad with LT added when reinforced) were in Hard Cover on a ridge, but DPs and, as he closed, massed rifle fire, wrecked even that war effort. I completely stalled his main attack in Game 4 (2 squads with piles of Pins) but couldn't get a decent die roil to save my life to exploit this. My defense collapsed under close assault by his LT and another guy with PPSH41 as well. Killed one thanks to an Ambush order, but lost the all-important turn draw, resulting in the end of all my remaining men. Total force annihilation and an HSU to the valiant and impetuous Russian leytenant! 

It was great to play, doubtless beneficial to my brain from integrating mental work with tactile activities, took pressure off me from brother George who provided my troops and was annoyed they'd seen battle only one outing prior and long ago, but the relentless successive failures were very hard to take. We weren't playing points, just my dug-in squad or squad reinforced with an LT and an MMG vs Ed's 22 man Russian rifle platoon. Lack of fire groups was a big problem, but with the MMG and the LT, I was able to field four. It also occurs to me that we should've looked to see what snow would've done to his movement.
Not beneficial to my brain was a dreadful card game called Crazy Letters. Had you deliberately designed a game to hit my cognitive weak spots, you couldn't have done much better than this. Lots of visual noise, an array of colors, letters not only in various jumbles and orientations, but not necessarily what they looked like--all processed on the fly under acute time pressure from people with lightning quick information processing and the ability to call out the word. Ed swept the field with 20, while I had 0.  Two others played, but nobody was close to Ed's score. Did very well with the now insanely priced decades old Naval War (80 pounds) but lost the next night playing Nuclear War, also very pricey. We used to play the original so much we wore down the damage wheel, but his was a larger format later version with a plastic spinner instead of the steel one sported by the original. There was also some game in which you used clues to figure out the word. Got 1 in that game. 

Won't be entering tournaments any time soon!

Regards,
John Kettler

George MC,
Many thanks for this! Am quite impressed, not to mention amazed the Germans will even allow such a show. Not only do I want to see more, but it has put some stahl in my men for what's to come. Am fighting brother Ed's Russians in a winter Bolt Action engagement. Got ripped to sheds and torched in my first fight, so am looking to visit retribution on Ivan.
Regards,
John Kettler

Recently, I bought the fully digitally remastered "Victory at Sea" classic WW II series for brother Ed and myself from an outfit called PulseTV. They just sent me another ad, this time offering the 50th anniversary edition of the 11 Oscar winning "Ben Hur" (starring Charlton Heston), for next to nothing ($9.91 vs $49.99 list), but there are WW II, Vietnam and other series there, along with all 94 episodes of the western show that made Steve McQueen a star, "Wanted Dead or Alive," in which he toted his "mare's leg," a cutdown  Winchester Model 1892, first introduced in an earlier series. Got to see an exact working replica a few years ago at a gun show. Impressive.
 
I saw the "Ben Hur" named above in a movie theater as a kid, and to those who want a terrific walk down memory lane, or show those of later generations what an Old Hollywood spectacle was like when there was no digital cloning to put thousands on the screen, there is  no finer example. Haver seen but clips from the latest one, and I wasn't at all impressed, for the latest Ben Hur actor was abysmal compared to Charlton Heston. "Ben Hur," war stuff and a great classic western series. Nice start to 2018, right?
Regards,
John Kettler
 

I dunno what you guys are on about...

I dunno what you guys are on about...

You guys are so weird...

You guys are so weird...

CMFI Module, and CMSF2.

Welp, that's two things I'm going to buy instantly.

^ This. Mein gott, there is one in every thread. 

If anyone ever wonders why there aren't more bones, here is the reason. 
No good deed goes unpunished, especially on the internet. 

@akd - I'd forgotten about the extra equipment/quality layer in the newer titles - you are right and I understand the thrust of @SLIM's post now.

I would love to see full H2H support for campaigns. Right now the best you can get is a campaign played hotseat multiplayer. In this day and age, having an actual person within easy distance to play games with seems to be very difficult.

@SLIM It's already on cmmodsiii. Link: http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=2566

Wow! Really impressive that they were able to get the entire Belorussian military in one photo!

I remember you from my subscriber list, or something.
I too, am very much looking forward to the CMFI module, I'm saving it to do my "Ye Olde Grande Tank Lecture" on, given it takes CMFI from 1943 to 1945.

fireship4,
The material you seek is on pages 52-55. There is specific discussion of the Brigades and BTGs. To me, this DIA pub an exceedingly  strange document in terms of organization, emphasis and citations. Let me start with the last. I don't recall ever seeing citations in previous pubs of this sort. While more than odd, this is a boon for researchers who read Russian. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine the mighty ground forces which once made NATO tremble reduced to a mere appendix, not to mention most of the other military services as well. My how things have changed! The principal categories are now strategic nuclear and a vast array of information warfare capabilities. Wow! A quick look at the tabular material on the RUAF indicates a painful lack of QC at the DIA. Was fascinated to learn the most capable fighter was a MiG-29!  
Regards,
John Kettler

Had no idea any such thing existed anymore, but there is a brand new continuation of the Cold War intelligence trove called SOVIET MILITARY POWER when it was first released under Reagan at the direction of SECDEF Casper Weinberg. It's called RUSSIAN MILITARY POWER 2017 and, though I've not read it yet (found it minutes ago), it looks to be very much like its predecessors as a one stop shop on the topic, which now also includes matters such as cyber warfare. Back in my military aerospace days, I'd hear from my colleague who had a CIA sponsor about bitter inter-agency fights over what could and couldn't be used in this extremely useful DIA pub. Rather surreal to have a SECRET/NOFORN/WNINTEL image in a doc in your safe and see the same thing in SMP. Now others are in that same boat! Be advised that there's something wrong with linking here, for while it pulls up the complete doc over on DIA;s end, when Pasted here all that shows is the cover!  That said, there is a working link in the bottom of the DIA press release from June 2017 announcing the subject of this post.
 

Here's another surprise. China now rates its own equivalent publication, as seen in this brief DIA video.
 
Regards,
John Kettler

Not sure how I got there, but I was over on SpecialOperations.com and on a whim decided to see what there was under the Poland listing. The article impressed me, but most of it is the backstory of how the unit came to be. That, as far as I'm concerned, is must reading. The site itself claims it's the definitive source on Special Operations, but from what I can see, it's got a long way to go yet.
http://specialoperations.com/28603/jw-grom/
Regards,
John Kettler

By sheer happenstance on one of the content aggregators I use, I found Army: Behind the New Front Lines. Most impressive. This episode from a series filmed over 18 months shows the British Army in Iraq in a purely defensive and advisory role supporting the Battle of Mosul, training Peshmerga and Iraqi troops alike, protecting key facilities, applying high tech leverage to support Iraqi and Peshmerga combat operations, teaching EOD and learning from their hosts about devices encountered and more. There is a wealth of material (gobs of crisp clean imagery of troops, kit, weapons, buildings, AFVs, soft skins, etc.) here for the modders, and what you'll learn about ISIS VBIEDs may curl your hair. Some of the armor protection looks like it would stop not just .50 BMG API but even SLAP. Speaking of the Ma Deuce, the British have theirs fitted with telescopic sights! VBIEDs, as of the time of the doc, had killed over 2K Iraqi soldiers! US Marines make a short sharp (bad day for ISIS) combat appearance, too. 
The next episode will address the British Army in the new Cold War. Strongly recommend you guys watch this series if you can. Would hang around, but Episode 2 awaits!
Forgot to mention there are some bloody video clips in the first video!
Regards,
John Kettler

Andy,
My first thought when I saw Frame 3 was the nasty thing under Sunny Dale High in Buffy the Vampire Slayer had broken open! On a more serious note, it appears the Iraqis had a good idea (hug the inside edge of the stadium to obtain maximum masking from the high stadium walls) but executed poorly by placing who knows how much ammunition together with no blast berms or revetments separating the stockpile into smaller lots. And when the ammo blew, those self same high stadium walls did a marvelous job of greatly enhancing blast and frag effects relative to open air detonation. Wish these were expandable photos, since much could be learned regarding the particulars of what was there. The Guinness World Record people need to be summoned forthwith to document the Most Devastation Ever Caused by a Tiny Aerial Bomb. This sort of thing is the nightmare scenario for Homeland and doubtless many others. This is the punch line for the WE NEED DRONE COUNTERMEASURES--NOW! Power Point presentation. 
Regards,
John Kettler

ISIS look to have got very lucky with a drone attack in Deir ez Zor:





Taken directly from the Syria thread at SH, here:  http://sturgeonshouse.ipbhost.com/topic/786-syrian-conflict/?page=461

Turn about is fair play, right?  Like the short article's last few lines. "Drones dropping warheads on foreheads." The link works, but it would've been far more elegant to have the video displayed directly.
854x480.mp4
Regards,
John Kettler
 

Here's some additional information, and Russia not only had warships present on both coasts (six ships each), but they stayed for some seven months!  
https://www.rbth.com/politics_and_society/2017/08/16/what-role-did-russia-play-in-the-us-civil-war_823252
 
Six ships on each coast may not seem like much, but they constituted a powerful diplomatic signal and very much increased the stakes should anyone try to negatively intervene. Also, this was a powerful aid to the long overstretched Union Navy. Back then, sending a squadron was a serious expression of national concern and resolve, roughly akin to when the US sends a carrier strike group somewhere today.
We weren't taught this in school, but California was strategic for the Union and would've been a great prize for the Confederacy had it fallen. It was gold from California which was helping to power the Union war economy, California whose volunteer home guard allowed regulars to be sent East to the Union Army, California whose many forts acted as bases to hold the Confederates in check as far as New Mexico, etc.

https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/california-in-civil-war.htm
The state recruited volunteer soldiers so that regular soldiers could leave the western territories for the battlefields of the East. From California, the U.S Army maintained and built many forts along frontier trails, suppressed Confederate activity and secured the New Mexico Territory against the Confederate forces. Although California did not send organized regiments east, so many California citizens joined the Union Army that the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was known as the California Regiment.
The above matters were but part of a vastly more complex and sinister set of military and diplomatic moves being taken or planned against our young and sundered country. The below in-depth and lengthy article on the financial, military and diplomatic aspects of the main topic is profound and meaty beyond words, but there are a few things referenced in it  to which some would abreact on sight. Therefore, I've chosen to provide the title only and no link. The site is is called Hwaairfan's Blog. There are numerous direct quotes from the participants at the time.
"American Civil War: When Russia Blocked British-led Intervention against the Union" Here's a sample of what awaits. Italics mine.

Already by the Civil War’s summer 1862 campaigns, every knowledgeable leading political figure in Europe and the United States was drawing the conclusion that foreign intervention in the American Civil War in support of the Confederacy would be taken as a casus belli by Russia.
The autumn of 1862 was extremely critical for the Union. England and France were on the verge of military intervention on the side of the Confederacy. On the Union side, everyone was girding for an Anglo-French invasion, an invasion which could include British allies Spain and Austria as well. Anglo-French pressure on Russia to abandon its pro-Union stance was stepped up to fever pitch. The Union’s salvation depended on Russia.
Lincoln, in this darkest hour of his administration, sent an urgent personal letter to Russian Foreign Minister Gorchakov for delivery to the Czar. Lincoln believed correctly that France had already decided to intervene and was only awaiting a go-ahead from England. Lincoln was under no illusions that if the Union was to be saved, it would be saved by Russia. And Russia came through.
We quote here in full Foreign Minister Gorchakov’s reply to the President, drafted in the name of Czar Alexander II. It is one of the most critical documents in American and world history:
All in all, I'm getting quite the education on a subject of which I knew nothing going in.
Regards,
John Kettler