Vet 0369

In a war such as this, the age of the Commanding Officer is irrelevant. Even experience is only slightly more relevant. The most relevant factor is his or her ability to develop tactics to fit the situation. I don’t know what the issues were behind the Sr. Sgt.’s rants, but if one on my subordinates was going to the media behind my back, I’d get rid of that subordinate “for the good of the order” also. I don’t know about other military Services, but in the U.S.M.C., if a Marine Enlisted criticizes an officer within earshot of the Officer, it is a very serious offense. Although it is incomprehensible to me, I can imagine what would happen if the Sgt Major of a Regiment criticized the Regimental Commander in public, even if the Sgt Major had been awarded the Navy/Marine Corps Medal of Honor.

Who wants to bet that Russia deliberately mines the most productive wheat and other agricultural areas to deny their use to Ukraine after the war?

Syrians or Isis?

No matter how secure your comms are, or should I say you THINK they are, they still generate a lot of emissions, and can be used to pinpoint your units, command elements, and locations just from the densities of the emissions. Refer to what I said earlier in reference to sabotaging the NPP.

The experiences I have encountered over my long years, from the middle of the previous century, have taught me that there is no such thing as “not possible.” The problem, for example with making something “idiot proof,” is that idiots are so damn inventive that they are always able to find a way to circumvent the “idiot proofing.” Anything that is designed by humans can be defeated by humans!

Shoigu & Gerasimov?

Hmmm, now might be the optimum time for the “restless” break-away prone Republics to start looking to cause some “trouble.”

The big question is: 1.) are they cheerring for Prig, or 2.) are they cheering because Wagner is leaving?

Well, I figure that’s one UKR RPG gunner who needs to clean out his shorts, if he even survived the concussive an shrapnel effects of the explosion!

That test exercise occurred almost half a century ago with technology that was cutting edge at the time. Hell, the U.S.M.C was still flying F4 Phantoms at the time. The technologies have changed exponentially, and are way different now.. the KA-50 and KA-52 can be and are armed with many different types of air-to-air missiles, countermeasures, etc. Truth be told, rotor craft are much more capable and deadly than many folks would lead you to believe.

Thank you very much for this. I appreciate you digging into it. My reference was to a “simple” resolution. I don’t remember any Joint Resolutions being proposed since the Joint Resolution for an Equal Rights Amendment that failed Ratification by the States due to a time limit imposed for the Ratification. For those who don’t realize the “glacier like” speed at which our government can act, the latest Amendment, the 28th Amendment was proposed by James Madison on Sept. 25, 1789, and, Ratified May 7, 1992. It affected Congressional Pay restrictions. Go figure.

Unfortunately, since “most” U.S. school systems no longer have the Civics classes that were required during my education in the 1950s and 1960s, most people don’t realize that an H. Res or an S. Res mean absolutely nothing. A Resolution (Res) is nothing more than that body, House or Senate expressing an “opinion.” E.g. “We hereby resolve that the sun AND the moon rise in the east!” Only an HR or SR have the capability to become a “Bill,” that when signed by the President becomes an ”Act,” which is a “Law.”

If your High School is in the U.S. that could be an indication of why the voting public is so ignorant of how the U.S. institutions work.

Zelenskyy is a politician, but I’d judge him to be smarter than and more able to avoid putting his foot in his mouth than about 90% of Western politicians and about 99.99% of posters on this forum.

That, is what we refer to as HUMANITY! KUDOS TO THOSE SOLDIERS.

Well, since Steve has requested limiting discussing small arms, this will probably be my last response on it. In the U.S.M.C., the term “max effective range,” was (I think it still is) defined as the ”maximum range at which “any Marine,” which includes low and unqualified Marines, can be expected to “inflict a casualty on the enemy.” I don’t know how the military has defined the max effective, but is it possibly based on manufacturer sales pitch? I actually don’t engage in “inter-service rivalry bias” when discussing TO&E. The Marine Corps and Army have two, completely different missions, and have organized and train differently based on those missions. I recognize that and adjust accordingly.

Three hundred forty meters was the max effective range that I was quoted the first time I qualified with the M16A1 in 1978. We qualified on a range with “known distance” (KD) targets. We qualified with open sights (“short and long range” rear aperture “flip sights,” and that stupid adjustable front post that you had to adjust with the point of a 5.56 round) no one had access to “optics” in those days except snipers, which could explain the difference between the two “max effective” ranges. The only rifle I qualified with from 1969 until that time was the M14, and I must say that I actually qualified with a higher M16 score (High Expert 240 out of a possible 250) than I ever did with an M14.

We had a saying that anyone can hit a target when no one is shooting back. Since my entire service was as a MarineI can’t speak to U.S. Army TO&E, which apparently has a dedicated Marksman in every squad. Every Marine is a Rifleman first and foremost before his or her primary job, including Mechanics, Clerk Typists, Admin Personnel, Pilots, Aircrew, etc, in fact, one of the ratings for a Marine’s promotion is their rifle qualification score. Basically every Marine is a “dedicated Marksman.” I don’t know if it still does, but the U.S.M.C. used to have an MOS for “Scout/Sniper.” Those Marines were usually initially earmarked in Recruit Training as having initially Qualified as “High Expert” on the rifle range. One of the reasons for the U.S. Army adopting the M16 (other than their abject terror of the AK-47) was because it allowed “every” Soldier to be an “Automatic Rifleman” to “spray and pray” in the thick jungle flora. Marines have always had a single Marine in each Fire Team designated as an Automatic Rifleman. That individual was the the only one with an M14 that had selective fire capabilities. Usually, the Point man of every patrol was armed with a shotgun, even if he had to have one mailed from home. The Procurement Branches are primarily concerned with logistics rather than terrain and how effective a weapon is for a number of different environments.

One of the main reasons that was given for adopting the 5.56mm M16 and CAR-4 was that combat was occurring at ranges that were much closer than previous conflicts. The USMC defines “max effective range” of a rifle as the range at which any Marine can be expected to inflict a casualty on the enemy. The M16 has a max effective range of about 340 meters, and if I remember correctly, the M14 (7.62x52mm) that was replaced by the M16 had a max effective of 460 meters. The M1 Garand (30-06) was the same as effective range as the M14. The reason for replacing was because combat was occurring at ranges of 100 to 200m (in addition to being lighter. Every year I was in the Marines, I qualified at 500 yards (460m) with the M14, and That was with open sights (aperture “peep” sights) not optics. If I can see it, I can hit it.

Likely just a body double with AI voice-over because we all know that Putin would never stoop to such defeatist statements.

Ug! “Willy Peter” is really nasty stuff on troops. Get hit with a really small piece of it and it’ll literally burn through you unless you use mud to cut off it’s oxygen supply.

LOL, it seems to be pretty standard in Western militaries. I remember the Squad Leaders and Platoon Sergeants, myself included continually “admonishing” the men to “Spread out! One grenade will get you all!”

Basically, except for raids, patrols, and speciality planned night assaults, the ground war actually does stop at night. Troops are human and have to sleep sometime! Otherwise, they won’t be fit far combat and will start shooting at hallucinations. A typical night for USMC infantry, depending on threat status, would 33%, 50%, or 100% of the grunts awake and on watch for two hour before turning it over to the next watch, except for the 100% watch which anticipates an imminent attack by the enemy.

Welcome aboard! Please don’t feel shy about posting just because you don’t have much in-depth military knowledge, you’ll develop a good base just by reading here. And, some of our most prolific posters have little to no military knowledge, and that doesn’t dissuade them from posting

WHAT? Soddy construction techniques, inferior materials, and poor design! Shut your mouth, this is top shelf Russian design with the best Russian materials! How dare you criticize this monumental Russian achievement. This could never happen. (Sarcasm)