Vet 0369

Based on another major news feed that I read earlier this evening, I believe that it was undeniably intentional. The report said it evolved over about 30 minutes of “buzzing,” and even included the fighters dumping fuel to coat the drone and set it on fire with their engines.

Gee, you think? I guess that happens when you use them for assault infantry.

No, “Russia” was never one of the “two super powers,” the Soviet Union was. Saying that Russia was is like saying that Texas or Hawaii was one of the “two super powers.” Russia also tends to “forget” that the two strongest leaders, Stalin and Khrushchev weren’t even “ethnic Russians,” they were Georgian and Ukrainian respectively.

Ho Chi Minh was pretty much universally loved by the people of North VietNam because he freed them from the French colonialism. I don’t have a doubt that he was “freely” elected by the people of the North. On the other hand, Ngo Dinh Diệm soon consolidated power in South Vietnam, aided by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu. After the rigged 1955 State of Vietnam referendum, he proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Vietnam, with himself as president. His government was supported by other anti-communist countries, most notably the United States. If you are going to assert that the first elections in North VietNam were not free, then you need to provide evidence that is stronger than an assertion of “I very much doubt if any elections under a Communist regime were ever free. That would be the first time.” Please provide verifiable information to support your assertion. Most people don’t know it, but Ho knew very well what life and freedoms were like in the U.S. because he lived in the U.S. for many years before WWII. He even worked as a pastry chef at the Parker House in Boston, MA. Why wouldn’t he look to a different form of government after the “Democracy” he knew refused to support him in his bid to free his country from France?

No, the real “mistake” was made years before that when Ho Chi Minh met with FDR during WWII and asked for arms to drive the Japanese out of Occupied French Indochina. As I understand it, FDR had him given five Colt 1911A1 .45 caliber pistols because he knew any arms he sent to Ho would be used to drive out “our buddies” the French after the war. It was at that time that Ho turned to Stalin. The people of Indochina had, just 100 years earlier, driven out the Chinese after being occupied by them for 500 years. Talk about “those who fail to learn from history is doomed to repeat it.” In my humble opinion, the U.S./VietNam war resulted from the U.S. wanting to help France retain it’s colony, and a corrupt South VietNam Government refusing to comply with the negotiated agreement to hold free elections in both countries. The North did, and the South refused. Side Note: The USA was the first Country to recognize the Sovereignty of North VietNam.when they were partitioned.

Welcome back! We have sorely missed you!

I sincerely hope that the Ukrainians are performing complete, in-depth inspections of each and every one to make sure there are no “surprises” on firing them.

For all those who don’t know what the original U.S. term “drinking the koolaid” means, it is in reference to followers of a Cult Leader obeying the Leader’s requests no matter the consequences. It was coined in the last century when a Cult Leader named Jim Jones convinced his followers in Jonestown to commit suicide by drinking poison in the sweet drink known as Koolaid or Kool-aid (I don’t remember the correct name). If I remember correctly, about 300 followers died.

LOL, “Forty something’s” to me are just out of puberty!

Nope, you mistake it for a shipment into Ukraine. It is actually a train load of looted Ukrainian tractors heading into Russia!

LOL, at my age, I don’t doubt that I’m “a bit dated.” However, the only reference I could find to a “Mission” statement for the USMC, was a USMC training publication that referenced the National Security Act of 1947 that was signed by President Truman. There were only two references to National Security Act Amendments of 1952 and 1954 that defined the USMC place in the military chain of command, and set the size of the USMC to the Department of the Navy and to a strength of 400,000 “active” Marine’s in three Infantry Divisions and three Air Wings (there were six Marine Infantry Divisions during WWII, my Father was in the 5th Spearhead Division). I have not been able to find anything that actually changed the mission of the USMC. The Commandant’s “Vision Statement” is not a “Mission Statement” in my opinion. It is simply a statement of how the Commandant intends to “carry out” the Mission, exactly the same as the “Vision Statement” of a the CEO of any company. Making “Vision Statements” began as the rage in U.S. Government agencies while I was working in the FAA, and all of the Managers and above were required to provide an “acceptable Vision Statement.” I am more than happy to concede my assertion of the USMC mission if someone can produce an Amendment to the National Security Act that specified it as “Law” in that Act.

Now that’s just crazy talk! The USMC has four Divisions, three Active and one Reserve. The mission of the Marine Corps is “To seize and secure advanced Naval bases….) You are advocating using one-third of the Marines in the same mission of the Army? That has been the same ridiculous mistake that the DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff have been making since the Korean War. Marines are not Army! The Commandant of The Marine Corps (who now finally has a seat on the Joint Chiefs) has already aligned the TO&E of the Marine Corps to fight what the Marine has identified as the most likely next combat area of operation for them, the South China Sea. That is why they gave divested of their Armor and long-range artillery, and formed an additional Infantry Battalion. if the intent is to fight a fixed, land battle, then they should use a Division of the U.S. Army, which is actually the mission of the Army, not The Marine Corps.

I on the other hand place the blame on the legislators in the Congress and the Senate who lack the integrity to refuse the “gifts” of the Lobbyists who are attempting to gain through bribes. The Lobbyist’s “gifts” (dinners, lunches, vacations, trips, etc., are simply bribes. Employees of the Executive Branch are “forbidden from accepting any “gift” that has a value of more than $20.00 USD. The question is, Why doesn’t the Legislative Branch have the same prohibition? Because it is the same people who take those bribes who write and pass the laws that would stop them from taking the bribes!

Come to New Hampshire, the true Libertarian Paradise!

This! I saw a definition of hero one time that went something like “A man might be a hero when he has dry socks, is warm, and well-fed, but a coward when he has wet socks, is cold, and hungry!” In other words, basically everyone can be a hero or a coward depending on their condition.

February 24 is next Thursday. Perhaps they are planning to present Putin with an “Anniversary” present?

So Russia has only about 50 some percent of the U.S. population of about 310,000,000? Of course as a 2022 estimate, it would now be somewhere nearer to 142,000,000.

I probably should have used the term “of the Russian Federation” instead of Russia. I seriously doubt that the entire population from Europe to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic to the Black Sea is only 25% rural.

I’m beginning to think that the troubles the Russian population will face will, overall, be handled the same way that rural residents in the U.S. handled the problems and effects of the “Great Depression.” Interviews or Most farmers, ranchers, etc, many stated that didn’t even realize they were in an economic depression. They simply continued to grow and breed their provisions, and eke out their “hard scrabble” lives as they always had. The Depression mainly affected the urban populations because they had trouble paying their loans and mortgages, and getting food. The vast majority of the Russian people are rural, and already know how to produce and barter for food, shelter, and everything they need to survive. I seriously doubt the sanctions are given more than a passing thought by them. The ones affected are primarily the urban residents who are mostly unable to do that.

And, as a “full Colonel.” significantly outranks “The_Capt.”

I get the feeling that there is a public misperception of how combat casualties are treated and when. Disclaimer, it’s been almost 50 years since I was in the USMC infantry, but unless things have changed, what you see in the movies (mainly for visual dramatic support) and in the mass media, of IV bags, bandages, and other first aid debris, are the “aftermath” of the fight. “Standard Operating Procedure” in the USMC was that during an assault, no one stopped to give aid to the wounded! You assaulted through the enemy position, consolidated the captured position and reformed your lines to repel a counterattack, and redistributed ammunition and if necessary, weapons. Only after that would you send volunteers back to recover the fallen. If you were lucky enough to have a Corpsman or two with your platoon, they would begin stabilizing the fallen during the consolidation phase. For what it’s worth, the “typical” structure for a Marine Platoon assault would be in threes, an assault element, (typically a squad of 12 Riflemen and the Squad leader), a base of fire that would hopefully include support weapons such as an M2 60mm mortar section (three tubes with four man teams, one team for each tube), an M-60 machine gun squad (two gun teams of four Marines each), and one squad of Riflemen in reserve. The Platoon Commander and Corpsman would “typically” be with the Reserve or the base of fire with the Platoon Sgt. Leading the assault. That was the SOP from 40 plus years ago, and I doubt if it has changed significantly. As I said previously, that was the “typical assault formation.”

Ah, this observation brings back very fond memories in the USMCR of when I was the Section Leader of a 60mm mortar section that was attached to a Reinforced Rifle Platoon in the mid to late 1970s. Our mortar teems were so good that the gunners were capable of just jamming the ball on the bottom of the tube into the ground during a “hasty” fire, and then firing and adjusting the rounds by “Kentucky windage. “They were however highly-trained Marines. We never understood why the Army looked down on “60s” with distain. They are perfect for rapid support of aggressive, fast-moving Infantry. Being embedded with the Rifle Platoon, although we were subordinate to the Company Weapons Platoon, the Rifle Platoon Commander could get permission to use os as a base of fire during an assault. That functionality is priceless to the “Grunts.”

How can you tell wen politicians are lying? Their lips are moving. The term “politics” is from two words, Poly, which is derived from a Greek word that means “many,” and ticks, which are “blood-sucking insects.”

If I’m not mistaken, there is only one “private” Regiment left in Scotland, it is based at Atholl Castle. It was authorized by Queen Victoria. I saw it on a show called “Great Railroads of Scotland” or something close to that.

Classic combined arms tactics! My long-time gaming opponent learned about this the hard way from me when he was playing the Soviets against my Germans while playing “The Library” scenario in Stalingrad, way back in CMBB CMX1. He hasn’t duplicated his error again since then.