Vet 0369

In the U.S., a Major is the Executive of a Battalion.

Not completely accurate. FDR invented “Lend-Lease,” and Congress enacted the Lend-Lease Act to help both Britain and the Soviet Union (after Germany began Barbarossa) quite a while before Pearl Harbor. Both used many U.S. vehicles and aircraft. Probably not as much as they wanted, but they still got a lot.

This might be the main reason for UKR’S probing attacks. If you can find a way to threaten the flanks and force the enemy to withdraw to consolidate its flanks, then you can breach the mine fields at your relative leisure. I suspect that at some point we will see a process of clearing the AP mines using the “splody fired” methods followed up by infantry on foot to clear away any antitank or AFV munitions, then plows to remove the lion’s share of anti vehicular mines. I suspect we’ll see at some point we’ll see a coordinated

Well, everyone should be watching and taking care of their privates.

The fact that the vehicles are still in column suggests to me that the engines of each one is toast. If my engine was still operable, I suspect someone would have taken the place of any dead or wounded drivers and driven away, even with the flat tires.

Ok, I think this is a a pretty common misconception. Yes, there was a smaller chance that Guardsmen both Army National Guard (ANG) and Air National Guard being activated and sent to Vietnam, it wasn’t a sure thing. The Air National Guard actually mobilized 11 units on January 25, 1968, a week before the Tet Offensive. Three more ANG units were mobilized on May 13. ANG units deployed to Vietnam and South Korea. Also on May 13, 34 Army National Guard units were mobilized, with many of their 12,234 members levied to active-duty units. Eight Army Guard units deployed intact to Vietnam, with the first arriving in August of 1968. That was just a few of the deployments. There were other, less sure ways to avoid being sent to Vietnam, but it came down to being in the “right place at the right time.” Personal example; in 1969, I enlisted just before High School graduation, in the Marine Corps for four years (with an Aviation Guaranty as I had passed the entry tests with a high enough score) so I wouldn’t be drafted into the Army Infantry for two years which would have guaranteed being sent to Vietnam. In Recruit Training at Paris Island, S.C., my general college test scores were high enough to qualify for Aviation and for Marine Officer Candidate School. When I was offered OCS (without aviation) and a two-year extension of active duty (six years), I weighted my options and remained enlisted because I felt sure that I would graduate as a Second Lt. Rifle Platoon Leader and be sent straight to Vietnam, do not pass go, do not collect $200. When I was sent to Fleet Marine Corps, Western Pacific, I received orders in Okinawa. We were in a long line to receive orders and the orders were Chu Lai for about five sets, but mine were for Iwakuni , Japan. Our Phantoms were F-4 J models that were too new to be allowed to deploy to a war zone, so we never were. I simply lucked out on that one even though I tried to transfer to Chu Lai, but didn’t succeed because they stopped split tours. I personally take exception to the concept that joining an “alternative” Service of any type was done simply to avoid being sent to Vietnam. Anyone could join the Guard if they tested high enough. So the politicians who spouted the “he joined the Guard to avoid Vietnam” were just spouting BS. For what it’s worth, I actually researched the history of the region, and our involvement there, and will completely agree that the whole thing was a complete travesty and lie fostered by our top politicians. Sorry for the wall of text Steve, but those types of “observations” tend to infuriate me.

It all depends on the velocity and mass of the fragment when it hits that cast iron block. Cast iron is not particularly resistant to penetration, especially small fragments of a very dense metal that is traveling at a very high velocity after being ejected by the explosive power of a HIMARS. I remember when I used a cast iron fry pan for target practice, set on edge at 100 yards using a 30-06 1956 Czech Mauser K95. I put eight rounds of 30-06 “silver tip” hunting rounds (not even full jacketed) completely through it without knocking it over. Don’t judge by size, judge by impact energy, and cast iron isn’t very resistant to impact energy.

Yes, of course they were.! Everyone knows that the best defensive is a good offense!

And Pres. Z is going to immediately induct all of the ones who haven’t served into the Army so they can serve Ukraine while earning a soldier’s pay. I like that idea!

All humans whether we want to admit it to others, or even to ourselves are tribal, and will ultimately identify and align with others of our “tribe” as defined by our shared values, morality, shared heritage, and goals.

One thing that I think many on this Forum don’t realize is that talk is cheap, especially from “chicken hawks” as many of us here who HAVE served tend to call those who talk a tough fight, but have never been put in a position to have to back up their words with actions. The most honest answer when asked what one would do in a situation is, I’ve never been exposed to that situation so I honestly don’t know what I would, only what I would hope to do. Even a person who has been in a situation never knows, but can only hope to handle it as before. This is because one might be a hero when dry, warm, well-fed, and have dry feet, but be a coward when wet, cold, hungry, and be standing in mud up to their ankles. we all think we can be a Rambo or a Florence Nightingale, but never know if we can until AFTER the situation is over! And the whole subject is WAY OFF TOPIC in this thread.

Much of the value of the data from polls is directly related to the exact what and how the questions are written/asked. They can be manipulated in many different ways to elicit the answers the pollsters want for their points.

“In the Beginning,” the Continental Army was basically created when Washington took command of the Massachusetts Militia on June 14, 1775, after the fiasco of Breed’s Hill (misnamed Bunker Hill). At that time, the Militia had enough powder and ball to fight a 3-minute fixed battle with the Regulars in Boston. the Continental Marines were created on November 10, 1775, were modeled on the Royal Marines, and created as “Soldiers of the Sea” primarily to act as snipers in the rigging, to provide defense for landing parties, and to prevent mutiny on the ship. The Continental Army at Boston didn’t get any additional ammunition until the Continental Marines took the fort on New Providence Island in January 1776. During, and after the Civil War, in addition to sniping and landing party work, manned the ship guns which created the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. After the positive publicity on the performance of Marines in WWI, and particularly their Pacific successes in WWII, the Army actively began politicking to combine the Marine Corps into Army to get a larger share to the reduced funding. At the same time, the newly spun off U.S. Air Force tried to get the U.S.Navy aircraft carrier program cancelled by claiming that their strategic bombers with the Atomic Bomb made the carriers obsolete. It almost happened, but than God it didn’t because when North Korea invaded and rolled up the U.S and South Korean Armies all the way down to Pusan due to TO&E blunders and outdated thinking by the U.S.Army brass, the only thing that prevented collapse of the Pusan Perimeter was the Navy’s ability to deliver supplies, equipment, and most importantly, the U.S. Marine Rapid Deployment Force AND the Navy and Marine Close Combat air support that they had honed to a Razor’s edge during WWII. Even after the debacle of the Korean Conflict, the Army and Air Force continually try to cut the funding, and absorb the Marine Corps into the Army. All four services serve uniquely different functions and missions, but the antics of the Army brass and former Army Air Corps have done nothing but create dissension and trouble for more than a Century. End of rant.

Thank you very much for this YouTube vid! Very enlightening. I particularly liked the assessment that folks who complain the counteroffensive is moving too slowly are idiots. Also, right near the end, the Marine’s answer to the “funniest” thing they’ve encountered during their training classes when he recounted how one of the three of them who spoke English went right instead of left, and said the easiest thing for that person to do was to learn Ukrainian for “Left.” Just like our previous thread on the languages. Fortunately, both are diplomatic enough to not reveal how annoyed they might be to be referred to as “Soldiers!”

LOL, here in the U.S. we have many towns and cities all over the country that have identical names of others in other States and even in the same state (much more rare). To compound the confusion, we have any that are also in other countries, especially in the Northeastern “New England” region and in the Midwest which have a high proportion of Northern and Eastern European immigrants. Why, in Maine, we even have one of Steve’s favorite names, Moscow.

It’s a matter of scale. Marines, both U.S. and UK, don’t generally conduct “large-scale invasion” types of operations. They generally conduct small-scale raid style operations due to the size Corps. Granted. Since WW II, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, have used the USMC incorrectly as the same as Army Infantry in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.so many who knew only those conflicts have a distorted idea of how Marines in general are used. They have always been associated with landings to secure beachheads for the Army Infantry or in raids to force the enemy to redeploy its own forces. If the Royal or U.S. Marines were training UKR Army infantry (I didn’t read the post, so don’t know who was being trained) then I would begin to suspect an Amphibious assault on Crimea.

Ah ha! I just determined the cause of all those “careless smoking incidents.” The “NO SMOKING”signs are in English, not Russian!

Question: How can you tell an extroverted Engineer from an introverted Engineer? Answer: An extroverted Engineer stares at “your” shoes when talking to you!

LOL! We share that dislike of lobster. After my sister and I had polio in 1955, our Father worked two jobs just to pay the medical bills. He also had a small boat and some lobster pots, so we ate lobster all the time. My Mother told me that one time I came home from elementary school and asked “why do I have to have lobster sandwiches all the time, why can’t I have peanut butter and jelly like the the other kids?” I will eat it, but only if I’m a guest and someone serves it to me. Massachusetts actually had a law that prisoners and servants couldn’t be fed lobsters more than a certain number of times per week!

I must take exception to most of this. It just isn’t true except in an extremely small number of circumstances. Most of the issues with replacements isn’t that they are not trained or inexperienced, but that most units train as a unit and are very familiar with how each operates. Replacements are new members of the unit, and as such are “unknowns.” It is a matter of “trust.” The reason the WW2 “vets” appeared to “shun” replacements is much more related to the the causality rate of the replacements themselves. Almost no one wanted to “get to know” or “befriend” a replacement who was likely to become a major casualty in the next fight and be gone. After surviving the first fight, the replacement had shown that he had either the “luck” or “skill” to survive and was accepted.

Because he’s South African?

This attitude is not surprising at all, and has probably occurred for millennia. My Father. Who was also a Marine told me that when the MarineCorps 5th Division was formed, and Veterans from the battle for Guadalcanal were transferred in as a core group, most of them would find ways to get out of training for the “next” operation because they were already highly experienced at jungle war fair. Unfortunately for them, the training was for a relatively barren island named Iwo Jima! Many died because of the skipped training since it wasn’t the jungle fight they knew. s.

LOL, actually, the typical Norwegian can speak English better than most native speakers. Fun fact, Norway and Japan require English language classes from the first grade to secondary school for all students. All Airline Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers are required to use English to communicate. France once tried to require pilots in French airspace to use French instead of English. The International Aviation Community put a stop to that attempt real fast!

It could also be infrared sensors on the drone picking up the hot exhaust from the stacks.

I don’t “know” if the U.S. military still does this, but I suspect they do. When my Marine infantry Battalion was sent to Norway for two weeks as part of NATO Operation Teamwork in 1976 or 1977, we were given booklets with simpler Norwegian phrases so we could communicate on a basic level.