Vet 0369

How about we look at it on a contractual basis. Each member of NATO agreed to use a specific percentage of their budget (I don’t remember if it was GDP, Defense, or something else), and a number of NATO members reneged on that contractural agreement for decades. Now be it known that I wouldn’t vote for Trump if he was running for Dogcatcher against Putin or Xi, but I supported his effort against supposed allies which failed to carry their fair share of the load, whether they purchased their arms from the U.S. USSR/Russia, India, China, or South Africa, and whether they maintained their fighting forces from their own populations, or with Mercenaries from Sudan. The bottom line is that those NATO members who did not follow through with the obligations to which they had committed, violated the Accord and broke their contract. They deserved to be threatened by Trump.

How about we look at it on a contractual basis. Each member of NATO agreed to use a specific percentage of their budget (I don’t remember if it was GDP, Defense, or something else), and a number of NATO members reneged on that contractural agreement for decades. Now be it known that I wouldn’t vote for Trump if he was running for Dogcatcher against Putin or Xi, but I supported his effort against supposed allies which failed to carry their fair share of the load, whether they purchased their arms from the U.S. USSR/Russia, India, China, or South Africa, and whether they maintained their fighting forces from their own populations, or with Mercenaries from Sudan. The bottom line is that those NATO members who did not follow through with the obligations to which they had committed, violated the Accord and broke their contract. They deserved to be threatened by Trump.

How about we look at it on a contractual basis. Each member of NATO agreed to use a specific percentage of their budget (I don’t remember if it was GDP, Defense, or something else), and a number of NATO members reneged on that contractural agreement for decades. Now be it known that I wouldn’t vote for Trump if he was running for Dogcatcher against Putin or Xi, but I supported his effort against supposed allies which failed to carry their fair share of the load, whether they purchased their arms from the U.S. USSR/Russia, India, China, or South Africa, and whether they maintained their fighting forces from their own populations, or with Mercenaries from Sudan. The bottom line is that those NATO members who did not follow through with the obligations to which they had committed, violated the Accord and broke their contract. They deserved to be threatened by Trump.

His mind. He is doing mental exercises!

As a Citizen of the U.S., and one who has worked in the Military/Industrial field and the Private (non Military/Industrial fields, including more than 20-years in Government Service (USMC, USMCR, and FAA), I must agree with LLF’s assessment of the Executive and Legislative Branches of the U.S. Government. I don’t view his statements as “U.S. bashing.”

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

With so many comments and reply’s regarding the illegal immigration issues, as far as I’m concerned, I think the angst her is directed primarily to “illegal immigrants”, not the legal ones.
That said, perhaps you all need to put a cork in it and stop distracting the rest of us from the main purpose of this forum, which is to discuss the illegal war of Russia in Ukraine.

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Speaking as one who lived through the “Red Scare” BS of “Tail Gunner Joe,” and not the history books, the opinions of many that he was right, doesn’t matter. His actions were absolutely wrong, and unconstitutional! The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution affirms not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom of association. It completely disgusts me when politicians (who swear an oath to “defend the Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic), media, and individuals, decide the Constitution applies only to them and their beliefs and positions. The Constitution, and every Amendment to the Constitution must be treated as a whole and applies to everyone EQUALLY whether or not you like what it says, and every part of the Constitution MUST be afforded equal weight, no matter whether you like it or not!
 
I might not like what might result from the conforming to the constitutional requirements, but I must respect them!

Gaia theory.

I don’t believe that the U.S. Military identifies any specific part of an aircraft as the “serial number,” unlike the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). To the best of my 50+ year-old memory, at least for Naval Aviation aircraft, each individual critical component that required tracking had a serial number (SN) which was then tracked on the Bureau Number (BuNum) of an aircraft. That way, we could cannibalize parts from one aircraft , and install it on another aircraft where that SN would then be tracked on that new BuNum. So the BuNum was actually more of a production number than an actual aircraft. The FAA ties the aircraft SN to the data plate that is (usually) riveted to the airframe. One can actually recover a data plate from an aircraft that has crashed and melted into a puddle of aluminum, except the data plate, and physically “rebuild” that aircraft around that data plate as long as one follows all the applicable FAA regulations.

It can be quite amazing how many sources an adversary can exploit for intelligence gathering. Future U.S.President John F. Kennedy was almost cashiered by the U.S. Navy during WW II because he was having an assail with a known German agent. Every young service member is reminded that “loose lips sink ships,” but most don’t realize that some of the most dangerous are “service employees” such as waiters, cleaning services, (previously elevator operators), etc. because we tend to discount their presence, and they are invisible to us. When I was stationed at MCAS Iwakuni in Japan, we’d sometimes go to Kintai Castle, about 10 kilometers from the base, and home to the only original five-span bridge left in Japan. We’d clime to the top of the Castle, which was on top of a “mountain,” to an observation deck. You could put a one yen piece into a telescope and zoom in to see the entire base, including the flight line. One day, a Staff Sgt. in our Squadron S2 (intelligence) happened to zoom in on one of our F-4Js (a fighter bomber that was so new and advanced in 1970 that the Navy didn’t allow any to be deployed into Vietnam, while the Avionics Marines had the Radome open to work on the radar, and he could see many of the Secret components of the radar. As soon as he got back to the Squadron, the C.O. ordered that tents be used to hide the radar if the radome had to be opened on the flight line. Bottom line is that hundreds, if not thousands of Marines over the years used those same observation telescopes to look at the base over the years, but never put two and two together.
Most intelligence isn’t gathered in one fell swoop, but by piecing together a picture from a multitude of unrelated sources. @TheCp’t and @LongLeftFlank both have different ways of forming their “intentions assessments,” but both work, so there shouldn’t be any “comments from the peanut gallery” about how effective either are.

It can be quite amazing how many sources an adversary can exploit for intelligence gathering. Future U.S.President John F. Kennedy was almost cashiered by the U.S. Navy during WW II because he was having an assail with a known German agent. Every young service member is reminded that “loose lips sink ships,” but most don’t realize that some of the most dangerous are “service employees” such as waiters, cleaning services, (previously elevator operators), etc. because we tend to discount their presence, and they are invisible to us. When I was stationed at MCAS Iwakuni in Japan, we’d sometimes go to Kintai Castle, about 10 kilometers from the base, and home to the only original five-span bridge left in Japan. We’d clime to the top of the Castle, which was on top of a “mountain,” to an observation deck. You could put a one yen piece into a telescope and zoom in to see the entire base, including the flight line. One day, a Staff Sgt. in our Squadron S2 (intelligence) happened to zoom in on one of our F-4Js (a fighter bomber that was so new and advanced in 1970 that the Navy didn’t allow any to be deployed into Vietnam, while the Avionics Marines had the Radome open to work on the radar, and he could see many of the Secret components of the radar. As soon as he got back to the Squadron, the C.O. ordered that tents be used to hide the radar if the radome had to be opened on the flight line. Bottom line is that hundreds, if not thousands of Marines over the years used those same observation telescopes to look at the base over the years, but never put two and two together.
Most intelligence isn’t gathered in one fell swoop, but by piecing together a picture from a multitude of unrelated sources. @TheCp’t and @LongLeftFlank both have different ways of forming their “intentions assessments,” but both work, so there shouldn’t be any “comments from the peanut gallery” about how effective either are.

Never say never! Only the good die young, so you might still be around in 2055!

Never say never! Only the good die young, so you might still be around in 2055!

Makes sense. Aircraft turbine engines must be replaced at specific numbers of operating hours, for example 1,500 flight hours (just an example as it’s been more than 30 years since I built-up helicopter turbine engines). It takes around 100 work hours just to assemble the components. That doesn’t include building the components such as an axial compressor. Let’s say the compressor is a seven-stage compressor, each stage must be assembled with blades, seals, , etc. individually, then assembled together. From there, it has to be spin-tested to balance it. Then, it goes down the line to have bearings and bearing races (and sometimes other components). Then the engine engine has to be assembled and tested before being “canned” and shipped.
To give you an idea of how long a helicopter engine might last during a conflict, I was assembling helicopter engines in January of 1991 when the first Iraq war began. In February, we were starting to see engine that had been replaced because there was glass on the gas generator blades that provided power to the rotors.