Bearstronaut

"What most people think they are fighting for"  Urban 2 was trying to 1) push back Muslim/Arab encroachment and 2) solidify power in Europe.  These are not high morale or righteous objectives.  God did not will it, we did.  And then used God as cover to get thousands to go die somewhere to try and achieve political -not ideological- aims.  History is rife with this dynamic.  The Church's use of religion to commit genocide is historical fact, but don't dress it up as anything but a political ploy.
Same mechanism is happening in Russia right now.  But instead of "God", insert whatever Putin is selling.

And “raccoon stealing”…let’s not forget that.  As if raccoons have no agency of their own!  
Emptying our raccoon churches and filling them with ambiguously self-identifying marmots…wake up sheeple!

I get that you might be having a bad day but there is so much unwarranted angst in this post: absolutely nobody in “The West” argues that children should have the right to choose their gender.  No-one is emptying our churches (though there are many fewer people heading in) and less than nobody is “emptying churches so they can be turned into mosques”.
Reconsider the merits of whatever media source has told you these things.  You rightly identify that we are in a collision of systems but make no mistake: it is the enemies of our Western system who promote misinformation such as what you posted above in order to foster the very division you warn against.   Seeing through that, being less angry about things that aren’t happening and therefore being a part of a secure Western system is the best way to maintain focus and win. 

Right?!  One of the first videos I saw was a Merkava getting taken out Ukrainian style.  I expect it will be "low intensity/terrorist" handwaving like when we saw when ISIL do the same thing in Iraq.  The military community will likely split up into camps on this whole thing - kinda like we did here.  "It is a fad.  We have heard it before."  "Interesting, but we have counters...please say we have counters." and "Holy Sweet Mother of God! What just happened?"  The people in charge tend to come from the first or second camp.
The evidence is mounting though.  Any professional worth their salt cannot be saying "it will be fine" after watching this war closely. 

Wow that seems a bit unfair. Sorry, not sorry, you aren't getting new toys fast enough.

Late August 1917-early September 1917. After Pilckem Ridge, before Menin Road.

Drones are the essential element of why the war works the way it does. We all know that. An effective technological solution that grounded one side drones would almost certainly result in a huge swing in the battlefield. The big question is does this solution exists, and can one side deploy it at scale faster than the other side can adapt. The other known tech shift that is just hanging out there waiting is much greater AI/autonomy/swarming. Could one side do that scale fast enough to matter.

It seems to me that Ukraine has realized that what the game is and is fighting like it is 1918 and the Russians are still fighting in 1915.

It seems to me that Ukraine has realized that what the game is and is fighting like it is 1918 and the Russians are still fighting in 1915.

The final version of this Battle Pack will consist of the following stuff:
1. Campaign "Partizans Land":  6 missions in a period from May 31st to June 6th 1944 
Player will command Axis Anti-Partizan Forces in a small operation along the railway line Orscha - Lepel.
 
2. Campaign "Into Hell": 8 missions in a period from June 8th to June 23rd 1944
Player will command units of German 252nd Infantry Division during the defensive actions north of Witebsk
 
3. Campaign "Our Father": 7 missions in a period from June 27th to June 29th 1944
Player will command mixed remaining units of German 12th, 31st Infantry Division and Panzergrenadier-Division "Feldhernnhalle" 
during the encirclement of Mogilev.
 
4. Campaign "Five Bridges": 12 missions in a period from June 26th to July 2nd 1944
Player will command units of German 383rd Infantry Division and 20th Panzer Division during the desperate pocket battles
around the city of Bobruisk.
 
5. Campaign "Tiger Trail": 17 missions in a period from July 17th to July 26th 1944
Player will command units of 3rd SS-Panzer Division "Totenkopf" during their counter offensive actions around the 
city of Grodno.
 
6. There will be included 16 Mastermaps
 
 
In summary the Battle Pack will contain 50 single missions from tiny sized to huge. All the campaigns can be called as 
"semi-historical". The player will command units that are as historically accurate as possible. A large number of the maps are 
based on original/historical maps. Much time and effort have been invested to the detailed research of the historical battles.
Some historical participants of the events are introduced with additional information. 
 
The whole Battle Pack is a fan made project of my own without any financial interest. I have created it just for my personal fun.
And now important information for everyone interested:
There will be no option to download this Battle Pack from any website. Because it is an exclusive product, I also chose a special way to order it:
If you want to pre-order the Battle Pack (or order it after the release), you have to pm me here in the forum. Give me your e-mail adress and forum-name and I will register you. As soon as the Battle Pack is released, I will send it to you.
In this way I will keep an overview of how many people will actually order the Battle pack - regarding this, I currently have no idea/expectations of numbers.
 
Estimated date of release is February 1st in the 80th anniversary year of Operation Bagration.
Pre-orders are open now !!!
 
Regards
Mr.X 

@Mr.X is also working on his own CMRT battle-pack of several campaigns. I think he is shooting for a release of before Christmas.

We call them cope cages but if nothing else it still prevents a drone from flying over and dropping a grenade down an open hatch.

We call them cope cages but if nothing else it still prevents a drone from flying over and dropping a grenade down an open hatch.

We call them cope cages but if nothing else it still prevents a drone from flying over and dropping a grenade down an open hatch.

We call them cope cages but if nothing else it still prevents a drone from flying over and dropping a grenade down an open hatch.

That's what I mean. Send everyone through advanced infantry training like the Marines send everyone to SOI after basic. I went to language school, AIT, and then straight to an intel brigade in Korea. I was a NCO by the time I got assigned to a BCT and I could count the number of days I had spent "in the field" after basic on my fingers. Then it was "ok SGT Bearstronaut, you're tactical now so do tactical stuff." 

Having been a combat support soldier I never understood why the US Army didn't do what the USMC does and send every soldier through infantry school after basic training. I can only guess that due to the size of the army it would be cost prohibitive. My job in a maneuver brigade was basically on the FLOT but my dudes and I had few of the same skills as the infantry or cav troopers of the unit we were attached too. I mean sure, we could fire our own rifles well enough and maybe man a M249 in a pinch but that was about it. This led to resentment as the maneuver guys felt like they had to "babysit" us, which they kind of did. 

Having been a combat support soldier I never understood why the US Army didn't do what the USMC does and send every soldier through infantry school after basic training. I can only guess that due to the size of the army it would be cost prohibitive. My job in a maneuver brigade was basically on the FLOT but my dudes and I had few of the same skills as the infantry or cav troopers of the unit we were attached too. I mean sure, we could fire our own rifles well enough and maybe man a M249 in a pinch but that was about it. This led to resentment as the maneuver guys felt like they had to "babysit" us, which they kind of did. 

Having been a combat support soldier I never understood why the US Army didn't do what the USMC does and send every soldier through infantry school after basic training. I can only guess that due to the size of the army it would be cost prohibitive. My job in a maneuver brigade was basically on the FLOT but my dudes and I had few of the same skills as the infantry or cav troopers of the unit we were attached too. I mean sure, we could fire our own rifles well enough and maybe man a M249 in a pinch but that was about it. This led to resentment as the maneuver guys felt like they had to "babysit" us, which they kind of did. 

Having been a combat support soldier I never understood why the US Army didn't do what the USMC does and send every soldier through infantry school after basic training. I can only guess that due to the size of the army it would be cost prohibitive. My job in a maneuver brigade was basically on the FLOT but my dudes and I had few of the same skills as the infantry or cav troopers of the unit we were attached too. I mean sure, we could fire our own rifles well enough and maybe man a M249 in a pinch but that was about it. This led to resentment as the maneuver guys felt like they had to "babysit" us, which they kind of did. 

That's what I mean. Send everyone through advanced infantry training like the Marines send everyone to SOI after basic. I went to language school, AIT, and then straight to an intel brigade in Korea. I was a NCO by the time I got assigned to a BCT and I could count the number of days I had spent "in the field" after basic on my fingers. Then it was "ok SGT Bearstronaut, you're tactical now so do tactical stuff." 

Two mags in nowhere near enough to get out of a pickle.  The standard was the ability to defend yourself for about 20 mins until guns and/or air got into the game.  20 mins of sustained fire, enough to keep their heads down and not advancing on you turned out to be around 8-10 mags per person.  So upwards of 300 rounds.  
Infantry going out on offence carried a lot more. 
Best line I ever heard : “Where is the front line in this damned war? Wherever one of us is standing.”
Outside the wire everyone is infantry…to a point.  If you are not, you are a liability.

Oh goody, that kid showed up.  Russia is “still there” because they dug in behind minefields and won’t leave, hardly the high water mark of military performance.  The UA defeated the initial invasion.  Created conditions for a Russian operational collapse, twice.  And are now working on a third.
Any chance you could be curious somewhere else if the sum total of your contribution is questionable, incited claims and pointing out that Jesus wasn’t really born on 25 Dec?  Asking for a friend.

I am willing to bet half the guys on this forum have, or had clearances.  Let's just all agree to not go there in here.

There are five driving factors in U.S. politics right now. The first is that the balance is is close to even between the parties.  The second is the coalitions are extremely locked in, very few people actually switch sides from election to election. The winner is determined by marginal turnout differential, not anybody switching sides. Third, as The_Capt detailed exquisitely yesterday, being able to pick your own social media effectively becomes the ability to pick your own facts/reality which makes side switching even less likely. Fourth is that less locked in, less motivated voters who matter enormously at the margin just don't pay much attention to politics at all, which makes them unpredictable. Fifth and last is that the recent Supreme court decision to rip open an abortion debate most of the country thought was settled has confounded most of the first four things I just wrote. The many trillion dollar question is by how much?
Obviously i am trying to jam a book into a paragraph here, I hope it is somewhat useful.