How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?

[Lethaface]

4 minutes ago, Zeleban said:

Be that as it may, I can say that times have changed. compared to last year. I had a development project. But because of the war, I decided that civilian projects would not benefit my country and decided to join the Ukrainian armed forces. Moreover, recently chronic diseases are not considered an obstacle to recruitment

May 'the force' be with you! 

[Zeleban]

3 minutes ago, Lethaface said:

Да пребудет с тобой сила! 

 

Yes, but at the moment I am guided by the 0.7 liters of Madeira I drank. Rain outside the window, live concert of Depeche Mode 1993. And the lack of obvious successes of the Ukrainian armed forces. 

Many of my childhood friends are afraid of this call. But I think. that this is the duty of everyone who lived carefree in the 90s

[Lethaface]

11 minutes ago, Zeleban said:

I can say that I am not afraid of death or injury, but of the stupidity of my command, or of my future colleagues

The stupidity of mankind knows no borders. But in itself that doesn't matter wherever or whatever your 'work' is. Dying for ones country in an ethically just war for survival is as good as it gets when it comes to 'dying' imho. It certainly beats many other causes of death, never mind how easy it is to say that from my position in a country not in (an existential) war. For what it is worth I have utmost respect for your decision.

[Battlefront.com]

17 minutes ago, Zeleban said:

Be that as it may, I can say that times have changed. compared to last year. I had a development project. But because of the war, I decided that civilian projects would not benefit my country and decided to join the Ukrainian armed forces. Moreover, recently chronic diseases are not considered an obstacle to recruitment

So happy to hear from you!  It's been a while.

You should be able to sit at home listening to Depeche Mode without being bombed, but sadly this is not the case.  You have my respect for volunteering to do your part putting things right again.

How does signing up work in Ukraine at the moment?  In most (all?) Western countries during peacetime there is flexibility in what specialty you are assigned to.  At least there is supposed to be   Is that the case for you or will they simply assign you to whatever posting they wish to?

Steve

[Lethaface]

2 minutes ago, Zeleban said:

 

Yes, but at the moment I am guided by the 0.7 liters of Madeira I drank. Rain outside the window, live concert of Depeche Mode 1993. And the lack of obvious successes of the Ukrainian armed forces. 

Many of my childhood friends are afraid of this call. But I think. that this is the duty of everyone who lived carefree in the 90s

Not necessarily a bad guidance in certain moments

здоров'я!

[Zeleban]

7 минут назад, Летафэйс сказал:

Глупость человечества не знает границ. Но само по себе не имеет значения, где и какова ваша «работа». Умереть за свою страну в этически справедливой войне за выживание — это настолько хорошо, насколько это возможно, когда дело доходит до «смерти», по моему мнению. Это, несомненно, превосходит многие другие причины смерти, даже не говоря о том, как легко сказать это с моей позицией в стране, которая не находится в (экзистенциальной) войне. Как бы то ни было, я испытываю огромное уважение к вашему решению.

 

There is nothing supernatural in my decision. I look at the people around me and come to the decision that nothing connects me with them. They are still trying to hold on to the realities of 2022. And so it is with most of my friends - they live the year before last

Edited October 26, 2023 by Zeleban

[Lethaface]

1 minute ago, Zeleban said:

 

 

There is nothing supernatural in my decision. I look at the people around me and come to the decision that nothing connects me with them. They are still trying to hold on to the realities of 2022. And so it is with most of my friends - they live the year before last

Nobody is supernatural, we are all human. People who do 'the things' which are necessary to be done, at any cost, are the foundation for success. 

[Zeleban]

Many of my friends had plans, despite the war. But reality made its own adjustments. Few of my friends had any expectations about the future. They are of course romantics. Every time I tell them that they shouldn’t hope for the best. You need to go and protect your present. But the frivolity of people is not conveyed by ordinary words

[Harmon Rabb]

So happy to have you post again. I missed you around here Zeleban.

Your posts are the best thing I read here all day.

[Zeleban]

10 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:

Так приятно слышать это от вас! Прошло много времени.

Вы должны иметь возможность сидеть дома и слушать Depeche Mode и не подвергаться бомбардировке, но, к сожалению, это не тот случай. Я уважаю вас за то, что вы добровольно согласились внести свой вклад в исправление ситуации.

Как сейчас проходит регистрация в Украине ? В большинстве (всех?) западных стран в мирное время существует гибкость в выборе специальности. По крайней мере, так должно быть.   Так ли это в вашем случае , или они просто назначат вас на любую должность, которую захотят?

Стив

I have some experience in web development, both front end and back end. But I have no illusions about the military commission and am sure that I will easily be included in the assault brigade. I can say that even in this case, I will gladly accept my appointment to the position

[Zeleban]

2 minutes ago, Harmon Rabb said:

Так рада, что вы снова публикуете сообщение. Я скучал по тебе здесь, Зелебан.

Ваши посты — лучшее, что я читаю здесь за весь день.

Glad to hear it from you on this site

[cesmonkey]

Listening to the below podcast, one of the commentators said one thing Ukraine really needs it wants to take back all its lost land is another 500,000 young men of fighting age. He's not a military expert, just a historian and academic. But I do wonder if he is right.

[Sojourner]

It appears that Ukraine has a new ally... the Russian Military.

White House: Russia is executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders

WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The United States has information that the Russian military is executing soldiers who do not follow orders related to the war with Ukraine, the White House said on Thursday.

"We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/white-house-russia-is-executing-soldiers-who-refuse-follow-orders-2023-10-26/

[Harmon Rabb]

Rybar has a new theory.

Hope the folks at Orxy, use that CIA money to enjoy some of the finer things in life.

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Harmon Rabb

[Kinophile]

A New Dig Has Revealed Bodies From a WWII Massacre in Ukraine

New Lines Magazine

Reconciliation of old wounds in an honest and open manner is vital in progress to true friendship. It sounds pat, but it's true.

I say this as an Irish boy who grew up in the shadow of a vicious sectarian war to the North. I remember vividly when someone explained "kneecapping" to me - and why the IRA had been done it to a boy of 15, the same age as me. Later as a young adult I observed the slow, tortuous and seemingly intractable process towards peace. For the longest time it was deemed impossible by a huge majority and yet here we are - the IRA functionally dead, the British Army gone and an actual democratic system in place (however dysfunctional it can become).

Shifting eastwards and backwards in time and place, I learned about the end of WW2 in eastern Europe, a shadowy and unspoken coda of horror that echoed the greater horror in a fractal manner - smaller but perfectly replicated in its violence and vileness.

One thing that always struck me was how Soviet Russia made a point of turning Polish & Ukrainians violently against each other, fanning the flames of ethnic hatred in an utterly cynical and brutal manner. My Ukrainian-born mother-in-law (although she now identifies as equally Polish) has told me of what her father went through, how the Russians stood aside or stepped in as it suited them to the murderous detriment of families on both sides of the "border".

The key take-away from this article is in the fourth paragraph: 

Quote

So when he was finally given permission by Ukraine to carry out the search for the mass grave late last year, he didn’t spare another moment before amassing a Polish-Ukrainian team.

And the last few:

Quote

But with the specter of Russia now hanging over the heads of both Poles and Ukrainians, it isn’t lost on anyone that renewed cooperation on the reburials of Poles in western Ukraine has emerged from a friendship catalyzed by their common enemy in the east.

For Dancewicz, though, the closeness between the two countries goes beyond mere circumstance. However contentious the disputes over the Volhynia history may be, it is only natural for Poland and Ukraine to overcome them.

“For Poles and Ukrainians, our future lies together,” Dancewicz said. “Our catastrophe will be when we are apart."

Russia loves when its victims fight each other. Denying that is an act of power.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Kinophile

[Battlefront.com]

23 minutes ago, Harmon Rabb said:

It must be nice to just wake up one day, decide you don't like reality, and spend the rest of the day coming up with something you like better.

I guess Rybar missed the postings from the Oryx guy many, many months ago saying that he was as burnt out as the Russian Army, but unlike the Russian Army decided to just stop.

Steve

[The_Capt]

4 hours ago, Lethaface said:

For anyone professionally involved in the subjects, especially above the 'i was trained to operate X vehicle/device', his video's are probably worthless. But most youtube video's are, except for some rare videos but they will usually only have 100 viewers and won't come up into anyone's feed unless one specifically searches for it (and knows what to look for to begin with).

It is not worthless I fear, it is bad lessons.  People will walk away with a bunch of factoids about mine breaching systems and suddenly are “experts” around the water-cooler.  From this they can draw all sorts of really bad conclusions.

The biggest reason why mine breaching systems fail is because someone kills them while they are trying to do their job.  Watching that video can easily lead someone to think “well send them better kit” - we saw this with the tanks in spades.  And then we send them better kit and it still doesn’t work.  “Well they must be doing it wrong cause the YouTube guy said…”

The entire point of putting up an information piece is to provide people with the knowledge to make better sense of phenomena.  For this one needs expertise.  We see the death of expertise in modern era.  Anyone with a channel can suddenly be an expert in anything.  For example, retired SF guys with YouTube channels talking about formation level logistics.  They never served in a J4 staff or been trained as a professional logistics officer.  But they rub SF “Ranger” patches and suddenly they know what they are talking about.

This is just misinformation and in many cases is just chasing likes and subscribes.  Problem is that it can easily slide into disinformation and outright fiction.  The worst sin are people like Macgregor who know better but keep spreading false info regardless.

I do not know what to do about it.  I am not a social media expert…but maybe if I did a YouTube channel…

I for one can only try to do the best I can in this little forum in outer rings of the information sphere.  And on this one backwater thread on a tiny wargaming companies back…we can aspire to do a bit better.  The rest of the internet will just have to sort itself out.

[Battlefront.com]

11 minutes ago, The_Capt said:

For example, retired SF guys with YouTube channels talking about formation level logistics.  They never served in a J4 staff or been trained as a professional logistics officer.  But they rub SF “Ranger” patches and suddenly they know what they are talking about.

For years now whenever I see a YouTube thumbnail with a guy promoting himself as SF in any way, I give it a hard pass.  I decided to do this because I experienced what you just described.

"I am an ex-Navy Seal with 5 combat deployments.  On this episode we're going to talk about defense appropriations and the politics surrounding the Navy's latest ship design.  Because if there's one thing us Navy Seal guys know, it's defense authorization process for ships we never will ever serve on".

On the other hand, if an ex-Green Beret wants to do a video on how to eat a raw snake after being in a 12 hour firefight following 3 days without sleep, I might actually watch that!

(edit - this same information filtering got me to drop many of the early OSINT sources earlier in the war.  They were fine when they were reporting information, not so great when they were trying to editorialize)

Steve

[cesmonkey]

Documents confirm that Ukraine is importing Turkish cluster munitions
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023/10/documents-confirm-ukraine-importing-turkish-cluster-munitions/391565/

[dan/california]

NOW it is proper trench warfare. If the U.S. has anything to help the Ukrainians with the problem it might become one more little weight on the scale against the Russians. 

Also, all those Ukrainian dogs and cats might be about to come in useful.

Edited October 27, 2023 by dan/california

[Zeleban]

4 hours ago, Kinophile said:

A New Dig Has Revealed Bodies From a WWII Massacre in Ukraine

New Lines Magazine

Reconciliation of old wounds in an honest and open manner is vital in progress to true friendship. It sounds pat, but it's true.

I say this as an Irish boy who grew up in the shadow of a vicious sectarian war to the North. I remember vividly when someone explained "kneecapping" to me - and why the IRA had been done it to a boy of 15, the same age as me. Later as a young adult I observed the slow, tortuous and seemingly intractable process towards peace. For the longest time it was deemed impossible by a huge majority and yet here we are - the IRA functionally dead, the British Army gone and an actual democratic system in place (however dysfunctional it can become).

Shifting eastwards and backwards in time and place, I learned about the end of WW2 in eastern Europe, a shadowy and unspoken coda of horror that echoed the greater horror in a fractal manner - smaller but perfectly replicated in its violence and vileness.

One thing that always struck me was how Soviet Russia made a point of turning Polish & Ukrainians violently against each other, fanning the flames of ethnic hatred in an utterly cynical and brutal manner. My Ukrainian-born mother-in-law (although she now identifies as equally Polish) has told me of what her father went through, how the Russians stood aside or stepped in as it suited them to the murderous detriment of families on both sides of the "border".

The key take-away from this article is in the fourth paragraph: 

And the last few:

Russia loves when its victims fight each other. Denying that is an act of power.

That's for sure. To quarrel between Ukrainians and Poles is goal No. 1 for the Russians. I am not very afraid of the US stopping support for Ukraine as long as there is support from Poland. After all, who else but the Poles knows that if Ukraine loses, then it’s time to fight on Polish territory.

[LongLeftFlank]

6 hours ago, dan/california said:

NOW it is proper trench warfare. If the U.S. has anything to help the Ukrainians with the problem it might become one more little weight on the scale against the Russians. 

Also, all those Ukrainian dogs and cats might be about to come in useful.

Is that a kid-sized toy rifle used for 'training' Little Oktobrists or sumfink? (the colour leads me to suspect it might be)

Because if not, then stick that beauty on a skewer and roast it rather than rely on the logistics chain.

[The_Capt]

1 hour ago, LongLeftFlank said:

Is that a kid-sized toy rifle used for 'training' Little Oktobrists or sumfink? (the colour leads me to suspect it might be)

Because if not, then stick that beauty on a skewer and roast it rather than rely on the logistics chain.

More likely this guy with his tail singed :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobak_marmot

Good eating among the hill folk.  And you can make a hat out of its fur!

Whelp, that’s it.  We have officially run out of things to talk about.

[LongLeftFlank]

10 minutes ago, The_Capt said:

Whelp, that’s it.  We have officially run out of things to talk about.

Not remotely!

 

....but when the vatniks strap a mine to its back, they better make sure they trained it to seek (giant Swiss) cheese under a vehicle running gasoline, not diesel.

[akd]

The other rodent invader: nutria (coypu).

Edited October 27, 2023 by akd