Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) refuses to discuss A-10 success (Army failure) at recent exercise...

Do you remember this story by David over at War is Boring Blog?

If you don't then follow the above link, but here's a quick run down.  The US Army sent a unit to JRTC at Ft. Polk, LA and the Red Force proceeded to kick major league ass.  It was so bad that an Air Force Lt. Colonel said the following....

The Opposing Force quickly gained the advantage. “The Army got it handed to them,” Waring said. “No other way to put it.” Opfor “killed” the entire Army force twice, forcing it to “regenerate”—like getting extra lives in a video game.

I have huge respect for my bro's in the Army (one team, one fight and we all suck mud) so I was surprised to hear that one performed so poorly.

Honestly I was stumped, so I sent an e-mail to JRTC to find out exactly what happened.  Well after dealing with "Big Army" I'm becoming a bit less proud of the way that the Big Green does business.  My request got bounced around a couple of offices until it landed on the desk of Ft. Polk Public Affairs.

This is when sunshine turned to shit.

This is the response I got back...

Apologies that you had to wait a week for a reply. I am Fort Polk's media relations officer; your email should have been directed to me.
JRTC rotations are designed for training joint forces to prepare for any challenges that lie ahead. Part of that training consists of after-action reviews so joint forces can learn from their mistakes, if mistakes have been made. That's what makes a JRTC rotation one of the most valuable tools a member of our armed forces can undergo.
It's not our policy to release specific details of any given rotation.
You are, of course, welcome to file a Freedom of Information Act request.

 Are you kidding me?

Seriously?

Really?

A USAF Lt. Colonel is out in public basically chest thumping and high five-ing his squadron...while at the same time telling the whole world that without A-10's flying support the US Army is lost and they don't want to get there side of the story out?

I'll jump through the hoop.

I'll fill out the Freedom of Information Request.

I'll get my hands on the After Action Reports to the Units and the Brigade/Division along with the lessons learned.  But this points to something that should worry everyone.  From what we know, the Blue Force ran into a moderately technologically capable force that had helicopters in support.  Facing this threat they were easily defeated.

China is a high tech, mechanized, heavily armored force that has the backing of air assets that would make the Red Force look like Boy Scouts.

Maybe the erosion of conventional warfare capabilities has already taken hold?

Art of the Mag Flip

Sa'ar 5 Class Corvettes. The most powerful ships per pound in the world....

I was reading Bayou Renaissance Man's Blog and Peter made a statement that stopped me in my tracks....

I like the Israeli approach, which crams lots of hitting power into even small hulls (see, for example, its Sa'ar 5 class corvettes, which as far as I know are the most heavily armed ships of their size [just over 1,000 tons] anywhere in the world, and on an armament-per-ton or tons-per-weapon basis might be the most heavily armed warships since the age of the dreadnought).

The Sa'ar 5 is the most heavily armed vessel pound for pound in the world?  Being the skeptic that I am I immediately started looking for ships that are as small but have even more firepower.

I couldn't find one.

More disturbing I found a whole host of larger ships that had less firepower...I'm talking about Frigates and Destroyers from high tech nations.

The LCS is an abomination.  Want our allies and potential enemies to sit up and take notice?  Dump the LCS and build Sa'ar 5 with US weapons.

Sidenote:  Check out this weapons load for a 1000 ton ship....via Wikipedia...

Armament:

8 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles 64 Barak 1 surface-to-air missiles As of August 2013 being replaced by Barak 8 surface-to-air missiles[1] Phalanx CIWS 6 Mark 32 torpedo tubes(Mark 46 torpedoes)

Legacy

Israeli Defense Force Tank Brigade 7....

Jeannette Haynie on MidRats.

I have not been a listener to MidRats and after checking out this episode I've listened to my last episode.

Haynie, the gender warrior from hell, had another love fest without being challenged by the hosts.

One particular story she told has me punching walls.  I'll paraphrase....

She went with her HMLA unit to Iraq and Kuwait.  She wanted to be near her squadron mates while in country and thought it important to unit cohesion etc...Supposedly this caused a big stir that she refused to go into and the hosts didn't press her on.  Zooming forward, she explains that while in Kuwait she stayed with other females but in Iraq she stayed with the guys (she was the only female pilot in the squadron).  How did they handle it?  If a guy was getting dressed or whatever he would shout out dropping trow.  Other times he would yell out "Haynie look here" and she stated that was the same as telling her not to look because she definitely didn't want to see that.

Why does that have me pissed?

Because the practice that she is so proud of would jeopardize every male Marine in that living area.  Spread that to every other mixed gender unit and one misunderstanding in that environment would lead to sexual harassment charges. 

Eagle One (blogger at USNI) is sharp enough to have easily clued in on the absurdity of what she was so proud of but he didn't.

You can listen to the episode here.  Warning.  I couldn't make it thru the second interviewee...when she started talking about women sending breastmilk back home from deployment I was done....just like I am with MidRats.

China begins its colonization of Africa...

via Yahoo News...

Nairobi (AFP) - China on Sunday signed a deal to build a $3.8 billion rail link between Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa and Nairobi, the first stage of a line that will eventually link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Under the terms of the agreement, Exim Bank of China will provide 90 percent of the cost to replace the crumbling British colonial-era line with a 609.3 kilometre (379 mile) standard-gauge link and Kenya the remaining 10 percent.
Construction is due to start in October and take three-and-a-half years to complete, with China Communications Construction Co. as the main contractor.
Once the Mombasa-Nairobi line is completed, construction would begin to link east Africa's largest economy with Kampala, Kigali, Bujumbura and Juba.
The deal was signed at State House in Nairobi and witnessed by presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Salva Kiir of South Sudan.

We play checkers while China plays chess.

Consider...China is building an alternative to the Panama Canal in Nicaragua.  Now this.

How the US got tagged with conducting the "America, World Police" scheme or hopping on every social bandwagon is beyond me.

China is doing what we once did.

The sooner America's military gets out of the diplomacy game, the sooner the State Department can get their act together and start challenging these frankly brilliant moves by the Red Dragon.  Hope is not high however.

Sidenote:  For the internationalist that say we have a responsibility to the helpless or to protect our interests I say this.  The world is in chaos and always will be.  Accept reality and then you can determine real cost benefits to certain actions!