ITX 3-16, combined arms mechanized exercise.... photos by Staff Sgt. David L. Proffitt

Buy Ammo now!

via The Firearms Blog.

Since this is an election year gun and ammo sales promise to be on the rise. In fact, those sales could skyrocket depending on which candidate wins. But as we get closer to the election and another ammorush ensues, the question remains the same: what came first, the chicken of panic or the egg of quantity shortages? Are manufacturers really churning out enough ammo right now or are the sales limits many stores continue to enforce simply keeping more ammo on the shelves? There are a number of angles to this and there seems to be a grain of truth to each of them. So much so it seems unlikely any one answer is correct on its own.
Questions aside, maybe this is a good time to take stock of your ammo situation. Rather than freaking out later when you realize you don’t actually have any ammo to shoot without hitting your local gun store, maybe you should be building a stockpile today. Yes it does take time to build up a truly impressive ammo pile, but you’ll never get there if you don’t start now. How do you do it? Prioritize calibers and get to it, one box at a time.

If you're a prepper, survivalist, or investor now is the time to buy ammo.  Want something that is guaranteed to go up in value?  Ammo and firearms should be at the top of your list.

Summer vacation?  Nope, buy in bulk.  New car?  Are you nuts?  Fix the old one, forget about keeping up with the Jones's (who you don't like anyway), dump the fake it till you make it mentality and buy ammo.

Is this tinfoil hat?  Nope.  Its taking a look at a commodity that I predict will be scarce.  That box of shitty Tula will be worth its weight in gold soon!  Just kidding.  Tula is some great range ammo but you get the point.

Advanced F-15 (2040c) Air Superiority Fighter Vid via Alert 5.

Don't forget that last fall we heard that the USAF might be in the market to buy additional F-15's.  That came from multiple news sources and was attributed to Air Force Officers.  The reason?  The cost of the F-35...not the fake cost ran out in front of the public but the behind the scene real deal cost.

Aftermath of a firefight with ISIS from the Pershmerga (Warning Graphic!)

Thanks to Ronald for the link!



Aftermath footage of our firefight with ISIS on the 4th of May 2016, and treatment of a wounded ISIS fighter.

This incident took place the day after the battle for Teleskuf, where US Navy Seal Charles Keating IV lost his life. A group of over 20 ISIS fighters who had taken part in the attack the day before and was trying to escape, had been boxed in between two fortified positions and two Peshmerga Humvees. Our general, Wahed Kovle, myself and two other officers then approached the enemy hiding in the tall grass, using one of the Humvees as a shield, while the second Humvee and the two fortified positions provided fire support. The fighting was intense and we were exchanging fire and throwing handgrenades at eachother at close range. Three of the ISIS fighters blew themselves up as well and we had pieces of them raining over us.

A single jihadist survided the attack and I provided medical care for him, even though the ISIS commander who were speaking with our general on the radio told us we could kill him for all he cared. The wounded fighter was handed over to kurdish intelligence afterwards. We had no cssualties ourself from this particular contact.

Did the US Navy tell us enemy forces have reached parity?

The above screen grab is from a vid put out by the US Navy where they talk about its future.  Recommend you watch it yourself, admittedly its part propaganda, part budget play, and a whole bunch of rah-rah flag waving with huge doses of diversity/social engineering.

But the screen capture above is what caught my attention.

The speaker was talking about the security environment we find ourselves in and how the Navy is working to stay ahead of our competitors.  But the graph!  They show our competitors achieving parity in 2016 and continuing to rise while we continue a steady decline.

Was this simply a mistake or a statement of fact?

BearCat X3® All Terrain Special Ops Vehicle

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via BearCat Press Release.

Lenco Industries, the leader in tactical armored security vehicles, is proud to introduce the Lenco BearCat X3® - the newest variant to the BearCat family of light APCs. The BearCat X3® utilizes proven Lenco technology in a lightweight Modular variant designed for Special Ops, Counter Terrorism or Internal Security applications. The pickup-style APC provides up to BR7 Armor Protection with high ground clearance for aggressive off- road performance and excellent maneuverability. If your mission takes you off-road, the BearCat X-series will get you where you need to go.
The BearCat X3® boasts a large rear bed with a cargo capacity of 70 – 85 cubic feet based on configuration with a 2,000+ lb. load rating. The X3® offers a wide variety of interior layouts to include Lenco’s 360 degree rotating hatch and gunner stand and seating for 4-6 personnel. In addition to the large standard rear cargo Utility bed, configurations include networked Radar Surveillance for Border Security Operations, a self-contained Water deployment package, Weapons mounting and storage and Medical Evacuation. The BearCat X3® is also designed for Border Security Operations, which includes integration of the Telephonics Radar and Video Enforcement Network-Mobile (RaVEN®-M) system along with NetCom and TruLink intercom units.
The Lenco BearCat X3® is a versatile package that creates a fleet of protected vehicles with low cost of ownership and scalable capabilities for today’s mission and tomorrow’sevolving threats.

MBT Advanced Technology Demonstrator (Rheinmetall)

Thanks to Info Infantry for the link!



Hmm.  Not sure what Rheinmetall is doing here.  This Advanced Technology Demonstrator has for the most part been rolled out in parts for quite a while now.  The EVO armor is on Singapore and now even Indonesian tanks (probably others  I'm forgetting).  I'll head to there website to see what makes this unique.

This time Indonesia gets to chest thump....they won the Australian Army Skills comp...we didn't place.

via Tempo.co

The Indonesian Army contingent has won the Australian Army Skills at the Arms Meeting (AASAM) shooting competition in Australia by grabbing 23 gold medals.
The competition, held in Puckapunyal, Australia, from May 3 to 19, saw the participation of 20 countries.
"The Chinese Army was placed second with nine gold medals, while the Japanese were in third position with four golds," Indonesian Military spokesperson Colonel Czi Berlin G said here Saturday (May 20).

Ok....but where's the chest thumping you say?  Check this out...

"The success demonstrates the professionalism of the Indonesian Army. Our soldiers are not inferior to the troops from other countries the UK, France, China and Australia, and troops such as such as the United States Marines Corps (USMC), US Army, and Anzac," he noted.

Can't lie.  Its been fun to bash the Army about the Tank competition but now I'm saying what the fuck.

We didn't place?  China and Japan beat us?  Trust me on this one.  This might mean nothing to you sitting in the US or Europe but it means alot in Asia.

Sons of Vikrant Documentary. History of Indian Carrier Aviation.

Thanks to Spook for the link!



This is an uplifting and sad video.  I don't know if our naval history is being properly preserved and it appears that these veterans of the INS Vikrant feel the same.

That is unfortunate.

Sea-Air-Space 2016 Platforms via Naval Recognition

Interesting vid.  I marvel at the LCS 2 class.  The whole program seems lost, but especially Austal's version.  How could such a promising design go off the rails the way that one did? Did you check out the vid?  Even the upgraded weapons fit looks off...what's with those Harpoon launchers!?!  Are they just mailing it in or do they really believe that is viable?

We're the very best mindset...a warning to US ground forces.

I'm beating on a drum.  US ground forces are living off past glory, suffering from a top down emphasis on counter insurgency, and being neglected when it comes to defense dollars.  I consider the performance of our team in the armor competition as a warning sign.  Many disagree.  That's ok, I'm waiting on the Armor school houses both in the Marine Corps and Army to weigh in on that.  In the meantime check out this article by LTC Terrence Buckeye, US Army that was recently published in the Armor Magazine.  He talks about the training of Australian Officers, but his closing points are breathtaking.  via Armor Magazine...

“We’re the best” mindset. Heavy brigade combat teams (BCTs) performed very well during the CAM battles against the hapless Iraqi army in 1991 and 2003. Our senior leaders relentlessly tell us we are the best Army in the world. These considerations certainly do not prompt us to question the efficacy of our training. However, we might benefit from questioning our assumption of superiority and consider that our measures of comparison have been poor. The Australian Armoured Corps would be a good place to start.

The other take aways that he highlighted (read the article...it gave me new appreciation for what the Australian Army is doing!)...

*Armor Branch identity and core competency. Armor Branch has suffered an identity crisis in the last 15 years as we have evolved from CAM experts into a jack-of-all-trades branch. Iraq and Afghanistan were both infantry-centric operational environments that prompted us to focus on wide-area security (WAS) over CAM. Modularity further disaggregated tank battalions, division cavalry squadrons and armored cavalry regiments (ACRs). This diluted the resident CAM expertise once found in those units. The Armor School’s move to Fort Benning to join the Maneuver Center of Excellence was part of a larger Army-wide trend that favored generalizing over specializing. This identity crisis is apparent in ABOLC now. Armor lieutenants are assigned to infantry BCTs, Stryker BCTs and armored BCTs. While this presents more opportunities for Armor officers, it also makes it difficult for courses like ABOLC to focus training.                                                           • Gunnery Table VI (GTVI) qualification equals tactically competent crew. Throughout the Armor community, we operate on the core belief that an AFV crew’s training culminates with qualification on GTVI. We confuse the technical proficiency that comes from GTVI qualification with tactical competence. Driving down a range road, executing predefined engagements in a flat and open area and using perfect vehicle fighting positions constructed from concrete is hardly tactical. We see the same issue in the structure of ABOLC. Once the crew phase is complete with the gunnery live-fire, the lieutenants skip over individual AFV tactics and jump straight into collective training at the platoon level. We are missing a fundamental building block in tactical competence by equating GTVI qualification with a tactically competent crew.                                                                             • Loss of experience in AFV tactical maneuver. The focus for the Army and Armor Branch during the last 14 years has understandably been stability operations and counterinsurgency (COIN). Not surprisingly, this produced a generation of officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) who have little to no experience in executing CAM tasks. We find ourselves in a blind-leading-the-blind cycle where neither our schoolhouses nor our company/battalion leaders know how to train tactics. With companies and battalions unable to competently run quality tactics training, the Armor School must assert itself as the standard bearer for mounted-maneuver tactics training. Conversely, Australian schools and training centers have remained focused on CAM during the last 14 years, despite deploying as frequently as we do.
• Risk aversion to AFV maneuver live-fire training. Nothing tests a student’s ability to maneuver an AFV, a section or a platoon better than the stress of maneuvering while live-firing. In the U.S. Army, we like to conduct our live-fire training on built-up ranges and our maneuver training with Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System equipment in dry training areas. When we do conduct a platoon or company live-fire, the exercise is so heavily choreographed and controlled that it loses almost any value as tactical training. This separation between live-fire gunnery and maneuver training stems from a debilitating focus on risk aversion. Australians view live-fire training as part of the natural training continuum for maneuver training. They build their live-fire battle runs on the same land they use for dry training. The routine manner in which Australians conduct maneuver live-fire training is impressive; it begs the question, “Why can’t we do the same thing?”
• Substituting field training with simulations. Simulators are an inadequate replacement for field training. If we want to train our lieutenants to think and lead effectively, they need to be regularly confronted with the environmental impediments to effective thinking and leading. Simulators fail to adequately replicate environmental factors (extreme heat/cold, precipitation, dust, mud and wind), physiological factors (fatigue, hunger, dehydration, pain, discomfort, live-fire fratricide stress) and mechanical factors (weapons malfunction, communications problems, thrown tracks, mired vehicles).
• Overreliance on technology. We implicitly assume our technological overmatch will compensate for any tactical shortcomings in future conflicts. Many assume that technologies like Blue Force Tracker (BFT) and Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) negate the need to be able to navigate off a map...

Like I said read the entire article.  It seems like Australian Armor Officers are trained to an almost Ranger standard physically and then taught to fight their vehicles like each and every one of them is to be a Sullivan award winner.

This article was aimed at Heavy Brigade Combat Teams and the training of officers but it applies to US ground forces as a whole.  I hope people are paying attention.  Every one of the deficiencies in training that he talks about is creeping thru all branches and services.  If we're not careful it will bite us.

Chinese 1st Marine Brigade amphibious landing via China Defense Blog.

More pics here.