Enlisted.

This is coolbert:

I find this to be mildly surprising. Thanks to several sources.

United States Air Force drone aviators, pilots of UAV, enlisted personnel.

Piloting an aircraft at least in the USAF strictly for a long time the purview of the officer class.

UAV pilots as trained restricted so it seems only to drone flight. They will never take to the air in a "real" aircraft.

1. "Meet the Air Force's first enlisted drone pilots"

Courtesy the article in Air Force Times By Stephen Losey.

"When the Air Force's latest class of two dozen aspiring remotely-piloted aircraft pilots convened at Initial Flight Training School in Pueblo, Colorado, Oct. 12, four of them had something unique: Enlisted stripes."

Not strictly enlisted but enlisted personnel included in the mix.

2. "This Woman Is the 1st to Fly Air Force Drones"

"The Air Force has its first female enlisted Global Hawk drone pilot."

"The service said Tech. Sgt. Courtney completed its undergraduate remotely piloted aircraft training program known as the Enlisted Pilot Initial Class program, on Aug. 4. at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. She graduated alongside three other pilots."

The paradigm of manned warplanes as flown only by those of the officer class predicated on the assumption that some sort of above-average intelligence an absolute necessity. A degree in STEM subjects greatly preferred [Science, Technical, Engineering, Math].

Today the level of education and intellectual achievement allows for enlisted of whatever service to fly UAV as if they were at the controls of a plane "really" in the air?

Devoted readers to the blog please understand when I say "real" or "really" I speak facetiously fully aware and understanding these pilots are INDEED at the controls of a REAL aircraft.

Also consider within context that 80 % of Israeli Air Force missions currently drone UAV flights.

coolbert.

Susceptible.

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F-100 BAD! Pilots USAF beware! Too late now!

From the Internet web site Alert 5 and thanks to same.

"USAF study found that F-100 pilots are more likely to get cancer"

"A study by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing found evidence that fighter pilots and crew members have a higher chance of being diagnosed with cancer."

"Researchers focused on four Vietnam-era warplanes, the F-100, F-4, F-105, and RF-4, to examine the rates of cancer among their crews."

Pilots having flown the American F-100 fighter-bomber during the period of the Cold War having the greatest concerns!

“'Male fighter aviators who flew the F-100 had greater odds of being diagnosed and dying from colon and rectum cancer, pancreas cancer, melanoma skin cancer, prostate cancer, and brain cancer. They also had greater odds of being diagnosed and dying from thyroid cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, despite similar odds of diagnosis,' according to the study."

Further from the comments of an acknowledged aviation authority:

"Fighter pilots in general. It’s like sitting in a greenhouse on Mount Everest for an hour or two per day. Especially hard on eyes, with the unfiltered UV rays. Which is why pilots are always wearing primo quality sun glasses . . . we’ve been aware of the dangers of the sun on skin as well. Not much is exposed  nowadays with the flight suits, gloves and full cover helmets."

BUT WHY PILOTS OF THE F-100 MORE SUSCEPTIBLE THAN MOST?

coolbert.

AS 40.

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The Swedish navy can do it. The American navy can do it too!

From out good friend Commander Salamander and thanks to same.

American fast attack nuclear submarine replenishment of weapons  practiced.

THE FIRST TIME IN NINE YEARS!!

"Nine Years is a Long Time"

"The submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) completed a weapons handling exercise involving the transfer of a MK-48 inert training shape to a submarine, Oct. 22. This was the first expeditionary reload Frank Cable has conducted outside of Guam since 2012."

Consider replenishment of war stocks at sea to be an essential element of American naval war-fighting strategy!

Two questions:

1. Was done in mid-Ocean? [apparently not] 2. Was done at night? [does not seem have been so]

Read from a most recent blog entry the Swedish navy practicing the reload of a submarine. Done apparently during hours of darkness and hardly close to shore. Tactical conditions that most difficult of circumstances possible.

And what exactly are we to make of all this other than preparation for war? Do I detect a sense of urgency?

coolbert.

Inflation.

This is coolbert:

Courtesy the tip from W.B. and F.S. this item for your perusal. 

"Cost to Kill an Enemy Soldier"

[all cost expressed in $ USD]

"A few years ago [circa 1970's] a Dutch professor took time to calculate the cost of an enemy soldier’s death at different epochs in history. He estimated that during the reign of Julius Caesar, to kill an enemy soldier cost less than one dollar. At the time of Napoleon, it had considerably inflated—to more than $2,000. At the end of the First World War, it had multiplied several times to reach the figure of some $17,000. During the Second World War, it was about $40,000. And in Vietnam, in 1970, to kill an enemy soldier cost the United States $200,000."

Calculations with regard to cost of killing an enemy soldier during the times of Julius Caesar hard to determine?

See my prior blog entries regarding ancient times estimates:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2019/12/crass.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2018/04/wealth.html

coolbert.

Abandoned.

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The enemy of my enemy is my friend? Afghan style. Any port in a storm type of thing?

1. "US-Trained Afghan Spies & Special Forces Are Joining ISIS For 'Protection' Against Taliban"

Thanks you "Zero Hedge" and the article BY TYLER DURDEN.

"Many former national Afghan forces who are now being hunted by the Taliban after their US military backers withdrew from the country in August are turning to the Islamic State for protection"

Presumably Afghan national army troops of the hunter-class. Left in the lurch when the USA abandoned Afghan in the middle of the night!

2. "US-Trained Afghan Soldiers & Spies Joining ISIS Terrorists To ‘Resist’ Taliban – Reports"

"The Taliban has long accused Washington of funding ISIS, and now they’re indirectly right, as a growing number of US-trained Afghan soldiers and intelligence officials are joining the terrorist group’s ranks to fight the Taliban."

1. Resist the Taliban. 2. Protection. Both. Many Afghan army veterans NOT Pashtun and afraid of reprisal. Persons also with valuable skill sets.

See previous blog entries those elite troops of the Afghan national army now flocking [?] to the Islamic State affiliate in conflict with the Taliban:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2021/09/askari-ii.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2021/10/zero.html

coolbert.

007.

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Mozambique under attack. Rwandan navy to the rescue. Rwanda? A landlocked nation? Rwanda?

YES! And it seems quite successful too!

From the H. I. Sutton Internet web site "Covert Shores" and thanks to same.

"Landlocked Navy Goes To War: Rwanda's mystery 'Squad 007' Boat Grabs Attention"

"Being land-locked, the Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) is not well known for its navy. However a small force which normally patrols a lake has been flung into the lime-light, operating in Mozambique. Rwandan forces deployed to the country on July 9, 2021 to help combat Islamic State aligned forces which have gained control of large parts of the country. They appear to have been very successful in their mission. The boats have been operated along the coast, apparently more successfully than Mozambique's' own navy. This may be surprising since Mozambique has, on paper, a very well equipped and modern force."

"The Rwandan boats appear to be a variant of the Italian-made Fabio Buzzi 36" (11 meters) racing RIB (rigid inflatable boat)." As operated by Rwandan Marines. And equipped with two 12.7 mm [.50 inch] Chinese heavy machine guns HMG.

Go Rwandans. Good job! Impressive!

coolbert.

Poison.

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Quemoy and Matsu! As it was over sixty years ago as it is now?

Think not a military invasion of Taiwan proper across the Taiwan Strait. Relics of the Cold War those islands very close to the Chinese mainland and occupied by Republic of China [ROC] military forces easy pickings and a much more tempting target for the Chinese People's Liberation Army [PLA].

From the Internet web site Zero Hedge and the article by TYLER DURDEN.

"'Poison Frogs': US Urged To Make Taiwan Islands Too 'Painful' For China To Seize In Response To War Game Results"

"The United States would have little recourse if China invaded one of the minor islands controlled by Taiwan, according to a new report by Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington-based think tank."

"Ultimately, the report found that U.S. national security strategy focused too much on defending the island of Taiwan itself from a Chinese invasion, rather than seeking to mitigate more limited acts of coercion and aggression in the region."

Quemoy marked on map within the box. Very close to the Chinese mainland [about ten miles or sixteen kilometers due north]. Also about one-hundred twenty miles [one-hundred ninety kilometers] from Taichung City on Taiwan proper Click on image to see an enlarged view..

Close-up map image Quemoy island. Taiwanese territory. From the island to the Chinese mainland about ten miles [sixteen kilometers] due north. An invasion by the PLA of Quemoy MUCH easier than a crossing of the Taiwan strait. Quemoy and Matsu for that matter in the cross-hairs of the PLA for over a sixty year period!

Those "relics' of the Cold War Quemoy and Matsu objects of concern during the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crisis:

"The People's Liberation Army [PLA] extensively shelled the island during the First and Second Taiwan Strait crises in 1954–1955 and 1958 respectively. In 1954, the United States considered responding by using nuclear weapons against the PRC. Again in 1958, General Nathan Farragut Twining and the Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that the United States should not permit the loss of the islands to the communists and recommended to President Eisenhower the use of whatever force was necessary, including atomic weapons."

HARDLY DO I THINK AN ATTACK ON QUEMOY WOULD BE ANSWERED BY ATOMIC WEAPONS IN RESPONSE BY THE USA!!

See previous blog entries Quemoy and Matsu:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/09/240-mm-iii_14.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/01/quemoy_22.html

coolbert.