Other.

This is coolbert:

From that prior blog entry:

"Two retired U.S. Army generals have blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to send U.S. troops to West Africa to battle the Ebola virus epidemic, saying the military is to fight wars, not disease."

Again we can find fault with this argument the American military the role of which is to "fight war" to the exclusion of all else!

This being so at least during the last one hundred years the fighting of wars and winning of same the primary role of the American military man but not totally so within the historical context since the time of George Washington.

During that period at least prior to the Great War [WW1], the career American military officer predominantly serving in a capacity other than a combat commander. A military man his mission quite often beyond that of the soldier on the battlefield. Missions and duties quite often to include but not limited to:

* Explorer. Clark/Lewis/Pike.

* Cartographer. John Fremont.

* Civil engineer. R.E. Lee.

* Territorial governor. Lew Wallace.

* Medical administrator. William Gorgas.

* Diplomat. W.T. Sherman.

* Educator. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

It can be noted that Fremont, Jackson, Lee, Wallace and Sherman all did see active service in a combat role during the American Civil War. NOTE also that their military duty PRIOR to that conflict quite often NOT that of the combat commander!

coolbert.

Clausewitz.

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From a recent article by Colonel Austin Bay:

"On Point"

"To Defeat the Islamic State Obama Needs Clausewitz, Not Alinsky" by Austin Bay
. . . .

"Obama has mastered Saul Alinsky politics: a narrow, confined know-how mixing cynical pragmatism, polemical populism and elitist ego that in the U.S. can produce electoral and media success."

"Obama, however, does not know zilch about Carl von Clausewitz. The great German strategic theorist (and combat veteran) understood philosophically and viscerally the wicked, non-linear complexity of unbridled passions, mass violence and rational use of capabilities to pursue strategic goals that is the inescapable condition of international affairs in diplomacy and war."

. . . .

"War is simply the continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means," Clausewitz wrote. The other means include force and violence and dead bodies. Clausewitz also called war a contest of wills. To successfully fight a war -- to win a war -- requires committed leadership. The Islamic State's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi demonstrates commitment; he cuts off journalists' heads and then shoots Iraqi and Syrian prisoners en masse. His forces have also overrun Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq."

That magnum opus of Clausewitz "On War" an unfinished work.

The master also elucidating on warfare of the Napoleonic Era, massed armies fighting massed armies in the conventional manner as understood.

NO mention at all of UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE AND THE FIGHTING AND DEFEAT OR THE IRREGULAR FORCE.

NOTHING in "On War" gives a hint on how ISIL can and should be fought. The President does also not have to be a military expert. He does however have to be an expert on picking experts who he can rely on and can TELL him what is the correct course of action to follow. And the President must be wise in selecting that correct course of action within the constraints of what is politically feasible.

coolbert.

Monthly!

This is coolbert:

As extracted some interesting comments from that previous blog entry:

"Female Sailors to be Assigned to Submarines with Female Officers"

Women in submarines is a done deal? Indeed, the goal again is to have two of the Virginia class nuclear attack submarines with all-female crews.

* "I wonder I they will/should/could make all female crewed submarines. Combat is no place for a woman let alone a submarine, bad enough the men that served in combat don't want to be there. Don't get me wrong I know there are plenty of historical female military leaders, but is the exception not the rule. Its just a recipe for disaster."

Strength, separate toilet and berthing facilities and possible POW status is not a problem with an all-female crewed submarine? This is do-able?

 Qualification, efficiency, and just plain ability to do the job is an issue?

* "As a retired submarine Captain, I would love to conduct qualification exams, ashore and afloat for these females. I conducted the same for male SSBN officers and found them woefully unqualified. Great engineers, lousy submariners"

Understand that any crew member of a submarine is qualified at their particular skill BUT ALSO MUST BECOME FULLY QUALIFIED AT A NUMBER OF SUBMARINE SPECIFIC TASKS THAT ARE OJT AND ARE NOT TAUGHT AT SCHOOL!

Of major concern among the men also seems to be the monthly female menstrual cycle.

* "The only way that's going to work is if they make sure that everyone has their periods at the same time. Then they will have 'hell week' once a month. Can you imagine what it's going to be like with someone on their period all the time?"
 
* "I understand that, thrown into close quarter situations, women begin to 'cycle' together. Daunting thought."

* "WOW AN ALL FEMALE CREW WITH PMS WOULD MAKE AN AWESOME WEAPON!"

Aberrant mental behavior as normally associated with PMS and the monthly female menstrual cycle not a problem as might be thought? American nuclear attack submarines are no longer equipped with atomic munitions of any sort? So it is reputed!

coolbert.

Females.

This is coolbert:

From Military.com and thanks to the tip from Freeper we have more on a topic I have been following for some time.

Female submariners!!

Women already to a degree integrated into the submarine force and evidently doing quite well for themselves. Making a mark even?

And the process continues. The final objective two of the newest Virginia class nuclear submarines to be "manned" fully and completely by all-women crews.

"Female Sailors to be Assigned to Submarines with Female Officers"

"The Navy said it will deploy enlisted female sailors in 2016 aboard submarines with female officers already assigned to them."

. . . .

"There are currently more than 100 female Navy officers serving on submarines"

"'They are doing well,' Connor said." [Vice Adm. Mike Connor, commander Atlantic submarine force]

As you might expect they are doing well. That process of selection for those women of the officer class I might think that MOST METICULOUS POSSIBLE. And my understanding officers with the function of nuclear propulsion specialists. Running those nuclear reactors and keeping them working in good order. WOMEN POSSESSING PHYSICS DEGREES FOR THE MOST PART!

coolbert.

Space Plane.

This is coolbert:

The two year secret mission is over and is evidently successful. And the purpose of the space flight is a mystery. Well kept it seems, everyone is guessing.

The little space plane that works!

   "X-37B Space Plane Returns: 5 Theories About Its Secret Mission"

"After spending nearly two years in orbit on a secret mission, the U.S. Air Force's mysterious X-37B space plane landed today (Oct. 17) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California . . . very little is known about the record-setting flight."

The cut-down version of the space shuttle but without crew, remotely controlled. That American space program it seems confined now to the X-37B. At least it flies well.

"But what has the space plane actually been doing in orbit? The top-secret nature of the X-37B missions has sparked a number of conspiracy theories. Here are some ideas about the X-37B's purpose":

* "Surveillance"

* "Space bombing"

* "Interfering with other satellites"

* "Spying on the Chinese space station"

* "Deploying spy satellites"

Maybe all of the above? Radio relay too? MUOS is out there but Iridum is slowly decaying away and the X-37 allows for instantaneous American military communication from any point on the planet?

coolbert.

Football.

This is coolbert:

A favorite topic for the main stream media is military service academy scandal. Normally blown out of proportions and endlessly talked about over and over. Here with one more instance.

Loud music, strobe lights, drinking of alcohol, "making out" with the cheerleaders!! OH MY!

"West Point Superintendent Takes Blame for Football Scandal"

 "West Point's top officer Sunday took full blame for the school's recruiting violations this year that included courting high school football players with alcohol and VIP treatment on a raucous bus ride."
. . . .

"The incident involved 20 cadets, including 17 football players, and 14 recruits who were taken by a chartered bus under police escort to a bowling alley and bar at New York's Palisades Mall. There, cadets and recruits used entertainment money from the football team -- $40 each -- to buy alcohol."

"Cadets reported drinking as many as seven drinks in 90 minutes before a bus ride home that included loud music, strobe lights and cheerleaders making out"

Those military service academies [Naval, Army, Air Force] take their sports very seriously. And all want to be THE WINNER! And the recruitment process to find the top athletes is very difficult. That regimen of academics, military drill and discipline and sports is difficult for anyone. Producing the winning team is hard enough under normal circumstances and for the military academy that much worse. And woe to those caught cheating.

And the American people EXPECT the military academies to maintain the highest level of decorum, sportsmanship and honor all at the same time, yes indeed, EXPECTATIONS ARE HIGH!!

The army football program used to be right up there with the top dozen collegiate teams in the nation but has not been so for many decades now. The competition for the top high school prospects is too great and most students shy away from the military life style. You go with what you can get!

coolbert.

Overland.

This is coolbert:

These headlines are misleading?

Headlines that suggest an overland relief of the besieged town of Kobane.

Kobane for weeks now under attack by ISIL combatants.

The city defended by Kurdish YPG militia, aided by American air strikes the situation tenuous as best.

Historically sieges the capture of a city only averted by OVERLAND RELIEF!

"VIDEO: Peshmerga on route to Kobane"

"ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region troops head across the border to Turkey on Tuesday, in the direction of the besieged Syrian-border town of Kobane. Half the Peshmerga flew out of Erbil. Others are in trucks accompanying heavy weapons to be used in the attempt to break the IslamicState siege."

"Peshmerga fighters head for Turkey en route to Kobani"

"Iraqi peshmerga fighters left Iraq for the besieged Syrian town of Kobani on Tuesday to help fellow Kurds in their battle against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, a senior Kurdish official has said. Hemin Hawrami, an official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), wrote on his Twitter feed that the peshmerga fighters were flying from Arbil to Turkey, from where they will travel by land to Kobani."

I had thought that this was overland relief in the form of units from the Kurdish autonomous region moving en mass toward Kobane. But this is not so. A company sized unit of Kurdish militia [not YPG] attempting to reinforce those Kurdish forces already defending Kobane and nothing more. NO help or assistance from the Turk too I might assume.

Kurdish militias are organized by political party affiliation. YPG has a nominal communist alignment with the PKK. The Kurds at least to a minor extent now acting with agreed upon concerted force?

coolbert.

Flag.

This is coolbert:

Nothing like this has occurred for the British at least in almost seventy years.

"So young, so brave and still in their teens: Faces of the heroes who never saw 20 - and the memorial we couldn't leave in Camp Bastion"

    "Lives of young Britons killed fighting the Taliban had been commemorated on memorial walls in Camp Bastion"

    * "As UK's campaign in Afghanistan ended it was confirmed walls had been dismantled"
    * "Army insisted it was not because of fears memorials would be defaced or destroyed"
    * "Top-ranking soldiers and relatives of those killed said there was an obvious risk they would be 'desecrated'"
    * "Defence Secretary admits Afghanistan still plagued by insurgency, and failure to leave a memorial seen by some as a symbol of the West’s failure to secure the country, despite hundreds of lives lost"

From an Internet web site article:

"Sun Sets on the British Empire"

ONLY TWO PLACES IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE WAS THE UNION JACK ALLOWED TO FLY TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY! ONE WAS ABOVE PARLIAMENT BUILDING IN LONDON AND THE OTHER WAS THE RESIDENCY AT LUCKNOW, BRITISH INDIA! THE LATTER IN COMMEMORATION OF THOSE BESIEGED AND SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDING LUCKNOW UNDER THE MOST TRYING OF CIRCUMSTANCES  DURING THE SEPOY MUTINY.

"As the sun set on the evening of August 13, 1947, the Union Jack which had flown and fluttered since 1857 without a break, night and day, atop the Residency in Lucknow, was brought down by the caretaker, Warrant Officer Ireland. A small party of British Officers led by Major General Curtis watched the flag come down and the sun setting on the British Raj in India. That night the British Sappers cut the steel flag-staff of the Residency from its base and pulled out its foundation. Then they re-cemented the place, leaving no trace whatsoever of the flag pole on which for 90 years the symbol of British Power had flown high without a break. The Union Jack which was removed from the Residency was sent to Field Marshal Auchinleck who sent it to George VI in England."

The flag removed, the pole dug up and the area cemented over. That next morning the new government of India unable to raise their new colors over the site that indeed for the English deemed as SACRED!

coolbert

IOC.

This is coolbert:

More on the U.S. Marine infantry officer course and the inclusion of women into the program. With the normal and almost expected failure.

Already personnel with officer rank but now hoping to be qualified as INFANTRY OFFICERS!

Men as well as women failing. About 20 % of the men in the course normally fail. And a percentage of all those in the course fail THE VERY FIRST DAY!

"Three pioneering women in Marine infantry course are asked to leave. Why?"

"The three women who qualified for the Marine Corps's Infantry Officers Course [IOC] were physically disqualified last week. No woman has successfully completed the course."

INDEED, NO WOMEN PRIOR HAD EVEN GOTTEN BEYOND THE FIRST DAY OF THE COURSE. EVIDENTLY THESE THREE AT LEAST COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY THAT FIRST STEP BUT WERE UNABLE TO CONTINUE DUE TO THE RIGOROUS PHYSICAL DEMANDS!

"They were physically disqualified from the training last week for falling behind in hikes while carrying loads of upwards of 100 pounds [nearly 50 kilograms]"

"During the first march in which the three female – as well as three male – officers were issued a warning, the Marines were given about two hours and 40 minutes to move 7-1/2 miles. At the time, they were assigned to carry roughly 104 pounds each."

"during a nine-mile march. The students had three hours to complete it, carrying 124-pound packs. [about 57 kilograms]"

"When three men and three women fell behind for a second time . . . they were out."

That amount of weight to include the fighting load and the existence load I might assume. Normally the ordinary troop at the most having been determined by an abundance of research able to carry in an effective manner about sixty-five pounds [30 kilograms] of weight without having excessive impedimenta piled on and combat ability greatly impaired.

That IOC course 13 weeks, I had thought the length was nine months. AND MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, CANDIDATES FOR IOC PROBABLY HAD THOUGHT THEMSELVES PREPARED AND READY, BUT QUICKLY FINDING OTHERWISE. That stuff is not easy!!

coolbert.

Gotland.

This is coolbert:

Within the context of the recent Swedish submarine scare and hysteria, and the recent blog post the topic of which was the American Arctic Submarine Laboratory, it might be well worth it to consider the Swedish air-independent-propulsion capable Gotland class submarine.

"Sweden Has A Sub That's So Deadly The US Navy Hired It To Play Bad Guy"

"We have been glued all week to the sub saga off the coast of Sweden, where six days in Swedish forces have only now called off their search for an elusive sub hiding in the waters off Stockholm. Yet what nobody has mentioned is just how deadly and capable Sweden's own subs are, and there are few better weapons for catching a sub than another sub."

"Sweden's submarine force is relatively tiny, just five boats make up the entire inventory, but those five vessels are extremely stealthy and lethal, especially their three Gotland Class diesel-electric submarines . . . Gotland Class was the first operational Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarines in the world, which gave them the previously unprecedented operational ability (for non-nuclear submarines at least) to stay submerged for weeks at a time."

Diesel/electric boats I might assume able to operate under the pack ice of the Arctic and do so for prolonged periods of time. What was once only within the purview of the nuclear powered submarine is now possible for those nations having AIP boats.

coolbert.

ASL.

This is coolbert:

From that era of the Second World War and for a period of FIFTY YEARS within the context of American submarine operations and especially operations in the Arctic regions this man a most significant figure.

Dr. Waldo Lyon. Distinguished American scientist and researcher whose specialty again was undersea warfare in the Arctic regions.

 

"For 51 years, Dr. Lyon worked for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego (SSC San Diego) and its predecessor organizations . . .  The lab [Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center] was used during World War II for testing, repairing and modifying submarine equipment and harbor defense systems in the Pacific Ocean. During the war, German U-boats in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were undetectable, because sonar failed under the surface ice. Dr. Lyon addressed this problem by designing and testing sonar and oceanographic equipment for the submarine USS Boarfish (SS-327) and participating in the ship's first under-ice dives."

That Arctic Submarine Laboratory [ASL] possessing a pool designed to conduct UNIQUE research and development of apparatus as germane to arctic undersea warfare. A pool also perhaps UNIQUE as to capability in the entire world.

"The Arctic Experimental Pool is one of a kind in the Western Hemisphere (and maybe throughout the world) that can grow true sea ice in the same manner as nature grows sea ice in the Arctic but with predictable and controlled conditions. [April 1993]"

"The Arctic Submarine Laboratory was a research facility of the U.S. Navy's Electronics Laboratory in San Diego, California. . . . and was focused on scientific exploration of the Arctic Basin, and particularly providing the capability to operate attack submarines in the Arctic under the ice canopy."

THE ASL AND THE POOL FACILITY AS A COST SAVING MEASURE SOME YEARS AGO NOW BEING DEMOLISHED, OVER THE STRENUOUS OBJECTION OF DR. LYON.

"The Arctic Submarine Laboratory [ASL] was demolished in 1996, two years before the death of Dr. Lyon, to expose the remains of the 1916 Battery Whistler, a resource deemed to be more important by the USN."

ASL still in existence but their Internet web site no longer active?

AND WITH HINDSIGHT THE OBJECTIONS OF DR. LYON ARE SEEN TO BE RATHER PRESCIENT! DESTRUCTION OF THE POOL WAS A DISASTER FOR WHICH THERE IS NO VIABLE ALTERNATIVE? INCREASED MILITARY ACTIVITY IN THE ARCTIC BY A VARIETY OF WORLD POWERS NOTED, OF WHICH SUBMARINE WARFARE UNDER THE ICE WILL BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF ALL OPERATIONS.

coolbert.

Lincoln.

This is coolbert:

Movie review.

The movie being reviewed is "Lincoln".

A Spielberg production called a "masterpiece"

Hardly I think a "masterpiece" but very good nonetheless.

I recommend you rent and see this movie.

"As the Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves."

Deals with the last several months of the American Civil War and those efforts of the Lincoln administration to:

1. Pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the House of Representatives. [the Senate having passed the amendment the prior year]

2. A negotiated end to the American Civil War with terms .

That number two item I being only aware of from fairly recently.

And an issue I too find to be somewhat surprising.

That negotiated settlement, an end to hostilities subject to the Confederate states in rebellion freeing the slaves and ending the "peculiar" institution.

At that point of the war [January 1865], those secessionist armies on the ropes, being defeated quite handily by the ever burgeoning Union armies. I might have thought unconditional surrender and absolute capitulation of all Confederate forces was NOT only surely possible but seen as eminently desirable.

Lincoln for whatever combination of reasons seems to have thought otherwise.

The proposed negotiated settlement to the war having been offered and Lincoln having personally met with representatives of the South, nothing came of it.

ONLY a few months later the war having come to an end, further protracted fighting and guerrilla warfare not transpiring.

coolbert.

Two Women.

This is coolbert:

Movie review.

The movie being reviewed is "Two Women".

Italian production from 1960, in black and white, with English Subtitles.

I RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE HIGHLY WITHOUT QUALIFICATION OR RESERVATION!

It is for her leading role that Sophia Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

With a superb cast, directed and produced by those most esteemed luminaries of European cinema.

Italian mother [Loren] in an attempt to save her daughter from the worst aspects of the Second World War walks right into the maelstrom itself.

"Cesira and her 13-year-old daughter, Rosetta, flee from the allied bombs in Rome during the second world war. They travel to the village where Cesira was born. During their journey and in the village, the mother does everything to protect Rosetta. However, on one occasion they both get raped by soldiers hiding in a church."

That allied offensive the object being the liberation or Rome [1944]. Sophia unwittingly jumping from the proverbial frying pan into the fire.

And as is shown in the movie [at the very end] Loren and her daughter also subjected to the predation of the GOUM. French colonial troops, Berbers from the high Atlas mountains of Morocco.

The goum rapists being allowed fifty hours of liberty to do as they pleased, subsequent to the final capture of Monte Cassino.

Those events and the conduct of the goum being yet one more instance of allied atrocity during WW2.

I had to have my public library locate this movie for me, you will probably have to do the same.

But again is well worth seeing.

coolbert.

Etaple.

This is coolbert:

From that previous blog entry:

"The influenza pandemic of 1918 having also a definite military dimension to it."

Indeed!

It is often thought the Swine flu [often called the Spanish flu], had as a source of origin the British military camp of Etaple [properly pronounced E-top] in Belgium.

Etaple at any given moment during the Great War having a population of about 100,000 troops.

Soldiers moving to and fro England and to and fro the front.

Etaple being to the greatest extent possible self-sufficient in the production of food.

The camp having both a piggery and a chicken ranch.

It being surmised that the disease "jumped" from the Etaple swine into humans. The rest being history as they say.

The Swine flu a big mystery to the doctors, HEALTHY PERSONS IN THE PRIME OF THEIR LIFE STRUCK DOWN WITH IMPUNITY BY THE ILLNESS.

That German Spring Offensive it is also suggested stalled by troops sickened and weakened to such an extent they were unable to maintain the rapid pace as demanded by blitzkrieg.

Soldiers too on both sides that habitual and common wearing of gas masks only exacerbating the spreading of the disease, masks and filters both becoming repositories for the virus, toxic gases alone not the sole danger from breathing the air.

Nothing further heard from that exhumation of Sykes of the Sykes-Picot agreement. The English diplomat Sykes having succumbed to the disease his remains sealed in a special casket. Scientists wanting an original specimen of the virus for study having the body dug up with an autopsy done, extraction of the virus the goal. Scientists do love this sort of thing.

coolbert.

Airstrikes

This is coolbert:

From the Sheldon Adelson Internet web site Israel Hayom an Israeli appreciation of the American aerial bombardment campaign currently being waged against ISIL

"Why is [the] Islamic State not folding?" by Dr. Ronen Yitzhak.

Those key points to include:

1. "Firstly, the number of airstrikes is disproportionate to the size of the area it controls (northern Iraq and western Syria)." [too few for the size of the land mass to be covered. ISIL controls an area of land at least half the size of the United States east of the Mississippi river.]

2. "The second problem involves the coalition's tactics. The airstrikes need to focus on specifically targeting Islamic State commanders, in order to paralyze the jihadist organization,"

3. "The third problem is the lack of intelligence. The unwillingness to cooperate with the Syrian regime means there is a shortage of quality intelligence, which makes it hard for American forces to operate in Syria."

4. "Finally, the Americans need to understand that Islamic State will not be defeated through airstrikes alone, regardless of how massive. The campaign to eliminate it needs to include a multitude of factors "

"Dr. Ronen Yitzhak is head of the Middle Eastern Studies Department at the Western Galilee College."

My instantaneous and intuitive response at least with regard to items # 2 and # 3 is ANGLICO. U.S. Marines behind-the-lines units specifically trained for and having the mission of targeting enemy units and providing terminal guidance for precision guided munitions. Paveway type laser guided bombs, missiles, naval and army long-range gunfire when available.

NO boots on the ground however? Or are they there already? Surreptitious and clandestine, sub rosa and all that.

coolbert.

Canada!

This is coolbert:

Canada under siege!

Events transpiring even as we speak:

From the other day two Canadian military personnel run down with a car, one soldier not surviving the attack. The assailant a Muslim convert:

"ISIS’ Call For ‘Lone Wolf Attacks’ Hits Canada Where A Would-Be Jihadist Just Ran Down Two Soldiers"

"ISIS’ call for 'lone wolf attacks' has hit North America."

"The attack took place while two soldiers were standing in a parking lot in Montreal. One soldier was wearing his uniform. The man behind the wheel, 25-year-old Martin Roulea, intentionally hit the armed forces members and then attempted to make a getaway from police in pursuit."

"However, Roulea lost control of his getaway car during the chase and flipped. As Roulea made his exit from the vehicle, police exercised the use of deadly force. One of the soldiers Roulea hit didn’t survive."

AND NOW FROM TODAY THIS BREAKING NEWS:

"Shots fired on Parliament Hill, soldier shot at National War Memorial (Canada)"

"Parliament Hill is in under lockdown after reports of shots being fired from inside the halls of the centre block. Nearby, at the National War Memorial, a man believed to be a soldier was shot by an unknown gunman."

. . . .

"Police said a man believed to be a member of the Canadian Forces was shot at the memorial."

Canada has strong controls on the individual ownership of firearms. But the jihadist does have the automobile. As in England not so long ago. That soldier ran over first, then beheaded.

coolbert.

Whiskey.

This is coolbert:

Devoted readers to the blog have been following the latest incident involving Swedish submarine hysteria.

This is actually a hot button topic and on-going even as we speak.

And of course remind of the various purported intrusions into Swedish waters by unidentified submerged warships during the Cold War as was the case over thirty years ago now.

This culminated in the famous "Whiskey on the Rocks" grounding of a Soviet Whiskey class submarine.

NOW the rest of the story thanks to Harry at Sharkhunters.com:

"WHISKEY on the ROCKS - Many years ago, probably a good 25 years ago [over thirty years actually], Sweden was realizing that Soviet submarines were in their territorial waters and sure enough, one Russian WHISKEY Class boat ran aground and was there for the world to see when the tide went out and thus, we dubbed her 'Whiskey on the Rocks' after a popular drink.  The boat was eventually refloated and went on her way."

     "Right around this time we reported that PepsiCo, parent company of Pepsi Cola, was moving into the Soviet Market quite rapidly.  People wondered how they paid for all this since the Soviet Union had no hard currency and it was Sharkhunters that revealed they were paying with submarines.  Yep - with submarines.  Each boat was worth about $200,000 in scrap value and boats were sent to the breaker yard in Sweden with the cash going to PepsiCo as payment.  They even did this with the old battleship ARCHANGLSK, the former HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN [originally British].  As the boats were being moved to the breaker's yard, one sharp-eyed Swede spotted one very special boat - it was the one that had been grounded, so it was transformed into a park in Sweden."

The Whiskey class of submarine considered as a POOR clone of the German World War Two Type XXI submarine. ALSO THAT GROUNDED WHISKEY DETERMINED TO HAVE BEEN CARRYING TORPEDOES WITH NUCLEAR WARHEADS!!

coolbert.

Mystery!

This is coolbert:

From intelNews.org more info on the current episode of Swedish submarine hysteria. The hunt continues.

"Sweden closes Stockholm airspace in search for mystery submarine"

October 21, 2014 by JOSEPH FITSANAKIS

"Swedish authorities shut down airspace above Stockholm on Monday, as they continued searching for a mystery foreign vessel that was sighted repeatedly off the coast of the Swedish capital last week. Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported on Saturday that the search began last Thursday, after Swedish intelligence detected a number of Russian-language emergency radio signals, which were sent from the vicinity of the port of Stockholm to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave located on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania.

And the possible reasons for such an incursion of a Russian submarine into Swedish waters might include:

 * " 'mapping the waters' around the Swedish capital"

* "installing underwater surveillance equipment" 

* "testing Sweden’s maritime defense systems"

* Insertion/Extraction of agents.

This is the work of Russian Naval spetsnaz?  Suvorov describes those GRU forces  as being very active in peace time as well as during war time.

coolbert.

Fifteen.

This is coolbert:

Even while the siege of the Syrian town of Kobane continues without resolution, the combat forces of ISIL still on the move.

"Officials: ISIS attacks Kurd forces in Iraq [15 simultaneous attacks in Northern Iraq]"

"ISIS militants launched about 15 near-simultaneous attacks on Kurdish forces in northern Iraq on Monday in what Kurdish government officials and the Kurdish news agency Rudaw said was a fierce and renewed push for Kurdish-held territory."

"The deadliest of the attacks targeted Mosul Dam, a hugely important location."

"First, an ISIS-commandeered military truck loaded with explosives targeted a Peshmerga checkpoint along the security belt circling the dam, killing six Peshmerga security forces and injuring seven others critically, according to Peshmerga forces"

The determination of ISIL quite strong. And too the ability to attack more or less simultaneously in so many locations indicative of staff planning and an understanding of the operational art.

coolbert.

Overrated.

This is coolbert:

From the latest issue of "Armchair General" as extracted.

"Who was the War's Most Overrated leader?" by Laurence Rees. [World War Two]

A list from that period the choice to include those leaders from among the military and political sphere both. Considerations to include only the war years and nothing more.

* Arthur "Bomber" Harris.     Max Hastings, British historian.   "became almost obsessed with pursuing the destruction of German cities, when a more strategic approach . . . might well have more greatly benefited the Allied cause."

* George S. Patton.     Geoffrey Wawro, director of the Military History Center at the University of North Texas   "he was pitiless about American casualties."

* Omar Bradley.      Conrad Crane, chief of Historical Services for the Army Heritage and Education Center    "too cautious at very critical times in 1944  and I don't think he reacted well at the Battle of the Bulge."

* Bernard L. Montgomery.     David Cesarani,   British Historian   "grossly overrated as a military leader and his political ineptitude is absolutely breathtaking."

* Mark Clark.     Andrew Roberts,   British historian  " Clark doesn't seem to have any personal redeeming features"

* Douglas MacArthur.     Antony Beevor,   British military historian.   "attempts to influence strategy in the Pacific were probably totally wrong"

* Dwight D. Eisenhower.     Richard Overy, professor history at the University of Exeter.   "He plays almost no part really in constructing, organizing and carry through the operations."

* Franklin Roosevelt.     Anita Przmowska, Polish historian.     "a gap between  between pronouncements and delivery."

* Winston S. Churchill.     Juliet Gardiner,   British social historian  "He made a lot of very stupid military decisions, or tried to make them, to interfere"

* Joseph Stalin.     Robert Service,  Soviet expert.     "He brought the political and the military sides of the war together, but he fought a disastrous war in other respects."

* Georgi Zhukov.     Kirill Anderson, Russian historian    " the number of losses among his soldiers wasn't very important"

* Charles de Gaulle.     William Hitchcock,  professor of history at the University of Virginia.  " difficult, so obstreperous, so unwilling to be flexible, so unwilling to take a second tier position, when he was lucky even to be in the room"

* Emperor Hirohito.     Akira Iriye,  Harvard historian.   "overrated by postwar apologists as a man of peace."

* Adolph Hitler.     Simon Sebag Montefiore, British historian.   "more and more mistakes and became less and less educable"

* Albert Speer.     Adam Tooze, Professor at Yale and a German expert.   "his contribution to the war effort has been grossly exaggerated"

* Heinz Guderian.     Robert M. Cition  professor at the U.S. Army War College.    "Guderian was as loyal to Hitler as they come."

So many possibles. And other experts would have submitted other names. And the devoted readers to the blog can compile their own list?

coolbert.

Influenza.

This is coolbert:

Within the context of the Ebola outbreak and scare, we have some interesting headlines as they were almost one hundred years ago.

The Swine Flu epidemic, sometimes referred to as the Spanish Flu, and as reported by the Chicago Tribune

The influenza pandemic of 1918 having also a definite military dimension to it.

"CHICAGO FLASHBACK"

"I had a little bird, it's name was Enza, I opened up the window and in flew Enza"

"Flu hit hard, fast in 1918" by Ron Grossman.

"2,000 INFLUENZA CASES IN BOSTON"

"IN 3 ARMY CAMPS U.S. FINDS SPANISH INFLUENZA PERIL"

"INFLUENZA WAVE HOLDS UP DRAFT OF 142,000 MEN"

"THEATERS AND MOVIES CLOSED BY 'FLU' ORDER"

"FLU MORE DEADLY THAN WAR: 300,000 VICTIMS IN U.S.A."

"100 SAILORS AT GREAT LAKES DIE OF INFLUENZA"

"ALL 'FLU' CASES QUARANTINED BY ORDER OF CITY"

"2 YOUNG DOCTORS GIVE LIVES IN INFLUENZA FIGHT"

"SCIENTISTS OF NATION START WAR UPON 'FLU'"

"The Spanish influenza, as it was dubbed because of it's supposed country of origin, was one of the worst plagues in history. It killed quickly, sometimes in less than a day, and attacked not only the weak and the elderly but also otherwise healthy young adults. Historians estimate that it killed 30 million to 50 million worldwide in just a few months from 1918 to 1919.

Understand that TENS OF MILLIONS MORE PERSONS DIED FROM THE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC THAN DURING THE FOUR YEARS OF COMBAT DURING WORLD WAR ONE!!

Most surprisingly too persons stricken and becoming fatalities in the prime of their life, almost unprecedented!!

Blame it all on the pigs!

coolbert.

Mobilization.

This is coolbert:

YET once more one if by air and two if by sea.

Only a short time ago this sort of thing was the topic of a previous blog entry.

Deja vu all over again.

From the Chicago Tribune of today:

"Sweden scouring sea for foreign activity"

"STOCKHOLM - - Sweden boosted the military's presence in Stockholm's archipelago on Saturday to scour its Baltic Sea waters for 'foreign underwater activity' in a mobilization of ships, troops, and helicopters unseen since the Cold War.

"The operations comes amid increasing tension with Russia among the Nordic and Baltic states over the Ukraine crisis. In the final years of the Cold War, Swedes repeatedly hunted illegal submarines along its coasts with depth charges."

Perhaps we are again chasing sea otters?

I might think the waters of the Baltic make for poor submarine operations. Covered with ice a goodly part of the year, relatively shallow, congested, submersibles of the nuclear type not being able to take advantage of their inherent depth and speed capability. Diesel/electric boats of the special operations variety however are a different matter?

coolbert.





 

NSL.

This is coolbert:

So as it is reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Army. The GRU. An as reported directly of Putin.

"Obama Threatens 14 US Governors With Immediate Arrest"

"A chilling report from the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU) prepared for Prime Minister Putin warns today that United States President Barack Obama has had served on 14 US Governors National Security Letters (NSLs) warning that if their actions in attempting to form what are called State Defense Forces are not halted they will face 'immediate' arrest for the crime of treason."

. . . .

“State Defense Forces (SDF) (also known as State Guards, State Military Reserves, or State Militias) in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government; they are not regulated by the National Guard Bureau nor are they part of the Army National Guard of the United States."

Until very recently I was not even aware that in SOME states there exists the concept of a State Guard. An independent and totally unique military force particular to that individual state and wholly subordinate and explicitly under control and authority only of the state governor.

NOT ALL states having such an apparatus.

According to Suvorov the old Soviet Union have the two largest intelligence agencies in the world. KGB [now known as SVR for external intelligence gathering] and the GRU.

coolbert.

Combat Aviator.

This is coolbert:

From my previous blog entry:

"My understanding has been that from the time of enlistment until a pilot ready to fly a modern advanced combat warplane a minimum of three years required! And that does not mean combat ready. That merely suggests and ability to solo, take off and land a modern jet and nothing more than that."

Talking in this instance about that training regimen of a conventional combat pilot in the "western" military mode that degree of flying skill requiring substantial time to achieve a readiness rather long as I suspected.

As described by an acknowledged aviation expert:

1. "Pilot training during [a period from about fifty years ago for a jet combat fighter pilot] was 13 months long and was fairly intense, class instruction time-wise and flying hours-wise."

THIS IS THE BASIC STUFF. SOLO, TAKE OFF AND LAND AND DO SO IN ONE PIECE.  

2. "Then came 'type qualification':  learning to fly the particular airplane you were assigned to which took another six months of intense training/flying for the more important or complex assignments, such as fighters"

THIS IS THE FLYING EXPERIENCE IN THE "PARTICULAR AIRPLANE" TO WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED. FIGHTER, BOMBER, TRANSPORT, HELIO, ETC.

 3. "Finally, you were assigned to your unit, where you'd have to go through another six months that unit's formal training to be 'combat ready', but in fact, it was then assumed you would need another six months of regular work with the squadron after the squadron's formal training course to really 'know' what you were doing in the air and as part of the fighting team."

THIS IS SKILLS TO MAKE YOU READY FOR COMBAT AT THE BASIC LEVEL. EVEN FURTHER TRAINING NEEDED TO PROCEED BEYOND THE BASIC LEVEL AND BE FULLY INTEGRATED INTO THE UNIT, CAPABLE OF THE MOST INTENSE MISSIONS!

Hey, nobody ever said any of this was easy, did they!

ISIL jihadi in training to fly with any sort of proficiency of high performance combat jet such as a MiG-21 are in for a long grind. To be honest the whole idea seems absurd. But then six months ago ISIL wasn't even on the map, were they?

coolbert.

Hunter.

This is coolbert:

A child of the famous and mighty bites the dust.

The son of Vice President Biden having been cashiered from the Navy his naval military career having run aground as a result of his own wrong doing.

"Biden’s Son Hunter Discharged From Navy Reserve After Failing Cocaine Test"

"WASHINGTON—Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was discharged from the Navy Reserve this year after testing positive for cocaine, according to people familiar with the matter."

"Hunter Biden, a lawyer by training who is now a managing partner at an investment company, had been commissioned as an ensign in the Navy Reserve, a part-time position. But after failing a drug test last year, his brief military career ended."

"Mr. Biden, 44 years old, decided to pursue military service relatively late, beginning the direct-commission process to become a public-affairs officer in the Navy Reserve in 2012. Because of his age—43 when he was to be commissioned—he needed a waiver to join the Navy. He received a second Navy waiver because of a drug-related incident when he was a young man"

This is the younger son of Biden. The elder son by a previous marriage was also military, a reserve JAG officer and did see duty in Afghan. The younger son is rather of advanced age to be doing his military service, and this can be perceived as evidence of resume padding, what it is called.

This is too bad! I like to think that in America even the children of the rich, famous, influential are willing to do their military service.

NO strings pulled in this however, and for that we can be grateful!

coolbert.

MiG-21 & MiG-23.

This is coolbert:

More alarmist headlines! Those advanced combat warplanes as captured by ISIL now operational? Being flown on training missions. So it is alleged.

"Group says ex-Iraqi pilots training Syria fighters"

"BEIRUT (AP) — Former Iraqi air force pilots are training extremists from the Islamic State group to fly three warplanes captured earlier from air bases belonging to the Syrian army, a Syrian activist group said Friday."

"The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the planes, seen flying over the Jarrah air base in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province this week, are believed to be of the MiG-21 and MiG-23 variety."

. . . .

"Islamic State members were being trained by Iraqi officers who had joined the group and who were once pilots under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein."

My understanding has been that from the time of enlistment until a pilot ready to fly a modern advanced combat warplane a minimum of three years required! And that does not mean combat ready. That merely suggests and ability to solo, take off and land a modern jet and nothing more than that.

ISIL does not expect a lot more from their combat aviators than that? These would be aircraft and pilots designated for SUICIDE MISSIONS IN THE MANNER OF 9/11?

coolbert.

Bikers.

This is coolbert.

Not for fifty years has there been anything like this.

Yet one instance of foreign nationals joining the anti-ISIL coalition. Sadar is not alone.

Dutch motorcycle enthusiasts volunteering for military service fighting on the side of the Kurds. And doing so with the hope they will remain together as a unit.

"Dutch biker gang grabs rifles, joins Kurds in fight against ISIS"

"Members of a massive Dutch motorcycle gang, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, recently joined Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State in Iraq, vowing to 'exterminate the rodents.'”

"The leader of No Surrender -- which has dozens of chapters in the Netherlands and across Europe -- told state broadcaster NOS on Friday that three of its members have traveled to Mosul in Northern Iraq to take up the fight against ISIS"

Anyone devoted reader to the blog have a knowledge of No Surrender? Are they what are normally termed as "outlaws". Meaning bikers that engage in organized criminal behavior.

I know that "outlaw" motorcycle gangs in the past several decades have proliferated in Europe in prodigious numbers.

These gangs finding their natural enemy to be THE MUSLIM IMMIGRANT WHO IS A COMPETITOR IN THE UNDERGROUND AND ILLEGAL EUROPEAN DRUG TRADE!

During that era of the Vietnam War the famous/infamous leader Sonny Barger of the American Hells' Angels "outlaw" motorcycle gang sent a telegram to then President Johnson volunteering the service of the gang for military duty. Barger made two proviso: 1. The gang be allowed to stay together as a unit, 2. They be allowed to bring their motorcycles with them. President Johnson most understandably so denied the request without comment or response.

Well, once in fifty years I guess we can live with that.

coolbert.

White Shroud.

This is coolbert:

To a degree this reminds me of the Phoenix Program from that era of the Vietnam War.

Irregulars fighting other irregulars. No-holds-barred clandestine and secretive warfare between Syrian nationals and ISIL combatants.

"Shrouds on the Ground Striking Fear Within ISIS ranks"

"Determination and raw courage of ‘Shrouds on the Ground'"

"The dithering U.S.-led ‘Coalition of the Reluctantly Willing’ has been left in the back seat by small groups of Syrian guerrillas successfully hunting down and eliminating the terrorists of ISIS."

. . . .

“Terrorist organisation Islamic State is now under attack from guerrillas itself, it was revealed today.  'Small groups of Syrians are hunting down ISIS fighters in one of their main strongholds in eastern Syria in a new guerrilla campaign that has emerged as a response to the Islamists’ growing brutality.'”

That white shroud the burial garb of a devout Muslim. Perhaps even the robe worn while on holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

coolbert.

Bob Ballard.

This is coolbert:

From that previous blog entry:

"the explorer Robert Ballard discovered the remains of an ancient structure 311 feet deep [100 meters] near Turkey in 2000 that he [Ballard] believes was flooded during the time of Noah."

Dr. Bob Ballard of course that famous underwater explorer, having led the expedition that located the sunken remains of the steamship Titanic.

AND a reserve naval officer [now retired] who has done expeditionary work on behalf at the request of the U.S. Navy. The naval and civilian archaeological research of Bob Ballard are almost hand in glove!!

"Robert Duane Ballard  . . . is a former United States Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology of shipwrecks."

Oceanic research and expeditions in measure financed by the U.S. Navy:

"Ballard joined the United States Army in 1965 through the Army's Reserve Officers Training program. He was designated as an intelligence officer . . . He was called up to active duty in 1967 but requested to fulfill his obligation in the United States Navy. His request was approved, and Ballard was transferred to the Navy Reserve on the reserve active duty list . . . He retired from the Navy as a commander in 1995 after reaching the statutory service limit."

"this trip [search for the RMS Titanic] was financed by the U.S. Navy for secret reconnaissance of the wreckage of two Navy nuclear powered attack submarines, the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher, which sank in the 1960s, and not for Titanic. Back in 1982, Ballard approached the Navy about his new deep sea underwater robot craft, the Argo, and his search for Titanic. The Navy was not interested in financing the search for the large ocean liner. However, they were interested in finding out what happened to their missing submarines and ultimately concluded that Argo was their best chance to do so. The Navy agreed it would finance Ballard's Titanic search only if he first searched for and investigated the two sunken submarines, and found out the state of their nuclear reactors after being submerged for such a long time"

And Dr. Bob Ballard was aware in 1999 that fifty years earlier the USS Cubera did discover an entire underwater city vicinity Sevastopol submerged 300 feet [100 meters] deep??

coolbert.

Covert & Clandestine.

This is coolbert:

That surreptitious, covert, clandestine and perhaps even well planned attack by ISIL on the Shia areas of Baghdad has begun?

"Militants take Iraq army camp as bombs hit Baghdad"

"BAGHDAD (AP) —  . . .  a spate of deadly bombings shook Baghdad, hitting mostly Shiite neighborhoods and leaving at least 30 dead."

"The attacks, which came as Iraqi Shiites marked a major holiday for their sect with families crowding the streets in celebration, raised new concerns that the Sunni militant group is making gains despite U.S.-led coalition airstrikes."

. . . .

"In Baghdad, which has largely been spared the violence seen in other parts of Iraq amid the Islamic State group's onslaught, bombings killed at least 30 people and wounded scores more Monday.
The attacks, hitting three Shiite-majority neighborhoods"

ISIL has planned their strategy well. Attack the weak and avoid the strong. Those Shia militias in Baghdad are a serious threat to ISIL. Terrorist car bombings make more sense. Exacerbate an already existing high degree of tension and create even further animosity between the religious sects of Sunni and Shia Arab.

coolbert.

Frigate.

This is coolbert:

One if by air and two if by sea!

And not so much loose nukes but loose warships.

"Counter-Terrorism: Loose Nukes In Pakistan"
 
 "October 13, 2014: Pakistan is being accused by many Pakistanis of trying to cover up the participation of navy personnel in a recent al Qaeda attempt to hijack a frigate."

. . . .

"The plan was apparently to hijack the frigate and use it to attack an American warship currently off the coast. Taking a frigate out to sea requires more than four people, even if all four are trained sailors. So the question is; who else was in on this plot and how many of them were sailors at the naval base?"

Pakistani naval personnel [the ring leader having been previously cashiered] hijacking a warship and use to attack an American vessel.

NO SUCH mutiny of this sort has occurred at least in over forty years now.

The last time to my recollection was the seizure of a Soviet warship in the Baltic, the enlisted men overpowering their officers and making a run for Sweden. An attempt at escape unsuccessful, many of the crewmen being executed when apprehended.

AND THE QUESTION TOO  HAS BE ASKED, HOW SAFE EXACTLY ARE THOSE SEVERAL HUNDRED PAKISTANI NUCLEAR WARHEADS?

NO WHERE ELSE other than at Strategy Page did I see any mention of this attempted hijacking. I guess the news media is too absorbed with ISIL and such an attack would be small potatoes in comparison?

coolbert.

Black Arts.

This is coolbert:

Place almost in the strange but true paranormal category we have this item.

English psychological warfare experts during the thirty years of insurrection in Northern Ireland attempting to persuade the public that the para-military organizations, Catholic and Protestant both, were in league with the devil, engaging in witchcraft, black magic, sorcery, the "black arts" what they are referred to.

Stay away from those guys was the message!!

"Satanic panic: how British agents stoked supernatural fears in Troubles"

"Stories about black masses leaked to press in effort to link paramilitary attacks to the paranormal, study reveals"

"British military intelligence agents in Northern Ireland used fears about demonic possessions, black masses and witchcraft as part of a psychological war against emerging armed groups in the Troubles in the 1970s, a study says."

[. . . .]

"they [British intelligence] deliberately stoked up a satanic panic from 1972 to 1974, even placing black candles and upside-down crucifixes in derelict buildings in some of Belfast’s war zones."

How effective any of this was I might imagine hard to determine. When in desperate circumstances you resort to desperate measures? Is this was what occurring?

coolbert.

Anbar & Hit.

This is coolbert:

More bad news from Iraq. Yet one more Iraqi army installation has been captured by the forces of ISIL. A long siege has come to an end, Iraqi national army troops having to flee for their lives.

"Militants take Iraq army camp as bombs hit Baghdad"

"BAGHDAD (AP) — Militants with the Islamic State group on Monday captured a military training camp in western Iraq, inching closer to full control of the restive Anbar province"
. . . .

"Iraqi troops, overstretched and overwhelmed by the Islamic State group's summer blitz that seized large swaths of territory in western and northern Iraq, continued to come under pressure Monday in the western Anbar province, where militants seized an Iraqi military training camp."

"The camp, near the town of Hit that fell to the insurgents earlier this month, was overrun in the morning hours after clashes with Iraqi soldiers who were forced to abandon the camp and withdraw from the area"

Anbar province now mostly under the control of ISIL. That is the main Sunni area of Iraq.

The central government of Iraq and their military units just seem to be incapable of dealing with the ISIL threat. There seems to be no amelioration to the problem. At some point everyone is going to have to agree that ISIL is here to stay and learn to live with it?

coolbert.

Mustard?

This is coolbert:

HOT FLASH message!! Thanks to the tip from RT.

ISIL has once more used chemical weaponry? Bunker 41 contents are being put to use?

"ISIL used chemical weapons against Kobani Kurdish fighters: Report"

"Recent photos of Kurdish fighters killed in battles with ISIL Takfiri militants in the Syrian town of Kobani suggest that the terrorists have used chemical weapons against the Kurds."

"The photographs, published by the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) on Sunday, show that the bodies of three Kurdish fighters were not damaged by bullets, but instead were marked by burns and white spots without any visible wounds or external bleeding."

ISIL has broken into those bunkers containing the mustard agent rockets and is using them in combat?

Mustard agent warheads having previously gone through a decontamination process those rockets nonetheless still possessing a lethality from residual toxic chemicals until 100 % destroyed. And that was not done!

coolbert.

Underground.

This is coolbert:

Reading this headline my instantaneous reaction was tunnel warfare. Going underground literally. But that is not so. Underground as meaning more surreptitious and clandestine. More hidden.

"ISIS reportedly goes underground as activists dispute airstrikes' effectiveness"

"Members of the Islamic State militant group have begun traveling by night and in small groups in an effort to avoid detection by U.S. and Arab forces carrying out airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, according to a published report."

"the group, commonly known as ISIS, has also relocated weapons and hostages and moved out of bases, buildings, and camps they had occupied prior to the strikes."

. . . .

". . . U.S. officials tell the Journal that early efforts at camouflage by ISIS have been largely unsuccessful, though the militants are expected to grew more adept at covering their tracks."

Dispersal and redundancy. Constant movement. Camouflage and concealment. AND deception.

ISIL brutal and ruthless as well. Expect them to use hostages as human shields and make it plain to the world that hostages are being used in this manner.

And ISIL combat units when in contact with adversaries also to use "hugging" tactics. Close the gap between you and the enemy to thirty meters or less and not allow for close-air-support [CAS] to be used against you.

Hardly also expect ISIL will eventually revert to tunnel warfare. And employing what is best described as impressed or slave labor to dig the tunnels.

These ISIL guys are not stupid or dumb.

coolbert.

Disease.

This is coolbert:

From Freeper:

"Generals blast Obama's order of troops to fight Ebola"

"Two retired U.S. Army generals have blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to send U.S. troops to West Africa to battle the Ebola virus epidemic, saying the military is to fight wars, not disease. In exclusive interviews with WND, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William 'Jerry' Boykin and retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely condemned Obama’s decision"

 

That mission of the U.S. Army or any other military organization to fight and win wars YES, but much more than that.

 

Stability very important also. If that Ebola epidemic not brought under control, confined and contained expect a societal breakdown for all of western Africa and much further beyond.

 

Instability on a monumental basis, with movements of people, human migrations on a prodigious and apocalyptic scale, dislodgments of entire nations, a loss of life and upheaval not seen since the Dark Ages.

 

The ramifications thereof not within the control of those nations that constitute the current world order, a breakdown of the existing global structure as predicted by the British Admiral Parry.

 

CONSIDER THAT HISTORICALLY, MEDICAL PROPHYLAXIS AS APPLIED BY THE MILITARY WHILE NOT COMMON IS NOT SO RARE EITHER:

"During the 1850s, the U.S. Army Medical Service vaccinated over 10,000 Plains Indians against smallpox."

Thanks to Professor Al Nofi and his CIC # 40  as found at the Strategy Page web site for that amazing tidbit.

These two general offices too are in violation of UCMJ Article 88? Granted the two men are retired but my understanding is that general officers are carried on the Rolls of the Army for their life span, no matter how old. NO criticism of the President or members of Congress allowed!

coolbert.

 

Why!

This is coolbert:

As seen at the First Things blog and from a person we can reasonably infer is a Muslim we have some further insight into the ISIL problem. WHY exactly are so many persons finding the insurgent group and their declaration of a Caliphate a matter of joy?

"What Makes ISIS Appealing?" by Ayman S. Ibrahim

  "With widespread news about ISIS selling kidnapped women and girls as sex slaves, smiting necks of non-Muslims, or expelling them from their homes, one would assume that everyone on the planet views ISIS as wicked. Yet not only in the Muslim-majority countries, but also in Europe, Australia, and even the U.S., ISIS has drawn support . . .  What in the world makes these individuals love ISIS?"

Here are three possibilities:

* "First, ISIS knows how to use the Qur’ān. In every possible way, the militant group attempts to support its claims and actions through Islam’s scripture. ISIS’s members use not only Islamic, but specifically Qur’ānic terms, verses, and rhetoric heavily."

* "Second, ISIS knows how to use the early Muslim history to support its claims and military operations."

* "Third, ISIS is quite appealing to some as it serves as the fulfillment of the long awaited dream of the one unified Muslim umma (community)."

Among the umma many insurgent groups taking  notice of the Caliphate and pledging allegiance to same. From Nigeria to the Philippines. Rallying to the call of ISIL still a minor trend among Muslims world-wide, but the phenomenon growing.

coolbert.

USS Cubera.

This is coolbert:

Atlantis has been found!!

Place this one in the paranormal category, strange but true, and essentially after many decades verified with more or less absolute certainty.

American submarine USS Cubera on an intelligence gathering mission in Sevastopol harbor during that most early period of the Cold War [late 1940's] coming under attack and in the process of evading the Soviet pursuer discovering AN UNDERWATER AND SUBMERGED ANCIENT CITY THE EXISTENCE OF WHICH WAS NOT KNOWN!!

As recounted in the book "Red November" by W. Craig Reed.

"Not more than a few minutes after raising the periscope for another look, the Soviet navy stirred, a subtle rumbling at first, soon followed by an all-out barrage. Grider [captain of the boat] dove the boat and tried to evade but the Soviet slammed the ocean with active sonar pings. . . . Out of options, Grider searched for a place to hide."

"Bottom-sounding sonar detected something strange on the ocean floor, 300 feet down  [100 meters] Grider took the boat deeper. Near the bottom, he peered through the periscope into the murky water . . . Grider couldn't believe what  his eyes told him, so he asked the chief of the boat . . . to have a look."

"The gods had smiled upon the Cubera by allowing her to stumble across an ancient city flooded by time. The tall earthen buildings afforded the perfect hiding place and just enough cover to deflect Soviet sonar beams."

And from the notes to the book:

"Gardner Brown [crew member on the Cubera] does not know what ancient buildings the USS Cubera hid behind while dodging Soviets in the Black Sea, but the explorer Robert Ballard discovered the remains of an ancient structure 311 feet deep [100 meters] near Turkey in 2000  that he [Ballard] believes was flooded during the time of Noah."

This is the Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis. In the aftermath of the last Ice Age [ending about 10,000 B.C.], rising sea levels causing the Mediterranean to overflow into the basin that has become the Black Sea. The Black Sea prior to that a fresh-water lake the level of the sea rising those hundreds of feet [meters] in a catastrophic manner, the inundation covering cities and towns that existed on the lake shore.

NOTHING OF WHICH WAS KNOWN ABOUT UNTIL DISCOVERED BY AN AMERICAN SUBMARINE DURING LESS THAN ROUTINE OPERATIONS!!

coolbert.

Osprey.

This is coolbert:

Seen this United States Air Force recruiting ad on TV just the other day that featured USAF personnel operating an Osprey aircraft.

That was a new one on me. I had thought Osprey was strictly Marines. But this is not the case.

Osprey in the USAF inventory as a special operations type aircraft and for some time now.
 
"v-22 Osprey US Air Force"

"The USAF Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) replaced the MH-53 Pave Low with the CV-22B Osprey variant which is equipped with extra fuel tanks, terrain-following radar and many advanced defensive electronic systems." 

CV-22 Osprey - Roles. USAF Special Ops use the CV-22 for:

* "insertion/extraction/resupply of special operations forces"
* "combat search and rescue"

"The Air Force's first operational CV-22 Osprey was delivered to the 58th Special Operations Wing (58th SOW) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico on 20 March 2006. This and subsequent aircraft will become part of the 58th SOW's fleet of aircraft used for training pilots and crew members for special operations use."

The two Osprey flying in such close proximity so close, one behind the other is dangerous? So the USAF seems to have deemed to be the case: "In August 2012, the USAF found that 'CV-22 wake modeling is inadequate for a trailing aircraft to make accurate estimations of safe separation from the preceding aircraft.'"

Osprey with extra fuel tanks for extended range and DOES HAVE an in-flight refueling capability. Long-range with global reach.

"The U.S. Air Force's first operational deployment of the Osprey sent four CV-22s to Mali in November 2008 in support of Exercise Flintlock. The CV-22s flew nonstop from Hurlburt Field, Florida with in-flight refueling. AFSOC declared that the 8th Special Operations Squadron reached Initial Operational Capability on 16 March 2009, with six CV-22s in service."

. . . .

Indeed, that recent hostage-rescue mission to Syria involving the Osprey of AFSOC:

"On 3 July 2014, V-22 aircraft carried Delta Force commandos to a campsite in eastern Syria where Islamic State militants had held American and other hostages. The commandos quickly eliminated the militants at the site, but found that the hostages had been moved elsewhere and returned home empty handed."

Osprey makes a lot of noise in comparison to other rotary wing aircraft? Anyone know about this? Special operations type missions quite often rely on stealth, silence being golden and much appreciated!

coolbert.

Passive.

This is coolbert:

Here you can listen to the very recordings as were used to train American passive sonar operators during the Second World War [WW2] and thereafter.

"Historic Naval Sound and Video"

"Below are some real (nothing from Hollywood) underwater sounds and some video. These are in MP3 format Icon for MP3 audio which should work on most modern browsers."

1. "Expendable Radio Sonobuoy Training Records, 15P3: U.S. Navy, Bureau of Aeronautics - Special Devices Division"

"These are 78 RPM records prepared by Columbia University, Division of War Research at the U.S. Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory"

2. "Sonar Training Record Series D16"

"These are declassified training recordings of USN submarines on an early radio sonobuoy system."

3. "JP Sonar Training Records"
"The JP was the most important and most frequently used submarine passive sonar used during WW II."

4. "Sound In the Sea"
"These declassified sounds from the USN were collected together by sonar development company in the 1960s."

You too can pretend you are a passive sonar operator on an attack submarine. Endlessly fascinating being able to listen to and distinguish those sounds associated with:

* A submarine snorkeling.

* A submarine cavitating on the surface.

* A submarine cavitating at a depth of 100 feet [33 meters].

* A cruiser passing overhead.

* A cruiser at 15,000 yards [meters].

* A grey whale.

* A sperm whale.

Knowing and being able the sounds of the ocean deemed as "biologics" quite important.

"In 1992 Swedish Navy commissioned a new hydroacoustic system and it has been found that sounds similar to submarine noise were made by sea otters…"

And there are sea otters in the Baltic?

coolbert.

Le Queux.

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Submarine hysteria as we understand it of course not confined to that era of the two World Wars, the Cold War, etc.

An integral part of "invasion literature" as authored by William Le Queux often featuring submarine activity. German U-Boats threatening England, operating surreptitiously, in secret and unannounced. Very sinister like.

"WAR, PROPAGANDA, AND THE FICTION OF WILLIAM Le QUEUX" Reported by Brett F. Woods

"The West is currently engaged in a clandestine war against terrorism and, as fiction follows fact, in the years to come we will doubtless witness the publication of innumerable espionage novels detailing the villainy of Islamic renegades and the corresponding actions of Western society to counter the threat. And while this might be considered as an exploitation of unfortunate events, it is certainly not a new scenario, for the novelist and the spy have long enjoyed a unique and symbiotic relationship with one another."

"Invasion literature" that alarmist type of fiction, the German is coming, invasion imminent, England awash with German spies, saboteurs, "agents".

Those Germans quite often spotted signaling out to sea, their secret messages received by surface vessels OR submarines.

As recounted in: "'THE MYSTERY OF THE GREEN RAY' BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX" 

"I looked around me, and saw that we were steaming slowly down a narrow loch, surrounded by mountains which stretched right down to the shores. I looked across the deck and almost shouted out in mysurprise. For there, moving gracefully alongside of us, was a submarine. There were two officers on the deck of the submarine chatting with Hilderman and Fuller, who were leaning over the rail of the Fiona. A submarine! A German submarine in a peaceful Scottish loch! Then this was the secret base we had discussed. I looked up at the wheel-house. In front of it was the very searchlight, with its curious condenser that I had seen in the cavern."

Le Queux it can even be suggested at some point becoming mentally unbalanced, believing his own works of fiction, leading expeditions of faithful readers and followers to detect and unmask all those German "agents" that in reality did not exist.

coolbert.

Fencer

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 Fencer! 

 ANYONE AWARE IF THE SOVIET/RUSSIAN Su-24 has a midair-in flight refueling capability? 

Among those aircraft as taking part in the latest Russian war-games in the Far East we find Su-24 Fencer!

 Low-level, day/night, all weather fighter-bomber aircraft.

Variable geometry as they call it, wings can be swept forward to back depending on the mission, tandem seating, terrain-following radar, etc.

Normally associated with tactical aviation missions.

Fencer analogous to the American F-111. Indeed, the Su-24 warplane appears from outward appearance seems to be a clone of the F-111.

The Sukhoi Su-24 is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. This variable-sweep wing, twin-engined side-by-side two-seater carried the USSR's first integrated digital navigation/attack system.

Those long-range Russian bomber aircraft approaching American airspace during Vostok 2014 not accompanied by Fencer. Bombers and tankers yes but not Fencer.

My thought was that an combined long-range aerial attack force the vanguard of which might be Fencer in the ground attack role. A combined Russian air force attack unit consisting of Bear, Backfire, Blackjack, Midas, Mainstay, and Fencer .

A supersonic, terrain-following, low-level dash by Fencer aircraft in the SEAD mission in advance of the long-range bombers might be desirable. Fencer firing short-range attack missiles [SRAM] at early-warning [EW] and ground-control-intercept [GCI] radars.

American air defense assets depleted, that mission of the long-range bombers that much easier.

And as for the question of Fencer having an in-flight refueling capability, the answer is YES!!

coolbert.

Sadar.

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Most unusual that you find an American having traveled to the ground Middle Eastern battleground and taken up arms with the Kurdish militia.

But here he is. Sadar!! Sadar also having an American military background apparently.

"Why did Wisconsin's Jordan Matson go to Syria to fight terrorists?"

"Jordan Matson, 28, of Racine, was tired of seeing Christians killed and wanted to help conquer the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, he told USA Today from a hospital room in Syria, where he is recovering from a shrapnel wound to the foot."

"He found the Kurdish People's Protection Unit on Facebook via a Google search and posed as a doctor to get into Syria and help them, said Matson, who now uses the name Sadar."

"Matson doesn't speak Kurdish and communicates with his fellow anti-terrorist fighters mostly through sign language"

"A former Army private first class, he is not getting a salary for fighting with the Kurds."

Sadar [his nom de guerre] currently fighting with the YPG in Kobane Has apparently been wounded. YPG defending that besieged city [Kobane] against continuous and frenzied ISIL attack, the situation perilous.

At least to my knowledge no American since the Rhodesian Bush War having fought with a foreign power in the capacity of soldier. Sadar hardly a mercenary as that term understood, NOT RECEIVING PAYMENT IN RETURN FOR HIS SERVICES!

coolbert.

Dilar.

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Given the proper context, we can understand this incident better.

"Kurdish female suicide bomber revealed to be mother of two"

NOT a suicide bomber!! The woman went down fighting.

"Dilar Gnecxemis, Kurdish fighter who carried out the 'suicide bomb attack' on Sunday against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Kobane, was a 20-year-old mother of two and, commander in the the People’s Protection Unit (YPG), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Dilar had run out of ammunition, a lone survivor in a gun battle with ISIS on a hill outside of Kobane, prompting her to thumb down a grenades hammer and present to the ISIS thugs."

YPG is an "offshoot" of PKK. PKK the Kurdish communist party.

Surrounded, a lone survivor, out of ammunition, the consequences for Dilar to be taken alive too horrible to contemplate. But she did fight to the last.

See my previous blog entry on the Kurdish female guerrilla. You can have a great degree of admiration for these females.

coolbert.

Meth.

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Cranked!!

And a potential cash-cow too!

"Like the Nazis Before Them, ISIS Soldiers Often Cranked-Up on Meth as They KILL KILL KILL"

"Just when you thought the blood-drunk ISIS couldn't possibly become more repellent or damaging to this world, now 'The Islamic State' in Iraq and Syria is producing its own meth (and ecstasy) in recently-captured pharmaceutical plants in order to earn hard-currency from exports, ala North Korea..."

"If it wasn't worrisome enough that ISIS had taken oil fields and captured piles of gold from a Mosul bank, consider that now they're adding lucrative drug manufacture/export- making the group more economically-independent by the day."

Within the cultural domain of Islam alcohol not allowed. Opiates the preferred drug, hashish also!

It also does not seem that substances such as "speed" type drugs not so forbidden after all. The stimulant ingredient of coffee as recognized originally in the Middle East of course!

Meth, crystal meth, etc., produce an uncontrollable person, subject to fits of rage and becoming a danger to everyone around them. Habitual users also during periods of withdrawal becoming a useless individual and a terrible burden to all!

Selling forbidden drugs to the kaffir I might think not only allowed but encouraged.

coolbert.