Vigilant Warrior. American response [1994] to what was perceived as a second attempt by Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait.
"Operation Vigilant Warrior . . . was a military operation from 8 October 1994 to 15 December 1994 by the United States in response to two divisions of Iraqi Republican Guard troops moving toward the Kuwaiti border."
American troops a rapid mobilization and deployment of forces to Gulf region [Persian], forestalling the machinations of Saddam.
PERSONALLY I CONSIDER IT PREPOSTEROUS BUT NOT SO TOTALLY IMPLAUSIBLE THAT SADDAM WOULD MAKE ONE MORE EFFORT TO INVADE KUWAIT. EVEN AFTER THE SEVERE BEATING HIS FORCES TOOK IN THE FIRST GULF WAR THE MAN [SADDAM] NOT THAT MOST ASTUTE AND KNOWLEDGEABLE OF MILITARY LEADERS.
Debate over Iraqi intentions:
"There is significant debate over Iraqi intentions during the October 1994 crisis. Saddam Hussein's son-in-law Hussein Kamel stated after his defection to Jordan in 1995 that Saddam had intended to invade Kuwait a second time and this was forestalled by a rapid U.S. response to reinforce the kingdom. Others have argued that Saddam never intended to actually invade Kuwait and the movements were intended as a provocation to draw attention to Iraq's plight under the international sanctions regime.
"Former Republican Guard general Ra'ad al-Hamdani claimed in an interview after the 2003 invasion that Saddam had decided in September 1994 to invade Kuwait, but that he had opposed Saddam during a meeting on 11 September 1994."
Comments:
1. It has often been suggested that there was no legitimate casus belli for the Second Gulf War [2003]. Iraqi provocations of the worst sort in the eleven year period [attempting without success many times to shoot down a single American war plane] alone an indication that Saddam had not abandoned his intentions toward Kuwait.
2. Those sanctions as purported causing a lot of misery for the Iraqi people only as a result of continued and stubborn Iraqi intransigence. Sanctions originally supposed to last for mere months lasting for years again as a result of Saddam and his intrigue of an unseemly nature.
As originally from Reuters and as seen at the Internet web site Epoch Times.
"Australia will spend A$1.1 billion ($725.9 million) to upgrade an airbase in the country’s tropical north, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, a development that increases Canberra’s military armory in the Pacific."
"The base in the regional town of Katherine in Australia’s Northern Territory will be the home of the country’s new fleet of F-35 strike fighters once the upgrade is finished in 2027."
Correct [?] also that those F-35 fighter planes needing improved and appropriate infrastructure for base-ing, mission not possible otherwise?
See additionally previous blog entries [with further embedded links] as revlavant:
Only very vaguely was I aware of this. Anti-aircraft artillery [AAA] batteries as "manned" by Englishwomen during WW2. Yeoman work and done very successfully. Combat arms duty and carried out in an admirable manner without fault.
"Women were barred from serving in battle, but due to shortages of men, ATS members, as well as members of the other women's voluntary services, took over many support tasks, such as radar operators, forming part of the crews of anti-aircraft guns [AAA] and military police."
"The first 'Mixed' Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) battery of the Royal Artillery (435 (Mixed) HAA Battery) was formed on 25 June 1941, and took over an operational gun site in Richmond Park, south-west London, in August. It was the forerunner of hundreds of similar units with the ATS supplying two-thirds of the personnel: at its height in 1943 three-quarters of Anti-Aircraft Command's HAA batteries were mixed. Several Heavy Anti-Aircraft regiments deployed to North West Europe with 21st Army Group in 1944–45 were 'Mixed' regiments."
"MIXED" COMBAT ARMS UNITS. MIXED BY GENDER.
Further, women serving in "mixed" units able to load, aim, service and maintain AAA firing pieces. WOMEN HOWEVER STRANGELY ENOUGH NOT ALLOWED TO FIRE THE GUNS!!
Germany the same situation existed. Women "manning" AAA units but not allowed to fire the guns.
"ber•serk: Destructively or frenetically violent. Mentally or emotionally upset; deranged. Unrestrained, as with enthusiasm or appetite; wild."
Viking commando units from the times of the Middle Ages warriors drugged with substances to create a frenzied and uncontrollable rage during periods of battle. Fighting men best described in modern terms as shock troops Almost impossible to stop in combat, relatively impervious to pain and injury, deadly to the opponent in the extreme
The use of "substances" to create an enhanced combat ability hardly confined to the Viking of the Middle Ages. The Zulu also had advanced and very sophisticated pharmacology useful during a time of war and battle. Commando units of the Zulu also making liberal usage of "substances" to enhance battlefield performance.
"Shooting Up: A History of Drugs in Warfare" by Lukasz Kamie'nski
"Members of the special commandoes [Zulu], whose task was to breach the enemy lines to enable the regular troops to flow and carry out a rapid encircling maneuver called 'the horns of the bull', received a special drug that both sharpened their senses particularly sight and hearing and enhanced concentration and alertness. They were probably given, though here we can only speculate, Amanita muscaria because the fungus occurs in Africa . . . the shaman doctors [inyanga] also had at their disposal a special remedy for the wounded . . . a potent painkiller and hallucinogenic"
"The Zulus fought with fanaticism, dedication, and fury. Armed by and fortified by their shaman doctors [inyanga] with potent intoxicants, they were into battle utterly without fear . . . Even when injured they did not stop fighting because their bodies were rendered insensitive to pain the through the use of powerful anesthetizing plant remedies."
One pill makes you happy. One pill makes you small. And the one the inyanga gives you does make you feel as if you are ten feet tall!
"Once on the phone, the virus would give Hamas operatives control over all aspects of the phone, including pictures, the soldier’s location, text messages and the soldier’s contact list. The virus would also have access to the phone’s camera and microphone, taking pictures and recording conversations remotely without the soldier knowing."
Courtesy the Jerusalem Post article and the tip from Mike
Boys will be boys. Beware the old Mata Hari routine. It does work!!
"As part of 'Operation Rebound,' the IDF has foiled the third such Hamas network foiled in three years."
"The IDF has foiled a third Hamas network posing as attractive young women on social networks that lures in IDF soldiers in order to access as much information and intelligence on the army that they can.
The phones of hundreds of soldiers, including combat soldiers, were compromised in the third such Hamas honeypot operation foiled by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) since 2017."
Here is Noa D. The temptress. Hamas operative and purports to be a recent immigrant to Israel and is having trouble with her Hebrew. Can the soldier help [of course he can!!]? Noa not too bad really. If I was fifty years younger I might go for it myself. Does she shave her armpits? You download to your smart phone the image of Noa and get a virus installed on the phone as well. A virus that allows Hamas to gather intelligence without you the unwitting soldier even realizing so.
NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU WARN THE TROOPS ABOUT THIS TYPE OF STUFF AND TO AVOID IN ALL INSTANCES IT NEVER ENDS.
"MOSCOW/OSLO (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it was alarmed by a trip to a Norwegian outpost in the Arctic by a U.S. Air Force unit and urged Oslo to refrain from what it said were de-stabilizing moves in the strategic region."
USAF PERSONNEL CONDUCTING A FEASIBILITY STUDY AND NOTHING MORE AND ALARM BELLS IN MOSCOW GOING OFF ALL OVER THE PLACE??
Take-off and landing of American C-130 transport aircraft Jan Mayen the item at question here? Take-off and landings of NATO aircraft Jan Mayen already routine. So what is the big deal?
“We should expect development and testing of new, advanced weapons systems in the areas east of Norway. Several of these will have nuclear propulsion systems,”- - Director of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, Lt. Gen. Morten Haga Lunde.
Spew of nuclear radiation inadvertently released as a result of abortive nuclear propulsion testing contaminating the Barents sea. Spew as released seemingly in a callous manner repeatedly so and of no concern to the Russian.
Once again thanks to The Barents Observer for the image. From left to right: 1. Poseidon nuclear-armed and nuclear-propelled underwater drone torpedo/unmanned submarine. 2. Sarmat [Satan-2] ICBM with enormous multiple hydrogen bomb warhead. 3. Burevestnik nuclear-powered nuclear-armed cruise missile. 4. Khinzal hyper-sonic missile. 5. Avangard hyper-sonic re-entry vehicle. 6. Peresvet laser weapon. Please note the inclusion of several human figures for scaling purposes. Soup to nuts, macro to the micro. Click on image to see an enlarged view.
And we are not even talking about the release of radioactive particles from the recent Losharik incident. From the Norwegian perspective fisheries of great importance to their nation at stake. And their impotence at being able to control or mitigate "radioactive spew" from Russian missile and weapons testing obvious.
"It was something many of us saw as a near-certain eventuality, the Navy has formally announced that it wants to retire its first four Littoral Combat Ships. Split evenly across both the Freedom and Independence classes of the failed Littoral Combat Ship concept, the oldest of the vessels was commissioned just 12 years ago, the youngest a mere six years ago . . . The troublesome fleet within a fleet has been serving as a training and test force, a dubious role from the start that the Navy says isn't even needed anymore."
A DUBIOUS ROLE AND THAT NOT EVEN NEEDED ANY MORE. ORIGINALLY LCS WAS SEEN AS THE FUTURE BUT IN QUICK TIME LCS HAS BECOME THE PAST?
Think also the Zumwalt class of destroyer at one time also the future of the U.S. Navy and that too now the past. Zumwalt as in the inventory [three ships] also yet one more white elephant.
"The Army announced on Tuesday the activation of V Corps (or Fifth Corps), the latest development in the U.S. military's push to build up capabilities in Europe in the face of great power competition with Russia."
"V Corps will be based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky, per Tuesday's Army press release. It will be made up of 635 soldiers, 200 of which 'will support an operational command post in Europe on a rotational basis.'"
"It's expected to be operational by this fall."
Comments:
1. The American army during the height of the Cold War at all times maintained a force of two Corps sized elements in Europe. A Corps consisting normally of two division plus an armored cavalry regiment with additional combat support and combat service support elements.
2. The activation consisting merely as described apparently a HEADQUARTERS element with a rotating "operational command post".
HARDLY A FULL DEPLOYMENT OF MAJOR COMBAT UNITS. A TIGER NO TEETH!
"The former commanding officer of the USS Montpelier pleaded guilty in December to charges stemming from an inappropriate relationship [sexual I assume] with the spouse [I am assuming the wife] of an enlisted subordinate, according to the Navy's report of trial results. Cmdr. William B. Swanbeck, who was relieved of command of the fast-attack submarine in June 2018 due to 'a loss of confidence in his ability to command,' pleaded guilty at a special court martial to conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman as part of a pretrial agreement for engaging in the inappropriate relationship. Swanbeck was sentenced on Dec. 4 to a reprimand and the forfeiture... "
Comments:
1. At least until relatively recently American fast attack submarines no longer carrying nuclear munitions. That policy has been changed!
2. Making matters worse is that the Commander was having an affair with the wife [?] of an ENLISTED MAN. A "loss of confidence" surely a major factor in the dismissal of the Commander.
From the career and promotion consideration the Commander has now a major impediment never to be surmounted!!
Spiraling out of control it is fear. Cooler heads are NOT prevailing. Turk-Syrian confrontation with open warfare. And now further escalation. Syrian Mi-17 gone. Helicopter shot down by Turkish backed anti-Assad rebels.
"Amid spiraling clashes in the Syrian northwestern province of Idlib, Turkish-backed rebels Tuesday shot down a Syrian Mi-17 helicopter near the town of Nerab, the day after 5 Turkish soldiers were killed by government forces"
NO mention as to which anti-Assad group shot down the Syrian Mi-17. Al-Nusra? Uighur proxies of the Turk? Etc.
ANY NERVE AGENT TO INCLUDE SARIN REQUIRES SPECIAL STORAGE AT ALL TIMES. TROOPS USING SARIN MUST BE SUITABLY MASKED AND SUITED PRIOR TO EMPLOYMENT. SARIN HAND GRENADE CARRIED BY THE INDIVIDUAL TROOP AS IS SUGGESTED AGAIN "IMPLAUSIBLE TO IMPOSSIBLE".
Consider all of this a non-starter from my perspective.
"February 9, 2020: The Russian military is receiving ten Mi-8AMTSh-VN special operations helicopters in 2020. These were ordered in 2019 and are already being assembled. These helicopters were a response to demands from special operations (spetsnaz) troops for something comparable to the all-weather helicopters Western commandos have been using for years."
Military helicopter as designated a special operations type warplane. To be used by Russian spetsnaz ranger/commando type units.
BUT NOT STRICTLY FOR USE SPECIAL OPERATIONS. ARCTIC WARFARE ALSO A POSSIBLE.
New wine in the old bottle? An existing warplane with considerable modification and improvements and voila' you have much dangerous, versatile and durable machine. Still in production again even after fifty years. Amazing!
And now for the rest of the story! Seems Syrian air defense forces their hands not so dirty. Skittish and trigger-happy air defense troops having good reason for being "skittish and trigger-happy".
"The Russian Defence Ministry stated on 7 February that a civilian Airbus-320 with 172 passengers on board was nearly destroyed amid Israeli airstrikes near Damascus in the early hours of 6 February."
SYRIAN AIR DEFENSE TROOPS RESPONDING TO ISRAELI AIR ATTACK. AIRBUS-320 TAKING OFF DURING A TIME OF ACTUAL COMBAT OPERATIONS.
IT IS REASONABLE TO ASK IF THE ISRAELI ATTACK OCCURRED AT THAT EXACT MOMENT IN A DELIBERATE MANNER. USE THE AIRBUS AS A "HUMAN SHIELD" SO TO SPEAK.
We have the instance of the senior Canadian military officer of some importance behaving badly. We also have the case of the senior American military officer behaving badly.
The researcher!! That is what they always say. I was just doing research.
"A decorated
U.S. Air Force colonel slated to take command of the base that hosts
Air Force One [AF 1] has been sentenced to five years in prison for receiving
child pornography."
HARDLY ARE YOU GOING TO FIND ANYWHERE AN OFFICER WITH GREATER RESPONSIBILITY THAN THIS MAN, NOW DISGRACED AND DISHONORED AND IN THE EXTREME.
SECURITY CONCERNS OF COMPROMISE MOST GRAVE AND HOW LONG WAS THIS GOING ON FOR?
"An
Airbus A320 airliner with 172 passengers on board has made an emergency
landing in the Russian-controlled Khmeimim air base after Syrian air
defenses nearly hit it, Russian news agencies have quoted a Defense
Ministry spokesman as saying"
Skittish and trigger-happy Syrians mistaking a commercial aircraft for an intruder enemy warplane. Attempting to operate a commercial aircraft in a war-zone obviously a matter fraught with great danger.
A characteristic aspect of the Syrian Civil War the presence and participation of foreign interventionists and the presence and participation of the PROXIES of foreign interventionists.
Now the PROXIES of foreign interventionists go home. And what awaits them?
"When
Syria’s civil war erupted, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps (IRGC) recruited, trained, and deployed thousands of Shi’ite
fighters to prop up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Among them
was the Fatemiyoun Brigade, comprised mainly of Afghans from the
country's Shi'ite Hazara minority."
Hazara predominantly Shia Muslims in a nation [Afghan] of predominantly Sunnia Muslims. Hazara to a degree outcasts, despised and discriminated against in their own land. Reputed to be descendants of the army of Genghis Khan. Recruited by the Iran to fight as proxies in the Syrian Civil War. Their role in the fighting now at and end. How they will be received a question that remains to be answered.
"Turkey has sent reinforcements to its forces in the Idlib province of Syria, the last rebel-held region in the country. The armoured vehicles and tanks were headed for the observation posts that Turkey has already set up in the province, following an advance by Syrian government forces that could pave the way for them to mount an offensive on the provincial capital. But as Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu reports, Turkey is determined to stop that."
Confrontation between the Turk and Syrian continues. Further combat operations imminent unless cooler heads prevail. Retaliation as was promised by the Sultan in Angora forthcoming? Mere posturing however a possible? We shall see.
The Turk moves south. Now battlefield deaths for which retaliation has been promised.
Thanks to the CNN. This cannot be good.
"Turkey suffers first deaths in direct combat with Syria since start of war"
"Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) Five Turkish soldiers and one civilian personnel were killed in Syria on Sunday, Turkey's first fatalities as a result of direct confrontation between the countries since the start of Syria's civil war in 2011".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promises retaliation and has told the Russia: "not stand in our way.".
Turkey will invoke Article Five of the NATO charter? Turkey will demand solidarity, aid and assistance from the constituent members of NATO? Nations treaty bound their dilemma will be great?
"The Governor General [Canada] revoked Williams' commission and, later, medals, and he was expelled from the Canadian Forces for service misconduct, the most serious extant charge. After being returned to the Forces, his uniform was burned, his medals were cut into pieces, and his commission scroll (the instrument of his commission) was shredded; these actions being similar to a military degradation. His vehicle, a Pathfinder, was similarly crushed and scrapped."
The Canadian military man behaving badly. Very much so. Slightly was I aware of this troop. Canadian senior military man and a serial killer.
Canadians are generally perceived [and rightly so] as being very nice people. With the exception in this particular instance of Russell Williams.
"Hours after the announcement of Williams' arrest, police services across the country reopened unsolved homicide cases involving young women in areas where Williams had previously been stationed. According to news reports, police began looking at other unsolved cases based on a full statement that Williams gave to police. David Russell Williams . . . an English-born Canadian convicted murderer and former Colonel in the Canadian Forces. From July 2009 until his arrest in February 2010, Williams commanded CFB Trenton, Canada's largest military airbase and a hub for the country's foreign and domestic air transport operations"
Senior officer Russell Williams and a man held in the highest possible repute by his superiors AND a man piloting senior VIP flights where the QUEEN OF ENGLAND and the PRIME MINISTER of Canada were passengers.
AND SUBSEQUENTLY A SUSPECT IN ADDITIONAL UNSOLVED MURDER CASES "IN AREAS WHERE WILLIAMS HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN STATIONED.
Williams his crimes and modus operandi to a degree similar to the actions of the American soldier Eddie Leonski from the era of the Second World War.
Eddie Leonski the "Brownout Strangler". An American stationed in Australia during WW2 guilty of murdering local women. A man with obvious mental issues as they are deemed. Also as mentioned in the You Tube video having assaulted a woman [did not kill her] while state-side. The man had terrible conflicts of a mental nature. But during war-time you have to go with what you got.
Military personnel who are criminals are sometimes hard to catch? Move around a lot and make serious investigations difficult?
Military personnel supposed to comport themselves in a better manner and exercise a greater degree of self-discipline. But this is not always the case.
More calculation within the context of the Battle of Jutland, 1916. The dollar value [2019 dollars American $] of those twenty-eight British battleships present at Jutland was?
The Grand Fleet [British] consisting of one-hundred fifty-one warships, twenty-eight of which classed as battleships. Strictly with regard to British battleships at Jutland the cost of those massed vessels alone approximates to $SEVEN BILLION dollars American in current [2020] value.
Assumptions made.
1. British Grand Fleet at Jutland consisted of twenty-eight battleships.
2. Approximate cost [rough estimate] of eachBritish battleship[1916] about two million English £ pounds.
3. One £ pound value in 1916 worth five American $ Dollars.
4. From an inflationary calculator an item costing one American $ dollar [1916] that same item would cost approximately twenty-five times in an American $ dollar [2020].
5. Calculation: Twenty-eight X two million X five X 25 approximately = $Seven billion American Dollars [2020].
A tidy sum whatever way you count and calculate, assumptions all approximate, again, strictly that amount for British battleships only.
Anybody have a problem with my methodology or calculations?
"gunnery accuracy in the British and our [USN] Navy increased . . . 3000% in six years."
The big bore naval gun of a Dreadnought type battleship. Accuracy once found to be wanting and sorely lacking improved in a most marked manner in that decade just prior to the Great War [WW1].
From the outstanding Internet web site isegoria.net and thanks to same.
"In Men, Machines, and Modern Times, Elting E. Morison looks at how we learn to live and work with innovation. He illustrates the three stages of users’ resistance to change — ignoring it, rational rebuttal, and name-calling — first with an example from naval history"
British naval officers pioneering developments in naval big bore gunner accuracy using revolutionary techniques and "innovation".
UNDENIABLY SO [?] THE ABILITY OF A NAVAL GUNNER TO HIT AN ENEMY TARGET MUCH ENHANCED. CONSIDER ALSO THE OUTCOME OF JUTLAND, HITS WITH REGARD TO ROUNDS FIRED. TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION ONLY NAVAL GUNFIRE FROM MAJOR CAPITAL SHIPS PRESENT AT JUTLAND:
HARDLY MORE THAN ONE ROUND IN FORTY AS FIRED FROM A BIG BORE NAVAL GUN AT JUTLAND A HIT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE RESULTS BOTH SIDES COMBINED! AND THIS AFTER MARKED IMPROVEMENT SO-CALLED? GERMANS THEIR ACCURACY SLIGHTLY BETTER!
THAT USE OF TORPEDOES ALSO THE NUMBER OF HITS WITH REGARD TO LAUNCH CAN ONLY BE SEEN AS POOR:
Torpedo Expenditure:
British German
Fired 94 105
Hits Achieved 6 3
Very much less than ideal conditions present at Jutland. Gunners their ability to aim, shoot and hit the target made difficult in the extreme by a variety of circumstance, poor lighting, smoke, fog, uncertainty. Fog of war literally so.
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