Bataan.

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Yet one more FEEL GOOD story with a military dimension.

From a recent edition of the WWII magazine.

"BACK TO BATAAN"

"MANY AMERICANS CELEBRATED Memorial Day weekend  By grilling burgers and hoisting col d beers. Four veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan picked another way to remember the fallen: they walked the route of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines, consuming half rations, limiting their intake of water, and sleeping on the ground along the five-day journey."

Josh, Nick, Margaux and Brian give the four of them high-fives and a big thank you. Job well done!!

All four founders of the Mission Memorial Day,. Read of the mission here. Additionally see the embedded video. FIVE DAYS AND SIXTY-SIX MILES!

Read also further about the Bataan Death March.

WITH REGARD TO THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH AS EXPERIENCED BY THE AMERICAN AND FILIPINO TROOPS, THE ENTIRE ORDEAL LASTING ELEVEN DAYS, FIVE OF WHICH THE PRISONERS WITHOUT FOOD!!

This is the type of thing worth doing and much more of the same should be done and we are all the better for it.

coolbert.

Owls.

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Chemical weapons Umatilla. Owl sanctuary??

Here with the type of FEEL GOOD story you wish there were many more of. A narrative also with a military dimension!

Owls of Umatilla. Burrowing Owls prospering and doing well. Habitat and sanctuary thanks to the remoteness and security of an army chemical weapons depot! Who ever thought a storage area and destruction site for weapons of mass destruction could ever become animal sanctuary.

"Army mobilizes to increase Burrowing Owl habitat in Oregon"

From the article by Bruce Henrickson, US Army Umatilla Chemical Depot Public Affairs

"Umatilla Chemical Depot, Hermiston, Ore. - While the U.S. Army Umatilla Chemical Depot is best known for the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility and its mission to dispose of deadly chemical weapons, life of a different kind thrives in other areas of the depot."

"Not far from the depot chemical weapons storage area containing some of the most deadly substances known to humanity, dozens of pairs of Burrowing Owls . . . have made their homes in abandoned badger dens, old pipes, and other holes dug by small mammals and abandoned. Those burrows are inadvertently protected from human intrusion by the same fences, heavily armed guards and other defensive measures that ensure security of the Umatilla chemical munitions stockpile."

Four nesting pair of owls have now increased their number to sixty nesting pair. Habitation as in some cases through human intervention.

A NATURE PRESERVE AS SO DESIGNATED AND GUARDED!

That particular storage and disposal facility will have to monitored for decades to come. Owls in addition are the proverbial "canary in the coal mine". Those owls if experiencing difficulty of some unknown source surely an advanced warning of some danger. Chemical decontamination and destruction process not 100 % accomplished.

coolbert.

Boko.

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How fortuitous! Only several day ago I was speaking of Boko Haram and how they had not been heard from recently.

From the "NEWS BRIEFING" of the Chicago Tribune as dated Sunday, 17 December.

"Nigeria raids nab hundreds of Boko Haram fighters, families"

"MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - - Nigerian soldiers have arrested more than 400 people associated with Bolko Haram extremist group hiding on the islands of Lake Chad, including fighters, wives and children, military authorities said."

. . . .

"Among those arrested were 167 Boko Haram fighters, 67 women and 173 children . . . another 57 insurgents were arrested in a separate operation."

The fight continues, the war goes on. Counter-insurgencies can last for many years, decades even! It is hardly over.

coolbert.

GDR.

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As is germane to the previous blog entry the People's Navy of the German communist regime [GDR] did have a navy with considerable assets!

Hardware, assets it now seems almost if not ALL sold for scrap of just done away with. Thanks to the wiki:

The People's Navy was equipped with:

    Landingcraft
    Minelayers and minesweepers
    Fast torpedo and missile boat
    Coastal defense ships
    Submarine hunters
    Intelligence ships
    Training ships
    Support craft
    Naval Aviation.

BUT NO SUBMARINES!

"The People's Navy was dissolved, like all other branches of the former National People's Army, on 2 October 1990 – the day before the official reunification of Germany. Some of its staff was absorbed into the Bundesmarine . . . Most of the ships and other equipment were scrapped or sold, and few if any former People's Navy vessels remain in service with the modern-day German Navy."

I would assume any of those vessels as were in the inventory of the People's Navy if they still existed FROM ALMOST THIRTY YEARS AGO NOW not even service-able or in any condition to sail, much less perform mission.

Deutsche Marine kaput!

coolbert.

U-boote.

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WHO are U?

Status report German submarines. From Sharkhunters and Harry thanks to the tip from Larry:

• U-31 has been out of service since 2014
• U-32 experienced battery damage in July 2017
• U-33 is in dock for maintenance
• U-34 is in dock for repairs until January 2018;
* U-35 is back in the shipyards for repairs
• U-36 was [just recently] commissioned . . . this year

How the mighty have fallen. See the previous blog entry the status of the German armor forces and you have seriously wonder what is going on and what this all about.

And also that question asked in the previous blog entry, did not the German inherit from the East German communist regime large quantities of military hardware, some of which could be still put to use??

coolbert.

Cameroon.

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An American military presence in Cameroon very novel? Without precedent? That part of Africa associated normally with the French, a legacy of the colonial period.

From Sputnik:

1. "USAFRICOM Investigates US Complicity in Torture at Base in Cameroon"

"The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) will investigate whether US forces knew about allegations of the abuse of prisoners by Cameroonian forces on a military base where US troops were present."

2. "US Extends Drone War Deeper Into Africa With New Base in Cameroon"

"The establishment of the new base is a "dramatic uptick" in Washington's war on terror in Africa, with Boko Haram as one of the enemies"

3. "Long Live Ambazonia? English-Speaking Rebels Want to Create New Nation in Africa"

"In a remote corner of Africa a group of Anglophone [English speakers] rebels want to carve a country out of French-speaking Cameroon. Is there more to the conflict than just language differences?"

AND THIS IS ALL IN RESPONSE TO BOKO HARAM AND THE THREAT AS POSED BY SAME TO THE REGION? HAVE NOT HEARD MUCH FROM BOKO RECENTLY! STILL OUT THERE AND ACTIVE I MIGHT PRESUME.

The French because of the terrorist threat at home no longer having a capability to deploy those necessary combat elements? More French troops now for domestic security than found abroad!

coolbert.

Leopard.

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The mighty have fallen? The masters of movement and armor warfare no longer have armor? Movement forget about it unless by foot?

As seen and extracted from an article thanks to Strategy Page:
  
"Armor: German Tank Force Barely There"

"The German effort to rebuild some of its Cold War era Leopard-2 tank force has encountered problems. It has gotten so bad that currently Turkey, Chile, Greece, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and Poland each have more operational Leopard-2 tanks than Germany (which had over 2,000 in the early 1990s). This odd situation was revealed in November 2017 when it was discovered that 53 Leopard-2s were unavailable while undergoing upgrades and 86 were inoperable because of spare parts shortages. That meant Germany only had 95 Leopard-2 tanks that were combat ready. That’s 39 percent of the 244 Leopard-2s currently available to the army."

What about the armor [tanks] and other armored [APC/IFV] vehicles the German must have inherited from the East Germans? Soviet gear but still having a lot of potency. That is all gone? Melted down for scrap steel?

Almost three full decades now since the dissolution of the old Soviet Union. The threat of Big Red moving westward thought to have been gone forever. Expenditures for military hardware of the new and best type not allocated and spent.

coolbert.