SCUD 9K72.

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More war booty for the Taliban to rejoice over? Some pretty heavy type of ordnance captured but deemed as worthless?

From the Internet web site South Front and thanks to same.

"IN VIDEO: TALIBAN GLAD TO FIND BALLISTIC MISSILES IN PANJSHIR, BUT THEY ARE LIKELY USELESS"

"The Taliban reportedly found elements of the Soviet-made 9K72 Elbrus short-range ballistic missile [SCUD-B] systems, including 8K-14 (R-17) missiles, in the Panjshir Valley."

Missiles including what appears to be a warhead [inert?] just laying around. From the era of the Soviet invasion of Afghan. Missiles probably no longer functional in the open and exposed to the elements for a period of decades! Apparently the Soviet in Afghan did use SCUD to attack fortified military targets using strictly [?] conventional warheads. 

As I recall, the Islamic State also captured intact SCUD with launcher and warheads. Seems to have done them little if any good. But it does make for good Internet video footage.

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Latvia.

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Place this one in the category of strange but true?

"Watch: Latvian Army Conducts Shooting Drills In Busy Streets"

Thanks to the Internet web site Zero Hedge and the article by Tyler Durden.

"Footage of a war exercise in the busy streets of Latvia's capital, Riga, shows heavily armed soldiers firing assault rifles among frightened residents."

"According to RT News, videos of a field training exercise in Riga were first published online on Saturday morning, have since gone viral. Dozens of heavily armed soldiers conducted what appears to be urban warfare training, firing weapons with blank rounds.

This is MOUT [Military Operations Urban Terrain] exercise with the actual civilians present as it would be in real war. And was UNANNOUNCED? Many of those citizens probably thought it was as real invasion or terrorists at work. Could have caused read panic of no good to anyone.

MOUT you usually need mock-facilities [urban terrain] and a lot of preparation for training the troops in the actual techniques and methodology of urban warfare. Seems to be a rather poor degree of preparation in this instance, Latvian personnel their performance seems to have been in a less than professional manner. 

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GP MG.

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"I know it when I see it, I just can't define it."

From that previous blog entry an AR-15 with "bump stock" not ruled by a military appeals court as a machine gun.

As extracted from the wiki and thanks to same:

"A machine gun is an auto-firing, rifled long-barrel autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with fully powered cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as assault rifles and automatic rifles are typically designed more for firing short bursts rather than continuous firepower, and not considered machine guns. Squad automatic weapons, which fire the same (usually intermediate-powered) cartridge used by the other riflemen from the same combat unit, are functionally light machine guns though not called so. Submachine guns, which are capable of continuous rapid fire but using handgun cartridges, are also not technically regarded as true machine guns."

Those main criteria as defining a machine gun:

* ONLY auto-fire. * Hi-power military round [i.e. 7.62 X 51 mm NATO]. * Sustained auto fire.

Automatic weapons such as the Soviet-era RPK or RPD firing an intermediate round [7.62 X 39 mm].

Assault rifles such as the Soviet AK or the American M-16  capable of auto fire [with an intermediate round] but not SUSTAINED fire. 

A fully auto weapon such as the Beretta M12 firing a pistol round and appropriately referred to as a sub-machine gun.

Got it? General purpose machine guns [GP MG] too generally a CREW served weapon. 

NOW you know the rest of the story and are so much the better for it too!

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Bagram.

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AS GOES BAGRAM SO GOES THE NATION? AFGHAN THAT IS.

Out go the Americans, in come the Chinese?

My instantaneous thought was Talas, 751 A.D.

Chinese military presence in Central Asia not since the Tang Dynasty now a possible.

1. "China Reportedly Mulls Takeover Of Bagram Air Base After Hasty US Withdrawal"

"The Chinese military is considering a takeover of the former site of the U.S. Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan following President Joe Biden’s hasty withdrawal of troops from the country in late August, according to the U.S. News."

2. "Beijing Looking to Occupy Bagram Airfield via Ruling Taliban: Report"

"The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is looking to deploy personnel and set up a supply route in the formerly U.S.-controlled Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan under the blessings of an established Taliban government, according to a new report."

3. "China May Take Over Abandoned US Air Base After 'Humiliating Defeat' of America: Report"

"The communist nation [China] is reportedly looking to occupy Bagram Air Base, which was recently abandoned by the U.S. and taken over by the Taliban."

Chinese and Taliban hand-in-glove as they say? Strange indeed but geopolitical stratagems and considerations obviously in mind.

See further about Talas. High-water mark of the Tang Empire expansion into Central Asia. Chinese military defeat and withdrawal from the region a significant event in world history.

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Dishonorable.

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More legal stuff with the military dimension.

Vaccine for the Covid-19 virus. Those refusing the inoculation NOT going to be dishonorably discharged? As is being proposed.

KWTX for the story and thanks to same.

"Proposal would ban dishonorable discharges for military members who refuse mandatory COVID vaccines"

"FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) - Federal lawmakers are backing legislation prohibiting dishonorable discharges for military service members who refuse to get their COVID-19 vaccine."

"When a soldier leaves the service, they receive one of a number of discharges. The most likely discharges are honorable, general under honorable or other than honorable. The worst is a diss honorable discharge, given to a soldier as a result of a court-martial for things like desertion, murder and other crimes."

As has been mentioned a number of times now,  American military personnel of whatever service BY LAW cannot refuse medical treatment. Medical treatment so broadly defined as to include any sort of prophylactic care. Inoculations of any sort included. Failure to comply with ordered medical treatment grounds for dismissal with less than honorable discharge. BY LAW.

A refusal under the proposed law will not warrant a dishonorable discharge but rather something less severe. Dishonorable discharge in the normal sense understood as being used to punish a serious offense of more violent and criminal nature.

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Innocent.

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Some legal stuff with a military dimension.

Troop found innocent. An appeal of a previous guilty conviction successful.

Thanks to Zero Hedge the article by TYLER DURDEN the tip from TMGN.

"US Military Court Rules Bump Stock Is Not A Machine Gun"

WHAT IS CALLED A BUMPSTOCK ATTACHED TO A CONVENTIONAL SEMI-AUTOMATIC AR-15 RIFLE DOES QUALIFY THE WEAPON AS A MACHINE GUN.

"On Sept. 9, the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that bump stocks are not machine guns in the case U.S. v. Ali Alkazahg. This is a big win for gun owners and reaffirms the fact that items that are not machine guns by legal definition cannot be classified as machine guns simply because the ATF 'feels' like they meet the definition. [ATF = Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms]

Click on image to see an enlarged view. Bump stock the term I was vaguely familiar with. Allows a semi-automatic weapon to fire in what seems to be an automatic manner, as would a conventional machine gun. The accused charged with having a machine gun but on appeal the verdict was over-turned. AR-15 in the military version called the M-16/M4 has the selector switch with the auto fire option. But that only the military weapon and not the civilian variety.

The bump stock however allows the weapon to function in apparently the same manner as a machine gun. I need to check with an acknowledged weapons authority as to what exactly is defined in the ordinary sense as a machine gun.

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CVN USAF.

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An idea good on paper but never will fly? Literally so!

"Lockheed nuclear Powered Flying Aircraft Carrier – We have the tech now, but… "

THE FLYING AIRCRAFT CARRIER. ATOMIC POWERED. THIS ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING THE RUSSIANS MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN. 

"Would cost 11+ bln today [$11 billion USD per plane not including the two dozen or so multi-role combat-aircraft] and now do-able if we wanted. A ridiculous plan in the past… but now?"

Atomic torpedo [Russian]. Atomic cruise missile [Russian]. The flying American aircraft carrier. Nuclear powered? Absurd. The "thing" will be so heavy with all the necessary shielding that the plane will not even be able to take off. Kept aloft for months [or longer?] no respite for the crew, supply a  constant problem [generals think logistics].

AND IF THE "THING" CRASHES THEN THINK OF ALL THE NUCLEAR DEBRIS SPREAD FAR AND WIDE.

Dismiss this idea out of hand. Cost as well prohibitive. Although a state-of-the-art Ford class aircraft carrier as currently sent to sea by the U.S. Navy is comparable in cost.

"out of hand: 2. Without due discussion or consideration."

Perhaps dismissing "out of hand" all for the best!

coolbert.