Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Advanced?
This is coolbert:
Here from the Voice of America thanks to the tip from DEC this somewhat misleading headline. The latest update and info on the hunt for Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army [LRA]:
"US Uses Advanced Intelligence to Hunt LRA in Central Africa"
"Where is Kony?"
NOT "advanced" as in the use of high-technology intelligence gear. Advanced in the manner of the collection, processing and analysis of low-technology data and tidbits of info those tidbits the type of material as would have been understood immediately by a person such as Sun Tzu [500B.C.]!
Data and tidbits of intelligence as primarily from military patrols, reconnaissance, and info from agents in the field [spies] as gathered by case officers [agent runners]! LOTS AND LOTS of case officers each with LOTS AND LOTS of agents in the field [local spies].
Those normal methods of communication intercepts and photographic images as used by American military forces negated and not useful due to the conditions as found in central Africa.
1. Joseph and his minions too smart, not to using radio and cellphone communications, to the extent that they possess such equipment.
"Tracking the rebel leader is a major challenge. LRA fighters have all but abandoned using mobile or satellite phones to communicate with one another, making them very difficult to trace."
2. Photographic images and real-time television from drones and such deemed as difficult at best due to the inclement weather, cloud and ground jungle cover as found in the area [central Africa]. Joseph giving the order to disperse into small bands, wear civilian dress, do not carry your weapons openly, establish camps for hiding, camouflaged and concealed.
"Dispersed across an area the size of California, the LRA moves in small groups, only occasionally meeting up at pre-determined rendezvous points."
As described, JOSEPH AND THE LRA ARE IN A SURVIVAL MODE, BUT THAT IS ALL THEY NEED! THEY WIN IF THEY SURVIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY!
That American special forces unit operating as a collection point for the data as received, almost exclusively low-level tidbits of data from persons having knowledge as to the whereabouts of the LRA and hopefully Joseph. "Locals", "hunters" and "nomads" who have seen "something and are able to report in a manner that constitutes use-ability
"members of the local communities, as well as hunters and nomadic herdsmen who may have information to share about the LRA's whereabouts"
This is warfare almost in the ancient manner? Those five varieties of spies as would be have been instantly recognized by Sun Tzu and having a modern applicability to include:
* Local spies.
* Returned spies.
* Converted spies.
* Doomed spies.
* Inward spies.
DO NOT also preclude the possibility that Joseph is also engaging in an extensive [?] and quite deliberate campaign of disinformation intended to fool and trick the American special forces operatives. Feed facts and tidbits that are misleading and create "noise" that deceives. DECEPTION!
I just don't have a good feeling about any of this. Joseph has been at this business for over two decades now and would not have survived and thrived as he has without having an innate "street smarts" and uncanny ability to elude all the while deceiving those in pursuit. It will be the same now?
coolbert.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Feed.
This is coolbert:
From the John Hawks weblog we have this item that caught my attention right away:
"If, as Keegan hypothesizes, the ration was one pound of meat and two of bread (requiring two pounds of firewood) per man per day, an army of 30,000 ate out a location pretty quickly"
Sir John Keegan in this particular instance hypothesizing that an army of 30,000 men during the Black Powder era of warfare, on the march requiring sustenance on a daily basis a significant consideration for a military commander AND THIS ONLY FOR MANPOWER.
As for the feed and watering of horses that were integral to the movement of the baggage train, the cavalry, the horses needed to pull the artillery, that is an entire additional matter of even more consequence, as should be obvious. Military campaigns during the age of Black Powder were generally put on hold during the winter, troops going into quarters, horses not being able to forage for themselves.
NO consideration either given for drink. Armies of the period [Black Powder] as part of the contract with a soldier agreeing to generally provide so much beer [northern Europeans] or wine [southern Europeans] per day ALSO as part of the daily ration! NO beer or wine and you ran the risk of mutiny!
"lieutenants think tactics, generals thing logistics"
Water from wells, rivers and lakes often disease ridden, and of considerable danger to a soldier to drink from, that number of troops dying while on campaign often in magnitudes beyond what ever casualties were sustained in battle.
[water and feet historically have been the two biggest killers of soldiers and not battle! Either not having enough water to drink or consuming dirty and diseased water, and those troops having bad feet falling out on the march and being set upon by marauders!!]
Read this CIC article by Al Nofi from StrategyPage. Even while in quarter, that rather smallish [even for the time] army of William the Conqueror [1066] the logistical requirements immense, the DISPOSAL OF DETRITUS, EXCREMENT OF MEN AND ANIMALS BOTH A MAJOR PROBLEM THE SOLUTION OF WHICH IS UNKNOWN TO THE HISTORIANS!
coolbert.
Armaments.
This is coolbert:
That DDG-1000 "Zumwalt" class destroyer, cost of $7 billion apiece cannot be said to be under-armed.
Will carry a mix of weaponry that does give it a formidable capability.
Designed and as envisioned to be used primarily [?] in littoral [green] waters, close to shore, bombardment of targets far inland the goal.
DDG-1000 equipped with a mix of guns, rockets, and missiles task tailored in the case of the latter.
To include:
* 57 mm guns. Two of them.
* 155 guns. Two of them, the AGS [Advanced Gun System].
* ASROC [anti-submarine rockets].
* Sea Sparrow missile. The enhanced version effective against enemy aircraft and anti-ship missile attack.
* Tactical Harpoon.
Those missiles a mix of which is task tailored for the mission, giving a capability against enemy submarines, aircraft, and anti-ship cruise missiles including the supersonic variety.
Helicopters are also organic to the DDG-1000 class, a chopper able to have a combat capability on demand? This is not clear.
That Advanced Gun System [155 mm] two of them, able to hit targets inland up to extraordinary ranges with great accuracy and lethality. Can fire a mix of conventional and precision-guided rounds but is not able to fire any of the currently available 155 mm artillery ammo as might be found in the arsenals of the army or marines.
It is significant that the U.S. Marines as of 2003 has restored the status of ANGLICO units both active duty and reserve? Those AGS crucial at long range highly reliant on the ANGLICO for target selection, terminal guidance of precision and enhanced munitions, etc.
I guess that the argument with the "Zumwalt" class destroyer is that for the cost so few of them [three] are scheduled to be built? As I have said, given ordinary deployments and re-fittings that will mean that any given moment only ONE of these vessels will be at sea anywhere in the world.
coolbert.
That DDG-1000 "Zumwalt" class destroyer, cost of $7 billion apiece cannot be said to be under-armed.
Will carry a mix of weaponry that does give it a formidable capability.
Designed and as envisioned to be used primarily [?] in littoral [green] waters, close to shore, bombardment of targets far inland the goal.
DDG-1000 equipped with a mix of guns, rockets, and missiles task tailored in the case of the latter.
To include:
* 57 mm guns. Two of them.
* 155 guns. Two of them, the AGS [Advanced Gun System].
* ASROC [anti-submarine rockets].
* Sea Sparrow missile. The enhanced version effective against enemy aircraft and anti-ship missile attack.
* Tactical Harpoon.
Those missiles a mix of which is task tailored for the mission, giving a capability against enemy submarines, aircraft, and anti-ship cruise missiles including the supersonic variety.
Helicopters are also organic to the DDG-1000 class, a chopper able to have a combat capability on demand? This is not clear.
That Advanced Gun System [155 mm] two of them, able to hit targets inland up to extraordinary ranges with great accuracy and lethality. Can fire a mix of conventional and precision-guided rounds but is not able to fire any of the currently available 155 mm artillery ammo as might be found in the arsenals of the army or marines.
It is significant that the U.S. Marines as of 2003 has restored the status of ANGLICO units both active duty and reserve? Those AGS crucial at long range highly reliant on the ANGLICO for target selection, terminal guidance of precision and enhanced munitions, etc.
I guess that the argument with the "Zumwalt" class destroyer is that for the cost so few of them [three] are scheduled to be built? As I have said, given ordinary deployments and re-fittings that will mean that any given moment only ONE of these vessels will be at sea anywhere in the world.
coolbert.
DDG 1000.
This is coolbert:
Right now, as we speak, in the works and under construction, latest and greatest version American naval destroyer class under construction, the DDG 1000 class vessel, a warship that in the final form will cost $7 billion per copy. ONLY a grand total of three to be built.
Thanks to intelhub:
"Navy Spending $21 Billion on Three New Destroyers, Part of Response to China’s Military Buildup"
"The new DDG 1000 Zumwalt class destroyer will focus on attacking land-based targets, leveraging stealth technology to allow the vessel to get close to shore before being detected and letting loose the massive advanced arsenal on the warship."
Weaponry as planned for and as envisioned to include a variety of missiles in task tailored packages and the Advanced Gun System, the latter having LAND-BASED targets in mind.
DDG 1000 a high technology warship requiring only half the crew of previous destroyer incarnations.
COST recognized as a major factor, the entire class so expensive that ONLY three total to be built. Generally speaking, that means at any given moment one DDG 1000 will be at sea, deployments, in port refurbishment and refitting being what it is with modern warships!
"Originally, the Navy wanted 32 of the massive destroyers, but that was quickly cut down to 24, then seven, and now a mere three due to the absurd costs associated with the vessels."
Propulsion, weaponry, a design process and procurement that takes decades etc. NO ONE ever said the military was cheap and DDG 1000 is no exception! Obvious.
coolbert.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
NKPA.
This is coolbert:
"anyone who provokes or hurts the DPRK's dignity would be undoubtedly defeated."
From the headline of Chinese English website xinhuanet:
"DPRK marks army's 80th founding anniversary"
The main points:
• "The DPRK held a national meeting to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the KPA."
• "The founding of the KPA ushered in a new history of building the revolutionary armed forces."
• "Kim Jong Un would strengthen the might of the KPA and lead the Korean revolution to a new victory."
"PYONGYANG -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a national meeting on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army (KPA)."
"the founding of the KPA by commander Kim Il Sung 80 years ago ushered in a new history of building the revolutionary armed forces."
NOW, courtesy of Bert we have MORE key points:
* Kim Il-Sung was a Red Army [Soviet] officer who fought at Stalingrad during World War Two!
* Those North Korean People's Army [NKPA] contingents that invaded South Korea in June 1950 were veterans of the Chinese Civil War and again veterans of the Red Army [Soviet] who fought the German at Stalingrad.
[such info as gleaned from the interrogations of NKPA POW as captured by American forces during the Korean War!!]
NOW you know the rest of the story! Nuff' said?
coolbert.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Malnutrition?
This is coolbert:
From that Washington Post article dated 2009:
"The cash-strapped government of Kim Jong Il, which struggles to maintain and buy fuel for its aging tanks and armor, has concluded it cannot win a conventional war, according to U.S. and South Korean military officials." [this of course before the death of Kim Jong Il!]
Decades now from the historians will be asking the question as to WHY the North Korean even when possessing what seems at least on paper an overwhelming military advantage, NEVER did attack the ROK [Republic of Korea], destroy by a blitzkrieg style offensive the South Korean army and those American military units permanently station in the south.
The desire often and most vociferously so expressed by the communist leadership in Pyongyang to unify the Korean peninsula with communist domination and USE MILITARY FORCE TO DO SO!
Again for over a period of three decades now the NKPA [North Korean People's Army] on paper having a demonstrable and frightening advantage over South Korean and American military forces, and yet, NO attack ever came. And WHY?
The answer is perhaps, pure, plain and simple, MALNUTRITION?
Decades of antiquated and antediluvian agricultural policies have created long-term food shortages, MALNUTRITION THE NORM RATHER THAN THE EXCEPTION, at least an entire generation of North Korean youth growing up stunted and almost dwarfish, food shortages and hunger endemic! This is so?
Anecdotal accounts seems to suggest that this is so? NO ONE doubts the ability of the NKPA to START a war, but perhaps there is a definite and realized impossibility to maintain the pace and tempo as required by the blitzkrieg to an ultimate conclusion. Again, plain, pure and simple, the physical wherewithal is LACKING?
"U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday North Korean IQs are feared to be falling due to prolonged malnutrition."
"'There's a concern that their IQs are going down because of malnutrition and insufficient diet,' . . . 'People in the North Korean military...are 4 foot 10 inches (145 centimeters), these are men, and less than 100 pounds (45 kilograms)'." [this according to Rumsfeld]
"It is clear that the all-powerful army - once quarantined from food shortages and famine - is starting to go hungry."
"'Everybody is weak,"'says one young North Korean soldier.'Within my troop of 100 comrades, half of them are malnourished,' he said."
And THERE IS PRECEDENT FOR THIS! German troops and industrial workers in the munitions sector during both World Wars unable to maintain the pace, hunger prolonged creating NOT conducive to operations that require a rapid tempo, advance thwarted!
1. "Erwin Rommel . . . often bemoaned the demands placed upon his poorly fed troops'. The Allied blockade of the German Empire . . . was responsible for food shortages and widespread malnutrition in Germany and allied countries. When inadequate provisioning was combined with the gruelling night marches preceding the battle of Caporetto, a heavy toll was extracted from the German and Austro-Hungarian forces."
2. "On the eve of World War I, in 1914, the annual death rate from accidents among workers at the Krupp Essen plant was 4.1 per thousand employees, a figure that by 1917 had risen to 8.7 per thousand, as the tempo of production increased, while employee health deteriorated from malnutrition and overwork."
3. That German 352nd Infantry Division as defending the Omaha beach head, 6 June 1944, comprised primarily to teenagers who had suffered malnutrition, SOLDIERS FELT TO BE INCAPABLE OF NOTHING FURTHER THAN DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS, PHYSICALLY UNFIT FOR FURTHER AND MORE INTENSIVE DUTY!
"manpower problems . . . The replacements, mostly teenagers, were physically unfit for all but limited military duty, because of food shortages in Germany."
That is all there is to it? That populace of North Korea has been for decades now incapable of military action as would be needed to initiate and more importantly sustain an offensive of major proportions the defeat of ROK and US forces in the south the goal? That is all there is to it? This is just one mans' opinion.
coolbert.
From that Washington Post article dated 2009:
"The cash-strapped government of Kim Jong Il, which struggles to maintain and buy fuel for its aging tanks and armor, has concluded it cannot win a conventional war, according to U.S. and South Korean military officials." [this of course before the death of Kim Jong Il!]
Decades now from the historians will be asking the question as to WHY the North Korean even when possessing what seems at least on paper an overwhelming military advantage, NEVER did attack the ROK [Republic of Korea], destroy by a blitzkrieg style offensive the South Korean army and those American military units permanently station in the south.
The desire often and most vociferously so expressed by the communist leadership in Pyongyang to unify the Korean peninsula with communist domination and USE MILITARY FORCE TO DO SO!
Again for over a period of three decades now the NKPA [North Korean People's Army] on paper having a demonstrable and frightening advantage over South Korean and American military forces, and yet, NO attack ever came. And WHY?
The answer is perhaps, pure, plain and simple, MALNUTRITION?
Decades of antiquated and antediluvian agricultural policies have created long-term food shortages, MALNUTRITION THE NORM RATHER THAN THE EXCEPTION, at least an entire generation of North Korean youth growing up stunted and almost dwarfish, food shortages and hunger endemic! This is so?
Anecdotal accounts seems to suggest that this is so? NO ONE doubts the ability of the NKPA to START a war, but perhaps there is a definite and realized impossibility to maintain the pace and tempo as required by the blitzkrieg to an ultimate conclusion. Again, plain, pure and simple, the physical wherewithal is LACKING?
"U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday North Korean IQs are feared to be falling due to prolonged malnutrition."
"'There's a concern that their IQs are going down because of malnutrition and insufficient diet,' . . . 'People in the North Korean military...are 4 foot 10 inches (145 centimeters), these are men, and less than 100 pounds (45 kilograms)'." [this according to Rumsfeld]
"It is clear that the all-powerful army - once quarantined from food shortages and famine - is starting to go hungry."
"'Everybody is weak,"'says one young North Korean soldier.'Within my troop of 100 comrades, half of them are malnourished,' he said."
And THERE IS PRECEDENT FOR THIS! German troops and industrial workers in the munitions sector during both World Wars unable to maintain the pace, hunger prolonged creating NOT conducive to operations that require a rapid tempo, advance thwarted!
1. "Erwin Rommel . . . often bemoaned the demands placed upon his poorly fed troops'. The Allied blockade of the German Empire . . . was responsible for food shortages and widespread malnutrition in Germany and allied countries. When inadequate provisioning was combined with the gruelling night marches preceding the battle of Caporetto, a heavy toll was extracted from the German and Austro-Hungarian forces."
2. "On the eve of World War I, in 1914, the annual death rate from accidents among workers at the Krupp Essen plant was 4.1 per thousand employees, a figure that by 1917 had risen to 8.7 per thousand, as the tempo of production increased, while employee health deteriorated from malnutrition and overwork."
3. That German 352nd Infantry Division as defending the Omaha beach head, 6 June 1944, comprised primarily to teenagers who had suffered malnutrition, SOLDIERS FELT TO BE INCAPABLE OF NOTHING FURTHER THAN DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS, PHYSICALLY UNFIT FOR FURTHER AND MORE INTENSIVE DUTY!
"manpower problems . . . The replacements, mostly teenagers, were physically unfit for all but limited military duty, because of food shortages in Germany."
That is all there is to it? That populace of North Korea has been for decades now incapable of military action as would be needed to initiate and more importantly sustain an offensive of major proportions the defeat of ROK and US forces in the south the goal? That is all there is to it? This is just one mans' opinion.
coolbert.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Draconian.
This is coolbert:
Thanks to the BBC instances of American troops during the Korean War engaging in killings of civilians almost indiscriminate in nature, harsh and brutal!
"Kill 'em All': The American Military in Korea"
"Undertrained and underprepared"
"Things began to go wrong almost immediately for the American troops. Those who were rushed to the front line straight from occupation duty in Tokyo in July 1950 were undertrained and underprepared . . . US commanders were outmanoeuvred by North Korean units using guerrilla methods to target US lines from the rear."
"The surprise attack from the North had generated a very real refugee crisis. Just weeks after the conflict had begun, up to two million refugees were streaming across the battlefield; they clogged the roads and the UN lines."
And mixed in with those refugees the four man teams [many of them] of NKPA guerrilla fighters. Men dressed as civilians and carrying handguns, daggers and hand grenades. Forcing women to sometimes carry weaponry on their person disguised under the long robes of the Korean woman.
The North Korean People's Army [NKPA] always incorporating guerrilla/partisan activity into all military operations!
Four man North Korean guerrilla fighters indistinguishable from civilians during hours of darkness attacking American troops, wreaking havoc.
American commanders taking steps and measures, draconian in nature to deal with the unconventional warfare threat.
Long columns of refugees stopped by American military police and the persons of the Korean unfortunates subjected to intensive body pat-down, search. THE ORDER HAVING BEEN GIVEN TO MACHINE GUN ANYONE DEFYING THE STOP AND SEARCH IN ANY FORM, THOSE FLEEING TO THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT OF THE COLUMN KILLED WITHOUT WARNING!! [Columns of refugees stopped with a rice paddy on either side of the road, clear field of fire available!]
AT LEAST DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF THE KOREAN WAR THIS WAS STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE [SOP]!
I can easily imagine a goodly number of Korean women modest in nature not wanting to be patted down by an American MP fleeing and being killed NOT EVEN FOR HAVING WEAPONS ON HER PERSON!
Those American troops "undertrained and underprepared" also facing an adversary at that exact instant PERHAPS THE BEST TRAINED AND MOST COMBAT READY HARDENED INFANTRY IN THE WORLD! A sizable percentage of those NKPA troops veterans of the Chinese Civil War and many also having fought at Stalingrad with distinction!!
Hard and cruel both, undeniably so, desperate circumstance calling for desperate measures, egregious and again draconian and regrettable in nature. War was not easy then, not easy now, never will be.
coolbert.
Thanks to the BBC instances of American troops during the Korean War engaging in killings of civilians almost indiscriminate in nature, harsh and brutal!
"Kill 'em All': The American Military in Korea"
"Undertrained and underprepared"
"Things began to go wrong almost immediately for the American troops. Those who were rushed to the front line straight from occupation duty in Tokyo in July 1950 were undertrained and underprepared . . . US commanders were outmanoeuvred by North Korean units using guerrilla methods to target US lines from the rear."
"The surprise attack from the North had generated a very real refugee crisis. Just weeks after the conflict had begun, up to two million refugees were streaming across the battlefield; they clogged the roads and the UN lines."
And mixed in with those refugees the four man teams [many of them] of NKPA guerrilla fighters. Men dressed as civilians and carrying handguns, daggers and hand grenades. Forcing women to sometimes carry weaponry on their person disguised under the long robes of the Korean woman.
The North Korean People's Army [NKPA] always incorporating guerrilla/partisan activity into all military operations!
Four man North Korean guerrilla fighters indistinguishable from civilians during hours of darkness attacking American troops, wreaking havoc.
American commanders taking steps and measures, draconian in nature to deal with the unconventional warfare threat.
Long columns of refugees stopped by American military police and the persons of the Korean unfortunates subjected to intensive body pat-down, search. THE ORDER HAVING BEEN GIVEN TO MACHINE GUN ANYONE DEFYING THE STOP AND SEARCH IN ANY FORM, THOSE FLEEING TO THE RIGHT OR THE LEFT OF THE COLUMN KILLED WITHOUT WARNING!! [Columns of refugees stopped with a rice paddy on either side of the road, clear field of fire available!]
AT LEAST DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF THE KOREAN WAR THIS WAS STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE [SOP]!
I can easily imagine a goodly number of Korean women modest in nature not wanting to be patted down by an American MP fleeing and being killed NOT EVEN FOR HAVING WEAPONS ON HER PERSON!
Those American troops "undertrained and underprepared" also facing an adversary at that exact instant PERHAPS THE BEST TRAINED AND MOST COMBAT READY HARDENED INFANTRY IN THE WORLD! A sizable percentage of those NKPA troops veterans of the Chinese Civil War and many also having fought at Stalingrad with distinction!!
Hard and cruel both, undeniably so, desperate circumstance calling for desperate measures, egregious and again draconian and regrettable in nature. War was not easy then, not easy now, never will be.
coolbert.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
