BREAKING: Russian Ambassador Assassinated On Video In Turkey

This is not for the weak minded or those with a weak stomach. Don't blink. Don't turn your eyes away. This is the world we live in. The US lost an ambassador in Libya and it was a tragedy. Today is a tragedy for Russia. I wonder what their response will be.

Quote about pain

"I can honestly say that every painful experience I've had has helped me to become a stronger and better person. That's why pain is something to be embraced, not hated. Let it mold you, but never let it stop you from pursuing what you want in life."

Army defeats Navy 21-17

Enjoy it while you can, Army. 2016 was the year for upsets.

I would like to take this opportunity to share a moment of silence for the plebe class of 2020 right now as a dark period of hazing is about to begin.

Russia can delivery thermonuclear bombs on a drone submarine

"The Pentagon has confirmed that a new Russian nuclear delivery drone is real. The undersea drone, which carries an enormous nuclear warhead to destroy coastal cities and military bases, was tested late last month. The test was leaked by unnamed sources to The Washington Free Beacon.

Russia calls the system "Ocean Multipurpose System 'Status-6," and it is allegedly capable of traveling underwater to distances of to 6,200 miles. It can submerge to depths of 3,280 feet and travel at speeds of up to 56 knots."

Link

Quite an impressive delivery system for nuclear war. I'm glad things have never come to this. Subs are hard to track, especially since the Russians make some of best silent subs on Earth.

New US Army Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle

"The new AMPV is, like its predecessor M113, a tracked vehicle engineered to handle rugged and rigorous terrain; however unlike it predecessor the new infantry carrier will be built with new, reinforced armor, improved mobility and state-of-the art next-generation newtorking technology such as force tracking systems, mission command applications and Satcom links."

Link

Both the Marine Corps and the Army operate vehicles that are practically ancient now. We have many from the Vietnam-Era still serving. Right now that's the like the equivalent of using Sherman WWII tanks during the Gulf War. It's really about time the Army got some kind of upgrade. Hope the Marines jump on this too.

Terror Plot Foiled in Germany: Muslim Teens Arrested

“Two boys aged 15 and 17 are arrested on suspicion of plotting an Islamic terror attack ‘involving either a bombing or shooting’ in Germany”

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4017148/Two-boys-aged-15-17-arrested-suspicion-plotting-Islamic-terror-attack-involving-bombing-shooting-Germany.html

The more and more this happens, the more and more this seems to prove that Islam is just not compatible with Western values. Germany is learning this the hard way apparently.

Shielding a tank was a tough job in Soviet Russia

Scrolling through my feed and came across this. If you have a dark sense of humor, this might give you a little laugh.

Hilarious Economist Magazine Cover on Nationalism

Nationalism on the rise in the West. The Economist thought they were being cute with this piece probably. Trump, Putin, Farage, Le Pen are the leaders embodiment of this movement. Only difference is now that instead of nationalism being a movement that purely unites a country against others it is now uniting countries against a Globalist movement.

Globalization is being rejected harshly by the West with the election of Trump and Brexit. There are still yet even more movements across Europe to leave the EU with referendums.

Globalization probably would have worked had they not tried to force it down the throats of those with a strong sense of national identity. I could still see it becoming a thing had these globalists not taxed the shit out of their citizens to bring in millions of foreigners and tried to force different cultures to mesh with each other. They also demonized and shamed those who held onto their national identity. Americans and British got sick of it and other nations are following.

The 2011 Intervention in Libya proved how weak Europe is

This was actually an older post I put up in a forum responding to a question about whether or not we should continue putting resources in Europe. The ultimate point is still valid:

Europe was definitely in need of these resources during the Cold War. From what I've seen of the plans we had to defend Europe it still wouldn't have been enough to defend West Germany from the overwhelmingly massive Soviet armored fist that would have rolled over it all like a speed bump. 

However, now that the Cold War is over and the Soviet Union is gone the nature of the defense relationship between the US and Europe has changed. It has changed in a way the does not benefit the US in anyway, but practically gives Europe everything. It has also lost its purpose entirely. Europe cuts back its defense budget and relies on us to do everything. They didn't even try to stop the obvious massacres that were happening in the Baltic regions during the 90's when we thought they would take care of them. We still have NATO around even when there is no legitimate use for it. Very few countries in NATO actually spend the required amount of funding that the organization requires them to be in the group. 

My country gives Germany as well as several other European countries billions of dollars a year for defense. What do we get in return? For the most part, just a complacent attitude of how we do everything wrong around the world. Sure you guys send us help from time to time in conflicts, but I've talked to commanders out in the field and whenever **** goes down the only people who get things done are the British, the Canadians, the Australians, the Dutch, the Kiwis (New Zealand), Belgium, and some Ex-Soviet Eastern European countries that I will not name. There could be more that I'm just not thinking of, but for the most part these are the major contributors. The rest of the countries didn't want to be there and didn't help much. Germany especially didn't want to participate in any of the conflicts. I can honestly understand their reluctance. 

Meanwhile, Russia realizes that its military capacity for conventional warfare is diminishing so they have turned to making the best nuclear ballistic missiles available, which is more of a deterrent than an offensive capability. They feel threatened by NATOs expansion eastward and, honestly, who can blame them? The Soviet Union is gone, what purpose does NATO serve now? To them NATO = the US. If we were to draw down our presence in Europe then Russia would have little political ammunition to excuse any aggressive posture that they take. The more assets we have in Europe, the more the Russians can say that we are an enemy. Right now Putin is more concerned with trying to increase Russia's GDP and solve the ridiculous host of other problems that his country has.

The European militaries have been and are continuing to be hollowed out in favor of relying on us. No where was this more evident than in the 2011 military intervention in Libya, which was primarily carried out for European interests, most notably Italy. (Italy receives about 25% of their oil and 10% of their natural gas from Libya, and they aren't the only Europeans that rely on them for energy). Granted, the Libyans did get their freedom and we did succeed in stopping a massacre. Those both played a part in why we did it, but we always look out for our own interests when we start a conflict. This time we were looking out for Europe's. 
We launched 110 tomahawk cruise missiles (each which costs anywhere from $1M to $16M depending on the block model) into Libya and sent several UAVs, EA-18G jammers, F-15E and F-16 fighters, and an assortment of other weapons to take care of the major fighting and destroy major weapons systems. After we had done all of that we handed it over to the EU because it was their show. They still needed to ride the US logistics supply bus to get to the fighting, which is literally just south of their continent. European air forces ran into the most ridiculous problems. When they got to the fighting they ran out of bombs and other munitions. They ended up using canisters of concrete with a laser seeker mounted on the front to drop them and literally crush targets (which I found surprisingly innovative by the way). They didn't know how to do a lot of the close in support missions like CAS/precision ground strike missions. They didn't have the equipment to do it either in many cases, which we were all too happy to supply them with. The countries involved in the fighting against Libya included: 
 Belgium 
 Bulgaria 
 Canada 
 Denmark 
 France 
 Greece 
 Italy 
 The Netherlands 
 Norway 
 Romania 
 Spain 
 Turkey 
 United Kingdom 
 Jordan 
 Qatar 
 Sweden 
 United Arab Emirates 

I'm NOT saying that any of these countries lack brave men or good character. By the way, Germany didn't want any part of this and refused to participate. My ultimate point is simply this: EUROPE COMBINED ITS RESOURCES AND STILL COULDN'T DEFEAT A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY THAT IS LOCATED LITERALLY RIGHT TO THEIR SOUTH WITHOUT HELP FROM THE UNITED STATES. By the way, the military contributions of Britain and Canada combined were greater than that of Italy's. 

This is not what pisses me off though. What REALLY pisses me off is the fact that the European Union shuts down in August. You all go on holiday/vacation and don't work at all in the summer. Most Europeans have no idea what an American work-day is like since American citizens work ridiculous hours compared to those of most countries of the world. We wouldn't have to be doing that right now if we weren't paying for your defense and trying to be the police of the world for over the past 20 years since the Soviet Union fell. We simply cannot keep paying for this and this relationship cannot last forever this way. 

The US is growing increasingly impatient with Europe's inability to act on its own. In my opinion, we still have too many troops in Germany and this is not enough of a reduction. We can still remain allies with Europe, but they need to start pulling their own weight, which they just are not doing right now.

Trump picks "Mad Dog" Mattis for SecDef!!!!

"President-elect Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis to be secretary of defense, according to people familiar with the decision, nominating a former senior military officer who led operations across the Middle East to run the Pentagon less than four years after he hung up his uniform.

To take the job, Mattis will need Congress to pass new legislation to bypass a federal law stating that defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years. Congress has granted a similar exception just once, when Gen. George C. Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950.

An announcement is likely by early next week, according to the people familiar with the choice."

Link to full article

This is hands down the best pick I think we could have hoped for. What I'm really hoping for from Mattis is an end to all of the politically correct social experiments being done in the military and a return to the warrior mindset.