fire4effect

Taking a play from North Korea. Population is starving but they can put together a military parade to appear all is well. I'm surprised they can muster the fuel at this point.

I skimmed over it and it seems like a good read. Interestingly I recall there was a brand new 10 story hospital built by the Chinese some years back in Kabul not far from the Ministry of Education that was standing empty because there was no way to equip or staff it. I have no idea if it was a case of "if you build it they will come" and if it ever was put into service. Seems like more than a few projects fell into this category.

The Taliban is begging for Afghanistan's frozen money to be released as the country's economy spirals into crisis (msn.com) Actually governing is a real bitch isn't it. Hungry desperate people tend to get surly at the people in charge. I would say very little of the money they're discussing was provided by Afghanistan versus foreign donations anyway. I would tell the Taliban lets see some concrete action on human rights. NOW. By the way here's our list of wanted criminals including those who committed atrocities against our troops and our Afghan partners. Certainly not all the money at once and you will show an accounting of where it goes. If we even smell a hint of diversion to fund terrorism or corruption the gravy train stops. We have the watch AND the time now. This isn't the 90s anymore.

Let me guess. The MECs you were pulling were overwhelmingly ones overhauled at AF Depot while the most reliable ones were overhauled by the OEM. 🤨

Weeellll the hydromechanical MEC of the -2s IS inherently nuclear hardened. 😁

You would certainly think so. Of course we don't know the political pressure from above, JAG opinion be damned. This may be to keep him confined to shut him up in the short term and as a delaying tactic while the case works its way through the system which will take awhile. Even if they find out later it was an illegal order/confinement it's not likely much will happen to those behind it. Of course the whole "prejudicial to good order and discipline" statement is a WIDE open catch all under the UCMJ when leadership wants to hammer someone.

Isn't the Rolls easily left/right interchangeable? Way more life than the airframe so very few if any removals/overhauls to plan for. Also to your original point a lot of spare parts readily available off the shelf if needed.

Taliban thank world for promised aid, urge US to show 'heart' (msn.com) Part of me doesn't know how to respond. IDK "You broke it you bought it" "Be careful what you wish for you just might get it" (Taliban taking over Afghanistan) Asking for Infidel money. Wow Ok here's our long list of demands and BTW what's your credit score?

THIS. Hurt the most.

Engineering/maintenance where props and associated hardware are concerned are the kind of thing that keep people who understand them up at night. So many take their operation for granted.

Good question. Unfortunately I suspect it will a substantial amount negotiated under the table and kept from the taxpayers by our spineless leadership who left them there in the first place.

I was wondering when this would happen. This could take it to a whole new level. Multiple planes are ready to take U.S. citizens and green card holders out of Afghanistan — but the Taliban won't let them leave, officials say - CBS News

Copy that. Either way couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

There may be some countries to the north which while largely Islamic are much more secular and would really like to keep the Taliban from exporting their ideals to their country. Add a potentially very large aid package to one or more of these countries they may be willing to look the other way while we make life hard on the problem children to the south. I would hope so anyway.

Don't tease me. 😁 For now I think we need to be very judicious in our target selection and low key in our methods IMHO (AGM-114r9x) That said I know a good paint and body man.

Yep there's the rub. If they're already going around hunting our allies though then when and how do we smack the Taliban PP? I get it as satisfying as it would be now to go all Linebacker on them we need to be proportionate. Always let the bad guys know there's still a lot for them to lose. I would pick one HVT (I vote Haqqani obviously almost like Solemani in Iraq) just to show them the threat is always in the background. Like we've discussed they're out in the open now trying to run a country which is an order of magnitude harder than what they were doing. We also have a carrot in the billions in aid we control and the big stick is the military.

I would sure like to render more Sh!t inoperable preferably with Haqqani and his Badri 313 clowns close by. If anybody thinks these savages aren't going house to house killing people they're not seeing reality. We as a country need to make a statement. I would imagine regular Afghans are trying to avoid close proximity to the Taliban for obvious reasons. We have plenty of golfers in the military that already know how to aim for the little white flag

My first Rum and Coke in 4 months. To the fallen 🥃

I guess it's time to start all in backing the locals in the Panjshir Valley. i.e. "Pimping the Flintstones"

Actually while I'm thinking about it. The best targets to help mitigate the VBIED threat IMHO are the fertilizer factories in Pakistan. As far as I'm concerned anything that "happens" in a fertilizer factory is an industrial accident (see Beirut blast). I'm not a chemist/agricultural specialist but I thought there are alternative that are a much less volatile than ammonium nitrate though more expensive. Either way I would pay subsidies for an alternative so ammonium nitrate is less available.

First off in my career I've been in close enough proximity to the bad guys ordnance going off that this is close to home for me. I'm personally not saying this didn't happen but the fanatics doing this will lie (not surprisingly) on casualties and their numbers and purposely place explosives among civilians for obvious reasons. I would guess it's likely the secondary explosion could easily have been the cause of many of the casualties. As I recall a few years back in another Kabul neighborhood there was a seizure of something on the order of 25000 lbs of fertilizer smuggled in cement bags along with all the other fixings needed to make one helluva a VBIED. Just as an example. So yes there is precedent. Unfortunately with no ground troops in the area now air-ground ordnance is really the only way to deal with the threat. Yes it's a tragedy innocents get caught in the middle.

"Think you used enough dynamite there Butch?" My thoughts exactly.

Hey I admit I've been guilty of it too. Especially when I drink and post. 😁 It's frustrating when we allow ourselves get derailed by arguably minor things with the sh!tstorm the world is going through at the moment.

I have to agree. The irony is this kind of nitpicking is exactly why the really smart people want nothing to do with politics.

Yep posting in this thread can be hazardous. Truth in advertising I've actually met her and clearly my personal opinion. Like most I would like to see competence at the top.