fire4effect

And in a moment of levity sometimes we forget to get away from the emotion and remember it really is about the nail.

Good breakdown by Ward Carroll on No Fly Zones. Apologies if it's already been posted.

THIS

Russia Vows Prosecution of Foreign Fighters After 16K Join Ukraine (newsweek.com) Not that volunteering was ever a safe endeavor and certainly not surprised.

Pawnman, ClearedHot all others, I admit I sit here with my more than a couple drink(s) wondering how the hell it got to this point. Do we allow Putin to use nuclear blackmail to keep us on the sidelines ad infinitum and if he gets away with it here where does he stop? I HATE to think we as NATO in general and we as a country in particular have no choice now but to take him the fight directly. God help us one and all.

I don't have access to the BAM (Big Assed Map) showing (closer to real time) what's happening where in Ukraine but it appears the cities under greatest siege are close to unfriendly international borders or the Black Sea. In a nod to Captain Obvious much shorter supply lines and actually in range of systems located outside of Ukraine. If this is the farthest the Russians can push after this amount of time I don't see how they subdue the whole country. Short of the once unthinkable. Never been to Ukraine but looking at the map the Dnieper and associated lakes and bodies of water basically splits Ukraine down the middle and that certainly doesn't make it easier. I have no idea what can use it as far as navigability especially in wartime.

Many years ago I saw her in OKC. Really a thing of beauty. The cargo deck felt like a gymnasium. Say what you will about the Russians but they do understand heavy lift. Another example is the MI-26 Helicopter.

Not to mention a royal pain on the SF-86

I know right? How hard is it to paint a Ukranian Flag on the side of a cruise missile? Hey Vladimir, wasn't us.

This is what happens when we spend the last 2 decades (and personally a bunch of days in OIF/OEF) focusing on the COIN fight and not near peer. 😁 I do recall a conversation I had with an 82nd ABN E-7 Ranger more than a few years ago when I first heard about the Javelin. He told me the Javelin is no joke and gives a lot of teeth to the infantry that wasn't there before. I can't believe in hindsight how prophetic it was. Copy that. More Javelins

This should remind everyone from the biggest country (looking at you China) to the smallest that with a global economy if you REALLY piss off the rest of the planet to this extent it won't end well for you.

Found the "Ghost of Ukraine?" Their version of a Hellfire?

Found some very old Soviet Order of Battle references. No idea how accurate it is in the current environment but doctrinally an MRD (Motorized Rifle Division) has ~271 Tanks (13K troops total) and a TD (Tank Division) has ~328 (11K troops total).

Can't argue that. Of course I may or may not have drunk posted in the past or drunk dialed an ex at some point in my life🤨

Zelensky agrees to negotiate with Russia; Putin puts nuclear forces on alert (msn.com) Sounds like Putin wants an "injury timeout" to slow the tempo and look like he's looking for a peaceful solution. Don't trust him at all.

We need a breathalyzer interlock for keyboards on Base Ops. Friends don't let friends drink and post. Though it's probably better than drunk dialing an ex.

Fundamental lessons. Russian invasion runs into stiff resistance, supply lines are a 'definite vulnerability,' US officials say - CNNPolitics

As much as I would like too the Russian people will have to handle this one in house. Even that has some risk.

The lessons learned from this on combined arms operations will be staggering. So many systems/TTPs tested in a real world combat environment. For instance I'll be interested in how many aerial kills were A-A vs surface based systems. Clearly more lessons on preventing fratricide. As for the Javelin I can't think of a more realistic test than against a large, massed armored force. Plenty of subjects to write on for Air War College and Command and General Staff College for years to come. Now my biggest fear is Putin seeing himself getting bogged down in a slog in Ukraine and the protests really start getting going back in Russia and he starts becoming unhinged at the thought of losing his grip on power. If Hitler in April 1945 had access to the nuclear button what would have happened? I sure hope he isn't that crazy.

Germans give great helmet. Sorry just too easy to pass up.

Hired by a contractor for 300k a year for Red Flag

Like most reports in wartime you can take it with a grain of salt but I hope they are inflicting real pain on the Russians https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwilgv3l0Zj2AhUrITQIHZN2AycQFnoECAoQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Fukraine-says-50-russian-troops-killed-four-tanks-destroyed-2022-02-24%2F&usg=AOvVaw1L0qDQ_2L2By7tCCChA5oh

Gas, beer, lottery tickets and Slim Jims in one stop. (My redneck showing through) What a great country. 😁 A long time ago I did a paper on the Battle of the Bulge and how logistics really defined the battle. The Allies advance slowed to a crawl largely because the supply line was so overextended. A closer port like Antwerp was needed as the Allies knew to get supplies forward more efficiently and Hitler and his staff certainly knew it since that was their ultimate objective. I recall a German Officer interviewed after the war said they actually planned to use captured American fuel and came close to doing so. Had they done so they would have made the Meuse River within a day or two. Crazy thing is all of us (civilian and military) are only as combat effective as our fuel supply. Our tanker fleet is anything but stealthy and as I've mentioned in the past I see that as a big vulnerability. I certainly don't pretend to have a solution. I will say one thing the big element of surprise just isn't what it was in the 1940s. Pearl Harbor I don't see happening because the Japanese Fleet would've been tracked from the time they left port. In Ukraine commercial imagery is more readily available than ever and I wouldn't be shocked if our side is providing a little extra help too. The only thing missing is some Ukranian teenager developing an app modeled on the DUI checkpoint apps here to report the location of Russian Troops/Vehicles in real time.

Honestly, I hope the Ukranians have some who hunker down and let the heavy stuff pass and make sure their mission in life is to kill these and anything like them.