DirkDiggler

Your second sentence is inaccurate and isn't backed by history or the current US position in the world. The US has certainly made military and foreign policy mistakes post WWII. Most historians and foreign policy experts would agree that Vietnam, US actions in Iran pre-1979, and probably now Afghanistan after 2004-5 were large failures. Iraq 2003 is also one IMO but that one is still being debated. I'll cover the last 30 years of Chinese relations in a sec. There are most definitely others I can't think of off the top of my head but those are the big ones. Many times our failures and mistakes overshadow our successes. Korea, through the lenses of history, has been a large success. As was the outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Just Cause, and Desert Storm. Our foreign and military policy also led to the fall of Soviet Union and winning the Cold War after 45 years of effort. The United States is still currently the most dominant nation on the planet in terms of both hard and soft power (China has made large strides over the last 30 years to catch up but they're not there yet). Our network of allies and alliances have given the American public a security that few countries have enjoyed throughout history. The American people enjoy a standard of living matched by few other countries, based on our economic successes and our place in the liberal international order (I would agree that this is currently at risk due to short-sighted outsourcing of goods production, but that's for another post). The US Navy still dominants the seas and ensures the flow of goods both to and from our economy. No other country on the planet currently has the capability to conduct inter-theater military and humanitarian operations the way we can and do. The number of people across the globe wanting to emigrate to the US is testimony to how desirable the American way of life is. None of those things listed above happened by accident; if everything the US has done post WWII was a "disaster", our place in the world and our ability to wield hard/soft power and influence/effect world affairs wouldn't be even close to what it is today. If the invasion of Ukraine has proved anything to the Western world, it's that the last 30 years of thinking Russian, and more importantly China's exposure and integration into the world economic and information systems was going to lead to them embracing Western values and governance. The number of mass graves and destroyed cities in Ukraine should put the final nail in that coffin. That, IMO< has been a huge failure that we'll be dealing with for quite a while.

Poland confirms T-72 tank delivery to Ukraine, with Challenger 2 tanks to fill gap (defensenews.com) I think the next phase of this war is going to be dominated by heavy long-range fires and armor; glad to see multiple NATO countries and the US stepping up with artillery and now the Poles are stepping to backfill Ukrainian armor losses; also good that its equipment the Ukrainians are already familiar with.

Should probably go in the WTF thread but either way nice to see Russians killing each other through incompetence.

Good video of Russians burning courtesy of Her Majesty.

Ukrainians bagged a couple more Russian helos today.

Possible, but I doubt it. If you look close at the end there’s about 6-9 Russian pigs with Russian uniforms/weapons getting snuffed out. Seems lately like the Russians are barely trying to justify their actions; I don’t think the “de-Nazify” horseshit is getting traction with anyone.

Good video of Russians getting grenade’d.

Agreed. As with everything, follow the money. SOCOM’s budget has taken a hit in the last several years; in my opinion the command is trying to find ways to remain/demonstrate relevance with the pivot to peer/near peer. I personally don’t think we (AFSOC) have much play in those fights right of bang (that’s 5th gen/CSG/ABCT centric). The 3rd floor is pushing hard otherwise but isn’t really providing very clear guidance to the line squadrons on what we should stop doing IOT refocus. I think the next 3-5 years are gonna be turbulent to say the least.

Nice win for Ukraine after all the cruise missiles they’ve absorbed from the Black Sea Fleet. Hopefully a good portion of her crew is fish food.

Ukrainians got a good strike on a Russian ammunition depot

Good article, thanks for posting.

Good video of Russians burning

I'm pretty sure North Vietnam wasn't producing it's own SA-2s/3s/23mm/37mm/57mm/85mm. We didn't "send the Russians a nuke". Karma is a bitch. Russian soldiers wouldn't be dying if Putin would have stayed on his side of the border; she should take her case up with him.

Ballsy BTR crew smacking T-72s with their 30mm.

Any landing you can walk away from is a good one!

Surprising that the Russian military hasn’t been able to counter Ukrainian’s asymmetric advantage in UAS this far into the war.

Good looking Flanker, maybe parts plus 12.

Within the next 12-18 months AFSOC is planning on eliminating Ops, MSG, and MX Grp/CC (Med Grp will remain for now). Wings will transition to an A-Staff construct with an Air Base CC at locations where AFSOC owns the base.

Wrong. The evaluator doesn’t get the bottle and also doesn’t even know what he or she is getting until after the grade is announced. How can you be bribed by something unknown to you? I’ve thankfully never had to Q3 anyone (have hooked several people on rec rides at the schoolhouse, which is really a gift when it comes down to it) but if someone really did that bad on a checkride where I had to Q3 them, I wouldn’t give a shit if they had a bottle of Redbreast 27 waiting for me. Why would anyone jeopardize the safety of their brothers and sisters and pollute the aviation gene pool by passing someone who is incapable of hacking the mission for a bottle of booze?

Good video of Russian vehicles getting blasted.

Good video of a T-72 in its natural state.

It’s not bribing. If you Q3 the evaluator doesn’t get the bottle, the evaluatee drinks it instead. Things like this is just weak dick leadership at Sq and Grp level.

Unfortunately the booze bottle to your evaluator tradition is slowly going the way of the dinosaur; have been told some FTUs are actively discouraging it. Lotta young guys don’t do it anymore.

Nice video of a T-72 getting schwacked by some sort of LAW.

Another good video of Russians cooking.