GrndPndr
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Posts posted by GrndPndr
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The level of Chinese meddling in other societies and even UN processes, all for bolstering their Nationalism, should frighten everyone. Imagine you applying for a grant to the UN for a music scholarship, and then be turned down because you said "Taiwan." But changing that to Taiwan Province of China is okay, and you're magically approved. China looks at every little thing which comes before the UN, they seek every avenue to further their influence and stature.
Conversely, every bit of US nationalism is assailed by the woke crowd. So tiring.
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1 hour ago, DirkDiggler said:
Actually not the first time something like has happened since the dawn of the nuclear age. Nixon's SecDef (James Schlesinger) reportedly gave military commanders similar orders in the waning days of the Nixon presidency after Nixon was drinking heavily, seemed depressed, had recently lost the Vietnam War, and was openly talking about his ability to initiate nuclear war on calls with senators.
We could debate about whether Nixon was depressed over the end of Vietnam, I'm pretty sure he wasn't wired that way. Publicly, he felt that he was the good guy for drawing down the number of ground forces and ending things (such as it was).
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2 hours ago, torqued said:
If you haven't read Strauss and Howe's book The Fourth Turning, do it. It explains the Crisis of Trust. We're experiencing it on every level, top to bottom, at nearly every institution. It doesn't end well.
Gen Milley held a secret Pentagon staff meeting and told them not to take orders from President Trump in a nuclear emergency. He called China to tell them he wouldn't allow an attack.
"Milley took extraordinary action, and called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for military action, including launching nuclear weapons. Speaking to senior military officials in charge of the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon's war room, Milley instructed them not to take orders from anyone unless he was involved."No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I'm part of that procedure," Milley told the officers, according to the book. He then went around the room, looked each officer in the eye, and asked them to verbally confirm they understood."Got it?" Milley asked, according to the book."Yes, sir."'Milley considered it an oath,' the authors write.
No, he shouldn't resign, come on now...
He should be fired!
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31 minutes ago, fire4effect said:
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.
"That said I know a good paint and body man." <<Hope that isn't him!
This is the rumored ordnance used in the "Car-Full-O-Suicide-Vests" mission.
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It will be interesting to see how fast we recognize these twelfth-century sycophants as a legitimate state.
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54 minutes ago, Premo said:
In the process of drawing down we would have had to leave Bagram at some point. My question to you and the marine battalion commander is when should we have done that? When was the right time to leave Bagram?
Keep it until we got everyone out? The Afghan government asked us not to evacuate while they were still in power. The concern being that it would have been perceived as a loss of confidence and started a rush to the exits/collapse of the ANA even earlier. Fair or not I think that drove much of the rhetoric we heard up to this point about the Afghans being able to hold their own.
At this point, I'd imagine we'd be witnessing thousands of people on the roads leading to Bagram stuck in the traffic jam to get out, helicopters and convoys making trips to/from Kabul through Taliban checkpoints. I'm sure nothing could go wrong with that.
One could also ask, why couldn't we have made Bagram our final departure place (instead of HK airport)? Bagram easier to defend? Fewer civilians? When/if things go sideways would you rather be at KBL or AIX?
Did anyone consider this? Sorry, some of these questions will seem a bit...rhetorical.
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6 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:
Not on the news yet, but they just hit a second gate with suicide vests and now small arms.
Geeze... Awful
On a related note, a question: Does the Taliban making the first move here, free us to operate a little more aggressively?
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4 hours ago, torqued said:
Hey guys, not sure what to do with this. Help/Advice/Recommendations welcome.
I just checked into my hotel here in California and struck up a conversation with the bellman. I was struck by what an incredibly genuine human being he was from the moment he started speaking. He asked where I was from, I asked where he was from.
Afghanistan.
Former interpreter for the Marines. Came here under the whatever program it was that got him and his family US citizenship.
Extremely long conversation ensued until the manger hinted that he needs to be working, not talking politics.
Long story short: He has a brother in Herat with a wife and kids. The brother is in hiding because he also worked for Kellog, Brown, and Root on military bases throughout AFG. The Taliban is trying to root them out. Apparently, he needs some sort of a letter saying he worked for KBR to get the documents required to leave the country.
Latif then asked, because I was former military, if I had any ideas or knew of anything he could do. He's worried that his brother and his family will not survive this. I got a lump in my throat as this whole thing I've been following suddenly became personal. I want to help, but I don't know what to do. I have his contact info. Any comments welcome.
Not sure if this was posted before, but these are good folks helping the kind of people you're talking about:
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1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:
Anyone else see the irony of Kamala leaving for Vietnam today? Is she going to Saigon to bring back some DLOs on that evac so we can do better in Afghanistan? The optics are simply surreal.
Kamala has almost landed over there...on a
Saturday(Sunday there) evening. Lot's of people tuning in = doubtful. But it will be interesting to see what kind of drama (uh... spin) gets put on her visit). -
5 hours ago, FLEA said:
This makes me literally sick inside.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/taliban-unit-wearing-us-gear-mock-iconic-american-wwii-photo
Just wait until 9/11
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From the Read-the-Teleprompter-Contemporaneous speech:
QuoteREPORTER: 'We learned over the last 24 hours that there was a dissent cable from the State Dept saying that the Taliban would come faster... Can you say why after that cable was issued, the U.S. didn't do more?' BIDEN: 'We got all kinds of cables.'
I'm not sure if that was really Larry, Moe - or curly who answered that...
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1 hour ago, DUNBAR said:
Ah, yes. The infamous, rarely-employed self-quote.
Seriously. Someone intelligent please walk me through the possibilities. How do we evacuate 10-15K Americans? Here is what I can muster, along with my own half-assed probabilities.
A. The Taliban permits unfettered, free access to the airport. Perhaps they are tired as hell after living in caves and dodging airstrikes for 20 years. Perhaps they think an international show of goodwill will be more valuable in the long run. Perhaps they consider it even more humiliating for America if the Taliban takes the high road.
Probability: 10%
B. Biden and company watch a Clint Eastwood or George C Scott movie, grow a pair, and get the fever. They announce if Americans are harmed, we're bringing back the Rangers, the Marines, and more B-f^cking-52s than you thought possible. Rules of engagement: Anyone with a beard and old-timey clothes gets killed. If some non-Taliban get caught up in it, well, they threw down their arms and basically joined the Taliban. Oh well.
Probability: 5%
C. More C-17s filled with gold bullion, weapons, and ammo then you thought possible. The Taliban publicly announce that any nation that can spend $3.5 trillion on "infrastructure" can easily pay $10M per hostage. The ransom is paid secretly, or publicly.
Probability: 55%
D. Weeks and months of the worst humiliation imaginable. Woman and girls become "brides." Forced religious conversions. Decapitations. Torture.
Probability: 10%
E. Weeks and months of gruesome house-to-house fighting. Thousands of civilian casualties, both Afghani and American.
Probability: 20%
What am I missing?
Apologies for a post on the heels of another, but wanted to say, I think your other weights are very accurate (and sadly entertaining).
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21 minutes ago, DUNBAR said:
<snip>
D. Weeks and months of the worst humiliation imaginable. Woman and girls become "brides." Forced religious conversions. Decapitations. Torture.
Probability: 10%
What am I missing?
I think the probability-weighting for option D should be a heavier (maybe 75%)
Once we are out, these knuckleheads are going to twelfth-century everyone they can get their filthy hands on.
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43 minutes ago, jrizzell said:
I’ve always enjoyed making jokes about C-17s landing at wrong airports, or not putting their gear down. But the fact that a crew took off with 800 passengers, and I heard others did that same with numbers in the 600’s is truly heroic stuff.
You are all a credit to America, and the USAF, your actions represent the best of us. I can’t even begin to imagine the chaos, and literal life and death decisions you were forced to make. Thank you, and well done! But that doesn’t begin to describe the accolades you deserve.
Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile appSo agree.
What's that even like, taking off with people hanging on to your UHF antennas, knowing they will not make it much past rotation? <<rhetorical question
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Only a metaphor right now, but here's your photo op...
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5 minutes ago, pawnman said:
I'm trying to stay focused on the bigger picture. I keep adjusting the knobs to try and do that, but I think this thing is digital. Related story (to Pawnman's NPR thing):
https://www.foxnews.com/us/washington-dc-murders-surpass-coronavirus-deaths-july
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Thoroughly enjoyed watching Lewis struggle, and whine. As for Bottas, well let's see if there is an announcement over the break.
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She's back! Yes folks, back in time for the Balance Beam. Hope she survives:
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She just plain quit.
I think there may even be a bit of race baiting in the media on this - but it hasn't worked.
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1 hour ago, HeloDude said:
My money is on the Chinese commies. My money is also on that we wouldn’t fire a single round to stop them.
If we don’t care about the Chinese commies running China the way they do and their influence over their region, then we’re not going to care if they invade an island that they continue to claim as their own. Sure we’ll condemn it and the UN will have some harsh words and perhaps we might impose a few minor (but not significant) sanctions but that will be it. That’s what happens when you’re so economically in bed with your (supposed) enemy.
If the CCP wants to put its troops on Taiwan, it’s theirs to take.
My $.02
Maybe so. But what does that look like two or three days in? US as the only additional player there?
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7 hours ago, Pooter said:
Maybe anecdotes carry more emotional weight...
Close. They carry more dramatic weight, and therefore get the attention of the weak minded.
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19 hours ago, brickhistory said:
Enjoyed the sprint race qualifying format today way more than the traditional method.
Except I'd make the "sprint" much shorter. They did 17 laps which made it a short race with the inevitable cars on parade dance.
Make it 5 laps and it forces them to mix it up immediately and for the entire sprint.
I like it, but 5 laps does make it sounds like lots of crashes (which might be cool)
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18 hours ago, BashiChuni said:
showing ID to vote is RACIST
I can't tell if you're Sarcasming (sts) or not.
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ISIS seems to be moving pretty fast - If they were a "regular" (i.e. traditional) army, we could wait for them to spread out their logistics lines and cut off the head of that snake!
Gen Milley should resign
in General Discussion
Posted
If he remains, I wonder what criteria he will use for the current POTUS in order to establish (in his mind) the inability to wield nuclear decision-making? Rather not test that out.