For ‘some’ definitions of success…
The Army Times reported this weekend that the Army’s endstrength for March was 479,172. That’s 154 fewer soldiers than the service’s previous post-World War II low, which was reached during the Army’s post-Cold War drawdown in 1999.
The Army is actually lower now that under Slick Willie, who did his damnest to destroy the military too! So, according to the current administration, this is a ‘success’???
And they want to drive the number down to 450,000 people.
And the administration continues to send dribs and drabs of combatants back to the Middle East. Rough unofficial numbers are 4-5000 in ‘combatant’ roles, and another 4-5000 in ‘support’ roles. But the ‘war is over’… Yeah, right…
Full article HERE, on Fox News.
Lest anyone think it’s ONLY the Army, all services are taking hits. The Navy is now at it’s lowest ship count since 1916! Think about that, ONE HUNDRED years ago, the US Navy had more ships than it does today…
From Reagan’s high in 1989 of 592, with 125 of those being submarines, we are now down to 271 with 72 submarines.
Another ‘success’ for the administration! Damn them…
And cutting money for maintenance has had even more impact on the ‘implements’ used by the services, be they ships, airplanes, submarines, helicopters, tanks, etc…
Oh yeah, for reference, the Navy’s 1916 numbers were 245, with 44 submarines…
IF anybody has the Marine and USAF numbers, please put them in comments, if you would…
That whole two regional conflicts ability? It’s history… But even more interesting, there hasn’t been a concurrent reduction in ‘requirements’ for military presence. E.g. the administration signing up to ‘protect’ Central Europe from missiles. That has added a three destroyer presence in the Med, which hadn’t been there for 10 years at least.
And the whole ‘pivot’ to the Far East? Yeah, three ships… in 2017… Whoopie…
In another ‘interesting’ story, apparently the book of face has been caught ‘faking’ trending updates by plugging things like BLM in, while kicking anything conservative out of the trending updates. So much for ‘believability’ of the book of face’s lack of bias…
A few of my favorite things…
A little shooty goodness always makes the day go better! 100 rounds of .22, 100 rounds of .38, 50 rounds of 9mm and 50 rounds of .45 to get me at least headed in the right direction, and a little training was done too…
15 yards with the .45 after some good warm up, and I was comfortably in the 9 ring with a called flyers high left and 2 o’clock right.
The rapid fire, not so much… Geez, pulled left again and @#^#$#$ round dropped low in the 7 ring! GAH!!!
Finished up with about 50 rounds from the 10/22 with suppressor, giggles were had by all, and ‘somebody’ wants a new toy from Christmas…
Much fun was had with a reactive (ball) target too! Although I did get cussed by one of the other folks for hitting it just before she shot (a couple of times)… 🙂
I really need to get out there once a week, I really sucked early in the day. Shooting well IS a perishable skill, and nothing shows that more quickly than a month layoff.
Desperate for new pilots in the South Pacific, in August 1943 the First Marine Wing appointed the unconventional fighter ace Major Greg ‘Pappy’ Boyington to pull together a newly formed squadron from a mix of experienced combat veterans and untested novice pilots. The Marine Corps gave him just four weeks to turn this motley group into a fighting force ready for combat. Boyington succeeded beyond all expectations and the rest is history. Equipped with the Chance Vought F4U Corsair, they called themselves ‘The Black Sheep’, and under Boyington’s leadership, saw action at Guadalcanal, Munda, the northern Solomons, Vella Lavella, Bouganville, and Tokokina Kahili, and were the first to lead fighter sweeps over the major Japanese base of Rabaul. In a period of just eighty-four days Boyington’s pilots recorded 273 Japanese aircraft destroyed or damaged, 97 confirmed air victories producing eight fighter Aces, sank several ships, destroyed many ground installations and numerous other victories. With typical mastery, Robert Taylor has brought to life an encounter over Rabaul in late December 1943, paying tribute to one of the US Marine Corps‘ most famous fighter squadrons, and its outstanding leader. With the Japanese airbase at Rabaul visible in the distance, ‘Pappy’ Boyington and his fellow pilots of VMF-214 tear into a large formation of Japanese Zekes and a series of deadly dogfights have started, one Zeke already fallen victim to their guns.
For their outstanding contribution to the war in the South Pacific, the ‘Black Sheep’ were awarded one of only two Presidential Unit Citations accorded to Marine Corps squadrons during the war in the Pacific.
That’s how long I’ve been putting my brain drippings out here…
I can’t believe y’all are still around!!! 🙂
3,211 total posts, over 44,000 total comments, and roughly 500,000 page visits in the last year, putting me at around 3,000,000 visitors since I started.
I’m very humbled by this, and I truly appreciate the readers and commenters who’ve hung with me over the years. It’s been a helluva rollercoaster, and the future doesn’t promise to get much better… Sigh…
Thanks to those who took a chance on me, and put a link on their sidebars. The other thing this brings to mind are the number of bloggers whom we’ve lost, either to frustrations, other pursuits, or passing away. Salut!
Here’s that first post, which didn’t even get a comment…LOL Matter of fact, it wasn’t until about the 5th post that I actually GOT a comment!!!
I’m new to this whole arena, but thought I’d give it a try. I guess I fall in the “silent majority” as we have been deemed, I’ve never sought publicity, sued anyone for spilling my coffee, sure as hell ain’t a movie star; well, you get the drift…
I’m mid-50’s have a decent job, two decent kids trying hard to make their own way in the world today, and a lot of frustration with what is happening to the US of A. Being from the South, I hunt, fish, and shoot guns; so that immediately makes me one of those “rabid rednecks” to quote some out there. I did have a pickup, but it’s hard to park it where I work, so I drive a Pontiac… sure do miss the truck though… sigh…
As a retired military type, it really hurts to see the crap we are putting the folks in service through today. I lived through that in Vietnam, and I take the time to thank every Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine for their service when I get the chance. Most of the kids (I’m Southern so I can say that) are doing the best they can with what they have. They believe in the job they and others are doing in the Sandbox, and are pretty upset by the media coverage they get.
Anyway, I’m going to try this for a while and see what happens… thanks for reading and commenting…
Old NFO
This one is probably going to lose me a few readers, but I really don’t care. I’m pissed at what I’ve seen over the last three days, and I need to get this off my chest.
I gave this oath-
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God.
That oath has no expiration date, nor does my commitment and devotion to the USA.
Having said that, I have NEVER seen the amount of vitriol, whining and bitching that is surrounding the upcoming election. After Cruz got out, things only got worse on the Pubs side, and the Dems aren’t any better with the Berns…
From the talking heads, to the dancing monkeys, to the bloggers to the book of face, people just went off the deep end, Triggleypuff style…
If you can stomach it, it looks like a bunch of SJWs (nee POS) throwing a massive hissy fit. Many are ‘threatening’ to not vote, just stay home and pout.
Does anyone understand the term abrogate???
abrogate
-
: to fail to do what is required by (something, such as a responsibility) LIKE VOTING!!!
Voting is a fundamental right and responsibility of U.S. citizens — the right to have a say in how they are governed and the responsibility to be informed about candidates and issues when they go to the polls.
I’m not going to tell you how to vote, that is between you and your deity of choice. I don’t care if you write in Joe Schmuckatelli, but I will say that if you abrogate your responsibility to vote, you are giving up on the USA. And by extension giving up any right to ‘comment’ on the outcome, as far as I’m concerned.
Hopefully people will calm down and NOT go Triggleypuff as the year winds down.
Kicking the soapbox back in the corner and looking for the scotch… sigh
Some people have commented about the family resemblance between myself and Jace…
So here ya go… Me at age 3 (mumble years ago) with my grandfather and grandmother on my mother’s side.
And Jace at 2 1/2 last month…
You decide… 🙂
Sigh…
h/t JD
And no basket, at least as far as the USAF is concerned…
First it was getting rid of the A-10 back around 2000 (nope), then it was the A-10 in 2006 (nope), then it was the F-117 in 2008 (partial, but maintain a force that could be recalled), 2013 it was the A-10 again (they REALLY hate that airplane), now with justification that they need A-10 maintenance crew to train/maintain the F-35.
Fast forward to 2016, and it’s the death knell for the F-117…
America’s F-117 stealth fighter has been in a state of limbo. In 2008, the U.S. Air Force officially retired the black, angular warplanes but they never entirely went away. For eight years, the radar-evading aircraft have rested in climate-controlled hangars at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada.
Here’s why — when the F-117s retired, Congress required the Air Force to maintain some of the planes in case they were ever needed in a future war. The flying branch even kept flying a handful, most likely as guinea pigs for stealth-penetrating sensors … or some other mysterious hardware.
Full article HERE, from National Interest.
But the USAF STILL wants to kill the A-10… sigh…
In other news, the latest NRA Freedom spot is Charlie Daniels! I love this one!!!
h/t JP
The first video is from an S-3 back in the late 90’s doing Carrier Quals (CQs) off San Diego…
The same landing pattern merged to show a day trap and a night trap, flown by the same pilot in good weather!
The next video is not so pretty… It’s 16 minutes extracted from an hour long video on carrier operations in the South Pacific enroute to Australia.
At the end of the video, the comments about not doing it again are made by the Squadron CO, who kicked a lesser trained pilot out of the seat due to safety considerations. This was his last cruise, as he was turning over the squadron shortly after the video was completed.
This is why good pilots wash out of primary if they can’t land on the boat…