100 years of German snipers
Sniper of the 2-million man Imperial German Army circa 1918…
Two German snipers of the now 60,000-man Deutsches Heer in Afghanistan in 2013…
Ok, well its not quite 100-years, but you get the point…..
Category Archives: War On Terror
Just in case you see Iranian Boghammers around the Florida Panhandle tomorrow…
“WAR GAMES DESTIN: Fighters, bombers, soldiers and noise coming Thursday
EGLIN AFB — Residents may experience noise when the 96th Operations Group conducts boat operations in Choctawhatchee Bay and the Gulf of Mexico Feb. 13 and again Feb. 18-21. The operations are part of the 53rd Wing’s Weapon System Evaluation Program, or WSEP. Fighter aircraft will release munitions in the morning around 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. about 20 nautical miles out in the Gulf.
In the afternoon around 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. approximately 30 boats will be used by A-10s and F-15s as visual targets; no
weapons or ammunition will be involved in the testing.
The boats will transverse between the Mid-Bay Bridge and the Highway 331 Bridge or 5 to 20 miles South of Destin in the Gulf of Mexico.
Please be advised the 30 boat operators will be dressed in various military uniforms and white costumes.
They will carry simulated, rubber rifles, painted in high visible colors which will be kept out of view when transiting to/from the
mission area (i.e. passing under bridges, in/through harbors). Some boats will have mock-up, fake deck guns and rocket launcher tubes.
The test will be conducted within a cordoned range safety corridor, notices to mariners will be issued prior to the missions, and
flyers will be handed out at the local marina.”
This looks safe
A Royal Australian Army Special Forces soldier searches a Kajaki cave system for drugs and hidden insurgent caches.
Australian Special Forces have partnered with the Afghan National Interdiction Unit (NIU) to combat the drug networks that fund insurgent activities. Members of the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) commenced operations with the NIU in May to help sever the link between the insurgency and the narcotics trade. NIU operations reduce the Afghan narcotics trade and the threat it poses to the long term security, development and governance of Afghanistan. Combined effort has resulted in hundreds of kilograms of drugs destroyed or confiscated as evidence and several individuals detained to face prosecution. The Special Operations Task Group is deployed to southern Afghanistan to conduct population-centric, security and counter network operations. SOTG support the Afghan National Police’s Provincial Response Company in Uruzgan and northern Kandahar. SOTG includes members from the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), 1st and 2nd Commando Regiments, the Incident Response Regiment, Special Operations Logistic Squadron and supporting units. (Photo By CPL Christopher Dickson1st Joint Public Affairs Unit.)
The Army National Guard Is About to Lose a LOT of Helicopters
The U.S. Army National Guard will have to give up around 400 helicopters, including all of its attack and scout copters, if Congress approves a new and controversial Army reorganization plan.
The Army National Guard could lose all of its Apache and Kiowa helicopters (such as the one seen here)
Guard leaders oppose the move. “This will have a tremendously negative impact,” said Maj. Gen. Max Haston, adjutant general of the Tennessee National Guard.
But if the plan goes forward, the Guard will actually end up with a more useful aviation force than it has now, according to Army leaders.
Today the Guard possesses some 1,500 helicopters spread fairly evenly across the 50 states and U.S. territories. The restructuring plan would remove all of the Guard’s 200 AH-64 Apache attack copters plus its 100 or so OH-58 Kiowa scouts and 100 UH-72 Lakota utility birds.[Note, a few years ago the ARNG had to give up a bunch of UH-60s and a few UH-1s that were left to get those Lakotas as the Army said the Guard could ‘better use them for Homeland Security’]
The Vietnam War-era Kiowas would be scrapped. The Apaches would go to the Active Army to replace that component’s retired Kiowas. The Lakotas would also transfer to the Active Component, where they would replace old TH-67 copters in the training role.
As consolation prize, the Guard would gain 100 UH-60 Blackhawk transports from the Active Army [wanna bet they are the 100 with the highest number of hours?]
Read the rest at war is boring
How can you not love those zero/zero ejection seats?
14 May 2009 : A British Harrier GR9A jet crashed in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said. The pilot is believed to have suffered only minor injuries when he ejected from the aircraft before it came down at Kandahar airfield at about 10:30am local time. It is believed there were no other casualties. It is thought that the RAF pilot ejected after he could not land the aircraft properly. The landing gear was not fully extended
2,000 MRAPS To be Scrapped in the Stan
Weaponsman has a post up over there about the scandalous scrapping of as many as 2,000 of the V-hulled 16-ton armored behemoths known as MRAPs, all under six years old, will be sold for scrap to local junksmiths.
These bad boys cost $1mil each and were rushed to the sandbox after 2007 to protect against IEDs and mines. Now we will be *paying* $12,000 a pop to crush them so the afghans can use thier metal as scrap.
Wow. I’m so glad April 15th is right around the corner.
Man Stumbles Across 1200 Grenades
The Ural Mountains are the closest thing that Russia has to the Appalachians. This line of hills separate Europe from Asia, Western Russia from Siberia, and were only settled by Europeans about the same time the New World was. Things move at a different pace in the Urals. Even in Russia, there is a very back-woods feel to the region. This is where the last Tsar and his family were taken to for their infamous execution in 1918, the hard mountain locals having no qualms about getting their hands dirty. This is where Stalin hid his weapons factories and secret design bureaus over which CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down in his U-2 spy plane in 1960. You just never know what you are going to find there….
Read more in my column at Firearms Talk
We give you, the Limonka
Three Decades of Choppers Shorty M16s and Lip Lizards
A 19-year old Warrant Officer William R. Halevy, then a pilot with D Troop, 3/5 Cav, puts on his most distinguished look in Quang Tri, Vietnam, in 1971. Back in the “Charlie Dont Surf” Air Cav, complete with Stetson and early CAR-15
A sligtly more distinguished ACU/M4 outfitted CW5 William Halevy as an advisor to the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade’s commander in southern Iraq at COB Adder a couple years back.
Halevy has served in the Army for 36 years, has been shot down 3 times, flown over 6,270 hours, and earned no less than 26
Air Medals.
Go Cav
Fighting the Taliban with a Pistol and a pair of Silkies
If you are a Marine, you know the most detested piece of gear issued are the unethically short PT shorts known as ‘Silkies’.
These are notorious for letting way too much ass and balls show when running or doing PT.
Well, just read a great interview with Marine Major Robb McDonald over at MC Times. McDonald a prior enlisted service and Recon marine turned AV-8B Harrier driver woke up one night with 15 Muj in the wire. You may have heard of the place, Camp Bastion , where a team of Taliban sappers came in and made like the WWII SAS, destroying something like 8% of the world’s entire operational Harrier fleet.
And if it wasnt for Maj McDonald, his M9 and silkies, it could have been worse.
US Armys Holodeck
U.S. Army Soldiers, assigned to 412th Aviation Support Battalion, conduct training using the Dismounted Soldier Training System (DSTS) at the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command (JMTC) at Grafenwoehr, Germany, Dec. 11, 2013. The DSTS is the first fully-immersive virtual simulation for infantry, and one of several virtual training systems available to U.S., partnered and allied forces in Europe
