Military Ring Info

Two Americans were killed along with two Afghans in an attack which one of the dead Afghans initiated. The Afghan who initiated the attack was an Afghan Army trainer. There are not many details available right now but there were two other troops wounded in tha attack. The fact that the Americans seemed to get the worst of the attack leads me to think that they were the primary targets.

This is just another sad example of what our custom military ring troops have to face as they attempt to fight the war in Afghanistan. It has to be pretty demoralizing when you don’t know if your allies are on your side.

Afghan soldiers and policemen have conducted many of this type of attack since we have been there. The US has initiated a program designed to weed out those who don’t really have our best intrests at heart in the war and things seemed to have gotten better but as you can see the problem still exists. The question is, How in the world do you get it under control?

Many of our allies have ties with the Taliban which run much deeper than their ties to us. This is also a ountry where corruption has been the order of the day (not much unlike ours) so loyalty is not something that comes naturally. We are also viewed in a negative light by the countries in the region. Old habits are hard to change and old ties run deep so I don’t really see a way to effectively end the problem.

Six Afghan policemen were captured and beheaded by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan yesterday. The Taliban obviously targeted the police checkpoint and then overran it in the attack. It seems to me that this attack was a deliberate attempt to capture the policemen for the purpose of beheading them.

This is definitely a morale booster for the Taliban, and it definitely can’t be good for the morale of the Afghan police. I would have to call it a very clever ploy by the Taliban. If we put ourselves in their shoes we will understand the way that they have to fight this war. Their tactic is to stall for time and survive. They don’t have to win in the sense of wiping out the NATO forces in their country because they know that NATO can’t stay there forever. If they can continue to bloody our nose and survive that will be good enough for them.

Once we leave they will be free to take control and rule the area again as they will. The key word for them is patience.

On the other hand NATO has to be able to weaken the Taliban enough to allow the Afghan government to gain control. NATO also can’t measure victory in terms of wiping out the Taliban because it just isn’t possible. Taliban fighters are streaming into the country from all over the region, and the longer the war goes on the more Taliban recruits will join the fight. Attacks such as the attack on the Afghan police here are designed to wear away the will of our Operation Enduring Freedom ring customers to fight. If we can establish some control during the troop surge we should be able to meet our objectives.

The USS Healey arrived in Alaska today to perform its summer arctic mission. The Healey is the largest Ice Breaker in the Coast Guard. When I did the reading to write this post I was impressed with the versatility of the Coast Guard and felt that I should mention it here.

We think of the Coast Guard in terms of rescues at sea and drug interdictions but its functions go much farther than this. Our Coast Guard is a complicated and diverse organization as we see when we state the Healey’s mission capabilities. The Healey is capable of scientific support, search and rescue, ship escort, environmental protection, and law and treaty enforcement.

It is 420 feet long and has a permanent 80 man crew. Its mission this summer will be hydrological research and the mapping of the continental shelf. there will be some experiments done with NASA which will largely consist of the collecting of water and ice samples to learn more about the refractive properties of sunlight in an arctic environment. Now it seems to me that many of our Coast Guard ring customers must be real eggheads based on the type of work that they will be assisting with.

Our Vice President claims that he wasn’t really bothered by General McChrystal’s negative remarks about him to Rolling Stone magazine but I don’t believe it. There’s not a man or woman in the world who wouldn’t have been upset behind those remarks. Mr Biden says that he didn’t view the remarks as being personal and they probably weren’t, but it probably did tick him off. Now the backdoor political catfighting that I remember seeing when I was in the military was that when you were responsible for wrecking someones career you would hide the hands that threw the rock by pretending to like the person that you just backstabbed. If the remarks didn’t bother our VP why is he talking about them now?

OK let me give you the official stance of the military ring man on this one. Yes General McChrystal should have been sacked behind that performance. He knows it as well as every other custom military ring customer that I have. It caused us to have to scramble to show that we are united in our cause in Afghanistan. That’s why you see so many government officials going to Afghanistan right now and preaching unity.

On the other hand Joe Biden and every one else needs to let this thing die a quick death. Its over Joe, let it be. Lets forget about it and move on. It happened, it is what it is, so lets forget it and move on.

The US Army is working on a new uniform which will be called the RBU. This acronym stands for Robotic Battlefield Uniform. This uniform is essentially an exoskeleton which will utilize mechanical hydraulics, and computer electronics to give the individual soldier the ability to carry hundreds of pounds of equipment as though it were nothing. This would certainly enhance the capabilities of every small infantry type unit in the military.

You might have heard of light forces using the term “Having to hump equipment.” Think about how light forces have to carry all of their food, water, ammunition, first aid, weapons, specialized equipment, and spare clothing with them on the battlefield. Now think about how they may have to do so in extreme weather and terrain. Imagine what it is like having to walk through desert sand, or climb mountainous rocky terrain in 130 degree heat loaded down with stuff that you need to do your job. Now imagine doing this while wearing a helmet and flak vest and carrying a machine gun. You just have to do it a few times to really get an appreciation of it. Once you do you will intimately appreciate every piece of equipment that I have just mentioned.

I can see how this will greatly benefit our Special Operators who have to perform long range reconnaissance missions. They have to know how to live off of the land because they just can’t always carry all of the food that they need. Anything that works is subject to breaking down and that is the question with me. What if this uniform malfunctions in the field? They would have to leave vital equipment behind. Doing so would compromise the operation because the enemy would know that they were in the area.

The de facto leader of the Taliban has ordered his field commanders to begin to target women and children who assist the US and NATO allies in their war effort. He told them to capture and kill the women and to also target the other Afghan civilians who work either for or with our allies.

This is a reversal of his previous stance where he ordered his soldiers to be careful when they targeted their victims. Now those of you who know me know exactly where I am getting ready to go right now. I can’t understand for the life of me why no one will complain about the Taliban using the tactics that they do when all concerned cry hard and long when we accidentally harm innocents. Don’t get me wrong folks, it is a terrible thing when we or anybody else kill innocent civilians,but the difference is that we don’t do it on purpose.

Our rules of engagement are more lenient on Taliban fighters than the Taliban is on civilians. We treat enemy combatants with more respect than they give innocents.

Our military ring customers in Afghanistan are asked to restrain themselves to the point of personal danger when engaging combatants. The same combatants will wantonly slaughter anyone in their way without remorse and nothing much is said. I just don’t get it folks. Is there something seriously wrong or is it just me?

US and South Korean Marines have completed some joint training which is always good for both sides. When different troops from diferent armies train together they always benefit from each other. They are able to compare tactics and find ways that they can incorporate the new tactics into their training.

I can vouch for the South Korean Army. They are some of the toughest troops that I have ever seen. They are deadly serious about their training. We are too but the difference is that they are defending their homeland from a real threat. We as Americans don’t have that problem. At least not directly. They look directly across the border every day at an enemy that wouldn’t mind ripping the limbs from their bodies. As a matter of fact the North Korean military would delight in doing so.

The training in question was the Korean Incremental Training Program, and the ROK Marine Corps Basic Ranger Course. Both of these courses seem to be focused on conducting operations in mountainous terrain. The training will enhance the capabilities of the USMC Military Ring customers who participated in it.

This deployment is probably part of the show of force behind the Cheonan sinking, but the Navy is sending the USS George Washington to South Korea to participate in the upcoming naval exercise. The timing is good because they waited several months before sending it there. It allowed tensions in the region to cool enough to where there shouldn’t be an incident but at the same time it does show solidarity with South Korea. The question is what else will we do? We just can’t allow North Korea to get away with the terrible provocation against South Korea. You san’t let the North Koreans get away with that type of action. You have to deal with them severely because force is what they understand.

The George Washington is a massive Aircraft Carrier, and is one of the biggest ships in the world. It can carry a crew of 6,250 sailors. Now if it needs that many people to operate it think about the massive amount of weapons that it carries. Each one of the custom navy ring customers on the ship has an important function. Can you imagine the amount of damage that this carrier can inflict? It is just what they say, a projection of force. The carries will also be accompanied by three destroyers so you can see just how powerful this force is.

The United States will deploy National Guard Troops to the border with Mexico to aid with it’s control. The troops will begin to deploy on the first of August and will assist the US Border Patrol with the interdiction of smugglers, and illegal immigrants. They will be armed but will only be able to use their weapons in self defense. State governments have complained that this will not be enough to control the border but the federal response is that states are welcome to send their own troops at their own expense.

There is a rash of drug related violence along the borders. The drug cartels are growing more openly violent and bold in their profession. The troops will not be sent to serve as a police force but maybe their presence will have a dampening effect. I believe that once the smugglers and immigrants realize that they won’t be fired on they will become that much bolder.

The US has also recently began to use drones to assist in border control efforts. Our National Guard ring customers will also be joined by additional customs agents in this effort.

It is unfortunate that we have to almost militarize our borders but we have to do what we have to do in order to get the situation under control.

I was reading an article about how the Air Force has used the C-5 to transport over four million pounds of cargo to Afghanistan from Dover AFB an decided to do a little research on the aircraft. I remember the C-4 from my days in the Army. whenever we would deploy overseas the C-5′s and other transports would fly some of our equipment. Much of it woul be loaded on ships and transported that way also. I remember that the C-5′s were so heavy that when we loaded them up they had to be moved every few hours to prevent them from compressing the runway. I remember wondering at the time how in the world do you get something that heavy to fly?

The C-5 is one of the largest aircraft in the world. It’s stated mission is to provide heavy airlift over intercontinental distances, and to carry outsized and oversized cargo. This airplane can seat 73 passengers along with its heavy cargo. It is 247 feet long and 65 feet high. The kicker is that this plane can carry 270,000 pounds of cargo. It typically has an 8 man crew and a maximum speed of 579 MPH. It can be refueled while in flight and can fly at an altitude of 35,000 feet.

The Air Force ring customers who maintain and operate this piece of equipment come from both active and reserve components of the Air Force.