Archive for the 'Army' Category

This video has apparently been making the rounds.  Before we go any further, let me stipulate that I don’t know with certainty if this is really CAG or somebody playing tacticool during weekend at Bubba’s.  It is alleged to be CAG.  No one in the thread seems to be questioning that, and in fact, they seemed to think it’s pretty cool.

On the other hand, I’m appalled.  It looks amateurish and silly.  They hop off of a helicopter and clop around like cows for close to half a minute, making as much noise with the machinery and footsteps as possible.  The players aren’t alerted to any presence despite the massive noise avalanche, they’re standing still, there are no trip wires to kill the team, they are out in the open with no cover or concealment, and it’s broad daylight.

If this was really a CAG practice mission, I would have expected face paint, no reflective lenses, dark clothing, entry by night along a treeline, use of NODS, and quiet approach to room entry execution that went off in two to three seconds and the rest of the building cleared in under ten seconds.

When my son was in the Marine Corps, including live fire shoot house training, when the training included Marine-on-Marine shooting they used chalk rounds.  Those hurt from what I understand.

Why weren’t the actors moving?  Why weren’t the actors shooting back with chalk rounds?  Why wasn’t this real training rather than a waste of time and gasoline for the helicopter?

So as I stipulated, I don’t know with certainty that this is CAG.  It could be weekend at Bubba’s.  Somebody who can track this down please tell me this isn’t really CAG?

I’m left scratching my head at this whole thing.

CAG mock hostage rescue pic.twitter.com/BBATobjibK

— Travis (@GWOT5822) December 1, 2021

Here.

Lord help us if we ever get into a near-peer conflict.

The U.S. military is done.  Finished.  Kaput.  It is no more.  There is nothing left of it.  It is a hollowed out shell.

UPDATE: NC Renegade posted yesterday.  I missed that.

We are BEYOND fucked. pic.twitter.com/1wlJhZWQz0

— Nate Taylor: Kardashian Moat Lifeguard (@NotNateTaylor) October 18, 2021

Around the 4 second mark.  That rifle is pointing everywhere but down.

Buses filled with National Guardsmen have arrived at the Brooklyn Center Police Department. pic.twitter.com/OL8dAbps8F

— James Klüg (@realJamesKlug) April 13, 2021

If my son had muzzle flagged somebody like that in the MC, he would have been sent to the “room of pain.” Oh, and it would be best not to drop your rifle. Keep better control over it.

Via WiscoDave.

Via WiscoDave. I don’t have a category for safety, so I’ll file this one under Army.

Dear NGUS personnel in Washington DC:

That piece of webbing on the front of the rifle running to the back is called a SLING.

It's so that you can carry the rifle, hands free, with the barrel oriented in a safe direction.

Signed: Marines

— Joe Dolio 🇺🇲 (@DolioJ) January 15, 2021

DoD.

The training, provided by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, gave the small-arms repair Soldiers an opportunity to get a hands-on feel for the new systems and learn the details of operating and maintaining them.

“An instructor came here from TACOM and went over the whole weapons system for the M17 and M18 pistols, breaking down the weapon understanding how it fires,” said Staff Sgt. Ryan Daly, platoon sergeant with 632nd SMC.

The instructors also covered all the different trajectory, how to disassemble not only the weapon but also the magazine and how to properly clean it, Daly said.

[ … ]

The maintainers ended the training having gained confidence in their ability to provide the Division and tenant units the quality support the Sustainment Brigade is known for.

“For an SMC, this is an important opportunity because it helps Soldiers basically cross train with some of the tenant units and the units we support here on Fort Stewart,” said Capt. Jessica Richardson, commander, 632nd SMC. “We are the only ones that are going to be maintaining them on Fort Stewart and it gives our Soldiers an opportunity to fulfill their military occupation specialties.”

Provider Maintainer.  Is that what the Army calls armorers now?  Is that an actual MOS?  Does this go along with all the sensitivity training they get now?

Have any of you gunsmiths heard of this MOS?

NRO.

Wisconsin governor Tony Evers ordered 125 National Guard members to the city of Kenosha on Monday, following riots that erupted after police shot a black man while responding to a domestic violence call on Sunday.

The guard members will be charged with “guarding infrastructure and making sure our firefighters and others involved are protected,” Evers told reporters.

Ridiculous … depending upon the answers to the following questions.

1. Are they under arming orders?
2. Who signed the arming orders?
3. Have they been qualified at the range and given a pre-job brief by commanding officers?
4. What is the ROE/RUF?
5. Did they get a briefing from military lawyers on their ROE?
6. Will they be issued ammunition or will their magazines be empty, in which case they are only window dressing?

You see, we’ve been here before, where NG was deployed to the border, but no arming orders issued.

First, there is this news from Military.com.

Guard members are carrying rifles, sidearms and ammunition in response to a “credible threat” aimed directly against them as reported by the FBI, Army Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, said in a phone briefing with reporters.

So regular readers know I’m a wonk for such things.  This means that there were arming orders.  There had to be, or else they would have had no ammunition or weapons.

Next up, via David Codrea, this interesting news.

Townhall’s Julio Rosas is on the ground in Minneapolis this week, reporting on the protests and riots. Tonight he’s reporting that the riot police and the National Guard have abandoned a perimeter they had set up earlier in the day, chased away by the rioters.

[ … ]

Minutes ago Rosas, who’s a tough Marine, by the way, tweeted video of the protesters/rioters cheering as police and the National Guard abandoned their post near the third precinct, which rioters torched on Thursday night.

So much for arming orders.  So much for weapons and ammunition.  So much for ROE.  I guess it’s better to let looters destroy businesses, throw bricks, smash windows and hit people over the head with boards.

From The Drive.

Great idea.  Put the explosion closer to the shooter’s ear and cause even more hearing damage.

In the mean time, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the M4 or M249.

So much for the highly heralded 6.8mm, caseless, not-battle-tested whatever it is thingamajig.

The U.S. Army Contracting Command will soon release its final request for soliciting and award up to two, 5-year firm fixed price – Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for M16A4 5.56mm Rifles.

In a notice posted on the U.S. government’s main contracting website on 27 September, the Army Contracting Command announced that the Government intends to evaluate proposals and award up to two, (but not necessarily two), contracts without holding discussions with offerors for delivery of 215,000 5.56mm Rifles (maximum quantity).

Also states that a license agreement between Colt’s Manufacturing LLC and the U.S. Government requires the items procured to be manufactured in the United States Territory.

Perhaps Colt pulled back from the civilian market because they expect to get awarded a new *.mil contract.

Whatever.  I hope their deal with the devil was worth it. Or not.

This is a strange article anyway.  Why would a license agreement between the FegGov and Colt be pertinent to award of a new contract, especially if Colt wasn’t going to be involved?

So we may learn from this that FedGov is going to Colt yet again for M4s.  Not DD, not Rock River Arms, not BCM, not FN, but Colt.  Quality?  Maybe not so much.

American Rifleman:

Heckler & Koch (H&K) is gearing up to deliver between 5,000 and 6,000 complete rifle weapon systems to the U.S. Amy, which plans to deploy them as M110A1 Squad Designated Marksman Rifles (SDMR). The rifle will be a variant of the 7.62×51 mm NATO G28/HK417, and will be manufactured by H&K in Oberndorf, Germany, before arriving at the H&K-U.S.A. facility in Columbus, Ga., in early 2020. There, scopes and mounts purchased under a separate agreement will be installed, as well as accessories from 12 other U.S.-based manufacturers. H&K will additionally provide spare parts, support and training.

Because presumably there aren’t any manufacturers in American that know anything about building firearms.