Politics

[Brent in Az]

From the pictures of his house and his statements I'd wager he is more of a recluse/hermit with no social circle. So no parties.

Probably the relative who doesn't get invited to Thanksgiving dinner

 

[wesheltonj]

Personally, I would rather be blowing up the munitions in Iran, than behind my house when Camp Stanley blows up old ammo and munitions and shakes every window in my house. It's bad enough when Camp Bullis is training, blowing stuff up, dropping bombs and shooting machine guns.

 

[Red Leg]

This whole missile inventory debate really isn't for those who are basically clueless about munitions - particularly rocket propelled munitions - even CNN or FOX reporters. The critical path for acquisition is shelf life of the munition. All of our interceptors and battlefield missiles such as ATACMS or its replacement the PrSM (fired from the same launcher) have solid rocket boosters. It should be clear to even to former MP SPEC 4's that liquid propellants aren't practical in a tactical environment.

Production and acquisition of these systems is predicated on maintaining a steady baseline inventory of the weapons. Acquisition is established to create and maintain that inventory through normal attrition - such as training and shelf-life. Obviously, that is not the cheapest acquisition model because assembly lines maintain a rather slow annual output. However, because no one knows when the next conflict will take place, buying a huge quantity over a short period simply may mean the inventory collapses due to aging at a critical point.

Therefore, though DOD has stepped up procurement of various expended munitions, that acquisition will still be metered over the next several years, not because the missiles are difficult to build, but to insure no artificial expiration cliff has been built into the inventory.

It also looks like both Northrop and Lockheed Martin are working with DOD through a series of new contracts to build and stockpile those components that do not have a critical shelf life such as electronics and missile bodies which will speed up future assembly.

But the notion that the inventory can't be replaced quickly mantra coming from a lot of the reporting and influence bloviators is simply wrong.

Not sure how this posted twice.

 

[HuntingGold]

I was curious about that... you are forgiven.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Not sure how this posted twice.

Worth the read, both times….

 

[mdwest]

UCMJ obviously does not apply. The alleged "leakers" who leaked intelligence that wasn't intelligence (according to Trump), leaked it to the US press not Iranian military. I strongly suspect this is all just a phony political stunt cooked up by the administration. Trump has built his reputation on selling misinformation and this seems to fit his agenda, i.e. trying to convince Congress to spend more money on armament to prolong his war with Iran indefinitely. I am surprised CBS took the bait. I'm also convinced Trump's witch hunt for "leakers" will be a dead end ... and he knows it. The risk he's taking is someone involved in the investigation may discover the information leaked is actually true and the Army is out of weapons. Then what? US vulnerability will be publicly confirmed and Trump's credibility shot in the arse ... again. I see this as a poorly thought out strategy. A loser any way you look at it. But hey, look at the source. He is the definition of "poorly thought out."

Obviously? Surely you’re not nearly as inept as you so often appear.

Who exactly do you think would have access to munitions logs and counts? Some random check out girl at the piggly wiggly?

Or would it be more likely that it’s a military service member? Who would absolutely be subject to the UCMJ?

Man.. and here I was thinking self proclaimed E4’s thst project their authority over General Officers and SF bubbas might know something about the Uniform Code of Military Justice… I guess I was wrong…

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Obviously? Surely you’re not nearly as inept as you so often appear.

Who exactly do you think would have access to munitions logs and counts? Some random check out girl at the piggly wiggly?

Or would it be more likely that it’s a military service member? Who would absolutely be subject to the UCMJ?

Man.. and here I was thinking self proclaimed E4’s thst project their authority over General Officers and SF bubbas might know something about the Uniform Code of Military Justice… I guess I was wrong…

Read the code. The individual committing treason has to be acting in concert with the enemy, not the nation's news agency. Whatever position the supposed "leaker" has within the govt/military is immaterial. The key word in the code you cited is "enemy." CBS may be Trump's personal enemy but they are not waging war on the country. Anyway, 1st Amendment protects the press. He's just blowing hot air. As are you.

 

[Woodcarver]

Obviously? Surely you’re not nearly as inept as you so often appear.

Who exactly do you think would have access to munitions logs and counts? Some random check out girl at the piggly wiggly?

Or would it be more likely that it’s a military service member? Who would absolutely be subject to the UCMJ?

Man.. and here I was thinking self proclaimed E4’s thst project their authority over General Officers and SF bubbas might know something about the Uniform Code of Military Justice… I guess I was wrong…

Think you're gonna need that pigeon on a chessboard again......

 

[rigbymauser]

I believe that you are confusing healthcare with emergency room services. ERs in many instances provide only immediate lifesaving care. If you have cancer you don't go there to get radiation or chemo. At least not at the ERs by me. An ER may diagnose a heart condition for you, but they don't perform the heart bypass surgery. Need an organ transplant? Sorry, out of luck yet again. ERs don't just hand out free insulin to whomever needs it. Sorry diabetics! If you get serious burns and need skin grafts?...Better have insurance.

Lets not pretend that ERs are able to take care of all your healthcare needs.

I read some years back in regards to healthcare and insurrance in the US. It you are a millionair and suffer from a rare blood condition you are lucky to live in the US. You can be treated. But if you are a bluecollar worker who get a busted knee or hip from a road or workaccident you are fucked.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Personally, I would rather be blowing up the munitions in Iran, than behind my house when Camp Stanley blows up old ammo and munitions and shakes every window in my house. It's bad enough when Camp Bullis is training, blowing stuff up, dropping bombs and shooting machine guns.

I understand your concern. In the 1990s my command would loan me out to the Eglin AFB in the panhandle of Florida. Eglin got free labor and I kept up my Demo quals to keep my Demo pay

They would dispose of old munitions. Bangalore torpedoes, cannon rounds, H.E. And low order explosives. We had a 500 pound limit on H.E. of any type.

Also the old battleship 16” gun powder bags. I think they were 80-100 pounds each. Encased in silk bags. We could “burn” 5000 pounds of the gunpowder bags at a time in a large rectangular steel pan. A BIG fire ball not an explosion.

I’m confident they sent out regular notices to the locals of upcoming days of fun. But I’m sure that didn’t help with the noise. Walls and windows rattling were the exact complaints the base would get from people miles away.

We would also dispose of some of the H.E. offshore on a sunken ship and other objects placed for that purpose. But the limit was 100 pounds offshore. Signing it out Transporting it by land and boat, then signing off that it was all destroyed was a PIA. But worth it.

You can almost date the picture by my Oakley Razor’s

 

[KJE81]

This whole missile inventory debate really isn't for those who are basically clueless about munitions - particularly rocket propelled munitions - even CNN or FOX reporters. The critical path for acquisition is shelf life of the munition. All of our interceptors and battlefield missiles such as ATACMS or its replacement the PrSM (fired from the same launcher) have solid rocket boosters. It should be clear to even to former MP SPEC 4's that liquid propellants aren't practical in a tactical environment.

Production and acquisition of these systems is predicated on maintaining a steady baseline inventory of the weapons. Acquisition is established to create and maintain that inventory through normal attrition - such as training and shelf-life. Obviously, that is not the cheapest acquisition model because assembly lines maintain a rather slow annual output. However, because no one knows when the next conflict will take place, buying a huge quantity over a short period simply may mean the inventory collapses due to aging at a critical point.

Therefore, though DOD has stepped up procurement of various expended munitions, that acquisition will still be metered over the next several years, not because the missiles are difficult to build, but to insure no artificial expiration cliff has been built into the inventory.

It also looks like both Northrop and Lockheed Martin are working with DOD through a series of new contracts to build and stockpile those components that do not have a critical shelf life such as electronics and missile bodies which will speed up future assembly.

But the notion that the inventory can't be replaced quickly mantra coming from a lot of the reporting and influence bloviators is simply wrong.

Isnt Center for Strategic & International Studies to be believed either then? I thought they were more serious then MSM at least.

It looks like there might be a real shortage, and long procurement times if CSIS is to be believed, even if it does not looks nearly as severe as media would have us believe:

Last Rounds? Status of Key Munitions at the Iran War Ceasefire

The United States has depleted its missile inventories but still has enough to continue fighting this war under any plausible scenario. The risk is with future wars—particularly against a peer competitor like China.

www.csis.org

Renewed Iran War Would Test Diminished Interceptor Inventories

U.S. forces fired many air defense munitions during the first phase of Operation Epic Fury. Resumption of combat operations has reduced inventories further, though Iranian launches have so far been lower than before the ceasefire.

www.csis.org

 

[mdwest]

Read the code. The individual committing treason has to be acting in concert with the enemy, not the nation's news agency. Whatever position the supposed "leaker" has within the govt/military is immaterial. The key word in the code you cited is "enemy." CBS may be Trump's personal enemy but they are not waging war on the country. Anyway, 1st Amendment protects the press. He's just blowing hot air. As are you.

What you said was the leaker wouldn’t be subject to the UCMJ. Read your post.

If the leaker is a military service member, which is who would most likely have access to the data being leaked, they would absolutely be subject to the UCMJ.

You claim to be a PhD. Personally I doubt it. You’ve demonstrated a thousand times a lack of ability to research or conduct proper data analysis. You also claim to be a veteran, but have also made bloviated and ridiculous claims about your service, so that’s in question too.

If the enemy obtains the information as a result of your action, and your intent was for classified information to be released outside of its classified constraints, there are multiple charges that can be filed against you under the UCMJ, which if found guilty would have you’re clearance revoked and have you ejected from service at a minimum, but could have to put into federal incarceration at Ft Levenworth as a maximum, which is what was said in the post you quoted.

I thought a self proclaimed PhD would know how to read? Who knew lol

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Not sure how this posted twice.

Sometimes you have to tell them and then tell them again.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

@WAB do you remember when this happened? I can remember going up the mountain to by cattle as a kid with father from some of the other families on south mountain. When you started down the roads to the farms they would have kids posted up in the woods that would then run paralleling us to the house through the woods. When you got to the houses you’d generally get met by the man or men and oldest boys and all of the women and girls would be sent in the house immediately. I was probably only six or seven years old the first time I went up there with him I remember it was the first time I’d seen revolvers besides westerns when father and uncle both took .38s out of the dash and put them in coat pockets.

 

[Red Leg]

Isnt Center for Strategic & International Studies to be believed either then? I thought they were more serious then MSM at least.

It looks like there might be a real shortage, and long procurement times if CSIS is to be believed, even if it does not looks nearly as severe as media would have us believe:

View attachment 783167

Last Rounds? Status of Key Munitions at the Iran War Ceasefire

The United States has depleted its missile inventories but still has enough to continue fighting this war under any plausible scenario. The risk is with future wars—particularly against a peer competitor like China.

www.csis.org

Renewed Iran War Would Test Diminished Interceptor Inventories

U.S. forces fired many air defense munitions during the first phase of Operation Epic Fury. Resumption of combat operations has reduced inventories further, though Iranian launches have so far been lower than before the ceasefire.

www.csis.org

Sure they are, and everything is accurate to a point, but the chart is completely without context. Lead time for procurement, which is what the column actually details, is for the new procurement contracts. The chart implies a stagnant environment. It ignores the fact contracts are already in place, supply chains exist, and production is ongoing for all these systems. It is a dynamic production environment, not the static one implied by the chart. Munitions are already being delivered and accelerated under existing contracts. Secondly, there still must be a metered acquisition strategy with respect to the solid rocket motors to prevent an inventory age-out cliff. The media, to include the folks at CSIS, quote these numbers without context as if the inventories are frozen waiting four years for a missile to show up.

Take the Patriot interceptor for instance for which there is recent open source data. According to the chart and the media hand ringing, one could interpret that it will take four years to replace the first one. Except the reality is that production is ongoing and has just recently ramped up to 650 missiles per year. Do the math. Long term planning is to raise the production rate to 2000 per year by 2030 which will last until a future administration decides that is overkill.

 

[WAB]

@WAB do you remember when this happened? I can remember going up the mountain to by cattle as a kid with father from some of the other families on south mountain. When you started down the roads to the farms they would have kids posted up in the woods that would then run paralleling us to the house through the woods. When you got to the houses you’d generally get met by the man or men and oldest boys and all of the women and girls would be sent in the house immediately. I was probably only six or seven years old the first time I went up there with him I remember it was the first time I’d seen revolvers besides westerns when father and uncle both took .38s out of the dash and put them in coat pockets.

Man do I ever. The RCMP busted a similar issue in New Brunswick shortly afterward. Hunt some of the back roads of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and you’d think you were on the set of Deliverance.

 

[Altitude sickness]

My issue with the leakers isn’t even the hard numbers of each specific platform or weapon system. It’s more the psychological and or negotiating boost this type of information gives the enemy.

China and others have people planted in pretty much every U.S. industry. That is also why we have intelligence people in just about every U.S. industry.
So they have access to more than they should.

But giving Iran the psychological boost during negotiations is exactly why many American Legion and VFW posts still have stickers of Jane Fonda‘s face in their urinals.

 

[WAB]

This whole missile inventory debate really isn't for those who are basically clueless about munitions - particularly rocket propelled munitions - even CNN or FOX reporters. The critical path for acquisition is shelf life of the munition. All of our interceptors and battlefield missiles such as ATACMS or its replacement the PrSM (fired from the same launcher) have solid rocket boosters. It should be clear to even to former MP SPEC 4's that liquid propellants aren't practical in a tactical environment.

Production and acquisition of these systems is predicated on maintaining a steady baseline inventory of the weapons. Acquisition is established to create and maintain that inventory through normal attrition - such as training and shelf-life. Obviously, that is not the cheapest acquisition model because assembly lines maintain a rather slow annual output. However, because no one knows when the next conflict will take place, buying a huge quantity over a short period simply may mean the inventory collapses due to aging at a critical point.

Therefore, though DOD has stepped up procurement of various expended munitions, that acquisition will still be metered over the next several years, not because the missiles are difficult to build, but to insure no artificial expiration cliff has been built into the inventory.

It also looks like both Northrop and Lockheed Martin are working with DOD through a series of new contracts to build and stockpile those components that do not have a critical shelf life such as electronics and missile bodies which will speed up future assembly.

But the notion that the inventory can't be replaced quickly mantra coming from a lot of the reporting and influence bloviators is simply wrong.

I’ve been peripherally involved on the fuel side many decades ago. This may have changed, but at that time the fuel supplier also provided disposal service for expired fuel. Not huge contracts from an energy industry POV, but worthwhile.

 

[WAB]

I’ve been peripherally involved on the fuel side many decades ago. This may have changed, but at that time the fuel supplier also provided disposal service for expired fuel. Not huge contracts from an energy industry POV, but worthwhile.

On a different tack, I’ve supplied vast quantities of JP-4 and JP-8 to the military and have been responsible for fueling Air Force One twice. On one of the occasions my lab supervisor was quite upset that secret service was armed in the refinery while they witnessed the testing, lockdown and transport of the fuel. I told him that he was welcome to try to disarm them if he felt the need.