XBradTC

No, Esli, you don’t get to play.

First up, the easy one. Angry Staff Officer addresses the despised Reflective Belt.

As much as anything can go viral, the reflective belt went viral, not unlike a disease. Each branch of service came out with their own specific belt. Different colors began to appear besides the normal fluorescent yellow: pink, blue, and green. Its rise coincided with the Global War on Terror, and as advancing American troops swarmed into Iraq and Afghanistan, they brought the reflective belt with them. First only used at night on large operating bases for safety, reflective belts were rarely seen in war zones from 2001–2004. Then, around 2005, something broke down. That something was common sense.

Reflective belts began to be required everywhere in Iraq and Afghanistan. During physical training, walking anywhere at night, when operating all terrain vehicles, or even to get into the chow hall. Granted, this was restricted to major forward operating bases rather than small outposts whose residents still realized that a shiny object made little tactical sense. Because it was a uniform item, reflective belts became the purview of the senior enlisted soldier, the first sergeant. As the sergeant major protects his grass, so the first sergeant would bawl you out for not wearing a reflective belt. It quickly became a thing of mockery and derision by troops. 

There really are times and places when a reflective belt makes a lot of sense. But the Army, being the Army, simply took a good idea to its illogical conclusion, and removed from leaders the authority to use common sense to determine where and when it was a good idea. The service constantly tells its troops it wants them to think, then promptly removes that option and demands rote compliance.

Pinging troops on uniform standards is easy. We’re all for maintaining the standard, but for many weak senior enlisted “leaders” the easy path of seeking out the guy without a reflective belt takes the place of mentoring subordinate NCOs, conducting leadership development, ensuring other standards, such as proficiency in individual and small team skills, and ensuring the welfare of troops.

But those tasks are hard, and take effort, but the superficial is easy.

On the other end of the scale, there’s this story.

Weeks before President Obama ordered the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011, four administration lawyers developed rationales intended to overcome any legal obstacles — and made it all but inevitable that Navy SEALs would kill the fugitive Qaeda leader, not capture him.

Stretching sparse precedents, the lawyers worked in intense secrecy. Fearing leaks, the White House would not let them consult aides or even the administration’s top lawyer, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. They did their own research, wrote memos on highly secure laptops and traded drafts hand-delivered by trusted couriers.

Really? Over a decade into the hunt for Osama, and they finally got around to writing up some justification? I don’t have that big a heartburn about the role of the JAG in war, nor even at this level, except that is it a reflection on our own imposition of Rules of Engagement that are all too often so bogged down in minutia as to be virtually incomprehensible.

Did anyone think the general public opinion about a mission to kill Osama bin Laden would hinge on whatever secret memos lawyers came up with to justify it?

Really, here’s the thing about international law. Who is going to enforce it? Nobody. The nice thing about being the biggest force is that if say it is legal, it is.

But for so many in government, the process is the product, not a tool to ensure an end result.  

A Dynamic Airways plane caught on fire on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Video at the link. Not sure what happened, as the engine cowling looks intact, but there is a lot of damage to the wing and fuselage along the port side at the trailing edge of the wing.

Source: AirLive.net: BREAKING A plane is on fire at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International airport

Lots of news in the defense industry and from the services.

We mentioned the first flight of the massive Sikorsky CH-53K yesterday.

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A handful of Air Tractor AT-802 light attack/ISR planes intended for Yemen have been diverted to Jordan instead. I guess the reasoning is that the Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen has enough of what it needs right now, and Jordan, facing the challenges of ISIS affilated rebels near and within its borders needs them more.

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Russia is notoriously tight lipped about its military operations, but they’re also pretty damn good at propaganda. Their puppet news agency, RT, through its video service, Ruptly, live streamed the launch of several sorties from Latakia airbase against anti-Assad forces in Syria.

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Congress likely will hold hearings on an airstrike against a civilian hospital in Afghanistan, which reportedly was called in by Fort Bragg soldiers.

The U.S. military, NATO officials and the Afghan government are investigating the attack against a Doctors without Borders facility on Oct. 3. At least 30 people were killed, according to the humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical care to people in areas of conflict, epidemics or disasters.

Congress is expected to hold hearings after the Defense Department completes its investigation, according to a congressional staffer familiar with the situation. High-ranking military officers likely will testify, the staffer said.

No surprise there. It’s become quite apparent that the US forces in the area knew well in advance that the facility was a MSF compound. Given that they knew that, and still called in an airstrike, it really, really indicates that they have to have had very good reasons to consider it a lawful, and worthy, target. Simply treating Taliban casualties would not be sufficient cause. After all, our own military treatment facilities are (theoretically) covered under the Law of War. 

One suspects though that there will be sensitive issues surrounding discussing the evidence that led to the request for the airstrike. Sources and methods kind of stuff.  From a WaPo post the other day, it sounds like knowledge of the MSF facility stretched all the way back to the Pentagon, and so did concerns about what the facility was doing.

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The Lot 38 contract has been signed for 15 more EA-18G Growlers.

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Five Americans have been wounded in action while fighting ISIS in Iraq. But the U.S. military won’t say the first thing about who they are, or how they got injured.

The Pentagon says Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, the Delta Force soldier who died last week in a hostage rescue mission in Iraq, was the first U.S. service member killed in action in the ISIS war. But Wheeler was not the first combat casualty.

Five other service members have been “wounded in action” since the U.S. first sent troops back into Iraq last year, according to statistics from the Pentagon and interviews with officials in Iraq (PDF). But how and when they were injured, the Pentagon refuses to say.

The Pentagon can’t say US troops are in combat, because that would demonstrate that Obama lied about successfully ending the war in Iraq with the disastrous pull-out of US troops in 2011.

Northrop Grumman on Tuesday won the Pentagon contract to build a fleet of stealthy planes known as the Long Range Strike Bomber, a new generation of aircraft designed to reach deep into enemy territory.Northrop beat out a team of Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the high-stakes competition for a project likely to be one of the Pentagon’s most significant over the next decade.In announcing the award, valued at nearly $60 billion, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the program represents a “technological leap” that will allow the United States to “remain dominant.”The bomber, which will be capable of carrying nuclear weapons, is a “strategic investment for the next 50 years,” Carter said.

Source: Northrop Grumman wins Long Range Strike Bomber contract – The Washington Post

Northrup Grumman’s experience with the B-2 likely gave them the inside edge. Lockheed, Boeing’s partner in their bid, obviously has more recent experience with the state of the art in signature reduction, via the F-22 and F-35, but the B-2 is still the gold standard in stealth.

As for Boeing, sure, they have a long history of building bombers. But it’s just that, history. From the B-17 in 1937 to the last B-52 in 1962, Boeing was synonymous with American bombers. But that’s a quarter century of production. And that was over half a century ago.

For a law enforcement officer to detain you, he must have an articulable reasonable suspicion that you have, are or are about to commit a crime.

But here’s the thing- he doesn’t have to articulate that suspicion to YOU. He has to be able to articulate it to the court.

By all means, know your civil rights, and exercise them.

But understand this, because your freedom or your very life may depend upon this- when an officer has detained you, he has entered the realm of the use of force. Law enforcement has the power, the authority, to use reasonable force to effect that detainment. Your failure to comply will result in escalating force. And whatever actions happened before, the circumstances that lead to the detention are immaterial. Escalations of force are based on your actions while the officer is attempting to effect the detainment.

People are up in arms over a School Resource Officer taking down a student at Spring Valley High School.

Guess what? That happened only because the student made it happen. She could have followed the instructions of the teacher. Or the school administrator. Or the SRO. But she chose not to, and guess what? That has consequences.

The video isn’t entirely dispositive, but I see nothing that immediately suggests the SRO violated the students civil rights.

Via AHS FB page.

Compared to the CH-53A of 1961, the K is something like George Washington’s hatched. The head has been replaced once and the handle twice, but it’s still his hatchet.

A sound basic design that has seen virtually every component changed over the course of development.

The Europeans are inwardly focused on the hundreds of thousands of military age Muslim men on the march throughout the European Union and pressing on its borders.The United States is in an election year and continues to blink at any real threat.Russia is renewed.The Balkan wars have not ended – they will not end – there is work to do. If one were to make trouble;

Source: CDR Salamander: Black Swan Tuesday: The Bones of a Pomeranian Grenadier

The Balkans- The intersection of East, West and Islam. Truly, there will never be peace there.

Read the whole thing. Seriously, I need a matrix written in crayon to understand all the players, and frankly, haven’t a clue who to root for.

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — It’s official — the M4 carbine has replaced the M16A4 as the universal rifle of Marine Corps infantry.Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has signed off on the switch making the M4 the primary weapon for all infantry battalions, security forces and supporting schools no later than the end of September 2016, according to an internal memo released by Lt. Gen. Ronald Bailey, deputy commandant for Plans, Policies and Operations via the Automated Message Handling System.The recommendation was first made over the summer to then-commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford, and its final approval was one of Neller’s first orders of business after succeeding Dunford Sep. 24, according to Marine Corps officials.

Source: Commandant approves M4 as standard weapon for Marine infantry

Apparently, if you design a round to perform well in the M4, the M4 performs well. Who knew?