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The three women remaining in Ranger School have successfully completed the first patrol phase and will move this weekend to the north Georgia mountains to continue the U.S. Army’s most physically and mentally challenging leadership training course, it was announced Friday.

The women are part of the first gender-integrated course in the 60-plus year history of Ranger School. They started the program on April 19 with 16 other women trying to become the first females to earn the Ranger tab, held by about 3 percent of all the Army’s soldiers. The three remaining women, who the Army has not named, completed the Camp Darby patrol phase after previously failing it twice. When they failed it a second time in late May, they were offered what the Army terms a “Day 1 recycle,” which meant they had to start the course over from the beginning.

via Three women pass first patrol phase of Ranger School | News | Columbus Ledger Enquirer.

The SEALs like to say that the only  easy day was yesterday. And I suppose you could say much the same about Ranger School.

It’s an endurance test. And each phase is to some extent more physically grueling than the previous. But the longer you last in the course, the greater your odds of successfully completing it.

I’m of two minds. The Army gains nothing from putting women through Ranger School. On the other hand, these three women have persevered and made it this far. And since I never volunteered for Ranger School, that puts them light years ahead of me.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hackers stole Social Security numbers, health histories and other highly sensitive data from more than 21 million people, the Obama administration said Thursday, acknowledging that the breach of U.S. government computer systems was far more severe than previously disclosed.

The scope of the data breach — believed to be the biggest in U.S. history — has grown dramatically since the government first disclosed earlier this year that hackers had gotten into the Office of Personnel Management’s personnel database and stolen records for about 4.2 million people. Since then, the Obama administration has acknowledged a second, related breach of the systems housing private data that individuals submit during background investigations to obtain security clearances.

That second attack affected more than 19 million people who applied for clearances, as well as nearly 2 million of their spouses, housemates and others who never applied for security clearances, the administration said. Among the data the hackers stole: criminal, financial, health, employment and residency histories, as well as information about their families and acquaintances.

via US: More than 21 million affected by government data breach – WTOP.

I expect a certain level of benign incompetence from the government. But this is an active, malicious level of incompetence.

Ms. Archuleta, the director of OPM, who has no background in an office, personnel, or management, steadfastly maintains that she won’t step down.

And isn’t that exactly the whole story of the current administration?

Everything they touch turns to shit. OPM, the VA secret waiting lists leaving veterans to die with no care, the incredible failure of the Obamacare website at stupendous cost, the trillion dollar stimulus on shovel ready jobs that was frittered away and produced nothing more than a few roadside signs,  a Department of Defense that is slashing end strength and capabilities, and yet whose sole focus seems to be on social engineering in the ranks, all while in the middle of shooting wars on multiple fronts, an IRS that has been weaponized to attack political opponents, and a Justice Department that seeks “justice” for some, and persecution for others. And that’s before we even get to a former Secretary of State who had a private, unsecured email server tucked in the basement of her home, and brazenly ignored subpenas and destroyed evidence. And she’s the smarter of the two secretaries State has seen since 2009.

The very worst thing is, not one person will be fired for this. Not for any of this. It is one thing that the administration holds me in contempt. It is worse than that. It holds its very base in contempt. The political left that cherishes its vision of itself as brighter, more enlightened, more empathetic, and the administration does everything  it can to show its own base that the government, the source of all good to the left, cannot and will not perform its duties and shuns any and all accountability to anyone, friend or foe.

The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was the civilian version of the C-97 transport, itself an adaptation of the B-50 bomber, which in turn was an adaptation of the B-29 bomber.  With its four R-4360 engines, unique double lobed, double decked fuselage and pressurized cabin, it was the epitome of piston engine airliner luxury.

It was also something of a disaster. It was extremely expensive to operate compared to its competition, and had a rather ghastly habit of crashing. Of 56 hulls built, 13 were lost in less that 20 years.

Pan American Flight 943 lands in the Pacific on Oct. 16, 1956. The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser had lost power to two of its four engines and had to risk an emergency water landing. (William Simpson / US Coast Guard)

On the other hand, some airframes, heavily modified, went on to become the iconic Super Guppy family of outsized cargo transports.

In a significant doctrinal shift, the U.S. military is relegating full metal jacketed (FMJ) pistol bullets to a training role, and will be adopting modern hollowpoint designs similar to those used by most domestic law enforcement agencies and citizens who carry handguns for self-defense.

The stunning announcement was made at the U.S Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey yesterday during the military’s two-day “industry day” for the Modular Handgun System (MHS), which will conclude today.

A military lawyer who made a presentation during the Industry Day noted that the United States is not a signatory to the Hague Conventions which outlawed the use of “dum-dum” and expanding bullets more than a century ago. It is the military’s position that the shift to jacketed hollowpoint (JHP) ammunition, which more efficiently transfers energy to the target and which presents much less of a risk of over-penetration, is more humane and less of a risk to innocent civilians downrange in modern combat where there are often no clear front lines.

via U.S. Military Makes Monumental Shift To Hollowpoint Pistol Ammunition – Bearing Arms – hollowpoint, JHP, Modular Handgun System.

For all the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments over the choice between the .45 and the 9mm pistol, the real issue has always been that both were constrained to a full metal jacket bullet that would in either case always have less than stellar performance.

Modern hollow point 9mm ammunition is more effective than the 100 year old FMJ .45 230 grain ball ammo.

Should the US Army look at switching to hollow point for its rifle ammunition? It depends. The terminal effects of a 5.56mm in hollow point would be pretty impressive, as a lot of coyote hunters can tell you. But the round in current use is also designed to be able to penetrate most soft body armor, which our adversaries are increasingly equipped with. And a hollow point round would not be very effective against such armor.

Congress on Tuesday approved plans to offer new veteran ID cards to honorably discharged service members, in an effort to more easily prove their military service.

via Congress OKs new ID cards for all veterans.

Yay!

Wait, wut?

The cards would not replace medical IDs or official defense retiree IDs for veterans, and could not be used as proof of eligibility for obtaining federal benefits.

So, basically, it’s to receive my discount at Home Depot. Got it.

What’s the point? You know what I did, and that Home Depot has always accepted? I kept the old tan IRR ID card I was issued.

Sophisticated Russian electronic-warfare systems and jamming technology are posing an acute challenge for allied forces training in Eastern Europe, U.S. Army officials said Tuesday.

While the U.S. has sold sophisticated radios to many allied nations, including Baltic countries, U.S. export regulations prohibit the military from sharing the most secure encryption that would prevent Russians from intercepting and decoding transmissions.

U.S. officials said Russia has invested heavily in technology designed to both intercept communications and jam radio transmissions, and it has developed new equipment to identify the source of allied transmissions. Intelligence officials also say Russia has become better at masking its own communications to keep its planned military movements secret.

via Russia Jamming Technology Poses Challenge for Allied Forces, U.S. Officials Say – WSJ.

The headline touts Russian jamming, but none of the quotes support the headline. If Russia was actively jamming US and Lithuanian comms during the recent exercise, well, that would be pretty interesting.

Are the Russians using signals intelligence to try to intercept our communications? Sure. That’s how the game is played.  The US certainly spends enough time and effort intercepting Russian comms.

As to swapping liaison NCOs, that’s probably going to happen regardless of what types of radios each unit carries.