The Military Thread

Depends how you view Dresden. But let's not talk about that anymore.

This nickname was actually coined by his own side - RAF members called him "Butcher" Harris because apparently he was kinda indifferent when it came to aircrew losses during that campaign.

The heavy bomber tactics of the day leaned heavily upon strength in numbers. Just one reason why the 8th Air Force alone suffered more men killed in combat than the entire US Marine Corps during WWII.

Marines ain't smart in the academic sense, but they're at least not known for running full-tilt through heavy artillery barrages without cover.

Improvisation and breaking out of/holding the line during encirclements are time-honored traditions of the Corps, I've read.

The Angry Staff Officer: 7 Characteristics of Highly Effective NCOs

I believe being bomber crew was the second most dangerous job of the war if you were in the U.S army. The most dangerous was being a rifleman.

IIRC, RAF Bomber Command actually suffered higher attrition rates than the US 8th Air Force in spite of their insistence on night bombing to theoretically reduce casualties to begin with.

Probably a direct result of the RAF lacking long-range fighter escorts capable of flying at night, allowing the Luftwaffe to engage them on more or less even terms with the latest radar technology and bombers converted into night fighters such as the Ju-88.

The seminal work of historical fiction on the British bombing campaign over Germany is Bomber by Len Deighton. It's a "Rashomon"-Style telling of a single raid from the perspective of the civilians and military personnel of both sides.

Question-what would be a typical operating procedure for a first world nation's army when capturing child soldiers?

Same as any EPW (enemy prisoner of war):

• Call higher HQ and let them know they have captives.
• Restrain them if possible.
• Wait for the relief to show up and take custody of the EPW's

https://www.armyrecognition.com/february_2018_global_defense_security_army_news_industry/iraq_nine_m1_abrams_tanks_ended_up_with_iranian-backed_militias.html

Reports are coming in that the nine Abrams are being used by Hashd al-Shaabi. And it's pissing GD off already because that's a clear violation of end user agreements.

So, over the last week I had remembered/asked/committed/confirmed/etc more entries for my version of Skippy's List.

Maybe the Army is starting to...affect me.

Tanks have an EU:LA?

Weapons trade contracts always do, although they can sometimes be relatively loose.

edited 20th Feb '18 2:58:05 AM by TerminusEst

What do they normaly look like?

"plz don't sell this to the Russians/terrorists/use it to shoot children"

The Germans are withholding upgrades to Turkey's Leopards, citing breach of contract after Leopards were spotted operating in Afrin.

And some have raised the possibility of blocking further F-35A transfers to Turkey over their recent antics. I doubt it will happen, Turkey is a major buyer and if the number of delivered platforms falls, the price goes back up.

Same deal that went down between Ottawa and Manila over sales of Bell choppers to the Philippine Air Force over concerns that they won't be used for their original purpose (e.g. possibility of converting them to gunships by adding M Gs/rocket pods).

However, it didn't help that the PAF was ambiguous over it (although they said that they're going to be used in anti-insurgency ops by bringing civilians and wounded soldiers out of a hot zone) and a lot of netizens, even those who are critical of Duterte are calling salty over the deal and the Liberals should have shot down the deal sooner so that it won't be seen as Trudeau trying to win popularity points with the locals.

IIRC, Israel usually has some strict limitations on how they can use American kit we sell them. Trade deals have been skewered over American distrust that the Israelis would actually follow the rules.

It did give us that side splitting Southfront story about how an F-35A accomplished the unprecedented feat of shrugging off an SA-2 to the airframe, so it's not all bad.

Was that from the same guys who were claiming an Israeli F35 was secretly shot down in Syria?

They were claiming that a bird strike was a coverup of damage from an SA-5/S-200 (not an SA-2, my apologies for the flying telephone pole mixup).

With 200kg of HE-frag there are only two options. Either it misses, or the target no longer exists.

edited 21st Feb '18 10:34:50 AM by Krieger22

I do remember that. Considering Israeli F35s hadn't even reached initial operating capability at the time it seemed pretty laughable to begin with that one was out over Syria.

That and it's highly questionable an S200 would have been able to engage an F35 to begin with.

It was a rather silly story. I am not sure why anyone would believe that would fly.

Crossed on the Dominant Culture thread because it was simply too horrifically hilarious to not share:

I think it was in this thread where there was a discussion about Native Americans and the differing policies towards them by the British and French prior to the American Revolution.

So I was reading an magazine article about Braddock's Defeat which goes into detail about how General Braddock, fresh off the boat from England with absolutely no experience in warfare and diplomacy in the Americas, virtually doomed his own campaign by being too on the nose with native allies that otherwise intended on assisting the British.

Braddock didn't grab the Idiot Ball. He saw it rolling down the mountain and willingly stepped in its path to give it a hug and got crushed in the process.

Seriously, that needs to be an entry in the Assin Ambassador page if a Real Life section was allowed.

edited 21st Feb '18 10:26:57 PM by FluffyMcChicken