I've also always said that the best way to see how seriously we take our royal family vs. how seriously the Brits take theirs: The guards at Buckingham Palace are professional, career soldiers, some of whom have been deployed overseas.
Ours are relatively poorly-paid conscripts doing it for a lark.
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
The French 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment has produced one of my favourite pictures.
◊
Our Honour Guard (including the one poor fucker standing at the presidential palace) are conscripts from the Guards Jaeger Regiment 2nd Company (or MP Company on rotation). As per usual these guys aren't that important security wise, they're there for the show. The guys you don't see are the real security. A mix of career MP's and some conscripts to do the menial stuff. And of course the professional civilian security as well.
Plenty of other stuff I'd imagine, but there's no way to know unless you've done it. And those who have don't talk.
Edited by TerminusEst on Aug 13th 2018 at 4:52:34 AM
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
A procrastination in of itself
Yeah the mounted guards outside Buckingham palace (well at Horse Guards parade) have two types of mounts, their horses for guard duty and their tanks for deployment.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
The Wanderer
White House Takes Aim At Financial Protections For Military
:
NPR has obtained documents that show the White House is proposing changes that critics say would leave service members vulnerable to getting ripped off when they buy cars. Separately, the administration is taking broader steps to roll back enforcement of the Military Lending Act.
The MLA is supposed to protect service members from predatory loans and financial products. But the White House appears willing to change the rules in a way that critics say would take away some of those protections.
"If the White House does this, it will be manipulating the Military Lending Act regulations at the behest of auto dealers and banks to try and make it easier to sell overpriced rip-off products to military service members," says Christopher Peterson, a law professor at the University of Utah, who reviewed the documents.
The product Peterson is referring to is called gap insurance. Here's how it works: Cars lose some of their value the moment they are driven off the lot. Dealers often tell customers that if their car gets wrecked in a crash they could be financially harmed because regular insurance may not pay out the entire amount owed on the loan. Peterson says some car dealers push this insurance product really hard. "They convince people they've got to have this gap insurance," he says.
That kind of insurance can actually be inexpensive. Peterson, who helped write the regulations for the Defense Department, says it often costs as little as $20 to $30 a year and is available from a car buyer's regular insurance company.
"But if you buy it from your car dealer, they may mark it up. ... I've seen gap insurance policies being sold for $1,500" over the course of the loan, he says.
The rules to protect service members effectively block auto dealers from tacking on an extra product — such as overpriced gap insurance — and rolling it into their car loans.
The industry has been lobbying to change that, and the White House appears to be sympathetic. The administration just sent the latest version of a proposal to the Defense Department, and documents show that it would give car dealers what they want. Peterson says the revised rules could also allow dealers to roll in all kinds of other add-on products.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Wow, they are fucking the military and Vets over again? Say it isn't so.
Who watches the watchmen?
Oh, bother.
I guess I'm not the only who feels, well...<looks at my far too applicable these days sig>
Disgusted, but not surprised
The law in the night
Honestly, it is for things like these I can't take the whole speeches of pay respect for our troops, the flag and everything they stand for when Trump and Co. are complaining about people kneeling during football games or they say the respect the men in uniform for their service.
They love dead solders, dead soldiers don't speak, don't call them out on their bullshit and dead soldiers don't protest. Meanwhile living soldiers can be left on their own and get screwed if it means they can get even more money from it.
Inter arma enim silent leges
Support The Troops™ is a catchy slogan for bumper stickers, really nothing more, to most people. They like The Troops™ because it's an intangible sacred thing, but they don't like troops because they're people and caring for them requires empathy, which takes emotional effort.
A Navajo code talker sings the Marine Corps Hymn in Diné bizaad.
The singer, Pfc. Joe Hosteen Kellwood, passed away last year.
It's always funny how the Republicans are pro-military but anti-diversity, despite the military being a frequent and excellent example of the ways diversity breeds success.
They should have sent a poet.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Or how the military finds ways to integrate groups that sometimes don't get along into a more unified whole.
Who watches the watchmen?
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a nonprofit that advocates for separation of church and state in the military, sent the letter after receiving what its founder and president Michael “Mikey” Weinstein said were 41 complaints about Brigadier General E. John Teichert. Newsweek has seen one of the complaints, but has agreed to keep the complainant’s name confidential.
Teichert, who flew combat missions over Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, according to his official bio, runs a website called Prayers at Lunchtime for the United States (PLUS). On it, in addition to short essays on Bible passages, and calls to pray to make America more Christian, he identifies himself only as “John.” The website doesn’t mention Edwards Air Force Base, but Teichert recently posted a picture of his newly acquired general’s epaulet star, alongside a note about his new rank on the PLUS site.
Among the items on a long “prayer list” are: “A return to our Biblical Foundation”; “Appreciation for our national Christian heritage”; “Appreciation for a nation formed, blessed and prospered by God’s power” and “The unborn.”
Under “About John,” the site states: “John is an active duty Brigadier General who has served in the United States Air Force since 1994, and who was saved by grace through faith in Christ in 2004. He has commanded at the wing, group and squadron levels, and is currently serving as as Air Force commander. The Lord has blessed his career while burdening his heart with the need for our nation to return to its Christian foundation.”
The site also links to a 2014 interview in which his full name is published. In that interview, Teichert explained that he started the site in early 2013 hoping to “prompt Christians to be faithful in prayer such that it will spur widespread revival in our nation. The goal is to change our national spirit so that the Lord can change our national direction. I’m concerned about our country’s drift away from the foundation on which we were built.”
In a 22-page complaint letter sent Sunday to Mattis and to Teichert’s superiors at the base and at the Pentagon, and shared with Newsweek, the MRFF requests an investigation into whether his “conduct interferes with or violates the civil liberties of service-members and civilians under his command,” and whether it violated military diversity regulations.
The MRFF also suggests that by not including a disclaimer on his website, he is violating Air Force standards that require leaders to “balance constitutional protections for their own free exercise of religion, including individual expressions of religious beliefs, and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. They must ensure their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing or disproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief.”
The letter suggests that besides violating Air Force regulations, Teichert is contravening several articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), including Article 133—“Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman”—as well as several Supreme Court decisions restricting military service members’ First Amendment rights.
“MRFF submits that Brig. Gen. Teichert’s publicly posted remarks demonstrate his discriminatory animus and overt condemnation of all personnel under his command who do not share his personal and particular dominionistic brand of Christianity,” the complaint letter states. “For those members of the 412th Test Wing at EAFB who are, e.g., agnostic, atheist, Hindu, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, humanists, secularists, etc., his conduct at issue here, ‘seriously compromises [his] standing as an officer.’”
A spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Mattis said his office had received the letter; when asked about next steps, she emailed: “Nothing at this time.”
Fundamentalist Christianity has been gaining ground in the U.S. military, especially after 9/11. In 2011, it was revealed that chaplains at another California Air Force base, Vandenburg, were teaching a course in “Christian Just War Theory,” in which they used the Bible and Christ’s teachings to justify atomic warfare. A year before that, the military admitted that hundreds of thousands of high-powered rifle sights inscribed with “Jesus secret codes” were being provided to troops in the Middle East—a direct violation of military rules prohibiting religious proselytizing in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to avoid accusations of a “crusade.”
Weinstein, whose organization claims 57,000 members, has said that under President Donald Trump, radical evangelicals in the military have been emboldened.
The MRFF letter accuses Teichert of espousing Christian Dominionist beliefs. Dominionism is a set of beliefs that include the notion that America’s founding fathers were devout evangelicals and which depict Jesus as a warrior and Christians as “prayer warriors.” Dominionists promote the ideal of a United States as a Christian nation, ruled by God’s Biblical rules above human laws.
Under “Motivation,” Teichert writes on his website that his aim is to encourage prayer. “This site, and the associated Facebook and Twitter sites, will provide a weekly prayer theme to guide Christians in their prayers—bi-weekly posts will be based on an important Bible principle and specific scripture. They will be challenging and thought-provoking. The posts are directed towards Christians, who have failed to pray as we should and on whose watch this nation has drifted from its foundation. Christians are encouraged to find a place to pray and advertise it so that others can join them. This type of group prayer will create an environment of encouraging others, challenging others, and prompting accountability.”
Before taking his post at Edwards, Teichert was wing commander at Andrews Air Force Base, which maintains, protects and flies Air Force One, the president’s plane. Teichert was promoted to his position as commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards last month. According to its website, the test wing at Edwards “is the ‘Center of the Aeronautical Universe.’ This is where the future of the nation's aerospace defense system can be viewed. There are nine flight test squadrons with as many as 20 aircraft assigned to each. The aircraft are grouped by mission representing global power (fighters and bombers); global reach (transport); and global vigilance (unmanned and airborne laser).”
The 412th Test Wing oversees day-to-day operations and provides support for over 10,000 military, federal civilian and contract personnel assigned to a 470 square mile installation. The base has a storied history, and USAF elite pilots have tested new planes in theskies above the Mojave desert for decades. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier there, hitting Mach 1.0 in a Bell X-1 rocket plane. He later crashed an F-104 at the base. Every modern fighter plane, from B-1 bombers to drones to experimental rocket planes, has been tested there.
In a statement released to Newsweek, Weinstein, a retired Air Force officer and former Reagan administration lawyer, called Teichert “an unconstitutional train wreck.”
“MRFF demands to know who Teichert’s USAF and Do D enablers are and have been,” he said in the statement. “Prior to assuming his new position at Edwards AFB, Teichert was the Wing Commander of the immensely visible 11th Wing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. The 11th Wing is the “Host Wing” at Joint Base Andrews which is world famous for being where Air Force One is housed and maintained. This Command allowed Teichert almost unrestricted universal access to the highest dignitaries and officials of Do D and the White House including Trump's own family.”
Newsweek has reached out by phone and email to Teichert and Teichert’s superiors at Edwards AFB and will update this story with any response.
Here's an odd one.
Soldiers over 6 feet (1.84 meters, to be exact) won't be able to ride in the troop compartment of Germany's new Puma IFV. The interior dimensions prevent soldiers over that height from fitting in the seats. [1]
The article is in German and the translation is a little rough, but it seems like they're going to be looking into some redesigns for the troop compartment.
They should have sent a poet.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
How on Earth did the cock that up?
Who watches the watchmen?
Its the German military, they are not in good shape.
According to the article, the dimensions for the seating were drawn from a commission set up in the early 2000s for the project that was supposed to "estimate the future growth of young people".
Edited by archonspeaks on Aug 14th 2018 at 8:48:05 AM
They should have sent a poet.
German military equipment being shit due to design screw-ups? What a surprise.
Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Aug 14th 2018 at 5:47:43 PM
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
The law in the night
rollin' on dubs
On this Reddit Thread...there are PT belts for sale at Urban Outfitters...NOT THE ONION OR DUFFLEBLOG...
...BEHOLD!...
Yes it's for $30.00 US on their site when you can get in on Ebay for less than 7 dollars....
Edited by TairaMai on Aug 14th 2018 at 11:24:57 PM
All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be on The First 48
Eh, not too surprising TBH.
"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"
Ooh, the Finnish Air Force gets to go to Red Flag - Alaska.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
US military parade ordered by Trump postponed 'to 2019'
The parade was originally conceived to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War 1 and to honour veterans.
But a Pentagon official said it has now been delayed at least one year.
Provisional figures released earlier on Thursday said the event could cost about $90 million (£71m) - more than three times an original estimate.
US President Donald Trump requested a parade after seeing France's Bastille Day event in 2017 and expressing a desire to "top it".
A Pentagon spokesperson, Colonel Rob Manning, said in a statement that the Department of Defence and the White House "have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019".
Hihihi
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Well, darn.
I wonder how much of the ballooning cost was a result of the last-minute nature?
Even if the role of "Dragoon" is rather obsolete these days, it's still a really cool name.
I just wonder why Squaresoft figured that would be a good name for dragon-themed spearmen who can make Olympic pole vaulters green with envy.
Disgusted, but not surprised