The Military Thread

There's a nice Reddit thread going on which says the SEALs are regarded as absolutely undisciplined hotheads by other US SF units, complete with links to various articles.

Also apparently filing down the sears on an M16A4 to make it full-auto is a bad idea. This is one explanation. Then there's a counterpoint.

Oh, and a nice little subthread on SEALs media.

Edited by TheWildWestPyro on Feb 9th 2020 at 4:29:42 AM

Speaking as a former armorer, the sear is what helps control the gun's internal mechanism in regards to function while firing. It is what helps interrupt the mechanical sequence of the machinery when you let go of the trigger, fire in semi-auto, or when a burst is completed. You don't file down the sear as it leads to wear and tear, snagging if you leave burs, run away gun when it slips, slip strike causing uncontrolled bursts, or even breakage. It is in general, a very stupid idea.

Edited by TuefelHundenIV on Feb 9th 2020 at 9:52:29 AM

Shooters tend to create the oddest personal modifications. I still can't get over Ukrainian combat divers attaching a grip on a pistol suppressor◊.

Edited by TerminusEst on Feb 9th 2020 at 10:54:01 AM

There is only one way to turn an AR-15 into a fully automatic rifle - a new sear that is inserted and integrated into the fire control group.

There are a ton of videos of mall ninjas inserting paper clips or other things into their AR's fire control springs.

I mean the APS -is- a machine pistol. Recoil control is kind of a big thing for that.

I’d be willing to bet that foregrip/suppressor combo didn’t last long. Baffle strikes are no joke.

Duterte is set to end the Visiting Forces Agreement. One DDS supporter mention that why Manila needs it while America has done nasty things during their administration.

And several of his cabinet, including some "allies" have mentioned the VFA can be used to strength Filipino military capability.

And Cayetano mentions about America "stabbing us in the back". He's referring to Mischief Reef, which is known to be arbitrated to be part of Philippine EEZ waters to the west.

Norway’s intelligence chief fears more accidents with Russia's reactor-powered weapons systems

They should be worried. Russia's track record with nuclear safety is somewhat lacking.

Currently laughing at Duterte’s “hypocrisy” in getting rid of the VFA with America over being treated like a dog.

Well there’s China.

Although a legal concern that I can get behind is the exemption of American military forces from being arrested/charged with crime in Filipino jurisdiction.

PS - Senators are wondering how they can strengthen the AFP after 180 days...

Trump wants the military to look into discliping Lt.Colonel Vindman for testifying against him.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-vindman-1.5460232

Let's see if Secretary Esper defends his people.

Doesn't sound like anything official is happening. Just another Trumpian tweetstorm.

Iunno, all this persecuting defence officials for alleged foreign loyalties is giving me weird late Roman Empire vibes.

Philippine military eyes VFAs with Japan, China. Uhhhh.

Japan is an interesting case as mentioned, but they’ll need to justify that to the public.

For China, both sides of the political sphere are raising eyebrows and shouting WT Fs considering what the PLA is doing.

Trump mentioned that Washington will save money is the VFA is scrapped after 6 months.

Here's a neat article on the history of air power in Afghanistan from 1979 to 2001, including the combat and support operations flown by the Pakistani, Russian, Uzbek and Tajik air forces throughout the '90s civil war.

When a military base is decommissioned, how long does it take? Take the old US military installations in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. They were decommissioned in 1947 and World War II ended two years before.

Depends on what’s in the base and what they’re planning on doing with it afterwards. Theoretically, it only takes as long as is necessary for all the personnel there to pack their things and leave, but if there’s equipment that needs to be moved or buildings need to be demolished or what have you then it could take longer.

Edited by archonspeaks on Feb 13th 2020 at 3:01:43 AM

A local base took years to tear down because the buildings were infested with mold and loose asbestos. IIRC, the ground still needs to be decontaminated.

And that’s before you deal with the actual disposal of the land, even once everyone is off the base you need to find someone to buy it, and buy it at the price the military want to sell it for.

In some cases you even have the additional complication of partial disposal of a site, so maybe you stop flying planes out of an airbase so you dispose of the runway but keep the rest of the base.

You’ve now got to make sure you sell it to someone who won’t misuse it, that you get good value for money (while also considering if you should try and get it used a specific way to help the base staff), you’ve got to disconnect any infrastructure that goes from the retained area into the old area, you’ve possibly got to put a new fence-line in.

Often times they’ll skip the sale step and just let a different part of the federal government use the base. Various National Guards and federal LE always need property, and they don’t always have the budget to build the big stuff themselves.

Edited by archonspeaks on Feb 13th 2020 at 3:27:46 AM

It’s still a type of sale, that other government department still pays the military for the land, or I guess in the case of a national guard unit the state government buys it from the federal government.

It’ll be at a reduced price and involve less paperwork, but you think haggling is bad between private citizens? Haggling between government departments is something else entirely.

Unless you rent it, but even then there’s the haggling over rent.

Edited by Silasw on Feb 13th 2020 at 11:34:38 AM

Assuming that the carrier group was completely and totally unaware and not searching for anything in particular, could a B-2 or any other stealth plane pass over a carrier groups area of operations without being detected?

Nah, stealthiness is a bit of a spectrum and not an on/off switch.

At closer ranges even a B-2 will show up on radar as clear as anything else.

Close range being a relative term. For the large stealth craft like the B-2, they would have to be ridiculously close in engagement terms. They could quite likely safely overfly a carrier group at altitude. If you were thinking of a possible strike with an overfly the craft would launch pretty much anything before it actually got over the carrier group.

Surely even a B-2 would have trouble getting close enough to fly directly overhead of an Aegis without being detected