This is big deal if true; Melinda Haring, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, told reuters Ukraine was now at 1:1 parity with Russia in terms of drone usage and artillery shells.

Artillery is the king of the battlefield and Russia advantage was in the order of 10-1 or more earlier in the war.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Sunday, February 23, 2025 - 02:16 am: Edit

Reuters also report access to Starlink has been used by negotiators to pressure the Ukrainians to accept a deal on the minerals. Musk has denied this, and I believe him. Not that he wouldn't do it, but I suspect the Starlink was used as a tool in the negotiaons without his permission.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 - 07:48 am: Edit

Commanding Officer of USS Harry S. Truman Relieved
20 February 2025
SOUDA BAY, Greece – Capt. Dave Snowden, commanding officer of USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), was relieved Feb. 20 due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.

Snowden was relieved by Rear Adm. Sean Bailey, commander of Carrier Strike Group 8, after serving as the aircraft carrier’s commanding officer since December 2023. Snowden will be temporarily assigned to Naval Air Forces Atlantic.

The relief occurred after Truman was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M on Feb. 12, while operating in the Mediterranean Sea in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt.

The U.S. Navy holds commanding officers to the highest standard and takes action to hold them accountable when those standards are not met. Naval leaders are entrusted with significant responsibilities to their Sailors and their ships.

Capt. Christopher Hill, commanding officer of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), will temporarily serve as Harry S. Truman’s interim commanding officer.

Apparently, the U.S.S. Eisenhower is undergoing maintenance after completing a deployment, so is not actually at sea or ready for service.

Several people here commented that there would be a change of command after the collision. No mention yet as to the fate of the Officer of the Deck, or other personnel being reassigned as a result of the accident.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 - 08:30 am: Edit

Taiwan tests new missile for their locally made fighter. The "F-CK 1." You can't make this stuff up.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 - 10:42 am: Edit

So... the pick for the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the retired Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, who has never commanded anything larger than the 113th Maintenance Group.

He falls well short of the requirements for the job laid out in Title 10:

(b) Requirement for Appointment.- (1) The President may appoint an officer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff only if the officer has served as—
(A) the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;
(B) the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, or the Chief of Space Operations; or
(C) the commander of a unified or specified combatant command.

Congress can waive the qualifications. I cannot recall them doing so for a Chairman of the JCOS at any point in the past.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 - 11:41 pm: Edit

Trump wants applecartturnerovers.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - 12:05 am: Edit

Oh!
Shades of George Bernard Shaw!
Outstanding literary reference!

I wonder how many people would understand the reference?

I suspect more than one, if they had the interest, would have to look it up.

The play has been performed on this continent, not sure if it had ever been made into a movie…

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - 08:20 am: Edit

Too bad he can't find any really experienced combat commanders.

It's almost like he values devotion more than competence...

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - 08:39 am: Edit

Don't have to look any further than the Secretary of Defense......

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - 09:35 am: Edit

Caine's sole "qualification" is that he was willing to wear a MAGA hat while in uniform and state that he didn't care that it was a violation of the UCMJ.

Trump doesn't want applecartturnerovers; he wants lackeys.

By Jean Sexton Beddow (Jsexton) on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - 11:27 am: Edit

Okay. You are all knee-deep in the Political Swamp. Allie and Ally were out sunning, or there would be major body parts missing.

Only the fact that the last few posts were actually RWM lets those posts remain.

Further commentary on the wishes and wants of the President will be subject to severe editing.

Jean
WebMom

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - 01:57 pm: Edit

A reminder, people, I got Jean to give us some room to discuss the chaotic current political situation but that does NOT include personal insults like "King Donald" or "Godfather Joe". In future, if you insert these little barbs your entire message will be deleted and you'll get a strike that will eventually exclude you from political posts entirely.

"I oppose his policies because they violate the law" is fine, "I oppose his policies because he's a lying scumbag" is not fine.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 01:17 am: Edit

I wonder how the US administration (and for that matter the EU) think they are going to end the Ukraine-Russia war. Right know they behave as if it's peace already.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 09:51 am: Edit

Hardcore,

The main talking point about peace is financial....
For Ukraine it's Rare Minerals, which will put U.S. companies/miners in Ukraine....
For Russia it's trade or taking away trade, blocking oil sales, keeping tech Russia needs out of their hands.....

Can't forget the ban on selling Iron Ore etc to the Japanese.... Even with Russia's size, their military situation is no where near where Japan's was in 1940....

By John M. Williams (Jay) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 01:17 pm: Edit

Question for those who know more about how the military operates than I do. Trump has fired multiple generals/admirals. How deep into the hierarchy can he go unilaterally? Could he fire every general/admiral or only specific ones? How about naming replacements? Could those also be done unilaterally or is some form of confirmation (by the Senate or some other body) necessary?

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 03:59 pm: Edit

So much for the resources deal with Ukraine. So much for anything resembling diplomacy. And so much for the dignity of the Oval Office.

As a note: neither the AP nor Reuters had a reporter in the room...but Russian state news/propaganda agency TASS did, somehow. I'm genuinely curious how the White House "accidentally" let a TASS reporter in.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 03:59 pm: Edit

Apparently all the way down to Pvt/Sailor etc....

Though not personally, but through their policy...
Don't know the exact number but the Vaccine Mandate,
put 10k or so out of the military....

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 04:16 pm: Edit

Just catching up . what happened in the White House??

Zelensky 'asked to leave'??

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 04:20 pm: Edit

On the firing of Generals and Admirals; perhaps it's just me, but this does feel like it may be close to Ally and Allie. If so, WebMom? I apologize and ask for them to be deleted...

Now, then, I have three questions...

1. How many Generals and Admirals are there currently in service?

2. (Related) How many have there been historically, going back to pre-WWII?

3. How many Generals and Admirals were "Fired" at the start of previous administrations?

(I think the last question goes to `Gator territory due to both COVID requirements and new policies regarding diversity that were emphasized by the previous administration.

(Again, WebMom, if in your opinion, I'm out of line with this, I apologize and ask that it be deleted.)

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 05:23 pm: Edit

According to Wikipedia, (so take it with a grain of salt.)

As of September 30, 2023, there were 809 active-duty general and flag officers (GFOs) in the U.S. military. This number is below the legal maximum of 857.
Breakdown by service branch
Army: The Army is expected to have 15 generals by the end of fiscal year 2024. The U.S. Code limits the number of four-star Army generals to eight.
Navy: The Navy is expected to have 10 admirals by the end of fiscal year 2024. The U.S. Code limits the number of four-star Navy admirals to six.
Air Force: The U.S. Code limits the number of four-star Air Force generals to nine.
Marine Corps: The U.S. Code limits the number of four-star Marine generals to two.
Space Force: The U.S. Code limits the number of four-star Space Force generals to two.
Historical trends
The percentage of GFOs in the total force has increased over the past five decades. This increase is more pronounced for four-star and three-star officers.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 05:26 pm: Edit

Raven: best recommendation I can make is to search for "white house zelensky transcript". It's not pretty.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 05:32 pm: Edit

Only two organizations broadcast the entire Trump-Zelenski meeting, CSPAN and Sean Hanity (radio program.)

Linsey Graham (u.s. senator) was the point person, and on good terms(at the time) with both Trump and Zelenski.

People interpret the events differently but it appears that some one deviated from the original plan.(which was to have a photo op.)

To blame one side without any facts is ideology, not evidence.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 05:33 pm: Edit

Jessica - Got to watch it.

Brutal - about the only thing I can say is, is thats why offices have doors and you can have conversations behind closed doors?

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 05:36 pm: Edit

Jga: I recall three that the Obama administration fired (Walpin, McChrystal, and Flynn), but I don't recall off-hand any flag officers fired by the Biden administration.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, February 28, 2025 - 05:36 pm: Edit

Raven: unfortunately, answering that question would take me so deep into the 'gator pond that nobody would ever find the body parts.