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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/26/23 in all areas

  1. Ukraine has already sacrificed 10s of thousands of their people to destroy one of our greatest advisories. The money we've given them has been a drop in the bucket relative to the amounts we have spent on our military and other armed conflicts over the years. This has been the greatest use of our military budget ever with respect to fighting the enemy. Not to mention no US soldier has died to get to this result. I feel Ukraine has earned every penny we have given them and then some. I'm more than willing to lead reconstruction efforts after the war as a big thanks to the sacrifices they have made to destroy one of the most toxic countries on the planet.
    31 points
  2. Little primer on tank maintenance from a former tanker. Battlefield maintenance is surprisingly easy due to the power pack being a self contained unit that can be pulled from the vehicle in a matter of minutes by trained mechanics. We could typically pull and replace a power pack in about an hour if we had to. The whole pack is then sent back to the maintenance depot and repaired there by specialist mechanics. In my day a typical battalion maintenance depot would have one additional power pack available for every 10 in operation with a constant rotation as they are repaired and cycled back into vehicles. Track replacement was similar with so called combat rolls available for operations where an entire track was delivered in roll, so that a tank could literally drive off of a bad or broken track onto a new one. You didn't really drive, you were pulled by an M-88 repair track. Suspension maintenance could and was mostly done by the crews themselves up to and including replacing torsion bars and road wheels. So drive train and suspension work is pretty simple even under bad conditions. We replaced power packs and track in the field all the time and unless conditions were really bad we usually didn't lose more than a couple of hours of operational time doing it. Turret maintenance is a different story, but most of that is electronic or hydraulic in nature. Computers could be replaced and calibrated in a matter of hours, but then required bore sighting and test firing. No biggie and standard stuff for all crews. Hydraulic issues or turret stabilization issues would generally require depot level maintenance but with good PM were pretty rare. Battle damage, of course, is a different animal but a well established maintenance unit can do wonders and can do it fast and not too far in the rear. Also something I haven't seen discussed. The Abrams is a multifuel vehicle. They use JP now but in my day we ran them on diesel. Smoke generators, holla! Pour raw diesel into the exhaust and you can make some serious smoke. I'm not sure how much tuning is required but we were trained that in a pinch you could put just about any fuel in that bitch and she'd run. I'll try to answer questions, but my last model was the M1A1. I saw a demo M1A2 before I got out but they weren't deployed yet.
    19 points
  3. I believe the EU as a whole has actually put more into this than the US has (or it's extremely close), and not just in terms of the cost of taking in millions of refugees, but armaments, money, other aid, etc., If you get into individual countries' GDP numbers, some European countries are punching well above their weight class, especially the smaller countries. The US is actually spending very little, especially when compared to our defense budget, and if you want to look at it in a cold/rational manner, every bit of Russian hardware that is destroyed in Ukraine, is Russian hardware that won't end up in some other part of the world, presenting a future threat to us or our markets, as well as diminishing Russia's ability to fuck around elsewhere. Oh, and a whole lot of the stuff we are sending over was sitting in storage or slated to be replaced/surplused. We have thousands of Abrams in storage, thousands of Bradleys, thousands of M113s, thousands of Humbles, just sitting there, doing nothing other than costing us storage/maintenance, because we drastically reduced our military in the 90s after the Soviet Union collapsed, or we have newer systems on the horizon - they are all slated to be replaced, but we keep them in storage "just in case" even though we couldn't ramp up the US military fast enough to actually man and use them. And we do this not just because we present ourselves as leaders of the free world, but because we are Europe's largest economic partner, and we export hundreds of billions of dollars of goods and services to the EU every year. It's the same reason why we have such a massive military, such a massive Navy - world stability is good for our markets. And we damn sure don't want the Russians controlling so much of the world's food supply, because they can cause instability in South America/Africa due to rising food prices, and in the case of South America, that will drive people to head for our border. Europe is already putting a lot into repairing infrastructure right now. Stop listening to Russian and Chinese propaganda, we are not hurting our military readiness in terms of China. It's a completely different scenario, for a lot of reasons, including that we are not sending our best stuff to Ukraine, and especially because of that whole water thing. China simply doesn't have the military built to cross 100 miles of open, hostile water, with a very limited selection in terms of landing beaches, all of which are easily defended. For fuck's sake, they are relying on civilian cruise ships as troop transports - those fucking things throw off a radar signature that would be seen from Taiwan. One Harpoon would put thousands of Chinese soldiers on the bottom of the ocean. And the Chinese military would have to make a lot of trips across that 100 miles of open water, and as they lose more and more amphibious and landing support ships, they would need to make even more trips with the remaining ships, and it's just a fucking nightmare for the Chinese. There's a reason why we did Normandy the way we did, and why we planned to invade Japan the way we did, and China is doing none of that, and they have to face modern weapons that can hit over the horizon. It's like German threatening England in WWII - they only had fucking river barges, which would do them no good crossing the English Channel (and they'd probably have more of those barges swamped on their own than destroyed by the Brits). But wait, there's more. The US alone, if we didn't step in to help Taiwan, just our cutting off trade to China if China tried, would completely destroy China's economy and put hundreds of millions of Chinese in the streets, and would put them on a crash-course to starvation and mass chaos, which their military is not large enough to handle. The Chinese made the mistake of relying too heavily on us.
    17 points
  4. It's mind boggling that most of them still have no fucking clue how NIL works and that their beloved program is awful at it. I mean, I know they're aggy-dumb, but JFC.
    15 points
  5. Wordle 586 3/6 ⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    15 points
  6. Wordle 586 4/6 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #Worldle #370 3/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟨⬜⬜↗️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨⬆️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 ⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr Daily Quordle 367 7️⃣8️⃣ 6️⃣5️⃣ quordle.com ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
    15 points
  7. Wordle 586 4/6* ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    14 points
  8. Barr Pressed Durham to Find Flaws in the Russia Investigation. It Didn't Go Well. It sure looks now like the original investigation into Trump's ties to Russia was always justified and that Bill Barr and John Durham actually did pretty much all of the shady, unethical shit they accused the FBI and DOJ under Obama of doing. Like everyone whose brains hadn't been completely melted by insane right-wing propaganda knew all along.
    13 points
  9. Wordle 586 3/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    13 points
  10. Wordle 586 6/6* ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    13 points
  11. I’ll play along. We just had a similar kind of odd situation. We are selling our house here in Oklahoma, we live in a small town on the northwest side of Oklahoma City. Houses don’t pop up for sale much, when they do they sell pretty fast. We had 5 acres, 30’x60’ shop, pool, everything a man could want. Problem was my neighbor and I don’t get along at all, he’s a cunt. None the less we list our house on a Friday, by the next Friday we have two offers. One is $1,000 over ask the other is $5,000 over ask. I took the lesser of the two. My reasoning. The one that was higher is best friends with my neighbor who I can’t stand. The way I look at it, fuck him. He’s not going to get to enjoy everything I built. My friends say I’m being an asshole. What say y’all?
    13 points
  12. Wordle 586 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Love the word, hate the Wordle.
    12 points
  13. Wordle 586 6/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛ ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    12 points
  14. Wordle 586 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    12 points
  15. Wordle 586 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    12 points
  16. It can't be stated enough Mr.Crane is the greatest Houston sports team owner in history.
    11 points
  17. Wordle 586 4/6 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 My feelings match the green pattern on that one. Daily Quordle 367 7️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣4️⃣ quordle.com ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ Nice.
    11 points
  18. So, every person who thought that we could utterly destroy the conventional Russian military with a couple hundred billion dollars, and no American casualties, raise your hand. Seriously. This war is one of the greatest “bang for our buck” exercises ever. And yes, we should damn well acknowledge the huge price that is being paid in Ukrainian blood and suffering, on behalf of themselves and the rest of the world. Damn right we should be part of the reconstruction effort; we did so with respect to the UK, Germany, France…and the mutual prosperity was astronomical. Rebuilding European countries (and let’s not forget similar exercises with Japan and Korea) has a proven great ROI. When this is done, we should have a great reconstruction effort in Ukraine, build up a great economy, and have fantastic ties with them and their enterprises going forward. Think generationally here. The world I described, most people couldn’t have imagined in 1945…or even 1955. But by 1970, Western Europe was prosperous.
    10 points
  19. Wordle 586 4/6* ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟨⬜⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Didn’t think I was gonna be able to pull this one out Daily Quordle 367 5️⃣8️⃣ 7️⃣9️⃣ quordle.com 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨🟩⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    10 points
  20. a big fat index finger aimed at Wordle today. Wordle 586 4/6 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Daily Quordle 367 7️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣4️⃣ quordle.com ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
    10 points
  21. Meh. Wordle 586 5/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    10 points
  22. Wordle 586 4/6 🟨[emoji834][emoji834][emoji834][emoji834] [emoji834][emoji834][emoji834]🟨🟨 [emoji834][emoji834]🟩🟩[emoji834] 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Literally lagged up on 3rd shot by guessing a plural word knowing they don’t do plural words
    10 points
  23. He’s Canadian. He goes to another Congress. You don’t know him.
    10 points
  24. US Navy P-8s can now strike submarines from 30,000ft 22 November 2022 The US Navy’s (USN’s) Boeing P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft have a new weapon in their arsenal – one that can deliver submarine-hunting torpedoes from high above the ocean’s surface. Boeing in August won a full-rate production contract for the High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability (HAAWC) – a kit that turns a standard Raytheon Technologies Mk-54 torpedo into a precision-guided munition that can be launched from high altitude. Source: Raytheon Technologies The US Navy’s Mk-54 torpedo previously had to be dropped from altitudes as low as 100ft and in close proximity to the target submarine The USN declared initial operating capacity (IOC) for the HAAWC programme on 22 November, signifying the service has enough weapons and training on the system for it to be at least minimally ready for operational deployment. “The [IOC] milestone marks the readiness of HAAWC for fleet introduction for the navy and its international partners,” says Boeing programme manager Dewayne Donley. “We’re excited to deliver greater flexibility and capability by way of higher-altitude launches from longer distances than previously possible.” Boeing Weapons vice-president Bob Ciesla calls the capability “a new high ground in anti-submarine warfare”. The P-8 serves multiple roles in the USN, including maritime patrol, search and rescue and anti-submarine warfare. To engage an undersea vessel with the standard Mk-54 torpedo, a P-8 must descend to no higher than 100ft above the sea, and drop the weapon in close proximity to an enemy vessel. The HAAWC modifies the Mk-54 with a set of folding wings and guidance system, essentially transforming the torpedo into a precision-guided missile. A HAAWC-modified torpedo can launch from the P-8’s cruising altitude and glide to a designated targeting area using GPS. Source: Boeing The High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability modifies the Mk-54 torpedo, turning it into a precision-guided standoff weapon Once near its target, the weapon jettisons its wings and uses a parachute to slow before entering the water. When underwater and in proximity to a submarine, the Mk-54’s onboard guidance system can autonomously guide the torpedo to its target. “The HAAWC system provides flexibility by allowing the navy to carry out anti-submarine operations throughout the full flight envelope of the P-8A,” says Donley. Boeing notes the HAAWC enables the Poseidon “to deploy Mk-54 torpedoes from near or below its cruising altitude”, which is around 30,000ft. The P-8 is based on a Boeing 737 commercial airframe. Developing and fielding so-called “stand-off weapons” such as the HAAWC is now a major priority for the Pentagon. Military planners expect the ability to launch precision guided weapons, while keeping friendly aircraft out of range of enemy fire, will be critical to victory in any conflict against the People’s Republic of China. Other such weapons include Lockheed Martin’s AGM-158 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) and AGM-158C LRASM (Long Range Anti-Ship Missile). Recent war games conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies indicate that LRASM in particular will be a key capability if the USA hopes to defend Taiwan against an invasion from mainland China. Executives with Raytheon recently urged Western leaders to consider increasing their stockpiles of modern precision weapons, citing consumption rates in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war that outpace production capacity. “Replenishment doesn’t happen overnight,” warned Raytheon Missiles & Defense chief executive Wes Kremer in July at the Farnborough air show.
    9 points
  25. I think Weigman and a redshirting Manning have exactly the same odds of winning the Heisman.
    9 points
  26. Wordle 586 4/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ 🟩⬛🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    9 points
  27. Wordle 586 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Daily Quordle 367 6️⃣7️⃣ 4️⃣3️⃣ quordle.com ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ #Worldle #370 4/6 (100%) 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜↖️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬆️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨⬆️ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
    9 points
  28. Wordle 586 4/6 ⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    9 points
  29. Any word on whether or not this is a big fucking deal?
    9 points
  30. 9 points
  31. This is the sort of caustic cynicism that rush limbaugh and mitch mcconnel want you to have, so that you'll be too disgusted to pay attention to what they're doing. What Santos is doing is on a whole nother level. While #BOTHSIDES are pretty hollow, feckless, hypocritical, and self-interested - this is layers upon layers upon layers of fraud. Santos is financially linked to sanctioned russian oligarchs, may be lying about his name, is forging signatures on regulatory paperwork, and [this space reserved for whatever's coming next]. He is but one rep, but to frame it as "he's just the one who got caught" is some next-level cynicism man.
    8 points
  32. Are you saying he needs to drop a few pounds?
    8 points
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