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compacflt · 5 months

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If you want, and only if you want to, could you explain about making Logistics a big part of Ice's career path? Not only did fit so well with your Ice's characterization, it was just so neat I've made it my HC for Ice's career path.

yes!

I got REALLy deep into the defense policy weeds in this post so I’m putting a cut to save people’s dashboards

1. when i was rewriting chapters 8 &9 last winter i did literally the bare minimum of research about the current set of high-level officers. the commander of the pacific fleet at the time had previously been the director of pacific fleet logistics ordnance & supply. So that was easy to yoink. a proven chain of succession.

2. but also: it fit ice’s (or his alter ego admiral Kazansky’s) neat, orderly, effective, collected, strategic characterization. And as professional tactics go, there would be no better promotion for a high-level officer looking to take over the fleet than DFLOS. understand the fleet by the numbers, you comprehensively understand the fleet.

3. In terms of secret-keeping logistics, ice is supposed to be kind of the best. like, because of his logistical thinking, he & maverick get away with it. Or that’s how I would’ve written it if I were a little smarter. Obviously in practice a bunch of people find out so it’s not great. but the navy AS A WHOLE doesn’t find out.

4. The field of military logistics is rigorously bureaucratic, boring, soulsucking, selfdefeating, notoriously corrupt, and yet entirely necessary for the military to succeed at any level (in the very first draft of WWGATTAI i included a famous US marine corps maxim that most people have heard at some point: “amateurs talk tactics. professionals talk logistics.” but that was literally the only good thing about the original chapter 6 which got entirely rewritten a month after i published it). So logistics as a field of specialization fit in perfectly with my secondary character thesis that rising through the boring bureaucratic ranks of the Navy sucked all the humanity & will to live out of ice one day at a time.

a couple related interesting things that I’ve never talked about on this blog & might never get the chance to again:

a) ice canonically joins the navy as a fighter pilot & ends his career as a glorified bureaucrat. that sucks. obviously the struggle to rise in the ranks is a notoriously cutthroat, political, sleazy business (you do not get to the top of the United States Navy by being nice to people), but i would also not be the first person to say that—for exemplary officers—leadership is an EXPECTATION that can counterbalance someone’s natural drive to excel, if that makes sense. You get promoted because you’re good at something (flying), but you get promoted away from the thing you were good at. There is an extent to which you have to fight for a promotion—but there is also an extent to which commanders above you pick you for the job, suck you up along the pipeline. Loss of agency—a major major component of joining the military—does still apply to upper-level officers.

B) to that end, i am reminded of one quote from Todd Schmidt’s 2023 book “Silent Coup of the Guardians: US Military Elite Influence on National Security.” This is an Army training & doctrine commander speaking: “the military has a lot of two- and three-star senior leaders that were confident, charismatic commanders at the O-6 level. But that’s the end of the story. One in fifty, maybe one in a hundred, truly have what it takes to operate successfully at the strategic level and make a real difference for their service. The problem is that they all tend to think that, since they have stars on their shoulders, they’re the one.” —I’ve been writing ice as “The Chosen One,” the officer unicorn, for two reasons: one, it provides him cover for his illegal relationship (and also asks an interesting chicken-egg question: does he get away with his rlnship because he’s so good, or is he so good JUST to get away with his relationship?); and two, he’s “the chosen one” in canon, i.e. he already has four stars in canon: canonically he is not a mediocre officer. But most officers (cough cough maverick) are not cut out for high-level leadership.

C.) in Thomas E. Ricks’ book “The Generals,” Ricks argues that (at least in the Army) mediocrity in the general/flag officer ranks is unfortunately by design. In WWII, if you were a mediocre officer, you got relieved! You got fired! It’s part of why we won: merciless culling of the general officer ranks! But between WWII and Korea, officer relief began to be associated with shame & wasted resources. Mediocre officers got promoted anyways. The military elite pipeline sucks mediocrity up the chain of command. Ricks blames this issue for (at least the Army’s) shit leadership in every post-WWII war, including but most especially Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s no penalty for mediocrity. That in turn reflects on military strategy (mediocre strategists at the helm) & the outcome of every military foray (mediocre outcomes).

D) additionally. There’s a whole neverending debate in the field of civil-military relations (an extremely interesting field of study btw) about the corporatization of the military—lots of high-level talk over the years of “running the military like a business.” If you get kinda into defense policy like me (am i still antimilitary? Idk! but i CAN easily tell you i am against the navy’s littoral combat ship program! It sucks!) then you will know that the navy is struggling right now on a lot of different fronts (procurement [shipbuilding esp. is a disaster—ford-class carriers are under budget though 👍🏽], recruitment, theatre prioritization, general preparedness, readiness against major adversaries [China in particular]). Simply, the navy is pretty mediocre at the minute. I talk a big game about ice being COMPACFLT & SECNAV, but if those are true, & if he “exists” in our current timeline, or even canon timeline (COMPACFLT in 2020), then he’s complicit in a lot of why the navy is sucking ass right now. He didn’t do his job very well. LOL. So, because I love (especially my version of) ice too much to see his legacy suffer, I am stating for the record that my timeline is a different timeline where ice saves the navy from itself and fixes all its issues & solves all its problems & makes it the pride of the armed forces & the tip of the spear of American defense :) because I said so

E.) unrelated but important. It sounds obvious but it must be said. Ice dies on the job in TGM canon. To the extent that in earlier drafts of the script, not-his-sister-Sarah even points out to maverick that ice is still active duty, in the same breath as she tells him ice is sick again. (A wise move to remove that line.) ice does not resign his commission. Ice does not retire to spend time with his family at the end of his life. Ice dies as commander of the pacific fleet. He dies on the job; he dies FOR the job, bureaucratic as it is. If you were wondering why I wrote ice so dormantly suicidal, it’s because canon (i argue) has made it clear that—since the second ice signed up to be a fighter pilot during the Cold War to the second he died active duty—ice has ALWAYS been ready and willing to die for his honorable Navy career.

#so imagine what would have happened had he been publicly dishonored 😶#It’s also why i interrupted his SECNAV tenure with his cancer #to pay respects to compacflt Ice having the same thing happen to him #my Ice is built different tho. it doesn’t kill him #he retires to spend time with his family ☺️#unlike selfish asshole canon ice ‼️🤬#/s #this post gets DEEP into it but i find this stuff sooo interesting #got really into defense policy & missing the forest for the trees #i will admit that #military bad? yes but.#but defense policy so interesting anyway.#tom iceman kazansky #top gun #top gun maverick #icemav #edts notes #asks #last post of the night

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republicsecurity · 2 months

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The Evolution of Conscript Protection: Mandatory Introduction of Armour Suits

Abstract:

In this paper, we examine the historical trajectory leading to the mandatory introduction of armour suits for conscripts serving in the Security Forces, Life Guards, and Paramedic Corps. The Conscripts Rights Organization (CRO) played a pivotal role in advocating for this measure, primarily to ensure the physical safety and well-being of conscripts during their service. While the introduction of armour suits offered enhanced protection, it also came with certain drawbacks, including increased training complexity, conditioning requirements, and the imposition of technological interfaces such as Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) and mandatory helmet usage. Furthermore, the influence of defense contractors in driving this development is explored, shedding light on the economic interests at play.

Introduction:

Conscript service has long been a hallmark of societal obligation in our dystopian reality, with individuals mandated to serve in various capacities for the betterment of the state. However, concerns regarding the safety and welfare of conscripts during their service have persisted, prompting calls for enhanced protective measures. The Conscripts Rights Organization emerged as a prominent advocate for conscript rights, pushing for reforms aimed at ensuring the physical integrity of those serving their mandatory terms. One significant outcome of their advocacy efforts was the mandatory introduction of armour suits for conscripts in key service branches.

Historical Context:

The roots of the mandatory introduction of armour suits can be traced back to a series of incidents highlighting the vulnerability of conscripts to physical harm during their service. Reports of conscripts sustaining injuries or even fatalities in the line of duty sparked public outrage and prompted demands for better protective measures. The Conscripts Rights Organization, galvanized by these events, began lobbying for comprehensive reforms to safeguard the well-being of conscripts.

Key Drivers:

The Conscripts Rights Organization identified several key drivers behind the push for mandatory armour suits. Foremost among these was the imperative to minimize physical harm and casualties among conscripts. Armour suits offered a tangible solution to this pressing concern, providing enhanced protection against various threats encountered during service, including ballistic, chemical, and biological hazards. Additionally, the CRO emphasized the principle of conscript rights, arguing that individuals compelled to serve should be afforded adequate protection as a basic entitlement.

Challenges and Drawbacks:

While the introduction of armour suits represented a significant step forward in conscript protection, it was not without its challenges and drawbacks. Training conscripts to effectively utilize and maintain armour suits posed logistical and resource challenges, requiring additional investment in training infrastructure and personnel. Moreover, the conditioning required to acclimate conscripts to the use of technology interfaces such as HUDs and helmet-mounted communication systems presented psychological and behavioral hurdles. The imposition of strict protocols regarding helmet usage, particularly during public interactions, also raised concerns about the erosion of individual autonomy and privacy.

Influence of Defense Contractors:

An often-overlooked aspect of the mandatory introduction of armour suits is the influence of defense contractors in shaping this development. As providers of advanced protective technologies and equipment, defense contractors stood to benefit economically from the widespread adoption of armour suits among conscripts. Their lobbying efforts and collaboration with governmental agencies played a significant role in driving the policy agenda towards mandatory implementation.

Conclusion:

The mandatory introduction of armour suits for conscripts represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of conscript protection and welfare. While aimed at enhancing the safety and security of individuals serving their mandatory terms, this development also underscores the complex interplay between societal obligations, technological advancements, and economic interests. Moving forward, it is imperative to strike a balance between ensuring conscript safety and preserving individual freedoms and rights in the context of mandatory service.

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deadpresidents · 4 months

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What is the closest military base to the white house?

The White House IS a military installation.

It is the home and workplace of the Commander-in-Chief of United States military forces, so that alone makes it an important command and control headquarters. The various branches of the military have an active role in the everyday logistics of running the White House campus and supporting the Executive Office of the President. The White House's complex and extensive communications agency is staffed by members of each individual branch of the military. The U.S. Navy is responsible for the White House Mess and providing food services to the President, the First Family, any potential guests, and the President's staff. The White House Medical Unit is staffed by military doctors who have a round-the-clock presence in the White House and the official Physician to the President is usually an active-duty military officer.

While the Secret Service -- which includes the traditional plainclothes agents and the more visible uniformed division -- is responsible for protecting the President, his family, and the White House itself, the military also has a protective footprint in and around the White House complex. It's believed that amongst the White House's protective measures -- most of which are highly classified -- are anti-aircraft defenses, which are almost certainly manned by the military rather than the Secret Service. Marine Corps guards also are stationed at the White House (often seen opening and closing doors while manning the entry and exit points around the West Wing) as sentries and sometimes act as military valets during events hosted by the President in the White House. The role of the Marine sentries is purely ceremonial as opposed to protective.

And one of the most important White House responsibilities of the military is transportation. The White House Transportation Agency is responsible for all aspects of the President's travel, and the military works in tandem with the Secret Service on planning and carrying out the immense logistical challenges of transporting the President anywhere in the world -- a challenge magnified by the sheer size of Presidential traveling parties. A Presidential motorcade consists of, on average, 50-60 vehicles. And the majority of those vehicles actually have to be transported from the United States to wherever the President is traveling -- even if it is to several different foreign countries or continents. The Air Force is, obviously, responsible for the President's plane, along with any other aircraft making the trip which are usually carrying White House staff, members of the press, or cargo. For short distances that can be made by helicopter, the Marine Corps takes the lead. And any ground travel by motor vehicles is handled by the Army.

Security and the President's personal protective detail is always led by the Secret Service, but the military is responsible for many of the day-to-day logistics of the institution of the Presidency, which illustrates why the White House is an important military command and control base.

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specializationisforinsects · 6 months

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On Names, Meaning, and Self-Determination

aka ✨✨I woke up wondering about the significance of the name Anthony at three am and I'm now certifiably insane ✨✨

Good Omens is undeniably a queer allegory, and also at the heart a story about self-determination and free will. I think I’ve discovered something related to these two things that I haven’t heard anyone talk about, and it’s making me loco.

Choosing one’s own name is a very queer (often trans but more broadly queer) action; a way to assert and affirm one’s identity, often in opposition to a power structure that existed in a previous iteration of one’s life - our hero does this several times. Let’s take a closer look:

(Disclaimer: I’m using he/him for Crowley here for clarity and because the show and book often do.)

Starmaker [???] -> Crawly

We get to see Angel!Crowley, popularly called the Starmaker, in the opening shots of season two. Whatever the Starmaker's name was, he's insistent at several times throughout history that that is no longer him:

"I knew the angel you were." / "The angel you knew is not me." "You were an angel once." / "That was a very long time ago."

I love that the narrative never tells us what Angel!Crowley's name is - and I hope it bears out in season three. That's not him, and quite clearly he doesn't want to be (mistaken for) that angel ever again.

When we see him again, (chronologically) Crawly is now fallen from grace, a serpent demon, introducing himself to Aziraphale on the wall of the Garden of Eden after all that business with the apple. This is pretty clearly a callback to Genesis 3:14:

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

(Even though...chronologically...I think he had that name before tempting Eve.)

Crawly -> Crowley

In Golgotha, he cites Crawly as "too...squirming at your feet-ish" which again is not him (except for some *cough* situations into which I will not delve here) anyway

The shift from Crawly to Crowley is a subtle one, just a few letters. It speaks to me of a quiet rebellion against Hell, not changing so much that it attracts a lot of attention, but nevertheless rejecting the role Hell has cast him in.

[sorry my gifs suck so bad. It's quicker to grab a snippet than find someone else's better gifs.]

Aziraphale is surprised by this, but not unpleasantly so.

Crowley is making it clear he will only go along with Hell as far as he can. He doesn’t use their name for him, he’s not fully on their side. He still sees himself as a demon (unforgivable) but he’s taken some of his power and agency back. He won’t go blindly along with either Heaven or Hell, he’s asserting his independence.

(I don't know much about the meaning of this name, other than the fact that it's an Irish surname. Doubtless, there's some connection to Aleister Crowley. It's also apparently a maritime logistics company that will "Build and Operate the First Fully Electric U.S. Tugboat". Good for them!

It also reminds me of crows. I have a soft spot for bad boys who model their image after corvids as a defense mechanism.)

Anyway, part II. This brings us to the part that I woke up at three am thinking about.

Crowley, Anthony J.

"The famous Mr. Crowley!"

Here's what we’ve (fandom) spent a lot of time focusing on:

“What's the J for?” / “Just a J, really.”

Here's what I propose we focus on instead:

“Antony?” / “You don’t like it?” / “I didn’t say that! I’ll get used to it.”

Anthony. Why Anthony?

Anthony's not a name that appears in the Bible, but there are a few historical Anthonys we may know…

Marc Antony

(Most of this is pulled directly from wikipedia.)

Marc Antony was one of the Second Triumverate, a group of three men who ruled Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Politically there were a lot of power struggles between them, and Antony married the sister of one of the other men (Octavian) in the triumvirate, as a kind of peacekeeping political move. However, Antony’s territory included Egypt and the young queen Cleopatra.

There were a lot of wars and sieges - I’m not gonna pretend I understand it, but basically Antony was hanging out in Egypt with Cleopatra and Octavian consolidated power in Rome, and started a smear campaign against Antony.

He argued that Antony was a man of low morals to have left his faithful wife abandoned in Rome with the children to be with the promiscuous queen of Egypt. Antony was accused of everything, but most of all, of "going native", an unforgivable crime to the proud Romans. Several times, Antony was summoned to Rome, but remained in Alexandria with Cleopatra.

Going native?? Where have we heard that before?

Octavian and other Roman Senators believed that turning the hostilities towards Cleopatra as the villain would gather the most support from Romans for war. […] Octavian's publication of [Antony’s will (alleged)] which named Antony and Cleopatra's children as heirs and directed his burial in Alexandria, was used as a political weapon in Rome to declare war against Cleopatra and Egypt as a whole. Octavian, now close to absolute power, invaded Egypt in August, 30 BC. With no other refuge to escape to, Antony stabbed himself with his sword in the mistaken belief that Cleopatra had already done so. When he found out that Cleopatra was still alive, his friends brought him to Cleopatra's monument in which she was hiding, and he died in her arms.

Oof. Choosing their own side under pain of death.

St. Anthony of Padua

Okay I’m not religious, and I'm tired of spending time on catholic websites but here are a few bullet points I found to make me scream

Saint Anthony is known in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil as a marriage saint, because legends exist of him reconciling couples.

Saint Anthony of Padua is known as the patron saint of lovers, often prayed to for meeting one's soulmate or finding lost love.

Pope Leon XII referred to him as “the saint of the world.”

Anthony

We don’t learn about the name “Anthony” until 1941, meaning that Crowley chose it for himself sometime after 1862 and before 1941. During a period of separation from Aziraphale after one of their bitterest arguments, he picks a human name for himself.

So, finally (jk this was first, but…)

I looked up the meaning of the name Anthony and (allegedly) it means “highly praiseworthy” or “priceless one”.

Take a minute.

The implications of this being a name he’s chosen for HIMSELF??

That maybe he hopes Aziraphale will call him??

That, to my knowledge in the show, Aziraphale hasn’t called him??

In conclusion

(I made myself crazy with this, please scream with me a little bit? I gotta go take a shower and wash the catholic websites off.)

#good omens #meta #anthony j crowley

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 10 months

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced legislation Wednesday that would require the Pentagon to return a portion of its enormous and ever-growing budget to the Treasury Department if it fails another audit in the coming fiscal year.

The Audit the Pentagon Act, an updated version of legislation first introduced in 2021, comes amid mounting concerns over rampant price gouging by military contractors and other forms of waste and abuse at an agency that's set to receive at least $842 billion for fiscal year 2024.

"The Pentagon and the military-industrial complex have been plagued by a massive amount of waste, fraud, and financial mismanagement for decades. That is absolutely unacceptable," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement as he unveiled the bill alongside Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

"If we are serious about spending taxpayer dollars wisely and effectively," said Sanders, "we have got to end the absurdity of the Pentagon being the only agency in the federal government that has never passed an independent audit."

In December, the Pentagon flunked its fifth consecutive audit, unable to account for more than 60% of its $3.5 trillion in total assets.

But congressional appropriators appear largely unphased as they prepare to raise the agency's budget to record levels, with some working to increase it beyond the topline set by the recently approved debt ceiling agreement. Watchdogs have warned that the deal includes a loophole that hawkish lawmakers could use to further inflate the Pentagon budget under the guise of aiding Ukraine.

Late Wednesday, following a lengthy markup session, the House Armed Services Committee passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which proposes a total military budget of $886 billion. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) was the only committee member to vote no.

A huge chunk of the Pentagon's budget for next year is likely to go to profitable private contractors, which make a killing charging the federal government exorbitant sums for weapons and miscellaneous items, from toilet seats to ashtrays to coffee makers.

"Defense contractors are lining their pockets with taxpayer money while the Pentagon fails time and time again to pass an independent audit. It's a broken system," said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a co-sponsor of the new bill. "We need to compel the Department of Defense to take fraud and mismanagement seriously—and we need Congress to stop inflating our nation's near-trillion-dollar defense budget."

"Putting the wants of contractors over the needs of our communities," he added, "isn't going to make our country any safer."

If passed, the Audit the Pentagon Act of 2023 would force every component of the Defense Department that fails an audit in fiscal year 2024 to return 1% of its budget to the Treasury Department.

A fact sheet released by Sanders' office argues that "the need for this audit is clear," pointing to a Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq report estimating that "$31-60 billion had been lost to fraud and waste."

"Separately, the special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported that the Pentagon could not account for $45 billion in funding for reconstruction projects," the fact sheet notes. "A recent Ernst & Young audit of the Defense Logistics Agency found that it could not properly account for some $800 million in construction projects. CBS News recently reported that defense contractors were routinely overcharging the Pentagon—and the American taxpayer—by nearly 40-50%, and sometimes as high as 4,451%."

Further examples of the Pentagon's waste and accounting failures abound.

Last month, the Government Accountability Office released a report concluding that the Pentagon can't account for F-35 parts worth millions of dollars.

Earlier this week, as The Washington Post reported, the Pentagon said it "uncovered a significant accounting error that led it to overvalue the amount of military equipment it sent to Ukraine since Russia's invasion last year—by $6.2 billion."

"The 'valuation errors,' as a Pentagon spokeswoman put it, will allow the Pentagon to send more weapons to Ukraine now before going to Congress to request more money," the Post noted.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee and a supporter of the Audit the Pentagon Act, said Wednesday that "taxpayers can't keep writing blank checks—they deserve long-overdue transparency from the Pentagon about wasteful defense spending."

"If the Department of Defense cannot conduct a clean audit, as required by law," said Wyden, "Congress should impose tough financial consequences to hold the Pentagon accountable for mismanaging taxpayer money."

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beardedmrbean · 8 months

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A federal program has put millions of dollars of decommissioned military equipment into the hands of law enforcement departments across Indiana.

The 1033 Program transfers surplus military property — equipment officials say would otherwise be destroyed — to local, county and state agencies. These items obtained from the Law Enforcement Support Office of the Defense Logistics Agency include basic office furniture to the more visible MRAP armored vehicle.

Up to $7.6 billion in excess military property has been reallocated to roughly 9,000 police jurisdictions around the country since the program's inception in the 1990s.

Proponents of the 1033 program say it offers immense cost-savings to smaller police departments that file grants to acquire decommissioned property already bought and paid for by American taxpayers. Prior reporting by IndyStar found Johnson County shelled out an estimated $5,000 for an MRAP the government paid $733,000 when it was new.

Beech Grove PD has an armored vehicle:Here's what's inside it.

Debate wages about police using equipment meant for the U.S. military

Critics argue militarizing the police is blurring the lines of law enforcement — from 'protect and serve' to 'punish and intimidate.' A pair of studies published in the scientific journal Nature of Human Behavior found no evidence military gear used by police reduces crime.

Police officers operating armored vehicles in the Indianapolis area have received criticism both from the political left and right.

"Far right conservative here and this is an absolute joke," wrote one IndyStar subscriber last week after the city of Beech Grove revealed it received a BearCat through a federal grant. "The militarization of police departments is a huge issue. No way should local PD be trolling around in military surplus. If they can use it for you, then they can use it against you."

In the past, police departments have defended their use of armored vehicles by invoking officer safety. What was good enough to stop bullets from hitting U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, they say, can be employed during SWAT situations in Indianapolis.

"There's backup steel maybe a half-inch thick behind the lights, the engine compartment, everything," said BGPD Sgt. Joe Garrison in describing the BearCat. "Nothing short of military-grade ammo would pierce this."

Police officer safety or surplus zeal:Military equipment in Indiana spurs debate

Millions in military surplus have been shipped to Indiana

More than $38.2 million in equipment, including firearms, scopes, night vision goggles and mine-resistant vehicles, have entered the Hoosier state.

IndyStar examined public data provided by the Law Enforcement Support Office to determine which agencies in Central Indiana have joined the 1033 program, what equipment they've requested, and the amount of money each item was valued at by the federal government at the time it was purchased.

The following is a list of items totaling more than $1.8 million shipped to 10 Central Indiana law enforcement agencies between September 1994 and October 2022, the last date of entry.

The list IndyStar examined is not a complete accounting of all items shipped from the federal government to Indiana law enforcement agencies. Property on the list falls under two categories: "controlled" and "non-controlled."

Controlled property refers to military items loaned from the Department of Defense, officials said, and includes small arms, demilitarized vehicles, aircraft and night vision equipment. When a law enforcement agency no longer wants an item of controlled property, it must be returned.

Non-controlled property refers to items that could be sold to the general public such as first-aid kits, office equipment, hand tools and sleeping bags. After one year, these items are removed from the LESO database and become the property of the law enforcement agency.

The majority of military surplus shipped to law enforcement agencies are non-controlled items, according to the DLA, which states that small arms weapons make up only 5% of what law enforcements receive.

Each item's cost, officials say, is what government agencies or military branches paid at the time the item was procured. Their current value is difficult to determine due to depreciation. It's also unknown whether the departments still have the items they received in most cases.

Avon Police Dept.

What did they request?

22 Automatic Pistols, .45 Caliber (initial purchase price: $58.71 each)

30 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price: $499 each)

11 Rifles, 7.62 mm (initial purchase price: $138 each)

Acquisition value: $17,779.62

Beech Grove PD

What did they request?

1 Combat / Assault tactical wheeled vehicle (initial purchase price: $150,000 total)

1 Utility truck (initial purchase price: $41,447 total)

Acquisition value: $191,447

Carmel Police Dept.

What did they request?

3 Image Intensifier / Night Vision devices (initial purchase price: $6,392 each)

8 Rifles, 7.62 mm (initial purchase price: $138 each)

Acquisition value: $20,280

Cumberland Police Dept.

What did they request?

2 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price: $749 each)

9 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price: $499 each)

5 Rifles, 7.62 mm (initial purchase price: $138 each)

2 Sights / Reflex (initial purchase price: $1,472.55 total)

Acquisition value: $8,151.55

Fishers Police Dept.

What did they request?

12 Automatic Pistols, .45 Caliber (initial purchase price: $58.71 each)

17 Illuminator IR laser sights for small arms (initial purchase price: $1,058 total)

7 Rifles, 7.62 mm (initial purchase price: $138 each)

Acquisition value: $2,728.52

Greenwood Police Dept.

What did they request?

1 Unmanned vehicle, Ground (initial purchase price: $77,060 total)

4 Armor, Transparent, Vehicular Windows (initial purchase price: $4,572.04 total)

1 Mine Resistant Vehicle (initial purchase price: $658,000 total)

Acquisition value: $739,632.04

IndyStar reached out to the Greenwood Police Department last week for more information about its unmanned vehicle and mine resistant vehicle but heard nothing back as of Wednesday.

IMPD

What did they request?

(Most of this stuff is looking pretty normal, but there's some yikes in there too)

4 duffel bags (initial purchase price: $79.80 total)

6 pairs of men's boots (initial purchase price: $150 total)

12 pairs of cold weather boots (initial purchase price: $153.69 total)

25 Bivy covers / sleeping bag covers (initial purchase price: $131.53 total)

50 pairs of cold weather gloves (initial purchase price: $10 total)

1 gym bench (initial purchase price: $500 total)

46 cold weather jackets (initial purchase price: $65.68 each)

3 extreme cold weather jackets (initial purchase price: $94.15 total)

12 modular sleep systems / sleeping bags (initial purchase price: $262.82 total)

6 mounted sights (initial purchase price: $38.52 total)

120 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price: $499 each)

8 Rifles, 7.62 mm (initial purchase price: $138 each)

336 Sight reflexes (initial purchase price: $2,226 total)

30 telescopes, straight (initial purchase price: $1,010 total)

Acquisition value: $65,968.91

Lawrence Police Dept.

What did they request?

1 Mine Resistant Vehicle (initial purchase price: $733,000 total)

10 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price: $499 each)

4 Rifles, 7.62 mm (initial purchase price: $138 each)

Acquisition value: $738,542

Marion County Sheriff's Office

What did they request?

1 Mine Resistant Vehicle (initial purchase price: $733,000 total)

31 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price: $499 each)

4 Rifles, 7.62 mm (initial purchase price: $138 each)

Acquisition value: $16,021

Metro School Dist. Pike TWP Police Dept, K-12

What did they request?

4 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price: $749 each)

4 Rifles, 5.56 mm (initial purchase price:$499 each)

Acquisition value: $4,992

#nunyas news

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usafphantom2 · 1 month

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Italy will buy AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles for its F-35 fighters

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/18/2024 - 13:00 in Armaments, Military

The U.S. State Department approved the sale of AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles to Italy, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced.

The requested package of US$90 million includes the AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II+ missiles; containers; weapon support and support equipment; spare and repair parts; logistics support services and other related elements.

The contract, announced on Friday (03/15), specifies that RTX will be the main contractor. The sale also requires the approval of the U.S. Congress, which has been notified of the approval of the deal by the State Department.

According to the DSCA, the proposed sale will improve Italy's ability to face current and future threats by providing training missiles and guidance units for the Italian F-35 fleet in support of the NATO defense mission.

The AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, which entered service in November 2003, includes advanced infrared, short-range, air-to-air and surface-to-air tracking missiles. The Block II variant, which completed its first firing test in November 2008, has a redesigned fuser and a digital ignition safety device to improve ground handling and safety in flight.

Tags: AIM-9X SidewinderAMI - Italian Military Aeronautics/Italian Air ForceweaponsMilitary AviationF-35 Lightning IIRaytheon

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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scarlettjohanssons-mistress · 2 years

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I hear the beat of your heart - part 2

warnings: Dark!Natasha, stalking, Yandere

word count: 1.1 K

pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

prompt: Natasha follows closely in Reader's footsteps, while Reader's girlfriend disappears from her life.

Natasha takes a big step, but she takes it carefully

Requests: OPEN

[Main masterlist] [Marvel masterlist]

Part 1 HERE

The room smelled strongly of chemicals, making Natasha wrinkle her nose. The room was illuminated by a dim red light, which made the redhead see how Y/N's face was more visible on that piece of paper.

The camera that Natasha had bought was very useful to her, since it not only helped the woman to appreciate each feature of the girl, but also helped her to know the places she visited.

This new photo had a 200mm zoom, making the camera focus on her nose, eyes, mouth, and eyebrows. Making Natasha realize how beautiful she was.

———————————————————————————

"Haven't you seen Camille?" Y/N asked her friend and co-worker, Grace

"No, the last time I saw her, she was in college" the black haired woman replied to Y/N, while cleaning a spoon "why?"

"A few days ago she broke up with me by text message, I tried to look for her to talk to her, but nobody has seen her"

"Maybe she's avoiding you"

"Perhaps"

"But... it's strange, I wouldn't imagine Camille being cowardly enough to break up with you over a simple text message."

"I also. In fact, I noticed something was off about her."

"Do you think she's in trouble?"

"I don't know if there is a problem, but it would be better if I didn't find out about any infidelity"

The brunette just laughed as they both continued with their work.

Time passed quickly, and before she knew it, Y/N's shift was over, so he began to walk home, which was relatively close.

When she arrived, she noticed that her living room window was slightly open, when she remembered closing it, completely. So, her walked over to close it, when her noticed a crumpled sheet of paper was there, along with a small folded piece of photographic paper.

Carefully, Y/N unfolded the sheet, noticing how, on that white sheet, was written a phrase 'DON'T FORGET ME' written in big red letters, causing a shiver to run down her spine. Carefully, I unfold the photo, noticing that it was a photo of her. Y/N was in her pajamas, an oversized shirt and panties, leaning against the large window in her bedroom, sipping hot chocolate.

Y/N was so scared that he only managed to take her keys and ran out of her apartment, ran down the stairs, until she collided with a body

"Hey, be careful"

Y/N looked up, meeting familiar green eyes. Y/N remembered those eyes, those thin eyebrows, that big but cute nose, and those plump lips

"I know you?" asked y/n

"Yes, we met a few weeks ago, at a party" the redhead smiled, showing her perfect teeth "I'm Natasha"

"Because you follow me?"

The redhead sighed loudly, but, trying to reassure the smaller woman with her gaze

"You found the note on your window, didn't you?" The redhead could see how Y/N's mind was beginning to formulate ideas in her head, so Natasha quickly interrupted her thoughts "Don't worry, I'm here to protect you"

Natasha carefully pushed Y/N aside and began to walk to Y/N's apartment, knowing that the woman was following her closely.

"Protect me? From what?"

“Your ex-girlfriend, Camille; She was in big trouble with the law, so much so that they've been watching you…wanting to attack what she loved"

"Camille? Attack me?"

The redhead began to check every place in the apartment, trying to find any other signs of a break-in.

"I know it sounds crazy, miss, but, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't something urgent."

"So what do I have to do?"

"You will have to accompany me to one of SHIELD's secure facilities."

"Shi... what?"

“SHIELD Agency that is in charge of Intelligence, Espionage, Logistics, and Defense. I'm Agent Natasha, and I'm here to be your protector."

"Like in the 'bodyguard' movie?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow at Y/N's childish question, but if she wanted to gain her trust, she would have to be nice to her.

"Yes, like that"

"Okay, so how long do I have to go?"

"I can't give you an exact time, it will be, until we are completely sure that you will be safe"

“But what about my job? My friends, my family”

“We'll take care of it. Miss Y/N, you really have to hurry up to pick up what can be taken to the safe house, we don't know who might be around."

"Of course"

While Y/N disappeared from her sight, Natasha just dedicated herself to opening drawers, taking out paper, pencil and writing a note

'Only the closest people will know I needed a break, so one call from my parents, and now I'm on my way to my childhood home. I'm fine, I just need a break'

Natasha had never been so happy for her classes to learn and write the exact letters of another person.

———————————————————————————

Y/N had slept half the long way both women traveled, so Natasha had to wake her up when they reached the outskirts of the small house. It was a house, rather, it looked like a small cabin in the middle of a snowy forest, in the middle of nowhere.

Natasha helped Y/N unload her things from the car, while Y/N walked around the cabin curiously. It had been implied that they would both live in the compound, so Y/N started moving her few belongings into the only room that was empty. While she arranged her things and began to process her new reality, Natasha cooked something, and in passing she called Clint, just so she could tell him about her new company, of course, twisting things a bit. Clint hung up, promising he'd be able to come over soon.

Dinner came and went so fast, like a blink. When she least wanted to realize it, Y/N was fast asleep, while the redhead watched her attentively, sitting right in front of her

"My sweet little princess" Natasha carefully, gently running her hand through Y/N's hair, avoiding waking her up "there's no turning back now. Now, you are completely mine” carefully, Natasha parted the hair from Y/N's neck, and while she sniffed a little of her essence, she couldn't refrain and gave a long lick to her neck, while listening to how the sleeping woman, moaned unconsciously "Oh honey, I can't wait to be fully inside you, while you moan in that sensual way."

Natasha's carnal desires were awakening little by little, but Natasha herself held back, giving one last kiss and getting up.

Because, she wasn't a monster… she was just in love.

Note:

I have some pending requests, but, they are taking more time than I thought (really, I am working hard on both), and since I already have a LONG time without publishing, I wanted to publish this, which I had also already promised.

I hope you enjoy it

I appreciate the reblogs, the likes and the comments

taglist: @littlebitchsposts

message me or send an ask to be added to my taglist!

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officecyborg · 2 months

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Funny bc I was already working on a post to this effect but more loosey-goosey, but that OC post reminded me about it. Anyway the Rules for Lucky stories, and what has and has not worked.

Basic rules:

Lucky is competent; he's good at his job.

Cases always go wrong because The Worst Thing happens at The Worst Time.

In spite of this, Lucky is unfailingly tenacious. He never gives up.

Lucky complains about his job (because of point 2).

...But Lucky LOVES his job.

Lucky is interpersonally messy and emotionally volatile, but NOT at work; he's judicious and takes his cases seriously.

Lucky is the detective. I.e. other characters can consult, but he and Nilou are the only characters who directly investigate cases.

Lucky and Nilou character dynamics:

Lucky protects Nilou. Lucky and Nilou protect the client.

River, the Mysterious Saviour, can protect them but not the client.

Nilou is here because she's Lucky's student and they like each other, NOT because there's any element of detective work that Lucky couldn't do on his own.

That said, other characters should respect Nilou regardless of her age (or if they don't, the narrative should prove them wrong).

Lucky likes being Nilou's teacher due to the responsibility (respect), Nilou likes being Lucky's student due to the delineated expectations (sympathy). This dynamic doesn't start to shift until KH Act 1.

Where they disagree, Lucky advocates for the pragmatic approach, while Nilou advocates for the moral approach.

Although their respective powers suggest the opposite, in fight scenes (jokingly) Lucky is a DEX fighter, and Nilou a STR fighter.

While they can both be "reckless", it's in different ways (insofar as this is a negative thing). Nilou is impulsive and defiant (goes off on her own). Lucky is obsessive and defensive (cannot let it go).

Expanding on 8: Lucky's driving psychological issue is "Everyone thinks I'm crazy, and I need to prove I'm not."

Nilou's driving psychological issue is "I can't trust the authority figures around me, I can only rely on myself."

General logistics and world stuff to keep in mind:

Nobody in the psychic community--Lucky, Nilou, Hawthorn, even the DSC--has any legal authority to investigate "magical crimes".

Hawthorn respects Lucky.

Hawthorn does not intervene in Lucky's job to protect him (he trusts Lucky to do his job).

Lucky likes and respects Hawthorn, despite his protests.

Logistically speaking, Lucky is kind of working on commission. He's an employee of the Hawthorn Agency, but the majority of his income comes from individual clients he takes on himself.

Lucky is broke because his clients rarely pay him, not because Hawthorn is like, torturing him or whatever.

Hawthorn's other agents have other jobs; they're not doing the same thing Lucky does.

Nilou does not get paid to be Lucky's student; she's there to learn. Basically a co-op student. The implication is that she becomes a detective too, eventually.

Conclusions, things that we've tried before and don't work, alternatives that would:

If Lucky is not working the case, or trying to get out of working the case, something has gone wrong plot-wise.

Hawthorn should not be causing problems for Lucky's job, or for Lucky's life.

Lucky taking cases personally should be the exception, not the rule.

Characters shouldn't cinema-sins-ding the concept of a kid sidekick.

If Nilou is there to learn, make sure she is... learning.

I know it's tempting because he's short, but Lucky is actually more experienced with hand-to-hand combat than Nilou. And Matilda, for that matter.

Not only do I not need to "give Nilou stuff to do", Lucky behaving irresponsibly/not doing his job would cause massive character conflict between them. So only deploy this if said conflict is the intentional focus of the plot.

Lucky being Hawthorn's agent is a really useful plot generator, but we should never lean on this to get Lucky out of danger. That kills the drama, and also doesn't make any sense? All these events are moves made by different factions irrespective of human-world law, and taking out a rival agent can and should be a valid move.

There's one specific case where Hawthorn IS trying to protect Lucky. Per these rules, that should take the form of Hawthorn pushing for Lucky to lie low/go on vacation, while Lucky pushes to stay on the case.

Also laying all this out, I feel like it might be useful to look at KH Act 2 as "Lucky is the client".

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ossyflawol · 1 year

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The Borealis. I want to know everything.

Icebreaker ship turned Research Vessel which began construction in the 1970’s by Aperture Science, it was proposed as an FSII solution during a competing bid against Black Mesa for a Defense Logistics Agency contract, the idea that the scientists and engineers was a simple one - you don’t need fuel if craft can simply teleport.

So, for the next decade, Aperture Science gets to work on constructing the Borealis, filling it with various gadgets such as a Material Emancipation Grill and Unstationary Scaffold. However, desperation in the fight against Black Mesa strikes and corners begin to be cut on the project, the failing state of Cave Johnson is no help to this problem.

An email is filed to Cave Johnson by one of the leads on the project, only known as “J.H.”, the Borealis is ready. They iterate it was designed to be durable, and easy to get materials for since outside of those in the know on the project, it was seen as just a simple icebreaker ship. The corners cut lead to Aperture stripping out a lot of what was in the ship, there is no backup supplies, and no food onboard.

In the case that the Borealis ever needs to be sent off, it’s equipped with an OR box, the activation code of which being “hb1”. And one day, the Borealis is to set out for it’s very first run of teleportation. The OR box is activated, and then - disaster strikes. Everyone onboard, part of the drydock, all gone in an instant, vanished. No one knows where it went, no one knows where it was meant to go, and the cost of cutting corners shatters all hope Aperture had for beating out Black Mesa for the contract.

And so, the company moves on, they seal up Test Shaft 09, and the Borealis project is left to simply the status of being a rumour of a failed Aperture Science vessel.

But, nearly 40 years after the fact, the Combine have been occupying the Earth for 20 years now, and they’re in need of a teleportation solution so that they may find a way to reliably link up with their homeworld once more. While the Resistance is kept untouched only by the sheer fact the Combine know they’re developing teleportation technology that can be stolen later, there is something else.

Discovered after the collapse of the Combine’s oppressive Citadel, Judith Mossman of the Resistance forces has actually found something else, once thought to be rumours only — the legendary Borealis. The data packet is stolen by the Combine, only to be stolen back by the Resistance, revealing that the Borealis is real, resides in the Arctic, and it’s stuck. Once the Resistance brings down the Super Portal being formed by the Citadel’s remains, all eyes on Earth turn north. The Combine know where the Borealis is, the Resistance knows where it is, and each side begin to race their way up to finally have it for themselves, with one outcome better than the other.

#portal #portal 2 #aperture science #cave johnson #half life 2 #judith mossman #portal lore #half life lore #portal spoilers #half life spoilers #borealis #combine

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ukrainenews · 1 year

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Daily Wrap Up March 10-13, 2023

Under the cut:

Russia and the United Nations have agreed to a 60-day extension of the Ukraine grain deal after negotiations in Geneva, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Monday.

Fierce fighting rages over central Bakhmut as Russia’s Wagner mercenaries try to break through Ukrainian defenses in the ruined city, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 13. Syrskyi, who commands Ukraine’s Ground Forces and made two known visits to Bakhmut in recent weeks, acknowledged that the situation in the embattled city remained difficult as Russia continued to press forward.

Ukrainian intelligence officials have officially confirmed the identity of the prisoner of war who shouted, "Glory to Ukraine!" before he was executed in a video that was widely circulated on social media. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) determined he was a sniper with the 163rd Battalion of the 119th Separate Tank Brigade of the Chernihiv Region, Oleksandr Ihorovych Matsiyevsky. CNN earlier reported that Matsiyevsky's loved ones and his commander had recognized him as the man in the clip.

Three civilians were killed in Russian shelling of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Saturday, and another died in Donetsk, regional officials said. Reuters reported the governor of Kherson oblast, Oleksandr Prokudin, as saying three people, including an elderly woman, had also been wounded.

Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers on Monday wrapped up a four-week training in Spain on how to operate the Leopard 2A4 battle tank, of which Madrid is set to deliver six mothballed units to Kyiv this spring. A total of 40 tank crew members and 15 mechanical specialists underwent training on their use at a military base in the northeastern city of Zaragoza, Spain’s armed forces said in a statement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to travel to Russia to meet his counterpart Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said, which would be sooner than previously expected. Plans for a visit come as China has been offering to broker peace in Ukraine, an effort that has been met with scepticism in the West given Beijing's diplomatic support for Russia.

“Russia and the United Nations have agreed to a 60-day extension of the Ukraine grain deal after negotiations in Geneva, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Monday.

"Our Russian interdepartmental delegation has just completed another round of talks with UN representatives led by UNCTAD Secretary General R. Greenspan and OCHA head M. Griffiths,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said at a briefing on Monday, according to RIA.

The diplomat added Moscow had agreed to extend the current grain deal, which lasts until March 18, for an additional 60 days.

"But just for 60 days,” Vershinin said. “Any further grain policy will depend on actual —based on not what's said but what's done — progress on the normalization of our agricultural exports, including bank payments, transport logistics, insurance, unfreezing of financial activities and the continuation of ammonia supply through the Tolyatti-Odessa pipeline.”

Why are grain exports so important? Ukraine and Russia are both significant suppliers of food to the world. Before the war, Ukraine – known as one of the globe’s breadbaskets – would export around three-quarters of the grain it produces. According to data from the European Commission, about 90% of these exports were shipped by sea, from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. The war and its impact on grain exports therefore has major implications, particularly in the global South which relies heavily on them.”-via CNN

“Fierce fighting rages over central Bakhmut as Russia’s Wagner mercenaries try to break through Ukrainian defenses in the ruined city, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 13.

Syrskyi, who commands Ukraine’s Ground Forces and made two known visits to Bakhmut in recent weeks, acknowledged that the situation in the embattled city remained difficult as Russia continued to press forward.

The commander said that the Wagner members were storming into central Bakhmut from multiple fronts, but Ukraine still held on to the “fortress” while inflicting “significant losses” on the invading forces.

“All enemy attempts to capture the city are repelled by artillery, tanks, and other firepower," Syrskyi said, as quoted by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's media center.

Syrskyi’s statement comes amid an eight-month-long battle over Bakhmut, a largely destroyed city nearly emptied of its 70,000 residents. Russia has intensified its offensive on Bakhmut in recent weeks as it captured neighboring settlements, inching its way into encircling the city.

Late on March 12, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a Telegram post that his mercenaries began storming into the underground compound of the Artemivskyi non-ferrous metal processing plant, also known as AZOM, in northern Bakhmut.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia officially commented on the situation at the plant on March 13.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a D.C.-based think-tank analyzing the war in Ukraine, said on March 12 that the Russian military leadership could be trying to expend the Wagner forces and Prigozhin’s influence in Bakhmut.

The ISW has earlier reported that Wagner’s committed elite forces in Bakhmut may be running out as the paramilitary group uses up its manpower to maintain offensive momentum.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Eastern Military Command, said on March 11 that Ukraine seeks to degrade Wagner forces during its defense of Bakhmut.

He added that Ukraine has already “thinned out” the second formation of Wagner’s recruited prisoners over the winter, and Ukraine has “a real chance” of degrading Wagner if it keeps up the pace.

As fierce battles raged in the east and south of Ukraine, civilian casualties continued to be reported.

The President’s Office said on March 13 that Russian troops launched two missiles at a school in Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, killing a woman.

To the northeast, the Russians launched a missile strike on the village of Znob-Novhorodske in Sumy Oblast, killing at least one and wounding four, according to the President’s Office.

On the southern front, the Russians fired upon energy workers in a liberated area of Kherson Oblast, wounding one person, the regional military administration said.”-via Kyiv Independent

“Ukrainian intelligence officials have officially confirmed the identity of the prisoner of war who shouted, "Glory to Ukraine!" before he was executed in a video that was widely circulated on social media.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) determined he was a sniper with the 163rd Battalion of the 119th Separate Tank Brigade of the Chernihiv Region, Oleksandr Ihorovych Matsiyevsky. CNN earlier reported that Matsiyevsky's loved ones and his commander had recognized him as the man in the clip.

The SBU came to the conclusion after communicating with the sniper's family and comrades-in-arms, as well as processing photo and video materials, officials said.

"This is a true Hero who, even looking into the face of death, demonstrated to the whole world what Ukrainian character and invincibility are," said SBU Head Vasyl Malyuk in a statement on their website. "It is these defenders who are defending our land today, which means that the enemy will definitely be defeated. Because Ukraine's Great Victory is made up of the heroic deeds of people like Oleksandr Matsiyevsky. Glory to the hero! Glory to the heroes! Glory to Ukraine!" Matsiyevsky was called for military service in March 2022. Since the end of December, he was reported missing near the village of Krasna Hora in the eastern Donetsk region, according to the SBU. The sniper was shot dead on December 30. His body was returned home in February.

The SBU said it is working to identify the Russian military personnel involved in the execution, and investigating the killing under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war).

Officials in Kyiv, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have roundly condemned the sniper's on-camera slaying as a war crime.”-via CNN

“Three civilians were killed in Russian shelling of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Saturday, and another died in Donetsk, regional officials said.

Reuters reported the governor of Kherson oblast, Oleksandr Prokudin, as saying three people, including an elderly woman, had also been wounded .

“Today the Russian occupiers have hit Kherson again, on Mykolayivsky road near a shop, debris from a shell killed three people,” he told Ukrainian TV.

Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November after nearly eight months of occupation by Russian forces who seized it soon after the start of their invasion. The area is now under almost constant bombardment from Russian forces on the opposite side of the Dnieper river.

The Donetsk regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said one person had been killed and at least three injured in the city of Kostyantynivka after several rounds of Russian shelling during the day.”-via The Guardian

“Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers on Monday wrapped up a four-week training in Spain on how to operate the Leopard 2A4 battle tank, of which Madrid is set to deliver six mothballed units to Kyiv this spring.

A total of 40 tank crew members and 15 mechanical specialists underwent training on their use at a military base in the northeastern city of Zaragoza, Spain’s armed forces said in a statement.

“It has been intense,” Spanish trainer Captain Contreras - who identified himself only by his rank and surname - told reporters, who were allowed access to the drills for the first time.

Contreras said the Ukrainians would be returning home “with a very acceptable knowledge” of the Leopards.

“Although the tanks were different, there were many systems that coincide and that has made things much easier. With that, together with the motivation that the personnel brought and their desire to learn, we see them very well prepared to resume combat.”

One of the Ukrainian soldiers being trained had a patch on a sleeve sporting the slogan “Freedom or Death” underneath the Ukrainian flag.”-via The Guardian

“Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to travel to Russia to meet his counterpart Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said, which would be sooner than previously expected.

Plans for a visit come as China has been offering to broker peace in Ukraine, an effort that has been met with scepticism in the West given Beijing's diplomatic support for Russia.

Putin said last month that a Xi visit had been agreed, though the Kremlin chief gave no date for a possible visit. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that a visit to Moscow could take place in April or early May.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the possibility of Xi going to Moscow.

When asked about the Reuters report, the Kremlin said it had nothing to say on the matter.

"As a rule, announcements of official foreign visits are coordinated synchronously by mutual agreement of the parties," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

"When there is such readiness, we will let you know."

No other details were immediately available.

The sources briefed on the matter declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the issue.

Last month, Putin hosted China's top diplomat Wang Yi on a visit to Moscow. One source said that Wang's trip to Moscow was to help prepare for Xi's visit.

China and Russia struck a "no limits" partnership in February of 2022, when Putin was visiting Beijing for the opening of the Winter Olympics, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. The two sides have continued to reaffirm the strength of their ties.

Xi has met Putin in person 39 times since becoming president, most recently in September during a summit in central Asia.

On Monday, Xi wrapped up the annual session of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, during which he was unanimously confirmed in a precedent-breaking third term as president.”-via Reuters

#Daily Update #Ukraine #Russia #War in Ukraine #China #Spain #Kherson #Bakhmut

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lboogie1906 · 3 months

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Lieutenant General Darrell K. Williams (born February 6, 1961) served as a Three Star General Officer in the Army directing the Defense Logistics Agency until July 8, 2020. He was the Commanding General, of Combined Arms Support Command, the Sustainment Center of Excellence as well as the Senior Mission Commander for Fort Lee. He oversees the Logistics Commodities and Services Transformation Program on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence as a Leidos Vice President and managing director. He is the founding chair of the Mary S. Peake Fellowship, a one-year program for next-generation leaders helping local businesses grow, named in honor of Mary S. Peake. He assumed office as Hampton University President on July 1, 2022.

He was commissioned into the Army Quartermaster Corps at Hampton Institute. He was a Military Graduate and earned a BA in Psychology. He became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

His post-graduate education includes an MS in Military Arts and Sciences from the School of Advanced Military Studies; an MS in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National War College; and an MBA in Business Management from the Pennsylvania State University.

He has commanded logistics units at the company, battalion, brigade, and enterprise levels and has served in key staff positions at the tactical, operational/joint, and strategic levels. His prior assignments include Deputy Chief of Staff, Army Materiel Command, Redstone Arsenal; Commander, Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime; Director of Logistics, Engineering and Security Assistance, J-4, Headquarters, US Pacific Command; Executive Officer to the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4; Brigade Commander, 3d Sustainment Brigade; and Deputy C-4, Coalition Forces Land Component Command, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait during Operations Enduring, Iraqi Freedom.

He commanded the 1st Sustainment Command where he was responsible for providing theater sustainment to Army forces and elements of the Joint Force throughout the Central Command Area of Responsibility, including Afghanistan and Iraq, under the mission command of Army Central. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphaphialpha

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mariacallous · 1 month

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With U.S. aid to Ukraine stalled in Congress by an entrenched Republican Party and the Ukrainian counteroffensive stalled by entrenched Russian forces, Kyiv’s Western backers are grasping for ways to bolster its war effort. Since trained personnel and artillery are in short supply, their attention has turned to drones and artificial intelligence. However, overestimating the role such technologies can play in armed conflict risks solidifying the very stalemate that Ukraine needs to break.

In some ways, a focus on digital battlefield intelligence, automated targeting, and unmanned aerial vehicles by both the Russians and Ukrainians is unsurprising—neither side has many other options to work with at this point, as their respective presidents, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, both appear reticent to order new troop mobilizations. But it is also puzzling, since a techno-centric strategy seems to have played a major role in turning what the Kremlin predicted would be a three-day war into a now two-year-old war of attrition.

Russia has ceded nearly half of the territory it once occupied in Ukraine at a cost of roughly 90 percent of its prewar standing forces. Yet on paper, it had Ukraine easily outnumbered and outgunned—without even mentioning the billions of rubles and years of investment into novel capabilities such as cyber operations, AI, robotics, drones, and electronic warfare. Perhaps this is why it was all too easy to discount the less quantifiable and less attention-grabbing—but ultimately more decisive—facets of war, such as planning, logistics, coordination, morale, and leadership.

Technology’s most alluring quality for militaries is the promise that it might somehow make the physical demands of seizing territory somehow less expensive in terms of blood, treasure, time, and labor. But no matter how much granular insight, safe distance, and speed that technology provides, it simply cannot substitute for the kinds of traditional capabilities that characterized 20th-century conflicts.

Since kicking off a military modernization program in 2008, Putin and his circle have sought to create a “modern high-technology army,” envisioning a war in which technological superiority would prove decisive. In the ensuing years, a host of advanced weapons systems filled out its arsenal, spurred its arms sales, and flooded battlefields in Syria. Meanwhile, Russian military and intelligence agencies—and proxies such as the late Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin—posed increasingly sophisticated and brazen threats in cyberspace.

By late 2021, these factors led some Western observers to conclude that Russia would easily prevail over Ukraine, including by dint of its technical prowess.

Instead, Russia’s underwhelming conventional battlefield performance over the past two years showed that its reliance on high-tech weaponry came at the cost of focus on other key aspects of a functioning military—its defense-industrial base and supply lines became plagued by corruption while its threadbare officer corps were saddled with poor force structure and ineptitude.

In turn, according to the former U.S. principal deputy director of national intelligence, Western analysts relied too much on cataloguing Russia’s inventory of gadgetry and cyber tools and failed to account for the context, planning, and quality of the forces using them. More fundamentally, Moscow and Western observers alike failed to account for the specific ways in which advanced technology would assist in taking, retaking, or holding territory. The hard truth, immutable since before the Trojans, is that doing so is an unavoidably human endeavor.

Much of my professional research has been dedicated to understanding how Russian leaders think about conflict in cyberspace. Drawing distorted lessons from the U.S. military’s performance in the 1990s, Moscow’s warfighting doctrines link technology and psychology together in tenuous ways, with its goals often bordering on pseudoscientific mind control.

For example, the Soviet theory of “reflexive control” aimed to induce adversaries into self-defeating behaviors by carefully placing “information packets” into various media channels. Psychological factors gradually dislodged even troops and materiel as the focal points of Russian military theorizing. Moreover, enemy forces were gradually replaced as the ultimate target; the digital age prompted an unending struggle over the perceptions of entire societies.

In Ukraine, this has led Moscow to dedicate many of its high-tech capabilities, particularly cyber operations, less toward beating the Ukrainian armed forces and more toward immiserating Ukraine’s civilian population. Predictably, that strategy has yielded little territorial gain over the past year. Since at least 2014, the Russian military and intelligence services have attempted to sow havoc with cyberattacks in Ukraine, including those designed to cut off heat and electricity, as well as Internet and mobile connectivity.

But what Moscow discounts is that its victims also get a vote: to rally round the flag, as Ukrainians have, rather than become demoralized. However costly and disruptive the cyberattacks may have proved, as part of a broader project to subjugate its neighbor politically and geographically, Moscow’s so-called information war has been a failure.

Kyiv, for its part, has employed several novel technological approaches to beating back Russian invaders since early 2022. It democratized battlefield intelligence collection, enabling Ukrainian citizens to track and report Russian movements, collecting data on factors ranging from materiel to missiles. It galvanized a global volunteer corps working in cyberspace to target Russian organizations. It drew on commercially available communications and software to make an expansive arsenal of autonomous vehicles and drones increasingly lethal by air and sea.

Ukraine’s technological ingenuity in this war will be the subject of study for generations. By comparison, and notwithstanding these feats, the Ukrainian military is both exhausted and stretched thin. More concerted focus on a strategy to demobilize long-serving troops, and to conscript and train new ones to replace them, is critically overdue.

With both sides now scrambling to acquire and produce lower-cost, more expendable unmanned aerial vehicles—while simultaneously racing to improve their own electronic jamming capabilities—the near-term future of technology in this war could be characterized as innovation in service of attrition. Russia is drawing upon friends in Beijing and Tehran to augment its arsenal of unmanned vehicles, while Ukraine has become a hotbed for Western defense and technology firms fielding drone warfare capabilities.

But had it been possible for either party in this war to achieve real battlefield progress from a safe remove through such high-tech tools and intelligence-gathering alone, conventional counteroffensives would not have been necessary in the first place. An influx of more tech into the war may therefore provide each side more distance from, and better insight into, the other’s troop movements. It is unlikely, however, to dislodge or drive them back—and may even risk Ukrainian forces getting goaded into costly battles, like that for the city of Bakhmut, that do little to change the status quo.

That said, modeling itself after Western militaries may also not be Kyiv’s best bet for this conflict, not least the uniquely U.S. impulse to quantify all aspects of war into a digital problem to be solved through computation. Since U.S. Army Gen. William Westmoreland predicted the rise of automated warfare from Vietnam in 1969, the technologically enabled, supposedly “easier war” has always seemed imminent in theory, but somehow elusive in practice.

As political scientist Stephanie Carvin writes, science and technology have “delivered some of the fastest ground invasions in the history of warfare, but have not been able to solve the difficult and complex” problems that inevitably follow. Focus on what Carvin calls the “shiny objects” themselves—like drones, cyber, and AI—often distracts from addressing how they might be integrated and adopted in service of concrete goals.

None of this is to suggest that Kyiv’s motivations are anything other than existential. Given the headwinds that it faces, the Ukrainian military must doubtlessly maximize every possible advantage it can find. Particularly amid intensifying shell- hunger, Kyiv urgently needs inexpensive and rapidly scalable ways to minimize casualties on the front lines and keep Russian forces at bay.

However, if Ukraine’s ultimate goal is to eject the occupying forces from its territory, there is reason to be cautious of a techno-solutionist approach, particularly one isolated from the broader organizational context of the Ukrainian military.

An escalating arms race between Ukrainian drones and Russian electronic warfare may capture the imagination—and capital—of futurists, but it must not become conceptually untethered from the demands of combined arms in land wars past. While tactical systems such as drones can deny mobility at the front lines, they are far less likely to enable it. They are certainly no substitute for recruiting, training, and equipping a capable fighting force over the longer term. Doing so will demand hard decisions from Kyiv and its Western backers—particularly European capitals—none of whom should harbor, nor cultivate, any illusions about a technological panacea.

No amount of technological wizardry can substitute for the arms, equipment, and training that the United States and a handful of allies can exclusively provide—nor for the personnel that Kyiv must recruit and mobilize. And if Kyiv fails to do so, the result may turn out to be less the “future of war” and more the marketing of stalemate.

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