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A little DoD-centric news - and a picture link.

By The Armorer on April 5, 2005 | | Comments (22)

While the troops are still re-enlisting (though not in the numbers we need), things are still looking tough on the initial enlistment front, resulting in new recruitment TTPs (tactics, techniques, procedures) that have some cyring foul (the Usual Suspects).

Meanwhile - others want to make it even more difficult to "meet mission" in recruiter parlance. Or open up a can of worms that will be more vitriolic than the Terri Schiavo brou-ha-ha. The Armorer's official position is still - we don't need no steenking badges Draft!

After all the negative publicity about the Stryker last week - a *user* speaks up for the vehicle. I have to tread a careful line here, given what I do - but my take is that no system developed has ever been perfect. Period. And very few have performed all the way to spec during their combat debuts. And systems produced under wartime pressure tend to have even greater teething problems... but the pressure of operations also dramtically focusses everybody and shortens the feedback look immensely. In other words - yeah, it ain't perfect, it never was going to be - and the issue is, are we ignoring the problems. I say no, we aren't, in aggregate, though I'm sure there are people out there with pet peeves who can point out how things are going the way *they* think they should. And may be right - but we have to take a holistic look at the whole thing... and then keep 'em (the decision makers) uncomfortable!

And again I say to you few out there who still think this generation is a bunch of whimps - nope.

This is hard on the Maupins and I hope they get their wish, I really do - but the fact that they are the only family in this war, along with Scott Speicher's family from the Gulf War to be in this position is a vast improvement over previous conflicts.

Zarqawi's repeated attempts to break his homeboys out of Abu Ghraib indicates to me he's got a recruiting problem.

I'm still thinking BG Karpinski is dealing with this badly, but given the legal maneuverings and political overtones, perhaps she has little choice. I like to think if something like that had happened on my watch - after I had done my bit to make sure my subordinates who failed paid an appropriate price, I'd have then taken my lumps and retired to nurse my shame. Sorry General, no sympathy here in Castle Argghhhh! (speaking only for the Armorer - I'll leave the Instapilot and Rotorhead to speak as they wish).

If you have access to the Early Bird - read Ralph Peter's AFJ piece. If you don't understand the above - never mind. If you are behind a .gov or .mil firewall or have AKO access and don't know how to get to the Early Bird (DoD's news clipping service) - drop me a line. Army retirees - you can't get there through the public portal, but you can via AKO. Other services - you probably can through your service's equivalent web portal.

That oughta cover it for today!

I was wrong. We needa gun pic. So here, the Castle's Armorer Training Cut-aways of SMLE rifles - and the Headsman's Axe, and the Hammer of Correction (aka Big Cluebat).


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22 Comments

By Cricket on April 5, 2005 10:11 AM
Sorry, I agree with you about BG Karpinski. 'nuff said on that. So, Al Zarqawi is having a hard time with personnel? Wonder what would happen if they were true volunteers instead of brainwashed, horny, starving teenagers who were coerced into fighting and flee at the first chance they get? Hm.
 
By Walter E. Wallis on April 5, 2005 10:14 AM
My old Regiment, the 23rd Infantry, is one of the Stryker units. From what I can see, as with any equipment, the mission is the measure. We learned early on that armor needs infantry to control the pop-ups. This makes house to house a poor job for armor, and a lousy job for anyone.
 
By John of Argghhh!!! on April 5, 2005 10:25 AM
Of course, Cricket - there are those who would say that description fits our troops...
 
By R Jewell on April 5, 2005 10:32 AM
Concerning Matt Maupin: It was broadcast locally in Cincinnati yesterday that Matt has received another promotion. The Batavia Ohio Soldier has been promoted to Sgt with an effective date of 1 April 05 by the Illinois Guard unit with which he was deployed. He is now Sgt Matt Maupin, MIA.
 
By CDR Salamander on April 5, 2005 10:53 AM
Great pick on the Ralph Peters article. A must read. The of his points that broke out from the background noise (all his points are valid, most of his opinions are on target-Did I say that?). 1. Mass is back. Calculating how cheaply military operations can be conducted simply makes them less likely to succeed. ... OSD's first loyalties appear to be to the defense industry, rather than to our national defense. 2. Punitive expeditions. Forget the self-imposed rule that "if you break it, you own it." ... some (think Somalia) will be so fundamentally hostile to our values that we can only punish them and leave.
 
By Justthisguy on April 5, 2005 11:07 AM
On that Stryker thing; from my own naive POV, the most obvious vulnerability is the dang' *tires*! Has anyone, up to now, invented a pneumatic tire which still works after having been shot up? Maybe we need skeleton wire tires, like the ones on the Lunar Rovers?
 
By Sangerm on April 5, 2005 11:58 AM
Though the Stryker artical is positive, I am filled with no small amount of doubt about the system. In fact, the article makes me wonder even more if it's a good thing. Why? Because that was a DoD APPROVED msg, coming from a guy who has more than a little vested interest in talking up the Stryker. If he didn't, he wouldn't be in charge. MICHAEL E. KURILLA Lieutenant Colonel 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment Stryker Brigade Combat Team Mosul, Iraq And lest I be accused or pure contrarianism, here's the rub: I spent far too long in the Army to place a great deal of faith in the party-line public-relations words of a Bn Commander in a high--vis, politically charged job, especially when that Bn Cdr is working for a man who it is rumored makes life real unpleasant for those who disagree with him... Frankly, I'd beleive it a lot more if I heard how great the system is from a senior NCO, enlisted soldiers, a SGM, a WO, or one of the junior, isn't-ever-going-to-make-LTC officers. Certainly, Kurilla may be telling the unvarnished truth, but I'd like to hear from others. Cynical? Yep. Justified. Damn right. We were, after all, talking about the Osprey Last night, weren't we? And by the way, it may be better than a Hummer, but that doesn't make it better than a Bradley, which I have been reading and hearing regularly is what people prefer over there (along with TANKS). And finally, 'cause I know who I'm talking to here, I am not coming down on Officers Vs. Enlisted or NCOs. That is not the issue. The issue for me is that this is the guy in charge, whose career is going to hinge on how well he does in Iraq, and what he says about the SecDef's SUPER-MAJOR PET PROJECT. Not an "O" issue, but a Self-licking-ice-cream-cone issue. ~SangerM
 
By John of Argghhh!!! on April 5, 2005 12:03 PM
Of course, if I wrote everything I *think* about things... all y'all would be reduced to "dittoes" more often than not. I gotta leave some room for you guys to splash in the pool...
 
By SangerM on April 5, 2005 12:06 PM
ok *spish* *splash* :-]
 
By John of Argghhh!!! on April 5, 2005 12:26 PM
In your case Sergeant, any water across that carcass produces a noticeable olfactory improvement.
 
By AFSister on April 5, 2005 1:15 PM
Thanks for the link to the Maupin article, John. They live so close to me....it breaks my heart. I still have to go back and read the rest of the links...
 
By Heartless Libertarian on April 5, 2005 2:10 PM
JTG-I used to be assigned to the other Stryker brigade. I've personally seen Strykers rolling around the Ft Irwin desert with 2 and 3 tires shredded by rocks. And I've read more than one account of Strykers hit by multiple RPGs, with up to 7 shredded tires, hauling their crews back to base. A Stryker will take the loss of a tire better than a Bradley will take the loss of a track. For more on the Stryker, see this and this. Final trivia bit: LTC Kurilla's battalion, 1-24 IN (Deuce Four) is the battalion to which the late SGT Adam Plumendore, of Kim du Toit's Walter-Adam Fund, belonged.
 
By mudpuppy1975 on April 5, 2005 10:37 PM
The Stryker issue reminds me of the hack job the MSM did with the M1, M2/3, and AH64. Not much has changed
 
By Oldloadr on April 6, 2005 1:58 AM
I may be just an old retired AF Bomb Loader, but I have spent the last 17 months working here, so I would like to offer a couple of observations from Iraq concerning tracks vs. wheels: 1. The bad guys' favorite IED (Improvised Explosive Device) raw material is a 155mm HE (high explosive) projectile. Of course, if they can't get that, any large artilery round will do. The point is any vehicle that takes a direct hit, isn't going anywhere, regardless of tracks vice wheels. However, I have seen guys walk away from such attacks, when they were in armored up vehicles, even up-armored SUV's. So, in essence, we're going to write off the vehicle, in any case, but probably save the crew. 2. That said, there is no real up-side to tracks in this environment. The downside is the track vehicles are doing almost as much damage to the highway infrastructure as the insurgents. Since this is a counter-insurgency operation, that is not good, as it impedes both economic developement and timely arrival of QRFs (quick reaction force) to ambush points.
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 6, 2005 6:34 AM
OldLoader - Now there's some analysis we don't see much of and need more of - thanks!
 
By Heartless Libertarian on April 6, 2005 7:16 AM
I think the number of Strykers that have been total losses is in single digits. Some have had to go all the way back to CONUS for repair, but very few have been totalled. The ones that were probably burned. This probably applies to Brads and tanks as well. And damage to the roads is one of the reasons the Army wanted the Strykers in Iraq. Also, running tracks on pavement means the tracks wear out faster, too. Running convoy escort with Brads is very tough on the Bradleys. Strykers are better suited for that role. I personally think a U.S. verson of the LAV-III-upgraded for electronics compantibility, add FBCB2, etc-would be a great addition for the Stryker units, to be used instead of the 105mm gun equipped versions they still haven't gotten. The 25mm Bushmaster I think would be much more useful than the TOW versions they're currently using.
 
By Sangerm on April 6, 2005 11:01 AM
Well, now all of that speaks LOADS more to me than the paper-glossy version. Thanks all for the update. It seems the Stryker may actually be doing as well as advertised. I just wish it were possible to get the skinny straight from the horses mouths. Even so, this is a good alternative...
 
By John of Argghhh!!! on April 6, 2005 11:05 AM
Yeah, this is the *other* end. Figgered I might as well say it before someone else did...
 
By SangerM on April 6, 2005 2:57 PM
I sure wish I'd thunk a that before you did. Damn.
 
By SangerM on April 6, 2005 2:59 PM
And BTW, I was think parallel information tracks, not terminal points....
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on April 7, 2005 2:11 PM
In Eritria, we "lost" 8-10 Bisons and LAVs to mine incidents during the six months there. Most vehicles self recovered, or drove back to meet the dispatched wrecker. One LAV drove over two AT mines, losing both front wheels. That one went back to the factory with a cracked hull, the remainder were repaired by the bn veh techs. Throughout, we had no deaths and no serious injuries; in the last example, I think one soldier broke his wrist, and the driver was rather "shook up". I do not think the Bn CO quoted was "gilding his lily". Cheers JMH
 
By John of Argghhh!!! on April 7, 2005 2:15 PM
Arrr, I *want* to snark this, John, but I can't. Sigh. Kinder, gentler carp really did sink in...