Never Leave a Fallen Comrade, or Yet Another Reason America is the Greatest Country in the World. -A Rant by Padre0875

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Never Leave a Fallen Comrade, or Yet Another Reason America is the Greatest Country in the World. -A Rant by Padre0875

News broke on Sunday morning that the US had rescued an American pilot who was shot down during combat operations in Iran. (Seriously, God? Shot down on Good Friday, brought out alive on Easter Sunday morning? You need a better editor. No one is going to believe that.) I’m glad he’s home and that we got him out.

But, there are a ton of hot takes from liberals and foreigners online about how America lost and destroyed a bunch of equipment during the rescue operations. “Is it worth the millions of dollars of equipment just to get him out? You lost two C-130s and an A-10.”

First, I know that looks like a lot. That’s probably your entire air force! But also, by even asking that question, you show you know nothing about America and its values. America, from before its birth, has prized human life over treasure.

During World War 2, American aircraft were at a significant disadvantage early in the war compared to the Japanese Zero fighters. The Zero was faster and had a better climb rate. But, those advantages were bought a price. The Zero sacrificed its armor and this made the pilots more vulnerable. The Americans won the war because our pilots would come back and get another aircraft. But, after June 1942, a significant portion of the experienced Japanese carrier pilots were dead and their fleet carriers were at the bottom of the Pacific and those that were left could not compete with the improved American aircraft that were coming. The US had an advantage that it would never lose, though it took three more years for the Japanese to realize this. The US was willing to sacrifice performance to bring its pilots home and that proved decisive in the end.

This is also seen in how the American soldier knows that the US will move heaven and earth to come and find them if they are wounded, captured, or dead. We know that we are valued at a level that foreigners will never understand and that our sacrifices are valued, which means we will fight harder and endure more in return.

The movie (and book) Black Hawk Down is a classic example, but it goes further back. The US launched a punitive expedition on Tunisia in the early 1800s because they were attacking our ships and capturing our sailors. We went to war with the greatest power of the day in 1812 because they were taking our sailors to serve on their ships.

The Son Tay prison raid also shows both of these points. During the Vietnam War, the US found out where the North Vietnamese where holding some of our pilots. So we trained up a raiding force to go in and rescue them. During the early practice runs, the raiders realized that crashlanding a helicopter directly into the compound would significantly increase the likelihood of success, so they wrote off the helicopters as the cost of doing the raid. The leadership chose to sacrifice equipment to make it easier to rescue our people.

No American prisoners were rescued as the Vietnamese had moved them a couple days before, but the raid was regarded a complete success. The compound was destroyed with minimal casualties on the part of the American forces, only a twisted ankle and it led to some critical changes in how the North Vietnamese dealt with American POWs.

The Cabanatuan prison raid in World War 2 is another example. When intelligence told the American Forces in the Philippines in 1945 that the Japanese were going to execute Allied prisoners, they sent Rangers in to rescue them. At the cost of two dead, they were able to rescue over 500 Allied prisoners.

Some people might argue that rescuing pilots in particular is critical because they are elite and important members of society, as well as being highly trained. However, that loyalty to your fellow soldiers transcends ranks. When I was in Afghanistan in the last 00s, every soldier who deployed was given a rescue beacon and basic training in how to signal rescue forces in case you got caught behind enemy lines. We knew that the US would do whatever it took to bring us home.

And it wasn’t just the rescue equipment. We were given high-grade body armor, improved equipment, and the best medical care available if we got injured. We had plans in place to evacuate the wounded to trauma hospitals, then back to the US.

Also, we know that even if we are killed, the US will do whatever is necessary to bring us home or make sure we are not forgotten. Submarines that don’t return home are regarded as “still on patrol” and a message is sent yearly to them, letting them know we haven’t forgotten. The US has entire units dedicated to finding and identifying the remains of those who are MIA. This is how Father Kaupin’s body was identified and brought home for burial.

We have plans in place to bring the dead home from combat theaters. The dead are brought home to their families who are flown out to meet them and senior governmental leadership is there as well, including the President at times. A plane flying a body home has precedence over any aircraft other than Air Force One.

How many times have we seen a military member be brought home for burial in a community that is not their own, perhaps because the family is new to the area and the community shows up because it is an American Soldier? The loyalty of America to its service members is unlimited. (You can make the case that this was not how it was done in Vietnam, but I would argue that this is an exception and the result a foreign occupying belief system that is at odds with America and the sooner it is expunged from our society, the better.)

The loyalty goes both ways. The American soldier and veteran is often the foundation of the community. They believe that they have taken an oath that will never expire- an oath that is not to a person, but to an idea. You might say, USAian-ism. And it is that attitude that is at the base of why the US will spend unlimited amounts of treasure to take back its people.

It is born from the belief that no man is better than another, that no one is better simply because of what family they come from or where they were born. That “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

From its very inception and in its founding documents, America has believed and put into practice that human life has value simply because it is human. It is a gift that we have gotten Judeo-Christianity, that Man was created in the image of God and that that Imago Dei conveys worth in and of itself. And therefore, we will (must, even) sacrifice any amount of treasure to get our people.

Not paying the Danegeld, but going in and taking them back with the skills of the greatest army on earth because we know that once you pay the danegeld, you’ll never be rid of the Dane. If it means sending in a Marine Expeditionary Unit, SEAL Team 6, or some other highly trained unit, if it means sending a multiple waves of close air support or B-52s to provide cover or a distraction, if it means paying whatever price is needed to get our people back, we will do it.

So when you see people mouthing off online about how we lost equipment and questioning why we would go in and get one pilot out? Understand that those who ask these questions are not Americans. Answer them as such.

173 thoughts on “Never Leave a Fallen Comrade, or Yet Another Reason America is the Greatest Country in the World. -A Rant by Padre0875”

  1. Excellent post! Gets to the core of the matter and the difference between us and so many others! Our people are more important than mere equipment!

    Liked by 3 people

  3. “Sir, the planes got bogged down in the sand and we couldn’t get them out. We lost some equipment.”
    “I’m aware. It was worth it.”
    “What do you want us to do?”
    “If it happens again?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Invent antigravity.”
    “What?”
    “Invent antigravity.”
    “Sir…antigravity is impossible.”
    “Son, you have any idea how often this country has done the impossible?”

    Liked by 10 people

  4. Sir, thank you. You have no idea how much I needed to read that.

    Hooah!

    And to the naysayers? This 11B-Mailclerk sends: Golf Foxtrot Yankee.

    ————

    (Been ill. Turned the corner. Won’t quit.)

    Liked by 3 people

      2. I know I am late to the party. Prayers are being offered for those who need them. I do have good news, though. I don’t have lung cancer. I do have pneumonia. Which they can cure. So yay! Inhalers, antibiotics and steroids, oh my!

        I was wondering how I could get lung cancer, but then thought, I lived with a smoker until 1993. Second hand smoke can be deadly.

        Liked by 5 people

        1. Yea on the pneumonia and not cancer.

          Feel better soonest.

          I hear you on the second hand smoke. With the heart journey, when I answered life choice questions: No on smoking, and realistically, alcohol (how do you answer “yes”, but “no” to one a day, one a week, one a month, one a year? When it is, maybe 3 or 4 a year?) is no too. But, I lived with a smoker until age 17 (although mom swears dad smoked more at work than at home, and never in the car with us kids in it. I know better on the latter. He smoked in the cars. Driver window down, partly. But, we all know that is not enough.) Then, like everyone else, had to deal with second hand smoke, everywhere, except your own non-smoking home, and vehicles, until it was publicly banned. So, I made sure they were aware. FWIW I am worse than an ex-smoker on residual smoke smell, let alone smoke itself. Can’t stand it. Can’t tolerate it.

          Do I think second hand smoke is the cause of the heart valve problems? Didn’t help. OTOH having multiple bouts of strep with high fevers, having the *measles, both kinds, rubella, mumps, chicken pox, etc., throughout my childhood, according to the heart team, is more likely the cause.

          (*) No vaxers state that “measles, etc., can’t hurt children that survive it” … Right now? I beg to differ. I wasn’t vaccinated because the vaccines didn’t exist.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Used to smoke, 16 to 22-ish, with some lapses until 30. 2 packs per day at 22, though.

            Made a deal with my wife I would give her the same amount of money I spent on cigarettes, thus doubling my price. Used to be $3.50/carton in grocery stores, never had access to Navy Exchange 25-centers. (Why yes, the retreating glaciers were still visible at the time.)

            Real sacrifice was giving up bars. Just had impossible to extinguish connection to a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

            Oh, well. Drinking at home has long proved less expensive, and kept me off the smokes.

            Went from CA to IN to visit our son in college; IN still had smoking in restaurants, and it was just too much.

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            1. Dad quit smoking at age 50, in 1986. A near-death experience will do that. Okay, he quit buying in 1986. We, the “children” are just now finding out that someone was sneaking him smokes that he would use hiding it from mom. Why are we just finding out now, 40+ years, 17 years after dad died? Because mom is 91, she is forgetting what she hid from her adult children.

              Didn’t find out inlaws had smoked until hubby and I had been married 8 years. A near-death experience of MIL. Didn’t know FIL had smoked until he died, two years later. Heck hubby didn’t know they’d ever smoked because they’d quit 1951, before he was born. The hiding things from adult children happened here too. Difference was FIL died before MIL, and then we learned directly of MIL’s personality changes, or rather hubby, his siblings and spouses did, and me peripherally.

              I was not present after the funeral for 6 weeks while they dealt with their mom (doctors ruled out traveling over the Cascades every weekend). After that, I had a newborn that was my focus, even if I was there every weekend. Eventually we, because of distance, only saw her a few hours once a month (then he got to go play with same age cousin). I was not above picking up a terrified toddler, if one of her rants started, and walking away until he calmed down, and her rant stopped (if they didn’t stop? We left.) So, I missed the worst.

              Dad hadn’t smoked in 22 years before he died. Given his health and causes, it made sense his death certificate mentioned smoking as contributory causes. Inlaws OTOH hadn’t smoked in 40 years by the time they died. Smoking was still mentioned as contributory causes. All 3 were the same age, 73, when each died. Note, if there is even a hint that the deceased ever smoked, the official signing the death certificate will add smoking as a contributory cause.

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            2. My dad stopped smoking in his thirties (from 13) when I was born very premature and they told him he could keep one, the smoking habit or the daughter.
              He quit cold turkey that day.

              Liked by 2 people

              1. Wow; go, Dad!

                See, when a man gets slapped upside his head with wet garum-ingredients, he can get his priorities straight.

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                1. There’s a reason I’m still Daddy’s girl. And I owe him a letter. And we still have to figure out a visit this fall. If we’re not at open war with Europe by then. (And that will be interesting since Portugal sided with the US for once.)

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            3. My grandfather smoked until the day he asked his doctor if he should quit, and the doctor laughed. No need.

              He’d die in six months if he didn’t, and could live two or three years if he did, but the doctor had plenty of patients and didn’t need him.

              He quit

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        2. You don’t have to smoke to get lung cancer.

          That’s what killed my father, and he not only never smoked, but he never lived around smokers.

          The only thing that the perceived close association between lung cancer and smoking does, is prevent doctors from even considering looking for lung cancer in non-smokers, until they’ve eliminated every other possibility (including exotic tropical fungus in people who don’t keep plants and have never traveled to the place the fungi live).

          I’m happy for you that it’s only pneumonia.

          …. which is an odd thing to say about a disease that was generally fatal less than a century ago.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. My maternal grandfather was a lifelong non-smoker, but he died of (complications of) lung cancer.

            However, he was a farmer, and in those days nobody wore respiratory protection when working with farm chemicals. So it was probably from inhaling carcinogens in one or another chemical he worked with.

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          2. The numbers are thus: 85% smokers or exposed to large amounts of significant smoke. Probably another 10% due to “environmental factors” such as radon* or air pollution. And the rough remainder is “we don’t know; you may have gotten a bad genetic hand.”

            Which means that the zebras aren’t unusual enough that they shouldn’t be screened for. Simple chest X-ray to start to rule things out would be sufficient.

            *gotta love the trend for granite countertops

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          3. Mom had uterine cancer, full hysterectomy, and was in remission when she went blind. Optometrist easily found the problem and put her on medication that cleared up the blindness, but he said this type of blindness usually affected black women and diabetic children so he ordered a chest x-ray. Why a chest x-ray, I have no idea, but they found the cancer had returned, in her lungs.

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        4. Had an epiphany this morning. With the exception of her mother, who died when she was 4, my Mom’s entire birth family have had cancer. Father, step mother, two step sisters, a half brother and two full brothers (we just found out about the other uncle). Mom, her step mother and father all died of it. All different kinds, too.

          When including the step sisters and step mother, it can’t be genetic. Downwinders, and her father was a chain smoker.

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  5. it is embarasing and somewhat shocking that we have to explain this. This was once a western value. The fact that it is no longer a shared value to the entire west says volumes on how far the rest of NATO has fallen. It’s time to re evaluate whether or not the nations of Europe are worth saving.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. We could start that process with the Barbary pirates. Every other country was paying the required ransom and we refused. In 1803 Jefferson sent our fledgling navy to shut them down and get our people out.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Leading to what the greatest British admiral of the era called the most daring act of the age, the burning of the USS Philadelphia to prevent her falling into enemy hands (sounds a tad familiar).

        Liked by 8 people

        1. Led by a young Lt. Stephen Decatur, the firing of the Philadelphia was an epic adventure. One that is sadly not taught to school children anymore.

          Liked by 3 people

        2. Another British admiral noted that it takes 3 years to build a ship but 300 years to build a navy. This was when he was urged to abandon efforts to evacuate the army on Crete.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. No King will heed our warnings,

            No Court will pay our claims–

            Our King and Court for their disport

            Do sell the very Thames!

            Those Admirals would be furious….. but I doubt they’d be surprised. They were educated not credentialed.

            Liked by 1 person

      3. We paid until we had built some frigates. Very capable frigates. And oru habit of piling on guns until he timbers groaned helped. The 1812 ones had a new rib design that let them up-gun to “ship of the line” broadsides with frigate speed and maneuverability.

        It is essential to understand the need for the frigates to avoid the humiliation of the ransom.

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    2. It’s no longer a shared value in a plurality of Americans, and it’s been backed up by the effectively implemented legal system. And what I mean by that is don’t point me at a 250 year old scrap of parchment when it’s become routine for people to be prosecuted / sued into bankruptcy for armed self-defense. And that’s just the most obvious example.

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      1. Yes, yes, BUT that’s actually gotten better. That particular example. We’re clawing back from the abominations of FDR which tried to make us like Europe.
        THIS is the least sane time to go blackpilled.

        Liked by 5 people

        1. “the abominations of FDR”

          It’s worth reading some of the summaries (or even direct, original documents) of some of the warm transatlantic love-fests between ‘our’ New Deal crowd and the actual Fascists and NSDAP Socialists in Italy and Germany, respectively. Of course there was a major falling-out later, and the Pearl Harbor (etc.) attacks turned that to unrestricted open war; but the arguments that FDR and his bunch were at least demi-fascists of a particularly American stripe almost make themselves.

          See, for (one) example, Dinesh D’Souza on this.

          Of course, the FDR-as-saint veneration made it very impolite to ever notice such things right out loud, for many years; especially since we won World War II (mostly, see Truman) under his (in the end, though never quite formally) President For Life leadership.

          Take a good close look, for instance, at the National Recovery Act as originally proposed, then compare-and-contrast to “nothing outside the State” etc. Or other similar “features” of that era.

          Today’s Deez are, many of them, frothing-at-the-mouth, howling-at-the-moon crazy. Right and no mistake. But a good objective look at the 30s and early 40s shows a lot of “abominations” too.

          And today we look on them as abominations, call them out as such, loudly and clearly. Today the Second Amendment is a real, active thing, not just “words on parchment” (for instance). Things were not nearly so good as that, once upon a New Dealing time.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Amity Shlaes also described a trip by a bunch of FDR’s people to the USSR, culminating in a visit with Stalin himself.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. If the Republicans hadn’t introduced Presidential term limits after FDR, the left would probably still be trying to foist Obama on us.

            Liked by 3 people

          3. Also odd that the Demonrats’ response to getting their agenda stymied by the Supreme Court is the same now as it was nearly a century ago – Pack It . . . Viz. The Switch in Time to Save Nine.

            Liked by 2 people

        2. One of the great things about being a retired paratrooper, who has been deployed five times to places for which I qualified for Combat Zone Tax Exemption (CZTE)*, is that I don’t blackpill. Those of you who have met me at conventions know that I am one of the most cheerful people you are likely to encounter.

          *To be fair, my 2002 deployment as part of the Multinational Force and Observers (a peacekeeping force in the Sinai Peninsula) required the battalion operations officer to use a cheat code. While mainland Egypt did not qualify for CZTE, the Red Sea did. Our base camp bordered on the Red Sea. Drownproofing is legitimate military training. Guess what? Our monthly training schedule included drownproofing training in the Red Sea.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. “drownproofing” and “monthly” are two words that should never appear in the same sentence. Ugh! On the bright side, I’d imagine you are immune to waterboarding.

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      2. “…don’t point me at a 250 year old scrap of parchment…”

        That scrap of parchment and an attitude is all you’ve got when the rubber meets the road. And I will tell you what, it is a lot more than what I’ve got here in Canada. I’ll be happy to take that scrap of parchment for my own if you don’t want it. I’ve been forced to resort to the Magna Carta.

        Nobody said freedom would come cheap, or that you wouldn’t have to fight for it. The enemy is Karen who lives next door these days and won’t let you defend yourself? Oh well. F- Karen and all the hordes of socialism. Hold that scrap up in the air and dare them to do their worst.

        Or die, pretty much. It’s an easy choice when you get right down to it. When defending yourself is forbidden, the only thing to do is defend yourself a whole lot more until Karen changes her tiny mind.

        Liked by 4 people

        2. I can only conclude that you and several other people are being deliberately obtuse. The enemy isn’t the Karen next door.

          It’s the Soros prosecutor who files charges against you after you shoot the burglar in your bedroom at 2 am. Even if you win, how much self-defense can you afford?

          It’s that same prosecutor who tells Glock it’s selling a defective semi-automatic handgun because someone can modify it to fire full auto…. and after you release a new design, goes after you again for not doing a mandatory recall on existing weapons.

          https://weapongenetics.com/whats-going-on-with-glock/

          It’s the blue legislature that passes and the blue governor that signs a law getting around Bruen…. and rewriting it to start the whole process over. Again, how much self-defense can you afford? And why hasn’t SCOTUS put a stop to it?

          “Shall not be infringed”? Doesn’t seem to be reality, do it? Also, notice how many times the rule of man is involved, not the text.

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          1. who the hell do you think is voting for that? Hint, that would be Karen next door.

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          2. If you fight, you get hit sometimes. Don’t quit over a fat lip or broken nose. Revel in the ability to overcome such and body blow the bastards until you land the haymaker.

            Never quit. Never counsel quit. We win and they lose. Because we wont quit.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. How many times should we get hit before ending the hitter? Even Christ only had two cheeks.

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            2. We’re what Pratchett called “Bottle coveys” you disarm them, and they come at you with a broken bottle. And they WON’T stop coming at you with whatever they can get hands on.
              I read that description and recognized myself. As I think will most people here.

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          3. I think we both took the same weird bounce off Phantom’s line

            The enemy is Karen who lives next door these days and won’t let you defend yourself?

            I took it as a declarative at first, as if he meant that Karen was the primary agent. The question mark clarified it as rhetoric, but not until I’d already reacted to the declarative. We got us a heated agreement here.

            Having that documented Constitution is what supports our crabby, uncooperative attitude about having our rights infringed by Karens both small and great.

            We USAians insist that the Karens play by the rules *and the intent of those rules,* laid out in the Constitution.

            The intent of those rules was to keep Karens from taking control.

            All we monkeys have the Command Bump in our brains — it gives us that instinctive “Hey! Get away from that!” bark when some kid’s about to get Darwin’d.

            Command Bump Activity is probably on its own bell curve, the 2nd and 3rd quintiles being, IMHO, ideal: enough CBA to overcome their reluctance to speak up when needed, and 10% or so whose CBA motivates them to try to get good at keeping things running well.

            The top 40% is the Karen Zone, whose itchy CBs can only be scratched by pushing somebody around. They’re on the boards of HOAs.

            Internet factoid: Cops agree that about 25% of cops shouldn’t be cops. Sounds about right.

            I’d expect that every Karen child thinks about being a cop at one time or another. That Gamma-plus 10% of the CBA curve might be the Goldilocks Zone there.

            The anti-Constitutional lawfare comes from high-end Karens who hit the bigtime and became those lawyers and politicians, with Soros et al helping them along.

            We are blessed by the LORD, to whom the Constitution’s writers turned, to keep and bear our crabby USAian attitudes in their well-regulated state, so that our attitudes about anything continue to make a difference to anyone — especially to Karen.

            Of course Karens hate that.

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        3. “Nobody said freedom would come cheap, or that you wouldn’t have to fight for it.“

          For a long time, for a lot of us growing up in America, it seemed like that almost wasn’t true; as if we’d got it mostly handed to us, and maybe someday we’d join the Army (etc.), and, maybe not.

          But reality has a way of reasserting itself, and now this has. I guess all of us have to come to our own kind of terms with that (because somebody else’s don’t usually work); but it was always and inescapably that way, and these days more obviously so than otherwise.

          “That scrap of parchment and an attitude is all you’ve got” sometimes — and that can be far more than a little. At an absolute minimum, “that scrap of parchment” helps you be sure that what you know is right, really is right, in a way that communicates to others. And can matter practically.

          When Soros-subverted Virginia elected a legislature that talked about passing all sorts of nasty gun grabbing new laws, under Governor Shoepolishonhisface, many counties became “Second Amendment sanctuary counties” — with their sheriffs promising not to enforce any laws out of Richmond that seemed to violate that part of the (Federal) Bill of Rights. There was considerable talk, down to them from the top, how they’d have to anyway; but in the end they didn’t fall in line.

          Now Crown Governor Spamburger and her gang are talking the same talk; the mechanisms for standing on the Second Amendment are likely mostly still in place, and otherwise soon will be. “That scrap of parchment and an attitude” — in action. It won’t vanquish the corruption all by itself, of course, but it’s a start.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. Similar issues have erupted on the Left Coast, with (at last look) Oregon Sheriffs have been successful at telling the state Karens to sod off. (County supes did much the same during Covidiocy, saving a few businesses. Not enough, sadly.)

            OTOH, Washington State is trying to override the voters in such counties, inflicting their chosen pets regardless of the vote. Not familiar with the status, though there seems to be a state constitution violation that the state Supremes are ignoring. My guess is the Feds can get involved.

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            1. To be a bit more clear, if the Washington Sheriff balked, TPTB would install one of theirs. Smells like a civil rights violation as it ignores the state constitution.

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      3. so, what I’m hearing you say is that you don’t give a fuck what the contitution says anymore? We have nothing further to talk about in that case, and may the Gods have mercy on your soul.

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        1. I care a great deal about what the Constitution SAYS. I simply refuse to delude myself that it’s going to be followed.

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          1. Sorry: followed without convincing the Left that we mean it in the only language commies understand.

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          2. If you read the works of St. George Tucker you will learn that ignoring the Constitution has been widespread political practice just about from the moment the ink dried. He wrote in 1803 and documented a whole pile of abuses, and that was long before the Democrats invented “Black Codes” and Woody Wilson started making stuff up out of whole cloth.

            Liked by 3 people

            1. “…never-ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way!”

              -Children can understand the requirements, and the ultimate Victory.

              Ameri-can, not “can’t”.

              Liked by 1 person

      4. IS it routine, or is it actually an outlier such that it becomes news when it happens, and people discuss it and rally around it, rather than simply accepting it as right and proper and unworthy of discussion?

        Liked by 2 people

          1. Only if you disregard the impact of the possibility on exercise. If the 2nd Amendment actually applied, I wouldn’t be paying for self-defense insurance.

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        2. Pretty routine. It flies under the radar mostly. The problem isn’t that it HAPPENS, the problem is that it CAN happen and how it affects the citizens decision to exercise their “inalienable right”.

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      5. How many states have “Constitutional Carry” today, versus 1980?

        Why the heck is the left screaming bloody murder? Because they are losing and know it. In 1850, one new tiny political party said plank one was “abolish slavery”. 15 years later it was done. In 2016, we voted to Make America Great again. In 2026 we just jumped over the moon again, and the real action is the civvy missions.

        We just shifted “cheap oil” to the western hemisphere and awy from the Mideast. . Any Hormuz tolls, say on non-US flagged vessels, works -for- us. In a decade (maybe as little as 2 years!) we can tell the whole wretched Mideast mess to go pound sand. We can smite the madmullahs whenever they annoy us too much, and snuff the leaders responsible in job lots.

        We just demonstrated that there isn’t an enemy Air Defense network on earth that can stop us. The Iranians bought top tier non-US/Allies. It utterly failed. They get lucky, not serious.

        Russia is imploding before our eyes, and China is farting dust someone will call their bet.

        Sure, lots more to do, and the enemies foreign and domestic are not quitting without some serious injuries to inflict. We will deal with that and defeat that.

        Open your eyes, sleepyhead.

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        1. How many states have “Constitutional Carry” today, versus 1980?

          TEXAS has Constitutional Carry according to the law book. Try carrying a weapon and using it for self defense in any of the large metro counties. Bring a king-size stack of bills when you do, because the Harris County DA (Houston), Travis County DA (Austin), Bexar County DA (San Antonio), and several others will be happy to make you spend it. Note that the judges and juries for criminal and civil trials are cut from the same cloth.

          I would expect an infantry type to understand that the map is not the terrain, but here we are.

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          1. Not even a valid metaphor.

            I taught orienteering and land nav. I enabled LTs to navigate.

            It is you thatvis looking in a fart sack for daylight.

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            1. I would hardly expect you to admit it if it were.

              The Constitution is the map; what you can actually do is the territory.

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    3. I say this too much, and it is boring.

      I think the Bavarian, Normandy, Polish, or Cornish man in the street is probably still basically okay.

      The issue is probably a subset of the people who studied theory at a university. They convinced themselves of non-western ideas like Chomsky and critical theory, and have culturally diverged from the host population.

      The spokesmen who are whining represent spokesmen. They don’t speak to the fundamentals.

      I do note that I am also very skeptical of the fundamentals of our ‘alliances’, but the conclusion and one slice of evidence that can lead to that conclusion are separate things.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. We poached all the yeast. 400 years of out-migration and repeated global wars wrecked Europe. I suspect they are no longer capable of functioning as we do. They certainly do not seem to want to function as we do.

        We crushed Europe twice. They may be effectively gelded at this point. Spite or worn out, or both.

        Not sure we can do anything for them, except maybe colonize the wreckage. Once they go Caliphate, we may have no choice. Of course, if they go Caliphate, we may not need to do anything, as they will wreck themselves.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Remember Operation Dynamo.

          If France goes Caliphate, the Force de Frappe will have to be removed.

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        2. There’s still some yeast. I didn’t get here that long ago! I bet you there’s some people dying to become us there. And with the moxie to make it.
          The question is: DO WE NEED THEM? because that’s always the ultimate decision.
          Did you even need me? Probably not. But you might need my kids or eventual grandkids, who knows? And that had to happen with Dan, and he didn’t want to live in Portugal. For which I don’t blame him. I didn’t mind living there, but I’d be fried in oil if I was going to raise children there.

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    4. What I observe of Europe makes me think on the fact that even Christ can’t save people who don’t want to be saved.

      Liked by 2 people

  6. “Why was this ointment wasted (on Jesus)? It could have been sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor!”

    Note that in John, Judas Iscariot is the person asking that question/making that accusation. Telling, isn’t it?

    Liked by 5 people

      1. Oh, yes. John contains several little character studies that appear in no other Gospel. Thomas as Eeyore, for example, when he tells the other disciples they might as well go to Bethany with Jesus because then they can at least die with him.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. “Submarines that don’t return home are regarded as “still on patrol” and a message is sent yearly to them, letting them know we haven’t forgotten.”

    Herein lies the basic difference between socialists and Americans. To a socialist, the value of a human is in their utility, what they can do. If they can no longer contribute to The Plan, whatever that is this week, they are useless eaters and can be cast off.

    To an American, the value of a human is in who they are. This value never diminishes, and therefore it is worth it to send those messages. Because we value them, even though they have passed on beyond us.

    I know which way is my own.

    Liked by 10 people

      1. Somewhat off topic, but it reminds me of a supposed exchange between a local chief in India, and a British officer (during the colonial days). The chief complained about British objections to “suttee” where the wife would be burned with her deceased husband. He pointed out that this was a long standing practice with them and the Brits should not interfere. The officer replied that hanging murderers was a long-standing practice with the Brits and they intended to continue doing so.

        Liked by 4 people

        2. Yes, I was explicitly trimming it down to imply three things.

          One, as you and Paul said, the Napier reference in the context of widows, suttee, and the gallows.

          Two, Phantom’s comment about American custom. Which I did not mean merely in terms of our deployed military, or burial of veterans. I also had in mind a fresh in my heart funeral for a relative, who was most definitely not military or a veteran. It meant a lot to us.

          Three, my butthurt about academia, and academia’s preferences for how to manage things with the American host society. It is a fractal annoyance on my part, and perhaps my thinking is merely confused. I fundamentally prefer American cultural instinct to the subcultural instinct that academics have about over riding the mainstream, and of conforming to foreign scholars, and to international harmonization. I sorta understand the why of academic feeling, but I do not agree.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. I like your use of the term ‘host’ for the American polity. Was that an intentional reference to the environment of a parasitic sub-culture or happy circumstance? Either way, Mazel Tov!

            And I, too, have an antipathy towards ‘harmonizing’ our policies to align more closely with those who falsely consider themselves to be our betters. It would be different if they wanted to harmonize with our liberties, but they aways insist on us harmonizing with their restrictions. 😡

            Liked by 1 person

  10. Seriously, God? Shot down on Good Friday, brought out alive on Easter Sunday morning? You need a better editor. No one is going to believe that.

    Don’t forget that he spent Saturday hiding in a hole in the ground!

    One advantage of being God is that you can use metaphors that any other writer would reject as too on-the-nose!

    Liked by 11 people

  11. As a taxpayer of decades duration, I consider the entire operation a very appropriate use of my tax dollars. Well done to all concerned! Hopefully everyone involved gets more than a warm feeling; suggestions include steak dinners, letters of commendation, appropriate medals, promotions, and two weeks back home (although I’ve been told that the 1939 “Wizard of Oz” is playing at the Sphere in Las Vegas too).

    Liked by 4 people

  12. A few moments from the Black Hawk Down incident will forever stick with me, specifically the shoot-down of SUPER 6-4 and the capture and eventual release Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Michael Durant.

    Firstly: as soon as SUPER 6-4 was shot down, SUPER 6-2 immediately moved into position over the crash site to provide aerial support and sniper cover from above. Upon realizing that there were likely survivors, the three Delta snipers aboard the Blackhawk — Randy Shughart, Gary Gordon, and Brad Halling — requested to be inserted onto the ground to set up a perimeter to hold back the angry, armed mob of Somalis that were quickly surrounding the 6-4 crash site. Command denied their request, citing that they’d be heavily outnumbered and there was no ETA on further ground support. The three snipers continued to request insertion, and were repeatedly denied. Meanwhile, SUPER 6-2 remained on station despite taking heavy fire from the ground. One of the crew chiefs was injured, and Halling had to man the door gun the injured aviator had been crewing. But Shughart and Gordon continued to request to be inserted to set up a perimeter until Command relented.

    We all know how that ended.

    Second: after confirming that Durant had indeed been captured, the US immediately set about trying to locate him and brought in a dignitary (IIRC the former US Ambassador to Somalia) to negotiate his release. Meanwhile, we flew choppers over the areas of Mogadishu where Durant was most likely being held, all of which were militia strongholds full of heavily armed fighters, and equipped the choppers not with weapons, but with loudspeakers that broadcast messages to Durant assuring him that the US had not forgotten him and would not leave him behind. This after four choppers were shot down (besides SUPER 6-1 and 6-2, two other Blackhawks were so badly shot up that they wound up crashing outside Mogadishu as they tried to return to base) and several others so badly damaged by ground fire that they had to be written off.

    Third: The US agreed to meet Mohammad Farrah Aidid’s (the warlord we’d been after) terms for Durant’s release, namely releasing all or most (it’s been a while since I read the book) of the prisoners we’d taken during the UN campaign against him. However, Aidid then began demanding more before we’d release him: cash, arms, etc. Our negotiator told him flat-out that no, that was not the deal. We had kept our end of the bargain and now he either needed to release Durant as promised or we would come back into Mogadishu and get him ourselves. And then further reminded Aidid that the events of 3-4 October was U.S. forces trying to get out of Mogadishu, and what did he think it would look like if we had to come back in looking for our man?

    Aidid read the writing on the wall and immediately relented, releasing Durant without further delay or attempts at “negotiation.”

    Liked by 2 people

  13. “The US was willing to sacrifice performance to bring its pilots home and that proved decisive in the end.”

    True in more ways than one. Look at any list of air-to-air kills from WWII. Erich Hartmann (Germany) was credited with 352. The US ace of aces, Dick Bong, had 40. Bong wasn’t a patch on Hartmann, or Barkhorn, or Juutilainen (Finland), or Nishizawa (Japan)…right?

    Most countries sent their pilots back out for tour after tour until they died. The Americans sent their pilots Stateside after their combat tours to be flight instructors, to teach other pilots how to do the job well and come back home.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. This.

      Shoot, that’s why the Navy and Air Force established TOP GUN and RED FLAG, respectively; so that the best pilot(s) from each squadron could learn the most modern air-to-air tactics and techniques, then go back to their squadrons and teach said tactics & techniques to their squadronmates.

      Actually, now that I think about it, that’s not the only reason TOP GUN and RED FLAG were created: somebody realized that your average fighter pilot’s survival rate was pretty lousy…until/unless they survived ten (IIRC) engagements, at which point their survival rate began increasing dramatically. So the bigwigs decided why not put pilots through ten simulated engagements (hopefully) before they ever saw combat, thus teaching them exactly what they needed to know and letting them build “real-world” experience that would dramatically improve their odds if and when they ever got into a real dogfight?

      And it worked: after those schools were founded, the American Kill/Loss ratio in Vietnam shot up dramatically.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. And flight training for the F15-C* pilots is still ongoing, though the local base involved will switch to the F35 Real Soon Now. (Lost something when the F22 got stopped.)

        We’re on the flight path between the base and their “sandbox”, and it can get a bit busy at times.

        (*) Air-to-air, unlike the F15-E, which is more air to dirt.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Speaking of Vietnam, I recommend Clashes: Air Combat over North Vietnam, 1965-1972 by Marshall Michel III. Discusses those topics in some detail. Other good books I’m reading right now are Jack Broughton’s Thud Ridge and Dan Hampton’s The Hunter-Killers (a history of the Wild Weasel program*).

        I looked up Clashes at Bezostown to get the title right, and I see a book by Dong Sy Hung and Brian Laslie titled Combat in the Sky: Airpower and the Defense of North Vietnam, 1965-1973. It’s the English translation of the history of the air war from the WNPAF perspective. Pretty spendy but I’m-a have to stick a crowbar in my wallet this summer and get a copy.

        *I never served but the history is fascinating. I’m a tabletop gamer among other hobbies and one of my favorite games is The Speed of Heat by JD Webster, who spent many years flying A-7s for a living. I love jet fighters and air-to-air, but I’m also one of those odd ducks who enjoys the fine art of moving mud, especially CAS and especially especially SEAD. I like working through the details of planning, weaponeering, and mission execution. I also like games in which I can run carrier flight decks and do strike planning, etc. Being a pretend fighter ace is cool, but being a pretend airboss is really where it’s at. Like I said, odd duck. :-)

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      3. Ten to survive also applies to gunfights, thus Simmunitions and other force-on- force training. Also Army NTC and MILES gear, etc.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Also the “more power’ feature on some American World War II fighter planes. There was a pin at the upper end of the throttle’s travel, which could be broken easily if you really tried.

      This “unlocked” a higher, ultimate degree of engine output, for real emergencies. It also did such violence (visible or not) to performance and reliability margins that the (huge, complicated, piston) engine had to be stripped out and scrapped (selectively) for parts… basically, just junked.

      Which was more valuable to the war effort, the plane or the pilot? You decide.

      Liked by 2 people

    3. If you lose the pilot, you lose the plane too. It’s not going to fly itself back to base.

      Even if you do manage to retrieve the plane, sending it back up with a green pilot won’t end well. Put a surviving experienced pilot in a new plane and it’s almost like he never got shot down.

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    4. Or we made them test pilots, to put those lessons into the hardware. That was Bong’s job, and he was killed flight testing an early model Lockheed jet fighter, IIRC.

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  14. Hubby and I had a conversation some years ago with a survivor of the battle of Chosin Reservoir from the Korean War. It was an absolutely riveting account of Marines under fire, massively outnumbered, but still determined to fight their way off a frozen reservoir where they were pinned down with zero cover except the bodies of their fallen comrades who they were determined to bring home at all costs.

    He admitted to us that he still got a little teary when he heard a plane flying overhead because it reminded him of when the clouds parted and they could hear “our boys coming to get us”. They never doubted rescue would come. They only question was when the weather would let it happen.

    Liked by 5 people

  15. Speaking of valuing the survival of pilots: an extreme example is the A-10, which has a titanium “bathtub” wrapped around the pilot to protect him from ground fire. I’m not sure what it’s rated for but certainly it will block AK47 fire. The plane can also take amazing amounts of damage and still make it out of enemy airspace (and even all the way back to base). Read the Wikipedia article of pilot Kim Campbell for an impressive example (no hydraulics at all, one engine out, and she still flew it back and landed it safely).

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Many design decisions on the A-10 were “and it can still get home” driven.

      The jet engine placement, on standalone pylons up high, both masks them a bit from ground launched infrared missile seekers and makes physically losing an engine more survivable than if they were enclosed in the fuselage (this was a major problem with the Marine Harriers used in close air support – the hot jet engine on the Harrier is basically center of mass with various hot exhaust vectoring nozzles spaced evenly around it, so it’s a giant “hit me here” to IR missiles). The dual tail surfaces are sized to retail controllability with one blown off. The control surfaces are multiply redundant with mechanical reversion. The wing has in effect two main spars, sized and positioned so a hole blown through the wing that interrupts the load path in one spar won’t cause the wing to fold up or fall off, the other spar carrying the load of normal flight.

      This latter is exactly what happened to Captain Campbell when her plane was hit over Iraq – the aftermath of spar was completely blown through, but the wing stayed on.

      The fact that the A-10 seems to be getting its fourth wind, this time as a coastal maritime attack asset, for a jet designed in the post-Vietnam era, is pretty amazing. Sure the F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 were all designed in that same era, but the actual first “A” model jets in those families are long retired. These are original production run A-10A aircraft still flying today, once again proving able to do the job.

      They really should run a competition for a replacement, but it’s not a sexy supersonic fighter so the USAF just won’t.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. The autocorrupted “aftermath of spar” is actually a fairly good descriptor for Capt. Campbells wing with the big frikken hole through that aft spar post bang.

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      2. I think the A-10 actually has three wing spars, yes, for the reason you mentioned. Capt. Cambell lost a wing spar, a substantial part of the wing cover, an engine, and both hydraulic systems. She flew home and landed using manual reversion, one engine out procedures. That’s all in the flight manual (you can find it on line) but it clearly states that a landing under those conditions should only be attempted in ideal conditions. If I remember right, the issue is very high control forces at approach speeds (translation: you’ve got to be &#*&$# strong to pull it off).

        I have an article from an aviation magazine, decades ago, discussing field repair procedures for the A-10. It mentioned a semi-joking but functional repair procedure: a shot-away control rod can be replaced by a broomstick, held on by hose clamps. “If a broomstick is not available, a length of angle iron may be substituted”.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Note also the main landing gear does not fully retract in flight, so it is possible (absent external stores) to land on the mains with all the normal and emergency systems to put the gear down inoperative.

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      3. The littoral maritime role seems like a good fit for A-10s. If enemy air defenses are effectively suppressed the SeaHogs ought to fare better than my beloved F-105s pressed into service as dive bombers because they had a bunch of ’em and low-altitude penetration delivery of canned sunshine to the ICBM complex at Laputa :-) was no longer on the menu.

        I just finished reading Broughton’s Thud Ridge and I’m rereading Dan Hampton’s The Hunter-Killers; that was one tough war the Air Force fought over North Vietnam. Toughest integrated air defenses anyone ever saw. VNPAF pilots were no match for Americans individually, for the most part, but their doctrines and GCI handling made the most of what they could do.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. And those VNPAF pilots were the beneficiary of the overly restrictive ROE for air engagements. That political paranoia about basically what happened in Korea when USN fighters found themselves up against Soviets by accident led directly to the visual-ID-only ROE in Vietnam, where the air doctrine and technology that drove the fighter designs were all about BVR engagements.

          Now with the horrid reliability of the early Sparrow, different air ROE may not have made any difference, but making Phantoms, planes designed specifically to keep opponents at arms length, instead fight inside phone booths certainly helped those MiG drivers.

          I am encouraged that the JAG corps seems to have been well restrained in the latest air-centered festivities. A welcome change from the long wars in warm sandy places of late.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Absolutely correct about JAG.

            The ROE were definitely unhelpful to the US in Vietnam (no hitting the airfields for the most part, etc.). The VNPAF certainly took advantage of that, but they were also adept (per Broughton) about engaging at altitudes most advantageous to their aircraft, etc.

            Liked by 1 person

        2. The A-10 informal rule seems to be “one tank, one bullet”. Certainly one 30mm round should be ample to take out an Iranian attack speedboat. And the Warthog carries several thousand rounds…

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          1. The GAU-8 30mm autocannon has no provision for single shots. Touch the trigger and you get 8-15 round burst.

            The integral drum magazine holds a maximum of 1,200 rounds. Mission load is usually around 1,140 rounds; seems there can be reliability issues if it’s stuffed completely full.

            That’s enough for about 17 seconds of continuous fire. Which the pilots are instructed not to do because it’s hell on the barrels.

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            1. Right, no single shot mode. What I think the saying means is that one hit is enough to take out a tank. A one pound projectile moving at several thousand feet per second, yes I could believe that.

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    2. the A-10 armor is designed to stop 23mm projectiles and 57mm shell fragments.

      ak-47 (7.62mm) and ak-74 (5.45mm) is just not significant

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        1. Ugh. Sounds like the spud I bought from Trader Joes that had more black rot than potato. (Note to self; the 3/8″ black spot Was A Clue.)

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          2. You could go budget and use regular fish sauce. I watched the How It’s Made segment on fish sauce and it’s as gross as you could want. Modern fermented anchovies. (I still use it to make pad Thai sauce. I just try not to think about the process).

            Liked by 1 person

      1. Not totally on target but I went out yesterday with my hair pinned up and a baseball cap over it and two guys, one young, one old, called me, “Sir.”

        I am not a man, or a potato or a number.

        Liked by 1 person

          1. The young one was a cashier, so he was mostly focused on the merchandise. The old one…well, I’m starting to have trouble saying, “this older guy,” given I hit 71 this month. But he was on a cane and having to have help from his wife to stand, so he wasn’t looking closely either.

            For the rest, as I said I had my hair up and covered by the cap, which also covered the clasp. Plus a loose shirt and no bra. But still.

            Let me add the women in the vicinity corrected the men involved at once.

            Liked by 1 person

  17. The sacred ceremonies of a fundamentally credal nation, enacted according to our deep and abiding secular faith.

    Some of them are done with hot dogs and fireworks. Some of them with pen and paper at the voting booth. Or with clever swift machines, reminding stuffy foreigners of 1776 and 1812.

    Some of them are done with ships and boats, guns and fire control, airplanes and bombs, small arms and squads of men.

    Or flatboats across a frozen river on Christmas Eve. Because “It’s only got with sword and shot, and this the Dutchmen know.”

    Also the Americans; one family under God.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’m a little late, but if someone notices … what’s the source of the “sword and shot” quote?

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  18. Very peripherally on topic, the CCP just purged another politburo member, making three this term, the largest since Mao and the cultural revolution. What puts it vaguely on optic is that Ma Xingru, the now ex politburo member, came up through the aerospace channel and was seen as an up and comer. One has to wonder how much the abject failure of China aerospace tech was involved beyond the paranoia of Xi. Ma made his bones in anerospace tech and was likely the patron of a whole lotta people there. There’s been continual,purges there over the last month or so. Breaks my heart.

    To the confusion of our enemies!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yeah, it’s not clear what’s going on over in China, but a lot of top officials (both civilian and military) have been losing their jobs lately.

      Very puzzling.

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      1. Doesn’t China have a very limited time to act before their population crashes like Wile E. Coyote hitting the bottom of the grand canyon?

        Liked by 2 people

        1. It depends on what you mean by “act”. All three of the East Asian countries are looking at a population crash shortly

          In any case, afaik there’s no particular rhyme or reason to the dismissals, at least to external spectators.

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        2. China’s population crash has already begun and will accelerate from here. South Korea …. Sigh. South Korea is facing something close to extinction. JApan seems to have stabilized a bit, though the decline will continue. The society seems to have adapted to decline.

          as for China acting, if that means invading Taiwan, I expect the time for that is well passed. IF they ever actually seriously considered it. Taiwan is very, very useful to the CCP by giving the people a gringo, something other than the CCP, to hate on. We’re just too far away, and barbarians to boot. Taiwan is right there. Should Taiwan wobble, then China would certainly take advantage but the thing about the Gringo ploy is that you need gringos to make it work.

          The only way I see the CCP actually going after Taiwan would be a real wobble in Taiwan or existential threat to CCP power. I also suspect that Taiwan is watching what drones can do. Everyone is focusing on China drone production, but Taiwan has much better tech and anti drone tech is going to be THE growth industry over the next couple of years, well that and Oil pipelines.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. I saw a report that a group called, “Flaming China,” hacked multiple pentabytes (!) of sensitive info from China’s Tianjin facility. Report implied they were mercenaries.

            I admit, my first thoughts were : Give me an M! Give me an O! Give me an S! Gimme another S! Give me an A! Give me a D!

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Could be, but they put the data up for sale. I would expect a state jacket group to keep very quiet about it, and let the national leadership handle distribution.

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            2. Petabytes, and a petabyte is only one thousand times a terabyte.

              Files from some engineer or scientist’s computer maybe do not scale in value with size as you might expect, and maybe do not become more saleable and valuable the more that one is trying to find a place for.

              My thought was basically ‘insider threat’, because I’m not sure that this makes any economic sense, or serves any goal beyond embarrassing that regime.

              (On the other hand, maybe they thought the AI companies would buy. Maybe PRC is the big supercomputer nation that does not have the pull with the nations where the AI companies live.)

              Super computing facilities are not the computers used for most retail engineering design tasks. As an example, one EE software with a situational use case is about 100k$ a license, and can run on a computer between 1k$ and 10k$ in hardware, at least for two to five years ago HW prices. Probably someone would get terabyte harddrives for that, because the SSDs are cheap, not because the files are big. The bottleneck on those computations is often RAM.

              What are supercomputers used for? Basically, ‘what simulation tasks are still hard, or which still can’t be simplified to omit a ton of data points?’

              Which is a) weird physics b) fluid mechanics c) experimental math. Modeling of nuclear weapons effects is sorta all three.

              The US has national labs, which are still doing a lot of scientific work improving their models, and refining their understanding.

              But, fundamentally, more data on simulating gases at very high temperatures, is mainly really useful to people who already study such gases. If and only if you don’t already have data as good.

              YEs, hypersonics, or nukes, or fusion. But, if I have a fusion powered hypersonic nuclear bomber, I can sell that to the DoD, but I can’t sell that to a Texas oilman. Pumps, on the other hand, are actually things that people make routinely, and sell to a lot of people.

              Common ‘wisdom’ among some US scientists is that PRC scientists are not good, and are mainly copying. So how novel is however many years of supercomputer science by PRC scientists? How good is it?

              If it is not novel, it if is copying US work, but worse, the US federal scientists will probably find the data boring.

              Run through the list of nation states. run through the lists of TOPS500 operators.

              The basic problem is that Europe is fairly interested in fusion research, but it might not have any serious interest in the other topics. Hypersonics and rocket stuff, maybe.

              My major thing about the Israelis, is that I feel that they have been busy, adn might not be interested in potentially making nuclear data so open source.

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          2. Japan is also a frequent target of Beijing directed ire, over the things that happened during WW2. Even when Beijing isn’t using it as part of an international statement, they still frequently rile up the local population against Japan and Japanese things

            As far as Taiwan goes, ironically the KMT is apparently a pro-Beijing political party these days.

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  20. I would suggest that this Iranian War is practice for defending Taiwan. Assuming the GOP are still in control of the federal government whenever China decides to kick it off.

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    1. Maybe the Chicoms can invade with EVs.

      If they cannot, the Iranian war could temporarily or permanently impair the PLA and PLAN folks for that capability.

      Anyway, Trump’s political opponents are totally and for sure only motivated by allowing the Chicom takeover of Taiwanese chip industry.

      (There has been an interesting shift in the TOPs500 open registry of high end super computers since the export controls on high end chips. And someone says that they just exfiltrated a bunch of data from one of the big Chicom military use super computers. )

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I do think that many of Trump’s opponents are PRC simps and symps. Proving that in court is another matter.

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        1. The FBI report on Swalwell’s friend Fang-Fang is apparently getting released soon.

          Swalwell, who is running for California governor, isn’t happy about it.

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      2. Indeed. Given that most high end chips are made by TSMC, the risk to civilization of a PRC conquest of Taiwan is mindboggling.

        What Taiwan really needs is a Swiss style defense, starting with a rifle and a can of ammo in every home.

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      3. Use the Chinese EVs, which are notorious for spontaneously catching fire, as car bombs in Taiwan? 😅

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  21. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » ONE OF MY BLOG READERS AND FRIENDS HAD TO GET SOMETHING OFF HIS CHEST:  Never Leave a Fallen Comra

  22. I’ve got to point out that Grumman Ironworks aircraft weren’t the only way that the US military showed the value of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. The chain of command would actually listen to them and implement changes.

    If Oscar Myers would have been in the IJN, someone would probably have beaten him for his insolence in daring to question his betters about fuel handling on a carrier. (In Japanese Destroyer Captain, IJN ships where the captain forbade physical abuse are notable.) Instead, the damage control officer and captain listened to him and the US Navy got a valuable damage control innovation. The US also would rotate experienced personnel home so that they could teach the new folks based on their experience. That too says volumes about the value that the US placed on personnel. Rather than keeping someone like Jimmy Thach in combat, the Navy sent him home to instruct pilot trainees.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. I think too many of “those kind” have drunk the Kool-aid of Star Trek, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”, but forgot the other part, which was the more important part, “Sometimes the needs of the few or the one, outweigh the needs of the many.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I read the comments.

      “This is why a paper doesn’t make an American.”

      “This is why (collective) you could never be an American.”

      Doesn’t count all the ways the comments hinted at abjective cowardice of those saying “the cost was too high”, one way or another.

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          1. And some of their small units are very, very good. Unfortunately, scaling up against the post WWII French bureaucracy, French leadership traditions (but I repeat myself), and France’s “we love everyone else more than we love our own people and culture” doesn’t seem to work.

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