@ArmchairAdml Don’t worry. America will give you Sidewinders again just like you used for 19 of 21 air to air kills in the Falklands.
English
Russell Casse
342 posts
CUTS!!!???
GIF
Sky News@SkyNews
Senior defence officials are meeting this week to find £3.5bn of cuts this year amid calls for increased funding, @samcoatessky exclusively reveals. Get the full story on the latest episode of #PASAA, wherever you get your podcasts 👉 podfollow.com/politics-at-sa…
English
@RepPatHarrigan Too bad we don’t have the legal authority to defend ourselves against drones in the U.S. outside neat little lines on a map that we conveniently publish online for our enemies to see.
English
Ukraine proved that a $500 FPV drone can kill a $4 million vehicle and the crew inside it. Every infantryman, every convoy driver, every forward position is a target now, and the threat doesn't care what your MOS is.
Knowing how to defeat an unmanned system has become as fundamental as knowing how to shoot.
Jake Epstein@byjepstein
Scoop: The US Army surged its largest-ever counter-drone training deployment to the Middle East amid the Iran war, a defense official said. Soldiers are learning to use the American-made Merops system, which has intercepted over 1,000 Shaheds in Ukraine. businessinsider.com/us-army-surged…
English
@wittmer0313 @TerminalLance Easier to count the fingers that hadn’t done an oil check than those that had
English
@RussellCasse4 @TerminalLance I assume you could tell he was the gay one because he was the only one in the barracks who didn’t aggressively touch you sexually.
English
@mx38123 @samsonite771 @RocCityBuilt @ArmchairAdml Not only were they unable to destroy it, but an Iranian resumption of kinetic attacks now would expose them to the threatened attacks which changed their mind about a ceasefire, and would leave no doubt in regional minds about why the regime has to go.
English
@samsonite771 @RocCityBuilt @ArmchairAdml And yet they weren’t able during the conflict for weeks, curious
English
“when the conflict ends”
The strait is blocked now. Irrespective of the reason for the blockage, an international shipping lane that we rely on is being blocked by a hostile state.
We need a plan, along with other allies, to re-open the Strait. That doesn’t mean joining the war against Iran, it means protecting international shipping.
Waiting until the conflict ends just means we’re going to sit and do nothing and wait for the US and Israel to solve it, which they aren’t able to. There is no end in sight, and we can’t wait that long.
Keir Starmer@Keir_Starmer
The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz is deeply damaging. Getting global shipping moving is vital to ease cost of living pressures. The UK has convened more than 40 nations who share our aim to restore freedom of navigation. This week the UK and France will co-host a summit to advance work on a coordinated, independent, multinational plan to safeguard international shipping when the conflict ends.
English
@alarmguy158 @TrentTelenko You don’t understand the IRGC. It is a parasitic organism attached to the Iranian state which has given some people a path to a better financial position within Iran, from access to housing to better FOREX rates.
If this arrangement proves hollow, remaining support collapses.
English
@TrentTelenko Because you don't think like a persian or arab. You think everything is about money. You forget how these people will happily martyr themselves.
The only common element is your fealty to a dear leader.
English
To date, no one has given me a reality based answer to how the Mullah Regime survives hyper-inflation in a war.
Not paying gov't employees for 3-months, nor filling ATM's, for a lack of currency is a double handed financial HEART ATTACK. ⬇️
Imtiaz Mahmood@ImtiazMadmood
The Iranian government has not paid its employees' salaries for 3 months. The banks are not operating and ATMs have no money in them. Companies and factories are not working. The internet is cut off and services are suspended. The Iranian president informed the Revolutionary Guard that the country has only weeks before complete collapse. - @MSAlmalik
English
@naftasux @SaysSimulation He doesn’t have to. He can isolate Iran until even IRGC is using rial notes as kindling. The ceasefire can continue to be extended; if the pipelines are attacked again, that’s a new casus belli. IRGC thought the world economy would collapse if they snapped their fingers. Nope.
English
This shifts the game, but not as much as people think. The Persian Gulf previously exported ~20M barrels a day through the Strait. That's off by 95%, so ~1M a day was still flowing.
The Saudi East-West pipeline moves ~7M per day, and the UAE pipeline to Fujairah moves ~1.5-2M
1/
JD Vance@JDVance
English
@JamesRaxz “Setting conditions for minesweeping” =/= “minesweeping”
English
The Navy having Arleigh Burke destroyers do minesweeping is stupid.
It would be like if the Air Force had B-1B Lancers providing close air support for 20 years, or if the Army had poorly armored Humvees do convoy duty.
Inconceivable!
English
@TomRtweets Yeah we fired all of 2 MK48 ADCAPs
You are retarded
English
China is smiling watching America blow through all of our critical munition stocks.
Max Abrahms@MaxAbrahms
The main takeaway from the Iran war is that American domestic politics is the greatest impediment to US military success. Our military put on a clinic but American constituencies have done everything possible to prevent a win. China is smiling watching America’s pundit imbeciles.
English
@brentdsadler Only Aragchi has a western PhD (UK), and he’s also the only one with a public dissertation. It’s not particularly advanced in thought.
He also wrote a book on negotiation in which he said it was critical to negotiate from a position of strength and national cohesion. Oops
English
I feel even better regarding America’s odds to get a successful deal knowing this now.
Sentletse 🇿🇦🇷🇺🇵🇸🇱🇧@Sentletse
Iran’s delegation to the Islamabad Talks is made up of four men with doctorates: - Dr. Ghalibaf (Speaker of Parliament) - Dr. Araghchi (Foreign Minister) - Dr. Ahmadian (Secretary of the Defense Council) - Dr. Hemmati (Central Bank Governor) The US delegation is made up JD Vance, a failed author, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s gold buddy and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. None of them have the technical range to negotiate complex nuclear issues.
English
@dmbkparker Indeed, I’m working to address some of those head-on as my time permits.
English
@RussellCasse4 First I haven’t seen those so have no idea if it’s true.
Second if that’s the case does it not further my point that if there are combat effectiveness problems then they are way deeper than a specific academic institution?
English
Do we really think a Masters Degree program is the actual cause of any sort of degradation in combat effectiveness?
Is the next step elimination of institutions ROTC programs?
The next generation of military academy cadets will learn economics and engineering from who?
English
@wil_da_beast630 I should’ve said table 13 in NCVS. Fat fingered it.
English
@wil_da_beast630 1. You shared Table 11 but made a claim supported by Table 14; confusing because there are similar-but-different numbers in 11.
2. For 2015-20 US homicides w/white female victims committed by a stranger, 42% were committed by a black male (3.2x population share). Source: EZASHR
English
We...don't. The Black IQ, with the population set at 100 - which is where the white mean/range below comes from - is 91, not "75."
Black people make up 13% of the population, and commit ~15% of Index/felony violent crimes vs whites/Caucasians (BJS-NCVS 2023). Crime is down by about half since the 1980s.
We ALL want vengeance for Iryna. But, this "dissident" stuff is just a lighter-toned version of race hustling.
homans top guy@passcoderonald
We can’t live like this
English
@chrisschmitz @tomysweat1 Article 5 invocation after 9/11 did not result in European troop deployment to Afghanistan. The NATO website on the history of Article 5 does not even contain the word Afghanistan.
Source: NATO. nato.int/en/what-we-do/…
English
People are quick to judge the "strategic blunder" that the Iran war might be.
Here is a little secret: the by far biggest strategical blunder of the Iran war IS already materializing, thats the patronizing attitude of Merz Starmer Macron and others against the US.
OSINTtechnical@Osinttechnical
Trump will discuss the U.S. withdrawing from NATO with Secretary General Rutte today.
English
@Shwag92 I heard this explained in the BORSTAR vs BORTAC context by a friend who ended up in BORSTAR: during BORTAC selection they told him he was tough enough, but he wasn’t mean enough. I’m paraphrasing but it’s a similar concept.
English
With 12 of the 15 minutes remaining, let’s address the elephant in the room.
For those outside these communities, the nuances aren’t always obvious. Many assume CSAR is SOF, or that it should be.
But there’s a reason it isn’t.
It’s been tried… repeatedly.
The incompatibility stems from the very reason SOCOM exists and why the most extraordinary organizations succeed: Culture.
Lt Col Ioannis Koskinas laid this out perfectly in his 2006 CADRE Paper: Black Hats and White Hats: The Effect of Organizational Culture and Institutional Identity on the Twenty-Third Air Force.
It’s a must-read for anyone in CSAR or special operations.
Koskinas uses the “Black Hat / White Hat” metaphor to contrast two proud but very different Air Force tribes:
White Hats (CSAR): Rooted in “That Others May Live.” Altruistic, heroic, life-saving focus. Reactive, dynamic missions in support of the air component, with a humanitarian image that builds access and public support, even in combat.
Black Hats (AFSOC): The quiet professionals. Clandestine, proactive unconventional warfare in direct support of the special operations scheme of maneuver. Missions emphasize direct action and infiltration. Secrecy isn’t just a tactic, it’s core to mission success and survival.
Both share parallel histories: explosive growth during wars (WWII Air Commandos, Korea, Vietnam’s Pave Lows and Jolly Greens), followed by peacetime neglect. AFSOC has done a great job within SOCOM to advocate and break their cycle of resourcing neglect.
That cycle forged resilient, insular subcultures, each with its own identity, risk tolerance, and worldview.
In 1983, the Air Force merged them under the Twenty-Third Air Force (under Military Airlift Command), hoping for synergy through shared helicopters, tankers, training, and post-Desert One lessons. It sounded great on paper.
But deep cultural differences created friction the merger never overcame:
Rescue as the primary purpose (White) vs. rescue as a corollary to direct action (Black). Fighter-pilot-supported effort vs. secretive ground SOF integration.
Hidden agendas and resource competition made it worse.
By 1989, the communities split again.
Koskinas wrote this as a cautionary tale right before the 2003 realignment that placed CSAR under AFSOC (which lasted until 2006, when CSAR returned to ACC). Strong discussions to try it again surfaced in 2017-18, but then-21st CSAF Gen. Goldfein (himself a rescued fighter pilot during Kosovo) kept CSAR in ACC.
Koskinas’ warning still resonates: Ignore tribal cultures and institutional identities in a forced merger, and you get exactly the tension we sometimes see today.
Culture isn’t a side issue. It shapes how units train, fight, promote, and trust one another.
Bottom line: Both communities are legendary for a reason.
CSAR brings selfless life-saving expertise, operating dynamically within CAF formations to gain access and violently bring our own home.
AFSOC brings unmatched clandestine strike and support capability.
“That Others May Live” (TOML) and “Any Time, Any Place.”
The fix isn’t pretending the differences don’t exist. It’s respecting them, understanding the history, and operating with that awareness.
Over EPIC FURY Easter Weekend, both proud and capable communities answered the call, and they delivered.
DUDE 44A is home thanks to an immediate, dynamic CSAR mission executed in daylight through joint, integrated airpower supported by multi-domain effects.
DUDE 44B is home through a hastily planned, SOF-led, violently executed nighttime extraction.
Both survivors are home. No blue force losses.
Respect to both tribes. Different hats. Flying, fighting, winning.
B. McDonald “Shwag”@Shwag92
This is what it’s like when social media and the like become topical experts in your field for 15 minutes. A couple of rules of thumb that will help all the new Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) subject matter experts: 1. Words mean things. Use precise and correct language. 2. USAF Combat Search and Rescue is a mission set focused on by HH-60Ws (Rescue Squadron - RQS), HC-130Js (RQS), Pararescue (PJ)/Combat Rescue Officers (CROs) (RQS), and A-10s (Fighter Squadron - FS). 3. The Airmen who comprise CSAR in point 2 are NOT SOF; they are CAF or Combat Air Force Airmen who are aligned under USAF Air Force Reserve Command, Air National Guard, and Air Combat Command. 4. Yes, USAF Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) as the air component of Special Operations Command does have their own PJs and CROs, but not HHs, HCs, or A-10s. AFSOC PJs and CROs are in Special Tactics Squadrons (STS). STS and RQS are separate and distinct and have different mandates. 5. CAF CSAR focuses on CSAR and can swing role to support or execute other missions. However, the focus is supporting the Combatant Commander and Joint Forces Air Component Commander (JFACC) CAF scheme of maneuver (attack, fighters, bombers, ISR) in projecting airpower through air domain operations. These are the forces who flew the daring DAYTIME immediate dynamic rescue of the F-15E pilot. 6. SOF does special operations in support of their lines of effort. There are plenty of books if you want more data. SOF can, and in this case did, swing role and support a rescue of the WSO. Not their main role or mission, but they have the skill sets and tools to plan and execute it, obviously. 7. The CAF and SOF will often interact, intersect, and one is often in a supportive role to the other (ie the CAF establishes and maintains air superiority, presents bombers and attack effects in support of SOCOM operations etc), and that supporting/supported relationship can be fluid. 8. Regardless of CAF or SOF, for members who project combat power, the intent is to achieve the commander’s intent. Ideally through effective and efficient means; however, the win is achieving the intent. The intent was taking back our own… full stop. The violence and hardware expended doesn’t actually matter. 9. For the new experts in all of this, and apparently the foreign folks who are also new experts and pointing out the loss of a couple of MC-130s (SOF), MH/AH-6 (SOF), a single A-10 (CAF), and obviously the F-15E (CAF): wait until you find out how many aircraft and other hardware we lose in training annually for combat or even the frontline fighters we lose training for air shows. That’s all open source. The losses on this mission to forcibly take back our WSO and not incur any blue service member losses is a win.
English
@RussellCasse4 @MatejRisko And again, they have an internal discussion about who can invoke it and when, so until they get serious enough to have that discussion among themselves we need not bother ourselves to listen to their bluffs.
English
If I am silent for a few days, this is why.
I don’t even want to talk about it publicly, there has never been a greater rift in the trans-Atlantic relations. Not even during Suez.
OSINTtechnical@Osinttechnical
Trump will discuss the U.S. withdrawing from NATO with Secretary General Rutte today.
English
@kmh @MatejRisko If you’ve ever read Article 13, you’d know the U.S. is, uh, pretty relevant to it.
In a discussion about whether, or how, the U.S. withdraws from NATO, the only required party to the mechanics of the conversation is…the U.S.
English
@RussellCasse4 @MatejRisko About other things sure. About an article 13 exit? Nothing at this time since it’s meaningless without resolution of the American domestic issue.
English
@kmh @MatejRisko On the contrary. There’s plenty for Americans to discuss.
English
@RussellCasse4 @MatejRisko Agreed!
So therefore there’s nothing to discuss about your potential withdrawal at this time.
English
@kmh @MatejRisko I completely agree. It’s not anything you know about or have a say in.
English
@RussellCasse4 @MatejRisko Again, that’s an American problem for Americans we don’t need to concern ourselves with until they resolve it on their end.
English