Posted on 04/28/2013 2:13:44 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Built to dominate the enemy in combat, the Army's hulking Abrams tank is proving equally hard to beat in a budget battle...
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Does the Army say no more tanks or does Obama’s people say no more tanks - always a question these days
Or do you thing we can get away with fewer carriers, women in combat, and fewer jets without harm?
Congress knows what they’re doing here... there may or may not be another big foreign tank battle in our immediate future, but these tanks will also be quite handy for putting down Christian insurrection in rural areas of the US. ;-)
“Does the Army say no more tanks or does Obama’s people say no more tanks - always a question these days”
Or do they say the Army doesn’t need them but the KGB...excuse me, the DHS does?
Another corruption exposed while Nero fiddles and the people Facebook and Tweet.
Let’s face it: the days of fleets of aircraft carriers and mass formations of tanks are over. The days of corporate mercenary strike teams and cutting-edge surveillance mechanisms are here. The need for great nation-states is dying and the rule of amoral corporations is rapidly rising.
/Why, yes, I have been a cyberpunk fan for thirty years.
//Why, yes, Gibson was a prophet.
///Take a look around.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima_Army_Tank_Plant
Problem is we are down to a single plant that can produce M1 tanks. Stop production and the ability to make tanks rapidly deteriorates.
I can think of three machines which have totally dominated the battlefield for 30 years. Maybe longer than that.
The M1 Abrams, the F-15 and the Warthog. They are all getting pretty old. I wonder if their successors will be as good.
Wrong.
America is falling because we have sent our industry to China.
China now is the world’s largest exporter.
BRING BACK US INDUSTRY.
Your first sentence may be prophetic. Or maybe not. The same things were said in 1947.
I don’t deny what you are saying. However, exercise your strategic vision; examine the situation with a broader perspective.
The surrender of our industry was intended to enrich the 1%. Weakening the U.S. was an irrelevant consequence of that ultimate aim. The U.S. as an entity has no meaning when profits are measured in the tens of trillions.
The Biggest Money rules, beginning at the local level, and rising to the very top. It’s always been this way.
“Our” industry will soon be relocated to SubSaharan Africa since the slaves in China are getting a little uppity and demanding...rights. Watch and see.
No one needs M1 tanks to maintain order among competing international corporations and the sports-addled sheep they feed off of.
No sorry. Not happening.
What happened to American industry is it was sold. SOLD. To China.
China has a controlling interest, and now owns them. We have a minority interest and only keep that now at China’s decision.
We need to realize giving up control of all our industry was a nearly fatal flaw in American industry.
Bring back industry to America.
Now.
In 1947, we weren’t quite ruled by corporations via their puppets in the White House. Blackwater (or whatever they call themselves these days) is the model for the future.
Mercenaries fight in small, highly-trained strike groups via assasination, not in great armies struggling over geographical objectives. Those days are over.
William Gibson is the prophet here, not Orwell. Technology results in more chaos and less central control. It’s a good thing.
Besides, an M1 tank can be crippled with a cheap rocket the size of my young nephew’s forearm.
No, but when an unsustainable system collapses - the side with the tanks has typically come out on top.
Today, the US is spending more per household, than the average household earns. Much of that is in Gov't handouts. Now, in my daily workings with the Military, you will find no group of individuals more sworn to the upholding of the US Constitution than anywhere on the planet. They are NOT sworn to uphold Congress - they are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, from enemies both foreign and domestic. They have been asked, and many have laid down their lives in defense of this sacred oath.
If/when the system collapses, and there is a coup; it will not be the bureaucrats in Washington who reign.
There is no love between Washington bureaucrats and the leaders in the military - one could argue that there is a level of tolerance and submission due entirely to a dedication to the US Constitution and the principles for which it stands. Our politicians have abandoned these principles for selfish motives of power and money; but the military remains devoted by a bond of integrity, love and honor that few men that have not served can even begin to grasp. I have not served - as a member of the armed services; but I serve these men in my profession and have not a seconds doubt in placing my life, my fortune and my future in their hands.
The modern battle field still has need of tanks; we are fighting an enemy that lives in caves, who uses commercially available tech to deliver his weaponry. Tanks are not obsolete for the battles we fight today, nor the upcoming battles we will likely face in our lifetimes.
Those “enemies” in caves are largely a boogie man, designed to frighten old people and suburban women. They’re dangerous, yes, but not to 99.99999% of the U.S. populace. They mostly exist on television.
A Moslem in the Middle East doesn’t threaten me here in North Carolina because I vacuum under my bed regularly.
Our most serious enemies dwell in skyscrapers, bid for politician’s favors and hold control of the levers of international credit and food supplies.
So, how's the Navy doing these days?
-PJ
Cut government spending. Everywhere. Well, everywhere except where “I” want it.
It’s all crap. Are we still planning on sending them to the Fulda gap?
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