Posted on 05/09/2022 5:53:17 PM PDT by Lazamataz
Edited on 05/09/2022 6:02:01 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine brings back memories about the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein in 1990. I remember all the discussion in the media leading up to the war about how many soldiers and tanks Iraq had. Friends in school told me that Iraqis would fight like fanatics akin to the Japanese in WWII. They would never surrender, but fight to the death, I remember getting told.
Yet Iraq collapsed like a paper tiger. The ease with which the US utterly crushed the Iraq military no doubt contributed to their later hubris, which led the US to invade Iraq in 2003 with the intention of toppling Saddam Hussein and finding his non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction.
- The best militaries allow lower level commanders the flexibility to innovate.
- Training and uniform activities beats powerful weapons every time.
- Maintenance and logistics is much more important than 'being tough'.
There's more. It's well worth the read.
Well worth the read.
I know some posters here keep saying that Putin’s master plan all along to grab small parts of Ukraine at the cost of thousands of Russian lives and economic damage that will set Russia back by a decade or more, but from where I stand Putin looks like an absolute moron who is the worst thing to happen to Russia since Stalin.
There’s an increasing shortage of young men and old people don’t want to die for their country. Without them, large multi-front war is basically impossible.
I will wager much of the Chinese military is the same. A lot of gadgets but overall a third rate military.
“They would never surrender, but fight to the death, I remember getting told.”
I was told that patriots would fully revolt and take over government if commies stole the election from a duly elected patriotic president.
But truckloads of ballots, all for the clearly unpopular candidate came flooding in at the exact time people from the opposing party were told to go home.
In every single important district.
It’s us. We’re the paper tiger.
The Russians are winning. They are going to control of Donbass, and [probably, the entire coastline.
All the doom-and-gloom numbers about Russian losses are pure fiction, disinformation coming from the Biden regime and Ukrainian government.
Good catch Laz.
Some may have “suspected” but, many of us have known this for many many years. Many of us who served for decades on active duty in a combat unit are well aware of the top-level command structure and piss poor training of Russian troops.
In fact, those of us aware of this were quite alarmed at the Bush and later Obama admins micromanagement of our troops in the WOT. We saw this detached, Uber Top Level micromanagement as a grave mistake if Winning Decisively was an actual goal.
We quickly realized it was not.
Decisive Victory was never their goal. Making them LIKE US was.
When Trump became CinC and reinstated the Decisive Win policy it received pushback by the Perfumed Princes in the Pentagon but, was embraced with relief and gusto by the troops on the ground.
President Trump overruled the Perfume Political Pentagon and ordered a return to Defeat the Enemy philosophy. The result was quick and decisive.
His ordering the dropping of a Vacuum Bomb in Afghanistan’s mountainous cave rich Taliban hideouts was cheered loudly by the troops.
Geek dad, living in Oslo, Norway with passion for UX, Julia programming, science, teaching, reading and writing.
Sounds like an expert. In something.
Even a paper tiger is dangerous when it has nukes...
And beware paper cuts!
A great read
NCOs count
And where are you standing? If you are standing near the NY Times office for your information, like the author of this article, then you should at least admit - just maybe you don't have a clear picture of everything that's happening.
Oh ok. Thanks
Perhaps. But his words about what truly matters in a military organization rings true.
“An army marches on its stomach.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“The amateurs discuss tactics: the professionals discuss logistics.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“You won’t find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics” ~ General Dwight. D. Eisenhower
“Gentlemen, the officer who doesn’t know his communications and supply as well his tactics is totally useless.” ~ General George S. Patton
“The line between disorder and order lies in logistics…” –Sun Tzu
Don’t call an NCO “Sir.” They WORK for a living.
The author failed to highlight the corruption in Russia. On paper they have lots of tanks and artillery. What they really have has been turned to rusting scrap metal by a “formerly” communist system whose officer corps sold everything on the black market that wasn’t welded down and did not maintain what was left. Russia has lots of oil right? Where did all of their fuel go?
NCO’s are critically important.
However, one thing not emphasized enough is how poor the maintenance was on their military equipment. Their combined arms advance as well as their logistics were hampered by both based on what I observed. Broken down armor vehicles and blown tires on trucks.
Preventive maintenance (PM - the bane of troops everywhere) appears to have been very lax or non-existent AND replacement parts and moneys were likely diverted by corruptocrat officers to line their own pockets.
The Russian Federation is no longer supposed to be “communist” but their military did not appear to get the message as many of their problems are very “Soviet-like”.
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