Posted on 08/28/2019 12:56:51 PM PDT by robowombat
US Troops Deprived of Hot Meals, In-Door Toilets as They Train for Possible Conflict With Russia, China 22:02 28.08.2019
Tim Korso
In its latest defence strategy guidelines, Washington outlined Russia and China as two possible adversaries in a real-life conflict and has since been conducting numerous military drills in a bid to prepare for a possible war. US Air Force crewmen were forced to live and train under unusually harsh conditions during their stay at Poland's Powidz Air Base, being cut off from running water, hot meals, and indoor toilets, the media outlet Defence News reported, citing US Colonel Donn Yates, the commander of the 4th Fighter Wing.
Such conditions were imposed on them deliberately, as Yates sought to provide his soldiers with "field"-like experience. According to the media outlet, such "Spartan conditions" are used to prepare soldiers for operations in conflicts with a "near-peer adversary" like Russia or China.
"The more it sucks out here — and you’re eating MREs [Meals Ready-to-Eat] and you’re pooping out in the Porta-John — the higher the morale is. We had people out in Poland sleeping in hammocks and stuff, not because we had to but because I wanted them to feel what it is like to live in the field", Yates said.
The crewmen were also trained in resolving everyday problems, such as maintenance and repairing damaged jets, forcing them to be creative. Namely, members of the 4th Fighter Wing had to cut their request for F-15 spare parts in half after finding several solutions to optimise repairs.
The latest US National Defence Strategy, adopted last year, named China and Russia as the two most probable adversaries with whom Washington could fight a war in the future. The White House specifically exploited the idea of potential "Russian aggression" to boost its military presence and conduct regular drills in Europe.
Moscow, in turn, has repeatedly called on Washington to instead establish constructive dialogue and mend relations, as well as slammed some recent US initiatives, such as its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, as harmful for global stability.
If we get into a real war, we are going to be shocked how ill prepared we are.
This is nothing new. It is not news. Come on think about it. In battle your going to say to the enemy “sorry I got to take a potty break”. Get real.
We fly boys can do without the sauna but ya best have that air conditioning running!
“Cat holes and lucky to have 20 year old C rations.”
Lucked out never finding Lucky Strike Green in a B-Unit.
Folded e-tool was a great “field-expedient” throne. On a good day, the liner from a case of C-Rats was also useful. Positive side of C-rats was never having to worry about the trots. Ahhhhh, the good times of humping on two C-Rats per day. Jenny Craig could learn a thing or two not to mention some take on Joy of Cooking.
Semper Fi!
We stopped at March AFB while coming back from a deployment to NTC (National Training Center at Ft Irwin) years ago. We had to wait a couple of nights for airlift. We were staying in the TDY Quarters while the Army was using cots on the flightline - by choice, since there were lots of rooms available.
The NCOIC of my TACP was talking to the brigade commander (US Air Force TSgt to US Army Colonel for those not familiar with the military).
“I had to tell my guys to be careful about drinking the booze in the fridges. You can run up a big bill fast.”, my NCOIC said.
The Colonel stared at him. “I didn’t have a stocked refrigerator until I was an O-6!”, he said.
“And THAT is why I volunteered for the Air Force!”, my NCOIC replied.
I’m a good Baptist boy and didn’t drink the booze. But they weren’t exactly giving away the Diet Coke either...
But really? I logged years worth of time in tents at PSAB. They did have shower tents, although we once got down to one working shower for 5,000 people. They eventually had hard billets, but a fellow isn’t tired if he can’t sleep in the back of a HUMVEE.
And yes, there is a reason my youngest daughter is now in the Air Force, to include the advice she got from my son (US Army) and my oldest daughter (USMC).
“Last time I checked, War is Hell.”
I did 25 years in the US Air Force. We believed War is Heck, and best done in small amounts.
Imagine a government bureaucrat trying to come up with K Rations.
The earliest ones were all dehydrated like that pork patty thing that sometimes appeared in C rations. Except every damned thing in it was dehydrated and largely inedible without water from your canteen.
So your out in some mosquito infested jungle sweating your ass off trying to nurse the water you are carrying...and to eat you need a good amount of water from one of your canteens to reconstitute your food from a dry powdery block.
After the First Gulf war they improved and made chicken ala king and rice dishes and stuff that was moist. But the first ones fully earned the scorn with which they are referred to.
I was involved in communications so I strung a lot of telephone wire. We'd unroll miles of wire off of spools to hook up to a utility pole on a main road.
As for MREs, I will always remember the chicken loaf MRE. I seemed to get that one most of the time.
LoL, my favorite TDY was to Darwin RAAF, a tent city but steak everyday for dinner. At the end some of us got to move to a casino for a few days after everyone else left.
TUSLOG Det 67.
Add no electricity.
1978.
BFD.
5.56mm
Walking the Cak...I was there in 78-79. Lovely place with lots to do...lol.
We probably missed each other by days.
“Walking the Cak.”
Yep.
5.56mm
USAFE had a handy dandy handbook for the Air Force guys stationed with the Army divisions, telling them to sew little nametags in their underware, how to get a shower at a Schwimmbad, reminding them to file a TDY voucher when they went to a meeting in Frankfurt, and how to be comfortable in the field. Most of all, they were told that they were serving a hardship tour.
The good news is that these days, the Air Force is with the Army in every fight and it makes a difference. Life is hard in the desert, but making fun of the USAF keeps it real.
My family has Air Force, Army & Marines. And my youngest was in Navy JrROTC - before enlisting in the Air Force. Makes for lots of insults at Thanksgiving, but that is OK.
My ribbons include an Army Commendation Medal and (oddly) a Navy Sea Service ribbon - although I was never at sea. But the land-based Navy squadrons got them too because otherwise it would look bad on their records for the Navy guys and the Navy gave them to us embedded Air Force guys too.
No “joint service” time though...
This story is so ridiculous, I can’t think of a comment except maybe this is what you get when you allow LGBTs in the military...
“...Lucked out never finding Lucky Strike Green in a B-Unit...”
I did in Vietnam...I lit one up and it sizzled and crackled like a sparkler it was so dry...LOL
We as a nation have become fat and lazy. Even our finest institutions have been polluted and marginalized by Affirmative Action and low expectations. Too many people don't think for themselves and have been taught that patriotism is obsolete and wrong. I can't imagine that most of the US population would have the will or the skills to be the victors in a war against populations which have coped with hardship.
That's uncool. Sailors who spend months at sea in a metal box, earn those ribbons. My big gripe is the National Service ribbon that is awarded to anyone if the US has a conflict somewhere in the world.
I served from '75 - '87 (cold war) and wasn't able to wear one. Yes, it's just a pointless "geedunk" ribbon given right out of basic nowadays, but always thought it unfair. I'm pretty sure I served my Nation with all those hours on the flight deck. Waaaa.
I'd trade you for the dry baloney sandwich on the flight deck at zero dark thirty. I'm talking stale slices of bread with one piece of baloney and nothing else. I've had MRE's - not so bad.
They improved a lot after the Gulf War, for which they couldn’t manufacture enough so we got bulk groceries from Malaysia.
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