Iranian gunboats

[xsubsailor]

 All I can say is, "It's about time !!"

President Trump said Wednesday that he's instructed the U.S. Navy to "shoot down and destroy" any Iranian gunboats harassing American ships, in the wake of a tense encounter in the Persian Gulf. 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-hes-instructed-navy-to-destroy-any-iranian-gunboats-harassing-us-ships

[E4 No More]

I said the same thing when I saw it.

[DaveTN]

Having served on one of those ships, I’ve often wondered what they think they are going to do? Do they think they are going to board one of those ships?

I don’t have a problem with shooting criminals, but the criminal huggers back home in the U.S. will go nuts get excited.

[TomInMN]

38 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

Having served on one of those ships, I’ve often wondered what they think they are going to do? Do they think they are going to board one of those ships?

I don’t have a problem with shooting criminals, but the criminal huggers back home in the U.S. will go nuts get excited.

It might be a matter of making the sailors wonder if this boat zooming out is the boat with the True Believers and a payload of HE... Big hole at the waterline will ruin your day.

[Johnny Rotten]

1 hour ago, TomInMN said:

It might be a matter of making the sailors wonder if this boat zooming out is the boat with the True Believers and a payload of HE... Big hole at the waterline will ruin your day.

Nothing CIWS or a couple A-10's can't fix.

[peejman]

I wonder why the POTUS has to say that at all. Why don't the theater commanders have the authority?  

[Defender]

Unreasonable rules of engagement have long plagued our military, especially in that theater.  Look at the Cole.  About time, the restraints are lifted a little.

[E4 No More]

9 minutes ago, Defender said:

Unreasonable rules of engagement have long plagued our military, especially in that theater.  Look at the Cole.  About time, the restraints are lifted a little.

I go back even further to Reagan and the Beirut Bombing with our Marines walking about with unloaded weapons and afraid to fire on a truck that runs a checkpoint.

[Chucktshoes]

I firmly believe that we lost our way when we decided that the military was a vehicle for peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. I don’t believe it to be a proper application of military force. 

[E4 No More]

1 minute ago, Chucktshoes said:

I firmly believe that we lost our way when we decided that the military was a vehicle for peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. I don’t believe it to be a proper application of military force. 

Amen, brother!

[DaveTN]

26 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

I firmly believe that we lost our way when we decided that the military was a vehicle for peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. I don’t believe it to be a proper application of military force. 

I agree. If we have armed conflicts, we need to either have war declared or leave.

The rules of engagement should be, if you engage the enemy they surrender, or you shoot them.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again.  War should be a brutal nasty hell that no one wants to get involved in. If we take fire from somewhere, during a war, we should kill every living thing in the area. Our troops or our citizens should never be unnecessarily put at risk to keep from killing the enemy.

“Smart Bombs” and all that BS is ridiculous. They imply that innocent people can be spared, which is ridiculous in war.

If our ships are where they are allowed to be…sink those boats. If our ships are in Iranian waters; we need to get out of there or declare war.

[Danger Rane]

1 hour ago, peejman said:

I wonder why the POTUS has to say that at all. Why don't the theater commanders have the authority?  

It’s not necessarily a matter of the commanders not having the authority as much as it is the commanders being pussies and not wanting to risk anything jeopardizing their retirements. Now that POTUS has said it he’s hopefully set the tone for them to actually do it. They’ll only need to obliterate 1 or 2 to make the point.

 Can’t tell you how many FOBs I’ve been on downrange where the base or individual unit commanders were not letting their troops carry ammo, or if they did carry it, it was separate from the weapon system. I saw one entire infantry unit, that most here would recognize the name of because of their awesome history in wars past, that had their magazines 100mph taped to their butt-stocks. They could only put magazines in there weapons if/when they took a turn at perimeter security, and even then they could not chamber a round. They didn’t use the mag taped to their buttstock... the outgoing security element would hand a magazine marked “guard duty” to the oncoming security shift. It was incredibly demoralizing to the troops that had signed up for and trained to be badasses that their commanders would not even trust them to have their weapons loaded while in a combat zone. I felt pretty bad for them, and you can’t be surprised when most get out after one enlistment or try to make the jump to a SOF unit.

It’s amazing that most civilians make it through their life without a DUI, or raping someone, or robbing a bank.... these are literally the topics that unit commanders feel the need to spend hours lecturing their troops about before every single weekend pass. The military does not subscribe to the theory of individual responsibility....so commanders will spend hours pontificating every week about almost anything you could possibly conceive of doing wrong so they can cover their ass. This mindset of treating every individual like the lowest common denominator has in turn resulted in weak leaders throughout the officer and enlisted corps...leaders that can’t make decisions for themselves about firing on enemy vessels getting danger close to our warships.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Danger Rane

[Danger Rane]

31 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

I firmly believe that we lost our way when we decided that the military was a vehicle for peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. I don’t believe it to be a proper application of military force. 

100% agree. Unfortunately that is all the majority of our current military commanders know to be the norm, I’m not sure they have what it takes anymore to fight a real war. For that matter after seeing how most of our country reacted to the hiccup of COVID 19, I don’t think our country has the balls to fight a real war anymore.

[E4 No More]

34 minutes ago, Danger Rane said:

It’s amazing that most civilians make it through their life without a DUI, or raping someone, or robbing a bank.... these are literally the topics that unit commanders feel the need to spend hours lecturing their troops about before every single weekend pass. The military does not subscribe to the theory of individual responsibility....so commanders will spend hours pontificating every week about almost anything you could possibly conceive of doing wrong so they can cover their ass. This mindset of treating every individual like the lowest common denominator has in turn resulted in weak leaders throughout the officer and enlisted corps...leaders that can’t make decisions for themselves about firing on enemy vessels getting danger close to our warships.

That wasn't the case with the Marines in the 80's. Is that time, or just an Army thing?

We did have rare incidences of some idiot doing idiotic things. When I was in 29-Palms there was an incidence of three grunts who decided to sneak away from the pos to smoke some weed. They chose to do it at a mortar target that they didn't know was active and got killed for their efforts. There was also an instance where an ammo man in a 105 unit thought it'd be funny to remove the safety cover of a Rocket-Assisted Projectile for a fire mission programmed for a non-RAP round. The round came very close to the town of Amboy.  When I was in Okinawa there was an incident of a Marine who though he'd loaded a blank into his M-16. During a movement the idiot pointed his rifle at a Korean woman walking along the road and pulled the trigger. The real bullet tore through her chest killing her instantly. 

I guess my point is that stupid people will do stupid things no matter whether they're warned or not.

[DaveTN]

43 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

That wasn't the case with the Marines in the 80's. Is that time, or just an Army thing?

Ha ha, ha I was going to say the same thing. It wasn’t like that in the Navy either. When we went to foreign countries we would get lectures on culture and customs we might not be familiar with; but telling us not to rape anyone or rob banks was never part of the presentation; I guess they felt we already knew not to do that. 

[Quavodus]

3 hours ago, DaveTN said:

I agree. If we have armed conflicts, we need to either have war declared or leave.

The rules of engagement should be, if you engage the enemy they surrender, or you shoot them.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again.  War should be a brutal nasty hell that no one wants to get involved in. If we take fire from somewhere, during a war, we should kill every living thing in the area. Our troops or our citizens should never be unnecessarily put at risk to keep from killing the enemy.

“Smart Bombs” and all that BS is ridiculous. They imply that innocent people can be spared, which is ridiculous in war.

If our ships are where they are allowed to be…sink those boats. If our ships are in Iranian waters; we need to get out of there or declare war.

 

I heard a guy on the radio a few years ago talk about the gulf war. He said what was wrong with this war was there was way to much media coverage on it. The people here at home see way to much. That's one of the reasons very little gets done.

[superduty]

1 hour ago, Quavodus said:

 

I heard a guy on the radio a few years ago talk about the gulf war. He said what was wrong with this war was there was way to much media coverage on it. The people here at home see way to much. That's one of the reasons very little gets done.

Sounds similar to Vietnam?

[Quavodus]

Vietnam exactly

[buck1032]

4 hours ago, DaveTN said:

Ha ha, ha I was going to say the same thing. It wasn’t like that in the Navy either. When we went to foreign countries we would get lectures on culture and customs we might not be familiar with; but telling us not to rape anyone or rob banks was never part of the presentation; I guess they felt we already knew not to do that. 

I was USN from 85 to 05. The Navy culture changed horribly after the Tailhook incident in Vegas. The Officers who participated got us all in hot water. After that we had yearly GMT about not raping, sexual harassing and other stupid crap I wasnt involved in. I was however counseled that I should stop my personal skydiving as it wasnt prescribed by the Navy and if I were to get hurt they would not be held to treat the injuries. And by 2000 it was horribly worse with even more stupid dont rape, dont rob, dont murder training. None of the activities I ever took part in. I sky dived, road motorcycles and shot guns at a private range. 

[DWARREN123]

Bout time!

[Moped]

When did Iran attain Flying Gun Boats? 

[E4 No More]

9 hours ago, buck1032 said:

 I was however counseled that I should stop my personal skydiving as it wasnt prescribed by the Navy and if I were to get hurt they would not be held to treat the injuries. 

They lied. They were responsible for any injuries while on active duty. The Marine Corps told me that my back injury could not be compensated by the VA when I got discharged because I didn't injure it in combat. Decades after my discharge, I found out that I was lied to. Now I'm fighting with the VA over it. Had I submitted for compensation at my discharge it wouldn't be a problem.

[E4 No More]

13 minutes ago, Moped said:

When did Iran attain Flying Gun Boats? 

When they're blown out of the water.

[Moped]

58 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

When they're blown out of the water.

LMAO!!! Best answer yet!!! 

[Johnny Rotten]

2 hours ago, Moped said:

When did Iran attain Flying Gun Boats? 

About 10yrs ago

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Johnny Rotten