Snafu-solomon.blogspot

Pratt Miller showcase Expeditionary Modular Autonomous Vehicle (EMAV) optionally configured as 50mm XM913 at #GVSETS2026 source:https://t.co/BZwurkLEHBhttps://t.co/UQBBwkY6Ubhttps://t.co/RMMlPhIxQx https://t.co/mb0BslNlpN pic.twitter.com/qd4ZKEgh0I

— 笑脸男人 (@lfx160219) August 13, 2026 Tanks are gone. The Marine Corps has a huge firepower gap and I DO NOT BELIEVE that we will have enough loitering munitions to blunt an enemy attack (especially since HQMC is looking out to sea instead of fighting the land battle). With that being said if they can mount this on a EMAV then we should be able to mount it on the ACV. Buy more, consider it a fire support vehicle so it won't carry Marines into battle, if necessary don't worry about making this version of the ACV swim but get the GCE some in house fire support!

Thought this thing was already in service. Apparently I was wrong. Seems like the Chinese are big into evolutionary improvements when it comes to their ground forces while attempting revolutionary leaps when it comes to their aerospace forces. Story here.

Sorry boys (and girls). The entire article is behind a paywall but enough of it is readable that its worth your while. Got no time? They've tested it with JDAM-LR's. Story here.

Here is the part that changed.

Several police departments released their audit logs under public records requests and failed to redact the plates. A site called https://t.co/3oYK74zYi3 collected them.

Type your plate in and search.

— Aria Westcott (@AriaWestcott) August 14, 2026

USS Tripoli update provided by Former chief White House press corespondent. Wonder how the 31st MEU is fairing
by u/newnoadeptness in USMC Well at least we don't hear US Marines bitching yet...but a bitching Marine is a happy Marine so....

 

7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) pic.twitter.com/N5vFuJJbg5

— ᴅᴇᴡ (@Remnantize) August 13, 2026

في مراسم ختام التدريب لجنود الجيش الاندونيسي اجتمع الجنود مع عائلاتهم واحبابهم إلا جندي واحد بقي واقف بمفرده لأنه لم يحضر أحد من عائلته

لاحظ قائده الموقف من بعيد وتوجه له، كان الجندي متماسكا في البدايه لكنه انهار بالبكاء بمجرد ان احتضنه القائد وقام بمواساته pic.twitter.com/jzlDKJQQQr

— Saif (@diol2n) August 13, 2026 Man. In this case what if his people are from a poor village and can't afford to attend his graduation. For the US side the same applies. Unless they're offering free transportation then its a kick in the ass for recruits from poor families. Of course it could be something even more irksome for the recruit. Broken families, no family, estranged family...the list kinda goes on.
This part of their graduation needs to be shit canned.

 If you're paying attention to the war in Iran (and many Americans ain't) then you heard that Israel hit the Islamic Republic's leadership while they were attempting to elect a new Ayatollah.

Meanwhile Trump was trying to push forward on another negotiated settlement to the war.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!

How can we expect a country to negotiate an end to hostilities if we (the US & Israel) keep knocking off their leaders?

You can't!

You can't negotiate with yourself and unless the other side has leaders then that is what you're in essence doing!

To add a twist to this mystery, Trump was promising devastating strikes to Iran's energy producing sector!

All while supposedly pushing said peace plan.

Someone explain it to me.  I just don't understand the thinking here.  What I do know is that the "Art Of The Deal" does not translate to the international stage.

Another thing.

I'm all for optimism.  Optimism is good.  But entering into somethings you need more than optimism.  You need plans readily available if sugar turns to shit.

This war turned to shit and its obvious that our planning is/was lacking.  We apparently only planned for best case scenarios and now that that is out the door we're in a hurtlocker.

Last thing.

We have had several cautionary tales about "allied" warfare.  This is the most stark in my lifetime.

If allies are not united in goals and how those goals are to be accomplished, and if we're not willing to shoulder the entire war solo then the war should not be fought.

 

Why are we making unmanned squad "gear" carriers so hard? The above video shows a commercial model being marketed on Instagram to HOMEOWNERS and corporations to carry/move stuff from area to area. Yeah it operates off a playstation controller (just like freaking NMESIS) so its not ideal but what happened to rapid prototyping and getting stuff out to the troops to test~!
It ain't that hard we did it during the 50's with no fanfare.  We even put several models of different systems into active duty and retired it shortly thereafter.
If China IS the big threat then we need to walk/run/sprint with haste.  Get out of the legacy procurement cycle and charge forward.
Our troops aren't the problem.
The problem is our BUREAUCRACY!
The problem is the military industrial complex~~!
Either we fix both with a quickness or a leadership more interested in protecting itself AND making money will have us losing another war!~

Почему везде показывают унылую Ф1 когда существует это? pic.twitter.com/mWMq6xruhR

— Awis (@Awisone) July 18, 2026

 

Flight debrief complete.

No reprimands. No firings. No problem.

That’s the sound of Freedom!

Semper fi and Hooyah. pic.twitter.com/lB1y8f83w7

— Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao (@SECNAV) July 16, 2026

 Jesus the news media can make a joke out of everything and this is one that isn't.

Low T is damn near dangerous for men and unfortunately due to our food I think, its affecting more and more men everyday.

Especially young men.

Did you know that men today in their 30 and 40s have the T levels that their great grandfathers had in their 60s?

While I believe its the food it can include other factors such as exercise, touching grass everyday, not drowning in social media, etc...the effects of low T are a serious performance problem.

In the military everyone is talking about being a "HYBRID ATHLETE" but no one is actually working toward making that a real thing...until now.

People can laugh about making DoD a high T place but that's the wrong take.  

The proper take is to make the force healthy as possible.

 

I know ya'll are wondering why a question with the OCP but not many are talking about it.

How do ya'll think we're doing with the Iran war?  It's almost background news which I find fascinating.  

I think the psyops boys have worn us down.  We're at freaking war and hardly no one is paying attention TO INCLUDE guys like us that keep up with all things military.

This is damn near dangerous.

Think about it.

If it wasn't for the gas shock now (and the coming food price shock) we absolutely positively wouldn't give a damn.

Wanna know something even more worrisome?

When we get to the point of have mostly robotic forces that interest will drop even more (and all thing point to that coming sooner rather than later...every one is going ga-ga over Ukraine "pioneering" the use of robotic forces but they have no choice, they have no one else to feed into the meat grinder).

To me this sucks.

My United States of America has become a nation of continuous warfare and we've gotten to a point where being at war on a damn near daily basis no longer bothers us.

 Well I was wrong.

I said that extended combat that the IDF was facing is wrecking the Israeli economy I was wrong.

Next I downplayed the extent of US aid to the Israeli govt.  I was wrong.  WE ARE basically supporting their defense industry to a MUCH LARGER extent than I realized.

How did I come to this conclusion?  

I stress tested my thoughts against Google AI (don't laugh...Google AI is regarded as the LEAST ideological of all current AIs in use today).

Here is the response to my "questions" on their economy and what Google AI said...

Got it. Your blog post hits on a debate currently fracturing the highest levels of Israel's defense and financial establishments, and the hard data shows you are largely right on the facts, but with some crucial economic nuance. [1]Your assessment of the military's physical exhaustion is being actively confirmed by the IDF itself, while your economic outlook is a bit more complicated due to Israel’s unique fiscal structure.The current consensus on your contentions reveals the following:1. You are RIGHT: The IDF is severely overextended.The military is facing what its leadership calls an "endurance crisis" rather than an immediate defeat. [1]

• The Reserve Shortage: On July 14, 2026, Israeli Army Radio issued a stark public warning that the reserve forces are nearing "effective collapse". The IDF is currently short about 15,000 soldiers. Units in the field are reporting attendance rates so low that frontline battalions are operating at a fraction of their designated strength. [1, 2, 3]
• Equipment Crises: Constant combat across Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon has physically broken hardware. The military admitted it faces a critical shortage of combat-ready tanks due to heavy damage and lack of parts, forcing armored companies to merge. [1, 2, 3]
• Air Force Bottlenecks: The IAF has faced massive multi-front strain, especially during periods where it had to split focus between intense sorties in Lebanon and direct long-range operations against Iran. [1]

2. You are RIGHT: Continued fighting in Lebanon risks breaking the force.This is exactly why Israel and Lebanon have rushed to the negotiating table. [1]

• Operational Paralysis: A recent report by Haaretz cited deep frustration among commanders in Lebanon. They note a state of "stagnation and operational paralysis" as the physical limits of the troops clash with shifting directives from the political leadership. [1]
• The Race for an Exit: Recognizing that the military cannot sustain a forever war in Lebanon, the Israeli government signed a US-brokered framework agreement. Just today, negotiators met in Rome and agreed on an immediate phased withdrawal of the IDF from initial "pilot zones" in Southern Lebanon to hand control to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)—a direct effort to pull the IDF back before the force structurally breaks. [1, 2, 3]

3. It's SOMETHING ELSE: The economy is under immense strain, but it is growing.Your blog's thesis that a wartime stance stops growth is where global economists offer a counter-intuitive correction. Israel's economy is under severe duress, but it is not stagnant. [1, 2]

• The Downgrade (The Strain): You are completely right about the strain. Just today, Moody's Investors Service slashed Israel’s growth forecast for 2026 down to 3.7% (from a projected 5%). Public debt has spiked to 70% of GDP, and defense spending is locked at a staggering 6% of the nation's entire GDP. [1, 2]
• The Paradox (The Growth): Despite this, a 3.7% growth rate means Israel is still projected to outpace most G7 economies this year. [1, 2]
• Why it grows under fire: Israel's economy possesses two unique defense mechanisms. First, its tech sector is largely immune to physical border closures and continues to bring in massive foreign capital. Second, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes that billions in U.S. military aid absorbs the direct cost of weapons and air defense, essentially shielding the broader macroeconomy from a total collapse. [1, 2, 3, 4]

How to frame it on your blog:
You can confidently publish that the IDF is structurally overextended and facing a historic manpower crisis. However, instead of saying the economy cannot grow, it is more accurate to write that ordinary Israelis are feeling immense financial strain while the country's unique tech-and-aid-driven GDP creates an illusion of a thriving economy on paper. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

I was wrong guys.

My bad.

I guess I was ideological in my viewpoint.

I STILL SUPPORT ISRAEL THOUGH!  I just wish they would make better decisions.