We're a little under 2 months before Trump assumes office, and Biden seems to be doing insanely crazy stuff.
I mentioned about a month ago (somewhere on here), that fighting a proxy war would be extremely dangerous. A proxy war is where we're funding a nation directly to attack one of our adversaries for us... there-by we are fighting a war against our enemies, but not actually doing the work. This is effectively viewed the same by the enemy... and equally dangerous.
I have no love for Russia... I was raised in the 80s under Reagan and ... you know the rest. But Biden has made two concurrent actions that are literally insane.
1 - Biden authorized long-range missiles to be used by Ukraine to strike targets within Russia. They are now using U.S. weapons to attack Russia within it's territory. This is directly putting Putin in a position where he now has to make a decision. Look foolish and lose, or amp-up the firepower and use smaller nuclear weapons to force Ukraine to submit.
2 - Biden just authorized the use of land mines by the Ukrainians inside the Russian border. This is insane... for one, I didn't even know we were producing land mines, and second, these are illegal by the Geneva convention last time I looked. Furthermore, they end up killing more children and farmers than they do enemies since they never get picked up after the war.
I honestly feel like a peacenik Democrat from the 90s... Biden has gone completely insane, or more likely... this is Obama's people doing this. I would very much like the Democrats on here to explain to me why either of these things are a good idea. Putin has already stated he's likely to use nuclear weapons now. Like everything else, Biden handled this so poorly from the start... just totally insane.
They're trying to leave Trump with a "huge steaming pile" to deal with, on day one. The "Geneva convention" issue makes me wonder whether he could be brought up for an impeachment.
Not gonna say that it's Biden personally making these decisions, but it does seem like "They" know their time is limited, and will try to do as much damage as possible.
Imagine Trump being able to resolve the Ukraine situation and manage to end the current war in the middle East (even I know that region will likely NEVER be " at peace" )
But I'm optimistic for the future, at least for the US. It appears that Trump learned from the mistakes in his last term, and hopefully, things will move in an upward/forward direction, and not get mucked down with BS.
Originally posted by TheDigitalAlchemist: But I'm optimistic for the future, at least for the US. It appears that Trump learned from the mistakes in his last term, and hopefully, things will move in an upward/forward direction, and not get mucked down with BS.
I may be mistaken but, I don't believe the Geneva Convention specifically bans land mines. But, there was an agreement ( Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 18 September 1997)
Working off memory, I don't believe the US or Russia signed off on that. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Edited:
quote
On 4 December 2023, resolution 78/45 titled “Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction” was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations by a recorded vote of 170 in favor, one against, and 16 abstentions.
Rams
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 12-01-2024).]
I may be mistaken but, I don't believe the Geneva Convention specifically bans land mines. But, there was an agreement ( Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 18 September 1997)
Working off memory, I don't believe the US or Russia signed off on that. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Geeze... I just assumed that the United States had signed that. And it was under Clinton no less... I would have assumed Bill Clinton would have signed that too. This shouldn't be something that's controversial, like so many other things are. I'm failing to understand why the United States wouldn't have wanted to agree to it (except of course because Russia also refused to agree to it). Using landmines is absolutely horrible.
The tree doesn't fall far from the apple. He pardoned the apple of his eye, the smartest person on the planet, Hunter, who diddled his late brother's wife and had a child.
Geeze... I just assumed that the United States had signed that. And it was under Clinton no less... I would have assumed Bill Clinton would have signed that too. This shouldn't be something that's controversial, like so many other things are. I'm failing to understand why the United States wouldn't have wanted to agree to it (except of course because Russia also refused to agree to it). Using landmines is absolutely horrible.
All is fair in love and war . The first rule in a fight ? There are no rules.
Geeze... I just assumed that the United States had signed that. And it was under Clinton no less... I would have assumed Bill Clinton would have signed that too. This shouldn't be something that's controversial, like so many other things are. I'm failing to understand why the United States wouldn't have wanted to agree to it (except of course because Russia also refused to agree to it). Using landmines is absolutely horrible.
While the hostility of war is obviously a horrible thing, I don't see much difference in Land Mines (both Personnel and Tank) are any different than IEDs. Outlawing Land Mines accomplishes little to nothing, there's always more efficient ways to kill.
Originally posted by blackrams: While the hostility of war is obviously a horrible thing, I don't see much difference in Land Mines (both Personnel and Tank) are any different than IEDs. Outlawing Land Mines accomplishes little to nothing, there's always more efficient ways to kill.
Rams
Well, aside from the maiming that's caused (which tends to overwhelm field hospitals), the biggest issue is what happens after the war.
The reason why the treaty was signed in the first place is because these mines remain in the ground for decades after the war is over, and it leads to children and innocent civilians (like farmers) getting killed. Even in Afghanistan, for example... there were places where we had to fence off entire fields because they were littered with mines, EVEN within the Bagram compound, because the Russians had placed them there decades before.
Kinetic warfare, I get it... it sucks. But I put land-mine use right up there with chemical weapons. The fact that we're using them is... man... call me a radical leftist, but it's sick. Joe Biden should never have authorized the use of landmines. And you can be sure that neither Ukraine or Russia will properly clean them up after the war. For the nearly useless benefit they provide, they have a far greater harm to the civilian population than anything else.
There are different kind of land (and sea) mines nowadays. Electrically fused (batteries) When the batteries die, the mine won't (can't) detonate. Some mine batteries by design die within days, some within weeks.
They aren't like theold mines that were between the US base in GTMO and the Cubans in the mid 70s when I was there. Many of those had been in the ground for over a decade and sometimes went off because of corrosion, sometimes detonated because of animals such as deer.
There are different kind of land (and sea) mines nowadays. Electrically fused (batteries) When the batteries die, the mine won't (can't) detonate. Some mine batteries by design die within days, some within weeks.
They aren't like theold mines that were between the US base in GTMO and the Cubans in the mid 70s when I was there. Many of those had been in the ground for over a decade and sometimes went off because of corrosion, sometimes detonated because of animals such as deer.
I shouldn't, but I laughed when you talked about the deer... I can only imagine... it shouldn't be funny, but if I can't laugh at something, then what the heck.
I guess that's a good point, and I hope that's what's being utilized...
Well, it wasn't real funny at the time. The mines' detonation were a rudimentary early warning that a land attack was under way. For the thousands of military troops, civilian contractors and military dependents on windward side of Guantanamo, there was no way off that didn't involve a mile long trip across the bay on a converted landing craft to the airstrip on leeward side.
For weeks at a time, there were no US ships in port at Guantanamo.
This photo was taken from the ferry landing at Leeward point, (where the Navy's air base is) with the opposite ferry landing major part of the Navy base barely visible across the bay on Windward. Most of America doesn't understand, this is one of those isolated 'fight or die' places.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 12-02-2024).]
Well, it wasn't real funny at the time. The mines' detonation were a rudimentary early warning that a land attack was under way. For the thousands of military troops, civilian contractors and military dependents on windward side of Guantanamo, there was no way off that didn't involve a mile long trip across the bay on a converted landing craft to the airstrip on leeward side.
For weeks at a time, there were no US ships in port at Guantanamo.
This photo was taken from the ferry landing at Leeward point, (where the Navy's air base is) with the opposite ferry landing major part of the Navy base barely visible across the bay on Windward. Most of America doesn't understand, this is one of those isolated 'fight or die' places.
I get the sides mixed up, which is the side that has Radio Free America, McDonalds, and the NAVY Lodge? From what I understand, the air strip on THAT side is no longer being used, and totally abandoned, and the other side (Leeward side?) is the airport they're currently using, but everything else on that side of the bay is abandoned. So every time anyone flies in, they have to take the ferry to the other side (where the command and everyone else is).
What I always thought was interesting is that INSIDE the bay, there's dozens and dozens of pylons, which someone told me was meant to be used for mooring battleships back in the day... ships that never ended up there. I know a few past presidents have desired to give up that territory, but I really hope we never do.
By the way, they are still using this Ferry... I assume they were still using it when you were there too:
They have a different one for transporting vehicles, but if it's just passengers, they use this one.
Windward is the side where most of the base operations take place and where most of the troops are, as well as the desalination plant and electric generators are. There is an old air field there, right where the windward ferry landing is. McCalla Field which was last used as a sea plane field. The planes would land on the bay and were then pulled up onto McCalla by winch or truck. It's where the tent city was during the 1st Haitian immigrant influx.
No, that, is a newer ferry. 100% ferry purpose design and built.
This is what the ferries looked like back 'in my day'. There were 4 of them, and they ran 2 at a time from 0500 up until 11pm at night. They were converted 1600 class LCUs. (Landing Craft Utility) The pilot house on an LCU is off to one side of the deck, so to build them into ferries, they moved the pilot house to the center and added a passenger seating up there behind the helm. The vehicles parked along both sides of the raised pilot house.
A 1600 class LCU:
On the very rear of an LCU, is a full width, but short stern gate. It's there to allow for marrying up 2 or more LCUs end to end to create a causeway for vehicles to roll off the last LCU and directly onto and over LCUs closer to the beach.
I do have some pictures of the old battleship moorings in Guantanamo Bay. Tied up to many of them when fishing the bay. Not unusual to set there and watch Soviet flagged ships pass by on their way thru the outer bay & into the back bay of the commie side.
Very cool picture. That is one of the early stern gate marriages I recall grading as an LCU/LCAC/ACB inspector for NBGU2 in Little Creek. I am either the white hat you can barely see on the left next to the cabin or I am in the engineering plant monitoring their systems.
Originally posted by maryjane: I do have some pictures of the old battleship moorings in Guantanamo Bay. Tied up to many of them when fishing the bay. Not unusual to set there and watch Soviet flagged ships pass by on their way thru the outer bay & into the back bay of the commie side.
Damn, so... that was going to be one of my questions... we basically enclose the entire entrance to the bay. We allow traffic to the rest of the bay to pass through?
I found this...
I was only there for two weeks, and then again for three days. I tried to see as much as I could while I was there, but of course I had work to do... so I really only spent a single day (I extended my trip so I could do some "sightseeing"). I pretty much spent my entire time in a concrete bunker right off the beach that apparently was originally a gas station, converted into a server room, that also was storage for all of the hard drives from the entire base of excessed laptops due to the non-destruct order (because of the detainees). Of all the places where they had servers, it seemed like the most ridiculous place I could even imagine. It was this concrete box just off the shore. Made no sense at all. I think they ended up moving it...
There were entire neighborhoods in Guantanamo that were abandoned. Weeds as tall as people crowding around houses that were abandoned. From what I could tell, Guantanamo had been significantly more staffed at one point than it is now. It was still nice, and plenty of drunken NAVY people to make sure the curbs and fences were well painted every weekend. But it was clear that back in the day, a lot of people brought their families there (as there were tons of homes).
There were a few new neighborhoods that I saw, but it was clear those were flag officers and probably some 04 and up, or maybe senior enlisted (don't really know how that works)? Most of the people I saw lived in barracks. They had a couple of apartment buildings too. The guy who was driving us around all week, the command had to pay $1,200 a month to the NEX to rent his Ford Focus... which was a 2004 (?) Focus in 2016... hahaha...
Was that jerk chicken place there at the time? How about O'Kelley's Pub? The drive-in was still there, but I was working late nights and didn't get the chance to go see a movie there.
Todd. There was a housing shortage when I was there, tho there were 'subdivision' type mil housing neighborhoods everywhere. 1 for junior enlisted. 2 for mixed enlisted, E4 thru Chiefs. (I lived in this one for about 11 months) Another very nice area exclusive for E7 and above. And, officers had their own housing areas. The main Navy barracks for single sailors was Gold Hill Barracks. The only major Navy enlisted club was the Windjammer, which was pretty new during my tour there. The 'drive-in' was called The Lyceum and there was a little Navy Ex snack bar nearby. The other clubs for junior enlisted were: 1. The Barrel Club, a small place run by Jamaican workers but USN were welcome and they had some of the best food on base. 2. Fleet Reserve Association which was way out Sherman Blvd, kinda a shack looking place. Private thing for career USN and Marines tho I never saw a Marine in there.
There was a major hurricane that hit there about a decade ago (maybe longer back) and a lot of infrastructure was damaged. I believe the Barrel Club was lost and re-emerged as the Chicken-Jerk. There was no O'Kellys. The only other place to drink was the bowling alley.
The housing I lived in was a ways out away from the ship maint area and was cookie cutter cinder block construction built by Navy Seabees. No AC, you had to buy your own window unit if ya wanted air conditioning.
The townhouse looking buildings are Navy Lodge. Temporary lodging for families and vip visitors. There was only one small one while I was there.
Yes, tho the US controls entrance to the entire bay, we do by treaty have to allow all other vessels to pass thru to and from the upper bay but they cannot stop in the lower bay.
Permanent ships and vessels there during my time were: A Torpedo Retriever. A USCG bouy tender. A small USCG patrol boat. 2-3 LCMs (Mike Boats) 4 LCU converted to YFB ferries (Yard Ferry Boat) The Admiral's "barge"which was more or less a nice but not extravagant yacht. The Captain's Gig, which was a wonderful old wooden boat with 2 screaming turbo'd 6 v 53s in it that would run across that bay like a scalded dog. A whole bunch of rental fishing boats from Navy special services.
A scheduled(every 2 weeks) civilian ro-ro ship that brought in supplies and household belongings of people being stationed at GTMO.
Yes, in my time there, the base was very busy, with ships and entire naval units coming and going for REFTRA and shake downs. I do have google earth paid subscription on my laptop. I'll have to look gtmo over and see how much has changed.
You had to be very careful where you drove if away from 'downtown'. There were USMC tank trails cut thru hillsides everywhere that intersectted the paved roads and the Marines did not slow down one bit coming across the roads.
There were frequent Defcon drills. A loud wailing siren..day...or middle of the night. You kept ONE bag packed for your family to bug out, but the civilians all got transported to the Eclub. All the rest of us went directly to our battle stations. My station was on one of the ferries, and we generally took on M-60 tanks and Marines to transport across the bay to guard the runway.
Todd. There was a housing shortage when I was there, tho there were 'subdivision' type mil housing neighborhoods everywhere. 1 for junior enlisted. 2 for mixed enlisted, E4 thru Chiefs. (I lived in this one for about 11 months) Another very nice area exclusive for E7 and above. And, officers had their own housing areas. The main Navy barracks for single sailors was Gold Hill Barracks. The only major Navy enlisted club was the Windjammer, which was pretty new during my tour there. The 'drive-in' was called The Lyceum and there was a little Navy Ex snack bar nearby. The other clubs for junior enlisted were: 1. The Barrel Club, a small place run by Jamaican workers but USN were welcome and they had some of the best food on base. 2. Fleet Reserve Association which was way out Sherman Blvd, kinda a shack looking place. Private thing for career USN and Marines tho I never saw a Marine in there.
There was a major hurricane that hit there about a decade ago (maybe longer back) and a lot of infrastructure was damaged. I believe the Barrel Club was lost and re-emerged as the Chicken-Jerk. There was no O'Kellys. The only other place to drink was the bowling alley.
The housing I lived in was a ways out away from the ship maint area and was cookie cutter cinder block construction built by Navy Seabees. No AC, you had to buy your own window unit if ya wanted air conditioning.
The townhouse looking buildings are Navy Lodge. Temporary lodging for families and vip visitors. There was only one small one while I was there.
Yes, tho the US controls entrance to the entire bay, we do by treaty have to allow all other vessels to pass thru to and from the upper bay but they cannot stop in the lower bay.
Permanent ships and vessels there during my time were: A Torpedo Retriever. A USCG bouy tender. A small USCG patrol boat. 2-3 LCMs (Mike Boats) 4 LCU converted to YFB ferries (Yard Ferry Boat) The Admiral's "barge"which was more or less a nice but not extravagant yacht. The Captain's Gig, which was a wonderful old wooden boat with 2 screaming turbo'd 6 v 53s in it that would run across that bay like a scalded dog. A whole bunch of rental fishing boats from Navy special services.
A scheduled(every 2 weeks) civilian ro-ro ship that brought in supplies and household belongings of people being stationed at GTMO.
Yes, in my time there, the base was very busy, with ships and entire naval units coming and going for REFTRA and shake downs. I do have google earth paid subscription on my laptop. I'll have to look gtmo over and see how much has changed.
You had to be very careful where you drove if away from 'downtown'. There were USMC tank trails cut thru hillsides everywhere that intersectted the paved roads and the Marines did not slow down one bit coming across the roads.
There were frequent Defcon drills. A loud wailing siren..day...or middle of the night. You kept ONE bag packed for your family to bug out, but the civilians all got transported to the Eclub. All the rest of us went directly to our battle stations. My station was on one of the ferries, and we generally took on M-60 tanks and Marines to transport across the bay to guard the runway.
Aside from the obvious threat, it must have been a pretty cool place to be stationed at the time. I noticed when I was there that one side of the property seemed like desert, while the other side was tropical... I thought that was weird.
When I was there, I didn't know that revelry was going to play at 8:00 (I think it was)... and we were cruising around in another car, and an MP (I think he was a Marine) came screaming around and cut us off hard. Jumped out of the car, and screamed at us in the only way a Marine can, and told us to get out of the car for revelry. We totally didn't hear it, and immediately got out of the car and stood in the same direction the Marine was (though we didn't see a flag anywhere). Hahah... when it was over, he screamed at us in the same tone... "HAVE A GOOD DAY!!!" and we got back in the car, haha... I'll never forget that, I got a kick out of it. We never meant any disrespect to the flag of course, we just didn't know... because, the flag is already up every morning at the garrison that U.S. SOUTHCOM sits at... (I'd get there at like 6:15) so none of us had any idea.
Most of the buildings there, like the J6, J3, and J2 spaces at JTF-GMTO were all pretty old. Everything looked like it had been built in the ~60s. All standard concrete block stuff like you mentioned.
The DFAC was actually a tent building... one of those canvas covered structures that was kept up by pressurized air (if I remember correctly). Not very big, but I assume there were a couple of DFACs.
There's a pretty big NEX / Exchange there now... kind of the size you'd expect at a normally large military base (like Walmart size).
I know they didn't have the "camps" there at the time, but all those camps from the Bush administration are still there... Camp Delta, X-Ray, etc. One of them had been abandoned already by the time I got there ... abandoned in place. Another one had been converted to offices (they just put a bunch of trailers in there and filled them with desks), and one of them still held detainees. I opted to not go on the "splashing" tour... which is where they take you to look at the detainees like they're zoo animals (which they pretty much act like apparently). You have to don protective gear because they throw **** , piss, and other bodily fluids at you. Lots of stories there. I chose to stay in the J6 basement (and that building on the hill) doing my thing while the rest of the team went on a tour, haha... I was TOTALLY OK not having to see those guys.
One thing they said... Cuban nationals were not allowed to do any contract work in Guantanamo... matter of fact, all of the local contract services were basically manned by Jamaicans, which I thought was interesting. Was that the same for you there?
Did you ever go to Bravo? I seem to recall you said you spent a little bit of time there too...
It was not Reveille that got you stopped by the Marine. Reveille would be much earlier, 0500 to 0600.
It is COLORS that is played at 0800 most Navy bases and lets everyone know the US flag is being raised at HQ. Not stopping your vehicle during taps/morning colors/evening colors or failing to stop while walking and face toward where the flag is, is a major offense. Colors is played again at the end of the day (sunset) when the flag is lowered..the National Anthem is played. I live very close to Fort Hood and hear all their bugle calls from my back yard with the exception of Taps, which is played softer from the speakers.
It's been too long ago for me to remember which alerts we went to but I remember once having to mount a 50 on top of the pilothouse of the ferry I was on. We had no M60s but the 50 cals were plentiful.
The high hill up above Gold Hill barracks back then was some sort of top security Marine facility. Had radar domes and a tall double concertina fence with dogs between.
There were still Cuban Nationals there, that lived there full time. Had their own little area called Cuban Village. I suspect they have all died off by now and their children sent to the States. Cubans still came thru the gate to work on GTMO too. Boarded buses at the gate and were transported around, mostly to the mess hall, but Jamaicans did most of the contract work. There was an old Cuban at ship maintenance tho, that was an absolute whiz on diesel and steam propulsion. I heard a lot of 'bloodclot mon' and 'rassclat mon' from them at the Barrel Club.
Other than your job, when I was there, there were only 3 things to do. Fight, fish and drink. This was in the days before there were a lot of female US forces. There were a few women sailors but not many.
Of ll the places I was stationed, I saw more absolute bloody fight at GTMO between US military than anywhere else. The worst was when Gator Navy ships came in. LSTs, LSDs etc. Full of 1000s of Marines that had been at sea already for months and GTMO was not a good liberty port for them.
GTMO was considered restricted duty, and a form of sea duty. It meant that your next duty station was guaranteed to be ashore somewhere in the USA.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 12-04-2024).]
It was not Reveille that got you stopped by the Marine. Reveille would be much earlier, 0500 to 0600.
It is COLORS that is played at 0800 most Navy bases and lets everyone know the US flag is being raised at HQ. Not stopping your vehicle during taps/morning colors/evening colors or failing to stop while walking and face toward where the flag is, is a major offense. Colors is played again at the end of the day (sunset) when the flag is lowered..the National Anthem is played. I live very close to Fort Hood and hear all their bugle calls from my back yard with the exception of Taps, which is played softer from the speakers.
It's been too long ago for me to remember which alerts we went to but I remember once having to mount a 50 on top of the pilothouse of the ferry I was on. We had no M60s but the 50 cals were plentiful.
The high hill up above Gold Hill barracks back then was some sort of top security Marine facility. Had radar domes and a tall double concertina fence with dogs between.
There were still Cuban Nationals there, that lived there full time. Had their own little area called Cuban Village. I suspect they have all died off by now and their children sent to the States. Cubans still came thru the gate to work on GTMO too. Boarded buses at the gate and were transported around, mostly to the mess hall, but Jamaicans did most of the contract work. There was an old Cuban at ship maintenance tho, that was an absolute whiz on diesel and steam propulsion. I heard a lot of 'bloodclot mon' and 'rassclat mon' from them at the Barrel Club.
Other than your job, when I was there, there were only 3 things to do. Fight, fish and drink. This was in the days before there were a lot of female US forces. There were a few women sailors but not many.
Of ll the places I was stationed, I saw more absolute bloody fight at GTMO between US military than anywhere else. The worst was when Gator Navy ships came in. LSTs, LSDs etc. Full of 1000s of Marines that had been at sea already for months and GTMO was not a good liberty port for them.
GTMO was considered restricted duty, and a form of sea duty. It meant that your next duty station was guaranteed to be ashore somewhere in the USA.
Yes, Colors... shows how much I know about that stuff. I don't know if they did it at Bagram either... since it was a multi-national base (even though it had an Air Force, and then a Marine commander). But I was already in the building every morning by that point... and it was dark when I got out. Only time I'd leave the building is if I had to travel to a site, or go to the J6 at US-FOR-A. Which... let me mention that real quick... nothing against Air Force... I supported them for a long time. But when we had an Air Force commander at Bagram, we'd get attacked almost every single night, and it felt like the commander did nothing. At the time, they switched from the A-10 Tank Killers to the F15s... which was cool... but it didn't stop our attacks.
Then... like 3-4 weeks before the Marine commander was to assume responsibility of Bagram, they flew in about two dozen or more Howitzer cannons. They placed them all over Bagram. When the new Marine commander came in, he completely changed things. The first mortar attack under his watch, he launched an onslaught of attacks on the area outside of Bagram (Parwan). I counted at least 21 shots from the Howitzer cannons... and holy **** they are loud. One of them was within 100 meters of my CHU... and boy did it put the fear of God into them.
The local mayor of the town outside of Bagram threw a fit because we completely destroyed one of their farm fields, and the Marine commander told him that if he continued to harbor terrorists, he would completely destroy the town. The ANSF (on the commanders orders) actually caught the guy who placed the mortar round (it was an improvised timer so he could run-off before it went off). And they brought him back to Bagram. They beat the **** out of him and then the commander set him free, without first telling him (through an interpreter) that he would kill every last one of them if they did it again. We didn't get a single attack for 2 months after that... but then finally there was an IED on a vehicle that took out several T-Walls. But like complete idiots, they broke into Bagram right at Camp Vance, where the special forces were... so they were cut down quick, but several of them fled into the Korean Hospital ... which we had just spent millions and millions of dollars building for the Afghans (was supposed to be staffed with Korean doctors). It looked like a luxurious office building that you might see in downtown San Antonio, placed right outside Bagram Air Field (in it's own compound), stocked with the latest medical technology... but with no one in it... just waiting for the order to open up so it could provide free medical services to the Afghans.
The Taliban broken into the hospital... and the Commander made the decision to blow it up, which was unfortunate. They used an Apache to fire a missile at it... but they forgot to disable the C-RAM... so the C-RAM literally took out the missile from the Apache... which was friggin' crazy (and could have destroyed the Apache). They disabled the C-RAM, fired another missile and blew up the entire hospital... it was millions and millions of dollars of equipment ... gone.
It took them a while to put the T-Walls up, so they had to put MRAPS there with soldiers guarding the hole for a while. But the explosion was so massive that it blew the roof off the chapel, destroyed part of the eXchange, knocked out every window within what seemed like a quarter of a mile, and knocked over several CHUs that people were sleeping in. Part of the engine's crankshaft was found lodged into the side of a concrete bunker about 200 meters away. It was insane. It took them a good month to fully clean it all up and get things back to normal.
On Guantanamo, yeah, when I was visiting there, they no longer had any Cubans (other than Americans that were of Cuban descent in the U.S. military). That building on the hill with the radar installation, they had to shut it down for renovations because the entire thing had massive mold in it. Tons of water leaks because the building was so old. And then they'd determined that it was filled with asbestos, so they had to basically gut the entire building and rebuild it internally.
There's definitely a lot of new things there now (based on what you're saying was there back then). There's a McDonalds, and a few other stores. The NEX is quite large... and they seemed to have everything... seems like a lot cheerier of a place now too. But... like I said, when we were there, we saw plenty of NAVY people painting curbs... which from what I understand, is not an "other duties as assigned responsibility" and has more to do with when you do something bad, and that's your restitution... hahah...
I wonder how much the Biden family and other members of the house and senate have invested in military drone stock?
In his farewell address in 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the establishment of a "military-industrial complex." It looks as though the general public didn't heed this warning... whereas the powers that be (of all political stripes) heavily invested in it. The chickens have now all come home to roost.
