FALightFighter

Powell was a politician. He had very limited military commands. He did well as CJCS. He was a disaster as SECSTATE. Schwarzkopf was lucky to have faced incompetents. His theater command and control was a shit show, and likely would have broken down in any consequential engagement. What's most striking about this failure is that the land/ground command and control was the worst, and Schwarzkopf was an Army officer- if the naval or air C2 was goofy, I could give him a pass, but it was the ground C2 that was worst off. Mattis seems to have been a good commander up to division command. I didn't see anything impressive from him after that. He was a disaster as SECDEF, but then we reserved that position for civilians for good reason. I can't think of a GOOD SECDEF who was a senior military officer.

Illegals? Why would we allow LEGAL immigrants that drive drunk to stay? There are plenty enough people that want to come live here who WON'T commit crimes, why keep those that do? The very idea that there is ANY option of an illegal immigrant other than deportation is foolish.

True. Remember, there is also the Texas State Guard, which is completely state-level and not federalizable. When in state status, the Texas National Guard is a component of the Texas Military Department, along with the State Guard.

So what? The most recent data that I could find was for OCT 2023. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/ft900_index.html For the first 10 months of 2023, those countries accounted for 2% of exports and 1% of imports. In the scale of the US economy, they just don't figure?

GEN Townsend hasn't been the TRADOC commander for 4-1/2 years, and that article is over 5 years old. You do realize that things change, right?

The sniper school and qualification is going to the recon and MARSOC communities. The infantry battalions will retain a scout platoon, which will not have "snipers". This, IMO, is a bunch of ballyhoo over a minor organizational change.

"Many" is a vague term. And magnitude of the trade in question matters, too. And, frankly, even if it IS significant, its probably a good thing. Bretton-Woods, and the US enforcing a global system may have made sense in 1950- it certainly doesn't today.

PPP for what? Purchases inside Russia? Inside China? We're talking about US GDP and international purchases denominated in US $ (per the article that you cited- the only reference was to estimates of US $ for the actual transactions in rubles and yuan). HTF to you think you're going to compare anything except US$? Meah, whatever. The RU-CN trade is a miniscule amount of global trade. So unless you have some indicator that others besides these 2 are going to de-dollarize, its insignificant. Per your article, they've already done ~90% of what they can do. What more do you think is ACTUALLY likely to happen? Do you have another analyst that you think does a better job at analyzing broad geopolitical and demographic trends? I'm genuinely interested, both professionally and personally.

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What else are you going to compare? Percentages? That seems even less useful. You're right, I used the 2022 total figure of $800B and approximated to ~25%. I think that my point stands, that this is insigificant in the grand scheme of global trade. Whether it is 1%, .5% or 2%, it is remains nearly meaningless. Statista says that the US' trade to GDP ratio s ~25%, down from a high of just over 30% in the early 2010s. This graph would seem to indicate that Zeihan might have a point. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/trade-gdp-ratio Frankly, I'm happy if Russia and the PRC do business in rubles or yuan. If it were up to me, I wouldn't do any business with either of them.

I've known Joe Buccino since we were 2LTs in the Officer Basic Course, and bumped in to him professionally over the years. He's got this one completely wrong.

$218B is ~ 25% of the US-China trade. Its also fairly clost to Nevada's GDP, which is <1% of US GDP. I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm pretty sure that it is insignificant

This Army publication, part of the WWII "Green Books" might have some useful information. https://history.army.mil/html/books/002/2-2/index.html

What a crock of shit. This is what happens when people throw words around even though they have no idea of their meaning. This "court" should be ashamed of itself for wasting its time. We have means to determine if someone engaged in an insurrection, and these voters are not the determiners of that. But then again, Atlas Shrugged was supposed to be a dystopia, not a documentary, so...

That means 7950+ disgruntled former service members are now our in the population, counseling prospects to NOT enlist.

So? He's probably right. Certainly the Iranians would be $6B poorer. I can't speak with as much certainty about Russia, but they certainly DIDN'T invade while Trump was president, in contrast to their invasion of Crimea in 2014 under Obama and of Ukraine writ large in 2022 under Biden. Do you have a plausible reason for that delay?

Oh, I think that a decoupling will be painful for everyone. But I think that Zeihan makes a pretty good case that the U.S. could establish a pretty solid, non-globalized economy (maybe linked to Scandinavia, UK, Australia, Taiwan and Japan, but not completely globalized) in a way that most other countries cannot, for a variety of demographic and geographic reasons. Your assessment of his logic may vary, I find him persuasive.

I'm not sure- since we left OK in 2015, we haven't been on that stretch. It was always under construction when I was growing up and going to family in TN, and when I was in KS (09-11) and OK (12-15).

Poncho liner was Vietnam era, at least, if not before. The ragtop helmet covers were mostly a light infantry thing- 7th ID(L) and 25th ID(L)- from the mid-80s through inactivation of 7th, and 25th discontinued them ~1997. I reported in December 1997, and they were still in the shops off post, but no one had them any more. I know that 2-505th from the 82nd used them in Grenada, too, but that is the earliest pictures I've seen of them. I came in in 1993, and used everything except whatever is to the right of the ALICE, above the PASGT- I just don't recognize it. Of course, my ARNG unit still have M1911s, an M3 grease gun, and the old Korean War-era OD winter gear, too, so....

If the Dept of State told me that grass was green or that water was wet, I'd double check for myself. You have far more faith in my government than I do, and the Dept of State is a poor showing in an already suspect bureaucracy. Nevermind that the US ambassador to Canada is a political bone, not a position for a real diplomat. Cohen is a lawyer and Comcast executive, who gained his appointment for his political loyalty, not his diplomatic acumen.

Also remember than I-90 between Cleveland and Buffalo is apt to be a parking lot for construction. Watch Waze, it may be better to take the a side road, even it if is 55 or even 45, than to sit in bumper-to-bumper for an hour or 90 minutes.

Letchworth State Park, ~1 hr from Niagara Falls, is beautiful, and has really need hiking, etc. Also has the cabin of Mary Jemison, the "White Woman of the Genessee", captured as a child during the French & Indian War, and remained with the Seneca for the rest of her life, dying ~1830 @ ~90 years old. Plenty of decent wineries in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes, as well.

5? I only need to know one thing- NO!

If you STILL believe anything that ANY government is selling you, then you are willfully foolish. THEY. ALL. LIE. ALL. THE. TIME. If they can't prove themselves, assume that they are lying.

Ride the "Maid of the Mist". It was a hit with everyone from my youngest (5 at the time) to my mom (I'm not telling :D) Go see Ft Niagara (US side) and Ft Erie (Canadian side). Its been years, but took field trips to both of them in elementary school. Anchor Bar, the birthplace of the chicken wing, has a location within walking distance of the Falls, in the Holiday Inn downtown.