hm... interesting, i think i told you before that americans were better at propaganda than they are at actually making weapons. I would keep silent about it to your friend, since it's already too hard, but i keep silent in not so serious matter like for example a brazilian artist trying to do a manga. Also thanks for the explanation of the "fucked-upnesss" acronyms, i was going to google that
Artist in various media (mostly traditional), craftsman & general DIYer. I make no guarantee of regular posting--work will go up as circumstances permit.
Pablo NeckBone Washington
@ShadenLines
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Comments
I've kept things others have told me to myself more than once...that was the second thought I had. Every so often people want to tell me all about themselves for some reason, though I rarely ever ask (& don't need to know, more often than not).
"Silence is a friend who will never betray you." - old Sicilian proverb
Thinking I should hand-letter that at some point...
As for "Americans are...", that's a bit vague. We're great at manufacturing small arms, that I guarantee you--especially these days. Our firearms industry has been around for over 1.5 centuries now; the skillsets & overall knowledge have been going up the whole time. In terms of military weaponry, however, the situation is complicated....
We COULD make great fighter jets, tanks, APCs, etc. if we wanted to, but defense contractor firms always charge at max level when drawing up manufacturing deals with the government. Profiteering is nothing new; there were instances of that during our Civil War! They make their ships & other things so costly that our armed forces cannot afford to buy what they need for adequate force projection...thus the maintenance of aging vehicles & ships, as outlined above. Congress is also to blame as it has not been fiscally responsible since forever...that story has been told many times. Books have been written about it. I own one but haven't read it yet. Congressmen like to spend like drunken sailors on their pet projects (because it helps them stay in office), which leaves less money for other functions the government needs to fulfill. Social Security is slated to run out of money by 2035 if I'm not mistaken...not completely, but the way it's going, if nothing is done then by 2035 it will only be able to cover maybe 79% of all retirement & disability claims at most.
Haha if hes in the military then he knows. Especially if hes a mechanic. Everyone knows how nightmarish the upkeep is on all US armor and vehicles. When we ditched the middle east and gave, i think it was isis, a bunch of shit left behind nobody cared. They posted a picture of their "army", a whole bunch of humvees, helicopter, trucks, guns... the funny part is that all of that shit was gonna be unusable soon anyway, they dont have mechanics! Especially in such an unfriendly environment to mechanical things like the desert. US equipment needs fixing so frequently, and its always so difficult, its a wonder we even have a military.
Hmmm..."everyone knows", eh? Were you in the service? You don't have to give specifics if you don't want to; a simple yes or no will suffice.
@ShadenLines .......nnnooooooooo...
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you"...okay, got it.
so..what would be the point of giving this information to your friend? what changes could he affect change in given his (seemingly) low spot on the totem pole? as a negative as you mention it would add stress, but best case, how would this help his experience or survivability at all? It almost seems like giving him an article about being aware of military rations, they have carcinogens you need to be aware of, but he's out in the middle of nowhere with not much choice in the way of sustenance...
doesn't the US have a sh*tload of billion dollar destroyer assets dating back to early post WWII, that haven't really been used tactically until the past two years? why don't government defense agencies just make the weapons and platforms themselves? doesn't the government also have the ultimate say who contractors can sell their product to (i.e. other partner nations) and can't they just tell them to kick dust?
I suppose there's also a sh*tload of bureaucracy that goes into modernizing weapons (namely the labor and material acquisition that goes into) that might not be. I think I read an article the other day that China is ahead in AI & unmanned drone technology which could be the future flavor of warfare
what do you think of Elon's approach to DOGE'ing the government sector ostensibly in aid of reducing government waste?
Your input came after the cow wandered off the pasture but thanks anyway. I decided not to tell him, basically for the same reasons you stated. He's a mechanic, not a high-level bureaucrat in the Department of Defense or anywhere even close. The info would either make him worry or he'd just ignore it, because that's all he could do.
Re your other questions on military procurement of their toys: I don't know. Have talked to more than a few servicemen...never found a source within the government bureaucracies that make such decisions. The closest I've ever come to that was a guy who was previously in intelligence analysis in the Air Force.
As for the DOGE thing...*smh* I am all in favor of reducing government wastage but Musk's whole deal is corruption, not trimming excess spending & keeping what's necessary. I'm firmly convinced his DOGE setup is for crippling Tesla's competition in the States.
If there is even a slight possibility that knowledge of this type would help your friend in any way, then you should tell them. At this point you might have made your decision already, but that's my two cents.
All things considered, I don't think it would help him at all. If I told him then it may or may not stress him out, but that's all it would do. Without going into specifics, this friend is stationed on a vehicle with lots of very big guns & defensive technology all over it. Said vehicle will be surrounded by other well-armed & manned vehicles. He figures he'll _probably_ be okay.
@ShadenLines Well, it seems you have made your decision. But my statement still stands. If telling him won't really help in any way, then might as well not. I hope your friend ends up being safe after all.
I appreciate your thought, Zi...would've appreciated it no matter which way I decided.
A followup for @LordofRealty - It was the Taliban who got all the hardware we left behind in that FUBARed withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Note to Biden's former cabinet members: Smooth move, Ex-Lax. 🙄) Admittedly it may not have been that bad a screwup _if_ our people knew the vehicles & weaponry all had expired warranties, but still...it made us look foolish. You cannot afford to be or look incompetent when you're playing the great game.
ISIS & the Taliban don't get along, if memory serves. The thing is the Talibs are strictly a Pashtun/Afghanistan outfit while ISIS isn't restricted to any one state or territory...last I heard, some of their guys set up bases of ops in northern Africa, i.e. Sudan & Morocco. Wouldn't be a surprise if they have at least one sleeper cell within our borders.
ShadenLines
If anyone doesn't know the acronyms near the bottom of the post:
SNAFU = Situation Normal: All Fucked Up
TARFU = Things Are Really Fucked Up
FUBAR = Fucked Up Beyond All Repair
Those are the three levels of fucked-upness.