GPS may have been an even larger advantage in the Gulf War. The Iraqis knew that navigation through the desert was impossible, so had no defenses against Schwartzkopf’s flanking attack to the west. I remember an article in which a flabbergasted Iraqi commander asked how his US captors could navigate the desert. When shown a GPS unit he asked if every division had one. The answer he got was “every platoon”.
You are a good writer. You know more than I do about military hardware and military history. Your devotion to those in uniform and our allies is clear. Nevertheless, I am really confused by your techno-enthusiasm. Didn't we just spend 20+ years in conflicts where we had tremendous technological advantages over a variety of adversaries? What was the outcome of those conflicts? I'd expect far more humility and caution about our ability to achieve the overly ambitious goals our politicians promise. There are very good reasons to question what can be achieved through the use of force generally, and technological sophistication in particular.
Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert, in "Soldier" wrote about having to DIY a mounting of what they called "starlight scopes" right on their M16s, for night sniper work, but once they got them mounted and sighted in, it changed the whole dynamic of the NVA 'owning the night' in his area.
These are the losses that individuals were able to discover by looking through obituaries in local newspapers, reading posts on social networks and names that appeared in the media. The real number of losses is many times higher, because tens of thousands of the dead are not buried, they are in the gray zones of military action. Many lived and were buried in remote areas of Russia, in thousands of settlements, where there is no way to check the number and identify. tens of thousands of convicted criminals who were sent to fight died without the possibility of identification.
I suggest you read the breakdown of kia. It includes prisoners etc. This is not the 1800's everyone is online and accountable for. Ru hasn't needed to press gang people like ukr has, neither is it short on personal. mediazona and bbc figures are most likely very close to actual numbers.
I have been following the conflict in Ukraine since 2014. Since the start of the big invasion in 2022, I have been watching very closely. I know the history of the conflict, the places where the actions are taking place and I am familiar with people on both sides. I know the official reports and reports of the Russian press service, the approximate number of mobilized, the categories of mobilization and recruitment, and I also follow what both Russians and Ukrainians are saying on social networks. Therefore, I have good reasons to write what I wrote. In addition, the BBC themselves write where they got this information, which coincides with my point of view.
Exactly, it was you who cited the figures, not me. I only said that they do not show the real situation, and explained why. And the cited source states that these figures are taken from the calculations of volunteers from social networks and obituaries, and warns that this is incomplete data. In addition, they did not take into account the dead Wagner and other released criminals, whose deaths are impossible to know, they do not include the forcibly mobilized residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who were thrown into battle unprepared and unequipped. They do not take into account those who remained lying in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions due to the rapid retreat, they do not take into account those who burned in hundreds of tanks that could not be evacuated, they do not take into account those who died in the gray defense zones of the Donetsk region, who have not been buried since the spring, and the same situation was last year.
Keep them coming, Wes. Truly enjoy every post of yours
Agree with Jeff. loving these articles.
The Russian monocular thingy looks like a Land Warrior knockoff tbh. And if we couldn't easily field that they definitely couldn't either.
GPS may have been an even larger advantage in the Gulf War. The Iraqis knew that navigation through the desert was impossible, so had no defenses against Schwartzkopf’s flanking attack to the west. I remember an article in which a flabbergasted Iraqi commander asked how his US captors could navigate the desert. When shown a GPS unit he asked if every division had one. The answer he got was “every platoon”.
You are a good writer. You know more than I do about military hardware and military history. Your devotion to those in uniform and our allies is clear. Nevertheless, I am really confused by your techno-enthusiasm. Didn't we just spend 20+ years in conflicts where we had tremendous technological advantages over a variety of adversaries? What was the outcome of those conflicts? I'd expect far more humility and caution about our ability to achieve the overly ambitious goals our politicians promise. There are very good reasons to question what can be achieved through the use of force generally, and technological sophistication in particular.
Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert, in "Soldier" wrote about having to DIY a mounting of what they called "starlight scopes" right on their M16s, for night sniper work, but once they got them mounted and sighted in, it changed the whole dynamic of the NVA 'owning the night' in his area.
Nice: "Ukraine won because “they own the night.”" May Ukrainians owning the night lead to mass killings of the invading toxic Orcs!
I can sleep comfortably thinking above ;-) Nice analysis and forecasting!
And then you woke up.
This article is from some parallel NAFO universe. There are loads of videos of russians fighting at night with thermal and night vision. As for casualties there are 69k documented Russian kia so far https://en.zona.media/article/2022/05/20/casualties_eng . A large number for sure but hardly nearing Ukrainian losses. Out of a million mobilized they need another 500k according to Zelensky https://www.ft.com/content/d7e95021-df99-4e99-8105-5a8c3eb8d4ef
Ukraine was suffering 10,000 deserters per month this year. Obviously not doing well https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/08/europe/ukraine-military-morale-desertion-intl-cmd/
These are the losses that individuals were able to discover by looking through obituaries in local newspapers, reading posts on social networks and names that appeared in the media. The real number of losses is many times higher, because tens of thousands of the dead are not buried, they are in the gray zones of military action. Many lived and were buried in remote areas of Russia, in thousands of settlements, where there is no way to check the number and identify. tens of thousands of convicted criminals who were sent to fight died without the possibility of identification.
I suggest you read the breakdown of kia. It includes prisoners etc. This is not the 1800's everyone is online and accountable for. Ru hasn't needed to press gang people like ukr has, neither is it short on personal. mediazona and bbc figures are most likely very close to actual numbers.
I have been following the conflict in Ukraine since 2014. Since the start of the big invasion in 2022, I have been watching very closely. I know the history of the conflict, the places where the actions are taking place and I am familiar with people on both sides. I know the official reports and reports of the Russian press service, the approximate number of mobilized, the categories of mobilization and recruitment, and I also follow what both Russians and Ukrainians are saying on social networks. Therefore, I have good reasons to write what I wrote. In addition, the BBC themselves write where they got this information, which coincides with my point of view.
If you have any actual evidence for your claims please present it.
Exactly, it was you who cited the figures, not me. I only said that they do not show the real situation, and explained why. And the cited source states that these figures are taken from the calculations of volunteers from social networks and obituaries, and warns that this is incomplete data. In addition, they did not take into account the dead Wagner and other released criminals, whose deaths are impossible to know, they do not include the forcibly mobilized residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who were thrown into battle unprepared and unequipped. They do not take into account those who remained lying in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions due to the rapid retreat, they do not take into account those who burned in hundreds of tanks that could not be evacuated, they do not take into account those who died in the gray defense zones of the Donetsk region, who have not been buried since the spring, and the same situation was last year.
Again you are wrong. I suggest you go back over the data.
you are full of crap, no full of monkey brains,...what are you on?
you are full of crap, no full of monkey brains,...what are you on?
So CNN, BBC, FT and Zelensky are russian propagandists? 🙄
Maybe they are high on Russian propaganda payoffs?