Droids give Army back its air support

Off-Topic Discussion
User avatar
echoco
Commander
Commander
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:08 am

Post by echoco »

I was thinking about exactly this just yesterday and funnily I was tracing back from the Roman empire too.

Maybe sometime in the future there'll be days when wars are won or lost because a government managed to contract a company to exclusively maintain its equipments and denying its opponent the support for identical hardware. Actually might have already happened during the Falkland war.

Cyberspace and now contractors a new spectrum of warfare?
User avatar
Emiricol
Captain
Captain
Posts: 267
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:09 am
Location: Near Seattle
Contact:

Post by Emiricol »

Chyll wrote:As to the Marines they get used far more than they should because they are mainline units with some heft. They get called on far too often because of the same inter-agency politics and because really in certain situations the military is limited in units up to certain jobs.

They can and should take ground, they shouldn't hold it. Your point is spot on why there are still marines there today.
I'll be the first to say that, while no one takes ground like my Corps, we aren't equipped (mentally or in TOE) for defensive campaigns. I can't really explain it to someone who hasn't been there. The best use for Marines is to point them at a tough problem and let them do their thing - then bring in others to hold and rebuild it. Doing peacekeeping work is not what Marines are geared for, trained for or psychologically focused on. Politics is a beoch.

Semper Fidelis,

-Emiricol

P.S. - I never got along with SEALS when I was in.
User avatar
MarkG88
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 737
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:25 am
Location: Ohio

Post by MarkG88 »

Emiricol wrote:
Chyll wrote:As to the Marines they get used far more than they should because they are mainline units with some heft. They get called on far too often because of the same inter-agency politics and because really in certain situations the military is limited in units up to certain jobs.

They can and should take ground, they shouldn't hold it. Your point is spot on why there are still marines there today.
I'll be the first to say that, while no one takes ground like my Corps, we aren't equipped (mentally or in TOE) for defensive campaigns. I can't really explain it to someone who hasn't been there. The best use for Marines is to point them at a tough problem and let them do their thing - then bring in others to hold and rebuild it. Doing peacekeeping work is not what Marines are geared for, trained for or psychologically focused on. Politics is a beoch.

Semper Fidelis,

-Emiricol

P.S. - I never got along with SEALS when I was in.
I've never met anyone in the military that had dealt with SEALS that got along with them, but I do agree with you on the proper use of USMC. That Lebanon debacle in the early 1980s should never have happend that was the wrong deployment of the wrong troops in the wrong place. And now that Iraq is slowing down to just a mildly violent third world country with deep internal issues, time to send the USMC to Afghanistan where even Alexander the Great wasn't welcome and didn't stay long.
User avatar
MarkG88
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 737
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:25 am
Location: Ohio

Post by MarkG88 »

echoco wrote:I was thinking about exactly this just yesterday and funnily I was tracing back from the Roman empire too.

Maybe sometime in the future there'll be days when wars are won or lost because a government managed to contract a company to exclusively maintain its equipments and denying its opponent the support for identical hardware. Actually might have already happened during the Falkland war.

Cyberspace and now contractors a new spectrum of warfare?
Cyber warfare is the new frontier of unconventional/covert warfare and it has been going on for around a decade now. Estonia I believe wanted NATO to respond to cyber attacks originating from Russia and China has got a very major cyberwarfare deparment which may or may not be responsible for the last round of viruses that were romping across cyberspace last year.

As for contractors, again, it's an old story starting with artillery (the first "high tech" aspect of military warfare) and continues to this day as you noted.
Post Reply