Iranian General Sulemain and others reported killed in Baghdad airstrike

[Draco-Onis]

Let me also mention truly brilliant move uniting all of Iran by killing the most popular figure in their country truly a stable genius /facepalm.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Good luck all who get drafted. It'll be a matter of time before females are required to sign up for selective service.

[starlord]

9/11 got us into Afghanistan, and our mistake was expanding the war to fight the Taliban and not keeping it narrowly focused on Al Qaeda and leaving in 2005.

Our mistake was nation building Afghanistan.

The US has spent far more time and energy fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, than Al Qaeda. The Taliban did not attack us on 9/11. Al Qaeda did. Conflating them is the war's original sin. It turned a narrow, achievable military objective into something that was far more complicated.

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It's not a military spending boner thing at all. It's silly you think it's that.

It's about what we collectively decide our national priorities are.

The Democratic priority list has been ignoring the changing world. I don't say that because I think we should zero funding on butter and buy more guns. I say that because we need to be honest about the existence of the massive competition to the big Democratic social spending plans.

And the military number shortfall is largely a function of available funding and service member caps, not recruitment problems (which is fine). The services are too small and need more money to support a much larger force. And people are expensive.

It only took 3 days into the new decade for progressives to get an education on the the world we live in, which is not the 1990s, it is not the 2000s and it is not even the 2010s.

its not fine;

This year, for the first time ever, Americans born after 11 September 2001 will be able to enlist in the armed forces. It’s a sobering reminder both of how long we’ve been at war but also how distant those very wars have become from America’s youth. And yet official military polling shows that fewer and fewer young Americans consider the military as a career or as a transitional step – only some 12.5% – the lowest number in a decade.
...

After decades of consistently managing to fill its ranks, even the Marine Corps has had to start offering cash enlistment bonuses. And in 2017, the Marine Corps lowered its standard and handed out 25% more medical, mental health, recreational drug and misconduct waivers to be able to reach its enlistment goals.
These sweeteners are all required even though nearly three-fifths of service members and their families have at least two other immediate family members who serve or have served in the military, according to a survey by Blue Star Families, a non-profit founded by military spouses in 2009. But even that pool of “legacy” recruits is dwindling. The 2017 Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey shows that a growing number of military families are no longer willing to recommend that their children join the service.
...

To compensate for so many awols in the civilian population, this year the army has cut its projected growth in half, giving up on its goal to reach 500,000 active-duty soldiers after it failed to grow at all in 2018.

The army and Marine Corps have also revised their advertising campaigns, focusing more on social media and trying to rebrand. For the marines, that means “Battles Won” advertisements that focus on military history instead of the current go nowhere wars. To appeal to women, the Marine Corps also is trying “Battle Up”, its first commercial ever to feature a female fighter. Meanwhile, the army has adopted the new slogan “Warriors Wanted” to replace “Army Strong”.

Sure, everyone agrees that the military needs techies and the cyber savvy and the happy talk from the Pentagon is that the numbers are down because the armed forces are looking for quality. But here we’re talking about just attracting basic infantry. We might debate drones and cyber and space, but this is the human guts of the military.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.the...pentagon-panic

i cant say if trump's constant shitting on military members and their families helped. perhaps.

but what this all adds up to is a possible draft.
and we know how popular those are.

[nonameelf]

its not fine;


i cant say if trump's constant shitting on military members and their families helped. perhaps.

but what this all adds up to is a possible draft.
and we know how popular those are.

And really, why would people volunteer to join the military at this point? You get sent off to fight some decades long war that's being fought over lies and then return home with horrible mental health and the government doesn't give enough of a shit to take care of you afterward.

I'm glad the younger generation isn't falling for the same absolute bullshit peddled by the US military that my generation fell for.

[muto]

Day 2 of 2020 and world war 3 is fucking trending. Convict the orange fucktard already and get us a new fucking sensible leader (not pence).

Well 2nd in line is Pelosi and she’s about as useful as a coat in the summer.

[Voidwielder]

There's a picture of his body on the internet. Quite a mess.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

There's a picture of his body on the internet. Quite a mess.

are we talking about the right person
i only saw his hand..? then again im not scared of or disturbed by gorey images

[Voidwielder]

are we talking about the right person
i only saw his hand..? then again im not scared of or disturbed by gorey images

Facial ID is impossible, let's put it that way.

[Draco-Onis]

There's a picture of his body on the internet. Quite a mess.

Great propaganda for Iran, I am afraid the real shit show hasn't even began yet.

[Orbitus]

Well 2nd in line is Pelosi and she’s about as useful as a coat in the summer.

And yet, she is owning Trump at every corner and every conversation. Amazing. If she is a coat in summer, what does that make Trump?

[Skroe]

There's a picture of his body on the internet. Quite a mess.

Was it a standard Hellfire missile or the Military's new "low collateral damage" variant that's basically a flying sword.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...-terror-leader
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...plosives-works



I ask because the R9X has been the weapon-of-choice lately for High value target drone strikes.

[Voidwielder]

Fuck I know, looks slashed and blasted. Oh well. You just don't get away with orchestrating attacks on Embassy, any country with US capabilities and standing would have answered the same way, they just can't.

[Ausr]

On one hand, most likely a dangerous person is taken care of.

On the other, oh joy, another possible conflict in the Middle East. Exactly where we really need to be focusing instead of China or something.

[Voidwielder]

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[Kante]

Good riddance.

[Puupi]

So, what will the Iranian retaliation be like? Attack US assets in Iraq/Syria? Attack Israel?

[ohtlmtlm]

at least the airport has a blast wall of sorts to keep the ruffians out

[Voidwielder]

So, what will the Iranian retaliation be like? Attack US assets in Iraq/Syria? Attack Israel?

Probably some Saudi diplomat will go missing. Or he'll have a car malfunction. Or he'll slip on a banana in his bathroom and hit his head on the tile. 5 times in a row.

[Puupi]

Probably some Saudi diplomat will go missing. Or he'll have a car malfunction. Or he'll slip on a banana in his bathroom and hit his head on the tile. 5 times in a row.

Why would anyone care?

[Voidwielder]

Why would anyone care?

A nominal ally will be hurt. And he'll be unhappy.