US ARMY COMPLETELY FAILS NATO TANK COMPETITION
MAY 21, 2016 | JOSHUA KRAUSE | THE DAILY
SHEEPLE |
Recently the US military co-hosted the Strong Europe Tank Challenge, the first of its
kind since the end of the cold war. It was no doubt an attempt to showcase the
overwhelming superiority of Western militaries, and to present NATO’s united
front to Russia. Unfortunately, the only thing the US military managed to
showcase was its own incompetence.
Tank platoons from Denmark, Slovenia, Germany,
Italy, Poland, and the United States were pitted against each other in a
variety of wargames at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany. During the
three day event, the games tested these tank crews with both offensive and
defensive maneuvers, obstacle courses, simulated chemical weapon attacks,
medical emergencies, IED’s, and the identification of friendly and unfriendly
targets.
Unfortunately the US tank crews didn’t win. In fact,
despite being the only nation to provide two tank platoons instead of one, the
US didn’t even place. Germany wound up coming in first place, followed by
Denmark and Poland.
As Popular Mechanics noted,
this wasn’t the first time that the Armor Branch of the US Army has been
embarrassed. During a recent competition in the US, a North Carolina National
Guard tank platoon with a crew that contained an insurance adjuster, a truck
driver, a college student, and an aspiring cop, managed to beat all contenders
including active duty tank platoons with the US Army, Marine Corps, and the
Canadian Army.
Most observers and commenters of these events seem
to agree on one thing. That the US Army placed so poorly because it has lost
its edge. After more than a decade of fighting terrorists and insurgents, the
US military is pretty rusty when it comes to conventional warfare. Again,
according to Popular Mechanics:
For decades, the U.S. Army’s Armor Corps was a
pillar of land power expected to fight the tank forces of Soviet Union on the
European battlefield. After 9/11, with the exception of the invasion of Iraq,
fighting so-called “high intensity conflict” took a back seat to fighting
insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. While most of the countries involved in the
Strong Tank Challenge also sent ground forces to both countries, their
commitments largely allowed their tankers to stay oriented on training and
operation related to more traditional tank missions—i.e. fighting in
big wars against other tanks.
The results in both competitions echo recent comments madeby Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley
and published in last Sunday’s New York Times. Milley stated, “Today, a major in the Army knows
nothing but fighting terrorists and guerrillas, because he came into the Army
after 9/11. But as we get into the higher-end threats, our skills have
atrophied over 15 years.”
Perhaps this will be a wake up call to the member
states of NATO. The US military isn’t all that capable of defending them from
Russia anymore. Our government talks a big talk and continues to be belligerent
towards Russia, but can’t back it up on the battlefield.
The US has become the international equivalent of an
insecure bully. You know, the kind of guy who insults people and says he knows
karate when they get offended. That’s our government. We threaten and issue
demands to every nation that doesn’t bow to us. We swagger around this planet
as if we have the baddest and most lethal military on the planet; one that can
back up our threats. But clearly we don’t have that military anymore. All we do
is start fights that we can’t finish, and the nations of Europe better realize
that before we drag them into a war with Russia.
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Contributed by Joshua Krause
of The Daily Sheeple.
Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer
and researcher at The Daily Sheeple. He was born and raised in
the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s
reports at Facebook or on his
personalTwitter. Joshua’s website is Strange
Danger .
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