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The 13 funniest military memes for the week of August 10th
In case you haven't heard yet, six Marine Corps lieutenants are facing separation after they were allegedly caught cheating on a land-nav course. That's right — this isn't something you're reading on Duffel Blog. This actually happened, and it's being reported on by the Marine Corps Times.
Now, I understand the whole "if you're not cheating, you're not trying" mentality of the military (I, too, was once in the E-4 Mafia), but come on! If you know that whatever you're about to do might forever get you forever laughed at while reinforcing stereotypes that have existed since the military first gave a lieutenant a compass, you might want to think twice.
Now, these memes may not be as funny as that, but they'll elicit a chuckle or two.
This might be the bloodiest day in modern military history
While there are a number of ancient battles during which historians think more people might have died in a single day, August 22, 1914, saw France lose a recorded 27,000 men in what was ultimately futile fighting against German forces in World War I.
On August 22, 1914, France launched 15 ill-fated assaults against German lines from France to Belgium, resulting in battles which, combined, cost 27,000 French lives and an unknown number of German deaths in a single day of fighting. On that day, there were more fatalities than the British experienced in the first day of the Battle of the Somme and more than the U.S. suffered in the Battle of Antietam in the Civil War.
Russia doubles down on its version of the beloved A-10
The Su-25 Frogfoot, known as the Grach or "Rook" by Russian pilots, is one of those aircraft that may not be at the cutting edge of technology, but still has seen widespread service around the world because it offers an effective and useful solution to the need to blast targets on the ground.
As such, its obvious stablemate is the American A-10 Thunderbolt II attack plane. But while the U.S. Air Force wants to retire the A-10 starting in 2022, the Su-25 is undergoing extensive upgrades to keep with the times.
The Taliban have fought for days to take this capital back
Afghan government forces have retaken most of Ghazni from the Taliban as clashes continued for a fourth straight day after the militant group launched an assault on the eastern city, officials say.
Security forces recaptured some 90 percent of Ghazni after reinforcements were sent to the city, Defense Ministry spokesman Ghafoor Ahmad Javed told RFE/RL late on Aug. 13, 2018.
This Airborne sergeant major is a Vietnamese refugee
Full of fear and anxiety, a 10-year-old Vietnamese boy sailed across the South China Sea for 10 days, in 1986, with the expectation that a better life awaited him across the ocean.
In his mind, the only way he could live a full and prosperous life was by coming to the United States.
"If it was not for America, I probably would be dead long ago," said Command Sgt. Maj. Thinh Huynh, the senior enlisted advisor of 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. "If I didn't escape, my life wouldn't be like this."
NASA is gonna try to 'land' on the Sun
Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched from Florida on Aug. 12, 2018, to begin its journey to the Sun, where it will undertake a landmark mission. The spacecraft will transmit its first science observations in December, beginning a revolution in our understanding of the star that makes life on Earth possible.
Roughly the size of a small car, the spacecraft lifted off at 3:31 a.m. EDT on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At 5:33 a.m., the mission operations manager reported that the spacecraft was healthy and operating normally.
9 signs your command doesn't want you to reenlist
Lots of troops spend lots of time debating whether they want to stay in the military or go back to the civilian world — but the feeling might be mutual. Right now, your chain of command might be debating on whether they want to deal with you anymore, too.
It's time. You're entering your reenlistment window. Now you have to decide whether to stay in or get out, whether to take incentives, like bonuses and assignment of choice, or opt to get out and accept release from the UCMJ. So you go to all of your bold leaders and ask them, "should I stay or should I go?" and they all get sorta dodgy.
Well, sorry to break it to you, mate. If they're doing any of these nine things, they probably want to give you a polite end of service of award and boot you like a cheap soccer ball.
Marines train to save lives from downed aircraft
Marine Wing Support Detachment 31 conducted an aircraft recovery convoy exercise during a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation aboard Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort Aug. 2, 2018.
The exercise prepared the Marines for an aircraft mishap and ensured they were properly trained to recover personnel and equipment if called on.
"We used our own vehicles to conduct the convoy and assisted with the recovery process," said Staff Sgt. Joel Contreras, the motor transportation operations chief with MWSD-31. "There were multiple training evolutions that pertained to different parts of the convoy."
Is the Space Force actually aimed at restraining China?
When Vice President Mike Pence on Aug. 9, 2018, set forth the US's vision for the future of space exploration and combat, he took a not-so-subtle shot at China, signaling a coming space race between the world's two biggest powers.
First, Pence brought up a 2007 episode in which China shot down one of its own satellites as a "highly provocative demonstration of China's growing capability to militarize space" (though the US has satellite-killing missiles too).
