Commanders in every branch of the military are telling servicemembers under their command that Donald Trump was anointed by Jesus and the purpose of the war on Iran is to hasten the Second Coming.
Our unit is not currently in the combat zone AOR regarding the Iranian attacks but we are in a “Ready-Support” function where we could be deployed there at any moment to join and augment the combat operations as participants.
I am a (NCOrank withheld ) in our unit. This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be “afraid” as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He urged us to tell our troops that this was “all part of God’s divine plan” and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”. He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy. Our commander would probably be described as a “Christian First” supporter. He has been this way for a very long time and makes it clear that he desires all of us under him to become just like him as a Christian. But what he did this morning was so toxic and over the line that it shocked many of us in attendance at the ops readiness briefing. Besides myself I am reaching out to MRFF on behalf of 15 fellow troops. I know you asked me about the religious views of our group who has requested help from the MRFF. I can only tell you that I am Christian and at least 10 of the others are also Christians. One of the others is Jewish and one is Muslim. I don’t know the religious or non-religious status for the other three at this time.
I don’t believe in any sort of Second Coming, but I’d like to see the egg on the Christian theocrats’ faces when it does happen, but instead of Jesus, it’s Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who adjusts his hat, shrugs, and says “You were expecting someone else, maybe?”
This is very implausible. The Kuwaiti’s have SAM tech and yet cannot identify the USAF F-15’s (assuming the Iranians also were flying F15’s). Did not try to identify them. There was no communication that there might be dogfighting in the area, and can you try, at least, not to target USAF planes?
And the takeaway is girls fly, the ejection apparatus works, and Kuwaitis are kind.
In January 2020, a few days after the U.S. killed the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Iranian air defenses accidentally shot down a Ukrainian airliner as it was taking off from Tehran Airport. Apparently, they thought it was a U.S. cruise missile. Nervous people sometimes get trigger-happy.
I think you should consider applying Hanlon’s Razor.
I assume by “friendly fire” we’re talking Kuwaitis, as if the USA has SAM setups in Kuwait that changes things a bit.
We don’t know if the pilots felt they were not actively engaged, yet the assumption Kuwait was a place Iran would or would not go ought to have been determined, including the Kuwaitis.
Much happening today. quote from BBC at 13:19 (GMT)
(different event)
At a press briefing, Majed al Ansari said the bombers were monitored coming into Qatari airspace and rules of engagement were followed “to the letter”.
“The pilots were informed that they had crossed into Qatari airspace and at the moment [it was seen] that they are a definite threat to Doha, that their trajectory was Doha, they were shot down over the waters of the Gulf," he said, noting that there were no updates on the status of the pilots.
One of my cousins is an artist. A good one. Her grandmother was not allowed to go to college by her father “No point in sending a girl to college” Only the sons went to college.
She went to secretarial school though. She saved up money and bought a Ford Model A. I have the painting of her getting into it. It’s hung in a prominent place in our house. Her name was Mae.
That’s pretty hard bark for a woman in the 1920’s. Buying your own car. And one hell of a big middle finger to her father and brothers.
Let’s see: She got shot down, it was her fault, duh, she’s a girl, she’ll be fired, grounded, busted in rank? The same will likely apply to all the women pilots in the military eventually. Seriously, kegstand is such an incompetent fool.
These were strike variant F-15s, not fighters, no dogfighting expected. There were also a lot of incoming drones apparently, in which case most anti-air units will default to shoot now, sort out the admin later.
I’m unfamiliar with the relationship between the USA and Kuwait, though I assume it would be good. Between Iran and Kuwait? Bad enough to set up some SAM sites (I assume there was no air-to-air "friendly fire which would be a bad thing for pilot #4). That there was no way these pilots had a way to communicate “USA friendly” and leave it up to Hanlon’s Razor, nervous or shoot-first-sort-later isn’t written off to the price or smoke of modern warfare.
The Qatari’s had some protocol for approaching bombers. Rules of engagement were “followed to the letter”. For three fighters of any kind to be shot down and it be ruled “friendly fire” (if that is truth) can only mean there was no notification to Kuwait that some of the USA aircraft might consider their airspace friendly and let their guard down.
Don’t mixup the shoot down of F-15 fighters in Kuwait by PATRIOT missiles with Qatar shooting down Iranian bombers approaching their airspace. Different countries, aircraft, separated by hundreds of miles.
My son has reported to me that not only is morale at an all time low, but the DEFSEC is probably the least respected person in the chain of command. Also the consensus after learning of the mission name, that they are being lead by two-year-olds.
“My father was born – he knows all about my father – my father was born there [Germany]. These are places you automatically feel warmly about.” (Trump’s father was born in the Bronx.)
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead. We had some in mind from that group that is dead. And now we have another group. They may be dead also. Pretty soon we’re not gonna know anybody.”
“Spain has been terrible. I told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. They said we can’t use their bases. We could use their bases if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody is gonna tell us not to use it.”
“In Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC, they got all the cash from all the banks, and they flew it to Iran. I never knew a president had that power. I’m going to maybe try that sometime. I’ll fly it somewhere.”
“I saw a woman hugging the picture of me.”
“We have unlimited middle and upper ammunition, which is really what we’re using in this war. We have really an unlimited supply.”