Comments by "Solo Renegade" (@SoloRenegade) on "Task & Purpose" channel.

  1. $17k in infantry equipment isn't actually all that bad actually, when you consider the M4, optic, night vision, gas mask, and many other items.
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  2. Japan in WW2: built smaller tanks, had few of them, because of mountainous and island terrain made armored warfare difficult to impractical at times. China 2023: builds massive IFVs ignoring their terrain issues.
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  3. this is not a paradigm shift. I've been advocating these tactics for 20yrs now, and especially when I was deployed in Afghanistan. Everyone told me I was wrong, but could provide no valid proof nor counter arguments. Now here we are 20yrs later and people are finally growing a brain.
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  4.  @ronrolfsen3977  if they use it in a fight, it's still better than nothing.
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  5.  @User-gd5un  if they get issued. I would not want the new sig rifle, give me an M4 any day. but the MG is nice. Most people don't get issued pistols.
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  6.  @jaylee5692  were you ever issued thermals? We had individual thermals in Afghanistan, and thermal scopes on all the M2, Mk19, and M240. Then the cost of the M4, and for some reason they issued my unit 1 Aimpoint M2, 1 Trijicon, and 1 Eotech PER SOLDIER in Afghanistan. I ended up running the Eotech with 3X zoom. Don't forget weapon lights, and some units get lasers. then radios and GPS units (Dagger/plugger). Then there is the M203s we had, and the AT-4s, M249, uniforms, rucks, poncho, sleeping bags, cold/wet wx gear, boots, body armor (front/rear/side plates, carrier, and helmet), first aid kit, combat life saver bags (everyone in my unit was trained), etc. That stuff isn't cheap.
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  7. soldier A: "didn't notice the double weight" soldier B: "when you picked it up you immediately noticed the extra weight of it" also, soldiers never speak badly of the military when press is around........
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  8. Manned flight, Submarines, Spaceflight, reusable rockets, tail landing rockets, directed energy weapons, cellphones, and much more all used to be the realm of pure science fiction.
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  9.  @FalkonNightsdale  you realize how expensive it is to train 10,000 pilots, only to have most of them shot down? drones are far cheaper.
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  10.  @tringuyen7519  air support is not standard issue for infantry. you don't assign airplanes to infantrymen.... drones are cheap (except the US gov issue ones). but if not issued, the US soldier will bring their own drones.
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  11.  @highhow  5.56 penetrates body armor
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  12. the US is not struggling to develop hypersonics. X-15, only manned hypersonic. AIM-54, and others. X-43 X-51 SpaceX has hypersonic missile capabilities. US is the leader in hypersonic technology. US did a study decades ago about subsonic cruise missiles vs hypersonic missiles. the hypersonic missiles have numerous drawbacks, with a big one being cost.
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  13.  @shwethang4347  Most deployed soldiers are terrible shots, and blame the ammo for failing to hit the target. 5.56 has tons of "stopping" power. But, please explain, objectively, and scientifically, what you think stopping power is? And then explain why the 5.56 doesn't have it. I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, fought as a front line grunt for years. The M4 worked just fine for us. We also had the M2 and 240B if we needed to reach out and touch someone. Or, we could get support for helicopters, artillery, marksmen, etc. I was hitting 500m with Ease in Afghanistan with my M4, and could have hit further if necessary. also, 5.56 penetrates body armor that will stop a 6.8, 7.62, etc.
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  14.  @thomaslacornette1282  a tank is a tank, a truck is a truck. a plane is a plane. where it was made makes no difference in the ability of a person to transition from one to an equivalent. Stop making up excuses. I've fought in wars, and i fell in on gear we had never seen or trained on before, and it took mere days to get teh hang of it. been there, done that. when your life is on the line you figure things out quick, and if you can fix one vehicle, you can fix them all. When you can operate one tank, you can operate them all. if you can fly a fighter jet, you can fly all fighter jets. Just takes a little time to learn the differences is all. stop making up lame excuses.
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  15. my unit was issued thermal optics for the M4 in 2010. we only had a few for the whole company though. They were equivalent to NVG, and could be helmet mounted for simple vision enhancement, or mounted on a rifle as an optic. But we had larger magnified thermal optics for all the M240, M2, and Mk19.
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  16. it's been tried many times, even way back in WW2. just no practical. best use I can think of is replacing Police camera helicopters, or news helicopters.
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  17. Better than walking. For foot soldiers, it's awesome.
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  18. except Israel fights in a desert, and China will be fighting on islands and very wet/mountainous terrain.
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  19.  @yiyangqin4527  wrong. they understood that steep mountains are not good for tanks. notice the lack of US armor in the steep mountains of Afghanistan. Also, transporting tanks and offloading them on islands is hard. the smaller and lighter the tank though, the easier it gets, and the more you can transport. Look at the tiny tankettes Italy used to fight in the mountains.
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  20.  @ChefofWar33  I wore Level 3 in Iraq and Afghanistan. A few guys in my platoon had the bright idea of testing it and shot their plates with their M4 rifles. Penetrated. Level 3 is designed to stop 7.62 (and likely will stop 6.8).
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  21. A-10s have operated in Radar Guided AAA and SAM defended airspace in multiple wars.
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  22.  @kurtwicklund8901  wrong. they understood that steep mountains are not good for tanks. notice the lack of US armor in the steep mountains of Afghanistan. Also, transporting tanks and offloading them on islands is hard. the smaller and lighter the tank though, the easier it gets, and the more you can transport. Look at the tiny tankettes Italy used to fight in the mountains. China, Korea, SE Asia, pacific islands, are not friendly to heavy armor. the terrain is too steep, too wet, lots of rivers to cross, and it's hard to move large armor to islands. Large tanks are sitting ducks in the terrain china will fight in.
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  23.  @JK3-w3c  we didn't have to leave Afghanistan, we chose to leave. The simple fact is the modern bloated US gov bereaucracy had no idea how to properly handle turning Afghanistan into a stable country. Many of us actually did know, but were powerless to do anything about it.
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  24.  @andreivaldez2929  agreed, like flying cars. but hoverboards and exoskeleton suits do exist. Hoverboards are not really practical. but the exoskeleton suits have already been used outside fo R&D.
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  25. A pilot can transition from one airframe to another. the basics are the same. and no one is just handing them the keys, they are training pilots on the planes.
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  26.  @NatiSgt  my unit got the M16A4 in 2006, didn't get M4 until 2010. But I loved both the M16A4 and the M4. Still would be my weapon of choice if I deployed again tomorrow.
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  27.  @SpaghetteMan  and how does china plan to get these to taiwan? Also, if China managed to establish a beachhead and take a port city, where will many of the Taiwanese people go? into the defensible mountains where the IFVs can't follow and are sitting ducks.
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  28. exactly, that's why Japan had few and smaller tanks in WW2.
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  29.  @lizadonrex  "you will regret when facing the PLA" not at all. It would be no different than Afghanistan. Most people can't shoot accurately at 300m, and I can hit accurately more than 2x as far as that with an M4. Gotta consider terrain, training, tactics, and more. The Sig rifles is VERY unreliable, too many moving parts. too many opening for debris to get in, too heavy, and doesn't rally offer performance markedly better than the 5.56 when you think about it. And a simple barrel swap would enable the M4 to get more performance as well. I see no reason nor advantage to switching from the M4 to Sig.
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  30. Humvee isn't obsolete, just wasn't teh right tool for the missions it was given in a counterinsurgency war. The JLTV is far too big to replace the Humvee for the more general and administrative tasks.
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  31.  @jar407  any failures were due to old worn out weapons and magazines, and later lack of proper care by individual soldiers. teh M16A2, A3, A4 and M4 are VERY reliable and easy to keep in good working order.
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  32. because speed has stopped being as important as it used to be. Efficiency, cost, range, maintenance, etc. have become more important and such improvements are less flashy and less understood by the public. The F-35 has amazing engines, and the future engines for the 6th gen NGAD and others is poised to be a big improvement. The B-21 uses F-35 engines to simplify logistics and reduce costs. But innovations in thrust, efficiency, and manufacturing are making big improvements. you just don't see it.
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  33. M4 with a good optic comes pretty close. can penetrate body armor (5.56), low recoil, light, compact, easy to maintain, easy to mod, comes in many calibers and configs, accurate. With an advanced optic guys could be hitting well beyond 600m with it. I was hitting 450-500m in Afghanistan with EASE with the M4, Eotech, and a 3X flip away zoom. The 5.56 has also been shown to be able to hit man-sized targets beyond 1000yds by multiple people. Imagine the improvement in range average joe could get out of the M4 with this new optic attached.
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  34.  @tylerphuoc2653  a mechanic is a mechanic. bolts work the same regardless. seals work the same. you follow instruction manuals the same, you apply torque specs the same. the operating principles are all teh same. Jet engines work the same, just assembled differently. Electronics work the same. Are you saying someone who works on muscle cars can't work on a Tesla? Just need some familiarization training, not a big deal. Are you done whining and making excuses?
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  35.  @jaylee5692  We had M16A4 with Irons in Ramadi, but I ran the Eotech for close range in Afghanistan, and added my personal 3X zoom to get better distance accuracy like an acog. Hitting at 500m with that setup was a breeze. "AT4, that was a throw away if you had to use it so i don't count that." doesn't matter, it costs money. And we'd have 2-3 in a truck for blowing through mud walls. Only a few people got M9s, I carried one for a few months plus my M4.
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  36.  @waefawawrgaw2835  who is starving in the US? I can feed an adult for less than $30/month. We have food banks and charities, welfare, etc. Stop telling lies. Poverty was all but eliminated in the US. Almost every job is paying well above poverty line. Poverty in the US today is a CHOICE. US healthcare is the best in the world, and that's a fact. it's also expensive due to corporatism of the insurance companies, doctor's union, and big pharma like pfizer colluding with the gov to keep prices high and stamp out any competition. I drew up a business plan a few years ago to offer MRI for $40 each, and Xrays for $20 each, and it was hugely profitable, but illegal in my state. US spends the most on education in the world, the failure is due to gov run education, no child left behind, stripping teachers of authority and discretion, lack of parenting, woke nonsense being taught rather than history and math, and emphasis on testing rather than actual learning. Private schools in the US are doing FAR better on Far less money, and the students, parents, and teachers are all happier. Also, homeschooling is an option and homeschooled kids overall outperform their public school peers in college due to a variety of factors. So stop whining, stop lying, stop making excuses, and stop spreading false propaganda.
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  37. add a 105 to the JLTV? We already have Strykers.
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  38. yes, you can lose coms, but the number of directions you can be ambushed from in a tunnel are NOT "countless", they are in fact rather limited.
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  39.  @designsbyphilip510  They would be good for search, but not rescue. They are best for things like police work, replace news helicopters, etc. Roles in which hovering is not required, but slow flight is, as is flying over congested areas with few emergency landing spaces. They are cheaper to own and operate than helicopters, and can be equipped with cameras and such for observation. Might be good for some misc missions like science, where yo could touch down and let your science passenger collet samples, data, etc. But helicopters currently do those jobs. Makes me wonder what I'm missing about why gyrocopters aren't used in those roles. Gyroplanes are easy to spot on radar due to their rotor blades. hard to mask them with stealth.
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  40.  @ChefofWar33  I claimed it can defeat level 3 body armor, which is rated for 7.62, as I've seen it done for real in Iraq. I have no personal experience with level 4, and made no claims to such, therefore how about you stop making up things that were never claimed and stick to the facts? Yes, in most cases there are reasons NOT to run body armor. SF have figured this out, and very few militaries around the world have yet adopted body armor as standard practice. in some environments and battlefields body armor is a liability due to weight and heat. But I see that almost no one in these comments understands nuance and variables. Even the US military is training without body armor again, depending upon the situation, mission, etc.
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  41.  @Castragroup  "Su 35 has entered the chat" and..... they are getting shot down over Ukraine. Just a slightly better Su27. No match for the F-16, F-15, F-22, or F-35.
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  42.  @jessesellers9873  Yes, I came in with BDUs too, those were SOOOOO nice and durable. All they should have done was put the multicam print on the BDUs and removed the torso pockets, and added the shoulder pockets. Angled and velcro upper pockets (to get the buttons out from under the armor), leave the buttons on the pants pockets. Would have been a far better uniform.
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  43.  @yuriandrigani  Time and a place for everything. But is driving this through a city any worse than a slow moving foot patrol through the same city? It should be used appropriately, but it has far more uses in far more places than people want to admit or even think about. But, to use no-armor tactics effectively, you need people who are well versed in the art and science of warfare. Understand your mission, understand the threats and know how to defeat/outsmart them, and really gotta know your logistical considerations. No-armor tactics opens a whole world of possibilities, but everyone is too afraid to even consider them. People have gotten too comfortable hiding, rather than adjusting their tactics appropriately. There are better ways to fight than what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan, people just refuse to consider such alternatives.
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  44. you forgot the cost of fuel, weapons, and pilots/training. not cheap at all.
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  45. and cost so much more in terms of training and personnel than an infantry charge on that air defense.
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  46.  @theimmortal4718  Korea? SE Asia? Taiwan? Pacific islands? All mountainous terrain, wet, steep valleys, lots of rivers, or require lots of ships to move all those heavy IFVs from island to island.
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  47.  @TheRezro  Isreal is not an expeditionary force, and fights in open desert. The Nordic countries are also not expeditionary and thus don't care about being able to transport their tanks across oceans to assault islands. The US is expeditionary, and also is the ONLY nation with teh logistical capability to move heavy armor anywhere in the world. And even then, it takes a huge effort and cost for the US to do so.
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  48.  @GhostRider-ku7bb  "Your idea is just an idea and that doesn't mean your idea is suitable and applicable in afghanistan " True, but you don't even know what it is. But my idea has been tried successfully multiple times in the last century. And you notion of a new group emerging is nonsense. Yes, ISIS gives that impression, but make no mistake they were created intentionally by Obama in an attempt to overthrow Assad. He destabilized Iraq to enable ISIS to form, to try to start a civil war in Syria to remove Assad from power. "after your country abandon the country" see, you're judging my plan, which you don't know, based upon a future event, which never would have happened under my plan. you're not displaying a high level of intelligence here. You're proving unable to properly sequence cause and effect in the proper order.
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  49.  @GhostRider-ku7bb  yes, insults is all you can do. No, there was no colonization effort, if there had been, we'd have never left, and we'd have never installed a non-US gov. US rule of law would have applied.
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  50. I was hitting 450-500m in Afghanistan with EASE with the M4, Eotech, and a 3X flip away zoom. The 5.56 has also been shown to be able to hit man-sized targets beyond 1000yds by multiple people. Imagine the improvement in range average joe could get out of the M4 with this new optic attached. 5.56 also penetrates body armor.
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