Comments by "Billy Bob" (@davidrobertsemail) on "BFBS Forces News" channel.

  1.  @woolyimage  all equipment is doing nothing if we aren’t at war. This war clearly indicates that yet again tanks are needed. We shouldn’t be giving what we have away. If we had a surplus that’s a different matter. We don’t have enough of anything in any service.
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  2.  @woolyimage  they shouldn’t be in storage they should be active. We need more than we have both active and in storage combined. Challenger 3 is just an upgrade and we have lost our ability to make tanks as Germany is upgrading them. Also when they eventually arrive we won’t have enough of them. It’s like this across all branches for all equipment and personnel.
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  3.  @woolyimage  it is where we are and many people have been pointing this out for decades. We find money to defend Ukraine but not for our own military. A navy without ships, an army without tanks and an Air Force without planes.
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  4.  @woolyimage  let Europe give away their kit. We gave up our aircraft carriers and scrapped our harriers because we were told they weren’t needed. Then six months later they were needed. 8 years later we have one barely operating carrier. The other doesn’t work and has no planes. Type 45s don’t work and there are only six of them. New frigates are a long way off and they are at least half as many as required. IF they get built. As to Putin’s invasion. A decade ago some people were warning against EU/NATO expansion too far east because it might provoke a response from Russia. The same people warning about cuts to our military and provoking Russia proved to be right. Now we are told Ukraine needs our equipment more than us. Tough it’s not theirs. We paid for it and we don’t have enough money to fund our military as it is. Giving away what we can’t afford to give away is what’s happening. We all want Putin to lose and Ukraine to win but at what cost to us?
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  5.  @woolyimage  if Putin takes a third of Ukraine how does that effect us? The warnings about eastward EU/NATO expansion too close to Russia turned out to be accurate. 10 years ago people like Farage warned about it and he has been proved right. Millions of ethnic Russians live in the Baltic states and we are lucky Putin didn’t react when they joined the EU and NATO. Ukraine was too much of a provocation. Our policy led to this war. All predicted and proved right.
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  6.  @woolyimage  the imperialist EU created this problem. Can’t you even admit Farage was right? He predicted this. Another endless war tgat drains the west. China grows stronger every day. Russia is a sideshow. If we wanted to beat Russia we would end the war on fossil fuels that has driven up the price of oil which is funding Russias war machine. Low oil prices keeps Putin in check.
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  7.  @woolyimage  ethnic Russians live in Ukraine. Millions. The baltic states as well. You think bringing NATO troops to Russias border wasn’t provocative? How about ethnic Russians being conscripts in NATO armies? View it from Russias perspective. This was predicted a decade ago. An avoidable war. Putin’s evil sure. So is the CCP I’m more concerned about the CCP than Putin and his economically insignificant country.
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  8.  @woolyimage  Stalin moved millions of ethnic Russians all around the Soviet Union. Estonia for example has 1.4 million people but 400,000 are ethnic Russians. Ukraine has millions of ethnic Russians. Like it not where they live is their home. Imagine a different history where the Soviet Union expanded to include France and there were 5 million Brits living there and they were conscripted into the Warsaw pact army. People predicted this war and pointed out how to avoid it. Our political class ignored it and Ukraine is now a wasteland and a generation are dead or crippled. We are in another endless was that’s costing a fortune. It’s a poor argument when any criticism of this war gets you called a Putin apologist. Go look at the human cost on Telegram of young men dying from shrapnel wounds. It’s horrific and it was avoidable. Peace should be the goal. As quickly as possible. How we define what’s acceptable should be the debate.
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  9.  @woolyimage  another cheap shot. I was right 10 years ago before the first invasion and I’m right now. Prolonging this war is not in our best interests.
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  10.  @woolyimage  you are frustrated? I predicted this ten years ago I was right. I predicted this last invasion if Biden got into office. I was right again. I know what Putin is and I know our political leaders are just as bad. They do nothing about genocide and concentration camps in China but they want to look strong so they throw our children’s money at one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Not only was this avoidable this is now a losing strategy for us. Iran is getting heaven knows what nuclear or missile technology from Russia thanks to this. North Korea as well. China and Russia are now closer. Our deterrent against Chinese aggression in Taiwan is weakening by the day. Our economies are being damaged and our military is being further hollowed out. None of this is good. I cheer every Ukrainian success but I’m not ignorant of the cost of another endless war.
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  11.  @woolyimage  our means the western world. Uk Europe US. It’s noteworthy you haven’t addressed the consequences of this war I highlighted. The TV commentary avoids the knock on problems we will face down the road as well.
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  12. This isn’t journalism it’s anti Trump propaganda.
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  13. It’s been a disaster.
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  14.  @splatoonistproductions5345 operationally you only have about 60% available. So enough for one carrier. The Air Force f35s were canceled so they are now being shared. So at a stretch there will only be enough for one carrier.
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  15. They don’t drop bombs! Jeez.
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  16. All should be upgraded.
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  17. Our military has become a joke. What little we have we give away. What’s left doesn’t work and if it did it’s not enough. …..but diversity is our greatest strength so it’s all good…
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  18. Propaganda that didn’t mention the port is part of Chinas belt and road. Britain will only have access if China allows it.
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  19. Fighting age men are being imported into our military bases and our military is being cut.
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  20.  @admiralmallard7500  they are supposed to have 36 on board which means you would need several more per ship for maintenance and training.
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  21.  @tonys1636  getting rid of our light carriers and scrapping our harrier fleet before a replacement was available. Politicians also chose 65,000 ton carriers with ski jumps! Moronic idea. Much better to replace our three light carriers with three new light carriers with f35bs Politicians created this debacle. Now we have two huge carriers with half an air wing between them.
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  22.  @admiralmallard7500  large carriers make sense if we were buying the f35c We have been buying the f35b We don’t have enough escort ships or any early warning. We have ended up with two huge ski jump carriers, no early warning or escorts and half an air wing for one carrier. Also no carrier operations for nearly a decade. We shouldn’t have retired our small carriers or harriers until a replacement was ready. I can remember arguing this 10 years ago. We could have had new light carriers with harriers flying off them and replace them with f35bs as they were delivered. Now we have two very big targets.
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  23.  @admiralmallard7500  we don’t have early warning as we retired them before the e7-a was available and the helicopter based early warning is inadequate. We should have double the destroyers and frigates but that’s another problem that overlaps the carriers. Replacing the light carriers like fir like was argued for a long time ago. Politicians and top brass got their big shiny ships and the rest of the navy was cut. Equipped with the wrong planes for their size. The f35b is ideal for light carriers because of its short range. Every time I see these ships I see government incompetence and military weakness. Jeez aircraft carriers without aircraft, early warning or escorts. You couldn’t make it up.
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  24.  @simonbird1973  the delay is not at the production end it’s ordering them and paying for them.
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  25.  @barrybeebenson8102  six destroyers that don’t work is not nearly enough. Not enough frigates either. It’s a joke. Massive big targets with no aircraft or protection.
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  26. Tungst In June, when this was first raised in the Lords, the defence procurement minister, Lord Drayson, insisted that these unarmoured Land Rovers provided "the level of protection we need". Asked why the British Army was not, like most other coalition troops in Iraq, equipped with mine-protected RG 31s, he replied that the Army had used them in Bosnia and found them wanting. He was later forced to admit, grudgingly, that the vehicles used in Bosnia were not RG 31s
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  27. How about Europe pay for it’s own war? How about Germany giving long range weapons to Ukraine?
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  28. What an embarrassment.
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  29. There’s no money for the military. Whatever we get there won’t be enough. Just shop window dressing.
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  30. Nope
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  31. This is pro war propaganda. Fuel and food inflation is caused by sanctions on Russia. Remove the sanctions that don’t work anyway.
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  32. VIPICCB6 the latter half of my last post was in regards to the cheaper type 31s As to the limited number of f35s we will be getting it applies as well to the f35bs which are a compromise on such a large carrier.
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  33.  @1chish  yes. Have you read his articles on the subject? Very informative.
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  34.  @1chish  you aren’t very polite. If the A400 was so great why is everyone upset about it? You know the 130 is a proven platform and off the shelf means ready to purchase not sitting on a runway. How long and how much did we have to wait for the a400! My goodness do you have shares or something?
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  35. The REAL reason the US military can’t recruit us because of the vaccine mandates and the woke nonsense! If Forces TV wants to report the facts it should play footage of the congressional investigations on the subject! Woke is destroying the military.
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  36. Full speed ahead training Chinese pilot’s!!!
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  37. This is all to appease Biden voters that hate Israel. There’s no logic to it whatsoever. Too much did us getting in to northern Gaza. The problem is distribution not aid. $320 million wasted. Also hamas has already been firing mortars at it and small arms fire. This puts American soldiers on the ground in Gaza for zero benefit. …..except Biden’s politics.
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  38. Out of date reporting. 4 of the 8 brigades in reserve have been deployed already. They were being held in reserve to exploit a breakthrough instead they are being used to break the defensive lines.
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  39. Biden is owned by China. That’s why he let it spy in the US
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  40. There won’t be enough to matter.
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  41.  @tams805  debt trap colonization. Sri Lanka, Pakistan, etc.
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  42. It’s all a big scam. Shouldn’t the military be designed to win wars?
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  43. It is a joke though
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  44. I though British Pilots/Traitors were too busy teaching Chinese pilots how to kill Americans.
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  45. Chinese military have lots of opportunities for RAF fighter pilots!
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  46. Wow. Will we get some more ships to put the 5” gun on?
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  47.  @abrahamdozer6273  so half an air wing isn’t enough for two carriers. Glad we got that cleared up. We also agree on the wrong type of carriers and the wrong type of aircraft. We should have had three smaller ski ramp or two flat top catapults. Politicians made these mistakes and people like me can be vindicated for our criticisms of them at the time. The reality is these are a joke and a huge waste of money without planes, early warning aircraft, crew and escorts.
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  48.  @john_in_phoenix  that’s a silly point. One or two are in dry dock at any given point. All seaworthy ships that could be active have enough planes. Also f 35cs are being deployed.
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  49.  @john_in_phoenix  it’s a silly point to compare the UKs two carriers with half an air wing between them with the US super carriers air wing. This thread is about a UK carrier back “On station” after repairs but it’s got zero planes! Apples and oranges.
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  50.  @john_in_phoenix  you are defending aircraft carriers without planes! Are you American? The history of our carrier force is that they were retired early and scrapped to save money. We had modernized harriers and we scrapped them. Now we have two silly aircraft carriers designed by committee with no planes, early warning or escort ships. The scrapping of our carriers and planes caused this debacle.the US has enough planes to cover any delay in f35c deliveries. The UK government keeps cutting the number of planes. It’s plan is never to have enough to fully equip both carriers. In ten years time they will be mothballing o e carrier or selling it on. A ridiculous waste of money.
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