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SPC David S.
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Something just doesn't seem right about all this. I know our 13F's work in 2 man teams and I would bet likewise with Russian Spetsnaz at least a two man team as to be effective with any cover fire. The Russians barely used forward air controllers (FAC's) in A'Stan but that was more likely terrain driving. As well Command, Control, and Communications (C3) for all of this seems way overly simplified as compared how these guys operated in A'Stan. To receive an airstrike, a junior-grade infantry officer would have to send the request, which would forwarded up to the division level in the Army and then over to the Air Force. Delays at each command level and communications point slowed this process. In A'Stan this was complicated as well as the Soviet army had neither aviation helicopters nor forward FAC's - although some were used in narrow limited capacity as helicopter scouts. Soviet air force helicopters and support aircraft are at the division level for Army interface. The compound communications structure tends to hamper support for truck convoys and airborne operations unless events proceed strictly in accordance with the advanced plan. An example of the communications problems that stem from this system can be seen in a July 1981 battle with guerrilla forces that occurred twelve miles from Kabul. In that situation Soviet close-air-support jets mistakenly strafed Soviet and Afghan army troops. This whole transcript does not sound like their MO. Seems like something hokie is going on.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
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Russia just passed a law: Vladimir Putin signed a law recently making all military casualties an official state secret.

It is too bad that Russia is descending into another (of many) eras of its history that is characterized by repression, the silencing of a free press and freedom of expression, and turning over their God given freedoms to another Strong Man like Putin who idolizes an idiot and Merciless Murderer like Stalin. If they did have a free press and it was kosher to report on the deeds or misdeeds of Russians fighting in Syria, we might have a more credible source (or more than one) of information to be able to verify the details of this story.

What we do know for sure, is that Russian planes have bombed indiscriminately Hospitals and schools in Rebel Controlled Syria, killing hundred of innocent men, women, and children.

Their forces do not operate with anywhere near our regard for civilian casualties or restrictive ROEs, nor do they conduct transparent and public investigations and press for criminal sanctions against members of their armed forces who kill innocents, as does the United States, and our NATO allies

We have chosen as a society to hold our war fighters responsible for their bad or negligent actions on the battlefield, even at the expense of handing our enemies a propaganda victory, because it is inline with our values and our ideas of Justice for all.

The Russian military under Putin, does not systemically operate with that level of Honor or accountability. Individual Russians may act bravely or with honor, but like Russia under the Soviets, and Stalin, they are fighting for an evil and corrupt regime, when they fight under and for Putin's Russia.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
8 y
I can't give this story a thumbs down or up, because it could very well be another Russian Propagandist planted story. So far we have seen the Russians engage brutally and bomb mercilessly in Syria to advance their goal of maintaining a bloody dictator in power, a war criminal who used chemical weapons indiscriminately against his own people, and who's barbarity is largely responsible for ISIS and other extremist groups rise in Syria. The Russians are not good guys in Syria, that is for damn sure.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
8 y
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SP5 Mark Kuzinski We also know that there are significant domestic concerns in Russia over the casualties incurred in the War in the Ukraine, and now the Russian's deepening involvement in the Syrian land War.

This story could very well have been "leaked" to help bolster morale in Russia and support for Putin's involvement in the Syrian Civil War.

I also would not put it past Putin to want to keep the Syrian War and Syrian refugee crisis going on in Europe. The Refugees are destabilizing the European Union and NATO, two strategic goals of Putin's.

Under his hero Stalin, the Soviet Union would engage in mass deportations and "resettlement" of millions of its people with little regard for the deaths of millions that caused due to starvation and internal dislocation.

Using the plight of the Syrian Refugees to destabilize Western Europe, is a page taken right out of Stalin's shameful and murderous History. Ronald Reagan got it exactly right , when he named the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire." Putin's regime is quickly becoming a shadow of its shameful Soviet Past. See: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/02/putin-weaponizing-migrant-crisis-to-hurt-europe.html
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
8 y
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski
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Great read - Thanks!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
8 y
As a Retired Spook always had a great deal of Respect for Spetsnaz!
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski
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