Pulled from another sub, dropping it here in case you didn't see it there. With so much crazy BS going on right now, we gotta keep up the good fight just like our predecessors did.

Executive Summary:

Poland is accelerating its military build-up for a projected war with Russia as Ukraine faces a potentially unfavorable outcome in the peace talks brokered by the Donald Trump administration.

Warsaw plans to introduce voluntary military training for all adult males and bolster Poland’s armed forces to half a million military personnel and reservists, in addition to increasing military spending and urging NATO allies to raise their defense budgets.

Poland’s military expansion is taking place amid a presidential election campaign, in which neither of the two major political camps wants to be perceived as weak on national security.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled, in a 2-1 decision, that more than 60,000 votes cast in last year’s tightly contested state Supreme Court race must now be verified and recounted. This comes after two recounts already confirmed the original outcome.

The ruling stems from a challenge by Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin, who lost the race and is now contesting the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters—many of whom are active-duty military members. These voters will have just 15 days to reverify their eligibility, despite already presenting valid ID when voting in person.

This is not just an attack on the outcome—it’s an attack on the right to vote. We have many in our coalition volunteering online tomorrow to call these voters and help ensure their ballots are counted. We’ll drop a link in the comments to sign up—please join us in reaching every single voter on this list.

Check your name, your friends, your family, and your neighbors: https://thegriffinlist.com And please spread the word across North Carolina.

He’s going to be sniping ISIS, oops I mean going to the ISS for the next 8 months.

April 5, 2025

Ukrainian Air Force drops two JDAM-ER (Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Rang) bombs on Russian infantry holed up in an abandoned building.

The bombs and JDAM kits both projects of the US defense industry. Boeing actually makes JDAM-ER kits in Canada.

This also shows the United States is still sharing intelligence with Ukraine. 🙏

What size bombs are these? I’m guessing a 500 lb MK 82 or 1,000 lb MK 83

https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/joint-direct-attack-munition-extended-range-jdam-usa/?cf-view

https://www.boeing.ca/products-and-services/defense-space-security/joint-direct-attack-munition#:~:text=JDAM%20Extended%20Range%20(JDAM%20ER,JDAMs%20are%20delivered%20every%20month.

I was recently invited to a black tie dinner (in the UK) and the invite says “Mess Dress or Black Tie” I was chatting to a friend of mine about it and I’ve decided to wear a Tuxedo with miniatures as there is a lot of conflicting information on if you can wear mess dress after retirement. For context I left the UK Royal Navy after 11 years service retiring as a Petty Officer (OR-6).

It seems that this practice varies massively country to country and as this is a pretty big sub I’d be interested to hear 1) your country, 2) your branch of service, and 3) if you are allowed or encouraged to wear any form of uniform after retiring.

I hope this will generate an interesting discussion on the different practices and how veterans in uniform are viewed.

My grandfather was a marine who served in Vietnam. I’m trying to locate information about his time in the service for a book I’m writing, but I’m having trouble doing so. Maybe this isn’t the right place, but can someone assist me on resources or where I could go to get info about his military service? I have one of his dog tags, but that’s really it.

The BOE Lautaro and the 7th special forces group training together in Chile 🇨🇱🇺🇸 2024

Little background: 30/F/Mother (SAHM until recently)

Currently traveling SE Asia with my little but that’s soon coming to an end. As bad as I don’t want to go back to the US, I have to. The biggest issue is I honestly don’t know what I’m doing with my life (outside of being a mom). It’s fucking hard out here and I’m tired of struggling. Been thinking really hard about joining the military (still researching branches and positions— lost isn’t even the word). I’d hate to leave my child behind while I go get my shit together but I’m not seeing another option.

My child would be safe and loved but the guilt of even thinking about it is driving me crazy.

Any parents here joined the military later in life?

How did you cope with leaving your little (mine is 4)?

Was it worth the time you missed out?

Also, any military related positions you recommend for someone with a background in teaching/education?

Free article in the link, but also snippets here:

“On Monday, The Washington Post reported that the White House has begun work on estimating the costs of controlling Greenland in “the most concrete effort yet to turn President Donald Trump’s desire to acquire the Danish territory into actionable policy.” Once these kinds of meetings start taking place in the White House, the next step is usually to send out orders to the rest of the American national-security establishment, including the CIA and the Pentagon, to begin planning for various contingencies.

Pauline Shanks Kaurin, a military-ethics professor at the Naval War College (where I also taught for many years) told me, speaking in her personal capacity and not on behalf of the Defense Department, that civilian leaders have “the right to be wrong,” but that if the United States moves against Greenland, especially if both America and Denmark are part of NATO, “senior military leaders have an obligation to advise against this course of action and resign if necessary.” Shanks Kaurin added that this obligation might even extend to a requirement to refuse to draw up any plans.

But what if the orders are less obvious? Trump long ago mastered the Mafia-like talent of making his desires evident without actually telling others to engage in unsavory acts. In that case, he could issue instructions to the military aimed at intimidating Greenland that on their face are legal but that are obviously aggressive.

Retired Major General Charles Dunlap, who served as the deputy judge advocate general of the U.S. Air Force and now teaches law at Duke, suggested that Trump could take advantage, for example, of the wide latitude given to the United States in its basing agreement with Greenland. The president, Dunlap told me in an email, could choose to engage in “a gross misreading of the agreement” and move a large number of troops to Greenland as “a show of force aimed at establishing a fait accompli of some kind.” Military officers are required to presume that commands from higher authority are legal orders, and so a series of directives aimed at swarming forces into Greenland would likely be obeyed, Dunlap said, “because of the potential ambiguity” of such directives “as well as the inference of lawfulness.”

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Hey so this is a bit tricky. My boyfriend is stationed in Germany and signed a 2 year contract for the house he lives in. He’s doesn’t live on base, he lives in a small town near base. Now we’re in a relationship and I’d like him to move to my hometown. It would be easier for him and me in a lot of ways. He thinks that he’s tied to the contract and that he can’t move. My parents have a perfect apartment in our street that we could rent. Housing even said yes to renting the apartment to an American. I’d love to move but my boyfriend thinks that there’s no possible chance of moving there.