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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
US Military Dusts Off Decades-Old 'Readiness' Plans for Russia
2014-07-29
""We're looking inside our own readiness models to look at things that we haven't had to look at for 20 years,
huh?! Is "reactive" part of the "leading from behind" thingie?
I suspect we are going to be living is a state of "surprise" for some time forward.
frankly, about basing and lines of communication and sea lanes," Gen. Martin Dempsey, America's top military officer, said at the Aspen Security Forum Thursday evening. "What the military does when faced with these crises is -- our job is preparedness, deterrence and readiness."
Precisely. I find it very hard to believe nobody has war-gamed Russia for two full decades. This strikes me more as posturing for Putin's benefit, not to mention the kind of foreign policy win preferred by the Smartest Men in the Room.
Posted by:Uncle Phester

#17  Fulda requires a whole bunch of equipment.
Posted by: newc   2014-07-29 13:02  

#16  And in the 80s 8id and V Corps was spy infested, as you note with Szabos protege Conrad, may he be rotting in hell.
Posted by: OldSpook   2014-07-29 12:38  

#15  8thID? REMFs. Heh. 2ACR. Us and the Black Horse were USAEURs speed bumps for GSOFG. 1GTA, 8GA, Fula up there, coburg and Hof and the "ghost autobahn" where I was. And that beautiful Czech border (because the put their fences back from the border). I still remember patrolling that on skis with the GSG, the border stones that go back to the Middle Ages. Firewood boxes out in the woods. Leave a carton of US Marlboro reds, get a case of damned good Pils the next day on patrol in the same box.
Posted by: OldSpook   2014-07-29 12:27  

#14  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Lee_Conrad
Posted by: Lone Ranger   2014-07-29 12:11  

#13  Hello Bill Clinton (???? Zipper control problem???)

I hear you. Fulda Gap, Hohe Roehn, Tann Pocket, etc.

Retroactively, I learned of a minor problem. As G-3 Plan Officer (1984), my Section NCO had a higher security clearance (SCI) than I did. So - he ran the TS-SCI vault. Who was this upstanding NCO? None other than (then SFC) Clyde Conrad - as in

And SP4 Jeffrey Rondeau was my driver!!!!

For JFM: It was a defensive plan - designed to VERY aggressively kill the logistics chain, at every point along the way from Mother Russia to the IGB (Inter-German Border).
Posted by: Lone Ranger   2014-07-29 12:09  

#12  Hey LONE RANGER,

I was a recon platoon leader for the 8ID in Bad Kreuznach.

When I was on the G-2 staff at VCORPS, I came up with a worst case scenario that was immediately classified TS and tossed in the bottom of the TS safe in the document vault. I wonder how many of my little action plans I wrote as we were constantly fine-tuning the General Defense Plan.

I did have a fine moment as an S-2 officer in the 8ID. I had a Colonel lecture me at length one day about the content of one of the annexes of a contingency plan...he and I disagreed on the intent of the plan...he went on and on and I finally shut him town by turning the page on the document he was waving around and showed him my name at the bottom of the page.

Anyway, I wonder how many of us know more about the defense of the Fulda Gap than anyone currently on active duty with the US Army?
Posted by: Bill Clinton   2014-07-29 11:22  

#11  Why worry about Russia when you've surrendered your southern border? How many Americans died in 9/11 and how many have died at the hands of illegals since? You have failed in your primary mission.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2014-07-29 08:45  

#10  Hypothetical next: A (new) non aggression pact between Russia and Germany, because it worked so well the last time.
Posted by: ed in texas   2014-07-29 07:22  

#9  Lone Ranger. America has beter things toi do tan coming to blows wth Russia. Muslims, China just to name a few.
Posted by: JFM   2014-07-29 05:10  

#8  Verlaine. During none of the Presidents during Cold War was laftist Muslim wanting America and Western civilization destroyed.
Posted by: JFM   2014-07-29 05:09  

#7  Ahhh ... time to dust off "Air-Land Battle" doctrine. I once had a front-row seat, as G-3 Plans Officer for 8th ID (M), in beautiful Bad Kreuznach.
Posted by: Lone Ranger   2014-07-29 04:25  

#6  Us old farts told them plenty, but nobody wanted to hear it. They all believed the tiger could change his stripes and become a zebra.
Posted by: OldSpook   2014-07-29 03:46  

#5  I cannot come up with a plausible scenario that would cause the country to act in a serious fashion again. Posted by Verlaine

Nor can I.
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-07-29 02:55  

#4  The very idea of the US coming to blows with the russkis now is even less plausible than it was for most of the Cold War, but for precisely the opposite reasons. Not fear of armageddon as two behemoths slug it out. More the limp, flaccid, unserious lukewarm condition of the west, and the US. Can anyone imagine what now passes for the US using force on any significant level? Forget the rub-your-eyes-am-I-really-seeing-this "leadership" - I'm talking about the electorate and society. I cannot come up with a plausible scenario that would cause the country to act in a serious fashion again.
Posted by: Verlaine   2014-07-29 02:45  

#3  Thanks DV, I needed that.
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-07-29 02:35  

#2  We've outlawed Russia.
Posted by: DarthVader   2014-07-29 02:04  

#1  Gen. Martin Dempsey .......... "What the military does when faced with these crises is -- our job is preparedness, deterrence and readiness."

That must be why we're sending RIF notices to personnel currently deployed to Afghanistan. Nicely played Marti, saying one thing whilst doing yet another. Very regime like, very presidential.
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-07-29 01:50  

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