Discussion of Military, real or fictional

[The Old Hack 2,516]

8 hours ago, mlooney said:

I'll assume that there is some sarcasm there, I haven't seen any Futurama, so I may not be fully getting the reference.

Zapp Brannigan was a satire on Captain Kirk who achieved fame and glory through recklessly sacrificing his men and never entering danger himself.

[mlooney 3,833]

12 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Zapp Brannigan was a satire on Captain Kirk who achieved fame and glory through recklessly sacrificing his men and never entering danger himself.

But did he make out with green alien babes?

[The Old Hack 2,516]

27 minutes ago, mlooney said:

But did he make out with green alien babes?

Well, he *tried*...

Didn't normally go over well.

[mlooney 3,833]

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

Well, he *tried*...

Didn't normally go over well.

Does making out with random women really ever go well?

[The Old Hack 2,516]

31 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Does making out with random women really ever go well?

In defense of Captain Kirk, in TOS he normally acted like a gentleman and the green women tended to be interested in him first. It was only later writing that turned him into a womanizer.

In non-defense of Zapp, he would come on hard to women and never take 'no' for an answer.

[mlooney 3,833]

2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

In defense of Captain Kirk, in TOS he normally acted like a gentleman and the green women tended to be interested in him first. It was only later writing that turned him into a womanizer.

As oppossed to Riker in TNG after he grew his beard.

[The Old Hack 2,516]

5 hours ago, mlooney said:

As oppossed to Riker in TNG after he grew his beard.

That beard did save him from looking like he was 17 years old.

[mlooney 3,833]

2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

That beard did save him from looking like he was 17 years old.

True.  The already had a real teenaged twerp to deal with.

[Darth Fluffy 378]

On 3/17/2026 at 10:04 AM, The Old Hack said:

It was one of very few he won. I will admit that 'throwing my men in waves at the enemy until they run out of ammo' puts in mind that fabled military genius Zapp Brannigan of Futurama fame.

. . . or Vladimir Putin?

[The Old Hack 2,516]

10 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

. . . or Vladimir Putin?

Well, in his case it is more 1) his own men running out of ammo and 2) keep throwing them into the grinder regardless.

Exhausting the enemy's ammo supply as a strategy only really works if they can't actually replenish their supplies.

[The Old Hack 2,516]

I would like to make a matter clear.

Recent sensationalist news claim that Danish troops have been ordered to open fire on US soldiers if they land on Greenland. This is incorrect, or rather, incomplete to the point of being mendacious.

Ever since 1952 the armed forces of Denmark have all been subject to what is called Forholdsordren, in English the Precautionary Directive. It states that in case of a violation of Danish sovereign territory, all forces are ordered to immediately defend as if a war had been declared without waiting for instructions from higher up. This is the first thing we are taught as recruits and is the basis for the entire operational model of our armed forces. Furthermore all instructions to stand down or surrender are to be disregarded and all orders from authorities potentially compromised by enemy control are to be ignored. In addition such an event will immediately trigger a general mobilisation and all reserves are to muster at their assigned units/spawn points.

The basis for this directive stemmed from the events of April 9, 1940 during which our country got overrun by the Wehrmacht in a matter of hours and with very little resistance from Danish armed forces. It was considered a national humiliation and left deep scars behind. Thus this directive was issued in order to reduce or prevent the possibility of confusion and absence of directions paralysing our forces in a similar way again.

Given the Precautionary Directive, this order is not specifically aimed at the US.  Danish troops will open fire on anyone who violates our sovereignty regardless of nationality, be they Russian, German, American or even a force of bollocking cardinals from the Vatican armed with censers and shepherd's crooks. You step over the line, you get shot at. Nothing personal, we just want you dead and/or gone.

I realise that it is tempting to view this as defiance thrown into the teeth of the US, but it is really just business as usual as far as we are concerned.

[Don Edwards 583]

And it should be the standard response of any country to an armed invasion.

[mlooney 3,833]

1 hour ago, Don Edwards said:

And it should be the standard response of any country to an armed invasion.

You would think, but there are some that don't have that sort of response.

[The Old Hack 2,516]

3 hours ago, mlooney said:

You would think, but there are some that don't have that sort of response.

Well, Denmark didn't previous to April 9, 1940. We learned the hard way. 

[mlooney 3,833]

Not quite enough to trigger Art. 5, unless Estonia wants to push it.

https://www.euronews.com/2026/03/25/russian-drone-strikes-estonia-power-plant-chimney-authorities-say

[The Old Hack 2,516]

On 3/25/2026 at 4:27 PM, mlooney said:

Not quite enough to trigger Art. 5, unless Estonia wants to push it.

It might not even have been intentional. But even if it were, I'd think carefully before citing it as casus belli. And even more carefully about the timing of it.

[mlooney 3,833]

Congrats to the Moskva on its 4th anniversary of being promoted to submarine.

[mlooney 3,833]

https://defence-blog.com/ukraine-tests-hornet-strike-drone-launched-from-aerostat/

[Don Edwards 583]

Considering the war in progress, I'd prefer to see somewhat less detailed reporting of combat capabilities. At least on the side we support.

[mlooney 3,833]

1 hour ago, Don Edwards said:

Considering the war in progress, I'd prefer to see somewhat less detailed reporting of combat capabilities. At least on the side we support.

I suspect that they are underreporting the range advantage it has.  Also, to be honest, there isn't much the Russians can do with this info.  

[The Old Hack 2,516]

On 5/22/2026 at 9:22 PM, mlooney said:

I suspect that they are underreporting the range advantage it has.  Also, to be honest, there isn't much the Russians can do with this info.  

They could celebrate that they are getting hit from a longer way away.

[mlooney 3,833]

3 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

They could celebrate that they are getting hit from a longer way away.

Yeah.  That being said, based on the ground launch range of the drone, I suspect that the Ukrainian journalists are vastly underreporting the new range.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,669]

 

11 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

They could celebrate that they are getting hit from a longer way away.

There are college football teams with winless records so long against certain teams that the school, alumni & boosters celebrate the anniversaries of close games. 

Would the Japanese Navy celebrate that, except for ten minutes, the Battle of Midway destroyed America's ability to fight in the Pacific for at least a year? 

 

[mlooney 3,833]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/27/ukraine-war-briefing-shoot-down-drones-yourself-russia-tells-its-banks

That's one way to pay for air defense systems.

[The Old Hack 2,516]

On 5/27/2026 at 4:08 AM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Would the Japanese Navy celebrate that, except for ten minutes, the Battle of Midway destroyed America's ability to fight in the Pacific for at least a year? 

Why not. They had already lost the war by then anyway.