Instagram Vs. Reality.

No, I am not here to post some funny video, albeit I love sometimes scarecams because often being silly and startled, people showing their true colors after being scared, is endearing in 80% of cases when people laugh it off and reactions are genuine and very human, immediately manifesting human nature. As I said, in 80% of cases it is endearing and kind, and funny--being genuinely funny is one of the hallmarks of being kind. I love kindness in people together with self-irony. This, however, is different:

This is an excellent demonstration of the abyss separating image and perception from reality. This is a foundation of modern West's policies. Delusional and dangerous, primarily against the West itself. Volumes will be written on the utter delusion of "Instagram" capabilities and tactical-operational realities which the US only now begins to see in full. 

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has spent a great deal of time pleading with his allies for weapons and permission to use them to their full capabilities. But his administration is now pleading simply for the delivery of weapons that have already been pledged. Currently, these delays are the result of U.S. Department of Defense protocols that affect the drawdown rates of U.S. stockpiles. Each of the services is required to keep certain quantities of weapons and ammunition in reserve in case of war, and they are not allowed to dip below these levels. Such concerns are not without precedent. In the Second World War, during the German invasion of France in 1940, Winston Churchill had to deny French requests for Royal Air Force support. Churchill knew that every British plane would be required for the upcoming Battle of Britain. However, the United States is nowhere near such a crisis.

Actually, the US is in this crisis because it doesn't have resources and capabilities to conduct REAL war for even a couple of weeks as many admit openly. Nor, unlike GB in 1940, does the US face any danger to itself. It never did in modern times. Modern times being since Civil War, and even then, those Russkies sent couple of naval squadrons to San-Francisco and New York and that had a chilling effect on Great Britain. So, in other words, the US simply doesn't check any box related to real war as it is fought in real continental framework. Hence such an absurd claim by two former marines who, obviously, got their education from Hollywood...

The war in Ukraine is at risk of being lost—not because the Russians are winning but because Ukraine’s allies have not allowed them to win. If we encourage the Ukrainians to fight while failing to give them the tools they need for victory, history will surely conclude that the Russians weren’t the only ones who committed crimes against Ukraine.  

This, mind you, comes from people who claim their acquaintance with combat. Instagram combat. Not to diminish their experiences with death but when your tactical-technological "combat" experience is reduced to at most IEDs, RPGs and small arms fires (with the exception of Vietnam--Vietnamese had artillery and tanks) from the enemy--they should try to fight and command at least a platoon under the conditions of receiving long-range fires and facing off Russian storm groups. Well, none of them knows what it is. As per strategic assessments and understanding the nature, scale and scope of real war--it is too much to expect from people with such background: 

Ackerman studied literature and history at Tufts University, where he also joined Naval ROTC (Marine Corps option). He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2003. He holds a master's degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He also completed many of the United States military's most challenging special operations training courses.

Try to explain to this guy how does motor-rifle brigade, netcentric, almost fully proofed from the air, supported by long-range fires and rolling wall of fire from artillery, and CAS and being tactically aware in real time, feel when making a breakthrough in your defenses and your comms are suppressed, your CAS is shot down and you are outranged--they don't teach this in USMC, especially on operational level. They simply have zero experience of that. It is especially difficult to explain to a guy with literature degree. Somebody has to explain to this veteran why US military is panicking...

Since the 1980s, America’s world ranking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has declined, placing our once unquestioned supremacy in technological innovation and application on par with or behind those of our economic and military adversaries. A recent warning from the Office of the Secretary of Defense Acquisition and Sustainment Industrial Policy declared the paucity of STEM-educated Americans may lead to a “permanent national security deficit.” The lack of STEM education extends to Army officers. In 2018, the Army Strategy assessed the strategic environment to include partners, allies, and adversaries leveraging “advanced capabilities” such as cyber, counter space, electronic warfare, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). This assessment has proven true in the Russia-Ukraine War, an artillery heavy war interwoven with the burgeoning development and implementation of new and evolving technologies that demand innovative thinking, alliances, and strategy informed by STEM+Management (STEM+M) 

Hey, it is not me, this is US Army veterans writing. In Parameters, no less. So, I have news for these Instagram "analysts": 

A higher level of STEM+M education within the officer corps provides three benefits:
1. it increases the technical knowledge required of Army officers in scientific, engineering, and management fields;
2. it enhances the development of problem-solving and critical thinking skills, such as human judgment, to address ill-defined, ambiguous, and complex, multilayered challenges;
and
3. it fosters integrating new ideas, technologies, and social interactions into the greater context of officer professional development. 

In all three the US military fails miserably. It is difficult to explain to a literature major from ROTC the operational realities which he simply will fail to grasp having about zero tool kit for professional understanding. In the end, without understanding the dynamics of modern warfare and models (ever adapting) on which operational planning is done it could be an exercise in futility explaining to these two USMC veterans why they managed to contradict themselves within one mid-size article and mindlessly parroted 404 propaganda. That's Instagram military incapable of facing a much more prosaic and unglamorous reality. If they only had Maverick on his F-14 Tomcat, nay, better a platoon of Rambos they would show those Russkies what the real war is and how to fight it.