Is a land war in the US possible?

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Is a land war in the US possible?

Blazing Ownager: Jun 2, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Irom posted:

we're probably not far from swarms of boston dynamics dog-bots with mounted machine guns doing all the fighting while we all collect UBI

To be honest, we're really not that far from replacing like, half of the infantry roles with drones. Why I said infantry carriers will be on the way out in the future for sure. Might be a decade or two before it gets serious.

ED: I mean the #1 military action in the middle east right now is escorting convoys. Automated driver technology is probably going to replace the ENTIRE thing; automated transports with remote, automated defenses and no crew, so they can stick a ton into armoring it. I can definitely see a world where the typical military convoy only has a couple humans with it for oversight and past that it's just all machine.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:26

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# ? May 11, 2024 07:56

General China: Aug 19, 2012; by Smythe

GORDON posted:

Ha!

I'll give that a pass because I trained with a few British Marines, and those guys are hard core.

Best light infantry in the world.

Goes back to the Seven Years War in America.

Via the war of independence, the peninsular war and countless others.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:27

Tricky D: Apr 1, 2005; I love um!

Blazing Ownager posted:

Not that I really disagree, but close infantry support from tanks would still be valuable asset. We still use them after all.

I was mainly pointing out the logistical problem of getting tanks into the country.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:27

GORDON: Jan 1, 2006; by Fluffdaddy

General China posted:

Best light infantry in the world.

Goes back to the Seven Years War in America.

Via the war of independence, the peninsular war and countless others.

I'll never forget the 5 mile run (sprint) with those guys in Spain... directly to a pub, where we all drank until we puked.

Then we ran (sprinted) back to base.

Those guys were some of the best people in the world.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:29

Blazing Ownager: Jun 2, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Tricky D posted:

Not that I really disagree, but close infantry support from tanks would still be valuable asset. We still use them after all.

I was mainly pointing out the logistical problem of getting tanks into the country.

Oh yeah. I even mentioned in the post you can't beat them against a building full of guys with rifles.

It's just sad to basically see them dialed down to "mobile gun and cover" and not the mental image everyone has of tanks thunderously blasting at each other like WW2.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:29

OXBALLS DOT COM: Sep 11, 2005; by FactsAreUseless; Young Orc

My Linux Rig posted:

ah so you use your gun to shoot the guys with the radio gotcha

Or the guys carrying the gas. This is what actually happened in Iraq.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:34

spacetoaster: Feb 10, 2014

Blazing Ownager posted:

Tanks are almost a joke now. Infantry carriers one day will be a joke, but are where it's at for the second.

Actual armored tank on tank combat is kind of like dinosaur fighting today, you only see it in ex-soviet countries that don't have better. Air superiority and missile superiority is all you ever need, and literally no traditional ground army can stand up to it.

i.e. if you suddenly took the joke scenario from Red Alert 2 where Russia invades the US through an alliance with Mexico and shows up with EVERY TANK THEY HAVE, I don't even know if the US would bring more than a couple tanks around to deal with them or if they'd get there before being utterly obliterated wholesale by air strikes.

From what I understand the only real place for armor on a modern battlefield is to put boots on the ground to enforce your will on the smoking aftermath. Most tanks in the middle east are basically just fancy anti-infantry support vehicles at this point. Like, the only reason we have them at all is they still can't be beat for facing off against dudes with rifles.

Basically outside of countries 60 years behind our technology level we'll never see true tank on tank combat that's not a lopsided joke ever again in human history.

I'm really hesitant to agree here. People have been saying that infantry and tanks and poo poo are completely obsolete and un-necessary for a really long time now.

You're assuming there will not be another massive ground war and all our strategists are saying there's one coming in about 20 years.

Also, air power is great. If you don't want to actually hold anything on the ground (or during bad weather).

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:35

OXBALLS DOT COM: Sep 11, 2005; by FactsAreUseless; Young Orc

Robots can't rape or torture people, so they won't replace manpower anytime soon.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:36

TROIKA CURES GREEK: Jun 30, 2015; by R. Guyovich

General China posted:

America hasn�t won a proper war for over 60 years. And then the Russians really won it for them.

The best it has done is Grenada and maybe Panama.

It�s poo poo at fighting wars. It gets beaten by peasants

All the loving time.

lol

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:39

Nerses IV: May 4, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

OXBALLS DOT COM posted:

Robots can't rape or torture people, so they won't replace manpower anytime soon.

We're going to have fully operational rapebots before we have self driving cars

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:43

My Linux Rig: Mar 27, 2010; Can't post for 6 years!

Split Pea Superman posted:

Well you shoot the guys driving the fuel trucks, just like every modern day insurgent. Do you think it's the tank convoys that get hit by IED ambushes?

I thought it was more the atvs getting hit with ieds

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:48

General China: Aug 19, 2012; by Smythe

TROIKA CURES GREEK posted:

lol

At least the UK has defeated a country with a navy and airforce 6000 miles away.

The US were defeated by a post colonial French colony.

When you get the poo poo absolutely kicked out of you by a country that used to be French you must realise that you ain�t that much in a fight.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 01:53

spacetoaster: Feb 10, 2014

General China posted:

At least the UK has defeated a country with a navy and airforce 6000 miles away.

The US were defeated by a post colonial French colony.

When you get the poo poo absolutely kicked out of you by a country that used to be French you must realise that you ain�t that much in a fight.

Yeah. The french are poo poo.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 02:01

General China: Aug 19, 2012; by Smythe

You can accuse the English of a lot, but for shear post colonial arrogance the French win.

Look at the way they carried on in Algiers.

De Gaul wrote a book. A history of the French army.

Waterloo was not mentioned. He just skipped over that battle.

Never happened in De Gauls world.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 02:02

drjuggalo: Jul 26, 2014

look at how french politicans and media talk to and about africa, france is next level but unlike britian didnt stop colonizing because they were super weakened so idk who wins the less hosed up award here

# ? Feb 23, 2018 02:09

Herv: Mar 24, 2005; Soiled Meat

General China posted:

At least the UK has defeated a country with a navy and airforce 6000 miles away.

The US were defeated by a post colonial French colony.

When you get the poo poo absolutely kicked out of you by a country that used to be French you must realise that you ain�t that much in a fight.

LOL a million+ dead Vietnamese... those 59,000 dead poor/black Americans sure got their poo poo pushed in!

No one should be using that as troll bait. Yikes duder.

Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean_theater_of_World_War_II

# ? Feb 23, 2018 02:10

Split Pea Superman: Dec 16, 2010; by FactsAreUseless; Fun Shoe

My Linux Rig posted:

I thought it was more the atvs getting hit with ieds

Most ambushes occur in convoys consisting of 4-5 armored vehicles escorting 30-40 supply trucks.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 02:13

Damo: Nov 8, 2002; The second-generation Pontiac Sunbird, introduced by the automaker for the 1982 model year as the J2000, was built to be an inexpensive and fuel-efficient front-wheel-drive commuter car capable of seating five.; Offensive Clock

General China posted:

You can accuse the English of a lot, but for shear post colonial arrogance the French win.

Look at the way they carried on in Algiers.

De Gaul wrote a book. A history of the French army.

Waterloo was not mentioned. He just skipped over that battle.

Never happened in De Gauls world.

Dude ever heard of paragraphs? You don't need a line break after every loving sentence. Somehow this bothers me more than the actual poo poo you say.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 02:19

Navin Johnson: Mar 1, 2016

Let's just become neo-isolationist. That way the only way the US can possibly fight a war is on our own soil.

Yay!

# ? Feb 23, 2018 02:51

Fanatic: Mar 9, 2006

General China posted:

Not really. Can we examine the greatest American feats of arms.

Got beaten by peasants in a poor country.

Invaded a poor country and still haven�t won.

That�s America for you.

I think it's because the US (and coalition in general) military's tactics are now centred around reducing casualties since high bodycounts (like in Vietnam) are bad for politics, resulting in them preferring not to occupy gained enemy territory anymore.

Instead they go on patrols/operations, kill/bomb some dudes, then return back to their cushy military bases, while the territory they just cleared gets retaken by said dudes. So it's good that less soldiers are getting killed but the end result is a forever war costing billions.

I don't see the US winning a ground war until they start rolling out their machine gun robot dogs tbh.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 03:01

GORILLA BASTARD: Jun 20, 2005; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

Lime Tonics posted:

Anyone else get cold called to enter the national guard/reserve/sign up bonus is an actual sign up bonus?

I got like 3 of them in the last 6 months.

I have.

I told them I suck a ton of cock, dress like Elisabeth Taylor circa Cleopatra & in certain sections of NYC I'm a notoriously successful power-bottom. They told me great, you'll fit right in.

I forgot it's not 1984 anymore.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 03:01

VikingSkull: Jan 23, 2017; Look Viking you're a trash Trump supporter what the fuck makes you think you can have an avatar that isn't what I decide? Shut your fucking trap and go away. Your trolling is tiresome and just shits up the forum.

General China posted:

At least the UK has defeated a country with a navy and airforce 6000 miles away.

The US were defeated by a post colonial French colony.

When you get the poo poo absolutely kicked out of you by a country that used to be French you must realise that you ain�t that much in a fight.

lol remember when you guys teamed up with Israel and France to take the Suez and the US told you to stop and you did lol

# ? Feb 23, 2018 03:07

My Linux Rig: Mar 27, 2010; Can't post for 6 years!

Split Pea Superman posted:

Most ambushes occur in convoys consisting of 4-5 armored vehicles escorting 30-40 supply trucks.

Oh

we need to start legalizing explosives too then!

# ? Feb 23, 2018 03:07

Split Pea Superman: Dec 16, 2010; by FactsAreUseless; Fun Shoe

My Linux Rig posted:

Oh

we need to start legalizing explosives too then!

It's not like people are synthesizing RDX in their back yard. Most explosive devices are assembled from store bought items.

It's just incredibly dumb and impractical to have them even if you do have the knowledge to make them safely. Bomb-makers have really high mortality rates.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 03:15

My Linux Rig: Mar 27, 2010; Can't post for 6 years!

I was joking

# ? Feb 23, 2018 03:30

Burt Sexual: Jan 26, 2006; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Switchblade Switcharoo

I�ve only read page 1 but this is a funny and interesting thread op. Nice job. Will read the rest

# ? Feb 23, 2018 04:00

OXBALLS DOT COM: Sep 11, 2005; by FactsAreUseless; Young Orc

GORILLA BASTARD posted:

I have.

I told them I suck a ton of cock, dress like Elisabeth Taylor circa Cleopatra & in certain sections of NYC I'm a notoriously successful power-bottom. They told me great, you'll fit right in.

I forgot it's not 1984 anymore.

So when are you off to Parris Island?

# ? Feb 23, 2018 04:15

Zoe: Jan 19, 2007; Hair Elf

GORDON posted:

The natives pushed back the the european colonizers to within 10 miles of the sea in the... late 1600s? Been too long since AmerHist, pre civil war.

The Comanches managed to roll the western frontier backwards a ways as late as the 1870s. Although iirc they kind of hosed themselves from the beginning by steamrolling all the tribes between them and whitey.

What I'm saying is we can just build a time machine and bring back the Comanche Empire at their most hardcore we can probably have a land war.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 05:16

chaosbreather: Dec 9, 2001; Wry and wise,
but also very sexual.

the only war is class war

# ? Feb 23, 2018 06:01

SickZip: Jul 29, 2008; by FactsAreUseless

Split Pea Superman posted:

For every soldier in an advanced weapon system there are 4 or more who have to do the logistics.

you're severely underestimating how much manpower is required to support the actual combat part of a military. 1 to 4 was what was required in the Civil War to WW1 era.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 06:15

feelix: Nov 27, 2016; THE ONLY EXERCISE I AM UNFAMILIAR WITH IS EXERCISING MY ABILITY TO MAKE A POST PEOPLE WANT TO READ

g0lbez posted:

dying from a burger is a bit less traumatizing and preventable than dying from a school shooting but i'm not sure what level of irony or sarcasm this post is and it's probably going over my head

who gives a poo poo how traumatized they are, they're loving dead

It's absolutely true that school shootings are a non-issue compared to diseases and texting while driving etc. People just care about them because they're exciting to watch on the tube, the things that actually kill a massive amount of people are boring as poo poo

# ? Feb 23, 2018 06:20

Beard Dandruff: May 10, 2017; Want to win a consultation with Tiffany? Click here.

So whats up with all the chuds sporting commie tags in their avatars?

# ? Feb 23, 2018 06:26

EvilJoven: Mar 18, 2005; NOBODY,IN THE HISTORY OF EVER, HAS ASKED OR CARED WHAT CANADA THINKS. YOU ARE NOT A COUNTRY. YOUR MONEY HAS THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND ON IT. IF YOU DIG AROUND IN YOUR BACKYARD, NATIVE SKELETONS WOULD EXPLODE OUT OF YOUR LAWN LIKE THE END OF POLTERGEIST. CANADA IS SO POLITE, EH?; Fun Shoe

You fuckers need to read your history and why it's actually really loving hard to both fight an urban combat insurgency but most importantly an uprising of the populace. IDGAF if the USA has a dozen carriers in service or whatever, the US government would still fall if faced with an internal rebellion and an actual sustained gurilla / terrorist war would loving break you. poo poo, look at just how many loving crazy things started happening when a bunch of Saudis crashed a few airplanes into a few buildings. The USA May kick all sorts of rear end at conventional warfare but the past 50 years have shown that the way you win against a supervisor conventional force is to fight unconventionally.

Also LOL at all the 'oh ya Canada isn't all that great either your country sucks America number 1!' responses to my post about how untempered American individualism contributes to societal harm. The American refusal to even reflect on criticism is part of why your country is full of broke brains. You should give your guns to people from other countries that don't think hostility' is the appropriate first response to every slight.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 15:29

Zzulu: May 15, 2009; (â°ËvËâ°)

Step 1: Nuke all of america

Step 2: stay the hell away because now it's irradiated

Step 3: Pizza rolls

# ? Feb 23, 2018 15:31

Neutrino: Mar 8, 2006; Fallen Rib

morally adept posted:

So whats up with all the chuds sporting commie tags in their avatars?

Footsoldiers for the coming class struggle land war.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 15:34

Split Pea Superman: Dec 16, 2010; by FactsAreUseless; Fun Shoe

EvilJoven posted:

You fuckers need to read your history and why it's actually really loving hard to both fight an urban combat insurgency but most importantly an uprising of the populace. IDGAF if the USA has a dozen carriers in service or whatever, the US government would still fall if faced with an internal rebellion and an actual sustained gurilla / terrorist war would loving break you. poo poo, look at just how many loving crazy things started happening when a bunch of Saudis crashed a few airplanes into a few buildings. The USA May kick all sorts of rear end at conventional warfare but the past 50 years have shown that the way you win against a supervisor conventional force is to fight unconventionally.

A learned student of history such as yourself should know we've already had these.

Another thing to note is that rebellions, in general, have really low success rates.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 17:19

Zoe: Jan 19, 2007; Hair Elf

EvilJoven posted:

You should give your guns to people from other countries that don't think hostility' is the appropriate first response to every slight.

Oh yeah? If other countries are so great why can't they get their own guns?

And Canada might actually be super mega hosed if the US ever collapses. However it's probably too late to start building a wall.

# ? Feb 23, 2018 18:15