"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (5 Viewers)

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Depends on their ability. I'm 51 years old, in good health. I haven't fired a gun since the .22 sleeved SMLE we used in Army Cadets in the 1980s. But assuming weapons can be had, the only help I'd need were Russians invading my town is a quick lesson on the workings of the Kalashnikov along with ammunition, and maybe a sandwich.

Until the rounds start flying, and mortars whistling in, and you shit yourself… ;)
 
Until the rounds start flying, and mortars whistling in, and you shit yourself… ;)
Absolutely. Like any civilian first shot at, I assume. But soiled shorts or not, and with no chance of escape, a civilian's options are to hide, waiting to be found and murdered, or fight. Fight or hide, it's a choice all the trapped civilians must make. There is no flight option.

 
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School girls in Israel.


Q-Israeili school girls.jpg
 
Absolutely. Like any civilian first shot at, I assume. But soiled shorts or not, and with no chance of escape, a civilian's options are to hide, waiting to be found and murdered, or fight. Fight or hide, it's a choice all the trapped civilians must make. There is no flight option.


In this war, the typical message to civilians from the Army is: "The sooner you leave the combat zone, the easier for us to do our job. Please support us - but from a safe place".
At the end of the day, it is a personal choice. There are conflicting reports about the usefulness of untrained civilians in urban combat in Ukraine. There are positive examples and negative and tragic ones. Over 30 men in Kherson were killed in a brief fight with invading force on March 01. They stood no chance.
 
In this war, the typical message to civilians from the Army is: "The sooner you leave the combat zone, the easier for us to do our job. Please support us - but from a safe place".
At the end of the day, it is a personal choice. There are conflicting reports about the usefulness of untrained civilians in urban combat in Ukraine. There are positive examples and negative and tragic ones. Over 30 men in Kherson were killed in a brief fight with invading force on March 01. They stood no chance.


I completely can understand their point. Untrained civilians playing soldier on the battlefield can be more of a hinderance, and put the lives of the professional soldiers at greater risk.

Having said that, I can completely understand why a civilian would want to take up arms and defend their home.
 
I think this war as reminded both sides of how quickly stocks of munitions are used and how the slow pace of replenishment will cause issues. The US claims to have sent 200,000 rounds of ammunition for the M77 howitzers. However that might last a month or less, and then what? Are more being sent? A third of the US' Javelin's have been sent to Ukraine, where I assume most have already been used. How fast can more be had? On the Russian side, how can they hope to ever replace the thousands of tanks and AFVs they've lost?

I wonder what the Russia stocks of artillery shells is looking like. Can they keep up their bombardments to the autumn?
 
School or older doing national service?
In my experience in Israel, mind you back in 2005, you never saw civilians walking around with firearms. Back then, it was the job of the uniformed soldiers, including reservists and security forces. Things did change in 2006 though.


"In 2006, the report noted, soldiers were prohibited from bringing home their service weapons on weekends because of high suicide rates among the IDF. This restriction was reversed in 2016 after IDF Chief of General Staff Gadi Eisenkot issued an order that all IDF combat soldiers must carry their weapons — on or off duty, in uniform or out of uniform — in response to a rise in violence at the time. The bottom line is the individuals in the photo shared on social media are not school kids taking weapons to class, but apparently trained members of the military."
 
KYIV/NIU-YORK, Ukraine, June 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine ignored a Russian ultimatum to surrender the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk on Wednesday as the United States announced more weapons for Kyiv and urged its allies also not to "lose steam" in providing military support.

Sievierodonetsk, now largely in ruins, has for weeks been the main focal point of the war. Russia had told Ukrainian forces holed up in a chemical plant there to stop "senseless resistance and lay down arms" from Wednesday morning, pressing its advantage in the battle for control of eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine says more than 500 civilians, including 40 children, remain alongside soldiers inside the Azot chemical factory, sheltering from weeks of almost constant Russian bombardment.

The mayor of Sievierodonetsk, Oleksandr Stryuk, said Russian forces were trying to storm the city from several directions but the Ukrainians continued to defend it and were not totally cut off, even though all its river bridges had been destroyed.

"The situation is difficult but stable," he told Ukrainian television. "The escape routes are dangerous, but there are some." He made no reference to Russia's ultimatum.

[...]

U.S. President Joe Biden later announced $1 billion worth of new weapons aid for Ukraine that sources familiar with the package said included anti-ship rocket systems, artillery rockets and rounds for howitzers.

Biden, who spoke with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by phone on Wednesday, also announced an additional $225 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

[...]

Kyiv has said 100-200 of its soldiers are being killed every day, with hundreds more wounded in some of the bloodiest fighting since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.



So more arty ammunition is on the way, which may address the concerns expressed above.
 
I think this war as reminded both sides of how quickly stocks of munitions are used and how the slow pace of replenishment will cause issues. The US claims to have sent 200,000 rounds of ammunition for the M77 howitzers. However that might last a month or less, and then what? Are more being sent? A third of the US' Javelin's have been sent to Ukraine, where I assume most have already been used. How fast can more be had? On the Russian side, how can they hope to ever replace the thousands of tanks and AFVs they've lost?

I wonder what the Russia stocks of artillery shells is looking like. Can they keep up their bombardments to the autumn?
Russian had storage of appr. 7,000 T-72s before the beginning of their attack and clearly also some T-62s. And they had massive storages of arty ammo and capacity to produce more, probably much larger scale than any Western power.
 
Russian had storage of appr. 7,000 T-72s before the beginning of their attack and clearly also some T-62s. And they had massive storages of arty ammo and capacity to produce more, probably much larger scale than any Western power.
I wonder how many of those stockpiles of tanks and ammunition were properly maintained and preserved. I wonder if the arrival of the T-62 demonstrates a shortage of T-72s.

I imagine if M1 Abrams started to be replaced with M48 and M60 tanks the local lads would be wondering what the heck happened to their first rate tanks.
 

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