Kitbag Conversations - Proto Kitbag 26: AFV Recognition

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

So, AFV Recognition came by and we had a lot to talk about. 

Hello everyone and welcome back. I'm sure that you have read one or two of my posts recently that got a lot of flak and it wasn't just written by me, it was our friend Cody who's returning and was reviewed by this week's guest, AFV recognition. So how you doing man? It's good to talk to you. Yeah, I'm good. Glad to be here. Spoke a lot throughout. So yeah, glad to be on. Yep, yep, yep. I mean, he's a heavily requested guest. And honestly, you're one of the better ones on the platform when it comes to just identifying recce real quick.

Just cut the bullshit out. Yeah, that's what they... Yeah, it's like, dude, every time a new tank shows up on the battlefield, you instantly not only know the make the model, but the identifier. It's like somebody has like hazed you until you can't breathe anymore, shown you a placard of a T-72 and they're like, what is this? And you're like a T-72 Bravo and they're like, wrong, it's a Charlie. Keep pushing. And it's like, Jesus dude, where

this poor kid. What's the identifier? There's an antenna on the second vehicle. No, it's on the third. Get your fucking ass on the ground. Squat and hold. It's like, Jesus. But yeah, so I'm going to just slap you right out the gate because I see comments all over YouTube and Instagram. Javelins have totally made tanks obsolete. Why is that right? And why should you delete your Instagram page? Because it's for nothing. So the obsolete tank thing, I mean, that's something I've found to be banded about since tanks originated. Like you see the first use of tanks, like mass use of tanks at Cambrai in France, people were starting to slander them then.

And then when the attack helicopter came out, when the Hind first came out onto the battlefield, people then said tank to obsolete again then, and our drones have come out, people are saying tanks obsolete again. But I mean, I think with Ukraine, this is probably the most, well, it is the most tank on tank warfowl since World War Two. And with that, an interesting thing is that we've not seen much actual tank on tank combat, which is interesting. Tanks are more now being used purely as fire support against infantry, essentially. But now I don't think they're obsolete. I think they've just got things that can be changed to make them more adaptive to more modern threats like drones and stuff like that. And it's like when you go into what people call the coke cages, people absolutely hammered the Russians for that

but they work against drone drop munitions like if you if you've got a grenade getting dropped on top of it and you've got this little piece of metal it looks stupid but it's gonna make it bounce off you know what I mean it's gonna make it go somewhere else or detonate on top of it and it's not gonna damage it so yeah So like, a big thing that I was thinking about while watching this, because you said that they mainly use this fire support. And I think a big portion of that is just due to the, and this requires a lot of discipline. So I'm not hammering the Ukrainians when I say this, but combined arms maneuver warfare, like moving tanks with infantry is just, it's incredibly fricking hard. It takes a lot of discipline, it takes a lot of training, and it takes a lot of reps. And the Ukrainians haven't had that. Or do you think it's just something else?

Like what's causing the tanks to be, you know, hey, pull the tank up, shoot that building, and then back the fuck up? I think, honestly, both sides are just completely shit scared of drones. I think that's what I think that's what it is. I think that's what it is with time. I think now like I've seen what the Ukrainians are doing as well where they're basically using tanks for indirect fire almost like artillery and like keeping them way back from the line and stuff. And then yeah, like you said, they'll pull them up a couple of rounds in and then, and then pull them back out. And I genuinely think it's because both sides are just shit scared of drones.

I think the, they're so scared of losing the tanks of drones that they pull, they pull them up at the last available second and then get them away at the last available second, just to minimize that time in view, essentially, and keep them in a woodblock with a cam net on or keep them in a bit of a heavier urban environment. I think that's what they're doing and then just pulling them out. Yeah, let me go back to the maneuver warfare aspect because if we go down to tanks in World War II and whatnot, the Germans used the infantry to support the tanks where the French and Brits used tanks to support the infantry and the Germans just ate them up to pieces in France in the early

days of the war. And so since then, a lot of people have been using that as like the basic foundation of what's going on when you take a tank column down a roadway. But stuff I saw kind of early on for both sides is there was maybe five or six guys for a platoon of tanks rolling down a road, no infantry support. They were just, you know, the coke cages just rolling down, batting down matches and they were just soaking them in. Yeah, I've seen that as well with the, there's some videos, especially the drone videos, you see where there'll be like, I've got a T8, he sat there putting rounds into something. And there's literally no infantry around him. Like, it's one tank and he's just on his own. He's not even got like, the platoon with him, the tank platoon with him. It's just him just sat there on his own, no infantry. And you find that strange. And I've seen as well, I know the Russians are quite bad for it, of just sitting in their APCs, their IFVs and not wanting to get out.

And I mean, that's why they built the firing ports and stuff, but it's not ideal when you're trying to support your tanks. You know what I mean? Like you don't want to be sat inside an IFV. Yeah. And yeah, it's weird because me and Matt were talking about this before you came on, but I remember I was sitting in a brief one time and we were talking about the Arabian Peninsula and this US Navy captain came on, 03, and she

was talking about the Arabian Peninsula in such a way that I was like, wow, I am literally the stupidest human being on this planet, and I'm the army's representation for the intel. And I'm like, my God, I am stupid. But it just hit me like 10 minutes into her brief, I was like, she views the world flipped from me. She sees the ocean and then the land is like crap. And so it's like the same thing with like, as far as like army and Marines are concerned, it's the same thing with you and me. Like I spent most of my time with light infantry, airborne units and in the pathfinders. And so for you as a tanker, like you see planes, you see open fields and stuff like that. And then I see the woods because I'm trying to avoid you the tankers, because I'm hiding and

scurrying around. And so it's really funny to hear you say that, that you see the tanks as going up one at a time, whereas I'm used to seeing tanks as sisters, like two tanks per a platoon of four, and they don't go in groups of one or two, they come in packs. And so it's really weird to see, one or two, they come in packs. And so it's really weird to see, just like you're saying, the one tank, the two tank or whatever, and it's not a mass of armoured infantry or mechanised infantry working in tandem. And so it's weird to me because it doesn't go along with any of our doctrine. It's almost like throw the book in the trash can. And it also doesn't go with Soviet doctrine or Russian doctrine, which is strange again. I don't know if that's their way of adapting in a short time, but yeah, it also doesn't fit with, it doesn't fit with either doctrine, West or East, which is weird. But yeah, I mean, it is both sides doing it

as well. Both sides are like pulling up one tank at a time, and you barely see them operating in like, like you mentioned sort of like packs, you know what I mean? It's strange to see that. Yeah. You think it's just like- Is it early on?

Oh yeah, go right ahead. Yeah, do you think it's just, I don't know. I'm not, like I said, I'm not shitting on the Ukrainians. I think it's a general lack of training and understanding of building speed, surprise, and violence of action. And I also think it's a lack of training, but you're scared shitless, bro. And it's like you go up and there's the drone and it drops on you, but it's like anybody who's ever done a training exercise or been a part of, in my opinion,

some of the operations that we helped plan and put together in Afghanistan. It's like we planned for days and days and days. And then by the time we show up, we're bringing the fist of God down on you. It feels like your whole world is crashing. It opens up with an AC-130 strike, and then you've got a warthog, trapping JDAMs on predetermined targets. And then by the time the infantry rolls up in helicopters, it's like, they're just counting bodies, bro. And so it's the same thing here. And the Ukrainians are having, I think, a huge problem with command and control and the Russians, especially the Russians are having huge issues with command and control.

And like, okay, we got to get fuel, we got to get parts, we got to get ammo for the tanks, and then we got to get crew rest as well. Then we gotta get the infantry online, and it's like, okay, what's our phase lines looking like? Okay, well, and then you gotta mix in artillery as well. And that's like, dude, dude, that's like five days worth of planning. But by that time, you know, the trenches have moved,

high Mars has hit you three times on Monday, twice on Tuesday, and it's just, it's crazy. And so I think there may be, is it a lack of planning and you're scared it's fucking war. So yeah. Yeah, I think, yeah, I think, I think that might be the case. It might. I think it's sort of, it's, the war's very much come to like, not as, I won't say a standstill, it's still sort of moving in some ways, but it has come to a very pinch point now where it's slowed down massively, there's not as much manoeuvrable anymore, so they're just trading a couple of blocks at a time in a back month.

The Russians have lost a lot of tanks now as well, so I think for them to cut down on the use of tanks whilst they're waiting for more to get redone out of storage and get refurbed, maybe that's what they're doing. I think a thing that I see as well, you see it on the media, you see it on Twitter, Twitter especially is awful for it, is people just laughing at the Russians for, you know, well, they've got this many tanks and this many have been destroyed, but they're still coming, you know what I mean?

You see it when people started joking about T-62s rolling out of storage and rolling into the Donbass, but they're still fielding T-90Ms. They're still coming out the factory just upgraded T-72B3 to a model 2022. So it's not like they're still coming out with factually just graded T-72B3 to a model 2022. So it's not like they're struggling for tanks. I mean, they've got a lot more to come, probably about 8,000 to come. So it's a psychological weapon.

I mean, again, going back to Cody's initial statement, like if you're an infantryman and you see a tank, you're going to get scared. Like it still has a psychological effect. But it's either scared or happy to say it, depending on what side it is. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Okay. Yeah, like dude, I've had a couple buddies tell me like their stories and they're just

like, bro, you're just, you jump into JRTC down in Louisiana and you're on like day two, you're on your like your last MRE and you're just looking down the road and you're like, please for the love of God be second armored division. And then you're like, no, that's a, that's a T-72. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What do we do? It's like, well, we're all out of AT-4s from the first day. And it's like, you got paratroopers running for the fucking wood line. Like, ah, it is the site.

It doesn't even fire a shot. And like a whole company of paratroopers is like, get the fuck out of here. We're not dealing with this shit. You know, what you have noticed going back to AFE statement of like, it's not following anybody's doctrine. Like it's not Soviet. It's not Russian. It's not Western. Guys I've talked to on the ground have said that they're changing daily because I think the Russians quickly realized centralized command does not work at a tactical level. Like you can't call strategic command, go like, hey, they're shooting at me. Should I shoot back? Like it's not going to work, especially with drones and everything. So it's coming down to like their version of NCOs with like small unit leadership of. Yeah, because I mean, going back, we saw videos of a single tank attacking Karkov and you're like, one tank really by himself without inventory support. And they were like, go that way.

So a lot of the younger guys are going, the officers are getting killed for making stupid decisions. So I'm just going to make my own. And that's just grounded them down to all. There's no strategic portals like in the Marine Corps. There's no strategic corporals like in the Marine Corps? Yeah, I mean Russia have never really had until recently like an NCO, but it's basically just their officers making the decisions. I mean, both of you already know this, I don't need to go on about that too much, but yeah, it's basically their platoon commanders are the ones making the decisions that in our armies would be potentially even a land corporal in some cases, you know what I mean? Like, a no platoon leader's got to make that decision. So yeah, it is, I think they do need to adjust to that fact. Like, otherwise they're going to struggle

a lot. So I know the other day when you were, I talked a little bit beforehand that you were talking about the challengers coming into Ukraine. Not that the challengers are coming, but that the Ukrainians can't support them. They don't have the logistics to back them up. Yeah, potentially. I mean, that's so we spoke all this and we, so all of it, the amount of vehicles coming, um, so you've got, now I don't know numbers off the top of my head but I know we've got Abrams, Challenger, Leopard, CV-90, Bradley and maybe a couple others in there but

that's like insane for a stack considering they've already got T-64, T-80, T-90, T-72 and you've got to remember as well they've got all these capture tanks that they've got of the Russians which they can't sustain as well. Like once they're broken down, they're broken down, you know. So that's weird as well, how they're gonna sustain them. But yeah, I think what they're gonna have to do is, the way I see it is, they're gonna have to train up new lads,

fresh out of training, straight onto Challenger. Because I think people who've done a full career on T-series tanks will struggle to adjust. I mean it's a completely different, like the way of the way of operating is completely different. The tracks are different to do maintenance on, the engine is different, you know. All these things are different, you've got a four-man crew now instead of three. You've got to learn how to load the gun, do the stoppages on the gun. It's all completely different to their tanks. And then the logistics as well is, I mean, how fast are the spurs in theatre from these Western countries?

Especially from, you know what I mean, I know that Poland said, the reason Poland bought the K2 was because they said they don't trust the Germans with supplying spares for the Leopards in a wartime scenario. So if that's the case, then are these spares going to be provided in time? Because I've seen a lot of videos, you might have seen them as well, the German PZH 2000s breaking down a lot and just not having any spare parts there. And they were taking up to a couple of weeks of spare parts for them. And that's like, there's some case, I think I remember seeing one where it's

like half a batch who's down just like broken guns and stuff and like, you're waiting ages for the Germans to supply them. I mean, Leopard and Abrams are relatively the same, but with their ammo it's the same gun so they'll be alright, but Challenger is completely different to both of them and nowhere else in the world has the same gun as the Challenger as well apart from the Omanis. So the ammo is completely different. One thing you mentioned to me the other day was the fact that, you know, the lepers have never seen combat experience outside of like Armenia.

Yeah, that's interesting. No, it was Turkey with the Sinai. No, never. The Turkish had them on the border with Syria. And I think, I believe they had to abandon the tanks and then put air strikes on them so that they couldn't be captured. It was something like that. But yeah, they didn't do well basically.

Yeah. So they didn't do well. I mean, Challenger is very combat proven. And I'd argue probably one of the best protected tanks in the world. Now that depends on the kit they go out there with, whether they get the OES kit, which is the operational entry standard. That's the one you've seen in Iraq, whether they get the OES kit, which is the Operational Entry Standard, that's the one you've seen in Iraq, where you go with all the extra armour and stuff. If they go out there with them, that will be a game changer.

Now if they go out with no extra armour in the Ukrainians, just put loads of Kontakt 1 on it, the Soviet RA, you see the little boxes, then that won't be as much of a game changer, you know what I mean? It's not gonna perform as well. And then Abrams again, one of the best protected tanks in the world, well tested. I think both of them will do well, but I think if you got stocks in Rheinmetall, I'd probably start taking them out once they get in theatre, because the second one of them gets destroyed, the world news are gonna take it and run with it, purely because it's German, and Germans are supposed to be the best.

Yeah, Jesus. And then, so this is something I had a question on. Actually I'll bring that one back. But you said that like they're all different platforms and we all. We know, but many people don't know, that one of the worst fucking things about the T-Series, the Russian-made tanks, is that autoloader. Because the minute that Javelin comes down on the top, it cooks what's the autoloader, which is in the bottom of the chassis of the tank. All the rounds for the tank are there, and then they just pop right off. Isn't the Challenger, I know the Abrams is manual load. Which ones of those are manual load?

Because that's a completely different, like you said, a completely different tank and a completely different system. All of those are manual loaded. Yeah. Jesus Christ. The Leopard's manual loader as well, but it's also got the blow-off panels like you've got on Abrams. Then Challenger's manual loadable. because it's two-piece ammunition,

the layout is different. You don't need blow-off panels as such because the propellant cases are stored in storage sites around the turret. Whereas the munitions themselves, they can't detonate without being primed from being fired. So, yeah, so not only are they good tanks, but they're essentially safer on the battlefield. Yeah, much safer. Yeah.

So you get, I mean, that's kind of like the only bonus you get. Yeah, there's logistical problems. Yeah, there's, but the training that you get with that, so you're going to get good trained tankers for the Ukrainians and they're more likely to survive if they do get hit because the ammo is not exposed like it is in the T-series. So I mean at least the crews are safe but then they could probably go right from the Leopard into another T-series tank so it's like okay whatever. Here's a question for you, has there been any indication that the Russians have captured any Javelins because if they have they've probably been sitting on them waiting for the American stuff to come play.

So I think, I think they have, I can't, I can't confirm that. I'd have to come back to that. I remember, I remember seeing early on in the world of Russian telegram channels were posting like empty launch tubes, like, you know, like, oh yeah, look, look at all the stuff. Intel Slava. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

It was just, just a lot empty launch tube. I do remember seeing, um, I can't remember the website now, but there's a website out there, which was Ukrainian based and you could, you could buy all sorts on those, I wouldn't say it's black market, but, um, buy like N-laws and stuff that had been sent there. You could buy Stingers on there. And then other stuff was just like, you know, you could just buy like dead Russian soldiers jackets and that. But yeah, there was N-laws on there, Stingers, ammo, stuff like that. So yeah, I mean, I know they've got N-laws because was a video of the Russians trying an Enlaw in T-72B.

I haven't watched it yet, I've just been told about it. But yeah, they have got Enlaws. So if you're a tanker, you're in your Challenger, what anti-armor thing besides the Javelin and the Enlaw do you just not want to get hit by? If you're just like, no, fuck that, that's probably like, this would definitely take them out. Because we know the Enlaw, the Javelin are one and two. What's number three and four in Europe? I'd say sort of the modern Russian ACGMs, like you've got the Chrysanthemum, which is, it can be launched by like manual guided, but it can also be radar guided as well.

And that's, I mean, we've not really seen them in the war, like they really haven't been used. So I'm guessing the Russians don't have many. I think they've only got about a company of them. But then again, like we spoke about with forward tanks, the lack of them, I don't really think they'd need to use them. But they're pretty lethal in terms of like ATGMs. They're probably one of the best ATGMs out there at the minute. Yeah. And as well as that, just the general sort of Russian ATGMs like the Kornets and stuff like that, they're pretty good. And I've seen them kill Abrams and stuff like that in Syria and in Yemen. So yeah, they're pretty good.

Nice. There's always that argument floating around that since the Donbass volunteers are using Moyz and the Gants and Soviet era uniforms from World War II, when does the T-34 come out? Yeah, I've seen that. There's arguments on both sides that are like, either A, the Russians aren't gonna use it

because it doesn't make any sense, or B, they'll just start doing the waves of metal because they have the different self-loading gun, it's a different characteristics than the T like 72s and everything. So, but going back to your statement about the Ukrainians, they would have to train everybody on this. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's the thing. It's, I mean, Ukraine have got the problem with the neglected their tank fleet. I mean, they could have started problem with they neglected their tank fleet. I mean, they could have started this war with thousands of tanks. I think they only started with about a thousand,

but when the Soviet Union collapsed, Kharkiv, Morozov design bureau was based in Kharkiv, of course, which made the T-64. And that's why the Russians stopped using the T-64 because eventually the Ukrainian said, we're not sending you parts anymore. But they were left with just basically most of the US sized T-64 as apart from what Russia itself had.

So they had a lot of them. And now if you look at pictures now of the Kharkiv plant, it's just hundreds of abandoned tanks, sattel side, trees growing out of them and stuff. They've neglected tank force and now they're suffering for it. So. Yeah, there's a... They've neglected tank force and now they're suffering for it. So Hey Yeah, there's a now you said neglect and this is I guess like I'll tell this shitty joke

My dad used to fucking tell me all the time and it was so Saddam says, you know Hey, we're gonna fight the Americans in 2003. We've got this right and the generals go. Yep. We're good and Generals look at the Colonel they go. Okay, Republican Guard. You're ready Iraqi army. You're got this right. And the generals go, yep, we're good. And generals look at the colonel, they go, okay, Republican Guard, you're ready. Iraqi army, you're ready, right? And they go, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're good, we're good. And so the colonels go down to the captains and they're like, we're good, right?

And they're like, hell yeah, we're good. We're gonna kill every American that crosses into Iraq. So the captains leave that meeting, they go down to the motor pool and they're like, hey, Sergeant, how's our tanks looking? We good? He goes, the fuck we are, what's good? We've never been good.

These things have been fucked up for 20 years. They don't fucking work anymore. And so shitty joke, but it's funny because it's like, that's, do you think that that's what happened with Russia? And like, we, we, we know it because like in the five eyes community, we're like, bro, the last 30 fucking years have been Russia Russia's coming and like wait like you said Russian doctrine, bro I got my face some mashed for six months at the Intel course into Russian doctrine Like this is what a defense looks like. This is what an offense looks like

And so it's like do you think that they were lying or do you because I've got my own theory But do you think they were lying? Do you think they were training? Like you saw this war happen, obviously, last year in February. Like, were you like, oh, Jesus, they suck. Like fucking, or? I think it's a mixture of a lot of things. I think it's corruption. I think it's lying. And I think there's, well, there's a lot more things going through it. I think they are the main two. I mean, I can give a small example from a bloke who spoke to me once on a page who used to live in Russia. And him and his mates went out to the storage base near them

because it's sort of every major city in Russia within a certain district, they'll have like a military base next to it and a lot of the time They just have it sort of bit of a you know tank storage base loads of times fenced off I've got I've looked them all Google Maps somewhere over they've got all these sat there and Him and his mates like let's go Let's go to this lake this tank storage base and we'll go and steal some electronics

I mean sell it so they So they get to the base and give this bloke a bottle of vodka, the bloke guarding it. And he went in and he sent me the pictures and it was just basically just stripped loads of T90s for all electronic motherboards, sights and all stuff like that. And then went and sold them. And yeah, the guard didn't even care, you know what I mean? And then that's however many tanks completely ruined. Like I ruined it can be replaced but there's a lot of work you know what I mean it's and then I've seen stuff on twitter documented as well where a local russian camp mafia boss used to go in and he'd take all the blokes pay on payday like every single sort of pay was just taken given to boss, but the garrison commander was in with him and stuff.

So he was like, no, you will pay them kind of thing. Stuff like that. Ghost units as well, don't know if you've heard of them. Few of them documented where there's just, yeah, we've got 500 blokes in this battalion, but there's absolutely no one there. It's just like about 50 blokes just keeping it going. You know what I mean? The rest of them are just, they're still getting the pay and you know, someone's taking the pay. There's absolutely no one there. It's just like about 50 blokes just keeping it going

They're still getting the pain, you know, someone's taking the pace I think corruption is a massive on the Russian army and a lot of times. Yeah, I've got a big number I think it's about it's about 13 12 to 13 thousand or I'd say probably about five files under them. It's sort of good to go the rest of Would need a lot of work. But they are doing that now. So yeah, we'll see how many come. Yeah. We talked about this beforehand because I went on like a huge reading stint about like six months ago. And one of the biggest ones I read about was the Vory, which is the Russian mafia and how much they're just tied into Russian society. It's really weird because Matt and I have talked about this, but the two things I will say is in many, many cultures, bribes are just standard. They're just

how you do business. In Mexico, I think the term for a bribe is everybody gets a piece, as in everybody gets a piece of the cake, as in everybody eats. And so it's like, yeah, it's just part of the culture. If you ever go to Iraq or Afghanistan, the ghost units are a real thing as well. You'll be like, I was told we're training 200 guys and it's like 50 dudes show up and they can barely do jumping jacks. And you're like, oh, this is the commandos. Fuck me. All right. Okay. And so go ahead, look up Afghan jumping jacks. You'll have a great laugh. But the other thing is that a lot of people, and they teach you this in Intel schools, like you can't put yourself in the shoes of your enemy because the Five Eye community is, you know, you got Canada, America, Britain, New Zealand, and Australia. We're literally all the same.

It's the Anglo-Saxon infantry training. It's our idea of what a standard profession of arms looks like is leagues above everybody else. Yeah, the French have some units that are pretty good. And it's just completely different if you've ever served in a NATO capacity, like what a Romanian infantry guy looks like and acts like and like what a British infantry guy looks like. They're two very separate things. I will tell you that the Italians were the most unprofessional people I ever met.

Yeah, they are awful. I don't care. Their tank crews have nice leather jackets though. Nice wool-lined leather jackets. Seriously, they look good. Nice. Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, to put it into perspective, like some, some of the units I worked with drink all day, drink all night and shit for operations. And then you have the British and the Australians or the Australians I did deploy with, they'll drink all day, drink all night, show up and then do a 12 mile ruck and destroy your fat American ass. And you're like, I guess it's unreal. And so it's very hard when you sit there and you just talked about, there's so much that goes into a professional force and a profession of arms that it can't

just be corruption. It's the cultural ethics, it's the culture, it's the corruption, the commanders, and we're very lucky that we have that Anglo-Saxon tradition of what an army looks like. And so it's funny when you hear people say like, oh, Russia sucks because they're fucking idiots. It's like, no, this is really complicated stuff. It's not for them. It really is. And so you go to appreciate it. That's one thing I've noticed when I've spoke to a few of them is they have a completely different outlook on everything that we're doing. It's just like what you said. We try and put ourselves in their shoes, but I mean, you can't.

The way they brought up their ideology on the world is completely different. And for example, I remember the first T-90M got destroyed. And that's like the world news when a Russian super tank had been destroyed and that's like, you know, the world news running Russian super tank been destroyed. Like it's not that big of a deal. But when it, when it, and I've, I've sent this same bloke as well. He's Russian. I sent him loads of stuff. Like I'm in Russian statistics for destruction and stuff and they don't care.

Like he's just like, well, yes, it's war. There's a course. It's confident. Yeah. He's like, he's like, oh, T9EM, yeah, whatever. Like that's, it's made for war. Of, it's war this course He's like, oh, see I am yeah, whatever like that's It's made for war course is gonna get destroyed Whereas we have a completely different thing where like if a challenger was destroyed in Iraq, I mean like by enemy fire That would have been massive. I thought would mean that would have been huge

You know, you know, that would have been there would have been a huge investigation into it but all sorts of things. And I guarantee when if one is destroyed in Ukraine, if an Abrams destroyed in Ukraine, that'll be a massive thing as well, because we're very lost the word very materialistic in terms of material in terms of a military property, especially when it comes to tanks and like large fighting vehicles, we get very materialistic and when one's destroyed, we see it as a massive loss. Whereas the Russians are just like, yeah, I get another one. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's actually funny you bring that up because you're like talking about the Russian who's like, yeah, it's a tank. We lose tanks all the time. I said to Matt in our little

group chat, which is the schizophrenic power hour. Do not come into the Kroatoan report group chat. You just don't. But I watched an hour and a half documentary about a Serbian Donetsk People's Republic sniper. His name is Dejan Beric or Deki. And you watch him kill Ukrainians the whole fucking time. It's absolutely insane. But the other hour and 20 minutes you're following him, bro, if you could just see it, it's it's unreal like every house looks like a trailer park The suffering that these people go through I told Matt last night. I was like, bro. They have the whole time I'm like, I've seen six cell phones. I've seen 500 fucking people I've seen six cell phones and it's just suffering and it's pain and their life is just one of Constant sorrow and like you said, it's like oh you lost a tank. Haha. You lost a T-90. He's like, bro, that dude

does not give a fuck. He literally at one point holds up his cats. He's like, they have concussions. They don't meow anymore. His fucking cats don't meow anymore, bro. Like he is pure blown Eastern block man. Like you can shoot him and he'd just be like, I do not care. Like what's meant to be shot. And it's like, what the fuck? No wonder you guys have like fucking philosophy and this Jordan Peterson going, Nietzsche talks about suffering. No shit, he talked about suffering.

These people, all they do is suffer. War is a treat because then they get to make somebody else suffer. Look at Lavrov. I think it was Lavrov who said it and he said nobody can suffer like the Russians. Oh, God. That's been said before by quite a few Soviet leaders is like no one can suffer like us. They're proud of it. They love the fact that they can just have a hard life and just gris through it. You know what I mean? Even in terms of combat capabilities, the Russians have never considered quitting a war

until they lost a half million men. That's dead. Yeah, half a million. Yeah, half a fucking million. It's like they didn't even invade with that. Half a million. Bro, fucking Ukrainian now is like, we've killed 200,000 Russians and they're like that's not even enough for the meeting like we don't even tell Putin until we've lost a half million. It's like did you guys see that uh that show Chernobyl when the thing the bitch blows up and so they call the commissar and he was like do you understand this is Lenin's reactor we're not leaving.

Oh yeah he's like I don't care about the kid. There's like a kid dying of like cancerous tumors. He's like, this is the boss's reactor. That's what I was going to say. I was going to bring that up. That's another thing with the Russians. And it's a very Soviet thing is no one wants to take the blame. No one wants to be that one who's going to go,

Vlad, I've fucked up mate. No one wants to be that bloke. It's been the same from early on in the Soviet Union up to now. I remember, do you know what? Bricsmis. I'm guessing you've heard of them. Who? Bricsmis. So they were basically sort of,

it was a British diplomatic mission to the Soviet Union. So they were based sort of, it was a British diplomatic mission to Soviet unions. They were based in West Germany. It was an illegalised spy and the US had something similar as well. And they'd just drive over and just break into camps and like take parts off T-64s and T-72s when they first came out and stuff. But there was an interview with one of the blokes and they had this generator inside a bunker they'd broken into and it was a filtration for like in case of a CBRN attack. And he says, let's take it, let's take it in the car and go before they come back. And the officer who's with is like, no, what if they notice? And he was like, I guarantee the bloke

who notices will not say anything. He'll just get a new one because he doesn't want to be the one to ask. Later on in the interview, he meets a Soviet counterpart who was on the Soviet version of what he was in. And he tells him the story and he says, yeah, he wouldn't like that's exactly what I would have told anyone. I would have just got a new one. I mean, even if, I mean, Cody and I talked a bit on the last episode, and I don't know if you listened to the whole thing, but the Russians have self genocide where they cut away like they cut off the loose ends inside their own ranks.

And it was the like the Central Asians that did the big rape and Buccia and they were like, fuck no incentive right to donbass. And they were like, kill our own guys. They got the young conscripts are like, they're wearing different uniforms. They're Ukrainian. And just fucking stung. Yeah. There was like one Ukraine.

Yeah, there was like one Ukraine. Two Ukrainian dudes are like, we killed 200 people and like everyone's like, everyone's like blown away. They're like, how'd you do that? He's like, and he's like sitting there smoking like thousand yard stare. He's like, well, first my machine gun melted. So I had to go get another one. And they just basically doped up their prisoners, the Wagner group doped up like 200 fucking

dudes, gave them hand grenades, shovels and an RPG. And then they go into buckmoot, bro. And it's like, what? And like, and like, it's crazy. And like said, in the American military, when I was in Afghanistan, if a helicopter went down, which we had one incident, I can't talk about it because it wasn't a real incident and it involved some stupid motherfuckers, but it's called a fallen angel. That's one helicopter and the whole country going down. Dude, you see literally every fucking drone in Afghanistan just turn on a dime towards that fallen helicopter. And it's the scariest moment in your life.

You're like, oh my God, a helicopter is fucking falling out of the sky. We got to fucking go get this bad boy. Like Intel dudes are getting phone calls like who was it? Whose guy is it? What's the pilot's name? And it's like whole world, your whole world just is on fire. And luckily it only lasted like fucking 15 minutes because it was a false alarm.

But no, yeah. And so like you said, like you lost your T90. Like for us, that would be a big fucking deal. Like there was one seventh Cav in the solder city. They heard a tank got hit on the radio and they're like, what happened? And it's like, detrack, detrack, detrack. And basically, for those who don't know, tank lost a track, Abrams is down, it can't move. But the thing is, it's got a sister tank and

the sister tank wasn't responding either. They're like, oh shit. So like they move, like the Cav Scouts, they move a whole company, 120 dudes in strikers from second infantry over there. And the sister tank had gone Winchester completely dumped all its ammo and it was running circles around its sister tank that had been detracked. And it just basically destroyed all of like a section of solder city because it thought that its buddies were dead. When in reality, it hit one of the smoke grenades in the fucking canister and all the dudes went unconscious from lack of oxygen. So when the Cav Scouts pulled up, they cracked the tank open and they're like, thank God, is everything all right? And they're like, yeah, your fucking buddy tank just

blew up a city block. And so that's the idea for us is that you lose a helicopter, you lose a tank. We're going to commit mass genocide on you and murder everybody within a 50 meter radius. Yeah, we're kicking your dog, we're kicking your cat, we're kicking your grandma, we're killing everything. The Russians don't care, bro. It's been one year and it's not even a dent according to Matt. Like you need to lose a half million. We're not even at a quarter. We got, we got time to burn baby. There's still people. So I got one.

So 2020 and from a tank perspective, the Armenians and Azerbaijanis went at it. And since the Soviets, or since they were former Soviet states, they were very much based around Russian doctrine, but one side had cool drones and the other didn't. And so Armenia got its ass handed to it. Lost that whole territory. And almost as soon as that war ended, the buildup began. So AFA, do you think as soon as the Russians saw that we went, we got to send it now because they're not going to get any easier?

Yeah. Yeah. I think, yeah, I think that's when the Russians definitely started gearing up quicker. I think they were always going to do it, weren't they? You know what I mean? They were always going to do it. But I think that maybe accelerated it because that's when, not long after that, I sent an exercise and I think it was a Russian brigade from the Far East, I can't remember which one, but that was the first time you sent the roof mountain cages. And like everyone was going mad like, whoa, what is this? You know what I mean? People were just confused to what it was, but that wasn't that long after

Armenia Azerbaijan. So if they were doing that then they were definitely looking forward to facing that threat at some point. So yeah. So I don't know if you... Oh, go right ahead, go ahead. No, I was going to say, so besides Ukraine, is there anything, let's say I'm a tank junkie. I'm a kid who loves modeling tanks, playing tanks, and I've got 1,000 hours on War Thunder.

And if I had some top secret intel, I would totally leak it it but I don't. Besides Ukraine, is there anything on your list that you're watching? Like you're like, oh this China-Taiwan thing is going to be interesting or like Matt said, like Azerbaijan versus Armenia. Is there anything like as a tanker? I always look into Azerbaijan and Armenia because the ground out there is like perfect tank country. I don't know if you've seen the ground around like Nagorno-Karabakh, it's just wide open fields, hills.

It's perfect for tanks and the fact that one side using drones just sort of completely changed that. So now what used to be tank country, what would have been the ideal scenario for, you know, what we wanted in West Germany fighting against the Soviets, that's now gone because of drones. So I think that that's always one that's interesting, always one that's sort of pinched by the way you've seen recently with the Russian peacekeepers and stuff. Azerbaijan is turning the gas off and stuff for for Arts and all that kind of thing. So I think that'll look up again. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan as well. That's another one that's not very well looked into, but only a couple of weeks ago, there's videos coming out of them like firing ATGMs at each other's tanks and stuff.

So that's another one. Well, it's all CSTO in fighting basically. It's all a bit carnage. Since since Ukraine started, they all certainly hate each other. Yeah. What about something like Taiwan? Because you got to get those tanks from mainland China across a hundred mile gap into Taiwan and how do you think they're going to perform?

Cause that Island is a, is a, is a, you know, a pill box waiting to happen. Yeah. I think so looking at their stuff, so their Marines have specialized vehicles. It's in the app actually. And there's two variants. One is a fire support vehicle with 105 mil cannon. And the other is just a standing infantry fighting vehicle

with a 30 mil. But basically they look exactly like boats and when in the water, they can use looks like 1300 horsepower, I think they've got just to repel themselves in the water. And that's what they'd use. I don't think they'd use tanks on like, they wouldn't use tanks for a while. I don't think in Taiwan, I think you'd first send in the Marines with armored vehicles because in Taiwan, I haven't got met well, I don't know how many times you got off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure it's not that much and the ones they have

got are old M60s anyway. The M1s that they've ordered from from New Lot aren't coming for another two years I think so yeah I don't think China needs to worry about them very much in terms of armour. So yeah I think they'd probably come after, once the beachhead has landed, the ground forces got foothold on the beach of Taiwan, I think then they'd start to reinforce with tanks once they could get them in there. I don't think you'd see them for a good few, maybe a week or two, with the first bit of fighting, I think. This looks from taking that and running with it,

that's why our Marines kind of pivoted away from the tanks, because they were like, Hey, if we're going to be fighting in the Pacific, the next American war is probably going to be over there. We got to drop these because you got to secure the beach head and then you know, the Marines punched the whole the army farmer or army fills it. And so I wonder because Marine Corps is very open about what they're doing. And I don't know if the Chinese have taken a look at that kind of restructure, their military, because the Russians certainly did not. So... Yeah, maybe. Yeah, it's... I still don't know if... I don't know if getting rid of tanks from the Marines was a good idea. I mean... It was very unpopular. Yeah, I mean...

I know they used them pretty well, I mean, it's going back to World War II, but they did use them pretty well when they were doing probably some of the same islands that they'd be looking at. You'd be going there again kind of thing with China, you know what I mean? And they did do pretty well. But, I mean, with the advent of ATGMs and stuff. But then again, I mean, in a jungle style island like that you're

not gonna get much of a drone threat so they'd probably be more useful than they would in the fields of wherever you know like Germany or Azerbaijan whatever so yeah I don't know I think you should I think the Marines should look at sort of a light tank medium tank style something it's not as heavy as the Abrams, but it's got similar firepower. Yeah, I think that'd be a better option rather than just completely getting rid. Well, I got your answer to that

because I was gonna ask you this next. 101st and 82nd, because you're like, yeah, the tanks and the support are kind of weird right now because of drones, but the 101st and 82nd, which are airborne and air assault units, I'll just put it in the chat. America is producing its first light tank. We're going to get light tanks in an airborne unit. And part of me is like, get the fuck out of here. You fucking tankers.

But I mean, it's... World War II, they would... Light tanks, stewards. would have the stewards. Yeah, nice. Well, this is because we looked at Ostomel Airport. One of the things about the VDV that was really weird was they're a mechanized airborne force. So they have like light tanks and shit. They have less troops in accordance with that.

And they're used to training and fighting with their armor with them. And so they become very reliant on these tanks and the armored vehicles to do shit for them. Whereas part of being in an air assault or airborne unit is you're on your own kid. Whatever you packed is what you get. And by day four, you're out there in the wood line chasing fucking rabbits for food. Well And you would talk to that. When I was doing the research into that, you know, bit about host them out, when I talked to that ex VDV officer, he was like, they absolutely did not follow the doctrine. He was like, they just dropped them in there. And so I mean, they even in Odessa, they just dropped them right into the water. They're like, get out. Good luck. Well, that's the thing you mentioned about air assault and airborne infantry.

Ukraine have got this as well. And it's a hangover from the Soviet Union to have these mechanized armored air assault brigades. It's very much a Soviet hangover because the Ukrainians have got one that's full of BMPs, BMDs and obviously the Russians have on the VDB as well and it's strange, like there's nothing, almost nothing air assault about it, especially with Ukraine as well, like they don't even use it for air assault, it's just named air assault. So yeah, but yeah, with the Russians, they do, they are basically just like normal armoured infantry, like they just sit in the back of the warrior or Bradley in your case and fight out from it. Whereas proper parries should be dropped in on your feet and then you're good to go.

You might have a few light guns with you or whatever. But they do and then they get attached to vehicles and when the vehicles go, you just see their ass falls out. They don't know what to do. Yeah. I mean, that's the best part about being a paratrooper is like, it's kind of like. A guy's in a house and he's arguing with the police and, you know,

like the guys in the house have to there's going to be a fight in the front door and it's going to be bad. But if you're airborne or air assault, you're that weird cop who's undercover in Crocs with a Glock and you come in through the back door. And it may be four on one, but like at least it's going to take you come in through the back door and it may be four on one but like at least it's gonna take some attention away from the front door like yeah you don't have BMPs and Bradleys but you got the element of surprise and fucking weirdness about you.

AFV so I mean if you listen to the last episode you understand or you heard that Cody mentioned how Lviv is the new center of gravity for Ukraine. Oh yeah, I like that bit. Their entire life line is a country. Yeah, so what's your take on that? That was good. Yeah, so what's your take on that one because you know immediately got a lot of hate with that. They were like oh how would the Russians even get to Lviv? They're like, I mean they just bomb everything.

get to Lviv, they just bomb everything. Yeah, I didn't realise that until a couple of months in, and like you said on the last podcast, where basically everyone just thought, once Kiev falls, that's it. Once you've brought it up as well, it just sort of reinforced my point more. But I think that basically like you said, if Lviv's gone, then there's no Western aid and all that ammunition you need for all these brand new tanks you've got. It's not coming, you know what I mean? It's gone. And then once that supply line has cut off, then I think that's it. Which again surprised me that the Russians haven't just done that yet. Like it's the Russians confused me just as much as the Ukrainians do in some

case like, why aren't you, you know what I mean? It's almost like knee this hard when it's a win. It's like, they're just like, should we just keep this going? Like sometimes I'm convinced like Zelensky's, you know what I mean, he's had a meeting with Putin going, should we just keep this going? Because what are they doing? You know what I mean? The Ukrainians can easily do a lot more than what they're doing rather than just trying to hold onto the last few old Soviet apartment buildings in Baku.

And the Russians could have easily gone through Belarus and gone down to Lviv. You know what I mean? So there's this really, really great book about World War II. Shocking. It's called The Storm of War and Dr. Andrew Roberts is a British historian and he says that the Germans lost World War II because they were Nazis. And at first you're like, okay, that's, that's really stupid. But it's like the mindset that that requires is like, you're a Nazi, right? So you think like I'm superior than you, the Russians. I don't need to worry about armor and odds and numbers. I've got the Ubermensch. I'm better than you. And then another thing

was like Hitler viewed the British as Anglo-Saxons, like their brothers. Why would I do Operation Sea Lion when I've got the Bolsheviks I need to kill? So that was another thing that went on. And it's like the Nazi mindset went towards that loss. And something that we talk about in the group chat a lot is the Russian unconscious, the Ukrainian unconscious, like what's going on? What are they thinking?

Their religion, their symbolism. And it's like, like you said, cause we were sitting there, like I think it was like fucking August, we were sitting there, we were like, what the fuck is going on? This is like two bloody brugs beating the shit out of each other.

It's like, well, what have you put an end to this? And it's like, they don't. And it's like, well, you put an end to this? And it's like, they don't. And it's like, well, and Stephen, you'd love him. He's so many things. He read a book by Carl Jung. He's like, it's the Orthodox Church. He's like, it's this idea that the great Russian empire is going to sweep through the Donbass and push through the Kiev and Putin's got this huge thing for Kiev, because it's the homeland of the Rus'. It's the homeland of Belarus, Russia, and Ukrainians. All Slavs go to Kiev.

It's the homeland. And he thinks in his head, if I'm going to be the Russian Empire, if I'm going to be the leader of Slavs, I need to take Kiev. And then we're all sitting here like, bro, just cut the feeding tube. And he's just like, no, no, no, no, I gotta, I need the homeland. And it's like, listen, Hitler, stop going for Stalingrad. And same, I mean, Zelinsky's in a different boat too. Like he's, his mindset is, you know, super weapons, high Mars, Abrams tanks. And like we're sitting here, we're like, hey, I'll fucking help you. Like you shouldn't be working on command and control, but command arms,

maneuver warfare, like do that high Mars trick again, where you blew up their weapons caches, and then you did a synchronized attack. Do that again. No, that's, that's too hard. I need to, I need to focus on Crimea. The place that was literally called where the iron crosses grow by the Germans or the aircraft carrier of the Black Fleet. Like, Zolinsky's eye on Crimea, like, oh yeah, this is going to be easy. And then like, I'm sitting here, we're sitting here like, bro, an entire Nazi army group couldn't take Crimea. Like a whole Wehrmacht army, and once again, it just goes back to what we were

talking about earlier. Like you can't put yourself in these people's shoes because you're just going to be sitting there like, fucking it's always sunny in Philadelphia with all the string attached. You're going to look like our group chat and you're just going to be like, wow, we're really schizophrenic. Like, okay. Yeah. I mean, it's like you were saying on that last podcast, what does a win look like? I don't know what the Ukrainians want anymore. They say they want Russia completely out of all parts. At some point they're saying go back to pre-91 borders and stuff and I was like, are you insane?

Then you're gaining land so then you're invading Russia I mean yeah Zelensky's been on today he's been on a been demanding fighter jets from us on TV in parliament and stuff and yeah like you said he is just stuck on sweep weapons just saying like give us tanks give us jets. And another question is like are we going to get back? No, no, no. I mean, earlier, you said there was there was a website where like, oh, you want to javelin we have 15 like you could go there. And so there was a I want to say it was la vive like an army group showed up. They're like,

Hey, where's our shit and are you using it properly? So they were actually like, following up. And this was around the same time that Zelensky's like, Hey, I need more tanks in high Mars and I need Patriot missile systems. So like, all right, all right. Where's our stuff we already gave you? Because I mean, I mean, I would, I can't, I mean, I would I can't I mean, I say it all the time I can't wait for an American manufactured anti air system to shoot down an American manufactured Apache in Yemen. So Yes, I've heard a few stories like this of them early on in the war where Everyone in Kiev, you know, all the SF operators were walking around in the

cry and stuff with all these like 97-4s all rigged out. And then the blokes at the front were sat with AK-47s, old British uniforms, RPGs. And it's like, what's going on? Like, where at some points there was the weapons just weren't getting to the front. I think they fixed that now, you start seeing more light. But then again, I've not seen a Javelin kill video come out in quite a long time, which is weird because the amount was 10. You know what I mean? The last bill, and this is something that freaking the hell out, was the last defense bill America passed, was 250 Javelin systems, which is two

army divisions of Javelins and 2000 rockets. I was like, the fuck's coming down the pipeline. You need that many fucking javelins for like, holy fuck. Well, I mean, I remember like right before the invasion last year, the Ukrainians handed out 10,000 rifles to the just civilians. And I was like, they absolutely threw those in a box and they're getting ready for the next civil war. Cause there's going to be infighting immediately. Cause well, the finance minister got shot down

on accident by a Ukrainian anti-air missile. They're like, ah, what was he doing? Like there's probably already infighting within the government. So he brings up a great point when he says like, these guys are outfitted, like how they're outfitted. And we've talked about this.

I'm like, Jesus fucking Christ. Like there's guys on Reddit all the time saying like, I'm a former teacher. And the dude's got like a cry cutoff helmet, Peltor fold over earphones. I'm like, okay, that's a $4,000 helmet, cry top, $400 shirt, $800 plate carrier, level four plates. I'm like, this guy's walking around with at least $15,000 a gear and our service members are walking around and like, and we still have ACU pattern in the ranks. Okay.

Like, holy shit. And then I don't know. I don't want to be that guy that's sitting there and like, we've given him enough, but like, if you give him a mouse, a cookie, if we're at the point where he's like getting Abrams and all this stuff, school teachers that were mobilized six months ago, look like special forces operators and Zelinsky is just that fat guy. Like I needed F 16 too. Like what the fuck more? Like, what's going to win this, bro? Like what, tell me what you need like

give me a tech nuke like fucking what jesus now that you mentioned that I mean real funny story oh yeah go on so it's funny you mentioned that because there was a video with um you know sound and everything of a ukrainian special operations mission where they were running around an american marpat or a american multi-cam they had m4. The only thing that made them look Ukrainian was the flag. And so I just commented on the St. Javelin post. I'm like, Hey, if there was no audio and this flag was missing, I think they were Americans and everyone's like, go fuck yourself. You hate you. I'm like, that's like, I mean, I'm not wrong, but... So that's the thing that I said. I had a... One of my good mates out there, he's like, training Ukrainians and stuff.

And he said the problem is, is the Ukrainian leadership is just basically the exact same as the Russian leadership. They're all... They all came through the Soviet officer schools. They're all very old school in terms of... In terms of planning and strategy. Whereas the younger lads are genuinely quite like the younger officers are more with our way of thinking. But yeah, basically, I think the main problem is for Ukraine is they need to

they need to get rid of that old wood and replace it with younger people who are going to use Abrams Challenger properly, because they're not, I mean, it's not going to be a game changer. There's not enough of them, but they can, they can do a lot with them. If they use them, if they don't use them correctly, then, yes, it's gonna be a waste of time. Yeah. Yeah, it's, and like you said, on with Instagram and stuff, I think, I mean, you'll know it with the post you've been doing recently, the second you say anything that sort of whether it's factual or not, and it goes against Ukraine, you're instantly pro-Russian. And it's like people just, I mean, I've noticed this has been going on for a while with a lot of other things, but yeah, people have to label you now or something. You know, you can't just be fact-checked.

It's the first war where it's good versus evil. Yeah. We're like, if you don't stand us with us, you're against us. You're like, we had a 20 year long war. Where were you? You guys forget that. Yeah. These people didn't even know where Ukraine was before this war started.

They didn't have a clue where Ukraine was before the war started. I can guarantee half of them didn't even know it was a country. And now they've got it, you know, it's in the bios, Slav, Ukraine, all that stuff. Well, it's kind of funny that, you know, with one of the latest posts I made, someone sent me a DM, they're like, first off, go fuck yourself. How do you think Ukraine should win? I'm like, get out of the trenches. Like that's step number one. I remember, I remember I put, I mean, my bio literally says like, um, focused, what is it now? Something like focused on, um, armored fighting vehicles, um, with a focus on Russian armor. Like that's, that's what, that's what, what I'm interested in. That's what sort of my field, like that's where I'm

an SME, you know what I mean? And because I posted a few videos over a few days where it had been a Russian tank killing a Ukrainian tank, but it was using this type of ammunition. So I thought that's interesting. I'll use that. And then same again, same again. And then people started commenting saying, Oh, you're just posting Russian tanks killing Ukrainian tanks. So you were pro-Russian.

And I was like, do you understand what my page is? Like, do you know, these people just don't understand. Like they just think that I'm just out there just like posting like Russian propaganda and I'm like, no, I'm literally doing this because it's, it's educational, you know what I mean? I'm showcasing a munition or a capability of, of Russia. Like this isn't, people don't seem to understand this. They just instantly think you're a Russian.

You want to spark my interest. You want a lot of fire under my ass as an Intel guy? Avoid something. Completely avoid it. Yeah. Like if you're, if you're sitting there and you're telling exactly like you said, like it was all cheap. It was all sunshine, rainbows and unicorn farts when we were talking about Ukrainians mopping up Russians. But the minute you post one about the Russians doing some work, it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And so this is why Matt and I went down this road recently is because we started doing that. We're like, where are the Ukrainian losses? And then you start doing that math and it starts adding up really, really, really fucking bad. Because it was like November, our general staff officer

was like, yeah, the Russians have lost 100,000 and the Ukrainians have lost 100,000. But then you do the math. And then you reach out to people who are on the front and they're like, yeah, it's between 300 and 500 a day. I'm like, fucking what? And so if somebody's, I mean, it's easier for our group to take the heat because we've got the group chat, we've got each other, but you run a page alone. And I've got to tell you, dude, even when you were at like 14,000 followers, I'm like, this kid's really good. And then we're hitting you, it's like, oh, because you were hazed. You will learn. But no, you just got to roll with the punches. And it's really sad that you only do Russian vehicles. I'd love to see you do like African bush war vehicles too.

Like that's what you should. I will expand. Like I will expand. It's just that's sort of the main thing. I've always, I've always had an interest in. I've always known. And yeah, I just, I've always had an interest in sort of Soviet Russian vehicles. And you don't see the fair, you don't see the fair, the ferret armored car with the tank turret.

Have you seen this? How do you not get into that, bro? Like a 1980s. It's something I can lock into. Like, that's what I need in my life. Like, yeah, they just left a fucking tank turret on a four cylinder engine. Doesn't work, but it shoots. Like, fuck it.

Like. It's really funny to see Tank Diarrhea go down with the shit with you in some of those posts he's like, no he's right. I'm good mates with him and there's a lot of times where I'll DM him and I'm like, are you seeing this on my post? He's had it on his post as well, you know what I mean? Are you seeing the comments on this, like, are these people real? And he's just like, he's like, hold on. He comes in there and we're just like, you know what I mean? Just because

it's factual doesn't like, well, just because it's not with your like ideology, it's still factual information. Like you've got to take it as that. You know what I mean? Well, what was it yesterday? It was like R Wars today, posted a video of Ukrainians taping a grenade to a stick. And you're like, did the Russians do it six months ago when everyone made fun of them? That's another thing I picked up on as well so many times. It's when I've done 45th separate engineer regiment, which is a separate inflatable engineer regiment. So you might have seen them, they do Russian unit, they've got loads of inflatable engineer regiments so you might have seen them they do russian unit they've got loads of inflatable tanks armored vehicles and stuff and basically what we do on our d-days actually you just they just do that that's what you do

and then everyone laughed at it everyone was like this is stupid it just looks like you know kids blow up toys or whatever next thing the ukrainians are doing and everyone's like good work. That's nice Yeah, but yeah, like you said there was an RPG with a 762 tape around the side of it The Russians didn't ages ago and everyone laughed at him now the Ukrainians do it and everyone's like yeah might work. Yeah It won't work. It's stupid from both sides like yeah Fucking my dude. God damn it. Were you in the Intel Slava group chat when this war started? Yeah, I was. Yeah. I remember that one video of a, it was like a T 90 rolling down like this roadway in an RPG bounced off the top. And he was like, this is the illustration of the perfect way that we can sustain javelin attacks. And everyone's like, what are you talking about? What the fuck? Yeah I remember it was in Mario Bros. T-72. Yeah I'll go full near there because

that's what I code it. T-72 model 1989. And it was an N-Law that they fired at and everyone was like look at this shit British missile doesn't even work and it's like this Ukrainian bloke fired it from like a first floor. Yeah they fired it down. I remember it didn't even have time to arm. It was like, you know what I mean? So they may sound the knowledge bounced off the top and yeah, Intel Slava, Intel Slava Z just like ran with it was like, yeah, look at this British kids awful and stuff. What the fuck?

Yeah, that was good. Anybody out of the entire war, he's the one I want to talk to. I'm like, bro, where are you getting your information? Yeah, the Intel Slavizy is mental. I've not looked on it for a while, to be fair, but yeah, that's probably one of the minus ones. Just some of the stuff on there. I remember I was on it before the war, on the build-up. And I just remember seeing the message and it was like,

Zed hours begun. And then it was just like, after that, it was just boom. And I was like, fuck, it's happened. You know what I mean? Like this is it. And then next minute it's just videos like, Roxxon's rolling in and stuff. I was like, what the fuck? I didn't think I was asking after. Oh my God, dude. It's so great to hear you say that because like, this will make you feel a little bit better is that like the comments can get to you. I mean, you have group chats and stuff, but it's fucking hilarious because the smartest guy in our group, it was like two days ago you posted the last post Matt and it, I mean, literal piss war, people pissing on each other, pissing their pants, pissing on me, pissing

on everyone. It's just great, great comment war. People pissing on each other, pissing their pants, pissing on me, pissing on everyone. Just great, great comment section. Just love it. And the smartest guy in the group goes, holy shit balls. And we're like, what? He goes, I know that guy. And he looks at one of the comments, he's like, yeah, I didn't even know he followed the page.

He's got a wife and kids and shit. He's on here writing paragraphs. And it's like, bro, if you only knew who was in these comments, shitting on each other, punching each other in the mouth. And it's like every time and I joke with Matt all the time. I'm like, bro, you click the fucking name. And then the first thing that pulls up is like a kid in airsoft gear or like a 25 year old man, like taking pictures at the gun range, like, you know, not military, just a good fanatic. And it's like, Oh, so you avoided the 20 year war. Fucking fantastic. Dude, Cody, building off that, I don't know if you saw this AFV, but this one guy wrote

like two full paragraphs about why I don't know, understand anything about doctrine or tactics or that I'm a pro-Russian. I just, I was like, I went to his profile. It was like a larper. I was like, were you in guat? And he was like, no. And I'm like, invalid opinion. And he was like, oh, piece of shit. I love it because you're saying like, I know what's on the internet. And Telslav is like, this fucking end law sucks. It's the biggest piece of shit. And then there's like some Royal Marine commando who's got a black eye because he did so many pushups his arms like fucking failed that day and he hit a rock and he just pissed off

his corporal that day. And he know he can tell you the maximum effective range of that end law, where to fire it. He could fire that thing drunk, sleep the product. He knows that end law back, forward, up, down, straight, everything. And he's probably in the comments section like until Slava doesn't know what he's talking about. And then he just gets fucking hammered by Chodes like no, it's all was fucking great. Fuck you. Fuck your mother. Fuck your wife. Fuck your dog.

And it's like, oh God, I love that comment section. Keep it coming. Yeah, I've had stuff like that where I've had like. comment section. Keep it coming. I've had stuff like that where I've had like absolute experts comment on like, very certain things, you know what I mean? Like, like gunnery instructors and stuff like that. And then some random bloke in the comments, he's like, you know what I mean? He's just going back like, you don't even know what he's talking about.

I'm thinking like, I mean, I can't say this bloke is, I just know him personally, but and they're just hammering, I'm thinking like, are you for real? Like if you knew who this bloke was, you wouldn't have even commented. Like, you know what I mean? If you knew what he knows and what he does, like you wouldn't have even started, but they'll just die on that hill in the name of arguing for Ukraine or Russia, whichever side. People are just so opinionated now. Did you see my story?

After I posted that one the other day, it's like, yeah, Ukraine's not going to get into NATO because of XYZ. And so I put up that AMA on my story and they were like, the first comment was like, what part of Russia are you from? And I'm like, yeah. He wrote it with the Russian and I'm like in the gym and I'm like, bro, you're a fucking monster. And then he like messages me in the morning. He's like, I got 17 go fuck yourselves this morning. And it's like, yeah, that's At this point, I'm I'm just gonna keep researching why Ukraine's gonna lose the war because I know that you're in the bathroom hiding from your family with shit kicked on your butthole, still typing a four paragraph response to us. Just like, you know, kids crying in the background, like, hold on, I got to show this guy what a real man looks like.

Like, dude, wipe your ass and go back. Like, fuck it. Yeah, I mean, it's like, it's like you said, your stuff's vindicated in usually two, three months, isn't it? Like, that's usually the case. Yeah. It's in the bio now. It's in the bio.

Yeah, it's sometimes these people are going to realise, like, I mean, are they going to hold on to this opinion forever or are they just going to realise, like, that's, you know, maybe, what's wrong? You know what I there was wrong. I mean, we don't, I mean, it, we have a lot of experience, we know what we're doing. But at the end of the day, I think the real, the real treat is getting to meet guys like yourself and hang out and like, because you never, I mean, you're, you know, you're still doing the thing and most of us are out. And so it's just good to talk about and put our opinions out there and whether right,

wrong, or indifferent, get shit on, get punched in the face, and then have a good laugh with the group chat and then be like, hey, are we going to play Hoyt 4 later? Or like, what are we going to get? Let's lose like five hours to, you know, like that's the real meat and potatoes. It's the friendships you find along the way. Yeah, definitely. So some of the people I've met through my page and stuff like, like coming on here today, some of the people I've met from a page has been,

it's been mental and like, it's been really good. You know what I mean? One of the best things I've done was starting up. It's been really good. Yeah. Oh, it's definitely so fun. It's yeah, it's, you know, it's, you know, I don't know if you make money off it or anything,

but, you know, we do not. It's more just for shits and gigs these days. So. Yeah, I don't make any money off Instagram. I don't even know how you do it. People ask me that all the time. People always say, oh, I don't know if you get it as well, cause you got quite, you know,

you've got quite a lot of followers. And I think people assume like once you go over 10,000, you're just like, oh, how much you getting? Like, doesn't work like that. I make money off of shadow band. Yeah, we're shadow band. We're permanently at 24,000.3. It goes up 100.

I'm stuck now, yeah. Yeah, I think that's Instagram's way of trying to get us to pay for boost and posts because I've been stuck on like 50,000 for ages now. it just won't go up. I think they minimise it so that you pay to get posts and stuff to more people to see and stuff like that. We were going to come out with a calendar and then try the sex appeal. Maybe we should just boost it. I'll come on off a turd.

That'd be good. That'd sell quite a lot. That'd sell quite a lot. It'd sell more apps anyway, more than we are. 100%. I mean, just see what Lou Hunt, she made like 200 calendars, $50 a pop. She sold out immediately. But damn.

I need, I need to get a new one. I need to get a new one. I need to get a new one. I need to get a new one. I need to getars, $50 a pop. She sold out immediately. I only make money from the app. What I mean, that's, there's no other competitive out there. So that's why we put it as a price. You know what I mean? I remember, yeah, I took a look at the app

and I remember like, oh, like the Marine Corps back when I was like a real junior Marine had like this little flip like note page. They're like, here's how you can identify. You know, here's the FLIR imagery. It's just four panels, top right, left side back and they're like, here's how you can identify it. And I was like, he is so smart. He just took the entire platform in RAM with it. Yeah, it's quite a niche subject, I suppose. Oh man, I really appreciate you coming on. It's been a really fun conversation. It's definitely something great. Yeah, here in 90 days, once we're vindicated. Yeah, once more, once you write again,

on the path of righteousness. All right, Alright man, well I really appreciate you coming on and we'll talk to you soon. So Thanks for watching!