Goodell discusses classified military info with P. King; King publishes it

[Fixit]

Sorry, this is nonsense.

Yesterday you read an article and learned that last week there were 30 (or whatever) men on a certain hill (or whatever). At the time you thought there was 45. So today you are going to use this against them.

Same as the BS post about military not using dis-information for fear that someone will attack them. Disinformation is used all the time.

A) I disagree. Strongly. Maybe I didn't even know they had personnel there, and I was going to try to use that as a point of attack. Or maybe I thought there was only a handful. Now I know better. Anyway, troop postings don't change that dramatically without a very good reason. I could use that info, too.

B) Disinformation is used all the time, I agree. My post was that the military isn't going to use disinformation to dare the enemy to attack them. Read it again.

 

[Fixit]

Anyone know what a S.A.L.U.T.E. report is?

 

[PonyExpress]

Anyone know what a S.A.L.U.T.E. report is?

of course...size activity location unit time equipment.

 

[Fixit]

of course...size activity location unit time equipment.

Exactly. According to the logic being thrown about in this thread, the SALUTE report, a cornerstone of intelligence gathering in the field, is useless.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Wow, SC, you are one of my heroes, a veteran of Tropic Lightning and the defense of Saigon. You never know who's posting on a message baord, and it turns out to be an American hero. In Vietnam you wouldn't have minded that a small combat outpost's force numbers were published for no good reason in the press? That surprises me.

Word up is spacecrime's name is John Rambo. You are SO toast.

Folks should listen to what space and other forward deployed vets have to say. Let's not make up stuff to bash Goodell. There's enough incompetence that's real and relevant to his NFL job to do that.

 

[PATSNUTme]

I'm still going with there is nothing there.

OP's are set up for two reasons: 1. Let the enemy know you are there and you are going after them, 2. to lure them into atacking the OP in force so we can bring the superior fire power to bare on them. It doesn't really matter if they know how many troops are there or not.

As I stated before, the Taliban like the VC live IN the ground. Maybe over there it's a cave system rather than a tunnel system. They knew about the OP the moment it was set up and they know the # of troops that are there. If they don't, the OP is in the wrong place.

Nothing contained in the article gave anythng away, IMO.

 

[Fixit]

OP's are set up for two reasons: 1. Let the enemy know you are there and you are going after them, 2. to lure them into atacking the OP in force so we can bring the superior fire power to bare on them.

Boy, my TIs were way off.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Boy, my TIs were way off.

Depends if you are setting up a base camp or an OP. With the small # of troops invloved, this appeared to be an OP which can be eliminated or added to qiuickly.

 

[Fixit]

Depends if you are setting up a base camp or an OP. With the small # of troops invloved, this appeared to be an OP which can be eliminated or added to qiuickly.

So, you're saying that an observation post's purpose is to announce our presence and act as bait for an attack? Do I have that right? An observation post?

 

[PonyExpress]

Word up is spacecrime's name is John Rambo. You are SO toast.

Folks should listen to what space and other forward deployed vets have to say. Let's not make up stuff to bash Goodell. There's enough incompetence that's real and relevant to his NFL job to do that.

PWP

I have the highest respect for the "forward deployed vets" you mention. I am also a vet, and I disagree with them. The idea of giving such info away in a combat zone raises my hackles. It strikes me as dangerous and undisciplined. But hey, I'm a Marine, and we're crazy like that.

 

[PATSNUTme]

So, you're saying that an observation post's purpose is to announce our presence and act as bait for an attack? Do I have that right? An observation post?

Yup, when its manned by that number of troops. There are multiple purposes. They just don't sit around and ovserve. It may not be the primary purpose or it could be. But you keep up patrols and set up ambushes until you drive them out or make them come out.

OP and FB were interchangable terms.

This is getting way off topic. The long and short is that nothing "classified" or anything that put the troops in greater risk was contained in that article.

 

[Fixit]

The long and short is that nothing "classified" or anything that put the troops in greater risk was contained in that article.

I agree with approximately 50% of that statement.

 

[gomezcat]

I've never been involved with the military, but Nut is surely right; the bad guys will already know how many people are up there. They aren't stupid.

There is also no way that the Pentagon would have let him disclose this information without permission.

Finally, the "disclosure" was made on an American sports page. Do you guys get just how obscure Football is for most of the world? If I were to ask my non-Football friends (or the long-suffering Miss Cat) who Tom Brady was, not one of them would know... and that's in London, not Islamabad.