To those who think North Korea is an easy win.....

They have little to lose AND giant spark plugs that give off incredible amounts of EMR noise that screw up electronics.

That's somewhat funny.

reply to post by shiropa


Yes, it does sound funny, but!

The US went into Vietnam with high tech and lost out to tunnels. Just how low tech can you get, tunnels are as low as low. (Sorry for the pun.)

As is very often the case, high tech developers try do outdo each other in being creative while often forgetting some of the simplest possible responses to high tech.

Laugh at a big spark plug but it could increase the background noise significantly thus decreasing your weapons sensitivity. I can just see the US using $250,000.00 bombs to take out a $20.00 spark plug.

A mass of spark plugs could actually work.

P

reply to post by inverslyproportional


"We have not once used our full ability since ww2 , don't misunderstand the use of kid gloves, with real warfare, we haven't actually used real warfare in all but the oldests lifetimes."

A lot of Japanese anime starts out that way with the bad guys saying, "I have not yet shown my true power" such as Cell in dragon ball z. and then a guy like gohan comes along and after prodding long enough morphs into a suer saiyan 2 and then cell is obliterated.

i realize probably no one cares because it was a show 13 year olds watched nearly 15 years ago. but the whole argument is bunk.

reply to post by Witness123


Full War = Full Causalities. Shiploads of Coffins returning home.

Your thinking it is like a kids cartoon just shows you have no idea of what warfare is. I suggest you join up and go over there and just see what happens. You won't get hurt, unthinkable, super sayans don't get hurt.

P

reply to post by Witness123


I'm a huge fan of the Dragon Ball series lol and I perfectly understand what you are trying to point out : ) Although in some respects the situation can also be compared to Baby when he exacts revenge on the Saiyans...taking over their minds and having them fight each other, like what North Korea and/or China is doing right now. Playing a huge mind # game on the rest of the world : )

reply to post by pheonix358


I'm glad you pointed out the high tech vs. low tech argument in modern warfare. I remember reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell called "Blink" which talks about the power of first impression and decisions based on quick intuitive thinking, which he basically calls "think slicing." Interesting read if you have the time.

BLINK by Malcolm Gladwell

Anyways there was a section on the book where the author sighted a war game exercise between the U.S. and a "rogue nation", codenamed Millennium Challenge.

MILLENIUM CHALLENGE

Basically the U.S. (composed of high tech strategists) with all their high tech and huge resources and lost to the "rogue nation" (led by retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper) and his unconventional "low tech" tactics. Eventually to save face, the top brass changed the rules of the whole exercise in favor of them winning the next phase of the war game.

In my view, NOKOR can be that "rogue nation." Just look at the statements of Jong Un and company and you'll get a sense that they're either off their knockers or playing the joker card, pretending to be stupidly insane and incapable while all the while carrying an ace up their sleeves while 99% of the planet underestimates them.

The film Body Of Lies starring Leonardo DiCaprio basically tells us the same thing. U.S. intelligence forces can't keep up with Islamic terrorists because they are using basic forms of communication and transportation. A hand written note instead of a cellphone. Bicycles instead of motor vehicles. A rundown apartment building instead of a military base with a satellite dish on top. You get the picture. You get the picture.

The U.S. is great at "long range" warfare and propaganda. Stealth bombers, Apaches, Tomahawk cruise missiles from ships, predators, smart bombs, Raptors and such. But if the fight ever comes to the ground and house to house, it'll cost them. Think Vietnam, Korea, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

By comparison Israel, a nation who has been at war ever since, has fewer casualties...or so Wikipedia says.

Anyways...keep the facts coming...this is healthy discussion right here.

reply to post by IQPREREQUISITE


Thank you for that. I agree and Millennium Challenge really did make it a reality for the US Military.

High Tech is always subject to low tech solutions. It just takes creativity. Many comment on the high precision munitions without understanding that they have to know where to drop them. The US faced the same challenge in Afghanistan and went back to carpet bombing. Did not do much except kill the innocent.

NK are dug in. They have to use low tech solutions. They will. US losses will be extreme.

P

I'm somewhat outclassed as most of my ordnance knowledge ends in 1945. I have some recent textbook training on IED manufacture and it's tactical application although it's simply curiosity rather than applied use. The ingenious Al-Qaeda manual found in Karachi in English.

I just finished the somewhat political/public opinion war thesis by David Schmitz concerning the TET Offensive. This massive invasion was covered up with negative propaganda-and a brilliant use of the turmoil in American politics-to fool so many. It's impossible to not to see the correlations between what is going on now-and what was going on then-in the same area of the world.

It will never equal the firing squad method of secrecy that was the Ardennes Offensive, and the American military covered TET up for decades, still it's hard not to see the same negative (we got nothin) propaganda.

Also, an old Pentagon buddy of mine-who is 90% blowhard-told me that Obama has positioned an entire Battle Group just outside the Sea of Japan. A Carrier Strike Force, Battleship Flotilla and-this is really hard to believe-an 8600 member Marine amphibious invasion force! Storm the North Korea beaches with infantry?

That can't be true-if it is Why?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I think what people fail to consider when talking about North Korea is that they have nothing to lose. They are already sanctioned up to the hilt, brainwashed into believing the whole world hates them (rather than the nutters who run the country).

To people in this situation, if your nominated mortal enemy attacks you, what do you have to lose? I think any US attack would draw a completely over the top response from North Korea. That isn't to say i think they would use nukes but it would certainly be extreme aggression.

Originally posted by pheonix358
reply to post by IQPREREQUISITE

 

Thank you for that. I agree and Millennium Challenge really did make it a reality for the US Military.

High Tech is always subject to low tech solutions. It just takes creativity. Many comment on the high precision munitions without understanding that they have to know where to drop them. The US faced the same challenge in Afghanistan and went back to carpet bombing. Did not do much except kill the innocent.

NK are dug in. They have to use low tech solutions. They will. US losses will be extreme.

P

The U.S bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki for that exact reason, the casualty list was estimated to be above 500k so to SAVE lives they nuked them.