Navy SEALS Lacking Rifles?

Navy SEALs tell congressman there is a combat rifle shortage
Associated Press
By Richard Lardner
Published: March 7, 2016

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the top officer at U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, and Losey's superior, told Hunter last week that he is aware of the congressman's concerns. "We're certainly running that down," Votel said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

Navy SEALs demonstrate winter warfare capabilities in this Dec. 2014 photo.
U.S. NAVY

WASHINGTON — The tip of the spear may be losing its edge.

Navy SEAL teams don't have enough combat rifles to go around, even as these highly trained forces are relied on more than ever to carry out counterterrorism operations and other secretive missions, according to SEALs who have confided in Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

After SEALs return from a deployment, their rifles are given to other commandos who are shipping out, said Hunter, a former Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. This weapons carousel undercuts the "train like you fight" ethos of the U.S. special operations forces, they said.

Hunter said he's been contacted by several SEALs, but he declined to provide further information about the weapons they use in order to protect their identities.
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SHAME ON US! Navy SEAL's Buy Own Helmets!

Lacking basic gear, special operators stuck buying their own equipment 
Stars and Stripes 
By Travis J. Tritten 
Published: February 25, 2016

In a 2007 file photo, a U.S. Special Operations Forces member
prepares his gear for an evening mission in western Iraq.
ELI J. MEDELLIN/U.S. NAVY

WASHINGTON – Sean Matson, who recently left active-duty as a Navy SEAL, said the military measured his head four times – each time before deployment – with plans to provide him a more advanced ballistic helmet.

But the new helmet never materialized. During a deployment in Africa, Matson and six of his fellow SEALs each shelled out about $900 for updated helmets that held the lights, communications devices and batteries needed for their missions.

“There was never a clear solution to it, so guys were going out spending $800-$900 on their own ballistic helmet,” said Matson, who is now CEO of the military supply company Matbock.

Elite troops such as the SEALs are more and more forced to dip into their own pockets to purchase basic military gear such as helmets, global positioning devices and medical supplies, according to Matson and others involved in the military’s unofficial civilian-side supply network who came to Capitol Hill on Thursday.
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Dark Horse Marines Test Legged Squad Support

‘Dark Horse’ Military Unit Will Test Experimental Weapons
Epoch Times
By Joshua Philipp
February 23, 2016

Lance Cpl. Timothy Knaggs (center), a team leader with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, walks ahead of the Legged Squad Support System at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, June 19, 2014. The Marines is assigning a battalion to test new equipment and new ways of operating.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Matthew Callahan)

The “Dark Horse” battalion of the U.S. Marines will spend the next year field-testing new equipment, technology, and fighting methods that may eventually be used in the broader military.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller made the announcement on Feb. 19. According to Military.com, he announced the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, also called “Dark Horse,” will start testing the new gear and techniques in Camp Pendleton, California.

The battalion has close to 1,200 Marines in it, and was first organized in June 1917 for the First World War, and has fought in every major American war since then.

“They’re going to be our experimental platform, if you will, and we’ll give them capabilities and do it in an efficient way—which is, give it to Marines and let them figure it out, because they’re our best developers and experimenters,” Neller told Miltiary.com.
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Fort Carson Soldiers Arrested For EBay Sales

Fort Carson soldiers arrested, accused of stealing military equipment to sell on Ebay
The Gazette
By Kassondra Cloos
April 18, 2015

Undercover agents met with Francis and paid $4,300 in cash for a laser range finder in early February, which matched the serial number of one stolen from Fort Carson in late January.

Two Fort Carson soldiers and a third who was discharged last year have been arrested and accused of stealing military equipment that a fourth man, a civilian, allegedly sold on eBay.

A criminal complaint alleging three of the men stole Fort Carson property including two iRobots worth a combined $374,000 and dozens of pieces of body armor and other equipment was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver.

Staff Sgt. Benjamin Cardwell and Sgt. Johnny Herrera, unit supply specialists, according to the complaint, and former soldier Todd Crow were arrested Wednesday after admitting to conspiring with Daniel Francis, a civilian who allegedly acted as a middleman to sell the stolen military goods, according to the complaint.
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Two recycling plant workers killed by mortar rounds

Mortar round explodes at recycling plant, killing 2
The Associated Press
By SARA BURNETT and JOHN O'CONNOR
Published: August 25, 2014

GRANITE CITY, Ill. — A mortar round exploded Monday at a suburban St. Louis metal recycling plant that does business with the military, killing two people.

The explosion at Totall Metal Recycling in Granite City occurred about 6:25 a.m., police said. Totall Metal Recycling, which employs about 160 people, according to its website, does business with the military and it's not unusual for it to have items such as "military engines and ammunition casings," police chief Rich Miller said.

Bomb technicians were sweeping the site for other possible explosives Monday afternoon.

The victims, whom responders could not initially get to because of the fear of further explosions, were not immediately identified. A third person was injured and taken to a St. Louis hospital, police said, but a condition was not available.

"This corporation recycles everything you can think of, from plastics to cardboard to metals, and some of their contracts involve getting materials from the military," Miller said at a briefing for reporters near the plant Monday afternoon.
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MRAP Joins Sheriff's Department After Serving in Iraq

Six-wheeled Iraq veteran joins sheriff's department
Southeast Missourian
By Emily Priddy
Friday, March 21, 2014

Lt. Chris Hull with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, opens the 700-pound driver's side door to the department's new mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle Friday afternoon.
(Laura Simon)

If Batman owned a station wagon, it might look a little like the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department's newest vehicle.

The department recently acquired a 31-ton, six-wheeled Iraq War veteran capable of hauling eight to 11 people through ice, high water and improvised explosive devices.

"It's seriously armored. They made these things to protect the troops from IEDs," said Lt. Chris Hull of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department.

The vehicle, called an MRAP -- an acronym for mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle -- had 20 miles on its odometer when the U.S. Department of Defense transferred it to the county, Hull said.

"It was a vehicle that we acquired through the DOD program where they demilitarize certain pieces of equipment from the military and offer it to law enforcement," he said.

The department announced the acquisition on Facebook, where Hull said some "haters" were questioning why a local law-enforcement agency would need such a powerful tool.

"It was free," he said. "It was offered to us. ... Even if this thing gets utilized one time or so and it saves someone's life, it's well worth it."

Hull said several thousand of the vehicles exist, but only 350 were reconditioned for police use before the federal government canceled the program; the rest will be scrapped.
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