Category Archives: Idaho

Hunger Games: Idaho to build largest Dairy research center in the U.S.! Another White Elephant?

11 February 2023 (11:09-UTC-07 Tango 06) 22 Bahman 1401/20 Rajab 1444/21 Jia-Yin 4721/11 февраля 2023 года

“We are building the nation’s largest research dairy in Rupert, Idaho. That doesn’t happen if we don’t have dairy processors come to the table and say, ‘We are going to support the producer community and put money toward this project.”-Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association

It is set to begin dairy ‘research’ in 2024, the University of Idaho’s taxpayer and food industry funded Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (CAFE, part of a larger CAFE Discovery Center): “Collectively, we can move mountains. From the Idaho Legislature to Redox and others in agriculture, it truly is a remarkable partnership that will pay widespread dividends.”Michael Parrella, Dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, 07FEB2023

The new CAFE is being funded by a combination of Idaho taxes and food industry donations.  The latest donation came from an Idaho company called Redox Bio-Nutrients, a half-million dollars! The CAFE is expected to cost at least $45-million to complete (keep in mind that the cost keeps going up, in 2022 one report said $22-million), and supposedly will be the largest dairy research center in the United States!

Redox Bio-Nutrients is a 30 years old company specializing in providing farmers with “with high-quality products that help growers efficiently and sustainably produce food.”

In May 2022, controversial (see below) dairy products maker Chobani donated $1-million to the CAFE.

According to a 2018 Farm Bureau report, even before the CAFE project began the Idaho Dairymen’s Association committed $2-million to the project, and Idaho state taxpayers were forced to fund at least $15-million!

In 2022, the CAFE Discovery Center Feasibility Study was published, revealing that one of the economic motivations for the larger CAFE Discovery Center is actually tourism, yet even with that it will not be a money maker, requiring yearly estimated funding to the tune of at least $260-thousand: “Further more, the pro forma assumes that all exhibit costs will be borne by sponsoring organizations in exchange for brand awareness. All this is feasible but will require a concerted capital campaign among Magic Valley area agri-businesses.”

But wait, there is more!  The University of Idaho claims its new multi-million dollar dairy research center isn’t about solving any dairy shortages, but rather solving the ‘problem’ of a glut of dairy products!  The federally mandated university says that most of the country’s dairy production is now concentrated in just two states; overpopulated California, and sparsely populated Idaho, and even so dairy output has skyrocketed with fewer cows: “The dairy industry currently produces 59 percent more milk with 64 percent fewer cows since 1944….  ….there has been a movement of dairy cows to the western United States with the greatest increases occurring in California and Idaho.”

In 1889, the University of Idaho was directly created by a federal ‘land-grant’, originally to act specifically as an agricultural research facility for the U.S., but in recent decades has become a ‘space-grant’ college as well.

Hunger Games/Operation Jupiter: WHY IS THE U.S. MILITARY SO INTENT ON PROTECTING BATS, GLOBALLY?

Borderland Hunger Games January 2023: U.S. CITIZENS GO HUNGRY WHILE MIGRANTS GET FIRST DIBS?

Hunger Games January 2023:  ‘Land Grant’ UNIVERSITY of IDAHO OFFERS FOOD PRESERVATION TIPS, FOR A PRICE, WHILE OTHER UNIVERSITIES, and Social Media, OFFER THE SAME ADVICE FOR FREE!

My Immigrant Idaho September 2021: Dairy producer CHOBANI TO HIRE AFGHAN REFUGEES, PAR FOR THE COURSE FOR BIDEN, AND A TURKISH OWNED COMPANY!

Kawaii: U.S. Navy deploys USS Idaho to…Idaho?

10 February 2023 (13:35-UTC-07 Tango 06) 21 Bahman 1401/19 Rajab 1444/20 Jia-Yin 4721/10 февраля 2023 года

Towards the end of January 2023, the U.S. Navy’s (USN) 26th nuclear powered Virginia-class attack submarine was ‘floated’ in landlocked Idaho!

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 28JAN2023.

That is, a scale model of the submarine SSN-799 USS Idaho was paraded through downtown McCall, during the yearly Winter Carnival.

Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 28JAN2023.

Most people don’t know that the birth place of the world’s first nuclear powered submarine was in landlocked Idaho (see more below under Cold War Boats: Nautilus).

Six of the future crew of USS Idaho attend an Idaho Steelheads hockey game, 25JAN2023. Idaho Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur.

The visit of the miniature of the latest USS Idaho (several USN boats have been named after The Gem State) was instigated by the USS Idaho Commissioning Committee, which sent six of SSN-799’s future crew to Idaho, to learn just what-the-heck the state of Idaho is all about.  They also spent some time on Idaho National Guard’s Gowen Field (which is also home to USN/USMC Reserve units); visited the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery; toured the Idaho Veterans Garden in Caldwell; spoke at school assemblies; attended the USS IDAHO Night at the Boise State University, among many other public relations events.

U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten, 25JAN2023.

SSN-799 is currently being completed by General Dynamics Electric Boat, in Connecticut, and is expected to be commissioned into the USN in the Autumn of 2024.  Former Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne revealed that the christening ceremony will use a bottle filled with water from Idaho lakes: “We went to the different lakes in Idaho gathering the water, which will all go into the champagne bottle, so that when Terry Stackley, our sponsor, christens the boat, the first water that will touch the bow of the USS Idaho will be the waters of Idaho.”

World War Three 2022: CHINA’S A-I-P ATTACK SUB REFRESHES TORPEDOES

World War Three 2021: IDAHO TRAINS KOREAN ANTI-NUCLEAR COMBAT TEAMS!

World War Three 2014:  EASTERN IDAHO SHERIFFS TRAIN UNDER ‘I-RAPTER’ FOR COMING NUCLEAR DISASTER!

World War Three 2012: GERMANY SELLS MORE DOLPHIN SUBMARINES TO ISRAEL

IRAN BUILDS TWO MORE ATTACK SUBMARINES, WILL TARGET U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

World War Three 2011:  RUSSIAN DELTA CLASS SUBMARINE FIRE BEING INVESTIGATED AS POSSIBLE SABOTAGE

ISRAEL INCREASES RANGE OF GERMAN MADE SUBMARINE, CAN CARRY CRUISE MISSILES ARMED WITH NUCLEAR WARHEAD

Cold War Boats:

15OCT2021, USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Third Class Jimmy Ivy the Third.

USS NAUTILUS (SSN-571), STILL FIGHTING AFTER 67 YEARS! FIRST BORN IN LAND-LOCKED IDAHO?

 MOSKVA CLASS SUBMARINE HUNTERS, STOP CALLING THEM AIRCRAFT CARRIERS!

Cold War Oddities, Idaho:

HTRE-3

ANCIENT NUCLEAR POWERED JET ENGINE FOUND IN IDAHO DESERT, PROOF OF ANCIENT ALIEN VISITORS?

World War 3: Idaho invades Syria!

09 February 2023 (12:30-UTC-07 Tango 06) 20 Bahman 1401/18 Rajab 1444/19 Jia-Yin 4721/09 февраля 2023 года

My Idaho Army National Guard alma mater.

On 26JAN2023, it was revealed that the ‘revolving door’ deployment ‘loops’ of the Idaho based Snake River Brigade are all about invading Syria.

U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.

M2A2 Bradley assigned to Charlie Company-2nd Battalion-116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team, Idaho National Guard, escorted other U.S./NATO units inside Syria, under the guise of supporting the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.

It should be noted that whenever U.S. forces enter Syria they remove all identifying unit patches from their uniforms.  But what is the point of that if the U.S. Army, itself, is going to publicize the operation?

U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.

The U.S. Army claims U.S./NATO forces are inside Syria only to train SDF in how to defeat the so-called Islamic State (even though the Syrian government has been kicking ass against the extremists, with the help of Russia).

Never mind that the part of Syria the SDF operates in, and the U.S./NATO forces are based in,  just happens to be in the middle of Syria’s eastern oil/gas field operations.

U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.

The U.S. Army also admitted that in 2022, at least 108 U.S. led operations were conducted  inside Syria.  It is called  Operation Inherent Resolve.

U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.

Operation Inherent Resolve also involves other NATO members, such as Norway’s Telemark Mechanized Infantry Battalion, operating under Task Force Viking.

U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Julio Hernandez, 26JAN2023.

World War 3: U.S./NATO TAXPAYERS FUND NEW PRISON Operations INSIDE SYRIA!

Michigan Army National Guard photo by Specialist Benjamin Tierney, released 01JAN2023.

Michigan Army National Guard reveals in a video that its 1st Battalion-125th Infantry Regiment-37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are conducting weapons qualifications inside Syria, under Task Force Viking!

IDAHO INVADES MOROCCO, SWAN SONG OF THE M109A6?

Battle for Ukraine: 60+ M2 BRADLEYS DEPLOY!

October 2022: IDAHO BASED SNAKE-RIVER INVADES TEXAS, NEXT STOP; KUWAIT & IRAQ!

Pandemic Hunger Games: SNAP shenanigan states hire Security Guards, while citizens go hungry!

29 January 2023 (18:11-UTC-07 Tango 06) 09 Bahman 1401/07 Rajab 1444/08 Gui-Chou 4721/29 январь 2023 года

Here in Bannock County, Idaho, there has been a run on local food pantries.  I live in Chubbuck, and the local food pantry is located at the Gate City Christian Church (there are several websites listing it as in Pocatello, but it is actually in Chubbuck), and on 27JAN20232 they were swamped.  The food pantry was left with almost no food; no fresh produce, no dairy, almost no frozen meats, almost no bread/pasta.  Their U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) offerings were down to just cans of pumpkin puree and pasta sauce.  Interestingly, at the beginning of the month they changed their hours of operation, in expectation of more people which is exactly what they got.

I did some research to find out what was going on, and apparently there are two major problems taking place involving the USDA SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, originally known as Food Stamps): 1; many states are overwhelmed with SNAP applications, some states as much as four months behind, 2; the extra Pandemic SNAP funding is about to end in February/March (depending on the news source), and some states have already ended the Pandemic funding (like Idaho)!

For those of you who don’t know, each U.S. state handles the federal SNAP program differently, some states have very liberal programs while others are very tight fisted.

There doesn’t seem to be an explanation for the SNAP application backlog, but some states are having no problem spending tax dollars hiring security guards for their Social Services operations.  The fact that the extra Pandemic funding for SNAP is coming to an end indicates the federal government thinks the Pandemic is over.

Here are links to local news reports/videos (tip-o-the-iceberg) about the SNAP shenanigans taking place across the United States:

8 News Now: Thousands of people in sparsely populated Nevada losing SNAP assistance!

9 News: More than half a million Coloradans hit by SNAP cuts!

Anchorage Daily News: 9-hundred SNAP applications from October 2022 still to be counted, not known how many in November and December! Alaska spends tax dollars on security guards to protect Department of Health workers due to threats of violence!  Medicaid is the next domino to fall!

Alaska’s Division of Public Assistance director suddenly quits due to SNAP shenanigans!

Alaska Beacon: Four months long SNAP application backlog results in lawsuit, thousands going hungry!

Axios: SNAP benefits returning to pre-COVID amounts in February

Baltimore Banner: Mother tries to get back nearly $3,000 worth of SNAP benefits that were stolen from her!

Bloomberg: Scammers Rip Off SNAP Benefits

CBS Chicago: 2-million people in Illinois affected by SNAP cuts!

CBS News: Iowa representatives in the U.S. Congress want to ban meat, butter and flour from SNAP, even though nationwide there has been a 14% increase in people on SNAP since the Pandemic began!

Delaware Public Media: The 2018 Farm Bill is about to end, Congress is debating the 2023 Farm Bill, which will directly affect SNAP and non-profits who get federal funding for things like food pantries.

Forbes: SNAP Cuts Begin In March For Emergency Allotment Recipients, 48 states affected

Fox 8 News: Staggering cuts coming to Ohio’s SNAP

Fox News Milwaukee: Extra SNAP benefits that began due to COVID set to end next month in 32 states

Gothamist: New Yorkers sue city over delays to SNAP

Insider NJ: New Jersey sets $50 minimum SNAP limit per household!

KTOO: Alaska government administrators blame lack of social service workers on 2021 cyberattack, however, Alaska State Employees Association Local 52 says SNAP application backlog caused by massive state layoffs that took place before the cyber attack!

Prairie News: As of November 2022,  the USDA said 82% of U.S. citizens are eligible for SNAP; 74% are working poor, and 42% are elderly. In the state of Texas, 75% are eligible, and Texas comes second in the nation with the highest number of households using SNAP, with 1.1 million people. In the city of Amarillo, 9,115 people, or 12.1% of the population, receive food stamp benefits.

Record Courier: Food pantries to be swamped when Ohio ends Pandemic SNAP!

WSLS: Food producer donated 30-thousand pounds of meat to help Southwest Virginia food operations, due to SNAP cuts!

WDTN: Ohio food pantries prep for end to SNAP Pandemic funding.

Yahoo Finance: The following states already ended the Pandemic SNAP funding: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

Santa Fe New Mexican: COVID-19 emergency SNAP benefits to end in March

Hunger Games: BLM FAILED IDAHO IN FAVOR OF GERMAN PHARMA/AG GIANT!

Hunger Games: BLM failed Idaho in favor of German pharma/ag giant!

28 January 2023 (02:17-UTC-07 Tango 06) 08 Bahman 1401/06 Rajab 1444/07 Gui-Chou 4721/28 январь 2023 года

“Sage Grouse and Idahoans have already lost so much from the unfettered expansion of phosphate mining and processing in this area.”-Hannah Connor, Center for Biological Diversity

A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved a phosphate mine near Soda Springs.  The mine would be part of Southeast Idaho P4 Production phosphate operations already owned by NATO-Germany’s pharmaceutical/agricultural giant Bayer, operations that have a documented history of ground water contamination.

Bayer stated that the phosphate from the Caldwell Canyon Mine would be used for continued production of the herbicide glyphosate, also known as Roundup.  Monsanto was the creator of the controversial Roundup, which ended up being banned by most countries around the world for causing cancer and birth defects.  Monsanto suffered financially after numerous lawsuits and ended up selling-out to Germany’s Bayer in 2018, which agreed to take-on the legal liabilities of Roundup.  Roundup became financially viable, again, once ‘Roundup Ready’ agricultural crops were genetically engineered.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has yet to issue corrective action.

April 2022: Bayer’s Proposed Caldwell Canyon Mine, Bayer claims “it is a major pillar of the Southeast Idaho economy.”

November 2021: CANADIAN GOLD-DIGGERS ALLOWED TO RIP-UP IDAHO FORESTS!

September 2020: USAF DUSTS IDAHO WITH CHEMICALS, IN THE NAME OF FIGHTING WILDFIRES!

Civil Eats, June 2019: Roundup’s Other Problem: Glyphosate is Sourced from Controversial Mines

February 2019: A LITTLE ROUNDUP WITH THAT BEER? 

February 2016:

Photo via Reuters.

500 YEARS OF GERMAN BEER PURITY FLUSHED BY HERBICIDES! Oh Ja! Angela Merkel liebt ihr Glyphosate Bier!

2015: FINALLY, MASS PHOSPHATE POLLUTER J-R SIMPLOT NEAR POCATELLO, IDAHO, HIT BY REGULATORS! That’s not tree pollen on your car, it’s phosphorus dust!

2014: ROUNDUP PROVEN TO CAUSE KIDNEY FAILURE! CAUSE OF GLUTEN ALLERGIES! BEEN GOING ON SINCE THE 1970S, WAKE UP YOU IDIOTS AND STOP USING GLYPHOSATE!

2012: MONSANTO FOUND GUILTY OF POISONING FARMERS! NEW STUDY CONFIRMS ROUNDUP DESTROYS SOIL, REDUCES CROP NUTRITION!

MYSTERY DISEASE KILLING CHILDREN IN CAMBODIA? REMEMBER VIENTAM’S KANUP/ROUNDUP/MONSANTO DISASTER?

MORE EVIDENCE THAT KANUP 480 SL (another name for Roundup) RESPONSIBLE FOR MUTANT WILD DOGS IN VIETNAM!

Supply Shortage Shenanigans: No Testing required for Veterans to drive Big-Rigs in Idaho?

27 January 2023 (14:39-UTC-07 Tango 06) 07 Bahman 1401/05 Rajab 1444/06 Gui-Chou 4721/27 январь 2023 года

The Idaho Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) allows Veterans, and even current military personnel, to be waived from taking the test for Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)!  But wait, not just any veteran or current military personnel, you specifically must have driven truck in the military.  Whew, that’s good.

Here is the real good news for Veterans and military personnel with truck driving experience; the Idaho DMV has offered two forms for CDL testing waiver, except those forms had to be filled out by hand, that is until now. On 18JAN2023, the Idaho DMV announced two new ‘digital fillable forms’, in an attempt to streamline the process, and get more experienced truck driving Veterans on the road.

The old forms had to be printed then hand filled in, the new forms can be filled in before printing.  Employees of Idaho DMV claim they were having a hard time reading the hand-filled forms, and some potential applicants gave up simply because they had to handwrite on the forms!

Application for Military CDL Skills Test Waiver

Application for Even Exchange CDL Military Knowledge and Skills Test Waiver

November 2022:

CHINA TURNS TO ROBOTS & DRONES TO SUPPLY ITS MILITARY!

May 2022: FEMA PREPS FOR FOOD SUPPLY CATASTROPHE? “52% OF OUR POPULATION IS ONE CRISIS AWAY FROM POVERTY”

April 2022: CONTAINER SHIPS GOING DOWN, U.S. TAXPAYERS TO THE ‘RESCUE’!

November 2021: SKYROCKETING USED CAR PRICES & INSURANCE RATES STARTED YEARS BEFORE THE SHORTAGES!

May 2019: THE U.S. ARMY HAS BEEN PREPPING FOR DRIVERLESS SUPPLY TRUCKS FOR AT LEAST A DECADE!

Just revealed, Idaho got $26million in federal funding for clean-er water?

“Once again, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing a once-in-a-generation funding opportunity that allows EPA and our partners to improve water quality and infrastructure. We’re laying the groundwork today for future decades of clean water for the people of Idaho.”-Casey Sixkiller (great name), Administrator of EPA Region 10

On 26JAN2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had given Idaho $26-million-730-thousand to protect and improve water quality and infrastructure, back on 28DEC2022!

The money didn’t go directly to the state of Idaho, it is being divided (not evenly) between the federal government (EPA) co-sponsored Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and  Clean Water State Revolving Fund.  On top of that, the money isn’t free, the funding is to be issued out as low-interest loans!

Even though the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money is going to federally co-sponsored programs, and is to be used as debt financing, the Idaho DEQ was grateful: “The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality appreciates the ongoing support from EPA to protect and improve water quality and infrastructure across our state, and we welcome any assistance that helps make these services more accessible and affordable for our communities.”-Jess Byrne, Director of Idaho DEQ

Idaho DEQ Source/Ground Water Assessment

Hunger Games: IDAHO NURSING HOMES & ECONOMY LEAVES OLD PEOPLE OUT IN THE COLD!

Disaster 2021: IDAHO MILITIA & BOISE FD TRAIN FOR SWIFT WATER RESCUES, WITHOUT WATER!

June 2016: IDAHO WATER STANDARDS NIXED FOR FRACKING?

April 2016: IDAHO, OREGON, WASHINGTON HIT BY CONTAMINATED WATER, COINCIDES WITH OIL INDUSTRY FRACKING!

February 2014: WASHINGTON PROPERTY MANAGER SUED OVER SICKENING WATER SUPPLY IN IDAHO MOBILE HOME PARK!

Hunger Games: Idaho Nursing Homes & Economy leaves Old People out in the cold!

26 January 2023 (12:29-UTC-07 Tango 06) 06 Bahman 1401/04 Rajab 1444/05 Gui-Chou 4721/26 январь 2023 года

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has ranked 10 of Idaho’s 80 nursing home operators as ‘worst’, and one nursing home has so many violations it didn’t make any ranking!

The CMS looks at data from health inspections, staffing levels, and the vague sounding ‘quality measures’ which I suspect means quality of care.  You can go to the Medicare.gov ‘Find and Compare Providers near you’ website and enter the name and state of the nursing home to see their ‘star rating’, the 11 losers are:

Caldwell Care of Cascadia

Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society – Silver Wood Village

Ivy Court (for abuse)

Coeur d’Alene Life Care Center of Post Falls (for abuse and under Special Focus Facility Program)

Post Falls Prestige Care & Rehabilitation

Lewiston Royal Plaza Health and Rehabilitation of Cascadia

Lewiston Silver Ridge Care

Coeur d’Alene Skyline Transitional Care Center (for abuse)

Boise Twin Falls Transitional Care of Cascadia (for abuse)

Twin Falls Valley View Nursing & Rehabilitation

Boise Valley Vista Care Center of Saint Maries

KREM-2: The rate at which Kootenai County senior citizens are entering into homelessness is on the rise, due to skyrocketing costs of living: “There were a lot of times we couldn’t get food, or a place to eat or anything else. We went to the food bank when we could, but we couldn’t store anything because we didn’t have a fridge.”-Gary Martin, 82 years old, living in his car with his wife and adult daughter

PR Newswire: Idaho officials push old people to get boosted, says only 50% of nursing home patients are boosted.

Skilled Nursing News:  Idaho-based Cascadia Healthcare spends its money on buying-up competitors, will take over 10 Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society nursing homes across the U.S.

November 2021: Department of Defense USES PANDEMIC healthcare AS EXCUSE TO COMPLETE ITS TAKEOVER OF STATE CONTROLLED MILITIAS, IDAHO LATEST VICTIM?

August 2021: MYSTERY(?) DISEASE KILLS 1000 DEER IN IDAHO! IS IT THE PANDEMIC?

July 2017: IDAHO ‘MORMON’ POLITICIAN SAYS YOU DON’T NEED HEALTHCARE; “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to healthcare”!

June 2016: OBAMACARE INSURANCE COST INCREASE FOR IDAHO!

April 2016: IDAHO HOSPITAL VIOLATES U.S. MEDICAL LEAVE ACT!

February 2016: DOCTORS SAY IDAHO’S OBAMACARE KILLED 1-THOUSAND PEOPLE, SO FAR!

October 2015: IDAHO TAXPAYERS PAY EXTRA FOR NOT MAKING OBAMACARE AVAILABLE FOR EVERYBODY!

January 2014: SECRET COURT DOCUMENTS REVEAL PLAN BY IDAHO HOSPITAL AND BLUE CROSS TO JACK UP COSTS BY 60%! REVEALS IDAHO INSURANCE PAYMENTS HIGHER THAN NATIONAL AVERAGE! 

FEMA SAYS ALMOST 60% OF IDAHO’S FIREFIGHTERS SCREWED OVER BY so-called AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE!

December 2011: HEALTH INSURANCE RATES IN IDAHO COULD GO UP MORE THAN 10%, THANK YOU OBAMACARE

Idaho invades Morocco, swan song of the M109A6?

My Idaho National Guard alma mater, photo by me.

During the month of June, 2022, the Idaho Army National Guard’s  1st Battalion-148th Field Artillery Regiment-116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team (aka Snake River Brigade) pounded the countryside of Morocco, on the African continent.  Apparently it is part of having good international relations, and somehow reduces deployments: “One goal of the National Defense Strategy is to have good international relations and partnerships. Building multinational relationships, increasing their tactical proficiency and understanding how to work together reduces deployment requirements for our military and our international partners, and helps provide global security.”-Major Ryan Batt, 1st Battalion-148th Field Artillery Regiment-116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team

A now all too familar sight in Idaho, boarding a contracted plane for deployment, this time to Morocco, 18JUN2022. Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur.

I say ‘somehow’, because the past few decades of this ‘National Defense Strategy’ has actually increased deployments, especially for the Idaho National Guard, and has not made the United States any more international friends, nor has it increased international security.

Somebody needed some attention from an Idaho -Snake River- Medic, this was not a drill (real blood folks). Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 25JUN2022.

“Global security and the National Defense Strategy is important not only to us in Idaho but as a whole nation and should be important globally. This relationship has always been there, and we want to keep it strong moving forward.”-Major Ryan Batt, 1st Battalion-148th Field Artillery Regiment-116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team

Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 21JUN2022.

Back to the pounding of Morocco.  This was part of what has become the largest yearly U.S./NATO wargame on the African continent, called African Lion.  About 80 Idaho Army & Air Guard personnel joined others from Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin Army National Guards, as well as a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve unit from California, and a Regular Army (RA, aka full-time active duty) unit from Texas, along with military personnel from Brazil, NATO-Canada, Ghana, Morocco, NATO-Netherlands, Senegal, Tunisia and NATO-United Kingdom.  Whew, more than 8-thousand military personnel!

‘Rock Drill’ before the action. Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 24JUN2022.  Named Rock Drill because most of the time you use rocks to represent different things on the battlefield.

Originally, Exercise African Lion started as a computer simulation in 1998, between a U.S. Army airborne unit in NATO-Italy and an airborne unit in Morocco.  It was held every two years.  By 2005, it involved actual military personnel on the ground in Morocco.  In 2007 it became a yearly wargame, involving more and more U.S. personnel and other NATO countries (again proving that this type of National Defense Strategy does not reduce deployments, or anything else).  Interestingly, in March 2020,  General Stephen Townsend, the commander of U.S. Africa Command (USAfriComm), stated “African Lion has been significantly reduced in scale and scope based on concerns that we all have about the safety of our troops and those of our partners.”  Really?

‘Punching the Tube’. Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 22JUN2022.

The Idaho National Guard also took part in African Lion in March 2019.

Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 22JUN2022.

The days of Idaho’s M109A6 Paladins are numbered; during this wargame it was revealed that Idaho will be getting the new M109A7 (and I say don’t call it a Paladin because it is a totally different beast).

FiSTs & COLTs, I was a 13F decades ago in Pocatello. They get to call in and direct the artillery fire. Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 24JUN2022.

COLT=Combat Observation Lasing Team

FiST=Fire Support Team

“Fire!” Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 22JUN2022.

“Shot Out!” Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 24JUN2022.

“Splash!” Idaho National Guard photo by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 24JUN2022.

Video sequences recorded by Idaho Air National Guard’s Master Sergeant Becky Vanshur, 26JUN2022, edited together by me:

Vehicle I-D: M109, COLD WAR to UKRAINE CRISIS

2022: IDAHO BASED SNAKE-RIVER INVADES TEXAS, NEXT STOP; KUWAIT & IRAQ!

KING OF THE STALLIONS STAMPEDES IDAHO!

IDAHO INVADED BY APACHES FROM ARIZONA & SINGAPORE?

CALIFORNIA, IOWA, NORTH CAROLINA, TEXAS, UTAH, WASHINGTON INVADE REBEL IDAHO!?

2021:  Snake River Brigade deploys yet again!

IDAHO GETS ‘SMART’ ARTILLERY ROUNDS, REVEALS “UPCOMING MOBILIZATIONS”

SINGAPORE’S IDAHO BASED SKY PIRATES BOMB LAS VEGAS?

2020: T-A-C-P-S USE HORSE POWER TO CALL IN AIR STRIKES ON IDAHO MOUNTAINS!

2019: UNITED STATES INVADES IDAHO!

2017:

Utah Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Annie Edwards, 14OCT2017.

UTAH’S SECRET(?) WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION EVENT IN EAST IDAHO!

2012: IDAHO’S MICRON TECHNOLOGY INVADES JAPAN!