U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer Second Class Austin Ingram.
This photo, taken from a U.S. Navy (USN) P-8A Poseidon, shows Mount Etna on 14JAN2021, before the eruptions started.
U.S. Navy photo by Captain Kevin Pickard, Junior.
As if dealing with pandemic panic-attack restrictions wasn’t enough, the personnel on U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella have also been on alert since Mount Etna began erupting in February 2021.
USN photo by Captain Kevin Pickard, Junior.
NASA photo from 2006.
Mount Etna is located on Sicily, just off the toe of the Italian boot. It is considered one of the most active volcanos on Earth.
USN photo by Petty Officer Third Class Zach Dalton.
Michigan: On 15MAR2021, FEMA ordered the Department of Defense to deploy military medical and support personnel to Michigan, to support federal Community Vaccination Centers (mass vax sites). FEMA Region 5 video of mass vax site in Ford Field:
Washington: On 24MAR2021, FEMA ordered the Department of Defense to deploy military medical and support personnel to Washington for mass vax ops. Video report, on 31MAR2021, FEMA and the U.S. Army began vaccination ops in Yakima County:
Washington DC: On 01APR2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ordered the Department of Defense to deploy military medical and support personnel to Maryland, Tennessee and Wisconsin, to support federal Community Vaccination Centers: “In support of FEMA, our service members continue to vaccinate more and more Americans. Once open, these three new sites will create thousands of additional opportunities each day for eligible Marylanders, Tennesseans and Wisconsinites to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.”-Lieutenant General Laura J. Richardson, U.S. Army North and the Joint Force Land Component Command of U.S. Northern Command
On 30MAR2021, FEMA ordered the Department of Defense to deploy military medical and support personnel to Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Indiana and Missouri, to support federal Community Vaccination Centers (mass vax sites).
U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer Second Class Tyler R. Fraser.
These U.S. Sailors are originally from Philippines, now they are U.S. citizens. They followed the legal steps to becoming citizens and were sworn in on 29MAR2021, during a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremony onboard Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection-Air and Marine Operations video of the rescue of an illegal who broke his leg trying to cross the Baboquivari Peak Wilderness, 30MAR2021:
The U.S. Coast Guard helped capture these boats approximately five miles off West Palm Beach. The boats held illegals from Haiti, Jamaica, Bahamas and Dominican Republic. Department of Homeland Security detained some of the illegals because they are suspected of committing ‘other crimes’.
USCG photo.
On 18MAR2021, USCG captured 17 illegals from Cuba, approximately 54 miles south of Key West. They were sent back to Cuba.
USCG photo.
The USCG says it captured this boat, with three illegals from Cuba on it, approximately 50 miles southeast of the Bahamas, 14MAR2021. The illegals were returned to Cuba.
Not only are U.S. forces operating in Syria, but they now do so with large U.S. flags attached to each vehicle.
USA photo by Sergeant Torrance Saunders.
Amazingly, the U.S. Army itself says the reason for the latest cross border raid is to defeat Islamic State, aka ISIS, aka ISIL, aka DAIISH (DA for al-DAwla, I for al-Islamiya, I for al-Iraq, SH al-SHam [al-Sham=Syria])!
USA photo by Sergeant Torrance Saunders.
On 20MAR2021, U.S. forward air controllers (JTAC) conducted a ‘live fire’ operation with Syrian rebels, using AH-64 Apaches.
Iowa Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Christie R. Smith.
On 06MAR2021, the Iraqi Department of Border Enforcement accepted USD$2.6-million worth of communication gear, from the U.S. military. The official reason is to help Iraq fight ISIS in Syria.
USA photo by Captain Travis Mueller.
U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk at a forward arming and refueling point inside Syria, 03MAR2021.
Photo via U.S. Army.
On 02MAR2021, the U.S. Army boasted about this impromptu forward air controller tower built at a “remote outpost” in an “undisclosed location” (thought to be inside Syria).
“During Fiscal Year 2019, more than 71% of migrants apprehended at the U.S. Southwest border came from El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras….”-U.S. Department of Homeland Security, December 2020
U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo by Jaime Rodriguez Senior. Children are dropped-off at a ‘temporary’ facility in Donna, Texas, 17MAR2021.
Terrible living conditions has always been the official reason given for periodic swarms of migrants moving from Central American countries to the United States. In 2021, the main stream news media added climate change weather and pandemic events to that excuse. Over the decades it’s usually three countries that are the dominant providers of migrants; El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Do your research and you’ll discover that the U.S. is directly involved in those three countries, and has been for more than a hundred years.
Ah yes, the Asylum Cooperation Agreements which the main stream news media never talks about. Agreements which would have greatly reduced people migrating from those specific three Central American countries, what happened to them? Why, the new El Presidente Joe Biden reneged on them!
USCBP photo by Jaime Rodriguez Senior. The reality of Biden’s border policy.
Just a few years before the official end to the unofficial Cold War, Poland’s military decided to modify its license built T-72M1s. The idea was to incorporate as many locally produced upgrades as possible. So many items were changed that the PT-91 Twardy (tough, strong) is almost a totally different tank from the T-72; engine, transmission, auto-loader, targeting system, etc.
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Andres Chandler, 13JUN2020.
Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area, Poland, June 2020.
USA photo by Sergeant Andres Chandler, 13JUN2020.
USA photo by Sergeant Andres Chandler, 13JUN2020.
NATO video of PT-91 live-fire during wargame in Latvia, April 2020:
Canadian Forces photo.
Polish Hussars PT-91 during Assurance wargame in Latvia, 26JUL2018.
Michigan Army National Guard photo by Captain Tyler Piper, 06JUN2018.
Michigan Army National Guard photo by Specialist Alan Prince , 06JUN2018.
Bemowo Piskie Training Area, Poland, June 2018.
Michigan Army National Guard photo by Specialist Robert Douglas, 15JUN2018.
USA photo by Specialist Hubert D. Delany the Third, 06JUN2018.
USA photo by Specialist Hubert D. Delany the Third, 06JUN2018.
Polish PT-91 in Latvia, at Camp Ādaži, 11MAR2018. Canadian Forces photo by Corporal Jean-Roch Chabot.
Canadian Forces photo by Corporal Jean-Roch Chabot.
In Latvia, February 2018, NATO wargame Reassurance. A PT-91 arrives for ‘decontamination’.
Canadian Forces photo by Corporal Jean-Roch Chabot.
A Slovenian soldier checks for ‘contamination’ of PT-91’s tracks/road wheels.
Canadian Forces photo by Corporal Jean-Roch Chabot.
Polish PT-91 about to get ‘decontaminated’ during CBRN (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear) training in Latvia. Back in the Cold War, and through the 1990s, we called it NBC (nuclear Biological Chemical) training.
Camp Ādaži, Latvia. Canadian Forces photo by Master Corporal Gerald Cormier, 02OCT2017.
Canadian Forces video by Master Corporal Brandon O’Connell, Polish PT-91 during NATO wargame in Latvia, 2017:
Camp Ādaži, Latvia. Canadian Forces photo by Master Corporal Gerald Cormier, 02OCT2017.
U.S. Army photo by Charles Rosemond, 15JUN2017.
Adazi, Latvia, during NATO Saber Strike wargame, June 2017.
U.S. Army photo by Specialist Brandon Best, 04JUN2017.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by First Lieutenant Kristine Racicot.
Since the 1990s, many new versions of the PT-91 battle-tank have come out, with different designations and names. There’s even recovery vehicles, engineer vehicles, bridgelayers and self propelled artillery based on the PT-91. Besides Poland, Georgia, India and Malaysia use some type of PT-91 variant.
“This plane was built for the Cold War. It serves as the link between the national decision makers and the nuclear triad.”-Chief Petty Officer Jeffrey Penington, Task Force 124, July 2007
U.S. Air Force photo by Greg L. Davis, 23AUG2019.
U.S. Navy E-6B from Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma, flies over Colorado, 23AUG2019.
U.S. Air Force photo by Greg L. Davis, 23AUG2019.
The E-6B has a greatly strengthened airframe/wings/landing gear compared to its E-6A incarnation, due to greater weight caused by lots of electronic gear and extra fuel capacity. By 2003, the entire E-6A fleet was converted to B standard.
U.S. Air Force photo by Greg L. Davis, 23AUG2019.
E-6B Mercury refuels from a KC-135. The KC-135 and E-6B are not the same type of aircraft. The E-6B is based on the Boeing 707, the KC-135 is not. While the KC-135 is based on the same prototype-predecessor it was developed independently from the 707, and airframe parts are not interchangeable.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob Skovo.
E-6B Mercury, assigned to Strategic Communications Wing 1 at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, taxis on the flightline of Offutt AFB, Nebraska, 15JUL2019.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob Skovo.
Notice what looks like a drogue type refueling system at the tail-end of the plane, it is reportedly a type of VLF antenna that’s five miles (8km) long when fully reeled out!
U.S. Air Force photo by Josh Plueger, 03OCT2017.
Panel removal from E-6B Mercury engine nacelle, 03OCT2017, Offutt AFB. The U.S. Navy (USN) has its own maintenance unit on Offutt AFB, for the purpose of maintaining aircraft used in Airborne Command Post (AbnCP, aka Looking Glass), and Take Charge and Move Out (TaCaMO) missions.
U.S. Air Force photo by Josh Plueger, 02OCT2017.
A worn out E-6B Mercury training aircraft on Offutt AFB, under USN guard, while waiting for turn-around inspection, 02OCT2017.
USAF photo by Josh Plueger.
USN E-6B Mercury takes flight from the USAF base of Offutt, Nebraska, 28AUG2015.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob Skovo.
In 2007, E-6Bs with Task Force 124 were also serving as airborne radio relay stations over Iraq: “Our role here is basically as a convoy relay. When the convoys are moving and they can’t get a hold of someone to report something or even perform a radio check, they can contact us. Because we’re so high in the air we have a greater line of sight and therefore can communicate with all convoys and reporting authorities.”-Lieutenant Junior Grade Amy Simek, TF-124 battle staff mission commander
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob Skovo.
USN photo, November 1984.
Take Charge and Move Out (TaCaMO) operations began in early 1960s, using EC-130s, for the purpose of directing nuclear ballistic missile launches from submarines.
In reality ‘drone’ technology is not new, it can be traced back to before the Second World War. So it’s not really a surprise to learn that the U.S. Air Force used a WW2 C-47/DC-3 Skytrain/Dakota to test the latest stuff for its MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle.
U.S. Air Force photo by David Dixon.
It is known as the Mini-AgilePod, the Air Force Research Laboratory began aerial testing using a DC-3 (silly-vilian version of the C-47), in Ohio, in 2017.
It was also tested on the Textron Aviation Defense’s Scorpion Light Attack/ISR jet, at the end of 2017.
USAF photo by David Dixon.
USAF photo by David Dixon.
USAF photo.
This is the larger prototype AgilePod, seen in 2016. In 2018, a report stated that testing for the Mini AgilePod would be done over two years. By the end of 2020, reports indicated that the AgilePod was being used to test electronic systems for other countries. So far there is nothing indicating that it has been accepted for regular use with the U.S. military.
The C-54 was the militarized version of the DC-4 airliner, developed during the Second World War.
Photo via Tinker Air Force Base History Office.
C-54s at the Douglas factory in Oklahoma, sometime in the 1940s.
Notice, three and four bladed propellers. Photo via Tinker Air Force Base History Office.
U.S. Air Force photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox.
C-54E flying museum on Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
C-54 Flight Chief Timothy Chopp, poses with children from a local school. The flying museum reminds people of one of the first incidents of the undeclared Cold War; The Berlin Airlift. It was probably the first time military air transports were used in a massive humanitarian relief effort.
Video, C-54 over air show in Michigan, 2014:
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Chad Thompson, 09SEP2016.
Spirit of Freedom sits on the tarmac at the Great Falls International Airport, Montana, 09SEP2016.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Chad Thompson, 09SEP2016.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Chad Thompson, 09SEP2016.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Joe McFadden, 22NOV2016.
The man responsible for the Berlin Airlift’s unofficial ‘Candy Bomber’ operation (which became part of the larger official Operation Vittles food supply mission); retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gail Halvorsen at the Berlin Airlift Memorial outside Frankfurt International Airport, Germany, 22NOV2016. It started innocently enough, simply handing out candy to German children watching USAF aircraft landing on the Western side (split in half due to political divisions between the victors of the Second World War) of the war ravaged city of Berlin. So many children started showing up for sugar food that Halvorsen started tossing the candy out his C-54 before he landed. Soon, fellow transport pilots began following his lead, and candy donation drives were held in the U.S. to help bomb the children of the West Berlin area with candy.
Official USAF video report:
Ohio Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Hope Geiger.
Douglas C-54 Skymaster ‘Spirit of Freedom’ museum plane during the Toledo Air Show in Swanton, Ohio, 14JUL2019.
U.S. Air Force photo by Technical Sergeant Carolyn Herrick.
Two short lived C-27J Spartans sit mummified on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, 02JUN2016. Spartans were being interned at Davis-Monthan in 2013.
Video by Airman First Class Kelly Greenwell, Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMaRG) personnel mummifying an Ohio Air National Guard (ANG) C-27J with ‘spraylat’, 24OCT2013:
The Lockheed Martin-Leonardo Alenia Aermacchi (aka Leonardo Company) C-27J Spartan is a modernized version of the Aeritalia-Alenia Aeronautica G.222 (aka C-27A). The ‘J’ denotes that it uses the same engines and similar avionics as the C-130J Super Hercules. The concept for the C-27J was apparently suggested in 1997, the first flight of a C-27J was in September 1999. In June 2007, the U.S. Army (USA) and U.S. Air Force (USAF) decided to try the C-27J for their ‘Joint Cargo Aircraft’ operations. By 2009, the USA/Army National Guard Bureau decided they didn’t like the C-27J and gave their Spartans to the USAF/Air National Guard Bureau. The USA said their Chinook, and other utility helicopters, were much more cost effective at tactical transport, than the C-27J.
Ohio Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Jeffery Allen.
Ohio ANG C-27J loads-up in Qalat, Afghanistan, 15AUG2011.
Despite the publicity over the mishandling of the U.S. Spartan program, and mothballing of ANG aircraft, the C-27J is very much alive, in use with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOC).
U.S. Army video report about Operation Toy Drop, December 2015:
U.S. Army photo by Sergeant First Class Sean A. Foley.
Paratroopers jump from a perfectly good USSOC Spartan, over Fort Bragg in North Carolina, 26OCT2015.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Third Class Taylor Bacon.
USCG HC-27J delivering pandemic vaccines to San Diego, California, 09MAR2021.
The C-27J is also being used by at least a dozen countries.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Christopher Quail.
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-27J leaves tiny Tinian, U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, during Cope North wargame, 19FEB2014.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Dana J. Butler.
Lietuvos Karinės oro pajėgos (Lithuanian Air Force) C-27J on Šiauliai Air Base, Lithuania, 01APR2014.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Damon Kasberg.
Bulgarian Air Force (Voennovazdushni sili, Военновъздушни сили) C-27J Spartan during NATO’s Steadfast Javelin-2 wargame, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, 02SEP2014.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Joe W. McFadden.
Hellenic (Greek, Πολεμική Αεροπορία, Polemikí Aeroporía) War Aviation Spartan takes off from Souda Bay, Greece, 29JAN2015.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Nicole Sikorski.
Bulgar C-27J Spartan over Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 16JUL2015.
Ministerstvo obrany Slovenskej republiky video from October 2017:
Photo via Leonardo Company.
C-27J of the Fuerza Aérea del Perú.
RAAF video of dirt strip landing, May 2018:
USA photo by Sergeant First Class John Etheridge.
RAAF C-27J during Talisman Saber wargame, 17JUL2019.
USA photo by Private First Class Andrew Webbbuffington.
U.S. paratroopers jumping from a perfectly good Italian Aeronautica Militare C-27J, 25JUL2019.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Malcolm Mayfield.
Forțele Aeriene Române (Romanian Air Force) Spartan during Carpathian Summer wargame, 31JUL2019.
Mexican Army & Air forces (ejército y FAM) video of C-27J (as well as C-295) loading-up with aid for flooded cities in the state of Tabasco, November 2020:
November 2020 promotional video by Leonardo Company:
