So What Did Tomorrow Bring?

 

what level of psycho is this?

A ceasefire, apparently, which led some members of Dallas HQ to scratch their heads and ask, "So what exactly did we achieve by this little Middle Eastern adventure?" Good question, and I wasted no time picking up the Satphone and speed dialing Pete, "Hey, Pete, it's LSP, what's the story?" He mumbled something about "bunnies" and signed off.

Thanks a lot, SECWAR, but maybe he was worried about opsec and our lack of a SKIF. He needn't have, one was installed today, neatly camouflaged as a water heater. The old SKIF had broken, you see, and we had to get a new one. It works well and I enjoyed talking with the lead SKIF Tech about hunting and fishing, mostly fishing.

Look, a new SKIF

He wasn't too keen on people who boasted about catching small trout after clambering about in streams with waders, and even less keen on a pal who took his teenage daughter(!) hog hunting with knives only, "He showed me the video, man," and grimaced. I made the sign of the Cross, with good reason.

That in mind, some people can get bloodthirsty and  perversely weird in the hunting field. I've noticed this and don't like it, not that I'm any kind of expert. Going for fish on the Brazos or Lake Whitney? Different story. Speaking of which, must get back on the water and SKIF Tech agreed, "Gotta clean out the boat first, renew the tag." And that's just it, d'ye need a boat to get on the fish?

How utterly pathetic. At least she's not rusty even if inoperable

I asked my friend about this, who grinned in that toothy way of his, offering nothing; not unlike Pete when you think on it. My take? Boats are evidently a hassle, which you circumvent by having a friend with one or several and using theirs, see the UK. Problem is, you don't get something for nothing. If, for example, you abuse and mock and scorn your old pal, he's unlikely to let you on his boat.

There's a moral in this short tale of North Central Texan life, if you care to draw it.

Yours,

LSP

Operation Potok

Keen-eyed observers of the war in Ukraine may have noticed Ukrainian positions in the Kursk pocket folding up like a deck of cards, with the Russians recapturing over 12 settlements and 100 square kilometers of territory in 24 hours. Unusual, to say the least, in a war that's been typically measured in meters. So why the sudden collapse?

Partly because of Operation Potok (Flow), which saw some 800 men infiltrate into the Ukrainian rear near Sudza via a 15 kilometer stretch of gas pipeline. Arriving at their staging posts undetected after a week of piping, the Russian combat teams moved onto their various objectives. A major engineering, logistical and tactical feat. RWA waxes lyrical from the Russian side:

 

"It's hard to comprehend the scale and difficulty of this mission. Getting enough oxygen and water into the tunnel, setting up the logistics (soldiers need ammo! They need food!), dealing with the physical challenges — walking 15km through a narrow tunnel with a low ceiling (my back hurts just thinking about it) —, the psychological pressure, the darkness... and yet...

 

"They sent several hundred (800, apparently) soldiers through that tunnel. Everyone always had enough food and water. After exiting the tunnel, the soldiers immediately went on a forced march and into battle — they captured several key strongpoints, set up a perimeter defence & held the line until their comrades broke through to them.

 

"This was a genuinely superhuman feat. Not just the march, not just the sheer amount of soldiers that crossed that pipe, but, after going through this nightmare willpower challenge, IMMEDIATELY going into combat, and WINNING, kicking the enemy out of his trenches and strongpoints, disrupting his logistics, causing chaos and panic in his rear, and then absorbing the pushback while fully encircled on all sides — it's UNBELIEVABLE. And yet we know it happened!"

Yes it did, and there's no shortage of video to prove it. Has there been an operation like it, on an equivalent scale in modern times, maybe in Vietnam? I can't recall one, but that's just me. In the meanwhile, Russians are streaming videos from inside Sudza, Ukrainian troops are attempting to retreat and Zelensky's asked for a 30 day ceasefire. Here's some pipe footage:

Feel free to disagree, but I'd say Operation Potok is one for the history books. Whether Russia agrees to a ceasefire remains to be seen.

Cheers,

LSP