It's good to be back

Not that many would have notice that I’d left, but “HI EVERYBODY”!!!
Just like to sort something out while I’m still here. If there is one thing that drives me nuts it’s people dismissing the Russian Armed Forces. Just because the nation has economic problems and the Armed Forces are not what they used to be they are deemded “useless” by many. So let me put it on the table. Russian troops are still a force to be reckoned with. Chechnya is always brought up by people who wish to argue about the fighting ability of Russia’s forces. Russia was NOT however fighting an all out war (tank versus tank) but was fighting a counter insurgency type conflict (US operations in Afghanistan type campaign). Taking even this, let us look at some points. Russian troops are poorly paid compared to Western troops. Yet despite this, they fought and did not openly complain in front of the camera. In fact they seemed high spirited (I remember one BMP-2 crew and a squad of troops in high spirits when talking to a BBC news crew during the second Chechen conflict). They did not seem too concerned at there pay packets. During “Desert Storm” well paid US troops moaned openly about there food and at first the US was worried that this may create poor morale amongst the men. What a bunch of wimps. Compare the US and Russian troop COMMITMENT level and notice the slight difference in approach.
Also, NATO is supposed to be highly trained and able to fight a large scale conflict in Europe – YET WE COULDN’T EVEN DEFEAT THE BLOODY SERB’S!!! WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THE SOVIETS HAD INVADED I DREAD TO THINK!!! WE SHOULD LOOK AT OUR OWN FORCES BEFORE DISMISSING RUSSIA!!!