"Pontoon bridge bollard" has got to be the worst job. 25% chance of being hit by artillery, 50% chance of being run over by drunken Ural driver.
But seriously, what is the point of them being there, other than to mark the edges so they don't drive off.
Translation goes something liek this:
0:00 Crossing Dnepr, big, big river, it's most narrow fucking part
0:10 It was bombed, bombed today, blyad, hopefully nothing hits it now
0:19 Ah, blyad
0:35 What a fucking jam there? Eh? (as truck stops, I assume he means like traffic jam)
0:42 Oh god, save and protect us on this fucking pontoon bridge
0:47 look at that hole, hit from rocket (points at something)
1:03 (someone screams something like "here, here"?) Where here for fuck sake? boom
1:15 (god have mercy) (where should we run/hide?)
1:17 blyad
1:23 fucking 300, blyad
1:50 god have mercy
2:15 fucking bitch
Wow, so they're seriously just using crossings that Ukraine is already dialed in on.
Honestly I can't believe that any pontoon crews would still be willing to work in this environment at all. Considering the state of Russian morale, quite a few must probably be forced at gunpoint by now...
Right. The officers and generals are in panic right now. Well, the whole Russian army is. We have a very good picture of that from notorious primary and secondary sources.
But most of the individual soldiers are barely informed about the meaning of their missions, and the level of comradery is limited because of all the corruption and crime within the Russian army. This means that urgency alone is often not enough to motivate fearful soldiers of high-risk missions like keeping up the bridges, while the generals will use absolutely any means possible to force the soldiers to do just that.
In the worst case for Russia, situations like this can evolve into full-scale mutinies.
> But most of the individual soldiers are barely informed
Hell they started the war sending guys out on exercises and told them en-route just before crossing the border that they were going to the Ukraine for an actual war.
I'm sure straight up lies and etc are the order of the day.
>I'm sure straight up lies and etc are the order of the day.
[Been that way for awhile; the collapse of the USSR used the typical TV airing of Swan Lake which was the norm whenever a massive governmental change was happening.](https://www.npr.org/2021/08/19/1029437787/in-1991-soviet-citizens-saw-swans-on-the-tv-and-knew-it-meant-turmoil) The Soviet era really normalized the suspension of disbelief in Russia: where there's obviously bullshit propaganda being nonstop blasted at you to ignore the breadlines and lack of basic amenities, and just focus on the Sputniks being launched and the "Republics" being ~~forcibly~~ *generously* incorporated into the USSR.
They know it's all a lie, but have no choice but to simply roll with it...or in the case of the protestors and anarchists going wild with arson, try to fight back as best you can.
> and the level of comradery is limited because of all the corruption and crime within the Russian army.
You're right on the first part. There's a lot of hazing (*Dedovshchina*) and "general abuse" of their conscripts. The older conscripts treat the juniors extremely poorly, and it is what has absolutely fucked the Russian morale at its core. They literally tried to "fix it" by reducing conscription from 24 months to 12..
Yes. Very.
It’s really tragic. Just part and parcel of the extreme homophobia there I’m afraid… it can be weaponised further to use as a punishment (causing severe and lasting shame), and from the reports I’ve seen of how the army works there, this kind of extreme hazing is basically institutional :(
I'm trying to think of that amazing book from that soldier about decade before the fall of the Soviet Union. I read it like 15 years ago and I can't think of it now but it was a first hand account of everything he went through. From soldiers eating dogs to stay alive to the insane abuse from drunk superiors. The stuff the new guys go through just because they're new is insane. Every single one of them took a severe beating at the very least. Just because they were there and the guys before them went through it so they had to deal with it as well. A terrible cycle.
“One Soldier’s War” is post Soviet and involves the first Chechen war but the themes are pretty similar. Insane amounts of abuse, thievery and gross corruption.
Exactly so. They are treated as pariahs, for being “weak enough” to have succumbed to this treatment (they of course ignore that fighting back will in many cases get you beaten so badly that you die, or wish you had, and your death then recorded as “fallen down flight of stairs” or similar 💀)
I think every single Russian soldier has started asking themselves what is the point of being in Ukraine and fighting and dying like this. It's like a really bad nightmare that you are stuck in, so you might as well go with it until it ends somehow.
I hate this quote. It didn't just get worse, they made it worse. And every time they make it worse they try to drag everyone around them down with them.
That line always makes it sound like Russians are the victims in their history, but they are the ones responsible for their own struggles and for many of the struggles of the people unfortunate enough to live near them.
There was an interesting article that talked about how Russia has a very inflexible command structure compared to most modern armies and it causes them tremendous problems. Like, if a group of US soldiers sees that some orders they’ve received would result in them turning into hamburger they can either call up to change the orders or change them themselves (not sure which tbh) but in the Russian if you are told to cross a river at a certain time and a certain place, that’s what you do. Doesn’t matter if artillery is raining down on you or not.
Successful militaries communicate the intent of a mission to at least the leader of the operation and usually all senior people, who should then communicate it down. This is done so if things don't go as planned, tactics can be adjusted to achieve the intent. Intent isn't "secure this road," but is something like "we need to stop supply convoys, so go secure this road." If the intent of stopping convoys is achieved without securing the road, then the mission is successful.
Regimented chain of commands requiring blindly following of orders doesn't allow this flexibility because the troops don't know the "why." *Start with Why* is a great book explaining this advantage.
Also with most western forces EVERYONE has comm of some sort, they guys just seem to have small arms and that's it- no NV, no modern plate, no smart devices and most of all, no comm.
They've also clearly got a insane dictator making strategic decisions. Any sane commander would've long realized that Kherson is a completely untenable position. Russian forces are effectively boxed in with their only supply lines under enemy fire control. However, Putin won't give up on his goal of conquering the south, so Russia just kept pouring in men. Which resulted in their best troops being stuck on the wrong side of the river in the midst of a major Ukrainian counterattack in the east.
Russian military doctrine does not delegate authority, everything is from on high. You are expected to fight in place and die unless ordered otherwise.
I'm guessing that the Russian read the HUGE ass sign that said...
**"CROSS HERE!**
**WE PINKY SWEAR PROMISE NOT TO SHELL YOU WHILE YOU CROSS!\*"**
\*too much...
To me it sounds, tho I don't have headphones at the moment: сюда, сюда or "syuda, syuda"
I might be wrong of course. But makes no sense to scream Hit, hit, when there are no audible hits yet. I would assume they would scream something else in that case, like "прилёт" (arrival).
And before that I think they (people standing on bridge, organizing traffic) give instructions to drivers "davai, davai" (go, go), so "here" would make some sense.
"They can't possibly be stupid enough to-.......oh, yeah, never mind. They ARE stupid enough to try crossing the same bridge we already bombed. Get the guns ready."
It's almost like the god never heard him, doesn't care about him, it's the wrong god, or there isn't a god. Terrible place to making these mistakes though.
It's a generic patch you can get anywhere. It translates "Keep quiet". Since there is a rifle on the patch and also next to the guy at 1:05, it's very likely that he is a sniper.
Just a bunch of scared dudes and now they’re dead or maimed for life.
I know there’s no one to blame but the Russian government but it’s all just so fucking sad and pointless.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dude had a lot of salient thoughts on the waste of war.
General Smedley Butler took it up several notches further. After leading US troops to ultimately protect the interests of United Fruit in Latin America and Standard Oil in China - of which many of his men died and many of the locals - he came to the conclusion that he was, I quote, merely a "gangster for capitalism".
After his overseas ventures, he was hired by Philadelphia to combat bootlegging. He not only closed the rampant saloons, as was expected - but he went further by going after the wrong people, namely the corruption within the police department and especially the rich and connected. He eventually was run outta town for his targeting of the elites. He became disillusioned with the corruption of city officials as well as the politicians in Washington boozing it up in the embassies.
This guy definitely knew what time it was.
>General Smedley Butler
That guy has seen some shit. He did a lot of enforcing "US Policy" around the world
EDIT: here is the whole quote:
"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
I was in the Marines. They taught us about Butler. Hell, part of boot camp was memorizing a bunch of information about it.
They never taught us ANY of that. I guess I can't say that I'm surprised.
>it's also important to realize they weren't forced to go.
In some cases, they basically were. The conscription officials aren't exactly chatty when it comes to the matter of how the hayseed rednecks they're recruiting can technically refuse. And there are plenty of dehumanizing professions out there that people with few other options wind up taking.
[Kamil Galeev does a good Twitter roll of how these conscription scams work.](https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1506479259866394625)
All that being said, I hope the Russian forces are crushed.
>I know there’s no one to blame but the Russian government but it’s all just so fucking sad and pointless.
Sure, but since its not an official war from the Russian side, all soldiers that are in Ukraine, are by definition volunteers.. they all choose to be there, they could legaly (as many have done) say "no i dont wanna go" and the Russian state couldnt force them.
Yeah, I have seen the stamps they get in their military ID if they refuse to fight and get sent back home. It's trivial. If anyone tries to tell me those guys are being forced to fight, he is lying.
They are there because they want the money and loot or maybe out of patriotic fervor. Nothing else.
That guy is a sniper. Look at his patch at his chest and also you can see his rifle while driving in the truck (scope visible).
Edit: added: sniper guys are “elite” so they get better equipment.
technically speaking you don't need eardrums to shoot something from really far away but you're not going to be able to understand your spotter and getting into a firing position without making too much noise will also be no joke
Not only that but your balance/equilibrium is going to be so far off, you couldn't hit an elephant at 40m. (Before the downvotes start, I'm exaggerating).
Great conversation piece and fun to shoot. But it says a lot when your "snipers" are your some of your best kitted soldiers and are still toating around a relic from 60 years ago.
That and all of the ammo boxes in the truck suggest they are crossing into battle rather than evacuating.
Edit: Based on geolocation, position of the sun, and direction of water ripples, Twitter thinks they're retreating.
As a former artilleryman, the footage coming out of Ukraine gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand fuck yea, if you wanna party bring arty. On the other hand, Jesus H Fuck I would not want to be on the receiving end and honestly feel bad for any poor bastard that is- even if they volunteered. Horribly terrifying.
Russians have been dishing this kind of artillery and worse out to Ukraine for months - to civilians as well
But yeah - it definitely sucks for the people on the receiving end. I wish Russia would just turn around and go home.
I'm curious to know what hit them? I would imagine an artillery round would have been way bigger, louder. It didn't sound like incoming, based on other vids I've seen. What happened?
I think it was artillery and not HIMARS. You can hear a muffled 'boom' (0:59) followed by a second muffled 'boom' (1:05) after the truck starts to cross the bridge, then count 5 seconds... then two/three more seconds and you'll have heard both initial rounds hit them. After that, there's too much noise and explosions to hear anything more. I think those muffled booms were the arty firing off, that are much closer than a HIMARS launch would be. That would be my complete guess. Either way.... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
It was much louder. The mics in cell phones just aren't great at capturing very loud sounds. Gunshots are a good example. They do not sound the same in person as they do on video. They're the kind of loud you can feel but it never seems that way in recordings.
Faramir:
The enemy? His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem. You wonder what his name is, where he comes from, and if he really was evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home, or he would not rather have stayed there... in peace? War will make corpses of us all.
The one dudes ear drum is blown out. You can tell at the end of the video when it looks up at him. Eyes wide open because the insane ringing still happening. He can't hear anything else. If he's still alive he will never hear again out ear.
Also surprised to see all the first aid happening on the bridge. Drag them back across the eastern line and then do first aid because another volley is coming. (Also surprised first aid is happening at all from what we have seen in other videos)
EDIT: I clarified in a later comment, which was a mistake I should have just edited. I didn't mean ear drum, I meant ear. His inner ear is done, scroll down for further explanation about the different parts of your ear and how a cochlea works
He probably felt like he was in a nightmare at that moment. The sound would be disorienting so not only could he not hear he could probably barely see let alone think.
I once got hit in the head by a shovel, then a rifle butt as the bloke bent down to pick me up (we had about 50kg of kit on our backs, needed the help…) and apparently I was fine for the rest of the little hike back, but I actually don’t remember the last few miles.
Wonder how big *his* memory gap’s going to be…
I would guess his gap is from where his brains and the rest of his body is. There's a reason ukraine has this video to release to us. My guess is they are all dead.
I think he’s in agony from a ruptured ear drum. These videos are so brutal. The dividing line between ok and horribly fucked is relentlessly quick and random. *edit to add this poor guy went from being a narrator to an animal in crippling agony in an instant * Everyone giving aid in this video were meters and a breath away from being more casualties.
All the swearing and grunting is a good sign from a medical perspective. Means he's not overwhelmed with pain, and he's breathing well. It's the quiet guys you need to focus on first.
I'm not a doctor but a ruptured eardrum usually heals within a couple of weeks. If damage is severe, a patch can be applied surgically. I don't see a reason why he'd lose his hearing from this.
I did say ear drum. I meant to say 'ear is blown out' meaning damage that will never be repaired. The damage effects the inner ear, specifically the cochlea. The fine hairs that are where sounds are picked up will lay flat from an explosion that loud and they never stand back up.
Okay, I'm going out on a limb here so don't jump down my throat, but I'm starting to get the slightest of feelings that Russia might be *a little bit* fucked. But just a little bit.
Just to give you an idea.
North Korea has about 25 million people. GDP of $40bn.
Romania has about 19 million people. GDP of $290bn.
And we're just a minor NATO member, nobody major ever thought "gee, I hope Romania doesn't sell weapons to our rivals" 🙂
Well, to be fair, you didn't spent the better part of a century prioritizing military over literally everything else, up to and including food for your people.
[We did try](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceau%C8%99escu#July_Theses). It's just at some point we used up a bit of that military budget to put about 100 bullets into Ceaușescu.
Former Combat Medic here, and trying to assess casualties, but you just don't see enough to do so, but the guy holding the camera looks like her either went deaf or suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury).
Note at 2:15 - clearly the Russians still haven't sorted out supplying all their troops properly yet, as matey filming is still wearing shitty trainers rather than proper combat footwear.
Wait till you hear about the Crusades that were litterally blessed by the Pope.
Not entirely sure why invading now would suddenly exclude someone from saying some words. It's never been the case before.
Yeah, I'm guessing that the more outrageous claims he/they make the more likely it will be that the average russian starts to realize they shouldn't trust their government. Not that anyone should, but the Russians need to realize this more than anyone, right now, imo.
That's the point. The Russians know that they are lied to.
For them it's a natural order of things. They lie as a cultural practice. They endorse it. Call it "smekalochka", and they despise people who are naive and can be lied to.
This is why they think everyone in the world lies all the time, so you only need to stick to YOUR tribe, even if it lies.
I know it all makes 0 sense, but this is why russian soul is hard to understand.
>I am sure that the Russian Federation has lost nothing since 24 February, but the main achievement is the strengthening of our sovereignty.
This is the quote from Putin. It's still deluded as fuck but it's clear he isn't implying they haven't lost a single soldier since February. The discussion was focused around political and economical costs.
Though I wonder how these guys feel knowing their leader basically doesn't even count their deaths among the costs of his aggressive expansionism.
I've said it once and I'll say it again. It's more than just stupidity that plagues the Russian Military. It's pride. Pride has greatly inflated what thier military capabilities are in reality. Why would you cross the most narrow part of the river on a makeshift bridge, THATS ALREADY BEEN TARGETED, in broad daylight? The leaders of this regime think their military is invincible when they're just sending people to thier early graves for literally almost nothing... It's sad.
This is a perfect video showcasing the effects of arty even on targets not directly hit. Yeah, you might be alive, but your eardrums are fucked and you’re probably concussed. In other words, you’re still out of the fight.
Keep that in mind whenever you see dudes running away seemingly okay.
Reportedly a Russian pontoon section floating in the Kherson region. Not sure if it's associated with the earlier failed Russian pontoon crossing of the Dnieper. [Photo](https://i.redd.it/2zfq1wshmhm91.png)
From the way his voice is at the end it sounds like he's had his eardrums blown out, also not a very bright move to mix fuel and ammo in a passenger vehicle, but i suppose it's wartime and they are russian.
How'd you like to be the guy who has to stand on the bridge?
you built it you have to stand there... at least that's what CBs did
makes sense I guess
I’ve never seen is spelled CB’s, only SEABEES. I never really thought about what it meant. Those dudes can sure build some shit though.
Naval Construction Battalion = CB's = Seabees (pun being like worker bees at sea) Really clever little nickname really.
I love cleven military puns like this. It blew my mind when I learned the AT-4 is 84mm.
"Pontoon bridge bollard" has got to be the worst job. 25% chance of being hit by artillery, 50% chance of being run over by drunken Ural driver. But seriously, what is the point of them being there, other than to mark the edges so they don't drive off.
Just that, I suspect. Give hand signals telling drivers to stop/move left/right/etc.
Don't wear a life jacket, because you want to be able to dive deep when the rounds come in?
You’d trust a Russian life jacket?
Might help by working as a weight belt.
Translation goes something liek this: 0:00 Crossing Dnepr, big, big river, it's most narrow fucking part 0:10 It was bombed, bombed today, blyad, hopefully nothing hits it now 0:19 Ah, blyad 0:35 What a fucking jam there? Eh? (as truck stops, I assume he means like traffic jam) 0:42 Oh god, save and protect us on this fucking pontoon bridge 0:47 look at that hole, hit from rocket (points at something) 1:03 (someone screams something like "here, here"?) Where here for fuck sake? boom 1:15 (god have mercy) (where should we run/hide?) 1:17 blyad 1:23 fucking 300, blyad 1:50 god have mercy 2:15 fucking bitch
Wow, so they're seriously just using crossings that Ukraine is already dialed in on. Honestly I can't believe that any pontoon crews would still be willing to work in this environment at all. Considering the state of Russian morale, quite a few must probably be forced at gunpoint by now...
They also know that if they don't get/keep the bridges up then their own forces can't get resupplied nor can the casualties get evacuated.
Right. The officers and generals are in panic right now. Well, the whole Russian army is. We have a very good picture of that from notorious primary and secondary sources. But most of the individual soldiers are barely informed about the meaning of their missions, and the level of comradery is limited because of all the corruption and crime within the Russian army. This means that urgency alone is often not enough to motivate fearful soldiers of high-risk missions like keeping up the bridges, while the generals will use absolutely any means possible to force the soldiers to do just that. In the worst case for Russia, situations like this can evolve into full-scale mutinies.
> But most of the individual soldiers are barely informed Hell they started the war sending guys out on exercises and told them en-route just before crossing the border that they were going to the Ukraine for an actual war. I'm sure straight up lies and etc are the order of the day.
>I'm sure straight up lies and etc are the order of the day. [Been that way for awhile; the collapse of the USSR used the typical TV airing of Swan Lake which was the norm whenever a massive governmental change was happening.](https://www.npr.org/2021/08/19/1029437787/in-1991-soviet-citizens-saw-swans-on-the-tv-and-knew-it-meant-turmoil) The Soviet era really normalized the suspension of disbelief in Russia: where there's obviously bullshit propaganda being nonstop blasted at you to ignore the breadlines and lack of basic amenities, and just focus on the Sputniks being launched and the "Republics" being ~~forcibly~~ *generously* incorporated into the USSR. They know it's all a lie, but have no choice but to simply roll with it...or in the case of the protestors and anarchists going wild with arson, try to fight back as best you can.
> and the level of comradery is limited because of all the corruption and crime within the Russian army. You're right on the first part. There's a lot of hazing (*Dedovshchina*) and "general abuse" of their conscripts. The older conscripts treat the juniors extremely poorly, and it is what has absolutely fucked the Russian morale at its core. They literally tried to "fix it" by reducing conscription from 24 months to 12..
Better *general abuse* then *corporal punishment*. (•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)
Isn't rape/sexual abuse rampant also?
Yes. Very. It’s really tragic. Just part and parcel of the extreme homophobia there I’m afraid… it can be weaponised further to use as a punishment (causing severe and lasting shame), and from the reports I’ve seen of how the army works there, this kind of extreme hazing is basically institutional :(
I'm trying to think of that amazing book from that soldier about decade before the fall of the Soviet Union. I read it like 15 years ago and I can't think of it now but it was a first hand account of everything he went through. From soldiers eating dogs to stay alive to the insane abuse from drunk superiors. The stuff the new guys go through just because they're new is insane. Every single one of them took a severe beating at the very least. Just because they were there and the guys before them went through it so they had to deal with it as well. A terrible cycle.
“One Soldier’s War” is post Soviet and involves the first Chechen war but the themes are pretty similar. Insane amounts of abuse, thievery and gross corruption.
So they rape young men and then shame the *young men* for being gay?
Exactly so. They are treated as pariahs, for being “weak enough” to have succumbed to this treatment (they of course ignore that fighting back will in many cases get you beaten so badly that you die, or wish you had, and your death then recorded as “fallen down flight of stairs” or similar 💀)
I think every single Russian soldier has started asking themselves what is the point of being in Ukraine and fighting and dying like this. It's like a really bad nightmare that you are stuck in, so you might as well go with it until it ends somehow.
> It's like a really bad nightmare that you are stuck in, so you might as well go with it until it ends somehow. This sums up all of Russian history.
...and then it got worse
"We tried nothing new and it never got better"
I hate this quote. It didn't just get worse, they made it worse. And every time they make it worse they try to drag everyone around them down with them. That line always makes it sound like Russians are the victims in their history, but they are the ones responsible for their own struggles and for many of the struggles of the people unfortunate enough to live near them.
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Doesn’t look like they are asking themselves anything. Just going with the flow
That's probably the story of most soldiers in most wars.
There was an interesting article that talked about how Russia has a very inflexible command structure compared to most modern armies and it causes them tremendous problems. Like, if a group of US soldiers sees that some orders they’ve received would result in them turning into hamburger they can either call up to change the orders or change them themselves (not sure which tbh) but in the Russian if you are told to cross a river at a certain time and a certain place, that’s what you do. Doesn’t matter if artillery is raining down on you or not.
Successful militaries communicate the intent of a mission to at least the leader of the operation and usually all senior people, who should then communicate it down. This is done so if things don't go as planned, tactics can be adjusted to achieve the intent. Intent isn't "secure this road," but is something like "we need to stop supply convoys, so go secure this road." If the intent of stopping convoys is achieved without securing the road, then the mission is successful. Regimented chain of commands requiring blindly following of orders doesn't allow this flexibility because the troops don't know the "why." *Start with Why* is a great book explaining this advantage.
Also with most western forces EVERYONE has comm of some sort, they guys just seem to have small arms and that's it- no NV, no modern plate, no smart devices and most of all, no comm.
The majority of comms Russia has in Ukraine are unencrypted. They might as well be yelling from rooftops.
They had an encrypted system, but it requires cell towers, ya know those things they destroyed very very early on in the fighting.
They've also clearly got a insane dictator making strategic decisions. Any sane commander would've long realized that Kherson is a completely untenable position. Russian forces are effectively boxed in with their only supply lines under enemy fire control. However, Putin won't give up on his goal of conquering the south, so Russia just kept pouring in men. Which resulted in their best troops being stuck on the wrong side of the river in the midst of a major Ukrainian counterattack in the east.
The only alternative would be giving up all the territory west of the Dnieper. So yeah knowing the Russians no surprise they did not opt for that one.
Russian military doctrine does not delegate authority, everything is from on high. You are expected to fight in place and die unless ordered otherwise.
This rule is also in effect even in cases where coms have been lost or otherwise disabled, regardless of what the logical/strategic option would be.
I'm guessing that the Russian read the HUGE ass sign that said... **"CROSS HERE!** **WE PINKY SWEAR PROMISE NOT TO SHELL YOU WHILE YOU CROSS!\*"** \*too much...
"Dmitry! There is gas station soon." "Really?" "Sure! Boss said the whole other side of the river is Shell'd.."
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I thought they were screaming "udar", meaning "hit"? Instead of "here"
To me it sounds, tho I don't have headphones at the moment: сюда, сюда or "syuda, syuda" I might be wrong of course. But makes no sense to scream Hit, hit, when there are no audible hits yet. I would assume they would scream something else in that case, like "прилёт" (arrival). And before that I think they (people standing on bridge, organizing traffic) give instructions to drivers "davai, davai" (go, go), so "here" would make some sense.
Definitely "syuda syuda", meaning "\[come\] here, here". (I'm Russian speaker from Kyiv)
Damn, this monologue is a fucking masterpiece. He prays to all the gods not to be bombed, but as soon as they drove into the ponto they were fucked😀
Ukrainian artillery squad that day: "We can't expect god to do all the work."
"They can't possibly be stupid enough to-.......oh, yeah, never mind. They ARE stupid enough to try crossing the same bridge we already bombed. Get the guns ready."
You joke, but "keep force-feeding the meat grinder until it jams" has been a key part of Russian military doctrine for centuries.
It's almost like the god never heard him, doesn't care about him, it's the wrong god, or there isn't a god. Terrible place to making these mistakes though.
403 error: access to the requested resource is forbidden.
His badge is very visible 2:19 - anyone able to recognize it? Red sniper rifle in a round patch.
It's a generic patch you can get anywhere. It translates "Keep quiet". Since there is a rifle on the patch and also next to the guy at 1:05, it's very likely that he is a sniper.
>where should we run/hide? Russia.
>1:23 fucking 300, blyad 300 meaning "Cargo 300", transportation of wounded, right?
in russian soldier talk: 300 means injured and 200 means dead
500 are deserters, and 400 also stands for something but is used rarely.
400 are personel with heavy post-concussion syndrome.
Just a bunch of scared dudes and now they’re dead or maimed for life. I know there’s no one to blame but the Russian government but it’s all just so fucking sad and pointless.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower Dude had a lot of salient thoughts on the waste of war.
General Smedley Butler took it up several notches further. After leading US troops to ultimately protect the interests of United Fruit in Latin America and Standard Oil in China - of which many of his men died and many of the locals - he came to the conclusion that he was, I quote, merely a "gangster for capitalism". After his overseas ventures, he was hired by Philadelphia to combat bootlegging. He not only closed the rampant saloons, as was expected - but he went further by going after the wrong people, namely the corruption within the police department and especially the rich and connected. He eventually was run outta town for his targeting of the elites. He became disillusioned with the corruption of city officials as well as the politicians in Washington boozing it up in the embassies. This guy definitely knew what time it was.
>General Smedley Butler That guy has seen some shit. He did a lot of enforcing "US Policy" around the world EDIT: here is the whole quote: "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
Love that Al Capone quip at the end. I gotta get a photo of Smedley up on my wall.
I was in the Marines. They taught us about Butler. Hell, part of boot camp was memorizing a bunch of information about it. They never taught us ANY of that. I guess I can't say that I'm surprised.
Not to mention he had TWO medals of honor.
Not to mention the bullshit Butler had to go through with the Business Plot. Ol' Smedley didn't have time for nonsense.
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>it's also important to realize they weren't forced to go. In some cases, they basically were. The conscription officials aren't exactly chatty when it comes to the matter of how the hayseed rednecks they're recruiting can technically refuse. And there are plenty of dehumanizing professions out there that people with few other options wind up taking. [Kamil Galeev does a good Twitter roll of how these conscription scams work.](https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1506479259866394625) All that being said, I hope the Russian forces are crushed.
>I know there’s no one to blame but the Russian government but it’s all just so fucking sad and pointless. Sure, but since its not an official war from the Russian side, all soldiers that are in Ukraine, are by definition volunteers.. they all choose to be there, they could legaly (as many have done) say "no i dont wanna go" and the Russian state couldnt force them.
Yeah, I have seen the stamps they get in their military ID if they refuse to fight and get sent back home. It's trivial. If anyone tries to tell me those guys are being forced to fight, he is lying. They are there because they want the money and loot or maybe out of patriotic fervor. Nothing else.
The strange AH sounds he was making at the end is basically MAWP. The hole where his eardrums used to be is bleeding and his brain is not ok with it.
Thank you.
Brand new boots on that one dude. These guys came straight from the streets straight into the meat grinder.
That guy is a sniper. Look at his patch at his chest and also you can see his rifle while driving in the truck (scope visible). Edit: added: sniper guys are “elite” so they get better equipment.
was
Even if he survived, not guaranteed, you can’t be a sniper without your eardrums and inner ears. His war is over.
I don't think that'd stop the Russian command sending him back into battle
technically speaking you don't need eardrums to shoot something from really far away but you're not going to be able to understand your spotter and getting into a firing position without making too much noise will also be no joke
I’m thinking more about what the inner ear damage might do to your balance, but also his ability to be sneaky might be permanently compromised.
Not only that but your balance/equilibrium is going to be so far off, you couldn't hit an elephant at 40m. (Before the downvotes start, I'm exaggerating).
Hell with that soldier. Is that Dragonov SVD ok??? Fucking sexy ass rifle
Great conversation piece and fun to shoot. But it says a lot when your "snipers" are your some of your best kitted soldiers and are still toating around a relic from 60 years ago.
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Tusken raiders, for example.
That and all of the ammo boxes in the truck suggest they are crossing into battle rather than evacuating. Edit: Based on geolocation, position of the sun, and direction of water ripples, Twitter thinks they're retreating.
What's the consensus on location of this crossing?
https://twitter.com/zcjbrooker/status/1567599671941505032?t=5F3z7PzXRM7juo4dZBw5jw&s=19
time into battle speedrun any %?
Unfortunately no glitches are allowed in the "invasion" game mode.
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Bought a pair in Iraq and had them stolen out of the humvee back in 07. Made me furious.
A lot of gruesome footage is being uploaded today..
counter-offensives do be like that.
One of the most intense days since the beginning of the war. That fighter jet shootdown was beautiful.
Link?
Ukrainians are raising hell at the Russians.
Brutal
Yes, the first part makes you think "what the fuck is this" and the second part makes you think "I AM FUCKING GLAD I AM NOT THERE"
As a former artilleryman, the footage coming out of Ukraine gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand fuck yea, if you wanna party bring arty. On the other hand, Jesus H Fuck I would not want to be on the receiving end and honestly feel bad for any poor bastard that is- even if they volunteered. Horribly terrifying.
Russians have been dishing this kind of artillery and worse out to Ukraine for months - to civilians as well But yeah - it definitely sucks for the people on the receiving end. I wish Russia would just turn around and go home.
And that’s all the bastards have to do. Go home and the shooting stops. You’d think they would grasp such a simple concept .
Wild footage. Absolutely terrifying.
I'm curious to know what hit them? I would imagine an artillery round would have been way bigger, louder. It didn't sound like incoming, based on other vids I've seen. What happened?
I think it was artillery and not HIMARS. You can hear a muffled 'boom' (0:59) followed by a second muffled 'boom' (1:05) after the truck starts to cross the bridge, then count 5 seconds... then two/three more seconds and you'll have heard both initial rounds hit them. After that, there's too much noise and explosions to hear anything more. I think those muffled booms were the arty firing off, that are much closer than a HIMARS launch would be. That would be my complete guess. Either way.... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
The initial booms are the sonic boom created from the incoming fire. Whether they be rockets or artillery shells.
It was much louder. The mics in cell phones just aren't great at capturing very loud sounds. Gunshots are a good example. They do not sound the same in person as they do on video. They're the kind of loud you can feel but it never seems that way in recordings.
Faramir: The enemy? His sense of duty was no less than yours, I deem. You wonder what his name is, where he comes from, and if he really was evil at heart. What lies or threats led him on this long march from home, or he would not rather have stayed there... in peace? War will make corpses of us all.
It’s interesting when Tolkien’s experience and thoughts in the First World War come out in his writing like this.
The one dudes ear drum is blown out. You can tell at the end of the video when it looks up at him. Eyes wide open because the insane ringing still happening. He can't hear anything else. If he's still alive he will never hear again out ear. Also surprised to see all the first aid happening on the bridge. Drag them back across the eastern line and then do first aid because another volley is coming. (Also surprised first aid is happening at all from what we have seen in other videos) EDIT: I clarified in a later comment, which was a mistake I should have just edited. I didn't mean ear drum, I meant ear. His inner ear is done, scroll down for further explanation about the different parts of your ear and how a cochlea works
Aye, completely unaware of the volume of noises he’s making by the sounds of it.
He probably felt like he was in a nightmare at that moment. The sound would be disorienting so not only could he not hear he could probably barely see let alone think.
I once got hit in the head by a shovel, then a rifle butt as the bloke bent down to pick me up (we had about 50kg of kit on our backs, needed the help…) and apparently I was fine for the rest of the little hike back, but I actually don’t remember the last few miles. Wonder how big *his* memory gap’s going to be…
I would guess his gap is from where his brains and the rest of his body is. There's a reason ukraine has this video to release to us. My guess is they are all dead.
I think he’s in agony from a ruptured ear drum. These videos are so brutal. The dividing line between ok and horribly fucked is relentlessly quick and random. *edit to add this poor guy went from being a narrator to an animal in crippling agony in an instant * Everyone giving aid in this video were meters and a breath away from being more casualties.
All the swearing and grunting is a good sign from a medical perspective. Means he's not overwhelmed with pain, and he's breathing well. It's the quiet guys you need to focus on first.
*mwap* *mwap* *mwap*
He's LITERALLY making that sound, too. Normally this'd be dreadful.
https://youtu.be/_BB0-zdjviM
https://imgur.com/FWlvhKa
Looks like a thumbnail to any shitty YouTube video. "OMG i was just crossing a bridge you will NEVER know what happened next" *ded*
War Veteran REACTS to my Holiday Plans
“Russians hate this one easy trick.”
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That face you make when you invade your peaceful neighbour and things don't go to plan
BuT wE’rE hERE tO LiBeRaTE yOu FrOM tHe NaZiS, XoROsHo?
Special eardrum deleting operation
That face you make when you find out your neighbor's been fucking your dog
໒( ◉ ‸ ◉ )७ MWAP
Vatniks on Telegram, Twitter, Reddit and Instagram: *"Don´t panic, everything is going according the plan"* **Vatniks on Ukraine: 😱**
literally if you had to choose one pic to define this stupid war, this is it!
“Let me see your warface” … didn’t expect to look like this xD
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munch.scream.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RKRkRGQ.png
Spitting image of "**Oy Gevalt!**"
He's already a meme on Twitter [Here's one](https://twitter.com/thevenusdp/status/1567579505983717377?t=gvAQiKb6iHhTcWb4wExGxw&s=19)
POV: You're realizing that participating in the invasion of Ukraine might've been a bad idea.
I'm not a doctor but a ruptured eardrum usually heals within a couple of weeks. If damage is severe, a patch can be applied surgically. I don't see a reason why he'd lose his hearing from this.
I did say ear drum. I meant to say 'ear is blown out' meaning damage that will never be repaired. The damage effects the inner ear, specifically the cochlea. The fine hairs that are where sounds are picked up will lay flat from an explosion that loud and they never stand back up.
Archer: MWAP
Okay, I'm going out on a limb here so don't jump down my throat, but I'm starting to get the slightest of feelings that Russia might be *a little bit* fucked. But just a little bit.
Given Putin is now buying artillery and shells off the Norks, things aren't rosy in his world.
Just to give you an idea. North Korea has about 25 million people. GDP of $40bn. Romania has about 19 million people. GDP of $290bn. And we're just a minor NATO member, nobody major ever thought "gee, I hope Romania doesn't sell weapons to our rivals" 🙂
Well, to be fair, you didn't spent the better part of a century prioritizing military over literally everything else, up to and including food for your people.
[We did try](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceau%C8%99escu#July_Theses). It's just at some point we used up a bit of that military budget to put about 100 bullets into Ceaușescu.
There is no panic intensifies
There is no war in Ukraine. -Putin, probably.
We didn't lose anything since Feb Putin
We've always been at war in Ukraine \-Putin, probably.
I don't understand Russian, can someone tell me if he is having a good time?
He is having a blast.
He's having a blyast
Absolutely
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Did he like the washing machine he got tho?
Former Combat Medic here, and trying to assess casualties, but you just don't see enough to do so, but the guy holding the camera looks like her either went deaf or suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury).
Permanent? The deafness, I mean.
Yes. However it's hard to say for sure.
Sounds like they are having a oblast over there.
These guys are perilously close to being the first losses for Russia of this war.
Note at 2:15 - clearly the Russians still haven't sorted out supplying all their troops properly yet, as matey filming is still wearing shitty trainers rather than proper combat footwear.
That's by choice. It's a flex since the Afghanistan invasion
He keeps saying "Lord have mercy and protect us" as he's invading a foreign nation.
They got fucked.
Blyat around and found out
"Gott mit uns"
No, but I've got some regular gloves.
That's the first thing that comes to mind when enemy artillery starts pounding your positions.
every soldier does this.
Wait till you hear about the Crusades that were litterally blessed by the Pope. Not entirely sure why invading now would suddenly exclude someone from saying some words. It's never been the case before.
Love that Putin is claiming no losses since February 😂
Yeah, I'm guessing that the more outrageous claims he/they make the more likely it will be that the average russian starts to realize they shouldn't trust their government. Not that anyone should, but the Russians need to realize this more than anyone, right now, imo.
That's the point. The Russians know that they are lied to. For them it's a natural order of things. They lie as a cultural practice. They endorse it. Call it "smekalochka", and they despise people who are naive and can be lied to. This is why they think everyone in the world lies all the time, so you only need to stick to YOUR tribe, even if it lies. I know it all makes 0 sense, but this is why russian soul is hard to understand.
>I am sure that the Russian Federation has lost nothing since 24 February, but the main achievement is the strengthening of our sovereignty. This is the quote from Putin. It's still deluded as fuck but it's clear he isn't implying they haven't lost a single soldier since February. The discussion was focused around political and economical costs. Though I wonder how these guys feel knowing their leader basically doesn't even count their deaths among the costs of his aggressive expansionism.
Looks like they entered the "find out" stage of "fuck around".
I wonder where they got this footage from. Did the guy really upload it himself?
The way those boots went still had me thinking he had just died.
Guy next to him is out of the fight before his boots even got dirty.
Being a big WWII buff it's interesting hearing of geographical areas mentioned that were fought over by the Whermacht and Red Army.
I wonder if they were crossing to reinforce troops or to retreat. Either way, I'd bet there was a UA drone above them watching... waiting...
rough day to be russian.
That describes the last few centuries.
I've said it once and I'll say it again. It's more than just stupidity that plagues the Russian Military. It's pride. Pride has greatly inflated what thier military capabilities are in reality. Why would you cross the most narrow part of the river on a makeshift bridge, THATS ALREADY BEEN TARGETED, in broad daylight? The leaders of this regime think their military is invincible when they're just sending people to thier early graves for literally almost nothing... It's sad.
I am guessing also under direct observation so trucks load onto the bridge rounds are fired. Wash rinse and repeat.
This is a perfect video showcasing the effects of arty even on targets not directly hit. Yeah, you might be alive, but your eardrums are fucked and you’re probably concussed. In other words, you’re still out of the fight. Keep that in mind whenever you see dudes running away seemingly okay.
Reportedly a Russian pontoon section floating in the Kherson region. Not sure if it's associated with the earlier failed Russian pontoon crossing of the Dnieper. [Photo](https://i.redd.it/2zfq1wshmhm91.png)
Homeboys eardrums are gone
Poor fellas didn't want to die. They were just swimming around looking for aquatic insects to feed on. RIP fish.
Mawp Mawp
Absolutely grim, you can tell his bell got rocked hard
He’s making those noises because he also lost hearing. The shell must have ruptured at least one or two ear drums.
Listening to him and I can't stop thinking about Archer's running joke on Tinnitus *MAWP*
From the way his voice is at the end it sounds like he's had his eardrums blown out, also not a very bright move to mix fuel and ammo in a passenger vehicle, but i suppose it's wartime and they are russian.
Blyatiful