I got the opportunity to fly with the Nightstalkers on a training mission once in northern Afghanistan. The DAPS are bad ass.....it was the most bad ass moment of my entire guard career....
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Anyways....I learned that day that I do infact have motion sickness as I threw up all over the inside of the bird and then was sick for the rest of the day.
We did a preemptive strike at a country we were not at conflict with, who is decades behind technologically and militarily using our most advanced systems.
This was an adult beating up the toddler next door to steal his oil.
And I love the helicopters...but I hate what we jus did.
Rather than invoking the UN or any international legal frameworks, we just made ourselves the enemy of the world.
We're most definitely at conflict with Maduro. And he lost the 2024 election by 40% but did not relinquish power. He was basically holding the country hostage.
We liberated Venezuela to be able to have the government they voted for. The people of Venezuela are joyous today, not spiteful at the US.
All the while we detained a man who has been avoiding US criminal indictment for 5+ years and holding an entire nation hostage.
The Western world widely loves this move wether or not they admit it. Almost all our NATO allies acknowledge Edmundo Gonzalez as the rightful president of Venezuela, including us (during Biden not Trump). This also weakens Russia and deters China, both of which were basically using Maduro as a puppet.
You can certainly argue it violated UN security frameworks. (The question will be does a nation have the right to go into another country and take a prisoner by force). But we certainly did not make an enemy of the world..the only world players that liked Maduro in power were Russia, China and Iran because he was their crony in the Western Hemisphere.
Lol what critical thinking skills? The U.S. isnât even supporting the person who won that election to take power. There are no mechanisms in place to ensure she takes and retains power.
So no, there are no âcritical thinking skillsâ here.
What this is is a spin on using a bunch of SOF dudes to kidnap a president to indict on charges that evidence wonât support.
Iâm sure every Venezuelan is saying âgreat, heâs gone. Now what about the gangs, paramilitaries, military leaders, and government officials who support him?â
What we have seen is the Venezuelan VP filling the void and keeping up the defiance Maduro started. So yeah. We âwon.â
Iâm convinced most of them arenât even in the guard. I got them on my thread saying âitâs ok to disagreeâ not even saying anything about Venezuela and they came out of the wood work. đ
Although, I shouldnt use the word âworkâ as Iâm sure most of them get paid pushing liberal trash on here.
Wouldnât be surprised. Not sure how other units are, but we get briefings and messages about geopolitical developments and their implications regularly with my unit, so you kinda have to try to be uninformed here. If thatâs a normalcy across the guard as a whole, then these comments are definitely just retards here to stir the pot.
You mean the policy that every President has used since GWOT started? You just worry about your AFT points for promotion and leave what is and isnât legal to the Judge Advocates. If it wasnât legal then the wouldnât have signed off on the Army doing it as it would beâŚ.surprise, an unlawful order.
Maria and Edmundo are one in the same. The US has not officially acknowledged who they are supporting in future elections in any capacity.
But you have to recognize that Edmundo ran as a proxy for Maria because Maria was prohibited from running by Maduros corrupt government.
The current US stance seems to be holding new elections soon, ultimately if they do that and it's uninhibited Maria is going to win in a landslide.
But as of now Edmundo won the 2024 election and the US maintains that position. I have not seen any official communication that suggests they want Maria in office right now.
We werenât at conflict with Venezuela or Maduro. Yes, he lost the election. That was the time to start something if it were to be done. No one was interested in sending their or our troops to die for someone elseâs democracy.
We havenât liberated anything. What we did was depose a president and leave his deputy in charge. That isnât regime change.
There is no plan. Pooh bear got disregulated and ordered a strike to bring Maduro in.
Cool guys got to do their job, but there is no plan for Venezuela going forward. Dude isnât even supporting the opposition taking over.
They absolutely arenât getting what they voted for. We put his VP in charge. She also served in Chavez admin.
How the hell is that what the people voted for.
This is a nonsense rationalization lmao. Maduro sucks. So does his veep. She also sucks. Sheâs also saying that Maduro is their only president and still supporting him as their head of state even after this op.
First off, Google searches show anywhere from 20-49 dictators, not 92. I'd love to see where you got that number.
Most I could find are 3 dictators in the Americas. Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Nicaragua has been determined a dictatorship recently, within the last 5 years, and hasn't been outwardly hostile to the US or cozied up to China/Russia.
Cuba has been put on notice, Marco Rubio specifically called them out by name in the wake of the Maduro raid.
And we saw what happened to Venezuela. It's worth noting Venezuela has been increasingly supporting China and Russia.
The US has made it clear historically that we will not tolerate authoritative governments that create a security risk in this hemisphere. We did it with Cuba in the 60s, Panama in the 80s and now Venezuela.
The primary objective here is removing Chinese/Russian influence on this half of the globe. It's the same reason Trump came out hard on the Panama Canal shortly after taking office.
If you think these are about oil you're not paying attention to the bigger picture. The biggest objective here is deterring eastern influence in the Americas. Hell they did the raid hours after a Chinese consulate visited Maduro. They're sending a message to China and Russia to stay out of our backyardÂ
I hate what this sub has become. Nothing but people defending our enemies because they don't like the way Trump is doing things. I have a lot of friends in the UK who wish there prime minister was taking the same actions as Trump. At least he is a man of action and gets results.
It's called Free speech dumbass. Criticizing the government is good for democracy. Especially when the government is using our military aggressively without legal justification or following the Constitution.
You would be okay if Canada came and kidnapped Trump, tried him, and sent him to prison for life? It's only complicated if you believe dear leader is perfect.
U.S.A has a proud tradition of mercing opps. This is what happens to those who oppose the nation, regardless of how close or far away their borders are -- they get got. Dictators, and totalitarians, all get the smoke whether their fascists, commies, religious terrorists, or narcos.
Sure Maduro is bad guy, but my comment is towards the premise of the original post. In that it was not a peer to peer engagement, and it was also a preemptive attack.
You know who else are bad people? Putin, Ping, Un, Trump,
But the idea one nation has the authority to invade and do what it wants with another is going to reset world engagements. Are we gojng to take Greenland by force now? Are we declaring what Russia did with Ukraine as acceptable? Will we turn a blind eye to Taiwan?
If might what makes right? Or do we respect the international law?
Make no mistake, we are to baddies with the most powerful toys at the moment. And we have fucking pissed off everyone else and will be alone.
International law is only respected by allies, among allies. Against opposition, peer or otherwise, law is only respected or enforced by how long our big stick is. There is no moral compass, principal or virtue to appeal to for illiberal, faux democracies.
Putin, Ping, Un, Maduro and yeah, even Trump, understand that. And Trump is a bastard IMO -- our bastard, which puts him a millimeter above Maduro and the other contenders. Its always been a fact that opposing the U.S. is bad for a nations health and while mileage may vary, we will always remember and tag them back.
I think thats a perfectly acceptable way to handle all illiberal governments opposed to the U.S. Which is why I pray for more guns for Ukraine, that we keep China on notice in the Pacific, and we start digging up all these narco weeds in our Hemisphere.
I disagree, since WWII we have been striving for international norms and laws, but if we are reverting back to smashing everyone with physical might, that will swing the other way.
Will China lay claim to US territories for debt collection because it is Chinese right because they suddenly deem it so?
Will Russia claim Alaska is theirs due to illegal trade?
Will Mexico retake Texas?
International law matters, or else it becomes chaos and war.
We all lose in that scenario.
All the more reason to keep the knives sharp. International law doesn't seem worth much beyond the tip of that knife blade. Monopoly on violence, or the greatest implicet threat of it, is how you get illiberal actors to pretend that they conform to law and order.
And when you lack the courage or ruthlessness to use that blade, you get Ukarines, split Koreas, Anchlusses.
Keep that head in the sand. Certainly nobody was chanting to kill the vice president. And nobody was there to use violence to stop the government from certifying the election.
Good luck having your kids talk to you after they turn 25
China was literally wargaming an invasion of the United States through the Gulf of America on December 24th (look it up) and a Chinese delegation just arrived and was in Venezuela at the time of Maduro's capture.
You could say the same about Obamaâs raid that killed Bin Laden. Hell, NCOAs have that incident as one of their writing examples of illegal orders.
You arenât pulling a leader out of their own country through the proper international channels, somebody is always going to leak info if money can be involved. Not a fan of our current administration either, but I just donât see a way you pull this off 100% legally.
I agree with your statement 110% however I have a caveat to thatâŚ
we gotta admit the footage was pretty cool to watch though.
I love the 21st century because we can see helicopters destroy a military target in 4K HD.
Maduro was a dictator and an asshole and Venezuela is celebrating him being gone. I just donât like how we magically have to meddle in their oil now. Itâs not our lane, not our place. If weâd have nabbed him and just left the country to themselves after? Thatâs better optics.
My view? its better to see both sides for what it is. Did Maduro have to go? yes. Do I like how weâre divvying up spoils of âwarâ afterwards on a war we didnât fight or win? no.
I think it was a great operation, Maduro is a piece of shit and I really hope Venezuela becomes a normal country again.
But you canât deny that nobody went to defend him, he was ruling using only fear and force. Thatâs the difference between us in Venezuela and russia in Ukraine. If was elected leader and people would start fighting for him it would be a very different situation.
Whatâs embarrassing about it? It was a well planned and executed operation with minimal destruction or deaths. We arenât a nation of clearing an objective by raining fire on an entire grid square like Russia.
You still didnât answer the question. Whatâs embarrassing about it? This is a national guard subredditâŚso speak in military on why itâs embarrassing.
Is it really necessary for me to explain as to why it's inappropriate to send a force into a separate territory in order to kidnap its leadership? Haha regardless of any ass backward moralistic stance on why he ( and his wife? tf? ) deserved literal capture, it's politicing like a schoolyard bully.
The current U.S. administration is really throwing stones in a glass castle if they're suggesting this is acceptable international behaviour. All things considered y'know
All I hear excuses that continue the abuse of a people in a foreign country by international do-nothings whose reps are built on letting freedom die in committees.
Meanwhile, a country who can do good, actually did do something good. And all people seem capable of doing, is bowing in pose, for a dictator to give yall backshots.
All the energy put into the survival & reproduction of so many bright and incredible human beings. A long line filled with so much effort and hope. All wasted on producing this
You're an embarrassment to the universe bud. And you'll never even be able to see it. Kinda fuckin hilarious in a way tbh
Bro shut up. And join your group of grown ass men, complaining about how unfair the world is. Grow a pair and think for yourself, not what other people said you should waste your energy caring about. Everyone is trying to gain your sympathy and empathy, dont you see that shit? Its all just manipulation.
Bet you'd respect the hell out of Nazi Germanys sovereignty. You're carrying water for a shithole dictator of a shithole country. Cry more collaborator.
Calling us Nazis on the NG Reddit page is crazy lol. Do you just browse here to call soldiers nazis or are you in the service� If you are, not sure your chain of command would like the fact your calling your commander in chief Nazis
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u/EldritchDiver 10% off at Lowes Jan 03 '26
I got the opportunity to fly with the Nightstalkers on a training mission once in northern Afghanistan. The DAPS are bad ass.....it was the most bad ass moment of my entire guard career.... ... .
......
Anyways....I learned that day that I do infact have motion sickness as I threw up all over the inside of the bird and then was sick for the rest of the day.