Military Balls-up.

The Americans, always testing the language, use the word 'cojones' instead of testicles. Perhaps because so many do not have them. Maybe. What is more certain is that there are some military leaders of high rank that don't have any. General Patton must be getting ready to slap the next crop that comes his way.

The treatment of veterans in America leads the world, in its disregard, and the most senior ranks currently serving do not seem to know even their professional business. One wonders what they do know. They do not seem to want to acknowledge their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines but can they even recognise the enemy?

Clearly not.

A 'Four - Star' Navy chap, an Admiral, must surely be up for multiple barrels in the bar after his appearance at the Democrats' 'Conference' (a place where even the main players do not confer with one another).  I hope he sues for the cost. Please let it be that he was conned into the speaking role.

Russian ships displayed at DNC tribute to vets

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

There was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America's best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

 http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/archives/2013/03/20/russian-ships-displayed-at-dnc-tribute-to-vets/78536950/?platform=%5B%27hootsuite%27%5D

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

"The ships are definitely Russian," said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. "There's no question of that in my mind."

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what's believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

Er..... could it be, stupidity?  I suppose we have to accept that the Democrats do not know the difference between Russian warships and America's own. After all, as Sean shouted out from one of the bars, they do not seem to recognise any difference between males and females, even when you take their genes off.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee was not able to immediately comment Tuesday, saying he had to track down personnel to find out what had happened.

The DNC's Navy advisors.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

"I was kind of in shock," said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

"An immediate apology [from the committee] would be very nice," Barker said. "Maybe acknowledge the fact that yes, they screwed up."

Perhaps they can include it in the very long list of apologies to the American people for almost everything from the KKK to Hillary's millions. 

The background — featured in the carefully choreographed hour leading up to the president's Sept. 6 speech accepting the Democratic Party's nomination — showed four ships with radar designs not used in the U.S. fleet.

For example, the ship in the foreground, on the far right, has a square radar antenna at the top of its masthead. That is the MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly identified as "Flat Screen" for its appearance, a three-dimensional early warning radar mounted on the Kerch, said Eric Wertheim, editor of "Combat Fleets of the World."

Similarly, the third ship has a MR-310 "Head Net" air search radar, shaped like two off-set bananas, at its masthead and is mostly likely the guided missile destroyer Smetlivyy. The first two ships seem to be Krivak-class frigates, but it's hard to discern from the silhouette, experts said.

But the fact they are Russian ships is not in doubt. 

In addition to the ship's radar arrays and hulls, which are dissimilar from U.S. warships, the photo features one more give-away: a large white flag with a blue ‘X' at the ships' sterns.

Polmar, who authored "The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy," recognized the blue ‘X'-mark: "The X is the Cross of St. Andrew's, which is a Russian Navy symbol," Polmar said. (An anchored U.S. warship, by contrast, flies the American flag on its stern.)

Based on this specific group of these ship types, one naval expert concluded that this was most likely .....

a photo of the Black Sea Fleet.

"Ships are all Black Sea Fleet," A. D. Baker III, a retired Office of Naval Intelligence analyst, told Navy Times after looking at the image. "These four ships, at the time the photo was taken, constituted the entire major surface combatant component of the Black Sea Fleet," Baker said, noting the photo was likely to be six years old or older. (The Kerch is now on the list to be scrapped, Baker said.)

Barker, the former sailor who first spotted the errors, believes the seven aircraft streaking by are F-5 jets, a trainer used by the U.S. Navy. Asked to explain how he reached that conclusion, the former airplane spotter ticked off a list: "Twin engine, single rudder, with hard points on the wingtips, with that silhouette is going to make them F-5s."

It would not be the first time that a very senior military man was conned by a political party to 'front' some outrage. Even retired chaps - as in this case - can appear persuasive when paraded in Uniform. 

You would have thought such ranking chaps would be cautious.

If indeed this retired fellow was taken in, I do hope he takes it out in a hefty damages claim, because his reputation is seriously in doubt after this fiasco. Hillary can afford it.

Drink and weep.

Pax.