Angry Enlisted Blog

A recent reddit post has made me create this blog but also made me realize that I am unable to mentally keep track of all the random, albeit autistic thoughts when it comes to foreign policy, military, strategy, politics, etc.

The reddit post in question was related to this article by Navy News:https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2026/03/chinas-own-seawolf-class-submarine-the-type-095/

Two comments in particular, down below, really stood out to me.

1. “Congrats China you have mastered 1980s us naval submarine technology. Super duper cool”
2. “Lmao. China is nowhere even remotely close to matching the Seawolf in any way other than physical dimensions. Seawolf class boats are still more capable (as far as performance goes) than Virginias/any other submarine in the world. Apex predator of the sea.”

As we all know hubris has damned many in the past and present. Now while I do agree somewhat that sure, I doubt that the PLAN have been able to create an 1:1 copy or equivalent of the Seawolf considering we could barely afford to in the the 1990’s / early 2000’s but the threat should still be taken seriously. This trend of downplaying peer to peer adversaries seems to be more common nowadays but it does make sense with the turbulent times and idiocy of the administration.

I’ve even seen the occasional comment that China is an near peer adversary. That alone is fucking retarded. I’ll comment some other time on an broad overview of why that is categorically wrong but for now I’ll keep it nice and brief.

My grandfather fought in Vietnam. He served as an long range reconnaissance patrol or LRRP and saw considerable action. He never spoke much of his time in the Army except that he hated the government and military with an passion but loved the people. An statement I feel wholeheartedly down to my core. But one thing that stuck with me was that he always said that the reason we always lose is because we were Americans. We can’t handle casualty numbers let alone death statistics. We can’t bleed enough to actually win an war.

The public struggled with the knowledge that we bled and died in the sandbox for over two decades. Wives can’t handle the reality that their high speed husband got shot in the face while doing an HVT raid on one sultry Baghdad night. Or the grunt taking point while on patrol gets blown the fuck up in an complex ambush. Even though at least in my experience it’s war and shit happens, people really struggle. With the impending possibility of the return to the sandbox, combat action ribbons, people getting their national defense service ribbons (I got mine many, many years ago.) and the hype around it I see the usual saber rattling and gungho attitudes.

“Fuck yeah dude, were going to get some doc.” An marine yelled at me recently. I sighed because the bravado has worn on me. I see myself in the kid. Arrogant, full of pride and hubris. We are America after all, we can’t lose. Except we always do. Underestimating our opponents will lead to our damnation. Iran isn’t Venezuela. They’ve been preparing for this eventuality for decades if not longer. Underestimating either the Persians or Chinese is an terrible idea but it seems like an common occurrence.

China continues to make progress and inroads with their military on all levels every year. The modernization goal by 2035 may very well be an reality. Regardless of what Newport News, Norfolk and the rest of the US Shipbuilding Mafia have to say, the Chinese have the best shipbuilding capabilities in the world while ours continue to slip to the side. The J-20 and J-35 programs continue to have promise and potential. Reform and sweeping changes to the People’s Liberation Army has seen an wider range of capabilities and integration of unmanned systems. The missile force has also expanded with DF-26’s and 17’s being deployed strategically. Not to mention the transition to an “blue water navy” that the PLAN have been working towards. Operational experience outside of the usual brown or green water has been very important for the PLAN. While overall the PLA lacks experience these broad stroke advancements shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Downplaying them as an peer to peer adversary is stupid but in today’s world it has become difficult discerning disinformation and idiocy. In war things aren’t ever pretty and they never go exactly the way it’s laid out on an air tasking order or using METT-TC / BAMICS. One thing I have learned from years of autistic wargaming and nerding out in general is that at least with regards to naval and air combat, it’s just as ugly as boots on the ground. Fancy, expensive toys get broken. Ships take a long time to sink after sending and receiving countless volleys of antiship missiles over the course of what seems like forever. Logistics fall apart. An $300 drone (if not cheaper) sourced from Amazon with an F-1 grenade can essentially do the job of an dedicated ATGM team.

While I haven’t done much research into the PLAN’s silent service equivalent it’s on my list of things to look in to. We don’t know much of the Type 095 because I’d hope our enemies are at least doing an better job of OPSEC. But if I were an skipper of an hunter killer, boomer or COMPACFLT himself I would never underestimate the boat on the other side.

Exitus Acta Probat