Talking Ukraine with Keith Nightingale, Analyst and Author

Colonel (Ret.) Keith Nightingale has been helping ferry supplies to Ukraine through Poland, including boxes of Ojai citrus, which is much welcomed on the front lines in the eastern portion of the country. Nightingale brings us through the current state of the conflict, the fierce resistance being mounted by Ukraine, the structural advantages with their armed forces that help neutralize Russia's massive numerical advantage and possibly outcomes for this conflict. Nightingale said that Ukraine was able to tilt the playing field thanks to NATO's support with long-range artillery, including the HIMARS, with which the Ukraine can target, with great precision, Russia's supply depots, leaving them unable to field an effective force. He described the Ukrainians as fighting with three components; the front-line, battle hardened troops which are devastating Russia, the "couch potato brigade" which is operating drones with deadly effect, as well as hacking Russian systems, and the third component - the volunteers, who at the war's outbreak, would head down to the police station to pick up an AK-47. Thanks to their local knowledge and support, they have been proven to be decisive in urban combat. We discuss Putin's dwindling options, China's next moves, the top-down command structure and lack of non-commissioned officers that slow down battlefield decisions and leave Russian forces vulnerable to a fleet, flexible fighting force.  Nightingale grew up in Ojai during a different age, and we also spend time talking about the changes, good and bad, and his journey into a career in the military during the early days of Vietnam. We also talk about bears and their cunning when it comes to garbage cans, Anselmo "Chummo" Quijada, Ojai's one-man gang task force who kept many local boys on the straight and narrow, and much else. We did not talk about ash baseball bats, Viktor Frankl or hang gliding.