Bloodshot': Could Biotech Breakthroughs Turn Wounded Warriors into Lethal Tactical Operatives

"Bloodshot" is now officially your only shot to see Vin Diesel star in a movie in 2020. Concerns over the novel coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19, have pushed back the release of "F9" almost a full year. The latest installment in the "Fast & Furious" series will now reach theaters on April 6, 2021.

For now, we've got Vin in an action movie based on the popular Valiant Comics character Bloodshot, an American military veteran named Ray Garrison who's brought back from the dead by an infusion of nanites – tiny, almost invisible machines whose size is measured in nanometers.

Those nanites make him virtually indestructible, repairing injuries on the fly and giving him almost superhuman strength. At the movie's beginning, Vin goes on a mission of revenge to kill the man who murdered his wife.

Fans of the comic know that the plot isn't nearly as straightforward as that, because there are things that Ray doesn't yet know about these missions, and the movie audience won't find out the truth until he does.

What will surprise longtime Bloodshot readers is that the filmmakers took the basic core premise of the comic and used it to tell a story that doesn't exactly track any of the previously published versions. When Ray wakes up at RST labs, he learns that he's part of a team of augmented wounded warriors.

KT (Eiza Gonazález) is a Navy swimmer who suffered respiratory failure on a mission; now, she uses an augmented mechanical breathing device.

Jimmy Dalton (Sam Heughan) is a Navy SEAL who lost his legs in an IED explosion. He now has bionic legs and an exoskeleton that gives him massive strength.

Tibbs (Alex Hernandez) is an Army Ranger who lost his eyesight in a different IED explosion and now sees with high-powered ocular lenses embedded in his combat vest.

Dr. Emil Harting (Guy Pearce) is the scientist who created the technology that powers these warriors but, being the bad guy in a comic book movie, he expects way too much in return.

Wilfrid Wigans (Lamorne Morris) is a genius programmer responsible for much of the code that controls Bloodshot's nanites. He's called on to step up and choose a side.

"Bloodshot" isn't burdened with the complexities of a Valiant Comics Universe. Unlike the complicated slog that recent Marvel and DC films have become, this is a self-contained movie that sticks to its story without worrying about how it may or may not plug into some overarching mythology.

Even though it sticks to its story and first-time director Dave S.F. Wilson consistently delivers on the action sequences, "Bloodshot" does at least suggest a few questions about the ethics and consequences of biomechanical enhancement.

Just before everyone realized how serious this COVID-19 pandemic was going to be, the cast sat down with the media in Los Angeles for interviews about "Bloodshot."

Diesel, who also produced the movie, seems glad to have a shot to play another soldier so many years after his breakthrough role in "Saving Private Ryan."

https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/03/13/bloodshot-could-biotech-breakthroughs-turn-wounded-warriors-lethal-tactical-operatives.html

North Korean Military Appears to Be on 'Lockdown' over Coronavirus, 4-Star Says

The North Korean regime only recently resumed training sorties after going weeks without flying an airplane, the top U.S. commander in South Korea said, indicating the hermit kingdom has been hit by the globally spreading novel coronavirus.

North Korea hasn't reported any cases of the coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19, which has spread worldwide. The country shares borders with China, where the illness originated, and South Korea, which has reported thousands of cases.

But Army Gen. Robert Abrams, head of U.S. Forces Korea, said there are indications the disease has also hit the North.

"It is a closed-off nation so we can't say emphatically that they have cases, but we're fairly certain they do," he said in a Friday teleconference with reporters. "But what I do know is that their armed forces have fundamentally been on lockdown for 30 days and only recently have they started routine training again.

The regime went 24 days without flying a military plane, Abrams said. Training sorties have since resumed.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made two public appearances this week, Reuters reported, to oversee military training exercises. The first was Monday when Kim watched missile tests. He appeared again Thursday to observe an artillery exercise.

Photos show Kim attending the events without any protective gear during the outings, though his aides all wore the same black masks, likely to prevent exposure to the sometimes-deadly virus.

Abrams on Friday detailed the steps the U.S. military in South Korea has taken to limit COVID-19 exposure and spread.

Nine people connected to U.S. Forces Korea have tested positive for coronavirus, he said, including one service member, two active-duty dependents, and civilian employees and contractors.

Abrams credited the steps the military took to reduce outside exposure to the virus with limiting its spread. Commanders made bars, clubs, dine-in restaurants, movie theaters and large social gatherings off limits for American troops. They also limited base access, screened those entering any installations, introduced telework, and cut workforce to mission-essential personnel only.

"Our No. 1 priority is to protect the force, always," he said.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/13/north-korean-military-appears-be-lockdown-over-coronavirus-4-star-says.html

Myanmar Repatriates Suspected Remains of US WWII Servicemen

MANDALAY, Myanmar — The U.S. military on Thursday repatriated what may be the remains of service personnel who were lost in action in Myanmar during World War II.

The remains from Myanmar's central Sagaing region were repatriated at a ceremony at Mandalay International Airport after being recovered in a mission carried out by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Embassy said.

"Over 75 years ago, brave Americans gave their lives on a river bank in Sagaing, fighting for peace, justice and freedom far from home," the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission George Sibley said at the ceremony. “Today we recommit to those noble values as we repatriate the possible remains of those U.S. citizens and honor their service and their sacrifices.”

The remains will be flown to the agency's laboratory in Hawaii for analysis and potential identification.

There are 505 U.S. service members still unaccounted in Myanmar, which was known as Burma during World War II. The remains of 23 have been identified after three recovery missions carried out in 2003 and 2004 and nine since 2013.

The remains repatriated Thursday are thought to be related to a B-25G bomber with a crew of seven that was lost in February 1944. Myanmar was then a British colony occupied by Japan's armed forces.

The plane's wreckage was located in 1946 and some possible remains were recovered last year in the same region, but have not yet resulted in an identification.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, more than 72,000 Americans in all remain unaccounted for from World War II, more than 7,800 from the Korean War, and 1,585 from the conflict in Vietnam.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/12/myanmar-repatriates-suspected-remains-us-wwii-servicemen.html

My Sharona

Related to my Corona, they were singing about MSM! Kek

>>8408086.

That’s great history anon, I hope all of them are returned. Glad I posted this, learned something important tonight of real soldiers