CDR Salamander

His son, Marine Lt. Nathan Krissoff, 25, had been killed in a December 2006 roadside bomb explosion in Iraq.
...
The younger Krissoff joined the Marines in 2004 with a background that might not have predicted a military career. He wrote poetry as a youngster and was an accomplished pianist.

Before graduating from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., he was captain of the swim team, in addition to being a whitewater kayaker and alpine skier.

The outdoor activities were a joy shared by Nathan, his father, and his younger brother, Austin, 24, who joined the Marines shortly before Nathan died.

The family kept word of Nathan's death from Austin until after he graduated from the same Marine Corps officer school in Quantico, Va.

"Nate was an extraordinary man in a lot of ways," Bill Krissoff said.

Bill Krissoff never figured to be in a position to look President Bush in the eye and ask a favor.

But there he was, sitting in a room in Reno, Nev., with Bush and several other families who had lost soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan.
...
"I said, 'Yeah, there is one thing. I want to join the Navy medical corps and I gotta get some help here,' " recalled Krissoff, 61, who lives in California, near Reno.

Three days after that meeting, the Navy called.

His waiver had been granted.

Months later, Krissoff came to a carefully considered decision: He would honor his son by leaving a flourishing orthopedic practice, a comfortable life, to join the Navy as a combat surgeon.

But his application for an age waiver was mired in paperwork.

So, on that August day in Reno, when Bush went around the room and asked if there was anything he could do, Krissoff spoke up.

Krissoff was commissioned as a lieutenant commander Nov. 18, and he expects to attend officer development school in January. Attached to the 4th Medical Battalion, he plans to join a combat surgical team and hopes to serve in Iraq.

It is a story of loss and sacrifice being told on national media outlets. But Krissoff considers himself anything but a hero. He reserves words like that for people such as his son.

"The loss of a son puts a certain perspective on things.

"It's my turn to serve. I'm honored and privileged that the Navy will have me in the medical corps," Krissoff said.

He and his wife, Christine, plan to sell their house and move to San Diego. They see it as another chapter in their life, perhaps a way to ease the grief they have shared for nearly a year.

"Really, I'm just inspired by the dedication to service of both my sons," Krissoff said.

Christine Krissoff, 56, has made peace with his choice as well. But it doesn't mean she won't miss her husband.

"I am not fine with the amount of time he's gone. But none of the wives of the military people who serve are going to be fine with it.

"That's just part of the deal."

His mother, Sylvia Krissoff, 88, said she was "shocked" when she learned what he planned to do. Then it started to make sense to her.

"I think, for him, it really is great. It's really an extension of his love for Nate and, in some ways, carrying on for what Nate would have done.

"Nate would have been so proud of him."

Labels: Fullbore, Hereos

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:36

England, in his memo, directs the Navy to seek funding for two Littoral Ships in 2009 instead of the six planned, three in 2010 and 2011 instead of six each year and four instead of six in 2012. He directed the Navy to add one ship in 2013, raising the number that year to six.
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The U.S. military plans to delay its purchase of 11 warships now under development by Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics Corp.

The Navy planned to buy 32 of the new Littoral Combat Ships over the next five years and now will buy only 21... ``If the Navy doesn't keep this program on track, it will never get to its goal'' of building the U.S. fleet to 313 vessels from 280 today, said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Virginia.

The Littoral Ship program has been ``burdened by big cost overruns and a controversial acquisition strategy'' that included use of shipyards that have no history of building warships, accelerated development and ``bypassing the Navy shipbuilding bureaucracy,'' Thompson said.
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the Navy has told Congress that the vessels could cost as much as $460 million apiece, more than double the initial estimate of $220 million.
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England approved adding a total of $2 billion in fiscal years 2009 through 2011 to allow the purchase in 2011 of two Northrop Grumman Corp. Virginia class submarines instead of just one, according to the document.

England approved adding $693 million through 2013 for the new Zumwalt class DDG-1000 destroyer to be built by Northrop and General Dynamics, bringing funding for its development to about $9.29 billion, the Navy's highest projected cost.

(the) LCS 1 engineering plant ... is a CODAG. It has 29 line shaft bearings with a forced lube system...and that is the least complex aspect of the plant.

Labels: LCS, Shipbuilding

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:07

"Some will find this list irritating just reading it. I became irritated just typing these words ... these words should not be used in the workplace. All it takes is for someone to hear it. (earshot)"

Labels: Diversity

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:53

Iran had achieved the technology of submarine battery manufacturing prior to some other countries, the rear admiral remarked.

All Iran's naval units benefit from modern equipment such as propellers, weapons and sensors, which have been produced by Iranian engineers, he conclud

Labels: Iran

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:03

DON'T WORRY about that swooshing sound you can occasionally hear at 5:30 a.m. in the swimming pool on the Dahlgren naval base.

That's just the first female commander in the 89-year history of the base's Naval Surface Warfare Center doing her indoor laps.

Hitting the road from her Prince William County home at 4:15 a.m. is part of the morning drill for 47-year-old Sheila Patterson, who followed her interest in sports to the Naval Academy just two years after women were first admitted.

Despite the eye-opening schedule for Patterson, a self-described "morning person," some things in her Navy life haven't stayed strictly on schedule.

For example, there was that plan to put in seven years of service in the Navy after the academy, and then focus on raising the family. The two boys and one girl arrived ahead of schedule.

So Patterson has made a career of it, rising in May to the command of a 2,800-person center of scientists, engineers and sailors who have become, in Sen. John Warner's words, "one of the crown jewels of American defense."
...
Active in sports, especially swimming and crew, she avoided some of that first-year hazing by earning a seat at an athletes' table.

She's still pushing the athletic limits, including some recent golf lessons. Patterson has occasionally played in a Dahlgren "men's league"--from the men's tees.
...
During a recent chat in her office on the Dahlgren base, Patterson leafed through that day's to-do list, the short-term to-do list and the long-term to-do list.

Then there are those weekly menu lists at home, where Patterson cooks dinner Monday through Thursday. Friday is eat-out night with her husband, Bill, a retired naval officer who works for a contractor in Northern Virginia.

Quick with a laugh, Patterson doesn't let the lists get in the way of her people connections. She describes her management style as "participative," and is OK with important meetings running long, provided they don't waste time. Surrounded by "smart people," she invites department heads to key meetings with private-sector contractors.

The other day, Patterson's meetings stretched from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with three half-hour breaks.

...someone who's also making gender history...

Labels: Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:37

Minority Whip Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) announced yesterday he is resigning from the Senate, further changing the team of legislators who have protected the shipbuilding industry.

Lott, who is expected to leave by the end of the year, will depart before Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), a former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) who has said he will not seek another term in office. Earlier this year, the shipbuilding caucus on the House side unexpectedly lost Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), who died of breast cancer.

Additional shifts could result from the 2008 elections, as other members of the Senate who represent coastal shipbuilding states face tough races.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), another SASC member, is a proponent of the DDG-1000 program, which is being built at Bath Iron Works. She is locked in a tough re-election battle against Rep. Tom Allen (D-Maine), who is capitalizing on anti-war sentiment. On the Democratic side, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is on the Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee and is alone in her party feeling the heat in a state with a Republican governor-elect--Bobby Jindal.
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Warner's impending departure, coupled with the death of Davis was a larger blow directly to the state and Northrop Grumman Newport News [NOC], which is located there, because of the singular role Warner played, an official said.

In addition, this year Congress has made a concerted effort to help the industry, providing additional funding where it could. With so many problems facing programs like the Littoral Combat Ship, congressional support is less difficult than getting the Navy to provide more certainty about its programs, said one industry source.

By leaving before the end of the year, Lott will not be bound by new ethics rules that prevent lobbying two years after leaving the office.

But in a press conference yesterday in Mississippi, Lott downplayed the role that lobbying rules played in his decision to step down.

"It didn't have a big role in that decision. You know, there are limits on that already. And as I've talked to my former colleagues, they say that a lot of what you do anyway is involved with consulting rather than direct lobbying," Lott said, adding that he would have retired in 2006 but stayed on to pass legislation that would help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. His own home was destroyed in the 2005 storm, and he secured more than $500 million in aid for Nothrop Grumman, which has three shipyards along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi (Defense Daily, May 3, 2006).

Labels: Politics, Shipbuilding

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:24

Labels: Clinton

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 09:54

Roughead, who was commander of U.S. naval forces in the Pacific before he replaced Adm. Mike Mullen as chief of naval operations on Sept. 29, said he was even more troubled by China's refusal, several days before the Kitty Hawk incident, to let two U.S. Navy minesweepers enter Hong Kong harbor to escape an approaching storm and receive fuel. The minesweepers, the Patriot and the Guardian, were instead refueled at sea and returned safely to their home port in Japan, he said.

"As someone who has been going to sea all my life, if there is one tenet that we observe it's when somebody is in need you provide (assistance) and you sort it out later," the admiral said. "And that, to me, was more bothersome, so I look forward to having discussions with the PLA navy leadership," he said, referring to the People's Liberation Army.

Keating made a similar point. He called the denial in the case of the minesweeping ships "a different kettle of fish for us - in some ways more disturbing, more perplexing" than the Kitty Hawk case because the Chinese action violated an unwritten international code for assisting ships in distress.

Labels: China

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 08:53

Labels: Humor, Japan

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 18:22

Labels: Humor, Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:59

I do feel that there needs to be a break from where it is sold. I propose that a separate location be made for the selling of alcohol on all bases, take it far away from the rows of toys, dog food and cleaning supplies.

Do not have it piled higher than my toddlers near the check-out registers. Find a separate building to sell it from — and you can put all the tobacco products (another issue by itself) there, as well. Maybe even with our fancy Common Access Cards, those on rehab programs or with previous alcohol incidents could be identified as “not to sell to.”

It might not make a measurable difference — the unit SITREPS probably will still come rolling in at the same rate. Those who really want to get their hands on and abuse alcohol will find a way no matter where it is sold. However, if any effort made manages to keep just one sailor from picking up the 12-pack on the way out of the store, would it not be worth it?

Labels: Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:57

Labels: Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:28

THEY are on the front line of the war on terror, but German pilots facing the Taliban are insisting they stop at tea time every day to comply with health and safety regulations.

The helicopter pilots, who provide medical back-up to Nato ground troops, set off for their base by mid-afternoon so they can be grounded by sundown.

Their refusal to fly in the dark is hampering Operation Desert Eagle, an allied offensive, which involves 500 Nato-led troops plus 1,000 Afghan troops and police.

Although Germany has sent 3,200 troops to Afghanistan, they operate under restrictive rules of engagement.

They spend much of their time in an enormous base, complete with beer halls and nightclubs, in Mazar-e-Sharif, a 90-minute flight from the fighting. They also have a base at Kunduz.

Germany, which has lost 25 soldiers in Afghanistan to suicide attacks and roadside bombs, commands the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the north. But its men are not allowed to travel more than two hours from a “role two medical facility” - a hospital equipped for emergency surgery.

The restrictions have fuelled tensions among allied troops. Norwegian soldiers, who were fighting to stem a growing Taliban insurgency in this remote stretch of Afghanistan’s northwest frontier, were forced to desert their Afghan comrades midway through a firefight when German medical evacuation helicopters withdrew.

One Norwegian cavalry officer, who was engaged in a day-long fight with more than 40 Taliban near Jari Siya in Badghis, said: “It’s hopeless. We were attacking the bad guys, then [at] three or four o’clock, the helicopters are leaving.

“We had to go back to base. We should have had Norwegian helicopters. At least they can fly at night.”

Abandoned by their western allies, the 600 men from the Afghan army’s 209 Corps were forced to retreat until a convoy of American Humvees arrived the next day to reinforce them.

Yet, as the Associated Press tells us, the launch of the Eus peacekeeping could (yet again) be delayed, while the force commander Gen. Henri Bentegeat waits for firm commitments on the supply of vital helicopters.

All the man wants is a meagre dozen transport helicopters, which are absolutely essential to the mission as force multipliers to move peacekeepers quickly along the vast, sparsely populated borderlands west of Darfur.

Bentegeat says he is "very confident" nations would come up with around one dozen transport helicopters during the meetings in Brussels starting Monday but the very fact that the mission is supposed to start in December and he is still having to hand round the begging bowl tells you everything you need to know.

So, which is it: a memorable or shameful moment for the Brits?

It’s neither. The withdrawal is better understood as a tightly-controlled PR stunt designed to make the British elite’s lack of political will for staying in Iraq look like something more meaningful. The movement of the last-remaining British troops from the centre of Basra to the outskirts of Basra doesn’t represent a break from Britain’s strategy in Iraq, in the form of a final victory or a crushing defeat. Rather, the withdrawal only makes the political reality – which is that in spirit the British pulled out of Iraq long ago – into a formal reality, too.

All the talk of victory or defeat overlooks the fact that the British army has not been fighting a war in Basra. British soldiers effectively withdrew from the streets of Basra two years ago and have spent much of the time since hunkered down in their barracks.

The former United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered his dire prediction after being proposed as a new "super envoy" role in Afghanistan.

Lord Ashdown said: "We have lost, I think, and success is now unlikely."

Labels: Balkans

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:21

Labels: Diversity

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:02

Injured soldiers who lost their limbs fighting for their country have been driven from a swimming pool training session by jeering members of the public.

The men, injured during tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, were taking part in a rehabilitation session at a leisure centre, when two women demanded they be removed from the pool. They claimed that the soldiers “hadn’t paid” and might scare the children.

The incident has sparked widespread condemnation. Adml Lord Boyce, a former head of the Armed Forces, said last night the women should be “named and shamed”.

“These people are beneath contempt and everything should be done to get their names and publish them in the press,” he said. “It is contemptible that people who have given up their limbs for their country should be so abused when they are trying to get fit again.”

It comes after calls for the public to do more to welcome home troops back from tours of duty and to recognise the bravery of those fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a stinging attack on the United States, comparing it unfavourably with the British Empire at its peak.

Dr Rowan Williams criticised America for intervening overseas with a "quick burst of violent action" and claimed its foreign policy had created the "worst of all worlds".

The wide-ranging interview with a British Muslim lifestyle magazine included the Anglican leader's most outspoken criticisms to date of the US and the war in Iraq.

He also said that the modern Western definition of humanity was not working, and that there was something about Western modernity that "really does eat away at the soul".He offered only mild criticisms of Islam in the magazine Emel, describing the political solutions offered by the Muslim world as "not the most impressive".

He also said he was surprised that the small Christian community in Pakistan was seen as "deeply threatening by an overwhelming Muslim majority", and he condemned the Israeli security wall that cuts Bethlehem in two.

However, he also commended the Muslim practice of praying five times a day, saying that it allowed the remembrance of God to be "built deeply in their daily rhythm".

Labels: Britain, Moonbats

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:55

Labels: Cartoon, Republicans

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:48

Labels: Riverine

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 18:27

Labels: Blogg'n

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:52

As negotiations go nowhere fast, an independent Kosovo is widely being accepted as inevitable. But the consequences will be far-reaching, not just for the Balkans, but for the EU, the UN and relations between the West and Russia.

If the path to hell is paved with good intentions, then the way to political irrelevance may well be paved with pointless negotiations that everyone knows will fail.
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Few have any illusions about what that situation might look like. Kosovo has remained nominally part of Serbia since the war ended in 1999, but the small, ethnic-Albanian province has long made it clear it will be happy with nothing short of independence. Both the EU and the US have been supportive of that ultimate goal. Serbia, though, refuses to give up control of Kosovo and has consistently been backed by Russia. Kosovo's potential United Nations path to independence -- as outlined by special envoy Martti Ahtisaari this spring -- has been blocked by Russia's Security Council veto.

Absolutely No Alternatives

Now, with former rebel leader Hasham Thaci winning elections in Kosovo last Saturday, it is no longer a question of whether Kosovo will declare unilateral independence. It has become a question of when.

"Our vision and our stance are very clear," said Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu following the most recent meeting of the troika on Tuesday. "It's the independence of Kosovo and its recognition. There are absolutely no alternatives."

Kosovo issue has already become yet another irritant in relations between the West and Russia, and it threatens to erupt into all-out diplomatic conflict. On Wednesday the Russian member of the troika spoke out against US policy in the region. "The Americans believe that Kosovo's de facto separation has already taken place," Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko told Russia's Izvestia newspaper. "We look at the situation from the point of view of international law, not pseudo-reality."
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His comments come just days after Holbrooke lobbed a verbal grenade in the other direction. "The Russians have decided to act very unpleasantly," Holbrooke told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. "Vladimir Putin's government wants to bury the Dayton Accords, for one reason: Russia wants to use every means to be a world power again."

Reljic, for his part, thinks the Russians are right to be upset. "If you look at Russia's position, even since 1999, not for a single moment did the Russians indicate they would play along with this. It was a policy of 'eyes wide shut' not to look at what Russia was saying all the time."

But no matter who is right, the result might be a bad one for Europe. Serbia is rapidly losing faith that the European Union will invite it to join any time soon. Its close alliance with Russia could develop into a weakness for EU security policy in the region. That, at least, is the future Reljic sees for the region.

"History does not stop the day the US recognizes the independence of Kosovo. A new phase, even more complicated phase might start," Reljic says. "We are not seeing any kind of endgame in the Balkans ... it could throw back the region for many years."

Labels: Balkans, Demographics

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 09:41

The Chinese government on Thursday reversed its decision to bar a US carrier group from visiting Hong Kong, but the about-face came too late to save the Thanksgiving holiday for 8,000 American sailors and airmen and their families.

Labels: China, Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 12:24

Thaddeus Kosciusko was born in February 4, 1746 in Siechnowica, in the Eastern territories of the Kingdom of Poland. He attended the Cadet School in Warsaw and in 1770 left to Paris to continue his studies. Poland was undergoing the first partition of 1772 when Kosciuszko was in France.

In 1776 Kosciuszko left for America and took part in the fight for the freedom of the North American colonies. Young Kosciuszko joined Washington's army, and received a commission as officer of engineers. He served with distinction through the war, and was made a brigadier general, where Congress granted him $15,000 and 500 acres of land in Ohio. General Kosciuszko was the first of a galaxy of foreign officers to receive a commission from the Continental Congress to serve in General Washington's army.

He served under Nathaniel Greene in the southern campaign after Gates had been relieved of his command. He organized the successful blockade of Charleston. His development of the battlements there was the decisive factor of the victory at Saratoga. For two years afterward he worked on the fortifications at West Point. At war's end before he would return home, Congress made him an American citizen and promoted him to the rank of brigadier general.

In 1784 Kosciuszko returned to his homeland and as an outstanding strategist, he commanded his troops during numerous battles in the war with Russia. Kosciuszko helped organize the Polish Army, and led his country to an adoption of a new constitution, consequently into an armed uprising against the two big powers Prussia and Russia. On March 24th Kosciuszko took his oath in Cracow: "I swear to the whole Polish nation that I shall not use the power vested in me for private oppression but that I shall exercise this power only in the defense of the whole of the frontiers and to regain the independence of the Nation and to establish universal freedom". After several victorious battles in October, 1794, the Polish forces suffered a defeat at Maciejowice. The commander, heavily wounded in the field, was taken prisoner. Kosciuszko remained in Russia as a prisoner until 1796 and was released on the condition he would never return to Poland.

In 1806 Napoleon wished him to join in the invasion of Poland, but he felt bound by his parole to Russia and refused it. Kosciuszko died on October 15, 1817, in Solothurn, Switzerland, and his body was brought to Poland and laid to rest in the royal crypt at Wawel Castle in Cracow. In his will he left his money and property for freeing and educating slaves.

Labels: Fullbore, Poland

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:46

Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who commanded U.S. troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, is scheduled to speak on behalf of the Democratic Party this weekend in support of a House war funding bill that would require President Bush to bring the bulk of U.S. troops home from Iraq by the end of next year.

Sanchez, who has spoken out against the Bush administration's handling of the war and has assailed current war strategy as doomed to fail, plans to argue that the United States cannot win in Iraq with the military alone and that it is prudent to bring troops home to bolster national security.

Sanchez also plans to argue that U.S. armed forces have been stretched thin by bad war policy and that the House war funding bill, which requires the redeployment of U.S. troops and other measures for the Pentagon to secure $50 billion in funding, is the appropriate approach. Sanchez is expected to say that the war has significantly hurt the military. The White House has threatened to veto any bill that attaches strings to the war funding.

"Our Army and Marine Corps are struggling with changing deployment schedules that are disrupting combat readiness training and straining the patience and daily lives of military families," according to a portion of Sanchez's speech released last night. "It will take the Army at least a decade to repair the damage done to its full spectrum readiness, which is at its lowest level since the Vietnam War. In the meantime, the ability of our military to fully execute our national security strategy will be called into doubt, producing what is, in my judgment, unacceptable strategic risk."

Labels: Iraq, Politics

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 10:05

I've just returned from a week in Iraq with Gen. David Petraeus and his operational commanders. My intent was to look at events from an operational perspective and assess the surge. What I got was a soldier's sense of what's happening on the ground and, although the jury is still out on the surge, I came to the conclusion that we may now be reaching the "culminating point" in this war.

The culminating point marks the shift in advantage from one side to the other, when the outcome becomes irreversible: The potential loser can inflict casualties, but has lost all chance of victory. The only issue is how much longer the war will last, and what the butcher's bill will be.

Labels: Iraq

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 08:07

Censorship! That's what some art lovers whispered during the Hillary Clinton fundraiser Nov. 5 at the Woodley Park home of Tony and Heather Podesta. The huge photograph of the nude man was missing from its usual spot on the living room wall, and some guests concluded that politically correct Clintonites had demanded that the naked guy disappear.

The Podestas are part of Washington's Democratic elite: He's a top lobbyist and brother of Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta; she just launched her own lobbying firm. They're also nationally known collectors of contemporary art, and one of their favorite pieces is "Soliloquy VII," an eight-foot-tall color photo of a nude man lying on his back, by British artist Sam Taylor-Wood.

"It's an iconic photograph in political fundraising circles," Tony Podesta told us yesterday. The $250,000 picture made quite a backdrop at a fundraiser for Clinton's Senate campaign, where the official photographer spent the night with his back to the art to prevent her from appearing in a shot with the naked guy. "She teases me about it all the time," said Podesta.

Two weeks ago, 250 women were invited to a Clinton fundraiser hosted by the Podestas. The candidate was missing and so was the infamous artwork -- which led to whispers that the picture was deemed unsuitable for a presidential campaign. Nah, said Podesta, who told us the picture was taken down a year ago for "conservation reasons." All valuable photographs, he said, are rotated into storage to prevent fading.

"Soliloquy VII" will return in a year, he promised. "We are resting it for the presidential campaign but bringing it out for the inaugural ball."

Labels: Art, Clinton, Politics

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:57

Ian Smith, the former prime minister of Britain’s rebellious colony of Rhodesia, who once promised that white rule in Africa would endure for 1,000 years, died yesterday in South Africa. He was 88.

The cause was a stroke suffered at a nursing home near Cape Town, said Sam Whaley, a friend and former senator in Mr. Smith’s Rhodesian Front government.

Mr. Smith’s resistance to black rule led to a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain in 1965 and, later, severe repression and a seven-year guerrilla war, costing about 30,000 lives, most of them black fighters and civilians.

Second only to the apartheid rulers of South Africa, Mr. Smith became a symbol, both to black Africans and many others, of iniquitous white rule.

The land Mr. Smith left behind is markedly different from the one he nurtured before white-ruled Rhodesia became majority-ruled Zimbabwe, an era in which a tiny white minority of mainly settlers of British descent clung to privilege, prosperity and power in the teeth of international pressure.

In the earliest years of independence, in the 1980s, Zimbabwe impressed many outsiders as a stable and prosperous land, where high school enrollment for black children, held back in the long decades of white minority rule, soared and tourism to game parks and the famed Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River flourished.

But in later years the formerly white-owned farms that once fed much of southern Africa and earned millions of dollars in foreign exchange were decimated by a precipitate land-redistribution program. The economy is in tatters, with hyperinflation running at such a pace that currency bills change hands in brick-sized bundles.

An urban elite with ties to the regime of President Robert G. Mugabe prospers while the poor go hungry. Millions of Zimbabweans have fled to neighboring African states. Political opposition to Mr. Mugabe’s regime has been suppressed with the same zeal as Mr. Smith himself once displayed in the fight against African nationalist strivings for majority rule.

Zimbabwe’s troubles only fed Mr. Smith’s unwavering white supremacist views, his unshakable belief that Africa without white rule would not work.

“I’m pleasantly surprised at the number of people who come to me and say, when you were in the chair, we thought you were too inflexible and unbending; we now see that you were right,” he said in an interview during a visit to London in 2004.

Labels: Africa

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:24

It appears to many American observers that Moscow has been gravitating toward Cold War behavior without any rationale. This would certainly be puzzling behavior, given that, as some astute observers have pointed out, this is a Russia that recalled the Red Army from everywhere outside Russian borders, a Russia that allowed its satellite states to be thrown out of power, a Russia that recently embraced freedom and capitalism and let us show them how to do it

But soon after, the U.S. did something to sabotage, and ultimately reverse, this progress, making Russia legitimately wary of U.S. “interests” and leading it — and other nations — to conclude America is capable of being as mischievous as Russia. We bombed Europe. Specifically Serbia, for the crime of launching a counteroffensive against a terrorist insurgency in Kosovo whose aim was to snatch 15 percent of the country's land. And now the United States supports severing Kosovo from Serbia via a precedent-setting unilateral declaration of independence next month by the province's terrorist masters — over Moscow's logical objections. One of those terrorist masters, Agim Ceku — the province's “prime minister” — made the terrorist case in last week's Wall Street Journal.

To this day, almost no one grasps the significance of the damage the 1999 intervention single-handedly did to American standing and American credibility, when the United States turned NATO into an aggressive body, attacking a sovereign nation fighting none other than Islamic-financed separatists within its borders.

Labels: Balkans

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:52

“This is one of the most important discoveries of all time,” said Andrea Carandini, a prominent Italian archaeologist. He has long held that the myths of ancient Rome could be true. He said he derived added satisfaction from the cave’s location.
...
Italian archaeologists have inched closer to unearthing the secrets behind one of Western civilization’s most enduring legends.

The Italian government on Tuesday released the first images of a deep cavern where some archaeologists believe that ancient Romans honored Romulus and Remus — the legendary founders of Rome.

The cavern, now buried 50 feet under the ruins of the palace of Emperor Augustus on the Palatine Hill, is about 23 feet high and 21 feet in diameter. Photographs taken by a camera probe show a domed cavern decorated with extremely well-preserved colored mosaics and seashells. At its center is a painted white eagle, a symbol of the Roman empire.

“This could reasonably be the place bearing witness to the myth of Rome,” Francesco Rutelli, Italy’s culture minister, said Tuesday at a news conference in Rome at which a half dozen photographs were displayed.

The legend concerns Lupercal, the mythical cave where Romulus and Remus — the sons of the god Mars who were abandoned by the banks of the Tiber — were discovered by a female wolf who suckled them until they were found and reared by a shepherd named Faustulus. The brothers are said to have founded Rome in 753 B.C. The legend culminates in fratricide, when Romulus kills his twin in a power struggle.

The cave later became a sacred location where the priests of Lupercus, a pastoral god, celebrated ceremonies until A.D. 494, when Pope Gelasius I ended the practice.

The cave was discovered in January by Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of Palatine Hill, which abuts the Roman Forum and the Coliseum. It was found during restoration work on the palace of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, after workers took core samples that alerted them to the presence of a cave.

Labels: Architecture, Italy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 12:56

Interviewer: How was religion being used against those prisoners [in Guantanamo Bay]?

Yee: Great question. One, we’ve all heard how the Koran has been desecrated down in Guantanamo and as Koran, the holy Koran - the words which Muslims all over the world consider the literal words of God – was being desecrated in Guantanamo in many different ways.

Interviewer: It was thrown into toilets and whatever, that’s what we read.

Yee: The initial report that was printed by Newsweek indicated that perhaps the Koran was thrown into a toilet by an interrogator. It was unfortunate, that Newsweek had to retract that story, but I talked firsthand with prisoners who were held in Camp X-Ray, which was the first prison camp of Guantanamo, very early on in 2002, and prisoners told me directly that the Korans that they had brought with them were tossed into buckets - buckets which were used as toilets in that makeshift camp. I myself...

Interviewer: So... Buckets basically of urine and feces, is that correct?

Yee: Right, right, exactly. This was before I got there and this was in Camp X-Ray, where, again, it was a quick makeshift prison, set up for the first prisoners who arrived there. When I got there, Camp Delta, which was a little more sturdy and each cell had its own toilet, was already built by the time I got to Guantanamo in late 2002. The Korans were thrown on the floor by guards when they conducted cell searches. It has been reported and I have learned now that interrogators also were throwing the Korans on the floor or stomping on it. This was happening when I was there, and this was an issue.

Interviewer: You actually saw this happening?

Yee: I didn’t see it because I wasn’t a part of the intelligence operation, but I was aware directly from the prisoners, when they came to me with the complaints and concerns. It became such an issue that prisoners carried out massive protests. Some of them even attempted suicide in response to how awful the Koran was being abused. So this is something that was occurring, was addressed officially...

...in my view, it happened to me – all of this – because of three reasons: One reason is because I am a Muslim, and in this post 9/11 era, in the West, in America, we find this tremendous anti-Muslim hostility and Islamophobia, in which, all Muslims are see as potential terrorists. And I’m a Muslim, an American Muslim, and I believe that played a large role in why I was targeted. The second is because of my ethnicity - I’m a Chinese American. I learned that when I was...

Interviewer: So you are not blond and blue eyed and whatever.

Yee: Yes. I learned that when I was under investigation someone had said of me: “Who the hell does this Chinese Taliban think he is, telling us how to treat our prisoners?” So the fact that I was called a Chinese Taliban is an indication that my ethnicity also played a role.

Yee: I learned from the prisoners that female interrogators were a big part of the intelligence gathering operation, and I recall even the commander of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Major General Jeffery Miller, often saying in media interviews that female interrogators were very creative in their approach to gathering intelligence and conducting interrogations.

Interviewer: What did he mean by “creative?”

Yee: What was actually going on in these interrogation rooms with these female interrogators was that they were very ready to conduct their interrogation by stripping off their clothes, being nude in front of Muslim prisoners, thinking that Muslims who come from a conservative Muslim society might break or be shattered by this type of behavior. But they went farther than that, and they would inappropriately rub their bodies against these prisoners. It has even been reported, and suggested in FBI memos that have been subsequently released, that female interrogators even went so far as grabbing the genitals of Muslim male prisoners in the course of interrogating them. For me, as a Muslim, and for many of the other Muslim Americans who were down there, when we learned of this, we thought this was not only degrading towards the prisoner, we thought this was degrading towards...

Interviewer: The women themselves.

Yee: ...The women themselves who are engaging in this type of behavior. But we can take that even a step further, and say this was degrading to all women. Because what was essentially happening, these women were presenting themselves as simply sex objects and this is not how we should view women in any society.

Labels: Long War

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:42

Nonintervention and global neutrality should be the national security creed of the United States. Every soldier deployed abroad — whether in South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere — should be returned to deter and defend the United States at home.

In his Farewell Address, President George Washington warned against "overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty." He warned against entangling or permanent alliances. As president, he insisted on strict neutrality between feuding European powers. But his words and actions have been honored more in the breach than in the observance.
...
The best defense is not a good offense, but a good defense. In his Fifth Annual Address to Congress, he explained that to secure peace, "it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War." Armed neutrality would be both a viable and desirable national security posture.

Washington elaborated in his Farewell Address: "If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving of provocation."

No patchwork scheme—and all our present recent schemes…are mere patchwork—will settle the Waziristan problem. Not until the military steam-roller has passed over the country from end to end, will there be peace. But I do not want to be the person to start that machine.

Who feels guilty about the United States nonintervention policy toward the tens of millions who perished in Josef Stalin's purges, Mao Tse-tung's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, and Pol Pot's dystopia?

...as Bertrand Russell advised, "In all affairs, it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."

Labels: Long War

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:04

DDG 1000's affordable and flexible design, unmatched stealth and precision volume strike make this ship an important asset to the U.S. warfighter.

The Navy's new multi mission DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer, for instance, is slated to get 10 new technologies, featuring automated damage-control systems, advanced guns and sophisticated launch systems for Tomahawk and land-attack missiles. As its design has evolved, the ship's estimated cost has tripled from the original $1 billion. (NB: that is ~$3 billion)

Critics question whether so much capability is needed for a single ship. "They make them incredibly expensive before they've even started to build them," said Tim Colton, an industry consultant in Delray Beach, Fla. "The Navy needs to think in terms of smaller and simpler."

Allison Stiller, the Navy's deputy assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, said the service designs ships based on its assessment of future enemy threats.

"I don't see this as we're over designing our ships," she said. "From the acquisition side, it looks to me that we are setting the requirements adequately to pace the threat."

Labels: DDG-1000, Shipbuilding

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:15

There is certainly greatness in the '60s generation. They changed our attitudes about race in America, which was long overdue.

Whoa! The '60s generation changed our attitudes about race in America? Rosa Parks, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King Jr.--were they from the Vietnam war generation? Earl Warren, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Hubert Humphrey? For that matter, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, murdered on June 21, 1964, in Mississippi? None of these was a member of the " '60s generation." None was a boomer.

There really was greatness in the "greatest generation." It fought and won World War II, then came home to achieve widespread prosperity and overcome segregation while seeing the Cold War through to a successful conclusion. But the greatest generation had one flaw, its greatest flaw, you might say: It begat the baby boomers.

The most prominent of the boomers spent their youth scorning those of their compatriots who fought communism, while moralizing and posturing at no cost to themselves. They went on to enjoy the benefits of their parents' labors, sacrificed little, and produced nothing particularly notable. But the boomers were unparalleled when it came to self-glorification, a talent they began developing as teenagers and have continued to improve
up to this day. They were also good at bamboozling their parents, and members of the "silent generation" like Tom Brokaw, to be overly deferential to them--even to the point of giving them credit for things they didn't do.

Now the first boomers are applying for Social Security. Their time is passing--without eliciting any discernible consternation among their successors. It's not that every last one is unworthy. But for each David Petraeus or Ray Odierno (two very impressive members), there are countless posturers and blowhards who have received wildly disproportionate attention.

Labels: Boomers

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:36

Labels: Humor

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:34

There is a sense that combat changes people, but it really doesn't. It brings out parts of yourself that were always there, but that you hadn't encountered directly. Those parts are in everyone else as well. No one has clean hands. No one is different from you. That is important, so let me repeat it. Everyone around you is just like you. They don't know it, but they are. You are not sick; you are not broken. Everyone else is just the same.

To celebrate Veterans Day, the Los Angeles Times ran a two-part story on James Blake Miller, the battle-exhausted soldier in the iconic picture of the Battle of Falluja in November 2004. The photograph caught the 20-year-old Blake caked with blood and soot as a cigarette dangled from his mouth. He looked young, but also prematurely old. To many, the picture represents the modern American fighting man--resolute, determined, and much older than his years.

Today, Miller is home from Iraq and suffering from a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder. His is a heartbreaking saga, and the Times's lengthy story detailed the efforts of Luis Sinco (the Times staff photographer who took the photo) to help him. Near the end of the story, Sinco quotes Miller's 21-year-old brother saying to him, "I'm glad I didn't join the Marines. I got a nice house, a wife and twin baby daughters, and I drive a Durango that's used but damn near new. You're divorced, drive a beat-up pickup and live in a trailer." His brother said that the returned soldier's "head is screwed up."

The Boston Globe celebrated Veterans Day with an editorial titled "When Johnny Comes Home Less." Citing a National Alliance to End Homelessness study, the Globe stated that over the course of a year, half-a-million veterans go homeless. (A subsequent correction dropped this number to 337,000.) The Globe proceeded to expose the grim facts that "Veterans are at risk. Many grapple with traumatic brain injuries, the loss of limbs, post-traumatic stress disorder, and
mental illness. Some need to find jobs and housing."

These are important stories, and shouldn't be ignored, but it is also hard to ignore the political agenda at work here. Individual tales of heroism don't interest papers like the Times and the Globe; individual tragedies do. Portraying veterans as lost souls is a narrative that is politically convenient.

I recently exchanged emails with a colonel in the California National Guard--an attorney when not on active duty--about Bruce Spring-steen's new song "Gypsy Biker." The song portrays Iraq war veterans as gullible dupes who shed their blood while "the speculators made their money," and the colonel wrote:

It's this portrayal of vets as burnt-out losers with nowhere to go but out on the open road that gets me. I was in court today, a vet, arguing a million-dollar case, in front of a judge who was also a vet. Vets aren't burned out losers--we're leaders. For every vet with problems--and they certainly exist, though I would guess in percentages far below that of the comparable civilian population--there are dozens of vets out there building businesses, raising families, and leading communities. Many give up weekends and vacations to stay in the Guard and Reserve. But I guess those guys aren't cool enough or useful enough.

The stereotypical vet is the burned-out homeless guy with a torn old green field jacket. I say it should be the dad dropping his little girl off at preschool before he goes to the business he built from nothing while fielding phone calls from his Guard unit's full-time staff and driving a car with a trunk full of military gear so that, when the next earthquake or riot hits, he can go out and protect his community--again.

“The VVA, while claiming to be the spokesman and friend of Vietnam veterans, has actually done more damage to their public image than any other group in America. They’ve made patriotic and honorable men appear to be whining welfare cases, men who have no pride in their service, and men who can find nothing better to do with their lives than bellyache about what an immoral government did to them.”

Labels: Long War

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:14

Labels: Advertising, Europe

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:12

Plant #1: LaShannon Spencer, whom Blitzer introduced as an "undecided voter", was tagged by Dan Riehl: in truth, she served as the political director of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.

Plant #2: Khalid Kahn, who expressed concern about profiling and the Patriot Act, asked "[m]y question is that -- our civil liberties have been taken away from us. What are you going to do to protect Americans from this kind of harassment?" Classical Values notes that Mr. Kahn is the president of the Islamic Society of Nevada, who has hosted conferences like this one (with guest speakers like Muzzamil Siddiqi). In fact, Kahn in no stranger to CNN, appearing on a show called Keeping the Faith in Sin City.

Kahn's background as a heavy Democratic contributor (e.g., $2000 to Harry Reid earlier this year):

Plant #3: Suzanne Jackson -- mother of a three-term Iraq war veteran -- is aso a well-known antiwar activist. She appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal protesting -- with a poor monkey, no less -- outside of Harry Reid's office in May. ... She's active on the site of Soros front group Americans United for Change and hangs out at Dem site Think Progress. She also had a harsh antiwar letter published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Plant #4: Maria Luisa -- the UNLV student who asked Hillary Clinton whether she preferred "diamonds or pearls" -- wrote that CNN forced her to ask the "frilly" question instead of a pre-approved query regarding the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility.

(Plant #5:) ... the "50-ish lady who 'asked" her memorized question was a union offical. Gee, lucky she got in!" Judy Bagley, a 27-year cashier at Fitzgerald's was quoted in RGT Online (a gaming magazine) in an article about Culinary Workers Union Local 226's collective bargaining agreement. ... Judy Bagley was definitely a fifth plant. An anonymous email alerts me to this portion of the debate transcript:

Obama: Well, first of all, Judy, thank you for the question, and thanks for the great work you do on behalf of the culinary workers, a great union here.

(Planet #6:) ... George Ambriz is an Executive Director of the ¡Sí Se Puede! Foundation and is a recruiter at UNLV. His bio states:

George joins our team from Douglas, Arizona, having earned his associate’s degree in administration of justice from Cochise College in 2000. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice from Western New Mexico University. He is currently completing a master’s degree in ethics and policy studies at UNLV. He plans to pursue doctorate and law degrees, practice corporate law, and become active in politics.

Care to guess which party's politics George is active in?

Ambriz was just before my time at WNMU, but I later met him in Las Vegas at a model United Nations conference. Like me, Ambriz was heavily involved in student government and other clubs while at WNMU — he served as president of MEChA...

What ic MEChA? According to this website, "The official national symbol of MEChA is an eagle holding a machete-like weapon and a stick of dynamite... The acronym MEChA stands for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan... [it] is an Hispanic separatist organization that encourages anti-American activities and civil disobedience... [they] romanticize Mexican claims to the "lost Territories" of the Southwestern United States -- a Chicano country called Aztlan. In its national constitution, MEChA calls for self-determination by its members to liberate Aztlan."

Labels: Blogg'n, Democrats, Media, Politics

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:08

Labels: Broadside, Cartoon

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:31

The US Navy has recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $2.3 m contract to work on the Israeli Navy's Littoral Combat Ship known as LCS-I.

Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will work with the US and Israeli navies to develop a technical specification and acquisition cost package for the LCS-I combat system, CNN reported.

Lockheed Martin would examine the combat system performance of LCS-I using two different radar options: the advanced radar under development by Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Lockheed Martin's SPY-1F radar.

The MK 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS), Typhoon gun and Barak missile are among other weapons the team has planned to install on the combat ship.

Labels: Israel, LCS

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:13

Labels: Books

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:27

The city that's home to Harvard and MIT solidified its nickname as "The People's Republic of Cambridge" when it put a stop to a Boy Scout troop's Election Day drive to collect care packages for American soldiers in Iraq, claiming it was "political."

“We just wanted to make a lot of troops happy,” Scout Patrick O’Connor told the Boston Herald.

The big-hearted Scouts from Cambridge Troop 45 had placed donation boxes at the city's 33 polling stations in hopes of collecting toiletries, magazines, candy and other items after one of O'Connor's relatives was injured in an IED explosion while serving in Iraq.

But someone complained to the city, allegedly claiming the boxes were a “political statement,” and the boxes were removed.

Labels: Moonbats

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:04

Two Americans who deserted the U.S. Army to protest against the war in Iraq lost their bid for refugee status in Canada on Thursday, and the Canadian government made it clear they were no longer welcome.

The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear appeals from the two men, Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, over decisions by immigration authorities -- backed in two subsequent court rulings -- that they were not refugees in need of protection.

Opposing the war on the belief that it was illegal and immoral, the two deserted when they learned their units would be deployed to Iraq, and came to Canada.

If deported to the United States, they say they face a court martial and up to five years in prison.

Labels: Moonbats

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 10:57

Labels: Battleship, Fullbore, WWII

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:38

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that unless Congress passes funding for the Iraq war within days, he will direct the Army and Marine Corps to begin developing plans to lay off employees and terminate contracts early next year.

Gates, who met with members of Congress on Wednesday, said that he does not have the money or the flexibility to move funding around to adequately cover the costs of the continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There is a misperception that this department can continue funding our troops in the field for an indefinite period of time through accounting maneuvers, that we can shuffle money around the department. This is a serious misconception," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.

As a result, he said that he is faced with the undesirable task of preparing to cease operations at Army bases by mid-February, and lay off about 100,000 defense department employees and an equal number of civilian contractors. A month later, he said, similar moves would have to be made by the Marines.

Some members of Congress believe the Pentagon can switch enough money to cover the war accounts, Gates said. But he added that he only has the flexibility to transfer about $3.7 billion — which is just one week's worth of war expenses. Lawmakers, he said, may not understand how complicated and restrictive the situation is.

The House on Wednesday passed, 218-203, a $50 billion bill that would pay for the wars but require that troops start to leave Iraq in 30 days.

Labels: Murtha, Sestak

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 17:42

Labels: Humor, India

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 17:29

Labels: Awards, Hereos

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:44

R 241718Z OCT 07
FM COMNAVAIRFOR SAN DIEGO CA
TO ALNAVAIRFOR
NAVAIRES
INFO COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI//N00//
COMUSFLTFORCOM NORFOLK VA//N00//
COMNAVAIRSYSCOM PATUXENT RIVER MD//N00/AIR6.0// CNATRA CORPUS CHRISTI TX//N00//
BT
UNCLAS PERSONAL FOR ALL AVIATION FLAG OFFICERS, CAGS, COMMODORES AND COMMANDING OFFICERS
MSGID/GENADMIN,USMTF,2007/COMNAVAIRFOR/-/OCT//
SUBJ/PREPARING NAVAL AVIATION LEADERS FOR 21ST CENTURY - RETENTION// GENTEXT/REMARKS/1. IN MY FIRST MESSAGE TO THE FORCE AS THE AIR BOSS, I STATED THAT ONE OF OUR PRIMARY IMPERATIVES IS TO CULTIVATE LEADERS WHO POSSESS THE SKILLS NECESSARY TO LEAD NAVAL AVIATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY. MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS IS A READINESS ISSUE. OUR MISSION SUCCESS DEPENDS ON US MEETING THIS LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE NOW. THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF THREE MESSAGES THAT ADDRESS SPECIFIC AREAS OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT I WANT YOU AS COMMANDING OFFICERS TO FOCUS ON: RETENTION, DIVERSITY, AND EDUCATION.
2. RETENTION. WE ARE IN A WAR FOR TALENT. IT IS VITAL WE KEEP THE RIGHT PEOPLE WITH THE RIGHT SKILL SETS ON BOARD, SERVING IN THE NAVY, ACTIVE OR RESERVE. AS OUR NAVY ZEROS IN ON THE REDUCED ENDSTRENGTH TARGETS ESTABLISHED FOUR YEARS AGO, IT IS IMPORTANT WE TAKE MEASURES TO ENSURE WE DON'T OVERSHOOT AS WE LEVEL OFF. TO DO THAT, WE MUST ADDRESS BOTH THE PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL NEEDS OF OUR SAILORS.
A. I CHARGE ALL COMMANDING OFFICERS, COMMAND MASTER CHIEFS AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT TEAMS TO EXAMINE AND IMPROVE YOUR CURRENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS. MENTOR YOUR SAILORS. WE MUST ENSURE WE HAVE DONE EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO HELP OUR PEOPLE MAKE WELL-INFORMED CAREER DECISIONS BASED ON FACTS AND GIVE THEM THE TOOLS NECESSARY TO REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.
B. THE CRUX OF ANY SAILOR'S DESIRE TO CONTINUE MILITARY SERVICE IS THE ABILITY TO BALANCE THEIR PERSONAL LIVES WITH THEIR PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES. THE NAVY RECENTLY STOOD UP TASK FORCE LIFE/WORK (TFLW) WITH THE MISSION OF DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING WAYS TO ENHANCE LIFE/WORK BALANCE FOR ALL SAILORS. FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE TFLW INTITIATIVES BRIEF FOUND AT HTTP://WWW.NPC.NAVY.MIL/COMMANDSUPPORT/TASKFORCELIFEWORK/ AND ADVISE YOUR SAILORS OF THE NEW OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO THEM. AS COMMANDERS, YOU SET THE CLIMATE AND MUST FOSTER BOTH PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL GROWTH. WORK WITH YOUR LEADERSHIP TO ENGAGE EVERY SAILOR AND OFFICER, EARLY AND OFTEN, TO PULSE HOW WELL THEY ARE MANAGING THEIR CHALLENGING CAREERS WHILE BALANCING THE DEMANDS PLACED ON THEM BY THEIR PERSONAL LIVES.
C. WHEN OUR PEOPLE DO MAKE THE DIFFICULT DECISION TO LEAVE ACTIVE DUTY, LEADERSHIP MUST MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE BRIGHTEST AND BEST SAILORS TO TRANSITION TO THE RESERVES. WE MUST UTILIZE OUR ENTIRE CAREER DEVELOPMENT TEAM, INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL, INCLUDING CAREER COUNSELORS, CARIT TEAMS AND NAVY RECRUITERS, TO FACILITE A SMOOTH TRANSITION AND ENSURE WE KEEP OUR SAILORS' TALENT WITHIN THE TOTAL FORCE.
3. THE FORCE OF TOMORROW WILL ONLY BE AS GOOD AS THOSE WHO LEAD IT. WE NEED TO GIVE OUR BEST YOUNG PEOPLE THE OPPORTUNITIES TO SUCCEED PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY. IF WE DO THAT, THEY WILL CHOOSE TO STAY NAVY, AND WE CAN BE CONFIDENT THEY WILL CARRY ON NAVAL AVIATION'S TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE. I EXPECT YOU AND YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE AND BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR UNIT'S RETENTION.
4. FLY, FIGHT, LEAD. KILLER SENDS.//

Labels: Navy, Navy at War

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 01:03

In Afghanistan, an Air Force B1-B Lancer dropped a guided bomb unit-38 against an enemy fighting position in Gereshk. A direct hit was reported by the on-scene joint terminal attack controller who declared the strike as a success.
...
In Iraq, several GBU-38s and GBU-31s were dropped from a B1-B against structures in Baghdad to deny the enemy further use of the facilities. The JTAC reported the destruction of the targets and assessed the mission as successful.

Labels: Aircraft

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:22

Labels: Humor

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:25

Labels: Humor

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 12:01

R 231752Z OCT 07
FM COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
TO PACADMIN
INFO COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI
BT
UNCLAS //N05060//
PACADMIN 015/07
MSGID/GENADMIN/COMPACFLT//
SUBJ/CONTEST TO REDEFINE "SHIPMATE"//
RMKS/1. COMMANDER, U.S. PACIFIC FLEET MASTER CHIEF(SW/AW) TOM HOWARD INVITES ALL SAILORS THROUGHOUT THE NAVY TO ENTER A WRITING CONTEST TO REDEFINE THE TERM "SHIPMATE" IN TODAY'S FLEET.
2. FLEET MASTER CHIEF HOWARD WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER IN EARLY 2008. THE SAILOR WHOSE DEFINITION IS SELECTED WILL BE PRESENTED A RENDITION OF THE WINNING ENTRY BY COMMANDER, U.S. PACIFIC FLEET, ADM. ROBERT F. WILLARD. THE WINNING ENTRY WILL ALSO BE PUBLISHED IN ALL HANDS MAGAZINE, ON NAVY NEWSSTAND (WWW.NAVY.MIL), AND ON THE PACIFIC FLEET WEB SITE (WWW.CPF.NAVY.MIL).
3. THE THEME OF THE SPECIAL EVENT IS "WHAT BEING A SHIPMATE MEANS TO ME" AS WRITTEN THROUGH THE EYES OF TODAY'S SAILORS.
4. THE CONTEST CARRIES ON THE RICH TRADITIONS OF THE NAVY AS IT WILL TELL THE STORY OF TODAY'S SHIPMATE AND AT THE SAME TIME HONOR THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE NAVY THROUGHOUT THE PAST 232 YEARS AS WELL AS THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO SERVE. A. "SAILORS WILL BE FOREVER IDENTIFIED BY THEIR COURAGE IN THE FACE OF DANGER AND THE MORAL CONVICTION TO STAND UP FOR WHAT'S RIGHT," WROTE MASTER CHIEF PETTY OFFICER OF THE NAVY (SW/FMF) JOE R. CAMPA JR. IN HIS BIRTHDAY MESSAGE TO THE FLEET. "THE TERM 'SHIP, SHIPMATE, SELF' WAS CREATED AT SEA. TO A UNITED STATES SAILOR, THERE IS NO BETTER DESCRIPTION OF OUR CULTURE AND OUR CHARACTER."
5. FLEET HOWARD JOINS THE U.S. PACIFIC FLEET CHIEF PETTY OFFICER MESS AND NAVY LEAGUE OF HAWAII IN SPONSORING THE WRITING CONTEST TO HONOR SAILORS PAST AND PRESENT. IN EARLY OCTOBER, FLEET HOWARD SPONSORED A SENIOR ENLISTED LEADERSHIP OF THE PACIFIC SYMPOSIUM IN HAWAII. DURING THE WEEK, THE SENIOR ENLISTED LEADERS TALKED ABOUT TODAY'S SAILOR AND WHAT BEING A SHIPMATE MEANS. REALIZING THAT IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LISTEN TO OUR SAILORS AND TO PROVIDE ADVICE TO NAVY LEADERSHIP, THE SENIOR ENLISTED LEADERSHIP DECIDED TO ALLOW OUR SAILORS TO DEFINE WHAT BEING A SHIPMATE MEANS. IN AN ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE, IT'S THE PERSONAL SACRIFICES OF TODAY'S SAILORS WHO MAKE THE DECISION EVERY DAY TO FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOMS OF NOT ONLY OUR OWN COUNTRY, BUT ALSO THOSE COUNTRIES THAT MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO FIGHT FOR THEMSELVES.
6. IN 75 WORDS OR LESS, SAILORS ARE ENCOURAGED TO EXPLAIN THEIR PERSONAL DEFINITION OF SHIPMATE AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SHIPMATE IN TODAY'S NAVY. THE CONTEST IS OPEN TO ALL SAILORS, FROM E-1 TO O-10. ALL WORK MUST BE ORIGINAL AND UNPUBLISHED. THE WORD "SHIPMATE" MUST BE CAPITALIZED IN ALL ENTRIES.
7. PLEASE SEND E-MAIL ENTRIES TO CPF.FLEETFEEDBACK@NAVY.MIL.
SUBJECT LINE SHOULD READ "WHAT BEING A SHIPMATE MEANS TO ME". MAIL-IN SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: WHAT BEING A SHIPMATE MEANS TO ME COMMANDER, U.S. PACIFIC FLEET C/O FLTCM (SW/AW) TOM HOWARD 250 MAKALAPA DRIVE PEARL HARBOR HI 96860-3131
8. ALL ENTRIES MUST BE POSTMARKED BY MIDNIGHT 16 DEC. ENTRIES NOT RECEIVED BY 31 DEC WILL NOT BE JUDGED. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CONTEST SHOULD BE SENT TO CPF.FLEETFEEDBACK@NAVY.MIL.

Labels: Navy, Navy at War

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:53

Labels: Uniforms

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:09

Labels: Blogg'n

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:59

An official at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut confirmed that of the few options considered, the best available trainer was the TA-3 Skywarrior.

“About three TA-3 trainers would likely be made available to Lebanon in the near future, but we don’t really know when,” said the U.S. official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to give an interview. “We might be able to send another two or three TA-3s later on but cannot be sure at this stage.”

Labels: Aircraft

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:14

Labels: Britain, Islam

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:15

Unindicted co-conspirators CAIR are boasting about a meeting in their Washington DC headquarters with Palestinian Islamist cleric Tayseer al-Tamimi—who is well-known for raving about Jerusalem being an “Islamic city,” claiming that Zionist plots are afoot to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque, and attacking Pope Benedict for his statements on Islam.
...
Al-Tamimi, the Palestinian Authority’s Chief of Judges and chairman of its Islamic law high council.

He uttered these words: “Islam is escalating and cannot be resisted. I pray that Allah may tear apart America just as the Soviet Union was torn apart.”

As the chief Palestinian judge and Muslim cleric, Al-Tamimi frequently appears on Palestinian Authority Television praising homicide bombers and spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and fatwas.

In 1994, Al-Tamimi said, “The Jews are destined to be persecuted, humiliated, and tortured forever, and it is a Muslim duty to see to it that they reap their due. No petty arguments must be allowed to divide us. Where Hitler failed, we must succeed.”

In August 2003, Al-Tamimi, a personal friend of Yasser Arafat (who appointed him Chief Islamic Judge), was arrested for inciting terrorism. Al-Tamimi’s extremist sermons are well-known for urging attacks on Israel and calling upon Arab nations to wage war. In March 2000, Al-Tamimi delivered a hate speech during the Pope’s visit to Jerusalem, accusing Israel of “genocide” and “strangling Jerusalem.” He called on Christians to join Muslims in a jihad to oust Jews from all of Israel.

Labels: C.A.I.R., Islam, Sestak

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:07

Labels: Humor

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:02

Members of Saudi Arabia's Senior Clerics Association have issued a fatwa banning camel beauty contests.

The fatwa stated that the contests are prohibited because they include perversion, waste money on futility and ostentation, and are similar to games banned by the Koran.

Camel beauty contests have been held annually at this time for the past decade, and are part of Saudi tribal folklore.

Labels: Islam

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:42

Labels: Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:59

Labels: Broadside, Cartoon

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:58

The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Labels: Latin America

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 18:03

Labels: Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:30

Labels: Boomers

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:30

Directly after launching their planes, Massachusetts, Wichita and Tuscaloosa unfurled battle ensigns (oversize US flags), and increased battle formation speed to 25 knots. Massachusetts led the column, followed by the cruisers at 1000-yard distances. Four destroyers screened at 3000 yards ahead of the battleship. The fifteen mile track of these ships roughly matched and paralleled the northeast to southwest line between Fedala and Casablanca Author Morison's account in Volume II, Operations in North African Waters is detailed:

"At 0640, when the formation had reached a position bearing about west northwest from Casablanca, distant 18,000 yards from Batterie El Hank and 20,000 yards from battleship Jean Bart's berth in the harbor, it began an easterly run, holding the same range. Ten minutes later, one of the flagship's spotting planes reported two submarines standing out of Casablanca Harbor, and at 0651 radioed: `There's an anti-aircraft battery opening up on me from the beach. One burst came within twelve feet. Batter up!' Another spotting plane encountered `bandits' at 0652 and signaled, `Am coming in on starboard bow with couple hostile aircraft on my tail. Pick `em off - I am the one in front!' The big ships opened up on these planes with their 5" batteries at 0701, and shot one down. The other retired; and almost simultaneously battleship Jean Bart and El Hank commenced firing. The coast defense guns straddled Massachusetts with their first salvo, and five or six splashes from Jean Bart fell about 600 yards ahead of her starboard bow. Admiral Giffen (directly in charge of this group) lost no time in giving his group the `Play Ball'. Massachusetts let go her first 16-inch salvo at 0704."

Leaving Massachusetts to count what shells remained in her magazines (60% depleted), Tuscaloosa, now leading Wichita, and destroyer Rhind, closed the French to 14,000 yards, Brooklyn and Augusta were still pursuing from the east. Primaguet was holed five times below the waterline from Augusta and Brooklyn, and had an 8" shell on her #3 turret. She retired about 11 a.m. and anchored off shore. Milan had taken five hits, mostly 8" shells. Milan retired and anchored. Brestois was hit by Augusta and this destroyer made her harbor, but after strafing from Ranger's planes, later sank. The three French warships outside the harbor still underway were destroyer leader Albatros, and destroyers Frondeur and L'Alcyon. These ships organized for one more torpedo foray at 1115. Tuscaloosa and Wichita reduced their effort to zig zags behind a smoke screen. Under continuous fire from El Hank, Wichita was hit about 1130 with light damage and 14 men wounded. Wichita then was missed by a three torpedo spread from a French submarine. Tuscaloosa and Wichita hit Frondeur. Down by the stern she made it back into port only to succumb to aircraft strafing. Shells hit Albatros twice at 1130 and she fought on with three guns, zigzagging in the smoke. One of Ranger's dive bombers scored with two bombs which penetrated a fire room and an engineroom. A hit from Augusta took out the other engineroom. Albatros lost all way. Only L'Alcyon got back in unscathed.

Labels: Fullbore, WWII

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:05

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

Labels: Islam, Terrorists

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 17:50

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Cavalry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

Labels: Iraq

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 01:05

When Cmdr. John Pinckney took command of the destroyer Halsey on May 18, 2006, in San Diego, he assumed the lead of a state-of-the-art American warship yet to make its maiden deployment and, with it, a crew crackling with energy.

Under its previous commander, the Halsey set a record for getting a ship certified to deploy, doing so within 200 days of commissioning. The plank-owners began training while still in the shipyard, and within months of arriving in home port, it was surge-ready.

But after Pinckney showed up, there were problems.

During this time, it wasn’t what Pinckney did, but what he failed to do that sparked his downfall: He stayed in his stateroom during and after the fire, leaving the situation to his crew. “I never go to the scene of a casualty,” he explained.

While Pinckney stayed put, the Navy investigation concluded, the efforts to fight the fire got off to a poor start. Some sailors were too drunk to get into their firefighting gear. A few months later, the same area caught fire after the ship returned home to San Diego. The cause of that fire is still under investigation.

Pinckney acknowledged a simmering “discord” between him and his wardroom. He said the other officers didn’t support what he wanted to do. But one chief saw a CO who prized keeping junior sailors happy, a priority not wholly shared by his wardroom and mess.

It revealed that during and after the reception for Japanese dignitaries on Nov. 2, Pinckney repeatedly encouraged on-duty sailors to drink alcohol.

One on-duty officer told the executive officer she was just holding a beer “to placate the CO,” according to the executive officer’s statement to investigators. The XO told investigators, “I took alcohol away from one duty section member ... who got upset and indicated that the CO said it was OK.”

..he didn’t dispute staying in his cabin while the crew reacted to the emergency. Asked to respond to accusations by the crew that he ignored repeated calls and knocks on his cabin hatch, Pinckney said he could not hear the alarm bells, or the knocking on his door from the passageway. Besides, he added, it was his policy to leave casualty response to others.

“I never go to the scene of a casualty. That’s why we have all these people who are trained. I let them do their job, I get the report, then I act,” Pinckney said.

When they rung for the fire they only rung that on enlisted circuits,” he said. “They did not ring that throughout the ship. I live in officers’ country. I did not hear any bells.”

However, the investigation report quotes an officer who told investigators that Pinckney called down to tell that officer to stop using the 1MC to provide updates as the crew fought the fire.

Pinckney concedes that he delayed sending a report on the fire up his chain of command until the next day, but he disagreed with the investigation report’s contention that the commander failed to mention that the fire affected the critical MRG in his official communications to the destroyer squadron and strike group commanders.

“He was very much concerned with the morale and well-being of the junior sailors, and that caused some problems in the upper levels,” he said. “He’d keep the blueshirts happy, but the chiefs and the officers were trying to get some work done.”

Standards loosened, the chief said, and the skipper emphasized recreation events such as bingo nights and extra liberty chits, which weakened duty sections. Civilian garb became more common aboard the ship.

“It kind of turned into a joke after a while,” he said, referring to the lax standards.

Asked if he believes someone had it in for him, Pinckney said: “Me, personally, I do.

He admits there were problems in the wardroom. “One of the issues that was brought out was that there wasn’t a harmonious relationship between the XO, the [assistant operations officer] and myself,” he said. “There were meetings where I’d walk out and the things I’d talked about would be harshly criticized. I would hear about that through a backloop,” he said. “There would be wardroom meetings and I’d talk about the things I wanted to do, and they would strongly question those things.”

Labels: Leadership, Navy

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:52

A week into the political turmoil caused by reactions from Banja Luka and Belgrade to High Representative Miroslav Lajčak's latest measures, Mesić told Croatian Radio that the Republic of Srpska (RS) leadership wished to see disintegration of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Ethnic Serbs and Croats, as well as Bosniaks, are the three constituent nations in the two entities the country has been divided into after the end of the 1992-1995 war there.

"This is a serious gamble with Bosnia's and with their own future, since the international community cannot in any case accept the breakup of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Mesić said.

Labels: Balkans

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:28

A 13-year-old junior high school student was given two days of detention after school officials spotted her hugging friends after school last Friday.

Megan Coulter, an eighth-grade student at Mascoutah Middle School, was hugging her friends goodbye after school Friday when vice principal, Randy Blakely, saw her and told her she would receive two after-school detentions.

Blakely had previously warned Coulter that she was in violation of the school's policy on public displays of affection after she was seen hugging a student at a football game.

The school's policy says that “displays of affection should not occur on the campus at any time.”

Coulter's mother, Melissa Coulter, says she has requested to speak with the School Board at its next meeting, and is mystified about the punishment leveled at her daughter.

Mascoutah Superintendent Sam McGowen said today that the district's policy helps prevent misunderstandings and unwelcome expressions of affection.

Labels: Education

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 01:05

Labels: Sestak

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:45

Labels: Politics

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:59

In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday.

Saad al-Azawi, his wife and four children are among them. They fled to Syria six months ago, leaving behind what had become one of the capital's more dangerous districts—west Baghdad's largely Sunni Khadra region.

The family had been living inside a vicious and bloody turf battle between al-Qaida in Iraq and Mahdi Army militiamen. But Azawi said things began changing, becoming more peaceful, in August when radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to stand down nationwide.

About the same time, the Khadra neighborhood Awakening Council rose up against brutal al-Qaida control—the imposition of its austere interpretation of Islam, along with the murder and torture of those who would not comply.

The uprising originated in Iraq's west and flowed into the capital. Earlier this year, the Sunni tribes and clans in the vast Anbar province began their own revolt and have successfully rid the largely desert region of al-Qaida control.

Labels: Iraq

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:34

Gates said before the NATO session that he was not satisfied with the allies' efforts. In Heidelberg he was more direct and specific, telling the army chiefs that the stakes in Afghanistan were great.

"If an alliance of the world's greatest democracies cannot summon the will to get the job done in a mission that we agree is morally just and vital to our security," he told the European army generals, "then our citizens may begin to question both the worth of the mission and the utility of the 60-year-old trans-Atlantic security project itself," referring to NATO, which was created in 1949.

Labels: Afghanistan, NATO

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:22

Labels: Blogg'n, Humor

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:31

Of course, don't that get in the way of a pre-packaged deal at the AP. 2007 toll nears highest for US in Iraq.
Hat tip Soldier's Dad.

Labels: Iraq, Media

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:18

Labels: Islam

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 00:13

Labels: Humor, Islam, Long War

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:14

Brig. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., the commander and pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II, died today at his home in Columbus, Ohio. He was 92.

His death was announced by a friend, Gerry Newhouse, who said General Tibbets had been in decline with a variety of ailments. Mr. Newhouse said General Tibbets had requested that there be no funeral or headstone, fearing it would give his detractors a place to protest.
...

After attending the University of Florida and University of Cincinnati, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1937.

On Aug. 17, 1942, he led a dozen B-17 Flying Fortresses on the first daylight raid by an American squadron on German-occupied Europe, bombing railroad marshaling yards in the French city of Rouen. He flew Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gibraltar in November 1942 en route to the launching of Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, and participated in the first bombing missions of that campaign.

After returning to the United States to test the newly developed B-29, the first intercontinental bomber, he was told in September 1944 of the most closely held secret of the war: scientists were working to harness the power of atomic energy to create a bomb of such destruction that it could end the war.

He was ordered to find the best pilots, navigators, bombardiers and supporting crewmen and mold them into a unit that would deliver that bomb from a B-29.

In his memoir “Now It Can Be Told,” Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Groves Jr., who oversaw the Manhattan Project, said that Colonel Tibbets had been selected to train the crews because “he was a superb pilot of heavy planes, with years of military flying experience, and was probably as familiar with the B-29 as anyone in the service.”

He took command of the newly created 509th Composite Group, a unit of 1,800 men who trained amid extraordinary security at Wendover Field in Utah.

In the summer of 1945, Colonel Tibbets oversaw his unit’s transfer for additional training on Tinian in the Northern Marianas. On July 16, an atomic bomb was successfully tested in the New Mexico desert, and when Japan ignored a surrender demand issued at the Potsdam Conference, Colonel Tibbets completed final preparations to drop a uranium bomb.

Labels: WWII

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 08:06

Rear Admiral Cradock had his squadron reinforced by the armoured cruiser Good Hope. She had just come out of reserve and was manned by a very green crew of reservists and cadets but despite this Cradock transferred his flag to her as she was faster than his current ship. He was then given the task of finding Graf Spee and so headed for the Pacific. His squadron now consisted of Good Hope, the armoured cruiser Monmouth, the light cruiser Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto. The squadron was inferior to the German squadron and so the old pre-dreadnought battleship Canopus was sent to bolster Cradock. Again she was straight out of reserve, slow (17 knots max.) and manned by reservists who had never fired her guns before, the guns being outranged by those of the German armoured cruisers. HMS Defence, an armoured cruiser, was also promised but never materialised. The Admiralty falsely gave Cradock the impression that they thought that this force was adequate for the task and he should engage Graf Spee if he could. The British squadron was to be based out of the Falkland Islands. When Canopus did finally turn up there it turned out that she had engine problems and was limited to 12 knots. Cradock decided to detach her from his main squadron, letting her follow at her own pace with his colliers.

On October 29 1914 Glasgow was sent to Coronel to pick up intelligence and whilst there she picked up radio transmissions between Leipzig and one of her colliers.

The squadron was reformed and spread out at 20 mile intervals to sweep north. There was little optimism in the British ships about the outcome should they meet the German squadron of modern ships with crack crews. Monmouth had an even less experienced crew than Good Hope and was an old design that had a poor reputation being badly under-armed for a ship of her size and too slow to run away. Otranto was a converted liner, too slow, armed with old 4.7 inch guns (eight carried) and with a large silhouette and no armour. Only Glasgow was a decent ship, a modern light cruiser with a regular crew, decent speed and capable of outgunning the German light cruisers, but not Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

On November 1 at 1630 Glasgow sighted smoke from Leipzig and then minutes later the ship and the German armoured cruisers. Spee formed a battle line in the order Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Leipzig and Dresden, Nurnberg was thirty miles to the north, still returning from Valparaiso. The British line was ordered Good Hope, Monmouth, Glasgow and Otranto. Cradock had the opportunity of turning towards Canopus, 300 miles to the south, there not being sufficient light for Spee to catch him that day but that risked the losing Spee during the night.

The British turned towards the German line and at about 1930 at 12,000 yards the German armoured cruisers opened fire. The setting sun silhouetted the British squadron whilst the German ships were hard to see in the failing light. The third salvo from Scharnhorst hit Good hope, knocking out her forward 9.2 inch gun. Monmouth was also hit by the third salvo from Gneisenau, setting her forward turret on fire. The German gun crews maintained a rapid and accurate fire, both leading British cruisers being hit over thirty times, whilst the reply from the British was very ineffectual. The visibility deteriorated so that the Germans had to target the fires on the British ships whilst the British had to make do with aiming at the enemy gun flashes. Leipzig and Glasgow engaged each other whilst Dresden fired on Otranto which rapidly pulled out of the line and fled, enabling Dresden to also engage Glasgow. Cradock closed the range to 5,500 yards to bring his 6 inch guns to action. Spee interpreted this as an attempt to launch a torpedo attack and increased the range. At 1950 Good Hope suffered a magazine explosion, the crippled ship then drifting out of site and sinking soon afterwards. There were no survivors.

Monmouth was also in a bad way, being on fire and listing to port. Glasgow had been hit five times and seeing that Monmouth was beyond help fled to avoid certain destruction and to warn Canopus to turn back. Monmouth was unable to fire but her White Ensign was still flying. The newly arrived Nurberg found her and finished her off with gunfire at point blank, seventy five gun flashes being observed from Glasgow. Again there were no survivors.

Wind and swell were head on and the vessels had heavy going, especially the small cruisers on both sides. Observation and distance estimation were under a severe handicap because of the seas which washed over the bridges. The swell was so great that it obscured the aim of the gunners at the six inch guns on the middle deck, who could not see the sterns of the enemy ships at all and the bow but seldom. At 6.20 p.m., at a distance of 13,400 yards, I turned one point toward the enemy, and at 6.34 opened fire at a distance of 11,260 yards. The guns of both our armoured cruisers were effective, and by 6.39 already we could note the first hit on the Good Hope. I at once resumed a parallel course instead of bearing slightly toward the enemy.

The English opened their fire at this time. I assume that the heavy sea made more trouble for them than it did for us. Their two armoured cruisers remained covered by our fire, while they, so far as could be determined, hit the Scharnhorst but twice and the Gneisenau only four times.

At 6.53, when 6,500 yards apart, I ordered a course one point away from the enemy. They were firing more slowly at this time, while we were able to count numerous hits. We could see, among other things, that the top of the Monmouth's forward turret had been shot away and that a violent fire was burning in the turret. The Scharnhorst, it is thought, hit the Good Hope about thirty-five times.

In spite of our altered course the English changed theirs sufficiently so that the distance between us shrunk to 5,300 yards. There was reason to suspect that the enemy despaired of using his artillery effectively and was manoeuvring for a torpedo attack. The position of the moon, which had risen at 6 o'clock, was favourable to this move. Accordingly, I gradually opened up further distance between the squadrons by another deflection of the leading ship at 7.45. In the meantime it had grown dark. The range-finder on the Scharnhorst used the fire on the Monmouth as a guide for a time, though eventually all range-finding, aiming, and observation became so inexact that firing was stopped at 7.26.

At 7.23 a column of fire from an explosion was noticed between the stacks of the Good Hope. The Monmouth apparently stopped firing at 7.20. The small cruisers, including the Nürnberg, received by wireless at 7.30 the order to follow the enemy and to attack his ships with torpedoes. Vision was somewhat obscured at this time by a rain squall. The light cruisers were not able to find the Good Hope, but the Nürnberg encountered the Monmouth, and at 8.58 was able by shots at closest range to capsize her without a single shot being fired in return. Rescue work in the heavy sea was not to be thought of; especially as the Nürnberg immediately afterward believed she had sighted the smoke of another ship and had to prepare for a new attack.

The small cruisers had neither losses nor damage in the battle. On the Gneisenau there were two men slightly wounded. The crews of the ships went into the fight with enthusiasm; every one did his duty and played his part in the victory.

Glasgow left Coronel 9 a.m. on November 1 to rejoin Good Hope (flagship), Monmouth and Otranto at rendezvous. At 2 p.m. flagship signalled that apparently from wireless calls there was an enemy ship to northward. Orders were given for squadron to spread N.E. by E. in the following order: Good Hope, Monmouth, Otranto, and Glasgow, speed to be worked up to 15 knots. 4.20 p.m., saw smoke; proved to be enemy ships, one small cruiser and two armoured cruisers. Glasgow reported to admiral, ships in sight were warned, and all concentrated on Good Hope. At 5 p.m. Good Hope was sighted.

At 5.47 p.m. squadron formed in line-ahead in following order: Good Hope, Monmouth, Glasgow, and Otranto. Enemy, who had turned south, were now in single line ahead 12 miles off, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau leading. 6.18 p.m., speed ordered to 17 knots, and flagship signalled Canopus, 'I am going to attack enemy now.' Enemy were now 15,000 yards away, and maintained this range, at the same time jamming wireless signals.

By this time sun was getting immediately behind us from enemy position, and while it remained above horizon we had advantage in light, but range too great. 6.55 p.m., sun set, and visibility conditions altered, our ships being silhouetted against afterglow, and failing light mad e enemy difficult to see. 7.30 p.m., enemy opened fire 12,000 yards, followed in quick succession by Good Hope, Monmouth, Glasgow. Two squadrons were now converging, and each ship engaged opposite number in the line. Growing darkness and heavy spray of head sea made firing difficult, particularly for main deck guns of Good Hope and Monmouth. Enemy firing salvos got range quickly, and their third salvo caused fire to break out on fore part of both ships, which were constantly on fire till 7.45 p.m. At 7.50 p.m. an immense explosion occurred on Good Hope amid ships, flames reaching 200 feet high. Total destruction must have followed. It was now quite dark.

Both sides continued firing at flashes of opposing guns. Monmouth was badly down by the bow, and turned away to get stern to sea, signalling to Glasgow to that effect. 8.30 p.m., Glasgow signalled to Monmouth 'Enemy following us,' but received no reply. Under rising moon enemy's ships were now seen approaching, and as Glasgow could render Monmouth no assistance, she proceeded at full speed to avoid destruction. 8.50 p.m., lost sight of enemy. 9.20 p.m., observed 75 flashes of fire, which was no doubt final attack on Monmouth.

Nothing could have been more admirable than conduct of officers and men throughout. Though it was most trying to receive great volume of fire without chance of returning it adequately, all kept perfectly cool, there was no wild firing, and discipline was the same as at battle practice. When target ceased to be visible, gun layers spontaneously ceased fire. The serious reverse sustained has entirely failed to impair the spirit of officers and ship's company, and it is our unanimous wish to meet the enemy again as soon as possible.

COPY OF W/T SIGNAL
From "CANOPUS".
To Governor, Falkand Islands.
Date 7th. November 1914. 8.30 p.m.

Please send following message to British Minister Montevideo for Admiralty and Admiral, 5th. Cruiser Squadron.

Begins.

At 4.40 p.m. Sunday, 1st. November, "CANOPUS" then in latitude 41.20 S., longitude 76.10 W., course N 10 W speed 9 knots, with colliers "BENBROOK" and "LANGOE", and XXXXXXXXXXX approximately 200 miles south of our cruisers "GOOD HOPE, MONMOUTH, GLASGOW and OTRANTO, intercepted XXXXX signal from GLASGOW to GOOD HOPE that enemy had been sighted.

CANOPUS raised steam full speed and proceeded to northward.
Signal sent from HMS Canopus

At 8.45 p.m. received first intimation that squadron had been engaged from GLASGOW. Signal read "Fear GOOD HOPE lost, our squadron scattered".

CANOPUS continued course to northward at full speed until 1 a.m. Monday, 2nd. November, in hope of rendering assistance to any ships being chased by superior force, Ship's position being signalled.

At 1 a.m. having had no communication except from GLASGOW since 6 p.m. 1st. November, made rendezvous with GLASGOW who was steering SW, 20 knots, and steered to cut off colliers and order them return to Falkland Islands.

3.30 a.m. Signalled colliers to return Falkland and altered course to southward and gave ship's position to GLASGOW with orders to overhaul CANOPUS and rendezvous Falklands. Reduced speed to 14 knots.

It was blowing southerly gale with heavy sea.

There was systematic jambing [sic] by enemy's ships from 4.30 p.m. 1st. November until 5 a.m. 2nd. November, rendering it most difficult to obtain signals.

GLASGOW passed ahead night of 2nd. and proceeded through Magellan Straits and made rendezvous with CANOPUS in Spiteful Bay, Friday, 6th. at daylight when CANOPUS escorted her to Falklands, she being short of coal and unseaworthy from gunfire and gale from S W.

OTRANTO'S position at 5 p.m., Monday, 2nd. November, was latitude 39.36 S., longitude 78.6 W., course S. 18 W., 17 knots. rendezvous at Falklands was signalled her.

Her position on Friday, 11 p.m., was latitude 55 S. Longitude 63 W., course N.25 E., speed 14 knots. She was ordered Monte Video by CANOPUS.

Labels: Britain, Fullbore, Germany, WWI

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:42

Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced today that the Department of the Navy is terminating construction of the fourth littoral combat ship (LCS 4) for convenience under the termination clause of the contract because the Navy and General Dynamics could not reach agreement on the terms of a modified contract.

The Navy had not yet authorized construction on LCS 4, following a series of cost overruns on LCS 2. The Navy intended to begin construction of LCS 4 if the Navy and General Dynamics could agree on the terms for a fixed-price incentive agreement. The Navy worked closely with General Dynamics to try to restructure the agreement for LCS 4 to more equitably balance cost and risk, but could not come to terms and conditions that were acceptable to both parties.

The Navy remains committed to the LCS program. “LCS continues to be a critical warfighting requirement for our Navy to maintain dominance in the littorals and strategic choke points around the world,” said Winter. “While this is a difficult decision, we recognize that active oversight and strict cost controls in the early years are necessary to ensuring we can deliver these ships to the fleet over the long term.”

“I am absolutely committed to the Littoral Combat Ship,” said Roughead. “We need this ship. It is very important that our acquisition efforts produce the right littoral combat ship capability to the fleet at the right cost.”

House and Senate negotiators on the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill are at odds over a provision in the House-passed measure that would require the Navy to make its future fleet of surface combatants nuclear powered.

The Navy is building nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines, but the House language would establish that it is the "policy of the United States" to use nuclear power for all major vessels, including destroyers and cruisers.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., another Armed Services Committee member and a former Navy secretary, said he generally supported using nuclear energy on large vessels, but was opposed to issuing a mandate to the Navy that the service may not be able to carry out.

"In theory I support it," Webb said. "The question is the practicality."

The up-front costs of nuclear-powered vessels are estimated at $600 million to $800 million more per ship than conventionally powered vessels.

"It is considerably more expensive to build a nuclear-powered ship in the first place," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. "Given that we are already underfunding shipbuilding, I'm concerned that that means we'll be further away from reaching the [Navy's] goal of a 313-ship fleet."

Labels: LCS, Shipbuilding

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 17:08

Pressed repeatedly for when and what kind of consequences he would impose on organizations with documented ties to terrorists, Mr. Sestak finally exploded:

"Go ahead and vote me out of office; you'd be doing me a favor. My sick daughter is my priority, so go ahead and vote me out of office."

Labels: Sestak

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:33

Labels: Democrats, Humor

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:10