Oh, there's Skippy's girlfriend

Didn't know she was a news anchor. Who'd'a'thunk.

Hat tip JWF.

Midrats: National Security and the 2010 election

Six months prior to the NOV 2010 election, what are the national security issues that will make a difference?

After Senator Brown was elected, this little jewel was delivered by Andrew McCarthy at National Review;

It was health care that nationalized the special election for what we now know is the people’s Senate seat. But it was national security that put real distance between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley. “People talk about the potency of the health-care issue,” Brown’s top strategist, Eric Fehrnstrom, told National Review’s Robert Costa, “but from our own internal polling, the more potent issue here in Massachusetts was terrorism and the treatment of enemy combatants.”

Join my co-host EagleOne and me as we look at the NOV 2010 elections. Same day, Sunday, but different time of 8pm, 02 May.

Our guests will be Mackenzie Eaglen, Research Fellow for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, and James S. Robbins is Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at the Washington Times, author of the book, "Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point," and a political commentator and contributing editor for National Review Online.

If you miss the show or want to catch up on the shows you missed - you can always reach the archives at blogtalkradio - or set yourself to get the podcast on iTunes.

See you Sunday!

Listen to Midrats on Blog Talk Radio

Fullbore Friday

HMS Warspite. What a ship. In WWI at the Battle of Jutland 1916. Fired 259 15in rounds. Received 2 11 inch and 13 12 inch hits and sustained 14 killed and 32 injured. In WWII she went into a knife fight at Narvik ( more hereand here), and at the landings at Salerno, she was hit by a German Glider bomb, she was towed to Gibraltar for temporary repairs and fully repaired at Rosyth in March 1944. In June 1944 she was deployed at Normandy with only three functioning main Turrets.

Here are three photos for you in her prime: pulling into Malta, bombarding a nice liberty port in Cantania, and hitting the beaches at Normandy.

Tough old bird, she even fought being scrapped. Great story. Even as the Labour party picked her apart -- they had to earn every bit of steel.

Return engagement from May 2006.

Sorry Charlie ....

You just validated what your critics have always said about you; that in the end it is all about Charlie.

Sad, I used to defend you. This is all so sad. I was wrong about you once. Via TheWeeklyStand - I think Jeb puts it about right.

"I am not surprised. This decision is not about policy or principles. It is about what he believes is in his political self-interest."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And no; politics is not broken; you are - that is why Rubio is eating your lunch.

Out with the Fowler - in with the Miller

Another chance.

Navy official in charge of legislative affairs has been nominated to be the new superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced Wednesday that Navy Rear Adm. Michael H. Miller has been nominated for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

RADM Miller - we wish you the best success with the seed corn!

Rear Admiral Michael H. Miller, a native of Minot, N.D., was commissioned at the United States Naval Academy in 1974, and earned his “Wings of Gold” at Pensacola in January 1976. Subsequent flying tours were primarily out of Naval Air Station Cecil Field, Fla., flying the S-3A/B Viking on carrier deployments around the world, including combat operations against Libya, the Achille Lauro terrorist incident and squadron command in the Persian Gulf during Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

Rear Adm. Miller’s shore assignments include duty as Flag Lieutenant and Aide to the Deputy Commander in Chief, U. S. Atlantic Fleet (1979), Chief Staff Officer to Sea Strike Wing One (1986), and Executive Assistant to the Commander, Naval Air Forces Pacific (1994).

Rear Adm. Miller has served at sea as Air Operations Officer for Commander, Carrier Group 8, Executive Officer onboard USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), and in command of the Third Fleet Flagship, USS Coronado (AGF-11). During this tour, he was responsible for a state-of-the-art technology infusion into the command ship for the eastern Pacific.

Following Coronado, Rear Adm. Miller was assigned as the Operations Officer for the 7th Fleet on board USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), home ported in Yokosuka, Japan. He returned to John F. Kennedy in August of 1999 as Commanding Officer, and left almost immediately for an extended deployment to the Persian Gulf. He reported for duty as the Deputy Director of the White House Military Office in November of 2000; Rear Adm. Miller was commissioned as a Deputy Assistant to the President and the first-ever active duty Director of the White House Military Office in November 2002. He next assumed command of Carrier Strike Group 7/USS Ronald Reagan Strike Group in April, 2005, and subsequently led the Reagan Strike Group on its maiden deployment to the Persian Gulf and Western Pacific in 2006.

In April 2008, RADM Miller reported as the Chief of Legislative Affairs following a tour as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Global Force Management & Joint Operations (N3/N5), U.S. Fleet Forces Command (2007).

Give Sen. Webb (D-VA) a cowbell ...

Because I want to hear him bang it again, and again, and again.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., is pressing the Defense Department for justification of why the military has so many flag and general officers, ... In the case of flag and general officers, Webb said he wants an explanation why the number of senior officers continues to grow. He has not concluded there are too many, but is asking why there are so many, and what exactly they are all doing. Those kinds of questions began Glenn’s multi-year push to reduce the number of admirals and generals, which he based on the officer-to-enlisted ratio and termed “brass creep.”

Defense Department statistics show there were 38 four-stars, 149 three-stars, 299 two-stars and 464 one-stars on active duty at the end of March.

Webb also said he is not happy to have learned that there are officers taking part in fellowships at advocacy think tanks in the Washington, D.C., area, receiving full military pay and benefits, while the government is paying tuition to the think tanks. He has been trying for months to get details from the Defense Department about the number of officers involved, and an explanation of how the fellowships benefit the military more than the think tanks, but he said he has received only a small amount of information that did not answer his questions.

He warned that he might resort to holding up all Defense Department civilian nominations if he does not get the requested information. “The Department of Defense invented computer technology and the internet, despite what some other people might claim. This kind of information should not take three months to get. I should not be put in a situation where I have to put a hold on nominations to get it,” he said.

After recovering from his Iraq epic fail, unfortunate amnesia about strategic homeporting, and the fact that he no longer has to defend Murtha - I think Senator Webb (D-VA) may have found his grove.

Senator - BZ - and keep digging. It gets nastier the deeper you go.

+1.

Diversity Thursday

Another example that at the highest levels of leadership in the Navy we either believe the the Navy is best served by supporting with what little TAD money we have organizations that are in favor of sectarianism, division, and racist policies - or we lack the intellectual courage to stand up and say otherwise.

Never in the history of civilization has a society or an organization prospered by forcing a world view on its members that wants them to focus on what makes them different - not what unifies them.

Shame. Shame. Shame. Leaders feeding division; feeding sectarianism in the ranks; enabling hate. Shame

UNCLASSIFIED//
ROUTINE
R 222245Z APR 10
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FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
TO NAVADMIN
INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
NAVADMIN 143/10

MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/APR//

SUBJ/2010 JOINT NATIONAL NAVAL OFFICERS ASSOCIATION AND ASSOCIATION OF NAVAL SERVICES OFFICERS CONFERENCE//

RMKS/1. THIS NAVADMIN ANNOUNCES THE FIRST EVER JOINT NATIONAL NAVAL OFFICERS ASSOCIATION (NNOA) AND ASSOCIATION OF NAVAL SERVICES OFFICERS (ANSO) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING CONFERENCE TO BE HELD 26-30 JULY 2010 AT THE PORTSMOUTH RENAISSANCE HOTEL, PORTSMOUTH, VA. ANTICIPATED SPEAKERS ARE: ADM GARY ROUGHEAD (CNO), GEN JAMES T. CONWAY (CMC), ADM ROBERT J. PAPP JR. (USCG), MASTER CHIEF RICK D. WEST (MCPON), SERGEANT MAJOR CARLTON W. KENT (SMMC), AND MASTER CHIEF CHARLES W. BOWEN (MCPOCG). THE 2010 JOINT CONFERENCE THEME IS "NNOA/ANSO: PASSIONATE PARTNERS IN ACHIEVING THE POSSIBLE - NOW AND IN THE FUTURE."
2. NNOA IS THE LARGEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN OFFICER AFFINITY GROUP RECOGNIZED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. ANSO IS THE LARGEST HISPANIC AMERICAN OFFICER AND ENLISTED (ASPIRING OFFICER) AFFINITY GROUP RECOGNIZED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. THEIR COLLECTIVE MEMBERSHIP EXCEEDS 2,000 NAVY, MARINE CORPS, AND COAST GUARD PERSONNEL. BOTH ORGANIZATIONS HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF ASSISTING THE NAVY, COAST GUARD, AND MARINE CORPS IN RECRUITMENT, RETENTION, AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF MINORITY OFFICERS.
3. THIS YEAR'S THEME IS CONSISTENT WITH NAVY'S DIVERSITY POLICY, WHICH DIRECTS LEADERS TO ANTICIPATE AND EMBRACE THE DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES OF TOMORROW AND BUILD A NAVY THAT WILL REFLECT THE MAKE-UP OF OUR COUNTRY. THE NAVY, MARINE CORPS AND COAST GUARD SERVICE CHIEFS ARE DEMONSTRATING THEIR COMMITMENT BY ENCOURAGING FLAG AND GENERAL OFFICERS TO PERSONALLY PARTICIPATE IN THE MANY MENTORING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS THAT WILL TAKE PLACE DURING THE WEEK. COMMANDING OFFICERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO SUPPORT JUNIOR OFFICER ATTENDANCE, IF REQUESTED, IN ORDER TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS UNIQUE MENTORING FORUM.
4. THIS YEAR ALSO MARKS AN ELEVATED FOCUS ON OUR FAMILIES. A WORKSHOP FOR SPOUSES WILL BE HELD ON 29 JULY 2010, HIGHLIGHTED BY THE NAVY DAY LUNCHEON FEATURING ADM ROUGHEAD AS GUEST SPEAKER. CONFERENCE ATTENDEES ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WORKSHOP AND THE LUNCHEON WITH THEIR SPOUSE.
5. DRESS FOR NAVY PERSONNEL WILL BE SERVICE KHAKI FOR MILITARY AND BUSINESS ATTIRE FOR CIVILIANS. NAVY UNIFORM FOR THE FORMAL AWARDS BANQUET WILL BE DINNER DRESS WHITE JACKET (OR OPTIONAL SERVICE DRESS WHITE FOR O-3 AND BELOW) AND BLACK TIE (OR EQUIVALENT) FOR CIVILIANS AND GUESTS.
6. USE OF COMMAND TRAVEL FUNDS IS AUTHORIZED. IF COMMAND TRAVEL FUNDS ARE NOT AVAILABLE, NO-COST TEMPORARY ADDITIONAL DUTY ORDERS MAY BE ISSUED. USE OF AVAILABLE GOVERNMENT TRANSPORTATION IS ENCOURAGED TO ENHANCE CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION AND TO HELP DEFRAY THE COST OF TEMPORARY ADDITIONAL DUTY ORDERS. THE ADDRESS FOR THE EVENT IS PORTSMOUTH RENAISSANCE HOTEL, 425 WATER STREET, PORTSMOUTH, VA 23704. THE DEADLINE FOR RESERVING ROOMS AT THE PER DIEM RATE IS 5 JULY 2010. THE CHIEF OF NAVAL PERSONNEL WILL FUND THE FIRST 100 CONFERENCE REGISTRATIONS EACH FOR NNOA AND ANSO (200 TOTAL).
7. CONFERENCE FEES ARE $325 FOR LIFE MEMBERS, $350 FOR MEMBERS, AND $375 FOR NON-MEMBERS. AN ADDITIONAL $50 LATE FEE WILL BE APPLIED FOR ATTENDEES WHO REGISTER AFTER 16 JULY 2010. FOR NAVY PERSONNEL INTERESTED IN JOINING AND REGISTERING FOR THE CONFERENCE UNDER NNOA, VISIT THE NNOA WEBSITE AT WWW.NNOA.ORG. FOR NAVY PERSONNEL INTERESTED IN JOINING AND REGISTERING FOR THE CONFERENCE UNDER ANSO, VISIT THE ANSO WEBSITE AT WWW.ANSOMIL.ORG. EARLY CONFERENCE REGISTRATION AND ROOM RESERVATIONS ARE HIGHLY ENCOURAGED.

8. POINTS OF CONTACT:
- CAPT CEDRIC [REDACTED] PRINGLE, AT (703) 614-[REDACTED]/DSN 224 OR EMAIL AT NAVY-REP(AT)NNOA.ORG OR CEDRIC.[REDACTED](AT)JS.PENTAGON.MIL.
- LCDR CESAR [REDACTED], OPNAV N134, AT (703) 614-[REDACTED] OR EMAIL AT CESAR.[REDACTED]@NAVY.MIL.
- LCDR BEULAH [REDACTED] (RET), AT (703) 922-[REDACTED] OR EMAIL AT EA(AT)NNOA.ORG.

9. RELEASED BY MS. STEFFANIE [REDACTED], N1B. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED.//

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Oh, and in case you don't know about organizations called "Affinity Groups."

Here are some others represented by a law firm Holland and Knight.

Affinity Groups

Through the firm’s seven Affinity Groups, our diverse lawyers and staff are able to address the distinct challenges and opportunities that arise as a result of our differences. By promoting and encouraging members, the Affinity Groups help to sustain an environment that is inclusive and supportive, which fosters both personal and professional success. Our Affinity Groups have helped to distinguish Holland & Knight through the visibility and opportunity extended to members.

The firm’s Affinity Groups are as follows:

African American Affinity Group
Asian/Pacific Islander Affinity Group
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Affinity Group
Gay, Lesbian Or Bisexual Employees (GLOBE) Affinity Group
Hispanic Affinity Group
Native American Affinity Group
Women’s Initiative

Reflect America? Reflect your Navy? Even if you buy into the cancer of a racialist world-view, this sure doesn't reflect USA in 2040.

Kind of like building concrete without aggregate - and just as effective.

Forget oil and water wars ...

Think, phosphorus wars?

From Kansas to China's Sichuan province, farmers treat their fields with phosphorus-rich fertilizer to increase the yield of their crops. What happens next, however, receives relatively little attention. Large amounts of this resource are lost from farm fields, through soil erosion and runoff, and down swirling toilets, through our urine and feces. Although seemingly mundane, this process cannot continue indefinitely. Our dwindling supply of phosphorus, a primary component underlying the growth of global agricultural production, threatens to disrupt food security across the planet during the coming century. This is the gravest natural resource shortage you've never heard of.
...
The geographic concentration of phosphate mines also threatens to usher in an era of intense resource competition. Nearly 90 percent of the world's estimated phosphorus reserves are found in five countries: Morocco, China, South Africa, Jordan, and the United States. In comparison, the 12 countries that make up the OPEC cartel control only 75 percent of the world's oil reserves.
...
The United States has only 12 phosphorus mines. The supplies from the most productive mine, in Florida, are declining rapidly -- it will be commercially depleted within 20 years. The United States exported phosphorus for decades but now imports about 10 percent of its supply, all from Morocco, with which it signed a free trade agreement in 2004.
...
Already, signs are emerging that our current practices cannot continue for long. Between 2003 and 2008, phosphate fertilizer prices rose approximately 350 percent. In 2008, rising food prices sparked riots in more than 40 countries. Although the spike in fertilizer prices was only partially responsible for the higher food prices, the riots illustrate the social upheaval caused by disruptions to the world's food supply. The 2008 food riots were only stopped by government promises of food subsidies -- a viable strategy only as long as governments can afford the ever-increasing costs of food support.

Ponder.

And yes; this is required.

Oh, that history ....

From the June 2010 Naval History, our friend Claude Berube has a little article on a certain ship.

Can you name it?

"It seems as wisely and certainly adapted to its end as any plan of its kind." The report complimented the ... vessel's many attributes: simplicity, mobility, comparative invulnerability, safety and small size of her crew, "certainty of operation," and low cost- .... A fleet of (the ships) could protect the coastline and inland waters for far less than (present methods).

... the ship "is so simple, so easily understood, and so capable of reduction to mathematical certainty, that it can hardly be denominated an appropriation for 'an experiment.'" However if it did fail, then "much valuable and needed information" would be obtained. "Experiments, for purposes like these in view, no private individuals or corporations are interested or able to make; this government is interested, able, and competent to make them." The crew size would be unlike any other: ....

Ah, the joy of history - it gives you such warnings, if you want to hear them.

Sound like LCS? No, 18th Century Ram Ships. Good spin, sellable ideas, some actual utility in certain respects - but perhaps over sold as a desire to find an alternative to the reality of requirements for naval warfare. Everyone wants a quick fix - but it doesn't exist.

LCS: small, nimble and stealthy!

Notsomuch.



I can hardly see her compared to those monster FF(not-so-Gs)!

PS: Don't make a comment about angle and distance - that is Mayport - the distance is very small - especially when you consider the ranges from shore we are talking about in littoral combat.

Hat tip The Cabal.

The mind of Mattis

Any chance you have to get into the mind of General James Mattis, USMC, you need to make time to.

John Dickerson over at Slate does us all a great service and through an overview of the core of success in our line of work - risk - as seen through General Mattis. You need to read it all, but here are a few of the highlights.

Any risks—whether, for example, singing onstage, starting a company, or rock climbing—pale compared with the risks a soldier takes in combat. A soldier risks his own life, the lives of his comrades, and the lives of innocent civilians. An officer has this burden, and more, because he also makes the decision to risk the lives of his soldiers, knowing that some of them will come to harm.
Marine Gen. James Mattis, 59, has been making these decisions for almost 40 years since his graduation from Central Washington University. He led combat troops in the first Iraq invasion as a lieutenant colonel. He commanded Marines as a brigadier general in Afghanistan in 2001. In 2003 he was the Marines ground commander in Iraq, leading the 20,000 troops of the 1st Marine Division for 500 miles over 17 days, the longest sustained march in Marine Corps history. He returned to Iraq months later to direct the fight against insurgents in the raging Al-Anbar province. Now a four-star, Mattis is commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command. It's his job to help the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines fight in coordination. He has also become a key figure in the debate over how the military should adapt to irregular warfare, the kind in which enemies hide in mosques or deploy computer viruses.

...and we could not have a better man on the job.

Mattis is an evangelist for risk with two core principles. The first is that intellectual risk-taking will save the military bureaucracy from itself. Only by rewarding nonconformist innovators will the services develop solutions that match the threats conceived by an enemy that always adapts. The second is that technology cannot eliminate, and sometimes can't even reduce, risk. Mattis warns about the limitations of sophisticated weapons and communications. They can be seductive, luring military planners into forgetting war's unpredictable and risky nature, leaving troops vulnerable.

If you didn't just want to stand up and yell, "Yes, yes, yes! Great Caesar's ghost, yes! By all that is right and good - YES!" then you are truly lost. See why I am such a fan of Mattis?

Note.

Mattis embodies the risk-taker's mix of head and heart. You can see it on the walls of his library. As one of nine combatant commanders, he was assigned the sprawling 17,000-square-foot Virginia House on Norfolk's huge Navy base. Unmarried, Mattis lives alone (Warrior Monk is one of his many nicknames). Walking into his pristine house I felt like I needed an admission ticket until I got to the two well-used rooms off a back hallway. The library shelves are packed with histories and military manuals. In conversation, Mattis regularly gets up to retrieve a volume—to cite a passage about the insurgency in Algiers or show a table about fuel use in the initial sprint into Iraq.

Two things you will not see on an USN 4-Star's office; especially the last one.

One of his favorite photographs of many from his combat tours shows the men of the platoon he traveled with in Iraq. He did not command from a remote location as some generals do but made regular tours into the thick of the action. (In a five-month period in 2004, 17 of his platoon's 29 members were killed or wounded.) In another photograph, he's a young lieutenant in full combat gear, staring into the screaming mouth of his commanding officer. He is being chewed out for getting into a drunken bar fight the night before.

For any service - the following should be kept for reference - on a wall somewhere preferably. The Sherman quote you would have found on mine.

Drone attacks and PowerPoint presentations give the illusion that war is more manageable than it is, argues Mattis, which is why, as he works to prepare the military for wars of the future, he abolished Effects-Based Operations, a method of planning that sought to determine actions based on quantifiable outcomes. "It is not scientifically possible to accurately predict the outcome of an action," says Mattis in explaining his decision. "To suggest otherwise runs contrary to historical experience and the nature of war."

In making this case, Mattis sounds like the economists who warned against the use of financial instruments like Value-at-risk measurements that sought to quantify risk and make it precise. He quotes Sherman: "Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster," but he could just as easily quote Nobel Laureate economist Kenneth Arrow, who warned of the same problem in economics: "vast ills have followed a belief in certainty."

Getting tired of Nanny Navy? Well - you have a friend in Mattis.

Maintaining this culture of ferocity is why Mattis bristles about excessive hand-wringing over Marines who might want to ride without motorcycle helmets. Marines need to be risk-takers. That's why the corps advertises at extreme sporting events. Ferocity is part of what the corps works to build in boot camp, and it is central to its storied history and traditions. If that's the kind of spirit you need to fight wars, then you have to accept that the kind of person you want is going to sometimes ride at 120 miles an hour on a bike and hurt himself. "It's not that I'm trying to extol this kind of behavior," says Mattis, "but you have to have people who know that risk-taking sometimes means that people are going to get hurt. If you can't accept that, if your view of warfare is always hurtful and you're psychologically damaged by it, you start putting up guardrails."

Finally I will call for it again - Gen. James Mattis, USMC - the next Chief of Naval Operations.

Hat tip GOH.

---

UPDATE: Oh, and as if you need another reason to follow Gen. Mattis - here is a quote for 'ya,

“PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina.

Post-racial America?

I guess not. Nice lead-from-the-front there CINC.



Way to make citizens feel like their President represents all Americans.

-1.

---

UDPATE: As AR points out in comments - it seems the CINC isn't the only one who doesn't seem to quite get it.



General Jones; -2. Putz.

It is called "Technology Risk"

Once again LCS proves how NOT to run a program.

Following a review of its precision fires capabilities and requirements, the U.S. Army is recommending to cancel the XM-501 Non-Line of Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) program. NLOS-LS was developed as a 'Platform independent Precision Weapon System', as a common system to be used by the U.S. Army and Navy. The program suffered significant setback in the recent Limited User Test, (LUT) scoring only two hits out of six launches. The system was jointly developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin under the Netfires industry team.
...
While the cancellation will relieve the Army of financial burden of a weapon system considered too costly and redundant, since combat brigades already have other precision guided weapons that can deliver firepower at the precision and timely response as the NLOS, the U.S. Navy, which counted on the weapon will have to support the continued development and fielding of the system by itself. The Navy is scheduled to begin at-sea testing of the NLOS-LS medium range surface to surface missile module by 2012.

According to the Navy's plans, NLOS-LS would become the principal weapon for the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) 'Surface Warfare Module' enabling the vessel to dominate a large coastal and littoral area. Each LCS will carry three Command Launch Modules packed in two shipping containers, carrying a total of 45 missiles. The missile would be used as the 'long arm' of the vessel, enabling the LCS team to act upon information obtained by remote intelligence sensors and the vessel's own sensors – helicopters, UAVs, SIGINT and COMINT.

Launched at individual targets, or in salvos of multiple missiles, the Precision Attack Missiles would be used to defeat enemy over the horizon, inside the bases or at the shoreline, as well as defensively, eliminating attacks by swarms of fast boats. In escort missions, these missiles, supported by helicopters and UAVs, could be used to cover larger areas, protecting merchant ships from small boats attacks. The ability of the crew to control each of the missiles, and selectively aim at specific weak points enable the LCS to effectively engage and defeat larger targets, support friendly forces ashore and reducing the risk of collateral damage. Absent of such a weapon, the LCS will be toothless (the only other weapon on board is the single barrel 57mm gun).

This also exemplifies another example of "Joint Risk" that we saw with ACS.

Joint is a nice to have - not a requirement; though some think it is. Joint, like a marriage, only works when all partners follow through with their commitment.

Given the importance of the weapon to the Navy, it is likely that the program will not meet the fate of other FCS systems and continue through fielding, funded by the Navy. However, in this case, the missile would be tailored for the Navy's needs and will not necessarily have the operating modes the Army would eventually need. These modes are also likely to be more costly and complicated. Previous reports have indicated that Raytheon proposed to deliver the missiles at a unit cost below $200,000, given a multi-year production of about 9,900 units is secured. This cost is about a third of the cost of a typical naval attack missile currently available (like the Harpoon or Exocet) but it is about three times more expensive than the Javelin or Hellfire missiles, used extensively in Afghanistan. The current cost of a pre-production missile stands on $450,000 per unit.

Epic fail.

So, here is where we are. Best case, Navy spends a lot of money to get a marginal weapon in marginal numbers on a low-survivability, low-endurance, low flexibility, high cost platform. Then again - we told you that a half decade ago.

Can we see the future? No; we study the past.

Washington Post - making it all nice for you ...

I think this fits the Sunday Funnies meme. I did get a giggle.

I'll let you fill in the commentary.

From the AP:

Many of the demonstrators at the Capitol complex booed when Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox announced that "the governor did not listen to our prayers."

"It's going to change our lives," said Emilio Almodovar, a 13-year-old American citizen from Phoenix. "We can't walk to school any more. We can't be in the streets anymore without the pigs thinking we're illegal immigrants."

... and sadly - The Washington Post:

"It's going to change our lives," said Emilio Almodovar, a 13-year-old U.S. citizen from Phoenix. "We can't walk to school anymore. We can't be in the streets anymore without the [police] thinking we're illegal immigrants."

Hat tip from The Cabal.

Sunday Funnies

JD Crowe over at AI gets a win.

A mission for my readers ...

Did you know that I own another blog - one I started a few years ago called drawmohammedweek? One of my greater joys was to be officially banned by the government of Pakistan - that and the followers of a sect of the most insecure religion on the planet had google call it objectionable.

Once my point was made - I put it on ice, as I have nothing against Muslims any more than I have against Seventh Day Adventists - except I don't quite know any Seventh Day Adventist's sects that are trying to kill millions of my coutrymen.

Anyway - Allah put this out last night - I'm in.

Someone at Dan Savage’s blog started it, then Michael Moynihan at Reason picked it up, now I feel obliged to help push it out there. Says Moynihan:

I will be employing my tremendous skill as an illustrator, of course, and expect that my colleagues will do the same. If they refuse, they will be declared weak-kneed, namby-pamby, quisling infidels and will be shamed on this blog (Though such idle threats rarely work these days; perhaps I could threaten them with a painful death, which seems to do the trick). If readers would like to show their solidarity, please email your Mohammad masterpieces to me here: mmoynihan at reason.com. The best ones will be published on Hit & Run, which, along with the concomitant death threat, is reward enough.

In line with Allah - if their hissy fit against Western Civ's love of satire is more satire - then maybe we can call it a little victory of sorts.

My dear readers - you have until 19 May to link your Mohammedesque drawing in comments here - the winner gets a guest post on drawmohammedweek - you can also email them to me if you want to avoid a fatwa and be anon.

Support SouthPark - support your Constitution.

---

UPDATE: Mark Steyn gets it.

Stone and Parker get what was at stake in the Danish-cartoons crisis and many other ostensibly footling concessions: Imperceptibly, incrementally, remorselessly, the free world is sending the message that it is happy to trade core liberties for the transitory security of a quiet life. That is a dangerous signal to give freedom’s enemies. So the South Park episode is an important cultural pushback.

Yet in the end, in a craven culture, even big Hollywood A-listers can’t get their message over. So the brave, transgressive comedy network was intimidated into caving in and censoring a speech about not being intimidated into caving in. That’s what I call “hip,” “edgy,” “cutting-edge” comedy: They’re so edgy they’re curled up in the fetal position, whimpering at the guy with the cutting edge, “Please. Behead me last. And don’t use the rusty scimitar where you have to saw away for 20 minutes to find the spinal column . . . ”

Terrific. You can see why young, urban, postmodern Americans under 57 get most of their news from Comedy Central. What a shame 1930s Fascist Europe was so lacking in cable.

Episode 18: Ponder Back and Look Forward

Can you cover 50 years in 1 hour? Well - you can on Midrats!

Join my co-host EagleOne and me as we look back at the Vietnam War and then look forward to the next decade's Fleet options for our Navy.

Mark your calendars for this Sunday, 25 APR at 5pm EST/700R/2200Z.

Our guests will be retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel J.G. Zumwalt and journalist Greg Grant.

For our first segment, we will be discussing Lt. Col. Zumwalt's new book, Bare Feet, Iron Will ~ Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam's Battlefields with the author.

Lt. Col. Zumwalt is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the 1989 intervention into Panama, and Desert Storm. He is an author, speaker and business executive, and currently heads a security consulting firm named after his father—Admiral Zumwalt & Consultants, Inc.

His articles on Vietnam, North Korea, foreign policy and defense issues can be found in various newspapers and magazines, including USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Washington Times, The LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, The San Diego Union, Parade magazine and others.

He is a member of the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), and from 1991-92 was the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.

Our second guest, Greg Grant, is a national security and defense writer and edits the Defense Tech blog and is an associate editor with Military.com. His writing on military technology and international security have appeared in Foreign Policy, Slate, The Washington Post, The Los Angles Times, Defense Technology International, The Washington Quarterly, Survival, Government Executive Magazine and National Journal.

He arrived in Baghdad in April 2003 with the Third Infantry Division and returned a number of times to cover the war there. He reported for Jane’s Defense Weekly and from Iraq, and Afghanistan for the Military Times newspapers.

Before taking an interest in journalism, he worked as a military analyst the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. He holds an M.A. in Strategic Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

If you miss the show or want to catch up on the shows you missed - you can always reach the archives at blogtalkradio - or set yourself to get the podcast on iTunes.

See you Sunday!

Listen to Midrats on Blog Talk Radio

Fullbore Friday

Operation EAGLE CLAW: 30 years on.

The truth about Sestak

I am no apologist for Sen. Specter (D-PA) - but this ad is spot on.

Well - Sestak is having a hissy fit over the ad - and responding lamely.

In response to the ad, Mr. Sestak said in a phone interview on Tuesday, “I was given a tough job in the Navy,” and was assigned to challenge the establishment.

Take a number shipmate. Here are the facts.

As we covered here almost five years ago, the first day on the job you were fired by the Chief of Naval Operations (now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mullen) for being a tool and a retention issue.

A source within the Navy Department said there were no allegations of misconduct on the part of Sestak. Rather, he said, the move is being made because of poor command climate.

Being that Sestak won't talk about it more - he is using proxies.

Former Skippy-san Battle Buddy and CNO Clark (who I might add was a founding member of the Food Trough) has decided to throw a little love at Joe - I guess he wants some more paying gigs, ego strokes, and good will for his clients.

In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer this month, Admiral Clark defended the work of Mr. Sestak, who was described as his protégé: “He did what I asked him to do; I wanted straight talk, and this put him in the cross hairs,” Admiral Clark told the newspaper. “People are going to say what they want to say, but he challenged people who did not want to be challenged. The guy is courageous, a patriot’s patriot.”

That has nothing to do with the topic at hand Vern - pathetic - almost as pathetic as the Borg recruiting drive.

Sestak's campaign sought to rally veterans to defend him by recalling how the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth tried to discredit Democrat John Kerry's service in a Navy patrol vessel in Vietnam during Kerry's 2004 presidential race against George W. Bush.

About two dozen veterans gathered Wednesday in an American Legion Hall in Clifton Heights to rebuke Specter and demand that he stop running the ad.

"We're all here because we're enraged at the fact that someone, anyone in the United States today, would question someone with 31 years of service," said Robert E. Kelly, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who flew 119 combat missions in Vietnam.

"We ought to get our act together in this country and recognize that the people who are serving today, who served yesterday, and will serve tomorrow deserve our respect," Kelly said.
...
"It's not as flagrant. It's more subtle," Tom Clay, 61, a Vietnam veteran and former Army helicopter door-gunner from Media, said about Specter's ad. "But it's there. A veteran should not attack another veteran's record."

Mike Hall, commander of the Clifton Heights post, agreed. "Vets don't go against other vets like that. It's a brotherhood."

Yes - let's validate every stereotype of the mindless, easily led, incapable of independent thought vet. Pardon me if I don't take a glass of your kool-aid - click the Sestak link to get the history from here.

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UPDATE: ....and yes, we can mark another Salamander Front Porch victory. After years where the only place that regularly discussed Sestak's false pimping of his "Retired former VADM" status - the mainstream media is not properly referring to him as a Retired RADM.

Now get back to work

...and the Salamander did grin,

The first of three Navy SEALs accused of mishandling a suspect in the high-profile killings of contractors in Iraq was found not guilty at a court-martial Thursday.

A military jury cleared U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas of all charges, a military spokesman said.

Huertas and two other Navy SEALs -- Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe -- have been facing charges in connection with the assault of Iraqi detainee Ahmed Hashim Abed.

U.S. authorities accuse Abed of being the mastermind in the slayings and mutilation of four U.S. contractors in Falluja in 2004, one of the Iraq war's most notorious crimes against Americans.
...
Huertas and Keefe had been charged with dereliction of duty, based on the allegation that they failed to safeguard the detainee, according to the military. Huertas also was charged with impeding an investigation by attempting to influence the testimony of another sailor.

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UPDATE: Of note - if someone wants to throw poo - I wouldn't throw it towards the USN or SEAL leadership - review the charge sheet.

FDR; call your office

“You know this is a Protestant country,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt reminded two non-Protestant members of his administration, “and the Catholics and the Jews are here on sufferance.”

Funny thing happened after a few decades - I guess;

All eight justices left on the bench once Stevens steps down ... (are) all Ivy League graduates – predominantly white and male – and none of them are Protestant.

I thought this was a good addition for DivThu.

We used to be a nation that defined diversity as diversity of thought and different religious backgrounds tend to give one different educational backgrounds and views of things - now notsomuch.

I don't think that the President will be looking at religion at all in replacing Stevens - that is the wrong kind of Diversity.

With Justice John Paul Steven just months away from retirement, the White House says President Obama is considering a more diverse pool of candidates, including whites, blacks and Hispanics -- men and women -- to tap for his replacement.

"I think he will have a broad group of people that represent many – that represent America as a way of looking at the nominee," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.

Do you need a translator? Didn't think so.

Whodathunk such enlightened thought would come from the post-racial America Obama was to bring us. Kind of sad when the Supreme Court is getting as bad a the NFL.

Female snipes ...

Don't they know long hair in engineering spaces is a safety hazard?

....for more charity ideas from S.W.A.G.S. (Service Wives and Girlfriends) - click here.

...these charity calendar shots have helped raise £26,000 for injured servicemen and women wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A total of 50 volunteers, all wives and girlfriends of men from the three Armed Services, stripped off to be photographed at bases and training centres in Hampshire. But their modesty was preserved by carefully placed pieces of military equipment.

I don't know if it will work well in the US though.

.

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UPDATE: I ask one thing of everyone here before they judge your host or the ladies above. Follow the links at the end of the post in addition to the quote I took from it. Understand who these people ARE and what they are doing this FOR.

If you think this is all about T&A - then you are 180 deg out.

Diversity Thursday

Let us look into the future. Let us be, from the point of view of race relations - dare I say - progressive (with at small "p").

If you ignore the debunked racialist theories of 30-40 years ago - if you ignore the monetary interests of the Diversity Industry - if you ignore the foam-flecked hate that exudes from Diversity Bullies - if you look towards, let's say 2040, what do we see?

Well, we will see more of the America I see every day - the America I know and love.

The number of multiracial people in the United States rose 3.4 percent last year to about 5.2 million, according to some estimates, and is one of the fastest growing populations as a whole. Interracial marriages increased threefold since 2000, with about 1 in 13 marriages of mixed race. If this trend continues, the question of an individual's race will likely only get more and more difficult to define.

In many places and situations, it already is.

However, we live in a Navy that is retrograde in mindset, and sold to the lowest bidder.

Admiral Mullen in 2007,

And the issue of diversity is very, very important to me, not just in terms of this kind of conference, but it’s a strategic imperative for the Navy. The world we’re living in is becoming smaller; it is a diverse world in many, many ways, as is our country. And in the year 2030, 2040, 2050, the majority in our country now become the minority and it’s vital for us, as a Navy, to be representative of that country, particularly from the – of our country in terms of diversity in order to carry out our mission. So there’s an internal strategic imperative that the Navy be set to do this in the future and it starts at the base. It starts with young officers, in particular.

Last fall the CNO said,

Then I say, ‘I’d like to have all the officers step forward,’ they start to look an awful lot like me. Then I say, ‘I’d like all the senior enlisted leaders to step forward,’ they all look a lot a like, then I go to our civil servant leadership or our senior executives and ask them to step forward, it would look an awful lot like me. We don’t get the best solutions when everyone is the same. We get our best solutions, our best ideas; we get our best initiatives when you have diverse opinions in diverse positions and diverse experiences that inform those initiatives and those decisions. Also we as a nation, not unlike the demographics of the world and in 2040 the United States is not going to look like us. So now is the time that we build the Navy of the future.

Well - it isn't all about you; and the future of America is one where race matters less and less - not more and more.

I guess the theme is supported by at the top, the retrograde President.

Mr. Obama had several options, as does anyone filling out the census. Starting with the 2000 census, respondents have been no longer forced to choose a single-race identity; they can now check one box, several boxes, or check "some other race" and then write-in their identity. Mr. Obama is the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. He was born in Hawaii and raised there and in Indonesia. He chose to simply check "African-American."

From the perspective of science and biological anthropology, race does not exist. In other words, there is not one gene, trait, or characteristic that distinguishes all members of one race from all members of another. In fact, eighty-five percent of all human variation can be found in any local population, and a full ninety-four percent can be found on any continent. In other words, there are no sub-species when it comes to humans; we are, in truth, one of the most genetically similar to each other species of all species on earth.

Supported by these types ...

The retrograde "comedian."


See where that attitude gets you? Ain't pretty - but that is how the Diversity Bullies wants you to think. You aren't a Sailor or American first - you are what you claim your DNA is - even if it isn't accurate.

Where there is darkness - there is also light. This is the America I know - from an unlikely source.



Yes, my people. Americans.

What a concept. Maybe those in the Navy who supports those who feed and promote retrograde, debunked, racialist theories should check it out instead of giving status to the Diversity Industry that is infested with racial identity politics and sectarian hate - the kind that judges people by the color of their skin, not the content of their character.

The 21st Century America is better than that - and so is the 21st Century Navy.

Below is another example of the America I know - the America that is to come. If you agree with his politics or not - he is a man of the 21st Century - not one of the 1970s.

I want you to listen close to the beginning. He is describing what those who subscribe to the midset of the Diversity Industry and Diversity Bullies have to say about him. The same mindset that the USN shamefully sends millions of dollars to.



I see the future - and it is fine with me. Maybe one day Big Navy will join us. Maybe - but for now it seems stuck in Room 222.

The downfall of Downfall ...

YouTube is teh stoopid.


Well, Downfall Annapolis is still up - when it gets killed I'll find another place for it.

Don't know much about history ....

Have an opinion about the state of military history and how it is taught? Well, we're talking about it over at USNIBlog.

The official off-duty magazine of CDR Salamander ...

I am on my fourth issue - and I cannot offer a higher recommendation.

I don't know what you Yankees might think - but I have found a great magazine - Garden & Gun.

Perfect example came from the APR/MAR editions "End of the Line" article by Roy Blount, Jr. starts out with this,

You know how to test the proposition that a dog is a man's best friend? Lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car, drive out into the woods somewhere, and let them out. Which one do you think is going to be glad to see you?

Check it out. 'Nuff said.

Don't insult the Sailors .....

Hat tip Theo.

NWU - don't get them dirty!

Just received a note from a USNR friend of the blog.

T.I.N.S.

He is about to head out for a few months at sea for something like ADSW. Paraphrased, his Reserve unit CO told him - I kid you not -

"Don't get your NWU dirty while at sea. They need to be clean to wear for your duty days when you get back."

It was only a matter of time. Don't get a uniform dirty that was intentionally designed to get dirty.

Sailors belong on ships; ships belong at sea? Don't be silly.

Fair advice on DADT

Our buddy Professor Bruce Fleming has an article out in the Baltimore Sun about DADT.

I support repeal of DADT - but the only real reservation I have is that given its history - Big Navy will put the Diversity Bullies in charge of implementing it and as a result, will create more bad blood than needed.

At the end of the article, Professor Fleming finds a middle-ground of truth that, if it is wise, those charged with implementing the repeal will hoist on-board.

Many straight boys simply need to have explained to them that not all gay men want them sexually. There is no evidence that gays are more likely to be rapists than straights are; and everybody can learn not to act on whatever s/he is thinking or feeling during working hours. However, there are situations where sexual orientation would pose a problem, and the military would be wise to acknowledge this.

Advice to the civilians: Lose your exasperation with those in the military who are trying to say why they think integrating openly gay service members will be difficult. Instead, listen to them. We may be able to address some of their concerns; some may simply have to be acknowledged. But even just saying, "Yep, you're right. We'll have to deal with these problems as they arise" is better than saying: "Shut up, you racist, homophobic chauvinist." That's what the military — becoming the enforcer of its civilian masters — will certainly say. Stand by for the drop in morale.

Sadly - I am afraid we will hear the later more than the former. Just look at what happened with Prop8 in CA. The fringe often drowns out the sensible center.

THAT is Strategic thinking

SECDEF - again - nails it center mass.

Defense Department officials have favored the pact as a way to reward Colombia for its successful effort at beating back drug trafficking and the country's insurgency.

At a news conference in Bogota, the Colombian capital, Gates said he met this week with James L. Jones, the White House national security advisor, to discuss an administration push for congressional ratification of the accord.

"I would hope we would be in a position to make a renewed effort to get ratification of the free trade agreement," Gates said. "It is a good deal for Colombia; it is also a good deal for the United States."

President Obama was skeptical about the agreement as a senator and during his presidential campaign, citing Colombia's record of labor crackdowns. But after meeting last year with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Obama said Bogota had made progress on human rights issues and ordered U.S. trade officials to move ahead on the deal.

Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said Bogota was pleased by the Obama administration's growing support for the accord.

"This agreement will help further consolidate security in Colombia," Silva said.

Colombia has been a bright shining example of the progress of freedom in the last two decades.

This isn't an American issue - this is a human rights issue. Along with Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras - among others to the south - Colombia deserves our friendship and help. This is easy. This is right.

This will also help make up for some of the interventions we have made in the past. Treat your friends as equals and they will be your friends.

Easy win ... if we can get past our own leftists.

Oh, and if you follow the Colombia tag, you will find other reasons to get, ahem, closer to Colombia. LBG can explain further if needed.

Sailor snapshot

One of my readers sent me an email, part of which I wanted to share with you (with his permission). I've anonomized for all but the inside bunch, slightly edited, and redacted some things - but on balance it is as I received it.

You read very little what it is like for the Fleet Sailor out there.

Heck, I'm as guilty of that as the next guy - but enough of that, let's get a snapshot of what our Sailors are doing - and more importantly what they are thinking about and talking about.

(we completed) an 8 month deployment with the [REDACTED] Strike Group. We are getting ready to leave again ... for two more months of my cruise. I absolutely enjoy being part of a low-density, high requirement asset like the Electronic Attack platforms. I was sitting at the house on my two weeks off before I go back at work, the POM leave thing; while talking with my wife about the future of my career some thoughts have come together, ....

As of this June I will have been in the Navy for [REDACTED] years. Out of that [REDACTED] years according to my latest LES, I have been drawing sea pay for just over half of that, or roughly [REDACTED] years. I am currently on my third sea tour and just extended myself to make the transition from the EA-6B over to the EA-18G. I have completed four cruises all of which have been extended anywhere from one month to two. My first was with the Big E in the summer of 2001 and my latest will be completed (if you add in us going out for two months for RIMPAC) in August of 2010. I have also done one shore based deployment to Iwakuni to gap the EA billet for the Marines in the summer of 2006. Interestingly enough, that was almost extended for a month because of the nuclear bomb testing and missile testing by the NORKS.

I am also a newlywed, since I got married just before my latest deployment. That has been a challenge and have had some interesting discussions about my career future with my new wife. I throw this at you mainly to let you know that there are some of us down in the trenches who look up at our leadership and wonder what the heck is going on. I perceive a leadership failing on the people at TypeCom and higher who aren’t throwing up the BS flag about deployments, doing more with less, and other BS bingo phrases/words. All they seem to care about is appeasing the civilian leadership above, while seemingly paying lip service to those of us below. Until the recent economic troubles, there seem to be a growing trend of personnel voting with their feet. I am not ready to be one of them, one because I have faith in that what I do is important, two I love my job of fixing airplanes on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, and three I am so close now to retirement (even with the threat of PTS over my head) that it only makes financial sense to stay until the end.

Transition for the Electronic Attack bubbas is going to be interesting and what is really throwing all of us for a loop right now ... the first deployment for the EA-18G is going to be shore based, expeditionary style to one of those fun tourist spots like [REDACTED]. Why? Because the CNO and all his OpNav advisors saw what happened to the USAF vis-a-via the F-22. The word on the flight line here in Oak Harbor is that after SecDef as the CG of the USAF what was the last mission the F-22 preformed was and then was basically told it was just now entering squadron and transition process. At which point the SecDef told them that their wonder weapon is done and the government isn’t wasting any more money on it.

There is probably a kernel of truth to that, but I would bet you the first two bottles of fine wine out of your choice Columbia River Valley that is why both LCS’s were sortied on deployments before all the kinks were shaken loose. Anyhow, as each one of the EA-6B carrier squadrons comes homes and enters the pipeline, one of the concrete (expeditionary) EA-6B outfits will replace it in the air wing. Only problem with that is this; there are three active and one reserve EA-6B squadron that are in the concrete role.

Those of us that are making transition are being told to sign open ended extensions, I just signed my on this morning. There were no dates in the when extension starts or ends and to expect at a minimum of three shore deployments to those tourist spots I mentioned earlier. The open ended extensions are to get us through schools, for example the [REDACTED] schooling takes about seven months out. We either go to [REDACTED] or [REDACTED] and go through the standard E/F schools for [REDACTED] stuff there and then return to [REDACTED] to finish up the [REDACTED]. So when we enter the training pipeline we enter the neutral duty loop. After we get out of the training pipeline they tack on a 24 month extension to our tour at the current command. If we choose not to go on the transition bus, then we get a phone call to the detailer and have to make a career decision in about five minutes.

This is really interesting to me that no one has applied lessons learned from the previous transitions like the F-14 to F-18E/F, A-7 to F-18, S-3 removal, SH-3 to H-60, etc. Not finding ways to have smoothed the process or taken the unknown factor out of this. Maybe it is because we are trying to do transition in the middle of a war, I don’t know. It just feels as if there are too many questions and too many “That is a great question, glad you asked that, let me get back to you about the answer…” replies or answers that seem to be set in snowballs being thrown in hell.

Why do we still treat our Sailors like what is described in the last couple of paragraphs? Priorities and personalities, that's why. That, and because we can, we have, and we will.

Besides the Sailor, the Detailer, and a dozen other people - who is going to know? ..........