tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post5811271699364135029..comments2024-01-03T05:18:54.650-05:00Comments on CDR Salamander: From Ganjgal to BefehlstaktikCDR Salamanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05981221786954902349noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-66944459027493958802013-04-01T20:22:47.062-04:002013-04-01T20:22:47.062-04:00tramadol online tramadol 200mg - buy tramadol egyp...<a href="http://www.eldredgelibrary.org/wp-content/upgrade/tramadolonline/#2739" rel="nofollow">tramadol online</a> tramadol 200mg - buy tramadol egyptAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-30127600569676118002011-09-23T12:50:52.835-04:002011-09-23T12:50:52.835-04:00How "good" the VA is depends on what the...How "good" the VA is depends on what the illness is. As a bladder cancer survivor whoich ended up involving 11 surgeries and three organ removals, I was very fortunate to have an outstanding doctor and team. I know many other survoros through online support groups and those that were in the VA system had MUCH MUCH worse outcomes as measured by level of recovery and length of hospitalization. OldRetSWOnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-76679938153675792412011-09-22T10:42:20.945-04:002011-09-22T10:42:20.945-04:00If you have a beef with the price of health care, ...If you have a beef with the price of health care, have a word with the trial lawyers regarding their willingness to consider tort reform. We can have the discussion. Provided people do not cover their ears and yell when presented with the facts. <br /><br />You want true socialized medicine? Go to the VA. That is as good as it will get.UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-84365800690268707322011-09-22T10:30:24.319-04:002011-09-22T10:30:24.319-04:00In regards to brevity in leadership, I always refe...In regards to brevity in leadership, I always referred to a quote by a guy who preferred to go by the initials "B-P" rather than his legal name:<br /><strong></strong><br /> <strong></strong><em>"If a man cannot make his point to keen boys in ten minutes he ought to be shot!"</em><br /><br />Lt Gen. Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, <a href="http://cdn.js-kit.com/wiki/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George" rel="nofollow">GCMG</a>, <a href="http://cdn.js-kit.com/wiki/Royal_Victorian_Order" rel="nofollow">GCVO</a>, <a href="http://cdn.js-kit.com/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath" rel="nofollow">KCB</a>Latent Infantry NCOnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-62532359865437098182011-09-21T12:14:35.188-04:002011-09-21T12:14:35.188-04:00No, (although you're right about the dates--my...No, (although you're right about the dates--my memory was waaay off on that.) it must have been when he was first installed as CNO. Perhaps I'll root around some, but my present net-connection is badvirgil xenophonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-82592636765002323312011-09-21T10:21:29.369-04:002011-09-21T10:21:29.369-04:00<span> </span>Yeats was right. Let’s ...<span> </span>Yeats was right. Let’s take one example; Healthcare. We have a broken system. You cannot defend the status quo, as a nation we spend a fortune on health care and we get a bad result. For example, my bill for a family of seven is $23,493.00. The wife had a bone scan, the boys a check up and the rest of us did not even go to a doctor. That does not include braces, the dentist or glasses. Toss those expenses in and I’m up to $30,000.00. Twenty-three percent of my income goes to health care and not a one of us is sick! Freaking General Motors spends more on health care than steel.<br /><br /><span> </span>I cannot say that the healthcare I pay for now is better than what I got in the Navy; and what I got in the Navy was socialized medicine. I can’t choose my doctor, I get who they give me. I can’t choose the treatments, the company decides. Not only do I have to pay for my health care, but I have to cover the uninsured; and I have to pay for the health care for those of us who are over sixty-five. Is there really anyone who can come out and say, “things are peachy, perfect just the way they are?” <br /><br /><span> </span>However, we can’t have the discussion. When we do, “the worst are full of passionate intensity.” And so it goes. Bubbanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-80920872049680005302011-09-20T20:43:32.111-04:002011-09-20T20:43:32.111-04:00heads in foggy bottom rolling, what a refreshing t...heads in foggy bottom rolling, what a refreshing thought.<br /><br />Cpknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-15371819866469894722011-09-20T19:30:08.796-04:002011-09-20T19:30:08.796-04:00"Sitting around drinking and quoting Kipling&..."Sitting around drinking and quoting Kipling", while someone had to slave down in the burrows beneath the porch, sending up drinks and pizzas, and other munchies on the porch edge elevator.SCOTTtheBADGERnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-33846432168553043552011-09-20T19:25:05.404-04:002011-09-20T19:25:05.404-04:00The time for heads to roll in Foggy Bottom is long...The time for heads to roll in Foggy Bottom is long past. We have lost too many lives and too much treasure to those fools trying to implement the 'soft power' that does not exist, nor has it ever existed.SCOTTtheBADGERnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-31568758565357696332011-09-20T19:20:50.048-04:002011-09-20T19:20:50.048-04:00I thought MARINE was an acronym for My Situpon Is ...I thought MARINE was an acronym for My Situpon Is Really Navy Equipment?SCOTTtheBADGERnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-14902729682991608262011-09-20T17:54:51.874-04:002011-09-20T17:54:51.874-04:00Bubba:
You missed the nights on the porch when the...Bubba:<br />You missed the nights on the porch when the hootie owls were hooting and the crickets chirping and the denizens sat staring into the night with their juleps... passing around and readin' aloud from Kipling. Good times. They love poetry here. Trust me.<br /><br />So here... I'll set Phib's "philosophy of leadership" dissertation to simple little rhyme. Because that's what I do:<br /><br />True leadership - not for the weak<br />or the untrained faint of heart-<br />Entrusted with the lives of men<br />heeds views that stand apart.<br /><br />Giving right tools and training too<br />leaders themselves reflect<br />their trust on others and leeway<br />to use their intellect.<br /><br />These lords of war also stand<br />men under authority<br />And order them go here or there<br />with clear simplicity.<br /><br />Nor do command those to go<br />Where themselves they will not trod<br />Nor forbid free will when evil is met...<br />None prevent, not even God...DeltaBravonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-80469187788303456932011-09-20T17:48:42.123-04:002011-09-20T17:48:42.123-04:00Methinks Yeats had that backwards, Sir.
Nothing ...Methinks Yeats had that backwards, Sir. <br /><br />Nothing remarkable in this world was built by someone who lacked all conviction. All of it was built by people with passionate intensity. <br /><br />Certainly Sgt Dakota Meyer lacked for none of it.UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-65810567838404396492011-09-20T17:37:26.479-04:002011-09-20T17:37:26.479-04:00No, I was holding you out as a real man, one who c...No, I was holding you out as a real man, one who could quote poetry.<br /><br />A rebuke to the poster who denigrated the art some time ago.<br /><br /><br />As a man with a grasp of poetry, your skin should be a bit thicker; remember, it is the <i>worst</i> who are filled with passionate intensity. Bubbanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-66379439168274608062011-09-20T16:41:28.506-04:002011-09-20T16:41:28.506-04:00Bubba,
Apologies if I jumped on your tongue with ...Bubba,<br /><br />Apologies if I jumped on your tongue with size 13s. But the tone you used seemed to intimate that I looked down on poetry, or didn't think it "manly". Quite the contrary.<br /><br />Here is my point: I know of very few English (or History) teachers who could adequately explain such works as Graves, or Sassoon's, to a HS student, particularly one without a grasp of the history of those poems. The same is true of Kipling's works. They are magnificent insights into the British Soldier's life, community, attitudes, and cares. And no shortage of incredibly prescient political and social commentary. <br /><br />From what I can find, such things are NEVER studied at the secondary level today. There is nothing for someone 16 or 17 to sink his teeth into, especially if you are male and an Alpha male at that. Maya Angelou and Alan Ginsburg just don't cut it. Even the study of someone like Poe, the work studied is usually "The Raven", which he himself hated. Wanna teach an adolescent about what it is like to love? Give them <a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/annabel-lee/" rel="nofollow"><i>Annabelle Lee</i></a>. But we don't do so. Out of political correctness, preception that such works are unimportant, or a lack of knowledge or understanding among teachers who haven't the grasp of such subject matter.<br /><br />I don't think the poster was intimating that only weaklings and girls read poetry. But you seemed to be intimating that I thought so. Which is certainly not the case. UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-32645508054214302982011-09-20T16:21:12.802-04:002011-09-20T16:21:12.802-04:00It's not as robust as I would like. The acqui...It's not as robust as I would like. The acquisition system, in particular, frequently suffers from a child-like trust in the process. It doesn't help that a good deal of the process is Congressionally mandated.<br /><br />Anyone who has made a serious study of weapons system procurement will tell you that the process is broken - and all too frequently, it shows in the weapons foisted off on the warfighter.Mike M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-88062296025108887752011-09-20T16:17:08.110-04:002011-09-20T16:17:08.110-04:00<p><span>It presents very daunting cha...<p><span>It presents very daunting challenges to totally eliminate these kinds of apparent errors.<span> </span>I don’t quite know how to square that circle unless the military is willing to take a more Curtis LeMay approach to solving these issues.<span> </span>It does raise the question in my mind if the mythology surrounding force protection and the unwillingness of the American public to accept casualties that was widely debated in the late 90’s has somehow crept into the COIN doctrine in an unhealthy way.<span> </span>This mythology was largely debunked by evidence during those debates, and I tend to fall more in line with Bing West on how to apply combat power in the current engagements.<span> </span>His approach is much closer to the LeMay spectrum than the Tactical Directive governing the Gonjal action appears to me.</span><br /></p><p><span>Way above my paygrade, but I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on these issues as well.</span></p>Benjamin Walthropnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-63181661409509137172011-09-20T16:12:33.397-04:002011-09-20T16:12:33.397-04:00<span>I really like what you've laid out...<span>I really like what you've laid out here, and I believe that this goes on in a relatively robust manner in general in the USN. Of course there are examples when these laudable goals break down some, and the general focus tends to ebb and flow due to real world events as to how successfully this happens.</span><br /><span> </span><br /><span>I will tell you that I've been heartened to hear a Navy Spec War CAPT type relating the attributes of an aviation officer to a group of fellow CAPT's by saying, "I like this girl. She was flying strike missions over downtown Baghdad putting HE on the head of the martyrs. Her actions helped out some SOCOM folks, and she needs to be recognized."</span><br /><span> </span><br /><span>It's certainly not perfect, but quite a bit of that goes on under the RADAR, and that quiet action is often overcome by the more publicized failures associated with decisions that look very bad in hindsight. The response of the battalion TOC in Gonjgal is the most recent example of this problem.</span>Benjamin Walthropnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-65598398682159659922011-09-20T16:01:08.697-04:002011-09-20T16:01:08.697-04:00PRINCIPLES, pleasePRINCIPLES, pleasejgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-41254714060227251152011-09-20T14:07:18.002-04:002011-09-20T14:07:18.002-04:00in a civilian meeting about 35 years ago a young f...in a civilian meeting about 35 years ago a young fellow from the bottom end of the table made the following statement:<br /><br />sir, we are duty bound to follow your orders.<br /><br />if we get orders that allow us a certain lattitude in our work then we will probably thunder along in our usual fashion, but if the opportunity presents itself to do wonderful things we can do them.<br /><br />if we get orders to be stupid then we have no choice but to do stupid things.<br /><br />are our generals/admirals through their politically correct staffs ordering the troops to be stupid?<br /><br />C pknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-57217994582791176552011-09-20T13:56:39.431-04:002011-09-20T13:56:39.431-04:00Sal:
during nam we had a serious shortage of &quo...Sal:<br /><br />during nam we had a serious shortage of "seat armor" in the helicopters to protect the crews from up comming rifle fire when they were flying. every activity that could do it made bootleg versions of steel "seat covers", mothers sent their sons copies of the new york and los angeles telephone books... i'm sure you remember that.<br /><br />it appears as though the modern roe's and sop's can fulfill that need. also they should make extremely good kindling for starting cooking fires, and heat for those cold nights in the field.<br /><br />also keep in mind that they make fairly servicable toilet paper when the real stuff runs short.<br /><br />the "field folk" should be thanking the upper elecheon commands for providing every soldier with an original issue and follow on versions of these wonderful aids.<br /><br />C pknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-39043937162891937772011-09-20T12:03:49.698-04:002011-09-20T12:03:49.698-04:00The mission of the United States Navy is to go whe...The mission of the United States Navy is to go where the President commands, kill America's enemies, and take their stuff as prizes.Mike M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-35268344453251597242011-09-20T12:01:12.698-04:002011-09-20T12:01:12.698-04:00Cultivate the product-based thinkers in peacetime....Cultivate the product-based thinkers in peacetime. And hold process-based thinkers accountable for the final outcome of their actions.<br /><br />This whole problem is a side-effect of protracted peace.<br /><br />In peacetime, it's hard to get promoted by being product-based. It's easier to get ahead by concentrating on the process. Keep the paperwork in order. Don't make mistakes. Don't make waves. Process-based thinkers prosper. Product-based thinkers suffer - unless they have higher-level protection. If you have just come out of a major war, there are enough product-based commanders at a high level to give some shielding to lower-level product-based thinkers. But as peacetime settles in, the process-based mindset takes deeper and deeper root. The product-based leaders need to be cultivated.<br /><br />One of the best methods is to minimize the number of processes that are mandated. High-level leaders have a terrible tendency to back-seat-drive with mandatory processes and checklists, with only a perfunctory nod to whether the process works or not. Fewer processes gives product-based thinkers room to maneuver, and send the message that the product, not the process, is the goal.<br /><br />A related way to cultivate is to use product-based thinkers to lead process-based teams. And to review processes. Acquisition, in particular, tends to fall into the process trap. Get program managers who are determined to get fighting power to the Fleet - and damn the process paperwork - and you can cut a lot of time off a schedule.<br /><br />It's also imperative that process-based thinkers are held accountable for the ultimate product. Because it is the product, not the process, that is the ultimate goal. Mike M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-78965523435259865512011-09-20T11:43:02.903-04:002011-09-20T11:43:02.903-04:00Yes - in which case heads should have rolled in Fo...Yes - in which case heads should have rolled in Foggy Bottom.<br /><br />Accountability is for civilians, too.Mike M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-53894415608777122542011-09-20T11:42:43.627-04:002011-09-20T11:42:43.627-04:00Yes - in which case heads should have rolled in Fo...Yes - in which case heads should have rolled in Foggy Bottom.<br /><br />Accountability is for civilians, too.Mike M.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-18088160147757450772011-09-20T10:58:17.555-04:002011-09-20T10:58:17.555-04:00"No fighter ever won his fight by covering up..."No fighter ever won his fight by covering up -- merely fending off the other fellow's blows," he wrote. "The winner hits and keeps on hitting even though he has to be able to take some stiff blows in order to keep on hitting."<br /><br />Is this the quote you're looking for? ADM King was not appointed CNO until March of 1943, so the timing of the message your referencing is a few months after FDR's declaration of war speech if it was released when he was CNO.Benjamin Walthropnoreply@blogger.com