Caption Contest

A lady biker sits on Biden's lap today at Cruisers Diner in Seaman, Ohio. via the AP

If that isn't enough .... here.

NORTHCOM & Disaster Response, on Midrats

Everyone knows CENTCOM, many know PACOM or EUCOM ... but what about NORTHCOM?

What is their role in national defense, and what special role does it have inside the United States - specifically in disaster response?

This Sunday, September 9th from 5-6pm EST, our guest for the full hour to discuss this and more will be Brigadier General Donald A. McGregor, the Deputy Director of Operations for Domestic Operations, Headquarters, United States Northern Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Join us live if you can, but if you miss the show you can always listen to the archive at blogtalkradio - the best way to get the show and download the archive to your audio player is to get a free account and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Listen to Midrats

Sunday Funnies

From our friends at DuffleBlog;

That is How it Will Start

I was chatting a bit earlier this week with one of my fellow members of the Eeyore Debating Collective, when I wandered down a dystopian path only those military professionals over the age of 45 really remember: thinking nuclear war.

You can - and should - remember that we used to think in rather cold ways about nuclear war. Contrary to the Left and the intellectually lazy, nuclear war does not have to be a binary thing where you either have no nukes, or total global nuclear winter. No. That was never the story.

There is still a remnant of the nuclear intellectual capital we had. There still is "that" planning group out there - but enough of that; let's keep them behind their cypher door with the crazy aunt in the basement.

The conversation I was having with my fellow EDC member was about the hot mess Pakistan is. With the demographics and the Islamist zeitgeist, I just don't see it getting any better in my lifetime. Most of the modernizing Pakistani and the best educated have left or are leaving. What is left, is left.

Those Pakistani left with nukes will eventually overplay their hand with their boogie-monster, India. Through events are too far in the mist to track from today, a non-zero chance there will be a chain of events that will result in a Pakistani nuke going off somewhere in India. Perhaps multiple nukes. Why? A 100 reasons.

That would be a bad move. India - much more than Pakistan - can still be considered an adjunct to the Anglophere due to their centuries of soaking in the British Empire, like the USA. They retain some intellectual connections to the Anglo-Saxon way of war. "You stop on my toe - I break your face."

India is a huge nation of well over a billion people. A horrible and difficult thought to have (but is required when thinking like a nuclear planner) - Pakistan or its nukes (they can be different things) could kill 1-million, 10-million, or a 100-million more Indians in a 1st and 2nd strike and .... India as a nation would survive. The nuclear fallout would kill thousands to hundreds of thousands in the long run afterwords probably - but even then, that is not a nation destroying event. Nations have experienced worse.

If India was so attacked with nukes, which I think is a non-zero possibility at some time in the next few decades, then my money is that India will do what India must - it will destroy Pakistan. Pakistan has a population of 176 million. Much of that is highly concentrated. Properly planned out, India could effectively remove all of Pakistan's population centers. Once that is done, especially in The Sind and Punjab - then Pakistan starting with Balochistan will break apart.

India will have made its point. It lives in a tough neighborhood; a pagan nation on the bleeding eastern edge of Dar es Salaam, and with China to the north. I cannot be seen as weak.

There you go - when you need to feel darkish - but darkish and informed by human history, add this to your mix;

...the gravest danger -- not only for the region, but for the United States itself -- may be the South Asian incarnation of a Cold War phenomenon: a nuclear arms race.

Pakistan, with an estimated 90 to 120 warheads, is now believed to be churning out more plutonium than any other country on the planet -- thanks to two Chinese-built reactors that are now online, a third that is undergoing trials, and a fourth that is scheduled to become operational by 2016. It has already passed India in total number of warheads and is on course to overtake Britain as the world's No. 5 nuclear power. Pakistan could end up in third place, behind Russia and the United States, within a decade.

This April, Pakistan tested a short-range ballistic missile, the Hatf IX, a so-called "shoot and scoot" battlefield nuclear weapon aimed at deterring an invasion by India's conventional forces. This development carries two disturbing implications. First, Pakistan now has the know-how to build nuclear warheads compact enough to fit on the tip of a small missile or inside a suitcase (handy for terrorists). Second, Pakistan has adopted a war-fighting doctrine that does not preclude nuking its own territory in the event of an Indian incursion -- a dubious first in the annals of deterrence theory.

India, meanwhile, has just tested its first long-range ballistic missile, the Agni-V, with a range of 3,100 miles. In April, the Indian Navy added a new Russian-made nuclear-powered submarine to its fleet and is now building its own nuclear subs. One has already been launched and will enter service next year, and India is determined to add submarine-launched ballistic missiles to its arsenal. This puts India on the verge of joining the elite nuclear "triad" club -- states with the ability to survive a first strike by an adversary and deliver a retaliatory strike by land, sea, or air.

Nukes - not the big boys the B-52s carry, but the modern ones. Smaller, much smaller, than even a compact VBIED.

Have a fun weekend all!

As a parting gift before I head off for hunting season; anything military always sounds better in German.

Fullbore Friday

Time to revisit the Battle of Westerplatte - as a final chapter has closed.

For a heroes obit, I hope they don't mind if I steal 90% - it is too good to chop up.

At the end of August 1939, trouble entered the harbour in the form of the 14,000-ton German battleship the Schleswig-Holstein (a ship predating the First World War). Although sailing under the pretext of a courtesy visit, she contained a company of marines. In the early hours of September 1, Skowron was looking through his telescope and saw a flash emanating from the ship. Within seconds, a shell had landed on a gate near the railway, and a whole wall collapsed. What Skowron had witnessed was, in all possibility, the first shot fired during the Second World War.

After the salvo had ended, the peninsula was stormed by the German marines. Taking one of only two machineguns, Skowron ran down to a guardhouse and helped to repulse the first German assault on the main gate. The attackers were expecting an easy victory, but the Poles fought back ferociously, and managed to catch the Germans in a murderous crossfire. In addition, well-placed mortar rounds also fell on the attackers, and by around 10 o’clock that morning they retreated, having suffered 50 casualties to the eight of the Poles. The German losses would have been far higher had the Polish commander not wished to conserve mortar rounds.

On the following day, the Germans stepped up their attack. “There were three attacks in the morning,” Skowron recalled, “which got worse and worse. Aircraft, reportedly 50 of them, dropped nearly 200 bombs.” The air raid not only destroyed a guardhouse, but also the Polish mortars. Supplemented by a naval barrage, those aboard theSchleswig-Holstein reckoned — with good reason — that nobody could have survived the bombardment. Despite the intensity, the Poles sat firm. “Our men were calm,” said Skowron, “nearly indifferent, because the cycle was so repetitive — aircraft, bombs, missiles, again and again.” The entire peninsula soon resembled a First World War battlefield, with huge craters, bombed-out buildings and raging fires.

Nevertheless, the Poles would not be moved. Their morale was boosted by an announcement made by the Polish Commander-in-Chief, Edward Rydz-Smigly, that all the defenders of Westerplatte would be promoted to officer rank, and would be awarded the Virtuti Militari, Poland’s highest military decoration.

With the battle for the peninsula now becoming more symbolic than tactical, the Germans threw everything they had at the defenders. Burning trains were rammed into fortifications, and a torpedo boat even launched an attack. Although the Poles stood firm, the attacks certainly took their toll. “The worst part was the lack of sleep,” said Skowron, “because we couldn’t change troops, and we had to keep watch non-stop. The Germans could change their attackers, we could not.”

Eventually, on the morning of September 7, the Poles knew that any further resistance was fruitless. With a lack of food and medical supplies, the Polish commander decided to surrender. Skowron and his fellow survivors, of whom there were some 180, were ordered to cross the canal and throw down their tunics and caps. A German motorboat appeared, and the Poles were taken prisoner. The Germans were impressed by the Polish defence, not least because it had cost them an estimated 200 to 300 casualties, and had tied up more than 3,000 troops.

Skowron was imprisoned at Stalag IA near Königsberg, after which he was made to work on a German estate. “The Germans treated us decently,” Skowron recalled, “because they knew we were from Westerplatte. They said with admiration, ‘Polish soldiers good’.” The working conditions were nonetheless tough, and Skowron ended up in hospital, and was then discharged back home in February 1941.

He soon found work as a labourer on the railways, but he continued his own war against the occupiers. He joined the underground ZWZ — the Union of Armed Struggle — for whom he reported on German troop movements and shipments.

After the war Skowron worked on the railways until his retirement in 1975.

A modest man, he did not speak much of his participation at Westerplatte, but he soon found himself being lionised by a country that was keen to show the world that Poland had not rolled over for its aggressors. Skowron took part in many anniversary celebrations of Westerplatte, and was the recipient of numerous orders, medals and decorations, as well as being promoted to major.

Skowron was married to Anna Lisek in 1937. The couple had six children. Anna died in 2000. Skowron is survived by his children.

Major Ignacy Skowron, soldier and railway worker, was born on July 24, 1915. He died on August 5, 2012, aged 97

Hat tip AB.

OPNAV Staff; Get Your Graph Software Working

.... you need to build the Navy's version of this graph of Amara's Law.

Roy Amara is an engineer and futurist (long before that term became trendy) at the Institute for the Future think tank. Amara's law is probably best illustrated by the "Hype Cycle," a term coined by Gartner Group to characterize the hype or "Peak of Inflated Expectations" and subsequent "Trough of Disillusionment" before reaching the "Slope of Enlightenment" and "Plateau of Productivity".

"Trough of Disillusionment" - power phrase of the week. I think that comes towards the last third of your first sea tour.

More geek glory at the link that demands your full read as it is spot on.

Brook's Law explains LCS.

Thackara's Law explains trying to make a pocket-battleship sized ship "stealthy."

Reed's Law explains ... unofficial milblogging networks.

Hat tip Chap.

Diversity Thursday

Let's have fun with the (D)iversity Bullies as they try harder and harder to justify their six-figure paychecks!

Let's plow in to last week's fun (D)iversity foolishness from the DoS. Almost as good as USNA's Indian Runs .... time for some mini-Fisking!

"Diversity Notes" on pg.8 - always make (D)iversity your first stop!



Someone is trying real hard to earn a paycheck. Well, being that we are decades past real discrimination ... I guess you have to start to make shi'ite up.

How many times have you or a colleague asked if someone could “hold down the fort?” For example, “Could you hold down the fort while I go to…” You were likely asking someone to watch the office while you go and do something else, but the phrase’s historical connotation to some is negative and racially offensive. To “hold down the fort” originally meant to watch and protect against the vicious Native American intruders.

Well - they were vicious Siberian American intruders ... and they lost to the tribe that never stopped coming; just like they displaced the tribes before them, etc for thousands of years. My wife tells herself that on a regular basis as one part of her DNA argues with the other.

Being that my ancestors fought in and out of forts from New Orleans through Georgia about 200 yeas ago with mostly Siberian Americans against other Siberian Americans ... most of the time those they were asking to "hold down the fort" were Siberian Americans of the Choctaw, Cherokee (not Elizabeth Warren type), and Lower-Creek variety.

Sorry John, your blinkered view of history doesn't wash. Let's see what other horrors you have found in the air.

“Going Dutch.” Likely you or your colleague meant that each person pays for his or her own meal. The historical meaning: a negative stereotype portraying the Dutch as cheap because they will invite you to a meal but then not pay for it.

Good googly moogly John. Go get your passport stamped at Schiphol and talk to some real Dutch. They are tight and smart with their money, and take it as a source of national pride. Just try to tell them a Scot is cheaper, and they brain 'ya with their klompen.

They don't care - why should you. They also all speak English - so you should be fine ... just don't visit in the Christmas Season; your nogg'n might explode. Embrace other cultures John ... have this Christmas to DoS a Dutch Christmas!

“Rule of thumb.” This is an acknowledged and generally accepted benchmark. Many women’s rights activists claim this term refers to an antiquated law, whereby the width of a husband’s thumb was the legal size of a switch or rod allowed to beat his wife.

You know what is really sexist? Being a patronizing harpie indulging other people's ignorance. Just click here. We do not have to run our lives by the fevered paranoia of professional feminists.

There is no absolute verification as to the historical roots of the word “handicap.” However, many disability advocates believe this term is rooted in a correlation between a disabled individual and a beggar, who had to beg with a cap in his or her hand because of the inability to maintain employment.

John, read your own stuff; "no absolute verification as to the historical roots .... many ... believe ... " Well, some people "believe" that aliens enjoy spelunking human digestive tracks ... but that does not mean we need to incorporate their mental illness in to our daily lives.

Just a note taxpayers .... you are paying tens of millions of dollars - through the government - probably even in to the hundred million + in salary, office space, travel, benefits etc for people just like this.