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Proactively “From the Sea”; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity.
Tuesday, Ole Miss students voted to find a new mascot to replace the abandoned Colonel Reb. A student committee to develop and propose a new mascot will be formed soon.VOTE ACKBAR!
Ackbar, a member of the Mon Calamari species who led the Rebel Alliance ships into the Battle of Endor, appears to be the early favorite. He has more than 14,000 Facebook fans. Websites like notatrap.org -- "It's a trap!" was his famous line -- are promoting Ackbar's candidacy.
Before dawn on 19 March 1945 FRANKLIN who had maneuvered closer to the Japanese mainland than had any other U.S. carrier during the war, launched a fighter sweep against Honshu and later a strike against shipping in Kobe Harbor. Suddenly, a single enemy plane pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run on the gallant ship to drop two semi-armor piercing bombs. One struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the hangar deck, effecting destruction and igniting fires through the second and third decks, and knocking out the combat information center and airplot. The second hit aft, tearing through two decks and fanning fires which triggered ammunition, bombs and rockets.With each passing year, fewer and fewer of these men are with us.
FRANKLIN, within 50 miles of the Japanese mainland, lay dead in the water, took a 13° starboard list, lost all radio communications, and broiled under the heat from enveloping fires. Many of the crew were blown overboard, driven off by fire, killed or wounded, but the 106 officers and 604 enlisted who voluntarily remained saved their ship through sheer valor and tenacity. The casualties totaled 724 killed and 265 wounded, and would have far exceeded this number except for the heroic work of many survivors. Among these were Medal of Honor winners, Lt. Cmdr. Joseph T. O'Callahan, S. J., USNR, the ship's chaplain, who administered the last rites organized and directed firefighting and rescue parties and led men below to wet down magazines that threatened to explode, and Lt. (j.g.) Donald Gary who discovered 300 men trapped in a blackened mess compartment, and finding an exit returned repeatedly to lead groups to safety. USS SANTA FE (CL 60) similarly rendered vital assistance in rescuing crewmen from the sea and closing FRANKLIN to take off the numerous wounded.
The crew of the USS FRANKLIN (CV-13) will hold their 2010 reunion from the 18th to the 21st of March, in Branson, MO.
Specific location: Lodge of the Ozarks.
Special event: Memorial service morning of 19 March. This will be held on the 65th anniversary of the attack off the coast ofJapan.
Registration closes 1 March, 2010.
Contact for Questions:
Sam Rhodes 772-334-0366 or
Beth Conard Rowland (daughter of crewman) 740-524-0024 (please leave message)
It was a headline I never expected to read: “US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute.” Washington has declined to back Britain in its dispute with Argentina over drilling rights in the waters surrounding the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands. President Obama’s position is one of strict neutrality, refusing to take sides. According to the State Department:In The Telegraph, Toby Young nails it,We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.
Has it come to this? Tony Blair sacrificed his political career and jeopardised Britain’s international standing by making common cause with America in the War on Terror. No matter how often he claims it was because he believed it was “the right thing to do”, we all know what was really going on in his head. He simply didn’t want to break ranks with the United States. The Atlantic alliance has been the cornerstone of British foreign policy since 1941, when Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt joined forces against the Axis powers. Dean Acheson may have declared that Britain had lost an empire and yet to find a role, but successive British Prime Ministers have know what their role is and, by and large, it has been to stand shoulder to shoulder with America, presenting a united front in a series of global conflicts, from the Cold War to the Gulf.Is this a tough call? Of course it is - life is tough; being President of the United States is even tougher. You define your nation by the tough calls - and this defines us as wobbly and ungrateful.
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So it is truly shocking that Barack Obama has decided to disregard our shared history and insist that we have to fight this battle on our own. Does Britain’s friendship really mean so little to him? Do the sacrifices Britain has made in defence of the Atlantic alliance count for nought? Who does he think will replace us as America’s steadfast ally when she finds herself embroiled in a territorial dispute of her own — possibly with the very same motley crew of Latin American rabble rousers? Spain? Italy? France? Good luck with that, Mr President.
You’d think that having made his bones in Chicago, Obama would know the Chicago Code of Honour: When someone picks a fight with a friend of yours, they pick a fight with you.
With a maritime strategy focused on lower order partnerships, and a national oceans policy that devalued strategic interests in freedom of navigation, the stage was set for defeat at sea.Yes, a few Salamanderesque things to talk about.
Globalization, developments in the international law of the sea, and the revolution in military affairs aided the emergence of China and other new naval powers. Globalization was a democratizing force among navies. The wealth effect of expanding trade and rising economies combined with the spread of doctrine, training and operational art, serving as a force multiplier. The result of globalization was a vastly improved Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in terms of its force structure and warfighting skills. The proliferation of advanced weapons technology helped nations that historically had never exercised naval power to make generational leaps in precision-guided munitions.Just for starters, review Loral from the '90s. You know the background.
A collection of unfriendly coastal states had invested heavily in asymmetric anti-access technologies and strategies to counter the power of U.S. naval forces. In 1991, Iraq used a mixture of crude pre-World War I contact navalmines and sophisticated magnetic and acoustic influence mines launched from small rubber boats. The country deployed over 1,100 mines in the first Gulf War, but most of them were either inoperable or improperly positioned. Yet Baghdad still reaped success in using mines to secure its seaside flank off Kuwait City. The USS Tripoli struck a moored contact mine, which ripped a 16 20 foot cavern below the waterline; hours later, and despite proceeding with deliberate caution to avoidmines, the USS Princeton struck a mine that cracked her superstructure and caused severe deck buckling.The good stuff is the note on "Sea Denial" weapons - or as I call it, the "Porcupine Strategy." You don't have to be the biggest, strongest, or most intelligent - you simply have to make it too painful and dangerous for anyone to get close to you.
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Fueled by a dynamic economy and impressive ingenuity, Beijing developed and fielded a bevy of asymmetric weapons. One game-changing weapon, an anti-ship ballistic missile, could hit an underway aircraft carrier.
Adj. 1. asymmetric - characterized by asymmetry in the spatial arrangement or placement of parts or componentsThere is nothing asymmetrical about mine warfare - good googly moogly, there is a Union Ship a mortar shot away from me sunk by a "mine" in the Civil War. There is nothing "contrary" about it - it is about as much of the environment as typhoons - and like typhoons, they are only asymmetrical if you ignore them and/or don't prepare for them.
asymmetrical
irregular - contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice; "irregular hiring practices"
Without warning, a Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile – a variant of the 1,500 km-plus range DF-21/CSS-5 solid propellant medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) specifically designed to decapitate U.S. carrier strike groups operating in East Asia – struck the USS George Washington causing the ship to erupt in a cataclysm.There is some nice "PSYOPS-INFO OPS" vignette play that I will skip through because this part is what interests me - but if that is your thing, make sure and read it all. Back to my stuff though.
Nations that had little respect for offshore or littoral freedom of navigation were courted, and regional commanders favored the benefits of partnership over the value of preserving navigational rights. Winning ‘‘hearts and minds’’ trumped age-old principles. The U.S. Navy struggled with how to conduct combined, lower-order maritime security operations. China was concentrating on how to win a naval war.Those are two paragraphs that are very difficult to talk about in "polite company" but represent two significant strategic risks that we have adopted. Oh, and I will ignore the A-word. Read Sun Tzu
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Furthermore, most of the other nations with large navies were allies. While technically true when measured in fleet tonnage and missile tubes, his testimony obscured the fact that while the U.S. Navy perhaps could outmatch any other navy in a fair fight, her rivals were not looking for a fair fight. Allies would prove unreliable partners, more intent on avoiding war than deterring it. U.S. adversaries were thinking asymmetrically.
The fourteen-to-one advantage in naval power also assumed that the United States had time to collect and concentrate its far-flung ships against a single foe. The ephemeral 313-ship force structure was never achieved, but it called for eleven carriers, eighty-eight cruisers and destroyers, forty-eight submarines, fifty-five littoral combat ships and thirty-one amphibious warfare ships. But these forces were spread thinly throughout the world maintaining a bewildering and multi-tasked agenda. Given that a 1.0 force presence—maintaining one ship on station—typically requires three ships—one in work-ups and evaluation, getting ready to deploy, one on deployment, and one in the yard being refurbished after deployment—the 313 ships never really promised more than about 100 ships at sea at any given time, and these would be spread over the entire globe.Actually, the Straight of Magellan is a challenge, but isn't that difficult, but inside the vignette, both canal challenges are well described.
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No sooner had warships from the U.S. Second Fleet in Norfolk gotten underway, however, than did Cosco, the Chinese company operating the Panama Canal, declare the passageway closed for four weeks for urgent repairs to the Atlantic and Pacific locks. Closure of the 40-mile long canal added 3,000 miles to transits from the East coast of the United States to the Far East.6 The alternative was to take the laborious route through the Strait of Magellan in southern Chile. Considerably safer than Drake Passage, Magellan was still difficult to navigate. The narrow passage was dogged by fierce winds and the inhospitable climate. Half the U.S. fleet anchored in Norfolk was temporarily cut off from the Pacific. At the same time, street protests to stop the impending transit of U.S. warships through the Suez Canal stung the government in Cairo. The Suez Canal shaves 40 percent of the distance off a trip from the Sixth Fleet operating area in the Mediterranean Sea to the Far East.
In 2015, China’s navy was somewhat smaller, numbering only a handful of aircraft carriers, sixty submarines and seventy major surface combatants. Beijing also operated hundreds of fast offshore patrol vessels, many that packed a punch with anti-ship cruise missiles. Whereas an adversary like China could marshal its entire national fleet for a crisis immediately off its shore, as well as land-based missiles and aircraft, to face down the United States, the U.S. Navy would have to fight with the forces that happened to be in the region.Back to the critique - there is another problem from a historical perspective, though I don't blame the author. It came from the 2009 DOD Capstone Concept for Joint Operations,
Foreign sensitivities to U.S. military presence have steadily been increasing. . . .Balderdash. I remember the Sane-Freeze gaggle anti-GLCM/Pershing II et al from the Cold War. This is nothing new - we have it easy.
The Army could fail, as it did in Vietnam;No, no, and no. The military part of the Vietnam War was won. The defeat of the '72 invasion proved that. Vietnam was lost in '75 when Congress cut off all support for South Vietnam, inviting the North to invade. Political, not military defeat. Rinse, repeat.
When China was weak, it suffered the indignity of routine U.S. and foreign naval operations off its shores. But as the U.S. Navy declined and the Chinese Navy became more powerful, China became less willing to tolerate the ‘‘foreign invasions.’’All you need to do is pull the string from The Sand Pebbles
When China acted, it was the culmination of a patient and focused national plan to couple naval technology and resources to a corresponding political, legal and diplomatic strategy in the oceans. The U.S. Naval force plans had been in disarray for decades. The nation was implementing a ‘‘cooperative’’ naval strategy designed for peace—preventing brushfire wars rather than deterring great power conflict. Meanwhile, the White House, through both Republican and Democratic administrations, placed environmentalists in charge of strategic U.S. oceans policy. These environmentalists championed coastal state control over the offshore areas – both in the United States and in multilateral diplomacy – and this focus played into China’s hands by de-legitimizing freedom of the seas in the littorals.True, we lost focus on Neo-Mahanian ideal - but a good Navy can do both. "Distributed and Networked" warfare with many small units has a long history in the USN. From the Union blockade of the South to the Battle of the Atlantic and the unrestricted submarine warfare against Imperial Japan - we did that while being able to pivot to major fleet actions as well.
From the Battle of Lepanto to the Battle of Okinawa, major fleet action was the decisive event in many modern wars. Over the past five hundred years all of the world’s foremost powers achieved their position of leadership through reliance on unsurpassed naval capabilities.16 Even a traditional continental power such as Russia reached the apex of its standing on the global stage through naval power.17 The West had forgotten that the history of international security and freedom of the seas was a story intimately woven into the material of world politics, forming the basis for an Anglo-American world order.
Some analysts express caution against overstating China’s naval prowess. Even sending a small group of ships to take part in anti-piracy operations off the east coast of Africa this year proved to be a large logistical challenge for the Chinese navy.Can anyone say, "Don't plan based upon stated intentions, but by capability." Wait, I did.
“China lacks many of the capabilities to project power abroad,” says David Shambaugh, a China specialist at George Washington University in the US.
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“The focus of our foreign policy will be in assisting development, not in signing up to expensive new commitments,” says Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at People’s University in Beijing.
Or as another Chinese academic, who asked not to be named, says of protecting seaborne trade: “Why should we spend billions of dollars paying for something that is already being paid for?” Largely paid for, he did not need to mention, by the US.
The U.S. Navy also suffered problems in readiness and proficiency. Diversion of thousands of officers and enlisted sailors to fill Army shortfalls in Iraq and Afghanistan deprived the service of years of training and operational experience at sea. Promotions were tied to disassociated augmentation tours for stability operations and reconstruction rather than excellence afloat. An entire generation of mid-career commissioned and noncommissioned officers tried to learn counterinsurgency land warfare in the desert and mountains of of central Asia while their counterparts in China conducted fleet exercises to learn how to destroy them."
Really? Has the Navy sent "an entire generation" to Iraq and Afghanistan?Well, yes; or at least a large part of it. I spent the last part of my career largely doing nothing but that - Navy CDR doing a LTC's job. I didn't mind though - I picked that set of orders around what "my community" wanted me to do. The taxpayer got much more out of me than the "busy make-work" the folks in Millington would have had me do. So yes, Ricks has a point - but so does Kraska.
Also, does national security rest ultimately only on the Navy, as this hydrocentric article tendentiously asserts?:Well, when you are fighting China - the Navy and the USAF better be at the front. Land war in Asia? No thank you.Only more slowly did people begin to realize that the maintenance of the world order had rested on U.S. military power, and that the foundation of that power was U.S. command of the global commons. The Army could fail, as it did in Vietnam; the Air Force was ancillary to the Army. To secure the U.S. position and the nation's security-and indeed for world order-the Navy could never fail."
But what stuck in my craw most of all was Kraska's casual poke at "the apologizing Obama administration," which he asserts that, combined with the "unpopularity" of the predecessor administration, is undermining national security. I think it is acceptable for active duty officers to critique strategy, but I think here Kraska is sailing a little too close to politically attacking his commander in chief, especially since he offers no evidence, and footnotes this sentence to an article by Henry Kissinger that appeared months before Obama became president.That is a funny snit. James - you made Tom look cross-eyed! Bravo Zulu!!! Oh, and for the record; Ricks is totally off base on this argument - Kraska is well clear. No one is perfect though, we'll give Ricks a pass.
Visconti: What are your long-term plans for the academy?Hook, line, and sinker on a debunked racialist theory founded in sectarianism and division.
Vice Adm. Fowler: We will continue to reach out, and it’s not about a number. There is no goal. But in my mind it just makes sense … that we have representation as close to the demographics of America. The Naval Academy, with everything we have to offer, should be very close, and it may take a generation to get there. Our enlisted force took a generation to get to where it was up to looking like America. But we need to get there before we really need it. What happens to most people is you don’t invest in something that you know is happening like the [changing demographics of] America, and then you need talent and you’re not getting it.
"People are the key. All we acquire and all we do is of little worth without the people who give it value. Our policies must reflect the diversity of our nation. Our policies and practices must enable us to attract, recruit and retain the men and women of America.So, we will refuse entry to the Enlisted ranks and certain Ratings to avoid over-representing some minorities groups, right? No, that is not what he means.
Our policies must address the many rewards of service in the United States Navy, and we must be unwavering in our obligation to take care of those who serve our Navy, military and civilian, and their families."
-Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations.
"You will find as you get older and more senior, finding out what's really going on at the deck plates becomes much more elusive than it used to be when you were sort of living there," he said.Admirals - the elusiveness is the same with your Diversity madness. The young Sailors, Midshipmen, and officers live diversity - and have no use for Diversity.
The following letter dated Feb. 16 was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The letter was signed by American Maritime Officers National President Thomas Bethel; International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots President Timothy Brown; Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association President Don Keefe; Seafarers International Union President Michael Sacco; Marine Firemen's Union President Anthony Poplawski; and Sailors' Union of the Pacific President Gunnar Lundeberg.
On behalf of the American merchant mariners our organizations represent we respectfully ask that you work with us to develop and implement the programs and policies necessary to protect U.S.-flag vessels and their United States citizen crews from acts of piracy. Despite efforts over the past 10 months, American mariners face an ongoing threat. As American crews simply attempt to do their jobs they must remain vigilant, never knowing exactly when these international criminals will initiate illegal and perhaps deadly action against U.S.-flag ships. As evidenced by the frequent incidents against ships from various nations in the Gulf of Aden and in other waters near Somalia, it is no exaggeration to state that mariners' lives are in constant peril.
Our organizations continue to work with American shipowners and government agencies to ensure mariners have the training they need to help repel pirate attacks. However, these non-lethal measures alone are not enough as piracy becomes more sophisticated and deadly. American crews need and deserve to have their government standing shoulder to shoulder with them to combat this ongoing threat.
We agree that international patrols in high-risk waters, international conferences and meetings -- including those of the United Nations' CGPCS (Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia) -- and international aid efforts can all help bring attention to the problem and may ultimately lead to long-term solutions. However, until there is an effective international response in place, the United States Government should act forcefully to protect U.S.-flag vessels and their American citizen crews. For example, our government should continue to work with U.S.-flag vessel operators and American maritime labor representatives to put in place the most practical and effective deterrents against acts of piracy against U.S.-flag vessels. Second, it is extremely important that our government be prepared to respond, as it did so effectively during the situation involving the Maersk Alabama, with speed and force each time a U.S.-flag ship is attacked and the vessel and its American crew are taken hostage.
We further believe that our government should not consider after-the-fact legal actions against U.S.-flag shipowners who, as a last resort, pay a ransom to secure the safe release of their American citizen crews as the best solution to the problem of piracy. It would be unconscionable for the United States government to turn its back on or to dictate that America shipowners turn their backs on the American merchant mariners who willingly sailed into harm's way in service to their country. We are proud that throughout our history American merchant mariners have served with distinction as our nation's fourth arm of defense. America's merchant mariners never have and never will shirk their responsibility to deliver the goods whenever and wherever needed. For this reason, we do not subscribe to an international call for mariners to boycott the waters most at risk to attack by pirates. Rather, we believe that just as land-based criminals know they will face strong and swift retribution when they attack innocent victims, we believe seaborne pirates should know they will be treated no differently.
A plan to repel and fight piracy must be as forceful and as unrelenting as piracy itself. We suggested immediately following the attacks against the Maersk Alabama and Liberty Sun last year that the most effective step that can be taken in response to aggressive action against U.S.-flag ships and their American crews is for our government to provide U.S.-flag vessels with the on-board armed force protection necessary to repel acts of piracy. We remain convinced that this approach still represents the most effective course of action that can be taken.
Nonetheless, we appreciate and strongly support the recent decision by the Department of Defense to assist U.S.-flag vessel operators in contracting with private security forces for U.S.-flag vessels carrying military cargo in high risk waters. We ask that all agencies of the Federal government immediately follow the Defense Department's lead so that all U.S.-flag vessels transporting military as well as non-military government cargoes receive the same type of support.
In conclusion, we thank the Administration for its efforts and support for the U.S.-flag merchant marine and for American's merchant mariners. As representatives of America's maritime labor organizations we remain ready and willing to continue working with the Administration to bring an end to piracy, once and for all. This only can happen if the United States and other affected nations apprehend, prosecute and hold accountable the pirates for their criminal acts.Hat tip Gramps.
Costa Rica has elected its first female president in a landslide victory, marking another political milestone for women in Latin America.Most of you know how I feel about Colombia - but most of you have no idea that Costa Rica is my closest nation of refuge.
Laura Chinchilla, from the centrist ruling party, won 47% of the vote in a crowded field in yesterday's poll, further eroding the region's reputation as a bastion of machismo and patriarchy.
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A social conservative who opposes gay marriage and abortion, she campaigned under the slogan "Laura: firm and honest," and said her priority would be to combat drug-fuelled violent crime. Opponents had cast her as a hypocritical Arias puppet who was soft on criminals. One rival, Otto Guevara, took a televised polygraph test to show he was more honest. Another, Luis Fishman, ran on the slogan that of all the candidates he was the "lesser evil".
Despite or perhaps partly because of such tactics, Chinchilla won in all seven provinces, a rare feat, and easily surpassed the 40% needed to avoided a run-off.
The United States has informally told Japan that it will retire its sea-based Tomahawk cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads, in line with President Barack Obama's policy to pursue a world free of nuclear weapons, Japanese government sources said Monday.
Washington said the move would not affect its ''nuclear umbrella,'' addressing concerns in Tokyo about the step's effect on the U.S. deterrence against potential attacks from countries like China and North Korea, the sources said.
The retirement policy will likely be stipulated in the ''Nuclear Posture Review,'' a new nuclear strategic guideline the Obama administration is slated to report to Congress in March, they said.We'll see when it is official. Fewer options for response leads to fewer and fewer points of failure. TLAM-N has certain advantages over a SLMB when it comes to not scaring the vodka out of our Russian friends when you launch it - in addition to other things that the crazy people behind the cypher door can talk to you about.
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Officials from both (USA & Japan) governments have already begun discussions on the future of the U.S. deterrence on the premise the Tomahawk will be retired, they said.
In February last year, before Japan's long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party was ousted from power in September, Japanese diplomats concerned about a weakening of the U.S. deterrence asked the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States that Tokyo be consulted ahead of any decision if Washington considers retiring the nuclear Tomahawk.
The commission urged the U.S. government in its final report in May to take steps to retain the Tomahawk, saying, ''In Asia, extended deterrence relies heavily on the deployment of nuclear cruise missiles on some Los Angeles class attack submarines -- the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile/Nuclear (TLAM/N). This capability will be retired in 2013 unless steps are taken to maintain it.''
- The most effective things and the most important things are simple to describe and protect.This weekend at The Captial, Ensign Stephen E. Shaw has an important article that requires your attention titled, Naval Academy Honor Concept strays from roots.
- When effective and important things are inconvenient to some, barriers to their needs - they complicate the effective and important.
- When effective and important things are made more complicated, they become flaccid and ill-defined.
- Flaccid and ill-defined things can be easily shaped and avoided.
- Things easily shaped and avoided are useful for everything and nothing.
- Things that can be used for everything and nothing are ineffective and unimportant.
The current widespread problem of cynicism at the Academy is an indication of a failure to do this. I often wondered, What legitimate reason does the Naval Academy midshipman have to be cynical? The quality of education is high and is provided at no cost to the midshipman. The opportunities available to each member of the Brigade far surpass those available to any comparable undergraduate student in the country, including cadets at West Point and the Air Force Academy who have fewer options for service assignments.I've said it before, and I will say it again. There is nothing wrong with the MIDN at Annapolis. This generation of men and women are just fine, thank you very much. The problem is with the older generations above them.
It is difficult to believe, as it is oftentimes claimed, that trivialities such as limited weekend liberty or regulated exercise uniforms are the main causes of cynicism. The average midshipman is not, and has never been, adverse to hard or challenging work. In fact, this is what typically attracts him or her to the Academy in the first place. Something is driving midshipmen to acquire cynical attitudes towards the Naval Academy.
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In 2005, the committee structure was completely abandoned. The current "honor staff" is a subcomponent of the regular Brigade organization, and honor staff members are selected by a panel of senior officers at the Naval Academy. 27 It must be noted that few, if any, midshipmen have had a “say” in the changes that have been made to the system over the years— a system which was originally created by midshipmen and enacted by a nearly unanimous Brigade-wide vote.
Nonetheless, since the system was established in 1951, each new class of midshipmen has been taught that the Naval Academy has a non-codified, or concept-based, standard of honor despite the system’s actual structure. There is still regular discussion and proclamation that the Brigade "owns" the Honor Concept (sometimes meaning both the statement and the system, depending on whom you talk to), despite the fact that: 1) the Brigade plays no role whatsoever in the selection of honor staff members, and 2) the selected staff members report directly to the Honor Officer, who is a member of the Department of Character Development and Training Division under the Commandant. This is a far cry indeed from the original structure, which on occasion saw the First Class Committee Chairman, who was the midshipman responsible for overseeing the system, report directly to the Superintendent. 28
While the system has undergone drastic changes throughout the past 60 years, the description and discussion of it have remained basically unchanged. Due to the inconsistency between how the system was understood and how it actually operated, midshipmen, alumni, faculty members, and staff officers have little confidence in the effectiveness of the current program.
The system is claimed to be non-codified, yet definitions remain; it is claimed to not be based on fear, yet its only function is to punish (although I am unaware of any midshipmen who were separated solely due to an honor offense in the last four years); it is claimed to be owned and operated by the Brigade, yet the Brigade has no “say” in the selection of staff members, nor do those staff members have any real authority over the system, other than the execution of documented procedures and orders from the staff officers assigned over them.
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As long as the inconsistencies described above are allowed to exist, it remains practically impossible to address any issues afflicting the honor system. Since the same terminology (concept, ownership, etc.) has been used for the past six decades, officers, midshipmen, and alumni who attempt to discuss these issues are not aware that they very well may be talking about different things. For example, it took me nearly four years to completely piece together the evolution of the honor system from its creation in 1951 to what exists today. The confusing language and recycled terminology has made work on this program convoluted and tedious at best. The current honor system at the Naval Academy is inconsistent, ineffective, contradictory, misunderstood, and confusing, and has little support from the Naval Academy community as a whole.
In a yard period late last year, Freedom acquired two large oblong metal boxes on its transom, on either side of the stern gate its crew uses to launch and recover boats. The sailors call these “buoyancy tanks,” although they look almost like a baby’s water wings for the pool — or, yes, there is a more explicit anatomical parallel to be drawn. Think about it.
Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) said yesterday that the White House offered him a federal job in an effort to dissuade him from challenging Sen. Arlen Specter in the state's Democratic primary.Oh, that would be great for retention.
The disclosure came during an afternoon taping of Larry Kane: Voice of Reason, a Sunday news-analysis show on the Comcast Network. Sestak would not elaborate on the circumstances and seemed chagrined after blurting out "yes" to veteran news anchor Kane's direct question.
"Was it secretary of the Navy?" Kane asked.
"No comment," Sestak said.
"Was it [the job] high-ranking?" Kane asked. Sestak said yes, but added that he would "never leave" the Senate race for a deal.
A White House spokesman this morning strongly denied an offer had been made to Sestak. Before the spokesman issued the denial, a senior Pennsylvania Democrat said Sestak's account was met with anger by White House officials yesterday.
After yesterday's taping, Sestak said he recalled the White House offer coming in July, as he was preparing to formally announce his Senate candidacy in August. He declined to identify who spoke to him or the job under discussion. Sestak also would not say whether the person who approached him worked for the administration or was an intermediary for the offer.
"I'm not going to say who or how and what was offered," Sestak said in an interview. "I don't feel it's appropriate to go beyond what I said," because the conversation was confidential.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's coalition government collapsed on Saturday when the two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this year as planned.
The fall of the government in the EU member country, just two days short of the coalition's third anniversary, all but guarantees that the 2,000 Dutch troops will be brought home this year and will eventually prompt new parliamentary elections.... and who is waiting in the wings?
Right-wing legislator Geert Wilders's Freedom Party, which has called for an end to the Afghan mission, could be the big winner at the next election.
Opinion polls tip the Freedom Party, campaigning on mistrust of the government and an anti-immigration ticket, to become the largest or second biggest party in parliament.Yes, a country the size of New Jersey with a population of 17 million is always good for some news.
"A withdrawal will damage the reputation of the Dutch as a reliable partner that is willing and able to contribute to important military missions," said Edwin Bakker, a senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague.No, only if you had an unrealistic expectation of the Europeans and a lack of understanding of what is going on.
NATO has become a contrived vehicle used by freeloading nations to exert unearned influence. The NATO press machine is a transparent propaganda monster. To whit, this statement on the NATO website: "NATO looks forward to deepening cooperation with Pakistan:
The Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, visited NATO and met with Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Minister Qureshi also addressed the North Atlantic Council."It is all that and less/more. The self-delusional nature of much of what NATO does is the worst kept secret for those who have been involved with it.
Which NATO member actually has an iota of influence with Pakistan? The United States. NATO members freeload and forward their economic and political agendas at our cost. Secretary Gates, as well as Generals Petraeus, McChrystal and others, must spend substantial time simply trying to persuade members to contribute their share (which not a single member has done).
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The staggering weight of NATO lies on its website: "Operation Moshtarak - Operation Moshtarak is an Afghan-led initiative to assert government authority in the centre of Helmand province. Afghan and ISAF partners are engaging in this counter- insurgency operation at the request of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Helmand provincial government." What "ISAF partners"? Those partners are nearly entirely British and American. The operation is in no way led by Afghans. NATO is a platform used by remora members to hitch rides on.