Diversity Thursday

Though there are some very real outrages that deserve this slot today (as there are every day), there really can be one DivThu that you need to see this week.

And it starts with one of MSNBC's professional racists - so it fits.

Russia: Now More Than Ever

Great UNCLASS update on the Russian Navy from ONI. I chat a little about it over at USNIBlog, and it is posted there for your reading pleasure.

Required reading.

Trumpelstiltskins

John Hood over at NRO is on to something here.

The Southerners here will understand;

... something about the Donald’s following is beginning to make sense to me. Despite all the talk about “Making America Great Again” and defeating his foes, foreign and domestic, Trump is selling a rather different product to many disaffected Americans: an opportunity for a glorious, thrilling defeat. As a native Southerner, I am familiar with the appeal of this product. It’s what Lost Cause literature is about. Your cause is just, and not the cause that your enemies claim you are fighting for. But you are outnumbered. You are outgunned. The establishment is against you. You are better, you are more noble. But you will probably lose just because of sheer force of numbers. So you might as well go down fighting for what you believe in, defiantly and gloriously.
... many remain unaware of or uninterested in the details of the Trump program for a rational reason: they have no real expectation that their man will actually be president. They’ll say he’s a winner in public. It’s part of the braggadocio he purveys and they are getting to share in at the moment. In their heart of hearts, however, they know Trump won’t win. Don’t underestimate the attraction of the Lost Cause. It makes defeatism glamorous.

Burdens of Responsiblity: USA Must Walk and Chew Gum

While it is a fun distraction to see smart people talk about sexy, but ill-defined shapes just outside of a clear view in the misty future – and don’t get me wrong, I love pondering and ideating about those things as much as the next guy as they are wonderful distractions – there is a lot of very real, hard work that needs to be done now.

There are national security requirements that are here. They are not sexy. They are messy, they are hard, and they don’t make the listener breathless as a gaggle of easily distracted unattached young men waiting in line for the latest Star Wars movie.

These represent the hard work of national security. Many are trying to ignore them, but they will not leave. If ignored, they will grow in to a crisis. These are the leaking pipes and dirty air filters of the house that the owners are only thinking about replacing the driveway with pavers and putting solar panels on the roof. Those thinks are nice, but …

Step away for a moment from thinking about Syria. Divert your eyes from the Russian Navy popping off at Turkish commercial vessels.

Let’s look at our leaking pipes in a very sobering and spot on article by Sydney Freedberg, Jr., derived from a recent report from CNAS, Uncertain Ground: Emerging Challenges in Land Warfare;

You thought roadside bombs were bad? Imagine off-the-shelf mini-drones bombing US troops. Homebrewed high explosives got you down? Imagine extremists with 3D printers and a database of weapon designs. Suicide car bombs? Imagine explosive-laden cars that drive themselves. US military transmissions jamming each other by accident? Imagine guerrillas getting cheap GPS and radio jammers online. Media revealing military secrets or reporting faux pas that get the local population up in arms? Imagine that local population, enemy informants included, tweeting video of everything US forces do.

“The problem of war among the people is getting harder,” said Paul Scharre, a former Army Ranger and civil affairs officer. “It’s getting more lethal, and people are empowered by information technology: They’re able to communicate and organize for action in ways they weren’t ten years ago. All of that makes war on the ground much more challenging.”
...
“In many ways,” Scharre told me, “the root of intellectual stagnation here in US defense circles comes from watching too many World War II movies.” In those films, there’s a clear start to the war, clearly uniformed combatants (except for the occasional partisan), and a clear happy ending. Historically, he said, “that’s the exception rather than the rule.”
...
Similarly, ad hoc networks of likeminded individuals could swarm military forces, disrupting their movements via digitally-empowered ‘smart mobs’ on landing zones or roads. Unarmed mobs could incite military forces to respond, all the while filming their actions for broadcast. Militaries will be hard pressed to hide their movements in a world of radical transparency, and greater connectivity will enable enemies to rapidly organize to attack U.S. forces.”
...
As a result, “even in a conflict against a nation-state, enemies will still be able to employ significant lethality after the U.S. military has destroyed major military combat capabilities,” Scharre writes. “After seizing ground and destroying the enemy’s major military units, U.S. forces cannot simply [declare victory]. The unfortunate reality is that, in many conflicts, seizing ground may be the equivalent of merely grabbing hold of the hornet’s nest.”

As we have discussed before, this is something that is not just a land problem. As Israel demonstrated in Gaza, precision strike from the sea to an urban environment is a requirement for even the smallest warship - and to do that, you need to get close. You get close, the ASCM parked in the neighborhood garage becomes an issue too.

Now to the second uncomfortable truth. Neglected, yet steadily growing problem of our ignored and clogged air filters. Something that properly serviced by a little expense each year will save you a huge problem when at the worst of times, it demands immediate attention;

For you old Cold Warriors I have two words for you; Yankee Box;

China has begun patrols with nuclear missile submarines for the first time, giving Beijing a new strategic nuclear strike capability, according to the U.S. Strategic Command and Defense Intelligence Agency.

U.S. intelligence and strategic nuclear officials, however, remain uncertain whether China’s four Jin-class missile submarine patrols are being carried out with nuclear-tipped JL-2 missiles on board.
...
The real question, the Stratcom leader said, is: “Have they put the missile we’ve seen them test, the JL-2, in for a package that is doing strategic deterrent patrols? I have to consider them today that they are on strategic patrol,” he said, meaning the submarines were equipped with nuclear missiles.

For the U.S., that means “there’s another capability that’s out there having nuclear capability of ranges that can strike the United States of America,” the admiral said.

The patrols mark a significant turning point for the Chinese. In the past, Beijing stored all nuclear warheads separately from its missiles, in part to demonstrate what China calls its policy of “no first use” — that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict and would use them only in retaliation for hostile nuclear attacks.

Another reason warheads are kept separate is the Communist Party’s near-paranoid obsession with political control. Separating warheads from missiles allows for a greater centralized control over the nuclear arsenal, which is estimated to be 300 warheads but is likely far larger.

Chinese authorities fear giving a submarine commander control over the launch of nuclear missiles and worry that one of the military’s hawks could ignore the party’s nuclear chain of command and order a nuclear strike on his own.

Claude Berube ... call your office.

Fullbore Friday

Tell me again how hard your job is?  A replay from 2010 ...

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Most of us know about the Battle of Westerplatte because it started WWII and involved one of the most storied ships of any navy, the Pre-Dreadnought Schleswig-Holstein.

Before we go further though, I want you to look over this map.


Now ponder the real story of the Battle of Westerplatte and ask yourself - what determines victory? What makes the difference? Do you make the most out of every post you have? Do you underestimate your enemy?

On September 1, 1939, at 0448 local time, Germany began its invasion of Poland, starting World War II; the Schleswig-Holstein suddenly opened broadside salvo fire on the Polish garrison held by 182 soldiers and 27 civilian reservists. Major Sucharski radioed Hel Peninsula "SOS: I'm under fire". Three holes were made in the perimeter wall and oil warehouses were blazing in the southeastern sector. Eight minutes later, Lieutenant Wilhelm Henningsen's crack marines storm unit from the Schleswig-Holstein advanced in three platoons while the Wehrmacht's Pioneers blew up the railroad gate going on the land-bridge, expecting an easy victory over the surprised Poles. Wojciech Najsarek, a Polish soldier, was killed by machine-gun fire, the first victim of both the battle and war. However, soon after crossing the artillery-breached brick wall, the attackers suddenly came into a well-prepared ambush. German soldiers found themselves caught in a kill zone of Polish crossfire from concealed firing points (the Germans believed they were also fired on by snipers hidden in the trees, but in reality that was not the case), while barbed wire entanglements effectively blocked quick movements. The Poles knocked out a machine gun nest at the German Schupo and Lt. Leon Pajak opened intense howitzer fire on the advancing Germans who faltered and stopped their attack. The Field gun knocked out sniper machine-gun nests on top of the warehouses across the canal and almost knocked out the Schleswig-Holstein's command post but was destroyed by the ship's guns.
...
At 0622, the Marines frantically radioed the ship they had heavy losses and were withdrawing, Danzig Police had tried to seize control of the harbor on the other side of Westerplatte but were defeated. Casualties were 50 Germans and 8 Poles. The Germans tried again at 0855 but met mines, fallen trees, barbed wire and intense fire. By noon the SS men fled and Henningsen was mortally wounded. The initial assault was crushed and a second attack that morning (after an artillery barrage of 90 280 mm shells, 407 170 mm shells and 366 88 mm shells) was repelled as well, the Germans suffering unexpectedly high losses. The Poles eventually retreated from the Wał and Prom outposts (and for a time also from Fort), tightening the ring of defence around the New Barracks in the centre of the peninsula. On the first day of combat, the Polish side lost one man killed and seven wounded (three died later, including two of them who were captured and died in a German hospital). On the other side, the German naval infantry lost 16 killed in action and some 120 wounded (injuries of various gravity), the majority out of the 225 men deployed. The German losses would have been even greater if not for the order by the Polish commander, Major Henryk Sucharski, for the mortar crews to cease fire in order to conserve ammunition, issued after firing just a few salvos (because of this order only 104 out of their 860 shells were spent when the mortars were destroyed on the next day).

On the following days, the Germans bombarded the peninsula with naval and heavy field artillery, including a 210 mm howitzer, turning it into World War I-style moonscape. Eberhardt convinced General Fedor von Bock a ground attack was not possible. A devastating two-wave air raid by 60 Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers on September 2 (the total of 26.5 tons of bombs) took out the Polish mortars, directly hit guardhouse 5 (destroying it completely with a 500 kg bomb) and killed at least eight Polish soldiers; the air raid covered the whole area of Westerplatte in enormous clouds of smoke and destroyed their only radio and all their food supplies; German observers believed that no one could possibly have survived such bombing. On the night of 3–4 September more German attacks were repelled. On September 4 a German torpedo boat (T-196) made a surprise attack from the seaside. The "Wal" post had been abandoned and now only "Fort" position prevented an attack from the north side. On September 5, a shell-shocked Sucharski held a war council who urged Westerplatte was to surrender; his deputy, Captain Franciszek Dąbrowski, briefly took over command. Several cautious probing attacks by the German naval infantry, Danzig SS and police and Wehrmacht were again repulsed by the Poles; at 0300, during one of these attacks, they sent a firetrain against the land bridge, but failed when the terrified driver decoupled too early. It failed to reach the oil cistern and set ablaze the forest, valuable for cover. The flaming wagons gave a perfect field of fire and the Germans suffered heavy losses. A second fire-train attack came in the afternoon but it failed too. Instead in the meantime, Polskie Radio continuously broadcast the message "Westerplatte still fights on" in each morning of the battle. A second war council was held and the Major was set to surrender. After all, the German Army was now outside Warsaw and gangrene had started to appear among the wounded. At 0430 September 7, Germans opened intense fire on Westerplatte which lasted to 0700. Flamethrowers destroyed Guardhouse 2 and damaged 1 and 4. The besieged garrison lacked sufficient water and medical supplies; Cpt. Mieczysław Słaby, the WST medical officer, was unable to maintain basic care of wounded soldiers.

At 0945 the white flag appeared; the Polish defense impressed the Germans so much that the German commander, General Friedrich-Georg Eberhardt (who later became the military governor of Kiev during the Soviet-German War), allowed Sucharski to retain his ceremonial szabla (Polish sabre) in captivity (it was apparently confiscated later). At the same time Polish wireless operator Kazimierz Rasiński was murdered by Germans after the capitulation; after brutal interrogation, he refused to hand over radio codes and was shot.

Sucharski surrendered the post to Kleikamp and the Germans paraded in full order when the Polish garrison marched out, still proud and erect. In all, approximately 3,400 Germans were tied up by being engaged in the week-long action against the small Polish garrison.
...
The exact figures of German losses remain unknown, but are now often estimated to be in range of 200 to 300 killed and wounded or sometimes more. Some of them might be actually hit by friendly fire, in particular from the battleship which was initially anchored too close to its target. About 30-50 German troops were reportedly killed. Polish casualties were much lower, including 15 to 20 killed and 53 wounded. There's a controversy regarding the burial site discovered in 1940, containing the bodies of five unidentified Polish soldiers who were possibly executed by their comrades for attempted desertion. Eight of the prisoners of war also said to have not survived German captivity.

Even the Germans saw it - Fullbore.

Diversity Thursday

I had a lot of fun reading JQP last week. I wanted to bring it over to the Navy side of the house for ya'll that don't go there on a regular basis to review.

Tony brought out in to the light a practice of official racial quota mongering that has been going on for years. So long, that people are blind to the raw racist nature of it all. 

Even though there is a lot of, "What is the big deal. We've been doing this for years.." going on, those doing it though know it is wrong, why else would they say the following? You know they feel dirty.

Make sure and read it all at JPQ and a follow bit over at AirForceTimes.

What if the Colonel is half African American? 1/4? 1/8? What if he is more like Shaun King than M.L. King?

Of course, it is all dirty. It is all beneath the dignity of our nation, regardless of how long it has been done ... as if that has ever been an excuse for doing the wrong thing.

It just says that the USAF assumes that you need a minority to evaluate a minority - that the Colonels they select are, as a group, just a cabal of racists, sexists and any other insult the self preening queens of condescension want to throw their way.

That poor guy and gal too.  "Oh hi guys!  I'm the token!"

Sad and abusive - but that is what you get when a 1970s mindset running wild in the middle of the second decade of the 21st Century.

Women, Clocks, and Things Left Unsaid

I'm covering all three over at USNIBlog ... come give it a read.

Well, everyone but URR that is.