Saturday, February 11, 2012

Scout Swimmers....

Swimming fins?  Check.

Full combat gear?  Check.

Arriving ahead of the assault force?  Check.

So you were doubting me when I said that we have elements of Force Recon/Recon scattered throughout the "conventional" Marine Corps?!  ANGLICO does it like Force...by air and sea and they're a call for fire specialist group...pretty darn useful and a Force mission.  Oh and they can operate behind lines.  Scout Swimmers.  Same.  Radio Recon.  Same.  Scout Snipers.  Without a doubt.  But I digress.  Check out these Marines practicing the skillset.  Oh and someone needs to clean that damn beach!
HAT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand-Marines from Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, scout a beach in advance of the initial wave of the Royal Thai, U.S. bilateral boat raid here Feb. 07. The Marines conducted this training during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012, the 31st iteration of an annual multilateral exercise designed to increase interoperability with participating nations in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl Justin R. Wheeler/released), Cpl. Justin R. Wheeler, 2/8/2012 9:28 A
HAT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand-Marines from Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, advance on a beach during the Royal Thai, U.S. bilateral boat raid here Feb. 07. The Marines conducted this training during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012, the 31st iteration of an annual multilateral exercise designed to increase interoperability with participating nations in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl Justin R. Wheeler/released), Cpl Justin R. Wheeler, 2/8/2012 9:30 AM
HAT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand-Marines from Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, charge a beach and provide security during the Royal Thai, U.S. bilateral boat raid here Feb. 07. The Marines conducted this training during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012, the 31st iteration of an annual multilateral exercise designed to increase interoperability with participating nations in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl Justin R. Wheeler/released), Cpl. Justin R. Wheeler, 2/8/2012 9:31 AM

Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Mar Div does MOUT training.

CAB is doing MOUT training out at Cobra Gold.  I hope 3rd MEF is doing some serious planning.  The Pacific will prove to be a much more complex fighting environment than anything the US has faced in the last 50 years.  Only the fighting in Vietnam will compare.

Why do I say that?

Because you'll see some of the most technologically advanced forces (and I'm not talking about China yet) squared off over the sea, in the jungle and inside some highly populated cities.  Add to it the travesty that is the "total war concept" meaning that WE (the actual fighting units) bring into theater State Dept personnel, Justice Dept personnel, the alphabet soup of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies and mix that up with will probably be restrictive, politically correct, liberal/tying the hands of the warfighter rules of engagement and we're looking at trouble in a handbag.

Oh and did I mention that we're going to be doing this fighting with smaller land, air and sea forces?  Did I forget to mention that if you do it right, jungle and urban warfare are extremely manpower intensive?  Did I remember to mention that jungles and cities are nightmares for one of our remaining areas of superiority...helicopters?

Yeah...I'm very happy that CAB is practicing this skill set.  As a matter of fact the more I think about it the more I think even HQ Navy and Marine Corps finally deserves a pat on the back.  The response to the "ss" flag was spot on and the training evolutions are a direct and positive turn to the future.  Good job.  Now let us roll our sleeves again.
BAN CHAM KREM, Kingdom of Thailand -Sgt. Kyle J. Becker, team leader with Force Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, conducts professional military education alongside Royal Thai Marines here Feb. 8. Cobra Gold is a recurring multinational and multiservice exercise co-hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand and the U.S. designed to advance regional security by exercising a multinational force from nations sharing common goals and security commitments in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders/released), Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders, 2/8/2012 5:28 AM
BAN CHAM KREM, Kingdom of Thailand-Royal Thai Marines practice weapons handling skills before advancing through the Military Operations on Urban Terrain town at the training area here Feb. 8 during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. Cobra Gold is a recurring multinational and multiservice exercise co-hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand and the U.S. designed to advance regional security by exercising a multinational force from nations sharing common goals and security commitments in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders/released), Brandon L. Saunders, 2/8/2012 5:30 AM
BAN CHAM KREM, Kingdom of Thailand -Marines attached to Training Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, clear buildings during Military Operations on Urban Terrain training here Feb. 8. during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. Cobra Gold is a recurring multinational and multiservice exercise co-hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand and the U.S. designed to advance regional security by exercising a multinational force from nations sharing common goals and security commitments in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders/released), Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders, 2/8/2012 5:35 AM
BAN CHAM KREM, Kingdom of Thailand -Marines attached to Training Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, clear buildings during Military Operations on Urban Terrain training here Feb. 8. during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. Cobra Gold is a recurring multinational and multiservice exercise co-hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand and the U.S. designed to advance regional security by exercising a multinational force from nations sharing common goals and security commitments in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders/released), Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders, 2/8/2012 5:36 AM
BAN CHAM KREM, Kingdom of Thailand -Royal Thai Marines practice weapons handling skills before advancing through the Military Operations on Urban Terrain town at the training area here Feb. 8 during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. Cobra Gold is a recurring multinational and multiservice exercise co-hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand and the U.S. designed to advance regional security by exercising a multinational force from nations sharing common goals and security commitments in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders/released), Sgt. Brandon L. Saunders, 2/8/2012 5:49 AM

LM Havoc, BAE Super AV, Piranha III and MPC contest....quiet before the storm.

Photos courtesy of Mattis via Flickr




Man!  I thought the Canadian TAPV program was operating under the radar.  But compared to the Marine Corps Personnel Carrier competition, the Canadian program is as open to public viewing as the sun is on a cloudless day.

A couple of issues...

1.  A little birdy told me that the revised Request For Proposals was out.  To be precise it came out Tues of this week.
2.  The Iveco Super AV 8x8 (built with BAE) remains a mystery.  I found out that its being developed at the BAE facility in Ontario, CA.  Nothing to be found on either the BAE or Iveco website on this vehicle though.  That's really different from the way that BAE has operated in the past.  They were once the 500 pound gorilla in the room and didn't care who knew what about whatever they were developing.  I take this as an indication of how serious these competitions have become.  Paychecks and jobs are on the line and its no laughing matter.
3.  The Lockheed Martin/Patria Havoc has some fans in the Marine Corps.  The AAV crewmen that got a chance to work up the vehicle in Pendleton are extremely pleased with it.  Full disclosure, I'm a fan of the AMV and the Havoc model seems to build on that success.
4.  Another potential competitor that's missing in action is General Dynamics.  I fully expect them to offer a Piranha model (Stryker lite) but information on what they're working on is also embargoed.  This is the dark horse in the competition in my opinion.  But the Piranha III is in service with the Spanish and Brazilian Marine Corps (just to name two of the customers) and is used in much the same way I see the USMC using it.  Amphibious operations second, troop mobility first.
5.  I still wonder what the game plan is with these vehicles.  Its obvious that they'll probably come into service but does this mean that the Marine Corps has given up on the amphibious tractor?  You just can't beat the mobility that comes with tracks and how do you set up your assault battalions with MPCs?  Correction, more importantly how would they slice out to the MEU's????  Instead of say 40 tracks do you now go out with an even split?  Or do you bias it more to wheels in the desert and tracks in the Pacific?

Regardless, I contacted Paul McCleary (well to be honest I posted a question on his blog about the MPC) and he said...


User Image
Solomon wrote:
ok Paul...help me out. i've been sitting on the fact that the RFP for the Marine Personnel Carrier program is out (the revised version) and can find no funding information on it.

everyone is closed mouth about it. i asked your guy in Italy for info on the Iveco Super AV 8x8 but he never got back.

can you give me a little visibility on that program and whether or not the Super AV is just vapor ware or not?
2/11/2012 4:11 PM CST


User Image
Paul McLeary wrote:
Shhhh. I actually had a conversation about this recently. More very soon.

So I guess we wait and see. My contacts are exhausted...although I will make another run at the Marine Personnel Carrier program office.

24th MEU. They're doing an essential task but it still feels like fire watch!

All photos by Sgt. Richard Blumenstein
Pfc. Joseph Swidarski, a rifleman with Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, holds security on the side of the ship during a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force training exercise, Feb 10. While at sea, Marines and Sailors must be prepared to guard the ship whenever it passes a danger area or when there may be an increased threat to the force. The training exercise was a smaller part of the 24th MEU's Certification Exercise (CERTEX) with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, scheduled Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, which includes a series of missions intended to evaluate and certify the unit for their upcoming deployment.
Lance Cpl. Earl Sproul, a rifleman with Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, holds security during a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force training exercise, Feb 10. While at sea, Marines and Sailors must be prepared to guard the ship whenever it passes a danger area or when there may be an increased threat to the force. The training exercise was a smaller part of the 24th MEU's Certification Exercise (CERTEX) with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, scheduled Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, which includes a series of missions intended to evaluate and certify the unit for their upcoming deployment.

Cpl. Stephen Rockwell, a rifleman with Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and Seaman Ricky Donaldson, an information system technologist with the USS Gunston Hall, hold security on the top of the ship during a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force training exercise, Feb 10. While at sea, Marines and Sailors must be prepared to guard the ship whenever it passes a danger area or when there may be an increased threat to the force. The training exercise was a smaller part of the 24th MEU's Certification Exercise (CERTEX) with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, scheduled Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, which includes a series of missions intended to evaluate and certify the unit for their upcoming deployment.
Lance Cpl. Andrew Vaughn, a rifleman with Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, holds security during a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force training exercise, Feb 10. While at sea, Marines and Sailors must be prepared to guard the ship whenever it passes a danger area or when there may be an increased threat to the force. The training exercise was a smaller part of the 24th MEU's Certification Exercise (CERTEX) with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, scheduled Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, which includes a series of missions intended to evaluate and certify the unit for their upcoming deployment.

Lance Cpl. Neil Lipon and Pfc. Kyler Ramsey, machine gunners with Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit hold security on the ship's flight deck during a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force training exercise, Feb 10. While at sea, Marines and Sailors must be prepared to guard the ship whenever it passes a danger area or when there may be an increased threat to the force. The training exercise was a smaller part of the 24th MEU's Certification Exercise (CERTEX) with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, scheduled Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, which includes a series of missions intended to evaluate and certify the unit for their upcoming deployment.
Lance Cpl. Alex Krieger and Pfc. Jason Otero, machine gunners with Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, hold security during a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force training exercise, Feb 10. While at sea, Marines and Sailors must be prepared to guard the ship whenever it passes a danger area or when there may be an increased threat to the force. The training exercise was a smaller part of the 24th MEU's Certification Exercise (CERTEX) with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, scheduled Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, which includes a series of missions intended to evaluate and certify the unit for their upcoming deployment.
Cpl. Ryan Kretschmer, a machine gunner with Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, holds security during a Defense of the Amphibious Task Force training exercise, Feb 10. While at sea, Marines and Sailors must be prepared to guard the ship whenever it passes a danger area or when there may be an increased threat to the force. The training exercise was a smaller part of the 24th MEU's Certification Exercise (CERTEX) with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, scheduled Jan. 27 to Feb. 17, which includes a series of missions intended to evaluate and certify the unit for their upcoming deployment.

Scout Snipers evolving into a Recon element.

Let me be careful in the way I say this.

It appears that Scout Snipers are evolving into a bit more than originally envisioned.  By that I mean that you're seeing them operate more in platoon strength, you're seeing them taking on missions that were once the sole reserve of Recon, and you see commanders embracing that more and more.

I think its nothing but a positive.  In the story below they're attached to the Assault Battalion but if a little further experimentation takes place and they're allowed to helo or motor or swim in ahead of the assault phase then you already have your replacements for Recon.

And we do sort of anyway.

We have scout swimmers with boat company.

We have UAV's that operate off amphibs.

We have scout snipers.

We have ANGLICO.

We have Radio Recon.

We have an assortment of units inside the MEU that dab at the RECON/Force RECON mission already.  Time to make the jump and let RECON/Force RECON go full time to MARSOC and focus on making the MEU as robust and Special Operations Capable as possible.

More often than not our forces will be either at the location of an incident or able to arrive before SOCOM can gather its bags.  Time to put the SOC back into the MEU.

It is that bias for action which makes Guzman and the rest of the SSP (Scout Sniper Platoon) such an invaluable resource.
“They act as our reconnaissance and surveillance asset whenever we are to assault an objective,” said 1st Lt. Scott Whipple, AAV commander with Co. B., BLT 1/4, 31st MEU. “If we’re coming onto an unknown beach area, they’re absolutely vital to our mission success, being the ones to scout out the area and relay valuable info back to us. If not for them, a big portion of an operation would be a guessing game.”

31st MEU raid pics @ Cobra Gold.


F-35. Still even, maybe ahead.

via Reuters.

* Italian defense minister to outline cuts to lawmakers Wednesday
* Italy to cut order to 100 from 131 -newspaper
By Steve Scherer
ROME, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Italy seems certain to scale back its major investment in Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, heightening uncertainty over the troubled stealth jet's future.
Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola has said repeatedly since January that the country's originally planned order of the 131 supersonic warplanes by 2018 was being "reviewed" because military spending cuts were necessary as part of Prime Minister Mario Monti's austerity plan to shore up public accounts.
General Claudio Debertolis, secretary general of the Defence Ministry and the country's armaments chief, confirmed to lawmakers on Tuesday that cuts were expected.
"There will be a revision of this Joint Strike Fighter programme to align it with disposable resources," he said.
Italy will ask for about 30 fewer planes, Corriere della Sera daily reported on Friday, without citing its source. Panorama magazine gave the same number on Jan. 18.
Government sources and lawmakers told Reuters that it was premature to say how many of the F-35 fighters Italy will order because of uncertainty over the version of the aircraft designed for short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL).
This version is supposed to replace ageing Harrier jets on Italy's new hi-tech Cavour aircraft carrier.
No big deal at all.

First they're gonna buy the full sum of F-35B's to be operated off the Cavour...

Second, between the plus up by Turkey (they're buying 120 total F-35's) and Japan coming onboard, along with S. Korea (probably) and Singapore (almost assuredly) then you have a program that is still ahead.

The USMC is all in, the USAF (maybe at the expense of current fighter squadrons) is all in and I really think the USN is just suffering from undue caution due to a lingering hang over from the A-12 fiasco but will also climb aboard eventually.

Long story short.  31 fewer airplanes from the Italians is no big deal.

Modest proposal. SOCOM acquires retired A-10's.


The USAF is retiring a batch of A-10's.

SOCOM needs robust air support.

My modest proposal?  SOCOM takes on a squadron or two of A-10's!

If SOCOM is going to take back missions it once performed (training foreign troops for example), if they're going to be used in lieu of conventional forces (meaning that they will take on missions once reserved for conventionals) then perhaps they need a squadron of dedicated close air support.

Not the ineffectual support provided by UAVs but the robust support provided by A-10's.  The A-10 can provide air support, escort of the helicopters and can provide eyes on target with the latest upgraded model.

This is really a no brainer.  SOCOM would be better served by the A-10 than with a A-29.

The 31st MEU supports Thai allies in mechanized raid



Seems like they've moved past the civics projects and are getting to the training aspects.  Different subject but I'm curious.  Do Marines rate Humanitarian medals because of those projects?

Friday, February 10, 2012

911 is a joke. Justifiable homicides explode in Detroit.

via The Daily.  Read the whole thing --- then buy yourself a Glock.  You'll probably need it.
The people of Detroit are taking no prisoners.

Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And they’re offering no apologies.

“We got to have a little Old West up here in Detroit. That’s what it’s gonna take,” Detroit resident Julia Brown told The Daily.


The last time Brown, 73, called the Detroit police, they didn’t show up until the next day. So she applied for a permit to carry a handgun and says she’s prepared to use it against the young thugs who have taken over her neighborhood, burglarizing entire blocks, opening fire at will and terrorizing the elderly with impunity.

“I don’t intend to be one of their victims,” said Brown, who has lived in Detroit since the late 1950s. “I’m planning on taking one out.”

How it got this bad in Detroit has become a point of national discussion. Violent crime settled into the city’s bones decades ago, but recently, as the numbers of police officers have plummeted and police response times have remained distressingly high, citizens have taken to dealing with things themselves.

In this city of about 700,000 people, the number of cops has steadily fallen, from about 5,000 a decade ago to fewer than 3,000 today. Detroit homicides — the second-highest per capita in the country last year, according to the FBI — rose by 10 percent in 2011 to 344 people.

On a bleak day in January, a group of funeral directors wearied by the violence drove a motorcade of hearses through the city streets in protest.

Average police response time for priority calls in the city, according to the latest data available, is 24 minutes. In comparable cities across the country, it is well under 10 minutes.

Citizens like Brown feel they have been left with little choice but to take the law into their own hands.

The number of justifiable homicides, in which residents use deadly force in self-defense, jumped from 19 in 2010 to 34 last year — a 79 percent rise — according to newly released city data.

Signs that vigilantism was taking hold in the city came earlier, around Memorial Day 2009, when former federal agent Alvin Davis decided he’d had enough of the break-ins at his mother’s home on the east side. She called the police again and again, but the brazen robberies continued. Davis, then a 32-year-old Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, snapped.

Prosecutors said he spent days chasing and harassing the teenagers who were allegedly robbing his mother, even shoving his federally issued firearm into one of their mouths. No one was killed, but by the time he was done, Davis had racked up charges of unlawful imprisonment and assault. In August 2010, he was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.

But many residents in his mother’s Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood are sympathetic to Davis, whose case is on appeal.

“He basically did what a lot of us wished we could do,” said Ken Gray, 58, who lives down the street from Davis’ mother.

One high-ranking official in the county legal system, speaking to The Daily, said the rise in justifiable homicides mirrors a local court system that’s increasingly lenient of the practice.

“It’s a lot more acceptable now to get your own retribution,” the official said. “And the justice system in the city is a lot more understanding if people do that. It‘s becoming a part of the culture.”

Detroiters are arming themselves with shotguns and handguns and buying guard dogs. Anything to take care of their own. And privately, residents say neighborhood watch groups in Detroit are widely armed.


“It’s like the militiamen who stepped up way back when. That’s where the neighborhood folks are," said James “Jackrabbit” Jackson, a 63-year-old retired Detroit cop who has patrolled the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood for years.

“They’re ready to fight,” Jackson said. “We don’t hardly see police anymore.”

The city’s wealthier enclaves have hired private security firms. Intimidating men in armored trucks patrol streets lined with gracious old homes in a scene more likely seen in Mexico City than the United States.

That kind of paid protection can run residents anywhere from $10 to $200 per month, and companies say business is good.

“We’re booming,” said Dale Brown, the owner of Threat Management Group, which along with Recon Security patrols neighborhoods like Palmer Woods in black Hummers.

“We’re paramilitary, but we’re positive. I’m not a vigilante. I’m an agent of change.”

The Detroit Police Department, grappling with deep funding cuts in a city with a spiraling budget crisis, acknowledges that response times are high and says it is working on a plan to lower them. But a spokeswoman for the department insists the rise in justifiable homicides is unrelated.

“It’s not about police response time because often the act has already taken place by the time the police are called,” said Sgt. Eren Stephens. She said citizens have a right to defend themselves.

“Anytime a life is lost, we’re concerned,” she said. “But we can‘t be on every corner in front of every home. And we know that there are citizens who will do what they have to do to protect themselves.”

That’s the terrifying position in which Kevin Early found himself in November when he was held up at gunpoint outside his home in the upper-middle-class Rosedale Park area. Neighbors called the police, but it was 25 minutes before an officer arrived.

Early, the director of the criminal justice studies program at the University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus, reasoned with the men for more than 20 minutes before he sensed they were about to shoot him in the head — then he ran. As his attackers fled in the opposite direction, neighbors emerged from the street’s stately homes with shotguns.

“All I could think of was my daughter coming home,” Early said. “I didn’t want her to see me shot dead.”

Weeks later, Early packed up his home and left Detroit. He hired Threat Management to supervise the move.

“Where else do the police come to your house after you’ve been robbed and ask you, ‘Why did you call us?’ ”

Mara.Gay@thedaily.com

You have got to be shitting me! USS Giffords?

via CDR Salamander.

I'll let him tell the tale.
Don't blog angry!" Well, again, I am ignoring my own advice. Here we go. I will want to reword this in an hour, but I won't. Want unfiltered Sal? Well, here you go.

What confidence I once had in the SECNAV gone, broken, unable to be supported. I was a fool to give him the benefit of the doubt. This is the last straw.

Small things do matter - as they often support much larger and critical things.


Ship names mean nothing anymore. The vacuousness, vapidity, and morally rudderless nature of our present leadership is out there clear as day for all to see. I don't even think they know it.

Naming a ship after that bucket of goo MURTHA was bad enough.


Rep. Giffords (D-AZ) was/is a fine public servant and her husband is a Navy astronaut. She was shot in the head by an insane person. None of the above rate having a Navy ship named after you. Announced on a Friday afternoon - I think even the Navy is ashamed of this classic case of immature pandering to the Overclass.
First off I know that Giffords is a crime victim.

I know she served her country in her own way.

But this break from tradition is disgusting.

This is a terrible precedent.  The Democrats are doing the same thing that all political parties do when they sense power slipping away.  They over reach and start doing feel good things.  You saw it in the run up to the election that brought Obama to power.  The Republicans starting doing silly things.  The Dems are doing it now.

November can't get here soon enough.

Cobra Gold already in the assault phase.

HAT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand-Republic of Korea Marines rush from an amphibious assault vehicle during an assault on a beach during exercise Cobra Gold 2012 here, Feb. 10. The U.S. Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Royal Thai and Republic of Korea Marines conducted the multilateral assault to further strengthen the interoperability among the nations. The 31st MEU is the only continuously forward-deployed MEU and remains the nation’s force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region., Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright, 2/9/2012 7:00 PM
AT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand-A U.S. Marine with Company B., Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, provides security alongside Republic of Korea Marines during exercise Cobra Gold 2012 here, Feb. 10. The U.S. Marines of the 31st MEU, Royal Thai and Republic of Korea Marines conducted the multilateral assault to further strengthen the interoperability among the nations. The 31st MEU is the only continuously forward-deployed MEU and remains the nation’s force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region., Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright, 2/10/2012 7:34 AM
AT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand-U. S. Marines from Company B., Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, alongside Royal Thai Marines engage a simulated enemy during the amphibious assault portion of exercise Cobra Gold 2012 here, Feb. 10. The U.S. Marines of the 31st MEU, Royal Thai and Republic of Korea Marines conducted the multilateral assault to further strengthen the interoperability among the nations. The 31st MEU is the only continuously forward-deployed MEU and remains the nation’s force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region., Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright, 2/9/2012 7:00 PM
AT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand -Royal Thai Marines exit an amphibious assault vehicle and begin securing the beach here, Feb. 10. The Royal Thai Marines were conducting a multilateral amphibious assault with U.S. and Republic of Korea Marines during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. CG 2012 demonstrates the resolve of the U.S. and participating nations to increase interoperability and promote security and peace throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The 31st MEU is the U.S.’s expeditionary force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region., Cpl. Garry J. Welch, 2/10/2012 6:31 AM
AT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand -Royal Thai Marines push forward as CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262, 1st Marine Air Wing, fly overhead during an amphibious assault here, Feb. 10. The multilateral assault included Royal Thai, Republic of Korea and U.S. Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and was conducted during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. CG 2012 demonstrates the resolve of the U.S. and participating nations to increase interoperability and promote security and peace throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The 31st MEU is the U.S.’s expeditionary force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region., Cpl. Garry J. Welch, 2/10/2012 6:33 AM
AT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand -Marines with Company B, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, exit an amphibious assault vehicle and begin to secure the beach here, Feb. 10. The assault was a multilateral exercise that included Royal Thai, Republic of Korea and U.S. Marines, and was conducted during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. CG 2012 demonstrates the resolve of the U.S. and participating nations to increase interoperability and promote security and peace throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The 31st MEU is the U.S.’s expeditionary force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region., Cpl. Garry J. Welch, 2/10/2012 6:34 AM
AT YAO, Kingdom of Thailand -A Marine with Company B, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, provides security during an amphibious assault here, Feb. 10. The assault was a multilateral exercise that included Royal Thai, Republic of Korea and U.S. Marines, and was conducted during Exercise Cobra Gold 2012. CG 2012 demonstrates the resolve of the U.S. and participating nations to increase interoperability and promote security and peace throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The 31st MEU is the U.S.’s expeditionary force in readiness in the Asia-Pacific region., Cpl. Garry J. Welch, 2/10/2012 6:35 AM