Politics. Trump impeachment not exactly working as Dems expected...

Note.  Posting this simply as an informational.  From my chair the testimony I've heard sounds more like the National Security Establishment striking back rather than anything impeachable (what I find striking are all the statements from State Dept personnel whining over the idea that Trump would chart a different course...that he would choose to ignore the advice of so called Russia experts that have been proven wrong more times than not).  Of course your mileage may vary.  Regardless, there are political ramifications to this whole ordeal and those must be examined.  The article cited in the Tweet does just that.  Short story long?  Impeachment is not working as Dems expected.

“It Is Hard to Read This as Anything but a Warning”: New Polling Suggests Democrats’ Impeachment Push Could Alienate Key Voters | Vanity Fair https://t.co/HryEwX2ZZQ

— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) November 24, 2019

Armed Black Hawk - Multi-mission Lethality for the Attack

Open Comment Post. 23 Nov 2019

First female graduates Amphibious Recon Course. Superwoman, the men that went before were weak or she got pencil whipped...let's get real!

via Marine Corps Times.

The first female Marine has passed the Basic Reconnaissance Course and earned the 0321 reconnaissance Marine military occupational specialty, or MOS, the Marine Corps has confirmed.

Lance Cpl. Alexa Barth graduated from the grueling 12-week course Nov. 7, 1st Lt. Sam Stephenson, Marine Corps spokesman, confirmed to Marine Corps Times Thursday.

Barth still has a few more training schools to go through before joining her unit at 1st Recon Battalion at Camp Pendleton, California, said Maj. Kendra Motz, spokeswoman for 1st Marine Division. Barth is expected to arrive at her unit late spring 2020.

The BRC provides Marines “with the basic knowledge of reconnaissance doctrine, concepts, and techniques with emphasis on amphibious entry, extraction, beach reconnaissance, Combat Rubber Reconnaissance Craft (CRRC) operator skills and ground reconnaissance patrolling skills,” according to a slide attached to the Reconnaissance Training Company website.

Story here. 

Lock in people cause I'm gonna go there.  Send as much fire my way as you like but ya know what?  If I piss you off then I'm over the target.  If I make you mad then what I'm saying is hitting a soft spot.

In the words of General Mullen....DEAL WITH IT!

Let's dig in.

The first female has graduated the Basic Recon Course.  What does this mean?  As I see things we have three possibilities...

1.  She's superwoman.  This LCpl has strength and fortitude that thousands of men that went before her didn't have.  She was capable of dealing with a course that wipes people out during testing to GET TO THE COURSE! 

2.  The men that went before her were weak.  I've seen PT studs wash out of that course.  They sucked it up and moved on but the disappointment was there.  The desire was there.  I thought the work needed to pass was there.  So because they were weak in ways that I couldn't identify they were washed out.

3.  She got pencil whipped thru.  HQMC wanted a desired outcome and by hell or high water they would get that outcome.  If that means lowering standards then I can see someone with stars on their collar saying fuck it.  Lower the fucking standards.  SgtMaj so and so says but is that fair to the others?  General says DEAL WITH IT!!

Long story short?

I really don't which one of these possibilities it is.

I have my suspicions.

The terrible thing?

If my suspicions are true then its a MASSIVE slap in the face of all those guys that worked their asses off and didn't make it.

My biggest fear?

I don't think we're all equally worthless in the Corps anymore.  I think some are worth more now and that's a shame.

The F-35 promised payload vs the reality...

Thanks to BlackTail for the pic!

Even worse than what you see above is the reality that we're facing as 2019 comes to a close.

Many of the weapons that were promised for clearance by now still aren't.  Won't be till mid 2020's at best.

In short?

Our most advanced fighter is currently payload limited which means that it's target limited.

It might have the new car smell but its less capable against a range of targets than a long retired A-7D!

Open Comment Post. 22 Nov 2019

WTF is going on in the South China Sea?

Big #Breaking: There has been "An Incident" in the #SouthChinaSea -- RADIATION DETECTED!!!!

Nuclear submarine accident or a #Chinese nuke test?
Need further confirmation. Via @stevush5https://t.co/8M0urYmD5L

— IndoPacific_SCS_Info (@IndoPac_Info) November 21, 2019

My readers were talking about this madness at 0300 this morning and now I see it on my Twitter feed but nothing from the major networks.

WTF is going on?

Is this real?

Almost sounds like a sub had a catastrophic accident if its true.  Can't wait to find out what the real story is.

Convair Image Damaged Rocket Sled Dummy

Wrecked!  Glad this is a crash test dummy instead of a real human!

Pic of the day. Heavy gas, heavy weapons load Rafale heading out...

The French sure do build them pretty don't they?  Side note.  How can they build tanks with so much gas and everyone else seems to fail?

3 bidons (plus de 1.000L), 2 tri-bombes.
Lourd. https://t.co/ihoQcukPlA

— FdeStV (@Marsattaqueblog) November 18, 2019

China’s Coast Guard ... part of the Chinese Navy Battle Fleet that goes uncounted

via USNI News.

The rapid expansion of China’s Coast Guard gives Beijing the means to shift its sea expansion aims from aspirational to operational, a panel of security experts concurred during a Monday event detailing China’s maritime ambitions.

In vast stretches of sea, an area stretching from the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea to the Scarborough Shoals off the Phillippines in the South China Sea, China’s maritime forces are aggressively asserting claims to every landmass — natural or manmade — in this blue territory, the experts from several think tanks agreed while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

During the past few years, China’s Coast Guard increased the number of its intrusions into the waters around the uninhabited islands dotting the East China Sea that are also claimed by Taiwan, said Masahi Murano, a fellow at the Hudson Institute. The increase, Murano added, is, “because they are rapidly building Coast Guard vessels.”

Story here. 

The pic above?  China's monster coast guard ship that's bigger than a Burke or Brit Type 45.

The problem?

We use our own Coast Guard to roam far and wide.  From S. America over to the South China Sea, to the Persian Gulf and off the coast of Africa.

The conundrum?

They're doing the same.

The painful truth?

No one is counting Chinese Coast Guard hulls as part of their battle fleet.  Once you do then things get extremely...worrisome.

Want to set your hair on fire?

Add all the fishing boats and commercial shipping that will obviously flex into dual role assets (ie..break in case of war) and you have the beginnings of a naval scenario that will leave us in a world of hurt.

My solution?

It is essential that we bring back one piece of equipment to our ships.  We need the S-3 Vikings in the anti-surface, electronic warfare, scout plane role desperately.

We can't match them in shipping but we can get planes in the air and make our carriers more formidable.  Think about how much better our position would be if we had these two variants of the Viking flying right now!

Put them in both Marine Corps and Navy colors.  Have them fly off carriers, forward bases etc...hell even give a few to the Air Force if they'll have them and sell them to allies for pennies on the dollar (worthy allies...not Quislings that dot the planet).

We had it right in our past super power competition.  It's past time to dust off what worked instead of trying to flex our modern day "wonder weapons" into roles they're ill suited for.

Battle of Tarawa: Day One....Video by Cpl. Leynard Kyle Plazo

US Navy accepted delivery of its third Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ship, USNS Miguel Keith (ESB 5)

Story here.

I consider these ships to be an illustration of how "old" procurement clashes with new realities.

I've personally been calling for the ESB's to be paired along with MEU's to make them Reinforced.

A Reinforced MEU composed of a "Light Carrier", LHD, LPD, LX(R) x 2, and maybe an ESB augmented with increased artillery/ISR/anti-ship missiles and whatever else you want to throw into the mix would be a powerful and credible force entering the super power contest era we're in.

Instead we're going further down the rabbit hole of small, throw away (read that to mean expendable) ships when we know for a fact that we are NOT BUILT to have such a force!

Can you imagine the reaction of the Mothers Of America when they realize that their sons and GASP daughters are being placed on ships that the US Navy/Marine Corps considers "risk worthy"?

Someone isn't thinking this thru.

Additionally widely dispersed fleets are a nightmare to protect.  Ask the convoy sailors that tried the dispersed thing when the wolfpacks came calling.

With a small force (and trust me...we are down the road of a small force across the board), you can't afford to play cavalier games with it.

ESBs.

A great idea if we were only concerned with hunting terrorists.  The game has changed and we need to change our idea of using them.