I don't think it's too early to start doing a "lesson's learned" with regard to this monster pandemic that China unleashed on us.
There are several individual/societal lessons to be gleamed from this incident. These are a few I came up with and hopefully you guys will have many more.
1. Health is truly the new wealth. We have turned our economy on its head to protect the most vulnerable. We had the luxury of doing so this time. We might not the next. It is essential that you strengthen your body to handle the stress of not only everyday life but most importantly against disease. The most vulnerable were not just the "aged". It was those that had compromised systems due to some other malady. Unfortunately for Americans that included obesity, diabetes (related to obesity), compromised lungs from smoking/drug use, etc...What's out of your control you can't fix (disease based on genetics) but you do have control over how fat you are, how fit you are etc.
2.. Being prepared is no longer fringe. Watching the country erupt over freaking toilet tissue was comical. Sad but comical. Being prepared for supply disruption should be hard boiled into every US family. Not just cleaning supplies, but also food. Despite the panic, our supply system appears to be stumbling thru this crisis. It might not the next. Additionally I believe that the FEMA recommended 2 weeks supply is insufficient. A month should be the bare minimum. If nothing else this crisis proves that preparedness is the new hotness.
3. Financial discipline is essential. Again we saw the US govt bailing out corporations, sending money to individuals and reinforcing unemployment payments. We probably won't be able to do that the next time around. Having at least a month pay saved isn't gonna cut it. At least 3 months savings is essential now. Probably more like 6. Additionally considering the vulnerability exposed due to this short notice (gotta chest thump...this blog was monitoring this virus when it was raging in Wuhan!) emergency, the idea that any debt is reasonable has disappeared. Financial security will require the need to shed debt as soon as possible on a personal level and to live in such a way that being cut off from income for as long as at least 3 months is survivable without becoming homeless.
4. Personal security. We noticed a decrease in crime with this pandemic. We got lucky. Don't expect this to be the case next time around. Round 2 of this pandemic will probably see more draconian measures instituted sooner with more shortages and more desperate people. Gun sales increased but you should not wait for an emergency to prepare. Now is the time to access your inventory of weapons and ammo. If you don't have a concealed carry license then now is the time to get it. We didn't see it this time but I fully expect cities to experience societal collapse in various parts of the country when this rolls back around.
5. Societal response should include understanding that the economy cannot be sacrificed for a small, vulnerable portion of the population. Modern man has a problem with death. Death is inevitable. It is part of life. Am I saying that people are expendable? Not at all. But we should be measured in our response to the dangers of this disease, future disease and future mayhem. It must be understood that national survival trumps personal survival.
That's what I have off the top of my head. Anything to add? Did I get it wrong?
Sunday, April 05, 2020
The Marine Corps' Radical Shift toward China via CSIS.org
via CSIS (Read the entire report here). Click on pics to enlarge them.
Again this is a MUST READ! The most stunning part of the report?
No HedgingAnd then this.
When these proposed changes are fully implemented, the Marine Corps will be well structured to fight an island campaign in the Western Pacific against China. Although the NDS allows hedging against other adversaries and conflicts—North Korea, Iran, counterterrorism—the Marine Corps does not plan to do that. As General Berger stated in his guidance: “[This] single purpose-built future force will be applied against other challenges across the globe; however, we will not seek to hedge or balance our investments to account for those contingencies.”
The lack of hedging means that the Marine Corps will not field the broad set of capabilities it has in the past. It will be poorly structured to fight the kind of campaigns that it had to fight in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. The history of the last 70 years has been that the United States deters great power conflict and fights regional and stability conflicts. Although forces can adapt, as seen during the long counterinsurgency campaigns in the Middle East, there is a delay and an initial lack of expertise. The Marine Corps might plan to defer these conflicts to the Army, but that has not worked in the past. Army forces have been too small to keep the Marine Corps out of sustained ground combat.
Marine Corps officials have argued privately that other kinds of conflicts would be lesser included capabilities of this focus on high-end conflict in the Western Pacific. This is misplaced. History is littered with examples of militaries that prepared for one kind of conflict and then had to fight a very different kind of conflict. In the best circumstances, militaries adapt at the cost of time and blood. In the worst circumstances, the result is catastrophic failure.
For example, in the 1950s and early-1960s the U.S. Army focused on great power conflict in Europe against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. That Army then had to fight a counterinsurgency conflict in Southeast Asia. As Andrew Krepinevich argued, the Army was “a superb instrument for combating the field armies of its adversaries in conventional wars but an inefficient and ineffective force for defeating insurgent guerrilla forces.”
The Army and Navy use their reserve components to hedge against unexpected demands. Thus, their reserve components do not look like the active component but are imbalanced. For example, most of the Army’s medical, transportation, engineering, civil affairs, and psychological operations units are in the reserve component.
The new Marine Corps structure might have kept some tanks, towed artillery, bridging units, military police, or logistics in the reserves as a hedge against a future war involving ground combat against a national army or a counterinsurgency campaign. However, the plan does not include such hedges.
The Uncertain Viability of New War-fighting ConceptsThis is my greatest fear. Why haven't you seen distributed operations as a foundation of fighting in the past?
The final risk is whether this new war-fighting concept of distributed operations within the adversary’s weapons engagement zone will work. The Marine Corps has sensibly conducted a lot of war-gaming and satisfied itself that the concept will succeed. However, as Marines note, the enemy gets a vote. Maintaining small and vulnerable units deep inside an adversary’s weapons engagement zone will be challenging. Even small units need a continuous resupply with fuel and munitions. If that is not possible, or if the Chinese figure out a way to hunt these units down, the concept collapses.
Because small units can be hunted down and destroyed...rather easily by a competent foe. We saw that happen in Afghanistan to Special Operations Units and I believe, if this plan is implemented, that you'll see the Chinese locate, pin down and then conduct deliberate attacks to destroy these Marine Corps forces.
The same applies to our ships. Independent ship operations are fraught with danger. Once a lone ship is located. It will be focus fired into oblivion.
Regardless. Ignore my fears and read what CSIS has to say about this new concept.
Saturday, April 04, 2020
Solid advice on the pandemic via a pic from WW2...
Not sure if this is the real story behind this pic or not...but the message is clear. If you're in this pandemic and you can't control a jackass then at least avoid them. They're a bomb just waiting to go off!
China forced Italy to buy back the same PPE that Italy had donated to them during the crisis in Wuhan City...
NEW: A senior admin official tells me that China forced Italy to buy back the same PPE they had donated to China at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 4, 2020
"China then has sent Italian PPE back to Italy … and charged them for it," the official said.https://t.co/Skeyhffjv3
NSC staffers heard saying "we've got to do everything we can to take out the President"...
via Real Clear Investigations.
Two NSC co-workers told RCI that they overheard Ciaramella and Misko - who was also working at the NSC as an analyst - making anti-Trump remarks to each other while attending a staff-wide NSC meeting called by then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, where they sat together in the south auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex.Story here.
The “all hands” meeting, held about two weeks into the new administration, was attended by hundreds of NSC employees.
“They were popping off about how they were going to remove Trump from office. No joke,” said one ex-colleague, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
A military staffer detailed to the NSC, who was seated directly in front of Ciaramella and Misko during the meeting, confirmed hearing them talk about toppling Trump during their private conversation, which the source said lasted about one minute. The crowd was preparing to get up to leave the room at the time.
“After Flynn briefed [the staff] about what ‘America First’ foreign policy means, Ciaramella turned to Misko and commented, ‘We need to take him out,’ ” the staffer recalled. “And Misko replied, ‘Yeah, we need to do everything we can to take out the president.’ “
Added the military detailee, who spoke on condition of anonymity: “By ‘taking him out,’ they meant removing him from office by any means necessary. They were triggered by Trump’s and Flynn’s vision for the world. This was the first ‘all hands’ [staff meeting] where they got to see Trump’s national security team, and they were huffing and puffing throughout the briefing any time Flynn said something they didn’t like about ‘America First.’ ”
He said he also overheard Ciaramella telling Misko, referring to Trump, "We can’t let him enact this foreign policy."
Alarmed by their conversation, the military staffer immediately reported what he heard to his superiors.
Deep State confirmed.
The amphibious helicopter carrier Mistral has arrived in Mayotte to support local authorities in the fight against the Covid-19.
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Unexpected good news from the coronavirus pandemic. Mexican drug cartels are turning on each other...
The global coronavirus lockdown is making it hard for Mexican drug cartels to operate.— DW News (@dwnews) April 4, 2020
With borders shut and limited air traffic, cartels are turning on each other. https://t.co/fC21wYD8Xa
This is good and bad. The part of the population that are drug heads probably need to be "medicated" more than ever and are having a hard time getting their fix.
Too bad so bad. Consider this time a forced "clean up" period.
Live fire aboard the USS America...
U.S. @PacifcMarines with the @31stMEU, enhance interoperability with allies during a live-fire exercise aboard @USPacificFleet amphibious assault ship USS America #LHA6. #31MEU. #Lethality #Partnership #FreeandOpenIndoPacific. pic.twitter.com/DvJgoB3vQo— U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (@INDOPACOM) April 4, 2020
Is it just me or is the belt kit increasing dramatically? Any idea what the load out is?
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