Monday, July 13, 2020
Dept of the Navy needs a serious back to basics movement...not radical change
The recent fire on the prize of the Navy, the BHR, illustrates a few things to me. The most significant? That the Dept of the Navy (to include the United States Marine Corps) needs a back to basics movement, not radical change.
We've all lived thru the "transformation" era that gave us pie in the sky development programs. Rumsfeld (presumably to seal his legacy after it became apparent that both Afghanistan and Iraq would become quagmires) pushed for weapon systems that to this day have failed to deliver.
In the meantime I've sensed a 'rudderless' ship at the DON and more widely at the DoD in general.
The push to modernize is causing current issues. Maintenance chief among them.
The solution to all this is to make sure you get the little things right. To have the ordinary tasks done at an exceptional level.
To become a proper military force again instead of business enterprise.
There is no easy way for military affairs. It's hard work all the time and there are no shortcuts. Unfortunately it seems that leadership in their zeal to grasp the future is short changing the present.
This must be reversed.
The good that can come out of this fire?
A re-dedication to excellence in all things. A rekindling of the martial spirit that has been the way of the USMC and USN. A realization that there is no easy way.
Confidence is not high but I can hope.
We've all lived thru the "transformation" era that gave us pie in the sky development programs. Rumsfeld (presumably to seal his legacy after it became apparent that both Afghanistan and Iraq would become quagmires) pushed for weapon systems that to this day have failed to deliver.
In the meantime I've sensed a 'rudderless' ship at the DON and more widely at the DoD in general.
The push to modernize is causing current issues. Maintenance chief among them.
The solution to all this is to make sure you get the little things right. To have the ordinary tasks done at an exceptional level.
To become a proper military force again instead of business enterprise.
There is no easy way for military affairs. It's hard work all the time and there are no shortcuts. Unfortunately it seems that leadership in their zeal to grasp the future is short changing the present.
This must be reversed.
The good that can come out of this fire?
A re-dedication to excellence in all things. A rekindling of the martial spirit that has been the way of the USMC and USN. A realization that there is no easy way.
Confidence is not high but I can hope.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
US Navy LHD on fire at San Diego..
Thanks to Vodknar for the link!
Geez. The hits keep coming.
UPDATE...they're talking explosions and I'm watching this on TV. This ship is looking like a total write-off. If not then its gonna be years to repair it. Scratch one big deck LHD. This is ominous. If we're losing ships in port then how will they stand up to actual anti-ship missiles. How combat capable are modern warships when it comes to taking hits?
Another consideration is whether there are more munitions aboard ship. If so then we could see something catastrophic if they go up. We'll get the answer if they tow it out to sea. That means that the fire can't be contained, they can't get the munitions off and they're worried about damage in the community.
Supposedly this has been going since around 10am this morning. A couple more hours should tell the tale.
More views of the #fire burning now on board US #Navy amphibious ship USS #BONHOMME RICHARD LHD6 at 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego. Reports so far indicate 3 sailors, 1 SDFD fireman injured. At the moment the fire seems to be growing pic.twitter.com/icPblRJOEV— Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) July 12, 2020
Geez. The hits keep coming.
UPDATE...they're talking explosions and I'm watching this on TV. This ship is looking like a total write-off. If not then its gonna be years to repair it. Scratch one big deck LHD. This is ominous. If we're losing ships in port then how will they stand up to actual anti-ship missiles. How combat capable are modern warships when it comes to taking hits?
Another consideration is whether there are more munitions aboard ship. If so then we could see something catastrophic if they go up. We'll get the answer if they tow it out to sea. That means that the fire can't be contained, they can't get the munitions off and they're worried about damage in the community.
Supposedly this has been going since around 10am this morning. A couple more hours should tell the tale.
SNAFU! Blog & Open Source Intelligence...
For most of my readers this is gonna be a 101 course that isn't necessary. For those folks I ask your patience. The rest of the class listen up! This blog seeks information from a variety of sources. We seek information so that we can be ahead of the curve when it comes to news. We can't do it all which is why I seek tips from readers but we try.
What we're trying to do is a low level form of "Open Source Intelligence". via Wikipedia...
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is data collected from publicly available sources to be used in an intelligence context.[1] In the intelligence community, the term "open" refers to overt, publicly available sources (as opposed to covert or clandestine sources). It is not related to open-source software or collective intelligence.By seeking tips from ALL sources...Chinese, Russian, Turkish, Syrian, Iranian, S. Korean, Japanese, Singaporean, Australian, British and everything in between we're seeking to keep ahead of pack.
OSINT under one name or another has been around for hundreds of years. With the advent of instant communications and rapid information transfer, a great deal of actionable and predictive intelligence can now be obtained from public, unclassified sources.
So when you see a tweet posted on this page talking about an attack on a US convoy in Syria and that tweet has verbiage that is obviously inflammatory, insulting and disrespectful to our nation and to our forces YOU SHOULD be able to look past that part of the story and focus in on the fact that SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE is claiming that our forces got hit in that shit hole!
The rest of it doesn't matter and is of no consequence.
The focus should be on whether or not our men and women were attacked in a land far away!
That's the secret to this stuff. You have to sift thru the sand to find the nuggets of gold that might be hidden in it.
Open source intel is something that we do, our allies and enemies all engage in. Bloggers should too. The magic of the internet is wasted if we can use it to be informed!
The return of French forces to Lithuania is reflected in the deployment of 5 Leclerc tanks, 14 VBCI and 5 VAB .
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Its a bit lighter than the armor that we once put afloat with our MEU's but the similarities are striking.
We gave up alot when we adopted Berger's New Marine Corps...
Hasm 2020...Egypt drops paratroopers to secure beach ahead of an amphibious assault
This is the Latest Hasm 2020 Video released by the MOD.— 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔥 🇪🇬 (@TheExiledHuman) July 11, 2020
I have translated it, will post the three parts below.
Part 1 pic.twitter.com/2f7FIyk5DZ
Wow. The Egyptians are doing what I called for a couple of years ago. Teaming their elite, rapid deployment forces for max effect. A Marine Expeditionary Unit should have practiced teaming with a brigade from the 82nd Airborne long ago.
Even with current battle plans (what little we know of them), Paratroopers could be used to secure areas for the new Missile Marine Corps to launch from.
This is undoubtedly the future. Marine Air might transport Army Soldiers to secure launching points for HIMARS. With the threat from HQMC towards the AH-1Z, we might see Army Apaches become navalized to work from soon to be redundant big deck LHAs (assuming they aren't doing work as Lightning Carriers).
The Marine Corps Ground Combat Element is dead. Long live the Army Combat Team.
Strategic Army Corps...Skilled, Tough, Ready Around The Clock!
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Hardcore Indian Special Forces Soldier...
Paratrooper Amit Kumar of 4 PARA SF Indian Army. He took 15 bullets but still managed to get up and kill the jihadi terroris pic.twitter.com/rZwVZPGTTM— SPADEX (@Amansin40578878) July 11, 2020
Battle Group Poland conducts Bull Run 12...Pics by Spc. Justin Stafford
Germany is a "better" tour but Poland will be a better training opportunity...
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