Pic of the day. RAF Sea King Search and Rescue Helicopter.

K-MAX Mission Extended Indefinitely in Afghanistan

Northrop Grumman MAV-L

CDR Salamander is right.

CDR Salamander had this to say about the above vid...

As a watched this video, all I could think of is - they just got back from a 5-month deployment.
Look at the condition of the ships. Look at the uniforms and general squared away nature of the Sailors.
I'm sorry - but appearances matter and can tell you a lot about the rest of a Navy; just ask the Imperial Russian Navy after the Russian-Japanese War a bit over a century ago.
I don't know about you - but it makes me want a whole bunch of Chinese BM1s.

I had a few more take aways....

* Yeah.  Their ships look better coming off deployment than ours do heading out.
* Did you catch the belligerence concerning the disputed islands?  There will be trouble in this region soon.
* Did you catch the Officer sporting 782 gear and a Battle Rifle while in dress uniform?  That's old skool stuff.  I mean that's what the Marine Corps did during WW2.  That's an indication of a martial spirit that I fear we're losing.  Bad news for us.

Sal is right.  Appearances matter and as much as I hate to admit it, the Chinese Navy is looking good.  Warrior good.

Jungle Experts, Mountain Leaders, Desert Specialist but no regionally aligned units.

Jungle Expert Patch.

Mountain Leader School Logo (Summer and Winter package).

via Defense News.

Some of those BCTs will become regionally aligned brigades (RAB), which will train and deploy in support of regional combatant commanders. The first such brigade, the 2nd BCT of the 1st Infantry Division, will align with the AFRICOM command in 2013.
While the 2/1 deployment will be a pilot test, some leaders are concerned about how ready the force is to start conducting training, advising and other “soft” missions on such short notice.
In remarks at a Nov. 27 Special Operations conference in Alexandria, Va., hosted by the Defense Strategies Institute, Lt. Gen. Charles Cleveland, commander of the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command, said that while he supports the RAB concept, “I have cautioned the Army about all of those things like [teaching soldiers] language. It’s expensive.”
Cleveland added that in discussions with Army leadership, “I have told them that the first thing you need to do is increase your … exercise funds so you can increase multinational training events,” since building those relationships on the ground will be key to the success of the program.

The entire article is worth reading.  It initially concerns the draw down but quickly turns to the Army's future.

This is one trend that the Marine Corps should rethink and definitely NOT follow.

Left unsaid in this particular article (but not others) is the fact that the Army will essentially begin having specialist units that are capable of operating in a particular environment to great effect  but will be much less capable in others.

That is not how you create a force that is capable of landing and winning anywhere they are sent.

Regionally assigned units will eventually lead to weapons and equipment specialization that the Marine Corps cannot afford, and should not desire.  Instead of following the US Army's example we should continue on our current course and if possible enhance those capabilities by taking a page from the Royal Marines.

We already have Mountain Leaders, Scout Swimmers and other specialist throughout the Marine Corps.  We should expand that to create Officer and Enlisted area specialist in the form of Jungle Experts, Mountain Leaders, Desert Specialist and Urban Specialist (to give each battalion or division experts in fighting in different locations) but also create schooling for regional experts that will advise when fighting in different locales.

Obviously this would follow the same pattern but instead of focusing on the HOW to fight in certain areas that your Jungle, Mountain, Desert and Urban Specialist would have, the Regional Experts would be aware of the human terrain.  They would receive the expensive language training, cultural awareness and other skills necessary for our forces to fight, influence and (forgive me Chesty) not offend the people whose land we happen to be fighting in.

Regional units no.  Jungle, Mountain, Desert, Urban and Regional Specialist Marines?  Yes!

LMAO