24th MEU BLT Assault Rehersal? We don't need no stinking rehersal!

Marines of 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Battalion Landing Team, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit assault an objective during a rehearsal of the final exercise at Exercise Africa Lion 2012, April 16. AL-12 is a U.S. African Command-sponsored, Marine Forces Africa-led exercise involving various types of training including command post, live-fire and maneuvering, peace keeping operations, an intelligence capacity building seminar, aerial refueling/low-level flight training, as well as medical and dental assistance projects. The annual exercise is designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation's military tactics, techniques and procedures.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Tyler Main)

Mythical Fleet. LSD Replacement? HNLMS Rotterdam

Continuing with my mythical fleet we come to an LSD replacement.

My choice would be the HNLMS Rotterdam class.  Stats via Wikipedia...

General characteristics
Type:	Landing platform dock
Displacement:	12,750t (Rotterdam), 16,800t (Johan de Witt)
Length:	166m (Rotterdam), 176.35m (Johan de Witt)
Beam:	25.0 m
Draft:	5.8 m
Propulsion:	Diesel-electric system 4 x Stork Wärtsilä 12SW28 diesel generators at 14.6 MW 4 x Holec electric motor (two in tandem per shaft) at 12 MW 2 shafts bow thruster
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h)
Range:	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 12-knot (22 km/h)
Endurance:	6 weeks
Boats and landing craft carried:	6 x LCU or 4 x LCVP (HNLMS Johan de Witt can accommodate 2 LCACs)
Capacity:	170 armoured personnel carriers or 33 main battle tanks
Troops:	611 marines
Crew:	128
Sensors and processing systems:	DA08 air / surface search IRSCAN SATCOM, Link 11, JMCIS
Electronic warfare and decoys:	4 x Sippican Hycor SRBOC MK36 launcher 1 x AN/SLQ-25 Nixie torpedo decoy
Armament:	2 x Goalkeeper CIWS guns 4 x Oerlikon Contraves 20 mm machine guns
Aviation facilities:	Hangar for 6 x AgustaWestland Lynx or NH-90 helicopter and stern helicopter flight deck

By US Navy standards this ship is light, simple and mass production shouldn't be an issue.  In my scheme of things this ship could even be specialized to act as mothership in roles in which the LCS would be too small.

Imagine switching out its normal compliment of landing craft for small boats and instead of NH-90's you replace them with AH-1Z's or MH-60S for sea control and attack missions.

You'd have a formidable ship with a battalion of Marines or Special Ops ready to act against pirates.  Drugs become a problem (well they already are but if a President ever gets serious about killing the importation of the poison) then you could replace them with Riverines and Master at Arms types and have a Joint Task Force 6 at sea.

My whole point (no insult to our allies that operate these ships...its a selling point) is that these ships are relatively modular, have great load capacity/troop berthing and should be cheap enough to build in large enough number to make a difference.

In my plan LHD's and LPD's would form the capital ships of our amphib forces with these LSD replacements acting as a jack of all trades to be ridden hard.

I like it.

CH-53E on the deck...Another Joe Copalman special...

Gents...If you're not subscribed to Joe Copalman's FLICKR stream then you're missing out.  He has to be one of the best aviation photographers her in the states.

This is just another one of his great photos.

Do me a favor though.  DO NOT COPY OR DISTRIBUTE this photo without his permission.  Like someone continuously says, but never seems to get done...It the right thing to do.

CV-90 upgrade for the Norwegian Army...

Massive hat tip to Bjørnar for the article.

The government submits an investment proposition to the Storting on new acquisition and renovation of tanks to the Army. - This investment will provide Armor Battalion and the Telemark battalion increased capacities and strengthening the army substantially the material side, says Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide.
The Government will this investment provide the Armoured Battalion and the Telemark battalion increased capacities and cover up for deficiencies in the structure of medium-weight armored vehicles. The bill will now be submitted to Parliament for further consideration
- The military has recently been modernized its equipment, especially on the waterfront. As many know, we have now proposed a procurement of new combat aircraft for the Air Force. I am therefore proud that we are now in line with our renovation plans looking to invest in just under 10 billion to provide the army 146 rebuilt / new armored vehicles of the type CV-90, says defense minister.
The new and redesigned vehicles will give the Army a significant boost in the form of improved combat power and increased protection for the crews that operate them. New capabilities will be such increased my protection, network integration, better self-protection in the form of remotely controlled weapon station and rubber belts for increased accessibility.

The Army currently has 103 pieces. CV-90 armored personnel carriers all of which will be built on. The project will deliver a total of 146 remanufactured / new CV-90-carts. The cars were acquired from the mid-1990s, and has been a reliable and dependable vehicle for the Army. The cars are based on a combination of new CV-90 hull, upgraded and redesigned CV-90 hull (ie the 103 pieces. Existing) and upgraded turret. Plans are also obtained including unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, various sensors and ground communications.

I continue to be amazed at the speed at which these "smaller" countries are able to procure defense items.

Regardless, the Norwegian Army is about to recieve a quick upgrade in capabilities and will find that they have an IFV that is at the very least the equal of any armored fighting vehicle currently in service.

Don't believe the survey!

via Marine Times.

Under Defense Department guidance, women are banned from serving in specialties whose primary function is to close with and destroy the enemy. But that could change. In a historic first, the Marine Corps is now planning to send women to the Infantry Officers School as part of a comprehensive research program that looks at whether opening more fields to women is a possibility. Enlisted women could get a shot, too, at one of the Infantry Training Battalions. Also part of the possible plan are gender-neutral physical fitness standards that would apply to men and women and a Corps-wide survey so you can sound off on the matter.

Wow.

Another survey.

Don't you believe the findings.

The current leadership of the Marine Corps is not to be trusted to give real information on the outcome of this and any other survey.  The reason why?  Because the powers that be have determined a course of action and they will do any and everything to reach the desired outcome.

Don't you find it interesting that in the same year that Gays in the military was suddenly and forcifully passed into law we now face the issue of women in combat?

Don't you find it interesting that Marine Corps heroes like Colonel Ripley and General Barrow gave guidance that is at odds with current leadership?

Isn't it strange that not one retired Marine Corps General has come out in favor of these intitiatives?

But that's ok.  They'll get their desired end state.  Women from middle and lower class families will see their daughters legs snapping like twigs....see their bodies destroyed from carrying heavy packs...and they will learn to hate the Marine Corps.

All so that a few Generals and DoD officials can be wined and dined at DC and New York parties.  All so that a few feminist with delusions of grandeur can subject someone else's daughter to dangers that they would never subject themselves or their daughters to.

It would be funny if it wasn't actually happening.

F-35C Formation Flight

For those who understand...

If you understand, no explanation is necessary;  For those who don't understand, no explanation is possible.

You either get it or you don't.  For those that don't get it, they attack it.  Attempt to weaken it. 

The assault on Marine Corps Values has been ongoing.  Some attack those values by stating that our mission is obsolete.  Some attack it by demanding gender norming so that our Combat Arms becomes ordinary.  Some attack it by demanding jointness for no other reason than claiming fictional cooperation.

But for those that have the internal fortitude, the mental toughness and devotion to duty ...Those people will never yield to those that want the Marine Corps to become ordinary.

We aren't and the Marine Corps isn't.

I just wish those in power (civilian and military) understood that fact.  There was a survey on institutions that the American public still believes in.  The military topped that list.  Not because it changed like the times--chasing the latest "hot thing", but because the US military in general and the Marine Corps in particular represent old fashioned values.

But if you've read this far then you understand and no explanation is necessary....

This just ain't right!

Thanks six_ten!

That's just what I needed to start my day.

An insect that look like its a freaking face hugger from the movie Aliens chowing down on a bird.

That's crazy in a handbag.   

Yeah, no doubt about it...Australia is pretty fucked up.

Oh and this was shot in some guys backyard too.  I wonder what you'll see when you get deep off in the back woods down there?  They probably still have dinosaurs roaming that continent.  Read the story here.

Marines are different.

I chose to be a US Marine because I reject the norms of society.  I wanted a different path...and I wanted to be surrounded by people who shared my beliefs.

I found it.

But its in danger.  Read these words from an Army Colonel about the US Marine Corps I want to be associated with....

By Col. Daniel F. Bolger, USA
 (Excerpt from DEATH GROUND: 

TODAY'S AMERICAN INFANTRY IN BATTLE

 "What makes Marine infantry special? Asking the question that way misses the most fundamental point about the United States Marine Corps. In the Marines, everyone--sergeant, mechanic, cannoneer, supply man, clerk, aviator, cook--is a rifleman first. The entire corps, all 170,000 or so on the active rolls, plus the reserves, are all infantry. All speak the language of the rifle and bayonet, of muddy boots and long, hot marches. It's never us and them, only us. That is the secret of the Corps." 

"If Army infantry amounts to a stern monastic order standing apart, on the edge of the wider secular soldier world, Marine infantry more resembles the central totem worshiped by the entire tribe. Marines have specialized, as have all modern military organizations. And despite the all-too-real rigors of boot camp, annual rifle qualification, and high physical standards, a Marine aircraft crew chief or radio repairman wouldn't make a good 0311 on a squad assault. But those Marine technical types know that they serve the humble grunt, the man who will look the enemy in the eye within close to belly-ripping range. Moreover, all Marines think of themselves as grunts at heart, just a bit out of practice at the moment. That connections creates a great strength throughout the Corps."

 "It explains why Marine commanders routinely, even casually, combine widely disparate kinds of capabilities into small units.... Marines send junior officers and NCOs out from their line rifle companies and expect results. They get them, too."

 "Even a single Marine has on call the firepower of the air wing, the Navy, and all of the United States. Or at least he thinks he does. A Marine acts accordingly. He is expected to take charge, to improvise, to adapt, to overcome. A Marine gets by with ancient aircraft (the ratty C-46E Frog, for example), hand-me-down weapons (such as the old M-60 tanks used in the Gulf War), and whatever else he can bum off the Army or cajole out of the Navy. Marines get the job done regardless, because they are Marines. They make a virtue out of necessity. The men, not the gear, make the difference. Now and again, the Marines want to send men, not bullets."

 "This leads to a self-assurance that sometimes comes across as disregard for detailed staff-college quality planning and short shrift for high-level supervision. Senior Army officers in particular sometimes find the Marines amateurish, cavalier, and overly trusting in just wading in and letting the junior leaders sort it out. In the extreme, a few soldiers have looked at the Corps as some weird, inferior, ersatz ground war establishment, a bad knockoff of the real thing. 'A small, bitched-up army talking Navy lingo,' opined Army Brigadier General Frank Armstrong in one of the most brutal interservice assessments. That was going too far. But deep down, many Army professionals tended to wonder about the Marines. Grab a defended beach? Definitely. Seize a hill? Sure, if you don't mind paying a little. But take charge of a really big land operation? Not if we can help it."

 "Anyone who has watched an amphibious landing unfold would be careful with that kind of thinking. The Marines actually have a lot in common with their elite Army infantry brothers, if not with all the various Army headquarters and service echelons. True, Marine orders do tend to be, well...brief. But so do those of the airborne, the air assault, the light-fighters, and the Rangers, for the same good reason: Hard, realistic training teaches soldiers how to fight by doing, over and over, so they need not keep  writing about it, regurgitating basics every time. More enlightened soldiers consider that goodness. A three-inch thick order, a big CP, and lots of meetings do not victory make. The Marines consciously reject all that. And why not? Despite the occasional Tarawa or Beirut, it works."

 "A Corps infused with a rifleman ethos has few barriers to intra-service cooperation. The Army talks a great deal about combined arms and does it down to about battalion level, often with great wailing and gnashing of  teeth. Marines do it all the way down to the individual Marine. Soldiers have defined military occupational specialties and guard their prerogatives like union shop stewards. Finance clerks don't do machine guns. Mechanics skip foot marches to fix trucks. Intell analysts work in air-conditioned trailers; they don't patrol. Marines, though, are just Marines. They all consider themselves trigger pullers. They even like it, as might be expected of an elite body."

Rant on.

I've recieved a number of e-mails telling me that I'm taking it too far when it comes to criticizing the current Commandant.

My response is that I haven't taken it far enough.

Everything that makes the Marine Corps an elite is under assault---from within and without.

Read that passage again and ask yourself one question.  Is our current leadership upholding the values that are cited above?  If you hesitate even one second then the truthful answer is 'no'...no they aren't.

That's what my bitching is about.

Assault Craft Unit 4 in Morocco

120412-N-QM601-065 CAP DRAA, MOROCCO (April 12, 2012) A landing craft air cushion (LCAC) from Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4 lands on the Moroccan beach of Cap Draa after departing the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7). Iwo Jima is the flagship of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group with the embarked elements of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU). Iwo Jima is deployed participating in Exercise African Lion 2012, a bi-lateral exercise between U.S. and Moroccan forces in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Scott Youngblood/Released)

120412-N-QM601-076 CAP DRAA, MOROCCO (April 12, 2012) A Landing craft air cushion (LCAC) from Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 4 lands on the Moroccan beach of Cap Draa after departing the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7). Iwo Jima is the flagship of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group with the embarked 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU). Iwo Jima is deployed participating in Exercise African Lion 2012, a bi-lateral exercise between U.S. and Moroccan forces in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Scott Youngblood/Released)