Terrific Tuesday.

Navy SEAL Transgendered.

Read about he, she, or whatever you call "it" here.

Just out of curiosity.  What is the military going to do when a servicemember starts taking hormones and changes sex but is in an all male military field.  Genetically the person is born male but chemically chooses to change.

Do they stay in the Infantry or Special Ops?  Do you arrange opposite sex facilities to support the new change?  

31st MEU’s “Boat” Company shows Japanese soldiers their craft

Sergeant Benjamin M. Miller (right), chief scout swimmer for Fox Company, Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and a native of Los Angeles, draws out formations to designated scout swimmers with the 12th Infantry Regiment, 8th Division, Western Army, Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces, during familiarization training here, June 3. The Marines and Sailors of Company F., or “Boat” Company, integrated a platoon of Japanese soldiers as part of the Japanese Observer Exchange Program, where the soldiers take an observational role during the 31st MEU’s pre-deployment training. The 31st MEU and Japanese Self Defense Forces continually fortify their bond through shared training in order to enhance security and stability in the Asia Pacific region.

 

Colorado State Senate President successfully recalled. Gun rights victory coming soon.

via Ammoland.

Colorado Springs, CO --(Ammoland.com)- The Basic Freedom Defense Fund (BFDF – www.bfdf.org), the Colorado grassroots group heading the recall of State Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) has submitted 16,046 District 11 voter petition signatures to the Colorado Secretary of States’ office for the recall of John Morse.
This exceeds both the 7,178 signatures necessary for the recall and also exceeds the total number of votes (13,451) cast for Morse during his 2010 election.
The results of this historic recall effort were achieved despite the efforts of NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, Morse’s robo calls to voters, false attacks on signature collectors’ reputations and Morse’s political machine headed by Ed Hall, Chairman of the Denver Democrats and filing agent for Morse’s anti-recall group “A Whole Lot of People for John Morse.”

Hall is known for his Democrat Party biography referring to Colorado Springs as a “…right-wing, religious whack-job stronghold.”*
The submitted petition signatures and addresses will be verified by the Secretary of State.It is expected that Democrats will further challenge remaining signatures, possibly including court challenges to draw out the process. If the count still exceeds 7,178 after this, Morse will be given five working days from that time to decide whether or not to resign his office.
If Morse resigns within the five-day period, state Democrats can appoint a replacement from their ranks. If he does not resign, a date for the special election is set. In that event, it is possible that the Governor and Democrat Party may try to extend it to November so as to prepare a campaign to try to save Morse.
In a recent Colorado Springs interview Morse stated he will not resign and is “…in now until the bitter end.” Colorado Democrat Party Chairman Rick Palacio of Pueblo denied rumors that state democrats may ask Morse to step down so that they may replace him with appointee Michael Merrifield, though Palacio later stated in the same interview that Merrifield as a replacement “is a possibility.”
Such a move risks public backlash as it could be perceived as both ignoring the electorate’s wishes and taking an even harder stance against gun rights since Merrifield has served as a state director for Mayor Bloomberg’s gun-banning group “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” – positions that inspired the Morse recall effort.

“Regardless of the outcome and any posturing by Morse, he is going to be removed from his senate position one way or another due to his anti-constitutional beliefs and demonstrated actions.” –Anthony Garcia, BFDF spokesman — Anthony@basicfreedomdefensefund.org.

I'm thrilled.

This isn't a win yet.  Once he resigns or is voted out of office then victory can be declared.

Its a good first step though.

Maersk RO/RO container vessel was converted to a helo carrier and it looks right!

North Sea Boats X-18 FSV Fire Support Vessel

Thanks for the pic Dwi!

Note:  I can't find any information on this boat and I'm beginning to wonder if it is a fan created  "concept" or if its real.  A boat mounting a 90mm cannon would seem to be a weird way of doing business in my opinion especially when their are rapid firing 76mm cannons that would shoot faster, have a flatter trajectory and would be effective against air, land and sea targets.

AAV vs. Marine Personnel Carrier.

Plain talk.

1.  The AAV is too old to upgrade further.  Either you buy new hulls of the existing design with improvements or...

2.  You accept that a new design Amphibious Combat Vehicle is needed and you buy Marine Personnel Carriers as an interim vehicle until the ACV is ready.

Those are the only real choices left to the Marine Corps.  All a patch job will do is divert funds from more capable vehicles while maintaining an obsolete vehicle in service.  That's unacceptable.

Warrior Princess....A Transgender SEALs story & my thoughts.

"Our country won't go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won't be any America—because some foreign soldiery will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race."

I've been chewing on the fact that we have another book by a Navy SEAL.  This time its about a SEAL who has/is undergoing hormone therapy and changing from male to female.

My thoughts....

1.  I don't know who is in charge of the SEALs or SOCOM (obviously McRaven isn't cause this keeps happening) but they need to get a handle on all these tell all books that are coming out.  Quiet professionals?  Not hardly.

2.  The SEAL culture needs to be carefully examined to understand why this seems so prevalent in their ranks. Once the cause is determined then efforts need to be made to get it under control.

3.  Its painfully obvious that everything masculine, traditional, martial etc...is under attack.  Everyone I know has certain closely held beliefs.  We don't seek to push our beliefs on others yet its obvious that the culture of the military is under sustained attack by "change agents" that are seeking to transform it into something more "gentle" and "less" rigid.  I don't see how you expect immediate obedience to orders when everything is painted in shades of grey.

4.  I personally see many guys in a quiet crouch.  The natives are restless but they're keeping low.  I don't know what the results of this will be but there will come a time when the pushback begins.

I don't think I've ever seen or read of a time when the military was under this much sustained pressure socially.  These experiments...these initiatives will result in a military that none of will recognize and one that I believe will be totally ineffective in combat.

If you take a serious look at the rebels fighting in Syria, you see violent, masculine, almost primal individuals (remember the rebel leader carving the heart out of Syrian Soldier?)  our "softened" up military will win a high tech war but once boots are on the ground we will get routed if we continue in the direction that we're headed.

APKWS

One of the all time great answers!

via Police News.

FLORIDA - An illegal alien, in Polk County , Florida , who got pulled over in a routine traffic stop, ended up "executing" the deputy who stopped him. The deputy was shot eight times, including once behind his right ear at close range. Another deputy was wounded and a police dog killed. A state-wide manhunt ensued.
The murderer was found hiding in a wooded area. As soon as he took a shot at the SWAT team, officers opened fire on him. They hit the guy 68 times.
Naturally, the liberal media went nuts and asked why they had to shoot the poor, undocumented immigrant 68 times.
Sheriff Grady Judd told the Orlando Sentinel: "Because that's all the ammunition we had." Now, is that just about the all-time greatest answer or what!
The Coroner also reported that the illegal alien died of natural causes. When asked by a reporter how that could be, since there were 68 bullet wounds in his body, he simply replied: (BEST QUOTE of 2009) . . . "When you are shot 68 times you are naturally gonna die."

A transgendered Navy SEAL?

Joe.  You don't get thanks for this one.  For some reason you like sending me shit like this.

via the Atlantic.

In every Navy SEAL is a memoir, it seems lately. Retired SEAL Kristin Beck's new memoir,published on Tuesday and titled Warrior Princess, is a bit different, though. In it, Beck describes how, over the course of her 20 year military career, including thirteen deployments over the globe, she slowly became more and more aware that was she meant to live life as a woman — a vexing and often tormenting realization for a long-time member of an elite all-male unit that went on to capture and kill Osama bin Laden. Beck, who identified as a man (and went by the name Chris) while in the Navy, explains that she decided to undergo hormonal therapy some time after retiring in early 2011, and eventually came out to colleagues by posting a picture of herself dressed as a woman on LinkedIn earlier this year:
That night Kris put up a new photo to her LinkedIn profile — the one taken by Christy of Kris standing in front of the American flag. This time Kris wrote, "I am now taking off all my disguises and letting the world know my true identity as a woman." Kris also changed her name on her profile page to Kristin Beck.
To Beck's surprise, her former SEAL buddies were supportive, even ecstatic:

I am speechless.

Warrior Princess.... 

AAVs to be upgraded to protect against IEDs.

via Inside Defense.

The Marine Corps must upgrade its legacy amphibious vehicle to better protect it against the improvised explosive device threat before the Amphibious Combat Vehicle comes online in 2020, according to service officials.
In January 2011, after spending about $3 billion on development, the Marine Corps canceled the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle due to cost overruns. That cancellation has led the service to recognize that it must increase the Assault Amphibious Vehicle's capability since it will be in the fleet until about 2030, Angelo Scarlato, project director for the upgrade, said during a May 30 interview.
The service released a request for information on May 24 for AAV force protection improvements. The government anticipates releasing a request for proposals during the fourth quarter fiscal year 2013. The RFP is expected to include a six-month contract for design with options for prototyping and low-rate initial production, according to a Federal Business Opportunities notice.
"Frankly, it's been programmed for retirement several times because of the projected original fielding of the EFV, but with the cancellation of the EFV we've mandated at this point to do more to increase the capability of the AAV," Dennis Boucher, AAV program director said during the same interview.
One of the challenges for the service is to improve the AAV's survivability against IEDs. There are roughly 1,063 AAVs in the fleet and the Marine Corps plans to upgrade about 400 of them, Scarlato said.
That number of vehicles is the requirement for a two Marine Expeditionary Brigade lift capability -- the service's forward deployable operational forces -- Marine Corps spokesman Manny Pacheco said during the same interview.
The current AAVs do have armor, but it is an applique solution that goes on the side of the vehicle to protect against direct fire weapons, Scarlato stated.
Scarlato said the service may have to conduct suspension upgrades as well because of the additional weight carried by the new armor. The armor upgrades will include underbelly armor, sponson armor and blast mitigating seats that are similar to those in a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle. However, he called force protection the "heart and soul" of the AAV upgrade.
The service plans to take a single increment approach to the upgrades. Once a vehicle is selected, all of the upgrades will be completed at one time. This approach was chosen because it is the most cost effective, he said.
Scarlato said the program has conducted industry days in the past that were beneficial. The program may host another one in the future or may meet one-on-one with vendors.
From 1997 to 2007 the Marine Corps conducted the reliability, availability, maintainability return to standard (RAM RS) project on the AAV which was a temporary capability upgrade, Boucher said.
The force protection upgrades will not extend the AAV's service life but will increase its capability, he added.
The FY-14 budget request seeks $43.4 million for the Marine Corps' AAV research and development. AAV upgrades are expected to enter the acquisition cycle at milestone B during FY-14 and then begin the engineering, manufacturing and development phase. Developmental testing is planned for late FY-15, according to the program executive officer for land system's advanced technology investment plan. -- Lee Hudson

More equivocation.  More vacillation.  More bullshit.

Remember the Commandant saying he would drive the Amphibious Combat Vehicle before he left office?

The bastard lied. 

CF-2 Completes 200th Flight

Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin is at the controls for Flight 200 of F-35C CF-2 on 31 May 2013.

Modest Proposal. Lets make a real assault carrier.

The X-47B with the right sized carrier would make a formidable assault carrier.

In essence what I'm talking about is combining a high performance UAV with the Sea Control Ship concept.

The pluses are many.  We separate manned and unmanned aircraft from the big carriers.  We get the benefit of being able to jam pack the deck and the hangar below decks with aircraft.  And last but not least.

When small wars popup that we don't want to be involved in but our allies drag us into anyway (a recurring theme throughout our history going back to WW2) we can simply send this carrier to do the work instead of an Amphibious Ready Group or a Carrier Strike Group.

The UAV is the simple part...the hard part is going to be the ship.  The most important thing about this is to NOT stray from the original concept.  The original idea was for a 14000 ton warship.  Steel is cheap but we shouldn't build a bigger ship just for giggles. This should be a one trick pony.  Anything that doesn't help it accomplish its primary mission should be banished....no space for carriage of Marines or Special Operations...no allowance for operating manned aircraft etc....

The time has come, the idea has merit and we finally have the right piece..the X-47B.

Concept tank art by Oscar Cafaro

5/11 Fire Rockets Using HIMARS

U.S. Marines with Romeo Battery, 5th Battalion, 11th Marines (5/11), Regimental Combat Team 7 fire rockets from a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) on Camp Leatherneck, Helmand province, June 1, 2013. Marines with 5/11 are deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Anthony L. Ortiz / Released)

Time to get real about the UK.

Consider this a dueling blog post.

THINK DEFENSE Blog posted what I consider some pretty inflammatory stuff about the US in regards to our concern about UK defense spending.

via THINK DEFENSE.

In the run up to any possible defence cuts in the UK, the press starts to spin that the Americans are concerned about the UK and its “reliance on US support” to defend its self. Principally the USA seems to be concerned by our reductions in the Army to 82,000.
It’s no surprise that the USA is concerned by the reductions in our Army. Given their massive superiority in the air and at sea to pretty much the rest of the world combined but their proportionality smaller land forces. The British Army has shouldered more of the burden in American lead operations than any other international force. My question is should we be worried about US reactions?
I for one am sick of the UK media constantly acting like the USA has a veto on British Government spending decisions and I am even more sick of British politicians bending over “special relationship issues”.
I know at the heart of it none of this is the USA’s fault. It is our major ally and nine times out of ten the best one to have. However the United Kingdom is a strong ally to have as well with a powerful economy and one of the most capable military’s in the world. For quite some time now we have been putting in at least as much as we get back from the “special relationship”. Why should we feel that we have to answer to anyone for domestic spending decisions?

Uh wait...what?

You're pissed because we're concerned that you're about to decrease your Army to 82,000?  News flash buddy.  That will make the British Army nothing more than a police force.  We're fighting on this side of the pond to not see the USMC fall to 150,000.  At 82k the British Army would in effect not even be able to deploy a Brigade.

You vaunted air and sea power is not that impressive by any standard.  You can take a look at whats going on in the Pacific and you see even what would once be considered 2nd rate forces equaling that AND having gear that is at the very least equal to if not superior to what the UK is currently and projected to field.

Once the UK was innovative and a defense leader...now its falling on the technological lead of the US.

And you say you're tired of hearing about how the "special relationship" is threatened by these cuts?

I've haven't said it out loud but the future of Europe military lies with the likes of Poland, the Scandinavian Countries and others...but definitely not with the UK.  In one more generation the "special relationship" will be seen as a minor footnote in history and the UK will become a minor power with no real influence.  Its importance is already on the wane and the efforts to drag the US into the Syrian conflict are telling....just like the events in Libya were.  You want that fight but in the end we'll be doing the heavy lifting.

So fear not THINK DEFENSE. On this side of the Atlantic we tire of it too.

What plane is missing on this flight deck?

What's missing on the flight deck of the USS Kearsarge?

CH-53s.

Unless I missed it, I always thought that '53s made up part of the composite air component.  Are we seeing a move toward an all MV-22 force?  Either we are already reaching critical mass with the number of CH-53Es that we have in service, they've tailored the 26th MEU for its current assignment or this is an unannounced experiment to see if a air component without attached '53s is effective.

I'm pushing toward believing that this is an undercover move to become an all MV-22 force.  When you have enough MV-22s to assign some to HMX-1 then something is afoot.

Blast from the past. LVT(A)-1.

USMC selects OSHKOSH Fire Truck for Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting. Is this a sign of broken procurement?

via Oshkosh press release.

OSHKOSH, Wis. (May 31, 2013) — The U.S. Marine Corps has selected Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK), to deliver its new fleet of P-19 Replacement Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicles. The Oshkosh P-19R will be the Marines’ first-response vehicle in aircraft fire emergencies at military bases and expeditionary airfields. This next-generation vehicle will provide more advanced on-road and off-road firefighting capabilities to Marines and replace their current fleet of Oshkosh P-19 ARFF vehicles as the vehicles reach the end of their service lives.

Simple questions.  What happened to the days of the Marine Corps piggy backing off the Navy or Army buys of equipment that was not Marine Corps unique?

Logistics would be simplified across the DoD.

Training would be simplified across the DoD.

During wartime, spares could be pulled from any service to make up for shortfalls.

The old way would seem to be more efficient but then you would have the possibility of manufacturers go out business further eroding the defense industrial base.  Still consider the following....

*All the services sport different combat uniforms (while I love the Marine Corps uniqueness and smarts by designing and selecting the current model, there is something to be said for having the same gear across all service lines).

*The Army and Marine Corps use different 782 gear.

*The Marine Corps uses the SMAW and the Army the Carl Gustav (the Israeli weapon is good but so is the Carl Gustav.  Does the SMAW bring enough to the table to warrant an individual purchase?)

I don't have the answers but we can't fix this stuff until we can answer basic questions.