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For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.” –Rudyard Kipling, The Law of the Jungle, The Jungle Book.

The current debate about women in the infantry takes place in an artificial context, because it nearly always self-limits the discussion to physical capabilities. Within these incomplete parameters, the argument is then set, and the preamble is that physical standards and performance are measurable and what is not measurable is subjective and probably unfair.Once physical quantifications are set as the only requirement that matters, it then stands to reason that if you can define infantry requirements in terms of, for example, a number of pull-ups, a hike with 60 to 80 pounds of extra weight, or carrying a 180-pound simulated casualty to safety, then you can assess whether females are suited to infantry units.

Source: What Tempers the Steel of an Infantry Unit

LTG Newbold knows whereof he speaks. With the bonus Kipling quote to ensure URR’s approval.

The infantry is more than the sum of its physical parts.

Several injuries were reported after a hangar collapsed at Newark Liberty International Airport Wednesday afternoon, law enforcement sources tell NBC 4 New York. The hangar, which was being dismantled, collapsed at about 2 p.m., sources say.

Source: Injuries Reported After Hangar Collapses at Newark Liberty International Airport: Sources | NBC New York

Wow. Rough week for United. They fired their CEO yesterday amid an influence peddling scandal, and now this.

An effort to mend fences between the Army and the National Guard could lead to a radical redesign of both, a retired general heading a congressionally-appointed panel on the future of the service said.Gen. Carter Ham brought members of the National Commission of the Future of the Army to Colorado Springs on a fact-finding tour last week as part of the group’s charter to recommend ways to restructure the Army, Army Reserve and Army Guard. The commission was formed after a protracted battle over resources between the Guard and the Army became a public fight before House and Senate committees earlier this year.Ham’s job: Make the Army’s three components work better together.”Fractures between the three components of the Army are unhealthy,” Ham said. “It is the total force of the Army that has to work in concert.”The commission won’t issue a report until February, but early indications point to a bigger role for part time troops as the Army cuts its active-duty force to 450,000 soldiers.Ham, for instance, envisioned “reserve component units able to respond more quickly than our current models.”

Source: Effort to Bring Army, National Guard Closer May Result in Redesign | Military.com

Every decade or so, the active Army and the Guard fight a political battle over force structure and organization. And each side has very powerful political allies.

And every time, the argument comes down to “reserve component units able to respond more quickly than our current models.”

The problem is, you simply cannot achieve the levels of readiness and training in a part time unit that you can in an active one. And should you achieve an ability to quickly generate ready Guard units, you bump into the problem that part time soldiers have full time jobs in the civilian sector. Repeated call ups to active duty (in addition to the times they’re called to state service) forces people to chose between their civilian commitments and their military service. And more often than not, they’ll chose the civilian route- thus robbing the Guard units of their readiness.

While I teased the Nasty Girls while on active duty (I’m pretty sure there’s a section of AR 600-200 that mandates that) I’ll also acknowledge that many Guardsmen served with great distinction in Iraq and Afghanistan. That they did so often involved a greater sacrifice in terms of putting aside their home life to an extent greater than many active duty troops.

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin is protesting the US Army’s decision to award Oshkosh a contract to build its Humvee replacement, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), according to a company statement Tuesday.”Lockheed Martin does not take protests lightly, but we are protesting to address our concerns regarding the evaluation of Lockheed Martin’s offer,” it said, adding, “we firmly believe we offered the most capable and affordable solution for the program.”Oshkosh beat out both Humvee-maker AM General and Lockheed for the $6.7 billion low rate initial production contract award to build 16,901 vehicles, but the entire contract is expected to be worth up to $30 billion.

Source: Lockheed Martin Protests JLTV Contract Award to OshKosh

That sound you hear is the cost of JLTV doubling, and the timeline shifting a couple years to the right.

The current contracting system provides every incentive to a contractor, particularly a large one like LMT, to protest. There is simply no downside to LMT protesting, and in effect grinding the entire process to a halt. The net effect is that the government fights the government on the government’s dime to review whether the government is buying what the government wants. And of course, there’s political pressure being brought because contractors have jobs at stake, and Representatives want to tout their jobs record in their home districts. And LMT has locations in lots and lots of congressional districts, don’t you know?

I suppose there might be some picayune aspect of the contract process that should have favored the LMT submission, but what I’m hearing is that the Oshkosh vehicle’s performance clearly outstripped both LMT and the AM General vehicle, and was far more production representative.

But let’s not let a little thing like the best interests of the Army get in the way of a theoretically perfect acquisition process.

The Pentagon’s top watchdog has launched an investigation into the case of a Green Beret war hero who was recommended for the nation’s highest valor award — the Medal of Honor — by senior military officers in Afghanistan, but instead received a decoration two levels lower.Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work requested a review of Army Sgt. 1st Class Earl D. Plumlee’s case in a Sept. 2 letter to Defense Department Inspector General Jon T. Rymer. Work asked Rymer to examine the Medal of Honor nomination and the subsequent decision to award the Silver Star instead.“In particular, I request that you examine whether there were any deviations from the standard procedures for processing such valor awards,” Work said in his letter, which was obtained by The Washington Post.

Source: Pentagon watchdog investigating why the Army didn’t award Medal of Honor to Green Beret – The Washington Post

Award recommendations being downgraded or even outright denied is somewhat routine. But a Medal of Honor recommendation being downgraded two steps after the combatant commander has endorsed it is unusual.

And if the narrative of SFC Plumlee’s actions that day are accurate, it certainly seems to me to meet the criteria for at a minimum the Distinguished Service Cross, and likely the Medal of Honor.

The Army apparently still clings to what John Donovan called the Posthumous Medal of Honor, wherein during the early years of the Global War on Terror it was so risk averse about any possible bad publicity, it shied away from awarding the Medal of Honor to any living persons, fearful that their subsequent actions or statements, or any previous behavior, might in some small way show they were human, and imperfect. It appears that aversion still clings to the Army staff.

One would hope that awardees of the Medal of Honor would present pristine service records both before and  after the actions that see them decorated. But that is not always the case. And in the past, the service recognized that, and awarded the medal based on the actions at hand. There have been awardees who were screwballs before the award. There has even been an award to a man who later died committing an armed robbery. That those awards went to less than perfect people doesn’t diminish the valor they displayed at the time of their actions.

And if the Army, and the other services, want to see troops act in a valorous manner, they should work to promptly and accurately award the appropriate decorations.

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) — South Korea is moving ahead to introduce refurbished S-3 Viking anti-submarine warfare (ASW) planes to counter threats from North Korea, a military source said Sunday.The defense ministry insider said the proposal to incorporate 12 former U.S. Navy Vikings into service was approved late last month by a military program review group. The latest development comes after the Navy proposed taking over 20 Vikings that have been kept in storage since 2009 to shore up the country’s detection and attack capabilities against Pyongyang’s submarine fleet.

Source: S. Korea moving ahead to introduce Viking anti-submarine planes into service – The Korea Observer

This story of ROK buying mothballed S-3’s has been around a couple years now. It looks like Korea might finally be making some progress toward it.

More here. Looks like everyone got out.