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There was a lot of hubbub a week or two ago about one of the candidates for the Republican nomination calling into question whether or not a serving Senator was a combat hero or not. IMHO, the Senator is a war hero, not because he was shot down and captured, but because of his actions after that event. That having been said, I believe the Senator is a lousy politician and I will not shed a tear when he is no longer in office. End rant.

So, Juvat, if getting shot down does not automatically make someone a war hero in your book. What does?

Funny, you should ask.

Back when I was a kid, and the Vietnam War was going on, my Dad was a T-38 IP and Flight Commander at Webb. Back in those days, Big Spring was pretty much a cattle and oil town without a lot of social activities. The Officer’s Club was a big attraction, but so were Dinner Parties. The guys in Dad’s Flight were either FAIPs (first assignment IPs) or had been Fighter Pilots before. The Fighter Pilots had been in Vietnam on previous assignments. The Students and IPs next assignment was almost guaranteed to be in Vietnam. Discussion at the Dinner Parties was about the war.

I would make myself useful by “tending bar”. Running for Beer, Making Old Fashions, Gin and Tonics and Martinis. As an aside, this training stood me in good stead in college, as I worked as a bartender.

via Chant du Départ: A Full Day’s Work..

Juvat tells a story of a great warrior. Go read the whole thing. Heck, go watch the video!

Ret. U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Frederick “Fritz” Payne, 104, of Palm Desert — the country’s oldest living American Fighter Ace — died Thursday.

Payne, who celebrated his birthday on July 31, recently received the Congressional Gold Medal for his service — Congress’ highest civilian award — during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Palm Springs Air Museum in May. Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Springs, presented the medal to Payne.

“Fritz Payne was the epitome of the Greatest Generation,” said Fred Bell, the air museum’s managing director. “While it is hard to imagine today, these American heroes stood up to aggression at a time when failure meant the end of our way of life at one of the darkest moments in our history. I can only hope that we learn from their example when we are called upon to sacrifice for our freedoms. God bless him and his family.”

The title of American Fighter Ace is reserved for pilots who have shot down at least five enemy aircraft in aerial combat during World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

via Fritz Payne, 104-year-old Fighter Ace, dies.

The bedroom communities of the Coachella Valley are a popular retirement spot for quite a few Naval Aviators.

A breathtaking bit of imagery evoking an America gone by.  Done in a most remarkable way.  (I present in toto because I could not get the link to fully load in any of my browsers, and I wanted to do Mr. Smith’s work justice.)

Photographing A Town That Never Was

Artist and photographer Michael Paul Smith has spent hours upon hours photographing one special town that he holds very dear to his heart. There is something that always drew him to it, and the images he created are simple, but stunning. They glow with small-town charm and innocence, reminiscent of days and decades past.

The town he photographs is quaint and beautiful.

It’s like each picture tells a story of how life used to be in the United States

There’s not much going on in these pictures, but it’s obvious that this town is nothing but charm.

But, as it turns out, also not real.

Michael builds custom miniature models and sets, meticulously crafting every detail.

Then, the 60 year-old photographer creates the hyper-realistic images.

If you didn’t know any better, you might think these are vintage photos of a town from a few decades ago…

And NOT the extremely small models this man built.

He started building these models as an exercise. He wanted to practice his craft and also photography.

He never imagined it would be a “dream-like reconstruction” of the town he grew up in.

To Michael, this is what quintessential America looked like when he was a kid.

It is absolutely beautiful.

If “ ElginPark ” were a real town, I would love to live there.

He creates the scenes by setting up Danbury Mint and Franklin Mint die cast autos and trucks in front of his models on card tables.

Then, he uses the surrounding scenery to make the backgrounds for the photos.

The perspective has to be JUST right…

Usually the resulting photos are completely convincing.

Even when you know what’s going on behind the scenes.

It’s all an illusion.

But Michael is able to make an incredibly convincing one.

His selfies aren’t part of the official photo series, but I think they just add to the charm of his work.

Sadly, it appears that both Danbury and Franklin Mints no longer make the beautiful die-cast cars used in these wonderful panoramas.  A pity, as they were works of art, and fine tributes to the works of art that were the cars themselves, representing the heyday of “Detroit iron”.

H/T to FRD.

In May 2015, it was reported that China was going to establish a naval base in the East African nation of Djibouti. In that past, there has been much talk about Chinese overseas bases, but the Chinese official response to this news suggest the base is likely to be more than a rumor. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not deny the report but instead stated that “Regional peace and stability serves the interests of all countries and meets the aspirations shared by China, Djibouti and other countries around the world. The Chinese side is ready and obliged to make more contributions to that end.” Likewise, the Chinese Defense Ministry also expressed China’s willingness to “make even more contributions” to peace and stability of the region. More directly, the official Xinhua News Agency has argued that time is ripe for a base in Djibouti. The talk of a Chinese naval base in Djibouti seems to confirm a 2014 report from Washington predicting the establishment of Chinese “dual-use” bases in the Indian Ocean serving both commercial and security functions. All of this brings to mind three questions: First, why would China choose to increase its Indian Ocean presence? Second, what is the strategic environment in which China has to operate? And third, what are the strategic implications for Sino-U.S. strategic interactions and China’s maritime strategy?

via Becoming a Maritime Power? – The First Chinese base in the Indian Ocean.

China has widespread economic investments in Africa, and a large portion of their trade plies the waters off the eastern coast of Africa.

It makes sense for them to operate the PLA Navy in those waters. Interestingly, they’re generally considered to be pretty competent partners in maritime security in the region, as opposed to their often heavy handed techniques in disputed waters closer to home.

The explosive growth of the Chinese economy since implementing economic reforms in the 1980s has probably lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic boom in history. The Chinese government recognizes that its internal stability is contingent on its continued economic well being. The threat of disruption of trade, the engine of its growth, is sufficient that the idea of operations overseas is more appealing than concerns about foreign entanglements, which China has  strongly opposed for years.

One is tempted to paint the current China with the same Cold War brush of an expansionist communist Soviet Union. In fact, China has been mostly focused on internal security. Even the most cursory study of Chinese history over the last couple centuries sees a nation that has been occupied time and again by external powers. It also shows a nation that can be extremely vulnerable to maritime interdiction. Understanding that goes a long way to explaining the growth of the Chinese fleet, and their strategy both in the nearby waters of the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and further offshore, such as in the Indian Ocean.

Knowing how and why China does what it does gives us a better chance to prevent forcing China into becoming a foe, rather than a competitor.

It’s not at all a bad recruiting  video.

More importantly, SteelJawScribe shows us both how it’s a product for internal consumption, that is, recruiting, and simultaneously strategic external communications. Read the whole thing.

Italy’s F-35 programme has passed a key test, with an Italian Air Force KC-767A taker refuelling a Lockheed Martin F-35A for the first time.The milestone comes as Italy prepares to flight test its first domestically-assembled F-35A, which rolled off the Cameri assembly line in March and will eventually be flown to the US to support pilot training at Luke AFB in Arizona.The joint strike fighter top-up took place 29 July over Edwards AFB in California, with 25 boom contacts and 7,259kg (16,000lb) of fuel offloaded to the US Air Force F-35 (AF-4).

via Italian KC-767 tanker completes its first F-35 refuelling – 8/6/2015 – Flight Global.

I knew Italy was buying the F-35, but I don’t think I realized they were opening a final assembly line there.

The Italian KC767 frustrates me, in that Italy and a handful of other nations were able to buy a perfectly good tanker, whereas the US acquisition process is so fouled up that the US had to spend a dozen years to sign a contract on the KC-46 Pegasus, a plane that is still having developmental issues, made by a company that literally invented the tanker jet.