XBradTC

EIB has changed somewhat since I earned mine some 20+ years ago, but the fundamental requirement to show proficiency in basic individual tasks remains.

Serving on the EIB committee in subsequent years was both an honor and a pleasant duty.

The Army is working to give you credit where credit is due — whether you’re still in uniform or preparing to re-enter civilian life.

As the service undergoes its largest draw down in decades, Army leaders are doubling their efforts to boost the Army Credentialing Program, which gives soldiers opportunities to earn civilian-equivalent certifications and licenses. As recently as March 11, Army Secretary John McHugh signed a directive calling for the service to streamline and improve its credentialing and career skills programs.

The Army, in an effort led by Training and Doctrine Command, also is working to link credentialing opportunities to every single military occupational specialty in the Army.

“What you do as a soldier has tremendous value for the rest of your life,” said Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey. “By making this a focus, the Army is giving soldiers an opportunity to start out their civilian transition equipped with a recognized standard of professional excellence in their chosen field.”

via Army to create certifications or licenses for every MOS.

Obviously, this will be more directly applicable for some fields than others. A truck driver in the Army should have no real trouble becoming a civilian truck driver.

The article goes on to note they are looking at traits for combat arms such as Infantry that can be categorized.

I’ll say this- my career in the Infantry, and my tour in recruiting were excellent preparation for work in the finance industry, where math isn’t nearly as important a skill as interpersonal relationships and an ability to function under stress.

Yemen’s US backed president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled Yemen ahead of an advancing column of Houthi rebels as the Kingdom moved up major military units to its southern border. The New York Times reports:

SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s foreign minister has called for an “immediate” Arab military intervention against advancing Shiite rebels.

Riad Yassin told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite news network on Wednesday that Yemen had asked Arab countries — especially oil-rich Gulf Sunni countries — to send air and naval forces to counter Shiite rebels known as Houthis.

But the collapsing regime’s defense minister did not flee quickly enough. The Washington Post says the rebels have the Yemeni official in their custody. The Telegraph says the Saudis are “moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, US officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict.

via The Battle For Saudi Arabia Begins | Belmont Club.

This is probably the most important news piece you’ll see all day.

Make no mistake, the war in Yemen is a proxy war by Iran against Saudi Arabia. And the Saudis can’t be thrilled with the ever increasing sprawl of Iranian influence, from Syria, to Iraq, and now Yemen. Saudi Arabia is being hemmed in. How internally stable they are is an open question. They’re lavishly equipped, militarily, but just how much real combat power they have, especially against guerrillas, is also an open question.

Iran is fighting on multiple fronts to achieve regional hegemony, and we’re negotiating with them to give them nuclear weapons.

We probably could have toppled the regime in 2009 during the Green Revolution, but instead, our refusal to even offer a scrap of moral support empowered the mullahs to squash dissent brutally.

And so, here we are.

Check out @CNNPolitics’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/580788642769162240?s=09

President Barack Obama has yet to meet with the new head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and won’t see Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this week, even though he is in Washington for three days. Stoltenberg’s office requested a meeting with Obama well in advance of the visit, but never heard anything from the White House, two sources close to the NATO chief told me.

The leaders of almost all the other 28 NATO member countries have made time for Stoltenberg since he took over the world’s largest military alliance in October. Stoltenberg, twice the prime minister of Norway, met Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa to discuss the threat of the Islamic State and the crisis in Ukraine, two issues near the top of Obama’s agenda.

via Obama Snubs NATO Chief as Crisis Rages – Bloomberg View.

Apparently, part of fundamentally transforming America includes deliberately shunning our allies, while appeasing our foes.

For all the times people tell me how smart Obama is, I see incidents like this where the administration shoots itself in the foot, in terms of optics. How hard would it have been to have a cup of coffee, a quick couple of photos, exchange some pleasantries, and move on. No one genuinely expects matters of true substance to be decided, or even likely discussed, but simply letting our allies know we as a nation are listening to them goes a long ways.

Michael Fallon told Parliament the government planned to spend £180 million ($268 million) over the next 10 years to boost the security of the islands as part of a defense review, although the level of military and civilian personnel involved would remain at around 1,200.

“The principle threat to the islands remains,” he told legislators. “I am confident that, following this review, we have the right deployment.”

via Here’s Why U.K.-Argentina Tensions are Rising Again Over the Falklands | TIME.

For the most part, Kirchner is just saber rattling for domestic consumption. I suppose Argentine could try something. If they do get their hands on some old Russian Su-24s, they probably could successfully raid the airfield. But their amphibious shipping is virtually non-existent.

Britain should also quietly remind Argentina that while they may not have aircraft carriers available, they do have Tomahawk armed nuclear attack submarines that can hold mainland Argentine targets at risk.

How do you keep track of increasingly stealthy Russian, Chinese and Iranian submarines? If you’re the U.S. military, you build a robotic ghost ship to follow them around the high seas.

In 2010, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced that they were building a 132-foot autonomous boat to track quiet, diesel-powered submarines. The program was dubbed Anti-submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV.

via The Military’s Robotic Ghost Ship Passes Critical Test – Defense One.

While it’s an interesting project, and an innovative approach, this isn’t how you counter diesel electric subs.

You mine their home ports before they deploy.

President Obama on Tuesday announced the U.S. will delay the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan to help Kabul fight the Taliban, ISIS and other extremist forces.

About 9,800 American troops will remain in the country through 2015, almost double the number initially planned. Obama said he remains committed to reducing the U.S. troop presence to a small number based in the capital of Kabul by the end of next year.

“This visit is an opportunity to begin a new chapter between our two nations,” Obama said at a news conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani after meeting with him in the Oval Office.

via Obama puts drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan on hold | TheHill.

I forget who said it on Twitter yesterday, but someone noted that this is Ash Carter’s first victory against the White House. Carter might not have been my first choice for SecDef, but he’s not the buffoon that Hagel was.