-
CDR Salamander: Diversity Thursday
If one must think of Woman’s History Month, I like to think of Mama Salamander. Honors graduate in Math. Trailblazer for women in the computer industry, mother, entrepreneur and never … never one to suffer fools or fads.
A misogynistic, woman hating, male chauvinist pig would be harder pressed to create an event that tee’d up an “I told you so” ball better than what I am about to share below – and about as contra-Mama Salamander as you can get. (think of Mama Salamander as a slightly younger Grace Hopper … if Grace Hopper was also a model as a side job)
As someone who from MIDN days supported women serving wherever they physically and realistically could, this torques me off, as it gives the “I told you so” crowd all the negative stereotype fodder they need.
via CDR Salamander: Diversity Thursday.
I usually don’t like to link Sal’s DivThu posts mostly because I don’t want the Army to get any more bright ideas than it already has.
But go check out just what kind of stupid NAVAIR is spending defense dollars on.
-
USS Midway aircraft carrier fulfills dying veteran's wish | UTSanDiego.com
When 85-year-old Bob Mountz arrived at the USS Midway Museum on Tuesday, his heart, he said, fluttered up toward his throat.
The former Navy hospital corpsman served aboard the Midway for two years in the mid-1950s, toward the end of the Korean War. He hadn’t seen the aircraft carrier since.
So it was, you might say, the wish of a lifetime to see the old ship again.
Mountz, from Fort Wayne, Ind., is dying of lung cancer.
His daughter nominated him to be sponsored by a charity that grants the final wishes of older people. The Denver-based group Wish of A Lifetime covered Mountz’s travel and hotel expenses in San Diego this week.
via USS Midway aircraft carrier fulfills dying veteran’s wish | UTSanDiego.com.
Seriously, the Midway Museum is absolutely the best run ship museum I’ve ever seen. The quality of the display, and the staff and docents are light years ahead of any other museum ship. You should plan a trip to San Diego just to take the tour. But be prepared to spend all day.
-
Op-Ed: I Sexually Identify As An A-10 Thunderbolt
I have finally found the strength to admit it.
I was 12 years old when I realized that I’m not really a man at heart, but rather a 19 foot, 10.5 inch long gatling gun strapped onto a 24,959 pound airframe.
All my life has been a lie but I’m setting that right today. I was designed to kill Soviet tanks. From now on, call me “Warthog.” That’s my real name.
via Op-Ed: I Sexually Identify As An A-10 Thunderbolt.
I don’t know how he found the courage to come out.
-
Intolerance
Of gluten. Here is a primer.
It’s all about dogmatic feelings of victimization.
H/T Keith M.
-
Accelerated Stall- Yikes!
Very, very close call. I’ll leave it to Spill to explain what exactly constitutes an accelerated stall (and the math behind it) but suffice to say, there’s only a certain amount of G a plane can pull at a given speed. And attitude has an effect on that as well.
-
Wargaming- The original think tanks.
BJ Armstrong, one of the more vibrant thinkers in the public naval sphere, has a great post at USNI arguing for a return to the Navy’s historically strong habit of wargaming.
Under the auspices of the Defense Innovation Initiative, announced by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel before he left office, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work has sounded a call to revive the practice of wargaming in the Department of Defense. In a memo issued Feb. 9, Work announced plans to “reinvigorate, institutionalize, and systematize wargaming across the Department.”
This memo is a vital first step, and should instigate a Navy wide re-examination of when, why, and how we conduct these evolutions across the force. Lessons learned a century ago demonstrate that the Navy should take the memo’s intent on board, but must go even further than Mr. Work’s suggestions in order to maximize the warfighting ability and innovative spirit of the fleet.
Indeed.
BJ mentions in the full article the tendency of late for wargames to be conducted at ever higher levels. These “echelons above reality” diminish the actual value of wargames. Of course, if you look at our post today on nuclear targeting, you might discern one of the reasons for the shift to higher levels. Nuclear war can only be wargamed. And since any nuclear war is a political act, rather than a truly military one, it of course has to be conducted at a political level. That such a level has filtered back to the conduct of wargames at the operational and tactical level of conventional warfare is not such a good trend. One suspects it is also a function of the modern era of communications, where we talk about the Strategic Corporal, but in fact face the Four Star Squad Leader.
For many, many years, the Naval War College at Newport, RI focused on wargaming. The games looked at likely (and a few unlikely) scenarios the fleet might face, and gamed out what current and proposed platforms could do. They tested tactics and future capabilities. They tried foreign tactics and platforms. The results of games at Newport were used by the General Board in deciding on characteristics of both the fleet composition, and the characteristics of individual ship classes. When the Navy went before Congress and begged for money, they had reasonable answers to why they needed what they were asking for. Newport was, in effect, a think tank.
Unlike many think tanks today that are comprised of analysts, however well educated, the Naval War College consisted of both a faculty with stability to provide institutional knowledge, and a student body that constantly brought new ideas and perspectives from the fleet- that is, the actual operators, and ultimate customers of the College’s product.
Finally, wargaming allowed for a wider interaction with, and testing of, innovations in the whole of the Fleet. Concepts first developed at the gaming tables were evaluated by the CNO’s staff, and the General Board which advised the Secretary, and then taken through practical tests in tactical exercises at sea. The results of the exercises were fed back to the games in a virtuous cycle which refined and perfected the ideas and methods. This was the system used in the inter-war years to develop naval aviation and undersea warfare: concepts central to American victory in World War II.
Wargaming is more than simply a simulation, or a tactical training scenario. There’s a large number of milbloggers today talking strategy. The problem with that is, politicians will either set the strategy, or screw up your planned strategy. Wargaming is the bridge between techniques and strategy. The tactical and operational level is the realm of the military (or naval, in this case) art.
It’s expensive to actually operate a fleet, and actually fighting one isn’t really practical for training purposes. Most simulations and exercises today are focused on current doctrine. Pre-deployment workups are focused on certifying that the ships and other units involved are trained and ready to accomplish their next deployment, using current accepted doctrine. Wargaming, be it at the War College level, or at the fleet, or lower level, can and should be an incubator for discerning what our next tactical doctrine should be.
-
Ellen Haring: That Valor Isn’t Yours To Defend : This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here
So, this Ellen Haring person claims to be a retired colonel and she writes in Task & Purpose about Stolen Valor, specifically about one video in which some Rangers confront a fellow claiming to be a Navy SEAL.
via Ellen Haring: That Valor Isn’t Yours To Defend : This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here.
Everything I’ve read by or about Ellen Haring has annoyed or angered me.
As Jonn points out, the problem with the vast, vast majority of Stolen Valor cases is that the SV is merely a symptom of some other criminality or unsocial behavior. There’s almost always another crime behind their dishonorable claims to military glory.
-
Would you like to play a game? A map of predicted nuclear targets in the US
There’s two scenarios mapped out, a 500 warhead target list, and a 2000 warhead target list.
Click the link to see the full sized map.
You’ll notice the targeting varies significantly between the two. That’s because there are two basic types of nuclear wars. Let’s address the 2000 warhead scenario first. You’ll notice three really big clusters of weapons in Montana, North Dakota and intersection of Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. That just happens to be where the vast majority of our Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles are. Such a targeting scheme is known as a Counter-Force scheme. The idea is to destroy our ability to use our ICBMs against the USSR.
In the 500 warhead scenario, while there are a goodly number of purely military targets, most predicted impacts are on civilian targets, such as state capitols and industrial and population centers. This scheme is known as Counter-Value. The idea is to hold at risk the truly most important resource of the nation, its people.
-
Defense.gov News Article: Destruction of WWII-era Chemical Stockpile Set to Begin
WASHINGTON, March 17, 2015 – The process of destroying the chemical stockpile at the U.S. Army Pueblo Chemical Depot is set to begin today in Colorado, defense officials said.
Samples of mustard agent were drawn from the munitions stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot and placed into Department of Transportation bottles, like the ones shown here, for safe storage. Program Executive Office, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives photo
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall granted final approval to begin destroying 2,611 tons of World War II-era mustard agent stored near Pueblo.
“After months of preparation, testing and scrutiny by oversight and regulatory agencies, the Pueblo team is ready to play its part in meeting our nation’s commitment to the 100 percent destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile,” Conrad F. Whyne said. Whyne is program executive officer for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, the responsible government agency.
via Defense.gov News Article: Destruction of WWII-era Chemical Stockpile Set to Begin.
Interesting. The Army has spent a fortune destroying chemical warfare stockpiles. Usually, an industrial incinerator is the method of destruction. But for these old munitions, it’s apparently not terribly safe to try to do that. So instead, they’ll place them in a huge pressure vessel, use a linear shaped charge to open the case, then neutralize the chemical agent with decontaminating agents.
Mustard gas is rather a nasty agent. Maybe not as lethal is most nerve agents, but still very scary.
-
Amphibious personnel carrier rolls up on Sullivan’s Island – Post and Courier
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — Roommates Kyle Victory and Kate Ritchie had planned on a quiet day at the shore until the big amphibious thing showed up at Station 16.
“I think it’s fantastic that there’s a giant green creature on the beach on St. Patrick’s Day,” Victory said.
An amphibious combat personnel carrier was tested on Tuesday on Sullivan’s Island. General Dynamics Land Systems conducted the tests in hopes of landing a contract with the U.S. Marine Corps. Fort Sumter can be seen in the background.
What the recent College of Charleston graduates saw on Tuesday was defense contractor General Dynamics Land Systems testing a water-and-land friendly combat craft weighing more than 30 tons.
via Amphibious personnel carrier rolls up on Sullivan’s Island – Post and Courier.
From what I understand, the General Dynamics vehicle is the presumptive leader in the ACV competition. Nice to see it out and about. I’m a little surprised they didn’t take it to Little Creek or similar environs, but I guess that will come later.
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
XBradTC 
