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The Boeing B-29 Superfortress known as ‘Doc’ is in the final days of her restoration. There are just a few minor details to finish with the avionics installation, and setting the limits for the flaps and gear doors, but other than that the old girl is ready to go. The restoration team in Wichita, Kansas had hoped to have her flying in 2014, but they ran into delays with the fuel system. Fuel management on a B-29 is extremely complex for a WWII bomber, having many different fuel tanks, hoses and pumps to deal with, to say nothing about the wiring, and valves required. Making sure that all of the components were working properly and, most importantly, that no leaks nor possibility of electrical shorts were on the cards, has been an intense process. The team took the time to ensure all the elements in the system passed their rigorous checks. The only thing delaying the first flight now is apparently cold weather. The engine oil needs to be at least 50F to ensure proper lubrication for engine start, and the team doesn’t have access to portable heaters to do the job. They expect to be able to run the aircraft outside in late March for fueling and engine testing. They will also hold a roll-out ceremony at this point. So many people have poured so much love and care into the old bomber, not to mention dollars, that there is much to celebrate. Taxi tests will follow.

via Boeing B-29 “Doc” waiting for warm weather to fly in April or May.

Considering she used to be a target on a bombing range, this is one heck of an achievement. I’m eager to see her soar again, but yes, take the time to do it right. There simply are no more B-29s to restore.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A U.S. Navy commander pleaded guilty Tuesday in a massive bribery scheme involving a longtime military contractor in Asia who allegedly offered luxury travel, prostitutes and other bribes to Navy officers in exchange for confidential information.

Jose Luis Sanchez, 42, is the highest-ranking official to plead the guilty in the case, which rocked the Navy when the first charges were filed in 2013. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced March 27.

Sanchez, who lives in San Diego and remains on active duty, was asked to silently read four passages of a 24-page plea agreement and say if the wrongdoing described was accurate.

“Yes, sir,” he told U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bartick each time.

via U.S. Navy commander pleads guilty in massive bribery case.

1. Whatever they’re paying you, it ain’t worth it.

2. I’m curious why they prosecuted this in federal court, rather than via a military court martial. Anyone know?

A war veteran who absconded from his care home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France has died aged 90.

Bernard Jordan – dubbed the Great Escaper after his cross-Channel adventure last year – died peacefully in hospital.

His death was announced in a statement by Gracewell Healthcare, which runs The Pines care home in Hove, East Sussex, where Mr Jordan, known as Bernie, lived.

Mr Jordan hit headlines globally when he disappeared from the care home to embark on a trip to the D-Day anniversary events in Normandy wearing his war medals under his grey mac.

via Bernard Jordan who absconded from care home for D-Day commemorations dies at 90 – Telegraph.

I’ll raise a pint to Mr. Jordan tonight.

Rest in Peace. You’ve earned it.

With his wife and child close at hand, Army Maj. Chad Wriglesworth battled skin cancer for more than a year before dying at age 37.

“It was long and painful and awful,” said Aimee Wriglesworth, who believes the cancer resulted from exposure to toxic fumes in Iraq. Yet the 28-year-old widow from Bristow, Va., seized a chance to recount the ordeal and its aftermath to a researcher, hoping that input from her and her 6-year-old daughter might be useful to other grieving military families.

“To be able to study what we felt and what we’re going through — maybe this will help people down the line,” Wriglesworth said.

By the hundreds, other widows, widowers, parents, siblings and children are sharing accounts of their grief as part of the largest study ever of America’s military families as they go through bereavement. About 2,000 people have participated over the past three years, and one-on-one interviews will continue through February.

via Military families in largest ever bereavement study share insights on grief – News – Stripes.

We’re generally not a fan of the soft social sciences. Having said that, we do think that we as a nation owe more to the families of those who died in the service of their nation than a flag and a check. Ultimately, the goal has to be that the families can cope sufficiently to return to being productive, functioning members of society. And most families probably can do that with the existing structure. But can we do more at reasonable cost? And is there a population that isn’t being sufficiently cared for? Maybe. This is a good first step to finding out.

When we risk our lives for our nation, there is a tacit agreement that in return, our families will receive consideration.

When Dave Scott was an Air Force wing commander at Hurlburt Field from 1999 to 2001, he used to give out special bottles of Jack Daniel’s, made from a single barrel of the Tennessee distillery’s finest product.

The bottles were from the Jack Daniel’s By the Barrel program. Created around the turn of the century, it allows consumers to purchase an entire barrel full of a select 94 proof whiskey, which is then decanted into about 250 750 ml bottles.

Scott, a retired major general who last served in 2009 as deputy director of U.S. Special Operations Command’s Center for Plans, Operations, and Intelligence at MacDill Air Force Base, knows a thing or two about the popularity of whiskey among the military.

via For special military occasions, whiskey better by the barrel | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune.

I should note that none of the units I was in participated in the Single Barrel program. And I have a suspicion that outside the special warfare community, you’re likely to see the officers of a unit, or maybe the officers and senior NCOs participate.

Also, please understand that your tax dollars are not going to the purchase of extravagant whiskey. Mostly likely, this is a direct voluntary collection, though I suppose some units might have made the purchase using Non Appropriated Funds. NAF are monies collected from things such as the exchange service that are in turn used to support Morale, Welfare and Recreation activities, as well as returned to the various units occasionally.

Whiskey in the ranks is a tad funny. Lemme tell you about my time in Germany, land of terrific beer.

The Germans love Jack Daniels. Heck, so do I. And as a single soldier living in the barracks, I could walk into the PX and buy a bottle. But the purchase of liquor in Germany on base was rationed. To minimize any black market that would suppress German taxation of liquor sales to their own people. GIs had a ration card that limited the amount of liquor they could buy per month. I seem to recall it was something like four fifths (or really, 750ml bottles) per month.

Now, four bottles isn’t that much, but it should be enough to get you through the month.

On the other hand, young troops in the barracks are not always known for their sterling judgment and high tolerance for alcohol. And so virtually every unit commander in Germany issued a policy that prohibited the possession of hard alcohol in the barracks and limited troops to one six pack of beer per man at any given time (which meant the drunks had to make two or three trips t the shoppette on Saturday night).

It really rankled me that I couldn’t (legally) keep a bottle of Jack tucked back in my fridge for a sip after a hard day of work. I’m not saying I ever violated that order. I’m just sayin’ I may have made an error in judgment a time or two.

BTW, if any of you think a donation of Jack Daniels would be better than hitting the Paypal button on the right, who am I to disagree with you?

Spend any time researching Marine Corps leadership concerns regarding naval readiness and you will see a familiar refrain of lamentations: Not enough ships (down to 31 this year with a USN-USMC agreed requirement of 38); Insufficient C2 / C5I capability and capacity; Threat pushing amphibious standoff ranges further and further out. The problem set is compounded by an unprecedented fiscal crisis affecting everything from new ship procurement to maintenance / modernization and no relief in Geographic Combatant Commander (GCC) demands for naval amphibious forces. Decades of lower amphibious prioritization have helped to create this readiness predicament; solving the conundrum will require significant investment and coordinated decisions across the Navy / Marine Corps to restore readiness while meeting the most critical of GCC requirements.

via Unbreaking Amphibious Ship Readiness.

Carriers, surface warfare, maritime patrol aircraft and submarines are all struggling to meet the demands of the GCCs. But arguably no community is as in demand, and under resourced as the amphibious shipping.  The associated Marines are stretched thin, but not nearly to the extend of the shipping they need to be truly relevant.

But the spiraling costs of amphibious shipping means building an appropriate number is highly unlikely, especially with programs like the replacement for the Ohio class SSBNs poised to suck vast amounts of money from the shipbuilding budget.

And so the ships are rode hard and put away wet, reducing their lifespans, and further exacerbating the problem.

Some efforts, such as the Mobile Landing Platform are in hand to maintain a valid forced entry option by facilitating follow on assets at reasonable cost. But the Navy simply cannot continue to sustain its forward deployment of various Marine Expeditionary Units without destroying the very shipping needed to do so.

Sooner or later, CNO is going to have to tell the GCCs “no.”

Of course, as noted in the linked article, the GCCs don’t just make this stuff up in a vacuum. They formulate their taskings to the services based on the guidance from civilian leadership. Which in the  end means that both the GCCs and the CNO and other Joint Chiefs are going to have to sit on Capitol Hill and tell the world that they cannot accomplish the mission.