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Panetta Jumps Ship
Former SECDEF and CIA Director Leon Panetta has released an excerpt from his memoirs, Worthy Fights, in which he lays out precisely what nearly everyone who paid any attention at all (to someone other than Chris Matthews, at least) in the last four years knew to be true. Obama cut and ran from Iraq for domestic political reasons. The WAPO, of all places, has the story.
(Michele) Flournoy argued our case, and those on our side viewed the White House as so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests.
Barack Obama threw away a victory paid for with the blood of American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. He did so with the cavalier disregard of someone discarding old socks. Obama rendered the blood and sacrifice of our service men and women moot. Watching ISIS roll over Anbar Province, taking control of places whose names evoke such strong emotion in those who were there, Ramadi and Fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit, engendered in me a seething anger that has not really dissipated. Anger at Barack Hussein Obama for his dereliction of duty, and for the Useful Idiots who believed his far-fetched fabrications, and who yet refuse to place responsibility for ISIS and Iraq’s current troubles on the man whose blithe and egregious neglect of his responsibilities brought on precisely what he was warned about. It must be akin to a Vietnam Veteran watching the fall of Saigon.
Maybe it was Leon Panetta’s time in uniform (He was a United States Army Intelligence Officer) that would not allow him to ignore the despicable falsehoods perpetrated by his boss, especially when he knew the price that had been paid for the gains Obama was throwing away. Whichever, Panetta puts paid to the lies of this Administration regarding ISIS and his headlong skedaddle from Iraq. Panetta goes further.
To this day, I believe that a small U.S. troop presence in Iraq could have effectively advised the Iraqi military on how to deal with al-Qaeda’s resurgence and the sectarian violence that has engulfed the country.
Barack Obama has not told the truth about a single act or decision he has made. His is the most malignant, corrosive, dishonest, and damaging presidency in the history of our nation. The blood of the mass murders committed daily in Iraq is largely on his hands. Not that he cares. He got re-elected. Much to this great nation’s detriment.
“The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world.” – Ayn Rand
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Navy News
Former SecNav John Lehman and Rep. Randy Forbes have an op-ed in National Review. It’s quick. It’s painful. Read it.
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Newcomer to the Navy blogging world, Greenie Board, notes that the results of a recent independent Navy Retention Survey point to a great deal of mistrust in the ranks about the senior leadership.
Senior leadership, in the person of the Chief of Naval Personnel, bemoan a perception of mistrust in the ranks.
As Greenie points out, that’s not a perception. It’s the reality. And until the heavies come to grips with that problem, they’ll simply breed more distrust. And that will push out the very people the Navy desperately needs to hold on to.
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Via CDR Sal, the Navy has a report on the shortcomings of the LCS program, but won’t share it with Congress.
NAVY WON’T RELEASE LCS REPORT, CITING ‘CHILLING EFFECT:’ The Navy has rejected a public-records request for the results of its Small Surface Combatant Task Force, findings that could affect the future of the Littoral Combat Ship program. Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from Morning D, the Navy declined in a letter to provide the final report being produced by the task force, which was put in place after Hagel in February expressed concerns about the LCS program and ordered the Navy to study alternatives.
In its letter, the Navy said the task force findings would be considered as part of the fiscal 2016 budget deliberations — and that releasing them ahead of the deliberations could be “detrimental to the Navy’s decision-making process by creating a chilling effect on the expression of candid opinions.” The Navy’s rejection of the FOIA request comes as members of Congress continue to press for a briefing on the task force’s findings. Earlier this month, HASC canceled a classified briefing on the issue after the Navy made clear it wouldn’t share the findings and would only discuss the processes the task force used, as USNI News reported.—————————————————————–
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Seasonal, Pumpkin Spice MREs Set For Release
NATICK, Mass. — Fall is arriving early as the Pentagon’s Combat Feeding Directorate announced the nation’s service members will be able to enjoy new seasonal versions of Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs), Duffel Blog has learned.
“The Directorate has worked continuously to update MREs to reflect the current preferences of our armed forces,” said Phyllis Ray, a senior food technologist. “We’ve seen an odd trend recently showing our warfighters prefer foods that actually taste good and reflect seasonal foods American’s enjoy back home.”
Ray went on to elaborate that a breakthrough in food preservation and barista technologies have allowed the Directorate to concoct the next generation of MRE flavors.
The following seasonal MREs are scheduled to be rolled out this fall:
Pumpkin Spice Taco Pasta
Spiced Chai Black Beans
Lasagna Latte
Venti-tarian Delight
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Rascal
The early days of the Cold War saw the US military establishment obsessed with two major themes in weapons- nuclear weapons, and guided missiles. And an early attempt at combining the two was the now almost forgotten Rascal standoff nuclear missile.
Developed by Bell to deliver a nuclear warhead 100 miles from the launch point, the Rascal was a massive missile. It was also to ambitious for the state of the art, and by the time it entered into production, the decision had been made to abandon it.
Early missile programs went through an array of various schemes of nomenclature, but we’ll stick to the final one, the GAM-63.
Powered by a three chamber liquid fueled rocket, the Rascal would climb from its launch altitude of roughly 40,000 feet to a cruise altitude of about 50,000 feet. Two of the rocket chambers would shut down, and the third would sustain the Rascal at a speed of about 1200 miles per hour. About 20 miles out from the target, the Rascal would nose over into a terminal dive.
The Rascal had a pretty interesting guidance system. It had a radar in its nose. That radar would send video of its radar system via radio to the launching bomber. Having launched, the bomber would turn away, and a retractable receiver antenna in its aft fuselage would pick up the signal, and display it to the bombardier. The bombardier would would then radio steering commands to the missile. As the missile got closer to the target, the better the radar display was, theoretically improving accuracy throughout the flight.
In practice, the Rascal was a mess. Liquid rockets were still very delicate instuments and had a high failure rate. The complex guidance system was unreliable, and was vulnerable to jamming.
There was also a disagreement over which type bomber should carry Rascal. The Air Force first wanted it for the B-29, then the B-50, then the B-36, and finally, the B-47. Strategic Air Command, who never seemed terribly enthusiastic about a weapon Air Force headquarters insisted on, wanted first to arm the B-50, and then the B-36, but not the B-47.
By the time the missile was almost ready for deployment, the B-52 was in service, along with its own standoff weapon, the jet powered Hound Dog missile (AGM-28) with similar speed, but with a 500 mile range, and a simpler, more accurate inertial navigation system.
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CVCU
Esli has a set or two. I used to have a couple. They’re popular with tankers, but only rarely have I seen mech infantry crews wearing them.
Armored vehicles are playgrounds for fire. The armor itself doesn’t burn, but just about everything else inside a track loves to burn. Fuel, ammo, furnishings, cables, rubber seals, grease, hydraulic fluid, people….
And burns are one of the major causes of injuries and wounds for armored crewmen. And because armor vehicles are often quite messy to work on and around, the traditional uniform for tankers was a set of coveralls. But cotton coveralls, especially with petroleum products smeared on them, gave little protection against fire.
And so, the Army, in its wisdom, developed the Combat Vehicle Crewman’s Uniform, or CVCU.
The basis of the design was the traditional CWU-27P flight suit. Like the flight suit, it is made of fire resistant Nomex fabric. But there are quite a few differences.
First, it is substantially thicker than the thin flight suit. That helps minimized tearing.
Second, while a pilot might only wear his flight suit for a few hours, vehicle crews can expect to spend days wearing their suit. For that reason, there’s a flap at the seat of the CVCU to make defecating easier. Not dignified, by any stretch, but easier.
Third, armored vehicles don’t have ejection seats. If a wounded crewman has to be pulled from a vehicle, it’s quite difficult. To make it just a little easier, there’s a velcro flap across the back. Opening the flap reveals a nylon tape that forms a harness under the wearer’s shoulders. The tape makes lifting or dragging the wounded much easier.
In my day, the CVCU was issued in a olive drab color known as OG106.
Today it is issued in the very unattractive UCP pattern.
In addition to the coverall, the CVCU came with some accoutrements such as leather and Nomex gloves, a Nomex cold weather balaclava, and, in the past, a lightweight flexible body armor vest similar to what police wear.
Outside of actual live fire gunnery, CVCUs were unpopular with most of the mech infantry I knew. But personally, I loved them. As a crewmember, anytime we went to the field, I wore them.
You see, CVCU were organizational clothing, issued to the soldier when he was assigned to a crew, and turned back in when he was transferred to another post.
And since they were OCIE, if they were damaged or worn out, or otherwise unserviceable, they could be exchanged at no cost for a new set.
BDUs, on the other hand, had to be replaced at the expense of the soldier.
Now, why would I wear out a perfectly nice $60 set of BDUs in the field, when I could risk $0 by wearing the CVCU?
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“Make Sail!”
The Royal Navy in the age of sail was a force so dominant that it led a small island nation to rule over a quarter of the world’s population. How many of us are avid readers of historically inspired fiction of the era, such as the Aubrey/Maturin series, or Horatio Hornblower, among many others?
The Royal Navy was the greatest naval power in the world until World War II. The stupendous cost of the war, coupled with the unprecedented growth of the US Navy saw the end of the RN as the master of the seas. Even so, for some time after, she would remain a significant force, with ships deployed worldwide for a variety of roles.
One such ship was HMS Dampier. Laid down as a Bay class anti-aircraft frigate in World War II, she would be commissioned in 1946 and serve for over 20 years as a hydrographic survey ship, mostly in the Far East.
In 1967, returning to Britain, the ship lost a screw near the off the coast of southern Africa. To be sure, the ship had twin shafts. But a 3000 mile journey, with only one shaft on an elderly machinery plant was a long way to limp home. And there were only three weeks until Christmas. It would be nice to reach home and hearth in time for the holiday. What to do?
Yes, they fashioned lug and square sails from awning canvas.
And made it home on the 23rd of December.
The crew apparently became quite adept at trimming and jibing. Old traditions, like old habits, die hard.
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You can’t beat the low altitude record, but you can tie it.
But it’s pretty unusual to survive a tie.
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Combat Proud
Phat’s story here was inspired because I asked him about one of GEN McPeak’s protégés.
Most people in the service don’t get a lot of face time with general officers. In the Army, as far as my day to day life went, it didn’t really matter who the two, three, and four star generals were in my chain of command. The Army is the Army, and it goes on as it always has. A general really has to work at it to make a genuine negative impression on the troops.
And one Air Force officer, McPeak’s protégé, did so. GEN Robert H. (“Doc”) Fogelsong was a career fighter pilot, eventually working his way up to four stars, and command of all US Air Force units in Europe, or USAFE.
Fogelsong had a reputation as a micromanager. Like, demanding to know the daily attendance at the base theater, or how many kids in the Child Development Center went to book readings.
The Air Force likes to give programs code names with two names. Cobra Judy, Pave Spike, Commando Solo… you get it?
Fogelsong, as USAFE, decided his units weren’t on the ball as much as they should be on the important things. No, not ability to fly, fight and win… the important things!
Combat Proud: Aims at improving base appearance to foster pride and productivity.
Combat Nighthawk: Links senior noncommissioned officers with junior officers on a night shift to act as the base commander’s eyes and ears, as well as help hone leadership skills.
Combat Education: Helps airmen pursue higher education by offering more flexible and innovative class schedules.
Combat Touch: Focuses on the spiritual needs and well-being of airmen and their families.
Combat Flightline: Helps enhance flying operations by making sure that the best personnel are in the right jobs.
Combat Intro/Exit: Streamlines base in-processing and out-processing.
Combat Fitness: Works to improve airmen’s physical fitness.
Combat Care: Improves care, resources, attention and information spouses and families receive while the military member is deployed.
Hidden Heroes: Encourages active-duty military members, Department of Defense civilians and family members to volunteer on base and in their communities.
Young men and women join the Air Force or other service with a great deal of idealism. They want to do an important job, and take pride in doing it well.
And, of course, the Air Force already had programs in place to address virtually all of these areas of concern. Ah… they didn’t have the cool “Combat….” code name for the program.
By far the least popular program was Combat Proud. Everyone wants to live and work on a nice installation. But Combat Pride was insulting to Airmen throughout Europe. Money was spent to build and paint cinder block walls to keep dumpsters out of sight behind buildings. Airmen were out raking leaves… in a forest!
Gussying up the most mundane chores of the service with a “Combat” nickname, and focusing on them at the expense of truly mission critical tasks, was the hallmark of the micromanager.
If a junior Airman cannot publicly disparage his theater commander by name, there is another way for him to express his displeasure.
If GEN Fogelsong really thought some part of an air base was failing to meet the standards of appearance, there was another, far more appropriate method of addressing shortcomings. USAFE has, as a right hand man, a Chief Master Sergeant (a super E-9) as his principal advisor on enlisted matters. And that Chief should have gone to the Chief on an air base and remonstrated with him about the standards of appearance.
Toxic leadership is just that, toxic. More than a few good officers and men have simply walked away from a service they loved because one toxic senior leader made the game not worth the candle.
After his retirement from the Air Force, GEN Fogelsong was appointed president of Mississippi State University, where he promptly instituted a similar leadership paradigm.
MSU fired him about a year and a half later.
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Quartermaster’s Travels
Since my day was a total crapfest, I’ll share frequent commenter Quartermaster’s travel adventures. Take it away, QM. –XBrad
Few of the denizens here know that I am a Professional Engineer (PE) and Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) employed by an Indian tribe. As a consequence, I am forced, by my duties, to travel. Last week (20th-26th) I was in the Anchorage, Alaska area for the National Tribal Transportation Conference.
My colleague, another PE, and I went up on the 20th because flights on Sunday were terrible, so we had Sunday to bum around and see a few things. We went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and took the Tunnel to Whittier (also a tunnel of the Alaska Railroad, with the area around the tracks paved), just we could say we did. Along the way we saw some of the glaciers, and got a pic of the snow blower that was used by the Alaska Railroad, part of which was an old troop car from WW2.
Outside of a few birds, the only wildlife we saw was at the conservation center, although we did see bear sign (partially eaten salmon) along one of the streams, and on the trail next to that stream. Now I like Yogi, but I have no desire to meet him up close and personal, so I judiciously retreated after going about 100 yards past the mostly eaten Salmon on the trail and hearing some crashing in the bush just across the stream. I was particularly disinclined since I was armed only with a Victornox Swiss Army Knife. I doubt Yogi would have been impressed.
The most excitement we had during the conference was at the Hotel. A quake, magnitude 6.2, the most powerful since the most powerful on record in ’64, shook the Anchorage Hilton. I had just finished a shower and was drying off when I felt the shaking on the 11th floor. And it did sway! It brought proceedings to an absolute stop on the 15th floor, and my colleague felt the initial vibration through the floor on the 1st floor about 30 seconds before the greater magnitude S-waves hit, which are what cause the swaying.
No serious damage, but I was inspired to look up at the ceiling and say “you stay up there” while waiting for the shaking to completely die down. I was also dry before the shaking stopped.
At the Wildlife Conservation Center we saw several species that are being raised for release later. They have about 150 head of Wood Bison and they intend to release them up around Fairbanks in ’15. They also have a good herd of Muskox, which were hunted out in Alaska, but are being re-established from a Greenland herd. They also had some Elk, which they plan to release in the next year as well.
They also had a few head of Caribou and Reindeer and two Grizzlies they obtained as cubs. Those were the only Grizzlies we encountered, and they were behind wire and didn’t seem too interested in us.
All told a good stay, but I despise Delta Airlines and the trip back was far worse than the trip up. One day I’d like to go up and take my bride* and really visit. We simply didn’t have time to take a Glacier trip out of Whittier, and certainly not a trip to Denali, alas. Just enough of a trip to whet the appetite and make me wish I could stay about 2 more weeks.
*She didn’t want me to add “of 40 years.”
Quartermaster Sends
Of course, you have to get the hat too.
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Goodness me…
I think I liked the news better when the power was out.
One huge, HUGE advantage here is that the hospitals here, even the very worst, are light years beyond the conditions in Africa. The statistical chances of containing an infection are much better. As to individual patient outcomes, the level of nursing care and palliative care is also much, much higher here. There’s a considerable school of thought that this will also greatly lower mortality rates.
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You know, if letting illegal aliens into the Army is such a good idea, maybe we should also assign them to the President’s security detail. It’s not like they could do much worse.
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