Smitty, the brains behind the operation at The Other McCain, has been reactivated for naval staff duty in Kabul, Afghanistan.
And here I thought Ron Paul was full of it with all that letter of marque and reprisal talk.
As someone who was told to come back when I was a few years younger on 9/12 (apparently the Army didn't need 50+ yr old infantry lieutenants), I wish Smitty all the best and envy him the hard year ahead.
Operating from high speed launches, US Marines boarded a hijacked merchant ship to seize nine pirates, and rescue 11 trapped merchant sailors. "Once we showed them the American flag, their disposition turned from scared, unsure of what was happening, to very happy," said Staff Sgt. Thomas Hartrick. A quote not likely to be heard on ABC News anytime soon.
""The pirates were definitely overmatched," Vice Adm. Mark I. Fox , commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said in a telephone interview. Admiral Fox's previous posting was to the Pentagon Office of No Duh?
One of these things is not like the other...
One of these things just doesn't belong...
HT: The Washington Post, which labors under the delusion the Marines have "commandos"...
Navy's Aegis Air/Missile Defense System Teetering on Brink of Failure...
According to Navy Times, the Aegis Air Defense System aboard the USN's Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers is showing a steadily-increasing level of failures and unsatisfactory performance.
The principal culprit appears to be the Navy's byzantine procurement and supply system dedicated to supporting Aegis, a system so arcane and convoluted that ship commanders and weapon systems officers just cannot order necessary parts and support materials.
The result is that Aegis overall cannot perform as its advocates for the BMD role hope.
This problem is exacerbated by personnel drawdowns in the Fleets as the Navy struggles to meet budget targets. Many ships' Aegis systems are being operated by sailors struggling in assignments one and even two grades above their rank and training. Ironically, as the Navy reduces the number of sailors at the sharp end, the number of admirals to bust their chops is increasing. While our young men and women at sea are working the wonders they always do, the dockside Decaturs of the "Potomac Fleet" are making it harder and harder for them to do their jobs.
So when Commander-in-Chief Obama promises to send Aegis ships to provide our allies with ballistic missile defense, it might behoove them not to examine that gift too closely. Like most things this Administration champions, it looks good, it sounds good... but it doesn't work as advertised.
"The Navy’s 10th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock will be named for Rep. John Murtha, the long-serving Pennsylvania Democrat who chaired the powerful House appropriations defense subcommittee before he died in February.
"According to a Navy memorandum obtained by Navy Times, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus notified Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead that he had selected “John P. Murtha” for the previously unnamed LPD 26. It’s the latest example of the Navy breaking a convention for naming its warships; the previous ships in the San Antonio class have been named for American cities."
Ray Mabus
Secretary of the Navy
1000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350-1000
UPDATED:Anybody with a fax number for this POS, pass it on and I'll post it.703-693-9545
Thanks!
President Passive-Aggressive Strikes Again!
For those of you with short memories...
Yeah, Marines won't mind serving aboard this ship...
If this can be confirmed, this will be upgraded to another "Fuck You Very Much, Mistah Commander In Chief. Sir." installment.
UPDATE: Evidence points to this story cropping up very quickly but from only one or at most two originators, with conflicting points of origin. More tellingly, the MilBlogs aren't buying it as authentic and I'm not not going to question their experienced judgment.
UPDATE II: The story seems right, so I'm retitling this thread. HT: Theospark, in Links, below.
