Final Central America Plea

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 19, 2013]

We are still short funding for a flight home and other expenses.  If I can't raise the funds very quickly, the embed may be cancelled.  This could be the start of something very good, so if you can, please help.

Thanks, and thanks for putting up with all the pitches. 

LW

Which Do You Like Best?

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 19, 2013]

Do Not PO A Redhead

I had an unexpected treat last night, when a friend came in from out of town.  Better yet, he brought his studio lights so we went to a semi-regularly scheduled photo seminar and shoot.  We shot.  They shot.  Fun was had.  Problem is, however, that I have two versions of a photo and can't decide which I like better.  Go over to Laughing Wolf and let me know which you prefer.  Comments are open. 

LW

I Guess If General Dempsey Says So...

Posted By Deebow • [June 18, 2013]

I didn't retire to insult General Officers, it seems to be a perk of the status though, and this is the dumbest thing I have EVER heard any General say:

Earlier this year, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said the sexual assaults might be linked to the longstanding ban on women serving in combat because the disparity between the roles of men and women creates separate classes of personnel — male "warriors" versus the rest of the force.

So you think they will be sexually assaulted LESS OFTEN if we train them to be Army Rangers and Navy SEALS and forward deploy them?  FFS!  Is there no one in on his staff that has the sense or courage to tell him what an asinine thing to say that is?  Or even have the courage to tell the nation and the Administration what an asinine idea this is.

Women may be able to start training as Army Rangers by mid-2015 and as Navy SEALs a year later under plans set to be announced by the Pentagon that would slowly bring women into thousands of combat jobs, including those in elite special operations forces

If you are new to this argument, you can review what some of us think here and here, here and I spoke about it here. 

I am going to try to keep this as PG as possible, but this is what we are talking about.

Continue reading "I Guess If General Dempsey Says So..."

Defense Budget - Feathering fighter bird nests?

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 18, 2013]

The defense budget for 2014 is starting to take shape and we are going to be taking a good look at some of the items in it. Money is obviously tight, so we need to make certain that it is spent wisely and for the right reasons. All too often politics, lobbying and factors that have nothing to do with national security push programs and spending. In an era of austerity we simply can’t afford this.

The Chairman’s mark of the Defense Authorization Act is out and there are many good things in there. Rep. Buck McKeon is a solid advocate for a strong defense and this is his chance to comment on priorities and goals for defense funding. Most of the relatively short document relates to policy and has some requirements for explanations of debacles like Benghazi. But there are also some funding items that don’t make much sense.

One of these is a requirement to buy F-18 aircraft, which is a bit of a head scratcher. We cancelled the F-22 program before we bought anywhere near as many true air superiority fighters as we should have. We have cut back severely the number of F-35s that we plan to buy, but somehow we can find the money to buy a completely different and significantly less capable bird. That smells distressingly like some corporate welfare for Boeing, who makes the F-18.

I am unaware of any purely tactical or strategic military argument for splitting the funding for our fighter aircraft. There was a time back in the day where we had the F-14, 15 & 16 birds with different mission profiles and we let Northrop, Boeing and Lockheed duke it out to see how many of each we were going to buy. But we came to the logical conclusion that too often led to a contest between retired generals to feather their own company’s nest.

Now we have gone to an up front competitive model, where the mission profiles required are determined and then the contractors compete to see who can build the best bird. You can question whether this limits the strength of our defense industrial base with a winner takes almost all approach, but it makes more sense than trying to build, field and support multiple platforms that all require separate design, manufacture and support infrastructures.

We had a competition for the Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing lost. I am sure that was a very sad day in Washington state, but that is the way the game is played. The question then is why we are buying another of their older and nowhere near as survivable aircraft, the F-18. Fielding two birds with essentially the same mission means we have to train two sets of maintenance folks, build two separate supply chains and take resources away from the aircraft we are counting on to keep us in control of the skies. Maybe Sen. Durbin can shed some light on that.

The Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee is bringing in two service chiefs and the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer to testify on the F-35 program next week.
The panel, chaired by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), announced the hearing on Friday.

Running a defense company is complicated and damned hard, but that doesn’t mean tax payers should be on the hook for keeping it afloat. Boeing has tens of billions of dollars in contracts and paid less than zero dollars in taxes. They actually got a $124M refund in 2010. Seriously?

 If someone can articulate an actual case for why we need these birds, I will listen. But corporate welfare for a company that seems to be able to avoid paying any taxes doesn’t seem like one to me. The Russians are sending some pretty advanced surface to air missiles to Syria and have basically told us a no fly zone is a no go for them. We can’t assume that we will have unopposed air superiority anywhere we decide to fly. That means we need to be spending our money on the most effective aircraft to achieve that mission.

Juno, and the Juno Beach Centre

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 18, 2013]

The Juno Beach Centre

Today we arrive at Courseulles-sur-Mer and Juno Beach, and what I regard as the single best museum on all the beaches -- the Juno Beach Centre. 

 

A tank with a difference

 

Arriving under a grey sky (if you don't like the weather in Normandy, wait an hour), a tank caught my eye.  Now, there are lots of tanks on display up and down the beaches, but this one is different. 

 

Land or sea drive

 

This was one of the few surviving amphibious tanks from the landing.  The idea was to add in a propeller propulsion system, an inflatable skirt, and have the tanks sail in to the landing on their own.  Once they hit sand, the propellers could be disengaged, and the skirts cast off as they moved forward.  It was a great idea -- on paper.  In practice, the sad truth is that many (if not most) sank on the way in. 

Continue reading "Juno, and the Juno Beach Centre"

Russia resets on Syria

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 17, 2013]

Our dear friends the Russians are pushing the reset button on plans to help out the rebels in Syria. I guess someone missed the fact that they happen to be very good friends w/ Mr. Assad.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, will not permit no-fly zones to be imposed over Syria, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Monday.

"I think we fundamentally will not allow this scenario," Lukashevich told a news briefing, adding that calls for a no-fly zone showed disrespect for international law.

I wonder how they will feel when we are arming the folks fighting their allies? My guess is they will not be tickled.

Continuing Along Sword Beach

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 17, 2013]

A restored Churchill on display

As you travel along the D-Day beaches, particularly along Sword, there really are monuments and memorials every few hundred meters, if not closer.  Part of this has to do with the large number of small towns and villages that line what is now Sword Beach, and part to do with the intense fighting that took place that day. 

 

Military and civilian casualties

 

The fighting took a toll on troops, buildings, and civilians in the area.  Many of these memorials list all those killed in battle, which is a good thing in my book.  Note the bunker just behind and to the right. 

Continue reading "Continuing Along Sword Beach"

Father's Day- Vietnam version

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 16, 2013]

Posted this last year and it seems appropriate again. Thanks for all of it Dad.

A couple of pics of my Dad from his days in uniform.

Vietnam 1st tour w/ the Big Red One

And 2nd tour w/ 11th ACR

Happy Father's Day and thanks for everything.

Happy 238th U.S. Army

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 14, 2013]

At the American Cemetery, 6 June 2013

Today marks the 238th birthday of the U.S. Army.  It is also Flag Day, and I would ask you to proudly fly our flag this day, to honor both occasions.  For many, they will celebrate by wearing the green they stood up and volunteered for.  To all who serve and have served wearing the green, my thanks.

LW

Next, Central America

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 14, 2013]

Even as I work on the video and some 2,500 photos from Normandy, I'm also preparing for a short embed to Central America.  A very kind gentleman has gotten me my ticket down, is there anyone with some American Airlines miles who would be willing to get me a ticket back?  Meantime, funds are needed to cover expenses.  If you can help, please hit my GoFundMe page. Thanks!

LW

Along Sword And Gold Beaches

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 14, 2013]

 

Memorial to Royal, Merchant, and Allied Navies

 

At times it seemed you could not walk or drive 100 meters without coming across a monumnet of some sort.  In some stretches, walking was the only way you didn't miss any.  They are well worth seeking out, because each can unlock stories not well known. 

Some really don't need much in the way of translation, or explanation.  Walking down the beach one evening, a memorial caught my eye. 

 

5th Battalion Remembered

 

I realized that there was a larger group there, and went to explore. 

The entire group can be seen below

This was where a major push had come ashore, and the monuments tell the tale.  Being that this was in the Sword/Gold area, it is no surprise that there were several memorials to British units.

And the centerpiece is fairly plain

But one part told a bit more, a different tale, and a bit of history that I would venture is not well known to many Americans. 

An anchor lost, now found

 

I don't think many Americans understand just how large D-Day truly was, and how many nations took part.  It wasn't just the Americans and British, Canadian and Free French.  It was troops from Poland, Greece, and even Norway.  The fight for the beaches took place not only on land, but at sea as well.  The bombers may not have come, nor was there a major fleet action, but those at sea fought too and control of the sea area was not guaranteed. 

 

A tribute to the sailors and ships of Norway

 

The Germans sent in torpedo boats, their equivalent of PT boats, and they did much more damage than most know.  One bit of that damage was the Norwegian destroyer Svenner.  It was sunk by torpedo attack that day. The anchor was found and recovered in 2003.

Just a bit of history to be found walking down the beach in Normandy 

LW

This trip and other embeds sponsored by MilitaryLuggage.Com and B.N. Shape Clothing.  Normandy coverage also made possible by Enterprise Rent A Car Caen Railway Office.   My thanks to them and to everyone who has contributed to make this and other trips possible. 

A variety of advertising sponsorships are available, and you can contribute to this trip and other embeds at GoFundMe. 

Obama plays wag the dog w/ Syria

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 13, 2013]

Un-Freakin'-Believable.

The Obama administration has concluded that Syrian President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons against the rebels seeking to overthrow him and, in a major policy shift, President Obama has decided to supply military support to the rebels, the White House announced Thursday.

Scandalabra has been kicking his regime's butt and dragging him down, but hey nothing a good war can't cure. I mean Syria-ously what has changed since this was well known months and months ago. If there was ever a time to support the rebels, it was a year and about 100,000 dead Syrians ago. Now the Islamists have firm control of the rebel groups and so we are trading a bad guy for equally bad guys.

Just out of curiousity, what do we get out of a proxy war with Putin's client state? That is quite a reset.

Doing HuffPost Live now

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 13, 2013]
Doing HuffPost Live about defense contractors spying on us for pay at 6:35 http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/defense-department-contractors/51b5eaebfe34441e8c000436

What To Do With A Few Thousand Used Bunkers?

Posted By Laughing_Wolf • [June 13, 2013]

Okay, the Germans built a few thousand bunkers as part of the Atlantic Wall.  Some were log and sandbag; some were reinforced concrete; some were rock and brick; and, a few others made good use of available resources.  However, they lost and the French were left with thousands that were built such that taking them out could/would take out whole neighborhoods.  So, what to do? 

 

Secure Apartment

 

In this case, someone built a home/apartments into the bunker.  A storm might flood them, but otherwise it is unlikely to take out the core.  Just one of the imaginative uses to which I saw used bunkers put. 

There is more to come, but I apparently shot some 2,500 photos that now need to be processed.  I also shot video, and in addition to needing to upgrade software ($$) I need to learn new software to process it since a computer upgrade took out the easy options (no longer supported, of course).  So, there is more to come, and I will be flooding here and over at LaughingWolf.net in the days ahead.  In fact, if you would like to see some photos of Montmartre, Paris in the early morning, click here.  Also, a tribute to a good man who left us about the time I returned, go here. 

I can't wait to share more of Normandy with you, and hope you will enjoy it.

LW

This trip and other embeds sponsored by MilitaryLuggage.Com and B.N. Shape Clothing.  Normandy coverage also made possible by Enterprise Rent A Car Caen Railway Office.   My thanks to them and to everyone who has contributed to make this and other trips possible. 

A variety of advertising sponsorships are available, and you can contribute to this trip and other embeds at GoFundMe. 

The IRS has a SWAT team?

Posted By Uncle Jimbo • [June 13, 2013]

Sadly yes.

 Rep. Jeff Duncan wants to know why IRS law enforcement agents are training  with AR-15 rifles.

As chairman of the House Homeland Security oversight subcommittee, Duncan  (R-S.C.) toured a federal law enforcement facility in late May and noticed  agents training with the semi-automatic weapons at a firing range. They  identified themselves as IRS, he said.

“When I left there, it’s been bugging me for weeks now, why IRS agents are  training with a semi-automatic rifle AR-15, which has stand-off capability,”  Duncan told POLITICO. “Are Americans that much of a target that you need that  kind of capability?”

I have known about this for many years. One of the low lights of my career came when I gave some door-kicking training to one of the IRS SWAT teams. They had all the gear and none of the skills necessary. This is another symptom of the militarization of law enforcement in this country, and even worse the empowerment of bureaucracy with the ultimate tools of the state. Comply or we will kill you.

I can say that I didn't do anywhere near as good a job training the IRS folks as I could have. Mainly it involved trying to get them to stop forming the semi-circle of death and shooting each other. Plus stopping all of them from yelling conflicting instructions at the same time to the people they were trying to arrest. I also audited their gear and levied a tax on several items I had a better use for than they did. Fair is fair.