Archive for December, 2005

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Richard Long carries school supplies into the Dar Al Zando school and orphanage in Mosul, Iraq, Dec. 22, 2005. DoD photo by Spc. Clydell Kinchen, U.S. Army. (Released)

Gigantic version available here.

This isn’t an attempt to start another DD(X) vs. BB cage match. I don’t think MO has the bandwidth for all that hot air. What I’m wondering about is the actual legality of the move in the latest budget.

Here’s a snippet from 1996:

H.R.1530
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)

SEC. 1011. IOWA CLASS BATTLESHIPS.

(a) RETURN TO NAVAL VESSEL REGISTER- The Secretary of the Navy shall list on the Naval Vessel Register, and maintain on such register, at least two of the Iowa-class battleships that were stricken from the register in February 1995.

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Donated helicopters headed to U.S. for upgrades

Just noticed this, a two-week old story about 16 Hueys donated to Iraq by Jordan:

The work will elevate the UH-1H helicopters to Huey II configurations, which will provide a more suitable helicopter for meeting battlefield mobility requirements.

Personnel with the Coalition Air Force Transition Team of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq have been working closely with ARINC Engineering Systems on the modifications. The work will be done by U.S. Helicopter in Alabama and is expected to take eight to nine months per helicopter. Preparations for transporting the helicopters to the U.S. will take place over the next two to three months in Iraq and Jordan.

The story notes that the upgrades will extend the service life of each by 20 years. Does anyone believe that any of these helicopters is going to last even half that long? Between the inexperienced crews, the harsh operating conditions, and the virtually-unlimited supply of rocket propelled grenades, the new Iraqi air force is going to go through a lot of helicopters and air crews. Still, this donation by Jordan is great news and I’m glad to see it.

I still think the Iraqis could use a light counter-insurgency prop plane along the lines of the Super Tacano COIN aircraft noted earlier.

Noticed this in yet another good article by Margaret Friedenauer with the Stryker brigade.

Smith and his squad predicted a quiet day due to the rain. They said the enemy seems to mostly keep banker’s hours–8 a.m. to 3 p.m.–which is when the squad encounters most of the attacks. Chilly and rainy weather usually deter attacks.

“They’re lazy, lazy people,” Smith said.

In yesterday’s quick post on this I wrote:

Why is it that virtually all of the total crock stories are anti-Bush/War? Shouldn’t these honest mistakes fall more or less evenly across the board? Does the media more-readily swallow the stories that support their position? Or are there more liars on the Left?

I’d like to clarify my position a bit, as this grabbed the attention of a few folks.

The question “Or are there more liars on the Left?” was offered as a logical alternative to the idea that these total crock stories weren’t “honest mistakes” by the media. Since I DON’T believe that there are more liars on the Left, I’m sticking with idea that, by and large, the media seems (to me) more likely to run anti-Bush/war stories that later turn out to be false than they are to run pro-Bush/war stories that later turn out to be false.

Maybe I’m wrong, though it sure doesn’t seem like it off the top of my head.

So I’m NOT saying that the Left has more liars. There is obviously no shortage of liars in any camp. I’m saying that since the Left doesn’t have more liars, it’s odd that these total crock stories generally seem to always fall the same direction.

This is from the Multi-National Transistion Command-Iraq’s .pdf newsletter. It doesn’t appear to show up anywhere else, so I’m taking the liberty of reproducing the text in its entirety:

Clean up begins at Iraqi Unknown Soldier Monument
By U.S. Army Capt. Chris Watt
Joint Area Support Group Public Affairs

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Work on cleaning up and repairing Iraq’s Unknown Soldier Monument in the International Zone by more than 20 local Iraqis is expected to be finished in time for an upcoming traditional wreath-laying ceremony.

Here’s an image I found in a Webshots album:

Opening Wisconsin’s interior will come with a cost

The word has been, over the past few years, that if the Navy managed to get the battleships decommissioned, ten minutes after the ceremony ended workers would board them and immediately make damn sure that they could never possibly be activated again. Between the rush in California to bid on the Iowa (noted here) and this talk in Virginia about the Wisconsin, one might get the idea that folks are in a hurry to be sure battleship supporters don’t have any more chances to get their beloved battlewagons held in reserve.

For the record, Murdoc believes that holding the two ships in reserve would be the correct plan.

He also wonders exactly how it is that the ships can have been retired in the budget when they were not supposed to be permanently cut until equivalent shore-support firepower was available.

Challenges of the wilderness

Here’s a great story by Margaret Friedenauer in the Fairbanks Daily-Miner on the 4-14 Cavalry of the 172nd Stryker Brigade. They’re in Rawah in the Euphrates river valley southwest of the bulk of the brigade, which is mostly based in Mosul.

At Rawah, the 4-14, which includes the Bravo Co. of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry, has dealt with an enemy with a very particular modus operatus–improvised explosive devices.

IED’s are not only more prevalent here than in Mosul, they also pack an extra punch. They are harder to locate when hidden in sand and can contain a large amount of the same or combination of explosives.

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F135 Engine Testing Begins In ASTF

In Aero-News:

The primary objective of this program is Initial Flight Release (IFR) altitude qualification testing in support of attaining approval to begin flight testing. While the majority of this testing addresses performance and operability, secondary objectives include failure detection and accommodation (FDA) validation, as well as obtaining structural and internal environmental data.

“This testing is a transitional part of the overall F135 program,” said John Kelly, one of the ATA project engineers on this program. “Flight testing is dependant on the testing we are doing in C-1. Without this testing, flight testing cannot begin.”

F-35 prototypes are scheduled to fly next year with the F135, so things are tight.

If you missed the discussion concerning Britain’s troubled role in the Joint Strike Fighter program, be sure to go check it out.

And if you’ve got the bandwidth, JSF.mil has a selection of engine test videos (from various points in development) available for your enjoyment.

Support Command Focuses on Training Iraqi Logisticians

Here’s a DefenseLINK release on the continuing effort to get Iraqi support operations online:

Army Lt. Col. Steven Shapiro, chief of operations for 3rd Corps Support Command and selected for promotion to colonel, said the command’s soldiers are training Iraqis through schools and, mostly, through on-the-job experience. “We’re training the Iraqis to follow up and provide support to their forces as they engage the enemy,” Shapiro said during an interview in Balad.

On paper, and increasingly in reality, Iraqi logistical units are embedded in Iraqi maneuver units. The 3rd Corps Support Command is partnered with Iraqi motorized transportation regiments. “When you see an Iraqi army unit engaged, … their physical resupply is through their motorized transportation regiments,” he said.

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