Archive for October, 2007
This letter to the editor ran in the 15 Oct Defense News. I think it’s accessible to non-subscribers, so you can check out the whole thing if you want:
Divisions Better Than Brigades
…The new brigades are fixed in number of maneuver battalions (two for infantry and armor brigades, three for Stryker) which lacks the flexibility held in the divisional brigades to meet a dynamic battlefield. Mixing and matching brigades gives less flexibility than mixing and matching battalions, a simple matter of arithmetic. Battalions are smaller.
Worse than that the Modular brigade structure for infantry and armor brigades lacks the necessary flexibility to retain a reserve force within the brigade, and real soldiers know that committing the reserves at the right time and place is the commander’s best shot a winning a battle. In order to form a reserve or reaction force, current commanders in the field are task organizing the forces available to meet what needs to be done contrary to the intent of the Modular force. It neither works in practice or theory.
Gordon S. Fowkes
Lt. Col. (ret.), U.S. Army
I think this is the first criticism of the modular brigade concept I’ve heard since the plan was implemented. I think it’s been clear that a brigade-centric Army is more ready to fight the small wars and probably a little less ready to fight the big wars than a division-centric Army, but this is the first I’ve heard of or thought about a lack of a meaningful reserve force within the brigade.
What do some of you smart cookies think of this?
Photo Caption:
U.S. Army Soldiers from Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Ft. Riley, Kan., fire their weapons at a range on Camp Liberty, Iraq, Oct. 10, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Sharhonda R. McCoy)
From JCCC. Click for larger version.
Should defense manufacturers be able to charge royalties for model makers who make kits of their products?
Murdoc thinks not. At least not as long as the product was purchased by the US government with public dollars.
I’m no lawyer, and I don’t even play one on the internet. But this doesn’t seem right.
Incidentally, Murdoc’s first model kit was an Me 109. I’m not sure how that happened. It was a gift, I think.
Not much later, I built an F-16 (in the red-white-and-blue marketing colors) and pretended that the Viper shot that Messerschmitt down about a hundred times. The X-Wing, the F4F Wildcat, the F4, the Harrier, and the USS Arizona all shot down the 109. Heck, I even let the MiG-25 shoot down the 109. Then the F-16 shot down the MiG.
Ah, the good old days. Joys of youth and daydreams of glory. Wild stories spun by a young boy’s imagination.
I sure wish that I had been paying royalties on those kits to help support defense contractors.
Osprey sees first action in N.M. SAR mission
Plus, see Blackfive for some cool pics of the MV-22.
–There is no such thing as a free ride to peace and security,” Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop said in a veiled dig at nations such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have refused to send significant numbers of troops to Afghanistan’s dangerous southern region.
I can see why several NATO nations are unwilling to do much to assist with the campaign in Iraq. I don’t agree, but I can understand. The general lack of interest in doing anything in Afghanistan continues to baffle me, however.
NATO commanders are hoping to double the number of training units in Afghanistan, but it’s slow going. They’re also hoping to get additional combat forces for the southern part of the country, but that going is even slower.
Airmen from the Wyoming Air National Guard load the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System onto a Wyoming Air National Guard C-130 Hercules Oct. 23 in Cheyenne, Wyo. The C-130 is being deployed to California to assist with firefighting efforts. Fires have ravaged Southern California forcing more than 500,000 people from their homes as the president has declared a federal emergency for seven counties in the state. The orange number on the tail identifies the plane as one of the units using the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System to battle the blaze. (U.S. Army photo)
Image from AF.mil. As is usually the case, click for a larger version.
When the history of media reportage on this war is written, it will not be kind.
It should be obvious by now that Murdoc agrees with this sentiment, but Murdoc also wonders if the actual history will truly be so unkind to the media. After all, the media very strongly influences history.
Look at today’s history of US involvement in Vietnam. Except in what are generally regarded as extreme Right-Wing outlets, today’s history of what happened in Vietnam, and how and why it happened, doesn’t differ a whole lot from what was being reported at the time it was happening. The media came out on top in Vietnam and it appears that things may end differently this time around, but I’m skeptical that anyone will really admit that.
We have the “new media”, of course, to help get opposing views out there. But I fear that they (we?) won’t be enough.
Too many people in important positions and too many media outlets have too much personally invested in “We were wrong to invade and we made things worse once we got there” to ever go on record saying anything different.
The problem with the fires in California is the war in Iraq?:
California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer complained on Capitol Hill Tuesday that the ability of the state’s National Guard to respond to disasters like the fires has been compromised because too much of its equipment and personnel are committed in Iraq.
Soldier’s Mom on Milblogs:
So, 20,000 NG members in CA…5,000 deployed…and the Governator as activated…
1,500… of 15,000 available…
Are there personnel and equipment in Iraq that might have otherwise helped in this situation? Of course. Has it made a big difference? Doesn’t seem terribly likely.
But Boxer won’t let that stop her.
UPDATE: I’m sure we’ll be hearing all about this from Senator Boxer: Seasonal firefighters laid off just before fires
A good chuck of the firefighting capability in California is provided by seasonal workers. Sometimes the fires don’t cooperate with budgets or schedules:
It’s not the first time that a huge fire has happened after the firefighters are sent home. The Paradise Fire, which killed two people and destroyed 221 homes, was in October 2003. The Cedar Fire, which killed 14 people and destroyed more than 250 houses and commercial buildings, started the same month and burned into November.
Want the seasonal firefighters in late October and in November? Either shift their schedules (running the risk of leaving early season fires uncovered) or expand their schedules (paying more to do so).
Or, I guess, you could just blame the war in Iraq even though only 10% of available National Guard personnel have been called.
UPDATE 2: Apparently the California NG is undermanned by 5,000 or 6,000. This means that there are only around 10,000 personnel available, not the 15,000 that I noted earlier.
Still, only a small number of troops have been called up so far. Nothing approaching the level where deployed troops would be missed terribly.
The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Pad 39A this morning for a 14-day mission to the International Space Station.
It will deliver Node 2 (dubbed ‘Harmony’), a hub that will be used to connect additional scientific modules in the future. Node 2 also contains additional life support equipment that will allow more than three people to live aboard the station. Harmony will go onto the hatch where the shuttle docking port is currently located, so the module will be placed onto a temporary port until the shuttle leaves. At that point, ISS astronauts will move the docking port, move Node 2 it into place using the station’s robotic arm, and attach the docking port to the end of the new module.
Also of particular import on this mission, STS-120, is the relocation of the P6 truss and its solar array to its permanent location on the port truss assembly outside of P5. It’s been in a temporary location atop the station since it was delivered in 2000.
I’ve long been a critic of both the Space Shuttle program and the International Space Station, but watching the construction progress is certainly exciting.
Here are a few recent links concerning the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles:
- Marine Trains on Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle
Interesting quote from Cpl. Domenick Distano, a Marine who trains others to operate MRAPs in Ramadi:“I was excited when I found out we were coming to Iraq because I really wanted to get it under my belt,” said Distano “When people join the Marine Corps, they are either afraid to go to Iraq or they joined to go. When you go ahead and come, you feel like you are setting the example and maybe those people who were afraid to go will not be and will follow you. This is not exactly what I thought it would be. There is nothing really happening like you hear. Marines want to fight, but there really is no fight here. It is pretty quiet.” [emphasis Murdoc's]
Remember, this is Ramadi we’re talking about.
- Doubts About a New Armored Vehicle
The military is a bunch of idiots because they didn’t have the MRAP sooner. Luckily, they’re also idiots because they are getting the MRAP. Don’t worry, we’ll also soon begin hearing about how troops are wearing too much body armor. Politics pushed this to current levels as much as anything, and the military is pushing back when it’s too much. - Corps Asks for MRAP Slowdown
Like most tools, the MRAP has its place and time. The Marines are suggesting that the MRAP isn’t the answer at all times or in all places. - A Primer in MRAP Variants
Good summary at Defense Tech. - Why I Don’t Like MRAPs
They simply aren’t the silver bullet solution to the IED problem. There isn’t a silver bullet solution to the IED problem. Those that have hoped or expected the new vehicles to suddenly make everything better are bound to be disappointed.It’s going to take a wide range of methods to defeat the IED threat, and the IED threat will never be totally eradicated. MRAPs are a part of that range, but to expect that they are the total solution (and to whine when they are not) is crazy.
