Monday Mudballing...30 Jan 2012

I was reading this article from the Washington Post this morning and it has me thinking about a number of issues.

Dependents Overseas

The Army took the first hit but the tidbit from the referenced article has me wondering...

There are about 80,000 U.S. service members stationed in Europe, along with more than 200,000 family members and civilian employees.

The savings that will be realized by removing the overhead of dependents and civilian employees from overseas locations could and should be realized world wide by the US military.  It should be a USMC, USN and USAF imperative too.  That one move alone should save a tremendous amount of money.  Additionally it should allow bases to be consolidated or even shut down.  This is an obvious, uncontroversial move that should be implemented immediately.  Oh and I'm mainly looking at you USAF---shut down those European air bases!

US and European views of each other

This was predicatable but still eye opening...

In Washington, the long-held “vision of Europe is that there’s a bunch of reasonably rich countries, relatively lazy, and not standing up for American-initiated missions abroad as much as they should,” he said.
In contrast, Eide said, resentment and opposition to the U.S.-led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan has reduced popular backing for NATO among many Western European countries. “NATO was identified simply as the organization that takes away our sons and daughters and sends them to faraway places to do nation-building in the desert.”

It won't happen but NATO is dead as an institution.  It is incapable of projecting power in a unified way and would be hard pressed to defend itself from a determined enemy.    We all focus on the equipment to fight wars but discount the will to fight.  I wonder if Europe still has the will (talking about its people, not its military) and they think that we're cowboys that gallop around the world imposing our will.  Like a bad marriage, we need a divorce.

Defense Budgets

Label this sad, but predictable...

U.S. and NATO officials fret that the cutbacks will further erode military weaknesses that were exposed during last year’s air war in Libya. Several European countries quickly ran out of munitions and had to order them on an emergency basis from Washington. European militaries also lacked capability to refuel their own planes or conduct adequate surveillance from the air.
“If there ever was a time in which the United States could always be counted on to fill the gaps that may emerge in European defense, that time is rapidly coming to an end,” Ivo Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told reporters in Washington last month.
At the same time, Europe’s austere economic outlook is leading to a “further weakening of the core ability to defend ourselves,” said Norwegian Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide.
Oil-rich Norway is an exception to the trend; it is increasing its defense budget. But Europe’s overall economic woes are exacerbating existing tensions within NATO, Eide said in a recent speech at the Center for Security and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

We live in interesting times.

I can't wait to see how this turns out but if we suffer one more economic shock, I can see the US fully divesting itself of Europe, turning to the Pacific and not looking back.

Check out this piece of shit SEAL "faker"...

via KitUp!

Listen to this bastard laugh when he talks about child rape.  A bullet to the back of the head would be too merciful!

24th MEU preps for final certification exercise.

All photos by Sgt. Richard Blumenstein

Resident Evil finally looks interesting.

My boy "Everyday No Days Off" Blogspot found this and it looks like Resident Evil is finally interesting.

Good graphics.

Interesting storyline (well I think it will be...fighting zombies and mutated zombies gets boring...another team to the fight adds spice)...

Might be a game worth buying when it comes out.

Breaking! China has copied the F-35...due to enter service in 2014!

DAMN IT!


I knew liberal policies and a short sighted administration would lead to this!

The Aviationist Website has full details....

Just joking.  The Aviationist has this great photoshop pic of the F-35 in Chinese colors but the thought of it and the possibility shouldn't surprise anyone.

KitUp! Finally shows something unique.

KitUp! finally did a little something to break the drudgery of the Shot Show coverage.

I mean seriously.  I subscribe to 5 channels and they all had the same products on show.  The only person that broke the mold was MilSpeckMonkey and even then just a little.

But this offering from Gerber has me a little curious and I'll definitely check it out.  My biggest concern will be with the strength of the knife but it is suppose to be for fighting and not bushcraft so it should suffice.

We'll see.  Meanwhile, about time KitUp!  Not everyone has 1k to drop on a watch!  Can spend 250 bucks for a pair of pants etc...

USS Ponce as a seabase? Don't be confused...SOCOM wants an amphib.

via FoxNews.

The U.S. Navy is working to place a 'mothership' for Special Operations Forces in the Middle East, Fox News confirms. 

The USS Ponce, which was most recently being used as a dock in the Mediterranean Sea for the Libyan operation, was scheduled to be decommissioned in December. Navy officials now tell Fox News that the ship will be transformed into a flotilla to be used by Navy SEALs

Don't be confused by this move.

The amphibs...more precisely the big deck amphibs are the ships most desired by a variety of forces.

*Riverines want them as a base and as transport.

*SOCOM wants them for the same reason.

*Army Aviation sees it as a way to get into action displacing Marine aviation.

*Surface Navy sees them as a mine sweeping platform (aerial minesweeping has made tremendous strides lately...don't be fooled...the mission module for LCS will be a SeaHawk with appropriate mine sweeping gear)

*Naval Aviation sees them as an adjunct to the carrier in the sea control sphere.

The Marine Corps better get a little less purple and start protecting assets.  The seabase as a concept is dead for Marine Corps operations.  If you can't get it in the assault phase then you better leave it to your ship to shore connectors from your MPS ships.  The seabase is designed for extended counter insurgency operations OR extended conventional warfare.

These are not future Marine missions.

Lets get light.  Lets fight right and lets jettison the idea of enhanced logistics.  A medium weight force that arrives by sea with enough on hand logistics to support 15 (MEU), 30 (MEB) or 45 (MEF) days of sustained combat without support.

The guidebook has been established.  We just need to follow it instead of heading off on tangents.

And how about we focus on Marine Corps issues AND needs...not the joint forces.

NOTE:

This idea is pure craziness.  Don't be fooled into thinking that this won't be one of the most monitored ships in the Navy.  And in addition to the SEALs they better have a detachment of Marine Special Ops or Rangers on board because I can imagine speedboats, anti-ship missiles, enemy aircraft, pirates, lions and tiger and bears oh my! will be watching and ready to take a whack at this ship.

Electronic monitoring...visual monitoring...sat monitoring...everyone and their mother will be watching this thing.  So much for secret ops!

And now we're about to lose amphibs to SOCOM.

Well not yet but this should appear to be rather ominous news to the Marine Corps.  Navy SEALs are about to take a soon to be decommissioned LSD and use it as a mother ship/sea base.  From the Washington Post.

Until December, the Navy had planned to retire the Ponce and decommission it in March after 41 years of service. Among other missions, it was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea last year in support of NATO’s air war over Libya.
Instead, the ship will be modified into what the military terms an Afloat Forward Staging Base. Kafka, the Fleet Forces command spokesman, said it would be used to support mine-clearance ships, smaller patrol ships and aircraft.
The documents posted by the Military Sealift Command in December, however, specify that the mothership will be rebuilt so that it can also serve as a docking station for several small high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEAL teams.

Why do I get the feeling that all the work done to make sea basing a reality was for the benefit of SOCOM...and SOCOM alone?

A lack of urgency is killing the Marine Corps right now.  For some reason those at the highest levels don't seem to understand this basic leadership trait.

You can bet  big dollars that when all is said and done, the sea base will be a victim of the Marine Corps limited budget and will only exist for the boys in Tampa and Coronado.

BlackFive knocks it out the park!

I wonder why no presidential candidate's mentioned this.  We've heard the usual "we will not let the Obama administration gut defense" but FINALLY someone put it into context.

Outstanding.

Here’s a little fact to keep in mind when considering the current cuts to spending at DoD (and let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with appropriate cuts to defense spending), besides all the other ramifications it promises:

Defense accounts for less than 20 percent of the federal budget but already exceeds 50 percent of deficit-reduction efforts. And for every dollar the President hopes to save in domestic programs, he plans on saving $128 in defense.

And that’s without the looming sequestration cuts (keep in mind, most war fighting costs are not included in the budget) of another half trillion dollars.
Or said another way, the administration has decided that it will attempt to cut spending primarily with cuts to national defense.  There is no serious program afoot to cut back the myriad of other government agencies and branches.  In fact, many are expanding (see EPA, IRS, etc.).
As for sequestration, Democrats are bound and determined to see it through, because, you know, national defense is less important than winning an ideological struggle.
Charles Hoskinson of POLITICO’s Morning Defense reports (btw, if you don’t subscribe to it, you should):

BUT REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS are still far apart on one key issue: taxes. We caught up with SASC Chairman Levin at a breakfast Thursday and he said he's counting on public pressure to push the GOP to accept new tax revenues as part of any solution - something they've so far refused to consider. Meanwhile, Levin and other Democrats won't budge on reversing sequestration except as part of a complete package. "The dam has got to be broken on revenues, and what I believe will break it is the threat of sequestration," he said.

Shorter Levin, “we’re more than willing to hold national security hostage and see it gutted to get our way on taxes”.
It is rather interesting  approach for an administration which is hung up on everyone paying their ‘fair share’.  It seems that the lion’s share of what it will surely tout during the upcoming campaign as serious budget cutting, will come from the one Constitutionally mandated duty it has – national defense.
As for all the programs that have a future funding liability of 200 trillion dollar?
Meh.
~McQ

 Shamelessly copied from their site.  If you're not dialed into them you should. 

31st MEU ships out to Cobra Gold 2012.

WHITE BEACH, OKINAWA, Japan-Marines with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit board the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD-46) in here, Jan. 25. Elements of the 31st MEU, including BLT 1/4 and portions of Combat Logistics Battalion 31, are scheduled to participate in the multi-lateral training exercise Cobra Gold 2012 in the Kingdom of Thailand alongside military participants from South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and representatives from approximately 20 other countries., Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright, 1/25/2012 10:07 AM

WHITE BEACH, OKINAWA, Japan-Marines with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit board the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD-46) in here, Jan. 25. Elements of the 31st MEU, including BLT 1/4 and portions of Combat Logistics Battalion 31, are scheduled to participate in the multi-lateral training exercise Cobra Gold 2012 in the Kingdom of Thailand alongside military participants from South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and representatives from approximately 20 other countries., Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright, 1/25/2012 10:04 AM

CAMP SCHWAB, OKINAWA, Japan-Marines with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit transport Amphibious Assault Vehicles to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD-46) from Camp Schwab, Jan. 26. For the month of January, elements of the 31st MEU, including BLT 1/4 and portions of Combat Logistics Battalion 31, will participate in the multi-lateral training exercise Cobra Gold 2012 in the Kingdom of Thailand alongside military participants from South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and representatives from approximately 20 other countries., Cpl. Garry Welch, 1/25/2012 9:14 AM

CAMP SCHWAB, OKINAWA, Japan-Marines with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit transport Amphibious Assault Vehicles to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD-46) from Camp Schwab, Jan. 26. For the month of January, elements of the 31st MEU, including BLT 1/4 and portions of Combat Logistics Battalion 31, will participate in the multi-lateral training exercise Cobra Gold 2012 in the Kingdom of Thailand alongside military participants from South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and representatives from approximately 20 other countries., Cpl. Garry Welch, 1/25/2012 10:08 AM

USMC Military Police changing to Law Enforcement Battalions????

Marines with 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing's Military Police Company stand in formation for the last time Jan. 26 before de-activating during a ceremony at their headquarters building aboard Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The company was activated on April 25, 2009 and comprised of a headquarters section and 4 platoons, located at Marine Corps Air Stations Beaufort, New River and Cherry Point. "This and all other MP Companies Marine Corps wide will be shutting down and consolidating in three large battalions that will be known as the 'Law Enforcement Battalion,'" said Capt. Jonathon C. Ajinga, the commanding officer of 2nd MAW MP Company. "Each of the Marine Expeditionary Forces will have a battalion of MP's. These Marines will be under the direct command of the MEF and will be assigned duties as seen fit."

OK.

Consider this tin foil hat time.

I don't even know if I care if you think I'm crazy but a name means something.

Why would the Marine Corps change the name of its Military Police units to Law Enforcement Battalions?

MP's have a battlefield role.  Convoy security.  Route security.  Airfield security.  POW handling.  And general grunt duties....or so they will tell you.

Talk to any MP and he'll tell you that they have "more firepower in a 3 vehicle section than a Rifle Company."

So if we're talking about an outfit that has a wartime function then why will they call themselves by a civilian moniker...Law Enforcement Battalion?

Because it'll be easier to use them for domestic missions.  The name is pure dee stupid.  And names mean something.

Another of Mike Sparks crazy ideas that I like...

Surfing the web and came across one of Mike Sparks old articles...

Hate the guy, luv the guy...whatever.  But he did his research on military history and found some fascinating concepts that were tried and discarded.

The idea of using subs and helicopters is one of them.  Of course he carried it a step too far but his foundation was solid.

The Japanese had submarine aircraft carriers and with our current state of technology the experiments carried out in the 50's might be workable today.  Imagine instead of carrying a SEAL Insertion Vehicle (or whatever they're calling their mini-subs these days) you instead carried a Night Stalker Little Bird? Or two? 

Sound crazy?  The Navy and Marine Corps didn't think so...at least during the 50's.  Perhaps they were bolder and more capable of thinking outside the box than we are today.