It never ceases to amaze that British newspapers seem to get the stories that their American counterparts are unable to snare. We recently had the Financial Times report that the Pakistanis let the Chinese see — and sample — the MH-60 chopper that crashed during the bin Laden raid, and here’s a second such chopper story this …
Navy
Coast Guard: Smallest Service, Biggest Opportunities for Women
National Public Radio (NPR) recently did a segment on the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and its new superintendent, Rear Admiral Sandra Stosz. The Coast Guard has been at the forefront of expanding opportunities for women since 1977 when it opened all of its jobs to women. It even decided to admit women to the Coast Guard Academy in 1975, …
Chinese Reportedly Get Peek at Secret SEAL Chopper
Pakistan has let the Chinese study — and take samples from — the stealthy MH-60 helicopter used by Navy SEALs in their raid that killed Osama bin Laden May 2, the London-based Financial Times reported Monday:
“The US now has information that Pakistan, particularly the ISI, gave access to the Chinese military to the downed
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“DOD Identifies Service Members Killed In CH-47 Crash”
It’s kind of mind-numbing how we’ve become “used” to the historically small number of our troops dying in our recent wars. They tend to happen no more than a handful at a time, which I guess makes them easier to handle.
But every once in awhile you get a list like this, of those who perished early Saturday in the CH-47 …
Carrier Wars: Who’s Crazier — U.S. Imperiling National Security by Shrinking to Nine Carrier Strike Groups, or China for Selecting Nine Captains for its One Used Russian Flattop?
These are strange times in carrier-land. The U.S. is struggling to hold on to what it has, while the Chinese are struggling to get some of those floating acres of sovereignty for their very own. It’s generating some interesting eddies that are likely to generate profound currents for control of the world’s sea lanes in the 21st …
Fog of War: Taliban Claim Chinook Killer Still Alive
As soon as we heard Marine General John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, was going to brief Wednesday morning, we knew he’d have something positive to say: a U.S. F-16 terminated the Taliban who downed the CH-47 Chinook in the Tangi Valley over the weekend with extreme prejudice early Monday.
But as sure as day …
Training Kills, Just Like the Taliban
The Pentagon is fretting whether or not to release the names of the 22 SEALs who perished in the CH-47 crash in Afghanistan on Saturday. Ultimately, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, after hearing the concerns of commanders about releasing the names of special-operations troops, has decided to do so. Their names should be out by …
Some Really Fouled Up Navy Paperwork
Some stuff you can’t make up. Here’s a World War II request from the submarine USS Skipjack pleading for toilet paper — nearly a year after its captain first requested it. “During the 11-1/2 months elapsing from the time of ordering the toilet paper and the present date the SKIPJACK personnel, despite their best efforts to await …
Second-Guessing the Doomed Chinook Mission
Pentagon corridors, and military blogs, are already aflame with whispered second-guessing following Saturday’s shoot down of the CH-47 in Afghanistan that killed 38, including 22 members of the elite SEAL Team 6 and their support element. No one likes to discuss publicly what — if anything — went wrong, but with five or more …
Afghan Chopper Tragedy, on PBS
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Monday night, your Battleland scribe appeared on the PBS NewsHour to discuss the downing of the CH-47 in Afghanistan.
UK: Brother, Can You Spare an Aircraft Carrier?
A report by a defense panel in the British parliament explores the impact of upcoming budget cuts on the UK military. Among other shockers, there is an upcoming 10-year period where the Brits will have no — zero — aircraft carrier strike capability while old carriers are retired and new carriers are not in the ocean yet.
The …
A Military Teetering on the “Ragged Edge”
House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) held a hearing on the state of the military this week. The conclusion is stark: the U.S. military is at a breaking point. Today. Right now.
None of America’s armed forces can meet all of the global demands placed on them by commanders today. Were an …
Navy Grounds Cutting Call Signs
The Navy has punished a pair of officers who commanded an outfit that joked about assigning call signs like “Romo’s Bitch” and “Fagmeister” to their administrative officer during a 2009 call sign review board. It’s a sign of changing times in the Navy, which for decades has struggled with letting women into its inner sanctums, how …