Archive for April, 2010
Observing the 2010 Milblog Conference
Every academic semester, I include in my introduction to the course my three teaching principles: 1) what I know and you don’t know, I’m going to teach you; 2) what you know and I don’t know, you’re going to teach me; and 3) what neither of us knows, we’re going to learn together. Principle #2 has usually held more interest for me since I get the opportunity to learn something new and the midshipmen have the opportunity to express themselves. In the course of the past five years teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy, one issue my students tried to teach me was about social media, which was foreign to someone who had written his first graduate school papers on a typewriter and whose first computer (a MacPlus) was now an artifact on display in Michelson Hall. Two years ago, at their suggestion, I decided to learn about blogs.
I focused on military bloggers, specifically those who wrote about some aspect of the Navy. I interviewed them via email and there they remained as non-corporeal bits and bytes, not at all to the face to face interviews I had conducted over the years. The result was part of an article I later published in the February 2009 issue of Naval Institute Proceedings titled “The Navy Can Handle the Truth: Creative Conflict Without Friction.” The question I posed was “should they be taken seriously as part of the discussion and commentary.” What I learned then was that each blogger tended to specialize in issues based on experience or interest, that other blogger experts tended to self-regulate the blogosphere in terms of distinguishing between accurate and inaccurate information, and that there tended to be a civility among them and their readers despite occasional outbursts from a few anonymous posters. Since then, I have posted one or two articles including one on a military policy on Naval Institute’s blog which generated a lot of comments, which supported that last point – that getting that initial feedback and discussion can help a great deal when exploring and learning about an issue.
As a follow-up to that article, thanks to the Naval Institute, I had the opportunity to spend a day at the 5th Annual Milblog Conference. While I’m sure the milbloggers can do it far more justice, I offer the following observations from an objective outsider:
- Milbloggers are not unprofessional. Milbloggers aren’t a bunch of unemployed twenty-year olds typing away at a computer in their parents’ basement. While very few bloggers do so as a fulltime job, or even a part-time, they are motivated and organized. The conference itself was as well organized as any other conference I had attended with excellent, high-profile guest speakers, good questions, and a technical proficiency that rivaled other events. Of the some 200 hundred attendees, there appeared to be more women than men and most attendees were above 30 if not 40 years old. There was a lot of gray hair in that room (with the exception, of course, of Boston Maggie and USNI’s Mary Ripley!) Many milbloggers seems to have military experience or family in the military. There simply wasn’t civility in that room, there was genuine collegiality which is often missed elsewhere. Milblogger Michael Yon called in live from Afghanistan having recently been embedded with a unit and was now following stories as a disembedded journalist; this from a milblogger, and not a well-funded journalist with one of the major news networks.
- Milbloggers are not misinformed. Former CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre put it best when he said that bloggers make no more or less mistakes than in traditional media. In fact, he noted, they are more credible because they are not bound by the constraints of editorial staffs who may desire particular perspectives on issues or determine which stories to cover. Colonel Gregory Breazile, USMC, suggested that the more people his command reaches through their blog, the more people will get the real story of what is happening with the military.
- Engage them because they are informed. The military community seems to have accepted, if not reluctantly, the viability of milbloggers as a legitimate news source if the program is any indication. Senior officers like General David Petraeus offered a taped introduction, Major General David Hogg had a live video question and answer period, and Admiral John Harvey was a panelist as was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Price Lloyd. Several active duty military were in the audience, likely public affairs officers. Perhaps Admiral Harvey illustrated this point when he discussed the Haiti humanitarian assistance operation as he had to turnaround personnel who had only recently returned from a deployment. He stated that his command blog would get the story out to the taxpayer, but more importantly, it helped to explain to military families why their loved ones were called upon so soon – to do important things to save thousands of lives. “They saw and they believed,” he said.
If more people attended that conference, they might see and believe as well.
Claude Berube teaches at the U.S. Naval Academy and is a frequent contributor to Proceedings and Naval History. He is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. The opinions expressed are his own and not those of the Naval Academy.
Posted by admin in Uncategorized | read comments (6)
You may recall that when the PAK-FA first took flight earlier this year a quick analysis was run on these pages and those over at my home page with a note that more granular analyses would surely be forthcoming. One of the first out of the box was over at the Air Power Australia site, and was pretty eyebrow raising in it’s own right. This past week Byron passed along an even more detailed analysis, all from open source material, that had come his way:
De-constructing the Sukhoi PAK-FA (Su-50)
(Stephen Trimble over at The DEW Line notes that Markov and Hull have done work for Institute for Defense Analyses in the past, but this brief may be an independent effort).
In addition to the usual host of subjects – comparison with the only other 5th gen fighter currently flying, the F-22, for one; there are some interesting and perplexing elements to the design. For starters there is the matter of the split canopy (slide 33) with a structural member down the center of the canopy. The embedded radar antennas in the cheeks and wing leading edges are notable, but not novel as it is alleged the F-22 has embedded sensors around the aircraft. However, a multi-band capability (X-band AESA in the nose and fixed L-band in the cheeks and wings) offers greater operational flexibility and complicates counter-measures planning.
As pointed out earlier, the engines appear to lag the rest of the airframe, but even at that, with German technical assistance (see slide 40) presumably for improvements in the R&D side of the house with targets of efficiency and service life of the engine, the engines should prove sufficient from a performance, if not stealth (see slide 65). Closer to the F-35 in that regard than the F-22.
The fact that of the run of 500, 250 are Russian and the other 250 are to be a two-seat variant for India is worth noting from a resources standpoint (e.g., FMS to India is required to bring the project to fruition, just like the F-35 requires it’s share of international sales), though one wonders how much technological access the Indians will be given. This is not a small consideration as technology sharing is a bone of contention between the US and it’s F-35 partners, especially where software for the weapons system is concerned. Makes one wonder if a partnership had been entered with Japan and/or Australia what the production cost offsets might have been as well as potential for moving on to a 2nd and 3rd generation F-22.
That technology can range from the exotic, like a potential plasma energy capability which would allegedly function to break the lock of hostile AAM’s (see slides 18 & 67) to what looks to be a breakthrough in stealth coatings. The latter, if true, is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the aircraft because of the implications it carries, not just for the PAK-FA, but generation 4.5 fighters like the Su-35. Stealth coatings have been a major time and materials cost factor for operational aircraft. The B-2 required special climate control hangers for maintenance on its coatings and one of the charges against the still-born A-12 was the beating its coatings would take in the at sea environment on a carrier. If the Russians have indeed turned the corner on a material that provides a 10x reduction in RCS, is substantially thinner (and thereby, lighter), durable in the field and can be applied to generation 4.5 aircraft, that raises the stakes considerably for Western air forces confronting opponents operating aircraft like the Su-35 updated with this material. One needn’t look too far to find a near-peer competitor that would have significant interest in applying this to their own fleet of indigenously produced gen 4/4.5 fighters and what that in turn would allow them to put into place from an operational standpoint.
Still, there are only a handful of prototypes and full flight testing is supposed to begin later this month. It is a long road from the CAD/CAM boards to the flight line and as we have found out time and again with the F-117, B-2, F-22 and now with the F-35 that unforeseen issues arise during testing (like avionics cooling – a real bedevilment for stealth aircraft) that force design changes and production delays. One also wonders given the current state of industry in Russia if they will be capable of producing the numbers indicated and within the time-frames evidently agreed to.
The Center for Naval Analyses built their new report, “The Navy at a Tipping Point: maritime Dominance at Stake?” on a comforting trellis of assumptions:
“First, there will be a continued demand for a safe and secure global maritime environment. Advantages to having an open world economy and trade for all major powers are growing…Increasingly, nations are trying to formulate a set of maritime rules to support local/regional development and maritime policing of illicit activities.”
How nice! This vanilla-flavored assumption is positive, doesn’t challenge status quo, and, in addition, makes excellent consultancy fodder for high-paying corporate audiences.
But is this assumption valid? A recent bulletin from Inside the Pentagon (subscription, sorry) suggests otherwise:
“U.S. and Chinese officials agreed last December to hold the next plenary meeting under the 1998 bilateral Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) in March or April of this year. But China subsequently suspended a range of military-to-military activities to protest the Pentagon’s planned arms sales to Taiwan. And now PACOM is confirming the safety talks are a casualty of that row.”
Oops. Other countries (particularly Asian navies that seem to have a higher tolerance for settling maritime disputes via intimidation and, often, gunfire) may not fully subscribe to the U.S. vision of maritime safety.
Here’s CNA’s second set of assumptions:
“Second, no other country (or combination of countries) will create the forces required for a navy with global influence…[other] navies can also conduct short-term surges for uses of force against low end threats or act as supporters to USN-led naval operations; however persistent out-of-area operations (even by a low number of assets) would quickly deplete their resources and political support at home.”
New navies, when well used, pay enormous domestic political dividends. Remember the Maine? Or the year-long voyage of the Great White Fleet? What about Imperial Germany’s use of their growing fleet to build/bolster a colonial empire? Wasn’t Germany’s acquisition of Tsingatao (done after the murder of German Catholic priests) rather…popular?
So..with history in mind, how might China (given its self-acknowledged internal domestic weaknesses) use their fleet? To forge a better sense of national unity, maybe?
Which brings us to CNA’s third assumption-set:
“…China is behaving exactly as every growing nation has behaved since the dawn of the Maritime Age in the 1400s…”
Hey, they got one right (two out of three ain’t bad)…but, hey…Didn’t those new navies ultimately make the seas less safe? Did they not lead to increased conflict at sea? To wider naval conflict?
Seems that the CNA researchers don’t think so.
To be blunt: Other nations may share U.S. appreciation for a “safe and secure global maritime environment.” The problem is that other nations may define “safe and secure” somewhat differently than America does.
U.S. defense thinkers must stop assuming the rest of the world shares our world view. You heard it here first…America’s habit of mirror-imaging (a symptom of having a rather poor grasp of history) is a well-known point of exploitation.
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Posted by Defense Springboard in Foreign Policy, History, Maritime Security, Navy | read comments (5)
Some Fifth Fleet News:
USS ASHLAND, Gulf of Aden – At approximately 5:00 a.m. local time, the USS Ashland (LSD 48), was fired upon by a skiff manned by suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden, approximately 330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti.
During the attack, the Ashland received small arms fire on the port side from the six man crew of suspected pirates aboard the skiff. The Ashland, in accordance with her rules of engagement, returned fire.
USS Ashland fired two rounds at the skiff from her MK-38 Mod 2, 25mm gun. The skiff caught fire and the suspected pirates abandoned the skiff.
This is the latest in a number of incidents over the last 120 days involving pirates in the Gulf of Aden intentionally engaging men of war. USS Nicholas (FFG-47) and USS Farragut (DDG-99) were both apparently engaged, while USS McFaul (DDG-74) captured ten pirates on Wednesday after answering a distress call.
This begs the question of why pirates would actively engage US and foreign warships on the high seas? Does this represent a shift in tactics? Or is this simply a matter of more complete recording of ongoing incidents? If it is the former, I would like to hear opinions as to what end this shift is aimed at. If not, someone please explain the logic of firing on a 16,000-ton gray hull. Were the pirates looking to hold the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit for ransom?
Posted by UltimaRatioReg in Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Marine Corps, Maritime Security, Navy | read comments (13)
“Green-Yellow-Red” is among the many idiot-resistant conventions in the Marine Corps. It’s used all the time (tactically and otherwise) as a quick barometer: “yes, maybe, no way-Jose”. After an infantry squad culminates on an objective, a rifleman who’s out of ammo would be “red.” In AIRBORNE operations, a jumper will be “green” before exit. In flight operations, if air is “yellow” it might be a lower visibility day (if air is “red” it might be a golf day). In the Base Combat Group’s admin office, an inappropriate pass by a male Corporal to a female Corporal, would be “red.” A dude-to-dude “good game” pat on the butt after a long ops-intel brief would be green (a squeeze, or cupped hand on the cheek, red); close talkers, always yellow.
Keep your eye on the close talkers…
I like this system in the Marine Corps. Everyone has a pretty good feel for it, I think. Lets everyone know where you stand. We’re either jumping out of the airplane, or we’re not, or maybe we will or maybe we won’t. Who knows? Who cares? The colors do the thinking for me. I’m just going to stand here…
The idea of using the ‘green-yellow-red’ metric outside of the Marine Corps and as an instrument of social science is not my own (most good ideas aren’t); the credit belongs to a legendary intelligence officer (anonymously cited here as he is a man of great influence, respect and class and my contribution to this column is one of little of all those things) who brought up a series of topics over a series of meals and cigars and marathon debates across a series of seas and oceans and deserts with a central question: can you or can’t you?
What started as coffee time banter evolved into great speech-making. Alliances were formed quickly in ante-bellum fashion along the most interesting, revealing and divisive man-question of them all: Who would you rather be – Indiana Jones, or James Bond? Lines were drawn, promises made, and friendships won and lost over matters as important as: Can a grown man eat an ice cream cone? (No.) What is the maximum age a man can no longer wear a professional sports jersey in public? (16.) What is the maximum age a guy can have a roommate? (30.) Bond is cooler than Jones, Pitt hotter than Cruise, Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. uglier than them all, et al.
We passionately made our cases and did not advance to another topic until the majority decided: “you can” or “you can’t.” We fought like zealous members of Congress arguing over Health Care, only less paid and more sober.
Many of these deliberations ended concretely. Others, we found, required a conditional solution: If you are taking your son to a baseball game, then you can wear the jersey of another grown man. If you are older than 30 but living in a really expensive place in say Manhattan, San Francisco, London, or Tokyo, then you can have a roommate…It’s never ok to eat ice cream on a cone.
A man’s decision making is guided by these two questions: 1. Will doing this make me look a girl? and 2. Will doing this make me look like a jerk?
The desired end-state with both is the same:
To behave like the man your father raised you to be without acting like the man you’re mother married and sometimes couldn’t stand.
And so tonight while on ship in the Wardroom (and by the coffee maker, and on the smoking deck and in the gym) I revisited these sort of questions with my fellow Officers and Staff NCO’s (we’re a pretty good sample of “the American male”) and arrived at some conclusions. Some green. Some red. Others conditionally, yellow…
NOTE: If you are now or have ever been a member of the military, or have ever played competitive sports, you get a pass on something that would otherwise be red; you get an “extra life.” If you are the author of this article and get to make up the rules as you go along, you get two extra lives…or three or four.
The design of tonight’s great debate was in the conventional “case-judgment-explanation” format. And the discussion went something like this…
- Driving a Miata, a Beetle or a SmartCar. RED. The Beetle has a flower holder. The Miata was described in a 1993 Car & Driver as being “the most adorable sports car on the road.” The SmartCar, seriously? Can you even fit in that thing?
- Waxing your back. GREEN. Got some hair on your chest, she’ll call you a man. Got a lot of hair on your back, she’ll call you grandpa.
- Waxing your chest. RED. ***Extra Life*** (1stsgt). If you’re an athlete and it makes sense, good to go. Here I’d add – if not, trimming’s good, but as a general rule of thumb: a man should let a woman be the soft, pretty one in the relationship.
- Eating an ice cream cone. RED. I almost used one of my extra lives here, though most men agree: We can’t take you seriously while you’re smiling (everyone does when they eat ice cream), licking frozen cream from a cone of candied waffle. This is ridiculous. (And also, delicious.) Think of some of the more rugged men in contemporary American culture. Take, Clint Eastwood. Now put a big smile on his face, an ice cream cone in his hand, maybe he’s licking that little bit that just dripped on his thumb. See what I mean? Ever seen a head of state eat an ice cream cone? How about a General or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Or a police officer or a fire fighter? Kinda takes away the mystique.
- Romantic comedies. RED. ***Extra Life*** (the author) There have been worse guilty pleasures admitted to…
- 80s love ballads. YELLOW. The Richard Marx Camp, RED. BUT, if you’re a hard core 80s rock and roll band, bring on the love ballad interlude.
- American Idol. RED. ***Extra Life*** (anonymous officer) And after spending the last five years in Iraq, you can love American Idol too…
- The popped collar. RED. Unless you’re sailing and it’s keeping the sun off your neck, put your collar down brother.
- The names “Elvio”, “Edrie” or “Ponce”. RED. Most states allow one legal name change, get one.
- Hacky Sack. RED. One of those rare times when you look like a girl and a jerk. I don’t care how much fun it is, grab a Frisbee, or a baseball glove, or a football. A bunch of guys standing around kicking a Hacky Sack…I can’t deal…
- Cosmos. RED. It’s pink. You’re a man. Drink whiskey.
- Knowing anything about Hollywood gossip you didn’t hear from your wife, girlfriend or your mother. RED. It is okay that we like to know what’s going on, just better we hear it from them.
- Untucked shiny dress shirts. RED. The untucked shirt in a casual setting, fine. Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones himself) reminds us this much is true. But the wear of the shiny, appallingly patterned, untucked dress shirt has got to stop. What’ll be man’s next fashion misstep? Leaving our flies down? Maybe socks, no shoes? Hey buddy, you look like a goofball. You’re drinking a twenty dollar martini, your beautiful date’s wearing an $800 Dona Karan dress, tuck in your shirt.
- Using the elliptical machine. YELLOW. Admittedly you don’t feel very masculine using it, but when your knees are broke down from the previous day’s workout, it’s a great low-impact option. Just don’t make it an everyday event.
- Wine tasting. GREEN. Here’s a chance to get outside your comfort zone, drink at a more adult pace, and learn something. We’re all very impressed you can tell me what’s in your Coors Light, or how a Guinness is made – but there’s nothing better than matching a great wine with a great meal – or better yet, a great memory.
- Cuddling. GREEN. Everyone agreed, you have to do it. It’s one of those intimacy things that women need, and men should provide. Though be warned, cuddling is like Iraq. No exit strategy and you’re stuck in bed when you don’t want to be anymore. Your foot starts falling asleep, your mind wanders, and then you get in trouble for not paying attention.
- Small dogs. RED. ***Extra Life*** (the author) Everyone was against the small dog. I seem to be the only guy that thinks having a chill, fat, black pug named Little Buddha as my drinking buddy would be awesome.
- Writing XOXO or LOL in an email. RED. Leave the cute shorthand for her. I’ve written them before, we all have, and I’m not sure if X or O is hug or kiss, but I do remember what my lawyer told me a few years ago: don’t say or write anything you wouldn’t want to read credited to you on the front page of the New York Times. XOXO or LOL, (and actually probably some of the content of this article) no, I just could not handle that.
- Rollerblading. RED. ***Extra Life*** (another nameless O) “I know what you’re thinking, but rollerblading is actually a really, really good cardio workout. It’s a great way to get outdoors and get your heart-rate up. Just make sure to wear all of the appropriate protective equipment: knee and elbow pads, helmet, eye protection, I even wear wrist guards, just in case. I’ve actually joined an under-40 men’s rollerblading club. It’s pretty sweet.”
- Ordering a latte. YELLOW. My last unit’s Judge found ordering a latte RED. “Just say it out loud the next time you’re in a long line at a coffee shop between two gorgeous women and tell me you don’t feel just a little awkward.” Our Air O’s response was right on the mark: “No way man, there’s no way it’s red. The only thing better than a good latte is a perfect cappuccino, and do you know how hard those things are to find? The latte is GREEN.”
- Choreographed dances. RED. I once saw a group of guys at Texas A&M do a rehearsed line dance. They were authentic cowboys, drank Shiner Bock beer, and tipped there hat when they introduced themselves to a girl. All very cool for a kid from southern California. But rehearsing moves to Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around Comes Around”, let’s use the rehearsal time to work on our manners fellas.
- Leather man-sandals with the back. RED. You’re not in the Roman Legion. If you want backs on your leather sandals, get a pair of shoes.
- Jean shorts. RED. I liked Charles in Charge, Magnum P.I., MacGyver and Married with Children as much as the next guy. But those shows are dead now. And so are the jean shorts we used to watch them in.
- Jager shots past 25. RED. It’s not that shooting Jager makes you act like a jerk (it does), it just that ordering them (and going through the whole look around-make everyone else take them with you) makes you look like a jerk. You’re a grown man now. If you want to get hammered drunk, take your time, do it deliberately, and without all the noise.
- Wearing a scarf. RED. ***(Extra Life)*** (Capt Meno) “Some guys use scarves to stay warm – that’s cool and all – I like my scarves to express who I am, on the inside. I use them to spice up an outfit. It just gives me that extra “pow”, chicks dig it, and sometimes when we’re dancing they hold one side in each hand as I run my hands through their hair like in some really cool 80s movie.”
- Gamers. RED. ***(Extra Life)*** (MSgt Pine) “Depends on the game…”
- Sudoku. GREEN. If you ever been stuck in Kuwait or any airport anywhere…
- Ordering ridiculous shots like an “Orgasm”, “Sex on the Beach” or anything else you wouldn’t order in front of your father or any other man with a straight face. RED. You want a shot? Be a man. Go tequila. Go Jack Daniels. Leave the Buttery Nipples for the bachelorette party.
- Male cheerleaders. YELLOW. They seem to be a really important part of the whole thing there, but this is a close one. Is it me, or would this just a hard thing to tell your son?
- Tofu. RED. Only if it’s by accident, or you didn’t know it was tofu when you ate it.
- Duvet Covers. YELLOW. We weren’t sure what this was, and we probably all have them, but it just sounded ridiculous and we all laughed when it was said.
- Being a vegan. RED. Though Benjamin Zephaniah’s latest collection of 22 poems dedicated to “the caring, dedicated vegans who will not stand for any exploitation whatever the species” was heart-warming, I’m just not ready to come over.
And more RED. Maroon 5. Telling a fraternity story at a dinner party. Talking with your mouth full. Not observing the one-urinal away rule. Mouth breathing. Talking on your cell phone while in a bathroom stall taking a #2 or at a grocery store check-out counter or pretty much anywhere I can hear everything you’re saying and had a reasonable expectation of not having to; texting while in the middle of a conversation; vanity plates; watches that are too small; musicals; working out with a mouth piece; watches that are too big; ice skating (unless you’re bad and trying to get a girl, or good and used to play hockey); using the flight attendant call button; capri pants; tongue rings; tapered jeans; painted nails; rings on your thumbs; spandex; colored contacts; Rep Jane Harmon on “how to win in Afghanistan”. And knowing all the words to Grease. RED. RED. FIRE ENGINE, RED!
And there’s more – more green, more red, always more yellow – but that’s for you to decide. Me, I’m happy chilling with Little Buddha, half-drunk on good wine, licking ice cream off my hand, watching Love Actually.
I guess every man has his extra lives for the same reason: to let him enjoy a guilty smile while Mr. Tough-guy gets a breather. Just don’t rest too long, the dude in the shiny shirt is always on offense.
A special Midrats this week – early-lunchtime tomorrow, Saturday from 11-1200, live from the Navy Memorial in Washington DC.
We are there to help kick off the Blessing of the Fleets. From the Navy Memorial Website;
Passed down through generations of sailors, fishermen, merchant mariners and navies around the world, the centuries-old “Blessing of the Fleets” ceremony is intended to safeguard fishing crews and ships from the danger of the seas through a traditional blessing given by a clergyman at the water’s edge.
As a tribute to our nation’s rich maritime heritage and the men and women who have contributed to its growth and success, the United States Navy Memorial hosts its annual Blessing of the Fleets ceremony each spring. The event is free and open to the public and is an official event of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
At the United States Navy Memorial, the ceremony’s highlight occurs when Sailors from the U.S. Navy’s Ceremonial Guard proceed across the Memorial Plaza’s “Granite Sea” to pour water from the Seven Seas and the Great Lakes into the surrounding fountains “charging” them to life and ushering in the spring season.
We have three great guests lined up;
- Rear Admiral Edward K. Walker, Jr., USN (Ret.), President and Chief Executive Officer, United States Navy Memorial Foundation.
- Rear Admiral Michael J. Lyden, USN, Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command and Chief of Supply Corps.
- Documentarian Brian J. Kelly , Executive Producer of Discovery Channel’s “At Sea.”
Join us live, or if you are too busy looking at cherry blossoms, catch it on the blogtalkradio archive or via iTunes.
If you are in DC, you owe it to yourself to stop by the Navy Memorial on Saturday – the day is full of events,
- 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Live broadcast of the Blog Talk Radio program “Midrats,” featuring military bloggers Cdr. Salamander and Eagle One
- 12:30 p.m. Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new exhibit Supporting the Force: Navy Supply in Action—Ready for Sea, Ready Ashore
- 1:00 p.m. Blessing of the Fleets Ceremony on the Plaza with the Navy Band, the Navy’s Ceremonial Guard and the Chief of the Supply Corps
- 2:00 p.m. Serving of Navy bean soup served by the White House Mess
- 2:20 p.m. Screening of the new film “A Day in the Life of a Suppo”
- 3:00 p.m. Screening of Episode 1 of HBO’s new series “The Pacific”
- 4:00 p.m. Screening of the Discovery Channel’s film about Navy operations today “At Sea”
The role diversity ought to play in the Navy’s personnel policies has been the subject of much attention in the blogosphere (CDR Salamander’s Diversity Thursdays) and traditional media. I hope to examine the potential effects of diversity in the military and offer a new way forward in the public debate regarding diversity in the military.
First, let’s establish that the Navy’s policies should propel the service in the direction of effectiveness. Furthermore, diversity is a means to an end and advocates of diversity should realize its hard to sell the circular logic that “efforts to diversify personnel are good because diversity is good.” Using this language, diversity is both the means and the end! However, can a connection be made between diversity and effectiveness, which should be the ultimate goal of every policy? I think so.
I, too, was skeptical of this claim regarding the benefits of diversity, but the core arguments in favor of meaningful diversity are rather simple. Dr. Scott Page, a researcher in modeling complex systems, explains: “Diverse groups of people bring to organizations more and different ways of seeing a problem and, thus, faster/better ways of solving it. People from different backgrounds have varying ways of looking at problems, what I call “tools.” The sum of these tools is far more powerful in organizations with diversity than in ones where everyone has gone to the same schools, been trained in the same mold and thinks in almost identical ways.”
It’s important to note that Dr. Page is commenting on cognitive diversity, not identity diversity (although is a connection between the two). His book, The Difference, opens with a discussion of how diversity advanced the ends of the military during WWII. The success of Bletchley Park in breaking the German Enigma code owe in large part to the diverse nature of the team of mathematicians, philosophers, chess champions, and crossword puzzle whizzes! When you have a team composed of individuals who each approach a complex problem in a unique manner, you can find the most effective solution. As the CNO’s Diversity Policy explains, “Diversity of thoughts, ideas, and competencies of our people, keeps our Navy strong, and empowers the protection of the very freedoms and opportunities we enjoy each and every day.”
The Marine Corps’ Lioness Program is a modern example of how diversity in the military is used towards effective ends. ”“I don’t think there was a Marine out there who didn’t understand the importance of having females there,…We didn’t look at them as females serving at a checkpoint, we just saw another Marine,” said one Marine. Would the US military of 50-60 years ago think to engage a foreign population of women? Would it have done so effectively?
When advocates of diversity wander from the task of strengthening the Navy/Marine Corps team and merely understand diversity as a means to itself, then diversity policies are rightfully criticized. However, diversity is clearly a tool we can use to strengthen the Navy and Marine Corps when we understand its power and effects.
Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev sign the treaty cutting their nations' nuclear arsenals Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The new START Treaty was signed in Prague today and the text for both the Treaty (17 pages) and the Protocols (165 pages) are available.
On reading the text of the Treaty (still wading through the Protocols) am finding nothing untoward or diverging from what has been said here and elsewhere these past few days. Overall, it is a modest effort at reduction — nothing on the order of the original START reductions. It does re-establish an atmosphere of verification and compliance, though not as intrusive as the previous Treaty and includes use of “national technical means,” on-site visits and exchanges of telemetry data.
In the final months of negotiation there was a lot said on the Russian side about missile defense and linkages to the new Treaty – much more than reported in the Western press, by the way. Of relevance to this part of the discussion is Article III 7(a) which states:
“A missile of a type developed and tested solely to intercept and counter objects not located on the surface of the Earth shall not be considered to be a ballistic missile to which the provisions of this Treaty apply.”
In other words, ABM and ASAT missiles that have been exclusively developed and tested for those purposes (e.g., SM-3 family) are exempt from the Treaty.
Note also that there is a withdrawal clause for “extraordinary circumstances” (Article XIV Section 3) which is a common clause for treaties of this nature and is not extraordinary for this treaty. In light of the Russian’s unilateral statement on missile defense, it may be highlighted in subsequent discussions. The text of the declaration follow:
“April 8, 2010
Statement by the Russian Federation on Missile Defence
The Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms signed in Prague on April 8, 2010, can operate and be viable only if the United States of America refrains from developing its missile defence capabilities quantitatively or qualitatively.
Consequently, the exceptional circumstances referred to in Article 14 of the Treaty include increasing the capabilities of the United States of America’s missile defence system in such a way that threatens the potential of the strategic nuclear forces of the Russian Federation.”
(reference: http://eng.kremlin.ru/text/docs/2010/04/225214.shtml)
Worth keeping an eye on as we move down the pike on the European PAA is the “qualitatively” part of the first sentence. Earlier (March 18) statements by Foreign Minister Lavrov singled out improved capabilities of the EPAA “by 2020″ which coincides with introduction of the SM-3 BlkIIB.
Finally, at the signing ceremony, the President stated:
“President Medvedev and I have also agreed to expand our discussions on missile defense. This will include regular exchanges of information about our threat assessments, as well as the completion of a joint assessment of emerging ballistic missiles. And as these assessments are completed, I look forward to launching a serious dialogue about Russian-American cooperation on missile defense.”
How much this was intended to allay or soften the Russian unilateral statement and the substance of those future talks 9as well as the direction they will take the European PAA and other bi- and multi-lateral missile defense initiatives in various theaters and regions, remains to be seen.
(crossposted at steeljawscribe.com)
Not that ‘ole blog-father Sal didn’t give us one heck of a fight…
…and I’m sure he was just trying to teach us all something about the perils of coalition-based strategies…or sumpthin’!
Russian news agency RIA Novosti yesterday published an article outlining major mid-life upgrades of the Russian Navy STOBAR CV Admiral Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov (ex-Leonid Brezhnev, ex-Tblisi) is one of two of the Varyag-class, the namesake having been sold to China incomplete and a source of speculation in its own right.
Interesting that such extensive modification and modernization is being performed on a vessel that Western observers had been all but certain would be scrapped. And the announcement earlier this year of a plan for three additional CVNs of roughly the same size as Admiral Kuznetsov.
Of note is that the modifications to Admiral Kuznetsov include increasing the size of the hangar deck, and hence, aircraft carrying capacity, as well as the installation of steam catapults. In effect, if the Russian plans come to pass, “Project 1143.5″ will yield a STOBAR/CATOBAR-capable CV.
It would appear that Russia is eyeing more than her coastal waters with these latest projects. Whether dire economic straits severely curtail plans remains to be seen, but we should take heed that, should Russia have the economic means to do so, they are intent on building a modern blue-water Navy.
There may be another concept useful to the US Navy in observing Russia’s naval expansion. Perhaps we should consider modernization of existing hulls before disposing of vessels at the mid-service life point?
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