Author Archive
The large standing Army and active duty military we have known in our lifetime may seem the norm – but it isn’t.
Is there a way to maintain a strong military capability – available and scalable if needed – without the structure we have become accustomed to?
Is there a better way to balance our Reserve and National Guard forces that is better in line with our economic, national security, and yes – Constitutional requirements?
This Sunday, 19 FEB from 5-6pm EST, join us with our guest, General Ron Fogleman, USAF (Ret) for the full hour. Using his recent article in Defense News, Going Back to the Future: Militia Model Could Cut U.S. Expenditures as a starting point, we will discuss these ideas and more as we look for a way to maintain strength and options as the budget crunch starts.
You can listen live by clicking here.You can listen later by getting the show at that site, or from the Midrats podcast on iTunes.
Posted by Eagle1 in Army | read comments (18)
As noted in an earlier post on my home site, the weather in the upper Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden is beginning to shift from monsoon back to that more favorable to the operations of pirates in the small open attack boats. After several weeks of slowed pirate activity, the pirates have managed to snag a new victim and her crew of 21.
Arrayed against the pirates are warships from the EU, NATO, China, India, Japan, Singapore, Iran, Russia and armed guard teams embarked on many merchant ships and fishing boats.
Naturally, it’s a good time to talk pirates. So, on Sunday, February 12 at 5 pm (Eastern U.S.), that’s what we are going to do.
Episode 110 The 21st Century Pirate Threat 02/12 by Midrats on Blog Talk Radio:
The problem with piracy is not going anywhere. Each year in places like Somalia it is becoming part of the local economy. In areas near poorlly governed areas, it threatens the free flow of goods at market prices through the world’s sea lines of communication.
Is it an economic problem, a global security problem, a political problem, or a mixture of that and more?
What is the impact of international aid, military action, and the paying of ransom? What are the best solutions, and what is working and what is not working to slow the impact of piracy?
Join Sal from “CDR Salamander” and EagleOne (that’s me!) from “Eagle Speak” for the full hour to discuss these issues and more with their guest, Rear Admiral Terry McKnight, USN (Ret.), former Commander of the anti-piracy CTF-151 off the horn of Africa.
Here’s the link to listen live. If you miss the show you can download it later from here or from iTunes (podcasts under “Midrats”).
Sometimes, when others forget, it’s good to have a way to remind them.
Here’s a link to a 17 minute presentation that explains much.
Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gun
As the old Strategic Air Command motto had it: “Peace is our profession”
Episode 107 Air-Sea Battle Budgets the PACOM Shuffle 01/22 by Midrats | Blog Talk Radio 5pm Eastern U.S.:
Most agree that our nation’s national security focus needs to shift its weight towards the swath across the Western Pacific through the Strait of Malacca to the Northern Arabian Gulf.
We have started the same path in response to national budget and debt problems that started a decade ago in Europe; and the defense budget here as there will take the first hit.
Are we starting in the right direction – or are we in danger of inserting in to the equation a fundamental error?
Our guest for the entire hour will be returning guest and panel member, Bryan McGrath.
Bryan is the Founding Director of Delex Consulting, Studies and Analysis specializing in Defen
se and National Security issues, including strategy and strategic planning, executive communications, and strategic communications.
You can also find him online at Conservative Wahoo and Information Dissemination.
A retired Naval Officer, Bryan spent 21 years on active duty including a tour in command of USS Bulkeley (DDG 84), with his final duties ashore included serving as Team Lead and Primary Author of the U.S. Navy’s 2007 Maritime Strategy; A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower.
Join us Sunday at 5pm (Eastern U.S.) to discuss the military budget as planning of the great diversion of money from the Department of Defense begins at Episode 106 Tough Choices Hard Budgets 01/15 . Or, as the Salamander put it
Many are sobering up to the fact that the military is about to face a budget challenge not seen in a generation. Especially those who have seen this movie before, a number know that this one has the potential to be the most challenging seen in over half a century.
For the full hour, our guest will be Col. Robert Killebrew, USA (Ret.)., using his article in the DEC Armed Forces Journal, Cutbacks and Crisis, as a starting point.
In addition to being a contributing editor at AFJ, mong the many other things he has done since retirement he writes and consults on national defense issues as a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
Prior to his retirement from active duty he served for thirty years in a variety of Special Forces, infantry and staff duties. His assignments ranged included duty in Vietnam with MACVSOG, the Vietnamese Airborne Division, command in mechanized, air assault and airborne units, and staff positions in the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, as director of plans, XVIII Airborne Corps, special assistant to the Chief of Staff of the Army, command of a deployed joint task force and as an instructor in strategy and policy at the Army War College.
If you want to be ahead of the game in the growing budget battles, make sure and tune in this Sunday at 5pm EST or get the archive.
Early report and not much in the way of details, but there is this from NATO Shipping Center Daily Piracy Update:
The M/V LIQUID VELVET, the previously pirated vessel that may have been used as a mothership, was disrupted by naval Counter Piracy forces in the evening of 10 January. This mothership is no longer considered a threat to merchant shipping.
 |
| RN Lynx helicopter |
I expect more details will be forthcoming.
Should be interesting reading.
UPDATE: Looks like a blocking move by a Royal Navy force as set out here:
RFA Fort Victoria Fort Victoria, which is operating as part of Nato’s Operation Ocean Shield in the Indian Ocean, cut off the vessel’s progress when it was 90 miles from the coastline and forced it to return to Somalia.
Fort Victoria approached the Liquid Velvet under cover of darkness, before circling the vessel at speed. The ship’s Lynx helicopter was also used. Fort Victoria then followed Liquid Velvet as she retreated towards Somalia.
Nice.
Today at 5pm Eastern (U.S.), it’s a special anniversary show! Join us at Midrats Episode 105 for a sort of a cocktail party conversation.Or, as CDR Salamander put it:
Yes friends, believe it or not we are on our 105th episode!
Two years behind us, and a third in front. Though we already have some great guests lined up in the upcoming weeks, as a way of saying thanks to everyone for tuning in, for our 2nd Anniversary show we are going to try something a little different – we are going to turn the tables on ourselves.
This time, it is our friends, listeners and regular guests who will get to ask the questions and visit for awhile.
What would you like the hosts to talk about? Is there a topic you would like us to address that we don’t? Well here is your chance.
Look at the top of the showpage – that’s our call in number.
Remember, click here to join in the fun.
Join us at 5pm Eastern on Sunday for Midrats Episode 102 The Military Media at a Pivot :It started after 911, something not seen for any significant duration since Vietnam – and sustained interest in military matters. As a result, we have seen an increase in the variety and number of places where you can find reporting on military matters.
From retired officers on the news networks using maps to explain the big picture, to new media, to expanded traditional coverage – a decade of war has brought a depth of knowledge that was almost non-existant in the last two decades of the last century.
With two wars and smaller skirmishes in the Long War taking place on a regular basis, the need and interest for information has kept knowledge of military history, strategy, tactics, equipment, and plans as an ongoing requirement in the media.
As the American military presence in the Iraqi war ends, Afghanistan scheduled to fade, and defense budgets contract – what is the state of the military focused media going forward?
To discuss the above and to review the major Navy and military topics of the year will be returning guest Phil Ewing, previously with Politico and Navy Times.
The Japanese carrier strike force, the Kido Butai, lead the attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941. Since then, the discussion about the attack and its ramifications has hardly paused. We offer up the latest iteration with Sunday’s 5pm (Eastern U.S.) program on Midrats – Episode 101 Kido Butai at Pearl Harbor 12/11 :A lot has been written about what went wrong at Pearl Harbor – a very American perspective.
If you are a neutral tactical or look at things from a Japanese perspective – there was a lot that went right at Pearl Harbor at the Tactical and Operational Level.
Join Sal from CDR Salamander and me as we discuss for the full hour many of the less understood aspects fo the attack on Pearl Harbor and the development in the Imperial Japanese Navy’s tactical innovations with one of the co-authors of the article in December’s Naval History magazine, Pearl Harbor’s Overlooked Answer – Jonathan Parshall.
Mr. Parshall is one of the authors of the book, The Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, a book highly recommended by many naval readers, including this one:
“I have begun reading Shattered Sword… and had to stop. It is too large, reads too well, contains too much information, and is too difficult to put down. Start it at your own risk! My congratulations to the authors and to Brassey’s/Potomac Books for an excellent and valuable product.”
— Norman Polmar, noted analyst, consultant, and author specializing in naval, strategic, and intelligence issues.
Join us, please.
The link is Episode 101. If you can’t join us live, you can listen to the archived version at the same site, or download the show as an MP3. Or, if you prefer, listen or download from iTunes.
An overview from the Naval History and Heritage Command at The Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941:
Nagumo’s fleet assembled in the remote anchorage of Tankan Bay in the Kurile Islands and departed in strictest secrecy for Hawaii on 26 November 1941. The ships’ route crossed the North Pacific and avoided normal shipping lanes. At dawn 7 December 1941, the Japanese task force had approached undetected to a point slightly more than 200 miles north of Oahu. At this time the U.S. carriers were not at Pearl Harbor. On 28 November, Admiral Kimmel sent USS Enterprise under Rear Admiral Willliam Halsey to deliver Marine Corps fighter planes to Wake Island. On 4 December Enterprise delivered the aircraft and on December 7 the task force was on its way back to Pearl Harbor. On 5 December, Admiral Kimmel sent the USS Lexington with a task force under Rear Admiral Newton to deliver 25 scout bombers to Midway Island. The last Pacific carrier, USS Saratoga, had left Pearl Harbor for upkeep and repairs on the West Coast.
At 6:00 a.m. on 7 December, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. Even as they winged south, some elements of U.S. forces on Oahu realized there was something different about this Sunday morning.
In the hours before dawn, U.S. Navy vessels spotted an unidentified submarine periscope near the entrance to Pearl Harbor. It was attacked and reported sunk by the destroyer USS Ward (DD-139) and a patrol plane. At 7:00 a.m., an alert operator of an Army radar station at Opana spotted the approaching first wave of the attack force. The officers to whom those reports were relayed did not consider them significant enough to take action. The report of the submarine sinking was handled routinely, and the radar sighting was passed off as an approaching group of American planes due to arrive that morning.
The Japanese aircrews achieved complete surprise when they hit American ships and military installations on Oahu shortly before 8:00 a.m. They attacked military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The Navy air bases at Ford Island and Kaneohe Bay, the Marine airfield at Ewa and the Army Air Corps fields at Bellows, Wheeler and Hickam were all bombed and strafed as other elements of the attacking force began their assaults on the ships moored in Pearl Harbor. The purpose of the simultaneous attacks was to destroy the American planes before they could rise to intercept the Japanese.
Much more at the link above.
Let me also recommend to you a recent article in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Naval History magazine Pearl Harbor’s Overlooked Answer by Jonathan Parshall and J. Michael Wenger (for those of you interested in this topic, Mr. Parshall is scheduled to be our guest on Midrats on Sunday, 11 December at 5 p.m.).
In many places around the country there will be ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary the attack. There’s listing available on my home blog here.
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