Reflections – Pentagon 9/11 “Admiral, we’ve taken a hit…and we’re on fire”-Part II

“Admiral, we’ve taken a hit…and we’re on fire”-Part II South Parking was a scene of unparalleled confusion — fire trucks from Arlington and other communities were flying into the lot at speed, accompanied by law enforcement vehicles of all sorts. At the same time private vehicles were dodging around people on foot, trying their best…

Reflections – Pentagon 9/11 “Admiral, we’ve taken a hit…and we’re on fire”-Part I

“Admiral, we’ve taken a hit…and we’re on fire” Tuesday, 11 Sep 2001 0937:25. Reflexively I glanced at my watch at the moment of impact, burning the time into my memory as I passed to my boss who was in Memphis for a promotion board that we had just been struck. “Sir, looks like we’ve been…

Airplan: 5-11 Sep

Several years back I had the extraordinary privilege to get to know a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack who had been assigned to one of the gun turret crews onboard the USS Nevada (BB-36).  As a junior "hinge" (O-4/LCDR) I was both captivated by the re-telling, first hand, of the accounts of that morning, and…

Hammer Time

No, not this one – more like this… Item: Navy ship $840 million over budget and still unfinished (h/t Phibian) — The highly touted  nerve center of the new, $1.8 billion amphibious ship San Antonio is fraught with computer hardware crashes that could cripple operations.  The ship lacks basic safety equipment, such as hand rails and…

Mach 6.5 At 100K Feet…

Perhaps you remember this: or this: Roll out the TFH crowd because: “The Air Force has awarded Lockheed’s Advanced Development Projects arm a top-secret contract to develop a stealthy 4,000-mph plane capable of flying to altitudes of about 100,000 feet, with transcontinental range. The plan is to debut the craft around 2020. The new jet…

Remembering Fallen Shipmates – Part II (N513)

(SJS: N513 is the Strategy & Concepts branch, part of the N51 Strategy & Policy Division of N3N5. N513’s personel were the folks who looked at “the big picture” focusing on warfighting concepts and maritime strategies in defense of the US and our Allied partners. This is the branch that in the past had worked…

9/11: The Evidence

(from the Washington Post) Officials at the federal court in Alexandria posted on the Web yesterday nearly all the evidence presented during the sentencing trial of Sept. 11, 2001, conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, marking the first time a federal court has provided such extensive online access in a criminal case. The 1,202 exhibits capture the drama…