A quick history lesson. A quarter of a century ago, the US (and NATO) were engaged in an unprecedented nuclear arms build-up in Europe that was initiated with the deployment of the SS-20 Sabre (NATO)/RT-21M Pioneer (Russia) IRBM in 1976. Unlike the much older SS-4 and SS-5 IRBMs, employed in 1959 and 1961,…
… we (Team Navy) are in deep bat guano where public perceptions are concerned: Gallup Military Perceptions 2008 View more presentations or upload your own. See especially slides 17-21 for recruiter’s challenge: Â ” If you were just turning 18 and had to spend two years in the Service, which branch would you prefer to join?”…
Latest addition to the blogroll is “Spooky In The Sand” – a Hawkeye NFO (and former Steeljaw to boot!) who is presently one of the many Navy IA’s in Iraq with the Army. Swing by to capture culture encounters with the Army and the wry observations and POV afforded by a career of being shot…
perâ‹…specâ‹…tive (per-spek-tiv)-noun: A technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface. The state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship; the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship. Perspective requires context. These days we see and hear a great deal about…
Been a very busy week here in these last few days in the run-up to the Inauguration — new folks arriving, some departing, new Congressional session and attendant questions – lots of questions, lots of briefs and also burning the midnight oil on the book project, so posting has been a bit light of late.  …
11,000 tons gross displacement. 622.5 ft long. 45 aircraft – that was the USS San Jacinto (CVL 30). Sixty-five years ago, on a September morning, a young naval aviator launched his Grumman TBF Avenger from her deck on a mission to strike facilities at Chi Chi Jima. Forty-five years later he was raising his hand,…
Ever wonder what “they” meant when talking about a painted sky? Wonder no more: PERSIAN GULF (Dec. 22, 2008) The guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61) transits through the Persian Gulf. Ramage is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of…
*But were afraid to ask Available now via the Newport Papers online – print version still TBD. Be forewarned, this is a huge document (34M worth) and will take a while to download. This is an outstanding work by Dr. Hattendorf and Peter Swartz and has been long in the birthing process. It is the…
According to today’s Times of India, on January 1, India’s Defense Ministry’s Joint Secretary and Acquisitions Manager (Maritime Systems) signed a purchase agreement with Boeing’s Integrated Systems and in-country lead for eight P-8I Poseidon’s at a price of $2.1B(US), more than double the previous major US sale to India ($962M for six C-130J in 2007). …
Near the back of the exhibit of modern aircraft at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, hangs an HH-1K in the colors of HA(L)-3, the Seawolves. The weathered dark green of the armed helo contrasts with the clean gull grey/white jets on the floor below, some with their colorful squadron markings of an age past. …
