·:[ Sound and Fury ]:·
• • • • •

The Navy has embarked on yet another reading program. I’m a fan of these, since I’m always looking for something good to read or to listen to in the car. What I’m not a fan of is the format of the list. I’d like a list where I can login, check off the ones I’ve read, search Audible.com, mark the ones I’ve downloaded to my GPS (which BTW has an MP3 player, very nice), search my local library for others, and search Amazon for the rest. Maybe even write reviews, metatag it, search and read other reviews, and add my own recommendations for similar reading.

Is this too much to ask? Okay, I’ve found Reader2. They have some features, but not everything that I really want.

Trolling around Wikipedia tonight, checking my watchlist, looking for vandalism on “my” pages, I notice an odd entry on the USMC page. Someone added an external link to The Marine Corps’ My Space. No, really, a USMC MySpace. Yes, and the Corps, in spite being out of the typical age bracket at 230 years old, has over 27,000 friends.

It’s nicely done. A bit understated compared to the sites of some of their “friends”. They have disabled the comments feature, which, given the the FOAF comments, I can hardly blame them.

Reminds me of a story of the Marine Recruiting’s dragon commerical. You remember the one that looks like a video game and then turns into a Marine? When they showed it to the Commandant, he said, “I don’t get it.” And they told him that they weren’t trying to recruit men his age.

As this article notes, the Marines are back in Beirut. For those who may not remember, it was 23 years ago, following some deadly terrorist attacks, that the Marine Corps pulled out of Beirut. Now, they’re back, evacuating US citizens. No matter how much I travel, no matter how much I love living abroad, I will always retain my American citizenship, because — when the bombs are dropping — I want United States Marines coming to get me.

Of course, they wouldn’t have to look far. I would be on the doorstep of the embassy, single bag in hand and ready to abandon that.

A colleague pointed me to a C4ISR Journal article about General Cartwright’s blog. On a classified network, the general habitually asks questions - and expects non-vetted answers. For the uninitiated, “vetting” is a process by which the people with the answers work with the people with the political savvy to craft an answer for the people with the responsibility to give. Gen Cartwright wants to skip all that vetting and get a quick answer.

From the article: “If you’re not contributing, I don’t want you as part of the organization,” he said. “And if you’re not contributing because you don’t think the information will be perfect, I still don’t need you.”

The more I hear from him, the bigger fan I am.

Much has been made in recent years about the importance of the military being able to act “jointly”. Oh, excuse me, Jointly. The “j” is capitalized to show how critical being Joint is. We have Navy Blue, Army Green, Marine Red and Air Force…I guess, blue. Put them all together and you get the fifth service in the United States military - Joint Purple.

Unfortunately, as much work has been done, even more is required.

What, for example, does one call an interoffice mail envelope? You know, something like, this brown, 10″ x 13″, string-tied, hole-ridden envelope. If you’re in the Air Force, it’s a Holy Joe. The Army calls it a Shotgun and the Navy and Marine Corps call it Guard Mail.

No wonder the services can’t communicate. They can’t name their office supplies the same.

Congressional reaction from the Pentagon’s list of bases to be closed was what we expected. According to key players, the military knows nothing about how to run a military.

Are we to really believe that the people preparing the recommendations are incompetent? And that the Senators who are losing jobs in their states are the truly competent ones, with only the best interest of the country at heart? And that they are the only ones who can save the misguided military from themselves? How good of them.

Samplings follow:

• Maine:
  • Losing: DFAS Limestone, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
  • Senator Olympia Snow says, “Today’s decision … is nothing short of stunning, devastating and, above all, outrageous.”
  • Senator Snowe, Senator Collins, Rep. Allen, and Rep. Michaud say, “Including DFAS Limestone on the BRAC list is yet another example of an ill-advised military closure, which we will protest.”
• South Dakota:
  • Losing: Ellsworth Air Force Base
  • Senator Tim Johnson says, “Secretary Rumsfeld and the Department of Defense have failed to recognize the invaluable contribution Ellsworth Air Force Base makes to our national security”
• Texas:
  • Losing: 2,624 jobs at Sheppard Air Force base(although some are remaining in-state).
  • Senator John Cornyn says, “It is entirely conceivable that they made mistakes in the original inquiry.”
  • Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison says, “I can’t imagine any place better to relocate missions than Sheppard Air Force Base.”

Action against pirates, transatlantic flights, astronaut recovery and sub launching.

• In 1802, the 28-gun US frigate Boston fought an action with six or seven Tripolitanian gunboats, forcing one ashore as part of the First Barbary War. She was later burned to prevent her from falling into British hands during the War of 1812.
• In 1900, USS Kentucky (BB-6), a Kearsarge-class battleship, was commissioned. She served as a training ship during World War I.
• In 1919, US Navy aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight. Two other seaplanes, NC-1 and NC-3, departed at the same time, but were forced to land at sea. An entire squadron of destroyers was stationed underneath the flight path to assist in tracking and recovering the aircraft and their crews. NC-4 flew a total of 26 hours with a crew of six. Admiral Richard E. Byrd had planned the flight path.
• In 1957, USS Skate (SSN-578) was launched. The lead ship of her class of nuclear attack submarines, Skate was the third nuclear submarine commissioned, the first to make a completely submerged trans-Atlantic crossing, and the second submarine to reach the North Pole and the first to surface there.
• In 1963, USS Kearsarge (CV-33) recovers astronaut Gordon Cooper after he orbited the earth 22 times in his capsule “Faith 7.”

• HMS Dreadnought, a 98-gun second-rater, was launched in 1801.
• Turkish torpedo boat Muavenet fired three torpedoes to sink HMS Goliath during the Battle of Gallipoli. The ship capsized almost immediately taking 570 of the 700-strong crew to the bottom. Her loss, and that of other battleships, effectively ended naval bombardment of the pennisula. The battle, part of World War I, pitched the British and other allied forces against the Ottoman Empire. Ultimately, the Turks won the engagement, but only after suffering over 87,000 dead.
• USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was launched in 1972. She is the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers. All US carriers built in the last 33 years have followed her basic design.
• US Navy Nurse Corps established in 1908, however nurses had already been stationed onboard naval vessels for decades.

• Four American frigates surrendered with fall of Charleston, South Carolina in 1780.
• US Secretary of the Navy, John Branch, resigns in 1831 as part of the Petticoat Affair.
• The US declares war against Mexico in 1846.
• The US battleship ”Indiana” bombarded San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.
• USS ”Florida” (BB-30) was launched in 1910.
• USS ”Tarawa” (CV-40) was launched in 1940.
• Khmer Rouge naval forces seize the U.S. merchant ship SS Mayagüez in 1975. The crew was released, following a military assault by Marines a few days later.

Last month, General Peter Pace was nominated as the first Marine Corps General to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And others, particulary Blackfive had quite a bit to say about it. At the same time, Admiral Giambastiani was nominated to succeed him as the Vice Chair. This left the Joint Forces Command position vacant.

And then, almost quietly, JFCOM Deputy Lt Gen Wagner was nominated to be the Army Special Ops commander. Riddle me this, Batman, why would an experienced manager (like Sec Rumsfeld) move the number one and number two guys at the same time?

Answer: Because you want the next JFCOM commander to be an Army General, and he can’t be if the Deputy is Army.

So, next question, which Army four-star will be the next JFCOM? And when will it be the Air Force’s turn?

UpdateFor those keeping track, I got this wrong. The Air Force’s turn was sooner than I thought. Congratulations to Gen Lance Smith. The Army got the number two spot, with LTG John R. Wood.

Interesting nonetheless. Perhaps the first time in this command’s history that a naval officer is not in charge. The old Atlantic Command is dead. Long live JFCOM.