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H&I* Fires 07, JUN 2007

By Denizens on June 7, 2007 | | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (1)

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...
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The High Lord Phibian(CDR. Salamander to those who speak English) has a post that has me a bit hot under the collar. Piracy grows when the SLOC aren’t defended. There’s no better proof of Mahan to me than this.

Damn the French navy skipper for not doing his job. Damn him to hell.
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True, this is from WND so you have to be a bit skeptical about the claims. But asking if there are links between former Iraqi Intelligence officers and terrorist organizations is a good question to attempt to answer.
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Joe Kline warns of the power of the blogger. As with many things it isn’t all good the power bloggers have.

[Snerk. Kline also manages to blame Rush Limbaugh for it all. This is a bi-partisan issue, methinks - those who blog, of whatever persuasion, who are really really really into what they're doing, are usually intolerant bastiches regarding failure to submit to their vision. On both sides. But for my reading - there is much greater vitriol on the left. Joe's just finding it out because the Left is in power now, so now they are savaging their own - for failure to submit. - the Armorer]
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A fun and potentially educational one for those with Child Labor Units they wish to turn into grognards: History books mated with board games. h/t to King Daddy.
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An interesting post of King Daddy’s own on breaking down and understanding a battle. Or you could just read Dupuy's method and save yourself a lot of the mental gymnastics.
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I regret not posting the link to it the moment I received it. The monogram "Rethinking Insurgency" by Dr. Metz has generated a bit of a stir. SWJ is talking about it, and Schatman over at Danger Room has an excerpt as well.
--ry
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AAR for Operation Aces High: Poker Run for Our Wounded Troops

Letters from the Front
-Kat

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I'll keep this short and not take up too much of anyone's time

Given the seriousness of the possibility of an upcoming cloture vote, I'd like to invite you to join Slobokan, and myself to the Techography Internet Chat each and every night of the week so that we may organize not only efficient live blog coverage (multiple people, multiple news casts and researchers) but to efficient blog "swarm" the system as it proceeds, not to mention flooding representatives with more E-mails, and calls....at the time of voting.

Last second floods have been known to make a difference, and this is no different

The link is here.

I am on every night from 10 pm until 8 am Central Time. However if cloture becomes an item I will arrive early.

Feel free to pass this to any other bloggers or concerned parties you know of. Lets not let this go without a fight!

Posted by The Armorer for Bloodspite.

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Adjutant Barb spent her June 6 by getting herself to One Degree of Separation from the event. She met Buck Compton, a member of "Easy" Company - better known to us as The Band of Brothers. Why should you click this link about Buck Compton <== that one, right there)? I'll let Barb tell you:


Buck is a hoot. And the real cherry on the ice cream is that I think he managed to pi$$ off our mighty corporate diversity exec ;-) Heeheehee. When he said that Pelosi was a traitor, I wanted to run down and hug him.

Ahhhh .... life is good.

Good enough for me. -the Armorer

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Greyhawk - on why he loves the Milblogs... -the Armorer

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For those of you in the Kansas 2nd Congressional District who follow cloning and stem cell issues, last night Speaker Pelosi brought up for vote H.R. 2560: To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit human cloning, and for other purposes.

The resolution would have prohibited cloning in terms of allowing implantation of a cloned fetus into a human being. It would not have prohibited cloning and destruction of embryos. Speaker Pelosi brought it up with a requirement for a two-thirds majority for passage, and the measure failed to win even a simple majority. It seems mostly an exercise in allowing our Representatives to get on record with a vote on a bill destined to not pass - letting them play both ends against the middle, so to speak - a not uncommon tactic, regardless who's in charge.

Representative Boyda voted "Aye". Some of you will like that. Some of you will hate that. Myself, I'm not keen on cloning and I'm concerned that too much focus is made on that avenue at the expense of others. I welcome the debate, however. We get better results when we wrassle the issue than if we allow one side or the other to steamroller it. -the Armorer

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Heh. What with all this flapdoodle over Iraq, Iran, Immigration, missile defense in western europe... Cartman Jong Il broke into song... "I'm so ronery..." -the Armorer

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Update: Hugo Chavez is still an annoying little man trying to make trouble.
--ry
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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.

Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.

*Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*

The UAVs (oops, can't call 'em UAVs anymore - they're now Unmanned Aerial Systems... some Colonel got his Legion of Merit for that change...), er, um UAS's we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.

I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".

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When bureaucrats put to sea from Quotulatiousness on June 7, 2007 12:42 PM

CDR Salamander has a distressing report from Somalia: The Danish merchant "DANICA WHITE" was seized by pirates off of Somalia.     A small Danish-owned and, we understand, Danish-crewed general cargo vessel, has been captured by pir... Read More

17 Comments

By BloodSpite on June 7, 2007 6:33 AM
But asking if there are links between former Iraqi Intelligence officers and terrorist organizations is a good question to attempt to answer. I would think the answer would be an automatic yes. If you take in to consideration past exploits of former Intelligence personnel of other countries that either were deposed or simply imploded, then I don't see how it's even a question. A great example would be the former KGB agents, whom they have since tied to everything from IRA weapons supplying, Organized Crime, Baader Mein, and even action in Somalia. Take it another step and ask how many Iraqi agents may and or may not have been Soviet Union trained somewhere down the road, and then passed that training on, and it's not a far stretch at all. Just my opinion
 
By fdcol63 on June 7, 2007 8:17 AM
The French Navy. Proving yet again that France is nearly worthless as an ally.
 
By jim b on June 7, 2007 9:32 AM
D Day 6th of June 1944 and the number one song was: "I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)" by Harry James So what was the number one song on the day you were born? You can look it up here.
 
By Maggie on June 7, 2007 9:39 AM
Re: The French. No one is more comtemptuous of the French than Princess Crabby. However, we didn't do so well here either.
The USS Carter Hill, part of a U.S. task force that helps maintain security off Somalia and nearby countries, engaged the pirates after they hijacked a Danish cargo ship, the Danica White, in international waters, said Lt. Denise Garcia, a public affairs officer at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain. The U.S. ship fired several warning shots across the Danica White's bow and also destroyed three small boats the pirates had used in their assault and were towing behind the Danish vessel, according to Garcia, who said the incident occurred Saturday. The U.S. ship called off its pursuit after the pirates navigated the Danica White into Somalia's territorial waters, where the U.S. does not have jurisdiction, Garcia said.
I'm not real happy with us right now either.
 
By jim b on June 7, 2007 9:47 AM
Maggie .... chill that ship is USS Carter Hill as in LSD 50. She is an amphib big fat and slow, and very lightly armed. She is built to carry Marines not engage Naval targets.
 
By Barb on June 7, 2007 10:07 AM
Thanks for the link, John. It was a fun experience, and great to hear the 'rest of the story' about a very interesting man.
 
By Maggie on June 7, 2007 2:54 PM
JimB - What's your point?
 
By jim b on June 7, 2007 3:33 PM
An LSD is a amphib .. a people hauler. Big and clunky: General Characteristics, Harpers Ferry Class Builder: Avondale Industries Inc., New Orleans, LA. Date Deployed: 7 January 1995 (USS Harpers Ferry) Propulsion: Four Colt Industries, 16 Cylinder Diesels, two shafts, 33,000 shaft horsepower. Length: 609 feet (185.6 meters). Beam: 84 feet. Displacement: 16,708 tons (16,976.13 metric tons) full load. Speed: 20+ knots (23.5+ miles per hour). Crew: Ships Company: 22 officers, 397 enlisted; Marine Detachment: 402 plus 102 surge. Armament: Two 25mm MK 38 Machine Guns, Two 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts and Six .50 cal. machine guns. Landing/Attack Craft: Two Landing Craft, Air Cushion. Ships: USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49), Sasebo, Japan USS Carter Hall (LSD 50), Little Creek, VA USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), Little Creek, VA USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52), San Diego, CA It is not a Frigate: General Characteristics, Oliver Hazard Perry Class Builder: Bath Iron Works: FFG 8, 11, 13, 15, 29, 32, 36, 39, 42, 45, 47, 49, 50, 53, 55, 56, 58, 59 Todd Shipyards, Seattle: FFG 28, 31, 37, 40, 48, 52 Todd Shipyards, San Pedro, Calif.: FFG 9, 12, 14, 19, 23, 30, 33, 38, 41, 43, 46, 51, 54, 57, 60, 61. Date Deployed: 17 December 1977 (Oliver Hazard Perry) Propulsion: Two General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines; 1 shaft, 41,000 shaft horsepower total. Length: 445 feet (133.5 meters); 453 feet (135.9 meters) with LAMPS III modification. Beam: 45 feet (13.5 meters). Displacement: 4,100 tons (4,165.80 metric tons) full load. Speed: 29 plus knots (33.4+ miles per hour). Crew: 17 Officers, 198 Enlisted. Armament: Standard Missile (MR); Harpoon (from Standard Missile Launcher); Six MK-46 torpedoes(from two triple mounts); One 76 mm (3-inch)/62 caliber MK 75 rapid fire gun; One Phalanx close-in-weapons system. Aircraft: Two SH-60 (LAMPS III) in FFG 8, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36-61 One SH-2 (Lamps Mk-I) in FFG 9-19, 30, 31. Ships: Nor is it a Destroyer, nor a Patrol Gunboat. To summarize ... it's big fat slow and lightly armed. It's like that fat cousin everyone has who can never catch anyone at the annual family picnic, but who sweats a lot trying. The chances of an LSD maneuvering to cut off another ship making a run are two .. slim and none. A Frigate or Destroyer or Patrol Gunboat might, but all this fat old lady could do would be to try to pump enough small caliber gunfire into it to disable or sink it. That might tick off the Danes. The Navy worries about that sort of thing.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 7, 2007 4:00 PM
In other words... it's me. Except that I'm not lightly armed...
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 7, 2007 4:02 PM
In comparison...
 
By Neffi on June 7, 2007 5:56 PM
I can see you now, John- up in the prow of the LSD with a NoI MkIII*, shouting "Hold 'er steady Cap'n, I can hit the bugger from here!!!' Heh
 
By Maggie on June 7, 2007 6:10 PM
I'm not alone, go read Salamander's updated post. And I know what the difference is between a TinCan and an Amphib. That was not my point. Last week, the 12 nm limit didn't stop us.
 
By Maggie on June 7, 2007 6:33 PM
Lt Gay said the Carter Hall is in the waters off eastern Africa specifically for "anti-piracy search operations".
Excuse me? If we are not over there prepared to conduct NCB VBSS......then why are we there?
 
By Justthisguy on June 7, 2007 6:37 PM
I already remarked on this, at Lex's place. They did have the other vessel in range long enough to trash the boats in tow. From looking at the pic it's obvious where the machinery is in the Danish ship. Our own Coast Guard has been known to use the fifties on the engine compartments of yachts owned by "free traders" who refuse the visit and search. I wonder if the 25mm guns had projectiles capable of going through the hull plating before exploding, and if having them would have helped. Really, I think this shows that any naval vessel should have weapons capable of making serious holes in any other vessel of similar size, in order to be taken seriously. I thought everybody knew tha
 
By Justthisguy on June 7, 2007 6:41 PM
The truncation monster has bitten again. My last sentence in the previous comment should have read: "I thought everybody knew that." . . . .
 
By jim b on June 7, 2007 8:09 PM
Perhaps a Landing Ship Dock is a poor choice for anti pirate ops. Perhaps that cover is good for explaining why a floating base is operating in an area where special ops are so busy.
 
By ry on June 7, 2007 8:10 PM
You're kidding right? Why are we there? Let's just call off the whole JTF-HOA and other stabilization ops in the Horn area for this one flub then, right? A little perspective if you please.
If we are not over there prepared to conduct NCB VBSS......then why are we there?
IT's a good question though, asked a little better by Lord Phib, what're we doing using an L ship in that role? Is ths crew of that ampbib current in training for that mission? Bad platform, bad decision. I can see why she's there but circumstances definitely were not in our favor here. But cowardice it was not. People are making a lot of the Law, but I'm seeing a different thing at work here. Taking her back by force results in a dead crew. Risk to benefit. But I disagree that it's an all American affair. Not according to Gates of Vienna citing Navy Times. The French vessel observed the boarding and the BH came on scene after the boarding was over. Tough call. Do the boarding and have all the prisoners killed while taking out the pirates, with the attendant geo-political problems that come along with it. Or let the pirates make off with the boat and let the Danes buy their people back, with the attendant problems *that* creates. I'll leave the BH skipper alone. He was man on site making a tough call to make. He made it and he has to live with it. Not sure I see a best option here. The French skipper faced a similar position: fire on pirates as they boarded or before they did and live with the consequences of that. I'm a little less forgiving. Assaulting a hostile ship is hard work, dangerous. Likely to end with all the prisoners dead. But shooting the 'rats before they scale the side while bending a rule? Again, he's man on site and has to live with the decision. Tough call, but I do see a somewhat clear best option.