We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:03:34 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 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... Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:09:45 -0600 That was Damien's second comment of the day over here. He's learned the first lesson of blogging: "When you begin, comment everywhere, and leave a link." http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70116 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70116 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:41:01 -0600 Just to save from confusion, sir armorer, I got a comment from Veterans Talk and jumped to his blog. He's home but trying to complete the final mission coming "all the way home". So, I left a comment that I would link to him in a post soon. He's starting out well. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70110 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70110 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:09:52 -0600 Thanks a lot! I've already added you to "MY PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS" section. I look forward to hearing you and others...on your site and mine. Take Care http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70108 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70108 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:59:49 -0600 Supply chain problems are not the exclusive domain of the USA. During the 1990 timeframe, the Canadian Forces had 9 or 10 Inf. Btns, each with an 81mm mortar platoon. One battalion in CFB Lahr Germany had 80% of the entire CF spare parts inventory of mortar parts. On another occasion, my unit loaned out a LAV for gunnery trg. When the vehicle came back, the chain gun was broken. I ordered the part to repair the feeder, and the next day recieved a call asking if I really needed the part or was I trying to stockpile spares. None of that part had been purchased for spares. The chain gun had been in service for about 5 years by this point. I must admit that I would never have expected that part to break either, under normal usage, but I suspect it may have fallen/ been dropped off the hull of the vehicle onto the concrete floor of the hangar. a 63 lb feeder mech is not designed to survive an 8 ft fall. :-( http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70105 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70105 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:07:16 -0600 Finally. Got some talking going on! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70101 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70101 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:16:34 -0600 From Phil's bio: "... he served as an adviser to the Iraqi police." I don't think his recollections are as 'reality-based' as he might imply. And his readiness to find fault with the current Administration has been a consistent feature of his Lessons Learned summations since he began blogging c.2003. Cheers http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70100 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70100 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:03:33 -0600 Vaildog - congrats for coming in with feeling! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70098 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70098 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:52:50 -0600 I've used enemy weapons on ex. After I hosed a hole with plastic fantastic I "found" a C9. This had a better John Wayne feature than my 20 round mag and I used it to hose the next two holes without all that tedious reloading. Happiness is a belt fed weapon. I also "found" an M79 and poped their bunker, its seemed like a fun thing to do at the time. Kiwi inafantry, we don't specialise. Whats the drama? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70097 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70097 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:37:24 -0600 Phil Carter is contemptible not because he pointed out the flaws and screw ups in the Army, but because he did so gleefully. His whole schtick is to get the baboons on the left howling in agreement with his slander of our military. When I was in the Army, it was one thing to complain and moan to your fellow soldier, but I always looked down on the weasly soldier who wrote their congressman or the IG to complain about something. Somethings should be kept in house. Carter has sold his honor because he knows that on the left side of the blogosphere he gets alot of accolades for being a veteran. He just needs to remember they like him because he tells them what they want to hear, not because they have any respect for his service or the unifrom he wore. That's great because he's obviously calculated it would be more advantageous to his career goals to be the critic than to stand with his fellow soldiers. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70096 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70096 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:32:51 -0600 Hey, John! I repeat my response in comments, in case you missed it: *Pbbbbttttthhhhh* [{Wipes face} Ever the articulate one, eh, Fuzzy?] http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70090 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70090 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:12:13 -0600 Carter's point is... from his perspective, with the DoD we've got today, it's Iraq or Afghanistan. NUTS! ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70084 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70084 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:52:38 -0600 Heh. Carter's point is... from his perspective, with the DoD we've got today, it's Iraq or Afghanistan. We are conducting Afstan as an "economy of force" operation. The further point is the DoD is a creature of the Administration, for good or ill, and that the *conduct* of the war - to include logisitics (always sticky, yes) has not been well handled, especially for the guys out at the long end. Aside from just keeping an open mind on things, one of the other reasons I link to stuff like this is to keep the discussion going, and to make the point that if we don't discuss it, it doesn't get any better. The reality is, as discussed elsewhere here over the last week - we are asking the Army and Marines to fight at full tilt capacity... but not anyone else. For all the money we're spending. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70079 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70079 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:36:46 -0600 Or how I traded Peet's Coffee (shipped by my family) with one unit for GPS transceivers, or bought pizza for an outgoing unit in exchange for their basic load of ammunition. Our troops in the field face situations like this every day because the U.S. military is inefficient and unwise about the way it allocates scarce resources Could phil be honest about why he had to do these things? Like, his unit wasn't originally designated through some military manual on unit requirements to have GPS transceivers, but, once in theater, their mission or area of operations makes it necessary? Or, maybe they are, but the latest and greatest were not available in enough quantities to throw around because the manufacturer only had X in the warehouse when the military decided that GPS receiver was "it" and he got back ordered for those instead of issued the old, less reliable ones that are stacked up in a warehouse? Or, the QM just extremely poor witted at ordering the appropriate equipment in a timely fashion, not making the right priorities or maybe, he had other priorities like getting that 10,000 gallon fuel bladder replaced so it didn't leak all over the place and blow the ammo dump sky high? Here's a question: Did anyone requisition them or were they expecting them to show up like magic beneath their pillow like the tooth fairy brought them? Does he even know or is he satisfied with his supposition as the best and only explanation? I mean seriously, that is the problem with all these anecdotes. People are whipping them out as if they represented the global "truth" as opposed to window in a moment in a place. You've got DeeBow and various others who were in Afghanistan and Iraq discussing how they were awash in ammo and other supplies while Phil and Capt. Ahab talk about the lack thereof in Afghanistan. I am highly sympathetic to the situation and part of me, when reading these stories, would like to fly in, grab the QM, various chain of command, on the ground officers and logistics, and shake them until their eyes were rolling around loose. However, the other part of me is pretty sure that, if I asked the logistics guys what the problem is, they'd just tell me about how its something else, explain to me about the thirty cargo air craft that went down for maintenance due to high utilization and age, a contract glitch, how some unit ordered 3,000 new uniforms accidently for their 300 troops causing a shortage for other units, etc, etc, etc. Maybe some other unit had a better power point presentation or requisition writer who could explain why their unit needed something better than another? Yeah. I do feel for these guys who are trying to work it out, get the things they think they need and absolutely need to go out and take the fight to the enemy. And if we hear about it in real time, we ought to rattle some cages about it, even if it is some stupid glitch closer down the ranks than up. But, Phil, et al, keeps acting like we can't do a two front war because the military logistics doesn't add up to his idea of supply and demand. Maybe someone should write Lincoln and tell him that it's a bad idea to let Sherman march to the Sea through Georgia, far ahead of supply lines, deep in enemy territory while Grant pursues Lee and various other generals are alternately fighting in multitude of places or "departments" because, well, one or more of those armies or some unit might not be supplied adequately? Or, hey, may be we shouldn't have been in the Philippines, Burma, North Africa, Sicily and eventually the rest of Europe in WWII because there is a likelihood that somewhere, someone, isn't supplied the way they should have been? In fact, according the the brilliant logic of these folks, we apparently should have called the entire war in the Pacific off. In the end, there are two issues. One is perfectly legitimate to call out. That being, if our troops in one area are not getting the necessary supplies, we should be raising a rucous to get it resolved, whoever is responsible, because we should be perfectly capable of doing it. The other, the idea that one front, Iraq, should never have happened or should be ended because some troops in another front, Afghanistan, aren't getting all the things they need or the shiney pieces that they want, is perfectly ludicrous. Then there is that little voice keeps whispering in my ear: welcome to the suck! ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70077 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70077 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:11:11 -0600 The cannister round is cool, but _want_ that camera! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70075 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/hi_fires_26_feb_1.html#comment-70075 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:10:04 -0600