Sequestration just gets better and better…

Posted on by October 28, 2013

Everyone who’s knowledgeable about Navy operations has known this for a while, but now even the Submarine Commanders are publically admitting to the shortfall in US submarines…

There are not enough fast-attack and guided-missile submarines in the Navy’s arsenal to meet the needs of combatant commanders around the globe, senior service officials said at the 2013 Naval Submarine League symposium, Falls Church, Va.

“Combatant commander demand for these ships far exceeds what we can supply,” said Vice Adm. Mike Connor, Commander, Submarine Forces, speaking to audience members at the symposium.

/snip/

In total, the Navy has 73 submarines, including 14 nuclear-armed Ohio-class submarines, or SSBNs; four Ohio-class submarines converted to conventionally armed guided-missile boats, or SSGNs; 42 Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines, or SSN; three Seawolf submarines and 10 Virginia-class submarines, also SSNs.

/snip/

By comparison, the Navy operated many more submarines in the 1980s, operating a fleet of more than 100 SSNs, among others, Navy officials said.

Full article HERE from Military.com.

Based on the ‘goals’ of the administration, the Navy will be below 250 ships and subs combined by the end of this administration… A FAR cry from President Reagan’s 600 ship/sub Navy, but the interesting point is, although we did ‘win’ the cold war, our adversaries have NOT reduced their building rate on subs, and the Russians are now back in the game with newer, more capable subs and more planned…

The ‘other’ stuck in fork is the lack of $$ for maintenance, across ALL platforms; ships, subs, acft, and helicopters are all feeling the pinch of a maintenance shortfall that is estimated at around $750M.  Trust me that is a LOT of maintenance (and unlike the USAF, all these units are routinely exposed to salt water and the associated corrosion that goes with it)!!!

So in addition to the lack of respect, we have a hollow force; not enough assets to get the job done, and it we DO get it stuck in somewhere, not enough support to get our folks out of trouble.  At this point I think we’re on the verge of making our Navy ships/subs/airplanes the equivalent of sacrificial lambs ready to be slaughtered by a superior force.

Trigger time…

Posted on by October 27, 2013

Looking at the weather, and the fact it’s getting colder (did I mention I HATE cold)…

I decided it was a good day to go to the range.  Since I haven’t had the revolvers out for a spin lately, I decided to take them and just do a revolvers only range trip…

I’d been practicing with the SIRT pistol the last couple of evenings, and I wanted to see if it really made any difference in my initial shooting too.

pistolsI’ll admit I did start with the .22 Diamondback, and it is truly a fun little shooter!!!

I alternated shooting ‘good’ triggers e.g. Pythons/Diamondbacks, with the less good triggers 1917/Trooper; and boy can you tell the difference!  I shot at least 50 rounds through each pistol, and realized I’m about out of .45LC and low on .38spl all of a sudden.  And only had TWO boxes of .357… How in hell did I let ‘that’ happen???

Based on my few days of ‘training’ myself with the SIRT, I do believe it can make a difference in maintaining proficiency if you’re not shooting real pistols every day.  I wasn’t as ‘scattered’ as normal on the first few cylinders while trying to re-establish the sight picture, front sight, press sequence.

It was time to change out the self defense ammo in the Agent, so I fired that cylinder full of Gold Dots. And since I hadn’t done any speed loader or speed strip work in a while, I did 10 reps of each.  And boy did I SUCK for the first few…

agentPractice, especially at the ‘little’ things takes works and repetitions to get it right and I need to find some .38spl snap caps to do this drill at least on a weekly basis, if not more often.

Got home and cleaned everything, then put the ‘ready’ guns back in their ready positions. Now I’m tired, but it’s a good tired.  Now the search for ammo begins again…

Sigh…

Now you know…

Posted on by October 26, 2013

  Q. Why do Navy airplanes need tail hooks?

            A. After a tough day of flying on an aircraft carrier, the planes are always washed and they use the hooks to hang the planes over the side to dry out.

TF9F

And kudos to the pilots, they didn’t even punch out…

This is probably off the USS LEXINGTON back in the day, it’s a TF-9F and probably the result of the wire breaking at the end of the roll out.  Not enough airspeed left to go fly, not enough brakes to actually STOP before the deck edge.  The landing area is roughly 425 feet long in case you wondered.

h/t JP

Sometimes…

Posted on by October 26, 2013

Things actually work out…

Since I had some previously scheduled meetings down in Norfolk yesterday, I got a chance to have dinner with Daddy Bear and his co-worker Jeff yesterday evening, before the slog back to NOVA.  They were also in town for some work related stuff.

Took em to a ‘dive’, but DB wanted seafood…  His initial reaction was “Where in hell ARE we?”  🙂

Food was good, turns out Jeff is also former Navy, and had spent time in Norfolk back in the day.  As happens anytime you get military (or former military) guys together, the sea stories start (still don’t know what the Army calls em), and politics/treatment of the military- Consensus, the troops keep going in spite of the management, and the Marines WILL revolt if they get stuck with the ‘girlie’ hat…

And I’m firmly convinced the Army are the ‘champions’ at mis-use of personnel after talking to DB, Speer and others… sigh…

Really enjoyed the time, and it saved me from the dreaded HRBT traffic jams from hell in the afternoon, so I’m counting this one as a win all the way around!

I wish I had thought to try to invite the other folks in the Norfolk area that comment and are on GBC- Mea Cupla to those folks…

Woo Hoo…

Posted on by October 21, 2013

My SIRT training pistol finally showed up!!!

SIRT pistol

Yes, it’s a Glock format, but the nice thing is you can practice dry fire, and mag changes without having to rack the slide every time.  It also has adjustments for the trigger pressure, overtravel and a number of other adjustments.  You can also put specific sights on it to match your sights on your carry or target pistol too!

I’m planning on using it as a teaching aid, in addition to practicing at home (since I gave away my Laserlyte cartridge to a neighbor that had just picked up a new pistol and couldn’t get ammo to shoot regularly.

After attending the class with Bill at EIAft, I was sold, and even more so now.  Now I need to start setting up a ‘training wall’ like Bill has…

In lieu of real content…

Posted on by October 24, 2013

Quickie road trip today, so you get this…

This is a great Rube Goldburg…

Kudos to Beneful for figuring this one out and actually getting it to work!

h/t JP

Isn’t THIS special???

Posted on by October 23, 2013

Seems that no one knows how many have actually signed up for obummercare…  Delaware apparently has ONE that has actually signed up, and now this from BCBS in ND…

The Obama administration asked North Dakota’s largest health insurer not to publicize how many people have signed up for health insurance through a new online exchange, a company official says.

/snip/

Still, a spokeswoman from Blue Cross Blue Shield says about 14 North Dakotans have signed up for coverage since the federal exchange went live Oct. 1. That brings total statewide enrollment to 20 – less than one a day.

So that’s 21 that we know of…

Full article HERE.

On the other hand, companies are dumping policies like crazy because they “don’t comply” with the new rules…

Among the insurance companies terminating policies are Kaiser Permanente in California, which sent notices to 160,000 policy holders; Highmark Pittsburgh, which dropped 20% of its individual market customers; and Independence Blue Cross, a major insurer in Philadelphia, eliminating 45% of its individual policies, Kaiser reports. The biggest hit comes in Florida, where insurer Florida Blue has dropped 300,000 policies.

Full article HERE on Fox.

SOOooo, where is all the coverage of this???

And doing the math, I’d say it’s a losing proposition… Just sayin…

Lest we forget…

Posted on by October 23, 2013

0622 am Oct 23, 1983 marked a historic event for the Marines…

And NOT in a good way.  The Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon was bombed on this day 30 years ago, causing the highest loss of life (218) in a single event the USMC have ever experienced…

They were in Beriut as part of a UN MNF of ‘Peacekeepers’, and were pretty much locked down in their compound by policy and this included the inability to carry loaded weapons and defend themselves…

Beirut 1983

18 Sailors and 3 Soldiers were also killed in the blast.  To say this was a horrific incident is putting it mildly… Two truck bombs were set off by suicide bombers that the Marines on duty were not able to stop, as they were NOT allowed loaded weapons.

You can go HERE and see the original CBS reporting.

One survivor’s story is HERE.

This is the memorial at Camp Lejeune.

Beirut_Memorial_1

For all the good it’s done, last year, after almost three decades, the families of those killed and the survivors won a $2.1 billion judgment against Iran for ordering the terrorist attack, which followed a 2007 judgment of $2.7 billion against Iran.

I doubt that they will ever see a penny of the money, but at least the families have the satisfaction of knowing there WAS a verdict in favor of those who died.

RIP gentlemen, at least here you are not forgotten.