Fantastic idea, and it’s truly nice to see that people like Jack Nicklaus are supporting it…
And they have made accomodations with the specialized carts, and actually planned the course where it can be used by the folks, including driving on the greens!!!
Outstanding job by all!
Harry Truman was a different kind of President.
He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation’s history as any of the other 32 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.
The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence, Missouri . His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.
When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an ‘allowance’ and,l ater, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.
After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them. When offered corporate
positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “You don’t want me. You want the
office of the President, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American
people and it’s not for sale.”
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or
otherwise.”
As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.
Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale.
Harry Truman was correct when he observed, “My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference!
I say dig him up and clone him!!! At least he was HONEST!!!
Man oh Man, Haven’t Times Changed?
First-hand account from a Delta 767 pilot nearing Japan when the quake hit. Although the captain was an experienced pilot, he was somewhat new to international operations. Just a ‘bit’ of pucker factor (Shades of 9/11!). Obviously he was a tad late to the game, as the early arrivals had already disbursed to Yokota, Sapporo and Osaka, knowing what was going on…
I’m writing from my room in the Narita crew hotel. It’s 8am. This was my inaugural trans-pacific trip as a new, recently checked out, international 767 Captain & it has been interesting, to say the least. I’ve crossed the Atlantic three times so the ocean crossing procedures were familiar. By the way, stunning scenery flying over the Aleutian Islands.
Everything was going fine until 100 miles out of Tokyo and in descent for arrival. The first indication of trouble was when Japan air traffic control started putting everyone into holding patterns. At first we thought it was the usual congestion on arrival. Then we got a company data link message advising about the earthquake, followed by another stating Narita airport was temporarily closed for inspection and expected to open shortly (the company is always so positive).
From our perspective things were obviously looking a little different. The Japanese controller’s anxiety level seemed quite high when he said expect “indefinite” holding time. No one would commit to a holding time like that, so I got the copilot and relief pilot busy looking at divert stations and our fuel situation, which after an ocean crossing, is typically low.
It wasn’t long, maybe ten minutes, before other pilots started requesting diversions. Air Canada, American, United, etc. all reporting minimal fuel. I still had enough fuel for 1.5 to 2.0 hours of holding, but needless to say, the diverts started complicating the situation.
Japan air traffic control then announced Narita was closed indefinitely due to damage. Planes immediately started requesting arrivals into Haneada, near Tokyo. A half dozen JAL and western planes got clearance in that direction but then ATC announced Haenada had just closed. Uh oh! Now instead of just holding, we all had to start looking at more distant alternatives like Osaka, or Nagoya.
One bad thing about a large airliner is that you can’t just pop into any little airport. We need lots of runway. With more planes piling in from both east and west, all needing a place to land and several now fuel critical, ATC was getting over-whelmed. In the scramble, and without waiting for my fuel to get critical, I got a clearance to head for Nagoya – fuel situation still okay. So far so good.
A few minutes later, I was “ordered” by ATC to reverse course. Nagoya was saturated with traffic and unable to handle more planes (read- airport full). Ditto for Osaka.
With that, my situation went instantly from fuel okay, to fuel minimal considering we might have to divert a much farther distance. Multiply my situation by a dozen other aircraft all in the same boat, all making demands requests and threats to ATC for clearances. Air Canada and then someone else went to “emergency” fuel situation. Planes started heading for air force bases. The nearest to Tokyo was Yokoda AFB. I threw my hat in the ring for that. The answer, Yokoda closed.
By now it was becoming a three ring circus in the cockpit, my copilot on the radios, me flying and the relief copilot buried in the charts trying to figure out where to go that was within range, while data link messages were flying back and forth between us and company dispatch in Atlanta. I picked Misawa AFB at the north end of Honshu island. We could get there with minimal fuel remaining. ATC was happy to get rid of us so we cleared out of the Tokyo maelstrom. We heard ATC try to send planes toward Sendai, a small regional airport on the coast which was later the one I think that got flooded by a tsunami.
Atlanta dispatch then sent us a message asking if we could continue to Chitose airport on the Island of Hokkaido, north of Honshu. Other Delta planes were heading that way. More scrambling in the cockpit – check weather, check charts, check fuel – okay. We could still make it and not be going into a fuel critical situation … if we had no other fuel delays.
As we approached Misawa we got clearance to continue to Chitose. Critical decision thought process. Let’s see – trying to help company – plane overflies perfectly good divert airport for one farther away…wonder how that will look in the safety report, if anything goes wrong.
Suddenly ATC comes up and gives us a vector to a fix well short of Chitose and tells us to standby for holding instructions. Nightmare realized. Situation deteriorating rapidly. After initially holding near Tokyo, starting a divert to Nagoya, reversing course back to Tokyo then to re-diverting north toward Misawa, all that happy fuel reserve that I had was vaporizing fast. My subsequent conversation, paraphrased of course…., went something like this:
“Sapparo Control – Delta XX requesting immediate clearance direct to Chitose, minimum fuel, unable hold.”
“Negative Ghost-Rider, the Pattern is full”
“Sapparo Control – make that –
Delta XX declaring emergency, low fuel, proceeding direct Chitose”
“Roger Delta XX, understood, you are cleared direct to Chitose, contact Chitose approach….etc….”
Enough was enough, I had decided to preempt actually running critically low on fuel while in another indefinite holding pattern, especially after bypassing Misawa, and play my last ace…declaring an emergency. The problem with that is, now I have a bit of company paperwork to do, but what the heck.
Editorial comment here: He SHOULD have landed at Misawa, they do have customs and immigration available and DO have ladders that will fit a 767…
We landed Chitose safely, with at least 30 minutes of fuel remaining before reaching a “true” fuel emergency situation. That’s always a good feeling – being safe. They taxied us off to a remote parking area where we shut down and watched a half dozen or more other planes come streaming in. In the end, Delta had two 747s, my 767 and another 767 and a 777 all on the ramp at Chitose. We saw two American airlines planes, a United and two Air Canada as well. Not to mention several Al Nippon and Japan Air Lines planes.
Post-script – 9 hours later, Japan air lines finally got a boarding ladder to the plane where we were able to get off and clear customs. – that however, is another interesting story.
By the way, while writing this, I have felt four additional tremors that shook the hotel slightly – all in 45 minutes.
Cheers, Al
Once again the MSM has blown stuff ALL out of proportion… CNN (HERE) is, as usual, taking ONE little piece of information and going down the rabbit hole with it…
The military EVERYWHERE has contingency plans for all kinds of situations, and they are brought out when the particular situation calls for possible action, or when training is being conducted (at least a couple of times a year). I find it really interesting that the article focuses ONLY on Yokosuka, and not Yokota or Atsugi air bases which have the same kinds of plans and are miles closer to the Fukishima plant. If one thinks about it, it only makes sense to be prepared, in case things go from bad to worse and rather than wait for that to happen, the military plans ahead (which then sets off the MSM).
When we deployed to WESTPAC even back in the 70s, the first thing done on arrival at the deployment sites was to review the contingency plans for any/all types of actions (and we did quite a few HURRIVAC contingencies over the years).
The 7th Fleet ships are underway, and are standing off a safe distance from Sendai. They are providing relief support and platforms for helicopters to fly from with food/water/medical supplies as required and supporting the JMSDF personnel when/where directed. The GW did get underway with available crew and is not participating, since she is not fully manned. The other reason is, she needed to be clear of any possible radiation to be able to self-monitor since she is nuclear powered.
Also, the Non-Combat Evacuation Operation (NEO) currently underway for military dependents is strictly voluntary and pointed toward pregnant women and women with babies and small children. Unlike the Embassy evac, the military is paying for tickets and will be putting those folks up in lodging on the other end (mostly on the West Coast).
Our military folks continue to support operations in the vicinity of Sendai with all available resources, from all services, because (unlike what the media says), Humanitarian Assistance (HA) IS a part of what the US military considers it’s job…
One last thing- This IS a terrible tragedy for the Japanese people, and sadly I believe the MSM has purposefully blown the Nuke plant problems way out of proportion to sensationalize the coverage and the huge loss of life and attendant issues is NOT being covered in any fair and equitable way.
You don’t see the crying/screaming/pleading for help like you did with the Haiti coverage, because the Japanese, like our Midwesterners, are just hitching up their big boy pants and getting on with the tasks at hand. If they get assistance, they are very politely thanking those who help, and going right back to cleaning up, burying their dead and getting on with life, because they KNOW they are the ones responsible for their own futures…
I can’t help but wonder if we would do as well…
Not building any more reactors in the US because a 40 year old design in Japan only withstood an 8.8 earthquake is like restricting all new buildings to 24 floors since the 9/11 hijackers hit a taller building…
In other news, talking to one of the Japanese desk folks about a clip that was showing on Japanese TV that had various US reporters flashing up on the screen, he said it was a ‘commentary’ on US reporters and photographers up around Sendai, and how obnoxious, pushy, overbearing and ‘sneaky’ they were. His comment, “Japan doesn’t do things that way. It’s about order and respect.”
Nuff said…
USN assets have currently delivered over 55,000 lbs of relief supplies via helo to the Japanese around Sendai, and have located/supported over 2400 folks in that area.
On the road yet again, still…
Wed-Fri down in Florida for meetings, one and one half encounters with ‘spring breakers’, and I’m NOT impressed…
Trying to check into the hotel with about six other folks, and the fat sloppy ‘thing’ comes up and tries to push to the front of the line, “Cause, like I locked myself out and I need to get back in, like NOW, cause my phone is up there.”
If she’d asked nicely, we’d probably have let her, but that attitude turned ALL of us off, and she got told in no uncertain terms to go to the END of the line…
She started getting even whinier and bitchier, and making comments under her breath; which led to one of the guys in line turning around and telling her she needed to be turned over her dad’s knee and her butt spanked for her attitude.
The second was at one of the little local restaurants we frequent; this gaggle of about 6-8 breakers (about half drunk) signed up in front of us, so we’d signed up for seats at the bar (there were three of us). The manager remembers us, so she called us ahead of the gaggle, and of course two of the guys decided to make a scene because THEY were first…
And they decided to get pushy with us, since I guess they thought they could intimate us; but it didn’t quite work out that way, as “Chris” just wasn’t putting up with it… Now just because he’s a bit on the small side, doesn’t mean anything, since he’s retired SEAL; so when the punk tried to intimidate Chris, he just grabbed the guy by the balls and dropped him right there in the middle of the restaurant, screaming like a little girl 🙂 Two of the ‘busboys’ came out of the back, took one look, and ran that bunch out.
As a side note, they were ALL fat, sloppy, and thought they were ‘entitled’… NOT!!!
So trying to get out of Florida Friday afternoon, airplane breaks (fire warning), we jump through hoops, get on another carrier, finally get home at 0100 Sat, I’m back at the airport at 0600, 5.7 hours of bouncing across the country to LAX, luckily we finally got in a parked next to the gate where my next flight was (so I made it). 11.5 hours later (including 4 hours of pretty good turbulence, and we landed in Japan. We took the ‘long’ way to Narita, going around the West side of the island to miss any possible radioactivity enroute.
Narita is operating normally, Tokyo other than a lack of normal traffic jams is okay; the stores do have food/drink, but we didn’t see any huge lines, or any major problems. The base is working hard, looks like 12 on/12 off supporting the rescue efforts ( I haven’t seen it this busy since the Cold War).
I’m beat, off to catch a few hours of sleep and in to work…
Well, the Chicken Littles are out, doing their damnest to generate fear, paranoia and O.M.G we’re ALL gonna die when the US nuke plants meltdown in the 9.0 earthquake that will happen in 30 years or less… OR, we’re all gonna die from the nuclear radiation that is RIGHT NOW being spewed into the atmosphere from the Japanese reactors at Fukushima, cause they were designed wrong… yada, yada, yada… OR, see… our sailors are being killed by nuclear radiation trying to put out the fires… etc…
Well, here are the facts.
“On Monday the Navy said it was repositioning ships after tests had detected low levels of radioactivity on 17 U.S. Navy helicopter crew members that had been conducting disaster relief missions in Japan. No further contamination was detected after the crew members washed with soap and water, the Navy said.
The Navy’s Monday statement, however, provided some perspective, noting that the maximum potential radiation dose received by ship personnel when it passed through the area was “less than the radiation exposure received from about one month of exposure to natural background radiation from sources such as rocks, soil, and the sun.”
And a few more facts…
The reactors were designed to withstand an 8.0-8.5 earthquake (which they did), what got them was the Tsunami, because they were already shutting the reactors down before the Tsunami took out the backup power.
A reactor is NOT a nuclear bomb, much less a ‘dirty’ bomb, and no it’s not worse than Chernobyl. And they DO know why the explosions are occuring; it is Hydrogen out gassing as a by product of the cooling of the rods in the reactor, and that is what is exploding since they have lost most of their power and can’t bleed the Hydrogen off normally.
And the released radiation is Caesium 137 at 0.4898 mSv/hour as of this afternoon. As of 15 March 2011, release totals were 30 mSv/h between the No. 2 and the No. 3 units, 400 mSv/h near No. 3 and 100 mSv/h near No. 4. The Health Minister indicated that “There is no doubt that unlike in the past, the figures are the level at which human health can be affected.”
Note: Radiation sickness typically occurs at about 1000 millisieverts total dose. Normal background radiation varies from place to place but is around 2.4 millisievert per year (or about 0.3 µSv/h).
Now granted LARGE amounts of CS-137 can affect you per the CDC, Small amounts of Cs-137 are present in the environment from weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s, so people are exposed to some Cs-137 every day. However, Cs-137 is dangerous in the large, concentrated amounts found in radiation therapy units and industrial gauges.
If the Navy doesn’t consider it a risk at a range of less than 200nm, WHY are their runs on medications in Hawaii, Washington State, Oregon, and California???
Fear mongers plain and simple…
The REAL tragedy, which is being pretty well glossed over in this is the huge loss of life (probably will reach a total of about 100,000 people) and destruction to the Japanese infrastructure in Northern Honshu (which is only one of the Japanese Islands). Where are the Dems, Left Wingers and others screaming for aid to be provided like they were for Haiti???
Anyone???
Buelher???
/crickets/
I think it is because the Japanese are a successful culture, a major trading and military partner of the USA, and because they have used nuclear power for over 40 years (Now if ANY country should be paranoid, it should be Japan, but no- They learned, and provide over 1/3 of their total power with nuke plants and have for YEARS). Also, I think it is because they are not acting pitiful on TV, and are not playing to the international media; but are going about the business of rescuing people, helping others, picking up their lives, and OBTW, NOT looting…
Just like New Zealand, this doesn’t play well in the MSM, so they sensationalize it to the maximum they can.
Also the MSM is not happy they are not free to go anywhere they want, and actually have to get “approval” and carry enough food/water/gas to get to from the locations they are approved to go to.
Bottom line- This is truly a huge personal disaster for the Japanese people, and they will take years to recover, and they DO need our thoughts and prayers, and yes our help; but this is NOT a TEOTWAWKI nuclear disaster the MSM and the left wing loonies and Democrats here are pushing…
Do your own research, don’t fall for/believe much of what you are hearing on the MSM, and take what you do hear with a grain of salt…
Good friend of mine sent this via email…
One of the techs he works with told a story about his wife’s late father, who was a marine in the battle of
Among other things, he was on Mt. Suribachi when they raised the flag there. A few days after the flag raising, the Japanese attacked the marines, and another fight broke out. As they are in the middle of everything, a Japanese sniper takes a shot at him. The bullet hits him in the right wrist, and hits his gun hanging from his belt. The round, after completely disabling his right hand, penetrates his leather pistol holster, and embeds itself into the slide of his 1911. fragments from the round penetrate through the other side of the holster, and into his leg, injuring him further. The marine was able to get to the medic, where he was then evacuated to care for his injuries.
So the technician asks if I would like to see it. After telling him the obvious, he calls his wife’s brother and asks if he could bring it up to the shop.
Here are the pictures taken after listening to the same story again from the Marine’s son.
In the holster…
Impact on the pistol itself…
Hole through the slide, after penetrating the Marine’s wrist…
And the damage on the ‘back’ side of the slide, where fragments penetrated the Marine’s hip…
One hellva story, and an ‘interesting and unusual’ 1911.
And HERE is a link to 50,000 Names, sung by George Jones; it’s about the Wall in DC. Whether or not you like Country music, go take a listen. I think you will be impressed…
DOD, State Department Present Budgets to Senate
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 10, 2011 – Concepts of security are changing, and it is just as important to invest in diplomacy and development as it is to invest in service members and their equipment, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III told the Senate Budget Committee today.
Lynn and Deputy Secretary of State for Management Tom Nides testified together before the committee. It marked the first time the two departments had testified about their budgets together, and it underscored the strong partnership that exists between them, Lynn said.
“We at DOD view the security assistance activity as a vital instrument that can prevent or attenuate instabilities that otherwise might draw the United States into conflicts,” Lynn said. “If properly applied in a timely manner, security assistance is likely to be more decisive and less costly than direct military intervention after a problem has become a crisis. Our cooperation with the State Department is, therefore, an important component of our national defense.”
Lynn called on the senators to fully fund the State Department’s fiscal 2012 budget request of $59.5 billion. The request includes funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Um…. WHY is Deputy SECDEF defending State’s budget? And what about the DOD budget???
The two men testifying together mirrored what happens daily around the world, as soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines often work side by side with State Department and USAID personnel.
Say WHAT??? USAID is almost NEVER found in the front lines…
“We at the Department of Defense strongly believe that a full and robust funding of our foreign policy operations is an effective means of meeting our national security,” Lynn said. “Indeed, if we promote security and responsible governance as crises are brewing, we will be able to avoid later in the crisis the deployment of U.S. military forces.”
The Defense and State departments have complementary skills, Lynn said.
Yeah, the State Dept goes in and pisses them off, and DOD has to go in and kill them… complementary my ass… how about 180 degrees out???
“We want to support the partnership,” he said. “We believe the mix of competencies between the State Department, the Department of Defense, as well as USAID, is what is needed to address the kinds of security crises, the kinds of instabilities, the kinds of conflicts that spark up around the world, and to do those at the earliest possible warning.”
The deputy defense secretary said the Defense and State departments and USAID are working together on counternarcotics programs and in training of Afghan law enforcement officers.
“We propose, with congressional concurrence, an Afghan infrastructure program that will meld the DOD responsibilities for counterinsurgency with [USAID] and State responsibilities for development [in a way] that is more integrated than in the past,” Lynn said.
Um… Don’t y’all remember Iraq? State pushed to ‘limit’ military interaction and didn’t want DOD to retain the Iraqi Army intact, so we lost control of a LOT OF AREAS IN IRAQ!!! And then State blamed DOD for screwing up the rebuilding…
The plan, he said, integrates the long-term development efforts in Afghanistan with dealing with immediate threats via the military campaign in the country.
State and Defense work together in other areas of the world, Lynn said, noting DOD works with State on delivering security assistance wherever American interests are at stake.
Only if we have assets somewhere close (and as reduced as DOD is, the odds are not good)…
“We’ve developed over the past several years some joint authorities, some dual-key cooperative authorities, such as the Pakistan counterinsurgency capability fund,” Lynn said. The agencies work closely on authorities to train and equip partner nations in the counterterrorism fight, he noted.
“This year, we’re requesting funding for an Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq,” Lynn said. “This would be a remaining DOD presence as we transition to a State Department lead in Iraq.”
To be marginalized by State as usual, until something goes wrong, then it will be DOD’s fault…
In Mexico, the two departments jointly address surveillance, interdiction, air and maritime operations and planning through a variety of initiatives, Lynn said. The departments also work to train partner militaries in more than 100 countries through programs such as the International Military Education and Training program, and the newly proposed Global Peace Operations initiative.
“For fiscal 2012, we’re also requesting a new, path-breaking program which would involve pooled funding — where State and DOD would contribute to a fund where we would seek to anticipate security issues wherever they are in Africa, Latin America [or] Asia, and to jointly target assistance for development funding for economic assistance and security assistance in an integrated way in an effort to anticipate growing crises and reduce them before they get started,” Lynn said.
Um… like anticipating Egypt? Tunisia? Libya???
The deputy secretary also spoke strongly in favor of the State Department’s plan to switch to receiving its funding via the Overseas Contingency Operations fund.
In other words, State wants to be able to raid DOD war funding to get more $$ for thier games, at the expense of DOD and the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen that need beans/bullets/upgraded/repaired equipment…
This just sounds like an administration ‘directed’ operation to effectively cut DOD funding without it being obvious… And Hillary has made it pretty clear she HATES military operations…
Folks, please keep your eyes peeled, and keep checking the various news sources, and call your congresscritters to let them know our troops on the ground NEED funding to continue to do their jobs! I’ve seen this only on the security sites, and nowhere in the MSM…
h/t GlobalSecurity.org
This is an EXCELLENT article by James G. Wiles at American Thinker
March 08, 2011
‘Where are My Carriers?’
It was Bill Clinton who famously said that, when an international crisis breaks in some rough corner of the world, the first thing an American President does is ask where his aircraft carriers are.
Did President Obama do that when things came to a boil in Libya two weeks ago? We don’t know. But, if you’d like to play President-for-a-Day, you can see what Barack Obama would have seen in the White House Situation Room — and also how it probably looks today.
I think you’ll be very surprised. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the U.S. is not in the game because the present Administration has chosen not to be. But it’s also true that the steady shrinking of the U.S. Navy since 1992 has handed President Obama and the anti-war Democrats a perfect excuse for inaction. This explains Defense Secretary Robert Gates and senior military officers’ controversial remarks last week about the difficulty of the U.S. intervening against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya.
At gonavy.jp, there’s a handy little webpage, occasionally updated, which purports to give the status and location of every American supercarrier. Let’s begin by asking: how many supercarriers does the United States Navy have? Not helicopter carriers, but the big, nuclear-powered flattops which starred in Top Gun, each with its own embarked air wing of 60 or more planes?
Eleven.
Surprised? I was. But it gets even more interesting.
Guess how many supercarriers are not available for action because they’re in dry dock for extended repair or preparing to be de-commissioned?
Three.
Out of the eight available to go in harm’s way, one, the Abraham Lincoln, is returning home to rest and refit after an extended tour in the North Arabian Sea supporting operations in Iraq and AfPak. So, really, there are only seven American supercarriers available
Now, how many were reported to be on active sea duty on March 2?
Only two.
The Carl Vinson is on station in the North Arabian Sea and the USS Enterprise, has just arrived from Norfolk. Although she only transited the Suez Canal three weeks ago, she’s now Johnny-on-the-Spot for Libyan and Aden. Press reports suggest she’s somewhere in the Red Sea or off the Horn of Africa.
So, what do we see?
Contrary to doctrine, the U.S. Navy is not, in fact, forward-deployed. It is hard to believe this is an accident.
There are no American supercarriers in the Mediterranean. None. A helicopter carrier and a support ship from the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain were deployed there last week. An Aegis cruiser and a guided missile destroyer arrived in the Eastern Med around March 1.
The UK just retired its carriers because of budget austerity. So, unless our EU allies allow American planes to attack Libya from their territory, a no-fly zone or other action is not an option.
Nor is the Med (and the Suez Canal) the only strategic choke-point which the Obama Administration has uncovered. So are Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Straits of Malacca. If you’re an American adversary (say, China) what do you make of this? What may the Peoples Republic discern as to the objectives and beliefs of the current occupant of the White House from the present deployment of the U.S. Navy?
The fact that six of America’s available supercarriers are sitting out the instant crisis, literally on the other side of the world, says it all. This President has no options because, a month into the Arab Spring, he has decided against moving American naval assets to give himself options.
There’s presently only one aircraft carrier, the George Washington, in the Far East, docked in Yokosuka. There’s none between the West Coast and Japan (except for the home-bound Lincoln). They’re either in port or training, maybe, off California. And, as of the March 2nd posting on gonavy.jp, there were no American supercarriers in the Atlantic Ocean either. They’re all in Norfolk.
Finally, our supercarrier fleet continues to shrink. Three carriers have been retired from the Fleet since September 11, 2001. Two new supercarriers have joined the Fleet in that time.
There’s new construction; but the next new supercarrier won’t be ready until 2015. Two years before that, the Navy will retire another supercarrier. That means there’ll only be nine left in the U.S. Fleet from 2013 until 2015.
Remember the famous 2008 Stimulus Bill? It included no money to re-build the U.S. Fleet and make it a seven-ocean navy once again. None.
It’s as simple as that. The Obama Administration’s work of dismantling America’s status as the world’s sole superpower continues apace.
Note:
The information in this piece is as accurate as the 3/2 update on the gonavy.jp website. I did an Internet, English language search and also checked the websites and Facebook pages of each of the carriers. A press release from 5th Fleet/Bahrain says the Enterprise is still in their operational zone (this was in connection with a capture of some Somali pirates by part of her flotilla, in which she was mentioned). The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot doesn’t mention any of their carriers leaving; the Lincoln, according to some commander’s post to facebook.com Sunday, just crossed into the fourth time zone west of Hawaii. So, she’s still steaming East from Singapore, her last port of call since the Arabian Sea.
If the Reagan or the Stennis have sallied from the West Coast, I can’t find it. The Washington has to stay in or near Japan.
Suffice to say, NONE of this stuff is getting into the MSM… I will just say this gent hit one out of the park with this article…
And it’s only going to get worse…