Huzzah!

Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Weirder

Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is now on Twitter as thejointstaff.

Hope he doesn't start tweeting about Predator targets ahead of time.

Via HuffPo.

Skyrockets in Flight

The US is gonna blast one of our satellites on its re-entry. Kind of interesting.

Anyone else think "Standard Missile 3" is just about the lamest name ever for a missile?

Conflict on the High Seas Is Historically a Casus Belli for U.S.

An interesting article, spurred by the recent incident in the Straits of Hormuz, talking about how the United States has often gone to war as a direct result of threats to or attacks on our sea power, whether it be military or commercial vessels.

These run the gamut from the (probably accidental) explosion of the USS Maine to the disastrous assault on our fleet with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. The recent event in the Straits of Hormuz did not escalate due to the discipline of our naval officers - but it could have sparked a war with Iran.

Mead makes an interesting point, and while the Hormuz incident differs both in kind and scope than some of our past travails on the high seas, it nevertheless represents a direct threat to U.S. sea power. And that's something that we have defended vigorously in our history as a nation.

Link via Neptunus Lex, who you should put on your blogroll for great commentary on the military and foreign affairs with a naval bent.

A Soldier's Declaration

The following letter was written by a soldier in combat to the powers that be back home:

I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of agression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them and that had this been done the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.

I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolonging these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.

On behalf of those who are suffering now, I make this protest against the deception which is being practised upon them; also I believe it may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share and which they have not have enough imagination to realise.

Sound at all familiar?

It was written by Lt. Siegfried Sassoon, 3rd Battaltion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in July of 1917. It was a statement to his commanding officer declining his return to duty. It was read aloud in the House of Commons and printed in the London Times the following day.

I'm just posting it here without any comment on my particular feelings toward the ongoing war in Iraq because as I read it I thought, "Wow, this could very well have been written today." (Save the last paragraph; I hardly think we are "complacent" back home.) I guess my point is, in part, that history repeats itself; that the full effect of current events is not realized until years, often decades hence; and that no matter what the era, conflict, or reasons for it, violence as national policy is an unfortunate (but sometimes necessary) evil.

Source: Wikipedia.org

PRC Hijinks

This is surprising. And rather disturbing. What does it mean? It remains to be seen, but this is a major cause for concern should it have been an enemy intent on attacking the carrier.

A Day Late (Apologies to the Veterans)

Hanson says it better than I can, but:

Thank you, Chris, Bryan, Teresa, Nichole; other friends and family; and countless veterans, past, present, and future; who suffer hardship, pain, and death - without control over the policies which demand it of them - so that the rest of us can live relatively unaffected by so much of the evil in this world.

Happy Veterans Day.

Peaks Island

Amrys has already posted a pretty good recap of the Peaks Island weekend of a few weeks back, but here are a few of the highlights:

• Margaritas courtesy of the Margarita Mistress. Truly without peer in the beverage world. Aren't you guys glad I made us buy a gross of limes at Sir Sav-a-Lot?
  
• Garlic & scallion mashed potatoes. Uber-delicious. High butter content. Disappeared before I could get a second helping. "Damn, I made them too delicious."
  
• Bacon-wrapped sausages. Although the theory has been bandied about for some time in culinary circles, the first known attempt at bacon-wrapped sausage came about on this very trip. On Saturday morning Josh woke up bright and early and cooked up a gigantic breakfast jam for the house full of guests and our gracious hosts, Amrys and Paul. Josh, possessed perhaps by the spirit of Brillat-Savarin, took it upon himself to create a breakfast delicacy combining our breakfast sausage and bacon. He partially fried up the sausage, then wrapped it in partially-fried bacon. Once he had each link cozily wrapped in a coil of edible bliss, he fried it up in a growing pool of sizzling bacon and sausage fat. To bite into a bacon-wrapped sausage is - and I am not one for hyperbole - to come as close to the presence of God as we mere mortals can hope to achieve on this earth.
• Raspberry pie made from freshly-picked berries
  
• Whiffleball
• The Peaks Island Military Reservation. This was a very cool bit of history. The Reservation existed from 1906-1943, providing harbor defense for Portland during the two World Wars. After Pearl Harbor, the Army enhanced the existing searchlight shelter, generator and bunker with more bunkers, towers, a mine casement, gun emplacements and two enormous concrete batteries, built to house 16-inch guns normally found on battleships. These behemoths, long since dismantled, were able to lob a 2,000-pound shell up to 26 miles. We investigated Battery Steele, now a desolate concrete shell covered in overgrowth and vandalized by half a century of idle youth. The walls were covered in graffiti; the inside bore the remnants of typical teenager amusement - beer cans, trash, a burnt mattress, a dismembered wicker bench. It was a curious ruin indeed on a tiny island off the coast of Maine, but it was very important for a brief period during WWII.
• The Amtrak Downeaster. I really enjoy traveling by train.
  

Photographs.

Michael Yon

If you aren't reading him, you should be. Amazing stuff.

MULE

This thing is pretty cool. And deadly.

"A lot more kinetic ability."

Neptunus Lex posts about the Reaper, the successor to the Predator. Impressive.

New Blog

The Gunner's World is a blog I've recently been reading written by a Marine Corps reservist over in Iraq. Check it out.

Marching Again

Sharpe's Fury, by Bernard Cornwell. The latest installment in Cornwell's fantastic Sharpe series sees Richard Sharpe, a rifleman in the 95th Regiment of King George's Army during the Napoleonic Wars, and his faithful Sergeant Harper back in Spain in 1811, as the French besiege Cádiz, the last refuge of the Spanish government allied with England. Spain is almost entirely under French control, despite partisans harassing Napoleon's troops every chance they get, and British presence on the Iberian is soon to be almost fully relegated to Portugal.

The bulk of the novel is one of political intrigue, and follows Sharpe and Harper on a secret mission to retrieve stolen letters from a corrupt Spanish priest working for an admiral who has a lot of influence in the factious Spanish government. There are loyalists who wish to see Spain under the rule of a Catholic monarch, without a representative assembly. There are also those who believe it is in Spain's best interest to ally with Napoleon, whose growing hegemony in Europe appears to be the winning side, contrasted with England's weakening position on the Continent. The letters are to be used to blackmail England's ambassador to Spain, Henry Wellesley, the brother of Sir Arthur Wellesley, Lord Wellington (a man indebted to Sharpe for saving his life in India). If published, the letters might cause enough of a shift in the political landscape and give support to monarchists who are pro-Bonaparte. Sharpe and his small band of riflemen (separated from his regiment in the beginning of the book due to a botched operation) are instructed by Henry to purchase, steal, destroy, or otherwise negate the threat of the letters being published. Most of the novel concerns this secret mission of Sharpe, as he relies on his skills as an ex-thief, ex-murderer, and one of the best soldiers in His Majesty's Army.

South of Cádiz is the small village of Barrosa. A combined force of British and Spanish troops are assembling in the area in an effort to break the siege; success would alleviate pressure on the Allied forces and perhaps save the complete loss of Spain. However, the Allies are outnumbered and split, and victory under the cowardly commander La Pena will be a difficult prospect. Of course, Sharpe finds himself once again in the thick of the action.

Barrosa was actually a fairly minor, strategically indecisive battle in the Peninsular War, but Cornwell pens it as an exciting, desperate action relying on the bravery of a few individuals (Sharpe included, of course) for victory.

For fans of Cornwell's Sharpe series, this is an enjoyable installment. It's somewhere in the middle in terms of quality - not his best, but certainly not his worst. Bernard Cornwell is a tremendous writer at his best, and he is great at capturing the flavor and excitement of the battlefields of the early 19th century. If you are entirely unfamiliar with Sharpe, I'd recommend picking up the first book in the series, although it can certainly stand alone as a novel. The strength of Cornwell's main character really only comes out with exposure to the series as a whole. For fans of historical fiction, especially military, I'd recommend this series almost before any other. It is to a large degree Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, although on land (and without the erudition of O'Brian's pen). It's informative, entertaining, and quite accessible to most readers, as it lacks the higher quality writing of Cornwell's amazing King Arthur trilogy, where he shines in terms of creative writing within a less constrained historical context.

The crackle of musketry will be all too familiar to Sharpe fans in Sharpe's Fury, and have no fear: Sharpe and Harper will march again.

Awesome Blog

Military Motivator

The Women's War

A while back Tfazio posted about this article in the NYT. The article talks about post traumatic stress disorder specifically in women serving in the military. It's a long article but a good one. It paints a grim picture of the struggles of our servicewomen, and the fact that beyond the death and destruction on the battlefield, war has long-term negative effects which pervade not only the lives of those who served, but also those of their friends and families. Really tragic, and a major problem. Read it.