Showing posts with label Military. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Military. Show all posts
Monday, February 10, 2014
Monday, November 11, 2013
Texas One Ups Obama - Again!
Texas A&M Fly-by at Mississippi State Game
Since the sequester
funding kicked in early this year, “Fly-Bys” at sporting events have been
banned by the Obama Administration as a way to, in my opinion, punish the
conservative public. Not surprisingly, since
that time Texas A&M has continued fly-bys at its home football games using volunteers
flying vintage aircraft from the Commemorative Air Force or privately owned
restored aircraft and experimental aircraft. This last weekend (November 9, 2013) at the last home game for 2013 Texas
A&M played Mississippi State. The
plane below did the pre-game fly-by during the National Anthem.
At first blush, during the fly-by my thought was, “well I
guess with the new budget deal and no debt ceiling, military fly-bys have
returned. It wasn’t until the end of the
third quarter when the air crew was introduced did we learn that this was the
ultimate in your face by Conservative Texans and Texas A&M. The plane is not a US Air Force plane, it is
owned by a private citizen and fellow Texan H. Ross Perot, Jr. and was flown by one of his pilots with Texas Governor, Rick Perry sitting in the back seat as co-pilot! God I love being a Conservative Aggie and living in Texas!
Gig Em!
Marc '72
Sunday, June 23, 2013
The Difference Between the Good Guys and the Bad Guy!
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The Price of Freedom
Memorial Day is the a day for honoring those who died in the service to our country and the best way I know to do this is to also honor and say thanks to our veterans and active duty military. Always remember that that every service member, whether active duty or reservist, when they enlisted in essence signed a blank check, payable to the Citizens of the Untied States of America for an amount up to and including his or her life.
Memorial Day is a day for honoring those who died in the service to our country. One such young man that I had the honor of personally knowing, is Michael Weger, the son of Greg and Tricia Weger. Michael gave all that he had to give for America on October 12, 2004 when he and several members of his platoon were killed in action in Iraq. Greg and Tricia we can never heal your hurt but please know that Michael and you two are in our hearts and prayers and that we are thinking of you always, but especially today.
This tribute to the American soldier by Lt. Col. Oliver North was done on Veteran's Day, but it is the best expression of honor for our troops I have ever seen or heard.
God Bless the United States of America and the men and women who keep our country free!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Return to Makin Island
This is a phenomenal story about the honor and respect that we need one hell of a lot more of in this great Country. The Greatest Generation makes me smile.
Thank God for the United States of America and those who love her!
Semper Fi to my Dad and all of those who serve or have served this great country in the United States Military!
Marc
Thank God for the United States of America and those who love her!
Semper Fi to my Dad and all of those who serve or have served this great country in the United States Military!
Marc
Monday, February 11, 2013
Out of the Box Thinking on reducing Military Spending without Reducing the Military's Effectiveness
Written by Bill Neinast
IN PERSPECTIVE
Starting down a steep hill is the time to step on the brakes. The Department of Defense is at the lip of one of those hills. There are brakes to allow a smooth descent if there is only the will to apply them.
Some effects of the Defense descent are already appearing. The deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman to the Persian Gulf was cancelled. That halves the country’s military presence in that important and volatile part of the Middle East from two carrier groups to one.
As dark as that picture may be, the darkest night can be breached with the flip of a light switch. Now is the time to look for a switch.
One area of concern is a looming reduction in personnel. That could be the switch or impetus for some long needed reforms or realignments.
Personnel costs are among the smaller parts of the defense budget. Most of the dollars go for planes, ships, tanks, and the maintenance of that hardware and the large installations to house them.
Although personnel costs are not major players among defense dollars, the personnel front might be the place to start operating with a smaller budget.
Usually, personnel reductions start with eliminating large blocks or units from the rolls. Only identified positions or units are dropped from the rolls. Those elements can be reconstituted if there is a serious military emergency.
A better solution might be to implement the consolidation anticipated with the creation of the Department of Defense. Theoretically, the National Security Act of 1947 was to reform the military establishment under a single authority. The only real effect, however, was to impose one more layer of bureaucracy.
Consider, for example, legal services for the military. There are seven legal offices in the Pentagon. Each of the three services has a three star Judge Advocate General with a large stable of military and civilian lawyers plus a general counsel with a substantial office. These six offices are topped off with the office of the General Counsel of the Department of Defense.
To a certain extent, the seven offices are considering the same types of legal issues. Those functions could be performed more efficiently by consolidating all of them under a Judge Advocate General of the armed forces. Have all the military lawyers in a new colored uniform and have the JAG provide all legal services for the Chiefs of Staff, Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and the Secretary of Defense.
Such a consolidation could establish a precedent for real reorganization. The same duplication of services is found in all the combat service branches. Why is there a need for three or more Surgeons General, Adjutant Generals, Chiefs of Engineers, etc? Put them all in “purple” uniforms and have them report to only one headquarters of their specialty in the Pentagon.
A move in this direction may already be under way. Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), one of the major military medical facilities, no longer exists. It is now the San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC) at Fort Sam Houston and is the training hospital or facility for all American military medical personnel.
The personnel at SAMMC still wear Army, Air Force, or Navy uniforms. Does the color of the uniform matter when a bullet wound is being treated?
There is also consolidation of management and maintenance operations in cities or areas where posts, facilities, or operations of two or more military forces are located.
So here’s the perspective.
The consolidations and elimination of duplicitous services or operations mentioned here could absorb some pending cuts in the defense budget. Those savings, however, can go only so far.
What would happen, though, if that consolidation began to metastasize like cancer cells? What if there were only a Defense Force of the United States with all the personnel wearing one uniform style?
Not only would the one force concept eliminate a number of high cost general officer slots with their wedges of support personnel, it could result in substantial procurement savings.
For example, after the retirement of some hard headed old timers, competition for aircraft configurations to meet the proclivities of three different services could disappear. There might be acceptance of one fighter or fighter/bomber type that could operate off both land and carriers.
Converting to one defense force might be a cost saving maneuver that would still keep the country safe. If it did not work, a reversal of course is always possible.
Let’s try it.
IN PERSPECTIVE
Starting down a steep hill is the time to step on the brakes. The Department of Defense is at the lip of one of those hills. There are brakes to allow a smooth descent if there is only the will to apply them.
Some effects of the Defense descent are already appearing. The deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman to the Persian Gulf was cancelled. That halves the country’s military presence in that important and volatile part of the Middle East from two carrier groups to one.
As dark as that picture may be, the darkest night can be breached with the flip of a light switch. Now is the time to look for a switch.
One area of concern is a looming reduction in personnel. That could be the switch or impetus for some long needed reforms or realignments.
Personnel costs are among the smaller parts of the defense budget. Most of the dollars go for planes, ships, tanks, and the maintenance of that hardware and the large installations to house them.
Although personnel costs are not major players among defense dollars, the personnel front might be the place to start operating with a smaller budget.
Usually, personnel reductions start with eliminating large blocks or units from the rolls. Only identified positions or units are dropped from the rolls. Those elements can be reconstituted if there is a serious military emergency.
A better solution might be to implement the consolidation anticipated with the creation of the Department of Defense. Theoretically, the National Security Act of 1947 was to reform the military establishment under a single authority. The only real effect, however, was to impose one more layer of bureaucracy.
Consider, for example, legal services for the military. There are seven legal offices in the Pentagon. Each of the three services has a three star Judge Advocate General with a large stable of military and civilian lawyers plus a general counsel with a substantial office. These six offices are topped off with the office of the General Counsel of the Department of Defense.
To a certain extent, the seven offices are considering the same types of legal issues. Those functions could be performed more efficiently by consolidating all of them under a Judge Advocate General of the armed forces. Have all the military lawyers in a new colored uniform and have the JAG provide all legal services for the Chiefs of Staff, Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and the Secretary of Defense.
Such a consolidation could establish a precedent for real reorganization. The same duplication of services is found in all the combat service branches. Why is there a need for three or more Surgeons General, Adjutant Generals, Chiefs of Engineers, etc? Put them all in “purple” uniforms and have them report to only one headquarters of their specialty in the Pentagon.
A move in this direction may already be under way. Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), one of the major military medical facilities, no longer exists. It is now the San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC) at Fort Sam Houston and is the training hospital or facility for all American military medical personnel.
The personnel at SAMMC still wear Army, Air Force, or Navy uniforms. Does the color of the uniform matter when a bullet wound is being treated?
There is also consolidation of management and maintenance operations in cities or areas where posts, facilities, or operations of two or more military forces are located.
So here’s the perspective.
The consolidations and elimination of duplicitous services or operations mentioned here could absorb some pending cuts in the defense budget. Those savings, however, can go only so far.
What would happen, though, if that consolidation began to metastasize like cancer cells? What if there were only a Defense Force of the United States with all the personnel wearing one uniform style?
Not only would the one force concept eliminate a number of high cost general officer slots with their wedges of support personnel, it could result in substantial procurement savings.
For example, after the retirement of some hard headed old timers, competition for aircraft configurations to meet the proclivities of three different services could disappear. There might be acceptance of one fighter or fighter/bomber type that could operate off both land and carriers.
Converting to one defense force might be a cost saving maneuver that would still keep the country safe. If it did not work, a reversal of course is always possible.
Let’s try it.
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