Hrrm. I don't know how old this is, but CVN 77 will be the George H.W. Bush. This comes from the January 2004 Combat Aircraft: The International Journal of Combat Aviation, a magazine published in Britain.

The keel for CVN 77 was laid at Northrop Grumman's Newport News, Virginia shipyard on 06 September 2003.

The former President may have been a naval aviator, but I wouldn't have named a carrier for him at this point. He's still alive, for pete's sake. Enh. It's not like I have influence over naming policy, but I would have preferred they name CVN 77 after one of the WWII carriers. (Admittedly, you'd have to steal from the Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers if you weren't careful, but they're supposed to be named after cities anyways...)

Sigh.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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To give you folks a break from the torrent of CNN articles I'm linking to tonight, here's something that's military in nature. Greyhawk of The Mudville Gazette is doing yeoman service in keeping the fire on LT J.F. Kerry, USN (ret.) and for that I'm grateful. I'd like to see someone beat that Massachusetts Merovingian with a clue-by-four, so Greyhawk is performing a useful service.

At the same time, he brings us some news of some nitwit soldier in Germany. I have nothing to say about the case, because I know absolutely nothing about the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is the system servicemen such as this would be tried under. (At least you're honest. You don't even know anything about the Federal Rules of Evidence or of Civil Procedure, either. --Ed.)

What got my attention was a post in the comments by a fellow named Sharps Shooter:

On the other hand, I had a BIG problem with hard liquor as a 19-20 year-old in Korea, on an island.

So bad that I was singled out -with maybe 5 others- for a short, blunt talk with our CO. Scared sh-tless, I stood at attention while he asked,
"Specialist, you make $265 per month, is that correct?" (Yes, Sir!)
"And club record show you've been drinking more than $220 of that every month, is that correct?"
(.....Sir, yes, Sir.)
"Do you have a problem, Specialist?" (..Yes, Sir.)
"Are you getting rid of this problem, Specialist?"
(Yes, Sir.)
Quietly, then, he asked, "Do you need any help, Son?" And I responded that I would deal with it, immediately.

I never drank again. If I can do it, Glick can do it. I've been dry for 36 years now.

I'm no expert on how one manages a military, but the CO's manner earned an involuntary nod, one affirming it as "the way things ought to be". Give a stern on-the-record admonishment, and then offer support if it's desired/needed. For some reason, I like that. Congratulations to Sharps Shooter for beating the bottle for 36 years running.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:38 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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This is several days if not weeks behind the news cycle, but it's cool enough to warrant me posting here. The grounds for this exception are my interest in Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and things related to his out-of-the-ordinary way of doing things.

I'd hate to work for him, but I'd like to have him working for me.

Anyways, from POE News, The Rumsfeld Fighting Technique.

Your humble correspondent is known to use the White Axe Hand and the Crouching Tiger, while learning the Quacking Duck Hand.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Greyhawk over at The Mudville Gazette has a post detailing how John Kerry's correspondence to a single voter in the early 1990s managed to have him on both sides of supporting Operation DESERT STORM. (Admittedly, that sort of political reversal isn't outside the realm of legitimate possibility, but Kerry goes from 'no war' to 'I support the troops' within the space of ten days, which I find a bit fishy.)

The best part of the amusing article is this quote:

By the way, Senator Kerry, as a Vietnam Veteran with a Blog, is eligible to join MilBlogs. I wonder if he will? Speaking of which, how come no left wing blogs link as "Friends of MilBlogs?" I thought they supported the troops?

Maybe just some of the troops?

Remember, these folks only support the troops when they're shooting their officers, or otherwise behaving in the manner that Leon Trotsky would find appropriate. That, or testifying on Capitol Hill as to gross atrocities by American forces that apparently never happened. Wait, I may be on to something here; that must explain why Jane Fonda (who I'll admit was a looker at some point) was tolerant of that ugly-mugged Kerry.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Swanky Conservative for the link.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 04:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Out there somewhere in the ethereal and eldritch strands of the Internet, there's a photo of a young George W. Bush around the cockpit of a Convair F-102A Delta Dagger. From what I understand, young George was training to fly these things in the Texas Air National Guard.

Much has been made over John Kerry's Vietnam service, and much has been said about George W. Bush not being in Vietnam. The bottom line there is that I don't care. If Bush did his job, then yay for him. If he didn't, I'm still stuck voting for him because I'd rather frog-march someone over broken glass than vote for Kerry.

However, not much has been said about the F-102, one of my more favorite Century Series (Whaddya mean? You like them all. --Ed.) aircraft. Anyways, here's a couple of tidbits about the "Deuce", as it was called by her crews.

1. The Delta Dagger was an all-weather interceptor, remarkably unsuited for tactical air missions (i.e. light bombing and close-air support). It was armed solely with missiles of two sorts and rockets. The missiles were usually a mix of Hughes AIM-4A/AIM-4E Falcon semi-active radar homing missiles and AIM-4C/AIM-4F infra-red homing missiles, and the rockets were 2.75 inch Folding Fin Aircraft Rockets.

2. The vast majority of the 875 Daggers built served in the USAF's Air Defense Command, which kept on the lookout for Soviet bombers. Thus, they served at bases within the United States for the most part, but several squadrons were sent to places like Keflavik in Iceland, Bitburg in West Germany (wow, haven't written that in a long time) and a couple other European countries.

3. Daggers saw service in Vietnam, with several PACAF units being deployed to Thailand and the Republic of Vietnam from 1962 until withdrawal in 1969. They were tasked to prevent the North Vietnamese air force from doing something stupid, but also rode shotgun on B-52 raids up North. In this capacity, the two-seat trainer variant, the TF-102A, was also employed.

4. The 509th FIS reportedly lost one to a MiG-21 on 3 February 1968, somewhere in Route Pack IV, the only known air-to-air engagement by the F-102A.

5. Despite being a pure interceptor, the USAF managed to get some air-to-ground use out of them, courtesy of Project STOVEPIPE. Aircraft would fly over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the RVN and use their IR-guided missiles to hunt for campfires. If they found a heat source, they fired. Not really a tremendous threat, but Charlie's evening bowl of rice and his bong would be upset by the arrival of a missile. Given that the Falcon's IR seeker had a very short operational life once started on the launch rail, I'm not entirely sure how effective a tactic this was. I'm also told that the pilots would use their radar to try and find targets; if they could lock a target up, they'd fire off a SARH Falcon.

Later efforts saw them using the 2.75-in. FFARs in daylight attacks, which had to be amusing.

6. Many F-102As were expended as drones to support USAF live fire missile drills in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

Obligatory Bush content: If W's TANG unit was equipped with Delta Daggers, then it's extremely unlikely that he would have gone to Vietnam, and so therefore hush about him potentially ducking the call.

Much credit to Joe Baugher for his entry on the F-102.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:28 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I was reading Chessie: The Railroad Kitten by Thomas W. Dixon, Jr. earlier tonight, when I found something that I thought was worth posting here, sort of a "I concur" thing.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway ("George Washington's Railroad") had as its mascot a small female kitten known as Chessie. In 1937, Chessie was joined by Peake, billed as "Chessie's Old Man". When America entered World War II, Peake's illustrations started including a garrison cap or some other indicator that he too was off to war with the men of America.

The 1944 C&O calendar depicted Peake reading a letter from Chessie; text as follows: "Dear Peake: We eagerly await your return from war and here at home we're doing all we can to hasten that day. It's the one thought uppermost in our minds. -- Your loving Chessie."

It may sound mushy or trite, but I agree with the C&O's mascot. I want our boys (and girls, !@#%) back home and I reckon a lot of good people are doing what they can to hasten the return of our troops.

It's fair to ask, "This isn't World War II, and nobody's employed on the production lines making B-24 Liberators in 12 hours or so or Liberty ships in a day; moreover, what're we supposed to do?" The answer to that is simple, although perhaps a little less than immediately obvious. What civilians in 2004 America can do is simply support the troops.

It sounds trite, hackneyed, or perhaps overplayed. Lord knows that a lot of left-leaning types like to begin a waffle phrase with "I support the troops, but..." Never mind that; neither those words nor those who speak them are important, but they can have an effect over time. Therefore, the patriotic citizen must practice quiet resolve to defeat those things things which would lead to problems with bringing the boys home.

So, what do we do? Since Vietnam, it has been clear that the national will is tremendously important to the success of any American martial effort. We cannot be defeated in the field, but America stands vulnerable elsewhere. Allow me to present several things that may help the citizen to repel attacks on the national will.

First: Understand that our people can't come home until the job is done. This is a simple thing to comprehend, and it is necessary. The road to the return of forces from overseas first requires that victory must be achieved.

Second: Understand that the job will require total victory. James Woolsey said in a recent speech that there would be no Islamist Gorbachev, someone who sees the light and comes to make peace in the name of radical Islam. Rather, the Islamists will continue their attacks where possible, and their number will increase. The only way to prevent this is to demonstrate utterly without equivocation that to plot violence against the United States is to a) fail miserably and b) die trying in the attempt.

Third: Understand that enforcing failure and death to our enemies is a messy thing. We will, by and large, take many Islamist lives in this conflict. Our forces are heavily armed, highly trained, and the beneficiaries of trillions of dollars in research, development, and procurement. There are times when we will make mistakes, however. Accidents will happen. Innocents will die, and our people will die. That is an unfortunate reality that can only be controlled, never eliminated.

Islamist dead are not to be mourned for anything other than the fact that a human life was needlessly wasted in pursuit of a gruesome and hideous agenda. As for our people, honor their sacrifice by staying the course and resolving to make their deaths meaningful. At some level, our dead perished so that we might not bow to the Islamist or to his allies. Yielding to the demands of those who say that America deserves the rage of the Islamist or that we shouldn't fight evil does exactly what our lost soldiers fought against.

Fourth: Do not be afraid to stand up for your freedom and your way of life. When someone says that America should not be committed to a war on terrorists, remind them that these Islamists came looking for us. Remind them that they want our way of life destroyed, the very way of life that allows you and the other individual to hold and express differing views. Courteously confront those who espouse the negative view, and make them defend their assertions. You may not win over that individual, but others might see and hear, and come away with a better understanding of your viewpoint.

Fifth: Support your soldiers. What does that mean? When you see a man or woman in our country's uniform, thank them for their service. Tell them that you're proud of their successes and that they make your safety possible. It should build morale among the troops, and that's a crucial thing.

That's all I've got; it's probably simplistic, but I wanted to make it easy. I've often asked myself what I can do for the furtherance of the war effort and the nation's legitimate war aims, and that's the best I've come up with to date. And yes, I want our people home. The perfect sound bite for this comes from Apocalypse Now, where Robert Duvall's Colonel Bill Kilgore says, "I want my people out of there now!" He's talking about wounded men, but I think it applies here as well. I care for our folks, and I want them back. I'd also rather them come home after a job well done with no more major needs to revisit the question.

Funny; all this was inspired for posting by an advertising calendar's illustration of a cat from sixty years ago.

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This got sent to me in the 14 January 2004 issue of The Federalist, a conservative e-mail newsletter, and bears reposting for the heck of it:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because, as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." -- The Honorable D.H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense.

It's a good quote.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:33 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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