Lay Offs at NUWC at Newport, RI Navy Base

We have plenty of $$$$ for the lack wit in the White House to waste on numerous vacations & other BS but we'll shut down NAVY research into better systems of defense for our fleet??? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ??? 

 2400 more furlough notices go out at NUWC 

Jun. 7, 2013 The Associated Press 

NEWPORT, R.I. — The second round of furlough notices for civilian employees of Newport’s Naval Undersea Warfare Center is being sent out. 

 WLNE-TV reports the letters were going out on Friday. A spokesman at the center tells The Associated Press that about 2,400 notices are being delivered. That’s in addition to 300 that went out last month.

 The furloughs are a result of automatic federal budget cuts at the U.S. Defense Department. Employees are required to take 16 hours of unpaid time off every two weeks through the end of September. Furloughs start the week of July 8. 

 The facility serves as a research, testing and support center for Navy submarines and ships. All 439 civilian employees at the U.S. Naval War College are also being furloughed.

X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) makes Naval Aviation History

History in the making.....The US NAVY leading the military ( and the world) with technology.

Bravo Zulu !!


From Navy.mil

ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 14, 2013) An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator launches from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is the first aircraft carrier to successfully catapult launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tony D. Curtis/Released

It was 30 Years ago today........

It was 30 years ago today.....No, we are not going to sing along with the Beatles Sgt.
Pepper.

Thirty years ago today, I first became a Father when my oldest son James was born.

I can remember the time leading up to his birth and being keenly aware that everything in my life was going to change with the birth of this baby.  I was the one person who was responsible for me & my girlfriend ( unmarried at the time) and then I would also be responsible for the life of this newborn child.

There was a moment when my girlfriend was in labor and I went to get a drink from the soda
machines in the lower level of St. Margaret's Hospital in Dorchester where she was having
the baby. I needed a drink and to take a short break while we were waiting for the arrival of the baby.

I'm there, standing in front of the soda machine trying to decide what kind of soda to have and then it hit me with complete clarity.

I was thinking, " What the hell are you thinking about - what kind of soda to have???  You will very soon have many more worries to handle then what kind of soda to select..."

It was a surreal moment of the two things intersected in a way that stuck with me all these years.  Life changes and in many ways we never expect.

So here we are thirty years later - My oldest son is grown, a Navy Veteran, married and
making his own way in the world.  He is a smart kid and has many opinions about what is
right and wrong with our world.

In the 30 years that he has been alive, there have been a ton of changes for me and him.

He has made us proud and all he has accomplished shows that his parents didn't do that bad either.

Happy 30th Birthday James !!!  We love you and we are very proud of you !!

Hope that all who read this share the same pride in being a parent as you reach milestones
like this and see that all your efforts were very worthwhile.

DNC uses Russian ships at DNC Convention tribute to US Veterans

Clueless - Utterly Clueless - What we have come to expect from a Democratic Party that hasn't got a clue - Lead by the Clueless President.

Russian ships displayed at DNC tribute to vets By Sam Fellman - Staff writer - Navy Times Posted: Tuesday Sep 11, 2012 17:16:10 EDT

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

“The ships are definitely Russian,” said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. “There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what’s believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee was not able to immediately comment Tuesday, saying he had to track down personnel to find out what had happened.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

“I was kind of in shock,” said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

“An immediate apology [from the committee] would be very nice,” Barker said. “Maybe acknowledge the fact that yes, they screwed up.”

The background — featured in the carefully choreographed hour leading up to the president’s Sept. 6 speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination — showed four ships with radar designs not used in the U.S. fleet.

For example, the ship in the foreground, on the far right, has a square radar antenna at the top of its masthead. That is the MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly identified as “Flat Screen” for its appearance, a three-dimensional early warning radar mounted on the Kerch, said Eric Wertheim, editor of “Combat Fleets of the World.” But the fact they are Russian ships is not in doubt. In addition to the ship’s radar arrays and hulls, which are dissimilar from U.S. warships, the photo features one more give-away: a large white flag with a blue ‘X’ at the ships’ sterns.

Polmar, who authored “The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy,” recognized the blue ‘X’-mark: “The X is the Cross of St. Andrew’s, which is a Russian Navy symbol,” Polmar said. (An anchored U.S. warship, by contrast, flies the American flag on its stern.)

Based on this specific group of these ship types, one naval expert concluded that this was most likely a photo of the Black Sea Fleet.

NAVY Vet demonstrates commitment to serve his country

Those who took an oath to " protect and defend the US Constitution against all enemies, foriegn and domestic..." do not lay down that oath lightly.....many like Navy Vet Dave Nicholson want to serve after the time in uniform ends.  His dedication to serving his country is what makes him as much a part of those who serve as when he was in uniform.

Many try to paint civilian contractors as modern day pirates - plundering and pillaging.  I understand that some see private contractors negatively due to those who have acted dishonorably.

To paint all who work overseas in support of the military with distain is not only wrong, it is ignoring all the efforts of those like Dave Nicholson who serve alongside our military and provide the services they need to be mission ready.

I am a private contractor and have been there to support those in uniform as I still uphold my oath to protect the US Constitution and to serve our great country.  I am proud to be in service to our country and to those who need our help.  It is a honor and privilege to be here and know that each of us makes a difference in our own way.



Off the Base: Navy Vet, Private Contractor Dave Nicholson - http://www.wusf.usf.edu/

Navy veteran Dave Nicholson is on a mission to raise public awareness about the role of private contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq and to dispel myths about their work.

The fit, 56-year-old visited WUSF’s studios and talked with reporter Bobbie O’Brien as part of our ongoing series, Off the Base, that focuses on the lives of military families and veterans.

Nicholson wore a "Fly Navy" cap and a blue polo shirt with a Lockheed Martin logo.  He has served both. The certified aviation mechanic served 12 years in the Navy before being medically discharged due to a blood disorder.

Nicholson worked in the public realm but missed the travel and sense of service he had in the military. So, he joined the ranks of private contractor because he felt he still had something to give.

He worked in Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia and most recently at an undisclosed Combat Out Post in Afghanistan for Lockheed Martin on a classified project.

That’s where on April 28, 2011 – during a rocket attack  which happened daily – Nicholson and his Lockheed teammates didn’t make it to a concrete bunker in time.

A rocket exploded 10 feet in front of them killing two of his teammates and severely injuring Nicholson.

“A lot of people say, ‘Are you bitter you lost both your legs trying to be a contractor in Afghanistan?’ and I look at it from a different perspective,” Nicholson said. “That’s a small price I personally paid so that others don’t have to. I protected them, that’s priceless. You can’t put a dollar amount on the good that we did.”

His recovery as a double amputee and a private contractor is different than that of active duty military injured in Afghanistan. He has to rely on Workers Compensation for his prosthetics, crutches, wheelchair and things like a van.

Nicholson is up to the challenge with the aid of his two bionic legs.

“It took a lot of hard physical therapy,” Nicholson said, but it’s paying off. He’s at about 85 percent when walking on his computer-controlled bionic legs. He’s ridden a horse, but says the real test will be when he can dance.

SEABEES make a difference for others in Kandahar

Navy SeaBees assigned to the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team pose for a picture April 13, 2012 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Kandahar PRT is a joint team of U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy service members and civilians deployed to the Kandahar province of Afghanistan to assist in the effort to rebuild and stabilize the local government and infrastructure.



If anywhere in this world there is a need for the skills of the " Builder Bees" of the Navy, it is out here in the Sandbox.  I got to speak with some Seabees when I was here last time and they were making things better for others as only Seabees can do.

" The difficult we do right away, the impossible takes a little while longer."

Bravo Zulu to these hardworking professionals.

News: 'We build, We fight': Seabees in Kandahar
  Story by Staff Sgt. Timothy Chacon
  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Several Navy Seabees are assigned to Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction team in Kandahar Afghanistan.

Many people may have never heard of the U.S. Navy’s Seabees. The simple, but to the point motto of “We build, We fight” is all one would need to know to understand the basics of what Seabees do, but there is much more to their story. The Seabees have over 70 year of history and accomplishments both in combat and humanitarian missions around the world. From storming the beaches at Normandy during World War II, to assisting with relief efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquakes, the Seabees are more than qualified to handle any situation or challenge placed before them.

The eight Seabees assigned to the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan find themselves tasked with a mission that is somewhere in between a combat and humanitarian mission. The mission of KPRT is to assist with improving governance and rebuilding the infrastructure of the Kandahar province. The Seabees play a major role in the infrastructure rebuilding as well as logistical support for all missions conducted by the PRT.
There are three types of Seabees assigned to KPRT: Construction Mechanic, Builder and Construction Electrician. All three titles are self-explanatory as to what duties they perform, but what might not be so evident is what actually goes into performing those duties.

KPRT currently assists of local Afghan construction contractors with several projects in the Kandahar province. The Seabees are not the ones swinging hammers or pouring concrete, but they are providing valuable oversight and expertise for those projects. They monitor the projects and work hand in hand with local engineers ensuring they are meeting certain building standards and safety regulations.

“What we do is very important, we try to teach the locals safer ways to do the projects and help them establish a standard for building codes.” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Michelle Bernales.

Along with the oversight, the Seabees also spend time trying to educate the Afghans on building methods and techniques.

“We don’t just tell them what they need to be doing, but also the reasons for it,” said Bernales. “It’s important they understand why they are doing things a certain way. This will not only make their structures safer, but prolong the life of the buildings.”

The building sites are in the local community and not within the safety of a secure compound. The Seabees venture to these construction sites to keep track of the building process, often times putting themselves in dangerous situations.

MEMORIAL DAY - May we never forget those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom

A good article from the National Geographic about how Memorial Day has been changed by our society and how there is movement to change the date back to the original date of May 30th, regardless of where it falls on the calendar.

It is my hope that our citizens never forget how much others have sacrificed for our freedom.

The enclosed picture was one I took when I visited Arlington National Cemetery in 2010 for the funeral of a fallen US Marine.

Memorial Day: How It's Changed, Why Some Oppose 3-Day Weekend

Day of remembrance lost in swirl of summer kickoff?

Brian Handwerk

for National Geographic News

Published May 25, 2012

Every year Memorial Day brings people together in the United States to honor fallen service members on the last Monday in May.

Since its post-Civil War beginnings, the holiday has changed considerably and now may be best known as the start of summer vacation season—prompting some critics to call for moving the date away from a three-day weekend.

Unlike Veterans Day on November 11, which honors all who have served their country, Memorial Day is set aside for special remembrance of those who laid down their lives for U.S. national defense.

Despite the modern spirit of patriotic camaraderie, Memorial Day has its roots in one of the most divisive events in U.S. history: the Civil War.

Soon after the bloody conflict ceased, General John A. Logan—commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans—called for a holiday to be observed every year on May 30.

At the time, that holiday was known as Decoration Day, because Logan wanted to honor the fallen by "strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating, the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."

But many Civil War memorial ceremonies actually predated Logan's first Decoration Day, which was held at Arlington National Cemetery in 1868. More than two dozen U.S. cities claim to have hosted the first Decoration Day or Memorial Day.

In 1966, the U.S. Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized Waterloo, New York, as the "birthplace" of Memorial Day, based on a May 5, 1866, service held to honor local veterans, which included citywide events and the closings of local businesses.
The first national Memorial Day holiday, designated by Congress, was held in 1971.

Memorial Day a "Sacrosanct" Observance

In the years just after the Civil War, Northern and Southern Memorial Day services didn't necessarily honor the same soldiers.

But since World War I, the holiday has gathered the nation together to honor all men and women who've lost their lives in conflict, from the American Revolution to the present day battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Over the decades the name of the holiday has shifted as well, with Memorial Day gradually becoming the common moniker.

Now in cemeteries across the United States veterans and citizens alike hold ceremonies, and the graves of the fallen are adorned with flowers and U.S. flags.

"We believe that Memorial Day is a sacrosanct national observance for the entire country," said John Raughter, communications director for the American Legion, a nonprofit organization of veterans helping veterans.

Smaller local observances, in which citizens honor veterans known to their communities, remain as links to the original spirit of Decoration Day, he said.

"Thankfully most communities in this country recognize this, and we are grateful that they have observances and ceremonies on the local level. Those are very important."
An End to Memorial Day Weekend?

Due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968—which moved observances of several holidays to create long weekends—Memorial Day has for decades been held on the last Monday in May.

But some groups, including the American Legion, hope for a return to the original May 30 observance, to truly set the day apart.

"The majority of Americans view Memorial Day as a time for relaxation and leisure recreation rather than as a solemn occasion and a time to reflect and pay tribute to the American servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives in defense of our Nation," according to an American Legion resolution issued at the group's 2010 National Convention.

Instead of being part of a long weekend, the resolution asks that Congress "restore the official observance of Memorial Day to May 30 and that all American institutions toll their bells for one minute, beginning at 11:00, on that date in remembrance of those who died defending the Nation."

Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, has several times introduced legislation favoring a shift of Memorial Day back to May 30.
(Related pictures: "World War II 'Time Capsule' Fighter Found in Sahara.")
And some communities still observe the original date with solemn parades and other services of remembrance.

Since 2000 people across the U.S. have also been asked to observe a national moment of remembrance at 3:00 p.m. local time on the official national holiday. Flags are flown at half staff until noon, to signify a day of mourning.

"I think people are realizing again that Memorial Day is not about picnics, ball games, or going to the beach," the American Legion's Raughter said.

"There's nothing wrong with those things and enjoying the lifestyle that we have," he added. "But remember that the lifestyle that we have in America—the ability to enjoy a long weekend—was made possible by the nearly one million men and women who have died in service to this country since the American Revolution."

Perhaps the fact that so many of today's U.S. troops are in harm's way, serving in dangerous overseas deployments, has sparked a bit more solemnity, no matter which date is observed, Raughter suggested.

"We seem to remember when we see young men and women come back wounded, amputees, or hear of people we know who made the supreme sacrifice," he said.
"It's a shame that it sometimes takes a war to remind us of the heroes that we have, because even during peacetime, the vets are still with us, and they should be remembered at all times, not only when the guns are firing."

NEPTUNUS LEX - Captain Carroll LeFon, US Navy Retired- He belongs to the ages - (1960-2012)

The world lost more than one hero yesterday.

Captain Carroll LeFon, US Navy retired died in a plane accident flying a Israeli Kfir for a military contractor when his jet crashed outside Fallon Air Base in Nevada.

He was known to many in the Navy but many others from his well read blog, Neptunus Lex.
http://www.neptunuslex.com/

He is the main reason I started writing here at US Navy Jeep. He inspired me to want to be more like him and to share the leadership lessons we had experienced in our military careers and life.

As I had written in an earlier posting, "It can all change in an instant..."; None of us are guaranteed anything. Capt LeFon was doing exactly what he loved, flying. He had a difficult day with his plane the day before when his drag chute failed to deploy....He wrote about it in his normal enlightened prose and made light of it. The next day, he was gone.

Our world is a little less bright and enlightened by his loss. He made us think, lead by example and shared the virtues of a cold glass of Guinness. We will not see his like on this earth again.

It is somewhat prophetic that I was watching " The Search for Spock " last night, which deals with the bond between Kirk and Spock and how Captain Kirk finds a way to overcome the death of his friend...In real life, we do not have such ability.

I share in the loss of our Shipmate, Captain Carroll LeFon, Neptunus Lex. All our prayers and sympathies to his wife and children.

In tribute to our beloved shipmate, I would share the words of Pericles who delivered a funeral oration that paid tribute to his men.

" I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it, who in the hour of conflict had the fear of dishonor always present to them, and who, if ever they failed in an enterprise, would not allow their virtues to be lost to their country, but freely gave their lives to her as the fairest offering which they could present at her feast.

The sacrifice which they collectively made was individually repaid to them; for they received again each one for himself a praise which grows not old, and the noblest of all tombs, I speak not of that in which their remains are laid, but of that in which their glory survives, and is proclaimed always and on every fitting occasion both in word and deed. For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men."

Pericles - In tribute to his soldiers after first battles of the Peloponnesian war

Rest Easy CAP, we have the watch. Fair Winds and Following Seas.

US Navy and the World Wide Web....not always online

The US Navy focuses technology as it's strategic advantage, except if you want to connect with those on land. The Ship is a self contained world that manages information to allow it to carry out the mission. That works for the battlespace but not so much for those who want to get information from the World Wide Web.

Guess that really cuts into the Facebook time, eh? As the officers would tell you, the mission comes first.
I was always amazed at the technology we used as it seemed to be rooted in the past but part of that is because it has to be built to take a lot of abuse, especially in battle.


On Navy Warships, the Web Slows to a Crawl
By Spencer Ackerman - Wired.com

ABOARD THE U.S.S. WASP — This 40,000-ton assault ship can launch deadly sea and air attacks against enemies ashore and afloat. Just don’t expect it to load a website in under three minutes.

The big-deck ship is a formidable floating base for sailors and Marines — who had better prefer to stay in limited contact with the outside world in their off-hours. The communications infrastructure onboard is a reminder that the Wasp began its service to the Navy in 1989: the flight control station has a big, black telephone with a big, black spiral cord attached. Marines temporarily stationed to the Wasp for this week’s giant Navy-Marine war game, known as Bold Alligator, sigh when they need to get online and say that the best way to get in touch with their comrades aboard is to walk the narrow metal halls until they physically find them.

But looks can be deceiving. The ship’s communications gear feels like a throwback to a pre-wired era, and it runs up against some serious bandwidth limits. But it’s also got advantages on civilian communications infrastructure: Iridium satellite hookups mean that the Wasp can sail around the globe and never encounter a dead zone.

The Wasp presents a microcosm of the strengths and the limitations of communications infrastructure aboard Navy ships. And to understand both, those serving aboard her say, it’s best to remember first what a ship is and isn’t.


The Wasp’s top communications officer, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Angela W. Elder, points out that her ship is a self-contained organism. Its on-board generators have to power everything from the communications gear to the propulsion systems to the navigation systems to the fluorescent lights. “It’s one system, and everything connects into it,” Elder says.

When we civilians on dry land make a cellphone call or send a text, we don’t have to worry about draining our car batteries. Navy ships don’t have that luxury.

That helps highlight the differences with the other military services. The Army has prioritized developing its data networks in the hope of rapidly getting tactical information down to low-ranking soldiers, possibly through smartphones in the future. The Air Force hearts bandwidth, in order to stream video captured by its family of surveillance tools, from drones to giant blimps to manned spy planes. All that is less feasible aboard a ship commissioned in the Reagan era.

Then there are the security restrictions. For most of Sunday, the Wasp switched off its internet access for hours as part of the Bold Alligator exercise, to simulate the precautions the ship would take in a real amphibious assault. “Sometimes we don’t want information to leave the ship,” Elder says, “so we’ll take down information that’s not vital to what’s going on. That impacts our NIPR net,” an unclassified military network.

If the unclassified web feels like a non-priority aboard, that’s because for the most part, it is. With limited bandwidth for voice, text and data — Elder won’t disclose specific connection speeds — the ship must prioritize the communications channels that sailors and Marines need to do their jobs. “This [ship] is designed to support the warfighter,” says Marine Maj. Robert Evans, the communications chief for Expeditionary Strike Group 2, which is headquartered on the Wasp for Bold Alligator. “Facebook, Twitter — that’s not taken into account.”

During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the U.S. military extended enormous effort and treasure to allow troops could email at home. Even at the lonliest, tech-starved outposts, there was access to the unclassified internet. At sea, it’s a very different story.

There are exceptions, though. The Wasp rations access to the broader civilian web through judicious disbursement of logins. But Marines and sailors can relax or eat through their downtime by playing Call of Duty in the ship’s library computer lab.

Communications upgrades are a long time in coming, usually occurring during the six to nine months the Wasp spends in the shipyard between deployments. Patches are more typical than comprehensive upgrades. The last one aboard this ship occurred 18 months ago — and the Wasp has better bandwidth than many other ships, Elder and Evans say.

But don’t think for a second that the Wasp — which Evans calls a “giant floating tactical electromagnet” — is out of touch. The Navy needs very, very badly to stay in touch with the approximately hundred ships it always has deployed around the world. The satellite connections aboard the Wasp make sure that the ship is always communicating with the chain of command, absent a major power failure. “No dead zones. Ever,” says Evans.

Still, both Evans and Elder concede that bandwidth limitations are a challenge — especially as newer intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gear comes online to give the fleet more persistent pictures of what’s over the horizon. The Navy’s Fire Scout drone is already used in Latin America to help spot drug-mule ships; more sea-based drones are on their way. “The ship is not equipped to receive full-motion video on demand,” Evans says. “I would think, eventually, that would need to change.”

But it’s not as if extracurricular web browsing is impossible. Login, click on Internet Explorer, and prepare to wait. “You may not hit the website you need on the first, second, third try,” Evans says, “but it’ll get done.”

US Navy SEALs police their own

Looks like the US Navy SEALs have started policing their own regarding the leaking of the info about ops recently conducted....I feel that this is as it should be as they should understand OPSEC is vital to their continued success...

I understand the need to salute these American Jedi Knights but their safety and the safety of those who support them is paramount to any PR campaign... The new movie " ACT OF VALOR " and other media shows have shown enough about what they can do when under duress without the divulging of more detailed info about specific operations IMHO.

Bravo Zulu to our US Navy SEALs. I salute you and appreciate all you do each day.


Navy SEAL Commander Advised to 'Get the Hell Out of the Media'
By Huma Khan ABC News

A retired general today assailed the commander of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden for drawing too much media attention to operations that he argued should be kept under wraps.

Special Operations Commander Adm. Bill McRaven was confronted by retired Lt. Gen. James Vaught, who said he didn't understand why the recent raids by the Navy SEALs, such as the one to kill Osama bin Laden or to rescue U.S. hostage Jessica Buchanan, were all over the media.

"Since the time when your wonderful team went and drug bin Laden out and got rid of him, and more recently when you went down and rescued the group in Somalia, or wherever the hell they were, they've been splashing all of this all over the media," Vaught, 85, said. "I flat don't understand that.

"Now back when my special operators extracted Saddam [Hussein] from the hole, we didn't say one damn word about it," he continued. "We turned him over to the local commander and told him to claim that his forces drug him out of the hole, and he did so. And we just faded away and kept our mouth shut.

"Now I'm going to tell you, one of these days, if you keep publishing how you do this, the other guy's going to be there ready for you, and you're going to fly in and he's going to shoot down every damn helicopter and kill every one of your SEALs. Now, watch it happen. Mark my words. Get the hell out of the media," he concluded, as laughter broke out at a meeting of the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington, D.C.

Vaught commanded the failed mission to rescue the hostages in Iran in 1979. Eight service members died and four were injured in "Operation Eagle Claw" when the helicopters on the mission collided in the remote Iranian desert. Vaught, whose role made him the first commander of Delta Force, was not active duty during the Hussein raid, which was also conducted by the Delta Force, the secretive counterterrorism unit.

McRaven jokingly responded that he became a Navy SEAL because his sister was dating a special forces member and because he was infatuated with John Wayne's movie, "The Green Beret."

"The fact of the matter is, there have always been portrayals of SOF [Special Operations Forces] out in the mainstream media," he said. "We are in an environment today where we can't get away from it. It is not something that we actively pursue, as I think a number of the journalists here in the audience will confirm. But the fact of the matter is, with the social media being what it is today, with the press and the 24-hour news cycle, it's very difficult to get away from it."

He added that it was difficult to avoid media coverage in today's 24-hour news cycle and that it could actually help Navy SEALs do their job better.

"We have had a few failures. And I think having those failures exposed in the media also kind of helps focus our attention, helps us do a better job. So sometimes the criticism … the spotlight on us actually makes us better," McRaven said.

The Navy SEALs have received heavy media attention in the past year thanks to the bin Laden raid and the rescue in Somalia. A movie titled "Act for Valor" focusing on the elite special operations force is due for release next month and Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow is making a movie about the raid that killed the world's most wanted man.

McRaven was in Washington, D.C., today talking about an expansion in the role of special operations forces in Afghanistan. Special operations troops, McRaven said, would likely be the last to leave the country and the Pentagon is even considering a new special operations command, but that has not been decided yet.

"I have no doubt that special operations will be the last to leave Afghanistan," McRaven said. "As far as anything beyond that, we're exploring a lot of options."

ABC News' Meg Fowler contributed to this report.

OPSEC & Protecting our Warriors - Something lost on the President

Those who go in harm's way learn and understand the first lesson of how to stay safe - OPSEC. This is short for " Operational Security ". The need to keep all info about mission, operations and tactics secure and by doing so, not allow the enemy to gain intelligence.

Too bad this simple concept doesn't extend to the President or the Vice President who have been using the SEALs exploits for political gain. They are " users ' and use people like the SEALs for their own benefit. By doing so, they put these warriors at risk.

Don't take my word for it, read the enclosed written by a Navy SEAL who feels pretty upset by what the idiot in the White House has been doing.


Obama Exploits the Navy SEALs
There may be political value in detailing how our special forces hunted bin Laden, but doing so threatens troop safety and future missions
By LEIF BABIN - Wall Street Journal

America's premier Special Operations force is once again in the headlines after a team of Navy SEALs rescued two hostages from captivity in Somalia last week. Elite U.S. forces have carried out such operations periodically over the past decade, always with skill and bravery. The difference in recent months is that the details of their work haven't remained secret. On the contrary, government officials have revealed them for political gain—endangering our forces in the process.

The floodgates opened after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last May, and the Obama administration's lack of discretion was on display again at last week's State of the Union address. As President Obama entered the House chamber, in full view of the cameras, he pointed to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and exclaimed: "Good job tonight, good job tonight." Clearly something had happened that he wanted the world to know about.

After delivering his speech, which included multiple references to the bin Laden raid, the president again thanked Mr. Panetta. "That was a good thing tonight," he said as if to ensure that the viewing public, if they missed it initially, would get it a second time around.

Sure enough, shortly thereafter, the White House announced the successful rescue of the hostages in Somalia by U.S. Special Operations forces. Vice President Biden appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" to highlight the success the next morning, and Mr. Panetta also publicly praised it. Then came the "anonymous U.S. officials" to provide extensive details of who conducted the raid and how. As with the bin Laden operation, the top-secret unit that carried it out was again front-page news, as were its methods and tactics.

Our special operators do not welcome this publicity. In fact, from conversations I've had in recent days, it's clear they are dismayed by it.

Adm. William H. McRaven, America's top special-operations commander, wrote in his 1996 book "Spec Ops" that there are six key principles of success in special operations. Of paramount importance—especially given the risk and sensitivity of the missions and the small units involved—is what the military calls "operational security," or maintaining secrecy. If the enemy learns details and can anticipate the manner and timing of an attack, the likelihood of success is significantly reduced and the risk to our forces is significantly increased.

This is why much of what our special-operators do is highly classified, and why military personnel cannot legally divulge it to the public. Yet virtually every detail of the bin Laden raid has appeared in news outlets across the globe—from the name of the highly classified unit to how the U.S. gathered intelligence, how many raiders were involved, how they entered the grounds, what aircraft they used, and how they moved through the compound. Such details were highly contained within the military and not shared even through classified channels. Yet now they are available to anyone with the click of a mouse.

It's difficult for military leaders to enforce strict standards of operational security on their personnel while the most senior political leadership is flooding the airwaves with secrets. The release of classified information has also opened a Pandora's box of former and retired SEALs, special operators, and military personnel who have chosen to violate their non-disclosure agreements and discuss intricate details of how such operations are planned and executed.

We've already begun seeing specific examples of strategic harm from the post-bin Laden leaks. In June, Pakistan arrested several individuals who allegedly provided information to the CIA in advance of the raid. One of those charged with treason was a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi. This Sunday, Mr. Panetta confirmed to "60 Minutes" that Dr. Afridi had provided "very helpful" intelligence to the CIA. That may have condemned Dr. Afridi to death or life imprisonment.

Such disclosures are catastrophic to U.S. intelligence networks, which often take years to develop. Recklessness not only puts lives at risk but could set U.S. intelligence-collection efforts back decades. Our ability to carry out future operations is significantly degraded—something not lost on Pakistan.

A week after the bin Laden raid, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates expressed dismay about Washington's loose lips, telling a town hall meeting of U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune: "Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden. That all fell apart on Monday—the next day."

Do the president and his top political advisers understand what's at stake for the special-operations forces who carry out these dangerous operations, or the long-term strategic consequences of divulging information about our most highly classified military assets and intelligence capabilities? It is infuriating to see political gain put above the safety and security of our brave warriors and our long-term strategic goals. Loose lips sink ships.

Mr. Babin is a former Navy SEAL officer who served three tours in Iraq, earning a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He left active duty six months ago

Where are the Carriers??

To allow a red pen of congressional staffers to accomplish what the USSR couldn't do back in the day would be a travesty. The fools of Capital Hill have spent us into a corner and to think that part of the penance for their sins is to lower our naval defenses at this point in history is fool hardy.

Cut Congress' perks and staff long beforewe are forced into a crisis and allow the answer to the question of " Where are the Carriers??" to be " In mothballs, sir."

New Navy budgets may sink plans for aircraft carriers
Fight is on to save flattop fleet
By Rowan Scarborough
-
The Washington Times

On the surface, the Navy's cherished fleet of 11 active aircraft carriers seems safe from President Obama's budget slashers.

Conventional wisdom says the requirement to cut $488 billion from the Pentagon within 10 years will not necessitate banishing a single carrier because the president's military strategy focuses on two carrier-dependent regions: Asia, where China is building a robust navy, and the Persian Gulf, where Iran threatens to block international oil shipping.

As Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta prepares to introduce the strategy's first budget next month, the Navy has been in a furious fight behind the scenes to protect only 10 carriers, sources familiar with the issue told The Washington Times.

The sources say that, while the fiscal 2013 budget may well continue 11 carriers, the Navy will be down to 10 or even nine carriers within in the next five years.

A carrier typically transports about 80 aircraft and leads a battle group comprising 7,500 sailors, a guided-missile cruiser, two guided-missile destroyers, an attack submarine and a supply ship. Eliminating one carrier battle group would save billions of dollars.

In addition, the Navy complements its carriers with amphibious-ready groups of warships, helicopters, fighter jets and Marines for sea-land operations. Some of those groups also might be scrapped.

A scenario discussed inside the Navy: Reduce the carrier fleet by retiring the flattops short of their 50-year life spans, and continue to build more advanced carriers at the Newport News, Va., shipyard at seven-year intervals instead of launching one every five years.

Reducing one carrier would set off a fight in Congress, which under law has required the Navy to maintain 11 active flattops. A source familiar with the discussions said the Obama administration would not want to take up that fight until after November's presidential election, given the importance of Virginia and its 13 electoral votes.

In general, the Navy has three carriers at sea, three returning from six-month deployments, three preparing to be deployed and two in some type of overhaul. For example, the USS Ronald Reagan, commissioned less than 10 years ago, is going into dry dock this month for a year of extensive repairs.

Under Mr. Panetta, the Pentagon has clamped down on the release of any details about the budget — following the model of predecessor Robert M. Gates, who forced senior officials to sign nondisclosure forms.

But sources say a $488 billion in mandated savings will come from two principal sources: cutting the Army and Marine Corps ground forces by more than 100,000 troops combined and reducing the purchase and delaying the procurement of big weapons systems, such as the F-35 fighter.

Cutting back to 10 carriers would save the Pentagon additional billions of dollars. A carrier's payroll for a crew of officers and sailors, not counting its air wing, is about $225 million annually.

"I think the United States will continue to operate at least 10 carriers over the next five years," said Loren Thompson, who heads the Lexington Institute defense think tank. "But over the long run, it's likely the cost and operating concept will gradually shift the Navy away from carriers."

In fact, the Navy will soon undergo a 10-carrier trial. When the USS Enterprise is retired in November, 10 carriers will be active until the USS Gerald R. Ford becomes operational in 2015. Congress granted the Navy a waiver for the 33-month breach of the law.

"They're going down to 10 for programming reasons," Mr. Thompson said. "It is supposed to be temporary, but I think during the period the Enterprise is gone and the Ford class has not arrived, the Navy may grow accustomed to operating with only 10 carriers."

Mr. Thompson said carriers face three basic challenges.

"First of all, they have become extremely expensive to build and operate," he said. "Secondly, some countries, such as China, are developing the capacity to target and disable them from long distances.

"And, thirdly, the advent of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and unmanned aircraft will make it easier to accomplish air missions from other sea-based platforms."

Mr. Obama's strategy echoes that of his first defense chief, Mr. Gates. At the U.S. Military Academy in February, Mr. Gates said: "Any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur so delicately put it."

Indeed, the strategy announced this month downplays the chances of a big land war, saying that active forces will be shaped to fight a limited ground conflict of a short duration.

The Gates imprint may well show itself when it comes to carriers.

"Do we really need 11 carrier strike groups for another 30 years when no other country has more than one?" Mr. Gates asked during a 2010 speech to the Navy League, a naval support association.

"In my view, Gates was right the first time," said Winslow Wheeler, an analyst at the Center for Defense Information, a military reform group. "We have too many for show-the-flag exercises and strikes against incompetents like Iraq.

"If ever we encounter a competent military with an air force, a navy with ultrasilent diesel electric submarines — and both with superfast, superlow anti-ship missiles — I suspect carriers will quickly be extinct if they go into unsafe waters. At $13 billion-plus each, more are an unwise investment for the future."

Advocates of aircraft carriers note that the White House often asks in crisis, "Where are the carriers?"

"China is going great guns to develop a maritime superiority," said Jon Ault, a retired Navy pilot who served on eight carrier deployments. "Imagine 20, 30, 40 years from now, when the U.S. is down to its last two or three battle groups. A fatigued 40-, 50-year-old carrier gasping for breath and a nuke shipbuilding industry that no longer exists. Works for China, perhaps not so well for us.

ACT OF VALOR

Coming to theatres in February 2012....This movie looks like it will show the sacrifice made by our US NAVY SEALs. I am looking forward to seeing this one.

CHI-COMS take out their new Flat-top

The CHI-COMS took their 2nd hand Soviet Boat out for a spin....I'm not sure about you, but the Soviets are long on getting things together, but what they produce is not long lasting. The B-52 is still flying because it was built 50+ years ago by the USA....Things the Soviets make, don't last like that.

We'll see how the carrier fares but I feel that they may find they have bought a lemon - Let's just say I feel our Flat-tops out duel their flat-top (singular)


At least the deck doesn't have planes: Satellite captures first picture of China’s aircraft carrier which it claimed is just for ‘research’By Daily Mail Reporter
15th December 2011

A satellite photo captured China's first ever aircraft carrier on the Chinese coast's Yellow Sea Thursday by a commercial U.S. satellite company.

The aircraft carrier has generated intense international interest because of the open-ended possibilities the country may have for it as a future military power.
Little on the ship had been said by China after purchasing it from Ukraine in 1998, spending years refurbishing it from one with no engines, weaponry or navigation systems, to one seen sailing last week.

A DigitalGlobe analyst says they found the image Tuesday while searching through their satellite's photos.

Stephen Wood, director of DigitalGlobe's analysis center, said he's confident the ship is the Chinese carrier because of the location and date of the photo. The carrier was on a sea trial at the time.

China has said the carrier is intended for research and training, which has led to speculation that it plans to build future copies.
The former Soviet Union was the first to start building the carrier, which it called the Varyag, but never finished it.

China publicly announced around 50 separate naval exercises in the seas off its coast -- usually after the event

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it ended up in the hands of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic who then sold it to China.

China initially said little about its plans for the carrier but has been more open in recent years, said Bonnie S. Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

'It wasn't until the Chinese actually announced they were sending it out on a trial run they admitted, `Yes, we are actually launching a carrier,'' she said.

China publicly announced two sea trials for the carrier that occurred this year, she said.The carrier's progress is in line with the U.S. military's expectations, said Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

A Defense Department report to Congress this year said the carrier could become operationally available to the Chinese navy by the end of next year but without aircraft.

'From that point, it will take several additional years before the carrier has an operationally viable air group,' Hull-Ryde said in an email.
She declined to comment on the DigitalGlobe photo, saying it was an intelligence matter.

DigitalGlobe, based in Longmont, Colo., sells satellite imagery and analysis to clients that include the U.S. military, emergency response agencies and private companies. DigitalGlobe has three orbiting satellites and a fourth is under

The real 1% - Those who defend our nation.

This author makes the case for the 1%. The 1% she is highlighting is not the uber-rich, but those who are serve in uniform defending our nation and their families who support them from the homefront. I agree with her point-of-view.


Two members of a different 1% on Afghanistan, politics and privilege.
By ANNE JOLIS - Wall Street Journal
Zhari District, Afghanistan

U.S. service-members make up less than 1% of the American population. But the occupiers of Afghanistan do have a few, superficial similarities with the self-described "99%" occupying Western financial districts: Their endeavors both involve tents and have gone on far longer than first expected; both elicit mixed reactions in the areas they occupy; and both at times struggle to explain what their occupations are meant to accomplish.

Otherwise, the soldiers here in southern Afghanistan could not pose a starker contrast to their agitating peers back home. Take Spc. Anthony Webster, 32, of Portland, Maine and Sgt. Matthew Montville, 24, of Worcester, Massachusetts. They serve as their command group's security detachment in the Fourth Squadron, Fourth U.S. Cavalry Regiment, First Infantry Division—the "Pale Riders."

In late November, straightening their tent after a day of patrols, Sgt. Montville recalls taking leave in October to find himself "appalled" at the Occupy Boston crowd. The impish blond, who enlisted at 17 because "the idea of college never excited" him, observes: "Most of those 'Occupy' people wouldn't know hard work if it jumped up and punched them in the throat."

Not so the Pale Riders. They've had a particularly wretched war even for a particularly wretched part of Afghanistan, which has the ignoble distinction of being the Taliban's birthplace. Since arriving with 517 soldiers in late February, the Pale Riders have buried seven and been awarded 134 living Purple Hearts.

***
After 2001, the U.S. largely left this stretch of the Arghandab River valley to Afghan forces. By 2006 the Taliban was resurgent, and a Canadian-led contingent was sent to level entire neighborhoods here. But they never had the manpower to hold the area and by 2007 had effectively retreated, leaving the valley to de-facto Taliban control once again.

President Obama's surge increased U.S. troop presence here by roughly six-fold. The Second Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division spent much of 2010 redoing the Canadians' bloody work. When the Third Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division arrived with its Pale Rider attachment, they expanded the 101st's so-called security bubble while consolidating those gains with local outreach.

"We came at the beginning of the fighting season, and there was no bulls— about it," says Spc. Webster, a former construction and private-security entrepreneur whose tattoos cover about 85% of his body. "When it started, it started."

Spc. William A.T. Phillips, 4th Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division
The Pale Riders patrol through Charkusa, southern Afghanistan.

It hasn't really stopped. On a routine patrol a week before I met them, the Pale Riders entered a house that turned out to be rigged with explosives. The blast brought the house down on top of two of them, who survived but were critically injured. "I've never heard screaming like that in my life," says Sgt. Montville.

"You can't justify any of the losses," says Spc. Webster after a long pause. "But we're here to do our jobs, we know what we signed up for. The mission is what we live by, that's priority No. 1."

Sgt. Montville summarizes: "We continued the push and at the same time started talking to the locals to find out what they need from us and actually start to implement it—roads, schools, clinics."

"Anyone can go in and blow a place up. We're trying to do the right thing," he adds. "I'm proud of what we've done."

"We see more kids now, more of their women out, people able to farm their land—we've accomplished a lot in a short period of time," adds Spc. Webster. But "it's frustrating, too. Ultimately it's up to the Afghans. We go to these shuras [meetings of local elders] and we hear them arguing about dumb stuff."

Earlier on the day of our interview we patrolled through the neighborhood of Charkusa, where only weeks before the Pale Riders had been taking regular fire from mazes of grape walls and marijuana gardens. Now Charkusa is quiet, though nearly deserted. Over tea with several elders who had fled during the Canadian offensive, the old men acknowledged that security had improved and said they're prepared to work with their imperfect government, return home and fill the vacuum that insurgents would be happy to re-occupy. But some remained focused on what the Americans haven't done for them lately: They want their mud huts rebuilt and this time with doors and windows; they want their irrigation canals repaired and reinforced with brick or cement; they want their relocation expenses covered. Pale Rider Commander, Lt. Col. Michael Katona of Michigan, listened patiently, his soldiers fanned around us, nodding: "We can do all that."

Their aim is to do so by the end of the year, when the Pale Riders will start to leave. But "it's their community, at some point they need to own it," Spc. Webster says. "If not, our efforts will have been futile. I'd like to believe they weren't, I know my friends who have passed away, their families—I know they hope they weren't."

Another crucial variable over which the Pale Riders have little control is the development of the Afghan National Army, which Spc. Montville says is "definitely improving. But for a lot of them, it's their first time having their own money, so they have cell phones and they want to hang out and talk on them, weapons flopping around—sometimes they smoke hashish on patrol."

Like most of the U.S. soldiers with whom I spoke, Spc. Webster and Sgt. Montville have taken it upon themselves to informally train the ANA they work with—though ostensibly they've already received NATO training.

Sgt. Montville tells me that, for instance, their ANA counterparts were recently issued .50-caliber machine guns. But "a lot of them didn't know how to clean them, take them apart—they just didn't know what they were doing. So instead of us getting shot in the back accidentally, [Spc.] Webster and I went over to the ANA side [of Forward Operating Base Pasab] and brought our .50-cals over and had them bring theirs out. We showed them how to take them apart, clean them, make sure they work right, put them back together—basic soldiering skills. . . . Eventually they do start taking stuff seriously."

He flicks on his laptop to show me a recent video of U.S. soldiers defusing an IED set against a grape wall. While everyone else waits, frozen, an ANA soldier wanders into the frame, ignoring the others' warning shouts, steps on the pressure-point and loses half his face and a foot. "Luckily, they're getting better."

"Yeah, but that really is how undisciplined some of these guys are. It's a liability every time we go out with them," adds Spc. Webster.

Both agree that Washington's 2014 combat-withdrawal date doesn't make their work easier.

"It's more pressure on us and especially our commanders, to try and get everything in place to make sure it doesn't all fall apart once we leave, to make sure these people aren't bullied all over again," explains Spc. Webster. He says even after 2014, he expects the U.S. and its allies to keep a significant overwatch presence in Afghanistan for a long time, "for the safety of the whole world. If not, [Afghanistan] would go to hell again."

But he also sees their work now as more humanitarian than U.S. defense. Which is why the pre-set timeline is "the right thing to do. We've got a lot of problems at home. How many more lives and money can we really afford to lose here?"

Spc. Montville, on the other hand, characterizes the timeline as "a nice goal," but also akin to telling the insurgents "'Hey, guess what guys, we're leaving in 2014, you just got to hold on till then. Then you can come back and do whatever the f— you want.'"

Unlike Spc. Webster, Sgt. Montville claims "honestly, I don't care. Once I go home, I'm going to try my best not to think about this place and some of the s— I've seen."

Why? "Because I'm a spoiled American."

Turns out that after nine months dodging rockets and IEDs, without alcohol, flush toilets or their respective wife and girlfriend, Spc. Webster and Sgt. Montville's tour has left them preoccupied with how good they have it.

"If you grew up in a mud hut, went to school for maybe one or two years, you might not be the smartest dude either, but you'd be a hard worker," says Sgt. Montville. "You see kids here hauling three, four times their body weight, going 15 miles an hour on some [beaten-up] one-speed bicycle. I absolutely have a lot of respect for them. You've got to."

***
Which brings us back to America's "occupiers." "Yeah okay, a lot of them have jobs, they work a crappy nine-to-five, they've got student loans," concedes Sgt. Montville. "And I have a car payment. I'm not getting financial aid for my cell-phone bill. Everyone has to work. Deal with it."

Of their own unenviable salaries, Spc. Webster shrugs: "No one's ever going to get paid enough to do this job. That's not why we do it."

"I love what I do, I can't see myself doing anything else," adds Sgt. Montville. But when Washington politicos were threatening earlier this year to suspend military pay, his initial reaction was: "They train us to kill people, to drive tanks, use explosives, fight in the dark, to engage in hand-to-hand-combat; they give us all these guns, all this cool gear to do this—and then they're going to take our pay? Are they stupid?"

Memo to the humorless: He's kidding. Upon hearing of the budget brinkmanship, "a lot of guys here said '[Forget] it then, I'm not going to go out on patrol!' But I don't know anyone who would actually do that."

And while neither voted for the current President, "[Mr.] Obama is my boss," says Spc. Webster. "If he sends us orders tomorrow to go to Pakistan, Iran, wherever—done. I'd pack my bags and go."

As the U.S. drawdown proceeds, Spc. Webster predicts, safely, that 2012 campaigns will bring claims of "'I did this, I brought the troops home.'" He laughs and lets Sgt. Montville finish his thought: "We're the ones watching each others' backs out here. The ones who survive—we'll have brought ourselves home."

Miss Jolis is an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Europe.

A DECADE OF DOMINATION / NAVY BEATS ARMY AGAIN

NAVY 27 - ARMY 21 / A decade of NAVY Football beating ARMY...AWESOME

At Dawn We Slept - The story of the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Those on Hawaii back in early December 1941 were mindful that there was fighting occurring in other parts of the world, but it seemed miles away. When you are there, Hawaii seems to be in another world entirely. The magic of the Islands is that they are the most isolated populated island in the world. The military had been sending ships from the Pacific fleet to the Atlantic to fend off the real threat of the German U boats that had been sinking merchant ships. While Japan was gearing up for an attack, most in the Pacific fleet saw their duty as quiet and uneventful.

That all changed on December 7th, 1941.

The book " At Dawn We Slept" is without peer in detailing the events and actions that occurred up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. It provides a detailed overview from both the American and Japanese point-of-view. A good read and the book that gives the best assessment to the "date that will live in infamy."

REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR
By GADDIS SMITH;

Gaddis Smith teaches American diplomatic and maritime history at Yale.
Published: November 29, 1981

AT DAWN WE SLEPT The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. By Gordon W. Prange. In Collaboration With Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon. Illustrated. 873 pp. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co. $22.95.

THE JAPANESE attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, has served for 40 years as a test of what Americans think about their nation and its leadership, about Japan in particular and enemies in general, and about the requirements of national security. Gordon W. Prange's ''At Dawn We Slept,'' the result of half a lifetime of research, is a brilliant re-creation of the thoughts and personalities of the officers on both sides who fought that day, and it takes frank delight in the intellectual elegance of successful military planning.

The initial American reaction was a combination of patriotism, vengeful indignation and racism. The attack confirmed American courage in adversity. The Japanese were portrayed as a race inherently deceitful and cruel, fanatical creatures devoid of redeeming human qualities. A banner inscribed ''Remember Pearl Harbor'' would stream figuratively behind the atomic bombs falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

A second reaction, suppressed during the early part of the war but open and bitter after 1944, was to see criminal negligence and even treacherous conspiracy within the American Government. Strange bedfellows, united principally by hatred for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, advanced the proposition that the President had used American ships and lives as bait to tempt the Japanese into a war he wished to wage for a variety of nefarious reasons. Roosevelt allegedly knew the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor and when, and withheld this information from the local commanders in Hawaii in order to insure Japanese success. The conspiracy theorists included naval officers seeking to protect the reputation of their service and of their colleague Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet; isolationists who believed the United States had no business fighting in Asia or Europe; haters of the British Empire, which was supposed to have benefited from Roosevelt's plot; and radical anti-Communists who saw Roosevelt bent on advancing the cause of world Communism. (How else explain his antipathy to such a staunch anti-Communist nation as Japan?)

A counterwave of historians in the early 1950's attacked the conspiracy theory as nonsense. Roosevelt, they said, did make mistakes, but he and his advisers were grappling in good faith with forces beyond American control. The defense of Roosevelt was implicitly an argument that, in a permanently dangerous world, the nation's security required that the President be trusted by a sophisticated public on guard against simplistic theories, especially those which claimed that our problems were caused by traitors within.

As political passions that once flared around the name Roosevelt cooled after 1960, commentators on Pearl Harbor looked to the future. Roberta Wohlstetter's classic ''Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision'' (1962) explained how the American intelligence community, even though it was reading Japan's secret diplomatic radio traffic, was overwhelmed by too much data and lacked the manpower to separate real signals about Japan's intentions from irrelevant ''noise.'' Her purpose was to improve strategic intelligence.

During the Vietnam War distrust of Presidential foreign policy reappeared and with it a small new wave of Pearl Harbor revisionism with an emphasis more antiwar than anti-Communist. Roosevelt was now portrayed as leading the country into an unnecessary war that did not serve national security. Japan and the United States should have compromised their differences and abandoned unrealistic objectives founded on rigid ideology.

''At Dawn We Slept'' falls into none of those categories and takes strong issue with several of these groups of historians. What Prange sees above all else in the attack on Pearl Harbor is the professional skill, daring, imagination and dedication of the Japanese officers who conceived and carried through the most difficult and immediately successful naval operation in history. His original intention was to write only about the Japanese side and to present the participants as distinctive human beings, not faceless stereotypes. He began thinking of the project while serving as an officer in the American Naval Reserve during World War II, and he commenced intensive work in Japan, where from 1946 to 1951 he was a historian with Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters. He interviewed virtually all the important surviving Japanese naval participants and in the process became intellectually and psychologically at one with them. This accounts for the power of the book and for its unusual perspective.

In 1953, back in the United States at the University of Maryland as a professor of history, Prange signed the contract for this book. The years went by. He decided to deal with the American as well as the Japanese side; he interviewed hundreds more people, read millions of pages of documents, and his manuscript grew to 12,000 typescript pages. His explanations to his publisher of how much he had done and why the book was not yet ready are themselves almost long enough to make a book. On the publisher's side there must have been a temptation to abandon the project in frustration. In May 1980 Prange died. Two former students agreed to reduce the manuscript and fashion the present volume, and it is a Herculean editorial achievement.

Mr. Prange demolishes the conspiracy theory as others have done before him. Roosevelt and his advisers knew by November 1941 that war with Japan was likely. They wanted to buy as much time as possible, but were unwilling to abandon support for China, Japan's victim in the war raging since 1937, or to give Japan the petroleum and other resources for waging war. But, as Prange shows, they did not have substantial evidence of an attack on Pearl Harbor. The fragments of intelligence data pointing in that direction were misinterpreted and mishandled through human error. But even if these fragments had been properly understood and acted upon, the Japanese attack would still have taken place. The Japanese would have encountered the resistance and suffered the losses they had anticipated, instead of escaping almost unscathed in the short run. One might compare the Pearl Harbor situation to a hypothetical major California earthquake at some point in the future. The early warnings will be detected, but the exact location and date will be unknowable. The quake will do terrible damage. People will be caught asleep. Afterward there will be recriminations. The authorities knew there would be a quake. Why did they not warn the people? Perhaps they were involved in a conspiracy of concealment.

The author also finds the conspiracy theory repugnant because he believes it demeans the Japanese, who were far too headstrong and shrewd to be anyone's pawns. He reveals how the Pearl Harbor concept originated in the mind of Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander in Chief of the Japanese combined fleet, in the spring of 1940; how it was perfected by a group of the admiral's disciples, most notably the aviation expert Comdr. Minoru Genda; how it was tested in war-gaming rooms; how it was accepted by the Naval General Staff only after Yamamoto threatened to resign; and how weapons, men and ships were prepared in secret and with arduous training. The author refutes the American view of Yamamoto as a bloodthirsty monster, and shows him to be a thoughtful man who doubted Japan's ability to defeat the United States. But the admiral believed that, since war had become inevitable through the actions of the two Governments, the Pearl Harbor attack offered the Japanese their only chance of success.

The strategy was designed to cripple the American fleet and thus protect the Japanese forces during their drive through the Philippines, Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies. Nothing short of complete and unthinkable capitulation by the United States to Japan's expansionist demands would have stopped the attack. Here Mr. Prange makes clear his disagreement with those who think war could have been prevented by lesser American concessions. He does note that the plan, however brilliant, was fatally flawed by the assumption, held more through hope than conviction, that the blow to Pearl Harbor would destroy American morale as well as ships and lead the United States to sue for an early peace.

But Prange's awareness of this flaw does not dim his enthusiasm for the Japanese military achievement. Suspense builds chapter by chapter as the fleet avoids detection and approaches Pearl Harbor. The planes are launched. Surprise is complete. So thorough is Prange's immersion in the Japanese point of view that he even conveys a feeling of disappointment that Adm. Chuichi Nagumo, the officer commanding the force on the scene, was too cautious to launch a second attack, which could have destroyed vital American fuel reserves and shore facilities.

Prange's exhaustive interviews of people on both sides enable him to tell the story in such personal terms that the reader is bound to feel its power. His descriptions of the Japanese officers are vivid and memorable, but so are those of many of the Americans. At the very beginning of the book he sets up the coming attack almost in the way of an epic poet, comparing Admiral Yamamoto and Admiral Kimmel: ''Both were small-town boys. Each had graduated from his country's naval academy in 1904.... Each gathered to himself a staff of exceptional capability, taking these men into his complete confidence and treating them like a family. Each encouraged individual initiative in his officers, disliked yes-men, and was always ready to hear both sides of a question. Each gave his staff intense loyalty and in return gained a devotion which withstood every pressure and bridged the years with a span of steel. Above all, each was a patriot and a sailor's sailor down to the last drop of his blood. And each admiral had a summer-lightning temper.''

But Prange has also a definite gift for reporting a story. During the air attack on Pearl Harbor, he writes, Lieut. Fusato Iida ''drilled the station armory and swooped down just as an aviation ordnanceman named Sands stepped out the side door and got off a burst with a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle). A sailor of the old school, he called to his mates in the armory, 'Hand me another BAR!' ... As Iida moved in for the kill, the defiant sailor 'emptied another clip' and escaped Iida's bullets which 'pockmarked the wall of the building.' Iida appeared to break off the unequal duel ... but as he did so, a spray of gasoline began to flow from his plane, and he 'headed directly back to the armory.' ... A sailor saw him returning and, evidently considering Iida Sands's particular pigeon, shouted, 'Hey, Sands! That sonofabitch is coming back!' Sands grabbed a rifle; Iida roared straight at him. Ignoring the bullets splattering around him, Sands 'emptied the rifle at the roaring Zero.' ... The Zero crashed into a road winding up a round, flat-topped hill and struck the pavement about five feet below one of the married officers' quarters, 'skidded across and piled up the embankment at the opposite side.' The impact ripped out the engine, turned the plane upside down, and shattered Iida's body to pieces.'' It is impossible to forget such an account; there are many like it in this book, told in the words of those who were there.

''At Dawn We Slept'' adds some details to what was previously known about the American side and includes a useful if anticlimactic appraisal of the many American investigations into what happened, but here the main outlines of a familiar story remain unchanged. Failures of imagination, excessive adherence to routine, bad coordination and communication between Washington and Pearl Harbor and between Army and Navy, and bad luck contributed to the debacle. Almost everyone involved must share some of the blame, though almost all were hardworking men doing their best within their own limitations and the limitations of the system.

Prange is sympathetic in his criticism, but his conclusion is clear, if not comforting. In a summary chapter called ''The Verdict of History,'' Prange analyzes carefully what the American military commanders knew at the time of the attack and how they misunderstood what they knew. These failures to realize ''at all levels'' what their intelligence information really might have meant ''have a common denominator - the gap between knowledge of possible danger and belief in its existence,'' he writes, ''... yet it would be a mistake of the first magnitude to credit the success of the Pearl Harbor operation solely to American errors. We have seen how meticulously the Japanese perfected their planning; how diligently they trained their pilots and bombadiers; how they modified weapons to achieve maximum damage; how persistently they dredged up and utilized information about the U.S. Pacific Fleet. They balked at no hazard, ready to risk a wild leap to achieve their immediate ends.'' In other words, when Americans argue about placing blame for Pearl Harbor they should recognize that the enemy was real, and, in Prange's view, first class.