Military Times reports Trump’s first Defense Budget includes a 2.1% Military pay hike for 2018, a bit less than the inflation rate, but still better than SCoaMF’s paltry 1.6%. They figure this will equate to around $50 a month for Enlisted, and $115 monthly for Officers with 6 years or more time in service.
If it passes, of course.
The US is sending a third carrier strike force to the Western Pacific, in what is seen as an unusual show of force. USS Nimitz will join two other super-carriers, USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan, already in the area. While the Navy hasn’t explicitly stated Nimitz is intended for operations around the Korean peninsula, but has said the carrier group is mobilized for the North Pacific and Middle East.
“I am so incredibly proud of the entire Nimitz team and the terrific coordination and support across the entire strike group, especially in such a condensed training cycle. The crew stepped up to the plate, and I’m confident we’re ready to meet whatever challenges lie ahead on our upcoming deployment,” said Captain Kevin Lenox, commanding officer of Nimitz.
Nimitz is accompanied with guided missile cruisers and destroyers.
Before and during World War 2, the countries involved all had covert operations in play led by some very creative folks. Germany had the Abwehr, a military intelligence organization whose purpose was defense against foreign espionage by gathering domestic and foreign information, most of it in the form of human intelligence. The Brits used the Special Operations Executive, formed by Minister of Economic Warfare to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe (and later, also in occupied Southeast Asia) against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements. Japan fielded The Kempeitai (Military Police Corps) a military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army. It was not a conventional military police, but more of a secret police.
The US, of course, had “Wild Bill” Donovan’s Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a wartime intelligence agency and the predecessor to today’s Central Intelligence Agency. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Few could top the OSS in the dirty tricks arena.
In 1942, the OSS recruited George Kistikowsky, a Ukrainian chemistry professor at Harvard University. There he developed an explosive powder for clandestine use. He created “nitroamine high-explosive” or HMX, that could be mixed with regular flour and cooked into innocuous baked goods.
The HMX would be blended with a popular pancake mix, packaged into ordinary flour bags, smuggled through Japanese lines, and delivered to Chinese resistance fighters. It was identical to your usual non-explosive pancake mix, and if necessary was safe to consume if forced by a suspicious Japanese border guard, with no ill effect other than slight stomach discomfort.
Once delivered, the weaponized mix was baked into muffins, and a blasting cap was added to give it the necessary kick.
Reportedly, some 15 tons were successfully delivered without detection.
Before considering offers from the professional sports leagues, all graduates of the Military Academies and Reserve Officer Training Corps must serve two years of active duty.
“The military academies and ROTC exist to develop future officers who enhance the readiness and lethality of our military services,” Mattis said.
“During their first two years following graduation, officers will serve as full-fledged military officers carrying out normal work and career expectations of an officer who has received the extraordinary benefits of an ROTC or military academy education at taxpayer expense,” he said.
This comes on the heels of Air Force Academy grads requesting waivers to join the Ready Reserve, and pursue careers in the NFL.
The policy will take effect this year, according to Pentagon spox Danna White. She also noted the Defense Department “…has a long history of officer athletes who served their nation before going to the pros, including Roger Staubach, Chad Hennings and David Robinson.”
Some academy grads have been allowed to enter the NFL draft prior to completing their two-year obligation, with Navy’s quarterback Keenan Reynolds being the most recent.
Personally, I’m all for it. My tax dollars aren’t supposed to be used to further professional sports.
31-year-old Mohamed Farah was sentenced to life in prison for his part in attacking a US Navy ship in 2010. Federal prosecutors alleged he was among seven Somali pirates who attacked USS Ashland. It didn’t go well.
The pirates mistook Ashland for a cargo vessel in the night time attack, and were quickly dispatched. After opening fire, the pirate’s skiff was disabled and one of their number killed. The rest were rescued and subsequently prosecuted in Federal court, and sentenced to various prison terms.
Life in prison has been the mandatory sentence for piracy since 1909; prior to that it was a capital offense.
Or are they? Seems, in order to receive more union benefits, Yale graduate students are entering in a hunger strike, right in front of Yale University’s President Peter Salovey’s home.
“Yale wants to make us wait and wait and wait … until we give up and go away,” the eight members of the graduate student union Local 33 announced. “We have committed ourselves to waiting without eating.” The university administration stated they understood the students concerns, but “…”strongly [urge] that students not put their health at risk or encourage others to do so.”
Sounds serious! Oh, wait. It’s a “symbolic” hunger strike. According to a Twitter post by a former Yale student, the protesters can leave and eat when they must.
The onerous conditions the students are protesting are a stipend of $30,000 annually, free health care, and their tuition paid in full. How the snowflakes survived this long is a mystery.
A non-hunger hunger strike is little more than stamping one’s feet and holding one’s breath ‘till blue, ‘till the demands are met. Childish, in other words.
The Israeli military attacked an arms cache belonging to the Iran-backed, Lebanese group Hezbollah on Thursday, as reported by both Syrian and rebel intelligence sources. The target contained advanced weapons sent by Iran, and was located near the airport in Damascus. Video of the strike showed a pre-dawn fire at the location, indicating fuel or explosives were detonated.
Syrian media claimed “Israeli aggression” caused explosions and damage to a military position southwest of the airport, but was vague on details.
Normally reticent to comment, Israel’s Intelligence Minister Katz stated, “The incident in Syria corresponds completely with Israel’s policy to act to prevent Iran’s smuggling of advanced weapons via Syria to Hezbollah.” PM Netanyahu affirmed, “…that whenever we receive intelligence that indicates an intention to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, we will act.”
An Israeli military spokeswoman refused to comment.
