G’day Mate, mind the dingos

I can’t possibly imagine two places on earth that are more opposite then Diego Garcia and Perth Australia. Finishing up a quick run somewhere in the Indian Ocean and pulling up next to a destroyer tender was welcome after all the excitement, but you quickly come to realize that if there was an end to […]

Mutiny? Not in my Navy…

To the best of my memory (and a search on Google) there has never been a mutiny on board a US Navy submarine. If there ever has been one, I am sure that one of my faithful fact checking readers will be reaching out to me. That’s cool. I hope I am not wrong since […]

First, they came for the copper…

I remember the famous poem by Reverend Martin Niemöller about not standing up for something because at least they weren’t coming for you. It has been used many times over the past fifty years to point out that even though your own ox might not be in danger of goring at this particular moment, after […]

How’s that Reset Button working for ya?

“We are the largest nuclear power,” Putin said, addressing supporters during a televised meeting. “And our partners have certain concerns and shake us so that we don’t forget who is the master of this planet, so that we remain obedient and feel that they have leverage to influence us within our own country.” http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20111208-315227.html Its […]

Hu Said What?

Normally I would think of a routine from an old Abbott and Costello movie when I see something a comical as the title of this post. Not this time though. Hu Jintao (the President of the People’s Republic of China) has been very vocal recently about upgrading and preparing the military in general and the […]

Angles and Dangles

I think every sub guy has his favorite boat and as I have indicated before, my favorite was the USS San Francisco (SSN 711). Maybe it was because I was on the pre-com crew and saw her come to life. Maybe it was just the combination of characters that served on her (many of us […]

Never Again

I enjoy reading the foreign press from time to time. Its nice to see how others in the world see things and of course its always a nice break from having to see our lapdog press cuddling up to the President with favorable stories about how great he is, what miracles he has achieved in […]

Seems like just yesterday…

Over 106 years ago, a group known as the Wobblies (IWW) was born in June of 1905 to organize all of the workers of the world into One Big Union The following is the preamble to the constitution for the International Workers of the World: “The working class and the employing class have nothing […]

2.6 million… Ready or Not

Some time ago, I posted a number of articles and references for people in the path of Hurricane Irene. As usual when I post about preparedness, I got a few folks feedback about “paranoia” and “let’s not get carried away Mac”. Fair enough. But as we sat in the living room last night having our […]

Target Rich Environment

Google the phrase “Target Rich Environment” and you will get about 5 million hits. One of my favorite quotes comes from a feel good movie released in 1986 Warning: PG 13 applies, if you are easily offended, skip past the quoted area “Top Gun” Maverick: This is what I call a target-rich environment. Goose: You […]