The images were mundane in a way that made them land harder than any battle footage: half-empty meal trays, a gray slab of processed meat, sailors rationing food among themselves so no one got more than anyone else.
I spent twenty-two years of my career keeping a small manufacturing plant in raw materials, without shutting the plant down for lack of supply. Why? Because if we ran out, the one hundred fifty people who worked there would be sent home without pay, and they and their families would suffer from my failure to do my job.
You know, our people get shot at in war zones, so the stakes of supply failure are immeasurably higher. So I’m asking myself, does anyone running the navy know the first thing about logistics, namely, You Don’t Let Yourself Run Dry?
My conclusion: sheer institutional incompetence, over decades. How the people running the navy can look themselves in the mirror is beyond me. We, the American people, need to clean house.
Your statement about logistics, coupled with Larry's explanation of the importance of supply ships--the Combat Logistics Force--brought to mind the old adage "An army marches on its stomach". As we are seeing now, and through history, the care and feeding of our soldiers is vital.
The marching quote is attributed to Frederick II of Prussia, who died in 1786. It has also been attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, but.he himself presided over one of history’s worst feats of army feeding, the starvation of half a million men in Russia. So he likely didn't utter the words, but what he did proved their importance and truth.
Please be reminded that the Russians burnt a swathe wide enough before the invading French army so that it could not live off the land. They also burnt their capital city to the ground to deny winter quarters to French troops. After the French were half starved and half frozen from the bitter Russian winter. Russian calvary constantly picked off stragglers during the long retreat from Moscow. Then and now, the Russians know how to play for keeps. The French army never recovered. Hitler’s army was destroyed, as well. There’s a lesson here for today. Don’t ever be deceived. Waging war on Russia is suicidal.
I apologize, John. I included the information about Napoleon's troops in Russia because it had been used on websites to say that Napoleon was not the author of the quote. For what it's worth, I do support Frederick II of Prussia as the author of the quote.
I admit that I did not know the full story of Napoleon's army invasion into Russia. I thank you for your enlightenment--I am the better for it. Thank you.
¨In this gripping tale, a decorated soldier uncovers a military cover-up, plunging into a dangerous quest for truth. Loyalties are tested as he delves deeper into the shadows of his past, risking everything for justice.¨ 1:43:39
The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard Paperback – Feb. 25 2014
by James G Burton (Author)
¨The author, an air force colonel and part of the movement, worked in the pentagon for fourteen years. He presents a view of the Department of Defense that only an insider could offer. He exposes serious flaws in the military policy-making process, particularly in weapons development and procuremen.¨
Q: What qualifications does a guy who was a TV News personality possess that make him a candidate to run the DOD? The secretary may have a lot of tattoos, but the emperor has no clothes. It seems like the current administration thinks only about narrative, and when the holes in the narrative become apparent to the public, they simply deny it.
Perhaps even more disturbing than the logistics failure itself is the institutional reaction to the news. Note the reflexive response of our peerless Secretary of War Hegsdeath to this as "fake news". This kind of thing has become so routine in the upper reaches of our government that it is uttered automatically any time someone dares to point out something wrong. This is the same mentality illustrated, for instance, in Trump's reaction to the Minab School bombing ("We didn't do it, the Iranians did, they bomb their own people"). When the reaction to news of a problem is "cover your ass" rather than "fix the problem", it is illustrative of organizational rot.
The Age of Accountability in this country, however much it ever was, is obviously over.
No goals, no plans, ignorance of ammunition supply amounts, and now it has come to light that there has been no thought to the care and feeding of the human treasure. This is how the Defense Dept., the decision-makers in the Pentagon, and the military advisors in the White House, have operated.
Missiles, drones, and bombs are important to these people, and so are the big warships. BUT...the ships are not inanimate objects like the first three. The machine-heads have ignored the living sailors. They have hurt and damaged the sailors. Many are guilty, and Despicable Hegseth bears full blame.
Armies run on food and fuel. You screw that up, you lose. Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte and Frederick the Great of Prussia, updated to add navies and to account for mechanized warfare following the lives and times of Napoleon and Frederick).
I have no respect for Hegseth or any other Trump loyalist, but where is the Navy Command structure in all of this?!!! How was this situation ever allowed to grow and fester without giant red flags going off within the Navy brass?!!
Sooner or later, Trump and his flunkies will be gone, and there better be hell to pay at the Pentagon and the M-I-C. It it beyond time for we, the American people, to clean house!!
I spent twenty-two years of my career keeping a small manufacturing plant in raw materials, without shutting the plant down for lack of supply. Why? Because if we ran out, the one hundred fifty people who worked there would be sent home without pay, and they and their families would suffer from my failure to do my job.
You know, our people get shot at in war zones, so the stakes of supply failure are immeasurably higher. So I’m asking myself, does anyone running the navy know the first thing about logistics, namely, You Don’t Let Yourself Run Dry?
My conclusion: sheer institutional incompetence, over decades. How the people running the navy can look themselves in the mirror is beyond me. We, the American people, need to clean house.
Your statement about logistics, coupled with Larry's explanation of the importance of supply ships--the Combat Logistics Force--brought to mind the old adage "An army marches on its stomach". As we are seeing now, and through history, the care and feeding of our soldiers is vital.
The marching quote is attributed to Frederick II of Prussia, who died in 1786. It has also been attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, but.he himself presided over one of history’s worst feats of army feeding, the starvation of half a million men in Russia. So he likely didn't utter the words, but what he did proved their importance and truth.
Please be reminded that the Russians burnt a swathe wide enough before the invading French army so that it could not live off the land. They also burnt their capital city to the ground to deny winter quarters to French troops. After the French were half starved and half frozen from the bitter Russian winter. Russian calvary constantly picked off stragglers during the long retreat from Moscow. Then and now, the Russians know how to play for keeps. The French army never recovered. Hitler’s army was destroyed, as well. There’s a lesson here for today. Don’t ever be deceived. Waging war on Russia is suicidal.
I apologize, John. I included the information about Napoleon's troops in Russia because it had been used on websites to say that Napoleon was not the author of the quote. For what it's worth, I do support Frederick II of Prussia as the author of the quote.
I admit that I did not know the full story of Napoleon's army invasion into Russia. I thank you for your enlightenment--I am the better for it. Thank you.
It reminds me the movie ¨The Pentagon Wars.¨ :)
¨In this gripping tale, a decorated soldier uncovers a military cover-up, plunging into a dangerous quest for truth. Loyalties are tested as he delves deeper into the shadows of his past, risking everything for justice.¨ 1:43:39
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNpGBTU_jt4
The Pentagon Wars - A product management lesson 9:07 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyakI9GeYRs
The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard Paperback – Feb. 25 2014
by James G Burton (Author)
¨The author, an air force colonel and part of the movement, worked in the pentagon for fourteen years. He presents a view of the Department of Defense that only an insider could offer. He exposes serious flaws in the military policy-making process, particularly in weapons development and procuremen.¨
PS: The Men Come First!
Q: What qualifications does a guy who was a TV News personality possess that make him a candidate to run the DOD? The secretary may have a lot of tattoos, but the emperor has no clothes. It seems like the current administration thinks only about narrative, and when the holes in the narrative become apparent to the public, they simply deny it.
You are correct, catfish.
They deny...and blame and LIE.
Perhaps even more disturbing than the logistics failure itself is the institutional reaction to the news. Note the reflexive response of our peerless Secretary of War Hegsdeath to this as "fake news". This kind of thing has become so routine in the upper reaches of our government that it is uttered automatically any time someone dares to point out something wrong. This is the same mentality illustrated, for instance, in Trump's reaction to the Minab School bombing ("We didn't do it, the Iranians did, they bomb their own people"). When the reaction to news of a problem is "cover your ass" rather than "fix the problem", it is illustrative of organizational rot.
The Age of Accountability in this country, however much it ever was, is obviously over.
Any team is only as strong as its weakest link, and the Navy just found theirs. I encourage them to leave the Gulf and find a nice spot in Norfolk.
And just stay there. Trouble making SOB USSA.
Giving 5,000 sailors fishing poles is probably out of the question.
No goals, no plans, ignorance of ammunition supply amounts, and now it has come to light that there has been no thought to the care and feeding of the human treasure. This is how the Defense Dept., the decision-makers in the Pentagon, and the military advisors in the White House, have operated.
Missiles, drones, and bombs are important to these people, and so are the big warships. BUT...the ships are not inanimate objects like the first three. The machine-heads have ignored the living sailors. They have hurt and damaged the sailors. Many are guilty, and Despicable Hegseth bears full blame.
You provide us with the poor background of US Navy at-see logistics ; fair enough.
But how is it that after a couple of weeks they did not build a B plan logistics ?
Armies run on food and fuel. You screw that up, you lose. Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte and Frederick the Great of Prussia, updated to add navies and to account for mechanized warfare following the lives and times of Napoleon and Frederick).
I have no respect for Hegseth or any other Trump loyalist, but where is the Navy Command structure in all of this?!!! How was this situation ever allowed to grow and fester without giant red flags going off within the Navy brass?!!
Sooner or later, Trump and his flunkies will be gone, and there better be hell to pay at the Pentagon and the M-I-C. It it beyond time for we, the American people, to clean house!!
To quote Andrei Martyanov the system is unfixable. This is how the US has lost "military supremacy."