The List 5257 TGB
Good Wednesday Morning April 1 to all. ..A bit of history and some tidbits
Regards
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This Day In Naval History – April 1
1893
Navy General Order 409 establishes the rate of Chief Petty Officer.
1899
A landing party of 60 men from USS Philadelphia (C 4) and a force of 100 friendly natives join 62 men from HMS Porpoise and Royal Isle in Samoa to establish order over Samoan throne.
1943
USS Shad (SS 235) torpedoes and damages the Italian blockade runner Pietro Orseolo, shortly after the Italian ship reaches the Bay of Biscay and her escort of four German destroyers.
1945
Under heavy naval gunfire and aircraft support, U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops begin the invasion of Okinawa, the last major amphibious assault of World War II.
1967 - Helicopter squadron HAL 3 activated at Vung Tau
1991
USS Marvin Shields (FF 1066) arrives at her home port of San Diego, Calif. She is the first West Coast ship to return to CONUS from Operation Desert Storm.
2007
The last US Navy T-2C Buckeye, assigned to VX-20, retires to Patuxent River Naval Air Museum.
Thanks to CHINFO
Executive Summary:
• Navy Secretary Thomas Modly visited USNS Mercy as the hospital ship provides relief to Los Angeles area hospitals, reports the Orange County Register.
• Seapower Magazine interviewed CNO Adm. Mike Gilday on fleet readiness and 2021 budget priorities.
• Multiple outlets reported on U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. John Aquilino's plan to contain the outbreak on USS Theodore Roosevelt following letter from the commanding officer requesting quarantine of most of the ship's crew.
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This day in World history April 1, 2019
0408 Theodosius II succeeds to the throne of Constantinople.
1308 King Albert is murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
1486 Christopher Columbus convinces Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.
1805 The state of Virginia passes a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville begins as Union General Joe Hooker starts his three-pronged attack against Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
1867 Reconstruction in the South begins with black voter registration.
1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.
1898 The U.S. Navy under Commdore George Dewey defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.
1915 The British luxury liner Lusitania leaves New York Harbor for a voyage to Europe. A week later it would be torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat.
1927 Adolf Hitler holds his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
1931 The Empire State Building opens in New York.
1934 The Philippine legislature accepts a U.S. proposal for independence.
1937 President Franklin Roosevelt signs an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.
1944 The Messerschmitt Me 262, the first combat jet, makes its first flight.
1945 Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escapes the Führerbunker as the Red Army advances on Berlin.
1948 North Korea is established.
1950 Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.
1960 Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia.
1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba.
1968 In the second day of battle, U.S. Marines, with the support of naval fire, continue their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do. See the article below On Capt Jay Vargas and his Medal of Honor at the battle Of Dai Do
1970 Students from Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, Ohio, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.
1986 The Tass News Agency reports the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
2011 Osama Bin Laden is killed in Abbottabad Pakistan by US Navy SEALS in Operation Neptune Spear.
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1700
April Fools' tradition popularized
On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other. Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery.
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Medal of Honor Winner Story Capt Jay Vargas at the Battle at Dai Do.
Col Jay Vargas USMC Ret now lives in Poway and for many years he has eaten breakfast a few feet from me every Saturday Morning. I did not know the entire story of his medal until now.
Speaking of which, here is one amazing story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HifI6wQfXZI
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http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html
April Fools' Day: Origin and History
The uncertain origins of a foolish day
by David Johnson and Shmuel Ross
April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar.
New Year's Day Moves
Ancient cultures, including those of the Romans and Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.
Problems With This Explanation
There are at least two difficulties with this explanation. The first is that it doesn't fully account for the spread of April Fools' Day to other European countries. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted by England until 1752, for example, but April Fools' Day was already well established there by that point. The second is that we have no direct historical evidence for this explanation, only conjecture, and that conjecture appears to have been made more recently.
Constantine and Kugel
Another explanation of the origins of April Fools' Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.
"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."
This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.
Spring Fever
It is worth noting that many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis. The Hindu calendar has Holi, and the Jewish calendar has Purim. Perhaps there's something about the time of year, with its turn from winter to spring, that lends itself to lighthearted celebrations.
Observances Around the World
April Fools' Day is observed throughout the Western world. Practices include sending someone on a "fool's errand," looking for things that don't exist; playing pranks; and trying to get people to believe ridiculous things.
The French call April 1 Poisson d'Avril, or "April Fish." French children sometimes tape a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates, crying "Poisson d'Avril" when the prank is discovered.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-03-28/opinion/ct-perspec-0328-things-20100328_1_history-of-april-fools-fools-prank-fools-day
10 things you might not know about April Fools' Day
March 28, 2010|By Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer
We're just a few days from April 1, a notorious time for hoaxes. We could have waited, but we figured you might not trust these 10 facts if they were printed on April Fools' Day. All indeed are true. Really. No kidding. We promise.
1 The origin of April Fools' Day may be lost to history. One theory centers on people confused by the transition to the Gregorian calendar, but even before that time, there were April Fools'-like hoaxes. In 1983, Boston University professor Joseph Boskin said the practice began when court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor Constantine that they could do a better job than he does, and Constantine made one of them king for a day. Many newspapers picked up Boskin's story — which was an April Fools' Day joke.
2 Ranked by the Museum of Hoaxes as the best April Fools' prank ever was a 1957 BBC report about Switzerland experiencing an early spaghetti harvest. The television show included video of peasants pulling spaghetti from trees and explained that a uniform length for the spaghetti had been achieved through expert cultivation. The BBC got hundreds of phone calls, with most callers asking serious questions, such as where could they buy spaghetti trees.
3 Oh, those Brits. Astronomer Patrick Moore told BBC Radio 2 on April 1, 1976, that the alignment of the planets Pluto and Jupiter would cause a temporary decrease in Earth's gravity at 9:47 a.m. If people jumped in the air at that time, Moore said, they would float for a short while. Indeed, many listeners called the station to say they had floated.
4 Most people know they need to read the Web with a healthy skepticism, but that doesn't mean hoaxes about the Internet don't catch the unwary. In 1994, PC Computing magazine wrote that Congress was considering a bill making it illegal to surf the Internet while drunk. The outcry was great enough that Sen. Edward Kennedy was forced to deny being the sponsor of the nonexistent legislation. In 1996, an e-mail, purportedly from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, informed people that the Internet would be shut down for a day for spring cleaning. The day that users were told to disconnect computers? April 1.
5 In 1997, newspaper readers found chaos on the comic pages. Billy from "Family Circus" was joking with Dilbert. The "Family Circus" mom sported a Dilbert boss-like pointy hairdo. What was going on? The Great Comic Switcheroo. Urged on by "Baby Blues" creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, more than 40 cartoonists swapped strips for the day. Among the other switches: Blondie and Garfield, and Shoe and Beetle Bailey.
6 Chicago's WXRT-FM 93.1 has a history of April Fools' hoaxes going back to the 1970s. In 1980, the station promoted the Mayor Jane Byrne April Fool Fest on Navy Pier. On a warm spring day, hundreds of people showed up at what was then a rather derelict padlocked Navy Pier to hear live music, despite the fact that some of the promised artists were dead. In 1998, the station announced it had been purchased by Playboy, was changing the call letters to XXXRT and was touting itself as True Adult Radio. Outraged listeners not only bombarded the station with calls, but also Playboy.
7 Chicago's downtown streets devolved into gantlets of tomfoolery in the 1880s and 1890s when armies of newsboys gathered to harass and taunt passers-by. In 1880, the Tribune reported that one ingenious youngster created a wooden apparatus that chalked the words "April Fool" when tapped lightly on a victim's back.
8 Australian businessman Dick Smith had long discussed his plans to tow an iceberg from Antarctica into Sydney Harbor so he could sell especially pure ice cubes to the public for 10 cents apiece. So when a barge towed a huge white object into the harbor on April 1, 1978, Sydney residents got excited. But then it rained, which dissolved the faux berg — a giant mound of firefighting foam and shaving cream that had been piled on sheets of white plastic.
9 On April 1, 1998, Burger King took out a full-page ad in USA Today to announce a fast-food breakthrough: the Left-handed Whopper. It featured the same ingredients as the regular Whopper, except the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. According to Burger King, thousands of customers requested the new burger, and others asked for a right-handed version.
10 Among the true things that have happened in April 1: The first speaker of the House was elected (1789); American forces landed on Okinawa (1945); the first U.S. weather satellite was launched (1960); and Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple (1976). Born on April 1, 1929, were Czech author Milan Kundera ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being") and University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler ("The Unbearable Heaviness of Losing to Ohio State").
Mark Jacob is the Tribune's editor in charge of putting in commas. Stephan Benzkofer takes out commas for the Tribune.
Sources: museumofhoaxes.com, snopes.com, infoplease.com, The Independent of London, St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, babyblues.com, WXRT-FM 93.1, and Tribune news services.
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Thanks to Rabbit who says
Thought these might lighten the mood on the List.
Rabbit
1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye - doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whisky - maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber - band pistol was confiscated from an algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
9. A hole has been found in the nudist - camp wall. The police are looking into it.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
17. A backward poet writes inverse.
18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.
19 . When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.
21. A vulture carrying two dead raccoons boards an airplane. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'
22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says , 'Dam!'
23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says , 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'
25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root - canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.
26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.
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Marines to adapt approach to rising China
Commandant aims to dissolve tank companies as part of plan
BY BEN WOLFGANG THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Marine Corps plans to give up its tanks, dramatically remake its artillery batteries, cut its helicopter fleet and take a host of other "radical" steps in arguably the most sweeping American military overhaul in a century — all with the goal of preparing for a potential 21st-century conflict with China.
And a little global pandemic hasn't stopped the Corps from hitting a very different beach.
Seventy-five years after storming beaches at Iwo Jima, Marine Corps leaders unveiled a blueprint this month concluding that the branch's traditional approach no longer meets the nation's needs.
"The Marine Corps we have been building for many years now is increasingly out of step with the problems they're going to face" in confronting China, said Chris Brose, chief strategy officer at Anduril Industries and former staff director for the
Senate Armed Services Committee. "There are reasons for why that is the case," he added. "The Marine Corps has borne the burden of a lot of the deployments overseas post-9/11. They were optimizing for a different set of challenges."
Pentagon officials argue that China's rapidly improving military capabilities make the prospect of a traditional Iwo Jima-type shore landing exceedingly
unlikely, and the Corps instead will shift its resources toward becoming a "standing" force that can operate within enemy range rather than fighting its way into theater from the sea.
In a sweeping planning document released last week, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger laid out a host of other major changes designed to remake the service with the recognition that preparing for a World War II-style conflict — or even a major ground- and air-based operation such as the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq — can no longer be the service's top priority. Some critics are already arguing that the new approach is too China-centric, but top Marine officials stress that now is the time for systematic change.
"I am convinced that the defining attributes of our current force design are no longer what the nation requires of the Marine Corps," Gen. Berger said in the document, which lays out a decade-long plan to shift the service into a more modern role. "With the shift in our primary focus to great power competition and a renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific region, the current force has shortfalls in capabilities needed to support emerging joint, naval and Marine Corps operating concepts."
Aside from the broad shift toward preparing for conflict with China in the Pacific, Gen. Berger calls for a host of more specific changes to standard Marine Corps operations. Perhaps the most notable — and divisive — is a plan to fully scrap the Corps' seven tank companies.
Under the new guidance, the Army would take over full responsibility for tanks that would be used in major ground combat operations. The document also calls on the Marine Corps to cut the number of engineering "bridging companies," suggesting a move away from more traditional ground-based combat operations and toward a focus on island conflicts in places such as the South China Sea.
The Marine Corps is also adopting a new approach to artillery, moving from cannon batteries to missile and rocket batteries under the belief that the service may not need to support large-scale ground troop movements as it has in the past. Instead, the Corps will focus on anti-ship artillery and longer-range
weapons capable of hitting enemy targets from greater distances.
At its core, Gen. Berger's revamped approach charts a course for a Marine Corps that is more nimble and able to provide unique capabilities. The guidance also calls for a more distributed force structure, which analysts say is designed explicitly with China in mind.
"Small Marine forces would deploy around the islands of the first island chain and the South China Sea, each element having the ability to contest the surrounding air and naval space using anti-air and anti-ship missiles," Mark Cancian, senior adviser with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine Corps colonel, wrote in a recent analysis of the Marine Corps' plan. "Collectively, these forces would hem in Chinese forces, prevent them from moving outward, and ultimately, as part of a joint campaign, squeeze them back to the Chinese homeland."
"Implementation [of the Marine Corps plan] will be a 10-year effort that makes the radical changes that the guidance implied. The restructured Marine Corps will focus single-mindedly on a conflict with China in the Western Pacific c" and structure all of its efforts with such a scenario in mind, he said.
The force itself, Gen. Berger said, can be smaller.
His blueprint calls for "the reduction of approximately 12,000 Marines relative to the current total force by 2030," underscoring the belief that the Marine Corps may shift away from being a major ground combat force in its own right.
Officials say the smaller force will be designed to operate, survive and thrive inside an enemy's "weapons engagement zone," the area vulnerable to an adversary's long-range precision fire capabilities. The approach suggests that the Marine Corps envisions having to operate on islands or other areas within China's range.
Such missions, while clearly dangerous, would be vital to the U.S. military's success.
"These stand-in forces attrite adversary forces, enable joint force access requirements, complicate targeting and consume adversary … resources, and prevent fait accompli scenarios," Gen. Berger wrote.
The close-in Marine deployments, in other words, would complicate life for Beijing's military planners, buy time for U.S. and allied forces to coalesce in a shooting war and prevent China from a lightning strike that would force the U.S. to either stand down or escalate sharply.
The strategy certainly carries risk. Mr. Cancian warned that the "new Marine Corps faces major risks if the future is different from that envisioned" or if the changeover proves more difficult than expected to implement.
Other specialists say the Marine Corps is simply confronting reality and is long overdue in doing so.
"This is a fundamentally different type of challenge, particularly when you look at China," said Mr. Brose, the former top Senate staffer. "China is more than a great power. China is emerging as a peer competitor of the United States, and a peer competitor is not something [the U.S.] has faced since its own rise to global preeminence."
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/30/marine-corps-cuts-helicopters-tanks-possible-china/
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Thanks to Barrel
Half the world's airlines gone?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielreed/2020/03/17/could-covid-19-really-wipe-out-half-the-worlds-airlines-and-change-global-aviation-forever-at-least-one-keen-observer-thinks-so/#3157a6ff20bf
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Thanks to Carl
Now this is the right attitude!!
A 95-year-old veteran battled coronavirus and won: 'I survived the foxholes of Guam, I can get through this bulls**t'
He lived through the Great Depression, WWII, and now COVID-19
https://www.theblaze.com/news/95-year-old-veteran-beats-coronavirus?utm_source=theblaze-dailyPM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__PM 2020-03-31&utm_term=TheBlaze Daily PM - last 270 day
World News from Military Periscope for 1 April
USA—Crew Evacuated From Roosevelt Carrier Over COVID-19 Outbreak Defense One | 04/01/2020 The U.S. Navy is removing most of the crew an aircraft carrier hard hit by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), reports Defense One. On Tuesday, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told CNN that most personnel aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt would be temporarily removed so that the ship could be disinfected. The carrier has been in Guam for a port visit. The island does not have sufficient beds to accommodate the crew for the necessary quarantine period, so arrangements are being made to find hotel rooms or tent facilities, said Modly. About 10 percent of the crew will remain onboard to perform vital operations, he said. The announcement came a day after the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier, wrote a letter to Navy officials asking for immediate intervention, according to a copy of the letter published by the San Francisco Chronicle. Necessary quarantine measures were not possible due to the limited space for the approximately 4,000 sailors onboard, said Crozier. Since the ship left San Diego in January for a scheduled deployment, more than 200 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed onboard. Navy officials emphasized that none of those who tested positive had been hospitalized.
USA—AFRICOM To Publish Report On Investigations Into Civilian Casualties Africa Command | 04/01/2020 U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) says it will soon publish its first quarterly report on allegations of civilian casualties. By the end of April, the first of these studies will be made public, said an AFRICOM release on Tuesday. The reports will cover new allegations and the status of existing investigations into civilian casualties. The move comes after years of criticism over the command's lack of transparency concerning such incidents. AFRICOM has admitted to one incident leading to the deaths of two civilians in its 13-year history, noted the Defense Post. Rights groups have identified numerous credible allegations of civilian casualties, caused in particular by strikes against Al-Shabaab in Somalia.
USA—Another 18 Poseidon Patrol Aircraft Ordered Dept. Of Defense | 04/01/2020 The Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Boeing a contract for another batch of maritime patrol aircraft, reports the Dept. of Defense. The $1.55 billion deal covers 18 Lot 11 P-8A Poseidons for the U.S. and Foreign Military Sales customers, said a Pentagon release on March 30. The Navy will receive eight of the aircraft; the New Zealand air force, four; and the South Korean navy, six, reported Boeing. The New Zealand and South Korean Poseidons will be in the same configuration as those ordered by the Navy, the company said. New Zealand is scheduled to begin taking delivery of its P-8s in 2022, with the first aircraft for South Korea due to be handed over in 2023. Work under the contract is scheduled to be completed by October 2023.
USA—New KC-46 Tankers Leak Fuel Aviation Week And Space Technology | 04/01/2020 The U.S. Air Force has revealed another critical problem with its new aerial tankers being purchased from Boeing, reports Aviation Week & Space Technology. On March 30, the Air Force announced that the KC-46 tankers were excessively leaking fuel. The issue was discovered in July 2019 during an aerial refueling test and has since been upgraded to a Category 1 deficiency, the most serious classification, reported Air Force magazine. Sixteen aircraft have been identified with the issue, seven of which have been repaired, according to a Boeing spokesman cited by Defense News. The fuel system is fitted with redundant protection. Maintenance personnel have discovered fuel between the primary and secondary fuel protection barriers, said Boeing in a statement. Boeing is responsible for the full cost of the fixes under the fixed-price contract with the Air Force. The fuel leaks are the latest critical problem to affect the KC-46, which the Air Force says will not deploy operationally until the issues are resolved. USA—
Space Force Declares IOC For Space Fence U.S. Space Force | 04/01/2020 U.S. Space Force has declared initial operational capability (IOC) for the service's newest space surveillance asset. On March 27, Space Force Brig. Gen. DeAnna Burt, director of operations and communications, formally declared that the Space Fence radar system had reached IOC and operational acceptance. Space Fence, developed by Lockheed Martin under a $914 million contract awarded in June 2014, consists of a single solid-state S-band radar located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, noted C4ISRNet. The radar can track objects smaller than 4 inches (10 cm) enabling the service to significantly increase the number of objects it tracks as part of the Space Surveillance Network. Space Fence provides precise positional data for space awareness to maintain a robust and accurate space object catalog, ensure orbital safety and provide early warning of potential collisions and threats, said Space Force. The 20th Space Control Squadron in Huntsville, Ala., operates the system. The complete system cost $1.5 billion, reported Space News.
Lithuania—Navy Orders Additional K-Ster Mine Clearance UUVs ECA Group | 04/01/2020 The Lithuanian navy has ordered an additional batch of K-Ster mine-disposal vehicles from ECA Group, reports the French defense firm. The value of the contract and number of systems involved was not disclosed. The Lithuanian navy was one of the first to employ the K-Ster when it entered service in 2009. The system is currently in use by over 20 navies and has been chosen as part of the mine-countermeasures modernization program for the Belgian and Dutch navies. The K-Ster, which can be operated from ships and land, is designed to neutralize sea-bottom mines, floating mines, historical mines and smart mines using a tiltable shaped charge.
Turkey—Gas Imports From Iran Halted After Pipeline Blast Middle East Eye | 04/01/2020 A pipeline carrying natural gas from Iran to Turkey has been shut down after an explosion, reports the Middle East Eye. On Tuesday, a blast at the pipeline near the Gurbulak border crossing in Turkey's eastern Agri province stopped the flow of gas, reported the Anadolu Agency (Ankara). The cause of the blast was not immediately known. An Iranian energy official blamed it on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The pipeline was a frequent target for PKK militants before a cease-fire was reached in 2013, noted Reuters. Repairs are expected to take three to four days to complete.
European Union—New Mission To Enforce Arms Embargo On Libya Council Of The European Union | 04/01/2020 The Council of the European Union, consisting of representatives of the European member states, has launched a new joint operation to enforce the U.N. arms embargo against Libya. On March 31, the council formally launched Operation EUNAVFOR MED Irini, which will implement the U.N. embargo through the use of space, air and maritime assets, said a council release on Tuesday. Its primary mission will be to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya that are suspected of carrying weapons or related materiel to or from Libya. Secondary missions include monitoring illegal exports of petroleum products from Libya; support the strengthening of the Libyan coast guard and navy; and disrupting human-trafficking and smuggling networks in the region through aerial intelligence-gathering. Irini will permanently replace the Sophia joint naval operation, which was formed in June 2015 to monitor migration in the Mediterranean. Italian navy Rear Adm. Fabio Agostini will serve as E.U. operation commander from a headquarters in Rome. The mission is authorized through March 31, 2021.
China—PLA Helo Goes Down In Hong Kong South China Morning Post | 04/01/2020 A People's Liberation army (PLA) helicopter has crashed near its garrison in Hong Kong, reports the South China Morning Post. On Monday, the helicopter went down in Tai Lam Country Park, said the state Security Bureau. A Chinese-language statement used the word "crash" to describe the incident, while a statement in English called it an accident, noted the newspaper. There was no damage to people or property, said a PLA statement. Reports cited by the Asia Times said that as many as four people onboard might have been killed. The local garrison in Hong Kong is leading the investigation. The PLA garrison operates Z-9 utility helicopters and Z-8 transport helicopters, noted the Times. This is the first time a PLA aircraft has crashed in Hong Kong since the U.K. handed over the city to Beijing in 1997.
Taiwan—U.S. Continues Monitoring Ops In S. China Sea Central News Agency | 04/01/2020 The U.S. military continues to operate in the airspace near Taiwan, reports the semi-official Central News Agency (Taipei). On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft flew over the South China Sea south of the island, reported the monitoring group Aircraft Spots. Taiwanese officials said that its military continues to monitor the country's airspace. This is the fourth time that U.S. military aircraft have operated near Taiwan in the last week. Last week, an EP-3E ARIES II intelligence aircraft, B-52 Stratofortress bombers and RC-135U reconnaissance aircraft were observed flying in the vicinity of Taiwan. The operations are intended to demonstrate U.S. support for Taiwan's defense amid increasing Chinese operations and despite the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
South Korea—Civilian Employees Furloughed As Cost-Sharing Deal With U.S. Lapses Yonhap | 04/01/2020 About half of the South Korean civilians working for U.S. Forces Korea have been furloughed with the end of the cost-sharing accord with the U.S., reports the Yonhap news agency (Seoul). On Wednesday, about half of the 9,000 civilian employees working at U.S. bases on the peninsula were furloughed after the Special Measures Agreement expired. The accord lays out the costs Seoul covers for the stationing of American troops on its territory,. Personnel who work in areas of life, health, safety and other essential services will continue to be paid by the U.S., said the U.S. Dept. of the Army. Gen. Robert Adams, the USFK chief, called the situation "unfortunate" and "unthinkable" and urged both governments to quickly conclude a deal. South Korean and U.S. negotiators have reached a tentative agreement, a government source told the Korea Times. The current draft envisions a five-year timeframe, said the source, without providing additional details. Prior to last year, the SMA had a five-year term. The Trump administration declined to negotiate a new five-year deal at that time. The U.S. position, which originally called for a fivefold increase in the South Korea's share of the costs, appears to have changed since a March 24 conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae In and President Trump. Following that phone call, South Korean firms began preparing to export testing kits for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), after winning approval for them from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Afghanistan—Government Set To Begin Releasing Taliban Prisoners Reuters | 04/01/2020 The Afghan government will free some Taliban prisoners this week as part of confidence-building measures in support of a peace deal between the Taliban and the U.S., reports Reuters. On Tuesday, three Taliban representatives arrived in Kabul to begin the process of transferring prisoners to the militant group. An initial batch of at least 100 fighters will be released soon, said a Taliban spokesman. The parties will then assess the viability of releasing 100 fighters per day. The sides are still discussing the mechanisms of the release, including medical checks and transportation, said the spokesman. The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak complicates the exchange, he said. On Feb. 29, the U.S. signed an agreement with the Taliban to draw down the number of American troops in Afghanistan and limit their involvement in the conflict. The deal was supposed to lead to direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, but President Ashraf Ghani rejected a mass release of Taliban prisoners held in government jails as called for in the accord. Ghani has since indicated a willingness to release Taliban prisoners, but has said that only a gradual release will be considered.
Syria—Israeli Jets Hit Airbase In Homs Syrian Observatory for Human Rights | 04/01/2020 Suspected Israeli jets have launched another round of airstrikes in Syria, reports the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (U.K.). On Tuesday, Israeli jets launched missiles from Lebanese airspace on targets east of Homs in western Syria, reported the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). The news agency claimed that Syrian air defenses intercepted some of the missiles. Unnamed sources told the observatory that eight missiles targeted a cargo plane that had just arrived at the Al Shayrat airbase from the T-4 airbase. The airbase is home to the Syrian air force's 50th Air Brigade. The strikes also targeted missile bases belonging to Iranian militias, reported the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen television channel. There were no immediate reports of casualties. On Wednesday, significant material damage was reported, according to the Jerusalem Post. Israel has frequently attacked personnel and equipment arriving in Syria from Iran.
Yemen—Houthis Continue To Negotiate With Saudis Wall Street Journal | 04/01/2020 Saudi officials have been holding talks with Houthi rebels to bring an end to the conflict in Yemen since September, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Saudi government has invited the Houthis to Riyadh for talks with the internationally-recognized government in Yemen as part of a U.N.-led process, a Saudi official told the newspaper. The Houthis, who are supported by Iran, have not yet responded to the offer, said Mohammed al-Jaber, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen. Fighting has continued despite the talks. On Saturday, the rebels launched missiles at sites in Riyadh and cities in southern Saudi Arabia. The Saudis responded with attacks on rebel-held Sanaa, the former Yemeni capital. That talks are continuing despite ongoing attacks indicates that Riyadh wants to extricate itself from the bloody conflict, said analysts.
Mali—French-Led Special Ops Task Force Established For Mali Mission Defence Web | 04/01/2020 In a joint statement, France and 12 other partner nations have officially established a joint special operations force for Mali, reports Defence Web (South Africa). On March 27, the defense ministers and representatives from France, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Mali, Niger, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the U.K. met over videoconference to formally launch Task Force Tabuka. The task force will consist of around 500 European special operations personnel, including around 100 French troops, who will operate largely in the Liptako region in Mali, which borders Burkina Faso and Niger. The force will work alongside the Malian and Nigerian armies, reported Al Jazeera (Qatar). Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands and Portugal have committed to participating in the task force. Czechia and Sweden are also expected to send troops, reported the Estonian Ministry of Defense. The task force is scheduled to reach initial operational capability this summer, with full operational capability to follow in early 2021.
Nigeria—Boko Haram Leader Killed In Borno Clash Channels Television | 04/01/2020 The Nigerian Defense Ministry has confirmed that a Boko Haram commander was killed in recent fighting with Nigerian troops in the northeastern Borno state, reports Channels Television (Lagos). On March 22, Nigerian forces conducting a clearance mission encountered a large Boko Haram force near Gorgi in the Damboa district. The military said that it killed 100 militants and wounded scores others during the clash. Nigerian intelligence confirmed that Abu Usamah was killed in the battle. His body was evacuated by other militants. His death was a blow to the organization, which now has a significant leadership vacuum, Nigerian military officials said.
Good Wednesday Morning April 1 to all. ..A bit of history and some tidbits
Regards
Skip
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This Day In Naval History – April 1
1893
Navy General Order 409 establishes the rate of Chief Petty Officer.
1899
A landing party of 60 men from USS Philadelphia (C 4) and a force of 100 friendly natives join 62 men from HMS Porpoise and Royal Isle in Samoa to establish order over Samoan throne.
1943
USS Shad (SS 235) torpedoes and damages the Italian blockade runner Pietro Orseolo, shortly after the Italian ship reaches the Bay of Biscay and her escort of four German destroyers.
1945
Under heavy naval gunfire and aircraft support, U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops begin the invasion of Okinawa, the last major amphibious assault of World War II.
1967 - Helicopter squadron HAL 3 activated at Vung Tau
1991
USS Marvin Shields (FF 1066) arrives at her home port of San Diego, Calif. She is the first West Coast ship to return to CONUS from Operation Desert Storm.
2007
The last US Navy T-2C Buckeye, assigned to VX-20, retires to Patuxent River Naval Air Museum.
Thanks to CHINFO
Executive Summary:
• Navy Secretary Thomas Modly visited USNS Mercy as the hospital ship provides relief to Los Angeles area hospitals, reports the Orange County Register.
• Seapower Magazine interviewed CNO Adm. Mike Gilday on fleet readiness and 2021 budget priorities.
• Multiple outlets reported on U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. John Aquilino's plan to contain the outbreak on USS Theodore Roosevelt following letter from the commanding officer requesting quarantine of most of the ship's crew.
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This day in World history April 1, 2019
0408 Theodosius II succeeds to the throne of Constantinople.
1308 King Albert is murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
1486 Christopher Columbus convinces Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.
1805 The state of Virginia passes a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville begins as Union General Joe Hooker starts his three-pronged attack against Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
1867 Reconstruction in the South begins with black voter registration.
1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.
1898 The U.S. Navy under Commdore George Dewey defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.
1915 The British luxury liner Lusitania leaves New York Harbor for a voyage to Europe. A week later it would be torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat.
1927 Adolf Hitler holds his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
1931 The Empire State Building opens in New York.
1934 The Philippine legislature accepts a U.S. proposal for independence.
1937 President Franklin Roosevelt signs an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.
1944 The Messerschmitt Me 262, the first combat jet, makes its first flight.
1945 Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escapes the Führerbunker as the Red Army advances on Berlin.
1948 North Korea is established.
1950 Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.
1960 Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia.
1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba.
1968 In the second day of battle, U.S. Marines, with the support of naval fire, continue their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do. See the article below On Capt Jay Vargas and his Medal of Honor at the battle Of Dai Do
1970 Students from Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, Ohio, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.
1986 The Tass News Agency reports the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
2011 Osama Bin Laden is killed in Abbottabad Pakistan by US Navy SEALS in Operation Neptune Spear.
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1700
April Fools' tradition popularized
On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other. Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery.
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Medal of Honor Winner Story Capt Jay Vargas at the Battle at Dai Do.
Col Jay Vargas USMC Ret now lives in Poway and for many years he has eaten breakfast a few feet from me every Saturday Morning. I did not know the entire story of his medal until now.
Speaking of which, here is one amazing story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HifI6wQfXZI
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http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html
April Fools' Day: Origin and History
The uncertain origins of a foolish day
by David Johnson and Shmuel Ross
April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar.
New Year's Day Moves
Ancient cultures, including those of the Romans and Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.
Problems With This Explanation
There are at least two difficulties with this explanation. The first is that it doesn't fully account for the spread of April Fools' Day to other European countries. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted by England until 1752, for example, but April Fools' Day was already well established there by that point. The second is that we have no direct historical evidence for this explanation, only conjecture, and that conjecture appears to have been made more recently.
Constantine and Kugel
Another explanation of the origins of April Fools' Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.
"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."
This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.
Spring Fever
It is worth noting that many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis. The Hindu calendar has Holi, and the Jewish calendar has Purim. Perhaps there's something about the time of year, with its turn from winter to spring, that lends itself to lighthearted celebrations.
Observances Around the World
April Fools' Day is observed throughout the Western world. Practices include sending someone on a "fool's errand," looking for things that don't exist; playing pranks; and trying to get people to believe ridiculous things.
The French call April 1 Poisson d'Avril, or "April Fish." French children sometimes tape a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates, crying "Poisson d'Avril" when the prank is discovered.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-03-28/opinion/ct-perspec-0328-things-20100328_1_history-of-april-fools-fools-prank-fools-day
10 things you might not know about April Fools' Day
March 28, 2010|By Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer
We're just a few days from April 1, a notorious time for hoaxes. We could have waited, but we figured you might not trust these 10 facts if they were printed on April Fools' Day. All indeed are true. Really. No kidding. We promise.
1 The origin of April Fools' Day may be lost to history. One theory centers on people confused by the transition to the Gregorian calendar, but even before that time, there were April Fools'-like hoaxes. In 1983, Boston University professor Joseph Boskin said the practice began when court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor Constantine that they could do a better job than he does, and Constantine made one of them king for a day. Many newspapers picked up Boskin's story — which was an April Fools' Day joke.
2 Ranked by the Museum of Hoaxes as the best April Fools' prank ever was a 1957 BBC report about Switzerland experiencing an early spaghetti harvest. The television show included video of peasants pulling spaghetti from trees and explained that a uniform length for the spaghetti had been achieved through expert cultivation. The BBC got hundreds of phone calls, with most callers asking serious questions, such as where could they buy spaghetti trees.
3 Oh, those Brits. Astronomer Patrick Moore told BBC Radio 2 on April 1, 1976, that the alignment of the planets Pluto and Jupiter would cause a temporary decrease in Earth's gravity at 9:47 a.m. If people jumped in the air at that time, Moore said, they would float for a short while. Indeed, many listeners called the station to say they had floated.
4 Most people know they need to read the Web with a healthy skepticism, but that doesn't mean hoaxes about the Internet don't catch the unwary. In 1994, PC Computing magazine wrote that Congress was considering a bill making it illegal to surf the Internet while drunk. The outcry was great enough that Sen. Edward Kennedy was forced to deny being the sponsor of the nonexistent legislation. In 1996, an e-mail, purportedly from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, informed people that the Internet would be shut down for a day for spring cleaning. The day that users were told to disconnect computers? April 1.
5 In 1997, newspaper readers found chaos on the comic pages. Billy from "Family Circus" was joking with Dilbert. The "Family Circus" mom sported a Dilbert boss-like pointy hairdo. What was going on? The Great Comic Switcheroo. Urged on by "Baby Blues" creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, more than 40 cartoonists swapped strips for the day. Among the other switches: Blondie and Garfield, and Shoe and Beetle Bailey.
6 Chicago's WXRT-FM 93.1 has a history of April Fools' hoaxes going back to the 1970s. In 1980, the station promoted the Mayor Jane Byrne April Fool Fest on Navy Pier. On a warm spring day, hundreds of people showed up at what was then a rather derelict padlocked Navy Pier to hear live music, despite the fact that some of the promised artists were dead. In 1998, the station announced it had been purchased by Playboy, was changing the call letters to XXXRT and was touting itself as True Adult Radio. Outraged listeners not only bombarded the station with calls, but also Playboy.
7 Chicago's downtown streets devolved into gantlets of tomfoolery in the 1880s and 1890s when armies of newsboys gathered to harass and taunt passers-by. In 1880, the Tribune reported that one ingenious youngster created a wooden apparatus that chalked the words "April Fool" when tapped lightly on a victim's back.
8 Australian businessman Dick Smith had long discussed his plans to tow an iceberg from Antarctica into Sydney Harbor so he could sell especially pure ice cubes to the public for 10 cents apiece. So when a barge towed a huge white object into the harbor on April 1, 1978, Sydney residents got excited. But then it rained, which dissolved the faux berg — a giant mound of firefighting foam and shaving cream that had been piled on sheets of white plastic.
9 On April 1, 1998, Burger King took out a full-page ad in USA Today to announce a fast-food breakthrough: the Left-handed Whopper. It featured the same ingredients as the regular Whopper, except the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. According to Burger King, thousands of customers requested the new burger, and others asked for a right-handed version.
10 Among the true things that have happened in April 1: The first speaker of the House was elected (1789); American forces landed on Okinawa (1945); the first U.S. weather satellite was launched (1960); and Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple (1976). Born on April 1, 1929, were Czech author Milan Kundera ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being") and University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler ("The Unbearable Heaviness of Losing to Ohio State").
Mark Jacob is the Tribune's editor in charge of putting in commas. Stephan Benzkofer takes out commas for the Tribune.
Sources: museumofhoaxes.com, snopes.com, infoplease.com, The Independent of London, St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, babyblues.com, WXRT-FM 93.1, and Tribune news services.
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Thanks to Rabbit who says
Thought these might lighten the mood on the List.
Rabbit
1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye - doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whisky - maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber - band pistol was confiscated from an algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
9. A hole has been found in the nudist - camp wall. The police are looking into it.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
17. A backward poet writes inverse.
18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.
19 . When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.
21. A vulture carrying two dead raccoons boards an airplane. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'
22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says , 'Dam!'
23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says , 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'
25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root - canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.
26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.
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Marines to adapt approach to rising China
Commandant aims to dissolve tank companies as part of plan
BY BEN WOLFGANG THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Marine Corps plans to give up its tanks, dramatically remake its artillery batteries, cut its helicopter fleet and take a host of other "radical" steps in arguably the most sweeping American military overhaul in a century — all with the goal of preparing for a potential 21st-century conflict with China.
And a little global pandemic hasn't stopped the Corps from hitting a very different beach.
Seventy-five years after storming beaches at Iwo Jima, Marine Corps leaders unveiled a blueprint this month concluding that the branch's traditional approach no longer meets the nation's needs.
"The Marine Corps we have been building for many years now is increasingly out of step with the problems they're going to face" in confronting China, said Chris Brose, chief strategy officer at Anduril Industries and former staff director for the
Senate Armed Services Committee. "There are reasons for why that is the case," he added. "The Marine Corps has borne the burden of a lot of the deployments overseas post-9/11. They were optimizing for a different set of challenges."
Pentagon officials argue that China's rapidly improving military capabilities make the prospect of a traditional Iwo Jima-type shore landing exceedingly
unlikely, and the Corps instead will shift its resources toward becoming a "standing" force that can operate within enemy range rather than fighting its way into theater from the sea.
In a sweeping planning document released last week, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger laid out a host of other major changes designed to remake the service with the recognition that preparing for a World War II-style conflict — or even a major ground- and air-based operation such as the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq — can no longer be the service's top priority. Some critics are already arguing that the new approach is too China-centric, but top Marine officials stress that now is the time for systematic change.
"I am convinced that the defining attributes of our current force design are no longer what the nation requires of the Marine Corps," Gen. Berger said in the document, which lays out a decade-long plan to shift the service into a more modern role. "With the shift in our primary focus to great power competition and a renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific region, the current force has shortfalls in capabilities needed to support emerging joint, naval and Marine Corps operating concepts."
Aside from the broad shift toward preparing for conflict with China in the Pacific, Gen. Berger calls for a host of more specific changes to standard Marine Corps operations. Perhaps the most notable — and divisive — is a plan to fully scrap the Corps' seven tank companies.
Under the new guidance, the Army would take over full responsibility for tanks that would be used in major ground combat operations. The document also calls on the Marine Corps to cut the number of engineering "bridging companies," suggesting a move away from more traditional ground-based combat operations and toward a focus on island conflicts in places such as the South China Sea.
The Marine Corps is also adopting a new approach to artillery, moving from cannon batteries to missile and rocket batteries under the belief that the service may not need to support large-scale ground troop movements as it has in the past. Instead, the Corps will focus on anti-ship artillery and longer-range
weapons capable of hitting enemy targets from greater distances.
At its core, Gen. Berger's revamped approach charts a course for a Marine Corps that is more nimble and able to provide unique capabilities. The guidance also calls for a more distributed force structure, which analysts say is designed explicitly with China in mind.
"Small Marine forces would deploy around the islands of the first island chain and the South China Sea, each element having the ability to contest the surrounding air and naval space using anti-air and anti-ship missiles," Mark Cancian, senior adviser with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a retired Marine Corps colonel, wrote in a recent analysis of the Marine Corps' plan. "Collectively, these forces would hem in Chinese forces, prevent them from moving outward, and ultimately, as part of a joint campaign, squeeze them back to the Chinese homeland."
"Implementation [of the Marine Corps plan] will be a 10-year effort that makes the radical changes that the guidance implied. The restructured Marine Corps will focus single-mindedly on a conflict with China in the Western Pacific c" and structure all of its efforts with such a scenario in mind, he said.
The force itself, Gen. Berger said, can be smaller.
His blueprint calls for "the reduction of approximately 12,000 Marines relative to the current total force by 2030," underscoring the belief that the Marine Corps may shift away from being a major ground combat force in its own right.
Officials say the smaller force will be designed to operate, survive and thrive inside an enemy's "weapons engagement zone," the area vulnerable to an adversary's long-range precision fire capabilities. The approach suggests that the Marine Corps envisions having to operate on islands or other areas within China's range.
Such missions, while clearly dangerous, would be vital to the U.S. military's success.
"These stand-in forces attrite adversary forces, enable joint force access requirements, complicate targeting and consume adversary … resources, and prevent fait accompli scenarios," Gen. Berger wrote.
The close-in Marine deployments, in other words, would complicate life for Beijing's military planners, buy time for U.S. and allied forces to coalesce in a shooting war and prevent China from a lightning strike that would force the U.S. to either stand down or escalate sharply.
The strategy certainly carries risk. Mr. Cancian warned that the "new Marine Corps faces major risks if the future is different from that envisioned" or if the changeover proves more difficult than expected to implement.
Other specialists say the Marine Corps is simply confronting reality and is long overdue in doing so.
"This is a fundamentally different type of challenge, particularly when you look at China," said Mr. Brose, the former top Senate staffer. "China is more than a great power. China is emerging as a peer competitor of the United States, and a peer competitor is not something [the U.S.] has faced since its own rise to global preeminence."
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/30/marine-corps-cuts-helicopters-tanks-possible-china/
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Thanks to Barrel
Half the world's airlines gone?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielreed/2020/03/17/could-covid-19-really-wipe-out-half-the-worlds-airlines-and-change-global-aviation-forever-at-least-one-keen-observer-thinks-so/#3157a6ff20bf
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Thanks to Carl
Now this is the right attitude!!
A 95-year-old veteran battled coronavirus and won: 'I survived the foxholes of Guam, I can get through this bulls**t'
He lived through the Great Depression, WWII, and now COVID-19
https://www.theblaze.com/news/95-year-old-veteran-beats-coronavirus?utm_source=theblaze-dailyPM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__PM 2020-03-31&utm_term=TheBlaze Daily PM - last 270 day
World News from Military Periscope for 1 April
USA—Crew Evacuated From Roosevelt Carrier Over COVID-19 Outbreak Defense One | 04/01/2020 The U.S. Navy is removing most of the crew an aircraft carrier hard hit by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), reports Defense One. On Tuesday, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told CNN that most personnel aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt would be temporarily removed so that the ship could be disinfected. The carrier has been in Guam for a port visit. The island does not have sufficient beds to accommodate the crew for the necessary quarantine period, so arrangements are being made to find hotel rooms or tent facilities, said Modly. About 10 percent of the crew will remain onboard to perform vital operations, he said. The announcement came a day after the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier, wrote a letter to Navy officials asking for immediate intervention, according to a copy of the letter published by the San Francisco Chronicle. Necessary quarantine measures were not possible due to the limited space for the approximately 4,000 sailors onboard, said Crozier. Since the ship left San Diego in January for a scheduled deployment, more than 200 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed onboard. Navy officials emphasized that none of those who tested positive had been hospitalized.
USA—AFRICOM To Publish Report On Investigations Into Civilian Casualties Africa Command | 04/01/2020 U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) says it will soon publish its first quarterly report on allegations of civilian casualties. By the end of April, the first of these studies will be made public, said an AFRICOM release on Tuesday. The reports will cover new allegations and the status of existing investigations into civilian casualties. The move comes after years of criticism over the command's lack of transparency concerning such incidents. AFRICOM has admitted to one incident leading to the deaths of two civilians in its 13-year history, noted the Defense Post. Rights groups have identified numerous credible allegations of civilian casualties, caused in particular by strikes against Al-Shabaab in Somalia.
USA—Another 18 Poseidon Patrol Aircraft Ordered Dept. Of Defense | 04/01/2020 The Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Boeing a contract for another batch of maritime patrol aircraft, reports the Dept. of Defense. The $1.55 billion deal covers 18 Lot 11 P-8A Poseidons for the U.S. and Foreign Military Sales customers, said a Pentagon release on March 30. The Navy will receive eight of the aircraft; the New Zealand air force, four; and the South Korean navy, six, reported Boeing. The New Zealand and South Korean Poseidons will be in the same configuration as those ordered by the Navy, the company said. New Zealand is scheduled to begin taking delivery of its P-8s in 2022, with the first aircraft for South Korea due to be handed over in 2023. Work under the contract is scheduled to be completed by October 2023.
USA—New KC-46 Tankers Leak Fuel Aviation Week And Space Technology | 04/01/2020 The U.S. Air Force has revealed another critical problem with its new aerial tankers being purchased from Boeing, reports Aviation Week & Space Technology. On March 30, the Air Force announced that the KC-46 tankers were excessively leaking fuel. The issue was discovered in July 2019 during an aerial refueling test and has since been upgraded to a Category 1 deficiency, the most serious classification, reported Air Force magazine. Sixteen aircraft have been identified with the issue, seven of which have been repaired, according to a Boeing spokesman cited by Defense News. The fuel system is fitted with redundant protection. Maintenance personnel have discovered fuel between the primary and secondary fuel protection barriers, said Boeing in a statement. Boeing is responsible for the full cost of the fixes under the fixed-price contract with the Air Force. The fuel leaks are the latest critical problem to affect the KC-46, which the Air Force says will not deploy operationally until the issues are resolved. USA—
Space Force Declares IOC For Space Fence U.S. Space Force | 04/01/2020 U.S. Space Force has declared initial operational capability (IOC) for the service's newest space surveillance asset. On March 27, Space Force Brig. Gen. DeAnna Burt, director of operations and communications, formally declared that the Space Fence radar system had reached IOC and operational acceptance. Space Fence, developed by Lockheed Martin under a $914 million contract awarded in June 2014, consists of a single solid-state S-band radar located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, noted C4ISRNet. The radar can track objects smaller than 4 inches (10 cm) enabling the service to significantly increase the number of objects it tracks as part of the Space Surveillance Network. Space Fence provides precise positional data for space awareness to maintain a robust and accurate space object catalog, ensure orbital safety and provide early warning of potential collisions and threats, said Space Force. The 20th Space Control Squadron in Huntsville, Ala., operates the system. The complete system cost $1.5 billion, reported Space News.
Lithuania—Navy Orders Additional K-Ster Mine Clearance UUVs ECA Group | 04/01/2020 The Lithuanian navy has ordered an additional batch of K-Ster mine-disposal vehicles from ECA Group, reports the French defense firm. The value of the contract and number of systems involved was not disclosed. The Lithuanian navy was one of the first to employ the K-Ster when it entered service in 2009. The system is currently in use by over 20 navies and has been chosen as part of the mine-countermeasures modernization program for the Belgian and Dutch navies. The K-Ster, which can be operated from ships and land, is designed to neutralize sea-bottom mines, floating mines, historical mines and smart mines using a tiltable shaped charge.
Turkey—Gas Imports From Iran Halted After Pipeline Blast Middle East Eye | 04/01/2020 A pipeline carrying natural gas from Iran to Turkey has been shut down after an explosion, reports the Middle East Eye. On Tuesday, a blast at the pipeline near the Gurbulak border crossing in Turkey's eastern Agri province stopped the flow of gas, reported the Anadolu Agency (Ankara). The cause of the blast was not immediately known. An Iranian energy official blamed it on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The pipeline was a frequent target for PKK militants before a cease-fire was reached in 2013, noted Reuters. Repairs are expected to take three to four days to complete.
European Union—New Mission To Enforce Arms Embargo On Libya Council Of The European Union | 04/01/2020 The Council of the European Union, consisting of representatives of the European member states, has launched a new joint operation to enforce the U.N. arms embargo against Libya. On March 31, the council formally launched Operation EUNAVFOR MED Irini, which will implement the U.N. embargo through the use of space, air and maritime assets, said a council release on Tuesday. Its primary mission will be to inspect vessels on the high seas off the coast of Libya that are suspected of carrying weapons or related materiel to or from Libya. Secondary missions include monitoring illegal exports of petroleum products from Libya; support the strengthening of the Libyan coast guard and navy; and disrupting human-trafficking and smuggling networks in the region through aerial intelligence-gathering. Irini will permanently replace the Sophia joint naval operation, which was formed in June 2015 to monitor migration in the Mediterranean. Italian navy Rear Adm. Fabio Agostini will serve as E.U. operation commander from a headquarters in Rome. The mission is authorized through March 31, 2021.
China—PLA Helo Goes Down In Hong Kong South China Morning Post | 04/01/2020 A People's Liberation army (PLA) helicopter has crashed near its garrison in Hong Kong, reports the South China Morning Post. On Monday, the helicopter went down in Tai Lam Country Park, said the state Security Bureau. A Chinese-language statement used the word "crash" to describe the incident, while a statement in English called it an accident, noted the newspaper. There was no damage to people or property, said a PLA statement. Reports cited by the Asia Times said that as many as four people onboard might have been killed. The local garrison in Hong Kong is leading the investigation. The PLA garrison operates Z-9 utility helicopters and Z-8 transport helicopters, noted the Times. This is the first time a PLA aircraft has crashed in Hong Kong since the U.K. handed over the city to Beijing in 1997.
Taiwan—U.S. Continues Monitoring Ops In S. China Sea Central News Agency | 04/01/2020 The U.S. military continues to operate in the airspace near Taiwan, reports the semi-official Central News Agency (Taipei). On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft flew over the South China Sea south of the island, reported the monitoring group Aircraft Spots. Taiwanese officials said that its military continues to monitor the country's airspace. This is the fourth time that U.S. military aircraft have operated near Taiwan in the last week. Last week, an EP-3E ARIES II intelligence aircraft, B-52 Stratofortress bombers and RC-135U reconnaissance aircraft were observed flying in the vicinity of Taiwan. The operations are intended to demonstrate U.S. support for Taiwan's defense amid increasing Chinese operations and despite the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
South Korea—Civilian Employees Furloughed As Cost-Sharing Deal With U.S. Lapses Yonhap | 04/01/2020 About half of the South Korean civilians working for U.S. Forces Korea have been furloughed with the end of the cost-sharing accord with the U.S., reports the Yonhap news agency (Seoul). On Wednesday, about half of the 9,000 civilian employees working at U.S. bases on the peninsula were furloughed after the Special Measures Agreement expired. The accord lays out the costs Seoul covers for the stationing of American troops on its territory,. Personnel who work in areas of life, health, safety and other essential services will continue to be paid by the U.S., said the U.S. Dept. of the Army. Gen. Robert Adams, the USFK chief, called the situation "unfortunate" and "unthinkable" and urged both governments to quickly conclude a deal. South Korean and U.S. negotiators have reached a tentative agreement, a government source told the Korea Times. The current draft envisions a five-year timeframe, said the source, without providing additional details. Prior to last year, the SMA had a five-year term. The Trump administration declined to negotiate a new five-year deal at that time. The U.S. position, which originally called for a fivefold increase in the South Korea's share of the costs, appears to have changed since a March 24 conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae In and President Trump. Following that phone call, South Korean firms began preparing to export testing kits for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), after winning approval for them from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Afghanistan—Government Set To Begin Releasing Taliban Prisoners Reuters | 04/01/2020 The Afghan government will free some Taliban prisoners this week as part of confidence-building measures in support of a peace deal between the Taliban and the U.S., reports Reuters. On Tuesday, three Taliban representatives arrived in Kabul to begin the process of transferring prisoners to the militant group. An initial batch of at least 100 fighters will be released soon, said a Taliban spokesman. The parties will then assess the viability of releasing 100 fighters per day. The sides are still discussing the mechanisms of the release, including medical checks and transportation, said the spokesman. The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak complicates the exchange, he said. On Feb. 29, the U.S. signed an agreement with the Taliban to draw down the number of American troops in Afghanistan and limit their involvement in the conflict. The deal was supposed to lead to direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, but President Ashraf Ghani rejected a mass release of Taliban prisoners held in government jails as called for in the accord. Ghani has since indicated a willingness to release Taliban prisoners, but has said that only a gradual release will be considered.
Syria—Israeli Jets Hit Airbase In Homs Syrian Observatory for Human Rights | 04/01/2020 Suspected Israeli jets have launched another round of airstrikes in Syria, reports the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (U.K.). On Tuesday, Israeli jets launched missiles from Lebanese airspace on targets east of Homs in western Syria, reported the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). The news agency claimed that Syrian air defenses intercepted some of the missiles. Unnamed sources told the observatory that eight missiles targeted a cargo plane that had just arrived at the Al Shayrat airbase from the T-4 airbase. The airbase is home to the Syrian air force's 50th Air Brigade. The strikes also targeted missile bases belonging to Iranian militias, reported the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen television channel. There were no immediate reports of casualties. On Wednesday, significant material damage was reported, according to the Jerusalem Post. Israel has frequently attacked personnel and equipment arriving in Syria from Iran.
Yemen—Houthis Continue To Negotiate With Saudis Wall Street Journal | 04/01/2020 Saudi officials have been holding talks with Houthi rebels to bring an end to the conflict in Yemen since September, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Saudi government has invited the Houthis to Riyadh for talks with the internationally-recognized government in Yemen as part of a U.N.-led process, a Saudi official told the newspaper. The Houthis, who are supported by Iran, have not yet responded to the offer, said Mohammed al-Jaber, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen. Fighting has continued despite the talks. On Saturday, the rebels launched missiles at sites in Riyadh and cities in southern Saudi Arabia. The Saudis responded with attacks on rebel-held Sanaa, the former Yemeni capital. That talks are continuing despite ongoing attacks indicates that Riyadh wants to extricate itself from the bloody conflict, said analysts.
Mali—French-Led Special Ops Task Force Established For Mali Mission Defence Web | 04/01/2020 In a joint statement, France and 12 other partner nations have officially established a joint special operations force for Mali, reports Defence Web (South Africa). On March 27, the defense ministers and representatives from France, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Mali, Niger, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the U.K. met over videoconference to formally launch Task Force Tabuka. The task force will consist of around 500 European special operations personnel, including around 100 French troops, who will operate largely in the Liptako region in Mali, which borders Burkina Faso and Niger. The force will work alongside the Malian and Nigerian armies, reported Al Jazeera (Qatar). Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands and Portugal have committed to participating in the task force. Czechia and Sweden are also expected to send troops, reported the Estonian Ministry of Defense. The task force is scheduled to reach initial operational capability this summer, with full operational capability to follow in early 2021.
Nigeria—Boko Haram Leader Killed In Borno Clash Channels Television | 04/01/2020 The Nigerian Defense Ministry has confirmed that a Boko Haram commander was killed in recent fighting with Nigerian troops in the northeastern Borno state, reports Channels Television (Lagos). On March 22, Nigerian forces conducting a clearance mission encountered a large Boko Haram force near Gorgi in the Damboa district. The military said that it killed 100 militants and wounded scores others during the clash. Nigerian intelligence confirmed that Abu Usamah was killed in the battle. His body was evacuated by other militants. His death was a blow to the organization, which now has a significant leadership vacuum, Nigerian military officials said.
