It sort of looks like awareness is slowly spreading about old world deindustrialization and its consequences. International violence is going to be a local sport in the future, at least among those still willing to put up a fight. I’m not sure Europe realizes even now that pure numbers mean that we will not come to their immediate military assistance for any reason because like them, we cannot. We let too much slip away and none of it is recoverable in any time frame that matters.
Besides, who is going to actually go to the bother of building war machines when deadly organisms can be assembled and turned loose on your non-friends and every single government in the world will rush to assure each other and you that it is not enemy action and certainly not the hand of God, it must be global warming!
So there are not enough warships for all corners of the earth and nowhere near enough capacity to build more in less than 5-10 years. That is actually building a physical ship that takes 5-10 years to build after it is designed. That is not the time required to reclaim the lost shipyards and building ways that have vanished.
Actual naval war is off the table. We have pretty much lined out the Expeditionary warfare capability that we alone possessed and that leaves air war. How many bombers do we have and how strong are the air defenses around their bases? Do we have to park them all at Diego Garcia for their own safety?
There is literally no excuse at all for undergoing another Pearl Harbor type sneak attack and yet that is all that is but ignored by military and POL/MIL thinkers. I mean sure, after the sad and predictable disaster incident to making a Brief Stop for Fuel in a wildly anti-American muslim stronghold some people gradually came to accept that our warships are under threat everywhere and anywhere in the world. This level of thinking has not even begun to penetrate the heads of the USAF, USMC, US Army or the various Combatant and Regional and sub-Regional commands.
They have stuck to their guns with regards to making sure that only tame and controlled cars and trucks get onto military installations but remain positively stupid about controlling access by unfriendly forces or by people who can step or fly over the perimeter fence. They know what the problem is and they know what the threat is and yet they cannot begin to accept the inevitable and accept that actual security is very manpower intensive and not just manpower but trained manpower intensive.
Our military posts and bases have always been on friendly ground. Unfortunately, we have let in so many invading military age men from 3rd world and muslim countries that they are all now situated quite perilously in enemy ground and just like the poor Air Force at Khobar, the armed forces are going to take absolutely no notice of any situations or security threats on the other side of the fence. In Saudi Arabia that meant the bad guys could blow the guts out of our barracks by simply parking a truck next to them but safely on the other side of the fence.
If you ever want to see misery on a scale that would make you laugh out loud in pure despair, sit down at a Force Protection Meeting with the real security guys, every single one of whom knows that the only real security for any installation is what is covered by guns and listen to every measure go down to sure and certain defeat because security interferes with shopping or some other important thing vital to the nation.
I know we can keep our ships safe, even from internal threats. The Boxer was so damaged and destroyed because it was put into the uncaring, unthinking, and indifferent hands of the people who tear apart warships and gut their internal defenses. Ship's company have always regarded the Yards as an existential threat to the ship. When the Navy turned them over to the MBAs and accountants we lost any chance of maintaining a national industrial base for building and maintaining warships. Which is a pity because we need them.
Yes, I can envision the day when our merchants once again hire protective escorts or tow along an LCS or two for defense from pirates and other dangerous things. Masters and crews would probably have to work out when to shorten the tow in order to bring the LCS in close enough to provide in close defensive fires but I'm sure they'd get the hang of it soon enough. That does leave the bow vulnerable though....
Kind of sounds like problems with the original B-17 bombers....
3 comments:
Agree completely about the 'Yards. I was ship's company when CV 67 went into the 'yards post-cruise once. Not a bit of activity by shipyard workers but was observed closely by a senior petty officer, and often a Chief.
--Tennessee Budd
We used to be cohesive, coherent society united for the most part in our goals. That was the past. Now we are fragmented and self centered in our goals. That is our problem. And there is no easy, simple solution. History says we are doomed because of this fact. Ever else is a symptom of this fact.
Anyone who's been stationed in Europe, specifically Germany, knows the vulnerability of our soldiers and airmen in the local communities. Back in the 80's there were a number of attacks against USAF and RAF airmen in Germany. And as recently as 2011 two US Airmen were murdered by a Kosovo native who grew up in Germany and worked at the airport.
When roughly two-thirds of all military members live off-base in private housing they make for easy targets, especially in the UK and Germany where the majority of US servicemen are stationed. Then consider how many local nationals work on base in the BX, hospitals, maintenance shops, etc., and how easy it is for them to gain access to the facilities and population centers.
The other issue is the lack of security on the local power grid. Every base relies on local power and telecommunications, and as we have seen recently in Germany, shutting down the grid has turned out to be relatively easy by local actors with homemade fireworks. Now with drones in the picture it's even easier. Then consider how easily air traffic assets such as radar, VOR/VORTAC sites located off base can be accessed. Bring down a few telecommunication cell phone towers and it's just a matter of when, not if.
It make sense to shut down the military in Europe. The US has paid the bill for Europe's security long enough. They are hell bent on implementing suicidal environmental and immigration policies that put their own citizens and their countries at risk. Russia isn't a threat, it's just a distraction. In Spain and the UK it's their own policy makers, who they voted into office, who are allowing, if not encouraging, illegal migrants to flood their countries. Denmark just taught the world a lesson about what happens when you give people who hate you the right to vote.
Russia has been and always will be the boogie man for Europe, a distraction from the real threat. But thanks to social media and smart phones, European kids have seen not just tanks, but individual soldiers targeted by drones and have zero interest in signing up for that. Which explains why in the UK and Germany, no one's joining the military and their respective governments are now talking about bringing back the draft.
The European Union experiment is over. Since the 1970's we've watched the UK slowly turn into another Cuba as it's been effectively de-industrialized and turned into a welfare state. Consider the fact that the current total welfare bill in the UK roughly matches or slightly exceeds the total revenue the UK collects from income tax. The UK Army only has about 150 operational tanks and their Navy has more Admirals than deployable front-line combat ships.
Then there's Germany. It's military is also a joke thanks to Ursula von der Leyen who was the German Minister of Defense under Angela Merkerl's government from 2013-2019 and effectively gutted German defense spending. Thanks to idiotic energy policies, and immigration policies that started under Merkel, German industries are in a major decline and the rest of Europe is not far behind.
It's time to bring those troops home and leave Europe to own demise. They laughed at Trump during his first administration. We'll see who laughs last and loudest!
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