Wednesday Service shorts
Been an interesting day for snippets of info from various services. Let’s open up with the Navy:
Yemen’s Houthis unleashed a new onslaught of anti-ship and land attack weaponry today around the southern end of the Red Sea. U.S. Central Command says the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Laboon (DDG-58) and F/A-18 Super Hornets from the Eisenhower Carrier Strike group shot down a dozen one-way attack drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land attack cruise missiles. The series of engagements occurred over a 10-hour period starting at 6:30 AM local time. Not one of the weapons hit its mark.The War Zone
Per the article, this is possibly the second ever kill for an USN F/A-18E/F, the first being an SU-22 over Syria in 2027. Get some, boys.
On a not-so-good note, the Marines in Japan have a problem. Apparently there are some unspecified maintenance issues with some of their helicopters.
The aircraft involved were the AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter and the UH-1Y Venom utility helicopter, Capt. Tyler King said Dec. 18 in an emailed statement to Marine Corps Times. The problem occurred at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan, according to the Naval Safety Command’s list of mishaps. Marine Times
The article seems to say unspecified PMCS procedures have not been done. Given their problems with the Osprey recently, neglecting maintenance on other rotary-wing aircraft sends a particularly poorly-timed message.
At least the Marines there get new spiffy ‘liberty’ cards when they are permitted off-base now.Military.com
The Air Force is extending its maximum time-in-service times for enlisted folks. This is the second year in a row for this.
The Air Force high year of tenure extensions apply to enlisted grades of airman basic through senior master sergeant to keep experienced service members in the ranks and keep the Air Force mission ready, Air Force spokeswoman Master Sgt. Deana Heitzman told Stars and Stripes by email Dec. 8.
This automatic extension will affect fewer than 2,000 airmen, Heitzman said.
Service members of ranks airman basic through airman 1st class may stay in for 10 years without promotion before they’re forced out of the Air Force, senior airmen have 12 years, staff sergeants 22 years, technical sergeants 24 years, master sergeants 26 years and senior master sergeants 28 years. Stars and Stripes
I remember promotion in the Air Force being substantially slower than the other branches ‘way back when. E-3s with 10 years service? That seems really slow, but as they said, while this sounds like a big change to their up-or-out program, it actually applies to a very small number of folks.
and for the Army, not as good of news. But a somewhat happy ending.
President Joe Biden ordered the United States military to carry out retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three U.S. service members were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq on Monday.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said one of the U.S. troops suffered critical injuries in the attack that occurred earlier Monday. The Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, under an umbrella of Iranian-backed militants, claimed credit for the attack that utilized a one-way attack drone.
Iraqi officials said U.S. strikes targeting militia sites early Tuesday killed one militant and injured 18. Military Times II
Sorry to hear our kids got hurt… but at least we hurt them back. Harder. At least it’s a step in the right direction.
Any time they kill some of them Hezbollah fucks, I am good with it. That is the crew that wasted our Marines in Beirut. We can never wax enough of them for my tastes.
Send it!
Thats a nice M-48 you got there. Could use a little help for that bridge.
I’m sure there is a FM some where that shows just how many tons a 2×2 Bailey bridge can hold, probably needed to go 3×3, but I only ever did the two week MOSQ course for 12B so I could be wrong
I thought that Air Force TI looked familiar. This supposed to be a knowledge check?
Man, I harted that issue.
Her career went tits-up butt fast!
Gives one a ❤️ hart on, man.
Fame, showbiz, etc.
‘not to completely change the subject – but, all of those ribbons she’s wearing add up to 4 points for promotion. It usually takes more than 390 points to make TSgt (E-6).
If this keeps up; they’ll have to print 214’s on legal size paper.
Not for nothing, but SIX ROWS???
And her NDSM is on the second row? I mean, I knew the AF dished out a shitload of ribbons and medals, but dayum!
I was in a HAZ 12 class and there was a Air Force load master in the class, we were looking at a ribbon chart and he pointed to some ribbon and told me”If you ever meet someone with that ribbon, beat their ass”. It was the “Basic training honor graduate” ribbon.
Andy11M,
For a female E-5 SSGT, nice rack.
Referring to the ribbons.
So since this happened in 2024 wouldn’t that make it the first? Or was the other aircraft from the Nimitz and it was a Japanese Zero not a SU-22?
ref: “the first being an SU-22 over Syria in 2027″
2017. I rarely type on an ergonomic keyboard because I can barely type on a ‘normal’ one. Score one for the keyboard, 0 for me.
You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.
*grin*
VF-84 F-14A Victory 203 has the first air to air kill on an A6M2 Zero.
“It’s the Final Countdown!”
We shoot down the drones and missiles but don’t hit the launch sites? WTFO? What ever happened to counter battery fire?
Playing defense is a losing strategy. We have to be perfect 100% of the time to be effective, they only have to succeed once or twice to have a huge impact.
This “proportional response” shit is a recipe for disaster. I am 100% in favor of “use of excessive force”.
“proportional response”
Waste of good ammo.
One or two loud bangs would end this shit.
Ok, maybe three or four.
…or a couple of dozen for that matter.
How about an earth-shattering Laboon…
Plus napalm…
I’m all in favor of a “proportional” response.. as long as that proportion is 1000 to 1, in our favor..
As LeMay said:
You have to remember, it could be a non-binary, pansexual, drag-queen that identifies as a red Himalayan cat.
If it is and we send munitions that way, it’s an attack on the entire LGBTQ+++++ community!
We can’t let that happen.
C’mon Man!
Or it could be the Houthi mastermind, Al-Corn Pop Zayed. Always up to his no good dastardly deeds.
Go get him!
And the himalayan cat gets grumpy about some pansexual drag-queen appropriating his identity, too:
😂😂😂
Iraqis are mad we sent their guest workers care packages. Guess they will start using innocents as human shields like Hamas.
Do the pilots get to put a little drone shaped kill marker on their planes?
In 2003, I had one of my TROPO radio teams put 2, count ’em, 2 drone kills on the shelter. When you try to launch a UAS through 2 each SHF transmission paths each radiating about 2K watts, shit goes south pretty quick. My guys tried to warn them, but they wouldn’t listen. Decorum prevents me from mentioning exactly what branch of service was involved. 😉
Prortional response worked out so well in Viet Nam.
Thanks for nothing McNamara, some Whiz Kid.
Sure made N. Vietnam quit and end the war in ’64, didn’t it? /sarc (Just because liberals think it’s clever doesn’t mean other folk will be impressed.)
In the Army, we call it Retention Control Point (RCP). I say, why not extend the years of service before mandatory separation. The USAF is allowing E-3s to stay in for up to 10 years? The Army has an RCP of eight years for E-4s, and 14 for E-5s. Given the way the promotion system works, let junior enlisted and NCOs have a few more years if they’re willing and able to. The pay might not be the absolute best, but around the 6–8-year mark, a lot of junior enlisted have young families and, if they are unable to make points for promotion to E-5, are looking at starting anew.
Admittedly, I’m biased. I was both a Recruiter and Retention NCO, and feel that some very good Soldiers were let loose too soon in a manner that benefitted neither them nor the Army. Similarly, by the time I hit 15 years in, with nearly 10 years as an E-6, I was resigned to a 20-year retirement when I hit my RCP. Granted, I finally picked up E-7 (24-year RCP), but my mindset was already that 2021 would be my last year in the Army.
I don’t know. Late 90s when they upped the RCP for spc from 8 to 10, I saw an awful lot of straight up dirtbags standing in line on the designated day to sign the extension paperwork to do the 10 year ride because they just missed the cutoff date to get out at 8. A lot of them were really upset they had 2 more years to go before they could get paid to get out. Granted I was Infantry where most of the time you just needed to show up at the board breathing and you could make cutoff, and not in some always maxed out MOS.
Funny story, 1993 at my first unit, we had a legit
20 year E5, no demotions. Stars just lined up for this guy every time the Army made changes to RCP regs and he made it to the finish line and retired that summer.
When I was in Germany, had a kid on my stairwell who had been an E6-P longer than I had been an NCO, and had been an NCO longer than I had been in the Army Think he was a 71L.
Had a new E5 come into my brigade HQ to be part of the S2 shop. He was a HVAC repair guy. He had been a E5 forever because cutoff for E6 was always maxed and the one month he met the cutoff his points from being reboarded were not active yet. So the Army let him reclass as MI and he got his E6.
Same basic thing happened to me. I made E-6 very quickly, but hit my prime years for promotion to Chief right during one of the “drawdown” times when the only path for promotion was to assassinate your boss. By the time promotions picked back up, I’d been an E-6 long enough that I think the review board was questioning “why isn’t he a Chief already?” and kept passing me by. I had Command Master Chiefs at three different commands review my record to see if there was something I needed to do to improve my chances at promotion. All three of them went through the “checklist” and came to the conclusion “I have no idea why you’re getting passed by”. Toward the end, I was one of the senior E-6’s in the Navy and was routinely being assigned to E-7 billets. As a “Shop Chief”, my Shop LPO was on Emergency leave (his father was dying/died) when we were supposed to be submitting our review packages for the promotion board. As his boss I was able to request his record, so I did, completed his package for him as I did mine, and sent them both in. He made Chief, I didn’t. Sigh. Interestingly, the command moved him to another department and left me in my Chief billet as an E-6. Fast forward, I was approaching the 20 year mark and mandatory retirement for an E-6. I had my retirement package put together but, hope against hope, was holding them until the results of the Chief’s board came out…I finally was selected on my last try. Don’t know what changed, I was on shore duty at the time and hadn’t done anything different to “put me over the top”. I just don’t know. Anyway, by that time, I’d been doing the job of a Chief for years without the attendant respect or pay, was pretty disheartened by the whole process. I ended up doing the minimum required to retire at the E-7 paygrade and “transferred to the fleet reserve” on the last day of 2003. I sometimes regret not giving… Read more »
BTW: Within 6 months of pinning on the Anchors, the command moved me from my Shop Chief billet to the Division Leading Chief Petty Officer spot…an E-8 billet. I ended up being senior in position to the other Shop Chiefs in the Division who were actually E-7’s when I was an E-6 holding that billet.
For some reason I got a bit of a cold reception in the Chief’s mess after that move. I never understood why.
/sarc
Sounds like me. E-6 in 6, and there I stayed for the next 6 until I got out (Clinton drawdown). When 200 of us are going in from of the board and only single digits are putting on khakis (and I was still considered “early select” meaning <10% could fit that criteria) you didn’t exactly need to explain to me I’d be PO1 for a long time.
There were prototype and NPS Sailors of the Year not getting picked up, no way in hell a guy like me who lived to jerk the command’s collective chain every chance I got was gonna join the Mess.
I think it works that way sometimes, where if you don’t get promoted in your first look or three, the selection board starts to question things.
I will say this about the Army: being Infantry (probably Combat Arms in general) and doing a tour as a Detailed Recruiter can set you back. Not always, I’ve known some who made E-7 quickly, but the number of grizzled old E-6s sporting both Recruiter and Drill Sergeant badges on Sand Hill was astonishing. Almost to a man, we picked up E-7 about a year into our DS time.
At my day job, there’s a guy who retired as an E7 at 24 years– good to know he got QMP-ed. Explains much.
There’s QMP – basically, “get the hell out to make room for younger NCOs” and QSP – or “you ain’t going anywhere, time to cut you loose.”
We’ve all known the NCO (or officer) who’s clinging on to the military. Often, it’s an E-9 or O-6 trying to get past 30 years. We had our BSTB CSM request an Exception to Policy (ETP) when he hit 30 years. Yeah, Battalion-level CSM, he really needed to get another couple of years instead of just retiring and opening up his slot. The ETP was denied, so out the door he went.
Now lay me down to sleep….
My 214 woobie my Soul to keep…
If I should die before I awake…
To Fiddler’s Green my Soul to take…
Prepare
“Fiddler’s Green” is the new name selected for what was formerly “The 19th Hole” on the Fort Huachuca golf course.
Cheapening of it by non-Cav types.
Hasn’t been anything resembling Cavalry here since the Buffalo Soldiers pulled up stakes.
Hey! I resemble that remark! (Last unit was 3rd Herd.)
The USMC has a Class A mishap to report, so there was over $1,000,000 in damage BUT they won’t say what it was. Missed oil changes, and the gears ground themselves into chips? Put the wrong fluid into hydraulic systems and required total replacement of fittings? Lost track of fixed life components and therefore had to replace a lot of moving parts that didn’t really need to be replaced? So many possible causes.
just glad it didn’t result in injury or death.
want to bet some sloppy maint NCOIC or OIC let things slide over a period of time and now it’s coming back around and this was the only way to fix it?
It’s worse than that because they upped class A to $2.5 million a few years back.
Anti ship ballistic missilery now? Does anything scream “Iran” louder than this? (Well, besides all the stuff that moved from Iran to Iraq circa 2005-2010 to kill Americans and continues in all non-Trump years as unaddressed bipartisan weakness, but I digress.) Can we start hammering targets now? Preemptively?
Houthis firing SCUDs at shipping… probably with lots of guesstimation involved, unless they’ve got some new targeting/guidance technology to make it work better.
This is off topic but, it seems very promising.
Westinghouse Nuclear > Energy Systems > eVinci™ Microreactor
The main difference is this will use a heat pipe to transfer heat instead of light/heavy water, liquid salt, or liquid metal.
13 MW. Not too bad for it’s footprint. I like it.
The local wind farm is 148 MW and ruined the beautiful hills as
well as killing birds. I would love to witness one of those come
apart and toss a blade. Wind is scam but not as bad as solar.
I think the 13 MW is the core capacity. It can generate 5 MW electrical and it looks like it would use the rest for process heat. There’s other micro reactors out there and these units would be ideal to use in an industrial environment. The local steel mills could use it for onsite generation, hydrolysis since the next big thing is using hydrogen in blast furnaces and the oxygen could be used in the BOF’s. The additional heat could be used in other processes, potentially making this a game changer. These systems are modular and adding multiple units is pretty easy. However, the anti-nuke whackos would make it almost impossible for these small units to be located in a populated area.
Is very cool. 5MWe is approx enough for 3,750 homes. Funny I’m reading about cool shit like this on TAH and not any MSM outlets.
Yeah, well there’s a few electrical types on these pages, like my pal down below. ⬇️
You REALLY don’t want to know what I’m working on at Casa de Sparky Western Annex.
You think those wind farms are bad? Or the solar farms in Farmington and Sanford are big? Dude, those are dinky, and it’s only gonna get worse. There are plans for these things going out to at least 2040.
At least the pay is good.
Hell, Dave. Since no one mentioned it yet …. I must chastise you on your image in relation to subject title. I expected better of you, really.
Attached below for future use: a proper photo.
You’re welcome.
I remember having to fold those damned boxers into 6″x6″ squares!
Thought I was being impartial by posting one per branch. Did sorta wonder if I should do one on the Space Force…but found no news on ’em.
In space, no one can hear you sham….
I thought we won in Iraq. Why are they still shooting at us?
We didn’t finish the job.
x2.
Because some sub-box-of-rocks non-geniuses replaced “mopping up” with “nation building”.
Fuckheads.
I seem to remember Hillary constantly harping about the women not being allowed to vote or drive cars or something. So W got pushed to do something he said he wouldn’t do. Funny how those who preach diversity want everyone to do it our way. We should have ignored Hillary, and just come home after we kicked their butts.
“W got pushed to do something he said he wouldn’t do”
Like father, like son.
Service short, by The Three Stooges.
They made quite a few.
Hmmmm …. the title has potential.
rgr1480,
This is the WWII training film.
Pvt Snafu – Booby Traps
It’s funny hearing Bugs Bunny’s voice coming out of Pvt Snafu’s mouth! How many voices did Mel Blanc have??
Yeah, baby!