Daniel Goure, PHD of the Lexington Institute is becoming one of my favorite defense thinkers. Not only is his thinking truly out of the box (and in opposition to conventional thinking found on the East and West Coast) but its reasonable, thoughtful and extremely practical.
He also has the gift of not reverting to defense/business/academic speak which I find annoying. In addition to all of the above, he gets the internet...make your point because your readers have lives!
No 18000 word, rambling piles of mush from this guy...THANK GOD! This is a slice of his latest...
Both LCS 1 and LCS 2, the USS Independence, will open up new opportunities for naval collaboration between the U.S. and its allies, particularly in the Pacific region. Its modular design will allow the LCS to rapidly switch between the currently planned set of surface warfare, ASW and mine countermeasure missions. Clearly, the inherent flexibility of the LCS design will allow for other combinations of capabilities to be deployed, such as air and missile defense, shore bombardment, humanitarian assistance and air and sea surveillance.I never considered those points. Maybe the Surface Navy knows what its doing after all? Read it all here.
Equally important, both LCS variants offer the potential to equip foreign navies. In the past, U.S. Navy ships have been too expensive and even too capable for all but the richest and most sophisticated foreign navies to procure. LCS will be relatively less expensive and possesses the virtue of an open architecture that will enable foreign navies to customize the ship to meet their needs. There is a tremendous value also to foreign navies operating the same platforms and weapons systems as the U.S. Navy.
YN2(SW) H. Lucien Gauthier III Says:
Solomon,Many Sailors go outside the wire. Seabees, Corpsmen, members of the PRT teams, ect. Suffice it to say, we are not allowed out there without tons of training.
Those looking for my Shipmates don’t give a rat’s ass right now why it happened, it is not their question to ask, it is their job to find them. No one cares ‘why’ until it is over. Once it is over, you start asking questions.
July 25th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Byron Says:
What the YN2 said…In spades. We’ve got two sailors in danger now, and you want to talk crap. It’s not censorship. It’s common decency. Keep all that bilge trash to yourself till they are found, one way or another. Doing otherwise is the same as spitting on them…and their families memories of those who were over there serving. More to the point, open up a box of shut the hell up and start eating.July 25th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
admin Says:
@Solomon:How is your discourse helping this conversation?
“Tragedies happen everyday.” how on earth does that mitigate the situation here.
Does the circumstance of the the rank or particulars of death mitigate one death above another?
We are speaking about two REAL PEOPLE, in peril, possibly dead.
If…as you say..it is unlikely (following your line of logic, for the benefit of the doubt) that two individuals would leave the wire in such a way….for right or wrong reasons…now is not the time for supposition
Wait for hindsight, which I’m sure, for those who consume the spoils, sadly, will be 20/20
In the meantime, let us have hope in humanity and pray for these sailors.
If you prove me wrong, if they are somehow culpable of some heinous crime, then I will pray for them just the same. Because they are sailors, because we are better than our enemy who is unforgiving and close-minded.
July 26th, 2010 at 11:57 pm