Happy Thanksgiving

Navy Arteriosclerosis

I have written several blogs about the seeming inability of the U.S. Navy to do R&D in a timely manner and bring cutting edge weapons systems on line to counter what our enemies are doing. Not that we aren't spending tremendous amounts of money - we are - which leads to a dissonance in the eyes of critics, but to put it everyday terms, we ain't getting much bang for the buck. Now another example of this chronic inability to deliver is surfacing. 

In what really must be a galling report for the Navy to swallow, the Army is warning that by 2024 the Navy will not have enough ships to surge Army and Marine heavy combat forces to a major conflict. A full 90% of the combat power of the land units must be transported by ships and by 2024, the number available will drop below the minimum number required to do the job and even quite a few of those still in service will be upwards of 60 years old. This is compounded by the fact that many of the ships are steam powered and, since most modern ships are powered by diesel or gas turbines, finding merchant seaman who still know how to run steam is increasingly difficult. And last but not least, you have to plan for attrition in wartime, as submarines and missile attacks will sink a number of vessels making their way across the oceans. 

Building replacement ships like the ones ready for mothballs is costly but easy and would provide many jobs in U.S. shipyards, which would no doubt please politicians from those districts. But a preliminary question that must be asked is whether these ships would survive in the modern threat environment? I think the answer is probably not. 

First the submarines. The Russian sub fleet has been rusting for a long time but that is changing. Older subs are being upgraded and new types built. The Russians also reportedly have a new torpedo that travels at 250 mph in a bubble of air, as well as very capable supersonic anti-ship missiles. The Chinese have been building subs wholesale with similar weapons. It is not difficult to see the potential vulnerability of U.S. ships of current design to these new threats.

Then there are the missiles. Both Russia and China are relying on an air attack strategy that utilizes AWACS-type platforms with over-the-horizon radar to locate a U.S. fleet and then vector bombers loaded with supersonic anti-ship missiles to shoot from 600+ miles out. Of course, although the Navy can detect that the fleet is being painted by radar, they have not had fighters with the range and long-range missiles to take out these threats since the F-14 and its Phoenix missile systems were retired in 2006. Brilliant and timely planning yet again! As supersonic missiles fly closer, they are very low to the water and travel very fast, making them very hard to hit even with our own missiles. Our enemies also plan to shoot massive salvos, so that even if we hit the first group of "vampires" as they are called, our ships will simply run out of missiles and be helpless to the next salvo. 

A lot of questions are raised that need to be thought through and answered - quickly. Do the replacement ships need their own anti-air capability? Do they need to be smaller and more maneuverable? Can we build huge transport subs? Are more dedicated anti-sub warships needed? How about giant dirigibles to air lift equipment instead? Russia is imploding because of a rapidly aging population, as is China due to its one-child policy. This means if they are going to act, it will have to be sooner rather than later. Will the U.S. be ready? Maybe, but I have to say that between the politicians and the dithering of the Navy, I am not overly optimistic. 


www.wnd.com/2018/11/army-warns-of-navy-deficiencies/

Baldwin Faces Repo of Nobel Peace Prize

Alec Baldwin, formerly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for consistently encouraging civilized behavior, was arrested today for punching a guy out over a parking place. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee was holding a hurriedly-convened meeting in Oslo this weekend to consider these developments. One committee member entering the meeting was overheard saying, "And he thinks Trump is an a****le?"

www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2018/11/02/alec-baldwin-arrested-for-allegedly-punching-man-in-the-face/

Stephen King's New Short Story "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!"

Horror novelist Stephen King has a new short story out - "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." It's very short, short enough in fact to quote in its entirety;

"Hey Texas Dems and Indies: Remind your Republican friends what they already know: Ted Cruz is a crawdad. You won't upset them, they know it already. Just whisper, "You can vote Beto and tell the exit pollers you voted for Ted the Crawdad."

Cryptic as always. This one will be a sure hit with his fans.

www.dailywire.com/news/37917/stephen-king-launches-one-hell-weird-attack-ted-hank-berrien

Airlines - As In Going Down the ...

The last several years I have done a lot of flying around the country. I have had the chance to fly on most airlines operating domestically and can say without question that some are better than others. I have stayed away from the cheapies - Allegiant, Spirit, Frontier. There are enough published horror stories from travelers on those carriers to avoid them like the plague. On traditional carriers, though, the bottom dwellers are American and United. 

American used to be a good airline. Under Bob Crandall in the 1990s, it billed itself as the "On Time Machine" and it was. Although it could be a little coldly efficient at times, American  always did a good job of getting you where you needed to go. Not so much anymore.

American was bought by Doug Parker and the America West gang who have consistently tried to turn American into one of the cheapies while camouflaging it with American's historic reputation. How do the employees think it's going? Recently, they were asked just that in a Facebook post: “What three words would you use to describe the culture at American?” Probably not a good question:

"Responses on the private thread included repeated uses of the word “toxic” and “sad,” with one survey response simply featuring the latter word three times. Others replied that AA is “stressful, cheap, uncaring” and “punitive, chaotic, dysfunctional.” “Greed” showed up in another answer, and one flight attendant cynically changed American’s internal messaging about “going for great” to 'going for crAAp."

Did I mention that American also reduced the size of its lavatories to sardine size (see picture) to squeeze in more seats and also reduced the room between seats to a knee-busting, cramp-inducing 30 inches?

www.flyertalk.com/articles/toxic-and-sad-american-airlines-flight-attendants-describe-employer-in-private-survey.html?utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=

Then there's United. You know, the company that mugs its passengers and drags them off airplanes. United has been a deeply unhappy company for a long time  and it shows. On a flight from Baltimore to PDX last year I was given a serious stink eye from a gate agent because I asked a question about a departure delay that might affect my connecting flight to PDX. My sin? She was talking to the other gate agent about her personal issues. Well, EXCUUUSE me! 

Oscar Munoz is United's CEO and he says things like this:

"... the recent increase of bag fees will help to improve the passenger experience, noting that majority of the company’s revenue is reinvested in the airline. He insisted at least a portion of the money put in the company’s coffers through pricey checked bag fees will be used to develop technology and communication systems which will in turn help achieve the goal a making air travel less stressful."

Sure. You know, if you would simply fire any employee who thumps on passengers, things would start to be less stressful. 

Right now, Alaska, Delta and Southwest are the airlines to fly. They consistently deliver good service and on-time performance and their people seem to enjoy their jobs. What a novel management concept - taking care of your passengers and employees!