Back in 1996, the aircraft carrier upon which I had the honor to serve was sortied from its forward deployed operating base to hover off the lee of Taiwan, on account of the expressed intent of the Peoples’ Republic of China to lob missiles over that island. The missile launches were ostensibly a test of a new capability, but were widely understood to be an attempt to intimidate Taiwan in the run-up to a national election and had the potential at least to be a part of an escalation of force continuum leading to an invasion.
Whatever it was our presence was supposed to do about any of this never filtered down to the pilots who formed the carrier’s main battery. No target packages were prepared, no mirror image strikes flown, no CONOPS briefed. We flew 1v1 intercepts and bombed smoke flares. We might have as well have been operating off SoCal. Another carrier was sortied out of the Arabian Gulf, and by the time they turned the corner off Oman, the press was breathlessly reporting that a two-carrier “striking force” was assembling off Taiwan – while that second ship and her escorts were still thousands of sea miles and weeks away.
If push had come to shove, there would have been enough of us to fight, but not too many to die. And it was an old ship. I came to understand in a philosophical way that we were merely pawns in a game of geopolitical chess. At least nobody was shooting at us.
The same cannot be said about Iraq. In Camp Lejeune, the president proclaimed – to broad acclamation – that he was winding down the combat effort in Iraq by diverting a Stryker brigade that had trained for that area of operations to support a surge to Afghanistan. What has not been reported so widely is that another Stryker brigade has received orders to deploy to Iraq four months early in their training cycle to backfill the first.
In summary, a trained brigade has been diverted to an area of operations they did not train for, while an untrained brigade has been ordered to fill the hole left behind by the first. It’s another game of political chess, only this time the target audience is not the PRC nor even Taiwan, but the US public. And nobody seems to notice.
Dear Lex,
Have a heart – The Lightworker is tired
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4953523/Barack-Obama-too-tired-to-give-proper-welcome-to-Gordon-Brown.html
and after all, I refuse to accept the false choice of preserving our President’s reputation via the grand gesture of rescinding the deployment of trained troops vs. the welfare and lives of other soldiers. You need only be willing to see how the deployment of less prepared troops represents the audacity of hope then you could join the rest of us in putting aside childish things while embarking on an adventure to throw down the gauntlet of the future to the, umm, present….
ps: Did I mention that this is all really Rush Limbaugh’s fault?
pps: on a more earnest note, if the Telegraph article above is even remotely accurate that there are people around Pres. Obama who acknowledge and find it acceptable that…
“Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.
“That was the gamble these guys made at the front end of this presidency and I think they’re finding it a hard thing to do everything.”
then I am deeply and truly worried – time to pray seriously for our troops whose well-being is at the mercy of someone who has enough free staff to dump on Rush but not enough to keep track of and devote serious attention to our troops in harm’s way. We are in serious trouble if the suit is as empty as it appears to be… Do hope the Norks, Russkies, Talebs/Al Q and other assorted baddies don’t add any more bumps on the way of our man-child in chief’s continuing journey of self-discovery. Several trillion dollars in a spending spree that our children will need to repay is frustrating enough, not to add to it even more irreplaceable losses…
“Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.”
I saw this on the internet yesterday and still don’t know what the heck “zero sum tenison” of ones ability is. However, can’t fool me, heh, heh, heh. Thet thar’ is som’ o’ thet bureaucratic weasel speak meant to keep me apondering away and not be payin’ no never mind to the man behind the curtain who is nothing but a mere empty-suit, light weight tyro. Or is just that he is nothing more than a one trick pony.
Stop the bus I want to get off!
Lex, I remember that event in 96 very well. I was on the other carrier making the speed run from the Gulf, only to sit off Taiwan for over a month with nothing to do but burn holes in the sky over open ocean. Good times.
Pawns, ah yes. The sweet aroma of the Persian Gulf, 1988. Operation PM. The orders were to go fly by an Iranian platform festooned with a 35 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun and see if we “could draw them out”. At night. With no lights. To which I replied “I don’t see no we, I see me”. Alas, off “we” went. Gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling to know that the game ain’t called chess, but there are still sacrificial pawns all the same. Like. Not.
Withdrawn.
“What has not been reported so widely is that another Stryker brigade has received orders to deploy to Iraq four months early in their training cycle to backfill the first.”
Meeting at CNAL today to decide whether to shut down CVW-X (that’s not a “10″, I’m just not gonna publish the real number) for the next quarter.
Starting to smell very Clinton/Gorish around here – anyone remember jets shrinkwrapped and three day work-weeks because there was not much to do…er…nothing to do it with.
I remember it well. Back in the Clinton years my first squadron and CVW were decommissioned right after deployment. Being one of the new guys, I got rolled right down the hall to the next squadron. We were always fighting for parts, too. Never seemed to be enough to go around.
Semi, were you on FID’s last deployment? My first fleet squadron and CVW got the same homecoming from Bubba.
It was a West Coast CVW and squadron on KH.
I heard a story from the way back about units taking part in Cope Tiger in Thailand having to use personal credit cards to buy fuel to get back home. That sounds apocraphyl, but given how ticked off the guy relating the story was, it had a ring of truth.
Anyone know if such a thing ever happened? He was a C-130 crew chief that had been at Udorn RTAFB for Cope Tiger in 1996, I believe. I can’t remember which unit he was with.
I wish Obama to do what his base would like him to do. That is pull every single American service man out of Afghanistan.
Why? Because the campaign is lost.
No more bloodshed.
No more American body bags.
Let the Afghani’s and Pakastani’s deal with their dead.
I fear in Afghanistan the dreaded Viet Nam analogy being resurrected. The Dems used it against Bush even though it NEVER fit as the military was allowed to fight to win (at least at first) and, post surge altered strategy to meet current environment.
So far we see the beginnings of political maneuvering to make a good show at home while talking of reaching out to the Taliban. The whole limited, meddled from the White House action that worked so well in SE Asia is now starting to be used in Southern Asia.
If that is how it is going to be then I agree with Babs. I’m not sure we have what it takes will wise to win given the leadership we have. If not then another drop of American blood is one too many.
But I fear the consequences down the not too distant road such a course would lead to.
It all makes me sick with fear and loathing.
Alas, we currently have no leadership.
T6,
I agree whole heartedly with the slogan “No More Vietnams!” If we are not interested in actually winning the conflict in Afghanistan, then any resulting casualties to our men will be nothing less than murder.
If the CinC has no intention of pushing for a positive (for us) resolution of this conflict, then he MUST begin an immediate withdrawal of all our men and material.
If it is intent to sacrifice our troops to gain a temporary victory by which he can withdraw our forces, and leave the Pathans, unsupported, to their fate, then he is worse than the Taliban themselves.
Either we invest to win or we get the heck out.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s, we P-3 types were also used for various similar tasks. Bait for Libyan Migs and Sukhois. Thankfully there were always F-14’s hovering in the distance.
At least, that’s what we were led to believe…….
Ditto on the west coast, hanging off the 12 mile line or so trying to get a Mig to come up and play. Always had the cameras ready too…the only intercept I got to shoot was a VF-51 F-14…
Same sort of pawn thing for the USAF in NATO back in 70 (or was it 71?) Wasn’t on the early sched and drove out to the fltline and squadron quarters one day to see every bird loaded to the gills with the real stuff w. all the red tags fluttering. The other 2 squadrons on our other twin base were loading out with nukes–all two squadrons worth. Frag said: “The JCS has been ordered:” Sat that way for a week with no fly–then reverted to normal.
NEVER were told why, EVER. Same for every other outfit in USAFE. “Somebody” was sending a msg to someone.
“Wheels within wheels.”
I remember ‘96. I was a CDO on my JO shore tour in Yokosuka. Saw the bosses working; saw some muscle movements. It was touch and go for a while.
Later on, I was on a boat that did a FON in a place that now would be a little touchy. I felt very pawnish, and rather vulnerable.