Brown Water Navy
FORT KNOX, Ky. (March 27, 2010) Members of Riverine Squadron (RIVRON) 1 practice boat battle drills at Fort Knox, Ky. RIVRON-1 participated in a three-day field exercise to prepare for an upcoming deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Bryan Weyers/Released)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Navy
Spring Training for Leap Frogs
Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 1st Class Victor Maldonado, left, Chief Special Warfare Operator Justin Gauny (SEAL), right, and Aviation Survival Equipmentman 1st Class Thomas Kinn, all assigned to the U.S. Navy parachute demonstration team, the Leap Frogs, jump from the ramp of a C-130 aircraft during the opening ceremony of a Chicago White Sox spring-training baseball game at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., during Phoenix Navy Week. Navy Weeks are designed to show Americans the investment they have made in their Navy and increase awareness in cities that do not have a significant Navy presence. (U.S. Navy photo by James Woods/Released)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: baseball, Leap Frogs, US Navy
Military Roundup
Photo of the Day: MARSOC (the Marine Corps’ special operations component) in Afghanistan
Pirates: USS Nicholas exchanges fire with pirates in Seychelles, captures five, sinks pirates’ skiff and captures mothership. USS Faragut sinks a pirate mothership during a separate incident in the Somali Basin.
The search continues for a missing airman after a Navy E-2C Hawkeye crashed in the Indian Ocean on 31 March. The other three crew members were recovered without injury.
Iraq: Despite a planned withdrawal that will roughly half our troop levels in Iraq by August 31, the number of U.S. special operations troops will remain at their current levels Special operations forces are currently deployed in 79 countries.
DADT update: Army secretary’s about-face on DADT moratorium
Ground summary (Afghanistan / Ground summary (Iraq) / Airpower summary
Army secretary does about-face on DADT moratorium
In: Military Roundup · Tagged with: Don't Ask Don't Tell, Iraq, pirates, US Navy
Maiden voyage of the USS Independence
MOBILE, Ala. (Jan. 16, 2010) The new littoral combat ship, USS Independence (LCS 2) is pier side during her commissioning ceremony. Independence is the second of two littoral combat ships designed to operate in shallow water environments to counter threats in coastal regions. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Tiffini Jones Vanderwyst/Released)
The USS Independence sailed from Mobile Bay on her maiden voyage on 26 Mar 2010. This Independence is the seventh so-named vessel in America’s history.
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Navy, USS Independence
Hard to starboard
ATLANTIC OCEAN (Feb. 27, 2010) The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), the Navy's 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, heels hard to starboard during high-speed turn drills. George H.W. Bush is underway in the Atlantic Ocean supporting fleet training operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Micah P. Blechner/Released)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Navy, USS George H.W. Bush
Military Roundup
Get out your flags! Today is National Medal of Honor Day. On this day in 1863, the first Medals were awarded. And as a reminder, the 2010 Medal of Honor convention will be held in Charleston, S.C. from Sept. 29 – Oct. 30.
Osama bin Laden threatened to kill more Americans if al Qaeda detainees are executed (as if he wouldn’t have done so otherwise).
Photo of the day: the Navy’s futuristic ride that belongs on a Bond film
Private security contractors have killed a Somali pirate for the first time.
This week in U.S. military history
An al Qaeda group in Indonesia has been kind enough to clear up the confusion about whether Jihad is peaceful or violent (the Qur’an also covers this matter – see for yourself).
In: Military Roundup · Tagged with: al Qaeda, jihad, Medal of Honor, Osama bin Laden, pirates, US Navy
Wasn’t this boat on James Bond?
SOUDA BAY, Greece (March 24, 2010) High Speed Vessel Swift (HSV-2) arrives for a routine port visit. Swift is one of the primary platforms for Africa Partnership Station, an international initiative to improve maritime safety and security in west and central Africa. (U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley/Released)
Looks like the stealth boat in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies,” only less realistic. More on the Joint High Speed Vessel program here.
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: HSV-2, US Navy
Incoming LCAC
A sailor from the USS San Antonio (LPD-17) guides an LCAC into the well-deck at night. (Leatherneck photo)
In: Images, Military · Tagged with: US Navy, USS San Anonio
This Week in American Military History
From W. Thomas Smith, Jr.’s series at Human Events:
Mar. 8, 1965: The lead elements of 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines begin coming ashore at Da Nang, South Vietnam. Within hours, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines will arrive aboard transport aircraft at the nearby airbase. The Marines of 3/9 and 1/3 – both part of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade – are the first of America’s ground-combat forces destined for offensive operations against the enemy in Southeast Asia, once again putting teeth in the Marine Corps’ claim that it is “first to fight.”
Mar. 9, 1847: Thousands of American soldiers and a company-sized force of Marines (though referred to as a battalion) under the overall command of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott and “Home Squadron” Commodore David E. Conner begin landing at Collado Beach, Mexico, just south of Vera Cruz.
In what will prove to be “a model” for future amphibious operations, the landings are unprecedented: The largest American amphibious operation to date, conducted in less than five hours without a single loss of life.
A portion of Conner’s dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy reads:
“Gen. Scott has now with him upwards of 11,000 men. At his request, I permitted the Marines of the squadron, under Capt. [Alvin] Edson, to join him, as a part of the 3rd Regiment of artillery. The general-in-chief landed this morning, and the army put itself in motion at an early hour, to form its lines around the city. There has been some distant firing of shot and shells from the town and castle upon the troops as they advanced, but without result.”
Though the landings are bloodless, grim fighting will continue in the Mexican-American War.
(more…)
In: Military History · Tagged with: American Revolution, Civil War, Flying Tigers, Mexican-American War, US Marine Corps, US Navy, Vietnam War, W. Thomas Smith Jr.
This Week in US Military History
From W. Thomas Smith, Jr.’s series at Human Events:
Mar. 2, 1943: Elements of the U.S. Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force intercept and all-but-destroy an entire Japanese troop-transport convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Several enemy ships, scores of enemy aircraft, and thousands of enemy soldiers will be sent to the bottom. Gen. Douglas MacArthur will remark that Bismarck Sea “cannot fail to go down in history as one of the most complete and annihilating combats of all time.” Japanese Navy Capt. Tameichi Hara will refer to the battle as “shocking” and “unbelievable.”
Mar. 3, 1776: A force of 250 Continental Marines and sailors under the command of Marine Capt. (future major) Samuel Nicholas land on New Providence in the British-held Bahamas and quickly seize Fort Montague in the first amphibious operation in American military history. The landing – largely unopposed (the British garrison spiking their own guns and fleeing) – nets for the Americans much-needed powder, shot, nearly 50 serviceable cannon, and a few mortars.
An avid foxhunter and the highest-ranking leatherneck in the American Revolution, Nicholas will lead Marines alongside Army forces in the future battles of (second) Trenton and Princeton. He is considered to be the first commandant of the Marine Corps.
In: Military History · Tagged with: Alamo, American Revolution, Ballad of the Green Berets, Barbary Wars, Boston Massacre, John Adams, Seabees, Star Spangled Banner, Tuskegee Airmen, US Army, US Army Air Forces, US Marine Corps, US Navy, W. Thomas Smith Jr., World War II
