Road to 350: What Does the US Navy Do Anyway?

[Faded Float Coat]

What drug(s) have caused the most overdoses/deaths in the United States in recent years?

How much fentanyl comes from Venezuela?

Now...one can do the "checkers and chess" song and dance like @Spekkio tried to do above, or one can apply Occam's Razor....This administration, bereft of actual policies or a world view that spans beyond 2028, sees a (relatively) beatable foe, an "easy" win, and can use it to justify continued immigration and border practices of dubious legal standing...because who's gonna tell 'em no...?

Of course, if you insist on the chess not checkers gambit...perhaps starting an armed conflict with Venezuela is just the pretext needed to dust off the Alien Enemies Act that those pesky courts keep poo-pooing...

What's going to be more interesting, and will reveal if there are any adults with their hands on the tiller, will be if/how USN/USMC assets are used for HADR following Melissa. Something something about bees, honey, and vinegar...

 

[taxi1]

Speaking of failed states, there are almost 3,000,000 people that live in Jamaica, which is not the most economically stable country, and they are about to have a category four or category five hurricane sit on top of them for 2 to 3 days. Can pretty much expect what happened to the mountains of North Carolina to happen to the inner country of Jamaica due to an expected 30 to even 40 inches of rain in spots. And then there’s the coast and the storm surge.

I’m not a doom and gloom guy, but this is probably as bad as it gets in the Caribbean.

Gift article in the WaPo.

Zero doubt this will be a big play for our Navy. The hurricane is likely the strongest to ever hit land in the Atlantic Basin, with 180 MPH winds and a direct hit on Jamaica. It is going to be a different place after its over.

Eight warships, collectively carrying about 6,000 troops and several dozen aircraft, are assembled in the region as the Trump administration carries out a series of military strikes against alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela and eastern Pacific Ocean. But many of the personnel also are trained to respond to natural disasters, serving on ships with a long track record of doing so.

https://wapo.st/4qACU3G

 

[Spekkio]

What drug(s) have caused the most overdoses/deaths in the United States in recent years?

How much fentanyl comes from Venezuela?

Now...one can do the "checkers and chess" song and dance like @Spekkio tried to do above, or one can apply Occam's Razor....This administration, bereft of actual policies or a world view that spans beyond 2028, sees a (relatively) beatable foe, an "easy" win, and can use it to justify continued immigration and border practices of dubious legal standing...because who's gonna tell 'em no...?

Of course, if you insist on the chess not checkers gambit...perhaps starting an armed conflict with Venezuela is just the pretext needed to dust off the Alien Enemies Act that those pesky courts keep poo-pooing...

What's going to be more interesting, and will reveal if there are any adults with their hands on the tiller, will be if/how USN/USMC assets are used for HADR following Melissa. Something something about bees, honey, and vinegar...

No chess, just the DoD apparatus conducting the cookie cutter joint planning process to accomplish 3 of SECDEFs 17 priorities signed out in February.

 

[Brett327]

Will this administration even consider anything resembling HADR or is Jamaica too much of a shithole country to bother helping?

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Can we at least let Melissa get past Jamaica and see what happens, BEFORE assuming an anti-Trump position on post storm response?

 

[Brett327]

Can we at least let Melissa get past Jamaica and see what happens, BEFORE assuming an anti-Trump position on post storm response?

Considering the federal response to hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was to block aid to American citizens in dire need, I think it's a valid question to pose right now. Based on past performance of ignoring the needs of Americans needing HADR, I think the odds of Jamaica being largely ignored are excellent.

 

[BigRed389]

I'm not saying we don't need more and better ships... just that whatever hare-brained version of that which is conjured by Trump should (and will) be aggressively discarded as soon as Trump is gone. Whatever one thinks of the President, his ideas about most things having to do with the military come from a child-like understanding of mission and requirements. None of us should want politicians defining what our future capabilities ought to be.

Executive Order To Go Back To Steam Catapults On New Aircraft Carriers Coming: Trump

The electromagnetic catapults and weapons elevators for Ford class carriers have historically been a headache, but changing now would create immense challenges.

www.twz.com

Ahem.

 

[Lawman]

Considering the federal response to hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was to block aid to American citizens in dire need, I think it's a valid question to pose right now. Based on past performance of ignoring the needs of Americans needing HADR, I think the odds of Jamaica being largely ignored are excellent.

They had twice as many 60s deployed (PJs being amongst them) conducting ops on Puerto Rico post Maria than we simultaneously had operating across Syria, Northern Iraq supporting Falcon Brigade during the fight for Mosul and Raqqa.

4 Army guard units and 101 CAB had aircraft and soldiers deployed to facilitate that mission. The Border Patrol was even deployed to service manpower and aircraft to the mission.

Maybe you’re talking completely out your ass on this one. You can hate the guy or make fun of him tossing paper towels but you don’t need to make up facts Google would quickly dispute. “Block Aid” would be a pretty gross misrepresentation of what people were putting in work on that island to do.

101st soldiers deploying to Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria relief efforts - ClarksvilleNow.com

Many of the more than 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory are still without adequate food, water and fuel.

clarksvillenow.com

 

[Brett327]

They had twice as many 60s deployed (PJs being amongst them) conducting ops on Puerto Rico post Maria than we simultaneously had operating across Syria, Northern Iraq supporting Falcon Brigade during the fight for Mosul and Raqqa.

4 Army guard units and 101 CAB had aircraft and soldiers deployed to facilitate that mission. The Border Patrol was even deployed to service manpower and aircraft to the mission.

Maybe you’re talking completely out your ass on this one. You can hate the guy or make fun of him tossing paper towels but you don’t need to make up facts Google would quickly dispute. “Block Aid” would be a pretty gross misrepresentation of what people were putting in work on that island to do.

101st soldiers deploying to Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria relief efforts - ClarksvilleNow.com

Many of the more than 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory are still without adequate food, water and fuel.

clarksvillenow.com

Not sure why you continue to come to Orange Jesus' rescue. Everyone remembers what went down.

 

[Brett327]

Executive Order To Go Back To Steam Catapults On New Aircraft Carriers Coming: Trump

The electromagnetic catapults and weapons elevators for Ford class carriers have historically been a headache, but changing now would create immense challenges.

www.twz.com

Ahem.

This will be slow rolled until Trump is irrelevant.

 

[Lawman]

Not sure why you continue to come to Orange Jesus' rescue. Everyone remembers what went down.

Not sure why you can’t walk anway and take the L here (well actually I’m pretty sure of exactly why given your other boisterous statements on the guy).

You’re F’ing Wrong as crap here trying to defend yourself with news agencies that have a clear history of bias during that term and are now trying to repeat your statements that he not only didn’t work to aid post Maria but to defend your previous statements he was actively blocking it. Now you’re trying to pivot to procedural hurdles that coincided with a government shit down like that backs those statements.

8 medevac Hawks from 101, was 3 more than I had to manage golden hour requirements across a combat zone encompassing 2 countries. But maybe you know the slants better. I don’t remember seeing you around Camp Robert’s, did we work opposite shifts?

There is plenty of real stuff to be critical of you shouldn’t need to go making crap up.

 

[sevenhelmet]

Let's see how the USG decides to play this out, particularly given that the government is "shutdown" (whatever that really means) at the moment.

Until then, color me skeptical on any humanitarian efforts championed by this administration beyond our borders.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Orange Jesus

Really? Grow up.

BTW, have you ever read the SOH Terms and rules?
"You agree to not use the Service to submit or link to any Content which is defamatory, abusive, hateful..."

 

[Faded Float Coat]

What does a Navy (or partner service) do anyway?

Sink more vessels without any legal basis for doing so - again.

It's increasingly apparent why ADM Holsey resigned (allegedly). For those inclined to hoot and clap for the tough-guy-rules-be-damned-I-drink-my-coffee-black-and-prefer-my-narcos-dead approach to the world....I think you'd find there are many others who would also like to see bad guys smoked, but there is that pesky issue of the law. Even when we were doing the dumbest of things circa 2013-2015 (and for the several years dating back to 9/11), at least there was a fig leaf of legitimacy in the form of the AUMF. Nothing of the sort exists, and until Congress (not an EO) does so, I'd imagine there are a lot of senior leaders who are looking at this endeavor with some trepidation.

Until then, color me skeptical on any humanitarian efforts championed by this administration beyond our borders.

I don't know, we often get in our way even within our borders...

 

[taxi1]

8 medevac Hawks from 101, was 3 more than I had to manage golden hour requirements across a combat zone encompassing 2 countries.

The story he linked to wasn't about the triage phase, it was about the long game of recovery, so apples and oranges.

USAID was the lead in foreign disaster response in the past. That role has theoretically shifted to the Dept of State, but you know the experience, networks, and expertise that USAID had in its people was lost in the great purge.

We were definitely off a step helping in the Myanmar earthquake. Firing the (only) three USAID workers in Myanmar while they were in Myanmar was chef's kiss.

There are concerns about readiness to help Jamaica recover from Melissa.

The storm is the first major natural disaster to hit the region since the Trump administration dismantled USAID earlier this year. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agency’s functions would be absorbed by the State Department.

The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration was given the responsibility for international disaster relief. But much of the staff in that bureau was later laid off.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article312685519.html#storylink=cpy

This gets into the whole hard power/soft power debate.

Our military can help with the soft power, with medevacs during the golden hour, but not lead it and not do it for the long run.