Podcasts about seventh fleet

Two CNA field analysts discuss their work assisting operations to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.  Guest Biographies Dr. Keith Zirkle is a research scientist in CNA's Fleet Operations and Assessments Program. He is CNA's field representative at Naval Forces Central Command.  Kevin O'Connell is a research analyst in CNA's Fleet Operations and Assessments Program. He is currently CNA's field representative to Commander, Seventh Fleet, but he deployed with Carrier Strike Group 2 during the Red Sea crisis.  Further Reading CNA Field Program    

This week's show is with Richard Nikoley. Richard was born and raised in Reno, Nevada, the son of a German immigrant. He attended a private, church-run high school before moving on to Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga for his first year of college. He later transferred to Oregon State University, where he graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, along with minors in mathematics/computer science and naval science. During his time at OSU, he was a member of the NROTC unit and was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) in the U.S. Navy upon graduation. Richard's naval career began with eight months of training in San Diego, California, followed by a deployment to Yokosuka, Japan. There, he served on the USS REEVES (CG-24) from 1984 to 1987 in various roles, including Assistant Missiles Officer, First Lieutenant, and Electrical Officer. He then joined the U.S. SEVENTH FLEET aboard the USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19) from 1988 to 1989, managing a substantial fuel budget as Assistant Fleet Scheduling Officer and Assistant Logistics Officer. After five years in Japan, Richard moved to Monterey, California, to study French at the Defense Language Institute. This led to an exchange officer position with the French Navy from 1989 to 1992, where he served as Navigator on the FNS COLBERT (C 611) and FNS DUQUESNE (D 603). He left the Navy in 1992 and returned to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1993, Richard founded a company that grew significantly over a 20-year period. Although he was married for much of that time, since 2019, he and his former spouse have maintained a friendly relationship while pursuing separate lifestyles. Since January 2020, Richard has been living in Thailand as an unintended expat. Initially planning to be digital and nomadic, he decided to settle more permanently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, he built a house in a rural province and wrote extensively about COVID-19, masks, lockdowns, and global drug trials - earning recognition for his insights. Currently, Richard manages multiple income streams while engaging in various creative pursuits. He writes, makes videos, takes long walks, swims and snorkels in the tropical ocean, rides a motorcycle without a helmet, and enjoys cooking and eating exquisite food. A self-proclaimed gym junkie and honorary "Bro," Richard is known for his clever and well-crafted writing. In this show, Richard and Lian explore the intersections of artificial intelligence, truth, and human evolution. They discuss Julian Jaynes' theory of the bicameral mind, the rapid development of AI, and the deeper question of what it means to be conscious. Richard shares how his skepticism about AI turned into curiosity. He describes AI as a logic machine - highly intelligent but without awareness or intrinsic values. They examine whether AI's ability to process vast amounts of information makes it an unlikely yet powerful force for truth. Together, they reflect on AI's role in democratising knowledge and the philosophical implications of intelligence without consciousness. Could AI push humanity toward greater awareness, or does it merely highlight our limitations? As technology continues to evolve, this episode challenges listeners to consider: what does it mean to be truly intelligent, and what does it take to be conscious? We'd love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let's carry on the conversation… please leave a comment wherever you are listening or in any of our other spaces to engage. What you'll learn from this episode: AI operates as a logic machine, not a conscious entity. While AI can simulate human intelligence, it lacks self-awareness, emotions, and personal values. However, its ability to analyze information might make it one of the most effective truth-seeking tools we've ever created. Intelligence and consciousness do not always go hand in hand. Drawing from Julian Jaynes' theory, Richard and Lian discuss how past civilisations perhaps functioned without the kind of self-awareness we assume is universal. AI, like early humans, can operate with intelligence but without a conscious inner world. AI could redefine human potential rather than replace it. As AI automates tasks and challenges traditional roles, it may not eliminate jobs so much as shift human focus toward creativity, philosophy, and problem-solving. Rather than competing with AI, humans may need to expand their own awareness. Resources and stuff spoken about: Richard's Free The Animal blog Richard's book: Paleo Perfection: How to Lose Weight and Feel Great Richard's PDF downloads Richard on social: Facebook and X Join UNIO, the Academy of Sacred Union. This is for the old souls in this new world… Discover your kin & unite with your soul's calling to truly live your myth. Be Mythical Join our mailing list for soul stirring goodness: https://www.bemythical.com/moonly Discover your kin & unite with your soul's calling to truly live your myth: https://www.bemythical.com/unio Go Deeper: https://www.bemythical.com/godeeper Follow us: Facebook Instagram TikTok YouTube Thank you for listening! There's a fresh episode released each week here and on most podcast platforms - and video too on YouTube. If you subscribe then you'll get each new episode delivered to your device every week automagically. (that way you'll never miss a show).

Seventy years ago, the seeds of discord were sown in the South China Sea—and the Seventh Fleet helped stave off the escalation to a full-scale shooting war. In this Naval History episode of the Proceedings Podcast, Eric Mills talks with Navy Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler about his article in the December issue of Naval History.

This week's show is with Richard Nikoley. Richard was born and raised in Reno, Nevada, the son of a German immigrant. He attended a private, church-run high school before moving on to Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga for his first year of college. He later transferred to Oregon State University, where he graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, along with minors in mathematics/computer science and naval science. During his time at OSU, he was a member of the NROTC unit and was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) in the U.S. Navy upon graduation. Richard's naval career began with eight months of training in San Diego, California, followed by a deployment to Yokosuka, Japan. There, he served on the USS REEVES (CG-24) from 1984 to 1987 in various roles, including Assistant Missiles Officer, First Lieutenant, and Electrical Officer. He then joined the U.S. SEVENTH FLEET aboard the USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19) from 1988 to 1989, managing a substantial fuel budget as Assistant Fleet Scheduling Officer and Assistant Logistics Officer. After five years in Japan, Richard moved to Monterey, California, to study French at the Defense Language Institute. This led to an exchange officer position with the French Navy from 1989 to 1992, where he served as Navigator on the FNS COLBERT (C 611) and FNS DUQUESNE (D 603). He left the Navy in 1992 and returned to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1993, Richard founded a company that grew significantly over a 20-year period. Although he was married for much of that time, since 2019, he and his former spouse have maintained a friendly relationship while pursuing separate lifestyles. Since January 2020, Richard has been living in Thailand as an unintended expat. Initially planning to be digital and nomadic, he decided to settle more permanently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, he built a house in a rural province and wrote extensively about COVID-19, masks, lockdowns, and global drug trials - earning recognition for his insights. Currently, Richard manages multiple income streams while engaging in various creative pursuits. He writes, makes videos, takes long walks, swims and snorkels in the tropical ocean, rides a motorcycle without a helmet, and enjoys cooking and eating exquisite food. A self-proclaimed gym junkie and honorary "Bro," Richard is known for his clever and well-crafted writing. In this show, Richard and Lian explore the intricate connections between community, diet, and the microbiome, weaving together science, storytelling, and spirituality. They delve into how inner and outer communities shape human experience and how ancestral diets can connect us to the wisdom of the past. They reflect on the distortions of industrial society, the transformative power of dietary choices, a shamanic perspective on consumption and well-being, and the mysterious interplay between nutrition and our psyche. We'd love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let's carry on the conversation… please leave a comment wherever you are listening or in any of our other spaces to engage. What you'll learn from this episode: The microbiome is more than a physical system - it's a dynamic ecosystem influenced by diet, community, and the stories we tell about ourselves. Understanding and honouring this interplay can lead to profound transformation. By adopting practices, like eating more fibre and cooking and cooling starchy foods for resistant starch, we can support gut health and reconnect with natural ways of eating that shaped human evolution. What we eat can shape not only our physical health but also the content of our dreams, illuminating symbols for self discovery - which suggests a greater link between our food and our psyche than is generally discussed. Resources and stuff spoken about: Richard's Free The Animal blog Richard's book: Paleo Perfection: How to Lose Weight and Feel Great Richard's PDF downloads Richard on social: Facebook and X Join UNIO, the Academy of Sacred Union. This is for the old souls in this new world… Discover your kin & unite with your soul's calling to truly live your myth. Be Mythical Join our mailing list for soul stirring goodness: https://www.bemythical.com/moonly Discover your kin & unite with your soul's calling to truly live your myth: https://www.bemythical.com/unio Go Deeper: https://www.bemythical.com/godeeper Follow us: Facebook Instagram TikTok YouTube Thank you for listening! There's a fresh episode released each week here and on most podcast platforms - and video too on YouTube. If you subscribe then you'll get each new episode delivered to your device every week automagically. (that way you'll never miss a show).

Here's an AI-generated podcast based on this essay (courtesy Google's NotebookLM): always entertaining and appealing. Full disclosure: Parts of this essay were also written by AI, and edited.The entire sorry spat with the Canadians, the tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats and a virtual breakdown of ties leads to a good question. Are the Americans behind it (and if so why?), because for all practical purposes, Canada takes the lead from its Five Eyes friends and mentors? Several commentators have suggested that this is so. Trudeau is not a serious politician, as he demonstrated in this photograph in blackface acting allegedly as an “Indian potentate”.But the Deep State is deadly serious. They have meddled in country after country, leading to the utter misery of their populations. I can, off the top of my head, count several: Salvador Allende's Chile, Patrice Lumumba's Congo, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Muammar Ghaddafi's Libya, Bashar Assad's Syria, not to mention Sihanouk's Cambodia. We have to make a distinction between the US public in general and the Deep State. The nation as a whole still believes in the noble ideals of the American Revolution, and American individuals are among the most engaging in the world; however, the Deep State is self-aggrandizing, and now poses a potent danger to the US itself as well as others. Alas, it is taking its eye off its real foe, China, with what probably will be disastrous consequences.  The Khalistani threat is a significant concern for India because it appears that the Deep State is applying pressure through proxies. Since it likes to stick to simple playbooks, we have some recent and nerve-racking precedents: Ukraine https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/trudeau-is-us-deep-states-zelensky-2-0-why-india-should-fight-canadas-diplomatic-war-with-all-its-might-13827294.html) and Bangladesh https://rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/p/ep-134-the-geo-political-fallout.So what exactly is in store for India after the new POTUS is chosen, which is just two weeks away? US betting markets are suggesting that Donald Trump will win, but it's likely that Kamala Harris will emerge as POTUS. I was among the few in India who predicted a Trump win in 2016; admittedly I predicted a Trump win in 2020, and I do believe there were um… irregularities. I think in 2024 Trump would win if it were a fair fight, but it is not.But I fear the vote will be rigged and lopsided, partly because of the vast numbers of illegal aliens who will be, or already have been, allowed to vote (by mail). Every day, I hear of strange practices in swing states, as in this tweet. There is room for a lot of irregularities.On the other hand, the Indian-American voter (“desi”), apparently, will continue to vote for the Democratic Party, with some reason: there is racism in the Republican rank and file; but then let us remember that anti-black racism in the US South had Democratic roots: George Wallace and Bull Connor and “Jim Crow”. The Republicans had their “Southern Strategy” too, to inflame racial tensions. The racism Indian-Americans, particularly Hindus, face today is more subtle, but I doubt that the indentured labor and Green Card hell will get any better with Kamala Harris as President. I suspect 100+ year waits for a Green Card will continue. A Harris presidency could introduce several challenges for India across various domains, including economics, foreign policy, terrorism, and military affairs. It is appropriate to consider historical contexts, especially the stances of previous Democratic administrations and notable figures. In particular, Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Robin Raphel come to mind: they were especially offensive to India and India's interests. The Biden Amendment, and Bill Clinton/Hillary Clinton's efforts delayed India's cryogenic rocket engine and thus its space program by 19 years. https://www.rediff.com/news/column/who-killed-the-isros-cryogenic-engine/20131118.htmOne of the most vivid historical examples is that of Japan's economy. After a dream run in the 1960s and 1970s, when they seriously threatened American supremacy in trade based on their high-quality and low-priced products, the Japanese were felled by the Plaza Accord of 1985, which forced the yen to appreciate significantly against the dollar.The net result was that Japanese products lost their competitive pricing edge. Furthermore, it led to an interest rate cut by the Japanese central bank, which created an enormous asset bubble. The bursting of that bubble led to a Lost Decade in the 1990s, and the nation has not yet recovered from that shock. One could say that the reserve currency status of the dollar was used to bludgeon the Japanese economy to death.Having observed this closely, China took special care to do two things: one, to infiltrate the US establishment, and two, to lull them into a false sense of security. Captains of industry were perfectly happy, with their short-term personal incentives, to move production to China for increased profits. Wall Street was quite willing to finance China, too. Politicians were willing to suspend disbelief, and to pursue the fantasy that a prosperous China would be somehow like America, only with East Asian features. Wrong. China is a threat now. But the Deep State learned from that mistake: they will not let another competitor thrive. The possible economic rise of India is something that will be opposed tooth and nail. In the background there is the possible collapse of the US dollar as the reserve currency (i.e. dedollarization), because of ballooning US debt and falling competitiveness, and the emergence of mechanisms other than Bretton Woods and the SWIFT network (e.g. the proposed blockchain-based, decentralized BRICS currency called UNIT).Besides, the Deep State has a clear goal for India: be a supine supplier of raw materials, including people; and a market for American goods, in particular weapons. Ideally India will be ruled by the Congress party, which, through incompetence or intent, steadily impoverished India: see how nominal per capita income collapsed under that regime until the reforms of 1991 (data from tradingeconomics and macrotrends). The massive devaluations along the way also hurt the GDP statistics, with only modest gains in trade. Another future that the Deep State has in mind for India could well be balkanization: just like the Soviet Union was unraveled, it may assiduously pursue the unwinding of the Indian State through secession, “sub-national diplomacy” and so forth. The value of India as a hedge against a rampaging China does not seem to occur to Democrats; in this context Trump in his presidency was much more positive towards India.Chances are that a Harris presidency will cost India dear,  in all sorts of ways:Foreign Policy Challenges1. Kashmir, Khalistan and Regional Dynamics: Harris has previously expressed support for Kashmiri separatism and criticized India's actions in the region. This stance could complicate U.S.-India relations, especially if she seeks to engage with groups advocating Kashmiri secession. The persistent support for Khalistan, including its poster boy Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who keeps warning of blowing up Indian planes, shows the Democrats have invested in this policy.2. Alignment with Anti-India Elements: Her connections with leftist factions within the Democratic Party, which have historically taken a hard stance against India, may result in policies that are less favorable to Indian interests. The influence of figures like Pramila Jayapal could further strain relations.3. Balancing Act with China: While the U.S. aims to counter Chinese influence in Asia, Harris's approach may involve a nuanced engagement with China that could leave India feeling sidelined in strategic discussions. Barack Obama, if you remember, unilaterally ceded to China the task of overseeing the so-called “South Asia”. Harris may well be content with a condominium arrangement with China: see https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/shadow-warrior-a-us-china-condominium-dividing-up-the-world-between-themselves-12464262.html 4. Foreign Policy Independence: An India that acts in its own national interests is anathema to many in the US establishment. The clear Indian message that the Ukraine war and perhaps even the Gaza war are unfortunate events, but that they are peripheral to Indian interests, did not sit well with the Biden administration. In a sense, just as Biden pushed Russia into China's arms, he may well be doing the same with India: the recently announced patrolling agreement between India and China may also be a signal to the Harris camp.Terrorism and Security Concerns1. Counterterrorism Cooperation: A shift towards prioritizing “human rights” may affect U.S.-India counterterrorism cooperation, as can already be seen in the case of Khalistanis. If Harris's administration emphasizes civil liberties over security measures, it could limit joint operations aimed at combating terrorism emanating especially from Pakistan..2. Support for Separatist Movements and Secession: Increased U.S. support for groups that advocate for self-determination in regions like Kashmir might embolden separatist movements within India (see Sonam Wangchuk in Ladakh, and the alleged Christian Zo nation that Sheikh Hasina said the US wanted to carve out of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar), posing a significant internal security challenge.Military Affairs1. Defense Collaborations: Although military ties have strengthened under previous administrations, a Harris presidency might introduce hesitancy in defense collaborations due to her potential focus on alleged human rights issues within India's military operations. This is a double-edged sword because it could also induce more self-reliance, as well as defense exports, by India. 2. Historical Precedents: The historical context of U.S. military interventions in South Asia, such as the deployment of the Seventh Fleet during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, raises concerns about how a Harris administration might respond to regional conflicts involving India. 3. Strategic Partnerships: Any perceived shift in U.S. commitment to India as a strategic partner could embolden adversarial nations like China and Pakistan, thereby destabilizing the region further. This, at a time when China is vastly outspending all its neighbors in Asia in its military budget (data from CSIS).Economic Implications1. Increased Scrutiny on “Human Rights”: Harris's administration may adopt a more critical stance towards India's human rights record, particularly concerning alleged violations of minority rights and alleged mistreatment of dissent, although there is reason to believe this is mostly a convenient stick to beat India with rather than a real concern: we see how the real human rights violations of Hindus in Bangladesh raise no alarms. This scrutiny could have economic repercussions, such as reduced foreign investment from companies concerned about reputational risks associated with human rights violations, and possible sanctions based on the likes of the USCIRF's (US Council on International Religious Freedom) report.2. Shift in Trade Policies: Historical Democratic administrations have often prioritized labor rights and environmental standards in trade agreements. If Harris follows this trend, India might face stricter trade conditions that could hinder its export-driven sectors.3. Focus on Domestic Issues: Harris's potential prioritization of domestic issues over international relations may lead to a diminished focus on strengthening economic ties with India, which could stall ongoing initiatives aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investment.Social Issues1.  Anti-Hindu feeling: There has been a demonstrable increase in antipathy shown towards Hindus in the US, with a number of incidents of desecration of Hindu temples, especially by Khalistanis, as well as economic crimes such as robberies of jewelry shops. The temperature online as well as in legacy media has also risen, with offensive memes being bandied about. A notable example was the New York Times' cartoon when India did its Mars landing. And you don't get more Democrat-leaning than the New York Times.In summary, while Kamala Harris's presidency may not drastically alter the trajectory of U.S.-India relations established under previous administrations, given a convergence of major geo-political interests, it could introduce significant challenges stemming from her focus on so-called “human rights” and alignment with anti-India factions within her party. These factors could negatively influence economic ties, foreign policy dynamics, counterterrorism efforts, and military collaborations between the two nations. Four more years of tension: revival of terrorist attacks in Kashmir, the chances of CAA-like riots regarding the Waqf issue, economic warfare, a slow genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh. It's enough to make one nostalgic for the Trump era: yes, he talked about tariffs and Harley-Davidson, but he didn't go to war, and he identified China as enemy number one. 2000 words, 23 October 2024 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. John Sherwood interviews Dr. Edward J. Marolda about his new book Admirals Under Fire: The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War.  Dr. Marolda is the author of nine books on the Navy in Vietnam and worked as a civilian historian for the U.S. Navy for 40 years. This is Part 2 of a two-part episode on this important contribution to the historiography of the Vietnam War.

Dr. John Sherwood interviews Dr. Edward J. Marolda about his new book Admirals Under Fire: The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War.  Dr. Marolda is the author of nine books on the Navy in Vietnam and worked as a civilian historian for the U.S. Navy for 40 years. This is Part 1 of a two-part episode on this important significant to the historiography of the Vietnam War.

Last time we spoke about landings at Biak. General Fuller unleashed a amphibious assault against Biak that faced countless hurdles. The Hurricane Task force encountered a lot of terrain issues at Humboldt bay, leading to logistical headaches. Despite the disorganization, they shipped off and landed, forming a beachhead. Colonel Kuzume and his men were caught with their pants down, units were scattered all over the place. The first tank battle of the Southwest Pacific occurred, seeing American Shermans absolutely desolate Japanese Type 95's. General Fuller planned to consolidate his troops at Ibdi and Bosnek while reinforcements arrived, but the Japanese continuously lobbed surprise night attacks to horrible effect. Over in the Burma front, Mutaguchi's operation continued to unravel as his subordinate officers disregarded his orders and performed their own withdrawals. As Mutaguchi relieved men of command and replaced them, General Slim finally reopened the Imphal-Kohima road spelling doom for the Japanese. This episode is the Fall of Mogaung Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  As General Vinegar Joe unleashed what he believed to be a masterstroke against Myitkyina, it soon turned out to be an absolute gruesome struggle. As we last saw, General Stilwell's men had begun a long and difficult siege of Myitkyina. The 22nd and 38th Chinese Divisions were now pinned down by General Tanaka's battered 18th Division south of Kamaing. To the south Brigadier Calvert's Chindits began a battle for Mogaung, which forced General Takeda's 53rd Division to suspend the relief of Myitkyina and rush back to reinforce the town. Though the Mogaung Garrison and the 1st Battalion, 128th Regiment to the north had been effectively destroyed by the Chindit and Chinese attacks, the Japanese had been able to maintain their hold on Mogaung by mid-June. To the east, General Wei's Y Force had opened a new offensive on Yunnan, gradually pushing Colonel Kurashige's 148th Regiment to Tengchong but failing to seize Longling against the tenacious resistance of General Matsuyama's forces. Along the Kamaing-Mogaung front, by late June, Tanaka had been able to assemble most of his depleted command at Lakatkawng, determined to keep the blockade on the Hukawng Valley. His main aim was to clear the Seton roadblock, which had been recently reinforced with General Sun's 113th Regiment; but once again, his attacks would fail to dislodge the tenacious Chinese defenders. Yet upon receiving orders from the 33rd Army commander to withdraw, General Tanaka reported that the 18th Division could continue to hold in the Kamaing area. This statement, inspired by Colonel Ohgoshi, the chief of staff, proved to be unwarranted optimism. The 18th had staged a desperate resistance in the vicinity of Kamaing for about a month and, for most of the period, had only 80 men for each mile of front. Supplies of ammunition and food were very low with only about 1400 rounds of rifle ammunition per day for the entire Division and 60 rounds per machine gun. The daily ration was about 2.5 ounces of rice per man. On receipt of the Army's message to withdraw, Colonel Ohgoshi had advised the Division commander that further resistance in the area was possible, but had not made it clear that this was his personal belief and did not reflect the opinions of the rest of the Division staff. Within a day or two the commander became aware of the fact that the other staff officers were convinced that further resistance in the Kamaing area was impossible. He therefore forwarded to the 33rd Army a revised report of the Division's actual situation. Upon receipt of the second message, on June 27 the Army directed the Division to retire to the Sahmaw sector. Tanaka believed he needed to stand his ground while the 53rd Division pushed aside the Seton Block and reopened his line of communications. Thus, he elected to continue to resist the attacks from the north while he himself attacked Seton for three more days; but failing to make any progress, he would finally comply with his orders to withdraw to the hills north of Sahmaw in early July.  While the 4th and 146th Regiments performed covering attacks, the remnants of the 55th and 56th Regiments destroyed their artillery and heavy equipment, and withdrew along an escape trail cut through the forest west of the Seton roadblock. On 2 July the 18th Division began its withdrawal, utilizing an obscure trail that ran directly south from Kamaing. Crossing the mountain range west of Seton, the Division completed its concentration near Sahmaw about 7 July. The Hukawng Operation was then considered concluded, ending a campaign that had been a miserable failure and had cost almost 8,000 casualties. By July 15th, the 18th Division would finally assemble in the Indaw area. Though only 3000 men from the elite 18th Division would survive the Hukawng Valley Campaign, Tanaka had effectively managed to keep intact the blockade to China for another year, something that would have profound repercussions later on in Chinese history. Further south, the 114th Regiment finally arrived at Gurkhaywa on June 16th, ready to reinforce the Chindits; yet Takeda had also brought most of his troops back to Mogaung, subsequently starting a deadly shelling of the Chindit positions. By when June 15th arrived, the Chinese still had not appeared, and Calvert pulled his troops back towards the bridge. At that moment, remarkable news arrived: The Japanese were abandoning their positions along the river. Calvert was exuberant. This meant he could move out of his bridgehead perhaps capture the town. Certainly, it meant a reduction of the shelling which was claiming at least 15 of his men a day. Yet, when the shelling did not die down and it quickly became apparent that Takeda was merely redeploying his troops along the railway, to get them out of flooding in low-lying areas. Chindit recce teams reported the area from the train station, in the heart of the town to the Mogaung Railway Bridge, further north, was heavily defended with eight bunkers dominating the landscape. Shelling from the village of Naungkyaiktaw, astride the road to Mogaung, set between fields of paddy, was persistent. Naungkyaiktaw had to be captured. Calvert estimated the village was held by a hundred Japanese. Because of this, on June 18th, Calvert ordered his forces to attack the apparent Japanese artillery encampment at Naungkyaiktaw after a heavy air and mortar bombardment. His troops outnumbered them, but unwilling to suffer needless casualties, Calvert directed the American fighter-bombers against the village, which was bombarded on the night of the 17th. Half an hour before dawn on the 18th, the Chindit mortars pummeled the place with 400 rounds for good measure. Calvert then sent in his assault force. Among the attackers was a company of 70 men from King's Liverpool led by Major Fred Reeman. This was a company that had stayed on with the 77th Brigade after the rest of the battalion had been transferred to the 111th Brigade. They were joined by 12 men of Blaine's Detachment, once evacuated to India but since returned, this time armed with about a dozen flamethrowers.  In the darkness, Blaine's Detachment was told to advance in front of the company of King's, and to “turn the fucking lights on.” As the detachment began to hurl flames far and wide, the Chindits behind them began cheering. The men had been told that the village had many bunkers, but never saw any at first. The scene soon turned fantastic. They went through the entire village “with twenty or thirty yards of flame shooting out in front.” They soon found the bunkers. The Japanese became crazed with fear especially after the British began yelling “put out the fucking lights,” and turning the flamethrowers their way. Many Japanese fled the bunkers, joined by those outside. They fled through the paddy fields, making for the railway station 400 yards away. Calvert's machine gunners had been waiting and blazed away, killing at least forty. Meanwhile, the rest of Fusiliers and the Kings walked up the paddy, picking off Japanese hiding or trying to crawl away in the ditches. Calvert, his mobile brigade-major Brash and his orderly Lance-Corporal Young decided to join the mop-up, shooting at Japanese while standing on chairs, as more Fusiliers began clearing the last of the bunkers, hurling grenades into them and blasting the insides with flamethrowers. As twilight set in that day, the most peculiar thing happened. The Fusiliers were cooking an evening meal in their newly-won positions, when a weary, seven-man patrol walked into their billet and began to take off their kit. The Fusiliers who looked up casually, noticed to their horror, that the new men were Japanese. The Japanese, for their part, had not noticed. The Fusiliers lunged for their weapons and opened fire. The Japanese patrol did not survive. In all, Calvert estimated that his troops had killed about 70 Japanese in the capture and holding of Naungkyaiktaw, while suffering 16 killed and 38 wounded. Major Reeman's King's company had become reduced to a platoon.  Calvert was considerably cheered on the evening of the 18th, when the much promised Chinese reinforcements finally arrived, guided over the river in motorized ranger boats by a towering Chindit officer, Captain Andrew. This was the 1st Battalion of the Chinese 114th Regiment led by Major P'ang, which quickly deployed in the positions pointed out by Calvert but left the Chindits a little flummoxed when they proclaimed that they were in no particular hurry to fight as they had been fighting for years. On the following day, another battalion of Chinese arrived under the personal command of the regimental leader, Colonel Li Hung, as did a battery of 75mm pack howitzers  the “6th Battery” under US Major Wayne Cook. The Chinese quickly assumed the defense of Mahaung, prompting an American liaison officer with the Chinese to send a press release that the Chinese had “captured” the village, which embarrassed Li. Cook's battery was deployed into position at Pinhmi village began operations on the 20th, hurling fire against the Japanese positions as the Chinese infantrymen consolidated their positions. Meantime, elements of the Chinese 113th Infantry, operating five miles north of Mogaung, surrounded a Japanese company, while Cook's guns hammered them. Fifty Japanese died from first blast alone. The Chinese finished off those who survived.The assault, was so ferocious that all the bunkers were overrun The reinforcements heartened Calvert for his own brigade was now a shell of its former self. The Lancashire Fusiliers and the King's Liverpool had only 110 men, the South Staffords had 180 and the Gurkha Rifles had 230. He planned a fresh advance, this time aiming for the hamlet of Natgyigon, on Mogaung's right flank, near the river. This area, Calvert believed, was the “key to Mogaung.” For the time, he chose the early hours of darkness on June 23rd a day which would go down in the annals of the 77th Brigade as the “stuff of legends.” The plan called for a mortar barrage of 1,000 bombs, in addition to shelling from the 75mm guns to cover the advance of the Chindits across the open ground towards Natgyigon. The Gurkhas were to move on the right, with the South Staffords on the left. Blaine's Detachment and the Lancashire Fusiliers were in reserve. The objective was to capture the entire stretch of ground from the Mogaung Bridge to the train station, the latter of which the Chinese were to secure. Once the area was in Allied hands, the troops were to dig in while the reserve troops mopped up. In addition, Allied aircraft were to bombard the area before the start of the assault, which itself was timed to launch at about 3.10 am. In the dark, section commanders could be heard telling their men: “We attack Mogaung tonight and once we've taken it the Brigadier says we are through!” Later, during the attack, Calvert discovered the Chinese infantry had not captured the all-important train station, even as their American liaison officer insisted that they had. Calvert angrily pointed out that no, the Chinese had not, because enemy fire from that direction continued to pick off his men at the railway embankment. The Gurkhas, moving along a wide right flank along the banks of the Mogaung River, headed for the railway bridge. Approaching the bridge, they came under heavy fire. Captain Allmand, by now suffering from trench foot as were most of the troops, moved forward to silence a machine gun firing on his men. He could barely run because of his affliction but advancing through the mud, he hurled grenades at the Japanese position. A burst of gunfire plunged into him. He fell, badly wounded. One of his Gurkhas, Sergeant. Tilbir Gurung pulled Allmand and another wounded NCO to safety. For this, Gurung was to get a Military Medal. Allmand's own valor was to be recognized by a Victoria Cross. The South Staffords swept into Mogaung town. Resistance was heavy. Lt Durant of the South Stafford deployed his machineguns to rake Japanese positions with fire. Meantime, the flamethrowers were brought up. As they moved up past Durant's positions, a shell burst exploded one, setting the man wielding it on fire. The man screamed and somehow shook off the flamethrowing unit from his back. Durant and some of his men rushed forward and rolled him into water in a nearby ditch. The Japanese had dug-in beneath the ruins of a brick house from where they were stubbornly holding the Staffords at bay. The rest of the flamethrowers moved in and sprayed the building. One Japanese, his clothes ablaze, leapt from his positions and tried to make a run for it. A scythe of gunfire cut him down. The rest valiantly held their positions and were burned to cinder. The Staffords, mopping up the, found the Japanese officer. He had shot himself with his revolver. The Japanese had entrenched themselves at a strategically important building known as the Red House, which was well-protected with machine-gun nests. The advancing Gurkhas consequently ran smack into this killing zone, getting caught in a murderous crossfire and suffering heavy casualties. In response, Calvert threw his reserves into the fray and the Chindits also began to pummel the Japanese positions with mortars and machine-guns, which allowed the infantry to reach the all-important train station. Inflicting some 120 casualties and losing 60 dead and over 100 wounded, the Chindits then successfully captured all their objectives by noon. For the rest of the day, heavy fighting would continue as the Chindits dug in on their gained positions; but during the night, the Japanese would finally pull out, leaving the town to the shattered remnants of the 77th Brigade. Mopping up then continued until June 27, when Mogaung was declared void of Japanese. Though this was the first major town to be recaptured in Burma, Calvert lost over 250 killed and 500 wounded at Mogaung, which was more than any Chindit formation was prepared to take. This was also a bittersweet victory for Calvert because Stilwell would claim that the town had been taken by his Chinese troops, even though the Chindits had done most of the fighting. Stilwill wrote in his diary on June 27th “Good news from Mogaung, We have it!” Then came a remarkable broadcast from Stilwell's headquarters via the BBC “The Chinese had captured Mogaung”. There was no mention of the Chindits. Calvert was incensed. Colonel Li was appalled and apologized profusely. “If anyone has taken Mogaung it is your Brigade and we all admire the bravery of your soldiers.” Calvert, his anger against Stilwell unmitigated, sent a message to US headquarters  “Chinese reported taking Mogaung. My Brigade now taking umbrage” this prompted Stilwell's staff to scour the maps for the location of Umbrage. Meantime, congratulations poured in from Lentaigne, from “Scottie” Scott, from John Masters, and the other brigade commanders. Among the lot, there was one, from Derek Tulloch, which struck Calvert's heart the most: “Wingate would have been proud of you.” After this defeat, and learning of the concurrent withdrawal of the 18th Division, Takeda's 53rd Division would withdraw to the Sahmaw River line in early July, where it was also reinforced with the recently-arrived 119th Regiment.  Meanwhile over at Myitkyina, General Boatner had to order a stop to the attacks after June 18th because of the heavy casualties. For the time being, tunneling would be used to close with the enemy. On June 25th, however, Boatner would have a severe recurrence of malaria that would force him to abandon the frontlines. This led General Stilwell to appoint Brigadier-General Theodore Wessels in command of the Myitkyina Task Force on June 26th. Luckily for Wessels the situation started to improve after the fall of Mogaung, as Chinese troops there could now move up the railroad to connect with Wessels' forces. This removed the recurrent menace of a Japanese drive from Mogaung, guaranteed reinforcements and the opening of a ground line of communications, and further eliminated one of General Minakami's two bases from which supplies had trickled into the Japanese perimeter. Despite this, the only gains in the week of June 25th were a few hundred yards taken by the 150th Regiment and the 236th Engineers. Alongside this, Stilwell ordered the 1st Battalion, 42nd Regiment to penetrate through the Japanese positions towards Sitapur on June 28. They would drive deep into the Japanese defense system, leading Stilwell to hope this was the turning point; on receiving Japanese fire, it halted and dug in. Air supply was necessary.In response, Wessels dispatched some Marauder reinforcements. F Company, unaware it had lost its way and under an inexperienced commander, proceeded with a small point almost directly ahead of the marching column. The company commander at the head of the point met a small group of Orientals whom he took to be Chinese and who greeted him affably. The strangers then suggested he and his party lay aside their guns. At this point the commander realized that he had been ambushed and gave the alarm. The Japanese machine guns opened on his trapped column, inflicting heavy casualties. Some of his men made their way back to the Allied lines, but the company was never reconstituted and was broken up and distributed among the rest of Galahad. For his constant gallantry during a stubborn eight-hour rear-guard action, which permitted the survivors to extricate themselves from ambush, Private first class. Anthony Firenze of New Galahad received the Distinguished Service Cross. Wessels then planning to launch a set-piece attack to capture a stretch of the Sumprabum Road.  Over in the Yunnan front, Colonel Matsui's 113th Regiment had successfully relieved the pressure from Longling by mid-June. General Matsuyama further ordered him to maintain the offensive while he continued to reorganize his forces. Though Matsui managed to seize the Tiechanghe pass on June 21st, most of his attacks would end up in nothing. In the north, the 20th Army Group launched simultaneous attacks against Qianshuang and Gudong on June 18th. This finally forcing the Japanese to retreat in disorder towards Tengchong by June 22nd. With the fall of Qianshuang, the Japanese had been forced to abandon the upper Shweli valley, and were now moving in some disorder toward Tengchong over three excellent trails. In Qianshuang, they left behind large quantities of ammunition and a few pieces of artillery, suggesting a disorganized withdrawal. 150 dead Japanese were found in Qianshuang itself; more than 300 Chinese gave their lives for the village. South of Qianshuang, the Japanese hastily destroyed their pontoon bridge to slow the Chinese pursuit. On reaching the Qianshuang-Baifen-Gudong line, the 20th Army Group had wrested 4000 square miles from Japanese control in forty days of fighting. The advance had been made over the precipitous ranges of the Kaolikung Mountains in an almost constant rain, a downpour sometimes heavy, sometimes light, rarely abating, and always turning to fog and sleet in the higher altitudes. More than 150 coolie supply porters fell to their deaths from the narrow, slippery trails that snaked precariously over the mountains. On June 25th General Wei received a personal order from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek to take Teng-chung. A few days later, th 20th Group Army, though delayed by the need to rebuild bridges over each of the swift mountain streams that crossed its advance, had pressed the Japanese rear guards back to the hills that surrounded Teng-chung at a distance of two to three miles from the formidable walled town itself. Meanwhile, the Fourteenth Air Force was trying to soften Teng-chung by daily attacks with bombs and machine-gun fire. The outer defenses of Teng-chung were pillboxes covering every avenue of approach, supported and covered by the 6,500-foot-high, fortified mountain peak of Lai-feng Shan, "The Place Where the Birds Come." Here were 600 or more Japanese with most of the garrison's artillery. Teng-chung itself was girdled by a massive wall of earth that in some places was forty feet high and sixty feet thick at the base, faced throughout with great slabs of stone. Chinese necromancers had carefully laid out the wall in a great square to cut the cardinal points of the compass. Each side had a gate, and each gate now had a Japanese command post, while Japanese machine guns and rifles swept the approaches to the wall, its face, and its parapets. Within the city were about 2,000 Japanese. In all, Colonel Kurashige, who had defended the Kaoli-kung mountains, had about 1,850 Japanese, a heavily reinforced battalion combat team built around the 2nd, 148th regiment. Kurashige's orders were to hold Teng-chung until the Chinese threat to Lung-ling passed Over at Longling, Matsui saw the arrival of some reinforcements on June 22nd that would allow him to continue his counteroffensive. Making repeated night and day attacks, the Japanese would be able to penetrate the enemy positions on June 24. Matsuyama then directed him to exploit towards Bengmiao and Huangcaobacum; yet a heavy raid by 24 B-25s and the arrival of the 1st Division would manage to halt the Japanese attempt to exploit their success, with Mitsui only securing the area northwest of Bengmiao by July 1st. The next day, Matsuyama then suspended the counteroffensive because of heavy casualties and he could see the enemy were strengthening their positions. In the meantime, Major Kanemitsu's Lameng Garrison was successfully holding off against a siege by three divisions since June 4th, though the Chinese would only launch unsuccessful attacks in regimental strength during this period; and to the southeast, the Pingda Garrison was also successfully repelling the small enemy attacks against them in spite of being cut off and disease-ridden. That is all for the Burma front today as we now need to head over to the Biak front. After the arrival of two battalions of the163rd Regiment for reinforcements, General Fuller planed a two-pronged attack against Mokmer Drome, with the 186th Regiment advancing west over the inland plateau while the 162nd Regiment resumed its attack west along the coast. On the morning of June 1, in preparation for the offensive, Colonel Newman's 3rd Battalion therefore left Bosnek and marched north over the coastal ridge, with the 2nd Battalion also moving from Opiaref to join them. By 11:00, both battalions successfully set up defensive perimeters; yet their preparations would be interrupted abruptly in the afternoon as Colonel Kuzume directed his 1st Battalion to attack the positions held by Company K. These Japanese, who were supported by machine guns and mortars emplaced northwest of the trail crossing, continued attacks until 5:00, when a platoon of Company K, by a flanking movement, forced their withdrawal northward. Company K and two platoons of the Antitank Company remained at the trail crossing for the night. Company I was moved forward to K's left and left rear, and Company L extended K's perimeter east along the main road toward the surveyed drome. Battalion headquarters and Company M stayed near the strip's western end. The 121st Field Artillery Battalion, the Cannon Company, the 2nd Battalion, regimental headquarters, the attached engineers, and the tanks remained near the center of the airfield.   Thankfully, the Americans would manage to repel the assaults and would ultimately force a Japanese withdrawal via a bold enveloping maneuver. But the Japanese would return after midnight. The first part of the night passed without incident, but at 3:30 the entire area held by the 3rd Battalion, 186th Infantry, flamed into action. About a company and a half of the 1st Battalion, 222nd Infantry, moved from the south against the semicircular perimeter held by Companies I, K, and L, having outflanked the 3rd Battalion on the west. Simultaneously, other elements of the 1st Battalion attacked from the northwest, attempting to drive a wedge between Companies L and K. Under the support of mortar and machine gun fire from both the northwest and southwest, the encircled Japanese desperately tried to fight their way north. Four hours of confused hand-to-hand fighting, marked by the use of bayonets, machetes, and grenades, ensued. At daylight a count revealed that 86 dead Japanese were within and around the 3rd Battalion's perimeter. The dead included the commander of the 1st Battalion, 222nd Infantry. Losses to the American unit were 3 men killed and 8 wounded.  After dealing with the threat, Newman resumed the westward advance at 9:00 on June 2nd. The 1st and 3rd Battalions, supported by five tanks and an antitank platoon, were to advance abreast, while the 2nd protected the right flank by patrolling north of the main road. The 121st Field Artillery Battalion was to provide continuous close support and was to displace forward with the infantry. Neither artillery nor air bombardment seems to have been provided for or delivered prior to the attack. However, both the 121st and 146th Field Artillery Battalions were registered on targets north and west of the 186th Infantry. Air support was available from Wakde Island upon call. The 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry broke camp at its beach defense area at 8:00 on June 2nd and moved north over the ridge to join the rest of the regiment. The 1st Battalion, 222nd Infantry, had made no serious attempt to stop the 186th Infantry's progress westward because the inland plateau was nearly indefensible and because the battalion would have been decimated in battle with the superior strength of the reinforced American regiment. The 1st Battalion was withdrawn from the surveyed drome area, initially in preparation for counterattack against the Bosnek beachhead. While no such counteroffensive was mounted, the withdrawal of the 1st Battalion at least had the advantage of keeping the unit intact. The American advance would thus be opposed by the 10th Company, 222nd Regiment; the 3rd Company, 36th Division Sea Transportation Unit and some other naval and engineer units.  The 1st and 3rd Battalions then advanced with two companies abreast against scattered but determined opposition from elements of the 1st Battalion, 222nd Infantry. Small enemy patrols aimed machine gun and rifle fire at the advancing American units and held their positions until killed or dispersed by tank or artillery fire. Most of the enemy parties were located on the north flank and apparently many of them had been driven westward out of the cave and garden area north of the surveyed drome by fire from the 121st Field Artillery Battalion, which destroyed Biak Detachment headquarters installations in that area. By nightfall the 186th Infantry had killed 96 Japanese and had itself lost 6 men killed and 10 wounded. The unit halted shortly after 1600 and began digging in at a point about 600 yards northeast of the day's objective. The advance had carried the regiment west until it was almost abreast and north of the 162nd Infantry, at the Ibdi Pocket. The latter had attempted to move west along the coast during the day, but it would be unable to dislodge the Japanese from the Ibdi Pocket, ultimately having to attach its 2nd Battalion to the 186th.  The addition of the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Regiment to the 186th Regiment helped to complicate the supply problems of the troops on the plateau. No water had yet been found inland. Heat and humidity were intense, and thick scrub growth, about 12 feet high, stopped any breezes. Despite the best efforts of Company B, 116th Engineers, the supply road could not be repaired fast enough to keep pace with the advancing infantrymen. Water had to be brought around from Bosnek via Opiaref to the forward units, and there were not enough water trailers nor 5-gallon cans available to supply all the water needed. At night each man received only one canteen of water for the next day, an inadequate amount under the conditions which prevailed inland. The water situation and the necessity for hauling all other supplies north through Opiaref did more to delay the 186th Regiment's progress westward than did the opposition of the 1st Battalion, 222nd Regiment. Meanwhile Kuzume's only support so far had been some air raids carried out by the depleted 23rd Air Flotilla and 7th Air Division. By late May, the 23rd Air Flotilla had only twelve fighters and six medium bombers at Sorong and the 7th Air Division had four large bombers, 20 medium bombers and three fighters. Both units threw what strength they could muster into attacks on the enemy landing force. On May 27th four Army heavy bombers and nine Navy fighters carried out a daylight attack against fierce air opposition, all but four fighters failing to return. Kuzume would need more than that to launch a determined attack that would succeed in pushing the enemy back into the sea. Consequently, on May 29th, General Numata and Admiral Senda had requested the immediate commitment of fleet and air strength into the Biak battle. They both relayed this message “The enemy apparently found the difficulty of rapid occupation of the airfield sector. The enemy will change, in all probability, its policy to occupy the whole island of Biak after the arrival of reinforcements, securing its present positions with landed units for a while. The officers and men on Biak Island are firm in their resolution to crush the enemy. However, our operations are severely restricted by the uncontested superiority of the enemy's feet and air units. The Biak Detachment, which is making every effort in destroying the confronting enemy, request for further support by the army and navy units concerned. We believe that the immediate commitment of our air forces and, if possible, some fleet units would give us a splendid opportunity to turn the tide of battle in the whole Pacific area in our favor.“ This finally convinced Admiral Toyoda to send reinforcements to the island.  To counter the Allied advance to Biak, the IJN dispatched from one third of its available naval land-based air strength from the Central Pacific to reinforce the 23rd Air Flotilla in western New Guinea. On May 28th 70 carrier-type fighters, 4 reconnaissance bombers, and 16 medium bombers were dispatched to western New Guinea. Another group of planes, comprising 48 fighters, 8 reconnaissance aircraft, and 20 bombers, were sent to western New Guinea and Halmahera from the Carolines on or about May 31st. On 29-30th May the flotilla carried out fresh attacks on the Biak landing force. On May 29th, sixteen medium bombers attacked the enemy fleet in the sea near BIAK Island before daybreak of that day, yet none of them returned. Furthermore, in a daylight attack on the same day, four Zero fighters strafed BIAK Island. None of them returned to the base either. On May 30th, the unit of the Zero fighters of the Navy again fired upon enemy ships in the sea off Mokmer. The damage on the enemy ships was not confirmed. However, the unit reported that they fought four P-38s and four B-25s of the enemy and shot down two B-25s above BIAK Island. Also as part of Operation KON, a huge task force under Admiral Sakonju, which included the battleship Fuso, four cruisers and eight destroyers, was to transport Major-General Tamada Yoshio's 2nd Amphibious Brigade towards Biak. Additionally, it was decided to move three infantry companies of the 35th Division from Sorong to Biak by barge. Sakonju's convoy finally left Davao on the night of June 2nd. In connection with KON Force's advance, the Japanese had planned heavy air strikes against Biak which were to be carried out by the recently reinforced 23rd Air Flotilla and the few army aircraft which remained at bases within range of Biak. Between 1645 and 1700 on 2 June, from eleven to fifteen Japanese planes bombed Allied positions on Biak, causing a few casualties and some light damage. Seven of these planes were shot down by shore-based anti-aircraft weapons, while guns aboard Seventh Fleet ships lying off Bosnek accounted for at least one more. Later during the same night, a few more enemy planes dropped some bombs harmlessly on and near Owi Island. Still more approached Biak during the night, causing many red alerts but not dropping any bombs. The next night, that of 3-4 June, no Japanese planes attacked Biak, although an unknown number bombed Owi Island without causing any damage or casualties. Again, however, enemy aircraft flew many reconnaissance flights around Biak, causing an almost continuous red alert until the early morning hours of 4 June. Early on the morning of June 3rd, at a point just east of the Talaud Islands, between Mindanao and Morotai, a 7th Fleet submarine sighted the Transport and 1st Screening Units and was in turn sighted by ships of the latter organization. Alongside this 7th Fleet PB4Y's, operating from Wakde Island, kept the Japanese vessels under surveillance the rest of the day, reporting that the course and speed of the enemy ships could bring them into range of Biak during the evening of June 4th. Their discovery by Allied aircraft so far from Biak apparently had not been anticipated by the Japanese, who later reported that they had not known Allied aircraft were capable of such long-range reconnaissance. Nevertheless, the three KON Force elements steamed on toward Biak, probably hoping that friendly aircraft might drive off the Allied reconnaissance planes and also protect the sea approaches to Biak. To further muddy the situation, Sakonju received false reports that a strong American carrier group was approaching the waters east of Biak. Admiral Kinkaid had indeed dispatched a special task force to deal with this threat, yet the warships could only arrive off Biak on the night of June 4th and didn't include any aircraft carrier. Nonetheless, knowing that he had been discovered and unwilling to risk so many ships under these circumstances, Sakonju would have to suspend the reinforcement run and turn back to Davao and Sorong.   When the Japanese called off KON on June 3rd, the Transport and the 1st and 2nd Screening Units were a little over 500 miles northwest of Biak and about 250 miles east-southeast of the Talaud Islands. At this point, the three forces were reorganized. The Transport Unit, accompanied by the three destroyers of the 1st Screening Unit, changed course for Sorong, while the 2nd Screening Unit and the two heavy cruisers of the 1st turned back toward Davao, which they probably reached late on June 5th. Of the ships moving to Sorong, the Fifth Air Force claimed to have sunk one destroyer and damaged at least two others. The Transport Unit and the 1st Screening Unit's three destroyers arrived safely at Sorong during the evening of June 4th. The Detached Unit, which had been moving toward Biak from Zamboanga on an independent course far to the west of the other three sections of KON Force, had also changed its direction during the night of 3-4 June, and reached Sorong sometime on the 4th. At Sorong the Transport Unit unloaded the 1,700 men of the 2nd Amphibious Brigade. The six destroyers of the Transport and 1st Screening Units then proceeded southwest to Ambon where they refueled. The Transport Unit's one heavy cruiser and one light cruiser sought shelter in Kaboei Bay, Waigeo Island, about 60 miles northwest of Sorong. On 6 June the heavy cruiser Aoba was attacked there by fifteen B-24's of the Fifth Air Force. First reports were that at least two hits were scored on the cruiser, but it was later learned that the ship suffered no damage. Instead, it was able to take part in a second KON Operation. Back over at Biak, Newman resumed the advance westward on the morning of June 3rd, making painfully slow progress because of the difficult terrain and lack of adequate supply lines. Meeting no opposition, they would finally dig in half a mile from the point at which the main ridge left the coast and turned inland near Mokmer. That day, however, Fuller learnt about the possible enemy naval attack, so he decided to halt any offensive actions for the moment. On June 4th, upon learning that no enemy carriers were in the Biak area, Sakonju was again ordered to prepare to run the American blockade, this time bringing the bulk of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 219th Regiment. There would be two naval groups, the first was the Transport Unit, containing three destroyers which had been part of the first KON Operation Transport Unit. The second section was the Screening Unit, also comprising three destroyers. For the second KON Operation there were two detached units, the 1st had one heavy and one light cruiser while the 2nd Detached Unit included the small craft and patrol boats which had put into Sorong at the end of the first KON. The three destroyers of the Transport Unit were each to embark 200 infantrymen at Sorong. In addition, the destroyers of either or both the Transport and Screening Units were each to tow to Biak one landing barge crammed with troops, probably 30 to 50 men to a barge. After two quiet nights, meanwhile, Newman decided to send three battalions forward toward the north-south section of the main ridge northwest of Mokmer on June 5th. Warned by the regimental commander that it was important to secure a foothold on the ridge before the Japanese could deny it to the 186th Infantry, the three assault battalions started westward about 8:00 on June 5th. Lack of water again slowed the advance. No water had been received in the forward area since the morning of the 4th, and Colonel Newman had ordered the troops westward against the advice of his staff and battalion commanders. About noon, however, a heavy rain fell. The regimental commander ordered all troops to halt, catch the rain in ponchos, and fill their canteens. "Had it not been for this lucky break, we would undoubtedly have had to halt in midafternoon." As events turned out, no Japanese opposition was encountered, and by 1500 the 3rd Battalion, 186th Infantry, was within 500 yards of the main ridge. Although Newman and General Doe then wanted to secure the dominating terrain north and northwest of the airfield, they would receive direct orders from Fuller to immediately seize Mokmer Drome and a beachhead on the coast directly south of that strip. Throughout the morning of June 6th the 186th Infantry directed most of its efforts to bringing supplies up to the forward units. Almost the entire 2nd Battalion was engaged in hand-carrying supplies to the 3rd Battalion atop the ridge, while the latter unit sent patrols toward Mokmer Drome seeking good routes of approach to that objective. About noon Colonel Newman reported to task force headquarters that no good route had been found and that supplies, especially the ever-needed water, had not been brought forward in sufficient quantities to allow a regimental attack to be launched that day, and he therefore recommended that the attack be postponed until June 7th. General Fuller approved this suggestion. The lack of supplies and water would delay the attack, however, though the 3rd Battalion would be able to move down the west side of the main ridge to take up positions along a line of departure for the next morning's attack. To support the infantry attack, on June 7th, a thirty-minute artillery concentration began at 7:00 that morning. The 146th, 205th, and 947th Field Artillery Battalions, from positions along the coast to the east, were registered on targets in the airfield area ready to support the advance, but most of the firing was undertaken by the 121st Field Artillery from its location behind the 186th Infantry. While the artillery fired on Mokmer Drome and along the low ridge between that field and the 186th Infantry, Fifth Air Force bombers attacked the Borokoe Drome area and also struck some targets along the low ridge. The airfield was only occupied by the 108th Airfield Construction Unit, which immediately fled the area because of the heavy bombardment. Newman's 1st and 3rd Battalions advanced south encountering no resistance as they crossed Mokmer Drome and reached the beach.  When, on 5 June, the 186th Infantry had reached the crest of the main coastal ridge, it had been on the left rear of the Japanese defenses on the low ridge and terraces above Mokmer Drome. Thus, the regiment had been in a favorable position to take these defenses from the rear. But in its move to the airfield, the 186th Infantry had bypassed the Biak Detachment's principal defensive positions. The bypassing had not been intentional. Colonel Newman had instructed both leading battalions to halt on the low ridge, reconnoiter along it in both directions, and report on Japanese defenses before moving on. According to Colonel Newman: "I received a negative report from both battalions, and ordered the movement to the airdrome. Evidently, the right battalion had failed in this patrolling effort." Instead, the 186th had captured its main objective, but now found itself surrounded by Kuzume's strongest defenses. The Japanese immediately began to pound the new American perimeter, with an artillery duel soon erupting. By nightfall, it had become impracticable to supply the 186th Regiment over the inland plateau road, which ended on the east side of the main ridge. From that point, all supplies would have to be hand-carried to Mokmer Drome and supply parties would be endangered by Japanese patrols, a few of which moved in behind the 186th as the regiment reached the beach, so the 3rd Battalion, 163rd Regiment would be dispatched to push over the inland plateau and protect the parties. Overwater supply was also attempted, yet as the first boats approached the shore they were greeted by machine gun and rifle fire from Japanese whom the 186th Infantry had not yet cleaned out of caves along the water line in front of Mokmer Drome. The small craft returned the fire, but were finally forced to withdraw. The 186th Infantry, according to Colonel Newman, was "glad to see them withdraw since they had our troops running for cover." At 2:00 another attempt was made to land supplies at Sboeria. The three LCM's managed to put their tanks ashore in the face of continuing Japanese fire, but accompanying LCT's were driven off by Japanese artillery. Two of the LCM's were so damaged by enemy fire that they could not fully retract their ramps and had to proceed the nine and a half miles back to Bosnek in reverse. Plans were made to effect all delivery of supplies and evacuation of casualties at night until the enemy fire on the Sboeria beachhead could be neutralized. The tanks which had been landed lumbered along the shore road fronting Mokmer Drome, destroying several small bunkers along the beach. Then they wheeled toward the low ridge north of the airfield, taking under fire a Japanese 75-mm. mountain gun and a 20-mm. piece which had opposed their landing. These two weapons were silenced. Moving cautiously northwestward from the field along a road which crossed the low ridge, the tanks destroyed two large pillboxes. Alongside this, Fuller sent two companies of Haney's 3rd Battalion to land on the Parai Jetty in order to outflank the Ibdi Pocket, which the 162nd had been unsuccessfully attempting to dislodge since the start of the month. But June 7th would also see the start of Operation KON's second attempt.  After rendezvousing off Misoöl Island that morning, Sakonju instructed his 8 destroyers to proceed to Biak. Air cover was to have been provided by planes of the 23rd Air Flotilla. But the cape area was being patrolled by Allied aircraft on June 8th and, about 1:30, the 23rd Air Flotilla cover of six planes was shot down or driven away by 5th Air Force P-38's.  Finding the air now free of enemy planes, American B-25's dived to the attack th convoy, reporting the convoy as 2 light cruisers and 4 destroyers. Initially, it was claimed that 1 destroyer was sunk, 2 were left sinking, and the fourth was damaged. A few days later, destruction was reassessed as 4 destroyers sunk and 2 light cruisers chased to the northwest. These claims were exaggerated. One destroyer, the Harusame, was holed by a near miss and sank rapidly, the bulk of its crew being saved. Another destroyer was damaged by a bomb and took some water; two others were slightly damaged by strafing. Neither speed nor navigation was impeded for any of the three. The two light cruisers reported by the Allied planes were, of course, the other two destroyers. These two might have taken some evasive action by heading northwest for a short time, but as soon as the Harusame crew had been rescued and the Allied planes had disappeared, the convoy reformed and continued on toward Biak. The convoy reformed and continued on toward Biak, undeterred by reports of strong enemy elements in the area. By nightfall, however, it was on a collision course with the cruisers of Admirals Crutchley and Berkey.  At about 6:00 on the 8th, the Transport and Screening Units received a report from a Japanese aircraft that an Allied naval force comprising 1 battleship, 4 cruisers, and 8 destroyers was moving west at high speed from an undesignated point east of Biak. This report was at least partially correct. The Allied task force which had been formed on June 3rd had again assembled on the 8th, having been alerted by reports of the air-sea battle off the Kaap de Goede Hoop. But the Japanese convoy commander apparently took this air reconnaissance report with at least one grain of salt--had not similar information received on June 3rd proved inaccurate? The Transport and Screening Units steamed on, despite the fact that the Kaap de Goede Hoop action had put the force behind schedule. At 11:30 the two enemy groups were approximately forty miles off the north coast of Soepiori Island, ready to turn southeast toward Korim Bay, on the northeast side of Biak. Minutes later a destroyer in the van sighted the Allied task force heading northwest around Biak. The convoy commander quickly realized that he was badly outnumbered and decided that discretion was called for. The Japanese convoy slipping towards the Mapia islands, seeing the allied destroyers failing to pursue them. Yet that is it for Biak for now as we now need to head over to the Wakde-Sarmi front.   General Sibert was preparing to resume the westward offensive. By June 14th, the 20th Regiment had relieved the 158th at the Tirfoam River; and although Sibert wanted to complete unloading of his remaining units before sending the 20th to push westward, General Krueger ordered him to start an immediate offensive on June 18th. Now, however, they were up against almost the full strength of General Tagami's 36th Division. Company B pushed on toward the village at the entrance to the defile between Lone Tree Hill and the eastern nose of Mt. Saksin. This advance was greeted by a hail of fire from Japanese automatic weapons emplaced in the defile--fire reminiscent of the opposition encountered by Company B, 158th Infantry, at the same place more than three weeks earlier. The 20th Infantry's Company B tried to outflank the enemy position to the south but was halted by intense Japanese machine gun fire. Tanks sent forward to aid the infantry were unable to reach the enemy guns because the terrain was impassable to tracked or wheeled vehicles, which could scarcely negotiate the rough road, let alone the thick jungle and rising ground to the south. Late in the afternoon Company A was sent forward to Company B's position, but both units encountered heavy fire and soon lost contact with the rest of the 1st Battalion. The two companies remained for the night in an isolated perimeter near the village and about 400 yards west of the main body. The 3rd Battalion had moved north off the coastal road during the morning, and late in the afternoon it had established a perimeter extending south 200 yards from the beach along the east bank of the Snaky River. The battalion had encountered little opposition during the day, but patrols which had crossed the Snaky before dark reported finding many Japanese defensive positions on the eastern slopes of Lone Tree Hill. A gap which existed between the 1st and 3rd Battalions was partially filled just before nightfall by elements of the 2nd Battalion, which were sent forward late in the afternoon. Casualties during the day were four killed and twenty-eight wounded. The 1st and 3rd Battalions, 1st Infantry, moved across the Tor River in the morning of June 20th and took over the positions in the vicinity of Maffin No. 1 vacated by the 20th Infantry. The 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry, assumed responsibility for the protection of the bridgehead across the Tor.  The following morning, Sibert then directed his units to patrol extensively in order to locate enemy strong points on and around the hill. Thanks to the information gathered, the 3rd Battalion would attack towards Rocky Point in the afternoon. At the top of Lone Tree Hill was a stretch of rough but generally level ground lying mostly along the western part of the hill. This flat ground, about 700 yards long north to south, was shaped like a crude dumbbell. At its northern end, the level area was about 300 yards wide. It narrowed at the center of the hill to less than 100 yards but broadened again on the south to a width of about 250 yards. There were many coral outcroppings, potholes, and small crevices, while on the north the hill terminated in a very rugged prominence called Rocky Point. This terrain feature, which extended into Maffin Bay from the central mass of Lone Tree Hill, was about 300 yards wide east to west. Its northern face was not as heavily overgrown as the rest of Lone Tree Hill. Although Rocky Point's northeast slope was steep, foot troops could climb that face with more ease than they could approach the top of Lone Tree Hill from most other points. A deep ravine ran southwest into the central mass of Lone Tree Hill from a sandy beach on the east side of Rocky Point. The floor of the ravine varied from 20 to 30 yards in width and its nearly vertical western wall was 40 to 50 feet high. Both sides were honeycombed with natural or man-made tunnels, caverns, and small caves, most of which were connected with each other by underground or deeply defiladed passages. Some caves reached a width of 40 feet, a depth into the hillside of 50 feet, and a height of 20 feet. The ravine terminated on the eastern slope of Lone Tree Hill in a steep grade at the narrow central portion of the hilltop. At 1:45pm, after a fifteen-minute artillery and 4.2-inch mortar preparation, one company moved across the Snaky River, immediately finding the twenty-foot cliff along the eastern side of the shelf which lay between the Snaky River and the central mass of Lone Tree Hill. The morning patrols had not, apparently, reported the existence of this cliff, and naturally it was not known that Japanese defenses were established along it. Machine gun and rifle fire from the 1st Battalion, 224th Infantry, soon pinned down the 3rd Battalion's leading platoon. The company commander quickly sent part of his unit northward to find the Japanese left flank. Moving around the northeast end of the shelf, this group discovered the beach entrance to the deep ravine between the western side of the shelf and Rocky Point. Progress into or across the ravine was impossible in the face of the intense Japanese small arms fire which greeted the advancing American unit. Company B, 6th Engineers, then in the forward area to cut a road from the mouth of the Snaky River to Rocky Point, was brought up to the ravine to help clean out caves and crevices with flame throwers and demolitions, but could not reach the enemy positions through the continued machine gun, mortar, and rifle fire. Infantry bazooka squads also tried to blast the Japanese out of their caves but failed when their ammunition ran out. Since there was no time to bring additional rockets forward before dark, all elements of the 3rd Battalion and the engineer company were withdrawn to the east bank of the Snaky River for the night. The 20th Infantry was to continue the assault on the morrow with the 3rd Battalion moving against Lone Tree Hill from the northeast, the 2nd Battalion in reserve, and the 1st Battalion remaining in its holding position. On the morning of June 22, after a heavy air and artillery concentration on Rocky Point, the 3rd Battalion once again attacked northwest with Companies K and I, successfully driving the Japanese back into their caves to reach the top of Lone Tree Hill just south of Rocky Point. Meanwhile, another two companies had attacked southwest to force their way up the southeast slope of the hill; but subjected to heavy machine-gun fire, they would have to withdraw and march north to join Companies K and I. The 2nd Battalion also moved forward and took positions to the south of the 3rd Battalion. Worried about the American gains, Colonel Matsuyama personally led two companies in the afternoon to fall on the 3rd Battalion's perimeter with suicidal fury. Confused fighting, sometimes hand-to-hand, continued well into the night, with Matsuyama himself getting shot on the thigh. Yet this attack would successfully position the Japanese companies on the rear of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, thus cutting them off from regimental headquarters. Matsuyama also recalled his 2nd Battalion from the Maffin area, so he would employ these reinforcements to attack Sibert's 2nd Battalion on June 23. At dawn on the 23rd Japanese troops, some of whom were using American weapons and wearing parts of American uniforms, attacked the 2nd Battalion, 20th Infantry, from the deep ravine. The battalion initially held its fire, thinking that the enemy force might be a friendly patrol, and the Japanese were able to advance to within fifteen yards of the battalion lines before being recognized. It was an hour before the results of this error could be corrected--an hour during which both the 2nd Battalion and the Japanese suffered heavy losses. The hour ended with an enemy retreat. Isolated, the 2nd Battalion then decided to withdraw and march north towards the 3rd Battalion's perimeter at the top of the hill, getting harassed all the way by Matsuyama's forces. During the night, the Japanese launched a banzai charge against the perimeter, getting very close to retaking Lone Tree Hill but suffering heavy casualties in the end. Upon learning that his battalions were cut off, meanwhile, Sibert decided to outflank the hill by a shore-to-shore maneuver and then continue the attack from both west and east. Accordingly, Companies K and I of the 1st Regiment boarded ten LVTs on the morning of June 24th and moved to the beach just west of Rocky Point, under the protection of the 6th Reconnaissance Troop. Both companies would land successfully by midday against strong Japanese fire, though they would be rapidly pinned down on the narrow beach. Thankfully, Sibert also landed four tanks two hours later to secure the beachhead. This diversion would allow the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 20th Regiment to begin clearing the Japanese from the many caves and crevices on Rocky Point, the deep ravine east of the point, and the hilltop plateau, further securing the supply route up the hill.  By nightfall, no enemy counterattack developed, as Tagami had instead decided to withdraw the 224th Regiment to the Hill 255-Mount Saksin line while the 223rd Regiment retreated behind the Woske River. Thus Matsuyama's resistance in the area weakened and the Americans were finally able to clear Rocky Point. The next day the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 20th Infantry, continued clearing Rocky Point, the deep ravine, the northern part of the hilltop plateau, and the eastern shelf, where a few scattered Japanese still held positions along the twenty-foot-high cliff. Flame throwers, demolition charges, bazookas, and hand grenades all proved successful in eliminating Japanese resistance and sealing or clearing caves and crevices. The task was easier on the 25th, for the Japanese slowly gave up the fight and were killed or sealed off in their caves. Casualties continued to mount, the 2nd Battalion, 20th Infantry, had only about two hundred effectives by the end of the day but many of the losses were not due to Japanese action. Many men were evacuated over the now secured supply route to the top of the hill as they fell from exhaustion or became sick. On the beach west of Rocky Point Companies I and K, 1st Infantry, had little success in expanding their beachhead. The tanks proved useless in the area and were therefore withdrawn to Maffin No. 1. The two infantry companies, pinned down during the morning, kept up a continuous mortar barrage against Japanese positions in the swamp to the south, against the western cliff of Lone Tree Hill, and, when certain such fire would not endanger troops atop the hill, against the northwest corner of Rocky Point. This mortar fire, coupled with the operations on the plateau, began to have the desired effect during the afternoon, and Companies I and K were able to push their defenses beyond the narrow beachhead slightly southward and westward and toward the shore beneath Rocky Point. Once or twice during the afternoon, patrols were able to reach the top of Lone Tree Hill from the northwest corner of the point and established contact with 20th Infantry units. Late in the afternoon Company M, 1st Infantry, operating from the east side of the point, managed to push a patrol around the shore to establish contact with Company K. Though Companies I and K could find little tangible evidence of the results of their operations, they had actually wiped out the 223rd Infantry's defense force in the area just west of Lone Tree Hill. By dusk on the 25th, it had become obvious that the combined efforts of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry, and the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 20th Infantry, had either cleared out the northern half of Lone Tree Hill or had forced the Japanese to withdraw. The latter conclusion was the more nearly correct. The 36th Division decided on 25 June to withdraw the bulk of the Center and Right Sector Forces west of the Woske River and establish new defensive positions, thereby keeping the 223rd Infantry, the bulk of which had not been committed to action in the Lone Tree Hill area, more or less intact. Only the remnants of the 224th Infantry were to remain east of the Woske, and they were to withdraw into rough terrain southwest of Mt. Saksin. At nightfall on the 25th, General Sibert estimated that his three forward battalions had lost approximately 140 men killed and 850 wounded and evacuated, including those who had to be sent back to the rear because of wounds, sickness, heat exhaustion, or psychoneurotic disorders. Known Japanese dead in the northern part of the hill numbered 344, but it could not be estimated how many more had been thrown over the west cliff, sealed in caves, or carried off by withdrawing remnants of the Japanese defense force. According to Japanese sources, the Japanese had lost about 500 men killed and another 300 wounded in the Lone Tree Hill-Hill 225-Mt. Saksin area.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Chinese were accredited with the fall of Moguang despite the Chindits taking the lionshare of the fighting. Things were advancing very well for the allies in the new Biak front. As for the battle for Lone Tree Hill, it was a costly one, and not one the Americans or Japanese would soon forget.   

Dr. David Wurmser, Senior Analyst for Middle East Affairs at the Center for Security Policy, Served as Middle East Adviser to Dick Cheney, as Special Assistant to John Bolton, and as a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.   Discussed the latest acts of betrayal of Israel by the government of Joe Biden, the extent to which it is advancing an agenda of global governance at the expense of freedom and sovereignty, and our alliance with one of the most important of our friends in the world, the state of Israel. Explored the work that is going forward by the Israelis to defeat Hamas despite the Biden team's best efforts to ensure not only its survival but also its defeat of the Jewish state. Kyle Shideler, Director and Senior Analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Explored the betrayal of the Biden administration concerning the law enforcement professionals whose performance, capabilities, and morale may be the difference between life and death for many of us in this country. Captain James Fennell Retired from U.S. Navy in 2015, concluding a 30-year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy; assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.                                     We got an update from Captain James Fennell about the state of China's strategic arson under the "arsonist-in-chief," Xi Jinping, how it is part of a larger strategy for conquering the world using multiple techniques and quite possibly without having to fire a shot. We also discussed the extent to which American elites have been indispensable in enabling China to put itself in a position to do devastating harm to our country.  

Kyle Shideler, Director/Senior Analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy What is taking place on college campuses like Columbia? How the red-green axis, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and jihadi elements are working together to bring down our country. Christine Douglass-Williams, Award-winning Canadian Journalist and author of The Challenge of Modernizing Islam, published by Encounter Books; and Fired by the Canadian Government for Criticizing Islam--a Center for Security Policy publication. Christine is a past Federal government appointee with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and an external advisor to the former Office of Religious Freedoms—a regular writer for Jihad Watch and Associate Editor for Frontpage Magazine.  New Investigations into Chinese Communist Party's penetration and subversion of the Canadian government. What are Sharia-compliant mortgages?  Capt. James Fanell, Retired from the U.S. Navy in 2015, concluding a 30-year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy. Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc. Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University       Examples of increasing threats to the Philippines posed by the Chinese Communist Party's military and so-called "fishing fleets."  Discussed the build-out and utility of the array of fortified islands across the South China Sea to the Chinese communist party and what that means for the United States.

Admiral Robert Harward is one of history's most accomplished US Navy SEALs. After graduating from the US Naval Academy, his NSW career began when he graduated with BUD/S class 128 in 1984 and joined SEAL Team Three, where he served as a platoon commander. From there, he screened for NSW Development Group, the US Navy's tier-one unit, known at the time as SEAL Team Six, where he served as an assault team leader and operations officer. He earned his master's degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. Then he served as the task group commander during Operation Desert Thunder in Kuwait, the Joint Special Operations Task Force commander for Operation Rugged Nautilus, the deputy commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Bosnia, the Special Warfare Plans Officer for the Commander of Amphibious Forces in the U.S. Seventh Fleet; USSOCOM Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief; then as the Executive Officer of NSW Unit ONE and as the commanding officer of SEAL Team Three.Admiral Harward assumed command of NSW Group One in August of 2001 and deployed to Afghanistan shortly after the 9/11 attacks. He commanded a multi-national task force named Task Force K-Bar and directed special reconnaissance and direct action missions throughout the country.The following year, he deployed to Iraq as the commander of Task Force 561, where he commanded NSW Task Group Central. The forces at his command there included not just all the assets in the Naval Special Warfare but also forces from the Polish GROM, the UK Royal Marines, and the Kuwaiti Navy.In 2003, he left NSW Group One and reported to the Executive Office of the President at the White House, where he served on the National Security Council as the Director of Strategy and Defense Issues.He went to the newly created National Counterterrorism Center in Washington from the White House.Then, he served as the deputy commanding general of JSOC, the Joint Special Operations Command, at Fort Bragg and did several more combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.In 2008, he assumed the role of deputy commander of the United States Joint Forces Command.Finally, in 2011, at the rank of Vice Admiral, he was assigned the role of Deputy Commander of USCENTCOM before retiring in November 2013. After his retirement, Admiral Harward became the chief executive of Lockheed Martin in the UAE.He is currently the executive vice president for International Business and Strategy for Shield AI, an AI-focused Defense Company. In this episode, we talk with Admiral Harward about his career in Naval Special Warfare, his advice for young leaders in the military, and the evolution of warfare as artificial intelligence takes a greater role on the battlefield. Timestamps:00:00:22 Intro to Admiral Bob Harward00:05:03 Younger Career00:10:30 Going Officer or Enlisted00:14:06 Becoming a Good Leader00:15:34 Advice for Aspiring Special Operators  00:21:13 Always be Prepared for War00:23:38 Well-Educated Warriors00:26:46 Comparison of SOF Units Around the World00:30:00 China and the US00:31:33 The Role of A.I.00:34:31 Half of Our Potential00:36:54 Best and Worst Advice 00:39:16 Outro

Dan was born in San Jose, California, and enlisted in the Navy on March 3, 1992. After graduating boot camp, he attended Hospital Corpsman (HM) “A” School in San Diego, California. His following duty stations as a general duty corpsman were Naval Hospital San Diego and 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, where he served with three separate infantry units. In September 1998, upon his promotion to HM2, he transferred to Clinical Support BMC Naval Station as leading petty officer. He reported to Naval School of Health Sciences San Diego for Surface Independent Duty Corpsman School in July 2000. Upon graduating, his assignments included the USS Constellation (CV 64), 3rd Marine Air Wing, Marine Air Control Group 38, MCAS Miramar, USS Thatch (FFG 43), USS Milius (DDG 69), Afloat Training Group Pacific, USS Comstock (LSD 45) as medical departmental leading chief petty officer, and Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he was promoted to master chief.   In 2014, Master Chief Field was selected as Command Master Chief (CMDCM). His tours include Naval Medical Center San Diego,  1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW), Camp Foster, Okinawa, Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) at Naval Air Facility Atsugi with a homeport shift to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (MCASI) while being deployed in support of U.S. Seventh Fleet operations and multiple detachments throughout the Pacific Theater.  In 2019, Master Chief Field was selected as Amphibious Force U.S. Seventh Fleet, Expeditionary Strike Group 7/Task Force 76 Command Master Chief in Sasebo, Japan.  He was responsible for 17 subordinate operational commands and over 4,500 Sailors and Marines.    CMDCM Field currently serves as U. S. Seventh Fleet Command Master Chief in Yokosuka, Japan, supporting at any given time 50-70 ships and submarines, 150 aircraft, and more than 27,000 Sailors and Marines.

Dan was born in San Jose, California, and enlisted in the Navy on March 3, 1992. After graduating boot camp, he attended Hospital Corpsman (HM) “A” School in San Diego, California. His following duty stations as a general duty corpsman were Naval Hospital San Diego and 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, where he served with three separate infantry units. In September 1998, upon his promotion to HM2, he transferred to Clinical Support BMC Naval Station as leading petty officer. He reported to Naval School of Health Sciences San Diego for Surface Independent Duty Corpsman School in July 2000. Upon graduating, his assignments included the USS Constellation (CV 64), 3rd Marine Air Wing, Marine Air Control Group 38, MCAS Miramar, USS Thatch (FFG 43), USS Milius (DDG 69), Afloat Training Group Pacific, USS Comstock (LSD 45) as medical departmental leading chief petty officer, and Naval Medical Center San Diego, where he was promoted to master chief.   In 2014, Master Chief Field was selected as Command Master Chief (CMDCM). His tours include Naval Medical Center San Diego,  1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW), Camp Foster, Okinawa, Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) at Naval Air Facility Atsugi with a homeport shift to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (MCASI) while being deployed in support of U.S. Seventh Fleet operations and multiple detachments throughout the Pacific Theater.  In 2019, Master Chief Field was selected as Amphibious Force U.S. Seventh Fleet, Expeditionary Strike Group 7/Task Force 76 Command Master Chief in Sasebo, Japan.  He was responsible for 17 subordinate operational commands and over 4,500 Sailors and Marines.    CMDCM Field currently serves as U. S. Seventh Fleet Command Master Chief in Yokosuka, Japan, supporting at any given time 50-70 ships and submarines, 150 aircraft, and more than 27,000 Sailors and Marines.

On COI #313, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman cover China, North Korea, Russia, Afghanistan, and Iran news. Kyle discusses the U.S. Navy's plans to send warships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait. The Seventh Fleet intends to “contest” China's recent actions such as firing missiles over the island in response to Nancy Pelosi's provocative visit. Given the dangerous state of U.S.-China relations, further American aggressiveness could vastly escalate already soaring tensions. Besides China, North Korea is feeling squeezed by the American Empire and has recently conducted more cruise missile tests. The U.S. is currently conducting war games with Japan and South Korea and has more planned with Seoul, kicking off next week, that could include many tens of thousands of troops. Russian territory is continually being attacked in Crimea by U.S./NATO backed Ukraine. An explosion just rocked an ammunition depot in the northern part of the peninsula, with unnamed Ukrainian officials again taking credit as with similar incidents last week. This could drastically increase tensions. This comes soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky complained about recent leaks regarding Kiev's war effort and defense plans. President Joe Biden received a letter this week from 77 family members of 9/11 victims demanding that he release the $7 billion in Afghan central bank reserves held by the FED. U.S. officials recently said they would not be returning any of the money to Afghanistan, even though millions of people are facing death by starvation as a result of the sanctions policy against the Taliban as well as the liquidity crisis exacerbated by Washington's theft. Biden signed an executive order that would make $3.5 billion of the Afghan funds available to 9/11 families. The letter's signatories said this would be “legally suspect and morally wrong.” They said the money belongs to the Afghan people. Iran says there are three issues that must be resolved before they can agree to sign the ostensibly “final” draft the EU has proposed to restore the JCPOA. Washington initially refused to negotiate the draft text they already accepted. However, a day later the State Department spokesman Ned Price announced they were studying Iran's response to the European bloc. The Kuwaitis have appointed an ambassador to Iran and there are indications the UAE may follow suit soon. This throws at least some cold water on efforts to build a NATO style, anti-Iran alliance led by Washington and Tel Aviv. The Israeli national security adviser is headed to Washington reportedly out of fear that the U.S. may actually be considering reentering the JCPOA.   Odysee Rumble  Donate LBRY Credits bTTEiLoteVdMbLS7YqDVSZyjEY1eMgW7CP Donate Bitcoin 36PP4kT28jjUZcL44dXDonFwrVVDHntsrk Donate Bitcoin Cash Qp6gznu4xm97cj7j9vqepqxcfuctq2exvvqu7aamz6 Patreon Subscribe Star YouTube Facebook  Twitter  MeWe Apple Podcast  Amazon Music Google Podcasts Spotify iHeart Radio Support Our Sponsor Visit Paloma Verde and use code PEACE for 20% off our CBD

On COI #313, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman cover China, North Korea, Russia, Afghanistan, and Iran news. Kyle discusses the U.S. Navy's plans to send warships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait. The Seventh Fleet intends to “contest” China's recent actions such as firing missiles over the island in response to Nancy Pelosi's provocative visit. Given the dangerous state of U.S.-China relations, further American aggressiveness could vastly escalate already soaring tensions. Besides China, North Korea is feeling squeezed by the American Empire and has recently conducted more cruise missile tests. The U.S. is currently conducting war games with Japan and South Korea and has more planned with Seoul, kicking off next week, that could include many tens of thousands of troops. Russian territory is continually being attacked in Crimea by U.S./NATO backed Ukraine. An explosion just rocked an ammunition depot in the northern part of the peninsula, with unnamed Ukrainian officials again taking credit as with similar incidents last week. This could drastically increase tensions. This comes soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky complained about recent leaks regarding Kiev's war effort and defense plans. President Joe Biden received a letter this week from 77 family members of 9/11 victims demanding that he release the $7 billion in Afghan central bank reserves held by the FED. U.S. officials recently said they would not be returning any of the money to Afghanistan, even though millions of people are facing death by starvation as a result of the sanctions policy against the Taliban as well as the liquidity crisis exacerbated by Washington's theft. Biden signed an executive order that would make $3.5 billion of the Afghan funds available to 9/11 families. The letter's signatories said this would be “legally suspect and morally wrong.” They said the money belongs to the Afghan people. Iran says there are three issues that must be resolved before they can agree to sign the ostensibly “final” draft the EU has proposed to restore the JCPOA. Washington initially refused to negotiate the draft text they already accepted. However, a day later the State Department spokesman Ned Price announced they were studying Iran's response to the European bloc. The Kuwaitis have appointed an ambassador to Iran and there are indications the UAE may follow suit soon. This throws at least some cold water on efforts to build a NATO style, anti-Iran alliance led by Washington and Tel Aviv. The Israeli national security adviser is headed to Washington reportedly out of fear that the U.S. may actually be considering reentering the JCPOA.

Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan managed to bring the national security eyeballs back to the Western Pacific after half a year in Eastern Europe.The People's Republic of China has not been distracted by the Russo-Ukrainian War any more than she was with our two decades distraction in Central and Southwest Asia. She remains focused on two things:- Pushing America to her side of the Pacific.- Establish herself as the primary regional and then global power.Where does China stand today, and where is she heading for the rest of the decade?We have a great guest this Sunday at 3pm Eastern to dive in to these and related topics, James E. Fanell, Captain, USN (Ret.)Jim concluded a near 30-year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Pacific security affairs, with an emphasis on China's navy and operations. His most recent assignment was the Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet following a series of afloat and ashore assignments focused on China, as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge as well as the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier strike group both forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan. Ashore he was the U.S. Navy's China Senior Intelligence Officer at the Office of Naval Intelligence. In addition to these assignments, he was a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and is currently a Government Fellow with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in Switzerland and the creator and manager of the Indo-Pacific Security forum Red Star Risen/Rising since 2005.

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post describes the sleaze and corruption that compromised the top ranks of the Seventh Fleet.

What is innovation and how does it apply to the Department of Defense? Join Jason Knudson, as he defines innovation as a concept, idea, process or thing that creates change and delivers value. Jason, was recently honored as one of the 2022 Federal 100, which highlights experts across all federal government information technology fields! We explore where defense innovation started, where it is now and where he sees it going. Throughout his 24 year career, he has spent time places like Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), CNO's Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC), the Navy's Seventh Fleet, OPNAV N2/N6, Second Front Systems, skyTran, Vysva Lab, Center for Technology, Research and Commercialization and Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation. Connect with Jason on LinkedIn and join him in his mission to improve our countries capabilities.

Chris Hedges discusses with Andrew Cockburn his new book, ‘The Spoils of War – Power, Profit and the American War Machine'. Cockburn's book lays bare the naked lust for profit that is behind America's endless wars and bloated military budget. The American war machine, he writes, can only be understood in terms of the “private passions” and “interests” of those who control it – principally, a passionate interest in making money. Thus, Washington expanded NATO beyond Germany, breaking a promise to Russian leaders, to open up the lucrative arms market in Eastern Europe to defense contractors. The US Army insisted on furnishing soldiers with defective helmets from a favored contractor that magnified the trauma and traumatic brain injury caused by an explosion. The US Navy's Seventh Fleet deployments were for years dictated by a corrupt defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who bribed high-ranking officers with cash, drunken parties that lasted days, and prostitutes known as the “Thai SEAL team” to ensure his more than $200 million in contracts. The Air Force spent $50 billion in esoteric devices to deter insurgents' homemade $25 bombs, including the $100 million Lockheed EC-130H aircraft supposedly equipped with ground-penetrating radar that could detect buried bombs. Only after hundreds of flights was the device found to be useless. Senior Marine commanders agreed to a troop surge in Afghanistan in 2017, not because they thought it would work, but “because it will do us good at budget time.” Cockburn provides example after example that exposes the ugly reality of the largest military machine in history, at once corrupt, squalid, and terrifyingly dangerous. Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor, Harper's Magazine

Photo:  Beijing, China (Feb. 26, 2004) Sailors and Marines from Commander Seventh Fleet and USS Blue Ridge tour the Great Wall of China during a Blue Ridge Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) sponsored tour of Beijing, China. Blue Ridge, the command ship of U.S. Seventh Fleet, arrived in Shanghai, China on a Feb. 24th for a routine port visit. While in Shanghai, Sailors and Marines from the ship and embarked staff took in the local culture and interacted with their counterparts from the People's Liberation Army (Navy).  U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 3rd Class Seth J. Bauer.  Can the EU arbitrate US vs PRC? Yukon Huang, CEIP . #YukonHuang The U.S.-China Trade War Has Become a Cold War - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/09/16/u.s.-china-trade-war-has-become-cold-war-pub-85352

Part Two: All about advice! Raymond Kemp Sr. gives us his top tips: 1) Bias towards action 2) Embrace who you are, and 3) Enjoy the journey. He also suggests finding a mentor who believes in you, helps you gain momentum to help you reach your goals and tells you the truth! And, you will want to hear about the US President he has met who surprised him the most. He ends his interview with us with a discussion on the continued discrimination in the military. Raymond's service is not over, as he now wants to inspire other leaders to do the right thing.  Raymond is a highly experienced Senior Executive in Leadership and Human Resources. He is an accomplished, results-oriented, forward-thinking organizational consultant with over 10 years of experience at the highest levels of the US Navy improving organizational strategies, increasing operational excellence, and boosting the performance of teams and employees in a variety of organizations. He represented the US Navy at the NATO International Senior Enlisted Seminar, which included briefing over 200 military leaders from African and European nations on leadership development and the value of cooperative agreements. As an Inspector General, he mentored over 300 junior executives, monthly, in leadership best practices and ethics at the Naval Leadership and Ethics Command & Senior Enlisted Academy. He spearheaded the repeal of “Don't Ask Don't Tell” through face to face discussion with every crew member under his command for the purpose of building trust/resilience. Throughout his career, he has completed combat deployments in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Fleet areas of responsibilities and participated in operation Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope, Operation Southern Watch, Continue Hope, Sea Angel II, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Fleet Master Chief Kemp's personal qualifications and awards include the Enlisted Surface Warfare, Enlisted Aviation Warfare, and the Enlisted Information Warfare; two Meritorious Service Medals, four Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, a Combat Action Ribbon, and various unit and campaign awards. Connect with Raymond to learn more about him and his background:LinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdkemp/Kemp Leadership = https://kempleadership.com/Quote of the Day Show = https://seancroxton.com/quoteoftheday/As A Man Thinketh by James Allen = https://www.amazon.com/As-Man-Thinketh-Complete-Original/dp/1250780047/ref=pd_lpo_3?pd_rd_i=1250780047&psc=1Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done = https://www.amazon.com/Execution-Discipline-Getting-Things-Done/dp/1847940684Sign up for our newsletter at https://abbraccigroup.com/. Please subscribe, leave a review and tell your friends about our podcast. Learn more about the CHARGE® model by purchasing the book, The Way of the HR Warrior. Let us know about the moments for you that changed your life trajectory. Drop us a note via our website. 

Part One: You don't want to miss this two-part episode with Raymond Kemp, Sr.! Why is it two parts? Well, at the 24:55 min mark, Raymond's audio went out. Part 2 is filled with advice and insights into the current state of the Navy. Be sure to listen. In Part One, Raymond shares his story of walking into a Naval office to get his new assignment in the IT/technology department and the leader told him that he wouldn't have “his type/n-word” working in computers. The leader placed all the Black sailors in the lower-level jobs. Raymond tells us how he managed through that time period. Yeah and BTW, Raymond retired after 33 years in the Navy, met many world leaders (including the Pope) and left as the most senior Black person in the Navy. His advice? Check out Part 2 of this podcast! Raymond is a highly experienced Senior Executive in Leadership and Human Resources. He is an accomplished, results-oriented, forward-thinking organizational consultant with over 10 years of experience at the highest levels of the US Navy improving organizational strategies, increasing operational excellence, and boosting the performance of teams and employees in a variety of organizations. He represented the US Navy at the NATO International Senior Enlisted Seminar, which included briefing over 200 military leaders from African and European nations on leadership development and the value of cooperative agreements. As an Inspector General, he mentored over 300 junior executives, monthly, in leadership best practices and ethics at the Naval Leadership and Ethics Command & Senior Enlisted Academy. He spearheaded the repeal of “Don't Ask Don't Tell” through face to face discussion with every crew member under his command for the purpose of building trust/resilience. Throughout his career, he has completed combat deployments in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Fleet areas of responsibilities and participated in operation Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope, Operation Southern Watch, Continue Hope, Sea Angel II, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Fleet Master Chief Kemp's personal qualifications and awards include the Enlisted Surface Warfare, Enlisted Aviation Warfare, and the Enlisted Information Warfare; two Meritorious Service Medals, four Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, a Combat Action Ribbon, and various unit and campaign awards.Connect with Raymond to learn more about him and his background:LinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdkemp/Kemp Leadership = https://kempleadership.com/Quote of the Day Show = https://seancroxton.com/quoteoftheday/As A Man Thinketh by James Allen = https://www.amazon.com/As-Man-Thinketh-Complete-Original/dp/1250780047/ref=pd_lpo_3?pd_rd_i=1250780047&psc=1Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done = https://www.amazon.com/Execution-Discipline-Getting-Things-Done/dp/1847940684Sign up for our newsletter at https://abbraccigroup.com/. Please subscribe, leave a review and tell your friends about our podcast. Learn more about the CHARGE® model by purchasing the book, The Way of the HR Warrior. Let us know about the moments for you that changed your life trajectory. Drop us a note via our website.  

The Federation is not faring well.  With the Commodore dead, what remains Seventh Fleet is being called back to help participate in a counterstrike against the Dominion.  Unfortunately, Seventh Fleet has cut off from Federation forces.  It is up to the crew of the Tigris help the severely damaged Seventh Fleet make it back to … Continue reading "Actual Play – Star Trek Tigris – EP 19 Fleet Action" The post Actual Play – Star Trek Tigris – EP 19 Fleet Action appeared first on The Roleplaying Exchange.

Behind enemy lines and separated from the Seventh Fleet, the Tigris finds itself adrift in the remnants of an ancient alien war. Hiding amongst the wreckage and inactive starships, the crew of the Tigris have got to figure out a way to distract the enemy forces long enough to escape. Joe – GM Birk- Lenara … Continue reading "Actual Play – Star Trek Tigris – EP 18 Call Of The Dead" The post Actual Play – Star Trek Tigris – EP 18 Call Of The Dead appeared first on The Roleplaying Exchange.

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post describes the sleaze and corruption that compromised the top ranks of the Seventh Fleet.

[PLEASE NOTE: THE FIRST 30 SECONDS OF THE AUDIO ARE MESSED UP. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME AND IGNORE THAT, THE REST OF THE AUDIO IS FINE. I DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO AUDACITY TO FIX IT UP AS MY PC IS BROKEN RIGHT NOW.]There was an outstanding Doonesbury cartoon from 1980 lampooning then-POTUS candidate Ted Kennedy for making high-flown statements with nothing actionable: the punch-line was, “A Verb, Senator, We Need a Verb!”. I was struck by deja vu when PM Modi made a bold announcement on 7th June that the GoI was (re)assuming full control of vaccine procurement. I think Indians elected PM Modi to take decisive steps, but he has seemingly vacillated recently, so this was a welcome return to form. The decision was also a reiteration of a sound business principle: size matters. Large customer orders always get better terms than smaller ones. It was evident all along that there was no way a motley crew of States would ever get the attention of pharma majors when there is a large supply shortfall.It was apparent that the grandstanding opposition CMs were hoping to do the following:Order the famous Pfizer vaccine at 10-20x the price of Covshield and CovaxinGet supply commitments from Pfizer (and presumably commissions)Then force the GoI through a public outcry to pay for the vaccine anywayObviously, that would have been a win-win for them. But this was doomed from the start, because Pfizer demands sovereign guarantees of indemnity. They asked Argentina to surrender its embassies and warships as guarantees of indemnity in case there were side effects/deaths and legal obligations. “Sub-national diplomacy” is all very well for Biden, but BigPharma is more hard nosed, and they know States have no assets they can seize, and so they will only deal with the GoI.The opposition leaders are not really interested in vaccination, except as a stick to beat PM Modi with. Their support of the super-spreader ‘farmer’ agitation is clear proof of that. They flip-flopped, too. First, they wanted the GoI to allow States to procure vaccines. To their surprise, the GoI agreed. They were caught in a bind: and they had to backpedal furiously, because hardly any Big Pharma bothered to respond to their global tenders, except highly dubious Chinese vaccine makers.So the PM has temporarily shut the politicians down, and they have been shown up. I am reminded of a poem by Oliver Goldsmith, “Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog”, which says, among other things:But soon a wonder came to light,That shew'd the rogues they lied;The man recover'd of the bite–The dog it was that dy’d.That, of course, is what politicians do: and we price it into our calculations about them. Not that they don’t need some discipline. It would be highly instructive to, say, Mamata Banerjee, who runs a medieval fiefdom, to charge her for culpability in the killings and ethnic cleansings of Hindus in West Bengal by illegal Bangladeshi aliens and/or her party cadres. So would it be to indict the Nehru dynasty scion on his dicey citizenship (British? Italian?) and other sins such as the National Herald kumbhakonam. But there are, in my opinion, three other ‘institutions’ in India that are even more dastardly than politicians, and that need some decisive action. BureaucracyFirst, babudom. I have lost count of the number of ‘open letters’ from retired babus with suggestions for the GoI about how to go about various things. Wonder of wonders, none of these things occurred to them when they were in power and could actually have done something useful. No, then they were too busy applying their lips to the ample mammaries of the welfare state and milking it for all it was worth. IAS/IPS/IFS babus are excruciatingly sensitive to two things: their pension benefits and post-retirement sinecures. I remember a famous Nehruvian babu who joined an evangelical ‘aid’ group at 3x his salary, after going on leave and thus ensuring that his pension benefits would remain intact. It took a lot of shouting to force him to resign from the service and forgo his juicy pension/medical benefits.There have been several other IAS/IPS officers in the limelight recently for all the wrong reasons: one barged into a Hindu wedding in Tripura (I think), slapped the priest, terrorized the attendees, ripped up the permit that allowed them to hold the ceremony at the muhurtam at midnight (as an exception to Wuhanvirus lockdown norms). Another slapped a young man who was stopped on police while proceeding to buy medicines, and slammed his phone to the ground. A third ordered a firing on a Hindu religious procession in Munger, and caused young Anurag Poddar to be shot in the head, and he died in his stricken mother’s arms. So far as I can tell, none of these babus paid for their excesses with a dismissal from service, or even a suspension. They were merely transferred elsewhere. The ecosystem takes care of its own. The latest example is a man who was Chief Secretary, West Bengal. There was gross insubordination on his part when he was 30 minutes late to a meeting with the PM, and then walked out early (the same antics as his Chief Minister). Upon being recalled to the center (after all, the IAS is a central service), he demurred. Shortly after, he retired, and was absorbed into the West Bengal government as a ‘senior advisor’.There is a simple solution: on any transgression, suspend them without pay, and revoke the extremely generous pension and medical benefits pending a judicial inquiry into wrong-doing. Furthermore, make it a service rule that no retired babu can get a new post without its being advertised openly, and inviting qualified applicants, especially from the private sector. If these steps are taken in the case of one, just one, high-handed bureaucrat, the whole lot of them (selected on the basis of a single mandarin exam, with the subjects being ludicrously out of touch with current realities) will think twice about lording it over the public. After all, their job is administration: they should be selected on the basis of the IIM Common Admission Test or the GMAT and trained in the IIMs, and all the rigmarole of the fancy IAS Academy should be dispensed with. The days of generalist babus are over: industry increasingly requires domain knowledge and lateral entrants with short-term contracts. The IPS needs specialized training in law and order; similarly the IFS needs training in diplomacy, trade and geopolitics. These can be add-ons to the basic IIM training. Here’s an appalling example of how those with domain knowledge, not generalist mandarins, are the need of the day. This person is a retired Health Secretary, I am told: JudiciaryIt has been clear as day for some time that the Indian judiciary suffers from deep structural flaws. The most obvious issue is that it is extremely inefficient, and has allowed millions of cases to languish: the Supreme Court has a backlog of 68,000 cases; High Courts together have 58 lakh cases, and District Courts have 3.3 crore cases pending. This is appalling. Judicial overreach is an endemic problem. Instead of fixing itself and ensuring that the unconscionable backlog is cleared in a time-bound manner, judges are encroaching on the territory of the Executive Branch by issuing peremptory orders on things they have no business in, no expertise in, and no value-added to offer in. The solutions are also obvious: 1. Defining the focus of the Supreme Court to be strictly on Constitutional cases, and nothing but: no grandstanding on cricket or other high-visibility but trivial issues, 2. Ensuring that appointments to the high judiciary are vetted and approved by the Parliament and thus the elected will of the people, and also not left to an incestuous, unaccountable Collegium that specializes in nominating sons, nephews and other relatives, 3. Canceling the singularly outrageous device of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL), which has been used by well-heeled and motivated NGOs with foreign paymasters to bypass every check and balance and make a mockery of the process of escalation and appeal. In a 2018 essay, https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/can-we-fix-the-deeply-troubled-judiciary I wrote at length about these issues, so I will not repeat myself.However, there is something the government needs to do: impeach one, just one, of the most outrageous of the judges. I have a candidate in mind, but shall not name names, mindful of draconian contempt-of-court strictures. The same issue with post-retirement sinecures and extravagant pension and other benefits comes up in the case of the judiciary as in that of bureaucrats. I had a great-uncle who was a State Chief Justice, and he had any number of tribunals and other jobs after he retired. I have a friend who was a Justice in a State, and post-retirement somebody is assigned to meet her at airports, carry her bags, and escort her to her flight!MediaThis is quite possibly the very worst and most corrupt institution in the country. It is thoroughly compromised and infiltrated by various vested interests, top to bottom. At one end, there is reason to believe that one of the richest and most visible editors in India was recruited by a New York Times correspondent as an ‘embedded asset’ more than thirty years ago. At the other end, the jibes about ‘2BHK’ journalists strike a chord, given their abject slavishness.Indira Nehru Ghandy demonstrated that India’s journalists, when asked to bend, will grovel. Today, they can clearly be counted on to carry the agendas of any anti-India power: they are for sale.This, of course, is par for the course for journalists everywhere. Some hallowed names in journalism, including science journals, especially British titles, have demonstrated that they are for sale to the highest bidder. Which for all practical purposes these days means they are ‘friends of Xinhua and Xi Jinping’, as the latter have splashed out on information warfare in a big way. Stories that reflect poorly on China tend to be swept under the carpet. The Big Tech social media platforms give themselves airs these days for obvious reasons: they can defenestrate sitting presidents not only from their platforms, but from their seats of power, too. Sometimes there are unintended consequences, as in what happened in Nigeria: Twitter blocked the President, and Nigeria suspended Twitter indefinitely. The ongoing saga of Twitter’s defiance of Indian law would be comical, if it weren’t such black humor. Twitter has thumbed its nose more than once at India: the first incident was when Jack Dorsey, its boss, showed up in India, got himself photographed with a bunch of women brandishing a slogan about “Brahmin Patriarchy”, and was photographed with the PM with body language screaming “arrogance!”.Among many other transgressions, Twitter India in November 2020 deplatformed the scholarly @TrueIndology on flimsy or nonexistent grounds, essentially because they didn’t like him using well-reasoned and well-sourced information to trash leftist mythologies. I said in a podcast at the time that it was a watershed event, and that India should suspend Twitter forthwith. https://rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/p/podcast-episode-9-trueindology-incidentLater, there was an incident in which Twitter showed Leh in China. Showing the borders of India incorrectly (especially out of malevolence) is a non-bailable offense, which attracts immediate arrest of the perpetrator, which in this case would be Twitter India’s honchos. That was strike two, enough to block Twitter’s IPs in India. I thought that by March 2021 India had enough reason to shut the platform down. https://rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/p/episode-16-is-india-reining-in-bigtechsocialmediIt’s comically appalling after all this history, and the fact that much bigger fish, such as Facebook, Youtube, etc. have acceded to Indian law, Twitter still goes around acting as though it were a sovereign government ‘negotiating’ with the Government of India on behalf of the “freedom of expression” of Indians. Nobody elected Twitter, did they? Such delusions of grandeur, such megalomania!Why, PM Modi, is this relatively trivial application being given so much importance? Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? In reality, Twitter is -- get this -- the world’s No. 16 social media by number of users! It really is the chicken that should be killed to scare the monkeys such as Facebook, YouTube and Whatsapp, who are all watching with interest.And exactly what will happen if Twitter is kicked out of India? I’m not sure what happened in Nigeria, but I suspect not much. Yes, Twitter is a convenient news feed for many of us, but its utility is limited, and other platforms can easily step into the breach, say India’s own Koo. India simply cannot be held to ransom by an app. If India could kick out Tiktok (ironically Biden is revoking the ban on Tiktok by Trump), CamScanner and other Chinese apps, what is the hold that Twitter has over the country? Is it some fear that the New York Times and its Seventh Fleet will suddenly appear in the Bay of Bengal? Oh, wait, the NYT doesn’t have a fleet. Just pull the plug on this whole sorry drama, Mr. Prime Minister. A verb, we need a verb from you: enough is enough. There is no reason to go around broadcasting that India is a Soft State. 2194 words, June 9th, 2021 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

Photo: Throughout Obama's presidency, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet routinely patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific to maintain the freedom of seas .CBS Eye On the World with John BatchelorCBS Audio Network@BatchelorshowJerry Hendrix #Unbound: the complete, forty-minute interview, March 23, 2021To Provide and Maintain a Navy: Why Naval Primacy Is America's First, Best Strategy, Hardcover – December 19, 2020 by Henry J Hendrix (Author)https://www.amazon.com/Provide-Maintain-Navy-Americas-Strategy/dp/0960039198 The national conversation regarding the United States Navy has, for far too long, been focused on the popular question of how many ships does the service need? To Provide and Maintain a Navy, a succinct but encompassing treatise on sea power by Dr. Henry J "Jerry" Hendrix, goes beyond the numbers to reveal the crucial importance of Mare Liberum (Free Sea) to the development of the Western thought and the rules-based order that currently govern the global commons that is the high seas. Proceeding from this philosophical basis, Hendrix explores how a "free sea" gave way to free trade and the central role sea-borne commercial trade has played in the overall rise in global living standards. This is followed by analysis of how the relative naval balance of power has played out in naval battles and wars over the centuries and how the dominance of the United States Navy following World War II has resulted in seven decades of unprecedented peace on the world's oceans. He further considers how, in the years that followed the demise of the Soviet Union, both China and Russia began laying the groundwork to challenge the United States's maritime leadership and upend five centuries of naval precedents in order to establish a new approach to sovereignty over the world's seas. It is only at this point that Dr. Hendrix approaches the question of the number of ships required for the United States Navy, the industrial base required to build them, and the importance of once again aligning the nation's strategic outlook to that of a "seapower" in order effectively and efficiently to address the rising threat. To Provide and Maintain a Navy is brief enough to be read in a weekend but deep enough to inform the reader as to the numerous complexities surrounding what promises to be the most important strategic conversation facing the United States as it enters a new age of great power competition with not one, but two, nations who seek nothing less than to close and control the world's seas.

Photo: The US Department of Defense defines FONOPs [freedom of navigation] as “operational challenges against excessive maritime claims” through which “the United States demonstrates its resistance to excessive maritime claims.”  Here:  A 1658 naval map by Janssonius depicting the Indian Ocean, India and Arabia.The New John Batchelor ShowCBS Audio Network@Batchelorshow The mystery of a USN Seventh Fleet FONOPS in Indian waters. @CleoPaskal @GordonGChang, Gatestone, Newsweek, The HillCleo Paskal, non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on this: https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/opinion-us-navy-intrusion-in-indian-eez-is-beyond-comprehension-but-objectionable-376876

LCDR David N. Trenholm, of Rockford Illinios, Enlisted in the Navy in June of 1995. After completion of Bootcamp at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes Illinois, LCDR Trenholm checked into Yoemen “A” schoolat NAS Merdian MS. In January of 1996, then YNSA Trenholm, checked into his first Command at VFA-106 Gladiators at NAS Cecil Field FL. LCDR Trenholm was selected for the BOOST program in 1998 and left for New Port, RI. LCDR Trenholm graduated from Florida State University, in 2003, where he earned a Double Bachelors of Science in Finance and Real Estate. LCDR Trenholm attended flight school in Pensacola, Florida from 2003-2004 while assigned to the VT-4 Warbucks with follow on training at the 562nd Flying Training Squadron at Randolf AFB in San Antonio TX where he earned his “Wings of Gold” in April 2005. He was selected to his first fleet aircraft, the P-3C Orion, and reported to training at Patrol Squadron 30 located at NAS Jacksonville, FL. In January of 2006, LCDR Trenholm reported to his first operational aviation assignment VP-5 Mad Foxes at NAS Jacksonville, FL. During his time at VP-5 he completed one tri-site deployment to Djibouti, Sigonella, and El Salvador flying over 500 mishap-free hours and directly contributing in the seizure of more than $100 million in narcotics. He also completed one 7th Fleet deployment flying over 500 mishap-free hours. While attached to VP-5 he served as the Legal Officer, Readiness Offcier, and AW Training Division Officer and qualified as NAV/COMM NATOPS Instructor, Instructor TACCO and Mission Commander. In March of 2009, LCDR Trenholm checked in to CPRW-11 Weapons and Tactics Unit (WTU) where he served as a Legal Oficer, Warfare Development Division Officer, Training Division Officer. During his time at CPRW-11 WTU he was responsible for developing training curriculium and implantation of training to over 150 students and qualified over 30 Combat Air Crews in the P-3C Orion. In October of 2011, LCDR Trenholm reported to USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69) where he served as the OI Divison Officer, Search and Rescue Officer, Full Motion Video Officer, Common Tactical Picture Manager, and quailed as a Tactical Action Officer (TAO) and Aircraft Launch and Recovry Officer (SHOOTER). He conducted two deployments to the 5th Fleet AOR in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and a Battle “E”. In August of 2013, LCDR Trenholm checked into CPRW-11 Det FSU-5 where he completed 3 EUCOM deployments amassing over 750 flight hour providing accurate and crucial ISR&T to the FIFTH, and SIXTH Fleet Commanders in support of Operatoins INHERENT RESOLVE. He served as the Maintenance Officer, Admin Officer, Training Officer, and Operations Officer during his time at FSU-5. After being selected for Operational Training Department Head, LCDR Trenholm reported to TACRON 22 in January 2016 where he served as the Operatoins Officer, Training Officer, Admin Officer, and Detachement Plans Officer, and qualified as a (TACCWO). He deployed with onboard the USS WASP (LHD-1) to FIFTH and SIXTH Fleet in support of Operation ODYSSEY LIGHTING. He also deployed aboard the USS IWO JIMA (LHD-7) in support of Hurrican relief due to Hurrican Irma and Matthew. For his twilight tour, LCDR Trenholm reported to CPRW-11 Det FSU-5 July of 2018 where he served as the Maintenance Officer and Detachment Officer-in-Charge of a deployment to FIFTH Fleet and SEVENTH Fleet. LCDR Trenholm has accumulated more than 2,250 flight hours in the mighty P-3C Orion aircraft. His personal decorations include the Air Medal (2 Awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3 Awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (3 Awards) and numerous Campaign, Service and Unit awards. David is married to the Danielle Trenholm of Monticello, FL and together we have 2 children; Sean 19, and Kady, 15 in Jacksonville, FL. David earned a Double Bacholers of Science in Finance and Real Estate from Florida State Univeristy and a

FRED GALVIN, Commander of the MARSOC 7, Maj. Galvin (Ret.) has fought for eleven years to have the MARSOC 7 fully exonerated: A recent event involving MARSOC members What can the American public do to help these service members? COL (RET) JOHN MILLS, Former Director, Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense: Allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election Voter irregularities in Virginia Top-loading of votes in the United States JAMES FANELL, Retired from US Navy in 2015 concluding 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy, Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University: The threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to Taiwan Joe Biden's relationship with China GORDON CHANG, The Daily Beast contributor, Author of The Coming Collapse of China and Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World, Latest book: Losing South Korea (2019): The suspension of Ant Group's Initial Public Offering Ongoing tensions between China and Taiwan How would a Biden administration deal with the Chinese Communist Party?

The Day Senkaku and Okinawa Are Occupied You may be watching the outcome of this U.S. presidential election, as if you were watching a drama in a distant country. However, this event will have a great influence on the fate of Japan and Taiwan in the future.  The crisis of China's military invasion of Taiwan is approaching. At the same time, we are on the verge of landing in the Senkaku Islands and invading Okinawa militarily. The U.S. presidential election was held on November 3rd, and I was also touted for fraud. I think the next president will be decided in January 2021, but in the months to that end, the United States will be in a period of political turmoil. CCP may come to Taiwan, Senkaku, and Okinawa for a period of turmoil in the United States. In fact, the defeat of the National Party candidate supported by CCP in Taiwan's presidential election held in January 2020 has taken a step toward military action. However, because the Wuhan virus occurred, the military action was once put on hold. The pending military action may be put into practice during the post-U.S. presidential election period. If that becomes a reality, what will happen to Japan? Whoever the next president will be, until January 2021, the current administration will take the helm of the United States. Therefore, as the Trump administration has announced, if CCP attack Taiwan and Senkaku by force, they will immediately launch retaliatory attacks. The CCP might also anticipate this and preemptively attack the U.S. Seventh Fleet's base camps in Yokosuka and Sasebo and Okinawa. There is also the possibility that a nucleus has been implemented at the tip of the missile. If that happens, I'm sorry for the damage at the U.S. military base alone. The damage will also be caused to the residents around the U.S. military base. The reason is that the destructive power of the nuclear weapon that CCP have is said to be several tens and hundreds of times that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki class. If the next president becomes Trump, he will actively confront China to protect Japan's Senkaku and Okinawa. But what if it's not? He's a parent, so he probably won't fight With China. On the contrary, it may give up the base in Japan where the U.S. military was stationed until then to the Chinese army. You may think that's not possible. On August 10, 1945, Soviet forces broke through the borders and marched through the borders of Manchuria and Mongolia, which were ruled by Japan. The Japanese surrendered on August 15, so after that, Japan's Kanto army, which had been defending Manchuria, disarmed and surrendered the weapons and ammunition to the Soviet army and withdrew, but the weapons and ammunition were passed down to Mao Zedong's Chinese army. And, the Soviet army withdrew after being stationed in Manchuria etc. for a while, and the Chinese army advanced soon after that. This is because there was a secret deal between Stalin of the Soviet Union and Mao Zedong of China in advance. The same thing may be done in Japan today. The following secrets may have already been entered into between Xi Jinping of China and the anti-Trump camp in the United States. "Senkaku will give up, and we will also give up the U.S. military base in Okinawa," he said. You'd think it's impossible for the U.S. to give up U.S. bases in Japan. The U.S. military has been stationed in Japan for about 75 years. There is also the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. It's unrealistic to hand it over to both CCP easily. Indeed, it may be unrealistic. However, it is a possible story if it is the same communist country comrade. It seemed to have happened between the Soviet Union and China since 1945. The United States is on the brink of maintaining its previous democracy or being a socialist country through this presidential election. Some people say, "This is a revolution." If the United States were to become a socialist country, U.S. troops stationed in Japan might withdraw and Chinese troops would be stationed instead. At least in Okinawa, I think there is a possibility of that. After that, with one country and two systems, the situation may be maintained for a while, but eventually it will become a fully Chinese colony. If the Senkaku was occupied by both CCP, and the U.S. military base in Okinawa was replaced by the base of the Chinese army, would you accept that? This may be an extreme scenario. Japan has the Self-Defense Forces, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, and the right to collective self-defense. I'm not even a military expert, so I'll leave out an explanation about that. However, I want to say that it is not strange that the same thing as the secret agreement between Stalin and Mao Zedong of the communist country comrades has already been exchanged between Xi Jinping and the anti-Trump camp historically. You may be watching the outcome of this U.S. presidential election, as if you were watching a drama in a distant country. However, this event will have a great influence on the fate of Japan and Taiwan in the future.  

Jim Kavanagh, writer at ThePolemicist.net and CounterPunch and the author of the article "Over the Rainbow: Paths of Resistance After George Floyd," joins us to discuss McConnell telling the White House not to make a deal with Pelosi before Election Day. A Wednesday headline in Common Dreams read: "McConnell Admits He's Been Working to Sabotage Covid Relief Talks Behind the Scenes to Prioritize Rushing Barrett Confirmation."Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, examines the implications of a letter that went out Monday with the signatures of more than 50 former senior intelligence officials "outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of emails allegedly belonging to Joe Biden's son 'has all the classic earmarks of Russian information operation,'" as Politico reported Monday.Caleb Maupin, a frequent collaborator with all major news outlets and author of "City Builders and Vandals in Our Age," discusses a Tuesday article in Antiwar.com reporting that "GOP lawmakers introduced a bill to the House that declares China is the top economic and national security threat to the US. The legislation, dubbed the China Task Force Act, was authored by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and co-sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)."Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist and author of three books - "The Frozen Republic"; "The Velvet Coup"; and "America's Undeclared War" - discusses a book by Stephen Wertheim, entitled "Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of US Global Supremacy," that was the subject of a Tuesday piece in Consortium News by Andrew J. Bacevich. The book makes the case that "since 1945, the US pursuit of 'dominance in the name of internationalism' has mainly served as a device for affirming the authority of foreign-policy elites," the outlet notes.Niko House, political activist and independent journalist and podcaster, talks about a Tuesday Politico report that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's "transition team is vetting a handful of Republicans for potential Cabinet positions - despite doubts it will win him new support from the right and at the risk that it will enrage the left." Steve Dear, acting executive director for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, examines the story of Lisa Montgomery, who was convicted in 2007 of strangling a pregnant woman and kidnapping her unborn child. Montgomery is set to be executed on December 8 in Indiana by lethal injection, which would mark the first time since 1953 that the US federal government has executed a woman.Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations and security analyst, joins us to discuss a Tuesday report in Antiwar.com that said, "Azerbaijan and Armenia reported fresh fighting on Tuesday over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Despite two attempted ceasefires, clashes that broke out on September 27 continue to rage as the death toll mounts." According to the outlet, "Armenia and Azerbaijan confirm Pompeo meetings for Friday."George Koo, journalist, social activist, international business consultant and chemical engineer, analyzes the implications of a Tuesday report in Antiwar.com that said, "The US, Japan, and Australia conducted joint naval exercises in the South China Sea on Monday, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet said on Tuesday. The drills marked the fifth time this year that the three countries had conducted exercises together in the Seventh Fleet's operations areas."

JAMES FANELL, Retired from US Navy in 2015 concluding 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy, Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University: The current state of Chinese-Taiwanese relations A crackdown on the lives of Taiwan's citizens (PART TWO): Is Taiwan prepared for a potential Chinese military invasion? Dual-use airlift capabilities of the People's Liberation Army Does China have Russian missile technology? (PART THREE): China's efforts to keep the US out of the South China Sea The United States' aspirations for a larger Navy Chinese military bases in the South China Sea (PART FOUR): Analyzing America's policy towards Taiwan What is the United States' current relationship with South Korea? America's underwriting of China's military buildup

JAMES FANELL, Retired from US Navy in 2015 concluding 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy, Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University: Remembering the attacks on 9/11 James' experience on September 11th in 2001 (PART TWO): Could the Chinese be targeting Pearl Harbor? The Chinese strategy of "unrestricted warfare" The capability of the Chinese Navy (PART THREE): A history of US engagement with the Chinese Communist Party Comparing the US and Chinese military capability Assessing China's nuclear arsenal (PART FOUR): China's plan of dethroning the United States How would Joe Biden handle dealing with China?

JAMES FANELL, Retired from US Navy in 2015 concluding 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy, Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University: The threat China poses to the rest of Asia The banning of Chinese-based phone applications (PART TWO): Assessing the current capability of the Chinese navy The ongoing dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands (PART THREE): The current state of North-South Korean relations Moon Jae-in's relationship with Kim Jong-un What is the point of the Belt and Road Initiative? (PART FOUR): What does the US need to do militarily to prepare for dealing with the Chinese Communist Party? How can the US defeat the People's Liberation Army? Enablers of the CCP in America

JAMES FANELL, Retired from US Navy in 2015 concluding 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy, Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University: What is the goal of the Chinese military? China's recent military conflict with India Chinese military companies that have gained access to the US capital markets (PART TWO): Military technology the CCP has stolen from the United States The urgent need to upgrade the US Navy to be able to compete with China's (PART THREE): China’s increasing military activity in the South China Sea Comparing the US and Chinese naval forces (PART FOUR): How many nuclear warheads do the Chinese have? The Belt and Road Initiative of the CCP

DIANA WEST, Nationally syndicated columnist, Blogs at Dianawest.net, Author of Death of the Grown Up, American Betrayal, and Red Thread: A Search for Ideological Drivers Inside the Anti-Trump Conspiracy: The "enemy within" the United States The infiltration of Marxism in the US JAMES FANELL, Retired from US Navy in 2015 concluding 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy, Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University: What is China's long-term strategy with respect to their position in the international world? The recent advancement of the Chinese Navy How does the US Navy stack up against China's? LTG STEVEN KWAST, Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas: What are China's ambitions for space? The strategic implications of "space power" What does the United States have to do to combat China's increasing space technology? ROBERT CHARLES, Former Assistant Secretary of State at the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs in the Bush Administration, Author of Eagles and Evergreens: The defacement of a World War II monument in North Carolina The need to end the violent protests taking place in the US

JAMES FANELL, Retired from US Navy in 2015 concluding 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer specializing in Indo-Asia Pacific security affairs with an emphasis on the Chinese Navy, Assignments included tours as the Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence for the U.S. Seventh Fleet aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the Office of Naval Intelligence China Senior Intelligence Officer, etc., Former National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University: Chinese companies that make up the Thrift Savings Plan How is Wall Street handling the pushback against the Thrift Savings Plan's investments? The Chinese market share of the US stock market (PART TWO): Do Americans know the true intentions of the PRC? Why do Chinese companies get a pass on the rules and regulations American companies have to abide by? (PART THREE): China's increasing military activity in the South China Sea Comparing the US and Chinese naval forces (PART FOUR): How many nuclear warheads do the Chinese have? The Belt and Road Initiative of the CCP

In keeping with the Commandant’s Planning Guidance and its emphasis on Naval integration and meeting the demands of the Naval Fleet, Vice Admiral William R. Merz, Commander, U.S. Seventh Fleet, spoke to the Marines gathered at the Camp Butler Officer’s Club about the history and the future of the Marine Corps and Navy’s relationship as The post 2020 Professional Event Series: VADM Merz in Okinawa appeared first on MCA.

In keeping with the Commandant’s Planning Guidance and its emphasis on Naval integration and meeting the demands of the Naval Fleet, Vice Admiral William R. Merz, Commander, U.S. Seventh Fleet, spoke to the Marines gathered at the Camp Butler Officer’s Club about the history and the future of the Marine Corps and Navy’s relationship as The post 2020 Professional Event Series: VADM Merz in Okinawa appeared first on MCA.

Years after highly visible, peace-time collisions of ships in the Navy's Seventh Fleet, the ships are repaired and back in service. But sailors who may be experiencing post traumatic stress disorder, they aren't fixed so easily. ProPublica's reporter Megan Rose has investigated this episode extensively and spoke with the Federal Drive with Tom Temin about what she found.

Fan Film Fridays Episode 03: Star Trek Tales Of The Seventh Fleet Clinton from Coffee and Comics builds a machine to escape the basement! ‬ ‪Correction: he invites Gene (Gene the podcasting machine) Hendricks to discuss 3 films which Gene helped created about STAR TREK called TALES OF THE SEVENTH FLEET on FAN FILM FRIDAYS!‬ The films can be found online at https://vimeo.com/channels/totsf #FanFilmFridays Find Gene on Twitter @PodcastnMachine or @Hammer_Strikes Let us know what you think! Email the show at FanFilmFridays@gmail.com or contact@longboxcrusade.com This podcast is a member of the LONGBOX CRUSADE NETWORK: Visit the WEBSITE: http://www.longboxcrusade.com/ Follow on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/fridays_fan https://twitter.com/CoffeeComicsBlg https://twitter.com/LongboxCrusade Thank you for listening and we hope you have enjoyed this episode of Fan Film Fridays.

Fan Film Fridays Episode 03: Star Trek Tales Of The Seventh Fleet Clinton from Coffee and Comics builds a machine to escape the basement! ‬ ‪Correction: he invites Gene (Gene the podcasting machine) Hendricks to discuss 3 films which Gene helped created about STAR TREK called TALES OF THE SEVENTH FLEET on FAN FILM FRIDAYS!‬ The films can be found online at https://vimeo.com/channels/totsf #FanFilmFridays Find Gene on Twitter @PodcastnMachine or @Hammer_Strikes Let us know what you think! Email the show at FanFilmFridays@gmail.com or contact@longboxcrusade.com This podcast is a member of the LONGBOX CRUSADE NETWORK: Visit the WEBSITE: http://www.longboxcrusade.com/ Follow on TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/fridays_fan https://twitter.com/CoffeeComicsBlg https://twitter.com/LongboxCrusade Thank you for listening and we hope you have enjoyed this episode of Fan Film Fridays.

Lieutenant Commander Bradley Boyd steps into character to tell us the Story of the USS Nautilus, the very first ever Nuclear Powered, well... anything. This was a stretch but the idea to hear the story of a vessel was something i could not just pass up, Commander Boyd did an excellent job and you can hear in his voice the pride he takes in both his service and history of service of the Nautilus and her crews.  Below Information from the Submarine Force Museum Web Site RE: USS Nautilus & LTC Boyd: On January 21, 1954, Nautilus was christened and launched into the Thames River. On January 17, 1955, the message “Underway On Nuclear Power” was sent and changed the Navy forever. The world’s first nuclear powered submarine, Nautilus will forever stand as a testament to innovation and the incredible advancements in technology made after WWII. It is well known that besides being the first nuclear powered submarine, Nautilus was also the first vessel to pass under the North Pole, making history with the message “Nautilus 90 North” Her achievements have forever been immortalized at the Submarine Force Museum. The museum preserve submarine heritage. It is the only place in the world where someone can gain a first-hand look at this historic landmark. Nautilus was designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior on May 20, 1982.  On April 11 1986, eighty-six years to the day after the birth of the Submarine Force, Historic Ship Nautilus was opened to the public.  LCDR Reginald Preston came to the Nautilus in April 2016, following in the footsteps of the directors before him who took on the task of maintaining the legacy of one of the most important submarines in the US Navy. Originally, from Lyman, Nebraska, LCDR Preston received his commission through the Naval reserve Officer Training Corps in 2003. Following the completion of nuclear power training, he reported to USS Helena in San Diego, California. Qualifying in Submarines on Helena, he served as the Chemical and Radiological Controls Assistant, Assistant Operation Officer, and interim Engineer Officer. In 2010, he reported to the USS Chicago where served as Engineer Officer.  While on the Chicago, he would help transform her back into a warship ‘certified for tasking’ in the Seventh Fleet area of responsibility after a homeport shift to Guam. He would go on to serve as both the Operations Officer at Submarine Group Two and the Chief of Staff for the enlisted Women in Submarines task Force. His personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, and navy Achievement medal. During his time at Historic Ship Nautilus, LCDR Preston has only maintained the excellent recorded of OIC’s at the museum. His work at the museum only furthered the museums mission to be a highly regarded museum and a must stop for those traveling in the area. LCDR Preston also “led a team of experts in rewriting the technical requirements for nautilus which previously necessitated the ship to be maintained at a level nearly commensurate with operational submarines. Preston’s revised requirements not only allowed for cost-wise upkeep and maintenance at a level that preserves Nautilus for futures generations, but did so with the expectation the ship would continue to host more than 150,000 visitors annually.” He was also “instrumental in laying the groundwork to establish a future water taxi dock at the museum. As one of almost 20 Historic and cultural sites on the banks of the Thames River, the Submarine Force Museum is one of four anchor sites in the Thames River Heritage Park.”[1] His next tour will be as the Director of Submarine On-Board Training at naval Submarine Base New London. While the crew and staff will miss him, they wish him well in his next placement and look to the future with LCDR Bradley Boyd.  

Bombshell welcomes back Amanda Sloat to dish on all the drama across the pond - Brexit, the selection of the new Tory leader, and Trump’s visit, which was surely not (short)waisted [sic]. Foreign relations are a-twitter with elections in the European Union and Israel (yes, again). And Kim Jong Un thumbed his nose at the world to show that he of course does not murder his failed negotiators – he just imprisons them. The Trump administration has launched another salvo in a trade war with Mexico the same week it noticed USMC-A to Congress, proving that we do indeed contain multitudes. And did you happen to hear about what’s going on with the USS John S. McCain? Also, Radha watched Good Omens and you should too.  Links Trade – Mexico Andrew Van Dam, "As Mexico Becomes America's Top Source of Imported Goods, Here are the Products That Could Be Most Hit By Trump's Tariffs," Washington Post, May 31, 2019 Edward Alden, "Why Congress Cannot Allow the Trump Tariffs on Mexico to Stand," Council on Foreign Relations," May 31, 2019 Tom Hals and Brendan Pierson, "Trump's Mexican Tariffs Test Limits of U.S. Emergency Powers: Legal Experts," Reuters, May 31, 2019 Trade - China "China Threatens Sweeping Blacklist of Firms After Huawei Ban," Bloomberg, May 31, 2019 EU Election Jon Henley, "EU Elections Turnout Rises As Political Landscape Fragments," Guardian, May 26, 2019 NK Executions Laura Bicker, "North Korea Execution Reports – Why We Should Be Cautious," BBC, MAY 31, 2019 Brexit Amanda Sloat, "Brexit Endgame: A Withdrawal Agreement for Theresa May, But No Clarity on Brexit," Brookings, May 30, 2019 Thomas Wright, "How Trump Undermined Theresa May," Atlantic, May 31, 2019 The Role of Parliament in Today's Britain, Brookings, May 28, 2019 Israeli Elections Bernard Avishai, "A Climax to the Saga of Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman," New Yorker, June 1, 2019 Yaakov Katz, "Why is Israel Really Going to New Elections?" Jerusalem Post, June 2, 2019 USS McCain Barbara Starr and Devan Cole, "Shanahan: USS John McCain Request Made Directly to Seventh Fleet," CNN, June 2, 2019   Produced by Tre Hester  

Bombshell welcomes back Amanda Sloat to dish on all the drama across the pond - Brexit, the selection of the new Tory leader, and Trump’s visit, which was surely not (short)waisted [sic]. Foreign relations are a-twitter with elections in the European Union and Israel (yes, again). And Kim Jong Un thumbed his nose at the world to show that he of course does not murder his failed negotiators – he just imprisons them. The Trump administration has launched another salvo in a trade war with Mexico the same week it noticed USMC-A to Congress, proving that we do indeed contain multitudes. And did you happen to hear about what’s going on with the USS John S. McCain? Also, Radha watched Good Omens and you should too.  Links Trade – Mexico Andrew Van Dam, "As Mexico Becomes America's Top Source of Imported Goods, Here are the Products That Could Be Most Hit By Trump's Tariffs," Washington Post, May 31, 2019 Edward Alden, "Why Congress Cannot Allow the Trump Tariffs on Mexico to Stand," Council on Foreign Relations," May 31, 2019 Tom Hals and Brendan Pierson, "Trump's Mexican Tariffs Test Limits of U.S. Emergency Powers: Legal Experts," Reuters, May 31, 2019 Trade - China "China Threatens Sweeping Blacklist of Firms After Huawei Ban," Bloomberg, May 31, 2019 EU Election Jon Henley, "EU Elections Turnout Rises As Political Landscape Fragments," Guardian, May 26, 2019 NK Executions Laura Bicker, "North Korea Execution Reports – Why We Should Be Cautious," BBC, MAY 31, 2019 Brexit Amanda Sloat, "Brexit Endgame: A Withdrawal Agreement for Theresa May, But No Clarity on Brexit," Brookings, May 30, 2019 Thomas Wright, "How Trump Undermined Theresa May," Atlantic, May 31, 2019 The Role of Parliament in Today's Britain, Brookings, May 28, 2019 Israeli Elections Bernard Avishai, "A Climax to the Saga of Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman," New Yorker, June 1, 2019 Yaakov Katz, "Why is Israel Really Going to New Elections?" Jerusalem Post, June 2, 2019 USS McCain Barbara Starr and Devan Cole, "Shanahan: USS John McCain Request Made Directly to Seventh Fleet," CNN, June 2, 2019   Produced by Tre Hester  

Tuesday, 05.28.2019: #Democrats #Lie and Suggest #President #Trump's Official State Visit to #Japan is Mere #Ceremony Not #Substance ... Learn the #Truth as #North Korea, #Iran Stand-at-Attention and Even Now #Cattelmen Rejoice #Nationwide; Hear the #President Address America's #Seventh Fleet on the #USS Wasp ... What is the Newest Cutting-Edge #American Made #Aircraft?; Hear the Powerful Message Sent During #Memorial Day's Commemorations: "YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN!" Saluting America's Veterans!

Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at the 17th parallel, and under the terms of the Geneva Accords, civilians were to be given the opportunity to move freely between the two provisional states for a 300-day period. Elections throughout the country were to be held in 1956 to establish a unified government. Around one million northerners, mainly minority Catholics, fled south, fearing persecution by the communists. This followed an American psychological warfare campaign, designed by Edward Lansdale for the CIA, which exaggerated anti-Catholic sentiment among the Viet Minh and which falsely claimed the US was about to drop atomic bombs on Hanoi. The exodus was coordinated by a U.S.-funded $93 million relocation program, which included the use of the Seventh Fleet to ferry refugees. The northern, mainly Catholic refugees gave the later Ngô Đình Diệm regime a strong anti-communist constituency. Diệm staffed his government's key posts mostly with northern and central Catholics. In addition to the Catholics flowing south, up to 130,000 "Revolutionary Regroupees" went to the north for "regroupment", expecting to return to the south within two years.The Viet Minh left roughly 5,000 to 10,000 cadres in the south as a "politico-military substructure within the object of its irredentism." The last French soldiers were to leave Vietnam in April 1956 The PRC completed its withdrawal from North Vietnam at around the same time Around 52,000 Vietnamese civilians moved from south to north Information Sourced From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War Body Sourced From; https://youtu.be/mLXoeelZ7XA Public Access America 
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This week, Bombshell bids farewell to summer with our final distributed ops episode, closing out what has been a nice, quiet August (ha. ha). Afghanistan is, as usual, still a thing, but this time President Trump - or his teleprompter - actually gave us some thoughts on the matter. We lament waking up to a nuclear test in North Korea and the latest chapters in the Kenyan election and China-India border disputes, and drill down on how everything became about readiness and readiness became about everything: the Seventh Fleet, the Army, DACA, you name it. Finally, we give our take on John Kelly's efforts at discipline in the West Wing and the continuing parade of White House departures, as well as views on Back to School reading and "book dates" with your partner. Readings: "Why India did not Win the Standoff with China," M. Taylor Fravel, War on the Rocks "Welcome to the H-Bomb Club, North Korea," Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, War on the Rocks "Xi says BRICS nations should stand up against protectionism," Lousie Watt, AP "Deadly Navy accidents in the Pacific raise questions over a force stretched too thin," Alex Horton and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Washington Post "How the U.S. Navy's Fleet has been on a collision course for years," by David Larter, Defense News "U.S. Army Unprepared to Deal with Russia in Europe," Wesley Morgan, Politico "Analysis: Could Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Actually Become Policy?" Julie Moreau, NBC News Back to School Reading: A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII, by Sarah Helm The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made, by Walter Isaacson The Federalist Papers The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles In Light of What we Know, Zia Haider Rahman The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic, Mike Duncan The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, Debby Applegate The Alice Network, Kate Quinn

This week, Bombshell bids farewell to summer with our final distributed ops episode, closing out what has been a nice, quiet August (ha. ha). Afghanistan is, as usual, still a thing, but this time President Trump - or his teleprompter - actually gave us some thoughts on the matter. We lament waking up to a nuclear test in North Korea and the latest chapters in the Kenyan election and China-India border disputes, and drill down on how everything became about readiness and readiness became about everything: the Seventh Fleet, the Army, DACA, you name it. Finally, we give our take on John Kelly's efforts at discipline in the West Wing and the continuing parade of White House departures, as well as views on Back to School reading and "book dates" with your partner. Readings: "Why India did not Win the Standoff with China," M. Taylor Fravel, War on the Rocks "Welcome to the H-Bomb Club, North Korea," Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, War on the Rocks "Xi says BRICS nations should stand up against protectionism," Lousie Watt, AP "Deadly Navy accidents in the Pacific raise questions over a force stretched too thin," Alex Horton and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Washington Post "How the U.S. Navy's Fleet has been on a collision course for years," by David Larter, Defense News "U.S. Army Unprepared to Deal with Russia in Europe," Wesley Morgan, Politico "Analysis: Could Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Actually Become Policy?" Julie Moreau, NBC News Back to School Reading: A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII, by Sarah Helm The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made, by Walter Isaacson The Federalist Papers The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles In Light of What we Know, Zia Haider Rahman The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic, Mike Duncan The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, Debby Applegate The Alice Network, Kate Quinn

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post describes the sleaze and corruption that compromised the top ranks of the Seventh Fleet.

The Navy's U.S. 7th Fleet​ welcomes a new Command Master Chief and the U.S. Navy​ adjusts its tattoo policy.

Never in our history have we fought a war where law, lawyers, and layers of legalese have impacted all levels of the war, Political, Strategic, Operational, and Tactical.Why do we find ourselves here and in what direction are we going?  From Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and even domestically, the legal definition of the use of military power is evolving.To discuss the impact of Lawfare for the full hour with Sal from the blog "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" will be David Glazier, CDR USN (Ret.).  David is a Professor of Law at Layola Law School in Los Angles.  Prior to Layola, he was a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law and a research fellow at the Center for National Security Law, where he conducted research on national security, military justice and the law of war. He also served as a pro bono consultant to Human Rights First.Before attending law school, Glazier served twenty-one years as a US Navy surface warfare officer. In that capacity, he commanded the USS George Philip (FFG-12), served as the Seventh Fleet staff officer responsible for the US Navy-Japan relationship, the Pacific Fleet officer responsible for the US Navy-PRC relationship, and participated in UN sanctions enforcement against Yugoslavia and Haiti.Glazier has a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, an MA from Georgetown University in government/national security studies, and holds a BA in history from Amherst College.

We're going to go back a couple of years this weekend to our Lawfare episode from 2011. We'll be back live next week. Never in our history have we fought a war where law, lawyers, and layers of legalese have impacted all levels of the war, Political, Strategic, Operational, and Tactical. Why do we find ourselves here and in what direction are we going?   From Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and even domestically, the legal definition of the use of military power is evolving. To discuss the impact of Lawfare for the full hour with Sal from the blog "CDR Salamander" and EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" will be David Glazier, CDR USN (Ret.).   David is a Professor of Law at Layola Law School in Los Angles.  Prior to Layola, he was a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law and a research fellow at the Center for National Security Law, where he conducted research on national security, military justice and the law of war. He also served as a pro bono consultant to Human Rights First. Before attending law school, Glazier served twenty-one years as a US Navy surface warfare officer. In that capacity, he commanded the USS George Philip (FFG-12), served as the Seventh Fleet staff officer responsible for the US Navy-Japan relationship, the Pacific Fleet officer responsible for the US Navy-PRC relationship, and participated in UN sanctions enforcement against Yugoslavia and Haiti. Glazier has a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, an MA from Georgetown University in government/national security studies, and holds a BA in history from Amherst College.