Parade Magazine Can’t Say “Navy” on the Cover?

By Christopher P. Cavas in Navy No Comments

 And what’s with the German battleship?

Sunday mornings reading Parade magazine has been a favorite pastime of mine for more years than I care to mention. Even though Walter Scott is long gone, I still keep the habit of ripping open the newspaper’s Sunday supplement package and going straight to Parade.

This morning’s May 19 issue doesn’t feature a hot actress or a feature on what people earn. Refreshingly, it features a senior chief petty officer of the United States Navy, Derrick Davenport — named Chef of the Year by the Pentagon — and uses him to highlight the impressive renaissance of turning military chow into something that legitimately aspires to be called cuisine.

But the headline, “How Do You Feed An Army?” didn’t reference senior chief culinary specialist (SS)’s naval service. And when I turned to the story beginning on page 7, there was a nice headline, “Top Gun Chef,” surrounded by cool graphics of naval things and kitchen implements.  More

An American Warship In Israel

By Christopher P. Cavas in Intercepts, International, Israel, Marine Corps, Navy, Operations No Comments

Tourism Trumps Terror in the Gulf of Aqaba, Where Israel and Jordan Vie for Visits from US Warships

The amphibious assault ship USS KEARSARGE berthed at the commercial port in Eilat, Israel on May 15. The Jordanian shore is visible across the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. (photo by Barbara Opall-Rome)

By BARBARA OPALL-ROME

EILAT, Israel — Old Glory waves alongside Harrier jump jets on the aft deck of the USS Kearsarge docked just a short distance below my rooftop apartment in the Red Sea port town of Eilat. On the other side of this flagship of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, hosting the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit on an 8-month deployment in the region, the zoom on my Iphone can make out a squadron of MV-22 Ospreys and a few other rotary wing aircraft.

I tried to get a closer look by driving down to the dock, but security guards quickly waved me away. Turns out my rooftop vantage offers one of the best views not only of the first visit of a U.S. warship here in 14 years, but of the dynamics at play in the Gulf of Aqaba between Israel and Jordan, its precarious peace partner of nearly 19 years.

Across these inviting aquamarine waters, Israel and its Hashemite neighbor strive on multiple fronts to shield bilateral relations from the spillover of escalating regional tensions. Here, in the Gulf of Aqaba, tourism and commerce trumps the war on terror as the two nations vie for revenue from merchant vessels, travel agencies and the right to host the U.S. 5th Fleet for rest, relaxation, maintenance and repair services.  More

Photo of the Day: May 17, 2013

By John T. Bennett in Air Force, Army, DoD, Marine Corps, Navy, Obama, Policy No Comments Tags:

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting with Pentagon leaders on Thursday in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Obama met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, service secretaries, and service chiefs to discuss sexual assault in the military. The U.S. military is dealing with a wave of sexual assault cases, the latest being a soldier who worked in a rape prevention program who is accused of forcing a subordinate into prostitution. The latest revelation marked the second time in a week that a member of the military assigned to work in its sexual assault prevention program has been placed under investigation for alleged sexual crimes. Notably, the president has not yet fired any uniformed officer nor a senior civilian Pentagon official due to the military's sexual assault crisis. (AFP PHOTO/Mandel Ngan/Getty)

Report Suggests DoD Should Study Lessons from Failed Anti-sequester Campaign

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Budget, Capitol Hill, DoD, Industry, Obama, Policy, Sequestration No Comments Tags: , , ,

Faithful Intercepts readers no doubt are familiar with the dire predictions from civilian and uniformed Pentagon leaders about what will become of the U.S. military and American national security if all of sequestration’s $500 billion, decade-spanning cuts are enacted. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos on Feb. 12 told a congressional panel it would be “ruinous” — though even some pro-military lawmakers and experts are skeptical about such gloomy claims.

When it came to convincing the political system to avoid the sequestration cuts, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey recently admitted to a congressional panel that Pentagon leaders misplayed their hand. Well, Intercepts readers better hope Pentagon brass made a list of what went wrong — you know, ran what military types often (too often?) call a “lessons-learned drill.”

That’s because, according to one nonpartisan Washington think tank, deeper federal spending cuts will be needed to further pare the federal deficit and truly right the American fiscal ship. And, remember, even with sequestration the Pentagon’s baseline budget is projected to approach $600 billion per year later this decade. That’s one GIANT target. As we’ve all learned, when Washington takes on the difficult task that is deficit reduction, the GIANT targets are the easiest ones to hit. More

CAPE Director Christine Fox Leaving Pentagon

By Marcus Weisgerber in Acquisition, Budget, DoD, Intercepts, Navy, Policy, Sequestration No Comments

Christine Fox (DoD Photo)

Christine Fox, the director of DoD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office (CAPE), is leaving the Pentagon at the end of June, a defense official tells Intercepts.

Fox’s departure will follow the completion of the Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR), in which she plays a key role. The review will present options for areas to trim the Pentagon budget in the coming years. More

Photo of the Day: May 16, 2013

By John T. Bennett in Afghanistan, International, Operations No Comments

Georgian honor guards carry coffins of three soldiers killed in Afghanistan this week during a ceremony at an airport near the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on Thursday. Three Georgian soldiers were killed in the Afghanistan's Helmand Province earlier this week when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives. Georgian soldiers have been deployed in Afghanistan since 2004, the largest non-NATO combat troop commitment in the war-torn country. (AFP PHOTO/VANO SHLAMOV/Getty Images)

Today in Military History: May 15, 1942; Creation of Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps

By Blair Tomlinson in Army, Intercepts, Today in Military History No Comments Tags: , , , ,

On May 15, 1942 congress passes a bill establishing an all female corps in the U.S. Army and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs it into law the next day. The bill creates the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACs) and grants females official status in the military. The legislation was introduced a year earlier by the first women elected to Congress, Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers (R-MA).

Sen. Boxer on Benghazi: It’s All About GOP ‘Going After’ Hillary Clinton

By John T. Bennett in DoD, Intercepts, International, Obama, Policy Tags: , , ,

YouTube Preview Image

Congressional Democrats in recent weeks have wondered aloud just what is the endgame for their Republican cohorts in their renewed attacks on Obama administration officials past and present over the deadly Benghazi consulate attacks.

One, Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Tuesday she believes the GOP’s efforts to find a smoking gun showing incompetence and/or a cover up at the highest levels of the administration is about one thing: Sinking a possible White House bid by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Boxer said, to her, the timing of last week’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Benghazi, other GOP efforts to paint the administration has hiding something, and a television ad (above) from American Crossroads, Karl Rove’s political organization, are anything but a coincidence.

“They are going after her for the 2016 election,” an agitated Boxer said. More

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