What, you don't speak Russian? Well that's ok, you'll still be able to figure out what's happening in this video from Russian TV.
Order of Battle in the 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility.
What Happened at Minot--an In From the Cold Special Report.“Only one nuke troop was promoted to Chief Master Sergeant (E-9) last year. Why stay in a career field where your chances of getting promoted are so low? They have cross-trained senior NCOs from missile maintenance and even supply to fill the [nuclear] ranks because the Air Force is cutting manpower in favor of UAVs and fighters.”
The result, he says, is a career field where experience levels are dropping, particularly among the NCOs and officers who provide critical leadership.
“No officer wants to be in nukes,” the source explained. “It’s boring, picky, and can be a real career ender. The glory is in the war. Even conventional munitions is better because they get a chance to deploy to the Middle East and build up bombs for combat. Nuke techs are a drag on resources because they typically don’t deploy. Senior officers fill the key slots just to fill a square on their resumes.”
Following the conflict fought in 2006 between Israel and Lebanon, the Europeans shifted their naval deployment strategy. With a UNIFIL commitment and a lot of attention being paid to troop movements into the UNIFIL areas, the European Navies moved to support the UN peacekeeping operation. Since the conclusion of that conflict, only Britain, Germany, and France have operated warships for any extended period of time south of the Suez canal.
In From the Cold has an interesting post up regarding the recent visit by Bono to the Pentagon, apparently where Bono had a 20 minute meeting with Secretary of Defense Gates. George Smiley (you have to love the spook nicknames) approaches the development with a healthy mix of skepticism and potential, and if it was anyone but Gates I would almost certain dismiss this as a development without a second thought, but our observation of Gates is 'he is one clever bastard' and we consider him one of the most impressive Presidential appointments in decades. Reuters has the story.U2 lead singer and activist Bono visited the Pentagon to discuss Africa and the fight against global poverty with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, representatives of the two men said on Wednesday.Among the topics at the 20-minute meeting on Tuesday afternoon were U.S. plans to set up a new U.S. military command for Africa, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
"I think this was a chance for two people who care about the problems facing the continent of Africa to talk about their shared interest in solving those problems," Morrell said of the meeting that was not publicized in advance.
A spokeswoman for DATA, the group co-founded by Bono to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa, said the singer had been in Washington to meet members of budget committees in Congress.
In that area there is a stigma from people regarding others with AIDS, and it leads to people with AIDS not getting treatments because they don't want others to know they have it.
He sees some of the other NGOs demonstrating the same stigma towards the API. While all the NGOs are trying to breakdown the stigma of AIDS, he sees some of the NGOs in hypocrisy because of their stigma over the US military.
