Because Trump 2.0

[Stuart Galbraith]

3 hours ago, rmgill said:

I was contemplating this in the shower this morning. It occurred to me that I really didn't care what Spain thought of Israel. Was Spain ever really important in the post WWII environment? They weren't really a major factor other than geographically, but not even worth a deployment of troops in WWII. The UK had and had Gibraltar.

Mox Nix eh? 

Sometimes you guys really scare me how little you seem to recall from the Cold War.

There was also a USAF base, Torrejón which regularly based F86's, B47's and F111's. Morón Air Base was the origin for the tanker involved in the Palomares incident.

They were always really good allies, even when they were still fascist. More goodwill thats been airbrushed from the collective memory it seems.

 

Edited September 30 by Stuart Galbraith

[X-Files]

Who had "reads them the riot act" on the Hegseth Briefing betting board?

[X-Files]

37 minutes ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Sometimes you guys really scare me how little you seem to recall from the Cold War.

There was also a USAF base, Torrejón which regularly based F86's, B47's and F111's. Morón Air Base was the origin for the tanker involved in the Palomares incident.

They were always really good allies, even when they were still fascist. More goodwill thats been airbrushed from the collective memory it seems.

 

Reads it on Reddit, runs to TN and claims he remembers it all on his Oddy Knocky.

[Stuart Galbraith]

No, I did a Bing search for 'Rota, Polaris' and that was the first photograph I found. I nearly posted up the deployment page for the Rota Depot ship, but Im sure that would have required too much reading.

[rmgill]

1 hour ago, sunday said:

So please do not waste time on it.

Why'd you bring it up?

You're killing me smalls.

Urban Dictionary link above for clarity...
 

[rmgill]

47 minutes ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

Sometimes you guys really scare me how little you seem to recall from the Cold War

Stuart. I know people who were stationed in Rota. Spain was useful, but not Important. Point of Order, the primary partner in the Humber/Vandal project was stationed at ROTA when he was in one of the TACAMO VQ squadrons. 

Words mean things. I used the meanings carefully. We prosecuted WWII with out Spanish landing fields just fine. Gibraltar could have been a base for US P3s and C130 and TACAMO aircraft. 

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

2 minutes ago, rmgill said:

Stuart. I know people who were stationed in Rota. Spain was useful, but not Important. Point of Order, the primary partner in the Humber/Vandal project was stationed at ROTA when he was in one of the TACAMO VQ squadrons. 

Words mean things. I used the meanings carefully. We prosecuted WWII with out Spanish landing fields just fine. Gibraltar could have been a base for US P3s and C130 and TACAMO aircraft. 

 

All your Polaris boats deploying into the Med through the cold war ran out of there. Considering the lack of range of the early Polaris missiles, it was hugely important, right up until you started using Poseidon. Even then still had utility till the end of the cold war. You are selling the Spanish hugely short here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Station_Rota

When Soviet surface and submarine naval deployments to the Mediterranean increased throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, NAVSTA Rota enabled maritime patrol aircraft to conduct continuous surveillance and tracking of Soviet ships before, during, and after their transit through the Strait of Gibraltar. Data was then forwarded to United States Sixth Fleet Headquarters, providing also critical intelligence regarding Soviet ships' acoustic signatures, operating characteristics, and warfighting capabilities. NAVSTA Rota staff's role as guardians of Sixth Fleet's front door earned them the moniker Gatekeepers of the Med. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, focus shifted to adapt to the new missions of Sixth Fleet.

 

Gibraltar suffered (and still does), from an   lack of pans for aircraft. Not to mention being as secure as a submarine built out of screen doors to a cruise missile attack.

[Stuart Galbraith]

All for marines screaming for 16 inch support?

[X-Files]

"What President Trump actually sez", 1+ hour for those with the bandwidth to absorb it.

 

[can't drop youtube link, maybe later]

Edited September 30 by X-Files

[rmgill]

41 minutes ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

All for marines screaming for 16 inch support?

Get back to us when the Yoo Kay can do what it did in the 80s under Thatcher. 

[rmgill]

1 hour ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

All your Polaris boats deploying into the Med through the cold war ran out of there.

I will bet other bases would have also worked. 

[Stuart Galbraith]

16 minutes ago, rmgill said:

Get back to us when the Yoo Kay can do what it did in the 80s under Thatcher. 

This being the same Thatcher that proposed scrapping half the Royal Navy to provide 6 days of ammunition for the British Army. Do a search for Field Marshall Bagnall before you start claiming that silly tart was an expert on anything but handbags.

You want a 300 ship navy, he wants battleships.i just hope he has a big enough bathtub is all. Maybe thats what the White house extension is for?

[glenn239]

4 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

All for marines screaming for 16 inch support?

Dunno about battleships, but steel is cheap and resilient.   Side armor would be useless, but a box compartment scheme might save lives and ships sometimes. 

[sunday]

6 hours ago, rmgill said:

Why'd you bring it up?

To dispel the prejudice against Spain as an Antisemitic country.

[rmgill]

I am not sure how that was to do that. 

[rmgill]

No commentary on Sec War Hegseth’s speech?

[Soren Ras]

6 hours ago, rmgill said:

No commentary on Sec War Hegseth’s speech?

Generals and admirals probably need a good solid talking to. And if the main message is "drop the donuts and the bullshit and focus solyly on winning wars", frankly it's about time. 

The follow-up will be important, of course, but as a clear indication of priority, it does the job.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Its the same kind of thing that happens every time takes a CEO takes over a new organizations. They change the logo, they make noises about removing unfit people.They do this pretty much to get noticed, to make shit fly, to complete the pretence of being the necessary new broom.

The trick is not whether any of these things have value in themself, which they dont. Its whether they just leave it there, or introduce disruptive change that doesnt help, such as at twitter. Or introduce really far reaching policies and ideas that take the 'company' back where it belongs, like Steve Jobs. 

Id really like to think Hegseth is a Steve Jobs. But I dont. He strikes me as a change the letterhead guy, whom will then sit for the next 3 years on his laurels, congratulating himself he got the Pentagons doughnut consumption under control.

I have to say, I hope im wrong. But that that Trump actually says 'Hey, lets go back to battleships' tells you where they likely are pointed. 

[Ol Paint]

9 hours ago, rmgill said:

No commentary on Sec War Hegseth’s speech?

Could have been done by teleconference, if a policy speech was all there was. I hope there were more substantive meetings outside of the speech, to make it worthwhile.

Doug

[X-Files]

[X-Files]

4 hours ago, Soren Ras said:

The follow-up will be important, of course, but as a clear indication of priority, it does the job.

At company level leadership, did you guys 'establish the standards' so that the troops knew exactly what was expected of them and if they willfully (or otherwise) disobeyed, that became the opening paragraph on their counseling statement / disciplinary action?

 

"On 30 September 2025, LTG Tubbybutt was signed in and present at the SecWar's briefing on standards at Quantico MCB. This constituted a direct and lawful order.

On 01 November he was informed that a APFT test would be administered on 04 January 2026.

LTG Tubbybutt failed said APFT and will now be separated from the service."

 

pour encourager les autres 

[X-Files]

10 hours ago, rmgill said:

No commentary on Sec War Hegseth’s speech?

 

I'm disappointed there wasn't a Roman style decimation at Quantico's front gate while the Marine Band played. 

Imagine a mass Flag Grade formation with Hegseth going down the ranks and handing out papers, Oprah style: "YOU get separation orders and YOU get separation orders... "(ad nauseum).

I had that on my bingo card.

I probably need to write this up as a treatment, one season comedy for NETFLIX

 

 

Related briefing

 

Edited October 1 by X-Files

[Ivanhoe]

https://jonathanturley.org/2025/09/30/the-curious-tale-of-columbia-professor-daniel-richman/
 

Quote

 

Just The News is reporting that “Person 3” in the Comey indictment is not former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe but rather Columbia Professor Daniel Richman. According to the outlet, Richman is the former FBI employee in the indictment who allegedly leaked information about “Person 1,” who is believed to be Hillary Clinton. The report continues the long uncertainty over Richman’s role in these controversies. Richman has described himself as a friend, an FBI special employee, and the lawyer representing Comey at different times. He has also been a columnist and commentator, including for the site Lawfare run by Comey’s friend Ben Wittes. What Richman was doing at any given time remains strikingly uncertain. Professor Richman is not himself charged with any crime.

Richman’s fluid and changing roles are reminiscent of the debate over the role of Hunter Biden’s friend/lawyer/patron Kevin Morris. There was an evolution in the roles that Richman played over the years that left some of us confused as to his specific status at certain times.

 

 

Quote

 

Comey designated Richman as a Special Government Employee (SGE) at the FBI and subsequently utilized him as a conduit to the media. He gave him access to top-secret information, and Richman seems to have floated between Comey and other offices, such as the FBI’s General Counsel’s office.

The FBI said that “Comey instructed the FBI to hire Richman as a Special Government Employee” in 2015 and “to grant him a Top Secret clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information.” It also said its investigation “revealed Comey also hired Richman, so Comey could discuss sensitive matters, including classified information, with someone outside of the FBI’s regular leadership. Comey also used Richman as a liaison to the media.”

 

If our justice system worked properly, both Comey and Richman would be headed to a federal SuperMax.

 

[Soren Ras]

3 hours ago, X-Files said:

At company level leadership, did you guys 'establish the standards' so that the troops knew exactly what was expected of them and if they willfully (or otherwise) disobeyed, that became the opening paragraph on their counseling statement / disciplinary action?

 

"On 30 September 2025, LTG Tubbybutt was signed in and present at the SecWar's briefing on standards at Quantico MCB. This constituted a direct and lawful order.

On 01 November he was informed that a APFT test would be administered on 04 January 2026.

LTG Tubbybutt failed said APFT and will now be separated from the service."

 

pour encourager les autres 

If you lay down the expected standards marker early on, you can be quite ruthless about enforcement later on, if need be. That works at all levels. To those who say the content  could have been disseminated via teleconf, I respectfully disagree. Forcing flag officers to attend in person tells them Hegseth is serious about it much more than any online speech, no matter how eloquent or impassioned. 

But it all hangs on execution in the follow-up. And the priority must be warfighting skill and attitude above BMI-levels. You want more Pattons, Pullers and Halseys, and not a bunch of Sportacus clones

[seahawk]

A meeting in person allows you much better to identify the traitors and the opposition within the rank, which allows you to remove them quickly. 

A second meeting needs to happen, where those people are removed and the rest is forced to swear their allegiance to Trump.