Iraq

http://www.stripes.com/american-way-of-war-it-may-surprise-you-1.292182

I must respectfully disagree with the author. We could create a stable,
democratic government in Iraq, if we were committed to the task. Nation
building requires patience and commitment, which are hard to find in any
country when their sons and daughters are dying to protect and help another.
Patience is even harder to come by when it turns out the initiating event
was overstated or outright false.

The author quite accurately points out the negative pattern of American war
making, that of going to war quickly over an initiating event (real or
fabricated), and notes that in the case of Iraq, the narrative that led us
to war was false.

But Iraq is not (and never was) an impossible task; as an example of the
American capacity for nation-building, we almost single-handedly rebuilt
Japan, carried the lion's share of rebuilding Germany, as well heavily
assisting the rebuilding Europe in general after WWII, and did all three of
these things simultaneously, while ourselves transitioning from a war
economy to a peacetime one. Today it is inconceivable to think of the US
going to war with Japan or Germany, or they with us. We did nation-building
right in those places, and as a testament to our commitment there, we still
have bases in Germany and Japan. (I grant that the major reason for their
continued existence after nation-building was the Cold War.)

Agreed that our major mistake in Iraq was going there in the first place,
but nevertheless, we could have accomplished nation-building, were we
committed to it. Why weren't we? Because the stated reason for it didn't
ring true after IEDs started killing young Americans. Notably, the reason
for getting into WWII did stand the test of time, and we committed to
post-war reconstruction, while in both Iraq and Vietnam we had trumped up
reasons and sloppy execution. Both quickly became unpopular in the U.S.,
and both are (my opinion) failed wars. The lesson I would take from this is
that your reason for going to war better be solid, or society's support for
your actions won't be and you will be caught short.

Regarding the present situation there, I am in the
"we-broke-it-we-bought-it" school of thought. We, on our own authority,
subjected the Iraqi people to more than a decade of war and sloppy,
shortsighted postwar planning; for this reason we still have a moral duty to
them. I'm not saying we need to solve all their problems, or attempt to go
back en masse, but we owe them the actions necessary to spare them the
ravages of a long term civil war, and we should stop pretending that this
mess isn't our problem.

Ukraine

http://www.theonion.com/articles/understanding-the-crisis-in-ukraine,35435/?
utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:De
fault&recirc=news

An idea: The Transatlantic Cable

Back in the day, the transatlantic cable from Europe to America was a
wondrous thing, sending humble Morse code between the continents.

Today we are more connected than ever with the internets, and yet
differences remain. How is that cultures touch each other and mix and
merge? Through constant contact?

Instead of twitter, and email, and even skype, what if we had a window from
one city to another, a window that never closed? The C-span of
transatlantic communication.

A live video feed 24/7/365 from say London to New York. Of course, it
wouldn't literally be a single cable from London to New York, but you could
even build it and arrange it that way to create the mental illusion; the
screen in NY would face west, and the screen in London would face east, so
that people in each place would literally be facing each other from half a
world away.

While these screens should be publicly accessible, I think it would handy if
they weren't 100% outdoors, to protect them (and the people using them) from
the elements. Kind of like TV and radio studios on the ground floors of
buildings that let you see out the windows as the film a show.

Just a thought.

Flash Mob? Flash in the pan

Originally written on 9 December...

One of the Air Force bands executed a flash mob at the National Air and Space Museum recently.

While it's nice to see the USAF embracing 21st century concepts and technology, and actually working positive press for themselves for a change...I would prefer to see this combined with greater institutional depth to our care of people.

As a counterpoint, if Congress does nothing, military incentive pays for all branches stop on 1 January.  For an RPA pilot, major, with 14 years in, flight pay (and incentive pay he will lose) is 8% of his take home pay. 

Where's the press on how the government is hamstringing military personnel who are at war?  A friend mentioned the loss of flight pay to me, and it took some heavy searching to find the article at Stars and Stripes linked below.  Merry Christmas.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/09/heres-how-the-air-force-band-staged-that-viral-flash-mob-youre-seeing-everywhere/

"Special pays would be first casualty of delayed defense bill" By J. Taylor Rushing, Stars and Stripes

http://www.stripes.com/news/special-pays-would-be-first-casualty-of-delayed-defense-bill-1.254910

 Update 21 Dec:

Of course this issue has now been resolved.  Congress has passed a budget, averting the loss of incentive pay mentioned above...but including a large cut to pensions.

More links on the topic:

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/ryan-murray-deal-hits-younger-future-military-retirees-1.257099?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

http://www.jqpublic-blog.com/?p=569

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303330204579250714145778676

The Incredibles

Just caught part of Missions Impossible: Ghost Protocol the other day, the
beginning, and realized the same guy (Brad Bird) directed The Incredibles.
For a snarky moment, I thought, "Ah, and that was a much more realistic
film."

Seriously though, the characters in "The Incredibles" were both more
realistic and better executed.

The little things...

Want to hear something cool? I applied for a credit card with Wells Fargo,
and along with the card they sent the credit score that was reported on me
when they asked. Nice that they included that for my benefit.

Fair winds...

Letter I sent at work recently...

-----Original Message-----

From: Witt, David

Sent: August 28, 2012

To:

Subject: Fair winds...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I recently filed for separation from active duty, I will be out next spring. 

I've been planning on writing this letter for a while, and initially I planned it as a long rant listing all of my various grievances against the service, but ultimately decided that isn't what I wanted to spend anyone's time on.

For those of you I've talked with regularly, this is probably not a surprise, and for those of you I haven't, I doubt I have anything that original to rant about, so I don't see a need to focus on the negative at this point. The short version: This service is not the service I thought it was when I first joined. We are not led and managed as I thought we would be; we treat our people badly, and then don't even reward them adequately for the work they do and the risks they take.

Looking back, I have had years in a row where I dreaded going to work rather than looking forward to it; I haven't had fun doing my job in a long time. My current assignment here at Holloman has been the best of my career; this should not necessarily be construed as high praise for Holloman or the quality of life here, but it does beat my time in the Herc and operational RPA flying. From here, I don't see any options available to me that would be better, or even on par with this assignment; all the things in the service that still interest me are either unavailable, or I would have to fight tooth and nail for years just for a chance at them, and I no longer have enough energy for that given what it would cost me.

Finally, while all of the above is true, and more than sufficient on its own, there is also this: There is more to life than effective and efficient flight operations, and I'd really like to experience some of these things, like being near my family, or having some predictability and control over my own day/week/month/year. It has become apparent to me I won't have an opportunity to do this if I stay in, and this has made the decision incredibly easy to make.

It has been an honor and a privilege serving with you all. Of all the things I disliked about my time in, I have never regretted taking on all the world's problems when I had teammates like you to do it with. I know I'm going to miss that on the outside. I miss it already. But not enough to stay.

I wish all of you the best, whatever the future holds for you. It's a small world, and we're bound to cross paths again. I've tried to send this letter to everyone I thought would care, but please feel free to forward on as you see fit. The link to my page below will continue to have current contact information after I'm out, and I've included my phone and email as well. This isn't an end, just a transition, and I look forward to talking with all of you from the other side.

Sincerely and respectfully,

Dave

(Link to my intellipedia page.)