I didn't get much about the history of Rome in school, but I've been correcting the oversight by listening to the archives of The Rest is History, a wonderful podcast by a pair of British historians. It's really helped me catch up.
True enough. Unfortunately records from the Republic are rather sparse. Unless you were a Consul or a general (Marius etc,) or a wannabe dictator (Sulla) you were not well recorded or therefore remembered.
Joint has given us sailors in Army uniforms, doing a role that should be the Army’s. It also means, that too much is run by committees without a clue where the Process means the Product.
And nobody listens there is a disaster coming. The Peking Government has committed an act of war against the Philippines, and the world is getting crazier.
As Sub Brief pointed out in his last week, the PRC is trying to turn their acts at sea into "legitimate" customs operations of a non-military nature. Their actions at Thomas Shoal may be less about the intervention and more about a test case on whether they can divide the international community and confound the response. If they do so, their new strategy could be seen as an effective route forward.
Suppose the US intervenes in this developing situation at the expressly spoken request of the Philippines. If we do so, would we be acting strictly as an ally according to the obligations which go with our long-standing committments, or would we be intervening in part because we want to recover some portion of our former responsibilities as world hegemon?
I would think that those who are upset about our loss of credibility after spending only 20 years in A'stan are a bit concerned about our possible further loss of credibility, especially among our Pacific allies, by ignoring our legal and moral obligations under a treaty.
The Houthi's have shown that the shipping cartels are risk averse, especially with high value cargos and even with the promise of international actions. Establishing any precedent that allows the PRC coast guard to stop and detain a vessel for months, or even weeks, goes to their bottom line. Time is money. If such action were allowed to stand in the absence of an overwhelmingly coordinated international response, a de facto trade blockade could be established with a whiff of legitimacy.
A 100% sinking of the Iranian ships doing target acquisition and command and control for the Houthi's would help more. But that won't happen under Biden.
It's not a new strategy; it's a continuing escalation of a strategy they have been pursuing for well over a decade. Like the fable about boiling a frog.
"The Peking Government has committed an act of war "
Silly man. NOTHING is more important than the imminent flood of Russian hordes through a helpless Europe. Just because we have a defense treaty with the Philippines doesn't mean we actually need to fulfill our obligation. .
Here in the U.S., we approach a holiday dedicated to grand ideals and the men who considered HONOR to be important; enough to die for. They did, so we are, or certainly could be if we emulated them. Even in their various lesser personal failings; they were giants of that which is good and right. Where can we find such people, indeed....
Wellington's comment on reform reminded me of this message he sent to the Foreign Office while on the Spanish campaign (bureaucracies expand to get the upper hand):
"Gentlemen, Whilst marching from Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon and thence by dispatch to our headquarters. We have enumerated our saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles, and all manner of sundry items for which His Majesty’s Government holds me accountable. I have dispatched reports on the character, wit, and spleen of every officer. Each item and every farthing has been accounted for, with two regrettable exceptions for which I beg your indulgence. Unfortunately the sum of one shilling and ninepence remains unaccounted for in one infantry battalion’s petty cash and there has been a hideous confusion as the number of jars of raspberry jam issued to one cavalry regiment during a sandstorm in western Spain. This reprehensible carelessness may be related to the pressure of circumstance, since we are war with France, a fact which may come as a bit of a surprise to you gentlemen in Whitehall. This brings me to my present purpose, which is to request elucidation of my instructions from His Majesty’s Government so that I may better understand why I am dragging an army over these barren plains. I construe that perforce it must be one of two alternative duties, as given below. I shall pursue either one with the best of my ability, but I cannot do both: 1.To train an army of uniformed British clerks in Spain for the benefit of the accountants and copy-boys in London or perchance. 2. To see to it that the forces of Napoleon are driven out of Spain. Your most obedient servant, Wellington
The over issue of raspberry jam then, the under use of the desired personal pronouns now. The career minefield remains the same. Tip toe as you will, toes still get stepped on. Thanks for that post, Scott.
The navy can prioritize building and fixing ships efficiently, or it can prioritize climate change and pronouns. And we all know what choice they have made.
Carrier USS John C. Stennis Overhaul Delayed, Work Will Take More than 5 Years to Complete
Great comparison, because a truly functional government should operate more along the business lines of prostitution: an prostitute takes the customer's money to then satisfy the desires of the customer. Bureaucrats take the customer's money to then satisfy the desires of the bureaucrat.
There's a less couth way to say that, but you get the point.
Reading this, I couldn't help but think of 1 Samuel 8:11-18, the response to the Israelites when they clamored for a king so that they could be like all the other nations around them:
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
Ah, so much to learn from history. Especially the big empires, especially the Roman Empire. History does not repeat, but patterns of human behavior most certainly do. Empires rise, get bloated (and corrupt), get soft, and eventually fall to the new "strong horse" on the block. That "strong horse" can be "a" country or group / cabal. The makeup of the adversary can differ but the result is the same. If the acquisition process did what it was supposed to, it would acquire weapons to defend the nation. Instead, our acquisition system satisfies the wants and desires of the congress (jobs, votes, and campaign donations), the military industrial complex (TM) and DoD upper echelons who are jockeying for their retirement job board position in the military industrial complex. Useful weapons system acquisition (if it occurs) is literally by accident. Sucks to say it, really sucks to see it, all the while wondering what happens if we really need the military to perform at a high level to avert a national disaster. Hope we don't need to find out.
I personally would welcome the march of modern Sulla through the DoD halls of procurement and would cheer his (figurative) proscribing of thousands NAVSEA employees as well.
“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.”
— Charlie Munger
I'd put at the top of the list revisions to DOPMA/OPA/OGLA. Our statutory promotion system hasn't been significantly revamped since 1980. Our military is MUCH different now than then, but we still have the same one-size-fits-all golden path to command. Incentives drive behavior, and the current glut of wishy-washy FOGOs derives from timing and their ability to win the FITREP 500. Changing the incentive structure could promote thinking among those promoted that would drive changes to Goldwater-Nichols, the end of Joint, etc.
An excellent point. I've long thought that the Navy, in particular, needed to have its officers on a dual-track path. A sea duty track, and a shore duty track - and you alternate between the two. Your shore track may be on the acquisition side, but you have the strongest possible incentive to get it right...because you're taking it to war on your next tour. :-)
And correcting the up-or-out promotion gates would be wise, too. Give people the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary - exchange tours come immediately to mind.
Mine was a long time ago, and I was Air Force in any case. But I knew Navy people, and I thought that that was how the Navy did it. At least that's how my Navy buddies talked - you had to do both sea and shore if you wanted senior rank. OK, that was 50 years ago. Things have changed since?
I like the parable, but I'd offer a couple of alternatives to leaving the bloodsuckers undisturbed. One is from the early days of the Civil War, when the Navy needed ships and the established organization couldn't fill the bill. Many intriguing, useless, and ultimately useful things came of allowing a bunch of newcomers to build and experiment. Same with the opening days of WWII, when FDR made William S. Knudsen, an auto exec, into a LtGen and Director of Production. He did a lot to make the wartime industrial miracle that followed possible.
CDR Sal. You covered quite a lot of territory between the Emperor Tiberius and the Duke of Wellington but I get your point.
We need people in government who know what they are doing and work on behalf of the people. What we have in DC today is not the Best and the Brightest but the Worst and the Dimmest and if they do know what they are doing it’s for their own benefit and their party not the people and the nation.
Net worth gains of members of Congress should raise some eyebrows but... meh right? Then again, we elect PC politicians rather than electing those who have the temerity to say what they actually mean and act accordingly. CDR Sal is awesome at revealing the extent of the mess that's unfolded but at some point, you have to have find people with an appetite to do something about it and an appetite for reform is not on the menu and neither is some reasonable measure of accountability? What I see in abundance is anything other than an urgency required as CDR Sal has aptly pointed out again.
People see what Trump and his aides are going through and figure it’s better not to get involved. If Sal or me or you ran for office the WP and NYT would drag up every ex girlfriend to accuse us of rape We would be investigated by the IRS for deductions we made on our 1999 1040. Someone would claim we made a racist comment in high school. Our spouses and children would be harassed. All sorts of civil suits would be filed against us. Antifa would show up at our houses. That’s how the Left operates.
The electorate faces a decision as to whether they're going to be accept this brass knuckles approach to doing things. Normally those who play for "by any means necessary" eventually overplay their hand. Some evidence of that seems to be bubbling up to public consciousness. As usual, a small few will pay the price for many.
I am skeptical about people giving up their bread and circuses. Freedom is tough. You have to make your own decisions. That requires thought and effort.
President Trump could have learned something from the Duke. The Duke’s former mistresses tried to blackmail him by threatening to publish their letters. He told her and her editor “publish and be damned.” On the other hand, we did get to see how justice really operates in Alvin Bragg’s New York.
I was told on a tour of London he was nicknamed the "Iron Duke" due to his placing iron shutters over his windows to stop the protesters breaking them when he was in London as a senior government official. I don't see a lot of support for this story poking around, but it is amusing.
Very good and most timely. Thanks!! Being a bit of a fan of the Roman Republic/Empire, I especially appreciate the classical nature of the post.
I didn't get much about the history of Rome in school, but I've been correcting the oversight by listening to the archives of The Rest is History, a wonderful podcast by a pair of British historians. It's really helped me catch up.
Same here....great Podcast TRIH. They sometimes come to the US for shows. A must go to.
Hopefully they come through Seattle sometime soon. I loved their four part on Cleopatra. She was a very savvy political operator.
If only we remembered more of the great names from the Republic, before power was so concentrated .
True enough. Unfortunately records from the Republic are rather sparse. Unless you were a Consul or a general (Marius etc,) or a wannabe dictator (Sulla) you were not well recorded or therefore remembered.
Joint has given us sailors in Army uniforms, doing a role that should be the Army’s. It also means, that too much is run by committees without a clue where the Process means the Product.
And nobody listens there is a disaster coming. The Peking Government has committed an act of war against the Philippines, and the world is getting crazier.
I thought that the PI may invoke our mutual defense treaty, though they did not.
As Sub Brief pointed out in his last week, the PRC is trying to turn their acts at sea into "legitimate" customs operations of a non-military nature. Their actions at Thomas Shoal may be less about the intervention and more about a test case on whether they can divide the international community and confound the response. If they do so, their new strategy could be seen as an effective route forward.
Suppose the US intervenes in this developing situation at the expressly spoken request of the Philippines. If we do so, would we be acting strictly as an ally according to the obligations which go with our long-standing committments, or would we be intervening in part because we want to recover some portion of our former responsibilities as world hegemon?
Yes.
We’re intervening as an ally under our obligations! We are in no way shape or form acting as a hegemon!
Say it with a straight face, and you’ve got a job in DC.
I would think that those who are upset about our loss of credibility after spending only 20 years in A'stan are a bit concerned about our possible further loss of credibility, especially among our Pacific allies, by ignoring our legal and moral obligations under a treaty.
All the members of SEATO are sure to remember that. Oh, wait....
Agree...its about probing on how to quitely shift the lines.
The Houthi's have shown that the shipping cartels are risk averse, especially with high value cargos and even with the promise of international actions. Establishing any precedent that allows the PRC coast guard to stop and detain a vessel for months, or even weeks, goes to their bottom line. Time is money. If such action were allowed to stand in the absence of an overwhelmingly coordinated international response, a de facto trade blockade could be established with a whiff of legitimacy.
Absolutely agree. A soft trade blockade in the making.
I wonder if a 100% tariff on Chinese imports would stop the Houthis. Worth trying.
A 100% sinking of the Iranian ships doing target acquisition and command and control for the Houthi's would help more. But that won't happen under Biden.
No one ever heard of the Houthis when Trump was president.
It's not a new strategy; it's a continuing escalation of a strategy they have been pursuing for well over a decade. Like the fable about boiling a frog.
"The Peking Government has committed an act of war "
Silly man. NOTHING is more important than the imminent flood of Russian hordes through a helpless Europe. Just because we have a defense treaty with the Philippines doesn't mean we actually need to fulfill our obligation. .
Here in the U.S., we approach a holiday dedicated to grand ideals and the men who considered HONOR to be important; enough to die for. They did, so we are, or certainly could be if we emulated them. Even in their various lesser personal failings; they were giants of that which is good and right. Where can we find such people, indeed....
Wellington's comment on reform reminded me of this message he sent to the Foreign Office while on the Spanish campaign (bureaucracies expand to get the upper hand):
"Gentlemen, Whilst marching from Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon and thence by dispatch to our headquarters. We have enumerated our saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles, and all manner of sundry items for which His Majesty’s Government holds me accountable. I have dispatched reports on the character, wit, and spleen of every officer. Each item and every farthing has been accounted for, with two regrettable exceptions for which I beg your indulgence. Unfortunately the sum of one shilling and ninepence remains unaccounted for in one infantry battalion’s petty cash and there has been a hideous confusion as the number of jars of raspberry jam issued to one cavalry regiment during a sandstorm in western Spain. This reprehensible carelessness may be related to the pressure of circumstance, since we are war with France, a fact which may come as a bit of a surprise to you gentlemen in Whitehall. This brings me to my present purpose, which is to request elucidation of my instructions from His Majesty’s Government so that I may better understand why I am dragging an army over these barren plains. I construe that perforce it must be one of two alternative duties, as given below. I shall pursue either one with the best of my ability, but I cannot do both: 1.To train an army of uniformed British clerks in Spain for the benefit of the accountants and copy-boys in London or perchance. 2. To see to it that the forces of Napoleon are driven out of Spain. Your most obedient servant, Wellington
The over issue of raspberry jam then, the under use of the desired personal pronouns now. The career minefield remains the same. Tip toe as you will, toes still get stepped on. Thanks for that post, Scott.
DELIGHTFUL! thankyou for sharing this; I believe I would have enjoyed serving with such a fellow!
The modern DoD response would be to shit-can him and Napoleon would have won.
The D.C. perspective? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OWMB3ewpNM
"It's good to be the king." - a common quote inside the Beltway.
The navy can prioritize building and fixing ships efficiently, or it can prioritize climate change and pronouns. And we all know what choice they have made.
Carrier USS John C. Stennis Overhaul Delayed, Work Will Take More than 5 Years to Complete
https://news.usni.org/2024/06/18/carrier-uss-john-c-stennis-overhaul-delayed-work-will-take-more-than-5-years-to-complete
That's 3 things and the first 2 might involve more floating drydocks because Graving Docks don't float.
Prostitution may be the world's oldest profession, but bureaucrats and other functionaries are a close second, and are certainly more unsavory.
Great comparison, because a truly functional government should operate more along the business lines of prostitution: an prostitute takes the customer's money to then satisfy the desires of the customer. Bureaucrats take the customer's money to then satisfy the desires of the bureaucrat.
There's a less couth way to say that, but you get the point.
I believe it was former Pres. George H.W. Bush who publicly stated that "character matters."
Did he also say "Read my lips;...." when he stated it?
No he saved that one for the RNC convention... part of their "go big or go home" campaign strategy I think.
Reading this, I couldn't help but think of 1 Samuel 8:11-18, the response to the Israelites when they clamored for a king so that they could be like all the other nations around them:
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
Sam certainly had a way about him. (probably had to something to do with "HIM")
Oh, very much so!
"And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards....
He will take the tenth of your sheep..."
Maybe there is something to this monarchy thing.
Sounds as though it would be a good deal less than what we are currently handing over. You may be on to something.
Cheers!
Ah, so much to learn from history. Especially the big empires, especially the Roman Empire. History does not repeat, but patterns of human behavior most certainly do. Empires rise, get bloated (and corrupt), get soft, and eventually fall to the new "strong horse" on the block. That "strong horse" can be "a" country or group / cabal. The makeup of the adversary can differ but the result is the same. If the acquisition process did what it was supposed to, it would acquire weapons to defend the nation. Instead, our acquisition system satisfies the wants and desires of the congress (jobs, votes, and campaign donations), the military industrial complex (TM) and DoD upper echelons who are jockeying for their retirement job board position in the military industrial complex. Useful weapons system acquisition (if it occurs) is literally by accident. Sucks to say it, really sucks to see it, all the while wondering what happens if we really need the military to perform at a high level to avert a national disaster. Hope we don't need to find out.
History may not precisely repeat the past but it certainly appears to have a rhythm to it.
Since we're more late Republic, I don't see a Marius coming down the pike to save us. We could get a Sulla, though (GULP).
The transition from a R
republic to the tyrants is sort of like that old saying about bankruptcy: it happens gradually, then very suddenly.
I personally would welcome the march of modern Sulla through the DoD halls of procurement and would cheer his (figurative) proscribing of thousands NAVSEA employees as well.
Although, as an optimate, Sulla would say DOD procurement is fine....
This is not to the point at all but in the world of TACAN, the "lockoffs" are multiples of 40 degrees so no 180 degree lockoff is possible..
Excellent!
“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.”
— Charlie Munger
I'd put at the top of the list revisions to DOPMA/OPA/OGLA. Our statutory promotion system hasn't been significantly revamped since 1980. Our military is MUCH different now than then, but we still have the same one-size-fits-all golden path to command. Incentives drive behavior, and the current glut of wishy-washy FOGOs derives from timing and their ability to win the FITREP 500. Changing the incentive structure could promote thinking among those promoted that would drive changes to Goldwater-Nichols, the end of Joint, etc.
An excellent point. I've long thought that the Navy, in particular, needed to have its officers on a dual-track path. A sea duty track, and a shore duty track - and you alternate between the two. Your shore track may be on the acquisition side, but you have the strongest possible incentive to get it right...because you're taking it to war on your next tour. :-)
And correcting the up-or-out promotion gates would be wise, too. Give people the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary - exchange tours come immediately to mind.
Also, supply should not be a dumping ground for people who failed flight school.
Wait, I thought SWO was the dumping ground...
If it is it means all we have are subs.
Mine was a long time ago, and I was Air Force in any case. But I knew Navy people, and I thought that that was how the Navy did it. At least that's how my Navy buddies talked - you had to do both sea and shore if you wanted senior rank. OK, that was 50 years ago. Things have changed since?
I like the parable, but I'd offer a couple of alternatives to leaving the bloodsuckers undisturbed. One is from the early days of the Civil War, when the Navy needed ships and the established organization couldn't fill the bill. Many intriguing, useless, and ultimately useful things came of allowing a bunch of newcomers to build and experiment. Same with the opening days of WWII, when FDR made William S. Knudsen, an auto exec, into a LtGen and Director of Production. He did a lot to make the wartime industrial miracle that followed possible.
Knudsen didn’t have to worry about environmental activists , activist judges, lawsuits over sacred Indian grounds, covering gender operations, etc.
If we survive the first months/years of war, we won't either. At least one could hope.
The coming years will be beyond interesting. Hopefully not dreadful, but…
Oh my, Pop. That old Chinese proverb (or curse?): "May you live in interesting times."
https://www.chinasprout.com/community/guestcolumns/21
Well done. Outstanding and truly fitting for our current situation. Another two emperors who would agree are: Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius
CDR Sal. You covered quite a lot of territory between the Emperor Tiberius and the Duke of Wellington but I get your point.
We need people in government who know what they are doing and work on behalf of the people. What we have in DC today is not the Best and the Brightest but the Worst and the Dimmest and if they do know what they are doing it’s for their own benefit and their party not the people and the nation.
Net worth gains of members of Congress should raise some eyebrows but... meh right? Then again, we elect PC politicians rather than electing those who have the temerity to say what they actually mean and act accordingly. CDR Sal is awesome at revealing the extent of the mess that's unfolded but at some point, you have to have find people with an appetite to do something about it and an appetite for reform is not on the menu and neither is some reasonable measure of accountability? What I see in abundance is anything other than an urgency required as CDR Sal has aptly pointed out again.
People see what Trump and his aides are going through and figure it’s better not to get involved. If Sal or me or you ran for office the WP and NYT would drag up every ex girlfriend to accuse us of rape We would be investigated by the IRS for deductions we made on our 1999 1040. Someone would claim we made a racist comment in high school. Our spouses and children would be harassed. All sorts of civil suits would be filed against us. Antifa would show up at our houses. That’s how the Left operates.
The electorate faces a decision as to whether they're going to be accept this brass knuckles approach to doing things. Normally those who play for "by any means necessary" eventually overplay their hand. Some evidence of that seems to be bubbling up to public consciousness. As usual, a small few will pay the price for many.
I am skeptical about people giving up their bread and circuses. Freedom is tough. You have to make your own decisions. That requires thought and effort.
President Trump could have learned something from the Duke. The Duke’s former mistresses tried to blackmail him by threatening to publish their letters. He told her and her editor “publish and be damned.” On the other hand, we did get to see how justice really operates in Alvin Bragg’s New York.
I was told on a tour of London he was nicknamed the "Iron Duke" due to his placing iron shutters over his windows to stop the protesters breaking them when he was in London as a senior government official. I don't see a lot of support for this story poking around, but it is amusing.